Official Faction rework and rules update - jammi - 01-08-2026
Today we're launching the Official Faction rework, which sets out how we would like to see Official Factions function going forward. To make the rework, well, functional, we're also introducing some rule changes too. We'll address those first before moving on to the main announcement.
Dead men tell no tales:
Quote:2.3 - Dead men tell no tales - when you are destroyed during a hostile player encounter, your character loses all memory of that encounter, other than that their ship was destroyed.
This is a very common rule that is applied in many other roleplaying game communities. Here are some examples of how this might work in practice:
1. A Freelancer attacks an Official Faction corporate transport in Sigma-13 to claim a bounty. If the transport is destroyed, the player “forgets” the entire encounter leading up to the destruction and knows only that their ship was destroyed by a hostile force. They cannot then report the freelancer to local authorities, apply FR5, set a bounty on them, or otherwise roleplay based on knowledge of their assailant’s identity.
2. The transport sends out a system-wide message identifying their assailant before their death. The transport loses knowledge of their assailant upon being destroyed, however a 3rd party witness could contact them to provide copies of the message. The transport player can now roleplay based on provided 3rd party evidence (although the assailant will probably argue that this is circumstantial at best, unless the witness caught them red-handed).
3. A Freelancer attacks a freighter to claim a bounty. The freighter successfully flees, and docks on a station. The freighter is a combat ship, so docking means it is "dead" for PvP rules. Despite this, the freighter was not actually destroyed during the encounter, meaning it remembers its assailant.
Rule definitions:
A minor adjustment to the definition of Allied, and an addition defining Hostile.
Quote:“Allied”: Ships of the same non-Generic affiliation or ID; Ships defined as your ID's allies on the in-game faction rep sheet; friendly or neutral Ships you are currently flying in group with.
“Hostile”: Ships defined as enemies on the in-game faction rep sheet; Ships rephacked red by your ID; Ships affected by an Official Faction's use of Faction Right 5.
The Official Faction rework:
The Official Faction rework has tried to put a focus on what we want these groups to be - people who embody the best the server offers, who make the game more fun, who create characters and roleplay that engages and entertains others.
There is a revised list of faction rights and perks, however with rights come responsibilities - these are now explicitly set out. One of these responsibilities is submitting a quarterly faction activity report (template below), which is an opportunity for the faction to highlight their roleplay, projects, and goals, and set out their desires for the NPC faction's development direction. These have to be submitted in the third month of the quarter (March, June, September, December).
During assessments, staff will first look at whether the faction has met the 3 objective criteria (activity, membership, quarterly report). After that, qualitative factors are looked at, with some potential positive and negative factors being described below. The community also has a role to play here, with feedback threads being an important tool for praising great interactions (similar to the Kudos thread), but also for raising constructive concerns.
We want to see Official Factions where their tag being online makes people go to log in because they know they're going to have a fun time, one way or the other. This aims to empower those kinds of groups, while ultimately, clearing out those groups that are just treading water.
Some major changes:- Active member is now defined. This is someone who logs at least an hour a month on their own personal faction ships. This means a player who solely uses shared ships and doesn't have any personal ships of their own, wouldn't count as an active member of the faction.
- Faction Leaders are now required to be an active member. It is expected that if a Faction Leader is no longer intending to play the faction / game, they step down and nominate a replacement. If the OFL doesn't meet the criteria to be counted as an active member, their spot is automatically made vacant. Faction members can now also carry out a majority vote to replace an existing Faction Leader.
- Law enforcement factions / governments are no longer prevented from applying "roleplay consequences" outside House core space. Instead, certain faction rights are disapplied in those systems, and law enforcement players have to directly witness encounters / law breaking to act on them.
This effectively disallows acting on 3rd party reports of criminal activities outside House space, as that would destroy many avenues of quasi-lawful and corporate gameplay. This does however, allow patrols or Intelligence agencies to roleplay based on what they actually observe, rather than developing rule-based amnesia the moment they pass their borders.
