Topic: Economic War: Information Thread

[Herr Burt]

Economic War:  Loot, kill, and betray.  The Pirate's Code is more what you'd call "guidelines" than actual rules.

The downloads and installation instructions are here:
http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163366053.msg1122707810.html#msg1122707810


Campaign Points


Trade routes to control
Ships to steal
Wingmen to kill
Blackmail to perform
Assassination contracts to fulfill
Treasure to find
Enemy Cartels to be crushed.

Do you have what it takes to be a black-hearted pirate?  Find out soon in Economic War

In all cases, I will attempt to follow my philosophy of fewer rules equals better rules for those who just want to log on and play.  Most special circumstances will be handled server side with either server settings or DB edits.  (Yes, Herr Burt loves you.  He's willing to DB edit his little perfectly manicured fingers right down the point where their polish gets chipped.)  However, I plan to let there be several ways for players to earn extra points for their side if they want to deal with special server-side rules.   Since these rules are built to allow you to accomplish role-playing things, rather than preventing players from doing cheesy things, then they should be completely transparent to the casual player.

The setup
Economic War takes place after the general war, when empires have exhausted themselves and large tracts of unpatrolled "neutral" space has opened up between their borders.  There is a lot of surplus military equipment to be had for anyone with a little scratch, and there are a lot of opportunities for piracy.  Every pirate worth his eyepatch sees a chance to expand his interests.  Every overlord sees his chance to take over the entire underworld.

The only question is: who gets to be Jabba, and who has to wear the bikini and live on the leash?


The Post War Empire Map (You may need to scroll right to see it all)
The discolored hexs are Imperial Capitals.  Note that Remus' econ has taken a drastic downturn.......


The Cartel Map (You may need to scroll right to see it all)


I'm mostly sticking with the SFC cartels rather than trying to port over the SFB cartels.   Why?   Because SFB has a lot more than eight cartels, and gives very little cultural diffrences between them.  If I'm going to have to combine the SFB pirate map so that only eight cartels exist (which I've pretty much done) then why not just go ahead and use the cultures given in SFC for their background?

So that's what I've done.  Read on though.   You'll see I've tweaked them a bit to make them fit in more with SFB history.


=====================================

Orion Cartel
This group claims to be the original Orion pirate cartel.   This claim may actually hold some merit since there are many Orion ex-Naval officers serving onboard Orion Cartel ships.  The Orion government denies any connection to this cartel, claiming that the "Orion Pirates" are just a collection of thugs.  This does not ring entirely true to some, as investigations that have found evidence of Orion properties being left alone while "enemies of the state" seem to have their cargo raided on a regular basis.

In truth the government and the cartel are very much in bed together.  The Orions are a very prideful and elitist race who feels that most others are beneath them.  When Orion agreed to join the nascent Federation of Planets, about half of its navy promptly mutinied and "disappeared".  This was a move encouraged by the government who saw great use in a fleet of privateers that could pursue their interests in a clandestine manner.  Orion greatly desires to one day dominate the Federation to the same extent that earth currently does, and makes use of the Orin cartel to pursue this goal in less than legal ways.  Trade routes of rival planets can be targeted and rival leaders can be eliminated all while the government keeps its hands clean.   The cartel, on the other hand, has largely grown to become the band of pirates it claims to be.  However they are grateful for the economic and material assistance of the government.  Pirate Lords grow rich with the opportunities fed to them and keep their crews in fine trim by making use of Orion naval officers that covertly rotate through their ships.

This cartel is very powerful and is in direct competition with the majority of the other cartels.  The elitist Orion attitude makes it sometimes hard to recruit from races that they find beneath them, however the undercover Orion naval officers that are rotated through their ships on a regular basis keep their crews in fine fighting trim.  The Orion ships have photons and phasers as their main weapons, but also employ disruptors, missiles, plasma, and cloaking devices.

The Orion Cartel is led by an enigmatic figure known only as "Pharaoh", and operates primarily in Federation space.  They have secondary activities in Klingon and Romulan space.

             
Crimson Shadow (The House of Korgath)
This organization is as much a Klingon House as they are a pirate cartel.  House Korgath was removed from the Klingon high council after starting brief war with the LDR, without permission of the emperor.  This war drove the LDR further away from the Lyran Empire just before the Four Powers War, and just when it looked as if the LDR might have been ready to rejoin the Lryans.   The Emperor and the council believed this attack was an immense blunder which harmed the strategic strength of the Empire.

