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- Sep 17, 2019
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This has been a growing issue as of recent, the topic of how OTA are meant to function in HL2RP, specifically within City RP. There's a lot of different ideas being thrown around, and that's why I'm making this thread, to compile all that discussion into here. I hold my own opinion of course, and I encourage you to share yours as well, either in response to mine or of your own thoughts to the matter. But, since I'm starting the thread, I'll go ahead and give my two cents below.
Overwatch Transhuman Arm in City RP
There's been this idea going around that OTA characters should be allowed to remain flagged on, even if they aren't in use. The purposes for this are usually:
- To walk/patrol specific areas.
- To guard certain areas. (Standing in one position)
- To act as internal affairs for Civil Protection.
- To act as bodyguards.
- To establish a sense of security.
- And more I may have missed.
These are things that can be done, but in placing that in the OTA, I feel a very poor choice is being made.
As some of you know, I'm huge on Citizen RP. I've explained many times before how I am 99% certain that Citizens are the primary, priority faction on the server. No matter what. I won't go into why I think this here, but I'll gladly discuss it on Discord. Either way, with Citizens as the primary characters, you have to have factions to prop them up and support them. This is why factions such as Civil Protection, City Administration, and even OTA exist, to give that truly authentic HL2 feel, and to make their roleplay engaging and variable.
But when it comes to actors in a play, you have your protagonist, and then your side characters. And with side characters, you have your major supporting characters, and your minor supporting characters. OTA, I strongly believe, is a minor supporting character in this act.
When you look at factions and how important they are to City RP, you have to consider what their purpose is, and how they interact with Citizens. When factions are proposed as well as positions for those factions, you have to ask, what is the purpose of this faction or position? Does another faction do their job already? Is this position useful enough to justify its constant presence or will it simply be a spot for someone to jerk their cock off on in a powertrip fantasy?
So lets apply it to OTA. What is their purpose in Half Life 2 Roleplay? They are obviously part of the Combine, and what we can determine is that their presence definitely gives that Half Life 2 feel. So where does the puzzle piece go? Naturally, we already know this. They are brainwashed, combat machines. The Civil Protection are police, but they are only human. They may not be armed and trained that well. The puzzle pieces position is made clear when you realize that OTA are weapon. These aren't meant to be characters, they are meant to be a tool when CP fail, or when an encroaching force is simply too powerful.
But there's this sentiment recently with allowing OTA to be flagged on constantly. Why? For what purpose? I'm tackling these reasons one by one:
OTA should be on because...
They can act as bodyguards to the City Administration.
Why? Yes, OTA are tasked with guarding critical assets in our lore, but this doesn't warrant their position as a bodyguard. The Nexus is a very safe building. It's hard to penetrate, is swarming with units, and has an AI constantly watching its interior. Even amongst the Civil Protection, the Rank Leaders are constantly looking out for corruption, and the Director of Internal Affairs is taking an even closer to look to root out any betrayal.
This of course doesn't mean that the OTA can't perform a security detail. If Dispatch finds an intruder, if the Overseer suspects treason within the force, if a large threat is in the area, then of course OTA can flag on and perform a temporary security detail until the CA is evacuated or the threat is neutralized. Similarly, if the City Administrator, a very valuable asset, wants to go among the populace, they can have an OTA detail guarding him, a very formidable and threatening bulwark against anyone who wants to even try taking him out.
But this does not mean OTA need to constantly be on. The CA is usually safe in their office. Furthermore, his Directors aren't really considered valuable enough to warrant an OTA guard.
They can act as an internal affairs enforcer in the Civil Protection.
Why? This task is already handled by the Rank Leaders, and if need be the Director of Internal Affairs. It is their responsibility to sniff out corruption and deal with it. Even Dispatch is easily capable of detecting treason. OTA have no purpose here.
They can act as security in the Nexus, or in the Streets.
Why? Sure, in lore a Citadel might have OTA in its more critical locations, but what does this really serve on an RP server? The Civil Protection are already meant to be the security on the streets. That's their primary job. The Nexus is also, as stated before, a very secure location swarming with units.
They are meant to enforce the law.
