New Minor Faction Application Tips

[BigGreenWaterballoon]

o7 all

My squadron recently went through the process of submitting the paperwork for a new faction and I thought it would be worth sharing a couple of really useful notes we picked up on the way. I'm sure a number of cmdrs already knew this type of thing, but if anyone out there is applying for a squadron + minor faction for the first time it may help. These are in addition to the guidelines on the FDev application page.

FDev were pretty helpful throughout the process and seemed rightly protective about lore (I made some daft mistakes in the application in wording and terms), which makes sense in the context of overall galactic and game lore. So:

1. The faction is massive in comparison to a squadron, so don't mention squadrons in faction lore. A faction is like a political power or corporation, whereas a squadron can be a group of friends
2. Be very careful about / avoid psuedo-lore (which I suspect means anything not directly canon in E : D lore but derived from it); so your own historical player group or sqdn lore will probably need to be re-worded
3. Don't talk about inter-squadron wars & events - even through they may be other player factions - or similar activity as this is potentially objectionable content. Suspect CG events or DW-style events might be ok though
4. Once you're happy with your faction lore, choose a government and allegience type that suits the lore e.g. if it's about mining, make it a corporation perhaps; if it's about a hippy commune maybe a democracy or religious type
5. FDev generally seem to review the minor faction applications on Tuesdays, and if accepted your faction may be in the game within hours of their successful review: check your email on Tuesdays for rejection / accptance notifications

I hope this info helps someone shave a few review cycles of their application

 

[Hugh Jaas II]

Cheers for that heads up. Just in the process myself.

I think the tool that they give to look for a home system could do with some tweaking. Ya know, the no.1 to no.3 in priority of preferred home first.

Since applying, I've become aware that 1 of 3 systems has a player faction in there, although I believe they've expanded into it. Does that make difference?

And one more thing, how do the Colonia factions go about it? In the rules, they stated that no systems within the Colonia region were allowed. But obviously they're here.

 

[BigGreenWaterballoon]

Cheers for that heads up. Just in the process myself.

I think the tool that they give to look for a home system could do with some tweaking. Ya know, the no.1 to no.3 in priority of preferred home first.

Since applying, I've become aware that 1 of 3 systems has a player faction in there, although I believe they've expanded into it. Does that make difference?

And one more thing, how do the Colonia factions go about it? In the rules, they stated that no systems within the Colonia region were allowed. But obviously they're here.

Welcome, glad it was useful

So in short, having another PF in there will likely prevent you getting your new MF HQ in there (which I think is a good thing to stop potential squabbles over nice systems people have fought particularly hard to expand into). We purposely selected systems perhaps with PF HQs nearby but that had taken no interest in that particular expansion corridor for at least a year, and where the neighbours seem to be likely to be friendly.

If you can I would try and avoid setting up your HQ within 20 ly of another PF HQ if at all possible. The bubble is pretty crowded with orphaned player factions though which is quite frustrating - so groups that went through this process in the past but have since disbanded leave their factions in-game and categorised as a PF (rather than NPC).

My only grumble really (and it's only a minor one): tt would be beneficial for FDev to collate a list of these orphaned PF whose squadrons were disbanded > 3 months ago, and adjust them back to NPC status again. This would open up a number of systems for new player groups to set up home. Those old PF (now NPC) would remain in game of course, and using the current rules the old squadron could not re-adopt and invade your shiny new HQ - they would have to choose a different player faction to adopt or the PF you yourselves created for mutual support.

Colonia factions... that's out of the question for new player factions by the looks of it, but as the sqdn cmdr of our new sqdn I could 'adopt' any faction that I was allied with... so potentially CCN or Colonia Council were in that list until I'd done some missions to ally myself with our new PF! So you could have a squadron that adopts an existing NPF or PF, but not one you create yourselves.

What would be really useful is a way of getting to the system selection bit in the faction application forms so that you could check out systems for applicability easily. Having said that myself and a couple of other commanders scouted the region and I had the form open to see if nice systems were available for selection in it.

o7

 

[Hugh Jaas II]

Seems there's a lot to be learned here.

