the location of the battle once they are already engaged in combat since the district is not displayed on the leader board only the system and planet number.

Another issue is the lack of a clock in the Dust merc quarters and in battle that shows the current Eve time, which is the best way to communicate to Eve pilots when their support will be needed. Also, It seems like if there was an option for a Duster to broadcast a corp battle in an in game channel with a channel command (OB Request: Jita IV - D13 - 0800) the process of Dusters telling Eve pilots where to go could be streamlined.

Picking a system for the event has also proven challenging because the current setup is akin to rolling a dice. The more temperate planets in a system the higher the probability it will have of appearing in the contracts and being selected. Due to this mechanic the system picks for the events have been limited to systems with 3+ temperate planets. When I quickly refreshed the contracts in an attempt to pull up a specific system that only contained 1 temperate planet it was not uncommon for it to take up to 15 minutes to get one contract hit. The current GUI also results in the dust merc feeling no connection to these contracts as part of a larger scale conflict between the factions and has no idea where they are in New Eden or how they are important. The fact that the entire contract system and, as a result faction warfare, is veiled behind director roles leads to the rank and file mercs of a Dust corporation having no ties to the bigger picture. After talking to several mercs I found that many didn't even realize that we were already making a tangible impact on Eve, and that the corporation contracts were actually causing real districts in New Eden to change hands.

This lack of weight to the current corp battles is compounded by the purely consensual nature of contracts at the present time. An organized push for a system by attackers currently can be stalled by the other side not showing up and having no consequence for their absence. The current system is more akin to a grudge match or dueling system. If there is a much improved faction warfare system down the line (as there should be), the current system should be preserved and used for scrimmages and to settle scores between corps by making it where the matches don't effect faction ownership of districts. Any future iteration should be built on the foundation of non-consensual PvP which is one of the hallmarks of New Eden.

Here's hoping your points are heard and acted upon.

Reactivating Mercenary matches as a way to form up war parties on the fly would be good. Create some opposition for organized corps. It's kinda like a PUG so you don't pay the damn collateral given the fact that 90% of the time organized corp Vs random grab bag of derps, scrubs and rage bus riders are unlikely to win unless they can cook up organization and coordination, FAST.

This is a horrible way to go about that.

If people want pugs, the pugs still NEED to pony up the ISK for the contract.

You HAVE to pay the DAMN COLLATERAL.

This game is about RISK and we don't want ways around that.

why not go full stupid and make it so that it costs 1 AUR to sign up for a pug.

So just a chat message basically, but an easy way to do it quickly? Before the battle or during (or both)?

Here's hoping your points are heard and acted upon.

Reactivating Mercenary matches as a way to form up war parties on the fly would be good. Create some opposition for organized corps. It's kinda like a PUG so you don't pay the damn collateral given the fact that 90% of the time organized corp Vs random grab bag of derps, scrubs and rage bus riders are unlikely to win unless they can cook up organization and coordination, FAST.

I think this option should be something that becomes available if a corporation is a no show to a contract that has already been accepted. That way like Telc is saying the collateral is still a factor, but teams that don't show up are punished by loosing their collateral and giving the opportunity for randoms to fill up the corp match to mount an attack/defense of the district. If an attack contract goes unanswered I think there should be some fair system in place where the district is automatically awarded to the attacker (maybe after no defender accepted the contract 3 times in a row).

Another issue is the lack of a clock in the Dust merc quarters and in battle that shows the current Eve time, which is the best way to communicate to Eve pilots when their support will be needed.

So just a chat message basically, but an easy way to do it quickly? Before the battle or during (or both)?

Having a clock in Eve time would be fantastic. It is hard to coordinate with pilots in Eve time, and with Dust players in different timezones. I'd prefer it if there was a clock in the neocom. I'll probably get used to converting the time eventually, but I'd love a clock that shows Eve time anywhere in the game. I think part of the problem for some Dust players (like myself) is because we are coming from the console FPS world into the Eve universe, which we are not used to. I think getting Dust mercs to use Eve time will make it easier to go from Dust to Eve. Setting up an Eve account is getting kind of tempting :O.



