NBT Department Division Feedback

[Kintsugi]

Also regarding the subject of swapping corporations, could I point out that earlier this year an opportunity was also permanently extended to the playerbase regarding swapping? I recall an IC news report stating that SCC corporations were making it very easy to ICly swap between them. I can’t find the article now so maybe it got retconned, but the opportunity to swap definitely did exist at some point. I even personally took advantage of it.

[SinfulBehaviors]

Here's a question: will my character still be allowed to rock his Silversun shirt if he becomes Heph?

[Alberyk]

10 hours ago, SinfulBehaviors said:

Here's a question: will my character still be allowed to rock his Silversun shirt if he becomes Heph?

Yes.

[Caelphon]

11 hours ago, DanseMacabre said:

Also regarding the subject of swapping corporations, could I point out that earlier this year an opportunity was also permanently extended to the playerbase regarding swapping? I recall an IC news report stating that SCC corporations were making it very easy to ICly swap between them. I can’t find the article now so maybe it got retconned, but the opportunity to swap definitely did exist at some point. I even personally took advantage of it.

No you're right! It's easier now than ever before to change megacorps, and it'll only be easier. 

This doesn't mean faction hopping, more so a one time change that doesn't really need a solid justification that, "SCC made it heaps easier, didn't even need to break my contract."

[stobarico]

I feel like having only Hephaestus for cargo will be restrictive, Idris could make a good fit for the cargo technicians and quartermasters as some kind of space Amazon, but it still wouldn't fix the problem of Himean mining characters not having a faction to choose since they would never work for Hephaestus.

[Kintsugi]

Personally I am puzzled by the fact Himean characters in cargo are seen as such a huge problem that Hephaestus being the only option is untenable. I get that it makes it difficult to play a Himean in a way that makes sense without some changes to their personal belief system, but that’s a single use case. The overwhelming majority of rounds I do not even see a single Himean on station (It really must be one of our rarest accents), and I cannot consider the fact that Himeans may have a little trouble playing cargo to be a serious problem in the grand scheme of things.

[Alberyk]

We are currently considering another faction for cargo. If anything is decided we will post it here.

[Estutes]

I haven't read all the posts since there are too many to read. But from the first one, related to the changes in the departments, I say I really do not like it. It will force to work for companies that you may or may not like and sometimes force you to have a playstyle that does not suit your way of playing this game or even your characters (forcing you to delete/leave them if this goes forward in my case).

Nanotrasen is the even plain field that allows for all kinds of characters, but these changes would force players to play a certain way in certain cases. I really dislike this. Also although I love the NBT and I really like the new ideas and things being planned I was already having a hard time figuring out if and how would I put my characters in the NBT, not only that but with these changes they'll be forced to change not only from workplace/life goals/aspirations/objective in life (Edit: This is fine) but also company which is a big part of how they are treated, paid, trained, expected to perform aswell as their work ethics.

I understand you want for Lore reasons to now have the SCC lead the way with all corps mixed together but I think instead of forcing departments to be a certain way, I'd leave it like it already is but modify things such as loadout points or add more niche things for each corp so that people find more interesting one corp or another.

Edited August 24, 2021 by Estutes

[Carver]

10 hours ago, Estutes said:

I haven't read all the posts since there are too many to read. But from the first one, related to the changes in the departments, I say I really do not like it. It will force to work for companies that you may or may not like and sometimes force you to have a playstyle that does not suit your way of playing this game or even your characters (forcing you to delete/leave them if this goes forward in my case).

Nanotrasen is the even plain field that allows for all kinds of characters, but these changes would force players to play a certain way in certain cases. I really dislike this. Also although I love the NBT and I really like the new ideas and things being planned I was already having a hard time figuring out if and how would I put my characters in the NBT, not only that but with these changes they'll be forced to change not only from workplace/life goals/aspirations/objective in life (Edit: This is fine) but also company which is a big part of how they are treated, paid, trained, expected to perform aswell as their work ethics.

I understand you want for Lore reasons to now have the SCC lead the way with all corps mixed together but I think instead of forcing departments to be a certain way, I'd leave it like it already is but modify things such as loadout points or add more niche things for each corp so that people find more interesting one corp or another.

I can tell you from experience playing a good few of the contractor factions, they really don't change your playstyle at all if you don't want them to. They give you nice ground to play around with various gimmicks, sure, but you're nowhere required to behave any differently working for a specific corp than you'd be required to behave working for NanoTrasen.

