Cultures and styles of the Middle States

[GrandpaTrout]

Hey Team,

Adjusting the code to reflect better the culture and style of the different groups in the middle states is a long term goal.

Culture is a very fuzzy concept, and it is best if we pinned down how to approach this issue early.

The main methods of making area seem different is through the type of ships that make up the traffic, and the kinds of text messages the ships use to communicate.

As an example, a if you go to hire a wingman patcom in the Leung empire, they would be flying a different ship than one for hire in the CMC or one for hire in the Sultanate.

And if a ship is attacked, it might give a different cry for help in the Leung empire than in the Sultanate.

If every faction had a unique cry for help, this would require 53 help crys, which seems like too many. If we wanted some variety, then it would be 53 * 3 different crys = 150 crys for help. Add in other messages and we have thousands of unique items. This would be way too much work.

Instead, what I would like to do is use a concept we had worked out long ago for ships. It is called a Fleet Style. A fleet style is basically a summery of a region. Everyone with the same fleet style would use the same ships, and the same speech.

Here are the fleet styles that I would like to see in game (and why). This list is open to discussion. Our goal is to settle on the very smallest list, that gives the greatest feeling of difference to the player.

Leung Empire (fleet style=leung). The empire covers the whole of the south. Much of the middle states purchases ships from Leung. And Emerald used to be part of the Leung Empire and still uses these ships.

Sultanate (fleet style=sultan). The other Empire to the north. Another source of ships for the cluster. Also includes the Caliphate and many mega corporations.

CMC (fleet style=cmc). The CMC used to own most of the center of the middle states. The ship yards that survived the war still churn out a large number of CMC ships. This fleet style basically represents the wealthy survivors of the war. Many mega corporations use these ships and hire people with these kinds of speech patterns.

The Barrens (fleet style=barrens). This fleet style represents the less lucky surviors of the war. They have rag tag patched together equipment and less educated speech. Many of the independents, aikenites, and pirates use this fleet style.

The Brethren (fleet style=brethren) The brethren are so unique, that it would not make sense for them to borrow anothers style.

The Machines (fleet style=machine). The defense machines of epitaph. Another group with very different ships and speech patterns than all other factions in the middle states.

If you think this list should be different, please post.

The code does not yet make use of these values, but it soon will. You can see which faction has which style in the MS_Mod_Main/faction_info.ini file.

This file is worth reading. It basically shows how the game understands each faction, which is often different than the background document. In the written world, a faction can be many fuzzy things. In the computer world, the fuzzyness must be replaced with crystal clear divisions.

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