1)Being the first peep or corp in a new bang and utilizing Lockout tactics such as Fedhaz , Dock mines and figs etc is not a Win.It simply denies other the ability to play and goes contrary to what the sysop wanted which is to provide a place to play.(End game babysitting excepted)
2)Megacorping..If you have to Mega then you dont have what it takes to win.
3)Server malfunction....If a server crashes..stalls reboots etc and you take advantage of this then you dont have what it takes to win on a fair field of battle.All you did was ruin a good game.You did not Win.
4)Spoofing or Spamming on Fed or thru Private messages only forces others to turn off there comms and upsets the social aspect of the game.
5)Alien farming..enough said.
6)Replaceing corpies after an SD provided the corp is already full is lame.Win? I dont think so.
7)Dupes? and / or Dupe Mothers.....enough said.
Class0 blowing is lame.
If you believe that any or all of these tactics are required to finish a game alert the gameop that the edit has flaws.(9 planets with 5 million ore in a corp of 4 game is an edit flaw).
Think Twice before lowering yourself to using these tactics.Perhaps your "Win" makes you a loser.
Note:This is my personal opinion and in no way represents the opinion of the EIS or its staff.

I agree with you on almost all points.
The 2 i would tend to disagree with are #3 and #8.
#3, If the server crashes, and you take advantage of this..
I guess that would need more clarification for me to agree with it. Such as, If the server drops, and they go offline, and I log back in, and then, 5 minutes later I invade them, would that be valid, or fall under the unfair umbrella? Pretty much, server explosions happen, and they suck. If they are rare, hopefully the sysop handles it well and announces like an hour truce or something after he brings it back up, to give people a chance to "reset" and that he announces when it'll come back up, rather than just bringing it up randomly.
#8 i think is a very valid tactic, i don't see why it wouldn't be.
I would love to hear your opinion about why you are against it so as we could discuss/debate the pros/cons and maybe entice others to give their polite views as well.

#8
If there are 2 or more strong corps in game then the tactic has value as a strat move.Resources vs. Regen time etc etc.
As a tactic to keep peeps from playing or buying a ship etc. falls under Denial of Play which is a hollow victory.How can I compete against someone in a starter ship?
#3
some sysop operate twgs as a service which will autostart on reboot in order to keep the server up while they are at work.I perfer to Invade while the opponents are at keys.Gameplay is much more exciting.
 
Note:This is my personal opinion and in no way represents the opinion of the EIS or its staff.

ya, i'm not a fan of things like ship buyouts, as it takes the fun out of the game.

Edit: Warning, the following are just my opinions. IMO if you lose, you lose because of something you did... regardless of what the enemy did. All I see in this list is a bunch of potential excuses for losing.

1. Fed blockades - Correct timing can get you in. Once you're in all you need to do is keep someone on w/ a ship for you.

2. It's suprisingly difficult to have 2 cooperating corps. You'd be suprised how easy it is to throw a wrench into that plan. Enemy corp bringing in people to moth? Claim the door and kill them. Invade when the mother corp is out of the sector and laugh... and laugh... and laugh.

3. The internet is a random unpredictable place. If you don't take basic precautions (like a login script, or sleeping in fed, or checking the game once in a while) and then get hammered, too bad. I've been on both sides of that coin, it sucks, but I didn't cry about it... I just kept pushing forward to win and took precautions so it wouldn't happen again.

4. Spoofing is not spamming. Spamming sucks and is a bit of a DoS attack. Most servers do have a rule against that, but hey, you can always turn your comms off and go kill the bastage if the sysop doesn't care enough to intervene.

Spoofing... fix your scripts or don't run them. No excuses.

5. Alien farming. Own alien space and actually defend your grid. Or just go thru, claim the space and blow the ports. It's really easy to stop alien farming. But ya if all you do is sit back in a bubble and whine about things... I can see where that'd suck.

