Defection

[Nubclear]

What will we do if someone wishes/does defect?

[Jamski]

Depends which direction. I doubt some factions will take back defectors though

-Jam

[Micha]

The hive, for example, will never have the problem of defection. Our citizens enjoy the best life possible. It´s just that accidents tend to happen suddenly, here and then...

[GeneralTacticus]

If someone wants to quit one team and join another, they should immediately quit the team they wnat to leave and wait on joining another one until any inside knowledge they might have becomes useless. Anything else is simply unfair.

[Maniac]

But when does inside knowledge become useless? I mean, even if the traitor has to wait a month, probably only six turns or so will have passed. I doubt there will be much change in that short period. I'd propose that defections are only allowed if the faction to which the person defects already has infiltrated the faction from which the person defects. Anything else is too unfair for the victim faction.

[GeneralTacticus]

Yes, I agree.

[Micha]

Me too.
But best would be if there weren´t any defections at all. I mean, that´s why everybody had been given the opportunity to chose where to participate...

[Alex]

I hope there are not defectors. But if it happens, then Maniac's idea seems fine to me.

[Voltaire]

The Hive would welcome any oppressed peoples seeking refuge in our great communist nation.

Comrade Micha, anyone who defects from the Hive is not a true communist by a capitalist lapdog spy! The imperialists seek to destabilize the State for they know that it is truly the rule of the people, and they fear the people. But not to worry comrades, the will of the people will prevail.

[Static Universe]

Originally posted by Maniac
But when does inside knowledge become useless? I mean, even if the traitor has to wait a month, probably only six turns or so will have passed. I doubt there will be much change in that short period. I'd propose that defections are only allowed if the faction to which the person defects already has infiltrated the faction from which the person defects. Anything else is too unfair for the victim faction.

I would say that long term strategic planning is the more valuable info that a defector will take with him, regardless of infiltration-type data. Six turns probably won't put a dent in that's value, or at least will force major changes in gameplay on the part of the faction defected from, which isn't really fair.

I say disallow it completely or take it on a case by case basis if it must happen.

Edit: for clarity

[AdamTG02]

If you disallow defectors completely, you rule out a lot of interesting role-playing potential. Say I'm a member of the University and one of our cities has been taken by the Consciousness. I decide that I want to have been "assimilated" by the Consciusness, and after discussing it OOC with the players from both teams, make that a reality. This allows us to role-play transitions between factions. Now, I don't claim this should be a normal occurence, but once or twice per game is fine. Within the limits of Maniac's proposal (which seems a sound way to prevent unbalance by premature sharing of information), I think defection should be allowed.

[Maniac]

Should we allow someone being a spy for another faction? For example a potential defector could point out a weak spot in the probe defences of the defector's current faction, giving the future defector's faction a chance to infiltrate and "rescue" and take away the defector to his future faction. Just an idea...
What of course should be unallowed is telling the password of a certain team, or creating DLs to act as spies.

[Method]

nah, i don't like that

as for DLs, we can always count on Ming the Merciless to keep us safe from that

[Maniac]

Perhaps Tassadar could poll it, with a few of the limitations provided above as options to vote on?

[GeneralTacticus]

Regarding spies: NO WAY. This would basicaly mean that any team, at any time, could have their most secret plans exposed withotu any warning and without being able to do anything at all about it. It simply isn't fair.