My Honest Opinion: By Spike Shepard Player ID: #846030

My honest opinion of Faction Wars is that the prizes never match the experience gain. In the last clan war, I gained 3 levels then struggled for the next month to find enough niodes to level up my niode mechs. It was only down to a rent party and having to sell my Megazome that I won for being in the top 5 in the faction for wins.

It then took me another 2 months to afford the equipment to fill the slots on the niode mechs. That's just my personal problem but better prizes to match the effort and experience gain would be much appreciated.

As for the factions themselves there was a lot of fixing on the levels front! Currently you must have at least 35 pilots BUT only the bottom 2 don't count. That's a world of hurt for many clans there as certain clans (trying not to mention a certain clan) who whack in their high-level players with their low level campers and POW instant gold!

If you discount 2 pilots for a minimum of 8 then you need to discount the 10 lowest pilots for factions of 35 of more to even the playing field in all fairness and to stop certain clans from walking to gold. If they want a Gold they should be made to fight for it. Those are my main gripes, but fingers crossed you'll take them on board Nick Shapiro.

Another Opinion On The BBQ - By John Ringo #899287

So today I sat down at my terminal with a hot cup of my favorite morning beverage and loaded up the FB MG Player’s Page to get caught up with what’s, what and who’s, who. Before the page finished loading so I could read it my terminal’s thermal alarms started screeching like a flight of Valkyries coming to claim the dead. The monitor started to warp and sag before busting into flames setting off the fire suppression system in my office.  Now that my warm and fuzzy feelings about my morning have been washed away along with my tasty beverage, I was tempted to let loose a long tirade of verbal abuse at the universe for bursting my bubble of peace and harmony. Thankfully my reporter’s instincts kicked in and removed the Engineer from that train of thought before it could build a full head of steam and leave the station. Where there is this much heat there had to be a story this reporter needed to get in on.

My office being in shambles and my terminal in ruins led me to head down the hallway to Ken Hicks seldom used office. As luck would have it GG had to buy Ken a super-cooled terminal when he changed his personal grooming habits and bought some new bath and body products. They were supposed to have some special additives that would cause people to like being around you and more willing to talk to you. This would have been a great advantage to a reporter so I can understand why Mr. Hicks was talked into buying them by that slick salesman. Unfortunately for all of us in the Galaxy who found ourselves even in a not so close distance to Ken it just made us feel cranky and ill. The “Active Ingredients” would take up to 3 months to leave his system and this led to a ton of hate mail and we needed to buy him a special terminal to handle it all. After blowing off the dust coating the terminal I flicked it on and got back to work reading the post and the 60+ replies that caused my office to get a shower.

It would be very easy to give into temptation and just wade into the fray on the Player’s Page and add my own voice to the “Discussion” there and then have to make more posts defending my position because it was different then someone else’s. All this would do is make more white noise and ruin a chance to get my point across. Lucky for me I have a newspaper at my disposal and can write an editorial on the subject so here we are.

First off, I understand the frustrations when your bets are ruined with clans you figured should win do not for any number of reasons. I have been there more times than I would like myself. With the costs to make those bets super high and the payoff so low for the last 5+ wars I have just stopped betting.

Warning!! This next paragraph is a shameless plug so read it at your own peril. If you want to skip it just go to the paragraph after it and continue on.

If you are frustrated about how crappy the bets are you could just write 2 articles for me at GG or my fine friends over at ANN and get 60 niodes for your time. This is way less stress then trying to figure out who is going to win this war and you do not have to pay your own niodes upfront to get in the door like you do with betting. You can also write more than 2 articles and “Win” even more niodes so please take advantage of this and get paid!!

Now for those of you who skipped that last paragraph congratulations you are now caught up with the rest of us and I will now carry on.

Mecha Galaxy is just a game that we the players use for any number of reasons but to Nick and his team this is a business and MG is a product they “Sell” to us every day to pay their bills. One of the key concerns we the players have is how few players stick around and grow our community and if Game Craftsman is like a normal company this issue should concern them as well. If they can’t bring in enough new blood to at least offset players who stop playing the game in time their company will go out of business.

Every time this topic comes up on the Player’s Page it is revealed that this game is played by a diverse group of humans who have a lot of different opinions on why it is so hard for new players to stick around and fall in love with this game like we all did. The most common opinions for this failure revolve around clans in the lower divisions for Clan War choking them out from having a chance by camping, spending etc. I would like to offer a different opinion about what I feel is the single largest obstacle to a new player and place the “blame” for this at Nick’s feet. Nick, I hope when you read this you take it as constructive input and not a personal attack. I feel your new player tutorial is one of the worst I have ever experienced in a game and I felt like rat that had been taught it was better to push the green button and not the red one but because this game does not play like most players expect it to my first account I made after finding your game got messed up quickly and in only a few weeks of play I left the game with anger in my heart before I even had the chance to play in a Clan war. After a month break from the game I could not stop thinking about it. There was enough excitement about the concept of this game I had to try it again so I created a new account and I had the luck of meeting a few helpful players in Kong chat and was taught a few key tactics that helped me feel like I was not just spitting in the wind. Because of those players I joined my first clan and became a member of the AFF and played in my first Clan War and this gave way to new frustrations about this game. Nick, you have created a game that gives us lots of interesting factors that affect how we can play the game. The problem is your tutorial does not equip the new player with any knowledge on how the game works other than how to use the game UI. This lack of education in game leaves a player feeling like they would have better luck equipping their mechs and going into battle asking a Magic 8 Ball for advice. Over the years players have had to test the hell out of all the possible options and then make educated guess on the results. If a new player does not meet the right seasoned game players and get taught the right verbal lore on how the magic that makes up this game works they are screwed and leave the game in frustration. Nick, depending on your user base to explain why a new player should love your product and how to use your product is a very bad marketing plan and leaves the continued success of your company up to pure chance.

