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Post by hszmv on Oct 26, 2015 23:35:40 GMT
The Star Trek Alliance of Roleplayers (S.T.A.R.) approached me a little while ago and asked if the Storytellers would be interested in joining their Armada. They have offered a Beta position or a Gamma position to us. Presently they are comprised of the following fleets: * The Trust * The Alpha Centari Institute * 37th Defensive Fleet * 5th Special Operations Division * 26th Fleet This is a strictly OOC collective of RP fleets and no fleet has an IC leadership role. In fact, from my discussion, our more Cardassian side of the storyline isn't going to conflict with IC zones of operation with any major fleet. Either way, ICly, the highest answerable flag is still the 146th CO (Villain Starsinger) and not any of the other fleet leadership. The purpose of this Armada is to connect RP fleets to one another and not earning points towards starbases or whatever in game mechanical benefit the fleet holds. Lore is regulated to Memory Alpha and Beta lore. In joining we will have to add to our OOC leadership a representative who can make meeting times for voting within the Armada. From their meeting minutes and agendas posted on their forums, they tend to be semi-formal (they do minutes and agendas, guys, come on, of course they're formal). The benefits to us would be an increase base of RPers to work with, the ability to bring in outside fleet members to our RP events, and opening up the storytellers to other RP events. The person reaching out to me was very interested in our S11 fleet plot as well as how we run our RP ships. The one downside I can see is that this is a Fed side only Armada and there is no equivalent of S.T.A.R. on the KDF side. I do not know if other fleets have KDF sister fleets, but given that we do run an RP ship for KDF, we might be bringing a KDF fleet to the table for some of these other RP fleets. There are some things we will need to decide as a fleet, including the use of the RP channels (in house or share to those who want to join) and RP ships (again, stay in house or allow other fleet members to join). And of course, I'm sure I'm missing something. You can find a link to their forums here: S.T.A.R.Please ask questions and offer opinions. As per usual, this will be up for a week discussion period, followed by a week voting period.
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Flynt
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I'm just here for the donuts.
Posts: 222
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Post by Flynt on Oct 27, 2015 1:25:12 GMT
I suggest considering this as a low-risk opportunity to shake off any perceptions at being elitist. Ask for the gamma level relationship.
That level should enable the Storytellers to establish rapport with the other fleets without having to give up what the fleet does well, and without having to commit to higher levels of responsibility than members are ready or able to commit. That level should also allow members to see how/if the armada actually operates the way that has been advertised.
What does this actually mean? No custom races? I would hope that lore politics would be kept to a minimum. Does this mean Storytellers delegate a leadership member to serve as liaison to the Armada, or add a representative from the Armada to the Storytellers OOC leadership?
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Post by hszmv on Oct 27, 2015 2:13:19 GMT
To clarify the Lore... Basically all film media (TV shows and Movies) as well as the Path to 2409 and the game lore are cannon. In addition to reference guides. The Armada does not count anything in the novels as happening BUT will allow for fannon (i.e. A race's culture based on supplement material) and original races (as long as they aren't plagiarizing from another fiction.).
To your second question: We would delegate an OOC representative to serve as liaison to the Armada for the purposes of voting. The Armada does not get any representation within our fleet leadership.
As for Gamma vs Beta, we might have to put two votes up at the same time... one for the Armada Vote and one for the Beta/Gamma in the event we join. In terms of ranking, it's simply a mechanic of the game and does not represent anything in the Armada's leadership or power structure. Hence why we have the option.
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Post by firebringeraxel on Oct 27, 2015 2:32:15 GMT
I suggest considering this as a low-risk opportunity to shake off any perceptions at being elitist. Ask for the gamma level relationship. The purpose of this Armada is to connect RP fleets to one another and not earning points towards starbases or whatever in game mechanical benefit the fleet holds. It's been made pretty clear the level means nothing for our "relationship" with them. I suggest Beta over Gamma as Gama really does not benefit us at all. I know some of our members may not be worried about mechanics stuff but that does matter and we do need to consider those elements. I don't see how wanting to be in the middle makes anyone elitist. Honestly I think the more we worry about our perceived elitist-ness the more we're not focusing on what matters. The one downside I can see is that this is a Fed side only Armada and there is no equivalent of S.T.A.R. on the KDF side. I do not know if other fleets have KDF sister fleets, but given that we do run an RP ship for KDF, we might be bringing a KDF fleet to the table for some of these other RP fleets. I don't see this as a problem. Our KDF fleet hasn't even really entertained the idea of an Armada until the ability to cross the faction line comes. When/if it does we'll be linking the KDF to the Fed fleet for sure. Anything past that will be decided when it is relevant.
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Post by norcaler on Oct 27, 2015 3:29:01 GMT
Am I the only one who sees the term S.T.A.R. and can't help but think of this?And yes, I'd recommend seriously entertaining the idea. Best option is to join an armada of RP fleets and S.T.A.R. has some of the most noteworthy.
