Faction Founder Tips

[MacThule]

Anyone want to share their general experiences gained from running factions about important features, rules, etc in Starmade multiplayer?

Obviously play style determines a lot, but there are some common things.

Personally, I never allow anyone else to edit the faction homebase, to prevent theft and sabotage. I feel like it's my job as a faction leader to prevent any possible trouble from affecting those who pledge their loyalty by joining my team.

I always have at least one deep-space (outside of the galaxy) stash station with a modest reserve of valuable resources so that if something crazy like hacking takes down my homebase the faction can rebuild easily. I never tell even the other faction officers the location of such stashes.

I personally feel that faction leaders should plan to offer at least 5 docking spots for every member they intend to have, because everyone likes to have a few different ships. I also always include at least a few public docking features to allow allies and traders to come around.

With proper safeguards, I don't think factions have to be super exclusive and paranoid about recruiting and promoting new players. I find it better to assume that the worst will happen (spies, saboteurs, thieves, trolls), and simply plan for it.

What specific techniques, tactics and strategies have you all learned?

 

[Mortiferum]

To deal with spies:

Thorough interviews
Teamspeak 3
Steam profile
Game purchased
Recruitment from obscure, unknown servers

Especially game purchased, since 15 dollars per spying attempt is going to help the game a lot :D

 

[Az14el]

If you're lucky enough to have an IRL friend/someone you trust on the server then it's well worth to have someone else able to edit the homebase. Good docking is definitely a good point, Efficient factories, salvagers & inventories are an absolute must also, a poor industry is crippling and that's for the most part up to the faction leadership. Can probably add a well stocked & supplied shop & understanding of the new trading system onto that as well now.

 

[Snowtiger256]

Well, how about tips on handling newbies in a faction? Babysitting newbies is one of my least favorite things on a server, so it might be a good thing to have some guidelines on handling them in general. What would these be?

1. Ensure that the newbie has grasped the basics of the game, and if not, set aside time for lessons for important things. This means you can concentrate on other things (like building, managing storages, playing the game in general) as well as training the newbie.

2. "Just a few quick questions" is never just that, so the previously mentioned lessons may have to include time for asking and answering those questions. This means the newbie is not hanging around behind your back for "just a few quick questions" when you're trying to build and troubleshoot your own builds.

3. On a Survival/PvP server, ensure that the newbie knows the basics of common courtesy. For an example, taking stuff out of common storage is to be confirmed with other faction members (simply asking for something is enough to let them know that it's needed), so that they don't start to wonder where their stuff has disappeared, especially if the faction is just starting. Likewise, if something is taken out and used, it would be a good thing if the newbie would also replace what has been taken, since resources on a Survival/PvP server are on limited supply. Also "Thank you." "Hello." "Goodbye." etc are common courtesy, so I personally expect an answer when tossing them about.

4. Likewise on a Survival/PvP sever, the newbie must know his limits. Picking wars on other factions because "I was bored" might snowball into every ally of the said faction taking offense on your faction, because a newbie decided to bite more than he could chew. Fighting wars with limited resources is not fun, and it might nd up killing the faction outright, if those limited resources run out.

5. The most important thing in everything we do is to use the most important tool in our life, the lump of gray matter between our ears, that some call the human brain. Make sure that the newbie knows how to use it, so he'll actually go and figure out stuff by himself.

 

[Mortiferum]

Another thing is "clear objectives".

Are you going to be a PvP, militaristic faction going for the top spot? Yes? Say so.
Are you going to be a peaceful trading faction going for dominating whatever SM economy is? Say so.

Do not make unclear goals, that simply leads to recruits join and go as they realise that the faction is "not for them".

 

[jontyfreack]

how to set up a faction base.
step 1: mine some asteroids so you can build an effective salvager
step 2: mine some of the asteroids in the system you want to claim
step 3: start making your HB, make sure to build the factories first
step 4: make a large cargo space and a shipyard
step 5: turrets and other docks for faction ships
step 6: now you can start work on the combat ready ships as you now have a backup of material and a HB to fall back on, however make sure that you continue to claim other systems to keep your faction points positive.

top tip for faction stuff: make a certain build style that isn't too resource heavy and identifies your faction from the others, this is also good when you have several members of the faction building stuff as it makes sure that all the ships and stations LOOK PART OF THE FACTION

and as always, keep away from the forum side drama unless, of course, you want to become part of the flame wars.

 

[kikaha]

My first rule almost (beside hundreds of other points :p )

Make things clear from the start.

 

[MacThule]

Babysitting newbies is one of my least favorite things on a server, so it might be a good thing to have some guidelines on handling them in general.

Same, and yet it's one of the most common and time consuming chores every faction leader/officer deals with if they're serving more than a few players they already know.

I'll add:
6. Delegate! When you get a very raw noob, PM some of your more established low-ranking members and find someone who can give the new member an hour or two of time getting the basics in order. Alternate between coaching noobs yourself (because having the leader involved lends recruits more confidence), and assigning them to shadow or take lessons from your faction officers and even your reliable junior pilots. Avoid doing all the training yourself. Not because you're lazy, but I've noticed that when I hand-hold a noob personally the whole time, too often they start to think of themselves as some kind of lieutenant/officer and can get uppity.