This also clarifies that in areas where Houses can enforce their laws outside their core systems, they are unable to force POBs to seek their approval for construction. Other kinds of laws may still apply however, for example if the POB is caught harboring hostiles, etc. It is likely that law enforcement ID lines will be extended to the border systems between Houses, as a result of these changes and "dead men tell no tales".
- Official Factions formally have a role in helping to guide the development of their faction. Factions must include their requests / suggestions for faction development in their quarterly report, which is publicly viewable. Developers will then give these requests weight when considering the mod's direction. As noted above, rights come with responsibilities, and this right is not a one way street. If factions want to have an impact on the story, the quality of their conduct and contributions will also be under the microscope.
Some of the rights described below are flagged as WIP. This is because they are pending a patch to be implemented, or they rely on functionality that is still being developed. The first faction review under this system will take place at the end of March.
What are Official Factions?
Official Factions are groups that have been recognised by server staff as improving the Discovery community by making the game more fun, and contributing high quality roleplay.
Official Factions are role models that create an enjoyable environment for other players - whether they are in-game enemies or allies.
Official Factions act as representatives and custodians (not owners) of their NPC faction, and help influence that faction’s development in the mod story.
Applying to be an Official Faction:
To apply for Official Faction status, your group needs:
- A single, unified faction tag, which is a part of your ship name - for example [OF]ship.name.
- A single ID which is used by all faction members.
- 3 or more active members (unique players who have logged at least 1 hour of activity per month on a ship they personally own).
- 1 active member designated as the Official Faction Leader (OFL / 1iC).
- A deposit payment of $5,000,000 which will be taken by server administrators from a specified ship, and refunded if your application is successful.
- An information post in the Faction Creation Request subforum that describes - at minimum - your group’s name, ID, background, purpose, and diplomacy.
- 1 day of activity per month across the application period.
Once an application is received, server staff will evaluate the group for 2 months. This will focus on the group’s activity, roleplay, and contributions to the community.
A group that does not meet the responsibilities expected of an existing Official Faction will not pass the application process.
Once your group becomes an Official Faction:
- You will receive an Official Faction sub-forum for your group.
- You must submit an Official Faction Request with your proposed unique Official Faction ID’s text, and where it will be made available for sale in-game.
- You must open a feedback thread where the community can discuss issues.
- You must post a faction information thread that is kept up to date with - at minimum - details of your Faction Leader, group description, and diplomacy.
- Your Faction Leader will gain access to the Leaders’ Lounge in the community Discord, and the Faction Leaders Section of the forum.
- You will be able to post a recruitment thread in the #Official-Faction-Showcase forum of the community Discord.
Official Faction Leaders:
The Faction Leader (1iC) is the person who is responsible for an Official Faction’s direction and conduct, and is the person who can exercise many Official Faction rights or perks.
- A player can only lead one Official Faction at a time.
- The 1iC must be one of the group’s active members. If this requirement is not met, the role is considered vacant and the Official Faction must nominate one of its active members to take over.
- A 1iC can at any time nominate another active member to take over the role. This should be done by posting a notification in the Faction Leaders Section of the forum.
- An Official Faction’s active members can trigger a vote to replace the 1iC by contacting the Server Administrators. If a single member receives a majority vote of all active members, they assume the 1iC role.
- If a faction’s 1iC role is vacant for two months or longer, the group loses official status.
House Law Enforcement and Governments:
House Governments are groups of lawful Official Factions that represent their House by passing laws, considering licenses, and responding to governmental roleplay. House law enforcement are the House’s Military, Police, and Intelligence factions.
- House Military, Police, Intelligence, and Corporate Official Faction Leaders are automatically entitled to be members of their House Government.
- Official Faction Leaders may choose one additional player to act as an assistant / advisor.
- House Governments must vote on significant decisions, with a simple majority winning. Votes must be carried out in the House Government channels in the community Discord.
