Mercs Say MOSCOW Must Be Signed For War
by Pixeleen Mistral on 02/05/07 at 8:16 am
Merczateers will not fight the Alliance Navy without a signed MOSCOW agreement
by Omega Groshomme, war correspondent
Merczateers Comdiv Ethan Schuman
On April 29th, 8pm SLT I had a chance to sit down with Ethan Schuman, an officer in the Merczateers to discuss their position with Alliance Navy (AN) and clear up the purpose of MOSCOW (Military Organization Standard for Conventional Operations and Warfare). During the interview, I learned that the Merczateers will not fight the Alliance Navy without a signed treaty and how the Merczateers claim the AN bullies smaller military groups in SL. The prospects for serious combat look dim at the moment as political wrangling has upstaged violent conflct between SL’s two largest military factions.
Ethan Schuman: My name is Comdiv Ethan Schuman, of the Merczateers. In American military rankings, I would be a Colonel. I head up our Research and Development team.
Omega Groshomme: Who are the Merczateers and what do they do?
Ethan Schuman: The Merczateers are one of the oldest military groups in SL. Throughout our existence, our theme and purpose has changed, but the two elements that have remained constant are an allusion to Soviet/Russian technology and infrastructure, and the desire to just kick back and have fun.
Omega Groshomme: Your group has been heard a lot lately responding to the Alliance Navy proposed STABLE. What are your thoughts?
Ethan Schuman: Well, that depends on what you mean. One of the misconceptions that a lot of people seem to be under is the assumption that the Merczateers are the driving force behind MOSCOW. That’s not the case. They are one party of many, even if they happen to be the biggest, and the organizer is a member. As for STABLE, the Merczateers don’t view STABLE as any serious attempt by the Alliance Navy to right what’s wrong with SL combat. Rather, we see it as an attempt on their part to try to avoid signing MOSCOW. However, the STABLE talks have all but collapsed, as the only parties on board with it are the Alliance Navy themselves and Sparta
Ethan Schuman: If you’ll note, Nayaioh Commodore, the former leader of Corsair, who was actually one of the AN’s biggest assets in setting up STABLE, has joined the Merczateers.
MOSCOW is not communist – MOSCOW is a republic
Omega Groshomme: We have heard much of MOSCOW being communist, isolationist and sometimes forceful. Could you set the record straight now of MOSCOW’s goals and intentions?
Ethan Schuman: The thought of MOSCOW being communist is utterly ridiculous. MOSCOW is a republic, in which factions control and own their own land and technology, and voice through representatives in a Senate their feelings and concerns on issues that affect the group. As for being isolationist, it’s true that we have a policy to not engage members of non-MOSCOW factions in military activities. This is to help cut down on drama and conflict caused by differing rules of engagement. I should note, however, that that measure is controversial, and may be dropped before the final signing of MOSCOW.
Ethan Schuman: The goal of MOSCOW is simple: It’s not to bring in politics, it’s not to cut anybody out, and it’s not to focus control and power. MOSCOW is a way for the little guys to stand beside the big guys and talk face to face.
the right to engage in combat is not guaranteed by the SL Terms of Service
Omega Groshomme: Given that MOSCOW, at least in its original form, involved limiting weapons and weapon advancement, and given that all signing members are required by the rules to ban non signatories, aren’t you afraid this will be seen as an exclusionary method to make combat into a sort of club, only for those the members like?
Ethan Schuman: The thought has occurred, but what many people seem to forget is that when fighting, you are engaging in an act of priviledge. Nowhere in the LL Terms of Service is the right to engage in combat guaranteed. Moreover, individuals are promised the ability to enjoy themselves however they wish within reason, so long as it does not disturb others. The methods and tactics used in SL Warfare -ARE- disturbing the experience of more than a few people, and given that situation, if a change is not made, it forces those who enjoy combat to play by rules they’d rather not.
Ethan Schuman: MOSCOW attempts to let member groups enjoy warfare the way they want to, without disturbing outsiders, and while providing a fair and easy method of entry to any faction interested in joining.
Omega Groshomme: And what if a MOSCOW army attacks another group that hasn’t signed, and is therefore banned? Is there a penalty?
