Good, good, because this is the completely wrong cookie crumb you'd need to follow to discover my identity before Aero Yassavi. Though I'm not saying it'd be impossible for you to figure out, the resources are actually there for you, but this is, again, the wrong cookie crumb.

Player corps do somewhat have territory in FW, they base out of certain systems, which effectively become home systems, I don't see why Dusters cannot make use of Militia constructed facilities in those systems.

But Aero's point stands, its using in game content in a new way, to make the battles much more dynamic.

The only issue I see with it is who will stay for 3+ Matches when they are redlining to opposite team every time.

Agreed. I also think the probability of fighting over a single district for a day or longer would be very slim and practically non-existent.

Good, good, because this is the completely wrong cookie crumb you'd need to follow to discover my identity before Aero Yassavi. Though I'm not saying it'd be impossible for you to figure out, the resources are actually there for you, but this is, again, the wrong cookie crumb.

I'm not as married to the specific progression of game modes as I am having there be a geographic progression that players can understand is going on. Hans made a good point last night in the Faction Warfare Skype channel that a progressive battles system may be a piece of the puzzle that needs to be laid in after CCP has those first set of features in place.

With the introduction of LP a lot of the current feel for participation may go out the window.

Some of the tools to give a sense of progression seem to be coming with the updates of the End Of Match screen in Faction Warfare ( http://i.imgur.com/bXpUa5s.jpg ), but the big picture question I want players be able to answer is "How does this battle tie into the next one?"

I also find a player having a story of "We helped take Planet X!" much more compelling than "We had a series of good fights!"

Not bad, Not bad!

A few tweaks/suggestions if I may?
I like the train idea but not necessarily the match types! If you want to make it feel more inclusive try

1) skirmish 1.0 (renamed "ground war") Enemy has to move mcc succesfully to point for win condition
2) standard skirmish, they are approaching the district null cannon
3) domination

If you really want you could add an ambush in their somewhere.

Also to make it a little fairer on the defenders, if at any point during stages 1 + 2 the attackers mcc is destroyed, they loose period!

+0.5

Well the biggest flaw in the OP plan is using Ambush and Ambush OMS lol Domination I could deal with but not any form of Ambush. In my opinion they are not objective based game modes and have no place in Dus...I mean Faction Warfare.

Love the multi-stage idea (a lot like Killzone Warzone which is the best FPS mode ever IMO). Just need some new modes for it. Some kind of Breach mode combined with a Demolition type mode would be ideal.

I dream of the day a corporation can attack a District and move through a couple of stages of defense...hack and capture a space elevator and take that baby to the top...fight our way through a space station....overload the reactor and set it to blow...steal a ship....and then escape back to the planet.

Can you deal with that?!

The only problem I see with this set-up is the time involved. IT could take hours and hours to finish a set of matches....OR days if that's what separates the battles. I would stick with just 3 total battles as opposed to 4. Otherwise great concept, but I would still prefer skirmish 1.0....which apparently won't ever happen again cause its "old tech"

Aero, I think that may, more than likely be true, yet the possibility still remains. If you have several teams of highly motivated crews participating in the contest for the district it could possibly go for hours, i.e., Hamburger Hill moments that turn into ULTRA-meat grinders.

Keep in mind that, though many players may become disenfranchised in a district due to consistent red-lining, you may get a number of people that will become stubborn and tough it out to the bitter end.

I donGÇÖt see a problem with a battle for a district taking hours or even days, as long as the individual matches are the normal length. Players can rotate in and out of the conflict as their time allows. You could wake up the next day and check your star map to see how the battle went after you logged off.

The battle for a planet might take days or even weeks. With that train idea, once a district is conquered the battle moves to the adjacent district, and then the next until that planet is taken, but if the attackers are pushed out of the next district, than it goes back to the previous district and the side that lost it the first time become the attackers.

If a full planet is taken it should be locked until some condition is met, possibly in EVE, causing the side that lost the planet to counter attack. Meanwhile the same thing would be happening on other planets.

