jeNK
Caldari
STK Scientific
INVICTUS.
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Posted - 2007.02.14 13:46:00 -
[1]
Having recently been involved in some NPC region wars, it has become ever so apparent that the current method of docking and undocking (more so the undocking) could perhaps be slightly improved.
First, my reasons:
This is from both sides of the argument, not a "YARR I'M SICK OF THOSE CAREBEARS NOT UNDOCKING AND COMMITING TO A FIGHT YARR HAR DE YARR HAR!" so please bear with me...
From the side of the person undocking:
You click undock, screen goes blank, "Entering space.." .. "Entering station.."
You've just been ganked after getting bumped and pwned. Either you were bumped by one of your attackers, or someone has left a can, or even a corpse/wreck from a previous victim. (Which are borderline exploit things, imo, but I digress.)
From the side of the attacker:
Target undocks. You click frantically on the lock button/ctrl+click. Finally you start locking.. you start shooting.. FINALLY after those hours of waiting, you are getting your teeth sunk into a tasty piece of target.. what the?!.. Crap, he just docked again.
- or -
Target undocks - instantly warps off due to an insta undock BM or stellar object in perfect alignment of the docking area.
From the side of the everyday player, particularly in systems like Jita:
You undock.. screen goes blank.. you wait FRACKING AGES for it to load.. screen appears.. *bump* *bump* *bump* *bump* *bump*, you now know what it feels like to be a pinball due to afk idiots who undocked (and just the high traffic.)
My suggestion:
Make docking/undocking (or just undocking) like it is for stargates. You click undock, and your ship will appear at a random spot 10-15km from the perimeter of the station. You are cloaked for 30seconds, so are safe from being ganked whilst your client is still loading. At the same time, you are not within insta-docking range, so you must commit to undocking, and you must prepare for the worst if you think you are being camped.
For the RP'ers satisfaction:
Due to the size of some starship vessels (i.e. freighters, capitals and the larger battleships) making the traditional method of towing vessels into their docking bays rather tight, Jump portal scientists have managed to isolate the technology responsible for the particle dismantling of vessel and pilot, which we see take place as a pilot navigates from star system to start system. They have been researching day and night, to find a way to use this technology for local transportation. These same scientists have stumbled upon a breakthrough - this technology used to propel vessels vast distances, has been successfully developed and tested for local (small distance) transportation, allowing the safe passage of starship vessels into areas that the sheer size of said vessel would not normally permit, or at least make it a foolhardy task.
However, due to the vast power consumption of this new technology, it is thus far limited to stations, as platforms smaller than this will not be able to contain, nor supply, the energy required.
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