Player Features and Ideas Discussion

So here is my idea for you people to poke holes in (preferably with relevant arguments)

First off lets imagine that off-grid boosting is not a desirable game mechanic, and henceforth for the purposes off this idea lay to rest any idea that it is not so.

Solution :

Change the link modules to a type of targetted "Ecm" module.

For each bonus a command ship wants to infer on it's gang it has to lock one player target and activate the link module on it which creates a ecm bar with 100% chance of hitting.

The module then creates the relevant system wide bonus for it's gang.

What this achieves

You will not be able to give bonuses from the comfort of your pos shield as you can not lock enemies.

Other E-war modules becomes viable methods of shutting off your enemies bonuses (not with titans of course)

Titans has to be in the battle to give bonuses no more low secs where corps stash untrappable titans in pos for perma boosting

Titans has to sacrifice a locking slot to give bonuses ( So do all the ships but it affects titans more )

It's a simple solution, CCP has already mentioned that making bonuses grid wise is too hard from a coding perspective and just changing to off grid bonuses still leaves players with the nigh unprobeabable T3 option. ( I know they're not actually but the average prober with no implants will struggle to ever get a hit within a reasonable time frame )

Make's bonus ships something that needs to be protected, with R-ECCM as well as keeping them alive making them more like true flag ships.

That's All folks feel free to rip the idea apart or add to it creating perhaps a better idea. This was just a "morning coffee idea"

Then the devs would have to redo all the ships to compensate.

Range wise, the bonus would work system wide, CCP has already hinted that creating on-grid only bonuses is a coding nightmare they won't solve. Game-play wise I think it creates more issues then it solves really.

With this method if you wanted to do off grid safe-spot boosting say with 3 links you would need 3 other ships there for your booster ship to lock and activate the module on.

you could off course have 3 command ships locking each-other in a round robin, all the system achieves then is basically making the job off off grid boosting much harder to dual box while simultaneously making it much easier to probe and find those 3 ships.

For a extra kick in the balls to safe spot boosting you could make the activation of the command link module work to 50% of the strength of a target painter.

Or for a even more interesting mix you could make the effect of the command link bonus ecm be to reduce the sensor strength of the target, thus making the target easier to probe or jam. thus giving command ships a actual offensive role on the field as ecm support while killing any unprobeability they.

Multiple bonuses would work just like a multiple of the original system Each command ship would have to lock up one target for each module it wants to activate.

No change in how different bonuses works from today proposed the only difference is what the bonus giver has to do to be able to project those bonuses.

@Raven Darksouless

No idea what your on about sorry. The command ships are already created to be on field ships they were never intended to sit in safe spots with 7 links and co-procs in all lows.

@Lokar Griman

Sorry but Straw-man somewhere else thanks :P

Only whining I see here is you

Should have read the OP properly. Let me spoon feed you a little bit




Sig increasing sig radius is a incredibly ill thought out suggestion, if you think about it you will understand (Hint sig radius affects gun tracking and missile damage) If you still don't understand why and need me to spoon feed you feel free to ask for extrapolation.

Making links not work in POS shield is fine. It is however a rather bland solution and it doesn't solve what happens when you take T3's circle R-ECCM them and add pirate implants on top of that. Neither does it add any value to the game.

If offgrid boosting is to be fixed it should be fixed with a idea which gives bonus ships a reason to be on the field and perhaps as a added bonus actually have a decent role.


PS. lets put our monies where our mouth is I'll bet you 6 billion isk that I can stop you solo probing and catching me out in your non virtue clone for over 2 hours while still applying bonuses 80% of the time in any system of my choice. Reply in here if you take me up on it. I love it when people actually stand up for the crap they spout, let's see if you do

This is the core assumption that I take issue with regarding whether there is an issue with off-grid boosting. An "unprobable" T3 is a fairly skillpoint intensive endeavour. You need a lot of skills in leadership to make it worthwhile, and have an expensive fairly skillpoint intensive ship to make it happen. Using the example of an "average prober with no implants" is like saying brawling T3s are undesirable because an average T1 cruiser pilot will struggle against them 1v1.

A good prober with implants can scan them down, at the very least making them work to stay ahead of said prober.

Guerrilla tactics used by small groups against larger groups rely, by necessity, on a degree of speed and secrecy.
Boosting is a good way of enhancing the strength of a small group.

The blobby direct frontal assault logic is only of use when you have equal or greater numbers and relative strength.

