Yeah yeah, i know it's Sphere of Influence. But what does it mean?
In particular, what kind of activities are prohibited or limited outside of SoI? I failed to find information about this issue both in here forums nor in Discovery wiki. If someone would point me in the right direction, then i'll be really grateful.
For people who like to answer yes/no questions, here's some examples:
-> if player is an officer of Bretonian Police, and pilots, say, a bomber, then:
1. - can he go and actively hunt pirates in Rheiland?
2. - can he go to Rheiland for his own RP reasons?
3. - if he can go to Rheiland for his own RP reasons, then can he kill Rheiland pirate if he happens to spot one?
4. - can he go to Liberty, say "hi" to his Liberty allies, and stand in Liberty space forever, working together with LPI?
5. - can he explore edge worlds on his own, and should he meet unlawful/Nomad etc, can he actively engage should he want to?
6. - can he act outside the limits of his faction rules, at least to some degree, once he's outside his own SoI?
7. - if he's outside Bretonian Police SoI, but within one of Bretonian Police friendly/allied faction SoI, then would he get any significant "rights" due to that?
-> 8. What would change, in regards to questions above, if our officer pilots a cruiser instead of a bomber?
Do you see the groundhog there? No? Me neither. But, it's there nonetheless.
And then, Character's ZoI is where they should stay in. They have no influence outside of that Zone, so they don't have a reason to be there. For example, as a BPA, the officer can't leave Bretonia space on his On-Duty ship, unless it's a mission approved by the BPA command.
He, however, can go and explore all he wants on his Off-Duty ship - which would carry a Freelancer ID, thus, restrictions of the Freelancer ID.
So, to put it simple: Answer of all these questions are No.
1. No
2. Perhaps
3. Probably.
4. Probably not without contacting the LPI first
5. No
6. Rephrase?
7. Probably.
8. Everything.
Why would a BPA Cruiser be in Liberty/Rheinland/Edgeworlds when there is a war going on?
It would be odd when there isn't a war going on.
The Houses aren't all bestest buddies forevers. There is paperwork etc in the world of Freelancer, only we don't see it.
It's the place there your character should be. Or it's presence makes sense there. For example for corsair to make all the way up to liberty is way too far and uneconomic. So they don't show theri faces there.
What is the rule enforcing it? Oh... It's a roleplay server.
1. - Can he go and actively hunt pirates in Rheiland?
Rulewise, yes. Roleplay wise however it would be bad form, and there may be in-roleplay consequences, such as the Reichsmarine telling you to hoof it back to Bretonia, or else.
2. - can he go to Rheiland for his own RP reasons?
Certainly. For instance, if you'd be escorting a small transport loaded with light arms from Rheinland, bound for one of the BPA stations, that'd make sense.
3. - if he can go to Rheiland for his own RP reasons, then can he kill Rheiland pirate if he happens to spot one?
Again, rulewise: Yes, but it'd be considered bad form to be actively hunting pirates outside of your zone of influence. If you were travelling through a lane and find it dropped, with pirates present, you could try to engage them, but consider what the justification is: "You're wanted for crimes against Bretonia!" "But... vhe are in Frankfurt, not Bretonia?"
4. - Can he go to Liberty, say "hi" to his Liberty allies, and stand in Liberty space forever, working together with LPI?
I don't see why not. A good RP explanation would be some sort of foreign exchange police training, between allied factions. Learning from eachother's tactics. Make sure you have a valid RP reason, and defer to the LPI's leadership in all matters in this case. For RP purposes you'd count as a civilian in Liberty.
5. - Can he explore edge worlds on his own, and should he meet unlawful/Nomad etc, can he actively engage should he want to?
Rulewise, yes. Roleplay wise it's bad form. It could lead to consequences if the official faction gets annoyed with this behaviour.
6. - Can he act outside the limits of his faction rules, at least to some degree, once he's outside his own SoI?
No. Definately no. If you want to behave like a freelancer, then use the freelancer ID along with all of it's restrictions.
7. - If he's outside Bretonian Police SoI, but within one of Bretonian Police friendly/allied faction SoI, then would he get any significant "rights" due to that?
No. The character, outside of the ZOI, counts largely as a civilian. If you want to act as a mercenary, get a BHG or Mercenary ID. You'd have the right to assist friendly traders and defend yourself of course.
-> 8. What would change, in regards to questions above, if our officer pilots a cruiser instead of a bomber?
Police factions do not (or rather should not) use supercapital ships. House navies do. Taking a capital ship into another faction's ZOI is in roleplay strictly forbidden. There's no server rules against it, but expect to be shot by the house navy you are intruding on, with excessive force. Allied or not. Zoner characters tend to forget their Fearless cruisers fall in this category as well.
Note that gunboats are not considered capital ships for this purpose.
In short though, if you don't intend to RP a house police character, then don't use a house police ID. If you want to be a generic kind of enforcer of the lawful side, Bounty Hunter (not Core) would be the most appropriate ID for you.
Wide awake in a world that sleeps, enduring thoughts, enduring scenes. The knowledge of what is yet to come.
From a time when all seems lost, from a dead man to a world, without restraint, unafraid and free.
Mostly retired Discovery member. May still visit from time to time.
A good guideline for where to go and where not to go most of the time is to look at the NPCs. There aren't BPA NPCs in Rheinland so you shouldn't go there unless you have a really good reason to do so. And no, escorting that liner to Munich isn't, that's the RFPs job as soon as it enters Rheinland. Escorting a bretonian diplomatic envoy to Rheinland however is something different, but that shouldn't happen very often.
' Wrote:Go play the game, within the given limitations. That is how role play games are played. Not by trying to work around those limitations or whining about them.
About the ZoI is better to think about Jurisdiction. You know when a criminal cross the border to another country he "won" you cant hunt him inside this territory it's a serius offence. Is the same here in freelancer, if you are a BPA you shouldnt hunt any one inside rheinland or liberty, it's a offence and a menace to the local power. Maybe you can have a joint operation or special colaboration or maybe access so you can pursuit them, but it's the exeption. In general is you cross the border do it by your own, you can be shot for that. All depends on the RP situation.
I say NO to your questions and a big NO to the last one, a cruiser inside other ZoI it's a serius offence to the locals, they would never allowed such display of power inside their homeland.
Thank you all, pilots, for answering that so fast and in so much detail!:)
Few thoughts: i see there are generally similar, yet various opinions on the subject. I also guess it's important subject (ZoI, that is). My shameful mistake of calling the thing "SoI" was the reason i missed http://discoveryfl.com/wiki/index.php?ti...f_Interest page. But now i've read it, it gets much more clear about meaning of the thing.
If there are some inconsistencies and/or outdated info in the wiki, it's already not my duty (yet) to fix it since i'm still rather new to the Discovery world. I just hope there isn't any problem there!:)
P.S. It seems that some of posters in this topic assumed that i intend to do at least some things described in my questions. This is wrong. Not a one of them is what i actually am about to do in the game in any future. Questions are pure imagined situations, which serve the purpose to give me (and perhaps, not only me!:)) a better understanding of ZoI concept.
Do you see the groundhog there? No? Me neither. But, it's there nonetheless.
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