Kalisti
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Posted - 2009.11.09 16:16:00 -
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If EVE wants alliances to maintain infrastructure in nullsec, let's take that sandbox all the way and fix nullsec once and for all.
They say that the upkeep costs are to maintain the jump gates? Let's get rid of nullsec NPC jump gates entirely and replace it with an entirely player-driven mechanic.
Nullsec PvP'ers don't want to farm for income? Let's get a realistic passive income option into play for nullsec alliances.
CCP is unhappy with the dominance of point-source moon mining driving all nullsec strategy into identical cookie-cutter behaviors? Let's broaden the spectrum of income options WITHOUT forcing nullsec pilots to farm, let alone to farm at a rate that doesn't even match empire farm income.
Add an entirely new passive income mechanic; planetary taxation and growth. Let's turn alliances into real empires within the scope of the game.
Despite the fact that the much-vaunted player driven economy is an important part of EVE, the reality is that the economy in question is the CAPSULEER economy; the economy of ships and modules. We know that in reality, the capsuleer is an elite of EVE society, and the average empire's income comes from the everyday taxation of normal citizens living on all those pretty light-filled planets we never get to visit.
So let's take that realistic approach and apply it to nullsec. Alliance control of nullsec should not be just about point source resources being exploited and shipped back to empire. As long as that is the case, only a select few are ever going to choose to (or even be able to) live exclusively in nullsec.
Let's add in planetary economies and NPC expansion into nullsec space, based on how player alliances manage their nullsec regions and how attractive and safe they make it for settlement. In short, turn alliances into empires and nullsec capsuleers into their militaries. The goal of an alliance should be to beef up their controlled territories to the point that they LOOK LIKE empire space. They should be required to BUILD the jump gates and establish safe trade routes, after first securing the region with their jump-capable fleets. Then prepare the planets for colonization, so that they can be filled with NPC populations and economies, whose tax base makes up the majority income source for the alliance. Who in turn build NPC stations filled with high quality agents for alliance players to use (and, oh yeah, let the alliance tax the agent rewards).
The primary difference is that it is still nullsec; anyone can come in and blow up anyone else, but instead of getting CONCORDed, it is now the job of the alliance military (i.e. pvp players) to decide how to respond. Security is poor? People (real and NPC) will move out, your tax base shrinks, your alliance is unhappy.
The final necessary mechanic is that taking over an alliance's territory should not be about blowing everything up and replacing it with your own stuff. It should be about capturing valuable economic assets; planets that alliances have invested in to increase the tax base should switch hands, not be wiped out to reset at 0. Jump gates, NPC stations, planetary populations, should be valuable strategic assets that an invading alliance will think very hard about blowing up, because replacing it may take them months of effort and billions of ISK. Rather than regions of nullsec space being more or less valuable as an intrinsic property, nullsec space should ALL START EQUAL, and the primary value should come from the investments made by alliances in creating jump gates, establishing trade routes, and promoting planetary economies.
That is how you will get people to move to 0.0 space, and produce compelling pvp at every scale. Let alliances become empires.
Frankly, anything short of this will never accomplish the goal of moving people into 0.0 space. It will always be populated by those devoted to 0.0 pvp for the sake of 0.0 pvp, and they will simply work around whatever broken mechanics CCP continues to introduce.
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