Reserved

Container lock picking/hacking vs security measurements

I suggest that all containers could be hacked with right modules and skills. Container hacking could take 10 minutes with level 1 hacking skill, tier 1 hacking module and tier 1 container. Each level in skill would reduce the time required to hack the container by one minute, and each tier in the module would reduce the time required by percentage amount (10%).

Containers could be protected against hacking attempts by purchasing higher tier containers (player made). Hacking container would also always trigger PvP flag in alpha islands, and well in betas the issue would solve itself by accustomed ways.

Interesting concept. Could be neat.

Mines

How close can they be deployed to each other and how long do they stay on the terrain?

What is the activation range, that is are they proximity or contact mines?

Well I was thinking about that, but make the mines work like real life mines (to the extent I remember from my military experience) so that when one explodes close enough to another one it triggers the other one too. This way too stacked mine field could be completely destroyed with single Arkhe.

Norrdec yeah that was the idea. As to the proximity triggered or contact mines both could exists with different benefits. Proximity mine would be impossible defuse but would deal (much?) lower dmg than contact mines which could be defused and collected

Good god, please... no mines.

I remember when mines were in Eve. In a pvp focused mmo, players can only be active for a short while. Any defense on choke points that stays 24/7 will be overused and abused, no matter how gimped you make them. Trust me, if this ever get implemented, those things will be everywhere, and you won't be able to go 2 steps without stepping on one.

Mines could be doable but it would need some serious limits to prevent abuse.

- New skills needed to deploy, no new skills needed to remove.  Removal could be done by any properly fit mech in the game but deployment would need something special.

- No 8 hour mines - as stated, hundreds of mines for 8 hours would be ridiculous and shut down PvP areas.  10 or so players could deploy that many fairly quickly.

- Reuse the exploding mech code.  Base the mines upon armor values and use those as the explosion radius.  There's a chance they'd chain but only mines could hit other mines - both being underground.

- As such, make them big.  1/2 the volume of the mech they are designed to destroy.  Also make the dispersion +1 to the sized mech they are aimed at - as in 4 dispersion, 3 surface area ... 8 disperson, 7 surface area.  A chance that it won't go off the first time you go through.  Larger ones would not necessarily take out smaller mechs which prevents the "cheap mine sweeper" approach of running them in first.  Mines *might* go off but no guarantees.

This allows running a big, heavily armored mech through a field, with repairers on them as a "fast clear" approach but also enables smaller crews to suddenly find themselves in the middle of a mine field "on accident".

Deployment, detection & removal: 

- New deployment module to place them that requires skills.  Higher skills required to place larger mines, 10% "life" increase per level.  So if mines last 30 min, they could last up to an hour, etc.

- Use mining laser style cycle times for the deployment.  3 cycles or 3 times the cycle needed to deploy a mine - dig, plant & arm, cover it up.  SLOW careful process.  If interrupted, you failed at getting the mine installed and it's gone.

- Add a bonus to the high cargo capacity industrial mechs for deploying them but no other mechs. 5% faster deployment per industrial mech skill.

- For detection: Geoscanners would allow you to find them via scripts - with all the variables involved.

- For removal:  It wouldn't be just shooting - you'd need a type of script on a mining laser to get them out, just like any other type of mining.  Removal/destruction at 1 cycle per mine.

-- No loot on removal.  They are an expendable like ammo - once armed, they have been "fired".

--------------------------
Other thoughts:

Limit them to beta island use only.  No FOF logic - walk into your own mine - BOOM!

Cost wise - cheap.  The mines themselves would be little more than heavy cargo containers.  Arming them would cost a bit.

Require the use of plasma to arm them.  The type of plasma used will determine the type of damage the mine does. 

Arming with plasma would be done at the time the mine is deployed so the deploying ship would need enough capacity to pack it with plasma and the mines.   Make it 5 to 10 times the amount you could ever get from an NPC of the "size class" the mine is designed as.

This allows "mines" to be made and sold, then armed in different ways.  A mine field might have all 1 type or it might be mix & match.  ("market analysis" style protection)

I other words, you could mix & match plasma to make different types of mines "on the fly".

This, with the above, would make farming NPC's impractical but possible.
- You'd need 3 times a mining cycle with an industrial to place a mine, close enough to the NPC's to kite them into it. 
- The size of the mines would require the use of at least 1 industrial and you'd need plasma up front to arm them.

Cost wise, time wise, general volume wise - it would be very impractical to do this, especially when you cannot recover the mines.  Though it would have its uses - finding a lone miner out on a beta island - they may be mining but did they mine the area?