6. Corpie rotatation is mega corping. If the server has a rule against it, then that's that. If not, then it's legal. Sucks? Sure, but sometimes it helps to build an ICQ list.

7. Dupes suck, but most people that dupe do so because they can't get corpies. It's rarely a threat. But most servers have a rule against duping so that takes care of that.

8. Blowing class 0s is hard work. Every time you do, all ports get stronger. You can go thru and blow them a few times here and there, but it costs some serious resources to keep it up. If you're playing in an unlim... well, make sure regen is 1 day. If you're playing in a high-resource game with a long rad clear... well, that sucks. But buggy games are buggy games. Make sure it rebangs better next time.

I don't think ANY of these "tactics" are needed per sae. I've won many games without them, and never done half of them. It's just that if properly handled, none of these tactics are game winners. If you lose because someone keeps blowing the class 0s... well it's time to learn to play better. If you lose because the enemy corp is alien farming, go find and and kill the dang ports. If you lose because someone keeps spoofing your scripts, well fix your scripts.

This is what's wrong with TW today, IMO. Too many people whine about the game instead of just playing it. Adapt or die.

Try and stay with the tone Sing.There is no whining.Or chesse!
This is code of conduct that I play by.
I dont expect you or anyone else to abide by it.
If someones uses lame tactic to "WIN" a game so be it but dont expect to get a "GG" from me.And I dont Need a win that bad to use them myself.I already have more "Real Wins" than i can count.
But to each his own as they say.
Note:This is my personal opinion and in no way represents the opinion of the EIS or its staff.
Cool breezes!

Ok, your personal code of conduct. But that's not what you said in the message...



What you said there is that if they don't follow your code of conduct maybe they're a loser and that they've somehow lowered themselves.

A "here's what I believe and try to do and you're welcome to do it if you like" is an open-ended live and let live kindof thing. Good for you. A "and if you don't do it, you're a loser" is a judgemental self-righteous PoS thing, and not so good IMO.

So you can kindof understand why it's hard to follow the tone of the thread...

Edit: I'm all for open debate and discussion. But it's not conducive to an open discussion to start the thread off w/ moralizing BS.

I'm a firm believer that if the game allows it and it's not against server rules that is is fair play.  Some of the things you mentioned aren't always the most ethical way to win, but never the less if you win it is still a win.
I suppose that is up to the individual and how high their standards are on whether they can live with the result of winning that way or not.
On my server I have 1 rule.   NO DUPING.   As long as they don't break that rule, I consider a win a win.   Not saying that if they used some of the tactics you mentioned above that I would ever corp with them in a game.
That's my opinion.  Yes I've heard that old saying about opinions.
 

I declare Sing the winner of this thread!

HAHAHAHHAHA is parrot head serious.. this is the code he lives by???   


This post has been edited to remove all the Portions that did not belong in this forum. Didn't move it, as it has already been stated in another thread. --- Silence

Carefull Stocky.  I'm sure he started this thread in the 2002 school forum for a reason.  Just to get a reaction like you just posted.  I topic like this SHOULD have been started in the SMACK talk forum.  It doesn't belong here.

Perhaps is the key word there.
Morals are between you and your soul/god whatever and have nothing to do with me.This game has No ranks /Trophies /Prize Money or Glory so a "Win" is all in the head.
The question is "If you use these tactics to 'Win' what have you Won?"
Do you keep a sheet of paper with gold stars on your frig?or do you play for some other reason?
Each one of use must anwser this question for themselves I think.My opinion on the matter only stands for me and me alone.
Questions about Megacorping ,Cheating etc come up quite frequently on this board and seem to spawn different answers from different peeps.
What will you do for a "WIN"? Hacking ,Tedit ,Spoofing ,Backstabbing Corpies, Port attacks ,Ping attacks ,Blowing Ports ,Breaking Server Rules ,upseting your fellow Tradewarriors and sysops?
Is it ok to "Cheat" to win? Of course its ok.Peeps have to live with their own Actions.Doesnt bother me one bit.Someone will bang another game tommorrow.
BTW..I started this in the School Forum so new peeps with questions on cheating/ megacorping etc could get the input of the entire community and make up their own mind on the issue.Lets try and be Adults and discuss a subject for the benift of new players without the smack.If that is not possible please start your own thread in the smack forum.Thanking You in advance for your thoughtful input.
-Fair Winds-
Note:This is my personal opinion and in no way represents the opinion of EIS or its staff.

