Attacking towers? From Gaute's article:

[_____________Meurgen]

I was under the impression that attacking a tower would have to be an expensive, and calculated move. It would only be possible through the use of a Shield Disabler device, which would be very expensive to obtain.

Here's what led me to this impression, from Gaute's second NW article ( http://www.anarchy-online.com/conten...ticles/02.html ).

The shield disabler is a new concept. Basically it is there to make attacking a controller an expensive manoeuvre...

...The Shield Disabler is basically an item that any person who wants to attack an area has to use in that area. It makes you able to attack! It also should cost enough that it is something you only use when you really want to launch an attack on the controller. This shield disabler increases in price with QL, naturally, and must have at least the QL of the controller to make it work. Hopefully this will force people not to throw shots left, right and centre just to annoy others.

It makes sense right? Attacking an enemy base is a risky thing. First off it's a very difficult fight under most circumstances, and second (perhaps more important) it will make your own base vulnerable to attack for a long period of time... which is my main gripe.

Last night I helped my guild spend two or three hours defending our base while it was in 25% supression gas mode. We held off the attackers in a great battle until it turned 5%... we only had an hour left. 20 minutes into the 5% gas mode, some doof who didn't understand the new gas rules found a random omni base somewhere and attacked it...........................

resetting our base to 25% (I think it's for another 4 hours).

For exhausted defenders who really want to go to bed during the 20 hours of 100% gas, this wasn't exactly a welcome thing.

If your guild is of any large size, it's very hard to communicate to all of your members that you can not under any circumstances wander close to an enemy tower without permission of the president or advisors (going to close will cause the towers to agg, which will activate the 'war' gas changes, wether or not you want them).

So I guess the shield disablers are broken? Or were they a last minute thing that was pulled from the game?

I'd personally like them back in. Attacking an enemy base should be a well thought out plan, with plenty of backing and support that is relatively financially draining. It should *not* occur simply because someone yalming through DAV accidentally flew too close to an enemy's cannon turret.

I'd personally really like to hear a quick note from either Cz or a dev here to confirm if this is working as intended... because it certainly doesn't appear that way right now.

[Sheffy]

Well, just to correct one thing..

When our guildie attacked an Omni base, I believe our lower QL bases which were 100% suppression got turned to 25% for 1-2 hours. Our QL200 base which we were defending (which had 5% suppression at the time) didn't change suppression back to 25%, but rather kept ticking down in the 5% gas. When the timer ran out, it went to 100%.

It is my understanding that if your base is already in the 25% or 5% suppression when you attack another base, it has no effect on suppression at that particular base, but any bases where the gas is still 100% will go 25% for 1-2 hours (I don't know the exact time).

But the rest of what you're saying is what I'm curious about. Guildies have reported being attacked by towers while flying by to take a look and then our guild gets spammed with "So-and-so just initiated an attack on Blah base, your towers are now open to attack, you are in a state of war" blah blah when they really didn't even attack a tower, much less use a shield disabler.

Isn't that broken?

[_____________Meurgen]

Good point. I ld'd a few minutes after the second attack was 'initiated' and decided to go to sleep.

But Gaute very clearly explains that they want to avoid griefing by making it difficult for a person to initiate an attack on a tower.

In the current state of things not only is it so easy that it happens inadvertantly, but it also (in a way) griefs the guildies of the person who started the attack, because they probably don't want to spend another 4 hours on the defense, after spending the last 4 hours doing the same thing. :\

[_____________Meurgen]

I'd actually prefer for this to be beacon warped to the Notum Wars area. I think they created it as I was posting this.

This forum seems to be 100% whining about not being able to buy it... I feel like I don't belong.

[Stabdude]

When your org has control towers of its own, you do NOT need a shield disabler to attack. Only when you don't own any control towers. The message quite clearly says so when you try to attack a tower without owning any towers yourself.

But I agree about the communication issue. You need to make it very clear to guild-members that going off on random attack sprawls is not welcome. In most guilds, I would guess this becomes grounds for instant /org kick

[Ballard]

Hmmm, my character is clan and he has flown over and through quite a few omni tower complexes without once triggering aggro, even when I was clearly in attack range (since I targetted some towers to get info on them). Methinks perhaps your guildies are unwilling to admit they intentionally initiated an attack without authorization to avoid a butt-kicking from the rest of the guild.

[Wobble]

Originally posted by Tioga
Hmmm, my character is clan and he has flown over and through quite a few omni tower complexes without once triggering aggro, even when I was clearly in attack range (since I targetted some towers to get info on them). Methinks perhaps your guildies are unwilling to admit they intentionally initiated an attack without authorization to avoid a butt-kicking from the rest of the guild.

was the gas 25% when you did this?

remember 20hours out of every day gas is 100% in tower complexes.

[Warlock]

Originally posted by Slapster
When your org has control towers of its own, you do NOT need a shield disabler to attack. Only when you don't own any control towers. The message quite clearly says so when you try to attack a tower without owning any towers yourself.

Which is why the shield disablers should be in the general stores and not just the tower shop (which non-booster players cant access it)

[Stabdude]

Originally posted by Warlock


Which is why the shield disablers should be in the general stores and not just the tower shop (which non-booster players cant access it)

Yep, I can't agree with you more. I'm not currently in posession of NW due to the (AAAAAARRRRGGGHHHH) shipping delays in Europe.

Somebody told me these can be had as both mission (chest loot) and certain quest (Sentinels Tower Research area for clans, dunno for Omni) rewards, though. But it suxx00rs that NW'ers can just go to a shop and get them, while us poor non-NW owners can't.

[_____________Meurgen]

Perhaps the design could use some rethinking then... I don't see much difference between a non-affiliated person attacking a tower versus a guild attacking a tower. It should be a move that requires at least a BIT of thought...

It will take some getting used to, but controlling every single guildmember is hard when you've got a 200+ person org.

I can personally confirm how the autoagg happened to a couple guildies. I was scouting a base in 25% last night and got aggd by their towers... I took a few hits while flying out of range. If I had auto attack on and I had been on foot, I would have fought back unintentionally, which woulda started a 'war'. :\

[Sheffy]

Originally posted by Slapster
When your org has control towers of its own, you do NOT need a shield disabler to attack. Only when you don't own any control towers. The message quite clearly says so when you try to attack a tower without owning any towers yourself.

I guess if I didn't own any towers, I would know this. But I do, so I didn't. Thanks for the info.

But that doesn't mean it should be this easy to wage war accidentally. I guess most of this is all trial and error and a learning opportunity for everyone while we figure out the game mechanics (those of us who weren't in beta).