Politician Archive

Like many of you, I was very excited to see player cities coming to the live servers. I had done a lot of homework on the Politician profession on Test Center, looking at cities, running around like crazy on Dantooine looking for a few "just-right" places to plop the City Hall down at and get started.

And overall, I must say that I am pleased. There's a couple things here and there I may not agree with, and of course the usual small bugs that have to be worked out of anything that is new...it was a very smooth transition to Live, and for the most part we all got the city we were planning (except for the low-cap planets...sorry guys, I know what that must feel like).

This post is mostly to cover a few things I think should be added, tweaked, or considered. Try to keep this thread as constructive as possible, I'm hoping it can be a gathering point to ideas to add or change to the Politician's profession & role in a city.

1. Faction training. I was rather disappointed to find that a Politician cannot use his faction points to train in political XP. Throughout the books mainly (though I feel Leia was an example of this in the films as well), many characters fought for their Faction AND were diplomats. I had finally gotten excited there was a reason for me to talk to my Faction's recruiter, a reaosn to use the training option there and get one of my basic skills for the City. Anyone that fought long and hard for their Faction would have gained leadership experience, and it would seem to be in the Faction's best interest to have trained Politicians (for diplomatic purposes, let alone being able to have a city for their Faction's people to live in).

2. Additional roles for a Politician. I've read through the forums regularly, and one theme I completely understand has been popping up...if you aren't Mayor, you're useless as a Politician. And this is, overall, very true. Of course any Politician to come to city X and put his name in for the electoral votes. Right now, this may not be too hard...the votes would likely be based upon the citizen's like or dislike for the current Mayor and the prospective Mayor. What happens a month or two from now, when the current Mayor is a Warmaster or Accountant, and the other Politician running hasn't been able to gain any XP at all...unless the Mayor's been a Dictator, he'll be winning because he now has the goods the other guy doesn't have.

There should be a role, or roles, for Politicians to fill outside of Mayor. Perhaps an assistant Mayor, like an XO, that can manage the militia and zoning rights while the Mayor is away? It would have to be limited somehow (perhaps the Mayor giving permissions to different abilities), but it would help the Mayor out in his work as well as getting a Politician XP. Another suggestion would be for a position that negotiates (Ambassadors)with other cities, perhaps coordinating the sharing of costs or City Specializations, giving incentive for the Cities to work together, and it can ONLY be accomplished it both city has an Ambassador. Another position a Politician can fill, tha thelps the Mayor and the city out while gaining XP.

All of these positions could be based on voting, perhaps changing the XP granted by position (Mayor gets the most XP per vote, then Assistant Mayor, then Ambassador). These roles may be simple in their nature, but it would at least allow a Politician to gain XP while building a campaign to run for Mayor.

3. Additional XP benefits. The Mayor of a city has a few things working against him to grow in his skills...one, he only gains XP weekly when votes are completed. Two, if the Mayor is going to have a lot of XP coming to him from citizens, the XP cap is going to kick in and he'll still be limited to gaining a skill a week, if he's lucky. Yes, after a couple of weeks that won't matter as much for most of us. It will still mean, for all of us, a very slow progression in skills and the city. Perhaps XP can ge granted for every citizen the Mayor gets to join, or for every building that is placed instead. A bonus of XP for the size of the City increasing. Little perks like that would not only facilitate the growth of the City but also the Mayor's ability to make it a better place to live.

4. City e-mail. I was a bit surprised the Mayor cannot select an option from the terminal that allows him to send an e-mail directly to the citizens. Instead the Mayor will have to make sure he keeps a well-maintained list on his friends list of citizens, and for me that means keeping a paper list because my comments on the friends list frequently disappear.

On top of being able to send mail to the City, the mail should either be seperate from the normal mail system, or the e-mail system needs the text to be increased in size. I for one write an e-mail tot he CIty every night before I log, detailing what's going on, what I'm working on, what's coming up & what I need them to do. It ends up being for or five parts before it's done, which is frustrating to type and moreso to read. Some people may want to save those e-mails, but when it's 4 parts per message your box will fill up quickly.

5. Ability to customize greeting message. I've noticed that an automatic welcoming e-mail is sent when a player becomes a citizen. I think it's great, but it would be even more effective is the Mayor can customize this e-mail. Explain the current reasons for the tax levels, explain the housing placement rules, etc. It would help save a lot of time and confusion for the Mayor and new members alike.

6. City bug reporting. A Mayor is supposed to handlethe citizen's problems, such as the many bugs being run into with housing right now. An option added to the terminal for a Mayor to report the city's problems would not only limit CSR tickets on these things, but hopefully bring attention to problems quicker. Furthermore, the citizens can feel like their Mayor is actually working for them, and the Mayor can feel satisfied that issues are being taken care of.

These are just thesix main things I can see right now, I'll add a seperate thread when & if I have enough points to make later on. I'd love to see anything else Politicians and Mayors think should be added, tweaked, or changed altogether...just please keep everything constructive!

Some interesting points, but one of them is actually addressed already.

To email all the citizens, put "citizens" in the To: field. (yes, it's plural)

You can do the same thing with your Guild (using "guild") if you have been given rights.