Since we know that CCP is probably baking some Small size Citadels/player Forward operating bases for next year, I’d like to start a topic that would gather our suggestions for these things.
The main question is “What would you like to have, utilizing Small size Citadels?”
And here are some of my suggestions:
Small size citadels, for rapid reployment, for small scale sieges, item storage, limited count for docking ships (subcapital), plus tethering outside, weaponized structures, maybe using battleship size weapons with extra range, or larger weapons but limited.
They should not decay when not in use, but should be able to be removed easily, or even captured via a hack, when abandoned.
Able to be deployed close to each other, but not too close to cause clutter.
Variations:
Small scale Listening Posts, similar to Observatories (concepts that were shown at Fanfest), able to gather solar system activity data - combat, probe scanning activities, trade orders, number of ships detected (with info on ship type) within limited scan range in the system, local pilots presence, anomalies and so on. Of course these small listening posts would have less capabilities than the Observatories.
Option for these listening posts to be less detectable - not showing on D-scan, able to be probed, but also able to have full cloak under some special conditions.
Small scale Industry, Research, Invention and Reactions laboratories: with limited docking access, storage for items and blueprints. Not as capable as current platforms in terms of bonuses, but easy to deploy, cheap to maintain and easy to unanchor, when needed.
Should have half of the job slot capabilites, compared to existing structures, also with a limit on pilots, that use them at the same time.
All of the suggested structures should not be visible on overview and sensor overlay, unless they are public.
I don’t have a very clear vision on these structures, so these are just broad suggestions.
So what do you guys think? What kinds of Small Citadels would you like to have?
I’ll throw my ideas as they come since I don’t have more time right now:
forward base: basically a big and tanky mobile depot.
illegal cloning facility: a small cita with only the cloning facility that allow you to set you clone here, whatever region you are in (even WH) BUT each clone is lowering your Security status, the facility is only obtainable with pirate faction AND the more SP you have, the more expensive the clone cost is.
Mobile raffinery: a small, fast deployed, very easy to destroy citadel that would be, basically, a nerfed, immobile rorqual (with no drones ofc)
And if I’m allowed to dream:
a WH generator that would allow us to open a custom WH that would use fuel based on the type of WH you open (for ex, if you’re in HS, opening a WH to a C1 should cost less than opening one to a C3. And this idea imply no change to the functioning of the WH, it’s just a object spawning a WH.
Only thing i want to see is a small structure (that would allow docking simply for performance reasons) it would always be vulnerable with only one rf timer. For me i would be happy even w/o capital storage. (This would need to have a m3 limit if implemented) local defense souls be minimal. Its anchored online and unanchor times similar to a large pos.
There should be no asset safety at all. There should not be services but they should require fuel for the rf timer to kick in.
Finally after 48hrs without fuel they should collapse
A small citadel already exists, its called a POS. While you can’t moon mine with it anymore you can still do pretty much anything else with it. You anchor and online a small tower in 15 minutes and it about the same amount of fuel. And the modules are also much cheaper. Defenses are often much better HP wise to, and you can set them to auto takle and kill people that land closeby
Feature parity has been achieved and I’m sure removal of the legacy code for POS and the maintenance burden it represents is now a top priority. I expect it to be gone by the next expansion.
While I believe the Upwell structures are an excellent replacement for medium and large POS, I miss the portability and flexibility of the small POS and really hope they come up with something to replace that gameplay.
Honestly I would already be happy with a stronger Mobile Depot that has a ship maintenance bay large enough to fit an Orca/Bowhead + a few other ships into it. Maybe also add a tethering capability to it.
But a fully functional miniature Citadel as a FOB would be better. With maybe just 1 service slot and minimal defensive capabilities. But the most important factor would be how long you need to anchor it. It needs to fast, 2h max, to be a decent replacement for small POSs.
I agree with a lot of what you said, but instead of a WH generator, it should be a wh stabilizer, you anchor it near a wh and it extends the life time of the wh from a day to a weak, when you looked at the info of the WH it would say ‘stabilized’. WH stabilizers could only be anchored in WH’s. A wh generator would kill wh’s because a null corp could open a wh to a c3 or c4, and evict whoever is in there, rather than having to find a c3 or c4.
OP kind of alluded to it, but I like small cloaky indy plant. So I could maybe go to systems with low system cost index, drops a Small Indy (so it can only do 1 thing (invent, research TE, research ME, what ever, but only 1). They are cloaked if fueled, but only hold cloak fuel for say 72 hrs. That way player has to come back and fuel and possibly get caught, or if they forget it pops on overview for all.
You do do some fun Black Op stuff with this by going behind enemy lines plopping a bunch down to assemble ships and fits, then striking later and allowing people to reship in system and keep going.
