SoNE feedback thread

[WickNole]

Yes, I don't think it's a matter of secrecy so much as we ourselves don't always have things planned out as far as maybe everyone things we do!

What if, in this case, we do a "future development suggestion" or "future episode ideas" thread?

Edited December 3, 2015 by WickNole

[goatman461]

I love your idea, I will inform the guys, regarding to secrecy, it's not like there is a lot going on, we just score the builds and pitch ideas for future episodes and ways to incorporate your contributions, but all this takes quite a bit of time since some of us have been quite busy lately.

Yes, I don't think it's a matter of secrecy so much as we ourselves don't always have things planned out as far as maybe everyone things we do!

"Secrecy" was probably too loaded and a poor choice of words. I hope I didn't offend anybody, I really do appreciate the work that y'all do. That being said, even those of us that have involved in SoNE for a while and have heavily participated have no idea what is going on with the game. It would just be nice to get more communication about future episode concepts, story arcs, timelines, y'all's vision for the forum, etc. I'm not even sure who runs this place

[Nom Carver]

No offense at all, regarding to who is running the show, none of us is actually like the boss or the leader, we try to keep bringing new and inventive episodes for you, we also see how to keep the games balanced and incorporate your ideas the best way we can, but since this is some sort of committee it takes a while to make a big decision, lets say that the fact of not knowing what is going to happen keeps the element of surprise, regarding to our current timeline, we are obviously paralleling the events of the (no longer canonical) Shadows of the Empire which will lead to episode VI, new RPGs may come after that and could take place either in the times the old republic, the clone wars, after the battle of endor or after episode VII.

More than one player has been integrated to the team to reinforce us, but those decisions are made by some one else, I nearly have no influence at all, but I try to communicate your concerns to the team.

[MKJoshA]

I pinned this topic since I think it's pretty important to keep the feedback coming. I know we as leaders all appreciate it! While we don't have a lot of details to share yet (mostly because they don't exist yet) I do have a teaser for you all:

Coming to a Nar Eurbrikka spaceport near you!

[Kodan Black]

Is that Wick in the lower left serving drinks? Is that the twist?

[WickNole]

Even if I have had the answers, I wouldn't have told you.

:)

[Tariq j]

Even if I have had the answers, I wouldn't have told you.

:)

*Waves hand* You will tell the Empire everything.

[goatman461]

Is it time to take out Falleen's Fist?

[MKJoshA]

Not yet, though we have talked about doing an episode like that eventually. Here's another teaser for you all:

[goatman461]

nice speeder!

elaborating on my post-RotJ idea (bored at work today)...

In 2 weeks, I'm sure we'll know a lot more, but if anybody is interested in a good post-RotJ breakdown w/o having to read all of the new canon, I found this helpful... http://io9.com/everything-we-know-about-star-wars-post-return-of-the-j-1729549100 Lots of spoilers (for the books I assume)

I'm thinking this leaves a lot of room open for different factions that could rise and fall based on how many builders join up with them. My guess is that the most faithful representations of the universe would be more popular to join and build in. Builders could move between groups to facilitate this, and xp gained with the group could have some benefit - encouraging builders to pick a good faction and stick to it, but allowing them to jump ship if the faction withers.

One problem with movement between groups would be organizing PMs, but this might also introduce an interesting spying element to the game.

Different color schemes could be used between factions, but the amount of color could decrease as factions get more powerful (so that we don't limit new builders). For example, an Imperial Moff could start out by adding dark red to his ships and stormtroopers, but as more builders join, less and less dark red would be needed to accent the builds until they become the new Empire without any need for a specific color scheme.

The factions could build up control of planets through freebuilds and wager that control in the episodes, thereby creating a group incentive to do freebuilds, and in-game group rewards for winning episodes. So, hypothetical Moff Lucas's team could build up 20 points on Hoth, just to lose them to Admiral Wick during an episode. We could keep the freebuild point system as is to give an incentive to controlling planets. (side note - is there a planet up for grab this episode?)

