Its a nice idea

But chances are corps will want your land just because they see you as easy pickings

They may even use the disguise that they will help you out and 'practise' but instead they will field ther A team and all proto gear because they know they will be able to take the land off you because you are fielding new players

Some corps may help you out and be honest but i bet the vast majority will hamstring you

Unfortunately you will not be able to do this and maintain neutrality. For the same reason E-Uni does not hold sovereignty in the cluster Dust Uni will not be able to hold districts and have NAPs without meta being a factor and neutrality questioned in the long run.

As for students learning about PConquest it will be up to their eventual home corp to teach them. Uni as an organization teaches new players about the game and is a stepping stool to another corp. Unless things have changed with Keldum stepping down otherwise the answer is obviously no Uni cannot own districts and maintain neutrality.

Non-Aggression pacts, or any other form of contract, cannot be considered impartial or neutral.
I cannot see any way in which Dust Uni can legitimise holding any territory, or allowing, or otherwise facilitating another corp holding territory without ignoring their fundamental goals and values.

I think you have painted yourself into a corner in this respect.

+1 for asking the community, at least you can say you are thoroughly transparent.

This gentleman brings up a good point regarding sov. How do you train pilots in Eve Uni for sovereignty gameplay without holding any? Could you employ those same teaching methods here?

There is no true neutrality in New Eden. Ivy League already has their own list of reds and blues. They exist through diplomacy and suffer war on a regular basis.

I think the question they are asking is "does holding any territory make them look overly aggressive?"

You see our dilemma.

Since the PC Dev blog it's been the elephant in room. How does a corp coming from a tradition of neutrality work in a game where there is nothing Neutral.

I'm sure there is a solution we just have find it. But I strongly feel that we should be transparent with the community with such an important matter.

The problem is that PC potentially is a large source of ISK for Dust Corps and we aren't going to be able to have a piece of the pie at the moment.

I suggest that you remain neutral, and do not take any Districts. Teach your students with Pubs, and later FW. Once they are competent, you can seek out smaller corps who need bodies for their own PCs.

Then, once ISK transfer for DUST goes live, I'm sure you'd find rich corps and mercs willing to help you out with your cause.
Serve as a university, and make connections with the bigger stronger corps out there. They'll be happy to take your competent grads, and will compensate you for the effort.

No need to hold ground to make the ISKies, get paid for a specific service to the community, instead of competing in PC.

The problem is that PC potentially is a large source of ISK for Dust Corps and we aren't going to be able to have a piece of the pie at the moment.

What's wrong with them having a campus? One to three districts won't be making them much money.

Sextus Hardcock, how in gods name did you get get that past the filter

Joking aside you raise a good point that we haven't really talk much about in corp so thanks for that.

Keep the post coming guys we are getting a lot of help from this so thank you all.

I beleive that the competition will be pretty cuttthroat for the limited districts we have to fight over. DUST-U already has a unique niche as a neutral training corp. They will make more ISK from donations for providing a service to the community, while still preserving their neutrality.

You see our dilemma.

Since the PC Dev blog it's been the elephant in room. How does a corp coming from a tradition of neutrality work in a game where there is nothing Neutral.

I'm sure there is a solution we just have find it. But I strongly feel that we should be transparent with the community with such an important matter.

The problem is that PC potentially is a large source of ISK for Dust Corps and we aren't going to be able to have a piece of the pie at the moment.

I suggest that you remain neutral, and do not take any Districts. Teach your students with Pubs, and later FW. Once they are competent, you can seek out smaller corps who need bodies for their own PCs.

The Dust community has to agree as a whole NOT to take your districts and support you if someone does take your districts.

I also think when it comes to FPS your training methodology needs some improvement. I would be happy to help you guys in any way I can.

I will even support 1-3 districts being assigned to only you guys so that you can train people.

I suggest that you remain neutral, and do not take any Districts. Teach your students with Pubs, and later FW. Once they are competent, you can seek out smaller corps who need bodies for their own PCs.

We've though about this too, but the same issue applies. If we're helping other corps, even small ones in their conquest efforts, how can we consider ourselves neutral?

We've though about this too, but the same issue applies. If we're helping other corps, even small ones in their conquest efforts, how can we consider ourselves neutral?

