So...

[Jinx]

lorewise reasons why you do NOT shoot zoners in freelancer :

- almost every faction is locked in a stalemate with enemies
- these stalemates include re-supply of new ships and pilots. - meaning, when you do not re-supply.... your frontline breaks.
- since factions are in a stabilized stalemate - things appear immobile - even if they put in 100% efford in keeping that state.


that means:

- every single ship that you decide NOT to put at your stalemate frontline is a ship that can tip the balance against your favour! - EVERY ship that you free of its "duty", no matter if its only one small ship or one large ship or a fleet.

- it doesn t matter how large your fleet is! - it is LOCKED


conclusion:

- in freelancer - factions with a small but MOBILE force can be strong.
- in freelancer - only few factions possess a fleet that they can freely move around

- houses don t conquest for space ( in freelancer vanilla ) much - cause its as unthinkable as any civilized nation ambushing its neighbour. - which might be a political desaster. ( think of USA invading Canada ... the political consequences outweigh the benefits by far )
- that also explains buffersystems between the houses. - bufferstates ARE important - and usually both "strong" neighbours wish to keep them and not to be in direct contact with their strong neighbour.




other aspects why zoners are usually left alone:

- running a station is not a net-win
- it costs money - a lot of money.... so taking over a station might well cost you more than you get from it ( you may take the station - but you don t take the business contacts )

- think of a beautiful castle. - its fabulous and you re totally jealous about it. - but would you want to own and run it? ... it ll ruin you...and without the contacts to maintain it - to fill up its winecellars etc. - you might end up with a black hole that just sucks up your money without giving anything back to you. - a warrior is not automaticly an accountant.

- stations in RP are a lot tougher. - they have powerful armour, powerful reactors and weapons that are larger versions of battleship turrets. - capturing a station is also not easy - - its like storming the fortress with archers and horsemen .... in medieval times. ( meaning, you need a LOT more men to take a castle than to defend it )




also:

think of your net-gain.... what do you gain from destroying a freeport, what do you gain from taking a freeport - what do you loose.

- most of the times - you gain a lot less than you loose.




the above is freelancer vanilla

disco is different - not always for a better.

Virus once said : "zoners work best when they are completely left alone and treated like generic traders" ( well i don t know if he said it - but i heard that he said it )

and that is kind of right. - zoners co-exist.... ( literally ) - get them involved too much and things get messy much.


the zoner concept is about NOT getting involved. - that includes zoners not to involve themselves - as much as others not involving zoners. - restraint can be beneficial for everyone here. ( but often self restraint it hard to come by )

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Shipdesigns made for DiscoveryGC