When CW gets implemented?

Until CW comes out I am not sure that a house commitment is required. When CW does start and some commitment is desirable even if not required, I am not sure what I think our best approach is. I have no particular attachment to Kurita, but there are some who do, and some who have attachments to other factions, so perhaps a merc corp would be best.

As always I don't care as long as I get to keep blasting buttheads with my boom booms

Yeah, I don't care either way. Kurita has the bushido thing going on which I like, but they also have the villain thing going on in canon. Which is a plus or a minus depending on who you talk to I suppose :) I like the idea of running a merc corp for the freedom it lends us, but I also like running with a house and I'm as attracted to Kurita as any, despite their reputation as brutal conquerors. I don't know enough about the politics/leaders of 3050 to make an informed decision either way, to be fair. I also like that 11th Ghost is a cool little thing... I like Kurupt's Old Dragon Battle Group kanji and stylistically I like Kurita stuff in general. I suppose that's a bad metric on which to base this decision: it's like picking your car based on the color. Inertia as much as anything would lead me to choose Kurita if I were to choose a house at this point.

We could always base it on the mech choices we make. I know Cicadas are primarily a Capellan thing, so maybe St. Ives as a less objectionable choice than Capellan for me. I know there are a couple of K2s, a very Kuritan mech. Couple of Atlases too, a good Steiner mech. The mix maybe lends itself to a Merc corp. Lots of angles to consider at least! :)

I like it, not sure if the fire lance and such is kurita specific, but if it is no reason we could not still use it, just say we have some kurita or FRR influence, thus the kanji.

I took the "fire" and "scout" lance designations from a merc corp (Gray Death) to be fair :)

I had a few ideas!

First of all, for reference, here's a list of canon merc groups:

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/Category:Mercenary_Commands

http://www.sarna.net/wiki/List_of_minor_mercenary_units

My first thought was that we emulate the majority of command names, ie "such and such's whatevers". Given Kurupt's role as inspiration and organizer around these parts, I thought a great name would be Kurupt's Irregulars! I snickered a little when I thought of it. Kurupts Commandos, Militia, Reservists, Rangers, Highlanders, Cossacks, what have you works there as well.

Another thought I had is that we emulate something like Gray Death Legion or Grave Walkers, but with a 2old2play spin. Silverbacks are the elder of the gorilla tribe, the leader and eldest member. My sister in law has a play on that for our parents and whatnot, ie. the old and wise: Greybacks :) I was thinking Greyback Legion as a nod to Gray Death, or maybe again going with an animal/grey hair thing and do a wolf theme a la Grey Mane Legion.

Either way we should have some fun with it and make sure it provides us with a few laughs!

I would not object to either Kurrupts irregulars, or Grey Mane legion

Whats CW?

Community Warfare... it's what they're calling the thing where we have factions/merc houses.

Just a couple of quick photoshop things: a Greyback Legion logo:

and a Grey Mane Legion logo:

Just wondering why we could not keep Old Dragon Battle Group.

We certainly could, though it certainly has a Kuritan ring to it, and use of kanji would lend itself to Kurita as well. The use of the dragon has definite connotations given the dragon symbology associated with the Draconis Combine. That said, there is at least one dragon-themed merc outfit.

Well, Old Dragon Battle Group, we started in Kurita and went freelance.

How about Kurupts Silver Phoenix

A nice little Kurupt's Irregulars idea... the old skeleton with a cane: :)

And a "Ghost Dragon" in case we decide to keep things going as they are:

(I wasn't feeling well today so I entertained myself with this, LOL) :)

I guess the one thing that's attractive about moving away from a paerticular house and towards a merc corp from my perspective is the level of ownership we get over the unit and the designs and whatnot that go along with it. With Kurita, or any house, we're limited to RPing that house, we'd need a Kuritan "look" and "feel" if we're interested in RPing, etc. With a merc corp, RPing or otherwise, we can kind of do whatever comes into our heads. That said, I've been RPing Kurita for a while now and I'm certainly okay to keep doing it! Whatever the majority decides is certainly fine with me! :)

ETA: Kurupt's Nodachi works, especially if we're staying Kurita. Typically units within that faction, at least, don't bear the name of their commander/founder, though... that's a merc thing in my experience. Think Genyosha.

