EVE General Discussion

I've been considering the role of warfare links on the battlefield recently after learning of the new roles intended for command ships and T3 cruisers.

http://community.eveonline.com/devblog.asp?a=blog&nbid=73530

After contemplating the matter, a possible solution came to mind. There have been countless topics on this subject, and so not being able to read through them all I am unaware if this has already been suggested. Although a simple and effective method would be as follows.

1. Warfare links will only give bonuses to ships within a set distance, this distance could depend on the ship using the warfare links (i.e. within 4au for a command ship, or 20au for a rorqual)

2. When activating warfare links signature radius increases dramatically.

Perhaps you can see the effects of implementing these changes, but to make this clearer I will explain below;

Limiting the range of off grid warfare links but still allowing off grid use will allow ships such as the orca and rorqual to perform their mining roles within the safety of a POS shield. As off grid range is dependent on the ship being used, the orca and rorqual would naturally have a large off grid range, where as combat ships would have a much smaller off grid range.

By increasing the signature radius of ships using the warfare links, and bearing in mind the enemy fleet will know that the warfare linked ship will be within 4au of the main fleet, with a skilled combat scanner it will be very simple to scan them down and get a warp in in under ten seconds.

By reducing the range of command ship boosting, but still allowing operation within a POS shield, it will give an advantage to the defensive fleet if the attackers are within 4au of the enemy POS, although if they are further than 4au from the enemy POS then the command ship will have to leave the safety of the POS bubble.

I envisage that these changes could possibly introduce a new strategic element to the location of a POS, and will give attackers more tactical possibilities in countering a warfare linked ship. With a skilled scanning pilot able to get quick warpins, it would be possible to almost completely nullify a warfare linked pilot, and also possibly kill it if you have a cloaked ship able to infiltrate its position.

Sounds acceptable to me.

Maybe do a combo of reduced sensor strength and higher sig radius.

This would mean a increased vulnerability to scanning as well as ECM jamming instead of giving them such a severe sig radius nerf that results in getting blapped by anyone that can get a lock.

Off grid booster is still off grid when it is 500km away, off grid or 4 au away.

Although that idea is great for industrial command ships.

Weren't they going to make it ON grid boosting only?

If the mod only provides boosting when on grid, the mod should decrease the sig to make it much harder to kill with large guns and missiles.

Here is a filter for any ideas you come up with:

Does it allow off-grid boosting?

1. No >> You might have created a worthwhile contribution to the conversation.

2. Yes >> You're just wasting your time. Off-grid boosting will be removed.