Hello. I love . He is creative, helpful and open to new ideas and making them happen quickly. But he is only one person. I know what happened with Jammi, and I don't want to bother Slappy more than I already am (which is a lot) and make him burn out and leave.
The events team was a failure because the people just couldn't be trusted with server commands. But I don't think the idea should die off. I would propose a position of an Events admin or two. Their job won't be to come up with their own events, but to facilitate normal players' ideas for their own ones they need help with, and encourage people to come up with those ideas.
They would need to be trusted completely with
- Rewards Plugins, Server commands relating to any events business.
- Making the call on which small scale events can go ahead and happen without too much bureocracy.
I know people like would be up for this. Important would be complete trust from the staff team in these people of course.
Thoughts?
EDIT: Example
BIS Players decide to start roleplay and find out what happened to their Inverness base they didn't hear from in ages and send a search and rescue operation.
Instead of a signup event they contact the Events Admin.
A couple day kill plugin 30 minute respawn timer event with kill rewards is set within days with the Events Admin, who makes the call that it goes ahead without much bureocracy.
Small scale consequences in-Rp - base is found to be in ruins, fights errupt.
Top scorer gets a title and a small thing like contrails.
Event managers tend to pose a problem of creativity or activity issues. That's from my experience of EMs across games. Schedules and rules should be in place for events
Would be nice if there was a fl hook command to play music forcefully in a radius as well as display messages. Think we have those things.
Yes please do it!
Lets take your example and apply the theorhetical OF Challenge system.
Assuming the lost base in Inverness is now under control of another faction (did Auxo take control? Not even sure who's idea it was to yank that base from BIS, did anyone put up a fight? Hence another reason why I am not compelled to do stuff in factions under the current rules).
Whoever controls it, its probably supposed to be hidden inrp. But BIS knew it was there. People should be able to get their faction to official, then cash in on scidata to get their siege attempt on the base. Replace the base with the same model but a POB that can't be blown up, just 'reduced' to a bare hulk, and that way supply ships could be used to make repairs at least. But, if they take it down to 0 in that 7 days, at the end its IFF change to the winner. Technically it could then start all over if the other side wishes to use its scidata holdings to make an attempt to retake the base.
So in that case BIS faction X could get 7 days to try to retake the station, using cruisers, if they could get permission to use cruisers offensively, but since they owned it before I think that would make sense). In that time, Auxo could obviously respond. BIS probably wouldn't ask for help to keep the base secret, but at worst could reveal it to try to get help from CR or the LSF/LN, can BAF go to Inverness? I'm out of date on that but admit I havent kept up since it seems kind of pointless. (Since the bases just change around at the choice of devs which is not a real fair system and is exactly what undercuts the potential for generating activity out of it).
Ironically, we had Game Masters, and that actually makes sense to have still, since we need game masters to basically be the DM's of this game and do the administration and programming to make it happen. Just need a few admins to process the requests, and a few devs to make a change/patch based on the request. Each siege would require being started and ended, 2 patches in 7 days. I think if the worst thing to happen iwas us having a few sieges break out across the server, that wouldnt be so bad.
Other examples come to mind, like Barra Head, who the CR could challenge over to recapture, since they can engage in the Taus without it causing a full scale war.
IMG could challenge over Aland shipyard.
Outcasts could try to take Java!
Blood Dragons could try to capture Planet Kyushu!
The Liberty Insurgency or the Rogues could try to capture Pittsburg, or Houston. Or Siege Norfolk just to cause a ruckas with little hope of holding the station.
Either way, we need it here badly to be able to do this, I don't care who makes it happen but without it this place is missing a huge part of what should be going on here to make it make sense in the long run. Think of what happened in O-49. Separate your inrp and oorp desires. People were ready to fight bigtime for Aland, or Gran Canaria. So much activity, rp and battles were thrown away. Story moves should be to set us up to do stuff, not limit people to doing nothing about a change.
(06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Barra Head, who the CR could challenge over to recapture, since they can engage in the Taus without it causing a full scale war.
"Let's casually disrupt ongoing negotiations about Barra's transfer to CR"
(06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]IMG could challenge over Aland shipyard.
And get station blasted off by Bretonian fleet because why not!
