Server Description: Tarkesh Mur blinked once then twice at the image before him, not quite believing his eyes. The viewscreen revealing the wreckage of the Ghost Runner, his cousins ship shrewn across the asteroid field. Tarkesh Mersh had been one of the best arms runner in the Prime Industries, his ship one of the fastest raiders and equipped with a cloaking device, he had run undetected through the edge of the Lyran Star Empire for a decade without much more than a few scratches on his hull, most considered him lucky, but those who knew him had known his skill was the reason. Yet it appeared that any luck he had had run out shortly before this rendevous.
Tarkesh Mur was brooding about whether to turn and make a report or to proceed and finish the final part of the journey in his cousin’s stead. It would be risky to proceed. His ship, the Strong Arm, though more heavily armed than the Ghost Runner had been was more suited to enforcement than to cargo runs, despite the ample cargo bay. He had no cloak and his ship was not as fast as a “Runner” Class, neither was he as familiar with the route, though he knew the ultimate destination which lie well within the Far Stars Duchy. The prudent thing to do would be to turn around and report to the Prime leadership, but the importance of these prototype gatling phaser designs made this delivery crucial, if he returned to base to make the report it would require vast time and resources to obtain Lyran patrol schedules and reassign another “runner” ship to finish the job. Why had his cousin been so stupid, he thought to himself.
The officer manning the science and salvage station had been quietly proceeding with his work, to check for survivors and see if and useful equipment could be saved from the wreckage. Suddenly he cried out. Captain, scanners have indicated scores of disruptor burns all across the Ghost Runner’s hull, the surface atoms of which are still in flux!
Tarkesh Mur didn’t wait for a further analysis, if the hull’s atoms were still in flux it meant that the ship hadn’t been long dead. “Red Alert!” , he bellowed then turned to the helmsman, “Sarlax get us out of here maximum speed!”
At just that precise instant a lone Lyran Cheetah class frigate came into view from behind a large asteroid, followed by another, and then a third. The frigates didn’t hesitate in firing having apparently known of the Strong Arms precence before it was aware of theirs. The first disruptor blast smashed into the starboard hull before the Strong Arm managed to raise its shields knocking several systems offline including most of the phasers. A wave of drones followed the attack, causing the Tarkesh Mur some confusion as to the armaments of these frigates as he had never known Lyrans to employ drones. “Fire all phasers in point defense, defensive tractors on” he ordered, taking out several of the missiles and catching several others in his tractors, but two of the missiles got through. He stared at the nightmare unfolding before him as the ship buckled with their impact and he watched in horrid fascination as a drone released as a tractor went down, then another, then a third.
The enemy captain hailed him, and he looked up at the viewscreen, preparing defiance at the Lyran commander, but no Lyran was there. Instead, he found himself staring at a Romulan! “Greetings Fellow Pirate,” addressed the enemy captain, “you have two choices, either surrender your ship to the Cambro and possibly find employment among us, or face oblivion, you have 3 seconds to choose.”
Although Tarkesh Mur was not afraid to die, Prime Industries had been his only chance at employment due to his long crimal record, but another Cartel was definitely an option and although not afraid he had no wish to die. “Standing down Sir!” Tarkesh answered directly and immediately, snapping into a salute. “Very wise choice,” answered the Romulan pirate, intentionally leaving out the unnecessary and now inappropriate “captain” as a further indication of changed status “I’m sure your cargo will be of utmost interest to my employers, and I’m sure you will find our new relationship to be profitable for all involved.”
Tarkesh Mur was never heard from again.
Thus The Gas Wars Begun.
6 minute turns, 244 turns a year, one game year a day. Server starts Sunaday and runs for 2 weeks eding in 2279.
One RM for each side is required to assign FM's for a couple DN's and that's it. No builds, ship transfers or anything else like that to keep track of.
Server Downloads: http://fire.prohosting.com/astinky/gfz/GFZ.exe http://members.lycos.co.uk/astinky/gfz/ [/list]
Warring Factions: Alliance:Hydrans Prime Cartel using the ISC race slot.
Coalition:LyransCamboro Cartel using the Mirak race slot.
Only 2 accounts per player. 1 for your faction and another for their allied pirate race.[/list]
What ships you can fly, their VP's and all that: Anything with 4 ESG's, 11+ fighters and/or 4 PF's is a 'VP' ship in addition to any ship classed as a BC or DN. Any other ship is not restricted nor have VP's attached to them. VP ships are governed by a 48hr penalty box. Meaning if u lose it, it is reported as a VP kill and you cant use either of your accounts to fly another VP ship again till 48hrs after the ship was lost.
VP ship kills must be reported. They are worth the following:
A DN = 10
BC = 3
Any other ship defined as a VP above = 1
Map VP's: Any Hydran or Lyran Planet is worth 20 VC's and any Cartel Planet is worth 10.
CnC rules: Battlecruisers: Are restricted by a 48hr. penalty box as described above and there may only be a total of 3 per side on the map at a time.
