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How would YOU handle storylines? - Printable Version

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RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Tureis - 10-21-2017

I'd involve the official factions in Liberty more in what the house will actually do, especially the corporations as Liberty in lore will be heavily motivated by whatever their interests would be. To do this we'd have the heads of all lawful official factions meet at the end of the month in character (and in secret/with discretion) where they would discuss the current political events, their planned responses to them, and what their goals are for the month or long term.

I feel as though Kusari should be almost balkanized at this point. I don't see BD ever backing down for a peace treaty, their feud is on par with the Hispanians where the amount of blood shed for this cause was too much to stop. IKN, while a more recent existence I doubt would back down seeing as they're making gains and have the support of the conservatives (which there are a lot of in Kusari).

Ramke's idea for Gallia is something I've always thought should've been the case since GRN went unoffical (and even before then).

I don't truly know enough about the current situations for Rheinland to speak about how it should change.

Bretonia should be given a feel that it's been getting ravaged by war, I think some more stations should be damaged along with more wrecks around the area.

I think having the Hispania conflict coming to end (most likely through invasion) with a unified House would be interesting to see a major shift in house politics but that'd be something much further down the line and many opportunities would need to be given for both sides first.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Thunderer - 10-21-2017

I will use the opportunity to say that I am content with the current development of events. I don't disagree with Sombra. I will mention one small technicality, the fact that the Harlow is not a fleet but instead s single ship with a few snubs in its bay, but of course, it could easily become the flagship of a new fleet arriving fresh from Southampton.

One time, when I spoke with Omicega, we talked about a dynastic struggle in Gallia. For example, the king dies or is drawn into the streets, butchered and murdered by an angry rabble amidst the defeats on the front, and a disarray and shortages at home. The Council attempts a coup to take over New Paris, but it is foiled by the only remaining successor that is currently in Gallia, some princess whose name I sadly forgot. She assumes the throne as queen, but the balance is changed. Most of the invasion fleets in the Taus pledge their loyalty to her, but some defect to the Council, who is also growing stronger at home. With the Allies advancing at the same time, the situation is hopeless. The Allies, at first glance, would not agree to a peace treaty if they are winning decisively already, but there is rivalry between them. Bretonia wants to eclaim its lost Tau possessions, but Liberty wants to charge its services to Bretonia, and establish a few colonies in the Taus. In return for support against the Council, the new Gallic Queen hands the Taus over to Bretonia. In the middle of the Allied advance in the Taus, Queen Carina had died of old age, feeling her mission completed once she saw her fleets reclaim what had been lost, and she was succeeded by King James. He and the new Gallic queen establish an alliance by marriage. Liberty, meanwhile, is infuriated by the Bretonian separate peace, acquisition of territories and sudden alliance with the former enemy, and supports the Council. Tensions between Liberty and Bretonia erupt into war. Liberty quickly advances through Magellan and Cortez and enters Manchester, but timely reinforcements from the South, and a halt of the planned push into the Omegas, as well as the unexpected arrival of support from Royalist Gallia, save Bretonia, and stabilize the front in Magellan and Cortez. This, however, has negative consequences in Gallia, as the Council enters Ile de France. The Gallic Queen withdraws her forces from Bretonia, and Liberty feels the reduction of resistance. However, seeing that Bretonia would lose the war and Liberty become the strongest House in Sirius again, Rheinland stops its invasion of Honshu short before landing on the planet, but content having already secured its claims in the Sigmas, and exerts its vengeance on Liberty. It pushes into Texasburg, and in the same time Bretonia pushes into California. Liberty pleads for peace and loses a war for the first time in Freelancer. The cost is not too dire, as all Rheinland and Bretonia want is that Liberty doesn't endanger them any more, so they only take the bordering independent systems. Rheinland faces insurrection in the Sigmas, which Kusari uses to its own gain. Meanwhile in Gallia, the queen dies on childbirth, giving a son to James, so James tries to use his claim to the Gallic throne, as the only remaining legitimate(ish) successor that is not a baby. In opposition to that, wary of foreign rule, the Gallic Royal Navy turns against him and proclaims his child a king. Thus James's penis costs him an empire it was supposed to conquer. Of course, it is not the baby, but its regency, that rules in Gallia now. However, the all the turmoil and more care about their own needs than those of the people, have made the regency unpopular, and they are turned over on New Paris, which is finally occupied by the Council. A man is commanded to kill the baby, but he leaves it in the wild, in nature's mercy, thus leaving a possible new plot turn for Gallia in the future, if Disco is still alive in 20 years. It is ironic that the Council, who had originally opened Gallia to Sirius, now close the jumpgate in Languedoc to isolate themselves from Sirius while they are working to consolidate their power, thus #deletegallia. Although cornered and without supplies, the remaining Royalist forces in the Taus do not surrender to the advancing fleets of King James, but instead find a partner in the Crayter Republic, who had originally wanted to establish their state in the Taus, but were prevented by Bretonia.

