Ranks... Maybe

[Chrysalid_zombie]

Erm... I know you'll all hate me for this (I do too *hits self* Stop that!) but I feel the issue needs further comment. I'm not saying the problem stops here or anything so foolish as that, but there were a few good ideas that came out and I'd like a nice open dialogue about them. I beg of you admins, if it gets out of hand lock and even delete this! I don't want (our) blood spilled in this forum and the discussion on XCAS got heated (not bad or anything, just very warm)

 

From the discussion about the current ranking systems a few things came about that were interesting to say the least. One idea which found heavy support and opposition was to have two seperate ranks: One for your in-sim character (thus affecting your load out and command post etc.) and another for your out of sim that increased with the amount of work you did outside of sim (e.g. stories, forum posts etc.).

 

I personally am not fond of this idea at this moment, but I constanly change that opinion every hour or so bcause I think of something, then something else, etc. Therefore I will not put forth the case for either, as I'm still sorting them out.

 

However, another idea which was voiced was to lessen their importance by kitting out every person individually in the briefing. This would mean that armour, grenade numbers etc. would be decided per person and is regardless of rank. Furthermore this would allow the rewarding of people by giving them extra grenades, ammo etc, without the need to promote them (which is impossible under the current system). I like this idea as we can implement it now and see immeadiate effects. Also, it is easier to punish people, as removing a few grenades is much easier than re-organising the entire roster and rnaking order.

 

If you have any ideas, or an opinion (which you REALLY should) please post.

 

P.S - Sorry about any ideas I've left out! I ever didn't know enough about them, forgot about them or was too scared to type them. Sorry again.

 

Cheers,

[Ghost]

The individual equipment wouldn't so much be lessening the importance of ranks, as just change them. If I may share with you: My point of view:

 

First of all, I must comment on the rl ranks, I think it won't really work, nor will it matter much. People won't make more or better posts with the ranking system engaged, the thing that is likely to happen though is that people will make most posts, and those would be of a lesser quality, or stories as such. I think people are already participating very well outside of sim mostly, and I don't really think this ranking system would change much about that. I mean no offense to anyone, but I have a bit of a feeling this system is just meant for people to show off to others that they do a lot. It is recognised and known who do a lot of things, as just about all things that are written by people have their names by it, so the rank would imho not change much about this.

 

Next, there is the matter of ranks in the game itself: As everyone knows, the ranks matter nada outside of sim, and they are only of importance in-game. Yet at the moment I have the feeling ranks still don't matter anything as there are privates ordering sergeants around, and there are corporals that go off and do their own thing without checking with the superiors (*note* These ranks here have been chosen at random and are in no way referring to any occurrences). I think a good idea might be to a) do a complete overhaul of the ranks, re-evaluate everyone for positions, and B) I think it might be a good idea to change the amount of ranks available. For instance: Is there any real difference between a private and a corporal? I think like I said in the meeting, that for instance a change to Commander, second-in-command, squad leader and squaddies might be a good option, the names can be changed, but a sort of division like that.

c) I think that it should be way more difficult to get a promotion, if it were so easy to get promoted in the real army there'd be way way more officers now. As character ranks are an in-game feature, I would say they must be based on in-game actions, and behavior. If a character is the world's best roleplayer, but doesn't do any actions that are more then average for instance, then he wouldn't have done anything to deserve promotion. In-field promotions are usually given for outstanding performance during a mission and really showing that your character is worth something.

 

Also a limited amount of people for each rank would be a good thing, as you would otherwise get too many officers, which we sort of have now. There aren't too many new characters coming into the sim, and if people would get promoted it would leave a void in the lower ranks.

 

If there is any comment on my ideas, you're always welcome to contact me on any of the messengers I use, as well as of course post here. I hope to hear some input here, so we are able to come up with an idea that everyone would be able to agree with. I realise of course that we can't win it all, but a combination of ideas, a compromise, must of course be able to be established. The sim isn't really a democracy, as Mouse of course has the last word about any of that happening, and a voting matter it isn't either, but everyone's input is most definately welcome.

