EVE Online’s starry realm of New Eden is a vast expanse of more than 7000 star systems, which we have so far experienced almost exclusively from a distance aboard swooping starships or in the colossal interiors of mega-scale space stations. But all the while, I’ve imagined what might be going on down on these lonely planets I’m sailing by at impossible speeds. EVE Vanguard, a new shooter module for EVE Online built in Unreal Engine 5, will let us set foot on them and scavenge their riches in person. Well, sort of.
This isn’t CCP’s first attempt at an FPS set in the EVE universe. From 2013 to 2016 they operated Dust 514, an on-foot experience that was eventually shut down due to low player numbers. Vanguard represents a fresh attempt at introducing a human-scale component to EVE, which the developers hope will eventually combine to create a complete sci-fi experience on the ground and in space. Rather than being sold as a separate game, like Dust, Vanguard is being described as a “module” for EVE, which will use the same launcher and be free to play.
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Since Eve is a game for people who find Excel spreadsheets and numbers fun, what kind of FPS is this gonna be?
First you make an Excel spreadsheet
Then you benchmark every weapon and attachment in the game
Then you optimize to make the perfect build to use in battle
And get headshot in 0.2 seconds right out of spawn
At EVE FanFest in Iceland today, they were talking for a bit about the new Excel plugin. It’s supposed to make it easier for people to make their crazy market spreadsheets by hitting the API from within Excel.
That said, I don’t use spreadsheets, and I don’t think most players do. Unless you choose to go hard on market manipulation or something, it’s not necessary.