View Topic

Now that the N-Day event is over and done with, let's discuss what happened! What did we do well? What could we do better? It seems possible that this will be a regular event like Z-Day, so it would be great to come up with a template for preparing for future events.

Corcetia, the WA Delegate of New Hyperion, posted this dispatch on NS shortly after the event concluded. Though I would not agree with it in its entirety, it's still a pretty good read.

My response, reproduced from the NH RMB:

Excellent writeup. Though IMO it's missing one important thing. For me at least, I think the main key to our survival and flourishing was diplomacy.

This was the biggest change from the Hyperion Nuclear Order of N-Day 1: we actually had a diplomatic team, headed by Wintermoot and Robin and consisting, at various times, of myself, Pengu, and Larthinia, among others. It became clear that, to remain high on the leaderboard, a faction must seek out relations with other large and leading factions. Otherwise, you get mercilessly targeted and destroyed, often with rogue nations used as causus belli. This is one area where our compact with Wintreath aided us greatly: we had the interregional relations experience of the Wintrean Foreign Ministry, combined with the larger political clout and name recognition that Wintreath brings.

Because of our diplomatic actions, we were able to secure an alliance with UPPERCUT (which in the late endgame arguably saved us with an attack on the AA and some shielding aid), an NAP with NATO, and good relations with many other leading factions, such as the UDS. Furthermore, these actions aided in intel gathering; for instance, multiple faction members were monitoring and reporting on the going-ons in the AA, and as a consequence we were able to quickly and effectively respond to their attack.

I agree with Corcetia that communications could have been far better. The vast majority of the leadership and planning took place on the dedicated Wintreath forum thread (http://wintreath.com/forums/index.php?topic=4677.0) but with many of New Hyperion's forces either unable or unwilling to participate in the discussions there, coordination became somewhat difficult. And while real-time chat (eg Discord or IRC) may have helped, the more major issue here was the lack of centralized communication.

(Of course, there was also the separate issue of some rogue nations who, whether by incompetence or intentional sabotage, disobeyed standing orders on the faction description and launched uncoordinated attacks, but that's to be expected once an organization like this grows large enough.)

As for puppets, however, I brought mine in at the same time as my primary nation, and just browsing through the Wintreath thread and, to a lesser extent, the NH RMB, shows that many did the same (though in some cases it wasn't all at once because it takes time to consolidate several dozen puppets).

What we have done well was that, despite rogue nations and unlikely odds, we were able to quickly adapt and act in consequence. It could even be said that, in some cases, our versatility was what saved us. Also, in my opinion, focusing more on shields and being defensive than being offensive is a potentially good thing, as it may have discouraged bigger rivals from attacking for a while.

What we could have done better was maybe being a bit more aggressive (for the sake of climbing up on the leaderboard, but it seems that, late-game, we climbed up just because so many bigger rivals were nuked into oblivion, so, I don't know if this is necessarily a must). We could have also maybe worked a bit more on diplomacy, even though we ended up fine, but there were a few close calls. However, what can certainly be done better in the future is communication: with a few members acting on their own, and with the operations center being in what can be seen as an inopportune place for some New Hyperians, we could say that communication was not necessarily at its best. I do believe that setting up a IRC or a Discord server for a future N Day could be a good thing.

In conclusion, if we manage to get more people in and also get a more efficient way of communication, I'm very certain that we can aim for -and reach- the top 10.

However, what can certainly be done better in the future is communication: with a few members acting on their own, and with the operations center being in what can be seen as an inopportune place for some New Hyperians, we could say that communication was not necessarily at its best. I do believe that setting up a IRC or a Discord server for a future N Day could be a good thing.

I'd argue that this is mostly the fault of those said Hyperians though. It literally takes seconds to register an account on these forums—about the same time it'd take to boot up my IRC client, enter in the server/channel, and join.

Don't get me wrong, IRC and Discord are good and probably would've helped (even if the battle between the two are a bit of a touchy subject in this region), but I just don't see it as a major issue here.

However, what can certainly be done better in the future is communication: with a few members acting on their own, and with the operations center being in what can be seen as an inopportune place for some New Hyperians, we could say that communication was not necessarily at its best. I do believe that setting up a IRC or a Discord server for a future N Day could be a good thing.

I'd argue that this is mostly the fault of those said Hyperians though. It literally takes seconds to register an account on these forums—about the same time it'd take to boot up my IRC client, enter in the server/channel, and join.

Don't get me wrong, IRC and Discord are good and probably would've helped (even if the battle between the two are a bit of a touchy subject in this region), but I just don't see it as a major issue here.

Key word: here.

While I do agree with the fact that there's not much set up to do at all, those people still don't really see the convenience in making an account here solely for the sake of said event. The best way to solve this would be to simply make an IRC or Discord server. Everyone is happy and everyone finds it convenient (at least I'm assuming so).

Key word: here.

...

I do believe you're misinterpreting my statement. The "here" was merely being used as an intensifier. It could easily be removed and the sentence would have the same meaning.