I'm still awaiting a response from fdev. I'm hoping to get into conversation with them as I feel that giving 3 systems and a bit of background (didn't even get to explain our lore), then getting a yes/no response doesn't feel very engaging whatsoever. So in case of refusal etc. I get to make another suggestion to them.

I've also become aware that there are several players factions in and around some of the systems I put forward.

If you could be a gent and just check our lore on our inara and pull anything that conflicts with fdevs rules/policies...bla bla. Then I can adjust anything that needs correcting to fall in line with their requirements.

TIA.

 

[angusmadmac1]

deleted due to wrong thread

 

[BigGreenWaterballoon]

Seems there's a lot to be learned here.

I'm still awaiting a response from fdev. I'm hoping to get into conversation with them as I feel that giving 3 systems and a bit of background (didn't even get to explain our lore), then getting a yes/no response doesn't feel very engaging whatsoever. So in case of refusal etc. I get to make another suggestion to them.

I've also become aware that there are several players factions in and around some of the systems I put forward.

If you could be a gent and just check our lore on our inara and pull anything that conflicts with fdevs rules/policies...bla bla. Then I can adjust anything that needs correcting to fall in line with their requirements.

TIA.

Happy to help - I suspect the reply system FDev have back to us is limited by characters so they're only able to say so much.

(edited)
Nice sqdn artwork Which bit are you looking go promote as your lore? (you can add an excerpt) but I suspect the 1st person narrative may cause issues - worth a try though.

 

[Hugh Jaas II]

Happy to help - I suspect the reply system FDev have back to us is limited by characters so they're only able to say so much.

(edited)
Nice sqdn artwork Which bit are you looking go promote as your lore? (you can add an excerpt) but I suspect the 1st person narrative may cause issues - worth a try though.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get into dialogue with them in case of the long drawn out conversation I suspect (or hope) is coming , regarding our HS.

Our excerpt is basically a small piece from our lore, watered down to slightly distance ourselves from the game lore.

EXCERPT READS:

"Slug Punx are a band of mercernaries, returned to the bubble after conflict with Li Yong-Rui forces who choose to play in their own way, wether that be bounty hunters, traders, explorers, miners, pirates or even anti-xeno pilots, we have one goal, support The Dark Wheel."

Of course the narrative is, that our chief scientist (and our efforts) were behind the push that brought us early reincarnations of the experimental weapons effect 'plasma slug'. The fact we're just a small band with an advanced tech, anyone, including Li Yong-Rui, would love to get their dirty hands on. For profitable gains, obviously.

Thanks again.

O7

Edited:
Thanks for the feedback on the artwork. Tried to find someone to help me create my ideas into an image. Remembered that I'm not half bad at the paint shop game in the Forza series, so yeah, I made that in FH4, believe it or not.

 

[BigGreenWaterballoon]

I'm hoping that I'll be able to get into dialogue with them in case of the long drawn out conversation I suspect (or hope) is coming , regarding our HS.

Our excerpt is basically a small piece from our lore, watered down to slightly distance ourselves from the game lore.

EXCERPT READS:

"Slug Punx are a band of mercernaries, returned to the bubble after conflict with Li Yong-Rui forces who choose to play in their own way, wether that be bounty hunters, traders, explorers, miners, pirates or even anti-xeno pilots, we have one goal, support The Dark Wheel."

Of course the narrative is, that our chief scientist (and our efforts) were behind the push that brought us early reincarnations of the experimental weapons effect 'plasma slug'. The fact we're just a small band with an advanced tech, anyone, including Li Yong-Rui, would love to get their dirty hands on. For profitable gains, obviously.

Thanks again.

O7

Edited:
Thanks for the feedback on the artwork. Tried to find someone to help me create my ideas into an image. Remembered that I'm not half bad at the paint shop game in the Forza series, so yeah, I made that in FH4, believe it or not.

