Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I love this

additional details/ideas

deployment timer (1 minute maybe), during this timer it can clearly be seen as a decoy when on-grid. Perhaps if seen from d-scan while deploying appears as "device" or something, or maybe easier to have it just appear as a ship, with the on-grid timer being the only indication.

deploys as whatever ship you're in, BUT you need to use a specific version that matches your hull-size, and perhaps even race as well. Increased hull size corresponds to higher price and volume per unit.

-max limit of one decoy active per pilot
-perhaps even better than the above, max limit of one decoy per pilot per system, with an expiration timer (anywhere from 5 minutes to several hours) beginning once the owner leaves the system.

Anchorable inflatable "tanks" for fake staging? plus whatever else people come up with? I like.

Interesting. Pirates/gankers up and see a miner and a domi in belt.

Now is miner a decoy and the domi is waiting for them.

Or is it a real miner and the domi a paper tiger.

Would ship scanners show it is a decoy or not?


Does the decoy go away if you leave grid?

Can the decoy show effects of a module? Ie scan module running or a target breaker.

Easest way is decoy is a duplicate of you ship when you launch it. Ie running same modules, course and speed.


Gate campers use it to make camp look bigger. Gate runners use it to give 2 targets going to warp to make it harder for gate campers. Gate blockade runners use it to send a cloaked decoy ahead of them. (oh wait need an exemption to cloak to allow you to be closer than 2000 m to only your own decoy.

Use decoys to leave a fake large fleet with in jump range of a battle.

Mining fleets leave fake targets for Gankers to waste time on.

Would it be a high utility? Would it be a large drone?

+1overall I think.

First off, +1 for sure.

Second, I think this as far as I quoted at least, should be resaonably easy to do following current game mechanics. Have a "tech 1" version that just mimics your current ship and a "Tech 2" version that can mimic any ship. Just have a drop down menu set up that show up when you want to deploy it.

Third, I can see the BIG problem being the same as what happened with cans before they had timers, basically someone getting the bright idea to spam a whole bunch of decoys in say, Jita, forcing near permanent TiDi, just for giggles. But I think that could be avoided if decoys are limited to one or two active per person and expiring in say an hour or two.

Combat probes as the decoy wouldn't be able to have a cloak.

Id anchor a badger on a gate and wait. Anything to get more people to shoot **** and die.

In the real world there are many kinds of decoys and many uses for decoys - from hunting ducks to making missiles miss.

If CCP wanted to take on decoys, they should decide what a range of decoy uses might be:
1) make it look like someone/something is in local
2) make it look like there is a sight in the system
3) make it look like there are specific ships/assets in a particular location
4) draw off missiles
5) draw off tracking and locking systems (this is different from ECM only in that it does not prevent a lock, but causes a lock on something else)
6) allow pre-jump intelligence
7) make it seem like someone is in a station
8) change the appearance/sensor readings on a ship (probably more ECM than decoy related)
9) make it look like a ship left by 2 or more gates
10) many more ways that decoys could be used

I would hope that CCP would take the time before implementing any type of decoys to actually think through all the uses and how they fit/don't fit into EVE.

I could see decoy POSes being setup in systems to attract fleets, and fleets of 3 or 4 pilots with a dozen decoys deployed around them while the real ships are stealth bombers waiting to make runs. I could see a decoy freighter making a run through a hostile system while the real fleet is waiting for the gankers to jump.

Of course decoys can hold modules (or should be able to) to do things like triple point someone, so once they take the bait, they are stuck like flies to fly paper and the real fleet can chew them up.

Decoys are so much fun - if you have a wide range of them and the imagination to use them well!

If this becomes possible then so too should being able to anchor POS away from a Moon and player built Gates.

Besides who needs decoys.....? That's why corporations have corporate members.

There would have to be some limits on decoys.
Something like having 5 active per character, maybe a new skill.
Lasts about 3-4 hours.
Tank about 1/3 of the base hull, no skill or module effects.
Any ship scan reveals a decoy.

To make a decoy convincing it could yellow / red box people though it wouldn't do anything.

Also a different kind of decoy
Med slot module that lets you imprint a false ship scan, cargo and fit as separate ones.
Your imprint will be a saved fitting.
This will not let you remove items from a cargo scan only add them.
This would need to be an active module to keep people from simply autopiloting all day in their gank bait.

Absolutely, make them last about as long as jet-cans do. Any active player can replace them as needed.