ETA2: nice little ninja edit Raven :) I like Silver Phoenix for sure! I don't know if I'd use "Kurupt's" with it though... I think "Kurupt's" lends itself to a more "military unit" name (ie. Irregulars, Cavalry, Commandos, what have you). The other thing about that name is that usually it's something plural (ie. Wolf's Dragoons, etc) and there's no plural of Phoenix... there can be only one :) Silver Phoenix works with something like Silver Phoenix Regiment or Silver Phoenix Legion.

I like the word Grey because of the tongue-in-cheek reference to 2o2p, so maybe Grey Phoenix Regiment? That said Silver had the "old" connotation too.

Just spitballing here, guys, I'm really not too picky in the end!

A Grey Phoenix Legion/Regiment quick and dirty logo!

Cupcake Smugglers

I know the funniest tag I have worn in a game is my current SWTOR guild name "Dirty Old Men" on the Republic, and "Dirtier Old Men" on the Empire. I am up for any tag either reverent, tongue and cheek or just down right comical. Leave that to those in positions above my pay grade.

We have pay grades?

Removing the 11th Ghost is simple, and I like being an old dragon. If others see the ODBG as Kuritan we can make up a backstory of our own. Maybe the ODBG was founded by retired Kurita pilots who hired themselves out to House Kurita when the state needed them (coming out of retirement when needed). After early successes the Old Dragon Battle Group expanded, drawing in pilots from around the inner sphere and extending the operational range outside of Kuritan interests.

As for a standard: any sticker I slap on my mech won't last long, so make sure it will still look good when shredded and smoldering. Other than that I would just make sure it would work with whatever backstory we use if we need one. Thanks to everyone posting unit markings/standards. My only experience using computers to create art is the computerized art of war... A little wreckage here, some blood and guts there, Masterpiece!

Yeah, if I was going to try to gauge the consensus opinion it'd be that we keep ODBG but move away from support for a specific house, at least for now. I think that makes sense. We chatted a bit about the RP aspect of this game last night, and while I'm into it, I have no personal preference about how we approach it, ie. whether we do a merc corp or fight for a house. I think the decisions are bet left to folks who do have a stake in it: people who, for whatever reason, would prefer one house over another, or a merc corp over either house. Maybe this thread would be a good place for us to gather that info:

Do you have a preference as to which house you'd like to RP? If so, which?

Perhaps more importantly, is there a house you refuse to play, or that would keep you from playing with us? Because in the end, that's the only priority from where I sit.

For my part, there is no house I prefer over another, and I'm equally okay with a merc corp. I'm malleable enough that I don't think the decision should be in my hands... I'm willing to work with the consensus, whatever it is!

Ya ODBG is pretty darn good! Infact it has a familiar feeling like a comfortable pair of slippers. Or lime soda... 

Referring to the above post.

Best stratagy to make a game fun and not a chore that I have heard. Rock on dude!

Opening photoshop to add the KI

Edit:

I am partial to that grumpy looking old skeleton. Makes me laugh.

That sounds great guy's, I fully support what ever the group decides.

I'll also be using KI as you guys suggest... it's like a nickname or something :) no offense was intended to anyone else with that BTW, and I didn't mean to single you out, Kurupt. I was going for something like Snord's Irregulars and thought it would be funny and somewhat appropriate... you sometimes serve as our resident cat-herder :) But yes, I agree 100000% with the sentiment in Polteg's post above and I'm a strong supporter of the 2o2p philosophy, which is that we're here to have a few laughs and that ability/leadership/strategy is all pretty secondary. 

I like the backstory that Divine added; it allows us to continue using ODBG with no faction issues. Maybe we were a Kuritan veteran/reservist/retiree unit until the FRR split, and then we were forced to make difficult decisions. We became "Ronin" rather than choose a side, given a mix of FRR and Draconis initially within the ranks, and since that time, the only master we serve is $$. Our victories have attracted non-Kuritans to the mix over the years.

And Cynfire, the skeleton with the cane is my favorite of the photoshop activities I undertook yesterday as well :)

So I'm going to go ahead a redesign the sigs I made, removing the Draconis symbol and maybe going over to greys and blacks as the color scheme. Do we want to stick with that or maybe introduce a new scheme? You guys are going to be so tired of me asking these irrelevant questions... :)