Warfare & Tactics

It has been long established that in order to affect any change in the world of 0.0 Sov, you need this monstrous thing called a 'blob.' In blob warfare, the intricate complexities of PvP in EvE are replaced by a swarm of convention fitted ships piloted by the hive-mind, whose strategy is molded around the reality of TIDI.

But War Is Hell!

This is true. But in a game, it should also be fun. I will address the snore of war later - today I write about small/mid-sized gangs.

Ah, behold the beauty of small gang skirmish. Where each pilot stands to be counted in skill, courage, and strategy. Where all elements of PvP are realized. Where the few can defeat the many. Where bragging rights are won at the expense of another's ego. All in the name of the ever-coveted killmail.

Beware, my brothers and sisters, there is a mighty weapon often wielded against gangs that crushes with impunity even the best PvP pilots of New Eden - boredom. You see, it is well known that the best means of dispatching a group of vagrants trampling on one's lawn is to pick up your toys and go inside. Fear not, these bad men will soon realize the abject irrelevance of their presence on your property and disperse.

This, I say, is uncharacteristic and unbecoming of a game developed by 'Vikings.' Any city state, province, empire, or civilization that failed to defend its borders paid a price. Raiders, barbarians, Huns, and the like, all preferred their victims to flee behind castle walls - all the better to pillage and loot the surrounding countryside.

Granted, there should be a limit to the mayhem and destruction a small gang can inflict upon an undefended sovereignty system. Nonetheless there ought to be some price to pay for the doctrine of docking up. My suggestion: make moon mining similar to the mechanics of a POCO: orbiting the moon separate of a POS. Once destroyed, its contents can be looted. Got a better idea? Post away!

The objectives are:
1. Give strategic purpose for a small or mid-sized gang roam aside from generating KMs or spamming local when denied a fight.

2. Give members of sov space alliances a vested interest to undock and defend their system.

3. Makes those alliances who are unable to or refuse to defend their space pay a small price for their negligence.

INB4 Goons warp stab interdiction

CCP should gate the gates in nulles by cosmic disturbances like incursions.... that would be fun

How about gated Plexes representing the I-Hub upgrades. Shooting them down (which should take a small gang of ~10 guys maybe 15 Minutes, enough to form up, but not too long so it takes hours) grants some loot (Salvage, something akin to WH blue loot which can be sold to NPCs etc.) and disables them for ~24 hours or something. (No repairing, that would be too easy.)
Problem 1: Big blobs can kill them in an instant. Maybe allow only certain ship classes to pass. The smaller the upgrade, the smaller the ship so that a BS blob can only threaten LvL 5 upgrades, but the LvL 5 has to be killed before the BCs can attack the LvL 4.
That way a highly upgraded System is rather safe but will attract the blob.
Problem 2: Upgrade System, shoot own Upgrade, gain money, change System, rinse repeat. So the Upgrade Loot should be worth less than the same time used shooting NPCs for example. The biggest bonus should be the loss for the Defenders.

Another Interesting point: In Sov Warfare fleets would need to divide to kill many upgrades at the same time. That way a mixed fleet is needed to engage all Upgrades.

The disconnect in your analogy is that the raiders shared the same time zone as those they were raiding. During the latest bloc wars between the CFC and others, there's a reason the CFC's opponents were mostly active during the AUS TZ.