Empire For A Day

[Mavelle]

This post is for everyone's thoughts and feedback on our day spent as the very early Empire! It was a day-long thing and I'm always open to doing more of this type thing if people enjoyed it.

I saw some very cool thing, and I hope it gave people a cool, new lens to view their RP through!

Huge shoutout to every single @ Veteran Admin and @ Head Admin for laying down the groundwork of rules at the beginning!

 

And of course, cheers to everyone who participated. <3.

 

Oh, also, leave ideas here for other day-long things we could do, if you liked it!

[Conrad]

My power went out so I missed most of Saturday. But honestly haven’t seen this much player to player interaction since like 2018. When I walked down the hallway clones would step aside salute and say “sir” as I passed. A treatment I didn’t even get when I was palpatine. It was kind of amazing to see even these little things happen. 
not to mention the complete constant activity between the civilians (bh and undercover Jedi) vs the empire troops. It was just always constantly some back and forth. Some people did get a little but hurt, and honestly our server is not super balanced for PvP which was felt some times. But the interactions where great regardless. 
also a huge shout out to the creativity of the players through the use of setting models, voice changes, the little probe droids flying around and much more. All gave it that imperial feel. 

[GregRocks]

Hmmm was this a test run for Synergy's unannounced imperial RP server coming soon?

[Keo]

It was some of the best RP I participated in for a long time. The ambiance was set well and there was a lot of player driven RP. It was a really nice change of setting and pace which really motivated many people to become more involved for the duration of the event. I think the idea about stepping out of the Clone vs CIS standard gameplay everynow and then holds a lot of potential.

This also gave me some ideas for some event server events I might host in the future.

All in all I think we should continue doing things like this. Maybe one weekend per month could be a good timeframe. If it is too often then it would do more harm than good with possible player base confusion and repetition.

[Bane]

It was definitely fun, but the rules need to be made abundantly clear beforehand. The first part of the event was chaos and was rife with all sorts of unfun behavior from all sides. Once things were brought relatively under control, it was definitely way more fun! Just needed a little more planning and forethought as to the rules next time. 

1. ROE for Jedi and BH needs to be abundantly clear. There were Jedi using two shot perma blasters without seeing the problem. There were also hunters RDMing people for just pointing a gun at a Jedi while they were on base. (Without any other signs of aggression or hostile action). 

2. The RP Jedi are supposed to be adhering to needs to be upheld. There were several times Jedi came on base, where people would realistically recognize them/civilians arent allowed, to cause chaos with no reason.

3. Cloaking rules need to be hashed out because we potentially lose most of the people who can spot cloakers

4. The staff team should be coordinating to make sure events are happening and passive RP is being encouraged and the village needs props to make it more lively, as it is the center of RP during these days

5. We should also put thought into patrol patterns and stuff, and on duty staff members just looking to do staff work could be probe droids. A few people, including myself, did this and I think it really added to the dystopian feel and enabled RP

[Marvel]

I didn’t get to participate as much as I would have wanted but watching all the player ran RP and just a constant flow of people interacting both in person and in comms really took me back to like 2018-2019 Synergy.

 

[Misfit]

i definitely had fun being a purge trooper and listening to a random inquisitor/vader/emperor tell me to kill lyonaxis just because they felt like it lmao. even if some rules weren’t said (atleast for the hunters n jedi) in the beginning, once everythig got flowing at say 4pm est it was a blast. 

 

 

 

 

we should definitely have imperial days just saying

[calister369]

It kinda sucked if your weren't someone important cause in my case in particular I spent like 2 hours just running around not doing anything. After I met up with people we still just walked around and didn't do anything. Overall kinda meh.

[Stockings]

Being forced to play on CT discouraged me from wanting to participate further. 
 

Otherwise I enjoyed the aspects of Imperial RP, liked seeing the Senator guard as the Royal Guard, Purge troopers and inquisitors, the like.  Very unique ideas.  

[Conrad]

4 minutes ago, Stockings said:

Being forced to play on CT discouraged me from wanting to participate further. 

