As a returning member of this community for a whole year now, I have decided to write this little guide on how I personally believe you can avoid having your player-owned base (POB) being sieged. And yes, I use this to decide if a base should be attacked.
A shot overview of what a player owned base is before I start:
1.It is a base constructed by a player in space it can house many modules that are useful for the owner.
2.They exist in roleplay but aren't considered cannon to the Discovery story (unless specified). Pob aren't a endgame to discovery freelancer nor a status symbol of a players wealth.
3.They should be build to have a purpose to players be it a refinery, equipment producer or even as a storage depo for pirates. The more players find the base useful the smaller are the chances of it getting sieged or if the siege does happen there will a group willing to defend it.
The only way to destroy a player-owned base is by sieging it, which can only be initiated through a siege declaration thread. This involves equipping a siege gun on the attacking ship, with the cost of ammunition for said gun. Siege guns can be mounted on gunboats, cruisers, battlecruisers, battleships, the Hegemon, and even a Barge.
To Hide It or Not to Hide It?
This is an important decision and the first one you’ll need to make. If the base builder decides to hide the base from others, do not be surprised by a sudden siege declaration when it is found. No one likes finding a random POB in their neighborhood, especially the Houses. You might still get out of it if they are generous enough—perhaps through "taxation" or by offering another service to the group in question.
Location
This is one of the biggest reasons why sieges happen, especially in House space. In House space, POBs have it the easiest; just follow their laws about who can place installations and where (Yes, there is a license you need to purchase. And no, converting it to old money shouldn’t be done, as it is way easier to make money now). The House government may refuse to allow you to construct the base. If this happens, look at the next step.
If you choose not to build in House space, make sure that the base isn’t too close to an NPC station, especially if it’s an unlawful one. Check out the laws of non-House entities: Core, Order, Coalition, Zoners, Corsairs, Outcasts, Crayter Republic, GMG, and the IMG. It is important to read those laws too, as they can be the reason why your base could be sieged.
It is important to learn about the location you have picked to set up yourself up. Take the look at the factions that call it home. If it is a system is under tight control of a single faction you should study about it see what IFF is compatible with them and only then should you follow to the next step.
Some location while profitable are also extremely dangerous for a nascent pob owner a good example would be the Omicrons they not only have the Nomads it also the home the Outcasts, Corsairs, Order and the the Core . In those systems you should be prepared to make deals with them (and yes that includes paying them off).
Contact the Local Powers That Are in the System
Now that you have checked the laws and read the lore of the system, it is time to meet the local factions. Re-read their lore check how your chosen groups IFF is with the locals and only then contact them. You can do it OORP (out-of-roleplay), but most prefer it to be in RP (in-roleplay). By gaining more information, you, the base builder, will know if they will allow you to build it. Some factions may even assist you with the construction. Most importantly, it is crucial to contact other players. Some will not settle for bribes or any offers of cooperation, as they will see your POB as an insult. There is a chance that you may fail to reach the agreement with them or simply the faction doesn't want your base in there Zone of Influence especially the Nomads. Then you should return to the picking of the location.
How to Keep the POB Alive
The best way to keep your POB alive is for it to stay active, as POBs that just take up space without actively contributing are usually marked as "polluting" by members of the community. Some of them will siege those down for that reason. Interacting with other factions and players will ensure that you have defenders who can deter people from attacking it.
Following this guide, you will—at least in my opinion—avoid most sieges. This post is open for debate, but funny posts such as "POBs were a mistake" aren't welcome here. (even if I agree with that, they are already in the game, making it too late to complain).
That's a good graph, and you should link it in your signature so people are more likely to find this thread. Discovery advertises the feature of building your own base, but the hard truths about it are something that new players usually only find out the hard way. If anything, this graph alone would be worth to be linked anywhere where the PoB building mechanic is explained and the commands are listed.
Probably the one thing that needs to be stated separately is to consider the RP of it. Both of your IFF, the lore behind the system, people, and what you're using it for. While you mention it, it really should be heavily emphasized. Understanding the RP aspect of things will go a long way even more than just asking as some random person, "can I build". This goes into location too, a very aggressive or secretive system should be taken into consideration.
In other words "does this make sense and will this logically result in retaliation in RP".
