Cities And Housing Archive
Thread: aggressive city takeover
quick question?
are you worried this new mayor is stealing the city to intentionally sink it?
or
are you more upset that someone is trying to become mayor?
Jedi Paddy unlocked 11/13/05, 11:00 pm est 
Hmm.He didall that in 24 hours? He was a busy bee, wasn't he?
Zoning rights last for 24 hours. He could have dropped and transferred a lot of houses to others in that time. It's not an exploit to transfer your house to someone else with the intention of having them declare and vote for you. It is rude, but not an "exploit." What he did was take advantage. Was it known you do not revoke zoning rights immediately after a new citizen places a house? (done to prevent just such an occurance.) Or do you have someone on your militia that may have granted zoning to him again? Or one of the others that came in?
Most Mayors keep lots free and places houses for new citizens, then transfer it to them, to prevent this problem. Even then, it isn't always enough. It only takes one rogue militia member and boom. New Mayor, town lost. Sometimes even destroyed. With an eye to make room for someone else's city. Sounds like this is what happened to you.
Still, if zoning rights HAD been revoked, then there was perhaps an exploit of some kind used and you could contact a CSR and find out if there is anything to be done.
Cuit wrote:
quick question?
are you worried this new mayor is stealing the city to intentionally sink it?
or
are you more upset that someone is trying to become mayor?
Mystyrys wrote:
Hmm.He didall that in 24 hours? He was a busy bee, wasn't he?
Zoning rights last for 24 hours. He could have dropped and transferred a lot of houses to others in that time. It's not an exploit to transfer your house to someone else with the intention of having them declare and vote for you. It is rude, but not an "exploit." What he did was take advantage. Was it known you do not revoke zoning rights immediately after a new citizen places a house? (done to prevent just such an occurance.) Or do you have someone on your militia that may have granted zoning to him again? Or one of the others that came in?
Most Mayors keep lots free and places houses for new citizens, then transfer it to them, to prevent this problem. Even then, it isn't always enough. It only takes one rogue militia member and boom. New Mayor, town lost. Sometimes even destroyed. With an eye to make room for someone else's city. Sounds like this is what happened to you.
Still, if zoning rights HAD been revoked, then there was perhaps an exploit of some kind used and you could contact a CSR and find out if there is anything to be done.
It seems the mayor gave rights and left it at that, they wern't revoked when the house was placed. Suckered.
What (obvious point) never occured to me was that you can place five houses, transfer them, and the lots free up to place more houses. Literally a new street with twenty houses appeared. All from the same guild thats trying to take over.
There now been a threat, accept a 5mil pay off or you'll lose the vote and the town.
That is low as heck. Even if there's no rule specifically barring this, they need to be willing to do something about hostile takeovers like this.
The mayor can send a mail to all citizens (mail it to "citizens" without the quotes, it'll be forwaded) saying that there's a hostile takeover in effect, that it will not be tolerated, and that everyone needs to ensure they vote every session to avoid the city being taken over.
Tough cookies if that guild wants to build their own town. They can find another planet or wait their turn. Bunch of kiddies.
Wow. Definitely a hostile takeover attempt. Very rude.
1. Was the blackmail done in tells, spatial or by email? Blackmail could, in some instances, be considered harrassment, etc. A CSR might be able to intervene if you have an email or did a /report if it was in tell or spatial. (There were several instances of blackmailed cities when the new election systems went in)
2. Don't grant zoning to anyone else new for now. Unless you know them well or someone trusted can vouch for them not being a plant for the other guild. Make sure only trusted members are militia and that all militia know what is going on and who is doing it.
3. If your current citizenship outnumbers the intruders, get them to go vote for your mayor! Before the 3 week election cycle is up! (the only way to know when the previous cycle ended and the new election cycle began, is if your mayor or another citizn happened to save the mail from the last election update).
4. If you are outnumbered, go recruiting. Some people will be kind enough to declare citizenship just long enough to help stop a hostile takeover.
5. DO NOT do anything to prevent citizens from being able to use the voting terminal in City Hall. (Do not drop anything on top of it or block the entrance or anything like that). That is considered griefing and will get your Mayor banned and you will lose the city anyway. DO NOT threaten to destroy the city hall and/or other civic structures (bank, shuttleport, garage) if it looks like he is going to win. That is a bannable offense. And a CSR *might* replace the hall and give it to him anyway as well. You could redeed the structures to protect them and to keep your true citizen's investment of time, credits and efforts safe from the takeover. Should you win the election, all those things could be put back later.
6. You cannot cityban citizens. Once in, they are like ticks. They can suck your blood dry and there's nothing you can do to make them move... though some Mayors raise taxes to max in an effort to nickel and dime them out of town. I don't think that will work in your situation. I would imagine this hostile guild has the credits to burn.
7. If losing your city is a given... Damage Control Time. The Mayor can only withdraw 50k per day. (This prevents bad Mayors from draining the city treasury) If you have several million in your treasury, you will lose most of it. Whether they take over your city or if they destroy it. That money is gone. (Cities with hostile takeover potential are wise to only have enough in the treasury to pay for the city for 1 month at a time.)
8. If the enemy is going to win... Remove all items from city hall before the election ends. Check your Cloning Center too. Do you have stuff in there? Player owned structures like the cantina and med center are not part of the city civic structures and will remain owned by the player. Any items in those will be safe.
Basically, if you can't get more votes, it's a goner. If that is the inevitable outcome... best to go in style with your head respectfully and righteously high. Don't sink to their level.
Good luck. And sorry to see you get blindsided like that. 
Cuit wrote:
Just to clarify, its not my city.
It's been stated apparently that this take over is designed to trash the city so he can build another nearer his own.
so its to trash it . . . ok I see a few options:
If this is true, then open a CSR ticket immediately and /report the offending party when they are making this statement. A hostile takeover of a town with the sole intention of destroying the City Hall can be considered greifing, and CSRs have been known to take action against this sort of thing in the past.
You're going to need proof though. And using /report on the person as they clearly state that is their intention is usually the only proof the CSRs will accept.