So this has happened to me and it’s really pretty annoying. Basically it results in a random chance every site that I’ll just loose the ship. If that was a game mechanic sure, but it isn’t, and frankly I don’t think it’s acceptable. Sure I can just not run the sites and this is exactly what I am doing. However, I don’t think that’s a reasonable solution. It is part of the game and I should be able to play it confident that the only things that I face are the mechanics. I understand in PVP this can be difficult or impossible but there is a much better chance that you will survive a client crash in normal space then the pretty much 100% loss rate for crashing in Abyssal space.
However, I’m not going to just say fix it. I’ve got a shiny great idea! Basically abyssal space is single player it its own zone / instance. “How hard could it be” to tie the server tick in these instances to a client heartbeat. If the client isn’t responding to heartbeats the instance pauses. It isn’t like the player can keep playing, the game state is frozen. The only exploit I could fathom is giving someone a chance to IDK look at a screen and or think? Since its a single person instance it isn’t going to help them if they are overwhelmed or something else. And they can’t call in help externally.
The external help thing does bring up an issue. Exit camping. This COULD be exploited by someone with an alt watching the exit and if they are camped they simply disconnect to wait the camp out. This complicates the solution but I think can be addressed. The server could just check the exit and see if there are ships on grid. If so put a time limit on the pause, say 10 minutes or something total pause time per instance. This way the they can’t simply keep logging in and out every 10 minutes to extend the timer. This does not help much if you experience a legit disconnect, say your internet provider, Carpcast, has decided you are due for your weekly hour long internet free time. 10 minutes isn’t enough to recover but it’s at least better then 100% you are dead.
Even if the above isn’t the solution, I think this problem is solvable and I’d love to see it solved so I can continue running the sites.
Totally agree here. Since the introduction of Abyssal Deadspace in May, I lost 4 ships + capsules there, and three times of that it was because of client crash (socket closed).
My idea was to give players some kind of invul timer (like the one you get after leaving Abyss) + shut down their prop mods, in case their connection drop while inside the Abyss. That would give the players at least CHANCE to log back in and try to finish the site.
But that wouldn’t change anything. My idea was like if you loose connection, your ship will stop and you get invul timer for (Remaining Abyss timer -1s), which will - like the 60s timer I was mentioning above - break when you move and which prevents you from any action. But the 20min Abyss timer keeps going. So only thing one would achieve by intentionally pulling the cable would be loss of precious time. Even drones, I believe, loose their targets and even connections to the ship when your client crashes, so this couldn"t be exploited either.
So if your loss of connection is longer than 20 minutes, you are dead anyway. But if you are experiencing just a minor glitch, you will get chance to log back in and wouldn’t have to find yourself dead at your home station despite of no fault of your own.
@Lirbiss_Naraunt
I think I like that idea better. Simpler as well since invlun timers and detection of logout while keeping your ship in space is already implemented in the game. This is more workable then my idea and really gives you little in the way of advantage. There might be a way to leverage this but given the time it takes to reconnect a client I doubt it would work out well enough to be worth the time and trouble.
@Maria_Loudon
I dare to say I really tried to think it through, and only possible exploit that crossed my mind would look like this:
I’m in the Abyss pocket, and getting really high damage. My shields are lower than 10%, or gone entirely, so my “only” option is to pull the plug. I know the exact time needed for my passive shield tanked ship to recharge its shields (for our purposes let’s say 3min) - during which I am doing exactly 0 outgoing damage. I will add time needed to reconnect (1-3min depending on quality of your HW and provider), still 0 damage from my side. I log back in, just to find out that all enemy NPCs are now orbiting me at their optimal, scramming/webbing/neuting me, with THEIR shields also recharged (especially funny when you have Drifter BS on the grid) and their armor repaired (cause Triglavians like to take care of their buddies). Although my shields are at full, I just lost 4-6min and in a SECOND I move, their combined dps - that were giving me so hard time in the first place - will start to hammer me again.
In short, the time I have to complete the site just decreased, while the time I need to complete it increased - all in all, I don’t feel I helped myself THAT much…
I know we’ve talked briefly about the issues with AD and disconnects. I’ll pass on this info and see if this is doable, even if I don’t entirely believe what you’re asking for is doable.
It’s tough for them to change an entire system for everybody because some folks have shitty ISPs, though.