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MP Fleet Action Tournament


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Okay, for those of you who have been asking, and for those of you who have not read lately what's new with Fleet Action, let me update everyone with the current development of the concept and implementation.

For those that don't know, Fleet Action is an unofficial strategy game where participating players (fleet affiliated or not) can play in UC multiplayer scenarios oriented around gaining control of planetary regions in a dynamically drawn version of the UC single-player map. The Fleet Action website is located here, and its hosting and development investment is entirely mine.

Because there was some initial confusion about this point, let me make it entirely clear that Fleet Action is NOT a product of the officially recognized fleet community here, nor is it supported in any way by 3000AD. If you encounter problems with Fleet Action of any kind, or have comments of any kind, they should NOT be directed to your normal fleet commander (unless he too is playing) nor should you send requests to SC to fix or change anything. Being an unofficial and entirely player created and supported project has the downside that none of the battles you fight in Fleet Action are recognized in the official fleets db here at 3000AD (i.e., you won't get experience in your fleet db entry), but the upside is that you don't have to be a part of an officially recognized fleet to participate.

Now, to the brief overview of gameplay.

Fleet Action games are ordered into a turn sequence where each participating fleet commander issues orders on their turn to move or issue mission orders to their fleet. When a fleet commander issues a mission order, his fleet is assigned an attacking role in a multiplayer mission with objectives and victory results that support or prove detrimental to the fleet and its objectives. Fleets in adjacent planetary regions take a defending role in the scenario and can likewise gain or lose ground for their fleets and objectives. At the beginning of the game, each fleet is randomly assigned a place in the turn order. Player fleets then issue orders on their turn in the sequence.

Each fleet has a fleet rating that reflects the strength and readiness of that fleet. Fleet ratings change according to a fleetÔÇÖs success or failure in multiplayer games as defined by the mission order objectives being played. Raising a fleetÔÇÖs rating means either successfully completing a mission order or experiencing an entire turn sequence (all fleets issuing move orders or mission orders at least once) without participating in a mission order. If a fleet experiences a complete turn sequence without participating in a mission order as attacker or defender, it gains 5 points to its fleet rating. Fleets have a maximum fleet rating of 100, past which a fleetÔÇÖs rating cannot be increased. If a fleet ever loses its entire rating (by losing missions) then it has been eliminated from the game. Fleets begin the game with a rating of 60 in order to represent a fleet which is at full strength, but which is still unblooded in combat.

When fleet commanders issue orders, they are of two types. A movement order repositions a fleet in an undefended planetary region adjacent to the one they currently occupy. Systems are considered defended if they contain a star station which can oppose a fleetÔÇÖs passage. Fleet commanders can alternately issue mission orders that assign tasks for their fleet to undertake. The following mission orders are available. (Click the links to download the specific mission order document, or click here to get all of them with a slightly edited version of the gameplay explanation in this post.)

ÔÇó Blitzkrieg

ÔÇó Breakthrough

ÔÇó CIOPS/SpecOps: Infiltration

ÔÇó CIOPS: Intelligence Gathering

ÔÇó Planetfall

ÔÇó Resupply

ÔÇó SpecOps: Raid

ÔÇó SpecOps: Sabotage

ÔÇó Star Station Assault

ÔÇó System Supremacy

Planetfall and Blitzkrieg missions include provisions for capturing planets. Planets have a resistance value that describes the defense level of a planet to attack. This value is subject to attrition according to the cargo values of player-piloted transports carrying ÔÇ£troopsÔÇØ represented by the total cargo capacity of the transport. This resistance value can be reduced by the value of the cargo capacity of every attacking transport that makes planetfall on the contested planet.

Some missions represent special intelligence or special operations opportunities whose advantages to the attacking fleet can tip the balance of future engagements. However, these missions require that the attacking fleet first infiltrate operatives using the CIOPS/SpecOps: Infiltration mission in order to be available to the attacking fleet commander. Once the infiltration mission is accomplished, the following missions from the above list become available to the attacking fleet on the planet that has been infiltrated.

ÔÇó CIOPS: Intelligence Gathering

ÔÇó SpecOps: Raid

ÔÇó SpecOps: Sabotage

All mission orders contain special rules for setting up the specific mission they describe, but all missions share the common characteristics for multiplayer gameplay as described below.

ÔÇó Missiles, FCÔÇÖs, SCÔÇÖs, and Atmospheric entry are at present restricted per recommendations from members of the 3000AD beta test community.

