omnomnom

Heres what I'd do to current settings (today): -Make sure burst's damage is 256 now (just in case it was buffed back to 320... hmmmm...) -Radiating Coils is nerfed to having -100 burstdamage. -New "Burst Mount" Category, which has a limit of 2 per ship. -"Burst Mount" Category added to Close Combat, Combo Mount, and Manifold Core. -Close Combat max of 2 again to help rushers play the game. -Non-Prototype guns with bounce have their bulletenergy reduced by half. -Other guns (not above) have their bulletenergy reduced by 5. Bouncing guns deserve to be usable, their not a "broken mechanic", and bring needed depth to the zone with its interactions in base with things like recharge-heavy ships, etc. Making the whole game energy-based lowers depth, good if you hate players who play the zone, as then they quit from this thing called boredom. The answer to bombs sucking is not making guns suck too (unless you think everyone who plays the zone sucks, like me, Mr. omnomnom the great). ...

Answer: Something they play... Amazing ain't it? So what would people who play Hyperspace, well play? That is the question. Do they want: a) Balance dev work c) Good Settings d)all the above? for if c) is enough to keep people here... than c) becomes a possible "last resort". But if and a) are whats actively required... then I think the devs tried their best to keep players around, pretty much. However, if its d) which also included a) and but c) as well... Have the Devs made sure the settings were "good" (assuming they wanted players of course)? This is were I'd say they could've done better. If the theory holds true, and Good Settings keeps players (longer)... than perhaps that is all that needs to happen, is find out what isn't "Good", and make it "Good" again (or at least enough that their happy and come back again). See, I believe in this, that it really DOES matter what the settings were.... back when Hyperspace had more people, it had different settings, no? How could we miss this? How could we not even consider it a possibly, that the settings were *toleratable* back this then, and that is why people played? If setting are now becoming intolerable, why not try something that used to be toleratable from the past settings, and see if the case still holds true today? Sometimes, we got to admit that changes do not always attract players, and realise it was YOUR change that did it (rather than using the "blame the community" card and being done with it). But, hey, maybe I'm just being too optimistic... who knows, eh?

With Close Combat back at 2 while Combo also being possibly alongside it the question remains: how strong will bursts get? Please don't reverse all changes and unnerf bursts completely... Good Strength: a) 2 bursts, radiating coils sig 3 bursts, radiating coils NOT sig c) 3 bursts, burst damage nerfed to 2/3 strength, radiating coils sig Bad Strength: a) 4 bursts because of moreton, 2 close combat, extra mount and combo mount, then coffin field hero mode FTW LOLOL (and then say "its because your team sucks") 3 bursts and weasel with old PD flanking with TW key over and over FTW

+------------------+ | Lancaster | +------------------+-------+--------+-----------------------------------------------------+ | Item Name | Count | Ammo | Item Types | +------------------+-------+--------+-----------------------------------------------------+ | Induction Grid | 1 | | Supplement | | Phaser | 1 | | Gun | | HE Missile | 1 | | Bomb | | Resonance Sphere | 1 | | Reactor | | Overthruster | 1 | | Sublight Drives | | Transwarp Token | 4 | | | | Summoner | 1 | | Summon, SMask, FTL | | Repel | 1 | | Repeller | | Antideath | 1 | | Antideath, Alien Tech | | Oracle System | 1 | | Emitter, Signature | | Evasion Mount | 1 | | -1 Repeller, Mount | | Radiating Coils | 1 | | Protection | | Hull Polarizer | 1 | | Addon | | Kinetic Barrier | 1 | | Emitter | | Close Combat | 1 | | Mount, -1 Repeller, -1 Bullet Burst | | Parallel Relay | 1 | | Supplement | +------------------+-------+--------+-----------------------------------------------------+ | Property Name | Property Value | +------------------+----------------+ | adcooldown | +12000 | | addelay | +500 | | afterburner | -30 | | attachmask | =64 | | bombdamage | -40 | | bombdelay | =100 | | bombenergy | =206 | | bomblevel | +2 | | bulletdamage | -11 | | bulletdamageup | -21 | | bulletdelay | =16 | | bulletenergy | =30 | | burst | +1 | | burstdamage | -174 | | burstmax | +1 | | ebombdamage | -10 | | energy | +90 | | energyviewing | +2 | | explodepixels | -9 | | gunlevel | +2 | | inactshrapdamage | -13 | | mapzoom | +7 | | maxmines | =2 | | maxspeed | -2 | | minedelay | =145 | | mineenergy | =246 | | recharge | +20 | | repel | +2 | | repelmax | +2 | | rocket | +1 | | rocketmax | +1 | | rotation | +5 | | seemines | +1 | | shrapdamage | -395 | | speed | -3 | | summon | +1 | | summonmask | +191 | | thrust | +3 | | transwarp | +4 | | twarea | =45 | | twcooldown | =325 | | twimage | =100 | | twwarmup | =250 | | xradar | +1 | | xradarenergy | =0 | | xradarrange | +5000 | +------------------+----------------+

