Game Discussions Star Citizen Discussion Thread v12

[Mu77ley]

I can't help thinking all the ppl saying Odyssey will kill off SC are as wrong as all the ones says Odyssey is a complete turkey. Both should wait and see what it actually delivers (much as SC fanbois should look at what that currently is, rather than keeping pointing to some fantastical future version that never comes).

For Odyssey to kill off SC, SC would have to be an actual released game. As long as the dreams.txt crew are running things in the fanbase then SC will beat every game past, present and future, even if only in their minds.

 

[Rørik Þrumsålr]

Ok, serious question from someone who hasn't been following the development saga: is Star Citizen getting closer to being fully realized (or even "mostly" realized) or is it still mired down in development purgatory?

Here is my perspective as an original backer (one who backed the project in it's earliest days in 2013):

This project is in serious trouble. The past 6 years have been nothing but explosive feature creep and mismanagement, with a bare bones framework (that's missing all of the needed fundaments) to show for it. No flight model has been successfully implemented yet (after 8-9 years of development time), trade is barely functional at the best of times, missions are almost non-existent and the only meaningful play is using it as a screenshot simulator or horseplay with a group.

Technically the game is an absolute mess. They chose a specialized FPS engine strictly because of it's graphical prowess and relatively cheap licensing and the game has suffered since. The development team has been unable to make it realistically playable for most people and have been stuck on several critical blocking issues for years with no real progress. The client FPS is tied to the server, so even powerful systems will chug along at 10-25fps the majority of times. Every 6 months to a year some "Jeesus Tech" is spoken about and teased to the community. (XXXX Technology will make the game a buttery smooth 100fps and heal it of all its ailments) One has been introduced so far and performance has actually degraded further for most since.

Management has become almost absent, the head of the studio Chris Roberts hasn't been seen for essentially over a year now. CIG has mislead and outright lied to the community countless times over the years. Many of these are tied around Squadron 42, the single player side of the project. Mind you, these aren't small lies either. "Answer the Call:2016" is one of the most prominent, where they gave us a concrete release date of said project. Here we are 4 years later and CIG refuses to tell the community how far away it is. CIG sold 10% of the company to an outside investor in 2018 because they were mere months away from total insolvency...and then waited a further 6 months to tell the backers. The external backer set limits and a further mandate on release which now have been surpassed. CIG has an extremely manipulative marketing department, and create artificial scarcity to hype up the crowd for desirable packages. They have a proven anti-consumer track record. If you are an old backer that does not subscribe to the "whale hunt" you are worthless in their eyes. They slowly devalue your money and will stamp you out at the end.

This is just the tip of the iceberg.

Then there is the community. Oh by the All-Father, the community. Without a doubt, the community on Reddit and Spectrum are so rabid in their defense of CIG it seriously borders on on Scientology levels of insane. Critical youtubers received death threats not only against themselves, but in one case a Youtuber's developmentally disabled daughter was threatened with the worst kind of assault, followed by said death threat. Dissent is ruthlessly stamped out as FUD (fear, uncertainty and doubt as so defined by GIG's moderators, who are themselves not volunteers but paid employees of CIG itself) regardless of it's merit and delivery.

I will add a disclaimer: I recognize that I have been completely jaded by the project at this point, so take my words as you will. Go to spectrum and see how people act and how CIG reacts to things. Look at the kickstarter videos that were made over 8 years ago. I completely recommend "Sunken Cost Galaxy" on youtube. It is made by a former private investor into CIG and very clearly describes the hole in which the project has fallen.

youtube.com/watch?v=gU3uEBUBIEA&list=PL7SIP0NDfM2yyHKfRmCAociCcJKZHHY0E

 

[Revenant69]

Dear lord

 

[Arcondes]

First time I see a vertically-rimmed canyon. A nice addition from the 3.10 heigthmap.

View attachment 185209
The video come from an org doing a race in the canyon with a surprise attack by an enemy of the group.

Here some basic CE „Hight maps“ from an only Game MWO

 

[Surefoot]

Not true for all ships.

