Grey out inactive regiments in Company Tool

[Shiloh]

I'm starting out a company and have been messaging people on Company Tool. Since I've been plugged into checking out what companies new players are volunteering for it's eye-opening how many are doing it with inactive regiments. So these new players are saying "I want to volunteer", they are volunteering, nobody is getting back to them and perhaps after they've volunteered for 1-3 regiments, still nobody is getting back to them and they lose interest and move on.

If you grey out companies in Company Tool who have leaders who have NOT been active in let's say 1-2 months, the ability to volunteer gets greyed out. If that leader logs in again, that ability comes back. We have new players going into an abyss and if 90% of companies were greyed out, then the 10% left who are active would be getting new blood and welcoming new players who want to be part of a regiment into the game the 'right' way.

In my opinion War of Rights is absolutely losing players due to this and I personally don't think we can afford that at this point. We need for new players who volunteer to feel welcomed into active regiments, not feeling like they're not valued in this community.

Warboy did a great job compiling that list, and that's a positive step IF new players are active on the forums and IF they see the post. If the "volunteer" button is greyed out, then they'll have no option but to volunteer for an active regiment.

[Saris]

I second this, it will help promote active companies for new members and actually make people pay attention to the company tool.

[RhettVito]

I'm with ya on this!

[Redleader]

If you grey out companies in Company Tool who have leaders who have NOT been active in let's say 1-2 months, the ability to volunteer gets greyed out. If that leader logs in again, that ability comes back...

I see logic in the proposal, some thoughts :



In the first wave maybe say 4 months ? (people should be warned or should be able to transfer command or disband)
What if members still log in and not the 'owner' … or the people who are also administrator (minimum rank to be able to manage CT) ?
I know threads and activity are being checked if there is no (https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?2645-Ghost-Companies&highlight=inactive+companies)activity in 6 months time ? (https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?2645-Ghost-Companies&highlight=inactive+companies)

[Shiloh]

I see logic in the proposal, some thoughts :



In the first wave maybe say 4 months ? (people should be warned or should be able to transfer command or disband)
What if members still log in and not the 'owner' … or the people who are also administrator (minimum rank to be able to manage CT) ?
I know threads and activity are being checked if there is no (https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?2645-Ghost-Companies&highlight=inactive+companies)activity in 6 months time ? (https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?2645-Ghost-Companies&highlight=inactive+companies)


★ I was thinking more like 2 months max. It seems short and harsh as we all have real life stuff we have to deal with from time-to-time but remember, as soon as that person logs back in it becomes active again. Besides, if you're leading an active group and your taking a sabbatical from the game (or something like that) you're going to know about the rule and you'll be sure to log in over that time. I don't think we should be messaging people saying "If you don't log in within _____ week(s) your company will not be permitted to enlist new volunteers." Just by sending that many people who have been inactive will simply log in to keep their company active, then wait for the next warning email.
★ Perhaps there can be the person who started the company, and one other administrator assigned who must stay active. An officer or NCO?
★ Also I think there should be a harsher reality to this. If you haven't logged into Company Tool in let's say 6 months your company will be disbanded. That will instantly clear out maybe 80% of the currently formed companies as it stands now. We wouldn't look good on parchment as our paper War of Rights army would be almost annihilated but at least we'd know where we stand with active companies/players or have a good idea. An email could go out for this one but maybe in this case it's not only a login, but they have to show some level of activity within a period of time before they ARE disbanded.
★ I think the health of the community regarding "new player positive experience" depends on this and I hope the devs are listening. From my perspective it's incredibly frustrating when trying to form a new company (as I am now) and seeing fresh recruits volunteer for "paper companies" because they're being mislead in a way - yes I used that word - into thinking they're with a group that's active. Then their experience turns into a negative one when no one contacts them and they say to themselves, "That was a pretty _______ experience." That's the opposite of what we want and we can't afford to lose players this way.
★ We have a "responsibility" to make Company Tool accurate otherwise we're deceiving new players and that's not what this community is or should be about.

