POB Change Suggestions

[LuckyOne]

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Suggestion
Type: POB Plugin / Other
Title: Replace / augment siege mechanics with a "boarding" option

Specifics

• a new Transport missile / torpedo (?) is introduced called Boarding Pod Launcher
  
• slow refire rate and consumes ammunition called Boarding Pods produced on POBs using Marines, Light Arms / Side Arms and whatever else deemed appropriate
  
• the projectile travels slowly and can be brought down by CDs / swayed off target by CMs
  
• the projectile upon successful impact spawns a non-buyable by any ID commodity in the POB storage called Boarders
  
• Boarders take significant amounts of cargo space on the targeted POB, effectively "securing" it from further use by the POB owner
  
• should work only on deshielded POBs
  
• if the POB contains Marines/Security personnel of their own their number is reduced instead of spawning more Boarders
  
• if the POB has no available cargo space an amount of RMs or other commodities are destroyed
  

Potential Problems

• Given enough players with launchers, it might be possible to board the POB very quickly / overnight by the attackers. Weapons platforms might be used to counter this though.
  
• There might be a problem checking if POB is unshielded in the code as that is the default state
  
• I'd imagine it would require extensive coding and potentially spawn unforeseen bugs
  
• The defenders could just delete the storage module I guess? I see that as a potential trade-off, you delay the takeover but also lose the cargo space upgrade.
  
• It's not clear how the siege would end when Boarders take all the available cargo space. I guess you could make it turn Neutral and / or delete / disable the admin passwords programatically?
  

Example of Effect

Maintaining the POB shield becomes as important as maintaining hull integrity. The defenders need to balance keeping the shield up, disrupting boarding attempts and repairing the POB.

The attackers have the option of ending a siege through forcing the defenders off the POB. This could be used in cases where the attackers want to take over instead of destroy the installation.

The defenders can prevent the use of this strategy by countering the boarding projectiles, even if they have inferior numbers. Transports become a viable alternative for siege instead of just battleships. Snubs / gunboats become more useful both for defense and attack. Freighters become useful for quickly slipping in detachments of Marines for defense.

Further Discussion
This one might be a bit of a stretch and I don't know if it's technically possible... But I include it nonetheless because it might spur further interesting discussion.

This suggestion would add an alternate (potentially riskier and more expensive, but faster!) option for the attackers to deal with the POB, and provide an attack mechanic based on a timesink to produce / coordinate attack instead of requiring massive amount of credits / AFK sieging.

It could be used to resolve hostile faction POB takeover RP situations.

Could also be used for events I guess?