Release - Discovery 4.92: Storm's Wake

[Thunderer]

Baguette. That's stick in French.

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Bretonian Treaty Database Bretonian Armed Forces Recruitment Center
Bretonian Charter of Interstellar Law Bretonian Secrets Act

[Groshyr]

Valor named Groshyr's Baguette and Bret Carrier Groshyr's Tea Bag

[Groshyr]

Wait... Is that a patch thread? Oops...

[Binski]

Coalition would glad to left it to the Zoners

they don't wont!


and also Thunderer! I already fought several pvp there, but that was on the beginning, after that ... noboady went there! i could log and stand there shoot npcs and ... wait and wait and not a single player show up! so what i did? i have a real life ok? but since several months ago that system was basicly empty! so ... i didn't show up because you, and when i say you i mean bretonnia, also didn't show up, to defend that system that looks like you, bretonnia, love so much that the players said that didn't wanted it .. right!!!!

That's because there's nothing to do, and nothing needed to be done by the players IN THE GAME. I saw a suggestion for extended ZOI for BAF, but what do you do on punitive expeditions? go sit in a system and wait for someone to show up? There's no mechanism provoking players to get online. A goal of at least protecting something real, in real time, at least adds more incentive for players to go get involved if they see that their territory is being violated, or that their critical bases were under attack. If you want to pvp just hit conn, why all the work to just pvp elsewhere? You can currently fight wars by not logging, as the 'outcome' will be decided for you anyways, or is all scripted anyways. Boring!

We need some real targets on both sides in every war, MAKE players and factions get online to defend their turf. Every day this issue gets ignored we waste another day on a static boring game with no real point, not even real principles. Just setting up pointless PVP situations still isnt enough to help curb the population problem.

I know people seem to assume that some factions couldn't handle it or are so small they will be overwhelmed...but if we open up the situation and see who may join in, these conflicts may actually be cause for people to get online and join a faction. For the rest of balance from small factions vs big ones, NEMP's seemed to be a fine solution.

Until we address the issue of gameplay mechanics, we can change system names, temporarily change ZOI's and faction lore, but the broken mechanics of the game will continue to prevent any reasonable player efforts or counter efforts, and fail to give people a reason to want to try to get involved. The game itself and basic flying/combat experience is enough to draw a player's attention to the game, but it doesn't keep them here after a while. With bullying and drama also driving people off, we need to modernize the approach to how we use the game.

Developers need to realize that its time to set aside some time for this issue in 2020. Until something is done on it, I can't even play, except like I said in previous posts, mindless pvp or piracy. Thats just to satisfy the addiction! Otherwise, the game we could have ongoing here is what I see, and so I'll talk about it instead of grinding or patrolling over a more serious issue. Without real goals, there's no real reason to log but some mindless pvp, (or trade for stuff or ships for mindless pvp) when under a system most pvp would be over something, which is where real incentive to play comes from these days! it makes people get online instead of watching the list or a bot!

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The Further Exploits of Captain Antares (August 2015) │ (alt) JonasHudson
*Argo | Special Operative ID (Approved Request)* | Argo Compilation Video
################ *Proposed OF Challenge System* ################
############### The Book of Piracy (Piracy Tutorial) ###############
############### Binski Alamo (Youtube Channel) ###############

[Lusitano]

You should make it more obvious that you want to shoot. Exeter is a bit far from other systems and it takes long to get there, so it often used to be avoided in common patrols during the Gallic war, plus there were Gauls to shoot as well. A random name sitting in Exeter attracts no attention. Zoners are usually considered neutral, too. You should make some naming convention that is visibly hostile to Bretonia. Maybe make a faction? Zoner Resistance Forces (ZRF|)? Tags attract attention.

i think some of you BAF know it ... at least some time ago did, because i even talked with some after the pvp and one even knew what i wrote on the stories ... know probably forgot but like i said before, i spent a lot of time doing nothing there alone!! why? simple! like you said there was more stuff to do and also few players ... fewer and fewer, and also as some already said, lack of interest!! i don't believe this war will last long time, probably even worst than the rhein vs kusary war .. a lot of fun at the first weeks and then meh!!!! simply because it already proven that no matter what you do, the devs will not care.

[Markam]

You should make it more obvious that you want to shoot. Exeter is a bit far from other systems and it takes long to get there, so it often used to be avoided in common patrols during the Gallic war, plus there were Gauls to shoot as well. A random name sitting in Exeter attracts no attention. Zoners are usually considered neutral, too. You should make some naming convention that is visibly hostile to Bretonia. Maybe make a faction? Zoner Resistance Forces (ZRF|)? Tags attract attention.

i think some of you BAF know it ... at least some time ago did, because i even talked with some after the pvp and one even knew what i wrote on the stories ... know probably forgot but like i said before, i spent a lot of time doing nothing there alone!! why? simple! like you said there was more stuff to do and also few players ... fewer and fewer, and also as some already said, lack of interest!! i don't believe this war will last long time, probably even worst than the rhein vs kusary war .. a lot of fun at the first weeks and then meh!!!! simply because it already proven that no matter what you do, the devs will not care.

