74 replies to this topic

[Sarsaparilla Kid]

Greetings FRR,

I am representing the Old Timers Guild, which is slated to become a house unit for FRR once Community Warfare kicks in. OTG is a multi-gaming guild, so perhaps we could come up with a more suitable unit name for FRR as needed. But, I digress...

Other than a common website that seems to have been created but seldom used, is there any other hub where FRR units can join up on voice comms? My particular guild has seen a lot of attrition since the community warfare aspect of the game has experienced constant delays, so there are seldom more than one or two of us online at any given time. Similar to the House Steiner Hub, I think FRR units would see strategic benefits and improved morale from having a common TS server where FRR units can work together dropping as lances for the same faction. Sure, we don't have CW yet, but with interest waning, it gets discouraging to constantly solo drop and not have someone to chat with, bond with and work together in achieving a goal. House Steiner hosts things like Sync Drop Fridays, where multiple lances try to sync drop with/against each other. There are also 12-man practice nights. All of these fun things tend to be more difficult if each of our units is not particularly large or active, but having one place where FRR pilots from various units can drop into comms and fight for a common cause would help.

If there is currently no such communications hub, is there room on Comstar or NGNG TS servers to do something like that? I think I've seen some of the individual FRR unit names on one TS server or the other, but it was hard to tell if the units were actively using those chat channels or if the TS admins set them up hoping someone would use them. However, it does not appear they are all together in one place.

Thoughts, suggestions? Or, has our faction dwindled beyond hope?

<s>

Sarsaparilla Kid

[Grim DeGrim]

Mech the Dane will likely be on and can provide more detail than I. The Isengrim regularly have 12 on. During practice or event nights we regularly have in excess of 24. We're not a hub per say, but we've hosted events in the past.

Which reminds me: http://mwomercs.com/...es-information/

Check it out...for FRR only.

[Damon Howe]

Hey Sarsaparilla.

Well as you pointed out, the NGNG or Comstar TS3's would probably be the best bet for inter-guild meetings and interactions. The Skjaldborg has a section on NGNG ourselves, but we seldom use it. Typically, a few of our members drop in for a few of the dedicated streams and podcasts, and that's it. Other than that, we use our own private TS3 channel; seldom is NA Comstar used at all.

I'd say your effort is well appreciated. As you can see through several of the other threads, others do try to keep things going in the FRR channel. 1st RDR has kept an -albeit, aging- list of known FRR units which is pinned to the top of this section. The Isengrim has tried to pull FRR groups into an "Inhouse Tourny" as it were. The Skjaldborg hosted a propaganda campaign back in May. We all do our little things to keep active.

Truth of the matter is though, until private lobbies show up or CW is released in even its most basic form, inter-FRR group relationships are (while not completely unnecessary) not going to form any binding interactive pacts, as it were. Until we see a CW, coordination between units is useless, and almost a waste of time without even knowing beyond the concept of what CW is supposed to look like.

I won't say interacting with other FRR units is a waste of time...but any political mumbo-jumbo that typically happens when similar units come together to strut their stuff is not needed nor has any way to progress the FRR as a whole at this time.

As a large, independent unit, I can safely say the Skjaldborg has its ups and downs...not many of us are encouraged by PGI's latest release of information, as it were. However, we're weathering the storm as we always have, and have never waivered from our hope to see a solid mechwarrior game come from this.

TL;DR - Wait for Community Warfare if it ever shows up, you'll see us around. Otherwise, try and find us (Skjaldborg) on NGNG or our forums.

[Jarl Dane]

Hey Sarsaparilla.

Don't mind the Skaldbjorg, until the game gets better they've resigned themselves to Forum Warrior status.

There is currently no FRR hub, and the attrition you feel is something that has been pinching all units. Some have completely succumbed, if not literally than at least ideologically (See Damon Howe's post above).

But despite the set-backs there are those of us who still play and actively attempt to make the game/community better (Rather than making forum posts about how they don't play).

This Saturday will be the first round in the FRR Yule Tournament, a Tournament which every active FRR Unit (except one) who still plays the game (as far as I've been able to substantiate) has agreed to attend. We even have Finnish and German units participating in the event. To the best of my knowledge this will be the largest FRR event to date. Never before have so many FRR units met in one place to play together.

