Player Features and Ideas Discussion

The basic premise here will center around the idea that Supercarriers and Titans should not disappear when the pilot logs off.

Now, that you are angry and confused, hear me out on this.

Supers and Titans cannot dock, through the theory that 'they are too big to dock'. The intent of the game designers was that this vessel should always be in-play. It is so valuable, and so special, that you should have to work to keep it. However, this mechanic was easily bypassed by the creation of Log-off Alts. And, fair enough. I would do the same as a super capital pilot. Store your vessel in a place that is infinitely safe and secure forever. But, therein lies the problem. This is the complete opposite of the design intent. Rather than being the most vulnerable of vessels, they are the LEAST vulnerable of all vessels. They only EXIST when the pilot is reasonably certain of security and victory. Otherwise, they are hidden in oblivion, safe and secure forever.

The game has a POS module designed specifically for storing supers and titans. This was intended to give the pilots a real place to dump their supers when they are not in use, rather than relying on Log-off Alts. Obviously, this a far less secure way to store the vessel, so it's use has been extremely limited.

With the suggestion from the devs that 'all things should be destructible', then that surely includes stations built by players in Sov space. When those stations blow up, surely everything within them will also be permanently destroyed. It seems unfair that all of the assets of a non-super pilot could be lost forever while super pilots have their most valuable assets stored in an invincible and invisible location.

So, the solution is to have all supers and titans forever 'in-play'. That means they never disappear from space. You can store them in the previously mentioned POS module to keep they from prying eyes and in the safety of a POS RF timer, but logging off with them in-space will simply result in the vessel staying right there, in space, idle.

I know most super pilots will scream 'shinanigans' at this suggestion. Heck, you probably would never have trained or bought the vessel if you didn't know you could secure it via Log-off Alt when you don't want to play with it. And, that is a fair reaction. Such a change of game mechanic would definitely be pulling the rug out from under you. However, this should be the price of having a super capital ship. It should be a chore. It should be a burden. It is not a weapon. It is a SUPER weapon. Thus is should come with extra burden and responsibility to own.

Now, hear me out on the applications in alliance wars, and think of the impact it could have. Suddenly, you cannot just invade a region of null and have these giant armies of supers on a whim. You need to work out the logistics for front-line POS structures to house your army of supers. That army of supers is vulnerable AFTER the battle, when you would otherwise just log them off.

Your supers are always vulnerable, but so are your enemy's. That means if an ally back-stabs you, then you can hit them where it hurts later, getting proper revenge.

Having the supers always in-play will change the commitment and investment of attacking with supers, and the logistics of defending space that houses supers. It will raise questions like "Is it worth the burden to involve the supers in this fight/campaign?" It will push the consequences of people's actions in the game to a new level of possibilities, which is exactly the 'sand box environment' eve is based on.

I like the idea of always in play.

If this was ever to be viable, there needs to be a place that is slightly more secure then a POS that would keep the supers safe, but not forever safe. Some place that could be hell camped too would be interesting. Something linked to Sov level 5. Something less public then a capital ship hanger array too.

A kinda rough Idea what it could be...
Some kind of personal mobile super capital maintenance array. The array is anchored for self and is invulnerable and protected under sov similar to I-Hubs. Requires a sov 5 system and the person that anchored it to be in that alliance. If the player or corp leaves the alliance or the sov drops then the array becomes vulnerable. Give it a single reinforced timer.

Outside of POS bubbles, their capital ship maintenance arrays, and these improved cocoons of protection, supers are vulnerable while logged off.

This would change how supers are used in a very fundamental ways. I kinda like it.

The hate that this thread is going to generate will be epic and that is fun too.

There won't be any hate.

People would simply never log supers off in space, and this change would be wasted.

i bet you dont own a super or titan.. am i right?

*gets popcorn*

i agree with the op.

maybe you need to take a deep breath and read the OP again!?

you can defend them, you can keep them in a POS but they will allways be visable so if a POS hold a lot of supers it might be attacked and the corp/alliance should be aware of this. i totaly agree on the OP it is too easy to log off a super or titan and keep it perfectly safe even if you loose all your space that is unrealistic.

so a +1 for me on the OP

So, what? Supers stay in space? Do you sell logoff alts? Because besides a buff to Intel this is pretty much the change.

i truly think you dont see the full picture here, if supers and titans stay in space people will use cloakies to scout for a POS with juicy "loot" read supers and titans, then attack that POS. ofc you can jump out the POS but you will need to make an effort to keep your stuff safe. this tactic can also be used to force someone to jump out titans out of a specific system to make bridging to another tactic location harder or even impossible.

This is an awful idea...
Supers are already hard to keep; and often die in their excursions.

If you made Supers not be able to log off, random noobs in oracles would kill them in space! That is limiting people who have worked hard. I'll bet that the people supporting this have never even seen a Supercap; let alone consider flying one.
They are already balanced ships; and albeit they are incredibly dangerous, to other caps; but they already cannot do many things except fight other caps!

So; before you propose these ideas, please, take a trip outside of Highsec, look at the current Nullsec environment, and by doing this you would notice that ALL small alliance supercaps would get murdered quite rapidly, thus eliminating any sense of defense that one of these alliances could have. Thus; encouraging the stagnation of the nullsec environment.

That's my 2 Cents.
-Kristoff Merkas

I would like to see the reverse. Supers should be able to dock in stations!