+----------------------------------+ | Juggernaut mkII | +-----------+------------+-------+-+--------+-----+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Buy Price | Sell Price | Exp | Ships | Max | Ammo | Item Types | | $77777 | $1 | 15555 | 12345678 | 1 | None | Ancient Tech, Alien Tech, Protection, Sublight Drive, Reactor | +-----------+------------+-------+----------+-----+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | The Juggernaut has been reborn into a mighty piece of technology that will surely destroy all that oppose it... | +----------------------------------+------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Property Name | Value | +----------------------------------+------------------+ | bulletdamage | -100 | | bulletdamageup | -50 | | bombdamage | -625 | | burstdamage | +1000 | | energy | -50 | | recharge | -50 | | speed | -5 | | maxspeed | -5 | | thrust | -5 | | maxthrust | -5 | +----------------------------------+------------------+ +----------------------------------+ | Revenant Reactor | +-----------+------------+-------+-+--------+-----+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | Buy Price | Sell Price | Exp | Ships | Max | Ammo | Item Types | | $42000 | $25000 | 11754 | 12345678 | 1 | None | Prototype, Reactor | +-----------+------------+-------+----------+-----+------------------+---------------------------------------------------------------+ | This technology has increased output totals compared to the competition. | +----------------------------------+------------------+------------------------------------------------------------------------------+ | Property Name | Value | +----------------------------------+------------------+ | energy | +40 | | recharge | +50 | +----------------------------------+------------------+

Anyways this zone is forever stalled by crappy "relics", too much "great plans", not enough "balancing".... until devs see the light and remove thorstorm im through with this decadent place... that forever is stalled... Seriously it feels like some endless wait for "action"... when it could be "removing the thorstorm code"... SIGH... why does fun take so long to accomplish...? Why can't a good game be a priority (or at LEAST LEAVE IT that way)... Hyperspace was better before the mass development, unfortunately... at least then it would still have people! (Besides Continuum itself losing people... pretty much that indeed.)

In order to develop Hyperspace into a better zone, you would want to have a good idea what makes things fun, right? So here comes my opinions. Ideas: * Good players with decent ships playing each other This definitely helps, especially when its both the case. Even just a good player, or just a good ship, can still help a bit. Good ships being, builds that are effective at what they want to do, and the best ones are closer to the best items for the situation. But to get maxiumum potential players though you'll need more than just this. * Lancaster with Summoner/Evoker Spider or Leviathan Obviously the lack of this won't help the situation, but it doesn't always seem to be enough. Its still important though if you want bigger games, or if you want ones that won't go lopsided because the other team does and you don't. * Huge massive jackpot This definitely seems to help after some undefined amount, though what that amount is seems subjective. * How fun the zone settings are The amount this is accomplished, can help with rest, but won't obviously do it alone. So what to do?: The best idea I can think of is improving zone settings, unless people suddenly get motivation... * Remove thorstorm To me, its lame and helped kill off population with its lameness. Although reps can get a few, 7+? Nah, especially if the team trys hard enough and gets more than 1 thorstormer (lol). Cobalts are more situational and aren't certain to even be that useful if the other team is cautious enough, it basically has to kill all the lancs. Thorstorm is just mass destruction. * Increase gunline length This is for a different reason than I've said before however... its so the "good ships", for gunlining at least, is more obvious. Currently high DPS gunning and and mass spam aren't much better than the other, which means other factors is more important. But with an small increase to guntime, spam gunning becomes more important again. Making at least ONE of the roles be obvious to do well may be a good thing, or at least worth trying, and it'll make beam array better again too! * Make effective rushing cheaper/ take less EXP In this case, I'm not saying make it easy (we don't want Hyperspace to lose all its skill, I just maybe killed gunlining after all...). However, the most obvious route is to put 2 close combats on a ship, which is not possible for starting players to obtain. Simply make close combat the newbie mount, lower its price to $1000, and its exp to 0, and even the lowiest newbie can rush too!

