Humans are generally predictable. They hate change. Sure they’ll gripe about how bad things are, but when it comes to actual change, they dislike it and instead learn to cope with the current state of affairs. The new sov changes are scary for some people. These are the people that have learned to just “deal” with it and the idea that they may have to re-learn the sov system and adapt is frustrating. Where some may see scary change, others see exciting new opportunity. I proposed a similar idea with “central hubs” and “nodes” being used in order to make 0.0 sov mechanics more varied and so this version is very close to my liking.
Unfortunately the ones that see new opportunities are far out numbered by the other group, the people that see the new sov changes as the end of Eve online and the final reason they need to write out their sad “i’m quitting Eve” threads. But don’t give up just yet, read on. Perhaps you’re one of the people that see the future in a positive light or perhaps you’re one of the naysayers on the brink of running a blade up and down your arm. I’m going to tell you why many of the criticisms presented are simply illogical.
One argument I’ve been reading both here at EN24, TMC and the Eve forums is that now a single interceptor will throw the entire sov mechanic into a hellspin of wack-a-mole. The attacker now has all the advantages and the defender has none. A lone interceptor will now go from system to system like a busy little bee collecting the nectar of tears from our flowery faced nullsec residents. But how right are they?
This game is not divided between “attacker” and “defender.” It’s made up of different alliances, coalitions, corps, and entities, all of which have just as much potential to play either role. So if you’re afraid of having your entire space empire relegated to the history books, well what is stopping you from doing the same to your enemy? Nothing! Everyone is just as capable at fitting up a ceptor and doing the same thing.
Even if you are stuck as the defender, and the enemy has burned several jumps into your home system (which by the way is an advantage to the defender) why couldn’t you as the defender simply hop out with your own Entosis moduled ship and negate your enemy? It’s an equal hardship for both sides, the attacker doesn’t gain any advantage. In fact it is harder for them because they already traversed several systems to get to their target where as you simply hit the undock button, hit “orbit” and activated the module.
You can actually catch the ceptor. Before you start spouting off EFT fittings of your 10,000,000,000 KM Stilleto, relax for a second and realize you as the defender can fit the exact same thing. What’s more, you can also fit in implants that make you go even faster than your attacker. Your attacker may also fit those implants but it’s unlikely they’re going to risk a head full of highgrades just to troll your sov. But let’s imagine that he does, and you’re both going the exact same speed and you just can’t catch the damn ceptor yourself. Well you have one further advantage: fleet boosts. Yes you can fit your favorite speed boosting T3/Commandship and catch up to your aggressor, something your aggressor is unlikely to try. And if they do, well isn’t this YOUR system? Get some buddies to probe out the enemy boosts and go kill it.
But what if the enemy brings several ceptors and i’m all by myself? Obviously your alliance doesn’t do enough to occupy the region. Maybe you don’t deserve to own sov here, and your enemy which has actually brought people has. How the hell can you allow a gang of ships to fly through your space and you not fight it?
Another argument is that 0.0 is about big ship battles! What is this Faction Warfare? I didn’t join up in 0.0 to fight with Rifters and Tristans. I’m here to see hundreds of capitals and big ships duking it out!
Conflicts will escalate. The attacker will bring a lone ceptor, in response the defender will bring his own combat ceptor + friends and catch and drive out the attacker. The attacker will now attempt to ship up to something bigger, perhaps AHACs. In response the defender drops capitals to which the attacker, if he wants to press forward, will respond the same. So you know what the big surprise is? 0.0 is still about big fleets. That doesn’t change. The difference now is that N+1 isn’t the end all be all of 0.0 warfare. After you attack the initial system and force vulnerability in the rest of the constellation, fleets are going to have to divide and be more varied. Multiple skirmish FC will coordinate different attacks in different regions.
This won’t just be a revolution concerning how sov mechanics work, but the entire social aspect of the game itself. Players are no longer going to wait for a particular main line FC to call up all the capital ships in order for anything relevant to happen. Their small gang frig roams won’t be irrelevant any longer. Now a group of 10 friends flying cruisers and frigs are both meaningful tools of attack AND defense. Now when those small gangs go out, it’ll actually matter. If you bring your group of 10 friends and your enemy doesn’t undock their gang, they’re going to lose their territory. This alone will introduce so much more content into 0.0 it’s baffling how anyone can have these fallacious doom and gloom predictions.
Make no mistake, sov holding entities will lessen in size but they’ll do so to a more natural degree. 0.0 entities held sov to an unnatural degree. Phoebe helped do away with that partially, and this latest iteration will drive these unnatural borders to further recede, and that’s completely fine. Those of you who are afraid of the change for fear that your AFKtars will be in danger…good, you should be afraid. The rest of us will revel in your fear and enjoy the new sov dynamics that will be coming to us.
