Politician Archive
Thread: How interested are politicians in having a combat support role?
donnah42 wrote:
But my favorite possible politician skills I've seen mentioned in other threads so far have been the more content-generation type ideas. Things that would let politicians place mission-giving NPCs, place NPCs that will read a set script that we give them, and possibly even a limited ability to generate low level MOBs. My main wish is that any new politician skills be tools that we can use to create our own static content, or to set up special events for our citizens. That kind of thing could really encourage travel to player cities, to see who had the funniest content or the best plots for their NPC missions.
I like that idea
Personally, I don't really like the idea of being directly involved in combat or in buffing (other professions have this already, and other professions (SL) need this more badly than we do).
HOWEVER
As the representative of the Emperor on my planet/in my city, I wouldn't mind having command of a garrison... you read about it in all the books, how the local governor commands a bunch of troops out to quell insurrections.
Why can't we have a pool of NPCs based on the size of our city/appropriate to our alignment, and use them in defence of the city.
heh heh heh
We could stand in the city and just send out wave after wave of NPCs to squash assaults by the opposite faction. 
Though this is a good idea and I wouldn't mind if it was implemented (who wouldn't want new content?) I just rather have the politician class to be more civic and less combat. I mean I can understand why Politicians could do this, it is just not what I thought Politician would be. As so many people said already there are many buffs out there, there doesn't need to be another. Being able to bribe NPCs is a pretty good idea, but I rather have more content inside the city instead of outside the city.
As one of the posters explained here (sorry forgot your name) they mentioned that Politicians should be able to give NPCs missions and place them inside the city. That is a good idea that, in my opinion, fits along the lines of what Politician should be. But as I said before, I don't mind either way just so we get more content.
As far as adding active abilities to the Politician I'll state what I see as requirements. They have to be balanced to give something for the Politician something active to do but not be so powerful or vital that dabblers suddenly become desirable. They shouldn't take away from Smuggler or hurting professions such as Squad Leader.
Before I go into my opinion I'll state my opinion on the "similar" professions and how their role could potentially overlap with the politician.
The Squad Leader is the Tactical Leader. They are "In the Trenches" leading small parties of people barking commands to direct fire and position and inspire party members to have better defenses and aim. (They are mostly broken but this is what they are supposed to do)
The Smuggler is the Shrewd Negotiator. They aren't leaders as most Smugglers tend to be loners (Han wasn't exactly a sociable guy). They can wheel and deal their way through situations and come out on top. (They have a useless skill tree devoted to this)
Which brings me to the profession for which this topic exists: The Politician
The Politician is the Strategic Leader. They are entrusted with protecting the medium to long term interests of a large and potentially diverse community. These goals can be anything from combat through crafting through keeping the citizenry interested and engaged. Most of the existing skills are Set and Forget strategic decisions for the city which last beyond the administration of the politician (Booooooring)
Based on these things, what types of things could the Politician get?
Inspiration (Raw and could use some feedback)
Once every 4 hours the Politician can give an inspirational speach from the City Hall (*1) which would enhance the skills of all citizens of the city who attend for 10 minutes and the effects would last 2 hours. The effect of the inspiration would depend on the skills of the politician and which type of inspiration (s)he selected. The benefits of the Inspiration will last for the duration regardless of where the audience member goes.
Fiscal IV: +10 Inspiration; Inspire Crafters (Manufacture or Research)
Militia IV: +10 Inspiration: Inspire vs Faction (Offense or Defense)
Jobs IV: +10 Inspiration: Inspire Employement (Payouts or Faction)
Customization: +10 Inspiration: Inspire Entertainers (Heal or Buff)
Master: +10 Inspiration
There are a few nice aspects to this approach. Firstly, it would give incentives for folks to "come home" at times. Some of these benefits stack with existing City options if the person attends the rally and does the things within the city limits. The inspiration between the 4 disciplines can be stacked (ie: The Master Politician Mayor is planning to raid the Tusken and calls for a Rally before the raid and gives everyone +50 to their Offense)
Create Incident (Master Skill)
Life can get a little dull in a city. Folks come, buy their things, craft and chat some. But unless the city is a Hub in the GCW there's not much excitement. A savey politian can create incidents and rally the city to defend the city from attackers or bring a hunting option closer to the city. Through this ability they can create a "POI" in an area of influence around the city (Within 2km of the city but not within 2km of another) that will give something fun and exciting to do close to home. This could be based off the faction of the Politician (ie: They have -5000 tusken faction so they are hated by the Tusken and the Tusken may decide to lay seige upon the city) but ultimately is in the control of the Politician to generate when they wish (but only one can be active at any time)
Mayor Feliz Gizmacher, Founder of Dune Retreat
I would love to have:
Diplomatic Immunity - this would be a once per hour skill granted, say at Civic Policy 4 (Stateman title). This skill would make it so that no Player or NPC can attack you for one minute's time. If you have a TEF, it would remove the TEF and you could not gain one again til theimmunity wore off. However, while this is in effect you are basically in a state of grogginess so you cannot attack or do any other actions.
