[Official Event] Snake Eyes

[Barrier]

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Snake Eyes
Tau-37 | Tau-23 | Tau-31 | Tau-29 | Languedoc | Baffin | Coronado
Convoy Event

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Crayter Republic, IMG | Cryer | GNI, GN | Outcasts

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DATE & TIME

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Sat Sep 7th & Sun Sep 8th, 6pm-8pm UTC

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OVERVIEW

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The liberation of slaves from Omicron Alpha was a Pyrrhic victory for the Crayter Republic and the volunteers from IMG. Although significant damage was inflicted on the Outcasts, particularly to their pride, nothing that transpired towards the end of the Slave Uprising can be called a real victory. The situation turned even bleaker for the freed slaves themselves, who, instead of freedom, found themselves struggling on Freeport 10 as interest in their fate gradually waned.

However, the Outcasts were not satisfied with this situation. Sadistic threats of retribution coerced the Zoners to confine the escaped slaves into a makeshift annex. Over the last few years, the Outcasts have drip fed the Freeport with supplies of Cardamine at exorbitant cost; only enough to keep the escapees on the threshold of excruciating withdrawals, prolonging their suffering. Overcrowding in the annex had led to crime, unsanitary conditions and disease, with the situation reaching breaking point after an outbreak of Orange Fever spread to the Freeport crew, killing a young Zoner.

Meanwhile, in the Crayter Republic, the government faces growing unpopularity as the bruised population grapples with the lingering traumas of the Gallic War, the increasing encroachment of Liberty corporations and the Slave Revolt's disappointing outcome. The slaves marooned on Freeport 10 were a particularly embarrassing reminder of the campaign's shortcomings. When Freeport 10 once again reached out imploring for assistance, the Republic decided this was an opportunity to turn a bitter reminder into a quick PR win. An expeditionary force was assembled to conduct a quick evacuation back to Yuma.

GNI agents and the Cryer corporation in the Tau region were also aware of rumors of an imminent extraction attempt, and wanted to seize these former slaves for their own purposes. Both groups were intensely interested in the effects of Malta's biosphere on non-Outcasts, although for very different reasons. With the abolition of slavery on Malta, this was thought to be the last possible opportunity to obtain a significant sample size for study. However, some of the Outcast Dons have suggested that allowing the slaves to reach Yuma rather than Quillan or Harris could manufacture a political crisis between Crayter and Liberty. Little does the Republic know that these survivors were Insurgency POWs 'disappeared' from Erie's internment camps. Crayter's celebration of a prospective victory would shine an accidental and extremely unwelcome spotlight on Liberty's own corruption. Although they don't know it yet, both Gallic and Cryer security forces for the operation should expect a particularly challenging time during the convoys ahead.

With the evacuation planned on short notice to avoid substantial leaks, the Freeport is attempting to rapidly process refugees to prepare them for an uncertain future. Chaos has already began to reign on the docks, with station administration imploring any vessels for assistance in taking off the desperate masses. Few slaves have chosen to integrate into the populace despite its offer of safety and comradeship, and would rather gamble on a chance at a new life, away from their cruel masters. Most know that only the skill of the transport pilots and plain old luck will decide their fate in the times ahead.

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DETAILS

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Convoy Details:

• The refugee convoy will consist of any interested ships with Crayter, IMG, and Cryer IDs. They will have a chance to "purchase" slaves from Freeport 10 during the first 30 minutes of the event on each day.
  
• While the convoy isn't required to remain together, they may prefer to do so for safety in numbers.
  

Objectives:

• Crayter Republic and the IMG must transport the slaves to Planet Yuma.
  
• Cryer must transport the slaves to Planet Harris.
  
• GNI must transport slaves to Planet Quillan, by convincing others to dock there, transfer the slaves onto GNI ships, or by destroying the transports and tractoring in the slaves for themselves.
  
• The Outcasts may choose to attack any of the sides, but they have no reason to recover the slaves. They would prefer the slaves reach Yuma rather than Harris or Quillan.
  

Incentives:

• All Event IDs will earn a bonus for each kill of the other side's participating IDs. Outcasts and GNI/GN will earn a larger bonus. (Note that you are not forced to shoot anyone - do what makes sense INRP)
  
• The purchase price of slaves at event destinations will be substantially increased for the duration of the event, with Yuma having the biggest increase. This increase will last for an hour after event start (until 8PM UTC).
  
