Events mean nothing now.

[ozymandias]

It's so nice having suit connection, datafiles, relays, request devices, dispatch and radios be fully functioning again with a homemade antenna, isn't it? No. No the fuck it is not. I don't know who brought up this idea and executed it, but there was something not right with them when they planned this. We had a whole event that would disable OCIN. Rebels won that, and OCIN was disabled for about a week or two. Afterwards, thanks to a fucking antenna, the Combine now have all their communications again! Yipee!
There's no point in doing events where rebels win if it's gonna get voided entirely without anyone getting to know about it. The "antenna" wasn't even placed in-server, it was when everyone was offline and it was F2B. A "workshift" managed to fix OCIN with an antenna. The Combine are not THAT fucking strong, they're pretty weak in the games compared to what Willard depicts.

This won't change in V3 at all by the way, as the same management or team that made this decision is staying. There's also the matter of Combine mains knowing that this is wrong, but still doing anything to justify it as they don't want their side to lose. This is like the safe-zones in Hide & Seek.

Just end V2, say "rebels lose yall are fucking stupid" and that'll be much better than this fairytale shit made to fuel peoples egos. What happened yesterday should not have happened at all, and should have been completely voided. Also, no event at all for the antenna bullshit. Great.

I apologise for my aggressiveness in this thread, but this shit needs to fucking stop. It's at its peak dogshit state, and it's GOING TO continue in V3. This is just a spit in the face to any of the rebel players, AND the combine players, as they themselves know this is stupid.

The same management will talk about how V2 is in a horrible state, and how they can't wait for it to be over, but they're the ones making it worse.

 

[Omega]

A: There was little they could have done on the loyalist server all things considered.
B: There's no ICly feasible way for them to get on the loyalist server.
C: None of that changes the fact that it's simply roleplay. The Rebel's IC inability to narrow down who's an infiltrator is simply that: an IC problem.

Lame and gay

 

[Processed_Grain]

Lame and gay

 

[rae]

I will be posting this from the starboard in response to the infiltration part, coming from an infiltrator who tried to infiltrate the combine side of things with many players:

Don't worry, we had IC inflitration for months at a time where we knew about 3 trains we wanted to hijack, knowing the time, the exact train rail its heading from, it's contents and we were told no, on several occasions

+

We had IC information about a blacksite and it's location, and we were told no. We weren't given a clear reason, except no. Rebel infiltrators got dealt a horrific hand because staff have to give the greenlight for everything (which usually doesn't happen btw). Don't worry, we weren't allowed to sabotage the APCs while they were being repaired in the city either, because we were being railroaded into a well repaired city quickly.


Nothing ever happens.

Risked my character and got into the most uncomfortable times of roleplaying because of the amount of shit flung at me and everytime we're about to get a win we get a 'nah, you arent allowed to do this' because of red-tape. People say rebels are lazy and stupid but even when they try to be creative and not shoot first, they're shut down by staff. The difference between combine spies and rebel spies is that everything rebels do will be on server and we have to handle in server, which means you can respond to it. Combine is on a more major scale and need staff to do events and such, which is a choke point where most infiltrations die.


I do not think that aspect is fair, because I spent 4 months integrating into the city without gaining anything (despite being in a position to get a lot! Access to the Central reserve firm computers and S.D.A.R, CWU Management and UM records, along with civil protection who aided my characters cause! So don't blame it on that either.)


It just feels one sided. Is all. I have no emotions regarding the topic beyond that point.

I also wanted to add regarding security. We would've had the bunker locked out completely and disallow anyone from entering, but it's the last week of the server. We didn't want to cockblock returning players wanting to witness the end and roleplay with everyone, but oh well. Next time's always there

 

[Acheif]

Let's start from the beginning.
​

After the full blown destruction of I24, I, and the remaining members of the Loyalist Faction, were transported to C24; the Loyalist/CCA server specifically. My character, now 'Consul' Erama, was by all accounts the last remaining, functional, proactive member of the Administration. For an innumerable list of reasons, he -- my REAL, NON-EVENT CHARACTER -- has decided to stick with The Combine, along with everyone else who stands by him in his binder.


As such, he finds it in his best interests to ensure they win, and the first step to this; as proclaimed by Overwatch, was to get the minimum of OCIN back online, be it locally within City 24, or through all of Western Europe.

According to this, he elected to begin immediate work in setting up a series of miniature, local relay towers across the entirety of C24 to replace the now inert, Sector-10 spanning Relay Center that was destroyed several weeks prior...


"Now wait", you might be asking, "How come Mister Erama is able to ignore the valiant efforts of The Rebellion™ and use the remaining, re-organized assets of the Civil Workers Union to set up a Emergency DIY OCIN?? Isn't that unfair? An asspull, even?"
To that, I say

View attachment 50043

No. You never took out O.C.I.N.. You took out a relay tower that transmitted it across Western Europe from City 24. City 24 is still the home of Western Europe's Intelligence Network; a home that is still completely intact.

Not only is O.C.I.N. majority intact within the Citadel (look outside; it's still standing), but IRKALLA (the cannibalized remnants of SUMMIT 24 turned fortress district that takes up 1/4 of the city) is still standing, and in fact, in lore, has always had its own backup Artificial Intelligence for O.C.I.N. just in case the current scenario happening now occurred. (Sorry @Omega , the Interdimensional Slave Empire is a bit beyond 'Hubris' and, in fact, does have enough foresight to not centralize its entire security apparatus on Earth in a town in fucking Bulgaria).

So, to put it bluntly

View attachment 50044

Yes. We fixed City 24 with a workshift. A decree ordering said workshift to boot. That is to say; it (C24) was in such a condition that there shouldn't have been any need to have a workshift for it in the first place, yet we did it anyway. I delegated the work to what remaining foremen we had, what remaining citizens we had on our ~12 player loyalist server, and put up a rinky-dink, fucking antenna, to fix O.C.I.N.; all so I can send an E-MAIL (which, by the way, like a lot of other civilian functions, is not actually reliant on OCIN, or, at least I don't think it should).


So, sorry not sorry; the antenna is staying.


Of course, I'd be a fool to think that it was the only qualm presented here in the Thread, or that the IC worries about putting up an antenna are in fact where it ends. No, what's happening here is that players are worried that their efforts are being put down the drain -- even if legitimate. So let me help ease your worries.


1: The original O.C.I.N. Relay Tower event was a clusterfuck, and a railroaded Rebel Victory; one whos results I do not respect.


Looking past context menu-removed CMB helicopters, 20 minute delayed Combine reinforcements even past the wiping out of half of the garrison, Vortigaunts doing double their supposed damage (see Marco's thread), Overwatch not being permitted rifles/AR2s, and the presumed continued usage of the one-shot kill event APC: The event was rigged from the start with several rebel auto-win conditions, ranging from a "Rot Bomb"/Mass Explosive of some sort to Vortigaunt-Jedi tomfuckery using 'Extracctttt' and classic arcane wizardry.


