For the costs involved your better off just building larger mods that would have the same power. You'll even have funds left over

With the ship on ship combat you might want to recheck things.  Aysle was telling me last night about an error he ran across. He ran into a case where he didn't fire all of his his shots the first round and then the other rounds none of his other weapons would fire. Just his marines.  I think the shot limit thing just needs to be removed. Put firing back the way it was before.  As does using QP to speed up attacks. None of us like it and it just makes it easier for paying players to have a bigger advantage.

Also I would like to say the ship optimizations are way too expensive.

Well my first of the new style of coms was with a smaller and it seems they got easier actually. Its totally a marines combat mission now though...No reason to have guns.

Something we need though is the ability to use corp funds on ship optimizations purchases. That would be a good use of corp funds I think as now you can only buy the license and hull with corp funds.

Today I bring you this delayed news report of an engagement between IMG's Corp 'Pea Shooter' and a vermin infestation at system IUI 19012. As the war effort has slowed down small skirmishes seem to be the highlight of the week.

Reporter: Capt. Aysle I see that your ship didn't force the enemy to jump. What do you have to say about this.

Aysle: Razor is part of our new Corp Battlegroup equipped to take advantage of the new changes in combat. The ship is still being constructed and optimized for the best build out. It has been purpose built to fight small Pirate raiding ships. As Capt Bob's ship was very close to the ships power it was a partial draw in the ship to ship battle. By partial I mean that the enemy lost 70% of its defenses while we only lost 38% - none of which was armor.

Reporter: So then we will see many repeats of these 'draw' battles?

Aysle: Not at all. The ship simply came across the enemy during combat trials and engaged. The weapons & shields are no where near the intended power and the next engagement we will see a totally different result.

Reporter: I see that the planet was raided and you captured a few mining modules, what use will you have for them?

Aysle: They have already been re-purposed to aid the build out of our Sol Pirate Defense Force. IMG has recently been contacted by other corps about the slaughter of their low power ships while performing colonist missions. A certain pirate has already driven a couple of new Captains from their command. We here at IMG feel that is unacceptable. Raiding is one thing but the wholesale slaughter of new Captains is completely unacceptable. The pirate is quite literally poisoning the well he drinks from.

Reporter: What response can we expect from IMG?

Aysle: Its a bit difficult to defend the ships of another Corp, and as they are low power they do not yet meet our recruitment standards. However we will be maintaining Patrols of Sol system and hope to discourage the pirates in the future by forcing their ships to emergency jump over and over.

Reporter: Well thank you for your time today... It has been interesting, two last questions. Will you name the pirate responsible for the loss of new Captains? And I have heard rumor that this battle had some sentimental meaning to you.

Aysle: As much as I would like to it is not my place. I personally am a bit surprised as I previously thought he was mostly engaged in mining and minor pirating, but it appears he has upped his pirating activity and switched from raiding to destruction.

As for the sentimental meaning, at the start of the war IUI was my home system. I had to move out as Cap Bob had been spotted close by, so its very fitting to engage him in my former system while he was mining my previous location.




S/IUI 19012 Z4
 
Razor Vs. Sinbad's Folly
Weapons assault
Razor maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Razor attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 8741 damage!
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK X using standard mode.
Critical hit on target, doing 42208 damage!

Razor maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Razor attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 11239 damage!
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Viper Squadron MK XXXIV using standard formation.
Direct hit on target, doing 20877 damage!

Razor maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Razor attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 8492 damage!
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Viper Squadron MK XXXIV using standard formation.
Hit on target, doing 19508 damage!

Razor maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Razor attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 15984 damage!
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK VII using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 17205 damage!

Razor maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Razor attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 12488 damage!
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK VII using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 6383 damage!

Razor maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Razor attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 5744 damage!
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK V using standard mode.
The attack missed the target completely!

Sinbad's Folly maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK V using standard mode.
Target dodged the incoming attack!
Razor attacks with Railgun Battery MK I using standard mode.
Critical hit on target, doing 27528 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Railgun Battery MK I using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 5328 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Railgun Battery MK I using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 11988 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK IV using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 10878 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK III using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 7160 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK III using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 10323 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK III using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 5328 damage!

Sinbad's Folly attacks with Laser Cannon MK III using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 15318 damage!

