“Wow, that new thing is so shiny!!!” | The Wandering Druid of Tranquility

“Wow, that new thing is so shiny!!!”

Add comments

Welcome to the eight edition of the EVE Blog Banter , the monthly EVE Online blogging extravaganza created by CrazyKinux . The EVE Blog Banter involves an enthusiastic group of gaming bloggers, a common topic within the realm of EVE Online, and a week to post articles pertaining to the said topic. The resulting articles can either be short or quite extensive, either funny or dead serious, but are always a great fun to read! Any questions about the EVE Blog Banter should be directed here . Check out other EVE Blog Banter articles at the bottom of this post!

This month’s topic comes to us from Ga’len at The Wandering Druid of Tranquility.  He asks: “What new game mechanic or mechanics would you like to see created and brought into the EVE Online universe and how would this be incorporated into the current game universe?  Be specific and give details, this is not meant to be a ‘nerf this, boost my game play’ post like we see on the EVE forums.”

We all see things in game that need to be enhanced or ‘fixed’.  We all see the many things that need to be tweaked and I know that we all talk about them.  But that’s not the question here.  What new thing would we like to see brought in to the EVE Online game?  Hmm…

Hackable Sentry Guns

All low sec pirates have to deal with the fact that engaging in piracy on a stargate will result in the sentry guns firing on you.  Well, what about those guns suddenly going offline?  In many PvE missions, you need to use a ‘hacking module’ to be able to access a container, why not add hackable sentry guns to the mix?

This is how it would work.  Hacking sentries would only apply to the sentries at stargates in a .4 or lower security system as they are unmanned structures and there is no Concord nor faction police patrolling the stargate.  Attempting to hack a sentry gun in a .5 or higher security system would result  in the same response as if you had shot at a sentry gun.  Hacking the Concord Billboard would not be possible as Concord maintains an active data link with the billboards, sentries are automatic and unmaned.  Hacking sentries at stations would also not be possible as they are remote controlled by the station.

You would need the same skills that are needed to operate a codebreaker module and operate POS guns.  You would use new codebreaking modules that are only available from Deadspace complexes.  There would be two code breaker modules, a pirate module and a police module.  The pirate module would require a pilot security status of -5.0 or lower greater (you would have to had that -5.0 status for at least 1 in game month as well) to operate.  The  police module would require a +5.0 security status or higher (you would have to had that +5.0 status for at least 1 in game month as well) to operate.

You would have to engage in a separate hacking attempt for every gun on a stargate.  Simply hacking one of the guns will not work as they work in unison.  You can only hack them if all of the guns are not currently firing on a ship as the guns can not be hacked and offlined while you or anyone on the stargate has an active aggression timer.  If you are in the middle of hacking a sentry gun and aggression occurs where the guns should start firing, your hacking attempt will be interrupted and you will have to start all over again.

If you attempted and failed to hack any one of the guns, all of the guns would go on high alert and would not be hackable by anyone for the next 7 hours.  You would immediately would be fired upon by the sentries as tampering with sentries is an act of aggression and you specifically could not jump through that specific stargate for the next 60 minutes.

If you were successful, all the guns would not open fire on aggression at that stargate for the next 4 hours regardless of who engaged in an act of aggression.   The Concord billboard would be still active and able to fire on anyone who commits an act of aggression, but it’s rate of fire would be reduced by half as it would be actively trying to online the sentry guns again.

While any of the sentry guns are offline, the security status indication would change on the info screen for that system as well as on the screen of everyone currently in the system.  Say a system was a .4 system, it would now show up as a .35.  A .3 system would show up as a .25, a .2 as a .15 and a .1 as a .05.  This change in security status may or may not have an affect on the type of NPC rats in the asteroid belts.

Sentry guns would come back online once the four hour timer expires Once they come back online, they would go into a high alert mode that would not allow them to be hacked again for the next 3 hours.  The security status for that system would also return to it’s original state.

Now you many ask, what is the purpose of the police codebreaking module?  This is a fun one.  It allows a person to fill the role of a vigilante and online the guns after they have been offlined.

You have to online each gun in the same fashion that the pirate module was used to offline the guns, however, if you fail your hacking attempt, nothing happens.

If you are successful in bringing all the guns back online, you will then have an aggression timer with those sentries for tampering and you will not be able to jump through that stargate for the next 60 minutes. You would have the same security status drop as if you engaged in aggression around the sentries.

