In theory, EVE’s sandbox is supposed to support all kinds of gameplay, from solo roamers and 10-man gangs to full-blown bloc wars. But right now, small- and medium-scale warfare in nullsec is suffocating under the sheer weight of capital proliferation.
Here’s what I mean:
Carriers and FAXes are everywhere, even in fights that used to be decided with subcaps.
Dropping dreads or supers isn’t a special escalation anymore. It’s the default.
If you don’t bring capitals, you’re irrelevant. If you do, the fight escalates until one side blobs titans.
So what’s left for the 10-30 man group that wants a real fight?
I’m not anti-capital. They should exist. They should be terrifying. But they used to be strategic choices, not disposable war chariots dropped on anything that moves.
Questions worth discussing:
Should jump fatigue or asset deployment limitations be revisited?
Should FAXes have any vulnerability to sustained subcap pressure?
Could CCP add new mechanics that promote capital risk without gutting their use in big fleet fights?
The sandbox is strongest when all scales of conflict are viable, not just the one with the most supers on standby.
Yes, but I think all the poetry readings, sword ceremonies and DEI initiatives will probably torpedo CCP (and thereby null-sec) faster than even capital proliferation in null-sec can.
The problem - again - isn’t Capitals, it’s cynos. Like for almost any other problem in EVE. The instant power projection that enables the larger group to remote-curbstomp any smaller engagement via a magic teleporter is the problem. And it really doesn’t matter if they drop BlackOps, T3s, a normal Fleet via Titanbridge or Capitals on the smaller gang.
Cynos enable huge renting empires, Cynos force smaller and medium groups to be vasalls of the big blocks, else they cannot have the smallest crappy backwater system to live in. Cynos turned LowSec from a flourishing smallscale paradise into a barren wasteland full of Hotdroppers.
This crap has to end and if you look back you will notice that EVE had it’s most glorious times when Capitals were a rare sight outside of POS- or Outpost Sieges, when almost nobody had a Titan to bridge around fleets and barely anyone had BlackOps skilled to hotdrop smallscale or solo roamers.
Best Space in EVE is WH Space, for a single reason: No Cynos. EVE has a handful of deeply rooted problems and Cynos are one of them (among massmultiboxing and Citadel Design). They were somewhat okay in the early ages, because the transfer of power through them took enough time (around a minute before the jumped ships had loaded the grid and could begin to shoot) for the other side to react to the drop and the amount of people owning such power-projection tools was very low. But now it’s too fast, too often, too common.
But, it all comes back to the Root of all Evil in the game: Huge Nullsec Alliances. They want Cynos the way they are. They want Citadels they way they are. They want Massmultiboxing the way it is. They rather want to be the ruler of a corpse than part of a healthy body. And CCP keeps listening to them.
A potential solution that just popped into my head (and I haven’t thought about it deeply, so someone will probably point out the drawbacks…)
Modify cynos so they create a temporary wormhole, very short life span, mass limit. Then limit the amount of cynos that can be spawned on the same grid (because they would destabilise spacetime, or some other lore stuff.) This way you limit the amount of ships that can be moved with a single cyno, and larger group movements would need to be split (making them easier targets.)
Am i back to 2010? I remember the same topics and since then there was a lot of changes adding jump fatique, cyno changes and others. Capitals still are problem?
All nice and fine ideas, but it doesn’t change the fact that it simply doesn’t stop power projection. Even worse, it would in some cases even prevent the dropped side to light an own cyno to get own reinforcements. Because whatever your “limit” is, what prevents one side to just light exactly that number of cynos at once, preventing the other side from lighting one?
Who said anything about “real men”, real men go outside and chop wood, idk? It’s objectively true that a “real fight” to Null Seccers is one with caps on grid
Don’t go to null sec with 20-30 man fleets then ■■■■■ about getting a bunch of HAWs or a 50+man QRF dropped on you, if you don’t like it, don’t go. WH and Pochven space meet the criteria a lot better, go play there
here we see the typical brainrot that has engulg this poor man playstyle
the parassite command his brain to go into violent rebuttal when an human point the stagnation of null sec pvp, often time using words like “real man” and “the true pvp is only capital”
unfortunaly, he is too deep into his own false world to realize that null sec is extremely boring, where nothing ever happen.
Yeah thank you. I suppose the game would be a lot better if that “dropping” simply wouldn’t be possible, so you can still bring your HAW Dreads and 50+ whatever blobfleets, but please move them in like everyone else. Means: use the gates, get good warpins, be ready to be intercepted and delayed by bubblers on your way. And in the end control a lot less space with the power of a magic teleporter, that could be otherwise used by groups really trying to live there instead of being allowed there by the big landlord for a fee and with strict rules in place.
But isn’t that exactly what makes wormhole fights so interesting? The attacking side can only move so much mass through a WH, while a defending side may have a lot.
If you go all in, you go all in. No chance to escalate further.
But they don’t happen any minute. In most systems you can do your stuff for hours and literally nothing happens. If they happen and you are stuck in Bastion or InduMode AND you have no forces in the same system you probably should have used other ships to rat or mine that actually could warp out immediately in case hostiles arrive. Yes, they rat a bit slower, yes, they mine a bit less. Don’t be greedy if you don’t bring protection. Locally! In any case, a squad of emergency booshers can gain you enough time to bring out an expensive ship before the enemies are on top of you.
The problem with your line of thinking is exactly what makes the game dull and boring: An alliance has a “response fleet” ready in the staging system and literally 50-100 other systems in Bridge Range they can reach instantly. And because of this they can claim those 50-100 system because they can instantly stomp anyone trying to do anything within that jump range. But thats wrong. There shouldn’t be solo-semi-afk ratters or massmultibox resource grinders in a 100 systems all protected by a 50man staging fleet. An alliance should at most be able to reach one single constellation with their staging fleet instantly. Yes, by gates. Means 7-10 Systems. If they want to control more space, they have to divide into multiple Defense Groups with 50 each, then they can control 3 constellations, so 20-30 systems. And so on. Big Alliance staging-fleet cyno-controlled space has to shrink drastically. Geography has to mean something again. He who wants to control more space has to be present in that space and has to divide his forces for protection.
Also: WHs can be spotted almost instantly via the Probe Scanner. Existing ones can be rolled away or critted or a scout be left there. It should be absolute basic knowledge for everyone how to deal with WHs and the equipment to roll them should be mandatory. You also have an instant-local as most-powerful intel tool in case someone comes through. And a Dscanner. Train your ppl to pay attention. Not to rat afk. Not to rat or mine in stationary greed-modes without local protection or evac-methods. Not to travel without checking the intel channels or using scouts. Those real simple steps will limit losses to a very few ships very occasionally and those losses would be absolutely okay. You make lots of money there, you can lose ship every now and then.
Do this and a reasonable delay for cynos that won’t enable remote-curbstomps right on top of a smallscale engagement wouldn’t be any problem at all. People in nullsec really need to learn how to muster a local defense for their operations instead of relying on a blobfleet coming through a magic teleporter all the time.
