Skidd Chung
Caldari
Euphoria Released
Euphoria Unleashed
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Posted - 2006.11.14 03:39:00 -
[1]
 Originally by: GM Eldini
Cans are for storeage.
They are not to be used for anything tactical.
This does not mean that you can eject 20 cans at a gate if they contain some ammo.
First of all, please ignore my affiliation as it should not have any bias to what I'm about to say. My post is at the GM whom I quoted and to all GM and CCP staff in general who are in charge/concerned with gameplay elements of EVE.
To be honest I find the words of the GM I quoted disturbing. Which is to specifically identify an object and it's intended use. And no other uses for it other than it's intended use or it would be considered an exploit. Why I found it disturbing was that it limits creativity in gameplay. Let me explain.
A cargo container jettisoned into space is an object in space which can be interacted with. Specifically saying the use of such a feature was only to store objects and no other use is in my honest opinion cramping our style.
An interactable item such as in this case a container with creativity can be used for other things. First thing I can think of was 'can art'. Not exactly encouraged but because it can be done, it was done. It was not game breaking, a little messy and might cause 'unintentional' lag, but overall, not game breaking and pleasing. The container is now a piece of 'art'.
In the case of using it to 'mark' an area so it was warpable. The intent was not to create lag. If they wanted to create lag, they would just drop cans near their gates and not at the suspected sniping spot. This improvisation is used on a lot of other combat tactics. They improvised the casual container to some sort of beacon for their ships to go to.
Another one I can think of was to place a can right at the edge of a bubble to de-cloak cloakers warping in, where by it exposes the cloaker who is 'pulled' in by the bubble. A container now is adapted to be a de-cloaking device.
The best use which I have encoutered was when I was chasing another interceptor in my Crow. I already had him scrambled and was closing in on him at full speed to web him. His speed was just slightly lower than mine and it was a futile attempt by him to run because I was gaining on him 500m/s at a time. When I was about 14km from him, he jettisoned a container and it floats right at me. Needless to say with some luck on his side, my ship 'bumped' off the container and loses speed and he manage to warp away. I was like "What the hell?!!", but then thought that was a really cool tactic afterwards. His improvisation at a time where he used whatever on his ship to help him get away earned my respect. It was the first time I experienced being blocked by a container while in pursuit. And in this case the container became an obstacle in a chase sequence.
I have no idea what other uses a casual container would be used as but with creativity, it can be something we totaly unexpected and unprepared for. But if it enhances gameplay and not destroy it, why not allow it.
If GM's were to specifically said something like, "You can't use cans for anything but storage or you can't use ships for anything but shooting or you can't use webber for anything but webbing.
Ships can be fitted with guns and scramblers, but if the target is 'stabbed' up, pilots started using ships as battering rams to 'bump' their targets from allignment. Creativity leads to improvisation, even without scramblers, a ships with sufficient speed can 'knock' a target off course.
Webber are to slow ships down to a crawl, but if used on a freighter which has an acceleration speed of a snail, suddenly a webber becomes a tool to speed up freighter warping.
There are limitations with what we can already use and do, as long as it's intention is not game breaking, I don't see why creativity should be sacrificed with specific rules.
To say "Cans are for storeage. They are not to be used for anything tactical." is just cramping our style. 
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