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Gearing up for the Steam Launch, and reveling in my newfound powers as CO, I was debating streamlining our ranking system and making it a little more intuitive. Especially since this is a computer game, this is a more realistic take on defining casual vs more dedicated players in our unit.
[cross-posted on our facebook page - if you haven't joined up, feel free]
RANKS
- RECRUIT: Someone just on board that we're taking for a test drive. There needs to be some sort of threshold on this one - so after five team drops, you either exit out of the 5th or you rank up. [Quick thought on the type of players we're looking for: talented, but casual in the sense they know this is a game; mature - I don't want people in this unit that are going to hurl insults a whole match or start calling their teammates noobs or whatever; controlled aggressive - our style is controlled aggression, we hit the enemy sooner than they're ready for, push in, and move through them - we don't dawdle or hang out grouping up in a well-telegraphed push; the 5ths style is more "Skirmisher" than "tank"].
- MECHWARRIOR: This will mostly be a catchall category for people who have passed through the recruit stage and are new to the unit, people who want to casually drop with the unit, people who like the game but don't drop too often, people with other time commitments and so on. Mechwarriors are part of the group, but there's no expectation of participation - casual players that want a group to drop with.
- VETERAN: This will be for very experienced, good players who don't want any sort of leadership role, but drop often (so not a casual player). You love the game, you're good at the game, the thought of herding cats during a match doesn't interest you. Between Mechwarrior and Veteran, this will be self-selecting and you might be moved back to Mechwarrior if you don't drop all that often. Veterans are there for the group drops, there for events, there for unit meetings, etc. Not a casual player and a greater level of involvement.
- LANCE COMMANDER: The first of the "officer" ranks, officer in our unit means that in addition to just playing the game and playing the unit, you don't mind mentoring, giving orders, are patient, etc. Maybe you want to try out being an officer or maybe you've done enough commanding that you know you don't like controlling an entire match at the company level. This position will be the first of the Officer positions and probably one of the more important ones: Lance Commanders will sniff out recruits, drop in the new Scout Missions in CW, and generally drop on the regular (either in the PUB queue or CW). This could also work if you want to form a small group - so a lance of specific people - I'm okay with making specialist units of players that are used to dropping with each other on the regular. Call them our "Elites."
- COMPANY COMMANDER: This group will be self-selected with Unit approval and CO sign-off. These are people who *want* to herd cats at the Company level, so call an entire match. Generally we want level-headed people here who love this game, have proven themselves capable of leading a CW match, and people who don't mind taking a hit on their own stats if it means the team wins (my own damage drops by about 700 when I'm calling a game - I get it: it's a tough job).
- CO: Me. I guess I'll make the final call, but I really see my role more as rallying the troops and keeping this train rolling, fun, and keeping people interested.
- EMERITUS MECHWARRIOR: I have a feeling a lot of the unit will fall into this category. These are (largely) former members who aren't dropping anymore. I'll keep them in the unit, but no one's seen them for a while, they don't really drop, they're not on teamspeak. We may come up with a system of eventually dropping these folks from the unit if PGI implements some sort of hard cap.
- EMERITUS OFFICER: People that are a bit more involved than the "Emeritus Mechwarrior" group. In other words, these would be people that played with the unit for a while, but are taking a known hiatus for some length of time (work, vacation, baby being born, life, etc), but have let it known they want to come back.
- EMERITUS CO: For right now, this is Bront, but I'm guessing I'll eventually join this rank, too (although no time soon - I'm still having fun in this game).
A quick note on our fighting style: we're a speed-based unit, more like skirmishers or guerrilla fighters. This doesn't mean that no one runs an Atlas (come on - we're still Steiners), just that those Atlasesi are far more likely to be moving at 60kph+ rather than the slow-stompers at 55kph or less.
We like to hit the enemy before they've set up, rapidly moving as a unit, accurately taking down targets, and taking objectives quickly. Hard to do that when you're waddling along at 53kph - plan your mechs accordingly.
UNIFORM COLORS, PATTERNS, ETC
Open to debate on this one, but I'm thinking that we should move to "uniform" style. Currently, we're blue and black, but that's about it. I'm thinking of something a little more consistent.
- Camo Patterns: Default, Steiner, Crusader (it's a relatively simple pattern and similar to the Steiner one)
- Colors: Recruits will be Default and all white. PRIMARY - Cobalt Blue, Sapphire, other darker blue (Steiner Blue's pretty bright); SECONDARY - Mechwarrior: White, Veteran: Camo Grey, Officer: Black. TERTIARY - Hotrod Red or some kind of red. Emeritus can do whatever they want: they're retired.
- Decals: Haven't rolled out yet, but they're coming SOON™. Once they do, of course we'll have Steiner fists on, say, the Right Shoulder and Left Shin, if that's allowed. We'll have to see what the other decals are for further info.
Edited by Dawnstealer, 08 December 2015 - 08:21 AM.