Korgath still controls some strategic worlds in the empire and they have used these worlds as bases of operation for their raiding activities.  Kol Korgath, the current ruler of the house, plans to take the high council by force as soon as he has the power to do so.  Recently he tried to gather banners around him and make his move, as he had hoped that the failure of the Emperor and High Council to win the General War would have shown them to be weak.  However many of his would-be banner men still blame his house for the loss of the LDR and question whether a whole Lyran Empire might have given the Coalition the slight extra advantage it needed to win.  For now, Kol Korgoth continues his plotting.

The Cartel is unique in that they are a fusion between a cartel and a military force.  The Crimson Shadow even employs Klingon warships from time to time.  Their arsenal includes disruptors and missiles as primary weapons but also utilize photon torpedoes, phasers, hellbore cannon, and fusion beams.

The Crimson Shadow operates primarily in Klingon space with secondary activities in Hydran and Federation space.


The Camboro Cartel
This organization is like an anti-matter reactor ready to explode.  The Camboro cartel is a collection of Kzinti and Lyran criminals that hate their former empires more than they hate each other.  Their ranks are continually swelled by the members of losing faction during Kzinti and Lyran Byzantine power struggles.   Human, Andorian, and Orion members of the cartel act as a buffer between the Kzinti and Lyran members.   This Cartel hates everyone they meet, and they have no sympathy for anyone that they steal from.  "Slash and burn" is the policy of the Camboro Pirates.

Whereas wealthy civilian captains might consider surrendering to most pirates, hoping for ransom to set them free, no such hopes exist when facing the Camboro.  For this cartel prisoners exist only to be eaten.  Most wise captains would rather self-destruct than surrender.   As a result this cartel must always be on the move.   Whenever the Camboro presence becomes established in an area, all trade in that area simply stops. 

This Cartel likes to get up close and personal with their prey.  They normally lead with waves of missiles before closing in with disruptors, ESGs, and photon torpedoes set on overload.  They have many transporters on their ships as they love fighting hand to hand.

The Camboro cartel operates primarily in Kzinti space, with secondary activities in Lyran and Federation space.



Prime Industries
Prime Industries is run more like a business than a family or band of smugglers.   The cartel is very organized and accepts only the most professional pirates into their organization.  The core of Prime Industries is formed by disaffected officers who fought for the cause of Rolandus during the Romulan Civil War.   The betrayal of Rolandus while under turce did little to restore their faith in the senate, and they preferred to “honorably” go rogue and take over the pirate forces within the Romulan Empire rather than make peace with the betrayers they blamed for the murder of Rolandus and the loss of the General war.  Prime does not tolerate sloppy operations and will, if necessary, remove members that are not up to the high standards of Prime.

Prime ships tend to employ long ranged weapons, and they have traded with other cartels to receive weapons that generally would not be available to them.  Prime is also considered to be the most technologically advanced cartel.  Their ships generally use PPDs, photon torpedoes, plasma torpedoes, phases, and occasionally hellbore cannons.

Prime Industries operates primarily within the Romulan Empire with secondary activities in the Interstellar Concordium and Federation. 



The Tiger Heart Cartel
The Tiger Heart Cartel is comprised mostly of Lyran outcasts.  This is a very proud cartel and is pretty honorable as pirates go, since they know what it is like to be shunned by their own people.  This cartel likes to operate in smaller packs, joining only when big trouble arises.  This makes every section of the cartel independent and hard to eliminate as a whole, but at the expense of some overall power to the cartel itself.   

The Tiger Heart Cartel is the only non-military organization to use fast patrol ships.  These are stolen and replicated Lyran PFs modified to Tiger Heart needs.  The Tiger Heart clan prefers small ships and does not utilize any ship larger than a CA.  They prefer to use swarm tactics of several waves of drones in conjunction with ESGs and disruptors.

Tiger Heart operates primarily within Lyran space with secondary activities in Kzinti and Klingon space.



The Beast Raiders
The Beast Raider cartel is one of the stranger cartels.  The rest of the cartels are uneasy with the Beast Raiders because they do not understand them; they cannot ascertain if the Beast Raiders are pirates or some sort of religious cult.  They use money gathered from raids to buy equipment in order to enhance their psychic abilities.  The strongest members of this cartel can then summon the help from mammoth space creatures.  These creatures are used to advance some unknown agenda.

