Clans - Up's and Down's - What out ways What?

When you're a clan member, you get the ability to do stuff freelancers may not. for example CFPD is allowed to open fire on LP just because CFPD is police and LP is pirate. what's more fun than lighting another player up without warning. it's a cheap shot, and you have to live the consequences (especially if they're better at pvp than you)

The only bad side i can think of to joining a clan is the potential for drama amongst other clans and within your clan. Ozy, Kermit/Daywalker and Gunny used to go at it all the time. sometimes if it's bad enough, the Clan can be banned (see exhibit PX).

but if you don't think about it and keep your nose clean and out of peoples business, than being in a clan is MUCH more enjoyable than wandering around Sirius doing nothing....

here's a list of active server clans (the one's that are on the most from what i can tell)
SIlver Arrows - Mercenary RP
Focks Industries - Technically Mercenary RP
Independent Operators Consortium - Smuggler
TGT - Smuggler
Lost Prophets - Pirate

I probably missed some, but those are what i see on the most. if you wanna help the server get RP back on it's feet, i recommend Focks Industries. not just because it's mine, but because Role Play is the main focus and not terrorizing other clans or something. i do also recommend you ask around to see what else is available. choose one that you will be happy with. dual clanning is not allowed and it's rude when a player clan hops....

Information that wasn't posted before in here, I'd add:

- Unless a clan has in their system rules the deny of access of another clan, you DO can enter their home system, even if they are cops and your clan pirate. Yet you are on your own risk if you asked for no permission (just like as a freelancer). And not many clans totally deny the access to another clan.

- In a clan you can also use/enjoy any contracts, agreements or pacts a clan has, alliances between some clans are pretty strong, many clans have system defence contracts with other clans so you can also mess in defending an allied clan's system from invasions (those battles usually get into a story, on the forum), and that also includes KoSes and others, that allow you to attack with no warn the evil guys.

- In a clan you also get direct access to the ASF vs CSF warzones, where with the new changes, you can't even get close to those battles when they happen.

- And partially starting from what Cresthen said, when in problems your mates will help you out no matter what the problem is, even if you broke some light server rule, there is the option for internal punishment and chatter to what is ok and what not instead of a public punishment and "over". Mostly like a family, where the clan leader is the responsible for the rest of his guys Family can come with some conflicts, like between brothers, but none will be serious enough to try drive you away from the game, which is different when you are a lonely freelancer, where clans can just gang up on you.

And for the future, if new clan related features appear, like clan wars ( ), clans will be everything in the universe, controlling systems and such, and you will have problems in any Sirius system if you are clanless.

So for the future I'd recommend starting to analyze both bigger and smaller clans to see what's their potential, and how well you'd fit in there. You have much enough time

Hello Horus,

first pls take a look here: Information: Server Clans list
this is list of all official clans on CF (it mean clans with rented system).

now to your question if clan or freelancer. As freelancer you have almost no limits, you can stay in shadow, play all rp and do what you want. Sound good right? ... but you can after some time find that this is for you simply not enough and that you want more. Then it is proper time to decide first what rp type you like most and check available clans and learn about them. Be clan member mean have responsibilities, mean you are no more anonymous, mean you have now something to defend or achieve. On other side you can have as clan member before you career, clan tasks and you are via clan sign known to others as exact RP partner. This all can offer you many hours/days/weeks/months and yes also years fun while play CF.

Indeed, freelancer's freedom is fictional. They apparently can do anything and also stay out of dramas, but actually freelancers are limited in many aspects, and several things that they can't do.

Well,

Quote from /V\ichael

So for the future I'd recommend starting to analyze both bigger and smaller clans to see what's their potential, and how well you'd fit in there. You have much enough time

No real hurry, I think...

And well, as gaming experience, in a clan, once you get in it you can take jobs of advertising the clan, recruitment, making alliances or other contracts, etc, a "job" you can do in-game and on the forum, something extra you can't do going "solo".

Ok what out weighs what from a Freelancers perspective.
My experience is based on the time slot I am able, usually, to be on line; namely between 08:00 -20:00

The benefits of being in a clan are fine but the clan has to show up on the server for you to enjoy those benefits.
I have been coming to Crossfire for 6 years and, apart from holidays, I have been on line nearly every day with one or more of my many characters.
Unfortunately, during that time not one clan has been on line regularly. The members come and go, enthusiasm returns for a week or so and members appear on line but it is short lived.

Yes the clans still exist, but do not participate on regular basis. PX was the most consistent of clans but, as previously mentioned in this thread, they are banned.
Currently, IOC and SA are on line but only one or two players at a time. UR recently made a brief appearance with a couple of players but they seem to have disappeared again.
So, really the benefits of being in a clan, sadly, are really non existent. Just log on and see how many clans actually appear, it is mostly freelancers.
If you join a clan, sooner or later you will be on your own again and might just as well have stayed a freelancer.
This happened to me, when I first came to Crossfire, so I have remained a freelancer ever since.