Yeah, thors can be repeled... barely. See, I believe thor prox is 4 tiles, which is basically the minimum possible prox for level 4 bombs (at +1 ea. level starting at 1). Yeah, Gunners are "overpowered" because they still are useful... no, they're not OBSOLETED by rushers, but they are, in my opinion, not as good. What I'm trying to say is I want a 1 for 1, gunner + rusher combo to be superior to just plain rushing or gunning, and right now, rushers can ALMOST do everything... almost. Thankfully, gunners are not that worthless, and it is still possible to outgun rusher(s) without enough gunner support theirselves. But in the past, it was harder to crack a base without your gunners, and thats what I want (without it turning into gunner-line land of 5 second gunlines ofc).

Hyperspace = Better Changes: Problem 1: Repels are too weak Reason: Thors are far too strong against repels Solution: Buff repel radius-of-effect until it reaches at least as far as thor proximity range Problem 2: Gunlines are too weak Reason: Maintaining adequete defense against rushers is now lopsided towards rushers, centralizing the game rather than providing a balance between rusher and gunner. In the (better) days of the past both was necessary, or you'd fail (as a team). Now, you can just have 5 weasels with AD/thors stampede down the defenders. Centralizing the game is not proof of strategy, but the lack of it. Solution: Increase the guntime by a half second. Remember, this needs to be balanced, not lopsided towards gunners, either. Other Comment: The game, in the past (for me), had a time where gunlines were more powerful (had basically all private teams winning too) in the most distant past for me, and now, a time where I believe rushers have that advantage, and the more recent past (a while back) where gunlines were a bit more buffed then now. The 3rd option is important for high population, in my opinion. In fact, the idea of keeping a strategy from centralizing the game is important in general, for happier population levels. Which means next, I want to give improvments based on this previous statement: Idea 1 - An item that attempts to defeat Antideath, which when activated, negates antideath from occuring, but does not reset its timer. This is so Antideath does not become useless, but not perfect, either. You would recieve a message that your Antideath was "negated".

Ok, changed to "Hyperspace as I saw time passed". Anyways, there were clearly older days than I in Hyperspace. A money integer overflow certainly sounds... omnomnomful. I also like when priv teams could have a name tag.

?lancs to see what players on your team have evo/summon Good one

Within that is a not complete example of a new item set. Basically, it'd have 3 levels of items. * 1st = Weakest items, 2nd = Moderate strength, 3rd = Strong (like current signature items) A few other stuff: * Max exp requirement for non-alien tech items would be 8000. Alien tech items would still be 25000 exp. Existing items would be rebalanced to go under this amount, except for 5m, 10m alien tech. * Money and Exp is gained as fast as it does now, including the jackpot. * In the level 2 items, there would be more bouncing guns added, mainly for gunner ships.

Now, here I'll tell you things about Hyperspace that may help you. 1. ?money Use this command to check your money level and exp. Very helpful if you don't want to be hit with lack of money/exp messages when you buy stuff. 2. ?buy Use this to check all items in Hyperspace. * ?buy [category] Use this to check a specific category. *?buy [item name] Use this to buy the item. 3. ?shipstatus Use this to check your items on your ship. For a shorter, more condensed version, use ?shipitems. * ?shipstatus -v Use this to check more detailed info, including the numbers. 4. ?sell [item name] Using this will sell the item on your current ship. * ?sell [ship name] Using this will sell that ship, along with the sell price of any items it may contain. 5. ?|[insert command|[insert command] By putting commands in this format, you can do more then one command at once. You may want to use these with macros. 6. [insert command] -c [insert number] For example, ?buy -c 20 repel, and buy 20 repels. 7. ?jackpot Check the current jackpot 8. ?flag Join a flag freq 9. /?attach When PMed to a player, attempt to attach to them. 10.