The Beast Raiders use many types of weapons in order to compliment the abilities of the space creatures they control.

The Beast Raiders operate primarily with the Hydran space with secondary activities in Lyran and Klingon space.



The Syndicate
It is know by many that the first contact between the Gorn and the Federation was not peaceful.  Many Federation settlers of Cestus III were killed by the Gorn during a "misunderstanding".  The Predominately Asian survivors of the massacre happened to be part of an ancient criminal organization called the Yukuza.  They had joined the colonists as a way to travel to a new part of the galaxy which was remarkably free of piracy.  When the attack occurred they saw their opportunity to grab vital supplies and ships from the destroyed colony.  This allowed them to expand themselves into a full-fledged cartel sooner than they otherwise could have.  They are viewed as upstarts by the Orion and Prime cartels, whose territories they have recently begun to expand into.

Life in the Syndicate is about honor (in pirate terms, a mixture of "face" and tradition) and obedience to the Overlord.  These traits are rewarded and successful members live a very good life.  Breaking tradition is a quick way to your grave.

The syndicate uses mostly Federation and Gorn technology, but has recently spread their operations to ISC space.

The syndicate operates primarily with Gorn space with secondary activities in the Interstellar Concordium and Federation.



The Wyldefire Compact
Alex Wyldefire is the greatest Buccaneer ever to sail the blackness of space.  Originally a member of the Orion cartel, he struck out on his own and has single handedly carved out an empire from a single ship, the Happy Jack.  Wyldefire and his crew raided for years in ISC space, always getting away in the nick of time with the goods and the glory.  Wyldefire aided the Federation during the war of pacification, passing on vital information in exchange for whatever he needed.  Since that time, he has joined with other flamboyant buccaneers to form the Wyldefire Compact, a loose group of pirates set on making a little money, acquiring a lot of glory, and helping the weak and poor whenever possible.

Anyone that has any sort of ship can enter the compact as long as they abide by the rules of Wyldefire.  Many freighter hulls, including captured luxury liners, have been converted into makeshift pirate ships.  While this rag tag group may not be the prettiest of the cartels, they are by fart the most flamboyant and brave.

The Wyldefire Compact operates primarily within the ISC, with secondary activities in Gorn and Romulan space.


The Joint Map (You may need to sroll right to see it all)
Read it if you can!


Important Note: Before anyone panics, it is important as you read the details below that you remember the nature of piracy vis a vis imperial control.  A pirate is able to contact the blackmarket to resupply at *any* supply point.  Contiguous territory and lines of supply matter far less to cartels than they do to empires, (unless you are trying to meet a specific secret VC)  so don't worry if your cartel ever begins to look like a patchwork quilt.


The Game is played in three phases, each roughly a week long.

Phase One

Each player logs on as a cartel member.  No empires are available for play.   On the empire side, the map shows the postwar borders of the eight Great Powers.  On the Cartel side, the map shows the territories controlled by the eight most profitable cartels.  (We can assume that numerous minor players have already suffered their night of the long knives and there are only the eight major players left.)  Each faction will struggle over the thing that matters most to pirate:  money.   The success of each cartel will be judged by the territory it controls (payoffs) the economic monopolies it can establish (black markets) and the amount of net prestige it earns (cash on-hand.  How are you going to keep yourself adequately supplied with luscious green women if you don't have cash on-hand?)

Phase Two
The struggle continues, but the eight cartels will be reduced via DB edit to the most successful four.  Those that fall behind will have their accounts edited to place them into one of the four remaining factions.  The weakest of the eight will be merged with the strongest, the second weakest with the second strongest, and so on.   In addition, during Phase One each faction will have been given the option to have started one of several special projects.  Those projects will now come into play.  This might be a special ship, a change in the map,  or another special opportunity.

Phase Three
The final showdown.  The four remaining faction will be reduced to two via DB edit.  Again, the weakest will be merged with the strongest, and the second weakest will be merged with the second strongest.   Hopefully this process will have resulted in a balanced two-faction game for phase three.  And then we let the bloodshed begin in earnest.


