Greetings New Eden! In response to the Quantum Cores update, I’ve decided to bring the conversation of Small Upwells back to the table. Just some quick background: I’ve been playing EVE since 2009, have done lowsec piracy/FW, lived in NPC null as well as sov null, and have done small and micro gang WH stuff for the past 6 years. I’m in a small/tiny corp.
Since these quantum cores will make it harder for entry-level projects on small or new corps, a Small Upwell is in order. Such a structure has been hinted at in the past by CCP in Keynotes. Enter the Player Forward Operating Base! Perhaps we’ll call it the Corporate Depot instead, though I’m sure the clever engineers in the Upwell Consortium/CCP will think of an appropriate name for it.
What would a Player FOB do that our current smallest structures, an Astrahus or Raitaru, doesn’t? Well to start with, they should be cheaper and more expendable after the Quantum Core changes, but also less defensible and with far fewer features. Here’s what I had in mind:
*Standard tether functionality
*Standard anchoring timers, vulnerability windows, and unanchor times (for consistency and counter-attacks)
*Either no reinforcement timers or a single, 24 hour reinforcement window when Armor is depleted. These are sticks in the sand, not sandcastles.
*Small personal item hangar space (1,000 m3 to 2,000 m3), similar to an expanded depot
*Small corp Ship Maintenance Array, able to hold 5 or so Medium hulls or a wider array of smaller ships. Shared space prevents storing extra ships on many alts.
*No or limited docking; the Corp SMA will store ships. Personal hangar spaces in docks open up the possibility of easy infinite storage space, which is to be avoided in such a small structure.
*No service modules. These are not intended for industry or as a large main base.
*No damage caps, as these are not bulwarks and should be more easily destructible than Mediums.
*No fittings similar to the FLEX structures. Fuel costs low but upkeep still required, 45 blocks per day (25% the fuel cost of a basic Astrahus).
*No Access Lists to prevent owner-swapping abuse; this is intended for a single corp (and possibly its alliance), and can only host a smaller number of players. Subject to wardecs like any other structure (Idea courtesy of Salt Foambreaker)
Specifics of course are always up for discussion. These should not be difficult to deploy, nor difficult to destroy. A volume of 5,000 m3 would make them fit in a T1 industrial. These could also be carried into Shattered Wormhole systems through small-mass holes with a Porpoise fleet hangar. They would ideally cost about as much materials as their role equivalent, the Small POS (around 250 million ISK in today’s currency).
For the smaller corps out there like my own, these would be good for nomadic wormhole life. For the newer groups, these are far more accessible in cost and less of a serious investment than Quantum Core Upwells. For bigger groups or veteran players, these would take the place of the Small POS as a siege or daytripping tower.
The basic idea is to provide a small living area for nomads, small corps, and moving military groups. They would be fairly cheap and accessible, but also very quick to burn if not they’re defended. The lack of functionality outside of tether and limited storage discourages spamming them, but their vulnerability makes them easy to remove if they’re being spammed.