08-16-2022, 05:17 PM
What is wrong with Bretonia players lately?
an essay by
Sombra H.
an essay by
Sombra H.
Initially, I just wanted to ask Steiner via Discord about what is currently happening with Bretonia. However, the more I explored and read on the current situation of Bretonia, the more thoughts pushed into the foreground and I believe it is time for another essay for those who feel bored enough to read.
"Steiner, you're a man of a certain level of intellect and insight. Maybe you can explain the current roleplay coming from Bretonia players, because at this point I'm not sure if people are losing it entirely.
- Bretonia wants to cooperate with Crayter on destroying Valravn
- Bretonia wants to attack Rheinland to assist a coup they don't know about
- Bretonia didn't agree with Liberty on repaying the debts
You see, I like to think I'm not delusional. The Bretonian playerbase always liked to pretend Bretonia is very strong, even when it is in its worst state. Which is where Bretonia is after the Gallic War, in its worst state. Leeds is lost, a good chunk of New London got bombarded in the final battle, the fleets are in shambles, many resources are lost and logistical support is at the minimum."
Those were my opening words and how I wanted to try and give Steiner my impression of how Bretonia's state currently is, and how it is perceived by an outsider. To clarify my position: I have been flying around a bit in the past weeks, taking a look at the few good changes and additions and the many horrible changes that were done for the sake of changing something for the xth time without solving anything - as in, things got changed because the person in charge at that time thought it was good. Few things have changed for the better, among them the environmental storytelling. Some system developers did a good job showing how much of a pile of trash Bretonia right now is, and I mean that in terms of how ruined it is after the Gallic War. It is not a metaphor. Bretonia is stuffed with debris and wrecks. What happened here is so horrible and so big, that you will find reminders of Bretonia's horrible state anywhere you go in Bretonia.
The more I thought about it, the more things I felt like pointing out to make it very, very obvious that Bretonia is at the bottom of the food chain right now. So I tried to convey what I was actually expecting from Bretonia players right now:
"So, what I would have expected is that the Bretonian players focus on roleplay to rebuild the infrastructure, reclaim Leeds's resources, maybe carefully push deeper into the resource-rich Taus with mining operations while finding a solution to the refugee crisis, like moving them to Cambridge and visualize this by building orbital habitats, or moving them to Carlisle, now that it is accessible. It's not that Bretonia lacks the "space" to deal with the refugees, but with the logistics of taking care of them. Bretonia has many planets, but can't handle the shift of population from A to B, C, D and E. So especially now I'd have assumed Bretonia would really care about importing food and other materials from other houses to handle all that. Instead, Bretonia fails to negotiate with Liberty, not even agreeing to a treaty that could have been re-negotiated at a point when Bretonia would have had a better position to dictate terms.
Instead of doing that, and therefore not only showing Bretonia's indeptitude at repaying debts, which would be the point where Interspace Commerce could be like "No more money for Bretonia, you're not trustworthy" - which let's be honest, won't happen because Story Devs have still a big boner for Bretonia, beyond any reasoning, plus nobody thinks even that far that it would be in Interspace's interest to force Bretonia into a position where they NEED to cooperate with Liberty on Liberty's terms as otherwise every bit of trading in Bretonia would cease completely (*cough* SWIFT *cough*) - Bretonia however goes for alternative plans that benefit Bretonia in what way exactly?"
I'm one of the people who enjoy reading comms and story threads, even when I'm not involved. There are a lot of funny things that are casually dropped, like the "Please don't be alarmed by my Kusarian appearance", which essentially is a really funny ironic line about a character making a racist assumption of other people making racist assumptions about them. Comedy gold. Coincidentally, the thread where that came from is about Bretonia and Crayter conspirating for the attack on Inverness.
"Invading Inverness, a system with a Nomad Hive, with a minefield, with angry Zoners and with the Auxesian homebase? There is literally no stratetic value in Inverness that would justify the trouble of getting even just a foot in there.
The Jump Hole to Inverness is hidden in Cortez in the Barrier nebula itself, where plenty of ice asteroids are in the way. Capital ships need to move carefully there and are painfully open to ambushes by unlawfuls and Auxo. Not only that, but the Cortez Jump Hole in Inverness is surrounded by a mine field and another asteroid field. Whatever goes through here, it will be damaged or worse.
Not only is there Auxesia's only station - I just like to point out that it's Auxesia's only station, so good luck getting Nyx to even remotely think about agreeing to getting Auxesia's only station destroyed, considering Valravn has seen more roleplay than any Bretonian station since the beginning of Discovery - but a god damn Nomad Hive (the one that used to be in Chester). Now I know it's super easy to dismiss of this thing because Nomad players rarely use it, but it's still a huge, HUGE fortress with turrets left and right and it still serves as a base of operation for Nomads in the colonies. It is less active, yes, but it is an absolute inconvenience to a House. Bretonia had a lot of trouble because of the Nomad ruins in Newcastle, and the Wild are still causing trouble there from Faust Depot. Why the hell would Bretonia even think about going to a place where Nomads are active, knowing it will put significant strain on their resources - not only military ones but also logistical.
There is also Carrier Tarrafal, which is probably the strongest asset the Zoners have. While the ship itself is just one carrier, it serves as a base of operations for angry Zoners to launch attacks. Don't think they forgot about Bretonia's attempt at getting its hands on Canaria. Tarrafal is the one thing the Zoners use if they are super angry about getting pushed around, and while being mobile and thus perfectly able to avoid direct confrontations, it would be stupid to assume they wouldn't attack Bretonian vessels trying to enter Inverness, especially when they are already in a bad shape due to a mine field.