I think this is to make it easier for Eve pilots to get to certain locations on time. I would love timestamps on chat messages. As a Dust merc timestamps are more important to me, partially because I have to convert the time to a 24 hr clock and then GMT, and because it makes stuff easier to coordinate if we know what time it was said.

After re-reading what Kain Spero posted, I realize that my chat stamp request is slightly off-topic from what Kain Spero had in mind, so sorry about that. I believe Kain Spero wants to make it easier for Dust mercs to tell Eve pilots when and where they need to be. As a merc, I am instantly teleported to a system, but apparently Eve pilots need to fly and go through gates and stuff.

From personal experience, I have seen most of my support organized out of game instead of in. It would be nice if the process was streamlined.

The issue with a miss once and flip system is that a REALLY REALLY large corp could put out a massive amount of contracts that could let them flip entire constellations by just winning the lottery of placing the contracts when few people happen to be on.

If you did a no show and flip system it would have to be balance by limiters like only x number of contracts per corp, but even that could be abused with alts and alt PSNs. Think of this way: automated systems in a district can repel an attack, but only for a certain time (2-3 unaccepted contracts etc.) until the attackers are able to seize the district.

As a merc, I am instantly teleported to a system, but apparently Eve pilots need to fly and go through gates and stuff.

This is now one of my favorite quotes. I might just add this to my eve side signature.

This is now one of my favorite quotes. I might just add this to my eve side signature.

I totally agree with bringing the logistics side to it. It also an important way for Eve to be able to push back against Dust.

The main thing though is that I think this should be limited to Nullsec warfare. In Faction warfare the Navy from each faction would be providing the War Barge and the MCC for the engagement. In null it would need to be player provided.

The key here is to make sure that the gameplay is fun, but add layers of complexity (like War barge logistics) as Mercs and Eve pilots travel down the rabbit hole.

I worry about introducing the lag time for a player deciding they want to fight and being able to fight.

Maybe if the current system of contracts is left in place for dueling, grudge matches, srims etc. then that wouldn't be an issues.

I think the mechanic would be fine for Null, but it may be a case of too much too soon with Faction Warfare. I agree that it would be neat, I just wouldn't want to add it to the detriment of moving players from pub matches to something with more meaning.

It may be that your linear progression idea could play a factor in this though. What I mean by this is maybe war barges are only placed in systems that are on the current front line systems of the war and so you can only spawn contracts in those systems. As one milita pushes the warbarges follow suit and move the ground game as well as the naval conflict forward.

Hmmm.......

We already have the 10 min timer for a War barge. Maybe make that timer actually the travel time for a NPC war barge??

I would still want to proceed with caution. Lets make Faction Warfare not broken first, but long term this sounds like a golden idea. Imagine being on the War Barge, but instead of seeing the planet below you see yourself warping/jumping through space.

Just remember that war barges most likely travel via jump drives rather than warp drives. Maybe they cyno into a system 30 mins before a match and the opposing faction has to know its coming and scan it down. Mercs then begin deploying to the war barge at match time.

A big problem is that DUST mercs are making the decision to fight (where and when) and also paying for the privilege.

Isn't FW supposed to be driven from and funded by the EvE side of the house? You know, the people with an actual interest in a planet's ownership?

Contract prices should be set by how much each side wants the district and be affected by the supply of available mercs, and neither merc corp should be stiffed, much less pay for the privilege of losing gear.

I realize the money issue exists temporarily due to the inflation/disruption fears, but it will have to be changed before your average merc actually feels like a mercenary.

And then some news about the battle's outcome on that fancy big screen TV in our quarters would go a long way toward making us feel involved in EVE, as well as make a great change to watching the shopping channel all day. It would also make the downtime far more interesting.