Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Currently MJDs go on cooldown after use, regardless of whether or not you successfully jump. This means a ship can scramble you during spool up and prevent you from jumping for the duration of the timer, even if you shed their tackle*.

I propose that the cooldown should begin only after a successful jump.

Everyone is always looking for ways to make battleships and battlecruisers more viable for solo and small gang warfare. I believe this small change would go a long way toward making that happen, without directly increasing the power of the ship. As it stands, a single well-timed scram keeps you immobile for several minutes, even if you kill the ship scramming you!

Battleships have a major mobility disadvantage, which is the main reason they suffer in small gang and solo PVP - because they are so easily blobbed. The MJD provides a unique option that forces your opponents to hard-commit to the fight (ie come into scram range). Except it doesn't - a single interceptor can "drive-by scram" you, keeping you there for several minutes, even if you neut it or kill it a few seconds later.

With my proposed change, the enemy gang would be forced to maintain scram for the duration of the fight - not just apply it once.

I think this change would have a fairly small impact on large battleship fleets and little to no impact on PVE (rats don't scramble), while doing a lot to make solo/small gang battleships and battlecruisers more viable by improving their survivability without buffing their power level. And this comes from someone who is generally in the frigate doing the scrambling - it just seems unreasonable that my crow can handicap a battleship for 3 minutes, without even staying on grid.

Of course I realize that small changes can have a large impact on the game. If anyone has a compelling argument against this idea, please share it!


*Disclaimer 1: Yes, I realize that killing/neuting a scrambler before your MJD finishes spooling still allows you to jump. But should killing/neuting it 2 seconds later really prevent you from jumping for 3 minutes?

Disclaimer 2: Yes, I realize there are some viable nano BS and BC fits which don't rely on MJD for survivability. That doesn't mean that MJDs shouldn't be more useful. I will not accept it as a valid argument.

Edit: A few people have mentioned a shortened cooldown as an alternative option.

Yes, maybe something on the order of seconds instead of minutes. CCP could decide exactly what would be appropriate. Personally though, I think having to spool up again (12 seconds), plus however long it takes you shed tackle in the first place is plenty of time.

Good idea. Supported.

+1

There are some great battleships out there, if only they were allowed to pack more grid control onto them, would make them pretty good for fighting off gangs with bigger numbers.

+1
seems very logical - if you've not jumped, you're still all spooled up (unless you switch it straight off), but you've not used it, so there's no big burst of heat that needs to cool off
perhaps MJD's ought to 'hang' at the point just before jump until the scram is gone, then the second the scram is gone jump jump jump

Supported.

Although the idea sounds nice it would make battleships and CBC's really ******* hard to catch. Maaaybe a shorter cooldown timer. But it seems intentional that this is a thing.

It stands to reason that if you are tackling a Battleship with two neutralizers, then you might need more tackle on the field to hold it down. Nothing wrong with that. If the Battleship is fitted properly to counter a single tackler, then the tackler just needs to have some backup.

I believe it should be difficult to tackle a battleship. Imagine, having a good reason to fly one. IMO battleships should be an important presence on grid, not just a liability.

Besides, if you think about the most likely solutions to your problem, they are

1. Bring heavier tackle
2. Bring more tackle

The second will happen naturally because anytime there is a battleship kill up for grabs people will bring their full numbers. The first has the potential to escalate fights (imagine using battleships to hold tackle on the battleships! Everyone in battleships!)

Also "almost impossible" seems kind of hyperbolic. A skilled inty or two can zoom in and out and scram the BS every 10 seconds. Anything with a cap booster can deal with a heavy neut or two, though yes, obviously it is harder. Isn't that the point of neuts? At least the battleship has some kind of chance, rather than just being stuck for 3 minutes.

Good feedback though. Obviously there is some difference of opinion on what "should be", but I think most of us can agree that battleships and battlecruisers are currently underused. I still believe this would be a good first step toward changing that.

Interesting idea. I can't think of any current modules that use charges that are consumed at the end of the cycle though, so it may be tricky from a coding standpoint. Another use for nanite paste perhaps?