Okay, so we've been discussing this ingame today:
The new BS/BB intelligence program for NPC's has led to the slaughtering of Serco's due to only having one exit vector that is easily wolf-packed by Itani NPCs.
Because the Serco emerge without power, we cannot fight and cannot run, and are killed quickly.
Here's several recommendations that have come up so far:

1) Reposition the Serco HAC or other Capital-ship to the Wormhole, providing cover from NPC attacks with it's main batteries. This will allow the Serco pilots to enter without fear of major wolf-pack activity.

2) Order the NPCs to remain a certain distance from the WH at all times. Players would be able to approach, but NPC's from the enemy side would be forced away.

The Itani have noted similar problems with their entrances, and may require the reposting of smaller Capital-classes (like Tridents) to their vectors to prevent similar wolf-packing.
The Itani are relatively well defended already because they have 3 exit vectors, so Serco NPCs have a harder time grouping around their entrances.

Reprogramming the location of ships would make them more of a strategic target for the enemy, since then Allied NPCs would have a higher chance of attacking the enemy without significant challenge.

Mom has already been made aware of this, so he'll probably be checking in on the thread, lets get some ideas flowing.

I still like 2 :)

Another idea that mom came up with and we've been working on is to have capships start somewhere outside B12 (in the GR wh sector for Serco, some B12-adjacent sector for the Itani), so that players (mainly Serco) can dock up and come in safely.

I like this idea, although the Itani-starting sector should have roids (but no bots or ion storms) so that it has to travel to 3000m, mirroring the Serco needing to jump through the wh.

Just a thought, but there could there be strategies and strategies adapting to enemy strategies? So far it just is put a bunch of things in the sector.

Strategic items to consider:
1) Usage of HAC
You could send you HAC off into the distance or behind your lines to be protected, or you could use it in combat, even though it would be risky.

/me smites smittens...

2) Swarm Runs
It would be possible to have a connie and 2 tridents group up and charge at an enemy capship, dealing good damage in a small duration. it would be more effective with your HAC or terradon engaging it.

Anyone in Itan knows that BS is definitely not "Just put a bunch of things in the sector."

To control BS even as it is now takes a lot of strategy. I'm not saying there isn't room for improvement (although personally I wouldn't mind if BS never changed again) but there is a lot of room for tactics.

Thanks for the suggestions. To clarify: the staging-area thing smittens mentioned was meant to handle the initial entry into the sector as a possible minor addition to the strategy of solving the ganked-while-entering problem by allowing capship-homing. Capship homing is a significant project, at best, and it might not be possible without a number of other things being done first (like the faction redux possibly).

Anyway, let's call capship-homing #3 and try to come up with a few others; I'm not terribly happy about any of the 3 so far.

I think that the first idea makes a lot of sense. After all, where would the ships be as it is anyhow? Thats right, at the wormhole. They can't magically appear out of nowhere.
The first idea would make things a bit easier and add to the sort of "invasion" feel to it.

Um, move the sector.

Deneb is supposed to become disputed territory "someday". Make that day soon, then move the battle to a sector where anyone can jump in from multiple vectors.

Not sure what would be best, moving the Serco Giera station into Deneb to give both sides a presence, or move the Itan station out, and keep Deneb station free.

In the backstory, it says "Large asteroids were brought through the wormhole to act as bases for defensive batteries. A hundred years later, the three Goliath Cannon (Alecto, Megaera and Tisiphone) were constructed and lent their considerable presence to the defense of the region."

Are these going to be implemented into bs?

Another thing. Would it be possible to make bs like hs where there is a major battle and some scattered miror skirmishes? the smaller ones would take the place of bp, and if those were successful they would come to reinforce the main battle.

Expanding on Psyra's suggestion:

What if at the Geira Rutilus entrance, a small "Serco Barracks" with 4 Station Guards? Serco would have the same advantage of resupply points as the Itani do with their stations in system, as well as fitting into the common mold that nations keep defense stations inside disputed territory.
If the BS was moved to one of the other empty sectors as has been suggested, then we'd really have solved most of the problems relating to the WH massacre.

The station would be obliterated before it was finished being built because of the aforementioned Goliath Cannon. In order to have any sort of lasting presence in Deneb, the Serco would need to disable/remove/steal the Goliath Cannon.

The 'staging area' idea is much better.

Pyroman (and the other Serco) should just be thankful there isn't an Itani station in B-12 like there used to be.

"the Serco would need to disable/remove/steal the Goliath Cannon."

Newsflash:
Late last night, several covert operatives of the Serco empire destroyed the Goliath Cannon.

See how easy that was.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=03E68F6599Q

As far as the Goliath Cannon go.. when we convert Deneb to disputed territory (and by that, I mean the entire system), it was my intention to move the Cannon back to Deneb O3, or possibly the other side of the wormhole in Eo. The Serco would then get a "station" (perhaps a really-hardened HAC, or a small station) in B12, and the Itani would retain a station in O3. These two areas would remain persistent to the respective sides, while the rest of the system could be conquered (including the K5 and I12 stations). I don't know exactly what the storyline explanations of all of this will be, but that's the broad strokes of the gameplay.

We're still working out the mechanics of single-sector conflict, we aren't quite ready to jump into multi-sector conflict.. plus there are a lot of orthogonal things I'd like to accomplish before we move there (restructuring the way Deneb is actually laid out, and the contents of sectors, permanently fogging some of them, etc). Aside from the fact that stations aren't even conquerable yet.. but we are headed there.

So, anyway, I'm all for tweaks to improve What Is and make it moderately fair for both sides. If it would be simpler, we could move the current BS to a different sector, and keep B12 unaligned, to allow Serco to jump into the system, and then have the same entry advantage/disadvantage as the Itani.

Well I would be happy with the move. The advantage that Itani would have would be reduced from

--> Respawn --> Launch ---> Fly to WH ---> Jump to B12, Get Ganked at WH.

To
---> Respawn --> Launch ---> Fly to WH ---> Jump to B12 (Possibly get ganked at WH) ---> Jump to Empty Sector ---> Jump to Fight from unknown direction.

All the while, Itani get

---> Respawn at O-3 ---> Launch ---> Jump to B12.

or

---> Respawn at O-3 ---> Launch ---> Jump to Empty Sector ---> Jump to B-12 from unknown direction.

Basically Itan will have the advantage of a choke point and faster re-entry into the battle until such a time as either

A.) They have to traverse a WH after re-spawn like Serco, or
B.) Serco has a Base in Deneb that they can re-spawn in.

I would be happier if at least the WH Ganking didn't show up in the actual mission results.

BS Ships generally aren't near the wormhole anymore, PsyRa.

I think it would pwn if the Serco had converted a huge asteroid into a base in B12.

But don't touch that button! This is EXACTLY where my mission tree has been headed! The only thing I need to know, now, is if military rankings can be incorporated into the mission structure that leads into this new development.

Really, I have everything set up as a mission tree creating a background to this event. There are some major issues with this, though, including the fact that missions don't yet have the power to create such objects in space... even if there were a super HAC, the story line wouldn't be present for people without the mission, and such an event cannot be dependent upon a mission.

Hmm... I can make derivative offensive and defensive missions for each nation if the base already there, but I don't see how a personal mission could lead to such a universal event. (Unless obtaining the mission requires lots of players, and the battle continues for a long time... but missions can be failed, and we don't want this Serco campaign to fail at all >.>)

Sounds like a news flash is the easiest way, but it's not really that fun. Oh well.