Big agree with this. While I’m down with copying some stuff from later in empires age I didn’t like how it felt forced based on the rule set that came out that you couldn’t just be your clone self. In my eyes we’re playing this like the first couple days of the empire. They didn’t remove all the clones armors in a week I’d guess. 

[Opa]

 I kinda liked it, I could see a day once in blue moon in empire is fine however a entire weekend feels too much, it's just cuz I'm here to play CWRP, empire RP event server deployments would be interesting. 

[BlueBeetle]

I found a lot of this to be enjoyable. However there were a few things that definitely need to be improved on.

12 minutes ago, Conrad said:

Big agree with this. While I’m down with copying some stuff from later in empires age I didn’t like how it felt forced based on the rule set that came out that you couldn’t just be your clone self. In my eyes we’re playing this like the first couple days of the empire. They didn’t remove all the clones armors in a week I’d guess. 

Firstly, like Conrad said, the Empire didn't get rid of all the clone armors the first day of the Empire's reign. Even in Bad Batch Season 1 we see that clones like the Shock Troopers, 501st, and older produced troopers still had their original armor (like Captain Howzer, who was on Ryloth before Order 66). We tend to see clones who were newer in production after Order 66 since Clone production was still happening a bit after the Empire's birth.

One thing I will say was that I enjoyed the different storylines that really felt connected. Every faction had their own branch of choices too. Clones could either stay and affiliate with the Empire or be captured and have their chips removed, Jedi could go into hiding or become Inquisitors, and Bounty Hunters could either supply and aid the Onderon Rebellion or side with the Empire to hunt for the remaining traitors. I would've liked to see Naval have some interesting roles, however. I did see Guac, Lyn, and Mavelle try a few things, but it wasn't as prominent. It would've been cool as well to see a bit of Senate RP, along with their reactions on the newly formed Empire.

I was surprised with how everyone was on-board with more roleplay than just wanting to be bloodthirsty. It felt like a new breath of air to myself and some of the newer people on the server who weren't there for the golden ages of Synergy of 2018-19. No one played main character (except for the actual main characters of the series), and it really turned out great. I feel like, in all honesty, it turned out better than the Geonosis Weekend event we did in March. Doing ideas and weekend-long events like that would be great in the future :)

[Clutch]

I think it was a very good idea like bane said it wouldve been even better if it was more planned out ahead of time. I was only able to play Saturday and yesterday morning but within that time everyone was creating their own rp I even saw a hand full of padawans creating their own story line, it was just non stop rp all weekend and I hope this drives the rest of the server to do the same now that we are back to CWRP.

[Venom/TJ]

I enjoyed it for the most part I’m always for passive RP “events” tbh I wouldn’t mind going to event server for a day on like coruscant underworld map letting the BH and people be some civilians through the city and having GAR be stationed there just do get some fun stuff going on. Example someone can play a drug dealer civilian or bar owner and just letting people have fun. If you want some more info on this just message me on discord Venom#3895

[Conrad]

21 minutes ago, Venom/TJ said:

I enjoyed it for the most part I’m always for passive RP “events” tbh I wouldn’t mind going to event server for a day on like coruscant underworld map letting the BH and people be some civilians through the city and having GAR be stationed there just do get some fun stuff going on. Example someone can play a drug dealer civilian or bar owner and just letting people have fun. If you want some more info on this just message me on discord Venom#3895

Imperial dark rp. You want imperial dark rp. 
 

honestly I kinda do too. 

[Cubby]

I liked the Rp that came from this weekend and wouldn't  hurt  to make this a regular occurrence, however, we'd need some proper planning before hand to solve the problems Bane and Beetle put out. 

[Baron]

I was telling @Jayarr and @Brooklyn this, but this has been the best RP I've seen on the server in months maybe even years. And I really hope this creates a spark of motivation. Seeing every small plot line that characters had going on and being interconnected to each other, the crossing over and just how natural it all felt without having to rely on game masters made this an awesome experience. It was just all natural. It didn't feel like anyone was trying to 'get that W' either. I hope this experience carries over back to CW.