(06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Outcasts could try to take Java!
Stations located within asteroids and nebulae are hidden for all but owning faction and their allies. See the Orange Hammer: Outcast fleet passed Java and went to Tau-44 simply because they don't know where Java is.
(06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Blood Dragons could try to capture Planet Kyushu!
Dragons already fighting for Tomioka. Perhaps if you'd read lore more than writing walls of text about nothing you'd know that.
(06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]The Liberty Insurgency or the Rogues could try to capture Pittsburg, or Houston. Or Siege Norfolk just to cause a ruckas with little hope of holding the station.
What for? To get entire Liberty armada next to their 'doors' in an hour after? Rogues are dumb in-lore but not that much.
(06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Barra Head, who the CR could challenge over to recapture, since they can engage in the Taus without it causing a full scale war.
"Let's casually disrupt ongoing negotiations about Barra's transfer to CR"
Sure but thats not always in progress in other places. Besides, what is actually being negotiated? Nothing. Some would prefer a reason to play the game, instead of just rp on the forum. In the end what real harm comes from allowing the freedom for things to develop further? Talking with devs is all that can be done right now, negotiations can't really break down, nothing is guaranteed to happen without dev approval anyways. A system ensures factions get their action, devs would go by the system (terrible I know) and to stop a siege from happening they'd have to put it on the exemption list, and for that it could require a passing vote. Under the sytem, at least when negotiations occur like that it will be real because the option to use force already exists, and the side with the better ships, better playerbase, bigger stocks of scidata, gets to use that as leverage.
(06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]IMG could challenge over Aland shipyard.
And get station blasted off by Bretonian fleet because why not!
Remember the difference between inrp and oorp perspective. In reality we should want to do almost anything at this point, and the suggested system is more than reasonable, to increase people online. That generates interactions of every kind, it increases trade, piracy, smuggling, base supply to a real base at risk and it effects story. Sorry but yes, outside of the bias of the community, allowing for the option is a smart idea. Maybe the sieges would fail, but trying, even despite the odds being against, is still fun and creates activity of all kinds. Besides if a group of IMG formed to harass Bretonia over Aland, make repeated attempts over a year, be like terrorists, why would that be bad? We prefer nothing new? Nothing new can really form here anymore and there is no point in trying for most. Its why this place is dying. and its time to change things and salvage the next decade instead of shrinking it up to keep it in low activity mode.
(06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Outcasts could try to take Java!
Stations located within asteroids and nebulae are hidden for all but owning faction and their allies. See the Orange Hammer: Outcast fleet passed Java and went to Tau-44 simply because they don't know where Java is.
Yeah that makes no sense. Java should not be hidden, everyone knows where it is, Outcasts acknowledged it for years and years. See to me, each inrp hidden base should literally say it in the infocard. That way we know for sure, and it would clearly show which bases could be played against in the system. Java is the last base in the game that should be considered hidden, regardless of being in an asteroid field.
(06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Blood Dragons could try to capture Planet Kyushu!
Dragons already fighting for Tomioka. Perhaps if you'd read lore more than writing walls of text about nothing you'd know that.
Oh but did they ever have the option or a choice? Again what harm is there in allowing for more customization of our experience? Let them change their mind, shift around, or do both if they can pull it off by having the players. I predict most attempts to capture planets by unlawfuls would be short lived, but that would be the point, action that leads to rp, and fun in trying! And every once in a while a plan might work for unlawfuls to ally and succeed in holding a place for a while. People should care less about what faction controls what, and more about real reasons to play and chances for making growth, bold moves. At the moment, BD aren't trying to go for Tomoika because they can't actually do anything in the game regarding that, like a physical attack. At least under the system they could actually try, and maybe move on to elsewhere if they succeed. This is for the health of the game, it doesn't actually matter who wins, since it can always change back with enough effort.
(06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]The Liberty Insurgency or the Rogues could try to capture Pittsburg, or Houston. Or Siege Norfolk just to cause a ruckas with little hope of holding the station.
What for? To get entire Liberty armada next to their 'doors' in an hour after? Rogues are dumb in-lore but not that much.
Same as above, allowing for the possiblity across the board means we'll see some new things happen, give players more options and purpose in action, etc. Again, by keeping things locked due to rp consistency, we have a dead stagnant rp environment with a dead server.
