mpf ranking structure and authorized equipment

I really wish we just went away with the brainwashing. It might be lore friendly, it theoretically makes sense but it just restricts roleplay so much. Nazi Germany, Soviet Union, DDR had high ranking officers doing fucked up shit and nobody mechanically brainwashed them, so it is plausible the people in high command of the Alliance also just "follow orders."

I am also not a fan of giving away weapons based on rank, it should be based on necessity. Pull out MP7s/SPAS-12 only when absolutely necessary as the City Administration probably wants to keep up the illusion of, you know, relative safety. This largely depends on the lore direction the server is going to follow though.

I hate division systems, @Sixx had a good idea on them.


Aside from all of that, I like the vanilla ranks.

 

I agree with the old system (almost) entirely, I've always loved the good old fashioned system. The simplistic ranking structure is tried and true and I've always found to be the best, that way we can be as vanilla as possible. I also don't believe that brainwashing is even necessary.

This, mainly because they are people not just brainwashed cyborgs. People can be capable of purely disgusting things but still come off as humane. My only gripe is that I wholeheartedly believe that the SeC should be and event based unit, I've seen far too many servers with sectorials always online. And personally I don't find that necessary.

 

In one of my servers EpU was as far as I went with the rankings but that is a bit extreme if we want a little bit more diverse CP experience.

My main problem is the fact that with a lot of interpretations, SeC is an equivalent of a five-star general and then you have him train recruits and patrolling? Or have him do "important Universal Union work," lock him in the cabinet and inevitably that person gets bored and plays another character and suddenly CP loses an important character.

I feel like we need to redefine high command for it to be the local high command. Sectorial commander is a commander of the specific sector of the city, a small populated sector we are playing in, nothing more. Divisional leader is, well, leader of the division of the CP, and all the CP units on the servers are the members of one division of a larger CP battalion if we are going with the U.S. Army as the reference. No subdivisions for medical units and other stuff. Only one SeC and one (maaaybe two) DvL.

Thus, SeC will have more opportunities to serve as sort of inspector where it logically makes sense for him to sometimes patrol the city and observe the quality of work as well as be more active in training and day to day operations of the Civil Protection.

DvL will be the main active guy and participate in most of the action and do most of the decisions. Full freedom to go patrolling the streets with recruits, beat up and arrest citizens, although some DvLs will just consider these actions beneath them.

 

The problem with divisions is they never work properly unless an event or something was directly made for their purpose. Medics are semi-useful sometimes, but all the other divisions are just... useless most of the time. Engineering? Detective? Why can't a normal, trained Civil Protection unit put a combine lock, breach a door, drive an APC or do some basic investigation? Plus, Civil Protection, as a faction, does not need more tools for people to have fun. That's why I really liked @Sixx 's idea where we delegate all of those divisions usually used for CPs to normal citizens, aside from the obvious CP-only stuff.

I absolutely love this. I have been theorizing for years on how to implement this and make it work and all of the conclusions lead me to the fact that this system would create wonderful roleplaying scenarios. Just like in real life, the sector of the city will only receive limited amount of resources and the sector has to provide both the output and the results to get more resources and also explain where were the resources spent.

Imagine if there were only 50 boxes of 9mm ammo supplied for two weeks. You have to ration it up throughout the CP units, it will make CP units question whether or not they really want to use the gun and they have to make a report whenever the firearm is discharged just like in real life. It will create accountability, it will create more interesting work for a lot of characters and we can tie in regular citizens in there somewhere. Or imagine very unrealistic, but very cool scenario like in the movie 'Snowpiercer' where they realize that their oppressors have run out of ammo and they start rioting.

 

I don't think there should be a SeC, CmD, etc. Too much power and authority.

I find that structuring it similarly to a basic military (Pvt > Cpl > Sgt, etc) would make the most sense in their world despite the vanilla implications. I would go as far as to say that the rankings would define those who show leadership qualities and would lead patrol squads and the like as opposed to just having a 'division leader'. I think scrapping the concept of 'divisions' and just having characters take courses on specific topics (e.g explosives or how to repair some important structure or what have you) is more expansive.

And double yes on a supply day. Sounds like a great way to add more to the role.

 

There is a second route we can go with the Combine hierarchy. I have seen it on Lemonpunch in 2015 and it is also worked wonderfully.

There is 05 to 01 (Pvt to Sgt basically) and that is it. Normal CP units who applied, as well as experienced staff members, can play as an Overwatch scanner and they basically issue commands and do bunch of Overwatch Dispatch stuff, as well as give out points to be used for promotion for completing tasks. The leaders for squads are either assigned by Overwatch dispatch either if one of the units requests it or just however the Overwatch sees fit or it just falls back to senior rank officers.

It is extremely vanilla HL2 lore friendly because that is basically how CP officers in HL2 work. There are no scary DvL working around. Literally anyone can progress through ranks. It is an incredibly inclusive system and it is a very simple one as well.

 

The resource system could provide a second meaning to HL2RP.

It will also extend to citizens and other organizations and that is where it will get interesting. Bribery, embezzlement, corruption should be made available as an option and also possible to track down and prosecute. Greedy warehouse workers who "lost a shipment," corrupt hospital official who sells medical supplies to the Resistance on the side, incompetent Civil Protection unit who lost his equipment and either needs to come clean or come up with something on his report. It creates so much roleplay opportunities if done correctly.

 

I was meaning to imply that the ranks should be notated as something similar as opposed to the 'i5' or '05' nomenclature. I do like the idea of squad leads or something similar thereof that will issue commands to ground units (even if they're also normal ground units with some form of authority).

This is the very thing I was thinking. Have certifications/qualifications instead of generalized 'divisions'.

Not all that off topic, but has anyone tried a reverse ranking system that goes from, hypothetically, 01 to whatever in ascending order? 01 to 05 could be fairly easy in comparison to 05-07 where it requires more qualifications or 'promotion points' or 'time in grade' or what have you. This potentially removes the capped feeling and gives the incentive to continue applying yourself if you could hypothetically promote endlessly.

 

Sounds solid to me. I am particularly fond of the 'rank leader'/'squad leader' type of position, but I do know it's limitations in text roleplay.