[Official Event] Operation Pesticide

[Aazalot]

Zoners won but lose planet anyway?

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[Lusitano]

Zoners won but lose planet anyway?

shhhh!! zoners weren't supose to win from the beginning!

Verticalius except when is written, players always have very few influence on the story. some events said that, for example, there are two bases in system from opposite factions, and if faction A wins the base of faction B is destroyed and vice versa. the rest is just minors stuff like always was. but this case was ... what i already said ... bullpoop and shamelessly cheat! i'm not even talking about Alma, but those transports ... honestly ... ...

[Goddess Astra]

I just want to clarify for the sake of posterity that players will generally not be able to influence "big" changes in the story of the mod. This just becomes difficult to track, organize, and manage especially since it will near immediately devolve into competitive interests with little in the way of compromise. To combat this, "big" changes occur along a mostly predetermined path, but with secondary events, such as the transport objective in this event, which allow players to impact things in the future.

I have never agreed with this kind of policy, and I never will. If players can't influence large changes in the story, then participating feels hollow and pointless. Morale was very low on the Zoner side because people felt like no matter what they did, it wasn't going to matter. I understand where you're coming from, but there has to be a better way to do it.

The event's description also indicated that the outcome would be affected by the battle, and that felt like it was going to mean more than just whether or not transports managed to get away. As it stands, it felt like the tremendous effort put in by the Zoners wasn't acknowledged at all. The CNS report even says that the Zoners retreated or were dispersed, which is not what happened at all--in fact, it was the other way around. I can chalk that last bit up to inRP bias of the reporter, but still, it felt very misleading.

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Freelancer Reimagined: Complete Music Overhaul

[Erremnart]

'Rigged' events are necessary sometimes as despite the ingame balance, there are quite large differences between the factions power and tech wise. Despite the Zoners putting an extremely well effort, they cannot hope to take on the Liberty Battleship directly with their makeshift warships. It simply does not make any sense. In lore, Overlords are far superior to any zoner capital ship of similar size.

Story shouldn't be decided by the side which just overlogs the other one. That'd lead to some crappy story lines, like popular factions suddenly and against any lore logic overpowering their superior, but less popular adversaries.

There are some points that could be done better in the future, we are aware, and we will keep learning.

We thank you for your constructive inputs.

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Captain Virginia Belle
Task Force Phoenix
Battlecruiser Roanoke
Feedback Thread

[Thunderer]

[...]and with the Zoners having won the transport objective,[...]

I feel like this requires a clarification, I apologize if it was already given: far as I can tell, the transport score was a six to four in favour of LN.

[27.05.2023 18:07:26] ZTS-Greater.Fortune: Smith: Greater Fortune has reached the designated location, entering radio silence.
[27.05.2023 18:13:39] ZTS-Gran.Canaria: Berkey: Gran Canaria has made it out!
[27.05.2023 18:19:28] Death: ZTS-Anna's.Voyage was put out of action by 46th|Sebastian.Muller (Gun).
[27.05.2023 18:27:24] ZTS-Voluptuous.Vixen: Vixen is battered, but still in one piece
[27.05.2023 18:31:41] Death: ZTS-Lady.of.Livadia was put out of action by 46th|Delta-19 (Gun).
[27.05.2023 18:38:07] Death: ZTS-Beaushire was put out of action by [LN]-Adam.West (Gun).
[27.05.2023 18:47:47] ZTS-Sapporo: Sapporo has made it out but uh, we need to put out a fire onboard
[27.05.2023 18:51:06] Death: ZTS-Bed.of.Roses was put out of action by Sleazy.Guardian (Gun).
[27.05.2023 18:56:21] Death: ZTS-Freudentanz was put out of action by Chips.Dubbo (Gun).
[27.05.2023 19:04:25] Death: ZTS-Prosperity was put out of action by [LN]-Adam.West (Gun).

The event page states the winner is the side with more points, yet I keept hearing that Zoners succeeded in their objective anyway. Was there a change?

The end score was actually dead even, but accounting for my own interference in clearing the way for the Navy using the Alma, and some of the transports being quite generous in letting people catch up, we made the decision to rule the tiebreaker in favor of the Zoners.

I didn't take part in this and mathematics is not a part of my degree, so I'm having trouble understanding something. Can you please explain why are we so sure that 6 to 4 is "dead even"? Are the dsace records TheSauron posted fake or incomplete, and it was actually not 6 to 4? If so, what was the actual result?

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Bretonian Treaty Database Bretonian Armed Forces Recruitment Center
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[SnakThree]

Let's be honest. Staff can never appease all players. Event or no event, the story was planned to go in this direction whether players want it or not. Be happy that this community can still muster up activity for grand events.

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[Haste]

I have never agreed with this kind of policy, and I never will. If players can't influence large changes in the story, then participating feels hollow and pointless. Morale was very low on the Zoner side because people felt like no matter what they did, it wasn't going to matter. I understand where you're coming from, but there has to be a better way to do it.

For what it's worth I can personally see events where more than just the details can be decided by the players participating, but I do also think it's important to keep Story a little bit grounded. The "heroic defense" by the Zoners can be written into the game's plotline but ultimately making the Zoners successfully defend a planet like Erie right next to the capital of what is still probably the strongest (militarily) House in the sector, isn't realistic or feasible.

