08-01-2000 03:59									#1
	Crossfire Tales Comments Support Apolyton, pre-order Civilization IV

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...

	08-01-2000 06:36									#2
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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.

	08-01-2000 07:45									#3
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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.

	09-01-2000 01:31									#4
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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.

	09-01-2000 11:30									#5
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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

	10-01-2000 02:53									#6
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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?

	10-01-2000 08:57									#7
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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

	11-01-2000 02:40									#8
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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

	11-01-2000 03:14									#9
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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'.

	11-01-2000 03:51									#10
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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.

	11-01-2000 06:24									#11
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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).]

	11-01-2000 08:41									#12
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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

	27-01-2000 23:40									#13
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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.

	28-01-2000 00:16									#14
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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...

	28-01-2000 00:39									#15
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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

	28-01-2000 09:01									#16
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Nah. Not a party spoiler. That's Lal for ya. I'd like it if I didn't have a bunch of female faction leaders against me.

Morgan could join guys since he's against the existing girl pact... and sinder obvisly wants to get away from it all right about now. That would make 5:3 in favor of the guys.

Hmm... would Aki join the girls? I'd be on the guy team, and Lal has promised to protect me. I guess she would have no choice. What about Yang? Would he break this odd coincidence and join the gals?

Anyway, I think it's an idea to toy with. I await that Peacekeeper council meeting so I can reveal myself to the world.

	28-01-2000 21:14									#17
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I do think a council might be in order, to bring all the factions up to date about each other. Of course, Lal wouldn't invite Sinder, but she could be let in by someone else, say Domai?

Also, Lal STILL hasn't heard about the Cult of Planet! Of course, Cha Dawn could barge in uninvited to the holo-conference..

What say you fellow writers?

	29-01-2000 10:05									#18
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another question is should we wait for the aliens to land, before the humans finally get together and have a council?

	28-01-2000 23:29									#19
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I say we have a council soon, and then another one when the aliens land. Of course, that 2nd council won't be too pretty since people will be siding with the aliens, going independent, and pretty much just panicking.

Domai has to LET Sinder in?! You're joking, right? She'd rather hijack a satalite and break herself in, and probably draw a stupid cartoon nose on Morgan too.

Topic Two: Alien landings

It's kinda far away, but... oh well. It's been decided that the aliens are going to land near the Manifold Nexus, correct? That's where Aki is. Are they going to fire some shockwave weapon to clear out some Cyborg bases, or are they just going to make a base in the middle of Cyborg territory and start rampaging? Will the land together, or will one of them fall on someone else? Will Aki be captured, or will someone give her a "safe haven" base in their territory to keep her alive?

Just a point to ponder.
[This message has been edited by Jasonian (edited January 28, 2000).]

	29-01-2000 12:03									#20
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Actually Jasonian no one really camee up with the decisive Pact thing. Dee just switched to Fundy and Miriam to Green. As for the guys I can only suppose it is the Knowledge values. Or something like that. In my latest post Cha Dawn declares that the Planet Cult needs to find allies.So this could play into your PWI thing. Anyway I think that's a good idea.

And as for the alien landing I say let the Proggs crush the Cyborgs.

	30-01-2000 10:18									#21
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I would have to go with choice E probably... I mean, there's a chance it will happen, but I feel like right now it's too easy and one-dimensional if everything was lumped together like that--> in my humble opinion it takes away some of the depth and complexity away from the characters.

For example, the way I interpret Miriam is that the only way she would pact or ally with someone is if they were fundamentalist. I mean, she could be friends with whomever, but she'd only pact with those that were like-minded in spirit.

On the war side, Miriam may or may not get into a war with Lal, but i don't see any reason she would war with the Drones or Pirates b/c they are not particularly close with Zak.

I guess in summary, I don't want to "force" a world war that isn't there yet... A lot of events right now are rushed enough already, and it takes away depth. I guess it's all about one's style of writing.

If everyone else is for it then I'll be for it, just please e-mail me first before doing something with the Believers, because I don't want something drastic happening without developing the plot...

Just a heads up--- I tried to tie up a lot of loose ends b/c I don't plan on posting much at all for a while; I'll probably post "reaction" posts; meaning, only if something happens to the Believers. (which you forewarned me about through e-mail )

	31-01-2000 09:54									#22
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Our next post will be the battle above Chiron and the landing of the escape pods.

If we run a typical game scenario (2105) the Us and Cs will be incredibly weak with only 3_res sentinels against the combined weaponry of the human factions.

Are you agreeable to a presence as we have in The Spartan Chronicles whereby we land with a semblance of an airforce and at least 8/8/1 forces?

If any of you have read Harry Turtledove's alternate WW II "the Balance" series (highly recommended) superior alien power doesn't automatically mean they always have the edge, thanks to probes.

Comments?

	01-02-2000 00:28									#23
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On the above subject, I say honor the spirit, rather than the letter, of the game and let the Progenitors trash any initial human resistance.

Now then, I am ready to post a message where Lal calls for a council of Planet. If anyone wants him/me to wait, please answer soon.

	01-02-2000 03:46									#24
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I'm all for the Council idea. But my question is: how is it going to run? There's obviously going to be a lot of dialogue back and forth, but who is going to control who's gonna say what? Do people attend physically or via hologram?

	01-02-2000 03:59									#25
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Since the aliens would get nailed if we let them start like they do in SMACX because we've got a 135 or so years advantage on them! I say give them a Mark II ogre or two and an extra colony pod. That should secure them until they get Bioadaptive Resonance and get their res lasers (maybe they start with it?)

The council... yeah, this is a daunting task. I had an idea on how we do this to make it run smoothly:

1) We discuss the topic and who will be there
2) Each faction(write for as many as you normally write for) will come up with a brief (make it short) list of things they will say, and how they will vote.
3) A decided person (doesn't have to be PKs) will complile all of that into a conversation. Ech!
4) It is given to the PKs, they do an opening and closing, and post it.

That's kind of a bad, especially for the poor soul that has to write the conversation, but obviously we can't all post to the council topic.

Any other ideas on either topic?

	01-02-2000 04:45									#26
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Lal will announce that the council should be held one month after the announcement. This should give the faction-leaders time for some initial scheming and vote-buying.

It will also give us, the writers, time to sort out how we are going to handle the council.

I say we handle it in three rounds:

Round one, everyone posts here their suggestions for topics at the council.

Round two, the actual voting. Also done by posts here.

Round three, Some poor sucker (like me) sums it all up, and the others write about their faction-leaders' reactions.

Kinda drawn-out, I suppose, but hey- so's probably the council!

PS. I was thinking about a holo-conference style council. I think that if all Planet's faction leaders show up in the same room, there will be shots fired.

	01-02-2000 04:48									#27
	Full PM-box? Change here!

I'd be happy to be the recorder of the various factions' comments and discussion points, and script a post that would capture the ebb and flow of the debate and the final vote.

My faction (The_Progenitors, with Vel and Hydro) is obviously unable to participate, so I can offer my services

Googlie

	01-02-2000 04:52									#28
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Another suggestion:

Pick a time convenient to all and use Vel's chat room for an actual council meeting. Log in as your character, and conduct it as an actual council meeting. You'll have hard copy of the speeches etc if you click and copy, and it will be easy for the scribe to write and post.

Vel's chat room is only used by Vel on Tuesdays, (ie it is free the other six days) and has the advantage of accepting any ISP, not just AOL.

Just a thought,

G.


[This message has been edited by Googlie (edited January 31, 2000).]

	02-02-2000 02:22									#29
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Hmm... those are some pretty good ideas there. Anyone else have any comments on the issue?