How much influence do indys have nowadays?

[Jinx]

factions have more power than indies, you must be blind not to see that. there is no scaling about how much more power - but they do have more power, - period... .

organized indies can have near or almost equal power though ( a prime example is the CoZ 6 years ago, which kind of presented zoners much more than the TAZ ( the only official zoner faction then ) did )

if you argue that the power they possess is insignificant or null, you may not have realized the full potential of what impact factions "can" have. needless to say, some factions do not live up to their full power, nor do they need to - others realize most of it and clearly cause much more profound change than any indie could ever do.

however - is such power delivered on a silver platter? - no, i don t think so. - but on the same page - official factions do not have less power than indies.

they are told to adhere to the lore of the faction they represent ( so are indies ) - they are told to uphold a higher standard, be an example - now thats hardly a restriction ... leading by example should be what any indie should do, too. if they fail ( indies or official faction alike ) they are being yelled at.

they have the very same restrictions that indies have - in some cases they have more freedom in terms of equipment and shipchoice than their indies.

IF an official faction complains that they "suffer" from greater restrictions than indies - most of the time they castrate themselves and then complain. keep in mind it is a mindset of the PLAYERS to think it is an amazingly awesome idea to install ranking and restrictions to their lower members - not a pre-requisite to be an official faction. no where in the rules for faction creation it is said that "you must have a rigid ranking - disallowing certain ships and stuff to your lower ranks" THAT really is just made up.
the reason it is usually cheered at by other players who admire such a structure is their own choice. - you can be an official faction without ranking, with exactly the same freedom PLUS faction rights and other powers that any indie has.

so in short:

indies -
- must adhere to whats written on their ID
- must adhere to the lore of their chosen faction
- must not violate the rules
- can explore the grey areas of their ID
- can make up unconventional RP within the limits of their ID
- can demand lore and story changes/progression but with rather little success
- will suffer for mistakes they made or suffer from consequences usually on a personal level ( if they are an entire group that can be associated with them [unofficial faction] it can also affect this entire group )

official factions -
- must adhere to whats written on their ID
- must adhere to the lore of their chosen faction
- must not violate the rules
- can explore the grey areas of their ID
- can make up unconventional RP within the limits of their ID
- can demand lore and story changes/progression with more success
- can execute faction rights
- will suffer from mistakes they made or suffer from consequences often on a personal level, sometimes their actions have consequences for their entire faction though

official factions can do all that indies can do - are not blamed more for their actions than indies and do have a little more influence and power. is it sufficiently more influence and power? - depends on what you claim to have - or what you "think" you deserve to have.



but about the original question how much influence indies do have... that is very much down to the personalities and the way each player attempts to take influence. factions do come with a bonus for sure, but if they are led by a bland leader who knows little of how to speak to others or lacks social skills - chances are that they won t go far - while an indie with a great personality, good manners and a way to get around and speak to people will have a much easier time. - just like real life.

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