| Poll |
| Do you want to have the choice to always pick one of the Hive Mind's two most commen skills? |
| Yes, it makes team building way more interesting. |
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17% |
[ 42 ] |
| No, let's keep it straight and always take the most common skill. |
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10% |
[ 25 ] |
| I'm totally fine with either. |
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5% |
[ 14 ] |
| I don't like either option. |
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2% |
[ 6 ] |
| Resistance is futile. |
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32% |
[ 79 ] |
| Can we assimilate pie? It would make being a drone so much more comfortable... |
|
30% |
[ 74 ] |
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| Total Votes : 240 |
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Rabe
Joined: Jun 06, 2009
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 Posted:
Nov 19, 2014 - 23:47 |
 
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Background and rules
In a blog entry earlier today I outlined my idea how to bring the Borg (from Star Trek) to FUMBBL. The idea found quite some acceptance and I assume some "Borg teams" will emerge from it soon. 
If you can imagine playing a somewhat hampered Chaos Pact team where all players will not learn skills of your choice but from a collection of the players all Borg teams have killed (or "assimilated", fluff-wise), this might be something for you!
As promised, I have set up a group with a draft of the rules, that will be the gathering point for those teams and - most importantly - feature the Hive Mind.
If you want to discuss the rules, go for it! Please just quote the exact parts you're referring to, since I'll probably change the rules a few times until they are finalized.
Team and player names
One big issue are team and player names. I would like them to be very similar. I have two teams called "Borg Team Alpha" and "Borg Team Beta" - we could easily go on from there. I'm open to other suggestions. Some funny plays of words have been already mentioned, but to keep the "Borg" feeling I'd really like to stick with something "serious" and pretty identical.
Same with player names. Star Trek fans probably know the female Borg "Seven of Nine". Naming players like that would be fitting, but break site rules. Do you have an idea how to keep it "numerical" but individual enough to stay within the spirit of the naming rules?
Answers
I would like to briefly respond to some suggestions and questions that have come up in reaction to my blog entry.
Will this not simply result in a couple of low-TV killer teams, as soon as the "killed" list stabilizes? Won't all players look more or less the same?
I believe that deaths are too random to see that effect soon. Also, by far not all victims will be killers on their own. I expect Block to be on top of the list eventually, but the rest is not that predictable. There is quite some variety of teams in low-TV Box and in Ranked you can choose who to play against anyway! As for all players looking the same: Probably a bit, but that's Borg fluff really. And there are always doubles, stat increases, renegades/big guys and changes in the Hive Mind.
Last but not least it is an experiment. If it would really result in nothing but a bunch of brutal, fearsome killers, I'd probably abandon it or change the rules.
How about using a one-in one-out skill bank rather than the most assimilated skill?
It would be a pretty cool mechanic but does fit neither the "Borg fluff" nor my intention of "sharing" a team development determined solely on the skills most commonly found on dead players. What I really like about my idea is that the "Hive Mind" is seeking for perfection - and it slowly moves into that direction by analyzing ("assimilating") the teams' victims. I hope for "errors" and really funny developments to happen. I want to give coaches no to only very limited choice when it comes to player skills - and I certainly want no competition over skills! It's really part of the deal and should create the feeling of being part of a bigger thing.
Fluff-wise the Hive Mind just learns about new skills by assimilating players with them - and once learned it's there for everyone. It's knowledge - and therefor doesn't vanish when shared.
How about assigning skills randomly, with the skills that appeared more often being more likely to be learned?
Nice idea, but a) too random (the Hive Mind is seeking for perfection and almost exclusively trusts in quantity) and b) way too complicated to execute. With the current system, you just visit the group page, choose from two skills on top of the list (or the two highest ranked double choices) and are done. It has to be that simple, really.
How about assimilating more meta techniques: Acquire skills/positionals during a hive sprint (week?) and give teams picking order of the pooled/banked knowledge according to hive sprint scoring.
