Warfare & Tactics

Let’s face it, the current war mechanics could be improved. I think they are well-intended, but fall short in some areas. Right now wars can’t be won or lost; they are nothing more than a bribe so Concord will look the other way. A small 3 person corp using cloaked T3 ships can shutdown operations for a much larger corp while avoiding all fights but easy kills. It would be nice if wars encouraged fleet warfare and had an obtainable end goal.

I have an idea that could help wars feel a lot more like wars. First, my goal is to keep the existing war mechanics as similar as possible. Anyone who can declare wars now should still be able to. 3 vs 100+ wars might not work as well, but should they?

When a war is declared the aggressor deploys an object in space, we will call it the “War Hub.” No anchoring skills or standings required; it can be deployed anywhere in any system and remains for the durration of the war. It would be small enough to carry with any ship and would not require a module to deploy. Once deployed it becomes invisible and invulnerable to all natural parties and cannot be moved.

There is still the standard 24 hour wait after deploying the hub before fighting is legal. After that, pilots from the aggressing corp that wish to participate in the war must fly to the War Hub once every 24 hours to check in (an action that requires 2,500m proximity). Corp members that do not check in cannot legally attack or be attacked. Defender’s corp ships may always be attacked.

If the defending corp wants to make the war mutual they must deploy their own War Hub (also takes 24 hours to take effect). At that point no one can avoid being attacked; all corp members on both sides are legal targets.

The war ends instantly if the defending corp finds and destroys the War Hub (limited engagement timers still have effect). If the war was mutual then the corp with the remaining hub becomes the aggressor and normal check-in rules apply at their hub. If the aggressor chooses to end the war or does not pay the renewal, then after the standard 24-hour cooldown the hub is removed from space and the war is over. The war history should show if the hub was destoryed in combat.

War Hubs can be found with combat probes, but only by someone involved in the war. The aggressor can deploy their hub in low or null and use a POS to defend it, but pilots still need to check-in daily. The hub should have 500,000 EHP (25,000 shield and 25,000 armor with 90% pan resists for both), shields do not auto regenerate. All corp members with an active check-in will be alerted if the hub comes under attack. It can be supported by logistics (by checked-in war targets only, non checked-in corp members would get a suspect flag, it is invisible to neutrals).

The addition of the war hub creates a point of combat where fleet battles can take place. Defenders who want to end the war early would seak it out, agressors would show up if they are looking for a fight or want to defend their investment in the war. Yes, it does somewhat resemble a capture the flag game. Questions or thoughts?

UPDATE: I number of people have expressed concerns about the building grinding. I had a new idea to avoid that and to make this type of warfare more consistent with faction warfare.

Instead of having to destroy the building, which makes the amount of time it survives less predictable, lets barrow an idea from faction warfare. When you warp to the hub you need to get within 30km of it, if no enemy war targets are in range, a 30 minutes countdown starts (doesn’t matter how many ships you have). All aggressors are notified as soon as the clock starts. If a WT shows up the countdown freezes. If all defenders leave or are destroyed the clock starts counting back up to 30:00 (aggressors do not need to remain for clock to count up). If the clock reaches 0 the war ends. Everything else stays the same.

homefield advantage?

I re-read this.

No. No cloaked hub, no no anchor skill, and no anchored anywhere.

uncloaked, big as a POCO but less ehp, anchored at celestials/moons, and destructible, also should be allowed for both parties if you want it to provide boosts.

Having served in the military and been in real wars the last thing you want to do is make eve war more 'real'

Eve is full of timers and structures to manage anyways why add another one.

Currently is a 3 man corp can shut down a 100 man corp then the 100 man corp is doing it wrong.

Afterall is a galaxy that is controlled by mega corps and fanatical empire goverments why wouldn't a war dec between small private corperation be anything other than a bride to the authorities to allow them to attack one another.

Within the context of the game world the current war mechanics are prossible the most logical outcome. No to more structure crap.

nah. If a 100 man corp is shut down by a 3 man corp then they need to learn how to operate under a dec.

If they aren't pvp types and have no interest in fighting other players there is no need to give then a structure to shoot?! They leave a 'caretaker' toon in the corp and all drop to npc for the duration of the dec. The attacking corp then just gets blueballed. If a corp want to fight the war then a 3 man corp can do some damage but the addition of structures to HS wars just plays more into the null corp hands and wont help HS carebear corps at all.

That my friend is were you start setting traps. if you have 100 people in your corp get some to setup some neutral alts to monitor their alts and mains.
go run a mission but in a pvp bait ship. Trap them, gank them and drink their tears.

It was boring because you played it their way. Figure out your own way that is fun for you and have at them! If you need a hand think about hiring some mercs to get you combat ready or gather intel on them and start setting up to take them out. If they are the griefing kind then they will quickly move onto a softer target. If they are in it for the isk then make them lose a couple of those super Tech 3 ships they like and they'll move onto another target.

Above all don't let someone else dictate how you play this game of ours.

Fly dangerous and have fun o7

Lol how much more real you want war in eve to be? Destruction of npc stations? Prevent clone usage on that station. Sabotage of corporate hangars, destruction of jumpgates, etc...

How ever i dont like this war object thingy, would make highsec wars like structure grinding that everyone hates in 0.0... Quess why 0.0 is so peacefull right now? Becouse everyone hates structure shooting...

Want those warlinks? Get someone that can actually fly commandship. Thats valuable target all ready and im sure opposing force will try kill it.

Heck even regular battlecruiser can fit couple links...

There was idea of victory conditions before current incarnation of wardeck mechanics hit us... Sadly developers didint implement those... That would have been nice way to determine victory or defeat in war. Maybe those highsec griefer corps would actually start wardecking worthy targets once their stats would start to show: War- Defeated (Not enought inflicted damage)..........

Yes im sure we all agree theres still plenty of things in wardecking that could be improved. Im sure even empty headed developers have some ideas still left they might want to implement over time... After all we now have brave new development model of eve... Small changes often, instead of one massive patch....

Wars do not have an objective other than what the participates (both willing and forced) set for themselves. If the attackers goal is to get as many easy kills in a week as possible it sounds like they are doing a good job. If your goal is to lose no ships during the war it sounds like you are losing. Adding a forced objective to the war mechanic is not going to provide a benefit for anyone except people who are too simple minded to realize that setting your own goals and having to deal with other players goals are some of the main ideas in eve.

Change your goals and tactics to force your attackers to decide this war is not worth fighting. Sit in station or drop to an NPC corp so that you don't provide any targets for them, hire mercenaries to attack them for you, go out there in cheap frigates and have fun annoying them, set traps and see if you can catch one of them, bribe them to stop the war... endless possibilities. If you can't ruin their goals, change your own goals to make the war more fulfilling for yourself. If that means you really want a structure to shoot at do some research - they probably have a POCO or POS somewhere and you can call blowing that up a victory.

Wars only last a week or so in a game where flying a ship competently can takes months of work. Just have fun playing and if you aren't go do something else for a while until the war is over.

What are you even talking about? Missions???

no