First of all, I thought I'd point out that the Merc ID does not allow regular trading.
As for the original question, this is exactly the situation I found my main character in. I had just given up on being a mercenary, as the pay was hard to come by, and needed a tag that would fit my newly chosen occupation, mining. I decided to go with the IMG tag/Trader ID combo, as I didn't want to fully align with the IMG, as I didn't want to be a formal part of the guild. I prefer to be able to move around the houses freely, which could be a problem in Bretonia given the Tau-31 situation.
As for hunting pirates, I have been known to "mine" pirate pilots out in Tau-23 on occasion. Breaks up the monotony of mining for Niobium out there and in Tau-37.
' Wrote:Zoners are a political faction. they have a truce with corsairs, cause they convinced the corsairs that they should rather focus on outcasts - and cause they made clear, that they "might" have a juggernaut in theta for retribution if any of the freeports were attacked.
they have a truce with outcasts cause they channeled the outcasts effords to focus on corsairs. its not what you d call a very solid peace. only omicron 54 is defended by zoners themselves.
zoners like to pull strings while being utterly underestimated ( or at least they would like to ) - much of the zoners self understanding is being puppet masters and acting from the shadows, avoiding open conflicts whenever possible.
i would not expect a zoner juggernaut to actually attack another fleet, unless its a direct and desperate mission to protect freeport 9 or theta. ((gratuitous snippage to prove my point...))
Sigh, Jinx. Here we have a perfect example of how the actions of a certain Faction color the impression of "Zoners" in general.
If you consider "peace" and "neutrality" as political in nature, then I'd agree. But I'm betting that's not at all what you meant by politics.
You mention a juggernaut. Wonder who might own that bad boy? Malaclypse recently traded in his Osiris "mining ship" for a bloody Whale. Makes it pretty darned important to follow the Zoner creed.
Your further mention of "puppet masters", Theta, and FP9 just prove my argument that "Zoners" tend to be grouped unfairly along with one particular Faction, whether "Zoners" wish to be or not. I would ask that you clarify your posts and statements in light of this discrepancy; because, Jinx, you ain't really talkin' about true Zoners atall, atall.
As usual you always manage to confuse me Mal... You and your discordianism. Pish.
Honestly the only reason I use the Zoner *tag* on my mercenary is due to the fact that it is the closest this mod has to a "Freelancer" tag.
Here is an idea...
Enable "Freelancer" faction BRIBES (that make you full green) for 100-500k on all House capital planets. The faction is already there, so all that would need to be done is adding the bribes to the bases.
And bam, people can actually be tagged as a freelancer!
That would sorta defeat the purpose of having to lose the Freelancer ID when you hit 40. Eventually characters are supposed to get off the fence and pick sides. What you're talking about would be best aided by a merc faction to go along with the ID. (And a merc faction wouldn't have any negative impact on other peoples' Disco servers)
Sigh, Jinx. Here we have a perfect example of how the actions of a certain Faction color the impression of "Zoners" in general.
If you consider "peace" and "neutrality" as political in nature, then I'd agree. But I'm betting that's not at all what you meant by politics.
You mention a juggernaut. Wonder who might own that bad boy? Malaclypse recently traded in his Osiris "mining ship" for a bloody Whale. Makes it pretty darned important to follow the Zoner creed.
Your further mention of "puppet masters", Theta, and FP9 just prove my argument that "Zoners" tend to be grouped unfairly along with one particular Faction, whether "Zoners" wish to be or not. I would ask that you clarify your posts and statements in light of this discrepancy; because, Jinx, you ain't really talkin' about true Zoners atall, atall.
Smirking,
Malaclypse for the TAZ
been afk to reply quickly - note that my opinion about it is gathered from the little information being put into the game; which isn t really a lot - so a lot of it is guesswork and understanding of a role which is purely subjective.
with political i mean, they use alternative means to gain what they want. they don t really fight for their power, but its undoubtful they they do possess power. they have outposts deployed over a large area around the known space, but never really in the core systems. still their freeports ( some of them are ran by IMG ) are important knots and links for traders - freelancers aswell as cooperation traders and unlawfuls.
i compare the zoners with the swiss. - of cours that does not fully fit, but all in all - factions in FL are rather abstract. they are what we make out of them. they keep neutrality - even at the cost of moving their neighbour factions around like pawns.
they are neutral to the biggest pirate factions aswell as neutral to their sworn enemies, the BHG and house factions.
it is my understanding, that the zoners achieve that state of neutrality through pulling the strings here and there, keep possible enemies busy enough so they won t notice that the zoners, might be a reasonable force to look deeper into. - zoners are not bragging about being strong - no matter if they really are or not, - but it appears that they feel strong by not only claiming their own system. but also by silently making clear, that they have the power to defend their installations versus anyone.
as for the juggernauts. when you read through the description, it says its unknown how many they have - and that these ships rather work as a myth than an actual threat. they don t feel a need to really parade the power - the myth about them is enough.
all that is just gathered from the little description files. in the end, zoners is a faction of individuals - each one with their own idea. they only have in common that they abandoned the core systems to live outside the common society. maybe its only a myth that they are more organzied than most ppl think. who would know the zoners are highly organized or just a loose bunch of wierdos.
personally, i like the idea of a hidden power behind a bunch of outsiders =) - to each one his own
Now, I'm more onboard with that description. And Kudos for doing the homework.
A behind the scenes "power"....
Har! They're the bloody Illuminati! Wiki "Gnomes of Zurich". One of the little inventions to describe the forces behind damn near every World War in History. (Along with the Rockefellers, Rotchschilds, CFR, Trilateral Commission, etc.)
' Wrote:I believe if you'll check the changes in new Beta.. it appears the FLID will become an "over-40" ID, with the beginner ID now called "Civilian" again.
Well, what I meant was a Freelancer TAG, not ID. I think I'm OK with existing IDs. But there's a Freelancer NPC Faction, and as far as I know no way to get their tag. I like DarkOddity's suggestion of allowing bribes for them somewhere.
Also, what I'm really trying to decide is if my character can get away with a Zoner tag (but not ID). I will definitely NOT be going to go out of my way to keep everyone in Sirius neutral: I want my character to be able to have his own individual enemies and friends. Being a generic or canonical Zoner is right out.
Is there anything wrong with a character that has "thrown in his lot" with the Zoners, but has his own cadre of friends and enemies? In other words, the character considers the Zoners his home people, is loyal to them, will help them in any way he can, but still feels compelled to do his part to help lawfuls and fight pirates when the time is right.
Personally, I'm fine with it. I just don't want to do something that a lot of people will object to/be overly confused by.
For this character, at least, I definitely can't settle into a generic/canonical role. ANY role. That works for some varieties of RP, but not the one I have with Tannik.