Dear Fans,

You have asked for in-game footage of DUST 514 and we have listened! You can now checkout the latest in-game footage of DUST 514 at ….

Dear Fans,

You have asked for in-game footage of DUST 514 and we have listened! You can now checkout the latest in-game footage of DUST 514 at http://us.playstation.com/games-and-media/shows-and-tv-series/pulse/episode/pulse-1-17-edition.htmlwhere DUST 514 is featured in the latest episode of SONY PULSE! Watch DUST 514 mercenaries battle HAV, dropships and each other all from within the EVE Online servers!

For months we have observed as fans asked for a Beta date on DUST 514, our PlayStation® 3 exclusive persistent shooter. During that time the DUST 514 team has worked busily on the game, preparing for the moment when the first inhabitants of New Eden descend from the skies to the planets below.

That time is now.

It is with great joy that I can now officially announce that registration for DUST 514: Mordu’s Private Trials, our gated access beta test, has finally begun!

For now, registration is available exclusively to active subscribers of EVE Online who will join the pool of participants that we will be using to allow entry into early testing and special events for DUST 514. Registration for Mordu’s Private Trials does not guarantee entry, but as an active EVE subscriber, you are the first to have access to sign up for the closed beta.

We’re hugely excited to be able to extend this exclusive opportunity to our player community.

Don’t miss out on your chance to take part in this historic moment, sign up now! I will see you on the battlefields of New Eden soon.

How do you build a better warrior? Militaries have tried for centuries to answer that question, but you’ll be able to figure it out for yourself when DUST 514 launches next year. Infantry dropsuits are designed to protect and sustain the wearer in even the harshest environments.

Different dropsuits offer specific bonuses to speed, mobility, defense and configurability. Like starships and planetary vehicles, dropsuits come in a variety of shapes and sizes, each with a unique slot configuration and powergrid (PG) and CPU that inform the decisions you make when customizing your chosen dropsuit.

The number and type of slots determine the modules (interchangeable hardware components that enhance or otherwise alter the functionality of the dropsuit), weapons, and equipment you can fit. The slot types available on dropsuits are as follows:

·        Light

·        Heavy

·        Sidearm

·        High

·        Low

·        Equipment

·        Grenade

The threeweapon slots – Light, Heavy, and Sidearm – cascade. That is, a Heavy slot can be fitted with a Sidearm, Light or Heavy weapon and, similarly, a Light slot can be fitted with a Light or Sidearm weapon. The high and low slots are module slots, each used for particular types of modules. Equipment slots allow the dropsuit to carry deployable or handheld equipment such as scanners, nanohives, drop uplinks, repair tools and more that will be covered in a future blog.

Lastly, grenade slots determine the capacity (i.e. how many you can carry) of the grenade types – Locus, AV, EMP – fitted.

The intrinsic benefits of your chosen suit define, in part, the type of role you wish to fulfill on the battlefield but ultimately it’s how you choose to fit the suit that determines what it is capable of. Do you play to its strengths or do you surprise the enemy with an unconventional, risky fit? The choice is yours.

Dropsuits are classified as Standard, Advanced, and Prototype, each requiring specific skills to be trained before they can be used. Today, we’re going to take a look at two standard dropsuits: the Assault and Heavy.

Caldari Assault

The Caldari dropsuit design and aesthetic philosophy is heavily influenced by the culture’s origins on brutally frigid home worlds, dismissing stylistic notions in exchange for the ruthless, bare-minimum functionality requirements needed to keep a soldier alive.  As such, the Caldari suit is notoriously uncomfortable and outright ungainly in some instances, yet remains in high demand due to its remarkable resilience in smart battlefields.

Standard Assault

The Assault dropsuit is a versatile frontline combat suit that combines excellent protection, good mobility, and sufficient equipment hard points for mission-specific customizations.

A flat-coil e5000 fifth generation fusion core runs up the inside of the back plate, powering the entire suit. Its output and heat buildup are controlled by a L2 “Gatekeeper” regulator conduit, which connects directly to the sensor system at the base of the neck. Every joint is reinforced with kinetic sensors and two-way, high torque servos to enhance the soldier’s strength, balance, and resistance to impact forces. The suit’s helmet has more integrated sensor, communication, targeting, and data processing systems than most civilian vehicles. Furthermore, every armor plate on the suit is energized to absorb the force of incoming plasma-based projectiles, neutralizing their ionization and reducing thermal damage.

