in reference to the akanese system thread, here's a thought.

we need to find incentives for player to create serco alts to rebalance player distribution in order to put some life back into pvp. adding an akasese sector feels like just another reason to shy away from being serco.

i think we need exactly the opposite for now. we need to insert in the backstory a new element to introduce some specific serco warring casts and thus legitimise a new serco-side system. much like antiakan casts. karun was a wuss in the end but given the serco story is missing many centuries, there's your perfect excuse to bump that thread about writing serco backstory, get a new element into it and give people a good excuse to play serco characters.

oh. that and limit immigration quotas in uit faction.

I agree. very good idea.
I say limit Itani and UIT immigration quotas.

Edit: i still remember good old times... doing ctc alone against 5 serco ctcers, running thru b-8 from a big serco gank squad in scps. IDF doing ctc against SoR and SCAR. SKV Ukari blockade & war...
There were times when in players online list serco ruled , no reason it wont happen again.

Bojan are you sure you're remembering correctly? Once most ABs faded out I don't recall there EVER being a period of time where Serco had consistently more players than Itani..

Yes i do. It was 2004/2005. SoR and newly formed SCAR were very active.
Heck, even yoda and chewie were in SoR then.

yeah. those were excellent days of ctc. back in a time when we flew together under idf actually.

i remember being mortified doing ctc. now, i wouldn't even bother bring the loot back to divinia.

so this is why i think we absolutely need to up the number of serco players and limit uits.

should i return in game (actually, more like "when i do"), i want to have fun in pvp and there's no other way than balancing out the population a bit more.

the default character race in the creation page should be serco. the description changed a bit to make it less intimidating to try out serco. the itani one ought to sound a little less "we're the good guys" so that people have a better chance at trying out serco.

the uit one should sound more like "we're wusses". heck, i'd actually close down uit faction as first character for a while and see where that leads off.

You should make a separate thread about this upper. This is excellent.

Imho changes in default character race are very important for VO future as is some kind of balancing of factions.
If Akanese and Pirate faction see the light of the day soon it will become even more important.

well, that's what this thread is: a place to discuss what could be done to even out the odds and distribute the game play.

my (failed) rp thing the other day was much in line with that. i want to create a background of some kind and build a story that could unite the few serco around and build some kind of momentum to bring new heads (or convert some perhaps).

but we need tools. tools like fixing race descriptions, default race on setup and perhaps even a temporary halt of uit. when things get balanced a bit, we could perhaps have the system randomly set the default race so that population continues being distributed.

there were talks at some point to automatically allow one person to migrate. eg, if you build POS with one faction (exclusively as per the current redux of the faction system), then the character would have the opportunity to migrate. that's how i'd limit uit migration for a while. you start out as either serco or itani and then through this migration process can migrate your character to uit.

edit: corrected typo in "temporary halt of uit" (was "alt")

I recall being serco once, and no body liked me and people always tried to shoot at me and it made me sad. But I couldn't drink, and there was this crazy voice in my head...

Yeah, no serco has been a problem for a while now. Perhaps we should make the Itani seem more like crazy nazis and the Serco more like the noble defenders of their homeworld, resignedly fighting a war against an enemy who hides amongst the Itani?

I dunno, I think I chose blue originally because the whole "martial artist mental-abilites monk" thing seemed cooler than the stereotypical "Mechanical Frankenstein Warrior - Smash!" thing.

"martial artist mental-abilites monk" thing is why I chose blue.

But that's not why I'm posting. I strongly agree that serco should be made as the default nation (I know many itani that chose blue because it was the first on the list). How about giving the user a survey when they start a new character and choosing the nation based on their answers?

Here is a sample, it may be strongly biased toward my blue side:

1. You are running low on credits,
a. kill player enemies for credits (uit-1, blue+2, red+2)
c. do some trading (uit+3, blue+1, red-1)
d. do some mining (uit+1, blue-1, red+1)
e. steal cargo (uit+3, blue=red=0)

2. I would like some physical augmentations
a. strongly agree (uit+1, blue-3, red+3)
b. agree (uit+2, blue-2, red+2)
c. disagree (uit+2, blue+2, red-2)
d. strongly disagree (uit+1, blue+3, red-3)

3. My goal is to,
a. get the most credits (uit+3, blue-1, red-2)
b. kill the most enemies (uit-3, blue+2, red+3)
c. explore and meet friends (uit+3, blue+2, red-1)

4. Flying through grey space you encounter an unidentified ship,
a. Shoot first, ask questions later (uit-2, blue-1, red+2)
b. Open a comm channel and send a friendly greeting (uit+2, blue+2, red-2)
c. Scan ships cargo for valuables (uit+3, blue-1, red+1)

The final scores for uit, blue, and red are calculated and the highest is chosen as your nation. This would be good because it would actually bring the right type of pilots to each nation. UIT would get a strong emphysis for traders and pirates, serco for warriors, and itani for fighters/explorers? This should keep some interesting politics and tensions between the nations, and players would not just be choosing their favorite color.

