We have a small high-sec mining and manufacturing corp and we have been war-decced three times in as many months.
While this is part of the game mechanic and we would not wish to see it totally removed, there are a number of issues with the current set up.
First, virtually nobody in my corp has PVP skills since they have chosen to focus on mining. Our only current strategies to deal with war decs are 1.) to simply not play at all during the ward dec. 2.) members of the corp leave for NPC corps for the duration of the war and, hopefully, return afterwards.
The persistent state of war decs is thus threatening to destroy the ability of players to build up small corps in high-sec.
Second, the only other option is for corp members to learn to do PVP. While we are pursuing learning PVP, this creates a scenario where war decs essentially force people to change the way that they wish to play in the sandbox. Not everyone wants to learn how to pew-pew. Without removing the mechanic, I would like to request a re-balancing of the current war-dec mechanism. Of course, how to do that is difficult, but here are some suggestions:
Consider allowing war-decs in high-sec or at least certain parts of high-sec only if a member of one corp kills a member of another corpâs ship; do away with anyone can declare war on anyone else at any time for no reason. This allows for all kinds of spies to be inserted into a corp to start a false war, opening up other game-play possibilities.
If a corp has been aggressed in high-sec, set a timer of 2/3 or 4 months before that corp can be war-decced again. If the corp has war-decced someone else, then that timer would fall away.
Consider radically increasing the existing cost of continuing the war after the first week, so that it becomes non-viable for aggressors to continue after the first week if they either donât get any kills or if they lose ships to the defenders. Moreover, consider weighting the types of ships-killing a mining ship should count for a lot less than killing a battleship etc.
I am concerned that if some sort of âre-balancingâ of the war-dec process is not done, itâs going to cause my corp members to leave for NPC corps or simply stop playing, which seems to me to defeat the entire idea behind the sandbox. Nor is the common suggestion, âJust move to Lowsec or Nullsecâ particularly useful- if that is the advice, well then why have highsec to begin with?
The thing about a sandbox is that anyone can do whatever they like. Just as you are entitled to mine, they are entitled to declare war on your corporation. No activity is above the other.
The mechanics are fine as they are now. Grow stronger and put up a fight, work harder and pay the ransom fee, or simply stay in NPC corps. You want a corp, then you should be able to defend yourself. Every bear thinks that Hisec is safe and they can mine on autopilot.
You came late to the party. It is not your fault and the mechanics are fine. Itâs like complaining that some people have more SP than you because they play since 2003. DOH!
This would make structures completely safe in highsec and unremovable.
Something related to this existed before and resulted in players forming âdec shieldâ groups to limit incoming wardecs. Even more easy would be just to declare war on yourself with an alt corp.
Again, what if the aggressors hop to a second corp and start a new war? Further, giving the defenders an automatic win for not undocking doesnât seem like it would promote interaction.
Wars are a tough thing to get right, likely because of the vastly different expectation of the diverse player base. That said, the game is designed as a single-world competitive game where corporations are suppose to be vulnerable to other ones. As you have found out, running a pure industrial Corp that does have to plan for or spend effort on defence isnât really supported by the mechanics.
I think the solution is a a second tier of corporation where small groups like yours can form a player group with immunity to wars in exchange for giving up access to most of the mechanical corp benefits like structures and taxes.
As it is, forming a corporation is a significant step that signals to the rest of the players you are ready to compete with everyone else. If you donât really need all the mechanical structures of a corp (and for just mining you really donât) then perhaps consider staying in an NPC corp and coordinating with your friends via a shared private chat channel. Not ideal I know, but it does work and keeps you safe from wars.
Why donât you guys just share a player made chat channel and still be in the un-deccable NPC corp? In EvE you are expected to deal with the hassle that comes with defending your own collective banner. If you donât want to participate in the potential for war, you should just be in the NPC corps and fly together / work together anyway. Later when you understand the rules you will find it easier to defend yourselves should you decide to corp up, but donât feel like you HAVE to be in your own corp to accomplish anything.
Starting a player corp is your way of saying âweâre ready universe, bring it on!â. Understandably this isnât something everybody should be yelling, so please donât campaign against something you donât yet fully understand. There are easy ways around your problem.
War decs arenât really supposed to be fair, or make any sense. Itâs essentially just a way for one group to bribe CONCORD into looking the other way while they break the empire rules.
Though if you are a high-sec corp being war decced by one of the Jita camper groups (PIRAT and the like) you arenât likely to have to deal with them, as long as you stay out of the major hubs. They declare on everything that moves, and then just sit in high-traffic areas waiting for drunk/unknowing players to fly into their camps. Spending effort on chasing down prey isnât really their thing.
Just do your mining thing in some out of the way place, and you should be safe. Just keep an eye on local and be ready to bug out if one of them appears.
If you are just miners and industrialists with no pvp experience consider not being in a corp. You can make a common chat channel and make fleets from there. Maybe use a corp to make recruitment adverts.
Itâs important to understand that the sandbox provides freedom but does not entitle you to do what you want with no consequences. Effort and risk is tied into everything and being in a corp means you can be decced. The best corps will be well rounded pve and pvp wise. Or just learn to keep a good eye on local.
Might be ok if it was a payment to Concord, it only costs a few million isk to declare a wardec, should only cost a few mil to prevent a wardec. Though at that point why are you not in an NPC corp.
Used to be a thing, wardecs just ended for a day then resumed or wardec pvpers hoped corps constantly. Many issues with wardecs stem from how fast and easy it is to jump between corporations.
3.2. Killboards that players use to measure their success are third party so this is wasted effort.
The frustrating thing for many players is the situation that can occur where youâre in a group and you get essentially marked as soft and easy and end up getting wardecs stacked on you potentially never ending spanning months until people just get tired of wardeccing your group or until everyone leaves that group or just stops playing. When players are arriving at the conclusion that flight or not playing is the most desirable course of action we probably have an issue.
If I recall correctly that precisely happened in Dust 514 when one corp canât attack a district of another corp when that district was already under attack from another corp. Owners of the district would just form an empty corp or holding corp filled with alts and attack it to prevent anyone else from attacking it. The holding corp would intentionally lose the battle.
@CCP_Falcon Can we please have a permanent sticky thread for wardecs (like the cloaky camping thread), so that we can refer these people there and more easily ignore them? Itâs a prevalent enough complaint, never with any merit to their complaint or âsolutionsâ if theyâve bothered to try and come up with some.
There have been a number of good suggestions put forward here, but I would like to add opening your war dec for allies.
There are players, such as myself, who scrutinize the requests for allies, and respond.
Some people charge, others donât; seeing the potential for âcontentâ as sufficient.
But, there are people out there who will help you.
When I started playing EVE it was customary for small corps in your immediate surroundings to provide support in such times, if you were a halfway decent neighbor.
The neighbors would provide neutral eyes (intel), and could assist âneutralâ logi. This has somewhat fallen by the wayside, but strike up a convo with the neighborhood, perhaps youâll find a traditionalist, and theyâll help.
This is a mmo, you are not expected to go it alone.
Iâd recommend that you find some players that like PVP and befriend them to enter your corp. And check with your members about cross training into PVP skills. Also, you guys should have lots of money since all you do is mine; look into hiring a corp to fight your wars and protect you. Hire enough good ones and people will think twice about going to war with you again.