Furthermore, there was no Combine win condition beyond "Survive". Everything in the event was considered to be placed under balancing, and when the rebels were sighted to be potentially losing (god forbid) many-a-gamemaster began to panic, throwing out ideas of, again; blowing it the fuck up.


This is, of course, unacceptable. As a player with no OOC positions I am against event railroading by uneasy, shadowy Admin hands at every turn, no matter if it leans in favor of 'my team' or 'the other team'.


2: The original Valente ICBM event -- while priced in beforehand -- was the result of player actions, and not that of Admin railroading like so many seem to believe.


To give summary as to what happened for those unaware; a day before the event, Francis Erama, utilizing info and evidence gained ICLY within the Administration, exposed the ICBM missile site and plot by Valente to destroy the O.C.I.N. Relay Tower himself with it in order to launch a coup on Orwell. Erama showed a recording of Enzo admitting it to Russel Makarov to F9/39, and was subsequently put in charge on the spot with setting up a sting operation to arrest him that very day.

Spoiler: Zhe Coup

View attachment 50045

This was a close call, given it was one day before Taskmaster and Company would be raiding said silo; which remained defended only by a small contingent of the Genevan Guard. Not to mention, Valente nearly fired the missile at C24 in a last ditch effort -- killing himself right after.


All of my efforts culminated in getting to the silo before the raid, and thus commencing a launch sequence to fire the missile at New Geneva -- dishing back what they had so generously dished out the week prior with the destruction of the O.C.I.N. Relay Tower.


Erama then left, bidding his great ally F9/39 good luck as he took control of the Overwatch forces sent on the ground to deal a finishing blow to the rebels trapped within.


Of course, our brave protagonists of TLM fought back, and forced a retreat, giving The Combine a pyrrhic victory.


3. For over a week, Erama and the Metadynamist Body has been running circles around the rebel faction via infiltration, sabotage, espionage, strategic use of Overwatch, and various other avenues; All working in conjunction to let me know Taskmaster's orders an hour before his lieutenants do; All in completely in a In-Character effort to divide, weaken, and subdue The Insurgency.


I won't go into detail, as we all know the history the faction has with metagaming (cough cough liberators cough cough). What I will say though is that never before have I met such a (by most of your own admission) dysfunctional, disorganized, idiotic, meandering 'group' of characters I have ever laid my eyes upon. Of course -- not all of you are included in this bracket, or, perhaps none of you are, and what I'm referring to is simply the result of the societal, group-think geist that has been locked in a virtual concrete box for seven whole days (sorry @rae ).


I don't say this to brag or to rub it in people's faces (at least not fully), but to get you all to reflect and realize just how dire the situation for you really is. If you cannot organize the most bare, organizational functions of an insurgency amongst yourselves without help from ET, how can you expect to deserve a complete, rebel auto-win like so many amongst you seem to think you're entitled to?


If you can let some guy preaching the Metadynamist Manifesto at a bar run free to in the future steal a tank; how can you be so sure that you're ''meaning'' anything.


If I can get an unnamed number of men to run around your base; pouring concrete in tank engines, putting fabricators on fire, disabling radios, and spreading dissent between groups; do you really -- honest to god -- think that you're winning?


Sure, I get that you guys have been swamped with back-to-back fighting, events, character development, and so on. I really do.


But


View attachment 50047


To call for a complete shut down of any infiltration roleplay on all fronts in the name of "not being assed to deal with it", is completely hypocritical. You simply cannot stand on a platform of wanting players to have freedom to develop, progress, influence, and manipulate the world whilst simultaneously asking for even more OOC safeguards to protect your interests.


And, finally


4. The Bunker Raid yesterday was... Complicated, admittedly, and there's far more of a case to be made here about Admins dealing a unfair hand to the rebel action (not that I am saying that).


To begin, what incited it in the first place was the rebel execution of Hikari Fujimori; a diplomat I sent to broker a ceasefire and to invite rebels to offer their opinions and or demands for reform to the Unification State in the near future.


Upon hearing about her death, Overwatch (Eviction Notice) nearly demanded that Erama take action, thus giving the go ahead for the ''preparations'' of an assault.


This was all in response to player actions, and done by player actions... For the most part. OOCly, I wasn't fully on-board with the option. I was quite enjoying the RP that came from the current skirmishing guerilla warfare I had Overwatch do under the command of Ranger 02 (Mullet).


Indeed, to my understanding, a decision was taken OOCly between ET and what not to evacuate the rebels on that day, as well as to have an attack in response; all to make way for more preparations for future TLM events.


All of this coalesced into the attack itself, which arrived just after the 'Shepherds' left on their own and right before the scheduled evacuation of everyone else from the silo.


..Do I think the fight was unfair, and rigged towards the Combine: No.


Do I think the battle shouldn't have happened at all: Yes.


It was like other things in this event line so far; rushed, messy, and not well planned. We should have given the insurgency more time within the bunker -- passive, time -- to plan, develop, and generally 'calm down'. Relentless events help nobody, and to hit them with this does seem like a bit of a bad job, though, there's not much we can do about it now. A mistake on both sides. So, Sorry, on the behalf of the powers at be.


However, I will say that as a technical member of the TLM team, who knows the future of the event line, that things are in the works that improves the war situation for the rebellion in a fair manner. Though, I think the biggest take away here by far is that we need to -- again -- for some reason say to staff (Nath included) that player primacy really must take the helm in these affairs. If they want to work to set up the intranet again, then so be it. So long as they put in a high amount of roleplay and engineer the scenario perfectly, there should be nothing stopping them from doing so. We should also give them more down time to facilitate these things. People are at their best when they're not being shot at.


For the future of TLM, I think all hands should be on deck to improve the rest of the chapters. I am not a pessimist. I believe fully that if the powers at be apply themselves, the event can be mended in full (I've seen what's in store, and retain high hopes because of it).

...But, do not forget this.


I ('Erama') am, in my full right to fight your efforts on every step of the way. I am a player. A character. The face of what's left of the Dream of Collaboration. I will do everything in my IC power to ensure a Combine Victory. I am your opposition. I am Evil! I am the guy who nuked a town of several thousand in the name of ideological Will. Do not think for a SECOND that just because there are more of you than there are Me that you are entitled to a free, happy ending whilst simultaneously attempting to destroy my own character's. All I have ever wanted was a fair (OOCly speaking in terms of rules and engagement, the rebellion obviously will have the advantage ICly) playing field to face the leaders of the enemy faction in what constitutes a great, strategic game for the future.


All of your ails and complaining can be chalked up to culture shock. For the first time in my years of playing this server, The Combine™ are, for once -- even if just partially -- led by someone OOCly willing to see them prevail. Am I glazing the Slave Empire? Sure. But that won't change the fact that I am not going to stop kicking your shit in through the most roleplayed (Non-S2K) of means possible.

