Summary & Feedback (Dreary Futures)

[Owen]

Overall, I enjoyed this arc. This is one of the first “modern” lore arcs that I have been able to really participate in and feel invested in. I enjoyed that there was an emphasis on there being consequences for our actions. That our choices mattered in the end. There are some things that I think can be kept in mind for any future events, but overall--I found this to be a refreshing change of pace that actually has left lasting consequences. 

1. Communication: While the summaries that we would sometimes get published in the aftermath of events were useful, I felt that there was still a lot of confusion going into future events about what exactly happened in previous events, leading the people who made the decisions in the future events not really understanding the circumstances of what happened, or what the actual consequences would be. 

This might just be something that I missed somehow, but I generally had no idea how the FSF came to be our protectors. I knew that the command staff apparently hired them during the first event, but I wish there were more details published in an easier-to-read format. I am sure it is a lot of work to do write ups in the aftermath of events, especially when the events are extremely chaotic such as the Eclipse Protocol event. But that is when they matter the most. Even if there is not a single clear story of what happened during an event, just mentioning the different viewpoints that happened would not be a bad idea. Just to get a general idea of how things are progressing.

That leads me to something that I just thought up as a way that this could potentially be fixed. There were a lot of complaints (at least from what I could see) about the different events feeling disjointed at times, with there not being a clear continuity of things when we had different characters take the reins for a specific event. It is obviously not expected that each character is going to exactly follow the thought process of the ones that came before them, but I do think that things could have benefitted if at least the thought process was made clear in the aftermath of the event, just so the players following the event can at least have a reference point. I am still not sure how something like this could be implemented, or who would need to make their thought processes known, but at the very least I think we could see some good results if it was encouraged for players who made big decisions during an event to post a write-up in response to the event summary explaining things from their character's POV, just to shed some light on what happened.

I can see concerns about this being a bit much to ask from players, but if we want there to be more continuity of actions, and for things to feel a bit more thought out on the player side of it, I think that this is something that should at least be considered. 

2. Consequences: This is a term that was thrown around a lot throughout this arc, and I think that it is a good thing, generally speaking. We all want our choices to matter--for there to be some effect on how we behave in a round. I know that you cannot want it both ways, but I do feel that the consequences that happened as a result of the Redocking event were very hard-hitting. This is not something that I feel super strongly about, but enough that I think I can echo some of the concerns that have already been voiced here. That round was a massive fuck-up for the Horizon, Kruger and Becker were both killed with little resistance shown from the crew. And while it is an interesting development moving forward, I think that it really just turned the FSF into this massive antagonist that there was no real good way to deal with. After this event, the FSF really managed to get a stranglehold on the rest of the arc in a way that felt almost suffocating to deal with. 

Going to just say again that I know we cannot have it both ways in terms of consequences, and I definitely prefer having these more impactful consequences. I think I am just stuck on the consequences of the Redocking event being just very hard-hitting--I think it just left a sour taste in my mouth. 

3. Railroading: I know that this is a commonly cited criticism for this entire arc, but I do not agree that we were railroaded. I was genuinely shocked at the number of different directions that this event could have gone in. The only thing that I could see as “railroading” would have been during the A Forceful Introduction event, with the weapons being aimed at the Horizon’s residential deck, but I feel like that has been beaten to death at this point. 

4. Command/Security Focus: Unfortunately, I think that this is going to be an inevitable part of lore arcs like this, especially when they are more high-intensity/political in nature. Moving forward, I think I would like to have some more variety in the sort of events that we receive. I like some of the ideas that were mentioned throughout this feedback thread that lean more into us being an exploration ship. I could expand on different ideas for events that could be implemented at a later time, but it would be nice to see some interactions/tasks in the future that are not as inherently hostile or intense. 

Also, I don’t want it to seem like I am just picking this entire thing apart. I found the arc, in general, to be very enjoyable, and it did lead to very difficult decisions for me to make while I was playing Ahkam as Captain (and even when he was off-duty… oops). I am looking forward to the continuation of the next two arcs in this trilogy! I was extremely invested in this arc, and I think it did do a good job at showing the difficulty of a situation that the Horizon has been in going through the Valley Hale. 