Crayter has a lot more trouble with the Outcasts in Coronado as well as the troublemakers launching from the heavily fortified Barrier Gate Stations and Sierra Starport. The Bastia is a serious threat to Crayter as it is launching Hit&Run attacks from the convenience of the Sierra Vista Barrier, effectively putting pressure on any movements between Salina's moons including Pecos, Crayter's Planet Yuma (with a very tiny population on a very big, big habitable planet), the Cortez Jump Hole and the gate construction site. Maybe Crayter should take care of THAT threat first, instead of going to a system as inconvenient as Inverness
Bretonia also has a lot of other issues to take care of. Valravn is a tiny inconvenience, not worth the possible loss of capital ships to a mine field and exposure to a Nomad Hive, Valravn's defense operations and Tarrafal, let alone the inconvenient way of reaching Inverness through nebulae and asteroids, relying on jump holes - which are, still - a potential threat to capital ships. I know that's convenient to ignore, just like Justin liked to ignore it when Gallia's push into Cortez via Leeds-Magellan was forced - absolute bullshit, that made everyone angry for the sudden dismissal of jump holes having gotten treated as an actual threat - but maybe it is time to avoid upsetting everyone just to get a really shitty move done. One would think Discovery is beyond that point since it finally got rid of Justin.
In fact, Bretonia has Rugen in Omega-3 causing trouble for BMM, Freeport 1 being an inconvenience bigger than Valravn right at the doorstep, then constant raids from the Omegas on Sprague and Cambridge as well as Lisburn Rock and Torshavn in Cambridge, the Mollys of Fort Coleraine and Kilrea and Corsairs in Omega-48, Holmfirth in Manchester, Mull and Tayport, Gibraltar, Skye and Faust putting IMMENSE stress on Newcastle, meaning the Harlow is desperately needed in Newcastle to protect Shields, Scarborough and the Carlisle node as well as the lanes; an increasingly dangerous Molly situation in Dublin, which is still Bretonia's main source of trading thanks to Graves, making the Essex an absolutely essential garrison of the system to hold it.
Bretonia also needs to protect Leeds space. The large smoke clouds are perfect hideouts for attacks on shipments from LD-14. Without the Ark Royal, the materials provided by LD-14 would be easy targets by anyone operating in Leeds. Halifax is certainly not a convenience to Bretonia, being open to everyone. The uranium from Leeds, however, is super important, as is the connection to Tau-31, to reach Harris.
Every single Battlegroup Bretonia has is currently positioned in key areas to DEFEND a very WEAK Bretonia. The Norfolk protects Cambridge and secures the huge, huge lanes of the system. Omega-3 is open and vulnerable. Poole is open and vulnerable, but has nothing of interest stationed there except Merthyr Tydfil to generate income and Caernarfon as fortress next to a weapon testing site. The Somerset Dreadnought mostly acts as a show of force, securing New London, a system that is so open and vulnerable right now, it needs all protection it can get.
I'm sort of worried that apparently nobody seems to care that huge warship wrecks of Bretonia, Gallia, Mollys and Gaians are floating around in the open all over Bretonia, and for some reason, Bretonia players seem to assume that they are just decoration, while they are wrecks, with military-grade technology inside, just waiting to get looted. I'm actually baffled that despite Bretonia knowing better, Trafalgar Base is back in the hands of the Junkers again, and that the Junkers are very likely attracted to all the technology and weapons that can be extracted from the wrecks all over Bretonia. Not only that, but similar operations by the Mollys and Gaians happen in Dublin and Edinburgh and whoever enters Tau-31 and Leeds, too. Bretonia has to maintain a steady military presence in those systems to absolutely make sure that the wrecks remain untouched until Bretonia can take care of them - after all those ships have planetary bombardement weaponry. If I was Bretonia right now, I would either strike an insanely good deal with the Junkers or make sure that neither them nor the Mollys and Gaians can get their hands on weapons. The Gaians have proven HOW INSANELY DANGEROUS they can become by killing everyone and maybe even EVERYTHING on Gaia, as we don't know whether the modified Carlisle bacterium attacks the local fauna as well (which it likely does, bye bye Gaian Wildlife).
To put emphasis on how far away Inverness is from Bretonia right now: It is further away than Tau-29, Tau-23, Tau-44, Roussillon, considering Bretonia has bases in Tau-31 and Edinburgh, and it is as far away as Omega-41. Bretonia has no staging points in Cortez or Coronado, but would need to rely on Crayter for that matter."
My big concern here, is that 1iCs seem to think Discovery is a strategy game, where you need to defeat the enemy by destroying their buildings. I know that the destruction of Valravn is a serious goal to at least one person, and that that person argued that it would be an "opportunity" for all involved parties. Let it be said: The destruction of a roleplay platform and the only station of Auxo is not an opportunity, and the only one winning here is whoever hates Auxo to the point that one tries to push for the destruction of not only an NPC base, but THE NPC base of Auxo, the only other being Carrier Orion. That is the kind of mentality that people who play Discovery to make other people log off have. There isn't even the thrill of fighting someone over a blue in there. It's just "I think Bretonia has the power to do that, so we do that now". I wouldn't mind getting proven wrong here. I'm sure I won't.
Discovery is not about winning. Discovery is not about destroying NPC bases of other factions, and it absolutely never should be. Discovery is about finding your niche and enjoying it as best as possible. The more niches there are, the better. People love niches. The occasional fight is part of that, but what I'm seeing from Bretonia lately is poor show, and it feels like admitting failure seems to be out of question.
