The Alliance Navy – Banished & Forgotten?
by Alphaville Herald on 03/12/07 at 8:56 am
Merczateer accuses AN of spawnkilling, sithacking in response to riot shield testing in Dorien
by Fox Mulgrave, Military Correspondent
I have seen many strange things in my time in the Second Life military community, personal vendettas, operations such as Crucifix and Crucifix II and of course the infamous Emit Time scandal, however, they all seemed to have sense in them, a purpose and reason. What you are about to read however, is quite the opposite.
Militant Collective Commander Raideur Ng refuses to bow down
Wednesday night and I was trawling through my friends list looking for someone who may have a story to tell, I found hope from a friend in the Ordo Imperialis (formerly the Venuma Coalition and The Alliance Navy II). It turns out that some kind of joint operation between the Merczateers, Militant Collective, and the Ordo has taken place; Tuesday night, all three militaries began the long process of banning all members from the Alliance Navy group, intending to cut them out of the loop completely. Some may see this as a surrender, others, like Raideur Ng (Head of Militant Collective) insists that the move was made due to AN’s ‘overactive’ use of homing kill-scripts.
Those who refused to bow down: Raideur Ng, Lurdan Huszar, Anthony Lehane, Aryte Vesperia.
Intent on finding the truth, I visited Dorien, and began to question the AN, who actually didn’t seem too bothered by the banning, in fact they seemed quite amused.
Dorien sim
Rob Arten (AN Fleet Division Commander) issued the following statement: ‘In the past 6 months we have not had a single major operation enacted against us by said military groups. We get plenty of action without them.’
Next, I journeyed to the Militant Collective base in the Sullen Plummet sim and was taken
To MC Commander Raideur Ng. who insists ‘The Collective, Ordo, Merczateers are tired of trying to bend to the AN‘, then continued saying, ‘have never willingly negotiated anything with other groups Unless it specifically benefited them. I don’t support the slander we’ve been getting from the AN. Personal slander’.
On leaving Sullen Plummet I sent an Instant Message to Merczateer Proteus Hand, who gave me a strange slant on the story:
Proteus Hand: What had happened, was, Kohlen had fashioned a riot shield, which used mechanics that obeyed the rules of engagement, and it was tested in Dorien.
Proteus Hand: What it did, was, once you stopped moving, it would rez an invisible barricade in front of you, protecting your front side from bullets.
Proteus Hand: not explosives, and not your backside.
Proteus Hand: However, the Alliance Navy, witnessing us doing this on their land, thought it to be a breach of STABLE, because they thought it to be an actual full person shield that protected at all times.
Proteus Hand: When in truth, it was just a variant of their barricade rezzer.
Proteus Hand: They declared us no longer under the “protection” of STABLE, and
said that they would resort to any tactics – Spawnkilling, sithacking, etc. when fighting us.
Proteus Hand: Lurdan, Aryte, and Raideur discussed the situation, and came to the conclusion to just not deal with them anymore.
Proteus Hand: The Alliance Navy consider this some sort of “chickening out” from what I understand, and I empathize, I’ve been on their side of the field.
Fox Mulgrave: Interesting, so in fact it was the AN who did this, not you just randomly doing it to them
Proteus Hand: had they done it to me, I would have considered it an informal surrender.
Proteus Hand: yes, it was definitely reactional.
After speaking with Proteus I returned to Dorien, but was ushered quietly away. So is the AN, capable of griefing and breaking their own rules? It would seem so, almost certainly.
Jason Backer
Dec 3rd, 2007
Poor article with little balance. We do not grief, we do not spawn camp and to be honest I think that is considering I have never stepped 10 feet into Titan (The Ordo Sim) because I have been shot instantly. And also I have been shot coming out of the Mercz spawn many times, (Though admittedly far less than in Titan).
And as for being cut out in isolation thats laughable as well, we are not suffering and nor will it ever happen.
Who is really in isolation? The AN? Or The Mercz, Ordo and MC? After all all we have to do is turn up if they attack our allies and they have to pull out. Who are the people in the most control there eh?
tron
Dec 3rd, 2007
what a load of crap, i dont think anybody wants to hear about pretend armies and what they pretend to do to each other.
Luca Vasilopita (Alliance Navy Officer)
Dec 3rd, 2007
It must be made aware to the writer of this article that the Merczateers Tactical Forces have attempted to ignore the Alliance Navy before, several times.
Simply sticking heads in the sand and singing to block out other people rarely works to kill them off. Unlike children, teenagers, and some severely mentally infirm adults, The Alliance Navy does not require problematic and negative attention from groups that do more talking than fighting.
If I teleport to Titan, I am spawnkilled rather than given a chance to enjoy the whole idea of Second Life combat, which is combat itself.
I can’t even go to Badnarik because I’m banned, meaning again… no combat.
However, If I go to a smaller but still quite capable military base, I can have a laugh, kill, be killed, etc.
I think what the groups who have formed this wall of ignorance are missing is the fact that lots more groups than them hate the Alliance Navy because of size and professional operation. Of course this isn’t the primary reasoning behind most people who merely say “I HATE YOU CUZ YOU SUCKS LOL”, but let’s give them the benefit of the doubt and apply reason to their hate.
Other groups still do not hate the Alliance Navy at all, and are just in the SL combat scene for fun. Groups like 2142 Army seem to just want to fight and have some fun.
Really, if all you’re focussing on is the military operations side of the Alliance Navy, then you’re just saying that we don’t have to put up with alot of idiots coming to the home sim so much. This is more of a benefit than a hinderence.
To sum up;
-Three whino groups block out AN.
-AN goes “Who cares? Now we can do more real work and play”.
-Other groups claim great success because the AN doesn’t care.
-AN then gets into the Herald yet again.
-There’s no such thing as bad news in the media circle jerk.
Fox Mulgrave
Dec 3rd, 2007
Jason, as an ex member of both the Alliance and the Merczateers I respect both points of view, and I note:
This was not written to slander either group.
However, seeing as Aryte was unable to comment and the AN mentioned nothing of the shield incident, my forced conclusion was they covered it deliberatley up.
Fox Mulgrave
Dec 3rd, 2007
Tron- if you don’t want to know, why the hell did you read it?
surley someone who reads an article they don’t like to hear about is far more side than a virtual war…
Nanao Mahfouz
Dec 3rd, 2007
A few misguided fallacies appear with frequency in this article. First being the myth that the Alliance Navy’s frustrations against the deplorable actions of the Merczateers stem entirely from one event, as though a simple riot shield were to blame. As someone who’s dedicated more than two years to this group and SL combat in general, formerly as a general within the Merczateers, I can tell you with assurance that shields by themselves pose no challenge to any organized group. They’re merely a momentary hinderance while a properly equipped teammate switches to a different weapon. The Merczateers riot shield is no exception, and the assumption so speaks of their typical exaggerated hype. Perhaps the interviewer could have done well to ask about repeated allegations of property theft, internally funded griefing and land seizure, repeated violations of their own regulations through authorized telehub camping and long distance personal teleporters, and distribution of personal movement enhancers, recently rendered illegal under the posted rules in their sim covenant, after numerous AN members were banned for employing the very same scripted movement system they do. Rather, each of these repeated infractions are merely glossed over, while the Merczateers point fingers and shift the blame to an overhyped riot shield. Big woo…
…which brings me to my next point. Second major fallacy is also something that is singularly of such little importance that the need for the Militant Collective to completely overblow it speaks of their relative inexperience as a combat group and a failure to adapt to a changing environment where their fighting style can’t really cope. I’m referring to the “AN’s ‘overactive’ use of homing kill-scripts.”
