Why not have a sov system where the objectives are spread across multiple systems instead of having one enormous battle in one system that the severs can’t process?
Why aren’t there instances battles like in Albion Online, where a limited number of players are allowed to enter on each side of a conflict?
Because this node hunting is fun in theory but not really in practice.
So far I only had 3 situations where people actually contested meaningfully. One time I had lots of fun running around chasing an equal sized, equal shipped fleet from TEST in Detorid with many small engagements; the other time I lost a ship because the defenders screwed up and I wasted 30 minutes for nothing; the last time I had to chase around the constellation trying to get rid of T1 haulers that just kept coming back, in the end we managed but that was not really enjoyable.
Most of the time, though, it was either an uncontested node grind or it was not feasible to fight because completely out of balance numbers disadvantage. The same was obviously also the case in the Dominion sov system where people could just dump big fleets on your SBU defending or attacking fleet, but at least it was over in a couple of minutes.
The whole point of AegisSov and the introduction of Entosis Links was to spread out a sov conflict over a constellation by having them chase nodes. It’s a boring system that encourages the use of fleets of interceptors and little else.
The problem is that CCP immediately followed that up by introducing large, spammable, combat-capable player structures with an asset safety mechanic that allows them to act as forward operating bases. I can’t imagine what they were thinking because warfare around these structures is seemingly in direct opposition to their immediately-preceding design goals.
That said, introducing system population caps forcing either one-sided or “fair” fights is sort of a violation of the game’s nature as an open sandbox.
You kinda hit the nail on the head why the node game doesn’t work in practice and that is because the stakes really aren’t that high for either party and its always easier to punt to the next timer then to throw down against bad odds.