Monday, 7th March, 2005

Change in Sys¤ leadership

Because of the way things were done, many players were left unsatisfied and decided to depart from the squad. This led to even more dissatisfaction among some squad members, and so after discussing it, the bulk of LWMS decided to place a vote on a change in leadership. Feeling betrayed, Tom_Bombadil and Trystann left the System ¤ leadership and immediately joined the ranks of XT ,leading to a return of some old rivalries between the two squads.

KFH disbands

Killers For Hire was not recognized for playing too many squad games. It seems as though they were on the verge of disbanding, and the reforming of Z, leading to the departure of a KFH leader, Phrase, was the last drop causing the squad's disband. Indeed, a vote was put up in the KFH forum about disbanding after Phrase's departure, and as Badger put it, there was never more activity in the squad's forum than for the disband vote. This liberates many talented pilots which the community hopes to see join smaller squads. Pursuing this objective, Pook has asked squad leaders of the larger squads, XT, SysX and RT, to wait two weeks before recruiting KFH ex-pilots. However, because of new rivalries between XT and SysX, this may be difficult to execute, and the first move by any two squad will surely be followed by a total disregard for Pook's measure.

Z reforms

Vegeta was the founder of the Z fighters back in the late AZ days. The Z fighters were the bad boys of Allegiance, and the top of the competition for a while, with closest competitor LWMS ready to take their place. Winners of Tournament I, Z lost Tournament II to LWMS and eventually declined, Vegeta disappearing along with many other renowned Z figures pulling themselves from the World of Allegiance.
Vegeta then returned some years later and reformed Z. Things never really took off, partly because many former Z had now found new homes, and Z died a second time, with Vegeta disappearing into oblivion again.
Vegeta then returned some time later and reformed Z a second time. Because most original Z have either left or joined XT (or other squads), Z will and does recruit new talent as well as attempt to either recruit former members from other squads or have old players return. Z does seem more solid this time than its last rebirth, but only time will tell whether it is truly viable. It disbands shortly after Vegeta dissappears.
Vegeta is also notable for the creation of the Dreghklar Empire and Technoflux factions, and is hinting at producing a third faction: Z, leading many to ask how many factions is too many factions.

Sys¤T vs World event a moderate success

Large games are part of what makes Allegiance unique. No other FPS can allow so many players in the same game at once. Taking advantage of this feature, the Allegiance administration at large organizes large games, dating back to Solap's large games to today's Squad vs World games. The latest incarnation was the Sys¤T vs World game.

Originally, the game was organized in a fashion where System ¤ and Xenotech would ally against all other squad combined, and the Cadets, forming the World. Unfortunately, because of a poor turnout on the World's side, all players had to be allowed on the World's side, leading to a large influx of new and inexperienced players on the World's side.

Two games were played. ¤T showed about 40 players, while the World showed about 60 at a time.

The first game went as planned. Sys¤T had already announced that they would use IC EXP, and IC EXP they used. A simple rush of about 35 light interceptors went into World's (Bios, let by Picobozo) home, followed by a well protected outpost constructor. Upon entry, ¤T proceeded to destroy the enemy's Adv. Supremacy Center constructor and then whored the pilots to death. The game was drawn, as it was obviously going to be boring for the World.

The second game lasted exactly 2 hours. In order to give the World a fighting chance, ¤T, still commanded by NakPPI, used The Belters, which are strong but won't rush the same way. The World went Rixian Unity, commanded by Shizoku, taking advantage of its higher numbers. Although it was tough, ¤T was never really threatened, but had to work for their victory.

On WestEast, a map where both teams start with 2 garrisons (1 high, 1 low), ¤T pushed an op con forward high, and World pushed one center low. Having troubles with miner defense because of an overwhelming amount of SR scouts ripcording in enemy SFs, ¤T still managed to take over one of the World's home sectors, gaining a 3rd quarter of the map 15 minutes into the game with a triple bomb run. Using a sup, ¤T proceeded to Galv most of the World's expansion while the World was still able to mount a considerable offense on ¤T's miners.

