Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello,

i personally think that the crious patch made having a POS as an industrialist more of a chore/punishment, than giving a feeling of achievment or having reached something big.

I can remember that the first POS we put up 2 years ago as a corporation made us feel really proud, and have some sort of "yeah we were able to do it" kind of feeling to it. Currently having a POS doesn't save you any costs (more the opposite actually), doesn't give you a slots advantage anymore, and it has storage restrictions in place on every assembly array - in short, it would be lazier, and most likely also cheaper, to produce/research/invent on a station instead. It for sure is more risk free to do so, as i don't need my expensive BPOs in a starbase. Especially if you got a new one and want to research it up, using the time bonus of a POS array (the only viably thing it still has). This may often be also a decision were you have to go: nope can't do that, this BPO needs forever to research, is expensive at hell, and will be locked up for months to come in a POS array that can be shot down - i'll use the station instead.


One of the main things i really disliked, are the enourmous install costs you pay at a POS on top of the fuel block costs, they are barely any lower than if you would use a station in the same system, so this is where i feel something shouls happen. So this is the idea i just had:


How about giving a POS something similar to the "strategic index" you have in nullsec sov? Using the 28 days cycle of the system index average time to advance. Like, you put up a POS it has level 0, then after 28 days it has level 1, and so on, till reaching level 5. Each of those levels giving 10% reduction in install cost price. So that after a time of close to ~6months of POS online time, you would get a 50% reduction in install cost price. This would also add another factor of not wanting to offline the POS, as offlining it would reset this counter, rewarding those that keep their POS online all the time, and in the same position in space. It may also decrease the "just remove POS during wartime" thinking, as it may cause the owner to lose their 50% job install cost bonus.

I feel that a POS is an investment, something planned "longer term". So let it reward those that use POSes longer term, and permanently. So this would make "owning a POS" worthwhile again, and it would give you a sense of achievement once more, if you have it running long enough to get to enjoy this sort of bonus.



tl;dr:

Add a "strategic level" like timer on a POS as soon as it gets onlined, letting this level raise based on passed time, for example every 28 days as this seems to be the chosen time for system index average. Giving a POS a 10% bonus on the job install costs per level. Offlining a POS would reset this level. Reward those that keep the POS up and running permanently, and decrease the wartime removal of POS.

Oh - and Concord should just ignore you if you shoot at an offline tower in Hisec. And what about: if a tower goes offline, after a timer, anyone should be able to loot and unanchor the posdules?

Why can't we extract 2 moon goo materials and do simple and complex reactions to make composite materials in one large tower(could be a faction tower minimum).

Or have ancillary power and cpu enhancing posdules (exploration site BPC drops?)

Your premise is incorrect. POS installations give very nice bonuses.

"[S]tation in the same system" is the key phrase there. You're no longer bound to systems that have stations with research facilities and offices available to rent. You can erect a POS in a stationless system anywhere in highsec and pay a pittance for your install fees - with the potential to hugely increase your margins.

I think you undervalue the POS speed bonuses also. In the same way that a POS pre-Crius only came to represent good value when you had enough characters doing industry there to keep the available slots saturated, so will a POS post-Crius come to represent good value when you have enough characters to maximise throughput. With the lowered barriers to entry, abolition of slots and the replacement of the old ME skill with the new Advanced Industry (which is to be buffed, with hints of more skills to come), throughput is going to be what sets skilful industrialists apart, and POS speed bonuses are essential to this.

I would like to dock at my POS. Station in system smells funny.

Having a POS tower is a decision for economic scaling reasons. Unless you've hit a threshhold where you feel cranking out a lot of things would make the fuel blocks worth it ... then you probably really are at a point where a POS just isn't for you.

The sense of achievement would've been reduced somewhat in Crius regardless of the scale of your operation because of the removal of standings requirements, so the thing to look at now is whether your corp has grown enough to need one rather than whether it's at a point where it can just *have* one. Think of it this way, as a newbie you could choose to buy PLEX and fit yourself a PvE battleship in relatively short order ... but would it be wise at that point? At what point do you feel that sense of accomplishment when that marauder really starts to pay off after you know you've put in the SP's to make it really kick ass?