- House Governments are responsible for writing and maintaining their House’s laws in the Laws of Sirius thread.
- Outside of House core systems:
- House laws can only be enforced when the infringement is directly witnessed by the law enforcement player.
- Player Owned Bases cannot be required to obtain licenses / permission from House Governments or House law enforcement factions.
Rights of Official Factions:
To ask for a faction right or a faction perk to be applied, a request should be submitted in the Official Faction Requests subforum.
- Official Faction players can issue reasonable orders to independent players of the same NPC faction. Official Factions can apply roleplay consequences if these orders are not followed. This cannot be used to force independent players to follow an order that conflicts with the NPC faction’s established roleplay / lore, but can be used to maintain fair play, i.e. balancing fights. Official Faction Leaders are responsible for their members’ use of this right, and misuse may result in the right being lost for the entire Official Faction.
- Official Faction players can attack or apply roleplay consequences to players of different NPC factions / IDs that are using their NPC faction’s technology without permission. If an NPC faction has multiple Official Factions, permission issued by any counts for all.
- Official Faction players may use the /nodock command to temporarily deny other players access to their NPC faction’s stations. House Military, Police, and Intelligence Official Factions have /nodock permissions for all Lawful stations in their House. Use of /nodock is subject to the same restrictions as an attack, as described in rule 2.1.
- Official Factions can influence the story direction of their NPC faction through their quarterly Faction Activity Report. Story proposals must be reasonable, fit the existing canon of the NPC faction, and be within the faction’s capabilities. Story developers will have regard to the roleplay and requests of Official Factions, but retain ultimate control over the direction of the mod story. More weight will be given to requests that are submitted collaboratively by multiple groups, particularly opposing groups, i.e. a region’s lawfuls and unlawfuls creating development plans together.
- Official Faction Leaders can request a player, faction, or ID be set hostile to their NPC faction as a form of roleplay consequences. Requests for FR5 must provide documentation of any relevant roleplay, i.e. communications with the other character(s) / faction, message dump reports, etc. If an FR5 is applied to an individual, their ship will be locked so the name cannot be changed. If an NPC faction has multiple Official Factions, FR5 requires consensus agreement to be applied. House law enforcement factions and Governments cannot use FR5 in response to activities outside their House’s core systems.
- Official Faction Leaders can request an ID be prohibited from docking on specific bases of their NPC faction as a form of roleplay consequences. Requests for FR6 must include documentation of any relevant roleplay, i.e. communications or interactions with the other faction, message dump reports, etc. If an NPC faction has multiple Official Factions, FR6 requires consensus agreement to be applied. House law enforcement factions and Governments cannot use FR6 in response to activities outside their House’s core systems.
- Official Factions can request a unique serverside IFF if they do not represent an NPC faction (generic IDs such as Freelancer or Pirate), or if their roleplay diverges significantly from their original NPC faction. Adopting this IFF removes access to Faction Rights 1 - 6.
- [WIP] Official Factions can request a unique flagship armour upgrade for one of their faction's ships. This further increases the hit points and mass of the ship it is applied to.
- Official Factions can request an Official Faction Event once a quarter. These include server support, i.e. PvP bounty payouts, point tracking, cargo trackers, event POB deployments, staff supervision, facilitation by Storytellers, etc. Involved Official Factions can restrict participation in these events to specified groups, within reason. Events will be approved depending on suitability and availability, i.e. whether staff can attend, or other official server events or faction events are taking place.
- Official Factions can request that a single Core 4 base they own be upgraded to Core 5. This disapplies wear and tear, meaning it is no longer necessary to supply it with Basic Alloys, Robotics, or Ship Hull Panels. This requires that the base has spurred on significant roleplay and activity relating to it. This could be achieved in a number of ways, for example, through faction projects or player interactions linked to the base, construction RP involving multiple factions, etc.
