Snakebittenn Posted January 27, 2020 Posted January 27, 2020 Now that we have the IAC ERT, I believe we have sufficient diversity in which the old NT ERT is not really necessary, or even beneficial, to have in the normal rotation. I would like for it to be moved to the admin-only category. The two problems i have with NT ERT are 1) roleplay/lore 2) mechanics the first issue is that ERT are not and aren't expected to be, characters or something you can roleplay around. the TCFL are rather bombastic space EDF EDF EDF! while they aren't the best equipped, and some people think they're not worth taking seriously, they'll do their best to protect their new homeland. they're an organization that, shit, even your character can join and sign up to help protecc. they're encouraged to be actual characters, and your character can know a lot about them, know members of them, and you can incorporate them into your backstory/shit. the kataphracts are literal space knights and there's so many roleplay opportunities with that. they're linked with unathi roleplay, and i'm sure you could play one onstation? i was told that before. you could be a timid zo'saa, maybe one that's overly headstrong trying to prove himself. be an older, wiser saa. maybe even a hotshot young saa here to prove his worth to the ladylizards aboard. the ERT are not, and cannot be actual characters. they're faceless mooks here to shoot criminals. your character can't really know one, and you can't really incorporate these people into your character. you're pretty much forbidden from being related to them. it's been 3-4 years since i last saw an ERT member with a memorable personality, or one with any personality in general. 2) mechanics the alternate response teams we're introduced thus far have notable upsides and notable downsides. the TCFL, for instance.perks: they're decently equipped despite what some people will tell you they're totally willing to help out the aurora in whatever way they can eva mobility with the space bikes rigsuits a mech dedicated eng/med staffcons: fuck all for access slow, need to rely on each other i guess not really being taken seriously sometimes weaponry takes some getting used to was pretty rare sparse ballistics then we have the mercenariesperks: good firepower more mobile nice range of weaponry expected to be robust eva mobilitycons: can be subverted by whatever antag can pay more than station command, a wildcard no real engineering/meidcal and the kataphractsperks: grenades high melee high speed with unathi sprint eva mobility very tankycons: can be outplayed by ranged weaponry lack of ballistics sparse ranged options no hardsuits kind of slow outside of sprint no real eng/med at all now the NT ERT:perks: all access full control of everything that goes on in the station once called fully kitted engineering section fully kitted medical section armor-piercing assault rifles ion weaponry not limited by ammunition lasers of all sorts soporific grenades other kinds of grenades hardsuits high mobility due to hyperzine and such a sniper rifle seriously why multiple exosuits even if they aren't used pAI-based rigsuit immortality obligated to do whatever possible to help the station most common and most preferred by adminscons: i genuinely cannot think of anything. they don't have any real melee options, but they don't need it. each team generally has a 'specialty/gimmick' in the way of 'things they're good at' and 'things that make them a risky pick' the ERT has pretty much all the strengths of the other teams but no notable downsides. they are too damn good at too many things without even good rp/interaction to back it up. they're something more in line with the hapt/deathsquads of old than with the rest of the teams we've introduced. thanks for coming to my ted talk.
Guest Marlon Phoenix Posted January 27, 2020 Posted January 27, 2020 So make them like how deathsquad is and we are only guaranteed TCFL or mercs or kataphracts?
Skull132 Posted January 27, 2020 Posted January 27, 2020 Well, this is gonna be fun. 8 hours ago, ParadoxSpace said: the ERT are not, and cannot be actual characters. they're faceless mooks here to shoot criminals. your character can't really know one, and you can't really incorporate these people into your character. you're pretty much forbidden from being related to them. it's been 3-4 years since i last saw an ERT member with a memorable personality, or one with any personality in general. Pretty sure we've spent a good few years humanizing ERT, starting from when we remade their rank structure. So I'm going to need a lot of citation to back up what you just said. In specific, where does it say that your character cannot know ERT characters? Further more, I don't understand the following, both on a grammatical and idea-based level: "you can't really incorporate these people into your character". Do you want to be able to play as a ERT character on station, much like you'd be able to play a TCFL or IAC one? If so, why do you hold this as the standard? If not, what does this even mean? Regarding the rest of your lore arguments. They are basically the "Baseline" of ERTs. And they're there as the run of the mill corporate goons meant to look out for the company's best interests. Which is something that's necessary, lore balance wise, at least until we crowbar NT out from being the main host of the station. --- Gameplay wise. While you're correct, their impressive loadout is simply due to them predating the current multiple response team system. The relatively easy solution to this would be to rebalance their equipment and call it a day.
