Rules of engagement

The ‘Verse is a dangerous place, and not all players roaming it are our friends. Conflict can come in many forms, from a Pirate Syndicate setting their sights on our trade goods, a Mercenary Organization paid by our enemies to harass us, or a rabble of griefers who merely want to give us a bad day. However, it would be irresponsible for us to fall into a pattern of shooting anything that moves, and therefore it important to know how we should act when moving around the ‘Verse, as an individual or as a unit.

Overarching Engagement Policy

Vanguard is a lawful organization. As a member, you will not engage in unwarranted hostilities against another player. We will do our due diligence to properly identify friend and foe, to give unknown parties the benefit of the doubt, to encourage clear and open communications, to minimize accidental conflict, and to do our best to mediate situations, especially when misunderstandings lead to loss of ship or life.

Whenever we are participating in any action whereby a player accidentally stumbling upon us would be subject to termination, we will be sure to to make the operation public knowledge. As Marshall ZZGooch put it,

“We will communicate clearly and warn players off, but it's always best to stay clear."

Known Hostiles

A Known Hostile is any individual which you can freely engage without violating organizational policy. Here are some examples:

• Members of organizations we are actively at war with

• Individuals with active Vanguard Bounties on them

• Vanguard Members running OpFor

• Operational Targets

• Criminal NPCs

Lawful or Neutral NPCs who are not engaging you are not valid targets, unless we are running an operation that specifically calls for them to be destroyed.

war zones

A war zone is an area in game that VNGD has designated fully hostile. Firing first when you deem it beneficial to your survival is acceptable.

• Ghost hollow

• Drug labs

• SPK

• Comm Arrays

• Salvage yards

• Prison

• Pyro

WARNING: Don't use this as an excuse to be a bully and kill players without recourse. If you legitimately believe your life is in danger you may shoot first, but if we find the person was trying to communicate with you and was not displaying aggression you will be subjected to disciplinary action before your wing and the VLC that may result in loss of promotional status and up to administrative withdrawal from the org. Use common sense and follow the prime directive.

Bounties on Members

You should always provide fair warning before engaging a member who has a bounty on them. If a member asks you to not shoot at them, don’t.

As persistence and reputation comes online, and ship destruction and player death becomes more impactful, we should avoid accepting bounties on fellow org members, and assist them in clearing crime stat.

Exclusion Levels

Our operations will have different levels of Exclusion, determining response type and setting valid targets. Exclusion should be communicated regularly on public text channels in order to prevent unaware players from entering the exclusion volume, or else directed at individuals violating the exclusion rules with enough time to reasonably comply before engaging. Below are some common examples.

Exclusion zone access may be contingent on any number of rules, as defined in an operations Standard Operating Procedure.

The Final Caveat

At the end of the day, choosing to engage and destroy a target is a choice players need to make. The rules of engagement are a metric to check against to make that decision clearer. However, ultimately this is the call of an individual based on their assessment of risk.

Please remember that, whenever you engage a target, especially a player, you are accepting the responsibility for the consequences of that action, for better or worse. Use your best judgement, and remember each and every one of us represents Vanguard to the rest of the ‘verse.