The other large challenge a new player faces is the ever-widening level gap that makes up the bottom divisions each Clan War. With more brave players joining the level 300 club each day and the player base shrinking this is causing the average level threshold to move into the next division to raise ever higher. As this gap gets wider and wider it increases the cost a player has to pay to move up in the game at a time where it is even harder for a free player to gain the needed crystal from harvesting from other players due to the shrinking player base. We are rapidly finding out those of us who started playing in the beginning of the game or at least for a longer time then players who have joined the game in the last year or so will always crush players who have joined the game in the last year. The prizes, free giveaways and betting all had a much higher value then they do now at a time when it costs way more to try and compete then it did back then. Your only real option is to whip out your credit card to buy niodes if you want to win but last year when you changed how your packages are structured you greatly lowed the value of what you get for the money spent. To be honest I do not have any extra money in my real life to invest in this game. But also, to be honest even if I did knowing what you used to get for spending $500 vs what you get now would cause me to boycott investing any of my money anyway and I know a lot of other players who feel the same way. They are at most spending $1 each rent party as it gives the best value for the money with the 50 extra niodes you get and a chance at more if you win on of the extra prizes in the raffle at the end. Nick, if I had to guess most of the players who invest more than a $1 in a rent party are in the upper few divisions and this fuels their exponential level growth with compounds the issues new players face in the lower divisions. This is also a very risky position to place your company when you are depending on a few players for most of your cash flow. In time, enough of them will move on from this game placing you in a negative cash flow spiral.

Watching how you have been adjusting the prize list over the last few wars shows that you are attempting to combat the cost challenges new players face by raising the value of the Silver prizes to the point where they are worth more than the Gold. This is only creating new challenges as players do the math and adjust how they play the game to win the greater prize. Also, with the shrinking player base and D1 level growth having only 4 prize tiers further erodes the value of the prizes relative to the player level making it ever hard to grow in levels and not gut your accounts power.

To help combat this issue I would offer this opinion. Scrap the current Clan War prize structure and just pay niodes for each medal. This would make for less work for you and your staff each war as you would not have to decided what mechs, equipment and weapons you want on the list and making sure you have the balance you need for the prizes etc. It would also allow each player to take the niodes and invest them into things they feel best help their army. It would then be very easy for you to create a prize tier for each division and allow you to better fine tune the payouts relative to the average player level in each division.

Nick, we all want new players to join our ranks and enjoy playing this game with us. We also want to retain older players and seek to offer input on ways to help you win on both issues and in doing so help keep this game alive and thriving for us all.

To everyone who read this entire 2000+ word editorial I extend my thanks. My goal with this was to try and offer a constructive opinion and as always if you have an opinion on how to improve the game please write it up and submit it to me at GG and earn some niodes for your trouble.

Again, this is just my opinion and if after reading it you feel it barely has enough value to use as toilet paper then that is your right. I just ask that we all try to have civil conversations about these issues going forward or we are just throwing more fuel on the emotional fire and speed up the player exodus and kill this game.

The Good, The Bad And Charity? By John Ringo #899287

The Metaverse is dead and everyone who was waiting with baited breath has received their loot. Except for the souls too small in level to receive the Guardian mech and must wait until they level enough.

I have been dealing with health struggles for the last 3-4 months that has made it very difficult to do much but try to keep food on the table for my family and stay on the right side of the ground. It was hard enough to just play in the last few Clan Wars so I was not able to take part in the Metaverse and missed out on a chance for one of those sweet 105T foe crushing monsters to my sadness.

Like just about everything MG this event was no stranger to joy, sadness, anger, frustration or controversies. For every pilot who loved it you could find one who had issues with it for some reason. The Player’s Page on Facebook goes through cycles of quiet and then intense 100+ replies to a post that causes a lot of us to quickly pick a side and go on the attack. On one topic, a pilot might be a calm voice of reason and on another quickly get so involved with defending a point of view that both sides stop listening and things can get ugly. We are all human and at times struggle to stay on the high road while we are talking with others on something we are passionate about and they have a divergent view point. MG is not alone in this. We have all encountered issues playing other games that fast evolves into a public flame war.

Thinking about my own health challenges this last week I remembered one topic on the Player’s Page that has always brought out the best in every member over the years. When there is large need that is brought forth to the community like precious little Hattie and her family we all put aside our differences and rally around those in need. This is the only game community I have ever been a part of that does something like this. Where we as players join forces with and Nick and his team and set aside our differences and show one of the best traits of humanity. The act of care and concern for others and the gift of charity. So, the next time you find yourself locked in mortal combat with someone on the Player’s Page and are tempted to write them off, remember this is just a game and in real life where it counts we are all on the same team and do some wonderful things together.

~John Ringo

A Few Points Of Difference By David McCallum #701548

Hi folks, just checking in...

As you've probably noticed (or not) due to the lack of absolutely awesome articles and reviews from me, I'm taking a hiatus from Galaxy Gathering and general piloting duties in general.

OK, that’s a fib.

Yes, I'm not on the active duty roster and It's certainly a nice change not to have to put up with Patrick's drunken mumblings on a daily basis (although young Mr. Ringo is certainly taking on a certain air of dishevelment mixed with mid-day imbibement associated with the editors chair and the place still needs a good vacuum out), but I have to confess I have been dabbling with another robot based battle simulator.

And this is the point where I break the fourth wall and come out of my in-game persona, because I need to make some real life comparisons and point out some of the things that Nick and the devs do right. And I can say that by direct comparison to a competing organization.

Bug fixes/tech support: Generally speaking, these are addressed and fixed ASAP. Not only that, but the community is aware that it is being worked on by an acknowledgement and real time feedback. Is it perfect? No... there are still outstanding issues on individual accounts that haven't been addressed. But my word the response and feedback is a stellar cut above other companies.

Free offers: Everyone gets a chance at them. By running the "free item on login" for a full server day, anyone in the world has a chance to partake. This is key for any online game; the community covers every time zone. Sure we get the odd Flash Sale, and they can be frustrating as they are time zone centric, but by and large the whole planet gets a chance. Other companies are very country centric.

Making Payments: I don't know how much research Nick did into this, but compared to other companies, this is just hassle free.

I was naughty... I tried to give a competitor some money as a treat for my son. Their banking system asked for way more details that I was ever going to give them (including stuff that my bank advises it's customers to NEVER give out...) and when I queried it, they told me that I (the customer) had to get in touch with MY bank (on my time..) to ensure that I authorized a payment to THEM so it could be passed on to the company.

Or alternatively, the vendor can take a letter of complaint and not get any money, because I don't jump through hoops to get somebody to take my cash off me.