View attachment 50049View attachment 50051
View attachment 50052
View attachment 50053
View attachment 50054

Good day.​

Keep in mind your entire reason you were able to do any of this with the nukes is we were oocly prevented from interacting with them at all by staff who said they didn’t exist

 

[Acheif]

Shepherds tried to do an entire storyline of handling the nuke before v2 end only to be told “it didn’t exist.” By nath as well as the rest of the servers stafff we approached about it. Only to be used as a McGuffin. Fuck this shit

 

[RedHotGinger]

C: None of that changes the fact that it's simply roleplay. The Rebel's IC inability to narrow down who's an infiltrator is simply that: an IC problem.

Im gonna just drop a very short and simple counter and leave it at that


The whole angle of bragging about how smart you are, and how dumb we are, because we didn't catch the infiltrators is just overlooking the fact we never did because doing so would have fucking sucked. Rebels do a lot of shit wrong OOC, but the one thing they did right, that I'm glad to say they did, was not condemn or go out of their way to isolate or shit on characters/players who weren't in their corner the whole time.

Yes, we could have excluded all citizens/loyalists/refugees from the inner circle, deprived them of weaponry or radios. Given them a peasant channel or cordoned any unknowns off into a pen and treated them like gen-pop prisoners. Thrown them into a cell to debrief for three in-game days. It would have been the 'smart' thing to do ICly

It also would have been putrid ass OOC, and nobody wanted to turn the rebellion into an exclusive club just for the sake of not getting ass-blasted by loyalist infiltrators, who I imagine we didn't even anticipate to be allowed OOC, since staff prevented us from doing the same to you.

I can feel the ego drip you are giving yourself on the notion you 'outsmarted the dumbass rebel players' or whatever, but really, we just didn't want to be shitters to other players. The only 'exclusive' element of the bunker was the council - which was itself oversized for the very same sake of inclusivity.

Are the rebels dumb as hell IC? Yes. Are the rebels pretty silly even OOC? Yeah, absolutely can be. But if there was one thing they did *right* during this recent period, it was allowing others to join in on the fun, given staff had left all citizens in the gutter without a single shit to give.

We were just trying to RP, while you were sweating for the win.

Which on the subject of that - nobody is winning in this.

Call me a pessimistic 'dreg' all you want (and then edit it out), but the reality is this story isn't something anyone can win. Cause and effect doesn't even exist in Willard lore at this point. Theres a million ways you can excuse the OCIN network coming back after being taken down. You can excuse OTA managing to blast through a collapsed tunnel. You can justify rebels being given an impossible objective.

We can make excuses for why the OCIN tower event was allegedly coded for us to win. We can make excuses for the I24 revolution being...whatever the hell it was, I dont even know.

Yet, reality is, each is just another example of the random tug of war that is this servers writing. there is nothing binding anything that happens, but a whim which can shift or break at any moment - and often does.

At the end of the day, we're all losing cause V2 is ending with a whimper, pretty much one way or another. Long March might pull some life back into it, but even if it does, its too little too late for the most part. Bragging about winning in Willard right now, is like bragging about winning a game of checkers on a blank board, with no pieces.

Edit:
Okay it wasn't that short, but point is all there.

 

[Processed_Grain]

Keep in mind your entire reason you were able to do any of this with the nukes is we were oocly prevented from interacting with them at all by staff who said they didn’t exist

To be fair, they were in a voided/notvoided gray area for some time by staff. The first people I talked to about it for instance didn't even know its existence.

However, as Rae said, there is definitely a problem between staff and player agency not being extended a hand (Even the liberators were right about this to a degree, given they begged for Expos.)

 

[Acheif]

To be fair, they were in a voided/notvoided gray area for some time by staff. The first people I talked to about it for instance didn't even know its existence.

However, as Rae said, there is definitely a problem between staff and player agency not being extended a hand (Even the liberators were right about this to a degree, given they begged for Expos.)

Yet we had the exact expo time location it happened and Elsa backers ic testimony since she was there. So again. Fuck off with this mcguffin shit. Lame as hell. Hope you are happy with your win.

 

[nora]

1: The original O.C.I.N. Relay Tower event was a clusterfuck, and a railroaded Rebel Victory; one whos results I do not respect.
​

tough shit. did staff or et otherwise say it's voided? how about rebels just ignore everything that happened up to this point and start acting like this? plenty of stupid decisions have been made in the recent past, both in favor of the combine and rebel, that the other side had to abide to. |

there was a win condition, i can tell you as the leading cop at the event-- it was for us to hold out. guess what? we did it pretty well until we had our attention elsewhere and got flanked.

2: The original Valente ICBM event -- while priced in beforehand -- was the result of player actions, and not that of Admin railroading like so many seem to believe.
​

the rebels, who had no recourse against a decision made on a 15 player server primarily where the few remaining loyalists and cops linger, were sent into an all-out assault on a bunker and then given... 60 seconds to win. 60 seconds to win when they didn't know the map and had to fight through hallways held by ota. it was a railroad as clear as day, only because it was facilitated by a few players doesn't change the essence of it.

3. For over a week, Erama and the Metadynamist Body has been running circles around the rebel faction via infiltration, sabotage, espionage, strategic use of Overwatch, and various other avenues; All working in conjunction to let me know Taskmaster's orders an hour before his lieutenants do; All in completely in a In-Character effort to divide, weaken, and subdue The Insurgency.
​

this would've been all fine and well if the rebels were given actual space to do things. you and the staff, who are primarily at fault for all of this, expect us to deal with internal divisons, ota probes, routine disrupting events, internal politics, inventory management, personal char dev and then spies (who by usual rules are banned anyhow most of the time, but we'll waiver that since v2 is ending) at the same time.

4. The Bunker Raid yesterday was... Complicated, admittedly, and there's far more of a case to be made here about Admins dealing a unfair hand to the rebel action (not that I am saying that).​

were the numerous unfair s2k events towards loyalists "complicated" as well? it was blatant bias, planned by people who ONLY played combine, without informing the ET leads of it, which resulted in rebels being attacked before they were even supposed to evacuate. there's also to mention the fact that ota was super buffed, had radio (despite ocin being down), thermal vision and pulse weaponry. should i also mention the doors literally locking like 10 rebels in one room they could not exit for minutes? that's not complicated-- that's bias clear as day. when you intentionally kick out rebel leadership from event planning revolving around the scene they represent, you are automatically tilting the favor towards the combine.

i do not entirely blame you for this response, its only natural for someone to be adamant on defending themselves no matter what, but all of this has culminated towards rebels -- you know, what remains of the server playerbase -- having a sour taste in their mouth regarding willard as a whole. no matter what hoops you jump through, you cannot justify both bunker raids or ocin being brought back.