- [WIP] Official Factions can request the deployment of a Forward Operating Base (FOB) once per month. This is a core 2 Player Owned Base, represented as a faction-appropriate battleship, Bustard, or liner. The FOB can be deployed anywhere in the faction’s ZOI +1, where justified by reasonable roleplay. The FOB is not subject to wear and tear or core crew upkeep, and does not require Hangar Provisions for restocking. FOBs are equipped with two Storage Modules, and one other module of the Official Faction’s choice. When a FOB is deployed in a system, the requesting Official Faction and any independent players of the same ID have ZOI in that system, and their death timer is reduced to 30 minutes.
- [WIP] Official Factions can send Message of The Day (MOTD) bulletins to players using their Official Faction ID, or corresponding NPC faction ID. These messages must be in-character, and will be displayed on login. They can be used for sharing news, advertising the Official Faction, promoting roleplay objectives, etc.
- [WIP] Official Factions can submit a promotional infopage to be included with the in-game user guide. Guidelines for pages and their formatting can be found here.
- Official Factions may submit a logo for inclusion as a mountable holo-roundel. A list of ships with roundel hardpoints can be found here. The Official Faction can nominate one additional ship to be added to this list. An Official Faction can specify which ships they want their roundel to be automatically mounted on when they equip their Official Faction ID. If no ships are specified, the roundels will be automatically mounted on any ship with appropriate hardpoints. Submissions may be rejected by developers on quality or suitability grounds.
- Official Factions may submit a custom texture for an existing ship for their own exclusive use. This could include a stylized version of an existing texture, or a texture featuring the Official Faction’s logo / livery. Submissions may be rejected by developers on quality or suitability grounds.
- Official Factions can request that shared assets be locked so their name, account, loadouts and other configurations cannot be altered.
- Official Factions can request special perks once a quarter. Examples of requestable perks can be found here. Approved perk requests are published for the community to see.
Responsibilities and Requirements of Official Factions:
- Official Factions must have at least 3 active members. Active members are players who log at least 1 hour of activity per month on their own personal ship.
- Official Factions must have a designated Official Faction Leader who is an active member.
- Official Factions must maintain at least two days of activity per quarter.
- Official Factions must continue to improve the Discovery community. There are many ways of achieving this - for example, recruiting and teaching new players, providing exemplary roleplay, acting as role models for your NPC faction’s players, championing fair play and fun for all players.
- Official Factions must proactively drive activity in their Zone of Influence / area of play. This could be through running roleplay focused events or coordinating missions that involve other players / factions.
- Official Factions must maintain and update any laws they are responsible for.
- Official Factions must maintain an information thread detailing - at minimum - the identity of the Faction Leader, the group description, and diplomacy.
- Official Factions must maintain a feedback thread where community concerns or compliments are addressed in a timely manner.
- Official Factions must maintain an internal roster of their active members, and provide this to server staff on request.
- Official Factions must submit a Faction Activity Report in the third month of each quarter (March, June, September, December). The template for this report can be found below:
Code: [size=large]Name of Faction:[/size]
[size=large]Name of Faction Leader:[/size]
[size=large]Number of Active Players this Quarter:[/size]
[size=large]What have you done to advance your faction’s goals this quarter?[/size]
[size=large]What are your faction’s goals for the next quarter?[/size]
[size=large]What have you done to drive activity and promote high quality roleplay this quarter?[/size]
[size=large]How would you like your NPC faction’s story to be developed moving forward?[/size]
[size=large]What roleplay, events, or activities have you done this quarter to promote this development?[/size]
Official Faction Quarterly Reviews:
At the end of each quarter, server staff carry out a review to determine whether Official Factions are meeting their responsibilities and requirements.
Positive factors include:- having at least 3 active members.
- achieving two days of activity.
- submitting a Faction Activity Report.
- actively recruiting and helping new players.
- proactively setting goals and driving stories that are fun for other players.
- promoting high quality roleplay, primarily on the game server.
- responding promptly to roleplay communications and requests.
- carrying out inclusive events and creating activity more widely.
