POB Siege Balance

[LuckyOne]

Ewww, imagine having to make a POB to destroy a POB. I bet some people here are close to snapping.


Bad jokes aside, the siege platforms mechanic is an... intriguing idea.

But if it were implemented it needs to be very carefully thought out. It might actually bring out more problems than it solves. It might end up being an overpowered force multiplier. Imagine fending off an attack just to wake up the next morning and find out the siege gan(k)g have built dozens of siege platforms...

They would need to be limited somehow (limiting with just cost / ammo / fuel might work but it's not a guarantee). With siege equipment mounted on ships you have only as many battleships as there are people available to log... But they can choose when they attack, and it's usually some ungodly hour.

With NPC / automated siege equipment the attackers are always exposed and then the defenders can just choose when they log to counterattack (and it will be some ungodly hour again).

So in the end very little has been achieved, except now there are more options for interaction / more people needed for both the attack and the defense and potentially even less direct PVP between the groups.

This might also turn out very good, making every siege into a potentially wonderful mix of attacking and defending transports frantically scrambling to bring needed supplies, fighters flying cover for the traders. Cruisers trying to blockade jump holes and cut off supply lines. Jump-ships leading tactical reinforcement convoys and cloak-disrupting scouts trying to find where are they coming from while the Battleships stand guard over the big siege guns. That's the utopian outcome. The reality is that players will find any way possible to exploit it.

Or it might all turn out such a chore that nobody will bother making the effort to do it all and we will have an explosion of POB numbers.