Filaments require a re-balance

10k is a huge area knowing if there is a cloaked ship in that range wont change anything, its hard enough decloaking a clocked ship as they cloak on gate and exit a bubble 10k is imposible.

I haven’t seen any further discussion of simply making the rift a scannable anomaly for X seconds before it opens and can be jumped through.

Most of the discussion seems to be about ideas that would have side effects that would be error prone for CCP to implement, and/or abusable for unintended purposes.

Frankly, if people really want CCP to do something about it, they should either start abusing filaments in a highly visible and game-breaking manner (forcing a fix), or suggest a way that CCP could monetize a solution.

This would allow fleets of hundreds to go filament diving.

Good luck cnovincing the entire population of eve to live in Jita.

I think you missed the original comment. Activate filament, it creates a scannable anomaly for X seconds (60, 120 whatever) before it opens and allows the jump through, then it closes. Can’t jump through if combat timer active.

It’s like the spool-up idea but without the warpable beacon.

A 5-man filament still only allows 5 to jump through.

It avoids all the following, splitting, “free warping”, bubble effects etc. and simply shifts the “free escape” portion of the problem to the segment before they leave rather than after.

If only 5 can jump through and you have 5 in your fleet how do people chase?

If its only to make it easy to find them them then their ships are already scannable.

The warp beacon bubble was so that they didn’t land on 0 and couldn’t warp out without risk/reward.

An anom will take all risk away from the pursuing fleet which will out number the filamenting fleet 100% which means it would be a slaughter if they where forced to fight without some type of risk.

You don’t chase. Chasing leads to chain effects, split fleets closing their own trace, etc.

You have X seconds to scan down their anomaly or their ships, jump to them, initiate combat. Which is basically how PvP already works.

The visible anomaly part is so you can differentiate between groups using filaments and other groups.

You keep the rapid travel and “initiate PvP” aspects of filaments but remove the “easy escape”.

Of course some people don’t want the rapid travel either but that’s a different problem.

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Your solution benifits only the hunters side without bringing balance to the limit of 25 ships to the filamenting force and the 100’s of the hunting force. With the ability to cyno caps on grid, another reason why the 50km bubble will help a ton.

I guess if the anom is one that restricts all cyno’s and forces people to land on 0 no matter what distance they warp to it at and the 0 point spawns 50kms away from the person activating the filament then yes it will work.

I made it extremely simple using only existing constructs (scannable anomaly plus timer, otherwise filaments works just like they do now) for a couple reasons:

  • The OP is talking about the free escape problem, not about “evening up filament fleets and response fleets” which is a totally different issue. Some people will disagree with limiting size of response fleets.
  • CCP is more likely to implement a fix if it is extremely simple and has minimal side effects.
  • I am not confident that adding any bells and whistles at all is something CCP would be able to do without breaking things further or adding new problems and unintended uses.
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That simple fix will just scew the odds horribly, better to just remove filaments completely at that point.
If you have every been in one of those fleets you have about 3 seconds to warp as you land otherwise you die, adding a 20 second spool means that 25man fleet is just dead 100% as they land at 0 with overwelming forces + cynos going up nullbears have no sense of honor and will just go all out no matter what.

That is not a fix it is a swing in the totally opposite direction.

How are the odds any different than they are currently for any roaming small gang?

Becuase if they get blobbed they can just leave with a filament if they get a fair fight they can die with honor. But adding a spool timer with nothing else just means its an auto loss. People only leave because there is 0 chance of winning.


Apparently I cant post something similiar unless it has this random stuff added to the end so anouying …

It’s funny how some people’s solution to “filaments are too overpowered due to pretty much unrestricted insta travel” is “make MORE instatravel”. If it wasn’t so terrible it would be hilarious, it also reeks of folks trying very hard to have people accept a “solution” that doesn’t affect their own convenient personal use.

Here’s what I feel needs to happen:

Restrict the Pochven highway, partly by the overall changes but also by removing filaments that target specific systems or areas around systems. In other words only have the “go to any random high sec” filament, nothing more. You end up somewhere terrible 57 jumps away from where you want to be, tough deal.

general filaments idea: make the USE of filaments more dangerous by making it more difficult to run away while being chased.

  • activated filaments show up as warpable beacons on the overview
  • filaments need charging up, how much time is up for discussion but gut feeling says 30 seconds
  • during that time no one in that fleet can move or cloak
  • at the end of the timer every jumps, the charging cycle can only be cancelled by the one who started it. If cancelled the cooldown timer still applies
  • if you’re scrammed before the cycle completes you will NOT make the jump and will be left behind

This gives active chasers the option to actually chase and catch and it still allows intelligent use by people who prepare properly but it’s not longer an automatic get out of jail free card.

