Writer's Workshop

[Kody]

I'm going to attempt to refine what Tassadar started on the ACDG introduction. People give suggestions, be critical as possible about what you think doesn't work and also say what you think works well. We also might need a picture or two as graphics usually impresses people .

I'll probably be editing my post quite regularly too.

Tassadar wrote:

Welcome to the Alpha Centauri Inter-Factional Democracy Game.
First off, if you don't already know, Sid Meiers Alpha Centauri (or "SMAC" as its called by fans) is a very nice Turn Based Strategy created from the mind of Brian Reynolds, also the mastermind behind Civilization 2. In our democracy game (and we'll explain that in a minute) we'll be using the expansion pack as well, Alpha Centauri Alien Crossfire (or "SMAX") for this game however it is not required if you just want to take part in the role-playing element.
Anyway, by now you must be wondering what exactly this "interfactional democracy game" is? Well, for the most part this game is like your traditional PBEM (Play-by-e-mail). You play your turn, save, and send it to the next person. However, there is one very important difference between most PBEMs and this one.
Instead of one individual player playing each faction, we have several players playing each faction. Each of these factions sets up a government and creates positions. For example, The government structure may be something like this (Note that the people on top have higher authority, and the people on bottom have lesser authority):

PRESIDENT
|
|
VICE PRESIDENT
|
|
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MINISTER OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
|
|
|
MINISTER OF DIPLOMACY

And so on. One person is elected to each position and has control over anything that falls within the category of their position. For example, the "Minister of Diplomacy" as displayed above may have control over interactions with other factions, but would not have control over what is to be built in bases. Please note that there is no standard and some factions may have 3 government positions and others have 33. The people elect other players to these positions (hence "democracy" game). Each of these is done at an interval agreed by most players of the faction. For example, the entire government may be re-elected every 1 month in real time in FACTION A, while in FACTION B the government may be re-elected every 4 INGAME Turns. However, this does not end the job of the people.
In addition to electing government officials, the people also vote on government decisions. For example, if the MINISTER OF INFRASTRUCTURE has the option of building a "Recreation Commons" in a base called "Washington", then he will post a poll which will ask the people if they wish to build a Recreation Commons, another base, nothing at all, write-in, or "xenobanana".
"Xenobanana? Whats that?" Xenobanana is an option that most polls will have. If this option gains more than fifty percent of the vote, then the poll is deemed invalid, oudated, and is discarded. Of course, the poll will automatically be discarded if it violates the rules of a factions constitution.
What is a constituion? Each faction has the option to create a constituion or "set of rules" which will detail what is or is not allowed, government positions, etc etc. Some factions may opt out of creating a constitiuion if they so wish.

Now that you know the basics of the Inter-Factional Democracy Game, it's time to join! These are the factions avalible:

THE HUMAN HIVE - This faction plays the SMAC faction known as "The Human Hive" (hence its name). The current leader of The Human Hive is "Chairman Voltaire".
THE FREE DRONES - This faction plays the SMAC faction known as "The Free Drones" (also hence its name). The current leader of The Free Drones is "Forman Buster".
THE CYBERNETIC CONSCIOUSNESS - This faction plays the SMAC faction known as "The Cybernetic Consciousness" (again hence its name). The current leader of The Cybernetic Consciousness is "Function Maniac".
PLANET UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY - This faction plays the SMAC faction known as "The University of Planet", but has changed it's name. The current leader of this faction is "Dean Archaic".
PEACE - This faction plays the SMAC faction known as "The Nautilus Pirates", but has changed it's name. The current leader of this faction is "Hercules".

Each of these factions are great factions and I would highly recommend all of them. However, you can only join one faction and once you join, you cannot leave and join another faction so make your choice carefully!
Once you have decided, it is time to join the faction of your choice. You can make your selection here. After you have made your selection, you will have to wait for the leader of the faction you have chosen to approve you. After that: Welcome to the Alpha Centauri Democracy Game and have fun!

I wish to join the HUMAN HIVE (Human Hive)!

I wish to join the FREE DRONES (Free Drones)!

I wish to join the CYBERNETIC CONSCIOUSNESS (Cybernetic Consciousness)!

I wish to join PEACE (Nautilus Pirates)!

I wish to join the PLANET UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY (University of Planet)!

[Kody]

Thread Title:
For new members. The Alpha Centauri Democracy Game, an introduction


Contents
* Introduction
. . . .The computer game Alpha Centauri
. . . .Roleplaying
. . . .Government & Diplomacy
* Teams
. . . .The Hive Team
. . . .The Cycon Team
. . . .The Peace Team
. . . .The University Team
. . . .The Drones Team
* Being Involved In The ACDG
* Joining In
* Extract from Hive IC Story - part II

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Introduction
The Alpha Centauri Democracy Game is based upon the computer game Alpha Centauri. It is often referred to by the abbreviation ACDG. There are 5 teams of humans that are playing in this game. In addition to the playing of the actual computer game, the teams are roleplaying, running their own internal governments that decides on and executes decisions and most importantly having fun interacting with each other.

