as much as I dislike people running, SirChamps and others have a very good point. and PhaserLights suggestion is great.

and Rene, you can't control how other people react, but you can force them to make choices. if I protect the CtC convoy, makings someone run and killing him are both victories. there are even situations where it is preferable to make someone run than killing them in CtC. if you kill a player attacking Serco CtC using SCPs, he'll spawn in Initros and you'll have to fight him again, if he runs, he'll have to repair and come back.

with a better faction system (making it so everyone can't repair everywhere), running would be less of a problem too. adding _time_ to repair ships (1-3 minutes maybe?) would also help.

but you don't stop running in anything that deals with roleplaying. you don't _legislate_ how people are supposed to play in an open RPG.

and yes, I hate runners. but I totally see why they do it, it's tactically sound choice in a random furball. what we need are missions and objectives that makes running a tactical loss.

Terjekv, not if they run forward. Ctc transports go very slowly as long as htey aren't attacked. Making it very easy to wait someone up fully healed in the next system. Not to mention that in some cases these scp players aren't homed in initros...

While you can't take the chance to repair and rearm since there are still other people playing the game as an agressor.

And terjekv, I am not legislating (I am just stating 1 thing : if you engage then don't run if you get beaten down, for the rest I don't give a rats ass... but the problem is implementing something just so you make running undoable in that aspect is very hard and near impossible, which was the only reason why I said that the easiest solution would be to look down on it."which as you know, does not stop anybody from doing it") although even in an open rpg there are rules that need to be followed. And one of these rules can be no running allowed. It all depends from the GM's rulesset and point of view. Heck if the GM wanted he could even forbid certain ships from flying around.

Reading through your second-to-last post, it's apparent you still view killing the opponent as the ultimate goal. I'll try one last time to explain it, then I'll give up. :P

The time it takes him to run is your bonus of victory. Killing him will take more time and effort than you have already expended, and pursuing him takes your interests off the flag carrier. Sure, he may come back at a later point, but you will be closer to home and presumably be backed up by other allies. By chasing him (possibly through a couple of sectors, like if you had dmged him in sec8), you are failing your mission--providing immediate protection for the flag carrier. Your summary of people leaving and returning leaves out the critical factor--time. Let the guy run--the carrier will get farther if you two take on the remaining three. And that's all that counts, right?

Just make a shell like station with an object at the center you have to shoot, every time you shoot it, it changes to your color, while its your color you get, lets just say one point every 5 seconds. Make two of these stations in the same sector and that could make for some fun, maybe even three, that way each nation can theoretically control one. And yes, make these stations homeable while the game is on, but they will not repair you, and sell only basic variants of everything. Domination, vendetta style. You should have some type of reward to your nation for winning this, although nothing uber. Perhaps a basic centurion level seeker ship with one s port or something similarly cool, but not uber.

No point in running, and a goal oh my!

EDIT: on second thought, make each of the three stations only homeable by one nation apiece, that way an opposing nation cant home at an enemy controlled point (other than his own) and launch hit the target, die, repeat. This also makes it so each nation even if outnumbered has a chance, since they have one station that is inherently thiers.

Yes! Encourage the ubiquitous space-combat furball!

....now all we need are more players to FIGHT in these missions.

I like the idea of trying to intruduce new missions that have actual goals other than the ubiquitous "go some place and shoot some thing" objectve. Actually I think it might be possible to improvise a type of capture the flag game. You would need a cargo for the flag and the idea is to hold on to it the longest (hard to score I know) now this would require an honour system for not just bringing in more of the same cargo. Perhaps the devs could give one player a flag cargo. Here's how it could work:

1 There is only one flag.

2 Each team has acess to one station to home in and can't home in any other for the duration of the event.

3 The flag holder can not dok into a station.

4 When you get the cargo you must announce that you have it.

5 Each team has a home sector, the nearest empty sector to their home station.

6 The winner is the team that has the flag in their sector (and in one of their ships) for the most total time

7 The flag would start in an empty sector in a moth roughley centered between the teams home sectors

Sorry if it dosent make a whole lot of sence the way I worded it.

I think it would be neat if there were actual sector 'battles' kind of like BP, but with the winner (Serco/ITAN) gaining control over that sector... eventually, all the sectors in one system or the other would become controlled by Serco or Itan, and they would get another system.

does that make sense?

mm, the Necromancers are out today eh?

wc?

Shapely means "thread necromancy", as in making a post in a long-dead thread to bring it back to the fore.

Renegade, you have a shallowed view of control that you just threw out to serve your purpose in this discussion. The very idea of control is purely imaginative, exists nowhere else but the human mind. In other words, people only have as much control as you give them. You could say that by shooting at someone that you're forcing them to flee, or the person being shot at might just as quickly say that he was giving you a demonstration of his speed, but it doesn't change the fact that one is here, while the other is there. That's why the only solution I can think of is to decide a common point that both parties want... and see who gets it first, the most, and the longest. In Border Skirmish, this point is every ship in the sector. In CTC, it's that special tranpsort and it's cargo. Feel free to post your own examples.

And yes... fighters do have the advantage of being quicker. They decide when to engage, and when to disengage. That is, afterall, why pilots choose them over bigger ships. (It sure isn't the fire power or armour.) And being closer to home nation offers advantages too. Namely, shorter supply lines. Meaning yes, they will most likely return to the fight quicker than your Rangorak back in Itan.

Notice how I didn't mention "Kind of the Hill" in any of my examples. Can you imagine being in a militia, and having your commander tell you:

"Alright, listen up. See this house? We have to hold this shack with atleast one soldier within the walls at all times. Every thrity seconds, I want you to tally up the men, and record it down on this sheet of paper. If an enemy gets in the house with us, stop the count, until he's dead. Then you can resume the count. And be sure not to let the enemy record more points than us, or else we have to surrender this entire valley. Any questions?"

If that's what we're using for our as examples of control, then I call you absurd. As always, if you stick to realism, you'll achieve the best, and smothest results. Why do people fight wars in the real world? Territory? Revenge? Supplies? Money even..? The simple truth is that VO has nothing to fight a war over, except maybe faction/license points. Territory is fixed, revenge doesn't last because everybody is immortal, nobody has any use for supplies, and I've personally gone from a broke EC pilot, to a multi millionare Behemoth captain in a matter of a few hours. Besides, money can't be stolen anyways.

So, each time VO includes a uniquely valuable possession for players to own, their own land for example, the battle for "control" will break out naturally among the players.

^^

/me applauds

You just summed up in very few words the biggest thing that is wrong with this game.