Meytal
School of Applied Knowledge
Caldari State
50
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Posted - 2012.06.13 21:53:00 -
[1] - Quote
Allow aggressors AND defenders to hire allies. Both sides. It should cost for both sides, but not fixed costs, and it shouldn't matter how many wars you have running.
Keep the sand in the sandbox, and don't impose artificial restrictions.
Costs should scale depending on relative strengths. If you have a weak aggressor (low total-SP) declaring on a strong target (high total-SP), there should only be the minimal base cost. If the weak aggressor then adds strong allies, such that the total-SP balance is now on the aggressor side, the costs should dramatically rise.
Costs to add allies for the weaker side should always be less than costs to add allies for the stronger side, including at the tipping point of going weaker -> stronger. Remember, you're bribing/paying off Concord, and possibly the empires, with these payments, not any other player organization. Wardecs are meaningless and unnecessary in Nullsec/W-space.
Wardecs already last one week. Allies should last until the end of the wardec period, with an option to renew assistance if the war continues another week.
A special note about groups who are participating in multiple wars. When paying for allies, the total SP of all Aggressors is taken into account and compared against the total SP of all groups for whom you are Aggressors. A small corp might be the Target of the Goons, but themselves might also be griefing a mission-running corp. If they add allies, those allies will be defenders against Goons, but Aggressors against that mission-running corp.
This may be complicated for a human to try to figure out, but it's easy for a computer (when programmed correctly). All the warring corps need to know is the potential cost of adding a particular ally. If this is implemented on SiSi and actually given time to mature (unlike some other things lately), it can become a robust, easy-to-use, and very fair system for all.
Until you actually balance wars, it will always favour one side or the other. That's the very purpose of "balance", to minimize all bias. It's not a simple "flip a switch and turn on all happy-fun land".
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