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mobius395
Member
In life, you need to know when to hold 'em, and when to fold 'em.
Posts: 47
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Post by mobius395 on Oct 27, 2015 3:50:43 GMT
I'm all for this. Admittedly, I'm a tad biased being an ex-26er, but I feel this is a great opportunity to get our name out there and some good publicity.
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krow
Member
Posts: 177
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Post by krow on Oct 27, 2015 10:08:24 GMT
From what I understand with my dealing with the 26th and what my friends over there have mentioned about the S.T.A.R. group is that they've been scrabbling to gather as many RP groups under them as they can. Apparently they give off a very "Walmart" vibe because of it. I'll ask my friend who are in the Armada what their honest Anonymous opinions are of it. Although I've never even HEARD of most of those fleets. And I pride myself on being quite public. I'll post what I learn as I learn it. But so far, despite the fact that the 26th is in it, I'm not seeing a downside.
Edit: (Other than likely getting spillover 26th drama at some point down the road.)
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Post by Chris Winters on Oct 27, 2015 11:09:44 GMT
From the people I know in Trust and 26th, I would classify this armada as my personal last choice, from an RP aspect of things.
Two reasons - one, none of those fleets RP in public areas of the game. They're playing at home, basically 'in exile'. Most of my friends did leave them at some point because they wanted more than playing in a secluded basement without being able to get to know new people over in town square. We always have been rather open and "out and about", so quite the opposite, even rolling with the game story and incorporating other people's random stuff into our stuff if it sounded fun and got us something more to talk about at home ("Hey, I ran into this red-and-yellow alien dude the other day..").
And secondly, adapting stricter limitations in what's possible or not is generally not a good thing for a creative community to do. While some rules about creativity are okay, at some point ideas aren't even presented anymore because the percieved boundaries are too strict to even bother trying to get parts of an idea out into existence. Looking around, that already is a thing that happens now. Putting more weights on the thing that really needs to stay afloat, to the point of having an idea reviewed by a number of other fleets before alowing it, might be too heavy. Especially with STO being such a great tool to be creative with, which is a thing many of us enjoy greatly.
I see this more like.. going to an RP Con. If the first things you run into when you get there are arguments about how your costume isn't up to standards, and if the RP groups at the tables can't just sit there and play, but need referees, or the groups' players try to slap each other with rulebooks rather than letting them have fun on their own, the fun potential for the visitor is rather limited. I'm not saying they actively do that right now (because I can't just go to Bajor, ESD, DS9 or any other place and peek over the fence), but the basic setup seems to be created in that favor. That just makes me approach this one with care.
So, what would we get out of the deal? Other than the occasional invite to a starbase that isn't even in our part of the galaxy, I don't see much offered. If we do our thing in the Alpha quadrant, shouldn't we look for other publicly present Alpha quadrant stories to hook up with first? The fleet stories are so far away from each other, I doubt that is a point on the benefit side, we wouldn't affect each other at all. Maybe not even ICly know what they do or who they are.
And as HS said, "The purpose of this Armada is to connect RP fleets to one another and not earning points towards starbases or whatever in game mechanical benefit the fleet holds", so the purely game mechanical side isn't on the benefit side either, if we don't help each other build our holdings.
Those are the points I'd be looking for when I think Armada, though. Fun -together-, more differrent more colorful creative ideas on the table to play around with, and helping each other build up when there's nothing going on. Maybe even personnel sharing or recruiting together รก la "this week you go do it, next week we do it, the week after we stand there together". I don't see that there. Maybe I overlooked it?
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Claudius
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"Take it easy."
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Post by Claudius on Oct 27, 2015 17:12:58 GMT
I met and talked with people in The Trust a bunch of times. They seem like a very engaged group. Looking forward to playing with them if they are up for it. :3
Only a shame there isn't anything for our KDF fleet yet. But rather not see us rush into anything. This system isn't going to be removed anyway.
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krow
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Post by krow on Oct 27, 2015 22:06:38 GMT
My staff friend in the 26th informs me that, first, there's been no restrictions at all. So you can calm down about that, Chris. Besides, Storytellers is the most restrictive fleet I know when it comes to plots, characters, ships, etc. Which isn't a bad thing before people start thinking I'm criticizing. It keeps a lot of annoying stuff in check and sets a standard for quality of RP. But you really don't have to worry about this Armada imposing more rules on its members. Besides, it's entirely for connecting. Not governing other fleets' RP. (From what I'm told.)