Special events: Again, Gamescraftsmen makes this a world wide thing. Wars, Clicathons, even KotMs have a variable end time so no time zone gets continuously shafted. I'm currently having to console a very devastated junior pilot because they had a big event with spot giveaways that lasted about an hour an a quarter. At 4 o'clock in the morning. Not to be repeated. Even the US would have missed out as it would have been around 10am server time (for MG) on a workday. That's just a bit silly for a worldwide audience.

Aha, I can hear you thinking... where is the impartial reporting that the Galaxy Gathering prides itself upon? Why does this sound like a chorus line from Nick's personal cheerleading department?

Well, I can put your mind at rest. Yes, there is at least one thing that Nick and the devs could do.

So far, they have avoided (in recent memory at least) any direct interviews from the player community.

A printed one would be good, but I'm pretty sure we have the tech available to do a Nick/devs live stream community Q&A. Others certainly do.

However, in summary, sometimes you just need to stop whining and be thankful for what you have, because believe me it could be a whole lot worse.

From a direct comparison, I can attest to that fact.

Submitted By David McCallum #701548

CW3322 - WTF? By John Ringo #899287

This clan war everyone from the largest clan family to the smallest independent clan are getting ready to chase after and battle the Pirate King. We all needed at least one of the available four specialists to be a 20T so many of us updated or created that formation knowing we would be facing that one for sure in this battle. Everyone got busy and slipped into the comfortable traditions and superstitions that make up each clans war preparations. The division brackets were announced and with them came an early release of the war prizes. Almost everyone was happy and surprised to see what we would a be fighting so hard to win before the first shot was fired. Next the betting dens opened up for business and all the pilots who are inclined to take part in the betting chances this war got busy looking over the divisions to figure out who would be this wars winner and bring home some extra niodes from their hoped for winnings.

Almost a day later something happened the caused the MG Player Page and clan chats to heat up. Every AFF clan in this war had their names changed to XEON and each clan page has the XEON logo and motto. This change after the clans were locked and after the divisions were made public could only have been done by Nick Shaperio and his team. The question on everyone’s mind is to what end is this change for? Will this be just for a laugh? Will this create event lore that will live on in the history of the game? Are the players and leadership in AFF getting any extra niodes, gear, weapons or mechs for taking part in this? Who’s idea was this… Nick and team or was this put forth by a player? Only time will reveal answers to some or all of these questions.

At the time of this writing Bob Goetz stated on the Players Page that the AFF was not dead and an article in A.N.N would be forthcoming to shed some light on these changes.

Now most of us are in this to kick mech ass and collect our prizes so we can build stronger formations and do it all over again the next war and do not get into the lore details to deep. But this change feels a little last second and clumsy. Why make the changes after the divisions are out and public? If you wanted to bet this war and did not get it done asap when the betting opened you had a lot more work than normal to sort through the clans, figure out who was who and then make sure you clicked on the right “XEON” in the divisions that had more than one in the same division on your betting sheet. The seasoned betting veterans might have found this to be not too big of a deal but what about newer players to this game who might be trying to bet for the first time? Did any of them give up in confusion over this? I hope the answer is there were none but unless they speak up we might never know.

Right now there is less than one hour left until we get this party started so I leave you all to your final checks and preparations. I hope you all have lots of fun over the next three rounds and I look forward to joining with you all to kick some pirate ass in the after-war raid!

See you on the battlefield. *Salute*

Submitted By John Ringo #899287

Mechas Outside Of Level Range By Pat Willis#224534

Should players have mecha that are out of their level range? That seems to be a tricky question to answer if you look at the players page. Some folks sit firmly in the camp of, "If you aren't that level you shouldn't have it!" Others say if you can grab it go for it, and the remainder simply sigh, shake their heads and scroll down the page looking for another topic.

I used to be one of the head shakers, didn't really care one way or another who had what. Now though that has changed. See now I am one of the people who is in possession of mechas not of my piloting level. This last Squad War out my clan got the gold, so the reward was a Slate, and a Pike. Now look in the shop, the Slate is available to levels 121 and up, while the Pike is for levels 128 and up, also at present if you fall within the proper level regulations the Pike is an option to win in the Mystery Vortex.

I sit at level 120, so it is a one level gap between myself and my Slate, and an 8 level gap for my Pike. Now of course purists will shout, "Strip him of those mecha!" But personally I say I have the skill point allotment to pilot them without kick back, so hey go to town with it.

See on the won mecha issue it has to be taken more in a case by case manner. I was in the proper division for my clan at the war, I showed up got my needed kills, and then some, lost fights, won defensive fights, point is I played in a legitimate division for my level. 

I didn't level jump to ride others success so I could get a mecha well above my pilot level, or go the opposite way with it and try and head down in divisions just to be a bully and get free mechas. See in those cases yes go ahead put restrictions on things, strip mecha, something anything! Why? Because the middle tiers and upper middle tiers are rife with sandbaggers.

Hey if camping is your play style more power to you, however if you've yo-yo ed on divisions to get mechas well above and out of your reach... well then you've just exploited the game and made yourself big and bad on a bunch of pixels yay for you. Oh and other players probably really don't like you for it either. But then again such folks wouldn't care about such anyways.

Basically what I'm saying is the mechas are out there to be earned yes, and as long as it makes sense for said player to have X mecha as a win, well great no problem. But when you run into players who aside from directly financially contributing to the game, have just about two of everything  under the sun, well then maybe it's time to re-evaluate how things are done.

A step in the right direction has been taken with the needed kills to qualify for whatever prizes in a war. However those have fluctuated from 8-2 and everything in between for prize requirements. So until we can get a solid locked number and keep it at such, whatever it may end up as,I think this isn't an issue that will go away any time soon.

So stop and think, the other person has mecha they shouldn't. Maybe they won it, maybe they donated to the game for it, maybe they snagged it from CW's before kill laws were in place, hell maybe they did the tech manual write up and got one free. Trust me it happens. 