 

[Processed_Grain]

Im gonna just drop a very short and simple counter and leave it at that


The whole angle of bragging about how smart you are, and how dumb we are, because we didn't catch the infiltrators is just overlooking the fact we never did because doing so would have fucking sucked. Rebels do a lot of shit wrong OOC, but the one thing they did right, that I'm glad to say they did, was not condemn or go out of their way to isolate or shit on characters/players who weren't in their corner the whole time.

Yes, we could have excluded all citizens/loyalists/refugees from the inner circle, deprived them of weaponry or radios. Given them a peasant channel or cordoned any unknowns off into a pen and treated them like gen-pop prisoners. Thrown them into a cell to debrief for three in-game days. It would have been the 'smart' thing to do ICly

It also would have been putrid ass OOC, and nobody wanted to turn the rebellion into an exclusive club just for the sake of not getting ass-blasted by loyalist infiltrators, who I imagine we didn't even anticipate to be allowed OOC, since staff prevented us from doing the same to you.

I can feel the ego drip you are giving yourself on the notion you 'outsmarted the dumbass rebel players' or whatever, but really, we just didn't want to be shitters to other players. The only 'exclusive' element of the bunker was the council - which was itself oversized for the very same sake of inclusivity.

Are the rebels dumb as hell IC? Yes. Are the rebels pretty silly even OOC? Yeah, absolutely can be. But if there was one thing they did *right* during this recent period, it was allowing others to join in on the fun, given staff had left all citizens in the gutter without a single shit to give.

We were just trying to RP, while you were sweating for the win.

Which on the subject of that - nobody is winning in this.

Call me a pessimistic 'dreg' all you want (and then edit it out), but the reality is this story isn't something anyone can win. Cause and effect doesn't even exist in Willard lore at this point. Theres a million ways you can excuse the OCIN network coming back after being taken down. You can excuse OTA managing to blast through a collapsed tunnel. You can justify rebels being given an impossible objective.

We can make excuses for why the OCIN tower event was allegedly coded for us to win. We can make excuses for the I24 revolution being...whatever the hell it was, I dont even know.

Yet, reality is, each is just another example of the random tug of war that is this servers writing. there is nothing binding anything that happens, but a whim which can shift or break at any moment - and often does.

At the end of the day, we're all losing cause V2 is ending with a whimper, pretty much one way or another. Long March might pull some life back into it, but even if it does, its too little too late for the most part. Bragging about winning in Willard right now, is like bragging about winning a game of checkers on a blank board, with no pieces.

Why does everyone think that the only way to counter infiltration roleplay is to blockade the entire experience to anyone not "in" with the group. It'd be like saying the only way to fight rebels in City RP is to wall of the slums. I've never once insinuated that was your only path and that "Dumbass Rebels could have just shot all them lol".

Is simply probing people for their loyalty a thing of the past? Getting other, maybe new players to keep tabs on others? Interrogating people? Any of that?

Beyond that, you're just parroting what Omega said about my somehow being obsessed with 'winning'.

If the Combine lose; my character and all of their allies die to boot. So be it.

However, I'd rather it come from a genuine failure on my part -- and an earned victory on the rebel's part -- than it be some cop out.

The point is that there's nothing on the table at all -- not even your blank checker board -- if your RP is built on a web of lies, and "Taskmaster's forces coming in to save everyone in the nick of time".

You can't complain about nothing being binding while needing a dozen plot contrivances to fill the gaps either way.

Is there a problem with the server writing? Absolutely. Do I think Mullet allegedly blowing up a cave in with a breaching charge is silly? Yeah. Do I think permanence is needed? I do. So perhaps you're right in some regards.

 

[Processed_Grain]

tough shit. did staff or et otherwise say it's voided? how about rebels just ignore everything that happened up to this point and start acting like this? plenty of stupid decisions have been made in the recent past, both in favor of the combine and rebel, that the other side had to abide to. |

They already are acting like this. I'm abiding by it all the same yet I'm still gonna call it out for being total bullshit -- just as everyone has the right to do.

And, was it really to hold out? Even with delayed reinforcements? I wouldn't know, 'The Reclaimer' wrote a 1 sentence /me-stomps-on-the-metrocops-head-"eugh." to send me back to main.

the rebels, who had no recourse against a decision made on a 15 player server primarily where the few remaining loyalists and cops linger, were sent into an all-out assault on a bunker and then given... 60 seconds to win. 60 seconds to win when they didn't know the map and had to fight through hallways held by ota. it was a railroad as clear as day, only because it was facilitated by a few players doesn't change the essence of it.

You couldn't 'win' (secure the missile) by that point. That was the gist to begin with and was, in fact, Nath's idea, since apparently just about everyone (even RedHot) agreed that rebels nuking the Citadel and stopping everything as such was silly.

this would've been all fine and well if the rebels were given actual space to do things. you and the staff, who are primarily at fault for all of this, expect us to deal with internal divisons, ota probes, routine disrupting events, internal politics, inventory management, personal char dev and then spies (who by usual rules are banned anyhow most of the time, but we'll waiver that since v2 is ending) at the same time.

I'm not ET. Look Nath's way if there are too many random bullshit events flying your way. I'm really not sure what you want from me here; I already agree that more time should be devoted to passive.

were the numerous unfair s2k events towards loyalists "complicated" as well? it was blatant bias, planned by people who ONLY played combine, without informing the ET leads of it, which resulted in rebels being attacked before they were even supposed to evacuate. there's also to mention the fact that ota was super buffed, had radio (despite ocin being down), thermal vision and pulse weaponry. should i also mention the doors literally locking like 10 rebels in one room they could not exit for minutes? that's not complicated-- that's bias clear as day. when you intentionally kick out rebel leadership from event planning revolving around the scene they represent, you are automatically tilting the favor towards the combine.

I was playing with the hand dealt to me. Should ET have been informed (assuming that you're right that they weren't); Yes. But everything else listed is not from bias; more so bad luck. Equipment being sabotaged, Shepherds leaving, and all during an attack reciprocating the recent murder of the diplomat sent who Rebel Leadership killed can't have the blame shifted onto the Combine. Atp I'm not sure what would constitute a unbiased fight with the Combine -- or the point of calling out S2K given it seems I'm the only person alive willing to sit through 5 hours of S2RP -- beyond literally figuratively them.

 

[Acheif]

There's no bad luck about it, it's just completely disregarding player authority, we tried thrice to obtain these missiles before you did this bullshit, this is the worst way the server could've went imo, you completely ignored our story and built up IC work because you wanted to rail road your own story, rebels could've had a better chance, you didnt want them too.

You could've chosen to roleplay and build a exciting storyline, instead you chose to play this like command and conquor tiberium wars, lame, and excuritatingly sad for the end of the server, thank god we left early.

 

[ozymandias]

Let's start from the beginning.
​

After the full blown destruction of I24, I, and the remaining members of the Loyalist Faction, were transported to C24; the Loyalist/CCA server specifically. My character, now 'Consul' Erama, was by all accounts the last remaining, functional, proactive member of the Administration. For an innumerable list of reasons, he -- my REAL, NON-EVENT CHARACTER -- has decided to stick with The Combine, along with everyone else who stands by him in his binder.


