[Sephiroth]

So here's an idea that I posted a loooong time ago on the JOSSH forums, which had some support and some people were against it. I've also made a few changes/additions.

First and foremost I'd like to see the BCU unable to be equipped on rangers and ships of that sort! It's so frustratingly annoying to chase some beacon flipper around when he's flying a ranger.

Beyond that, beacons, once tuned, should remain tuned. But they should also reflect which faction controls/owns a specific sector (perhaps to avoid abusability how frequently sectors can be taken over would be limited?). They should also provide more information then they do currently. Pirates could use a "black BCU" (something suggested a long time ago, scroll down a bit to DuoDecimal's post) in order to shutdown beacons so that no information is transferred, making it possible for bountied pilots/pirates, etc. to fly around unnoticed (as is currently possible when beacons are not tuned). Certain bonuses could be awarded when you capture a certain amount of your enemies sectors, missions could be assigned to take certain sectors, people could fight over territories, etc. The possibilities are endless!

[Pyrophred]

actually I would go the opposite way. BCUs, if you were going to limit them, would only be equippable on scouts and fighters, and maybe shuttles. if they limit their use, its should be to haulers and miners. IMHO scouts and rangers were actually designed for these missions.

the "black BCU" idea is actually a kewl idea

[Sephiroth]

Chasing a ranger that's flipping your beacons is not any fun. Try it sometime and then you will see why.

[alphabet]

Actually some of my fondest memories are SolNavy chasing around RockDoctor and blocking him in a sector and then podding him. It actually is a lot of fun when there are enough players to chase down the offender.

The problem is, there havent been enough players online to do that since EP1.

[Sephiroth]

I never found much entertainment in that, even when there were more pilots flying. :\

[Wild_Bill]

Well, someone on another thread suggested NPC's to tune beacons if real pilots didn't want to do so. The idea that beacons stayed tuned makes more sense to me than that they time out and go grey in the first place. You have to flip it to tune it. Pirates should be just like another hostile faction except their BCU completely de-tunes the beacon, which then generates a mission to "repair and tune" the beacon and possibly with an escort as well.

So my opinion would be that beacons remain tuned until flipped. The only grey beacons would be in unreg. Better yet, in our new expanded universe, let's have a mission to SET or build beacons in unclaimed or unregulated territory, including flux territory.

[Radi]

N/a.

[Injustice]

I would be against the idea of not allowing BCU's on rangers. Other than arty hunting, the only real use for rangers is running tranny missions (which is basically a fruitless endeavor for most people once you reach a high enough level to fly them) and flipping beacons. Believe it or not, rangers are balanced when it comes to PvP. Every combat ship in the game has a certain mix of speed, maneuverability, utility, and firepower. Rangers have great cruising speed but are short on utility (i.e. modx slots), have hardly any offensive capability, are slow to turn, and can't sustain much damage.

[Tim]

Yeah, the rangers are fine. <j/k = on> I don't like having all you fighter types shooting at my tow all the time, so lets just make it so you can't equip guns on them. That would remove a real irritation from the game. <j/k = off>

And i suspect that, from a gameplay standpoint, the reason beacons naturally de-tune is because of the payout.. if they didn't de-tune, a pilot could rake in that tiny exp and credit for quite some time.

From a RP standpoint, they remained tuned "until the antenna array loses its alignment and must be reprogrammed." --JOSSH

[Sephiroth]

Give other bonuses (ie. not exp/money) for keeping beacons tuned to the faction as a whole so people care to tune them and eliminated the need for retuning.

Regardless of what a ranger is capable of offensively, chasing one around is not fun in my opinion. This is supposed to be a skill based game, but flipping someone elses beacons in a ship that can't be caught without people taking the most extreme of measures in order to do it does not take much skill...


I also think that Radi may be on to something!

[Tim]

Lol.. Radi is usually on something, i'm told

And i certainly am in agreement on the difficulty of downing a ranger (unless you are in a CaptainCow Arti Special Ranger.. that thing can hunt down whatever it wants).

Doesn't take much skill at all. Just like blowing up a tow or miner. Yet, i note folks still do it. Amazing.

Guess even irritating things that don't take much skill have their place in Jumpgate.

What sort of a reward might work in place of the current tuning reward system?

[Sephiroth]

Tows/Miners should run escorted in ISU we always flew HG so whenever we were hauling something important the entire squad was there to escort you.

Another reward would be more information provided from the beacons then what is currently available, the tax benefits currently provided of course. Really, if you read my suggestion you'll see that I've provided you with the best benefit of all: Sector ownership. You tune a beacon to your factions colour that sector = yours. What faction doesn't want to expand their territories?

[Injustice]

Dealing with ships that are faster than you are is part of the game, has been since it was created. Chasing a ranger in a Nix is no different than chasing a Phoon or a Tensity. If he's out of range, he's out of range.