The World then decided to go EXP, but it took two constructors. Indeed, the first one was destroyed by a fast ¤T assault, but the World eventually got its expansion complex up, along with stealth bombers. One particular bomber run by the World, using 1 bomber, 6 Nans and about 21 interceptors, was threatening but unsuccessful because of the way the aleph clearance was conducted (see movie). The World was only mildly successful with its stealth bombers, making successful assaults mostly on ¤T's shipyards (with Saramin solo'ing ¤T's second one). Indeed, ¤T resorted to capital ships to take over the World. Priority was given to the World's stealth bombers because they were hitting deep inside the territories. Two assault ships were used, bombers ripped in, and the TAC was destroyed. Another assault ship was then used on the expansion complex, which was also destroyed. A Missile Frigate was then sent in to destroy the World's last garrison and win the game.

Here are the statistics and related media:

Stats captured by Noir. Please note that overall base kills were 10 for the World to 9 for ¤T. Overall kills/deaths were 726/112 for ¤T, and 348/224 for the World.

The ¤T vs World movie.

	Game 1: ¤T's home a few seconds after launch.
	Game 1 on the World's side. Picture by Shizoku.
	Game 2 now, with more spots to launch from.
	¤T's miner defense (notice the minimap where the World's home is about to be taken).
	The World's home is taken as Saramin is defended against.
	The remnants of those who got the World's home, now heading for more targets.
	One of ¤T's strategies with Sup - moving SR carriers forward and ferociously defending them.
	The World takes advantage of the numbers and camps ¤T's Tele to bomb it.
	The World's bomber is then too ambitious and is killed.
	To give you an idea of the game size, as World miners are assaulted.
	Assault ships are deployed to destroy all the enemy's technologies.
	Proper defense against SBs - keep them from flying at all - Defiance.
	What that looks like from inside.

One week later, Sys¤ and XT were going against each other in a squad game to end all squad games. Because of new rivalries since the change in leadership and after sharing the same team to take over the World, the squads fought it out in a merciless match using their best tactics. Most pilots felt like returning from a marathon after the game which was highly intense throughout and in which many pilots participated (up to 18 per side). Here is a short and accurate summary by Snack@XT from this forum thread:

"Map was Star, IC vs IC.

At the start both teams pushed their forward bases. XT went straight EXP, while SysX surprisingly went TAC It immediately paid off for SysX as they swarmed one sector with SFs and destroyed 2 miners at the very start of the game.
XT didn't buy any more miners, but defending only two of them made it somewhat easier. After a while XT started destroying SysX miners as well, but unlike Nak, Grey kept buying new ones.

In the mid-game, SysX had more of the map (like 7 sectors) placing XT with 5 at considerable disadvantage. XT got the Hvy Ints like a minute after SysX had them, with SysX having tactical lab as well.
SysX used extra money for buying Adv Miners and eventually in late game - Stealth Bombers.
At the end of the mid-game, XT lost all their miners just as we were able to buy the HTTs.

Finales were quite intense, as our first HTT attempt on SysX EXP (which was next to XT controlled sector) failed. We were hoping they wouldn't be able to defend with Hvy Ints packing only mini1, but they even had the money to get the Mini3 (which we have stolen later on).
You can probably tell that didn't look very good for XT. They had more sectors, they had some adv miners left, they had Hvy Ints with Mini3 and Stealth Bombers were starting to attack us.
We had no miners, barely could afford HTTs and were packing stolen Mini3 eventually.
Then we did a really nice run on their Adv EXP from two sectors. From one sector we started a bomb run with some Nans/Hvy Ints and from the other with two HTTs a more Nans and Hvy Ints It paid off as we were able to slightly distract and eventually overcome their defenses.

After that if became really furious as we pushed advantage on to capture another OP on our way to their Adv Tactical laboratory. Couple of teleports got bombed in the process as well. SysX managed to bomb one of our ops in the mean time and tried to bomb our original EXP but failed.

Next after having captured their Adv EXP and Op, we pushed to Adv TAC, but the pain the horror, we got stopped by adv SFs, Lt Ints and scouts.
This gave SysX time to get Adv EXP con out and send it to Adv TAC sector as well. However we were operating full force in there and killed the con as it was about to build.
Next the Adv TAC fell in our hands as well, with Garrison only a minute after."

Both squads felt extremely satisfied with this match that now set the record to 2-2 between them, forcing the players to keep their opponent in respect until the next encounter can be enjoyed.