My Little Things I

Well, it’s been quite some time again, and I will skip talking about that. Let’s just say I’ve been very busy.

Aaaanyway, recently CCP Sisyphus and some of the other CCPers asked for ideas on things not easily accessible in EVE’s current UI. So I suggested three little things, I’d really like to see implemented in the game. Sometimes it’s hard to express yourself within 140 characters or less (unless you’re Asian), so here are my ideas again – this time in a visually more appealing way. What do you think?

Colored stargate icons

How about color coding stargate icons to make it a lot easier to see “oh, there it’s going to low sec!” if you’re just travelling around (e.g. to do some exploration)?

I know these system’s aren’t low/null sec, but I wanted to show off the coloring.

Colored targeting animation

Well, this is more or less just some added “fluff” but it could make it easier to distinguish your current target if friends and foes are close to each other. You could check your targets on the top, but you might be losing time already. The color would be based on your overview (essentially using your overview’s background/highlight color).

Left: Targeting some fleet member (yes, faked). Right: Targeting some enemy.

Easier accessible weapon range information

Well, sorry, no picture here. I didn’t bother trying to modify/fake some tooltip while trying to keep it looking good. Essentially, I’d just add the optimal/falloff ranges of turrets/launchers (or more specific: their ammo) into their (already existing) tooltips. Actually, while thinking about it, having their ranges written right below the buttons (optional/switchable) would be nice to have as well! Just something simple like “800m/67km” in latter case. Hm…

Eve on Android

I finally got my shiny new tablet. Please don’t gank it, there’s no faction stuff in there. I’d love to play Eve Online on this baby (could be neat with multi touch and stuff), but I guess this won’t happen any time soon. It can be done using some kind of streaming or remote desktop client, but let’s be honest, that’s still not quite the same.

So, for now, I’ll have to limit myself on utility apps to support or augment my Eve experience. A quick look on the official Android Market revealed several apps, with many offering an overlapping feature set. So I thought it could be a good idea to post my experience here. The following lines are of course my opinion only, and you should just make your own, if you’re interested to test these little helpers.

The following list just represents the order the market app listed the apps for me. This isn’t sorted at all (other than putting the skipped apps to the bottom). The screenshots are taken on Ice Cream Sandwich (Android 4.0.3) running at 1280x800, so if you’re using an older version or a smaller screen, stuff might look a bit different.

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Wonderful: The Eve of the Maelstrom

Are you sick of rehashed (EVE) trailers just with new music being added? I am. Although there are some noble exceptions to this. In particular, I’m talking about this really nice piece of art CCP Manifest tweeted about.

There’s nothing more to say, just watch and enjoy.

The Eve of the Maelstrom (make sure to vote and comment the video on YouTube!)

Too bad the author/uploader didn’t post any EVE name or whatever. Nothing to be ashamed of. I’d even consider this one being of the best player made trailers for the game, ignoring the fact most footage is from official CCP trailers. It’s sitting there for half a year, only about 500 views so far!? Get this guy (or girl?) and their work some more attention!

New: The EVE Super Bar!

Two posts a day, what a good reboot! But now back to topic – and just to make sure you’ve got your expectations right: I’m not talking about Incarna and this isn’t something about some awesome super special establishment serving alcohol, boosters and other stuff. It’s about the NeoCom bar you might love or hate, depending on your play style – or more specific, it’s future incarnation (oh, look, still some “Incarna”!).

After some rumors about renamed missiles (to bring their names more in line) I patched my SiSi installation just to find the names unchanged (or I looked at the wrong names). But I found something different the second I logged in. The NeoCom bar (the button bar on the left corner of the screen you might know under a different name) changed.

What appears to be a simple cosmetic change is in fact a lot more than I expected at first. The buttons got an updated look, yes, but there’s also a lot more hidden functionality behind them. If you’re running Windows 7 or you’ve used it in the past, you’ll feel right at home. It’s almost everything there. I just couldn’t find pinning yet, but there’s a neat replacement for that. Anyway, let’s start: Here’s a short overview.