[Loonie]

Don't slap yourself around too much Jacko. Trust me I'm sure that most people in this sim realize, that you just want to say what's on your mind (and despite any false claims, the things on your mind aren't all that dangerous, just unorthodox ).

 

Anyway I would cuncur with your decision about the equipment, although I wouldn't want it to get out of hand. You see it depends from soldier to soldier. For instance let's say that there's a big mission with lots of enemy soldiers ahead of us, but both HWE experts have been busted down to only 2 AP clips and 1 Incidary clip (I don't think that's likely since they're both doing a fine job, but lets just say hypotheticaly). The trouble would obviously be, that with that sort of ammo restrictions, the squad might not have enough firepower to deal with the enemy

 

But I do agree that there are several points that could be freely modified most of the time (unless of course the mission would be a special one):

 

-Armour

-Grenades

-and in some instances weapon type (like an ordinary X-Com Rifle instead of a choice between an Automatic Rifle/X-Com Rifle)

 

That would be basically all I would have to say about this idea. Now you probably all know my own, although I will repeat it again in case anyone doesn't know it:

 

I propose a separate ranking system for the XCAS member and for his/her Character (in the way that Chryssalid_Zombie has already proposed). Because I think the crux of this problem is that people want recognition for their work. And they believe that their rank seriously reflects the amount of energy that they donate into the sim. I know that it is quite a few times far from the truth (Howardson's case), but the other members might not. That would be basically the whole reason for doing it.

 

It might not be much, but it would at least ease the problem (although I know quite well that it wouldn't solve it. So far the only thing that I heard which would solve it completely, was from DH, but its a little too radical for most of XCAS including Mouse I believe).

[Loonie]

LOL! Ghost and me were typing at the same time and he beat me to it, but nevermind. On with the discussion!!! :hmmm:

[Ion Mage]

I was initially pro-multi ranks (the RL rank idea), but that idea kinda changed when i realized it could create a kind of out-of-sim social hierarchy.

 

I am, however, an advocate of the individual equipment AND the reassigning of everyone's ranks. In the process, we could do as ghost said and implement new ranks, though mine are different from his. I think it would make sense for the commander to be a captain instead, if we are merely talking the reserve crew of a mining mission gone very, very wrong. I just dont see a commander actually being sent on a mining mission, basically. After that, we just have sergeants (or lieutenants), corporals, and privates. It uses the same system as ghost suggested, but with different ranks.

 

Bascially, count me in for the individual equipment and reassignment ideas. Im just having a different idea on what the ranks should be

[DragonHawk]

lol, the debate continues. At least this is a subject where we all have real and DIFFERENT ideas... hahah. Note that, like all the stuff above (from you guys) that the stuff below are IDEAS, do not expect them to make it.

 

I would like to think the biggest problem right now is continuity - we can't just say "we're doing this" and not have a sim impact. Yes, it would be nice, and it certainly is possible, but we're here to sim, right?

 

Now, a lot boils down to how you interpret the sim. Nothing is set in stone, and while everyone is probably factually correct, there are some things that differ between our Alliance and Microprose (or whomever's) Alliance. So, having said that, here are a few ways of thinking about it:

 

1. Hardcore Alliance - We're soldiers stuck in an alien galaxy! Everything is exactly like the game! DIE, Sectoid scum! ::shoots sectoid:: We are not doing this, this is a bit out of our scope.

 

2. "Midcore" Alliance - Let's face it, this is where we are. Last I checked, our cryo pods were still infinite. Not infinite, but you know what I mean. We're making sacrifices, but still sticking with the storyline (as far as we know ). The only problem I see with this is that this process also robs us of some level of free thought, as everything comes down to classifications and "sim reality". This isn't a huge problem, for some players, it's not optimal.

 

3. "Softcore" Alliance - Hahah, don't laugh Ghost, perv. In here, our basic premise is Alliance, but we're making a lot of sacrifices for gameplay or realism, or whatever. We're not too close to here, but as the sim goes on, we are moving away from what probably would have gone on in the game and are establishing our own identity and creating our own universe.

 

Nothing is wrong with any of these. Right now, the best thing to do would me to operate in the Midcore area, a nice, safe zone. However, there are limitations, and one of those is rank.

