Are we killing Discovery?

[Eppy]

Here's my view:

There is such a thing as over-regulation. It's called Freeworlds, where you are essentially not allowed to be an Independent at all (which has certainly killed Freeworlds, a very excellent mod. I love their Battleships, even though I'd love to remodel most of 'em myself...). Discovery is not Freeworlds. There are a scant few factions who have completely outlawed the purchase of capital ships; personally, I think this is wrong, that every independent should have the right to prove themselves capable and worthy of commanding a Battleship if they want to. This is why the 101st hasn't outlawed it (much as some of us would like to, as I've lobbied for in the past when the original Admin-endorsed faction regulation plan got shot down). We think there are people out there who are certainly capable of properly Roleplaying our Battleships and Dreadnoughts who aren't in factions at all, and we've created an easy system for people who want to show this responsibility to do so and acquire their Battleship; indeed, you don't even have to RP for a Destroyer under our system at all, all you have to do is say 'I'd like to buy this Destroyer' and not do anything exceptionally stupid with it. This is unobjectionable to the majority of the independents; to most of us, it's like getting our driver's license renewed, only simpler.

The problem starts when independents decide that any form of regulation and government is a horrible, horrible thing and decide that their ego supersedes that of the factions (and we have pretty big egos). These people are asking for us to throw out three years of established RP and bend over for a single person; we serve as the only form of hands-on regulation in these parts. Removing us is reverting to a total state of anarchy, and we'd like to keep our power base, thanks. There was recently some debate about if Omicron-85 was public property or not. WHAT? It states specifically in the server rules that systems a faction has paid for are its own and that it can do whatever the hell it wants within them. This minority of independents have chosen to put themselves above everything, when majority is almost universally the rule. I want to know how the hell this is supposed to work, because it makes no sense to me. People should be able to keep their e-pens in check if they don't have the force to back up the threats they're making. Factions can back up their threats. Indies can't. A faction should not abuse its power over the indies, and none of them do, but the louder-mouthed members of the faction-hating indie minority need to learn to respect the fact that it's at the factions' grace that they're not exiled and shot. It's not that they should, it's that they can, and people seem to take benevolence for granted.

This is all coming from an independent, by the way. The Fantasia and most of my characters were independents for several months before I assumed command of the 101st, and Fantasia was still independent up until March, only brought into service due to some politics that resulted in the sabotage of the MNS Legacy. Beyond that, the Cash Cow was independent until a few months ago when she joined the IND on a whim, which honestly isn't saying much, considering how scattered they are. I know what it's like, and I've fought for indie rights before, but they have no idea how frustrating and stupid this looks from a communal picture.

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Quick comment - we thought that Panzer was the Leader, Swift. -Agmen

Which Dreadnought was that?

One of your nine.