As we draw close to the end of starbase era, I feel CCP should consider a suitable replacement for them in the near future, one that can meet demand of a changing politics and influences, Mobile Facilities. I know Citadels occupy a large aspect of this change, but I feel Citadels can’t exactly meet the needs of some pilots who require mobility and flexibility when it comes to their operations. This is where I am going to propose the concept of Mobile Facilities, structures, like the mobile depot, can be stationed and easily packed up to be moved to its next home or job site. Now this concept may affect some geopolitics within EVE to an extent since the structure’s flexiblility and mobility would change how certain alliances and corps operate but I think this will help the game overall. I would also propose TII versions of these that are sllightly better although don’t outpace citadels in terms of efficiency.
Operations Center: Allows for the remote interaction of mobile facilites for a capsuleer
Labratory: Enables the production of boosters and provides a place for a finite number of clones; Enables invention and research
Assembly Yard: Allows for the production of subcapital ships, ammo, and charges
Refinery: Allows for the processing and compression of ore
Hangar: Storage for a limited number of ships and items, with its own dedicated unnassembled ship hold but limited space for modules
Turret: Defensive fortifications to be deployed.
Of course some ideal drawbacks would the fact they would begin to degrade if left alone for more than 30 days or something similar accompany by an efficiency drawback in exchange for their ability to be packed up to be moved on the go when need be. The whole idea to is to expanded on the concept of mobile depots and largely allow for more fluidity in terms of operating a corporation or industrial job, instead of having to travel to your preferred citadel or complex, allowing players to operate for longer periods in certain regions. Remembering my trip to sov nullsec, I was unable to find a freeport anywhere until i came come across one that charged docking fees, I pondered the idea of this as to establish my operations far from prying eyes in parts unknown.
Ummm… Engineering Complex, Citadel, and soon to arrive Refineries are meant as replacements
That said: what is needed is something that can anchor in an under an hour, can be un-anchored in under an hour, and provide very basic and un-bonused services such as repair, refitting, refining, and perhaps some basic manufacturing such as standard ammo and modules. Because it is meant to be a short term it will only have an hour reinforce once shields are downed.
This is something that can be used for day trips into WHs or as a temp forward operating base. It can be anchored for a 3 days at most.
If someone owns an area of space, they should know who is doing what in their space when it comes to structures that could be used as a platform to launch an invasion of serious attack.
Mobile depots and the other small deployables don’t pose that big of a threat. They are only small and serve one person.
A mobile laboratory, assembly yard and hangar represent a direct threat to the owner of an area of space.
So no from me. If you want a base of operation without paying docking rights, fit a cloak to an Orca or similar and get it into an area of space via wormholes.
Nice idea in the original post, but maybe introduce these deployables in the same mechanics that citadels have? We have Medium Citadels, as well as Lagre and Extra Large ones.
So maybe introduce Small Citadels that would have limited functions and can be used for rapid deployment and small scale warfare, while keeping the option to unanchor them quickly and redeploy elsewhere. Of course they will also serve as mobile bases for nomadic pilots. They would be able to fit modules just like the rest of the citadels and adjust to pilots needs. I guess this would need careful balancing in terms of reinforcement timers.
The concept is similar to the small POS. It can be anchored or taken down in 15 minutes, but the tower is 1000 M3 packaged and the various arrays/labs/etc… are even bigger. You’re not going to haul something like that in the cargo bay of a cruiser.
One of the changes CCP made to the Orca with Ascension was an increase in power grid that allows you to fit a 500MN MWD II. With a couple of Engine Thermal Shielding II rigs the ship can now use the MWD-cloak trick. I’ve tested this on Singularity and it works but your timing needs to be perfect. A faction MWD with a bit more boost may work better but they aren’t seeded on the test server.
It’s hard to imagine a better mobile base for a nomadic pilot than a stealthy Orca!
Now if they made a line of cheap small citadels that i can deploy and pack on the go would make my industrial sector operations more practical. My issue is with the huge effing price tag on Citadels and ECs which is why I suggested a potential cheap alternative because the ability to have facility i can just deploy until I’ve exhausted local demand for product. I feel a problem EVE has currently is a certain lack of mobility available to most players, and it seems players who operate nomadically have the most to gain as I frequently make trips across empire space into NPC null. Most players are either reliant on certain station or citadels that are outfitted properly but are in nightmare positions at times. I also consider the effect on fac and alliance war to make offensive and defensive ops more practical when away from staging systems