Boarding assault
Razor maneuvers into boarding range first.
Razor sending Marines Assault Unit to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 72833 damage!
Sinbad's Folly sending Marines Assault Unit MK XX to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 20010 damage!

Sinbad's Folly maneuvers into boarding range first.
Sinbad's Folly sending Marines Assault Unit MK XIII to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 4820 damage!
Razor sending Marines Assault Unit to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 52290 damage!
Target shield is down!

Sinbad's Folly maneuvers into boarding range first.
Sinbad's Folly sending Marines Assault Unit MK XXIII to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 0 damage!

Razor maneuvers into boarding range first.
Razor sending trained personnel to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 5478 damage!
Sinbad's Folly sending trained personnel to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 32516 damage!


Razor Vs. Capt_Bob planetary force
Ground assault
Razor maneuvers into landing range first.
Razor sending Marines Assault Unit to find a landing spot.
The landing party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 77813 damage!
Capt_Bob planetary force has been defeated!
Atmospheric harvester Mk XV was destroyed.
24 m3 Gold, 37 m3 Tin, 177 m3 Copper was found in the wreckage.
Adv Mining facility Mk VII was captured by the attacker.
Adv Mining facility Mk VI was destroyed.
48 m3 Cobalt, 44 m3 Platinum, 88 m3 Methane was found in the wreckage.
Adv Mining facility Mk XI was destroyed.
90 m3 Cobalt, 53 m3 Platinum, 306 m3 Methane was found in the wreckage.
Adv Atmospheric harvester Mk X was captured by the attacker.
Razor captured a group of 400 enemy personnel during the fight.

Objective: Destroy 10% or more of the enemy while losing less % then the enemy.

I agree the universe needs to get much bigger, also needs the ability to hunt for someone.. with the current 700+ systems for me & my mates finding Jam is just well annoying

We dont need multiple starting points just other places to go. Class is held at Sol, there should be a bit in HUGE BLINKING BOLD RED/PURPLE/NEON GREEN letters saying get our of Sol as well...

The hay stack is good to a point but our stack is kinda small right now. QP for jumps should be done away with... It should take "some" time to jump across the universe. I think right now I can do it for 16 QP and in about 2 mins if I click fast enough....thats to fast.... personally I think QP for attacks should go away as well or have a limit (say cut by half). Also timers should be reduced...8-12 hrs for an attack doesnt work with someone that plays more then once a day.

Alot of those 1000's of noobs  that sign on and leave though we don't really want...we want the ones that want to play our slow as crap game...this isnt a game of instant reward.

As for growing. I started at the end of December. I donated to buy 2 titans (not to expensive) then I built them out a specific way and earn tons of solars a day to continue my growth. We need smart players that play often not 1000's of dumb players that cant figure out hanging out where everyone starts isnt a good idea....

Now where is my probe...I must find Jam and show him my shinny raiding ship  

Ive gotten this alot lately as well since the changes...


Its a combination of the NPC dodge and the new laser/rail bonus/penalty.

If you read at the bottom of the attack report the "Objective" is actually easy to accomplish that makes the attacker win.

"Objective: Destroy 10% or more of the enemy while losing less % then the enemy."

But with coms missions and any other battle that matters you need 100% destruction. So I think its a matter of the game just needs to drop that "Objective" line and call it a draw if you dont kick arse or get your arse kicked.

lol actually had a friend from another corp attack a powered down ship...then fell asleep and left it hanging out in the wrong neighborhood

Well I just checked this again hoping it would of been fixed in the latest update. But still no alert email sent that an attack has started. Sir Emi any chance you can take a look at this. It would really be nice to have this VIP feature work..

I find it intersting that the pirates seem to dodge at or above the % rate while my ship has yet to dodge a single shot. (The one Im referring to has a 30% dodge rate)

I think the dodge % needs to be rethought, especially once ship optimizations happen. With that you could have a 75% chance of dodge which is just unrealistic. It has totally unbalanced coms missions. Waiting 8 hrs 2x to tackle a coms mission is just crazy. I had one mission where they dodged nearly 50% of the time with only a 35% chance. I can imagine how much worse it would get with a higher dodge %.

To be realistic, a laser attack (speed of light) would be d**n hard to jump out of the way. Still need to open the wormhole and pilot in, that would take more time then the laser would to reach you. Same goes with rails. With vipers...it makes more sense.