(08-20-2024, 08:27 PM)Nodoka Hanamura Wrote: Also, one thing to note with the Scaglainne Oir incident, is if you're buying a base, make sure your presence won't irk the natives.
Invite the local parties to discuss matters and intents before the sale goes through. Otherwise you're just asking for pain.
Unless it's Dublin, where the conveniently contrived RP has set up an protection racket maintained by OF leaders and Staff to keep players out of the system to protect their cooperative monopoly.
Scaglainne Oir was in a tough spot - it's a non-Molly base owned by an unknown group of freelancers that wanted to open up shop and sell gold ore in direct competition to the Mollys, right in their own livingroom. It would have been a tough sell even if handled perfectly.
From the Bretonian Government side, you have to understand that it would look suspicious for an old station that (admittedly was licensed a long time ago) was recently known to be used by Mollys before being sold to an unknown group of freelancers who are there in direct violation of the Dublin embargo. If rules permitted, I'm sure it would have been a valid reason for Bretgov to siege the base themselves as it is - but the rules don't, so they didn't. Given that, it's a huge stretch to expect Bretgov to go from having a negative disposition towards the base to actively defending it. It probably didn't help at all to have the base owners actively lobbying OORP to have BAF mobilize, and then angrily complaining and insulting people also probably didn't help much either.
TLDNR: It sucks but it was a pretty long shot even if you did everything correctly and also conditions outside of your control aligned to help you out - but neither of those things were the case.
(08-20-2024, 11:12 PM)EisenSeele Wrote: Scaglainne Oir was in a tough spot - it's a non-Molly base owned by an unknown group of freelancers that wanted to open up shop and sell gold ore in direct competition to the Mollys, right in their own livingroom. It would have been a tough sell even if handled perfectly.
From the Bretonian Government side, you have to understand that it would look suspicious for an old station that (admittedly was licensed a long time ago) was recently known to be used by Mollys before being sold to an unknown group of freelancers who are there in direct violation of the Dublin embargo. If rules permitted, I'm sure it would have been a valid reason for Bretgov to siege the base themselves as it is - but the rules don't, so they didn't. Given that, it's a huge stretch to expect Bretgov to go from having a negative disposition towards the base to actively defending it. It probably didn't help at all to have the base owners actively lobbying OORP to have BAF mobilize, and then angrily complaining and insulting people also probably didn't help much either.
TLDNR: It sucks but it was a pretty long shot even if you did everything correctly and also conditions outside of your control aligned to help you out - but neither of those things were the case.
So, an offer to cooperate with this base was rejected even though it would enable them to use the base during the so-called
"state of war" with Bretonia. Showing that there was never any real intent to not destroy the base, thus keeping the
balance of power and monopolies intact.
Furthermore, the fact that a thread showing the base offering to comply fully with their demands was actually used as RP
in the Molly siege declaration.
ooRP: The Aegis group, who are bounty hunters with native enmity to the Mollies asking the BAF is they're allowed
to respond to our offered bounties and assist infers that BAF would pull any contracts they had between them if they did so.
Since Mollies and BAF had come to a state of effective non-hostility due to the siege/counter-siege scenario that ended Molly sieges of Bretonian Corp bases, the embargo is a farce which only effectively prevents the resupply of bases besieged by the Mollies with apparent BAF indifference and effective permission.
The point being that a Staff run corp, co-owned by BAF OF 1ic is protected by that OF and another Staff-run OF, who are "prevented" from acting within valid BH faction RP against Molly aggression in the system. Thus making it impossible for any player to participate in Dublin. Mollies can do what they want so long as the protected bases are left alone, ensuring that any other bases in Dublin can be sieged and destroyed by one group or another.
Regardless of the "validity" of the attendant RP involved in this scheme, this whole situation doesn't pass the Smell Test.
Circling back to the original post here, instead of discussing PoB attacks of old.
The flow chart is very nice indeed. Very easy to follow and understand alongside the other details provided. There is also one other element that's not exactly mentioned that may be important. Simply "contacting the locals" if you're building in the Border Worlds or Edge Worlds doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be exempt from paying licenses or piracy.
You may do everything correctly, or "right" and your base may still end up being attacked. I guess there's a luck aspect to it aswell.
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