In order to ensure we have a fluid and painless experience with doing joint operations, these are the criteria that we ask for any joint operation we might be considering.
Firstly, we need to be sure that the group we're cooperating with has a similar vision and enjoyment of gameplay that we do, in order to make sure everyone has fun. This means:
Any prospective cooperator must have an organized organizational structure.
Any prospective cooperator must have soldiers with immersive in-game names (plausibly real names, not usernames).
Any prospective cooperator must prove they are serious, organized, and professional to avoid any problems with dissimilar expectations.
Along with that, there are other organizational concerns we have:
In order to avoid organizational confusion, we can only commit to one joint operation once every two months overall.
We expect at least 2 weeks notice for a joint operation in order to make the appropriate posts, distribute the appropriate mods, etc.
Any potential joint operation must not conflict with any 173rd events other than a single squad training. Our principal timezone is American CST.
Our cooperator must be able to contribute at least a full squad (>10 people) but no more than a platoon (44 people)
We are allowed to contribute at least at a squad strength (10 people) or a small team of liaisons (2-4 people). Our squad is our smallest element that we consider autonomous, but having people just to observe and learn is also acceptable, though they are not expected to be combat effective. Overall, we are unlikely to be able contribute more than one of our standard platoon's worth of soldiers (~34 people).
The 173rd should only be expected to participate as a generic infantry role. Air assault or airdrop insertions are preferred, but not required. Any mission an infantry unit can be accepted to complete, we will take the challenge.
The last major point of contention for most joint operations seems to be mods, so as the standard, we expect the following:
All modifications must be available through manual install and Steam Workshop.
The mods we need to operate at an absolutely minimal capacity are ACE, TFAR, and RHS. These are nonnegotiable.
We are willing to download a single modification or modpack and use any and all other mod(s) in our modlist that we already have, at our cooperator's leisure.
Of course, we'd be happy to discuss these on Teamspeak or privately via Email for privacy, especially to confirm or deny any invitations for any joint operation we might have and assist with planning in any way we can, but these are guidelines we can share with our comrades-in-arms.