I agree with this, it will maintain your neutrality as long as you show no favoritism. Have a set fee per student for PCs that is open to anyone looking for people and have whoever is online take up those contracts, this would also benefit anyone who might have trouble fielding the full team they need. As far as I know few corps would have the renown or the size to fill such a role, small corps could possibly fill the PC slots of larger ones if they are short but unless corps take on smaller ones as fill-in alliances but then it is hard to know who is actually have decent and who isn't (let alone find them).

I think the suggestion was for your students to be true mercenaries in those cases, fighting for anyone and everyone who will give them a slot instead of for their own territory.

In that way, your support is completely neutral from a diplomatic standpoint.

"Oh, I'm sorry that you were upset that some of our students fought against you when Carebears, Inc. attacked you last night. If you'd like, I'd be happy to put together a squad for you guys tonight when they attack again."

"Oh, I'm sorry that you were upset that some of our students fought against you when Carebears, Inc. attacked you last night. If you'd like, I'd be happy to put together a squad for you guys tonight when they attack again."

I've made a similar point in the boardroom. We'd either need near full support of the mercenary community thus reinforcing our neutrality, or this may not be feasible.

We also realize we have work to do regarding our training methodology (tool restrictions asside) and welcome help from the community in that regard as well!

A good point. You would have to freely allow your students to fight for any side they wish (even students on both sides of a battle), and Dust U could take no compensation for it.

I cannot promise anything as I have no power in PRO, but I will talk with ContraBanJoe and see what he says.
Ideally we can:
1.Provide protection for the few districts you own
2.Own the other districts on the same planet
3.Let our PRO newbies fight Dust Uni players so both get valuable training

This is mutually beneficial which is why I believe ContraBanJoe will help.

But again, I can't promise anything, its up to Joe on what to do, and all I can do is inform him of the option.

I am concerned about allowing the community to influence this decision too much. Please reflect on the reasons the Uni no longer holds sovereignty in New Eden and allow the wisdom of past experiences be the major deciding factor. Though I commend you for including the community in this discussion. The fact is there is a reason the Uni does not hold sovereignty and I truly believe those same reason will apply to owning districts as well.

The main problem I see with this is recruits will be broke as kitten. If Dust University is to succeed, it needs venture capital funding. Owning districts and selling clones will help them achieve that.

If they are to train their recruits, fitting will become expensive and will become expensive fast. They either need high level donations or make their own income. And if you are training recruits they also need to be trained of various dropsuit levels and mods. Gets expensive fast.

And I'll admit, this is my main concern...that and exposure to the new mechanic...

We appreciate the offer Cat Merc...but the objective is community support, not PRO as bodyguard. We want to remain neutral and the flipside to that is we can't be tied too closely to a single non-educational institution.

Indeed, another valid reason for going with the community-protected "Planet of Education" model is that the neutral training corps could fight against each other for control of "spare" districts as part of the training. This would enable Dust Uni and some others to be a bit like Red-vs-Blue in EVE.

For instance, if three training corps control a 12 district planet, each one could get three "fixed" districts and the other three could be "sacrificial" districts.

If this arrangement was enforced by the Major League corps/alliances, it would provide a useful training ground for all sides.

Potentionally challenging mission, particularly since we have so little information regarding district distribution, but this sounds like a very interesting model...

... that and exposure to the new mechanic...

Anyone acting like holding a district or two is somehow 'violating neutrality', is forgetting three things:

1) Dust 514 is not persistent like EVe online is.
2) There are plenty of ways to make a ton of ISK in Eve without holding any territory, while Dusts main source will be the districts.
3) holding ONE district is not going to affect anything so long as D Uni is strict about keeping it to one.

I like that too, though considering how PC mechanics work it would be a logistics nightmare to enforce it.
Hopefully once we get more details we will see if that's possible.

How would you finance them? What are your suggestions for them to generate income?

Its easy to tell someone not to do something. Could you please provide alternatives?

Well, here is my "vision" for how this might work:

In EVE, there are "coalitions" of alliances. These groups have no in-game mechanic enforcing their behavior, just a mutual agreement.

