It is VERY important that all players become friends with your opponents. This is why the MechBattle
motto is "Enemies in roleplay, but friends in life". Friends are more likely not to cheat. Friends are more likely not to argue. For
many reasons it is much more fun to play your friends. How you behave online can have a major impact not only on how much fun you have,
but also how much fun others have. So it is very important for you to behave well online. We want all players in MechBattle to uphold
the highest ideals. For all intents purposes we want players to uphold codes akin to the knights code of the chivalry. Each time you
come online you represent not only yourself, but also reflect the group you belong to, the entire MechBattle game, and everyone in
between. It only takes a few people to make a bad reputation, so it is imperative that you take these codes seriously and guard them
with the utmost level of honor and respect.
Remember that once you DO make friends with your opponents, do NOT stop fighting them. Attack people
you like. You will both have more fun, since you can trust each other to act properly.
This question has been posed online many times, as a rhetorical question. There are actual differences
between face to face communication and email or chat communication that have side effects that make disagreements more likely. So here
is the answer to that question. In face to face communication there are additional information besides just the spoken words that are
communicated, like your smile, eye contact and facial expressions. Even tonal changes effect the meaning of the spoken word. Online
communication, such as chat and email cannot convey this information so readily. Things like sarcasm translate very badly! The absence
of these visual cues can lead the recipient to read something than what the sender intended. A poorly crafted email message can cause quite a stir.
Another factor is that since the people talking are not face to face, this may lead them to do things
they would never do in real life because they don't take it seriously, forget there is another person on the other end of the
communication, or since there is not immediate accountability (and retaliation) online they feel immune to recourse for their actions.
Trust me, online interactions can have positive(and negative) consequences in your real life if you plan to spend any length of time
in our virtual community.
The instabilities of the internet can also cause variations in pings where one day someone can seem
indestructible and then later on a different server is not be able to hit anything. It is natural for those new to the internet to
accuse the other person of cheating, when most likely it has more to do with the person's connection or the server. Cheating does
happen, but it is much rarer than most people seem to think. Whenever people accuse another of cheating in public they can cause
escalations that could be handled otherwise and lead to bad blood on both sides. See more below.
The codes themselves will give many things you can do to help. Some general guidelines to help replace
the lost facial cues is to use emotions. Emotions are small symbols used to denote the tone of the email or chat.
Examples are '' grin, ;) winking smily, :) smily face and many others. For more information ask
veteran players. They are commonly used, so most people will know the answers to your question. Whenever you are role playing you can
use tags in your email like html tags so that they know where you are playing around.
For example:
Bow down to the might of Clan Black Shadow. Resistance is futile. You shall be no more. You cannot stand against my might, honorable foe.
Hey man, that was a blast. Wanna play again Saturday 10am PST on the Mechwarrior HQ server?
Signed, your friend, Slasher
Sometimes this is not enough and voice communication is recommended to help resolve disputes. Actually
talking on the phone has stopped disputes that had been ongoing for months with a single phone call. A cheaper, yet still effective
approach is internet phone or cool talk. This is something that group leaders should eventually standardize on. We realize some people
might be hesitant to give their phone numbers, so consider this a last resort.
Freebooters add a lot of fun to the game because for a price they even outhow many pilots there are on
both sides and allow for quicker battles. It is imperative that freebooters uphold these codes to the highest level. When you choose to
freeboot the entire league's honor rests on your shoulders to the deepest degree. So freebooters must pledge to honor these codes.
Always play your very best no matter who you are playing for. Know the missile boat rules and it is more important than ever that as a
freebooter you do not break these rules. Freebooters breaking rules will have their serial numbers noted. TKZ recommends sometimes
playing for those that are normally your opponents. The reason is so that members of various groups can meet each other and make friends
by working together for a common goal. It is also very important to treat all people will respect. If you treat others poorly, you may
find no one willing to freeboot for you at a critical juncture down the road when YOU need someone there to help you.
This rule has stood the test of time. That's right, you can't have a full-fledged missile boat. A legal
mech may have a maximum of three missile racks total (LRM and SRM together). Your mech cannot be capable of doing more than 30 points of
damage with each "type" of missile (LRM or SRM). This is NOT to be construed as to mean that if you use chain fire as opposed to group
fire, you are allowed to carry more missiles. The only exception to this rule is unmodified, standard configs that came with the game. If
you so much as move a heat sink, your mech becomes a custom config and is subject to the missile boat rule. Because this rule has been so
widely misunderstood in the past, we have included below a partial list of legal configurations under this rule. Examples of some legal
mech configurations:
- No missiles at all (for those who truly seek a challenge)
- 1 SRM pack of any size and no LRMs
- 1 LRM pack of any size and no SRMs
- 1 LRM pack of any size and 1 SRM pack of any size
- 1 LRM pack of any size and 2 SRM packs of any size
- 2 LRM 10 or 15 packs and no SRMs
- 2 LRM 10 or 15 packs and 1 SRM pack of any size
- 3 LRM 10s or 5s and no SRMs
- 2 SRM 6s and 1 SRM 2 with no LRMs
- 3 SRM 4s with no LRMs
- 2 SRM 4s and 1 SRM 2 with no LRMs
- 3 SRM 2s with no LRMs
- Any unmodified, standard mech configuration that came with the game. If you so much as move a heat sink, your mech becomes a
custom config and is subject to the above rule.
