I have made a few observations in the last 2 days that caused some questions on my side to arise. Maybe I am in the wrong here - If I am, I would like to hear why and get a better understanding of the situation. So, a while ago, NC was destroyed. This was sort of a turning point for the server (At least in my opinion) because many people enjoyed that city with all its quirks and qualms. Sure, the RP was not always on the top of it's game, but when is it - ever? Now, yesterday, Taranis was raided, again by the Outcasts. While I do appreciate an antagonistic faction, the sole appetite for destruction and chaos shown kind of set me off. Because it leads to a sort of imbalance. This imbalance of power shows easily when a raid is dissected as it goes. Gather up some people, get on TS, and organize yourselves to wreak havoc. This would not pose a problem, if there was any sort of fair fight. We do have a consent system regarding battle, so why is there no consent system regarding raids? As it stands now, the one clear problem in my eyes is that people work hard to get their colony running, then something happens (like the beginning of the school year) and you have a sudden drop in attendance, faction-wise. All the while other people are actively working on bringing down the colony that you built. Again, maybe sugarcoating the whole thing is not how people want to play on the server, overall, but for me, one truth shows: It is easier to destroy than it is to create. Make a crater, call it a day. Rebuild it ICly? Takes a lot of time, dedication, and resources. So my question is: Is it really fair to allow people to act like that? Sure, I am not one to run around and say "Lets all just play fun and rainbows, while we ride on unicorns into the sunset", but this loss of balance - And the implications it carries, meaning that effectively at the moment almost no one would be able to stop an organized force of 7-10 people that invades spontaneously (who has that many guards at the ready every time, all the time?) - kind of breaches roleplay ethics, at least in my opinion. Regardless of the player, we should have enough respect for his work to not break it into shambles at a whim. And this is a whim, basically. That was my two cents. If I am in the wrong here, feel free to tell me. Apart from that, I am interested in your thoughts regarding this. VD, over and out.
I do believe you need to get the colony leader's permission before doing stuff big like that. -May- not be, but I think I saw something like that in the CoC. Ninja Edit: Just checked, it -used- to be there, but not anymore.
Totally agreed. We need villains, but an organized raid ought to be an RP event that local authorities can anticipate OOCly.
So wait, theoretically someone could just place a nuke on some colony (ignore the difficulty of obtaining such a thing ICly for now), get off the planet, and outright destroy the entire colony without anyone noticing ICly because the CoC no longer says you have to get colony leaders' permission for a major raid like that anymore? Don't get me wrong, I'm all for conflict, but I'd rather not have something just completely wiped out because someone decided to ICly raid on a whim and no players knew about it beforehand and could be online to ICly attempt to defend anything...
Everything that happened on New Chicago occurred with the explicit OOC permission of the colony leader. Julius was actually involved with the planning of those raids. MORE people actually came to New Chicago when it looked post apocalyptic. Because that setting made things interesting.
I was just saying it used to be in the rules, but no longer was. I am all for getting OOC permission first.
You do realize I let the outcasts do what they did because it made sense IC. When the guards weren't online, I RPD them not being there. The server has rules against npcs and it's just shitty RP in general.
Eh, its not exactly shitty RP. In your case (not meaning any offense here), but it made sense for your guys to not exactly be around so much, as, you weren't exactly strict. And that makes sense, being they were just police. But in cases where the colony has a standing guard force stationed there, that is IC always there, that's a different case. A simple bump to faction/colony head saying "Hey, we're planning on attacking at [Insert time/date here], that alright?". And said leader can just be like "Yeah sure", and then you have a time/date for everyone to be on. TL;DR: No need to be strict, just ask, not that hard.
It's mostly a matter of courtesy. Players can't be on 24/7 , but it's assumed when they're offline, their pc is at home doing all the mundane boring bits few people want to rp. Poopin' sleepin' surfin' da net, sleeping, writing logs, etc. It's a nice courtesy to give a colony leader a heads up. It also prevents some ooc oddities such as *Somehow slept through multiple firefights and explosions.* Or joe-blow the guard *Brushin' his teeth and updating his diary/log, while Terrorist Jane and Outlaw Bill blow up the building next door. Completely abandons any sense of duty, or character depth, by taking zero action.* Most colony people are cool with stuff, and working with things, when they know what's going on.
