Hi folks,
I kept thinking about intended gameplay and Power Play.
Each profession adapts to the three major activities of Power Play 2.0 (Acquisition, Reinforcement, Undermining). Miners mine, and don't have to adjust their approach too much. Traders sell for large profit when reinforcing, but will often sell at a loss when undermining.
Combat pilots fly their ships to fight ships. They fight in different ways, according to activity and system state. When Acquiring a system, they can Bounty Hunt. But if the system is contested, the real fun begins with proper Conflict Zones.
When Reinforcing systems, they Bounty Hunt, or patrol in SC looking for Power ships and engaging with signal sources. They can also defend their carriers from hostile raids.
When Undermining at a Stronghold with a carrier, they fight their enemy around the carrier.
When Underminign a Fortified system, options are limited to signal sources and interdictions. (I have already argued that off-nav is not intended gameplay but a workaround)
Which leads me to believe that SC patrolling is the intended combat gameplay for undermining forts. I deeply believe this would be perfectly fine, if the ships spawn criteria were fine tuned.
I will try to expose what doesn't work about signal sources with an anechdotal example.
Context: I'm a Patreus player undermining a Winters system.
Today I was lucky to see a Power Convoy Distress Signal Threat 5. It was a conflict zone, and it said Patreus vs Winters. However, it was populated by two convoys -- a Patreus and a Yuri Grom one. This is great for a Winters player reinforcing their system, but useless for me. (Also, why would Patreus and Grom start a fight if they're both UMing a Winters system? They weren't even competing for wreckage).
When back to SC and I struck luck again. I can't remember the signal type - Power Weapons Fire? Power Distress Call? In any case, it was a Winters signal. And there was a Winters trader, as well as a Denton one. There was also a team of 2 Condas and an Eagle, who promptly attacked the federal trader. That made the 2 condas wanted. Luckily for Winters, the federal trader jumped.
At this point, you might wonder how a T9 escaped weapon fire from 2 condas, an Eagle and my own humble Krait.
So did I. When I turned around, I found the condas shooting at each other. Presumably 'cause they were wanted, as they shot a clean Winters ship. Even if bounty hunting wouldn't contribute to undermining. Even if they were both Patreus' ships. Even if they were in the same literal team.
If signal sources spawned ships from the local power and then one or more of the opposing powers, sense would start to be made. Signals would work from both the reinforcing and the undermining side. Each would be a little conflict zone scenario, if you will. 07
I kept thinking about intended gameplay and Power Play.
🅣🅗🅔 🅐🅡🅖🅤🅜🅔🅝🅣
Each profession adapts to the three major activities of Power Play 2.0 (Acquisition, Reinforcement, Undermining). Miners mine, and don't have to adjust their approach too much. Traders sell for large profit when reinforcing, but will often sell at a loss when undermining.
Combat pilots fly their ships to fight ships. They fight in different ways, according to activity and system state. When Acquiring a system, they can Bounty Hunt. But if the system is contested, the real fun begins with proper Conflict Zones.
When Reinforcing systems, they Bounty Hunt, or patrol in SC looking for Power ships and engaging with signal sources. They can also defend their carriers from hostile raids.
When Undermining at a Stronghold with a carrier, they fight their enemy around the carrier.
When Underminign a Fortified system, options are limited to signal sources and interdictions. (I have already argued that off-nav is not intended gameplay but a workaround)
Which leads me to believe that SC patrolling is the intended combat gameplay for undermining forts. I deeply believe this would be perfectly fine, if the ships spawn criteria were fine tuned.
I will try to expose what doesn't work about signal sources with an anechdotal example.
🅣🅗🅔 🅐🅝🅔🅒🅓🅞🅣🅔
Context: I'm a Patreus player undermining a Winters system.
Today I was lucky to see a Power Convoy Distress Signal Threat 5. It was a conflict zone, and it said Patreus vs Winters. However, it was populated by two convoys -- a Patreus and a Yuri Grom one. This is great for a Winters player reinforcing their system, but useless for me. (Also, why would Patreus and Grom start a fight if they're both UMing a Winters system? They weren't even competing for wreckage).
When back to SC and I struck luck again. I can't remember the signal type - Power Weapons Fire? Power Distress Call? In any case, it was a Winters signal. And there was a Winters trader, as well as a Denton one. There was also a team of 2 Condas and an Eagle, who promptly attacked the federal trader. That made the 2 condas wanted. Luckily for Winters, the federal trader jumped.
At this point, you might wonder how a T9 escaped weapon fire from 2 condas, an Eagle and my own humble Krait.
So did I. When I turned around, I found the condas shooting at each other. Presumably 'cause they were wanted, as they shot a clean Winters ship. Even if bounty hunting wouldn't contribute to undermining. Even if they were both Patreus' ships. Even if they were in the same literal team.
🅣🅗🅔 🅒🅞🅝🅒🅛🅤🅢🅘🅞🅝
If signal sources spawned ships from the local power and then one or more of the opposing powers, sense would start to be made. Signals would work from both the reinforcing and the undermining side. Each would be a little conflict zone scenario, if you will. 07
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