Sorry for the long post, just throwing some brainstorming out there

[Zaael]

I've just finished reading Aftermath and I really like Goatman's idea. There are a lot of Imperial factions now that the Empire is splintered. Sith/Dark Side worshippers, Moffs with a Star Destroyer, wealthy Imperials and the likes. Now the Rebels or New Republic are more organised there could still be different teams or crews or indeed admirals. Maybe even a third team in criminal syndicates?

[Tariq j]

I too like the idea. Now that we officially know how the Sequel Trilogy is starting to play out we can certainly get some good ideas and episodes going. Maybe having characters trying to steal the plans to Starkiller Base (Completely original of course )

I (just!) noticed that GoH has it's own wiki, I'm thinking we could we make one for SoNE as well where we could have pages for all the characters, Episodes, Bounty Hunter Missions etc.

[VaderFan2187]

Sorry to bump this topic, but with Episode XIV hinting at a big battle coming soon, I'm worried SoNE may end soon But I just joined and I love it.

If SoNE does end, will there be a SoNE 2 (just like Andromeda's Gates is going to have a sequel)?

[MKJoshA]

46 minutes ago, VaderFan2187 said:

Sorry to bump this topic, but with Episode XIV hinting at a big battle coming soon, I'm worried SoNE may end soon But I just joined and I love it.

If SoNE does end, will there be a SoNE 2 (just like Andromeda's Gates is going to have a sequel)?

No need to worry about SoNE ending! We have a few more challenges already in mind and yes, there are plans after that too. We're glad to have you on board!

[LegoRacer1]

3 minutes ago, MKJoshA said:

No need to worry about SoNE ending! We have a few more challenges already in mind and yes, there are plans after that too. We're glad to have you on board!

Oh, good I thought t for a second that SoNE was ending. Also if there is a SoNE two count me in.

[VaderFan2187]

10 minutes ago, MKJoshA said:

No need to worry about SoNE ending! We have a few more challenges already in mind and yes, there are plans after that too. We're glad to have you on board!

Very happy to hear that! SoNE is good fun, and helps me to not procrastinate so much when I build

[goatman461]

So what's everybody's thoughts on having so few builds this last Episode? I'm thinking we have a lot fewer ship-builders than I thought we did, but there were also a ton of Corellian freighters being built this month, and others that could have easily cross posted. Is the barrier for posting to one of our Episodes so high? Or are people just ambivalent about posting here?

I think having a micro category might have helped to let others feel like they could commit to building, but I also don't want to have overly complex rules and micros were obviously allowed.

[Kodan Black]

I know that for me the SHIP was pretty much out, I'd need really need more time. I wonder if the September month was rough as people adjusted back to a "normal" routine whether that means them in school or kids going back to school. I wonder if trying to have more categories where maybe it is easier to build like an enforced 16x16 or the micro idea would help as that means less time investment but also that it won't mean someone else can spend more time and go bigger and therefore get more points.

I was happy with the Empire builds but surprised at how few fighters we got. I personally think fighters are a big part of SW so I figured there would be more interest. But I've also noticed a lot of the people who were regular challenge builders when I started don't even seem to post anymore. I know that some may have moved on to other games like BoBS, but it is too bad we seem to have so few Rebels.

[Jannik]

Sorry I didn't enter this episode, still not got my lego properly sorted following a house move and I started an overly ambitious SHIP which I didn't get very far with because I got stuck on the engines. I agree it's a shame that there seem to be lots of people producing mocs that would fit great with SoNE but don't get entered,although I believe that although lot were for a contest on another site

[Cody Startale]

I can only speak for myself, I wanted to enter the episode but halfway through my build, life got in the way and robbed me of the last precious week of freetime before the deadline. So I decided not to strain the deadline with some shady last minute maneuvers, but cancel my participation.

I don't know about everyone else, but the last episode ended mid-june which was right in summer, and this episode was right in between a change of seasons. Vacations tend to be had or end at that time, kids go back to school, regular life basically returns from a summer vacation. For me, Lego building didn't return since June; I put my Legos away for the summer when I had guests over and never bothered getting them out again until well into this episode.

