I believe that the safe zone mechanic can be something that has the potential to make this game more fun or be a frustrating mechanic. I am adding on to another forum idea to provide possibly another solution.
Forum link: https://forum.starbasegame.com/threads/station-siege-mechanics.600/
To start off, safe zones in starting areas should remain 100% safe to protect the new players or for players that have lost everything.
Stations made by players however, should have a central core that makes a "safe zone". When the safe zone in up the station is invincible and can't be damaged by players but the player ship that are currently online can be damaged instead of falling under the category of civilian or military. People could still log out in them. I believe that this would make fights more dynamic and interesting so people can't be completely safe in a safe zone and rely on the faction running it for help.
The safe zone made by players would be more like an early detection system, it would warn the faction or faction leaders if there was an incoming attack by adding a black list for players, factions, or possibly a certain number of ships entering.
There should be a % safe for the station to see how safe it is currently and if it is under attack.
For sieging a station I think that the best way to do it would be for the center core to be either destroyed or overwritten and for the "safe zone" to be shut off. I believe that this would make combat more dynamic and to have a plan ready for if you were to siege a station because it would switch from space combat to ground combat and possibly back to space combat if you wanted to destroy a station.
Of course having a station people will most likely attack when the least amount of people are on. If you read the other form I linked they suggested having a siege period so players could only attack within that time being around 3 hours, although it is a simple idea and don't mind it I believe it could be improved on and that it would make attacks to predictable with the little time limit provided and would take away from the game.
There are three ways that I thought of to deal with this problem.
1. Make sieging a station possible at any time, but this would require a force or a small group of people to defend at all times.
2.Make a safe period were no attacks can take place, this being 8 hours or so, so people can sleep. this could expand the time and make attacks more unpredictable.
3.Make other factions have to declare war and after a certain amount of time they can siege at any point, this would make it less predicable and give time for factions to prepare.
With a mechanic like this I believe that it could open up the game to a lot more to interesting moments and expand the gameplay. I believe that this would also add more in for the diplomatic side of Starbase as well as faction on faction interaction.
Some more reading for some specifics/ benefits.
-Cores wouldn't be super expensive and would be rather easy to destroy (A few rockets). would require an upkeep time depending on size of the station.
-Would make for a possible job of security patrols more prominent.
-Ninjas attacks or inside jobs would become more prominent.
-Would require planning if you wanted to get the station fast instead of spending a unreasonable amount of time and resources taking a station.
-Would influence more faction on faction interaction whether that be trade, protection or sieging.
-Would influence station design.
-More dynamic combat.
-Overwriting a core you would have to get to the core and change the settings, possibility of a hacking tool so it takes some about of time to gain permission.
-The % safe should be influence by thing like amount of ships destroyed inside the safe zone, this would decease the stations rating and could tell players if there was or is an attack based on a high decrease of a stations rating. Could be increased by amount of time between incidences.
I will try and respond to any comments I get regarding questions, suggestions, or confusion.
Forum link: https://forum.starbasegame.com/threads/station-siege-mechanics.600/
To start off, safe zones in starting areas should remain 100% safe to protect the new players or for players that have lost everything.
Stations made by players however, should have a central core that makes a "safe zone". When the safe zone in up the station is invincible and can't be damaged by players but the player ship that are currently online can be damaged instead of falling under the category of civilian or military. People could still log out in them. I believe that this would make fights more dynamic and interesting so people can't be completely safe in a safe zone and rely on the faction running it for help.
The safe zone made by players would be more like an early detection system, it would warn the faction or faction leaders if there was an incoming attack by adding a black list for players, factions, or possibly a certain number of ships entering.
There should be a % safe for the station to see how safe it is currently and if it is under attack.
For sieging a station I think that the best way to do it would be for the center core to be either destroyed or overwritten and for the "safe zone" to be shut off. I believe that this would make combat more dynamic and to have a plan ready for if you were to siege a station because it would switch from space combat to ground combat and possibly back to space combat if you wanted to destroy a station.
Of course having a station people will most likely attack when the least amount of people are on. If you read the other form I linked they suggested having a siege period so players could only attack within that time being around 3 hours, although it is a simple idea and don't mind it I believe it could be improved on and that it would make attacks to predictable with the little time limit provided and would take away from the game.
There are three ways that I thought of to deal with this problem.
1. Make sieging a station possible at any time, but this would require a force or a small group of people to defend at all times.
2.Make a safe period were no attacks can take place, this being 8 hours or so, so people can sleep. this could expand the time and make attacks more unpredictable.
3.Make other factions have to declare war and after a certain amount of time they can siege at any point, this would make it less predicable and give time for factions to prepare.
With a mechanic like this I believe that it could open up the game to a lot more to interesting moments and expand the gameplay. I believe that this would also add more in for the diplomatic side of Starbase as well as faction on faction interaction.
Some more reading for some specifics/ benefits.
-Cores wouldn't be super expensive and would be rather easy to destroy (A few rockets). would require an upkeep time depending on size of the station.
-Would make for a possible job of security patrols more prominent.
-Ninjas attacks or inside jobs would become more prominent.
-Would require planning if you wanted to get the station fast instead of spending a unreasonable amount of time and resources taking a station.
-Would influence more faction on faction interaction whether that be trade, protection or sieging.
-Would influence station design.
-More dynamic combat.
-Overwriting a core you would have to get to the core and change the settings, possibility of a hacking tool so it takes some about of time to gain permission.
-The % safe should be influence by thing like amount of ships destroyed inside the safe zone, this would decease the stations rating and could tell players if there was or is an attack based on a high decrease of a stations rating. Could be increased by amount of time between incidences.
I will try and respond to any comments I get regarding questions, suggestions, or confusion.
Last edited: