what about an additional IMG affliated faction?

[cabinn]

I voted 'yes' tentatively. I began RP'ing as IMG because it allowed me to remain 'independent' and explore - while still in RP. There does seem to be a ton of players online lately RPing as IMG. I added [IMG] to the names of some of my characters to make it easy on other players to know what I am from a distance. That helps friend and foe. Since doing that I have been getting lots of private chat messages in game asking me if there is an official faction.

I have a few commnets about faction creation. Keep in mind that the IMG is a Guild of Independent Miners. That is a something similar to a trade union or a farmer's cooperative. We do not work for a corporation in a strict sense. I have had pirates call me a "corporate lacky" in game and I always correct them. So the government of the faction needs to operate like a guild. We can have a guild president - but the guild members should sit on a council of some sort.

We also should not strut around a huge military force. Our miners/explorers and traders need protection and we do indeed have the CR. They see themselves as contract labor for the IMG. Our Albatrosses need to stay near IMG bases or patrol near rich asteroid fields while miners mine these fields.

In the game, IMG's diplomacy is complicated. We need to have a lot of discussion here. If you earn your IMG rep in the Tau's - you will do so by killing Outcasts - next thing you know you are very green with the corsairs. The corsair player factions have all been very chummy with IMG tagged/repped players - BUT if you run missions in Dublin and read the info cards, we are supposed to be hostile to Corsairs and "the closest thing to allies the Mollies have..." Now the CR and the UoG are at war. Hmmm. I believe the missions in the Omegas also are against corsairs.

Trading - Our "independent living on the edges of sirius" natures that the IMG is known for will allow us to be seen in many places in Sirius. But we need to keep the goods we ship plausible. I tend to carry supplies (consumer goods, food, water, parts) TO IMG bases and I carry raw materials - mined goods (niobium, copper, silver, etc...) AWAY from IMG bases. I land and trade with system planets - (but never red planets) but I don't trade with BMM (duh!) and I don't trade with bretonian Military and Police bases - because I feel the IMG should at least be 'suspicious' of the Bretonian Authorities.

I have many other thoughts about the IMG - but i am running out of time for this post...

More soon.

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