I will be brief, nor will I read the whole tread... It is Xmas after all
I believe factions should be able to restrict Indies from buying something bigger THAN a gunboat.
I am in the camp believing that guard system should be under the power of the paying faction, ASSISTED BY OTHER OFFICIAL FACTIONS.
For example, the LSF guard system would be mainly restricted to =LSF=/[LN] and authorized indies (see statements below) with =LSF= having the final word on everything.
Main issue is that some people are thinking that faction leaders are evil/mean/ill-fated...Such idea is utterly wrong. Most faction leaders just don't want to have a lolwutting pvpwhore flying around their space screwing the fun of everyone. The minimum most of us ask is simply to be warned/asked before buying the ship and to promise that it will be used in a fair way (and RPed of course). I see no reason for any drama in doing such a simple request... If you are an indie RPing and playing fair, as well as respecting other players you will never or rarely have any issues with any factions.
Now tell me, how much times did it happened in the past to see a good(RPing,fairplaying,respecting) indie player getting blow apart by an official faction for going into a guard system?
somehow a part of me finds my post to be incoherent... EDIT: now it sounds better