Forums » Suggestions

Interdiction Module

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Nov 30, 2005 The Roach link
How about having a device that takes up a L-port and would make it imposible for ships to warp out of system if they were within 3000m of a ship equiped with one. The device would have a ton of mass so that ship with one would be combat ineffective due to poor turning & acceleration. The idea being that if properly positioned a group of pirates would stand a little better chance of intercepting a trader, but a single pirate couldn't take advantage of the device.
Nov 30, 2005 thergvk link
oooh thats a neaat idea. but p'haps the person has to target the trader, or fire something at them, or someother way tag them to not be able to jump
Dec 01, 2005 fooz2916 link
It's a nice idea, but there are some problems:

Group pirating is rare, and I wouldn't expect that they would give up a member to hold something like this, especially if it's extremely heavy.

And you mean "sector"-jumping, not system, right?
Dec 01, 2005 Harry Seldon link
We NEED more to encourage group interaction. Don't take the "gee, it doesn't happen right now, so this will be useless if it's put in" approach please. If this were something that was effective, then I'm sure that it would be used. Especially against runners. :D
Dec 01, 2005 Doukutsu link
I'm with Harry on this one. The anti-warp idea is an interesting one. I don't know about a ship itself... but I suppose its not necisarrily a bad idea. You would just have to nerf whatever ship has it in some way in order to compensate - basically, make it so people wouldn't use it every freakin' time they went pirating. Perhaps you could actually make a specialized ship just to house this device (make it available only to a certain faction or something). I would imagine theoretically, it would be somewhat simple to disrupt somebody's ability to jump.

Lots of other options/combinations to weigh on this subject.

Something like this that would actually be effective would probably involve a lot of other complex balancing in order for it to be a cool part of the game.
Dec 01, 2005 yodaofborg link
I like this, but i think its range should be only 1000m, I dont think it should weigh too much (maybe the same as 2 plasdevs?)

@Fooz, Group piracy isnt as rare as you would have thought, and recently, i've even seen groups *give up members* to simply sit around in moths, and collect cargoes. I'm pretty sure one of the *cargo cows* could fit one of these :)
Dec 01, 2005 Renegade xxRIPxx link
If this would be implimented then I would think that there would be a possible counter for this. Like having your own anti interdiction module that maybe took 2 large ports and was just as havy as the normal module.
Dec 01, 2005 Lord Q link
the interdicter modual is an interesting idea, but you can't balance it simply by having a counter interdicer modual. if you do that the interdicter modual will quickely become obsoleet as traders figure out that it's bets to carrt a sounter interdicter around withy them at all times.

now if insead the interdicter were an L port and the counter interdicter were an S port 'moths would always be vulnerable but other tgrade ships could carry a counter interdicter. but still that isn't a very good solution.

i think the best solution is to make the interdicter modual have a miner energy drain (say around 5-10/second) that way it reduces the carier's ability to chase an opponent.) and then if there is a counter interdicter unit it should ba a battery with a medium capacity and low crarge rate (perhaps 400 capacity, and 35 ebergy/second)
Dec 01, 2005 LordofBlades link
I think perhaps having an Interdictor Interceptor would be a good idea. It would be light and fast, so it could keep up with running traders, and be the only ship to use the interdictor module. But, in addition, it would have extremely light armor, so a trader could ignore the pirates and go after the interdictor, making escape possible.

It should also be noted that the interdictor would likely outrun its pirate companions.
However, I also have to point out the negative effects. Assuming in the future, pirates or other guild built a station near to or in a worm hole sector, they could sit an interdictor there with quite a few re-enforcments, and demand a tole for passing through a wormhole.
Dec 01, 2005 UncleDave link
"is that one of those new-fangled Interdictor Interceptors up there, or just a vulture?"

"I I, captain!"

"...so which is it?"
Dec 01, 2005 tkjode link
I like Lord of Blades' idea... make it a ship with a sole purpose.

If you make this "Interdictor Module" available to any ship, you're just gonna get people in the UIT Hog doing 250m/s, or loaded out rags, blast you with the module and unload all sorts of death on you... ok that's not much different from pirating as it is... but it's hard running from a skilled WH camping pirate in a Moth as it is... why make that a thousand times easier?

IMHO, it should be available as the sole weapon in one small ship. Turbo drain rate 50/sec. When activated, it should require 300u of energy off the bat... meaning Large Battery if you want to continue turboing for a while, makes Fast Charges useless, and only people with the UFC batteries can take full advantage of this bad boy. Gotta have a bit of strategy when using this... if you have a Heavy, you'd have 50 seconds of chase left after using it. To use it again, you'd have let go of the turbo for minimum 1 second to get another shot in, but you'd be left with very little to no charge left to chase further.