Let's review some ships that we can fly right now. I wont list them all as this would prove futile, but just a few good examples.
Hornet Ghost: Its stealth module is still non functional (can replace it with a ball turret with no loss of function). Stealth is still not properly implemented. Radars are omni directional, all-powerful and see everything, all the time (no masking by terrain, or asteroids for example). This is a 2012 backer ship.
Those racing ships (350r, razor, etc.): still no races in the PU, were promised years ago. Entirely useless.
Carrack, Constellation Aquila, and other exploration ships: no exploration gameplay, and nothing to explore anyways (only one star system, which is fully mapped and well known).
Caterpillar: if we set aside the fact that it still doesnt open properly due to graphics and physics engine troubles (its been years.. they are still on it..), it has data running abilities (nowhere in sight), and a tractor beam for piracy (nowhere in sight either, and the tractor beam equipment is 3D decoration). It's got a galley which is non functional, despite the game having food now. Also toilets, non functional. If you use it for pure cargo runs you find out the economy is still non-existent as prices are totally fixed, and it's just stocks respawning at various rates.
Freelancer: despite being a very good all-rounder (packs a real punch, flies not so badly, has cargo, range..) all 3 co-pilot seats are for decoration purposes. Yeah you can turn the consoles on but you see the same power control panel as the pilot and it's even non functional (trying to change settings does nothing).
Hornet Tracker, Vanguard Sentinel, etc. (utility ships): zero gameplay function. Their supposed improved radar is the same all-powerful radar that equips all other ships even the smaller ones. Besides some of these have an engineer station (e.g. the Vanguard), which does nothing.
Reclaimer: It's big. It's a huge 3D asset that does absolutely nothing. No associated gameplay anywhere in sight.
890j: good for target practice. Useless otherwise as passenger missions are not a thing.
Cutlass Red: supposed to be a flying medi bay. It's currently entirely useless. There is no planned gameplay that would justify extraction via this means vs just respawning.
Cutlass Blue: supposed bounty hunter with police colors. Tractor beam non functional, associated gameplay not there.
Cutlass Black: supposed pirate ship (probably associated with a Caterpillar for looting). No ship to ship boarding anywhere in sight.
Eclipse: no stealth (see omnipotent radars above)
Mantis: supposed to be an interdiction bubble generator. CiG didnt think this through as there is no way to predict where people will jump from or to, or to follow them against their will. As opposed to ED way of doing it, the Mantis would have to sit in "normal space" and activate the bubble to stop ships that would pass by. Not sure anyone in their right mind has invested any money in that.
Starfarer: no in space refuelling (and really no proper way to stock fuel independently). No ship to ship docking. Again a huge useless 3D asset.
Valkyrie: troop and vehicular transport. Transporting troops has still zero gameplay value, besides the 50 player limit, FPS missions can be soloed or done with 2 or 3 people easily, and there are only 2 of those. Otherwise absolutely no use. (edit) also you can easily put that many people into a Freelancer cargo hold. Jumpseats have zero function aside from looking cool on screenshots.
Herald: data runner. There is zero gameplay associated with that. Funny looking little ship, but useless.

So yeah it's not ALL ships. But if we do the whole list, all we have left is the Prospector and Mole (due to mining being complete, or is it), and the pure fighters (such as Sabre, Hornet, etc.). And the Pisces (useful little shuttle). I wont count ships that have non functional stations in that (so Vanguard is out, due to having an engineer station).

 

[Mole HD]