Alliance Navy combat aircraft typically resort to guided air-to-air missiles to quickly put down enemy fighters in response to the most common tactic we face; enemy pilots using afterburners to dart around a sim and evade incoming fire, while making no real attempt to engage for the sole purpose of busying our aircraft in the air so they can’t support the troops on the ground. Admittedly, it’s a sound idea, one which we deemed prudent to develop a counter for. The missiles we use are simply newer-generation copies of the same ones you’ll find in the hands of the Merczateers or the Militant Collective. The Ordo Imperialis (or Titan Industries, also formerly the NOI) have developed and sold guided missile systems both for military use and commercial sale since last year; it should be no small surprise that all three major groups so vehemently opposed to guided weapons have each invested time and scripting into developing them, and have been witnessed using them when they saw fit. We do the same.
This brings me to the third fallacy projected within this article. The Alliance Navy uses guided missiles, and often, against targets which permit their use. It goes without saying then that if a group attacks us exclusively with aircraft, as the Militant Collective has done so before, we will use them. It only makes sense to employ a weapon when it will serve its most efficient purpose; in the case of our weaponry, we’ve ensured they remain compliant to STABLE by only permitting them to track specific targets, such as aircraft or manned vehicles. A coordinated combined arms group attacking Dorien would quickly realize that missiles alone can’t stop a dedicated assault on the ground an in the air, a style of attack which our enemies are unfortunately too far out of practice to execute.
Fourth fallacy: The AN “have never willingly negotiated anything with other groups Unless it specifically benefited them.” I submit to you what remains the only completed attempt at forming a defined set of guidelines to determine what systems are fair, and what systems are not, written by several groups for the benefit of as many as possible. Indeed, the Alliance Navy during the drafting of the STABLE agreement stood with the most to lose, and lost we did. We walked out of that meeting with our wrist shotguns, grenades, squad support weapons, and many other key pieces of equipment limited to conform to what other groups determined as fair. Our strategic fleet strike capability, previously capable of, and allowed to, flatten most of a sim in one shot, was stripped entirely. Months of scripting spent on developing autonomous bombardment systems capable of blanketing entire regions was discarded, and we did so willingly because it was an agreement made by several parties, agreed to and upheld in good faith. We’ve yet to see any such dealings come from the Mercz, Militant Collective, or the Ordo. Many times as a representative of the AN I personally have been blatantly misled or lied to, to the point where it has become common practice to reject any offers from their groups out of hand simply because they’ve never followed through with any promises they ever made.
I think it speaks to the quality of reporting in this article that special mention is made of an incident where land that was already paid for was turned over and sold out from under a group to establish a furry nazi death camp in a private residential sim run by widely known griefers and funded by the likes of big name and supposedly upstanding SL business personalities like IntLibber Brautigan as having any sense, purpose, or reason.
Inuyasha Deere
Dec 3rd, 2007
Good article, Grand Marshal Mulgrave.
Mikael Khalamov
Dec 3rd, 2007
Frankly the whole isolation thing isn’t working anyway. Members of all three of those groups still communicate frequently with our own members, regardless of the fact that at least the Merczateers and Ordo Imperialis have ordered their personnel to not speak with any Alliance Navy members, on or off duty (breach of your personal liberty anyone?), and the fact that those same groups have ordered their personnel to ignore any AN who might attempt to communicate with them.
Besides that, since the Axis of Emo (credit for that name goes to SqueezeOne Pow, as far as I know) decided to try to “isolate” us, we’re even more active than when they were in our sim lagging up the place. And we still get our fun, and all the fair and fun combat we could want from groups like 2142 Armed Forces who do only want a fair fight, along with wargames with our allies.
Quote: “However, seeing as Aryte was unable to comment and the AN mentioned nothing of the shield incident, my forced conclusion was they covered it deliberatley up.”
How is it that you view us simply not mentioning something as a “cover-up”? That’s about as logical as Flat Earth theorists claiming that simply because geologists, physicists etc. give their little delusion no lip service it’s a massive cover-up/conspiracy. Please, at least ask about what our opinions are about it, not just assuming “Oh, they didn’t mention it, it MUST be a deliberate coverup!”
Mikael Khalamov, AN Marine 1IC
Tatha Niangao
Dec 3rd, 2007
Hm,these responses are somewhat how i expected them, The AN finally get some bad publicity, the first time ever, an ounce of truth has been ushered by this newsblog.
And instantly the author of the article is a moron?
I bite my thumb at thee… actually, i don’t, i don’t really care.
*points and laughs in the eternal style of Nelson Munts* HA Haa!
Kudos to you good sir, for cutting AN from their high horse for a brief moment.
Fox Mulgrave
Dec 3rd, 2007
Nanao, wether you disagree with it or not, I am just reporting what I was told, I am not saying I nessecarily agree with Raideur, Proteus, or anyone I heard from in the article’s making, it is merely what I heard.
SqueezeOne Pow
Dec 3rd, 2007
“…my forced conclusion was they covered it deliberatley up.”
…or never heard about it which was my conclusion after talking to many people involved in this situation.
The fact of the matter is this; The Mercz are renowned for their desire to change the rules as they see fit as the Black Watch discovered yesterday. The Militant Collective pretty much IS Raideur at this point. The Ordo are griefers with matching outfits and not recognized by Black Watch or allowed into our base due to the point-to-point teleporting/teledashing HUD they employ. You can pick up a copy of the manual at Castle Munro!
The MC aircraft (not plural these days haha) is much faster than those missiles and the missiles we used so if you get hit by one then you need to become a better pilot. This ban of the seeker missiles was Raideur’s idea because he got hit by one while attacking Dorien one day ;_;. I was there for the meeting between the groups and was frankly dissappointed in the AN for even conceding that point to begin with…but they wanted things to smooth over so everyone could get back to combat.
The very next day different Mercz (could have been the same guy…I dunno) used a seeker missile on the AN and threatened via IM to use one on me personally when we were attacking Badnarik…so the ban went to the wayside. The whole thing could have possibly been prevented if the AN had communicated with the Mercz as to why they were dropping the ban or if the Mercz had inquired as to why the ban was no longer being respected.
When it comes down to it this is just some retarded, juvenile, emo politics that are getting in the way of people’s gameplay. The whole situation could have been avoided if the leaders with hurt feelings had swollowed their pride and communicated without pretense instead of all this goofy net nerd posturing. Worst. Political move. Ever!
All that’s happening is they’re making themselves irrelevant while the groups out there that want to actually have a challenge and some fun are making good use of the free space and lack of lag.
Thanks for clearing the field, guys!
-SqueezeOne Pow
Field Marshal
39th M.H.T.F. “Black Watch”
Fox Mulgrave
Dec 3rd, 2007
Mikael Mikael Mikael….