(06-02-2021, 07:20 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Barra Head, who the CR could challenge over to recapture, since they can engage in the Taus without it causing a full scale war.
"Let's casually disrupt ongoing negotiations about Barra's transfer to CR"
Sure but thats not always in progress in other places. Besides, what is actually being negotiated? Nothing. Some would prefer a reason to play the game, instead of just rp on the forum. In the end what real harm comes from allowing the freedom for things to develop further? Talking with devs is all that can be done right now, negotiations can't really break down, nothing is guaranteed to happen without dev approval anyways. A system ensures factions get their action, devs would go by the system (terrible I know) and to stop a siege from happening they'd have to put it on the exemption list, and for that it could require a passing vote. Under the sytem, at least when negotiations occur like that it will be real because the option to use force already exists, and the side with the better ships, better playerbase, bigger stocks of scidata, gets to use that as leverage.
Crayterian playerbase is welcomed to log and raid Outcasts if they are looking for in-game activity, as their ID allows raiding their homeworld - Alpha. Should they feel need in numbers - I do believe there enough of other factions that may join Crayterian raid: the first that appear in my mind is Unione Corse, BHG and IMG. With bombers no more being useless there is no need to have 20 Deimoses, though.
(06-02-2021, 07:20 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]IMG could challenge over Aland shipyard.
And get station blasted off by Bretonian fleet because why not!
Remember the difference between inrp and oorp perspective. In reality we should want to do almost anything at this point, and the suggested system is more than reasonable, to increase people online. That generates interactions of every kind, it increases trade, piracy, smuggling, base supply to a real base at risk and it effects story. Sorry but yes, outside of the bias of the community, allowing for the option is a smart idea. Maybe the sieges would fail, but trying, even despite the odds being against, is still fun and creates activity of all kinds. Besides if a group of IMG formed to harass Bretonia over Aland, make repeated attempts over a year, be like terrorists, why would that be bad? We prefer nothing new? Nothing new can really form here anymore and there is no point in trying for most. Its why this place is dying. and its time to change things and salvage the next decade instead of shrinking it up to keep it in low activity mode.
See nothing new to answer.
(06-02-2021, 07:20 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Outcasts could try to take Java!
Stations located within asteroids and nebulae are hidden for all but owning faction and their allies. See the Orange Hammer: Outcast fleet passed Java and went to Tau-44 simply because they don't know where Java is.
Yeah that makes no sense. Java should not be hidden, everyone knows where it is, Outcasts acknowledged it for years and years. See to me, each inrp hidden base should literally say it in the infocard. That way we know for sure, and it would clearly show which bases could be played against in the system. Java is the last base in the game that should be considered hidden, regardless of being in an asteroid field.
Freelancer gameplay built such a way that not allows RP to be equal to gameplay.
(06-02-2021, 07:20 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]Blood Dragons could try to capture Planet Kyushu!
Dragons already fighting for Tomioka. Perhaps if you'd read lore more than writing walls of text about nothing you'd know that.
Oh but did they ever have the option or a choice? Again what harm is there in allowing for more customization of our experience? Let them change their mind, shift around, or do both if they can pull it off by having the players. I predict most attempts to capture planets by unlawfuls would be short lived, but that would be the point, action that leads to rp, and fun in trying! And every once in a while a plan might work for unlawfuls to ally and succeed in holding a place for a while. People should care less about what faction controls what, and more about real reasons to play and chances for making growth, bold moves. At the moment, BD aren't trying to go for Tomoika because they can't actually do anything in the game regarding that, like a physical attack. At least under the system they could actually try, and maybe move on to elsewhere if they succeed. This is for the health of the game, it doesn't actually matter who wins, since it can always change back with enough effort.
Should BD be interested in that - they may log and fight KNF/KSP/KOI.
(06-02-2021, 07:20 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 06:28 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ] (06-02-2021, 05:59 PM)Binski Wrote: [ -> ]The Liberty Insurgency or the Rogues could try to capture Pittsburg, or Houston. Or Siege Norfolk just to cause a ruckas with little hope of holding the station.
What for? To get entire Liberty armada next to their 'doors' in an hour after? Rogues are dumb in-lore but not that much.
