Some of the new mobile structures have a theme of rewarding active players and punishing the inactive ones. One example of this would be the mobile depot which can still be scooped when reinforced and then reanchored somewhere else if you wish. Another is the syphon units which steal various reaction materials from a POS if the owner of the POS doesn't notice it's there.
I had an excellent idea for a couple of extra mobile structures I would hate to see in existence. The fact I would hate to see them means they must have some merit. The structures are the "POS Fuel Syphon" and the "POS Fuel Accelerator". Without going into actual numbers, these modules would act thus:
POS Fuel Syphon - This anchorable would behave in a similar manner to the other syphon structures. Every hour this structure takes a number of fuel blocks from the POS it is anchored near and stores them for anyone passing by to take. An additional percent of blocks is wasted during this process. The number of blocks would be related to the tower size meaning a small POS would only lose a quarter of the blocks per hour that a large POS loses.
POS Fuel Accelerator - This module causes the POS it is anchored near to burn its fuel at an accelerated rate. This anchorable has a similar effect to the syphon in that it makes the POS run out of fuel faster. This anchorable is a pure 'dick structure' as the person laying it down gains no material benefit from the module. I would make this module a one-time structure which cannot be scooped back up. I would also make the effect stronger than the syphon as its intention is purely to make the POS run out of fuel rather than some sneaky slight-of-hand theft.
Both of these modules punish people who have POSs but don't spend enough time at them. Defending against either of these modules would be trivial for the active player or corp who live in their POS or system containing it. People who put a POS on a moon then visit it once a month to fuel it up could get an early surprise in the form of low fuel alerts sooner than expected.
While writing this it also occurred that a similar module for accelerated fuel burn could be used to speed up strontium timers. For anyone looking to defend their POS this shouldn't be a problem as they could take care of the structure as it appeared. For undefended timers it would allow an offensive force to remove a tower more rapidly. So, what do you think? If everyone hates this idea equally it must be a good idea, right?
Limit this type to only one per POS and 10-25% effectiveness, otherwise you just put 10 of them around a POS and take one down in just a few days. The fact that a lot of players wouldn't like it doesn't mean it's a good idea.
ReplyDeleteWhat about players that run a personal POS and only have time to check on it once a week? Or take a 3 week vacation? Things have to be balanced for casual players as well.
I agree there needs to be a limit on total effect of these structures. Pilots who only check once a week should have little to fear other than lost ISK. Pilots who take three weeks vacation are tending to the area where they should have a friend act as caretaker or pull the POS down. You could even have a new industry build up around POS baby-sitting. These modules dont require POS access to destroy.
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