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Idea: Random Calamity by Small Solar System Bodies (comet and centaur)
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Sarrian Calda
Perkone
Caldari State
#1 - 2015-09-23 08:12:42 UTC
Story

Comets and centaurs (the small solar system bodies, not the mythological beings) have been picked up by the sensors by the infrastructure hub in the system and are being tracked for any sign of a collision course with structures, such as stargates, stations, customs offices and starbases.

Every now and then, a comet or a centaur is determined to be on a collision course with certain structures in the system and flagged globally in the system local in an attempt to seek help from capsuleers to avert the disaster.

However, the capsuleers are not the only one who may have business with these giant bullets. Pirate entities have also set their eyes on these small solar system bodies as they often contain valuable ore which are often not found in the local system as they originate from a distant source.

Every now and then, the pirate NPCs would capture such SSSBs and set up an ore extracting operation to harvest the ore. The immense amount of work needed requires a lot of ships, thus generating a significant signature which can then be probed down by capsuleers. However, as the stake involved in such operations are high, expect heavy resistance from the pirate entities to safeguard their ore extractors. Should the pirate entities succeed in their operation, the local system will see a reinforced presence of pirate ships harassing capsuleers in every way.
Sarrian Calda
Perkone
Caldari State
#2 - 2015-09-23 08:12:56 UTC  |  Edited by: Sarrian Calda
Mechanics - Comet anomaly

Where will this occur? Any factors affecting its occurrence?

  • Any solar system with Infrastructure Hub or Station.
  • Sovereignty ownership not required.
  • Smaller comets will appear in high security space.
  • Up to medium comets will appear in low security space.
  • The largest comets will appear in nullsec.
  • Comets will not appear in wormhole space.
  • Survey Network upgrades will increase likelihood of occurrence, but does not improve quality of occurrence.

How will this occur, progress, and end?

  • Local-wide announcement will be made in the Local channel.
  • Players jumping into the system or logging on in the system will also receive the same announcement.
  • The announcement will include the size and type of the comet, and the structure that is on its collision course.
  • Event will end when one of the outcome scenario is fulfilled.
  • End scenarios are: Expired, Success, and Failure.
  • The comet will be globally visible on the overview and can warp to it at any time.
  • The comet will be travelling at a very high velocity, and require players to apply stasis webifier to reduce its velocity.
  • Webifiers would affect the comet in a different way in that it will reduce the velocity of the comet perhaps by fixed values. Depending on the size of the comet, you can only train a certain number of webifiers on it. All webifiers will behave the same on comets regardless of the module’s quality and skill and ship bonuses. The Numbers are up for discussion. In real life, comets typically travel at velocities in excess of any possible sub-warp velocity achievable in EVE (except when getting bumped by the sun). The velocity will be scaled down to a manageable velocity in EVE, but would definitely need ships such as interceptors to catch up to it and to slow it down.
  • Comets will be on a collision course to a random structure in the system. Potential targets in the pool may include but not limited to: anchored/online starbases (or citadels in the future), infrastructure hubs, stations and customs offices.
  • Players have to mine the comet to reduce its mass.
  • Players can also shoot the comet to reduce its mass, though this will also reduce the amount of valuable ore it contains.
  • Due to organic nature of comets, the electromagnetic signature radius is unusually small for an object of this size.
  • If players successfully reduce the mass to zero before the timer runs out, the outcome is successful.
  • If players reduced the mass past a threshold when the timer runs out, the outcome is failure.
  • If players did not reduce the mass past a threshold when the timer runs out, the outcome is natural expiry.


When will this occur and how long will it last?

  • This will occur at any time of the day.
  • Downtime will not pause the event, nor will it refresh the event. Event will progress as it is through downtime.
  • Event will last several hours at least, possibly following the usual signature cycle timer of 4 days, to allow players to respond.


Who will this affect?

  • Everyone in the system can participate, especially the owner of the affected structure which is on the collision course with the comet.
  • No NPC presence.

What are the consequences (scenario outcome)?

Natural Expiry

  • Comet completed its course through the solar system and collided with a structure in the system, critically damaging it. The larger the comet, the more damage it will deal to the structure, without any protection of shield/armour resistance. It is possible for small starbases or weakened structures to be destroyed by comets this way. Any mass reduced will reduce the damage correspondingly.

Failure

  • Comet’s mass is reduced sufficiently and the gravitational pull of the system’s sun has altered its course. The comet now has an appropriate percentage of chance to still be on collision course with the structure, depending on how much mass is reduced when the timer expires. If the comet misses the structure, no damage will be dealt. If the comet hits the structure, the damage will be reduced according to how much mass is remaining in the comet.

Success

  • Comet has been destroyed/harvested beyond its critical mass required to maintain its course or to pose as a danger. The comet disappears, and the event ends without causing any damage to any structure.


What are the rewards?

