Assembly Hall

Local Chat's current Intel function diminishes strategic gameplay, stealth, and scouting. This proposal aims to fix that while still giving tools to Sov. Holders (and those in NPC Null who make the effort to align with NPCs). It also encourages the use of smaller ship classes bellow that of BCs for use as raiders and scouts by giving them a greater potential to move about unnoticed.


Local Chat Intel Changes:

New Delayed mode:
- Automatically applies to High and Low Sec

Players will now appear in Local after a set time of entering the system based on ship class:

Frigates, Shuttles, Pods: 5 minutes delay
Destroyers: 3 minutes delay
Cruisers, Transports, Mining Barges: 1 minute 30 seconds
Battlecruisers, Industrials, Exhumers: 30 seconds
Battleships: 15 seconds
Capital Ships or Player Docked in a Station: Instant

* Cloaks will end the timer and cannot be picked up by Local Intel if not already registered or unless the player broadcasts in the Chat.
* Once registered on a systems Local Intel only logging out or leaving the system will remove you. Cloaking after this time will not remove you from Local.

Note: None of this applies to Wormwhole space which remains the same.


- Null Sec:

Local Chat Intel is no longer automatically part of Null Sec, the default state being the same as Wormhole space.

Outposts in Sov Null provide the new Delayed Mode Local Intel in the system they occupy. Much like docking rights, who has access to this Intel in controlled by those that own the Outpost.

Stations in NPC Null will provide the new Delayed Mode Local Intel in the System they occupy to those Players or Corps that have 8.0 or higher standing to the NPC Corp holding the station.

A new mod for Titans and perhaps other Cap Ships that will allow them to provide the new Delayed Mode Local Intel for the System they are in for all Corp and Alliance members. Active mod that will not work in POS shields or while the ship is cloaked. Also will not function in WH Space.

A new deployable The Scanner Array: When deployed will provide the new delayed Local Intel in the system in which it is deployed to the Corp and alliance that owns it. Cannot be deployed in or near a POS. Will not function in WH space. Has a large volume that no subcap combat ship can carry one. Is relatively expensive to produce and relatively easy to destroy. Also shows up on Overview.


Note: This Proposal is the Local Chat portion of a larger proposal in Features and Ideas on Improving Intel in EVE which includes additional ideas including cloaking improvements and means to detect cloaked ships which can be found here https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=94963&find=unread

I too have lived in Null, and know that because of Local it's near effortless to avoid being attacked when you're not traveling via gates...and for those who are part of large alliances even the gates aren't that dangerous as others will generally warn in intel channels if they see anyone on Local in their system, so you know a hostile is nearby long before they even reach the same system as you.

As to the game breaking nature of Local Chat being being brought up many times before, this is true, but I never saw you saying the same in the gazzilion AFK cloak whine threads that pollute these forums, why is that? Besides my particular solution in this proposal is new.

What would you tweak and why El Geo?

Intruiging twist Xorv...not sure if it would fly well in High Sec (15min delay on pods) as it could hurt war decs in high sec for hunting targets but then again....why not just make it delayed local all together? (I'm not REALLY asking that..but I'm asking for more background on your line of thinking)

The goal is to make active Intel gathering more important, I don't think it would negatively impact Wardecs in Empire, either side in a wardec could benefit from this change either in pursuit or evasion, but both would now require player effort. Why not no Local Intel altogether? It's partly a bit of compromise, but it also falls into the secondary objective I had with this particular proposal which was to give a strategic advantage in using smaller classes of ships. CCP has already began looking into this with finding roles for Frigates, but I think they're missing the mark just be playing with fitting stats. This proposal gives a real strategic reason to use a gang of all Frigs and Destroyers, or a gang of Cruisers; these ships become the skirmishers, raiders, and scouts they should be, while BCs and up remain the ships with the real firepower and capacity to stay in a slugging match.

Just a few clarifications: It's 5 minutes, not 15 minutes delay for pods in the proposal. Also the default state for Nullsec is the same for WH space, except there's multiple means of creating the new Delayed Local in Null systems whereas there isn't for WH space.





The times are just rough numbers, they could change. However, the goal is to make it so Frigates and Destroyers are able to enter a system have a fight in that system and leave without ever showing up on Local, and for Cruisers to be able to pass through systems without showing up on Local if they don't linger. ..and ofc for BCs and up not to have this advantage.

As to making based on ship mass as you suggested, or ship signature (which I thought about) I rejected because Signature would hurt passive shield tanks and be overly favorable to T3s with certain set ups, and mass would hurt Armor Tanks. In any respect neither mass or signature give the clear results I wanted to see, the way ship class does.

I would not be against making standings to NPCs effect HS, LS, and NPC Null more than my proposal suggested, but it would make the proposal a lot more complicated than it already is and I don't think it's the most critical element, so it's left out.

Actually if you carefully read the details this proposal it doesn't remove AFK cloaking as an option, although I doubt many would bother as there simply is no need to do it the first place.

the only real afk cloakers are the ratters who dont want to be found

I actually agree about the Cynos, I've suggested elsewhere that Warp Scrams and Distributors have the added effect of blocking a ships ability to light a Cyno Beacon.

I also agree there are a lot of interconnected issues, I linked in the OP a Thread in Features and Ideas that addressed more of these connected issues. However, the truth is the more complex a proposal the less attention it will get. So, it comes down to breaking them up into their respective parts, and the first step in my view is dealing with Local Chat's very negative impact on gameplay.

any change to local needs to be coupled with power projection changes (read: cynos), and cloaking changes

currently one of the reasons cloaking isn't completely unbalanced is because you still know SOMEONE is there.

lol, you cant avoid a suicide gank by looking at local