We've always worried about promoting Minor Factions - but do Majors now need some love?

[Walak Tu]

@[member="Jay Scott Clark"]: That looks good, i will give more detailed feedback (pm) once i tested the guide. By mock battle i meant, but forgot to mention, the baseline of how a faction is actually run, an explanation of the mapgame and all the options (the rules explain this better than a lot of things, but i still think a guide could give you a checklist for actions (who do i need to send what info, what do rpjudges need to know (do they even need to know?) and so on)) basicly the stuff [member="Alric Kuhn"] mentioned:

The issue is theres not really any present way to "teach" people how to run a major faction. We have no resources or guides to it.

I dont think mentoring is to bad a system either and might help get the nuance through a guide cannot.


However:

Guides can only solve the technical side, the "I don't know how to do this". Motivation is a whole other beast. So I should mention what I would create a faction for: Telling stories. I'm not really a competitive person, I don't mind loosing. Were I to create a faction, it might get wiped out in its first confrontation with a powerfull enemy. So the motivation might be to find something where I don't run into other factions unless I want to. Unless it suits the story. Really the question should not be what benefits do I get from a major faction that I don't get anywhere else, but what stories can I only tell with a major faction.

But thats only me. Others might like the idea of textbased hexconquering, I would just call some friends over for a battletech campaign.

 

[Rusty]

The board needs a bad guy.

I mentioned earlier that we need a replacement for the old metagame, preferably one that comes in a low sodium variety. It's not enough to make it possible or even profitable for factions to invade one another. You have to find a way to make them want to. It has to be tangibly beneficial, yes, but it also has to be exciting.

*Rusty pops out his dentures, rinses them in a glass of bourbon, and scratches idly at a liver spot as he prepares for one of his old man speeches.*

Back in my day, when the men were men and the sheep were scared, there was a board not unlike Chaos. It was a thriving community, but over time, activity dwindled. One day, a respected writer had an idea. "I'm a bastard," he thought. "A right bastard who enjoys writing conspicuous bastardry. Numbers are dwindling and everyone just sticks to their circles, and being a bastard, I don't like that. I'm gonna make them come together, whether they like it or not."

And so, he gathered together a group of writers, came up with a plausible idea, and launched a campaign that forced the Jedi and Sith to come out of their holes and work together, if they wanted to survive. This laid the groundwork for all kinds of neat stories, and did in fact keep the site lurching along for a while longer.

What Chaos needs is its own bastard. We need someone to come along and present a threat so great, the major factions have no choice but to face it. It needs to be an uphill battle, but one that can be won. Victory must carry real and worthwhile rewards that encourage involvement, and hopefully drive the plot as the victors square off against each other for the spoils. Do it right, and you have a brand new metagame.

I like the staff faction idea. Most of you guys are respected writers who definitely have the chops to make it happen. However, I don't think our designated bad guy should be made up solely of staff. Instead, you guys should carefully recruit writers to make up this threat. The best duelists, the best fleeters, the best tech designers, anyone who stands out for their excellence should be fair game. Make getting selected an honor, and make beating the chosen an accomplishment. Once you've got a cohesive group, turn them loose and watch the madness ensue.

 

[Tefka]

To those of you who continue to present ideas that involve Staff, no.

Change starts with you.

Staff doesn't possess some miracle "fix-it-all" spray.

 

[Rusty]

The lion's share of power and influence resides within the staff, and not just because they're in charge. If you're not going to put it to use, fine. That's up to y'all. It's not a miracle solution by any means, but it certainly would lend weight to anything the community comes up with.

 

[Jsc]

How do we incite more activity with Major Factions? Do you think there is a problem at all?

[member="Rusty"] - I think Tef and Staff are more than willing to step up to the plate here and make some changes. Throw their weight around. However, the changes they would like to see have nothing to do with putting Staff in charge of another great big never-ending thing. Like a Staff run faction. Nah. I'm sure they'd prefer to just change a rule or two here or there. Especially if the community has the desire to force some change in the old routine. Remember. Tef has also wondered above in his question if this inactivity among Major Factions can be considered a 'bad' thing at all for the website. I mean. Maybe a little respite from the death of the GR and the OS is a good and healthy break from the usual. I know I don't mind an empty map. I think it's the perfect fallout scenario after everything that poor map has been through. In a strange way, it just figures.