ECONOMIC WAR IS SET TO GO LIVE ON SUNDAY MAY 7 AT 6PM

(Provided I can get 8 prospective Jabbas by then.   Do me a favor, give it some thought, and then go sign up to be an Overlord here:  http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163365742.0.html  Just so prospective leaders know, I intend to leave fighters out and make this a mostly ship to ship game.  The idea of pirates, solely motivated by profit, using expensive and high maintanence attrition units that will die in droves seems a little odd.  On the other hand, gunboats seem a little more sturdy, and even a lone gunboat would make an effective raider for a smalltime pirate in a backwater, so I'll likely leave in some of the TigerHerat PFs.   It's what makes them unique, like the Korgath Klink frigates, and they're only Lyran gunboats anyway.)

[Herr Burt]

VICTORY CONDITIONS

Victory Conditions can be earned in any (and all) of three ways (subject to tweaking between now and the beginning of the campaign)  The basic rule to remember is that piracy is all about money.  if it would make money, then it adds to your cartel's chance to win.  If it costs you money, then it hurts your cartel's chance to win.:

1)  Cartel Economy:  Cartels do not control space and planets the way empires do.  (Note that planets and bases never turn your color, even when the hex does.)    Instead, the hexs that turn your color represent trade routes you toll, merchants who give you payoffs, and ports where you get a cut of the action.  This is the guaranteed, steady income of your cartel.  It also represents the galactic influence of your cartel.   In the post war era of weakened navies, Empire will cut deals with pirates.  (At least until they rebuild their fleets.   After that you've got a long date with a short rope.)  The total economy of your cartel will be summed each night and added to a running total.  Each economic point, each night, is worth one Victory Point.

2)  Player vs. Player Kills:  Governments and merchants pay off pirates they think are strong.  No one pays a wimp to leave them alone.   Each kill your cartel makes proves the point that you are a force to be reckoned with.  Each time you kill a player in an opposing cartel, post in the kills thread the player you killed and the ship(s) he was flying.  That economic costs of that ship(s) will be added to a running total for your cartel.  Each point is worth one Victory Point.

3)  Total Net Prestige: The primary job of a pirate is to raid merchant traffic and earn a profit.  Wealth brings power and notoriety, poverty brings on a mutinous crew and a quick exit out of an airlock.  Twenty percent of your net prestige will be added to your cartel's Victory Points at the end of each phase of the game.


BASIC RULES  (Note:  See advanced rules for possible exceptions)

The pirate code is more a set of "guidelines" than actual rules, but in this game there are some real rules you must.  Infractions will be disciplined as I see fit, as fairly as I can manage.   Penalties can include anything form PP fines to IP banning.  I don’t' want your PP (I can't use it for anything) and I don't want to ban your IP (we need more players).  So just play nice, eh?


There are only ten basic rules for Economic War.  Only the basic rules *have* to be followed.  More options are added in the advanced rules, which add things you can accomplish if you are willing to undertake the effort.


1) Be polite:  This is the most important rule on any server.  Games have more players and everyone has more fun when all players are polite.  There is nothing that needs to be said (ever) that cannot be said in a polite manner.  Rudely telling someone that you are going to report them to the admin is just as bad as any other comment.   

2)  Fleet Rules:   You may have up to two ships.    I don't care what they are.  If you can afford it, you can buy it.  (But see the exception in number 4, below). You may want to keep in mind that the loss of AI controlled ships costs your cartel as many points as a human controlled ship, and consider shop for your second ship in the bargain bin.

3) Heavy Battle Cruisers:   Each overlord keeps one BCH which he uses as an enforcer.  It can be used to make a point with a rival cartel, but it is also used to keep errant members of his own cartel in line.   (Remember, in this campaign you can shoot your wingman any time you've a mind to!)  That being said, a BCH is not required for commerce raiding and a cartel is not a navy, so no overlord is going to spend enough money to keep a fleet of these things around.   There may be only ONE BCH from each surviving cartel on the map at one time.  If you die in a BCH, you may not fly another one for the rest of that week-long judging period.  (The Tigerheart cartel does not have a BCH, but lots of their ships get to use PFs.)  Large monsters in the BeastRaider cartel count as BCH's.


4) Lines of Supply:   There are no lines of supply rules.   Pirate cartels do not use comprehensive systems of border listening posts and they do not maintain fleets of picket boats.  If you can get to a target, then you can attack it.  Watch your backfield; the enemy will be doing it to you.

5)  Disengagement:   It is well known that pirates fight for money; they do not stick around to die for king and country.  However, they only leave until the coast is clear and most prefer to hunt on familiar ground.  If you disengage from a fight, you must win another mission in another hex owned by a different empire (neutral counts) before you come back.