 

As has been said, the primary consideration for rank now is the chain of command RP-wise. Out of sim involvement is not required at any rank, HOWEVER, I expect the officers to be heavily involved in making real decisions and giving more input out of sim. I'm not asking them to tell me how the sim went, I can ask any of you. But officers are to keep a lookout for potential problems and head them off, and I expect them to help Mouse when there are real issues at hand. In addition, these characters are responsible for what happens in the sim, as in a real chain of command. There is lots of leeway, due to the nature of the sim, and the fact that we are not military personnel, but that's the basic premise.

 

The second consideration I have for officers is storyline. There have to be a certain number of officers to keep the ship running, with respect to organization and administration. This is where 3) kicks in. In no game are there such issues, but in ours, a sim, I think it's appropriate that we think of it. In this case, I would like to have at least four officers - the commanding officer, his deputy, CO - Combat, and CO - Science. I would also like to have CO - Spec Ops, but that's optional. Each officer is "in charge" storyline wise, of a certain section of personnel. Again, "section-alization" is dependent on perspective.

 

Promotions in general are based mostly on in-sim considerations. Do we need a Sergeant? Promote someone who looks like they are easing into command a bit better than other Corporals. Officer? This one has been tricky, because most of Mouse's officers have been non-mainstream combat personnel. Only Wanderer and Saber Warrior were troopers, I think. Simming quality, well, this is a consideration as well - however we need as many good simmers at the enlisted ranks as in teh officer ranks. Daresay, we need BETTER simmers at the enlisted level, because they are supposed to be carrying the sim. I say supposed to, because our command structure right now isn't working... WHy are you buggers letting Rallwell order you around?

 

Hahah, having said all this, I will also say that it has never been my decision to promote someone, that usually comes from the CO or XO. This is how I give my advice though.

 

Now, as much as I'd like the above system to work, it doesn't all the time. No system is perfect, that's why we have people involved in making decisions. And one of the ones that needs to be considered is this one of in-sim and out-sim position.

 

I'm going to take a different approach to the problem this time, and look at it from newer perspectives, as opposed to reiterating (I hope).

 

First off is the issue of "personalizing" equipment. Yes, this can be allowed, even by player choice to some degree. I never take what the mission briefing says... heheh. Anyway, this will NOT be used to punish simmers. In the same protocol as before, we will not punish people for mistakes. You guys are all good people, and you listen to criticism well. If it is felt that you are being a "dorkus maximus" you will simply be kicked out. Nobody has ever been kicked out, so we'd like to keep that record. Will people be awarded? Yes, certainly, if other people so agree. However, any upgrades will have to be inline with the story, as always. Some other bonuses are in my mind for enlisted peoples, too, but that can wait until we figure out what other changes need to be made.

 

Second is organization and reassignment. We are a military unit (in sim, of course. The NSA is probably thinking we are some sort of paramilitary group, focusing our psychic powers... never mind ). I've been a supporter of rehauling the ranks, and they will be done, but to what degree? Is it necessary to hack off half the ranks? Should we incorporate out-of-sim concepts into the ranking? Is this unfair? Does it create needless competition? Does it drive away "pure volunteerism"? Is this the ONLY solution?

 

As I see it, it's the only solution that keeps our unit cohesion. If our active members are not a squad... bleh. It works in games because you control all of your troopers, but such is not the case here.

 

Third is the absolute ranking, which is directly related to reassignment. What's the best way to look at ranking? In keeping with our current story, here's how I think of each rank:

 

Private - An X-Com Private is not a dolt, he is a trained and reasonably disciplined soldier. He's seen little action. If you sim well (as a player) or are involved heavily outside of the sim, you won't be kept here too long.

 

Corporal - An X-Com Corporal is a veteran of combat. He's seen his fair share of fights, and has come out as a winner (so far ). They can "pull rank" on Privates, but in expeditionary units like the one assigned to the Patton, they have little in the way of responsibility and authority.

 

Sergeant - The Sergeants are the ones who should be transferring the commands of the officers down to the enlisted. They are, for the sim's sake, non-commissioned officers, and have authority. However, the responsibilty for the mission does not go to the Sergeant - he "merely" keeps the fighting people below him ready for action. A smart officer should utilize his Sergeant's skills and advice though.

