Greetings!

Today's QOTW is brought to you by Felix12g, who wants to know:

Q: Where/how/when/what triggers faction standings for players of the same faction fighting each other? Can you tell us about any locations where players can fight safely regardless of their chosen faction without taking serious damage to standings?

Our developers looked up from their busy schedule this week and had this to share:

A large portion of Enterra island is under the protection of guards hired by one of the two major Factions - Continoma and Noir. The frequency of appearance, their number and relative power is dependent on the level of security each territory provides; territories closer to civilized areas are more secure than those close to the far reaches of the island. Territories with upmost security include major cities such as Sal Vitas and Noir Base and their surrounding lands. The further the player moves away from these civilized territories, the more security will slide down until the appearance of guards becomes infrequent and their power can now be matched by the player.
 
In secure territories protected by a Faction, a member of that Faction can attack or even kills another member of the same Faction or a neutral player but he suffers an immediate standing penalty and will be hunted down by the guards. The power of each of the characters involved in the conflict and their Contribution rating will be factors deciding what penalty the guards will provide to the players. Outside of secure territories the penalty to standings remains, although guards won't be called for to stop the conflict. Some territories however will not feature faction standing penalties on treacherous attacks and we expect some players to take advantage of this - these places will be few and clearly marked so only those looking to take on a life of high risk will venture there.


As always this is the most recent information based on the state of the game at present, and of course is subject to grow, be explained in further details, be revisisted in future QOTWs, and change based on further testing and feedback! Speaking of feedback, why not leave some in the thread below?
~ m.

Are contested territories one of the exceptional areas where faction is not lost for fighting others of your own faction?

I believe they've confirmed that you can fight anyone in the contested areas without penalty but don't ask me for a source on that.  It might have been in one of the Stratics chats.

Is there a reason to go to the territory of an opposing faction? Otherwise there doesn't sound like there is going to be much ffa pvp going on.

It might actually be in a guilds best interest to limit its membership to members of one faction.

So is the friendly fire button need to be engaged when ever someone tagets a member of the same faction or only in some of the territories?

I happy to hear these rules. I expected this.



I second this question.

I figure that each "base" for the minor factions will include a security force. Will these security forces aid or attack players based on thier standing with that minor faction? Do the dynamics of PvP and faction standing act the same as with the minor factions as does with the major two factions (Conti and Noir)?

I forget, did I read somewhere that if players are able to attack a group of guards and defeat the guards in a relatively secure area, do stronger guards spawn in the area in larger numbers to repel and kill the player threat?

I think you're right about the first bit and I'm also fairly certain they mentioned somewhere that different factions would react differently to a player's faction alignment.  Specifically, that criminals would be hostile to Continomans.

To your latter question I'm almost positive the devs confirmed exactly that in the first or second Stratics chat.

Great useful info there fellows, I just got back from my holiday in Austria, haven't been keeping up with ER =]

if the pve areas around the faction towns are patrolled by guards, it will make it more difficult to level up skills while also having to fend off guards.  NPC mines for example will most likely have faction guys by them causing negative standing players to be attacked.