PvP

[Liareth]

I've been thinking some about how we should handle PvP. I'm thinking that we should lay the map out into three different zone types - Zone 0, Zone 1, and Zone 2.

• Zone 0: This covers the starting areas around the initial settlement. In this zone, one player can attack another, but the defender takes little to no damage and is immune to CC until two rounds after they attack back. This provides safety for newbies. Players cannot build in zone 0.
• Zone 1: This covers the late newbie to late intermediate period. Most activity will happen here and most bases will be built here. The core crafting materials can be gathered in this large set of areas. Most native settlements are in this zone. The defender takes 50% less damage until 2 rounds after combat begins. Attacking base structures can occur here but should be harder - details TBD once we figure out the base PvP system.
• Zone 2: This covers the end-game period. Adventuring these areas will be dangerous and reap the greatest rewards. Advanced crafting materials and alien ruins can be found here. There should be one native settlements here. There is no advantage or round period here - combat between PCs functions normally. It should be easier (but not easy!) to destroy a base here when compared to Zone 1.

Other points of note:

• In the starting settlement, guards will attack the attacker when the first hit lands.
• Natives may aid the defender depending on the reputation of the attacker and defender with the native faction.
• The advantage conferred to the defender should only occur if the defender hasn't hostiled the attacker; if two players hostile each other, regardless of the zone, they should be on equal footing. The goal is to discourage ganking, not PvP.
• The attacker MUST hostile the defender before attacking. We can log if this doesn't happen and enforce it.

This system:

• Allows newbies in the starting zones to flee PvP and hide in the starting settlement if they need to.
• Permits PvP but confers an advantage to the defender unless both parties consent to the attack (via hostiling, as above).
• Hopefully, this should discourage ganking and encourage cooperation. This is particularly important if we follow the full loot model on death.

TODO: RP justification for the above.

Caveat: We may consider disabling the auto-hit-back NWN mechanic to make this system work better.

[Liareth]

We should also consider an infamy system, where attacking and killing (unless consensual, flagged by both parties hostiling) punishes characters with infamy points. If you exceed a threshold of infamy, your name turns red and other character can attack you freely in any zone without the infamous character receiving the defender advantage. In this state, the starting settlement guards should attack on sight, and natives should default to attacking on sight, the exception being in the infamous player has a lot of reputation with a native faction - in which case they should remain friendly.