Neutral Empire Concept.

[Marinealver]

Ok here is a concept of an actual neutral (4th empire) players.

Starting inventory. Standard Exosuite, AMP, Supressor, REK, ammo.

Give them access only to common-pool items (no empire specific weapons or maxs) unless they contract (Tempary join) an empire.

They can access any powered neutral/AT terminal. All others need to be hacked.

Any facility they hack reverts to a neutral state unless they are contracted to an empire. Then ownership of facility goes to the empire that is in the contract.

All other neutral players apear as enemies (can kill them for XP) unless they are in the same squad/platoon or outfit. You can invite them to your squad (asuming you didn't kill one another.)

When contracted out to an empire give them 30% limit on grief points. Instead of getting grief lock the get kicked from empire for "breach of contract" and are locked from joining that empire for a set time.

Individuals can join empire while squad/platoon leaders and outfit leaders can assigned there whol team to an empire.

[Deuling]

Hmm, nice idea, but there wouldn't be a lot of action for those guys. And how are they meant to invite each other into a squad/platoon/outfit when they're all enemies of each other? I see the sense in individuals assigning themeselves to an empire, but when a squad/platoon/outfit leader tries to get their team into and empire, there may be some who aren't allowed into it. You could get rid of the idea for the team empire invite thingy, or have a message that says "Someone in your squad/platoon/outfit cannot join the Terran Republic/Vanu Sovereignty/New Conglomerate."

[Marinealver]

Type /invite /pinvite /outfitinvite <player name>

or walk up to them and hit g and hit invite

They will aprear as enemies with red crosshairs and name untill invited then it would turn green (friend)

You will just need the self discipline (and find someone with the same) and not kill them.

Basicly with neutrality you have two or three options.

Go solo (and I mean solo everyon is your enemy Good Luck)

Be a mercinary and jump from empire to empire.

Form a warband of other neutral members and raise havock together.

[Deuling]

Oh, yeah, I forgot about the /invite commands, I meant about approuching them. I'm not sure people want to go solo forever, waste of charaacter. Warband, hmm, cool.

[Pyroguy]

Just... no. The whole point of the game is for your empire to win. Not to killwhore for teh EXPzorz lulz.

[Marinealver]

Originally Posted by Pyroguy

Just... no. The whole point of the game is for your empire to win. Not to killwhore for teh EXPzorz lulz.

You meen like the current Black Ops force? With the super health and super stamina yeah that is the worst way to put it. Never did I say give the kill whores 1000 HP/AP/Stim. That empire was suposed to be a GM Dev only race.

[zolop]

Well since I would like to see this as a possibility too, heres some ideas from me to help mold your idea...

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps/po...id=88000012255
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps/po...id=88000007617

Some highlights from the above link ...7617...

Outfit Contracts with Empires
Certifications
Training Areas for Independent Players
Spawning Locations
Soloing
Outfit Home Bases.

NTU Changes From Idea Lab
Request NTU changes to be made with this, to make the supply of NTU to bases to be more of a outfit role, rather than a empire general role. Again increasing the role of outfits, instead of the empire in general, to take care of a base.

http://www.planetside-idealab.com/id..._changes.shtml
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps/po...id=88000003739

Part 2: Training Areas
OR BETTER YET, make a much better way to setup the Test Server, to play on, then I can train players much easier (no timer on character switch, unlimited number of forget alls).

http://forums.station.sony.com/ps/po...id=88000003739
http://forums.station.sony.com/ps/po...c_id=300349728

Again I would rather fight for my outfit in this game than for a Zergful Empire that has no idea of tactics or logistics.

[zolop]

Originally Posted by Marinealver

When contracted out to an empire give them 30% limit on grief points. Instead of getting grief lock the get kicked from empire for "breach of contract" and are locked from joining that empire for a set time.

Individuals can join empire while squad/platoon leaders and outfit leaders can assigned there whol team to an empire.

I really like how the grief system for this idea is.

[matapiojo]

To give them a more mercenary tune, perhaps they could gain empire specific "xp" when they are part of said empire's squad/platoon. This empire "xp" or points could be rendered for that empire's specific equipment.

On top of that, I would consider some specific equipment for the 4th emp that enhances their mercenary status. These could define a more saboteur status amongst their number. Some could be:

-Faster recharg ANT
-An NTU draining Heavy Assault weapon
-An Stronger Jammer grenade (both handheld and ammunition)
-An short timer, slow fire rate, EMP rocket with Anti Vehicular

If the 4th emp troop decides to stay completely neutral, he becomes a target for all 3 empires. This means that forming alegiances with the 3 empires is a desirable proposition.

A system that can help this is some sort of interface tab that has an option to choose your allegiance. If one of the 3 is selected, you cannot change sides for an amount of time (3hrs or so seem reasonable?).