  • Players can make a strategic choice whether to allow the comet to smash into the structure on its collision course or to prevent it. Hostiles may be inclined to let the comet smash into a structure of the system they want to crush, and friendlies may be inclined to prevent that from happening.
  • Players can gain significant amount of minerals from the comet. The composition of the comet can be determined by looking at the description of the beacon or of the comet itself. Using an asteroid scanner will reveal actual numbers. Moon minerals may be available on some comets and can be harvested as special ores.
Sarrian Calda
Perkone
Caldari State
#3 - 2015-09-23 08:13:42 UTC  |  Edited by: Sarrian Calda
Mechanics - Centaur signature

Where will this occur? Any factors affecting its occurrence?

  • Centaurs occur mainly in nullsec space in pirate NPC regions and pirate NPC-owned systems.
  • Centaur sites will appear as unknown signatures and need to be probed down.
  • Entrapment Arrays will help increase the likelihood of centaur sites appearing, but does not affect the quality of the sites.

How will this occur, progress, and end?

  • An unknown signature will appear. This signature is indistinguishable from other signatures unless it is probed down.
  • Signature strength is quite weak, comparable to that of a 10/10 DED site or the top-rated data/relic sites.
  • The signature will disappear in one of 3 scenarios: Natural Expiry, Failure, Success.
  • Players have to probe down the signature and then raise a fleet. This site is not gated, but a cynosural field jammer is present, preventing the lighting up of cynos on grid. However, it does not prevent the warping in of capital ships.
  • Players will attempt to destroy the pirate NPC presence in the room.
  • The centaur that is present in the room can be harvested using mining lasers and strip miners. This can occur with or without the presence of pirate NPCs.
  • The centaur can also be destroyed using conventional weapons. This will reduce the mass and the amount of valuable ore it contains.
  • Pirate NPCs will continually reinforce their numbers every hour, starting from a baseline to a peak where it will be almost equivalent to a strong sleeper site for the highest quality of centaur sites. Reducing their numbers before the next spawn will mitigate the overall strength of the hostiles on the scene.
  • Mining the centaur will reduce the mass of the centaur.
  • Reducing the mass of the centaur will weaken the strength of the reinforcement as the pirates begin to lose interest in harvesting what remains of the centaur.
  • Downtime will not alter or reset pirate NPC composition. The state of the site progresses untouched through downtimes.
  • Reducing the mass of the centaur to zero will flag the event as a success.
  • Reducing the mass of the centaur past a threshold when the timer expires will flag the event as a failure.
  • Not reducing the mass of the centaur past a threshold when the timer expires will flag the event as natural expiry.

When will this occur and how long will it last?

  • The site will spawn at any time.
  • The first 48-hour timer will begin and continue through downtimes. At the end of the timer, the site will despawn if the site is still active.
  • Depending on the outcome of the site at the end of the first timer, a subsequent event of varying quality will occur for the next 48 hours.
  • Maximum duration of the entire event is 96 hours, or 4 days.

Who will this affect?

  • First phase of the event only affects those who are attacking it.
  • Second phase of the event will affect anyone in the system.

What are the consequences?

Natural Expiry

  • If the centaur has more than 90% of the original mass by the end of the first phase, the NPC pirate will commit 100% of its forces to harass and aggress all players that are undocked or not within the protection of starbase force fields.
  • Pirate ships will appear at stargates, stations, asteroid belts, customs offices, and even starbases.
  • Pirate ships will attack all players on sight where they are valid targets.
  • Pirate ships will attack starbase structures that are outside of the force field. This means weapon batteries, cynosural generator arrays, jump bridges and anything else that are lying outside the force field. The control tower itself will not be attacked.
  • Priority treatment will be given to player ships, then to abandoned ships, then to starbase structures.
  • Strength and number of pirate ships are approximately the same as an incursion.

Failure

  • If the centaur has a substantial amount of mass left by the end of the first phase, the NPC pirate will commit a corresponding amount of its forces to harass and aggress all players that are traversing between key celestials and structures.
  • Pirate ships will appear at stargates, stations and asteroid belts.
  • Pirate ships will attack all players on sight where they are valid targets.
  • Strength and number of pirate ships are scaled accordingly.

Success

  • When the centaur’s mass is reduced to zero, the NPC pirates will disengage, and the site will despawn after the last player leaves the grid.

What are the rewards?

  • A total pool of ISK is algorithmically determined and assigned to the value of the centaur and the NPC pirate ships guarding it.
  • As players extract the ore from the centaur, the value is transferred from the pool to the players in the form of ore. Maximum ISK would be gained via this method by suppressing the pirate forces and extracting all ores within the first phase.
  • As players kill the pirate ships guarding the centaur, the value is transferred from the pool to the players in the form of bounty. Farming the pirate ships this way will not earn all the ISK in the pool.
  • When the first phase ends, depending on the outcome of the first phase, the remaining pool will be committed into spawning pirate ships all over the system. Players can then destroy these additional pirate ships in an attempt to get at what remains of the pool.