Firstly usual disclaimer about long posts and short attention spans. It?s gonna be very long so get a beer/coffee/catnip.
Secondly I'll try to be as objective as I can, but I was on a particular side and will probably be partial in the eyes of some, this is not intentional.
Every few weeks or so there are references to AF, that is , Artic Fire, the server, now whatever you think about it, some who are here now were not then, and don't know what actually went down. There are still many who were there and they can correct the failing memory of an old retard, where I am sketchy or you think I'm plain wrong.
The game was EAW.
So the BAD stuff first.
The Patrol Bug, this was a "bug" whereby if a smaller ship disengaged from a larger ship, the smaller ship would get the DV shift on the Hex, although it was used by some in AF the real abuses of it started on the CW series of campaigns. It has now thankfully been fixed.
Connection issues, these were rampant, DSL/cable was not really available as it is now, most played on a 56k modem, and some like me to start, were on a 28K modem. When the connection was lost there was no way of telling whether the line had been lost or someone had ALT/F4'd out. This of its self would not have been a problem of huge proportions without Ship loss.
Ship loss, whether bad connections or through combat losses, resulted in you being busted back to an FF, as PP was harder to come by then, if you lost a ship through connectivity issues you were pissed, some would avoid ship loss in PvP by ALT/F4ing out a game and thus saved their ship.
A combination of all of the above lead to allegations of cheating and thus to flame wars on Taldren.
Getting on the server was also a problem, especially in prime time, there were around 2000 people trying to get around 150 places, so many were frustrated that thy could not get on, or if they were on were booted because of connection problems.
Server crashes were frequent and because Artic was in Alaska, and worked, it could mean the servers were down for long periods adding to everyone's frustrations.
There were no DB cleaners and the server got slower as the DB grew and it could towards the end take upwards of 2 minutes to fly from one hex to another. It was ultimately the sheer size of the flatfile DB which ended the server when it imploded.
Draft radius was set at 2, which some disliked.
Rotting Fur was a tactic used by one player who had two accounts, one Hydran, his main, and another Lyran, the pilots second Lyran account was called "Rotting Fur". He would log in the second account, take missions and fly off the board losing the mission and lowering the DV of the Lyran hex, then log in the main Hydran account and flip the hex.
Super warping, was a tactic used by some whereby they had 2 accounts of the same race on different fronts, and would use the account which was needed the most, then when the heat was off or they needed to be on the other front quickly, rather than fly across the big map they would switch accounts.
There are probably other things but others can point those out.
The Good stuff
Firstly before the thing started there was skullduggery and much manoeuvring and politics, all on the boards and all in character. The sides were:
Fed + Gorn
Klingon + Lyran
Hydran + Kzinti
Romulan + ISC (not sure about the last Rommies may have been with Klinks and the ISC on their own).
The sides were all trying to make alliances before the map came out, and the full gamut of spies and negotiation, bluff, carrot and stick were employed. We waited around 6 weeks for the map and played on other servers, but the planning went on, and it was FUN.
When the map was published it caused a sensation, it was HUGE, the positions were traditional, but there was a lot of empty space to conquer/colonise and plenty of scope for manoeuvre. Mandatory missions in neutral and enemy space and neutral hexes had a DV of 40 or 50 (could be wrong on that). It was staggeringly different, there had been nothing like it online that I had seen and although the previous servers had been fun, the sheer scale of this one and the numbers playing put it in a different league. I had been playing wargames for 30 years by then, and it was what I had been waiting for, a huge campaign with thousands of players , played 24/7 online, globally and no bookkeeping for me, as well as diplomacy etc. and of course, PvP. Now many did not like the map, I loved it.
VCs were introduced for the first time, they were simple and to the point. The first race to 6000 econ or to hold 2 enemy capitals while holding LOS to your own was the winner.
We all started many hexes apart at least 20 I think, maybe more. As a result of the diplomacy, the Romulans appeared to have reached a détente with the Feds, and a "green line" was drawn in the stars over which they would not expand. The Feds thought this was great as they could concentrate on the Klinks and ISC. Then the line was crossed and "renegade" Rommies raided fed space. The Rommie hierarchy remonstrated with the rebels in public, but the rebels led by Pinky Gen, were unrepentant and said they would fly with the Klinks regardless of what the Senate said and would raid Fed space. Flame wars erupted, it all got very heated, and many including myself were taken in by it all.
