Talk:Structure changes

On Multiplayer within the RS.

First, as it currently stands, the RS as a club truly has little to no interest in MP. I speak from my experience in XvT over the past several years. One way to make the RS more interesting to new members, and perhaps to some older members as well, is to have a better way of dealing with multiplayer, rather than the system I have experienced of "MP Events every so often."

Two of the most successful groups I have seen at dealing with MP (for XvT), were Zone-based. These groups, TIE Fighter Alliance and The Rebel Alliance, made their mark by heavy recruiting - they constantly had new people and welcomed everybody. While this practice generally precluded them as a statistical beast in competitions, as interest in XvT has waned, TFA and TRA are the last two clubs standing.

They succeed because they provide an environment in which people who love their game are allowed to play it at any time they want - events are constantly happening, and these events actually have variety in them too. One week the competition may be to see who shoots the most mines, the next it is an uneven melee competition (2v1 etc). They allow for everybody to play, and the winner squadron-wise is determined by which squadron has the greatest number of points. In XvT, this works rather well because a couple active pilots can keep up with any "elite" pilot in terms of score, simply by flying more games.

You might think, the EH does a good job at combining SP and MP. My opinion is that they do not. Their emphasis is almost exclusively SP, with a squadron or two set aside for people who want to do MP. This has led to a culture of 1v1 matches, and thus left EH pilots at a serious disadvantage when it comes time to work together for any event. The EH has a small MP base, and they do not provide much for their pilots to do.

My personal opinion is that a club will either be SP, or MP, and cannot do both well. Loving MP tends to push SP to the back, while those who love SP look down on MP gamers as well. These two cultures, while not totally irreconcilable, would create a great deal of strain. That said....

My suggestions on what the RS would need to succeed in having an active MP base: 1. Some players who truly love MP 2. A variety of events, with something always happening. 3. A way to track the statistics of such events (ie Battlestats.com) 4. A good sense of community, to help people feel welcome and that they are a part, even during those times when everybody is a little too busy to participate much.

":)
~ Col. Han Suul
(aka BOSS_Nately, Fury_Nately, TRA_ShmellyK10, TFA_LarryBoy)
Former multiplayer pilot

/agree

I like the direction that this discussion is heading so far. It envisions sweeping changes. The question is, does the RS have the balls to implement these kind of changes? Do we have the time to implement them? I can see many of these changes falling on the shoulders of a couple leaders (for example, I'm sure that making the Simulator database can't be easy).

Many of these issues have been discussed before, but never actually implemented. A leadership guide? Leadership issues, leadership academies, etc, have been discussed ad nauseum, but nothing worthwhile has ever resulted from it. I think one of the biggest keys to leadership in the RS is simply not choosing tools for officer positions. Sounds like a no brainer, but don't pick a guy who has tons of time when you know he's a fool. I like the second part of this point - lowering the number of leadership positions will greatly help to fix this problem. If less leaders have to be selected, there's less chance of some random idiot getting an important position.

Last thing I want to comment on is the storyline. I know there's been attempts at instituting an RS-wide storyline in the past. It's always floundered for two reasons: 1) Nobody has actually got the work done to put such a storyline together, and 2) Some Fleet CO on HC always refuses to go along with it. First goal is getting the storyline done. Second goal is forcing HC to go along with it. Stop asking for opinions. Somebody will always disagree and that'll always kill the idea if you want to do it based on consensus only. Make it an order, force it through, and get it done with.

Those are my thoughts for now.

":)
Dave

Shikkie's Thoughts

The simulator database wouldn't be too hard.

A leadership guide is a good idea; what kind of topics should it cover? We could put together an outline.

To solve the problems with squad sizes, even after we do the condensed plan it will not be 100% even, give bonuses to squads who have more members report. Some sort of percentage bonus on the scores they earn in the mission. So if the squad gets 10,000 points total, from 2 of 12 members, and then another squad gets 8,000 from 5 of 6, is 83%, so add that percentage onto the 8,000 and get 14,666, while the 2 of 12 is worth 11,666. Might have to hash the numbers to be more balance but something like that would be cool.

As for the multiplayer part, I suggest we adopt a "Clan tag" for members to wear when playing in public servers. Most servers are fine with that, even ones run by other groups, as long as the folks don't spam "JOIN THE RS! WE ARE 1337!"

An RS-Wide storyline would be nice. I remember when VA Shikkie Karran and FC Rahj Tharen had meetings on the bridge of our ship to discuss how to pwn the Empire again. If we got someone who could write stuff up based on joint missions (commando, pilot, etc) as part of a big campaign featuring people who score well on missions in the storyline. Say, one month we could have a commando mission with an XW mission, say the XW pilots escort a troop transport to a planet and get sucked out of hyperspace, and they have to fight off the empire until the transport can get the hell out of dodge, then the commandos mission would be them getting off the transport and blowing some stuff up. They find a storage area of Imperial weapons that the R2F could use in the next mission to go blow stuff up. Heck, we could create joint XW/TF missions where the XWing folks fight one part of a battle with comrades using Ties are on another section, and then the Tie Fighter mission would be the same battle, but from the Tie squad's perspective. That would be the stuff!

":) ADM Shikkie Kaaran

Indy's spare change (at the moment)

The only part of the proposal that I actually like -- and can whole-heartedly agree with -- is the need for two things across flying fleets: 1) Simulation databases and 2) Storyline. Yes, leadership is a problem, and perhaps we DO need to put together a leadership guide. However, I don't think totally restructuring the club is going to solve those problems. I think that the only thing that WILL solve our problems is to take a chance or two on rookie members of the club and see what they can do rather than constantly turning to the same handful of people.

I'll probably have more later, but right now it's ten after midnight and I just finally just now got to READ this stuff.

~ Indy