Alright.
Let's do this in AAR fashion. It's easy to pick up the terribad-CCP-hang-your-head-in-shame chant; let's get something actionable out of it. Esna's got a lot of it already. I'm just going to hit a few things as I think of them, and hopefully we can flesh it all out nicely.
In no particular order, the problems;
* Time dilation for the empire fleet;
* Nullsec chokepoints channeled empire fleet into null blocs' guns;
* Events all EU TZ during week;
* Short notice;
* Roleplay background weak.
Some of these have conflicting solutions. For instance, reinforcing a node can only do so much, especially when hundreds or thousands of players are moving; one solution would be to not do a news broadcast CTA which draws players like moths to the flame. This, however, runs the risk of events occurring for only the select few that have been made aware of it; this can lead to accusations of favoritism, wastes of resources, and so on. So-- I'm going to offer a few solutions per bullet point, and we can see which ones keep coming up.
* Time dilation for the empire fleet;
1) Smaller player counts. This can be done either by avoiding mass CTAs by alluding to events instead of posting mass invites, or by posting immediately before events instead of a day or more. An alternative example: "CONCORD announced that it will be requesting assistance for task forces venturing into unsecure space in the coming days and weeks. Pilots wishing to assist CONCORD are directed to monitor neocom channel 'XYZ blahdiblah' for the formation of task forces. Operational security requires that rally points, destinations, and times not be announced until immediately before an operation."
2) A jump bridge may have reduced travel-related tidi; instead of dozens of systems of travel, it would have been a single session change. I'm not sure if a bridge is a possibility, given game rules; it might be possible to bridge out, but not in, or it may simply not be possible to open a bridge at all.
2) Reinforcing nodes. Jita hosts impressive player counts, but most are docked up, and combat is fairly light, if constant. Odds are a reinforced node will help with time dilation, but the question is one of degrees, not absolutes. A thousand players shooting at each other will almost certainly hit 10% tidi.
* Nullsec chokepoints channeled empire fleet into null blocs' guns;
1) Destinations should not be broadcast before the event. If an opfor rally point is announced, it needs to be far enough away that the destination isn't clear; odds are the defenders/opfor will be closer, and so any time advantage will make the opfor gatecamp significantly more potent.
2) A jump bridge would move combat from the gates to a cyno; this would prevent an established camp with tacticals and anchored bubbles on gate. While it's still likely to be a slaughter with a nullsec alliance against a kitchen sink event fleet, it increases the ability of players to get through the blockade. Further, it cuts the time advantage of the defenders, time from destination announcement to arrival is cut to minutes from hours. Possible issue as before; can a jump bridge be opened in high security space? If not, an Empire titan in lowsec would be a MASSIVE bullseye. Frig. Can you imagine trying to explain that in prime fiction?
3) Alternatively, possibly using faction contacts to invite support from appropriate blocs would reduce the zerging of nullsec alliances? However, this runs smack into favoritism accusations again by multiple angles.
* Events all EU TZ during week;
Preamble: this is a known issue. At present, there isn't a reliable solution as event staff are bulked out by CCP volunteers, and CCP's event staff operates from Iceland. If additional event staff are hired at Atlanta, we may see more reliable non-EU TZ events.
1) Smaller events in US TZ may deal with US TZ being unable to attend any events; this reduces but doesn't eliminate the Iceland TZ issue, as while they'd still need event staff hours, CCP wouldn't be as reliant on volunteers to fill out bodies for large actor fleets.
2) ???
* Short notice;
Preamble: this runs into the issues above. Too much notice, and even if CCP tries to mitigate tidi and camping, the server will explode as players all plan to jam into a system at a given time.
Question: is there a solution that allows players to schedule time without killing CCP's hamsters?
* Roleplay background weak;
Preamble: I think we all agree this is a bit silly. "It's a big deal! Everyone wants players to join up! Join up, join up! Piwats, join those guys! Big deal time!"
1) Events need a longer lead-up, fluff-wise; this went from OH HAI NEWS to OH HAI EVENT in a single post and chronicle. Longer lead-time gives more opportunities for devious events that are more than shoot-actors-at-X-day-and-time, and for more player involvement in fluff. Further, it gives more time to explain strange alliances. Why would Sansha want to be there, for instance? Given the ideological differences between factions and how these are often posed as deep divisions, we may need to reestablish that, indeed, these factions often ally themselves out of necessity and convenience. Having Angel and Sansha interaction over Jove tech makes a lot of sense, if we remember to portray the Sansha as more than EVE Borg. (with all due respect to TS-F and Shaktipat; this is more an issue with common misconceptions of EVE lore, and CCP's sparing news updates reducing factions to simple stereotypes)
2) ?
So-- other problems? Solutions to existing problems? Madness and lunacy on my part?
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Topic: BREAKING NEWS: THE EMPIRES CALL FOR AID (Read 18190 times)