This first one is a brief RP around a newly comissioned neph 'Katana' that was launched by my Zoner char (at the time which was flying a Hathor/ZonerID) for local Zoners concerned with the rise of the ZA and its clamping down of the Kappa jumphole. This was last summer PRE 4.87 rollback from the august/septemeber time period. Unfortunately, after the rollback, I lost about 6 weeks of gameplay, and had no neph when it was done. Although I had the cash, bases were turned off, so I never bothered buy it back. The war, at that time, was over. http://discoverygc.com/forums/showthread...pid1387676
My second RP around a Neph started in January when my Junker ship (who strongly identifies with his Zoner origins and still considers himself a Zoner, at least at heart) got involved with helping some indie Zoners try to set up a base out near the Ore cloud in Tau-37. After some conflict the base was destroyed. I was frantically seeking a neph at the time to help defend the base with, but i got the ship just too late for it to make it to the system. Nevertheless, the Peregrine'sNest was launched.
So instead I RP that the ship was launched by the survivors of the base (which was Zoner) and that they all moved to a new Colony ship, which they had requesitioned from Pueblo Benito due to the emergency. They asked my character to command it for them. Now the ship is moored at Freeport 6 mostly and operates out of its own 'spaceport' built at an undisclosed location around those systems, and acts as the main defense for the station. I have been meaning to get a couple of docking modules so it could serve as a mobile 'base' but other things have gotten in the way.
When the Zoner changes were announced, its main purpose (for defending Zoner POB's if necessary) became threatened, and I considered selling it right away. BUT i'm interested to see what the new neph would be like as a 'mini-barge'. IF it is useful for supplying bases, not just a big awkward unflyable hunk of garbage, I'd probably keep it for that purpose. But then I'm back to square one for the defense (since the places its most likely to defend do not use weapons platforms). As for its current state, I find that since its difficult to move them around, I'll sit at FP6 and wait for ships to pass by to RP with them. Tell them my 'story', but honestly since the changes were announced I've been hesitant to continue its RP until there's some stability over what's definitely going to change. If there was no change coming, I'd feel better about diving more into it again.
Suggestions:
For the record, Nephs are awesome. Its too bad they can't simply add the new ships in addition to the ones they already have. They all look great, but the idea that Zoners would never possibly have use for the firepower...doesn't hold up. I've found myself in plenty of situations where they could be useful, even still in the strictly defensive purpose.
What doesn't make sense is why other groups and houses aren't using them as well. The lack of continuity is not from the fact the Zoners of all people have big ships like the nephs (because, why would they need them right?). Instead, this only lacks sense because only zoners (and some Order) can use them. Keep the neph a Zoner ship, of course, drop the nerf so that the houses could adopt them as their main battleships. That way people who 'lolwut' with them can slap on a LN id and take it to Leeds to be used as a battleship. This way, Zoner lore can be left alone, since at that point people will only use a neph with Zoner ID if they actually intend to RP with it/defend Zoner stuff. If they just want to blow stuff up or get blown up in a big way, they can use it as a battleship. And honestly why not? Why at this point in the War with Gallia would the BAF or LN not try to get their hands on some Nephs to help shift the tides of war? Why would those navies not be trying to get their hands on bigger stronger ships? If going to the Zoners is the only way to help stop the Gallic advance, I'd say the time to set aside pride has come. This way the Zoners can help save Sirius by strengthening their ties with the houses. All you'd have to do is raise the price to 700 million, so that way people would not ALWAYS choose a neph over a faction battleship that's 500 million, unless it was going to be for a more serious purpose.
Wanna get the lolwut nephs off the street? You need a neph amnestry program! Drop the nerf and start letting the navies buy up all the nephs and aquillon's out there. Times are tough, and the LN/BAF might just start needing every vessel they can get their hands on!
![[Image: G38aJ6J.jpg]](https://i.imgur.com/G38aJ6J.jpg)