- Going for Planet Cork in Poole
A planet that already was partially colonized by the Mollys before Corsairs bombarded it. The infocard says that Bretonia doesn't know about the past of the planet "directly", however is pushing for expanding the infrastructure in Poole. Kilrea Orbital Station is a civilian habitat station by the Mollys, so an absolutely easy target. The biggest threat here comes from Fort Coleraine and the Omega-48 jump hole in the nebula, but Bretonia has direct access to Poole via Cambridge and the Ulster Cloud's asteroid field offers lots of noble gases used for Terraforming. A more fierce conflict between Bretonia and the Mollys would give Molly players SOMETHING to do, too, as right now, everyone is still acting like Gaians, Mollys and Bretonia are friends because of working hand in hand against Gallia, one way or another. That's a shame of a display, because this is exactly what I think lead Devtonia players to believe that neither Mollys and nor Gaians are a threat to Bretonia whatsoever, while both factions have Destroyers and are known for effective Hit&Run attacks on Bretonia.
Going for Cork would also increase the buffer between Omega-48 and Bretonia in Bretonia's favor, as it takes pressure from Cambridge by diverting it to Poole, where the stakes of losing ground are far less punishing. Plus, Poole could act as a staging point for attempts to reclaim Gran Canaria in the long run - which we know is what Bretonia should opt for: long run stategies. Expanding into the Omegas is Bretonia's only hope of not offending Liberty, Kusari and Gallia, while the Omegas are huge and Rheinland shouldn't care about Bretonia going for the south instead of going for the east Omegas. Omega-48 is the only attractive Omega in Bretonia's range, as Omega-7 is held by Rheinland and while having lots of intersting resources, Omega-7 also is home to pirates and environmental hazards like explosive gas pockets. In fact, the environmental hazards and pirates are the one thing that prevented Rheinland from pushing deeper into the system despite the riches it offers. Nebulae are no fun. Omega-5 on the other hand, while in "range", is home to two heavily defended fortressses of the Corsairs and the Red Hessians, in a huge, uninviting system full of mines and dense asteroid fields.
Poole is now extremely secure since Omega-52 is now further away from Bretonia due to changed jump hole connections. It would be more than convenient for Bretonia to go for Poole right now.
- Reclaiming Planet Gaia
A planet suffering from a flesh-eating bacterium similar to that of Carlisle, modified by the Gaians. Bretonia showed they are able to handle the Carlisle bacterium and found a solution, so why not instead aim for the one on Gaia, now? The research basis is already there, and Gaia is a perfect world, basically begging to get colonized. The University of Cambridge should be super interested in getting their hands on Gaia after losing their research outpost there, and if Bretonia thinks they can deal with Auxesia, Nomads and angry Zoners, minefields and asteroids, they might as well go for Gaia instead despite only Gaians caring for that planet. It definitely would support the terraforming process of Planet Ayr in Edinburgh if the system was reclaimed, and there are countless of wrecks waiting for be salvaged. It would also put a buffer between Bretonia and the contested Taus as the Orkney Jump Hole is out in the open and could be easily defended from Gaia's close proximity to it.
- Claiming Rugen Station in Omega-3
To gain access to more Polymer and Hydrocarbon sources in Omega-3 and reduce fighting between BMM and Daumann. Douglas Station is now relatively close to Spagrue's defense grid (which is still in shambles), and Bretonia could use a CONVENIENT income of Polymers from Omega-3. Securing Rugen Station not only would put Bretonia in a better position in Omega-3, but also allow a better access to the wrecks at Aland Shipyard as well as a better access to the Omega-7 gate. If Corsairs and Red Hessians come from Omega-5, Rugen could also be important to have an alternative source of Polymers and Hydrocarbons in case of Douglas Station falling to Corsairs and Hessians. Plus it would help encircling Freeport 1, which is the one station in Omega-3 which is more tolerated than accepted to be in Omega-3 by Bretonia. If Rugen is taken and the gate to Omega-7 fully in Bretonia's control, Freeport 1 would be encircled entirely, pacifying the station as criminal elements can't access it anymore. That way Freeport 1 would be no problem anymore and Bretonia solved it without taking offensive actions against Zoners, which as Bretonia already knows, is a bad idea in a long run.
- Focusing on Harris
It would be more than convenient now that Bretonia failed to negotiate with Liberty. Bretonia has very good grip on Tau-31 right now and it would be stupid not to exploit this moment. Tau-31 has a lot to offer, both economically and strategicly. Water and solid Oxygen can be mined directly from the Barrier asteroids, and it is up to Bretonia to either persue a better relationship with Crayter and IMG in this system - which is important after the desaster at Omega-3 - or even claim it fully. Bretonia has an interesting position here, as there is tenstion between Crayter and IMG since the fall of Aland, where Crayter assisted Bretonia against Crayter's closest allies, the IMG. Exploiting this tension could put Bretonia is a very good position in Tau-31 and be the basis for expanding deeper into the Taus while Crayter and IMG could lose their relations with each other and instead fight against each other.
And why does Bretonia think it can march into Rheinland and go directly for the throat? With what ships? I've read the entire thing about the Von Albrecht plan, which is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. It's even more nonsense to me than the invasion of Inverness or the failed negotiations with Liberty. This is just insane at best and delusional at worst.