Why do I believe it is a cover up? Because, no offence, I may be neutral with you guys, but you have in the past done exactly that; an AN recruit cages someone, you get a snaphot and send it to Harlequin: ‘No, no, it’s obviously fake, just someone in an AN picke suit with a cager’. And also, I am paranoid as hell.. and a conspiracist.. hence my name.. ‘Fox’(You’ll only get it if you’ve seen the X Files).
Congratulations to anyone who actually watched the X-Files here other than me…
Good TV is in steep decline these days
Nanao Mahfouz
Dec 3rd, 2007
Selective reading prevails as always, Tatha, of course I wouldn’t have expected any different. No, this stems from once again a failure to come up with a well-written and engaging story; from what I can gather, two out of the four parties in this weren’t even interviewed, to include the Ordo. I suppose then the words of your precious Imperator aren’t necessary, as long as it’s anti-AN, right?
You’re fishing for every excuse you can not to fight a group you can’t beat because you know what that will do to your credibility and your image. Perhaps its this much flaunted illusion of an unbeatable group you’re trying to convey that is the reason why you can’t afford anyone coming to your sim, hence the order to shoot any hostiles at the telehub as soon as they enter. You’re trying to win a fight you could never really stomach.
That is, at it’s core, the reason for isolation, unfortunately the gambit backfired, and the only party left rejecting the AN is you. This isn’t the first time some group tried enacting measures to cut off all ties with us, and it isn’t the first time it has failed. You preach under the false pretenses that somehow we need you, we depend on you to thrive. We didn’t need you when you didn’t exist two years ago, and we don’t need you now. Rather, your existence depends on us because without us to take the, as you call it, bad publicity, you would have never shared the spotlight and you would have long since been forgotten.
While you hole yourselves up in your secluded cloisters and “stick it to the man”, the rest of SL combat will enjoy being able to press on without you. Maybe I’m too hasty in my judgement; maybe you -are- doing everyone a service by consigning yourselves to never sully anyone else’s gameplay with your sim-crashing equipment ever again.
Blade Syakumi
Dec 3rd, 2007
As a long standing member of the Merczateers, and an ex-Alliance recruit, I can see both points of view. (Yes, gasp, an unbiased Merczateer.)
The Merczateers, Ordo and the Militant Collective and are fed up of being messed around, the AN are fed up of everyone else.
Second Life “combat” is fun based, the Merczateers see the AN taking the fun out of it, the AN feel angered at being accused (I suppose…)
Basically I feel the decision was right, for now. Maybe one day, habits will fall back into place and the constant bickering will resume, hopefully by the time I return from active service in Afghanistan!
‘Til then! Au revoir!
-Blade Syakumi, Leytenánt (Lieutenant, O-1) and Head Drill Instructor.
Harlequin
Dec 3rd, 2007
…. this is hilarious.
Seriously. We actually have a set of ROEs about dealing with non-STABLE groups, which involves using higher firepower. Not spawnkilling or sithacking.
The article here says “Merczateer accuses AN of spawnkilling, sithacking in response to riot shield testing in Dorien”
Whereas Proteus stated “Proteus Hand: They declared us no longer under the “protection” of STABLE, and said that they would resort to any tactics – Spawnkilling, sithacking, etc. when fighting us.”
This isn’t in fact something that we said, nor anything we’ve actually done. Meaning Fox has taken things out of context. I can only assume the Herald’s managment were asleep at the time, because otherwise this would basically mean they’re not proofreading and allowing their reporters to slander in pursuit of a personal vendetta.
In addition, this is not even what was said. What was said is divisions could go weapons free on Mercz, meaning using heavier grade weapons and a few select personal weapons that utilized explosives in order to counter the shield.
But god forbid anyone should do some fact checking. In addition, allow me to post a few tidbits gathered over the past week or so, on the actions of the Mercz/Ordo pairing. Who have seen fit to slander us over a weapon we issued to around 6 people.
A conversation between Ivellios, an IEN member, and Tangent, a Mercz General.
[8:20] Ivellios Wiefel: We don’t hub camp and chainsaw people in the hub the moment they TP in.
[8:21] Tangent Eponym: Heh, it was a necessary precaution. Whether you like to admit it or not, some of your men aren’t the sharpest knives in the drawer.
Hubcamping a necessary precaution for the mercz. Huh.
[12:37] Vladimus Nikolaidis: The second I TP’d into Titan
[12:37] Vladimus Nikolaidis: I got repeat-orbitted
[12:37] Vladimus Nikolaidis: But the ship is above my spawn point
[12:37] Vladimus Nikolaidis: So I’d fly up, slam into the ship, die, repeat.
[12:37] Vladimus Nikolaidis: Bout 10 times in a row.
Again, this time in Titan. Note that this was from an at the time Ordo, who got accidentally camped.
This is just a couple of direct statements. Not counting things such as William2, a Mercz, using an offset animation. Or the Mercz also sit-hacking into the IEN base in the same fight they spawncamped them because the IEN base was “too geared towards defenders.”
I’m sorry, but you people need to learn to stop using these silly newspapers to try and wage a silly war. You want to ignore us? Fine. Frankly I’m happy without the Novus Collective Merczitalis. And yet, for all the bluster, you all keep showing up in our hub, badmouthing us, etc.
Seriously. You want to go away? Fantastic. Go the -hell- away, and stop jabbering, for christ’s sake.
Jehutus Dawews, 1LT. 39th M.H.T.F
Dec 3rd, 2007
I’ll start of by saying as a son of two journalists, the journalism in this article is rather poor considering the lack of varying sources and general bias; a better correspondent could be chosen in the future for such stories.
The ultimate issue in the military community is Standards. The Alliance Navy, Black Watch, and most of their allies all abide by a strict rule-set known as STABLE that promotes fair play and prevents most, if not all, unfair equipment and practices. The Merczateers, Militant Collective, and Novus Ordo Imperialis follow no rules, choosing rather to make their own wildly varying and at sometimes ineffective standards, often which are changed during battle or following battles, on the fly, and unrecorded, which leads one to the conclusion that they merely make rules on a whim.
The Mercs, Collective, and Ordo all choose not to follow the widely accepted STABLE out of their own reasons, but the ending result is that these three armies attempt to defeat their enemies by using weapons their enemies cannot, and when that failed, now they just ban people. The lowest level they’ve sunk to yet.
Stefan Marquez
Dec 3rd, 2007
“Parties bound by this document are prohibited from using devices which interfere with fire incoming towards the avatar without equally interfering with outgoing fire.” – STABLE; Section ‘Shielding, Orbiting, and General Stupidity’; Paragraph one.
Before attacking a group going by differentiating rules, it is generally a good measure to check up on their rules. And before commenting on how your technology -doesn’t- breach that enemy group’s rules (to a reporter, especially), it’s generally a good measure to understand the document. I hate to rally up on the Alliance Navy’s side, but the riot shield is clearly a breach of STABLE and they had all the right to take the measures necessary — revoking the Merczateers’ protection under the document. The clause from STABLE in which devices like the Riot Shield are prohibited is quoted above, and even better, it’s one of the more simply written sentences in STABLE. I’m not just talking out of my ass here, either, I’ve got a source who’s told me a Merczateer was firing directly out from behind it.
