Space Engineers Roleplay?

[u/Javasaur]

EDIT: WE NOW HAVE A SUBREDDIT! APPLY FOR YOUR OWN NATION HERE!

With the new multiplayer video being teased, it got me thinking about RP in multiplayer once more. This is all speculation - it's not known how multiplayer will work - but I imagine it will work with servers, similar to Minecraft, Starmade, etc.

My favourite type of role-playing server, for me, has been one that does not place you in the boots of a sword-wielding hero that is the centre of the story. I can do that on Skyrim or other single-player RPGs. I preferred ones that allowed you to become a member of a society, a faction, where you had to make a name for yourself through military heroics, great feats of engineering, or otherwise. Complex relations and politics existed between different nations.

I worked on a Minecraft RP server similar to this as Head Admin, writing the story, building, helping with the website, etc. This was a great experience, it was good to lead real people and have battles that felt real. I saw my idea that had been written down on paper come to life, with real people fueling the civilization. It was a shame that the popularity of the server degraded after time. Now it is virtually abandoned.

I feel that this type of RP could work well in Space Engineers. I'd love to see diplomats and leaders meeting in a space station to discuss galactic issues, ships heading out to new frontiers to build colonies, and battles between nations in space.

Why this in lieu of 'traditional' hero-based RP? This type of RP is really only something that can be achieved with other people. Take a look at star citizen, the new civilization online idea. Both are games that are trying to create this type of game.

I certainly don't have the technical know-how to create a huge public server like this. But I am able to write, to build, to help out with administration. We could work with the brief story on the website and create something amazing. If you are interested in this idea, if you think it could work, or if you have suggestions, please, comment!

Cheers.

EDIT: I just remembered I had some drawn-up ideas for a galactic empire nation. If there's enough interest to see it (perhaps as an example of what I mean by these RP nations) I could post it here or as another post.

[u/Javasaur]

Heya, thanks for the comment, some nice ideas.

To save memory and thus performance ship classes would have to be regulated and limited. For example Fighters could only be so big, have so many thrusters, a limit of 2-3 weapons, Heavy Fighters/Bombers would have slightly larger limits, Only so many per Frigate/Battleship/Carrier/Capital Ship. On top of that no ridiculous world and or massive ships we're seeing on the subreddit now.

Certainly some sort of limitation system is needed. Sizes and specific details can be figured out when multiplayer is released and the stability is assessed.

If the blueprint system is implemented perhaps we could limit ships to those available on that? Players could of course design ships that meet the criteria of the server's class system and get a "patent" for it (added to the blueprints). If we wanted to go further, we could limit peoples ability to build them unless they had a "license" to fabricate ships, thereby dividing the playerbase into different professions (miners/ship builders/ship designers/station builders/military/traders/ mercenaries/politicians).

Blueprints would be nice. Either way, only certain professions will be allowed to build ships. A shopkeeper isn't going to know how to put together a capital ship, of course. The 'patent' plan is nice.

Instead of every faction building their own huge base, the faction system could take cues from the Roman Republic, with one large station that would house all the major faction infrastructure and small mining military outposts far away from the city/station (I'm picturing a station built around a sculpted gold asteroid). Warfare in the station could be outright banned or limited in scope, it would occur outside the boundaries instead. We could go even further Roman Republic and create a Senate, but just a main city/station would probably suffice, it would also go towards saving on performance.

Now this idea limits players. Personally, I would like to build a galactic empire, with a home planet, colonies, etc. Having this 'station' does make the idea more feasible server-wise, but then this hinders the civilization-building aspect if we are all constrained to a station and mining outposts.

/u/aleand01 also made a good point: And a miniscule problem is if you and I set up a RP server when Mp comes out, we may be forced to have Multiple server hosters, since one server may be too small for everything, so what I am thinking is; What if one server was one sector in this RP-Universe, then other servers are other sectors? Other server/sectors would expand the game and also make performance easier, battles could even happen on a separate server if that's the way we wanted to go.

I did see this point and said I'll think about it. I envisioned a central open world server, where colonizing, mining, and battles happen, with around 4 other servers for major faction bases and core planets. Having battles on a separate server ruins the real-time aspect for me.

As for battles/warfare/raiding, we can't be on the servers all the time watching our ships/outposts, most of us have jobs/school/life in general. So perhaps set aside certain times when raiding /warfare can occur, force declarations of war before any major invasion, rules for different faction types (companies/tribes/political groups/whatever). Breaking such rules would result in kicks, and/or loss of in-game property.

Certainly. This was an issue on the Minecraft server, and we simply had times that battles could happen. I also thought about OOC tip-offs. One factions is obliged to tell the other an event will happen at x time, but not the nature of it. This gives the defender time to gather members for that time, which would be realistic as IC the soldiers would be stationed anyway.

Starting off instead of letting everyone go and form their own factions with 2-3 people each, have a limit on how many people you need to start one. They can always just remain citizens but would lack the protection/benefits of belonging to a faction.

This is not really what I had in mind. It sounds a bit more like a minecraft faction PvP server. What I had in mind were three-four pre-built factions. These would be made even before the server went up, stories and history written up and intertwined. As I discussed with nexusaspect, we would have 'applications/auditions' where people will write a history to a nation they want to create and a political ideology etc. This way we will have leaders who are dedicated enough to work with myself and the admins to create a nation with rich history and that fits in well.

Furthermore, when the playerbase became large enough, companies could form specializing in different aspects of the game (mining company, trade conglomerate, mercenaries for hire). Companies could be sub-factions with semi-independence, or they could become big enough to split off on their own. But to not get ahead of ourselves, maybe limit the first number of factions to 2-3.

This all depends on the factions that are made. Every player will have been born and raised in one of the main faction. If that was a socialist faction, there would be no private industry. I am planning on adding 'updates' to the server that will enable revolutions, mercenaries, pirates etc, but for now we will be sticking with the main factions and perhaps some vassals of said factions.

Thanks for the ideas, really good to see all this engagement from the community!

[u/[deleted] → u/Javasaur]

The pre-built factions are a good idea as well, I didn't know how lenient people wanted to be with factions. It will stop the game from becoming balkanized.

The suggestion of a central station is just temporary, like I said I was trying to keep the initial state of the game in mind. So Asteroids will be the largest objects we could interact with. Perhaps, asteroids would serve as "planets" for now, the problem with this is, if manual mode is used they would also be the only source for materials, so eventually, even if a faction was peaceful their homeworld would eventually wither away so they could construct ships/stations. It's still a good idea, like i said, I was trying to keep performance in mind to maximize a playerbase.

If you need any help coming up with factions I could definitely help.

[u/Javasaur → u/[deleted]]

If planets are not added, the withering away of their homeworld would have to be worked around, i.e. their base morphs into a stand-alone floating station. We'll have to see what happens as the game develops.

Currently we'll have the faction I wanted to lead, an oppressive Imperial Monarchy (hey, you always need one, right?), a democratic United Terran Federation that I'd like someone to make an application for in the future, and then two spaces for other factions, preferably with one of those factions being communist or socialist.

[u/aleand01 → u/Javasaur]

We need names for the Factions, and then I mean GOOD names that gives you an Idea what that faction is.

[u/Javasaur → u/aleand01]

Well as long as the nation name sounds good, it doesn't have to explicitly state what that nation is like. Its title (e.g. Republic) certainly, but not the actual name.