Hi all, had an idea, parts of which may or may not be redundant with what is already IG or planned, but I figured I'd throw it out there anyway.
THE IDEA
Provide more incentives for players to join and progress through a faction, but not so great as to overpower them compared to more mercenary characters. Also, restrict people who join a faction to only one faction. (I've heard you can gain rank multiple major factions, forgive me if I'm wrong.)
WHY?
Looking through threads, I'm noticing a distinct trend of players who say they'll fly for anyone who has the cash. There's not a lot of loyalty. Is this a problem? NO! I'm not saying it is. I'm saying that providing added incentives may give people more reason to fly for one side exclusively where previously they may have had none.
IN DETAIL
Restrictions:
First off, you can only have rank in one faction. Empire, Federation, Alliance. Pick one, that's it... for that character. I've heard you will eventually be able to have multiple pilots, so don't worry about being restricted in your time on ED. This is more a realism and balancing mechanism. See below suggestions for why this is important.
War Zones:
Commanders who are official members of a faction will receive alerts (some new feature on the map?) about conflicts their faction is involved in. Here I would like to see added risk/reward as well. I've not had a chance to actually partake in war zones, but I imagine you receive faction standing for doing so. What I would like to see is an added bonus or penalty when the conflict is ended depending on if your side won or loss. Something like 10-20% gained if your side won, or lost if your side lost. "Oh, you were in the Battle of Sol? We lost... the hell were you guys doing out there?" Essentially, lost battles are a black mark on your record.
Ranks:
Ranks should be hard(er?) to achieve, with the final ranks being a serious achievement on par with hitting the higher (not necessarily highest) pilot ranks. More time invested lends prestige to those who work toward becoming an Earl or Post Commander and a greater sense of accomplishment for the commander himself.
Rank Benefits:
At present, the only benefit I know of is you get access to the faction ships, such as the Dropship, with more ships supposedly on the way, as well as access to a few special systems such as Sol. I suggest the following in addition -
-Military-Issued Gear: By serving a faction eventually they will begin to issue you new weapons and ship components. These will NOT be better than other higher end weapons on the market, but rather close to the higher end stuff you could find. Essentially, this gives an added boost but does not make one inherently stronger than other ships.
-Distress Beacon Functions: When (if) they get re-added, your distress beacons, if used in areas your faction controls, will provide a more rapid response time from faction NPC's (and potentially PC's?), dependent on your rank.
-NPC Wingmen: I see this being a lot more useful in solo play. There are plans (I think) to incorporate wings into future patches of the game, allowing players to form up, slave their FSD's together and generally be a more cohesive unit. This is awesome, but what would also be nice is a sort of NPC mercenary system where you can get faction NPC's or (if you're not in a faction) regular NPC's at certain stations.
-Hostility: Depending on the current state of affairs in galactic politics, your membership in one faction (which should be readily visible on scans) should make you automatically attacked by your faction's enemies. Approach an enemy starbase at your own peril, in other words.
EDIT: Also, add the ability to resign from a faction, allowing one to defect.
"Valo, this is a lot of stuff being given to faction folk. How do they pay for it?"
I envision them being given these items at a greatly reduced price, perhaps 30-40% or whatever seems reasonable. It should be a serious boon in exchange for how much of the galaxy you could potentially shut yourself off of. Selling such items should be possible, yet at the cost of demotions and a serious loss of faction standings and potential suspension from the "faction store." A marine selling his rifle isn't going to be treated well in real life, even if nothing physically prevents him from doing so.
Thoughts?
THE IDEA
Provide more incentives for players to join and progress through a faction, but not so great as to overpower them compared to more mercenary characters. Also, restrict people who join a faction to only one faction. (I've heard you can gain rank multiple major factions, forgive me if I'm wrong.)
WHY?
Looking through threads, I'm noticing a distinct trend of players who say they'll fly for anyone who has the cash. There's not a lot of loyalty. Is this a problem? NO! I'm not saying it is. I'm saying that providing added incentives may give people more reason to fly for one side exclusively where previously they may have had none.
IN DETAIL
Restrictions:
First off, you can only have rank in one faction. Empire, Federation, Alliance. Pick one, that's it... for that character. I've heard you will eventually be able to have multiple pilots, so don't worry about being restricted in your time on ED. This is more a realism and balancing mechanism. See below suggestions for why this is important.
War Zones:
Commanders who are official members of a faction will receive alerts (some new feature on the map?) about conflicts their faction is involved in. Here I would like to see added risk/reward as well. I've not had a chance to actually partake in war zones, but I imagine you receive faction standing for doing so. What I would like to see is an added bonus or penalty when the conflict is ended depending on if your side won or loss. Something like 10-20% gained if your side won, or lost if your side lost. "Oh, you were in the Battle of Sol? We lost... the hell were you guys doing out there?" Essentially, lost battles are a black mark on your record.
Ranks:
Ranks should be hard(er?) to achieve, with the final ranks being a serious achievement on par with hitting the higher (not necessarily highest) pilot ranks. More time invested lends prestige to those who work toward becoming an Earl or Post Commander and a greater sense of accomplishment for the commander himself.
Rank Benefits:
At present, the only benefit I know of is you get access to the faction ships, such as the Dropship, with more ships supposedly on the way, as well as access to a few special systems such as Sol. I suggest the following in addition -
-Military-Issued Gear: By serving a faction eventually they will begin to issue you new weapons and ship components. These will NOT be better than other higher end weapons on the market, but rather close to the higher end stuff you could find. Essentially, this gives an added boost but does not make one inherently stronger than other ships.
-Distress Beacon Functions: When (if) they get re-added, your distress beacons, if used in areas your faction controls, will provide a more rapid response time from faction NPC's (and potentially PC's?), dependent on your rank.
-NPC Wingmen: I see this being a lot more useful in solo play. There are plans (I think) to incorporate wings into future patches of the game, allowing players to form up, slave their FSD's together and generally be a more cohesive unit. This is awesome, but what would also be nice is a sort of NPC mercenary system where you can get faction NPC's or (if you're not in a faction) regular NPC's at certain stations.
-Hostility: Depending on the current state of affairs in galactic politics, your membership in one faction (which should be readily visible on scans) should make you automatically attacked by your faction's enemies. Approach an enemy starbase at your own peril, in other words.
EDIT: Also, add the ability to resign from a faction, allowing one to defect.
"Valo, this is a lot of stuff being given to faction folk. How do they pay for it?"
I envision them being given these items at a greatly reduced price, perhaps 30-40% or whatever seems reasonable. It should be a serious boon in exchange for how much of the galaxy you could potentially shut yourself off of. Selling such items should be possible, yet at the cost of demotions and a serious loss of faction standings and potential suspension from the "faction store." A marine selling his rifle isn't going to be treated well in real life, even if nothing physically prevents him from doing so.
Thoughts?
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