Dragnet Gun (PVP stuff)

[RugesV]

The Idea is a weapon that you shoot a dragnet from ship A at Ship B.  When the dragnet hits Ship B  a physical component is added to the surface of ship B.  This lowers ship B's max speed/ acceleration by 10% for each dragnet that connects with ship B.  The players on ship B can then use a repair tool and scrap to remove the dragnet.  Multiple dragnets can be launched at a ship to continue to reduce its max speed. 

 

This will vastly improve PVP encounters in the game.  As currently you almost need to have consensual PVP to even engage as one party can simply avoid PVP by running away, and once your at max speed it is almost (almost) impossible to catch up as your max speed is the same on each ship.  This will also increase PVP encounters as players will need to actively go out to remove them. 

 

The range on these should be in the 1,000km range (5SU) (although maybe more, maybe less, opinions?) They will have seat capacity just like weapons do and need to be hooked up to a gunners seat.  They will need to have a fairly long reload. like tens of minutes.  And maybe even require a special antenna  that must be placed externally. 

 

To bring this a step further. Have a special version of the gun that fires a laser at any ship in warp that is withen the 1,000km range that stops the ship and disables the warp for 10 minutes (ships normal engines are still functional).  This eliminates the problem of ships warping from safe zone to safe zone without any threat. (although players will still be able to warp within safezones without threat (IE the alioth to madis or thades)). Gun only works in PVP space.

[Taelessael]

I do agree that the game could benefit from some manner of tractor-beam/stasis webifier/net-launcher, but...

 

5 SU is a bit much for range when you can't spot targets on radar until 2 SU... Also, as a point of reference, the basic L railgun (the longest range basic weapon in the game) w/basic ammo and without skills has an absolute maximum range of 320km... I know skills, higher tier versions, and ammo can boost this substantially, but putting the equivalent of a net-launcher anywhere near the effective range of the equivalent of a sniper-rifle just seems wrong. Personally, I'd vote it should be somewhere near the optimal of missile-launchers, but that's just me.

 

As for trying to (presumably) pirate people that are running from you, the general idea is to be a lot faster at getting up to speed than they are, or just able to get up to speed before they pass you. I've done my share of pirating in DU, and I know from experience that it isn't hard to catch non-warpers leaving planets that arn't in the AMT bubble well before they get up to speed, you just need speed yourself. Don't try to pirate in a "mighty glacier" of a ship because you'll never catch anything, use something you'd take to a drag-race with guns (and pick your battles, a cargo-ship is a good target, a war-ship is not).

 

Finally for the interdiction of warp-ships, it has been on NQ's to do list since the start of beta. Most folks seem to think it will be an EVE-style bubble, but until they actually get around to adding it in we can only really guess (although again, having a range greater than radar range probably wont happen).

[RugesV]

5 SU might sound like a long distance.  And yea  we dont have radars that go that far (its why I suggested a specific radar that works with only these guns.)  But I think 5 SU might be whats actually needed. Space is huge. and we dont have any choke points like you see in Eve.  Also getting hit with them is not an automatic PVP engagement.  You shoot someone at 4SU  You still have to close in on them before they remove the nets. 

 

And while the railguns are great at sniping long distances. The overall DPM on them is so bad. They only seem good because most ship designs are so bad  with paper armor they just get melted.  Unfortunately railguns have gotten such a good name for themselves because of this they have become the meta. Which has also caused engagements engagements to become so long and not final which has also caused its own issues.  But thats a different topic. 

 

And while this dragnet would be good for long range interdiction. I do think we still need a short range  system like the tractor beam. that lowers speed when moving away from each other but increases speed when moving towards each other.  Which would then allow stuff like the short range cannon type weapons to even enter the battlefield. 

[Taelessael]

I am aware of just how large space is. As I've said previously, I've done this before in DU. Your choke points are the planets/moons people are leaving from and the standard paths they take. As for the "they can fly around my 2 SU radius" argument, they can fly around a 5 SU radius too, and they can use your "net only radar" to spot you just as easily as you could use it to spot them. (If you are not aware, piloting and using L guns/radar are not mutually exclusive actions, its just more difficult, the same would apply to your nets) At best you'd just be giving them that much more time to evade and run after they hit you with the same net you hope to use on them. If I can pirate other people's ships with a 15km range weapon and no net, you can to. 

 

If you want to catch them, build (or buy) an interceptor. If you are having trouble designing or finding an interceptor for sale, I have dispensers that sell full ships here: ::pos{0,12,34.7224,-77.3662,3.3846} (bring an M container or 3 S on a hub to link to if you want to buy one, they don't fit in your pack).

 

As for rails...when were they ever the meta? People are addicted to them because of the range, but they are not the be-all-end-all of weapons by any stretch. They were just a point of reference as the longest range weapon currently available.

 

Something to slow people down once you already have them would be nice, it would help your buddies flying slower ships catch up, but it doesn't have to be so overpowered as to become mandatory hardware like a 5 SU range radar and a 5 SU range weapon would be.