Second, there's a reason most of the RPers these days are sticking to private map instances like Starbase 381, Bridge RPs, Deep Space Thirteen, or any of the other countless smaller maps. It's because Quarks sucks. I know people will disagree on this point, but the quality of RP in public zones like Quarks, Risa, etc has gone downhill. And I don't mean when a group meets up there, I mean in general. There's been more godmoding, 20 year old augment admirals, telekinetic super aliens, mercs who claim to have soloed three Herald dreadnoughts, Wesley Crusher's grandkid running around in a Borg ship named the "Dominatrix" and a hundred other idiotic RP ideas. What happens is, the more experienced RPers have retreated to private instances where the RP can be more easily filtered. If someone on SB381 tries to wave a gun and take over the place in the name of the Tal Shiar for example, they're removed. Can't filter that in Quarks. So the quality of RP goes up. In my humble opinion, what's left in private zones like Quarks is the leftovers. The ones that people generally want to avoid, the people who don't know any better, the beginners, and the couple of good RPers hoping to find another good RPer. And we can't deny that point, since the last couple times Storytellers met in Quarks, conversation turned into "Let's laugh about X person."
If Storytellers joins an Armada, we'll have a much larger pool to pull from. Other Starbases to visit, new people to meet, new plots, etc. Who knows, it might even spark a return from this lull. Will it bring casual RP back to the Starbase? I can hope, right? And I've talked to my friends. I've yet to hear anything negative about the S.T.A.R. Armada. I say go for it. It has my vote.
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Post by FoxCDN on Oct 28, 2015 14:07:29 GMT
Thanks for looking into things Krow, so far it does sound positive. I'll have to do a little more research into how the armada system works.
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Post by vasco56 on Oct 28, 2015 15:14:27 GMT
Thanks for moving things forward. Having an opportunity to expand beyond our existing activities with a wider RP community has a lot of potential despite any reservations over the style of RP we're likely to encounter. RP is consensual anyway and we can always politely decline invitations to become involved if things are a little too bizarre for our tastes.
My only thought is whether we're even in a position to consider Beta status. If we don't actively go looking for other fleets to join us, then we'd be occupying a position that another fleet could utilise. Do we know who we'd be tied to if we became either a Beta or Gamma member, and are we active enough to consider Beta status?
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Post by firebringeraxel on Oct 28, 2015 15:44:44 GMT
My only thought is whether we're even in a position to consider Beta status. If we don't actively go looking for other fleets to join us, then we'd be occupying a position that another fleet could utilize. Do we know who we'd be tied to if we became either a Beta or Gamma member, and are we active enough to consider Beta status? Gamma is for fleets that need help filling their fleet projects due to low membership (or other reasons). We are not that fleet, as we've already maxed 3/4 of the holdings and have a T4 Starbase. The other benefit of Gamma is that for every Fleet places "above" yours you share the XP boost of the ones "above". I don't see many of our members grinding out levels hard all that often. Now on the other hand for every fleet "under" (aka Gamma) to us as a Beta we stand to gain their dilithium mine discount to all of our stores. As well as the XP boost for each Alpha fleet we have attached to us. Beta is a comfy medium point. It covers all the bases. I can only assume as a Beta we would have half(ish) of the member fleets Alpha to us and the other half as Gammas. As for "are we active enough" I don't see how that plays any role. We have members who have piles upon piles of fleet resources that they can never put into projects as they fill up faster than they can get to them. SO can we help Gamma fleets? Yes, yes we can.
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Post by LoonyEclipse on Oct 29, 2015 13:07:17 GMT
Honestly, I have no issue with this whatsoever, especially since it seems to be fairly low-risk. I think it's a good thing.
TL:DR: You have my sword (and my axe...body spray)
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krow
Member
Posts: 177
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Post by krow on Oct 29, 2015 21:28:20 GMT
The fleet literally has nothing to lose. There's no risk or danger in doing this. There ARE benefits. Only risk I can possibly see is some drama spilling over from another fleet. But I don't think they keep in touch with each other enough for that to happen. And if ALL else fails, can always just leave and join one of the other RP Fleet Armadas. No muss, no fuss, no risk, no damage.
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Flynt
Member
I'm just here for the donuts.
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Post by Flynt on Oct 30, 2015 1:27:20 GMT
To clarify the Lore... Basically all film media (TV shows and Movies) as well as the Path to 2409 and the game lore are cannon. In addition to reference guides. The Armada does not count anything in the novels as happening BUT will allow for fannon (i.e. A race's culture based on supplement material) and original races (as long as they aren't plagiarizing from another fiction.). Sorry, I wasn't clear enough in my question. I understand what constitutes canon as being Memory Alpha (TV and movies) and Beta (print novels, graphic novels, RPG sourcebooks, and gaming media). Hence STO itself and its events are canon, and probably a reasonable number of the novels. I'm more concerned about what might be excluded, particularly pertaining to alien gen races and existing characters' backstories. If the belief is that the Armada doesn't have a bunch of canon lawyers running around (or at least no more than any other fleet), then I've got nothing to worry about. As I say, it's low risk. So if the fleet finds the opposite to be true, then direction could be changed.
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Post by starjumpersix on Nov 1, 2015 2:36:44 GMT
I have no objection to it. I've had some interaction with members of The Trust, and all of it was positive, though it was some time ago.
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