Bretonia is extremely weak right now. Extremely, extremely weak. Everything Bretonia has touched in the past years was sort of a failure. Leeds is gone, New London dealing with the fallout of a wide scale bombardement. There is a refugee crisis, lanes are getting repaired, stations need to be reconstructed, support lines inside Bretonia require to be brought back to former functionality. I often feel like people pretend that logistical craft are immune to story developments and that piracy never happens. The only wrecks you'll find are military ships. Kepler has more logistical ship debris than the entirety of Bretonia, and in Kepler, people knew about the Dark Matter Storm. And yet, Bretonian players do not play a defeated nation. They are the big losers of the Gallic War, they got kicked out of the Omegas when trying to hold Canaria, they even lost military assets during the capture of Aland Shipyard, and wohee, Aland Shipyard is a wreck now, so even that was pretty much for nothing other than high-speed assembled Bretonia Battlecruisers.
It is not like this doesn't offer myriads of opportunities to roleplay for Bretonian players. It's just that people are still stuck in the Bretonia-rules-the-waves mindset, which is horrible. To me, it feels like Bretonian players choose to ignore defeats and losses and consequences and instead do the first thing that comes to their mind to feel great again. This is incredibly annoying, and this is an euphemism, because this effectively displays Bretonia as a Mary Sue character that gets defeated over and over, just to get stronger. Nobody likes to roleplay with Mary Sue characters, or characters that are so incredibly dense that they could become more of a Gas Giant than Darlington. It is like watching a microcosm that acknowledges every win they get, celebrate them heavily, but simply ignore every loss. Acknowledging losses is no fun, huh? Too bad, it's part of the roleplay, and I think, instead of trying to utilize Bretonia to try and fail again at pushing a political shift in Rheinland - because everyone loves Civil War roleplay, as Discovery has shown multiple times, until that Civil War actually starts - it would be way more realistic to go every non-military way to deal with Bretonia's curretn weak state. This can still lead to some combat, especially with Rheinland, if for example Rugen was under attack by Bretonia to deal with the Omega-3 corporate piracy (not that that ever happens ingame anymore).
Of course it is up to anyone themselves on how to play Discovery and there are no definitive power levels to the power of factions and houses. That being said, Bretonia pretending to be powerful right now and not dependent on literally every help they can get, and instead of dealing with their own reconstruction, going for unimportant things like Auxo two systems away, trying to destroy their only station while Bretonia has a LOT of pirate stations that do the same if not more damage to Bretonia than Auxo - and same can be said about Crayter going for Valravn while there is a Battlecruiser in Coronado - or trying to force a political shift of another House in a hilariously weak position, completely ignoring the Mollys, Gaians, Outcasts in the north, Corsairs and Hessians in the south, the many wrecks with weapons of mass destruction flying around unprotected all over Bretonia while the economy and life support all over Bretonia is not only weak but only makeshift... I don't know. To me it feels like Bretonia is currently extremely unappealing to RP with, as they live in their own little bubble, protected by the limitations of the game and the rules and, where I would appreciate if I was proven wrong, the protective hand of Story Devs. Bretonian players can ignore the horrible state of Bretonia because there are no consequences to people pretending Bretonia is powerful and great and glorious.
I remember the days of the Bretonian Merchant Navy, where PigPen and RubberDucky were charming enough to actually make me join a player faction. I was among a group of people who loved embracing Bretonian values, but PigPen and RubberDucky did encourage to do comically what many Bretonian players do unironically: Yelling Bretonia rules the waves.
I was hoping that Bretonia's invasion of Gran Canaria back when Omega-49 was still beautiful and - more importantly - existant, was the final time Bretonia players would display this extremely unappealing ignorance for risk and loss while pretending to be invincible and winning by sheer power of will. Sadly, I only see more of this. I see moody diplomats flinging proverbial feces at each other without any care for diplomatic etiquette, to the point where I'm surprised that Liberty's responses to Bretonia have been much more eloquent and thoughtful than those of the House of Yorkshire Tea Gold and discipline. I see conspiracies to destroy the extremely well earned asset of a smaller NPC faction, proposed and pushed for by people who haven't managed to leave a positive imprint on Discovery or shown the willingness to build something instead of destroying something, and I see attempts of once more trying to push for a very out-of-place political coup, with an absolute neglection and ignorance of Bretonia's current situation and the possible rammifications of going down such a route.
I'm seriously disappointed by this. I wish there was anything good to say about this development, but I really struggle to find something. Maybe the forum RP about this stuff? I wish we could get to enjoy more stuff like that, but not with the intentions of the people partaking in it. There are so many other things Bretonia could do, but instead, it's far-fetched nonsense where I can't help but feel like the motivation is mostly ooRPly. And seeing people acting with hostile ooRP intentions in mind is probably the poorest thing about Discovery. The attempts of making other people lose, of trying to destroy what they have passionately built up from scratch, of ignoring consequences and pretending losses do not happen. The most frustrating thing about this, however, is that Bretonia used to be the center of quality roleplay in house space. It's a shame, really, to see how the departure of more seasoned players of Bretonia, they seem to have taken that level of quality with them.
- Current observations
- Failed Negotiations
- Attacking Inverness
- Alternatives
- Invading Rheinland
- Conclusion
Current observations
"Steiner, you're a man of a certain level of intellect and insight. Maybe you can explain the current roleplay coming from Bretonia players, because at this point I'm not sure if people are losing it entirely.
- Bretonia wants to cooperate with Crayter on destroying Valravn
- Bretonia wants to attack Rheinland to assist a coup they don't know about
- Bretonia didn't agree with Liberty on repaying the debts
You see, I like to think I'm not delusional. The Bretonian playerbase always liked to pretend Bretonia is very strong, even when it is in its worst state. Which is where Bretonia is after the Gallic War, in its worst state. Leeds is lost, a good chunk of New London got bombarded in the final battle, the fleets are in shambles, many resources are lost and logistical support is at the minimum."
