Originally posted by UnSub

Originally posted by Neanderthal

So how would it play out in a battle?

This is a good example of creating a game in your head that ignores how players actually behave. Hardcore guild players - or those disciplined enough to play as a team - might work, but the vast majority of players wouldn't. Pick up groups (PUGs) would be out entirely.

Here's how it would actually play out:

You are fired on by an enemy ship. The science officer screams, "54 degs!", accidentally transposing the '4' and the '5' when typing. The helmsman - who'd had the ship on autopilot and had gone off to get a drink because they weren't at the mission zone yet, does nothing and the ship takes some hits. The engineer is deploying repair crews but the power is dropping so he cuts power to the weapons because he wants shields up and hates random encounters and wants engines powered to get away.

The science officer determines that the lower aft center shields of the enemy ship are weakest and informs tactical. Tactical screams, "Eng need powre foton torpedoes!"

The helmsman comes back and finds everyone screaming at him. "OMG laaaaaggg!" he screams.

The engineer screams, "no eng to weapons, eng to shields, eng to engines - run away. mob gives lousy xp and drops"

Tactical screams, "i wanna fight - take 5 mins ez kill'

Helmsman is already turning the ship around because he just wants to get the mission xp and quit the ship because he's going out tonight (it's D&D night).

ZOOMMM....the helmsman sweeps under and behind the enemy and turns about. While he's doing this the tactical officer Engineer diverts all shield power to the topside shields (because you're going under the enemy ship). BOOM---KABOOM...everyone leans hard to the left for a few seconds everyone watches their ship fly under the under ship in a range of differing graphics quailty and system lag. But it's not as bad as it could have been because the science officer was debuffing their sensors accuracy and was also using a -dmg debuff.

The Engineer screams, "y u fly thru them? run away"

Tactical--"FITEFITEFITEFITEFIT n00bs FITEFITEFITEFITE" because he can't do anything else since Engineering has control over his weapon power.

Engineering--keeps all power in engines and shields so they can fly away with minimal damage.

Tactical screams, "u all sux <CENSORED> later loosers" and quits.

Science officer changes to Tactical position because firing guns is much better than applying debuffs.

Engineer screams, "cant do away mission on this map with only 3 palyers - needs 4 min"

Helmsman goes "omg wtf? i gotta go bye" and quits because he doesn't want to have to wait while they recruit another team member.

Engineer quits without saying goodbye.

The former Science Officer, now Tactical offer switches to Helmsman and the ship to solo mode and goes back to blow up the random encounter mob.

 

Now wouldn't that be a heck of a lot more fun than having mindless NPCs automatically doing everything for you?

More memorable? Yes. More fun? No.

I would hate if everybody became a captain but on the other hand, you're totally correct it would play out like that if it were implemented. It would require teamwork and finding random PUG's that has it is next to impossible. Good teamwork that is. Happens sometimes but not so often. The only groups of people it would work for are friends and guildmates.

However, I really liked the idea nonetheless. It sounds like you could feel alone quite easily if each person captained their own private ship.

So I wondered - maybe the better the ships, the more people it would require to fly it optimally as the tasks get increasingly difficult. Small ships only require you as the captain since they don't have so many different functions. Or just replace those positions with NPC's in small ships for the sake of gameplay.

That way, depending on the size of the guild, you would get more powerful ships but which also requires more people. A group of friends would also be able to fly in one ship, albeit a weaker one than a guild would be able to require - but that's how it always is, I guess.

Of course, there's the question: why use 4 people in one ship when you could have 4 different ships then. But that's a matter of balance. Say each small ship can only debuff or attack or whatever, having a large ship with ALL of those functions would still perform as well as the small ones combined. I could come up with more suggestions but I'll leave that to the developers (hopefully : P)

Another thing would be the lore. I'm not sure whether or not such small ships already exist but I guess with some artistic freedom, they do exist : )

Originally posted by BuzWeaver

I'll take a Constitutional Republic over a Socialistic system any day. There are some very appealing aspects to Norway, but at the same time I really enjoy our Liberties here.

Please tell me which liberties you enjoy. I live in Denmark, which to some extend is like Norway. High taxes don't bother me that much when I consider what I get in return. Well, maybe I don't get it all return but it doesn't really bother me that much. Having a government that can provide a security that ensures you don't fall that low is something I find very important and is appealing.

Please note I'm not going into a debate about which system is better, I'm just curious about why you think a socialistic system isn't that good