[PoB] Weapon platforms and PoBs part 2

[Haste]

I feel like people are drawing the exact opposite conclusions of what this change actually means.

Platforms are currently fairly useless against a competent sieging force. A while ago I was part of a siege against a base with a decent chunk of platforms. Our solution to that problem was to have one player in a gunboat press one of his TS keys and hold it down for a couple hours (can tab out or press enter to keep it pressed, if you want). This made the platforms permanently miss and kept all our Battleships safe and sound.

Platforms are currently an area denial weapon: they annoy people and make them not want to play in a certain area. They are of very little use in situations where PoBs are actually threatened*.

We could make platforms do a better job at defending from sieges if this change passed. They could be more accurate at longer ranges against capital ships, the anti-small-ship platforms could effectively create a deathzone for smaller ships to prevent them distracting the anti-cap platforms, etc. However, we currently cannot do so as half the game universe would be rendered unplayable by angry PoBs.

*) Unless you go full New London, of course.

Just tell me why a base should not be shooting at an enemy ship? All NPC bases do it.

Very well. I have an alternate proposal, then: reduce the combat effectiveness of a base's combined weapon platforms to be comparable to a Station armed with standard Station weaponry. If you want to compare apples to oranges, allow me to turn the oranges into apples.