 

Lieutenant and above - The officer ranks are for those who are given real responsibility. They should drive the mission and the team to where it needs to be. Authority goes up as rank goes up. To be honest, it's not as exciting there. The reason there are a somewhat large number is because of the divisions within the force. Each officer has an area of responsibility.

 

So, question: How can we incorporate our current structure into a new one? From my perspective, here's the options we had before, and the new one I came up with:

 

1. Reorg, slash ranks, whatever it takes to bring the numbers down. We've discussed this. It has merits, and possibly should have been sometihng to think about at the beginning, but I think we missed the boat on this one.

 

2. Small reorg - I think this is possible. However, we wouldn't exactly be decreasing officers, see above. Would this accomplish much? I don't know. This has been discussed, somewhat.

 

3. Current idea - Our team not only involves active personnel, but also the cryo stabilized personnel. In that respect, Mouse' responsibility is quite a bit heavier as a Commander. Not only does he have his combat team, but he has a large number of support personnel. In that respect, we should not be wanting for scientific personnel or other support staff. By freeing up a larger number of soldiers and scientists, we can staff NAO properly. Research should not "go faster" in a sense, because I think the advances we are making are far too fast already, with the given personnel. This solution in itself is tricky, because the treatment of NPCs is somewhat fickle.

 

Now, what does all the above mean sim-wise? Due to this new policy, the GM may no longer be an officer. Because I would like to start keeping good simmers where they can actually act and good officers where they can make their decisions, I feel that a good GM may not fall into these categories. I don't want to waste anyone's talent, if I can feel they are capable of wearing more than one hat. I wouldn't mind seeing GMs change as well.

 

With respect to realism and rank, I've got a couple of suggestions. Ghost has already heard my not-so-popular suggestion of X number of officers must stay at base. When officers make up half the team, you know something is wrong. In keeping with the "other" duties, I would like to see the officers more occupied. Does that mean I'm kicking said people out? No, not at all. The second portion of this wonderful idea is that officers should have a second character that must TAKE commannds from the leading Sergeant. I admit freely I am not doing a good job with this...

 

My third suggestion is that by expanding with NPCs, we have the opportunity to possibly make a larger difference in the sim-universe. As it is, let's face it - Ascidians are not supposed to be woefully incompetent. That's sorta been the idea since the sim started - they need us to survive. They do, but not as picketmen, they need us as surgeons - specific task stuff. Our "special" resistance to Alien psionic control is beyond them, and sensitive missions may require our presence, NPC or not. By doing this, I hope to create a greater potential for story writing. My current idea would be to install Jacko, Necro, Howardson, and Kacur as X-Com - Cydonia's "alpha team", heavy assault. That would keep our action focus reasonable, and would allow them to build a greater amount of teamwork. So I say.

 

Ko will come back to enforce this, so your in-sim characters can have a focus for hate. When he comes back, he won't be too happy either. Heh, again, the focus for me right now is on storyline, and where we want to go.

 

We're entering a new phase of XCAS, and we need to adapt. How we choose to adapt is up in the air, and we've got the time, but it'd be nicer sooner than later.

 

 

*EDIT* Crap, forgot to refer to the multirank thing.

 

I'm willing to acknowledge out-of-sim contributions in some way, but I'm not yet sure of how. Within the framework of the sim, I wanted to create subsets of ranks, so that would help to "bulk out" the enlisted ranks. If you can't figure out which one is the "out-of-sim enhanced" rank, you need help. Promotions will not go slower, because each enhanced rank is not considered in the promotion scale. From either trained private rank, you will be promoted to Corporal, not Senior Corporal. Without further ado, my new ranking list:

 

Recruit Private (this is optional)

Private

Private First Class

Corporal

Senior Corporal

Sergeant

Master Sergeant

 

You mofos in commissioned areas don't get squat. Actually, I want to split it a bit:

 

3rd Lieutenant - officers in training

2nd Lieutenant - the "normal lieutenant

1st Lieutenant - bleh, see Private/Corporal

Captain

Colonel

Commander - you guys will never get here

 

Now, I am going to sleep. If my crap doesn't make sense, let me know, and I'll edit it tomorrow... bloody overtime. Oh yeah, and let me know if it's too preachy too, I'm tired, and wanted to work on my story, and I wanted my cookies and milk too.

