Ah, the age old question of where to find the GF.
I was fortunate enough to learn PVP in empire wars, years ago when people wanted to fight (Bitter vet much?). FW can be fun, and fits in with the solo/small scale, but unfortunately anything larger than 5 pilots seems to stop being a small gang in FW. Not to mention that choosing a side is always tricky. (Caldari FTW >.> )
One thing I have also found is that organised roams can often be disappointing when nothing is found, and organic pvp is more satisfying.
I have the following ideas when not on contract and they will have to all be tried to see what can be learnt from them, and how good they work. I think a 2 week - 1 month rotation and a good logistical plan might be good. Though there are some spots close to low sec that might make this easier.
- Live near NPC Null and go poke around there for something to shoot at. Possibly a good place to test tactics.
- Go to the local camped spots, it will need some intel gathering, but what good is a merc corp who cannot do that anyway.
- Declare war against some other empire mercs.
- Hunt bounties.
The usual stuff, eh? Picking targets for bounty hunting, and other mercs, will need require us to keep a constant eye out, and have updated target lists and also give us a chance to come up with clever schemes on how to defeat them.
In the end, I want to try different things, because the only way to learn is to try, and possibly lose. But experience cannot be lost, and to be effective you have to learn to handle a variety of situations.
As you may have noted, this all means that we will need a certain type of pilot, or pilots, that are willing to go out and try and learn, instead of just waiting for someone to do something official.
This also means that the corp will provide as much support as possible, and that pilots will be expected to go and lose ships. Yes, it is my controversial belief that kill boards do more than just show ratios, they also kill fun. Being sure of a kill teaches less than facing the odds with no certain outcome, at least in training. It is my hope that that experience will carry over to the important wars. Where, I have found, kill/death ratios matter less than placing the opposition in a position where they no longer what to fight.
I think that was enough of a rant, and I hope it answered your question without too much deviance from the topic.
As for the challenge, Jude's will be that a pilot who wants to join has to pod someone, or at least make a very good attempt at it. How better to embrace our capsuleer nature?
EDIT: Engagement policy would be flexible, I would say. There will be some guidelines, since it would be counter productive if pilots are limited to low sec due to a negative sec status.