Live Events Discussion

I'm not much into RP'ing, but do enjoy some of the EVE backstory (e.g. the books, the lore on the wiki, etc.)

I'm sure this has been said, but I'm another player who believes that devhaxing the Live Event, CCP actually lost on an opportunity to build on lore based on the actions of the players. Goonswarm attacks a Minmatar trade delegation. CCP can make all Goons have terrible standings with Minmatar. Minmatar can pay bounties for Goon kills. Minmatar can pay hisec white knights to invade Deklein, whatever. There are any number of creative ways to change the storyline based on player actions, even if those players aren't RP'ing.

Like many said before the delegates need not never die even if their transport is destroyed.

I think CCP should consider making all live events truly interactive and urge them not to GM tank the actors again.

I really should go to bed, but! Someone is wrong on the internet (alledgedly)!


Right, but that sword wasn't given to a player character. It was wielded by an NPC via a Dev.
The same way you are now mixing up PCs and NPCs, you ignored my comment on extremly powerful NPCs. Those can have stats that make them for all intends and purposes invulnerable. And players can't acquire these stats. Meanie!

It's also not about beeing a pedant, it's about showing the other half of the coin. You seemed very fixed on your viewpoint and I tried to show you how it doesn't have to be the way you see it.

Which doesn't change anything for the argument.
It's mostly the fact that they now realized alternatives they weren't aware of before.

I personally btw disagree with the reimbursement and I _think_ so does Falcon. It was always made pretty clear by him and other Devs that you risk your ship in live events and that your actions have consequences. I have lost ships myself this way.

In my opinion it's not CCPs turn to reimburse losses due to the players inability to properly use and react on the results of a ship scanner.

But, it is indeed a grey zone, so I'm also not mad they reimbursed the losses and I do see where the decision came from.

:D

(Also, Goodnight! ;) )

Who scans sandcastles before kicking them? It was only after I broke my toe I wanted to know what was in that thing

Hi, We used shipscanners and scouted them beforehand. That's where the screenshot of the fitted hardeners came from.

^This

I was my fault. Being unacquainted with "QA" shield extenders I did not sound the alarm. I wasn't until after we fired and I was reading his mods out that other vets went:

An important military ship out on diplomatic mission fitted with 3k rounds of fireworks seems a bit out of character IMO. Ultimately I think that this as been a good opportunity to ensure future RP events are worthy of the sandbox.

Having player actions that de facto auto-fail isn't railroading, since there are quite probably any number of other, more reasonable actions the PCs could have taken instead. They just chose to do something really dumb with a negligible chance of success. On the other hand, allowing a player action, having it succeed, and then having that success actually have zero impact on the progress of events is pretty much the definition railroading.

If CCP wants unkillable NPCs, that's actually not a big, since players aren't entitled to have every choice be viable. But they really should provide some methods of interaction, and make sure those methods are reasonably apparent.

Not to mention, the whole live event as executed is kind of goofy, since relying on the efforts of random bystanders for VIP protection is pretty dumb. Especially since even allowing someone in a position to attack a VIP generally means security screwed up somewhere. But then people would be whining about CONCORD blowing up their ship for violating

Your motivation for these questions, I assume, is that you don't want your main characters being killed off indiscriminately. Some people are harder to kill than others because of the influence they wield rather than their ship's capabilities. If Shakor or any high ranking government official wants safe passage, the obvious solution is that the NPC flies in a capital ship, which is cleared to jump into High sec. This, of course, obviates the need for an "escort" for said ship and denies many interesting game play avenues. Likewise, the current cloaking mechanic renders stealth ships (nearly) equally untouchable. The same again for a huge NPC support fleet or special modules programmed to fire upon or jam anyone locking the target.... They all make your NPC too removed from player interaction.

The whole point of bringing these characters to the field is that they influence the story and can, in turn, be influenced.

The first thing I thought of when I read the news article was... "They're going to get ganked." I assumed then that was the whole idea for the event. After seeing how the event played out, I realized the "point of failure" for this event was probably the internal strife between the tribes. If that was the case, the question you, as storyteller, should be asking is "Why are they even in space?" The whole event could have been done in the station, and, then, players would have had better understood that their main avenue of influence was through conversation.

So basically, the answer to all your questions:
1.) Both
2.) NPC actors should be as vulnerable as players. Their presence in space should make them vulnerable but more able to wield influence in the story. As such, they should not venture out without good reason: for example, to complete some otherwise unobtainable goal. Ultimately, this will make their presence in the sandbox more meaningful (rather than being the distant set-dressing that the empires, and all their agents, have previously been).
3.) This would be fine, but (assuming the ship is of Empire design and not based on Ancient technology, like Jamyl's Abaddon) the tank should not be so large as to cause people to ask the question, "Why isn't this technology more widely available?" Consequently, the NPC should still be killable.

P.S.
I tinkered with some numbers (scroll to the bottom), and if you put your VI NPC into a (top of the line) tank-only TTI fit that relies on RR for repairs... you could achieve 400,000-600-000 EHP... modestly well protected.

Actually they said they were looking into 0% loot drop rates, so top of the line will do nicely from both a mechanical and a rollplay perspective.

*assuming its implemented
**and would be a damn sight better than randomly adding modules of unknown origin (i.e. deus ex machina)