Ethan Schuman: While not finished, MOSCOW groups are strongly discouraged from engaging non-MOSCOW factions. We’ve had a few incidents of this so far due to miscommunications and misunderstandings. However, should a MOSCOW faction intentionally and knowingly attack a non-MOSCOW faction, sanctions would be put into place on said group. However…
Ethan Schuman: A proposal has been brought forward to allow MOSCOW groups to engage other non-MOSCOW groups so long as they adhere to the other group’s Rules of Engagement in the fight. So a MOSCOW group could fight a STABLE group under STABLE RoEs, and then turn around and fight another MOSCOW group under MOSCOW RoEs.
Ethan Schuman: From what I’ve been told, however, the Alliance Navy is strongly opposed to this, so I don’t think such a scenario is likely to occur anytime soon unless something changes.
Until the treaty situation is resolved, there will not be combat between our factions
Omega Groshomme: What is the Merczateers current situation with the AN,and could we expect a face to face on the battlefield in the future?
Ethan Schuman: Many Merczateers and Alliance Navy members are friends when the bullets aren’t flying. Just last night, Avil Creeggan of the Alliance Navy and Anthony Lehane of the Merczateers engaged in an epic 4 hour chess match using toy figurines representing members of each military. The win went to Avil, but I strongly doubt that’s the last Mercz vs. AN chess game that will be played. As for the battlefield, I can’t really say. Until the treaty situation is resolved, there will not be combat between our factions. People on both sides are itching for battle, though, so only time will tell what happens.
Ethan Schuman: Honestly, there are only two reasons we fight
Ethan Schuman: One, because a select few members of one group strongly dislike a select few members of the other, and two, because of boredom
Omega Groshomme: You say you CAN engage in combat with other groups,but when AN or another group attacks your base-they are banned. Why?
Ethan Schuman: AN has expressed no interest in the MOSCOW rules of engagement. Because of this, we will not fight them (and haven’t attacked them since). When AN attacks, they are given time to leave, and if they fail to, they are banned. As for other groups, if the Feds or any other MOSCOW group attacked us, or if a non-MOSCOW group had sat down with our command staff prior to the attack and discussed rules of engagement, we’d give them the fight of their lives.
Omega Groshomme: How could you have a war with meaning when you sit down to discuss ROE before a fight, there’s no surprise.
Ethan Schuman: There’s PLENTY of surprise if it’s executed properly. The war doesn’t even have to be declared at that moment, just have the rules set out. Then, a few days or weeks later… BAM!
Alliance Navy bullies smaller millitaries
Omega Groshomme: When AN assisted SLSN against CN a while back, you were heard to have shown up and told CN they should ban the Alliance Navy. How can there be acceptance in MOSCOW if all who don’t wish to sign get banned?
Ethan Schuman: There’s a strong difference in what happened in that event and what would happen if another non-member group showed up. The Alliance Navy’s “assistance” was three times the full membership of CN, on a plot of land about the size of a parking lot, in addition to the SLSN troops. The Alliance Navy is well aware that CN is a MOSCOW group, and is not interested in combat with them, yet they showed up anyways. What would you do if a mob of people showed up at your shop with guns and ships because they’re friends with someone you’re in a controlled conflict with?
Ethan Schuman: The Alliance Navy didn’t go to CN’s base to assist. They went there to bully a smaller military, without provocation, and hide behind an alliance. Their actions were nothing more than glorified griefing.
Ethan Schuman: Behavior like that is what MOSCOW aims to stop, and the true reason the Alliance Navy does not wish to be a part of MOSCOW is because they would be forced to no longer engage in such despicable behavior.
Ethan Schuman: Which, also gets back to why the Merczateers (and every other military group but Sparta) will not join STABLE.
Omega Groshomme: Alliances must help one another when asked,the Feds were heard to be having fun…would you not assist an ally to the best of your abilities?
Ethan Schuman: There’s a difference. I wouldn’t assist my allies if I knew the group they were attacking would not welcome my presence, and I would ESPECIALLY not do so to the point of bullying that other group into submission.
Omega Groshomme: Members of the Feds were to have said and this is a quote…”aye, this is bs to me, i enjoyed the ans help, a good chalange” also another had said “even if i was getting my ass kicked i wouldnt ban unless they were using orbiters”. Most groups dislike the AN but will still fight to the better man,and if MOSCOW is about acceptance as well. WHy are the AN still left out even after yourself said “The AN are more than welcome to join MOSCOW”?