Meanwhile in Liberty, which had been at war for a long time, which had ultimately lost that war, its role of the leading House in Sirius and with it the monopoly on Sirian trade, its main source of income, disarray escapes control. Democracy has obviously failed, and influenced by the propaganda and actions of an enemy long forgotten, who had avoided being wiped out by Bretonia in the Omegas due to Liberty's advance in Manchester a couple of years ago, communism now takes over Liberty, and it becomes its main den in Sirius. At the same time, the discontent farmer populace of Stuttgart and the maximally exploited workers on Sprague, which had to replace the industry of Leeds while Leeds was recovering, rise up and, together with the Hessians and the SCRA in the Omegas, unify into one communist state, which allies with communist Liberty. In fear from rampart communism, Rheinland and Bretonia send forces to combat both. Rheinland stops short before conquering Honshu again and makes peace with Kusari, but Kusari is not saved. Due to the long and bloody wars among themselves, the Houses failed to colonize the Omicrons. Managing to exploit its connections, having both Corsairs and Outcasts as its recruits and high command, the Core unifies Hispania into an Omicron Empire, with a capital not on mighty Crete or powerful Malta, but a compromise, the fledgeling colony on Nauru. The new empire feels hungry for territories, and seeks to use Kusari's weakness in its own advantage. In order for the gains to be distributed fairly, both Malta and Crete are given equal portions, but Nauru, of course, takes most. However, with Kusari being closer to Malta than Nauru or Crete, the Outcasts manage to take all conquests for themselves in a sudden coup, thus becoming as powerful as Malta and Nauru together. The short lived Omicron Empire is disintegrated. Kusari uses the chance to reclaim its territories, but largely unknown to everyone but themselves, the Oracles of Malta had managed to establish communication with the Nomads, and some form of alliance as well. One side of Sirius is now being torn apart by the clash of communism with monarchy and democracy, and the other by war between a constantly weakened House that wishes to return to its lost position of glory, and a new empire that has disintegrated quicker than it had been created, and now allies with the Nomads in order to try to regain what was lost.


tl;dr:
In the end, we have:
The Council has taken power in Gallia, but isolated themselves while they are consolidating their position.
The remaining Royalists in the Taus are fighting Bretonia, and allied with Crayter and maybe the IMG.
Liberty has ultimately lost the war with Bretonia and Rheinland and it is communist. Now it is again at war with Rheinland and Bretonia.
Sprague and Stuttgart have rebelled, and together with the SCRA and the Hessians in the Omegas, unified into a single communist state. They are allied with Liberty and fighting Rheinland and Bretonia.
The Core had unified Hispania and taken some territories from Kusari, which had been weakened by constant war. Those were closer to Malta, so Malta stole them and secessioned from the Empire. The Outcasts, with the now stronger Nomads as their allies, are at war with Kusari and the remaining Omicron Empire, whose centres are Crete and Nauru.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - oZoneRanger - 10-21-2017

I would say....

