4Game

Tired of being caught off guard with your defenses down? Sick of being griefed by Anaconda's popping out of nowhere? Wish you could meet new commanders with a little more measured risk?

Say hello to the Phaseshift Defense Cloak!

This new module offers the latest & greatest in short-term protection, preventing any damage to your ship for the first few seconds of any attack, giving YOU the time you need to make quick decisions to save your life & property! How does it work? Once armed and charged, the module will monitor your ship’s sensors, and then discharge its capacitors the moment it detects a damaging hit, bringing your ship slightly out of phase with our universe, allowing you to avoid 100% of damage for 3 valuable seconds! As the effect wears off, your ship will remain out of phase enough to provide slightly more protection, with the effect decreasing 20% every following 3 seconds (e.g. 100% damage reduction first 3 seconds, 80% damage reduction next 3 seconds, 60% the next few seconds after, and so on). This will afford the well-prepared commander time they can use to begin their escape, call for re-enforcements, or line up for their attack run once in-phase. Not since the Omega 13 has a device come along to give you this kind of time! ORDER YOURS NOW!!!

Disclaimer: Phaseshift Defense Cloak (PDC) cannot hold a charge in the capacitors while hard points are deployed. PDC will not function while in Witch Space. PDC will not function in tandem with 'silent running.' PDC requires working sensors to trigger. PDC is equipped with safety limits required by law enforcement, and will not engage for commanders with an outstanding fine or wanted status. For safe use, PDC requires a cooldown period after deactivation. Limpets will not function while ship is out of phase.

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What do y'all think? It's an anti-griefing module I cooked up brainstorming in comments on another post. Basically it prevents anyone getting the jump on you by removing 100% of damage for the first 3 seconds you're hit, with a decreasing effect every 3 seconds. It's similar to what I've seen other games to do curb griefing & encourage social interactions online, by giving players time to react to a sudden hostile move. Players have the chance to fight or flee, and nobody feels caught off guard. It’s not designed to eliminate griefing- just to prevent quick griefing kills, and buy you a few seconds to react.

Not allowing it to be used with hard points deployed, and not allowing it to be switched on and off too quickly, should add enough of an activation buffer to prevent its misuse. Most gameplay like mining, combat, etc would be prevented during use to prevent an unfair advantage, and to keep gameplay appropriately risky. This is only really useful for the most passive gameplay loops and for social interactions, by design. Additional note: it requires being reactivated after each hyperspace jump, so it’s not a set-it-and-forget-it option.

Feedback? Criticism? Is this something people would get behind? I really think we need to address the toxic, brainless, lazy griefing that really hurts online social play.