Ethan Schuman: The day the AN joins MOSCOW, if it ever happens, will be a good day. And it will be a day FILLED with war. The reason we won’t engage AN in combat until they sign MOSCOW is simple: Member groups are tired of how they behave in combat. If AN changes the way they choose to conduct themselves, then they will be welcomed back into open combat by the community. Until then, we’ll just sit and stare at each other, with small outbursts of violence, but nothing more.
With the Merczateers taking it upon themselves to set standards in the Military world of Second Life, we should all be wondering what the Merczateers wish from MOSCOW. Despite being a good idea, MOSCOW might be leading the SL Military scene in the wrong direction. We have sat and watched as both sides attempt to put rules behind our actions as military and make well for fair fighting, but everyone should realize this is SL, fight with what you have and don’t over do it. Keep it simple and fight the good fight – but as real life, our Second Life war has left the battlefield and gone into political hands tugging at the power chord.
Omega Groshomme reporting from Merczateer Research Center
Phantom
May 4th, 2007
I need more sleep it seems, as I was trying to say is that the AN armor used to use linden textures, textures everyone starts with
harlequin salome
May 4th, 2007
We try our best to keep the textures used to a minimum in size and variation, to help cache issues. there are those that go “lawl an uses freebie textures on armour”, but its the same textures you run into in a lot of different places, meaning our gear is as easy on your computer as we can possibly make it.
Believe it or not, we test all of our gear extensively, and make sure all our stuff is as lag-free as possible. alot of people think we’re laggy because when they show up, our sim lags in the fight, but when we do skirmishes with one another, just An, things run just peachy, thank you.
Prokofy Neva
May 4th, 2007
harlequin salome is a faggot
Proteus Hand
May 4th, 2007
“A pilot bobbing his aircraft up and down is hardly going to dodge the constant stream of unlimited ammunition on full-auto. All said shooter would need to do is track his view upwards. The whole point of the Talon (and the Razor/Katar before it) as a physical fighter is that it is capable of far greater speeds and manouverability than your average non-phys ship. Why bob up and down when you can zip behind/above someone and attack them from there.”
Yeah guess what, forty is a smaller number than infinity. That’s our largest clip, 40. Sometimes, they run out before you can kill a Talon, which uses afterburners instead of a simple jacked-up high speed physical script to give it the speed it actually has.
I’m not going to dispute the lag issues with the Talon, because the A-BATS most definitely has a larger arsenal than the Talon, and thus, creating more lag, however, I am not entirely certain that Duport is using the correct A-BATS, as the one in AN possession is simply prim-copied, as Mahfouz demonstrated, for it states a “hover” script on rez, rather than operating by a HUD.
Proteus Hand
May 4th, 2007
“Our rifles, at least our newer ones, are designed with high sim performance in mind (as is the case with the majority of our equipment). When faced with opponents who wear 7 AK-47s at once (poorly scripted ones, at that) we can have a smoother-running batallion than a squad of enemy troops. Seriously, this scenario pops up more than you\’d think.”
Also, our rifles run on the same scripts as yours do, and we’ve had trios of Merczateers shred through an entire batallion of invading AN marines, I HOPE you weren’t serious that night.
Also, please do research on your enemies before attempting to bash them, it may prove an effective strategy on a less educated foe, but as for someone who can actually identify the scripts placed in his weapon, (possibly not like yourself) I can once again point out the outdated bullshit that the AN likes to feed it’s troops, just to regurgitate into the masses, and see what the reaction is.
Proteus Hand
May 4th, 2007
“also on the note of cache, I know that the AN armor uses(at least up till they changed there armor around a little while ago) for the most part in there armor. so what textures do the mercz use in there armor?”
The standard grunt armor uses hardly any texturing at all, and definitely fewer prims. It’s made of about four main spheres, a zipper (cube w/ texturing) and shoulder pads, about 4 prims each on those, then there’s the 80 prim knife on the vest…..
phantom
May 4th, 2007
ok, didn’t really give me a real number, but I know the AN chest has less prims then 80, at least 60 prims, but I’m guessing around 70.
Proteus Hand
May 4th, 2007
Tee hee…..
