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Deployable Drone Structures and Small Scale Offensive Structures?
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Echo Gengod
MaxGen Biotechnology
#1 - 2015-01-02 07:26:38 UTC
With the addition of neat new small-scaled deploy-able structures such as the Mobile Tractor and Mobile Depot I am kind of curious if something on a similar note could be created for a drone structures as well as small scale offense structures. As I'm currently aware, everything is generally tied to a starbase in terms of deploy-able items but I'm curious if there would ever call a time for small-scale operations where one could pick-up and go as they like?

Essentially the idea is having a mobile small base of operations that could quickly be scooped up and moved around, providing some form of foothold for recon as well as industrial operations. Say someone's in wormhole space and everything appears empty, find a safe spot, launch a micro-refinery as well as a few turret/missile/drone batteries to defend the location then save time and cargo space (as well as wormhole resilience from ships passing through) by just taking care of everything in system.

Another nice application would be for bubbles and trying to route opposing alliance/faction trade routes and having a bit more EWAR/DPS on the side due to quick self-sustaining deploy-able turrets and batteries. Of course in those cases restrictions could be more or less based on how few guns can be anchored at a time/distance from one another.

Granted when contemplating the concept there is also the chance of getting found out by scanning and the like. Essentially it's EVE camping. Maybe I'm just missing the point though, any thoughts?
Fujiko MaXjolt
ACME HARDWARE
Exxitium
#2 - 2015-01-02 07:30:28 UTC
You just perfectly described a small pos setup Big smile
Minus the fuel-requirements, of course Blink
Ferni Ka'Nviiou
Doomheim
#3 - 2015-01-02 08:38:06 UTC
Fujiko MaXjolt wrote:
You just perfectly described a small pos setup Big smile
Minus the fuel-requirements, of course Blink

Actually, that's an idea, rather controversial, but why doesn't CCP just combine the two?

Ease-of-setup POS that can be deployed quickly and not just around moons.
With limitations, of course. But I honestly think the Player Owned Starbase needs to be re-imagined a little.
Davey Talvanen
Kingsparrow Wormhole Division
#4 - 2015-01-02 09:59:36 UTC  |  Edited by: Davey Talvanen
These could work well with the combat engineer idea https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=5290870#post5290870
Ferni Ka'Nviiou
Doomheim
#5 - 2015-01-02 10:11:38 UTC
Davey Talvanen wrote:
These could work well with the combat engineer idea https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=5290870#post5290870

That actually sounds like something that would be viable if they were to revamp POS deployment.
Not too sure about the 'demo-charge,' though. That's what Dreadnoughts are meant for:

Quote:
Dreadnoughts, especially "in siege" is not very effective against smaller targets due to severe tracking limitations. The primary role of the dreadnought, therefore, is to put extreme amounts of damage onto static targets with millions of hitpoints such as outposts and POS. Often a fleet of dreadnoughts can reinforce or kill a POS in a single siege cycle (10 minutes) that it would take hours for a fleet of battleships to kill.
Echo Gengod
MaxGen Biotechnology
#6 - 2015-01-02 10:23:39 UTC
Ferni Ka'Nviiou wrote:
Fujiko MaXjolt wrote:
You just perfectly described a small pos setup Big smile
Minus the fuel-requirements, of course Blink

Actually, that's an idea, rather controversial, but why doesn't CCP just combine the two?

Ease-of-setup POS that can be deployed quickly and not just around moons.
With limitations, of course. But I honestly think the Player Owned Starbase needs to be re-imagined a little.


Technically I feel the best way to go about this route is essentially through time limitations.

The thing is the station is basically sitting there indefinitely producing and being worked as long as its fueled. These structures could have specific time limitations (like a few hours or so) which would impose limitations that would just outright not work with large-large scale operations.

Other balance may include general lower efficiency as for example the Mobile Refinery has about .54 efficiency, a micro-deployable may have .46~.50.

In all honesty it does make me a little confused why, with the advanced technology available in the fluff, there isn't a way to essentially set up camp and have a temporary base of operations.
Jurico Elemenohpe
Flipsid3 Tactics
#7 - 2015-01-02 11:28:01 UTC  |  Edited by: Jurico Elemenohpe
Echo Gengod wrote:
Ferni Ka'Nviiou wrote:
Fujiko MaXjolt wrote:
You just perfectly described a small pos setup Big smile
Minus the fuel-requirements, of course Blink

Actually, that's an idea, rather controversial, but why doesn't CCP just combine the two?

Ease-of-setup POS that can be deployed quickly and not just around moons.
With limitations, of course. But I honestly think the Player Owned Starbase needs to be re-imagined a little.


Technically I feel the best way to go about this route is essentially through time limitations.

The thing is the station is basically sitting there indefinitely producing and being worked as long as its fueled. These structures could have specific time limitations (like a few hours or so) which would impose limitations that would just outright not work with large-large scale operations.

Other balance may include general lower efficiency as for example the Mobile Refinery has about .54 efficiency, a micro-deployable may have .46~.50.