Alternatively, you could have it cause a continual drain while it's activated, but it seems like that's too prone to abuse (get 3-4 people around a WH, constantly alternating their interdictors on and off, totally stopping WH traffic)

Maybe make a couple variants with different top turbo speeds and drain rates to shake things up. There should always be a window of opportunity to escape, maybe on the order of 3-5 seconds between deactivation and refire.. that way savvy pilots can take that window and bust outta there... let's not forget that if we're within interdiction range (1000m was suggested), we'll see where they jump if they do escape.

There's definitely some interesting stuff here... oh, also, EYECANDY :P Let's not forget there has to be glittery effects and stuff when one of these puppies goes off
Dec 01, 2005 thergvk link
maybe the ship that puts it off and the ship that gets stopped should be connected with a mining beam type thing, and they both start to glow!
Dec 01, 2005 Cunjo link
port: L
Weight: 3500kg
Range: 2000m
Energy: 30/sec*
Activation: use weapon group fire to toggle module. After disengaging module, the ship carrying it must wait 10 seconds to jump itself, preventing easy following (with the interdictor)

*energy consumption to limit use of turbo and energy weapons when using it.

Ship carrying it should be mostly indefensible... and heavier would be an advantage.

and I really don't see why having a ship dedicated to carrying thiswould be a bad thing for a pirate group... after all, you put it on a moth, and you can use it to both hinder the escaping traders, and to pick up their cargo when they pop.

With that much weight, only a moth, rag or taur could really carry the thing and still get up to speed... and even then ti would take long enough that a trader should stand a reasonable change of getting away.
Dec 01, 2005 LeberMac link
I like it. Let's make it a heavy L-Port cargo widget! But maybe 6,000 kg - the weight of two Valkyries.

And the ship itself should emit glittery purple ion-storm-like particles and emit a scary thrumming bass equipment sound (or something extremely noticeable) so you can tell who's interrupting the WH.

And if you try to jump anyway, you get a Message saying "<Character> has activated an Interdiction Module, which is preventing you from jumping."

It should be able to prevent jumping for, what, 30 seconds? And then not be usable for another 2 minutes, say?
Dec 01, 2005 zamzx zik link
NO!

it needs to be heavy (as a rag loaded with swarms....) but it also needs to be effective! so 3000 or even 4000 (for a modifyed verson)'d be best. group pirating'd be the shit, so lets make it easier! if we have group pirating...we have group defending...we'll have a happer vendetta :D
Dec 02, 2005 Doukutsu link
LordofBlade's idea was more of what I was thinking, although not a small agile/fast ship. I was thinking more along these lines-

**Medium sized ship - relatively slower than your average ship, but still fast enough to keep up with most cargo-class ships (the maud would have an advantage here).
**Lower-than-average armor (it contains some fragile scientific gizmos, afterall!).
**Defensive capabilities strong enough to defend itself for a little while, but not enough to be much of an attack-class ship. You could do this, or require the ship to turn off its warp-disrupting field before firing its weapons, and add more powerful weapon capabilities. The idea is to not make it a very good ship for solo-play (maybe you could make a variant with a smaller warp-disruption field but it had better armor/attack capabilities for solo play).
**It would be fairly expensive - perhaps only available at certain factions (pirates, hehe).
**The field size and energy drain needs to be balanced correctly so that its not impossible to escape this thing's field... only very difficult.
**The ship would also look quite different from other ships... visually recognizable.

.... along the same lines, I was also thinking of the same kind of idea for a shield-generating ship. Most likely the Itani would have something like this to accompany their fighter fleets... but thats another thread topic.
Dec 02, 2005 exDragon link
This should definitely be a weapon and not a single ship with this ability because that would lower customization
Dec 02, 2005 Aequitas' Talon link
what exactly are we saying it does anyway? passes itself as a massive object to prevent others from jumping within a certian distance of it? if so, then it SHOULD be very heavy... Prohibitively heavy. 6,000 sounds good, though may be a slight overkill... dunno, you'd have to test its effectiveness in action

it should NOT be able to pursue fleeing ships for very far - because of the weight and accel impairment, and should be an equipable module, not a ship.

I don't think it should have a use time limit... since ships should be able to escape it by running fast and hard. It would be more difficult for combat ships, without their infiniturbo, which would mean more might stay to fight unless they're trading - ehich is good.

I guess I like Cunjo's idea, though with more weight... (maybe not 6,000, but close to it)
Dec 02, 2005 Lord Q link
the problem with making it heavy and notheng else to limit it'as effectiveness is that it could be caried on a largeish cargo ship, where the turbo power is more inportant than anything else in a chase. there needs to be a level of energy drain calabrated such that it disalows infiniboost, and limits energy-fire duration
Dec 02, 2005 incarnate link
(briefly skimmed thread), I think this is a cool idea. I've kicked this one around for a couple of years as well. (Remembered this from Star Wars too). I'll let you guys continue to debate the merits of various masses and implementations and check back later.