Hi all, I just heard about Vendetta over on the Old Republic forums and had to take a peek. Once Upon a time I played Jumpgate, a very similar fight sim MMO.. in so many ways that it's frightening. When I stopped playing they still hadn't solved the griefing problem. So my big question is how is PvP dealt with here? if I want to just relax and trade am I going to get shot down alot?

Realistically? No.
But chances are, you're going to get shot once, or someone you know may get shot once, and then we won't hear the end of it.

Depends on where your trade route is. Trading in Nation-protected space is usually safe. But there is a cluster of systems known as "gray space" where pirates and all sorts of ruffians usually inhabit, which may be unsafe.

You just have to learn to avoid areas full of people that will either extort money from you for safe passage, rape your ship and steal your cargo, or just blow you up to watch the fireworks. There is no unrealistic 'safe zone' in VO; you'll probably get killed a few times learning the ropes. Get good, get even: Vendetta Online.

Nation space (space monitored and guarded by a nation) is relatively safe though, protected by border turrets and defenders. A clever pirate can get through, but most don't bother.

It's pretty easy to avoid people because almost no one plays the game.

Impavid is correct. That said, there's always the chance I will repeatedly kill you while you're trying to complete your first flight test. Just because I'm a friendly, interactive guy. Good for you, and for me, though bad for my VO skills, I'm too busy to play a largely broken and unfinished game these days.

But there's always a chance! :D

Wow guys, I just realised: we sound like assholes!
Especially tarenty. Good god man, do you have to try to be that smug, or does it come naturally?

Rilauven: VO has no locations of absolute safety, beyond the very first newbie sectors. We aim instead for a "gradient" of relative safety, with nation space and major capitols being pretty well guarded, and things getting dicier as you head out to the frontier (grayspace). You should be fine, as long as your expectations are made accordingly.

We have some notes about the common comparisons to JumpGate and EVE in our gameplay FAQ, if you're interested.

Vendetta Online currently has 30 systems divided into 256 sectors each. Each sector is considered either Guarded, Monitored, or Unmonitored, information which shows up just beneath your HUD. There are 13 factions in Vendetta, and you will hold a standing with each of these factions ranging from -1000 to +1000. If your standing drops below -600 ("hated") for any of these factions you will be hunted by NPCs of that faction and shot on sight. Killing another player in a Guarded or Monitored sector can cause you to take a significant faction hit, provided the player is in good standing with the faction that controls that sector. The better the standing of the player, the larger the faction hit. There is a "forgive kill" button that pops up for the defeated player which gives them the option of waiving the faction hit for their assailant.

There are also defensive turrets guarding the entry points to national territory and capitol systems that will attack any players that are hated by that nation, and there are No-Fire Zones (NFZs) which are 1km spheres surrounding each station that are enforced by station guards.

The moral of the story is, if you stay within your nation's territory when you are first starting out and keep to Guarded and Monitored sectors you will be relatively well protected. Straying into grayspace, Unmonitored sectors, or foreign national territory makes you liable to be shaken down or destroyed by other players.

(edit: and yeah, listen to Incarnate or anyone with a red name. They're the devs)

(edit2: and get to Combat License 4 and Trade License 4 as soon as possible; a Fast Charge powercell in most ships makes you very hard to catch)

The moral of the story is, if you stay within your nation's territory when you are first starting out and keep to Guarded and Monitored sectors you will be relatively well protected.

Yes, aside from the numerous noob and low-level missions that require you to fly from nation capitol stations into unmonitored sectors, where I will eat your liver (if I'm, you know, bored enough to play).

Hi, Rilauven, welcome aboard.

First, death is quite cheap in VO. You respawn immediatly and ships are cheap!

Second, you have alternatives:
1. Ask for a MENTOR, like me ("Alloh UIT" in game) or many others
2. Hire escorts, or get help for free from guilds like VPR, EMS or UTM
3. Join a guild. There are miners guilds as ORE, trader guilds as TGFT, so on. Check http://www.vendetta-online.com/x/guildinfo
(you can leave a guild any time, join another, so on. Not a 'forever vote')
4. Watch public channels for ongoing activity. Pirates tend to brag a lot their hunts.

But while pirates are on the verge of extinction, there are other dangers in VO, as Hive Bots, ion storms...

Anything, just ask help in /100 (public channel)

Ask for a MENTOR, like me ("Alloh UIT" in game)

Guess that's one way to ensure this guy's speedy exit.

Anything, just ask help in /100 (public channel)

Good advice, but make sure to announce your system and sector, so that help can find you quickly.

You wont be a newb for that long. I remember when Dr. Lecter was a newb, he was not so tough. Hell I even remember when Impavid was not a newb as was actually this cool guy called tumblemonster. I remember when some guy called tramshed who used to have knife fights with his roomy, hacked into vo and shot a cap ship at me.

This game is cool, and like others have said. There are plenty of places to hide should you want to. But if you decide one day to step up to combat, plenty of people ingame will show you how if you ask.

Wow guys, I just realised: we sound like assholes!
Especially tarenty. Good god man, do you have to try to be that smug, or does it come naturally?

I figure I answered his questions directly.

So, yes, natural. :)

Hehe, I remember how I challenged Yoda during my first few days in-game, somewhere in the Helios-Latos area. I showed up, he showed up, and suddenly I was introduced to these things called flares :D

wow, we DO sound like assholes.

Well, not me. Yet. Lemme see if I can rate:

Rilauven,

So my big question is how is PvP dealt with here? if I want to just relax and trade am I going to get shot down alot?

Even with fairly developed mining and trading, and a fledgeling crafting system, Vendetta is first and foremost a combat game. There are peaceful activities, but in the end there are no avatars to play dress-up with: You are the ship you are flying, and the weapons you choose (or choose not) to equip. Like sharks, the only way you usually have to interact with other pilots is to give 'em a bite. The good news is death is cheap, credits easy to come by, and revenge is a dish best served cold. Get gear, get good, get even.

That being said, you can quickly learn your way around avoiding unwanted combat MOST of the time. It'd be boring if the predators never caught up to you.

I hope you give it a month or three. It is a deeper game than it immediately appears. These grumpy and jaded vets who are complaining about it, fairly or unfairly, haven't mentioned they've played for 4,5,or 6 years. The vo community is still a fine bunch of Reubens, even if we put the "fun" in dysfunctional.

basically be on your gaurd all the time, just like in real life, you are never totally safe.

That being said, if you are attacked, either pay up, dump your cargo, run for it, or atleast try and give them a decent fight. That last one is alot of fun. Just don't bother with stingrays on anything smaller than a behemoth, or anything moving faster than a palsied slug.

Haha...
I just found this post, and i read Calciumdeposit's post as

"gray space" where pirates and all sorts of russians usually inhabit

and thought he meant Pirren.

Apart from that, i think Nahin, CD, Inc and yoda said all the relevant things about this topic.

Whatever happened to Hesitant Newbie?

Hopefully he's still around here somewhere...

He who hesitates is lost?