Warfare & Tactics

So I was reading a post in GD. . . https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&t=52479&find=unread

The OP stirred something in me just like every zillionth time I see that post. So I said

https://forums.eveonline.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=591919#post591919

Then my brain started working and I want feedback from all the other FW pilots out there so I posted here. What if FW actually had consequences? You can't dock up in a hostile system because there would be no place for you to do so. I think it would breath new life into FW because, I'm sure this has been beaten to death already, there is no NPC stations in lowsec.

I think the week of controlling time is perfect to set up a front line that actually means something and we can kiss the pirates goodbye unless they are coming in enmass from other regions of space. Don't make all of lowsec like this, but the battlegrounds from one faction to another I feel would greatly benefit from this system. No gate guns, no stations, and only the controlling faction has a place to go to for safety.

Also, remove the restriction of galactic alliances. Instead of a 2 way war we now have a 4 way war. Why should we buddy up with the Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar or Amaar just because of some ancient code? I feel that Frogs should be able to shoot slaves and zealots should be able to shoot squids. Make it a universal struggle for power. I mean that is the reason we have 5 races isn't it?

It's time for the truce to be broken and FW fixed for the end of days.

Happy New year everyone. I hope I have the opportunity to write my drunken rants in 2013. What the **** do the Mayans know anyway?

Most of what you cooked up has been addressed quite a few times over the years in the numerous FW threads, so if you want feedback you might want to research it first. But short'ish answers:

CCP won't deny docking in NPC stations, they have said so several times over the past 3-4 years. Has been asked for by NPC null players as well as FW players .. but think about it, it would make for a really crappy game for anyone not hardcore (ie. casuals gets the shaft). Might be able to convince CCP to restrict access to services though.

Woah! You just lost any support you might have had from FW pilots .. most of us actually LIKE having pirates around, they provide veteran opposition, something to shoot when enemy is docked and a source or faction drops! ... just sayin'

If it was a shooter type game like CoD of something, perhaps .. but it is an mmoRPG. The whole idea is that we live in a universe where two alliances are at each others throats, it goes back to the very beginning of Eve and is part of the backstory itself.
Besides, it wouldn't add anything that isn't already available, nothing is preventing you from shooting whomever you like .. only problem you might face is that you become hunted by someone from "your own" militia .. been done since start and is still being done.

Exploit Ville ahoy! Increase LP-for-Kills to a noticeable amount and it WILL be exploited by using alts and plexes are so hilariously unbalanced (mainly due to NPC eWar/Weapons) that you essentially hand a whopping big wallet to two factions only.
Would be awesome to include in a major overhaul of the entire system when plexes are made more interactive and less "orbit here until you cry", but I am personally not getting my hopes up that it will ever come to pass.
Short-term implementation of it could be a 2x/4x (or higher) multiplier on current LP-for-Kills when they happen inside defensive/offensive plexes respectively .. can still be abused but not nearly as easy as undocking and volleying 'alt #235'

Yey another fix FW topic..

CCP is likely never going to do a major overhaul of FW. FW was simply a test for null sec sov mechanics that they decided not to use. It was one of their new flashy ideas that sounded cool to them at the time an d then it was poorly implemented and has been for the most part left forgotten.

Since I've been playing this game (stated in 09) I've seen next to no changes done to FW. This is what they have done to FW in the time I've played.

1) CCP patch created massive lag that only affected people in FW. It was to the point you couldn't have a 20 person fight with out lag so bad your screen would go black jumping in a system. They eventually worked with us to fix this issue. (yey they fixed something they borked up)

2) CCP gave buff to FW missions giving us a pretty nice source of income as well as added a few faction Navy BS and reworked the Faction Navy frigs. CCP later came back and nerfed the missions because we were able to repeatedly turn them down to get the missions we wanted as well as the systems we wanted.

3) Plex bug was fixed that allowed alts of friendly Militias, to run down timers taking no aggro from the NPC's. (ie Caldari militia alt could run a Minmatar timers and the NPC's wouldn't shoot at him.)

4) CCP after years of players asking, changed the plexing mechanics to not be dependent on a down time reshuffle but to reshuffle during the day repeatedly. This is still a bit buggy IMO because I've seen a system (Enaluri) go from being a 2 or 3 week fights of being heavily contested to being completely de-contested in a single night.


Since 2009 we have seen two "improvements" to FW in regard to actual updates to improve the gameplay or throwing us a bone that were not bugs created by patches. One of which should have been looked at as a bug, (the plex thing) the other was missions & Navy ships that was the only actual "new" content added to FW in the 3 years I've been in this game.

Meanwhile there are still countless issues such as repping a GCC Militia member gives you a faction standings loss, same as dropping a bubble in null sec and having a moron from your militia try to warp in it or die in it. Not to mention you can use logistics on the enemy militia taking no standings hit.

In 3 years we have gotten 1 new content update and 3 fixes to bugs. It's pretty clear despite FW being on the top of a user generated list of requested updates that CCP isn't interested in it nor have they even hinted at the fact they might look at changes.

IMO CCP wants to push people out to null sec to be pets in large alliances because that brings them more accounts and looks cool to new players as they see 500 player battles. Meanwhile despite FW being responsible for ship destruction on just about the same scale as most large alliances, it's done by a relativity small group of players and TBH I don't think CCP wants to improve FW to the point it becomes more interesting than null sec. Hence the lack of attention or desire to fix much of anything.

lol don't hate the messenger because you don't like the message. I'm just telling you the reality of what I've seen in my 3 years of being involved with FW and what my thoughts are on the little actions I've seen.

The simple fact is CCP loves to create half finished "shiny new things" but they don't like to follow through and fine tune them or adjust them later on. You can like it or not but FW was once one of those shiny new things that was added and forgotten about.

It doesn't mean I wouldn't like a complete rework of FW, but I see the reality that it's likely not gonna ever happen. At least not anytime soon. CCP is never going to do anything that is going to pull the player base away from Null sec Sov wars. Fixing FW or reworking if successful would pull large groups away from null sec because who really like CTA's or shooting towers or sov mods?

CCP simply isn't going to make FW a better option than null sec, so just see it for what it is. FW is a few war dec with lots of war targets and don't expect them to do much improvement regardless how much we complain on the forums.

Please do not crosspost. Also please stay polite and civil.

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