Revision as of 15:08, 9 May 2014

Note: this is my draft copy of an overhauled page on Factional Warfare.

Factional Warfare

Factional Warfare (sometimes also called Faction Warfare) is a game mechanic whereby you can sign up to fight for one of the four empire factions (against its enemy faction) for control over certain areas of low-sec space. It was first introduced in the Empyrean Age expansion (2008) to offer players a stepping-stone into PvP (player-vs-player) gameplay.

Factional Warfare is primarily centered around two #war zones (areas of low-sec contested by two empires): the Amarr-Minmatar war zone and the Caldari-Gallente war zone, which each are located on the border of the two respective empires. In these war zones, players who participate in Factional Warfare attempt to #conquer star systems for their empire, and are rewarded with #loyalty points and increased #faction standings for their efforts. Additionally, as players who participate in Factional Warfare are effectively at war with two of the four empire factions in the game, they can therefore attack (and be attacked by) players fighting for the enemy factions anywhere in New Eden, as well as fight the NPC faction navies (who patrol the high-sec star systems belonging to their faction).

Joining Factional Warfare

There are two ways to join Factional Warfare (the game calls this "enlisting"): join as a solo player, or join as part of a player corporation or alliance.

Joining as a solo player

Join Factional Warfare through the Militia Office window in a station belonging to the empire you wish to fight for (in this example, the Caldari).

Any player can join Factional Warfare provided that:

They have a regular paid EVE account (trial accounts may not join), and
Their standings towards the empire faction (e.g. the Gallente Federation or the Caldari State) they wish to fight for must be 0.0 or greater. Note that only raw, unmodified standings (i.e. without taking the effects of skills like Social into account) count; you can check your standings on your character page.

You can enlist at any station belonging to the empire faction you wish to fight for by opening the "Militia Office" window (from the NeoCom or the Station Services window). Note that even through the Khanid Kingdom and the Ammatar Mandate are affiliated with the Amarr Empire, they do not count as being a part of it, and therefore you cannot join Factional Warfare from their stations.

If you join as a solo player, you will leave your current corporation (be it a player-run or NPC corporation) and automatically join one of the four militia corporations (NPC-run corporations which are populated exclusively by other players enlisted in Factional Warfare for a given empire):

Amarr: 24th Imperial Crusade
Caldari: State Protectorate
Gallente: Federal Defence Union
Minmatar: Tribal Liberation Force

Joining as a solo player happens immediately, unless you have roles in a player-run corporation (in which case it takes at least 24 hours to relinquish your roles and leave your corporation).

Joining as a corporation

The CEO or Director of a corporation can enlist their entire corporation (i.e. all their members) in Factional Warfare to fight for one of the four empires. As with solo players, the corporation must have a standing of 0.0 of greater towards the empire they wish to fight for (corporation standings are an average of of its all the members' individual standings, see corporation standings for more details). Enlisting a corporation takes effect after the next downtime.

It's not possible for individuals in a player-run corporation to either join Factional Warfare on their own (they have to leave their corporation and join one of the militias, see above) or to opt out of Factional Warfare if their corporation joins (if the corporation joins, every member of that corporation automatically joins too).

Factional alliances

Factional Warfare revolves around two conflicts, one between the Amarr and the Minmatar, and the other between the Caldari and the Gallente. Additionally, the Amarr and the Caldari are allied (as are the Minmatar and the Gallente), which means that pilots fighting for (for instance) the Gallente can also help their Minmatar allies fight against the Amarr (with a few exceptions, see #control bunkers), and attack (and be attacked by) pilots fighting for the Amarr as well as the Caldari. Additionally, that same pilot would be attacked by the #faction navies of the Amarr and the Caldari should he enter their high-sec space.

Capturing systems

An illustration of how to capture (or defend) a star system in Factional Warfare (using a system contested by the Amarr and the Minmatar as an example).

The core mechanics of Factional Warfare revolve around capturing and holding star systems in the #war zones. This occurs in two steps:

Attacking and completing #complexes ("plexes") in a system to make the system vulnerable to capture.
Once the system is vulnerable, attack and destroy ("capture") the system's #control bunker (also known as an "infrastructure hub", or "i-Hub") to capture the system.

A system starts off as "stable" (or "uncontested"). The attacking faction (for instance, pilots flying for the Gallente attacking a Caldari-held system) must first attack and complete complexes in the system; for each completed complex, the system becomes ever more "contested" (commonly quoted from 0% to 100%, sometimes also measured in #victory points). Once a system has become 100% contested, it is listed as "vulnerable", and the attacking faction can then attack the system's control bunker. Once the control bunker is destroyed, the system is considered "lost" and will switch to the attacking faction's control after the next downtime (DT).

During this time, the defending faction can also complete complexes in the system; for each completed complex, the system becomes ever less "contested" (or, if it's currently "vulnerable", it will revert to being "contested"), all the way back to "stable".

Obviously, in addition to the mechanics above, pilots can (and should!) attack the other faction's pilots to stop them from completing their objectives!

Complexes

Complexes can be found via the system scanner.

Factional Warfare Complexes (commonly known as "Plexes", not to be confused with PLEX) are small areas of deadspace in war zone star systems. They are a type of Cosmic Anomaly, which means that they show up on the system scanner (but do not need scan probes to find), although once someone has warped to a complex, they will also show up on the Overview (even if someone initiated a warp to them, but cancelled it immediately).

Like all Deadspace Complexes, you cannot warp directly into them, but must first use an acceleration gate, after which you will land at the complex' beacon. At the center of each complex, a few kilometers away from the beacon, is a small structure (commonly called a "button"). You must first clear the area (radius: 30 km) around the button of enemy ships, and then Reaction to non-militia. Defensive and offensive plex

While a system is "vulnerable" or "lost", the attacking faction may still complete complexes, but they will not get any reward or affect a system's capture.

Once a complex has been completed, it disappears from the scanner/overview and despawns. New complexes spawn randomly; depending on how many players are active in a system, (check about plex spawning)

Complexes come in four "sizes":

Type	Capture time	Allowed ships	NPC defender
Novice	10 min	T1 and Faction frigates Industrials (no rookie ships)	Frigate
Small	15 min	Frigates Destroyers	Destroyer
Medium	20 min	Frigates and Destroyers Cruisers and Battlecruisers (no T3 cruisers)	Cruiser
Large	20 min	Unrestricted	Battlecruiser

Control bunkers

System upgrades and warzone tier