In nullsec, politics is totally defined by capsuleers.
In highsec, politics is invisible to capsuleers.
Lowsec today is just like highsec in this way. Whatever rules there are, are defined by the game (NPCs) and capsuleers have no influence.
Instead, the overarching theme of lowsec should be an area which is still Empire-controlled (the NPCs are still in charge) but is being influenced by the capsuleers.
As a simple example, players should be able to influence how aggressively each Empire supports the various gates and stations in its lowsec territory. Industrial alliances could encourage the Empires to fund relatively hardy protections for certain routes and pirate alliances could counter by convincing the Empires to look the other way. That's not to say that players could make a 0.4 system into the equivalent of 0.0, or a 0.1 system into the equivalent of highsec, but players could have some influence within reasonable bounds that go beyond the range present in lowsec today.
Other aspects that players could have influence over could include the areas where players can upgrade 0.0 systems (complex spawn rates, etc.), rules about the use of devices like bombs and bubbles (this might be really hard to implement...), services and even agents available in stations, and so on.
I think this could also combine very naturally with the FW occupation mechanics.
Player involvement could come about in different ways, maybe varying by Empire -- for Caldari you could gain influence by investing ISK in the megacorps, for example, while Gallente might lean towards a democratic voting system for influence. Other alliances might reward you for PvP, exploration, mission running, mining, PI presence, POS ownership, etc. Most likely all the Empires (including the smaller ones, Ammatar and Khanid) would have some balance of all the different ways to gain influence but could be "flavored" appropriately for the fiction of each Empire.
Comments (5)
I like the theme; have quibbles with the detail.
The details are totally flexible, any specific ones you think should be changed in the idea proposal?
I actually really like the general idea of capsuleer actions in a system affecting the sec status. I'm not sure how the mechanics should work, or how it should tie into Factional Warfare, but the idea of the capsuleers struggling to influence the raising or lowering of sec status in a system sounds interesting.
I like it, I put forward a similar proposal with a better link between FW and piracy. Hope you take the time to read it!
How would industrialist / pirates influence the authorities each way? Running missions in the area? What if its the pirates running missions? Do they affect the changes in a manner that benefits them? Can they get rid of all guns to shoot on them when they aggress if they run enough missions? Can they get the sentries to aggress you if they've enough political clout? Corruption works both ways right? Can they be the aggressors in all circumstances and not get shot at by sentries if their politcal clout is good enough? Can a dominant corp in the area decide that they can deploy bubbles thus preventing any viators and such from passing?