Can data analyzer and upwell structure interactions be improved?

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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#1

I’m looking for sources of reaction materials, so i used the reaction cost index to find a system with recently active jobs. On arrival I find a likely Athanor in the system. My ship scanner shows various reactor service modules on the structure. My data analyzer reveals a vulnerability window. And that’s it. There is nothing more I can do. My characters journey is over.

I’d really like some mechanical way of determining what’s being made in a structure and when any jobs are ready for delivery, pehaps even who ordered it - both so i can attempt to intercept the goods during shipping, and so i can develop a deeper understanding of the regional logistics and economy i play in.

The cost of this vastly increased utility would have to be that any failed hack would lock out the hacker for a number of hours, plus notify the owner with name and timestamp of the attempted access - perhaps even cause suspect status. There could even be a new firewall rig to make the hack more difficult.

Currently, as a solo player, I know of no other option to interact with such entities without using a overview and local monitoring character perched on the structure, and I think that’s a shame.

#2

Sounds like the job of a spy rather than a scanner/hacker.

#3

I don’t know, in game means to “spy” which don’t require alts isn’t a bad idea, especially if it only revealed something like ‘Total materials currently being used in jobs’ without any details about what the materials are being used for.
We do obviously have to keep in mind that some people would use unrelated alts, so things like lock outs probably wouldn’t be very meaningful, but it’s not the worst start point for an idea.

Something more meaningful than turning up for 10 seconds and hacking might be a good idea also though. Take a spin off Fozzie sov, hack the structure to reveal the locations of several comms routers in the constellation it uses, go and hack them all then come back to hack the structure now you’ve faked an access request from a legit source using the routers, all within a certain time. That’s a bit more involved.

#4

If that was how it would be done, would there be any agency/choices/precautions that the structure owner/job owner could take to counter hacking attempts?

#5

Firstly.
Does there need to be? If the hack doesn’t actually directly harm, do you need a method to counter.

Secondly.
I think we need to move most bonuses off structure rigs onto ‘faction’ structure modules for other reasons, which then creates room for rigs to have anti hack stuff and the like. Which doesn’t need to cost five times the structure value. Rigs feel right to me so it is a meaningful choice between anti hack or stronger armour or more DPS type choice.

#6

Not necessarily. But it doesn’t seem right that anyone can scan anything about their industry jobs and there’s nothing anyone can do about it.

Except maybe the structure owner can try to hide it in an obscure place.

Regarding the rigs; there maybe room for change. Rigs were originally meant to give the structure ‘meaning’ and that’s why they were so expensive. But now we’ve got an entirely different and easily adjustable mechanic for that, it may no longer be necessary. And the specialisation rigs provide may no longer be necessary since structures are going to be much less common these days.

Still not. Sold on the hacking mechanic. Just seems llike it’s a matter of time to get the information and there isn’t much anyone can do about it. Definitely prefer the spy angle.

#7

The problem is the spy angle is an effectively out of game solution. Just make a clean alt and pretend to be someone else and you can get your Intel! Yes sure you have to play the alt for the Intel, but it’s based outside the game in principle.
And I don’t see that as good gameplay, playing EVE shouldn’t be about having 25 alts and 10 spies.

The hacking mechanic may not be a perfect idea, I’m sure with enough dev hours you could make a better Intel gathering spy/counter spy game that has slow actions and requires a lot of advance planning planning, but it’s realistic in terms of likely dev involvement vs likely player use, and it brings the Intel gathering in game.
I’d compare it to ship and cargo scans myself. There isn’t really much counterplay for those either other than just don’t be there. And if it isn’t giving away exact details of all jobs bit just a vague “millions of trit, hundreds of max, thousands of components” it still leaves room for a real non alt mole to get better Intel, while making it so alts aren’t so compulsory.