Crossfire Tales Comments

[Raging Mouse]

Awwright, writers! Let's keep this one alive, shall we? Now that things are heating up?

Also, What do you think about multiple writers per faction? Say, two equal writers or one 'main' and one 'secondary', or whatever...?

Happy Y2K. Let's keep on going 'til Y3K...

[Cotroneo]

Me and Jason have talked abit about this, and we are perfectly ok with letting you guys have another writer if you want.

Heck, i think Jason even wanted to duel the drones with someone, but i think he decided not to. But, Rage, feel free to grab another guy. Heck, we still got the cyborgs open, and morgans(although we don't need to fill them)

good writing....and sorry Raging Mouse, but if im still writing this story by Y3K, ill shoot myself.

[Bearcat]

I don't know about this. I've been doing this maybe illegally for a while. I'm dueling as the Cult and the Gaians.

[Jasonian]

Bearcat,

That's not illegal! No one was really covering the Gaians or Cult, so you're free to write for them both.

I think we only have three rules for this story.
1) To become a writer, you have to ask first.
2) If you're going to attack a faction with a writer, you have to talk it over with them first. Be reasonable.
3) Don't write about someone else's faction unless it is either a) unimportant or b) allowed by that faction's writer.

That's it... I think.

Oh, feel free to go search out other writers for your factions. Just make sure you clear them with the organization first.

[Googlie]

Complete Tales in .doc format.

Having taken over the mantle from Rynn of keeping the running tales in word.doc format, it is now available for downloading from my homepage (click on it above, beside profile, etc.)

It's up-to-date to midnight tonite, and these 285 pages I'll label as Book One.

Googlie

[Jasonian]

Hmm... so this is the official writer thread, eh? Any non-writers: leave now! Spoilers will be in here!!

I got an idea: while my drones are trying to get into the Iota Station datalinks, they could run across something about the capture of a pirate captain or the plot to sabatoge the MCC, or both. I could tell the Pirates, or try to rescue they guy from Alpha Prime (and maybe fail and get Venus killed or something) Sound good Dante, or do you have other plans in store for that guy?

[Cotroneo]

Sorry jason for doing that....i replaced my time discussion threads with: other stuff which i will fill in tomorrow (monday)
like information on the Apex Council
and some stuff about Plantery Council meetings in past.....if you guys have any suggestions about the meetings of the past, just tell me

[Cotroneo]

Crossfire writers: i have two things to mention.

1) about the time....the year is and has been 2235, until we decide otherwords

also the months/time/such is going to be the spartan chronicles way of doing it, so it makes more sense and is correct scientificly
although, we should decide on month names.

2)I have noticed recently within us Crossfire writers, that we are writing to much garbage, in my opinion...although this is only my opinion.

First, can a faction change "social engineering" in a matter of days...or weeks...even years. The answer is no!

so why do we write...that it just "happens", and some how our soldiers can be so "powerful" because we change to "fundamentalism" or "power". Don't you think that this would take time, and many people would be against it...revolts would be going on like crazyness.

also, how do you download energy?...what is energy after all. Perhaps one of us should explain what "energy" is, before we steal it.

we have to make this story seem more like a book than a story based on a game. WE shouldn't follow the rules...we should change them abit to make it good reading. Remember, we're not writing about a game that we just finished on smac. We are writing about a story which is evolving.

I know its difficult to understand what im saying... but evaluate your writing before you post. Do you think its to "fake"...yes i know we are talking about aliens and choas weapons and such....but does it sound "fake".

I am guilty for the same stupidness, but im trying to fix it. My advice to you writers is try to stay away from social engineering words like "green" and "power". What is green or power. Tell what it means to be a green person. Like people who belief in lowering green house gases... or don't believe in deep mining.

Hopefully, you guys won't hate me for saying this....but i thought i should say what im feeling. Please respond and tell me your feelings or critizicing on my own writing.

Take a look at other stories like the spartan chronicles, although were different stories, they make there stories almost feel like there real.

your humble Cotroneo

[Raging Mouse]

Gosh no, cotroneo.. I don't get upset about anything like a man's opinions. Have no fear.

However.
I feel that one of the merits of this story so fat has been the complete ignorance of time. It has made the story rather free, don't you think, as all the writers progress at their own pace. It's really good reading!

I know I have rewritten parts of the story I was about to post, because a relevant part was posted by another writer. And because I didn't have to cite any specific time, it didn't show. So for me, it could be year 2500 without it hurting the story.

Again, that's just MY opinion.


Hmmm. How do you steal energy? Probably some kind of battery is involved...?

Actually, a more sensible scenario would be that the probe-teams simply let vast amounts of energy leak into space, or whatever. As the world is operating an energy-based economy, this would lead to a decrease in energy for the victim, and a corresponding, relative increase in energy for the 'bleeder'.