Rob Arten
May 8th, 2007
\”\”Our rifles, at least our newer ones, are designed with high sim performance in mind (as is the case with the majority of our equipment). When faced with opponents who wear 7 AK-47s at once (poorly scripted ones, at that) we can have a smoother-running batallion than a squad of enemy troops. Seriously, this scenario pops up more than you\\\’d think.\”
Also, our rifles run on the same scripts as yours do, and we\’ve had trios of Merczateers shred through an entire batallion of invading AN marines, I HOPE you weren\’t serious that night.
Also, please do research on your enemies before attempting to bash them, it may prove an effective strategy on a less educated foe, but as for someone who can actually identify the scripts placed in his weapon, (possibly not like yourself) I can once again point out the outdated bullshit that the AN likes to feed it\’s troops, just to regurgitate into the masses, and see what the reaction is.\”
Mmm. So, you believe I was addressing you? Interesting, I never gave any hint of it. I was touting a generic example, considering that you are only a minor part of the hostilities we recieve. Yes, we have been attacked on multiple occasions by someone wearing an automatic rifle on Every. Single. Attachment. Point.
Attempting to bash someone without prior knowledge?
\”…but as for someone who can actually identify the scripts placed in his weapon, (possibly not like yourself) I can once again point out the outdated bullshit that the AN likes to feed it\’s troops, just to regurgitate into the masses, and see what the reaction is.\”
Now, this, unless I am sorely mistaken, is also a mere product of opinion and fantasy. Possibly not like myself? Well, I confess to pertain no scripting skill whatsoever, but I can attest to the names/origins of the scripts inside my given armament and attachments. I\’m not sure what scripts you believe are inside our weapons, but I can assure you that they differ from yours greatly. For example, take the MLPR. I see that there are precious few (if any) of your weapons that lack a full-auto fire option. Now, the MLPR is based on the script inside the now-less-commonly used GM4 Mk.2. The main difference in scripting comes from the lack of a fully-automatic option. Sure, a bit of script chopped out, but a section that requires modifications in other, minor points that many would miss. Believe me, you don\’t use these scripts. If you do so believe it, however, then you must be referring to the scripts inside the older, TAR-type weapons. Of course, these lacked any options aside from automatic damage. Although I have yet to see any other features in your guns (except, maybe, phantom bullets) I am sure that your rifles include them. Ergo, not the same scripts. Would you now like to elaborate on your point?
Oh, and our copy of the A-BATS was leaked, not prim-copied. It is not my place to point fingers but seriously, you need to keep better tabs on your guys.
Master Gunnery Sergeant Rob Arten
(E-7) Alliance Navy Marine Division
Senior Drill Instructor
Mikael Khalamov
May 8th, 2007
“I’d like to ask how many prims are in the standard mercz armor, and how many prims are in the AN’s standard armor set (marines armor)?”
I did a count of that. Marine armor has 526 prims. Mercz Grunt armor has 742 prims. Mercz Elite armor has 833. And as for there being laggy scripts in the Marine armor…. Wrong. We have one script in the armor, for the gravity pack, and 2-3 scripts in the wrist comp and shotgun.
Captain Mikael Khalamov
Alliance Navy Marine Division 1IC
Phantom
May 8th, 2007
nice, about 200 prim different, that would make a difference. so the less lagy armor goes to the AN,
Luca Vasilopita
May 11th, 2007
“Also, our rifles run on the same scripts as yours do, and we’ve had trios of Merczateers shred through an entire batallion of invading AN marines, I HOPE you weren’t serious that night.
Also, please do research on your enemies before attempting to bash them, it may prove an effective strategy on a less educated foe, but as for someone who can actually identify the scripts placed in his weapon, (possibly not like yourself) I can once again point out the outdated bullshit that the AN likes to feed it’s troops, just to regurgitate into the masses, and see what the reaction is.” – Proteus Hand
1.) I severely doubt that your scripts are the same as the AN small arms scripts, due to the fact that unless Mazer Ludd made your weapons, they’re different.
2.) I severely doubt that “trios” of Merczateers have taken out an entire battalion of AN Marines, because we don’t even have a full platoon of troops. The simple fact is that with training at such a demanding level, hardly any of the people who apply pass out. We don’t zerg rush to get things done, we just send people who have recorded evidence of clearing the entirity of Badnarik in under 10 minutes.
Really Proteus, I should stop expecting you to have intelligent responses, it appears that you are now nothing more than a whino who believes that his shit smells like roses and his mental capacity is bettered only by Nobel prize winners.