These are the issues that I’m looking at that need to be worked out. The wonderful thing about working out problems like this is that as you type them, more ideas come to your head and solutions become obvious. So, this posting may very well contradict itself in some points. This is because while typing up another section I figured out what the answer was. Either way, these are just notes to myself and of course, this early in the game nothing is concrete.

How to make the life of a research scientist interesting
Would require specific tasks to be accomplished before a "discovery" is made? What I think will be done here is to remove the character type of “Scientist” and actually leave that task to Commanders. Namely, a bank of computers would be the research specialist, and by providing them with materials and concepts they could design new techniques. Confused? Me too. Let’s do an example. In the beginning of the game (the very beginning) one of the first things they can research is either lightweight armor (plasteel?) or heavy armor. After they research these, they can assign the computer to research Concepts, such as flying armor, high-speed dropships, etc. Costs of research would be things such as a thousand loads of iron (for experimentation), twenty loads of diamonds, etc. These will be used in the creation of designs. Also capturing enemy equipment would help to speed the research process. Further, spies (and traitors) could sell information to the other side.

I wonder how plausible it would be to make commanders of Houses (guilds) responsible for their own research, thus allowing each House to focus their technology separately. Perhaps, after a development is researched, it could be sold to the government. However, in order for this to be successful, the research tree would have to be massive.

How to ensure that people enact their roles
In order for this game to gel properly, everyone has to play their role. This means that people will attack the enemy, not members of their own Troupe. People will want to promote the war campaign on their side. People will want to provide materials for the war effort. But what’s more important is to keep the players in line. If there’s one thing that Ultima Online and Tribes have taught me, it’s that without sufficient deterrents, players will do whatever they feel like doing and will not embrace a role. The first step would be to remove the need to act out of order. For example, in Ultima Online, killing another person (any other person) would reward you with their loot. To combat this, people will have money, but never carry it. Kind of like everyone has a credit card and never carries cash. The only thing you would gain by killing someone is his or her weapon and armor (if you didn’t damage it too badly). However, in a world in which you Regen after dying, you can easily report who killed you.

I wonder if allowing people to go Renegade would be too constricting or too much freedom?

How to avoid falling into a "computer running the morals" trap.
Another problem is that since our goal is to make the players want to perform their roles, we should not allow ourselves to believe that a computer can figure out what’s right and what’s wrong. For example, it’s easy to think that a quick rule, such as if you hit a teammate more than 3 times you’re automatically kicked, would enforce team play. However, people will find a way to exploit the system. They would cause avalanches, toss grenades that won’t flag them, harass other players, etc. People will exploit. So, leave judgment up to the players. All decisions affecting punishment and reward should be run through other players, preferably superiors. This means that if a bad apple (someone who fires on his own team) is found, he can be voted out by his Troupe.

More importantly though is that we need to find a way to remove the desire to act out in the first place. Why kill team mates in the first place? Firstly, you’d lose any Federal Payment for this mission. When you die (which would probably be the result of treason), you’d have to recreate your character, which costs money. Foul up too many missions and you don’t have the money to rebuild a decent character. So again, things have to got rely back on money.

How to eject a "bad apple" from a Troupe? (all votes are majority)
So, you vote a Bad Apple out of the Troupe, what happens? Does he become an open target for the Troupe? I don’t like this idea, but it is realistic. Finally, a record would have to be kept on the previous activities of each player. If someone has been booted from a Troupe too many times, no one will hire him. Then, it’s a straight shot to becoming Renegade (if that’s even an option) or succumbing to being a Free Agent merchant or raw material supplier.

But can this system be abused. What’s to stop a large Troupe from going on a self-assigned mission (or having one assigned from their House Commander) and hiring a Free Agent with nice equipment, then killing him out in the field. Once killed, he should be able to lodge a complaint against the House, but this coin flips both ways. We don’t want players lodging complaints against any House that offends them, nor do we want to remove the element of danger of trusting your life to complete strangers. Every character, and every House, must carry a public history of attempted, successful and failed missions, commendations (if needed) and lodged complaints. (Granted, this system can be exploited in its current state and needs to be tweaked.) If a House has many complaints lodged against it Command will be wary in offering it Federal Missions, which of course is a vast source of money, and Free Agents will be wary of accepting House Sanctioned missions from them.

Bring everything back to almighty dollar?
If you haven’t noticed, money will play an important aspect in the game. Not only will money allow you to buy good weapons, armor, vehicles, etc, but also you need money in order to maintain a character. People are going to die. Fact. However, people with money will be able to Regen as a fully capable fighting force, whereas people without money will start as weaklings with no armor, and no decent weapons (minor pistols are almost sold in convenience stores). Vehicles, of course, are extremely expensive, which makes being a self-employed arms runner (taking equipment to and from the front lines) a very dangerous and often expensive job (which is why the pay can often be so high).

