Rules
From MegaMekNET
This rules set is revision 3.7, dated June 8th, 2007. It is not yet official, as it has not been approved by Vertigo. The official MegaMekNET rules can be found here.
Contents |
Overview
The rules of MegaMekNET exist to make the server a fair and fun environment for everyone.
It is every player's responsibility to be aware of the rules. Ignorance of the rules will not be considered an excuse for breaking them. If you are not sure about any of the rules, ask a Moderator for advice.
The spirit of the rules is important on MegaMekNET -- more important than the letter of the rules! If you find a way to circumvent a rule, while technically not breaking it, while still going against the spirit of the rule, you are still judged to have broken the rule. Similarly, if you engage in activities that are unfair or which may spoil someone else's enjoyment of the server you will find you have run afoul of the rules regardless of the 'letter of the law'.
This document is not intended as an instruction manual or a list of features. It is only a compilation of the rules of behaviour and allowed use of those features.
Rules of the server
Passwords
Passwords are your responsibility. You will be held accountable for all the actions of your account, no matter who is in control of it, so make sure your password is kept secret. Allowing other people to log in on your account (or logging in using someone else's account) is allowed, but the original account holder is still responsible for any actions taken on their account.
Multiplaying
Having more than one account is multiplaying and is not allowed. Permission for multiple accounts from the same IP address must be sought from the moderators or admin. Furthermore all accounts from the same IP must be members of the same house, except SOL accounts.
When multiple accounts connecting from the same IP are detected, all accounts on that IP will be contacted for an explanation. Unless a reasonable explanation is provided, all but one account (the one with the highest Exp) will be deleted. If this occurs a second time, then all of the accounts on the offending IP will be deleted. When accounts connecting from the same IP are found to be in different houses, the Moderators will take whatever steps deemed appropriate, up to and including deletion of all accounts.
Even when multiple accounts are authorized, they are not permitted to interact. The server code prevents you from transferring meks and money directly between multiple accounts on the same IP. While it is possible to circumvent this restriction by several methods, doing so is considered a breach of the rules, and will be punished as such.
Creating new accounts
No player is allowed to own more than one account at the same rime. Given that he/she has no other account, any player may create a new account at any time. Players who have received one or more strikes in the past are required to notify the moderator team if they create a new account. Failure to notify the moderators will result in account deletion and a ban.
Bug Abuse
Occasionally bugs and loopholes arise in the game code. These must be reported and must not be taken advantage of. Failure to report an unknown bug or someone else abusing a bug will be treated as a breach of this rule.
If you suspect that a game feature is allowing you to improve your account too quickly by allowing you to gain large amounts of experience points and money, you should report it on the board that is available for the purpose, or directly to a Moderator, at the first available opportunity.
In any case, if the game bug or campaign bug can be avoided, all players must do so. If the game bug or campaign bug cannot be avoided, report it and continue to play. For example if a bug allows you to jump in a circle, simply do not do so and the bug is avoided. If the game causes all piloting skill rolls to be made at +2, there is nothing you can do about it, just play on.
Language
Use of any form of offensive language will result in punishment. If it is used in private communication and a complaint is brought, it is treated the same as if it occurred on the main channel.
Using other languages to get around this rules is considered an abuse of the rules and will be punished appropriately.
Respect
Treat your fellow players (Including moderators and admins who are also here to enjoy the game) with respect and courtesy. This is NOT A ROLEPLAYING SERVER: unacceptable behavior will not be countenanced simply because it is "in-character".
If you have a problem with another player’s behavior, notify a moderator who will resolve the dispute.
Accusations of cheating are considered to be a breach of this rule, unless made privately to a moderator. Telling another player he or she is a cheater is not acceptable, privately alerting a moderator of your suspicions is acceptable
Moderator/Player Interaction
You are required to be both courteous and helpful to the moderators. Whether it be a request to moderate your language or co-operating in an investigation, the moderators are unpaid volunteers who work hard to maintain the server as an enjoyable venue for the online MegaMekNet community. If a moderator is not available, please make use of the forums provided. If a moderator is unable to help you due to time restraints or because they are playing a match, please be patient and understanding.
Breaching these rules, especially as an attempt to distort the truth or to block an investigation by the mods, is considered one of the worst offenses on MegaMekNET and may incur stiff penalties.
If you have a grievance with a moderator’s ruling or you have issue with the way you were treated by a moderator, please contact another moderator or follow the grievance procedure listed in the "Official Announcement Forum" and do not try and harass the moderator involved.
Moderator rulings
Since rules cannot cover every conceivable scenario, at times moderators are called to rule on aspects of the game not explicitly described in this document. When time permits, rulings will be taken as a group, however this is not always possible.
Most of the time a Mod is required to make an immediate decision, without the chance of discussing the matter with other moderators. Regardless of your feelings on the decision, the ruling is final and should be carried out. Any complaints about the decision should be taken afterwards to the forums following the complaints procedure in the Grievences and Appeals section of these rules (Section IV). The information is also available in "linked post".
Launching Tasks
Pre-arranging battles or launching attacks with no notice (blind attacks) are both equally legal within the rules.
The Black Market
The Black Market is used by some to transfer units between houses. It should be noted this is an unsecured transaction, as such anyone is free to bid on the unit, not just the intended recipient. This is perfectly legal and not discouraged by the administration of the game.
MegaMek rules
Optional Rules
MegaMek has an number of options and rules that can be played with. MegaMekNET makes use of several of these options, which MUST be adhered to for campaign battles unless BOTH players agree, explicitly, to change the default settings.
