¶ The War Mechanism
The war mechanism (wars) allows each war participants to engage on each other while flying in high sec space without CONCORD response. This means that during wars high sec space loses its safety mechanisms for the players involved in the wars and turns similar to null sec space.
While wars are a good simulator for null sec life most players do not enjoy them as wars tend to be raised by players looking to either bully down weaker parties or simply to grief them.
Since all assets held by the corporations involved in the wars are legal targets to shoot at the wars are mainly used in High Security space to clear out citadels or player owned customs offices (pocos) as without the war declaration any hostile actions against these structures would end up in CONCORD response.
It is important to know if your corporation is involved in any wars at the given given time in order to not die to war targets (WT) in high sec space.
¶ War Eligibility
A setting called war eligibility determines if a corporation or an alliance can declare wars or receive wars on themselves. The war eligibility status is again determined by the assets a corporation is holding.
A corporation that holds the following structures directly under their name are eligible for wars:
- All Upwell Structures (including Upwell FLEX structures)
- Starbase Control Towers
- Player-owned Customs Offices and their Gantries
- Sovereignty Structures of any kind (such as Infrastructure Hubs and Territorial Control Units)
If a corporation that is eligible for wars joins or is part of an alliance that whole alliance and all of the other corporations of that alliance also becomes eligible for wars instantly!
¶ Gaining and losing war Eligibility
If a corporation drops any of the structures mentioned above in space (anchoring is not required!) they will instantly become war eligibly.
The same way if a corporation loses or scoops up all of the structures mentioned above the corporation will instantly lose the war eligibility status.
If the corporation has any ongoing wars while losing eligibility status the wars will automatically enter the 24 hours ending cooldown.
If a corporation removes the structures all wars will end in 24 hours from that moment instead of instantly ending!
¶ Holding corporations
In order to keep the main corporation out of wars many high sec corporations uses holding corporations for their assets.
Since all of the assets effecting war eligibility are held under a shell corporation the main corporation will never get a war on them. Of course nothing prevents war on landing on the holding corporations and then it is up to the main corporation to decide if they are going to fight or not for their assets.
¶ Different war types
Wars can be declared for many different reason. While the mechanisms is always the same the war operations depends on the goals of the aggressors
¶ Mercenary wars
Mercenaries (mercs) are player communities in EVE that most often live in High Sec Space. These mercenaries are up for hire though some of their loyalty towards any hire contracts might be debatable.
Mercenary corporations also tend to declare wars on tens or hundreds of random corporations at a given time in hope to find what is called easy kills. For this reason mercenary communities most often target small corporations such as high sec miners or pve corporations.
Mercenaries never fight fair! They will never take a fight that they can’t win so engaging in a fight with them is likely to cause a loss for you.
Mercenary wars tend to last just for one week. The mercenaries are replying on the fact that players in the target corporation are unable to stay on track of starting and ending wars so the more status changes on the wars the corporation has the more free kills the mercenaries get.
¶ Structure bashers
declarations is to bash structures.
Most structure basing wars are against dead corporations that no longer are active to defend their structures. While a structure is low power (not fuelled up) they become fast kills with high value.
While larger communities may also bash active structures the structure bashers that do this fall most often under the briefing or bullying wars.
Bashing wars tend to end whenever the attacker completes the goal of destroying the structure. If the structure is defended then most bashes drop the war right away.
¶ Grief wars
Of course there are those players as well who just like to see things burn and players to cry salty tears. These players are likely to keep on with the war declaration on the target as long as possible and seek to gain salty responses from their target.
While the war eligibility option greatly reduces the amount of grief wars they do still happen time to time. Most often the easiest way for a grief war is to find a holding corporation and declare war on that one.
Griefing wars tend to last as long as the aggressors are able to mine salty tears from the target or as long as they get easy kills. It is important to not give free kills to the hostiles as they tend to extend the war duration of this type of wars.
¶ Starting a war
If a corporation is eligible for wars they are able to start a war against any other entity that is also war eligibly.