Assault dropsuits are intended for standard combat operations or those in which the objectives are likely to change at a moment’s notice. Its ability to carry anything from small arms and explosives to heavy anti-vehicle munitions and deployable support gear makes it the most adaptable suit on the battlefield.

PG:30

CPU:150

Armor:175

Shield:125

Light:1

Heavy: 0

Sidearm: 1

High:  2

Low: 2

Equipment:1

Grenade: Small

Amarr Heavy

The look of this Amarrian suit has changed little since it was first created, due largely to the commonly held belief that its original form is immaculate; the perfect amalgam of science and religion. Aesthetics are as important as function, because to the Amarr, aesthetics are function. Enshrined within the armor, the wearer becomes a vessel, the embodiment of God’s will and an instrument of holy wrath, unmistakable, and feared, by all who look upon him. To the Amarr, the dropsuit itself is the weapon.

Standard Heavy

The Heavy dropsuit is a second-generation solution designed to withstand concentrated small arms fire and protect the wearer from the concussive, thermal, and impact forces of low-grade explosives. Additionally, its power-assisted exoskeleton facilitates usage of the heaviest caliber personal weapons.

Every vital area of the wearer is protected by 25mm composite ceramic shell or high tensile steel plates, layered with impact absorbing, compressed carbon latticework. A secondary thermal dispersion membrane channels excess heat away from the point of contact, distributing it over a larger surface area and thereby lessening the potential damage. Superconductive veins of hybrid silver coat the outer layers and connect every piece of the armor to a grounding heat sink, dampening the harmful effects of direct fire electromagnetic weaponry.

Heavy dropsuits lack the mobility of lighter suits, but this trade-off results in a defensive system that defies standard infantry conventions. No other classification of personal armor can claim to be able to stand toe-to-toe with enemy vehicles and survive.

PG:36

CPU:180

Armor:800

Shield:100

Light:0

Heavy: 1

Sidearm: 1

High: 2

Low: 1

Equipment:0

Grenade: Large

Even with just these two dropsuits, we can already see battlefield tactics starting to take shape. The Heavy can withstand a lot of punishment, but it has no equipment slots. Pairing it with another dropsuit capable of dropping ammunition replenishing nanohives or repairing from a distance will substantially increase the effectiveness of the Heavy. Alone, a Heavy could easily be outnumbered and outmaneuvered, but surrounded by allied Assault dropsuits it becomes a tank in every sense of the word, soaking up damage while the rest of the squad picks off the enemy.

Although formidable, the Heavy and Assault suits represent only one aspect of the battlefield eco-system. Sheer firepower will only get you so far. A smart squad will utilize the force multiplying support of the Logistics suit; the recon and electronic warfare specialties of the Scout; and all the modules and equipment they have at their disposal to become an unstoppable force. After all, one should never underestimate the value of a well-placed EMP grenade.

The handheld weapons are a key part of any MMOFPS and DUST 514 is no exception.  There were a few things that were very important to us.

Firstly, we wanted to avoid the feeling of “Vietnam in space” that you sometimes see in sci-fi games. The goal was to create weapons that had recognizable roles but used more advanced technologies than the equivalent weapons of today. The power of these guns would tear apart a modern day battlefield.

The handheld weapons are a key part of any MMOFPS and DUST 514 is no exception.  There were a few things that were very important to us.

Firstly, we wanted to avoid the feeling of “Vietnam in space” that you sometimes see in sci-fi games. The goal was to create weapons that had recognizable roles but used more advanced technologies than the equivalent weapons of today. The power of these guns would tear apart a modern day battlefield. In DUST 514 the only way your mercenary can survive the power of these weapons is due to the advanced shielding and armor of the dropsuits they wear. Without them, simply firing these weapons would severely injure or even kill you!

Secondly, it was important to us that the weapons felt like a natural part of the EVE universe. In the same way that the ships in EVE have distinct racial designs andspecialities, the weapons of DUST 514 had to encapsulate the values and technology of the race that created them. The ruthless efficiency of the Caldari, the progressive aesthetics of the Gallente, the resilience and resourcefulness of the Minmatar as well as the proud arrogance of the Amarr Empire. All of this had to be communicated through the design of the weaponry; the different styles should be evident when you look at the three examples below.