Dreadnoughts: The RM may assign any number of players as a FM to fly a DN, but there may only be one DN of any type on the map at a time, and one replacement. If both are lost, no more are available. Pirates dont get DN's.
Lyrans: Causual tenders may use standard or phaser variant PF's only and may recall but not relaunch in combat. Full tenders may carry 1 leader, 2x special or heavy, and 1 standard or phaser variant. No Ftr CnC.
Hydrans: Half Hellbore compliment of ftrs max.
Pirates: Half compliment of AM type ftrs max. [/list]
Line of Supply (LoS): There are Two Types:
Type ONE LoS, for purposes of capturing hexes, is defined as a 1 hex wide uninterrupted line of allied hexes between an allied planet or base hex to the hex being captured.
(In Fig 1 below, the Hydrans have fullfilled Type ONE LoS in capturing the Lyran Planet in the lower left.) If you do not have a Type ONE LoS to a hex, it may not be captured.
(Note - this does not prevent you from attacking hexes not in a LoS. See Deeptrikes below.)[/list]
- Fig 1.
Type TWO LoS, for purposes of Counting VC's, is defined as 2 hex wide uninterrupted lines of allied hexes between an allied Homeworld hex to the VC hex in question.
(In Fig 2 below, the Hydrans have fullfilled Type TWO LoS to the Lyran Planet in the lower left in order to obtain VC's for it.) If you do not have a Type TWO LoS to a VC hex at the time VC's are counted, despite the VC hex being under your control, the VC's will not be awarded.
[/list]
- Fig 2.
All about Bases: in or
adjacent to another base designated hex or planet/base.
While placing a base, at the start of the mission, you
must be in compliance with
LoS Rule ONE. (See above)[/list]
Deepstrikes: If you draft or are drafted into a PvP in a hex that has no
Allied or
Neutral hexes adjacent to it at the time of the draft, then you
may not disengage and must
fight to the death![/list]
Disengagement/Destruction Rule: If you are forced to Disengage in a PvP match, then you are banned from the hex you either took the mission in or were drafted in for '15' turns, about 1hr. 30 mins. If your ship was destroyed then you are banned from that hex for '10' turns, about 1hr. A turn is about 6 minutes.
General Rules: Do not post accusations about players in the forums or in the IRC Chat. If you have a complaint or believe a player is in violation of the rules, contact your Race Moderator (RM) or Assistant RM via e-mail or private message. Please remember to save any screenshots or films you may have to support your claim.
Alt+F4'ing out of a mission is prohibited. The exception to this rule is if all players involved in the battle agree to its usage (taking a screenshot, F12, of the agreement is recommended). Examples of when an Alt+F4 should be agreed to and used are:
- Mission bugs, to include the "Host Left, New Host ____" appears at start.
- Allies showing as enemies.
- Serious game lag.
- Other scripting anomalies.
Draft dodging is not permitted. If drafted by another player, you must accept the draft.
Forfeiting missions under ANY circumstances is not permitted. You may NEVER forfeit a mission. Period.
Always show common courtesy to all other players. Abusive players will be banned.
During some missions, a player's name may not be indicated on their ship. If you suspect you are playing against a human, type a greeting (i.e. hail, in, hello, etc) in the chat. All other human players are required to immediately respond with a text chat greeting.
No avoiding missions you do not like or do not want to take by logging off then back on.
When playing a game against the AI in a neutral hex, you may not immediately disengage unless returning from battle seriously damaged and in need of dry dock. Try and play out the mission if possible.
Fight or Flight. When in a mission with a human opponent, fight or leave. Do not lead your opponents around the map wasting their time. It is recognized that there are many good run and chase strategies (saber dancing, plasma ballet, etc) but staying on the battlefield with no intentions of fighting is not one of them.
If you are having a bad connection and either dropping a lot or causing your opponents to constantly drop, we ask that you stop playing for a while and try again later. If your connection continues to cause problems we ask that you confine yourself to an area where you will not constantly draft or be drafted by other players until you get a better connection.
If you die in a mission with a human opponent, stay until the mission is complete. Consider it a penalty for dying that you must stay and watch the rest of your allies be destroyed, or the rest of your allies whoop some butt!
If the server crashes or ends during a PvP mission, all players must stay in the mission and fight it out (or disengage or die or all of the above...) The results of the mission still count for VC and disengagment rule purposes. If a player loses his or her ship in such a mission, he/she must self-destruct in the same hex immediately upon logging back on to the server to correct both the shiploss and the DV change.
Rule Harassment: Some of the rules will be difficult to follow given the nature of this game. Players are expected to do their best in every situation. However it is not acceptable to harass other players about the rules. We do expect all players to help others become aware of the rules in a friendly manner. If you are having a problem with a player who refuses to follow them, send your RM or ARM an email describing it. Please use screenshots (F12 key) as evidence. Harassing a player because they are not following these rules or for any other reason is not acceptable. Please remember everyone is just trying to enjoy themselves and that this is a game.
Special Thanks:
Dizzy
Bonk
Chutt