Same as above, allowing for the possiblity across the board means we'll see some new things happen, give players more options and purpose in action, etc. Again, by keeping things locked due to rp consistency, we have a dead stagnant rp environment with a dead server.
Same as above but LN/LPI/LSF.
Binski think smaller - much much smaller. Think current sign up events being replaced (well, supplemented) by 1-3 day creative things with plugin, commodities etc. And much, much more frequent small events. We had one in T-23 - 1 hour respawn even, it averaged 30+ people for the entirety. That kinda thing, player driven, events admin implemented.
This is already happening - you'd just have an extra dedicated guy(s) that would actively encourage people to come up with these little events ideas and make them happen for them. Basically the events team - except the ideas are supplied by community members, and approved and implemented by someone the staff actually trust with judgement and server commands.
Your idea already exists - it's called Story Events
They added a bit too much pressure on players though when the stakes were as big as losing a base potentially. You basically propose the same thing, just player issued - but you can do that with [Dev Plan] or Official event request (which at the moment takes a month to even hear that it is being discussed - Events Admin would fix that for smaller scale ideas). All the way to making a destroyable PoB!
EDIT: I get that it's a long process too however. What I have in mind would be e.g. you propose the Events Admin an event where he spawns 2 strong PoBs (like ship models) and there's a race for which side kills the opposite one's Base faster with some minor rewards. This all happens after RP is done within a week or two tops from start to finish.
I’ll give my 2 cents of this with a little more radical proposal, adding more to the OP:
Give a standard “event” command for all 1ic (and 2ic perhaps) from Official Factions, an inherent perk that would basically create a pvp event announcing respawn/no pvp dead and standard rewards, in a particular system for 1 hour or 2. The factions involved can attack each other in the selected system only if the ID allows it to.
For this to happen, I would suggest a declaration post, similar to the siege format, with 24 hours of anticipation before the event:
Example - Boucher decides to declare:
Faction: [FLG], Maquis
Opposing force: Gallic lawfuls, Outcasts
System: Tau-37
Link to RP showing intentions: <insert MD, Report or comm, etc>
I do not know the command limitations in this aspect, so it could be activated beforehand, giving a timer message mentioning when it is going to happen; or give the event declaration first and when the time comes, the 1ic can activate the command (Can be sanctioned if the declaration was not posted).
Additionally, I would suggest a cooldown to declare: a couple of days to 1 week, per faction; the opposing force does not go into that cooldown. Since this situation can go unilaterally, the enemies can assist or not, but they should not be subject to wait for cooldown, especially if they are interested in attacking other people. This waiting period would serve to rotate the engagements throught Sirius, encouraging the use of different factions to push their own activity.
So, in conclusion:
- Event command: A perk giving OFs more stuff to do.
- It alleviates admins/staff work, giving players tools to make events quickly and joyful. (Declarations could give control to admins, if necessary)
- Guaranteed pew stress-free. More activity. Easy to get people in the action, for veterans and newbies.
- Rotations would encourage the use of other factions.
I guess all of this could be polished, of course. What do you think?
(06-02-2021, 07:36 PM)Groshyr Wrote: [ -> ]snip
Most of your solutions though are to 'just log' and go aimlessly fly to maybe fight another faction that may or may not show up. That is never going to be better than having a reason to go log in and actually open up a siege on a station that you could actually raid (just flying to Alpha is not a raid, you go hope others will fight, but in the end its for nothing. It could be easily set up so that activating a siege would let your faction actually go raid a base, and the other faction actually goes out to defend against the raids.
Why would you prefer the way it is and not have real stuff to raid? All there would need be is allowing ROE's to let a faction challenge over a base and CR might really have some raids to go on, etc. And all the while each siege attempt, even if just to make symbolic raiding against an enemy faction, all cost thousands of scidata, meaning they only happen as factions can generate the commodity (or buy it from others). All of that then causes need and opportunity for other trades like traders, mercs, need for police and navy help whereever bases may fall under threat.
The powerhouses seem to prefer no change but the calm also keeps the place from stretching out again. I'm sure they all feel I'm just up to something but really I've just been working this problem so long its crazy to me at this point how we still don't really use the place to its full potential. They already do all of the things needed to work the system, they just need to combine their actions and make a routine.
