The loadout for a merc will always be rather contentious and vague. The entire thing is about your background and personality.
My loadout for my merc (2 Adv. Debs, 2 hammerfalls, 1 cannonball, 1 sidewinder, sunslayer torp) Is chose for its neutrality. It is good for flying solo, and its out and out attack nature is great for the character.
I think that thereis such huge scope for awesome roleplay as a Merc. Its a shame that so many are just "Some dude with a ship"...
Maybe we should start to promote roleplaying a good (not good as in personality, I just mean well roleplayed) merc.
In the end, it's all about the role play. We Mercs have such a diverse crowd and it's not always easy to balance, but it's always interesting. Gotta agree with the "stolen" ship advice. Boring and unimaginative. Remember, you want to actually enjoy the time spend on the server, unless of course, ya enjoy the banter.
I just saw an Outcast with a Miner ID in a Raven's Claw hanging outside of Manhatten. WOW.
I make you smile? i dont know if that was a good or bad comment.
I just think that, no matter what ID you're using, your ship and loadout should match one another, and you shouldnt go working for a faction who's hostile with that ship's manufacturers.
I.e. no bounty hunter mercs trying to dock on toledo. No mercs flying sabers using corsair guns.
I'd even go so far as to say your bounty hunter turret + corsair tizona combo is stretching things too far. You could be using debilitators instead of corsair guns and nobody would question it, because they're civilian weaponry.
Yanno, I was thinking about that combo myself. Given that I never really use the turrent, it wouldn't break my heart to part with it. We got it tough enough as it is to make stands on such a small thing like that.
' Wrote:No mercs flying sabers using corsair guns.
I can think of one off the top of my head actually. One that got annoyed with the RoS for using missiles, threatened to blow up our armoury, and seems to have little to no interest in RP at all.
Sabre with 2 Nomad cannons 2 nomad blasters and 2 tizzies. This guy has come from void and is a ridiculously good PvPer, and is infact rather well known for it.
' Wrote:Well said. The mercenary i.d. allows that freedom to stamp individuality on your load-out. Small piece of advice: don't say you stole your ship: it's over-done, even if you genuinely have a fascinating story about stealing it, people will assume you're being lazy and unimaginative. Have as much crew as you want: automate as much as you want or pack it with crew members to look after the smallest detail. It's up to you. If you change to a faction i.d. there will be restrictions in place, so enjoy your freedom while you have it....but don't be surprised by people's reactions in the meantime.
Besides how you talk and act should say more about your character than the load-out, so do that part as well as you can.
Aye, totally agree. That's something that I was trying to get across.
For example, you will never see an American chopper loaded out with non-American technology. Any other national police force tends to utilise standard equipment and associate themselves with that equipment. Saying that, if you look at terrorist/mercenary forces, are they going to give a damn about what equipment they are using? No. They are happy as long as it does what it says on the tin.
Imagine this. Your looking to hire some people to do a job, correct? You find yourself a contact who refers you to a bunch of mercs. As you meet the mercs, they are dressed head to toe in a nations uniform, head to toe in that said nations equipment, standard equipment. You ask yourself... hmm... are these mercs?
The whole point of being a merc is about individualisation. You won't go far if you don't dress yourself up to your own unique style. If you label yourself clearly as part of one faction, you can expect a short supply of jobs at one point. I never came across any merc in Free with one-sided faction gear, its always a mix of stuff, and thats what being a merc is about. However, thats a problem if you don't have a story to explain why your in the ship that you are, and how you got the equipment.
Far as i'm concerned, once that phase is over, continue enjoying being a merc. If theres no individualisation, no unique element to your merc character, thats kinda missing the whole story about being a merc in the first place.
After all, if this server is all about roleplaying, then the Merc character should be played out exactly as it was intended, with background story to boot.