[Skull132]

On 24/08/2021 at 21:25, Estutes said:

I understand you want for Lore reasons to now have the SCC lead the way with all corps mixed together but I think instead of forcing departments to be a certain way, I'd leave it like it already is but modify things such as loadout points or add more niche things for each corp so that people find more interesting one corp or another.

These changes aren't just lore driven, FYI. Gameplay and ingame atmosphere in general will also benefit from a potentially more colourful and perhaps a more fractured ecosystem. More dynamics to the social systems for players to use when roleplaying, more points of conflict to exploit, etc. Really, the hope is that this will lead to a more interesting setting roleplay wise, and provide just more for the players to do.

[Estutes]

7 minutes ago, Skull132 said:

These changes aren't just lore driven, FYI. Gameplay and ingame atmosphere in general will also benefit from a potentially more colourful and perhaps a more fractured ecosystem. More dynamics to the social systems for players to use when roleplaying, more points of conflict to exploit, etc. Really, the hope is that this will lead to a more interesting setting roleplay wise, and provide just more for the players to do.

That's the thing. In my opinion it doesn't add enough vs what it deletes. I'd prefer another way of doing things like I suggested. I don't like it but we'll see; maybe It's not that bad and I actually like it.

15 hours ago, Carver said:

I can tell you from experience playing a good few of the contractor factions, they really don't change your playstyle at all if you don't want them to. They give you nice ground to play around with various gimmicks, sure, but you're nowhere required to behave any differently working for a specific corp than you'd be required to behave working for NanoTrasen.

Although you may be right in the first part. My characters have a unique way of seeing the world and some of them wouldn't want to be in some of these companies. Sure with the NBT I may just delete several characters because wouldn't make sense (I'm fine with this) from a character development point of view. With this addition I may just not play certain departments just because I wouldn't like to make characters that are okay with certain things they do or their origins. Although It is true I may just delete them because of character development reasons, I'd probably want to make characters that slightly resemble those I've made in the past (although with a different twist) because I really find it funny these kind of characters and seeing the tables I find that If I were to make those new characters for the new NBT crew they wouldn't fit in some nor any of those corporations for those departments.

And just to put an example, I really don't feel like making a character that is okay with it working for a comany from the Empire of Dominia (maybe in the future, but not currently). This is one example among many others. I feel like NT which I think It's an even plain field and having more opportunities allows for more creativity in character creation and development: this last bit being the thing that I find the most entertaining about this game.

Sure there are solutions and there are workarounds and ways and sure If this goes forward I may just accept it and go on, but in my opinion this constrains quite a bit my options to a point where I just wouldn't play a certain department.

If this sounds dramatic, It is not, don't worry lol. I'll probably just accept it and move on. But I don't like it and these are the reasons.

I might like it in the future though, I am open to it, but not until I see how it works and/or change my mind about it and I find it difficult liking it in the future.

 

Sorry if I messed my english

[stev]

27 minutes ago, Estutes said:

That's the thing. In my opinion it doesn't add enough vs what it deletes. I'd prefer another way of doing things like I suggested. I don't like it but we'll see; maybe It's not that bad and I actually like it.

Although you may be right in the first part. My characters have a unique way of seeing the world and some of them wouldn't want to be in some of these companies. Sure with the NBT I may just delete several characters because wouldn't make sense (I'm fine with this) from a character development point of view. With this addition I may just not play certain departments just because I wouldn't like to make characters that are okay with certain things they do or their origins. Although It is true I may just delete them because of character development reasons, I'd probably want to make characters that slightly resemble those I've made in the past (although with a different twist) because I really find it funny these kind of characters and seeing the tables I find that If I were to make those new characters for the new NBT crew they wouldn't fit in some nor any of those corporations for those departments.

And just to put an example, I really don't feel like making a character that is okay with it working for a comany from the Empire of Dominia (maybe in the future, but not currently). This is one example among many others. I feel like NT which I think It's an even plain field and having more opportunities allows for more creativity in character creation and development: this last bit being the thing that I find the most entertaining about this game.

Sure there are solutions and there are workarounds and ways and sure If this goes forward I may just accept it and go on, but in my opinion this constrains quite a bit my options to a point where I just wouldn't play a certain department.

If this sounds dramatic, It is not, don't worry lol. I'll probably just accept it and move on. But I don't like it and these are the reasons.