[Lightfoot]

I agree. Need some way to flag these inactive companies.

I also think there should be some system from deleting them entirely after say six month of inactivity. They are currently just taking up "company names" that others who are playing might want to use for their companies.

I also wonder how accurate the list of soldiers in the companies are. I jumped over there and it lists 20 companies with over 50 members (eight with 100). I think someone is signing up the gravestones in Harpers Ferry graveyard.:)

[sal_tuskin]

i am going to say i bet 85% of all companies are inactive it all started when the dev let anyone sign up for the company tool without having at least a capt rank so every tom dick and harry made a company made alt accounts and filled up the companies what they need to do is somehow get everyone off company tool that does not have a capt rank and higher then start to see who is active and who is not then alot of your ideas will be really good but you have to get rid of all the dead weight first

[Shiloh]

I'm bumping this up as this is a MAJOR issue currently in-game. How many guys are we going to allow to fall into the abyss of volunteering for paper regiments?

Let's hear some more thoughts on this guys. :)

[Bravescot]

I second this! Grey out the inactive units!

[Tyler28256]

I love this idea!

[LaBelle]

Adding on to this, I'd like to see inactive players deleted, as well. Whole lot of ghosts around here.

[Hinkel]

We will have a look at your suggestions. I will discuss it with Fancy later on :)

[Leifr]

I think it would be an ideal time to empty out those regiments too. Remove groups that have not seen their C/O log in for more than three months? Maybe Fancy could offer some statistical insight in to how the company tool is currently being used?

[sal_tuskin]

i am finally glad this is gaining some traction i always felt it really hurt the small and starting companies the most cause what i think happens alot is new people join the co they really want to and see that there is like 75 people on the company tool and yet they get in game and they cant find anyone in the company to play with, then when they are in game they see all these large companies and regiments and say what the hell i will just join them

as part of the largest csa group of people i see this every day 1st Ga or 6La prob get the lions share of new players cause they are most active and the little co that do play some cant get anyone to join i really hope Hinkle you guys make some changes to the company tool to reflect only co that have been active for lets say at least 2months hell if the company co doesnt login with in a month i say make that company inactive they can always change it latter
please consider these changes that people have suggested i think it will really help new players

[Shiloh]

We will have a look at your suggestions. I will discuss it with Fancy later on :)

Thank you Hinkel for not only listening, but for talking to the team about it. You know and I know it's time to fix this and the community appreciates the step forward with it.


I think it would be an ideal time to empty out those regiments too. Remove groups that have not seen their C/O log in for more than three months? Maybe Fancy could offer some statistical insight in to how the company tool is currently being used?

I was thinking 2 months on the login with the understanding that once people log back in, they are instantly active. We have to be careful though to make sure company leaders aren't just logging in every 1.5 months just to stay active. We need KNOW that they're active in order for their company to not get greyed out and stay that way until they can show more activity. I know Fancy is the Company Tool expert and I'm happy to speak with him on my ideas to help see this through.


i am finally glad this is gaining some traction i always felt it really hurt the small and starting companies the most cause what i think happens alot is new people join the co they really want to and see that there is like 75 people on the company tool and yet they get in game and they cant find anyone in the company to play with, then when they are in game they see all these large companies and regiments and say what the hell i will just join them

as part of the largest csa group of people i see this every day 1st Ga or 6La prob get the lions share of new players cause they are most active and the little co that do play some cant get anyone to join i really hope Hinkle you guys make some changes to the company tool to reflect only co that have been active for lets say at least 2months hell if the company co doesnt login with in a month i say make that company inactive they can always change it latter
please consider these changes that people have suggested i think it will really help new players

Thanks for the support and ideas Sal. Any veteran of the game like yourself can see how this makes sense, and how it's hurting the community NOT to fix it. I'm glad we're making headway.

