02-11-2020, 11:28 PM
The Synopsis:
The Gallic War has ended. The Houses are regrouping. Gallia has suffered major losses, however, with a foothold into Bretonia and Kusari, the foundation for rebuilding their armada can begin again. Kusari, already partly absorbed by Gallia, is trying to pull itself from the ashes. They are forced to accept assistance from anyone they can. Bretonia is licking its wounds and nursing it's pride. The government is openly fearful another war might finally be their undoing. The Rheinland government is discounting rumors their military is in shambles. More insidious rumors of infected Wilde in the upper reaches of their Government elicit alarm from the other Houses. Meanwhile, Liberty is trying to absorb the millions of refugees swarming into their systems, overwhelming the military and civilian resources needed to care for them.
What happens now?
The Nomads return. Seeing the invaders fighting each other in petty squabbles has provided the Mindshare time to evolve itself into a deadly force. Its intentions are clear. Catch the humans while they are weak and crush them once and for all.
Gameplay:
Nomads, along with their infected Wilde, are a unifying enemy. Nomad raids into various Houses unite factions normally opposed to each other into a brief alliance as they attempt to ward off the superior alien ships and guns. In numbers, these nomads are nearly unstoppable. Only with coordination and ingenuity, can the humans repel the assault. A secret Nomadic base, located in New Berlin and used by the infected, has become a jumping-off point for nomadic invasions into Liberty, Kusari, Bretonia, and the Sigmas. House Governments are forced to work together to try and assemble what few forces they have left while the Rheinland government mystifies the other Houses with a lack of cooperation.
The Core and The Order find themselves allying against a common foe more frequently. The Outcasts are faced with a dilemma of whether to continue to revere these suddenly harsh masters or support humanity. The Corsairs forge stronger alliances with Gallia, Golden Chrysanthemums, LWB and Unioners, and even the Xenos as they endeavor to avoid the Nomad's tactics to cut them off from the rest of humanity.
Oils, ores and other commodities are needed to rebuild and keep the human industrial machine churning, but space is dangerous. Raids are frequent. The will of the Mindshare is irrepressible. There are also segments of humanity such as rogues, pirates, and hackers eager to exploit industrial vulnerabilities. When chaos ensues, the lawless thrive.
The Reasoning:
It's been my experience that activity flourishes when the Server is confronted with a villian. For example, when I first joined Disco, the Nomad's OP ships generated loads of activity everywhere they went. Why? Because a large segment of the community wanted to take them down. Another example, was the Pirate ID before it was nerfed. Remember the times when NY was swarmed by Pirate ID'd ships? The Admins received daily complaints about this, but when we fixed it, activity dropped. We took the villain away and the result was that the same people that complained to us about these Pirates were the ones who complained about us removing them. We took their fun away.
What the Server needs is a villain. What do I mean by a villain? Doesn't Disco have lots of villains? What I mean is to give Disco a villain that can unite nearly everyone together against a common foe. And what greater villain could there be than the Nomads?
In the name fo fairness, the Nomads were nerfed, but then so was the desire to play them. The reasons were sound. People complained about Nomad ships uncloaking and insta-killing players with little to no RP prior to attack. Obviously, that cannot be allowed to happen again.
So, what am I suggesting? Buff the Nomad ships/guns in such a way that we regain interest and activity in the faction, yet not so much that it's impossible to counter them. Give Disco a villain with some teeth. Make space dangerous exciting again. Force enemies to work together temporarily as they fight to repel the aliens. This creates unique alliances, which creates something new and different, which in turn generates interest, which ultimately increases activity.
To be clear, this is just an idea first introduced on Discord and slightly fleshed out in this format. I am NOT the StoryDev. This is just a little brainstorming I had to see how to generate excitement for Disco again. You might be able to build on this by showing how your faction might react in this scenario. How might your faction RP this out with other factions? What enemy might they temporarily ally with if faced with a Nomad armada?
Also, please don't use this thread to hate on the devs. If their job was easy, everyone would be doing it.
My knowledge of where the Houses sit after the Gallic war is a bit out of date, so don't crucify me too bad. My main point about Disco needing a villain still stands though.
