Okay, keeping in mind I'm in GMT, I have missed most of this. But yeah, this is application based to the person who asked earlier- the reasons are very specific, but I would happily do you one if you like.
Right, because earlier's update was at something waay too early, I'm going to do a quick-round up for everyone.
Wilson, that CS is looking good now, I dig it but it's worth noting the earlier concerns- it may not always make sense to be the pointman, and I am sure that Merlin, in deploying the team's specialities, will probably acknowledge that, or at least, arrange it so that it works best in terms of who does what (but who am I to say, because he rolls with a fucking 870P MCS, and he's the fucking team leader). I can roll with it, but keep what I've mentioned in mind going forward; you've done a good job so far, which I'm happy with. Vehicle wise, there won't always (occasionally) be an Oshkosh either, as cool as it is, I am planning a wide range of vehicles and shit that the team will use, some of which is conventional, some of which less so. That said, there is something a little concerning that I've caught up on:
Alright, everyone! I have some... questions?! or something to bring up A) Why don't we have interchangable ammo? I mean, I'm gonna change my HK417 to the HK416, so that if I go down, or if someone else goes down, I can use their ammo.
B) Why is our only Marksmen- our best shot, the person who's usually at the BACK of the squad- also a Pointman, especially without any real pointman-kit?
C) Not to sound Hunger-Games-y or nothin', but what if military technology companies decided to dip a hand into the unit- perhaps being some of the people pushing for this specific anti-terrorist squad- and rig up one of us for propoganda purposes? I mean, they get exclusive footage of an international team from all over working together as a unit, likely with some cutting-edge stuff thrown in the mix- especially with my character. The military wouldn't have to pay the shitton for my character's headset, because it's being used to get Lockheed Martin some gold, which they can use to demonstrate to buyers, and generate popularity and sell stocks or somesuch. The US Military would be fine with it because they don't gotta pay; the UN'd be fine with it because the anti-terrorist unit don't cost so much, or actually GENERATES some money for them.
Or something. Just the general idea is what I'm saying, and i'm tossing it in here to see any reactions.
As I saw this after reading through your shenanigans for ages, I thought I'd make a couple of responses to this too:
1) Mags and rounds are not something I place too high of a concentration on. Hell, I was almost going to have my character use a .30-06 round for a HCAR (yes, it's a fucking BAR for the 21st century...it's over 100 years old, but with RIS and a whole bunch of other mods). I would say though while ammo should be common, eg. 5.56, 5.45, 7.62mm (Russian and NATO), there isn't entirely a need to standardize. It's good, so we don't use too crazy a set of rounds, BUT we have some vague choices, for certain things from each operators' perspective.
2) It really depends there. Sometimes, the whole team is needed in CQC, sometimes, it's more spread. Queen does have a couple of close range weapons too, even so. That isn't a worry- these sort of issues can be left with me, as I will probably say likewise to yourself that a TACP and a Pointman isn't the smartest move. A rifleman and a TACP, perhaps would work better as I've listed it, and of course, there are situations where they may become on point.
3) You're forgetting the point of Echo's existence. SOF operators on that scale DON'T have a budget to stick to, no technology to prove, and if they did, it wouldn't be in public light. They're using the cutting edge, yes, but they're not a demonstrator unit- they're an active anti-terrorist organization, and if you try and research what any SOF unit is doing, it is very likely that it's the tip of the iceberg, what they want you to see, rather than what actually happens. I'll use one key example- that of Merlin and Nikolaj's TOS systems, which are contact lens/embedded into sunglasses respectively, they're still pretty new sure, but for 2020, think about how wearable technology has progressed right now. So does it seem impossible? Not really, not when you put it into those scales, it's definitely a new thing but it's something that wouldn't look out of place on an operator in that time frame. So Rainer has his kit because it's that of what a TACP might get to use, a fancier set of kit that fundamentally, is not entirely experimental. It's plausible today, you could say, it's just nobody could confirm "Yes, it's real" or "No, give it five years". I know the concerns around arms companies, but I do not want to go into those because that's a minefield to be explored by another RP altogether. The focuses of this RP will be far beyond just these ethical concerns, it's more about a certain set of themes that not only relate to the threat of global terrorism, but within the team's own fabric, how these people get on, how they live, how they are, and more than anything, how they feel. They are human beings, after all. Even Merlin's human, and beneath that beard and mountain of a man that he is, he's got a soul that you will see. I don't want it thinned out by a plot of corporates that are real, that isn't what I would say this is. I get the point, it's a suggestion, but this is five minutes into the future, not really that far ahead and massively different to our own world. For all intents and purposes, you can see it AS our world because half the shit in Lima came close to happening...terrifying, yes.
Taking my ideas of what I make of plots, this being an insight into my workings (it is long, and it barely scratches the surface, but this is what goes on in my head if you want to know):
I don't like to criticize West/East like it's in fashion, or even go "Fuck all Arabs", I prefer to explore the ideas of what a contemporary world is when it comes to the war on terror and the conflicts internally within doing said war. There's plenty of kick-assery, and some of it won't connect well to each other, but there is an underlying theme where needs be, that builds brick-by-brick to a plot that ends in a hell of a lot of noise. Lima had a great example- the NATO/Russian troubles on eliminating TIAF, and how Russia became almost implicated in a nuclear attack on a Western Capital, but it's not as if the CIA were innocent in all of this- and it's funny, how what could have been a massive set of tension was averted by the actions of a single team of operators, which is not exactly impossible. Public perception wouldn't even know how close the world came to fucking itself up, and that is actually not too difficult to do if you had to try that in reality, simply because we have literally no idea. Hence, it can happen. I let the RP portray that while from a traditional Western view, "Boo Hoo the Russians are bad, M'Kay", I made it clear that it's not like the West is clean of it's blood on it's hands, it's an important force and it's great, sure, but there are things that we cannot see or say for certain that are the right thing to do. Hence why when Lima ended, it was an interesting method of one of my characters saying "Fuck all of you, how about I solve things in a way that none of you thought of", and in some ways, again, there's a total confusion that what actually happened, happened. I don't know of a single medium that ended like that, no game or book I've played or read, because it's an action that doesn't just copy some themes and makes it the core, but actually develops it's own strand of narrative and weaves those ideas all along into it.
