Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Ok - So this is my idea...

{The Ship - The Combat Transport Vessel "CTV"}

A vessel dedicated to boarding other vessels. This particular ship would possibly be isolated to a Frigate or Destroyer sized hull.
This vessel would have limited Launcher & Turret capabilities and no Drone bay. Instead it would have slightly larger resists than your normal racial vessel and potentially a bonus to Webs. It would also be able to mount a high-slot "Boarding" module.

In addition to the standard cargo hold, all ships in EVE would have a "Passenger Hold" which is utilized by marines. This boarding vessel would have a bonus to said cargo hold. Allowing it to hold more than the average ship.

Can fit a single Boarding Module.
Bonus to effective hit points and damage of Marines. multiplied by CTV Level.
Bonus to Passenger Hold Space
Reduction in Cargo Hold Space
Limited Launcher & Turret Hardpoints
Requires Prerequisite T1 Hull to level 5.
Requires CTV Level 1

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{The Boarding Module}

Fitting: High Slot - Maximum of 1
Range: 0-500m
Requirements: Leadership Level 5, Boarding Techniques Level 1
Charge:
Marines. Standard Canon Fodder. Average Abilities. Can deploy many.
Tactical Marines. Specialist Marines trained in the art of capturing and securing capsules. Small team size, limiting deploy able amount.
EW Specialists. Specialist Marines trained to disrupt modules, and in particular target capacitors. Generally weak in combat.
Salvage Specialists Can Loot Enemy Cargo Holds.

Effect 1: Once activated, it allows marines to board target vessel.
Effect 2: Once activated, Armour & Hull resists increase
Effect 3: Reduces Shield Recharge rate of target vessel?

Adverse Effect - Removes 100% Of your shield whilst active.

Used in Nullsec space only. (And low sec?)

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{How it works}

Ideally this vessel would be a gang/fleet support vessel. Once a target vessel has Zero Shield, this vessel would approach and attempt to close within 500m. Within 500m the Boarding Module can be activated which releases the marines into the target vessel. The GUI would be similar to the Drone GUI. The player can actively control the boarding team by using this GUI through basic instructions:

1) Go for the POD - Most difficult to achieve for standard marines.
This will order your marines to combat enemy marines, if present, and the onboard security turrets (imagination people) and eventually aim to capture the other players pod. Effectively taking it captive so that you may hold it to ransom. This does not effect the capsules ability to eject and warp away.

2) Attack Hi, Mid, Low Modules - Easiest job to achieve for standard marines.
Choose what area your marines should focus on. This effectively makes your marines begin to damage or destroy the enemy vessels modules.

3) Neutralize Capacitor - Intermediate difficulty to achieve for standard marines.
Orders the marines to infiltrate the capacitor and discharge it.

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How do you counter it?
To counter boarding parties there are several tactics.

1) Kite the vessel
Don't let it close distance. If it can't get within 500m then they can't board you.

2) Smartbombs
If they get close, utilize smart bombs to aid in the destruction of the vessel.

3) Have your own marines!
Marines in your passenger cargo hold will be factored in to your ability to counter an enemy boarding your ship.
However, marines carry a lot of kit - so m3 is high per soldier. Larger vessels have more room naturally, so a battleship would have considerably more space for marines.. making it harder for a single boarding vessel to take control of the ship.

3) Repair your shield to 100%
Repairing your shields to 100% would prevent the boarding vessel from maintaining it's link to your ship and would force it to detach. Hostile Marines in your vessel during this phase would take heavy loses as they lose the bonuses provided by the boarding vessel. The boarding vessel would need to reattach once you have lost shield.


As per point 3. A single Boarding Vessel would find it impossible to take capture or disrupt a Titans abilities in space, as it has a much higher chance of repelling your boarders. However, a larger team of boarding vessels could cause an issue.

With regard to charges, i think this idea helps to develop not only a new style of tactical game play ... but also the ability for EVE's pirate corporations to get "in to the game" .... since jet canning etc was negated... pirates can basically only "pew pew" their way around space... and the looting and ransom holding is a bit 'meh'. However, a fleet of these roaming around ... you could board miners and drain valuable resources to your hold... or hold the ships ransom/pods ransom. etc.

The marines would be a product of Planetry Interaction - producing / training marines.

I think a covert ops version of this idea would certainly be OP.... but damn, it would also be incredibly good fun!

Constructive effort good sir.
But what if i told you that you could also utilize Exotic Dancers to counter Boarding parties..... ?

If it involved the new FPS CCP has been working on to replace Dust 514, I might be okay with it.

However, how would you even determine the outcome of a fight inside a ship other than how many "Marine" units you have in your cargo?

EVE is not built around boarding type actions. So no, our current mechanics would need dramatic changes for this to even start to become sensible.

Do you realise how quickly a boarding action would need to be to be useful?
Most ships, even capitals in many cases, are destroyed in a matter of seconds after being targeted.

There are reasons boarding isn't even realistic in a RL situation. Its far less risky and time consuming to blow **** up from afar.

Nor would you in a small gang fight.

There's a hundred reasons why this wouldn't work, but the biggest ones include lore (how shields work, the logistics of getting a team onboard) and balancing, to the point where I just don't feel this has any place in EvE

Why do you want to outright remove armour tanking from the game?

How do you get through my armour and hull, which are capable of tanking multiple doomsday hits?

How do you get through the literal thousands of members of my carrier's crew?

What kind of handheld weaponry is going to worry a pod, which can take a couple of hits from artillery guns a foot wide?



Why do you think this would be a good idea, under ANY circumstances at all?

Boarding parties are brought up constantly. They have no chance of happening.