This post is here so it's up for discussion. The forum exists so that people can discuss it, and moderators can look at it, and viewpoints can be shared. If it's necessary, the mods might even make a rule about it. If this thread is upsetting you, form an organized opinion and post it here like everyone else, instead of assuming everyone's going to bash on you for little to no reason. The definition of "raid" can be stretched as much as people want it to, as long as it's still discussion and not making false claims. Stretch it the other way if you want, just stay civil and be prepared to be called out on any dishonesty.
I will personally say this, today was not a raid when the outcasts came to Taranis. They walked into a barn and talked amonggst themselves. It wasn't until people meta'd their way over there that we had a problem.
Well, if we're all providing examples. Random fort appears on colony. Colony owner is baffled. None of the colony members made it. It was made when folk were offline. Ask colony members. No claim on it. Fort gets destroyed. Problem solved. Little courtesies like giving colony owners a heads up, generally prevent misunderstandings
I have no idea how you handled guard accomodations in NC, but in Taranis, all the Soldiers and Knights spend their time inside Castle Lordran during their offline-hours, making it impossible to RP a realistic raid without a week's notice so we could actually have the guards around for the event, hence why we had to cut the raid short when Skipi asked about blowing up the Castle's front door. Raiding/any other kind of larger scale hostilities against another faction/colony when the faction/colony's troops are offline is like asking your friends to come play cops'n'robbers outside at 4 am. They're not going to come and without the opposition it's not going to work.
Two factions that intend to oppose each other should work out ground rules and guidelines amongst themselves. It's the instigator's responsibility to do so. Use of explosives and structure damaging weaponry must first be brushed over colony leadership or the structure owner. Character death should never be forced. However, if you don't want your character to die, you cannot dodge bullets, continue to fire on the enemy, and stand brave in the face of danger. If escape and safety seem impossible, and you really don't want to lose yourself, don't whine. Be reasonable. ((Hey guys, I can't really get out of this but I don't want to die just yet. Could you try and bend the RP in a way that doesn't end with a bullet in my head?)). Someone who yells at you for that is a twat. BUT, you can't pull this card if you blatantly attempt to kill other players, instigate and terrorize others with threats and violence, are also a twat, etc. Don't play to win, play to play. We shouldn't be RP'ing competitively, it's about cooperation. We're telling stories, almost like living a movie. It's natural to crave a sense of accomplishment, but everyone needs to realize that others do to. Every one here is a person, not a computer. Don't be a super bad ass. When it comes to combat situations, raids, or whatever, Both sides have responsibilities: Offender The offender mustn't meta and only attack after their handy cameraman helmet shows that "generic-lack-of-training-guard-number-one" is the only PC online. The offender shouldn't run in with the sole purpose of killing off opposing PC's with no real reasoning. Defender The defender mustn't meta and speak to each of their factions members about "Hey we're being surprise attacked IG soon make sure every single one of you is in full gear "for training purposes" and /watching saturday morning cartoons/ behind cover surrounding the beam zone." And with both, every party needs to understand that bullets are fast, bullets hurt, power armor is dumb, guns don't have bottomless mags, trying to be a hero might get you killed, being held at gunpoint is stressful and frightening, characters have feelings and just because you're playing a game in a safe room with nothing to worry about doesn't mean your character is totally fine and calm with a gun to their mouth. And this is pretty much just an overview on everything.
IT'S NOT A CLIP IT'S A MAGAZINE BLARGHABLARGHABLARGH just kidding no one cares about gun terminology Seriously though good post
A few of the rules in the code of conduct can be applied to this scenario, despite there no longer being an overarching rule in regards to colonies specifically stated. The most important one being the first listed under General Conduct.