Minmatar milita (but surely not just them) was camping out in Amarr system, ganking war targets coming in/out of Family Academy. This is fine and as per FW rules, however what feels “broken” is the fact that they gank and immediately dock inside Family Academy itself and sit there to wait out any potential response in safety. We cant dock at opposition NPC stations in FW space, and it feels odd that this goes on in high sec. After they are destroyed, they dock back up and reship in the station and go again.
To me, its an exploit of FW mechanics to essentially grief/gank in high sec. This sort of thing has nothing to do with FW proper, pisses off existing FW players and puts off new people from joining FW because they see ganking at their trade hub.
Possible solutions:
Temporarity prevent docking in high sec / enemy high sec while on some FW aggression/kill timer
Enable instant withdrawal from FW inside high sec space / specific stations
In trade hubs after ‘n’ allied war target kills a local faction NPC fleet warps in to patrol the area
Prohibit station services, specifically repair/marketplace/clone bay
Why can militia members dock in enemy NPC stations? I thought this was not possible … but I’m not an expert, this whole war mechanics are too complicated. A pirate’s life is much easier.
Well, it’s long been understood by players in or out of FW that Capsuleers – all powerful that they are – can dock in any NPC station anywhere at any time. Or, used to be that way for the initial decade. Criminals, enemies, etc all getting to run rampant making the universe a dangerous place full of people of all walks of life. This used to be called “fair” because players understood what freedom meant.
But CCP’s long strayed from this vision so I have no doubt you’ll get your way.
I’m very sympathetic to that vision. But FW is a defined gameplay mechanic. You could argue that, broadly, this sort of thing is detrimental to FW content, with active parts of the militias camping inside and out of trade hubs. On the other hand, it can be seen as a valid strategy to draw off active players from the warzone. The issue here is living out of enemy trade hub/NPC station in high sec, docking up to avoid fights, re-shipping, respawning and using this to grab easy kills in high sec. Obviously CCP decided that this was not appropriate gameplay inside the warzones, so its odd that it goes on high sec.
This wouldnt be an issue if all-poweful Capsuleers had the power to insta-exit FW under some (non-exploitable) circumstances.
It’s not obvious, at all. In fact, I’d wager this is completely incorrect.
They could have done it because players argued that pushing an enemy force out of an area would lock the enemy out of strategic assets, making staging systems that much more significant.
They could have done it because they wanted rearguard systems to be difficult to pop-up as a surprise front line.
There are no “high sec trade hubs” in the lowsec FW zone so it is imposible to be “obvious” that they wanted to eliminate “living out of enemy trade hub/NPC station, docking up to avoid fights, re-shipping, respawning and using this to grab easy kills in hi-sec”
Corollary: FW people sit outside lowsec stations in FW zones in Tornadoes anyway getting “easy” kills as you say. So the gameplay is very much not dead anyway with their change in the zone.
You can’t know what CCP’s design motivations were. But of all of them, your “obvious” one is the most ridiculous to me, and probably most readers.
I was under the impression that everyone, including FW flagged, get a one minute weapons timer that prevents docking. By “immediately dock” are you saying that this timer doesn’t apply?
Fair enough, ones I saw docking during fights may not have fired.
This is abount content. FW is not a copy of low sec, null sec or war dec. If I wanted station camping and war decs, I would do that. I am trying to get PVE players to dip their toes into FW PvP, and the first question is always “oh but they can shoot me anywhere right?”. Camped trade hub isn’t helping here. Nor is it moving FW warzones. Its pissing people off because, strangely, quite a lot of FW participants want… FW.
Warzones are generously incentivised though LPs already, but I am suggesting considering tweaks to make high sec station camping less safe / attractive for killboard braggers.
I am currently educating a rookie 1:1 on the same exact thing. I plan to teach him about station bookmarks before enlisting, and concretely making some for his closest trade hub. He won’t care if the high sec station is camped or not. Ever. By people in or out of FW, in or out of wardecs.
Edit: Why don’t your PvE players already have station insta-dock/-undock bookmarks?
They have got to get used to the idea that yes, they can be shot anywhere. You aren’t helping anybody but coddling them. These guys need to recognize that there’s potential content everywhere. They don’t like it when they get camped in to the trading hubs? Then do something about it. Get your guys and camp somebody else in. This is part of growing up in EVE.
Ask yourself what are you doing outsite of the war zone with your FW character, come to a Hub to sell with your FW character its the worst idea and you deserver the kill.
You can dock in enemy stations too in frontline systems BTW… isnt exploit its just desing in that way just like if youre at war with othe corp and that mates can kill you in high and dock.
