Noob question, really

but i am wondering why -- when you look at the galaxy map -- some planets are controlled by Darkness

i can understand for Derra as a testing environment

but for other planets such as race homeworlds, what is the purpose? does it mean these Darkness planets can never be controlled by any other faction?

and of course this is only out of curiosity!!

thanks around

Joy

Homeworlds being controlled by Darkness is supposed to be for the benefit of new players as they shouldnt immediately get arrested when they walk out of the front door after spawning.

It also allows the admins to be able to rejig the planet to be able to provide 'essential' basic services as the need arises during the games development cycles. As such all(mostly) homeworlds have as a minimum a shop and NPC transport.

and to clarify, you are correct on the second part. Home worlds are not for faction controlling. How ever I am seeing a error on that with Bosh Home world.

Some Homeworlds are still faction controlled from before the switch to darkness control. Factions had the option to give up their planets, there were a select few who did not.

GE still controls a few but their policy is to unmolest new players if they are found in the spawn city. Regardless to their affiliation. That doesn't extend to them traveling outside of that city, nor giving shield access for pickup. After all, they can use the NPC transports or spawn a ship to get off the planets.

How do you un-molest someone?

By not molesting them ;)

Guess it should be unmolested: not interfered with, disturbed, or harmed.

The old homeworld tend to be owned. Most of those are important planets in canon. Some of those could be Darkness controlled? Possibly? But you can't really imagine Coruscant to not be controlled by the GE. Likewise other planets may not seem right being Darkness owned. The NR uses Kashyyyk as a rallying point. And of course FF would not be the same if Falleen wasn't controlled by them.

“By not molesting them ;) ”

To un-molest someone would be the action of reversing the effects of being molested. I think you mean just "to leave people alone". Which does not involve the world molest typically.

verb
past tense: molested; past participle: molested

pester or harass (someone), typically in an aggressive or persistent manner.
"the crowd was shouting abuse and molesting the two police officers"

adjective: unmolested
not pestered or molested; left in peace.
"they allowed him to pass unmolested"

works better in your sentence above,

"without molestation" is also a suitable option

It's an old fashioned use of the word as we now pretty much assume that to molest means some kind of unwanted sexual advance,

It's just being misused. Unmolested is a fine adjective but doesn't function the same way as a verb. Not that any of this matters greatly.

English grammar aside... ;)

Can I expand the question to quench my curiosity?
If someone discovers a hidden system that is a home world, do they loose the right to Darkness to control the planet? It would seem pretty harsh if someone had been scouting to find a hidden system :/

Yes. The homeworlds in hidden systems are already Darkness controlled so upon finding it that planet will be effectively locked out. However there are usually/occasionally other planets in the system to claim.