[Finn]

I had a lot of fun. I think there needs to be a set system for Inquisitors, because I saw way too many padawans walk on the base and say "I wanna join the empire", it was honestly so cringey.

 

overall I enjoyed it and would like to see it again (maybe with more cool imperial models!!)

[Rudy]

Had fun for the most part, besides getting shot at when a inquisitor got there panties in a bunch

[TessaKitty]

I had too much fun as Second Sister. The RP being made around me and my purge troopers was cool af. Going to the village and seeing like 15 civilians walking around, I thought they were all NPCs. I was genuinely stunned to realise they weren't. I also love how involved this was. Felt like anyone was able to do anything within reason. This whole Imperial thing was a massive example of roleplay above ruleplay. We definitely need to do it again!

[Jayarr]

Got something like 60ish kills the whole weekend, definitely a perk of being the emperor
Aside from that, player interaction was pretty much at a constant, even in the mornings, which is saying something. Loved the new interaction with troopers and all the characters people put behind themselves, was an all around good time.


 

@Mavelle
https://medal.tv/games/garrys-mod/clips/ClB24GNPFhW60/d1337azuOkZ5?invite=cr-MSxqV1YsMjU0MDg3MDMs

^clip of mavelle murdering me in an RP situation (so rude!)

[Brooklyn]

This honestly sounds like the BEST evidence backer to bring sith back.

[Mystic]

Full server deployments to other maps. Maybe rotate old and new maps in? Stop on Anaxes for a day? Run to a Venator for an hour and a half and head to the next location? Like our old rotation, but with purpose. It'd be cool to be in a Galactic Conquest esque scenario.

I also would've really liked to see more interactions around the common players and not just the main characters. I love to participate in nobody battles. Things where its Trooper v Trooper no jedi sith whatever. Even if we lose these battles really push that roleplay that we arent the main characters. 

Adding even more onto this, If we do this again i'd really love to see some more focus on the clones that had left. I'd love to see some NULL Members or Clan Skirata in a fight against Jedi hunters or something like that. It was really cool seeing Omega embrace this so quickly.

On the same note Bane mentioned, Cloaking rules need set. Inquisitors being able to see Cloaks was kinda dumb considering the Inquisitors are mostly former Jedi Knights, and utilizing the Dark side would make one less likely to sense a disturbance in the force that was as minor as a cloak, This falls much more under Jedi like traits rather than people who force the dark side to their will and are still becoming accustomed to said powers. Maybe make Probe droids able to sense cloaks via thermal imaging instead? Perhaps Emperors Shadow Guards can sense cloaks but limit their amount (color Royal Guards black)? 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Mystic

[Cubby]

Ah. Wouldn't it would be amazing if we had a set of clone troopers, maybe a subunit, that could cloak and see cloaks. Especially one that doesn't desert and leave the empire. I think that would be pretty sick, and it would solve all of our cloaking problems. 

Edited September 26, 2022 by Cubby

[Mystic]

Just now, Cubby said:

Ah. It would be amazing if we had a set of clone troopers, maybe a subunit, that could cloak and see cloaks. Especially one that doesn't desert and leave the empire. I think that would be pretty sick, and it would solve all of our cloaking problems. 

I think it would be cool to have a battalion.. maybe a subunit of troopers who were trained in such operations in general! This would be an amazing way to push more hostage and negotiations techniques. Perhaps infiltration? Especially in these Imperial days! There were alot of sabotage missions in the Empire era....

[Ccmonty]

Really enjoyed this. Sneaking around, building myself a little base, really changed the dynamic of the server as well.

[Cubby]

1 minute ago, Mystic said:

I think it would be cool to have a battalion.. maybe a subunit of troopers who were trained in such operations in general! This would be an amazing way to push more hostage and negotiations techniques. Perhaps infiltration? Especially in these Imperial days! There were alot of sabotage missions in the Empire era....