This "war” will last forever really. There will be little gains on each side, as there really isn't much to gain for each side. Omega-52 obviously cannot be invaded as it is the only Coalition system in existence, and Omega 49 will be too hard for Coalition to break. Stirling may get destroyed though, its older than the Hood.

This conflict is another Corsair/Hessian style war, never ending, never stopping, but not much happening kind of thing. Its just a source of PvP and roleplay. There are thankfully a lot of players involved on both sides and I don't think there is a deep seeded oorp hatred, so it should be fun.

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Markam is evil

[Reddy]

Good update
interesting changes, many possibilities.
actually making me thinking about playing again.

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[Markam]

I had a first chance to fly about yesterday, picked up a few changes in Bretonia worthy of note.

• Leicester Shipping Platform (or something like that), a new Bowex base in Nottingham next to Sprague (pls change this planets name..). Bowex lost most of their bases during the war so it is nice to see they get one back, especially in a new frontier. Base sells Hull Components which is great for POBs in the area, and seems to import Gallic goods. It however does not sell any non-pob good, not even say, goods sold on the planet.
  
• Durham station was built in Leeds next to the NL gate, originally this was a BPA station before the war, now it is a Bowex station. Originally Bowex was based out of Glasgow next to the Tau-31 gate, so this seems to be a representation of the shifting of Bretonian borders south.
  
• Already mentioned I think, but Battleship Harlow moved from Cortez to Newcastle, and Ark Royal from Newcastle to Poole. This move was requested by the BAF previously via a faction request. Ark Royal to replace the ancient Stirling and Harlow, an under-strength fleet, to bulk up at Scarborough.
  
• Planet Harris infocard was changed to reflect Crayter "annexing" the planet. Players agreed inRP that we would avoid conflict over the planet, and say Bretonia agreed to lease the planet to Crayter, now the infocard makes it look like Crayter is upsetting Bretonia by stealing the planet while Leeds burned. Makes Crayter look like a bunch of horrible people.
  
• Birmingham in Manchester was rebuilt, and instead of being returned to BMM was given to Planetform. The bases original purpose was making terraforming goods to be shipped to Liberty, so Planetform is a sensible owner. Player RP exists to try terraforming a planet in Manchester, so it could be a good RP start point. The lanes nearby were also repaired.
  
• Mentioned elsewhere but Poole now has a gate construction site to connect to Exeter.
  

That is all I noticed so far. I imagine a lot more was changed especially in Gallia, but for Bretonia it seems that we are getting tidied up a bit. I would like the Newcastle gate connection fixed, New London lanes fixed, and Sprague renamed, but in general we are looking less of a mess with the update.

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Markam is evil

[Kokopelli]

I decided to be a fool and spent a good couple of hours looking for what's been changed in Gallia.

GALLIC REPUBLIC

Picardy:

• Battleship Saumur moved to Provence; La Fierte is now guarding Planet Amiens in its stead.
  
• Haute-Seine Shipyard transferred to EFL.
  
• Saint-Quentin Space Colony transferred to Gendarmerie.
  
• Calais and Fort Etaples transferred to OCI and Defense Forces, respectively.
  
• Jumphole to Champagne removed.
  

Orleanais:

• Evreux Research Facility still owned by the Enclave; its infocard updated with an explanation.
  
• Jump Gate to Ile-de-France now connects to Champagne; a new Jump Gate to IDF has been placed to the south of Orleans.
  
• Same with the Jump Hole that previously led to IDF.
  
• Battleship De Grasse is now guarding Planet Orleans.
  

Champagne:

• Mazagran Depot has been destroyed by the Confederacy.
  
• Planet Sedan and its moon moved to where Mazagran used to be. GMS and EFL are now jointly developing the planet.
  
• Marne's second Docking Ring moved to Sedan.
  
• All above changes are reflected in the updated infocard for Sedan.
  
• Epernay Station moved south, its infocard updated.
  
• Reims Station transferred to EFL, its infocard updated.
  
• Chalons-en-Champagne transferred to Defense Forces and used to dismantle battleships Cambrai and Chaumont, its infocard updated.
  
• Sealed Jump Gate to the northeast of Marne removed.
  
• Jump Hole to Burgundy moved to the east of Marne.
  

MINARCHY OF PROVENCE

Provence:

• Battlecruiser Sisteron and Frejus Base infocards updated.
  
• Both infocards say Frejus was abandoned by Brigands after the Minarchy had joined the Confederacy, and that Sisteron is now hiding in its vicinity. However, in-game the base still belongs to Brigands and Sisteron remains in its old place.
  
• Battleship Saumur is now guarding Cannes Resort Station.
  
• Cannes Resort Station transferred to Gendarmerie, its infocard updated.
  
• Slight changes to Monte Carlo and Toulon Mining Facility infocards.
  
• Luxury Liner Antibes infocard updated.
  

