idea for narrative

[CEOofCyberpunkWoodenChair]

Gonna be a hard pass from me bro

Restricting the majority of the combine to admins doesn't sound good in my book

And 'rogue' cops doesn't sound good either because they effectively just become rebels.

 

[Subeh]

I generally think this is a horrible idea and more of a backlash idea to remove OTA/Synths after the complaints from rebels yesterday (really funny)

im not saying this to be snarky but reading this genuinely makes me believe you havent actually read the suggestion

 

[Subeh]

Restricting the majority of the combine to admins doesn't sound good in my book

please read the entire suggestion

 

[CEOofCyberpunkWoodenChair]

please read the entire suggestion

Phase 1's is not the majority of the combine

 

[MaXenzie]

Phase 1's is not the majority of the combine

CPs are the majority of the combine
which will remain player-played

 

[CEOofCyberpunkWoodenChair]

CPs are the majority of the combine
which will remain player-played

The problem is if they are formed into a rogue faction they are no longer combine. They just become quirky epic rebels extra steps.

There wouldn't even be a reason to fight the actual rebels either due to the OTA turning against everyone, so at best you'd see the two edge posting at each other for a week before they all just become friends and go on heckin wholesome adventures or smth.

 

[Subeh]

The problem is if they are formed into a rogue faction they are no longer combine.

is that not just diversifying the options for factions on-server and increasing the potential for interesting conflict tenfold, though?

There wouldn't even be a reason to fight the actual rebels either due to the OTA turning against everyone, so at best you'd see the two edge posting at each other for a week before they all just become friends and go on heckin wholesome adventures or smth.

and if thats the collective cop decision then let them? if they wanna go into an uneasy alliance with rebels (people who are littered with individuals that would just want to kill them) then they can

 

[CEOofCyberpunkWoodenChair]

is that not just diversifying the options for factions on-server and increasing the potential for interesting conflict tenfold, though?


and if thats the collective cop decision then let them? if they wanna go into an uneasy alliance with rebels (people who are littered with individuals that would just want to kill them) then they can

Not really, no. In reality, all you are getting is just different flavors of rebels. It's like the current faction of blacksuits we have right now. Due North, Orsted, and whatever the other one is are all the same in reality, but the main driving force behind these groups is the motivation of fighting the combine. If you remove the majority of the combine, you are just left with a surplus of rebels that split up into vaguely different groups.

The whole gimmick of 'oh my gah friendly cop!!' will eventually wear off as you are now left with a swarm of rebels that you need to entertain with your small amount of admins (at best you'd have like 4-5 on lol)

You also ignore the fact that by making the combine only OTA and Synth, you essentially kill off the majority of routes you could take with it. Want a loyalist cop experiencing downfall rp? Nope, you get to sit in the outlands with le epic rebels now!!!!

Want a city merchant who's loyal to the combine and must tow the line as the world crumbles down around them? Nope you get to sit in the outlands or get converted now!!!!

Want a combine official who's struggling with the fact that their past deeds will come to them, and they can only do so much as they throw whatever they can to defend their city? Nope, transhumanized.

If you want an actual narrative then man up and start making actions matter. Rebels rush the city and take control of it? It's canon and will affect the next map. Did a shelling happen? Cool, start spawning zombies and head crabs and increase the amount of zombie Wl players in the area. You can create a narrative by keeping the competitive aspect by making the world actually reactive and alive and not screwing over a good chunk of the playerbase by forcing them into a "GO OTA OR ROGUE" situation.

 

[Reggie]

she narrative on my idea till i conclude

 

[Komchan]

I remember a server did this once but I think it's cool:

Make a map of the planet and like, colour it in, show what our actions has caused on a global level. Clear thing that people can go 'yes, we did that and it did x / helped y'

 

[shad]

Battle for Azeroth

 

[Appetite Ruining Kebab]