If we establish a "Scholarship Coalition" that includes say three "Major-League" alliances and three "Colleges", this system is easily enforceable.

Essentially, once the first big wave of colonization ends, the Major Leaguers look at their borders and work with the Colleges to pick a planet that is roughly in the middle. All of the members of the Scholarship Coalition pledge to maintain the planet as a preserve for the colleges and to mutually defend it if someone attacks it outside of an arranged educational battle.

The Major Leaguers are under no obligation to respect each others' borders (they can keep fighting each other all they want). The colleges never attack off-world, so they pose no threat to the Major Leagues whose sheer power keeps other would-be attackers at bay. The Major Leagues, in turn, have established goodwill from the colleges and will likely have a better chance of recruiting the best students.

This is something that must be considered. Even though only the leadership will be involved in managing districts they will need that experience in order to pass it on to their recruits.

My comments are in regards to their ability to maintain neutrality and maintain the Uni culture. How they finance themselves in not my problem and has historically been through donations. Not tech moons or ratting or other forms of income that sovereignty would provide. PConquest is equall to sovereignty as far as I'm concerned and I do not believe the Uni can justify holding it here.

Though there are great suggestions already posted such as having the uni participate in a mercenary like fashion.

I knew that's what they meant.
But the problem is if game mechanics will allow it.

This is a relatively minor thing. What I am expecting in P.C is a completely different tactical objective. From what I read it sound like the attackers objective is killing as many clones as possible while keeping your own mcc alive the longest possible time. notice no focus on destroying the hostile MCC. Where as the defenders it will be the complete reverse, Primary target is the hostile MCC while attempting to keep as many clones as possible.

If I'm right, or even close to it with that assessment (and that we will only really get to see once P.C is implemented) there will be 2 very distinct play styles and tactics used exclusively for P.C. It is that mentality and understanding I want us to be able to pass on to our students ideally before they move on to there home corp.

I feel that failing to teach them this aspect of DUST would leave us passing on student that are not tactically aware or skilled for these fights. To my mind it would be like training students to fight PvE in EVE and then sending them off as PvP pilots.

That would be a catastrophic failure on our part.

Academy, College, and University then "conquer" their assigned "fixed" districts in staged crap battles with the Major Leagues.

Did we just suggest the same thing at the same time?

If its not your problem, why are you here? Dust Uni is asking for help out here.

As far as them them being mercs;- ever played a corp battle with them?

You are just full of horse ****.

As its been suggested a couple of times. What is the general feeling then of the community of a Merc remaining neutral by fighting for anyone?

Would such a freelance corp still be seen as neutral and a corp that business could be done with as long as they were open about it?

This is a good idea. I think CCP should just assign 3-4 districts to DU and let them duke it out there. It will be a good source of income and practice for the students.

I don't think we want to ask for favoritism from CCP..........that would nuke neutrality.....lol

Being open is the key. Declare your position and post your rules.

From what I understand the client will need to provide the squad leaders anyway. Since there is no means to pass ISK outside of a corporation at this point you could have a channel where squad leaders could come and ask for mercenaries and their pay would come from the normal match mechanics. Unless you specifically banned certain corps or alliances from this "merc bazaar" then it would be up to each student to provide their services. Basically, you would have a "looking for squad" channel.

Once the game mechanics open up then methods of payment would have to be considered.

This is a good idea. I think CCP should just assign 3-4 districts to DU and let them duke it out there. It will be a good source of income and practice for the students.

The school corps can pick their own planet and set of districts, declare their intention, and go at it. Those that support the schools can help regulate interference from the community. The schools evolved from the players and should be managed by the players.

The player generated content surrounding this looks really interesting. I can see rogue corps attacking a school but that would provide experience for them. If it becomes overwhelming then stronger corps could step in.

This is a good idea. I think CCP should just assign 3-4 districts to DU and let them duke it out there. It will be a good source of income and practice for the students.

They wont make it! Is it too hard for you to understand that it will be very hard for DU to actually get merc contracts? Fighting other mercs will just be expensive, more than its worth it.

This is Dust. Not Eve! Things are different here;- unless some corp/alliance pays them a shitload of money to take over an empty district.

They need their own playground.

