Do not worry PvP guys. I am an hardcore carebear too, and I absolutely love it when you blow up your precious mech in some futile epeen war.

(and by love, I mean my wallet loves it)

After spending the past 3 days roaming looking for small gang PVP encounters, I have to admit I'm horribly disappointed at this game.  With a few exceptions, PVP in this game only occurs in blob warfare.  Random roams into "enemy" beta islands result in the following outcomes.

1) Alt spots you and everyone docks up
2) Alt spots you and everyone undocks in Arkhes to zerg once superior numbers is reached.
3) Alt spots you and everyone undocks in their 1337 ships to sit under the safety zones.

Random ganks occur because of luck/bad timing but thats it.  Incursions are heavily scripted and predictable.  Blob warfare ends up dictating the terms even when more structured organization occurs.

Why you ask?

1) 1000m Radar.  Epic stupidity.  Even the fastest SpecOps still have a 8 sec close time.  One alt toon can watch one of the gates to a beta island.  Once someone pops through, its really easy to follow from a safe distance.  Thus, keeping track of enemies is stupid easy.

2) "Escape" mechanism is missing.  EVE had "warp to" to allow escape and evade to occur.  Variable speed engagements are required.  People need to be able to "get lost" in a island.  Additionally the rather linear movement speed system in this game further limits the way PVP occurs.

3) Cloaks / Passive Radar.  Because speed is the only decision point beyond blob, the small gang mechanic suffers without an alternate escape mechanism.  Having a mech which could jump and cloak would dramatically add diversity to the game.  It would also allow for people to spend time behind enemy lines watching and waiting for the right place and time to strike.

4) Lack of Human skill required.  This could very well go with 1000m Radar but I think it is a seperate issue because it differentiates the good pilots from the blobbers.  EVE's scanner was something that took Human Skill to operate and understand.  Anyone could use it to get directions of incoming people from gates.  But the truely skilled could use it to locate people in random locations under the clock.  What it did was to limit the radar to only work if the human player knew what to do.  Granted, Perpetuum is a terrain game.  But similar human skills should be added.

Perpetuum has potential and yes, I know the devs are working on solutions to some of the problems (and others I didn't mention).  But I'm not sure a resub is warrented because of the 1 dimensionality of the PVP game.  Without the PVP game, Perpetuum is a second job and not fun.

I think one of the biggest factors dissuading people trying their hand at the beta islands is that the fastest bots in the game also happen to be ECM. It's just too easy to imagine scenarios where you and a few of your buddies go out to do whatever only to encounter hostiles that you can't outrun, can mitigate any firepower advantage you have, drain your accumulator, and peck you to death as you try to crawl away. Whether it would really happen or not is irrelevant. Just the prospect keeps people from venturing off the alphas.

honestly, larger PVP zones would help this alot, mixed with more goals for corps to achieve. a 20 man corp isn't going to even attempt to hold an outpost, so they need an incentive to come out and play. Something like temporary safety in a small area would be cool, like a mini intrustion, and could even play out on a larger scale as a way to increase options and complexity of the larger intrustions. Just little game things like that, with a reward attached, to make them worthwhile, would probably go a long way towards getting people out to the islands.

I do see what these guys are saying, I just don't necessarily agree with what they're calling for as a solution. focus on the meta gaming, make it worthwhile for the whole population to participate, and it then becomes the norm, rather than the exception, which is what the game is all about, yes?

People are too new and inexperienced to find small scale pvp. If you aren't using tactics and intel, then you are a sitting duck. It's very easy to enter an island, get off the station and be unseen. If you use a scout they will never know where you are and you can actually take advantage of miners and such.

With that being said, I haven't seen the JOKE alliance hardly use Norhoop, and if you want to *** with m2s just don't be stupid. They are not gods, they are experienced players. If you don't play dumb for them and let them string you out, they will probably leave if you have even numbers. Remember this.

Oh hey Life. You know me I would never argue with a corp mate.

