can we slow them down please. Right now there are no fights around the transport, its just a race to see who can catch up to it and kill it first, which makes it largely random based on where you warp in in relation to it.

Set it to a top speed of about 55 and multiply its armor by 5.

I like this idea.

I agree, and i'm an itani. It's not a fight, it's a race.

aye, that sounds like a good idea IMO. Or rather, give them a Light battery. :-)

I agree, except I'd like to maybe see the armor multiplied by more than 5. In order to successfully defend the transport, currently the defenders basically have to match or outnumber the attackers, because if there's one free attacker, it's very easy for him to destroy the transport & run with the cargo while the defenders are busy with the other attackers. If the transports had more armor, it would give the defenders more time to dispatch the other attackers & return to defend the transport before it's destroyed. 5 times might be enough, except if you're also lowering the speed it makes it that much easier for attackers to catch the transport.

but you are missing a very important point beolach, if the transport speed is lowered its bots can keep up as well.

now for the small transports, that wont make much difference, but once it has a couple of assults with it, it makes a snatch and grab more difficult if the bots are with the transport.

I don't think the main reason the guard bots don't keep up with the transports is because of the transports speed, but rather is because of how their AI is programmed & how they engage enemies & leave the transport. I could be wrong though. And also, the guard bots aren't much of a threat to anyone by themselves.

Another thing that I'd like to see with the guard bots, would be to have them chase whoever actually destroyed the transport they were supposed to be guarding, kinda like a strike force, rather than just sitting around in the sector where the transport went boom.

they have the same problem as players do. They can only turbo a little faster than the transport. they get spread out at warps/jumps, and they spend the rest of the time in sector trying to catch up.

True, but unless you give the guard bots higher turbos than players, I don't see this as changing anything - it'll take less time for both the players & bots to get to the transport, but it will be the *same* less time.

[edit]This is NOT saying the guard bots should have a higher turbo, it's just an illustration of my point.[/edit]

well, There are more bots, giving them a more spread and a higher chance to catch up with the trans before the players do.

So yes, lowering the transports speed -would- in fact make it more well defended.

its mathematics beolach, a matter of overtakes and time needed to do lethal damage.

Currently the transport turbos at around 180-190 m/s. If the bots do 200m/s thats a difference of 20 m/s, so to close a 1000 meter gap takes 50 seconds. 50 seconds is plenty of time for a player doing 240 to catch and kill it while the bots lag helplessly behind

If the transport is limited to 55m/s, the bots can overtake that 1000 meters much faster (200-55=145m/s, or <7 seconds to be around the transport again. its MUCH harder to line up on a target and kill it in 7 seconds.

The bots dont have to take time to aquire the transport and decide what turns to take, where a human warping in behind a transport will need a second or two to do so, shaving more time off the kill window.

Even a cent3 can only do 240m/s, while thats 40m/s more than the bots, that still takes 4 seconds to make up the difference. add the second or two to line up, and you are there at about the same time as the bots.

Now, the transport is no longer zipping right along, so you have to slow down to attack it, meaning that other players have a chance to close in while you actually shoot the transport, meaning you can no longer just cruise along behind it counting on high speed to keep your enemies from catching up. After all it takes a lot longer to alter course and get a second shot in at 150m/s than it does at 60m/s, you dont overshoot as much.

Obviously these times all assume an acceleration from 0 to max speed instantly, so the actual times would vary some depending on acceleration, but they give a demonstration of the problem.

Heh. Yeah, I realized my mistake & was coming back to say so... you beat me to pointing it out. I hadn't fully woken up yet...

1)I have notified since the patch that the guards (bots) are sticking now the transport while it is speeding. transport is no more isolated.

wanna says to devs : thank you for your fast fix. :o)

2) CtC is still a race. like Solra i have have suggested last week to take down transport's speed at 55 and increase his armor.

after thinking a while :o)

I think a speed around 100 - 150 should be correct. (transport have an infinitboost)
because that will force us to use the boost to stick it.
+ a way to escape missiles. (players won't just come in ragnarok and shoot a hundreds of missiles)

3) Transport armor x 2.

armor x 2 or 3

ok, think of it this way, if a payer was driving the transport do you really think that he would risk it in a 145 POS Ship, unless of corse the cargo space was 70+, i mean COMEON, i won't even Risk a 34 apcien trade rout outside of Serco territory, it takes about 10 sec to go from 65 -> 0 (assuming where in physics mode) and to get a strait shoot from where you are to the jump, so as too keep it at the highest speed.

now this is assuming that the transports are ships that the player can buy. if they are not then they are obviously better then what we cane buy. besides, why would the domains Purposefully have a lower ship.

think of it as a real would situation, and a What would You do if it were not a game but real.

if you can give a GOOD! REAL! reason the transport would be slow and it is plausible then i think we COULD consider a slower transport, otherwise, YOU need to get a faster ship to catch up to them.

Knight: while your arguments are correct, there is a very true fact you are missing.

Reality does not always make for good gameplay.

Lets look at the REASON for the CtC transports. They are not there to deliver purified Xithricite Ore to the serco and itani nations, because those nations don't exist except in vendetta. the nations are just there to add background and interest to an electronic world, the ore is just a way of keeping score. That being said, what is the reason for the transports.

The transports exist to create opportunities and reasons for organized PvP, and to give players a challenge and something to do. Right now they are not creating PvP, they are creating a race, which does not fit with what they were designed to do. Additionally, having the transports go at 55m/s would make the convoy routes take more time, and give a better chance of more players getting involved.

55m/s might be too slow, but the ability to go 180 is much too fast. Even if capped at 100m/s they would be much more interesting than they are now.

"-otherwise, YOU need to get a faster ship to catch up to them-"
Actually I have no trouble catching up to them, check my transport kills on the CtC page for reference. My problem is that when i do catch up, its far too easy to kill it, grab, and run before the defbots catch up most of the time. As i stated above, its supposed to be a PvP, not a Race.

Nya, sometimes the transport does manage to collect its escorts, that usually happens when the escorts warp out of the wormhole in a situation where they are between the transport and its destination in the sector. There were several convoys last night where the escorts were strung out in a nice line back to the wormhole with the transport 400-600 meters out in front. You are correct however, it has gotten better, but its still a race.

Although last night, there were two bots left behind in Sedina L2... They never made it out of the starting sector.