First off, I know this is still an in development feature subject to change and that we have been given very little specific information on the mechanics.
With that out of the way...
What we do know is that Capital ships will be classified based on size and whether they are Military or Civilian in use, and that they will have a safe zone around them.
A number of people have been expressing concern over the fact that civilian cap ships can become indestructible, mobile platforms for pirates and griefers.
Military cap ships can be attacked by similar sized (or larger, I think) military ships but civilian cap ships cannot be attacked.
So the question becomes, what determines whether a cap ship is designated military or civilian?
I think it goes without saying that it should be more than a switch the player can pull to change the designation. Whether a ship is military or civilian in purpose should and probably will need to be decided on construction.
Another fairly obvious decider will be whether the ship itself is armed. As civilian ships cannot be attacked, it seems fair that a civilian cap ship should be completely unarmed, whereas a military cap ship might have weapons for the purpose of firing upon stations and other cap ships.
The big issue as far as I can see is carrying capability and capacity. Cap ships are essentially mobile bases, and will be used for storing, moving and probably producing ships and fighters. How exactly ships are stored in cap ships is yet to be shown, but presumably it will involve more than just flying the small ship into the cap ship. Some sort of permission will be needed to link the ships so that on travel, the smaller ship is not left behind.
I think this provides a regulator of sorts for what sort of ships will be allowed to dock with cap ships.
Civilian ships may only be allowed to store unarmed ships, or more ideally, a very limited number of armed ships, while military ships will have no limit on the number of armed ships allowed to dock.
This will in some way prevent civilian cap ships being used as indestructible battle carriers.
I'm sure that players will try to find ways around this, maybe storing ships and armament separately and attaching them only before a fight. But even this means that launching a fighter from a civilian ship will be time consuming. This way, players trying to use civilian cap ships for combat will be handicapped, and encouraged to just use military cap ships, which means that they are no longer completely untouchable.
What do people think?
What are some ways to prevent players using civilian ships for military purposes?
Should it even be prevented? (Insert hardcore pvp opinion: "Everything and everyone is fair game")
With that out of the way...
What we do know is that Capital ships will be classified based on size and whether they are Military or Civilian in use, and that they will have a safe zone around them.
A number of people have been expressing concern over the fact that civilian cap ships can become indestructible, mobile platforms for pirates and griefers.
Military cap ships can be attacked by similar sized (or larger, I think) military ships but civilian cap ships cannot be attacked.
So the question becomes, what determines whether a cap ship is designated military or civilian?
I think it goes without saying that it should be more than a switch the player can pull to change the designation. Whether a ship is military or civilian in purpose should and probably will need to be decided on construction.
Another fairly obvious decider will be whether the ship itself is armed. As civilian ships cannot be attacked, it seems fair that a civilian cap ship should be completely unarmed, whereas a military cap ship might have weapons for the purpose of firing upon stations and other cap ships.
The big issue as far as I can see is carrying capability and capacity. Cap ships are essentially mobile bases, and will be used for storing, moving and probably producing ships and fighters. How exactly ships are stored in cap ships is yet to be shown, but presumably it will involve more than just flying the small ship into the cap ship. Some sort of permission will be needed to link the ships so that on travel, the smaller ship is not left behind.
I think this provides a regulator of sorts for what sort of ships will be allowed to dock with cap ships.
Civilian ships may only be allowed to store unarmed ships, or more ideally, a very limited number of armed ships, while military ships will have no limit on the number of armed ships allowed to dock.
This will in some way prevent civilian cap ships being used as indestructible battle carriers.
I'm sure that players will try to find ways around this, maybe storing ships and armament separately and attaching them only before a fight. But even this means that launching a fighter from a civilian ship will be time consuming. This way, players trying to use civilian cap ships for combat will be handicapped, and encouraged to just use military cap ships, which means that they are no longer completely untouchable.
What do people think?
What are some ways to prevent players using civilian ships for military purposes?
Should it even be prevented? (Insert hardcore pvp opinion: "Everything and everyone is fair game")