Just to provide a graphical representation of what Company Tool looks like right now to incoming players on the Union side, versus the actual active companies I have these graphics that were prepared by Major Tyler. The ones that are crossed out are obviously the inactive companies.


What players see now when they look at prospective companies to join.

https://image.ibb.co/mGCcXK/companies.png


What they're not seeing is that the ones that are inactive are not delineated at all.

https://image.ibb.co/n3jGsK/active_companies.png

Now if these companies DO get disbanded, then of course they wouldn't show up and that would significantly alter the list.

I do have suggestions if disbanding the inactive companies begins to take place.

1) Members are notified via email that the company they were part of has now been disbanded due to inactivity.
2) They are notified that Company Tool will now function differently so that they can rejoin another company with renewed confidence and high-probability that it will be an active company.

This can potentially bring a lot of players back into the game who have since stopped playing for reasons of their company they committed to being inactive.

[Warboy]

See I can already see this pissing off some commanders, you have 1st Massachusetts cavalry crossed off but they are active and I've talked to one of their officers, sure their number in CT doesn't represent their true active number but still 4-5 of them play once a month, maybe checking with them first instead of writing them off right away will be the best approach, again lot of time and coordination getting in contact with them as I have been doing. I don't think Thomas Bates would be happy seeing his New York Battery disbanded after he just took over for the previous commander, again they only have like 3 active guys maybe once a month in game but the fact is that their still there as for the others crossed off from what I can see is fine.

[Shiloh]

Excellent illustration of the situation on both sides, Shiloh. Thanks.
Thank you rbsmith and you brought up some interesting points to discuss as well.


See I can already see this pissing off some commanders, you have 1st Massachusetts cavalry crossed off but they are active and I've talked to one of their officers, sure their number in CT doesn't represent their true active number but still 4-5 of them play once a month, maybe checking with them first instead of writing them off right away will be the best approach, again lot of time and coordination getting in contact with them as I have been doing. I don't think Thomas Bates would be happy seeing his New York Battery disbanded after he just took over for the previous commander, again they only have like 3 active guys maybe once a month in game but the fact is that their still there as for the others crossed off from what I can see is fine.

Whether we crossed off or didn't cross off the correct companies here is not the point and my apologies if active companies in this example were crossed off. This was meant purely as an example and when you look at it graphically, it really hits home. The point is if they're logging into Company Tool and being active there, they will not or should not be disbanded. If people are logging in and not being active at all just to keep their company active then that is a problem.

To your point of "checking in" maybe an email can be sent out saying all inactive companies will be disbanded and defining what that looks like so that everyone is clear as to what "inactive" means.

[sal_tuskin]

i remember when i started playing last june 1st i looked at the company tool and see 100s of 100s of people signed up and then i join the game and i see like 7 people and lol those 7 people still playing, general p was just starting 6la so i joined that cause they had the most people on lol 5 out of the 7 ah the good times lol- when the csa could cross burnside bridge also now that was fun-
but i understand shiloh when new players look at the company tool and see 1000s of people signed up and then get on during the week and see 20-30 people playing i am sure they say the same thing did where the hell are all the people and just join the biggest one they see

i swear prob 90% of all players on the company tool are fictional and need to be taken off for the good of the game and if a company gets inactivated and they do still play some then maybe they should play a little more thats why i still believe it should be tied to the company commander cause if he is not play hell how does the company grow and they can always be reactivated when they play again not the end of the world but they might lose their company but that should be an incentive to play and keep your company active

but counterpoint warboy does 3 people really make a company i dont think it does maybe all these little 2-3 man companies get together and form a bigger on and then they would have no prob with the inactivity but that is just my view i know not all play nice with others:(

[Warboy]

My list depicts two different categories of regiments, 5 or more guys in game once a month qualifies as a active regiment, any less I have them under mustering/smaller consolidated regiment list again if I get anymore restrictive then that others will feel that's its not fair and favoring others. If they have one or none their not even on any of those two lists because that to me is a ghost company/regiment.