I agree! Such a shame no such thing exists...

[Aegis]

Way too much fun, and I feel the large amount of freedom gave inspiration to lots of people. I would definitely like to see more early empire events/deployments/etc.
Things also seemed relatively loose and flexible, so everyone was kept on their toes for expectations, but not aimless or afraid to experiment.

[TessaKitty]

3 hours ago, Brooklyn said:

This honestly sounds like the BEST evidence backer to bring sith back.

If Sith were to be brought back it would divide the playerbase further. Battalions are already struggling to keep up stable population

[Brooklyn]

42 minutes ago, TessaKitty said:

If Sith were to be brought back it would divide the playerbase further. Battalions are already struggling to keep up stable population

Not saying it would come back. But the evidence that people enjoyed the presence of it speaks

[TessaKitty]

48 minutes ago, Brooklyn said:

Not saying it would come back. But the evidence that people enjoyed the presence of it speaks

Imo the RP we had for this imperial stuff was nothing like what we had with Sith. The reason this worked as well as it did was because the whole server was in on it

[Aegis]

6 hours ago, Brooklyn said:

This honestly sounds like the BEST evidence backer to bring sith back.

Not a bad idea, but maybe more as an event faction? Like Senate Guard, they just hop on when things are happening that warrant it? Something where its available, but not be constant or a main focus. That way they have structure, and direction, but not a strict presence. Just my two cents worth though.

[Mystic]

1 hour ago, Aegis said:

Not a bad idea, but maybe more as an event faction? Like Senate Guard, they just hop on when things are happening that warrant it? Something where its available, but not be constant or a main focus. That way they have structure, and direction, but not a strict presence. Just my two cents worth though.

I just want the fuckin Reformed title bruh.

[Mavelle]

Thank you all for the excellent insight :))

[Misfit]

personally ( i think someone said this) again, we should have a weekend/day once a month where the GM team comes together and either goes forward or backwards in time to the beginning of the clone wars or the very end of it solely just to refresh everyone 
kinda like the venator rotation but... better?

[Venom/TJ]

On 9/26/2022 at 12:42 PM, Conrad said:

Imperial dark rp. You want imperial dark rp. 
 

honestly I kinda do too. 

not even imperial tbh still clone wars stuff. either one tbh

[Mystic]

1 hour ago, Misfit said:

personally ( i think someone said this) again, we should have a weekend/day once a month where the GM team comes together and either goes forward or backwards in time to the beginning of the clone wars or the very end of it solely just to refresh everyone 
kinda like the venator rotation but... better?

Remember the giant Phase 1 Geonosis day we had? That was kinda cool.


Edit: Oh yeah @Donodidn't you help host it? lol. Love to see more stuff like that!

Edited September 27, 2022 by Mystic

[Dono]

1 minute ago, Mystic said:

Remember the giant Phase 1 Geonosis day we had? That was kinda cool.

God that took so much work to do : ). 

Projects like that take a lot of work and because of it many leaders in the community do not think its worth doing. If you think larger scale projects should be done consistently then I honestly need you and other members of the community to help me push for it. We have a project in planning thats bigger then anything ever done before, but man is it hard to process it. Best thing you can do to see more of it, is to get as many ppl as you can to reach out to high command, gm leadership and staff leadership, to show them that its really what the community wants. I know its possibe to do these things, but some leadership needs to see the investment from the players before we can really knock your socks off

[Mystic]

6 minutes ago, Dono said:

God that took so much work to do : ). 

