Science & Industry

1. Interbus hates us ... so we blew up their offices
2. I've seen a little more action, usually the "really, why are they ALWAYS here when i'm in a hauler" type action though.
3. Depends on what we're defining "small to mid size" as. But, I think so.
4. I think it's about the same. It'll take a little more time (and possibly the fuel block switchover) to really tell.
5. Nothing "Player Owned" yet (have just shot Interbus so far).

edit -- first!

Well the biggest problem with POCOs isn't a POCO problem. It's the stupid storage silo mechanics. 700MW of power? For what? And it stores a pitiful 5000m3 of material.

So the end result is nobody uses them. Nobody has 700MW free so instead of buffering excess P0 material in a silo we're instead shooting it up to the POCO (and paying a tax) and then bringing it back down (and paying the tax again). If anything, use another launchpad and at least double the storage space.

This is really the biggest limitation I have with PI right now. Storage. Using the POCO as a buffer is a workaround for another problem entirely.

1. Where do I start.....

No better place than with planetary launches. Currently PI launches allow for 500m3 of PI to be launched. This I say needs to be altered. Not to some silly level m3 but to a level which are actually X times the volume of items produced. E.G. P2, 3 & 4 items are 1.5, 6 & 100m3 respectively. 500m3 is not a multipal of any PI item. 150, 300, 600, 900, 1200m3 are and seem to make more sense.

Taxes. With all the whining and resulting CCP HTFU responses I was somewhat intersted in jumping into PI to see what PI was actually like. That was an eye opener.The current NPC tax levels are not really an enticement for High Sec Bears to venture into low sec as I'm sure CCP wanted. (Though I could be proved wrong on this). Considering that during my low sec roams looking for suitable PI oppertunities the standard POCO tax rate appears to be 12%

2. I've been in low sec quite a bit over the Christmas and very rarely seen a POCO in reinforcement. Then again there seems to be very few of them outside of 0.1 sec systems.

3. Probably. However more oppertunity does not mean more people will try it. CCP we need more enticements to enter into PI.

4. Less. And the reasoning. PI on the planet (currently) is a single person activity. However it takes in my opinion several people to be able to destroy an interbus and replace with a POCO. You could do it solo if you had several hours to spare. I'm sure some people have managed to destroy them solo but as it stands there is no real enticement to kill them unless you want to place a POCO of your own. Now if they were to drop items/loot/BPC's then that would be a different story.

5. No stories and I've not been enticed to start PI even though the forum tears and trolls were wonderful.

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God I hate forum trolls.

EDIT:

If you havn't read this and i'm sure you havn't, then this issue needs to be addressed.

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=561037#post561037

Having a PI facility carry out cycle after cycle without having a set desintation for its output needs to be changed more inline with say mining mods, where they stop once the cargohold is full andthere is nowhere for the material to go.

only problem is the time it takes to replace a interbus POCO for one of our own, we have to kill hundreds in our space!
we want to replace them all, but 15M hitpoints each doesn't help!

Allow us to petition their removal from space we have sov (0.0). a director makes a petition, at downtime all Interbus pocos petitioned are removed and we then go and anchor new ones. everybody is happy.

or change the hitpoints of a interbus Poco for something smaller like 2M or something... this is becaming a pain in the ass, for more than one month we are kiling interbus POCOS, not even half is done in our sov space,

1. Something broken: Interbus COs were a late design addition, presented as a cushion so that the changeover to POCOs would not have severe backlash or market effects - they should be removed by CCP in lowsec/WH/nullsec now that people understand POCOs and gantries are widely available. Their continued existence negatively affects player-driven POCO gameplay. It's a lot of effort to clear those things, and some people choose to ignore their taxes ('my time is free').

Something terrible: POCOs may sit around untouched for months unless shot at, and it's impossible to tell at a glance if anyone still uses them (unlike POS, which must be fueled). Maybe there should be a way to tell how frequently an Interbus CO or POCO has imports/exports? This would help pvp scouting (active places for fights), industry scouting (this POCO is abandoned, let's kill it and take it over), and user scouting (hey this place is not used much, it probably isn't depleted. or the inverse). I'd say add a form of upkeep by making POCOs use energon cubes, but that adds a layer of effort which is unfun.

You could also make POCO shield resists related to, say, the amount of taxes collected? That'd provide another way to differentiate POCOs on activity, and make more valuable/capitalistic ones harder to kill.