Now sure, I favor the West, I live in Britain FFS. It's obvious that will happen, but I try not to stay on the conventional tram lines of most other SF novels or books. I can change views. It's going beyond what you normally think and actually taking a different viewpoint, where a character might change their beliefs because things change throughout. It is funny, Jan and Zhenya, a Polish and a Russian pair, basically detested each other throughout the RP but right at the end I like to think that Jan looked on beyond his usual antagonism of Russians and actually did something stronger, he actually liked him, respected him more. That was in return for Zhenya giving Jan the support he needed, putting his own ass and ANOTHER Russian SOF team into the fray, despite what he thought of purely "Western affairs". So I like to think my plots aren't the usual "Fuck the West" or "Fuck the Russians", or even completely "Fuck all Terrorists". The latter group may be bad, and are always your antagonists, but the reasons and the thought processes on why that might be the case is variable. I prefer to consider that yeah, terror=bad, but there are humans involved in all these processes, with different thoughts and different reasons that drive them to do things, be it kill hundreds of people or to save people's lives. Echo is going to be not all roses, I can promise that now, it's going to have some shit that will challenge your mind, it will make you think most of all. It will sometimes completely confuse you, from your character's viewpoint, they have no idea WHAT the hell is going on and why things are the way they're going. That's because it's a reflection of the realities of what people face, and whatever you respond will maybe not be the right answer, but it has to be an answer that your character would give in those circumstances. If your character can see beyond the confusion and noise, then you're going to see what they really thing, what they'd do, what they end up when you cut the bullshit and lay the truth bare, and even that's difficult to see in the best of times. For Jan, that was detonating a nuclear device on a remote island after he killed a CIA operator was his way of laying bare, just wanting to end everything he had done wrong or seen wrong, taking that duty so strong to his heart that he did what he saw was right, and perhaps to those close to him knew was right too. So that he could end all of the lies, all the deception, and for once, actually do some good for those that lost their lives fighting for it. For Merlin? I can't tell what he'll do, but he wouldn't be fond of what Captain Bogdanowicz did if he knew about the details, he wouldn't understand, he's say there was another way that perhaps the Pole didn't see. That aspect of writing a narrative ties all of you into it- it means that while I don't expect you to do massive things, the evolution of your characters will push them in directions you might not even be comfortable with, weather them into very different things that they didn't begin as. If I can do that with this RP, then I have succeeded in making a good plot. This is barely the surface of all of my thoughts- the reality is, there's a lot of different feelings you'll see, some of which is gung-ho kick-assery, some of which less so, moments that will bring you to really question what the hell is going on.
Remember, it's a team that isn't widely known about either, no propaganda, nothing. Sorry for pissing on that flame a bit, but keep in mind the people involved, and the shit that they do. This doesn't make the news, most often, but if it does, then there is usually a good reason for it. Apologies if that was a bit brash- but it's just, I would say keep in mind the general tone of the RP.
I hate to sound like a dick, but I would be careful about ranks too, Wilson- it isn't great to gloat what you have, and when you say "I'm more highly ranked than you are, nehehe", even jokingly, it doesn't look good. Enough time spent in military RPs (I can't even list them anymore, but I can probably go through each one I've done by description) says this, and I would say that in terms of whatever the hell your character's rank is to anyone, it doesn't really matter at the end of the day, unless you're Merlin or whoever I will decide the 2IC will be. I put you at Warrant Officer as I didn't want straight-up Sergeants and so on (I should mention, I don't even have a problem with a shitload of Sergeants, it makes sense because of the nature of most of our operators, Corporals fall in the same bracket), but remember, the current provisional 2IC is Nikolaj, and he'll actually be the commander in the Prologue with all of the characters (because of reasons you'll see). I put him to First Sergeant, as the highest-ranking NCO in the team, and while technically that makes him lower ranked than Rainer, he's the team's Squad Sergeant for intents and purposes right now. Most of the time, the hierarchy in a squad would be everyone is under Merlin equally, unless there's a 2IC who has specifically been given an element from the section- ie. he takes a fireteam of four operators under their command. I would be careful around that field, let me deal with who does what and how for the moment being.
I'm also going to say this now- I want to put someone's character up to Lieutenant for 2IC duty to give a second officer in the team (we only have one currently), and I still haven't decided who that could be. This could be something along the lines of a officer's rank being bestowed in Part 1 following prior officer training for a character (before the RP) coming through, and then bringing it back up for them. Whatever you say in the OOC will not change that, by the way- I am not going to give it to the one who wants it most, to say the least. As I say, haven't even decided yet, though I am confident when it happens, it'll be the right move.
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We have Chaotic joining us too, that CS should be posted soon. As a result of that interview being a little over-run, I will probably start the RP's IC on Wednesday. It will be long, but I promise, it won't be the standard that everyone has to keep to- it will be that way to basically set up the scene for a lot of this RP, in both my characters.
So, other things. Please reduce the spam in the OOC a little bit if you can, it's really fucking difficult to track people suggesting shit :D Even if it is boobs, yes, they're wonderful, but the topic is getting on mine :P
