[Caymen Greener]

Hello everyone. Bad penny has turned up.

In all seriousness, I always have a passion for UFP and RP, so coming back to help with Ares is natural for me. I was reluctant at first, but I need to help. So after talking to Josh and getting some ideas and feedback from folks, I am here to help put a few changes in place.

Note: this is all up to Josh as our CO, in the end. But I wanted to share these ideas with you all.

So high level, based on the feedback and some of the discussions, we need a shake-up. And I have four thoughts.

Ares Soft Reset
So we don't nuke all of Ares so far, but we do some sort of reset. Perhaps a time jump or something? We make Chapter 3 be a redo, in a sense. This gives old players a chance to do something slightly different, or perhaps just bring in someone fresh. Maybe a progeny of their older char?

Anyways, reset, but don't throw it all away.

Ares Ship RP
When Ares launched, its main model was around ships. Instead of doing characters, you wuld grow a ship. I want to bring this back as a secondary offering. It doesn't have to be a big grand thing, but something that a few of us can do and have some fun. Another outlet for our RP family. More to come on this one...

Forum Cleanup
This one's not major, but let's get some of our threads cleaned up and then, in conjunction with the above options, generate some templates and guides. Some of this already exists, but we can do some sorting and make it all shiny again!

Forward Planning
We arguably need to do some more mission planning, in both avenues above. So anytime we start an Ares sim mission or the ships do a mission, we have a thread in the CL4 area to plan this out. We don't tell EVERYONE what's going on, but we have a rough plan for how things will go and what turn of events will occur. People need to be in suspense, but we (staff) need to have plans.

So again, this is all up to Josh as the CO, but we can do some of these things and bring GLORY AND HONOR back to Ares.

Ok, don't throw anything at me. Not yet. Let's get some new energy going with Josh and I think we can make this awesome. And a special thanks to several other brains for their feedback, ideas, and consult.

[Kiflin]

Welcome back, Commodore Caymen!!!

[Josh Broughm]

First off, Welcome back into the fold!!

Second, I know of TWO things on the list here that can be done IMMEDIATELY.

A) Tidying up our end of the office - I'll leave this up to Caymen, as I don't know what exactly to get rid of.
B) Pre-planning - I'll get Petrarch to set up a separate board in the com office for this so we can have a separate place from this.

Soft reboot will be done after this interlude(Keep thinking its Ch. 4, LOL)

Multi-ship, I have some thoughts on it. Its clear the simm needs a SWIFT KICK IN THE ARSE to get back going. I want to keep the Ares as the main RP thing, but MSRP might be 'The Milkshake' that brings all the RPers 'to the yard'.(Can't believe I made that reference!!!)

Caymen, if you could post up a skeleton of what you are proposing, please? The only thing I'm sure of is the name of the MS-RP: Taskforce Phoenix

[Caymen Greener]

I agree that the Ares sim should be the main outlet for Ares. We can clean up the templates and such (most of it already exists in a few threads) and start somewhat-fresh with Chapter 3. We could even call it Chapter 4 since the Interlude has gone on for a while.

But yes, I would opine we have some plans moving forward as you mentioned. That is the key to running a mission - making a plan/outline and moving ahead. We should also update the Mission "Summary" once every few weeks or something, so people can jump in and catch up easily.

MSRP Taskforce Phoenix would work just fine for the multi-ship system name. It could even be in the same "universe" as Ares so they could interact once in a while.

Here are some basics. Players take on the role of a ship, so you are "all of the crew" on that ship. The GMs handle the mission system, where the ships take a mission and run that, usually with other ships, and then check back in when they are "done". So there are Mission Packs that we all try to get done. The posts are updates on that ship in the form of captain's logs, department logs, actual narrative, etc.

Here are some example resources we had in the past:

• Old Intro post: https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...leplay-Project
• Good example of a ship dossier: https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...W-YORK-DOSSIER
• Mission Pack: https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...ssion-Pack-001
• Example mission from that pack: https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...order-Skirmish

I would suggest one new subforum in Ares called "Taskforce Phoenix" and in there we have the MSRP details, mission packs, and mission logs. No need for anything else to complicate.

Again, I'm happy to run with this end of Ares. But if we combine the main sim, free stories, crew logs, and this MSRP, we have a lot of options for people to be creative. And hopefully a lot of activity going on, even if its just a handful or two of people writing.

[Josh Broughm]

The more I read this, the more I'm starting to dig this.