It seems to me that our best builders, like LL or goatman for example, build regularly and have at least a little bit of Lego stuff as part of their standard freetime activity (please correct me if wrong). They are "always ready" to build, so to say. I for one, even though I think about Lego a lot and browse EB regularly, do not actually mess with Lego all that much on a regular base. I have to get it out when I do something, maybe even leave it out for days or weeks at a time, but put it away again afterwards (usually around the time my girlfriend starts to get really angry with the mess I tend to leave).

So what I think I am trying to say is, it was harder to dive back into some ambitious building after not having touched my bricks for almost three months. It feels like myself (and an alarmingly high number of others) never really returned from a summer break we all took between these last two episodes. Now I am not suggesting that episodes should start popping up every month, because that would probably overwhelm even the most dedicated folks around here. But maybe we could have like smaller, quicker vignette-esque challenges between episodes to "ease" people back into building after a period of taking a break from it? To get them back to sitting down with their Legos again, especially when it requires me to invest an evening or two of building something small than to dedicate myself a whole month to something big?

And I know that this is actually what freebuilds are for, but giving people a little initiative wouldn't be such a bad idea, I suppose.

[goatman461]

3 hours ago, Cody Startale said:

It seems to me that our best builders, like LL or goatman for example, build regularly and have at least a little bit of Lego stuff as part of their standard freetime activity (please correct me if wrong). They are "always ready" to build, so to say. I for one, even though I think about Lego a lot and browse EB regularly, do not actually mess with Lego all that much on a regular base. I have to get it out when I do something, maybe even leave it out for days or weeks at a time, but put it away again afterwards (usually around the time my girlfriend starts to get really angry with the mess I tend to leave).

So what I think I am trying to say is, it was harder to dive back into some ambitious building after not having touched my bricks for almost three months.

Thank you. And I can't really imagine going 3 months without building or planning a build. I'm not always productive, but with the store I'm trying to open I don't think I've spent a day without doing something LEGO for a very long time. Lucas is a bit more normal than me, though.

I think you'll like the next Episode, but I don't want to give too much away.

Thanks for the feedback. I know some of the Imperial builders had RL get in the way, too. It's tempting to make the Episodes super long to allow everybody time to build, but I've also noticed that a lot of people wait until the last few weeks to start and we don't want to lose any momentum in people's excitement about the prompt.

[Cody Startale]

That is certainly true and I feel like momentum is an important thing to consider.  How about some minor "speed challenges" from time to time? Like, have super-short mini contests where people get 48 hours to build something. Of course, not everybody can spontaneously make way for 48 hours of building, so announce the challenge, say, one or two weeks prior, without telling the topic ahead, though. Just say like "the next speed contest will be held next weekend, starting XX, ending YY", so that people can anticipate it well in advance and plan to make time for it. Then, have the contest start by telling the topic and the rules and from that moment on, people have 48 hours to finish a small vignette or something.

That's just some ideas I'm throwing around, though. Another question – after Episode XV, some folks, including myself, expressed their interest in participating in other EB roleplay episodes with guest builds, for Historica and such. Are there updates on this and is there a rough timeframe for when we can expect this to happen (like, is it likely that something like that might take place this year or is 2018 a more likely candidate)? Just curious!

[LegoRacer1]

I was wondering, since we are getting XP will are XP carry over to the second game? Or will we all start from 0 XP?

Edited December 5, 2017 by LegoRacer1

[MKJoshA]

11 hours ago, LegoRacer1 said:

I was wondering, since we are getting 25 XP will are XP carry over to the second game? Or will we all start from 0 XP?

The XP you have will carry over into the 2nd game. But which 25XP are you referring to?

[Cody Startale]

A random thought that occurred to me today: are there, possibly for NE 2.0, any plans to maybe balance teams out in terms of newcomers?

Maybe I am wrong since I didn't check exact numbers, but I have that constant feeling that there are more active builders in the Imperial faction than the Rebel one, with new members registered to the Empire all the time.

Now I wouldn't suggest that people shouldn't be allowed to chose their preferred team, but online videogames will often prevent you from entering a crowded team for balancing reasons until the odds are more evened out again.

Edited December 5, 2017 by Cody Startale