Player Features and Ideas Discussion

Hello space people, today I want to talk to you about bumping. Relax, I'm not advocating its removal, only an adjustment to level the playing field a bit. Bumping has its place in the modern game for knocking ships out of alignment to prevent warp, but in high security space it's being abused more and more.

Bumping mechanics make sense in a way, if you think of it as a field of energy around a ship (inertial stabiliser etc) which is positively charged. Bringing two together is like pressing two positively charged magnets together, flinging them apart based on mass. I haven't read the lore on this, perhaps this is how it actually works in Eve's universe? Anyway.

Full disclosure: I recently lost a freighter in highsec. I was autopiloting, but not afk (working actually). I leaped to the keyboard when I saw what was happening and thus began a thrilling cat & mouse chase across two systems. A loss is a loss and it was an exhilarating (non)battle, but the issue I have is neutral bumping ships that never gain aggression play a pivotal part in the process, yet cannot be countered short of complete avoidance. Yeah it takes some skill to bump effectively, but multiple machariels is a bit much. Conflict and contest is good for the game (actually the core concept of the game), but you can't declare war on NPC corp pilots and there's no legal way to deal with them in this situation.

Alternatives to bumping such as collision damage mechanics won't work because of eve's indirect flight control model. It's far too easy to accidentally bump into someone and the carnage would be epic. It's not going to happen.

So here's my idea: When you bump into another ship while a propulsion mod is active, you gain a suspect flag.

That's it. You can still bump with NPC corp alts but you're going to have to defend yourself. If you've got plenty of backup, this shouldn't be a problem. Either that or bump without a prop mod, which is far less effective. Activating a prop mod in highsec would require setting one's safety to 'partial', but I think a case could be made for preventing collisions with NPC's from generating a suspect flag.

Ships can still fly around under conventional propulsion & running into each other by accident with no effect, which is important for docking areas outside of stations etc. (I'm looking at you, Jita 4-4). If a prop mod is active when the hit happens, there's a high degree of chance you've done it on purpose and that's an aggressive act. Prepare for a fight. If you don't want to be flagged, don't run a prop mod.

Projected Impact (excuse the pun):
Nullsec, no impact.
Lowsec, will be the same as shooting someone, flagging you as a target. Perhaps a good ice-breaker.
Highsec, bumping as a means of 'passive aggression' will only work if you avoid switching on your prop mod. It can still work to some degree but is far less effective. Pilots may be able to time the deactivation of their prop mod to bump a ship right after it switches off provided their skill is good enough.

Due to the need to set the safety system to 'partial' to use a prop mod, it's possible people who like using them while in highsec may accidentally do things to make them suspect, which creates 'content' (and wrecks, which are also content). Wars become slightly more interesting, assuming people actually undock to fight. When fighting in someone else's space, a modicum of restraint on speed may be required.

Oh, and I don't expect anyone who makes use of the impunity offered by current mechanics to like this discussion at all. Your ire is expected.

[1]I have to agree the ganking threshold is probably a thing of the past. That's not really a problem, though, especially given how low the chances of any one ship going boom are.

The purpose of a scout is to identify threats and prevent you dying. If they stop you walking into a gank then that's a win unless you're a glass half-empty type.

[2] Being at the keyboard gives you more options than being AFK, so yes, it is a solution. BTW, who calls haulers scum and actually means it?

[1] Keep on dreaming about rare chance of freighters dying...

[2] Options like? Safe Log off? If you are on the keyboard, you only will witness the ridiculing in local for flying a hauler. Considering that, being AFK and getting ganked is a far more appealing prospect.

Guess who does that. Tip: The mentioned phrase was in one form or another part of the HC's MOTD for a time. Since I am banned in that channel, I cannot confirm whether it's still there at the moment.

Let me rephrase ganking threshold to a more understandable concept for you

Picture the following:

Player A is in a Freighter with a total cargohold value of 2.4Billion isk. Player A is autopiloting through 0.5 highsec systems because this is safe (and if its not CCP should make it safe!!!).

Player B, who has a slightly higher brain capacity than player A is in a Freighter with a total cargohold value of 1.2Billion isk.

The angry Goons (which also have slightly more brain capacity than player A), are on the other side of the 0.5 security system gate (which is still totally safe btw!). When presented the option to shoot player A or player B, which one do you think the Goons will shoot?

There's your fallacy:

They don't choose. They gank the first freighter and bump the second freighter either until the Criminal timer has worn off or come back right away.

You must be really new to ganking. Otherwise you would not underestimate their capabilities so blatantly. Even with webs you can easily be bumped, if not in Uedama then in Ikao or Sivala. Your webber can also be pre-emtively destroyed by a sub-10M ship.



You should only take into consideration the jumps of freighters here. And there, Uedama gives you a slightly different perspective.

This post is a winning combination of snark and fail.
"Allow me to assume a tone of superiority while I use a contrived example to argue that ganking threshold is still a thing and completely bypass any discussion of the actual mechanic that is the topic of this thread."



Due respect, but these numbers tell us literally nothing about the likelihood of getting your freighter bumplocked and ganked on a given run, even in these systems. Seriously, they're worthless. A wasted contribution to the thread. I'm all for statistical analysis, but this is not that.

You must be really new to ganking. Otherwise you would not underestimate their capabilities so blatantly. Even with webs you can easily be bumped, if not in Uedama then in Ikao or Sivala. Your webber can also be pre-emtively destroyed by a sub-10M ship.

Due respect, but these numbers tell us literally nothing about the likelihood of getting your freighter bumplocked and ganked on a given run, even in these systems. Seriously, they're worthless. A wasted contribution to the thread. I'm all for statistical analysis, but this is not that.

Now talk to me about the current bump mechanic and why it makes sense.