Those were my opening words and how I wanted to try and give Steiner my impression of how Bretonia's state currently is, and how it is perceived by an outsider. To clarify my position: I have been flying around a bit in the past weeks, taking a look at the few good changes and additions and the many horrible changes that were done for the sake of changing something for the xth time without solving anything - as in, things got changed because the person in charge at that time thought it was good. Few things have changed for the better, among them the environmental storytelling. Some system developers did a good job showing how much of a pile of trash Bretonia right now is, and I mean that in terms of how ruined it is after the Gallic War. It is not a metaphor. Bretonia is stuffed with debris and wrecks. What happened here is so horrible and so big, that you will find reminders of Bretonia's horrible state anywhere you go in Bretonia.
The more I thought about it, the more things I felt like pointing out to make it very, very obvious that Bretonia is at the bottom of the food chain right now. So I tried to convey what I was actually expecting from Bretonia players right now:
"So, what I would have expected is that the Bretonian players focus on roleplay to rebuild the infrastructure, reclaim Leeds's resources, maybe carefully push deeper into the resource-rich Taus with mining operations while finding a solution to the refugee crisis, like moving them to Cambridge and visualize this by building orbital habitats, or moving them to Carlisle, now that it is accessible. It's not that Bretonia lacks the "space" to deal with the refugees, but with the logistics of taking care of them. Bretonia has many planets, but can't handle the shift of population from A to B, C, D and E. So especially now I'd have assumed Bretonia would really care about importing food and other materials from other houses to handle all that. Instead, Bretonia fails to negotiate with Liberty, not even agreeing to a treaty that could have been re-negotiated at a point when Bretonia would have had a better position to dictate terms.
Instead of doing that, and therefore not only showing Bretonia's indeptitude at repaying debts, which would be the point where Interspace Commerce could be like "No more money for Bretonia, you're not trustworthy" - which let's be honest, won't happen because Story Devs have still a big boner for Bretonia, beyond any reasoning, plus nobody thinks even that far that it would be in Interspace's interest to force Bretonia into a position where they NEED to cooperate with Liberty on Liberty's terms as otherwise every bit of trading in Bretonia would cease completely (*cough* SWIFT *cough*) - Bretonia however goes for alternative plans that benefit Bretonia in what way exactly?"
I'm one of the people who enjoy reading comms and story threads, even when I'm not involved. There are a lot of funny things that are casually dropped, like the "Please don't be alarmed by my Kusarian appearance", which essentially is a really funny ironic line about a character making a racist assumption of other people making racist assumptions about them. Comedy gold. Coincidentally, the thread where that came from is about Bretonia and Crayter conspirating for the attack on Inverness.
Attacking Inverness
"Invading Inverness, a system with a Nomad Hive, with a minefield, with angry Zoners and with the Auxesian homebase? There is literally no stratetic value in Inverness that would justify the trouble of getting even just a foot in there.
There is no optimal way to get to Inverness right now.
The Jump Hole to Inverness is hidden in Cortez in the Barrier nebula itself, where plenty of ice asteroids are in the way. Capital ships need to move carefully there and are painfully open to ambushes by unlawfuls and Auxo. Not only that, but the Cortez Jump Hole in Inverness is surrounded by a mine field and another asteroid field. Whatever goes through here, it will be damaged or worse.
Inverness offers NOTHING.
- The Avlemore Nebulae are just another ice nebula with traces of rare gases. Ice and rare gases are not something Bretonia is looking for, because Bretonia has both of that. Ice is provided in insane amounts by the Barrier, same for the gases. Not only that, but Bretonia also has multiple gas giants that could easily be harvested for their gases
- Planet Forres, while being CURRENTLY shown to be POSSIBLY habitable, offers little place, namely only at the poles - "TEMPERATURE: 56°C to 94°C", meaning it is still SCORCHINGLY HOT on that world. Not only that, but it is an oceanic world with little landmasses. There is literally nothing of convenience to this planet. If Bretonia wanted to focus on water bodies, it could easily go for Cambridge's vast oceans for the sake of creating more space. Planet-side construction is convenient because of the gravity, however, since Bretonia is already strong in space constructions, it would be a lot easier to just go for space habitates and stations for production. If only there was a Liberty Corporation with the focus on construction Biodomes...
- Planet Hamish Cannish offers nothing that Bretonia doesn't have already: Gas Giants. Moon Cromarty is about as interesting as the Ross Planetoid at best and Elgin is just an icy planet with Auxesian presence on it.
Inverness is home to extreme threats to Bretonia and Crayter.
Not only is there Auxesia's only station - I just like to point out that it's Auxesia's only station, so good luck getting Nyx to even remotely think about agreeing to getting Auxesia's only station destroyed, considering Valravn has seen more roleplay than any Bretonian station since the beginning of Discovery - but a god damn Nomad Hive (the one that used to be in Chester). Now I know it's super easy to dismiss of this thing because Nomad players rarely use it, but it's still a huge, HUGE fortress with turrets left and right and it still serves as a base of operation for Nomads in the colonies. It is less active, yes, but it is an absolute inconvenience to a House. Bretonia had a lot of trouble because of the Nomad ruins in Newcastle, and the Wild are still causing trouble there from Faust Depot. Why the hell would Bretonia even think about going to a place where Nomads are active, knowing it will put significant strain on their resources - not only military ones but also logistical.