I doubt CCP would act directly and I don't think it's needed. The school corps can pick their own planet and set of districts, declare their intention, and go at it. Those that support the schools can help regulate interference from the community. The schools evolved from the players and should be managed by the players.

The player generated content surrounding this looks really interesting. I can see rogue corps attacking a school but that would provide experience for them. If it becomes overwhelming then stronger corps could step in.

The key is that it couldn't just be Dust University. There would need to be two, or better yet, three "colleges" in order to ensure a good supply of battles within the "training" context. In addition, having a balanced trio would reinforce the neutrality of all of the colleges involved.

What about Bojo's? Correct me if I am wrong but you guys are also a training corp?

You don't think its feasible that university members could be used to fill holes in a corp match?

I would imagine that would depend on the size/power of the corp involved. If it's a big protofest then you're right...but if it's a smaller corp trying to maintain a footprint in New Eden...possibly we could help.

Yes, but I'd like to think of us as a bit more one on one than dust uni

I like the ideas of a University planet but from some reason I keep thinking it should be called Tleilax...

What about Bojo's? Correct me if I am wrong but you guys are also a training corp?

Yes. You do bring out an interesting point out here. Mercing for smaller corps vs smaller corps will work out for you. The payouts may be smaller but will still be profitable for you.

Care to elaborate?

If Bojo feels like adding to the discussion he is more than welcome to, he might have an idea that works that we at D-Uni have missed and even if not would be interesting to get his take on things.

Having said that Bojo might not have the rigid view on neutrality that we at D-Uni have, If not it would certainly give him some extra breathing room in terms of P.C that are unavailable to us.

Might I suggest that the leadership of DU (and indeed perhaps Ivy League) reach out to CEOs of the biggest corps out there. You don't necessarily need anything more than their assurance that their corp will support your plan to have a 'Training Planet'.

Indeed the street goes both ways. Provide quality training to prospective new Mercs and farm them out to big corps with the resources to use them and you will likely find those corps willing to provide ringers to protect your Districts from so called 'rogue' corps.

DU/EU fills a fundamentally necessary role in New Eden, the learning curve is exceptionally steep in the case of both games (sometimes I almost pity little redberries as I kill them two or three at a time.) A basic education and some mentoring is necessary for the majority of players out there who may be unwilling or unable to do their 'homework' and learn about this game.

Most mercs wont stay once they are done with the training. You may as well make some ISK out of it.

While this may raise some neutrality issues its just another thought.

Essentially you are 'selling' your education, by providing competent Mercs to established corps.
Again as long as you don't favour one corp over another (perhaps bidding on mercs could take place)
you shouldn't have a problem with neutrality.

Kev, your geek is showing again buddy

We are Mercs not Mentats :P

Not if the community agrees to it. If the community agrees to you have 3-4 districts on your own I wont call that as favoritism. I would call it support. Again like I said it all depends on what the community agress upon.

Are the core game mechanics going to be radically different (referring to the grunt experience)?

I don't think CCP would go for it and I really don't think this is the way to go anyways. It isn't "fair" to all of the other corps out there. Just because D-UNI and a couple of other bigger 'training' corps are known, I'm sure there are a few smaller ones that only have a few members and trying to start out. It wouldn't be fair for them to not get their own free districts.

Also, it would just open up a can of worms because if they were to get to the size of D-UNI they would want their own districts also and so on and so forth.

This is a question for Kevall and 3 bird.

Other than an income source, which is only a temporary problem due to lacking game mechanics, what does engaging in PConquering provide educationally?

Are the core game mechanics going to be radically different (referring to the grunt experience)?

If not cant things like comms etiquette, working as a team, and how to fill a specific role be taught outside of PConquest?

In short what educational benefit is Dust Uni going to gain from controlling planets that cant be gained using squads in FW and pub matches at a newberies level of play?

Welp if CCP doesn't do this kitten them. Let the community decide. Like Sextus pointed out;- reach out the the big name corps out there and ask for their support. If they agree, you are secured.

Quite honestly if smaller corps want to survive they better be able to field 16 players or join an alliance that could help them out. Either way they have no place owning a district if they cant defend it one way or the other.

Besides, we wouldn't want any college to get branded with the BoB taint, deserved or not.

