Well, the 'trigger' for spawning is something that also requires a bit of testing. As the number of mia's being purchased changes, which it does, so too does the span between the spawns as the trigger is reached. I know it's something that is constantly being reviewed by the admins and I'm sure they're keen to reach a good balance too.

Going back to the issue of 'return of fire', I personally feel the risk associated with it is currently far too low. Given that pro shots and flights can be used already to avoid taking the shot, when a shot is made I think it should carry far more risk. Seeing a sponsored NPC capo miss a shot on an unprotected earner just a short time ago... it seems seriously out of balance in my mind.

There is no reason or justification for an earner to take a shot like that, so, imho, they should be punished with death if they're not even willing/capable of flying to avoid the shot. Just my 2 cents, but I'd be very keen to see the risks increased to further simulate what is, for all intents and purposes, a mock war.

I tend to agree with Deimne on this one.  There should be a much higher risk when shooting at an NPC.  Basically as of right now the NPC's are pretty much sitting ducks ready to be picked off, with no consequences to the shooter hit or miss.  I think the idea of NPC's is brilliant there just needs to be more risk and not all reward in shooting at them.  If a Boss thats not protected decides to shoot at Tyler(who has presumably trained his gun as a CL) should either fly or have to get pro'd in order to preserve his/her life.  Thats just my opinion!  No shots taken at the NPC's should go virtually risk free IMO. 

I'd be very keen to see the risks increased to further simulate what is, for all intents and purposes, a mock war.

Wholeheartedly agree.

Squishy, regarding testing/seeing the numbers, I don't suppose you have a clone of the db/app that you can use to continually spawn NPCs and just copy your user data over to there and have the players login/shoot away in a test area? With these popping up fairly infrequently, that'd help you find the balance far quicker.