[LaBelle]

Just my spitballing ideas, with some pros and cons,

1. Only 'Captain' pledges or higher should be allowed to start up a company (for now) and companies owned by non-Captains should be re-set. This means the end of "franchises," which franchise owners with their multiple accounts will not be happy about, but it also means the end of paper companies being owned by ten burner e-mail accounts. Several legendary regiments (not just companies, but basically entire regiments) are taken by squatters. I was so disappointed when I first got War of Rights and realized that there is no 69th NY, there is no 15th South Carolina, there is no 11th Mississippi, etc.


Isn't "owning" multiple companies under multiple accounts already against the established rules? I thought I remember seeing something to that effect.

[McMuffin]

I second this suggestion of greying out inactive regiments. And it would not be complex either to do so. My idea is pretty similar to previous proposals, but I'm just outlining exactly how I would do it just for clarification. Similar to what rbsmith7 suggested, only Captain tier and above should be allowed to create an 'Alpha regiment,' this is a regiment that is playing the Alpha right now and is active. A regiment that goes inactive, i.e., no activity in the form of actions made on the company tool for longer than a month, would be greyed out but still kept in the 'Alpha Regiment.' Once Beta launches, basically everything would be the same but instead of 'Alpha Regiments' it's just 'Active Regiments.'.

[Shiloh]

How are we making out with this?

I count 17 people in the last 3 days that were accepted into a competing 'non-active' Sharpshooter regiment that are lost to 'dead regiment oblivion.' The only saving grace is that they're almost fully mustered but maybe they'll start another company and suck more people into the abyss. :rolleyes:

[Kyle422]

I agree I think if you have not logged into the company tool in an X amount of time to look at your company it should be disbanded and give others who want said company the chance to take it. There are too many inactive companies right now. Either that or I think the devs should reset the company tool at some point and time and then all the active ones can come back and claim their companies.


- Kyle

[sal_tuskin]

i feel this should be a high priority for the dev this game is growing and will grow faster with closed beta around the corner so the time is now if a commander has not logged in lets say 2 months disband that company and get it off the company tool
it will really help new players find companies they want to join and get all the dead weight that has been here for almost 2 years now to get the heave hoe and say good riddance

85% of the company tool is inactive or ghost players and they take up a lot of companies. would really like also to know where we stand on getting this done

[Shiloh]

i feel this should be a high priority for the dev this game is growing and will grow faster with closed beta around the corner so the time is now if a commander has not logged in lets say 2 months disband that company and get it off the company tool
it will really help new players find companies they want to join and get all the dead weight that has been here for almost 2 years now to get the heave hoe and say good riddance

85% of the company tool is inactive or ghost players and they take up a lot of companies. would really like also to know where we stand on getting this done

I agree with the high-priority on this Sal. I lost potentially 17 recruits to a dead regiment... all guys who clearly wanted to be Sharpshooters and now they likely either won't be active at all, or will come in-game as pubs. Not that pubs are bad it's just that these people WANT to join an organized active unit, and unless they figure out that the company only exists on paper will they have a chance to leave and join another.

But join which one?

They have no way of telling unless their active on the forums.

[sal_tuskin]

shiloh your are so correct and the problem with the new people is that they dont learn the game correctly, like dont go out alone , stay in line and so forth and you learn that by being in a good company and they dont cause they are new
i really hope trusty or hinkle will reply and let us know where this stands

new people are the life blood of any game and it would help if they know where to join either csa or union and who are good companies and who are dead companies would really make it easy for them

[McMuffin]

I do hope that we also get an improvement for communication possibilities. Such as being able inking your steam profile to your Company tool (literally just providing a link), it would be a lot easier and more efficient to contact recruits instead of telegrams which is dependant on someone reading their email which is a hit or miss.

