I play Interceptors, Corvettes and Missile boats.
I’ve both shot team mates and been shot by them. Though after having learned of the torpedoes friendly fire dangers, I’ve made every attempt to minimize the damage. When targeting an enemy in close proximity to a friendly I take several things into account. First, if its even necessary. if its just two guys scrapping around then I’m sure there’s better things for me to do than to waste a torpedo to shake them both up. Secondly, everyones health, particularly that of the friendly units. If the enemy is near death or at least significantly lower than the friendlies then I’m not holding back, I’m going to try to take him out or at least weaken him enough to be finished off. Third, I make priorities based on whether or not there is a high value objective nearby. If they’re both fighting near something thats crucial to the outcome of the game such as a beacon, a captain, or a bomb, then its important for everyone to whittle down the defenses as much as possible. Sometimes in these cases its best not to detonate near a friendly, some times it is, again, its all circumstantial.
If a Missile Boat on my team has assigned the targeting of an enemy above my own life then I just have to trust that decision and accept it. This happens all the time when taking points and I actually don’t think I would ask anyone not to shell such heavily defended positions especially if I’m the only friendly in the vicinity. When I’m the one guiding the missiles I’ll usually try to minimize the friendly fire damage but I’m not going to stop shelling a threat. I think ThatOneGuy has a very good point, if you hate getting shelled by your own artillery to the point where you’re blaming them for doing what they’re meant to then you should either try switching up your tactics or play longer ranged class. I’d suggest not criss crossing your target near high value objectives, if I as a missile frigate can see a safer side of the combat zone to detonate then I’ll aim there. Also don’t ‘hug’ targets, cause thats annoying for all parties involved, and I’ll give no sympathy.
There should, however be points taken away for friendly fire, I agree on that. Though it should be more about notifying the frigate pilot that he’s danger close, not so much about heavily penalizing them.
As for an alarm though, it could be useful though I’m imagining it to be just as panicky, uninformative, and annoying as the current general alarm. Either way I don’t see it quelling any frustrations over being killed by friendly fire and would probably do more to exacerbate the issue than solve it.