RO&MN Integration - Official Statement

[Nimsky]

Definitely.

Also, if a random pub player is playing stock RO, and if the server then switches to a CC / MN / DH map, then that player is very inclined to download your mod, I think. He'd be like "hmmm, I see a lot of servers have these mods installed these days, maybe I should download them as well. That way I can keep playing on these servers."

Any suggestions?

Well, in case you do stick to your own plan, I would add mantling. Or add different game modes. Or weapons that haven't ever been in RO before (artillery for example). Or maybe even airplanes, if you manage to make a huge map work on UE2.5.

But like I said, If I were you, I'd choose the way that gives you the most players, but it's your mod... good luck with it.

 

[clanger]

Right now it is impossible to play your mod against real people because there are simply never any players online.

Whatever you do it needs to be focussed getting people playing and I think that more content with fewer bugs is indeed what will have that effect. Imho you shouldn't have released the mod in the current state, let alone it's initial state but hey, you live and learn

 

[Aeneas2020]

2 things:

Firstly to those people saying intergrate or die: lets take in point Counterstrike. Before i get flamed to death (which i will anyway for this post) I am aware MN is not counterstrike and the community is smaller. That mod didn't intergrate and it went on to be hugely sucessful. Mare Nostrums problem lies not in getting existing RO players to play, many of you have already made it clear you won't play it, but in encouraging new people to get RO and try MN. This is a matter of PR, effort and getting more into the mod.Knowing how much work the guys put into it i'm sure there is nothing they can't do.

Secondly as has already been stated they posted this up as a way of posting their intentions not as a topic of debate. I'm not saying don't post your opinions in here but what I am saying is don't be shocked everytime you hear an MN dev say that integration will not happen.

Best of Luck to the guys.

 

[Shurek]

I think both sides of the "argument" have some good points. As previously stated, the decision has been made. And I certainly will continue to play the MN mod, and am awaiting DH's release anxiously.

However, having worked in both media and the manufacturing industry on the client services side of things for almost twenty years, I can lend some of the lessons learned in those sectors to the discussion here. Basically, if you have a kick a$$ product but poor marketing, and bad distribution channels, you're almost doomed to failure before you get the product into the market. Word of mouth can go a long way in some instances (like RO itself) but it's rare and usually an exception to the rule of success. I can't count how many innovative and amazing products I have seen die on the vine due to the mistakes made in marketing and distribution. It's sad really...

 

[Jubei]

I think the only thing hurting MN is (and I do not mean to put your guys great work down, I know it is a beta) lack of content. By this I mean as a standalone mod it lacks enough content to keep many people playing it. I think CC would have had similar problems if it had not intergrated. I do think this mod has loads of potential and I wish you all the best. I for one will be keeping up on this mod.

 

[Monkwarrior]

I will play it for sure, like I did the first few weeks.
The current release is very very playable, just a bit short on content to play it for weeks. In fact it's my favourite theater, I prefer less gloomy maps
If they succeed in real gameplay changes/improvements then this mod can go very far.

Monk.

 

[JCoquillon]

Thanks for those kind words Monk, glad to hear some positivity in here.

You guys, always with the negative waves

But seriously, these initial releases were always going to be relatively low key, the intention was always for a more limited public beta initially so we could get a functional core game to a standard that was playable. Then, as we have already begun, we'd push hard to expand and improve upon that start and draw in more people.

You often only get one chance to win someone over with a mod, if they have a bad first experience they will quite frequently not try it again. I'd like to think we've now got something out there we can be proud of and that people can really enjoy - so we will be making sure we start letting people know and making sure we start turning Mare Nostrum into something meatier to keep people playing.

This thread was only ever about giving you guys a heads-up on how we intend to proceed. We like the fact that we have an open dialogue with our community and feel it's important to acknowledge that we are aware of your suggestions and concerns. So on this issue we wanted to be as clear as we could to avoid any disappointments or letting anyone feel they were being ignored. We didn't make this decision lightly, and we have weighed up the pros and cons before settling on the plan we feel will serve us best. All we are saying is give us a few months before you write us off please.

 

[Dr.Gonzo]

I am going to play your mod regardless, because I come here and know when it will be released.

Let me make a point though, you will get less exposure if you don't integrate early on. It looks like you guys have a lot of work ahead of you so why not integrate the early releases of the game? People who are casual RO players, don't come here. Don't speak english etc. All they have to do is look up on a server list and see somthing new that grabs their eye and most importantly has PLAYERS on that server. If people see empty servers or with 3 or whatever players I think they would feel less inclined to join.

