In Theory
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Posted - 2008.02.04 02:28:00 -
[1]
The true reason why gatecamos and the like happen? which is also leads to why there are so few fights within belts...
"Warp to" points. The entire travel system is based around 'A to B' 'B to A'. You warp to within 0, jump through. Warp to 0, dock. Warp to 0, etc.
There is no "en route" where you might be randomly attacked. Yes, a'la Freelancer, you could be warping along and suddenly drop warp and surrounded by pirates.
This might be counter-inducive to bringing more people to lowsec, but to be honest, even going through lowsec just doesn't feel right- the only times I get edgy are when I'm aligning after entering system and as I undock-- the ONLY times you're truly vulnerable to attack.
What can I suggest to help? Slow warp speeds down, keep "blockade runners" at their current speeds, because that's what they're for... but slow things down a bit, and allow players to cancel warp at any time. Or create "trade lanes", which are a network of points in a warp path. No more warping straight through planets and stars, and this creates a system that can allow pirates to set-up traps and more midspace battles, away from stations and gates can occur.
-->In addition, beef up gate guns in .4 and possibly .3, providing less incentive to camp (I always thought it was just silly that the only time pirates have the chance to snag people in lowsec is just as they enter- what's the point of controlling a system that you can only guard the door to?)
Another idea would be to cloak ships that undock, much like gate-jumping... but this I also see could be exploited for pvp.
An amazing thing that I know many of my 'carebear friends' would enjoy would be actually removing listing for belts in-system, and instead make it so you have to manually scan the system to find belts (after which they can be added as a bookmark or overview item). This provides for some nice "exploration" pve for carebears, while bringing a little more 'incentive' for miners to come to lowsec... find a nice secretive belt and hope pirates aren't actively scanning...
-->To add to this, belts could even be made to "drift" or randomly spawn, so pirates don't just bookmark all the belts and operate in the same manner as current.
But whichever way you look at it, gatecamps happen because that is the only real spot they can happen. Sure, you can sit outside a station and wait for them to undock... but I don't see "station-camps" happening except when the pirates pursued someone they followed from a gate.
-->Open pvp is only open at gates and outside stations (also in belts, but isn't the arguement no one mines in lowsec?)
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Well, that should've worked... |