I would tentatively support this if it weren't so easy to build stuff in the EF layer. As it stands, if we open up building there anyone with a Sing Sphere can build endgame stuff with no real issue. Historically speaking, The Jiggling Butt Gang built Prawns in Celestial Garden and used these to PvB teams in Wild Space. It was quite irritating.

I would not be so quick to abandon the laissez fair approach to player governance in SS. It would be good to get some more low- to mid-level players to weigh in on whether they feel capable of progressing in WS.

Was that not addressed by making ownership in wild space a requirement to attack?

That does help things a bit. It's still possible to lay a bogus HQ somewhere just to get PvB ability. Maybe we should require people to build a certain holoprojector on their HQ in order to unlock PvB, once the universe has reached civilized state.

And you already know you're not going to get it.

EF space you trade; colonies, extractor slots, ICs, t20 builds, asteroid quality, planet density, and ownership all for safety. You really think poor logic is going to get you safety + everything you have to pay for safety in EF back?

Tell me, with your plan; what is the point in learning to build in EF space if your plan makes Wildspace just as safe?

I feel like a big thing to point out here (@HoberMallow) is that we already have the "safe space" you are referring to. You guys made base gear free. So yeah, I can attack someone repeatedly, but it's just a waste of money because they can keep popping up like cockroaches all over WS because of free gear on all bases now. As for the argument that endgame players are giant assholes that will waste mountains of cash to spite up and coming players; (1) that's bullshit, I see most endgame players helping new guys and they typically only dick stomp their fellow old guys (except 13... fuck I giving counter examples to my own arguments...), and (2) we have an inter-player economy for a reason. Someone wiped your JY kit expedition into Wild Space? Good thing this is an MMORPG. Use the MMO aspect to have someone build you some Dem or Ada kits.

Here's the thing, I am totally for giving newer players a safer environment to learn in; However, that already exists in EF space. Between the safe space that is EF space and bases coming equipped with everything right down to diffusers, I see no reason at all to increase the protection they currently enjoy. I mean shit, you don't even have to have a checklist for basing anymore. Everything is already on the base, just equip weapons and start the Y upgrades building.

This suggestion would make perfect sense circa 2010 before we got a layered universe that offered EF space as a completely safe zone. The fact is though; we have come a long way since then and an enormous amount of work (that I largely bitched and complained about because I still fucking hate a lot of it) has occurred, and while I disagree with the free X gear thing, I have to admit that enkelin is not wrong when he says it makes it enormously simple for someone to come back from a total loss scenario.

In case anyone is wondering why this post is so much more thought out and well organized, it's because I got interwebs on my tower again and have a real keyboard once again.

I loled.

Anyway, I obviously agree with Shawn's post. But I still think it's worth considering to open up Warp 2 EF layer for building but to let Markoz's tough termites colonize there.

Fuck yeah. Built like 50 Andaman Drones and 100 Laconia bases that are collecting dust in a Thatch.

@Shawn

The way Enkelin explained it is that *unless* you occupy the galaxy, which means 95% of the time you're deploying industrial operations to recoup losses from securing the place, then you're just wasting your time, resources, and effort knocking down the galaxy.

I seriously doubt a big team like Traders or RE are going to knock down a jaw set smaller team that has dug in to defend their space. People like 13 on the other hand...

Still, not a big deal to defend against 13. Just a pain to get rid of his outpost because he's liable to have the place locked down by 20-30 STM kits.

This idea I actually really like, give top level termites and then players will be able to learn in a hostile but still relatively safe environment. I would definitely suggest whatever the most evil mite is though, that way people are actually learning to build strong and defend their assets properly.

The most evil termite would be a Bio or Emp Bio one, which requires something in the range of 6 ada T20 STM kits to fend off (considering what is deployed to Bio atm). You're limited to T16 bases in EF layer.

So, for a newer team, that would be like 20 T16 STM kits? 30-40 for Non-STM because F2p?

Have fun with that kind of Termite.

You're not limited to t16 in EF my shop is a t20 HPS kit in FM, because yolo.

Also I'm pretty sure that none of the mites take any Ada kits or gear to contend with. Well built Achilles or Anni is sufficient.

Okay, that's SM16 for f2p.

Need to make 3 more accounts to fend off termites then if you want the Bio ones.

The idea isn't too open up w2 to pacify F2P. It is to give P2P more room to learn before they move into wild space. And honestly, I would totally be in favor of an uber than was immune to F2P damage in all forms that hunted their bases...

F2P base spam bothers me immensely, even though it has been significantly decreased in the last few years.