Planetary Battle，Long-Range Battle，And More Elements For Sandbox--Three Inspirations to the gameplay designs of EVE

Communications Center General Discussion
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First of all, in the combat mode, I thought, why not add a planetary scramble mode, which can create some new Low-Earth-orbit-combat-ship, new ships and new weapons that can only be used in near-Earth space, and they can receive ground artillery fire and planetary long-range artillery support, and of course to link up even with Vanguard, which I dont know how how you can link them but still fun I thought.

And the second，in terms of the battle mode, I thought, why don’t EVE consider turning the battle mode into a big-voyage type, using long-range missiles, planetary defense bases, and defense circles at ultra-long distances outside the sight, and then using these common short-range common weapons at short range. Of course, I know that this issue has touched the bottom layer of the EVE combat system design, and it has affected the realism of the ship’s conventional speed and jump mechanics, which I think will need to be weighed by the CCP partners.

In the third part, I would like to discuss a question about the underlying purpose of this universe. The two most attractive parts of the EVE universe are the combat system and the big world–that means the sandbox, first of all, the combat system is a unique and interesting design, but unfortunately I think that the battle and the big world are currently unbalanced, and most of the big world game content such as social, industrial, transportation, commerce, scenery and even all aspects of the universe revolve around the battle, so everyone will say that EVE is a PVP game, but on the other hand, if you play according to the other sandbox gameplay elements more than the battle, you will find that the other parts are very boring, whether its backstory that is too short to experience, the lack of a first-person walking and planet landing modes, the lack of building and constructing gameplay and enough details, the lack of interactions and events of the NPCs in the universe, and so on. Actually there are many independent small games to refer to, such as X4, Elite Dangerous, Stellaris, No Man’s Sky, Space Engineer, and many other games-even though EVE is the ancestor of all these games, but of course I know that it is very difficult to combine these game content to one univers​e and maintain the combat system that is more specialized than all their other games like EVE–about which I must say that your peer company Star Citizens are still make pie in the sky, but perhaps this is your chance as well. If there is more details of the universe such as land walking and driving，house-living and gaming，in need of many other items and funny elements，the New Eden and it’s market trading will prosper a lot more，which is also the economics courses had told us，that the demand drives the market boom and the economic development，and more gameplay elements absolutely makes more demand.
From another point of view, I understand that CCP wants to create a universe full of both prosperity and peace with also conflicts cruelty and chaos, but even if add those more elements of the big world into a chaotic universe, it will be more realistic. Such as the huge increase in NPCs and cosmic disasters, enough cosmic events, these are all big world content, and if there are no enough big world events and content, only players fight with each other, The meaning created by the universe’s background worldview will pale - don’t forget that the reason it attracted so many fans at first is because of the universe worldview and background, but now it’s difficult to make a group guide through small events because there are fewer players, and now there’s almost only the ship fight reamaining–in several different parts of game content that everyone originally differently liked，and it should have been the best MMO stage of all time. In addition, if there are only players socializing with each other, the high combat specialization of the game content will contradict the game itself, because due to the regularity of the big world, players will definitely pursue the organization and stability of the union and merger, and the exquisite combat system will not be able to used again because of peace (and there is no matchmaking mode like many games), which is what happens slowly in New Eden now, and if you add NPC storms to guide everyone to fight, That’s equivalent to adding a background to the big world.

So I would suggest to enhance the non-combat gameplay elements subjects and events of the Cosmic Sandbox and NPC stories for the direction of a big world, as well as enhance huge amount of the guidance of combat events for the battle play, so that this stage can be active and shining every day.
There‘s some small suggestions that I’d like to tell， that is the stock trading and the financial system. And the common visual Space port for NPC station or player‘s structure，in which pilots could see their friends docking or undocking.

I think the EVE is not being asked to be a extramely realistic game，but I think there‘s absolutely still many interesting things that could be added into this universe.

At last，thanks CCP to creat a good game. Respect to all Science Fiction Creator！

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Why is it that every time someone asks for WIS to come back, they also want some form of gambling. I swear these people need serious, professional help…

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No, no gambling, I swear. And not only WIS, it’s more about building and constructing

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@Adubis_eVoyager it’s clear you have put a lot of thought into how to expand New Eden in some bold and exciting directions. That said, I think it’s important to step back and consider the practicalities behind some of these ideas and how they fit into EVE’s fundamental identity as an MMO.

–Planetary Combat, Orbital Defense, and Vanguard Integration
Ideas like low-orbit combat ships, ground artillery, and integration with Vanguard sound amazing on paper. But they would require not just a total overhaul of EVE’s engine and gameplay mechanics, but likely the creation of a whole other game entirely. EVE’s strength lies in its space-based, top-down strategic combat. Shifting focus toward planetary warfare and ground support systems would mean re-engineering everything from path-finding to UI to physics.