I'm sorry if you think that's dumb mate but unless something changes we're going to be stuck in the eternal status quo of:
- new map
- rebels and combine have a base that'd equidistance apart
- some opening skirmishes and fights accompanied by plenty of OOC drama and whining
- big map change event
- the events of the previous map are never brought up again

im neutral to the suggestion as a whole but i feel like this is a misrepresentation of how we handle the stories involved in our maps

there is at least one plotline from asheville and one plotline from metro that we're highly considering bringing back, possibly even one from apocalypse. we just haven't found the right "time" to reintroduce them yet. not to mention, one plotline (odessa getting owned by xen flora) had a heavy influence on how we handled c24 (ceasefire to prevent it from happening again). there's also an @TheInnkeeper event series that's run for two maps back to back

the story so far is a consistent journey around europe. when you're constantly going to new locations its easy to sideline the previous map's happenings, esp. when any time you get to do story centric events is taken up by the next peak hour s2k fest. we make do with what we can to balance the two out and so far it works fine imo

we still have a lot of work to do in terms of 'telegraphing' these stories better though, i can say that much. its easy to miss what's going on if you're not actively paying attention or talking to people

 

[Deleted member 906]

I like these ideas

 

[TheInnkeeper]

there's also an @TheInnkeeper event series that's run for two maps back to back

Yellow did die on this map which is unfortunate since there could've been more stuff there, but I am cooking now that I know what's coming up in the future.

Especially with the freedom that I will soon have. Somethingsomething xenian intelligences, somethingsomething spooky bullshit, coming to a server near you.

 

[TheInnkeeper]

also its really easy to do an event where cops and rebels work together sfdfdfsddfdfd

just make them fight some Xen Bullshit that threatens anything human or human-adjacent, then they don't really have a choice but to work together


also blow up the citadel please

 

[Tinbe]

also its really easy to do an event where cops and rebels work together sfdfdfsddfdfd

just make them fight some Xen Bullshit that threatens anything human or human-adjacent, then they don't really have a choice but to work together

Have an Antlion King that has gone rampant, for example being puppeteered by a mind worm like John Doe. The parasite gets to use the colossal, but utterly alien intellect to make antlions behave completely differently. Have 'em try to snatch people away alive, do unconventional, surgical strikes, and more. Doesn't have to be the brain worm specifically, but it'd be a good way to make use of player-introduced lore in the larger pool of HL2RP²'s worldbuilding.

 

[john]

she narrate on my d till i ea

 

[TheInnkeeper]

Have an Antlion King that has gone rampant, for example being puppeteered by a mind worm like John Doe. The parasite gets to use the colossal, but utterly alien intellect to make antlions behave completely differently. Have 'em try to snatch people away alive, do unconventional, surgical strikes, and more. Doesn't have to be the brain worm specifically, but it'd be a good way to make use of player-introduced lore in the larger pool of HL2RP²'s worldbuilding.

maxenzie only nebbed that because the worm was mentioned


that's not what i have planned but i like the idea

 

[MaXenzie]

maxenzie only nebbed that because the worm was mentioned


that's not what i have planned but i like the idea

john doe corruption arc

 

[Mic15000]

I think this is a great IDEA!! IF, the server actually had a story with a finale and everything else planned. But, as it stands the narrative is mostly used as gameplay enhancement. And to be frank outside of some special one-off events I don't think this will happen on this iteration, at least not for a long time.

I think a great example is the Crucible SCP server ran by a few people rn, they do it a few times a week for a few hours only, and everyone's usually all together. They have GREAT storytelling (Or used when I was playing idk now) and everyone's usually on the same side with the villain NPC's played by staff, but the problem is that you can't do that 24/7. You can't set up stories constantly and have staff work their ass off cause they WILL get burnt out. Especially cause none of us are paid we're just volunteers.

So while your idea is great I don't see it happening here.

As it stands rn the server conflicts are engagements are mostly player driven with staff just giving incentives and pushes (I say mostly cause big fuck off events also happen). The way the server is structured is like a big sandbox with gameplay and storytelling feature on the hand of the players most of the time.

I know this is controversial to some people here but Gameplay > Story 9/10 times. And as Staff, I will always prioritize good gameplay over a good story. Not to say that the gameplay rn is great but it's not bad either! But the beauty of the server is that you can tell your own stories and make your own journeys. You shouldn't need staff to handfeed you events, because that's how everything dies and one of the reasons why the original helix died imo, people being to addicted to events and never flagging on except for events.

Events are great, but constant events are just a different type of server and we're not that.