  

Rule Changes:

• Respawn timer for event IDs in event systems is reduced to 10 minutes.
  
• Only Cruisers and below are allowed to participate in the event.
  
• All event IDs have ZOI in event systems.
  
• Anyone carrying slaves must remain in an event system.
  

Possible Outcomes:

• The amount of slaves sold at each destination determines the relative success of the evacuation, and the contribution of each side.
  
• The RP that happens during the event will clarify the aftermath of the slave evacuation, and the standing between all factions involved regarding this issue.
  
• In order to make sure your delivery is counted, post a screenshot of the amount of slaves you're selling in your reply. (Mainly applies to slaves acquired via tractoring or trading).
  

Rewards:
Custom Title*
Requires an INRP write-up about the event from the point of view of your character. Can be submitted as a report within a relevant faction channel, or as a reply within the event story thread: The Evacuation.

Docking Module
Requires at least 3 player kills or 5000 slaves delivered to any destination.

[Nika]

It would be great if IMG had their own end goal and a drop off point rather than just working with Crayter to help a politician boost their electoral campaign; not denying the pragmatic approach described can take place but I believe thet'd rather divert their own transports to Camp Lister rather than going straight for Yuma.

They aren't exactly good friends with Crayter to care to go specifically there for whatever reasoning laid out.

[StellarViss]

It would be great if IMG had their own end goal and a drop off point rather than just working with Crayter to help a politician boost their electoral campaign; not denying the pragmatic approach described can take place but I believe thet'd rather divert their own transports to Camp Lister rather than going straight for Yuma.

They aren't exactly good friends with Crayter to care to go specifically there for whatever reasoning laid out.

I would agree with you there but if we are want what is best for the refugees it's Yuma. That planet is a better option for them then the frozen Camp Lister as Yuma is a actually habitable.

[Nika]

A valid point of view, of course. But Pecos could be an interim distribution point where IMG does two things: do something for their cardamine dependancy and prepares to move them to a safer and more habitable place of their choice.

I'm sure most would settle down on Yuma alright, but definitely not all of them are eager to forcefully become Crayter citizens.

Overall though, the event idea's great and breathes much needed life into Taus that isn't traders aggressively printing money on currently most profitable route. One I'll try my best to show up for.

[Petitioner]

This is an extremely interesting concept for an event. I'm very excited for it (even if I doubt I'll be able to participate myself), so please don't take my feedback too harshly, because overall I think this is genuinely awesome and I'm super mega hype to see how it goes. That said, I do have a few concerns—perhaps better said, "observations".

• Constraints: The primary one is the extraordinarily short duration. An event with RP consequences (the writeup post doesn't specify whether they are major or minor ones, though it implies they'd be larger but the trend in recent times has been for minimizing consequences of player activity as much as possible, if any consequences exist at all) lasting for a mere hour seems absurd to me; particularly given the scant ten minutes for any transports to actually purchase the slaves, as without slave haulers there is no event. People will be late because of RL, there will be technical issues, etc etc. These things happen with every event, and larger time windows are probably the best way to give people time to work around these things.
  
  
• Execution: Given the short duration, expecting people to do extensive roleplay during the event seems a little strange. With all due respect to the community, I find the notion of an Outcast cruiser sitting and chatting with a GNI kidnapping operation, or an IMG strike wing discussing the political implications of their actions with the Cryer transport they're demanding custody of the refugees from, or people writing forum posts while also forward gunning a Crayterian gunboat filled with slaves, to be frankly absurd. If you aren't literally expecting these things to happen during this hour-long period, you really ought to make that more clear in the OP.
  
  
• Analysis: I very much like the idea of people writing AARs for custom forum titles as well as impacting(?) the outcome of the event with their writing. However, it would be nice if you would clarify what kind of time limit there is on these RP submissions. It would also probably make things a lot easier on the processing end if you created a premade template for submitters to use when reporting their slave deliveries.
  
