Do we have a general philosophy for the PU ?

[AndyBee]

I have of course read the info on RSI website which is why i'm here, lots of co-op, teamwork, teamspeak, no pirating etc... and i know PU launch is a long way off, but as an Organisation do we have a goal as such ? I appreciate as more info comes to light from CIG it could change, but i'm just wondering.

Mainly because i do intend upgrading my last Aurora to something (much) bigger, and it may as well be something that benefits our Org' as well as just me !

[TeaLeaf]

The short answer is no, not yet as a written document, but much of our general philosophy is what we believe and enjoy as part of dMw.

We need to do a number of things over the coming months, including setting up a leadership structure for the game (within dMw we tend to appoint a 'game leader' and a council of 'game admins' to help run the organization and be our officer core).

As for in-game goals, perhaps this thread should be the place where we talk about what we want to achieve as a group.  

For me, I'd like the organization to:

• have a relatively low tax on membership
• explore & locate high value resource locations to allow us to be financially successful
• develop solid arbitrage data to allow us to exploit trade differentials
• venture out into the unexplored regions of the PU and discover new systems & new jump points (that we can then sell)
• salvage lots of cool tech & develop this both for our benefit and for retail purposes
• find an abandoned Idris or other capital ship, board and secure it!
• develop a system within the organization for regular team events (for whatever goal we find rewarding that night)
• be a stable, drama-free home for some nightly entertainment

The game is probably 12+ months away though, so we have plenty of time and there's no rush.

[OldBloke]

I'm interested in how the mechanics of the game will handle our desire to work as a team to complete objectives alongside the exploration/trading element.

For example, a member has found a profitable trade run that needs a couple of fully loaded Merchantmen to be escorted from A to B. If I'm light years off exploring the 'verse in my Aquila how do I offer my Merchantman to this run? Will I need multiple accounts? Can I jump into any of my ships at any time irrespective of where they are? Can I loan it out if I can't get back in time? :g:

[AndyBee]

Sounds good to me !

From a personal point of view, since i spend a fair bit of time on my laptop, which i deliberately specced to be able to run SC, (but being realistic has non of my peripherals attached and is mostly in my living room with the wife, kids, dog & tv), i'm going to jump in to the tuning/overclocking component side of things as soon as we get access, and researching trade routes and other routes that avoid combat as much as possible as i should be able to fly happily from laptop, but combat without Track IR, HOTAS, Voice Attack etc is not going to end good for me !

The Orion mining & Surveyor salvage ships also have me intrigued, if they do manage to squeeze in as much quality gameplay into mining & salvage as it appears is coming with racing they could be excellent.

Also if we don't manage to "find" a cap ship, how's about us buying one long term as a mobile Org' base ?

[AndyBee]

I'm interested in how the mechanics of the game will handle our desire to work as a team to complete objectives alongside the exploration/trading element.

For example, a member has found a profitable trade run that needs a couple of fully loaded Merchantmen to be escorted from A to B. If I'm light years off exploring the 'verse in my Aquila how do I offer my Merchantman to this run? Will I need multiple accounts? Can I jump into any of my ships at any time irrespective of where they are? Can I loan it out if I can't get back in time? :g:

I'm pretty sure there are no instant travel options being implemented, so we would have to get back to our hangars, pick up whichever ship is needed and get there ASAP, at least that will be the same for everyone i guess.

On that note, once the new hangars and galactepedia arrive, i assume we are going to try to get roughly stationed in the same area initially ?

[TeaLeaf]

Yes, so there will need to be a discussion on where we want to base ourselves, assuming we get a choice.   Lots of info still to come me thinks!

[AndyBee]

Sorry to spam so much when only joining yesterday :blink:

BUT.... has anyone discussed or thought about joining Operation Pitchfork at the final weekend of Beta ?

[OldBloke]

Sorry to spam so much when only joining yesterday :blink:

BUT.... has anyone discussed or thought about joining Operation Pitchfork at the final weekend of Beta ?

