Player Features and Ideas Discussion

(Updated from Original Post.)

Bringing back Mines has been spoken about but not properly discussed or proposed.

Limiting amount that can be placed, restricting security they can be placed in, setting them to become inert after a timer expires, the distance they can be placed from structures, and spacing limitations, are all possible ways of making Mines practical to use without creating server clutter and allowing abuse.

This is a refined list of parameters for the new mines based on the data collected from this thread.

Placement will require stealth bombers with a specialized launcher for mines.
The amount that can be placed should be limited to 1 mine per placement, which can be placed via a specialized launcher with a loading cap of 3. Like some deployables, they have a placement time, which will be 15 seconds, after which they become live.

Restricted security to nullsec only and possibly low sec, but doubtful. High sec placement will be prohibited. Wormhole space will be included in placement capability.

A timer of 1 hour will be effective in the determent of their placement and then leaving system. When the timer expires the mine will be rendered inert and can be scoop up by any player. The mine can be reactivated, or the timer refreshed by the pilot who placed it, so long as they are on grid to reactivate the mine, it can be done remotely within 200k of the mine.

Cost should be prohibitive, 1 million isk starting, or more expensive, this would deter their waste and leaving them behind in mass, while providing possible income for salvage operations that wish to retrieve inert abandoned mines. After this the price will rise per demand.

Distance will be 5k from station, 20k from gates, 3,500 meters from other deployables and other mines, 10k from POS, 2,500 meters from custom offices, And 7,500 meters from Wormholes.

Damage will be 100 for small mines, 200 for medium, and 300 for large. 5 types will be available, one for each classification of damage, and one additional type of mine for energy neutralization, for which the cap drain will vary, as well, depending on the size of the mine, my recommendation is to make a small, medium, large, and X-L, all of which should be developed based on current stats of ship classifications.

AOE of 3,000 meters with an activation range of 250 meters.

Hitpoints and tracking The mines should have a very low signature radius, thus be difficult to track and take an extensive amount of time, leaving the attacking should vulnerable to enemies that are on grid. They should have a fair amount of HP to avoid being instantly glitterized upon firing.

These are the new specs based on all information gathered by multiple sources in this thread.

Thoughts?

Although this is a possibility, however slim it may be. This thread was primarily about fixing the mechanic and making it possible to use them once more. Which I believe has been done thoroughly.

While I can see your point, I do not believe it is any more likely to add to clutter or especially kill EvE then all of the drones left, cans, deployable structures that do not disappear on restart or any of the rest of wrecks and everything else that abounds daily, as once again, it would have a timer.

A limit could be set and even the damage could be raised, as a limit of 3 mines at their current damage set would do almost nothing worth considering.

Maybe raising the damage to 100 or 150 per mine and setting the limit towards 1 or 2 per ship.

Even being able to deploy one would be an improvement from not having it at all.

Mine:
Damage: 125.
Spacing: 3,500 meters.
Limit: 1 Per ship.
Sec: Null security space only.
Timer: 1 hour 15 minutes.
Limitations: Non deployable within 20k of gate, 3,500 meters of other deployables.

Make them a variant to bombs.......more of a dynamic tactical weapon

Same restrictions etc (null, AOE doesn't go off if it hits a gate/station etc)

Make it a high slot module (Mine layer II)

Give it say mag cap of 5 mines. Each mine say has 5km AOE.
Once deployed the mine stays around for 10-15s then explodes.

Idea being you stick it on a fast frig or w/e then fly through your enemy group dropping mines. make it an anti drone/support weapon rather than a long term area denial weapon.

This way it doesn't become any more of a system hog than normal weapon systems but could potentially add so new tactics to fleet combat.

So i warp in 255 of my closest friends and myself and seed your undock/pos shields/gate/whatever, i leave system or even if they are slaved to the ships have my fleet warp to a safe and eject ships, holla back to the staging system (or some friendly logi bros in carriers/bowheads) and pick up some more minelayers...

"hey guys lets undock to fight these asswipes" *EXPLODES IN A RAINBOWCOLORED FIREBALL*

They have been adequatly discussed...

NOW WHAT MIGHT BE COOL is some sort of smartbomb fitted mobile deployable... that should be less stressie on the server and if their resist profile is suitably crap you cant just perma firewall/pipebomb the enemies undock...

With the restrictions you list on lifespan, distance from things and spacing, what situation do you actually see these used in? Can't undock camp, can't gatecamp, can't really bubblecamp, can't even blanket the area in front of a fleet.

What CAN you do with them?

Mines weren't fixed, they are still in the game, but cannot be used.

If you believe what you said, then POS guns should have auto-target removed. Covering an area with mines, via what I presented, would last an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.

No, the reason they never returned is no practical and efficient ideas were presented for their use. The abuse of mines in high sec was one of the primary reasons they were removed.

POSs and there guns are restricted (at the moment) to very specific locations and are relatively easy not only to avoid but get away from as there targeting AI is pretty dumb, to be in any way really effective you need POS gunners, players on grid.

What you are proposing is basically an AFK weapon system which requires NO player to be on grid which is my primary objection. I object to AFK gameplay its as simple as that, if you want to cause damage you should be at the keyboard and on grid with your target and at risk of retaliation.

I also have serious concerns about the load such items would produce when used in numbers and while restricting them to Null is an obvious thing to do I think you may be underestimating just how much they would be used and what effect they would have. Last time I looked spamming large amounts of cans and drones still causes problems for the server and are still removed by GM's when reported these could have much the same effect.

I was about to completely dismiss the whole concept of static mines, even though I love the idea it is too open to exploitation.

That said, imagine crossing an Interdictor and a Stealth Bomber...

Why not open up a new line of T2 destroyer, using those new models that people have been itching to see done as T2 varients, and create a minelayer ship class? The mines could work in a very similar way to Interdiction Probes, chuck one out, delayed online time, short 'armed' time (to prevent spamming), and they detonate by proximity with a smaller AoE than bombs.

They could be tailored to different tasks, like stasis feilds or other Ewar effects, they wouldn't necessarily have to cause actual damage.

Thank you for constructive input.

This is actually what would limit the aforementioned problem with large groups of people deliberately spamming mines. This new concept would actually provide a tactical role in mine placement and help to limit its abuse further, while still allowing them to be used in dynamic fashion.

I support this idea.

I like this idea