Ice
Character
(Disclaimer: Read in a conversational tone)
I would like to take a minute to respectfully request one of two things. Either the factory rules need to followed, despite how vague they are. Or they need to be greatly expanded. From what I can tell, the point of the vagueness in the rules, was to be able to allow judges the flexibility to work with people and interesting ideas. The problem that is occurring with submissions though, is the rules are two vague. They don't set any basic parameters that people can see, and know to work within. So instead of working with applicants, I have seen the vagueness in the rules used to shut down ideas instead of working with them. The rules are incredibly vague, yet submissions are required to be incredibly detailed. It is rather frustrating when one follows the rules (as they are currently set out), and spend all the time to enter the required detail, just to have his/her ideas shot down for something that could never have been anticipated. Because it isn't there in the first place. It only increases the aggravation when these decision appears to be made on the whim of the judge, as there are no clear guidelines.
For example. Business are currently set up into tiers. Tiers 1-6 more specifically. The examples given of these types of businesses currently is laughable. First there is only two. The bottom and top. The top doesn't really matter, because it is unlikely any of our businesses will ever reach it. But what does "Mom and Pop" shop mean? I know several families that have Mom and Pop businesses with hundreds of people in them, and many different services and products offered. But the description seems to indicate a little hole in the wall place you might see at a strip mall. If the latter is the case. People wouldn't be able to produce anything bigger than handheld items at best, and even then, only on a custom/unique scale.
It is very reminiscent of the starfighter speed scale, before it was finally updated to give much easier to understand examples of all the different levels.
Now within these tiers, we have zero idea of how many items any level will allow us to produce. No idea about what production level we can produce these items at. And no idea of what kind of funding might be required to each production level.
Below is a current scenario being played out right now:
So with this in mind, imagine my surprise, when I'm trying to follow the rules to get my company to T2, what happens next. I am suddenly told, without warning, I can't produce the 3rd item (i need to advance) at minor level because I am a tier 1. The reason given was supposed lack of funding. Even after I say I am government funded, the answer is still no. I supposedly don't have the capacity. I then submit my already approved manufacturing center to show I have the capacity. My business capacity is then said to still not be enough with no further explanation other than I'm tier 1.
So I say fine. I will make a different item and try and make that minor. Same story. Directly after that I am told I can no longer make any more items. I have apparently reached a product cap that doesn't exist anywhere in the rules.
In my mind, the is both unfair and just plain wrong. If I had known there was an apparent product cap for my tier. I could have planned accordingly. Instead, now I am stuck with a line of products that although great, cannot be adjusted for me to even get to tier 2, they also now require me to be at if I wish to do anything else. I am now forced to contract with another company to make a 3rd minor product, because I wasn't allowed to do it on my own for no other reason than the judge determined it was to much for me.
Despite government funding, my character being a prominent figure in his government, an already approved factory with plenty of space to carry out what I wanted, dev threads in one case. Despite all these IC reasons, and zero actual rules against me. I am stuck. What's worse, is I am treated like I am being stubborn and unyielding.
Now to be fair, this is not the case will all my items. There have been plenty of things, the judges have been kind enough to work with me on. It is very much appreciated, and I thank you for that. However, I would sincerely like to avoid any more frustrating scenarios as mentioned above.
Would it at all be possible to greatly expand on the rules so we have proper guidelines for those of us than enjoy being more detailed and out of the box? Or go the other way, and make exceptions for some people, IF they do actually have a great deal of IC reason to account for ideas?
Again, this post was not meant to bash anyone. I am not trying to rant. I am trying to improve on our current system in an effort to avoid arguments and problems down the road. Thoughts?
I would like to take a minute to respectfully request one of two things. Either the factory rules need to followed, despite how vague they are. Or they need to be greatly expanded. From what I can tell, the point of the vagueness in the rules, was to be able to allow judges the flexibility to work with people and interesting ideas. The problem that is occurring with submissions though, is the rules are two vague. They don't set any basic parameters that people can see, and know to work within. So instead of working with applicants, I have seen the vagueness in the rules used to shut down ideas instead of working with them. The rules are incredibly vague, yet submissions are required to be incredibly detailed. It is rather frustrating when one follows the rules (as they are currently set out), and spend all the time to enter the required detail, just to have his/her ideas shot down for something that could never have been anticipated. Because it isn't there in the first place. It only increases the aggravation when these decision appears to be made on the whim of the judge, as there are no clear guidelines.
For example. Business are currently set up into tiers. Tiers 1-6 more specifically. The examples given of these types of businesses currently is laughable. First there is only two. The bottom and top. The top doesn't really matter, because it is unlikely any of our businesses will ever reach it. But what does "Mom and Pop" shop mean? I know several families that have Mom and Pop businesses with hundreds of people in them, and many different services and products offered. But the description seems to indicate a little hole in the wall place you might see at a strip mall. If the latter is the case. People wouldn't be able to produce anything bigger than handheld items at best, and even then, only on a custom/unique scale.
It is very reminiscent of the starfighter speed scale, before it was finally updated to give much easier to understand examples of all the different levels.
Now within these tiers, we have zero idea of how many items any level will allow us to produce. No idea about what production level we can produce these items at. And no idea of what kind of funding might be required to each production level.
Below is a current scenario being played out right now:
So with this in mind, imagine my surprise, when I'm trying to follow the rules to get my company to T2, what happens next. I am suddenly told, without warning, I can't produce the 3rd item (i need to advance) at minor level because I am a tier 1. The reason given was supposed lack of funding. Even after I say I am government funded, the answer is still no. I supposedly don't have the capacity. I then submit my already approved manufacturing center to show I have the capacity. My business capacity is then said to still not be enough with no further explanation other than I'm tier 1.
So I say fine. I will make a different item and try and make that minor. Same story. Directly after that I am told I can no longer make any more items. I have apparently reached a product cap that doesn't exist anywhere in the rules.
In my mind, the is both unfair and just plain wrong. If I had known there was an apparent product cap for my tier. I could have planned accordingly. Instead, now I am stuck with a line of products that although great, cannot be adjusted for me to even get to tier 2, they also now require me to be at if I wish to do anything else. I am now forced to contract with another company to make a 3rd minor product, because I wasn't allowed to do it on my own for no other reason than the judge determined it was to much for me.
Despite government funding, my character being a prominent figure in his government, an already approved factory with plenty of space to carry out what I wanted, dev threads in one case. Despite all these IC reasons, and zero actual rules against me. I am stuck. What's worse, is I am treated like I am being stubborn and unyielding.
Now to be fair, this is not the case will all my items. There have been plenty of things, the judges have been kind enough to work with me on. It is very much appreciated, and I thank you for that. However, I would sincerely like to avoid any more frustrating scenarios as mentioned above.
Would it at all be possible to greatly expand on the rules so we have proper guidelines for those of us than enjoy being more detailed and out of the box? Or go the other way, and make exceptions for some people, IF they do actually have a great deal of IC reason to account for ideas?
Again, this post was not meant to bash anyone. I am not trying to rant. I am trying to improve on our current system in an effort to avoid arguments and problems down the road. Thoughts?
I have four days off next week so yeah.