There is also Carrier Tarrafal, which is probably the strongest asset the Zoners have. While the ship itself is just one carrier, it serves as a base of operations for angry Zoners to launch attacks. Don't think they forgot about Bretonia's attempt at getting its hands on Canaria. Tarrafal is the one thing the Zoners use if they are super angry about getting pushed around, and while being mobile and thus perfectly able to avoid direct confrontations, it would be stupid to assume they wouldn't attack Bretonian vessels trying to enter Inverness, especially when they are already in a bad shape due to a mine field.
Destroying Valravn Citadel, a station that is quite far away right now from Bretonia and very difficult to access, serves very little to Bretonia and Crayter.
Crayter has a lot more trouble with the Outcasts in Coronado as well as the troublemakers launching from the heavily fortified Barrier Gate Stations and Sierra Starport. The Bastia is a serious threat to Crayter as it is launching Hit&Run attacks from the convenience of the Sierra Vista Barrier, effectively putting pressure on any movements between Salina's moons including Pecos, Crayter's Planet Yuma (with a very tiny population on a very big, big habitable planet), the Cortez Jump Hole and the gate construction site. Maybe Crayter should take care of THAT threat first, instead of going to a system as inconvenient as Inverness
Bretonia also has a lot of other issues to take care of. Valravn is a tiny inconvenience, not worth the possible loss of capital ships to a mine field and exposure to a Nomad Hive, Valravn's defense operations and Tarrafal, let alone the inconvenient way of reaching Inverness through nebulae and asteroids, relying on jump holes - which are, still - a potential threat to capital ships. I know that's convenient to ignore, just like Justin liked to ignore it when Gallia's push into Cortez via Leeds-Magellan was forced - absolute bullshit, that made everyone angry for the sudden dismissal of jump holes having gotten treated as an actual threat - but maybe it is time to avoid upsetting everyone just to get a really shitty move done. One would think Discovery is beyond that point since it finally got rid of Justin.
In fact, Bretonia has Rugen in Omega-3 causing trouble for BMM, Freeport 1 being an inconvenience bigger than Valravn right at the doorstep, then constant raids from the Omegas on Sprague and Cambridge as well as Lisburn Rock and Torshavn in Cambridge, the Mollys of Fort Coleraine and Kilrea and Corsairs in Omega-48, Holmfirth in Manchester, Mull and Tayport, Gibraltar, Skye and Faust putting IMMENSE stress on Newcastle, meaning the Harlow is desperately needed in Newcastle to protect Shields, Scarborough and the Carlisle node as well as the lanes; an increasingly dangerous Molly situation in Dublin, which is still Bretonia's main source of trading thanks to Graves, making the Essex an absolutely essential garrison of the system to hold it.
Bretonia also needs to protect Leeds space. The large smoke clouds are perfect hideouts for attacks on shipments from LD-14. Without the Ark Royal, the materials provided by LD-14 would be easy targets by anyone operating in Leeds. Halifax is certainly not a convenience to Bretonia, being open to everyone. The uranium from Leeds, however, is super important, as is the connection to Tau-31, to reach Harris.
Every single Battlegroup Bretonia has is currently positioned in key areas to DEFEND a very WEAK Bretonia. The Norfolk protects Cambridge and secures the huge, huge lanes of the system. Omega-3 is open and vulnerable. Poole is open and vulnerable, but has nothing of interest stationed there except Merthyr Tydfil to generate income and Caernarfon as fortress next to a weapon testing site. The Somerset Dreadnought mostly acts as a show of force, securing New London, a system that is so open and vulnerable right now, it needs all protection it can get.
I'm sort of worried that apparently nobody seems to care that huge warship wrecks of Bretonia, Gallia, Mollys and Gaians are floating around in the open all over Bretonia, and for some reason, Bretonia players seem to assume that they are just decoration, while they are wrecks, with military-grade technology inside, just waiting to get looted. I'm actually baffled that despite Bretonia knowing better, Trafalgar Base is back in the hands of the Junkers again, and that the Junkers are very likely attracted to all the technology and weapons that can be extracted from the wrecks all over Bretonia. Not only that, but similar operations by the Mollys and Gaians happen in Dublin and Edinburgh and whoever enters Tau-31 and Leeds, too. Bretonia has to maintain a steady military presence in those systems to absolutely make sure that the wrecks remain untouched until Bretonia can take care of them - after all those ships have planetary bombardement weaponry. If I was Bretonia right now, I would either strike an insanely good deal with the Junkers or make sure that neither them nor the Mollys and Gaians can get their hands on weapons. The Gaians have proven HOW INSANELY DANGEROUS they can become by killing everyone and maybe even EVERYTHING on Gaia, as we don't know whether the modified Carlisle bacterium attacks the local fauna as well (which it likely does, bye bye Gaian Wildlife).
To put emphasis on how far away Inverness is from Bretonia right now: It is further away than Tau-29, Tau-23, Tau-44, Roussillon, considering Bretonia has bases in Tau-31 and Edinburgh, and it is as far away as Omega-41. Bretonia has no staging points in Cortez or Coronado, but would need to rely on Crayter for that matter."
My big concern here, is that 1iCs seem to think Discovery is a strategy game, where you need to defeat the enemy by destroying their buildings. I know that the destruction of Valravn is a serious goal to at least one person, and that that person argued that it would be an "opportunity" for all involved parties. Let it be said: The destruction of a roleplay platform and the only station of Auxo is not an opportunity, and the only one winning here is whoever hates Auxo to the point that one tries to push for the destruction of not only an NPC base, but THE NPC base of Auxo, the only other being Carrier Orion. That is the kind of mentality that people who play Discovery to make other people log off have. There isn't even the thrill of fighting someone over a blue in there. It's just "I think Bretonia has the power to do that, so we do that now". I wouldn't mind getting proven wrong here. I'm sure I won't.
