Injustice production was initially shut down in the middle of a corporate "squabble" between Cromforge and OPL.   OPL, with the help of squad OEC and agent Livia Pulcra, had destroyed Thorn production at Quantar Core and Corridor, but they were thwarted by a strong Quant defense at TriPoint.

Cromforge retaliated about a month later, completely shutting down all Injustice production -- a condition that remained for several months.  The only response to this was the apparent assassination on one Huey Luoto, a Cromforge employee listed as a Competitive Threat Analyst.

Recently, Octavius commissioned a faction mission to support OPL and bring Injustice production back online, but the mission had a limited number of supporters and was strongly opposed by Quantar factionalists.  Initial opposition was largely non-aggressive with Quantar raiding and taking OPL commodity supplies and later stripping Optics from all Oct stations.

With strong support from Omega Merchant Command and Solrain Guard, the FM was completed and plans were announced for a production kickoff ceremony on 105.10.1.  On the eve of that ceremony, Quantar factionalists secretly deposited large caches of explosives at the three primary Oct stations -- explosives that were later detonated by a Cromforge agent, Markus Eull while sympathetic Quantar pilots flew a suicide mission against superior numbers to cover him.

Unsurprising, the statement from Octavius and Quantar painted very different pictures with OPL claiming the raid killed 43 OPL civilian employees, while   Quantar's Fa'hil Memta alleged that OPL's real initiative was to re-engineer and improve the Letifer Virus.

Virus Cure Tests
99% Effective
Samsun and Quantar Officials Say Virus is "beaten"

In what appears to be the culmination of a contention process that pitted traditional allies against each other, Samsun announced that its clinical trails had yielded a 99.993% success rate.  Cromforge, who won the bid to produce he vaccine, has already begun ramping up production.

OMC Reinvents Itself
Former Factionalist Group Goes Multifactional, and Focuses on TRI Economy

Formerly knows as "Ghost Dogs" and Octavian Marine Command, OMC originated as a wing of the famed Octavian Empirius Command (OEC).  With recent changes within the Empire, OMC numbers had dwindled, and its leader, Dogzilla, recognized the need for change.

OMC now welcomes all Octavian, Solrain and Quantar pilots who are willing to dedicate themselves to supporting and improving the TRI economy.

The sixth official Jumpgate "Weekend of War" wargames were recently completed with the following results:

The final scores (kills minus deaths) were:

Evening's End        +384
Klatsches Hold      -278
Lothar's Landing    -327

The following medals were awarded to WoW participants:

All participating pilots from squad EE have been awarded Fight Club and Sarath's Wit, for their decisive win.  Members of Team KH received Sarath's Wit for taking second place, and  everyone who participated in the WoW VI exercise was awarded Keval's Thanks.

Individual honors went to Singleshot (Sarath's Rage) for highest overall score, and RavenTriem (Sarath's Laughter) for lowest overall score.

In addition to combat awards, RMD issued additional event recognition.  All three team leaders, as well as Osprey and RaiderOne were awarded Echoes of Hope for their organizational efforts.

Pilot mordikar was awarded TRINN star for his excellent photography.

ISTVAN'S UPDATE
They Can't Take the Sky From Us

This last week, Jumpgate marked an anniversary again, the fourth for the Live servers. We released in Europe in July 2001, so Jumpgate is more than four years old now, no matter how you look at it. How time does fly.

We've outlasted some competitors, such as Earth and Beyond, mostly through sheer tenacity and simply being unwilling to shut down. As I've said in the past, being inadvertently self-published has been a blessing in disguise. If we still had a publisher, they'd probably have turned Jumpgate off by now. Of course, if we'd had a real publisher at the start, perhaps Jumpgate would have received reasonable marketing, and there would have been more resources available over the last four years to improve the game faster. No use crying over spilled milk.

(continues ...)

Khronos' Korner
Perspectives on player-driven storyline and RP.

With the discussion surrounding passing the torch, this time around, it seemed like a good idea to discuss what it takes to get GM support for an event, be it IC or OOC, and what sort of support can you expect.

For OOC events (races, sim competitions etc), obtaining support is generally easiest, as the rule book is significantly smaller. In the case of GM provided prizes, the higher level the desired reward, the more work the competitors will be expected to perform to win their prize(s). Although, having said that, a prize match system exists. For every credit provided in the prize pool by players, TRI-RMD will match. The same with other prizes, such as equipment and artifacts. The key is communication – TRI-RMD will not donate prizes unless they are agreed to up front. Aside from prizes, other temporary support can be provided – like transient stations, equipment stocks etc. If special services are needed (cloaked ships, enforcers, TRI shuttles and the like), then these must be flown by the GMs – players are not permitted to fly these ships, even for OOC events. If you are not sure, ask up front – the worst that will happen, is I’ll say no, and you never know, I might actually say yes (especially if ice cream is involved J ).

(continues ...)

* * *

Khronos' is looking for YOUR questions regarding "dos" and "don't" as well as approaches to player-driven storyline development and management. 

Questions for Khronos' Korner can be sent to darkspace@jgcentral.net.

MMORPG.COM RATINGS ARE JUMPING!!!  Jumpgate is up to 7.5 on the MMORPG "game list" -- up from 5.8 (in July 2004) but we still need to go up A HALF POINT to get on the MMORPG front page.  

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

Click here for more . . .

Betrayal
a Jumpgate Novella by Fellblade
(reprinted with permission)

- Part V -

(Click here for the complete text of Parts V & VI)

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)         Vol. II,No.1 (105.1.25)         Vol. II,No.2 (105.2.26)    

Vol. II,No.3 (105.4.24)         Vol. II,No.4 (105.6.16)         Vol. II,No.5 (105.8.7)

 
Log-in or die

ConfluxWar    Joystick Required     JGCentral     

Jumpgate Pirate Radio (JPR)      MyRotacol      NetDevil