Stefan Marquez
Proteus Hand
Dec 3rd, 2007
Admiral Mahfouz, you do realize that is has been not only proven, but reported by Luca over ventrilo that, and I quote “We learned that Arna didn’t actually steal that knife”, don’t you?
I honestly hope you weren’t going to try to bring that up again.
As far as “deplorable actions of the Merczateers”, and your frustrations as to such, I pray that you direct them towards Ethan Schuman ; he organized the Emit Time scandal (yes, Huszar participated but he has also attempted to clear his name in recent events.), participated in the “stalking” scandal involving the pictures of Admiral Salome found on a photobucket site, and the hottest topic of the Alliance Navy’s debate so far : ordered Merczateers to camp the telehub.
Now, Schuman’s retired, he is an excellent public speaker, and businessperson, but not cut for military, and he’s told us all, that he’s done with it. We apologize for these egregious actions performed not be just he, but members with a loose idea of obedience to the group, and the vast quantities of those that have been harbored in the group’s history.
However, it is a well known fact, that before the release of STABLE (originally a counter to the Merczateers’ MOSCOW treaty), every group aside from the Merczateers participated under an extremely vague and easily maneuvered RoE standard called “SLSALT”, which was more or less, taken advantage of by Alliance Navy technology, and had no rule against Hub Camping, which the Alliance Navy did in fact participate in most enthusiastically when defending their bridge in Tethys.
The Merczateers were never a part of SLSALT, nor were they a part of STABLE (although we did discuss it briefly.), however, we were continuously treated as if we were, and whenever any of these rules, which some we never were required to follow was broken, the lowest pit of Hell, and the Highest cloud in Heaven had word of it.
Unlike most groups, I’d say that the Merczateers are the only ones that willingly make things difficult for themselves. We have the means to arm a single soldier to the point of being able to clear an entire sim in a matter of minutes, but we choose not to, because we want to achieve a balance between friend and foe. We enjoy training, teamwork, and the sense of achievement that follows defeating an enemy equipped superiorly to ourselves, making things far less boring, and making combat more enjoyable by removing the “cheap” factor out of it.
In fact, the cheapest thing in our armory is an aircraft that works off of the same engine as the Alliance Navy talon, just with a slightly higher fire rate, no missiles, or bombs whatsoever.
We never needed any “treaty” we simply worked off of our own set of golden rules. Because we think they should enjoy it as much as we do.
Proteus Hand
Dec 3rd, 2007
Stefan, it doesn’t take much to jump out behind a shield and fire at someone, offset firing is different, but I’ve got a feeling that with such a small area of protection, it would be more beneficial for the shooter in question to be moving out from behind the cover before him, rather than squeezing as close as he possibly could to his little buddy.
If you haven’t noticed lately, or were just completely leaving this detail out – The Alliance Navy provides its Marine division with barricade rezzers, which we have never complained about, which come in the flavors of a 90 degree protection from gunfire from a simple small barricade, or rez an entire bunker which gives roughly 360 degrees of protection, minus the small slit to fire from, and the back door.
We haven’t TRIED to act biased yet, but if you really want to provoke that, I’m sure the Second Life Herald could put off military articles for another six months, knowing the obvious consequences of those lilliputian enough to criticize with “OMG THIS IS BULLSHIT WE NOT GREEF U DO, U DO, SEE SEE! THEY HUBCAMPED US ONCE, AND THEY NOT OBEY STABLE!!!11″
Just Me
Dec 3rd, 2007
If you want to experience combat, why not join the RL military forces of your country?
Who cares about pretend soldiers and pretend weapons arguing about rules concerning pretend weapons and pretend wars?
Inuyasha Deere
Dec 3rd, 2007
I’ll make my opinion clear in a couple sentences. The Mercz and AN are both incorrect, but I can clearly state that the Mercz’s rationality bests the AN’s.
Inuyasha Deere
Dec 3rd, 2007
Eh, crap. The way I said that could have made it sound as if the AN had more rationality, though I believe to the contrary.
Bruno Ziskey
Dec 3rd, 2007
I’ve said it once, and I’ll say it again-Mercz, Ordo and MC are all just hiding from the AN since they know they can’t win. I’ve lost count of the number of times that I’ve seen mercz magically seem to appear in the very bottom floor of our sim’s bunker area, and then when we end up killing and/or banning them they whine sand scream “its legal!!!!!” Not by STABLE regulations, which permit only a 5 meter MAX prim sit and its scripted equivalent.
Another show is the already mentioned Ordo use of long distance HUD teleporters. As those following STABLE are not allowed to use them, I see only cowards who know they cannot “win” besides cheating as using these petty tools. Seriously…your avatar has LEGS…use them.
I find raideurs whinings about seeker missiles as laughable as he is allied with groups that are true griefers. Seriously, stop complaining about limited seeker missiles which are quite close to RL weaponry (gasp! RL militaries cheat!) when your own allies are not exactly the pinnacle of true and honorable fair fighting.
It is even funnier when I get IMs from Mercz or Ordo who keep trying to “terrorize” me and make me side with them, to fear Ordo and Mercz. I have cried with laughter at these efforts, as I have nothing to fear from greifers so long as my group fights fair. I don’t need to lower myself to their level, and the AN and its allies do not lower themselves either.
To anyone reading this article who still doesnt have a clue whats going on here and may be interested in joining a military in SL, don’t think the AN is evil and cheating. Spend a day at their base, and you’ll find that they are on of the most fair fighting of the groups on the Grid.
Take for instance the wargame my group, Sparta (no we’re not based on the 300 movie, we were around long before that ever came out) had with our allies the AN at our sim, Gliding. AN came, attacked and we all had fun, despite some accidental blackscreening on the part of the AN, who backed off IMMEDIATELY once they were told of what they were doing to our Air Force Hangar. Just because they are bigger and better then everyone else does not make them evil. Dont just listen to everyone around you and believe them, thats called ignorance. Instead do what I and others have done and go meet the source, the AN and spend some time with them. You’ll find that they and their allies like MTHF and Sparta are quite friendly and fair. They also do not spawn camp like Ordo or magically appear inside the base from half a sim away like Mercz.
Bruno Ziskey
King of Sparta
Mikael Khalamov
Dec 3rd, 2007
“If you haven’t noticed lately, or were just completely leaving this detail out – The Alliance Navy provides its Marine division with barricade rezzers, which we have never complained about, which come in the flavors of a 90 degree protection from gunfire from a simple small barricade, or rez an entire bunker which gives roughly 360 degrees of protection, minus the small slit to fire from, and the back door.”
I knew someone from the Mercz was gonna say this, so, I already have a response:
Yeah, but they don’t block incoming fire, if the shooters can aim. The upper half of a person is completely uncovered behind an AN barricade.
If you people can actually aim and hit your targets, you should have no problem whatsoever in taking out people behind our barricades. Come now Proteus, you should know this, you have an MBU-01.
And these are no comparison at all to your riot shield doohickeys. The shield thing they rez is a full 180 degree semisphere, offering protection from all but targets behind. And about the 10-hit deletion thing? Bullshit. I hit one Anthony had rezzed with two full clips (90 bullets total) to no effect.
LOL FAIL
Dec 3rd, 2007
What a bunch of losers. If you must play army, go play some airsoft IRL. God forbid you have to leave your basement.
Proteus Hand
Dec 3rd, 2007
Bruno, it’s called getting someone in, and sending out teleports.