I don't get this. I would like to know more about it but it can be done offline.

The main thing we feel at the moment is that the tactics used in the new system will be different. Each side will have a different objective.

The attackers will do everything in their power to extend the clock on the match while destroying as many clones as they can.

The deffenders will be doing everything they can to destroy the enemy MCC or kill reds while maintaining as many clones as possible.

The tactics used and the experience of the this type of battle, we feel, would be sufficiently different from a pub or FW match for us to be concerned about seeking the experience for students.

This is a question for Kevall and 3 bird.

Other than an income source, which is only a temporary problem due to lacking game mechanics, what does engaging in PConquering provide educationally?

Are the core game mechanics going to be radically different (referring to the grunt experience)?

If not cant things like comms etiquette, working as a team, and how to fill a specific role be taught outside of PConquest?

In short what educational benefit is Dust Uni going to gain from controlling planets that cant be gained using squads in FW and pub matches at a newberies level of play?

Fair enough. So the next step is to determine if this justifies D-Uni owning districts or trying to get dunistas involved through other means. Both options have difficulties that must be ironed out.

What is D-Uni currently leaning to and why?

This is a question for Kevall and 3 bird.

Other than an income source, which is only a temporary problem due to lacking game mechanics, what does engaging in PConquering provide educationally?

Are the core game mechanics going to be radically different (referring to the grunt experience)?

If not cant things like comms etiquette, working as a team, and how to fill a specific role be taught outside of PConquest?

In short what educational benefit is Dust Uni going to gain from controlling planets that cant be gained using squads in FW and pub matches at a newberies level of play?

The power blocs would agree to defend said planet from invaders while the owner of that planet provides the power blocs with fresh new recruits under the condition that no one power bloc is favored over the other.

I would say it's best to take a whole planet with the least amount of districts on it and just stick with it and have no further expansions. Even though New Eden is a harsh galaxy, there have been cases where the power blocs had a mutual agreement so long as it benefits them. The power blocs would agree to defend said planet from invaders while the owner of that planet provides the power blocs with fresh new recruits under the condition that no one power bloc is favored over the other.

I'm just throwing an idea out there. Not sure if this is a good idea or a bad one.

Bojo's School of the Trades wants in, we will be seeing you in conquest Uni

Calling all Allies! Red Rocks! Legacy Rising! Hell even those few people from PFBHz!

The problem we have with this model is that no matter how you do it it looks like favouritism from the outside. If your not one of the power blocs we have an agreement with, then you are that much less likly to get D-Uni grads entering your corp. Not because we want our guys to go to a specific corp/alliance in return for the protection, but just through familiarity and interaction.

If our guys talk to you, see you or interact with you more than any other corp it perfectly reasonable for them to want to join your corp when they graduate from D-Uni. But from the outside it looks like we are only training mercs for those surrounding power blocs. Any agreement of this nature would have to completely voluntary on all sides.

Unfortunately you will not be able to do this and maintain neutrality. For the same reason E-Uni does not hold sovereignty in the cluster Dust Uni will not be able to hold districts and have NAPs without meta being a factor and neutrality questioned in the long run.

As for students learning about PConquest it will be up to their eventual home corp to teach them. Uni as an organization teaches new players about the game and is a stepping stool to another corp. Unless things have changed with Keldum stepping down otherwise the answer is obviously no Uni cannot own districts and maintain neutrality.

Personally I quite like the idea of some form of educational coalition working on a single planet. It gives us all the opportunity to train our respective students in P.C, will also induce closer ties between the schools which will lead to exchange of information (teaching related) and will improve the service we all provide for the community.

DU would be better off waiting for their to be more districts before attempting to get in on the ground level of something so hotly contested as this by so many people.

Include Districts/Planets in this and this will allow any D-Uni member to participate in P-Conquest with the consent of Director and involved entity.

P.S. For all you people who are saying, "This isn't EvE/ This isn't persistent/ This is Dust it's different" You're in for a rude awakening. Without the ability to do API checks your recruitment process is open to attack. Infact a corp theft has already happened in Dust. So just a word of wisdom here... be ready for the meta because it's comming.

