Player Features and Ideas Discussion

1. One of the most illogical things in eve I've ever run into are the way POS's are set up, run, and refueled. The stationary structures always in a solar system, yet never allowed to use the abundant energy of the star there. Instead, the players in the game are forced into one of the most mind-bogglingly tedious task ever described as 'entertainment': the pos tower refuel. The amount of expletives I've heard on various comms over the years at the very mention of this topic are amazing in varation, volume, length, and downright venom. Refueling logistics is the anti-fun. Players do NOT like to refuel structures.

Logically, players should not have to.

The introduction of the solar array (coding: easy. art already exists ingame) would take the place of fuel needed to run the structure unless it is attacked. The attacking body would need to destroy the solar array before the pos switches to backup mode (existing fuel as it is needed to run today) for the pos to continue running. So, I don't propose getting rid of the existing system entirely, but until a station is attacked, it's solar array should be the standard for keeping a tower up and running. For the people who say this is an essential isk sink, I call BS. Ship destruction is an essential isk sink. POS fueling...exists only as a gameplay sink. It only serves to take time away from PVP and other things that make the game enjoyable.

Add this POS module to the game and you'll see a lot more people chancing a POS here, there and everywhere. Even in DRF land. And having fun doing it. It should not require powergid, but provide it. CPU should come from the onboard computers on the POS, not from fuel. And the solar array should bring provide slight buffs to the PG of the pos depending on what size you put up (small, medium, large) That brings me to point #2. Point #2 is going to use that extra grid.

2. At keys POS defence: anticapital POS gun module:

One of the most absolutely engaging and fun times I've had were as a POS gunner against batteship fleets. Even back then, POS guns were not even remotely up to the task of causing signficant damage to a large fleet before the station was destroyed or reinforced, or the guns incapped. But the few minutes that you could shoot at the attacking fleet was a lot of fun, especially if you could actually take out 3 or 4 battleships.

Nowadays, current POS gun modules are obsolete with the amount of capitals in the game. A fair sized (20 to 30 sc's or dreads, and you know that's on the low side) will laugh at your fully manned deathstar pos as they destroy your guns without so much as breaking a sweat (much less a tank). The game needs to evolve to match the amount of sheer damage fleets are dealing out with a counter: the new anti-capital pos gun module. It shouldn't be able to have more than a 10% chance of hitting cruiser sized targets, maybe a 50% chance of hitting battleship sized targets, but a very, very good chance of hitting capital targets. The extra powergrid I was speaking of in point one comes in here; you'll need it for these modules and if you're still mounting existing (conventional) pos guns as well to hit subcapital targets. The amount of damage they do should be enough to give capital fleets pause before they attack. I'm talking if 60 dreads show up and seige, at least 10 of them should die before these guns get incapped. The isk sinks I'm writing to get rid of in fuel in point #1, should be made up for here in the amount of capital ship destruction that is caused. It should still be possible to take down a pos, just not a walk in the park like it is now. Add this module. It will be easy to code. It will make the game more fun. More people will play.

3. FFS. This should have been done long ago.

The conquerable station defense battery.

Allows people to not only see out, but to target and shoot at offensive fleets, if the person who's gunning is part of the alliance that holds the station. You don't have to make this gun particularly powerful. It'd be the 'person stuck in the station w/camping red fleet' who'd be having fun here, rather than sitting in station bitching about how there's enemies out there and he can't mine today, woe is he, when is there going to be a defense fleet, etc (not having fun). incappable or destroyable, like station services but with slightly less hp's, more like a conventional pos gun as they exist today. I challenge you to find the person who lives in 0.0 who would NOT think this is a stellar idea (just for the sheer intel). Do it next week.

3. FFS part II: Um, lowsec FW: an adapted version of this gun with slightly less hp, expensive, placeable at gates where the placing corporation's faction has won sovereignty. If destroyed the gunner pops out into a pod. Could it be that easy to throw a bone to fw players? Yes, it could. Slightly better 'home field advantage'? Oh yeah. Better sense of FW ownership, and more incentive to do those damn fw plexes? Yeah. Happier players? A definite possibility. Easy to code? Should be. Gate guns already exist so you have art. Or you could use POS gun art, and have them behave like pos guns. Or whatever is easiest, and works.