Commonly used breaching method, and all it takes is one person, not to get shot, with breach technology (5m, if it’s that hard to believe) anywhere in your base.
GreenLantern Excelsior
Dec 3rd, 2007
“Who cares about pretend soldiers and pretend weapons arguing about rules concerning pretend weapons and pretend wars?”
We should all care, because these groups provide a valuable service to the rest of Second Life. They provide a place where people can go to pick up weapons and shoot other residents. If not for these groups, we would have youngsters running around in every sim shooting everyone. Kudos to you guys for the organized, intricate, and fascinating combat simulations. Next time I see someone shooting in the sandboxes, I’m going to send him your way.
01100001110100101111010000
Dec 3rd, 2007
6:10pm PST 12/03/07
Dorien was crashed due to Operation Fox
Stefan Marquez
Dec 3rd, 2007
Yes, Proteus, you’re right. I realize the Alliance Navy provides its Marines with such equipment, and I was preparing for the rebut. I don’t mean to act slanted towards the Alliance Navy’s side, but the Alliance Navy barricades have an opening that allow for fire at the entire upper-half of their body. I don’t know what kind of barricade your riot shield rezzes, but the Marines’ barricades have a see able area in which you can shoot inside. Besides, this isn’t a time to point fingers at anyone. I’m simply pointing out the facts, and the facts are that the riot shield broke STABLE regulations. I’m not necessarily purposely starting things with the comrades I once stood next to in the heat of combat, but some things are just necessary to be corrected.
Maks Vendetta
Dec 3rd, 2007
Alright, get your facts straight.
AN does not spawn camp, unless you break hub rules or are collateral when a Talon sweeps those who infract the basic rules. In fact, they give you 5 minutes to rez.
Ordo is known for their spawn camping, and designing of sims that give you little more than a >4000m to attack. Ordo has a knack to spawn camp people in other sims not belonging to them too.
Mercz, the whole dock thing was gay, that was like near-Ordo caliber of hub camping.
All your fuckin’ egos and whining has got to stop. Seriously, I am with AN on this one. So what if they using tracking rockets and SAMs, it’s kinda’ military..
As for the losers who complain about SL militaries, please, share what your activities are. kthx.
Raideur Ng
Dec 3rd, 2007
The AN and the Ordo/Mercz/Collective have different ideas of how war should be fought. They have never been and may never will be able to mesh effectively.
Therefore, we do not wish to continue hostilities which may involve drama, accusations, and a lack of enjoyment for both sides. Nowhere is it written in stone how any group has to act. Groups may do what they please and if they wish to seek out ways to make warfare more fun, you cannot scorn them.
We have the right to refuse to fight them. We have the right to communicate with our enemies and remember in the end we’re here to enjoy the fight, not to win at any cost. We, in the end, are free to do whatever we want.
For those of you who afterwards post things to demonize each other, remember this is a game and frankly I want to have fun. If I feel the AN arent in that picture, who are you to criticize my opinion? Yours is not more meaningful. Its the same.
Purple
Dec 4th, 2007
You know, even if we pulled every single weapon, and only used a /popgun/, this is what would happen:
“Omg, your popgun fires twice as fast as mine does!!!”
“No it does, you just made yours laggy!”
It is time every group get a hold of themselves a realize:
“Can a group be better…without using special toys?”
The Answer, is yes, they can.
As well, please start going out of the combat ring. Go roleplay, go hang out in parties. I have seen all too many people just get consumed so heavily into the AN, Ordo, Mercz, every single group has one.
Go out, have some fun, because from what some of these comments say
You are not having any fun.
Now is a game supposed to not be fun?
Rob Arten
Dec 4th, 2007
Hey look, I got quoted!
But seriously. The length of time that Mr Mulgrave spent interviewing me and my colleagues was not great… to put it bluntly. There was a lot more said in that select period of time, none of which I see has been mentioned. Oh well.
Also, as for the \”I returned to Dorien, but was ushered quietly away\”, there was nothing of the sort. I returned after attending to a phone call to find Mr Mulgrave leaving after his second visit. I said Hello, but no attempt was made to glean further information. I cannot account for the actions of my colleagues in that time, but I would have been happy to give further comment if asked.
And besides, the \’Riot Shield\’ Incident? I was not even aware that it had happened at the time of this interview, being British and therefore out of the main Time Zone of operation (I\’m guessing this Mercz attack came at around 5-6pm PST, as is usual. By this time it would have been… 2am where I happen to reside). If it truly was a cover-up, it would have to have been a bloody good one.
Izaea Qinan
Dec 4th, 2007
… Mister Mulgrave, your attempt at Journalism just chipped off a little piece of my sould.
Moving on.
In response to the interview with Proteus – that is, to put it bluntly, a skewed understanding of the situation. I’ll try not to repeat what my brothers at arms have said, but there are a few things that need to be added.
Our issue with the riot shield was not that it offered 360 degree protection, but rather, that it offered its protection while allowing the person inside to fire out, impervious to incoming fire – a tactic that was quickly seized upon by your men and witnessed by our marines… pretty sure Mikael even took one in the head from a shielded target. This combined use of rez offset and prim shielding makes this not so much the equivalent to our barricades [a rezzed, immoveable barrier coming chest-high] and more so the spiritual successor of running up to a wall and firing through it, a tactic deemed deplorable in the modern world of SL warfare – and a tactic that the merczateers have both used and accused the Alliance Navy of using.
While I don’t know who told you what, as the second in command of JAG, I can tell you this – riot shield or no riot shield, we’re not going to condone sithacking, spawnkilling, or [simcrashing/molestation/insertdeplorableactionhere] in combat. Granted, there have been incidents in the past – I know marines who have been reprimanded for sitting directly into an office via the chair, and I’ve passed on reports to yourself, Dantee [when he was still a comdiv] and Alice of those kinds of actions on the part of Merczateers – but only a fool would take these isolated incidents as indicative of a military’s protocols.
As Harlequin said – your status in our eyes as not protected by STABLE only means we have different weapons to use against you. If you’re firing through a prim, be it this riot shield or a base wall, we’ll take the same measures with you that we will with any other group – blow the area to a fine mist composed of equal parts blood, sweat, tears, and the sweet, sweet sound of shattered dreams. I’ve got a wonderful 4 meter explosive round reserved for just such an occasion.
And as long as we’re on the topic of spawncamping, you can’t really be that incensed by it. I mean, I have a picture of Lurdan just sitting in your hub with a riot shield for a good ten minutes with his pistol pointed at the spawn – and if mister Huszar’s actions are explainable away as the unauthorized tactics of an individual, how then do you explain your being buddy-buddy with the Ordo, a group which sits in their home sim of titan and practices a policy of let-nothing-exist-in-the-hub?
Not only was I personally spawncamped, blackscreened, and banned for coming into titan unarmed and -exisiting- in Titan with an invalid homepoint after our conflict crashed dorien [seeing if the Ordo would remove AOs, unneeded scripts, and high-prim aesthetic attachments], but the practice is extended to civilians as well – two acquaintances of mine, members of no hostile groups, have entered Titan with the same result. One was coming to offer an alliance to the Ordo. The other was spawnkilled and banned by a man “just following orders,” who had deemed him “suspicious.”
