The Pack / THEPACK

A small story to illustrate how The Pack is meant to work.
See The Pack as a somewhat dirty bar filled with individuals and small groups. In one corner people have an argument, in another there’s a guy lying knocked out in a chair. Some are clearly pirates, bounty hunters and slavers, others are just rough looking traders. each of them at their own table, sometimes mixed sometimes amongst like minded people. There’s even a successful business owner with two uee marines sitting at such a table at the back. They fight, they yell, they laugh, some may even die.

When the clock hits 1AM a bunch of well armed bounty hunters step in. Under the disguise of ordering a drink they check out the place. Their eyes go from left to right, right to left, they freeze. Their mark is located. Valentine her name is, just being knocked out by some dirty and ugly looking bastard you wouldn’t even wanna touch with a stick. Easy money they think. They walk towards Valentine. 10 meters, nothing happens. 8 meters, no one is looking. 5 meters, they still laugh and fight. 3 meters, someone behind them drops a glass. 1 meter, a new drink gets ordered. They are at the table. Easy pickings they think. One guy in front aims a gun, 2 walk towards her back and try to lift her. The place goes quiet. Slowly the bounty hunters turn. Everyone still sits, but some, such as the Marine at the back, the Bounty hunter who sits alone, even the pirates who sit at a table next to Valentine, raise their guns. Out of the maybe 80 people who are in the bar, 7 take aim, and shoot.

No Forum,
No Leader,
No Guild,
No mandatory Socializing,
No Backstabbing,
No ( other ) Rules.

Just a bunch of people that can play as the typical lone wolf or as a ( small ) group when and if they feel like it.

If you are the lone wolf type but do on occasion want to play as a group or be able to ask for back-up, feel free to join;
If you hate the drama that comes with guilds or clans, feel free to join;
If you’re looking for leadership or want to lead, please stay away and join a guild instead.

Hopefully when this game goes live, members will be able to band together, request or provide support no matter the time or location in the universe.

Beware; private messages and atypical applications can find their way on the recruitment thread.

FAQ

What and for whom is The Pack?
See it as a guild list that lone wolf types and small groups can join. A guild list that can be used for not the 9 out of 10 times, but for that 1 time where we do like to team up, or when we do need trustworthy human back-up. As for the small groups, just imagine you and 5 or so friends playing together, have the back-up of a guild but without the hassle.

How does a regular guild differ from The Pack?
A regular guild has a social structure, The Pack doesn’t;
A regular guild is governed/ruled as a democracy/totalitarian state The Pack isn’t governed/ruled at all. ( it does have an administrator );
A regular guild is for a specific career type, The Pack is for everyone;
A regular guild can have allies with other guilds, The Pack as a group can’t ( what individuals decide is up to them );
A regular guild can have dues/tax, The Pack won’t;
A regular guild doesn’t allow membership of other guilds/groups, The Pack does;
A regular guild have bases, The Pack won’t ( what individuals decide is up to them );
A regular guild places the guild/leader central, The Pack is about the individual.

Me and my friends will form a small guild, can I still join The Pack for when they aren’t playing ?
Yes you can. Just keep in mind that The Pack isn’t a real/traditional guild but should be seen as a list for the lone wolves for the times they do feel like playing together or need some help. Another thing that you need to consider is that pirates are allowed.

In what kind of situation can I use or help The Pack?
Let’s say that I get targeted by the Carebare guild. I own 2 ships, 1 I fly myself and 1 is piloted by an AI. Now If I have no support at all then it is, as far as I understand, always those 2 ships vs the Carebare guild. If say I belong to a guild then I can call in back-up. Now how will this go when I do not belong to a guild? Will npc’s come to the rescue instead? Will I be able to call in some random players, or will it be so that I can’t even request help? The Pack is for that kind of situation. Since it is registered as a guild I will be able to request human help. Because of that there is the rule of no backstabbing.

Another example:
I see a big fat juicy wale just ripe for the picking. There’s just one problem. It has just 1 escort too many for my liking. Now if I was a lone wolf without support system then I would’ve let it go. Luckily I belong to The Pack and can ask for 1 or 2 additional ships. Now the next part will depend on how it will all work but let’s go with the following; So out of the 100 people who are on the guild list, 4 agree to help. Out of those 4 there are 2 who are close enough to help. After describing the target and maybe other circumstances we go down to haggling over the price. This can either be a fixed amount or part of the bounty. The deal is then struck and we can all start with the hunt. ( and hopefully without being ripped off ;) )

What does “No Forum” mean?
There will never be an official ‘‘Pack’‘ forum. If people want to set up their own and let’s say are willing to offer it exclusively to Pack members, they are free to do so.

