Hello, I would like to introduce you to a project I'm a very large part of. The INOP is a union, not a sim city union, but a city building union, and as such anyone is welcome if you can somehow express your cities (I even tossed out the idea of making cities out of Lego's and it was good). The other side of the coin is that I'm the Lead Minister and as such, I'm second in command so if you need anything, I'm here and can help you out We're also just starting so weather your in the executive or not you've got quite a loud voice. If you have any questions just let me know here, the INOP forum (Will), or Simtropolis (Willr116 or Will3 if you catch that name in chat).

Thank you for your time,
Will


http://inop.betaboard.net/

hmm.. link to the forums?

oh yeah, I did that in my mind but I guess it didn't transfer to my fingers adding

I hate to sound like a party pooper but what exactly is "expressing your cities?"

I like the idea.. but what exactly are you doing, is it sort of a roleplay system or union of cities of all kinds.. even ones outside SC4...?

it's a union, but instead of just having sc4 cities we allow any kind of city.

I don't want to throw you under the bus, but make sure you get the name right, whether it's International Nations of Peoples, or Independent Name of Peoples. And if it is the latter, spell it right on your forums

??? No, I got it right, where'd you see the second one?

Edit: Strange day for me, my mistake.

I suppose I could clear things up here. Considering you know, it's my union.

Yes, we accept any sort of city. It is Independent nations of peoples.
I derped on the banner It's old and doesn't represent the union quite as well as it should so ALLOW ME TO ELABORATE.

During the past month INOP suffered a large 'hiatus' on my part as I was quite busy in RL, during this time I had a chance to think about what I actually wanted to do and I came to the conclusion that what I wanted quite simply was to do something unique. I knew that there was not many sci-fi unions if any so I thought that this would be a great place to start and so I did, INOP is largely sci-fi.

However, in the sci-fi that does exist union or not it is quite often fantastical and unexplained. I decided that I wasn't going to go with this route and begun to formulate a way to simulate sci-fi in RL. As it turns out, the space race was a good solution. A solution where I wouldn't need to set it too far in the future either. In the INOP world the space race never ended as the USSR (equivalent thereof, not the actual USSR) never fell or became monetarily challenged. No. Instead they continued to push into space for 'higher ground' and wham bam balam we were on Mars (Again, equivalent thereof) by 1999 and well settled by 2012. The world is set in 2030, so we are a little more than settled now. If you get the picture. Most things however at today's standards (mostly in biology and medicine) and there is realism in that because if our scientists were too busy making space ships and moon bases then where was the money or time for biology? Not there really. It makes sense no?

TL;DR, realistic sci-fi. Some things are at today's standard. Ask and I will tell.


What you can do in INOP:
Unlike most other unions you aren't limited by what's seen as 'ridiculous' or 'unrealistic' as the bar for that is set much much higher. Sure you can still have your slums, but wouldn't it be interesting to see your slums next to a shady airstrip where they deal in all sorts of shady things? You see, in a normal union this would be shunned as airports are 'expensive' and there wouldn't be shady ones at all, but in INOP airports are cheaper for most distances than cars (you would still drive to the grocery store in your commodore mind you) so this would not just be plausible, but realistic!
On other unions you would probably be kicked in the butt if you used SimMars, not on INOP however as well...we have a Mars. And there is demand for people there. In fact, I encourage SimMars users to join.
You know those ridiculous Japanese BATS that tower over the tallest of your skyscrapers and look like they are right out of any good sci-fi series? Well you can use those here, they wouldn't go amiss!
This being said, there IS IN FACT a realism bar, and I will hit you with it repeatedly if you are being too ridiculous.

TL;DR: It's sci-fi, you can use all your most futuristic BATS and mods. Keep in mind some degree of realism though.


The INOP is still in developing stages and forming a constitution among other things, so this isn't final. In fact, YOU could come say your opinion on how YOU want the INOP to be run right now! If you come over and make some posts, we'll all listen.

Think that's all for now, COME VISIT US!

I have to agree with you bigro.. regular unions are too nitpicky and even cruel about other people's building style. While I strongly disagree with the "realism" crap that people are stuck on in this game.. what I'm saying is, it's your building style, it's unfair to judge it as being bad. Can I add too that SimMars is realistic to an extent.. there are intriguing discussions about living in Mars IRL.. and I'm sure I'll see people living on Mars and the moon in my lifetime. Also, just because it uses maxis buildings/lots doesn't mean it's no good. It's all about opinion.. but constant maxis hating in unions has gone too far and frankly is rather insulting (I use a lot of maxis)

This said it's refreshing to see a union that's more accepting of different varieties. I've observed in other unions that almost every journal looks almost exactly the same, which I've always hated.

It's quite an interesting union

btw, sorry to textblock your post with ranting.. but I had to get that off my chest

Well, I for one think Maxis material is great when used right. Sure maxis isn't going to get you an Asian city but it's still blends in well! I don't understand the anti maxis either :I

Anyway. If anyone has any questions PLEASE FOR THE LOVE OF CURIOSITY ask them

Yeah I use maxis

Cheese and Bigro, sorry, you're wrong. The only union that is 100% anti-maxis is the SCJU, which hasn't expanded as much as the AIN and the USNW as of recently because of that belief, which both believe that if you can make your city better with custom content, then you should... granted, with the amount of custom content out there, that's pretty much always the case.

As someone who has seen more union applications than either of you, at least in those three unions, I can assure you that a very special breed of city journalist that can pull off something phenomenal with maxis content and sparse custom items does exist and many are great prospects (I've personally talked with one particular journalist who predominately uses Maxis content and he felt that he wasn't good enough for the USNW because he used a lot of Maxis content) of unions, or members of unions (Paradise, New Friscia, etc.)

Of course, regarding SimMars or SciFi themes, the AIN and USNW, obviously, will turn you down, but that's a different story

I am one of those people that K50 is talking about

Mostly Vanilla with a little custom content sprinkled in, actually its strange because after I got into AIN I didn't think mmy cities were good enough to show either. That idea has since changed

Anyway I like the union, its a nice start for people who want to participate in a union, but don't want to download much custom content. It gives the experience of being in a union.

What I'm trying to say is that people tend to be too oriented around custom content and some don't realize that just because something is maxis doesn't mean it can't be good. I'm not going to point fingers but I've seen a few examples of believing that any single thing made by maxis is disgusting.

As far as mayorm's journal goes.. he's done something amazing with just maxis content.. so I get your point.