[Brainiacus]

Amazing post DragonHawk, but it comes down to one thing to me. First, I'll say that I haven't seen Mouse being the pinnacle of activity as of late, due to reasons which are very good ones, so I couldn't blame him. Still, considering you are 'begging' for some major changes, I would be willing to overhaul all the information on the site, roster, and wherever to support these new changes should you think it would genuinely improve the simming fun.

 

Personally, I don't see much how this can help with the small amount of hardcore simmers we have. If we would have had like 40 to 50 human members (or possibly a lot of NPC characters), and lots of little sims running next to eachother because of it being impossible to have that much people in the same channel, and perhaps even a lot of unofficial but slightly meaningless sims going on at random times; then it would be very useful to have such a complicated ranking system.

 

I would like to think the biggest problem right now is continuity - we can't just say "we're doing this" and not have a sim impact. Yes, it would be nice, and it certainly is possible, but we're here to sim, right?

Well I briefly mentioned that above; random meaningless sims. They're fun and all, but you need to have a lot of people who hang around at random times. We just have people who canonly barely show up at the scheduled hours and expect a sim with a lot of important stuff going on.

 

Nothing is wrong with any of these. Right now, the best thing to do would me to operate in the Midcore area, a nice, safe zone. However, there are limitations, and one of those is rank.

I'd personally go for Softcore if possible. The Alliance universe is too rigid, nor do we have a lot of hard facts and data on the actual game.

 

I would like to have at least four officers - the commanding officer, his deputy, CO - Combat, and CO - Science. I would also like to have CO - Spec Ops, but that's optional. Each officer is "in charge" storyline wise, of a certain section of personnel. Again, "section-alization" is dependent on perspective.

For storyline issues, that could very well work. For simming purposes, again, we don't have enough people for it to matter. Add NPCs and that problem would be solved.

 

Only Wanderer and Saber Warrior were troopers

But you know that all of us (see it as a tertiary class) are trained in combat.

 

Simming quality, well, this is a consideration as well - however we need as many good simmers at the enlisted ranks as in teh officer ranks. Daresay, we need BETTER simmers at the enlisted level, because they are supposed to be carrying the sim. I say supposed to, because our command structure right now isn't working... WHy are you buggers letting Rallwell order you around?

Sorry to say this, but this has nothing to do with the ranking system, but with the inexperience and inability to properly immerse oneself into one's character, which most of our simmers suffer from. Everyone wants to be important, everyone wants to do cool stuff; especially at the beginning of their simming career. Only when people start to act more humble, as they should at lower ranks, the ranking system can be utilised in a way it should be. On the other hand, would it be fun as a officer to have to order around your entire squad step for step? Give them permission to go take a leak? I doubt it.

 

First off is the issue of "personalizing" equipment.

Agreed. A Feronium Armor isn't just a Feronium Armor which will be wearable by all characters, considering it's made to fit exactly on one certain human being. Weaponry, especially the more advanced weaponry such as sniper rifles, would also be tweaked and optimised to serve one specific entity better than it would others. I personally think everyone should get his own armor and weapon, and only special equipment or special changes to weaponry and armor should be mentioned in the briefing. Like that, even without a proper briefing, everyone knows what he is carrying around.

 

Needless to say, the sort of equipment you have with you all the time would depend heavily on rank and class.

 

3. Current idea ...

My third suggestion is that by expanding with NPCs...

I read all ideas, but I like this one the most. NPCs would definately add to the atmosphere, but put a shitload of extra work on the shoulders of the people 'running' the sim. Still, NPCs could function as troops in sims (instead of massively slaughtering poor Ascadians), and take on things such as research and intelligence. Don't forget that any NPCs implemented into the simming environment might actually outrank most of the current human simmers...

