For the same reasons you have combat restrictions based on level, you should have the same restrictions applied on hacking.
Larger/older players are bottom feeding at the expense of younger players.
its not just a matter of reallocating resources.
A player with 200+ more Hull points along with the research gains on top of that is going to do what they want to you.
You can't realistically defend against that.
Further you've made the firewall trap harder to obtain than the other traps and I suspect You recently made those odds much worse.
There is little risk to a player hacking someone 40 levels below them.
There is a serious balance issue here that needs to be addressed

Yeah, I agree. I would think that crit-hack should be modified based on rank vs rank.. If high rank player hacks low rank player then crit-hack % chance should be lower. The RP itself is good balance cuz hacking lower rank players nets smaller RP than hacking higher rank players. I think what we need to fix is crit-hack itself.. The reason why high rank players like to hack low rank players without any risk is cuz of planets via crit-hacks.. They don't care about stealing RP..

When a lower ranked person gets crit-hacked they are guaranteed to lose the planet if it is any good, though that would less likely be the case, since even their best is usually some 2x mega-rich. Then some higher ranked person in their legion gets it and then they lose a flux. Fluxes and planets are the currency now, and they act like epoxy. I have NEVER considered a planet permenant or had any emotional connection to a planet. When fluxes were common I exploited 'planet fluidity'. You can unsettle planets without GP. Now there is a disparity emerging, but it seems somewhat natural. Saying it is 'your' planet is like saying Columbus discovered America.

Fluxes are much harder to come by.
Lower level players don't see to troop carriers.
I certainly haven't seen an npc that carries one.
The critical hack suggestion is pretty good but its still no risk to the higher player.
so what if its 1 in 100 or 1 in 1000.
maybe also make the risk dependent on Hull size not just level difference?
and increase the energy cost?
Stealing a planet for 5 energy, a planet someone already high graded, seems pretty cheap. You could maybe factor in shield strength to the equation?
Shield worth would skyrocket.

Hacking a planet location means nothing if the planet is worthless or if it is too well guarded. You still have to colonize or invade.

No such thing as a too well guarded planet in this game.
And so you only take the really nice ones from the smaller player
Being the target of that act isn't much fun.
Forget whether they did everything right.
The odds are stacked against them.

I just realized... If you critical hack a player it reveals any 1 planet they have scanned... so if the hacked player has enemy-colonized planets in their list, that means it is possible to critical hack an occupied planet that is not owned by the hacked player.

O but there is such a thing Andy look here.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=1819&start=0

Let me know what you think of that world. You can't use artifacts on it ever by the way.


But other than that (and I'm sure someone will someday find a weak spot on it and take it from us) you would be right any world you can scan from someone you can take if you put the right artifacts, timing, and energy into it regardless of what is on it.

I did around 130 hacks. Always vs ships 10 levels up scale or higher. The prize is better. The aftermath sometimes a bit more painful.

And like a mosquito, I move from a target to another, taking a sip, nothing more than a passing annoyance since I move on.

Drying out research of a starting player isn't honorable. I don't know any Klingon who would do this anyway. Romulans are scum, check out around the Neutral Zone.

Plamok

There are hack restrictions. 5 energy compared to however much more it takes to actually disable someone will raise your limits ridiculously fast and they usually get pounced on anyways if only because hacking equipment takes up too many decks for them to be able to defend against conventional attacks very well. That and hacking the higher levels is what actually gets RP and that is just begging to be disabled. The new raiding system will probably make it actually be bad to be disabled though.

Problem is that the people hacking don't care about the rp.
if that's all it was they wouldn't waste the energy on it.
and you just have to hack someone enough to get hacked back.
free chance at a planet that way.
and someone with 200+ Hull points to you really can configure so hack and defense against you are viable.
Attacking back just keeps you on their radar and keeps you at risk.
its too unbalanced.
as a gamer I should have a reasonable chance. Losses should only occur when I screw up or just play badly.

With the new Legion comms system a hacker will get disabled and hacked. Reasonable players consider once enough of a riposte.

Artifacts exist to defend oneself against reprisals. A hack can also be a tactical lure to provoke an attack against an artifact protected ship. There is still tactical room within the game for a hacker.

If one can resist 12 hours then he can disappear behind the defense of a heavily cloaked planet. Cloakers require secret bases in order to get off radars. Once started on a cloaking path, one is pretty much confined to keeping cloaking technology at the top of his research tree.

Plamok

Those artifacts have gotten difficult to acquire.
The same tactical lure can occur via the normal combat system.
And why would you expect your legion members to put their planets at risk just for your tactical whim?
And I believe its two days (at least 36 hrs?) Before you drop off their list.
And planet cloaks don't help your ship.

Actually, I have provided cloak cover for many wingmen since I share location of my cloaked bases. None have been attacked while defending these planets.

Ever thought of sharing a safe berth with your wingmen, or to protect starting players from attacks ?
And our big guns are real nannies.

I suppose our Legion is more collaborative than others...

Plamok