Editing War Decs and the Credo

{{Template:Credo|expanded=Policies}}
=== TL;DR === 


The question "Is it okay under [[The Credo | the Credo]] to go after war deccers? After all, they aggressed us by deccing us and we're just defending ourselves, right?"

'''The answer is NO and NO.'''

=== The Long Answer ===
A war dec, which we stay [[Policy:War_Dec_Eligibility|intentionally eligible for]], is merely a bribe to CONCORD to look the other way so that someone else ''can'' aggress us without repercussions. It is in itself not an act of aggression. So the idea that we, peaceful explorers, would have any reason to initiate an attack on war deccers is well outside the intent of the Credo's self-defense clause. That clause was intended for "in the moment" situations where you get jumped in a site or something and need to respond to aggression with aggression in an effort to save your ship.

With war decs, we know where that trade hubs are where war deccers are likely to be found and thus we can ''easily'' avoid them. It is therefore in no way justifiable as self-defense to initiate aggression on them. On the (thankfully) very rare occasion that one of us kills a war deccer, Signal Cartel Leadership will immediately suspect baiting, which as you know is prohibited by the Credo. Those inquiries are ''quite'' thorough. In fact, certain kinds of losses that smell of baiting are also investigated. People have been removed from Signal Cartel when our inquiries show evidence of baiting. You can avoid this fate by just staying out of the path of war deccers.

A former Director, [https://evewho.com/character/92663206 Helios Anduath], wrote a post in the old subreddit which explains nicely our response to war deccers and why we don't engage them. Here are the relevant bits from that post, edited to be in keeping with current policies and to remove outdated statistics:

* Highsec wars always have a reason. Contract, easy kills, profit, revenge, retribution, griefing, tears harvesting or even as part of a larger campaign against an entity are all reasons behind a war. While we have had contracts taken out against us in the past and the behavior of some (former) members have triggered others, by and large we are seen as easy targets.

* Easy targets are great for corps who are in the mercenary game as it means they can improve their ISK efficiency. This is one of the metrics people hiring mercs use to determine how good they are; the more they kill, the more contracts they get and the more ISK they make. Other war-dec groups keep an eye on the performance of their competition and if they see lots of juicy kills, they want some of the action and throw their own dec in. These two reasons are the most reasonable explanation for why we are war-decced in rotation by the same few groups.

So, why are we seen as easy targets?

* One reason is that we typically have enough losses--often including spendy pods--in any given war dec either through lack of knowledge, inattentiveness, or complacence to keep them ISK positive.

* Another reason is the type of losses that we suffer, which also mark us as easy kills. We are caught in loaded haulers and blingy mission/ratting boats in addition to exploration ships full of valuable loot.

* Where we lose these ships is another indicator of how easy we are to find and kill. Most of our war losses happen at trade hubs (Jita, Amarr, and Dodixie, mainly), near trade hubs or on major trade routes. Our record of losses shows that deccers don't have to spend much effort to find a kill if they dec us, making us even more attractive.
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=== Incorrect Methods for Dealing with War Deccers ===

Now, the big questions is what can we do about it? This is where you, our members come in. Before we discuss how you can help, we need to address some of the common suggestions Leadership receives from some members about how to deal with deccers and why we won't be doing any of them.

====Surrender====
Surrendering usually involves paying the other party a significant amount of ISK to end the war early. There are three reasons why surrender is not an option:
# It costs ISK which could be better spent on running the corp and giving back to our members
# Wars ending early is a flag to other war corps that we would pay to get out of a war, so only invites more decs
# It doesn't stop the aggressors re-deccing us two weeks later.

==== Fighting Them ====
When we get this suggestion in our mail boxes, it is either trying to encourage us to engage them ourselves, form an Enforcement Wing to fight them or get friends to help. For anyone switched on, it should be obvious that we would never entertain this as an option because of the Credo and our position of not initiating aggression against other players. '''Leadership firmly believes that anyone who suggests aggression as a response to a war dec has not internalized and understood the intent and ideals of the Credo.'''

