It would require more calculations, but there can be ways to keep it simple. If the distance between two ships is calculated as a vector from the attackers point of origin. Then a square shaped force field could be represented entirely by just two additional vectors (one to each opposing corner). If the attack vector lies inside of them and has a larger magnitude, the attack is nullified by the force field.
Even so, it would mean extra calculations. And large number of force fields would quickly become an issue.
Something simpler then. What if there was a cap on how many target locks a person could have on him. A fleet would most definately lock up its own FC then, to make him unlockable by others. Friendly logistics would probably be forced into pre-locking friendlies, which would dilute their repping power on individual targets.
The server load from this should be limited, and it would prevent large fleets from focusing all their guns or reps on one guy at the time. I kinda like the consequences of this because it could scale well, but idk, feels weird.
This is still server melting. Right now the game literally just checks some states (locked, existing, ect), runs one equation to determine damage dealt, and thatâs it.
Even an extremely basic check against one very simple possible collectible is an extra 3-4 calculations. Throw in that you then need to do that sort of check against every possible piece of âcoverâ on grid, and that fights can involve thousands of players and it quickly becomes a case of melted silicon. Literally the servers would become cases of melted silicon.
Then the immediate solution is to have your own fleet lock each other up so that you fill as many of those possible target lock slots as you can.
Also there is almost never enough Logistics to keep everyone locked at all times by even just one Logi. This sort of hard cap would make Logistics useless and open up all sorts of possibilities for abuse.
I like your idea and how your post is written, oddsodz.
But headshotting is no problem at all.
If a group of individuals is made of F1 monkeys, they should suffer for not preparing any replacements.
How the Hell, do you think FCs or how some lunatics call them âcontent creatorsâ are trained?
Its bad game design, if one irreplaceble guy does everything and keeps his sheeps close. Anything that breaks the cycle of dependence is good because it brings more activity to the game. (2x50 is more active than 1x100 fleetmembers as a rule of thumb)
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And how many FCâs should a fleet have. 2 FCâs is not any harder than 1 to headshot. Do you need 20 FCâs, 40?
And why should those FCâs have such a poor game experience where they know they will always be first killed in a fight and not get to take part, why would they continue to organise fleets if that is the case. Heck why should anyone die instantly and not get to take part.
At the least people should get 30 seconds to a minute of adrenaline pumping desperate overheating trying to save their ship. Sure obviously we want people to blow up to, but the instant alpha style of blowing up sucks.
organizers of fleets dont nesarily have to be the target callers. I think it adds to the involvement and fun for pilots, if roles are shared and people can specialize. The ability for one guy to all of it himself is bad game design thats in the game for too long and people still think its how the game is meant to be played. its some kind of evil cancer.
In the interest of performance, macro and micro should be performed by different persons.
As to reducing alpha, there are methods that can be taken. Ecm, Damps and TDs can reduce the damage output of enemy fleet. However, ewarships are badly balanced (signature+tank) and not suitable for fleetwarfare. But thats another balance topic. The control-battle is way more interesting than just fitting a module.
The âminimal time to liveâ is something im really interested in. Devs could add a timer of 30seconds, where you know your ships will explode, but you can still continue fighting. If you dont leave the ship in that period, your pod explodes with the ship when the time is over. This time could be different for ship classes. Something in the realms of a whole minutes for T1 battleships. Less for T2. But then again, its another topic and its much better at dealing with the problem than some module where no teamplay is involved.
That âdead but still able to fightâ is actually quite a neat idea. They can move onto a new target and you canât be repped, but it does give you more time on grid. That âcouldâ work. Though Iâd prefer it without the penalty of pod loss as a straight mechanic to keep people involved for a bit longer. Would be more likely to make 1 on 1 frigate duels result in both dying though.
Regarding your other points, Ewar doesnât scale well to mass fleet combat where 200 ships are locking a single person. Trying to make sure you Ewar 100 of them to get enough really isnât practical. They have their place in large fights for sure, but itâs not at the alpha fleet solving level.
And sure, target calling can be done by a different person to the FC, but like I said, so they have to headshot 2 people or even 3 or 4⌠Not significantly harder than 1 if they can do the 1. It is a real problem for the game, we wouldnât be discussing it if it wasnât. Though I see it as a general symptom of the ability to alpha anyone off the grid, rather than an issue unique to FCâs. But doing it to FCâs magnifies the problem.