As such, he finds it in his best interests to ensure they win, and the first step to this; as proclaimed by Overwatch, was to get the minimum of OCIN back online, be it locally within City 24, or through all of Western Europe.

According to this, he elected to begin immediate work in setting up a series of miniature, local relay towers across the entirety of C24 to replace the now inert, Sector-10 spanning Relay Center that was destroyed several weeks prior...


"Now wait", you might be asking, "How come Mister Erama is able to ignore the valiant efforts of The Rebellion™ and use the remaining, re-organized assets of the Civil Workers Union to set up a Emergency DIY OCIN?? Isn't that unfair? An asspull, even?"
To that, I say

View attachment 50043

No. You never took out O.C.I.N.. You took out a relay tower that transmitted it across Western Europe from City 24. City 24 is still the home of Western Europe's Intelligence Network; a home that is still completely intact.

Not only is O.C.I.N. majority intact within the Citadel (look outside; it's still standing), but IRKALLA (the cannibalized remnants of SUMMIT 24 turned fortress district that takes up 1/4 of the city) is still standing, and in fact, in lore, has always had its own backup Artificial Intelligence for O.C.I.N. just in case the current scenario happening now occurred. (Sorry @Omega , the Interdimensional Slave Empire is a bit beyond 'Hubris' and, in fact, does have enough foresight to not centralize its entire security apparatus on Earth in a town in fucking Bulgaria).

So, to put it bluntly

View attachment 50044

Yes. We fixed City 24 with a workshift. A decree ordering said workshift to boot. That is to say; it (C24) was in such a condition that there shouldn't have been any need to have a workshift for it in the first place, yet we did it anyway. I delegated the work to what remaining foremen we had, what remaining citizens we had on our ~12 player loyalist server, and put up a rinky-dink, fucking antenna, to fix O.C.I.N.; all so I can send an E-MAIL (which, by the way, like a lot of other civilian functions, is not actually reliant on OCIN, or, at least I don't think it should).


So, sorry not sorry; the antenna is staying.


Of course, I'd be a fool to think that it was the only qualm presented here in the Thread, or that the IC worries about putting up an antenna are in fact where it ends. No, what's happening here is that players are worried that their efforts are being put down the drain -- even if legitimate. So let me help ease your worries.


1: The original O.C.I.N. Relay Tower event was a clusterfuck, and a railroaded Rebel Victory; one whos results I do not respect.


Looking past context menu-removed CMB helicopters, 20 minute delayed Combine reinforcements even past the wiping out of half of the garrison, Vortigaunts doing double their supposed damage (see Marco's thread), Overwatch not being permitted rifles/AR2s, and the presumed continued usage of the one-shot kill event APC: The event was rigged from the start with several rebel auto-win conditions, ranging from a "Rot Bomb"/Mass Explosive of some sort to Vortigaunt-Jedi tomfuckery using 'Extracctttt' and classic arcane wizardry.


Furthermore, there was no Combine win condition beyond "Survive". Everything in the event was considered to be placed under balancing, and when the rebels were sighted to be potentially losing (god forbid) many-a-gamemaster began to panic, throwing out ideas of, again; blowing it the fuck up.


This is, of course, unacceptable. As a player with no OOC positions I am against event railroading by uneasy, shadowy Admin hands at every turn, no matter if it leans in favor of 'my team' or 'the other team'.


2: The original Valente ICBM event -- while priced in beforehand -- was the result of player actions, and not that of Admin railroading like so many seem to believe.


To give summary as to what happened for those unaware; a day before the event, Francis Erama, utilizing info and evidence gained ICLY within the Administration, exposed the ICBM missile site and plot by Valente to destroy the O.C.I.N. Relay Tower himself with it in order to launch a coup on Orwell. Erama showed a recording of Enzo admitting it to Russel Makarov to F9/39, and was subsequently put in charge on the spot with setting up a sting operation to arrest him that very day.

Spoiler: Zhe Coup

View attachment 50045

This was a close call, given it was one day before Taskmaster and Company would be raiding said silo; which remained defended only by a small contingent of the Genevan Guard. Not to mention, Valente nearly fired the missile at C24 in a last ditch effort -- killing himself right after.


All of my efforts culminated in getting to the silo before the raid, and thus commencing a launch sequence to fire the missile at New Geneva -- dishing back what they had so generously dished out the week prior with the destruction of the O.C.I.N. Relay Tower.


Erama then left, bidding his great ally F9/39 good luck as he took control of the Overwatch forces sent on the ground to deal a finishing blow to the rebels trapped within.


Of course, our brave protagonists of TLM fought back, and forced a retreat, giving The Combine a pyrrhic victory.


3. For over a week, Erama and the Metadynamist Body has been running circles around the rebel faction via infiltration, sabotage, espionage, strategic use of Overwatch, and various other avenues; All working in conjunction to let me know Taskmaster's orders an hour before his lieutenants do; All in completely in a In-Character effort to divide, weaken, and subdue The Insurgency.


I won't go into detail, as we all know the history the faction has with metagaming (cough cough liberators cough cough). What I will say though is that never before have I met such a (by most of your own admission) dysfunctional, disorganized, idiotic, meandering 'group' of characters I have ever laid my eyes upon. Of course -- not all of you are included in this bracket, or, perhaps none of you are, and what I'm referring to is simply the result of the societal, group-think geist that has been locked in a virtual concrete box for seven whole days (sorry @rae ).


I don't say this to brag or to rub it in people's faces (at least not fully), but to get you all to reflect and realize just how dire the situation for you really is. If you cannot organize the most bare, organizational functions of an insurgency amongst yourselves without help from ET, how can you expect to deserve a complete, rebel auto-win like so many amongst you seem to think you're entitled to?


If you can let some guy preaching the Metadynamist Manifesto at a bar run free to in the future steal a tank; how can you be so sure that you're ''meaning'' anything.


If I can get an unnamed number of men to run around your base; pouring concrete in tank engines, putting fabricators on fire, disabling radios, and spreading dissent between groups; do you really -- honest to god -- think that you're winning?


Sure, I get that you guys have been swamped with back-to-back fighting, events, character development, and so on. I really do.


But


View attachment 50047


To call for a complete shut down of any infiltration roleplay on all fronts in the name of "not being assed to deal with it", is completely hypocritical. You simply cannot stand on a platform of wanting players to have freedom to develop, progress, influence, and manipulate the world whilst simultaneously asking for even more OOC safeguards to protect your interests.


And, finally


4. The Bunker Raid yesterday was... Complicated, admittedly, and there's far more of a case to be made here about Admins dealing a unfair hand to the rebel action (not that I am saying that).


To begin, what incited it in the first place was the rebel execution of Hikari Fujimori; a diplomat I sent to broker a ceasefire and to invite rebels to offer their opinions and or demands for reform to the Unification State in the near future.


