Naismith wrote:... For example, Hokk alliance hasn't attacked Novastrov's outposts since we settled the old scores, so we put aside our differences and agreed to leave each others outposts alone. ...
:::debates if to troll, decides logic and reason will prevail instead:::
I must have missed something, because I do not recall any such agreement. All I recall was one conversation where I, and later Saramara, stated that we have no intention of taking control of any outposts other than on Hokk. If we are roaming and find a fight, we'll fight if we can, if we see an active sap, well hell, if we feel like it we'll screw with it, or hang out to ninja a can, or screw around with a solo guy like we did on Koykilli the other night. But we have no intention of taking any outpost for ourselves outside Hokk Island.
That being said, the new intrusion mechanics have both good and bad. It still has the capablity to be an alarm clock megablod the way it is currently handled. Most of the arguements have already been stated, so instead of repeating them, I will merely state some possible corrections, either individually or as a total group. Remember, the idea here was to :
-Make it so a corp had to be active at that location to take and keep the outpost
-To reduce gang/corp size (da blob) from being the major deciding factor
-Create some benefit to actually owning an oupost ( upgrades and auras)
-To leave opportunity for a determined and dedicated group to have an impact on the above.
--Get rid of the on island timers: Really, you can jump on an island and see instantly if any sap is active on that island? Too damn easy button mode. Make it so that a squad or individual actually has to be near the sap to tell if it is active.
--Get rid of the probes: The idea is to make it so a corp has to be active on that island and outpost to take it or keep it. That should mean that they have to actually OBSERVE when the sap is active. Under either situation, if your group is active at that location, they will see it, if not active there, they will not. Really, once or twice a day, go to outpost and drop a half mil probe and bingo, instant horn of gondor, absolute knowledge when and where and who, and the alarm clocks get set...
--Give a benefit to the owning corp for timers: The owning corp should be able to know beforehand when the sap becomes active after achieving control of over a certain level. Security of 20, or 25, no more than 50, gives the "owner" a timer that shows them when it is next active.
-Give the defender the opportunity to close the sap, or reduce the active time from 1 hour to 30 mins, or increase the time for an attacker to actually take the sap, instead of a defender having to stand there for an hour, whereas an attacker or someone screwing with security level can do it in 2.5 minutes with a 3 man light ewar gang evasive module and shield fit. It's not balanced currently. Really, 1 hr vs 2.5 minutes....
It's a change, and some of it is pretty good, some of it not. I like that a small determined group of ppl can have an impact. And frankly, all the qq about omg we have to do a sap every 2 hours, well was said earlier by someone else, maybe you have too many outposts. In that respect, I think the changes are excellent, promote smaller footprints, and limit control for a corp of outposts regardless of it's size. Newer entities then would have opportunity to actually be able to get out on beta, or at least have an inpact on there.
Right now it is too easy, but that does not mean the framework is necessarily bad for the game, it just needs some balancing out so that no one gets an "easy button". Good grades for effort devs, but not for the implementation. Effort/risk vs reward, after all...
In the gods we trust, all others bring data!