Interdictor class ship?

[Montoya]

With the silhouette revealed, everybody seems to agree that an interdictor class ship will be revealed.

There is already some premature raging about how this will ruin the game ;)

The mechanics are simple enough, you find a popular trade route, you park your ship and turn on the interdiction bubble. If a ship is in quantum happens to travel within a certain distance of your bubble, it will get pulled out of quantum and now you can attack it.

To keep things balanced, we already know the transport ships like the Cat and Starfarer have pretty good shields. It is highly likely that the Mantis (?) will be lightly armored and have weak weapons. It is not a ship that is meant to be used on its own, but rather in a group.

What are your predictions?

 

[Hybus]

Space is huge, that would have to be an enormous bubble you're generating in order to be effective. I mean even flying lets say 20k to starboard before engaging quantum will move that popular route by an ever increasing factor. Let's say it does generate something crazy in size, like 150k in diameter, if you clip something and drop it out of quantum, odds are they'll be able to power up and run for it before you can intercept.

Now I get this ship shouldn't be working alone, but potentially that's a large number of vessels you're going to have to have operating in a specific area to pin down targets. Also realistically, how long before generating a field like that would be detected on long range sensors in a even "half assed" patrolled system? How long do you have parked there fishing before the game wardens start showing up?

 

[Mastersan]

Looks like a pimped Starfarer

 

[Blind Owl]

Interdicition, while cool, sounds terribly boring, lol. And @Hybus has hit the nail on the head. The space taht has been created by CIG is YUUUUGE. So unless there's some sort of other mechanic ustilized, I really don't see this being viable, unless you're parked just outside of a base, trying to cover everything that comes from said base.

I really hope there's some other mechanic involved that makes it a viable choice to play. Maybe the bubble both pulls people from quantum AND prevents ships from jumping to quantum and cruise (or whatever they call it now). That would make more sense to me. You ambush someone, they try to run, but your field keeps the at normal speeds. That would be my guess, and I think what I personally would prefer.

 

[Blind Owl]

By terribly boring I mean just sitting and waiting to pull a target out of quantum. I would hope that you'd be able to actively hunt for a target, and affect them from range perhaps? Rather than camping a lane - or what you hope is a lane.

 

[Mastersan]

Well, without any further info it's difficult to speculate. The ship looks like a single seater, probably a Hornet size - judging by the engine and the cockpit - very similar config to the Hornet. Not sure about those legs at the rear of the ship. It sould be that the ship is very stealthy and attaches itself to the "prey" ship, then, when required (or may be pre-set distance) it knocks the ship out of quantum where the "welcoming party" awaits. The other possibility is that after the ship attaches itself to the target, it hacks the navigational equipment and the target ship travels to a location coordinates set by the "Mantis" (?).

 

[Blind Owl]

Well, without any further info it's difficult to speculate. The ship looks like a single seater, probably a Hornet size - judging by the engine and the cockpit - very similar config to the Hornet. Not sure about those legs at the rear of the ship. It sould be that the ship is very stealthy and attaches itself to the "prey" ship, then, when required (or may be pre-set distance) it knocks the ship out of quantum where the "welcoming party" awaits. The other possibility is that after the ship attaches itself to the target, it hacks the navigational equipment and the target ship travels to a location coordinates set by the "Mantis" (?).

That's a cool concept. A hacker ship? I'm all over that shit, haha.

 

[BUTUZ]

Maybe it will not be able to pull passing ships out of quantum, as mentioned above the mechanics don't make sense, or sound fun.

But instead it can be used to hold ships already down from jumping out.

 

[Mastersan]

On the note of a boring interdiction gameplay. There may be a ship, let's call it "Spider" class, which is similar to the Nautilus, but instead of mines, it can drop interdiction sphere generators, so that you can cover a significant area. When a ship is knocked out of quantum, the "Spider" is alarmed and gets to know which interdiction sphere has been triggered. Then a player moves in and searches for the prey. The ship size can be different - from a small thast can drop a limited number of spheres to a large one. You can also play as a group, where for each area covered in interdiction spheres you have a stealthy pathfinder/scanner ship like a Hornet Ghost, Terrapin, or similar. Once the "prey" is knocked out, you quietly scan for what it is that you have knocked out of quantum. If it's a sweet juicy target (maybe a loaded freighter with no escorts) you move in and capture it; if it's a sour target (an angry UEE Navy Fleet), you stay quiet.

