Player Features and Ideas Discussion

+1 for no etheral, magical palce where spaceships sleep.

But this suggestion doesn't reach far enough. No spaceship should be save when logged off in space. I know we have emergency warps at timeout, disc etc..
So what if the emergency warp out is kept, but only mainteained for the reasonable amount of 10 minutes giving you enough time to log in from any disconnect, then the ship warps back in, void of a pilot.
This means in PvE it is no longer targeted by NPCs and can be salvaged/resuced by friends or picked up by random exploreres - yay a decent explorer profession.
In PvP it means it can be blown up or seized by either friend or foe.
But basically all the timers in combat will already give you certain death when you disc., so it actually doesn't really change much there.

I know, what about electricity or something else happening ... well, accidents happen, anyway, you know what you got yourself into when you hit 'Undock'.

PS: My FW chars have give up their SS log-out locations too ,) And am gonna hunt for the multiboxing afk miner who just disc 8)

Serious question here:

At what point is the player responsible for risking their in-game assets?

You undock in a ship that you can't easily replace, should you be worried if you get disconnected, or on the other hand should players drop connection as a best method to avoid losing ships?
I don't feel qualified to second guess intentions, as I suspect both would claim to be victims of disconnect-itis.

Where do we draw the line, so we know it is not abused by either side?
That super is an amazing kill mail for one guy, but also a highly valued game-play aspect for another player.

This seems to be one heck of a gray area.

Howabout this: make supercapitals stay in space for a month and then disappear. It makes them vulnerable all the time pretty much if they are being used, but if the owner has to go away, the ship will eventually fade from space - hopefully before sovereignty changes over in its system.

They should not disappear from space. Instead give POS' a way to let someone park a super (fixed) in a pos. That way its still protected, but highly visible. RL may intervene but i would hope your corp/alliance is smart enough to protects all its POS assests without you around.

That's all fine and good but there needs to be some protection for when you have to go offline for a month or more. Your corp can't just move the supercap to the new POS after the one its in gets shot down.

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.