So as of now, it's hard to fight in a station sector, and there are no real consequences to station camping. To possibly solve both, maybe most of (some exceptions may be better) the stations in grey space should have a much smaller NFZ zone (I like to say 500m, that can be changed too). In addition to that, there should be a pretty severe penalty for multiple NFZ violations (shots at ships) in a short time at one station.

The penalty I think should be a permanent faction hit. The "short time" period could be maybe adjusted (5min? 10min?) and so can the multiple violations (2, 3, 4). In addition, there should also be a long-term tally and that should be counted up too.

This might take a lot of work so I wouldn't say to put it in the game quickly, but it might be nice.
(if there are any mistypes or stupid content in this post, kindly point it out, or don't reply at all).

this would be nice, yes. As long as we get warnings about repeat offenses, and get told that "one more attack and you will be...." and so on.

I disagree. That would encourage pirating on trading, unless the warp-out and warp-in zones were also reduced to 500 m.

Many pirates like to hang out near trading sites so that they can steal cargo, and I don't believe that this should be encouraged. If the NFZ zone were to be reduced, then the warp-out and warp-in zones would both also need to be reduced at the same time to be fair to traders.

If I were a pirate and the NFZ zone were reduced to 500 m without any decrease to the warp-out zone, I would just hang out at 501 m from a station and kill as many traders who got within range and steal their cargo. As long as the faction were one I weren't worried about, I would just ignore the faction standing hit--some faction standing can be sacrificed, after all, especially if you don't trade, have gotten all the ships you need, and just focus on pirating.

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

This is in gray space, remember. Personally, I'm in favor of NO NFZ in gray space. But that's just me.

I know that it's in gray space. But that's exactly where the best trade ships can be purchased. Setting the NFZ at 500 m without simultaneously adjusting the warp-in and warp-out zones is going to encourage pirating and make trading incredibly tedious.

If people just need more space to duel, then the changes should be made so as not to make trading even more tedious than it already is. It's already difficult to achieve bonuses for many of the gray space Trading Guild missions because of ion storms, strike forces, pirates, nerfed trading ships, etc....

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

If you want to make trading easy, trade in nation space. This is not EverQuest. VO features NON-CONSENTUAL PvP. If you're going to enjoy the benefits of trading in gray space, you need to also realize that it is going to be more dangerous. The way it is now, pirating is almost non-existant. I can trade a half-million credits faster than ever before, faster even than when I could use 18-14 in the old universe. We don't need more care-bear methods, we need challenge!

you will not attract the masses if you make the game so specialized and difficult for new players that they won't want to play, the "carebear" methods that you speak of are what a lot of people like and look for, if you don't offer them as well as non-consentual pvp you won't get the money, without the money you have long dev time.

With the combination of ion storms, strike forces, pirates, and already somewhat nerfed trading ships, it seems that trading is already quite challenging, especially if you aim for bonuses in gray space.

If you want earning credits to take more time, then why not just lower the number of credits per mission?

I think that at least some people who prefer to trade are fundamentally different types than those who like to pirate. The whole point of trading is to enjoy Vendetta Online profitably and peacefully.

If more trading challenge is called for, I'd rather see more difficult bonus Trading Guild missions. How about the following suggestions?

* ionizing the cargo when encountering ion storms and trading that for a bonus

* offering bonuses for discovering optimally profitable trade routes on trade items

* offering bonuses for hunting pirates with specialized über pirate-hunting ships, only effective against pirates--not against ordinary players--and available only to advanced traders

Trading can be so much more than just carrying cargo and avoiding pirates.... Trading should be made more interesting, not just more tedious. Making it more difficult to avoid pirates around stations would make trading more tedious and, IMHO, less fun, not more fun. Imagine: You finish the last leg of a difficult gray space eight-jump bulk retrieval mission, and are just about to get your bonus, when you get killed by a pirate 501 m from the station. That's not fun; that's just incredibly frustrating....

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

There are options to "shuttle" cargo... what I mean is that you can carry cargo (2-3 trips for bulk) to the farthest "safe" station you can get to, then take a lighter ship (centurions usually, warthogs may work) and shuttle the short distance. You can do the opposite too.
My point is that there are ways to avoid pirates, and most of the time, pirates are not a threat. Even if they are, stricter NFZ penalties would mean they should be hesitant to attack someone within 750m, because 250m isn't a lot of safe distance Before you know it, the player can pop back inside the 500 to get the pirate in trouble.

ok. Stations are cool. REALLY COOL. Lots of little wizzy spinning things and crevasses. But can we fight in/around them? no.

ALL you can do is pk around them. The NFZ in grey doesn't keep people from killing hapless traders, it keeps hapless traders from droppin lightning mines and pulling some nifty escape tactics.

I'm ALL for station camping. Another good reason not to HOME in a place with a NFZ. In fact, make homing at station without NFZ impossible. And make the black market awesome (if they can get the weps, via a coordinated strike, whatever, all power to em)

Sure, the best trading ships are in grey. So what? its supposed to be easy to get them?

All you need is 1 nice trading ship, and you can go back to your nation space and trade to your heart's delight.

There's SO much potential in grey space for interesting fights. A pilot is cornered at a station with his new ship and weps, and is forced to call for backup.

Sure, there can be a nice carebear land for those who want it. WHICH WE HAVE. What seems to be discussed, is equivalent to players in WoW wanting to take their characters onto the special PvP server, reap tons of benefits, and then leave. But not having to PvP, if they don't want to.

Quit tryin to nerf grey space, and give us something interesting to fight over.

We have a beautiful confrontational system, lets exploit it in at LEAST 1 part of the galaxy.

IMHO, in gray space, the NFZ should at MOST be a suggestion.

"Please don't shoot other players around our space, but if you do, well, we're not gonna stop you."

The only thing that the NFZ should do is prevent griefing, like killing mines dropped within 1000m of the station, and if there's a CtC leaving, one or two of the station guards follow it to the 3000m limit so the transport isn't immediately killed.