Gov Faction or Job (Towing/Mors/Impound/Salvage)

[Marlon]

17 hours ago, Marca said:

It doesn't make any sense to give mechanics any sort of MDC access. About them being able to release vehicles, I'd argue that's something that should be proposed IC to the right government officials. Mechanics also aren't government employees. 

About the plate issue, it can easily be solved with a simple tweak to the /checkparkingpay command. Instead of it saying "vehicle has no parking pay", it could include the vehicle model and LP in the message.

We work for the government we are a government company. Then, if Police MDC exposes to much information there should be a communications radio frequency we ask an officer at the desk and they tell us to give them a car or not. 

Edited March 28, 2020 by ttvKrillex

[UrbanAwsomeman]

As someone in PD that really enjoys towing and managing the impound lot I feel that the server could really benefit from a new government faction focused soley on towing and impounding and this is for many reasons.

1st being most cops are simply too busy to get a towtruck and go impound vehicles that are illegaly parked because of 911 calls and their duty to patrol.

2nd being most cops don't seem to even like towing so if we had more time to do so I doubt more cops would pick up the towtruck.

3rd being a faction focussed on impounding can remove the need for police to respond to the impound lot (apart from arresting wanted people) and you can put the faction HQ in the impound lot so there is always someone there to release your car.

4th being most mechanics are the same as cops too busy to impound vehicles as they have to deal with their customers first as well as mechanic requests.

5th being that people that want to get into impounding RP can do so without having to either join the police or work there way up through the mechanic jobs to gain access to the towtruck. I can speak from personal experience that one of the reasons I wanted to join PD was too impound illegaly parked vehicles.

6th Solves the issue of people abusing the NCZ as there would be towtrucks constantly around to remove illegaly parked vehicles which can free up admins having to clear NCZs themselves. Also deals with cars being left in the street or what have you.

[vx3r]

+1

The leaders of the faction must know how to RPly impounding and towing cars properly

[InitialR]

+1

I always thought Police had a dedicated company for towing vehicles. 

I would like Towing to work similar to Taxi Services. The price would vary depending on Size of the Vehicle and the distance traveled. It would be a competitive market for Towing Businesses, possibly even being sub contracted by police and mechanic shops.

[PingasOner]

+1 would make a good job for people and hopefully some decent RP!

[JackaboyGames]

+1 could be interesting

[cheatonus]

This would be a faction that works in tandem with the mechanic shops.  LSTS employees would be responsible for taking tow calls and towing the vehicles to the customers requested destination. 

This would use similar script to the DCC script. The LSTS employees would be responsible for answering all tow calls and taking the caller to either a mechanic shop of their choice or the nearest gas station.  When the player's car is hooked up to the tow truck and the player climbs in the cab of the tow truck with the driver the driver can start a meter, similar to a cab meter, which will stop and charge the customer when they leave the vehicle.  

The OOC advantages of this is it would give players who need tow truck service better service as they wouldn't necessarily have to wait for a mechanic to be free or on duty to tow their car.  There would be a whole new group of people available to take tow calls.  I think it's fairly obvious based on current wait times and complaints I see in discord that the responsibility of towing vehicles is a burden on the mechanic shops in general which are either bogged down with mechanic work, have no mechanics on duty, or have IC rules and regulations in their own factions that keep people from using tow trucks even if on duty. It would also give more legal faction job opportunities which may be considered more entry level like DCC.  LSTS would become the defacto towing service for LSPD and SD which means cops would only tow in dire or dangerous situations.  Part of the function would be to help keep roadways and other areas (NCZs?) clear of abandoned or illegally parked cars when not on tow calls directly for players. It might even be good to let this faction handle the impound yards. In some areas police don't have their own impound they contract out their impound work to a 3rd party.  