Off grid boosting in many cases enables small groups to outperform groups of superior numbers.
Let me rephrase that: They worked smarter instead of harder.

Your idea enshrines the concept that a booster must sit in plain sight and allow themselves to be targeted.
The obvious consequence is that this results in promoting blobs, as whoever can get the fastest kill on the enemy booster holds the advantage of being boosted.

It is a balance issue as to whether this means a boosting vessel should be able to hide behind POS shields, as not all boosting is combat specific.

First off yes, I actually get to create a idea based on a proposed change in game mechanic without going into the discussion of whether it is a problem or not. That discussion has been had on this forum for years. PS. CCP has already stated several times that they are looking into changing off grid boosting as they are not happy with the idea................

Especially when the proposed idea actually creates new tactical game play. The only discussion not needed was your post I mean by behjesus how can you be so afraid of discussion about altering a game mechanic which you don't believe needs changed. Do you understand how ridiculous that is ?

Lets take a scenario which I have came across more times then I can count.

Corp A lives in WH A
Corp B in WH B

The battle is about to take place in WH C (As neither party is interested in going into the others home system and facing the capital beat down.

Corp A controls the WH into Corp B homesystem thus forcing Corp B to jump through WH into the enemy gang.

This situation already presents a few issues.

Corp A has a offgrid booster in place that Corp B can not touch. Because good luck getting a prober through a controlled hole and probing the bonus giver. (taking into account that Corp A is one of the corps in WH that actually knows what it's doing.

Corp B is now forced to use a ongrid tanked booster if they want bonuses while Corp A gets to use a max bonused ship of choice.

As to making T3 near unprobeable. Any wh corp worth half it's weight will have pilots that can do that coming out of it's backside. It's not a limiting factor whatsoever.

I never said a average prober won't scan them down I said a Non virtue prober won't scan them down fast enough that they haven't moved 1K. Both of which is pretty irrelevant because in most situations where you are attacking someone else they will have the entry point properly guarded (unless they are scrubs)
And yeah even if they have to work to not get probed they have to work it doesn't change the fact that the defender gets to have offgrid bonuses while the attacker doesn't

As to the bonuses giving small corps a chance to stand versus larger ones. This is the dumbest rubbish I've seen spouted in here all day. Offgrid bonuses for the vast majority favors the defender (you know the guys with POS in the system and a command ship or perhaps a titan or two permaboosting)
Besides that all bonuses if applied equally to both sides always favors the party with the larger force every time.

And no my idea doesn't enshrine that the bonus giver has to allow himself to be targeted. That's a pretty ridiculous straw man right there
A smaller gang will utilize either cloak,speed or range to allow themselves to take on a larger force all of these scenarios are possible with the on grid system I proposed. It's just not possible with a afk alt is all =)

This.
Bonus points for using Douglas Adams.

Now, step one in making a recommendation seeking feedback and or approval.
You must explain WHY something is needed, and those giving replies that you actually want need to agree with your explanation of this "WHY".

My above post was specifying that your basis of need is not as widely accepted as you implied.

I have underlined the key aspect I am addressing here.

We do not want to encourage blob tactics more than they already have.
If you shove everything from both sides to be up front, you might as well score each ship with a value and see who has the higher score.
There are no appreciable tactics with blobs, just direct and nearly mindless frontal assaults. Calling which is primary has two results, you either do it correctly, or you screw up.
There really is no room to excel at calling primaries. Blob vs blob is about as dumbed down as large conflicts can get.

A boosting ship will simply be the obvious choice to be primaried first, making it's position in fleet activities more limited than is practical with equal forces.
For small group vs large group, the bigger blob will win more often, since the smaller group cannot use any tactics to protect the boosting ship beyond leaving it out of the fight entirely.

There is a lot of room to consider between hiding behind POS shields and exposing the most critical single ship to enemy fire.

there is also quite alot of room between being on grid and being exposed to fire that can be considered.

the problem you end up with, if that if the booster can be off grid, then immediately any group of any size entering a system to fight are immediately at a disadvantage, because their boosting ship must come through the gate. where as the defending side can have their boosting ship / pilots wherever they please. by forcing them to be on grid, at least the attacking side has some ability to combat them.

whilst not used as a ECM like module as suggested above, to have a successful ecm cycle disabling gang links in a similar way that a scram disables a MWD might be a decent option. then you would have a decision between using your ewar on targets like logi ships or a command ship.