Player Features and Ideas Discussion

yep

Strontium usage is too low.
Needs a 10x increase minimum

Like many others I have concerns on how this new idea will work, and what the goal is.

First off, let's be honest, large blocks fighting anything other then another large block will be able to defend and attack at will. These groups can troll SOV for "gudfites" at will, and in reality the smaller alliances will not be able to stop them. This part will not change. Instead of rental empires there will be extortion and "protection" payments that are non-guarantees to not attack your structures. CFC is pulling back to defensible size, and other forces are going to become nomadic.

Entire constellations will be reinforced creating lots of events. While this has the potential to create large amounts of content, it also has the potential to create stalemates with no winner until someone just gives up. We will be getting more ship destruction, as entosis ships will die in droves. Blobbing will still work, as 100 pilots in high EHP ships with entosis links and a supporting fleet should control most grids. Any attempt to use your own entosis against them will result in destruction, and they will have too many ships to burn thru. With that said, I feel a bit sorry for all the entosis pilots that just continually get killed while linked to a structure. At least as tackle you get on KMs and have a bit more options. But enough of that...

Somethings to think about...clearly this is part of a larger plan. The "near" future will have different structures and they will be destructible. Will this be the way these are destroyed as well, and the need for mass DPS eliminated? I'm not sure how this would work out as you could have enormous amounts of events created by mass reinforcements. Things should still blow up when shot by a lot of DPS. We will have to wait and see, but never hurts to start that discussion early.

This new process does require you to be active to defend, but seems a bit favored to the attackers. Especially those not interested in your space or structures, just easy kills. Risk vs Reward is somewhat replaced by Work vs Reward. To hold your space/structure you need to work in EVE for four hours a day, and maybe longer if you cannot return all your "timers" back to zero. Just one second of active link and you must have a member of the defending alliance negate that effect or leave it vulnerable past the window. And the rewards for this work may not be worth the effort of groups that cannot have four hours of active members on every day just to keep that handful of trolls at bay. In no way does this encourage smaller groups to hold SOV or structures. So we end up with a lot of freeports in null...which isn't a bad thing. No one has to pay the bills, and everyone can use it. I-Hubs are only worth the effort to groups that can hold and build up their indexes, which again seems to only be the much larger forces. I'm not sure, but we could end up with a lot of empty space nobody can hold, and everyone running to the established alliances for stability. Not sure that was the plan...or maybe it is.

Why not make SOV mean something. Holding a TCU should still protect YOUR structures in a system. If I can't hold a TCU then I likely can't hold the system, but at least it gives me a chance to have other structures that can't be RF for lulz when I went thru all the effort to put them up. Yes, this will add timers and make things take longer, but why not make it harder for attackers. Defenders took the time and effort to build up their space, should it be that easy to destroy? It would make alliances WANT to have a TCU and claim space, because there is a reward. At the very least it means a force has to be committed to the attack to effect my space in a meaningful way.

While this idea may not resolve anything, and actually add to issues...
Why not make the structures require "Maintenance". Entosis links put onto structures to maintain their abilities, maybe just a cycle a day. Again it encourages you living in your space, but not make it to difficult. I'd even suggest that after an attacker has started moving the timer on your structure toward RF, a defender that establishes control for a cycle can make it "regenerate" if not attacked again. Base this on the Index penalty/bonus. That lone troll that runs around every day to move your timers on everything is just annoying. If you miss one it allows your space to get RF'ed outside your window. While I understand the point, it could be a ship that get's in and out on one cycle with a T2 link at range, and does this during the entire four hours(because some people have nothing better to do) and has not interest in your structures. There will be a lot of people paid just to do this, in hopes of being able to RF later.

All in All I can see the amount of content this can create. Not all of it good for everyone. It makes the larger forces more vulnerable to attacks from everyone. And this system is designed that way, it's everyone against you. But as with so many changes to effect the large blocks, it can make life harder of the rest of the players. But there is no real balance for that, it's just the way life is. Sadly it makes a new form of greifing possible too. But this too will create content.

While some tactics seem obvious, EVE players have a way of gaming any system. Things have time to change, and we do need change. With the changes to jumps we could have pockets far enough away to exist in relative peace...maybe...for a week.

Sorry for the wall of text.

tl;dr Changes still leave big blocks and don't encourage small alliances to hold space. But change is still needed and this is just one of those steps.

That gets into another exclusionary statement, and that is if you're not able to have either a large enough or active enough group, holding SOV may not be for you. This is where other options can be worked instead, like renting in SOV space, or playing in other areas, or simply not trying to hold territory but instead operating with a nomadic or day-tripper mentality for your game play... not everything revolves around Nullsec and that territory, but that is where the largest economic superpowers gain their wealth.

Not everyone plays for the satisfaction of calling a system "home" and holding it against all comers. Find your own game if the burden of defending territory doesn't appeal to you, rather than trying to make SOV easier for everyone to hold.

Then what, exactly, is to stop Groups A and C going "this sucks, lets get-em" and blowing up all of Group B's Mining Arrays?

Also if Group B doesn't actually hold any assets (stations, ect) in the area then how are they so effectively harassing with power projection nerfed the way it is? Are they simply that large of a group and if so why don't they simply hold Sov to better defend their assets?

so what your doing is making it so that your large Goon and CFC friends can just cover all of null sec because they keep people online and running this link, While smaller groups will be pushed out of null completely because they don't have the manpower to constantly defend against these links.

I fail to see how this kind of mechanic helps the little guys at all.

*Snip* Please refrain from personal attacks. ISD Ezwal.

if yure going to claim goons are trying to take all of null in any way, you might want to check news sites more often. I doubt dropping two regions from CFC (or Imperium as it is now) is the next step in their nullsec-domination plan. And with NC. dropping renters this is a prime time for the smaller dudes to swarm in and grab what they can hold.

And have you considered how many people will target the northern space, simply because they hate goons? I can see plenty of un-used space going either unclaimed or being flip-flopped depending on who shows up.

I have removed some rule breaking posts. As always I let some edge cases stay.
Please people, keep it on topic and above all civil!

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The NPC Alt counts as an attacker, so runs the attackers timer. That's already been answered in the Dev blog. Only the owning alliance can run a defensive timer/link. Anyone else counts as an attacker, so yes, NPC Corp members can also break someone elses Sov. They still can't actually take it for themselves once it's in freeport mode of course, but they can run the first round of timers and force it into freeport (assuming Outpost).

A Key to the Castle. I like it.