Player Features and Ideas Discussion

We prob need less offices in npc stations not more.

I'm curious as to why you feel this is the case.


Mind you, this is from a low / null perspective. In highsec, you get a 24-hour warning with a wardec. That doesn't exist in low or null.

It's an issue of commitment. With a POS, it actually takes some commitment to take it down, even if it's undefended. This commitment is in the form of expensive ships (to bring it down quickly), in time (to avoid risking of expensive ships), or in sheer numbers of players (a lot of people using inexpensive ships). A small corp can't have people on all the time, so a well-prepared large POS essentially bridges the gap for a small group to be able to defend it, simply because the POS will require commitment to bring down.

With Entosis links, for a small corp that can't always get people on, it requires a small amount of time and a cheap ship. There's no commitment to it. Sure, you can try to schedule the vulnerability time for the times you most likely have people online, but it becomes an issue of "if you can't defend it, you don't deserve it." For small groups, you can't always defend it, and even if you can get people on every time it's vulnerable, a large-enough group (which could still be quite small if they're attacking another small group) can simply blap you before you get a chance to counter-Entosis any reasonable amount.

"If you can't defend it, you don't deserve it." That's exactly what it is, and why offices will be a required alternative for small groups once Citadels are out and towers are removed.

With my own observations, offices fall into two primary categories that make up the overwhelming bulk of them: plenty of offices available with prices a few mil or less (often at 10k, the absolute minimum), or few- to no offices available with prices in the hundreds of millions. I don't really see a lot of locations that fall into a middle ground between the two. A few, but not many.

Unlike current POS defenses, Citadel defenses will not be automated. If you can't log in during the vulnerability period, the defenses are effectively useless.


And for a small group, they may not be able to have their vulnerability times covered all the time. Currently, with a POS, it requires a bit of commitment. With the Entosis Link on Citadels, it will require a single person and a cheap ship. Small groups like this need a viable alternative. Right now, with current POS mechanics, a small group can reasonably survive with a large POS that's set up well.

Once the POS option is gone, the option will become the easily-taken (against a small corp) Citadel, or NPC stations. Since the Citadel would be undefendable in this case, the only option would be NPC stations.


Speculation is a dangerous game, and for an outdated mechanic like the current office prices, it would be better to improve upon it outright instead of speculating. If a large group has a staging location somewhere, are they going to give up the perfect protection that NPC stations provide to gamble with Citadels? Will they simply continue to maintain their NPC office as an emergency back-up?

I would prefer to see an outdated mechanic be fixed than speculate that a future change will make it less of a hindrance.


If you're in a corp, playing with mates, and have need of an office, there is no difference in price in having one ten-person corp or ten one-person corps in terms of cost (under the changes I've proposed). However, if you actually have need of a corp office with your small group of mates, each of them having their own individual offices is a bit silly, as you can't readily take advantage of the benefits that a corp office creates, and if you have your own personal corp, then the use of a corp office is greatly limited (hanger partitions notwithstanding).

Emphasis is mine, and is exactly what I'm saying. If a small corp can't hold a Citadel due to having low activity (for whatever reason), they're limited to offices in stations, which is what I'm advocating to be improved on. Nothing in any of my posts in this thread have had any form of advocacy in regards to any changes to Citadels. The only thing I'm proposing is a change in how office mechanics work.

Also, right now, the rumor is that Medium Citadels will have a six hours of vulnerability.

So your saying these people are able to check their POS every day and show up for defence, but 3hrs each week is to hard?

Killing a POS with decent defence dont take that much work, if you want the POS dead for whatever reason it will die.

OP is trying to fix something that is not broken for a reason that dont exist, wasted DEV time...