This is an idea to help the structure of PvP in elite dangerous. For the most part, PvP either takes place with high-end engineered ships near CGs, or not at all. This is mainly due to the large amounts of, well, space in the 'verse. That's not a bad thing, but due to that space there is very little interaction between players otherwise.
In order to make PvP more approachable, I'm suggesting two optional modules to install in a ship: The Quantum Tether, and the Quantum Ripcord. In layperson's terms, each would be the "summon-module" and the "summon-flag." The idea is that traders, smugglers, or explorers which would like an escort from time-to-time could install the Tether.
The Quantum Tether activates automatically when interdicted without submitting to another player. The interdiction space-shock is converted to power the Tether module that uses the massive energy to temporarily open a small wormhole. When activated, the Tether looks for a player that has the Quantum Ripcord module activated on their ship. Once a player with the ripcord is found, they are summoned through the wormhole to defend the one who summoned them. However, due to the energy-intensive nature of quantum technology, the summoned ship is sent back to where they were if their host dies, or if their host gets away and warps into super-cruise.
For example:
An Asp trader is flying some lucrative rares and is interdicted by a pirate clipper! The Asp has Quantum Tether installed aboard his ship. So he is encouraged to fight the interdiction. He fails, and is thrown out into normal space with the clipper! Since he failed and did not submit to interdiction, His Quantum Tether activates and the Asp has to try and hold on until it finds a quantum-ripcord equipped commander. If the clipper pirate is good, he can get the cargo before the escort arrives!
But lo! A Fer-De-Lance pops out of a quantum wormhole. He just recently flipped on his ripcord to look for an easy bounty. The FDL deploys hardpoints and locks-on to the clipper's six. The asp engages his FSD and starts to charge for the station. Everyone is in a race against time. The clipper needs to get some cargo before the Asp jumps. The Asp needs to Jump as soon as possible, and the FDL needs to secure the kill before the Asp jumps and he's pulled back through the quantum loop!
Alternatively, the Asp can risk it all with his new ally and deploy hardpoint to fight his attacker, confident that the tables have turned. . .then the clipper must decide to kill the Asp (sending the FDL back through the quantum loop), or run away himself!
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These two modules have a few advantages:
It turns elite's instance-based structure into an advantage, not a liability.
These modules encourage asymmetric PVP where each party has different goals, making play varied and interesting
This module is only powered when an interdiction fails, so it encourages traders to fight the interdiction as intended by the devs instead of submitting.
This module also encourages co-op pve for traders interdicted by NPC's.
The modules may have a few disadvantages. I will do my best to shore them up before closing this post.
It may shrink the scope of the game a little bit, but. . .
What's the incentive to equip a ripcord?
In order to make PvP more approachable, I'm suggesting two optional modules to install in a ship: The Quantum Tether, and the Quantum Ripcord. In layperson's terms, each would be the "summon-module" and the "summon-flag." The idea is that traders, smugglers, or explorers which would like an escort from time-to-time could install the Tether.
The Quantum Tether activates automatically when interdicted without submitting to another player. The interdiction space-shock is converted to power the Tether module that uses the massive energy to temporarily open a small wormhole. When activated, the Tether looks for a player that has the Quantum Ripcord module activated on their ship. Once a player with the ripcord is found, they are summoned through the wormhole to defend the one who summoned them. However, due to the energy-intensive nature of quantum technology, the summoned ship is sent back to where they were if their host dies, or if their host gets away and warps into super-cruise.
For example:
An Asp trader is flying some lucrative rares and is interdicted by a pirate clipper! The Asp has Quantum Tether installed aboard his ship. So he is encouraged to fight the interdiction. He fails, and is thrown out into normal space with the clipper! Since he failed and did not submit to interdiction, His Quantum Tether activates and the Asp has to try and hold on until it finds a quantum-ripcord equipped commander. If the clipper pirate is good, he can get the cargo before the escort arrives!
But lo! A Fer-De-Lance pops out of a quantum wormhole. He just recently flipped on his ripcord to look for an easy bounty. The FDL deploys hardpoints and locks-on to the clipper's six. The asp engages his FSD and starts to charge for the station. Everyone is in a race against time. The clipper needs to get some cargo before the Asp jumps. The Asp needs to Jump as soon as possible, and the FDL needs to secure the kill before the Asp jumps and he's pulled back through the quantum loop!
Alternatively, the Asp can risk it all with his new ally and deploy hardpoint to fight his attacker, confident that the tables have turned. . .then the clipper must decide to kill the Asp (sending the FDL back through the quantum loop), or run away himself!
---
These two modules have a few advantages:
It turns elite's instance-based structure into an advantage, not a liability.
This is the biggest one. It's frustrating to find meaningful PVP otherwise due to instancing issues.
These modules encourage asymmetric PVP where each party has different goals, making play varied and interesting
Escorts will want quick-kill weapons due to the limited timeframe they may be summoned for. Pirates want to build to break the cargo hatch, and traders want to tank-up to survive the beating until help arrives.
This module is only powered when an interdiction fails, so it encourages traders to fight the interdiction as intended by the devs instead of submitting.
Submitting instead of evading interdiction being the better choice 95% of time always seemed wrong to me. This fixes that notion.
This module also encourages co-op pve for traders interdicted by NPC's.
If NPC's become more scary, this module could be considered to work for NPC interdiction, not just commander interdiction. It also gives a warm fuzzy feeling to commaders that ripcord in to protect the startwinders from the mean ol' npcs
The modules may have a few disadvantages. I will do my best to shore them up before closing this post.
It may shrink the scope of the game a little bit, but. . .
If the scope of space needs to be preserved, than the Tethers can have a range-limit in lightyears depending on class and grade. A small, class-one, grade-E may have a limit of 5 lightyears, meaning only one ripcord-equipped escort in systems nearby can be summoned, while a class-5 grade A may have a range of 100 lightyears to ensure an escort in a busy section of space.
What's the incentive to equip a ripcord?
I haven't figured out the incentive to equip a quantum ripcord. The quantum tether is easy enough. I want to say that commanders that do ripcord-in can be transfered some credits form the tether-equipped commander for their services, but Fdev don't like player-player transactions.
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