2. "Just a few quick questions" is never just that, so the previously mentioned lessons may have to include time for asking and answering those questions. This means the newbie is not hanging around behind your back for "just a few quick questions" when you're trying to build and troubleshoot your own builds.

:D+1
For real. It's never quick. It can go on for days...

All of your tips are great!
[doublepost=1469718960,1469717355][/doublepost]

If you're lucky enough to have an IRL friend/someone you trust on the server then it's well worth to have someone else able to edit the homebase. Good docking is definitely a good point, Efficient factories, salvagers & inventories are an absolute must also, a poor industry is crippling and that's for the most part up to the faction leadership. Can probably add a well stocked & supplied shop & understanding of the new trading system onto that as well now.

Yes - this would be the only reasonable exception to no editing the HB; a reliable, competent real-world friend who plays with you.

I think most faction leaders neglect docking. You join a faction and there's one crappy dock for you... but "have fun!" Then allies come visit and you're sitting there chatting and a random sniper comes in and wastes their shuttle because it had no safe dock - that's the last visit you get from them.

Salvagers, yes. I would actually recommend keeping at least 1 faction common salvager on hand for members to use at any time if needed. I like to have a cheap (replaceable) micro-miner or two available even to new recruits, then 1 large super-salvager that only vetted members can use.

Industry (refineries/factories): Agreed. There are several viable approaches to building a strong industrial base. I've used to build 1 giant, central factory array set up to pull to/from a central faction storage, coupled with a founder-only faction reserve to hedge against massive theft. That's a good, simple setup.

Lately I've gone over to building 2+ smaller factory arrays, each with separate, airlock docking so that faction members can dock their private cargo ships in a way that blocks the factory door from anyone not on their ship from entering, they can use the factory for as long as they need, then uncouple their private cargo ship and re-dock it to a normal long-term dock on the station. This setup allows faction members to each maintain their own private stash that other members can't rob, and buy/sell from the faction store. Combined with keeping a modest faction reserve on-hand for special projects, this lets member mine/build/trade freely while preventing them from outright stealing from the faction, or even just obliviously appropriating large chunks of faction wealth to dump into their private boondoggles.

 

[Tydeth]

step 6: now you can start work on the combat ready ships as you now have a backup of material and a HB to fall back on, however make sure that you continue to claim other systems to keep your faction points positive.

Actually, it's the opposite. By default, owning territory drains FP, and having active members gives you FP. Some servers invert this, to try to encourage expansion and the creation of attackable bases instead of turtling in the invulnerable homebase.

 

[Madman198237]

The trick to having a successful faction is to idiot-proof it in every way possible. If it can't be broken, it won't be.
That said, be ready for Murphy's Law to strike again...at any time.

 

[Zedrackis]

The trick to having a successful faction is to idiot-proof it in every way possible. If it can't be broken, it won't be. That said, be ready for Murphy's Law to strike again...at any time.

No faction is 100% idiot proof on a vanilla server. Even if it comes down to spies giving away your position when your mining, new members getting themselves killed and costing your faction faction points, or just someone using up free docks when you need them most. However, this is a good point given what can actually be done to make a good setup.

1 - You can have multiple founders and assign important privileges by rank.
2 - Your faction block has ranks, make sure you use them. If you don't want new players grabbing the biggest ship and running off with it, make sure to rank-lock those. Your home station should only be editable to by ranks of people you trust most, its not just your assets its protecting but everyones in the factions. No matter how much they ask, no they don't need access to edit it. In fact, just having them ask for perms to home station should be grounds to reconsider their membership in your faction, especially if they persist in asking.
4 - Faction permissions blocks are a great thing, Just be careful where you stick them. Leaving one next to a shop, build block, or ship core could cause you a lot of problems latter on. Even in cases of main cargo for a station, it might be better to connect a faction accessible factory/ship yard to storage instead of giving out direct access.
5 - Undeathinators are another case of this, might be best to have one for general faction use, and one reserved for higher ranking members in a separate protected room. Also doesn't hurt to have rank locked turrets around the station and near the undeathinator, in case someone does manage to spawn camp you.
6 - Kick on hostile action is a thing, better to kick/rejoin a rank 4 who miss placed a shot, than have one who abused their protections from your turrets.
7 - Remember everyone in your faction, regardless of rank knows the location of any member online thru the faction menu. This does not apply to fleeted ships moving on their own. Best to keep your fleet movements too your higher ranks.
8 - Rails are generally usable by anyone in your faction regardless of rank. Might want to shove a few Universal Docks behind some rank locked doors just so your higher ranks always have a dock when needed.
9 - Rail loading/offloading while generally a good idea to get resources into the capsule refinery it can be reversed if someone makes the mistake of turning off the pull on your storage. It doesn't hurt to have a intermediate storage between the rail and main cargo.
10 - Missiles through walls are still a thing, and a good way to get free kills if home base has thin walls. Put spaced armor, and double doors on anything you might possibly find yourself or your members lazily standing about inside of.
11 - Scanners in your home system are good for the full system. Of course if your home base is right on the system edge, its a mute point because people can sit the next system cloaked looking at you.
12 - Remember home base is a double sided AMC. It protects all the blocks but it also gives away your position to everyone in the universe. Better to design a station in single player creative and have it read to spawn by blue print. Instead of just making some planet plate your first home base.

Thats my thoughts, but I'm a bit on the hyper-paranoid side.