Our time is mainly spent on roleplaying, playing the game and running the government & diplomacy. A new member can contribute to any of these aspects of our game, and does not have to become involved in an aspect they are not interested in. These three aspects of our game will be discussed briefly.

The computer game Alpha Centauri
Alpha Centauri is a turn based strategy game that has a loyal following of gamers due to it's complexity. Unfortunately the same complexity prevented it from being accepted as a mainstream game. However, most of the people here are unfazed by that.

The game Alpha Centauri is set in a futuristic world where earth is dying. In a last ditch effort to save the human race the space ship Unity was built and sent to the nearby star Alpha Centauri. A couple of decades later, the colonists arrived and began their approach to a planet they named Chiron. However, things did not go to plan as space debris hit the ship forcing the colonists to crash land. This combined with an assassination of the captain, broke the chain of command and caused the survivors to break up into 7 separate factions with different ideologies.

The game begins as you crash land on the world. You need to built up your cities, and rediscover much of the technology that was lost in the crash. You also have to contend with the other 6 factions that are somewhere else on the planet. However, that's not all, as this brave new world is also an alien world. As you progress through the game you have to learn about and understand the planet you have landed on.

Usually one or two people from each faction are nominated to play the game turns. These people usually take the advice and directions of their team mates, then make the moves in the game before pass it on to the next team. Currently, the game is progressing at 1 turn every 5 days. At this rate it is expected the game will finish in a year to a year and a half.

Roleplaying
Roleplaying is about imagining yourself in a interesting situation or having a different persona. It's about acting out a character.

In this case you're pretending to be someone in the futuristic world of Alpha Centauri. The type of roleplaying depends on the faction you decide to join. The different teams have come up with varying ideas on how to roleplay in their faction. So you should probably have a look at the individual descriptions of each faction.

There are many ways to roleplay in the ACDG. It is doubtful anyone will try and restrict you, but it's easier if you're with people that like to roleplay in the same ways. So far it appears the favourite ways of roleplaying are in writing stories, writing newspaper articles, roleplaying your position in the government, writing diplomatic messages, and making jokes while acting out your character.

Government & Diplomacy
The majority of factions are running a democracy for their government system. This means that many decisions are voted upon. Decisions have to be debated with arguments and reasoning before approval can be made for all major decisions. Inside each faction there is a government hierarchy, and work is distributed among the members according to their government position.

Diplomacy occurs within a team in convincing other team members of ideas and running for elections. External to the team there is inter-factional diplomacy. This involves mainly alliances and trading in the early stages of the game. When the first global council is called it is expected that issues of global important will also be decided.

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Teams
The differences in the team aren't only in their roleplaying descriptions. They're also different in the way they are run, what they spend their time doing, and how they roleplay.

The teams have different governing systems and command structures. This is highlighted in the descriptions each team has provided. The priorities of each team also vary, with some giving high priority to the technical aspects of the game and others to roleplaying.

This can be divided even further. Certain teams will likely stress aggressive game play or prefer to build up their forces for the long run. In roleplay, certain factions may place high emphasis on roleplaying while making decisions. Other factions may prefer to use story writing or newspapers as the main outlet of their roleplay.

Which faction you choose should depend on what you are interested in. Once you have committed to a team you cannot change teams. This is to prevent secret information from being leaked into other factions. If you have joined a team and find you don't like it, your only opinions are to attempt and change way the team is being run or quit. Enforcing your will on all your team mates is going to be difficult so you should try and choose the team you want to join carefully.

The Hive Team
The Cycon Team
The Peace Team
The University Team
The Drones Team

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Being Involved In The ACDG
People are involved in this game because it allows them to interact with other people. Some of the participants are here to learn the game from the experts that are playing. Others like to write articles or stories and show them to others in their team. Roleplaying with your team members can be something fun to do every now and again. Most often people come to this place just for an excuse to talk and share jokes.

Having others to play with is a major part of the ACDG and interacting with the others is what makes it fun. This is why we are always interested in new members.

It's not necessary to devote large amounts of time to the ACDG. Some members spent less than 1 hour a week making a few comments. If you are interested in more commitments then there are always jobs available. How much you want to get involved depends on what you decide.

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Joining In
If you are interested in joining, you should first be fairly sure which team you will fit into best. One mistake people make is joining a team based on which faction they have enjoyed playing in the past. The differences between the teams are more than just what their faction can do.

You can only join one faction, and once you join that faction you will be unable to change to a different faction. This is because many of the game secrets are shared among team members, and allowing someone to change between factions may result in one team’s secrets being told to another team.

It is suggested you read each faction's description before making your decision.

Once you have chosen the faction of your choice you should look at the links at the top of the page. The links highlighted in the below picture allow you to join a faction, leave a faction and after you have joined the private forum link will appear there. These links will only be visible when you are in the ACDG forums.