You make a very good point. at the very least it might be a good idea to see how fast the 250 districts available are claimed.

You guys openly admit to taking in newbies and teaching them how to play, that's going to be too easy a target with so few planets/districts up for grab.

You know we'd gank if for a start, i'm sure other corps here would too. Chances are you'd end up on the defensive 100% from day one.

You guys openly admit to taking in newbies and teaching them how to play, that's going to be too easy a target with so few planets/districts up for grab.

You know we'd gank if for a start, i'm sure other corps here would too. Chances are you'd end up on the defensive 100% from day one.

Thats one way to train newberrys.

Unless you can get the ENTIRE community behind you - every Corporation with the numbers to play in PC - you're not going to be able to establish a training district, let alone more than that, and definitely not a whole planet.

If you can get 3 Corps together who are willing to do so, they could probably find and capture a remote planet that's out of the way and only really accessible to a new Corporation rather than an established PC Corp. Get a cooperative effort to set up a simple 3-corp battlefield and let DUST-Uni players fill out most of the battles back and forth. So each team has 3 squad leaders from the owning Corp in a battle, and the rest of the numbers on BOTH teams are made up by students - with maybe a couple of trainers in the match as well to give them pointers.

This would rely on the goodwill of the Corporations involved in the conflict, rather than on D-Uni being obligated on any level to "help" the owners - the stablity and profit from a region being held like this would probably be its own reward in comparison with any other place where 3 powerful Corps got a foothold on a planet and started tearing each other's throats out.

---

The other big idea is the mercenary option. This one seems more practical and viable, because it doesn't rely on outside agencies or negate the neutrality of the Corp.

Anyone in D-Uni who's interested in getting experience with PC could approach a specific designated "job broker" for the corp. All a student would be allowed to give is their availability days and times. From there, they'll be placed into a rotation of students who will be hired out on a case-by-case basis to various corporations - preferably as a relatively low-end option in terms of price, since they're (obviously) not going to be high-level players.

When their services are purchased, the student would be getting paid based on their performance in the battle anyway (mercs in PC are awarded "loot" for the battle), so the payment to D-Uni - or at least part of it - would be considered a donation rather than a payment to the individual merc who ends up with the team.

I'm pretty sure a system could be built around that basic framework that allows for D-Uni mercenaries to operate on a truly neutral level. They wouldn't be affiliated with a particular corp for any kind of term, just for a single battle, and they'd likely end up on the opposite side of the line in their next encounter with that corp. This would also help prospective "graduates" to meet and greet and look for a new Corp to move into.

If Bojo feels like adding to the discussion he is more than welcome to, he might have an idea that works that we at D-Uni have missed and even if not would be interesting to get his take on things.

Having said that Bojo might not have the rigid view on neutrality that we at D-Uni have, If not it would certainly give him some extra breathing room in terms of P.C that are unavailable to us.

ether way would be cool to hear his take on things.

Personally I quite like the idea of some form of educational coalition working on a single planet. It gives us all the opportunity to train our respective students in P.C, will also induce closer ties between the schools which will lead to exchange of information (teaching related) and will improve the service we all provide for the community.

Lots of ideas flying around the board room at the moment so thanks for all your comments so far guys, it's a massive help and please keep them coming.

Dust Uni isn't in actuality my enemy, I just like to play it as so, so everyone forget I said that.

I know that neutrality does not exist. I have picked a side, but that doesn't mean I'm set in stone on who's who, and what's what. In other words, I'm open to all and have no political enemies but keep in mind we are a knuckle of a fist.

But yes, you may contact us to help you as long as it is mutual.

Basically I plan to help my Alliance in PC grabs and in the hopes that we can earn a sovereignty over something minor. The potential sovereignty and training has is too good to pass up.

Wouldn't it be better as "a knuckle of the fist"? you know for dramatic and metaphorical effect

[... In other words, I'm open to all and have no political enemies but keep in mind we are a knuckle of the fist.

Fixed! Why aren't you LOTIS PR? Lololol

The problem is that PC potentially is a large source of ISK for Dust Corps and we aren't going to be able to have a piece of the pie at the moment.

There is little doubt that DUST University needs to take place in planetary conquest in order to provide that experience to our student body.

