DUST 514 is an MMOFPS on the PlayStation 3 with large scale vehicle and infantry combat taking place in – and with a real time connection to – the EVE Online universe on PC. Players are able to band up into corporations (e.g. guilds) and wage territorial conquest on thousands of planets. Following is a thematic description of Mobile Command Centers, or MCC’s. At 200 meters length, these vehicles represent the largest, most powerful weapon a team can acquire, and are flown by a team’s commander. Often destruction of the MCC means victory on the battlefield. (We will give more insight into the game’s command hierarchy, the system that allows players to group up into squads that are led by a player commander, in a blog post soon). 

Colossal. Imposing. Devastating. Any of these words could describe the MCC, but only one truly sums it up : Control. The MCC is the nerve center of any army, the backbone upon which wars are waged and battles won. It is from here, locked within the confines of a modified hydrostatic pod, that the commander orchestrates the fate of those on the ground below. He does so having never set foot on the battlefield, but with the collective knowledge and situational awareness of every unit that has. If knowledge is power, it is the commander who wields it.

Heavily fortified and shielded, the destruction of an MCC is by no means an easy task, but not an impossible one. Only a sustained heavy weapons barrage is sufficient to disable the MCC’s shields and take down its armor. If the MCC does possess an Achilles heel, it is its dependence on fuel, without a constant supply of which, its turrets, critical systems and, most importantly, shields are worthless. Commanders would do well to be aware of any and all fuel sources in a given area and plan accordingly.