The Russian Question

[burgingham]

Is there an organized group of 'Rangers' who can act to balance against the more excessive acts of these aggressive groups? If so, how does one make contact with them? If not, why not? Are the Russian groups so good at developing their hearthlings that they are lightyears ahead of other players?

An imbalance in game mechanics caters the more agressive players and at least all the really big peaceful factions have quit the game or some of their members switched sides.

If you want a police force in the game right now I am afraid you will have to build it yourself. It is not impossible to catch up, but difficult and you need a good organization with good people to pull it off. Note that you will also be fighting an uphill battle against the flawed game mechanics as well as against the players who have spent day and night practicing the combat system.

[shotgunn902]

if you want you and yours to be safe now you usually have to protect it yourself. Nobody seems to have the balls to fight except the big factions anymore. pick up your sack and start getting rid of those junior raiders in your area and eventually they just wont come around anymore. Or they'll be less of a problem.

[_Gunnar]

if you want you and yours to be safe now you usually have to protect it yourself. Nobody seems to have the balls to fight except the big factions anymore. pick up your sack and start getting rid of those junior raiders in your area and eventually they just wont come around anymore. Or they'll be less of a problem.

Junior raiders should never be a problem for an established group, even if small. Once they get a brickwall, it actually becomes hard (or practically impossible, if they know what they are doing).

As to there being a group of "Rangers": most people who track scents are merely doing it as a means of finding players advanced enough to have something worth taking. They may or may not feel a moral need to claim what they are doing is punishing criminals.

There are still small groups of rangers here and there, but I am not really sure if *any* large groups still survive. The rewards for being a true ranger in the current climate are really not that great. I have to leave summonable scents everywhere, and I don't even keep the loot I liberate.

As for the large peaceful factions, I would have loved to be playing when they were around. It seems to me any form of coercion is inherently violent, and I would be interested to see how they increased their power back then.

[TheTylerLee]

if you want you and yours to be safe now you usually have to protect it yourself. Nobody seems to have the balls to fight except the big factions anymore. pick up your sack and start getting rid of those junior raiders in your area and eventually they just wont come around anymore. Or they'll be less of a problem.

exactly, most of the raiders noobs encounter are only 100 UA

Which explains why they are killing noobs and not brick walls.

If you actualy fight back, some times they get scared instantly that your not running. and they run.

[MagicManICT]

"Peaceful" in an open PvP game is nothing but a death sentence. If you happen to be playing a perma-death game, you should just quit now if you want to be "Peaceful".

However, if you don't mind getting your hands dirty with revenge and bullying tactics, you can create an area that is relatively safe for newer players. You can make sure that ranodm murder, theft, and vadalism are met with the quick, exacting end of a headsman's axe (B12). Burgingham pointed out the real problem: current game mechanics pretty much guarantees anyone that wants to be safe behind their brick wall can leave scents anywhere they want and never be brought to "justice" for their crimes.

[burgingham]

Permadeath is just a necessary condition in the kind of simulation HnH tries to be so there can be proper consequences to actions. Sadly that of course attracts a crowd only interested in the killing part of permadeath and when then the game is unbalanced to cater them the most you got a problem.

In a perfect environment in HnH one doesn't necessarily have to be able to defend oneself is what I want to say by that, although it of course always helps.

[shotgunn902]

most of the time your little "raider party" duo are just some bored kids. Sling a few rocks their way and they'll most likely leave.

[Dokart]

New player,
and I must say all the encounters I've had with Russians and Polacs were pretty friendly. Maybe I've been lucky so far.
Maybe I'm living in a quiet area, but the only time I've got assaulted was when two 'gangstas'(probably kids, judging by their language) chased me down and beat me senseless, surprisngly they didn't murder me, so I guess it was just for the joy of the chase.
I do like the idea of lawful neutral rangers punishing criminals, return of stolen items isn't even necessary, the mere action of murdering the criminal is enough to be some sort of deterant - It CAN work in HnH, even with the handicap to those 'people's champions', in EVE Online there are many groups of antipirate corps whose sole purpose is to hunt down pirates, the reward for that is PVP action and a fiery death. In order for that to work you just need to find some PVP lovers who have some sense of justice, not too much. Though I'm a noob and can't fight to save my life, it seems like something I'd love to invest time in, in the future when I have the skills and resources.
also, nothing is more terrifying than russians in EVE Online =P

- Dok

[Eemerald]

it can be peaceful, but often ure in situations where you cant be peaceful all the time. i.e. u will need to use black skills in order to protect yourself or your resources.

Saying that thought, its manageable when u have the right defence system, few people will bother or be able to get into ur walls. and the right allies. those big factions who may well often destroy and murder other players can and do help other towns when theyre under attack or need some support.

in general generalizing negatively abt nationalities doesnt help. the most awesome player who helped me greatly in world 4 was russian. in world 5 polish guys who offered their help to help me back after a major raid pretty much re secured my town. and world 6, is a mix of various american, europeans, eastern and western, russians and canadians. nationality says little:P

[bitza]

Permadeath is just a necessary condition in the kind of simulation HnH tries to be so there can be proper consequences to actions. Sadly that of course attracts a crowd only interested in the killing part of permadeath and when then the game is unbalanced to cater them the most you got a problem.

In a perfect environment in HnH one doesn't necessarily have to be able to defend oneself is what I want to say by that, although it of course always helps.

because of the some of the emergent gameplay that was discovered in mid-w3 and beyond (and to this day has been largely left unaddressed), there really are no 'proper consequences to actions'

the curiosity system is an improvement off of the old 'bucket bot, flour bot' business of back then but it leads to throwaway pvp and crafting characters, between this and the hearth vault, if you set it up properly, you don't need to worry about losing your crafting characters or production facilities.

in order to make a better world, we need a new character development system that calls for a higher investment than 'feed curios, slap on a bear cape, buy murder and vandalism and you're good to go'