Features of the game environment and stuff going on in it...

• War Fronts: Segment the game into a main, continuously-persistent universe, and distinct war fronts. Pilots can sign up for military tours of duty, which will transfer them to a war front mini-universe. The war front has large-scale objectives and exists for a limited time. (Duration might be open-ended - e.g. until objective achieved or abandoned.) While signed up for duty, a pilot can play only in the war front universe. Various roles will still be needed there: Transport of supplies and military equipment from supply depots to front-line stations and postings, scout duty, participation in coordinated tactical initiatives, etc. Pilots might have access to special equipment and ships while on military duty. (Variations: Basic idea of limited military duty tours could work without spinning off a mini-universe. Or, war front mini-universe could be distinct but connected; civilian transport to border stations of "war zone" could be critical part of game; active military pilots could still be disallowed from leaving war zone.)

Istvan I would prefer to avoid spinning off a separate "zone" for the war front for several reasons. However, conflict "zones" are working effectively in implementation in DAoC, without creating problems as such, so I suppose we'd be OK doing something very similar (assuming we could implement such in an "open" space environment - an argument for limited access points in the locomotion model a la JumpGate). Connection is useful in that civilian transports could choose to take "hazard pay" missions through war zones. Not only would such missions hopefully be more white-knuckle exciting for players (even if no combat occurs), but such missions are ideal for cooperative/linked mission mechanisms in which parallel military missions for escort or interdiction are tied to the core civilian transport task.