Warfare & Tactics

the point of this is for us FW dudes not to acquire standing hits in shooting neutrals who enters our plex.

so how to avoid that? the easy and popular solution is to make neuts entering plexes suspects. if you have any idea to address the issue then feel free.

Thank you for all the thoughts and feedback. Now I get to do the glamorous job of pouring this all into a singular document for CCP. :)

Aye, pew should be the fundamental aspect to the design. There are aspects that can be explored further to introduce more conflict drivers and some that include PvP escalation.
There are opportunities to tinker with the current mechanics that can catalyse more pew and reward those that plant a flag in the warzone and state "if you want it, then come and take it".


Nay, there is more than one playstyle found in the Warzone. The current system already points to fights over a plex, extended to a system, to a constellation, to a whole warzone.


I agree with this.

There are a plenty of suggestions that can be made to things already built in but, it is for another thread.

Believe me when I say, there are a number of people in Militia's who have many thoughts, drafts and proposals for upping the longevity of the FW experience.

There has been a marked drop in Veteran Militia pilots brought about solely from frustration in systems and mechanics, not from a loss of will.

This is why I think we must see a similar exploration (later) of the other aspects of FW including:

1. LP Stores,
2. System Upgrades,
3. Pilot Ranking system,
4. reward balance from PvP kills converse to plex capture rewards,
5. the tier system,
6. FW I-hubs,
7. complex spawn balancing
8. Militia events

Damn, I was going to play some Eve tonight. .. time to log in.

I've been recruiting for FW corps for a while now, and the range of people it attracts is staggering. However, they all go through the same learning process.

You tell them where to go. It might be your corp's home system if they're joining a player corp, but it's often the main hub for your militia for players joining one of the NPC corps.

When they get there, you give them a new overview. The default one is awful, and should be made to identify friendlies above pirates and criminals by default. You don't need a Faction Warfare pack, most corps and alliances will provide their own anyway, but out of the box the default setting should be fixed to address this problem.

Once you're certain they're not going to shoot you by mistake, you teach them how to plex. Currently this involves either linking outdated information, or simply undocking and going to a plex, talking them through the various mechanics.

Then they inevitably die in an Industrial moving their stuff through high-sec.

You're right, the career agents do suggest joining the militias, but any instruction ends there. Adding another career agent accessible upon entry to the militia that takes care of the above steps (not the dying in an Industrial part, they can learn that for themselves) for us should streamline the process of introducing new players to how Faction Warfare works. That way, we can direct new players to the career agent, knowing they will emerge with a solid grasp of the very basics. Any welcome mail can direct players to this agent, and Opportunities can make them feel special when they complete each step.

It takes a lot of the load off recruiters and instructors, allowing them to get more people through the door and focus on teaching them not to suck at PvP.

The most sensible option is to cause no penalty to anyone inside a FW Plex, who is attempting to engage in player on player aggression.

Why?:
A suspect flag is a penalty to a neutral. Now take the scenario that the occupant of the plex is a farmer and just warps off (readily aligned) when the neutral lands. Multiply and you have one very de-motivated neutral PvPer (even without the suspect flag which means he/she could be blown up by anyone on a gate after the farmer left them empty of content)


There should be no penalty for a FW Militia pilot choosing to engage anyone inside a FW capture plex. There really should not be any penalty for anyone under these circumstances (we want War!).


Two mechanisms I would immediately introduce:

1. No sec status hits inside FW plex's. I don't care how you implement it but just do it.
2. When a Militia pilot warps into a plex that has been partially captured. The timer rolls back at twice the speed that it climbs, as long as the militia pilot remains. They still have to "capture" the plex at normal speed but this means that they can undo work of someone who will not face up and confront them (which seems fair to me).

1. Suspect for neutrals on gate activation is the most elegant and well, easiest solution for CCP since suspect timers already exist under the crime watch system. Having CCP code stuff so that you don't incur a sec penalty in lowsec in a really specific portion of space seems time-intensive to be fair. Also you don't think farmers are also demotivating for the FW peeps that actually fight for FW?

2. Care to elaborate? Which militia pilot? Are you saying that any if I oplexed a novice for 4 minutes it will only take 2 minutes for someone to deplex it?

This suspect thing ...it may be a quick, but dirty fix. Consider the side effects; almost everybody in FW space will be suspect all the time. This would significantly change the meta for solo, frig fleets and gate camps towards the aggressor.

Yeah why not make it that when you enter the FW-Zone (the whole system) you get flagged or even better you will be notified that engaging you is a legal act because this is a WARZONE and no civilians or Pirats are allowed in here.

Isn't that logical? When nowadays pirates feel like moving near a navi ship and they are shot at there aren't any consequences for the navi guys?

Honestly, it's a terrible idea that makes no sense at all whatever way you look at it. I can't even find the words to describe how ridiculous it is.

Open your Faction Warfare page on a non-enlisted character and read the front page. The one where it clearly states you'll be at war with X and Y in a CONCORD sanctioned war. Then go and read your Rules of Engagement, specifically the part where it explains who can shoot you and where. Nowhere does it state that RandomChap24 has the right to shoot you. He doesn't, he's a third party in a legitimate war, and should be treated as such. By flagging militia pilots inside plexes, you're not only legitimising his interference but rendering security status effectively null and void. Their criminal act (engaging military personnel actively participating in the capture of a strategic location) goes unpunished as a result.

Sure, we no longer take a hit for engaging them, but at what cost? Neutrals gain significantly more from this change than we ever will. If the idea is to make FW seem more appealing, how exactly is removing the need to sign up to shoot militia pilots without consequence doing that? It isn't, it's doing quite the opposite.

This is ignoring the numerous other problems such a system would create. Am I flagged for being inside the capture range, or inside the plex? What happens if I burn off grid in there, do I lose my flag? Is it a full 15 minutes, or a temporary flag like you seem to believe? What about fighting on the gate?

Recons? Useless. Cloaks? Useless. How do you tell the difference between someone inside a plex, and someone with a genuine suspect timer? Should your flag even be broadcast in local? Will I need to ref*ck my overview to see if hostile militia pilots are inside a plex? If I do will neutrals get this information for free?

I could go on. At great length. It's a crude, lazy, and ineffective, simultaneously removing a reason to sign up to FW in the first place.