(NOTE: the following public service announcement is Nonya's opinion only and is not an official communication from Code itself)
Seems like the blockade of the Hutton Orbital CG has angered a lot of players who thought the CG would be a 1.5 hour "cakewalk" for them and a lot of ideas about how to "fix" such a thing are being floated around, all of which can be subverted and used against the very players who suggest them.
Here's one reason why Code was so successful against the CG participants - organization and coordination. The CG players had none, Code has it in spades.
Here's another reason - knowledge of the in-game mechanics. Code members have spent considerable time and in-game credit expense in working out the different play factors of the game.
1. Did you know that if you kill enough system police in an instance that no more will spawn in that instance? Nope, you didn't. We did though. But we didn't do it in this case because we were much too busy chasing you all out of the system, and quite frankly we had a much easier way to tie up the system po-po and make them ineffective.
2. Did you know that if a commander sits on a pad they're invincible to attack? You should know since a lot of you suggested that happen because during the early betas prior to game release players were able to be killed on pads and the uproar against that was right here in these very forums.
3. Did you also know that once a wanted commander is scanned prior to docking their docking privs are immediately revoked and they cannot dock?
4. Did you know what once a wanted commander is docked and then scanned by system security forces the sec forces IMMEDIATELY open fire on them on the dock until the commander is destroyed?
5. Did you know said commander cannot be destroyed because YOU didn't want to be vulnerable on the docking pad to attack so you had FD make it so.
6. Did you also know that when said forces are firing on said commander on the docking pad that they also ignore all other wanted players - including YOU if you accidentally fire at the station - and remain fixated on the docked wanted commander?
7. Did you know about anchor wings?
8. Do you know about exactly how instancing works?
9. Do you know the real difference between a combat log and regular save-and-quit?
I could go on and on with things about this game that 99% of you didn't know existed until you read this post but I digress. The problem isn't with what Code was able to successfully achieve utilizing their knowledge and skill of in-game mechanics, coordination, and lines of communication, it's with what you don't know about the game you're playing because the vast majority of you are either playing in solo/private groups and have been so safe in there that you haven't felt the need to practice combat against other players or to really understand how this game works.
Face facts people, there are not a lot of Code members. Maybe a max of 20 participated in this at a single time for an hour or two in and instance or two, most of the time it was 10-15 in a single instance.
The fact that this tiny infinitesimal number of players were able to pretty much grind the Hutton Orbital CG to a halt at-will should push everyone to practice combat skills and tactics a lot more. We saw a couple of really good 1v1 combat commanders out there but they weren't enough in numbers and they weren't a match for our completely-legitimate combat tactics.
It should also push more of you out there to group up and form Trade Organizations complete with your own lines of communication (Teamspeak, Discord, etc.), coordination (forums, sub-sections here, etc.), and tactics (trade wings, combat wings, scout wings, organizational roles, etc.). Get out of your bad habits treating open like it was solo or private group. It's not and nor should it ever be. It's different and much more exciting. Here are few ways you can help yourselves:
1. If you want to trade in open, don't run shieldless ANYTHING.
2. Don't be alone, especially in any "Type" trading ship. We're more prone to go after loners who think Open is Solo than a wing of 4.
3. Have at least 1 dedicated combat ship in your trade wing to force us to focus attention on it first allowing you time to jump away and get to the closest station.
4. Don't ever, ever, ever combat log. Not only do we report every single combat log to FDEV you instantly go on our kill-on-sight list and there won't be a friendly warning.
5. When told to stop and submit to a cargo scan when you're alone - stop. This is why the majority of traders who think Open-is-Solo die.
Now for another shocker - most members of Code actually DO trade (mostly smuggling) and we mostly do it in open unless we're experimenting with something and don't want to be bothered during the experiment in which case we drop down to Solo to figure it out. And unless we've got combat wingmates we do it in Pythons, clippers, and condas that have shields and can fight.
Another pro-tip: friend EVERYONE you meet - even those you hate. Why? Because, not only does it show them where YOU are but it shows you where THEY are.
That means if you see a cluster of so-called "baddies" in a system you know to avoid that system like the plague and hold on to those profits a bit longer. It will also let you see hotspots faster, i.e. a CG you might not have known about or other event like a race that isn't built into the game menus like a CG is. I always laugh when someone I've never attacked and/or pirated or even talked to suddenly unfriends me. "OK buddy, now you have no idea where I'll be at any given time and doom on you if it all goes pear-shaped." I've had randoms direct message me in game asking questions and I've usually answered them with tips on where to find this or that or how to grind rank faster, etc. Unless I'm busy - i.e. in a fight or working on an experiment - I usually reply.
I guess the bottom line is we need you folks to get better at this because right now while your forum posts may be entertaining to read online, in-game you're boring us and we need you to start creating your own in-game content on-the-fly like we do. FDEV does not always have to create it. Look at those wacky races (which look like fun by the way) around stations, or out to Sag A. Where are the trade competitions? CZ Combat competitions (CQC does NOT count, sorry Xbox players)? Mining competitions (mine this much X from this exact RES in X amount of time)? Where are the trade wars? (heh, TradeWars2002 notwithstanding....)
The Hutton blockade was quite literally an off-the-cuff suggestion by me (yes, blame me for all of it, I have thick skin) as we were bored to tears in-game and were pretty mad at such a ludicrous idea for a CG already.
You haven't seen us truly plan for and execute a determined operation yet. You've only seen what we can achieve with hasty 5-minute planning.
But thanks for the great practice though! And for those commanders that made it through the blockade in open and who were actually in an instance with us, bravo!
You were very very lucky.
