There was a discussion in the General forum about whether a player owned connie should have shields. The reasoning was that the connie would be jumping through systems too fast for an assault to be mounted with much effect (and hence, no real threat to a trader in the connie).

So, how about spawning some convoys that pass through grey that can be practice for getting the connie's jump/battery charge times down so that when a player version comes along, some of the work has already been done in balancing?

I'm trying-and failing-to recall why these were suspended years ago.

Because we have resiliency problems with our pathfinding in general, and capships run afoul of them constantly. It so happens that one of my highest-priority tasks (as discussed on monday) is a couple workarounds for these problems, specifically so we can add capships back into convoys (and to stop the existing pile-ups).

I loved to hitch a ride on those convoy tridents. It was good fun for everyone.

I guess this would explain why none of the border skirms occur in asteroid sectors.

Exactly. Unfortunately, the workarounds I have in mind won't really solve the general capships and asteroids problem. For that, we'll probably "just" generate a second probabilistic roadmap with much larger capsules.

So does that mean that I'll be able to use a big honking pile of conc mines to shove a connie into a couple of roids and make it "stuck"?

Thank you, ladron, for providing momerath's nightmares for the next weekend. That's just great.

You're the reason he cries himself to sleep.

Hahaha, an excellent tactic, ladron!

I'd just like to make SURE that if players can use Constellation-Class capships, that these are "killable" by mere mortals, okay maybe 5 or 6 mere mortals with chaos swarms.

Otherwise we'll see traders in NOTHING but Constellations, since players are smart enough to go repair along their route if they get shootied at.

I should point out, so far no one here has addressed the fact that we would be fighting fire with fire, not with matches.

If a trader were in a Constellation, then it stands to reason additional combat-class Capitals would also be available for use that could help even up the odds.

Not to detract from the idea, which I like, but I do want to make sure that this aspect is not forgotten.

I had suggested turning an xc into a mini capship (Avarice) so we could see what problems and tactics might arise but But some here wont risk taking a baby step or two for fear traders might benefit from it. This is also the reason we cant talk Guild into providing us with even the most rudimentary player controlled station since most here wont set aside thier personal agendas and agree to a reasonable location.Personally I would rather see Guild have to break out the digital eraser more often then simply continue to wallow in this endless lack of progress.

The simple truth is None of us can really know what will happen or how things should happen untill we get at least a minimal amount of experiance so we have a basis to judge by. As much as we all love the eyecandy it is the content that is keeping VO from growing....

<rant off>

Let's open up capital ship purchasing right now and see what happens. Maybe have a "capital ship" weekend, where we can all buy one and see how hard they are to move around/defend/dock.