Faction upgrade thread turns into a row over co-leaders and Vulpes

A feedback thread

Beerstein [1322136] started "Faction upgrade suggestions" in General Discussion on 17 Jan 2017. The opening post asked players whether a requirement or unlock was too hard or too easy.^[1][2]

At the archive's last fetch the thread had 190 replies and 4,347 views. 17 posts came from Torn staff, officers or moderators.^[2]

Who gets to assign upgrades

BFM [1455642] wrote that a co-leader can clean out vaults and armouries and manage wars but cannot assign upgrades. They called that "a ****ing joke" and said a co-leader who is not trusted to assign upgrades should not be in that position.^[3]

Chedburn [1], posting as Torn developer, wrote that the upgrade trees need a single mind making the final decisions. Chedburn wrote that leaders are the actual leaders and owners of a faction, and that a faction with an inactive leader is inactive in their eyes.^[4]

Chedburn also wrote that every member can see all upgrades and selected specialization trees, but only leaders can select new trees and make upgrades.^[5]

Harley [258120] agreed co-leaders should not upgrade but said being able to see the options would be nice. Blistig [1553363] wrote as a co-leader that they could not see or pick any specialization branches, and called that lame.^[6][7]

The Vulpes dispute

Beerstein posted about a dispute over the Vulpes faction and its owner Foxxeh. Beerstein alleged that Vulpes members had a plan in motion to take the faction from Foxxeh, and wrote that they had brought the situation on themselves. Allegation^[8]

IceBlueFire [776], a Torn officer/committee member, wrote that Foxxeh was deliberately holding the faction hostage because of a power trip. IceBlueFire wrote that the faction's members were stranded by that selfishness. Allegation^[9]

mug [553318], also a Torn officer/committee member, wrote that they could not feel bad for Vulpes, who had had a long time to make their own faction or merge. Later mug wrote "okay :'[ i will feel bad. GL on the merger."^[10][11]

CalzaTheFox [1694544] wrote that their loyalty was to Vulpes and that they would likely go to a sister faction or a second Vulpes if one formed. Participant claim^[12]

Costs, insults and dislikes

Lonestar [1151936] wrote that requiring 10k energy to unlock increased training was ridiculous and that Chedburn had nerfed smaller factions. Weeman [506086] posted a calculation of energy per member and called it a huge nerf.^[13][14]

IceBlueFire posted branch-by-branch totals from their own calculations using the new API selections, with a stated total of 20,870,105. Participant claim^[15]

PsychoPaul [869170] called the system over engineered crap on a game going down the pan. That post drew 16 dislikes.^[16]

Champion [1927067] wrote: "Your faction is shit, just like the leader."^[17]

Later references

In a Bugs & Issues thread the same day, -18- [1531198] wrote that the recent Vulpes drama would not have happened if leader-only upgrades had been in place. They quoted Chedburn's post.^[18][19]

On 27 May 2017 ripp3r [667086] posted in the thread asking for a respect refund for member capacity.^[20]

Timeline

1. 17 Jan 2017 Beerstein opens "Faction upgrade suggestions".^[1]
2. 17 Jan 2017 Chedburn posts that only leaders should make upgrades.^[4]
3. 17 Jan 2017 Beerstein, IceBlueFire and mug post about the Vulpes dispute.^[8][9][10]
4. 26 Jan 2017 Candyman [1318199] posts a late reply about branch resets.^[21]
5. 27 May 2017 ripp3r asks for a respect refund for member capacity.^[20]