6) Multiple accounts:   You may play one cartel and one cartel only!   You'll get enough opportunities to try out other cartels when the field is cut from 8 to 4 in phase two, and from 4 to 2 in phase three.  That's half the galaxy's starships you can fly, all in one account, so there is no need to wander.

You may start a second account in your cartel for use when your primary account is ghosted, or for use buying a BCH.  However, as the starting prestige will be subtracted from each account when calculating victory points there is no need to do so if it is not needed.  DO NOT use multiple accounts to "hyperwarp" from one side of the map to another.

7) Wasting Time:   there are many valid strategies when it comes to PVP.   Many involve running from your opponent for a period of time.  However, if you've been running for a while, ask yourself if you truly intend to engage your opponent, or if you are just wasting his time.  If you don't plan to make this fight go your way, then leave.   (This really fits under rule 1)
 
8 ) No Alt-F4Don't press Alt-F4 to save your ship from destruction.  Not even against the AI. That's cheating.

9) Don't drop early   If you have been killed or have left the map, but the battle still continues, don't press Alt-F4 or Escape. Go talk to your family for a few minutes. (They probably misses you.) Go get a drink or something. (I recommend GlenMorangie 20 year-old scotch). Do NOT drop the mission before it is over! This can rob your opponent to crash and rob him of a well-deserved victory. Note that some battles do not end until over, even if only AI characters are left on the map! The mission is not "bugged", it simply isn't over yet!!

10) No forfeiting   If you are offered a mandatory mission or are drafted, you must accept.  You may not forfeit.  Nor may you log off and then back on to avoid mandatories.


ADVANCED RULES:


Master the Black Market
Each overlord may choose to corner a certain segment of the black market and control a trade route to feed it.  Choose two planets in differing empires.  I will draw the shortest path between these planets.   The econ of these hexs will be doubled during the next reporting period.  Naturally, you want to control these hexs, or else you'll be feeding the enemy.  You may decide to switch your trade route at any time to another pair of planets.   Simply notify me of your intent, and I will change it AFTER counting the economy for the next night.  (So if the enemy has taken over your route, they'll get paid for it at least once.)

The Wild West
Neutral space has less law enforcement than does Imperial space, and thus you can extend a tighter control over it.  Each night when I count up the hexs to add to your economic total, all neutral hexs you control AT MAX CARTEL DV will have 6 added to their econ.  I will adjust these Econ settings on the map during my nightly edits

Tortuga
Each overlord may choose one hex on the map that you control, in Imperial neutral space, for their secret pirate base, or "Tortuga".  Let me know, in secret, where you want it to be.  A major planet and a starbase will be added to this hex.  Don't tell anyone where it is.  The econ of the hex will not be increased on the map, but I will add the points for a major planet to your econ total each night so long as you control it.  If, during any recording period, you no longer control this hex, it will be erased. 

Raid!  Pirates love to loot and raid.    Sometimes you just want to get plunder, but then sometimes you want to burn a place to the ground.  If the overlord wishes, he may PM me the location of a hex that is in an enemy cartel's space and is at full DV.   He must then wait for a response from me.  After my response, his forces may begin attacking the planet.  Should they take it and still hold it during the next reporting period, I will reduce the econ of that planet to zero until after the next two reporting periods.  (Useful for reducing planets you don't think you can hold.)

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Piracy Points:  During the campaign, a Wanted List will be maintaned that will track the galaxy's blackest and most famous pirates.  Players can "improve" their rating on this list by earning Piracy Points.  Methods include:

Pirate Special Rules

Betrayal:  Sometimes a friend gets to be just a little too trusting, and we all know that pirates can't afford too many friends.  Many of the Patrol missions in Economic war allow you to target allied vessels.  Such actions are notorious, and add to the legend of bloodthirsty pirates.   If you destroy a human-controlled allied vessel in a mission, you will receive Piracy Points for a successful Betrayal.

Betrayin' is all a part of pirate'n.   If you don't know that, you've no right to hoist the Jolly Roger.

================================================================

Bounty:  Sometimes, a scalawag just needs to die, but you can't take time off from a busy day of rape and pillage to do the deed yourself.  Never fear!  There are always dozens of cuttrhoats in the post-war galaxy who will gladly do your dirty work for you.  For a price, of course.    Any player may offer up an amount of PP as a bounty on any other player.  The player who kills the target gets to bounty deducted from your account and placed into his.  In addition, if the assassin is from another faction, then you and he get even shares of Piracy Points for a successful assassination.  The target loses as many points from his Piracy Points total.   (Being dead and "getting caught" both serve to diminish one's legend.)     

