Basil Vulpine
Blueprint Haus
Blades of Grass
61
   |
Posted - 2015.08.04 11:55:01 -
[1] - Quote
Broadly speaking so far I'd say it's been positive but there is definitely room for improvement.
Background:
We are currently on the borders of a coalition so we have blues we can call on at need and reds next door. Our adjacent reds are about our size and an adjacent TZ, they themselves have larger allies they can call on. This means we are getting a lot of solo / small skirmish action which is pretty much what we want day to day. There are larger fleet fights as part of our coalition but significant TiDi is still pretty rare.
We've seen probably the whole range of possible options here - trollceptors, soloists picking away at timer nodes, small fleets covering ships busy toasting a node, large fleets camping in stations/choke points while nodes are cleared. RF attempts and timers that are just us vs reds, some which are us and blues vs reds.
What we haven't seen much of yet is contested defense where there is a high ADM present.
I think Aegis Sov is at its best when you manage to face off roughly equal potential entities, this is something that needs encouragement though this is probably very complex to do decently to avoid easy gaming. Allies in easy reach are almost as big as those present. My main surprises so far are the value of the shorter cycle time on the T2 link and the lack of sov that remains burnt out. People seem pretty fast to slap a new TCU down.
I know you've asked for anecdotes and stories, these take a huge amount of time to write up and there's always the nagging feeling that you are forgetting something or not giving due credit. I'm therefore going to be bad and put in a wishlist of changes with some reasons why.
Initial RF needs a degree more commitment. Something unused should still burn pretty fast, something heavily used should require commitment to put at risk. Possible options that spring to mind
- Higher ADM requires net more attacking entosis links. The easy option would be to make it equal to ADM. Net 1 defender still works as before.
- The ever popular "Needs a bigger ship" option. I feel this should depend on the ADM of the target rather than being a blanket change. I'm not in favour of making these too large, WH residents should be able to appear at timers and act more or less as random marauders. Maybe make hull size count as a number of points? Frig = 1, destroyer = 2 etc., a single BS (or 5 frigs) would let you threaten a structure in an ADM 5 system.
An actual take-over attempt should be much as it currently is. Setting fires in the hopes that something burns down because somebody else would follow up needs reducing. Maybe when you a new node spawn over x limit (x is lower at higher ADM), despawn the oldest untouched one and count that as a defender victory. Or maybe give characters an "Entosis Focus" that goes up when you hit timer nodes, goes down when you attempt to initiate timers. Low focus takes longer to initiate timers or can't influence high ADM.
RF timers / value need some rebalancing. TCUs are by far the least valuable target. Stations are only a useful target if there's a steady population in them. Using Jita values:
- A TCU costs 85mil and is 5k m3 to move. Benefits are marginal.
- An empty IHub is 400m and is 60k m3 to move.
- An IHub that supports an ADM 5 system needs at least PDA3 and OPA3. That's over 1.1bil ISK and 130k m3 moved (total).
- That IHub should really have PDA5 and OPA3. That's over 1.7b and 230k moved (total).
- An outpost is 25b, many freighters but doesn't go pop. Unless you are moving in it'll be recaptured easily enough.
Active modules in an IHub should somehow increase its survival. For PDA and OPA it's not as if their value is a secret, just count the number of anoms spawned! Given the cost of the upgrade BPO sets I don't think a small alliance can be expected to have them but the IHub is the key to keeping a system. Even the smallest alliance that owns sov can't afford to slack on having these upgrades. Maybe if 6 or more active upgrades are in an IHub give it a 2nd RF timer? If 25 or more are active give it a 3rd one? That last threshold can only be achieved in a Mil 5 / Industry 5 system with at least 1 QFG installed. Or create a new strategic upgrade that gives an extra RF cycle, is consumed when the IHub is first RF'd and multiplies the maintenance bill by 2.
Entosis link long range and short cycle time needs to be split. The T2 link is a LOT more survivable than the T1. Sure it's more expensive too but the balance is off. Maybe 2 different T2 versions, one focussing on range the other on cycle time?
Mostly trolling isn't too much of a problem if you can respond with jammers and damps, home ground advantage and some tactical bookmarks. To add to the possible options for fixing trolling ships:
- Activating an entosis link for the warm up cycle causes a message in local.
- A fitted entosis link prevents use of nanite paste, an active entosis link increases heat generation.
- Cut the long range, no lower than 200km though. At 250km if you warp a sniper in it is still pretty easy to burn out of range.
- Fit an entosis link and a non-cov-ops cloak, get slower adjustments.
Re-assess inputs to Mil and Industry index so that they are reasonably equivalent in terms of "hours in space".
- Mil index is probably being raised by decent combat ships, an AFK Ishtar is probably a good average.
- Industry index is probably being raised by relatively decent tank mining ships. Skiff with Rorq boosts (core inactive) is probably a good average.
- Possibly weigh ice mining higher per m3 since it inherently takes longer to mine ice by volume than ore.
Ideally kill current index calcs and count time spent in space with active targeted high slots. Aggression timer = military, no aggression = industry.
I'd also still like to see some advantages to doing ratting/mining etc. in your own space vs others so that there is more incentive to own sov instead of use it |