Too much pressure for me and possibly others. I want it to be a fun project where teams are linked and don't compete with each other. |
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Last edited by Rabe on Nov 20, 2014; edited 2 times in total |
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Garion
Joined: Aug 19, 2009
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| Posted:
Nov 19, 2014 - 23:57 |
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Calling them one of sixteen, two of sixteen and so on should be fine I think as it's in keeping with the teams theme. Send a ticket to an admin to get clarification on it, but I doubt they will mind. Then all our teams could have the same player names. |
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m0gw41
Joined: Jun 12, 2012
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:00 |
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Just use full names:
e.g Seven of Nine, Tertiary Adjunct of Unimatrix 01 |
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easilyamused
Joined: Jun 06, 2008
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:29 |
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Personally I don't see it being a problem as it is part of a team theme rather than just the laziness of 1,2,3 etc |
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mister__joshua
Joined: Jun 20, 2007
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Moving this over here from our completely separate conversation on a PM.
This is mainly about the skill assimilation. Fair enough if you don't like the one in one out idea, I didn't think that'd be your thing.
On the player and skill assimilation, I think it's best to keep things common among all competing teams. If you don't want wide skill choice then allow little to no choice.
As to the players and restrictions I think it's perhaps best to have all skill knowledge feeding the hive mind. I now see you've changed it from your original draft of the group and that's pretty much what I was thinking.
For selecting skills I liked your original 'most popular skill' idea coupled with perhaps a double allowing for any banked skill. If there are no skills banked then Disturbing Presence and Thick Skull are the first 2. You won't need beyond this as no player should get to 3 skills before the group has killed 1 opponent!
For the stat upgrades I know you've been torn between must take and can't take without assimilation. What about if it first requires a player be killed with the appropriate stat difference. For example, a Marauder is 6338 so to take a +Ma a Ma7 or above player must have been killed. This shouldn't take long.
I think this gives the overall Group a great goal of adding every skill to the bank as their primary group goal.
I like the idea of the body bank, but aren't sure of it's use for regular marauders beyond fluff (which may be it's only purpose). For the big guys and renegades I love the idea of trading bodies with other Borg teams.
As for thematic team names, I like the idea of each team being called a Cube. So Alpha Cube, or CubeIV or something along those lines. |
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FRSHMN
Joined: Feb 25, 2013
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:38 |
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Hey Rabe
Great idea. I like the way skills will be assimilated and also the possible outcome of all players somehow looking similar.
By the way, I don't believe we have to fear too many Cpomb victims, as those players normally get somehow well protected. For the start we should be happy to assimilate a player with ANY skill 
As a last point: Those team names suck! 
Something more catchy should be found easily. |
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FRSHMN
Joined: Feb 25, 2013
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:43 |
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Addendum naming:
How about Cu[B]e for Blackbox and Sphe[R]e for Ranked? |
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Timetis
Joined: Mar 31, 2014
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:49 |
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I'm predicting a lot of disturbing presence and thick skulls to start with! |
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Bobs
Joined: Feb 26, 2009
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:51 |
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Whats a Borg ? |
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si non modo numquam pragmaticam
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mister__joshua
Joined: Jun 20, 2007
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| Timetis wrote: | | I'm predicting a lot of disturbing presence and thick skulls to start with! |
I think it'll depend on how quickly games get played. One player might post 5 or 6 games early on and then there should be a 'bank' for the other players to choose from. |
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Timetis
Joined: Mar 31, 2014
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:54 |
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I must've misunderstood then, 1 killed block player equals block acces to all of the groups' players? So the 1 for 1 principle only goes for the bigguys and positionals.
(Having never seen anything Startrek, I won't be of much help with names! In it for the cool concept.) |
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FRSHMN
Joined: Feb 25, 2013
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:57 |
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That's it, Timetis. Skills as a kind of knowledge get shared by the allmighty Hive.
Bodies as a kind of building material has to be banked / traded.
Borg Sphe[R]e Delta ready to take of. |
Last edited by FRSHMN on Nov 20, 2014; edited 2 times in total |
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Timetis
Joined: Mar 31, 2014
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 00:58 |
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There goes my all thick skull marauder line-up! : ( |
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Wreckage
Joined: Aug 15, 2004
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| Posted:
Nov 20, 2014 - 01:30 |
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mister__joshua
Joined: Jun 20, 2007
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Until you skill a player you should be good to go shouldn't you? Unless the starting team rules change which I can't imagine |
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