Matt M.
27-11-10, 17:22
One problem I think NC has always had while I've played it is an excessive number of factions compared to player numbers. Additionally not all factions are equally appealing, from either the practical standpoint of FSM items or an aesthetic view. Here are my opinions about them, and which factions I think could be removed or merged.
ProtoPharm/Biotech: I like PP because it's relatively believable, with a name and motto that sound somewhat like an actual business and advertising slogan. The alliance with BD and implication it helps fuel the illegal drug market also adds intrigue to the faction. I think it has more aesthetic appeal than Biotech, which seems incredibly generic.
The downside is that the faction offers almost literally nothing, which stands in stark contrast to Biotech's position as the only source for many essential implants. Since both factions are under populated, especially PP, I think merging them under the PP name would be beneficial. Additionally I find it especially bizarre that a pharmaceutical company offers no drugs from their FSM. BD is already the main supplier of these, but why should that mean PP gets stuck with nothing? Adding a PP FSM line of drugs providing the same stat boosts as store bought ones but lasting much longer, like say an hour, would remedy this egregious oversight as well as lowering the constant annoyance of drug flash.
Tsunami Syndicate/Black Dragon: I find the Black Dragon name/motto bland and utterly cliche, especially in contrast with Tsunami Syndicate. However the two factions have the same problem as PP/Biotech except even more exaggerated. TS offers literally nothing while BD is the main source for filling the constant demand of essential drugs. I can understand the reasoning behind including two criminal factions; criminal organizations typically spend as much time fighting each other as they do fighting the law. However, TS's uselessness means players who want to play a criminal faction really don't have a choice anyway; BD is the only sensible option. Furthermore the game doesn't have enough players to support two active criminal factions in any case. My opinion: merge them under the TS name.
CityAdmin/DRE: Diamond Real Estate should just be removed. I'm willing to bet most people interested in playing a dystopian cyberpunk game don't plan on their character being an apartment salesman. The faction offers nothing appealing from either a practical or aesthetic perspective, and its population has always reflected that. The reason I suggest merging DRE with CityAdmin is because CA's the only other faction that'd make sense influencing apartment locations all over the city. I think it’s believable that a vaguely totalitarian government would have above average influence in the property market.
CityMercs: The faction is ok but I hate the name. Besides being totally generic it's too similiar to CityAdmin and is even misleading considering CM is one of the few factions based outside the city. While a bare and fuctional title makes sense for a government bureaucracy I'd expect a group of mercenaries to have something with a bit more personality. Strangely the guards that used to be in Pepper Park had the faction title, "Screaming Horse Agency", which I find way more badass than CityMercs. Why not just go with that? Also the motto, "Solving Almost All Your Problems", is so generic it makes me think the NC team got it off the sloganizer website.
Tangent Tech/NEXT: I like both these factions, except for "In Guns We Trust", that's really cheesy. The problem is that vehicles aren't useful enough in NC to support an entire faction centered on them. Coupled with the fact that none of NC's most useful vehicles and none of the VHC boosting implants even require the NEXT FSM and you get a faction that isn't even useful in it's supposed niche. Merging NEXT with the more popular TT would at least have the positive effect of making the vehicles from their FSM more accessible.
Twilight Guardian/Fallen Angels: I don't have much of an opinion on the specifics of these factions but I do find their names super cheesy and ill-fitting. “Fallen Angels” sounds more like a biker gang to me than a high-tech group of scientists. Twilight Guardian makes even less sense and it doesn't help that "Twilight" is now a word most heavily associated with sparkly vampires, at least in the US.
ProtoPharm/Biotech: I like PP because it's relatively believable, with a name and motto that sound somewhat like an actual business and advertising slogan. The alliance with BD and implication it helps fuel the illegal drug market also adds intrigue to the faction. I think it has more aesthetic appeal than Biotech, which seems incredibly generic.
The downside is that the faction offers almost literally nothing, which stands in stark contrast to Biotech's position as the only source for many essential implants. Since both factions are under populated, especially PP, I think merging them under the PP name would be beneficial. Additionally I find it especially bizarre that a pharmaceutical company offers no drugs from their FSM. BD is already the main supplier of these, but why should that mean PP gets stuck with nothing? Adding a PP FSM line of drugs providing the same stat boosts as store bought ones but lasting much longer, like say an hour, would remedy this egregious oversight as well as lowering the constant annoyance of drug flash.
Tsunami Syndicate/Black Dragon: I find the Black Dragon name/motto bland and utterly cliche, especially in contrast with Tsunami Syndicate. However the two factions have the same problem as PP/Biotech except even more exaggerated. TS offers literally nothing while BD is the main source for filling the constant demand of essential drugs. I can understand the reasoning behind including two criminal factions; criminal organizations typically spend as much time fighting each other as they do fighting the law. However, TS's uselessness means players who want to play a criminal faction really don't have a choice anyway; BD is the only sensible option. Furthermore the game doesn't have enough players to support two active criminal factions in any case. My opinion: merge them under the TS name.
CityAdmin/DRE: Diamond Real Estate should just be removed. I'm willing to bet most people interested in playing a dystopian cyberpunk game don't plan on their character being an apartment salesman. The faction offers nothing appealing from either a practical or aesthetic perspective, and its population has always reflected that. The reason I suggest merging DRE with CityAdmin is because CA's the only other faction that'd make sense influencing apartment locations all over the city. I think it’s believable that a vaguely totalitarian government would have above average influence in the property market.
CityMercs: The faction is ok but I hate the name. Besides being totally generic it's too similiar to CityAdmin and is even misleading considering CM is one of the few factions based outside the city. While a bare and fuctional title makes sense for a government bureaucracy I'd expect a group of mercenaries to have something with a bit more personality. Strangely the guards that used to be in Pepper Park had the faction title, "Screaming Horse Agency", which I find way more badass than CityMercs. Why not just go with that? Also the motto, "Solving Almost All Your Problems", is so generic it makes me think the NC team got it off the sloganizer website.
Tangent Tech/NEXT: I like both these factions, except for "In Guns We Trust", that's really cheesy. The problem is that vehicles aren't useful enough in NC to support an entire faction centered on them. Coupled with the fact that none of NC's most useful vehicles and none of the VHC boosting implants even require the NEXT FSM and you get a faction that isn't even useful in it's supposed niche. Merging NEXT with the more popular TT would at least have the positive effect of making the vehicles from their FSM more accessible.
Twilight Guardian/Fallen Angels: I don't have much of an opinion on the specifics of these factions but I do find their names super cheesy and ill-fitting. “Fallen Angels” sounds more like a biker gang to me than a high-tech group of scientists. Twilight Guardian makes even less sense and it doesn't help that "Twilight" is now a word most heavily associated with sparkly vampires, at least in the US.