an engagement is when both players have fired their weapons with the intention to hurt each other. not firing at all and turning around is not an engagement and no retreat... so re-engagement rules do not apply.
but the "switching ships" thing goes further than just re-engagement.
for example:
you are out of bats and bots - and your hull is sort of damaged. you fly up to a gunboat and see you have no chance in your current condition - you never fire a shot, but turn around once you were in scanner range to identify the other person. you head to a planet to buy bats/bots and repair and start again.
then you engage that gunboat.... this one works. ( allthough you might wanne leave a tip for the garageworkers crew for such a speedy recovery on your ship )
.....
if you had fired a shot at the other ship - it would have been an engagement.
if you just turn arond but do not repair your current ship - but launch with a new and "slightly" bigger one in a matter of seconds....... well, you better leave the crew a LARGE tip, cause they appear to be ready to take off into a fight every second.
even if its not against the rules - its a bit lame. to be fair - it would also be lame if you were in a battleship, had a trader fly up to you with stuff you don t want him to dock with and swap to a fighter to take him out. ( plausible, - but if switching to something bigger is lame - then switching to something smaller is, too:))
Even though it's not a violation of the rules I would say that gentleman's agreement should be only switching between fighters/bombers... as it includes just jumping to a different cockpit. All bigger ships should require some time to launch.
But that's just me... a fighter/bomber whore :)
Igiss says: Martin, you give them a finger, they bite off your arm.
Thats what i have done before this fight in Delta today. First we met the Invincible and i had my transport. My escorts were staying in Delta, while i was flying my trans to crete. On crete i had my fighter. Same char, just a bit different pronounced. I switched to my fighter and was heading back to Delta.
We had no fight when i was in my transport. Invincible was launching a CD, but missed. It was exploding in a good distance of my trans.
not allowed to switch from transport to fighter - but then, i wonder why the battleship would attack a transport anyway. - however if its in favour of good roleplay - i don t see a problem with it. ( from such a neutral and distant point of view - things look different for those engaged in the battle of course )
i guess some transports are big enough to even carry the shuttle / fighter with them. - i have that for the persephone and the actual char jinx. the persephone is the base - and jinx is flying a "shuttle" from station to BB ( allright, i m cheating there and docking the persephone at FP11 - but only cause i don t wanne wait 2 min each time i relog a char ) - but roleplaywise, the persephone is hidden in the palau ice clouds, while the shuttle is the connection to freeport 11.
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' Wrote:even if its not against the rules - its a bit lame. to be fair - it would also be lame if you were in a battleship, had a trader fly up to you with stuff you don t want him to dock with and swap to a fighter to take him out. ( plausible, - but if switching to something bigger is lame - then switching to something smaller is, too:))
If I were flying around in a Battleship and a fighter came within scanner range, fled, and switched to a comparable capital ship, or a bomber to counter me I would consider that the furthest possible thing from lame.
There is a difference between playing AT someone and playing WITH someone. People play AT you when they do whatever it takes to give themselves an overwhelming advantage in order to win. People play WITH you when they do what they can to create a fair fight so that everyone involved can enjoy themselves. Certainly not every fight is fair from the standpoint of statistical balance, and plenty of fights are "unfair" on the basis of player skill (me in anything going up against Zapp, for instance; he'd kill me every time).
Switching to a ship before shots have been fired that allows the game to be played by both parties rather than only by one party who has no chance of losing is not lame.
Switching from a fighter to a capital ship in 10 seconds is no more unrealistic than an independent pirate owning a capital ship to begin with. Anyone ever seen a real life pirate sailing the high seas in a Battleship, or flying the skies in a F15, or driving the streets in a tank?
A trader switching to a capital ship to defeat a pirate is switching roles entirely, and that is a completely different thing altogether. If a trader switched to a fighter though, I would consider it my own fault for letting them dock.
The essence of good sportsmanship is creating an atmosphere where everyone can have fun on as level a playing field as is possible. That is why every team sport I played in Physical Education in school attempted to spread the great athletes among the various teams so that everyone had at least some chance of being competitive.
If I flew a battleship all the way to hostile space, I would hope that someone there would be a good sport and bring out a cap ship to play with me, rather than being prevented from doing so by some rule (although a gentleman's agreement can always work around the re-engagement rules if all parties agree to them).
So I guess the bottom line is, when in doubt, ask the other players for a gentleman's agreement, and if they refuse, leave them to play with themselves since they obviously have no desire to play WITH you if there is any chance of them losing.
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The other thing about BB's is that i don't exactly see them as ever docking with somewhere. once they are in space they are a bit big to land or dock with anything. I see it far closer to entering a low orbit of a planet rather than landing on it. therefore launching isn't really necessary.Thus making it almost instant to get battle ready.
I'm not turning into a cap-whore... I have one GB now, and I even have the keys to the Fantasia, but that's it. I'm a VHF guy to the core. The entire thing was.... I'm constantly on the receiving end of unfair fights. Had my GB been on Malta, I woulda jumped into that, but as things stood all I had was a couple fighters there.
My people own almost all fighters and bombers, but if they get jumped by superior numbers and firepower they are authorized to do whatever the hell they need to to keep their asses alive. Zapp has the keys to the Fantasia for a reason. Deterrent. Huge-ass deterrent. And then some slaughtering, if he sees need. The way I see it, he did exactly what I would have done. Also, they are right, Fantasia is currently stationed in the orbit of Malta. She's a big gun platform right now. Her coming on ain't out of roleplay. And seven klicks? I don't believe it.
As far as I'm concerned, by the way, if you dock before they get within ten kilometers you can do whatever the hell you want. If they get within that range before you dock, be very careful how you proceed...
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