hi all, had an idea which i think would be interesting.
note this post will mainly apply towards the war clone aspect of the game should it be redeveloped in some capacity.
a big factor when it comes to war clones is “how do they get around on their own” and collectively our ideas are “to use jump clones” which immedately faces us with the issue of the lore and mechanics of “you have to go there first to install a clone” and basically “use a space ship”
when in fact we’ve had something staring at us in the face the whole time. Jump Technology.
in my mind the solution is simple, planets which war clones can jump to will have a sort of “jump dock” which would be a designated area where war clone pods simply jump to, like how a ship can jump from space to a cyno or from gate to gate. you implement a planet side aspect of this technology.
similar to a gate you go to a fixed location, which then allows you to jump to another planet.
warclones can have travel pods, to keep it fitting with the capsuleer lore and the idea of pods.
assuming war clones have an alpha and omega state much like the capsuleers already in game.
Alpha clones can jump from planet to planet, planet to moon or vica versa.
Omega clones can have a pod upgrade or a feature unlocked which allows them to jump to an already exisiting type of cyno beacon as well as to specific ship types.
on the ship type naturally players should be allowed to jump to a friendly warbarge, however out side of that i’m personally thinking capital ships or above, this way they can jump to rorquals in system, or to ships which have the tactical recloners as well as other ships such as titans.
this way within solar systems warclones have the ability to travel around on their own with basically no problem. but to go between solar systems my guess is that you need to be on a friendly warbarge
these Jump Pods will be free to warclones much like how corvettes are to capsuleers.
this simply handles the problem of how warclones can move around independantly without the assistance of capsuleers at least within a solar system.
it also solves the problem of how warclones can travel to friendly player ships independantly from planets and moons, perhaps there could be a modification to the exisiting ship hangers on board certain ships
“so what happens if i get a ride from another pilot and they get blown up?” i hear the serious people asking
well you as a warclone, would be in your pod, so instead of 1 pod spawn, it will be 2 or however many warclone pods you have stored in your ship.
the jump pods should be able to have an emergancy jump feature which will take them to the nearest planet or moon in such a situation, this way you could of still moved through your journey across solar systems and are now secure in a celestial jump dock.
I personally can see these jump pods having a form of re-enforced mode too, something very short just to prevent them being spam killed.
ships which have the ability to store pods should be able to lock onto targets and signal the war clones on board to “attack” a certain ship, which will deploy in space and such, causing ship raids and ship boarding, the war barge would be best for this, however i think with some slight tweeks this could seriously help bridge the gap between the two gaming demographics.
TLDR: give war clones tactical jump pods which allow them to jump between celestial bodies and friendly ships to allow them freedom to move within the solar system and resolve the problem of warclone movement from surface to space once and for all, allowing them to better intergrate into the EVE Online universe and be implemented as a literal form of mobile infantry to further battle across the universe for resources and politics. allowing warclones to need capsuleers to some extent but creating a larger demand for capsuleers to need warclones. finally granting the ability for warclones to battle inside a station while a fleelt fight rages outside of it.