Hyperion come back to Darkfall

[Kaylem Sothenic]

Originally Posted by Brandoreus deMedici

A lot of it had to do with the immense amount of work that had to be done with maintaining something like Hyperion. Manus owns and operates his own business so his time was spent working madly behind the scenes to prop up diplomatic efforts which is where a lot of the complaints of his lack of involvement came from.

As an officer in the US military I was a crew commander for a space observation post in a remote location. Luckily I was in a period of time off when DF started because I was changing assignments, but that was only for about a month and a half. I had scheduled leave for the start so I had some extra time on my hands. I had to leave once CotC really began stepping up campaigns against us and the military leadership that filled in was somewhat weak to be blunt and honest about it.

What began as 14 hour days running the Hyperion military in the campaign on Yssam and the main continent was just not something I could have maintained. I tried recruiting and training more leadership. The best to come forward was Rivers and Typhon, but I needed a lot more to keep the ship on its course. I just didn't have the time to be commanding sieges and raids plus train a whole new generation of Hyperion military leadership.

What killed it for me was that I had to PCS to my next assignment with more training in between. I spent 6 months with shitty internet and long days of intense training. I tried to do my best and actually led a siege and defense without even logging into the game. That was when I decided it was a second job and not entirely worth it.

Communication dwindled which was what killed us in the end. As long as the leadership kept meeting and talking on vent everything was all butterflies and rainbows, but slowly the reality of 14 hour gaming days was just too much. We conquered so much land, held so many events and did way too much crap to sustain without any backup.

While I was leading the military, I was training new leadership, attempting to implement mass training more regularly and oversee elements of Wessex while running RSS ... it was just insane the amount of work it took. I kept a binder with me at all times that I took notes in as a continuity resource for the Lord Constable replacement I was attempting to find and train.

I slowly realized that the job I was doing for Hyperion was beginning to match what I was doing for the US military and that sucked the fun right out of it. It takes a lot to frazzle me since I had to endure leading 18 year olds fresh out of basic that obviously had not paid attention during AIT in Security Forces, but it was all starting to grind on me.

Top that with some corrupt appointments to some top positions who were there for personal gain and not for the betterment of Hyperion and it was just ripe for disaster. Some of the appointments were kind of a hit and miss affair because we didn't prepare them properly.

People accused Hyperion of being a cheating, massive, unorganized zerg, but I'm here to tell you it was quite possibly the most organized and professional large scale organization I have ever been a part of in an MMO and I've done major alliances in a lot of games to include WWIOnline, Planetside, Project Entropia and many others. The type of person it took to hold any of the cabinet positions was someone who was incredibly dedicated and well organized. Unfortunately some just didn't understand what their job actually meant and that killed us over time. Others just didn't have the time to do their job properly.

My biggest annoyance was the fact that some of the minor guilds we recruited were just there to be protected and didn't even care what Hyperion was about. I attempted to set up a new guild induction center in Sweetwater where we would train new members so they understood how to fit into Hyperion and so we could really weed out the useless guilds before they hit the frontlines. Unfortunately a lack of communication killed that project when someone approached Manus and wanted it put under their control.

I don't really regret anything we did. Hyperion was crushed under its own success. Had we reeled in what we had and approached it with a slower pace of growth we would have lasted longer. We needed to grow more slowly and ensure we had the right mix of leadership before adding more to it.

We had an organized and effective fighting force in the opening months. We slammed Yssam with 0 siege losses except the first one at Tiquiya due to the siege hammers not working correctly. We used the formations during the Yssam campaign to great effect which saved us in several situations to even my own surprise. I swore we were going to lose, but we pulled it off. We didn't zerg Yssam despite the claims we did. I ensured we employed Economy of Force so we could fight on multiple fronts and several times we were outnumbered. I loved using Anvil Society as shock troops and they were solid PvPers. Wessex, RSS and BdW employed the formations perfectly to stun opponents even when we were outnumbered against Shadow Syndicate and co. at the ADLN hamlet defense.

