Notum Wars and Neutrality

[Oliewabie]

I have a concern that the neutral my be left out of the notum wars.
Reading the articles about the Notum wars I dont see any mentioning of the neutral community.
It is all about Omni and OT.
So far the player community has decided that neutrality is a force on Rubi-Ka and therefore part of the Story.

If FC wishes to stear the story with Notums wars more towards OT versus Clan - thats fine with me.
I accept that OT and clan play the leading rolls and that the neutral community has a secondary roll with the consequent disadvantages.
As far as I can see the Notum wars are for all players.
If neutrals are kind of steared towards a completely passive roll I would find this very unfortunately.
But I would like to know beforehand.
I would feel cheated to find out after I bougth the Notum wars that there is absolutely nothing in it for neutrals or even worse that neutrals are not supposed to participate in it.
Nothing worse to buy a product and then find out it is not what you expected.
As far as I can understand from the comments made by FC on this subject they have not told us that neutrals will not be able to participate, so I must assume we can.
However I would like some confirmation.
I believe a company should inform his customers correctly

More practical concerns are the following:

Can neutrals attack a tower?
Fromt he articles I understand that as soon as a tower is attack the zone is lower to 0%.
However neutrals can only attack when the zone is already 0%.
This leads me to conclude that neutral will not be able to initiate an attack on a tower, meaning that again a neutral tower is a sitting duck or that neutrals cannot claim territory that is already occupied.

Secondly: when an org attacks a tower then all its members are flaged as attackable in any kind of zones.
Will neutrals also be allowed to attack these players or do they have to wait untill they are attacked by that player.

These are just some concerns of mine.

For me the Nutoms wars has a strong appeal and I hope that I will be able to join it as a neutral.
I have no desire to go either Clan or OT.
For me neutrality is all about RP and as far as I know AO is a roleplaying game,

[Darkbane]

Hmm, I'd have to say, if a Neutral attacked a sided tower, then that doesn't strike me as a very neutral thing to do... However, I can see some situations where this would be valid, after all, neutrals would want to defend their own territory and that could include removing unwanted mining operations...

The PvP rules sound as if they will change when the booster is released, but how this will affect the neutrals I don't know.

Interesting question and one that needs answering...

[Darkbane]

One solution would be for areas where towers can be placed to be sided, so there would be clan areas, omni areas and neutral areas.

Both clan and omni could place towers freely, but neutrals could only place in neutral areas.

Neutrals could attack any tower in a neutral area, but could only attack a 'wrong-sided' tower in a sided area (eg omni tower in a clan area).

That gives neutrals the possibility of taking part, whilst enforcing their neutral status.

[locomdenom]

Wouldn't this remove a lot of the reason to take out an opponents tower?

I mean, half the point in the removal of a tower from a choice notum deposit is the ability to place your own tower there.

I suspect players will feel more involved if tower-placement areas aren't sided, so that there's a definite push and shove between OT, Clan, and (hopefully) neutrals.

[Unfitrider]

I respect and understand all your points Basiel, but I am not sure if I agree from a roleplaying point of view. A neutral has made a stand towards the conflict, and that is not to get involved. And the conflict on Rubi-Ka is based on the Notum. Without Notum, no one would ever have come to this rock. If a Neutral org. or person would want to participate in mining Notum, I would say they abandon their neutrality. Hence I feel that Notum mining should not be possible for the neutral player. But this is from a roleplaying view.

You see what I mean?

[Oliewabie]

Dear Kawhoopa,

I see it the opposite way from an RP point of view.
Mining Notum is just bussiness nothing to do with politics or the conflict.
As a neutral one could say: I dont care who runs Rubi-Ka as long as I can make a nice profit,. Just selling the Notum to the highest bidder.
Now the ICC has declared notum mining a free for all,neutral can join the mining operation.
I dont see how this influences the conflict between OT and clan.


From a NON rp standpoint I would love to participate in the tower wars as it is just an other aspectt of the game from which I dont wish to be excluded merely cuz I choose neutrality.

[Unfitrider]

I can see your point when it comes to the mining, and even agree to it. As a result you should off course be able to defend your operation on the same level as everybody else. But how do explain the need to attack clan or omni operations that aren't situated in Neutral areas?

The Non RP stand I completly understand, cause I myself can't wait till it hits the shelves!

[Oliewabie]

Originally posted by Kawhoopa
But how do explain the need to attack clan or omni operations that aren't situated in Neutral areas?

Off course, you are absolutely rigth.
Neutrals cannot attack any OT or Clan mining operations unprovoced.
If a neutral Tower would be attack by clan or OT I would see no reason why neutrals could not go into clan or OT territory to attack the tower of the aggressor.

Another viewpoint could be:
In the notum wars I could see a possibility for the neutrals as opportunistic bussinessmen trying to make a profit on the back of the parties at war.

Anyhow, Neutrality with respect to the Notum wars migth be forced to change a bit.
Neutrality could maybe become more of a third force.
However I think thats not something I can decide but the neutral rp community as a whole has to review his current position with respect to the Notum mining and find a suitable answer how incoorporate the current neutral indentity with notum mining.

