Furry Commander
Furry Armada
17
   |
Posted - 2012.10.05 01:48:00 -
[1] - Quote
I think this skill is a bad idea because it ignores the actual problem with flying in space, in particular for people flying big slow ships
it takes between 36 and 42 seconds for a freighter to align with max skills and no implants. i can fly a freighter on several accounts, but i always use an orca with a 100MN MWD because i can't stand the time it takes to fly the damned freighter around. i will aotopilot a freighter every time i fly it and go make dinner or something. i don't need a faster autopilot trip, i need flying my ship(s) from point a to point b to be faster and more efficient, and actually require me to do something.
these giant ships that tend to be the most autopiloted are flown this way because the incentive for manually flying them is frankly not worth the time to do it. point a to b is as bad as grinding XP in other MMOs except with less to do. freighters should be fittable, and all these large ships should have an increased warp speed and be more agile. i am sorry but if the only way to get places faster is by making 2 clicks and then waiting 3 minutes to align and warp so i can do it again, i would rather autopilot
this brings me to another issue. the general hauling/transport capabilities in eve suck. its to much of a pain in the ass to move **** around. rigged ships are a hassle. large volumes of expensive **** is a hassle. flying any ship that can haul a decent volume in a reasonably safe way is a hassle. what it isn't is a challenge.
i agrea with one componenet of each side of this argument
attentatively doing stuff should be rewarding (from the nay sayers)
hauling is no fun and needs buffed (from the people who misguidedly think this skill might help)
as it stands manually piloting almost any largish ship (short of the Orca, and even this is not great) is a tedious boring unchallenging and unrewarding waste of time compared to autopilot. which takes none of my time.
what is actually needed is to make manually piloting big ships better and more fun. i want to actually have a fair chance to dodge ganks and camps in my hauling ships, and do it without having to cripple my transport efficiency. a lot of players say its about trade offs between safety and efficientcy, but when it comes to hauling (and mining) the tradoffs are unbalanced. you are basically garaunteed to die if you get caught, and it is very easy to get caught if you are trying to be efficient.
A story to illustrate how hauling can be fun:
I was hauling in a maxed cargo bestower with a cloak. i had a pretty standard fit with a cloak no ECM burst since i was in highsec, a MWD and a bunch of shield mods. i was hauling a bunch of packaged faction frigates and faction modules (this was before i could fly a blockade runner) i got scanned at a gate passing through a major trade route, and sure enough i jumped through the next gate and there was an alpha fit apocalypse sitting on the gate. i double checked his guns (artillary) while i held cloak and he was about 15 k from me. i knew i would not be able to align and warp before he popped me, but i knew i could cloaky MWD and stand a chance at dodging the lock. so i did. he actually slowboated after me for the decloak. it was an intense like three minutes as he passed within 2172 meters of mebut i made it. i had to continue flying towards my intended gate cloaked until i was out of alpha range even after he returned to the gate and he had some friends in cepters show up and try decloaking me so i had to stay and be ready to hit warp if it happened. i managed to get out of range and warp eventually, but it was an intense fun and rewarding experience.
the only time manual piloting any hauler should take longer than flying a battleship between gates is when something like this happens. i don't like getting ganked, but i don't hate people who do it, and if i could still efficiently move goods and have fun dodging these types of ganks even in places like lowsec i would be risking bigger ships and having more fun doing it. this type of thing is how CCP should work on balancing the industrial ships and side of the game in general i think, not introduce skills to make autopilot take less time
TL:DR
the fun factor of hauling/industry type ships needs a buff, not reduced autopilot speed |