Not a common one, but one I've heard. Civil Protection already take this role in the act though, and taking that away from them is only robbing a more important faction of their responsibilities, and instead replacing a unit with an OTA soldier who can barely interact with Citizens unlike a CP unit.
They look cool.
Maybe, but wouldn't they looked cooler if they were an uncommon sight? You look at a painting enough, it loses its surprise and wonder. You listen to a song too many times, it grows old and boring. This is what will happen with OTA if you bring them on simply because they are aesthetically pleasing, but even worse, the negatives far outweigh the positives...
Why OTA should be scarce, and only used for their intended purpose. The negatives to constantly being flagged on:
What is their job?
The role of the OTA is to be a weapon. A shock trooper that can go in, clear a building of any hostiles, and get out. These hostiles are usually those that the CP are either incompetant against (an enemy that is proving victorious against the Civil Protection) or unable to handle in the first place (militarized resistance forces and Xenian creatures such as Antlion swarms and other large predators). They are not meant to take on petty criminals, small groups of unarmed anti-citizens, riots, the occasional Xen creature that comes up from the sewer, or even armed anti-citizens so long as they can be dispatched quick enough.
Notice a pattern in these responsibilities? These aren't issues that are common in a City RP server. So why in the world would OTA be on if these responsibilities are taken care of?
They are not characters.
This is not meant to be a downer on OTA players. Hopefully, those who applied for OTA had already came to this conclusion, because it is the only logical one. OTA are brainwashed combat troopers. They are not capable of being a character. While one could argue that HL:A proves they have a personality, this becomes moot when you realize that this is only among themselves, in times of low-activity.
In relation to other characters- they have no relations! Their personality is non-existent in the face of a foreign body such as a Citizen or CP Unit. They are simply told to go away, be quiet, or to leave them alone to perform their duties. What a great interaction right? They have very little emotion while performing their duties. They are unable to form a relationship with anyone, and they barely remember (or at least don't care about) who they are as a person.
OTA are not meant to be characters. So why have them on? They are essentially wasted slots.
They don't have potential for any responsibilities that another faction doesn't already cover.
Civil Protection guard the Nexus. Civil Protection perform their own Internal Affairs. Civil Protection patrol the streets and stand guard at hardpoints. Why would you want an OTA there? Cause it "looks cool?" These are characters mind you that can't interact with people. In having an OTA character on, you are wasting a player slot that'd be better off playing on a CP Unit, who can actually form relationships and talk to other units, or even citizens.
They don't have any use for actual Citizen RP.
This is a huge one for OTA. If a faction isn't supporting Citizen RP, then why have them? It has been established before that Citizens are the most important faction. OTA:
1. Cannot be friends with a citizen.
2. Can't form real hatred or dislike towards a citizen.
3. Cannot talk to citizens.
4. Cannot assist citizens in any way shape or form.
So why in the world should they be flagged on? The only time a Citizen should even be seeing an OTA unit in the first place is by a City Administrator's side, or in combat when the OTA arrive to fuck them up for being an Anti-Citizen that got too far.
They are a waste of a player slot that could be occupied by something better.
This layers on top of previous reasons. OTA do not appear on the scoreboard. They don't contribute to the server past their primary purpose. Why have them on? That player could play a Civil Protection member instead, who interacts and roleplays with Citizens. They could play a Citizen instead, who can actually take part in the server. If not for the roleplay, then to at least give the impression that there are more citizens around than not.
To clarify, this is not an issue that can be ignored because "We have 60 players on, why care?" It isn't just a matter of wasted player slots. It's that you could be playing a character, or at least be on a character, that can be interacted with by others. Remember that for every citizen, there has to be another citizen or CP unit to make proper fully interactive roleplay. "We have enough players, who cares about 5 OTA?" is not an excuse, because the number of players playing Citizen/CP isn't the only issue we are addressing when an OTA needs to flag down.
Conclusion
In the end, it all comes down to this: Are we here for City HL2RP? Or Military RP? OTA are not natural in a city. They aren't meant to be police men. They aren't detectives or commisars. They aren't your average guard or enforcer. They are shock troopers, and you don't find them on the streets or among a police force. If you want to walk halls endlessly or stand by a hardpoint for hours, then in my personal opinion you should just go into single player, put NPCs all over a city, and do it there, or join a Military RP server, or at least do it on a Civil Protection unit so others can roleplay with you. The last thing we need is an entire faction's theme ruined because we decided that they should be out doing useless things or robbing the opportunity that others could have taken part in.
