This thread has earned the rare Cat Merc Seal of Approval (CMSA)

I consider that a great honour!

Also, have you seen this? Just to show that not all cat videos are cute. Some cats are Bad Ass! This Cat would do well in New Eden.

Warbarge:

A Warbarge is a large ship, larger than a Battleship, more like the size of an Orca or Freighter. A Warbarge has the unique ability to become a fixed orbital structure. Warbarges are used to transport clones, MCC's and everything else needed to support an infantry incursion onto a hostile planet.

Warbarges are still small enough to use Jump Gates and to dock at stations. They are slow, and fairly tough ships, with very limited offensive capabilities. They have strong ship shields, but are also equipped with heavy duty structure shields, such as would normally be found on fixed orbital structures such as POCOGÇÖs and POSGÇÖs. In order to activate these structure shields the Warbarge must redirect all power away from its engines to power the shields. It can only do this when in a gravity locked fixed orbit above a planet or moon. Once in orbit it takes 5 minutes for the structure shields to fully form. Once the Structure shields are fully formed it acts like an orbital structure and will go into reinforced mode if the structure shields are reduced to 20%. While in reinforced mode, the pilot cannot drop the structure shields, and thus, cannot move the ship.

Like the Orca, a Warbarge has a ship hanger. ItGÇÖs ship hanger is big enough to hold several Destroyer class ships. This is important, as once the EVE pilot has anchored the Warbarge, a pilot will not be needed again until it is time to move it again. With a ship hanger, the EVE pilot can switch to a frigate and leave, or switch to a destroyer and provide Orbital Strikes.

It would be nice if the EVE pilot was able to provide other types of Off Map Support from the Warbarge during a battle. It would be nice if the pilot in the Warbarge could see the satellite feed of the battle, and the Tac-Net overlay, as we do on the spawn screen. If an EVE player in the Warbarge could drop CRUGÇÖs, Supply Depots, Turrets and other support, that would be an interesting tactical layer and integration between the games. But this bit could be added in a later iteration.


Hiring a Warbarge:

A Corporation or group of mercenaries intending to raid or attack a Planetary Conquest District must either own a Warbarge, or contract one. An EVE player who owns a Warbarge can make ISK by contracting Warbarge services. The mercenaries create a contract specifying a start time and an end time between which the Warburge must be in anchored over a specific district, and the ISK for the contract is put into escrow. The EVE pilot accepts the contract, flies the Warbarge to the designated district, and anchors it. At the start time designated in the contract, if the Warbarge is in place, the EVE pilot gets half the ISK. If the Warbarge is still in place at the specified end time, the EVE pilot gets the remainder of the ISK. (The merc who created the contract may also click a "Complete" option, to allow the EVE Pilot to leave early without forfeiting the pay.) If the Warbarge gets blown up and the EVE pilot is not able to fulfill the terms of the contract, the EVE pilot will not get paid and the merc who created the contract will get his ISK back.

A Legion Corp that has a relationship with an EVE Warbarge pilot in the area might be able to setup a 1 hour contract with a half hour of lead time for a quick raid on a district. While a Legion Corp with no EVE connections will have to plan ahead and set a much longer lead time incase no EVE pilots take the contract right away. So they might set it up to ask that the Warbarge be anchored over a specific district between 16:00 and 18:00 the following day, or in three days. If this time is not convenient for the EVE pilot, they might anchor the Warbarge in place much earlier in the day (10:00) and then come back and get it sometime after 18:00. There should be plenty of EVE pilots interested in investing in Warbarges, because it is essentially: fly ship there, anchor it, leave it, collect ISK, come back later to pick up Warbarge. Of course in Null Sec, and in Low Sec if it is a long trip, the Warbarge may need an escort to protect it until it is anchored.

Thanks for this update
(I was curious about the warbarge aspect)

One comment: wouldn't the contract system be a giant giveaway?
Let say corp A wants to attack corp B, and puts out a warbarge contract to dock over corp B's district @18:00. Wouldn't that be visible for everybody, including corp B? It would be easy to check when the contract disappears (I.e accepted), and just wait there with a huge fleet to bomb it to hell the moment it arrives? Or did I miss something?