While the Rommies were causing diplomatic havoc, the Gorn made contact wi the Feds and turned on the ISC, the ISC came bounding out of the East and engaged the Feds, the Hydrans marched North to the Lyrans, the Klinks crossed the fed border in force and made moves to the Hydrans and curiously expanded to the Rommies, but did not cross into their space. The Kzin attacked toward the Lyrans and the Feds. The map was so huge it took a week to make contact for most.
During the second week things began to unfold. The Rommies attacked the Feds, the "rebels" were not and it had all been a ruse de guerre. The Feds redeployed, but there numbers were massive and they were able to take on the Kzin, Klinks, ISC and Rommies at once with Gorn help. The Kzin encircled a huge area of space en route to the Lyrans and contact was made. The ISC started a huge offensive against the Fedo/Gorns, the Rommies threw all pretence aside and attacked the Feds with Gusto, the Klinks put all their resources into the Fed front and the pressure began to tell on the Feds. When the Kzin line reached Fed space the Feds were fighting virtually the whole Galaxy. The Hydrans wer pressing the Lyrans and making rapid advances, all was finally balanced.
Then the rumours were started. The 9th were coming. The propaganda war was unleashed on the boards and talk of 150 Starlancers lead by the 9th , who like the cavalry to save the beleaguered wagon train, would save the Feds and push back the invaders. The 9th were coming. The Klinks tried to counter with talk of their own fleets, but the seed had been sown, the 9th were coming. The Rommies had their diplomatic coup, now the Feds had their propaganda coup, the effect was electrifying, these ace of aces (as they were portrayed) would rollback the "Huns" and the doors of Stovokor its self would fall. Quite masterly.
Then the Hydrans who had made good progress seemed to get very quick at flipping and were doing extraordinarily well, seemed to be doing, well, too well! Not because of the speed but because of the placement of the hexes, which were way out of reach and suddenly appeared with no LOS to the remaining Hydrans. KDF-Kang, a brilliant Admiral, watched the News for 2 days, then announced, with the evidence, that a certain Hydran had been up to no good. Rotting Fur was caught and confessed on Taldren, but what to do about what he had done?
Well rather than bitch about it and flame the server to death, or walk out, the leaders flew to a meeting in game. There was a 2 day ?ceasefire? you could consolidate but not expand. The Klinks who had the most numbers near to the offending area in an area of space I think the Hydrans called ?The Duchy?. The Klinks moved en masse reduced the hexes and the Lyrans retook them. Then the Klinks lost missions on their own supply line to the area, vacated and the Hydrans flipped them neutral. That was the best we could do and although Artic could have manually readjusted them, this was deemed risky to the DB. So what had been a server threatening crisis was averted by co-operation. The Klinks said they wouldn?t use that route to arttack the Hydrans aor link with the Lyrans for a week and the game came through.
During the Hiatus all sides consolidated.
The Kzin were the first off the blocks, with one fleet led by Brezgonne they firstly stopped the Fed expansion, then took the new fed colonies and were the first to take a Fed Planet proper. In the West the main Kzin force ploughed on to Lyran space and began to munch up Lyran space proper, the battles were fierce and lasted about a week to 10 days. By the end of it large areas of Lyran space were in Kzin hands and the Lyrans suffered a TMC (total morale collapse), it was left to Skyawapa and Kzinbane to defend Lyran space, but more of that epic later.
During the next 2 weeks the Rommies held their front and the combined Rommie and Klingon fleets struck deep into the Federation. Many fierce PvP actions were fought, but the coalition advance was remorseless. In the East the ISC struck deep into fed territory and repulsed a very heavy Gorn flanking manoeuvre. The Hydrans switched fronts and struck out toward the Klingons and in the process helped the feds. The Lyrans were in dire straights and the Klinks began the long haul of trying to link with them. This redistribuition of forces allowed the Feds to stop the Klingo/Rommie advance and a stalemate ensued. The Gorn smarting from their repulse by the ISC made for Kzin space. During this time the 9th had arrived, but being 2-3 weeks behind had to get PP for the ships they wanted which took time.
Then the deepstrike proper was borne. Durin and at least one other struck out east through Rommie space with a base. They passed into neutral space beyond the Rommies, and there set up barad dur. It was a master stroke. The Rommies hastily withdrew heavy units from the front line in an attempt to erradicate the base at barad dur. The feds redeployed some the forces releived by the Rommie withdrawal and with the newly formed 9th smacked into the ISC and drove them back. The Klinks and remaining Rommies were held in check, the Klinks put considerable effort into contacting the Lyrans but were still a long way off. The Hydrans were engaging the Klinks on their front and pushing them back slowly.