When a aggressor declares a war on another corporation they will have to pay a minor fee of 50 mil isk per week to keep the war going. This can go up to 500 mil per week depending on the amount of players inside of the target corporation.
When a war is declared the target entity will receive a notification about the upcoming wars. Wars never start instantly, unless they are result of a corporation joining an alliance.
In all normal situations a war will start in 24 hours after the war has been declared.
After this 24 hour period the parties involved in the war are able to shoot at each others until the war ends.
¶ Ending a war
A war may end for several reasons. Most often the duration of the war depends on the type of the war. If the aggressors have a goal that they have not achieved yet, it is likely that the war will keep on going.
As long as all parties of the wars are eligible for wars nothing prevents the war for lasting forever, if the attacker chooses so.
If a war fee is not paid, the war will end. Since fees are paid for a week in advance most often wars will only last for a week.
If a corporation loses its war eligibility then the war will as well end.
The defender corporation may also try to offer a surrender, and if accepted the war will end normally.
Similar to starting wars ending all wars will have the same 24 hour cooldown. Once a war is declared to end it will take 24 more hours for the war to actually end.
¶ Locator agents
Some mission agents in EVE has a special ability which allows them to locate other players in EVE. These NPC agents are called Locator Agents. There are different levels of locator agents just like normal mission agents. The more standing the player has towards the NPC corporation that the agent belongs to the higher level agents the player can use.
At level 4 the locator agents are able to locate any player in EVE and tell the exact solar system for the player that is using the agent. Depending on the level of the agent and the fact how far you are from the locator agent it takes some time to locate you.
This means that if you are moving between systems then the player locating you will get delayed information about your location. However if you are not moving at all the player will receive the exact name of the solar system you are in! These locator agents are the reason why you are not able to hide no matter how far you would move from your original operating locations, you can always be tracked down!
Using locator agents is a common method during wars. The aggressor uses it to find out the locations of his war targets and the defender uses it to try to find out where the aggressor is moving. However the keyword in here is “moving”. As the defender is usually not moving it is easier for the war target to locate the defenders and attack their location than it is for the defenders to move around to avoid the war target.
This is why sometimes during the war the corporations might give you an order to split away so that you are all not located in the same system.
¶ War targets, scouts and neutral alts
Nothing in EVE is simple specially not wars in high sec space. Since nothing prevents the aggressors from creating more characters that they can again put in different corporations you can never know for sure who is who.
¶ War targets
When a war starts between two participants the opposite players will automatically receive a war target (WT) status on them.
If your overview settings are set correctly then you will always see these players in local list with a war target icon on them. Seeing a war target on your local list is the final warning that you will get before you are engaged and you should follow the rules of the corporation if you end up in a case like this.
Depending on the ship that the hostiles are flying they might be able to land next to you before you are able to warp away. This is why it is important to keep your local list so large that you are able to see all the player that are in the system.
¶ Scouts
Intel is key in any war in EVE. Since the war targets have an automatic “warning sign” on them it is common for the war targets to use scouts. These scouts are most often completely neutral alts that will try to follow you and give a “warp in” for the actual war targets.
If you notice that a neutral player is following you for several systems it is likely that you are being traced and that some actual war targets are after you. The more possible scouts the defender is able to identify the safer they are as they can try to predict the movement of incoming hostiles. However since there are rarely no certain ways to identify scouts this is nothing you can completely relay on.
¶ Identifying targets
To identify players corporations SiCO uses corporation standings. As you know from our SiCO operating rules there are different levels of standings that a corporation can set on players or other corporations.
Whenever you see a player with a standing (either bad or good) you should be aware that he is in the same system. And remember, the best enemy scouts are those that do not have any standing set on them so pay attention on who is following you if you are moving.
¶ Wars in Silent Coalition
As SiCO has different types of corporations inside of it there are also different types of war environments inside SiCO. While we try to keep our war statuses in each corporation as clear as possible sometimes we may need to assist each other’s and differ from our normal operating procedures.
