Forums » Suggestions

UIT should have neutral initial standing in serco/itan

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Apr 09, 2013 vanatteveldt link
This has probably been posted before, but forum search turned up nothing useful.

The way it is now, new UIT players have +200 Itan and +0 Serco standing, even though in the back story they are supposed to be neutral traders who profit from both sides of the war.

This pushes them towards itan alignment at a time where Itan already outnumbers Serco and Itan also has a logistical advantage in Deneb. Also, it makes serco nationalist roleplay more difficult since identifying any UIT with higher itan than serco standing as an enemy basically lumps all new UIT players in the enemy category, effectively taking their choice of which side to support (or not) away from them.

Suggestion: make UIT players start with equal standing for Itan and Serco, probably both +200.

[additionally, I'm not sure what UIT standing new Serco and Itan players start with, but that should be equal as well]
Apr 09, 2013 TheRedSpy link
Common sense suggestion so 1+

But it's really the soft sell just to have the starting standing fixed, I think it's more important to consider mutual exclusivity.

I'm not sure what the devs are worried about with the mutual exclusivity thingy, last time they talked about 'unforeseen circumstances' being a barrier to implementing faction exclusivity all the way.

Ideally though, i'd have a form of mutual exclusivity with all 3 major factions, take these extremes for example:

Itani POS
Itani: POS
Serco: KOS
UIT: Neutral

Serco POS
Itani: KOS
Serco: POS
UIT: Neutral

Increasing the UIT standing would reduce the Itani/Serco standing to a midpoint of being Neutral/Neutral, with Neutral/Neutral/Neutral being possible, and then having the UIT upper limit be this:

UIT POS
UIT: POS
Serco: Neutral
Itani: Neutral

Additions to either Serco or Itani standing would be mutually exclusive with UIT standing and reduce it proportionally.

It's a fairly simple concept I guess, so I probably was a little too verbose in explaining it, but the point is that any given character can only achieve high levels of standing with one of the major factions, rather than UIT standing just being the free POS that has no conditions.

I defy anybody to come up with a reasonable reason why we shouldn't implement this that isn't inherently care-bear.

This is great for nationalists because it lets us kill each other with impunity in UIT space but we can't hurt traders without taking faction hits in the processs.

Pirates that think they're being clever flying a valkryie will be fair game in UIT space.

Traders won't be absurdly flying valks or skyproms, and if they do, they'll be fair game in UIT space.

Enough faction absurdity already, lets make this a priority!
Apr 09, 2013 Pizzasgood link
While I'm all for that TRS, you're kind of pulling an Alloh here.

vanatteveldt: It is Itani, not Itan.
Apr 09, 2013 TheRedSpy link
Yes I am pulling an Alloh.

Sue me!

XD
Apr 09, 2013 Snake7561 link
This is why people should read the backstory.
UITs have +200 Itani because the Serco bullied them and kicked them from Sol II.
And if you hate the Itani that much, just go into Jallik and shoot some people. Problem solved.
And I'm gonna disagree with you there, Esp. UIT is neutral-ish, so you should be able to be liked by the UIT and Serco/Itani.
Apr 09, 2013 Kierky link
Yes, the faction standings initially reflect the backstory. Why bother?
Serco start out with +200 BioCom
Apr 09, 2013 TheRedSpy link
"And I'm gonna disagree with you there, Esp. UIT is neutral-ish, so you should be able to be liked by the UIT and Serco/Itani."

Worse than being just a carebear reason, this isn't even a reason at all.

It's the source of a major imbalance in the universe, that's why bother. The back-story support for it is piss-weak to the point of absurdity.

If you want to make starting standings vary then you should procedurally generate them to balance the playerbase or have them dynamic. And if that sounds like too much work, then just stick them at neutral until it becomes not enough work.
Apr 09, 2013 ryan reign link
Snake, while that is true... the Serco according to the back story, have the largest military in the 'verse... ergo, they are major business to the UIT.

+1 to TRS or OP, whichever.
Apr 09, 2013 Conflict Diamond link
"Sue me!"

Henceforth, TRS/Espi and all known alts shall be referred to as "Susan"

+1 to OP. I'd make the start point neutral 0 for both.
Apr 09, 2013 Alloh link
-1
I think it is well balanced now, and coherent with backstory.

Standing isn't about what you think about the others, but what the other think about you.

While the Itani "almost like" the UIT, Serco "almost dislike" the UITs, simply because they are not Serco! Misbehave only once on any small aspect and Serco will dislike you. Do some small work for them and the Itanis will like you... So, (200:It, 0:Se) reflects very well that...

I think Susan is role-playing here, trying to make anyone not Serco a valid target anywhere... not being fair or balanced. To use a real-life example, both Iran and Iraq would welcome Russian weapons dealers during their war, so a UIT should be able to be Respected by both sides, as a valuable supplier!
Apr 09, 2013 Snake7561 link
Ryan, I think the Serco have the largest military is because that's all they did for a thousand years - not because they bought it all from the UIT.
Apr 09, 2013 Pizzasgood link
People who are neutral should have neutral standing.

People whose standing is other than neutral are not neutral people.
Apr 09, 2013 Touriaus link
Not to sound negative... But this seems like one of those things that sounds very good and is ideal but won't be implemented anytime soon. If I remember right the faction system was supposed to be fixed a long time ago. There have been some minor tweaks but those are rather arbitrary if full implementation doesn't follow.
Apr 09, 2013 vanatteveldt link
Well we might as well stop going to /3 then until 1.9 or 2.0 is released, right?

The suggested tweak is arbitrary but I think it is an improvement, so that's why I suggested it.

From the backstory there is no real good reason why Serco would treat UIT worse than Itani would. If anything, they need the UIT more for the technology and intelligence than the Itani do.

(he opposite might be true (eg giving Serco less UIT standing than Itani) but that is not really important here. )
Apr 09, 2013 Alloh link
Wrong. UIT are not Serco, and that's reason enough why an UIT newbie gets 0 standing... While the Itani are more sympathetic to UIT since they reckon that both were oppressed by the same Serco people, so the free +200 standing, just for not being Serco...
Apr 09, 2013 Drevent1 link
+1 to OP
Apr 10, 2013 Touriaus link
Alloh: uit are stupid and the whole faction should just be removed.
Apr 10, 2013 Alloh link
Totally diagree, Mecha... but you're a dedicated Serco. What UIT really need is a nemesis! A real enemy, the 4th faction... something as (Corvus+XX+Tung) standing as opposing force and competing on supply business for Serco/Itani... with deals, contracts, ships and blasts...
Apr 10, 2013 Snake7561 link
Some rebel corporations would be cool. +1 to Alloh.
Apr 10, 2013 ryan reign link
Snake, you completely missed the point of what I said and managed to get everything you said wrong as well... you're quite talented.

"Ryan, I think the Serco have the largest military is because that's all they did for a thousand years - not because they bought it all from the UIT."

Addressing my point, the largest military means the largest military contracts.

Addressing you getting the rest wrong, yes... in point of fact the UIT sells the bulk of the weapons used by both sides. read the back story sometime.