Manda Rin
Minmatar
Sexy Thoughts
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Posted - 2011.06.02 17:41:00 -
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Okay, I'm about fed up with this form of dirty fighting and would like to attempt to get you nice folks at CCP to act on this. There's been complaints for the longest about Alts in newbie corps running around creating havoc all the while protected by Concord while in the security blanket of Empire. I don't have a problem with allowing that, however, I do feel that using such an alt to assist in combat should be an exploit; allow me to explain.
Corp A is at war with Corp B. Corp A uses an alt to gather intelligence on Corp B by scanning the ships cargo and loadouts. They also create BM's or are used as a warp to point for a fleet warp to jump into an egagement at a desired range (if ganged at the last second). Once combat ensues, the alts orbit the enemy vessels at close range and/or orbit their own fleet ships in hopes of getting hit with smartbomb damage, thus bringing Concord to assist in their fight.
This SHOULD be considered an exploit because:
1) The alts are clearly being used for military operations.
2) There are limited amounts of defensive weapons, especially for those flying in an Indy class ship, this activity negates the opportunity for defense without penalty.
3) The tactics are done to intentionally draw Concord into the battle to assist with their efforts against their enemies.
Abviously, the system is as it is for a reason, to protect the innocent bystandards. So, here are a few ideas I propose to combat this.
1) CCP isn't going to want to give back ships/items from anyone being hit by this exploit, hard enough to prove as it is. Easiest thing to do is make the SmartBombs even smarter. Have the SB only effect HOSTILES, those targets actually at a war condition, those that have fired upon you, or those criminally flagged. At least in empire space.
2) Provide more defense options that don't require an area of effect! Anti-missile drones, smarter defender missiles, missile bays and/or drone bays for Indy's.
3) Make scanning ships a hostile act. Would take care of the alt ship scanners, but can't say I'm really a big fan of this idea.
4) Create Temporary Combat Zone Declarations. Perhaps a launchable beacon declaring a large radius a termporary combat zone. Non-warring ships will have 30 seconds to vacate the area else be considered a valid target. The becon might read, "if you can read this, then you can be fired upon". A large visible semi-transparent sphere could outline the temporary combat zone. Such zones could last for 5-10 minutes, after which time the beacon self-destructs. This idea has a large potention for exploit as well, but thought it might inspire some thoughts from others.
I know there's going to be praisers and complainers about this one, but I think we can find a fair solution to this dirty form of gameplay.
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