Post away, Andy. An active forum is a happy forum

Not thought about Operation Pitchfork tbh. I'm guessing it will be risk free insomuch that there will be a complete wipe before the official release.

Does sound like blast though (runs off to learn more).

[TeaLeaf]

Thought about it yes, but I think it depends on if Beta allows us the access to accomplish the goal.  CR commented on it in one of the earlier videos it might be difficult if the beta instance size is limited to a number below that with which you could defeat a vanduul capital ship.  It might be great fun, but it's a long way off atm before the end of beta!  I believer CR also mentioned the possibility that there will NOT be a server wipe at the end of beta, so losing ships at that point might not be the best way to start the game as LTI or other insurance only covers your hull and not the items fitted.

[AndyBee]

Yeah there seems conflicting views on the post beta wipe, so losing all our stuff wouldn't be great, but then I believe we can insure all our equipment also ? Plus the Devs do seem to be taking the idea on board and running with it, I guess by mid beta we will have a good idea if it will be fun or just a kamikaze mission :doh:

[Justin Tolerable]

If you can't find an abandoned Idris, we can use mine if you like? I can't promise it will always be available (it's privately owned, after all) but there's no point having one if I don't have enough crew.

It needs an org to run it. Beyond the operation of the ship itself, it needs a whole bunch of support ships.

[TeaLeaf]

Depends what you mean by general philosophy, we have an idea of what we'll do, the way we'll structure and what we'd like to organise, but a lot of it depends on RSI playing ball and enabling the mechanics or controls we would need to do what we want to do.    I've tried writing several drafts and it always gets to the point of being too much 'fiction' because we don't yet know what we will be able to do.

As a community our main goal (as you might be able to tell from these forums) is to play a game where we won't be committed to spending 40 hours per week in game to make it worth while, where we can hook up with our friends and enjoy the coop aspects, take part in organised activities and having a chat and a good time.  

As it happens there were about 7 of us in our SC TS channel last night and we were talking through a number of aspects, one of which was what we might want to organise for members in the PU.   One vision is that within the org we'd have:

• different divisions, each headed up by a different member and command structure.  
• Each division would specialise in something.  For example:
• Security - escort duty, contract (legal) work, intelligence (inc spy options), asset defence etc
  
• Economic Resources - fuel, mining, trading
  
• Transport - hauling or escorting, fine-tuning jump routes, moving cargo for ER etc
  
• Exploration - encompassing exploration, SAR, salvaging, system/asset discovery
  
• Division leaders would focus on building in-org expertise in their area of responsibility and imparting that knowledge to their primary members (and the rest of the org)
• Division leaders would coordinate with each other and organise regular events in their specific area.  An event might require more than one division (e.g. an important cargo haul might need security), which any member could opt into as pilot or crew if interested
• Assuming the organization gets a decent 'guild hangar' and 'guild bank' type facilities, it is envisaged that ships could be requisitioned from an available pool to support these events/activities
• Members would be able to elect a primary division for membership, but would not have to do so.
• Where a primary preference has been selected then when that division had an organised event then those available members should prioritise that activity.
• Membership of a division would not exclude activity in other areas, or enforce action, it's simply a preference for one 'buddy system' over another and you help when you can and be able to change your preference whenever you want.

That's an example of the type of discussions we have held, but it's difficult to go much beyond the hypothetical because too much is simply unknown at this stage.  Once details of an alpha PU have been announced it will be much easier to firm up on plans (and we'll also have a bigger org by then and a better idea of what type of command structure we'd be able to support).

Whatever we do, we're sure to be able to crew an Idris and provide support vessels for some of these division activities!

Anyway, that's my 2 cents :2cents:

Hope this helps.

[Justin Tolerable]

Depends what you mean by general philosophy, we have an idea of what we'll do, the way we'll structure and what we'd like to organise, but a lot of it depends on RSI playing ball and enabling the mechanics or controls we would need to do what we want to do.    I've tried writing several drafts and it always gets to the point of being too much 'fiction' because we don't yet know what we will be able to do.