2. Has the amount of PVP changed? Yeah, I've heard of fights over these, and scouted several nullsec targets myself.

3. I'm not involved with mid-size corps, but I have seen POCOs owned by them, so I'd guess yes.

4. Definitely more relevant. PI is now providing noticeable alliance income for GSF, so any turf-holding group should be examining them as a way to pay for corp/alliance programs. The new taxes also make efficient PI installation planning more important, and further differentiate highsec vs POCO optimal setups.

Maybe CCP can check how much PI is being done through Interbus offices at the moment? If the number is low enough, removing them would make sense.

And if it's mostly exports with few imports, a more permanent solution of bumping up CC and launch capacity to 1.5-2k m3 would keep harvesting without a POCO viable.

Linking some related threads:

Improved notifications for customs offices

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=574341

Getting stuck on customs offices

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=595313#post595313

Don't think there has really been enough time for everything to settle into a pattern yet.

What I would say is broken (well perhaps not broken but against the grain at least) is a couple of things.

1. You just handed on a gold plater null sec alliances a bonus 10% on there already larger share of PI profit.

2. Your system seems to try and encourage people to hold and defend property in low sec, something no-one is really going to undertake as the rest of the tools a null sec alliance have for these purposes aren't available. Discouraging people from taking that 'risk it for a biscuit route' and basically doing the oppossite of what you seem to have intended.

3. The overall effect therefore was a nerf to high sec ops and a buff for the already phenominally rich null sec alliances, plus added another complication for those who want to dip there toe in riskier ventures.

All in all a nice idea, when implemented doing almost the complete opposite of what was intended, pretty much par for the course really.

Just the way I see things of course your milage may vary.


/edit- thanks for asking though

1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?
-What is happening makes sense to me and seems viable so far. There are a lot of calls in here to remove the Interbus offices by CCP's hand but I think that should be avoided and let nature take its course instead. Eventually they will all fall or be worthless.

-There needs to be a way of deleting materials from the storage silos on the planet rather than launching them. Charge a small environmental impact fee if you need to, but give us a way to address the messes that sometimes happen.

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?
-Personally no. Sneaking around as a hauler is still sneaking around as a hauler. Until some sort of auxiliary cruiser is added to the game, I don't think there is going to be much change, at least in the small arena.

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?
-Not really. PI is a solo event with other players joining for a short period to set up the POCO, after that it is back to being a solo event. Except for a few specific planets in areas, I don't know how many people are going to invest in any sort of large scale warfare with a small group instead of just moving over a little (there are as many planets as players logged in).

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?
-It is still relevant, but it is much more of a later game mechanic than it was originally once you include POCOs. Then again, even with the higher taxes you still make money in high-sec.

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?
-Nope.

1. Is there anything related to the Customs Office feature or PI taxes that you think is broken or terrible?

You need the ability to select which corp wallet the taxes are paid into.

I would honestly like to remove the ability for capitals to engage a POCO in lowsec. It's really hard to defend the initial reinforcement (ie get a fight) when a half dozen dreads can drop in, siege one cycle, and leave before you can get there. We had a POCO reinforced the other night and we responded in about 7 minutes but the attackers were already gone. I think the sweet spot for taking down a POCO is a 10-20 man fleet, not a pair of dreads. I also think this may help keep the larger powers out of the lowsec POCO realm, as it will be too tedious to take over large numbers of POCOs.

The station manager role is overloaded, I'd like to see a POCO specific security role. Giving that one title is putting too many eggs in one basket. I'd also like to be able to password protect the configuration and transfer options on a per-POCO basis so a single person cannot steal all your POCOs. Only a director/CEO can recover the PW.

Also, editing POCO configuration while not in the same system seems to be broken. The only way I seem to be able to edit the tax rates is by flying out to the same grid as the POCO. Is this intentional?

2. Do you think the amount of PvP engagements has changed in EVE as a result of this feature?

Yes, it gives people in lowsec something to fight over that doesn't require a monster force to take down (ie POS).

3. Do you think the feature has created new opportunities for small to mid-sized corporations?

Yes, but see #1. CCP needs to keep an eye on this and make changes to keep the large null-sec entities from steam rolling all the lowsec POCOs.

4. Do you think PI has become more or less relevant in EVE?

More. I just started doing PI myself after POCOs were introduced so see what it is all about. It also gives incentives for corps to encourage PI, as they can make some passive isk from it.

5. Do you have any awesome story related to a Player Owned Customs Office?

Not directly yet, but I've seen some pretty big battle reports over POCOs.