Flagship

[corybear]

The first ship in a fleet, that is the ship that creates the fleet, is designated the flagship of the fleet. The flagship is marked with a visual cue (e.g. a flag). If the flagship is destroyed, the entire fleet experiences a negative consequence e.g. all ships in the fleet destroyed! Thus, each ship in the fleet has a strong incentive to protect and defend the flagship.

Here are some other interesting consequences:

• Encourages strategy (it is more important to destroy the flagship than other ships in the fleet)
• Similar to "capture the flag" games.
• If it looks like the flagship is going to be destroyed, then some members have an incentive to dessert (leave the fleet).

[FedorLap2006]

I'd say this is really cool idea, but there is a big elephant in the room. We don't want the whole fleet destroyed. I'd say we need more polite "punishment" on that.