What we didn’t want to do though, was to limit players to the use of one racial type. After all, you are a mercenary, so you use what works best for the job at hand. This way players are able to use a variety of different weapons to find what suits them best, regardless of its origin. Players are able to use different classes of weapon in different load outs so that they can make meaningful tactical choices and can respond to changing situations on the field of battle. There are three basic weapon classes, light, heavy and sidearm, and here we’re going to take a look at some of the weapons in these classes.

Light Weapons

Light weapons are probably the most common on the battlefield and for many players the light class will be their primary offensive weapon. The Gallente G75-VLB Plasma Assault Rifle is the perfect example of this. A solid all-purpose weapon, effective at short to medium ranges it is very flexible and comes in a number of variants: standard, breach, tactical and specialist. This allows the player to select the style that best suits them: trading fully automatic fire for targeted bursts, and lower rates of fire for increased accuracy over range amongst a variety of other benefits and trade-offs.

Gallente G75-VLB Assault Rifle

Conceived by Duvolle Laboratories, a corporation best known for its ceaseless R&D, the G75-VLB solves many of the problems inherent in mass-manufactured plasma weapons. The result is a weapon that offers improved accuracy and greater containment field stability (which equates to faster, longer bursts of fire) than anything in its class.

It is a magazine-fed, short-to-mid range weapon offering fully automatic fire. Charged plasma munitions are pumped into a cyclotron that converts the plasma into a highly lethal bolt before it is expelled from the chamber. Upon impact with the target, the magnetic field surrounding the bolt collapses, venting superheated plasma onto the contact point.

Specifications

Designation:                        G75-VLB

Variant:                                 Standard

Length:                                 98cm

Weight (loaded):                 6.2kg

Weight (unloaded):            5.8kg

Max. effective range:          55m

Ammunition:                      Charged plasma slug

Heavy Weapons

Heavy Weapons are a different animal altogether. They can only be wielded by those skilled enough to use heavy dropsuits which immediately makes them a more specialized choice. They also tend to utilize a high amount of dropsuit power grid and CPU systems making them unsuitable if you favor a more “generalist” approach to your weapon and equipment load out. They are however devastating in the right hands. Nowhere is this more evident than in the DCMA S-1 Forge Gun. This Caldari built ordnance is an incredibly powerful anti-material weapon with only one purpose, engaging and destroying hostile Heavy Attack Vehicles, a job at which it excels.

Caldari DCMA S-1 Forge Gun

Adapted from Deep Core Mining Inc.’s proprietary technology, the DCMA S-1 subverts conventional expectations of what a man-portable anti-material weapons platform is capable of. Despite its excessive weight and extended recharge times, the “Forge Gun” as it has become known, is regarded as the most devastating infantry weapon on the battlefield, and an invaluable tool for those capable of wielding it.

Powered by a Gemini™ microcapacitor, the Forge Gun utilizes a stored electric charge to fire kinetic slugs at speeds in excess of 7,000 m/s, enough to penetrate even augmented armor systems. During the pre-fire charge, the forward armature locks into position, stabilizing the magnetic field and helping to shield the user from backscatter and the excessive heat produced. Power generation remains the single largest drawback of the current design, the onboard capacitor requiring a significant amount of time to reach full power after each discharge.

Specifications

Designation:                       DCMA S-1

Variant:                                Standard

Length:                               135cm

Weight (loaded):               58.4kg

Weight (unloaded):          55.1kg

Max. effective range:        1,200m

Ammunition:                      Solid-state

Sidearms

Lastly, we have the sidearm class. Don’t be fooled by their size, these are very dangerous weapons in the right hands. Often used as a backup weapon by frontline assault troops they really come in to their own when providing a close range infantry combat solution for players in highly specialized roles (such as those using a Forge Gun). A favorite amongst these is the CAR-9 Scrambler pistol. This Amarr weapon, whilst hindered by a low ammunition count, is extremely high on power. Accurate shots with the CAR-9 will tear through shields and armor. It is particularly effective when striking the head due to its high damage output and the thinner armor plating in that area. This last point makes it a particularly popular choice for highly skilled players.

Amarr CAR-9 Scrambler Pistol

The Scrambler is a semi-automatic pistol originally designed and manufactured by Carthum Conglomerate. A small-scale directed energy weapon, the CAR-9 produces a laser-induced plasma channel capable of dealing short-range pin-point damage to a target.

Power consumption is excessive, but The CAR-9 addresses this via a rear-loaded fuel cell, allowing cells to be exchanged quickly and easily once exhausted. Moreover, advances in the polymers used in the weapon’s construction have greatly reduced heat build-up and improved heat dissipation, resulting in improved reliability over earlier modules.