Maybe the dodge should be more of a your ship gets either grazed or missed thing... say 70/30 weighted to being grazed. If it takes 8 hours to move into position to attack then you are pretty close and attacks would be near instant...no chance to move.

The 1 shot per a battle also kinda sucks, why cant we shoot again? maybe less powerful? Not enough time for full recharge so we shoot less powerful. Right now with the changes I see the future as building a mix of shields & armor on a titan entirely filled with mk500 marines since they cant miss

I don't think a reset is needed or a 2nd server.

1. We need to be able to set buy/sell prices.
2. Those under say 300k power should be able to buy at sol for the current price. After that point the price should rise in relation to your current power level. (I don't think a cut off of sol mats is a good idea, just make them more costly) Also to keep smaller players from buying for the big ones a simple database flag that says the resources can't be put onto a corp ship or looted by a corp member needs to be implemented. This will give the newbies a cheaper way to grow, and play catch up. For the big boys that would mean mining on a large scale to make real upgrades.
3. The universe needs to get bigger. If the big players have to mine in large amounts then we need more systems. Also Jam's probe idea needs to happen so we can finally have a real war...especially once the universe gets bigger.
4. Players exicting from the SEA Course need to start out more capable... You really end up unable to do anything the fuel cost and the threat of pirates in Sol sector make growing very difficult. New players should exit at say 100k power, or maybe the current power but get say $1mil solars to build what they think will help them grow. They need seed money.



Lastly I think a reset would suck, the 1st 2 times I donated I converted the QP to solars to buy titans... for alot that did that it would really suck to have real money go down the drain.

BREAKING NEWS -- A PMI member was located in Quadrant 1,0.

I now bring you live to the report of IMG's engagement of PMI's forces....


Interviewer: Captain Aysle, I have heard that PMI's forces exceed the capability of your own? What do you have to say about this?

Aysle: Although a number of PMI members are older then our own members they seem to be lacking in all around bang for the buck.

Interviewer: What do you mean by "bang for the buck"?

Aysle: Well as I am the youngest member of IMG, although I do focus heavily on building my battleships I would expect the the oldest active Captain to be far better equipped then myself.  I have heard numerous times from WolfDoc about the strength he has from his heavy donations. I was pleasantly surprised to find his ship lacking in defense.

Interviewer: How would you describe your engagement with WolfDoc, how did it come to happen?

Aysle: Well it was just simple luck. One of our new Corp ships was out chasing combat missions near Sol while undergoing its build out. WolfDoc just happened to be parked off-line where one of the missions dropped. After being alerted to his presence and a report of his ships power my secondary battleship was jumped into the theater. I personally had some misgivings with the engagement since his science level should be much higher then mine. A scan was performed while my finger was on the trigger. Although the odds were in my favor 14 to 7 I was still a bit concerned as I don't like to enter battles I can't win. After the completion of the scan I discovered that although his ship did have 1 million reported power it was weapons and armor heavy. A quick use of QP (after waiting 1 hour for the scan) and the battle was over.

Interviewer: I see in the report that your ship abandoned the cargo search, why did that happen?

Aysle: My ship was just heading out from Sol with a full load of fuel for a 2-3 day journey before resupply. As such there was no room for spoils. Luckily a number (318) of PMI crew did escape their enslavement and have been returned to Sol as freemen.

Interviewer: Can you tell me how close of a fight this was? I see that the enemy was defeated with trained personnel. Was your ship on the verge of jumping due to damage?

Aysle: No, it wasn't even a close battle, yes this ship doesn't carry as many weapons as he does. But WolfDoc could of attacked me all day long and never won. I only lost 38% of my shields strength in the encounter. WolfDoc lost 100% of shields and 100% of his armor. 97.68% of his total defensive power was lost. So it seems a small contingent of PMI slaves are still on board. IMG will liberate those slaves at our next opportunity. Although the battle was won by trained personnel, my men are hearty and provided an amazing 38k attack via sabotage.

Interviewer: Why is this war lasting so long?

Aysle: Quite simply because just as IMG can't locate PMI...PMI can't locate IMG. The galaxy is large and until PMI is ready to line up for our firing squad the needle in a haystack hunt will continue.

