Exploration-Based Delayed Bounty System for Nullsec & Wormholes (ESS-like)

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
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Title:

Exploration-Based Delayed Bounty System for Nullsec & Wormholes (ESS-like)

Overview

Exploration and scanning are core fantasy pillars of EVE Online, and for space genre, yet in practice they remain economically secondary compared to direct ratting and multibox-heavy PvE.

This proposal introduces an exploration-driven, delayed payout system, inspired by ESS mechanics, that rewards scanning, hacking, and information gathering rather than raw DPS or multibox efficiency.

The goal is to:

• Incentivize anomaly scanning and hacking

• Provide meaningful income paths for solo explorers

• Create counterplay against nullsec multibox ratting

• Add risk-through-transport instead of instant ISK generation

Core Concept: Exploration Bounty Ledger (EBL)

A personal, non-transferable ledger-based reward system tied to fully scanned anomalies in Nullsec and Wormhole space.

How the System Works

• Anomaly Discovery & Scan

• A unknown anomaly must be 100% scanned by a player.

• A completion of data or relic site

• Once fully scanned, the anomaly is registered to that pilot (similar to signature ownership).

• Ledger Point Generation Ledger points accumulate from:

• Successful hacking of containers / data structures

Each hacked container adds a bonus multiplier, encouraging active exploration gameplay rather than passive ratting.

• Delayed & Risk-Based Payout

• Ledger points do not convert to ISK immediately

• Points are stored on the pilot (not the ship, not the wallet)

• ISK payout occurs only when the pilot:

• Docks in an NPC Highsec station

(or alternative black-market NPC stations for WH space)

• Loss & Counterplay

• If the pilot is destroyed before payout:

• Ledger value partially or fully drops as a lootable item as shown the charts as number of Successful scan and completion of hacked data or relic sites

Ledger cannot be:

• Traded

• Shared

• Stored in cargo

• Transferred between characters

Why This Is Good for the Sandbox

:white_check_mark: Encourages Exploration

Scanning anomalies becomes economically relevant, not just a gate to ratting.

:white_check_mark: Supports Solo & Cloaky Gameplay

Explorers and hackers gain a meaningful role without requiring fleets or capitals.

:white_check_mark: Natural Anti-Bot & Anti-Multibox Pressure

• Requires manual scanning and hacking

• Delayed payout discourages AFK and mass multibox farming

• Transport risk adds decision-making instead of instant ISK

:white_check_mark: Generates Conflict

Ledger holders become moving objectives, similar to ESS payouts but player-driven and mobile.

Balance & Exploit Mitigation

• Time Decay: Ledger value slowly decays if not redeemed

Ownership Rules:

• One pilot per anomalys

• Corp/alliance members cannot repeatedly register the same site

• No Warp Core Stabilization: Ledger carriers cannot use WCS or should we ?

• Wormhole Variant:

• Higher multipliers

• No direct HS payout, only NPC black-market station

/ well this seperate HS and WH i dont sure about this idea what you guys think ?

Well my main idea is player can convert ledger to isk only on hs npc station or only Sisters of EVE stations because high sec pays for knowledge of unknown systems and anomalies we should discuss npc blackmarket thing

Design Philosophy

This system shifts PvE rewards from:

“How many accounts can you multibox?”

to

“How well can you scan, survive, and move through space?”

It aligns with existing ESS mechanics, requires minimal new UI concepts, and reinforces EVE’s core identity: risk, information, and player-driven conflict.

Closing

This is not meant to replace ratting or ESS, but to complement them by giving exploration its own meaningful economic loop — one that rewards attention, skill, and risk-taking over scale.

Feedback and iteration welcome.

The note:

Why i got this idea:

When we think about space, we are mesmerized because it is almost infinite, and for humankind it feels endless, even if we had clones of ourselves and lifetimes lasting many decades.

Engineering and mathematics certainly provide clarity, but we should not lose our hope for the unknown and for discovery.

That idea gives me hope and keeps me moving forward.

So in space, we should always search, always discover,

and always keep moving forward.

I have many ideas for EVE because I would like to see the place I live in as I like it :white_heart:

I think we need to enter an era of effort.

So i have some piloting skill idea too maybe later maybe as a video.. respects fly safe

o7

Lexil KahoudiTR

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:nauseated_face:

The ESS…

:face_vomiting:

Sorry, can’t help it when that BS comes up. I really dislike that mechanic, from both sides of it. I’ll try to separate my dislike of it from your idea, if at all possible, and look at the merits not the execution. I think a lot of the issues at hand here are based on how easy scanning it as its core, so most never look into getting good at scanning.

:grin:

Sure, but let’s compare incomes based on SP involved in the endeavor. If a brand new player spends just a few days training scanning skills to 3 or 4, they have the skills to find and hack sites throughout the game, potentially making quite a lot if they learn how site mechanics work and how to find sites quickly. Can you please tell me what sort of ratting or multibox-heavy PvE can be done for the same amount of income in the same amount of training time?

Yes, you can certainly make far more ratting than you can exploring, but the SP requirement for each to make the same amount of isk weighs heavily towards exploring being the better way for new players. Not only is it generally cheaper and easier to get into, but it gets new players out into the game where they get experience that PvE doesn’t provide, like evading hostile players.

We’ll come back to this in a bit, but I’m mostly going to ignore the intent and execution to focus on the merits. Intent is subjective and I highly disagree with an ESS style execution.