Point is unless they have a full formation of 100 tonners at level 50, it really isn't that big a deal. Once you get out of those level tiers it begins to clear up into upper level players, and credit card warriors. Trust me you'll wish for campers by then.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Please Sir, May I Have Some MOAR? By John Ringo # 899287

The door opens and the soft light from the hallway back lights two shadowy figures as they enter the dark room. There is a loud “Uffh” and the crash of something hitting the hard floor. Harsh light fills the small space from a single naked bulb in the center of the room. A man is awkwardly reaching up from the floor and has his hand on the touch pad light switch. His once clean uniform is now wrinkled and dusty from his sudden stop when he hit the ground. There are several media equipment boxes marked “General Nova High – A/V Club”, a Galaxy Gathering press pass with the word “Intern” handwritten in red marker under the crossed-out word “Staff” on it and a gangly teenager with the look of a puppy about to get hit on the nose with a rolled-up newspaper strewn around the man. He pushed the kid off his legs and stiffly climbs to his feet while visibly trying to keep control of his expression.

“Billy…. I told you to wait out in the hall with the equipment until I turned on the light.” He said in strained tones.

“Sorry Uncle John” Billy replied. “I forgot”

“Well don’t just stand there. Go set up the holo cam and lights on the other side of the desk.” John Said.

“Don’t you mean on the other side of the crate of Viper Lasers Uncle John?” Billy sniggered.

The empty crate had a cardboard sign on it marked “Desk of the Intern” and not much else.

“I see Ken Hicks still thinks he’s a funny guy. This Janitors Closet turned Interns office with that “Desk” shows he is still sore about how that mission he sent me on turn out”

After much more verbal “Encouragement” and muttering “This is the last time I let my sister talk me into helping her kid with his A/V projects for school” like a mantra for inner peace Billy finally gets everything set up and working. 91 takes later after Billy finally gets all the little details like taking the lens cap off and framing the shot right. I quickly leap over my “Desk” and whip the memory stick out of the Holo Cam before my ham-handed Nephew hits the erase button instead of the eject button.

“Ow Uncle John, you didn’t have to hit my hand away so hard” Billy pouted.

“Sorry kid that’s showbiz” I shouted over my shoulder as I walked towards the door. “Pack everything up while I upload this to the server for distribution”

I walked quickly down the hall to the control room to better avoid listening to the crashes and thumps coming from my crummy little office. I reach the control room and plug the memory stick into the console. The upload quickly finished and my hand hovered over the play button. With a fast prayer that Patrick would not get ill when he viewed this and the knowledge that fortune favors the bold I pressed the button….  

*Trendy Theme Music Starts Playing*

Greetings to everyone in Mecha Galaxy! This is my very first editorial as the new intern at The Galaxay Gathering and I am excited to be here and share my opinion with you all. Who knows maybe someone other than my Mom will watch this you never know.

The MG Players Page goes through cycles of pilots posting about their woes and frustrations fighting against spenders, campers or people who have a mech before they can buy it on the open market. We all get it and have been there before ourselves feeling frustrated that we can’t beat XYZ player who is X number of level lower than we are… But hang on and keep a stiff upper lip pilot.

Most games these days require you either spend a Fort Knox worth of real cash to be the Top Dog or you must invest a ton of your time looking for ways of configuring your gear for the best synergy to swim with the sharks and come out alive. Otherwise you should get real with yourself if you are not willing to do either of these things and accept that you will be fighting with everyone else like you over the scraps.

There is a really good chance that the last paragraph caused most of the people other than my Mom to stop reading this editorial and say a few choice curse words at me as they close their browser tab. Those of you who continued to read on need to recognize that what we call a game is a business and Nick Shapiro and his employees need to make enough money to pay the server bills and the wages needed to fix and grow this game. I am sure that we could all debate on how Nick can best make his needed revenue until things devolve into a bar brawl until the bouncers throw us into the street nut that is a discussion for another day. For now, in this game you really only have 3 choices in how you play:

1. You can try to outspend the other spenders to be #1. Who knows, if you try this Nick might send you a signed picture as a token of gratitude.

2. You can stay a free player and try to “Camp” and make sure for every point of XP you earn you get something you can use or sell for needed niodes. You will also have a really good chance of being hated and mocked for your efforts.

3. You can stay a free player and harvest crystal from every account you can find, fight in KOTM and hope you get lucky and win a prize, run missions and hope for a good payout from the mission boss or fight in Clan Wars and hope you get something in the raid that is worth a damn before you burn out of quit the game.

4. What?? I thought you said there is only 3 options on how to play this game you say… but wait there is MAOR! Few people either know about or bother to take advantage of the fact you can create content for one or more of the many MG fan sites and earn niodes for your time or if you are super lucky you can apply for one of the staff jobs on those sites when they come open and get paid both a weekly niode salary and niodes for the content you make for that site in the course of your duties there.

As most of us in this are some form of free to play accounts this game and your sanity need you to take advantage of option #4. You will almost never stomp a spender doing this but it will allow you to get stronger, have more fun and create more competition that this game desperately needs to keep things fun and challenging while shaking up the status quo. To make things super easy for you I have included links to the fan sites at the end of this editorial so you can get started earning niodes today!

Hang in there, get busy making content and I will look forward to seeing stronger pilots on the battlefield. *Salute*

*Inspiring Martial Music Plays*

Starring John Ringo as himself

Casting by John Ringo with some nagging from his sister to get her son into a bit part in this production.

Director John Ringo

Producer John Ringo

Sound by John Ringo

Filmed on location in the Janitor’s Closet A.K.A The Intern’s Office at The Galaxy Gathering

No people were hurt more than they needed to be in the making of this film.

List of Fan Sites:
The Galaxy Gathering - http://thegalaxygathering.blogspot.com/
Ways to submit content:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/791211034222592
thegalaxaygathering@gmail.com

A.N.N
https://www.facebook.com/groups/646171352098787/

MeGaCom - http://mechagalaxycomics.blogspot.com/
Ways to submit content:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1181208675242675/

Mechanomicon - http://mechanomicon.blogspot.com/
Ways to submit content:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1807939066146305

Outtakes:

“Ok Uncle John I am filming”

“Greetings to everyone in Mecha Galaxy! This is my very first editorial…. Billy, you have to take the lens cap off.” John puts the palm of his hand over his face while shaking his head back and forth.

*BEEP*

“Ok Uncle John, Action!”

“Greetings to everyone in …. Billy, I am over here! Stop pointing the Cam at the ceiling!”

“Sorry Uncle John”

“Why did I let my sister talk me into this?”

“Did she tell you she would never speak to you again if you did not help me Uncle John?”

“No she did not Billy. If she had I would have refused to help you and been a very happy man”

*BEEP*

“Ok are you sure you have me in frame with the lens cap off and the record button pushed Billy?”