[Dreamix]

6 hours ago, CampinKiller said:

Quote

However, I do not appreciate the summaries and the like mentioning a "mutiny" or "sedition", or command staff "bickering", or that Ahkam was made interim captain. I think it's really shitty to portray all of this like this, as if it was wrong to play it out like that on a OOC level, while the investigation is still going on and CCIAA might see it differently. It is very one-sided, and influences how people are going to perceive it, both OOC and IC, and I do not like this. OOC summaries should be impartial and objective, and IC ones should not be provided until the investigation actually concludes.

Having read the summaries, I don't really think anyone was portraying it all as wrong to occur OOC'ly. At least it read to me as just an objective recounting of events, and even the IC summary kept things strictly to the facts. It might sound bad, but yes, disobeying the orders of a Captain and installing an off-duty one in his place is mutiny according to the regulations, so to describe it as one OOC'ly isn't saying it was wrong, so much as it is what happened. 

I do not want to derail this thread, but. I played my XO, and I do not believe I have participated in any mutiny or sedition.

It is not mutiny to disobey orders of a captain. That's also not sedition, either. That's just failure to execute an order.
- Mutiny is to try to violently get rid of the captain. Command did not do that, except maybe the HoS very late into the round, but I am not sure of that honestly, as I was in surgery at that time, or heavily injured, or etc. The point is, no one from command has tried to get a gun and murder the captain.
- Sedition is to try to peacefully get rid of the captain, by conspiring against them or the like. Command did not do that either. We did vote, twice, but that is allowed by the procedure/regulations, and is not sedition. There was no grand conspiracy to dethrone the captain.
- Ahkam was also not reinstated as a captain. I have only gave him an all-access ID to fix the evac. I specifically named the ID "ALL ACCESS" and not "Captain". Not a promotion by itself, same as like, giving a random crewmember access to the custodial closet to clean something, is not promoting them to a janitor.

The summaries did not keep strictly to the facts. Whether CCIAA sees the mutiny/sedition/promotion as being an actual thing, or not, and who exactly has participated in them, we should wait until the investigation concludes.


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2 hours ago, YouJustGotOwened said:

(...) Even if there is not a single clear story of what happened during an event, just mentioning the different viewpoints that happened would not be a bad idea. Just to get a general idea of how things are progressing. (...)

(don't want to quote the whole post and make mine huge)
That's... Actually a very good idea I think, and I have not thought about this idea at all before. After each event, could ask some players (as their characters) to provide their POVs and thoughts on how the event went, and what was going on. Like we have so many possible backgrounds, that pretty much everyone is going to see and portray the things differently. Dunno though. I see lots of potential good things about this, but also like, dunno.

[Faye <3]

my biggest gripe as a command main who didn't play any of the events was that it was very difficult to try and play a command character who still knew what was going on. if you weren't on the event, you lost your chance to know what was going on after each event except through hearsay and recollection from other players. which is not reliable. in the future, i'd really appreciate it if each event had an "after action" post in the command subforum that describes what's going on, any changes in the horizon's external relations, ettc.

[Diggey]

On 28/09/2022 at 11:56, Dreamix said:

And I feel like we have had some new Elyran chars being created just for this. It's sad, overall.

Guilty as charged v_v

 

On 28/09/2022 at 11:56, Dreamix said:

not everyone can be command or security, or enjoys these roles.

I personally hate fighting

Only one of my chars is excited about combat the rest will just sit in their department go 1:40:00

On 29/09/2022 at 07:33, NotASpider said:

Having two rival teams of what were basically NPCs fixed that right up, plus the mutiny was enjoyable.

This is a huge takeaway and please if anyone sees this put it on a post it note

If there is people you do not care about doing med rp is a lot easier and it still gives a challenge

This always shines when you play android characters and it works well for events

13 hours ago, Peppermint said:

most arcs recently have been so incredibly, painfully railroaded with admin spawn gear, no crew interaction, and zero real choice

This is why I am so big into events that don't need hostile players

Something like visiting an outpost or exploring a derelict or you know stuff will always be more engaging to me than "there is 12 people here and they want your kidneys FIGHT OR DIE" 

 

13 hours ago, Montyfatcat said:

Dennis, a character that is already known for being an issue to command and exacerbating crew feeling to an extreme

This is true