idea for narrative

[Subeh]

hi

i know its a little bit unorthodox to talk about potential server narrative in this manner but given the way it'd change things fundamentally i think its good to maybe have a discussion about it collectively so that staff can properly consider it, esp considering we're on the verge of a 1-week break purely so staff can work out the narrative for next map/have a break

this idea's been floating around a bit on the rebel side of things but i'd like cops to comment on this as well cus as ull see it effects them more than anybody else

ok here's the idea (credit to @MaXenzie for bringing it up in the first place)

-dispatch/the 'greater combine'/whateverthefuck (staff can work it out) essentially loses its marbles and declares transhumanisation of every remaining cop on earth
-cops are given the choice (oocly) to either submit to transhumanisation or run
-the survivors (of which, for gameplay and narrative reasons, should be allowed to be quite a few) separate from the 'main combine'
-cops can then either;
1) decide to make their own independent faction separate from combine/rebels that is supplied much like rebels are just from a diff source
2) agree, or partially agree, to join up with the rebels (i actually hope they do option 1 i think it'd be baseder)
-you then remove civil protection from being a whitelisted faction all together and instead make it something that can be requested at the discretion of admin+, meaning new chars/new players that seem competent can have the option to start as a 'rogue' cop or a refugee/rebel (works if cops pick 1 or 2 above) OR alternatively just ensure people can get new cop chars easily through a whitelist so their numbers dont dwindle

by doing this you;

-put cops in a far more flexible position where they could actually bolster their numbers a lot more and become just as dangerous as the rebels have become
-reduce ota/synths to a staff narrative faction that can be used for story rather than competitiveness
-branch into a niche im pretty fkin sure no other server has ever really attempted
-generally break down competitiveness a bit because both cops and rebels now have a common enemy to fight as well as each other, meaning you get the best of both worlds; fights for the story (against ota/synth) and fights for competitiveness (cops v rebels)

i genuinely think this idea has a fuckload of merit but i'd like to see people discuss

so discuss

Spoiler: additional ideas

-maybe phase 1's could still retain some of their sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops/give them stuff but never really 'join their side'
-ota/synths kidnap/capture rebels/cops to turn them into phase 1's, be it as an alternative to nlr/pk or if the player being captured agrees

Spoiler: on the topic of ota

there's 100% the opportunity for ota, while being narrative tools, to still get rp. they could go out on patrols effectively whenever they like and in the process of that could go and speak to the cops at their leisure. they havent totally lost their marbles like the others have, but theyre still loyal enough to the overlords that they don't 'defect' entirely

i mean shit, imagine the sheer potential for rp there; ota sneaking out of the combine base on the map to go and see the cops, give them food/water/munitions, rp with them, update them with what's going on internally and shit. as time goes on u could even see ota's 'brainwashing' deteriorate for whatever reason and so they become even more inclined to do it

there's (again) a lot to take from terminator rp here. terminators used to, of their own volition and without any staff input, hop on their terminator characters and just.. head out. they'd walk around, search shit, with their only two stipulations being (iirc) that they had to be lenient on spotting humans if the humans made an attempt to hide and they werent allowed to go into the human main base

ota/synths could do the same

when i say 'staff narrative tools' i mean they get used to peddle the narrative. 'staff narrative tools' =/= character death

 

[Dr Bright The Vortigaunt]

That would be interesting to see. I'd say go for it.

 

[DIGGA NOB]

I’d be concerned that the Combine would lose an element of RP between Combine players, but, I would be entirely in favor of seeing OTA panicking trying to refill roles and perhaps more appearances from synth creatures and other species the Combine have taken over

 

[Subeh]

I’d be concerned that the Combine would lose an element of RP between Combine players, but, I would be entirely in favor of seeing OTA panicking trying to refill roles and perhaps more appearances from synth creatures and other species the Combine have taken over

i mean from what im hearing (correct me if im wrong @ combine players) ota really just seem to be mostly flagging on when @'d to come kill rebels

altho it could be cool if maybe phase 1's retain a bit of sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops???

 

[STUCK IN A CAKE]

Kidnap cops and rebels, turn them into phase 1s

 

[Subeh]

Kidnap cops and rebels, turn them into phase 1s

if agreed upon ooc by the player ye, or maybe as an alternative to nlr/pk

 

[Provingmedusa]

i mean from what im hearing (correct me if im wrong @ combine players) ota really just seem to be mostly flagging on when @'d to come kill rebels

altho it could be cool if maybe phase 1's retain a bit of sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops???

Wrong. SWORD-5 is standing right there. Poor guy. And the second part happens already, but they don't go out into the field. I still chat with them on my CP when I can.

 

[STUCK IN A CAKE]

i mean from what im hearing (correct me if im wrong @ combine players) ota really just seem to be mostly flagging on when @'d to come kill rebels

altho it could be cool if maybe phase 1's retain a bit of sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops???

City 24 made cop and ota interactions limited until their barracks were moved underground. I chat shit with them from time to time, but my loyalty is unquestionable

 

[Subeh]

-maybe phase 1's could still retain some of their sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops/give them stuff but never really 'join their side'
-ota/synths kidnap/capture rebels/cops to turn them into phase 1's, be it as an alternative to nlr/pk or if the player being captured agrees

adding cool additional ideas to spoiler tab at the bottom

 

['77 East]

new players that seem competent can have the option to start as a 'rogue' cop

don't agree with this bit

if the faction goes rogue because some advisor wanted a hundred thousand new marshmallow men, whatever, but "ex"-cops should be restricted to people who have (or had, but got booted off due to inactivity) the whitelist.

if every joe random starts applying for ex-cops it's going to be even worse than all the ex-military characters swarming out of the fakelands

 