(06-02-2021, 09:24 PM)Relation-Ship Wrote: [ -> ]Binski think smaller - much much smaller. Think current sign up events being replaced (well, supplemented) by 1-3 day creative things with plugin, commodities etc. And much, much more frequent small events. We had one in T-23 - 1 hour respawn even, it averaged 30+ people for the entirety. That kinda thing, player driven, events admin implemented.
This is already happening - you'd just have an extra dedicated guy(s) that would actively encourage people to come up with these little events ideas and make them happen for them. Basically the events team - except the ideas are supplied by community members, and approved and implemented by someone the staff actually trust with judgement and server commands.
Your idea already exists - it's called Story Events They added a bit too much pressure on players though when the stakes were as big as losing a base potentially. You basically propose the same thing, just player issued - but you can do that with [Dev Plan] or Official event request (which at the moment takes a month to even hear that it is being discussed - Events Admin would fix that for smaller scale ideas). All the way to making a destroyable PoB!
EDIT: I get that it's a long process too however. What I have in mind would be e.g. you propose the Events Admin an event where he spawns 2 strong PoBs (like ship models) and there's a race for which side kills the opposite one's Base faster with some minor rewards.
Yeah exactly, it already exists but without structure. My way may have beaurocracy but there are no ifs, the places that could be sieged would already be picked so you couldn't apply for a place where there is no chance because its exempt. So if you can hold an official faction, and can muster the scidata, you can get one siege at a time, at most one a week. The prices are expensive in order to keep the rate from being too high. I think that's pretty reasonable if you really look at the numbers.
But the entire point is, once its allowed, no one will totally know whats going to happen next. The first factions to gather the scidata would get their events and we'd see what happens. And because anything could happen, and most places could eventually fall under attack by enemies or unlawfuls, there would be new room for growth again, a need to patrol important space, watch your territories, etc. JOBS, it is called Freelancer folks, its about getting space work. Each siege, and the work around making them happen would create lots of real opportunities for anyone! And this wouldn't stop other ways of making changes to story, but at least that would make it so things never stop or slow down that much, there would literally always be something to do on the server.
So what if we had a siege event every couple of weeks? Or multiple sieges arising in different places across the server? Remember when that would happen due to POB's and lots of people showed up for both sides?
Fundementally, we have to choose. If we prevent in depth battles under the excuse it avoids oorp fighting/loss, is it worse than the loss caused by doing nothing in depth at all? We sacrifice either way, I think we're better off putting out the fires as they arise and have some real stuff going on. In the end, to have a more lively server, hopefully most players can mature themselves and take their fates as they come. Some factions would lose stations, or wind up in regular fights to keep some places, but having some real stuff to do will mean better experiences on the server, and a more full server making logging for anything at anytime not so pointless.
WiseTaurus:
This has already been done with current admins - no need for a perk imo. You need console access for this - this is no laughing matter and can be abused and chance that OF 1-2 iCs will be given it are slim to none. You'd have a dedicated Events Admin on top of existing ones that are often busy (Like I said, there's a volunteer already) calling the changed conditions in the system, or even adding a kill rewards pluging for a day between server restarts.
In practice it looks like this - you send him your proposal, exactly as you set it - boom, done if it's reasonable. He will tell you what is possible server side. Respawn event itself is a bit stale if it would be over done - the events man would try to help encourage varied events and ideas.
Binsky: It happened already in S-17, and Orkney. First one was played for a solar base, a reasonably important one. It brought a lot of cancer gameplay really, on top of constant changes if IFF, Ships, Infocards etc. this is why staff is worried to do these again in terms of story events, much less open it up to declarations. Orkney we had a fun little liner base that was meant to last all weekend. It got slaughtered within hours by 13+ people on a workday with the other side never getting within 30k of the base lol. There just isn't enough balance in disco and willingness to lose assets to let people openly challenge for existing solars.
I very much like your idea with admin spawned PoBs and PoB ships however based on current roleplay. The Orkney event wasn't the cleanest one ever as no events are, but very few were upset that the base was lost so fast, it was amusing if anything, and this is the kind of stuff the Admins can help with without too much red tape.