Nanite Systems mercenaries

I love this idea and I could totally see this working against both 4th factioning and population inbalance.

I like that idea a lot, and that fact surprises me.
But I think it can only work properly if NS-characters have some obvious limitations and are more of a hard(er)-mode and not a "special factions".

Limitations that I see necessary:
- NS-mercenary should always be a separate character (no NS merc mission, no betrayal to your faction), which doesn't affect other characters on your account in any way (no to sharing certs, want certs - play the character you want them on)
- No empire-specific weapons AND no empire-specific vehicles, vehicle weapons (can use normally vehicles others spawned)
- No NS-merc exclusive weapons, only common pool NS equipment
- Warning and forced redeploy if population changes enough and other empire becomes underpopulated, respawn already on new side
- NS-mercs totally must wear colors of empire they fight for currently. But the armor itself is different and NS-themed.

Limitations may seem too hars, but I believe they are necessary. That way playing NS-mecr is a choice to play a bit harder mode of the game.

TL;DR:
You want no restrictions and to be on equal terms with everyone else - pick a faction and stick with it. The game is about 3 factions conflict, son.
You want more varied fights facing more different opponents (and boast your 1337 h4rdc0r3 MLG 5ki11z) - play as NS-merc while being handicapped.

I was actually thinking about something like this, but had not even thought about using it as a balancing tool. It could be interesting. The ability to play as any of the 3 factions with the downside of being unable to choose which.

I think they'd be fine driving faction vehicles, since they're fighting for that faction, and may have NS merc equivalents to the repeating faction specific weapons. Like the way each faction has the same shotguns with different art. So there would be other NS weapons that aren't common pool (But sortof are since they're the same) just so there would be some weapon variety.

Idea: NS characters are unlocked when you hit BR100
they already have every weapon unlocked (not much choice with Infantry, but also the Vehicle weapons should be unlocked)
you only collect certs to Upgrade your stuff.
also the NS character does not have a Leveling system like regular chars. (maybe a %-system, so you can still brag that you unlocked 'everything on your merc)

Bam, Population issues, Logistics and BR100 becomes meaning full. also High skilled players have a neutral medium that they can use to compare eachother without different factions creatinf a bias
I'm a Genius

Not exactly lore friendly. It's the NC that hired mercenaries, not NS. They aren't the greedy bastards you believe them to be, if they were they'd be a part of the NC. They're just a tech company turned city-state caught in the middle of a war.

The concept of mercenaries wouldn't exactly work out in this game lore-wise since mercenaries fight for money. The only capitalist empire is the NC. The TR probably have some socialist setup and the VS probably have a progressive government based on personal gain rather than material wealth accumulation. All money-craving mercs would be fighting for the NC. The system itself is a good idea, though, just explained in a different way like robots or something.

The lore is the least important part about the idea. and even then, my udea pretty much covers that.
after all, NS soldiers would not be Mercs in the NC spectrum, but would more resemble a PMC.

for a moment I thought you were suggesting like..bots.

I think Wrel or someone else allready suggested this great idea on Reddit, sadlly it didn't get much positive attention since PS2's community is terrible.
The idea was simple, NS character would always fight for the low populated faction on the server, they would have their own special armor but painted Red/Blue/Purple depending on which side they are, they would be limited to NS equipment only and players who play NS could be considered as Good Samaritans of the playerbase who always fight for the litle guys on the server.
It's an amazing idea but sadly i doubt PS2 devs will ever implement it.

Nanite Systems has no need to hire mercenaries. Even so, to be a PMC you would need to be paid, and since the stability of government on Auraxis is pretty shot the currency system is too. What currency are they being paid in? TR? NC? NS coal mining style tokens? I'm not saying your idea is bad, I'm saying the backstory doesn't make sense. I know it's not important to you, but still.

But... But dem evil company from NC would hired NS Merc rather than put money into NC

actually it is. but i don't see a plot hole.
The VS/NC/TR soldiers fight to, so the NS Soldiers, who get something to eat and live in can fight for Nanite Systems, can't they?

It's not a bad idea, obviously depends on a lot of little details in implementation.

Big detail for me personally would be that progress from merc (as in certs) has to be transferable to your regular characters, maybe even tie in highest char BR to amount of certs your merc has (example below). Otherwise it would be pointless to play one. There has to be some sort of progression.

For example your character with highest BR on server is TR, whatever certs your TR has determines how many certs your merc has. One to one. Whatever certs your merc earns while you play him/her, can be added in bulk to your main character (in this Example TR) after each play session, maybe after each day. Interval isn't really relevant too much. If you wish you can choose to transfer certs to another faction character, for example VS on same server if you are trying to level one up. Merc basically having ability to donate earned exp to whichever character you choose.

Nanite Systems isn't actually trying to win the war and profits are irrelevant, no need to fight.

Thats what this thread was about. an actual fourth faction that reinforces one side if another is to strong to keep the war/fight going.

Yes, I agree the idea is good but NS isn't the one to employ mercenaries. I'm just nitpickey on muh backstories.

Ooh, idea. Since hiring mercs doesn't make much sense, how about a line of NS combat drones? It seems more NS style, since they're all about military tech and such. Plus they would get badass robotic voices. They could look something like this:

This is a good idea.