  
• Precedent: The very short duration of this event, the expectations placed upon players for its duration, and the detailed assessment of player actions during and after the event all implicitly require a level of control, attention to detail, and spontaneity on the part of whoever is "running it" that, to my eyes, seems extremely out of character for Discovery events. This is not necessarily a bad thing. More than a typical Disco event, it makes me think of the sorts of GM-run events in D&D/PF "living world" campaigns that seems entirely spontaneous to players, or spur-of-the-moment mini-plots that staff rope players into in something like Neverwinter Nights or more longform Space Station 13 servers. I know that Discovery has experimented with such things before, though unfortunately I was entirely unable to participate in them (at first due to terrible lag—forum search "what's wrong with Haymaker"—and later because I lacked a PC for several years) but I've gotten the impression they were well-liked. If this event is an attempt to soft-pivot towards doing more impromptu "GM"-run events again, I'd be delighted to hear about it because not only would that get me to log in more often, but it would likely be highly engaging for new players as well. However, if extremely short-form events like this are going to continue to take weeks or months to plan (because I know this one's been cooking for a while), then I have to express skepticism about the prospects of such.
  

All that said, I am cautiously very optimistic and I look forward to trying to show up but having my attention snatched away by something urgent IRL at the last minute seeing how it goes (even if that's just by reading the after-action reports written by my fellow GNI members or whoever else).

Also, it's nice to see IMG getting something we can actually participate in (unlike the absolutely kafkaesque Dublin event).

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Recruitment | Task Force Prometheus | ICN FIRESTORM

[StellarViss]

Nika you are absolutely correct perhaps we could have used the infrastructure on Pecos that are left after CR colonised Yuma it has should be able to accommodate more that the mining camp.

Now Petitioner brought up a good point about this event. Personally I am more interested in Game Masters. They could be a excellent addition to Discovery and should increase activity simply by existing. Players would log to see what the GM would do. Just with that more server activity should be generated.

(As I am a student it is smack dab in the middle of my exams but that is my personal skill issue.) I would have liked a earlier heads up so that the IMG had reasonable time to prepare inRP for the refugees to be sent to Pecos. But that is a small nitpick otherwise I am more than glad for this event.

[Barrier]

To respond to some of your comments:

The IMG as a whole don't particularly care about the fate of escaped slaves, hence why we mention volunteers. However, those who have a more pragmatic approach may decide to use their assistance to secure some kind of favor from Crayter. Maybe they want them to resist Liberty expansion into Coronado, maybe they want increased security guarantees in the Taus from them. Now, it's also true that some IMG captains will do this job to screw with the Outcasts, regardless of the ultimate outcome. There's plenty of bad blood between them.
All this to say that the IMG will not have their own drop-off. And for those who care about the slaves, going to Yuma is still the best bet, since that's where new infrastructure is being created. Pecos just had a refugee crisis, they don't want another one.

RP during the event and RP before & after the event are categorically different. During the event, yes, you have little time to talk things out. But there's nothing stopping you from doing so. Just as with a regular pirate interaction, you have 5-10 minutes of RP, after which you are let go, or you get attacked. However, I did notice a problem that people may run into, which will be solved with a increased slave purchase timer. That being, if you get pirated, you are screwed. Now, you can go back and buy another load if you dare.
After the event, the RP which can take place isn't timed. You have plenty of opportunity to take the slaves somewhere else, embellish your experience as part of the convoy, talk about how the slaves are settling in at the various destinations, etc. This is partly why I don't want to provide a template. Take a look at The Dig and The Gala. I consider both to be very good examples of collaborative storytelling centered on an event. And the requirements for them were pretty minimal.

Now the last point about events as a whole. Anyone can make unofficial ones that center on something other than a football match of two even fleets. If people need incentives beyond the rp itself, there are many in the community swimming in cash and gear. I personally can only do so much with my other responsibilities in and out of disco. If I could drop those to focus solely on events, you could maybe see weekly mini-events, but it wouldn't be fun for me and likely burn me out. More event devs would be welcome to get closer to this point, but if you don't want to organize unofficial events, you probably wouldn't enjoy doing official ones either.

[Reeves]

Maybe they want them to resist Liberty expansion into Coronado

That would be the day.

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On indefinite hiatus because the current state of gameplay sucks - ping me over discord if replies are needed

[TheKusari]

but if you don't want to organize unofficial events, you probably wouldn't enjoy doing official ones either.

Not interested in the event, but I shall take this particular statement on board.

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Discovery's Best Faction:  Starfliers
Second Best: Liberty Navy 46th Fleet

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[Amba]

Seeing as the IMG has a pretty mixed history with Crayter and its angle would be more anti-Outcast than anything seems somewhat weird that it'd be locked out of every delivery point but Yuma