I wrote up a Mission Brief document for Siege, feel free to share with your orgs and friends! https://soo.solarmada.space/ Some Context and history of my experiences with Siege of Orison When SoO First Came Out (3.17.2) After some bugfixes, the event was incredible. Siege of Orison in August of '22 (and January of '23) revived my org after a long period of dormancy. We would run often with groups of 10-35 people. We figured out that when we spawned in a fresh server, we always knew the locations of the LTs and IFFI boxes, because they weren't properly randomized. This allowed us to optimize the hell out of the mission, so each squad had a route for their objectives, and we'd split up and take all the platforms simultaneously. Our speed run record was around 26 minutes for a full clear, including the Admin secret objective. It was good money, and we'd often invite people from other orgs to play with us. Because we were usually in fresh servers, the mission worked as intended pretty much every single time. I wrote up the Mission Brief document to help people understand what to do in the event. When the event reset on the same server, the bugs would start appearing. LTs might spawn in the floor, or not spawn at all, or the IFFI might not initialize. This trend seems to persist in future iterations of the event. https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/4/thread/3-17-2-live-special-feedback-siege-of-orison Then, 3.18 came out, and Siege didn't run again until December of '23. December 2023 Siege (3.21.1) We got a TON of quality-of-life upgrades to Siege (thanks @EmaltbyCIG and the PU Missions team!), adding "Potential AA Location" markers, IFFI box locations not being EMPTY if they weren't the IFFI itself, relevant codes (sometimes) popping up on the HUD when you approach a box, and LT locations randomized the way they should! However, there were a few critical issues involving turrets spawning over each other on the same hardpoint, making it very nearly impossible to land on Admin. I tried a few runs with multiple orgs, and most of the runs ran into the same issues. Many, many ships were blown up in the process. Additionally, the Ninetails Sympathizer tag was introduced, literally putting a target on the head of any malicious PvPers at the event. This system had good intentions, but ultimately ended up breaking more often than working properly. People would get Sympathizer tags for accidentally hitting a Crusader guard, or crashing a mission ship (which allowed them to keep the SoO mission without a CS, but with a giant "KILL ME" marker on their head). Actual PvPers would find ways to work around the system, granting CrimeStats to people who killed them, and using Sympathizer-tagged allies as bait to pull lawful players towards them for an easy ambush. The Admin secret objective also was updated to require the first digit of all of the LTs' codes, which encouraged speed runs. Some feedback threads from the time: https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/3/thread/siege-of-orison-feedback-3 https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/4/thread/siege-of-orison-feedback-4 https://robertsspaceindustries.com/spectrum/community/SC/forum/4/thread/siege-of-orison-live-2953-feedback Siege Today (3.22.2a EPTU and LIVE) I've done 20 runs in the last 2 weeks. Out of those, 3 of them have had active AA turrets. The working theory is that only the first run on a fresh server will have active AA, then every subsequent run will not. This allows people to get a Pisces and hover around the platform, searching for the LT. It became the new speed run strategy in EPTU, and was quickly figured out in LIVE. Players can also bypass the impound zone, allowing them to bring their own ships. Being able to have players on every platform as soon as the 30-minute countdown timer finishes, in their own ships, with the knowledge that AA won't spawn in, allows groups to finish Siege incredibly fast. I'm going to personally attempt a Fury swarm with my org to see just how quickly we can get it all done. Thankfully, the Issue council report for the missing AA has been marked as Fixed, but who knows when it'll get pushed to LIVE. Shuttles The shuttles from Orison to Solanki aren't running on many servers. You can bypass this by bringing your own ship to Solanki, which seems to trigger the spawning and initialization of the shuttles for the server. We shouldn't have to do this. The shuttle from Hartmoore to Solanki has several issues. When players enable the shuttle, Solanki won't update to allow players to call the shuttle. It must be sent from Hartmoore each time. Shuttles on platforms that require the LT's code only seem to require the code on the first run, then don't reset to require the next run's code - they stay initialized on the server forever. Platforms Can take several minutes to "wake up", spawning the ships and NPCs. Returning to a Cleared platform marks you as TRESPASSING, even when you have the mission. LTs Can sometimes fail to spawn Sometimes spawn in walls/floors Spawn without showing a Neutralize marker upon approach Sometimes fail to update the mission log when killed Sometimes will not provide the code in the mission log when looted for their tablet Can show the Neutralize marker even after being killed Mendo Ren Sometimes will fail to spawn Mendo's code will occasionally fail to open the egress door out of the Barge. Mendo's code will occasionally fail to open any of the IFFI boxes on the Barge. Ninetails Enemies There aren't any enemy ships in the sky. The Ares ships sit sadly on Hartmoore. Getting shot 150+ meters away by a 9tails NPC with an SMG feels terrible. NPCs can sit there, spinning around until they achieve a sight line to you, then headshot you immediately. When everything works: This is the event as designed and intended. I've never experienced all of these fully working. AA spawns in 9tails NPC cutlasses and buccaneers fill the sky, with a Hammerhead up at Admin LTs spawn correctly and give their code when looted The IFFI turns the turrets over to your side when disabled Players who intentionally PvP get marked as Sympathizers, and aren't able to grant crimestats to other players who hunt them down. Players can't bring their own ships to the event (the ships should get despawned and stored in Orison spaceport) Players are rightfully frustrated at the bugs at Siege. It feels terrible to play for hours with a huge letdown at the end, and very little aUEC to show for the effort. The mission is in a bad spot right now, and should not have been pushed to LIVE from EPTU without implementing more fixes. Already, most orgs I've come across have given up on Siege because of the inconsistent experience it provides in its current iteration. Design Feedback, and Tweaks Reduce the number of chokepoints for PvPers to abuse. This includes the entrance shuttle landing at Solanki, and the singular elevator between the Upper Level and Lower Level of Solanki and Brushwood. When a player acquires a Sympathizer tag, give them a Crimestat as well. Make the Crimestat show up on their HUD, and make them fail the mission. Add a couple of Crusader Spirit C1s to Brushwood, replacing two MSRs. We don't need 4 MSRs at Brushwood. When a player creates a medical beacon at Siege, propagate the mission out ONLY to the areas of Orison and the Siege platforms. Several times, I've seen players at other planets accept a medical beacon, not knowing that it'll take them an hour to get to the rescue. There's a pixel-perfect jump in one of the rooms in the Barge that you can only make when naked. Move the box slightly closer, please. It's the one under the 2nd floating IFFI box. Yes, I realize there's an alternate route to the box, without the jumping puzzle. This one doesn't need to be nearly impossible for it to be fun. Add scopes and lasers back to the loot pool for the Ammo boxes! I miss being able to get Tau Plus 4x scopes, and PT-3 scopes from Siege. I'll be editing more into these notes once I run this post by some other Siege veterans. I enjoy the heck out of Siege of Orison, no matter what state it's in. Many people don't, and I want to get the mission to the point where it's at least a consistent, complete experience. I don't want to lead 30+ people into a failed mission. In the meantime, I'm going to continue to run it myself, figuring out weird strategies to take advantage of the state of the event as much as possible. Cheers.