To lower packet loss, you should always play with 320x200 resolution and configure kali in the game
menu NOT to drop packets. For zone 3 combat, you need to always use at least a 28.8 modem as your connection. If you still have a 14.4
either upgrade or stick to zone 2 combat with people that agree to play you.
TKZ advises all players to do a /ping on all players in any rooms during official battles. If a
player's lag response comes back at 100% loss, then players have the option to ask for a rehost. If this is asked for, the opposing
unit MUST comply. If it reoccurs then it is possibly caused by someone with packet loss "on" or a bad modem connection.
There are some flaws that could be exploited by the unscrupulous. These are not to be employed in
official TKZ battles. If you don't know what these are then all the better. These bugs include but are not limited to the following.
- No jump jet bugs such as the "shut down and slide" or the "stay in the air forever" tricks.
- No "shooting through walls" trick
- The "unlimited ammo " trick is not condoned! For netmech, see the tips page for how to avoid this.
All codes of conduct for kali itself also apply to TKZ and are further amplified. Let me remind
everyone to avoid foul language. Not all players in TKZ are adults, so keep in mind that people of all ages are present.
Please use near-cusses like 'fek' sparingly. There aren't any sanctions for near cussing, but
instead you should find creative ways not to use them.
When a player is regening, you must wait for the player regening to fire first, use jump jets,
or a full 10 seconds from the time of regeneration. If someone shuts down at any other time they are fair game. They only get
this when regening.
Avoid insulting others at all costs. Even in role-play do not make comments about some one's
honor. Many people take their personal honor seriously and this is sure to begin an unhealthy escalation. Many people will
associate their honor in real life with their honor in the game. More fights on kali get started because one person insulted
someone's honor and they both had too much pride to let it go. The most important thing to do is respect all the other players.
You can be macho and tell everyone how great you are, but don't put others down to make yourself feel better. Easy to say,
hard to do, but we must all try.
Try not to make or take take things personally. Sometimes this can be difficult also. To be of
the highest honor, you should try to compliment your opponent whenever an opportunity arises to do so. Say something when
something good happens, do not just complain when things aren't going well. Taking a positive attitude will help everyone to
respect and trust each other. Group leaders need to do what they can to be an inspiration in these matters. If you had fun, tell
your opponent how much you appreciated playing them. Trust us, this is a key to enjoying your time in the league. Your personal
attitude will color how you view things. Cheer people up, not piss them off. There are some groups that already do this well.
When you have a bad day and loose your cool, don't hold onto your pride. APOLOGIZE!!! Say
something nice while you're at it. We aren't perfect, so when things get out of hand, don't escalate, apologize and listen to
what issues your opponent has to say. Often the real issues are clouded when an argument erupts.
Do not mail bomb or hack someone else's account. Never harass others with email or over the
phone. Note that several of these actions are against the law and could even be pursued in extreme cases. Your actions are not
without consequences. For more information consult applicable laws.
If your group becomes unpopular due to being impolite, it may effect your group negatively in
subtle ways, such as people being unwilling to freeboot for your group when you're in a dire situation. Treat others poorly
and expect they will retaliate.
Do not spam ALL group leaders, as in more than 40 people at a time or your group will be fined
5000 points per message. If you want to discuss something publicly, you can either forward it to the council to be included in
messages sent out or post it on the chat boards. Group leaders already get loads of mail and this ruling was the most popular
of all time.
It is very important that you have at least one person in a group's leader list that is very
responsive to mail. If group leaders are going to be absent, they need to make arrangements so that the mail is covered. This
league is not called the waiting zone. If you can't be responsive with email, then add more people to your leader list. With
the freebooter rule, there is no longer a reason to stall so that all your men are able to play. You can hold a battle even
with a few people from your group and a bunch of freebooters. You need to give each other as much notice as possible and
confirm the times of the battle have been accepted.
When the time comes for battle, be on time. If you are more than 30 minutes late, you will
forfeit the battle. If a series of battles was scheduled, the first is forfeited.
The drop phase can take a maximum amount of 75 minutes to complete. (There may be lower
maximums in certain leagues. Check the combat rules in your league for details.) It is a valid practice to use ranging tactics
to do extra damage to an opponent. So unless you are at that 60 minute marker (or the 25 minute marker for 30 minute limits),
at least, you have no right to complain. There is a time limit to prevent abuse or excessive stalling, so use F12 to check
elapsed time and if it's not time yet, do not complain. With regens this is not as great an issue.