# \[PvP\] ESS Deadspace Grid: No Meaningful Counterplay for Defenders **URL:** \ **Category:** Assembly Hall\ **Tags:** null-sec, pvp\ **Created:** [August 21, 2026, 12:46pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/pvp-ess-deadspace-grid-no-meaningful-counterplay-for-defenders/516829 "2026-08-21T12:46:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![Gerard\_Amatin](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/user_avatar/forums.eveonline.com/gerard_amatin/32/481361_2.png) [@Gerard\_Amatin](https://forums.eveonline.com/u/Gerard_Amatin)\ **Post date:** [August 21, 2026, 1:35pm UTC](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/pvp-ess-deadspace-grid-no-meaningful-counterplay-for-defenders/516829/2 "2026-08-21T13:35:51Z")
That’s a long post. And I agree. The ESS grid in it’s current form is abused as an on-demand safe space for roaming groups that is available everywhere within otherwise hostile space. The ESS grid means a **safe space** , in every sov null system. I think that’s problematic. And to be clear, this is not about the ESS itself, or the grid _inside_ the ESS. I think the ESS mechanics and stealing income from ratters is in a good spot. The problem is the Deadspace grid _in front_ of the ESS gate. As I see it, the design of deadspace has two problematic characteristics. ## Problem 1: visibility and explanation of Deadspace The current explanation of Deadspace is _zero_. You just have to know it exists, where it exists and what it does. And what it does is inconsistent with everything else you expect from space in EVE online. You cannot warp to fleet members, you cannot warp to bookmarks, combat probing doesn’t exist, you cannot light cynos. And you just have to know where you entered Deadspace, because you cannot see or smell it either. **My suggestion** : We have these nice icons of effects above our capacitor. Add an icon for Deadspace too, which explains the effects and limits you can expect there. It doesn’t solve the main problem, but is a big improvement. ## Problem 2: Deadspace kills fleet mechanics Deadspace is in this game mostly used for PvE content to limit access to places people could otherwise push ships in beyond certain ship limits, or limit access with keys. After all, if there was no Deadspace people could much more easily bypass limiting gates using their warp drives. Looking at how Deadspace works and where it exists, I suspect the main reason Deadspace was added to the game is as a bandaid fix to place a wall around doors, so people wouldn’t just walk past the door in their face. Without Deadspace those gates in space would be this: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/4X/9/c/e/9ce54eb2967bc83586ac674423dbd1b9ea909e86.jpeg) So there is a clear need for something like Deadspace to keep rooms separated. However Deadspace is problematic, as it is inconsistent with normal space behaviour and also gives many strategies a safe spot in otherwise dangerous space. So it cannot be removed, but on the other hand it removes all the regular fleet strategies of warping, combat probing, getting to where other players are. And this is then exploited by kiting groups to get a safe space in every null sec system, and by cloaky campers to sit in a safe space that cannot easily be reached once they get decloaked by mobile observatories. It also was exploited by many other strategies, like Crab beacons and cyno placements, but FCCP has been putting those exploits on the exploit list one by one: ![image](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/eveonline/original/4X/e/9/9/e999b1f907c21ecfcc0440fa3a39cc1a529a5c56.png) > **[Exploit Notification – Using Deadspace to create inaccessible cynosural...](https://www.eveonline.com/news/view/exploit-notification-using-deadspace-to-create-inaccessible-cynosural-fields)** > > Effective immediately, it is considered an exploit to extend or otherwise utilize deadspace pockets to make cynosural fields, abyssal traces, filaments, or any variety of deployable functionally inaccessible. This exploit notification solved _some_ problems, but not all. Clearly FCCP doesn’t intent deadspace grid to be used as a safe spot for activities which otherwise can be warped to. Cynos can be warped to from the entire system. Crab beacons can be warped to from the entire system. Abyssal traces can be warped to with combat probes. All those things are _not allowed_ to be used in Deadspace as this is an exploit. But that exploit list isn’t complete, because there are more things we can warp to with combat probes than just those. Cloaky campers decloaked by mobile observatories, for example, and kiters also can normally be warped to with combat probes. Deadspace still gives those last strategies an unintended safe space. ## A solution? I have no clear solution to this yet, but I can come up with ideas. On one hand, Deadspace is necessary. On the other hand, Deadspace is unclear, inconsistent and easily exploited and abused. My suggestion would be to look into options to change Deadspace to stop problematic strategies while keeping it’s core function of a fence around gates intact. For example, take a look at the Zarzakh and Abyssal mechanics, which make space outside a certain area really _kill_ you. Why not apply that to Deadspace? The main problem of Deadspace is that people fly away from the warp-in point to safety to hide their cynos, their cloaky ships, their kiting fleet all a safe distance away from the only place people can enter the grid. But what if they simply couldn’t do that? What if the function of Deadspace as a grid to enter a gate was kept much stricter just for that one purpose, and made much less usable for all other forms of abuse? Place a boundary at 150km around the Deadspace grid center, let people all warp to 0, and slowly damage anyone who burns out of the boundary. It would solve a lot of the problems Deadspace grid has at the moment. And please, please give us an icon showing that we entered Deadspace and what this means. --- _[View the full topic](https://forums.eveonline.com/t/pvp-ess-deadspace-grid-no-meaningful-counterplay-for-defenders/516829)._