Let's review some ships that we can fly right now. I wont list them all as this would prove futile, but just a few good examples.
Hornet Ghost: Its stealth module is still non functional (can replace it with a ball turret with no loss of function). Stealth is still not properly implemented. Radars are omni directional, all-powerful and see everything, all the time (no masking by terrain, or asteroids for example). This is a 2012 backer ship.
Those racing ships (350r, razor, etc.): still no races in the PU, were promised years ago. Entirely useless.
Carrack, Constellation Aquila, and other exploration ships: no exploration gameplay, and nothing to explore anyways (only one star system, which is fully mapped and well known).
Caterpillar: if we set aside the fact that it still doesnt open properly due to graphics and physics engine troubles (its been years.. they are still on it..), it has data running abilities (nowhere in sight), and a tractor beam for piracy (nowhere in sight either, and the tractor beam equipment is 3D decoration). It's got a galley which is non functional, despite the game having food now. Also toilets, non functional. If you use it for pure cargo runs you find out the economy is still non-existent as prices are totally fixed, and it's just stocks respawning at various rates.
Freelancer: despite being a very good all-rounder (packs a real punch, flies not so badly, has cargo, range..) all 3 co-pilot seats are for decoration purposes. Yeah you can turn the consoles on but you see the same power control panel as the pilot and it's even non functional (trying to change settings does nothing).
Hornet Tracker, Vanguard Sentinel, etc. (utility ships): zero gameplay function. Their supposed improved radar is the same all-powerful radar that equips all other ships even the smaller ones. Besides some of these have an engineer station (e.g. the Vanguard), which does nothing.
Reclaimer: It's big. It's a huge 3D asset that does absolutely nothing. No associated gameplay anywhere in sight.
890j: good for target practice. Useless otherwise as passenger missions are not a thing.
Cutlass Red: supposed to be a flying medi bay. It's currently entirely useless. There is no planned gameplay that would justify extraction via this means vs just respawning.
Cutlass Blue: supposed bounty hunter with police colors. Tractor beam non functional, associated gameplay not there.
Cutlass Black: supposed pirate ship (probably associated with a Caterpillar for looting). No ship to ship boarding anywhere in sight.
Eclipse: no stealth (see omnipotent radars above)
Mantis: supposed to be an interdiction bubble generator. CiG didnt think this through as there is no way to predict where people will jump from or to, or to follow them against their will. As opposed to ED way of doing it, the Mantis would have to sit in "normal space" and activate the bubble to stop ships that would pass by. Not sure anyone in their right mind has invested any money in that.
Starfarer: no in space refuelling (and really no proper way to stock fuel independently). No ship to ship docking. Again a huge useless 3D asset.
Valkyrie: troop and vehicular transport. Transporting troops has still zero gameplay value, besides the 50 player limit, FPS missions can be soloed or done with 2 or 3 people easily, and there are only 2 of those. Otherwise absolutely no use.
Herald: data runner. There is zero gameplay associated with that. Funny looking little ship, but useless.

So yeah it's not ALL ships. But if we do the whole list, all we have left is the Prospector and Mole (due to mining being complete, or is it), and the pure fighters (such as Sabre, Hornet, etc.). And the Pisces (useful little shuttle). I wont count ships that have non functional stations in that (so Vanguard is out, due to having an engineer station).

Mining isn't complete by any means, it's currently akin to collecting mats in Elite...a bit more lucrative but nothing more. Saying that, it's what I do... since besides cargo shuffling in the Cat, there's not much else.

 

[StuartGT]

FINALLY! Thread's as entertaining as ever

6 years for me, I count from the reboot.

This was my favourite snippet of insanity Please provide sources to when CIG "rebooted" Star Citizen and Squadron 42 in 2014, I'd love to laugh a bit more

 

[Surefoot]

Mining isn't complete by any means, it's currently akin to collecting mats in Elite...a bit more lucrative but nothing more. Saying that, it's what I do... since besides cargo shuffling in the Cat, there's not much else.

It's okay though, honestly, i'd prefer them to move to more pressing matters rather than add bugs to the only complete gameplay loop they have at the moment. The multiplayer mining with the Mole could be fun if not counting with the terrible desyncs (that have explosive consequences while mining..).

This was my favourite snippet of insanity Please provide sources to when CIG "rebooted" Star Citizen and Squadron 42 in 2014, I'd love to laugh a bit more

Yeah what was that ? I cant see anything related to a "reboot", in 2014 or 2015.. There was the Star Marine fiasco, which was kind of a reboot as they did shut down the project and do it themselves from zero again. But we all know what's the result by now. There was this "item 2.0" thing, and redoing of various UI elements, which went from utterly terrible and hostile to just terrible. But again that's just the UI part...

 

[ECity]

It's got a galley which is non functional, despite the game having food now.

Classic CIG.

 

[Asp Explorer]

But again that's just the UI part...

How did it go again?

Press F. No U. No I. Scroll Up. Leave Bed. Approach Door. Press F. Try U. Scroll Up. Fall through floor.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

For Odyssey to kill off SC, SC would have to be an actual released game. As long as the dreams.txt crew are running things in the fanbase then SC will beat every game past, present and future, even if only in their minds.

Oh man, i really triggered a SC backer on youtube by saying that SC was no competitor to ED until it released.

He started from the personal attack and when i said i wasn't interested in debating with someone who has nothing to offer except personal attacks he claimed he never made a personal attack and that it was me arguing in bad faith.

 

[Revenant69]

Oh man, i really triggered a SC backer on youtube by saying that SC was no competitor to ED until it released.