Discovery is not about winning. Discovery is not about destroying NPC bases of other factions, and it absolutely never should be. Discovery is about finding your niche and enjoying it as best as possible. The more niches there are, the better. People love niches. The occasional fight is part of that, but what I'm seeing from Bretonia lately is poor show, and it feels like admitting failure seems to be out of question.
Alternatives to doing something dumb
- Going for Planet Cork in Poole
A planet that already was partially colonized by the Mollys before Corsairs bombarded it. The infocard says that Bretonia doesn't know about the past of the planet "directly", however is pushing for expanding the infrastructure in Poole. Kilrea Orbital Station is a civilian habitat station by the Mollys, so an absolutely easy target. The biggest threat here comes from Fort Coleraine and the Omega-48 jump hole in the nebula, but Bretonia has direct access to Poole via Cambridge and the Ulster Cloud's asteroid field offers lots of noble gases used for Terraforming. A more fierce conflict between Bretonia and the Mollys would give Molly players SOMETHING to do, too, as right now, everyone is still acting like Gaians, Mollys and Bretonia are friends because of working hand in hand against Gallia, one way or another. That's a shame of a display, because this is exactly what I think lead Devtonia players to believe that neither Mollys and nor Gaians are a threat to Bretonia whatsoever, while both factions have Destroyers and are known for effective Hit&Run attacks on Bretonia.
Going for Cork would also increase the buffer between Omega-48 and Bretonia in Bretonia's favor, as it takes pressure from Cambridge by diverting it to Poole, where the stakes of losing ground are far less punishing. Plus, Poole could act as a staging point for attempts to reclaim Gran Canaria in the long run - which we know is what Bretonia should opt for: long run stategies. Expanding into the Omegas is Bretonia's only hope of not offending Liberty, Kusari and Gallia, while the Omegas are huge and Rheinland shouldn't care about Bretonia going for the south instead of going for the east Omegas. Omega-48 is the only attractive Omega in Bretonia's range, as Omega-7 is held by Rheinland and while having lots of intersting resources, Omega-7 also is home to pirates and environmental hazards like explosive gas pockets. In fact, the environmental hazards and pirates are the one thing that prevented Rheinland from pushing deeper into the system despite the riches it offers. Nebulae are no fun. Omega-5 on the other hand, while in "range", is home to two heavily defended fortressses of the Corsairs and the Red Hessians, in a huge, uninviting system full of mines and dense asteroid fields.
Poole is now extremely secure since Omega-52 is now further away from Bretonia due to changed jump hole connections. It would be more than convenient for Bretonia to go for Poole right now.
- Reclaiming Planet Gaia
A planet suffering from a flesh-eating bacterium similar to that of Carlisle, modified by the Gaians. Bretonia showed they are able to handle the Carlisle bacterium and found a solution, so why not instead aim for the one on Gaia, now? The research basis is already there, and Gaia is a perfect world, basically begging to get colonized. The University of Cambridge should be super interested in getting their hands on Gaia after losing their research outpost there, and if Bretonia thinks they can deal with Auxesia, Nomads and angry Zoners, minefields and asteroids, they might as well go for Gaia instead despite only Gaians caring for that planet. It definitely would support the terraforming process of Planet Ayr in Edinburgh if the system was reclaimed, and there are countless of wrecks waiting for be salvaged. It would also put a buffer between Bretonia and the contested Taus as the Orkney Jump Hole is out in the open and could be easily defended from Gaia's close proximity to it.
- Claiming Rugen Station in Omega-3
To gain access to more Polymer and Hydrocarbon sources in Omega-3 and reduce fighting between BMM and Daumann. Douglas Station is now relatively close to Spagrue's defense grid (which is still in shambles), and Bretonia could use a CONVENIENT income of Polymers from Omega-3. Securing Rugen Station not only would put Bretonia in a better position in Omega-3, but also allow a better access to the wrecks at Aland Shipyard as well as a better access to the Omega-7 gate. If Corsairs and Red Hessians come from Omega-5, Rugen could also be important to have an alternative source of Polymers and Hydrocarbons in case of Douglas Station falling to Corsairs and Hessians. Plus it would help encircling Freeport 1, which is the one station in Omega-3 which is more tolerated than accepted to be in Omega-3 by Bretonia. If Rugen is taken and the gate to Omega-7 fully in Bretonia's control, Freeport 1 would be encircled entirely, pacifying the station as criminal elements can't access it anymore. That way Freeport 1 would be no problem anymore and Bretonia solved it without taking offensive actions against Zoners, which as Bretonia already knows, is a bad idea in a long run.
- Focusing on Harris
It would be more than convenient now that Bretonia failed to negotiate with Liberty. Bretonia has very good grip on Tau-31 right now and it would be stupid not to exploit this moment. Tau-31 has a lot to offer, both economically and strategicly. Water and solid Oxygen can be mined directly from the Barrier asteroids, and it is up to Bretonia to either persue a better relationship with Crayter and IMG in this system - which is important after the desaster at Omega-3 - or even claim it fully. Bretonia has an interesting position here, as there is tenstion between Crayter and IMG since the fall of Aland, where Crayter assisted Bretonia against Crayter's closest allies, the IMG. Exploiting this tension could put Bretonia is a very good position in Tau-31 and be the basis for expanding deeper into the Taus while Crayter and IMG could lose their relations with each other and instead fight against each other.
