So as I have assumed, beacons are the galactic way-points people use to know where to point their FTL engines and hit go or some such. Now I can see how that’d be a handy thing and all but can’t we think of something else to kill each other for? I mean combat recon is the only exception (and I think that one could do with a bit of a rethink too at that).
An example which immediately springs to mind: 2 big asteroid/gas giant mining/harvesting space thingies (so many options here, I’ve chosen to leave it to your imaginations), each with a bunch of built in turrets, shield generators, destructible engines/command modules/what-have-you. Both sides try and blow up each-others thingy. Pretty straight forward and a game-model that’s worked in other formats well.
Another example: 2 massive scary genocidal space cannon things hanging out at opposite ends of an asteroid field littered with silly made-up element fuel substance (employ those imaginations again please). Chunk of said stuff spawn here and there (without the mini-map “come get some” sign so that people actually have to get in scan range and find it themselves), people go pick it up in a similar fashion to the EMP bombs (but maybe slower… or not. whatever. it’s not important at this point) and take it back to their waiting and hungry “taste fiery doomatron 9000”. The first team to collect enough make-something-up-itanium and load it get’s to bask in the satisfaction of their nukatronic arse-kick machine blast away the other team’s one.
I know there are likely some other suggestions that are probably similar but most of the ones I see all through around the word “dreadnaught” so often that it makes it sound like they had it in Eve and why not here (not being into that mass-multiplayer spreadsheet action, I wouldn’t know).
i like this idea, this and the dreadnought would make for an interesting game expirence, i think for the dreadnought you would have to fight normal battles to aquire loot which would in turn build your ship and the types of loot you pick up determines your corperations dreadnoughts capabilities, then the corps would be pitted against each other in a championship manner, with everyone agreeing to a time and then there would be a battle against the 2 dreadnoughts, the teams would be limited to a certain amount but they would be far larger than the current teams to include most of the corperation. so the ship would have a hanger to house the ally ships, they would fly out of it and into it for repairs and respawn and the ships would circle each other firing their guns while the 2 sides try to kill each others ships, this would be one game style while the OP’s idea could be a standard battle mode. for the dreadnoght fight, anyone in that corperation would ba able to join at any time if people quit or get disconnected, the team sizes would be 24 per side or so, im sure the game could manage it, it manages pve? so it could work.
What about a “Scrap Recovery” mission?
Scrap spawns randomly about the map, coming in three sizes; small (anyone can carry it), medium (fighters / frigates can carry it) and large (frigates only can carry it). Players must fly out into the asteroid cloud, grab the scrap and bring it back to the capital ship (which is toting some seriously scary, but relatively short ranged guns; enough to obliterate any enemy that comes within about 4,000 metres of it).
The capital ship being heavily armed is primarily a way to discourage spawn camping or trying to loiter near the drop off point. The team that brings back the most loot wins!
Agreed to all the suggestions here. Also, heck, port the pve missions over to pvp mode - destroying missle launchers on something, in pvp, or protecting/raiding a facility, with real people acting both as attackers and defenders. The maps and part of the code is already there, even.
PvE missions in a PvP setting could be pretty awesome. I’d personally say that either the attackers would need a numerical advantage, or the defenders would have to be like 1 tier lower (and they replace conventional officers).