Mark Abent · Lead Gameplay Programmer

Well, that was one of the main things we were worried about up front: I could activate this device, so how do we prevent people from griefing? Because honestly, it sounds fun to just go to Port Olisar and turn it on, and people can't stop you. They can't shoot you, because you're in a green zone. So that was problem number one: make sure that they can't activate it in the green zone, and if they do go inside the green zone, we disable it. So if you do activate it outside, the other person can shoot you down. And once David Pollard's change goes in, you'll be able to shoot him and take him out without getting a criminal infraction yourself. So a lot of the stuff being added uses the existing systems to say: you can use it, but you're going to use it at your own risk. You can activate it outside, you'll get a criminal rating, and then some AI might take you down eventually, because you turn into a baddie. There are also restraints on the device itself. The Mantis is kind of one of the lower-tier interdiction ships, so it only has that small range that it can pull ships out of. And it also requires a lot of power from the ship. Just activating it will basically make flying feel drunk, and if you try to shoot, you'll end up using all your power. So if you just use it by yourself, you're going to have trouble. If you use it with some other players and form your own little group, that brings in some systemic stuff. And then the question is, how do you go and retaliate? Well, I love the community, and I'm pretty sure if they find a bunch of people... Maybe this could be one of those service beacon things that we add. Actually, that would be pretty cool. A bunch of players are trolling, and someone makes a service beacon saying, hey, take that guy out, they're griefing a bunch of people with the Mantis, and then a whole swarm of people come in. So we want to add some ways to make it systemic gameplay for the players, so they have ways to counter it using some of the systems. Now, again, this is tier zero. We did the green zone, the power and the criminal stuff. We'll see how players use it and abuse it, and we'll react accordingly.

Kirk Tome · Lead Systems Designer

Right, to expand on what Mark said, the primary way we're balancing it is by requiring a lot of power. Having the Mantis at its complete idle state and then charging up and activating the quantum snare gets you right to the edge of what your power plant is capable of. So if you do any afterburner maneuvers or fire your weapons, as limited as they are, at the same time, it will shut down the device. So players will quickly learn that they'll want to turn down their other systems in order to use the snare effectively. That's where it's up to the players to decide: do I want to reduce my shield? Do I want to turn off my primary weapons? Do I want to reduce the thrusters' capability? You make that decision before you set up your trap. Then you go ahead and spring the trap. And then, again, using your friends is probably the best method there.

Jared Huckaby · Host, Community

And of course, like any other game system, we'll continue to monitor it. We watch streams, we read the Issue Council reports, we check Spectrum. We'll continue to monitor feedback, and if tweaks need to be made, either making it more restrictive or making it more available, those changes will be made as we deem necessary.