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Avalon Enterprises
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After reading some the suggestions on here and Discord (suggestions > corporations) I decided to write up a bit about the general idea of a sci-fi mega corporation and how it was handled in FoM since I feel like some people might not understand the general idea.
These are not just sci-fi future versions of Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. They are something very different then any company of real life today. These corps are massive conglomerates that went and absorbed all the competition within their massive geographic areas. Think every company in the Americas becoming one and every company in Europe becoming one, and every company in Asia becoming one, and every company working in space mining and exploration becoming one. That is what gave the world of FoM the mega corps of American Enterprises, EuroCore, Asian Coalition, and Colonization and Mining Guild.
It isn't like just collecting all the economic activity into one, it's the entire societies including local, state/province, and entire national governments. These mega corporations aren't just "ecoers ecoing", they have security forces which provide for policing over controlled lands and wage wars against other corps, criminal organizations, and even sometimes against the government, which while these corps were taking over regional governments and power the goverment in this story is more like a United Nations set up to try and keep some peace, prevent the other factions from committing major atrocities, providing some services such as a global monetary system, and of course try to expand their own power and influence by also acting as the stewards of certain areas not controlled by the corps or criminals.
So obviously this isn't exactly FoM but from with I can tell the general idea is the same and so splitting up corps would not make sense and thinking that corps are just 'eco' factions is just wrong. Some of my best memories are of wars between corps or between corp and clan for control of important resources.
As far as balance between faction work and solo/group work plus eco vs combat needs, well that's up for each faction to figure out how to balance and be successful or fail. This balance of work/needs is something every faction regardless of type will need to figure out. I certainly have seen both good and bad attempts in my time with AE, GoM, and CMG back in the day.
With departments there's room for a faction to allow smaller groups to sort of silo themselves off and do mini internal corp type stuff. Though I wouldn't recommend encouraging large scale competition or splitting a faction up into relatively autonomous groups. I would leave that to players forming ad-hoc groups outside of game mechanics and using forum/discord to advertise themselves as some sort of specialized seller on a market or for bulk contracts while still having the unity of belonging to a singular faction with a common goal.
These are not just sci-fi future versions of Apple, Microsoft, Google, etc. They are something very different then any company of real life today. These corps are massive conglomerates that went and absorbed all the competition within their massive geographic areas. Think every company in the Americas becoming one and every company in Europe becoming one, and every company in Asia becoming one, and every company working in space mining and exploration becoming one. That is what gave the world of FoM the mega corps of American Enterprises, EuroCore, Asian Coalition, and Colonization and Mining Guild.
It isn't like just collecting all the economic activity into one, it's the entire societies including local, state/province, and entire national governments. These mega corporations aren't just "ecoers ecoing", they have security forces which provide for policing over controlled lands and wage wars against other corps, criminal organizations, and even sometimes against the government, which while these corps were taking over regional governments and power the goverment in this story is more like a United Nations set up to try and keep some peace, prevent the other factions from committing major atrocities, providing some services such as a global monetary system, and of course try to expand their own power and influence by also acting as the stewards of certain areas not controlled by the corps or criminals.
So obviously this isn't exactly FoM but from with I can tell the general idea is the same and so splitting up corps would not make sense and thinking that corps are just 'eco' factions is just wrong. Some of my best memories are of wars between corps or between corp and clan for control of important resources.
As far as balance between faction work and solo/group work plus eco vs combat needs, well that's up for each faction to figure out how to balance and be successful or fail. This balance of work/needs is something every faction regardless of type will need to figure out. I certainly have seen both good and bad attempts in my time with AE, GoM, and CMG back in the day.
With departments there's room for a faction to allow smaller groups to sort of silo themselves off and do mini internal corp type stuff. Though I wouldn't recommend encouraging large scale competition or splitting a faction up into relatively autonomous groups. I would leave that to players forming ad-hoc groups outside of game mechanics and using forum/discord to advertise themselves as some sort of specialized seller on a market or for bulk contracts while still having the unity of belonging to a singular faction with a common goal.
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The Syndicate
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Civilian
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Terran Defense Corps
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Pin worthy write up.
It's a great piece to link, that gives new players a sense of the foundational theme for corps.
All suggestions around corps should have this in mind.
It's a great piece to link, that gives new players a sense of the foundational theme for corps.
All suggestions around corps should have this in mind.
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Civilian
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A nice summation of FoM dynamics and to be certain corps shouldn't be eco exclusively.
That said Eco is the niche requiring mechanical design for them atop the general feature rich gameplay that should be open to any player regardless of faction. That is not to say they should only be doing that any more than any other faction should be barred from Eco activity to focus on their niche mechanics.
It may not be relevant but IMO the entirely Westphalian state design for factions is one of the things that ended up getting FoM into trouble as a colour based shooter. MR probably can get away with copying FoM directly with lessons learned by staff and leading players to run it better this go around but it would probably be better for long term health to have corps that are part of/owners of the TU government and at the start of a rise to outright sovereignty challenges rather than being tacitly sovereign already with the government as a fourth estate.
That said Eco is the niche requiring mechanical design for them atop the general feature rich gameplay that should be open to any player regardless of faction. That is not to say they should only be doing that any more than any other faction should be barred from Eco activity to focus on their niche mechanics.
It may not be relevant but IMO the entirely Westphalian state design for factions is one of the things that ended up getting FoM into trouble as a colour based shooter. MR probably can get away with copying FoM directly with lessons learned by staff and leading players to run it better this go around but it would probably be better for long term health to have corps that are part of/owners of the TU government and at the start of a rise to outright sovereignty challenges rather than being tacitly sovereign already with the government as a fourth estate.
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Terran Defense Corps
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Totally agree with you. Corps should not be reduced to mining/production/selling-oriented only factions and I particularly like the "Mega" part of their characteristics that existed in FoM.
What do you mean by "owners of the TU government"? Like megacorps that have just established a regional domain over a territory that constitutes the TU and may now look forward to expanding their area of influence/business?
What do you mean by "owners of the TU government"? Like megacorps that have just established a regional domain over a territory that constitutes the TU and may now look forward to expanding their area of influence/business?
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Civilian
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As in they would be (the) major power brokers of the TU and yes I would say they would have recognised administration of none governmental colonies that are (at least nominally) still very much part of the TU. That isn't the same thing as giving them total sovereignty over any area (territory/earth colony/map) that they own with the government (as mechanically a collaboration between the agency factions) also trying to control their own areas and enforce rules on the other factions.
I know MR lore is in perennial rework but the corporations are all described as being multifaceted corporations (with areas of specialisation but not exclusivity) and members of the Union. One is that they are variably collaborative in and subject to the government thus in competition to have a controlling stake in it, sovereignty means they are essentially external to the TU and in competition with whatever government exists.
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