So let's not sideline Staffs ability to jump on this. Indeed. I figure that this friday's Staff Skype session will bring some big talk and big changes anyway.

 

[Tefka]

I'm experienced enough to know a Staff-faction is the absolute worst idea this thread could come up with. Back in *my day*, the place *I* come from, you couldn't count the amount of people asking for Staff to get out of their affairs and let people just role-play.

We do events. That's as much Staff-meddling you're going to get.

Other than events, you're on your own.

 

[Darth Kentarch]

Hard Reboot.
Shell the map. You really don't need it.
Wipe out everything in the factory and codex, and tell people if they want a ship they can have a X-wing or a TIE Fighter.

 

[James Justice]

Factions live or die by their leadership, its just kind of how it is.

Yeah, this is a truth. For Justice Shipping, for One Sith, for anything I have ever seen its about "getting to write with XYZ" and chill with XYZ and/or ABC writer(s). I mean, this is a role play board, we come here to write with friends. Is it cliquish? Probs. Do I care? Nopes.

 

[Isamu Baelor]

I have some thoughts. Just to preface this though, these are the opinions of someone who doesn't care for Invasions (Sometimes because of my own behaviour, and sometimes because of others) and Rebellions. Other people will have had different experiences to me, and their opinion will likely differ. With that said, let's get started:

I think the expansion of PVP (Namely Rebellions) has been detrimental to Major Factions. Specifically, because I feel that it has shifted the balance of power too far in the direction of Minor Factions. You now have factions, which can dart across the map, and initiate Rebellions wherever applicable. And they can do so with impunity. And because they are a minor faction, there's nothing for a Major Faction to strike back at. If they are within range, you can dominion their planet. However, they'll just move. If they aren't within dominion range, there's nothing you can do. Your only option, is to try and win the Rebellion, and any subsequent Rebellion, until they get bored and stop.

Now, there are avenues for Major Factions to protect themselves from Rebellions. The primary one being, capping your dominion at 100 posts, and telling your members to take it to a different thread. It works, however, I feel that it comes at a cost. That being, undermining what I believe to be the main draw of Dominions: Writing a story, as a community. Having everyone's post in one thread, adds to that aspect. It makes it feel grand. Once the thread starts getting broken up, that feeling is lost. You don't really have the opportunity to see how your actions have effected the stories of others in the thread, or vice-versa.

So to me, Dominions almost have this cloud hanging above them. This reminder that at the end of the dominion, you'll either have to break the thread up, or risk a rebellion. That takes a bit of a shine off Dominions for me.

I've rambled a bit, but I have to ask the question. What is supposed to be the allure of a Major Faction then? Especially when Minor Factions now have this incredible power? It can't be fielding large ships, because they're kind of irrelevant. Fleeting is a relatively small thing on the board. For those who don't care for the map, that's irrelevant too. For just about anything else, you can accomplish the same thing with a minor faction. And do so in a, potentially, far more safe, and effective manner (Rebellions.)

Additionally, I have nothing to support my next thought. You can consider it as me blowing smoke, and call me out if I'm full of it. However, I do feel like the "I really love PVP" crowd has dwindled, and the "I don't like PVP" crowd has grown in size. So the people who aren't interested in PVP, will most likely put themselves in a position where they don't have to PVP (namely, not being in a Major Faction.)

If you're reading this, and thinking "But Isamu, why are you a Major Faction owner then?" I enjoy the map. I enjoy seeing the Iron Empire's blob grow slowly. I enjoy seeing my community' efforts, realized in a visual format. It's very satisfying to see that blob grow. Additionally, I believe having X amount of planets under control of the Iron Empire, offers my members more opportunities for roleplay. Especially in in terms of things like governing. It also gives a bit more of a, I suppose official, feeling to being this multi-planet Empire.

But yea. That's just my opinion. Feel free to agree, or disagree. I just hope it was helpful.

 

[Tefka]

Just to make it clear to everyone, Staff nor I are forcing a "hard reboot" in the foreseeable future. We don't take these suggestions seriously.

 

[Talmass Erillett]

Honestly, I've been wanting to make my faction a major one, but I've been having issues gettting people in. Guess people don't like being ina mercenary faction with some millitary ideaolgies. To remove power from minor factions, some above a certain number of players should choose a planet to control as their own. That would limit their ability to incite a rebellion and then disappear.