At master, you could give Diplomatic Immunity to another person, but again, that person could not do anything but run basically. This would be nice for when a covert member of a faction gets stuck in an opposing city's cloning center (you still clone at a player city cloning center as the "closest") and is pleading to leave the city without dying to turrets and landmines.
In PvE, this would have no effect on creatures.
slugeater wrote:
1) Why do peoplenever correctmy typos when they quote me lol.
2) On a more related topic, no, I wouldn't like politicians to be able to do combat buffs. Politician benefits should revolve around influence, what happens before the fight, talking to NPCs. Not do a speech to incite bravery in combat, we're not bards, please!
1) I'm not sure, maybe they think those add character.
2) I think there may be some divided opinions on this matter in general, but I appreciate your sentiment.I personally am not sure where I sit on this debate, as I find myself really persuaded by all of the various points being put forward.
[Acroyear reaches into his being and lets his Inner Geek out for a moment to grab the keyboard]
That being said, this is a Star Wars game, and our main examples of Politician characters (as in characters with more than a handful of lines) are Padme Amidala, Palpatine/Sideous, and Princess Leia Organa. Palpatine was a Lord of the Sith (so I figure there is a lightsaber somewhere under those robes, we'll just have to wait and see if it is shown in Episode III), Padme led an assualt to retake the capitol building in Theed, and Princess Leia was toting a blaster through most of the original trilogy. And they each had their means for enciting people to war:
- Palpatine manufactures a civil war... this is a bit grandiose, but he is in control of Dooku who is leader of the Sepparatists (and who also hired Jango Fett to be the Clone Trooper template). The hugeness of it all aside, Palpatine does demonstrate how a politician can lead in war (and in the expanded universe 'Heir to the Empire' trilogy the depth of his ability to buff whole fleets is revealed... its a Sith thing and not my favorite example, but it is perhaps worth mentioning).
- Padme gathers a large group of Gungans and devises a plan to distract the Trade Federation armies while a smaller strike force (which she leads) retakes the capitol building and capture the Viceroy.
- Princess Leia... well, she is in the thick of just about every major battle in the original trilogy.
[Acroyear stamps his Inner Geek back into place]
So there is an arguement that could be made that Politicians, in the Star Wars setting, have this tendancy to get into the thick of war in a very personal way. Does that mean they should command NPCs or give buffs? I do not know. But as busy as I am now, I sure wouldn't mind collecting a few credits for the town coffers by giving a rallying speech to my citizens before they go off on some "damned fool idealistic crusade..."
- Acroyear
HiroBlack wrote:That being said, this is a Star Wars game, and our main examples of Politician characters (as in characters with more than a handful of lines) are Padme Amidala, Palpatine/Sideous, and Princess Leia Organa. Palpatine was a Lord of the Sith (so I figure there is a lightsaber somewhere under those robes, we'll just have to wait and see if it is shown in Episode III), Padme led an assualt to retake the capitol building in Theed, and Princess Leia was toting a blaster through most of the original trilogy. And they each had their means for enciting people to war:
- Palpatine manufactures a civil war... this is a bit grandiose, but he is in control of Dooku who is leader of the Sepparatists (and who also hired Jango Fett to be the Clone Trooper template). The hugeness of it all aside, Palpatine does demonstrate how a politician can lead in war (and in the expanded universe 'Heir to the Empire' trilogy the depth of his ability to buff whole fleets is revealed... its a Sith thing and not my favorite example, but it is perhaps worth mentioning).
