Author Topic: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?  (Read 43155 times)

Offline Naoura

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The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« on: November 14, 2016, 03:07:16 pm »
Each of the factions have massive fleets and large, dangerous battleships that they can field at a moment's notice, both striking the enemy at his doorstep or guarding vital equipment or materiél factories.

What's the player's role? Lore-wise, what are we?

Are we the best captains and crews the faction can offer, the aces of the fleet, the Special Air Service of each faction, or are we simply mercenaries? Hired bough up by the best faction, lending our services to their plans.

Offline RearAdmiralZill

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2016, 09:53:01 am »
Given the current system that lets you switch factions pretty easily, I'd say we're more hired hands. We even have to provide our own boats!

Now if you planned to stick to one faction forever, I can see some merit in being Aces for the given faction, but purely from an RP standpoint.

Offline Naoura

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #2 on: November 15, 2016, 12:15:49 pm »
I can definitely agree with that. Sticking through it long enough to actually unlock the faction's specific weaponry and ships/costumes would make you an ace for that faction, but just bringing along the "civilian" ships, the Pyra, the Goldfish (Which I am of the opinion is Mercantile, even though it has no named origin in the lore), and so on to fight for the faction primarily.

Offline RearAdmiralZill

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #3 on: November 15, 2016, 06:40:38 pm »
Galleon and Goldfish are Yeshan. I forget about the Pyra.

Offline Naoura

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #4 on: November 15, 2016, 06:43:29 pm »
Pyra is confirmed as Yeshan, as is the Gally, but not the Goldie. Goldfish doesn't have a home from the lore, as far as I've read.

Offline RearAdmiralZill

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #5 on: November 15, 2016, 07:08:45 pm »
I figured one of the giveaways for the Goldfish origin was the hanging lamps with the "oriental" writings on them. Maybe I just took that along with the overall design as a clear Yeshan theme yet never confirmed it.

Offline Naoura

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #6 on: November 16, 2016, 12:31:43 am »
The hanging lamps I'll give you, but the overall design is clearly Mercantile. Just compare it with the Magnate.

Offline RearAdmiralZill

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #7 on: November 16, 2016, 07:06:29 am »
Dont break my heart. From an RP standpoint I've always hated the Guild  :'(

Offline Naoura

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2016, 10:40:17 am »
Hey, the Guild are tradesmen aggressively looking for new markets to venture into.

Honestly, I've always preferred the guild due to their history. Desperately hunting for a cure to a plague running through the southern lands, and ending up with a massive network of trade routes? Count me in.

Of course, that's only because the Arashi aren't playable yet... I want me my scavvers.

Offline RearAdmiralZill

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #9 on: November 16, 2016, 10:57:37 am »
Forgive my ignorance, but where is all this confirmed lore stored at? Just spread out in the world threads or is there a central place cause Id love to read up on it all.

Didn't even know about the Guild backstory, though I see that lighthearted sentiment plagued with bottom feeders just wanting their slice of the Mercantile pie. That's just me though. Plus when we did the Burning Skies RP, all this lore was absent to draw on so we just made stuff work lol.

Offline Naoura

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #10 on: November 16, 2016, 12:08:04 pm »

Offline Unarmed Civilian

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #11 on: November 16, 2016, 07:11:25 pm »
On the subject of the Goldfish's nationality:

Goldy is not rough-hewn enough to be  Arashi, too wooden to be Baronies. Anglean style is apparently giant blue squares, which this isn't. Chaladon has unnecessary flourishes, which the Goldfish does arguably have with its "fins", though they prefer very compact hull designs that reduce wood usage. Yesha has wooden construction for its hulls, but prefers multiple balloon sacs and metal incorporated into it, making their ships almost as rough as Arashi. It has a strong Mercantile touch to it due to extreme similarity in helm design to the Magnate and Mobula (helm in front of pavilion, no other faction has that), and the somewhat ornate "fins" and armor walls. The balloon style is most similar to Chaladon.

It most definitely is not Baronies or Arashi. Based on aesthetics it is most likely Chaladon or an odd example of Yeshan ships. Or Anglean because they don't have a Skirmish representative at all. It is possibly Mercantile due to extreme similarity in helm design to other Mercantile ships and overdecoration common to them.

Yeshans seem to prefer simple, effective firepower configurations with utility slots. Chaladon prefers maneuverability and speed at the cost of toughness and gun count, with reliance on side guns. Mercantile prefers withering frontal firepower from medium range and overlapping arcs at the cost of reactivity and speed. Durability is a little below average. Anglea prefers strange, vertical configurations, I guess.