Back to the matter at hand, though. Despite all declarations otherwise, I can’t help but see this kind of action as an attempt to attack the AN by nonconventional means, much like Ethan’s justification for his actions at Emit Time. It’s clear in the language I’ve heard used – it’s not “we’re taking our toys and going home,” but rather, “without us to fight, the AN will whither and die.”
If this is such an attack… then frankly, it’s about as successful as any other attack by any of your groups that I’ve seen in my.. what, eight month tenure in the AN? We have new enemies daily – everyone, it seems, wants to test their mettle against us – and we’ve even had time to start wargames with Sparta.
The only things that are different, it seems, is that enemies like 2142 have far fewer incidents of cheating, and -don’t- lag the sim to death when fighting in force.
Also, Rob? Congratulations on your apparent promotion to Fleet Commander. I can only assume that you killed phoenix for it while he was sleeping; I’ll help to dispose of the body in exchange for second in command.
SqueezeOne Pow
Dec 4th, 2007
Why don’t the Axis of Emo (mercz, ordo, MC) just put together their own treaty and not recognize groups that don’t abide by it’s rules? The rest of the groups can do the same putting together what they feel is fair (or sticking to STABLE or whatever) and we could effectively have two different “Combat Leagues” for people to choose from.
That’s not to say one group couldn’t be apart of both but would have to adhere to the treaty of whoever they’re attacking.
Regardless of all the silly posturing going on between the biased parties on here the whole situation could be summed up in one long sentence; “There are two different sets of groups following more than one set of rules that aren’t compatible with each other.”
Since none of the mentioned groups post their particular rules at their hubs (not sure but I think the AN might…but they don’t need to since a copy of STABLE is readily available) it’s about impossible to keep up with all the sets of regulations floating around…some changing as the day goes.
If the groups that prefer to work with the AN all agree to their RoE and the mercz/ordo/MC/anyone else dressed in black make their own rules then I see the situation becoming a non-issue. SL is big enough these days that two separate groups of militaries could exist and do their own thangs!
Blade Syakumi
Dec 4th, 2007
First things first!
As many of my comrades, and enemies know, I am a Staff Sergeant, in-real-life. On that, RoE’s vary from country to country, continent to continent. For example, STABLE could be seen as the Chinese RoE which allows everything from mines to uranium shells, where as the Merczateer’s basic understanding could be seen as NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) which promotes fair engagement between the allied forces and the OPFOR, which prohibits the use of land mines and high explosive ordnance outside of heavy armour. (Both of which the Alliance Navy break on regular occasions, I may add.)
In response to Bruno Ziskey, I have several points, each of which do him no favors.
Firstly: Sparta DO NOT abide by STABLE, on countless occasions when breaching their base in Gliding, and other, former, locations I’ve assaulted and destroyed the “Spartans” only to find they have their home-point five meters away, what kind of RoE is that?
Secondly: The main gate to the Sparta HQ in Gliding has a one way ‘shadow’ effect, meaning the defenders can see out, but the assaulting force cannot see in, hence allowing the defenders a clear shot. Even if the attacking force makes it past the invalid home-points and one-way walls, the paths are usually plated with mines.
Thirdly: The Sparta use of ‘mechs.’ Standing behind a wall, meaning the actual avatar is safe, but who have a robot that stands high above the wall, allowing it to shoot over the wall and denying the assaulting force the chance to destroy the enemy.
I’m sorry Mr. Ziskey, but until you stop with your farcical hypocrisies, I will never, like I’m sure many of my comrades, take your “army” seriously.
-Blade Syakumi, Leytenánt (Lieutenant, O-1) and Head Drill Instructor.
-A.k.a Staff Sergeant M. Ainslie, Royal Regiment of Scotland, Black Watch Third Battalion.
James Benedek
Dec 4th, 2007
It makes me laugh when i see this, AN are a well respected group and when me and my commanders are being IMed “please ban all AN from your land” we rejected cause well.. if building a 10m high invisable wall along a mountainside at Badnarik to stop people shooting you is against Stable, well then shouldn’t every military group be banning Mercz from their land?
I have better things to do to fill my ban list up… as many famous authors have said “why can’t we all get along and have fun?”, it is just a game after all.
We will continue to fight AN, as they give us a FAIR fight.
2142 Commander
James Benedek
Tony Zadoq
Dec 4th, 2007
I hate AN don’t get me wrong, but I think this banning thing is going a little overboard…
Quest Jarrico
Dec 4th, 2007
“Not only was I personally spawncamped, blackscreened, and banned for coming into titan unarmed and -exisiting- in Titan with an invalid homepoint after our conflict crashed dorien [seeing if the Ordo would remove AOs, unneeded scripts, and high-prim aesthetic attachments], but the practice is extended to civilians as well – two acquaintances of mine, members of no hostile groups, have entered Titan with the same result. One was coming to offer an alliance to the Ordo. The other was spawnkilled and banned by a man “just following orders,” who had deemed him “suspicious.”"
I’ve been to Dorien a bunch of times, just about all times were something like this: I rez in, before I load the area around me, 1 or more marines are already near me with guns in my face (at least two times, i’ve had Judge Honcho’s jet hovering over me with it’s guns in my face), or are coming near me, usually they rudely demand what i’m doing here and if they don’t like the answer, they gun me down, if I come back and they notice, I get spawncamped and they’ll start insulting me, even though I never shot back, they’d continue escalating their weapons against me. First it might be just one marine and a gun, then it’s 3 marines and grenades, then it’s them placing long range land mines around the spawn, then it’s most of the sim and a bunch of jets shooting missiles at me. I was never armed, and i’m not a part of any combat groups. I think of all the times I entered Dorien without weapons, not fighting back, and not in any combat groups, this has happened every time except for one or two occasions where either the sim was too dead or someone I know was keeping them off me. Course, then if you try to bring weapons into it, they just start rezzing shields and sithackers (which I guess they deem okay by their rules because they don’t CALL them shields and sithackers, they call them rezzable bases and portals, but the function is exactly the same). After that I started hanging around the Mercz a bit, was never once treated that way or shot at spawn or really at all, they were all very nice. Just about everytime I was in the Mercz base when AN raided, they’d sithack, fly, spam grenades, use homing bullets, etc. to get an edge. Either they just use this stuff then deny it and call anyone a liar who claims it, or they use it with fancy devices under different names and deem that okay by the rules. Seems to me that this “treating Mercz differently” because they don’t follow this treaty is just an excuse to officially use the tactics against the Mercz that they were using anyways. If you can’t beat ‘em, then cheat and make it sound official I guess.
Raideur Ng
Dec 4th, 2007
SqueezeOne Pow is correct. Groups can choose which type of combat league they perfer, one with less limitations (Battlefield-esque)
or more limitations (Counter-strike-esque). Doesnt make either bunch of groups wrong, just disagreeing.
LordBob Boa
Dec 4th, 2007
After being asked to participate in joining Ordo,Mercz and MC on the banning of all Alliance Navy personel, My decision will 90% remain undecided. I’ve heard good comments on both sides. 2142 Have a good time fighting AN, and I believed that they think likewise. As far as I’m concerned we have nothing against the Dorien crew, and will continue to fight, for ‘fun’. This is only my opinion, and is a netural post, but I see no reasons right now for 2142 to be filling banlists.
