When NERA collapsed I wanted to see it continuing but got no real answer or any show of motivation from the people that were racing. I was ready to organize and host something similar, but met incredible difficulties to find support and Gyra disappeared of my screens... I thought it was maybe not the best time.
But I did not forget it and still find a shame that kind of racing came to an end. And I am still ready to set up something, and thinking a lot about it. This is not to say that I will organize it for sure, but I am quite motivated and I wanted to create a thread where people and I can throw happily ideas and concepts around the theme. I would like to keep
the current format that was the NERA, but this will obviously not be the NERA anymore, it would be something at least a little new. I don't even have a nice title for it so... Suggestions are welcome too.
Do not hesitate to participate, ask questions, propose inventive things, throw tomatoes, whatever can prove constructive.
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GENERAL OVERVIEW
So, let's start with ideas on the general rules of the thing : - Mostly the same than in NERA, with mailing list, teams, etc.
- Teams will have a limit number of pilots to prevent discrepancies and/or unbalance between them. This limit may be removed if proved useless or harmful, but will remain at the beginning unless I get a good reason not to do so. The limit would probably be 2 max pilots per ship class in each team. Freelances are mostly welcome too. This limit would change if the next rule is applied, and would rather be of 4-5 pilots. I prefer small and numerous teams of people close to each other, but if people want big teams, well, who am I to tell them otherwise ?
- I strongly hesitate to totally change the format of ship classes and instead of running 3 races for each class at each event, running one race where everyone flies the same class of ship. Ex: race 1 is a frigate race, race 2 is an interceptor race, etc. Pros : makes people change ships, try new things, and someone that may be very good at one thing may not be as good at another thing, makes versatility a key feature, is easier to organize, keeps more people together on the track (same speeds, etc). Cons : I do not want to force people to fly what they do not want to fly, rookie pilots that do not have the skills for T2 frigates or not the skills for every ship class will be at a disadvantage (even if they already were outclassed by faction frigates with their little T1 frigs, in the NERA). But I think that having to fly a lot of different frigates can be a lot of fun for everyone and prove to be a key feature of that league so I'll stick to that for now and see if it really is a good idea. Note : racers not able to fly the required classes can run another class as long as that class is not faster.
- Cost of registering a team should remain the same (5M) and will go to the final rewards. Cost per pilot to field on a track would be 2M, 1M for the race rewards and 1M kept for the final rewards.
- Registration for a race remains the same : just before the race, with the ship used by the pilot. Can be done by team leaders or team members, whatever method they choose, I just need to have the name of everyone noted at the beginning.
- No limit of pilots that can take part in the race remains the rule.
- Engaging each other outside the race timeline (just before the starting line or after the race) is prohibited. Podkilling is prohibited too. Shooting at another racer IN the race is still encouraged though.
- The spirit of the league would be primarily IC. It does not mean that everyone has to be IC or a RPer, but it means that alliances between teams or individuals, betrayals and the likes are not prohibited. Bringing mercenaries to kill adversaries or clean the track is also not prohibited (how to do otherwise anyway ? can't know who hired them, even OOCly).
- I am definitly not against partnerships with another organizer. It can definitly work like in Tennis, Football (Soccer) or the likes. A season with its own rankings and winners, a tournament here and there with its own rankings and winners, and a global ranking (with possible prizes, or just fame).
Racetrack rules :- No idea yet on the number of races included in a season. Maybe the same format (10), maybe more, maybe less. Of course they would take place everywhere in the cluster at the exception of nullsec (but shorter routes may occasionally pass through null, who knows).
- Racer's performances might only take in account a certain percentage of the total number of races (their best races ofc), which would allow for people to occasionally miss one or two races without being too much penalized (buffer races). Ex : 12 races in the season but only your 10 best races are taken into account. Note : even in the case of some racers having performed so well in their 10 first races that they do not feel the need at all to race in the two last ones, they might reconsider it because it could allow some of their challengers to score easier high points without them in the race.
- No countdown before the race starts. Just a "get ready" and a "GO", or something in these lines. I do not want to see people starting early due to being nervous at the countdown going down : aka I don't want to see people starting their engines at "1", but "0" (or after for the slowest of you :p).
- Like the old NERA, the racetrack is constituted of audit log containers that act as waypoints. Each racer has to open the can with the password given by the organizer at the beginning of the race, and then lock / unlock something inside to appear on the logs.
- The race will not start docked in stations to reduce discrepancies of loading times at the undock. That way, everyone will be ready on grid on a starting line around a waypoint container (or container 0, where the location of the first waypoint is located). Everyone will have the time to read and get the first waypoint, and the pressure will come after at the next waypoints of course. And I find it way better for everyone to start together in space behind a virtual starting line rather in station. Note : if some racers are not safe in high sec space for some reason (outlaws, FW, etc), i will have to see how to fix that issue, like by starting in low sec instead... Which is not ideal. If it starts in lowsec, then an ECM burst will be released at the start to break any preemptive lock between racers.
- The same way, the last waypoint will not be a station where to dock but an audit log container like any waypoint. More accurate when people come at the finish line extremely close to each other. Again, shooting at someone when the race has not begun or after you finished the race is prohibited.
- I plan to redesign a little the "level design" of the racetracks. I want them to be closer to subwarp racing even if they still remain quite standard. Which means that you will probably see a lot more containers at a waypoint. Which also means that you will maybe have a lot of waypoints located in some systems (6 in that belt, 3 around that gate, 2 at that major plex, same system). Long series of jumps (not endless either...) will remain in the track too, to let the pressure off a little between each series of waypoints. I have some other ideas that I will keep secret for the surprise.
- Each waypoint can contain one or more containers to validate. One is always the container "ZERO" that is located at 0km at the warp in. This may not please everyone but it will make void the scouting of the track before the race, except if you want to hire mercenaries or something else. But it will not play on the race performance itself as I do not want to see people getting a huge advantage because they already got all the waypoints bookmarked. The only advantage they will gain will be to know where they are, but they will have to fly on the same distances than everybody else.
- Reintroducing the concept of branches on the race (split waypoints). Not too much to keep people flying together, but some might break the boring routine. It can also prove itself to be a semi effective way to fight against interferences from hostiles monitoring the event : they will have to split their forces or choose between several branches.
- Every waypoint has to be validated in order. Every container on the same grid can be validated in any order. Ex: waypoint 10 with containers A,B, C and D in asteroid belt X-1 can be validated in any order. But waypoints 11 (3 containers) and 12 (2 containers) have to be validated after waypoint 10, and W12 after W11.
- Waypoints still located exclusively in low sec.
- Camped or very hot waypoints can be declared optional by the organizer at any time. Accessing an optional container can grant bonus time (2 min like in the NERA for example).
- If a racer is destroyed at any waypoint, he is freed from the obligation to validate every of its containers inside.
- The next waypoint location is written in the name of the bookmark contents of each container. (like in the NERA bookmarks are dummies leading to random systems, only their name is important)
That's all I see for now. Rules on points, ships and fits coming soon. I hope it already gives a good overview of what I have in mind.