We were founded on the principles of respecting other players and looking for graceful solutions in challenging situations that set an example of dignity and friendship - turning around and shooting people in the face because they declared war on us is not graceful, friendly or dignified. The Credo and our unwavering dedication to its ideals is what makes Signal Cartel different from most other groups in New Eden. It has been said that [[Credo_FAQ|we play EVE in hard mode]]; the way that we have responded to wars in the past and our dedication to our ideals earned us the respect of several merc corps who now no longer dec us.

==== Hiring Allies ====
Aside from the obvious Credo issues (we don't hire people to kill for us, the same way we don't sell kill rights, or place bounties on other players in hopes of enticing others to aggress them in order to harvest some of that bounty), hiring allies can be a double-edged sword. When you hire allies, there is no guarantee that they will actually do anything. There are also groups out there who will dec you and then have an alt corp offer to assist you so that they can get more money from you.
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=== Our Response ===
So, how do we respond to wars? The short answer is we keep doing what we do. Ultimately wars shouldn't impact us significantly. Explorers should be hard to pin down by virtue of where they typically operate and highsec war-deccing corps will rarely if ever follow you out of highsec. 

If you need to move stuff during a war, don't do it with your Signal Cartel character - instead use:
* [https://carrier-logistics.space/ Carrier Logistics], our corp buyback service
* [[Crikey_Freight | Crikey Freight]] for your hauling needs
* [[SCRUBS]] for your blueprints
* An out-of-corp hauler alt (you have three character slots on each account, why not use them?)
* Other ideas and 3rd party services are explained in more detail [[Making_ISK_as_an_Explorer#Getting_loot_to_market|here]].

That all said, we understand that some people like supplementing their exploration with activities in highsec. If that describes you, then do so with one eye on Local and always be ready to flee to safety the second a war deccer (marked with a red box/white star) enters the same system you're in. Travel in areas frequented by war deccers with extreme caution. We will likely never not be a target for war decs but the more we can deny deccers kills, the less interested they will be in us.

If you haven't done so already, please read [https://drive.google.com/file/d/1LwbCCOYXsMcDXfQTSzxtB-XvyVNrUZ5H/view '''Surviving and Thriving During War'''] - A beginner’s guide to limiting the effects of a highsec war declaration.<br>(Note: Now contains some slightly out-dated info).

We have had a lot of fun with war deccers in the past by bringing our signature Hugs Fleets to them for some friendly and light-hearted engagement with Festival Launchers and fireworks; contracting War Hugs Party Boxes full of fun goodies like spiced wine, tobacco, and exotic dancers to them; or anchoring large secure cans full of fireworks, snowballs, and Festival Launchers along their usual routes or on trade hub undocks. These kinds of thing are strongly encouraged. By engaging in a fun and positive way, we prove once again that we do things differently and in a way that hopefully puts smiles on a few faces.

Johnny Splunk has written Hugs Fleet AARs for past engagements with war deccers. These exemplify the Credo and our culture in action relative to war and should serve as examples for every member who wants to engage with war deccers. The type of aggressive response more typical of New Eden is simply not the way we deal with deccers and never will be.

* [https://www.reddit.com/r/evescout/comments/2zsnq1/aar_war_is_serious_business_vs_the_pursuit_of/ Pursuit of Happiness]
* [https://www.reddit.com/r/evescout/comments/2xjgpo/aar_war_is_serious_business_2282015/ Hodor vs Groot Battle Rap]

Somewhere on the old subreddit, Johnny Splunk wrote a list of good reasons why we don't engage war deccers from a practical standpoint. A search didn't turn that up but the gist of it was this: They are pros at this playstyle, we're not. They will always have the advantage over us in their home systems. They are well-stocked with ships and can easily outclass anything we could conceivably bring to a pick a fight with them. '''Most importantly, we live by the Credo, which forbids initiating aggression and baiting.'''

=== Reference ===
Original forum post: [https://forums.eve-scout.com/topic/685/war-decs-and-the-credo War Decs and the Credo]