I rest my case.
2142 Commander
LordBob Boa
Mojo11 Cortes
Dec 4th, 2007
I cant believe that dumass mercz hav banned AN .They are a great fair army who dont grief bit like 2142 armed forces thats us:-p
Proteus Hand
Dec 4th, 2007
I think Raideur, Squeezeone, and Purple may be onto something here, why not just agree to disagree, and leave eachother out of it?
Sounds a whole lot like the entire purpose behind the Iron Symphony treaty to begin with.
SqueezeOne Pow
Dec 4th, 2007
Ng, Hand…I think we may have found a solution! Why not make your own sim rules, put them in a vendor at the hub and require a group to sign and agree to them before you’ll interact with them in a combat setting? Have someone from your group go around to the different groups’ bases and see what their rules might be and maybe someone else will have some good ideas the rest will adopt. Groups that already play against or with each other can agree to one set of rules and >POW< you have yourself a working combat league!
As far as the definition of RoE in SL, Blade is misunderstanding the concept of STABLE, SLSALT and other treaties entirely. He is looking at it as though it’s RoE for any army or country or whatever. He doesn’t understand that China doesn’t say “hey US you can’t use aircraft that go faster than mach 1.2 and no night vision!” and US doesn’t say “you can only invade from Texas or Oregon, guys”.
Like most things in SL, when you try to mix too much of the wrong parts of RL in it you lose orientation and focus on the wrong things. Look at SL Banking!
The treaties in SL designate the basic capabilities and realities of combat since SL is so free-form in nature. IRL you can’t make (yet) a full-auto nuclear grenade launcher the size of a pistol so there’s no threat of a guy dressed like the Hamburgler taking over Japan by himself. Such things are possible in SL. These treaties and RoE are both meant to give everyone a fair shake as well as keep the combat within reasonable parameters as determined and agreed upon by the signatories involved.
Thus there is no justification for everyone fighting each other with a different rulebook and expecting people to adhere to different regulations in different areas. Using this train of thought is exactly why there are the issues everyone is bringing up right now.
Tracy Laszlo
Dec 4th, 2007
The action by MC – ORDO – and Mercz to be bound by an agreed upon mandate to isolate and ban Alliance Navy is in itself the most blatant and outrageous act of cowardice I have ever seen in any Second Life military R/P organization. To even attempt to defeat Alliance Navy in this manner is not only shamefully futile but it is folly. This is what we do – we are combat warriors loving the good fight with all of our respected adversaries. Any member of these (3) groups that have a shred of dignity remaining should expeditiously remove yourselves from MC-ORDO-Mercz now because the actions of your group will forevermore be considered and perceived by all in Second Life military combat organizations as being nothing more than little sniveling cowards who will never rise to the greatness, glory, and grandeur of the Alliance Navy and SPARTA.
Tracy Laszlo – former Air General of SPARTA Air Force and now currently a proud Alliance Navy Air Division PILOT.
Bruno Ziskey
Dec 4th, 2007
My, my Blade, let me clear the things up that you have so conveniently muddled so that people with brains can understand the truth that you’ve muddled so well.
“Firstly: Sparta DO NOT abide by STABLE, on countless occasions when breaching their base in Gliding, and other, former, locations I’ve assaulted and destroyed the “Spartans” only to find they have their home-point five meters away, what kind of RoE is that?”
Well thats likely due to the fact that some did have Homepoints set too close, and we’ve already rectified that situation. Please hand me reports if any more Spartans do this, as we have designated areas for homepoints. NEXT IDIOCY PLEASE
“Secondly: The main gate to the Sparta HQ in Gliding has a one way ‘shadow’ effect, meaning the defenders can see out, but the assaulting force cannot see in, hence allowing the defenders a clear shot. Even if the attacking force makes it past the invalid home-points and one-way walls, the paths are usually plated with mines.”
*coughs and laughs* So this “shadow effect” is unfair? Well lemme see…..try running really fast. As for mines, this is untrue, we simply dont do that as our own people would be killed running out to kindly stick a bullet in your heads.
“Thirdly: The Sparta use of ‘mechs.’ Standing behind a wall, meaning the actual avatar is safe, but who have a robot that stands high above the wall, allowing it to shoot over the wall and denying the assaulting force the chance to destroy the enemy.”
Ever try going…AROUND the wall? Hmm…new concept, I know, very radical…but try it.
“I’m sorry Mr. Ziskey, but until you stop with your farcical hypocrisies, I will never, like I’m sure many of my comrades, take your “army” seriously.”
And I couldnt really care if you dont “respect” us, you never will anyway as we are allied with the big bag evil Alliance Navy, who you wish would fall over dead. I have to say that the Mercz would NEVER get our respect, you simply have no self control.
To put it shortly, if you really ARE in the RL military, I highly suggest that you spend more time in RL than SL. I am sure you can do better things there than waste my time here. If anybody cares to question me about Sparta and see our so-called cheating “shadow hallway” please do IM me in-world and I will show you what we like to call the hallway of despair.
Jason Backer
Dec 5th, 2007
The way I see it is thus. Mercz-MC-Ordo do not like us (AN) which is fine. They do not want to fight us, which is fine. They do not wish to associate, contact, be near us, do anything with us, which is fine.
So why not just ignore us, get on with your business because frankly the AN doesn’t really care if you attack us or not. It’s not an isolation of AN, you are isolating yourselves.
Purple
Dec 5th, 2007
Wow, the points keep flowing in, but so many so deeply misunderstood.
Though a lot, do reinforce my idea of taking this “all too seriously”
Also, on the topic of “defeating the big bad AN”
Will never happen
/ever/
You know why? Because they won’t ever admit they have been defeated. They will pull a scapegoat. “Oh the other group was causing lag”, “Oh they were cheating…whine whine whine”
First off, lag affects BOTH sides. Second, “Holy crap, could it be, no way, nu uuh!! A GROUP THAT FIGHTS NORMALLY?! No way, untrue, never can happen, nope”
Get a grip, no group will ever be “defeated” because of the sole idea no group has the balls to say “We have been defeated”.
None
~Purple
Izaea Qinan
Dec 5th, 2007
A few corrections.
“I’ve been to Dorien a bunch of times, just about all times were something like this: I rez in, before I load the area around me, 1 or more marines are already near me with guns in my face”
If marines are already in the hub, then one of two things are happening. Either A) Hostiles have been armed in the hub for more than five minutes (more than enough time to do whatever the hell it is any reasonable person would like to do), or B) Hostiles have been spawn camping our troops, or civilians, at which point they can seek clearance from high command to enter the hub to remove the threat. Any of our men who just hang out in the hub catch flak immediately from every online defender of Dorien… so honestly, that just sounds like exceedingly bad timing on your part.
“(at least two times, i’ve had Judge Honcho’s jet hovering over me with it’s guns in my face)”
Judge is no longer with us, nor has he been for a matter of months, I believe. That being said, during combat, our planes -will- be hovering out and about. It’s what they do. They’re still not clear to fire until you crest the ridge wall or fire out of the hub at them.
“or are coming near me, usually they rudely demand what i’m doing here”
We want to know who visitors are, in order to know how to respond to them. We never claimed to be polite.