I might like it in the future though, I am open to it, but not until I see how it works and/or change my mind about it and I find it difficult liking it in the future.

 

Sorry if I messed my english

Not gonna make a big response post or anything but I'd just like to point out that every company, including NT, has done/actively does/is complicit in doing some real heinous shit. It's just an inherent part of the setting that our characters are lowkey working under pretty awful organisations by necessity, since they're the only real options out there. 

To list a few examples: NanoTrasen actively leans on the Republic of Biesel to make cyborgification legal as a loophole around execution to make examples of their enemies; incited (at least one) war on Adhomai to get exploitative mineral rights, get hard menial labour done for cheap, and supported (or at least was complicit in allowing) forced labour and re-education camps for social deviants and ethnic minorities; and very recently had horrifically devastating phoron-enriched nuclear missiles developed and built on the Aurora with the help of station characters.

Characters are, of course, perfectly within their rights to rationalise and compartmentalise away as much of this as they want with regards to NanoTrasen; but that poses the question, why can't this be done with the other corporations? 

[Estutes]

7 hours ago, stev said:

Not gonna make a big response post or anything but I'd just like to point out that every company, including NT, has done/actively does/is complicit in doing some real heinous shit. It's just an inherent part of the setting that our characters are lowkey working under pretty awful organisations by necessity, since they're the only real options out there. 

To list a few examples: NanoTrasen actively leans on the Republic of Biesel to make cyborgification legal as a loophole around execution to make examples of their enemies; incited (at least one) war on Adhomai to get exploitative mineral rights, get hard menial labour done for cheap, and supported (or at least was complicit in allowing) forced labour and re-education camps for social deviants and ethnic minorities; and very recently had horrifically devastating phoron-enriched nuclear missiles developed and built on the Aurora with the help of station characters.

Characters are, of course, perfectly within their rights to rationalise and compartmentalise away as much of this as they want with regards to NanoTrasen; but that poses the question, why can't this be done with the other corporations? 

Well. I know all of that and my characters do compartmentalise these things. But that's not the point I showed.

[Caelphon]

Right, gonna try address your points as best as I can. 

10 hours ago, Estutes said:

That's the thing. In my opinion it doesn't add enough vs what it deletes. I'd prefer another way of doing things like I suggested. I don't like it but we'll see; maybe It's not that bad and I actually like it.

I think we're going to see a lot more benefits from having the megacorporations on "equal grounding" when comapred to NanoTrasen simply being the the employee monopoly. I think it introduces a good sample of conflict, as well as potential cooperation, in the future. Right now, the megacorporation you play doesn't really ... add or subtract anything from roleplay, maybe a few things here or there but largely it doesn't affect it. The departmental division for NBT is meant to solve this, and solidify their themes. We are hoping to do much more with the megacorporations in NBT that we could ever do with the station NSS Aurora. 

10 hours ago, Estutes said:

Although you may be right in the first part. My characters have a unique way of seeing the world and some of them wouldn't want to be in some of these companies. Sure with the NBT I may just delete several characters because wouldn't make sense (I'm fine with this) from a character development point of view. With this addition I may just not play certain departments just because I wouldn't like to make characters that are okay with certain things they do or their origins. Although It is true I may just delete them because of character development reasons, I'd probably want to make characters that slightly resemble those I've made in the past (although with a different twist) because I really find it funny these kind of characters and seeing the tables I find that If I were to make those new characters for the new NBT crew they wouldn't fit in some nor any of those corporations for those departments.

10 hours ago, Estutes said:

And just to put an example, I really don't feel like making a character that is okay with it working for a comany from the Empire of Dominia (maybe in the future, but not currently). This is one example among many others. I feel like NT which I think It's an even plain field and having more opportunities allows for more creativity in character creation and development: this last bit being the thing that I find the most entertaining about this game.

We are attempting to craft an entirely new setting that is not meant to be similar to the current atmosphere and whatnot. This ultimately means a small percentage of players will lose their characters, it is inevitable. We are trying our best to minimise this percentage, but at the end of the day we have our limits. We can only ease the transition so much, the rest is up to players. 

Also, no one is forcing your character to "be okay" with the thing these megacorporations do. The thing is, they exist because they're megacorporations and have such a large amount of influence and sway within interstellar politics that ... they don't really care what people think unless it directly challenges them. 

We're changing NT from being the current monopoly, leaving the megacorporations on the same playing ground. You'll have equal if not more player agency in creating your characters with the change to the NBT setting.

