Player Features and Ideas Discussion

That's pretty gud that even roaming Rifters can disrupt unprotected assets, buffer zones and/or space.

No ASCII art, thanks! -ISD Dorrim Barstorlode

I get that you want the emphasis to be on the fight, not on the capture mechanic itself... but using the Entosis module seems to make you so incredibly vulnerable that you can't realistically consider using it until the fight is over!

This reduces the entire Entosis Link mechanic to a mere formality that must be attended to after the fight.

Hardly sounds like exciting new gameplay to me... more like paperwork.


I do have an alternative mechanic in mind...

What are the primary benefits of this hybrid Entosis-Grind mechanic?

Trollceptors capturing stuff with Entosis Links is not just mitigated, it is annihilated because they simply lack the DPS

Removes the whole "who are the attackers and who are the defenders" mess. Either there is an Entosis Link being used on the structure or there is not. It doesn't matter who is using it.

Imagine a 50 million EHP structure that might ordinarily take an hour to grind and destroy... then imagine you reduce its resistances from 99% to 0% using an Entosis Link while you're busy shooting at it. Its EHP drops from 50 million to just 500k. Your Entosis Link just saved you a hell of a lot of time and made it damn hard for any defenders to rep the thing. That makes it an invaluable asset, but at the same time... you didn't really need it. It would have taken a lot longer and been a lot harder without it, but it still would have been possible.

We don't need structure grinding to make a comeback. Even if you bring Structures down to 0% resistances they still have a massive amount of EHP and it's impractical to kill them without either a massive sub-cap blob or a slightly less massive capital fleet. For reference an Infrastructure hub has 5 million structure, 75 million shields, and 112.5 million Armor. That's just shy of 200 million total EHP even at 0% resistances, and would take 21 Moros Dreadnaughts two full Siege timers to grind through. Over 213 total minutes of Siege Mode.

While a large Null fight will probably not have either side capturing the structure until they actively control the grid that is A. not necessarily a bad thing and B. not significantly different from how things go now. If there are enemy Caps on grid you shoot the caps first, you don't keep blapping away at the tower that's going to take several more rounds of Siege to die/hit the next timer threshold.

Now, in smaller fights, like in Low-Sec, Wormholes, or anywhere else where an Entosis Link might be used that isn't a large Null fight, as well as in a smaller-scale Null fight like you might see in some of the less desirable space (Providence anyone?) this doesn't hold up. In these smaller fights it's possible and practical for fleets to field ships that can survive for multiple cycles, like Dictors, Command Ships, T3 Cruisers, or Capitals.

In the larger fights it's likely that the time when people are ticking down the timer will not be time spent completely idle. The FC will have to check his intel, see if the enemy is abandoning the fight or regrouping, and then react to that info. With a 30-40 minute timer just to take a single Node then the enemy is going to have plenty of time to re-ship, move forces around between the various nodes, and keep fighting back. It's quite possible that in a close fight a single Node could change hands multiple times before finally being closed out by one side or the other.

So, after someone has effective military control?

Oh snap, gotta rethink

See structures for a fix to this. (hint: mission agents in sov space)

Actually that link you posted is out of date. If you look at an Infrastructure Hub in-game you will find that it has less than half that many hit points (2.5 mil structure, 45 mil armour and 30 mil shield). Taking its resistance into account, it has 96.25 million EHP. If we were to adjust the structure stats so that all of that came from 99% resistances instead of raw HP, my proposed Entosis Link mechanics would reduce that EHP to less than 1 mil. In other words, down from approximately double a Titan's EHP to less than a Dreadnought's EHP.


That amount of EHP is nothing for a 0.0 blob, but still far too much for a trollceptor to handle. This is the sweet spot! This is what we should be aiming for!

Oh my, we must stop a massive coalition

quick replace EHP with EntosisHitPoints

Excellent mechanics, completely addressing the concerns of a trollceptor meta.

Now the people who want to attack space must risk something on field which can be killed, providing content for all involved. Instead of the defenders being griefed into chasing interceptors around their own space..

I think you're misunderstanding, the T2 module is actually less efficient. They both capture in the same amount of time the shorter cycle time just lets you potentially escape or switch off more easily.

Also part of the point of these changes is lowering the barrier to entry for Sov Warfare, which is currently measured on the scale "Your supercap fleet must be this tall to participate"

It also has a higher mass penalty and higher fitting requirements, in addition to being far more expensive which limits the extent to which you can make that greater range work for you.

What's your reasoning for "you must spend this much time training" before you can claim Sov? The only practical consequence I'm seeing from this is making new players less relevant in large fleets and increasing their barrier to entry to Null warfare.