Neither of these is an issue, which is why there are so many explorers in Eve. Unless you get way off the beaten path, if you sit still anywhere in nullsec you’ll get 2-3 of them pass by every hour in T1 frigates. Additionally, exploring is by nature a solo job. To increase income, increase your knowledge of the mechanics around scanning, like how sites spawn. Knowing where to look for sites is the difference between hitting a dozen systems for 20 sites or hitting 50-100 systems for the same 20 sites.

Ratting and exploring are two completely different playstyles, and one needs not be a counter to the other. What exactly is the issue you have with ratting or multiboxing that you think exploration needs to match it?

This is when we go back to that quote above. The current exploration mechanics are entirely risk through transport. You don’t get paid for any of that until you get it to market. On the other hand, the ESS payout for the ratter is automatic and will happen no matter where in New Eden they currently are. There’s only risk through transport with the ESS if you are the raider, which would change nothing for exploration.

We’ll skip the explanation of the execution you have here, though on a quick skim it doesn’t look like your idea does anything but needlessly increase the complexity of exploration. Why would I want points going into a reward system that I get when I dock, when I already have loot in my hold to sell when I dock? If anything, probably the only thing that really needs done for exploration is for CCP to revisit the exploration loot tables. Empty red cans are really annoying.

You don’t scan anomalies, you can signatures. Signatures are either relic/data sites, gas sites, higher end PvE combat sites (complexes), or wormholes to more places to scan. I’ve got a dualbox Odysseus/Explorer combo that lets me do them all. Odysseus holds the loot, does the combat sigs and boosts/holds the Prospect for the Explorer, absolute dream team for exploration.

Could you elaborate on how you think explorers don’t have a meaningful role? Every person living in a wormhole is critically dependent on the mechanic, and a metric fu¢k ton of cargo is hauled in and out of low and nullsec through wormholes explorers have found. Not everything is hauled out there using jump freighters, there’s a lot of blockade runners and DSTs using wormholes to get back and forth.

Exploration is already like that. Granted, I don’t keep up on the newest bot programs available for Eve, but as far as I know the only ones for exploration involve the minigame, which is utterly trivial once you hit Hacking and Archeology 5. I cargo scan the cans I find and intentionally fail the empty ones so the site will clear, and it’s hard to intentionally fail a red can at Hacking 5 with a T2 analyzer.

An AFK explorer makes zero isk, so no need to increase incentive there, and I’ve already explained that transport risk already exists as a core of the play style.

Explorers are already moving objectives, because transport risk is inherent to how the mechanic works. When I hack a can, I get goods and not ISK. I get no ISK until I sell the goods on the market. Not when I get to a station, but when those goods get to a trade hub and I get paid when someone buys it. I’ve lost a blockade runner full of exploration loot to a Drifter wormhole before, and that was dozens of exploration sites worth of loot that I never got paid for.

There, I think I’ve covered everything important and only stuck to the merits of the idea. Basically, your ideas don’t really do much that would impact explorers or exploration as it currently exists in the game, just adds complexity to the process.

2 Likes
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Hey, appreciate the detailed breakdown—solid points all around, and yeah, ESS is polarizing (from both sides). You’re spot on: current exploration rocks for newbros (low SP, high mobility, real-world experience), explorers are everywhere in null, and WH/hauling dependency is massive. Transport risk is core—lost a BR full of loot myself once. No denying expl’s strong.

Clarifying my slip: signatures (not anomalies—those are visible rat blobs). Mea culpa.

On Merits (Tweaked for Clarity)

SP/Income Parity: Expl crushes entry-level, agreed. But in null/WH sov, multiboxing VNIs/Marauders farm visible anomalies for ESS (60% instant + 40% auto-delayed). Scanning sigs (combat relics/gas/complexes) = side gig; loot’s volatile (empty cans, market dumps). Ledger = scanning/hacking buff: Direct ISK from 100% scans + hack multipliers. Loot stays—ledger’s bonus floor to match ratting ISK/hr for solo/cloaky (e.g., Prospect). Same low SP, competes without capitals.

Risk/Conflict: Loot haul = transport hunt, yes. ESS raiders act at home. Ledger flips: Carrier = mobile ESS. High-ledger pilots = roaming targets (intel shared). On ship/pod pop: Ledger drops as lootable item (non-tradable, non-transferable—like loot). Can’t sell/transfer; raiders get squat unless they haul their risk. Proactive PvP: Alliances roam for fat ledgers, not just gatecamps.

Multibox Pressure: Probes + manual hacks = single-char focus (multis hate probe spam). Forces active play over passive anomaly blobs. No AFK points.

“Extra Complexity?”: Loot → haul → market list → wait/buy = grind. Ledger → dock HS NPC/SoE → auto-ISK. Simpler cashout, no hold clutter. Loot tables need CCP love (100%), but ledger adds stable scanning reward atop loot gamble. Thematic: “HS buys your intel.”

Playstyles: Anomalies = passive farm. Sigs = active probe/hunt/hack. Ledger buffs that to economic parity, diversifies null PvE (sigs despawn unused).

Why Push?

Elevate null/WH sig scanning/hacking (solo-friendly) to ESS levels—loot + ledger = robust loop. Mobile carriers = natural conflict drivers. Complements ratting, splits farms.