Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The general idea behind the new structures is nice, but at the moment it looks like they are just the old POS modules scattered around... the only main difference is that before we could have most of what we needed in the same place (as long as we had enough cpu/pwg), while now we are forced to keep them far away from each other... why?

When the devs first talked about these new structures, they were talking about them like our new home in the space, something that we can build, customize (and destroy) according to our will and needs.
That was cool, so many people had a lot of expectations... expectations that were probably too high, and honestly made many of us disappointed.
Citadels and ECs are both quite disappointing (especially the second ones), and mostly they will be used only because POSes will eventually get removed.

If taken one by one they could be not that interesting, because they don't give us enough reasons to actually invest our isks on them, why not link them together, and give use the opportunity to actually make something more unique, tailored on our needs (well, at least more than now...)?

For example, Citadels are mostly focused on assets defense, and a place where people should mainly dock (similar to npc starbases).
ECs focus on manufacturing, research, and industrial activities in general.
New drilling platforms will probably be more focused on materials gathering/processing.

Why don't let us deploy them near each other, and link them to actually combine the strengths of the single structure into something more powerful and/or tailored to the single player/corp needs?
Citadels are good at assets defense... so let them do that! If you link one citadel to one or more ECs, the Citadel will be the primary defensive tool, while the ECs will focus more on production.

Or link one EC to some drilling platforms... so you can use the materials you gather/process in the platform directly in the EC.

The only restriction that should actually still remains is the min distance between citadels, to avoid the creation of some super powerful fortress.
So for example let a corp place 2-3 medium ECs for indy... and put near them a medium citadel for the defense. All the linked structures will share the same vuln window, and the attackers will only have to deal with the citadel. The other structures will be invuln as long as the citadel is up.
Linked structures won't be able to actually target anything, so they won't have any role in the main defense. Only the structure set as primary will be the one vulnerable and the one who can attack enemies.
When the primary got destroyed, all the "castle" will be vulnerable. Not sure then what would be the best way to balance it... if for example let them fire back like when they are alone... or be vulnerable but unable to target anything... or become vuln and already without shields after the primary exploded..

This way people can actually decide what and how to use... if they want more protection for their ECs, they will put a citadel near them... if security is not a big problem or wanna be cheaper, they will just deploy the ECs...
if they wanna produce items right where they gather maths, they will put an EC near the platform(s)... if have many platforms around and wanna centralize the production, they will keep them separated... if a platform is gathering something very valuable, they will wanna put a citadel near it...

The structures now are basically nice... but they narrow our possible choices and gameplay styles, rather than making them wider. The super specialized ECs rigs were the same... they forced the owner to stick on a small portion of production, to be competitive. No more possible to adapt to the market, and try to use the fluctuations, or other events that modify the market. You just dumbly keep making the same things over and over.
And if you wanna use more than one EC, to vary your production, you have to spend hours flying from one structure to the other, moving mats and so on... just boring.

Linking structures together would mean that you are placing all the eggs in one basket, and I don't really agree with that idea. You already can place different rigs inside different structures for player flexibility.

As of the last major patch you actually can't place new Outposts down. Citadels are the replacement for outposts. Outpost mechanics are outdated, bulky and very inflexible. On the whole, Citadels are extremely powerful and gives players a feeling of home and security (a thing that can be lacking in eve).

The new structures are also better for Server performance on-grid. The server only needs to track one object in space instead of a dozen or two separate objects in a POS, in addition the ships that would normally hang out there.

Also, the new structures are far more imposing to players (especially new players). A POS and it's structures are tiny little things trapped and hidden under a giant bubble shield. A Citadel on the other hand is a massive structure that's looks well armored and is usually armed to the teeth with weapons of all sorts. It's more a physiological thing really.

I like the idea of being able to build a city in space. I was really hoping for a system whereby I could put a couple of EC's 200km away from a citadel. The EC's themselves would have no weapons, but would be somewhat protected against some threats by the citadel. The citadel then functions like the acropolis in a Greek city or a medieval castle with a town growing up around it.