This is a great shame because clans are required to make RP work and help the server to survive. I do not know the answer to this problem; I know people have RLs and RL problems, which accounts for some of the missing clans but not all.

Quote from Spock

Just log on and see how many clans actually appear, it is mostly freelancers.

Exactly, it is mostly freelancers and THAT is the problem at clans, not that clans don't have something, but that freelancer keep staying freelancers and never join anything, recruiters get bored someday, or busy with something else, or dissapear, and then not many are interested in joining a clan thinking they lose their freedom.

If more freelancers would be members of a clan, now it'd be much better and a pro point for including the clan wars feature.

If every freelancer thinks that 1 guy won't do anything in a clan cus there are a total of 3, then nothing will change and clans will still have 2 guys, or soon, just 0.

With no clans---> NO server. To have that clear... not only in RP or such, but also economically and diversity (there would be more features and such with clans).

So going against clans is just suicide. Instead of criticizing they don't do a good job, you (in general) can help them do a better job. If Horus decides some clan have potential and some good/fair play player, he could populate that clan by recruiting freelancers he knows, or random ppl who are ok with that RP.

Sitting as freelancer and watch clans die helps with nothing and no one, neither yourself. You are just sitting and watch how you die together with the rest.

Clans are required for RP, and what are you (any freelancer) doing outside of a clan ? Against RP ?

I am sorry Michael but your comments are not based on experience playing the game. You rarely make an appearance and on the rare occasions you have, when I have been on line you remained docked, seemingly unwilling to actually do any RP.
Freelancers do join clans, including myself, but the clans do not last, that is a fact. Even the clans, yours included, which still exist, have no active members. If you are so keen why are you not on line?
Freelancer can’t keep switching clans each time a clan no longer appears on the server.
I agree the server needs clans for RP but it is not because freelancers remain freelancers, they do join clans but the existing clan members are just not active and the new recruit loses interest. This year your clan has had several new members, I have not seen any of you clan members on line for weeks. So what are their reasons for not being active? Start looking at home for answers before putting the blame on freelancers remaining freelancers. We only remain freelancers because there is not a credible alternative.

Spock: you prefer for yourself police rp?

Yes my preferred RP is police and that is the one I actively persue RP with. As many of you know I have many characters. Spock remains my bread and butter character which earns the credits from missions and does very little RP. However, I have other characters which are mainly police with others just freelancers. I use these characters to join in RP whenever I can. I have no pirate characters which is to honour my agreement with DC for allowing me access rights to Tohoku.

Spock. I agree with a lot you have said about why being a freelancer is better than being a clan member.

The main thing for me is that there is really no benefit, but much more restrictions on a player in a clan than as a freelancer.

Another this is that a Freelancer looses his reputation and stats when joining a clan.

I am still waiting to see 'Clan RP' on the server. When i was SA, we had nice RP interaction with PX, (diplomacy, scirmishes, threads,etc), but Police,Merc,Pirate,Smuggler RP is not clan RP and in that even a Freelancer can partake.

I don't see Clan actions against another Clan - Server wars, Interdiction, Asset Destruction, Asset Building (why build if nobody can destroy it?), etc.

I don't see Clan Stats updated, Player Stats updated, etc ....

Maybe I am one of those contributing to the death of CF due to not being in a clan, but I was there, did the thing, and found it to be a LOT of hype and very little substance.

SA Clan - They are the most organised, documented and career orientated clan on the server with decent record keeping and awards. Thank you SA.

My suggestions havealways been

- Allow Char Names to get tagged/untagged
- Allow Destructable bases that needs to be defended
- Allow clans to deposit money on a base char , and deduct a 'death amount' from this if a base is destroyed.
- Make a death cost a person MUCH MORE so that senseless pew pew forever in X is stopped and people are actually forced to help each other stay alive.
- ALLOW bats/bots during combat (see point above) This will also force people to fly ships for specific missions and not everybody jump in a Cayman.
- Make the Rocks in Venn easier to navigate with heavier ships
- Allow Rep takeovers of bases through combat with the base repped fighters ...basically a dynamic Base Rep system via play interaction.
- Give each clan a License and code certain objects only to that clan license - Base dockings, etc ( See point above)

There is a whole lot more that will make belonging to a Clan much more beneficial that just belonging as a Freelancer.

I am sure a lot will say .. no - cannot be done, but it CAN be done .. other mods are doing it....