Vanguard may bring some connection to EVE eventually (as CCP has hinted), but it’ll likely be light-touch integration—maybe resource or reputation sharing, not full tactical cross play. And honestly, trying to tie two totally different genres together (FPS and strategic MMO) is something even the biggest studios struggle with.

–Expanding EVE into a “Big Voyage Universe” with Ultra-Long-Range Systems
Using planetary defense bases, missile warfare at vast ranges, and multiple combat “rings” sounds great but also runs into the core of EVE’s combat design philosophy. EVE is based around player engagement and tactical decisions in a shared space—not slow, RTS-like siege warfare at astronomical distances. Expanding range too far would dilute the player agency and fleet coordination that make battles in EVE so thrilling.

–Balancing the “Big World” Sandbox with Combat
You touched on a real point: EVE’s non-combat systems—industry, economy, social gameplay—do often feel like they’re orbiting around PvP. But this is by design. The sandbox thrives because of the tension between player-driven creation and destruction.

It’s true that games like X4 or Elite offer more immersion and exploration, but they’re single-player or instanced. EVE is built around a persistent world where actions ripple across the entire server. Adding things like walking on planets, house-building, or detailed NPC story lines would be fantastic—but would require development resources on the scale of Star Citizen, which still hasn’t delivered a finished product after a decade and hundreds of millions in funding.

And ironically, even if all those features were added, they might fragment the player base and weaken the thing that makes EVE unique: a living, breathing, player-driven universe focused on interaction and conflict.

–On Player Peace and Matchmaking
It’s true that peace between alliances can lead to stagnation, but that is part of the emergent gameplay. There’s no matchmaking because EVE isn’t meant to hand you a fight—it’s meant to let you go out and make your own. NPC incursions, Triglavians, and future Vanguard content might help stir things up, but ultimately it’s the players who write the story.

TL;DR: Your vision is inspiring, but a lot of it runs counter to what makes EVE tick. CCP has to walk a fine line between expanding the universe and preserving the systems that hold it together. But keep dreaming and maybe one day we’ll get that ultimate space sandbox… just maybe not all inside EVE Online.

Fly safe o7

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I have often wondered why they removed WIS ( walk in station ) from Eve Online. I wish they had made walk in ship for those long hauls. I don’t want to mess with 20 plus years of lore, just saying it would be nice. I don’t gamble that often in real life, a scratch off ticket now and then and a trip to the local casino once or twice a year. I don’t gamble online, so why should I start now?

Everyone has an idea of how any game they play can be made “better”. In fact, we play Monopoly by house rules. Why do you think there are so many varieties of Poker? It is human nature to want to alter the structure of the games we play and make them more fun from our perspective.

Have fun!

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CCP added WIS as a tech demo of their new third person gameplay engine that CCP was building for another game.

That other game was cancelled and CCP’s maintenance of it also stopped.

Eventually WIS required more and more maintenance from developers on a gameplay engine that wasn’t maintained and wasn’t up to date. CCP had the choice to put a significant amount of dev time in something that was nice but not relevant to spaceship gameplay, or use that same development time to improve the core gameplay of spaceships itself, the gameplay that we all play this game for.

CCP made the choice to remove the third person gameplay engine from EVE and focus on spaceships instead.

Had CCP continued making World of Darkness and that engine I bet we would have seen more of WIS in EVE.

I liked walking around in WIS, but I rarely ever used it and can see why it was dropped.

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You’re in a pod…

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In WiS, we used to get out of the POD in station. Would have taken a little bit of work to have similar animation. But, as mentioned by Gerard, World of Darkness was dropped.

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In space you are in your ship. In a pod. You are controlling that ship from your pod. If you are out and about walking around the ship, who is piloting it?

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Thanks for your enlightening and constructive reply. I have written a long reply continue to discuss more about these interesting things，but I thought it is still not very clear to tell，so I decide to send it after sometime，and also because it‘s already true enough of your reply.

o7 fly safe！

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@Adubis_eVoyager Thank you!
Fly Safe as well, Captain o7

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You stopped reading and completely ignored the next sentence. Have you seen a doctor for that short attention span? You’re so funny.

So they lost money putting it in the game and lost more money taking it out. Very typical of game companies to do that sort of thinking. They could have profited from selling items for your station apartment in the Plex store. I spent $15 just buying floor and wall coverings in Black Desert. You don’t even want to know how much I spend on furnishing.
:laughing:

Have fun!