I’m workin’ on it, geez, give me a break. Rome wasn’t burned in a day, you know.
It’s a sticky problem. It’s not going to have a ‘great’ solution. The nature of wardecs means the aggressor will always choose where, when and who to fight. This means they will always be able to cherry-pick the weakest available targets.
And we’ve already established there’s a small percent of players who get off on relentlessly attacking the weakest targets. Even when there’s zero risk or challenge involved. Sometimes even when there’s zero reward.
It’s very hard to limit that sort of behavior.
So far I’m working on ways to reduce (not eliminate) that sort of behavior, and somewhat increase the chance that a defender corp will remain active and even venture out into space during a wardec. But EVE is a complex system and many other adjustments need to be made at the same time to create an effective approach.
Here’s the design goals so far:
- Reduce the ability of abuser corps to endlessly wardec weak targets with near zero risk
- Increase the agency and options available to defenders to address the war
- Create a viable reward system so both sides of the war feel they have opportunities for gain
- Reduce (or eliminate) the need for structures as War HQs, or make them more interesting
- Increase opportunities and options for small corps (both aggressor and defender)
- Increase incentives for players to join corps, and for corps to help their recruits grow
- Create opportunities for wars to grow, snowball, or deliver other surprises (less predictable)
That’s a pretty hefty list of design goals. It’s also slower because I’m already doing the “if I can think of a way to break this, then it’s back to the drawing board” step. Even with all that, I should have a new wardec system some time next week. Stay tuned. Same bat-time, same bat-channel!