Specifications

Designation:                       CAR-9

Variant:                                Standard

Length:                                25cm

Weight (loaded):               1.8kg

Weight (unloaded):          1.7kg

Max. effective range:        40m

Ammunition:                     Energy fuel cell

Vehicle classes in DUST 514 resemble some modern day battlefield armored vehicles but are more menacing, and multitudes more lethal, coupled with the ability to further customize the vehicles with weapons and modules ensures a highly dynamic as well as constantly evolving game-play, where no single vehicle can impose absolute supremacy. The ultimate goal is to create an experience where players make meaningful choices when deploying vehicles based on their surroundings and situations.

Customization

Vehicles are highly customizable; these units can be fitted with a broad arsenal of armaments, bolstered by modules that can be installed to apply bonuses and abilities to further enhance a vehicle’s combat effectiveness.

Players will be able to choose arms from all the familiar EVE weapon classes, from energy-based laser weapons, blaster and rail cannon hybrid technology, to traditional projectile and missile weaponry. Each of these weapon types are divided over racial factions, having an affinity towards vehicle hulls from similar origins. Vehicles like the Caldari heavy attack Vehicle (HAV) for example, are well suited towards using technologies embraced by the Caldari, such as their powerful armor-rupturing railgun cannons. This is not to say that this is the de facto weapon choice for the Caldari HAV. Players will have to weigh out their combat strategy, determining what style of weapon will appeal to their play style and the demands to be met for battle at hand.  If there is a perceived aerial threat, players may choose to swap out their main turret mount for a large bank of guided heavy missiles to pluck their enemy’s dropships from the sky.

Add to this the power of vehicle modules onboard, a carefully tailored vehicle can truly be a force to be reckoned with. Modules tend to fall under many umbrellas: electronic warfare, weapons modules, and engineering, just to name a few. Engineering modules enable players to enhance essential functionality of their vehicle by increasing armor strength, increasing shield resilience, or improving overall speed and handling. Weapons modules and electronic warfare modules take on another dimension of utility. Weapons modules can outwardly boost the power of a vehicle’s turrets by increasing the rate of fire or damage factor per shot.  Electronic warfare class modules enable players to immobilize unsuspecting targets with stasis webifiers, cripple enemy turrets with tracking disruptors, or enhance guided missile lethality on target-painted hostiles.

The modularity of these types of equipment allows players to create custom functionality across all vehicle classes simply by installing modules into a vehicle’s allotted number of slots on a vehicle fitting screen. The combined CPU and powergrid cost of all modules weighed against each vehicle’s unique CPU and powergrid resource pool determines the diversity and potency of its fit. This versatile system gives a player the ability to fit for specific tactics or purposes, putting as much creativity into the hands of the player as possible.

Importance of the Rapid Deployment Vehicle (RDV) 

Vehicles can be delivered to any location on the battlefield accessible to the Rapid Deployment Vehicle (RDV). This allows players to analyze their current situation, evaluate their resources as well as their chance of success, and deploy vehicles and/or aerial units accordingly at any given time. Whether to deploy a heavy attack vehicle (HAV) to break through a tough defense point or a dropship to deliver infantry behind enemy lines to and wreak havoc is all up to the players, their strategy and current goals.

Role of vehicles on the battlefield

Vehicles play a large role on the battlefield and are a significant threat to the opposition. The heavily armored units use long range, heavy, concussive attacks while lighter units utilize their speed and flexibility. Aerial vehicles on the other hand are great for laying down fire from above; their vantage point over the battlefield also puts them in a good position to provide vital support functions for armored units. Each vehicle will have its own set of unique bonuses or abilities allowing them to turn the tide in battle. Many of these abilities are of a supportive nature, allowing different types of vehicles to team up to create even more unique roles between classes.

Vehicles and Infantry have a symbiotic relationship on the battlefield, and will rely on each other in many situations.

Fully utilizing the offensive capabilities of most vehicles requires the turrets to be manned. Players can spawn directly into vehicles equipped with clone reactivation units, allowing them to get into the midst of battle within seconds after dying. Infantry can be dropped off by aerial units to vantage points not reachable by foot, or they can hitch a ride with light vehicles to cross the vast terrains in a speedy manner. Vehicles also provide support in taking objectives, laying down suppressive fire, holding back the enemy, while infantry move in to take control of objectives.