ÔÇó The Respawn rule allows players to reenter the game after being destroyed as many times as they can until the match ends. Respawning is assumed to be from the home station unless otherwise stated.

ÔÇó The Identify rule requires defending fleets to identify infiltrators by closing to a distance of 20km and targeting the infiltrating vessel prior to firing on it. This rule never applies to military vessels, only to transports. This rule can be waived attacking fleet vessels are spotted within 50km of the infiltrating transport, or if the transport is within 100km of its designated infiltration target.

ÔÇó Achieving planetfall is possible (and sufficient for mission orders) if the landing ship is within 100km of the target planet.

ÔÇó Every fleet has a ÔÇ£homeÔÇØ station that they deploy from. Unless otherwise stated in the mission order, the home station for each fleet is as follows.

-Terran fleets: Procon / Paladian

-Insurgent fleets: Gaulan / Resilient

-Raider fleets: Castrin / Freeport

-Gammulan fleets: Palean / Wolpax

ÔÇó Every planet is assumed to have a defense value the value in transport cargo units required to take the planet. This value for normally defended planets is 100,000. The value for planets whose defenses are broken (blockade, orbital bombardment, etc.) or unprepared is half normal, i.e., 50,000. These values are superceded as mission orders may stipulate.

Now, to current developments. Mordax Blyrr has been promoted to European XO for Fleet Action, and has been tasked with testing these scenarios with the large number of European players who have signed up on the Fleet Action website already. He will be communicating closely with me on matters of game balance, server issues, etc.

If this idea interests you and you haven't signed up at the Fleet Action site as yet, please do so to indicate your interest and when scenario testing is finished we'll begin our battles in earnest.

***EDIT: I've added the complete scenario rules for use of Respawn, Planetfall, Ship Identification, and Home Station assignments, and added links to the the mission order documents listed above.***

[ 08-27-2004, 01:29 AM: Message edited by: Zane Marlowe ]

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Something that's occurred to me relatively recently in the course of the project is that because the Fleet Action site is not supported by the official fleets here (which means that Fleet Action games have no bearing on official fleet matters as mentioned above) and because non-fleet players who want to participate may do so, then the fleets in Fleet Action will be "ad hoc" fleets (for lack of a better term) whose structure and membership will be generated by those who play Fleet Action.

Currently, the following players have signed up at the Fleet Action site, and were they to represent their official fleets unofficially, then those at least might be present in Fleet Action in addition to any ad hoc fleets created by unaffiliated UC players. (The unaffiliated players listed below may have a name here that I don't know, but if this is so, please give me your correct identity in this thread for clarity if you are listed below and known here by another name.)

Balor: Chavik, Dreadx,

Bishamon: ShoHashi, Mordax Blyrr, Neograymatter,

Prime: Papi, Mrxknown, Patrik Vanda

Wraith: Dreada

ISS: Zane Marlowe

The Devil's Hand: Cc (Khan),

Unaffiliated: Cartmanbeeps, GeDou, Rtoolooze, Edworld, Pete, Zothen, Coyote.

That's everyone registered on my site at the time of this writing. For those unaffiliated players interested in playing this game in an ad hoc fleet, I would ask that you send me a PM or feedback through the Fleet Action site naming at least three commanders to represent the fleet along with the fleet name you would like to use.

Moreover, because we officially have three official fleet leaders who have expressed interest in some capacity, then at their discretion they may use the Fleet Action site to coordinate their fleets in unscored matches against one another.

Should it be the case at some point that players want Fleet Action game results to be reflected in the official fleet db, then as far as I can see, at least the following would have to happen in addition to whatever else SC might say: 1) scoring for Fleet Action matches would have to correspond to whatever the official standard is going to be (at this writing no scoring standard has officially been approved), 2) Fleet Action mission orders (the MP scenarios above) would have to be sufficiently tested and approved by the official fleets, and 3) SC would have to approve Fleet Action's official for player match statistics.

However, I don't expect any of that unless Fleet Leaders want it, and there's no reason to wait around while the game is otherwise ready to go.

[ 08-27-2004, 11:16 AM: Message edited by: Zane Marlowe ]

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Guest Remo Williams

quote:

(at this writing no scoring standard has officially been approved)

Wrong! Scoring system was approved a couple of weeks ago. You just don't have all the details for it. All you've seen is the score sheet. The scoring system was used for our matches last week how else would anyone have received a Ranking, Ranking score, EP, Kills, Deaths and last known MP location without some way of applying the score?

This is all reflected in the fleet database and will soon be posted for all players in one place at GalCom Online.