Invading Rheinland
And why does Bretonia think it can march into Rheinland and go directly for the throat? With what ships? I've read the entire thing about the Von Albrecht plan, which is the most hilarious thing I've ever seen. It's even more nonsense to me than the invasion of Inverness or the failed negotiations with Liberty. This is just insane at best and delusional at worst.
Bretonia is extremely weak right now. Extremely, extremely weak. Everything Bretonia has touched in the past years was sort of a failure. Leeds is gone, New London dealing with the fallout of a wide scale bombardement. There is a refugee crisis, lanes are getting repaired, stations need to be reconstructed, support lines inside Bretonia require to be brought back to former functionality. I often feel like people pretend that logistical craft are immune to story developments and that piracy never happens. The only wrecks you'll find are military ships. Kepler has more logistical ship debris than the entirety of Bretonia, and in Kepler, people knew about the Dark Matter Storm. And yet, Bretonian players do not play a defeated nation. They are the big losers of the Gallic War, they got kicked out of the Omegas when trying to hold Canaria, they even lost military assets during the capture of Aland Shipyard, and wohee, Aland Shipyard is a wreck now, so even that was pretty much for nothing other than high-speed assembled Bretonia Battlecruisers.
It is not like this doesn't offer myriads of opportunities to roleplay for Bretonian players. It's just that people are still stuck in the Bretonia-rules-the-waves mindset, which is horrible. To me, it feels like Bretonian players choose to ignore defeats and losses and consequences and instead do the first thing that comes to their mind to feel great again. This is incredibly annoying, and this is an euphemism, because this effectively displays Bretonia as a Mary Sue character that gets defeated over and over, just to get stronger. Nobody likes to roleplay with Mary Sue characters, or characters that are so incredibly dense that they could become more of a Gas Giant than Darlington. It is like watching a microcosm that acknowledges every win they get, celebrate them heavily, but simply ignore every loss. Acknowledging losses is no fun, huh? Too bad, it's part of the roleplay, and I think, instead of trying to utilize Bretonia to try and fail again at pushing a political shift in Rheinland - because everyone loves Civil War roleplay, as Discovery has shown multiple times, until that Civil War actually starts - it would be way more realistic to go every non-military way to deal with Bretonia's curretn weak state. This can still lead to some combat, especially with Rheinland, if for example Rugen was under attack by Bretonia to deal with the Omega-3 corporate piracy (not that that ever happens ingame anymore).
Conclusion
Of course it is up to anyone themselves on how to play Discovery and there are no definitive power levels to the power of factions and houses. That being said, Bretonia pretending to be powerful right now and not dependent on literally every help they can get, and instead of dealing with their own reconstruction, going for unimportant things like Auxo two systems away, trying to destroy their only station while Bretonia has a LOT of pirate stations that do the same if not more damage to Bretonia than Auxo - and same can be said about Crayter going for Valravn while there is a Battlecruiser in Coronado - or trying to force a political shift of another House in a hilariously weak position, completely ignoring the Mollys, Gaians, Outcasts in the north, Corsairs and Hessians in the south, the many wrecks with weapons of mass destruction flying around unprotected all over Bretonia while the economy and life support all over Bretonia is not only weak but only makeshift... I don't know. To me it feels like Bretonia is currently extremely unappealing to RP with, as they live in their own little bubble, protected by the limitations of the game and the rules and, where I would appreciate if I was proven wrong, the protective hand of Story Devs. Bretonian players can ignore the horrible state of Bretonia because there are no consequences to people pretending Bretonia is powerful and great and glorious.
I remember the days of the Bretonian Merchant Navy, where PigPen and RubberDucky were charming enough to actually make me join a player faction. I was among a group of people who loved embracing Bretonian values, but PigPen and RubberDucky did encourage to do comically what many Bretonian players do unironically: Yelling Bretonia rules the waves.
I was hoping that Bretonia's invasion of Gran Canaria back when Omega-49 was still beautiful and - more importantly - existant, was the final time Bretonia players would display this extremely unappealing ignorance for risk and loss while pretending to be invincible and winning by sheer power of will. Sadly, I only see more of this. I see moody diplomats flinging proverbial feces at each other without any care for diplomatic etiquette, to the point where I'm surprised that Liberty's responses to Bretonia have been much more eloquent and thoughtful than those of the House of Yorkshire Tea Gold and discipline. I see conspiracies to destroy the extremely well earned asset of a smaller NPC faction, proposed and pushed for by people who haven't managed to leave a positive imprint on Discovery or shown the willingness to build something instead of destroying something, and I see attempts of once more trying to push for a very out-of-place political coup, with an absolute neglection and ignorance of Bretonia's current situation and the possible rammifications of going down such a route.
I'm seriously disappointed by this. I wish there was anything good to say about this development, but I really struggle to find something. Maybe the forum RP about this stuff? I wish we could get to enjoy more stuff like that, but not with the intentions of the people partaking in it. There are so many other things Bretonia could do, but instead, it's far-fetched nonsense where I can't help but feel like the motivation is mostly ooRPly. And seeing people acting with hostile ooRP intentions in mind is probably the poorest thing about Discovery. The attempts of making other people lose, of trying to destroy what they have passionately built up from scratch, of ignoring consequences and pretending losses do not happen. The most frustrating thing about this, however, is that Bretonia used to be the center of quality roleplay in house space. It's a shame, really, to see how the departure of more seasoned players of Bretonia, they seem to have taken that level of quality with them.
Every bubble pops.