- encouraging fair play, creating enjoyable combat / gameplay for both allies and enemies.
Negative indicators include:- repeated rule breaking, bullying, or other poor sportsmanship.
- hostile or antagonistic attitudes and conduct towards players of opposing factions.
- insular behavior that avoids interaction with other players.
- ignoring comm channel messages, or attempts by others to initiate roleplay.
- displaying poor quality roleplay, or utilising obviously AI generated content.
- failing to maintain or update laws the faction is responsible for.
- dismissing or refusing to engage with player or staff feedback.
- “zombie activity”, where the faction is only seen at the end of the quarter to keep their status.
If a faction fails to meet the underlined points, it fails the quarterly review by default. When a faction has failed their quarterly review, the faction will be placed on probation. Passing the next quarterly check removes the probation - failing it results in the group’s Official Status being lost.
Well, this has been a big thread with a lot of material. If you have any feedback, please do share. It's likely that we'll need to make adjustments or fine tune, so if we've missed something do say.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Toaster - 01-08-2026
The new rule and its explanation should be published in a separate thread as anyone not interested in official factions might skip right over this one.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Spectre - 01-08-2026
(01-08-2026, 09:03 PM)jammi Wrote: 2.3 - Dead men tell no tales - when you are destroyed during a hostile player encounter, your character loses all memory of that encounter, other than that their ship was destroyed. Going to be very blunt here, this feels like not just a headache to enforce, but also radically illogical given the tech of the Disco universe. This rule implies that live guncam footage, which has been used in the past inRP, no longer exists. This also implies that in game death messages, which were changed a while back to reflect that people's ships are simply disabled instead of being actually destroyed, are no longer truly accurate. 'Put out of action' does not imply that your ship is completely destroyed; This goes doubly so for any cap pilot.
Really not impressed with this change, tbh.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Chronicron - 01-08-2026
(01-08-2026, 09:03 PM)jammi Wrote: 2.3 - Dead men tell no tales - when you are destroyed during a hostile player encounter, your character loses all memory of that encounter, other than that their ship was destroyed. This one in particular would've been very dangerous to implement if the roleplaying environment was anything it was like back in a day because people who simply wouldn't want to see certain someones during their roleplaying sessions (for one ooRP reason or another) would simply /1 /2 them and carry on (you know who you are).
That being said. For an example - there's a huge roleplaying session going on, including a hostile ship. That hostile ship is later being joined by more ships and a fight begins during which the side opposing that one hostile ship is completely eliminated. Does the side that died lose the memory of the entire roleplaying encounter that happened, no matter how long? Are we certain that cases like these will not promote sea urchinism of the roleplaying part of the community even further?
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - TheSauron - 01-08-2026
![[Image: 6fFoPkh.gif]](https://i.imgur.com/6fFoPkh.gif)
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Lolipop12 - 01-08-2026
It is a nice rework that I can gladly enjoy as 1ic of my faction.
And regarding of Deaths, in the case a character has multiple body at once inrp and one got destroyed, it is quite- commendable that the character forgot what happened. I suppose this rule might be applicable if for example it is a human loosing a fight or something? I just try to see this rule's limit in terms of RP.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Emperor Tekagi - 01-08-2026
Very cool. Thank you.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Maik - 01-08-2026
The first quarterly report will be amazing.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Enkidu - 01-08-2026
Great! I'm stoked by all of this.
Thank you, Admins and Devs, for putting in the work required to make this possible.
RE: Official Faction rework and rules update - Locksmith - 01-08-2026
Will it be necessary to retcon things that have already been roleplayed out based on those post-death "memories" that, according to the new rule, should be "forgotten"?
Frankly, I don't remember if I have such things and will have to check a lot of things, but still.
(01-08-2026, 09:03 PM)jammi Wrote: Faction members can now also carry out a majority vote to replace an existing Faction Leader. I strongly feel like this should be "active faction members", not just all faction members.
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Official Faction rework