As a community our main goal (as you might be able to tell from these forums) is to play a game where we won't be committed to spending 40 hours per week in game to make it worth while, where we can hook up with our friends and enjoy the coop aspects, take part in organised activities and having a chat and a good time.  

As it happens there were about 7 of us in our SC TS channel last night and we were talking through a number of aspects, one of which was what we might want to organise for members in the PU.   One vision is that within the org we'd have:

• different divisions, each headed up by a different member and command structure.  
• Each division would specialise in something.  For example:
• Security - escort duty, contract (legal) work, intelligence (inc spy options), asset defence etc
  
• Economic Resources - fuel, mining, trading
  
• Transport - hauling or escorting, fine-tuning jump routes, moving cargo for ER etc
  
• Exploration - encompassing exploration, SAR, salvaging, system/asset discovery
  
• Division leaders would focus on building in-org expertise in their area of responsibility and imparting that knowledge to their primary members (and the rest of the org)
• Division leaders would coordinate with each other and organise regular events in their specific area.  An event might require more than one division (e.g. an important cargo haul might need security), which any member could opt into as pilot or crew if interested
• Assuming the organization gets a decent 'guild hangar' and 'guild bank' type facilities, it is envisaged that ships could be requisitioned from an available pool to support these events/activities
• Members would be able to elect a primary division for membership, but would not have to do so.
• Where a primary preference has been selected then when that division had an organised event then those available members should prioritise that activity.
• Membership of a division would not exclude activity in other areas, or enforce action, it's simply a preference for one 'buddy system' over another and you help when you can and be able to change your preference whenever you want.

That's an example of the type of discussions we have held, but it's difficult to go much beyond the hypothetical because too much is simply unknown at this stage.  Once details of an alpha PU have been announced it will be much easier to firm up on plans (and we'll also have a bigger org by then and a better idea of what type of command structure we'd be able to support).

Whatever we do, we're sure to be able to crew an Idris and provide support vessels for some of these division activities!

Anyway, that's my 2 cents :2cents:

Hope this helps.

I like it.  This makes sense.  It's frustrating not to know more about what will be possible - it's incredibly tempting to theory craft our spare time away.  Exploration will probably be my big thing, assuming CIG can come up with some engaging long-term gameplay for this style.  Otherwise, I'm firmly in the support and logistics camp (unless I'm in the Idris, then I'm much more flexible).  I'm pretty keen on crewing other people's stuff too, so I'm pretty excited about being in an org that plans to have a few distinct areas of operation.

I think that instead of being coy, I'll start a thread detailing how I intend to use the Idris and how it fits in with the org.  That way you'll have an idea of what we'll get to do with it.

[smilodon]

Agreed. It's hard to make firm plans when we're not certain about how the game will evolve. That being said I know a few of us have a general desire to explore the combat/support role over commerce and industry. So we'd be looking fly escort/protection for other ships in the Org and/or man gun turrets on bigger vessels. To be honest what I'm really hoping for in SC is the idea of an Org member rolling out some big ship with a crew of players manning the various ships stations inside, a wing of fighters flying along side and a scout ship running point somewhere up ahead.

The nice thing is as Oldie said, that there's nothing stopping us having more than one role. I can be a fighter pilot or your Idris turret gunner one day and then take out my Freelancer for some solo exploration the next.

[Justin Tolerable]

To be honest what I'm really hoping for in SC is the idea of an Org member rolling out some big ship with a crew of players manning the various ships stations inside, a wing of fighters flying along side and a scout ship running point somewhere up ahead.

The nice thing is as Oldie said, that there's nothing stopping us having more than one role. I can be a fighter pilot or your Idris turret gunner one day and then take out my Freelancer for some solo exploration the next.

I'm also keen to give other people the chance to command the Idris from time to time.  As far as fighter pilots go, I've no idea how that will work.  Will I be able to let other people stow their ships on the deck?  I'd like that, as we'd get much more variety on loadouts.  If not, it currently has a super hornet, hornet and a hornet ghost - but they're in the potential melt queue for a Carrack.  I also have an M50 and 350R that we can put on there if needed.