2007 - When I first appeared. Still played Trench Wars then. Hyperspace was Brickwarp VS Lag Coma, I sat in Spec watching them and/or sucked in center. Later 2007 - Once in a while I'd get in a pub freq, but we'd lose. One time I got recruited into a "pro" freq, but I died (and had no Antideath). I began to assume I was terrible... but then I backed off, said I was good, and continued to be pro (or suck). I forget when, but more changes happened, and more people started joining the game. Privs got bigger, I still usually lost, unless the other team sucked too much that mass gunlining worked, or a bunch of (pro) rushers kept the team alive, or some cobalt or something. Then the game, for me, got worse. I liked the chaoticness of that time... basing was (more) unpredictable, most it has been (in my knowledge). Although I still lost alot, so maybe thats just some rose-tinted glasses or something. Anyways, I felt like that chaoticness made up for the "bad" people that played (because bursts were strong, repels were strong, and gunners could make as annoying of a gunline as rushers could pressure you). It was the one time where you could feel like your team was "pro" because your team's ~3 sec. gunline held off those "noobs" (who couldn't get past because they were obviously too nooby, ofc). But it wasn't to last forever. These days, due to my glasses, I feel like complaining. All the time. Because, I liked the game before better. When it was more chaotic. When your gunline being held meant you were "pro". Sure, the game has elements of the past now... but its just not the same, y'know? Sigh... I need to get over the "good old days"... that seems to gone so fast... and embrace the "bad new nights"... that seems they'll always be here.... forevermore... Sigh... the days I long for... the days I wish come back in Hyperspace... ... WILL THEY EVER BE??? ...

We have turrets, now all we need is, like, 10 Warbird AI ships in center gunning at you for money (maybe not exp... they should count as 0 exp in their formula). They could all be on the same team (to help them out) so there'd be 10 AI ships gunning at anyone who steps out of safe. Whaddya say?

When I first played the game, lets just ignore the fact there were privs and look at basing itself. There were VERY long gunlines (5+ seconds at least), shrapnel from bombs made "bomblines" everywhere, rigged base 3 and base 5 (in the context of bomblines). But, repels were stronger and lasted longer, which meant a coordinated and well built team could break them... basically, a good priv. (There were also spammable bricks, which got changed into consumables and had to be bought from base 8.) These days, 2 thors could be on every ship, and bomb radius damage was bigger then today. Now, my opinion on this time (its when I first joined the zone, and my first days were around the last days of those 'fast centering spiders'): The strong repels were the main balance. However, it needed a coordinated team. Zone pop was smaller, but you could go on and just about everyone was playing: in a priv. Now, as time went on, guntimes were reduced. This is my opinion of when the zone was good: things weren't nerfed, just those gunlines. You see, that would be the problem with the next itemset in the beginning: EVERYTHING was nerfed EXCEPT for bomblines... making them (and their bombspeed) VERY good. Now, the general state of the zone was imo, good at this time. Rushing ended up continuing to get some buffs (like Point Defense), everyone could thor easy, bricks were consumable and lasted about 8 seconds, but why was this not a problem? Repels were strong enough. Now, then time passed, stuff like "supercomputer" and stuff marked the end days of that era. And we got to Next. With weak repels the game balance got thrown out of wack again (imo). Privs prepared by camping bases again, noobs failed at cracking them open, and the zone pop finally started going down........ the result? Nerf everything. Nerf guntime... little by little... nerf bombdelay (and hence, burst speed)... little by little... increase the price of thors... get rid of stuff like "Ampere Reactor"... Finally, the game was balanced again. Now, the next era: lanc rush tank. You see, tanking was the only thing that wasn't nerfed yet, making it the now obvious choice. You simply rushed lanc and runned things down. Then, more changes, slightly. "shields", balling changes, minibase changes... And now, to the current era: HS Turret Edition.

Here I am going to post all my item ideas, in this first thread. New Ideas: Old Ideas

Brick Bomb Destroys all bricks within a 300 pixel radius. Cobalt mkbrick $2500 exp 9999 Ships 1 3 5 78 Description: Cobalts an entire sector with bricks that trap ALL teams in boxes (that their ships just barely fit in). Is only allied to cobaltmkii. V Brick Drops a V-shaped brick. Can only be used by the winning team. L Brick Drops a L-shaped brick. Can only be used by the losing team. Thoughts?

omnomnom cannon $9001337 sublight, signature, alien-tech, gun, bomb charge = 1 when fired (has 1 charge) omnomnoms fill the screen and attack all enemy threats. The enemy threats are repeatedly spammed with shutdowns.