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Sorry to butt in, but I think that Zane is talking about that he doesn't currently have a scoring standard created for the fleet action thing he is doing which does not correspond at all to the official matches which you and others have helped to put together. This fleet action thing is being solely created by Zane and no third party has not yet popped their heads in.

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quote:

Originally posted by Remo Williams:

quote:

(at this writing no scoring standard has officially been approved)

Wrong! Scoring system was approved a couple of weeks ago. You just don't have all the details for it. All you've seen is the score sheet. The scoring system was used for our matches last week how else would anyone have received a Ranking, Ranking score, EP, Kills, Deaths and last known MP location without some way of applying the score?

This is all reflected in the fleet database and will soon be posted for all players in one place at GalCom Online.


My mistake then

So then if it were to be the case that people wanted to use Fleet Action officially, we'd have to retool scenarios and scoring a little to match the adopted scoring standard. The existing scoring is based entirely around improving or degrading the fleet rating of player fleets within Fleet Action.

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Well, raiders need something to raid, so I was thinking about possible supply convoy missions to replenish planetary resistance values. These could be the target of raider activity since raiders don't generally care about who's in power as long as their targets are rich in booty.

At any rate, I've adjusted the Fleet Action site to show current site membership, recent mission orders (I put four mission orders up for an example), and tweaked the back end management a little. It's ready to play, so I have to get with Mordax and we need to test this stuff out.

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Guest Remo Williams

Unless the site belongs to an official fleet and is used for the business of the official fleet from the 3000AD community no group or site can use the word fleet to refer to himself or herself or their operational material within the 3000AD community. ThatÔÇÖs been a standing rule around here for as long as I can remember.

In other words you can't call it a fleet guide in this community unless it belongs to an official fleet. Change it to something else ASAP. As it is I let your site slide without saying anything until now, but itÔÇÖs not fair to others that have done the same in the past and had to remove it

Remo out!

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I wish there was a written list of rules posted on this site telling what you can post and can't in terms of discussing private websites. Because I did not know that this rule Remo is speaking of is actually an official rule. Now to me the name "Fleet Guide" is appropriate for what he is doing especially since this whole discussion has been about him setting up his own tournament and match scenarios that will be hosted by Zane and scored by Zane that aren't affiliated at all with fleets in 3000AD, but is affiliated with Multiplayer as it is posted under the Fleets and Multiplayer Discussions category.

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Guest Remo Williams

If he wants to use the term fleet thats fine just take it out of the community no problem.

quote:

Because I did not know that this rule Remo is speaking of is actually an official rule.

If you weren't a noob around here you would know all the rules we have followed, and since Derek honored me with admin status the man himself is as good as telling you.

Now pick something else to argue with me about. Yeah and I received your PM, welcome to my ignore list your luck I just didnÔÇÖt ban you. I think IÔÇÖm going to suspend you from any future Prime sponsored meets though until you figure out whatÔÇÖs really going on. Unless Dreada has a good reason why I shouldnÔÇÖt.

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References to "Fleet" features on the Fleet Action site have been changed to read "Fleet Action" where appropriate. The Fleet Guide referenced above now reads "Fleet Action Rules" for simplicity and to bring Fleet Action into line with the above guidelines.

In the future, it would be nice to have rules referenced in a post or FAQ section somewhere rather than referring to long-established understandings among veterans here.

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  • 2 weeks later...

quote:

Originally posted by Supreme Cmdr:

Good idea. Go do it.

Hrm, I waited a few days to respond to this one so I could see if I would magically begin to understand what the veterans here know, but apparently I didn't wait long enough since I have had no subsequent epiphany. Rats.

In other Fleet Action news, we're going to do some playtesting next Saturday morning at 10am CST for those who are interested in trying out the missions posted on the official website.

See the Fleet Action Rules link on the site for the most up to date information on rules, missions, etc., and hopefully we'll see people out there next Saturday morning.

Clear Skies!

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  • 3 weeks later...

Interested European players check this post at the Fleet Action main site.

Interested North American players, PM me at this site with a consistently available time and we'll move forward.

I've let this lie still for a while because I was busy getting married and getting started in a full time job at the college I'm teaching at, but things are stabilizing in my schedule now so I'm expecting to be able to give Fleet Action a little more attention.

To date we've tested the Planetfall rules, and they seem to work well, but we may revise them since the planetside MP is coming together nicely. If there are any of the beta testers who would be willing to forward me relevant information on the game's planetside MP performance so I can adjust my scenarios accordingly, I'd be grateful.

Thanks again.

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  • 2 weeks later...

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