My first Char was Itani, But I read the backstory and and it kind of leaves off with the wrong impression about the Serco being the "bad guy". Another thing I suppose was all the energy focus and shield stuff the itani had and how everything the serco had was junk. Really discouraging to join the Serco when the backstory emphasizes on all of the negative points of the Serco and emphasizes on all the good points of the Itani. One sided.

When I first joined up, I did not read the backstory immediately. I was too excited to see what the game had to offer, and wanted to get a feel for whether or not I would enjoy the game at all, before spending an hour or two reading the backstory. So I made my choice pretty much on first impressions. I wavered between Itani and UIT. Not know anything about the game yet, or its players, I had a feeling (incorrect as it turns out) that most people would be playing UIT for the "Han Solo" factor. Not wanting to go with the absolute safest route, I chose what seemed to me the option that would be better for role playing.

And going strictly by the descriptions in that initial character design page, if you are at all interested in RP, Serco is pretty boring. They have no culture; little diversity; it's all smash blood stomp and spit, according to the description. With Itani, it looked like I would have the flexibility to fashion a character that really had nothing to do with the war, and could be a artisan seamstress or whatever my imagination came up with. With Serco, it looked like there was less latitude to play with. You are either a warrior, or part of the war machine in some other fashion.

I don't know how many people join up who are really in it for the role-playing aspect though; or at least base their decision on that. It was certainly a factor for me. The whole good-guy/bad-guy thing is not so important to me (and in all honestly, I think the character screen plays up that Itani atrocities a bit higher than the backstory really merits; the Serco seem to be in a high moral ground at first, until you read the whole thing). I quite enjoy playing villian characters; but I like actually *playing* real villians, not stereotypical, drooling machine beings that have had every bit of free will and creativity bred out of them centuries ago, whose sole impetus from birth to death is to mindlessly exterminate an entire race of people.

Addenda: I agree with Touriaus on that point too. The back story was extremely Itani centric. But once I had gone through it, I had already been playing for a week or two.

Thanks a lot, AmberHaelo. You have probably given us the insight we old-timers have been grasping for without success. The Serco are blah and one-dimensional, and that is why at least us RPers don't choose them. As for the backstory, go to the RP forum and look for my "UIT version"; just don't take it too seriously ;)

I went blue because I was thinking like Democrat/Republican...

Then I stayed blue because VO had just been released and there were a large number of Itani n00bs against a smaller number of elite Serco vets. Although not many of us stayed on, we all kinda grew up together and it made for some good friendships.

Maybe if the unique ship types were introduced in some fashion at the character creation screen, there'd be more diversification. A fresh player won't be able to judge if one ship is overpowered compared to the next; he'll only see the "Advanced Fighter", the "Heavy Assault" and... ugh, and well the "Okay Transport". I'm willing to bet that about half the people who are intersted in combat would prefer the Heavy Assault, and the other half the Advanced Fighter.

i'm with mynt on this one, also there are probably a good number of noobs who create serco chars and realize its alot less work to get the ibg than the svg. This can cause some to change sides before they get much time invested. perhaps the SVG should have it's levels match the IBG's.

Yes.

"i'm with mynt on this one, also there are probably a good number of noobs who create serco chars and realize its alot less work to get the ibg than the svg. This can cause some to change sides before they get much time invested. perhaps the SVG should have it's levels match the IBG's."

Seconded. As an Itani, one can earn the IBG in less than an hour if they know what they're doing... 15 miutes if they don't have a problem botting tycorps at lvl1.

With the Serco it's likely to take a few hours, maybe longer. I remember as a newb, I chose to fly down to Corvus to get a hornet rather than wait for the Vult.

Lets face it. Itani is the safe bet. For many reasons that have already been listed above, Itani is the most newb friendly choice. UIT has an advantage for players that prefer trade over combat, but preference for combat is more typical for new players. Serco is more suited to players with some experience. So let the newbs take over the Itani. If your even halfway good at this game, start a serco character and give the newbs something to shoot at.

Why would "Itani" be any advantage to the n00b?

Also, the IBG is great, but I doubt if any n00b can actually fly it well. And the SVG is simply 3 hours of botting anyway, so what's the big deal? (Note that slapping a N1 on a IBG makes it a worse fighter than doing the same on a SVG. And to get N3 armed IBGs, which is what makes it such an awesome ship anyway, you need to level up to 4.)

(And yes, I think the SVG is a better all round n00b fighter than the IBG, but that's just me.)

"Also, the IBG is great, but I doubt if any n00b can actually fly it well."

Even a noob in an IBG with a diamond dodge bind is dangerous. Contrary to popular Itani 'opinion'(lies), a diamond dodge does make valks and IBGs a lot harder to hit, and it increases their chances of landing them, too. The Itani defend their diamond dodge tactic with "Oh, but it just puts you in a predictable pattern, so you're easy to hit." This is only true if the person flying it is too stupid to touch any of the other keys while fighting and just lets the bind do all the moving for them, and that is never the case. I've seen noobs at or below 3/3/3 in an IBG with diamond dodge and laws beat experienced Serco in proms with sunflares and AGT.

Yes, this is mainly a problem with the bind, but the fact that the IBG makes it so much easier kinda solidifies the point that the IBG is overpowered in comparison to other ships of that level. It's even better than the SVG, and the SVG takes twice the levels to purchase.

Random question: how do you know for certain they're using a diamond dodge bind and not just diamond dodging without the bind?

LOLOLOL

cunjo you are such a an idiot you telling me that newb with an ibg beats a promjock with flares and agt are you out of your F***ing mind grab a hold man of yourself

welcome to the real world of vo the prom is overpowered now live with it until the nerf it until then i will keep whining

So, the diamond dodge bind is a essentially a line of code that the Devs intentionally allowed into their game. It's apparently powerful on an IBG, but available to anyone willing to take the steps to get it.

The Prometheus is essentially a line of code that the Devs intentionally allowed into their game. It's apparently very powerful, but available to anyone willing to take the steps to get it.

How is this unfair?

A noobs perspective... (but I came from mmorpg.com :P)

The last sentance of the Itani's nation information in character creation screen:

'Though the culture as a whole has moved beyond their bloody past, the Serco seem committed to reviving old hatreds, and the Itani have no choice but to fight back.'

For me that sentance gave the initial impression of making Serco sound like bullies. I think maybe other noobs are just as shallow in their reasoning. Especially as we don't really know what advantage does or doesn't come from each race.

Now I know a little more about the advantage of each race (thanks mostly to this thread as I couldn't find details in the manual), I'll reroll a Serco :)

Saaryi (but soon to be Fekosa)

Maybe make it clear that Serco have the "single best ship in the universe, but only for the most dedicated warriors"?

Also, change the Serco logo in the Nation picking screen to something better. :)

I disagree. I've killed some experienced players with an N3 SVG against their N3 IBG with quite alot of hull left to fight. 1 on 1 fights that is.

SVG is quite the fighting machine when used right.

Assuming of course that you know how to use it.

Noob or not, in an IBG all it takes is one mistake and you're toast.