“Yes we are all good to go Uncle John”

“Greetings to everyone in Mecha Galaxy! This is my very first editorial as the new intern at The Galaxay Gathering and I ….”

Patrick, David and Ken burst into the office and swarm the desk and start mugging for the Camera.

“Cut!”

Billy is laughing so hard he does not release the record button. This only encourages those clowns to break out into a highly choreographed river dance routine while John Ringo tries so push them out of the room.

“Billy turn that thing off!”

The End



Submitted by John Ringo#899284

Mecha Multiverse By Pat Willis#224534

Funny thing this galaxy, seems just when you think you have it all figured out is when you realize you know squat. See Drochah and his chroniode coming across time and space to conquer the galaxy as out of nowhere as it was, well it simply had to be expected sooner or later. Let me explain...

See a few of us out there  know there are other times, places, and realities than this one we inhabit. 

I myself have accompanied Dr. Drake, and Mycobacter to a strange twisted reality called the Negaverse. This was well before the chroniode and Drochah ever showed his scaled face in our time line.

Also my acquaintances of the Niodemancer Johnathan Judas, and the Forerunner construct Kellek I suspect are not from this time and place. The histories they know are off just a touch, dates and people misplaced, events out of order, and even in some cases entire histories are replaced. Such is the case I suspect with the creation of the Ignis story that I got out of Judas. 

He credits the Forerunner scientist Kellek (the actual being not the construct I now know) with the creation of the Ignis. Mainly out of necessity being trapped in a distant time, on a distant for him world. Yet everyone I've spoken with says Drochach made the Jurassic mecha... all of them.

Now we are seeing the walls of our reality open up and pour out enemies from other times and places, it was inevitable really. Little bleed through like infected and mutated mecha, opens the doors wider for Drochah and his army out of time, then the Unification, more Drochah, limited portals with the Unification.... it just keeps going. It will continue and it won't be pretty once it reaches critical mass. All these realities are stacked atop one another, separated by membranes of energy we call the walls of reality or the physical universe.

 Our walls have started to crumble, cracks have been made and invaders are coming in. Cracks widen, become full on breaches, then we have reality as we know it coming down upon us while we are attacked on all sides by invaders from other times and realities.

It will truly be a galaxy at war then. No real way to stop it as most of the damage is already done. Best we can do is contain it, neutralize it where we can, if we can, and remain vigilant. In the end we aren't as alone as we thought we were, just we never thought the neighbors would be this hostile.

Submitted by Pat Willis#224534

Pandora's Box by David McCallum #701548

Ah Mr Harrison.


Is your monicker due to the fact that your ideas never quite come to fruition, or the fact that they are never quite thought through?


You have managed to stumble across one of the most awe inspiring artifacts that the human race can imagine... able to turn back time and rip asunder the very fabric of reality...


And you use it to give minor boosts to our weapons, our electronics systems and our mechs, with nary a thought to any other consequence save lining your pockets.


No, perhaps I am being too harsh. As with any who would open Pandora's fabled box, it was perhaps with good intention so as to hopefully provide the individual power that our pilots so crave.


Perhaps it was even simpler, merely curiosity as to what it could unlock?


But as with any endevour of good meaning intention, it has the chance to take on a life of its own and skew in the direction that no person in their right mind would take it.


Let us for example, observe the Ghost Focus targeting array. A wondrous piece in its own right and its execution is so simple.


Use the targetter to see what will occur in a fraction of a second from now using the power of the chroniode and simply...


Change


the


Future.


Are any alarm bells ringing as yet?


Perhaps we should recall the fact that at some indeterminate point in the past, our timeline split and created a parallel universe in which Unification flourished, only to discover us and carry out one of the most violent and aggressive incursions into our planetary systems we have ever seen?


Oh, I know the scientists will use phrases like temporal momentum to assure us that any minor alterations that chroniode equipment could possibly introduce will be swept away in the current of the great river that we refer to as time.


But is that honestly, truly the case?


What say, just as an example, in the coming squad wars there is a clash of well equipped 100 ton mechs.


Say one is equipped with a Ghost Focus.


Say during that clash, a shot should have missed it's target.


Say instead, a Galaxy Eye punches through the cockpit of one John T. Mainer.


In one reality, we have to tolerate the continued existence of half rate hack peddling his wares for an inferior publication.


In another reality, quite a large clan rallies around it's new grief stricken leader who goes absolutely white hot berko. And don't tell me the Bunnies wouldn't, you know them too well...


And they rally unto them some long time allies...


The Bouncing Blue Brotherhood...


Zeon...


And suddenly, as they say, it's all on...


Now please don't think for one second that the death of a Clan Leader should be likened to Arch Duke Ferdinand popping his clogs and starting a War to End All Wars. Captain Floppy Ears's ego is already big enough that we don't need to go giving him more ideas.


And I'm certain it wouldn't start as a grab for galactic domination. The thing to remember is that back on Old Terra when the First of the World Wars started, humanity do not have access to or even know of the existence of anything that could effect time.


The Bunny Horde would probably just want to, maybe... borrow... the Chroniode. Just to see if they could ensure that a certain shot actually did miss in the first place.


Or if they were really miffed, perhaps to ensure that the pilot who fired the shot that should have missed but was actually a kill shot... was never born.


We of course would never know about it, because it had never happened that way, at least in our timeline. It did in others, but that's happened to a whole lot of different us's. Chances are all we would know is that suddenly the Bunny clans had downed weapons and there was a heck of a party going on.


But as i said, we know what them wascally wabbits are like. There's a party to be had and a chroniode laying around. You just know somebody is going to come up with the bright idea of testing to see if its actually possible to become one of your own grandparents.


And that is dealing with the good guys.


What say one of our mechs with enhanced equipment gets knocked out and salvaged by somebody who really knows how to make electronics sing for them.


Somebody, or should I say something, like AM.


Such

Knowledge

Yields

Never

Ending

Terror.


The problem is of course, that the cat is out of the bag (or in this case the box) now. The equipment is available and in use. Not using it puts you at a disadvantage against those who do, therefore despite that sneaking feeling that this is all a really bad idea, you need to hedge your bets and ensure your own survival.


Just keep looking over your shoulder in case another you is trying to interfere for some reason.


Ah well, its not as if you didn't have to do that when Drake was running around cloning everyone. Its just that his cloning facilities were finite.