[Barshy]

Yeah, I'd have to agree with Paul... And I a guilty of the same thing. Already I regret making even calling the new Believer economy "green" and I am attempting to make the transition as smooth as possible without making it too SMAC-like. i.e. "Now that our economy is green, our efficiency is higher but our population growth is down.."

See, what makes writing fun is that we take concepts from SMAC that seem too simple and explain in detail what is *actually* happening. For example, what in the world happens when you are playing the Morgans and you switch to fundamentalism? In the game, it happens in one second and you pay a measly 24 credits. But what would happen in real life? How can a man so dedicated to earning money for hundreds of years become fundamentalist at the same time without any qualms about it? Obviously, there'd have to be several pressures... maybe morale is low among the people and he pumps money into religious institutions and those churches become more successful at instilling faith in the people. I don't know, use your imagination.

I also agree with Raging Mouse with the time thing... I've mentioned time a few times, though i try not to b/c it's fun to have the readers (do we have any? ) imagine how much time is actually passing.

Anyways, i hope my opinions are not offensive or anything, i encourage everyone to post their opinions on writing styles and stuff... And like i said i am guilty of the same thing i'm criticizing.

[Jasonian]

Well, I'm in the middle of something else, but I couldn't let this one by!

Paul, congratulations. You have said quite plainly what the rest of us has seen, but were too afraid to post because me might offend someone or send the story a way we didn't think it should go.

In my email, I mentioned that the fine details that give the story depth. I failed to mention that there is a fine line between depth and tedium. Too many details takes away from the characters, the action, and the plot! Of course, we can't allow that to happen.

In all honesty, I've been trying to put as many of those details as I can. Instead of typing "Venus's team enters the base, carries out her plan, and claims it for the Free Drones!", I made a four post epic on it which I hope you enjoyed. On the other hand, I ran the risk of beeing too lenghy and thus, boring.

However, I disagree with you on several points. It's perfectly feasable to download energy. Say, if the energy is on a big central base battery, some evil probe teams could hook up their OWN battery, flip the switch, and have some of their own. Of course, there would be computers monitoring the energy flow, and they are the ones that the probes have to trick. It makes sense to me at least.

Also, about the time, it's not crucial. I've mentioned building things (one of my bases built several marine skimships, for example) and then just never said another word about it. I can assume that they are ready several posts down the line. In the game, it would take many years, but it the story, you don't know how long it's been. That way, I can't PROVE that it hasn't been years, and it all works out.

I, however, plan to make much chaos over my change from "Wealth" to "Knowledge." I'll go into what the two words really mean and say what a profound effect this will have, besides the new SE factors and the credits it will cost. Yes, there will be rioting in the streets. Way to give it away Paul

Well, I'm done. The Jasonian has spoken.


Happy posting!

Edit: I forgot my point! The point is, it's not "fake" if you justify it. "Planned" to "Green" in a day? Sure... if you can explain how it was done. If you can show the insanity caused by the change. If you can show the reactions to it. If you can't, or you don't, then I agree with Paul. It looks fake.
[This message has been edited by Jasonian (edited January 10, 2000).]

[Cotroneo]

I appreciate the votes of confidence...

i guess we will forget about the date/time thing....all we know is that the year is 2235....just because occasionally we need to know that...if we are doing flashbacks

if you want to have a "new years" just tell us...and we can agree when ever

[Jasonian]

Ok, my mid terms are over, so I'm back to writing a lot now. I bring this thread back to life!!

Topic 1: The pacts

It looks like the world is splitting in half. Now we don't have a bunch of struggling factions, but two strong allied factions (and a bunch of little guys). We have the "guy" pact, which is Demo/Knowledge, and we have the "gal" pact, which is Fundy/Green.

This makes an excelent plot device. Nice work whoever came up with this! Picture it: Planet War I. PWI. Since I have treaties with both Zak and Lal, looks like I'll be joining the "guy" team. The Pirates may come with me, since they need the Peacekeepers to save their skins.

The Angels might join the gals, seeing as they have vendettas with both guys. The cult may join the guys since it has vendettas with both gals. Sanitago could join gals for the whole blamed chemical strke thing. That's 4 on 4 right there. It is only coincidence that it really is guys against girls.

So what do you all think? A) Let's do it! B) Interesting, but not now. C) No comment. D) Ok, but I'm not joining sides. E) Forget the whole thing!

I vote for B to give us time to set it up.

[Raging Mouse]

I vote B. Of course, Lal is doing his best to PREVENT that scenario to happen, but I can understand if you think he sounds like a party-spoiler...

[Cotroneo]

D....I'm definitely in no shape for war....i think the spartans are in the middle of taking out my last base....acourse..sinder and raptor will find a way out...they always do.

but...if i were on a side, i would probably be against the guys