¶ Non war eligible corporations
If a corporation has chosen not to take part in wars they will have all of their structures held under a holding corporation.
Most corporations that are not eligible for wars are entry level corporations operating in high sec space.
With corporations like this we aim to allow each type of player to play the game just the way they wish to play it.
¶ War eligible corporations
Some corporations have chosen to take part in wars in different forms. These corporations are most often smaller and tighter corporations that are operating in more dangerous areas of space and do not care about wars.
¶ War assisting
Sometimes it is necessary to offer war assistance to other coalition corporations. This most often happens when the target corporation has a high chance of losing its structures or foothold in their area.
The coalition has dedicated PVP corporations for war assisting in low priority wars. These corporations will offer assistance in the wars and join it.
Since some players like to shoot at things it is possible for you to join an assisting corporation for the duration of the war.
Once the war is over or if you get bored of the war then you are able to move back to your original corporation. This allows each pvp pilot to assist us in wars while leaving strict pve pilots to play without any wars on them.
Keep in mind that if you leave a corporation that is currently in war (the assisting corporation) you will not be able to join it for a week.
¶ Call to arms
If shit hits the fan and we are facing a threat of losing an important objective or structure in the coalition the coalition may do a call to arms for all of the corporations that are inside the coalition. While the call to arms is not mandatory it is very likely that your corporation will response to it as they are not called for light reasons.
During a call to arms also corporations normally not eligible for wars will join the war.
The duration of the call to arms depends on the situations. Most often the call to arms wars only lasts for 40 hours after with the non pvp corporations will leave the fight.
A call to arms is most often executed by making the corporations eligible for wars or by inviting them into an alliance that holds the war on it. Once the corporation enters the alliance they will be able to engage on the war and once the call to arms ends the corporations simply drop out from the alliance.
Dropping out from the alliance will trigger the 24 hour end of war cooldown.
¶ Wartime Standard Operating Rules
The following set of rules is built so that you would be as safe as possible in an event of a war declared on a corporation. You should follow the rules as well as you can to avoid any unnecessary losses.
The most important thing is to understand that you are in war and can be killed in high sec space
¶ WTSOP Level 1
This is the initial level of WTSOPs at wartimes. This level will be declared at the time the war is declared against us. This level will only last a maximum of 24 hours and will change to a higher level when the actual war starts.
The main focus on level 1 WTSOP is to prepare you for the upcoming war and make sure that all of our members are aware of the upcoming war and know what it means. This level of SOP the most important level!
¶ Rules:
- Register on Discord. It is the most efficient way for sharing intel and staying on top of the events.
- To make sure that in the event of a Pod kill during the war you will re-spawn close to our assets and other members set your medical clone to the system you are staging from.
- Try to avoid being in a clone with pricey implants.
- Make/have a jump clone installed in the HQ system of your corporation.
- Sell the extra assets and ores that you have and do not need. During wars hauling is one of the most dangerous things you can do and it is strictly forbidden.
- Depending on the engagement policy for this war buy and store up PvP ships in preparations for battle
- Move yourself and the ships you plan to use during the war to one of the following locations. If you try to move a slow ship during the war there are a high chance you will lose it.
- IMPORTANT! Setup your overview with the overview guide. This is to ensure that you will see the war targets (WT) in local list and in your overview tab correctly.
- IMPORTANT! Open your local chat and click on the small icon on top of it that looks like 3 people and make sure that Show compact member list is selected. This will allow you see more players in the local list in crowded systems. As a war target icon in the local list is the initial and best thing to tell if there are any hostiles in the system it is important that you see all the player in the list. This is also a basic method for null sec life, in most cases the local is full of friendlies but time to time a hostile might enter and by looking at the local list you can avoid getting killed
- If you are in the process of moving in to null sec then speed up and move before the war starts.