“and if they don’t like the answer, they gun me down,”
That would depend entirely on what your answer is.
“if I come back and they notice, I get spawn camped and they’ll start insulting me, even though I never shot back,”
If this is true, and you were fired upon without due cause, then I would like to formally apologize on behalf of the Alliance Navy.
“they’d continue escalating their weapons against me.”
… honestly, if the issue that gets your hackles up here is being killed, period, does it matter at all -what- it is you’re being killed with?
Just a thought.
” First it might be just one marine and a gun,”
Well, one marine is never going to stay alone for long. Think like sharks and blood in the water.
” then it’s 3 marines and grenades,”
I’ve had issues with certain marines spamming grenades in the past. They have been dealt with. If you see a use of weaponry that you consider unfair, go ahead and toss me an IM in game. I might seem confrontational here, but I honestly do want the fairest and most fun combat experience possible, and will personally bend over backwards to try and provide that.
“then it’s them placing long range land mines around the spawn,”
Around the spawn, in this case, meaning around the full quarter of the sim that is reserved for the hub and defenses for our attacking enemies.
And those land mines are dropped, one cluster at a time, by Fleet. We have to be directly over the area to do so.
“then it’s most of the sim and a bunch of jets shooting missiles at me.”
If you’re a ground target, missiles really aren’t the most effective option – lasers or bombs would be better. Furthermore, once you’re identified as a hostile [and once again, if this was incorrectly done, I apologize on behalf of the AN], of bloody course the entire base is going to respond. If we have 20 people on guard duty, then 20 people are going to be shooting at hostiles entering a kill zone. If we have 3 people on, then it’ll be 3.
“I was never armed, and i’m not a part of any combat groups. I think of all the times I entered Dorien without weapons, not fighting back, and not in any combat groups, this has happened every time except for one or two occasions where either the sim was too dead or someone I know was keeping them off me.”"
In that case, unless you were unbelievably rude and threatening, I can’t think of why you’d be shot at. If you have any logs of these incidents, I’d like to see them – and if you are just some poor unlucky bastard, then I’d be more than happy to get you off of whatever hostile lists you may be on.
“Course, then if you try to bring weapons into it, they just start rezzing shields and sithackers (which I guess they deem okay by their rules because they don’t CALL them shields and sithackers, they call them rezzable bases and portals, but the function is exactly the same).”
Well, no. The function is -not- entirely the same. Portals are bound by STABLE regulations; they serve much the same purpose as the Blackwatch breaching charges, or the slightly more questionable rappel holes used by the Merczateers [dubious only in their ability to be placed and sat on anywhere; I've got pictures of rappel holes left two or three floors down in the old base]. Ours are limited to five meters; like every military’s, they’re used because we can’t blast holes in walls in SL.
And as for barricades… Have I really been that out of the loop? Is there honestly that much feeling of unfairness about them? I don’t understand it, if there is. The only time I’ve ever seen them abused was by a marine, since reprimanded for it, who would rez them in the air, to stand on, and to give a high-altitude firing position. A barricade is a fixed, immoveable defensive structure, like those used by god knows how many other SL militaries in varying forms. Some involve the use of “glass” prims that allow the occupant to fire out safely, including both the old Spartan and Merczateers barricades, both of which I -think- have been abandoned. Ours don’t even do this – they provide cover for the lower front of our avatars at best, and cannot be carried with you.
Most shields, on the other hand, move with the avatar, and give 360 degree protection from most forms of conventional ordinance. STABLE defines a shield as anything that interferes with incoming fire without likewise interfering with outgoing fire – anything you can shoot out of without being shot.
How are those even remotely similar in function?
“After that I started hanging around the Mercz a bit, was never once treated that way or shot at spawn or really at all, they were all very nice.”
I’ve done the same, though arguably my visits had to be a bit more clandestine.
“Just about every time I was in the Mercz base when AN raided,”
Have you also sat in at the Dorien base during a Merczateer raid? Those days may be gone now, but I assure you that violations are the work of individuals, and unless codified and promoted by the military.
“they’d sithack,”
I assume you mean portal; see above.
“fly,”
I assume you mean gravpack – a technology that the Merczateers have used in limited fashion until recently. The grav pack gives you a long, slow, hard-to-control jump. Flight gives you instantaneous and speedy motion in any of three dimensions, and -cannot- be compared.
“spam grenades,”
Our grenades have a reload, I believe – I know that, as a fleety, my flash bangs do. For the most part, grenades are used for the same uses as in the real world; they clear out bunkers, take out clusters, etc. That being said, troops have in the past over-used explosives, or not used them in following with our SoC/RoE. Again, the work of individuals.
“use homing bullets,”
We have one technology which track at all – missiles. They are used in a limited capacity against air targets by marines who are physically incapable of targeting ground troops with them, and in a greater capacity by our air division, who once again use them in a primary role as an anti-air system.
“etc. to get an edge.”
That -is- how one wins, isn’t it?
“Either they just use this stuff then deny it and call anyone a liar who claims it,”
If I use a gravpack set to 20%, and you ban me for Av flying, I -will- deny av flying. If I use a barricade, and you ban me for shielding, I will outright call you a liar.
“or they use it with fancy devices under different names and deem that okay by the rules.”
Different functions as well, which ARE okay by the rules. STABLE rules, that is – and we’ll make concessions to sim rules as well. When we war gamed with Sparta, we didn’t use missiles or portals, since their sim rules ban it. After the merczateers banned gravpacks, and before they banned all of us, we engaged in raids without the use of gravity modification – though I will admit, some people failed to get the message, used grav packs, and were banned for it. Again, individuals. See a pattern?
“Seems to me that this “treating Mercz differently” because they don’t follow this treaty is just an excuse to officially use the tactics against the Mercz that they were using anyways.”
Actually, it’s an excuse to use tactics against the Mercz that we -weren’t- using already. It’s spelled out by STABLE, if you’d care to take a look at it. We’re clear to use certain regulated force beyond that allowed by our treaties when fighting people who won’t abide by the terms -of- those treaties. If we couldn’t, we’d be sitting in Dorien all day, shooting single-fire low-velocity damage bullets at shielded nukespamming avflyers.
“If you can’t beat ‘em, then cheat and make it sound official I guess.”
Well, we kind of -can- beat them. Have been for going on three years this spring. And cheating, in this case, means that someone’s rules are being broken – whose? You’re talking, at least in part, about our combat in Dorien, where the rules are our own, and cheating can only happen when we break the rules we make – something that, when caught, is reprimanded and disciplined. Likewise, in Titan, spawn camping isn’t cheating – it’s in my opinion poor form, but it’s institutionalized. In Rausch, flying and using shields are not ways of cheating – in a sim with no rules, there are no rules to break.
As a side note, it sounds like you’ve not visited Dorien in some months – definitely not since the new hub was installed. We’ve taken concerns about vulnerability while rezzing to heart; the current one is a defensible structure with airlocks and a protected hangar; we’re in the process of building our hub into an even-more-defensible position.
Come and see.
Izaea Qinan
Dec 5th, 2007
Question, Blade. Why -shouldn’t- a hallway into an area considerably darker than the first [a dimly lit base v. the SUN] have such a shadow effect? Isn’t that just basicly sound RL physics?