WARBIRD Size: Small Centering In center dps should be a priority. Base Trap Laser. JAVELIN Size: Small Centering Impact bomb is decent. Also get Sharppinger. Balance Energy and Recharge stats. Base I would say get Trap Laser... but you can't. Instead, you'll just have to settle for beam array (unless you're rushing, then use Phaser). Rushers should get Combo Mount and increase speed and thrust to high levels. SPIDER Size: Large Centering Buy cloakship, shredder, and AM mines. Base Trap Laser LEVIATHAN Size: Large Centering Use Mezon Capacitor, Binary Cannon, And Hydrazine Rocket. Use a "hit and run" strategy. Base Buy Binary Cannon, and a turret. Buy Trap Laser. If you're rushing, buy System Optimizer for the rot increase TERRIER Size: Medium Centering Buy Mass Driver. Get rockets on your ship. Base Traaaapppp Laaaassseeerrrrr. WEASEL Size: Medium Centering Use Yamato Bomb. Use Pulse Laser. Use Nuclear Booster. Put rockets on your ship. Base Put Trap Laser on your ship. Rushers should use their sig to increase movement. LANCASTER Size: Very Large Centering Solid Nutronium, turret. Base This is the one time I would not use Trap Laser as a sig. Use a high dps gun. SHARK Size: Very Small Centering Impact Bomb. Pulse Laser. Base High energy. Cloak. Use Pulse Laser. GENERAL In center, dps and movement are key. Small ships can focus more on upgrading dps; larger ships need to focus on how they are going to deal with their slower movement, and less on dps. The Terrier and Weasel, being mid-range, need to balance both and use their recharge stat; hence why I'd put rockets on those ships. In base, use Trap Laser. Trap Laser is one of your best options for holding off the enemy, allowing lvl2 bullets, spam, and efficiency to boot.

You're right Anyways, more ideas: 1. Reduce Price - 5m items to 400k; -12.5m item to 800k, -Dilithium Matrix to 500k. Resets just don't happen infrequently enough to validate the prices 2. Nerf Trap Laser -It is efficient, it is bouncing, and it has multifire. In base it is a powerful sig...

How is increasing DPS by 10% going to switch the situation into "permaspam doomsday scenario"? Can you tell why it wasn't GUNTIME that did that much more then DPS would? Increase GUNTIME, then sure, I agree. Was aliasing like that ever "Acceptable"? Plus you can do it anyway if it was; might as well have 9999999 monies anyway!111 According to "experience" leaks happen "more" when they used to happen "less", regardless of your claim. Quotes because, unless I wasn't really paying attention back then... I am right about this You're right, ships were nerfed. But how about... nerfing them some more? I didn't say a 8% decrease a health, but a 5%, so I mean, of course, with the current shipset in mind. I am fine with bomblines that aren't perfect, in fact, definitely go right ahead with that! I just wanted some in the game. You see, I just have an opinion of a different balance of leaks to not. I consider moving back significantly a "pseudo-leak", and THAT DEFINITELY HAPPENS A LOT!!!!!!!! (Don't try to kid me...) But, I still only want a 10% increase in DPS or 5% reduction in energy, NOT 100% and 50%, so just an "adjustment" rather then a "re-innovation", hopefully. OF course, maybe I'm just a bad player and don't know how to gun with moving back; in that case, no, I really am just bad. "shrap bomb line" - see DPS, not guntime (affects repels) "bursts" - when did I say burst?

Buff Money Newbies Make The curve should start very high for low exp players. Make Stronger Guns Currently guns aren't strong enough to hold off the enemy. I recommend a DPS increases of 10%, or a ship health decrease of 5%. More Bomblines Bomblines are exciting if done right. Better Rushing Ships HS needs better rushing ships imo. This allows the good players to overrun the enemy, allowing more skill to take place in flag games. The key here is that this needs to happen more skillfully then not, hence my recommendation on reducing the ships energy by 5%. However, I also recommend increases the rusher's DPS. I believe skill is more found when there is higher DPS in ships, but less health. One reason to buff money newbies make-- center. Flagging give lots of money, sure, but what about when you're not flagging...? That is the problem. The reason I say stronger guns, is because, if you look, leaks happen A LOT. And if you didn't know, back in the old days, when guns were stronger/had longer gunlines, leaks happened less often (although they still happened). A balance between leaks and defense would be ideal (while allowing skill to make as much difference as possible ofc). And that, to me, means increases gun damage, rather then guntime (for maintaining easier repping). And as for bomblines, well, if you buff rushers and gunlines, bomblines would be more easier to skillfully break. Also, gun length affects shrapnel time, where gun damage is only that.

