Conflux attacks on TRI stations and their assets have increased in number and severity over the past couple of weeks.  In an alarming trend that began with an attack upon Solrain's Cornea station, the conflux have systematically been targeting the market  areas of stations where critical supplied are stored, damaging both commodity stores and equipment inventories.

While the first major attack destroyed only commodity stores, subsequent attacks have been more damaging, destroying critical equipment reserves at Great Pillars, Corridor, Octavius Core and Solrain Core.  At Corridor, the Conflux bombardment caused a ceiling to collapse, critically injuring station Governor Sathama Randi.

"It almost seemed as if the Conflux knew exactly where to focus their attacks to hit where it hurt us most." said one TRI official who asked not to be named.  The precise nature of the later attacks has led to rumors that Conflux sympathizers have infiltrated TRI stations and are somehow "painting" target areas during the attacks.

The coordinated attacks on Corridor and Octavius Core showed a classic "divide and conquer" strategy where the Conflux attacked Corridor until defenses arrived, and then launched an attack at Oct Core.   When pilots left Quantar space and headed towards Oct space, the Conflux resumed the attack at Corridor, which resulted in the destruction of key equipment including Instigators, Sport Plus, Guzzlers, Havens and FlashFires.

"The destroyed Havens alone were valued at over 4.7 billion credits.  This is just a disaster," remarked a distraught Corridor market official.

Septio Interrogation Confirms Letifer Connection

Queliar Neamru II, Station Governor at Tripoint, confirmed earlier Darkspace Dispatch reports that pilot Septio had connections to the Solrain official known as Letifer, who had been implicated in the Solrain/Quantar bribery scandal and, ultimately, the murder of the iconic Quantar leader, Malum Ionus -- a.k.a. Brother Io.

While Neamru gave official confirmation of earlier rumors, no new information was released and pilot Courier still remains at-large.

Announced T&P Hiring of Vae Victis "Pirates" is Disputed

On 105.1.18, squad Vae Victis issued a press release stating that it has received a "commission" from Tens & Piney:

Solrain corporation Tens & Piney have purchased a commission from the squad Vae Victis to serve their needs. Effective immediately, Vae Victis will change its focus, as declared by the contract between T&P and Vae Victis command.

. . . and continued . . .

Vae Victis commander draiocht had this to say:
"We were approached by an anonymous representative of T&P who offered us a reasonable sum for our services. While this agreement is not permanent, it has been set for an indetermined amount of time."

The announcement caused significant confusion since Vae Victis had, until that time, operated primarily as a pirate organization, wile Tens & Piney is one of the oldest Solrain corporations employing more than 112,000.

The T&P response was swift :

"Tens & Piney categorically denies any part, or knowledge of the 'deal' mentioned by TRI squad Vae Victis in their recent press release.

"By falsely associating Tens & Piney with their activities, Vae Victis has attempted to drag our good name down to their level. This is totally unacceptable, and as such, we have decided to take a strong stance against these illiterate pirates. Effective immediately, Tens & Piney is offering a reward of three hundred thousand credits for confirmed rips of Vae Victis pilots. . . ."

It is not known how many T&P "bounties" have been paid to date, nor what Vae Victis hoped to accomplish by announcing a fictitious business arrangement.

DSD exclusive feature!
ISTVAN'S UPDATE
The Asteroid Graphics Upgrades

The new asteroid textures that were added in patch 1.0097 were a long-awaited change to the look of Jumpgate. The new textures are double the resolution and have vastly increased color depth compared to the originals. Those original textures, besides being created more than five years ago, under older graphical standards and constraints, were not very realistic. Broad color coding was used to identify the type of asteroid and its ore content. This was good from a gamist approach, but interfered with Jumpgate's appearance as a spaceflight simulation, age of the graphics notwithstanding. I've also heard some of the comments about the color of the common rocks....

(Read More . . .)

JPR News - One of the cornerstones of JPR, WileE Coyote has formally announced his retirement.  He will be hosting a final broadcast bash from the "Fabulous Cabana Room" at Great Pillars station on 104.1.28 at 8p Ekoos Time.

Jumpgate Pirate Radio has also initiated 24x7 broadcasts along with automated request processing.  The new automated programming has been facilitated by DJ rt-mus.

JPR will also continue to feature its "live" programming primarily during weekend prime-time slots.

MMORPG.COM RATINGS
Jumpgate still remains at  6.6. To get on the MMORPG.com front-page list of "Highest-Rated MMORPGs" we need to get the rating to 7.4 or better.  This will take community commitment!

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.

OTHER GAMING SITES
TO "UTILIZE"

Over time there's been a lot of talk about "guerilla marketing" but the efforts have not always been consistent.   If you believe in Jumpgate, you may want to monitor forums some of the following sites and drop in a JG "plug" in appropriate places -- "appropriate" being the key word since spamming is severely frowned upon at these places.

Penny Arcade
NeenerNeener.net
Frugal's World of Simulations

If you either WANT to receive  Darkspace Dispatch by email or WANT TO BE REMOVED from the mailing list simply email us:
darkspace@jgcentral.net

While being consistent with pilot logs can be somewhat time-consuming and can eat into "cockpit time," they can enhance the game experience significantly.  Two recent pilot logs by Dari3l and DireCoyote are excellent examples on how to use the Pilot Log well. While Dari3l has used the more traditional running diary form, DireCoyote has set the stage for a plot-line.

While writing a pilot log does not automatically guarantee good RP and guarantee acceptance and participation by others, it is a good way to communicate your ideas IC as well as "testing the waters" to see if certain plotlines will "fly."

To date, most Pilot Logs have been published on JOSSH in the Fiction Forum, other sites have forums dedicated to pilot logs, like JGCentral's Jumpspace Journals.

Not everyone likes to write -- but if it's something you enjoy, I recommend taking some time after an evening's flight time to record what happened from an IC perspective . . . tell the "story" of your evening's enjoyment of Jumpgate.  You may be surprised at the result, and where it leads you.

Darkspace Dispatch Back-Issues

Vol.   I, No 1 (104.7.24)           Vol. I, No. 2 (104.8.12)           Vol.   I, No. 3 (104.10.2)          Vol.   I, No. 4 (104.10.2)

Vol. I, No. 5 (104.12.7)       Vol. I,No.6 (104.12.28)

 
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