Hello,

Let me start by saying I REALLY like the added NPC's to the battle screen. They are a nice addition to players wanting to specialize in combat rather then (just) grinding through missions). It is very much the way I thought it could/should be implemented.

Let me throw out another idea. I'm recently back from a 1-week business trip and will be headed out on another soon. I can not always get FB access so I try to arrange for my ship to be in it's best defensive situation possible. That mostly means stripping all energy sources and packing on heavy shields, weapons and cloaking... Still I come back and get to see 0% hull and how many hundreds of research points or credits have been lost. Other players have also mentioned this. It would be nice if there were a way to be more defensive when away from the computer for extended periods of time...

...BUT... we don't want a grief PKer to attack in the morning, go afk until evening, come back, attack and then go afk again so there is no retribution. Game balance is key.

What I would propose would be an AFK setting (I dunno, call it in space-dock) where you did NOT regain energy. Instead your energy total was divided up and applied as a bonus to attack, defense, shields and cloak. A person who was in space-dock would therefore be a more difficult target to raid, hack or even smack around but not impossible... especially if they could be chipped away at over time without (immediate) retribution. Likewise being in space-dock prevents retreating for the defensive bonus for short trips since you will emerge and then have to wait several hours before initiating a counter-strike or performing missions.

I'm of mixed opinion on research and mineral points while in space-dock. On one level why should you get any of them? On another level you still have to pay daily upkeep while in space-dock and they both have a fairly low max storage. I wouldn't recommend halting these without at least halting daily upkeep as well.

This is a non-essential improvement to game play. Being afk for extended periods only affects a small number of players frequently and for short trips I would probably just load on the extra shields and firepower and play porcupine. At least I would have some energy to play with after returning... but for those week plus long family vacations without internet access and those business trips or just taking a break to focus on other things I think it would be a nice addition.

Thanks for listening,
Sean