[Caymen Greener]

Ok, so here are the next steps:

1. Cleanup forums (I will start working on this with Josh). Should be fairly straight forward.
2. Get new forum for TF Phoenix MSRP.
3. Start creating intro/template threads for MSRP. Prob do this in the CL4 area and then move them when ready.
4. Put plan together for Ares main sim soft reboot.

Stay tuned for 1-3 to get going soon-ish.

EDIT: Did some cleanup already, just archived older stuff. Also sent a "teaser" PM to some of our players, past and present.

[Kiflin]

Sound great Caymen!

[Josh Broughm]

Ok, so here are the next steps:

1. Cleanup forums (I will start working on this with Josh). Should be fairly straight forward.
2. Get new forum for TF Phoenix MSRP.
3. Start creating intro/template threads for MSRP. Prob do this in the CL4 area and then move them when ready.
4. Put plan together for Ares main sim soft reboot.

Stay tuned for 1-3 to get going soon-ish.

EDIT: Did some cleanup already, just archived older stuff. Also sent a "teaser" PM to some of our players, past and present.

Waiting on a sub-forum to be made for this.

Also, can you have a look at our roster & PM those who've not been active in the last little bit?

[Caymen Greener]

Ok, started working on a new "intro" post that will explain the main sim AND MSRP. Don't edit that thread, but feel free to reply. I'll copy and paste into the CL1 area when it's ready.

https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...oject-Handbook

And a draft for Taskforce Phoenix, MSRP:

https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...kforce-Phoenix

- - - Updated - - -

Waiting on a sub-forum to be made for this.

Also, can you have a look at our roster & PM those who've not been active in the last little bit?

Could you request a CL4 Archive inside the CL4 Ares Roleplay Command section? I'd like to archive some older threads from there as well.

The roster is indeed out of date. I sent a PM to a bunch of people, including those who've written on the Ares sim. So I think that covers them. We can do another one when we get closer to the timeshift and MSRP launch.

Also, we should consider an Event for the new launch or "Season 2" of Ares. That may help attract people as well. I'll take care of that when we get closer.

[Josh Broughm]

I'll take care of that in the morning.

[Saelanna]

Could you request a CL4 Archive inside the CL4 Ares Roleplay Command section? I'd like to archive some older threads from there as well.

All departments have their CL4 archive in a sub forum in the services area. The Ares one is HERE.

[Kiflin]

I took at look at this: https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...kforce-Phoenix

While I do like a lot of what I see and even though it's yet to be finished will the rest of us get a chance to chime in and discuss it before, or once it is compete? We did have a meeting that was recently canceled due to personal reasons for our CO.

Personally I believe we all should have a chance to converse our collective ideas together, and possibly add to the new vision of Ares.

Another words has the decision already been made from Josh that this is what we are doing? And if so will we have a live discussion once he is more comfortable and willing to lead it?

Just need some clarification, thanks!

[Caymen Greener]

I took at look at this: https://ufplanets.com/showthread.php...kforce-Phoenix

While I do like a lot of what I see and even though it's yet to be finished will the rest of us get a chance to chime in and discuss it before, or once it is compete? We did have a meeting that was recently canceled due to personal reasons for our CO.

Personally I believe we all should have a chance to converse our collective ideas together, and possibly add to the new vision of Ares.

Another words has the decision already been made from Josh that this is what we are doing? And if so will we have a live discussion once he is more comfortable and willing to lead it?

Just need some clarification, thanks!

Just discuss in the thread. Don't edit the main post, but reply with comments. It's not final, but feel free to chime in.

I know you have ideas for more complex setups, like multiple players on a ship and leveling, but that's not what this is about. Just keep that in mind.

[Kiflin]

Just discuss in the thread. Don't edit the main post, but reply with comments. It's not final, but feel free to chime in.

I know you have ideas for more complex setups, like multiple players on a ship and leveling, but that's not what this is about. Just keep that in mind.

I think everyone has already seen my ideas. I'm referring to the yet to be known comments or opinions from the LogicalLeopards, DeuZigue's, Kraijins, etc, Which are just as important to know within a formal meeting format, once Josh is ready to reschedule.

Sounds like what you are saying is use the beforementioned thread to share your thoughts till Josh reschedules our collective meeting?

[Caymen Greener]

Sounds like what you are saying is use the beforementioned thread to share your thoughts till Josh reschedules our collective meeting?

Yes, that will be easier at this point, especially for people who cannot do live meetings.