Peppermint Posted January 27, 2020 Posted January 27, 2020 Sounds like a lot of these issues are fixed via expanding the ERT lore and allowing more character freedom. Likewise we have enough ERT groups that we don't see NT that much any more, and they're not that much ahead of the other groups - they just have more choice. All this does is effectively remove a fun to play group.
Guest Marlon Phoenix Posted January 27, 2020 Posted January 27, 2020 It would be hard to make a team of faceless corporate goons have the same level of personality as the TCFL or Kataphracts.
ben10083 Posted January 28, 2020 Posted January 28, 2020 (edited) 17 hours ago, Marlon Phoenix said: It would be hard to make a team of faceless corporate goons have the same level of personality as the TCFL or Kataphracts. Yet not impossible, it is up to the people to give them personality, admins will be hard pressed to have server-enforced personality (considering how subjective it is) -1 as Skull's counter suggestion is much better. If the main problem is op equipment, rebalance it. Also what would be the lore reason that NT decides that Aurora, their 2nd best station mind you, should not have at least minor ert oversight? ERT too important to defend Aurora if called and The Odin? Edited January 28, 2020 by ben10083
DronzTheWolf Posted January 28, 2020 Posted January 28, 2020 Didn't they move the ERT majority over to the Upsilon and that's why we got multiple ERTs now? How about we gut the ERT prep because of this. Now we just get a cut-rate ERT with maybe one or two RIGs and more limited ammo.
Guest Marlon Phoenix Posted January 28, 2020 Posted January 28, 2020 3 hours ago, ben10083 said: Also what would be the lore reason that NT decides that Aurora, their 2nd best station mind you, should not have at least minor ert oversight? ERT too important to defend Aurora if called and The Odin? Governments force NT to demilitarize
canon35 Posted January 28, 2020 Posted January 28, 2020 9 hours ago, DronzTheWolf said: Didn't they move the ERT majority over to the Upsilon and that's why we got multiple ERTs now? How about we gut the ERT prep because of this. Now we just get a cut-rate ERT with maybe one or two RIGs and more limited ammo. Literally just do this. Keep NT ERT, give them a visual update, give them regular space suits and a rig or two, change around their equipment, maybe have some extra rigs and weaponry behind a admin controlled set of breach doors like we've done before. We don't need to make them some faction you could be on station or make them adminspawn only because that's what Deathsquad/Heavy Asset Protection already is.
ben10083 Posted January 29, 2020 Posted January 29, 2020 19 hours ago, Marlon Phoenix said: Governments force NT to demilitarize Despite the fact there are mercenaries in the region of space that are known to attack stations before? Despite the fact that NT has shown no indication of being abusive with their military power? Despite the fact that NT likely has lobbyists throughout their government and the prospects for passing such legislation is slim at best?
Carver Posted January 29, 2020 Posted January 29, 2020 Skull put it excellently. As for personality, there's absolutely 0 requirement to put any personality into TCFL or really any of the other ERTs . Even Kataphracts, arguably the most RP-intensive of the response teams, aren't exactly required to put much effort into character personality. To argue 'X has more personality' is foolish, as it's solely a player-derived factor.
Arrow768 Posted January 29, 2020 Posted January 29, 2020 Voting for dismissal due to the previous arguments.
Fluffy Posted November 10, 2023 Posted November 10, 2023 ERT is currently a spawn only thing, so this suggestion is effectively implemented. Locking and archiving.
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