Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Someone getting hot dropped a bit too regularly? :P

Seems a bad idea to me the cyno ship is just going to get blapped before the cyno can be used in 99% of cases and people would spend all day griefing people trying to move capitals around.

There are plenty of counter mechanics for cynos whether used for escalation in the middle of a fight, hot drops or whatever its not like a totally one sided game mechanic with no give or take tho it might need a little bit of ingenuity to counter sometimes.

Something that has been missing so far, from my view, is the desirability of using recons for lighting cynos.

Their role in this is currently made obsolete by noob ships being a cheap and disposable alternative.

And like anything where a cheap and disposable alternative exists, gameplay is dumbed down in order to remain competitive.

I can't speak for Mag's.

That being said, I do have opinions on this as well, which I hope add to this discussion in a useful way.

I would definitely have the cyno beacon pop at the first moment a spool up was attempted.
My reasoning is this: Why would you ever use a more expensive recon, if you could still effectively use the cheap noob ship?

If the cyno beacon doesn't appear until the jumping ship is able to use it, the only effect would be specific to alert other ships on grid with the cyno boat. That might make hot dropping more difficult, but noob ships would still be the cost effective choice.
(Super caps aside, noob ships feel like a cheat being used like this)

I agree with all but the limited cyno I don't feel it is necessary as moving capitals is a fleet job by design, and restricting what ships a cyno can be fitted to would reduce the power projection.

How can we escape a hot drop, if a pilgrim uncloaks next to us and lights a cyno? Plus why shouldn't such force projection have the need for specialist ship use, in order to gain the time advantage with the hotdrop?

It's obvious you dislike the idea. But saying things such as 99%, griefing and ulterior motive. Well it just sounds odd.

I have some specialized skills.

I fly a few covert recons, among other types.

Lighting a cyno with one would be madness. Simply because the cyno lighting ships I compete against have two common qualities I need to compare with.

1, they are cheap, and flyable by characters with a weeks training.
2, they are easily targettable, and that warp beacon is an obvious bullseye. The disposable nature redeems this circle by making the loss acceptable.

I would suggest leaving the beacon for the disposable variation, as it is the only cost associated with it.

For the recon version, I would have the cyno only show a beacon once the field can accept the jumping ship. In addition, I would give them the option to cancel the cyno, thus clearing the beacon and the associated locking effect holding the ship down.

This would give two distinct paths to choose between.
One, a cheap disposable ship that drew attention to itself, and consequently the capital vessel it was trying to assist.
Two, an expensive covert vessel, but one that reduced the exposure of the beacon to a minimum, minimizing the risk to both itself and the capital ship it was assisting.

Players will naturally gravitate to the most efficient and least expensive alternative. I respect that this is human nature, and accept this.

Under which circumstances would you consider using a ship, that well fitted might average 250 million ISK.

Working backwards from amount of risk, and cost, should help figure what the balance point is.

So, obvious beacon on a cheap and disposable newb ship on one hand.
What would make the risk level acceptable for the 250 million ISK alternative?

These ships will still find use on the covert cynos, the question is, will they ever be a better choice for a normal one?

You are on the right track, I feel, having them use different modules. At no point should they face the same level of risk, and still expect the expensive recon to ever be a practical choice.

That could work.

For situations, my opinion, where you are simply relocating cap ships, the recon should be a viable choice.

For when you have a significant chance of meeting hostiles, the disposable ship works.

It should always be a gray area, never clear cut.

You are correct, so I included that mechanic within the immobility one.
Basically warpable for what ever time left from the Recon skill level, plus 10 second. So at level 5, 10 seconds only. But if the beacon is used within that time, then the ship remains immobile and the beacon warpable.

Please let me know what you think.