Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The utility highslot is sometimes difficult to fill.
When you have no more Powergrid and you don't need a cloack, the Expanded probe launcher need too much CPU, the auto-targeter is useless.
A small neutra, why not, but what else?

Moving the Target painter from medium slot to high is interestening in lot of cases. The Huggin would like it too!

Of course there is the option of creating new modules:
A module that increase the range of D-Scan.
A Flare launcher that launch a probe that make all people that locked you lock it instead.

That flare launcher'd be OP as ****, but sounds fun.

I think they tried highslot painters, but they were too OP on the Caldari BS's.

Perfect slot for the CIWS!

Aka missile point defense!

I really like the idea of a highslot target painter. A lot of missile ships would love to have a painter and as you may know, many of those missile ships are shield tankers. The midslot target painter can remain unchanged; a new version of the painter can be made for high slots. It wouldn't be the first time the same type of module can be put in more than one slot type: tracking enhancer/tracking computer, signal amplifier/sensor booster, ECCM/sensor computer--but it would be the first time it was high slots sharing with anything else.

I have a novel idea: lets allow utility highs to use all types of mid-slot EWAR. Just as with the mid slot sensor equipment, high slot EWAR could have scripts.

HS ECM Jammer I: 1.6 jam strength on all types, with a script for each sensor type that makes it x2 strength (3.2) on that and half (0.8) on others. Unscripted it would be a weaker version of a multispectral, but scripted it would be slightly stronger than a specialized mid slot jammer against the right kind of ship. Of course the best thing about it would be that you can change scripts on the fly.

HS Tracking Disruptor: same scripts as the mid slot version plus a new script that causes it to interfere with missile tracking systems, such that all missiles fired by the affected ship have increased explosion radius.

HS Target Painter I: +25% sig radius, 37,500m optimal, 25,000 falloff. One script doubles optimal and falloff and reduces sig radius boost to +17.5%, other script cuts optimal and falloff in half and increases sig radius boost to +32.5%. The increased reliance on optimal instead of falloff makes the range of the script a more important consideration. You can flare up a ship's sig radius quite a lot if you get in close, but you can also use it at a greater range than normal target painters. I can see the short range script used on torpedo ships a lot and the long range script for cruise missile sniping at extreme ranges.

HS Stasis Webifier: longer range but weaker web effect. Short range script makes it much like a normal webifier, while long range script makes for rather weak webbing at very significant ranges. Even a 20% webification is very significant at times and that range can be the most important thing in some fights.

HS Sensor Dampener: I'm drawing a blank here. I can't think of a creative way to make it stand out from the mid slot version.

Pink Pony Launcher ?

I'd use a green pony launcher. Maybe pink too, if it had candy sprinkles on it. But green I would use any day!

This last post is very constructive! Thank you!
I would prefer another Pony Launcher option instead this useless one!

Good point about the Falcon. I don't know why I didn't think of that.

I think high slot target painters could still be a thing, however, and without changing midslot target painters. Maybe vigils and hyenas could fit some tank for once and still have more than one painter. I don't see huginns or bellicoses becoming overpowered, but correct me on that if I'm wrong. But it seems to me like minmatar EWAR ships are kind of losing out due to getting two skill bonuses that compete for mid slots, while they don't have enough slots to juggle modules like that. In the end, the huginn/hyena painter/webifier combo is about as powerful as the EWAR of any other races' ship (or less), but at the cost of two skills for what is, effectively, one bonus. (webs receive one bonus, and painters receive one bonus)

Now I see that in Rubicon the hyena was buffed, increasing its skill bonuses to compensate for the competing slots. This creates a new issue in which it may be fully competent when flown by a well-skilled pilot, but it is significantly worse than the other races' ships when you first get in it. But if it were able to fit target painters in high slots, it could have its skill bonuses reduced back to normal values. Same goes for the huginn and rapier.

WH exploration probe that shoots a probe through the hole so you can get data on the other side without risking jumping to the other side right away. Probes non-recoverable.

Howabout an auto-return drone that would go to the other side and decloak immediately, then wait for its jump timer and come back. Or if it goes through a stargate it would immediately travel to jump range on the other side and then wait its timer and come back. When it gets back, it'll give a number which is approximately the average number of ships on the overview during the time it was looking. Accuracy would be increased by the skill, but would never be 100%.

Then due to its small size, it would sometimes get swallowed up by the wormhole or scattered by the stargate. There could be a skill that reduces the chance of this happening, but not completely. If your probe does not return, it might mean it got blown up by ships, and it might not. You can waste even more time and send another, but by then the ships could have all hid in a nearby safe just to wait for your second probe to come by.

That would make jumping a lot safer but there would still be significant risk, and having a scout would tend to work a lot better.