Slow Day so Vote!

[TeaLeaf]

It was either work on that 50 page report or post something here.    I guess dMw won again.

We'll all see the DMW org as something different, but if you could pick just THREE descriptions of our org, which ones would you choose?

[Chaosphere]

Its interesting, as although I did not answer with bounty hunting, it is probably what I will spend most of my time doing. So I considered more what the majority seem to enjoy and the way I think we will lean, bearing in mind that I am sure there will be room for those like me that don't fit entirely with that blueprint.

[TeaLeaf]

I think the aim of asking for three choices is to find out what people want to do, not necessarily what you think they want to do Chaos!  

In a very sneaky and underhand way, the results also help our esteemed leader (all hail OB-wan) decide on what structure to bring to our DMW org. For example there's no point having an 'Infiltration Division' if nobody wants to or plans to infiltrate!

So everyone make sure you have voted please!

[FatBob]

sex, drugs and rock'n'roll appear to be missing from the list, OB will not be pleased !

[Twyst]

Interesting. I picked activities I would enjoy as part of DMW, but the top two by a long way (exploration and trading) strike me as solo activities.
Resources and Freelancing are joint 3rd atm and again, I don't see much team-play aspects here.

[Gorion]

Exploration can be solo, or multi-crew.  Different wormhole sizes = different max ship types.

There's also exploration specific multi-crew ships.  And we would probably need fire support, and fuel mining/processing.

[TeaLeaf]

Interesting. I picked activities I would enjoy as part of DMW, but the top two by a long way (exploration and trading) strike me as solo activities.  Resources and Freelancing are joint 3rd atm and again, I don't see much team-play aspects here.

As Gorion said, I think there will be a lot more team play in those than you think, particularly with multicrew ships.

[albert]

The amount of team play is going to be influenced by each players willingness to interact. In Elite, it's very easy to go solo and takes effort to engage in team play. I suspect when it comes to grinding it'll be a solo effort. Like any game its a convenience thing to jump on and off solo.

[OldBloke]

The amount of team play is going to be influenced by each players willingness to interact.

We're 'Dead Men Walking'. Teamwork is what we do

I, too, see the many opportunities for team-based play from exploration, trading etc. The tricky bit isn't the identification of a good team-based mission, it's the organisation of it. As an example, here's how I see a possible scenario unfolding.

Let's say I'm soloing in my Carrack many jumps from DMW's homeworld when I discover a space hulk. Scans show it to be mega-rich in salvage and cargo. I'm going to need a couple of large haulers and a reclaimer to fully exploit the hulk's value plus a decent fighter escort for them to both get here and then get home. I take what I can from the hulk and then inform one of our mission co-ordinators (MC) about what I've found, where it is and any other pertinent information (threat levels etc.). Easy bit done.

The MC will now need to quickly assess the viability of this mission against various parameters such as:

1. Missions already planned/in progress.
2. Availability/location of people and ships.
3. Urgency.

If the mission is viable then it will be prioritised against risk/reward and slotted appropriately in to the mission list. It will then be up to a mission leader (ML) to organise the execution of it.

That probably sounds a lot easier than it will be in practise. We will, for example, need to have the tools necessary to keep track of where our member's characters/ships are and what their preferred playing times are.

There will, of course, be other more ad-hoc team-based opportunities arising where the level of organisation as outlined above won't be necessary.

[Obsydian]

Personally, I don't see the organising of a mission, per se, to be that difficult.  The main difficulty will most likely be having sufficient numbers of people online to be able to go ahead with the mission or work it effectively.

Numbers will be primary, location, while important, is secondary, particularly if there will be a number of multi-crew ships involved and the captains have crewed up with NPCs, as players can Agent Smith into the NPCs.  Single-crew ships will be the main bugbear, and probably cause the greatest delays to starting a mission.

Given the scenario above, I think it would be paramount to get a defence force in place ASAP to ensure that no one else can take it away from us, and alleviate any further need to keep the Carrack in position.  We would then send out a Mission Alert, detailing what ships are required, and a rendezvous point and departure time for all attending pilots to meet at (note that the actual location of said hulk should be kept secret for as long as possible).  When all ships are assembled at the rendezvous, the leader will then either disseminate the coordinates of the mission, or, if the game supports it, have the fleet follow him to the necessary location.

if the above mission requires, say, 20 players to work quickly and effectively, then we would need an organisation of at least 200 people in order to have any chance of filling all of the necessary roles.  Gentlemen, we need to get bigger as an org...

[TeaLeaf]

Gentlemen, we need to get bigger as an org...

Let's add that to the agenda when we have a pint or three next weekend!