EVE Information Portal

I think you shot yourself in the foot "slightly" with this particular post.

Even if the majority of ratters don't use the module, it has definite use for the raiders (at a basic level, and for others when you being to think about what the ancillary abilities of the module could be used for).

The possibility of the module to simply not be used is minute... it simply may not be used in the manner that people are currently arguing about.

1: The foreshadowing for this has already been evident for some time now. Most people have either ignored it or were unaware of it. However now it is beginning to affect their daily game play. Expect more changes over the next couple of years that fundamentally alter how the Empires and Concord interact with capsuleers.

2: The assertion that it breaks things has been made, however the jury is still out on how factual that assertion is. In fact, the only thing that might need to be adjusted (at least at this layer of the onion) is the amount of ISK risked by the ratter. That's not broken, that a tweak being needed.

3: There are distinct rewards for those doing the work, as you well know. To state otherwise is more than a bit silly as the facts are evident and well documented. The only thing causing controversy is the level of risk involved.

4: Good game play is not the same thing as risk free game play. Providing more opportunities for a raiding style of game play, as well as providing even better rewards for ratters if they can defend their system (or have good enough intel to take down the module in time) is good game play. The need to adjust the relative levels of risk vs reward is a far cry from this being a mechanic that equals "BAD" game play.

This is the mentality that keeps people docked for days because there is an AFK cloaker in the system.

As a ratter you have just as many options available to you as those who seek to prey upon you. You are not welded into a particular ship, nor are you unable to change the fit of that ship to match the situation... and you certainly aren't cut off from the rest of your corp mates (and their hopefully well organized intel channels) as far as communications goes.

Prey mentality is self fulfilling.

And no, you lose nothing by not using this module. The reward reduction is going to come anyway and is an unrelated issue. So if you don't use the module your pay out is unchanged from what it would be anyway.

In theory that is all true.

But you well know why it works that way, don't you? If locals mission, just one ship with a cyno means there are actually many more if you choose to respond! I know from low sec that the big alliances aren't really shy from dropping dozens of capitals to gank a single carrier. The whole theory that with proper intel it all works out well, doesn't fly for smaller entities.

And the last thing we need in EVE is more very large impersonal entities imho.

All that means is that the situation will resolve in favor of the group that is better prepared, and yes I've been on both sides of that situation. Some of the best fights I've ever seen has come from doing what you would normally do (on the surface) when an AFK cloaker is in system... but being well prepared to deal with the eventual, inevitable hot drop that will occur.

But you're beginning to drift away from the topic, no offense.

The problem with you is that in you zeal to defend something that most people wouldn't bother, you end up putting words in people's mouths.

Where did I say "people don't rat in nullsec"? I have said lots of people in sov alliances have alts making isk in other places. the 720 bil a day coming out of nullsec is enough for 5, maybe 6000 ratters to each make a 1 hour average of 80to 120 mil isk an hour in a 24 hour period. There are (last count I saw) 90,000 characters in sov holding alliances and some of those players have out of corp/alliance alts.



Which is why I hope ccp deploys it. you're not willing to listen to 80 pages of other people telling you they won't use it, perhaps actual in the field failure will convince you?



We'll back it up with it's own failure because almost everyone save you and ccp can see it coming. When this happens, are you adult enough to admit yo were wrong?

On the feature page of the ESS, where the pod pilot is introduced to its functionality, I read this:



followed by this:



I'm thinking one paragraph would suffice, unless the guy doing the copy/pasta of the copywriting had a tad too much Brennivin in which case I would totally see how that could happen and I raise my glass in support.

[I'm still not enough of a hero to try the shark though. I don't know how hungry the person must have been who thought that was a better alternative than sucking on volcanic rock for sustenance].

Yours.

Your design has several flaws:

a.) You operate an EU timezone corp. I then have my aussie or US squadron RF the ESS when you aren't even online. Suddenly your system is suffering heavy ratting penalties if you want to rat... not to mention if the ESS RF timer comes out during a non-EU timezone, you will lose out on the isk to boot.

b.) People generally wont rat if an enemy has RF one of these in system.

Generally speaking, anything gives the opponent more than 20 minutes to "form up and defend it" very quickly escalates beyond small gang. One of the premises of farms and fields are that small gangs can raid them.

In general, RF timers insure large responses, which is NOT the intention behind this module.

And the design behind the ESS has several flaws:
1) there's no actual reason to deploy it, since you'd spend more time (and consequently more isk) making sure nobody steals from it than you would just ignoring the whole damn thing and ratting as normal
2) if someone comes in and deploys one, nobody'll rat there until it's gone, just like they wouldn't rat if there's a neutral/red in system
3) if a blue deploys one, people won't rat with it, it'll get destroyed and said blue'll get kicked out of the corp for deploying it

The problem behind this whole mess is a long standing one. CCP knows that nullsec, like numerous other areas of Eve, is a broken mess badly needing to be fixed. But taking the time to comprehensively overhaul nullsec will be a large project requiring a large number of designers carrying out a great deal of work over a long period of time. And post Incarna CCP has demonstrated they don't have the will or the vision to commit to such a large project.

So instead we get this latest in a series of random tweaks and widgets, developed by virtue of fitting neatly into a sprint schedule, without any need for a joined-up plan. CCP's position is like that of a chef who has created a particularly bland and tasteless soup, and rather than taking the time to tip the mess down the sink and starting again with a properly planned recipe, is now stirring in random ingredient after random ingredient in the hope that one of them will magically fix their mess.