He started from the personal attack and when i said i wasn't interested in debating with someone who has nothing to offer except personal attacks he claimed he never made a personal attack and that it was me arguing in bad faith.

Out of curiosity, how many players does SC have at any given time compared to ED?

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Let's review some ships that we can fly right now. I wont list them all as this would prove futile, but just a few good examples.
Hornet Ghost: Its stealth module is still non functional (can replace it with a ball turret with no loss of function). Stealth is still not properly implemented. Radars are omni directional, all-powerful and see everything, all the time (no masking by terrain, or asteroids for example). This is a 2012 backer ship.
Those racing ships (350r, razor, etc.): still no races in the PU, were promised years ago. Entirely useless.
Carrack, Constellation Aquila, and other exploration ships: no exploration gameplay, and nothing to explore anyways (only one star system, which is fully mapped and well known).
Caterpillar: if we set aside the fact that it still doesnt open properly due to graphics and physics engine troubles (its been years.. they are still on it..), it has data running abilities (nowhere in sight), and a tractor beam for piracy (nowhere in sight either, and the tractor beam equipment is 3D decoration). It's got a galley which is non functional, despite the game having food now. Also toilets, non functional. If you use it for pure cargo runs you find out the economy is still non-existent as prices are totally fixed, and it's just stocks respawning at various rates.
Freelancer: despite being a very good all-rounder (packs a real punch, flies not so badly, has cargo, range..) all 3 co-pilot seats are for decoration purposes. Yeah you can turn the consoles on but you see the same power control panel as the pilot and it's even non functional (trying to change settings does nothing).
Hornet Tracker, Vanguard Sentinel, etc. (utility ships): zero gameplay function. Their supposed improved radar is the same all-powerful radar that equips all other ships even the smaller ones. Besides some of these have an engineer station (e.g. the Vanguard), which does nothing.
Reclaimer: It's big. It's a huge 3D asset that does absolutely nothing. No associated gameplay anywhere in sight.
890j: good for target practice. Useless otherwise as passenger missions are not a thing.
Cutlass Red: supposed to be a flying medi bay. It's currently entirely useless. There is no planned gameplay that would justify extraction via this means vs just respawning.
Cutlass Blue: supposed bounty hunter with police colors. Tractor beam non functional, associated gameplay not there.
Cutlass Black: supposed pirate ship (probably associated with a Caterpillar for looting). No ship to ship boarding anywhere in sight.
Eclipse: no stealth (see omnipotent radars above)
Mantis: supposed to be an interdiction bubble generator. CiG didnt think this through as there is no way to predict where people will jump from or to, or to follow them against their will. As opposed to ED way of doing it, the Mantis would have to sit in "normal space" and activate the bubble to stop ships that would pass by. Not sure anyone in their right mind has invested any money in that.
Starfarer: no in space refuelling (and really no proper way to stock fuel independently). No ship to ship docking. Again a huge useless 3D asset.
Valkyrie: troop and vehicular transport. Transporting troops has still zero gameplay value, besides the 50 player limit, FPS missions can be soloed or done with 2 or 3 people easily, and there are only 2 of those. Otherwise absolutely no use. (edit) also you can easily put that many people into a Freelancer cargo hold. Jumpseats have zero function aside from looking cool on screenshots.
Herald: data runner. There is zero gameplay associated with that. Funny looking little ship, but useless.

So yeah it's not ALL ships. But if we do the whole list, all we have left is the Prospector and Mole (due to mining being complete, or is it), and the pure fighters (such as Sabre, Hornet, etc.). And the Pisces (useful little shuttle). I wont count ships that have non functional stations in that (so Vanguard is out, due to having an engineer station).

And just reading through that list, and project manager would be making a tally of all the debt there, of the thousands and even millions of man hours required to get all those features done, and start to wonder if the product is ever going to get delivered.

 

[ECity]

Out of curiosity, how many players does SC have at any given time compared to ED?

I think SC must have more, based on Twitch viewership stats. On Steam, ED has averaged 5,400 concurrent in the last 30 days. This doesn't count console. I'm not aware of SC numbers. Maybe someone here knows.