It's kind of like an All-Thing, of battle . Anywho, if you're looking for fellow FRR's - I seriously recommend you come and even participate. You'll meet lots of FRR players, lots of units and unit leaders, and who knows maybe it can be the beginning of greater inter-house cooperation.

I believe my Thegn Grim DeGrim has already posted a link to our Tournament. Even though you aren't on the bracket I am sure you can still show up and fight - if you can get enough guys together as a unit - if not as part of another lance (there should be tons of openings - no way everyone shows up who says they will!).

Anyways take care!
Nice to see another FRR unit still trying to play this game.

Edited by Mech The Dane, 05 December 2013 - 08:03 AM.

[Malzel]

Given that factions don't serve any real purpose at the moment aside from the little icon by your name, I think there's just been a lack of need or motivation to start one. That's not to say I think it would be a bad idea, just that we haven't had a champion with the motivation or the means to start such a server.

Logistically, anyone with a computer and bandwidth able to run a VoIP server 24/7 could host a free, 512-slot TS3 server, you'd just have to apply to TS3 for a non-profit license. I expected something like that to crop up once CW arrives, once faction players only dropped with their fellow faction players and actually had goals they were working towards.

Speaking personally, the 1st RDR has a set of channels on the Comstar NA server, which is a public, non-profit TS3 server open to anyone. There are channels there for each faction, though I've never seen them used, or you can find Helmer and ask for a set of your own channels if you'd like.

[Sarsaparilla Kid]

Thank you all for the information. I will relay it to my unit for review. I'm not sure we would be able to field a lance for the Yule tournament, but I will bring it up for anyone interested. Now if someone would just light a Yule log under PGI's derriere, we could really get things going!

[Jarl Dane]

Don't be afraid to come alone, all-comers welcome!

[Peiper]

The House Steiner HUB is a strong community for a variety of reasons, some of which were mentioned in the OP. The success of this game requires a healthy gaming community, and I've read, seen, and heard that the FRR has the least organization of all the houses. I also fear that many of their numbers are really clanners waiting to tag themselves as such when CW is launched. I have been involved in the development of the Steiner HUB since early on, and am an admin on the website. I've even brought up the idea of bringing FRR units into the hub to help build them up as a stronger faction, but that idea could prove to be detrimental and/or politically disastrous. However, there is a strong sentiment within the HUB that we feel it's important to not disparage, but support other faction and community efforts. After all, if we don't have a good pool of honorable opponents to fight, we won't have a game to play!

If you would like a tour of the HUB or are looking for advice or to coordinate challenges or advice, please feel free to contact myself, or wander into our teamspeak and ask around for a liason or unit CO to talk to. Our methods have been fairly successful.

[Surtr]

Also the Comstar TS has a separate house section towards the bottom, so the infrastructure already exists. Also, we need more inter-unit communication, CW be damned playing with other Nordically oriented mechjocks is always a good idea!

[Grim DeGrim]

That's a great attitude Surtr. You're no "Negative Nancy".

GRIM

[Damon Howe]

Peiper, on 05 December 2013 - 11:09 AM, said:

The House Steiner HUB....

I'll admit, I got about that far before I wanted to reply "Oh here we go!"

But reading through, thanks for the offer Peiper. It would be interesting to see how the other units are organizing, and as you said likely we are the least organized house.

[Sarsaparilla Kid]

Col. Peiper is an honorable pilot and I've been lucky enough to have been given the opportunity to hang with his group and have some fun on the House Steiner Hub comms, which is why I brought up the whole subject for the FRR to consider. What I've heard so far indicates that while there is an area on the Comstar servers to accomplish something similar to the House Steiner Hub, most FRR units prefer to use their own private comms and, well, remain private. I guess that's just the way of the Viking...stubbornly independent! Yar!

[Peiper]

You guys mention channels on the NGNG and Comstar servers. I would argue that's a backward plan for you as a faction and here's why. When a guy wanders into the Steiner HUB looking for a unit, he will eventually find one. Likewise in NGNG and Comstar, except that you have to share those potential recruits with all the other units that meet there.

Look at it like this. Let's say you have 5 units in your new FRR hub that are recruiting. Five new players wander into your hub, and FRR team 1 and 2 work very hard to recruit them. Instead they end up joining FRR team 5. Your individual unit might lose, BUT, the FRR wins 5 new players into their ranks as a faction.