RP opportunities are for newer characters with good admin records and legal records to meet more people, explore more of the world, and have more general RP opportunities.  More non-scripted job opportunities for players to choose from to expand the development of their character. There may be some good tension and competition between LSTS employees and employees of Bayview and LSC. More higher level owner/manager opportunities for experienced players.

In conclusion, I see this as a faction that could be very helpful in reducing overhead for other factions and even staff.  It can increase speed of service to players and increase their overall satisfaction with the playing experience. 

Thanks for reading!

[Cyrus Raven]

+1 Make towing it's own separate faction. Makes things easier and would also mean the streets would have less random vehicles abandoned. At this point taking away towing from LSC/Bayview in favour for a dedicated faction sounds more efficient than the current system. 

[Percival]

-1

 

im usually for stuff like this, but truth is bayview and lsc already have it handle and if they wanted to expand their towing division they can always do so, id recommend that route then making a new group dedicated to “towing” 

[cheatonus]

 

-1

 

im usually for stuff like this, but truth is bayview and lsc already have it handle and if they wanted to expand their towing division they can always do so, id recommend that route then making a new group dedicated to “towing” 

I guess that depends on your definition of "handled."  They're only allowed so many employees through faction caps and money.  Spend some times in #i_have_a_question and look at how many players are waiting an hour or more for a tow.  Personally, if I thought they had it handled I wouldn't have made the suggestion.  

[Xoza]

This sounds like a good addition to our current mechanic shops.

If mechanics aren't getting to calls, then it's an IC issue and they need to step up response. Police may also be able to help.

[freshprinceIE]

Main reason that mechanics don't take calls is because of IC rules demanding a certain number of people be on duty before we can leave to go towing, even if we are basically just AFK at the shop, i.e not a lot of customers are coming in.

I know one mechanic limits who can take towing calls, which is also an IC problem really.

If we targeted those IC rules then there wouldn't really be a problem. Towing is the best part of the mechanic job, it's a lot more fun RP, so would suck to take that away.

[cheatonus]

 

Main reason that mechanics don't take calls is because of IC rules demanding a certain number of people be on duty before we can leave to go towing, even if we are basically just AFK at the shop, i.e not a lot of customers are coming in.

I know one mechanic limits who can take towing calls, which is also an IC problem really.

If we targeted those IC rules then there wouldn't really be a problem. Towing is the best part of the mechanic job, it's a lot more fun RP, so would suck to take that away.

It wouldn't be taking it away, per say. It would be moving it to another faction. If towing is the best part of the mechanic job and you enjoy it then you would just move to LSTS. As someone whose character was a mechanic for a long time I will say towing is the part I enjoyed the least. Also, I think the IC rules make sense and I don't think changing them will fix the OOC issue... which is there just aren't enough mechanics to both handle the mechanic demands and the towing most of the time due to OOC faction limits. This will dedicate players to not only servicing tow calls but also taking care of abandoned cars and impound towing.  Thanks for your input!

[Cyrus Raven]

Something a lot of people don't seem to understand is that this is the only way to address the issue IC'ly.

It's not like the OP can create an organisation via a script, buy tow trucks, assign the vehicles to the company, buy an HQ and hire employees all in an easy and efficient way. If this was the case then this suggestion wouldn't be needed, people would notice the demand for tow trucks and would start something up. 

Consider this OP's OOC way of saying ''hey, I noticed that this was an issue and has been an issue for a while, give me the ability to create and run this scritply''.

Edited August 6, 2020 by Kyle White Raven

[cheatonus]

Yes, Mr. Raven is quite right.  I'm making a suggestion based on a chronic issue that I see and looking for a solution that will create more RP opportunities for everyone.  While it may reduce some RP opportunities for current mechanics it will increase RP opportunities for other people who can't currently get a faction job because there are none hiring.  Also, keep in mind, I don't suggest taking away towing from the mechanics completely, but they would not be towing if there are LSTS employees on-duty.  I also suggested taking the impound yard away from PD and putting it in the hands of this faction which would decrease or eliminate a bottleneck there as well. I'd also like to point out that within this suggestion there's also a suggestion of making towing profitable by adding a distance metered fee to the towing vehicle/faction script much like DCC has currently.  Also these people would not have the ability to repair cars in the field, they would have to tow the vehicle to a mechanic shop for repair.  The mechanics would still have the opportunity to meet and RP with the owner of the vehicle. 