To some extent let the story line play itself out with goal oriented long term objectives.

For example. Everywhere there is a trade lane being built, should have the Official factions that build or maintain trade lanes making deliveries to the construction site.

Might be as simple as setting up one of those "Derelict" stations as a delivery point for a certain amount of "Cargo". Once the cargo amount is reached, an admin can just move the station down one lane and reset the cargo counter, once its completed the lane is turned on.

Territorial gains in a conflict, should be based on maintaining and supplying the front lines with Cargo and defending those supply lines. Being able to advance into another system should be somewhat dependent on Official Trade factions moving that cargo.

Maybe this is another scenario where a "Derelict" station is used as a drop off point and the amount of cargo is the measure to advance it. As an example... A drop off station is set 15k from Leeds going towards the Manchester Jump Hole. Cargo is delivered till it reaches the amount needed to move it.

Then you move it 10k closer to the jump hole, and repeat till you get within 10k of the jump hole. The further away from the planet, the harder it will be to deliver. If the amount needed to move it is not reached in a certain amount of time, it moves back 10k.

If a house Military faction wants to expand its ZOI, then it should have to work for it, and not just be given a new place to pew pew cause we are all bored with the current pew spot.

Transports hauling goods in game, creates activity. Activity creates story line.

I think the focus should not be on thinking up new "Story Lines" to implement in-game, and as a "Lead Story Developer" the focus should be more on trying to find ways to create activity that generates its own story line and sub-streams.

It is all fine and dandy to say that in the next patch "A, B, and C" will be happening, and everyone has to live with it. But it would be much more interesting if the A,B and C were the result of ongoing player RP and In-game activity.

Cheers and respects to everyone.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Karlotta - 10-21-2017

As a first step, I'd consolidate the lore in the past so it makes more sense. Like give Gallia a better reason to be the way it is than "they're still angry at something that happened 800 years ago so they launch a genocidal total war". Undoing bad and illogical stuff by erasing them form history is absolutely an option (re-writing gallic history, changing "the wilde" to something like "the infested" or "the enlightened", re-defining or properly defining what a nomad actually is), or the mod will only get worse with time.

Then, I'd make knowledge of the storyline and lore more accessible ingame, so people will even know and start to care about it.

When that's done, I'd look what's happening in player's RP and incorporate the parts that are logical and conductive to good game play (that does NOT include "my faction stronk so all your base are belong to us now").

When something is identified as good, I'd invite the people who did it to incorporate it into the storyline, in a non self-aggrandizing advantage-seeking manner.

I'd work with system developers so that activity hubs (places where trade routes, repping missions, mining locations, military conflicts, and natural travel paths coincide) deliver part of the story to players.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Piombo65 - 10-21-2017

I would leave the storyline influenced by Official faction leaders. More vicotries by that faction? The faction takes advantage.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Jessitrescott - 10-21-2017

(10-21-2017, 02:26 PM)Piombo65 Wrote: I would leave the storyline influenced by Official faction leaders. More vicotries by that faction? The faction takes advantage.


inb4 RHA Conquers all of sirius...oh wait.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Piombo65 - 10-21-2017

(10-21-2017, 02:40 PM)Jessitrescott Wrote:
(10-21-2017, 02:26 PM)Piombo65 Wrote: I would leave the storyline influenced by Official faction leaders. More vicotries by that faction? The faction takes advantage.


inb4 RHA Conquers all of sirius...oh wait.