In a similar way Infantry supports vehicles by scouting and setting up traps. Infantry can utilize stasis webification bubbles, target painters and other tools that disable or temporarily make enemy vehicles and installations open to attack.

Vehicle sneak peak

LAVs are highly versatile light armor attack vehicles with a crew capacity of up to three squad members. They are capable of stacking a wide array of lightweight modules in a single configuration, which allows them to assume a very dynamic support role on the battlefield. As an offensive unit they find strength in numbers, often found amongst a group of other LAVs at the front line of battle. Their high degree of mobility and relatively low cost make them a very common, favored anti-infantry unit amongst many mercenary contingents. However, the driver of an LAV needs to persistently be aware of how exposed his crew is to enemy fire and react appropriately so as to avoid having himself and his fellow crew mates picked off before they can land the first punch.

The Gallente light logistics vehicle (LLV) is designed specifically as an infantry armor augmenter, providing  infantry on the front lines with emergency repairs in the heat of battle. Due to its lightweight advanced armor coating, the LLV is quite tough compared to its light vehicle siblings. It feels nimble and is able to traverse multiple terrain types with ease. Although the LLV is mostly focused on support, it is mounted with a weapon hardpoint allowing it to fend off enemy infantry.

The heavy attack vehicle (HAV) class has a great combination of weapon hard-points, thick armor, and all-terrain mobility. Their role on the battlefield is to provide heavily armed support at a mid- to long- range distance, assisting lightly armored units as well as infantry. Depending on the type of main turret equipped, an HAV can relinquish its ground-pounding power for an anti-air focus.

Their thick armor enables HAVs to sustain a heavy degree of damage, giving them great staying power to endure extended combat engagement. Their competency on rough terrain allows the driver to place the HAV in tactically advantageous positions to close the trap on the enemy, or to alternatively scale challenging geographical obstacles that would otherwise inhibit less off-road capable units.

The dropship’s function is to support ground units by laying down fire from its two small turret hardpoints, and dropping off infantry reinforcements. It is one of the most maneuverable vehicles capable of hover flight. This allows it to quickly insert fresh infantry into a combat area with great efficiency, as well as afford it the maneuverability to effectively fall back and lay direct fire from an aerial support position. The Gunnlogi has a built in mobile clone reactivation unit, allowing infantry to awaken strapped in and ready to be dropped into combat by the pilot, anywhere on the battlefield.

A Sky Lift-class RDV delivering a vehicle.

DUST 514 is an MMOFPS on the PS3 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 Rapid Deployment Vehicles, or RDVs. The RDVs deliver vehicles to players on the battlefield, provided that they own the vehicle’s blueprint, and are skilled for its operation. The RDVs are AI driven, with a robust path finding system that allows them to deploy anywhere on even the largest battlefields. (We will give more insight into the game’s vehicle mechanics in a blog post soon.)

Shrouded in advanced optical stealth and guided by automated networked navigation systems, the J42 “Sky Lift” RDV (Rapid Deployment Vehicle) drone is able to deliver even the heaviest armor, with pinpoint accuracy, anywhere on the battlefield.  The proliferation of this invaluable tech has changed the face of ground warfare in the EVE universe, giving front-line commanders the ability to strike enemy positions with little warning or reinforce vulnerable points at a moment’s notice.

Originally designed for industrial transportation by Outer Ring Excavations (ORE), the Sky Lift was repurposed for combat missions with a few key alterations. Firstly, the engines underwent a massive upgrade, from aftermarket conventional jet turbines to the latest F/4 Ionized Plasma Forges. The extra thrust they provide compensates for the increased weight of the fuselage, which is augmented with 25mm radar absorbing armor plates. Without crew, the cockpit area has been redesigned with Tech 2 drone hardware, a multi-spectrum geospatial avionics system, and a state-of-the-art Phantom-65 stealth field controller.

One key feature that was completely unchanged, however, is the “Magnetar” lift system. This retractable electromagnetic crane is powered by the Sky Lift’s main reactor but also has an integrated backup capacitor for especially heavy loads. It generates a magnetic field so powerful that most of the vehicle’s EM shielding is in place to protect against the side effects of the lift system, rather than enemy electronic attacks.

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.

This is CCP Lin, and I am a Server Architect on DUST 514. In this devblog, I would like to cover at a high level some of the online technical aspects of DUST 514, including the challenges we have met, and the approaches we take to handle them.