Barad Dur was a stroke of genius. It was quickly followed by the Kzin redeploying major units to the Gorn front and Hades and Jefe dropping a base on the edge of Gorn space, which was quickly extended to take a planet and the Kzin ?Farstar County? was born.
In Lyran space the dynamic Lyran duo each in a DN set about trying to halt the Kzin. The defence was skilful and epic and many a 3 ship drone squadron fell to the mighty pair. They were alas for the Lyrans too few and the Kzin moved to within 3 hexes of Lyra. Brezgonne had by this time one thing on his mind, EARTH he and his squadrons were pressing remorselessly toward Terra itself.
1AF then deployed a base (with Durin) on the extreme eastern edge of the Map to the North of ISC space, this was Khazad Dum. From there all of 1AF struck into the unprotected rear of ISC space, causing panic and confusion amongst the Frogs, many of whom used the dubious, but not illegal ?superwarp? tactic to fend off the predations of 1AF in the rear and fight on the main front.
The Feds with more piolts coming on line then set out to intercept the thin line which the Klinks were making toward the stricken Lyrans. It was a classic paralell race to see who would get there first.
The Rommies had by now neutralised Barad dur and were returning to the main Klingo/Fed front and were grinding forward hex by Hex. The Hydran offensive had stalled. The Gorn with a couple of Fred heavies were trying to dislodge the Kzin from their space and although the county shrank the planet it had become based on held. The ISC were inflicting heavy losses on 1AF, but at the cost of losing on their front with the Flatheads.
Around 5 weeks in it dawned on everybody that the race with the best chance of winning was actually the Kzin! The smallest race on the board. The Lyran collapse meant Lyra was under seige and the Kzin were 2 hexes from the Tri-star in Gorn space and only 10 from earth!
Offensives ceased from the major powers. Battered fleets were withdrawn from the front refitted with new ships and plans drawn and plots hatched.
Now whether you agree with spying or not, it was used, and the Rommies were the masters. There was a meeting in a gamespy room between all the leaders except the Feds and Gorn. There the Rommies revealed that they had the Fed plans and these were handed over. The Feds were going to crush the Kzin while holding on all other fronts, then push on to Lyra and thus win for the Alliance (edit later changed to Frog capital). The Fed battle map has been published many times, but their own discussions on their boards have not and these are annexed to this post.
The Kzin had their small forces spread from the Tri-Star to Lyra, which was way too thin. The Klinks and Lyrans meanwhile hatched a plot against the Kzin, while plotting with all other races to launch a premptive strike against the Fed/Gorn Axis, which was to start one hour before the Fed one. The Klinks were going to use this to cover a strike from Lyran space, which they had finally reached, and many Lyrans were going to return to the server to exact revenge on the Kzin.
The Feds deployed as follows:
1XF hold the Klingon Front
3rd Hold the juncture of Klinks and Rommies
9th Strike into Rommie space
Wolfpack attack ISC from front
1AF attack ISC from Kazad Dum
Dizzy and Pneumonica81 with the main Fed thrust head for Mraa
Mu?s independent brigade hold Diz/P81 left flank
Rook and his expeditionary force were to hold right flank, cut the LOS from Gorn space and then come in round the back of the Kzin.
All Kzin front forces were to converge on Mraa.
The Klingons were going to put a huge thrust up against 1XF
They were also going to link with the Lyrans and take the space the Kzin had vactated to defend Mraa, in the west.
The Hydrans were going to suport the Kzin by helping the Klinks (as they thought against the Feds) but in reality the Klinks just wanted their fleets out of position.
The Gorn were to eradicate the ?Farstar County? and demostrate on the northern edge of the ISC salient.
The ISC were to ignore 1AF and attack full bore the Wolfpack, and barrel into Fed space proper.
Alea Jacta est.
I stayed up all night waiting for the ?Big Push? as did the very few kzin, (about 15 of us in total) around 03.00 the server went down. It never came back up, the DB had died. It was 2278.2 (and still only slow drones!!)
It lasted around 6 weeks, it was frustrating, exhilarating, but for me just about the best fun I?ve had online. The newness and novelty was a great factor, using RW for the first time and TALKING to people for the first time. Not being constrained by a small map, the subterfuge, the cheating, the resolutions and the battles of which I had many all made it FUN (IMHO) this last para obviously not objective, but very much subjective.
In another thread are intercepted Fed comms.
Topic: History for those interested Artic Fire (long) (Read 12728 times)