Don't see why not
.
Neither do I now that we've seen, at least in some early form, how most of the defence systems are supposed to work and what equipment is available to determined aggressors.
Bear in mind that if a player wants to take someone out during the docking phase they will have to:
- Take down their target very quickly before it can evade or enter the bay.
- Survive an initial barrage of return fire from the station's internal weapons.
- Make it through the docking port before the port weaponry takes them out (or the blast doors close, if they get implemented properly).
- Minimise hits from the station's external weaponry, system defence craft and any opportunistic commanders who just saw a massive bounty get posted.
- Make it into hyperspace.
- Deal with the consequences of a huge bounty and a wanted status in every system aligned with the station.
I think it was a mistake because it encourages behavior that would be described by most players as griefing.
It might look that way in the video but it shouldn't be a problem if it's controlled correctly.
Let's be honest, anyone who tries what's described above isn't going to be your average opportunistic jack-of-all-trades or even occasional bounty hunter in a 40t cargo-racked Cobra. It's going to be someone in an Asp or Anaconda sized ship, packed to the brim with high power weapons, shield generators and shield boosters specifically configured for assassination missions that are only viable because they carry a
huge payoff in credits or reputation or both.
Such missions are most likely to be against NPCs, not players. If you can pull something like that off you're going to be wanted across half of civilised space for an awfully long time whether you succeed or not. You're not going to attempt it against a random noob in a free Sidewinder for poos and sniggers unless you enjoy repeatedly seeing the effect of your ship exploding around you and every bounty hunter in the area coming after you every time you jump somewhere.
Before the defence systems were implemented certain aspects of the early builds were something of a griefer's paradise. Now that some defences are starting to appear and a barrage of station fire can take down a fully shielded Asp in a few seconds it's much less of an issue.
Groups of players randomly attacking noobs may still be a worry, because they might be able to overwhelm the defences long enough to cause some carnage. But they'd still need heavily armed and armoured ships, and would still incur the fines and reputational damage even if they managed to gank a few players. Either way it would be an expensive hobby, and without the ability to easily pool resources not a very easy hobby to fund.
Players also need to be cautious, of course. I'm playing in Open at the moment but rarely seeing any other players. But if I saw a group of three or four, all flying what are nominally long range explorer or trade ships but which are packed with nothing but heavy guns and shield generators, I might choose to go elsewhere.
Stations aren't going to be the griefer's playgrounds, but player-instigated interdictions in supercruise might be. Unless they're balanced very carefully they're going to become a huge problem, especially for long trade runs that require an intermediate jump through a non-aligned and unpopulated system. They could become virtual camp points. It's going to be interesting to see what happens when they're introduced.