Honestly I hadn't considered running this myself, was more an opportunity for someone else but I'd certainly help to launch it.  Don't heap management responsibility on top of me Raven!! 

[KR4STL]

Sounds like a fantastic idea, definitely an improvement to the server in every way it could be with no downsides in my opinion.

I'd be first in line to sign up

[IAmTurtle]

-1 mechanics already do this. This is the only rp we get out of the shop and does not happen that much in the sceme of things. A lot of people complain that we don't come fast enough to the request but people don't realize is that the are not the only one, that we also have to repair cars, and there are times of the day with little to no mechanics so we can't take your request.

A company of its own will have the same problem unless it is freelanced but if freelanced people will abuse it so that the can just steal cars easier. 

[cheatonus]

 

-1 mechanics already do this. This is the only rp we get out of the shop and does not happen that much in the scene of things. A lot of people complain that we don't come fast enough to the request but people don't realize is that the are not the only one, that we also have to repair cars, and there are times of the day with little to no mechanics so we can't take your request.

A company of its own will have the same problem unless it is freelanced but if freelanced people will abuse it so that the can just steal cars easier. 

I respectfully disagree. I spent a large amount of time as a mechanic in the server. What you've outlined are exactly the reasons we need this. "not the only one, have to repair cars, little to no mechanics."  I would say if you need RP out of the shop you should consider going off duty and getting out of the shop.  Honestly, if you want to put this in the context of realism, most mechanic shops (at least in the US) that I'm aware of don't run their own tow trucks. This is always a separate service and company completely independent of the shop.  Of course there will be times when there are no on-duty LSTS drivers, but that's when the mech shops could pick up the slack.  I personally think if run correctly this could be highly successful and a very welcome and useful addition to the playerbase.  No one should have to spend their 2-3 hours of playing time they get in an evening waiting for someone to come tow their car.  Thanks for your input!

[Percival]

 

I respectfully disagree. I spent a large amount of time as a mechanic in the server. What you've outlined are exactly the reasons we need this. "not the only one, have to repair cars, little to no mechanics."  I would say if you need RP out of the shop you should consider going off duty and getting out of the shop.  Honestly, if you want to put this in the context of realism, most mechanic shops (at least in the US) that I'm aware of don't run their own tow trucks. This is always a separate service and company completely independent of the shop.  Of course there will be times when there are no on-duty LSTS drivers, but that's when the mech shops could pick up the slack.  I personally think if run correctly this could be highly successful and a very welcome and useful addition to the playerbase.  No one should have to spend their 2-3 hours of playing time they get in an evening waiting for someone to come tow their car.  Thanks for your input!

Seems the underlying issue is not the lack of towtrucks but the faction cap, which im sure could be resolved icly or oocly depending on restrictions.

increase the cap and walla

 

Edited August 8, 2020 by Percival

[IAmTurtle]

 

  No one should have to spend their 2-3 hours of playing time they get in an evening waiting for someone to come tow their car.

recently i have seen nobody wait 2+ hours. And a lot of people wait a lot of time is because people keep moving. And so there MR gets removed. And 2 things happen: A. they either dont make a new on or B they make  a new one going to the end of the line. 

 

There has been an attempt to fix this icly at mechanics shops but you have to remember that is there is a 11 mechanics on duty it just means number on ledge. Not how many are in a tow truck or flatbed. 

 

Also how much rp will you get moving cars. You get like 3 mrs or so every hour maybe more if you are lucky. It would be like a more dead version of DCC. 