Ah wait I think I read the wrong Inara sqdn page last time So ... you will probably get a rejection for the references to Li-Yong-Rui pseudo lore (apologies if I've misread / missed the canon) unless that war was a 'thing' in ED generally e.g. on galnet or in the codex. I think the "...bounty hunters... or even anti-xeno pilots" bit may also be picked up as a reference to squadrons rather than factions.

Could be interesting with the reference to the Dark Wheel there, not sure if that's allowable as that's lore - think it's worth a try getting that in there. I'd really recommend thinking about it as a faction, not a squadron. A squadron is tiny in comparison... a faction is (potentially) millions of people spanning multiple systems. Multiple squadrons can support a faction, but a squadron can only align to one faction.

Please remember that I'm not in any way affiliated with FDev and can only echo the kinds of feedback I received during our recent application, so if you feel particularly strongly about a piece of your faction lore please give it a shot!

The conversation with the FDev review(s) is / are restricted to a short couple of paragraphs available to them in the review system I think. We found they addressed one issue at a time - which is why I originally posted a list of additional considerations to augment the FDev guidance on the application form.

Good luck! o7

 

[Hugh Jaas II]

Ah wait I think I read the wrong Inara sqdn page last time So ... you will probably get a rejection for the references to Li-Yong-Rui pseudo lore (apologies if I've misread / missed the canon) unless that war was a 'thing' in ED generally e.g. on galnet or in the codex. I think the "...bounty hunters... or even anti-xeno pilots" bit may also be picked up as a reference to squadrons rather than factions.

Could be interesting with the reference to the Dark Wheel there, not sure if that's allowable as that's lore - think it's worth a try getting that in there. I'd really recommend thinking about it as a faction, not a squadron. A squadron is tiny in comparison... a faction is (potentially) millions of people spanning multiple systems. Multiple squadrons can support a faction, but a squadron can only align to one faction.

Please remember that I'm not in any way affiliated with FDev and can only echo the kinds of feedback I received during our recent application, so if you feel particularly strongly about a piece of your faction lore please give it a shot!

The conversation with the FDev review(s) is / are restricted to a short couple of paragraphs available to them in the review system I think. We found they addressed one issue at a time - which is why I originally posted a list of additional considerations to augment the FDev guidance on the application form.

Good luck! o7

I suppose I could tweak a few words to fit what they want. I'll await their response. I used Li Yong-Rui as he's the local superpower, could be tweaked to fit a/the narrative.

I'd like to get a faction into the game, run it, work it and push it. Having an incentive as such would give me another 5 years gameplay, easy lol. I'm happy to follow what they want as long as we can keep our name and if so, a connection to Plasma Slug mod. I've created my faction based on that.

How cool would it be if we had success and they even added some derelict outposts on Mudusitoq 1A just to show the lore could be written into the game as well as dependent on it.

Anyway, I'll keep it short. Don't wanna put too much passion into it, to be disappointed . Hopefully I'll hear from them soon as it's been almost 2 weeks now.

o7

 

[BigGreenWaterballoon]

I suppose I could tweak a few words to fit what they want. I'll await their response. I used Li Yong-Rui as he's the local superpower, could be tweaked to fit a/the narrative.

I'd like to get a faction into the game, run it, work it and push it. Having an incentive as such would give me another 5 years gameplay, easy lol. I'm happy to follow what they want as long as we can keep our name and if so, a connection to Plasma Slug mod. I've created my faction based on that.

How cool would it be if we had success and they even added some derelict outposts on Mudusitoq 1A just to show the lore could be written into the game as well as dependent on it.

Anyway, I'll keep it short. Don't wanna put too much passion into it, to be disappointed . Hopefully I'll hear from them soon as it's been almost 2 weeks now.

o7

Unusual that there's no response after two Tuesdays... would double check the system(s) you've selected to see if the MF has been created already. There's a chance you may not get an approval email - one of our allies had their MF created without the confirmation email, I got a confirmation email and the MF was in the game within a couple of hours or so. FDev have been hard at work on patches for the mining drought of late.

We do enjoy plasma slug rails and appreciate your hard work o7