Bretonian RP - Stagnant? New Ideas? Pushing the line?

[FallenKnight]

@Jayce, you raised a very interesting issue.
I fully understand your opinion and I would like to say that I share it. BAF never used teamspeak nor ever had excellent pilots in mass. The LN Golden squadron, KNF, a lot of RM and later - Reavers are all people with experience. Since 2010 I know only few BAF considered as "pros" and most of them are gone.
Some may say "nobody want to fly BAF cuz of X and XX and XXX" but no...for nearly 5 years with so many leaders and changes BAF simply couldnt bring a heavy pro squad to counter some of the best veterans in disco. This is not whining so dont get me wrong - its a simple fact.

Rubber Duck and I did a try via QCA| to "reveal" Bretonia to all ppl, something like restart free option (we paid for the ships of all new guys) so they can learn and see we are cool. From nearly 20 ppl only 5 joined Bretonia (BPA/BIS/BAF) but most of them left as well.

You cant expect anything different if you put all vets on one side and leave few on the other with new people or some not so good in pvp but good in rp for example...you know what I mean right? Example: and with no offense towards them but - reavers - hunting new players "removed" a lot of ppl from BAF simply because those guys were suffocated to battle every time they log in...and ofc they die. This is not the way to "teach" others or make them good, its an overkill even if its "mercenary RP" it was just like an open season for hunting

There is one solution to this and its quite simple - Dieter ordered all of us to make KNF ships during the Kusari war. Once we saw the numbers are not equal ppl switched sides in order to balance the battles. It may not be best thing but still we had some fun on both sides. If the entire veteran team is on GRN side then for the sake of balance in PVP - make some indies if you have to and during battles fight on other side. Btw BAF made a lot of indie GRN and some caps to help GRN| when they were inactive and had problems. I also was part of such indie group. So things are not so impossible if ppl are eager to help each other..

ps: Just to add that its know fact most ppl dont like bret tech/ships. Currently we have shared ships and access to LN tech as well, so even indies may use some snubs and maybe caps...LN officials may also join GRN vs BAF battles because they have good ppl as well...still - nothing happens. Point is - BAf is no longer "templar or bye" - access to civilian ships is also granted like eagle and etc. Nobody can force a player to go other side but if you see the issues, compromise may be made.

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Discovery Bridges[Feedback] Baron Piett[Biography]

[Omi]

Given that GRN| was often hugely outnumbered not so long ago, it became necessary for us to develop the co-ordination that we eventually got used to as standard practice.

I will agree, though, that there has always been a skill imbalance tilted in Gallia's favour, although part of it I would peg down as an 'attitude problem' as well, given that I've seen BPA) complaining about BAF|'s flighty nature a number of times, and I don't think the Police faction is any more skill-endowed than their Armed Forces counterparts - they're just less willing to pack up and go home at the first sign of trouble. This is not a GRN|-centric behaviour either - I saw it happen barely a week ago when Corsairs came to visit Cambridge.

As for making cross-faction characters, I already own a BPA) Templar - as well as an indie BAF Templar - and have been reasonably (although not exceptionally) active on both. Unfortunately, the one time I could catch BAF| holding a training session in Salisbury, the platforms drove me back through the jumphole and none of the BAF| online could be bothered to pass me an ID to fix it, so I didn't even bother pressing the issue.

I am - and have always been - more than willing to help out Bretonian players in terms of 'how to shoot things', if any of them are willing.

This is all almost totally off-topic, by the by, but it still stands as an offer. However, again, I really don't think continuing Leeds brawling for another million years is the way to go for Bretonia and Gallia, since at this rate it will be 2020 and mod version 4.93 before the frontline is pushed back into even Tau-31.

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[FallenKnight]

Liberty is in the process of the biggest mobilisation in its history. Rheinland's gambit of blowing the gates in the face of a Libertonian advance has made the leadership of Liberty focus on the greater foe: a great portion of the Liberty Navy fleet is now on the move to Magellan to catch the advancing Royal Navy of Gallia in a pinch. But is the war between Rheinland and Liberty really over, or is the Rheinland Military merely trying to lull the Libertonians into complacency?

This is quote from the 4.87 story. The current battlefield is not Leeds. The in game battle for Leeds is lost all around Leeds story now is RP of soldiers fighting on the planet and some random cargo deliveries from smugglers. Magellan is the new "Leeds" - battlefield where things should be settled until .87 ends. And like it was suggested Liberty is on the line and should act more aggressively towards GRN and visa versa at Magellan. Bretonia is like being pushed aside for now.

I remember that devs said ones, the future updates for .87 and etc will come in small portions instead as one whole update. Perhaps if things move that way - we can have a fast progress of the story and more actions to be expected during the year. Everything else we discuss here that could be done or not is meaningless as long as we don't get information of the new main plot and how its supposed to evolve.
If the devs are not following what was proposed during Friday era then I take back my words but observing the overall story lore of .87 is making me to belive they indeed follow part of what he said. We should wait and see.

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Discovery Bridges[Feedback] Baron Piett[Biography]

[Omi]

Honestly, I agree insofar as if the storyline actually picked back up and started moving again, it would help things by varying the scenery a little. However, I still don't see it giving GRN| anything else to do other than shoot things - exactly what we've been doing for the past Lord-knows-how-long.

