It's awfully hard to find someone to pew in Magellan though, even if I sit there for half an hour and even if I contact them directly. I think that entering Liberty itself should have more effect.
While raiding Bretonia can be fun (although I prefer raiding Gallic Leeds as BAF), one can't hope to fight a large, epic battle there, and waiting for enemies takes time, while if I raid Leeds as BAF, it often takes an eternity.
Sure, let's just ignore all these unlawfuls (and Bretonia) and enter directly into Liberty without securing the rear. It's a great strategy, worth Sun Tzu himself.
Pew should correlate with the storyline, otherwise it just becomes Connecticut 2.0.
I agree though, that the storyline should always develop in directions that allow for nice fights since that is the core of Freelancer. It should never throw RP overboard though since that is what should be a big part of this mod.
I agree with you Skorak, but small problem is that there may be no real influence over the storyline through roleplay and player interactions. Yet giving out everything into players' hands only would result in disaster - even though in past I argued about it on yet positive approach towards all the players having direct influence over the lore. Some time ago, I realized that my point of view was sometimes biased, even one-sided in some cases - be it lack of knowledge, as well.
Good thing is, we repaired certain missing lore scraps, such as lack of Kusari Civil War or removed the nonsense around gate destruction. Bad thing is, we allowed such things to exist in the first place. After all these years, I slowly withdrew to discuss any storyline plots and to apply logic to all minor things in Discovery. These two do not always connect for one sole reason: enjoyment of the players.
However, it is good to see that Devs are seeking for their own mistakes, because they are also humans too. So are players. Nobody is perfect, as old saying goes. But, one thing is sure: Discovery is not about players vs developers. Discovery is about players and developers, seeking for the golden mean and to find best solutions.