NBT Department Division Feedback

[Alberyk]

As most of you might know, the NBT will be a ship owned by the scc, a union of most megacorporations in the setting. To better represent this and each megacorporation's themes, we have decided to change how departments are handled based on the faction/employer system we have currently in-game. In the NBT, every department will be handled by a group of megacorps instead of just having contractors and the main corporation. We will no longer have a base megacorporation that will be in all departments like we have atm with NanoTrasen.

After talking with the staff, we decided on this:

Every megacorporation here will have access to all jobs that a department has. The only exception will be command roles that will be all under their own employer, the SCC itself.

This division was made so that no species will be restricted from playing any department. We do not plan to lift any megacorporation species restriction.

The lore team is working on lore updates to help justify this change. We will also have an in-character development to help people transfer their characters to the megacorporations.

Things that will be handled by the lore team to help people keep their characters in their jobs and departments:

- Zavodskoi will get a new engineering subsidiary.

- EPMCs will get a medical-related "subsidiary".

- Species relations with the megacorporations will be revised and expanded to allow for more backgrounds.

- In character news and events to help this transition and have people change the megacorporations without having to retcon things about their characters.

Contractor uniform regulations will also be changed.

Feel free to post your feedback, thoughts, and suggestions. This is subjective to change. Also, take into consideration that some jobs will be added and moved around. For example, robotics will likely be moved from science.

[Butterrobber202]

5 minutes ago, Alberyk said:

This division was made so that no species will be restricted from playing any role. We do not plan to lift any megacorporation species restriction.

Does this mean command is now unrestricted as well?

[Alberyk]

2 minutes ago, Butterrobber202 said:

Does this mean command is now unrestricted as well?

We will discuss this later. But we are also not going to change command restrictions. Changed the main text to make this more clear by the way.

[ImmortalRedshirt]

I have to say, the entire concept of Cargo Himeans being forced to fall in with Hephaestus in order to keep their jobs is extremely hilarious and will likely lead to some interesting IC reactions and interactions. It is a bit strange that that's the only department with one option, though.

[Carver]

18 minutes ago, Alberyk said:

The only exception will be command roles that will be all under their own employer, the SCC itself.

How will this handle uniforms/loadout, will Command characters be able to don some respective accessories/headwear/etc. from their previous factions?

[Alberyk]

1 minute ago, Carver said:

How will this handle uniforms/loadout, will Command characters be able to don some respective accessories/headwear/etc. from their previous factions?

Probably not.

[Desven]

Everything I wanted to say regarding departments I've said it privately with other staff, so I just want to say again that I think that for NBT that contractor uniforms should be laxed. First of all, everyone will be a contractor in a way and NT wouldn't have the same privileges it currently does. But it also kills a lot of loadouts, especially since in some departments you'd be forced to wear your uniform only.  Not that I think everyone should treat the ship like casual Friday, but loadouts are cool and we have a lot of dressing options.

 

Secutity should still be required to wear their uniform the whole time though.

[Carver]

21 minutes ago, Alberyk said:

Probably not.

A shame. I'd hope at least hats might open up.

[greenjoe]

Cargo only having one corp linked to it Seems a bit odd. Maybe they should get another. NT for miners might make sense with their phoron extraction history stuff.

Idris could be interesting too, what with the customer service angle to cargo.

[Roostercat]

I still think it is very weird that Zavod is dropping medical and is now getting an engineering subsidary out of nowhere, personally. Would rather they stay as is.

[DronzTheWolf]

10 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

Cargo only having one corp linked to it Seems a bit odd. Maybe they should get another. NT for miners might make sense with their phoron extraction history stuff.

Idris could be interesting too, what with the customer service angle to cargo.

I agree, NT and maybe Iridis for Cargo, just so we won't have Himeans or other Hephaestus-opposed factions excluded. 

[Faye <3]

i have a command character who's identity is very much based in being owned by NT b/c robot. She was manufactured by Zeng-Hu and NT on a collaboration project. How will this translate to the new SCC command division? Are we still free to headcannon how the SCC will treat it's IPC personnel? One of my favorite bits about NT's lore is that you could generally decide how NT would handle them and how much independence they would be granted, but the SCC division implies that they will also be beholden to corporations like Zavodskoi or Idris who are not as kind to their robots.

 

i also agree w/Desven very much. it'd suck to have to wear a contractor uniform : /

Edited August 22, 2021 by Faye <3

[Kintsugi]

I am guessing that there is an effort to keep each Corp from having too many positions across the board. Cargo only having one Corp is a bit of a problem in my mind, though. Personally, I would remove NT from medical and put them in cargo instead. NT has never really been strongly fluffed as a medical corporation but I know for sure that they’d fit in fine in cargo, especially because of mining.