As a Server Architect on the project, I am responsible for integrating the DUST FPS multiplayer battles into the EVE universe, as well as optimizing the DUST battle servers to perform even better. Unlike normal FPS multiplayer games, DUST 514 has heavy MMO elements. And unlike normal MMO FPS games, DUST has heavy interaction with one of the most successful MMO space games – EVE Online! This imposes challenges on what technologies we should use in order to have this level of interaction with EVE, while keeping FPS gameplay as smooth as possible.

As is well-known, EVE is built heavily on top of a dialect of the Python programming language – Stackless Python, which features cooperative multithreading at the language level. CCP’s technology suite heavily leverages Stackless Python, and there are readily usable online technologies that DUST is able to and must use, in order to enable smooth interaction with the rest of the EVE universe.

While continuing to rely on the Unreal 3 engine for the FPS multiplayer gameplay for DUST, the interaction with the rest of the EVE universe should naturally take advantage of utilizing some existing EVE online technologies. Notably, a DUST client should appear to the EVE universe as just a special class of EVE client. Also, the EVE server cluster should handle the DUST clients in a similar way as the normal EVE clients, so network bandwidth and simulation performance are still properly load-balanced. The EVE cluster would only need to enable a collection of DUST related server-side services, so that the new generation of DUST clients will be smoothly taken care of. However, the entirely Python-based EVE client side technologies cannot be trivially applied to the more resource limited PlayStation 3 platform, we had to implement some lightweight client networking technologies, which are following the existing EVE communication technologies as closely as possible, but more memory- and CPU-friendly for the PS3 platform.

Another aspect of DUST and EVE interaction comes from the interaction between the DUST battle servers and the EVE universe. Think about a simplified flow of how a DUST battle might begin:

An EVE corporation issues a battle contract to seize a territory on a given planet that is currently owned by another corporation; a group of DUST mercenaries comes to accept the contract as the attacker for the bounty the contract offers; another group of DUST mercenaries comes to accept the contract as the defender, so they also get a reward if the territory is protected. When the number of each team has reached a pre-determined minimum, the EVE server logic would instruct an appropriate DUST battle cluster to spawn a battle in it. This provides the battle server with all the necessary information regarding the prospective battle upon launching, and the DUST mercenary clients will then be forwarded to join the battle accordingly. After the battle is finished with everyone getting (or losing) their share of the benefits, the battle server process will then be terminated by the EVE universe.

So the EVE universe needs to manage the lifetime of DUST battle servers as well as communicating with them when needed, while we also need to make sure that the latency sensitive FPS multiplayer gameplay goes fairly for the participating DUST players. I won’t go into a deep technical discussion about how we solve the challenges involved here, as we are still exploring all the possibilities to find out the best balance point to map physical DUST battles nicely into the EVE universe!

Unlike traditional FPS multiplayer servers, we will host DUST battleservers around the globe. Since the centralized server hardware resources are pretty limited in number, we have to find ways to utilize existing server resources as much as possible. Instead of having a dedicated server machine to host one battle, we aim to have a dedicated multi-core server machine to host as many DUST battle servers as possible!

We have done a bunch of significant performance optimizations to the FPS engine we are using both on the server side and the client side, so each DUST battle server is now happily hosting a satisfying number of concurrent DUST players. However, in order for multiple battle servers to co-exist on the same multi-core server machine, we have to minimize any possible cross-process CPU and memory resource contention. Again, I will not go too much detail on how we achieved that, but rest assured that the DUST battles will be very scalable.

As always, we are continuously making improvements to every aspect of DUST 514, to make DUST an enjoyable experience for all of our future players!

What is the greatest resource in a universe of 5,431 systems and in excess of 65,000 planets? It’s people. The players that populate New Eden are far and away the single most important resource it contains. They are as durable as Morphite, as beautiful as Zydrine, and as volatile as Isogen-5. Without them, New Eden would be a poorer place. Which is why socialization is so important to us as both developers and players. We want players to be able to communicate in-battle and out; to be able to easily find and play with friends; to have the tools to meet and make new friends (and enemies) while they’re sitting in front of their PS3 and even when they’re not. Games are fun, but life is meaningful. And you can’t live without interacting with other people.

Of course, the fact that we’re trying to get two completely different demographics across two completely different platforms to not only communicate, but to compete, cooperate and, ultimately, generate conflict makes all of this that much harder. But we have faith that with the right tools, the players themselves will figure it all out. Here’s a brief introduction to some of the features and tools you’ll have at your disposal.

