I spent the last couple of nights logged into CCP Game's Massively Multiplayer Moddable Online Role Playing Game EVE Frontier. I think I've finished the tutorial and just need to gather up enough fuel to survive outside the starter area. I wanted to post my thoughts so far in this cycle in the hopes players, especially old EVE Online vets, will not skip the tutorial.
I've always had the impression the developers wanted to correct some of the flaws in Online but couldn't because players would revolt. A general theme is that the game provides too much information to players. A big feature is the overview. In Online a big grid exists displaying information about the game world, such as the presence of star gates, asteroid belts, and nearby NPCs. The overview is the major reason Online is known as "spreadsheets in space."
No one will ever call Frontier "spreadsheets in space part 2." The user interface has no grids, at least in the tutorial. Instead, movement between celestials (planets, moons, asteroid belts, etc) is handled through the map. By the end of the tutorial I became comfortable using the map. In contrast, despite maintaining at least one paid subscription since 2009 I have no idea how to really use the EVE Online in-game map.
Another difference is acquiring targets around the ship. In Online, to mine players just look at the overview, lock a rock, and move within range of the mining laser to begin mining. In Frontier the target is acquired visually, meaning players need to move their cameras around to view their surroundings. The tutorial does not have combat so I don't know how that will play out in the current build.
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| Recording the location of my structures |
A major difference is the lack of bookmarks in Frontier. In Online players can bookmark locations to mark places to return to. But players are limited to a set number of bookmarks: 15,000 personal locations and 1,500 shared locations. A lot of locations but too many bookmarks in a system do put some strain on the servers. In Frontier players save their locations in the in-game Notepad and then reference the locations from there. In the tutorial I only managed to save my structures in Notepad. No creating bookmarks halfway between celestials.
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| Example of Lagrange points (NASA) |
Science comes through to help explain the lack of bookmarks in
Frontier. Bookmarks are able to work in
Online because the game treats the entire universe as static. Not so in Frontier. Gameplay from what I saw was confined to something called
Lagrange points.
Lagrange Points are positions in space where the gravitational forces of a two-body system like the Sun and Earth produce enhanced regions of attraction and repulsion. These can be used by spacecraft as "parking spots" in space to remain in a fixed position with minimal fuel consumption.
There are five special points where a small mass can orbit in a constant pattern with two larger masses. The Lagrange Points are positions where the gravitational pull of two large masses precisely equals the centripetal force required for a small object to move with them. This mathematical problem, known as the "General Three-Body Problem" was considered by Italian-French mathematician Joseph-Louis Lagrange in his prize-winning paper (Essai sur le Problème des Trois Corps, 1772).
I had to stop at this point because
Frontier itself is based on a three-body problem. The galaxy the game exists in is home to three black holes and the developers went into detail about how they generated the galaxy
in a dev blog.
The law of universal gravitation lies at the heart of EVE Frontier‘s galaxy: to create it, we have been working on simulating the motion of countless particles under the influence of gravity via the n-body simulation. These particles can then be used as points of reference for the matter within Frontier (currently solar systems and clusters of solar systems). As said, we want EVE Frontier to feel as natural as possible by grounding its galaxy to the laws of physics and the Digital Physics which underpin its existence.
You may have heard of the three-body problem, which aims to predict the trajectories of three-point masses. Although the two-body problem was solved hundreds of years ago, additional bodies make the system too chaotic and unpredictable. We are working on a simulation that solves this problem as closely as possible.
But enough of the side journeys. The Lagrange points are shown on the in-game map. Here's the explanation for where the points show up.
Of the five Lagrange points, three are unstable and two are stable. The unstable Lagrange points – labeled L1, L2, and L3 – lie along the line connecting the two large masses. The stable Lagrange points – labeled L4 and L5 – form the apex of two equilateral triangles that have the large masses at their vertices. L4 leads the orbit of earth and L5 follows.
With a limited number of Lagrange points in a system I believe the locations will serve as focal points for both commerce and conflict in the game. I'm reminded of the old POS-based sovereignty mechanics in the beginning of Online's history.
Pulling all the way out of the rabbit hole, another interesting development are the starter systems themselves. A criticism of Online is that veteran players can return to the starter systems anytime they want, sometimes causing grief for new players. Frontier solves the problem by making the goal of the tutorial escaping the starter area without the ability to return. While the systems can hold more than one new player, arming the new players with only mining lasers helps reduce violence to new players even further.
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| Building structures in an asteroid belt |
Something I really like the idea of is performing industry functions in asteroid belts. In
Online the only small structure a player can use is the
mobile depot. All other structures like
the Athanor and Tatara are group-based objects. In
Frontier players have the ability to build structures like portable refineries and storage units in belts. When I left the starter system I took with me 100 common ore in order to create a portable refinery and portable storage unit wherever I land. If I find a source of water ice to make fuel I want to be ready.
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| Available destinations from my starting system |
Another difference involving the game is the lack of jump gates. In Online players are funneled into a limited amount of paths from starting systems to regular play areas. In Frontier the choice of next system is determined by the distance a ship can jump. Unlike in Online ships can jump to a system without a destination cynosural field to jump to. So I had a choice of 16 systems to explore. Kind of a scary proposition. Chose wrong and I may become trapped in a system without fuel. Finding a system attached to a jump gate network would do much to ease my mind.
Up until now I have not mentioned the blockchain. In my six hours playing and fiddling around in the tutorial I found I didn't need to attach myself to the game's blockchain software. A good choice in my opinion. By not requiring blockchain access potential players can just play the tutorial to see if the game is something they would like to spend more time with. Just like Online.
One last observation. I purchased my pre-launch access for $19.99 during an introductory deal. The current access packages are a little more expensive.
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| Prices as of 15 June 2025 |
Would I spend $40 on the game right now? Maybe if I wanted to write about the game. I figure the game still has at least 18-24 months of development ahead of it. I probably would recommend waiting on a free access weekend before spending money. Unlike a game like
Star Citizen the game will receive a complete wipe before launching live. And if the game doesn't receive a complete wipe, especially concerning cryptocurrencies, that's a red flag I'll call out loudly.