4. Minerals

I really don't care about what you do with minerals; I notice when their price fluctuates as I buy and sell them but that's about it. I know a shitload of people who do care however, so for their sake I've tried to understand the current issues with ore, minerals, wh's, etc. Basically wh's are 0.0, only better because when I pop into one to look for something juicy I don't appear in local. The poor bastards have to spam directional constantly to avoid being popped by people like me. And I have heard that some people, including some devs, think it's a good idea to nerf wh's.

Don't do this. I don't live in one, but I need there to be people in them that are pursuing their own goals, and somewhat happy.
*(cont)

I'm gonna wait too see where this goes for now. IF people tend to turn it away, withm valid rasons that I currently can't think of, then I might join them.

However, what you've mentioned here MIGHT, and thats a big might, not be too bad. CCP is always looking for another ISK sink, and players are always looking for ways to have tons of fun without wasting tons of ISK. In most of these scenarios, it's the corp or alliance that pays, not the player, and the corp or alliance can afford it.

One issue that I CAN see is these player controlled stationary guns on stargates. It's hard enough for small corps and alliances to take null space, it shouldn't be made harder.

CCP mentioned a POS fuel pellet at one point or another, which is a simple drag and drop bundle of fuel for a POS, good for one hour at a time. In my hmble opinion, POS's should take only these, nothing else, and minerals, such as Ice minerals, should go into making these pellets. It makes POS logistics simpler, and makes fueling POS's much easier, but still necessary. Thus you can still disrupt a POS's fuel schedule. On the other end of the spectrum, it'd be much easier tot ake down a POS with that solar harvester. Keep the current mechanics, just lighten the load.

Remove pos fuelling and you make PI pretty pointless for most people. I like my passive income, leave it alone.

Not entirely true, they can easily make fuel pellets something that has to be built and uses those same materials.

Which adds another step, adds in BPC costs (I assume), manufacturing costs, time etc etc.





Until everyone who currently does PI starts churning out these thingsm which then proceed to either not sell or sell below the amount pos fuel makes at present. Supply and demand and all that. Instead of selling a guy a load of fuel once a week, you'd sll him one of these things per tower and be stuck with the rest.

No body is forcing you to have a pos

I was just reading back through these and I noticed your focus was on nullsec here. My proposal for null was pretty much limited to guns on conquerable stations. Gate guns in null....I'm not opposed, but I'm not proposing it either. My gate gun proposal would be limited to faction warfare lowsec systems, where the corporation or faction that has 'conquered' the system in question with the current fw system can place mannable guns at gates at the aforementioned system. Not null, just to be clear.

Do you have any idea how many POS's are found abandoned, daily, in wormholes and scattered systems?

So a player sets up a POS in a C1-C3 wormhole then can't find his home again or just decides to quit the game. Any explorer checking on it finds a powered POS sitting there so avoids it. 2+ years later, that POS is still there, still powered and nobody else can build in that spot.

A tough POS in a smaller wormhole is very difficult to take out and a crew, dedicated to the task, must be assembled to dismantle it - over a 2 day time period - even if it's just facing automated defenses. The profits from doing so are fairly trivial compared to the costs - and I'm not talking about one with an owner around who'll mount defenses - just one that is abandoned.

As such, the clutter factor would soar when, currently, any ships parked in the shield and the POS itself can be removed if they don't maintain the logistics requirements. Modules & labs scooped, hangers popped for loot, etc... It's not great income but worth the effort against an abandoned POS especially if you want to build your own in that location.

Less logistics requirements - I can get behind. No logistics... The trash clutter from lost and abandoned POS's would get very ugly.

The gunnery stuff for outposts has problems.

To use POS guns you need permissions. Corporations can grant this to their POS's, etc. Pretty straight forward on a player owned outpost but how would this work with Faction Warfare? Who gives/gets permission to take control? Rank based? If so - how is it handled when a ranking member takes control of the guns and decides to sit there? Who will revoke their authority or the like?

I find no real motivation to support the idea that a station spinner deserves any kind of alleviation from boredom. Either fly out and fight, fly out and run, or sit there bored. Zero-risk, freebie killmails while station spinning... I really find that hard to get behind. At least have some kind of loss penalty for using such tools - risk involved...

Just my take on these 2 points.