Player Features and Ideas Discussion

We were chatting about local in nullsec and the old ESS wh-watch exploit and thought of this:

Traffic Controller Deployable:
New mobile deployable that monitors players entering or leaving system on grid with the deployable, and in-turn adds or removes them from local. Those present in local would only be visible who were in system when the deployable added them to the chat, so new pilots entering a system would still be blind.

This means if nullsec players want local chat, they need to maintain these deployables on all gates, and actively probe their system for wormholes and deploy them there as well.

This could work in wormholes too. It's basically doing the same job as a cloaky scout, except the person that gets seen will know about it. This means if you have a cloaky scout to spare, this is still better, because you won't be alerting the intruder that you're aware of their intrusion.

This would also mean that if a new wormhole opened up into a system, people coming through that hole would not appear in local until being seen by one of these deployables. Those who put too much faith in the reliability of these modules will find themselves in a false sense of security, in both null and whs.

Bridging on grid with one of these modules would have the same effect.

I would think that Concord would manage local in highsec, but maybe this deployable could work in lowsec systems as well, but sentry guns (so gates and stations) will also perform the job of maintaining local.

I think this should also be a module that's both cheap and easily destroyed. If big fleets want to hide their numbers they'll need to send small vanguards to clear any local monitors. Making sure all your local monitors are up and running should also be something that players need to actively maintain if they want their precious local to be accurate. Destroying one of these would affect local by removing the players that are on grid with the deployable when it is destroyed, so players will need to regularly check to see whether or not their deployables have been destroyed or if the intruders simply left.

Everyone's used to local, but it shouldn't be so reliable. Intel should be gained through active player attention and effort, and laziness should be rewarded with misinformation.

*puts on flame-retardant suit and curls into the fetal position*