THE DARKSPACE DISPATCH

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a chronicle of the Jumpgate^tm US game server published periodically by jgcentral.net
Volume I, No. 3	104.10.2.22.35

Conflux Resurgence Spells
Trouble for TRI

The conflux menace, long a fact of life for TRI pilots, is starting to look more "menacing." Although the Conflux have long been a threat to unwary pilots, they were generally dealt with without too much trouble. Specialists in New Dawn and other squads had studied and analyzed their behaviors thoroughly and developed proven tactics to handle conflux of almost all levels.

Now conflux behaviors have begun to change, suggesting that they, too are adapting -- or evolving. Recent conflux sorties into TRI space have included unusual "scouting" behaviors. Incursions have included attacks on faction stations, attacks on the Biomass Producer in sector "The Dark", unexplained activity of a sentient Conflux "Jellyfish" at a subspace transceiver in Oct Shore. Conflux sentients have also been able to hack into the KTRI broadcasting system, sending threatening message out to all pilots.

While infestation activity has slowed, sentient activity has picked up -- including the appearance of "Thrice Seven" sentients. Sentient "hives" have also been found in Canis, Outer Depths, Outer Third and Mokk's Battlefield. Hive sectors have been origination points for most of the recent attacks.

On a positive note, the CLAWS arrays have gone live and have provided early warning on several attacks. Pilots can also now track sentient conflux and conflux swarms using their onboard cartography system.

octavius.jpg (8232 bytes) Octavians Blame TRI for
Inefficiency Against Flux

The three Octavian emperors have shown unprecedented unity in condemning TRI and calling it a "bloated and inefficient beast." The Octavians have raised suspicions about TRI's shielding technology, even suggesting that TRI's shield monitors may have purposes other than monitoring shields.

The imperial triad has decided to establish a Division of Conflux Science and Defense within the Octavian Ministry of War.

Although Octavians, Solrains and Quantar have been at odds almost as longs as any can recall, they have typically pulled together to fight any serious Conflux threats. This fracturing of pilot unity against the Conflux may ultimately present even more threat to TRI than the new Conflux tactics and increased sentient activity.

mining.jpg (2765 bytes) Miner Shortage Means Commodity Shortage

Coinciding with the recent disappearance of GrimGriz and DSM, miners in general seem to be in short supply -- resulting in shortages of several base commodities including Carbon, Cesium, Copper, Palladium, Silicon and Water. While critical equipment stocks have not yet been affected, without a rededication to mining, equipment supplies will be affected sooner or later.

Of particular concern is the chronic water shortage. The required rationing at all stations has resulted in low morale and poor production efficiency.

jpr_logo.jpg (3646 bytes) JPR Gets Ready to Break Radio Silence

JPR broadcasts, which had been regular events each week, and which all TRI pilots genuinely looked forward to, have dwindled in recent weeks. Officials at the "Fabulous Cabana Room" at Great Pillars Station are distraught as their revenues have dropped precipitously.

But hold on to your headsets, as recent word is that JPR is in the process of a corporate restructuring and will be back soon with new and old favorites, as well as an extended rebroadcast schedule.

Stay tuned for more updates!

Special Feature:
a Jumpgate Novel
(art imitates life for TRI pilots in this novella by Newtron. In fact, some of the events are so eerily familiar, one wonders where the line between fact and fiction might be. )

CHAPTER ONE

It was really the strangest thing you were ever likely to encounter in space, thought the Octavian pilot, and that’s saying a lot. He toggled the targeting system through the objects that appeared on his radar; these showed up as three-dimensional images on his Heads-Up Display’s small representational imager just to the left of his screen. There he observed the images of the Jumpgates for the galactic sectors, both The Stith and The Sea of Shadows, just as they should be -- the clouds of charged particles swirling among the electro-mechanical petal assemblies. But where the Jumpgate to the Aman Hook sector should have been, there was now something very, very different.

