Faulx
Brother Fox Corp
121
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Posted - 2013.02.15 03:46:00 -
[1] - Quote
CCP Goliath wrote:Quick couple of questions for those who are angry or upset by the use of the modules.
1. Is it that the module itself (being unavailable on the market, having an immersion breaking name, etc) was used, or is it the stats that it provides?
2. Where is the "cutoff" on a ship being "indestructible". For instance, we have used Navy Apoc setups with Aurora implants (that are used frequently in live events and rarely if ever get complaints) to tank focused fire from a large fleet with minimal logistic support in the past.
3. What if, hypothetically, we had used a ship with a different name and description, but same/similar skin, which was unavailable to players but had a far larger tank than anything currently in the game, and the description explained this.
Really hope to get some serious feedback on these. It will help a lot.
Your motivation for these questions, I assume, is that you don't want your main characters being killed off indiscriminately. Some people are harder to kill than others because of the influence they wield rather than their ship's capabilities. If Shakor or any high ranking government official wants safe passage, the obvious solution is that the NPC flies in a capital ship, which is cleared to jump into High sec. This, of course, obviates the need for an "escort" for said ship and denies many interesting game play avenues. Likewise, the current cloaking mechanic renders stealth ships (nearly) equally untouchable. The same again for a huge NPC support fleet or special modules programmed to fire upon or jam anyone locking the target.... They all make your NPC too removed from player interaction.
The whole point of bringing these characters to the field is that they influence the story and can, in turn, be influenced.
The first thing I thought of when I read the news article was... "They're going to get ganked." I assumed then that was the whole idea for the event. After seeing how the event played out, I realized the "point of failure" for this event was probably the internal strife between the tribes. If that was the case, the question you, as storyteller, should be asking is "Why are they even in space?" The whole event could have been done in the station, and, then, players would have had better understood that their main avenue of influence was through conversation.
So basically, the answer to all your questions:
1.) Both
2.) NPC actors should be as vulnerable as players. Their presence in space should make them vulnerable but more able to wield influence in the story. As such, they should not venture out without good reason: for example, to complete some otherwise unobtainable goal. Ultimately, this will make their presence in the sandbox more meaningful (rather than being the distant set-dressing that the empires, and all their agents, have previously been).
3.) This would be fine, but (assuming the ship is of Empire design and not based on Ancient technology, like Jamyl's Abaddon) the tank should not be so large as to cause people to ask the question, "Why isn't this technology more widely available?" Consequently, the NPC should still be killable.
P.S.
I tinkered with some numbers (scroll to the bottom), and if you put your VI NPC into a (top of the line) tank-only TTI fit that relies on RR for repairs... you could achieve 400,000-600-000 EHP... modestly well protected. |