Player Features and Ideas Discussion

I forget where I read it, but one of the backgrounds of this game is that the four main factions (Amarr, Caldari, Gallente, Minmatar) are at relative peace with each other, thus the reason that there aren't huge NPC wars against each other raging.

I think this needs to end.

I think that some of the storyline folks on staff need to come up with an in-game plotline, and the GMs need to re-tool how things work in an open-market to reflect consequences of said plotline.

I would like to find a way for the faction narrative to affect the Eve world. To date, whether or not the Caldari or Gallente are winning or losing has been immaterial to the day to day existence of current pod pilots.

I think there should be a mechanism wherein the factions themselves can go to war, take systems, rally, and make heroic stands. Whether scripted or organic, the idea that corporations run around highsec willy-nilly is ludicrous.

The most common comparison is the old sailing days. Pirates were abundant in the open seas, but close to Europe, formal Navies ruled. People were given letters of Marque (faction warfare) to hunt down opponents of the issuing country, but that was only after proving their loyalty.

I think organizations such as GoonSwarm, AAA and DRF should have valid reasons to ally or not with the various factions. I think the race of each pilot should have bearing on the narrative of the game. I think there should be a story that is developed inside the game that players themselves can be a part of, rather than simply reading about it in the chronicles, or in the published books. I would love for game-changing GM participation (Massive Guristas raid on Jita?)

I also think that the tradeoff for this is to leave 0.0 as the wastelands, where big corporations with bad guns are allowed to run each other through. Perhaps player-run corps can be contacted to fly escort to protect faction jaunts into 0.0 for actual plotline-advancing reasons? With the tradeoff being a massive bump in standings for the corp, or other prize? Faction Titan?

In other words, I wanna see a story that we can fly through. I want to see real plotlines developing ingame. I want to see Sansha's Nation actually working towards a goal, rather than just popping up randomly. Agents assigning missions to players that actually advance the territory of the factions. I'd love to see stern emails from Player-run company's CEOs telling them to assist the various factions in claiming new territory so that they can get preferential treatment.

There is such a rich storybase that can be advanced here.

Another idea I have is for production facilities to depend on civilian population, or some similar concern, so that if a system cannot be defended, a last stand to evacuate the civilian population would be the next highest priority.

Anywho, those are my ideas.

TL;DR: faction diplomacy and wars should occur. These should affect trade, thus affect player-run companies. Also, there should be a reason to evacuate civilians from a system when it is overrun.

Faction Warfare already exists. It's just limited to lowsec, and doesn't have any real impact on the game world. Many players have been calling for an update to Faction Warfare that would make it more meaningful.

As for Eve being totally player driven, that's a nice idea, but I don't think it works in reality. There are just things that players wouldn't do. There aren't enough players to make Eve feel like a real world. And frankly, most players really suck at story telling / role playing.

I hear what you are saying. I'll try to address them:

1) Regarding "This is player run game" I agree 100% with you. However, the Faction stuff hasn't ever really changed much. I'm not saying that the players need to be herded at all, I just think that there should be a changing background. Faction lines have been stable for far too long, with no story that affects player-run corporations.

And this is in no way like WoW. In WoW, your character runs a rigid, fixed, individual storyline that in no way intersects with anyone else's story, and repeats for every toon in the same line.

With this setup, the story could be flexible to change. Players could be part of the single story, and alter it. The GMs would have to be flexible enough to alter things if the story doesn't turn out how they originally intended.

For instance, if the GMs decide to have a Gallente/Amarr peace summit, and a large corp appeared and suicide ganked the ships en route, the GMs could then decide to split from the story they had intended, and decide that the Amarr empire wardecs the offending corporation, and budgets resources to go to war on them. NPCs would have real, limited (albeit large) resources with which to bring to bear during wartime, such that simply wardeccing everything in sight would not be feasible. Similarly, 0.0 corps would be careful not to cause a dust-up with a faction, knowing the resources they have at their disposal.

In addition, if a faction decides it needs 0.0 minerals/whatnot, and the player-run corps want to deal with them, there could be arrangements made. NPS agents could be alterred such that the missions assigned no longer are theoretical, but instead deal with real life needs of the factions. Carebears would now be doing things of meaning, and would also turn into viable targets if a wardec with a corp ever kicked up.


2) Regarding people holding rank inside of NPC faction corps I had actually given this some thought, and in a perfect world, it would work, except for one thing: griefers.

Don't get me wrong, I think griefers have their place, and they definitely make things interesting in New Eden.

I thought of elections, but I also thought about ways to channel human greed such that the various factions, if organized correctly, would reflect the societies that been portrayed in the chronicles/books.

For example, people trying to attain higher rank inside an Amarr society should get a leg up if someone pulls them up, to reflect the nepotism inherent inside of a theocratic society.

Caldari should have a strict formula for rise in power that reflects their meritocratic society.

Gallente should have a fair and balanced election because of their democratic society (with safeguards to prevent ballot stuffing)

And Minmatar would have tribal council consensus (haven't really thought how this one would work.)

I think bouncing into and out of official positions inside of a faction shouldn't be allowed. Or, you can leave, but not come back. And if you abused your position, it could make you a permanent viable target by that faction. (I.E. you sell Navy Faction Ravens equipment to one corporation, then join that corporation. That 'toon is now a viable target by all Caldari turrets, militia, and Caldari Pilots.

Also, while inside of a faction, you should only be able to utilize that faction's ships (when is the last time you saw a US military pilot flying MiG planes into combat?)

The trade-off should be much easier access to faction gear, and maybe even the ability to command low-level NPCs. (Player in a Battleship, ordering NPC cruiser/destroyer/frigates)

Perhaps the faction setups should be fixed modules, kinda like a fixed corporate fitting. As wins/losses accrue, the fixed fitting would be changed to address weaknesses, much like current military equipment is changed when a potential threat is discovered.

This guys idea is awesome. I wouldn't even do it, but carebears in highsec should be able to join/get hired/get elected to NPC corps like Interbus and Federation Senate or whatever it is.

I fully support making missions and NPC storylines WAYYYY more interesting and fun.