Before you cry foul remember, you are still tampering with the sentry guns and only the police are allowed to do that.  You are risking being shot by the sentries to receive the reward of stopping the pirates from being able to gate camp without sentry guns shooting them.

Please do read these other fine posts on this month’s Blog Banter!!!

Share and Enjoy:
  • Digg
  • Google Bookmarks
  • del.icio.us
  • Facebook
  • Slashdot
  • Technorati
  • email
  • Reddit
  • Tumblr
  • Twitter
Tags: ,

Related posts

EVE Blog Banter May 26th 2009

This website uses IntenseDebate comments, but they are not currently loaded because either your browser doesn't support JavaScript, or they didn't load fast enough.

10 Responses to ““Wow, that new thing is so shiny!!!””

  1. mandrill Says:
    May 26th, 2009 at 9:41 am

    Ooh, I like this.

    A minor niggle though:
    You say that hacking a sentry is an act of aggression, and as things currently stand activating your codebreaker module on a sentry gun would immediately flag you as an agressor, causing all the guns to fire on you. This would negate the hacking attempt and you'd have to start all over again, but in 7 hours time as the sentries would be unhackable for this period. This effectively makes the guns unhackable, unless the codebreaker module does not actually flag you as an agressor when activated, but only on a failed attempt.

    Also, would it be possible to 'man the guns' as it were, as with a POS, as long as you had the relevant skills? Possibly with greatly reduced effectiveness?

  2. TheNudeNerd Says:
    May 26th, 2009 at 1:59 pm

    I really think this is a great idea! Though 60 minutes of not being able to jump through a gate seems a little too much, but otherwise a neat and innovative idea. Great job!

  3. Wensley Says:
    May 27th, 2009 at 10:34 am

    Not getting shot at by sentry guns would definitely make a refreshing change. It might be cool if we could bribe them rather than hack them. The more secure the system the more it would cost to bribe and the bigger the bribe the longer they'd be offline. That way if you saw a juicy freighter coming in you could try and bribe the guns long enough to get a tackle while your corp fetched reinforcements.

  4. Mynxee Says:
    May 27th, 2009 at 12:28 pm

    That is a pretty fascinating and well-thought out idea. I can imagine there would be folks who'd go around spending all their time "maintaining" gate sentry guns in advance of fleets rolling through. Not sure I agree with the 60 minute jump limitation….15 minutes (same as a GCC) would seem to be appropriate. What was the strategic thought behind the 60-minute limit?

  5. Galen Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 1:36 am

    I thought about the jump limitation for a long time. The 60 minute restriction only applies to the gate whose sentries you tried to hack. You have to admit, it's a pretty big reward if you are successful, the risk should be equally dangerous.

  6. Galen Says:
    June 2nd, 2009 at 1:37 am

    Bribe them….hmmm……

  7. CrazyKinux Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 9:59 am

    A brilliant idea indeed, but I agree with TheNudeNerd and think that that jump restriction should be cut in half.

  8. Galen Says:
    June 5th, 2009 at 11:08 am

    The more I think about it, the more I agree as well. 30 minutes seems fair.

  9. hot sauce Says:
    July 9th, 2009 at 1:53 am

    no…..

  10. Kragg Malak Says:
    September 9th, 2009 at 10:28 pm

    +5.0 us the limit of sec status. No one has a +5.0 exactly, though some are so close it displays as such after rounding. Further, using the "police" module even once would take your +5.0 (after rounding) away.

    I'd say remove the sec status requirements for both the police and pirate module. Furthermore, a titan can jump within 10 minutes of doomsdaying. GCC doesn't prevent jumping at all, just the 1 minute after aggression.

    I'd remove the jump lockout, as jumpgates are not related to sentry guns. I'd just have the sentries shoot you if you fail.

    Lastly, changing the sec status wouldn't work. Systems already have a sec status that is more digits than just .4 or whatever. A .4 system might be a .35 system true-sec, but, again, rounding applies and the reuls are set based on the after-rounding number. If a .4 dropped to .3, you could anchor moon-mining POSses, anchor POSses without starbase charters, and assign fighters. All these would be bad.

    So, while info about the guns offline would be nice, the actual sec status of the system should not change.

Leave a Reply