[brentcarter]

To comment on this https://www.warofrightsforum.com/showthread.php?5473-*List-of-Active-regiments-companies-in-War-of-Rights*&p=84196#post84196

We got a very solid list that Warboy made. I am sure they can reset all the other companies not on that list so we active companies can go on with our business as is and not have to be reset. I can already see some of these paper generals causing havoc claiming companies that are already active just for the fun of it.

[Maximus Decimus Meridius]

OMG where is the reset button?

"inactive" units should be marked in a way. New people have to be able to see which unit is active and which not.

Also a automatic delete of units should be set up. Maybe if someone of the staff didn't log in in a period of X days. There is so much garbage in the company tool.

[A. P. Hill]

Understand, all your wish list items for the company tool, will require focus to be removed from some other more important gaming function.

There is no doubt that the tool needs to be revisited, but at the expense of advancing the game to early access and beyond is not good.

At this time there is only one individual programmer responsible for this, and that's Fancy Sweetroll, however in the thinking of the developers, the company tool is not that large of a need.

There will come a time, to be sure when the tool will be revisited, but I am pretty certain that time is not presently.

For those who "worry" that new players may errantly sign up in "inactive" units, these players I feel will be cognizant of the activities of the unit they chose to associate with. If they feel that said unit isn't active enough to their liking, they are free to resign from the previous unit, and go looking for a new unit.

IMHO, I cannot think it is anyone's right, or position to declare any one unit active or inactive.

And I certainly don't feel it is up to the developer(s) to make that call.

Respectfully
Powell

[brentcarter]

I dont agree completely with you AP because this game is focused on companies and co-operative gameplay, which the devs gave us a tool for. If they let it rot they should not have it released in the first place. I see it as the name suggests a tool to help companies get organised and new players to volunteer. If you visit the company tool as a new player and see that mess, that isn't very good advertisement.

[SwingKid148]

At this time there is only one individual programmer responsible for this, and that's Fancy Sweetroll, however in the thinking of the developers, the company tool is not that large of a


For all we know, Fancy has time to do revisions to the company tool. We do not know what is coming up for beta/early access. :)

Just because we post these suggestions, does not mean they need to be completed by EOD. They are here to discuss what features/options/desires/etc. we want to see within this software.

[Hinkel]

We will build in new features for the company tool, once we have bit more time.
Right now, we are preparing other highly important stuff, which takes Fancy fully 24 hours a day. You will find out soon :)

[A. P. Hill]

I dont agree completely with you AP because this game is focused on companies and co-operative gameplay, which the devs gave us a tool for. If they let it rot they should not have it released in the first place. I see it as the name suggests a tool to help companies get organised and new players to volunteer. …

What I guess I failed to put across with my earlier post is: The present phase of the game for the development team, the way I see it, is for troubleshooting existing and new programing of the game and it's functions, not Order of Battle Rosters, this is why it's called Alpha.

I'm pretty sure the thinking of the Developers at this time is not so much about the Companies, Battalions, Regiments, Brigades, Divisions, or more, or those groups and their cooperative game play as it is, but rather, actual game play in general and making sure the programming, that allows the game play to function, and ultimately allow for that cooperative play.

True they did incorporate the Company Tool early to help encourage players to start organizing, but the Company Tool at this time is in no way connected to the overall gaming functions that we as Alpha Testers are to focus.

To be sure, CFG will not let the Company Tool "rot". It's truly as I have stated earlier, there are not enough programmers and certainly not enough time presently to focus on this aspect of the game. There will come a time, be certain of it.
Early on the developers have stated that the C.T. will be an integral part of the game, but that time is not now. This is how you can be certain that it will not 'rot'.


… If you visit the company tool as a new player and see that mess, that isn't very good advertisement.

I tend to give new players a little more benefit of the doubt here. I'm pretty sure with their joining the community they have some idea about the ACW, and the Armies involved, and some may even have ideas of where they want to eventually end up, and based on the number of units in the C.T. with 1 member making the unit, I'd say that confirms that thinking. And I disagree with you, respectfully, about it not being a very good advertisement.