Like I mentioned before, once allied to that empire, you can gain "xp" with them. While you could "buy" empire specific equipment with the propper xp, this ofcourse drains your xp bar with that empire. This necesity to buy eqipment goes away when you reach BR 25 , giving you full access to that empire. The catch would be that you can only have ONE BR 25, not all 3.

[Hayoo]

Interesting. I guess the biggest draw for many players would be the ability to always fight on a winning side. :P Personally, I'd prefer having just the three current empires but it is an interesting concept.

I have some questions:

• So how would a player choose Neutral? At the server screen?
• Where do Neutrals start? In their own sanctuary? In whatever sanctuary they switch to mercenary from?
• If a player already belongs to an empire, will they have a timer for switching to the mercenary faction and back again?
• How long does a contract last? Is there a timer or can mercenaries switch at will?
• Can mercenaries hack non-linked bases like Black Ops? What happens if mercenaries secretly loyal to a given empire goes behind enemy lines and hacks bases to deny it to the enemy and help their side win the cont without having to hack along the lattice, which it seems they would be forced to do if they officially contracted with an empire.
• Do bases attack Mercenary vehicles unless they are contracted to the base's empire?
• Would it be ok, even encouraged, for neutrals to form gank gangs and attack other neutrals when they respawn or attempt to leave a warpgate just for the xp?
• What is to stop most outfits going Mercenary and contracting out to a given empire, then simply switching when things go bad? The Empire timer attempts to make people think twice about switching, but would Mercenaries have such things to prevent wild fluctuations in population?
• Would future Reserves or Trials be allowed to play neutral, or only paying players?

[Marinealver]

Originally Posted by Hayoo

Interesting. I guess the biggest draw for many players would be the ability to always fight on a winning side. :P Personally, I'd prefer having just the three current empires but it is an interesting concept.

I have some questions:

• Yeah that would be a problem. Best to try and limit the number of contracts depending on the situation. Basicly the side that is winning will have fewer nutral contracts so it will lock up faster forcing others to either go pick between the other two empires.

  So how would a player choose Neutral? At the server screen?

  Where do Neutrals start? In their own sanctuary? In whatever sanctuary they switch to mercenary from?

  from the start. Since all 3 sancs are a no fire zone then probibly would be okay if they visited any sanc. Where they go from there is up to the player.

  If a player already belongs to an empire, will they have a timer for switching to the mercenary faction and back again?

  Yes, and even better- For lacking loyalty the members of their former empire gets bonus revenge XP for killing the traitor. So you want to abandon the TR. any loyal TR player will get 10%-50% more XP for killing the deserter

  How long does a contract last? Is there a timer or can mercenaries switch at will?

  Can be terminated by the empire, the mercanary or breached if the mercanary gets too much grief. Also if the contract is breached on grief then there is a lockdown timer before they could side with that faction.

  Can mercenaries hack non-linked bases like Black Ops? What happens if mercenaries secretly loyal to a given empire goes behind enemy lines and hacks bases to deny it to the enemy and help their side win the cont without having to hack along the lattice, which it seems they would be forced to do if they officially contracted with an empire.

  They will have to drain the base like normal. However if powered and neutral then the nutral empire can choose the base as a spawn room. Only problem is trying to think of way of preventing spawn killing by other nutral players. Nutral players are ON THEIR OWN unless they join a squad or outfit. Even other nutral players apear as enemies. I guess there could be an option to join the capturing outfit of the neutral base upon entering the SOI.

  Do bases attack Mercenary vehicles unless they are contracted to the base's empire?

  I would say yes. Just like neutral turrets in the cave apear as hostile. Neutral vehicles will apear as hostile. Now if the vehicle is part of a contract the vehicle will have the same color as the empire. Just like the neutral player. The only difrence is no empire logo to show that there is no alegience.

  Would it be ok, even encouraged, for neutrals to form gank gangs and attack other neutrals when they respawn or attempt to leave a warpgate just for the xp?

  Unfortunatly yes. It almost becomes a join us or die type scenerio. Now to prevent spawn and WG camping possibly put a XP timer requiring a certian amount of time for the player to leave the WG or spawn tube in order to count for XP. It will be sugested for the neutral player to join a squad first before venturing out on his or her own. Planetside is still a teamwork based game. This concept is for those who are rather undecisive or would want to play freestyle.

  What is to stop most outfits going Mercenary and contracting out to a given empire, then simply switching when things go bad? The Empire timer attempts to make people think twice about switching, but would Mercenaries have such things to prevent wild fluctuations in population?

  I would say the timer. Also the timer would be for days for a squad and weeks for an outfit. So when thinking about leaving keep that in mind it is going to have a longer term effect then expected.
• Would future Reserves or Trials be allowed to play neutral, or only paying players?[/quote] I would possibly say allow for all. If this dose get implemented I would like to add a socail ranking system for Empire members only to award Members for being loyal to their empire. That will have to be another post though.

[/quote]

[CrusaderBob]

I think the whole Merc idea is kinda cool, although we probably will never see anything like this