Taliazure
Radio Bob Approved
- Joined
- Oct 17, 2021
- Messages
- 456
- Thread Author
- #1
Complaint Regarding Civil Protection
It’s nearly every day that we face issues with CPs. We’ve now reached the point where it’s safe to say they have stooped so low as to reach what they often claim as “Rebel quality.” In fact, it might even be fair to say that rebels have better quality at this point.
We are now dealing with problems of powergaming, disregard for rules, unfairness, and bad faith, issues that even show up among themselves. The struggle is no longer just outwards; it has turned inwards, targeting their own members as well.
Just today, as I write this complaint, I was faced with having to write a report on a unit regarding powergaming, only to learn that it was not the first time someone from CP was reported for the same thing today as well.
[2025-08-24 20:41:35] [ME] C24:i4.PATROL-320: walks over to the woman, she grips her pistol with one hand digging it into the other woman's back before using her other hand to quickly search the woman for anything illegal or out of place. Unless she tries to hide anything or resist?
[2025-08-24 20:41:58] C24:i4.PATROL-320 used command '/CharSearch'.
[2025-08-24 20:42:06] C24:i4.PATROL-320 has gained a 'Loyalist Ration' #1035261 from a container with the name 'Julia Jazmin' #168666.
There are many issues I wish to complain about, but let’s start by numbering them:
- Being over-geared with no valid reason.
- Forgetting their roles in the server.
- Constant sweeps under reasoning that is not the rebels’ fault.
- Constant cradling and protection from rules and staff.
Being over-geared with no valid reason
Being over-geared with no valid reason
We’ve seen units walking across the streets carrying AKs, M4s, SPAS-12s, and even Mini-14s. When anyone sees this, the natural conclusion is that something serious has happened, something bad, of course. Yet with dismay, we realize that the city is under Blue Code, or Marginal at best, during these times.
Units are being allowed to walk around with rifles and high-tier weaponry freely, and even conduct sweeps with such weapons. This raises the question: are CPs supposed to be the Overwatch Transhuman Arm, or are they supposed to be oppressing the citizens?
It is often that we also find the culprits of this to be rank leaders themselves. The ones who are supposed to enforce the rules upon their units are instead the ones parading around their fine weapons as a general with their medals... some of which we know very well were not earned by themselves. But that’s beside the point. What matters is that the current rank leaders have forgotten why they are rank leaders, and that their position has a purpose.
The weapons are at a point in which the disparity is far too big, and we’ve come to realize this because no one can keep up anymore. I’ve made several suggestions and several complaints in the past regarding this, given ideas and fixes to ensure this stops happening, and all of them have been just… forgotten or outright thrown out the window with “We’re working on it.” Well—your working is not WORKING at all.
Here you can find my suggestion which is quite similar to Marco’s:
https://willard.network/forums/thre...ing-the-true-problem.14749/page-3#post-117222
Marco’s words:
Taken from: https://willard.network/forums/threads/ota-level-cops.14523/post-114794
Even our beloved @Robert has had to step up to defend how GT have lost all control over how CPs operate and how balance has spiraled into a mess. It’s become complete insanity at this point.
Let alone touching how GMs are hijacking other GM events and expos, causing mistakes and gear to end up in the wrong hands. This is something I and Stanford have spoken about and have our own heavy complaints regarding, but that’s for another day.
When CPs complain about rebels using high-tier guns, don’t forget that said weapons were given by CPs themselves. By over-escalating and carrying these weapons, they’ve ended up handing them over through failure.
We also forget that CPs and CSF gain their gear with no effort. It is given by a vendor, handed out through measly credits they earn by fining random people or by attending workshifts and afking. Their efforts are nothing compared to what a rebel has to do to gain their bread. And even then, CPs are cradled further with the premise of:
But the same can be said about rebels: if rebels are not present, then there’s no reason for CPs to exist. This same thing was seen when event rebels were the only thing keeping CPs entertained and giving them a purpose.