@Wesker
[Image: TX01lxr.jpg]


RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Shiki - 10-21-2017

(10-21-2017, 12:37 PM)Thunderer Wrote:
tl;dr:
In the end, we have:
The Council has taken power in Gallia, but isolated themselves while they are consolidating their position.
The remaining Royalists in the Taus are fighting Bretonia, and allied with Crayter and maybe the IMG.
Liberty has ultimately lost the war with Bretonia and Rheinland and it is communist. Now it is again at war with Rheinland and Bretonia.
Sprague and Stuttgart have rebelled, and together with the SCRA and the Hessians in the Omegas, unified into a single communist state. They are allied with Liberty and fighting Rheinland and Bretonia.
The Core had unified Hispania and taken some territories from Kusari, which had been weakened by constant war. Those were closer to Malta, so Malta stole them and secessioned from the Empire. The Outcasts, with the now stronger Nomads as their allies, are at war with Kusari and the remaining Omicron Empire, whose centres are Crete and Nauru.

I had somehow similar idea. But in my book Bretonia would get defeated and Carina forced to marry Gallic prince. GRN will push forward and will almost take over Los Angeles when front with Council will collapse and most of the Gallic mainspace will fall under Council. Billions of Royalist refugees will run to Bretonia which will solidify Royalist control over Taus and Bretonia. Main conflict will be a war of Bretonian Empire under DeFrance versus Liberty. Council will rebuild gallia mainland after war and will try to build up friendly relations with Rheinland and Kusari.

As for the Omicrons, there are plenty combinations and all of them are fun in a way.

At some point would be cool to see Coalition and Hessians union controlling huge part of Omegas and actually posing a threat to Bretonia and Rheinland.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - Corile - 10-21-2017

Quote:communism now takes over Liberty

It was good until that point.

RE: How would YOU handle storylines? - FallenKnight - 10-21-2017

(In this wall I've put a lot of thought, I hope you would live enough to read it Big Grin )
Before I share my thoughts will say that I love strategy games like the Total War series, Master of Orion etc. My favorite so far is Empire Total War. Those of you that ever played it are aware how huge is the world map. 90% of my time I am using England as starting area, developing nice fleet and control the seas. But even if I was unopposed in the sea - problems rose when I had to move troops to America or India or overall - maintain and upkeep my forces. It took a lot of turns (ingame years) or in short - a lot of time just to recruit...transport...move the army to a certain location and pray to win or else...you suffer greatly.

I said the above because the whole story of Gallia being so resourceful is unrealistic to me from tactical point of view. Its massive fleets should require a lot of upkeep and real maintenance. So far for really short time the GRN managed to conquer half Bretonia with few minor losses. But when were they ever able to rebuild their losses? They have no suitable bases for ship repairs, no resources to do these repairs as well. On top of that their ships (from model point of view) are massive, which means they carry tons of crew which need to be paid well, constantly fed and have at least half of their needs satisfied. After all we are talking about human psychology - you can't throw a huge army somewhere and expect it to fight well constantly and to remain stable - in body and mind.

Lets bring some facts on the line.
- Gallia have a civil war (council etc fighting to overthrow the king)
- GRN are spread all over Taus/Bretonia/Border Worlds (some)
- GRN are advancing quickly every patch by loosing a "some" of their ships
- GRN were using primary jump hole to bring their massive fleets
- GRN are using now both jump holes and jump gates to maintain their fleets with supplies
- GRN so far are victorious in terms of battles, expansion, supply runs

All the above is a contradiction to the reality of freelancer actual physics. How can such a House maintain internal affairs (civil war/council), produce resources...distribute these resources to tons of locations to whom you need to go by unstable jump holes or take weeks/months using jump gates. How can such a massive fleet remain stable after so much time in battle? Where are the reinforcements? Where are the maintenance repairs of all these ships and personnel? And after all these contradictions GRN are not only beating half the Sirius factions that fought in Leeds, they nuked Kusari fleets in Taus, pushed Bretonia away and is toe to toe with dancing with LN (which is one of the most powerful military in Sirius??)
I am following this story since 4.84 very carefully and I am just amazed how it goes on on this #delete_bretonia path. I am very interested how this story will develop and end - maybe thats why I am still around but I would be more happy to see more realism in terms of possibilities of what can and cant be done by a certain group.