Another thing is VARIETY, it can get tedious if we have to open seperate programs for what really is the same game in sheeps clothing so to speak. I'm not saying that out of disrespect to any of you modders by the way. You guys do excellent maps, skins, weapon models, and all the other things I dont know about. But really I expect these mods to play very much the same way RO is played or very close to it without major overhauls. It makes more sense to me to have it all hosted on one server, that way the flavour always changes from front to front, army to army.(I know im not the only one that loathes Danzig 24/7 servers) Either the server runs a varied setlist or players vote for what they feel like playing, making opening programs and windows unnesessary.
The physics and gameplay are good and simple enough for a game engine that is not getting any younger.

 

[morbius]

lets all keep in mind that all these mods are FREE. so before anybody wants to complain to anybody,keep that in mind.
If you wanna play then you will have to do it the way the devs have decided to present it,either stand alone or integrated.
Quit complaining and let them get back to work.

 

[DoubleSidedTape]

lets all keep in mind that all these mods are FREE. so before anybody wants to complain to anybody,keep that in mind.
If you wanna play then you will have to do it the way the devs have decided to present it,either stand alone or integrated.
Quit complaining and let them get back to work.

If I want to play, I need people to play against

 

[DirtyRat]

When I started MN (now not on the team) I wanted it as a seperate experience to RO...however with the current player numbers I don't think it can be supported as a seperate mod, and i think it would be better integrating back into RO.

I respect the current teams standpoint though, it is after all what was originall intended, I just hope the playerbase can support it. Good luck.

 

[Oldih]

My five cents about this:

Let's just wait and see what happens.

If NM dies out due lack of players and such, that's their problem and rest of the RO community can be like "We told you." and show their middle fingers.

If NM becomes a real success in some point, NM team can say "We told you" and show their arses Braveheart style and laugh sadistically.

Simple, isn't it?

 

[Zetsumei]

It all depends on where MN target base lies. If they target the current ro community primarily integration would be best. If they try to target their own community with players from outside ro standalone would be best.

The thing with the ro mods so far is they pretty much offer an experience comparable or really close to the default game. With points that pretty much fall in the same category as the default ro players. All ww2, and pretty much the same game mechanics as stock ro but with new content. Things although different that could work great and not look out of place with default ro.

Counterstrike/RO:CA offered completely different games from the base game it was based upon it would look weird if you could play them together. Which wouldn't be the case with the RO mods in my opinion.

But its your choice and ill respect that choice.
Anyway good luck, with gathering your own community

 

[lumpeh]

I think you just have to look at Forgotten Hope 2's player count to realize that you can have a fully functional & complete mod with high quality work and yet lucky to have one full server at any time.

 

[stigmata]

You do what you will and think is best, but at the end of the day, CC will be the mod that is played more. Integration is why CC is played and MN isn't.

I concur, I have yet to load or try MN. I am sure it is a fine product but CC works just fine and is integrated. I personally feel that with the very small player base this fine game has, that any non integrated mod will difuse the game and lead to it's decline. This has been a problem with many great games before. I realize that integration might limit the scope of the new mods. However, I firmly believe the benefit outweighs the loss.

 

[Aeneas2020]

When is the [King Tiger] [Jagdpanther] going to enter service at red orchestra.

is that even relevant to this topic? neither of them were in North Africa.

 

[KrazyKraut]

The reason Counterstrike, TacticalOps and in the end even RO became big was because they were based on games that sold in the hundreds of thousands or even over a million. That won't happen with RO.

 

[HKW]

Whoa.

Whoa.

2 things:

Firstly to those people saying intergrate or die: lets take in point Counterstrike...

A Specious argument. Counterstrike offered a completely different game style, and unique & modern 'real life' scenarios... It took the gamey HL and turned it into real life good guy V bad guy... It was so original and different that, if I hadnt known, I would'nt have been able to tell it was a MOD for HL.

As for your argument, MN may posess a few unique differences, but on whole it is just a different flavor of Red orchestra..

I seriously doubt your mod is as different from the Red Orchestra, as Counter Strike was from HL..

CS sux BTW.

 

[HKW]

lets all keep in mind that all these mods are FREE.

FREE and PLAYABLE are mutually exclusive regarding the subject matter, and noone is complaining about the price.

 

[Aeneas2020]

you are completely missing the point of my post, As i stated after that i'm not comparing MN to CS, Also i agree CS sux and lastly MN isn't "My" mod at all.... I agree with what your saying but you completely mis read or only partially read my post. Read it again and you will see i said they need to add more content, more features etc.