First, some things to consider about Community Warfare:
- It will be very little more than what we have right now. It will be 8v8 or 12v12 or some other variation of group sizes. The difference will be that the results may sway the battle for a specific planet, or region on the map.
- It will be done by joining a queue just as we have now.
- It will likely be the same two modes, Assault and Conquest, that we have now for at least the first few months.
- It wont likely be any more competitive than we have now unless they limit Community Warfare drops to only groups of 8 or groups of 12 (very unlikely).
- It has been mentioned that Community Warfare drops may have planetary variables, such as weight limits, differences in colors of laser weapons, etc. Not much detail has been given here yet.
- This is where we will find the most value in training specific lance types to be prepared for the weight limits.
Second, about the 4th Regulan Hussars, and structure:
Even at our current numbers we are
not large enough for a full regimental structure. Accounting for activity times of various members we have roughly a Company worth of active members that could get together at the same time. And even then for only a few hours at most before the numbers drop. We are a heavily international community, and even our American members are spread across more timezones than our European members.
Our Sunday practices are already geared towards practicing more seriously and working the whole unit towards a more competitive level of play without driving our more casual members away. We can be good without having a stick up our asses. I feel we've found a very good balance here between slowly upping our competitive game while still not taking the game too seriously. That all said, there is indeed great value in having a Lance of members in the unit that are super familiar with each others builds and play styles. This is why we do currently have a couple of lances forming with that in mind. However, we are aware of the potential for driving a wedge between the membership and will never completely segregate members. To that end we'll never have a group that is purely dedicated to only competitive play. At that point, they might as well be their own unit which is completely separate from us anyway.
8-man drops are not the best training tool for Community Warfare. It definitely increases the difficulty level by playing in the 8-man queue. But the hyper-competitive groups tend to run nothing but the latest unbalanced flavor-of-the-month. This results in constantly having to change 'Mech builds as the patches continue to balance the game. It also results in some pilots becoming either too specialized, or actually weaker due to the crutch of using something that is overpowered but will be balanced down the road. However, learning to defeat these teams full of "cheese builds" does indeed teach us to be even better pilots. Even so, 8-mans will never become a sole focus for us.
About rising in rank. I'm sorry to say, but if your main driving goal is to rise in rank, this is the wrong unit for you.
- The majority of our members will be Private and Private, First class. The highest "enlisted rank" one could reach would be Sergeant. All of these ranks are almost purely gained by how long you've been here, and how often you're around.
- Anything above that, below officers, are people with aims towards Lance leadership. You both have to want this, and be approved by the officers. It takes showing effective leadership skills, good people skills, and at least average piloting skills. To be completely blunt, Officer decisions on who is approved are completely subjective and may be made without reason given.
- Officers are purely subjectively chosen and ultimately approved by myself. Other officers may suggest new officers to me, but I must sign off on it. I look for many of the same things as for Lance leadership, as well as whether or not I can trust the person with the moderator and administrative powers that come with the rank, and whether or not I feel they just want to have power over others.
The primary use for rank in this unit is determining who gets first choice on leading a drop, with Officer ranks getting a bit of delegated administrative power so that I'm not having to do everything by myself.
Yes, we have a military-like structure here. But it is a loose one. Yes, we can get serious and we can kick some serious ass. But we are not a hyper-competitive group. We accept all comers as long as we all get along. When we're not in a Sunday practice, we are casual and probably will be chatty. The only exception to this is if a drop leader decides on more disciplined drops.
It is who we are and how we've been operating and while some of it will evolve over time, it will never result in a hyper-competitive, business-only group. We're here to play a game and get away from our real jobs and responsibilities. We don't need stress from our games too.
I hope I haven't driven you away with this response. I'm pretty sure we all like you, and you do seem to fit in.
