Faxes?

[Kazuko_myu]

Now this is not going to be a flame thread or anything of the sort, rather do I just want to hear a general opinion about them. Every once in a while, when something dramatic happens or a person of importance fucks something up, people are prone to mutiny, or spam the need to fax WY or USMC, prompting them for intervention.

I, for myself, so far never had a fax answered. I used the formats, and tried to structure my demands/requests orderly and objectively, but it's mostly met with no response of any sort.
Now this is not going to mean that staff is at fault. I'm aware that there's loads and loads of work for mentors, moderators and admins, but wouldn't it be better if someone at least gives a short word of advice to those that request it?

It's happened so often to me now, and I've heard that others faced the same kind of problem now and then.

So, what is you guys opinion on that? Should there be some more attention put into well formed faxes, or maybe even introduce something like fax responders (sounds quite stupid, tbh.)? Or should it be as it is and people just have to deal with it? It just crossed my mind in the latest round when Carson was at it again and went full ape with his authority and myself and a few other MPs tried to get HC for a response in what to do.

[Sleepy Retard]

If we're overwhelemed with ahelps and situations to deal with we don't have the time to properly format a response and word it properly, it just takes too much time. All I have to say, really.

[Fritigern]

Faxes are useless and the entire corporate liaison role needs a serious redesign.

[completelynewguy]

Faxes should be sent more often since there's more staff, but since it's a pain for Staff to send faxes, it's very unlikely for anyone to care.

[Swagile]

Faxes are useless and the entire corporate liaison role needs a serious redesign.

This.

Currently, even with an admin on, its a spin of the dice on whether the admin is not busy and is in the mood to answer your faxes.

I usually just make my own fun when I am a CL, like spinning convincing lies, creating hoaxes on ship (like CLF on board), making people sign dubious contracts, and creating "loyalists" within support departments like MT's (who are usually bored and willing to RP just to pass the time) or Doctors (string them along due to the fact that they use WY supplies / they are WY employees / etc.) so that I can use them at the right time to throw my weight around as a CL.

Faxes are just useless in their current state and I feel bad for all the good CL's who actually do make decent faxes every round and never get so much as a "ok" reply from WY.

[apophis775]

I do my best to answer them when I can, but we sometimes get overwhelmed with other things. we can try to make it a bit more responsive. Your best bet, is that if you send a fax, send an Ahelp with the first one, letting staff know you intend to send faxes and engage them, so they can be on the lookout.

[Feweh]

Do your own thing as a CL and will take notice of you.
Sending a fax and waiting for an answer before doing anything will get you no response.

[TheMaskedMan2]

A good idea for a CL to take note of, is if you are nothing without the fax machine, you aren't a very good CL. You need to make your own fun, situation, and RP. Go into the CL role expecting absolutely nothing from the fax machine, and attempt to make your own fun. I do attempt to answer Fax messages now and again, though with grey tide and my mood lately sometimes I just don't. If you make yourself stick out by RP'ing well and creating good situations, it will make staff much more likely to want to interact with you.

[apophis775]

A good idea for a CL to take note of, is if you are nothing without the fax machine, you aren't a very good CL. You need to make your own fun, situation, and RP. Go into the CL role expecting absolutely nothing from the fax machine, and attempt to make your own fun. I do attempt to answer Fax messages now and again, though with grey tide and my mood lately sometimes I just don't. If you make yourself stick out by RP'ing well and creating good situations, it will make staff much more likely to want to interact with you.

Did you just try and Tony Stark him?

[TheMaskedMan2]

Did you just try and Tony Stark him?

I think I subconsciously did now that I re-read it, yes. The things a brain does on low levels of sleep. Point still stands though!

[Renomaki]

It does suck when your faxes go ignored, moreso if all you want is a simple "Hey, glad to see you made it, good luck with the mission". It doesn't always have to result in some covert ops, yuh know? Just a bit of acknowledgement is all I normally ask.

But as others had said, if you plan on going CL, the best idea is to try and create your own fun (within reason, anyways). Make legal papers for staff to sign, ask the marines to return items of interest to you (such as DNA samples or weyland tech), and generally keep active when you can. As Masked themselves said, if you get bored due to a lack of faxes, then you are in the job for the wrong reasons.

For instance, in one situation where I was CL, I put out a few faxes, with none of them being replied to. I sighed, and then went about business as usual, wandering the ship and listening in on current events while wondering if my legal documents will be enough to prevent marines from turning the colony into a scrap yard... Next thing you know, a portal to hell opens up and I end up falling into it, turning into a demon and slaughtering all who dare rise up against me. And this was COMPLETELY by surprise, as well...

Goes to show that the best CL rounds are not so much planned as they are, er... "winged".

[Feweh]

My favorite CL faxes are the "SEND HELP, I NEED THIS BLABLABLA", followed by Pray: I SENT AN IMPORTANT FAX and then finally AHelp: READ MY FAXES PLEASE.

Nothing will get youre faxes ignored more than doing any of those.

[Snypehunter007]

I have to agree with Feweh, if you don't send in some type of fax before the xenos board and then send an improperly formatted and grammatical mess, you are not getting a response, even more so if you pray or ahelp.

[Philby0]

Next thing you know, a portal to hell opens up and I end up falling into it, turning into a demon and slaughtering all who dare rise up against me.

Where you that CL that walked in the hellhounds portal in research a few days ago ?

[Skimmy2]

I giggle at the idea of a Liaison praying that Weyland answers his fax, aside from say, praying he wont die a horrible death!

You generally shouldnt expect an answer, though always assume they are reading them. I personally format the faxes to only state situational updates, using "please advise" if I really want a response/totally dont want to die by aliens and hope for PMCs.

The times iv played CL iv only ever had 1 fax responded too. (AHelping about if its possible to fax them a photo probably helped to get them to notice me that round, though!)
And the response was just them resending the photos back to me. Which I giggled madly at myself while my character had a mental breakdown.

For the most part the CL is just Weyland's representative, you should be focused on serving in her best interest locally first, updating Weyland with reports 2nd, and requesting external assistance last.

[Renomaki]

Where you that CL that walked in the hellhounds portal in research a few days ago ?

Oh yes, that was me.

Curiosity would normally kill the cat, but in this case, it gave me IMMORTALITY AND POWER BEYOND MORTAL IMAGINATION...

... Yet no resistance to bullets. And fire...

[RedOktober12]

Interestingly, I do often read faxes even if I don't have time to reply, due to playing the game and moderating. However, if I see you doing something interesting, or the faxes show a particularly interesting thread, I'm more prone to give you something. The flipside of this equation is nine times out of ten when I reply giving a CL something to do, they decide against it and demand PMCs at the first opportunity. Make your own drama and RP situation, and things'll happen. Just please don't beg for things we can't do. Like sending gear or PMCs.

Just bear in mind that the attention of staff faxing you isn't a right when you play CL, but rather a privilege. I don't mean to suggest that our time is more or less important than anyone elses, but we generally have other things to do that take precedence over your faxes simply because they take bloody ages to write, relatively speaking.