The correct solution is to have more than one competent FC in your fleet and enough of a chain of command that your fleet isnât in ruins if you lose your FC.
You could have a FC module that uses a high slot and will make all other high slots unusable, Reduces max targets to 1, requires 2 ships to have it fitted (both in the same fleet).
The modules link the 2 ships and they must stay within range of each other. The modules prevent target lock, blocks all e-war and gives bonuses to resistances and repair systems while active. Ties up 2 ships that have no real effective offensive capability. Would still be vulnerable to AOE and the micro jump drive modules that move groups of ships (decent tactic to separate an FC from his/her wing man.
The modules would work like remote reps but can only be activated on another ship that also has it fitted and in the same fleet like I mentioned above.
Could even make it so it can only be used on a specific ship type. Like a special FC ship.
So⌠Invulnerable pairs of spy ships? Just use a special ship and you can watch enemy gates without even cloaking? Canât even start to imagine how many ways this could be abused.
Any gimmicky solution designed entirely for FCâs is almost certainly abusable and misses the actual cause of the problem, simply band aids the FC complication of the primary problem.
There is already a module that provides complete invulnerability for the cost of an inability to affect other ships: the cloak. If an FC wants to stay on grid in near complete safety there are several options that can fit a CovOps cloak that will make head-shotting impossible.
If you want to be the fleet anchor or whatever, well then you are really are a key part of the fight and not just the FC and should be a valid target for the other side. Fly the tankiest ship you can and have a secondary anchor ready if that is your strategy.
I guess there is room for a cloak-like module or ship that trades-off no offensive capabilities for enhanced defence, as long as such a thing stays out of highsec. Basically a cloak without the invisibility part - say you canât be locked at a distance but you canât shoot anyone and it is shut off by someone targeting you within 5km, but really such a thing needs to be balanced correctly to prevent it just being yet another tool to evade fights, something there is already far too many of. I am not sure it is worth undermining the competitive game just to toss another bone to the âgudfightâ section of the player base.
I learned to FC because of our FC always being the same guy so It was well known to our enemies that he was the FC. Some people might know JFRâŚanyways a cheeseball coding solution is a lame solution. Pilots need to learn to adapt. If you know that the FC is going to get headshot then fit a ridiculously strong tank and make the enemy pay for trying to shoot the FC. Let them spend two minutes trying to grind down a brick while you volley off a bunch of their fleet
The idea that you shouldnât have to have a contingency plan for your FC getting dunked is pretty laughable, tbh.
/thread.
If you are avoiding battle because you only have a single person capable of running your fleet then itâs your fault for sucking at EVE. Stop whining about âheadshottingâ and have a redundant command structure that can survive FC losses and still keep fighting. Itâs 100% your fault if you build fleets around a single capable person and everyone else being mindless F1 drones.
Yep. Plus, fi the FC wants to be safe, he can fly a cloaked ship and not do DPS.
The thing here would be to somehow see the enemy ships shield and armour profile without locking on.
But I agree with the idea that head shot FCâs are a glorious thing. Why should FCs be protected?
There is a kind of sick tendency in Eve to make different castes of players. CCP have this class structure in the way they treat folks, it is part of their culture.
It is a little creepy and disgusting when the greed for content control has some folks treating other folks like objects to be moved on their private game board.
Basically, the frigate-sized hull targets and activates module on friendlies in the fleet. All damage is moved from the frigate hull to the targets, applied equally, and hitting FC frigate resists/signature AND target resists (but not signature).
The targets can choose to turn off the damage if they like.
The frigate should be REALLY hard to jam, or the friendly links should not be vulnerable to ECM (I like the latter better).
So if you can nail the frigate before he targets and establishes links, you can still behead the fleet, but once things are going, the FC lasts as long as the tanks.
This will be UTTERLY useless in solo/PVE, as itâs mediocre DPS, even for a frigate, and without tanks to dump the damage on, the special module is pointless. And if itâs high-skill, you wonât get too many newbies mooching in on mission ships.
How about leaving the game as is and you get more people who can do at least basic level FCâing. Then FC headshot stop being a problem and all goes as it should.