While I understand your frustrations it seems like you are victims of your own success in a way.  To my knowledge the majority of corporations holding outposts are all "buddy buddy" allies.  Well allies aren't going to fight each other on their own island, that's why they are allies.  Beta islands aren't connected so it's a "pain" to go back and forth between them.  Understandable, no one wants to spend 30 min travelling to get 3 min of action. 

The other issue is if you do go over to a beta island looking for a fight or even to fool around you try to get spotted to get some kind of action but as soon as you do the entire island alliance is on high alert and everyone and their mother comes speeding towards your direction and you can find yourself swarmed fairly quickly.  Either way "island defenses" ensure they have the favorable battle field and numbers to ensure victory for pvp hungry players.

There are other issues but forums are full of trolls so I'm just going to cut it here. 

A good point, and I agree.  It seems like players who wants to PvP are going to be forced to run large squads and also fit for ECCM if they are not in EWar bots.

It is simple risk and reward that keeps people off Beta.  It is not worth it most of the time to put your mining bot at risk for slightly faster mining.   Heck most of the time when you mine it is afk watching something else.  Mining on Beta is Risky because it is so hard to disappear and once you get spotted you are done and it does not matter if you are in a guild or alliance on that beta island or an independent you are done because until the threat goes away the minor bot is put away.   So when it takes hours to mine up mats for something it is not worth the risk. Other than for guild ops relating to the Epitron only available on beta mining not worth the risk!

I suggest:
Shrink the influence ring of the guilds on the island to closer to their station buy proving excellent benefits close to base.  Say great mining and combat bonuses next to the base and make it much easier (many more port in and spots) for people to get on and off the Beta island.  This would make it harder for guilds to control access to the beta island and at the same time give guilds the ability to protect guild mates without controlling the entire island.   But you also need change to the gates.
Most of the time when you drop onto beta you are either looking for trouble or not wanting to find trouble (mining/farming).  Either way you do not want to be jumped right as you drop in. So how to stop M2S from having a person sit in an Ark all day long on one of the only 3 port in spots for 8 to protect everyone on the island?  This only takes 3 people to sentry the entire island. You can
1)     Change the warp in point immunity and make it timed. This would make it much more difficult on the Ark sitting there announcing everyone who comes through in alliance or guild chat. 
2)    Put in more gates but make them one way.  This way once you are in then you are committed but there are many more ways off the island.  I would suggest 12 more gates 6 in and 6 out for each island.  This would make it much more difficult to deny access to an island.  Rewards are great but you have to believe you have a good change to escape with your loot.
3)    Either make the islands bigger or shrink the radar.

What all this does is: Makes it much much harder for a guild to control access to an entire island and at the same time provides different bonuses and protection to guild mates mining farming close to base.  This should open up the island to more people.   More people on the island translates to more PvP.  People want to be able to dash in pick a fight/mine/farm and get away. When all 3 ways on and off the island are guarded that is extremely hard to do.

Laf

Are you REALLY complaining that you only barely outran the fastest bot in the game, or am I reading your post the wrong way?
The Game
If you're in an Arkhe you should be able to be killed/caught by almost anything except uber tanks.  Its a noob bot, and IMO it shouldnt have nearly the capability and effectiveness in PvP that is currently has.  You should use an Arkhe if you have nothing else to use and you've hit rock bottom.  Period.  They are WAY to effective as a scout right now.

They can be defended against successfully if thats all the enemy is bringing.  Once we get into mech pvp you'll understand why they need to have the speed they have.  If they werent fast they'd be useless in anything more than bot fights.
The Game
You can get away if you know what you're doing as well.  M2S has been outnumbered on an island when out roaming but still able to get away.  We're just not stupid.  We know how the game works and what we need to do to accomplish our goals.
The Game
Yes, scouting is incredibly easy right now and it needs to be fixed.  Arkhes are the main source of scouting, so something needs to be done about them NOW.  I dont care if people scout with intakts or other ewar bots, because theres at least some risk to them doing that.  If they f*ck up with an arkhe no one cares, but if they f*ck up with an intakt and die someones gonna notice.