[Bear]

I'd like to see another corporation in supply as echoed earlier

[Faye <3]

Forgot to ask. For current command IPCs owned by NT, will their ownership be transferred to the SCC?

[The Stryker]

On 28/08/2021 at 09:32, Faye &lt;3 said:

Forgot to ask. For current command IPCs owned by NT, will their ownership be transferred to the SCC?

They'll still be owned by NanoTrasen but authorized to work for the SCC.

[SinfulBehaviors]

On a similar note, independently owned IPCs that work for NT will have to transfer to a different company same as any other person, right?

[limette]

Okay. First things first, I haven't actually read through this whole thread, I just skimmed it. My issues with this are mainly with the fact that some of these nearly conflict with things the lore tries to guide you into. I'm trying not to worry about individual characters, because the fact is with any lore change you will stomp on a few toes.

First; Himeo. This is an obvious one. Himeo's entire lore is basically "You hate Heph and are probably a miner or engineer." Not literally, but it guides you very heavily into those traits. So, with only Heph in Cargo, it becomes incredibly difficult to justify playing a Himean because why would you voluntarily work for the corporation your entire lore is about hating when you could work anywhere else in the Spur?

Second; Gadpathur. Less obvious, but Gadpathur has a lot of inclinations towards Security work with two Security cadres out of four total. All of these corporations, however, are on pretty good terms with Sol. EPMC is literally based in a Solarian state, Idris is strongly pro-Sol with Silversun, and Zavodskoi produces armaments for the Solarian military.

I can't think of any other blatant examples of conflicts with what the lore guides you into, but these seem easy enough to resolve; have at least one other corporation in Cargo (I'd say probably NanoTrasen b/c phoron, but it doesn't really matter who) and have a company in Security pivot away from Sol. My suggestion would be Zavodskoi, as the corporation accused of killing Sol's prime minister, who already has headquarters in another nation and strong themes from that nation, and overall is just less directly tied to Solarian states than Idris and the EPMC.

Again; I don't care about individual characters, I care more about making things certain backgrounds lead you into somewhat more difficult to justify. These things, however minor in terms of player number, serve to make parts of the lore even more difficult to validate using.

Edited August 31, 2021 by limette

[Lucaken]

Hey, small question (that might already have been answered).

Are 'niche' job restrictions for some contractors going to be lifted? Just as an example, from what I can see, Zavodskoi still can't be Investigators as of now. I know Security is far from the department that will end up with the least amount of options after the update (Cargo still coping), but it would still be cool to know.

[greenjoe]

43 minutes ago, Lucaken said:

Hey, small question (that might already have been answered).

Are 'niche' job restrictions for some contractors going to be lifted? Just as an example, from what I can see, Zavodskoi still can't be Investigators as of now. I know Security is far from the department that will end up with the least amount of options after the update (Cargo still coping), but it would still be cool to know.

It's being made so any job in a department can be done by any of the corps in that department.

So zadovski will be able to be investigators

[Peppermint]

How will things like uniforms be handled for heads, if that's been decided yet? Assuming it will not just be NT command any more.

[Carver]

On 29/08/2021 at 22:29, SinfulBehaviors said:

On a similar note, independently owned IPCs that work for NT will have to transfer to a different company same as any other person, right?

Here's a question on this matter; if any owned IPCs need to be transferred to another corporation to retain the ability to play within a department, will they still be owned by NT albeit under contract for the other corporation - or will they be required to follow the weird specifics of that corporation such as the 'Z.I' naming nonsense?

[MattAtlas]

5 hours ago, Peppermint said:

How will things like uniforms be handled for heads, if that's been decided yet? Assuming it will not just be NT command any more.

Heads will be employed by the SCC. That means they won't be using their contractor uniforms.

[Forester40]

On 23/08/2021 at 00:40, 4000daniel1 said:

I think moving NT from medical to cargo makes sense for several rather apparent reasons.

I think it would really limit the kind of character you can make in the medical department if Zeng-Hu and EPMC were the only available options.
The wiki says "common Eridanians avoid even slightly falling out of the norm, being lawful as well as visually and verbally inoffensive" for fear of being fired  and "one screw-up is enough to get [Zeng-Hu employees] fired", so every medical character would need to be a goody-two-shoes who's polite to everyone all the time and has no workplace incidents and no criminal history, otherwise they would've gotten fired.

Edited September 27, 2021 by Forester40