Projects like that take a lot of work and because of it many leaders in the community do not think its worth doing. If you think larger scale projects should be done consistently then I honestly need you and other members of the community to help me push for it. We have a project in planning thats bigger then anything ever done before, but man is it hard to process it. Best thing you can do to see more of it, is to get as many ppl as you can to reach out to high command, gm leadership and staff leadership, to show them that its really what the community wants. I know its possibe to do these things, but some leadership needs to see the investment from the players before we can really knock your socks off

You didn't like forcing models every 35 seconds? haha

Hopefully we can get people to push for it. Its super exciting having those days

[Brooklyn]

3 minutes ago, Mystic said:

You didn't like forcing models every 35 seconds? haha

Free tickets that take 10 seconds

[Dono]

2 minutes ago, Brooklyn said:

Free tickets that take 10 seconds

I can assure you the hard part of the genosis two server deployment was not setting the models. We had been doing about a month+ of planning, building and meetings with server leadership to actually be able to do it. We were very lucky with what was allowed and it worked out pretty amazingly

[Brooklyn]

18 minutes ago, Dono said:

I can assure you the hard part of the genosis two server deployment was not setting the models. We had been doing about a month+ of planning, building and meetings with server leadership to actually be able to do it. We were very lucky with what was allowed and it worked out pretty amazingly

i was referring to empire day. I enjoyed doing it.

[Knockout]

Enjoyable had a pretty gud time

[Zeros]

Defector 101 here, I'll give my side to this.
First of all, this is almost nothing against those who planned it, it went incredibly for the transition and ending. 

Positives: The player interaction was INCREDIBLE throughout the entirety of the weekend, and I haven't seen so many people in the village just for RP and not an event/encounter. The theming was great and so was the Vader model, with the amount of RP from the Imperial and Defector side showing what we're all capable of when we commit to RP and having a good time.
Negatives: I'll be completely honest, there was an absurd amount of metagaming. Not just a once or twice occurence, but almost the entirety of the Empire would always know where I was or the fact that I was Rex/not a normal trooper. I was in BH armor and the Inquisitors questioned nobody EXCEPT me and @BlueBeetleabout taking off our helmets to make sure we weren't clones. The camps I had set up across Onderon were also continually raided for us to be shot at and have to flee an attempt at capture. The metagaming was harsh and made it impossible to sit still for too long, let alone go anywhere near the Inquisitors and Purge Troopers. Another issue was the absurd amount of Inquisitors. The fact they could see cloakers was very harsh for how easy it was to become one. I was also being force choked for like..40% of my time on the server those days. Plus, senseless RDM because "oh the empire was bad guys" wasn't too cool either.

Though, there were a lot of memories and highlights from it. I'd like to see something like this again 100%, but the metagaming ruined my RP/experience a good bit.

[BForBoris]

5 hours ago, Zeros said:

Defector 101 here, I'll give my side to this.
First of all, this is almost nothing against those who planned it, it went incredibly for the transition and ending. 

Positives: The player interaction was INCREDIBLE throughout the entirety of the weekend, and I haven't seen so many people in the village just for RP and not an event/encounter. The theming was great and so was the Vader model, with the amount of RP from the Imperial and Defector side showing what we're all capable of when we commit to RP and having a good time.
Negatives: I'll be completely honest, there was an absurd amount of metagaming. Not just a once or twice occurence, but almost the entirety of the Empire would always know where I was or the fact that I was Rex/not a normal trooper. I was in BH armor and the Inquisitors questioned nobody EXCEPT me and @BlueBeetleabout taking off our helmets to make sure we weren't clones. The camps I had set up across Onderon were also continually raided for us to be shot at and have to flee an attempt at capture. The metagaming was harsh and made it impossible to sit still for too long, let alone go anywhere near the Inquisitors and Purge Troopers. Another issue was the absurd amount of Inquisitors. The fact they could see cloakers was very harsh for how easy it was to become one. I was also being force choked for like..40% of my time on the server those days. Plus, senseless RDM because "oh the empire was bad guys" wasn't too cool either.

Though, there were a lot of memories and highlights from it. I'd like to see something like this again 100%, but the metagaming ruined my RP/experience a good bit.

Agreed 100% i was the grand inquisitor and the main inquisitor for a good part of the event and we were kinda at a overwhelming presence and kinda just overused our abilities i definitely wanna see this again but have stricter guidelines for the jobs with force capabilities

 

[Misfit]

20 hours ago, Dono said:

God that took so much work to do : ). 

