Unique Ships for Factions

[jxie93]

Sadly, this will attract more faction activity.

People naturally join factions with the best equipment and ship (see Outcast, Corsair, Order and LN).

You want Factionlancer? Fine. The balancing you have to do for factions will be astronomical.

Have fun with dealing with constant whining and bitching over a group of factions with the statistically superior items.

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[Linkus]

SOLUTION.


Just as individual people get personal ships, so can factions.
Why not?

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Facilitating the rise of robotics since 0 A.D.

[sovereign]

The sorts of people who would be attracted to a faction with a pvp advantage that would not be attracted to that exact faction without the pvp advantage are not the sort of people you want to attract to your faction. Most of the Das Wilde invitation process is sorting out the people who go "OMG SCORP IS WIN I want to accumulate blue messages with it" from the people who go "wow, this looks really interesting, I think I can add to it". Let's just say it's a good thing final decision goes to someone who's paranoid.

Making unique, interesting ships? Sweet! The Persephone is wimpier than a regular Juggernaut stats-wise, but it attracts attention whenever it appears. It's cool and it's presence drives interaction. The Satsuma also evokes a "oh cool" response, though it is more closely balanced to it's class. Still, it's not a Kusari Battleship, which could arguably be the "best battleship" (that's not an assessment I agree with, I hand that honor to the Liberty Dreadnought, but the point is that it's a common assessment).

Making stronger ships? Express ticket to getting all sorts of people you don't want. Exhibit A, 4.84 Cattlebruiser. Exhibit B, the Tridente. Exhibit C, the Geb (I'm aware that it dies horribly to bombers. The people who buy it aren't, and buy it because they think it's a cruiser but better.) If the Keepers were less careful about who they let in, the Turbosquid would be exhibit D (whether or not you feel that they have been careless enough to allow it to be exhibit D is not the purpose of this discussion, please don't start a flamewar on that grounds).

Something so obviously specialized as the Barge works too. It carries 25k cargo... but can't use tradelanes. Finding a barge makes for an unusual and usually quite interesting interaction, yet it isn't "superior" to normal transports- it is, after all, the most vulnerable ship in the game (Wolfhounds nonwithstanding).

Cool, interesting, unusual and rare ships make for memorable encounters. If these ships are "stronger" they tend to leave a sour taste in that memorable encounter.

So here's my suggestion... make interesting, underpowered or balanced ships that are intended to be rare, and let people SRP for them. Factions or indies, no need for an artificial stipulation- if the factions are good enough to "deserve" it they can certainly acquire an SRP, can't they? Things like Jinx's advanced Liberty warship could qualify for this. If there were only one or two of them, people would go "oh wow" when they saw it- and if it wasn't any stronger than a regular ship of its class, there wouldn't be any "stupid privileged inner circle and their pwnship toys" stuff.

What's that? You say it's special and should make a more dramatic PvP impact? The same was said of the Tridente and Geb (mainly the Geb) before they arrived, and the people who argued that have regretted it ever since. Player success is not measured in whether or not your characters can kill their foes, or if your faction "wins"- it is measured in how much fun you have.

Unique, yes. Stronger no. Also, I don't see a faction requesting a one-of-a-kind/very rare SRP ship as any different from the Necrosis, Tundra, Persephone, etc... evaluate such requests on a merit basis. No reason to artificially tell people they're inferior when you can just do things case by case.

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[Vogel]

... Except when you constantly get screwed over in fights it begins to become less fun for virtually anyone: Even if you're in it for just the RP you'll eventually end up never being able to RP 50% of your character: aka the results of winning. But I've always attributed win/lose based on lag and baseline skill rather than gear; it's getting hit when I don't know I'm getting hit that gets me killed.

In terms of the Persephone and whatnot.. how often do you see custom ships like them? And what of the argument that you're "inflating Disco with ships nobody uses"? What if the person who intended to use it no longer does? The RP wore out? Don't get me wrong, I'd LOVE to have a Minuteman for Jimmy Doyle but when is that ever gonna happen for me?

