EVE-Mag.com

Can a Tractor Tractor a Can?

Published on 03. Jul, 2009 ... written by Ecaf Ersa, Tags: Articles

CrazyKinux charges EVE bloggers everywhere with the task of writing about the mechanic they’d most like to see removed from EVE. I’m not technically a blogger so I don’t expect to be considered for any of the prizes that are on offer but the topic intrigued me so I thought I’d throw my idea into the ring whether it is eligible for the competition or not. I expect a ton of submissions on the topics of sovereignty and local chat so I figured I go with something a bit lower key.

Welcome to the ninth installment of the EVE Blog Banter and its first contest, 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!

“Last month Ga’len asked us which game mechanic we would most like to see added to EVE. This month Keith “WebMandrill” Nielson proposes to reverse the question and ask what may be a controversial question: Which game mechanic would you most like to see removed completely from EVE and why? I can see this getting quite heated so lets keep it civil eh?”

To kick off I ask the question: If such a thing existed in reality, what would a tractor beam know about a jetcan?

Ignoring the philosophical discussion of whether a piece of technology can “know” anything at all, personally I reckon that it can’t tell anything except that it’s an object that it can lock on to and apply it’s force to.

So why is it that when my alt, that is not in the same corp as my main, attempts to tractor over a can or wreck that is “owned” by my main, the tractor beam politely informs me that I can’t do that because it doesn’t belong to me?

How the hell does it know that? And more importantly why does it care?

In the real world we have many examples of technology that can enable you to break the law. Connected to my TV is a device that can record copyrighted programmes and films onto VHS tapes or DVDs. Not only that, I can also use it to copy a tape or DVD contained copyrighted material onto another DVD or tape. It lets me because the technology can also be used in a lawful way but more significantly because the company that made it didn’t break any laws in doing so. They merely pointed out to me that copyright laws exist and left it to me to act responsibly in it’s use.

Another example where the legality is much more blurred is with in-car radar detection devices which warn you of radar based speed cameras nearby. It is not illegal, at least not in the UK, to have a device “listening” to the radar frequency, only to actually receive a signal on it. This device doesn’t even really have a legal application, at least not in the form it is provided, yet the manufacturers broke no laws making it and possession of one is not illegal so they continue to be made.

Consider also the fact that, in the world of EVE, theft isn’t even really considered much of a crime. CONCORD will not respond to it and merely turn a blind eye for fifteen minutes while you take your revenge, should you so desire to. Add to this the fact that, with wrecks, whilst the contents may be considered to belong to the character that delivered the killing blow, the wreck itself is not, hence why you can salvage anybody’s wreck.

I can, however, see why CCP added this “legality detection” mechanic into tractor beams – it’s a sop to the jet can miners. As a part-time member of this group of EVE players I know all too well just how annoying it is to have your ore stolen and not have many realistic options of dealing with it in your mining barge. I can imagine the uproar that that would ensue if the ore thieves could just tractor your can out of your reach from 19kms away.

Despite the fact that I use jetcans to store my freshly mined ore, let’s throw the counter-point into the mix here: jet cans are not intended to be in-space secure storage for your ore. The somewhat inappropriately named “Giant” Secure Container is there for that purpose. Not only is it secure but you can anchor it against tractor beams too! The problem is with that misnomer – they are not giant at all. A Hulk pilot with decent skills will fill the 3,900m3 it provides in about 2-3 minutes making it pretty ineffective without at least two haulers at your disposal.

So CCP, how about a giant can that is actually giant? Even 10,000 m3 would be enough to allow your hauler to zip to the station and back. This would solve the problem to jetcan miners but how about missioners who already have to deal with ninja salvagers coming into their mission and taking their hard earned salvage. Well that one is simple, just make the wreck the property of the killing character, just as the contents are, thereby removing a legitimate gripe of many mission runners in the process. Then we can get rid of this crazy mechanic with absolutely no basis in reality.

This could also open up opportunities for a wider range of applications for tractor beams. How about trapping a pod to prevent it from escaping? Even more extreme could be the ability to scoop said pod to your cargohold although, on second thoughts, that is probably too extreme! With this you would be able to tractor a frigate inside the range of your battleship’s webber. You’ve sacrificed a high slot for something that may be of no use so there is give and take there.

