EVE Blog Banter #8: Improved autopilot (IAP)
Welcome to the eighth installment of the EVE Blog Banter , the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux . The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here . Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!
This month’s topic comes to us from me, Ga’len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility. He asks: “What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe? Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a ‘nerf this, boost my game play’ post like we see on the EVE forums.”
I would like to see an improved Autopilot skill as a trainable item under the Navigation skill category.
Under the current system, autopilot, puts the ship about 15km from the warp gate adding minutes (depending on type of ship) of travel time to each hop. While arguments can be made on either side, any seasoned pilot will warp to zero to minimize jump time, chances of getting suicide ganked, instead of using autopilot the entire way.
As a trainable skill, make IAP, short for improved autopilot shorten this distance with level V being the equivalent of ‘warp to zero.’ Warping to zero while it improves your chances against getting suicide ganked, it is no guarantee as I can personal attest to. Capsuleers should be able to do something to protect themselves against that tactic and this would be a step in that direction.
EVE is a big place, I’ve heard it said that there is really no reason to travel from one end to the other as its all pretty much the same. IAP would help the explorer in all of us and make those 40+ jumps more bearable. I’ve only been in game since Feb and already keeping up with all my stuff is becoming a logicstical nightmare. I can only imagine the woe’s of veteren capsuleer of lugging their stuff around. While I may not plan from the onset a 40+ jump, having to make the same round trip several times is very fustrating to say the least.
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Nice idea — not likely to be implemented, but I like it.
How often do you need to warp 20 systems in Empire just to move some equipment around? I walk off for coffee and cookies and come back in an hour. But I'd rather play the game instead.
I am training Astrometric RangeFinding right now which is an (8) skill, so training it to Level 5 would take a good two months — so I assume if implemented "AutoPiloting" would be something of a similar caliber.