Upon hearing about her death, Overwatch (Eviction Notice) nearly demanded that Erama take action, thus giving the go ahead for the ''preparations'' of an assault.


This was all in response to player actions, and done by player actions... For the most part. OOCly, I wasn't fully on-board with the option. I was quite enjoying the RP that came from the current skirmishing guerilla warfare I had Overwatch do under the command of Ranger 02 (Mullet).


Indeed, to my understanding, a decision was taken OOCly between ET and what not to evacuate the rebels on that day, as well as to have an attack in response; all to make way for more preparations for future TLM events.


All of this coalesced into the attack itself, which arrived just after the 'Shepherds' left on their own and right before the scheduled evacuation of everyone else from the silo.


..Do I think the fight was unfair, and rigged towards the Combine: No.


Do I think the battle shouldn't have happened at all: Yes.


It was like other things in this event line so far; rushed, messy, and not well planned. We should have given the insurgency more time within the bunker -- passive, time -- to plan, develop, and generally 'calm down'. Relentless events help nobody, and to hit them with this does seem like a bit of a bad job, though, there's not much we can do about it now. A mistake on both sides. So, Sorry, on the behalf of the powers at be.


However, I will say that as a technical member of the TLM team, who knows the future of the event line, that things are in the works that improves the war situation for the rebellion in a fair manner. Though, I think the biggest take away here by far is that we need to -- again -- for some reason say to staff (Nath included) that player primacy really must take the helm in these affairs. If they want to work to set up the intranet again, then so be it. So long as they put in a high amount of roleplay and engineer the scenario perfectly, there should be nothing stopping them from doing so. We should also give them more down time to facilitate these things. People are at their best when they're not being shot at.


For the future of TLM, I think all hands should be on deck to improve the rest of the chapters. I am not a pessimist. I believe fully that if the powers at be apply themselves, the event can be mended in full (I've seen what's in store, and retain high hopes because of it).

...But, do not forget this.


I ('Erama') am, in my full right to fight your efforts on every step of the way. I am a player. A character. The face of what's left of the Dream of Collaboration. I will do everything in my IC power to ensure a Combine Victory. I am your opposition. I am Evil! I am the guy who nuked a town of several thousand in the name of ideological Will. Do not think for a SECOND that just because there are more of you than there are Me that you are entitled to a free, happy ending whilst simultaneously attempting to destroy my own character's. All I have ever wanted was a fair (OOCly speaking in terms of rules and engagement, the rebellion obviously will have the advantage ICly) playing field to face the leaders of the enemy faction in what constitutes a great, strategic game for the future.


All of your ails and complaining can be chalked up to culture shock. For the first time in my years of playing this server, The Combine™ are, for once -- even if just partially -- led by someone OOCly willing to see them prevail. Am I glazing the Slave Empire? Sure. But that won't change the fact that I am not going to stop kicking your shit in through the most roleplayed (Non-S2K) of means possible.

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Good day.​

Not reading slop from an apologist who can't stop glazing an in-game alien empire just so that server management will show a liking towards him.

 

[toby]

So...at the start it was showing like the rebels were going to win, and then now the Combine are about to win? At this point why don't we have an ending where nobody fucking wins.

 

[Lost Coast Chanties]

So...at the start it was showing like the rebels were going to win, and then now the Combine are about to win? At this point why don't we have an ending where nobody fucking wins.

The Race-X horde in Spain, Ireland and South America:

 

[nath1234567]

There's no bad luck about it, it's just completely disregarding player authority, we tried thrice to obtain these missiles before you did this bullshit, this is the worst way the server could've went imo, you completely ignored our story and built up IC work because you wanted to rail road your own story, rebels could've had a better chance, you didnt want them too.

You could've chosen to roleplay and build a exciting storyline, instead you chose to play this like command and conquor tiberium wars, lame, and excuritatingly sad for the end of the server, thank god we left early.

I'm just gonna say I'm really not sure why you're acting like Shephards were railroaded from being able to do what they wanted to do so badly. Each of these attempts that you're referencing were IC meetings with my character Taskmaster where it was advised to him to target the missile facility so that we could launch the codes. These meetings happened before the OCIN launch facility.

Taskmaster explained repeatedly ICly to these suggestions that even if rebels do infiltrate the facility they still NEED launch codes in order to launch the missile. Nobody had said launch codes, and so for a considerable time Taskmaster deemed the mission as too risky considering he didn't want to risk a costly assault on the facility hoping that the Combine would be dumb enough to leave the launch instructions out for them. As far as I'm concerned, all of this was IC stuff that played out sensibly.

Following the destruction of OCIN, rebels were led to believe that the C24 citadel would be summoning reinforcements within a matter of days. They still had no launch codes, but the threat of Overworld reinforcements scared Taskmaster and rebels enough into now believing that an assault on the missile silo was warranted even without launch codes simply because accessing the missile and launching it into the facility was believed to be the only way to prevent overworld reinforcements.

All this to say I think everything played out sensibly from an IC perspective.

From an OOC perspective, storytelling surrounding these WMDs is difficult and needs to be handled with great care as I think we'd all rather prevent a black screen "you all died cause so and so admin character or rebel launched a nuke!"

Also.. Your IC suggestions were to launch the missile into OCIN. We toppled OCIN anyway..

 

[toby]

The Race-X horde in Spain, Ireland and South America:

oh yeah

 

[Mullet]

Tell that to the literal video game that you're basing this entire story off of. Your response genuinely doesn't even deserve to be read or given a proper response. You unironically see the Combine as the good guys OOCly. You don't care about a story, but about winning.

Combine lose, that fact is known. Forcing a combine win down the throats of the majority of players with the help of staff for supposedly "peak" is lame and gay. The fact that Robert and Rad-X have let the majority of the player base suffer for what is basically your enjoyment is lame and gay. Buy hey, at least Erama can get groomed by an Advisor, right??? That is where shit gets good! Fuck the rest of what we're subjecting the players to!

Btw, infiltration rules were one-sided. Staff literally threatened Rebel Players if they would try to join the Loyalist Server. That's why they should have never been a thing.

I think it's important to note that there is a clear distinction between the eventual ending of CvR environment in the lore of HL2, and in Willard's distinctly regional dialect.

We do NOT include Breen or the Gman, or Eli/Alyx Vance, or the dude that is free, because we aren't just telling the story that HL2 games tell. Else, we might as well just boot up Synergy.

On this basis, rebels will NOT be handed a victory in C24 just because Freedude blew up a tower a couple hundred kilometers away. Did it have a massive impact? Yes - but arguably we see the Combine transitioning from a military junta-style approach, to a martial law approach (ref. white forest strider mission for example) with masses of material brought to bare as they attempt to damage control notable rebel successes following the destruction of the core and Breen's death.