 

[n4p0l3on]

Let's review some ships that we can fly right now. I wont list them all as this would prove futile, but just a few good examples.
Hornet Ghost: Its stealth module is still non functional (can replace it with a ball turret with no loss of function). Stealth is still not properly implemented. Radars are omni directional, all-powerful and see everything, all the time (no masking by terrain, or asteroids for example). This is a 2012 backer ship.
Those racing ships (350r, razor, etc.): still no races in the PU, were promised years ago. Entirely useless.
Carrack, Constellation Aquila, and other exploration ships: no exploration gameplay, and nothing to explore anyways (only one star system, which is fully mapped and well known).
Caterpillar: if we set aside the fact that it still doesnt open properly due to graphics and physics engine troubles (its been years.. they are still on it..), it has data running abilities (nowhere in sight), and a tractor beam for piracy (nowhere in sight either, and the tractor beam equipment is 3D decoration). It's got a galley which is non functional, despite the game having food now. Also toilets, non functional. If you use it for pure cargo runs you find out the economy is still non-existent as prices are totally fixed, and it's just stocks respawning at various rates.
Freelancer: despite being a very good all-rounder (packs a real punch, flies not so badly, has cargo, range..) all 3 co-pilot seats are for decoration purposes. Yeah you can turn the consoles on but you see the same power control panel as the pilot and it's even non functional (trying to change settings does nothing).
Hornet Tracker, Vanguard Sentinel, etc. (utility ships): zero gameplay function. Their supposed improved radar is the same all-powerful radar that equips all other ships even the smaller ones. Besides some of these have an engineer station (e.g. the Vanguard), which does nothing.
Reclaimer: It's big. It's a huge 3D asset that does absolutely nothing. No associated gameplay anywhere in sight.
890j: good for target practice. Useless otherwise as passenger missions are not a thing.
Cutlass Red: supposed to be a flying medi bay. It's currently entirely useless. There is no planned gameplay that would justify extraction via this means vs just respawning.
Cutlass Blue: supposed bounty hunter with police colors. Tractor beam non functional, associated gameplay not there.
Cutlass Black: supposed pirate ship (probably associated with a Caterpillar for looting). No ship to ship boarding anywhere in sight.
Eclipse: no stealth (see omnipotent radars above)
Mantis: supposed to be an interdiction bubble generator. CiG didnt think this through as there is no way to predict where people will jump from or to, or to follow them against their will. As opposed to ED way of doing it, the Mantis would have to sit in "normal space" and activate the bubble to stop ships that would pass by. Not sure anyone in their right mind has invested any money in that.
Starfarer: no in space refuelling (and really no proper way to stock fuel independently). No ship to ship docking. Again a huge useless 3D asset.
Valkyrie: troop and vehicular transport. Transporting troops has still zero gameplay value, besides the 50 player limit, FPS missions can be soloed or done with 2 or 3 people easily, and there are only 2 of those. Otherwise absolutely no use. (edit) also you can easily put that many people into a Freelancer cargo hold. Jumpseats have zero function aside from looking cool on screenshots.
Herald: data runner. There is zero gameplay associated with that. Funny looking little ship, but useless.

So yeah it's not ALL ships. But if we do the whole list, all we have left is the Prospector and Mole (due to mining being complete, or is it), and the pure fighters (such as Sabre, Hornet, etc.). And the Pisces (useful little shuttle). I wont count ships that have non functional stations in that (so Vanguard is out, due to having an engineer station).

Avenger stalker, supposed to be able to detain people with it's detainer equipment on board, obviously nothing ever materialized of said gameplay.

Reliant Sen, the supposedly scientific research ship, obviously no such gameplay exist
There's another science ship isn't it? Endeavor or something? Suffers from the same thing.
The Hull series, even for ships with supposed function are to load loads of cargo, the mechanics isn't even there yet.
Heck one of the Aurora, possibly the Mr version supposedly could carry cargo container on it's way external underbelly container attachment, this thing doesn't even exist yet.

 

[Agony_Aunt]

Out of curiosity, how many players does SC have at any given time compared to ED?

Oh, its interesting. SC have done some infographics on this (assuming we believe their numbers).

The numbers were generally speaking not direct. They didn't give average or peak numbers playing in the verse. They were things like how many tons of rocks mined and stuff like that.

I seem to remember a goon trying to number crunch them though and it turned out like the average number of players playing Star Marine at any moment in time was 1. (You remember Star Marine? The game mode that was meant to be more lethal than Call of Duty!).

If i were to hazard a guess there will be no more than a few hundred players at a time most of the time (remember, servers cap out at 50 players and generally fall over after a few hours) with that increasing into the thousands after a significant patch.

