The Experiment
EVE has two servers - Tranquility and Serenity. One is the primary server that everyone plays on, and the other is a debug test server that never has more than 200 people on it. I copied my EVE install directory and renamed it TEST since playing on the test server installs a patch that when applied, prevents you from playing on the primary server. I patched up and logged in.
I first noticed that my character was not right. I had the stats I had more than a month ago in some areas and in others the stats were up to date as early as today. I didnt have the ship skills I have right now in the primary server but for some reason I do have the weapon skills I trained tonight. Very odd. Also, I am flying a RIFTER. A rifter is a small frigate, almost like a fighter. I havent flown in one since my second week playing EVE and I have no rifters in any hangars anywhere so why would the test server put me in one? Strange things happen on this server. I noticed that I was for some reason the CEO of the old corp I created with Freeza and Betaray - OCS! Although the system said we had no office and no hangar anywhere. I checked the corp info and it listed Beta, Freeza and that one guy (lol) as being members of the corp. There is obviously little sync between the test and primary servers. I looked in my items list and for some reason all the items we have in our hangars on the primary server were in my items list. Very strange!
I also did a test and noticed that you can train a skill on the test server while training a skill on the primary server at the same time and not be forced to stop the other one. In EVE you can create 3 alternate characters under the same login name. If you train a skill on one and then login to your alt and try to train a skill, it stops the other character from training. This means you can only be training one skill per account, always. However, that is not the case on the test server.
When I logged in the total number of users was 13. Wow. Thirteen people scattered across a galaxy with thousands of systems. Id be lucky to run into so much as one! I looked up populated chat channels and noticed a whole 7 in Help. I joined and asked what the place was for and what I should do. I was told the server is for hunting bugs and that I should do whatever I want, but make sure to report bugs. So I got an idea...
My Trek into Lowsec
Today I decided I wanted to find out what those 0.0 security systems are like on the edge of the galaxy. So I set my target as the farthest system out on the long arm of the galaxy - as far out into lowsec as possible - there is no "farther" away, its the farthest system out from the galactic core! Since there are so few people on the server, I hit autopilot and let my ship fly toward its destination, 32 jumps away. I crossed into lowsec (0.0) after 6 jumps.
Findings
The first 0.0 system I flew into was empty. No stations, no pirates, nothing. However the system did have 44 asteroid fields! No wonder people play out here! As I continued to jump into new systems I noticed a trend - LOTS of asteroids. More mining possibilities than could ever be possible inside Empire space. I flew through a few systems that had less than 7 asteroid fields but those were rare, only about 5%. The rest were very rich in resources. Unfortunately the server shut down for maintenance before I was able to inspect the asteroid fields for their mineral content.
Some superficial differences I noticed are the stargates look totally different. Some are larger and look alot more advanced than what is seen in Empire and others look like theyve been laying at the bottom of a lake. Several had NPC pirates hovering around them, most of them were in fighters, a few were in frigates and they usually had 1 or 2 cruisers watching over them. However when they shot at me I took no damage. I do not know if its because they were weak, there was a glitch or it is that way by design. I will investigate further when the test server is back up.
Objects had more effects. Planets had a nice atmospheric glow around them that responded to light shining through it. Star brilliance occluded properly when blocked by objects, which doesnt always happen in the main server. Objects had more random animations and activity. In general everything looked better, except my ship. I noticed that several of the model "doodads" that were supposed to be sticking off it were missing and in some places had extra stuff Ive never seen before! My rifter looked like a rifter, but it looked like it was a beta version or maybe a new version? I do not know yet.
I came across several POS's along my route, which I investigated. None of them would let me in. It is obvious some people have played exclusively on the test server and actually built up enough to construct stations throughout the galaxy. They were undefended but were locked up tight.
I finally reach my destination system with little time to spare. Lo and behold, there is someone in the system! The guy never responded to me in Local but I did find his ship on scanners. He was probably in a mission or deadspace.
Conclusions
My experiment has proven several things. Firstly, lowsec is where everyone goes for a reason - MINING. The asteroid fields are practically endless. If you had a large corp and had 5-10 man teams at every field in the system you would be making billions daily. The amount of ice fields, gas clouds and ice planets and moons in one system alone are enough to make any corp a powerful influence. The number of POS's a single lowsec system could support would make taking the system very difficult for anything less than a capital armada. The amount of money a system like this could take in on a weekly basis could fund a fleet large enough to be effective at taking territory. I am very impressed by the possibilities lowsec offers. Lowsec is BIG.
Secondly, the test server gives us an opportunity to scout out locations we are interested in on the main server. Although there are no people, anything regarding NPC or system-generated activities or content could be accurately scouted on the test server. You could not realistically scout market info, but looking for a system with a certain number of asteroid fields, stations or other basic factors is very possible. Nobody is standing in your way and its very rare to come across another player. The NPC pirates do exist but they are weak enough and in such small numbers that a BC could take them without worry. Looking into missions is possible but I imagine that missions are tweaked extensively on the test server. Aside from that, the systems themselves are identical to what is seen on the primary server.