It would be a real never ending war, with each battle having a meaningful impact in both games

What I would like to see implemented with this style of persistence is the ability to not only target a planet or jump into a targeted district that is chosen for us by the Battlefinder and Scotty, rather having Players be more of an active and determining component in the strategic process of designing the battle plan and implementing the invasion.

This would allow for the expansion of these ideas to allow a multi-concerted attack (i.e., hitting several districts at once). EX: district 5 is a production facility along with district 8 (all part of a 12 district planet). Initiating the attack on both would make more sense. But for those pushes to work, it would also make sense to initiate ambushes on Districts 3, 2, 9, &10 since they are all storage facilities. This would spread the forces holding the planet thinly, making the effort on the two production facilities easier and less organized on the side of the defenders.

The attacks on the storage facilities don't have to actually win, they just have to dwindle down the the clone counts and work as a distraction, on that is large enough and successful enough that it divert energy and resources to it.

Again, a meta-game approach to FW.

Aero, by far one of the better discussion I have had the recent pleasure of being involved with on here in a long while. Thanks.

Hey guys,

I just wanted to let you know that we have been reading this thread and staying on top of it. The discussion is really very good. Right now though we are focused on getting the current iteration of factional contracts out the door, iterating on it after launch, and then a laundry list of other things we need to get done.

We have been have serious discussion internally however about how we slow down the flipping of districts and this thread along with what you guys have been talking about has come up often. So please keep the discussion going and I apologize for the lack of dev response, as I said we are just trying to stay focused on our current goals. :)

I think this is possibly where FW could go. AeroGÇÖs idea is something that can be implemented with what we have today, but would also fit very well into any number of advanced scenarios that could be developed later.

They are talking about having EVE pilots fly the War Barge to the planet and anchor over the district to start PC battles in Planetary Conquest 2.0. They could easily adapt that to allow EVE players to start district battles in FW in this manner. Then EVE/DUST Alliances that specialize in FW can do as you suggest and plan their attacks at the meta level.

Hey guys,

I just wanted to let you know that we have been reading this thread and staying on top of it. The discussion is really very good. Right now though we are focused on getting the current iteration of factional contracts out the door, iterating on it after launch, and then a laundry list of other things we need to get done.

We have been have serious discussion internally however about how we slow down the flipping of districts and this thread along with what you guys have been talking about has come up often. So please keep the discussion going and I apologize for the lack of dev response, as I said we are just trying to stay focused on our current goals. :)

They are talking about having EVE pilots fly the War Barge to the planet and anchor over the district to start PC battles in Planetary Conquest 2.0. They could easily adapt that to allow EVE players to start district battles in FW in this manner. Then EVE/DUST Alliances that specialize in FW can do as you suggest and plan their attacks at the meta level.

If the Defenders are Red Lining the attackers, then a District Battle could be over in 1 match. If the attackers are Red Lining the defenders, then the Battle will be over in 4 or 5 matches.

For a District Battle to go on for a full Day, both teams would have to be very evenly matched. Think about that. Any battle that went on for that long would be EPIC!!!

Hey guys,

I just wanted to let you know that we have been reading this thread and staying on top of it. The discussion is really very good. Right now though we are focused on getting the current iteration of factional contracts out the door, iterating on it after launch, and then a laundry list of other things we need to get done.

We have been have serious discussion internally however about how we slow down the flipping of districts and this thread along with what you guys have been talking about has come up often. So please keep the discussion going and I apologize for the lack of dev response, as I said we are just trying to stay focused on our current goals. :)

Varying levels of player groups, much like in Faction Warfare in Eve Online. Have some districts restricted to 6v6, another for 10v10 and a final, full-on district which encompasses 16v16. I'm sure the community would froth at the mouth for the opportunity to play in a game mode where there is less likeliness of being ganked by large organized teams, just as well they would appreciate the ability to field entire teams for themselves.

appreciate the acknowledgement, nice to know the idea has been noticed

As a matter of interest, do you have any idea how technically difficult/easy such a system of play would be to instigate in-game?

I do like the idea of potentially using War Barges in FW as well to direct fights. It seems like a good fit, but at the same time I wouldn't want to outright limit the other things that may be possible as well (spending LP, etc.).