[ Gooder Eve is a series of on-going articles that examine ways in which Eve can be made Gooder. Some are serious, some are not, but all are intended to create debate, dialogue, and discussion. So enjoy! ]
So this morning I log on my Alt to go to Jita to pick up some supplies. I haven't been able to do this in over a month because of all the War Decs we've been getting. And lo and behold we have another one I wasn't even aware of. Sigh. So I used my special Impel to go get the stuff I really needed and will have to wait until this one is over to use the Freighter.
On the way to Jita I had an idea.
The way things are right now there is nothing I or most of Stay Frosty can do to help the rest of our Alliance during these HS Wars. We essentially issue the same warning emails about being careful, watch for WTs, and don't be stupid. Counting on them to just run out eventually. The only choice is to give up my sec status and become positive. Which is something I will not do. My -10 status is a badge I've had for over four years now and why should I have to give it up because some lazy HS corporations want to prey on our non-PvP Alliance mates?
What if there was another way? What if when someone War Decs you, you could buy a War Pass from Concord? A Pass that would allow you to jump into HS despite being negative sec status and engage only War Targets? They did attack you, so it makes sense that you should be able to defend yourself. This would at least give HS War Dec'ers something to think about. Obviously such a system would need careful and considered implementation to avoid being exploited, so let's put up some clear and easy to understand conditions:
• You must be the Defender in a War
• You must be negative Sec Status
• You cannot dock or use POS, Mobile Depots, etc., while in HS
• Your Sec Status remains in effect, essentially meaning anyone can attack you
• You can only engage WTs, anything else results in Concord as usual
• The War Pass expires when the War is over
Make the War Pass work the same way War Decs work, only in reverse. The cost is based on the size of the Corporation/Alliance on the other end. And can be purchased for a single Corporation or for an entire Alliance. Or maybe only individuals can purchase one? I'd have to think about that. An entire Alliance showing up in HS could be prone to abuse, even Concord might have trouble managing that.
As usual with these Gooder Eve posts this is just the beginning salvo in an on-going discussion. This idea is not intended to be fully formed and without fault, it is intended to start a discussion about a potential path that could be further explored.
I believe the essential core of this idea is a good one.
What do you think?
Comments
One other change that I would consider would be to make the War Pass expires when the war is over as you have listed, but also it expires upon medical clone activation. Since it is very difficult to lose a pod in HS, this would cut down on using the pass to travel into HS fight for a bit, then pod express back to your normal hunting grounds.
I would think it should not cost like a war dec, but based upon sec status. Consider it a bribe, the less the offense the less the bribe should cost. -10 would mean you pay more than -7 which costs more than -5.5. If you want to bribe your way out of a speeding ticket, it will cost you a little bit. If you want to bribe your way out of murder, it is going to cost a lot more.
Now, when you say "only engage war targets", does that mean if you are attacked by some third party you can't defend yourself?
Overall, I like the idea because it will open up new meaning to war decs.
And yes, I think you'd be allowed to defend yourself if attacked.
Right now, one of the ganking difficulties is that as outlaw ganker, you can't just sit in space in your Catornado and wait for your target to be scouted out - you have to wait in a nearby station or low-sec, or have a hauler nearby, or any other effort-adding method.
With the war-pass, a ganking organisation could war-dec itself through an alt corp, buy a war pass, and then sit - ready to pounce - in space all day long, only occasionally being bothered by combat probers.
A hamfisted way of solving that would be that the War Pass overrides your safety to Green (that would still allow you to engage WTs and any kind of flagged players) - but that way CrimeWatch v.1 Reloaded threatens. Lore-wise it would fit, though: the police and CONCORD show some lenience - in return, you have to cooperate fully.
Or something like that?
…and on one April 1st, that CONCORD ship could help fighting war targets :)
This also gets my mind moving again around some idea's that I've had as far as war decs are concerned. To me, right now, they're too cheap for as much 'land' as you get to hunt in. One idea that I've had personally (or might have stolen it, not entirely sure) is that you pay off CONCORD per region/constellation/solar system based on population of that general area AND the defenders size. This would make war deccing to camp JITA quite a bit more expensive and make war deccing for regions/area's like Aridia (I know, there isn't much high sec out there, but stay with me :P) much cheaper. With this you would be able to potentially PLAY THE GAME instead of just sit on the Walmart 4-4 undock and get kills...
one alternative that this made me think of was changing the way tags for sec worked. instead of a bribe strait to concord "look at the good things I did " you are bribing out post commanders to hide your status, lower sec status = shorter time the tag works, better tags last longer. In addition if you are "caught" in hs (do something concordable) the timer expires, and the bribe costs more the next time (prevent ganker abuse) there are a couple more things this would need but it could be interesting.