This was an open event. It was an "anyone can show up for either side" event. Had we wanted 1:1 results for the event and the storyline, we would have had to rig the event (more than we did) and have a small band of Zoners fight a much larger and better-equipped Liberty armada. Or allow Liberty's players infinite respawns, but no respawns for the Zoners at all. But would that have been fun? I don't personally think so. We have to make some concessions somewhere.

Like I said though I can see events where we either have limits for the participants on either side, or smaller stakes than an entire planet, where the outcome of the event can be more directly translated into the game's story. There are definitely factions and possible conflicts that aren't as "David vs Goliath" (I am aware of this being a bad example) as "Pennsylvania versus Liberty".

The event's description also indicated that the outcome would be affected by the battle, and that felt like it was going to mean more than just whether or not transports managed to get away. As it stands, it felt like the tremendous effort put in by the Zoners wasn't acknowledged at all. The CNS report even says that the Zoners retreated or were dispersed, which is not what happened at all--in fact, it was the other way around. I can chalk that last bit up to inRP bias of the reporter, but still, it felt very misleading.

Systems changes are being worked on for the next patch that reflect the outcome of the event. It will have a lasting effect on the game world.

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[Kherty]

So I was correct when I was ree'ing in-game, claiming that the event was rigged. As @Goddess Astra pointed out, morale was low on the Zoners' side.

The thing that annoyed me the most was the developers' unrelenting desire not to let the LNS-Alma be destroyed by what was essentially the remaining very large fleet of Zoners. The "miscommunication" excuse by @Haste was simply an attempt to cover up the fact that there was no communication at all. The whole point of PvP is that ships are not permanently destroyed, right? They are put out of action. I fail to see why... Oh, never mind, the CNS post just confirmed that it was 100% rigged and from the beginning

In short: The developers wanted the story to go one way and disguised it so that players would think they could have an impact on it. The fact that players logged in en masse for this while believing what I wrote above, should be listed as the "scam" of the century. There was no real choice, even if we fought tooth and nail on the Zoners' side. I'm not even angry, certainly not like I was during the event; I am simply disappointed that everyone, including all participants, were mere pawns in this questionable development of the story.

Thank you for the event, again, it's obviously a lot of work, but this is as questionable as it gets. Having the usual walls of text from everyone doesn't help. Especially from the devs.

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[Sally]

So I was correct when I was ree'ing in-game, claiming that the event was rigged. As @Goddess Astra pointed out, morale was low on the Zoners' side.

The thing that annoyed me the most was the developers' unrelenting desire not to let the LNS-Alma be destroyed by what was essentially the remaining very large fleet of Zoners. The "miscommunication" excuse by @Haste was simply an attempt to cover up the fact that there was no communication at all. The whole point of PvP is that ships are not permanently destroyed, right? They are put out of action. I fail to see why... Oh, never mind, the CNS post just confirmed that it was 100% rigged and from the beginning

In short: The developers wanted the story to go one way and disguised it so that players would think they could have an impact on it. The fact that players logged in en masse for this while believing what I wrote above, should be listed as the "scam" of the century. There was no real choice, even if we fought tooth and nail on the Zoners' side. I'm not even angry, certainly not like I was during the event; I am simply disappointed that everyone, including all participants, were mere pawns in this questionable development of the story.

Thank you for the event, again, it's obviously a lot of work, but this is as questionable as it gets. Having the usual walls of text from everyone doesn't help. Especially from the devs.

To believe that a bunch of Zoners with little to zero combat experience and no competent military training and equipment could face a House Navy battlegroup and somehow not only escape with most of their numbers intact (which is what happened), but also shoot down a dreadnought, would've been moronic writing and a truly rigged event to be honest, and I was on the Zoners side, I think the outcome was still a big win for Zoners considering who were they facing.

I do wonder if the Zoner Militant ID will get reworked and get ZoI on Pennsylvania now, that could be fun shenanigans.



That being said, I also think the player's actions should influence story events, but this one was far from a good one for such scenario.

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"I suppose many people will continue moving towards careless computing, because there's a sucker born every minute." - RMS

[Verticalius]

I have been listening to monologues about the dying Discovery Freelancer for years. I see 30-40 players (in my timezone) trading, the usual people doing crossRP amongst themselves, and blathering on the forums about the "good old days" when there were plenty of players. Now an event happens, everyone gets active, the community moves, the silent ones make their voices heard, new ships are made. I don't know if it was conscious, but finally SOMETHING happened to shake up all the stillness. It was a shame to spoil the ending in such an amateurish way.
Why couldn't there have been an outcome where Planet Erie temporarily becomes a separate Freeport, and a No-Fire Zone develops under Zoner authority, generating ongoing conflict between the Liberty Navy and Zoner? I get that the Liberty Navy is strong, but so is the Zoner, they're just scattered all over Sirius. The Navy will have to walk on eggshells to avoid Zoner battleships appearing from deep space (I hope that will come at some point) when word of the genocide reaches them. In my opinion it would have boosted player activity. But this is just ONE example of many. I refuse to believe that "the part of the story we didn't develop is where the Zoners might win". I get that we respect the ideas of our great predecessors, but what doesn't change, doesn't evolve, will inevitably wither and die.
Before anyone misunderstands, this is not meant to be a simple whine, but a constructive criticism. I'd also like to see a lot more people come back to play. We have done that now. We need to look at the reasons and reject the stuck up formulas that drive players away.