[Subeh]

don't agree with this bit

if the faction goes rogue because some advisor wanted a hundred thousand new marshmallow men, whatever, but "ex"-cops should be restricted to people who have (or had, but got booted off due to inactivity) the whitelist.

if every joe random starts applying for ex-cops it's going to be even worse than all the ex-military characters swarming out of the fakelands

yeah i see what you mean

but i still think its important to make sure ppl are able to get new cop chars post-change because i think its important that the cop population be able to at least rival/outright match the rebel population

 

['77 East]

yeah i see what you mean

but i still think its important to make sure ppl are able to get new cop chars post-change because i think its important that the cop population be able to at least rival/outright match the rebel population

if they need numbers they can go back to capturing and conscripting people (like the depot)

a lot more dev that way

 

[Provingmedusa]

yeah i see what you mean

but i still think its important to make sure ppl are able to get new cop chars post-change because i think its important that the cop population be able to at least rival/outright match the rebel population

To be EX-CP, you have to ICly desert! You either drip, or DROWN.

 

[Subeh]

if they need numbers they can go back to capturing and conscripting people (like the depot)

a lot more dev that way

TRUE

 

[Numbers]

if they need numbers they can go back to capturing and conscripting people (like the depot)

a lot more dev that way

But my character never loses so I'd never get captured. The enemy will stay small

 

[STUCK IN A CAKE]

ex-military

Bitches be like 'im ex military'

and then be 88M

(fr, we need more 'ex-military' guys to just be Cullinary Specialists or SatCom operators, not john Rambo ex-navy seals)

 

[Erkor]

i like the concept but i cry when i read "reduce ota to admin narrative tool"

 

[STUCK IN A CAKE]

i like the concept but i cry when i read "reduce ota to admin narrative tool"

admin tools be damned, I want to KILL

 

[Subeh]

i like the concept but i cry when i read "reduce ota to admin narrative tool"

-maybe phase 1's could still retain some of their sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops/give them stuff but never really 'join their side'

 

[Erkor]

I want to KILL

i dont care about this. i care about the core theme associated with transhumanization, and the way it can intermingle with the concept of 'regaining lost humanity'. people always harp on the fanon idea that "once you are transhumanized, you never go back", but that's boring and reductive and and squandering so much potential. there's a reason i always regurgitate the same points with regards to combine soldiers being allowed to characterize and whatnot.

the ultimate, far-off end opportunity should be the splitting path between going full Combine for real (e.g. consciously making the choice to side with them), or -- be it by a moment of lucid choice or complete and utter bad luck -- getting cut off, falling apart both mentally and physically, and being reduced to an agent of the self with scraps of humanity and the burdens of every choice they've ever made, no longer blocked and hidden away from the mind by memory replacements. sure, they won't have long to live -- unless, of course, they had a source of sustenance -- but they're alive, they're aware, and they might make whatever choice they want now.
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-maybe phase 1's could still retain some of their sanity and so they periodically go out into the field to speak to cops/give them stuff but never really 'join their side'

i think the concept of 'combine soldier phases' should be re-evaluated. tying the mental state to a flat "you have this many augments and health/armor level now" doesn't sit particularly right with me, personally. naturally, this isn't your fault, and you're ultimately just working with what you've got, but i think Combine soldiers -- effectively no matter their level of transhumanization -- should be given the same opportunities if they're player characters.

it shouldn't matter if you're a phase 1 grunt, an ordinal or an EOW; if you're in the middle of the woods, far away from civilization, and your mind starts to rectify all the things the Combine blocked out, no amount of genetic mods and augments should be able to save you unless you scarcely have a physical brain left to use (or you don't have any human personality to begin with, but that's a different discussion altogether I think).

i think it all ultimately hinges on the spectre of "competetiveness" that hangs over almost every single nebulous HL2RP iteration, though. it's for that reason why OTA were a 200/200 AR2-wielding killing machine; it's for that reason why balance changes are made constantly; it's for that reason why there's a churning sea of vitriol between combine factions and rebel factions, and why the majority of players -- instead of sitting down and trying to be constructive and nice to each other after a fight -- perpetuate a cycle of hatred that makes each side hate the other even more. i don't even know how to begin to tackle an issue like that, but i feel like solving that problem somehow would solve a lot more things.
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regarding the narrative idea at large, though, i do want to reiterate that i think it's pretty cool; one of the narrative plots we had for TnB's HLNA was that the Combine finalized their work on transhumanization (which, in and of itself, was a testing ground for equipment and genetic modification and how to intermingle the two), and began test runs of fully synthesized humanoids who would be implanted with the minds and memories of a "to-be-transhumanized" individual; the term memory replacement becomes very literal in this case; without an implanted mind, these soldier-bodies are effectively braindead synthetic clones as a consequence of higher-order-thinking not being something the Overwatch system can easily control (or something i never really wrote down the specifics as far as i remember).

speaking of TnB, though, I recall (and @Cindy or @Rabid can probably offer better insight to this than I) a Post-HL2 setting with a spin vaguely similar to this; as far as I remember, the Combine were properly defeated, and an emergent faction of independent(?) transhuman soldiers became a threat to people. they weren't under the control of an overwatch system, though, as far as i recall, but were some kind of bandit group or another held together by their leader's ability to nourish them (they were called thirsters). i don't know what their purpose on the server was -- I imagine they were antagonists for the players to fight, but i wasn't there -- and i'm probably wrong on a few counts regarding them, but it's still kind of interesting stuff to slurp up and re-adapt, i think.

ultimately i think i'm the minority of a minority here either way so you're under no obligation to do more than look at my post and scoff at the babbling ive just written up for... TWENTY MINUTES? WHAT THE FUCK

addendum (13:39 CEST):
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this narrative idea also gives me warcraft vibes (e.g. opposing factions banding together to fight a common enemy) so you get bonus points for that too