[Karash]

TBH, I am against any GM only ship. I mean, why even discuss it if we can't fly it. Why should I be able to blame a GM (and thus ND) for screwing up my RP when things dont go my way if the cap ship is around?

Edit: Another thought is that Jumpgate Evolution should have more than 40 players on 'the' server. So this idea really isnt there if we have a population of 5000 paying accounts spread across 10 shards.

[vorlon31]

gms ships require gm presence so past/present exp tells me no.

[SingleShot]

Originally Posted by Tritian

Also, I dont want any hanger because then people could dock and hide inside of it if they are being chased. I feel it should repair/refuel/rearm but not offer a safe haven.

I don't disagree, but one could potentially just then blow up the cap ship

[Tritian]

Karash, the GM's dont really 'fly' it either. They tell it where to pop up, similar to how the Jump drive works in BSG. And it's not a combat ship, it's more of a forward base. A replacement for POS's. It's completely stationary, besides it's jump drive.

oh, it doesn't have to be GM controlled. AI controlled would work too. IMO, the best placement for it would be 3/4ths the way to the front lines, from the nearest faction station.

And why wouldn't this idea work with 5000 ships? I guess if we had that many people, we could always scale up the # of capitol ships/issue new FM's to build more.

[Wild_Bill]

Tritian you have some very valid objections and I agree with them to a point.

If you spawn back at /home and it's NOT the CapShip, then how are you going to get back to the fight? Or are you supposed to? The defending forces are going to be a LOT closer to their bases so they don't really HAVE to destroy the CapShip under your scenario, just destroy the invaders by simple attrition. Also, if when an invader gets shot down, his side is automatically weakened. No new invaders could come into the fight either, could they? SO the attackers are inevitable trimmed down while not only can podded defenders quickly return, but new warriors could be constantly added into the fight. This is beginning to look VERY difficult to implement!

***If you allow for /home on the CapShip only for the duration of the event then it does tend to keep the battle equalized in the sense that every one of the invaders who commits to the adventure will be stuck there with it until it's over. (since the CapShip is NOT a station, and you can't change your /home except at a station once you're involved, you're dedicated to the event). I call it an event since it would require some preplanning to launch and gather both attack pilots and the necessary supplies to support them. Also whether it's GM (I don't really like this because of what Vorlon pointed out, who knows the level of GM involvement?) or AI, I figure there will have to be some scheduling involved, right? Also, unless you /home, how do you continue the fight beyond a couple of hours?

Again with the CapShip as /home, destroy it and the battle's won. The invaders would be unable to get back home without it (I'm thinking the factions are going to be a LONG ways apart here, so I could be very wrong thinking), have no way to r/r/r. If we've got a big enough population for CapShips to be worth adding to the game, then if a pilot wants to hide out in the ship and not launch with his faction mates, he probably won't be asked to play next time. ***

Okay, okay. I just realized I was stupid again based on my ignorance of combat operations. NO fight would last more than a couple of hours anyway! Most fights last seconds or minutes currently. Battles don't last more than a few hours either. Folks have to deal with RL and log, or get tired of taking pod rides etc. Isn't this correct?

Therefore I disavow *** my comments on /homing on the CapShip as far as combat operations are concerned. A fluxing expedition could last for many hours or even days (depending on how big the Conflux opposition may be in Jumpgate Evolution). Mining operations would definitely last for hours or days to be worth doing at all. If all you want the CapShip for its r/r/r for a war party then there's no sense in docking or /homing either. Kill all the invaders and the battles over for the day. Destroy the CapShip and the battle is over for a long time (until a new one can be built).

Will there be a set time for "renting" an AI pilot? "Yes, we'd like a 30 giga-unit CapShip between the hours of 18:00 Ekoos and 24:00 Ekoss on 107.10.15". "Thank you, that will be 100mc please for the deposit. You get 50mc back with the safe return of the CapShip" . or something like that.