Alternate realities aren't.



Submitted by David McCallum #701548

2017 The Quest For Moar By Damien Valentine#885659

Over the past two or three months, one thing has become crystal-clear for me: at some point in 2017, Game Craftsmen will have to introduce Mecha weighing over 100 tons.

As a long-time advocate for new players, and for the lightweight and middleweight Mecha they use, I know this is an unusual opinion for me to hold. I do not even feel comfortable holding it myself. But consider the following points.

1. Before 2016, most equipment items had a range of 20 or 25 tons between their minimum Mecha weight, and their maximum Mecha weight. Since 2016, almost all the newly-introduced items are limited to a range of 5 or 10 tons: that is, to either 90-to-100, or 95-to-100. This raises the question of whether these items are versatile enough to offset their cost...a question that could be avoided altogether, simply by keeping their weight ranges in line with all the other equipment in the game.

2. There is no in-game reason why Mecha should be restricted to 100 tons. One cannot seriously claim that 105- or 110-ton armored vehicles are somehow less realistic than 100-ton vehicles...especially since Gateway travel is specifically limited by volume, not by mass. Neither is there any meta-game reason: although "BattleTech" arbitrarily set its own limit at 100 tons back in 1984, "Mecha Galaxy" claims to be -- and certainly *should* be -- something besides a BattleTech knock-off.

3. As unpleasant as it is to admit, the game is stuck in a rut. Game Craftsmen, for all its many fine points, has shown reluctance to address the increasingly-intractable problems in the game's design itself. This being the case, the easiest way to revive the game's popularity is for the company to introduce new content...and in terms of weapons and equipment, almost everything that can be done has already been done. Likewise, while there are many opportunities to fill the tactical gaps among lightweight and middleweight Mecha, the Level-150s who dominate the game here in Year Five will never bother to buy these classes. To attract their interest (and income), any new Mecha must be 100 tons or more. While this will only be a stop-gap measure, Game Craftsmen would hardly be the first gaming company to get stuck in a death-spiral of short-term solutions.

Of course, the introduction of 105-, 110-, or 115-ton Mecha means that the gap between the "whales" and the rest of us will only get larger, while strategy takes an even more distant back seat to sheer, overwhelming tonnage. New and/or low-level players will be even more alienated, with everything that implies for the long-term future of both "Mecha Galaxy" and Game Craftsmen. But I think the introduction of such Mecha is inevitable, and it's up to the player Clans to figure out how they will respond.

Submitted by Damien Valentine # 885659

A Heavy Sigh... by David McCallum : #701548

Junior Pilots.


Can't live with 'em, can't hit them with a shovel and make them disappear (leaving only a suspiciously shaped mound in the back yard).


Mine are particularly inept. At least one has problems walking and breathing simultaneously.


There is something to be said for our form of mecha combat. It is very codified. Arm your mechs,  put the equipment on, line up and charge. It's not rocket science.


Actually, that's wrong. The most successful players, be they Crystal or Niode based have honed their
tactics down to a form of black arts, whereby they can work out the best mix of equipment and weapons to get the very best from their available mechs and to put them into a formation that will give them the greatest advantage possible.


Their strategies involve spending priorities and resource gathering. They are our elite, our senior pilots.


Unlike my junior pilots, I would warrant that when confronted with a game of chess, our senior pilots would not rely on the use of wave tactics with their pawns to attempt to secure victory.


One thing I will say in defence of junior pilots is that they have persistence. Senior pilots would take the word 'no' as an actual answer, as opposed to an indication that I may not have understood the question and the should ask again in 5 minutes time.


Actually no, its not a defence. See above for the wish to be able to have some suspicious mounds in the back yard.


And so I found myself (reluctantly) allowing them to perform a new survival drill I may have picked up in the past month. The scenario is relatively simple. They and their associates are stuck with very limited weaponry and resources (especially no heavy mecha) and are being hunted by man sized killer robots.


Admitedly they did learn a few useful lessons, and I hope they stick.


When wielding a rocket launcher, do not stand in the open like a tit in a trance.


In fact let's just generalise and say that use of cover is a good thing. Full stop.


When confronted with a disarmed killer robot that you have already blown the legs off of, there are better things to do than close to within arms length of it.


Attempting to headbutt a killer robot when you have a perfectly good plasma gun in your hand is not going to do much for your life insurance premium.


At least they did learn one transferable skill.


The next time they are confronted by a senior pilot with his superior tactics and mecha and weaponry who just rolls over them, they can climb out of their wrecked cockpit.


And defiantly call after them, "I'll Be Back!!"



Cue heavy sighs all around...

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

A Dish Best Served... by David McCallum : #701548

... with fava beans and a nice chianti.


I'm reasonably sure that's how the old saying goes. Maybe not.


I'm talking about revenge of course, and I must admit, I may have inadvertently started something.


It started innocently enough.


I was bored.


It's been a while since I've had some down time, and with wars and coal and fat evil red people I hadn't really had  chance to sit back and take stock.


I am currently Tail-end Charlie in our clan, and while I don't do badly, I still need to check to see who I can sensibly attack when the need arises. So I had an idle flick through the pilot rosters to see what my tally was against those around me.


Not too shabby in a few cases, but there have obviously been a lot of folk who have pummeled me quite handily in the past and I'm only now able to start redressing the balance against.


And as you scroll up through the list, you note the ones which are regular rivals. We have a clan-mate nick-named 'Leghumper' who states publicly the need to regularly test against us, but all it feels like is yet another run in with your Granny's terrier...


There's the regular war rivals who have a crooked score... their wins when they test against you during scouting and the corresponding losses when they have been stupid enough to attack you when you've been in a specialist formation. Else it would probably be a sensible nil all draw.


Oh, and other rivals that if you looked at the lopsided tally you would never attack in a month of Sundays, but you will cheerily tilt at them on The Mountain. There's a few of those, and I'm sure you all have your own... the ones where you groan when you suddenly see you are going to have to fight them again and you just know its going to be a hard day at the office. But you love it just the same.


 So I scrolled higher and higher up the roster, idle curiosity compelling me to check to see if there was anyone up amongst the gods that I had scored a victory against, when I happened across a name that I recognised back from when I very first started.


Deborah Roache-Hudak, tally of 609 unanswered victories against me. You have to laugh because that's just an obscene number.