 

Without further ado, my new ranking list:

 

Recruit Private

Private

Private First Class

Corporal

Senior Corporal

Sergeant

Master Sergeant

3rd Lieutenant - officers in training

2nd Lieutenant - the "normal lieutenant

1st Lieutenant - bleh, see Private/Corporal

Captain

Colonel

Commander - you guys will never get here

 

Interesting... but what about implementing new, cool sounding ranks?

 

Newbie:

Recruit

Private

Corporal

 

Regular:

Senior Corporal

Sergeant

Master Sergeant

 

Experienced:

3rd Lieutenant

2nd Lieutenant

1st Lieutenant

 

Elite:

Captain

Major

Colonel

 

Divine:

Commander

General

Surpreme Commodore

 

I know I know... insane to have that many way to high ranking officer positions. Those guys would never set foot on a battlefield. But I'm thinking of them in terms of NPCs, especially the higher ones. They could be the ones who stick inside the base, and even be Ascadians. Just a random idea there.

 

I could also agree to your ranking system, expanding the lower ranks a bit.

 

Either way, we'd need more people and lots of NPCs... I mean, why have more ranks than we have people, eh?

[DragonHawk]

Still, considering you are 'begging' for some major changes, I would be willing to overhaul all the information on the site, roster, and wherever to support these new changes should you think it would genuinely improve the simming fun.

 

I'm not begging for change, it's open to consideration, but if I don't explain it, it gets thrown to the wayside, as is proper. And will it increase the fun? Maybe, maybe not. I'm hoping by increasing the depth, we can increase the involvement, and thereby the fun, but it would be an extensive experiment at best. I think you say something similar in your post, so I'm not going to elaborate.

 

Personally, I don't see much how this can help with the small amount of hardcore simmers we have...   ...it would be very useful to have such a complicated ranking system.

 

Arguably, Brain is correct - we are not drastically changing anything, really. Installing another ranking system does nothing for the sim, or it shouldn't. But people want to be recognized, and I don't blame them. As you say, it would be nice to have more people for such a ranking system, and it can be accomplished through either of the ways Brain is mentioning (more people or NPCs). But the point is not to add "functionality", but to give something a little bit firmer that our organization to adhere to, some sort of background.

 

Well I briefly mentioned that above; random meaningless sims. They're fun and all, but you need to have a lot of people who hang around at random times. We just have people who canonly barely show up at the scheduled hours and expect a sim with a lot of important stuff going on.

 

Random is GOOOOOOOOODDDDDDDD...... Unfortunately, so is having a life, so we're out of luck here. As it is, I think we shouldn't be fighting the Ascidian war for them...

 

I'd personally go for Softcore if possible. The Alliance universe is too rigid, nor do we have a lot of hard facts and data on the actual game.

 

I'd go for softcore too... wait, what? We're talking about gaming? Seriously though, not only is the game incomplete, but we are not playing that game, and we have other considerations in mind.

 

For storyline issues, that could very well work. For simming purposes, again, we don't have enough people for it to matter. Add NPCs and that problem would be solved.

 

How to incorporate this is another issue unto itself. But yes, I would like to see us as the better part of a bigger picture, as opposed to the whole picture. How to do it is another story, but I don't want to see heavy rehauling of ranks just to accomplish this.

 

But you know that all of us (see it as a tertiary class) are trained in combat.

 

Sure, but we haven't had a lot of primary troopers as officers, a touch bizarre considering our nature as a (partial) combat unit. But null point, we have one now.

 

 

Sorry to say this .... I doubt it.

 

What? I think it does, because people are thinking they will get promoted due to simming skill alone. Better simmers are higher ranked? No, it shouldn't be that way. That was the way it was originally intended, maybe, but should we stick with that?

 

I read all ideas, but I like this one the most.

 

Yeah right.

 

Either way, we'd need more people and lots of NPCs... I mean, why have more ranks than we have people, eh?

 

Storyline sake, nothing more.

 

I really hope one of you buggers hasn't been typing something while I've been doing this...

[Loonie]

I hate to butt into your heated disccusions, but there was a reference from DH that I would think worth considering: Namely the X-Com - Cydonia Alpha team.