What does “No Leader” mean?
No one will tell you what to do, and if they try, you can just ignore it.
People are free to organize things. If those things come with strings such as following certain orders…. Well if you accepted then for the duration of the deal you
are bound to those strings.

What does “No Guild” mean?
While ‘‘The Pack’‘ is registered as a guild, it doesn’t function as a typical guild.

What does “No Socializing” mean?
Yes you can still socialize if you want, it is just not mandatory. As far as the pack cares you can end up being a ten year long member and all that you did was accepting and offering deals.

What does “No Backstabbing” mean?
What this group, The Pack, offers is a list of contacts that will be formed via a registry as a organization. Each individual can then request or offer assistance when needed. It is my believe that for this to work is that we to need have a modicum of trust , hence the “no backstabbing rule”.
Basically people can get helped by a member of The Pack but the next moment can get robbed by another.
Heck I don’t even see why 2 members of The Pack can’t fight each other, so long as there isn’t any backstabbing involved ( so no luring them in and at the last moment opening fire )

What does “No ( other ) Rules” mean?
Just what it says, we pretty much only have one rule that you can break, the ‘‘no backstabbing’‘ rule. We offer a huge amount of freedom, for that to work, you need to be able to trust someone’s word when given.
As someone wise once said: With great freedom comes great responsibility.

What is considered backstabbing?
Short version
Doing things under false pretenses and/or breaking your word.
long version
You see a request for help and you decide out of the kindness of your heart to come to the rescue. Instead of finding some helpless pack member, that member opens fire on you. A clear case of backstabbing, which is breaking the rules. It stand to reason that if one person complains about this that there is a certain benefit of doubt attached, if a couple of them complain over more than one occasion, expect a kick.
This is a simple administrative handling. Keep in mind though that there’s a difference between a trap and just really bad odds.

You see a request and you come to the rescue. In that rescue attempt your ship gets destroyed, who’s to pay for the uninsured stuff?
Well you are, it’s a bitch but it’s your own responsibility.

You see a request for flying escort on a trade run. With it is attached 5% of bruto profits after delivery. You accept. Here you thought you would finally see some action, too bad it turned out as the most boring trade run in your life. Easy money you think, the guy you escort however refuses to pay cuz there was no action or simply refuses to pay. This too is a form of backstabbing. Yes breaking your word will be seen as backstabbing and such will result in you getting kicked out. This too will need to happen a couple of times before someone gets kicked.

So The Pack is basically a hotline?
Yes , and everything else you are willing to put in. If you feel like it then you can set things up and see if others would like to join. What you need to keep in mind though is that these things are what you personally do and/or provide. Not something that The Pack does. Apollo’s forum is a good example I think. A couple of members felt like having a place where they could talk about other things. Apollo was nice enough to set up a forum for this. It’s a forum that can be used by pack members but can never be the official Pack forum.
Another example would be you and some other members setting up shop in some far away system were you basically build your own factories and system defense. If the prices are right, or you are willing to offer a discount, then you may attract some specific pack members who in turn operate in the neighborhood.
Yet another but more simple example is a group of people who form their own unit/subgroup that solely focus on escort duty/liberating ship and goods from the uee.

So how would such a group be formed?
If you want to do it now, just post in this thread and see if others are interested. Then either go via pm, launch a forum or ask if you can set up shop in a pre-existing one.

Hey wait a minute, did I just read that I could end up in a situation where I’m fighting my own pack mate?
Yes that can happen. When you as a trader go into the world you might run into pack members who are busy pirating. Maybe they will leave you alone because you’re on of the pack, but just maybe you end up defending your cargo. On the other hand, those same “pirates” could just be tomorrow’s escort in lawless space.

Do you mind if I were to set up xxxxxx
Feel free to set things up. Please be aware though of what is already out there. Yes we could have 10 different forums for different members, but do we really want to?
As for naming things, while it is something that you may offer exclusively to The Pack, it can never be the official pack xxxxx. Lastly. you’ve set it up, so you’re responsible for it.

end FAQ