Projects like that take a lot of work and because of it many leaders in the community do not think its worth doing. If you think larger scale projects should be done consistently then I honestly need you and other members of the community to help me push for it. We have a project in planning thats bigger then anything ever done before, but man is it hard to process it. Best thing you can do to see more of it, is to get as many ppl as you can to reach out to high command, gm leadership and staff leadership, to show them that its really what the community wants. I know its possibe to do these things, but some leadership needs to see the investment from the players before we can really knock your socks off

personally i would 200% help with this

[BlueBeetle]

15 hours ago, Zeros said:

I was in BH armor and the Inquisitors questioned nobody EXCEPT me and @BlueBeetleabout taking off our helmets to make sure we weren't clones. The camps I had set up across Onderon were also continually raided for us to be shot at and have to flee an attempt at capture. The metagaming was harsh and made it impossible to sit still for too long, let alone go anywhere near the Inquisitors and Purge Troopers.

Agreed HEAVILY. No matter where we went, we were always found by Commandos, Inquisitors, or purge troopers. Didn't matter where we are or how many times we had disguises, if they saw "Rex" or "Wolffe" as the name, we were immediately ordered to take off our helmets or attacked. They never did it to other clones (to my knowledge) or to the Jedi (again, to my knowledge, I'm hoping that people saw them as citizens).

Edited September 28, 2022 by BlueBeetle

[Mavelle]

2 hours ago, BlueBeetle said:

Agreed HEAVILY. No matter where we went, we were always found by Commandos, Inquisitors, or purge troopers. Didn't matter where we are or how many times we had disguises, if they saw "Rex" or "Wolffe" as the name, we were immediately ordered to take off our helmets or attacked. They never did it to other clones (to my knowledge) or to the Jedi (again, to my knowledge, I'm hoping that people saw them as citizens).

Yeah, Agreed. I hopped on Ahsoka for 2 hours and set up a dupe to start up with, living in the village like Ahsoka did in the book with the same name. 

But, uh. 

Literally the minute I put the dupe down an inquisitor walked into the house and "found" the hidden doorways, with no in character reason. Was disappointing, but I'll chalk it up to individual player mentality. I would, however, like people to be more conscious about creating cool scenes with eachother instead of "winning" roleplay.

[BlueBeetle]

36 minutes ago, Mavelle said:

I would, however, like people to be more conscious about creating cool scenes with eachother instead of "winning" roleplay.

There's no such thing as "winning" roleplay. Interactions are meant to be scenic, and just as they're named. Interactions. The only "winning" that comes from some of these are if there's a lightsaber duel within it. And even then you want to be cautious about how the story will fan out for the rest of the RP depending on the winner of the duel.

But I agree. Creating scenes as if they were in the story is more important than winning. You, as the player, know about the entrance and who you're talking to. But the character you portray does not.

And that's why Dungeons and Dragons is awesome because it helps you learn these fun things you can use anywhere! :D

[GregRocks]

1 hour ago, BlueBeetle said:

There's no such thing as "winning" roleplay. Interactions are meant to be scenic, and just as they're named. Interactions. The only "winning" that comes from some of these are if there's a lightsaber duel within it. And even then you want to be cautious about how the story will fan out for the rest of the RP depending on the winner of the duel.

But I agree. Creating scenes as if they were in the story is more important than winning. You, as the player, know about the entrance and who you're talking to. But the character you portray does not.

And that's why Dungeons and Dragons is awesome because it helps you learn these fun things you can use anywhere! :D

No, I think he has a point. Roleplay has a tendency to be very competitive in a sense. You always have one person trying to be the center of the roleplay, trying to one-up everyone and generally just being the loudest. Trying to be the main character instead of actually trying to have genuine roleplay. I'm sure during a huge event like the empire for a day, we had a lot of people trying to "win" the roleplay by being the most noticed and liked by everyone, or having every situation go their way.

Edited September 28, 2022 by Lovestruck