I think that we should make corvus a user-pickable faction. i mean, they basically have their own government! As with UIT, they have multiple stations strung throughout Gray space. Also, they have their own color. I see no reason as to why they should have their own color if they arent a user pickable faction. Maybe when you pick them, your allignment will be 'corvus' or 'unalligned' and you will be kos with all other nations?

this might be good, except i dont think any noob wants to be droppend into the game being public enemy #1

perhaps a level requirement, and monetary requirement to swith to any faction you want.

level requirement? pshh, its not like we care about licenses, we sell you weapons that you're not licensed for.

Now, bounties, bounty kills, kills of bounty hunters, pk's, duel rating, all these things factor in.

I'd rather have which ever nation + corvus that you have the best standing with be considered your alignment. Works well if Itani vs. Serco and UIT vs. Corvus are made standing exclusive.

Re: bongaonga1

> I think that we should make corvus a user-pickable faction.

Agreed; I think that this is an excellent suggestion. I have repeatedly listed being a pirate as one possible role-playing experience (even though, as a trader, I am officially against pirating), and including Corvus among the user-choosable factions would definitely facilitate this role.

Pirates are distincly different from any of the other user-choosable factions. Unlike both Itani and Serco, they don't usually care about the war (except about how it relates to their profiting from it), and unlike the UIT, they usually aren't interested in trading or mining. Many players hang out in Corvus Hold because they really want to be pirates.

Personally, while I have never been interested in being Serco, I have occasionally (especially when in a bad mood) been interested in thinking about what life would be like as a pirate. I might even try to become a good pirate one day, like Captain Harlock in the anime series of the same name. Robin Hood, for example, was a good pirate of sorts. There are good pirates who steal from the rich and give to the poor. I might decide to steal from enemy trading guilds and give to newbies, for example.

Establishing Corvus as a user-choosable faction would also help to balance the capital ships. Currently, the Itani and Serco capital ships fight each other, but the UIT capital ship has no obvious opponent. This could be a problem in the future if the capital ships were redirected as support ships for CtC. The UIT ship would either have to fight the Serco every week, or alternate between fighting Itani and Serco.

Setting Corvus as a faction directly opposing the UIT would balance the capital ship power balance. The UIT capital ship would simply head for Corvus Hold, while the Corvus capital ship would head for Dau Senate. Further, both factions would balance each other as non-nation territories, so that the UIT would not feel uniquely left out anymore as the only non-nation territory. They would both be excluded from access to the Neutron Blaster MkIII.

I would definitely be interested in creating an alternate Corvus character if that faction were to become user-choosable. Then everytime I got into a bad mood again, I might switch to my Corvus identity and steal from the rich and give to the poor.

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

If UIT vs. Corvus is a dynamic that is set up in the future,

would it be possible to get a nice blaster available at Corvus stations?

Like an Advanced Ion Blaster, 205 m/s with typical ion stats otherwise.

Maybe make it so that you need high Corvus standing and either the first or the second pk medal?

Why should it be Corvus? Cant we just fall unaligned? Corvus isnt the onty sub-faction that sells some items at lower level req's either, so they are not the only privateer faction...

(I'd rather not be any faction, of have to choose any side, thanking you ta, and corvus is as bad as Serco...)

well, I chose Corvus cuz its at the heart of grey.

To become unaligned, just get negative standing with everyone.

I think having itani vs serco and uit vs corvus sets up a classic good/evil lawful/chaotic alignment system. (Not starting a flamewar with serco=evil, just going by the backstory we have.)

Personally, I think it would be a lot cooler if you could start out as either Serco, Itani, or Unaligned first, and decide to work for UIT, or TPG, or Orion, or Axia, or etc., you get the picture, and that what ever faction you did your missions with and built up your faction standing with is what actually influenced who you were. Since the Serco/Itani conflict is part of the back story, if you choosed one of them you were set, but choosing a UIT really should allow you to choose which of the indepentent factions your going to work for. Defaulting to UIT is too boring, and personally, I stopped flying yellow/gold the first day, started flying green for TPG and then Orion. But the game really does not facilitate players in showing those kinds of rp actions. It would be nice perhaps if we could add a small blurb to our info screen so that when others checked up they could read what we are about personally. This could be a good place to let people know your intentions quickly so that you don't half to try and type it fast enough before someone starts firing on you. Just a thought.

Re: johnhawl218

> It would be nice perhaps if we could add a small blurb to our info screen so that
> when others checked up they could read what we are about personally. This
> could be a good place to let people know your intentions quickly so that you
> don't half to try and type it fast enough before someone starts firing on you.

Agreed. I think that this is an excellent idea, too. After all, VO is officially classified as an MMORPG, not an MMOFPS, and allowing a few short paragraphs on our info screens for a brief self-description would help greatly for the RP (Role-Playing) aspect.

For example, currently, even if two people are both UIT, one could be a bona fide trader, while the other could be a pirate based at Corvus Hold. A self-description could help to differentiate between the two.

As an example, my own self-description might read as something similar to the following:

-----
DekuDekuplex Ornitier
Birthplace: Itan
Original Faction: Itani
Current Faction: Tunguska
Occupation: Scholar/Trader/Miner

The name "DekuDekuplex Ornitier" originates from three sources: "Deku," the name of tree in in a crude video game one of his ancestors played many centuries ago on an obscure planet called Earth; "googolplex," which is ten to the power of a googol; and "Ornitier," which was the last name of a mage role, "Vivi Ornitier," played in a different video game by that same ancestor.

Originally born on Planet Itan, he was educated at the elite Itan University, and raised in the ways of peaceful meditation by the great sage Otetis Pros. DekuDekuplex became disillusioned with the evils of taking life after a brief period of military service in the Itani Alliance. A follower of the ways of the ancient Earth scientist Albert Einstein, he longs to be an independent scholar. However, in order to fund his research, he has temporarily chosen a peaceful life as a trader. Briefly, he was employed by The Guild of Free Traders, where he learned many secrets of the arts of trading and mining, but eventually left because their meeting times did not match his nocturnal schedule. Currently, he serves as a Council Member in ELITE RPGuild.

Although a scholar at heart, he is also pragmatic, and secretly practices at a distant training site in the art of self-defense when he is not trading, mining, or doing research. He dreams of one day making a major breakthrough and contributing to civilization by designing the ultimate virtual reality generator.
-----

-- DekuDekuplex Ornitier

he he yea I love the zelda games too:D.

Corvus should NOT be user-pickable at creation.

It should be a vast vast amount of hard work to be able to join them.