Languedoc:

• Battleship Pamiers is now guarding the entrance to the minefield.
  
• Limoux Base infocard updated.
  
• Nimes Station infocard updated.
  

Dauphine:

• Entire system layout has been flipped horizontally.
  
• Grenoble Depot has been destroyed by the Confederacy; in its place now lies Grenoble Wreck.
  
• Montelimar Base infocard updated.
  
• Fourchambault Shipyard infocard updated.
  
• Planet Vienne infocard updated with interesting details on how the Minarchy acquired the Dauphine system.
  
• Same with Gap Station infocard.
  
• Jump Hole to Burgundy moved to the northeastern end of the system.
  
• Jump Gate to Burgundy now connects to Ile-de-France; where the old Jump Gate to IDF used to be, there is now Montbrison Prison Station, a new installation meant to replace Fleury-Merogis in IDF. Infocard of the latter has been updated accordingly.
  

DUCHY OF BURGUNDY

Burgundy:

• Jump Gate to Dauphine has been sealed.
  
• Battleship Venissieux is now guarding Planet Nevers.
  
• Montbard Base has been destroyed by Battleship Rocroi; infocard of the latter has been updated.
  
• Macon Base transferred to OCI, its infocard updated.
  
• Alesia Station infocard updated.
  
• Dijon Station and Avallon Station infocards updated.
  
• Chambery Base moved slightly to the east.
  
• Jump Hole to Champagne moved to where Chambery Base used to be.
  

Lorraine:

• Battleship Epinal is now guarding Planet Metz.
  
• Verdun Base and Thionville Base infocards greatly expanded.
  
• Every other solar in the system had their infocard updated.
  

ILE-DE-FRANCE
Not much here, because I didn't have the patience to thoroughly check through IDF; there's just way too many objects shoved into one system.

• All battleships above New Paris moved to other systems.
  
• Battleship Montreuil infocard rewritten.
  
• Fleury-Merogis Prison Station infocard updated.
  
• Versailles Residence transferred to Interspace Commerce, its infocard updated.
  
• Jump Holes and Jump Gates seem to remain unchanged.
  

I must have surely missed something, but this still shows a lot has been changed in Gallia alone. No wonder we weren't given a comprehensive changelog on release.
All in all, I very much enjoyed reading through the updated infocards. Most have been rewritten to be more extensive or more concise where necessary, and there is a lot of thoughtful and flavorful worldbuilding in there.

I think it's about time Gallia was integrated more organically with Sirius instead of being a disjointed appendage of a House whose only function was to play an external foe. On top of these new changes, Gallia's environments need some love for them to be more aesthetically consistent with the rest of Sirius. There still remain some ugly things from early days of the mod, like the overabundance of planets, asteroid fields and nebulae in Gallic systems. With Freelancer's unrealistically short space distances, all these celestial bodies do is clutter both the Nav Map and the scenery around the player.

Ile-de-France is the worst offender here. The Gallic capital is in dire need of its own Baron Haussmann who would change its layout to be visually neat and easier to navigate. There's simply too many stations, planets (these are the worst, ples delet some of them mercilessly), trade lanes, asteroid and debris fields crammed into one system. IDF alone has more planets than one or two other Houses combined, and it's not like they all serve some practical purpose or even have any significant worldbuilding put into them.

Why they must be delet:

• They hang unreasonably close to each other, overshadowing the robust infrastructure and beautiful starspheres of Gallia.
  
• There are too many of them to give each a distinct appearance. There's only so many textures you can slap on a planet, and Gallic planets suffer horribly from texture repetition.
  
• There is simply no reason for them to be so numerous. Proportions of objects and distances between them have never been realistic in Freelancer, so why throw in together as many celestial objects as a real-world solar system would realistically have? Vanilla Freelancer is very reserved in this regard; you'll hardly ever see more than 3-4 planets in even the bigger systems like New York.
  
• Vanilla planets, by the virtue of being so scant, functioned as dominant feautures of the scenery that would grab your attention against the backdrop of a colorful starsphere (Hiran, Fuji, Leeds, Gaia etc.) Hell, even all of Disco planets (except in Gallia and Pennsylvania and maybe somewhere else) function same way when they are not mindlessly huddled into one system (Tuvalu+Nauru, Tangier, Rabat, Gran Ca Exeter). Now imagine if there was a dozen other planets hanging in the same system with those. Would the scenery still be as beautiful?
  

Sorry for the wall of text. I don't post often, let alone in such verbose manner, but I've been wanting to get this off my chest since 4.86 and I'd like to see if anyone else in the community is concerned by this. Especially now that Gallia has received some major facelifts and is likely to see more updates to make it a livelier place.

[Maltz]

Orleanais:

+BHG got a base in Orleanais. Tha system layout make it possible to skip IDF (imho an extremely oversized and probably the most crowded system), so that's actually a nice update.

Champagne:

They call the GB pirates, but stealing a whole docking ring is a whole new level. Atmospheric entrance is still there.