Based on the chat problems that the servers are having at the time of this post, and how many people actually like not having local chat in space that normally has it, I have this idea for a new event type.
It would be primarly like any other event, spawn rat or whatever type, but with a twist. The rats would spawn / build a base or outpost (or whatever structure insert name of it here), which would disrupt local system wide communications, mainly, the local chat.
The structure could be defended by rats + spawn some sentries or missile towers etc. to make things interesting.
Most of the spawns, maybe about 75-80% ish, would be just like any of the other events. Doable by a pair of alphas or new players or a solo more advanced player and provide rewards equivalent to those. The boss ship would be either an elite cruiser or 2, or a BC. The structure defenses could spawn light / heavy missile towers + maybe 1 web or 1 scram or 1 painter, but not too much. Keep the balance on the low side.
The respawn timers would be much like the otehr events, but the structure would emit a system wide burst every 10-15 minutes, which would disrupt local, possibly other comms for a period of approximately 5 minutes. Values, timers, etc. can all be adjusted.
next would be the mid difficulty spawns. Maybe 1 out of 5 of these, or even more rare, again, rates can be adjusted, would spawn a tougher base which would require 3+ new players or alphas to complete, and be soloable only by more serious vet players. The structure here would have better defenses, include more heavy missile turrets, perhaps some cruise missile turrets and an occasional dampener or ECM or neut that would cycle slower (on longer cooldowns) then regular ones.
The burst from this structure would affect local chat for far longer periods.
The boss ship here would be a Battleship or a pair of Battlecruisers. Perhaps a pair of BCs that can somewhat remotely rep each other, or the structure. The bounties would be higher of course, and in addition, give it a rare chance of dropping some low end faction loot.
The third one, would spawn rarely, and would be roughly the difficulty of an FOB to take out, but without infinite rat spawns and not based on how many ships are attacking it, so it could be taken out by 3-5 experienced / vet players, or 10+ new players or alphas.
The boss ships would be a team of elite battleships, defenses would include some random ECM, dampeners, Webs, neuts etc. but they would cycle faster. the boss ships could do a bit better job at remotely repping either structure or each other.
The burst from the communications disruption structure here would shut down local permamently until the structure is destroyed. The rewards would consist of same usual event stuff + 1 guaranteed but crappy faction loot piece, but RNG based and replaced with a small chance for an actually nice faction loot piece.
These would occur across all areas of space, even wormholes, even though wormhole dwellers will not be affected by loss of local, they can still go and finish the event sites.
