Hello,

i'm playing a few days now, most of the time in Deneb, doing battles. But i'm start getting a bit bored so i'm going more and more to Jallik and further right into the deeps of Greyspace.
I'd like to share two suggestions, which may will make the game a bit more comfortable on the
one side and a bit more fun on the other. Don't mind asking if you haven't understood anything i
wrote, this is the first major text i'm writing in english for years(it's my second language).

I
Fast Jump Device (or any other name)

Travelling from Deneb to Jallik is the most timeconsuming and boring part of the game for me,
you could escort an npc, maybe getting some trouble in an ion storm but thats it, no challenge,
no fun.

Here comes the FJD to solve this problem(two ideas: a or b):

I-a:
Equal to the "Set Home" -Button there is a "Set FJ-Destination". Now you can buy a
FJD or a special Ship to reach that Station in 1 Jump. To avoid exploiting this, limit
its use to 1 per 24/ours or allow only a special ship to do this jumps, a ship with no
weapons, no cargo-hold, and crappy stats, cause it needs all the energy for the jump.
No Interference caused by objects or ships within 4k meters is allowed.

I-b:
Instant Jump in Nation space.

As i sad before, it should not allow players to exploit or to circle around dangerous areas
or shortcutting some distances. It should only prevent once or twice a day a possibility
to avoid at least half of those boring travels through 10 absolutely safe systems.
Variant I-a f.e. still forces the player to travel one-way.

What do you think about this quasi-teleporter?

----------------------------------------- (may split up the thread here, i don't know)

II
Deneb

I neither have a fullscale suggestion nor the ability to describe it properly.
It would be cool if the ai of battleships would be more intelligent, its stupid seeing
small frigates blocking the line of fire for much larger ships or seeing important
constellationtransports engaging teradon-frigates and blocking other ships of
the formation.

this leads to some frustrating outcomes sometimes. would be cool if the battle-ai
for the large ships could be improved to more intelligent behaviour on the battlefield.
the ships should move into better fire positions or try to retreat(no jump), when
eceiving to much damage. i would also extend the range of capital ships, the fleets
should battle them directly over 4-6 km, while smaller turrets keep off the fighters.
dogfight should happen between the two formations, so bombersquads need an fighter-
escort, achievements and rewards for submissions(f.e. escort 4 of 16 bombers to attackrange) something like that.

to cut a long story short: i would appreciate a smarter behaviour of ai-ships in battle
and more challenges, opportunities and possibilities in deneb-war-scenario.
An idea popping up is to gain war-points, reaching military-ranks and give commands
to groups of vessels depending on the rank.

Your opinion?

Greets Galen

Thanks for the post. In the future, it's best to separate out multiple ideas into different threads (Deneb AI vs Teleporter). Otherwise the thread replies get too broad and chaotic.

I have to run out the door in a sec and can't take the time to really respond, but I definitely agree with the need for improved cap-battle AI and mechanics. On the subject of rankings and commands, that is a goal, I posted some of my older design notes (don't respond on that thread) some time ago. Since that was posted we spent a lot of time porting to Android instead of adding into the game, but these goals are still planned, and I'm hopeful that we'll see more of them this year.

Reducing game boredom is also a good idea, in terms of travel. There have been various suggestions on how to address that in the past, that I always worried were too exploitable. But, some kind of strictly-within-Nation-space, station to station system (only moves the pilot, no ship is involved), with timed use restrictions (and perhaps cost) could be possible. I dunno, I'm open to a discussion anyway.

You engrish better then mine....and many others...

Good ideas - Post more.

And welcome to VO

A service that transported just the pilot, without moving any physical goods, within nation space, seems like a good solution.

A few ideas:

Time - Let the pilot make 1 transfer per hour

License - Intuitively this seems like it would be related to the Trade license, although Combat may work just as well. Either way, I recommend having it become available at Trade license 3 or something. You don't want total noobs just teleporting around. Make 'em fly!

Cost - Perhaps the cost could be tied in to Faction standing. For example:

Cost = 100,000 - (100 x national faction standing)

Therefore a player neutral with their own faction would pay 100,000 credits, someone at +800 with their nation would pay 20,000 credits, and someone at POS would be able to transfer for free.

UIT should probably be allowed to transfer between any stations that are in "Gold" systems on the map, since there are very few stations that are actually designated UIT. Either that, or cut this service out from the UIT altogether, as the primary reason for its suggestion seems to be going between the Border War and Grey activities (CtC, B8, Conquerable Stations etc.) Alternatively, allow UIT to use this service with either the Serco or the Itani once they join one side's respective military.

edit: there should also be no active missions when using this service, as some require you to dock with particular stations

One per hour seems reasonable. I'd go as high as 2 or 3 hours.