[Unfitrider]

Originally posted by Basiel


Off course, you are absolutely rigth.
Neutrals cannot attack any OT or Clan mining operations unprovoced.
If a neutral Tower would be attack by clan or OT I would see no reason why neutrals could not go into clan or OT territory to attack the tower of the aggressor.

Agreed.

I feel that is the neutral person is not content with this angle on the situation, he or she need to choose a side and become a more active part in the conflict.

This can off course be forced on the player. One idea is flags. I understand that you will become PvP flaged if you attack a tower. If a neutral player gets flaged, say three times, he automaticly becomes a clan or omni oriented caracter. (one clan flag if you attack a omni tower and the other way around).

Other ideas, or does this suck?

[Darkbane]

Maybe the 'Neutral' side should just be renamed 'Independent', then you could do what you wanted...

If you really mean to be and remain neutral in the conflict, then my suggestion for 'sided' areas is a reasonable mechanism to enforce that.

If being neutral in the conflict isn't what neutrals are about, then a change of name would be appropriate.

[cold]

Why do people think neutrals shouldn't be allowed do to anything on Rubi-Ka ? I am not omni, I am not clan, I will conquer the whole planet (including any shady dimensions it may have).

I shouldn't be allowed to mine notum just because I'm neutral ? Mining notum has very little to do with the conflict. Instead, you omni's and clanners play the role and don't attack neutral mining installations

[Unfitrider]

Originally posted by reality
Mining notum has very little to do with the conflict.

So why are everybody on this rock?

Notum has everything to do with the conflict, in fact, it IS the conflict.

Omni couldn't care less about the clans, but they controll areas rich with Notum.

[Darkbane]

Don't worry, reality is just failing to live up to his name

Omni-Tek are hear for one reason, and one reason only - notum. The clans are here because of Omni-Tek. Therefore the clans are also here because of notum. Remember it was incidents mining the stuff that lead to the formation of the clans.

Now, the neutrals are an odd bunch. Peace lovers, mercenaries, merchants, criminals, and others. To date they have stayed out of the conflict either by ignoring it or by treating both sides the same.

Now, ok, a neutral merchant mining notum may not want anything to do with the omni-tek/clan conflict, but the simple act of mining notum draws them in. Which is why I suggested 'Independant' might be a better term than 'Neutral'.

I'd be perfectly happy for the neutrals to become a full-fleged side in the notum wars, but in doing so, you give up any real claim to true neutrality.

[Bionitrous]

FunCom has said that the Notum Wars are based on the ICC completely deregulating the notum mining process on Rubi'Ka. With that said, towers and placing/operating them has nothing to do with the political squabbles between Omni-Tek and the Council of Truth (wherever they may be hiding). Basically, it's a gold rush out there. Place your mine and attempt to get rich.

[___________TreeTrunk]

If this were a real gold rush, you would get rich selling people mining equipment, overpriced tents, denim clothes, and running casinos and brothels. But something tells me us traders aren't going to get the Borthel and Casino Towers implemented in this booster pack.

[Unfitrider]

Originally posted by TreeTrunk
If this were a real gold rush, you would get rich selling people mining equipment, overpriced tents, denim clothes, and running casinos and brothels. But something tells me us traders aren't going to get the Borthel and Casino Towers implemented in this booster pack.

LOL!

I don't see that happening either, but I think I will start up a trader if that happens...

[______________Shatai]

I'd start up an Agent, go FP:Trader to set my Casino and "Other" towers up, then use it as a front for my operations

Hmmm..... perfect reason to be a neutral Agent, if we had those towers

[Mercatura]

lol

Madam Mercatura's Escorts™

um oops you didn't see that, move along move along

PS, Neutral = LACK of faction or side. Theres a reason that Neutrals are not called ICC faction, currently on Rk theres only 2 sides. Anyways as far as omni is concerned, you're either for them or against them or a non-issue. Neuts with tower = issue = join us or you're another clanner I don't think ICC employees are allowed to "compete" with member companies anyways.

[Bionitrous]

Unfortunately, there are only two sides now. Omni-Tek and everybody else. The Clans apparently broke up. The ICC which Omni-Tek is a member of has deregulated notum mining on the planet. That means that anybody is free to mine notum as they see fit. Omni-Tek no longer has an exclusive right to notum mining. Clans are basically in the same boat as Neutrals these days as far as rights are concerned. The unrest brought about by some self-serving individuals made sure the Clans no longer have a voice. So if you want a mine permit and you ain't a division of Omni-Tek, get in line with everybody else.

[cold]

Originally posted by Darkbane
Don't worry, reality is just failing to live up to his name

Omni-Tek are hear for one reason, and one reason only - notum. The clans are here because of Omni-Tek. Therefore the clans are also here because of notum. Remember it was incidents mining the stuff that lead to the formation of the clans.

In theory, you are right, of course

In practice, half the population doesn't know what Notum is let alone that they're supposed to be fighting about it. That and every conflict I have seen in-game was about terrorism or some silly politics, not Notum.

PS don't make people smarter than they already are; more notum for us