  Every blackhearted master of pillage secretly longs to be the most famous pirate in space.   What good is a life of fortune if there is no fame to go with it?  Should you find that some scalawag is a bit more famous than you, a good Bounty is a way to bring him down a peg.

================================================================

Ranson:  If you have an opponent dead to rights and are maneuvering in for the kill  (or just have him so scared that he's convinced that you are) then you may offer him a chance to buy his life.  Demand ransom, as much as you like.  If he agrees to pay, then let him go and make a post in the "Blackmail and Betrayal" thread (coming soon).  I will (eventually) alter the accounts, deducting the agreed PP from his account and adding it to yours.   In addition, you will gain Piracy Points for this action.

  Nothing means more to a man than his life, except maybe his ship.  If he wants to keep what he has, make sure he pays for it.

================================================================

Great Haul  Killing and looting hulking cargo ships and rusty naval vessels is one thing, but when you kill a legend of the spaceways you get a large reward in prize booty and fame.  In any PvP mission the victor(s) get(s) Victory Points and Piracy Points equal to the economic value of the human controled ship(s) destroyed.  If more than one player survives on the winning side, the winning players divide the Victory and Piracy points equally.

Arrrrrr!   Don't forget, matey, it's only live players that get to divite the Great Haul.   If it looks like the payoff is going to be extra large, and maybe your best friend is a little wounded, nothing says you can't put a full broadside up his thrusters.   Not only to do you get to keep the full Great Haul for yourself, but you get a full payoff for a Betrayal as well.

======================================================

Treasure Map:  During the campaign, you will come across ships with special cargo items in their hulls.   Taking a screenshot of your ship with these special cargo items, and in a specified (later) manner, will grant you clues to uncovering one of (at least) three secret treasures.  These may be a secret weapon which will fitted onto your ship, or a hideously large pile of gold.  The first playerto track down the treasure(s) gets it.  The rest get to live in jealousy.

  Can you share your clues with other pirates?  Well of course you can!  In fact, I suggest you share them all with me.   It would be considered.... aaaarrrrrr... "fair play".   Of course, only one pirate can have each treasure, so make sure you trust <snicker> whomever you start sharin' information with.

-Herr Burt


I've got this thread locked.   Not because I don't care what you think, but so that I can keep this thread cleanly updated and easy for players to read.  If you'd like to leave any comments, please leave them here:

http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163366070.msg1122698746.html#msg1122698746

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Bump to add treasure maps to the special rules.

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Bump to add a lot more details to the top post.   Don't forget to give comments/feedback here:

http://www.dynaverse.net/forum/index.php/topic,163366070.0.html

-Herr Burt

[762_XC]

Stickied for Herring Butt.

[762_XC]

And um... unlocked. wtf?

Watch out for drunken admins.

[Herr Burt]

Thanks, 762!

(Don't panick; I locked it this time.    That let's me keep it updated as I release more details.  Thanks again!)

-Herr Burt

[762_XC]

Sure, I owed you for that Build Point back on SGO4.

[Herr Burt]

Maps added to the top post.

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Added Victory Conditions and Basic Rules to the second post in this thread.

Also gave a bit of a teaser for the advance rules.

-Herr Burt the Tease

[Herr Burt]

Bump to add the cartel backgrounds to the top post with the maps; where they should have been all along.

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Here is an ftp link for the EW installer.   It is in the format of a zip file.

To install Economic War, you will need to follow these instructions exactly.


Step zero:  Check to see that your Assets and your Assets/Spec and your Assets/Scripts folders are not read-only.  One person found that theirs was and this caused them trouble with the installer.  I'll see if I can't add an automatic check for this when I update the installer.

1) Download the zip file ftp://www.fourpower.com/pub/EWInstall2.zip  (Yes, this is the new one as of Monday)

2) unzip the contents of the package into X:/Program Files/Taldren Software Inc/Starfleet Command Orion Pirates
In Winzip, USE THE EXTRACT BUTTON!!!  DO *NOT* DRAG AND DROP!!  This should put a new folder into this base SFCOP folder called PirateMaker

3) Go into Pirate Maker and you will see two files:  ToEW.bat and FromEW.bat.  Make shortcuts of these and put the shortcuts onto your desktop.