To join, you click on the join link associated with your chosen faction then send a private message to the leader of the faction. Do not attempt to join multiple teams at the same time, as you will get rejected by all of them. This is so that game secrets won't get leaked out by someone that has access to multiple teams.

The factions and team leaders to private message are listed below.

Join the: Hive Team Leader: Voltaire Description: The Hive Description	Join the: Cycon Team Leader: Drogue Description: Cycon Description	Join the: Peace Team Leader: Hercules Description: Peace Description
Join the: University Team Leader: Archaic Description: University Description	Join the: Drones Team Leader: Buster Description: Drones Description	Computer Players: Believers Data Angels

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Extract from Hive IC Story - part II
The world revolves. It turns, changes, and yet remains the same for some. Water flows, currents drift, and wind carves the landscapes beauty. Even the most resolute stone cannot help but be altered by the forces of time. What abnormality caused Rokossovky to remain stagnant through all of this? How did the world revolve past him, around him, but leave him standing, a dam in the river? This was the question he pondered.

“How did you manage to get a bigger office than me?”

HongHu laughed lightly at the question as she stood from her desk. “Well my dear Marshal if you hadn’t ran off for all that time I’d probably still have the smaller one.”

“Can I help if it matters more important than politics call me away for a time?”

“Marshal, even YOU should have noticed that in the Hive politics IS the most important. Mind worms go away; the party is a little more concrete. You should learn to dangle the carrot for it more often.”

“Ah, the party. I must say that I find this most amusing coming for you, the one who has slapped the carrot in the face of the party, the people, and the chairman.”

“Nonsense, I told them all that my term as Deputy Chairman would be finite. I did my duty.”

“Why do you not continue to serve?”

“A desire for peace, I suppose. A longing for a simpler existence.” This note hit a cord with the Marshal. Peace was a word which appeared very often in his dreams, but so little in his life. …the sky… he would think, alone in his restful fiction …the night sky, the pure expression of peace. So alive, yet so still and calm. There are not clashes, no politics, only existence. Black and white, light and dark. Twinkling in our view, far away; and even farther beyond our reach…

“I can understand that.” Rokossovky’s mood was sombre now, as he was forced to consider real life and his absence of peace. He was unsure, as always, as to what would indeed bring it to him. He did know that peace did not involve declining opportunities to advance; but he knew HongHu was a different person with a different view on life. That he truly could comprehend. “Well anyway, now that you’ve found YOUR peace, where shall we go for supper? I suspect you are rather hungry after a full day packing.”

“Somewhere quiet. I’d like to start my new life quietly.”

Rokossovky looked at his watch. …01:30…the maintenance crew should be done by now… “Are you up for a bit of adventure? A quiet one though, I promise”

“It depends on what you mean?”

“My cooking.”

HongHu let out another small laugh. “I’m sure it is far from an adventure.”

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The Alpha Centauri Democracy Game, an introduction - by Kody

[Nubclear]

Very good, though get rid of the "LINKS" picture and just put the links in yourself. Less confusion.

You can copy-paste mine if you want.

[Kody]

I know, but they need to learn how to use those links. We had one new member that took 3 days to figure out how to get into our private forum. I had to explain via PM to fix that problem.

[Kody]

Well I need to think of a good roleplay story to tag on the end of that. Then it'll be up to each team to come up with their descriptions. Also pointing out spelling or grammar mistakes will be appreciated.

[Kody]

Okay I hope everyone has been busy planning what they're going to write about their faction. The main document just needs people to read over it and remove any possible errors. Then addition of the links to the other descriptions.

Can I get confirmation from each faction that they intend to submit something? If you're not planning on submitting I'll throw something together. However it will be nowhere near as good compared to if someone from your faction wrote something.

[Kody]

If anyone has suggestions for a better roleplaying segment....

It should be stronger and more interesting, but I'm restricted in what I can reveal about what is happening in the game. I can make it very generic, but that means it's just the same as the rest of the AC stuff out there and doesn't relate well to what is occuring in the ACDG.

[Kody]

IMPORTANT

Can people confirm whether their team is going to give a description of their faction? Even if you don't know just say you've read this.

I'm wondering if the title is causing people to not read this, and if nobody responds I going to try make a new thread with a different title.

[GeneralTacticus]

I have read it, and I do intend to write up a factional description at some point.

[Hercules]

Five in a row. Yes we'll provide a description and the title does confuse.

[Maniac]

Read.

[Snowflake]

Provost GT, are you the current leader of the University? Just curious.

[GeneralTacticus]

Half-leader. Archaic is technically leader, but I have the authority to play the turns and so on, and he's been rather inactive lately, so I'm probably the highest-ranking person in the PUT atm.

[Kody]

Hive description at this time

You should join the hive because we really need new members to help spread out some of the workload.

[jtsisyoda]

I read this, but I don't know of any Drone plans to write anything.