DUST University also needs a revenue stream other than corp member donations in order to meet some of our training goals.

An agreement not to attack your territory amounts to sponsorship from larger corporations. If the requirement to own a planet cannot be justified, why not seek direct sponsorship from the same entities that you want to allow you to coexist with them in PC?

Hello zeek1227 zeek1227 here CEO of Blitkrieg Co. (No you don't know us we have like 25 people)
Anyway I guess I haven't really been following you guys (I have heard of you but assumed you were a feeder Corp or something) and after reading this post was curious as to what you do exactly?
Is it training for your own Corp or for anyone? What's is the curriculum? How is it profitable?

You guys openly admit to taking in newbies and teaching them how to play, that's going to be too easy a target with so few planets/districts up for grab.

You know we'd gank if for a start, i'm sure other corps here would too. Chances are you'd end up on the defensive 100% from day one.

I'm a bit put off by this being framed as "we want our piece of the pie."

I also agree that participating in the mad scramble for territory on release of PC is not a workable strategy for the university.

I'd be interested in what the larger corps think about taking one or two uni students along in their corp battles.


My main thought, though, is how exactly you would teach the finer points of planetary conquest without attempting to expand/defend your territory. The smaller scale details of a planetary conquest battle sounds very much a skirmish, while the elements of PC which are specific to only that area of gameplay... are on a scale which cannot be practically explored without actively engaging other conquerors in combat.

I have some doubts. Can you please elaborate on why you require these districts?

An agreement not to attack your territory amounts to sponsorship from larger corporations. If the requirement to own a planet cannot be justified, why not seek direct sponsorship from the same entities that you want to allow you to coexist with them in PC?

Hello zeek1227 zeek1227 here CEO of Blitkrieg Co. (No you don't know us we have like 25 people)
Anyway I guess I haven't really been following you guys (I have heard of you but assumed you were a feeder Corp or something) and after reading this post was curious as to what you do exactly?
Is it training for your own Corp or for anyone? What's is the curriculum? How is it profitable?

An option: make courses with entrance fee used to purchase a genolution pack on splinter corp. The trainees can manage it and learn, when it dies course is over.

Certain mercenary outfits can be used to liberate a district for you - if you are interested, we can work out deals later on I'm sure (though I won't be making calls like this personally).

I'll be in touch with the Dust Uni leadership to discuss. The service that Eve University and, hopefully, Dust University provide to the community warrants some thoughtful discussion.

Kain, I greatly appreciate the offer but it is worth stating that we are still discussing our options internally and as such any talk with us at this stage would be flimsy at best. That's not to say don't get in touch but just informing you that we are not ready for serious discussion with outside corps.

Also don't believe I thanked you for you grenade tip on twitter, works perfectly. (what even I get bummed at AFK'ers in the MCC )

Unless you can get the ENTIRE community behind you - every Corporation with the numbers to play in PC - you're not going to be able to establish a training district, let alone more than that, and definitely not a whole planet.

If you can get 3 Corps together who are willing to do so, they could probably find and capture a remote planet that's out of the way and only really accessible to a new Corporation rather than an established PC Corp. Get a cooperative effort to set up a simple 3-corp battlefield and let DUST-Uni players fill out most of the battles back and forth. So each team has 3 squad leaders from the owning Corp in a battle, and the rest of the numbers on BOTH teams are made up by students - with maybe a couple of trainers in the match as well to give them pointers.

This would rely on the goodwill of the Corporations involved in the conflict, rather than on D-Uni being obligated on any level to "help" the owners - the stablity and profit from a region being held like this would probably be its own reward in comparison with any other place where 3 powerful Corps got a foothold on a planet and started tearing each other's throats out.

This is a beta.... so beta test the idea of D-U taking part in PC and see if that meets your goals.

Don't forget friendly fire.

No FF in pubs.

I'm not a rep of Dust U, but they are a part of the Ivy League alliance- Home to EVE University, the game's longest running and most respected training school for new pilots.

http://wiki.eveonline.com/en/wiki/Eve_University_(Player_corporation)
http://www.eveuniversity.org

They have long been known for their neutrality in nullsec politics/wars and as a feeder for everybody. When I use the term "Colleges" in this thread, I'm referring to Dust U, EVE U and similar corps.