While I do agree with the fact that there's not much set up to do at all, those people still don't really see the convenience in making an account here solely for the sake of said event. The best way to solve this would be to simply make an IRC or Discord server. Everyone is happy and everyone finds it convenient (at least I'm assuming so).

Perhaps, but for people to refuse to join and then subsequently criticize our faction for communications difficulties is a tad ironic, as they were the ones making communications difficult in the first place.

This is especially true when we (as in NH) have been a vassal of Wintreath for almost a year now, during which all Hyperians were strongly encouraged to join here and participate in various events and continue the Hyperian invasion and takeover of Wintreath. With our own forum effectively dead, the treaty makes it so that these can be our forums as well.

And as for "at least I'm assuming so": IRC and Discord both have their drawbacks. IRC is difficult to use on mobile, and some people don't have or use Discord. Furthermore, in Wintreath, the debate between the two is a somewhat touchy subject. For those reasons and others, discussions stayed on the forums.

Of course, there is no solution to satisfy everyone. But with New Hyperion and Wintreath as such closely connected regions, I don't think convenience is a very strong excuse for disrupting coordination and communications within the faction.

I've read the dispatch from Corcetia...it's very well written, and a good recounting of the phases we went through in the event. I don't agree with all of his conclusions, and others I think were a product of the Cabinet being stretched among multiple other events, but that's why we're having this discussion now, because I think preparedness will go a long way to doing better in the next event.

In Wintreath, we sent a telegram to all nations that included a link to the What You Need to Know dispatch, which included instructions on firing missiles, but if we need an additional primer on how to do things like that we can certainly write something up and have it ready to send out for the next event.

I'm undecided about his point on the Rules of Engagement...he could be right that pursuing a more aggressive policy could have netted us more points, but on the other hand it could just as easily have attracted the wrong kind of attention to us earlier in the event, forcing us at the least to use shields that ended up being sorely needed in the final hour. I think the RoE was fine given the position we were in coming into the event, but if we can do some diplomacy beforehand and gain dedicated allies (or even better, work with those allies as a group) before the event starts, we would be in a better position to relax them.

Speaking of diplomacy, our weakness there kind of mirrors our weakness in NSGP in general. We're recognized as an active and vibrant community, but we don't have a strong foreign affairs program, and the program we do have is more focused on connecting with average Citizens in other regions than connecting with their leaders. BSR did a great job at ad-hoc diplomacy, but to do our best in this area we'd really need to ramp up our FA and start building relationships with their leaders. But when it's a struggle to even fill ambassador assignments...

As for communication, it's not as if a platform wasn't provided, it's that some people didn't want to use it and would have preferred something else. It may be a cultural difference...in Wintreath the forums are the central point for just about everything we do, but some other regions barely use their forums in favor of RMBs or Discord. Then there's the larger issues and uncertainties that taulover mentioned when it comes to real-time chat. Do we continue to use our IRC for real-time chat, or switch to Discord as many other regions have? If switching to Discord, do we try to regionalize the unofficial Discord server that Hannah and Hugsim started, or start a new official one? Until those issues are resolved and most of Wintreath has convalesced around a platform, it's hard to provide for much here during events.

In Wintreath, we sent a telegram to all nations that included a link to the What You Need to Know dispatch, which included instructions on firing missiles, but if we need an additional primer on how to do things like that we can certainly write something up and have it ready to send out for the next event.

Just FYI, I sent out links to the dispatch and such in NH as well.

But yeah, perhaps a primer/guide would help, since there were a few people who couldn't figure out the game's UI initially.

Just FYI, I sent out links to the dispatch and such in NH as well.

But yeah, perhaps a primer/guide would help, since there were a few people who couldn't figure out the game's UI initially.

Well, seeing as he's a great writer judging from the dispatch, and he's apparently already instructed nations on how to do it, could we possibly ask Corcetia to write it?

Just FYI, I sent out links to the dispatch and such in NH as well.

But yeah, perhaps a primer/guide would help, since there were a few people who couldn't figure out the game's UI initially.

Well, seeing as he's a great writer judging from the dispatch, and he's apparently already instructed nations on how to do it, could we possibly ask Corcetia to write it?

You want me to copy your post over to the NH RMB? (Or maybe you could do it yourself, since we have embassy posting?)

You want me to copy your post over to the NH RMB? (Or maybe you could do it yourself, since we have embassy posting?)

* Wintermoot is shyyyyyyy

But yeah, I guess it'd be better if I contacted him, lol

On an ironic note, I realized that while I used puppet after pupper and brought back all of my old nations...I actually completely forgot to bring back one for the event.

Amusingly, it's the nation that I actually first established in Wintreath and originally registered here with.

That reminds me of something I forgot to mention on the puppet point...the event started right as I was leaving work, so I only had time to create the faction real fast. At least for me, that's why I didn't have puppets deployed for a few hours after the event started.

Why can't they do this stuff on a weekend when people are less likely to be busy with school and work?

Why can't they do this stuff on a weekend when people are less likely to be busy with school and work?

The last one was on a weekend, maybe they wanted to intentionally create a smaller event this time? If so it worked, my army of puppets downsized by half an order of magnitude.