War is a full time job

For the standard male Internet addicted dev, the concept of "cleaning up" remains an obscure, long since lost art form, veiled by mystery and shrouded by fear. You may think of it like an event that so rarely happens it will most likely never be witnessed in one person's life time, like a perfect alignment for all the solar system planets, or a beer left untouched in a CCP office. Of course, this tendency most often than not allows biological things and mechanical stuff to pile up in all directions inside a dev's natural habitat, which even sometimes grow on their own to become hazardous, noisy sentient entities.

But eventually, when the old mess has to be removed (or killed) to leave room for the not-yet-that-old mess, the inevitable recycling process ends up being an epic struggle for survival where casualties are to be expected.

So now you may imagine the kind of grim mindset that was ours when asked to clean up the Factional Warfare jungle, armed only with a few  rusted iron cutlasses to face the nameless horrors lurking inside.

Control bunkers on steroids

First of all, a small but necessary change; we noticed that System Control bunkers are quite fragile next to Starbase Control Towers since they lack any kind of armor or shield resistances while having far less hit points. This often leads attackers to capture a system before a proper defense force can be gathered, thus defeating the whole purpose of having them in the first place since they are supposed to promote PvP interactions.

We are also aware that increasing their durability too much will only mimic starbase siege situations and encourage blobbing, which are points we absolutely would like to avoid in such scenarios. As such, control bunker shield and armor hit points are going to be increased by 50%, which should hopefully give a bit more flexibility for any defence force to mount up a fleet before the system is taken. Of course, we will monitor the situation and possibly adjust hitpoints again in the future if the need arises.

Club membership discount

Usually, one of the perks for joining a club is the special membership ware discount that would otherwise get you broke or force to sell your spleen for quite a disadvantageous exchange rate.

Thanks to your new militia subscription card, signing on Factional Warfare will now grant the same advantage by giving enlisted pilots price reductions on all navy ships offers.

The requirements on navy ship offers are reduced by at least two for the battleships, up to eight for the others. This should encourage navy ships to be used a bit more often while providing an edge for resellers participating in Factional Warfare next to other empire military corporations.

Kill 'em all

Until now, dispatching an enemy player ship enlisted into Factional Warfare granted no tangible benefit. This will change in the near future as a proper LP reward will now be provided to the gang implied in the kill. The exact total value is calculated from the destroyed ship type hull, tech level and its pilot rank under the following formula:

[Total given LP value]: [Ship hull LP]x[Ship tech level LP]x[Pilot FW rank]

The LP value will be evenly divided for each gang member in grid range of the kill, no matter which ship they may be flying. Also, LPs will only be given for killing your militia direct opponents, not allies to them (as a Federation pilot, you will not receive LPs for destroying an Amarr pilot ship for example). Some explanations of each variable are given below:

[Ship hull LP table]:

_    Titan: 14000_

_    Mothership: 7000_

    Carrier, dreadnought: 4000

    Freighter, rorqual: 2000

    Orca: 1000

    Battleship: 500

    Battlecruiser: 200

    Cruiser: 100

    Industrial, mining barge: 50

    Destroyer: 40

    Frigate: 25

    Shuttle, rookie ship, capsule: 0

[Ship tech level]:

The ship tech level is a multiplier directly applied to the ship hull LP amount, tech 3 gives a x3 multiplier, tech 2 x2 and faction x1.5.

[Pilot FW rank]:

Pilot rank in his/her FW militia is also a multiplier:

Example:

If a gang of five Tribal Liberation Force pilots destroy a TI battleship belonging to the 24^th Imperial Crusade, with a rank 10, they will each earn (500x1x2)/5 = 200 LPs. Remember that only gang members in the grid will receive the LPs; so there will be no idling allowed.

I joined FW and all I got was this stupid T-shirt

Not anymore. On top of all the changes listed above, we are now adding unique items into the FW LP stores which should be quite useful for participating pilots. This includes:

    1. Faction light, medium and heavy combat drones (drone types are based from the FW militia):

Attributes: -15% damage, +10% tracking, +100% armor and shield hitpoints next to TII drones.