EVE GATE

Starting out, EVE Gate will be the communal hub for EVE pilots and DUST soldiers. This is where players from both games can manage their contacts, check in-game mail (when not actually in-game), post on forums, check their calendar for upcoming events or post new events of their own to the calendar. We’ll be adding functionality to EVE Gate over time. Some of it will be DUST-specific, like battle heatmaps, but most of it will be shared across EVE Online and DUST 514. EVE Gate is, after all, for all of the EVE setting.

CORPORATIONS

In EVE, the cornerstone of all serious space operations is the corporation. It allows players to manage funds, organize long-term activities and have a persistent venue to communicate with your fellow members. We are working hard on making EVE corporations completely seamless between EVE and DUST 514. This means that from the point of view of all corporation functionality, it shouldn’t matter whether a corporation member is a DUST player or an EVE player. There are of course certain functions that only make sense for EVE players and others that only make sense for DUST players, but for everything else there should be no difference. The idea is that a corporation staffed with members from both EVE and DUST 514 should be able to access all available functions. Common functionality includes creating corporations, managing membership, managing finances, and joining alliances. For some of these functionalities, we will be providing a native UI on the console client, while others that are deemed to be less immediately critical will be available on EVE Gate to start with. Currently, the biggest limitation will be inventories, as EVE items don’t really have any functions on the DUST client and reciprocally, but this is something that might change in the future when we will observe even more convergence between EVE and DUST.

VOICE / TEXT CHAT

Using voice chat, DUST and EVE players will be able to communicate with one another in realtime.

Text chat is of course supported too. The PS3 supports standard USB and Bluetooth keyboards right out of the box and so we don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect that players will grab their PC’s keyboard for use in DUST 514. Believe me, it’s far easier than trying to use a software keyboard to keep up in a chat channel. The keyboard will be usable for chatting only. There will be no in-battle mouse + keyboard support.

Socialization is more than just tools. It’s about bringing people together. The nature of any FPS means the mechanics of socialization are a little different than your typical MMO. In an FPS, squads are the atomic building blocks of socialization. You jump into a quick battle, are randomly assigned to a squad, you fight with a bunch of strangers and maybe, somewhere amidst the mayhem and the carnage you decide, “Hey, that guy shotgunning people in the back, I like the cut of his jib!” Voice chat makes it easy enough to speak to him, but the ability to stick with him at the end of a battle and then jump together into subsequent battles is vital. Because at the end of the day, that’s how long-lasting relationships are formed. Of course, if you already have a group of friends (lucky you!) you can easily invite them into a battle or stick with them as you move between battles. After all, the family that slays together, stays together.

THE WAR ROOM

The life of a mercenary is about fighting, but taking over a planet is no small task, so players will find themselves spending a lot of time in the War Room – a 3D lobby where players can go over their vehicle and character fittings; stock up on items from the corp inventory or the marketplace; chat with fellow corp members or once-off hires; scrutinize potential strategies and just generally get ready for the battles to come. Each War Room supports a maximum of 32 players at once. Players navigate the social spaces in DUST (of which the War Room is the first) in third-person.

The merging of EVE and DUST provides opportunities for socialization far beyond what most MMOs are able to offer simply by virtue of the fact that New Eden will soon be populated by players with vastly different roles, but similar agendas. And, we believe, the universe will be better  for it. Because, for better or worse, every minute spent in the EVE setting should mean something.

Torfi Frans Olafsson, senior producer of Eve Online told the press today that CCP expects to release the ambulation (Walking In Stations) expansion before Dust 514 is unleashed on the console market.

However, he was quick to point out that the two projects are not dependent on one another so nothing is finalised yet. “The two are decoupled and we expect Walking In Stations to come out before Dust,” said Olafsson. “But notice the expect, there are a lot of unkowns.”

For those that don’t know, Ambulation is the expansion to EVE that will allow players to create full 3D avatars and as the name would suggest, walk around in the Space Stations of Eve Online socialising and Trading outside their pods for the first time since the game was Launched in 2003

Dust 514 will be previewed in the final key note speach at CCP’s “fanfest” on Saturday. We have a representative there to do a video interview with Hilmar Petursson (CCP CEO) and the Dust 514 crew, so as soon as we hear any more information we will let you know.

Article courtesy of Dust514.org