I am concerned that these new ESS features will have an unintended consequence of forcing larger alliances to spread out. The way they currently work, players need to cyno around or leave multiple ships across multiple systems and Interceptor around to the location with the highest multiplier, if they want to maximize their isk per hour.
I think this is going to lead to larger alliances believing that they need to have more and more space to offer their ratters. So that the ratters can be anti-social, be in systems with fewer people and less PvP content. This is going to leave less space available for smaller alliances to form and exist.
How about reversing the way the multipliers grow? They increase their value as more and more people are in system. (Not necessarily more anoms.)
Also, lets have some diminishing return system on the number systems under SOV. Everything else in this game has diminishing returns, why not the number of systems we have under SOV?
I just worry this system is going to lead into larger alliances wanting to spread out after the war is over. That could ultimately lead to less ānew bloodā in null.
Anyway, Iām not sure that it will kill small, unaffiliated alliances. (1) A lot of space has traditionally been underutilized, (2) developing a lot of systems for use costs a lot of money, (3) Spreading out too much will make it harder and harder for their cap umbrellas to protect their peeps, and (4) spreading out too much will overextend them militarily.
Donāt get me wrong, weāll probably see groups grow in geographical size, but I donāt think theyāre going to grow so large as to squeeze out all the little guys.
Oh, and reversing multipliers will allow large groups to generate vast amounts of wealth in extreme safety. Moreover, diminishing returns on number of systems held isnāt feasible. It would just cause groups to create a bunch of holding corps and alliances to circumvent any penalties.
First, you are conflating ESS and DBS, which, while related, have different mechanics, and the DBS is the one actually driving play in different systems. Second, as Shipwreck Jones said, there is nothing āunintendedā about this.
This will see income generation more evenly spread across New Eden with large corporations needing to utilize more of their space over time if they want to keep their current levels of income.
Donāt worry, Alliances donāt give a ā ā ā ā about ratters. The ratter is the last thing the alliances are concerned about. Except perhaps a few rent systems. Trust me.
Iāve been doing some carrier ratting. Where I used to get 30M ticks, it is now possible to get as low as 10 or 12. Two hours or more later, you can get a fraction more back from the ESS if it is not robbed, AFTER YOU LOG OFF. You can make about as much running missions in high sec. More running Triglavian sites. Iāve seen multipliers get as low as 62% already. They only seem to be regenerating less than or about 1% per day.
I can picture a time in the not so distant future where you have to look 8 + jumps away from your home system to find a multiplier over 70%. This is going to lead to a lot of internal friction. āWhy are you in our home system? We havenāt ratted for two days to get the multiplier to regenerateā¦ā Also, these ESS take hours to pay off. What happens after you log out? You isk sits undefended. There is nothing you can do about that yourself. You have to have a standing fleet up to watch it. Why would there be a standing fleet to watch an ESS when the multiplier keeps going down? The decreasing multiplier encourages people to spread out.
What is the point of putting up ratting mods on an iHub? Sure, the first few days you can have a 180% multiplier, but then after that it tanks all the way down to the 60ās. Is everyone supposed to go discover āother contentā? Should we just leave null sec, leave our āhomesā and come back in a few weeks when the multiplier replenishes?
As I continue to play under it, this new mechanic is making less and less sense to me.
