I think a good way to solve this would be to make the bgs in systems controlled by player factions only effected in open. Systems like Sanda (DRTY Co), Miroman (IED) and Diaguandri (EXO) could only be changed in open. That way solo/pg players can still do bgs but at the same time players would be able to hide in solo/pg when attacking other player factions.
To me it just takes all the fun out of it when an enemy faction declares war on you but you never see them cause they're hiding in solo/pg. It's also extremely immersion breaking in my opinion.
Yes... I can picture it now...
"Mr. President, I'm afraid I have bad news..."
"What is it this time? It's bad enough the Imperial Party has been gaining in the polls lately."
"I'm afraid our 'allies', if I may use the term loosely, have gone rogue."
"What????"
"See for yourself."
The aid turns on the evening news, where an attractive anchorman is saying "Welcome back to our continuing coverage of the 'Emerald Dawn' massacre. For those of you just turning in, the President's personal terrorist squad has just attacked a convoy bringing refugee orphans to the 'Scraps of Hope orphanage and bunny rehab.' This was the third ship destroyed by these rogue agents of the current regime. The terrorist leader, one Commander AP IBirdman, had this to say:"
"Well, that ship was obviously up to no good, being in our territory like that..."
The President's jaw dropped, "
Their territory? Who the frell do they think they are?"
"... so we naturally took action. We put a lot of effort putting the President into power..."
"
They put
me into power? They're frelling hired guns. We payed them good money to run missons for us, and
this is how they repay us?"
"... and we naturally want to keep him there."
The aide turned off the holofac, as the President lowered his head into his hands, "This is going to drop our poll numbers down even further. Nobody likes the ongoing refugee crisis, it's playing merry havoc on security rating, which always makes the independent pilots we rely on nervous. But this is a PR disaster! Any chance this was a false flag operation?"
"No sir. Not only was Cmdr. AP IBirdman bragging about it on the news, but it's been confirmed by the Pilots' Federation. It's definitely legit. Speaking of independent pilots..."
"Now what?"
"Well, after the latest
incident, the word has gone out that our system isn't safe anymore. System traffic has dropped by 90%."
"We rely on those ships to get us what we need!"
"Yes sir. Apparently, the only ships that have docked recently are our former allies and the allies of the Imperial Party. Which explains this..." The aide turned back on the holofac, showing another news clip.
"Luanne Mbali here, bringing you the word on the street. With me is Jeong Seong-Hun, local business owner. Mr. Jeong, how do you feel about the current turn of events?"
"Well, Miss Mbali, I was a lifelong Federalist, you know? Paid my taxes, kept my nose clean, and paid no attention to the 'propaganda' from those 'dirty Imperialist dogs' across the border, you know? The Feds kept law and order, so why wouldn't I? Now I'm not so sure. I mean, look at who they've hiring! I had a contract to deliver eighty units of crop harvesters over in the next system, and where were the Feds and their mercenaries when my usual transport pilot failed to show up? Well... apparently they were
chasing off her ship with plasma accelerators that's where they were! So there I'm sitting with all these crop harvesters and no way to get them to my customer. The Feds are no help, and that's when I started paying attention to those Imperial Party commercials. And what do you know, when I contacted them, they got me the help I need. And bless them, they didn't even charge me half what the Feds normally would. Which is why I'm now supporting the Imperial Party. If the Feds need to hire murderous thugs to stay in power, maybe they shouldn't be in power in the first place!"
"Thank you, Mr. Jeong. Back to you, Jake!"
"Thank you Luanne... next up: an expose of the thriving black market that is operating under the nose of the President..."