Whether you like Manus or not and despite any rumors or claims out there, you have to give the guy credit for putting together such an intriguing effort. It gave me the freedom to experiment with breaking new ground in strategy and tactics in an MMO on a massive scale. Sort of makes me wish I had been around in game when the CotC campaigns began. Of course to their credit they did a great job of spinning opinions against us and building up a monster to stand in our way. I also think we helped a bit by curb stomping a few guilds in the south

All in all it was a great experience. I've been commissioned by the US military to author a white paper on MMOs and it will include Hyperion, BoB and Goons in EVE and a few other experiences I've had the pleasure of witnessing. The premise is using MMOs as a way to train and the platform as a virtual Red Flag simulation for non-traditional domains that aren't fully represented there in Vegas each year. So I suppose Hyperion will get published in some way, but I'm still waiting on my book and movie deal from Hollywood. I highly doubt the white paper would be classified in any way, FOUO at the worst, so maybe I'll toss it up here. I've already authored some smaller memos on using Video Games as training similar to America's Army series. You'd be amazed the things they already do with video games to train.

This sums it up for me.

[Zarithas]

Originally Posted by Brandoreus deMedici

I'm sorry Jusik, but you're in Nemesis right? Not a lot of brightly burning bulbs at the helm there. .

Funnily enough, Glutt and his trusted henchmen just looted the Goon Squad clan bank and joined up with Nemesis. So, take that for what you will.

[Jusik Walker]

Originally Posted by Zarithas

Funnily enough, Glutt and his trusted henchmen just looted the Goon Squad clan bank and joined up with Nemesis. So, take that for what you will.

I actually like them, despite my bias. Also I am pretty sure they gave the bank back, but its whatever, the Goon Squad declared WAR on NEW last night. I went PvPing with them, it went good, they are pretty good.

I think Nemesis is doing fine, what are you referring to?

[Zarithas]

Originally Posted by Jusik Walker

I actually like them, despite my bias. Also I am pretty sure they gave the bank back, but its whatever, the Goon Squad declared WAR on NEW last night. I went PvPing with them, it went good, they are pretty good.

I think Nemesis is doing fine, what are you referring to?

I detest Nemesis for its harboring of Karlek and previous zerging ways. But mainly because of Karlek. If not for him, there's a small chance I might even have joined Nemesis. Thankfully I did not though. And of course, on a pure military level, Superfriends succeeded pretty damn well overall, even if there weren't many sieges.

Awful Company Part Deux was formed by Glutt as a splinter. Goon Squad is a completely separate clan. Most of ACPD do not contain actual goons; just Glutt's old friends and UO clanmates. Apparently Glutt did end up giving the bank back, but let me just explain what he did:

Slut Cannon formed Goon Squad on NA. It was going well for many months, then Glutt returned to Darkfall and said he wanted to join GS as just a regular PvPer. Slut of course was a bit suspicious, knowing Glutt's power-hungry and dictatorial nature, but he accepted it and let him and the old AC leadership core back in. After about 2 weeks, in a secret coup, Glutt and friends overthrew Slut and established a council system, with himself as the lead. Shortly after, Slut left in disgust but returned later as a regular member. Tons more drama occurred, with the vast majority of the clan siding against Glutt+minions. In culmination, Glutt formed his splinter, and I believe around 15 other GS members joined, most of whom played with him in UO or were core AC on EU. The splinter then joined Vamesis. Slut retook leadership of Goon Squad.

Glutt had already cut a deal with Keno a long time ago, from shortly after he joined GS and possibly even before, and had this plan in the works for a while. Early Grace, ex-AC 2nd in command-ish and also a leader of TWO WEEKS on EU and member of Nemesis on NA, was obviously in on it and involved, and was leaking GS information to Keno. This was definitely not because people were disgruntled at Slut; Glutt wanted to take control of GS and have it follow him and his will and plans from the very start.