It was then that I remembered a particular in-game tab that I'll be honest, I think I've checked maybe 2 or 3 times ever.


Under 'Battle', you will find the 'Vengeance' option.


Now I'll be honest, I was expecting this to be a list of all those who have beaten you and you have never won against, but it is actually just a list of the people who have beaten you last and you have yet to get around to giving them a good kicking in return.


My list stretches back a long way, and like most folks I would reckon a lot of the entries on there are by folk who have long since retired judging by their level.


But one particular name popped out.


Now I'm reasonably sure we've only faced each other in actual battle once before, and that would have been in a Faction War just after I first joined the staff here. I seem to recall a certain amount of ribbing when a certain person decided he would go 'easy' on me and leave out his 1200 formation for me to try and have a go at.


At least I can claim he needed a a re-spray for his paint job after I'd finished.


I'm talking of course about our esteemed Editor in Chief, Patrick Willis.


Now, I suppose its an unwritten rule that apart from the petty larceny, general snidey comments, bickering, bitching, backstabbing and on one part, occasional bouts of sobriety, we do need to on occasion show that we actually know how to pilot these beasts. Otherwise how are we supposed to be able to give a professional (or coherent) review on things.


So I decided to have a pop, just to see who's opinion should actually hold weight... and admittedly to see if I could do better that to scratch the sott's paintwork.


I might have miffed him a bit, because when I woke up this morning he had counter attacked. That made us 1 for 1 on the exchange. I guess that makes us both reasonably competent when it comes to giving an opinion.


Well, except maybe for the fact that an even exchange between us means that I have to give the old drunkard a 1/4 honour guard and 8 level advantage.


Still, it got him back on the Vengeance list...

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

Merry Christmas from The Galaxy Gathering

Well, since Kenneth is indisposed in a fairy costume at the top of the tree and Patrick is upside down in a drunken stupor claiming to be Godzilla after having cracked open his emergency flask of absinthe, it looks like I'm the only one who can do anything vaguely sensible with a keyboard.

So from our offices, have a stonking good holiday, may you and your families stay safe and get everything you wish for.

Give the fat sod and his minions a good kicking and make sure you shake them down for the last bit of loot you are able to, and we shall see you all on the Fields of Glory in the near future.

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

Breaking the Fourth Wall by David McCallum : #701548

Here's a few questions for you.


Is Patrick:

A) A drunken sot / slave-driver with delusions of greatness or

B) A guy who likes sci-fi, big mechs, monsters and is dealing with a job that has cruddy hours that he quite enjoys?


Is Kenneth:

A) Easily conned into doing the menial and degrading jobs around the office or

B) A Gamer with a new job he is seriously enjoying but is taking up a heck of a lot of his time which his rather large ginger cat is going to make him pay for in the only way that cats can?


Am I:

A) Heck, just generally awesome in all respects.

B) See above.


In game, your answers should have been all A's. However real life, it is of course B's.


Except question 3... A would have been acceptable for that one in either case.


The thing that gets me about this community is that when it comes to communicating, we swap between 'in character' and 'breaking the fourth wall' with consummate ease. I respect that in a community that enjoys its escapism, but is well grounded enough to step out into real life to deal with actual issues.


Heck, we could be playing 'World of Warcraft', then things would be going seriously psycho. Talk about not being in touch with reality.


One of the best examples are the dev team.


If you think about it, especially over the course of this year, they have constantly churned out new material... not just game tweaks and page layout enhancements (think about the moving of the $$$ buffs away from the lottery button enhancement) but new story lines, solo play mission zones and the temporary mission pages that you can earn Niodes for spotting first.


The creative work behind that must be intensive and somewhat draining. And immersive, because each and every piece must be 'in universe' and 'in character'.


And yet if there is a game mechanic query or bug report, the wall is shattered and it gets attended to.


And you know what?


The odd flame war aside, its not just the devs that do it. We all do.


Just an observation from a pilot who has been out on patrol for 4 days straight and is seriously looking forward to his own bed sometime within the next 24 hours...

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

To Our Readers By Pat Willis#224534

Hello one and all,

I am writing this to simply have a heart to heart no BS talk with each and every one of you. You see this site is maintained by less than a handful of people. David, Kenneth,and myself. Joel and Ron are consultants and occasional contributors but are no longer full time staff. As a result we are all subject to different time zones, availability, and even free time.

This leads to us trying to put out content for you, with trying to maintain a 2 post per day minimum (now down to just the A.M. post.) not an easy task. Yes there are weapons galore in the game, as well as a variety of equipment to cover.

 However we're more than just a tech manual. And to be honest while quick and easy to write up such reviews may be, they can become tiresome to turn out day after day. We have other options available to write up as is evidenced by our site navigation bar, but we would rather the bulk of that stuff come from you the readers.

We want to know your pilot stories, actual in game events, or made up sorties, we want to know your preferred mecha, reviews on it, hell share a build. By the stars especially if you think you'll be retiring from the game share your builds! Pass the knowledge on rather than leaving newbies and up and comers grasping in the dark. Got a commentary? Toss us an editorial, but please try to keep it this side of civil.

In a nutshell there is only so much we can do as small group of editors and advisors/contributors. We need you, we need your submissions. We need your clan lore and logos, your news, hell even bragging rights, or issuing challenges. We need that to stay here as a network for mecha galaxy. Otherwise we simply will run out of things to print or publish and all you'll be left with once again is A.N.N.

I was hoping that won't be the case as so many seemed keen on having an alternative network to run in competition to A.N.N. from the get go. And lets face it no disrespect or offense meant to them but, they carry a bias and always kind of have. ( I used to work for them I know.) But think of it you kind of have to to get your stuff implemented as they do in game. They are very  much THE Mecha Galaxy news. Why? because about 60% of the time they are making it and are able to keep in touch with the devs. All well and good.

Us? Never claimed to be THE news of anything. I may have an ego but I am not that egotistical. My sights were lower, more humble if you will. I just wanted to be the voice of the players. Make sure every one and every side was being heard. Not ram new rules and events down your throats with continuous stories and endless bombardment on the game page. We just have always wanted everyone to be heard in as calm and relaxing manner as possible. For a war game where everyone is against everyone else this is about an neutral and unbiased as it gets.