I lean towards the Combat license because people using this transporter will likely be using it to move to a hot combat spot more than to trade or mine. I think 3 is too low. Make folks suffer at least until combat 5. I'd prefer 10 or higher. (though I still rather do without the whole license system)

I do like the cost solution.

I would throw out that perhaps instead of a license requirement that it could be based on a players standing (+900) or possibly opened up as an option through the successful completion of a challenging mission or achievement such as 100 enemy kills for Serco and Itani. I don't really see as much need for a transporter in UIT space, but that's just me and I rarely hang out there other than to fight at one of the wh's.

Also, I would consider limiting it to natives only.

I'm also thinking it should be station specific, and specifically Barracks stations since I lean towards a Combat requirement. In this case, transports would only ever be between Barracks stations.

Also, if this is given to UIT as well, then I would include Grey space and would raise the cost by a factor of about 5 for either Gold to Grey or Grey to Grey transfers as I can see players wanting to get to a hot spot like Edras or Latos in a hurry to join the battle. Also, I see no reason why a technology common in all three nations would not be available in Grey as well. Perhaps even with a random chance to die during transport factored in.

The license thing is kind of arbitrary, I went with 3 because the game seems to imply it's an unofficial rite of passage. Once you reach Combat 3 you are greeted with "Welcome!" on the mission board. 5 may be a better solution. I think 10 is too high.

It may be simpler to just tie it directly in to joining one side's military. From an RP perspective, the service could be related to military technology that is only accessible by military personnel. I believe the mission to join the military becomes available at Combat 3 or 4 anyway, so it may be as simple as tying it to that particular accomplishment.

Having it limited to certain types of stations is another possibility, and I agree Barracks make the most sense, if we're going with military technology.

Also, if this is given to UIT as well, then I would include Grey space and would raise the cost by a factor of about 5 for either Gold to Grey or Grey to Grey transfers as I can see players wanting to get to a hot spot like Edras or Latos in a hurry to join the battle.

I would have to disagree with this on the grounds Grey is too random, and has too much going on to be skipped over. Pirates, as much as I enjoy hunting them, play an important role in game, and they need a place that is highly trafficked. Grey should be an area where each movement is carved out by a path through space. You could say that the service requires secure station telemetry, which is unavailable past national borders, and subject to hackers within the UIT.

Perhaps even with a random chance to die during transport factored in.

I strongly disagree. Randomly dying is not fun. The cost of using the service could be reasonably balanced by the credit price, and delay timer.

Fair enough on the random death. I was thinking that Grey terminals would be less well maintained and possibly hacked together rather than properly designed.

Having played both sides of the equation, I agree that pirates play an important role. However, I disagree that this would meaningfully impact their ability to create danger. As VO stands, a pirate is mostly ineffective against an experienced player who is simply traveling from point A to B. Trade ships and new players still have to make the long journey. I do not see how transporting a player negates this. Mind you, I am working from the assumption that the transport is for the player only and that no ship is transported. Which is the impression I got from Inc's post as to what he would consider acceptable. I'm not going to argue the point too hard. I'm looking at it from the perspective that if something's going down, and I'm in Geira, I may want to get to Latos or Edras as soon as possible and because of the current long trip, I am less likely to feel motivated enough to make the trip- which means one less target for the rats to shoot at.

If on the other hand, you want to make an argument that transporting costs pirates or blockaders crucial time by allowing players from across VO to respond to the situation more quickly, then I am forced to agree.

I have no objection to starting with nation space first and then including Grey if the community agrees. I could be wrong, but I think we'll see more player interaction with this convenience. Especially if along with it, the dev's disable or nerf the /explode feature.

Another possible implementation. At minimum, I would like to see this available in Serco & Itani space. Perhaps creating a 'hub' station at either end that all other portals are limited to linking to. Under this model, hubs should only exist in Jallik, Pyronis or Initros (not both), Geira and Deneb.

Definitely shouldn't include Grey. If somebody attacks a station in Bractus, somebody in Arta C. shouldn't be able to just warp over to defend it. People also shouldn't be able to magically jump into Odia, grab a hound, and then turbo out.

Deneb is pretty darn far from grey space, especially for the Itani. But that's all I'm saying on that FJD idea since that horse has been beaten into a bloody pulp over the years.

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The capship AI is definitely pretty stupid. I've done a lot of border skirmishes and i can't even count how many times my Teradon or Trident has put itself right in the way of a friendly HAC's turrets only to be obliterated in under a minute by fire from both sides.

FYI: If you find yourself bored fighting NPCs in Deneb and want to spice things up a bit, announce it when you start a skirmish on a public channel like ch100. Many players have alts up there and you might get a good group going. It's worked for me in the past. :)