[Percival]

 

recently i have seen nobody wait 2+ hours. And a lot of people wait a lot of time is because people keep moving. And so there MR gets removed. And 2 things happen: A. they either dont make a new on or B they make  a new one going to the end of the line. 

 

There has been an attempt to fix this icly at mechanics shops but you have to remember that is there is a 11 mechanics on duty it just means number on ledge. Not how many are in a tow truck or flatbed. 

 

Also how much rp will you get moving cars. You get like 3 mrs or so every hour maybe more if you are lucky. It would be like a more dead version of DCC. 

Seems like the LSC management can do something about it, maybe instead of having 11 mechanics who none of which could take out a towtruck... they can start training people by default to use towtrucks, plenty of work out there! Calls for Service, Abandoned Cars, Repairs, etc.

Edited August 8, 2020 by Percival

[IAmTurtle]

everyone is trained

for tow trucks. at lsc, but 11 mechanics is both bayview and lsc. I dont know what happens at bayview. 

 

Calls for Service, Abandoned Cars, Repairs, etc.

there are rules set out that we cant tow abandon cars with out PD perms and we take most calls pretty fast if in the city just do to it being are "juro" of calls

[cheatonus]

 

everyone is trained

for tow trucks. at lsc, but 11 mechanics is both bayview and lsc. I dont know what happens at bayview. 

there are rules set out that we cant tow abandon cars with out PD perms and we take most calls pretty fast if in the city just do to it being are "juro" of calls

Rules can change.  Tow requests when I was a mechanic were pretty much constant, especially during peak hours.  Unless things have changed it was always IC policy at LSC that only certain people could use tow trucks, it was a rank thing. But honestly I never agreed with that. But it's beside the point. I still think this new faction could be great RP opportunity. There's a lot of possibilities there, including towing for PD, towing from NCZs, etc, for people to interact. I've seen a lot of PD driving tow trucks lately with my own eyes. The big difference between this and DCC is no one actually needs DCC.  People use it because they may want a bit of convenience, but they can always walk or get a ride from someone else. The same can't be said if your car is stuck or permastalled.  I think like any other faction sometimes activity would be very high and others very low. I don't think it would be dead by any stretch of the imagination. 

[Percival]

 

Rules can change.  Tow requests when I was a mechanic were pretty much constant, especially during peak hours.  Unless things have changed it was always IC policy at LSC that only certain people could use tow trucks, it was a rank thing. But honestly I never agreed with that. But it's beside the point. I still think this new faction could be great RP opportunity. There's a lot of possibilities there, including towing for PD, towing from NCZs, etc, for people to interact. I've seen a lot of PD driving tow trucks lately with my own eyes. The big difference between this and DCC is no one actually needs DCC.  People use it because they may want a bit of convenience, but they can always walk or get a ride from someone else. The same can't be said if your car is stuck or permastalled.  I think like any other faction sometimes activity would be very high and others very low. I don't think it would be dead by any stretch of the imagination. 

Sorry man you cant compare DCC to what your suggestion is. That comparison is like... well lspd is not needed if you can ask anyone to fight criminals. No bro. No. Sorry. 

the primary point now would be to resolve it ICLy and adjust lsc and bayviews policies to have more availability of towtrucks. I requested a towtruck the other day and there were 8 mechanics on duty. Waited 3 minutes before i gave up. 
 

this seems to be an IC issue moreso than OOC

[cheatonus]

Not really sure what you mean. I don't think there's anything I stated that aren't facts. I'm not saying DCC isn't good, or useful, I'm just saying it's not a necessary service.  You're making logically fallacious slippery slope type arguments.  I'm not comparing this to DCC, I'm differentiating between them. I agree there may be an IC solution, but I think adding another faction would be more beneficial than just resolving the issue ICly. At some point giving service to players becomes an OOC problem as well.  I'm trying to think alittle bigger than "lets just let the current people handle it ICly!" Frankly that's kind of a cop out argument, and a very close minded one.