Being as how I'm not a big online full time gamer, I ask that you show me any other game that has something like this so I can make an informed opinion, then maybe I can agree, but presently I know of none. That merit of itself makes it a great advertisement.

But addressing your claim "it's a mess." I think is a bit harsh.

Given this initial first effort of programming something that has never been programmed before however, it's a damned fine job as it is. And again all of this came from the mind of only one individual programmer, (with some external input of course,) and for an initial effort it's not really the "mess" you seem to make of it.

Some of the short comings of the program came to light not too long ago when I was given opportunity to expand and "reorganize" the units to correspond to the actual Orders of Battle rosters.

With that said, again, be assured this is something the developers want to advance, and it will be revisited, maybe a couple of times more. But given the overall path of where the Devs want to be, there is no priority for the Company Tool at this time.



For all we know, Fancy has time to do revisions to the company tool. We do not know what is coming up for beta/early access. :)

Just because we post these suggestions, does not mean they need to be completed by EOD. They are here to discuss what features/options/desires/etc. we want to see within this software.

I might know a bit more than I let on.

And I fully understand that 'suggestions' posted here do not need to be implemented "EOD", I was just making clear that any changes for the C.T. might be further away than some of you may like.

And Herr Hinkle has reaffirmed, Mr. Sweetroll is totally involved with other stuff.

[brentcarter]

Yeah not really getting your long story don't really see your points. Don't see what it adds to the topic. But that's okay.

I can understand they are busy. But if you release a feature then that is part of the game. And it's part of the website it's something we all use to get our company organize. Devs have directed new players there to look for a fitting company. So most of what you write isn't correct.

The mess = that people think they found a company of their liking or that had family members and it turns out to be a fake company / just names on a list. There more companies like that then active ones. That has nothing to do with giving new players the benefit of doubt or whatever , it just isn't a nice experience to see all these companies on paper and not in the game.

Again they are working on other stuff that is fine nobody is claiming they should fix it now now now. No this is a message to the devs please take notice. Or make this a job for the moderators to reset the inactive paper companies.

[TrustyJam]

Or make this a job for the moderators to reset the inactive paper companies.

It was never a requirement to be active in the game in order to be able to form a company. So the above is not going to happen - that is not to say that we won't look at showing if a particular company is inactive on the actual tool one way or another in the future however.

Hill is right that there are other priorities for us at the moment - that doesn't mean we're not reading your suggestions and ideas however so please keep those up. :)

- Trusty

[Vulcarin]

We will build in new features for the company tool, once we have bit more time.
Right now, we are preparing other highly important stuff, which takes Fancy fully 24 hours a day. You will find out soon :)

What a major tease ;)
cant wait to see our surprise

[brentcarter]

Hill is as right as any other that posted here and understands the priorities nobody said anything different other then suggestions for this game that could be helpful. But I understand you sometimes need to aid the high backer and in the end you welcome suggestions. So.. it's all good.

[TrustyJam]

Hill is as right as any other that posted here and understands the priorities nobody said anything different other then suggestions for this game that could be helpful. But I understand you sometimes need to aid the high backer and in the end you welcome suggestions. So.. it's all good.

Yes, I always side with high tier backers over others...

- Trusty

[brentcarter]

Yes, I always side with high tier backers over others...

- Trusty

apologies for that.

[TrustyJam]

apologies for that.

Thanks but don't worry about it. :)

- Trusty

[Shiloh]

We will build in new features for the company tool, once we have bit more time.
Right now, we are preparing other highly important stuff, which takes Fancy fully 24 hours a day. You will find out soon :)

Thank you Hinkel and I look forward to seeing what's around the corner. :)

[RhettVito]

We will build in new features for the company tool, once we have bit more time.
Right now, we are preparing other highly important stuff, which takes Fancy fully 24 hours a day. You will find out soon :)

Please be beta :) Sounds good keep up the good work devs!