• If you open a new window, the window will minimize to its associated button. If there’s no button (e.g. the for the web browser), then a new button appears on the bottom.
• Buttons for undocking, Items and Ships (inside stations) will appear on the bottom left of the screen (just above the calendar).
• You’re able to drag & drop icons to sort them the way you’d like to.
• It’s possible to remove almost any button by right clicking it and accessing its associated context menu. Once it’s gone, you’re able to add it again dragging the entry from the EVE Menu (see below).
• There’s a new button for the chat channels on the top, allowing you to navigate to the channels you’ve opened.
• Right below your avatar image is a small bar showing you your current skill training progress (relative to the skill points required for next level). Clicking on it opens your skill queue.
• The topmost button (above your avatar image) is the new “EVE Menu” hosting all possible options, from basic links pointing to the character window, over the certificate planer to all kind of ship and help related stuff you might have seen before in the NeoCom bar. This works a lot like Windows’ Start Menu. Similar to the Start Menu there’s also a sub folder containing all your web browser bookmarks.
  
• To allow more organisation, it’s possible to add new button groups to the bar using its context menu. That way you can create your own groups, if you’re lacking screen space or you simply love organizing stuff into folders, categories and the like. How about creating a “Missioning” or “Production” button having all the links to your favorite sites for that particular topic? Update: It seems like you can’t drag and drop browser bookmarks yet. Hope they’ll add that soon!
• Even more? I’m not sure. Tell me, if you’ve found something I didn’t mention already. I’m curious to see what other things they added without telling us in advance (or did I miss something?)!

I don’t know when these changes go live, but I’m really looking forward to see them on Tranquility, too. Finally I’m able to remove all those buttons I never use anyway, while granting the more often used buttons a more prominent position. This is going to be awesome.

Also, just to mention it. There are some more UI changes, like obviously some new “compact mode” for the user list in chat windows. Dsan got a screenshot on his blog, but I couldn’t get it working or reproduce it. Although, to be honest, I was far too excited toying around with the new button bar, to look for such a new option.

Update: After looking through the official forum, I noticed a discussion thread with a short introduction to the new Ui stuff (well, it’s mentioned). Although there aren’t any immediate screenshots, there are some developer responses to concerns and thoughts. I suggest you participate there, if you’re unhappy with some particular design decision or anything else regarding the new bar.

Update 2: There’s an official Dev Blog out now.

A Late View Back to 2011, hello 2012 – Awesome Things to Come!?

Wow, time runs fast, even though I’m not that much sunken into EVE these months. I once again somehow missed writing any blog entries and I completely forgot about checking into the EVE forums too. At least I’ve been able to keep my skill queue filled.

So, another year passed, my first full year of playing EVE. I don’t think it’s really reasonable to reiterate over everything that happened to EVE last year. Incursions, Incarna, Monoclegate, Crucible,… I don’t think you forgot about the ups and downs that changed a small big video game universe and the people creating, maintaining and expanding it.

Skill wise I had my ups and downs, too. I finished (okay, nearly finished…) my Orca skills, switched to combat focused skills, obtained the skills to fly Strategic Cruisers, T2 Cruisers, Battleships, etc.; I flew my first Incursions; unlocked more hulls and now I’m back at where I started. I don’t know what to skill next. I’ll probably round up my Leadership skills and finally finish those Core Integrity Elite stuff I always tried to avoid so far.

But the really interesting part that got me into writing this blog post today was something I just read on Massively: EVE Evolved: Development on EVE in 2012. There’s no “TL;DR; section” and there aren’t that many details released, however the few notes are very interesting and once again let me anticipate every single Dev Blog posted on the official site. Here’s a short rundown:

• “Will focus on territorial warfare and preparing to tie EVE wars into DUST.”
  Okay, that point was quite obvious and expected. If they’re going to release DUST 514 this year, they’ll have to add the tie-in/integration some time and also introduce it story wise. Territorial warfare isn’t my kind of thing really, but maybe these changes might make it more interesting for me… Guess I’ll have to wait and see here.
• “Wormholes and incursions will both get some love.”
  Okay, so I guess they’ll adjust them a bit, to make Vanguards less rewarding and Assaults more interesting? Haven’t participated in any Incursions for a while, but I don’t think the basics changed so far.
• “EVE web developers have also been giving serious consideration to web and mobile apps that allow players to modify market orders, set skill training, or chat with players in-game.”
  Now, that sounds nice! I can’t count the number of times I logged into the game while working or late in the night, just to put the next skill into my skill queue or to answer an EVE Mail (well, before EVE Gate was introduced). Expanding here sounds really nice, I hope they’ll open up some of that “write access” to tools like EVEMon, too.
• “The CSM was shown new models for the rookie ships new players start in and some apparently very impressive new Battlestar Galactica style graphical effects. Mark hinted that the art department showed off new graphics that literally made his jaw drop, but he was bound by NDA not to reveal any details.”
  Okay … that’s a massive quote, but it made my jaw drop, too. Well, obviously I didn’t see anything yet either (damn!), but now my expectations are set. I remember watching the complete series for the first time and there are those few battles, where you literally see Cylon base stars shatter into thousands of pieces while hundreds of small missiles crush into their flanks, leaving smoke trails, explosions, tons of debris and dust, etc. I remember talking to myself: “Wow, that’s how EVE should be.” And just in case you didn’t notice, we’re not talking about the old classic series from ‘78. Just making sure…

Why is “soon” always that long? I want those screenshots, videos and concept arts now. But on the other hand, having them now would mean waiting even longer while knowing what’s coming. Well, I guess I’ll just throw in one of my BSG DVDs and watch spaceships fight and explode in awesome ways that way…

Excited – Can’t Wait!

Wow, long time no writing. Long time no EVE for me. But to be honest, I have to admit, despite Battlefield 3 and Skyrim both waiting for my spare time, I’m really anticipating Crucible’s release today. It’s almost there, my patcher is patching, my skill queue is filled (just in case) and I’m so eager to play!

It’s been some time since I wanted to get into EVE Online. Over the past weeks I’ve been busy in other games and with work stuff, I didn’t feel like playing any EVE other than adjusting my skill training queue. But now? There are going to be the new nebulae, the engine trails (Hah! I’ve been right after all?!), love for exploration sites (always hated signatures with almost no loot in them), and lots of other stuff. I don’t think should have to link the feature page here, most will most likely know it already.

What will I do once it’s up? I don’t really know. I don’t expect any of the new Battlecruisers to be available right off the start and I don’t feel like grabbing a blueprint original, just to create one for testing. So most likely I might start off doing some exploration or incursions. Or I run some missions? Maybe I’ll just fly around for a while and look at the new backgrounds. I’ve seen some on Singularity, but I guess there are far more, even for high-sec only.

But the worst part of all, I’m patching, the server’s aren’t up yet and I’m done with work (for now). Back to waiting, almost like waiting for some new game to hit release time… Love and hate in… tranquility while waiting for Tranquility?

Speechless (and busy)

Well, okay, I’ve dropped the blog for a while. Mainly due to being rather busy with work related stuff, the (now ended) Battlefield 3 Beta, some real life stuff, etc. Well, I guess you get it (in case you’re interested at all).

Anyway, back to EVE. Over the last few weeks I wasted my skill time obtaining the prerequisites to the Tier 2 versions of Large Projectile Turrets, specifically Autocannons. There are only 3 more days to go and this new information regarding the winter expansions made me happy I finally did it.

To explain this a bit more, I’ve always been a fan of smaller crafts in EVE, specifically Cruisers and Battlecruisers. This has been one of the reasons they became the first T2 ships I’ve been able to fly (except Covert Ops). However they definitely lack the firepower for some Level 4 missions which finally got me into obtaining my own Machariel. Then I finally got myself into training for Large Autocannon Specialization to maximize my damage output even a bit more…

And now the joy… they announced the new ships going to be released this winter will be Battlecruisers, T3 Battlecruisers to be specific. Hooray! Wait? Did I just waste weeks improving my Large Projectile Weapon skills just to get excited about a new medium hull? Well, no, and that’s the part that sounds really interesting. According to CCP Guard, the new ships will indeed feature oversized weapons – specifically large weapons on a medium hull. This is something hinted at earlier with some forum discussion going on about the Tornado introducing a new Battleship class featuring capital turrets as oversized weapons. This isn’t exactly the same, but to be honest, I like it even more.

Despite the fact I haven’t had lots of time for EVE over the last weeks, I’m really excited and can’t wait for the winter expansion. I looked forward to establishments, but new spaceships? I’ll take that any time as long as they’re of any use to me and I like their job/design – which is the case here. Although I have to admit, I’d like to see some redesigns of older ships (I’m looking at you, Tempest!) as well.