FA are only enemies against Black Dragon, Crahn and Tangent. Pretty much the same as Biotech, but are alled with TG and Next. Neutral with The City Mercs, City Admin, Biotech, ProtoPharma, Tsunami and Diamond.
At present, Black Dragon, Crahn and Tangent post no threat to us, either as Biotech or if we switch to FA. Personally i'd prefer Black Dragon as hostile, so i have a reason to kill them.
The problems we're having as Biotech is that our 'allied' factions are in control of the OP's we want. And being seen as a clan attacking faction allies isnt a good thing. Take GSF for example. Possibly our nearest faction ally, ProtoPharma. We cant keep attacking them without serious repercusions on us in the RPG sense.
I dont see this as a leap to FA to immediately ally with NAT, EOE etc, but for future opportunities. At the minute as biotech we have NO support from the 'alliance'. Plus as FA are allied with TG, we'll have great support from TG clans that actually want to play the game properly (if any ever get on the server
). We'd have unrestriced access to all major citys (MB, TG, TH, NC).
To me there are 4 or 5 major factions in this game, Mercs, City Admin, Tangent, TG and FA. As faction choice has no benefits, its hard for me to see why anyone would pick factions like Diamond, NEXT and Proto, even Biotech. THe main point really being, even though we are Biotech, we have no ties with the Faction, as we get nothing from it. If changing faction meant say, we lost the benefit of getting cheap implants or something, or if Diamond gave cheap apartments etc, then i'd have serious thoughts on changing. At present, if we switch to FA, i dont see it as jumping on the bandwagon of clans changing to FA/TG etc. More of an educated move to ultimately have the best possible solution of being hostile against some of the poorest Factions on the server and being Neutral or Allied to the strongest and possibly most influential. We play this game for fun and if theres anything that could help us enjoy playing, rather than being pissed off by no support from our allies if we really really needed it, then changing to a faction where we could get support, mainly because there seems more FA online than Biotech, then yes i'd change. If we are going to notice no difference, then basically it just means factions dont count for anything.
Being FA means we can take OP's from faction enemies or neutrals. If they are neutral, we have the choice if we want to be friend or foe. Being stuck with allied factions that do nothing for us, is harder, and possibly more restrictive.
Finally, i do not think of this move, if it happens as a move to be allied with TG to get Arsenal Supporters like HATE to stop them pking us. But if it does, then its an added bonus
Or do i see this move to follow like sheep behind NAT etc. If we go FA, we'll be the biggest clan (cept EOE, i think) so we'd need to stamp some authority on the faction. Have meetings with EoE and NAT, MoJ etc about their plans and any neutral enemies they have. And to what our stance would be on our neutral factions. We could still keep the alliance with the Biotech clans, if they want it. However, they are benefitting from it rather than us at the minute (Although, there are hardly any benefits, they have the knowledge that the biggest Biotech clan will come to their aid, we have no benefits).
Anyway, blah blah etc. I'd vote yes if we are doing it to actually get involved more with allies and RPG'ing. I'd vote no if its just following the sheep. We are huge and influential, if we dont use that to our advantage, then it doesnt matter what faction we are. We may aswell stay as Biotech or switch to TG