Ten thousand meters away there was a huge pinkish-purple object. The TRI-Bureau of Conflux Studies had classified this type of oddity an “Infestation.” In shape it reminded the pilot of an apple turnover.

“Biggest damned pastry in the galaxy.” he mused.

It was big indeed, the size of a small space station. It completely engulfed the four Jumpgate assemblies, hiding the gate and effectively barring access through to the Aman Hook sector. Jets of pink vapor escaping from its corners gave the pilot the weird sensation of watching a living thing; -- like a termite mound or a hornet’s nest. The analogy wasn’t far off. The TRI-BCS had determined that Infestations were the product of an artificially produced nanobiological virus, planted by the Conflux. The parasite grew very quickly, literally before your eyes, engulfing whole space stations, or in this case a Jumpgate, while drawing all the power it needed from its host in the process.

The pilot, who called himself Plasma, because all the better names were already taken, inched his fighter in for a closer look. These things might be pink but he knew they were tough; it took tactical nuclear missiles to even put a dent in one. His ship’s own lasers and ammo would be useless and the anti-aircraft missiles his fighter carried would be no better -- might as well just take a few pretty pictures and contact HQ.

Continue Reading . . .

Jumpgate/US Numbers Fall ... and Rise

Recent disenchantment with the management of the JG/US community led to a significant decline in the numbers of active players on the US server -- some defecting to EU. While tempers have cooled and some have returned, average "prime-time" online numbers which were running close to 80 are now averaging 30 to 40.

There have been recent signs of resurgence, however, as online numbers were about 60 for the recent JG/US birthday celebration as well as for a recent Conflux attack "event".

Hourly online activity (US) over the past week can be found HERE.

GAME DEVELOPMENTS.

Patch 1.0095 released on 105.9.15. While this was not a new-features "Blockbuster", it included several fixes as well as game improvements like the swarm indicator on the map, adjusted flux loadouts, adjusted flux targeting (so it's not-quite perfect), changed the sector spawn algorithm, made the docking ring colors indicate whether docking speed was too fast (they're yellow at>100v; green at <100v). It was suggested that some of the patches are precursors to impending "big" improvements.

New Players - Although the "Fresh Meat" stats have been "broken" for quite some time, Darkspace Dispatch has been doing some manual monitoring of new player additions. Between 104.9.23 and 104.10.2 (10 days), 42 new players had joined.

Some of the factors driving this may be the shut-down of the E&B servers and the Jumpgate 3rd birthday press release pick-ups. Whatever the reason we hope the trend continues.

Hopefully, all JG vets will recognize the value of new players and will make a special effort to make the JG experience a great one for new players during their 10-day trials, to help ensure as many as possible hang on and become regulars.

MMORPG.COM RATINGS continue to improve. The Jumpgate rating in the MMORPG "game list" is now 6.9 -- up from 5.8 (in July). WE STILL NEED MORE GOOD RATINGS! Jumpgate deserves to be UP THERE with other games like Anarchy Online (rated 8.2), Eve (8.2), Planetside (8.1) and Star Wars Galaxies (8.0).

In order to be able to rate a game, you need to register on MMORPG.COM, and then work up your user-rating by making a few posts -- which should not be hard at all for hard-core gamers. And you can plug JG in your posts, too! ;)

A small investment of your time could be invaluable in helping revitalize the player-base.

WANT TO GET INVOLVED WITH DARKSPACE DISPATCH? If you have story/article ideas, or any other kind of suggestions, let us know! Volunteers to write stories and articles, create artwork, take screenshots of "storyline" and "news" events (even videos!), or record (voice) sidebar reports on some of the key stories -- ALL would be welcome.

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Some Very Useful Jumpgate Links . . .

ConfluxWar Joystick Required JGCentral Jumpgate Pirate Radio (JPR)

JumpgateWeb MyRotacol NetDevil =Mack-Station= Pilotstats.net