Any thoughts?

ah. there's an interesting idea. with some message after the brief survey such as

"based on your answers, we have determined that your stating nation ought to be [nation name]. if you opt to do so at a later period of your character's life, you can file for immigration to the desired nation provided your character meets the required faction profile."

i think we're on to something.

THAT Idea, drazed, is simply Brilliant.
Yes. That is how it should be done.

I would take issue with some of your answers and the weight they carry, for example why is Serco more weighted towards mining?

But overall, the idea is perfect.

Wow.. I like it.

From my end, and I think most of you are aware, I'm trying to encourage Serco retention with my new guild. I can't be on all the time, but when I am, young Serco feel more welcome. That said, there are several ways you established Itani gentlemen can make my job easier without selling out your anti-toaster ideals.

Great idea! Very ElderScrollish! ;)

One hint: the questions should be generic, mundane ones, and not based on game terms ("grayspace") that the newcomer could very likely still not grasp.

Entrusted to deliver an uncounted purse of gold, thou dost meet a poor beggar. Dost thou:

• Give the beggar a coin, knowing it won't be missed.
• Deliver the gold knowing the trust in thee was well-placed.

You need to fix a wooden boards to another one, do you:

-Nail it (Serco +2, Itani +2, Uit -1)
-Scew it (Serco -1, Itani -1, Uit +3)
-Glue it (Open Link to WoW website)

Ehm, i am sorry i have to be a pain but....
shouldn't you take into consideration that new faction system will probably also introduce:
1. Pirate faction
2. Akanese faction

Its 2 more choices in character creation.

Imho it is imperative to introduce Pirate faction with -1000 KOS status for all major nations. That way all pirate wannabees and pkers hiding behind faction exploits will suddenly dissapear because it would be a bit tough to play a pirate. No fancy proms and valks for pirates, no UIT subfaction ships & weapons either. No homing or protection from UIT subfactions. Result: less pirates more nation players.

Same situation with Akanese faction that will be unwelcome by all major nations, so if you think you are a badass Itani pker, go Akanese if you dare. As Akanese you would not be able to get protection in UIT space, most of Itani space and grayspace factions nor will you be able to get good ships & weapons there. A field day for Serco on a serch & destroy Akanese mission. :)

P.S.
@upper: what I said here is the main reason I am pushing Akanese faction. Imho it would homogenise serco and give them kind of an upper hand in conflict.
For real starting newbies those 2 character options can be grayed out i. e. available only after his first character is say 1 month old.

Outstanding idea! (Give them the option to choose a different faction in spite of the survey though.)

I think it'd be good to have more official factions, but do it through a mission tree. You must start as Serco, UIT or Itani. Becoming Akanese requires you to do a bunch of missions where you go fight Sercos in spire of Itani government protests, etc.

I don't think we need an official pirate faction...one of the fun things about pirates is they can be from anywhere. Though, I think it might be good if you could become some of the existant NPC factions (Corvus, TPG, XX, etc.), again through mission trees. Some people already claim Corvus as it is. (...and there's the closest we need to having an official pirate faction.) There was also a push a while ago to make a [TPG] guild. It shouldn't have to be a guild though, it should be a faction just like the big 3 (achievable only through a mission tree.)

well, how about you just work for the pirate/akanese faction status just like any other faction?

you get the form thing to orient your life as either serco, itani or uit and as you develop skills (or bad habits, depending on your perspective) you tend to work toward either the rat or the kan faction.

there should be impossibilities too. i dont think any reds should ever become akanese. it seems like an impossibility, backstory-wise.

well, unless you migrate first (aka, reach pos w/ itani and then do the mission that would swap your character's nation).

I dont agree.
We want to avoid any stupid exploits, we need official factions.
No more pirates admired by every UIT faction but UIT themselves, or admired by serco and Itani and killing serco and itani wherever they can. No more pirates using nation specific military hardware. Thats preposterous.
Same thing with Akanese. You cant be admired in VO universe by anyone if you are Akanese.
That would be just plain stupid.

Edit: ok one exception, you CAN be admired by pirate faction if you are Akanese and vice versa.:P

i didn't mean to say akanese would be itani admired. but rather that regardless of your background, if you're serco, you probably shouldn't be akanese.

so you first step would be to move your character to itani and then fuge it up to meet akanese requirements. thus, the serco alt would probably end up migrating a second time. either that or the serco would end up migrating to the akanese faction and loose his serco color in one pass.

or perhaps i'm missing out on an important detail. these rat and kan factions... they're not treated like nations right? like having their own color and such?