[Vanguards Suggestion] Allow players to be a part of multiple squadrons

[madmongoose]

Rather than only allowing commanders to be a part of a single squadron, there are several groups, like the Pilot's Trade Network, the various colonization initiatives, AXI, deep space expeditions, Powerplay associations etc. that often have coalitions of supporting squadrons, that require players to coordinate outside of the game using discord. It would be nice if, with the new Vanguards feature, these broader associations could be enabled, as simple as allowing players to be a part of more than one squadron at a time.

 

[aRJay]

They might want to reconsider the perks feature if they go with this idea, it certainly didn’t sound like anything they were considering during last nights presentation.

 

[metatheurgist]

Yep, and make it so anyone can be representing a squad or not at any time. What is this a marriage or a vidja game?

 

[Kissamies]

Best approach to this would be that you have your main squadron, but you can also be "affiliated" with a number of other squadrons. See their messages that are not for actual members only.

 

[Isaierr]

Best approach to this would be that you have your main squadron, but you can also be "affiliated" with a number of other squadrons. See their messages that are not for actual members only.

ok, so squadron 1 doesn't like squadron 2, squadron 1 sends scout to spy on squadron 2, squadron 1 ruins squadron 2's colonization, bgs, and other plans.. perfect "approach"

 

[Rebel Yell]

I hoped that Vanguards was a different thing... like a Vanguard was able to contain more squadrons, all allied and seen as allies etc.

 

[Isaierr]

I hoped that Vanguards was a different thing... like a Vanguard was able to contain more squadrons, all allied and seen as allies etc.

what possible use case would this achieve? why do you need to be in multiple squadrons? what benefit would you have? why not just form a verbal alliance, tell your dudes that squadron 2 is an ally and join their discord??? literally would work the same way if it were in the game, don't shoot squadron 2, simple. there doesn't need to be an in game visual, that's a waste of time. what if i'm in 30 squadrons and the game has to show every squadron im allied with and every single online player and bookmarks from each squadron. what you "hoped" for is an extreme long shot.

i'll say it again. imagine i send a scout to your squadron to give us important info, this could be done without vanguards anyways, but it would make it easier to do with this braindead version of vanguards you hoped for, and i would most definitely take advantage of that as many others would.

all of you go ahead and make up some rules that could be in place to prevent griefing or whatever other rules you want to see "you can have a primary and secondary squadron only". all would be an enormous waste of time.
it's only a squadrons ui refresh with some perks, it's exactly what it needed to be, not a useless "different thing".. be loyal to your squadron, if you don't like it find a better one.

 

[madmongoose]

ok, so squadron 1 doesn't like squadron 2, squadron 1 sends scout to spy on squadron 2, squadron 1 ruins squadron 2's colonization, bgs, and other plans.. perfect "approach"

That's squadron 2's fault for not vetting the joiner who belongs to squadron 1. I don't see how this is a problem. What this is trying to solve for is larger organizational groups, like AXI, PTN, Powerplay, Expeditions, without requiring a specific feature for it.

 

[SharkBiscuit]

I feel a lot of us wear many hats in this game, and have many friend groups/activities we play with. Supporting multiple squadron membership needn't be a huge change. They could let us nominate the one we're representing when we join game session, open/pg/solo.

 

[Nidoboros]

ok, so squadron 1 doesn't like squadron 2, squadron 1 sends scout to spy on squadron 2, squadron 1 ruins squadron 2's colonization, bgs, and other plans.. perfect "approach"

Okay, but alt accounts would just be another way to do this, so shrug

 

[DjVortex]

I envision logistical and implementation problems with players belonging to more than one squadron.

For example, does the player get the perks from all the squadrons? If that would be the case then just join as many squadrons as you can, and you get all the perks that exist? If this isn't desirable, then they would need to implement the logic and UI that would allow players to choose a "primary" squadron from which to get perks, while they don't get them from the "secondary" squadrons. Then there's of course displaying and managing all the squadrons you belong to, which is in itself adds complications to the UI and the implementation. Plus probably a whole lot of other complications.

