One of the most fascinating aspects of Star Trek Fleet Command is the existence of RoE - Rules of Engagement. This determines when it is fair to attack another player's ship. RoE could only have existed in a Star Trek game, because Star Trek fans love the series and movies because of the ideals of logic, everyone's benefit and diplomacy. This was not created by the developers, but by the players! Of course it only works because of common sense. There are many versions of RoE, with differences on times, types of ships that can be used, but these are NOT official. Something that is not common sense can NEVER be Official RoE because RoE depends on common sense. Remember that RoE is accepted by the community. There are no written official rules for RoE, only rules for specific Alliances of specific servers

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What is Common Sense

Resource nodes for mining are limited.

Everybody needs to mine.

Many people would occupy a node forever if they could.

If you leave a survey ship mining and the node depletes (0 node), someone else could be using it, so it is logical to be able to attack the ship and take the node.

If your survey ship gets above the protected cargo limit (OPC) and the game admits PvP, then it is reasonable to think that the ship was forgotten and someone else is allowed to attack it.

It is VERY nice to receive a warning message so that you can take action BEFORE being attacked for a fair reason.

What is NOT Common Sense

You should only mine certain resources using an appropriate ship (what is an appropriate ship? Grade 2? 3? Specialized survey?

How much time should you wait after sending a warning message? 1 minute? 2 minutes? 3? 5? Though there is no agreement in this aspect it is acceptable to think that it can't be so short that you could not park the car and reset the node, or too long so that the player who needs the node have to wait too much. Personally, I think 1 minute is too short to take action and 3 is too much for who is waiting. 2 minutes seem to be a good compromise.

Conclusion

Since the mere existence of RoE depends on Common Sense, you should not demand someones attitude if it is not common sense or base your actions in what is not Common Sense.

On the other hand, if there are people thinking that some non-common-sense rules are fair, they have their point of view and you should try to respect. Everybody should try to collaborate for a better gaming experience.

The game developer is responsible to offer enough mining nodes so that everyone is benefited: the players who do not get bored searching an empty node or have to confront other players and the game developer who will not lose these players.

Recommendations

In other words:

Always send a message before attacking 0 node and Over Protected Cargo (OPC) and wait at least 2 minutes. If you are attacked after 2 minutes, it is fair that the other player takes the node.

Avoid attacking someone for using a non-optimal survey ship for the kind of stuff being mined. Send a polite message instead explaining that is not recommended and would prejudice the whole gaming community. On the other hand, if you are going to mine some stuff, avoid using a non-optimal ship. Examples: avoid using grade 2 surveys for mining latinum just to "hold" the node. Avoid using a non specialized ship for mining: use only the Botany Bay to mine data unless you still don't have it. Prefer to mine latinum using the D'Vor. Prefer to mine mycellium with the Discovery. Don't mine latinum, data, mycellium or isogen using a grade 2 ship if you can.

A word about the Botany Bay: it's officially a grade 3 survey ship, according to the description in-game.