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HYBRID EVE-DUST ALLIANCES

February 19, 2014

It is easy for EVE players to be negative about CCP’s “other game”, or Dust 514. Many players feel it should have been on the PC, or even on the PS4 instead of just the PS3. However, despite what many EVE players think, DUST 514 has a growing community, and I was able to interview the CEO of a growing hybrid EVE/DUST alliance.

General Tso’s Alliance, whose CEO is Burseg Sardaukar, had a huge leap in membership over the last week, most of the numbers were DUST players. I spoke to Burseg about EVE/DUST hybrid alliances, and the rest of this article is a summary of what we talked about.

I asked why have DUST players in the alliance when the alliance is not a Faction Warfare group. Basically, while DUST/EVE groups can fight over FW zones, the low-sec region of Molden Heath is open for corps to actually control the planet’s districts. This means that you are not fighting over a district only to have NPC FW group take it. The corp who controls the district gets income via clones (which automatically sell from what I understand).

EVE groups who have POSes on the moons of the planet their DUST-side control get cheaper POS fuel and faster production–provided the appropriate structures are on the district. While the benefits may not be much now, CCP has stated more is coming (at some point). DUST players also have timers for their battles, just like EVE. A rival group can declare an attack on the planet, but a minimum 24 hour timer starts before the battle.

This timer allows the EVE side to also form and stand by for the battle over the planet. Why? Orbital bombardments. Essentially, the DUST players can earn Orbital Bombardments consistently if they have EVE ships in orbit and in-range of the district. This is a huge benefit, and DUST-only groups have to deal with constant bombardments from hybrid groups.

The constant development of DUST, and promise for eventual null-sec integration is causing a slow-but-steady rise of EVE alliances bringing on DUST players. However, they have some big competition already by those who have seen an opportunity to start early.

Renegade Alliance and Legacy Rising are notable DUST alliances that have enough members to control and defend many districts. However since their EVE-sides are still growing, they have difficulty holding the EVE-side of things from hybrid alliances. On top of that, there are many low-sec EVE groups that live in Molden Heath, notably Calamitous-Intent, that roam around looking for fights. This can add a third party to deal with while trying to hold the districts from EVE.

Overall, DUST is still alive and well, and CCP is still talking about making DUST a part of EVE sov in Null Sec. As CCP improves the interconnection it will start to play a more important role in EVE. Meanwhile, hybrid alliances such as Tso’s are having a blast getting low-sec PVP, and taking over districts in DUST. I will try to get some battle reports when it happens, as kill reports with DUST and EVE kills on them are pretty cool.