 

[Nidoboros]

Maybe just a way to be marked as friend of the squadron, so you can join missions or hang out, but gain no benefit. Or you can only be rank 2+ of a single squad, and you don't get perks for only being rank 1, or something.

 

[metatheurgist]

Or maybe you just remove artificial enticements like perks. The entire point of guilds is to work together for common goals, not to collect rewards.

You only see the UI for one squad at a time (currently active or none), just like you do with ships.

 

[Rebel Yell]

what possible use case would this achieve? why do you need to be in multiple squadrons? what benefit would you have? why not just form a verbal alliance, tell your dudes that squadron 2 is an ally and join their discord??? literally would work the same way if it were in the game, don't shoot squadron 2, simple. there doesn't need to be an in game visual, that's a waste of time. what if i'm in 30 squadrons and the game has to show every squadron im allied with and every single online player and bookmarks from each squadron. what you "hoped" for is an extreme long shot.

i'll say it again. imagine i send a scout to your squadron to give us important info, this could be done without vanguards anyways, but it would make it easier to do with this braindead version of vanguards you hoped for, and i would most definitely take advantage of that as many others would.

all of you go ahead and make up some rules that could be in place to prevent griefing or whatever other rules you want to see "you can have a primary and secondary squadron only". all would be an enormous waste of time.
it's only a squadrons ui refresh with some perks, it's exactly what it needed to be, not a useless "different thing".. be loyal to your squadron, if you don't like it find a better one.

I meant one is in ONLY ONE squadron, but being part of a Vanguard allows the player to benefit of all the "sharing" part of the game (i.e. wing missions).

 

[madmongoose]

I meant one is in ONLY ONE squadron, but being part of a Vanguard allows the player to benefit of all the "sharing" part of the game (i.e. wing missions).

Yeah now that is not a thing I think we need the new thing to do what we hoped Vanguards was going to do.

 

[Ian Doncaster]

This got raised back in 2018 when the original Squadrons implementation went in, too.

I expect it'll come up in 2032 for the next go round as well, but just in case: it's probably too complicated to allow people to actually be in multiple squadrons at once, but one thing I'd seen done back in 2018 in some other games to let people manage multiple affiliations is to let group leaders have an "auto accept application" list for their group, and I still think it makes sense to have for Elite Dangerous.

- So player A is, perfectly normally, part of wider player groups X, Y and Z.
- The squadrons attached to those groups all have player A on their "auto accept" list.
- Player A can leave squadron X, apply to squadron Y (which auto accepts them), and fly for this session as part of squadron Y. Then after a few hours, they can switch back to squadron X. Nothing they can't already do, of course, it's just simpler because the squadron membership ranks don't need to be awake.
- If player A applies to squadron W, then they're not on the "auto accept" list there and have to be approved by the squadron staff; if they then leave W again they've no automatic right to return.

 

[Isaierr]

Maybe just a way to be marked as friend of the squadron, so you can join missions or hang out, but gain no benefit. Or you can only be rank 2+ of a single squad, and you don't get perks for only being rank 1, or something.

WHAT WOULD BE THE POINT LMAOOOOO. JUST ALLY THROUGH DISCORD AND HANG OUT THAT WAY LOL.

 

[Isaierr]

I meant one is in ONLY ONE squadron, but being part of a Vanguard allows the player to benefit of all the "sharing" part of the game (i.e. wing missions).

what would be the point? you can wing and share everything without needing to be in a squadron at all??? so what would be the benefit? nothing. waste of time.

 

[Isaierr]

This is a better take. Having allies could allow for inter squadron communication and coordination.



Because Discord isn’t a game feature, there should be lines of communication for players in game we shouldn’t have to rely on 3rd party apps.

ok? i meant for multiple squadrons. there should be no need to join multiple squadrons, if you want to hang with another squadron but remain in yours, join their discord???? you don't need an in game thing for that at all. play with who you want to play with, you can already communicate with players in game, so idk what your argument is?

 

[Isaierr]

Okay, but alt accounts would just be another way to do this, so shrug

i literally said this can be done without vanguards anyways, BUT would make it easier. read before you reply.