New ship type: CLONE DESTROYER

EVE Technology and Research Center Player Features & Ideas
1

Tags: Destroyer, PvP, mindgames, bluff, bait

Summary: A new type T2 destroyer specialised in misleading, confusing, scaring and/or baiting enemies by appearing like a different ship type in space.

Inspired by the Team Fortress 2 Spy character, (who, for the people unknown to that role-based shooter, has an immense potential of mindgames not only because of his capability of cloaking, but also his capability to appear like other characters), I was thinking about how cloaking already exists in EVE, but the ability to pretend to be flying a different ship is completely unexplored.
What if ships could pretend to be another ship type? It could create a whole new meta of baiting, bluffing, taking risks and more PvP mindgames!

That’s why I suggest adding a new ship type with as main role the ability to appear like a different ship type in space and on D-scan.

I believe this role would be most useful on a small hull, capable of appearing bigger than it actually is, with a lot of offensive power and as biggest/only defense the element of surprise. That is why I think this role fits a new type of T2 destroyer: the Clone Destroyer.

Fitting slots, attributes, damage and defense will not be surprisingly different from other destroyers and should be only a small improvement over the T1 destroyers. For the purpose of appearing like other ships, the Clone Destroyers can make use of the following:

  • NEW MODULE: the Ship Cloning Attribute Mechanism* - Can be loaded with a subcapital BPC. When active, current ship takes on the appearance of the scripted ship. Base agility, warp speed and maximum velocity of the scripted ship will also be copied if these are lower than the stats of the current ship. Use of offensive modules will deactivate this module. Can be fitted to Clone Destroyers only.

  • Probably a terrible idea: T2 (and faction) versions of the module allow copying the appearance of (super)capitals. Careful guys, they just undocked 23 titans from their Astrahus!

Feedback and suggestions are welcome!

*bonus points for Stars Storm for coming up with the name. :smiley:

1 Like
2

An interesting idea. I’ll think more on it and give more feedback later.

3

I’ve always liked this concept. Either a ship that does it and/or a deployable that you can put a bpc into.

4

Great idea! I think it’d really shake up gameplay.

I personally would like to tender the modules name to be: Ship Cloning Attribute Mechanism.

Aka: S.C.A.M

1 Like
5

What would this ship actually do? Weapons platform? Fitting? Slot layouts? Or is this all just a gimmick?

1 Like
6

It’s in the post, apart from the gimmick that would have a severe impact on any PvP engagement, it’s a regular destroyer:

Unless you have a good idea for more special bonuses that could fit this ship type, then I’m open for suggestions!

7

You don’t actually explain anything other than “it’s a destroyer.”

8

Well take an Algos or Catalyst, with slightly better resists and slap a new module on it. Focus is on the new role, not so much on the fittings and attributes. Unless you have a good idea for those.

9

I don’t understand why you want to appear as any other subcapital ship when your actual hull is nothing more than an Algos.

What’s the plan? Pretend to be a Armageddon and have people bring ships to counter an Armageddon, only to realize they’re facing a weak Algos?

-1, poorly thought out idea

1 Like
10

A Magus isn’t much more than an Algos either with MJFG and command bursts slapped onto it. I don’t see why I should have gone into the lesser relevant details of fitting and attributes of the ship when that was not the main focus of this suggestion.

And the plan how to (ab)use the capabilities of this new ship type is entirely up to you, maybe others are more creative. :wink:

11

The spy in Team Fortress 2 is a great character but I’m not sure how you would apply that to an MMO instead of a team based shooter.

In TF2 you can identify spies from a distance based on visually observing how they act. They gain name of one of your teammates (they may even have your name!). They’re limited in attack with an emphasis on literal backstabbing. Spy checking is easy too since you can take a shot at a friendly just to make sure they’re not a spy.

None of that would happen in EVE. This would only be used to mess with people over Dscan by pretending to be a venture and waiting for someone to warp in or pretending your a capital ship to entice enemy fleets to bail. There would be no way to check if the ship is real or a spy without warping to it and by that time you might be committed to engage. When you see something on dscan you have a short amount of time to decide if you’re engaging or not. This clone ship ruins that because the T1 frigate warping in on you may actually be an advanced destroyer and you have zero way of knowing without committing to the fight.

12

Spychecking the ships is harder than just using a flamethrower at them, but I would think that a ship scanner can see the real ship type with ease and at long range as well. Maybe that module would finally become useful outside freighter ganking scenarios.

Luckily you don’t have the danger of these ‘spy’ ships that they appear like friends similar to the TF2 spy. Even though the ships can take up the appearance of another type of ship they will still show up as the person they are. Ships that appear to be in your own fleet -but actually aren’t- would be a step too far I think. :stuck_out_tongue:

Scaring people off with your fake big ship would be half the fun of this ship, although I would initially only allow subcapitals to be copied, anything bigger might indeed lead to problems.

You raise a good point though, maybe a T2 destroyer pretending to be a T1 frigate makes baiting a bit too easy. Would it be better if this role were added to a T2 frigate instead?

13

I still think these clone ships would have limited functionality. In TF2 the spy plays an important role. By blending in with the enemy they can venture behind enemy lines and destroy their defences (sentries, teleporters, dispensers) which can be difficult to do without a spy. That element of the spy doesn’t exist in EVE.

I don’t see this style of ship making engagements more fun. You’ll already know if the ship is an enemy or not (a huge aspect of why the spy is fun in TF2) you just now need to check if the ship type you see on scan is real or a fake. It just seems like an extra step for no reason. I also think this style of ship will be used almost exclusively to deter engagements by pretending fleets are bigger than they actually are. Of course if spy checking is easy then there’s not really a point since the bluff will be called quickly.

It just seems like a lot of game elements in TF2 that make the spy great are missing from EVE.

14

I think you are focusing too much on the TF2 spy. It is true that his ability to pretend to be another class inspired me, but this new ship type is not meant to fulfill the role of the TF2 spy. Mostly because this is not a cloaky ship that can pretend to be a friendly.

It is only the ability to pretend to be a different ship that I wish to explore with this suggestion. You could scare off people by pretending to be a battleship, bait people by pretending to be weaker than you actually are, or mislead people to grab a fleet that counters your fleet of ‘Algoses’ while you’re actually flying a Cormorant-like doctrine, or the other way around.

15

inb4 hisec is filled with titans :joy:

1 Like
16

Yep! This will be the first time you see titans in Jita, see supers dock up in a Raitaru and find combat recons on D-scan. Something smells fishy…

But as I said in the opening post, it’s probably better if the module is restricted to sub-capitals only. I don’t think it would be good for the game if every other reported Rorqual while hunting appears to be a fake. :joy:

17

Make it look like an orca in a WH, you will get content

18

They’ll be disappointed when their target happens to be a ~40-100M ISK destroyer instead, with friends waiting for the bait to work. :stuck_out_tongue:

19

The only good thing about this idea is that it will never be put into the game because it is a horrible idea for EVEs development going forward.

It is bizarre idea and serves an insufficient and vague purpose and therefore doesn’t deserve to trash the basis of pvp / pve in EVE just to add it to the game.

20

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.