PFEU

PFEU Team-Hunting Guidelines for Participants

We're all here to have fun and perhaps learn something along the way. In order to make the hunt fun and welcoming for everyone, we ask that you respect the following courtesies:

1. Above all, please try to avoid doing anything to other participants that you would not want other participants doing to you.
2. As these hunts are intended to be fully accessible to new participants, please be patient with those who are still learning the basics.
3. When hunting, it is safer to stay close together, in easy reach of the paramedic, and avoid attracting the attention of untargeted beasties.
4. Kills are much more economical if you focus your fire only on the beastie targeted by your team leader.
5. Fair loot division is only possible if everyone uses the same weapons.
6. During an ambush, reduce mob attacks by reducing mob numbers.
7. Please don't feed untargeted beasties as your team leader may have chosen not to target them for an important reason.
8. If you don't have the time, don't expect others to hurry.
9. If you run out of ammo or weapons before the hunt is complete, feel free to sweat the mobs until the hunt is concluded.
10. It is wise to make yourself aware of the team's aspirations before entertaining personal expectations which may conflict.

New players and the vertical learning curve of Entropia Universe

The hunts are meant to be friendly to new players, so please try to be patient with people who have different learning curves or if someone is messing up a little.

Stay with the team, and stay close together.

Entropia Universe is a long way from adopting fields of fire mechanics so you can afford to stay close together. As long as you are shooting or sweating a beastie, it is just as likely to focus its attention on you regardless of how far away you are or whether you are standing still or running in circles. Moreover, standing still and in close proximity to other players makes you more accessible to the paramedic, which greatly increases your chances of survival - and survival means doing more damage and getting more loot. Staying close together also minimises the risk of attracting the attention of untargeted and unwanted beasties which can put the team in a difficult situation if they attack before the kill current target is killed. So, keep your eyes about you and tread lightly. An ambush in the wrong place can wipe out the team.

Focus your fire on the beastie targeted by the Team Leader.

Watch for the targeted beastie. Wait until the team leader targets a beastie, and concentrate firepower only on that beastie because maximum focused firepower minimises the beastie's regeneration which, in turn, saves on ammunition and may mean the difference between being able to make an extra kill or two over the course of the hunt. And, as you may be aware, that extra kill just might be very generous with loot.

Fair loot division is only possible if everyone uses the same weapons.

So, please, use only the guns provided for the duration of the hunt. More experienced participants may act as pest controllers by using a heavier weapon against an untargeted beastie which is harassing or threatening the team during a kill. However, under no circumstances is it acceptable to use weapons other than those supplied on targeted beasties during the course of the hunt. You run the risk of being kicked from the team if you behave unfairly towards other team members and this includes turning heavier weapons on the targeted beastie to gain an advantage in loot distribution.

During an ambush, reduce mob attacks by reducing mob numbers.

In the absence of any pest controllers, reducing the number of attacking beasties is the key to surviving ambushes. The key to reducing attacker numbers quickly is to kill off the attacking beasties one at a time which is achieved most efficiently by focussing firepower on one beastie at a time until all of the attacking beasties have been killed. So, during an ambush, it is even more crucial to focus firepower only on the targeted beastie.

Please don't feed the animals.

If your team leader says no to a suggested target, it's because its regeneration is too high for the firepower on hand and will simply waste ammo. Most of these beasties are overfed anyway and there's no point giving your ammunition back to the universe for free. Generally, try to avoid firing upon beasties which are not targeted. If you fire on an untargeted beastie it may cause problems for the team and if it becomes a pest, it may be killed rather suddenly and with disproportionately low loot-share coming back to you. Once again, this leads to a waste of ammunition and persistent tagging of untargeted beasties can get you kicked if it's becoming a problem. Getting team members killed isn't the only problem which can make you very unpopular. The team may also be trying to push through a medium to relatively high density spawn without running out of ammunition and, if you shoot the first thing you see every time the team makes a kill, it will prevent the team from reaching more interesting targets before everyone runs out of ammunition altogether.

If you don't have the time, don't expect others to hurry.

Hunting is a recreational activity and the PFEU Hunts typically take 30 to 60 minutes depending on conditions. If you can't afford the time, then maybe next time you can. If you're not sure that you will be able to remain present for the duration of the hunt, it's quite acceptable for you to announce you've got to go and log off during the hunt. These things often can't be helped. However, trying to rush others through a recreational activity (for example, by tagging beasties the minute you see them) is simply not acceptable. If you are being paid for your time to do something else, then you simply shouldn't be here unless you can afford to stop whenever that something-else requires your attention.

Hunt Conclusion

If you run out of ammo or weapons before the hunt is complete, feel free to sweat the mobs until the hunt is concluded. As a general guideline, the team leader usually concludes the day's PFEU hunt when two or more team members run out of supplied ammo or supplied weapons. If this occurs before the final kill has been completed, the Team Leader will call "Open Weaps" or "Open Weapons" in Team Chat which signifies that any weapon may be used by team members to finish the kill. Once this is done, the conclusion of the hunt is announced. When the team leader has announced the conclusion of the day's PFEU hunt, it is up to the team to decide how they wish to proceed. Sometimes the team members will want to go and do other things and, sometimes, if enough of team members have ammunition of their own, they will want to continue hunting using their own resources. Generally, the team leader will usually provide support for as long as this continues but this ongoing provision of support is at the sole discretion of the Team Leader.

If you had a good time on the hunt, tell your friends. We'd love to see you again next time and, you never know, you might wind up on one of these hunts with a friend.

Item Sharing: Entropia's Bone of Contention

One of the major reasons why large loot parcels do not divide proportionally between shooting team members is because the major proportion of many such loot parcels is entirely due to a single item such as a piece of armour, a weapon, an amp, or a tool of some sort. As these cannot be divided they get shared out to the team member who has done the most damage over the course of the kill - usually marginally more damage than other team members. While the game mechanics and attached agreements dictate this state of affairs, the players have their own set of rules because, in spite of those agreements, most of the players disagree with the universe on this issue. As a consequence, it is generally expected that when, during the course of a team hunt where everyone has agreed to an even loot share, you receive a high value item which is not equally distributed to the rest of the team, that item is to be sold and the proceeds divided amongst the shooting team members. Failing to abide in this informal code of practice can and does have social consequences. To this end, the PFEU supports the general consensus concerning the requirement to sell such items and divide the proceeds fairly but also acknowledges that, in reality, there is nothing which can be done to force all players to abide in this fair play. To this end, we consider it important that you accept the harsh reality of the Entropia Universe's design so that you are not disappointed by things which do not work out as expected and, perhaps, may even be pleasantly surprised when someone does honour the trust expected by most of the players.

Thus, it is expected that large value items recovered from loot during PFEU hunts are to be sold and the proceeds divided as evenly as possible amongst the participants awarded a place on the team (as shooters) during the course of the registration and draw process. The team leader is responsible for facilitating this process (if required; to take possession of the item, sell it at auction, and divide the proceeds in accordance with procedures laid out in the PFEU Policy statement). However, if the participant in possession of said item fails to meet this expectation, there is little that can be done. There are, of course, social consequences - and the PFEU will also be exploring the possibility of implementing consensus proceedings as carried out on various wikis to allow participants to voice concerns and express the manner of social consequences which can be implemented by the PFEU. While there are no formal procedures in place, right now, this can change very quickly if enough people experience severe disappointment.