I'd say that along with Gallia being pushed back as the story intends, there also needs to be some rejigging of jumpgate/hole connections to breathe some life into the huge, dead House space that Gallia has. I'd be all for us losing some of our PvP warzone potential in return for a proper set of House systems for us to police and generally do all the kind of more RP-related things that other House militaries can do.

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[Cashew]

I think a large issue here, in terms of Leeds raids at the very least, is simple.

The "good" people don't want to play the Bretonian side of the game.

I can understand why. I flew a Dunkirk for less than 48 hours, participated in 3 Leeds "raids," and after a trio of losses because of incompetence on the BAF side, sold my Kirk to an NPC Station. This can all be summed up very succinctly in one ingame comment, by an old BAF member, directed at my Reaver.

"BAF|Ens.R.Ree: you all the best of server, we mostly noobs"

All things considered, look at the most active BAF players, versus the most active GRN players.

On the GRN side, I see myself, Flash, Flo, Haste, Omicega, Dan, Titanbot, and a number of others. All of those players are very, very competent in their chosen ship classes. The GRN has some of the best Battleship captains on the server, some of the best snub pilots on the server, some of the best pilots in general on the server.

When it comes to the BAF, the only people I can honestly recall from memory as being very, very good at what they do are Thunderer, as well as one or two others. And by god, does Thunderer give the Gallics a hell of a time.

Unit cohesion is a major issue. When the GRN log, a very good portion of us are regularly in Teamspeak. We coordinate targets in group chat. We keep firing on one target, and once it's down, we shift targets. On the BAF side, from my experience, everyone just does their own thing. This problem is only exacerbated when the LNS come into play, as they're even less likely to follow orders from the BAF than the HMS indies are.

So, on one side, we have excellent PVPers with wonderful coordination via Teamspeak and good tactics, as well as the ability to log quickly and en masse.

On the other side, we have slow Skype chats, members who are tired of losing, capital pilots who either cannot or will not follow orders, and do not know how to use their ships.

If the Bretonian side wants to actually win fights, (and I hate to sound trollish,) they need to get good, they need to get coordination, and they need to get Teamspeak.

+99999999 I agree.

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[Highland Laddie]

Well "just shooting things" is also kinda what a militarily does, especially in wartime.

So, I don't think it's a "bad" thing to have BAF-GRN fights, and not even in Leeds. (what made BAF/KNF fights or LN-RM fights in 4.85 any more/less fun anyways?

If the problem is just simply "stagnation" as the OP suggests, then the simple solution IS storyline progression.

So, the real discussion is where the story goes that:
1. makes RP sense
2. generates activity and interest for all factions involved

Maybe let's have some events revolving around Leeds/Magellan fights (as opposed to the random ones we have been doing, and open to other factions like Colonials, Council, etc.). Maybe some TAU or Languedoc raids by BAF or BIS/LSF task forces? Maybe a "Dolittle Raid" not into Gamma, but into IDF or Burgundy? Maybe find an actual military use for all those military-grade jump drives?

All of these sound more interesting and fun and dignifying than a simple "Bretonia surrenders & becomes puppet state" scenario. I wouldn't be surprised if that's partly why Kusari activity and interest died.

[Highland Laddie]

I would also agree with Omi and Cash that there's a definite discrepency between skillled BAF and GRN pilots. Numbers alone don't matter much in snub combat so much as skill. I saw something like 8-9 Judges get obliterated by 2 GRN Indies and 1 Reaver.

Maybe, a general willingness for the skilled players to divide themselves up a bit for the sake of making some generally fairer fights would be a.good development (although certainly not required)

[Cashew]

I would also agree with Omi and Cash that there's a definite discrepency between skillled BAF and GRN pilots. Numbers alone don't matter much in snub combat so much as skill. I saw something like 8-9 Judges get obliterated by 2 GRN Indies and 1 Reaver.

Maybe, a general willingness for the skilled players to divide themselves up a bit for the sake of making some generally fairer fights would be a.good development (although certainly not required)

Or just teaching us a few tricks or something..

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[Leppy]

Maybe, a general willingness for the skilled players to divide themselves up a bit for the sake of making some generally fairer fights would be a.good development (although certainly not required)

That's kind of what I was thinking. It's almost funny how Jayce said that "good" people don't want to play BAF because they will probably lose a space arcade game fight (ignoring that I find that comment a sad statement about said "good" players if they must win to have fun) then talks about always logging on the opposing GRN side instead.

Lets say all of the best players on the server individually try to join the BAF to fight. If they all go by Jayce's mindset, they will lose their BAF battles due to the current imbalance and switch to the GRN so they can pwn some newbs. Then the next "good" player comes along and the same thing happens except that the GRN side is even better because of the addition of the first player. Then the cycle continues with each successive "good" player until the BAF are just screwed no matter what. It's a self-fulfilling prophecy that actually makes the fights even less fun for both sides.

[Omi]

Or just teaching us a few tricks or something..

I'm always happy to teach what little I can. You can poke me on Skype (quicquid) or PM, or whatever method of contact floats your boat. I don't purport to be a decent teacher, or even anywhere near being a PvP "ace", though. Or, you could poke your nose into the Disco TeamSpeak, which occasionally gets very Conn-happy (such as right now, at the time of writing - nearly all of us are poking around in Connecticut)

Splitting skilled players between each side would help, but the main problem is the weaker targets will still be the first to pop no matter what, as a the pilots who are overall less able in PvP are generally the easiest to kill in a groupfight too, and will be weeded out accordingly.

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