Interviewer: I see no nukes were used in this attack. Why not?

Aysle: Using nukes is a waste most of the time. We don't need nukes to win. Yes, we used nukes in our first engagement with PMI, that was mainly for shock and awe. For now we will engage PMI with superior power and decisive tactical advantage. With the addition of Corporate ships into the mix future battles will turn out far more interesting I think.

Interviewer: Any last words for us tonight?

Aysle: I think us at IMG just have to say yet again, we will continue on mining. We are miners at heart and we will not stand for Pirates stealing hard earned resources. All Corps that approve of pirating will and continue to be our enemies. We will lend a helping hand to defend not only our own corp but any other corp that is under attack of pirates. We look forward to the day when the pirates have been removed from our galaxy. Strength is gained by peace. Without peace we have Laser & Rail guns to bring peace.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time. I wish your corp continued success. Following will be a hit by hit transcript of the earlier battle.

---------------

Beta Sigma Draconis
 
Attacker opened fire!

Isle Vs. WolfDoc UP
Weapons assault
Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK XII using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 34133 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK VII using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 19680 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK XII using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 56610 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK VII using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 32160 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK VIII using standard mode.
The attack missed the target completely!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK VII using standard mode.
Critical hit on target, doing 52800 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK VIII using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 14652 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK VII using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 17280 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK XVIII using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 33217 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK VII using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 21120 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 34632 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 10368 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 20868 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 31488 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 25308 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Critical hit on target, doing 43776 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 30636 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK V using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 18048 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK X using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 28139 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Critical hit on target, doing 37296 damage!

WolfDoc UP maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 26544 damage!
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 17316 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 22311 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 7728 damage!

WolfDoc UP maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 10080 damage!
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 14985 damage!

WolfDoc UP maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 21168 damage!
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 13986 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 7326 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 17136 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 24309 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 21504 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 15984 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 24528 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Light hit on target, doing 11988 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 21168 damage!

WolfDoc UP maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
The attack missed the target completely!
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 25974 damage!
Target shield is down!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 24975 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK IV using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 25536 damage!

WolfDoc UP maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK II using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 17760 damage!
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 32634 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK IX using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 16983 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK II using standard mode.
Hit on target, doing 12960 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using pulse mode.
Light hit on target, doing 14086 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK II using standard mode.
Critical hit on target, doing 27600 damage!

Isle maneuvers into fire range and attacks first.
Isle attacks with Laser Cannon MK VI using standard mode.
Direct hit on target, doing 18482 damage!
WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK II using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 19440 damage!

WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK II using standard mode.
Excellent hit on target, doing 19680 damage!

WolfDoc UP attacks with Railgun Battery MK II using standard mode.
Minor hit on target, doing 8160 damage!

Boarding assault
Isle maneuvers into boarding range first.
Isle sending Marines Assault Unit MK X to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 11018 damage!

Isle maneuvers into boarding range first.
Isle sending Marines Assault Unit MK X to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 8385 damage!

Isle maneuvers into boarding range first.
Isle sending Marines Assault Unit MK X to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 8093 damage!

Isle maneuvers into boarding range first.
Isle sending Marines Assault Unit MK X to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 11603 damage!

Isle maneuvers into boarding range first.
Isle sending Marines Assault Unit MK X to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 9412 damage!

Isle maneuvers into boarding range first.
Isle sending trained personnel to find a boarding spot.
The boarding party found an area and sabotaged it, doing 38991 damage!
Target armor penetrated!
EMERGENCY JUMP!
WolfDoc UP has retreated from the battlefield due to heavy damage!
Isle captured a group of 314 enemy personnel during the fight.
Cargo bay at full capacity! Cargo search aborted.

Objective: Destroy 10% or more of the enemy while losing less % then the enemy.
 
Attacker victory!

Sounds nice. I hope these are added in soon. Though the blackhole's might make people wanna rethink making a star go nova.  They could either create a new solar system or create a blackhole.  Of course realistically a supernova would also have an impact on nearby solar systems as well. It can wipe out life in other solar systems. Not just the one it occurs in.  The energy wave released when a star goes nova is really powerful.

I still want to Nova one system just for fun 

sounds very interesting... note to self, buy all resources from sol before they are gone


But I can see a point where sol doesn't have an unlimited supply of resources. Would totally change how the game is played.