Nemesis is a direct continuation of TheMercs' old EU policies and people. Duping and even hacking their way to the top, disguising player skill with stats, elitism, and eventually taking in other awful clans just to bolster their zerg. (Dog Company/VG/others on EU for Afghanistan, EB/420/now Awful Company Part Deux on NA).

I left AC specifically to get away from Glutt, his style/methods, and his UO "council." I am not surprised in the slightest at what has happened now, and Goon Squad will continue on in peace as a legit goon clan without Glutt, as they were before. Meanwhile I expect Keno (I have spoken with Keno on many occasions and I am not saying this for no reason) will end up giving a leadership position to Glutt, either formally or secretly, and I expect even more drama to occur. Have fun with him Jusik.

[Brandoreus deMedici]

Hmmmmmm and everyone loved Hyperion because of the drama. I've been following the wrong nation

[Zarithas]

Well there's drama, and then there's power hungry God-complex-type people who try everything they can to gain a leadership position in a clan/alliance, be it sabotage, defaming, a coup, etc. Dealing with those types of people typically cause nothing but problems.

[Brandoreus deMedici]

Never really had that problem in Hyperion surprisingly. We were all so grossly loyal to Manus that when he wasn't as active we ended up with the complete opposite. No one wanted to make a decision without him, which caused a whole lot of friction between the Lords of the realm (tm).

Those of the cabinet who had their roles had no problem, but when it came to picking up the slack for the cabinet folk who had slipped away we just didn't fill in the gap because we were waiting for Manus to make a decision. For example, I had no hesitation in making all military decisions without approval, but that's because I was the Lord Constable. When it came to matters of the Chamberlain or the Chancellor I stayed the hell away.

That is what killed us in the end. It wasn't power struggles that tore us apart, it was the fact that the majority was loyal and we didn't have enough power players to fill out the Cabinet.

[Zarithas]

Originally Posted by Brandoreus deMedici

Never really had that problem in Hyperion surprisingly. We were all so grossly loyal to Manus that when he wasn't as active we ended up with the complete opposite. No one wanted to make a decision without him, which caused a whole lot of friction between the Lords of the realm (tm).

Those of the cabinet who had their roles had no problem, but when it came to picking up the slack for the cabinet folk who had slipped away we just didn't fill in the gap because we were waiting for Manus to make a decision. For example, I had no hesitation in making all military decisions without approval, but that's because I was the Lord Constable. When it came to matters of the Chamberlain or the Chancellor I stayed the hell away.

That is what killed us in the end. It wasn't power struggles that tore us apart, it was the fact that the majority was loyal and we didn't have enough power players to fill out the Cabinet.

Oh yes, I still remember those old screenshots.


http://i41.tinypic.com/16ghgr5.jpg
http://i43.tinypic.com/24y4lfa.jpg
http://i44.tinypic.com/20r4few.jpg

lol Rhygar thought you were a traitor

The only leader who I think who could've been considered a traitor, at that time, was Typhon. I had spoken with him privately and issued our demands; if RSS didn't cede from Hyperion by a certain time limit, we would take Gulghat. He said that plans were already in the works to leave and appeared to cooperate with us.

[Honorius Dioctus]

I never really got to talk to you Zarithas, I only really talked to Gluttony back in the thick of it, I suppose I didn't make any decisions or do much back then either though.

[Brandoreus deMedici]

It still amazes me to this day that even people close to the center of it all never realized what was happening.

I offered a plan up to consolidate our holdings and move to the eastern coast where we would be the most defensible and could leverage our gains in Yssam as a secure corner post of the world.

Securing Agon proper was probably one of the worst military ideas I ever signed on to, but it was more of an RP motivation than anything. If we had dug in on Yssam from the beginning we would have survived a lot longer and been MUCH more defensible. I do have to admit though that I loved the challenge of planning and conducting campaigns from our horribly defensible territories.

WSX refused to leave LM and RSS happened to be on the northeast coast so I guess I can see where the thoughts of me being a traitor or being selfish came in, but honestly holding the central regions was just militarily foolish. We should have set up camp in Yssam ... Things would have been a LOT different then.