Recently I found myself in some awkward situations where I needed to VMode due to life events (travel in my case), but I had some outstanding fleets (trades and expos to be precise). In particular, I didn't care about the ships, and was more concerned about protecting the primary fleet sitting on my moons.
I propose that players should be able to activate VMode while fleets are active, but at significant cost.
When VMode is activated while fleets are in transit, they complete their mission, but on return are unable to dock, and end up crashing around the planet. The entirety of the fleet is destroyed, and generates a debris field at the return coordinates. This does NOT generate a wreck field.
Any resources they were carrying become phantom resources until VMode is over, at which point they are lost. If the position is attacked while VMode is active (the fleet must still be sent before VMode is activated), these resources are captured first before any existing resources on the planet are taken. These resources cannot be spent on Items/Auction.
Because this is such a severe action, activating VMode while fleets are active will pop up an additional dialog, and require a password confirmation to take place.
I'll admit I don't know how often this will be utilized, but I think it will be useful in some situations and protects against most abuse vectors. If a player's moon is popped, and their fleet is phalanxed, they can't jump into VMode to save their fleet, and in fact they guarantee its destruction. For the attacker, this will actually improve their profits, since they will still be able to capture the resources in transit and the debris field, and there will be fewer ships they need to fight during their attacks.
I propose that players should be able to activate VMode while fleets are active, but at significant cost.
When VMode is activated while fleets are in transit, they complete their mission, but on return are unable to dock, and end up crashing around the planet. The entirety of the fleet is destroyed, and generates a debris field at the return coordinates. This does NOT generate a wreck field.
Any resources they were carrying become phantom resources until VMode is over, at which point they are lost. If the position is attacked while VMode is active (the fleet must still be sent before VMode is activated), these resources are captured first before any existing resources on the planet are taken. These resources cannot be spent on Items/Auction.
Because this is such a severe action, activating VMode while fleets are active will pop up an additional dialog, and require a password confirmation to take place.
I'll admit I don't know how often this will be utilized, but I think it will be useful in some situations and protects against most abuse vectors. If a player's moon is popped, and their fleet is phalanxed, they can't jump into VMode to save their fleet, and in fact they guarantee its destruction. For the attacker, this will actually improve their profits, since they will still be able to capture the resources in transit and the debris field, and there will be fewer ships they need to fight during their attacks.