--

On the side of the OCIN relay event, I echo the sentiment in that OCIN as a construct is not destroyed, but more-so that S10 was cut off in that different cities cannot interact with each other, and sector administration is therefore heavily limited in exacting their powers on the wider sector outside of C24 where they are based. Acting on pre-established lore therefore a relay is acceptable; furthermore, to my knowledge OCIN hasn't been used in any real capacity beyond encryption for Overwatch communications between IC chars and has had basically zero effect on the narrative.

The event itself was deeply flawed from MY INDIVIDUAL PERSPECTIVE (not the staff team perspective, my OWN opinion to make that clear) and I fully believe the staff running the event were ill-prepared to run it. However, for better or worse it has happened and I'd hope the wider staff team have no intention of discrediting the result on the narrative moving forward. Relays to other cities in the region are still down, communication is largely a blackout, and Erama has heavily varied degrees of control over different regions of S10.

CallawAI or whatever it's called now should only be as smart as the people it is formed of (Mundi, Erama, etc) and hence should be used as an IC function, not an individual IC char, as to a degree there is an element of asspull if an AI can just predict what will happen. My understanding is that this has been the case.

--

Also yes, you weren't permitted to infiltrate the loyalist server, because it was dead. If there exists no function to catch infiltration, it cannot occur for reasons of balance (and despite complaints about the spies, they were repeatedly questioned on their actions but never punished or suspected beyond interrogation despite facts pointing to them).

You'd be doing /checkcrime for the entire period lol. Carpel tunnel simulator.

EDIT: I don't know why you'd be excluded from IC infiltration in prior instances and think that deserves investigation, although admittedly it's not my place to question my fellow staff and hence you'd need to lobby onwards to the ET leads who held authority over said matters for information. @nath1234567 can perhaps shed more light in this regard.

 

[Bounter]

Let's start from the beginning.
​

After the full blown destruction of I24, I, and the remaining members of the Loyalist Faction, were transported to C24; the Loyalist/CCA server specifically. My character, now 'Consul' Erama, was by all accounts the last remaining, functional, proactive member of the Administration. For an innumerable list of reasons, he -- my REAL, NON-EVENT CHARACTER -- has decided to stick with The Combine, along with everyone else who stands by him in his binder.


As such, he finds it in his best interests to ensure they win, and the first step to this; as proclaimed by Overwatch, was to get the minimum of OCIN back online, be it locally within City 24, or through all of Western Europe.

According to this, he elected to begin immediate work in setting up a series of miniature, local relay towers across the entirety of C24 to replace the now inert, Sector-10 spanning Relay Center that was destroyed several weeks prior...


"Now wait", you might be asking, "How come Mister Erama is able to ignore the valiant efforts of The Rebellion™ and use the remaining, re-organized assets of the Civil Workers Union to set up a Emergency DIY OCIN?? Isn't that unfair? An asspull, even?"
To that, I say

View attachment 50043

No. You never took out O.C.I.N.. You took out a relay tower that transmitted it across Western Europe from City 24. City 24 is still the home of Western Europe's Intelligence Network; a home that is still completely intact.

Not only is O.C.I.N. majority intact within the Citadel (look outside; it's still standing), but IRKALLA (the cannibalized remnants of SUMMIT 24 turned fortress district that takes up 1/4 of the city) is still standing, and in fact, in lore, has always had its own backup Artificial Intelligence for O.C.I.N. just in case the current scenario happening now occurred. (Sorry @Omega , the Interdimensional Slave Empire is a bit beyond 'Hubris' and, in fact, does have enough foresight to not centralize its entire security apparatus on Earth in a town in fucking Bulgaria).

So, to put it bluntly

View attachment 50044

Yes. We fixed City 24 with a workshift. A decree ordering said workshift to boot. That is to say; it (C24) was in such a condition that there shouldn't have been any need to have a workshift for it in the first place, yet we did it anyway. I delegated the work to what remaining foremen we had, what remaining citizens we had on our ~12 player loyalist server, and put up a rinky-dink, fucking antenna, to fix O.C.I.N.; all so I can send an E-MAIL (which, by the way, like a lot of other civilian functions, is not actually reliant on OCIN, or, at least I don't think it should).


So, sorry not sorry; the antenna is staying.


Of course, I'd be a fool to think that it was the only qualm presented here in the Thread, or that the IC worries about putting up an antenna are in fact where it ends. No, what's happening here is that players are worried that their efforts are being put down the drain -- even if legitimate. So let me help ease your worries.


1: The original O.C.I.N. Relay Tower event was a clusterfuck, and a railroaded Rebel Victory; one whos results I do not respect.


Looking past context menu-removed CMB helicopters, 20 minute delayed Combine reinforcements even past the wiping out of half of the garrison, Vortigaunts doing double their supposed damage (see Marco's thread), Overwatch not being permitted rifles/AR2s, and the presumed continued usage of the one-shot kill event APC: The event was rigged from the start with several rebel auto-win conditions, ranging from a "Rot Bomb"/Mass Explosive of some sort to Vortigaunt-Jedi tomfuckery using 'Extracctttt' and classic arcane wizardry.


Furthermore, there was no Combine win condition beyond "Survive". Everything in the event was considered to be placed under balancing, and when the rebels were sighted to be potentially losing (god forbid) many-a-gamemaster began to panic, throwing out ideas of, again; blowing it the fuck up.


This is, of course, unacceptable. As a player with no OOC positions I am against event railroading by uneasy, shadowy Admin hands at every turn, no matter if it leans in favor of 'my team' or 'the other team'.


2: The original Valente ICBM event -- while priced in beforehand -- was the result of player actions, and not that of Admin railroading like so many seem to believe.


To give summary as to what happened for those unaware; a day before the event, Francis Erama, utilizing info and evidence gained ICLY within the Administration, exposed the ICBM missile site and plot by Valente to destroy the O.C.I.N. Relay Tower himself with it in order to launch a coup on Orwell. Erama showed a recording of Enzo admitting it to Russel Makarov to F9/39, and was subsequently put in charge on the spot with setting up a sting operation to arrest him that very day.

Spoiler: Zhe Coup

View attachment 50045

This was a close call, given it was one day before Taskmaster and Company would be raiding said silo; which remained defended only by a small contingent of the Genevan Guard. Not to mention, Valente nearly fired the missile at C24 in a last ditch effort -- killing himself right after.


All of my efforts culminated in getting to the silo before the raid, and thus commencing a launch sequence to fire the missile at New Geneva -- dishing back what they had so generously dished out the week prior with the destruction of the O.C.I.N. Relay Tower.


Erama then left, bidding his great ally F9/39 good luck as he took control of the Overwatch forces sent on the ground to deal a finishing blow to the rebels trapped within.


Of course, our brave protagonists of TLM fought back, and forced a retreat, giving The Combine a pyrrhic victory.