Now, how about NGNG or Comstar? FRR teams 1, 2, 3 all work very hard to recruit five new players into their ranks, but three end up joining the Average Joes Merc Corps and two join the Sian Cheap Plastic Doll Company. FRR worked hard to recruit 5 players and lose them all to mercs and House Liao. Your effort is wasted. So, while it is true that you'll probably have less guys wander into your hub than in NGNG and Comstar servers, there are two more things to consider. 1. those guys who DO wander in want to be space Vikings and 2. the training you do within your ranks and BETWEEN all the various allied FRR guys doesn't go to waste.

But you gotta get enough FRR units on board to get it started. I would suggest at least 3, and like Malzel says, you can get a 500 person non-profit teamspeak license and have someone host the server out of their house for free! The Steiner Hub has done it this way for years!

The next peices of advice I give you is about organization. The Steiner Hub has two fairly neutral technical administrators who dedicate themselves to keeping up the servers and our combined HUB forums. They are loyal to STEINER first and their units second. You gotta have at least a couple guys with that attitude to make it work. If you have admins who favor one unit over another, the faction suffers from favoritism and that causes strife.

Second, EVERY unit within the FRR Hub must be autonomous. The CO's and XO's can have meetings with each other to determine the direction of the hub, and more importantly, to schedule inter-FRR tournaments, contests and activities. Likewise, you can set up challenges with other large units. In any case, no one or two people are 'in charge' of the HUB. This is an AMAZING strength of the House Steiner Hub. Guys come in, register, and have the right to play with ALL the different units in the hub and FIND the right unit for their personality. If one unit dominates over the others, or dictates to other players or units what they should or shouldn't be doing, the HUB will fail.

The HUB is the center of a wheel, and the spokes are the units affiliated with it. It's a place of meeting, organizing, recruiting, and having and for having events both for Steiner units and with/against other factions or merc corps.

The member units of the HUB should do their best to play at the hub too. It's easy to isolate yourselves on your own various vent, teamspeak, raidcall and mumble servers, but it HURTS the overall faction, and if you want your faction to succeed, you have to work together.

Sarsaparilla Kid is right when it comes to the fact that the Steiner Hub runs various activities. One very successful even we run is Steinerfest on Friday nights. We invite guests, new players and others in the community to drop with us in massive sync drops. Yeah, sure, sometimes we pick up new HUB members from the event, but that night is not for recruiting: it's for the community, so players can get to know each other and build ties, open up negotiations, and have fun. Not one of the Steiner units could run this on their own, because it's a massive weekly event, but TOGETHER we can. We have many smaller units at the hub that can't field 12 mans, but we combine our ranks to do so, and when community warfare happens, all units will be able to participate in 12 man drops with other Steiners and mercs that are dedicated to the same goal of dominating the Inner Sphere. We do lance competitions within our ranks and with other units. We also have teamed up with other units for the purpose of competing in open community tournaments like Run Hot or Die and Corporate Warfare.

I can't stress enough how important it is for you guys (the FRR, or other factions/clans that might be reading this) to organize, put aside your insular attitudes and work together to build you faction up as a whole. While other units are fading away and going dormant, the Steiner HUB is THRIVING, because we're working very hard to keep our guys occupied and gathering new blood to fill out our ranks as the old blood gets bored waiting for CW and private lobbies. We couldn't do this alone. Very, very few units could and those units often split and fracture under their own weight. The Steiner Hub units don't do that, because they're ALL independent units. Sure, maybe one or two of the units MIGHT get big enough to fracture, but our model even allows for that. We're all loyal to Steiner, so if say the Purple People Eaters split in two, both the new Purple People and People Eater units can be HUB members if they wanted and still work toward the same goal - just under new management. Hell, guys have both left and joined the Devil Dogs to and from other units within the HUB who have different ethics, personality, or playstyle and we remain friends, and still drop together or against each other in house events.

In conclusion, if the FRR players want to be a viable, competitive, strong and competitive faction, they have to THINK and ACT like a community. Work together, rather than separate. It CAN be done, and the Steiner HUB is proof of it. Every minute the FRR remains hidden away in little groups or buried in the anonymity of the NGNG and Comstar servers, you will never achieve your goals as a faction.