 

[Blind Owl]

Maybe it will not be able to pull passing ships out of quantum, as mentioned above the mechanics don't make sense, or sound fun.

But instead it can be used to hold ships already down from jumping out.

Exactly what I was thinking. Damn I love Star Wars.

 

[Blind Owl]

On the note of a boring interdiction gameplay. There may be a ship, let's call it "Spider" class, which is similar to the Nautilus, but instead of mines, it can drop interdiction sphere generators, so that you can cover a significant area. When a ship is knocked out of quantum, the "Spider" is alarmed and gets to know which interdiction sphere has been triggered. Then a player moves in and searches for the prey. The ship size can be different - from a small thast can drop a limited number of spheres to a large one. You can also play as a group, where for each area covered in interdiction spheres you have a stealthy pathfinder/scanner ship like a Hornet Ghost, Terrapin, or similar. Once the "prey" is knocked out, you quietly scan for what it is that you have knocked out of quantum. If it's a sweet juicy target (maybe a loaded freighter with no escorts) you move in and capture it; if it's a sour target (an angry UEE Navy Fleet), you stay quiet.

Brilliant. I like it!

 

[BUTUZ]

Exactly what I was thinking. Damn I love Star Wars.

I am at one with the Owl.

We are one.

 

[Blind Owl]

I am at one with the Owl.

We are one.

Owl accept this.
We are owl.
So say we Owl.


Wow does that ever sound pretentious. I love it, hahaha

 

[Black Sunder]

Spelled out right here.

RSI Mantis Thread - Tuesday update posted - New Pics and Article inside, Page 10

RSI, Strut your stuff in a new Mantis!

testsquadron.com

 

[Shadow Reaper]

I don't see how we can guess a size for the thing, but I would not guess an interdiction generator would fit on a smallish bird. I would expect this to be at least the size of a Nautilus.

The whole notion of dropping someone from quantum into a minefield does have an an appeal. I am of course most interested in killing Vanduul, but this does show some promise for that too. Dropping fully laden mining and hauling vessels out of quantum, immobilizing them, boarding them, and taking control of the bridge before they can blow it up sounds like a rewarding challenge to me. If you're dropping someone into a minefield with lots of S1 Distortion Cannons, their crappy range doesn't much matter. Hmmm. . .

 

[maynard]

interdiction will kill trade outside of UEE controlled space

I don't think CIG realizes they're driving players away from interacting with other players and toward an all-PVE play style

Eve Online has taught us how risk-averse players are

in order to get corporations to set up shop in null-security space Eve's developers had to create a mechanic whereby freighters could go from secure space directly to their null-sec destinations, bypassing all the choke points where piracy can happen

 

[Thalstan]

Think about how much it could be used against a whole group of people though.

A bunch of pirates some in and start blockading Port O, just out of reach of the guns and start killing everyone who tries to leave.

A bunch of white hats come in and do that same thing to Grim Hex, or Jumptown, or any other place people try and do business, trying to prevent anyone who does business in that port from leaving, and denying hardened criminals a place to land and refuel.

At some point, it will become more about inconveniencing people than piracy...

 

[Blind Owl]

I don't see how we can guess a size for the thing, but I would not guess an interdiction generator would fit on a smallish bird. I would expect this to be at least the size of a Nautilus.

The whole notion of dropping someone from quantum into a minefield does have an an appeal. I am of course most interested in killing Vanduul, but this does show some promise for that too. Dropping fully laden mining and hauling vessels out of quantum, immobilizing them, boarding them, and taking control of the bridge before they can blow it up sounds like a rewarding challenge to me. If you're dropping someone into a minefield with lots of S1 Distortion Cannons, their crappy range doesn't much matter. Hmmm. . .

I do so love how your mind works.

 

[marctek]

A set of interdiction ships could be used for base defense as well. You set them out far enough that a force jumping in to attack will drop out where you want them and are ready for them. But again boring gameplay unless you know they are coming in advance and we don't know when we will have bases to defend.

 

[Blind Owl]

A set of interdiction ships could be used for base defense as well. You set them out far enough that a force jumping in to attack will drop out where you want them and are ready for them. But again boring gameplay unless you know they are coming in advance and we don't know when we will have bases to defend.

Also, depending on the range of them, you'd potentially need hundreds of them to cover one areas. Space is yuuuuuge!