Since we have what may or may not be a decent turret weapon finally I feel it is time for something like this..

The NPC moths have automatic turrets and I believe players should have the option for the same thing for quite a price

Automated defense computer for the atlas should cost 50k, moth 100-150k, 50k per turret perhaps?

When you factor in the costs of all the turrets and the computer a ship can be quite expensive of course but those are the breaks!

It should work similar to NPC's, if you are fired upon they activate or if the person getting too close it hated by you. and for the ever so twitchy trader perhaps they could activate with proximity as an option

While this assists in the defense of traders this increased cost could also improve pirates pay rates because if it is obvious they have been out dodged and are about to die that 300k moth + it's million bucks of cargo may be worth spending the 100k to live

awesome, now i can tank peoples standing by ramming them, setting off their turrets and letting them kill me.

no seriously, this is a cool idea, but it'll never work.

Ramming the npv voys doesn't activate their weapons so clearly there is already detection for collision vs weapons in the game.

I bump into them all the time cause they sometimes turbo sideways...

Would make turrets actually useful.

I love this idea. Traders can buy some extra mass (neither turrets nor automated defense units should be light) to slow them down, and make the sunk cost in their ships that much greater (be sure to include these turrets in the ship repair costs, too), all while fooling themselves that it will help them somehow.

It won't.

I want it to keep the hive bots away when i'm procuring and end up in a storm with a stuffed moth, I didn't say anything about stopping you. heh

very well then spence, ill just shoot them once before they get to the nfz and then flee twards it and laugh my head off as they try and lumber away from the strike force cursing all the way.

sounds fun

Completely behind this idea. I've been wondering why not since I began playing VO.

If the NPC ships can, surely onboard turrets for a Player should also?

Not to mention their expensive price tag should come with this Auto feature as standard. No player will ever man a turret in a Cargo ship except as inter-system transport; which unlikely due to free EC-Taxis available. Any higher pricing, and Traders won't bother with them.

Auto-fire at hostile ships OR manually target then "fire" and they open up on your designated target.

Naturally every Pirate in game is going to complain because their Pinata's are fractionally less easier to kill.

- Taele.

Don't get me wrong, I like the intent of this idea, I want to see it work, but I have to be honest, the very first thing im going to try and do is make it screw people over.

Well.. how could you "screw someone over" ?

Might as well bring it up now so everyone can benefit from a successful implementation. :)

- Taele.

Actually, we'd rather just let the ways for fun be revealed after implementation.

Naturally every Pirate in game is going to complain because their Pinata's are fractionally less easier to kill.

Hi, I'm what's known as a pirate. As you can see from my post above, I think this is a great idea: it will burden traders with LOTS of extra mass and cost a LOT of credits to install/repair. But it won't keep me from booming your ship any more than those silly AGT turrets on moth heavies keep me from farming voys (hint, that means not at all).

Yah, the tease in that statement falls flat as basic text. Should have added an emoticon.

I brought it up as it seems when something seems tough, the suggestion is to lower capabilities/traits of targets and the greater portion of these come from Pirate players. Which is a chuckle to me. Considering they are already highly effective at their vocation anyhow. :)

But ignoring playtesting of a system to exact some fun at the expense of the developers and the gaming community as a whole is counter productive and I don't agree with that point of view.

That said; I still would like to see these implemented but with less penalty, considering they would make tradeships only marginally more defensible than usual, compared to the inherent effectiveness of Pirate players. As per Dr.Lecter pointed out at how nonplussed the average pirate would be to an automated turrets firing capability.

Bots on the other hand? I imagine them (turrets) to be a decent detterant within Nation space zones certainly. So I agree with CrazySpence's sentiments.

- Taele.

Tael, put down the shovel before you're in over your head. Generally people who play pirates are quick to shoot down bad ideas in the forum, and equally quick to support good ones. This is because we have a lot of experience pushing the envelope of the game mechanics, so we know what works and what doesn't.

Gimme gimme gimme!

Tease? Emoticon? I was perfectly serious. There's all sorts of fun ways this can go sideways, and I'm not going to start speculating about them until I'm in game, dealing with some poor fool thinks he or she is some sort of badass Q ship now they have all this fancy junk on their moth.

implemented but with less penalty

It's sweet that you feel that way, but no, of course not. You don't get to upgrade your moth to shoot backwards on its own without a significant penalty. Welcome to "Balance Wars Online."

i think the "all sorts of fun ways this can go sideways" alone is worth implementing this, even without a weight penalty.

Besides, the turrets on a moth have trouble hitting my Ragnarok enough to kill me, even when theirs 4 moths of turrets shooting at me. Usually if the turrets do kill me, it's because I damaged the hell out of myself with swarms on the escorts. The possibilities to muck around with traders who use these are nearly endless.

Which despite the above retorts.. I agree with Look.. No Hands.. I can't see how Automated Turrets are a Bad Thing(tm) when Pirate players are a skilled bunch anyhow. I more see them as useful deterrant againts NPC bots.

"..a lot of experience pushing the envelope of the game mechanics, so we know what works and what doesn't."

True.. but I remain adamant, implementing something that is already agreed to be a great thing to exploit, without offering why that is so, is really wasting everyone's time except the joker who thinks the exploit is 'funny'

I've done Dev work before in software teams and that kind of behaviour gets folks fired. Even less funny because here, others pay to play the same game.

As for quick to shoot down or quick to support.. sometimes the best ideas seem to be rocks, but there are at times a diamond in the suggestion.

I never toss aside a concept, for sure there's a pile of rubble to one side.. but the other, a small and worthy collection great ideas that make the effort worthwhile. They're all deserving of a brief discussion and not just being back handed because one group thinks they know best through experience alone. I've learnt more new ideas from junior staff than my peers over the years.. as fresh minds have fresh takes.

Right now there's actually no solid reasons given as to why this is a bad idea?

I understand issues like pricing, weight and effect on handling etc. Fairly obvious stuff and part of the 'Collective Price' of using them. But no actual reason as to why not. Just conjecture on my comments and no offers on how best to implement them. Then threats of "I'll exploit this" without constructive tips on how to add to the game successfully for everyones enjoyment. For all this touted experience with game mechanics.. how about some concerted feedback on why not or how to best do this?

The general dismissive tones around here and lack of depth within replies really gives me little wonder as to why the Devs don't take many ideas seriously.

- Taele.

Dont like auto-turrets also...

Or also give me an auto-pilot and an auto-trade to complete my auto-defense, so I can go play something...

Remember AA turrets, like static, boat, or those bombers from WW2. Or movies as Star Wars, Galactica, other games as FS2, so on...

Turrets are not for protecting you from pirates nor any good pilot on a light ship. Not even automated ones. Even area-saturation fire, as flak guns, are of dubious efficiency.

But if I could "leave cockpit" and operate my turret as gunner, that would make turrets much more usefull. Shoot bots while mining, turbo-evading... or make harder for pirates to aim...

If you cant outrun an agile attacker, turrets should remain useless.

Sooooooo, you don't want NPC's to aim guns for you so you don't have to find friends to pilot the turrets for you?

And how the hell are turrets not for defending yourself?