Maybe you could have blocks of time. For instance four 6hr blocks of 00:00-05:59, 06:00-11:59, 12:00-17:59 and 18:00-23:59 or maybe six 4hr blocks instead. The CEO of the corporation owning the outpost can then choose a primary block and a secondary block during which they prefer to have an intrusion event on their outpost. The actual intrusion time is randomly selected from the primary block. If the randomly selected time clashes with another outpost's intrusion and no time slots are available in the primary block it falls into the secondary block. Or something.

This is a global game though, so one Corps bad time is another's good time.

Random times require Corps that want to hold Beta Island to recruit across time zones or ally with other corps.

This will be a challenge while active player count is low, but it works both ways, in that the attackers won't have a large force either.

Edit:

Random times are good.

This will be exactly the same if my idea of time blocks was used. Corps would either choose to have intrusion events when they have most people on (but risk more enemies) or during a dead time (but risk less defenders).

Using time blocks just means that the onus is more likely to be on the attacking corp to scrape together players out of peak time, rather than forcing the defending one to get up at some ungodly hour.

The majority of corps will be active during European and US evenings so I would expect these to be the most popular times.

Random times is stupid. People have jobs, school and families. Defender should set the time when "challenged".

I think the whole intrusion system needs reworking from what I have heard coming from those participating in them.

Vorg, I agree it needs reworking.

Random times aren't stupid, they're random.

The concept of being able to 'plan' when you are going to be attacked isn't realistic; just knowing that you are going to be attacked at a certain time (not of your choosing) is a big streach too. But you can imagine the outcry if Incursions happend at random times, with NO notice!

Allowing defenders to choose the best time for them isn't 'balanced' and you would see a LOT more gaming of that ability; for instance Corp X doesn't have anyone online at 2 am, and they are our biggest competitor, so I'm going to choose 2am for the Incursion. So now Corp X is on the forums saying that being able to choose the time is stupid because people have lives and can't be on at 2 am to attack.

See the problem?

What was the eventual solution in darkfall?

Issue a challenge that gave 12hrs notice or something. Wasn't too bad and kept things interesting and dynamic.

Best system I have seen was in the best siege game I have seen, shadowbane.

Enemy drops a siege declaration via some mechanism on your outpost and you have 24 hours to set a time within the next 2 days for it to go live.

it favors the defenders, as it should, and usually ensures as fair a fight as possible.  In this system where multiple people can sign up for a siege it could work the same way with some very small alterations.

Shadowbane had 5 servers to chose from, not a single all inclusive world, so had the opportunity to divide users up more naturally by time zones. Similar to how WoW has Europe servers, sure you can play on it if you are in the US, but your going to have to log in the middle of the night to be part of the raiding community.

Choosing your defending time, regardless of how the challenge is issued, would create a situation where the majority of conflicts happened between corps within similar time zones.

Isn't the whole idea of Intrusion to generate PVP interaction over scarcity of resources? How can a US corp repeatedly challenge a Russian corp (and vice-versa) if they always choose 4am attacker time to defend.

The bade idea of registering for an intrusion is flawed anyways. There should be a requirement to hold three additional saps for a couple of hours before the station saps become active. There would be a 1 - 24 hour delay as to when the station saps would then become active.

You would then need to control an area in your timezone for an extended time before then attacking your enemy in their timezone. Basing it on money is dumb.

Campana doesnt count anyway, dont worry.

When applying for an Intrusion Event, Attackers select a window of a few days, along with a specific time. Defenders can choose to accept this time and move forward, or use a token to be given the opportunity to choose their own time (within the Attackers' window). Defenders are give a time-frame within which they must choose to use their token, or the Intrusion goes forward as set out by the Attackers.

Attackers may use a token to counter the token used by the Defenders. Using the token in this way gives the Defenders an opportunity to use another token, and so on.

These tokens are accumulated 1 for every 1 Failed Defence or for every 1 Successful Attack in which the Outpost is looted, but not occupied (whatever this mechanic is called).

Remove tokens which allow you to cancel an Intrusion Event.

Lokked