As I said however we can not maintain this indefinitely on our own, we need you ladies and gentlemen. Otherwise to be honest this will just have been a brief experiment in free press. So please consider what I have said here, look at your own, as well as your clans exploits and give us a transmission. We pay, we have solid views per day, so I know this will be read, so you have nothing to loose with us. Nothing more than you would in submitting to the other guys, and risk perhaps having it omitted due to conflict with the "official" narrative. Think about it, I'll keep this running as long as I can. Without submissions however closing shop is inevitable.

Happy hunting one and all,

Pat Willis#224534

Clan Wars A Video Editorial By Pat Willis#224534

That New Car Smell By Kenneth Hicks ID# 846092

So, here we are. We’ve weathered the mad scramble that was making 5-7 player clans, we limited it to one Specialist. Now we get to take this baby out for a drive.

Squad Wars 3317 brings into a new era of tactical fighting. It’s twice the preparation and zero room for error. After Battle One, we’ve all seen some surprises. It’s almost like a fresh start.

On the positive side, this has seriously taken a lot of the “insert rod A into slot B” mechanics out of Clan War. Level strength has never been so important as it is now. I’ve seen some excellent squads that came as a bit of a surprise, and squads disappoint for the same reason. A fair and accurate strength check of your clansmen has helped out several groups so far.

On the negative side, I don’t like what’s becoming of Specialists. I honestly wanted to see this aspect evolve with new types of formations to make people work a bit more. But with the single spec. per squad rule, it’s made the concept all but obsolete.

Those are the two biggest areas of impact that I’ve seen so far. If you have an example, input, or an opinion, please comment below (niodes!) or post it as a comment on this page and I’ll work those into another piece (if you do this, give your player ID for moar niodes!)

As always, this is Kenneth Hicks, signing out.
<End Transmission>

Betting On Squd Wars 3317 By Kenneth Hicks ID846092

Late Edition : Chrono Events by David McCallum : #701548

Sorry for the tardiness of this post, it would appear we had an invasion of sorts to repel.... one led by unprocessed Turducken Cover ammunition.


From what I can gather, there have been a number of casualties with pilots out of action left right and centre.


But there is another recent event I wanted to address that keeps making pilots groan like participants in the aftermath of a family feast... yet another KotM chrono event.


Now I freely admit I avoid these like Kenneth avoids doing videos, having only participated in one which, while I managed to eke out a gold was only done through a session that last over 24 hours in the cockpit (I kid you not...) and is not one that I wish to repeat.


However I had the chance to view one of my junior pilots in action, attempting to chase the recent bonus bounty of gaining 3 medals in a row.


A very creditable performance (if I say so myself, one is allowed to take a certain pride in knowing that for once somebody has actually listened to your advice...) which saw them duke it out for a well earned silver.


And the thing that struck me was that it was an extremely valid training excersize.


Not only good in gauging an opponents strength so you can see whom you can attack to gain the best points tally, but though prolonged attack runs working out what is and isn't working.


In this particular case, the realization that their world conquering Nerio was past its use by date and having the good sense to buy and level a Luison to replace it with on the fly.... a decision that payed dividends and not only gained better prizes (plus the bonus 3 mission bounty) but has set them up far stronger for the upcoming Squad War.


So, moral of this tale?


While something may not necessarily be to your liking, there is always a glass half full somwehere.

Submitted by David McCallum : #701548

Consequences of War by David McCallum : #701548

Well, I'm flat on my back.


Lets face it, for pilots it's an occupational hazard getting your mount shot out from under you and ending up being rebuilt from the ground up.


You that is, not your mech.


In my case it's back spasms caused by an overenthusiastic ejection rather than anything potentially more deadly or inclusive of a degradation in the amount of attached limbs.


Problem is, because there is no actual tissue loss the medics are loath to do anything other than administer drugs and keep me bed ridden.


I do admit however that the arrival of a certain Miss Jessica who managed to wiggle her way into our lower level clans and who has been doing a tour of duty as medical officer among the rest of us has made my enforced bed rest somewhat more palatable.


The down side is that the powers that be have a captive receptacle to dump the paperwork on.


My favorite at the moment is readiness planning (small unit tactics).


In other words, sort out what the hell we are going to be doing next Clan War.


So, there is the rub of it... clan sizes have been approximately halved. Good job we have been given the heads up on that sooner, because its going to be a logistical nightmare for some of the bigger families like the AFF or the Dragons.


And how the devil they are going to avoid each other division wise is going to be a bigger miracle than Pat paying for a round of drinks.


There's going to be other ramifications as well... some good, some bad.


There may well be a lot of free agents, especially from the single clan/small clan family category. I hope they get a berth for the war if they want one, but by the same token they may find that their 'new' home is better and they may leave their old mates behind.


It could well be that for some of the stragglers, old alliances from past Faction Wars will be called upon to throw together a scratch formation. With recent moves to limit the average and criteria of a Clan, here's hoping that the restrictions in place will not prove to be prohibitive in finding people a position within a mini-clan.


A number of new leaders will be stepping up. No bad thing for anyone... leadership experience can only add depth and redundancy to everyone's roster.


As for the war itself... I can almost see this one being very cagey with lots of overtime. Things like giving away a defensive win is going to have far more ramifications... if the clan sizes are halved, a def win essentially will have double the impact. A good specialist is going to be a game changing formation.


Now, I've seen other competitive formats where suddenly a major force has dropped down to a small squad or fire-team. The big difference between the two is that because battles are quicker, you can get more in given a certain time frame. It makes you start to wonder if we will be seeing more match ups than a 'regular' Clan War. Does that remind anyone of the grind that was Mechal.... that which shall not be named?


Just on rough calculations, and assuming participation from folk is the same as a regular Clan War, I estimate that we would have around twice as many fire-teams. That's either larger divisions, or more. Couple that with an enforced roster shakeup so that the face of the enemy is no longer familiar, betting is going to be an absolute swine.


OUCH!!!


Alright, I am suitably admonished that hard laughter is not going to be conducive to a timely recovery.


But I can't help it... I'm imagining the looks on the faces of all of those so called clan analysts who rely on spreadsheets to track theirs and everyone else strengths. I wonder how many will burn the midnight oil to try and redo them on the fly, how many will just go and get drunk and how many are even now just rocking in the corner, sobbing gently.

Submitted  by David McCallum : #701548