4) When you are ready to play Economic War, double click on the ToEW.bat shortcut.

5) When you are ready to play something else, double click on the FromEW.bat shortcut.

That should be all there is to it!

There *will* be further downloads, as this game progresses and the various cartels get combined.   I'll try to make them as easy to use as possible.  No doubt you lot will find several errors in my server, and I'll have to put out a few patchs.   I'll make those as easy to install as possible as well.    

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Three people, at least, have had trouble using my installer.  I'm guessing it is because they/ve few have done something to render a couple of their folders to be read only (I should have thought to check for that), but the idea of an installer is to make installing easy, not make you check the status of your folders!

To help out those having difficulty, Bonk has made an alternate installer using NSIS.  (I'm an old-school stick-in-the-mud.  I could whip up a batch file faster then I could download and learn NSIS, so that's what I did.      )

You can get Bonk's installer here:
http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar.exe
(This installer will back up whatever files you currently have installed and restore them on uninstall)
http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar_Phase2.exe (update for phase 2)
http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar_Phase3.exe (update for phase 3 - phase 2 update not required)
http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar_Phase3_Gift1.exe (Gift 1 update for phase 3 - previous updates not required)
http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar_Phase3_Gift2.exe (Gift 2 update for phase 3 - previous updates not required)
http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar_Phase3_Gift3.exe (Gift 3 update for phase 3 - previous updates not required)

If you are having trouble with mine, give his a try.  It will likely work better for you.

Thanks Bonk!   

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

I never gave you guys a schedule for when things happen on Economic War, and several people have started asking.   (As well they should.)


Daily outages for map counting
The DB will be edited to reflect to ongoing game each night, starting at midnight.  The amount of time that it is down may vary slightly from night to night, depending upon how much work I have to do.  I pray my tools continue to work properly and it will never take more than half an hour.  I will also use this period to perform needed DB cleans using DarkElf's cleaner.

Weekly Extended Outages
The server will be down entirely every Monday.  This is to allow me extended time to reduce the number of cartels in half and to adjust all the player accounts to their new cartels.   (Their current ships and prestige accounts should make the change with them unalterred.)  And of course, to get the new installer up with the adjusted shiplist.  The server will go down at 8:30AM every Monday, and will come back up at 8:30 AM every Tuesday.  Since this will be an extended outage, it is only fair that I make it for 24 hours so that neither day nor night shift people are unequally affected.

When should I plan my last minute bum rush?
Several people have asked when exactly I plan to count the map VC's each night.  The answer is....... I'm not telling.  All I will say is that:
1) Obviously, it is before midnight each day, as that is when I take the server down to reflect the changes
2) You have my solem vow that it will be done at the exact same time each day so that each counting will fairly reflect all shifts.

Why am I being so mysterious about it?  Well, the object behind counting the map each day is to help smooth over the count of how the game is going, rather than having a huge rush right at the end of the week.  By not saying exactly when I'll make the count each day I hope to further this aim.   

Take your time, play without stress, have fun.   It will all get counted at some point or another.   There is no point angering the family or killing yourself to run an extra mission at certain time, since I may have already counted before then.

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

Don't forget!

Your Overlord has a special 3000 point fund for bounties.  This is not displayed in his PP total in the game, but should not be forgotten.

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

The latest patch to Econ War is found at:

ftp://www.fourpower.com/pub/Phase2B.zip

*After* you install Econ War, use this to replace the shiplist.txt in Assets/Specs and in MetaAssets.

-Herr Burt

[Herr Burt]

The current shiplist, as of Saturday night, 27 May:

ftp://www.fourpower.com/pub/GiftShiplist2.zip

Install this *after* installing Econ War.  It needs to go in:

Put this in

X:/Program Files/Taldren Software Inc/Starfleet Command Orion Pirates/Assets/Specs
X:/Program Files/Taldren Software Inc/Starfleet Command Orion Pirates/MetaAssets

-Herr Burt

[TopMoxie]

Ok I am lost, which files do I need for the current ecomic war server?  Could someone help?

[Bonk]

Ok I am lost, which files do I need for the current ecomic war server?  Could someone help?

1) http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar.exe
2) http://www.dynaverse.net/downloads/sfc2_op/Mods/EconomicWar_Phase3_Gift3.exe

...but the server is over in 4 hours. (Midnight EST tonight)