A private team can easily have 5 or so ships create a continous, non-stop line of bricks securing victory and ensuring the opponent's defeat. The best solution to this is I think a global brick timer for the team, preventing bricks from being used if the timer is active. Other options include: -Bricks too expensive to gain money from winning, like 5k each (still allows you to secure victory however) -Removing bricks from being bought and all currently existing bricks from players' ships Now of course we say, "thors"! Well that's if they don't use repels (when you have enough thors you might actually stop them from bricking) of course. "But repels suck, they're unlikely to repel such fast bombs!" Well good thing, huh? Let's make repels suck more to ensure balance in Hyperspace is kept (they should not be able to repel thors AT ALL!!! Take that brickers! Yay!) But private teams don't exist! You're right, they don't. I want bricks to go back as permanant items which restock after death, as well as repels, bursts, and thors. Instead of presuming a price tag "balances" it (the item's strength doesn't change), just nerf/buff things until their ACTUALLY balanced. You can start with bursts having 1 bullet per each, then increasing it +1 until a satisfactory number is achieved. Repels are bad enough already. And thors... thorstorms are still good, price or not. Instead of hoping nobody "abuses" thors, how about making repels have a larger radius so they *can't abuse it* (thors reliably possible to repel)? The changes to the items this itemset have discouraged COUNTERING tactics, not ABUSING them. Thoring to do general damage to the entirety of an enemy's team? Sure. Getting your special, triple thor ships just to (hopefully) thor 1 bricker (who respawns in 5 seconds to attempt to brick again if you succeed, because he still hasn't used his brick yet)? And then the difficulty of repeling a thor ship's (fast) thors with your low range repels? And then with the cost of repels, more people using their guns instead of repeling to stop bursters from killing the lanc? Indeed, the itemset succeeded at these things better then the assumed balance it supposedly made...

1. Starting Gun In the last item set you started with Pulse laser, a lvl 2 gun. Then it was in fact, the highest DPS bouncing gun in the game. Now you start with Pea Shooter, and Pulse Laser or Gamma Ray, while still strong guns, are still outclassed by Positron Gun in DPS. Now Positron Gun is a signature yes, but if you made Warbirds and Javelins start with Gamma Ray at least maybe it'd make it easier on the newbies. Of course you could then say, "But Gamma Ray is a mere 2 kills away in EXP!" Well, thats true, but we have money to consider as well. What if a newbie didn't save all their cash, and did something like buy Inertial Damper? Now they get to wait longer. Oh, but then you say, "I'll just give the newbie free money!" Well ok so you do, but does that mean you ignore this balance idea instead? Its either that or they get into a flag game, where kills are much easier. And that doesn't happen all the time. Basically, I am saying the starting gun is, at least in one way, worst then it used to be. Pulse Laser used to be both strong and efficient; while it hasn't been entirely nerfed from that status there is now signatures that may very well do better, like Trap Laser and Positron Gun, or Sharppinger in center. Not to mention you don't in fact start with Pulse Laser, but Pea Shooter, whose lower DPS doesn't exactly help a stock ship, who has little else to fall back on anyway (compared to fully built ships). I know, "Starter Kit", you say... as if that answers everything, and newbies are obviously only lacking in skill because of it. However, I disagree; I think DPS is a better fallback for a newbie, who is assumingly not as good at playing Hyperspace anyway. I think DPS is like the base defense of your ship: the easiest thing to fall back on, for I think it is the most skill less thing to rely on, and therefore, the most highest likelihood of getting a kill in. Movement takes more then one button if you wish to not fly in a straight line, guns take only 1 button to use. 2. Obtaining Repels and Bursts I think one of the keys to successful rushing, especially in a small ship with low energy (like newbies), is Repels and Bursts. It used to be, in the item set before current, that at the lower requirement of 75 EXP, and after obtaining $7500, you would be able to obtain the item which would give you repels and bursts. Now, it is $15000 and 1600 exp. The problem here is that this essential mount for adequate rushing, once possibly 13 or so kills away (and maybe someone's free money giveaway), is now at least 160 kills off. What if we had newbies who could rush however...? Instead of handing them a single repel with the newbie mount, get rid of the protect mount (has no bursts anyway) and, for example, put the Defense Mount in its place, with the same price, and the same amount of exp, as the current Protect Mount. There are no "stronger repels" or "stronger bursts" at the signature level here. Once a newbie gets their hands on this mount, they should be capable of being at least half-decent. And their lower exp in the balancing system would even help compensate for the rest, right? Or just make newbie mount have a free burst too, without changing anything else. Even that may help (although 2 repels and bursts would probably help better). If we want to promote rushing, how about we lower the EXP requirement. Unless you have another plan that makes newbies rush... --- Basically, what am I trying to say? That game mechanics may be part of keeping newbies in. Before we decide its always the community's fault, lets look at the facts: the game. Make it easier to gun and allow newbies to actually rush. Perhaps that would help keep more newbies in the game, or at least, those who stick around long enough to figure out how to buy a ship.