Overwatch Transhuman Arm in City RP
There's been this idea going around that OTA characters should be allowed to remain flagged on, even if they aren't in use. The purposes for this are usually:
- To walk/patrol specific areas.
- To guard certain areas. (Standing in one position)
- To act as internal affairs for Civil Protection.
- To act as bodyguards.
- To establish a sense of security.
- And more I may have missed.
These are things that can be done, but in placing that in the OTA, I feel a very poor choice is being made.
As some of you know, I'm huge on Citizen RP. I've explained many times before how I am 99% certain that Citizens are the primary, priority faction on the server. No matter what. I won't go into why I think this here, but I'll gladly discuss it on Discord. Either way, with Citizens as the primary characters, you have to have factions to prop them up and support them. This is why factions such as Civil Protection, City Administration, and even OTA exist, to give that truly authentic HL2 feel, and to make their roleplay engaging and variable.
But when it comes to actors in a play, you have your protagonist, and then your side characters. And with side characters, you have your major supporting characters, and your minor supporting characters. OTA, I strongly believe, is a minor supporting character in this act.
When you look at factions and how important they are to City RP, you have to consider what their purpose is, and how they interact with Citizens. When factions are proposed as well as positions for those factions, you have to ask, what is the purpose of this faction or position? Does another faction do their job already? Is this position useful enough to justify its constant presence or will it simply be a spot for someone to jerk their cock off on in a powertrip fantasy?
So lets apply it to OTA. What is their purpose in Half Life 2 Roleplay? They are obviously part of the Combine, and what we can determine is that their presence definitely gives that Half Life 2 feel. So where does the puzzle piece go? Naturally, we already know this. They are brainwashed, combat machines. The Civil Protection are police, but they are only human. They may not be armed and trained that well. The puzzle pieces position is made clear when you realize that OTA are weapon. These aren't meant to be characters, they are meant to be a tool when CP fail, or when an encroaching force is simply too powerful.
But there's this sentiment recently with allowing OTA to be flagged on constantly. Why? For what purpose? I'm tackling these reasons one by one:
OTA should be on because...
They can act as bodyguards to the City Administration.
Why? Yes, OTA are tasked with guarding critical assets in our lore, but this doesn't warrant their position as a bodyguard. The Nexus is a very safe building. It's hard to penetrate, is swarming with units, and has an AI constantly watching its interior. Even amongst the Civil Protection, the Rank Leaders are constantly looking out for corruption, and the Director of Internal Affairs is taking an even closer to look to root out any betrayal.
This of course doesn't mean that the OTA can't perform a security detail. If Dispatch finds an intruder, if the Overseer suspects treason within the force, if a large threat is in the area, then of course OTA can flag on and perform a temporary security detail until the CA is evacuated or the threat is neutralized. Similarly, if the City Administrator, a very valuable asset, wants to go among the populace, they can have an OTA detail guarding him, a very formidable and threatening bulwark against anyone who wants to even try taking him out.
But this does not mean OTA need to constantly be on. The CA is usually safe in their office. Furthermore, his Directors aren't really considered valuable enough to warrant an OTA guard.
They can act as an internal affairs enforcer in the Civil Protection.
Why? This task is already handled by the Rank Leaders, and if need be the Director of Internal Affairs. It is their responsibility to sniff out corruption and deal with it. Even Dispatch is easily capable of detecting treason. OTA have no purpose here.
They can act as security in the Nexus, or in the Streets.
Why? Sure, in lore a Citadel might have OTA in its more critical locations, but what does this really serve on an RP server? The Civil Protection are already meant to be the security on the streets. That's their primary job. The Nexus is also, as stated before, a very secure location swarming with units.
They are meant to enforce the law.
Not a common one, but one I've heard. Civil Protection already take this role in the act though, and taking that away from them is only robbing a more important faction of their responsibilities, and instead replacing a unit with an OTA soldier who can barely interact with Citizens unlike a CP unit.
They look cool.
