I may be the only one, but I've had nothing but positive expierences with Wolf's Ghost, even that one time I had to try and root his spy butt out of the Old Guard.
True, but I thought I'd put it out there to help people make sense of what I was getting at. As for your question on the privateers, things tend to get very hazy with them but I'd don't imagine we would sanction them raiding neutral beneficial trade within bretonia. Ideally, we would merely gather the information regarding such attckas and allow the BAF to deal with them, but in game I imagine we'd take a course similar to what you described.
The topic of foreign intelligence services is also a bit murky. Rheinland and Kusarian operatives are hostile and will be activeyl hunted down, that's our job. The LSF are our liberty counterpart, so we're on friendlier terms with them but that doesn't mean they have a free ride through bretonia. Just like the LN isn't authorized to shoot down criminals outside of liberty and the border systems, the LSF will not be permitted to parade through bretonnia at will. I don't see this as a problem, it's not as if they do this at present, and exceptions can certainly be made to allow collaboration of our organizations.
Should an unauthorized LSF agent be caught within bretonia, it is unlikely that we would immediately shoot him down, although I won't rule it out entirely. Ideally, somewhere in the "RP before engagement" would be some questions as to why he's in bretonia and for what purpose etc. which would determine the subsequent course of action. Keep in mind however that we will be doing our best to keep secure, and any unauthorized foreign intelligence vessel could be easily seen as a threat.
' Wrote:Agreed. Here are a few pennies I feel I should toss in about the write-up:
1) The Intelligence Agency of Bretonia sounds clunky. The Bretonian Intelligence Agency flows a little better.
2) The Letter of Marque lets people get away with a lot, but you guys should still intervene in cases of neutral folks being pirated inside Bretonia while doing nothing wrong. It's happened before.
3) I have some stuff for you to do in my updated plans for Chester. I'll send Murphy and Dab the Doc links to show you what I mean.
4) Your policy to foreign agents. The BDM and Kempeitai should be hunted ruthlessly, yes. The LSF shouldn't be treated in the same manner however. I'd recommend requesting the pilot leave Bretonian borders unless they have a valid reason. You can then open a communication with the Liberty government to lodge a complaint (but not in a harsh, brash and insulting tone, as the IAB has with its diplomacy in the past).
5) I like the idea of the interview.
I disagree, as for foreign agents: whoever they'd be, they know too much and pose treat to Bretonia, thus they have to be either killed or imprisoned. Of course I'd let everyone to ask permission, though, to operate within Bretonia, and within certain reason grant such requests.
Ah, I also don't like everyone thinking "if we have a treaty with Liberty, we're their friends" - for example majority of BAF wouldn't feel anything personal about that, I'm sure. They could be even pro-Rheinland, why not?
' Wrote:Agreed. Here are a few pennies I feel I should toss in about the write-up:
1) The Intelligence Agency of Bretonia sounds clunky. The Bretonian Intelligence Agency flows a little better.
Bretonian Intelligence Service is what I chose because the ID is named exactly that. I don't really see a need for the name to differ from the one on the ID.
' Wrote:2) The Letter of Marque lets people get away with a lot, but you guys should still intervene in cases of neutral folks being pirated inside Bretonia while doing nothing wrong. It's happened before.
Alvin handles these things. Letters of Marque are given out to Privateers, and he runs the QCP, so it is his jurisdiction. BAF| usually doesn't even get involved, and BIS doesn't at all in regards to Letters of Marque.
' Wrote:4) Your policy to foreign agents. The BDM and Kempeitai should be hunted ruthlessly, yes. The LSF shouldn't be treated in the same manner however. I'd recommend requesting the pilot leave Bretonian borders unless they have a valid reason. You can then open a communication with the Liberty government to lodge a complaint (but not in a harsh, brash and insulting tone, as the IAB has with its diplomacy in the past).
LSF were given permission to enter Bretonia when Rheinland attacked us. That's how, in-RP, we're holding Rheinland off. Both Bretonia and Rheinland are in losing wars, and neither can afford to send many forces against the other. This is why Bretonia has played defensively the entire time, and has called in LN, who have more than enough spare forces, to help us hold our borders.
' Wrote:The IAB will be the overarching intelligence aperatus of Bretonia, intel is what we do. We go places, find things, and tell those who need to know about what we discovered. Please note that for the most part we are a group of spies, not an assault battalion. That being said, sirius is a big place, and we will not always have the manpower or the expertise the BAF needs to aquire real-time actionable intel. The BIS is perfect for this job. They are a group of well trained pilots who can very rapidly deploy to an area and scout around or conduct precision strikes for the armed forces without the waiting and bureacratic hassel of getting a spy ring in position. thus, each has their advantages and disadvantages: the IAB takes a little longer, but can provide a better quality intel supply, and the BIS is faster, but lacks the resources for a full intelligence operation.
