Discussion Changes to Major Faction Mandates

[Valery Noble]

For the longest time, I didn't even really know they were a thing, but a conversation with other GA staff members got me looking at the MF Mandates, and gave me the idea to put up this discussion. Looking at the list of available mandates, I personally feel that while some of them are really interesting, a lot of them don't really seem useful anymore in the way the "map game" currently works. Or in the case Archival Alliance, I'd say it serves no purpose at all, considering there's no invasion judging anymore.

Others rely on a more competitive setting for the Major Factions, such as Fair Fight limiting how often a major faction can be targeted by invasions. In the current setting, staff members of all factions plan together to accommodate each other's schedules and avoid burnout, which is why no faction is launching multiple invasions anymore. Everything is chill and cooperative. But the idea of mandates helping factions grow or present themselves in different ways is pretty cool to me, so I figured I'd see what other people's thoughts are because I like thinking in possible solutions, rather than just pointing out "problems".

So do you like the current Mandates? Have ideas for what some could be replaced by if it was looked at by site staff?

 

[The Quartermaster]

Right now the obvious meta is whatever mandate gives you a free hex for invasions. PvP on the board with less drama and more collaboration is dope but the mandates haven’t been updated to reflect that.

What I think should happen is that the specific mandate is removed and semi integrated into standard invasion ruling. Either make it basic just every time you write an invasion you get a hex on the map, or if you win said invasion you get a hex. The former reduces a lot of stakes especially for defending factions, but in this day and age where results are agreed upon mutually there’s not really stakes outside of a story. Which isn’t a bad thing per se.

Options for mandates could be stuff like “projected strength” where you can delete more hexes from a cloud in one invasion or that hex has to stay blank for 60 days if an attacker wins. You could make a “crusader” mandate that decreases the amount of posts required for successive invasions if you do multiple in a row in a certain amount of time, or that allows you to push out your cloud to nearby but not adjacent faction clouds.

If I’m not lazy I will probably make a suggestion thread highlighting the various mandates that are irrelevant in the current system and possible replacements. I think mandates should add a spin to the current base rule sets that really change how a faction engages on the board. If we get a map system update that could change how mandates work as well.

 

[Zark San Tekka]

Mandates have gone over multiple revisions to address this complaint and we've never managed to come up with impactful options that don't feel broken or mostly useless either through staff initiative or community crowdsourcing. Before relentless horde, the major culprit was contagious assault and before that it was defensive stronghold. Regarding the Fair Fight mandate, it was specifically added as a panic button for major factions who feel they are being bullied off the map by an OOC alliance of groups.

We could try to think of some more moderate options for faction mandates, but I'm not wild about the system and wouldn't mind losing it tbh. It was a good idea that has never managed to live up to its potential.