Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello,

I have couple of things to discuss as Freighter pilot that I am not happy with.

First of all I want to say that I am not campaigning for cancelling ganking or bumping, but I would like to see some improvement and logic in process of bumping.

Recently I was shot in highsec system Deltole. It started as most of the cases. I was bumped from gate by two Machariels and at the same time I was attacked by noobship from the same gang. I think many people know this and experienced same situation as I did before. I want to point out that I was not using autopilot.

1. Why did Freighter pilot, that didn't aggress or attack and does not have any modules, get 15 min timer and got penalty and can't log off because he would be seen in space anyway even after log off ? Why was penalised someone who did not do anything and didn't attack anyone?

I think that this one does not make any sense. Pilot that does not do anything (no attack, no aggression) is penalized for NOTHING! He is not braking any rules (laws) that are given in highsec by Concord.

There is not much that Freighter pilot can do in this situation and all odds are on enemies (pirates) side.

Pilot (pirate) that attacks Freighter and his ship is destroyed can just dock on station and gets new noobship for free, undock and aggro the same Freighter again (even so the Freighter pilot is logged off but his ship is still in game) and so he can keep the Freighter in game indefinitely. Expenses for the pirate? None, he will get the noobship for free.

2. Regarding the nature of Freighter ship (almost 0% resistance) it's really easy to shoot it down for other players (pirates). Why is this type of ship build like this ?

Low resistance and impossibility to fit any modules on Freighter decrease it's variability, flexibility to zero. I am not saying that Freighter should become unbeatable fortress but it should be little bit more survivable. Why shouldn't pirates pay bigger price for nice and expensive loot and ship
they are getting by shooting down Freighter then couple of Catalysts?

Any risk for players that bumping and ganking in hisec is down to zero. If these player are in NPC corp you can't declare war against them. Killrights are not that effective to my opinion and any revenge by this way is limited. Every NPC corp has description that says corp history and background of the corp or NPC alliance. If you read it it's irony that corp that has in its description this :

"Gallenteans value freedom and individual liberty above all else. Founders of the only true democracy of New Eden, they have created an ethnically diverse, culturally rich, progressive society that encourages enterprise and initiative in its citizens. While slow to anger and occasionally indecisive, they are also capable of harnessing enormous military and economic resolve when truly tested"

is sheltering pirates and criminals.

I think that regarding to bumping, players that do this practice in highsec breaking the law but no one is persecuted for that behavior. On the other side I understand it is difficult to change this because I do not know how would it work on Jita and any other big hubs where you bumping when you undocking but usually no on purpose?

If EVE should be real as much as possible and you can do whatever you want (ganking, bumping)
there should be much better way to oppose these players and NPC corps should not accept these players and you could declare war against them and they woudn't be able to be hidden after NPC corp.

I would be glad if I hear you opinions on this topic and I hope I will hear from GM as well.

Thank you

It is not hard not to be ganked in highsec as long as you either:

1) Make some kind of effort. (i.e. webs etc.)
2) Don't carry loads of enough value to make it worthwhile ganking you. (i.e. less than one billion or so)

If you aren't prepared to do either of these then expect to die.

Simple realy.

If you want to play with one account then you can still just not take high value loads, or go the safer, longer route that doesnt go through niarja.

Or, you know, make friends? Rediculous thing to suggest in an mmo i know.

And you wonder why they do it when you cry like this?

The gankers are guarenteed to loose their ships, how is this safe? The only reason its done is because people make it easy, profitable and fun. It is the harderst (and least profitable) it has ever been to kill freighters in highsec. It has ben nerfed repeatedly and it is very easy to avoid. If you die now it is no ones fault but your own so there is no reason for a change in game mechanics.

Do you have a source for that? Biomassing alts with low sec status and reusing that character slot is considered a banable offense as far as I know.

Risk =/= Profitability

I'm all for the removal of npc corps for all but the very new but i think you'll find that 'most' groups of gankers are in player corps.

If you want revenge against these groups then go to thier space (most of them are 0.0 dwellers) with a fleet and (try to) kill them and thier alliance mates.

There's several "omg freighters are being ganked" threads in this forum... You really should browse the top 2 pages at least, and ideally do a search to see what's been discussed and either add your experiences to those threads. When you are presenting a new spin/idea, I can understand then making a "new thread", but I don't see any new ideas in your post... making this a very duplicated thread!

Freighter Revamp Idea
Give Freighters Lowslots

Now, to reiterate what has been discussed already:

1.) If you carry a low value in cargo, your chances of getting ganked are very low.... like 1 in 10,000 trips through Uedema... (and that's using March data which was a fairly active month -- 50ish kills in Uedama. (Go see those other threads for citations). Of the last 50 kills in March... 2 were not suicide ganks, 4 were ganked empty, 4 were ganked for a double-wrapped package... and 4 were ganked with non-empty cargo's below 2b isk.

2.) The Aggression Flag change was an AWESOME and NECESSARY change, as people often used log-off mechanics to "save their ships" from destruction when they did something stupid.... (like jumped blind through a gate into a gate camp).

3.) Assuming freighter ganking is truly an issue, these are the potential remedies:

Simply buff freighters like mining barges were buffed....

-- In my opinion, this is the WORST thing CCP could do. It essentially stomps on the emergent game play rather than nurturing it.

Give freighters fitting options so they can add tank and/or agility at the expense of carge...

-- In my opinion, this is the Best thing CCP could do... Idiots are idiots, and there will still be plenty of targets to support the emergent game play. At the same time, it gives frieghter pilots the ability to optimize their ship to manage cargo, speed, and tank. Things to be aware of... No highslots... (cyno's cool, but cloaks inappropriate!!)... Midslots as long as no easy MWD-to-warp shenanigans... Give lots of low slots, but balance HP to cargo capacity.... Untanked, freighter EHP ~100k... Fully tanked... freighter cargo should be about 75k m3... Max cargo fits should be less than 1m m3.

Alternatives that enhance game play, rather than inhibit it (propose more as you think of them):

Decoy Cargo Containers -- Insure your ship, configure it so the suicide gankers think your hauling something valuable... and laugh when they destroy your ship and get nothing...
Exploding Freight Containers -- If your ship dies, the loot inside these detonate too...
Smuggler Holds -- Unscannable storage areas for your ship...

I don't do anything with freighters, though I have considered getting one as a sort of Mobile Home for when I decide to move to new space for my nomadic mission running.

I would think, just looking at the ship line, that what is needed is a few more freighters to choose from. There is alot of room for new ships between an Iteron V and an Obelisk. Some Half Sized, Tankier variants might be in order, or something that is slower but does not bump so easily, if at all. I think I might kill for something with about 50k cargo and a maintenence hanger that could store 3 or so each of the various subcap ship classes to use as a mobile home.