Maybe, but wouldn't they looked cooler if they were an uncommon sight? You look at a painting enough, it loses its surprise and wonder. You listen to a song too many times, it grows old and boring. This is what will happen with OTA if you bring them on simply because they are aesthetically pleasing, but even worse, the negatives far outweigh the positives...
Why OTA should be scarce, and only used for their intended purpose. The negatives to constantly being flagged on:
What is their job?
The role of the OTA is to be a weapon. A shock trooper that can go in, clear a building of any hostiles, and get out. These hostiles are usually those that the CP are either incompetant against (an enemy that is proving victorious against the Civil Protection) or unable to handle in the first place (militarized resistance forces and Xenian creatures such as Antlion swarms and other large predators). They are not meant to take on petty criminals, small groups of unarmed anti-citizens, riots, the occasional Xen creature that comes up from the sewer, or even armed anti-citizens so long as they can be dispatched quick enough.
Notice a pattern in these responsibilities? These aren't issues that are common in a City RP server. So why in the world would OTA be on if these responsibilities are taken care of?
They are not characters.
This is not meant to be a downer on OTA players. Hopefully, those who applied for OTA had already came to this conclusion, because it is the only logical one. OTA are brainwashed combat troopers. They are not capable of being a character. While one could argue that HL:A proves they have a personality, this becomes moot when you realize that this is only among themselves, in times of low-activity.
In relation to other characters- they have no relations! Their personality is non-existent in the face of a foreign body such as a Citizen or CP Unit. They are simply told to go away, be quiet, or to leave them alone to perform their duties. What a great interaction right? They have very little emotion while performing their duties. They are unable to form a relationship with anyone, and they barely remember (or at least don't care about) who they are as a person.
OTA are not meant to be characters. So why have them on? They are essentially wasted slots.
They don't have potential for any responsibilities that another faction doesn't already cover.
Civil Protection guard the Nexus. Civil Protection perform their own Internal Affairs. Civil Protection patrol the streets and stand guard at hardpoints. Why would you want an OTA there? Cause it "looks cool?" These are characters mind you that can't interact with people. In having an OTA character on, you are wasting a player slot that'd be better off playing on a CP Unit, who can actually form relationships and talk to other units, or even citizens.
They don't have any use for actual Citizen RP.
This is a huge one for OTA. If a faction isn't supporting Citizen RP, then why have them? It has been established before that Citizens are the most important faction. OTA:
1. Cannot be friends with a citizen.
2. Can't form real hatred or dislike towards a citizen.
3. Cannot talk to citizens.
4. Cannot assist citizens in any way shape or form.
So why in the world should they be flagged on? The only time a Citizen should even be seeing an OTA unit in the first place is by a City Administrator's side, or in combat when the OTA arrive to fuck them up for being an Anti-Citizen that got too far.
They are a waste of a player slot that could be occupied by something better.
This layers on top of previous reasons. OTA do not appear on the scoreboard. They don't contribute to the server past their primary purpose. Why have them on? That player could play a Civil Protection member instead, who interacts and roleplays with Citizens. They could play a Citizen instead, who can actually take part in the server. If not for the roleplay, then to at least give the impression that there are more citizens around than not.
To clarify, this is not an issue that can be ignored because "We have 60 players on, why care?" It isn't just a matter of wasted player slots. It's that you could be playing a character, or at least be on a character, that can be interacted with by others. Remember that for every citizen, there has to be another citizen or CP unit to make proper fully interactive roleplay. "We have enough players, who cares about 5 OTA?" is not an excuse, because the number of players playing Citizen/CP isn't the only issue we are addressing when an OTA needs to flag down.
Conclusion
In the end, it all comes down to this: Are we here for City HL2RP? Or Military RP? OTA are not natural in a city. They aren't meant to be police men. They aren't detectives or commisars. They aren't your average guard or enforcer. They are shock troopers, and you don't find them on the streets or among a police force. If you want to walk halls endlessly or stand by a hardpoint for hours, then in my personal opinion you should just go into single player, put NPCs all over a city, and do it there, or join a Military RP server, or at least do it on a Civil Protection unit so others can roleplay with you. The last thing we need is an entire faction's theme ruined because we decided that they should be out doing useless things or robbing the opportunity that others could have taken part in.