In all honesty it does make me a little confused why, with the advanced technology available in the fluff, there isn't a way to essentially set up camp and have a temporary base of operations.
Bowhead+Providence. 2 alts to form a mobile base.
Sol Project
Shitt Outta Luck - GANKING4GOOD
#8 - 2015-01-02 12:05:54 UTC
Your idea would turn into a "must have" and everyone would start competing.

A small offensive thingy would be really bad,
because that would turn into a "must use in fights".

Imagine 500 people and all of them deploy this stuff,
because it basically multiplies firepower.

Now imagine TiDi.

I don't see how your idea would be beneficial.

Ladies of New Eden YC 117 by Indahmawar Fazmarai

Warning: NSFW! Barely legal girls in underwear!

Diana Kim > AND THIS IS WHY THE FEDERATION MUST BE DESTROYED!!
Nami Kumamato
Perkone
Caldari State
#9 - 2015-01-02 13:17:11 UTC
Sol Project wrote:
Your idea would turn into a "must have" and everyone would start competing.

A small offensive thingy would be really bad,
because that would turn into a "must use in fights".

Imagine 500 people and all of them deploy this stuff,
because it basically multiplies firepower.

Now imagine TiDi.

I don't see how your idea would be beneficial.


OR

This small station/battery/whatever could only be active if somebody is docked or manning it . Solved.
It could thus function as some sort of guard platform apart from it's refining role. Trick would be that your buddy needs to eject from his ship and board this platform, so his ship is parked outside, up for grabs.
So as your mining buddies get to work you can provide some sort of defense (not something exaggerated just a couple of auto-cannon or missile batteries that can track stuff at 60KM ). The possibilities are endless :)

Fornicate The Constabulary !
Sol Project
Shitt Outta Luck - GANKING4GOOD
#10 - 2015-01-02 13:32:49 UTC
Nami Kumamato wrote:
Sol Project wrote:
Your idea would turn into a "must have" and everyone would start competing.

A small offensive thingy would be really bad,
because that would turn into a "must use in fights".

Imagine 500 people and all of them deploy this stuff,
because it basically multiplies firepower.

Now imagine TiDi.

I don't see how your idea would be beneficial.


OR

This small station/battery/whatever could only be active if somebody is docked or manning it . Solved.
It could thus function as some sort of guard platform apart from it's refining role. Trick would be that your buddy needs to eject from his ship and board this platform, so his ship is parked outside, up for grabs.
So as your mining buddies get to work you can provide some sort of defense (not something exaggerated just a couple of auto-cannon or missile batteries that can track stuff at 60KM ). The possibilities are endless :)

That sounds quite alright, tbh.

Only makes me wonder why people can't just bring proper ships instead.

I mean... there is no need for such a plattform at all.

It smells a lot like easymode to me.

Ladies of New Eden YC 117 by Indahmawar Fazmarai

Warning: NSFW! Barely legal girls in underwear!

Diana Kim > AND THIS IS WHY THE FEDERATION MUST BE DESTROYED!!
Hengle Teron
Red Sky Morning
The Amarr Militia.
#11 - 2015-01-02 14:04:23 UTC
wait, isn't that what sentry drones are ?
Inxentas Ultramar
Ultramar Independent Contracting
#12 - 2015-01-02 14:26:23 UTC
Sounds like deployable turrets without the fuel requirements or placement restrictions of moons. It could work if the minimum anchoring distance and activation time would be large / long enough to make them useless in a large fleet fight. Say that you would be able to deploy these things anywhere, minimum 100Km from each other, with an activation time of 10 minutes... and would need to fill their (small) ammo-bay manually. The deployables would be doing damage comparable to rats and have quite low EHP.

Agression rules and auto-targetting are a bit of a pain to fully describe, but I'd go with configurable Standings-based targetting (like a POS) and small ammo bays instead of manual control. I'm still not sure deployables like this a desirable, but I do like the concept of dropping a temporary point defense unit with a marginal, but noticable, effect on PVP.
Soldarius
Dreddit
Test Alliance Please Ignore
#13 - 2015-01-02 14:30:51 UTC
There is this problem with being able to spam these anchorable turrets on a gate... not only making them completely broken, but also contributing to lag. So it will never happen.

http://youtu.be/YVkUvmDQ3HY
Nami Kumamato
Perkone
Caldari State
#14 - 2015-01-02 15:09:34 UTC
Soldarius wrote:
There is this problem with being able to spam these anchorable turrets on a gate... not only making them completely broken, but also contributing to lag. So it will never happen.


That could be resolved easily - can only be anchored in asteroid fields (for example) cannot be anchored closer than [insert distance] of a stargate. There are solutions to that.
Question is if they would be of any use.

As Sol mentioned - creating one with restrictions is not the issue. The question is would they be useful and would they add something of value to the game.

Fornicate The Constabulary !
Solecist Project
#15 - 2015-01-02 15:27:11 UTC
At an asteroid field?

No point. Afk miners can't use them, because they are afk.

Automatic protection against -10? Geee that would be hilarious,
because it adds one more killmail before the miner dies!

And would be too easymode anyway.

That ringing in your ears you're experiencing right now is the last gasping breathe of a dying inner ear as it got thoroughly PULVERISED by the point roaring over your head at supersonic speeds. - Tippia