Assembly Hall

In the summit minutes, CCP listed a number of things they would like to address regarding 0.0 and in the following discussion they seemed to introduce more skeletal points they would like to address rather than solutions to these problems.

The Issues CCP would like to address are as follows in no particular order:

0.0 Alliances control a large area they are not utilizing. CCP wants to avoid vacant systems and for alliances to 'use or lose' sov.

Large areas of sov control and presence of blob warfare make it difficult for a small alliance to carve out an area of their own in the shadow of large coalitions.

Blob warfare is common because there's very little players feel that small fleets can accomplish. They want more objectives for small groups to undertake.

Industry in 0.0 does not exists, not profitable enough, better to just import from Empire.

Some parts of space could be more resourceful and a greater prize for large alliances, while less resourceful space could be less contested, giving some smaller alliances a chance to stake their claim.

CCP minutes mentioned luring industrialists out to 0.0 with more efficient research or quicker manufacturing capabilities.

My proposal- Imagine sov structures tied to the POS system. (this is debatable, but laid the basis of an idea that can be molded as CCP sees fit) Each sov structure would need to be fueled by the alliance in control. This fuel could come in the form of unstable isotopes. These isotopes could have a half life that is tied with the jump system. For the remainder for the remainder of this post I will use Uranium 235 as an example (U235) since it is both familiar to many readers and all ready used as a fuel source! U235 could be used as is or combined with other PI/ice products to create sov structure fuel blocks. I will continue with the notion they would be used as is.

Imagine that an alliance has a particularly resourceful system and wants to extract fuel for their sov structures. Once acquired, an industrial ship loaded with 1 million units of U235 Upon jumping from main hub to next system, half of his cargo hold is converted from U235 to Thorium 231 (natural decay product in the real world... I'm a biochemist, let me use my fancy science!!) leaving him with 500 k units of U235 and 500 k units of Th231. He then makes another jump and now his cargo hold contains 250 k units of U235 and 750 units of Th231. Also, those janitors in his cargo hold have had their faces melted off and are now units of ZOMBIES!!!!! (One can hope!) Perhaps that Thorium 231 could even be used to make charges???!!!

Where would this U235 come from? Perhaps each time a miner's laser cycle completes there's a 5% chance tor an additional amount of U235 equal to say 10% of the miner's yield to have been found within the ore. (numbers subject to balancing of course) whether this additional U235 was in a refined state or ore like state (favored) is irrelevant, so long as they were still subject to decay. In addition, PI extractors could had a chance of finding an additional x units of U235 per cycle and could automatically be routed to the launchpad or silo. These yield numbers could also vary slightly depending on system/constellation to provice one more facet for defining more resourceful areas for large alliances to contest over and less resourceful areas for smaller alliances to gain a foothold.

This would require alliances to utilize the systems they claim sov of, provide a need for industry pilots to exist in 0.0, large alliances that could afford the decay rates could even fuel a larger area without making the most of their systems, but would limit the scope of vacant but still claimed space, and with a need for more industry pilots in 0.0, the markets could also grow to the point where it would be more worth wile to produce in 0.0 than import from empire.

Small fleets could still play a role in sov by disrupting enemy mining operations or protecting their own. We all know how effective that can be in high sec. Perhaps spawns of valuable rats could even increase depending on the number of ships in belt to reward the combat pilots for hours of staring at strange blue lights they know nothing about and make coordination a requirement for industrial affairs in 0.0. . . . Oh god I just signed up to have more of my precious mining barges blown up!!!!!

Why the idea of ting sov structures in with POS? If miners and PI folks obtain raw or refined U235 in system, they don't want to waste a half life by taking it to processing. Furthermore, the lack of station capabilities is one reason that many systems go vacant! If Sov structures were tied to POS functionality, areas that are claimed would be more usable. CCP mentioned increased research efficiency or quicker manufacturing capabilities in 0.0 to lure industrial pilots to take the risk. Perhaps this could offer those possibilities. No one enjoys hauling fuel to the POS, and the idea of having to haul fuel to something else would be even more annoying, but by fueling them both in the same place it would be less of a chore. Planting a flag (sov structure) that says "this spot belongs to KNO3" in an empty system seems like an empty gesture, building a shiny POS and then planting that flag would suggest not only have I claimed it, but I am using it. I know there are complications to this, but I'm not familiar enough with the workings of 0.0/POSes to discuss them.

How would this effect empire? If the empire factions were to fuel their own sov structures by pulling U235 out of their derriere and shipping it using the NPC merchant vessels that all ready patrol high sec, hopefully it wouldn't. Any U235 harvested in empire wouldn't be shippable to 0.0, and could be refined into either amunition charges, something new entirely, or minerals (though elements -> minerals seems unusual.)

There are plenty of suggestions that I have seen that would allow a large alliance to live in a relatively small, well used amount of space. There are plenty of suggestions that I have seen that would force an alliance to live in a small amount of space. There are suggestions in both categories that I like parts or even all of.


This is not one of them.

The Sov system used to be tied to the POS system...it was even worse and didn't limit claiming large areas of space either.

There are many suggestions outside my own to do that that I've seen and like as well.

This isn't one of them.


So long as the relevant systems were well executed, I'm fine with it. I've got some interesting ideas based on discussions with one of our sov experts in that regard, even.

Back when I pitched my wildly under-read sov/nullsec reform package modeled on the 'farms and fields' design, I actually came to a lot of the same conclusions you did. I think the best way of allowing small alliances a space in nullsec would be to create an incentive for larger alliances to tolerate (non-rival) alliances on their borders.