I find it intresting that you agree on the other points...
I think some of those things can help a game end ...and some of them help a game end badly,,I remember a US Open that madea lot of people leave this game..right or wrong.....
Timming is an issue for a few of those things.....

One of my current games(still running) has only one corp of 3 of strong well known(to this board)players left as comp.Being that they are from the same part of the country and all dropped offline within a few minutes of each other and that the corp I am on has more resourses giving us the ability to invade at will if they went offline.What should I have done?
A)Killed them off and take their planets?Therein ending the game.
B)Wait till they can log back in so we can play on a level playing field.

It's an ANSI text game. A win is a win, a win is when someone beats the other players in the game. I don't need to get something for a win except the satisfaction of winning.

But now you're expanding these "rules" of yours to say that anyone that disagrees and does those things is somehow guilty of cheating. You even put mega corping and cheating in the same sentence, when clearly the 2 aren't always the same thing.

Hacking the server is against the law. If you do that you risk going to jail. Backstabbing corpies? Depends, but most of the time good corps are those that play from game to game... so it's hard to continue winning when you do that.

Port attacks, illegal. Ping attacks, illegal. Breaking server rules will get you banned. Upsetting your fellow tradewarriors, yes, there's nothing unethical about that at all and I'd say many times that's the rule of the game.

Anything that is illegal or against the rules of the game as set forth by the sysop is cheating. Everything else is not cheating. So by definition, you cannot cheat to win w/o risking jailtime or banning. If you're not violating the rules, then you're not cheating. That means that if the sysop hasn't declared mega corping to be a violation of the rules, then it's not cheating. It may be playing dirty, but it's not cheating. It's within the bounds of fair play.

Yes there are things that I personally would not do to win a game. What that means is that there are some times when I would be willing to accept a loss. Acting like Res, for example, and making nasty personal assaults is one of those "I wouldn't do" items. Not because it's somehow immoral, but because I simply prefer some civility in my games.

You talk as tho these things are somehow unethical if they're not against the rules. They're not. If it's not against the rules, it's allowed and is therefore not cheating. It may be a bit of gamesmanship and not nice, but that doesn't mean it's cheating. Why would someone "have to live with themselves" when by definition they've done nothing wrong? If a sysop wants to ban some of these things they are of course free to do so. If you play there you either accept those rules or not, and you either abide by them or risk being banned mid-game.



The irony here is that your own message is smack. It's not an open ended inquiry for opinions, it's an opinionated cry about things you personally dislike even when there's no real cohesive logic between them. Getting emotional with...



Is certainly pushing into offensive territory. It's making the broad generalization that everyone that disagrees with your position is somehow cheating, it's taking a false moral high ground. It is inflamatory rhetoric. It is smack talk.

Sigh. This from a mod. This is kingergarden stuff. Along with finger painting and nappytime, it's learning the difference between fact and opinion. It's learning to respect other people and share the toy box.

There is no such thing as a level playing field. To go smackish, that's inflamatory liberal crap. Invade their base or not, but realize it doesn't make you better for not invading. There is no moral or ethical side effects here. The only side effect is that your game will continue if you don't invade them and you run a greater risk of losing. What would I do? I'd invade. They should fix their shtick or learn to monitor the game better.

But what should others do? I don't care because it doesn't matter. Do what's effective, not what fits some primative sense of morality.