In EVE, though, there are a lot of ways for EVE U to get funding and arrange practice spaces.

There is not presently a set of mechanics in Dust to let the Colleges do that effectively.

I keep forgetting about that myself, going to be such a game changer.

Personally I'm equal parts excited and scared about FF. Excited because its going to make the P.C gameplay just that much more intense and squad co-ordination is going to be insane and scared because, I know I'm going to end up killing my own team and they will be killing me.

Still looking forward to it though!

Mine being that in this situation the community would be supporting the work we are doing at D-Uni and giving us the tools to do our job that much better, the income generated from that isn't even part of my thought process, its an after thought.

Grunt Experience
But the opponent your playing against wouldn't be playing the same game as you.

Add to that the increased communication between the involved educational corps, sharing of information, teaching practices and the opportunity to have a direct comparison of teaching practices. it would be a hot bed of education. the ideas and minds brought together through it would change in game education. give me a tingly feeling just thinking about it.

You guys openly admit to taking in newbies and teaching them how to play, that's going to be too easy a target with so few planets/districts up for grab.

You know we'd gank if for a start, i'm sure other corps here would too. Chances are you'd end up on the defensive 100% from day one.

Also worth saying iv got a lot of respect for Cerebral Wolf Jr, he is the only merc who has posted here being honest that his corp would see us as a target of opportunity. I don't doubt for a second there are many others like him who haven't posted.

So thanks Cerebral.

HA awesome gbghg, I always enjoy playing against you guys, every small push, hell some matches even every kill feels like a massive victory our end

DU should approach the leadership of the top corps in the game to see if they can work something out.

Mithridates,

Income

I do see where your coming from with the income. And I'm reluctant to continue that line of debate as its beginning to feel like your goading me. That's not to say that if you bring up a new point I wont answer it, of course I will but at the moment your point has not changed and so neither has my response.

You miss the point. The purpose of district ownership should be unique content, either through special modules, pve, or player controlled facilities. A "training center" would explicitly not require a corp battle of any kind, it would be like having an invite only lobby. Because of the server costs it might cost AUR to establish or some ilk, but it is merely one of a dozen *interesting* things that could be done.

I may have really out of date information, but Eve Uni operates out of a station in High Sec right? I wouldn't see any problem with them picking a planet there in their high sec system for doing PC. Not sure how many planets are in that system, but eventually Dust should have all of this. There is a whole universe of content, other corps should find their own place. From what it sounded like in other post the vulnerability timer would be at a set time and you only need to field about 16 people. That sounds like if you come under attack you only field your still tagged Alumni and Seniors and Professors. If anyone claims about you not being neutral, just say. Hey, this is where we live, go fight somewhere else.

Sponsorship would actually be against our key objective, damage the reputation of D-Uni and cause the standard of education we can provide our students to drop. So at no point will we ever be seeking donations from corps or player outside of D-Uni.

I donGÇÖt think that 3 bird worded this quite right, considering that our counterpart EVE University is a charitable organization that runs partly on donations. I think what he meant to say is that D-University will not treat large donors any differently than the rest of the community.

The Uprising starts on May 6. There are only a limited number of districts to begin with and I will do my best to secure us one for us to defend until we lose it (I'd hope we won't let it go easily). However, should we fail to get one on day one, we will not attack another one to get one unless its arranged with the corp owning it. This is to show our intent to the Dust community that we only mean to be in PC for it's training value.

I am concerned about allowing the community to influence this decision too much. Please reflect on the reasons the Uni no longer holds sovereignty in New Eden and allow the wisdom of past experiences be the major deciding factor. Though I commend you for including the community in this discussion. The fact is there is a reason the Uni does not hold sovereignty and I truly believe those same reason will apply to owning districts as well.

You see our dilemma.

Since the PC Dev blog it's been the elephant in room. How does a corp coming from a tradition of neutrality work in a game where there is nothing Neutral.

I'm sure there is a solution we just have find it. But I strongly feel that we should be transparent with the community with such an important matter.

The problem is that PC potentially is a large source of ISK for Dust Corps and we aren't going to be able to have a piece of the pie at the moment.