 

I think that it would be a pretty good idea, although there are several things that would have to be considered:

 

-This thing would need a separate hour. It couldn't be done at the Saturday sim time, since people usually don't go there to learn teamwork, but to have fun and let themselves go. But it could be done some other time, like right before or after the Saturday sim.

 

-The people would need a GM, that didn't participate in the sim. This is absolutely necesary since such a GM would have a much better overall perspective and a greater ability to act the sim realistically than a simming GM.

 

-I assume that these sims would be hard-core realism, since teamwork during a sim would best be developed in such a way. But this means quite a few things, namely that the GM would need to be very strict. If the team was for instance chatting with each other in a hostile zone, then the GM would write that because the team wasn't alert a Sectoid sneaked up on them and shot one of them. It could even go as far as to make players miss their shots because they forgot to put themselves into the right stance before firing, but that would be a little extreme I guess, at least for the first few sims.

 

-The participants of such a thing would have to voulenteer (it is pretty obvious that if they don't want to improve their teamwork, that they won't do it, no matter how much someone forces them).

 

I for one would be all for this thing, but of course I can't speak for the others.

 

NOTE: After looking at your post again I think that I might have grossly misunderstood you there. If I haven't then OK, but if I have I will begin hurting myself incesanntly

[Ion Mage]

Well, i like the idea of the alpha team/cydonia team. I also like the idea of some of us having 2 characters (if i nterpreted that correctly). But the 2 characters deal should mainly be awarded to players who are already good at roleplaying their' first one.

[DragonHawk]

Ion Mage, yes, that would be correct, but that was due to other restrictions - not two characters just for the sake of having two, you know?

 

The "alpha team" suggestion was just that - a suggestion. Why do I want to do this?

 

1. It stabilizes a portion of our structure.

2. It focuses the fact that you guys are more active sim-wise (this is part of the whole 'recognition for contribution' thing, one of the "other" awards).

3. It allows the four of you to play the style you want IN-SIM, not out of sim. I don't expect a different level of quality or form from game to game, but this gives you the opportunity to get used to supporting each other, because right now, taking care of you guys is taking care of four separate entities.

4. It makes one of your four a lead player, as I'd like to have the Sergeants calling more of the orders instead of waiting for an officer to give them. Again, as Brain and I were speaking about, officers have other duties.

5. It lets the other guys know that in a way, they support the combat side, if the mission is a combat mission. Our consistent players are fighters, which works out well for us, since we have a shortage in that regard...

 

What am I trying to build? A portion of consistency, in a way. Teamwork will come as result of simming together more often. However, I don't want you guys to see this as a burden. If it's too much, then it will fail, so we may as well not do it.

 

The things that Loonie mentioned should not need a dedicated hour. I know why one would think this, but it doesn't need to be so, and certainly, there doesn't need to be a separate GM, unless one volunteers to do so. If we want to go hardcore realism ("softcore" alliance hahah), we need to ease into it. We'll try it out a bit in the next couple of months, and see how it goes.

[Loonie]

Okay then DH. In that case I would be glad to participate in it. We (or at least I) can start whenever you feel ready.

[Chrysalid_zombie]

I'm always up for a laugh/killing frenzy/sim me

[Chrysalid_zombie]

By the looks of things the idea of individual equipment lists is quite popular. Any one against or not for it?

[Loonie]

As I said, I am for it, as long as it does not interfere with our mission.

[DragonHawk]

What I'm hoping to do is to keep the equipment lists up to date. If you start breaking equipment, or losing equipment, then I am telling you right now, you may not get it back. Especially with armour, replacement times will be long and tedious. And if you keep dropping your empty mags like Ong, pretty soon you won't have any.

 

It's not going to be unreasonable, just so long as you're not destroying your Light Ferronium Armour every sim.

 

Everyone who had their vac suit damaged on the 30 January, 2064, will not have them repaired in time for the next mission, but it will still keep the heat out, to a reasonable degree.