However, there must be safeguards to prevent the extremely wealthy from taking over. The answer, of course, is taxes. Take land for example. Land near the front lines is extremely expensive because that’s where the action is (and close action means easy bounty). This is, of course, still His Majesty’s land, and land like that will be taxed to a supreme. This is to prevent a House from taking one piece of land on the front lines, making a killing, then buying another piece of land, making more money and dominating the landscape by squeezing out everyone else.

However, sometimes that’s not a bad thing. What would be necessary is a form of land rotation. Along these lines, you’d think of the taxes that each House pays for land as more like Rent payments, and that if a smaller House has enough to pay the rent (plus an extra take-over charge), they can request land from His Majesty (even land that is already occupied). Once they are granted the land, they can keep it for x number of days until their Land Rights expire, in which case the next House in the queue for that particular piece of land will gain rights to it.

This will guarantee each house its chance at a piece of land on the front lines (or deep in the resource rich mountains) at some point or another, as long as they can afford to pay the taxes (rent). Again, money makes the world go round.

Finally, in a way to prevent growth from reaching too massive of a point, the taxes levied against a House will be based on its total worth. Namely, the rich will pay a larger percentage in taxes, and the poor will be a lesser percentage. This will allow new Houses to start fairly quickly and older, larger Houses will be a bit more watchful of their growth (lest they fall into the upper tax bracket!).

How about specifying which classes possible to play as?
This is a very temporary list, and subject to much modification. It’s just a general list of different types of roles that a character can assume.
Foot soldiers:
Shock Trooper: Can wear various types of armor and use many weapons
Shock Recon: Can use long-range radar to detect enemy positions, weaker combat
Shock Comm.: Can communicate with Command, and receive navigational waypoints
Pilots
Shock Driver: Can pilot land-based vehicles through combat
Shock Flyer: Can pilot air-based vehicles through combat & dog fighting
Command

Manufacturers
Manufactures weapons, armor, vehicles, etc.
Agents
Free Agent: Gather raw materials for sale, or freely harass enemy populous
Flight Agent: Owns vehicle, transports goods/troops to/from front lines.
Spies: Infiltrate enemy lands to plant bugs, sabotage. Disguise?

Permanent Damage?
Interesting concept is damage that’s permanent. Namely, if you’re shot in the leg, I want you to limp. If you’re shot in the arm, you can’t use it. I want realistic damage so that the only thing that will allow you to take a few hits is body armor, and that should be (somewhat, but not very) expensive. This vulnerability will take out the Blitzkrieg factor. I also want damage to affect you until you Regen. If you’re hit in the leg, you’re going to limp until you Regen, since there’s no magical shot in the arm that’ll cure a shattered kneecap.

Guilds? How do they fit into the scheme of things?
This should really be an update of its own, and probably will be. In this game, a guild is referred to as a House. It’s a group of at least five (tentative number) people who want to act together and declare allegiance to His Majesty, and to help the War Effort. To reward their devotion, they are allowed Land Rights, meaning that with enough money, they can request the Land Rights to a sector of land. On this land, they can build, mine, launch attacks, fortify, etc. They will pay a hefty price for this land, and will therefore want to make some of that money back, so they’d better get started! Either mining to sell resources, or defending His Majesty’s land through combat, and accepting Federal Missions.

Like any online guild or clan, they can structure themselves however they see fit, and will be in complete control of their land. They can freely attack anyone on their land (and suffer the consequences) as a piece of their Land Rights. They can also grant permission to Control to use their land as staging points in battles (and get paid nicely). They have the Land Rights to refuse Control’s requests, but pissing off Control is rarely a good idea.

To get land rights, you must have a minimum of people in your House. Namely, two (very) rich people can’t create a House and start buying up land in their own mini-conquest. You must have enough people to populate the land.

As far as actual House operation, I’d assume that (in addition to each members personal financial account) the House would have one opened that each member could contribute to, but only few members could withdraw from. Further, each member could see each transaction that the House has made, allowing them to know who donates and who doesn’t, and what the House is spending so much money on!

Finally, each House is in charge of its own research. Now, House technology advances fairly slowly, but not so much slower than Command’s research. Here’s the point. Once a House has successfully developed a technology that no other House can, he controls that technology. This is a precarious time because any other House could be working on this technology as well. The House can sell the technology to other houses at a premium price. It could use the technology and offer equipment to the market that only it can produce. Eventually, (and this is where the big bucks are) it will sell the technology to the Government, profiting off of this madly as long as they’re the first to do it. When a technology is sold to the government, it is available (for a price) to other Houses to purchase and utilize. Finally, there is a possibility of stealing technology from other Houses, but that’s a completely different angle.