[Warboy]

Okay so this is what I noticed since the release of Beta(phase II), they are some regiments that had many numbers in company tool and are active now which is good to see(79th NY, 69th NY in particular - well done) but there's others that their commanders and lot of their men have beta but just don't play or don't even have the game yet they still take new players in company tool away from the active regiments who do show up on a weekly or monthly basis. So while yes their still active in company tool and have the game/or not their not 'really' active. (still a paper company in a sense) which is frustrating to see and greying them out would not be possible because it will show their active there but not where it counts - playing the game and testing for the devs

[Shiloh]

This is still an issue. I have new recruits that told me they get spammed like crazy by paper regiments who are still not active in-game. I think some people just like to build a company and never intend to do anything with it like actually fight with it in-game.

[A. P. Hill]

Yep.

New registrants on the Company Tool are spammed by roughly a dozen recruiters for "phantom" companies, none of which I had ever heard of and none of which even have Forum Threads for their companies.


For the record, I've seen spamming for recruitment even by well known and large companies as well.

Let's try to be fair here. "Paper companies" can't grow if they're not given opportunity.

If the larger, more well known tilt the table in their favor by suggesting this becomes a thing, how will any lesser organization get recognized?

I have never recruited in game, I feel the recruits should pick the company of their choice regardless of membership size. All legal and historical companies are in the company tool for any and all to choose from.

It should stay that way and membership greed needs to be checked.

[Bravescot]

Ummmm they can grow by beginning active and not just sitting on their asses in the company doing diddly squat?

A paper company is a waste of space. A small active unit that is in solid has the very same chance as a large active unit if all the inactive paper companies where swept aside.

[Shiloh]

For the record, I've seen spamming for recruitment even by well known and large companies as well.

Let's try to be fair here. "Paper companies" can't grow if they're not given opportunity.

If the larger, more well known tilt the table in their favor by suggesting this becomes a thing, how will any lesser organization get recognized?

I have never recruited in game, I feel the recruits should pick the company of their choice regardless of membership size. All legal and historical companies are in the company tool for any and all to choose from.

It should stay that way and membership greed needs to be checked.

I think overall recruitment has become a cut-throat process to some extent. I heard one well-known commander try to recruit a bunch of pubs in-game 3 times in less than 2 minutes. "Did you like that attack I just led? You can get a whole lot more of that if you just join the ...." Then another commander came by and tried to one up him with more of the same.

I'm glad I chose a Sharpshooter company that doesn't require a lot of guys and I've never liked aggressive tactics in trying to convince people of something. We do plenty of damage with the 8-10 or so guys we have in-game on average and I prefer it actually. It feels more like a family to me. I'm good with slow and steady growth. So recruitment happens but not in an aggressive and over-bearing way. When I recruit and tell people we're active that's no bull. Paper companies on the other hand...

Back to the original topic. I don't have a problem with paper companies recruiting people as maybe they have plans to actually step on a field 'soon' but who knows? But when you hear how aggressive they are in sending many messages to people in a short period of time, then actually land said recruits that will never see the field with that company, that's a damn shame for not only the active companies searching for new recruits, and those people who were probably told they were joining an active company, but for the health of the game as well.

It begs the question: Why recruit so heavily for a company that has never seen the field and maybe never will? I don't get it.

Honestly these guys would be much better off just recruiting for other companies who are actually active then they can get their fix and the game will actually invite more of it's player base into the company experience they're seeking out to begin with.

[Leifr]

Ummmm they can grow by beginning active and not just sitting on their asses in the company doing diddly squat?

A paper company is a waste of space. A small active unit that is in solid has very chance as a large active unit of all the inactive paper companies where swept aside.

Ding ding, we have a winner.
At some point the Company Tool will need a soft reset, hopefully before the game receives a proper release.