Kind regards

@ Spock: Michael has been around a long ass time. Just because he's not around doesn't mean he doesn't know what he's talking about. he currently has some real life issues and unfortunately only has time to be active on the forums. that's where a lot of clan members are these days, taking care of business and the unfortunate consequences due to the fact people have lives outside of a video game is affecting the server.

now i would love to initiate RP and acting out of the blue, however i would prefer not having to explain the entire process (for my clan at least) to a freelancer as it takes more time and effort to explain that to just "go along with it" and have people readily recognize "oh, this guy is acting and role playing, maybe i could join in"

Riebens has fantastic ideas for the combat part of clan role play. i'm trying to focus on the interaction Role Play. to explain via example, i could be approched by another one of my clan and in a completely make believe situation, a solar storm flared in Sovetskaya, knocking out communication between the Sirius and Altair Sectors and we have to make a trip to Sovetskaya and restore power. i'm SURE most of you played make believe as a child...

Clan RP is not purely combat and diplomacy. it keeps the server running and makes playing crossfire WAY more fun that sitting in X watching people go at it for no apparent reason...

What you (in general ) think "clans" are ? A place everyone does everything for you, then you can just leave if something doesn't work well and switch to another as if the older one is junk ?

I didn't mean my previoust post to criticize one of you here, as I made sure it was clear that "you" was in general showing a bad example, not to attack you (any reader that felt in that position) directly, but to show that those examples are not helping out with anything.

"Clan" is a result of the Teamwork, and generally WORK of people for everything that is part of that clan.
Who you expect to do that work ? Anyone except you ? The leader is not supposed to do everything alone, and it's quite impossible, one player can do everything, but for what, so others blame him for acting "cooler" or for making some mistakes, or failing in doing it "perfectly" ? Obviously no one would like to work their asses out to get complains as reward and eventually stop dreaming, and stop helping/creating/working.

Clans are, as in the first post of "pros" for a clan, a place to support EACHOTHER. Even if it's normal that one or a group of few people do everything for the rest of the people. And if you as a new recruit don't get all the attention you need and everything you want, "bleh this is boring / not what I expected, I'm going out".

If somebody was part of a clan, saw things were not working ok and he just abandoned them instead of helping out, was not worthy to be a member. A clan is not "everyone for one and one for himself". Not that kind of "benefit".

@Riebens: Some points in there are actually good, and, I don't think many will say "no" to such changes. But they have to be properly announced and debated (to find weak points or improvements, etc) on a thread with that purpose, posting them here Off Topic from the thread is throwing them away, there are just few that read it to say "no" in the first case, as when the posts move to a next page no one will look to the previous page to see if there was something important.

So that is why I'd say to think how you formulate the ideas, pros and such, and send that as ticked and/or make a thread about how to improve things, as well as that it's off topic for this thread.

Anyway, you have to remember the difference between server wars and clan wars, or just "wars" in general, one thing is a clan REALLY is acting against another one with the purpose to really damage it up to (near) extinction and not just RP and having, more or less fun.

But even if the game gets to be nearly perfect, that doesn't mean joining a clan only has to give "benefits" for every member, and doesn't require "work/job" for it.

@Spock: Of course, pointing at others, the easy part.

I did my best and as well was very active for several years (Jan 2008 is just when I created THIS account, but not the first time I was here), recruited to be abandoned, recruited to get my recruits driven off the server by other clans/haters, worked so others could make fun of it... and I don't plan to just stop doing that, that's why I am still arround here both forum and server. No matter thant I'm not even supposed to "do something for others" forever. Whenever I get the chance/time and... motivation I go online, and I've been online even this Sunday (2 days ago), did a bit of GR job, helped somebody out with a ship, killed 2 ppl who was going against me, without making him "suffer", then gone.

One could eeaasely just go quiet, ignore everything by not visiting the portal and simply do nothing.

@Anyone:
Everyone that is here on the portal and reads/contributes a bit/posts means that you care about how things go. So that's already a good step for all

Now we just have to focus on the "contributing" part.

Michael.. .A very sensible reply. Thank you.

I do have a way of confusing or missing the 'point' of a thread and do often post what others consider 'off topic' when i think it is totally on topic.

Just one of those things.

Totally agree.. there is WORK in a clan ...and it's mostly nice and REWARNING work.

Kind regards

Allright, should we start a new thread to discuss over, Peacefully, what is to be improved at the gameplay ? While trying not to add too much work for OP, as he already did "suggestions" (and modified things) to end in the same thing of problems and people fighting eachother while as well fighting with him.

With longer we post about this topic on here, more info we waste, for the eyes of most visitors.

Quote from Riebens

Totally agree.. there is WORK in a clan ...and it's mostly nice and REWARNING work.

Indeed, but that is only when the clan is "working well". With no teamwork, some work and others complain, and those are no rewards. Just like what happens/ed to OP (and his team) with Crossfire.

Clans, communities, bigger or smaller teams but always "Teams" or "Families"