¶ WTSOP Level 2
The lightest level of the WTSOP and also the most common one. It is declared right at the beginning of the actual war and the focus on this level is to make sure that each of our members are aware of the ongoing war and know how to stay safe in case something happens. While it may allow some level of engagement depending of the engagement policy in effect it aims to keep our members safe and deny any “free kills” for the enemy. It is most often used during mercenary wars where the enemy has several other ongoing wars and is not actively seeking to hunt us down.
Gameplay during this level is not restricted much from the normal gamplay. The main difference for peace time operating is the restrictions for moving ships around.
¶ Rules:
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You may undock and play in high sec space during this phase if and only if the following conditions are fulfilled:
- Keep your local list on a separate window and make it so big that you see all the players in it
- Pay attention on your local list, hostiles will show in it with a red icon if you have the correct corporation overview settings.
- You will not AFK in any circumstances if you are undocked!
- You understand that we are at war and agree to follow all of the WTSOP rules and engagement policies.
- You understand that you might (but should not to) lose your ship.
- Ask if you do not understand something before undocking.
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When a SOP level 2 or higher is declared the most vital rule is not to AFK in any situations when you are undocked. This is extremely important for miners as they do like to AFK. DO NOT AFK DURING WARS IN ANY SITUATIONS!!
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Keep an eye on the local list at all times. If possible have scouts in the adjacent solar systems to ensure our corporation members have enough time to dock u if hostiles are closing in
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In case a war target or an identified enemy scout enters the systems you are in you are to follow the following rules based on the engagement policy in effect:
¶ Hide and avoid
- Dock up without hesitation! You are not expected or allowed to fight during this policy.
- Do not undock if there are any war targets in local list
- Station games are not allowed.
¶ Casual engagement
- If you are not looking for fights then dock up without hesitation!
- If you are in a PvP ship and looking for fights you may engage using your own judgment. Keep in mind that the more losses we get the more likely it is that the war will last longer.
- Keep your ship prices at a moderate value, do not fight with all the isk you have.
- Have a good fight and regardless of the outcome gf in local and keep up a good attitude.
- Station games allowed at your own risk.
¶ Full engagement
- If you are not looking for fights then dock up without hesitation!
- If you are in a PvP ship and looking for fights you may engage using your own judgment. Keep in mind that the more losses we get the more likely it is that the war will last longer.
- Look out for our CTP fleets and PvP fleets for action, ships are on the house!
- Higher value ships are to be used in fleets only and by FC approval.
- Station games allowed at your own risk
- Engaging on hostile structures is allowed at your own risk
- Do not fly anything you can’t afford to lose! Even when paying attention to the local list the enemy might use neutrals scouts to locate us that we do not know and use fast ships to intercept you before you are able to dock up.
¶ Traveling rules during WTSOP 2:
- If you travel (which you should avoid at all costs) make sure that you follow the rules based on the current engagement policy:
¶ Hide and avoid
- Traveling is only allowed in pods, shuttles or travel fitted interceptors!
- Do not travel via/to/from lockdown systems
- Hauling is absolutely forbidden!
- Make sure that your pod is not expensive
- You look at the local list at all times when traveling
- Do not autopilot.
- After each jump spam the warp button to the next destination. Complete the route as fast as possible.
¶ Casual engagement
- If you are not in a PvP ship and are not looking for a fight traveling is only allowed in pods, shuttles or travel fitter interceptors
- Hauling is absolutely forbidden!
- You may travel in low value PvP ships and seek engagements
- Make sure that your pod is not expensive
- You look at the local list at all times when traveling
- Be prepared to die in a gate camp, the most common graveyard besides trade hub camps.
¶ Full engagement
- If you are not in a PvP ship and are not looking for a fight traveling is only allowed in pods, shuttles or travel fitter interceptors!
- Hauling is absolutely forbidden!
- Aim to travel with the raised CTP and PvP fleets
- Make sure that your pod is not expensive
- You look at the local list at all times when traveling
- Do not autopilot.