Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Logistics is an arduous task. There is no question that at times it takes hours of tedious planning and activity that is akin to mining in high-sec, to move/deploy modules, ships, material and structures. However, this is done in relative safety with the use of Jump Freighters.

TL;DR at the end.

Suggestion?
So let’s nerf them. Actually… just remove the jump drive from these ships altogether and see what happens. Consider this a meta-theory – perhaps a starting point for more considered change(s) to the game mechanics.

Issue that this is trying to solve?
- Non-existence of farms-and-fields in EvE and shape of 0.0.
- Lack of activity, particularly in 0.0 and to an extent in low-sec.

How will it solve these issues?

Farms and fields and 0.0

Imagine if a coalition, an alliance, or a corporation needed to move their assets conventionally… gate-to-gate via ships that are basically defenceless, slow and designed to haul a lot of assets/material. This would not only mean from 0.0 to high-sec, but also within the boundaries of 0.0.

Let’s consider the latter (within the boundaries of a 0.0 alliance), where a product produced at Point A (call it a POS or a Refinery), or the proverbial ‘farm’ needed to be moved to Point B (Staging Station). Under current mechanics, this can be accomplished by an x-number cyno jumps that occur in relative safety of numerous POSes and/or stations – with the product reaching the end point safely and reasonably quickly.

If the jump capability was removed, this produce would now need to be flown gate-to-gate from Point A to Point B. This would require a significant amount of planning, it would certainly take more time and would also perhaps require participation of numerous pilots (scouts/escorts/industrialists etc.). It would make the whole process a headache I would imagine.

So, how would that bode for the big alliances, controlling vast areas of space?
- It would add a level of impracticality in effectively controlling large amounts of stations, moons, POSes etc. as you would need to ensure a secure and ongoing logistical chain from these areas to the alliance’s staging systems/trade hubs.
- Local production would be emphasised versus imports from high-sec that take a long time and expose the logistics fleets to increased risks.
- Production of modules and ships that require a significant amount of resources (i.e. Supercapitals) would be slowed due to the requirement for adequate material to be shipped vast distances.
- Deployments and invasion fleets would likewise have to ensure a viable and uninterrupted supply line as they advance into opposing territory or even when defending their own.
- Systems would gain strategic value as choke points; invasions could be crippled by bad supply lines as pilots are left without vital ships and/or modules.
- Power projection would be curbed (to a degree).

0.0/Low-sec Activity

I suppose this one has already been figured out by people that have read thus far, so I won’t spend much time explaining how big, slow and valuable targets travelling gate-to-gate would affect activity, except to say that:
- It would provide small-gang objectives and emphasise roaming fleets that deploy behind enemy lines to disrupt supply chains and can actually make a difference overall by doing this.
- Transports would also have to traverse low-sec, thus giving pirates an incentive to engage the escort fleets en route to high sec.

I would imagine that this change would make a lot of people unhappy, specifically those that are used to current mechanics and know how arduous they are already. I expect a lot of responses saying “logistics is hard/boring already and this change just makes it worse”. I agree. However, I would like to consider in this thread the wider implications of doing just that.

[/b]TL;DR[b]
Take away jump capability of jump freighters making logistics a LOT more difficult and time consuming. This could affect the blueprint of 0.0 alliances and provide a framework for farms and fields design as well as create small-gang objectives both in 0.0 and Low-sec.

I have this strong feeling as though you have never piloted a freighter before. I'm also of the opinion that perhaps you don't live in deep backwater null.

you are asking to remove jf's completely. What's a JF without the the jump, YES! A freighter, buddy.

And this idea is the dumbest one since AFK cloak threads.

This suggestion wouldn't be motivated at all by you currently basing in Vlillirier and/or nearby lowsec with 3 to 4 nullsec entry points nearby would it?

Also this would be super unlikely to ever happen.

What in reality would happen would be a single jump out of hi-sec, webbed on the other side of the gate into warp to land on a titan followed by a series of titan bridges (and maybe the odd JB) to dest.

They make null-living tolerable. If you removed them, the big boys will use titan bridges, the small boys will be in viators.

Before there were jump freighters, people just used titan bridges to bridge freighters.

If you remove the ability for titans to bridge freighters, people will just use other caps (cargo expanded Rorqual can get something like 126k, carrier has a 10k fleet hangar). People would also just use BLOPs bridged blockade runners to get the job done.

Essentially, any attempt to remove jump drives from logistics will just not work, and people will just work around it.

TL;DR....

jump freighters.... so you want to remove JF from the game you mean? you do realize that CCP added this into the game to fix the fact that no one was ever able to get across borders right? its to fix a problem you need to fix that problem to