Offer requirements: x5 of them for x5 TI drones, between 3,000-5,000 LP and 3-5m ISK depending on the size

    2. Faction sentry drones (drone types are based from the FW militia):

Attributes: -10% damage, +5% tracking, +100% armor and shield hitpoints next to TII drones

Offer requirements: x5 of them for x5 TI drones, 6,000 LP and 6m ISK

    3. Low-grade navy implant sets (available for all FW militias):

Total set effects: +2 to all character attributes, +7 racial sensor strength

Total set requirements: 12,000 LP, 12m ISK, 5x +2 implants, 1x hardwiring - zainou 'gypsy' KLB-25

    4. High-grade navy implant sets (available for all FW militias):

Total set effects: +3 to all character attributes, +75% racial sensor strength

Total set requirements: 121,000 LP, 121m ISK, 5x +3 implants, 1x hardwiring - zainou 'gypsy' KLB-50

    5. Faction cap charges (sizes from 100 to 800, available for all FW militias):

Attributes: 25% less volume than regular cap boosters

Total requirements: x20 for x20 regular cap boosters, between 100-2,000 LP, 100k-2m ISK depending on size

    6. Imperial Navy armor plates (from 100 to 1600mm):

Attributes: require 10% less CPU than TII, 15% less mass than rolled tungsten

Offer requirement for Imperial Navy 1600mm reinforced steel plate: x1 for 1600mm reinforced steel plate I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Republic Fleet Commander Insignia II, 2x Republic Fleet Commander Insignia I

    7. Federation Navy armor plates (from 100 to 1600mm):

Attributes: same requirements as TII, 25-30% less mass than rolled tungsten

Offer requirement for Federation Navy 1600mm reinforced steel plate: x1 for 1600mm reinforced steel plate I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Caldari Navy Admiral Insignia II, 2x Caldari Navy Vice Admiral Insignia I

    8. Caldari Navy shield extenders:

Attributes: require 25% less CPU than TII

Offer requirements for Caldari large shield extender: x1 for large shield extender I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Gallente Navy Fleet Colonel Insignia II, 2x Gallente Navy Fleet Colonel Insignia I

    9. Republic Fleet shield extenders:

Attributes: same requirements as TII, between 25-50% less signature radius penalties than TII (depending on size, the bigger the shield extender the lesser the bonus)

Offer requirements for Republic Fleet large shield extender: x1 for large shield extender I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Amarr Navy General Insignia II, 2x Amarr Navy General Insignia I

    10. Federation Omnidirectional tracking link:

Attributes: x1.25 drone range and tracking for 39 CPU

Offer requirements: x1 for Omnidirectional tracking link I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Caldari Navy Admiral Insignia II, 2x Caldari Navy Vice Admiral Insignia I

    11. Imperial Navy energy transfer arrays:

Attributes: 10% better range and 10% less CPU than TII

Offer requirements for Imperial Navy large energy transfer array: x1 for large energy transfer array I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Republic Fleet Commander Insignia II, 2x Republic Fleet Commander Insignia I

    12. Republic Fleet target painter:

Attributes: 32% signature radius to target for 25 CPU

Offer requirements: x1 for target painter I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Amarr Navy General Insignia II, 2x Amarr Navy General Insignia I

    13. Faction micro auxiliary power controls (available for all FW militias):

Attributes: +12 powergrid for 19 CPU

Offer requirements: x1 for micro auxiliary power core I, 1,500 LP, 1.5m ISK, 2x faction opposing 500,000 ISK insignias

    14. Caldari Navy power diagnostic system:

Attributes: 8.5% shield recharge, 6% shield HP, 8.5% capacitor recharge rate, 6.5% PWG, 5% capacitor, 25CPU

Offer requirements: x1 for power diagnostic system I, 10,000 LP, 4m ISK, 4x Gallente Navy Fleet Colonel Insignia II, 2x Gallente Navy Fleet Colonel Insignia I

Some final words

It is important to remember that all the above is not a "fix" for Factional Warfare. It is only the first step of many to put its implementation back into the original vision that was ours during the Empyrean Age release. In the meantime, we do hope you will welcome such changes when they hit Tranquility, which should hopefully be sooner than you think.