(btw, I don't want to knock the guys who run the NGNG and Comstar temspeaks. I am grateful they are there, and they do great things for the overall community, especially unaffiliated merc units. My goal here is to show how a FACTION can do things.)

Edited by Peiper, 05 December 2013 - 08:50 PM.

[Surtr]

You make great points Peiper. The most important one being: Don't lose recruits to the Liao ( )

I am definitely on board with doing something similar, which is why I started the Council at Arms thread a long time ago. That was really meant to be a starting point for getting inter-unit relations moving along. However, at the time, there was really only a handful of truly active units (now more and bigger). But I think the time may be ripe to pull everyone together into one place so that we can have unity when CW starts, the biggest part of that being invasion alerts and reactionary strikes as we will have a host of enemies on our borders, and not as many worlds we can afford to lose.

I know I'm in, and my leadership will agree with me, and I'm sure the Isengrim would be on board as well (don't want to speak for them).

-Surtr

[Sarsaparilla Kid]

So it sounds like the first step is to find someone willing to use their computer and connection as a comms server, right? Someone who'll put the interests of FRR ahead of any unit association...I know, tall order, right? I'd consider it, but I have a goofy, not very reliable connection.

[Malzel]

Same. If I had a better rig and was more confident in my connection, we'd already have one.

[Vhetra]

The 5th have been interested in this as well. Unfortunately, the only thing I could possibly offer is a laptop, and a very inconsistent internet connection(Because Cox internet sucks but they monopolize the hell out of this place.).

Otherwise I'd be down to host a mumble or something.

[Scandinavian Jawbreaker]

Vhetra, on 07 December 2013 - 02:41 AM, said:

Cox internet sucks

[Biza]

[redacted]

With encouraging posts like that I cant believe we don't have more people lining the doors to get into the FRR. BTW May was 9 months ago.

The "lesser FRR units" and more specifically Mech the Dane has been pulling hard to build this up. We have received great co operation from other "lesser" units like us and will be doing more inner FRR activities to encourage members to join. Why wait til CW? 1v1s and lance vs lance is happening right now. Not to mention friendly 12 v 12 sync drop practices. We have members from other clans that are not fully active, we picked up a few of them to roll with us until their unit gets back into the game. If you have a few members that still play its worth checking out.

Edited by miSs, 08 December 2013 - 05:55 PM.
does not contribute to discussion

[martino2k6]

How many slots would each group expect to need, during the busiest times? And how many groups would be interested? It wouldn't make much sense if only the groups which use public servers (such as ComStar or NGNG) would show interest in this. This would potentially allow savings for groups that are already investing in a paid server (may be questionable if they have a member using their personal home connection).

While having someone set up a server at their home would be great from a cost perspective, you have to keep in mind that your ISP would need to be happy with you moving lots of data each month. If they start throttling your connection, well, that could screw over a lot of people. You'd also have to keep in mind torrenting and streaming, as you'd have to keep these activities to a minimum (or even to none) during busy times. There's a fair amount of risk associated with this approach, although perhaps until CW hits this wouldn't be such an issue. But some us know how annoying it is when the TS3 server you're on goes out and you have to kindly ask everyone to move somewhere else for the time being.

I have looked over Peiper's posts, and while it's greatly appreciated that they would be willing to consider a space for the FRR in their hub I feel this would go against some of the highlighted benefits. In particular if a player joins the hub and wants to join a group. Instead of having a choice of one faction, there's suddenly two and that particular member may no longer stick with FRR (or Steiner). There's also the group politics part, on which Peiper makes a valid point. Some people may be fine with it, others not as much.

I've sent Peiper some questions on how they run theirs, however I personally wouldn't mind setting up a paid server from one of the available hosting services. For example 100 slots costs around ~$60 for three months. I think this is a sensible number to start with. This would require a dozen or so people each month to donate some spare change (I'm talking lower single-digits here), into some dedicated fund, and the costs would be filled. I personally wouldn't mind paying any remaining balance, or the initial amount, as this really isn't a burden for someone with a decent full-time job.

Let me know what your opinions are.

Edited by martino2k6, 08 December 2013 - 05:42 AM.