I think the best way to deal with this would be to offer no bonuses in equip, but bonuses in exp.

UIT are UIT, they're excluded from this.

But:

Say there are 20% more itani online than serco. Serco players gain 20% bonus on whatever exp they earn.
100% more itani online, 100% more exp to serco. There it caps off.

This seems easily exploitable at first, but as the overall population rises with the added content and future marketing, I think a step like this will be needed just for the sake of fairness. Else we will forever be stuck with the few battle-hardened serco facing the hordes of itani greens...

This idea works on the assumption that equal percentages of serco and itani are participating in PvP type events. Which seems fairly clearly inaccurate at the moment and a larger user base doesn't seem like it would change this.

I agree with Eldrad. I don't think it would change, there would just be a flip flop effect constantly, as people try to get the bonus

Way to go, you purposely left out the UIT AGAIN. Thanks a bunch, we already feel so welcome here.

There really needs to be added a UIT specific pvp or coop-pvp event that the Serco/Itani may participate in, though it will not affect there little war efforts, yet give the UIT something special, like the Neut3's. Maybe not a weapon, since it might not be a pvp event. OR it could be as simple as adding transports that leave from Bractus and have to be delivered to Dau, there is always those of other nations that will try to take the cargo like they do now for the opposite faction and or for simply extortion to the nation that the cargo belongs (pirates). But SOMETHING for the UIT, good point iTripped.

Does anyone have a better solution?

Most of the time there are 2 Itani for every 1 Serco online. As CtC ceases to be the main focus of the game, this can only be detrimental to game balance.

Eldrad: And how exactly does exp bonus affect CtC? Its to encourage new players to join one side or the other upon starting the game up.

johnhawl: If the seesaw is moving, its better than it being weighted down at one end, right?

iTripped: People don't go UIT for PvP or uber-weaponry, do they? They do so for freedom of choice about their allegiances. And they won't dwindle, since there are a fair amount of mercenary/businessman-types around. When its just not practical or profitable to go Itani or Serco, people will choose UIT.

Finally, I think I noticed another factor in choosing one's starter nation. When you make a new char, the universe you see is remarkably deceptive. There appears to be a huge swathe of blue systems across the top, a band of yellow going down the middle, and a small, suppressed cluster of red systems in the bottom left. The shape of that picture had a powerful impact on me when I saw it for the first time, and I honestly think that it might be to blame for most newbies choosing Itani upon outset.

I wish there were a reward for some kind of nation task for the UIT, like the itani and serco have. only.. not a weapon.. how about a technology that allows slight compression of space, allowing more cargo hold.

Basically what i'm talking about is a type of ship that has 50% more cargo hold than usual. A special edition maud that has 75cu of cargo space.

The task could be some kind of a national trading goal. tasks that require shipment across dangerous areas of space. or maybe tricky mining missions. It would be really cool we could come up with some kind of UIT goal that the other nations are rewarded to interfere with.

XP bonuses only matter if you're botting, and if you're botting you aren't fighting players, so this solution doesn't solve the serco/itani imbalance at all.

I played serco for a while when it seemed like things were unblanaced, but then the serco won three weeks running. So I switched back to see if I could help. Then the serco got the prom and the valk became a deathtrap potato, so I stayed on Itani for the challenge of fighting proms.

Players seem to say that they sign up for Itani because of the way the backstory makes them appear more noble or because they think they'll get shields. Hmm.. this sounds like poll time.

I think the prom currently takes care of repopulating Sercoland. While wiping out Itaniland population, once space ship at a time.

The population imbalance is starting to show. Currently there are 38 Itani taking part in CtC, there are 22 Serco taking part.

The UIT is split 50/50 with 6 helping each side, and one player delivering to both sides.

I dont think any incentive will create a balance in the population, I do like the idea of randomizing the order the choices appear on the "create character" menu, as some players trying out a game will always choose the first option without even considering the choice.

[Flamebait deleted]

Let us dispense with labeling threads or posts as being "whiney".
It's rude and it certainly doesn't further the discussion.

I like the idea of flexible nationality. It doesn't make sense to me that a rogue Itani with a Serco like faction standing shouldn't be considered Serco. This would allow players great options to change their allegance over time and would potentially have a positive affect on the faction imbalance.

If you are worried about an imbalance, why not just pick the nation for new players at random. Don't even let them have a choice. If they want to defect, give them a method to do that.

we are just noticing the population imbalance? for the majority of my vendetta life there has usually been considerablely more itani then serco. seeing something like 22 itani and 6 serco is common during my hours of play. so how about some of you itani and uit create a serco character and live life on the edge for a while. those of you who left serco to help the itani win ctc, come back.. they seem to have an idea of what to do now! :)

no, the imbalance has been noted before, the current difference is that more and more of the itani players are reaching a point where they can be effective in combat.
While they dont know ALL of the tricks the vets know, they now know enough not to just charge at our guns and die, hence thier numbers are starting to affect the CtC more drastically.

If you look back through the Cargo Captures scorecards you will see that the same names are still on the serco list, with very few additions. The itani list has grown significantly over the history of the CtC, and lots of the players are the same ones that were there at the beginning.

As to us not knowing what to do, no, we still know what we are doing, we are now being outnumbered by pilots who are getting better every day, the veterans on serco no longer have as much of a lead in experience. As such it is taking longer to dispatch and/or outmaneuver itani raiders and defenders. This, combined with the obvious advantages the itani have in thier CtC route is starting to make a very visible difference in the CtC results.

In no way should this be taken as a criticizim of the itani, your pilots are working together much better these days, and congratulations to all of you for a hard fought battle. It's a close race, and we will see what becomes of it, tho unfortunately i'm stuck at work and wont be on till later today. probably too late to affect the results.

Like I said in that -other- thread, Vendetta goes in cycles. Sometimes one nation is ahead of another, but it's never permanent. Itani is at war with Serco. Itani has always been at war with Serco. Etc.

yes rogue, but now that all of the serco olds have disbanded (yet to see if they will still play ctc) and itani players have started to play, the game is headed for MAJOR imbalance. As already noted above (or somewhere) most nwe player choose itani or uit for some reason or another. This only adds to the imbalance down the line. I wonder where the game will be headed if this trend continues (and i see nothing that will try to stop it)?

We've had this discussion already. We had it when Serco outnumbered Itani 2 to 1. I reckon we'll have it again sometime in the future. Until then, I guess somebody can lock this, or we can grind our wheels a bit more.