About that. I regret saying that very much. They were moronic assumptions I made, I admit. However, while I still believe the United Systems is a powerful faction, I accept the fact that we are not the -most- powerful. No one is. And I am accepting of the fact that, if we did take part in a faction war, we could lose it quite easily. As for the scanner, it is an attempt to prevent godmoding of others -before- it occurs. Would you want someone to come to your colony, shoot someone, then try to get away and cause a huge OOC argument? We don't wish to deal with unplanned attacks, if people are willing to plan it with us, we will work with them.
Because don't go for a military faction, if you are looking for a more adventerous type who instead meets people and does things with them. Then start relationships and so on.
So being a soldier = having no relationships or feelings and being musclehead? You're aware that being part of a military faction does not restrict your personality or whether or not you can marry or date people? Look at real soldiers. They have families and feelings
Don't be silly. There were many executive decisions by many previous "leaders" of the USCM that has created a longstanding OOC hatred that doesn't even fully have an IC backup these days. The sad part is that the attittude stayed after the toxic leaders were removed, rendering all the strides to attempt to reach out futile
Those of you who have replied, you've made your point. We have faults. We're human. And you clearly don't want to give us a chance to redeem ourselves. I've locked this thread to prevent any further arguments. Thank you for making it painfully obvious to us just how much we're hated OOC because of issues in the past.
Asking for criticism, and then closing it when you are faced with criticism. Very classy. What's next, creating alt account sockpuppets to say how great the USCM is? The USCM magic scanner. A real nasty piece of godmoding. Firstly, the scanner detects "weapons, contraband, or dangerous materials". These are categories of items that are defined by intent, not by physical properties. This means the scanner can detect intent, aka read minds. Real world scanners do not do this. They look for metal or particular compounds that are known to be used for explosives, or create images of items with x-ray absorption properties concealed in bags. USCM scanner? Whatever the USCM players find most convenient, retroactively. This is how the USCM roleplays it too, as many, many people know all too well; their scanner detects intent. If someone smuggles in something that could be creatively used as a weapon; USCM players demand retcon and void the whole RP (magic 'v' word there too). Ultimately, the scanner boils down to a tool the USCM uses to void any sort of conflict RP directed towards them. Can't let anything interrupt their precious power fantasies. The Holy Fleet has taken casualties, suffered from poor and corrupt officers and enacted draconian and eventually drastic policies in response to attacks against them. Some of this is documented publicly in Fleet Reports. The Holy Fleet has, overall, shown maturity and chosen what makes sense over satisfying a power fantasy. The USCM have, time and time again, whined a lot when things do not go their way; even to the point of throwing a tantrum when someone points out an avian is immune to pepper spray due to basic biology. Additionally, the USCM not only are in their own bubble because nobody wishes to interact with them, but also because they refuse to engage in any roleplay where a predetermined outcome of their "victory" is planned. A recent example of this is the Wayrest event, where a distress signal blatantly directed at the USCM was ignored for hours (the USCM were active at this time; instead choosing to OOC'ly chat about how great they are and how they can exact retribution against someone insulting them over comms).
The thread was closed before I was even given a chance to respond, and I'm going to come forth and say that you've brought up some very good points. These are things I'd like to work on, and I acknowledge that we've made a ridiculous number of bad decisions and treat every situation like we're destined to win. It was rather frustrating looking at the previous thread and seeing the reactions to these criticisms, I sincerely apologize.
I always liked your approach when it comes to USCM. You could pull this faction off it's knees, but you need help of somebody else. But I've seen you recently playing other video games rather than bothering with the faction much. Perhaps you need some sort of a break, since I don't think you have much motivation to work with USCM right now.
That's the reason I've been inactive directly, I've been taking a break from SBRP. Although I'm by no means completely uninterested and inactive. I do monitor the forums and in game happenings. We have an interest to improve the things that are needing of it, but if we're going to do so we also need the community to meet us halfway and at least forgive us for the things that have occurred in the past. At least OOC wise, IC wise hatred against us with a good reason behind it is something I can't gripe about.
I doubt the community will protest against you trying to improve your roleplay and quality of the faction. But you see, you need to first work on your own faction first before meeting others. We can talk about it in Steam, if you want.
My problems with the USCM have, for a long time, been that unless they can be the hero, they don't want to be involved. Now, I'm fine with you creating your own events and enjoying yourselves that way, but whenever a current uscm character is around, they always seem to demand everyone respect them for their awesomeness. The whole faction gives off a vibe of "We can't be bothered with you" Which is just... Awful, really.
My main gripe about the United Systems is/was the "we always win because USCM" mentality. That is what I took away from my limited time in the group and other interactions I had with them on other characters, and is ultimately what has always thrown me off potentially including them in any potential scenarios Crosswell has cooked up. It's honestly a shame, because I'm of the opinion that it would make an amazing series of events or arcs, given Cross's storyline of being a former marine that defected to a rival faction and ultimately becoming one of its core leaders. I would love to be an antagonist for the United Systems. I would have loved to escalate the situation into potential open conflict, but I haven't, because in the back of my mind there is a little voice that says "it doesn't matter because it will always end the same way - the United Systems wins." Do you know what happened when Joshua and gang found out that a former marine, listed KIA, had been discovered alive? Nothing. There was no confrontation, no potential escalation of hostilities, no confirmation that a former ally had defected without telling anyone. There could have been, but there wasn't. Joshua was angry for five minutes, he and some others went to the Den, shouted at some random innocent bystander, and then left. Ultimately, I feel that is what throws people off from interacting with the faction. They do not see meaningful roleplay potential, because they're worried the soldiers of the United Systems will just get in their power armor and claim victory because reasons. And then they go off and do something else, because it doesn't matter since they never leave Union anyway and have literally zero influence in server faction politics.
The "We always win" mentality is something that died with Ashe, at least for the most part. An example being, in one of the USAF's own events they did recently 90% of the characters involved came back horribly maimed or otherwise greatly traumutized. And example being Felith losing his remaining biological limbs. Many of the problems are still being worked on, albeit slowly. And the scanner has also been something long thought needed to be revamped, and has been talked about.