BIS is also involved in intelligence. Especially MI6 work, which I'm already lining up two different operations (one has already started). I am concerned about an overlap, as I feel there is one here. You've put too much emphasis on the Black Guard part of BIS, which was added for activity reasons. We're still very much an intelligence organization.
That said, again; I'd be more than happy to have someone else take over the Intel part of Bretonia (save my 2 current MI6 operations, which I'd stay in charge of until completion). However, the leadership of IAB (or whatever it ends up being called), is a concern.
' Wrote:There are several analouges for this system in the real world, with militaries units often maintaing a small group of intelligence staff to provide real-time support in the field. An easy in-game analouge would be the LSF and Gold Wing, both of which have not only survived each other's existence but have thrived in their respective fields.
As Jammi mentioned; Gold Wing is an elite combat squad, not an intelligence group. BIS has a combat squad, but it's still primarily intelligence gathering, with a wide range, not just a military angle. If the two groups are edited slightly, we can change BIS to become an elite wing or military intel group, but again; that would require certain concerns over IAB to be addressed first.
Fair enough, thanks for giving a more comprehensive answer to some of those, I was just trying to explain how and IAB) player would act. As for the overlap, I expected there to be somewhat of one since BIS essentially held the line after the IAB disbanded. I'm not sure exactly how far that overlap extends, but I think we can work that out when the time comes. As it stands, I think it will be some time before we can we can everything in place for an effective transition. As for the issue on the current leadership, again, it has been noted but it is unlikely to change. Despite this issue, I think we can become an excellent asset to bretonia's RP and we look forward to proving that.
About IAB in general, sometimes not directly related to the write-up:
Every intelligence service should not be a shoot-things-up faction. That's what the military is there for.
Intelligence Agencies should really focus on their main objective (gathering intel, providing politicians with it, infiltrating enemy organisations, keeping homegrown terror in check...) which would put a big focus on inter-faction forum roleplay, rather than ingame action and shooting.
I also don't see that Intelligence Services have the powers that the old IAB claimed. It was that they basically claimed to be above the law and that their word is law. That was definitely too much power. Keep in mind that your faction can only have as much power ingame as your fellow players grant you.
The role of IAB should be imo to gather information, to talk to the responsible persons (Bretonian government, Military) and then do what has been agreed on. Of course they can act on their own sometimes but starting a war is not something they can decide on their own, also declaring lawfuls unlawful is nothing they can do. They are agents. Not policemen. Not military. Not politicians. They are much smaller than the last IAB was.
I'd generally call for moderation when it comes to the question "how powerful is my faction?". People hate being bossed around. Even more so when the expectations (based on the last IAB performance) are not good.
I saw that cap ships are mentioned. There is no need to have them in IAB. I don't have a problem with a mobile base capital ship as a rp device, though. I could also imagine a luxury liner for that... would add a touch of exclusivity and style (think about James Bond's vehicles or M's appartment).
I won't comment on the leadership question, as Zealot has asked for this argument to cease. I think my opinion is sufficiently clear.
I assure, the arguments on the leadership are sufficiently clear.
As for your concern of the power being wielded by the IAB, we fully realize that in order to be effective as a faction we will need to work with our corresponding Breonian factions. I've said it before already in another post but since you brought it up I'll say it again; we are an intelligence faction. This doesn't mean that we can't, or won't shoot things, we just prefer to leave that to the BAF when possible.
Intelligence agencies tend to play a rather active role in politics, however our will be relegated to informing the government on current events, advising them upon request, and possibly a seat in parliment.
As far as being above the law, we don't intend to become the secret police either. That doesn't mean we won't stop you and ask you some questions every once in a while, especially if you're someone suspicious or shady looking, but you shouldn't have to worry about us simply coming up to shoot you prior to an investigation. We will however conduct assassination missions on occasion against confirmed threats to Bretonia's interests, but those threats will likely have ample warning that we are coming for them.
On the question of caps, I'm not sure where you saw it in our information. The closest thing I can find is that we are allowed 2 gunboats. Furthermore it says these will be used mostly for the patrol of our bases within House space. I don't think anyone will have to worry about being cap-ganked by the IAB). Again, that's the BAF's job (not the ganking but the caps).
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