[Saber Warrior]

Erm.......I've been absent from the forums for so long that my account's been deleted. Soooo I'M BACK!!!!!!! ::dodges the hail of rotten vegetables::

 

Anyway, back to the topic! Now I agree that the current ranking system needs an overhaul but I prefer simplicity over vanity. (so no Commander-In-Chief of Toilet Cleaning ) Ghost's idea is great and I think is appropriate for our current roster:

 

Commander (providing that Mouse isn't stuffed with walnuts )

Second In Command (so far only the liutenants as Ko is somewhere jerking off )

Squad leaders (the sargeants)

Squaddies (corporals and privates)

 

I think this is much easier to control than the previous system and like what DH said, the squad leaders should be given more responsibilities in the sims so the GMs could think of more nasty things to throw at the team. :devil: My idea is that the GMs will decide the flow of the sim while the sargeants will take care of the squad and decide how to respond to the events thrown in. Though I'm still bad at GM'ing.

 

Which brings me to the quality of the sims so far. I know this has been said many times before but I insist! It seems that the short post syndrome is back and this is making the sims turn into mindless combat events. So please be more creative in your posting guys and don't force me to do this:

 

<<Trooper>> ::throws grenade into alien squad::

 

ACTION Time slows down as the team watches the grenade sails through the air beautifully and the aliens scream in horror. The grenade falls to the floor right in front of the alien commander and the team starts doing an Irish jig.

 

<<Alien_CO>> ::kneels down to pick up the grenade, PULLS THE BLOODY PIN OUT and throws it back to the surprised team::

 

END SIM!!

 

As DH pointed out several times already, we're trying to inject more realism to the sims. Heavy weapons like the autocannon are HEAVY so troopers handling them will have trouble moving around quickly. Also remember that convenctional weapons have RECOIL so you can't just spray whole clip of lead into the alien squad without affecting your accuracy. I don't mind the privates or even the corporals doing that (character sense that is) as they may not have enough experience to deal with the tension but the senior troopers should set a good example to the team. Still on the subject of recoil, I believe that the troopers using the autocannon should either kneel down or unfold a bipod or something before firing. Being a heavy weapon and all, the recoil should have significant effect to the troopers accuracy.

 

Next, troopers should never do something drastic without informing their superiors like breaking rank and charging into the enemy. If Skonar is the GM, he would have just kill off the trooper without any warning. (I know cuz I was the trooper he killed off ) Now I know that sometimes you guys didn't get a response from me and that's because I can't type very fast. But you can't expect me to respond to 3-4 different one lined posts at the same time, so if the posts are more creative I might even throw in something special:

 

<<Trooper>> ::jumps behind a rock and stays there for a few seconds just to catch his breath. He peeks out for a second and spots the alien grunt shooting wildly at his general direction. When the grunt runs out of ammo, he takes the chance to roll out, aim and fires two rounds from his pistol at the grunt::

 

ACTION The grunt is still reloading his rifle when the first round hit and shatters his jaw. He was already on the way down when the second round arrives just half a second later ripping through his skull and turning his brain into a mess that Yorke wouldn't add to his sectoid brain collection.

 

Now doesn't that make you feel GOOOOOOOOD! This is Saber signing off! Zzzzz....zzzzzzzzz.

[Ghost]

*cheers for Saber* Woohoo, I'm not the only one that is commenting on the short pose syndrome Well as most have probably noticed me doing during sims I have a tendency to make poses that usually fill 1 or 2 lines more or less entirely, rather then making short, quick poses. This sometimes puts me behind on people as I would be a somewhat slower in responding like that, but I personally think it works better, as you put more detail in your actions, people can imagine better what it is you are doing.

 

For instance the difference between the following 2 poses would be significant:

 

::raises his sniper rifle, aims it at the Sectoid's head and shoots::

 

or

 

::kneels down behind a crate and raises his rifle. He shoulders it, using the crate as a stabilizer and looks through the scope, trying to get the Sectoid's head in the crosshairs. As the crosshairs move over the Sectoid's head he squeezes the trigger::

 

The second one has a ton more detail, and thus you can easier picture the situation. Now I know we don't have the time to write a book each time etc, but perhaps a little longer poses would be nice indeed

[Loonie]

Yes indeed. I did the best that I could in making them yesterday and I'm not really good at it right now, although with practice I'm sure that sooner or later I'll improve