Forgetting their roles
It has come to the point where units seem to forget their true role: to oppress the citizens. Instead, they are out to seek rebels and chase them down at any cost.
We see shadow sweeps and sweeps with rifles all in the name of finding rebels, or people trying to open their stashes, as was the case with Crash (North). We have even seen OTA being sent for infestations, only to end up chasing rebels through the sewers and PK’ing two of them, a situation I sadly had to report and request punishment which I still doubt was enough for what it was.
Rebels no longer need to act to be oppressed. Even when the resistance is silent and dormant, outside issues are used as excuses for rebels to be searched for and swept up...
Misuse of Scanners & Seeking trouble instead of being passive
It is often the case that scanners enter the Slums with little to no reason. They are meant for scanning the city, not venturing into cesspools of xen and criminals, only to end up destroyed and salvaged by rebels for another AKM, doesn't make much sense from the eyes of the combine to be sending them more materials.
It makes no sense ICly and is only seen as a nuisance. It forces players to disconnect (alt+f4) or switch characters until the scanner leaves, so they can return to their looting or other activities in the Slums, it proves no purpose...
What we always hear is that the Combine is slow to awaken. That is because they do not actively seek to find every piece of scum in the city, they simply oppress and maintain what they can control, reacting when genuinely threatened.
Despite this, we are now faced with CPs acting like OTA, while OTA themselves are not even “above” CPs at this point. As stated by Divine in their complaint: https://willard.network/forums/threads/ota-level-cops.14523/
If there’s something worth remembering, it is that CPs are compared to beat cops. Civil Protection is not really trusted in the eyes of the Combine itself, they are human, unpredictable, and unreliable. That’s the very reason CPs are only given pistols and stunsticks, and even then are heavily scrutinized.
We can even recall Half-Life: Alyx, where OTA have a voice line requesting Overwatch to enhance their weapons to fit the threat in combat. Even their weapons are regulated by an outside force.
So why are CPs being given so much power over the city, to the point where even OTA no longer feel like the only true check on them? OTA are the only ones the Combine trusts enough not to turn against them...yet even OTA are carefully controlled, but how are they to stop Cps if they turn on them...?
Unfair escalation and rule imbalance
The escalation has become one-sided, and the imbalance is reinforced by unfair rules.
We can see the cradling in the attached ruling (image):
taken from : https://willard.network/forums/threads/civpro-pk-update.15196/
- If CPs die, they don’t lose their character.
- They don’t lose their rank (depending on the outcome).
Meanwhile, if rebels die, it is an automatic PK. They lose their character entirely: their story, their standing within the resistance, their rank, their gear—everything, it can all happen even without them doing anything, just a random sweep and you can be rounded up and killed, yet when rebels are the ones to step onto CP turf, demotions and NLRs are handed out to them... it's clear who is the favorite child... and it leaves a bad taste in our mouth.
While rules have been adjusted slightly, CPs still maintain their rank through death, while rebels lose everything.
And yet, CPs constantly complain: that rebels have too much gear, that rebels are too bold, that rebels are the problem. They fail to see how spoiled they are within the CP faction. They don’t have to fear loss, because loss doesn’t exist for them. That is why they so often chase down rebels without hesitation. They forget what they truly are meant to be.
We can see the distrust we have in Combine leads when Robert’s own statement was:
When rebel leads step up to make things fair, only to have more unfairness come from the other side.
Robert’s further words:
Taken from: https://willard.network/forums/thre...nti-rebel-bias-as-of-recent.15250/post-119939
Conclusion
Civil Protection, as it currently stands, is over-geared, misaligned with its true role, constantly shielded by staff rulings, and empowered beyond what canon or balance would justify, it forces rebels to act out in frustration... which is what creates situations like the judgement waiver of yesterday, frustration and hatred for said faction and said injustice. Rebels, meanwhile, face constant one-sided risk and punishment...
Until these issues are addressed, CP roleplay will continue to spiral into powergaming, rule disregard, and unfair escalation, at the expense of the server’s balance and roleplay quality.
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