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The FRR Hub:
I think the Hub is in a good place right now. We had greater numbers for the second Tuk event than we did the first. As I've mentioned in another post I had to increase the TS cap twice because of high population numbers. Which, lest anyone is worried, I am fine with doing. I appreciate the efforts everyone has made to convince lone wanderers and missing FRR units to use the hub and hope it continues with steam release.
At the moment I feel confident saying we have the best and most active IS Faction hub in the game and I see no reason for that to change anytime soon.
If there are any issues in my absence send a message to Scuro (his in-game name is Scurro).
CW & Steam:
I am sure everyone is getting way excited for CW Phase 3 and the Steam release. We'll hopefully see CW activity leap back up considerably with the old guard, while many new faces also will pour in. We want new FRR members to come to the Hub and more importantly we want them to feel welcome in the Hub.
We want them to find friendly matches and active groups and a positive community. I hope everyone is on board with that and does what they can to make all the new players feel at home with us.
Going into Phase 3 I don't think we need any sort of strenuous guidelines as to who we are attacking or where units vote to attack or any sort of meta-diplomacy like that. Seems like a good time to just let people play and get comfortable to the new the phase. However, should there be a need for some diplomatic focus the FRR Hub's stance is whatever the RKA leadership votes it is. If I am on vacation and a RKA Leadership meeting is called I give permission for any of my High Thegns to stand in for me.
Otherwise, lets just play the game, be nice to new faces and have fun.
We'll also try to set up a Steam Group.
NBT:
NBT, or Net BattleTech, is a very old lore-league that attempts to create a more believable RP setting for units to compete in. It is basically a 3rd-party CW league. Within the league unit administrators attempt to manage Jumpships, Factories, an economy, alliances etc. It is very involved (and somewhat time consuming for admins!).
In August NBT launched an Alpha season utilizing old automation to get a feeling for what works and what doesn't work in MWO and be able to better prepare their updates for a proper MWO NBT League. The ISENGRIM took on the role of the FRR in this season and have been fighting in it ever since.
The season is now winding down and there is hope the beta season, utilizing new automation and better balance features, will roll out in January. One of the proposed features is a better Faction hierarchy that allows multiple units to fight within the same faction.
It is my intent to bring in interested units and players from the RKA/FRR hub into NBT.
However, NBT, despite the lore environment, is still a competitive league. We're fighting against many tier 1 and tier 2 units utilizing meta mechs and competitive strategies. It isn't like CW where you can find yourself dropping against skittles or even lack-luster 6-12 mans. This leaves me a little weary about just grabbing a bunch of interested guys from the RKA/FRR Hub and throwing them into the fire. Losing badly in NBT can get pretty demoralizing.
Therefore I'd like to open some Isengrim practices to the RKA/FRR Hub at large. The Isengrim has lots of new members who need training and experience fighting competitive settings and I think this would be a good chance to give RKA Units or individual members the chance to do the same. You can come as a unit, part of a unit, or as individual members, it doesn't matter to me - so long as you're willing to follow directions and bring a competitive/meta mindset.
We'll mix it up, run mock-scrims, spend some time looking at an optimizing builds and run some drills. If you're a bunch of individual guys we'll get you in a group that is used to playing and working together and if you're from a specific unit we'll give you the experience and practice you need to be ready for real competitive play.
That way when NBT's next season starts we can have multiple units/players ready to roll. The one exception to all of them, at the moment, would be Majestic 12. Who have, through their own MRBC run, proven they are ready for competitive play.
Otherwise, once I return from vacation, I'll be hosting a practice every other Thursday and Saturday evening at 9pm EST. Everyone with the right attitude is invited.
Other Stuff:
Assuming there is still interest. We'll have another Jarlsmoot meeting in January. Also the Isengrim are currently in the process of building an Isen-Resources webpage. One of the things we intend to use this webpage to do is to keep track of various inter-FRR Tournaments, ladders and leagues. Maybe even a database of CW match scores.
Edited by Mech The Dane, 09 December 2015 - 10:31 AM.