[Linkus]

When the person leaves or doesn't want to use the ship anymore, it could be deleted.

Remember, ships do not add massive amounts of file size to the mod. The mod sits below 100mb, tiny considering the amount of changes in the mod.
Ship model file sizes are measured in kbs, not mbs. Honestly, they are not big whatsoever and the argument of "No one will use it, it's using up too much file size" is just plain silly.

If you have a good enough connection to play the mod online, you can download the mod easy, even if it was 500mb.
Think of it this way.
Adding say..5mb would give you enough space to add roughly 100 fighter models.

We don't need to worry about file size.



I think Sovereign summed it all up best really.
Interesting, different ships/objects are what people like.
If the LN wanted their bombers to have 1 less gun and a bigger powerplant instead, that could be a unique ship for them.
No reason why not, as long as it's balanced like all the other ships.

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Facilitating the rise of robotics since 0 A.D.

[Jeremy Hunter]

And would I ever get a Alliance Heavy Assault Carrier (battlecarrier) for my fourm-based RP? Probably never...

How the hell did Jinx and Mon-Star get those!?!?!?!?! I WANNA KNOW!!!!!!

On Topic:

Yeah...ANd can the Order get a Light Fighter for Recon? (like, a supped-up one off course with Lvl 9 guns because uh, its the Order, and without a max of Lvl 9 that fighter is screwed).

Ok, not really on topic....

BETTER IDEA FOR CORSAIR OSIRIS

RENAME the thing, and make it a stripped down version with Corsair texture or whatever!!!!

There goes my cash...back to the coin cup! TIME TO RAID IT BOYS!!!! *runs off to raid coin cup to get more cents to throw in huis 2 cents*

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May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Vape]

And would I ever get a Alliance Heavy Assault Carrier (battlecarrier) for my fourm-based RP? Probably never...

How the hell did Jinx and Mon-Star get those!?!?!?!?! I WANNA KNOW!!!!!!

On Topic:

Yeah...ANd can the Order get a Light Fighter for Recon? (like, a supped-up one off course with Lvl 9 guns because uh, its the Order, and without a max of Lvl 9 that fighter is screwed).

Ok, not really on topic....

BETTER IDEA FOR CORSAIR OSIRIS

RENAME the thing, and make it a stripped down version with Corsair texture or whatever!!!!

There goes my cash...back to the coin cup! TIME TO RAID IT BOYS!!!! *runs off to raid coin cup to get more cents to throw in huis 2 cents*

Jinx and Dreygon have been rping the Necrosis and the Persephone for years.

I'd like to get my own custom vessel ingame, but eh.

There has to be a way to get custom CMPs that have the same hardpoint as a ship that i can use for my own amusement while playing on the server....

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[Grail]

I agree and like the idea of faction ships. With some limitations of access, it would be a great opportunity for RP events.

But please, don`t go for those who already have superpowerpewpewawsomecorepower ships...yeah yeah...I know...just give the little guy a break of having some ships.

just my 0,2$

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LWB The Unioners Cryer~

[Jeremy Hunter]

Oh, so RP for a couple years the thing? I need cash and SRP for a Zoner Juggy or an IMG Zephyr...*prays* Please God, give mom money for Internet.

I want a custom ship of epicness =D

Oh, so give me a unique ship, because I have two fighters, one bomber, one freighter, and ONE cap (I've been here a year, so Im ona roll with having to deal with single ship stuff)

AN Epic unique fighter/bomber/GB/cap for me...*dreams* That would be awesome.

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May you ever walk in the Light, Shizune.

[Vogel]

My minuteman would be a cheap little piece of crap because it's over eight centuries old. The only bonus I figure it could have is a ridiculous speed advantage for a "Jump Drive" to get away when the lasers start flying. Plus it'd mean partial acknowledgment of the story I've been spinning with it, which means I'm sort of asking to screw with the devs' story. =/