- Padme gathers a large group of Gungans and devises a plan to distract the Trade Federation armies while a smaller strike force (which she leads) retakes the capitol building and capture the Viceroy.
- Princess Leia... well, she is in the thick of just about every major battle in the original trilogy.
I see your point, but those are all exceptional settings. Palpatine is a war leader, and probably good in a fight as well, but he wasn't running around Naboo helping a hunting party take out NPC gungans. Leia was a covert rebel operative in the Senate until it was disbanded and she was outed as a spy, so she wasn't in the thick of battle much until she had to be. Amadala was tough, but she was always defending her people and her friends. None of these folks went out specifically looking for adventure and personal danger (especially Palpatine).
And for every example of a fighter/politician, there are people like Mon Mothma, Orn Free Taa, and many of the politicians shown in the galactic senate scenes who weren't leading troops. Coming up with examples from the movies that Character X had Ability Y so it's appropriate for their main profession doesn't really work. Lando had Smuggler but his business skills don't automagically go into the Smuggler tree, because he also obviously had some Merchant. Leia and Padme were high level politicians, but they had plenty of skill points left over, so they definately had room for some squad leader skills.
Of course politicians, like everyone else, will fight when they're cornered. But they're also very important people in the SW world. Amidala had a lookalike who died to keep her safe, so any SW politician who had earned that kind of loyalty would not be recklessly and stupidly risking themselves to go on a rancor hunt. Obviously death isn't that big a deal in SWG, but if politicians are supposed to be the leaders of society, they should be in the army HQ or in the town hall, not on the front lines.
That's why I like the inspiration buff idea but not any abilities that can actually be used in combat.
Bajeezus wrote:
Would we rather focus on our core, make city building and administration as robust and fun as it can be at at the same time accept that one of our limitiations is no role in the combat sphere? Or would we like to branch out into another sphere of gameplay, as long as it can be done without giving up what is essential to the Politician? Let me know.
Hrmmm, interesting question... I think right now, most of the "combat" solutions are being thrown out there just because it seems more likely that it can be done by the developers, and there are similar implementations in other professions to draw upon. When I brought up the buff idea, I didn't really expect it to be as popular as it seems to have become, I was just kinda thinking out loud.
Personally, I like the fact that a Politician does not HAVE to be a combat class to become a successful Politician. But the lack of other things to do (especially for non-Mayors) makes some combat abilities very appealing.
If they give us some additional cool, creative, fun non-combat things to do, and I think most Politicians will remain happy not having any combat-related skills. But I think that's a big IF. 
donnah42 wrote:
I see your point, but those are all exceptional settings. Palpatine is a war leader, and probably good in a fight as well, but he wasn't running around Naboo helping a hunting party take out NPC gungans. Leia was a covert rebel operative in the Senate until it was disbanded and she was outed as a spy, so she wasn't in the thick of battle much until she had to be. Amadala was tough, but she was always defending her people and her friends. None of these folks went out specifically looking for adventure and personal danger (especially Palpatine).
[...]
That's why I like the inspiration buff idea but not any abilities that can actually be used in combat.
See, this is why I usually keep the Inner Geek away from the keyboard.
You are right, of course, about these being exceptional people in exceptional times. I merely meant to point out that in most of these primary examples you see the Politicians along side of the troops. Do I think that Politicians should be wandering around the Valley of the Rancors handing out a devistating Dizzy/Knockdown/FaceBeating to everything that walks across his path? No. But not being left behind would be nice, and being there to provide a good buff from time to time would be enough. Besides, I'd really like the Warmaster title to mean something more than 'I can place a faction terminal.'
- Acroyear
I like that you are trying to add content, but I disagree that Politicians should have any "combat support" abilities. A lot of the recommendations made are in regards to morale boosting, group benefits, etc. These type of skills should really go to the Squad Leaders who are hurting badly right now.
Squad Leaders = Combat Leaders
Politicians = Domestic Leaders
Politician is a social profession. If thereare any combat oriented abilities, I like some of the NPC faction ideas... or perhaps combat bonuses to citizens of the city for any combat within city limits.