Overall - To represent my "story line" I would take the current story/map/factions/ships/crew as if they were a strategy game and simply deploy what I think is most logical to happen at the moment.
How would I handle storylines?
Gallia will defeat LN in Cortez and lock Bretonia from receiving any resources from Liberty. Gallia will take a different approach in order to neutralize Liberty - they will go for "chop the head off" strategy. They will start preparations in Cortez and Magellan by massing two fleets in each system. All ships they have that are not damaged at all or are sustaining minor damage - will be sent in these two fleets. All damaged ships from Bretonia/Border World/Taus - will be sent visa versa to the stationary defense fleets - in every territory they've conquered. Gallia will think that Kusari and Bretonia are of no danger....Rheinland is too far away and that the only power left to oppose them is Liberty.
Meanwhile Bretonia will start full trade relations with Rheinland, restoring the flow of resources in order to continue to mass their remaining fleets and strengthen their forces. Rheinland would receive a lot of money and also rebuild their fleets. Both sides Rheinland and GMG/Wilde will have a lot of battles and lose a lot of ships but Rheinland will prevail assisted by Kusari.
Kusari and Rheinland will then sign a new treaty turning them in to full pledged alliance party and turn their gaze upon those that are against this and can oppose them - Gallia. Rheinland will send half of their new fleet in Kusari. Kusari will cease their Civil war and assist with their navy - to prepare a backstab attack on Gallia in Taus.
Back in Liberty space - GRN will begin their invasion on California on two fronts. LN will send 90% of their fleets - according to their only tactic that was left...." All or nothing". LN will be assisted by guerrilla warfare units sent from Bretonia and nearly all unlawful factions in Liberty vs Gallia two massive fleets.
Gallia will lose this battle and in this way sacrifice the bulk of its forces. All ships that would remain active will form a group and will sign a peace treaty with Liberty. Council will later take this group under their wing and use them to help them restore peace back to Gallia.
Back in Taus - Rheinland/Kusari fleet will make a surprise attack on whats left from GRN to protect Taus. Considering most ships there would be old or very much damaged the battle would be won easily.
Back in Bretonia - Bretonia will hear of what happened in Taus and send all the ships they've prepared for a counter attack back to Leeds (York and ArkRoyal assaul fleets). GRN ships from Taus, those that managed to escape KNF/RM will go back to Leeds. GRN fleet from Edinburgh will go to Leeds, leaving Edinburgh in to Gaian control.
Leeds will have one final massive battle where KNF/RM/BAF/LN and GRN will have a massive clash where GRN will lose once and for all.
Meanwhile in Gallia space - Council assisted with the new GRN separatists (the two massive fleets that lost inside Liberty) will begin their final stage to end the Gallic Civil War for good. They will succeed and place new leader of House Gallia, who will sign a new treaty with Kusari/Bretonia/Rheinland and Liberty - about peace and trade agreement - so Gallia to be restored properly. Nevertheless Gallia will have to pay a lot of credits to Liberty, Kusari and Bretonia and also assist as much as possible in to the restoration process of Kusari and Bretonia.

Conclussion: All original four...now five Houses will have their STORY set on RESET in this way. What would all of them do now? Is Gallia really in peace with all Houses or would dare to assault them again when the time is right? Is Bretonia going to rebuild all the damage done by Gallia? Is Kusari and Rheinland (which would be in strong military alliance) try to restore the old conflicts between their former enemies?
All that would remain mystery - one we must all have to live up and see how it would turn on.

*After Credits*
Back in Omicrons a jump hole emerges in IOTA - massive ships enter the system. The Nomad patrols are unable to identify them - immediately opening fire. No damage is done to these ships. Suddenly they send a shock wave hitting the entire system - turning all nomads in the vicinity to sleep stasis...ready to be reprogrammed by their former masters - to do their bidding...to do what they were create to be...Da'am Kvosh have returned.
To be continued...