An often discussed subject to do with capital ships in null sec bloc warfare is Power Projection created from the proliferation of capitals, super-caps and titans and their abilities to ‘teleport’ themselves (and others in the case of titans) vast distances across the EVE universe. After reading over articles that I have read on many blog websites including an article from Marlona Sky. I had an epiphany to do with power projection in EVE and a possible solution or two to this issue.
Unlike Marlona who had the idea of PPP or Power Projection Pool which, while it would be effective, I think it would be somewhat heavy-handed, especially on the little guy. What I propose is mass limitation upon cynosural field generators.
To shed a little more light on the concept, I shall elaborate upon that which I envisioned. As it stands today there is nothing to stop you from moving 200 Archons from the north to the south and vice versa through low or null-sec at an incredibly rapid pace. The only things you need are cynosural fields and stations. Jump, Dock, Undock ,Rinse, Repeat you all know how this concept works.
What I propose is, as it says on the tin, a mass cap to the cyno. Let us say for example that the mass cap for the cyno is 12,000,000,000kg. This would allow ten Archons, nine revelations, seven Aeon or five Avatars to jump through the cyno before it reaches critical mass and thus become unusable for the remaining time of its ten minute timer. Using this method you would need either a far larger amount of cynos on field at the beginning of the fight or have to jump/bridge a large number of cynos to the first cyno to circumvent the problem. Thus requiring more time and/or effort to get larger fleets into system. To elaborate on this to get enough cynosural fields onto grid you would have to either have certain carriers, super-caps or titans to be fitted with a cyno and be prepared to be a giant pinata for the ten minute duration, risking being bumped and unable to stop due to the way that the cyno mechanic works. To counter this issue you would have to bridge a subcap fleet onto field to be able to swap fleets in a calm and fast manner to be able to light enough cynos for the remainder of your capital escalation fleet to get on grid and into the fray.
Using this concept it could severely limit the use of one staging system in one corner of EVE to cover all the corners of your sovereignty in a timely manner and encourage the use of multiple staging systems such as a southern and a northern staging system across your Space Empire manned by those whomever live closest to that area.
This little idea ages back to an old thread I was told by one of my corp members that exists in the back rooms of the Features & Ideas Thread on the Eve Online forums.
https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=262318
However where this thread lists that all capitals should be able to drag a complement of sub-capitals in their space wake I feel that this is slightly too strong and should stay strictly as a titan operation only. One titan would be able to bring a full fleet of 256 members including itself onto the field at the fuel cost of the titan jumping and the standard strontium costs as they are calculated currently. This would make larger alliances be more cautious when they have to commit titans onto the field when bringing sub capitals* and of course how they are fit. Whether to go in with full tank and take longer to recharge or take a risk and tether onto the enemy fleet full capacitor fit to get out more quickly or even perhaps a mix of the two.
Perhaps another way to solve this would be to bridge to an adjacent system and then travel by gate to the battlefield.This could possibly cause smaller fights to erupt in the surrounding area of the main battle due to the enemy employing blocking tactics to stop your reinforcements from making it onto the battlefield in time. However this would still be far more dangerous with a chance of the bridging ship being tackled by the enemy in an adjacent system to the main engagement.
*Of course conversely this severely limits smaller entities in their activities as many entities in low-sec and null-sec cannot field enough numbers to save a titan if it is caught before it has enough capacitor to jump back to relative safety.
In addition to the tethering concept I would propose a specific module for titans to jump to with sub-capitals tethered due to warp/jump harmonics requiring a different type of cynosural field rather than using a standard cynosural field, this module would have a smaller mass limit. Thus limiting the mass to the approximate amount of slightly higher than a titan with a full fleet in tow this would then limit the amount of sub-capitals to be thrown through one Tethering Cyno. Also the need of this module to bridge sub-capitals would eliminate the issue of being able to get more shield-based sub-capitals through the cyno opposed to armour sub-capitals which was mentioned in the comments of the tethering suggestion in the features and ideas thread linked above.
Not to leave out the black ops in this restructure, The black ops battleships would also have mass limitations and need to tether the bombers, tech 3’s, covert transport ships and other black ops battleships to themselves when they bridge. For example lets say the mass limitation on the Covert Tethering Cynosural Field is 7,850,000,000kg this would allow a large fleet of say 50 black ops battleships with approximately 4 fuel trucks to bridge into a system or easily an entire fleet of bombers if for some unknown reason you happen to need 200+ bombers.
Both of these suggestions would change the way warfare in EVE is conducted.
As a singular method the Cynosural Mass Limitation has a strong balancing aspect to it due to if you want extra forces or to carry a larger fleet of capitals into battle it is not simply Light, Drop and Pop as it has a larger logistical issue behind it from having to have the cyno characters in place to carry the size of fleet you want/need to get the objective completed. This method as a stand alone part would encourage more sub-capital battles with capital escalations rather than a more capital centralized style of warfare.
As a stand-alone option however the Tethered Bridging is a little too heavy handed on its application. Due to smaller entities in low and null being able to field the bridging titan yet not being able to field the numbers to defend it when it enters the destination system. I feel that this as it stands is unbalanced in the favour of larger entities and not smaller entities trying to stake their claim in null-sec.
Combined together these would perhaps make null-sec a faster more brutal style of play to get combat done and the objective achieved before the enemy capitals can arrive en-masse.
In summary the singular change of Cynosural Mass Limitation would be a minor change for smaller entities who move smaller amounts of capitals from A to B. An example of this would be cynoing two or three triage carriers in to system to support your tech 3 fleet who were struggling to hold reps. Also moving home from an area such as Genesis and deciding to settle in Syndicate for the better PvP activity should still be a relatively minor undertaking.
Where as the Cynosural Mass Limitation would be a major change for large null-sec entities and coalitions due to the limitations on the mass able to pass through a cyno, the logistical coordination in getting your 150 strong Boot fleet from A to B is vastly increased in people and effort. This would, and can effectively slow down the speed of capital and supercapital escalation perhaps giving the fight a chance to happen with minimal capital interference from all involved parties.
The singular change of the Tethered Bridging would be a major change for both small and large entities possibly causing more harm than good in regards to the health of PvP in EVE as a whole. The reason for this possible stagnation using this concept as a singular is that smaller entities will be unwilling to commit to the fight due to fears of the loss of one of their few and far between superweapons. A similar reason is concurrent with the larger entities of New Eden who may be unwilling to bridge their sub-capitals into the battle directly due to fears of instant capital escalation from the opposing side.
The combined changed of both of these would still be a major change toward the way smaller fleet fights are conducted as I have previously stated that they may not have the capability to keep their prized possessions away from an end at their enemies hands thus perhaps causing stand-downs rather than combat. This may however encourage a high stakes short and brutal race to win a battle before the enemies capitals and super capitals can get to the fray for larger entities.
– Ogast
I am a terrible EVE Online player who often plays rotten drunk, has a vulgar sense of humor and has a proficiency at dying in any ship I can get my drunken pod into.
Special thanks to the following people for helping with ideas, constructive criticism and reading over my post. DrJonF Rockit, Thomasina, Syrias Bizniz, Stilicho Theodosius, Althurus Vendrius, Veldruk Grimm, Twyn, Lucius Demeter, Keneasy, Anna, Wim.
