In this Frontier Monday special, CCP developers discuss major improvements to base building in EVE Frontier, including enhanced 3D build mode controls, ghost building blueprints, and customizable grid snapping to boost creativity and precision. They also highlight future plans for new structures, power management, and deeper integration of base building into the game’s ecosystem, aiming to make it a core, strategic gameplay element.
In this special edition of Frontier Mondays, CCP Yoten, joined by CCP Hex and CCP Armageddon, delves into the exciting developments around base building in EVE Frontier, a survival MMO. The team highlights the importance of base building as a core gameplay element, emphasizing its role in creating a personal, defensible space for players in a harsh and dangerous universe. They acknowledge that while new ships and other features are in development, base building consistently remains a top player request, reflecting desires for complex, creative construction akin to games like Rust, Factorio, and Sim City, but set in space.
The discussion then moves to improvements in the build mode, which is currently functional but rough around the edges. CCP Hex and Armageddon reveal plans to overhaul the system with better quality-of-life features including full 3D movement (up, down, and rotation on all axes), improved visualization of build boundaries, and a more intuitive user interface inspired by professional 3D software tools like Blender and Unreal Engine. These changes aim to balance creative freedom with practical usability, offering both freeform placement and grid snapping options to accommodate different player preferences.
One of the standout upcoming features is “ghost building,” allowing players to lay out structures as blueprints without immediately committing resources. Players can then return to these ghost structures to deliver materials and complete construction, enabling cooperative building efforts. This system also opens the door for sharing, saving, and potentially selling base designs, creating a new layer of strategic and social gameplay. The team envisions a future where players can easily replicate or recover their bases using saved blueprints, enhancing both creativity and resilience.
Grid snapping and alignment guides are being introduced to make precise building easier and more satisfying. Players will be able to toggle snapping on and off, customize snapping increments, and use visual guides to align structures perfectly. The system also supports manual input of exact positional and rotational values, catering to players who want fine control over their builds. These tools will greatly reduce frustration and improve the aesthetic and functional quality of player bases, making complex designs like Dyson sphere-style defenses feasible.
Finally, the team addresses ongoing and future work beyond build mode, including new structures, power management, and the significance of location choice for bases. They are collaborating with other teams to enhance the variety and meaningfulness of build sites (L points) and to integrate base building more deeply into the game’s ecosystem. The stream concludes with a live demonstration of the current build mode improvements, a tease of upcoming manual control features, and an invitation to join future Frontier Fridays and other streams where more exciting updates will be shared. Overall, the video showcases a clear commitment to evolving base building into a rich, strategic, and player-driven experience.