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I like the general idea of it, but have some comments.

Not entirely sure yet about point 1 and 2: if the filament should be a warpable beacon (and therefore not require combat probes) or that it should require combat probes (and thus not provides a warpable beacon). Warpable beacon might be a bit too easy to catch the filamenting players.

But, if it’s not a warpable beacon and requires combat probes the timer of 30 seconds is too short and would be better at 45 - 60s.

Point 3: no cloaks and no movement, agreed.
They’ll be stuck there like a Marauder in bastion, which will be very dangerous when chased, unless you know your surroundings are safe for now.
Edit: on a second thought, I think it’s better if they aren’t stuck while waiting and can warp off at any time, which fails the filament but allows them to escape from chasers that don’t tackle them in time.

Point 4: Why should people activating the filament be able to cancel it?
In my opinion: Once you make the choice to pop the filament, the filament is consumed and you’ll wait a minute before you get teleported, if you succeed.

Point 5: I don’t think scramming should be necessary. I’d take it broader: anyone with a capsuleer combat timer won’t be able to take the filament teleport.

I don’t mind the targeted filaments and while I currently do see issues with the Pochven highway being too safe, I think that a delay to filaments is enough of a risk to stop the Pochven highway from being a 100% safe way to extract cloaky Orcas from null to Jita.

Delaying filament teleports will make combat probing in Pochven a nice lucrative business, which is enough to stop the Pochven highway from being safer than a Jump Freighter.

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No probing required, RIGHT on the overview. You use it, you show up. If someone’s chasing you you have to asses the risk of using it.

If a fleet warps in while your filament is still charging just “sitting there” would be terrible so the FC can choose to cancel the charging so people can move, increasing their chances in the fight. The FC can also choose NOT to cancel and sacrifice whoever’s tackled for him/the rest to get out.

making it impossible to use with a combat timer could be an option but people could simply wait out that timer, warping or cloaking, and then still use the filament with impunity. Using my idea the onus is on the chaser: you scram a target, it’s yours. Actions get rewarded.

If the filament is cancelled at combat timer, you wouldn’t even need to scram them. Just to shoot them would make them stop taking the filament, making it not a possibility for in-combat escape even if you’re good enough to time your ECM bursts at the right time to break scrams.

Cancelling with scrams could also work, but I’d rather have filaments be completely unusable when chased, rather than ‘something you could pull off if you play well enough’.

While I prefer cancellation with combat timers, either way is better than the current situation, so either is fine for me.

I guess I prefer benefitting people who choose to fit for pvp, instead of an inevitable army of pve Vargurs getting to shoot fish in a barrel :slight_smile:

Ah yes, you wanted the filaments on use to stop the ships using it from moving. That would indeed result in Vargurs shooting fish in a barrel.

While I agreed with locking ships down, that was not my initial idea. And on a second thought, I don’t think those ships should be stopped from moving while they wait for the filament delay.

Personally I think it’s better if people to be able to warp off whenever they want while they wait out the filament delay, which cancels (and still consumes) the filament but allows them to get off in case chasers warp on top of them.

As a result you can easily stop people from filamenting, you just need to shoot them (for the combat timer). But if you want to kill them you would need the ability to hold them down with a point or scram, like usual.

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I’m loving some of these ideas, it’s really good to see so much positive input and not just a bunch of people arguing.

Maybe like a visible perimeter that the fleet must stay within to “catch” the filament, but not a bubble.

The ship that USES the filament is static for the duration of the timer, but any fleet mates can move within the perimeter to defend as needed, or warp off if it gets too hairy. (which means they miss the filament)

To cancel the filament would require putting POINT on the ship that is lighting the filament, not a combat timer as that can be achieved by locking and shooting, even while out of range.

Any fleet members pointed when the timer expires are left behind, everybody else goes.

This way, the ship lighting the filament will be vulnerable, but can be defended by friends, without the “fish in a barrel” scenario.

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Sounds interesting. Simpler is better for sure, if players actually want to see changes made.

Visible perimeter could be something like that circle around acceleration gates.

Now a different question, one I can’t answer because I’m not familiar enough with the “raid and chase” tactics used by invaders and response fleets:

Should the timer or restrictions vary depending on which security you use it in? As in, do NPC Null, Sov Null, low sec, Pochven, WH, high sec have different situations that should be handled differently?

Or is one size fits all good enough here?

Honestly I can’t see any reason why the timer would need to be different, But then perhaps I’m just being short-sighted…

I mean, having to sit and wait while using one in Hi-sec would be pointless, I get that. But having to code them to work differently in different parts of space would be a headache… I think it’s best just to keep them simple.