Not that its worth comparing at this time anyway, i mean, it is only an alpha and low numbers of players during alpha is nothing to criticize. It only become worth comparing should it ever release.

 

[StuartGT]

I think SC must have more, based on Twitch viewership stats. On Steam, ED has averaged 5,400 concurrent in the last 30 days. This doesn't count console. I'm not aware of SC numbers. Maybe someone here knows.

Out of curiosity, how many players does SC have at any given time compared to ED?

For 2019 Jan through Oct, SC had an average hourly concurrent of 1300 players. From late Dec 2019 to early Feb 2020, SC had 32 players per hour mining

 

[Asp Explorer]

For 2019 Jan through Oct, SC had an average hourly concurrent of 1300 players. From late Dec 2019 to early Feb 2020, SC had 32 players per hour mining

And 3.2 of them were Mole

 

[MTBFritz]

Out of curiosity, how many players does SC have at any given time compared to ED?

it wins hands down when you go with Twitch viewer numbers. But that could be because watching SC is more enjoyable then actually playing it which is similar to masochistic practices going with the stuff I see on live streams. My personal opinion apart....is there even any credible source for this kind of data? I wouldnt trust CIG to provide realistic or even honest numbers in this regard. I know that some more reliable sources have reported seeing more new faces but thats not really providing any quantitive overview or even hard numbers.

I seem to remember a goon trying to number crunch them though and it turned out like the average number of players playing Star Marine at any moment in time was 1. (You remember Star Marine? The game mode that was meant to be more lethal than Call of Duty!).

Its also the game mode thats (according to some pro fans) "done and completed" as if its "mission accomplished" even tho its bare bones, half-functional and hardly noteworthy. This is a routine thats often touted inn Star Citizen discussions. Acting as if the game is almost ready to go and already sooooo good but the posters usually cherry pick the least buggy features like mining and "forget" to mention that its really nothing special but as Mole HD said....its about the only thing you can enjoy right now without getting ounished for testing the alpha.

 

[sovapid]

Hornet Ghost: Its stealth module is still non functional (can replace it with a ball turret with no loss of function). Stealth is still not properly implemented. Radars are omni directional, all-powerful and see everything, all the time (no masking by terrain, or asteroids for example). This is a 2012 backer ship.

The Ghost has stealth modifiers to the hull that reduce emission and signature by 10% compared to other hornets. Radars are not all powerful and cannot see everything. They detect ships at different distances by the amount of emissions the target ship puts out. Ships will larger radars will detect a ship further away than a ship with a smaller radar.

Eclipse: no stealth (see omnipotent radars above)

The eclipse has 30% reduction modifiers on its hull. It can be equipped to be incredibly stealthy and can get very close to a ship without being detected. This is one of the big issues with the game right now. Invisible eclipses launch size 9 torps that one shot everything.

Caterpillar:..... If you use it for pure cargo runs you find out the economy is still non-existent as prices are totally fixed, and it's just stocks respawning at various rates.

Prices are not totally fixed and do vary by player activity. Not horrible complicated, but they do change.

Carrack

Could be the best cargo running ship. It's speed makes it very survivable. Out runs medium fighters.

Vanguard Sentinel, etc. (utility ships): zero gameplay function.

Good case could be made this is the best pvp ship in the game right now.

Cutlass Red: supposed to be a flying medi bay. It's currently entirely useless. There is no planned gameplay that would justify extraction via this means vs just respawning.

A mobile respawn point is hardly useless.

Cutlass Blue: supposed bounty hunter with police colors. Tractor beam non functional, associated gameplay not there.

Has a quantum dampener that prevents players from warping away. Dampener only has 2k range, so somewhat challenging with the lag.

More useful as a pirate ship than a police ship a this point.

Mantis: supposed to be an interdiction bubble generator. CiG didnt think this through as there is no way to predict where people will jump from or to, or to follow them against their will. As opposed to ED way of doing it, the Mantis would have to sit in "normal space" and activate the bubble to stop ships that would pass by. Not sure anyone in their right mind has invested any money in that.

Also prevents ship that are within 20k from warping away. Good ship to have around when a group of people are pirating. Not so useful solo, since the ship is so fragile.

You can follow ships against their will by using your eyes. It is generally pretty obvious where a ship is jumping to.