So whilst exploring this line of thought, let’s point out that surely a tractor beam should exert pulling force at both ends of the “line” based on relative mass? Clearly a dreadnought isn’t going to budge if it tractors a frigate but try this round the other way. You’re only going to pull yourself closer to the dread, but then couldn’t that be used to create an additional speed boost through the slingshot effect?

Ooh, now here’s a wicked idea – how about a starbase tractor array? Sniper BS fleet? Not for long!

And right here a whole world of possibilities open up before us!

Have fun with whatever you happen to be doing and good luck to all the real bloggers with your entries which are all linked below for you to check out!

1. Diary of a Space Jockey, Blog Banter: BE GONE!
2. EVE Newb, (EVE) Remove You
3. Miner With Fangs, Blog Banter – It’s the Scotch
4. The Eden Explorer, Blog Banter: The Map! The Map!
5. The Wandering Druid of Tranquility, “Beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, beacons, mushroom, MUSHROOM!!!”
6. Inner Sanctum of the Ninveah, Kill the Rats
7. Mercspector @ EVE, Scotty
8. EVE’s Weekend Warrior, EVE Blog Banter #9
9. A Merry Life and a Short One, Eve Blog Banter #9: Why Won’t You Die?
10. Into the unknown with gun and camera, Blog Banter – The Hokey Cokey
11. The Flightless Geek, EVE Blog Banter #9: Remove a Game Mechanic
12. Sweet Little Bad Girl, Blog Banter 9: Who is Nibbling at My House?
13. One Man and His Spaceship, Blog Banter 9: What could you do without?
14. Life in Low Sec, EVE Blog Banter #9: Stop Tarnishing My Halo
15. Cle Demaari: Citizen, Blog Banter #9: Training for all my men!
16. A Mule in EVE, He who giveth, also taketh away?
17. Dense Veldspar, Blog Banter 9
18. Morphisat’s Blog, Blog Banter #9 – Randomness Be Gone !
19. Facepalm’s Blog, EVE Blog Banter #9: What a new pilot could do without
20. Memoires of New Eden, You’re Fired
21. Kyle Langdon’s Journeys in EVE, EVE Blog Banter #9 Titans? What’s a Titan?
22. Achernar, The gates! The gates are down!
23. Speed Fairy, EVE Blog Banter #9: Down with Downtime!
24. I am Keith Neilson, EVE Blog Banter #9-F**K Da Police
25. Ripe Lacunae, The UI… Where do I begin… (Eve Blog Banter #9)
26. Clown Punchers, EvE Blogs: What game mechanic would you get rid of?
27. Estel Arador Corp Services, You’ve got mail
28. Epic Slant, Let Mom and Pop Play: EVE Blog Banter #9
29. Deaf Plasma’s EVE Musings, Blog Banter #9 – Removal of Anchoring Delay of POS modules
30. Podded Once Again, Blog Banter #9 – Do we really need to go AFK?
31. Postcards from EVE, 2009.07.02.00.29.06
32. Harbinger Zero, Blog Banter #9 – War Declarations & Sec Status
33. Warp Scrammed, Blog Banter 9 – Never Too Fast
34. Thoughts from an Accidental Minmatar Revolutionary, EVE Blog Banter #9 – Aggression timers, WTs and Stargates
35. Mike Azariah, I don’t put much stock in it…
36. Rettic’s Log, Blog Banter: Overview Overload
37. A Sebiestor Scholar, [OOC] EVE Blog Banter #9: Slaves
38. Diary of a pod pilot, [OOC] EVE blog banter #9: Because of Falcon
39. Roc’s Ramblings, Blog Banter #9 – Taking Things Slow
40. The Gaming-Griefer, EVE Sucks, But I Love It: The Memoir of a Masochist
41. Letrange’s EVE Blog, Blog Banter #9: Bye Bye Learning Skills
42. Lyietfinvar, Remove that monopoly
43. Sceadugenga, Blog Banter #9
44. Industrialist with Teeth, EVE Blog Banter #9

More articles as they are posted!

Tags: Blog Banter, CrazyKinux, tractor