3. For over a week, Erama and the Metadynamist Body has been running circles around the rebel faction via infiltration, sabotage, espionage, strategic use of Overwatch, and various other avenues; All working in conjunction to let me know Taskmaster's orders an hour before his lieutenants do; All in completely in a In-Character effort to divide, weaken, and subdue The Insurgency.


I won't go into detail, as we all know the history the faction has with metagaming (cough cough liberators cough cough). What I will say though is that never before have I met such a (by most of your own admission) dysfunctional, disorganized, idiotic, meandering 'group' of characters I have ever laid my eyes upon. Of course -- not all of you are included in this bracket, or, perhaps none of you are, and what I'm referring to is simply the result of the societal, group-think geist that has been locked in a virtual concrete box for seven whole days (sorry @rae ).


I don't say this to brag or to rub it in people's faces (at least not fully), but to get you all to reflect and realize just how dire the situation for you really is. If you cannot organize the most bare, organizational functions of an insurgency amongst yourselves without help from ET, how can you expect to deserve a complete, rebel auto-win like so many amongst you seem to think you're entitled to?


If you can let some guy preaching the Metadynamist Manifesto at a bar run free to in the future steal a tank; how can you be so sure that you're ''meaning'' anything.


If I can get an unnamed number of men to run around your base; pouring concrete in tank engines, putting fabricators on fire, disabling radios, and spreading dissent between groups; do you really -- honest to god -- think that you're winning?


Sure, I get that you guys have been swamped with back-to-back fighting, events, character development, and so on. I really do.


But


View attachment 50047


To call for a complete shut down of any infiltration roleplay on all fronts in the name of "not being assed to deal with it", is completely hypocritical. You simply cannot stand on a platform of wanting players to have freedom to develop, progress, influence, and manipulate the world whilst simultaneously asking for even more OOC safeguards to protect your interests.


And, finally


4. The Bunker Raid yesterday was... Complicated, admittedly, and there's far more of a case to be made here about Admins dealing a unfair hand to the rebel action (not that I am saying that).


To begin, what incited it in the first place was the rebel execution of Hikari Fujimori; a diplomat I sent to broker a ceasefire and to invite rebels to offer their opinions and or demands for reform to the Unification State in the near future.


Upon hearing about her death, Overwatch (Eviction Notice) nearly demanded that Erama take action, thus giving the go ahead for the ''preparations'' of an assault.


This was all in response to player actions, and done by player actions... For the most part. OOCly, I wasn't fully on-board with the option. I was quite enjoying the RP that came from the current skirmishing guerilla warfare I had Overwatch do under the command of Ranger 02 (Mullet).


Indeed, to my understanding, a decision was taken OOCly between ET and what not to evacuate the rebels on that day, as well as to have an attack in response; all to make way for more preparations for future TLM events.


All of this coalesced into the attack itself, which arrived just after the 'Shepherds' left on their own and right before the scheduled evacuation of everyone else from the silo.


..Do I think the fight was unfair, and rigged towards the Combine: No.


Do I think the battle shouldn't have happened at all: Yes.


It was like other things in this event line so far; rushed, messy, and not well planned. We should have given the insurgency more time within the bunker -- passive, time -- to plan, develop, and generally 'calm down'. Relentless events help nobody, and to hit them with this does seem like a bit of a bad job, though, there's not much we can do about it now. A mistake on both sides. So, Sorry, on the behalf of the powers at be.


However, I will say that as a technical member of the TLM team, who knows the future of the event line, that things are in the works that improves the war situation for the rebellion in a fair manner. Though, I think the biggest take away here by far is that we need to -- again -- for some reason say to staff (Nath included) that player primacy really must take the helm in these affairs. If they want to work to set up the intranet again, then so be it. So long as they put in a high amount of roleplay and engineer the scenario perfectly, there should be nothing stopping them from doing so. We should also give them more down time to facilitate these things. People are at their best when they're not being shot at.


For the future of TLM, I think all hands should be on deck to improve the rest of the chapters. I am not a pessimist. I believe fully that if the powers at be apply themselves, the event can be mended in full (I've seen what's in store, and retain high hopes because of it).

...But, do not forget this.


I ('Erama') am, in my full right to fight your efforts on every step of the way. I am a player. A character. The face of what's left of the Dream of Collaboration. I will do everything in my IC power to ensure a Combine Victory. I am your opposition. I am Evil! I am the guy who nuked a town of several thousand in the name of ideological Will. Do not think for a SECOND that just because there are more of you than there are Me that you are entitled to a free, happy ending whilst simultaneously attempting to destroy my own character's. All I have ever wanted was a fair (OOCly speaking in terms of rules and engagement, the rebellion obviously will have the advantage ICly) playing field to face the leaders of the enemy faction in what constitutes a great, strategic game for the future.


All of your ails and complaining can be chalked up to culture shock. For the first time in my years of playing this server, The Combine™ are, for once -- even if just partially -- led by someone OOCly willing to see them prevail. Am I glazing the Slave Empire? Sure. But that won't change the fact that I am not going to stop kicking your shit in through the most roleplayed (Non-S2K) of means possible.

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Good day.​

Maybe it is since I was around and during OCIN raid. But, we lost our APC at the very beginning. Not only that, but like Half of our people (Characters of @tsaoT , @pyromancer and more) got gibbed right by the entrance to the Relay. Then, with panience and trying to get up close as possible we FINALLY managed to push inside. Like, it was NOT easy. On either side.

THEN, it was like 30 minutes of a staircase chokepoint, until we managed to flank and finally help us to push. And from equipment dropped by remaining Cops, few people on both sides had high quality gear. The Vorts doing x2 damage is... Yeah it was weird, but why it happened? Idk, not a coder or staff.

Also it wasn't a "Rot Bomb" - It was a vort powered Thanatos Embryo. An embryo I have been holding onto for months, until we could have used it. And that was a good moment.

 

[Mullet]

Maybe it is since I was around and during OCIN raid. But, we lost our APC at the very beginning. Not only that, but like Half of our people (Characters of @tsaoT , @pyromancer and more) got gibbed right by the entrance to the Relay. Then, with panience and trying to get up close as possible we FINALLY managed to push inside. Like, it was NOT easy. On either side.

THEN, it was like 30 minutes of a staircase chokepoint, until we managed to flank and finally help us to push. And from equipment dropped by remaining Cops, few people on both sides had high quality gear. The Vorts doing x2 damage is... Yeah it was weird, but why it happened? Idk, not a coder or staff.

Also it wasn't a "Rot Bomb" - It was a vort powered Thanatos Embryo. An embryo I have been holding onto for months, until we could have used it. And that was a good moment.

The idea of an embryo that can auto-win an event based on S2K needs to be looked at. It's not an issue from your side, it's more so that there seems to be a lack of appropriate safeguarding in place to prevent such an item from becoming an instant win button.

I'd imagine it was hard to get? All the same there are definitely better ways to utilize it beyond, "haha, I win S2K with item that cannot be countered".