[Skull132]

7 minutes ago, Faye &lt;3 said:

One of my favorite bits about NT's lore is that you could generally decide how NT would handle them and how much independence they would be granted, but the SCC division implies that they will also be beholden to corporations like Zavodskoi or Idris who are not as kind to their robots.

Get what I say checked out by a lore person but the SCC is a massive conglomerate of corporations. They probably don't have a unified view on things like IPC treatment or whatever. Individual corporate culture should still shine through in their respective contractor roles.

[Ickysoup]

44 minutes ago, greenjoe said:

Cargo only having one corp linked to it Seems a bit odd. Maybe they should get another. NT for miners might make sense with their phoron extraction history stuff.

Idris could be interesting too, what with the customer service angle to cargo.

I agree with this. NT would likely have an expertise in mining on asteroids/in a vacuum. At the very least NT would have everything needed to train personnel for mining/cargo operations, and If you think about it, NT was giving phoron to alot of groups, they would likely have pretty robust logistics.

[MattAtlas]

It's not ideal to add NT to cargo because that'd push the corp to 4 departments, thus making it the "default" corp again. I made this list keeping each corp at 3 at most to have different corps still be competing instead of having one corporation in most departments or whatever.

48 minutes ago, Roostercat said:

out of nowhere, personally. Would rather they stay as is.

These things aren't being done out of nowhere, we're having a massive setting change that redefines corporations as we know it which requires some changes. Knowing that, how exactly is anything "out of nowhere"?

Edited August 22, 2021 by MattAtlas

[Butterrobber202]

10 minutes ago, MattAtlas said:

It's not ideal to add NT to cargo because that'd push the corp to 4 departments, thus making it the "default" corp again. I made this list keeping each corp at 3 at most to have different corps still be competing instead of having one corporation in most departments or whatever.

These things aren't being done out of nowhere, we're having a massive setting change that redefines corporations as we know it which requires some changes. Knowing that, how exactly is anything "out of nowhere"?

I did understand that there was a balance going on when I looked at the list, but no other corporation fits the bill. Unfortunately, the lore does have a handful of groups that would flat out refuse to work for Heph, but only really have mining skills. I personally don't mind NT claiming the only 4 digit spot to let these characters continue to play in-line with their backgrounds. 

Edited August 22, 2021 by Butterrobber202

[Marlon P.]

Any interest in adding alien-centric subsidiaries or factions? Like a unathi guild or a skrell science wing.

[Captain Gecko]

Alright so, several things on the roles... I... Don't mind this idea that much? I mean I like the concept of SCC, the idea of varied corporations being there working together than just NT inviting others to take part in their own work... So long as it's implemented well through IC news and new stuff in lore, I could go with it... I... DON'T know how you will implement this well, but that's probably why I'm not a lore dev. Still, though, for the proposition so far...

Zavod Engies, first. I don't mind Zavod getting a subsidiary, but why removing them from medical? You'd think that a company specializing in WEAPONS would HAVE to know a bit about the bodies their contraptions are to incapacitate/kill and have people trained to study and/or heal them in case of incidents.

Also, yes, Heph being the only one in Cargo makes not much sense, both gameplay-wise, and lore-wise. Gameplay-wise, because it seems a bit harsh to have an entire department limited to a single corporation, and lore-wise because Nanotrasen, which as far as I know, is "the most powerful business-empire in the known galaxy" thanks to Phoron exploitation in the first place.

Also, what about the idependant "faction"? Will it still be there? Do the uniform limitations also apply to them?

 

And, well, speaking about uniforms. I too am not a fan of such limitations, even though I guess it makes sense... Although I feel kind of bad about it since there are just so many loadout options like I seriously feel like Aurora might be THE server with the most loadout option in my limited experience. I guess it's less about the lore or anything and more about the playerbase itself. We've got really inspired players out there, and this combined with the degree of customization that Aurorastation allows leads to some really unique characters being created. If it's just to avoid the more egregious kind of loadout, the ones that don't make sense for this or that job, we can just in-loadout restrictions like we already have right now, with for instance the alt-toolbelt being limited to a handful of jobs only.

And how much would things go to be limited anyways? Does this apply to truly ALL roles? What about the sort of "external crew" roles like visitors or envoys/consular? Also, will be these regulations exactly? Will contractors be forced to wear a PRECISE kind of loadout? Or instead, have to choose from a jumpsuit selection from your company and be allowed to wear a hat, accessory, jacket/overwear you want along with it? Or is it just something simple like some sort of armband or another accessory to point out your job/company?

[Waff-AI]

1 hour ago, MattAtlas said:

It's not ideal to add NT to cargo because that'd push the corp to 4 departments, thus making it the "default" corp again. I made this list keeping each corp at 3 at most to have different corps still be competing instead of having one corporation in most departments or whatever.

These things aren't being done out of nowhere, we're having a massive setting change that redefines corporations as we know it which requires some changes. Knowing that, how exactly is anything "out of nowhere"?