I can see one use for solars... Buying mods from the yet to come auction. Which without being able to buy resources at sol would make high mk level mods very desirable. It could really start an in game economy.

I think this would be really handy...

One thing though, I agree the fuel cost should be low. But the build cost should be high. That way people aren't building them by the 100s.
The probe should be slow to explore also, not a big engine on probes usually. This would make the ship it was launched from vulnerable to attack while it waits for the report. As such should only be able to launch while in orbit of a planet and cant move (the signal would be beamed back to that static location).

To be able to launch them from a single planet and limit them to only being sent to the system you are in would kinda make them pointless though. After all you could just as easily search the system yourself in the time it would take probe a system. Considering how in today's world we can send out probes that can keep travel outside our Solar System and beyond even, I see no reason why in the time when this game would take place that they can't be sent further out. Limited it to 16 ly maximum with VIP isn't unrealistic. I do agree they should be slow. But each advanced level should increase it and overall and by MK 10 would have to be more time efficient then having searching all of the systems yourself with 1 ship. Granted those with really high level FTL and wormhole drives wouldn't have a problem with it anyways, the fuel cost for such engines would still be high compared to the probes.  As for the price. While not too cheap, they shouldn't be too expensive either to make. Especially since Emi is talking about before long people won't be able to buy resources from Sol anymore.  Mass producing anything from just mining can take quite a while. Making it require too rare of materials or too high of an amount of even cheaper ones, could make producing these unproductive.  Also I can't see why probes would need to be made of too rare of materials.  As for worries of people mass producing them. There could perhaps be some sort of module that could be made to put on ships, planets and space stations that can detect these when they pass by and if whatever has weapons on it, it could have a chance of automatically destroying these if spotted. Though I would think with powerful enough sensors on these visiting each of the planets would be unnecessary for the probes.  Just a flyby should be enough. As for burning of the fuel itself. Keep in mind once in space, an object will keep going in a single direction once it has the momentum to go that way. Only thing to stop it's movements is either by slight course correction by an on board engine or from the gravity of another celestial object in space. Or if something happens to bump it.  So not much fuel is needed to keep it going where it needs other then for occasional course corrects. Perhaps there can be minor chances of random object bumping into a probe and destroying. Which requires an upgraded version of the probe past it's basic 10. Like maybe after capping them out an additional tech for advanced probes that contain light shielding so they won't have a random chance of being destroyed by a micro meteor or something like that. Of course these kinds of probes would cost more to build then basic probes. Each MK having a slightly stronger shield. That way if say a module was made for detecting these that allowed a ship or station with a weapon to blow it up, they have a better chance at surviving the shot. Since the probes would be as small as they are, we could say a ship only has 1 chance at shooting it down as it flies by.

Those are just some ideas.  I think before going into too many extra things for probes, at least the basic probes should be added in.  Something has to be done for better searching.  As it stands right now finding someone is like finding a needle in a hay stack.  the Wormhole Detector at best just serves as an early warning device or seeing if there happens to be someone set to jump in or out of a system.  That right there is only slightly useful.  I think the probes should also be able to detect what ships are sitting in safe zones. I can't see any reason why it couldn't be able to do that.  Also it would be interesting to see how many ships are sitting inactive in the safe zone in Sol. lol

Im not saying the probe explores the system it is launched from. More the probe explores a general direction for say 20-50 lys stopping at systems along the way... The number of course corrections would relate to fuel on board and Mk level.

I see no problem with detecting ships in safe zones. Im just saying there should be some sort of risk to the ship that launched the probe. They cant just sit in the safe zone while the probe goes on and explores large swaths of the galaxy. Otherwise I would envision basic shuttles sitting in the safe zone sending out probes non-stop (I know I would).

And I agree with the needle in a haystack current searching method...its just blind luck right now to find someone. There needs to be a way to actually find someone you are searching for...as you said Jam, our war is pretty boring. We need some action lol.

I think this would be really handy...

One thing though, I agree the fuel cost should be low. But the build cost should be high. That way people aren't building them by the 100s.
The probe should be slow to explore also, not a big engine on probes usually. This would make the ship it was launched from vulnerable to attack while it waits for the report. As such should only be able to launch while in orbit of a planet and cant move (the signal would be beamed back to that static location).