So in terms of general firepower configuration, mobility, and toughness, it is most similar to Chaladon designs. There's a reliance on side guns, and the armor isn't very strong. In terms of Mercantile, Goldfishes can provide withering firepower with certain configurations, though Goldfishes prefer close-range. Arcs overlap somewhat but not very well due to use of a heavy gun. However, the Goldfish is tougher than Chaladon ships due to its hull, making its overall durability more average.

In terms of repair layout, the hull is in a well-monitored location, repair layout is flexible, with the engines being the greatest vulnerability. Mercantile ships have very inflexible repair layouts, hull vulnerability is a mixed bag, but engines are the greatest vulnerability in repairs. Chaladon has accessible hulls with flexible repair layouts, with engines being the greatest vulnerability. Yeshan engines are not extremely vulnerable in terms of repair, though they are vulnerable to disable.

So it shares the repair layout weaknesses and advantages of Chaladon ships most closely.

Overall, it is likely not a major, commissioned ship from any faction, making it more of a mercenary ship. It has aesthetic similarities to Mercantile and Chaladon ships, with handling properties of Chaladon ships. It was likely designed by someone who traveled between the Vastness and Chaladon. The repair layout is like a Chaladon ship, which is a hefty improvement over Mercantile ones. Armor toughness is similar to Chaladon ships and overall toughness similar to Mercantile. It has a low gun count like Chaladon ships but is more frontally focused like Mercantile ships. The fins add an artistic, personal flourish.

If I had to guess, it was made by some shipwright in the Vastness who was heavily influenced by Chaladon design, due to the Mercantile helm design, with a compromise of firepower styles and more Chaladon handling. It was likely designed for the shipwright's personal ship or commissioned as a pleasure ship for someone adventurous that became popular among private owners. The shipwright themselves was likely a traveler between the Vastness and Chaladon.

In other words, SS Mary Sue.

As for the Aces/Mercenaries question, definitely mercenaries. There's enough people out there playing Alliance that are definitely not aces. Definitely not.

Offline Richard LeMoon

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #12 on: November 16, 2016, 07:30:07 pm »
I don't think aces, and not quite mercs. copy/paste from another thread:

The (Skirmish) ships you fly are not like the AI ones. They seem older, and somewhat worse for the wear as if they are secondhand ships. You fly any ship from any faction, with the same being said for guns. You don't fly in major battles, and seem quite expendable. You are not in the in-crowd for any alliance. You can fight for other factions, and even against your own faction at times.

There is only one type of ship/crew that fits all of these. You are a foreign privateer trying to gain favor and maybe citizenship in one of the factions. You are a Wastelander from beyond the borders of all the empires.

Perhaps the Goldfish is of a design not of the current empires, but of the Wastelanders as well.

Offline Naoura

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #13 on: November 16, 2016, 07:54:11 pm »
One of the primary reasons I stated that the Goldie could be Mercantile is the overall hull design, looking between the Magnate and the fish. It seems to me that the Magnate would be built more around heavy trade duty, while the Goldfish could be built more around exploration, or else patrol work. Not a massive amount of space for cargo on the Fish, but enough to serve a purpose. The Magnate has nearly 360 degrees of fire, making it very, very well defended against attacks coming from almost any angle... which is going to be very likely for a heavy freighter.

My working theory, due to how the balloons on the current Mercantile ships are segmented much like the Yeshan ships we have in hand, is that the Goldfish is the ship the Merchants found the cure for their plague with. As Chaladon was one of the first to adopt Airships, the Guild likely drew heavily from them, hence the fins and single, large balloon, as well as the higher speed and maneuverability. However, the Guild would have been more focused on finding a cure for the Blight, which means that they would desire a ship capable of a long, long distance voyage. The bottom-most fins would serve well for catching the wind, making long distance travel much easier and cheaper, which is represented very, very well in current Guild design. The reason for the change in balloon, most likely, is both cheapness and influence from the Empire, who it does a great amount of trade with.

And thanks for the feedback on the original question. I wasn't entirely certain which category we'd fall in, but I'm happy to be a Merc... both for the Merchant's Guild and for a Mercenary.

Offline MightyKeb

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Re: The player's role: Aces or Mercenaries?
« Reply #14 on: November 20, 2016, 11:21:49 am »
Goldie, Pyra and Galleon are all confirmed to be Yeshan in Wilson's notes.

Junker is Arashi.


Squid is Chaladonian.

Spire is Baronies.

Mobula is (rumored in the lore to be) Mercantile.

Might've given too much detail, but I remember all of these ships' origins pretty clearly.