Removing NT from service in place of, say, Zeng-Hu- a faction with established ties to hydroponic or food production work- or even just independents would allow you to keep it at three, if that's an issue. Just make the quirky roles like chaplain, reporter, or janitor into independent or Idris-branded roles. The largest problem there is just how problematic Hephaestus is as the only option for Cargo with how many Cargo-minded in-universe groups there are that would rather not work for them.

The option of smaller sub-groups like Getmore, which is established in the lore for food and stuff, or a new one like proposed Major Bill's(or something entirely new) is also there, if we're in need od options. Heck, could even make them indies, as well.

 As to the Zavodskoi thing: it just seems out of left field without the context of the articles we haven't been able to read yet. It seems unfair to say 'knowing that, these aren't being done out of nowhere' when our only information for the NBT so far is the weekly map update, especially when an established bioscience and weapons constractor is suddenly growing an engineering division.

Everything else looks cool. Getting excited!

[Alberyk]

35 minutes ago, Captain Gecko said:

Also, what about the idependant "faction"? Will it still be there? Do the uniform limitations also apply to them?

The idependant will likely stay as it is. Uniform regulations will be changed to accommodate this change.

8 minutes ago, Waff-AI said:

Removing NT from service in place of, say, Zeng-Hu- a faction with established ties to hydroponic or food production work- or even just independents would allow you to keep it at three, if that's an issue. Just make the quirky roles like chaplain, reporter, or janitor into independent or Idris-branded roles.

Zeng hu has nothing to do with hydroponics as far I can see on its wiki page. Adding a new megacorp or faction is possible for service and cargo. However, we are not separating it by jobs, it will be by entire departments.

9 minutes ago, Waff-AI said:

 As to the Zavodskoi thing: it just seems out of left field without the context of the articles we haven't been able to read yet. It seems unfair to say 'knowing that, these aren't being done out of nowhere' when our only information for the NBT so far is the weekly map update, especially when an established bioscience and weapons constractor is suddenly growing an engineering division.

Please read the first post.

3 hours ago, Alberyk said:

The lore team is working on lore updates to help justify this change. We will also have an in-character development to help people transfer their characters to the megacorporations.

 

[Kintsugi]

28 minutes ago, Waff-AI said:

proposed Major Bill's(or something entirely new)

Only interjecting to say that if we want any more groups, we should make them unique to Aurora instead of porting more stuff from Bay/Polaris. I would not mind the idea of having a few of the subsidiaries present as their own factions, however, I also don't really want to add any new megacorporations. If we're going to add anything, keep it small.

[OffRoad99]

This is sad news to me, as once it'll be implemented, nearly every one of my characters will be put out of commission.
Anyway....I didn't know that Zavodskoi dabbled in heavy industry, how come they suddenly have an Engineering division? While I am certain (as it's been explained by an admin) we'll get some lore updates...

...I am surprised that Zavodskoi has been, for some reason, been pulled out of Medical and instead now sits in Engineering.

This here can be found in-game, and currently Zavodskoi Interstellar allows you to play a Surgeon character if you wish. The picture specifically says that Zavodskoi has an existing, competent medical division that struggles to remain on the field.
Wouldn't it be better to move Zavodskoi in Medical to replace NanoTrasen, and have the latter be moved in Engineering?

[Desven]

Please keep in mind that current distribution is also to allow all species in each department. Removing NT from medical deletes all Tajara characters, for example.

[MattAtlas]

9 minutes ago, OffRoad99 said:

This is sad news to me, as once it'll be implemented, nearly every one of my characters will be put out of commission.
Anyway....I didn't know that Zavodskoi dabbled in heavy industry, how come they suddenly have an Engineering division? While I am certain (as it's been explained by an admin) we'll get some lore updates...

...I am surprised that Zavodskoi has been, for some reason, been pulled out of Medical and instead now sits in Engineering.

This here can be found in-game, and currently Zavodskoi Interstellar allows you to play a Surgeon character if you wish. The picture specifically says that Zavodskoi has an existing, competent medical division that struggles to remain on the field.
Wouldn't it be better to move Zavodskoi in Medical to replace NanoTrasen, and have the latter be moved in Engineering?

Zavodskoi's medical wing is entirely vestigial. It's a remainder of when the corporation was called Necropolis and had a biomedical division. Current Zavodskoi, as described on the wiki, is like this:

Zavodskoi Interstellar is a manufacturing and development conglomerate founded in 2259. They specialize in all forms of weaponry, ranging from small arms and squad weapons, to armored vehicles and combat EVA equipment. Previously known as Necropolis Industries, Zavodskoi Interstellar has retreated from the genetic research scene to focus on military and police equipment in recent years. However, they still possess a significant genetics branch - though it pales in comparison to Zeng-Hu Pharmaceuticals.