Visibility of Tasks
All tasks must be resolved in a battle visible to the MegaMekNET server as well as the Moderators and players. Only 1 task may be fought by a player at any time.
Modified Clients
Only the version of Megamek provided with the MegamekNET download is legal for use in MegamekNET games.
The contents of these files may NOT be modified: - Megamek.jar - MegaMEKNetClient.jar - /data/mechfiles/MMNetMechs.zip - /data/mechfiles/MMNetVehicles.zip - /data/mechfiles/MMNetInfantry.zip - any Save games
If you are found to have modified these files in any way, all battles currently in progress are forfeit and you are required to await a ruling from moderators on whether you are to be punished for cheating.
Before the game
Maps
Maps are set by the campaign server using the Random Map Generator. No changes to this are permitted without the explicit agreement of both players. If both players agree, changes may be made, whether to use a smaller map, different RMG settings, or even standard FASA maps. After the map is generated, at the beginning of the deployment phase, each player is permitted a single unilateral "remap" request, to generate a new map. A remap may be called by a player as long as he has not deployed an own unit. This means that as soon as you place your first unit on the board, you forfeit your right to call a remap, so analyze the map well!To do this, close the host server, restart it, and rejoin. Do not cancel or restart the task. Do not re-roll for starting position - use the same positions as the first time for any subsequent maps. Each players is permitted to do this ONLY ONCE per task, and it does NOT require that your opponent agree to the remapping.
Starting positions
Starting positions are chosen at random. The host or fist player to enter a dedicated server, will be automatically assigned a map position. The player who enters the host's server or who is second to join a dedicated will be assigned a starting position directly opposite. Both players must agree to a change of starting position for either player. Changing your starting position without the consent of the other player is strictly prohibited.
Units
Only units from the campaign are allowed to be used in the battle. No extra units, no refitted or customized units, no edited or altered unit data files are permitted. All units that are brought to a battle must participate in the battle - while this is difficult to enforce, the reasoning is that you get EXP and money based on the forces you brought, and that units that did not participate should not provide you with EXP or get EXP of their own.
Hosts
All hosts used for game resolutions must keep at least one open slot for moderators to join. This means that the absolute minimum of open player slots is 3. In case of slots already used by observers, and games needing moderator intervention, the observing player(s) must free enough slots for mod(s) to watch the game.
Any player directly involved in a battle can request any observer to leave the battle server, and said observer must obey the request. No reason is required.
Dedicated Hosts
Any dedicated host owner must configure its hosting server to either:
- Leave the host owner list empty, or
- Include at least all the admins and mods in the host owner list.
Failure to do so might result in your host being banned from the campaign server, temporarily or permanently.
During the game
Stalemate
Occasionally, situations will arise where the two sides in a battle are unable to kill each other. This is a stalemate. It usually arises from both sides having strong defensive positions and being unable to move from them safely. It can be resolved in several ways, at the discretion of the players involved. Both sides can make an agreement to both leave cover and fight in the open. One side can agree to surrender, or players can agree to resolve the battle by random roll, although that last is suggested to be reserved for when both sides kill each other or cripple each other so it is impossible to continue the battle for either side.
It is also acceptable, in cases of stalemate due to poor map positions, to simply reset the server and choose new maps and new starting points. In this case, do NOT re-roll to choose position, but the person who won position choice is free to choose a position other than the one he started at originally.
The final option is reserved for situations where neither side is willing to accept any of the above solutions, and combat is not able to proceed unless one side breaks cover. Since this is quite often suicidal, most players are reluctant to do it. The "rule of thumb" in this case is that after 10 rounds without firing, if both players refuse to advance or retreat, the battle is over. At that point, both sides lose, and the task is cancelled. Neither side gains any EXP or money, or any benefits for the task. It is not necessary to play through 10 turns of this if it is clear to both players that a stalemate situation exists. Moderators can and do rule on these situations if one player wishes to cancel and the other does not.
Delay
Intentionally delaying a game is cheating. This includes taking excessive amounts of time between moves, moving in such a way as to constantly block all fire, ceasing all attempts to hurt your opponent while remaining on the board and dodging fire ('retreating' without actually leaving the board, to avoid incurring a loss), and any other actions that in the opinion of the moderators, constitute deliberately prolonging the game without due cause. At the discretion of the moderators, you may be asked to report a loss in such a situation, if you and your opponent cannot come to an acceptable solution. This kind of decision will most often will result in discussion by the moderators first, and may take a while.
Leaving battles early
If you must leave a battle before it is concluded due to a real life concern, the battle is over. If you lose your link unintentionally, your opponent is required to wait 10 minutes for your return. After 10 minutes, the battle is forfeit and your opponent can decide which side was the victor or whether he wishes to continue the game at a later date. Your opponent may, at his discretion, request that you choose one additional unit of yours that must be declared destroyed by ejection as well.
Sometimes a player will remain connected but go away from his keyboard or otherwise stop responding. In this case, after 10 minutes without moving, he is considered to be "disconnected", and he forfeits the game. At this point, you should save the game, cancel the task, and post a note on the disconnections forum for that player to report a loss as soon as you and he are both online again. If possible, you should contact a Moderator when this happens to have the idling player removed from active duty.
If all players agree, the battle may also be ‘cancelled’ instead of reported. This is the most common case when a battle is prevented due to technical issues before it begins, or on the first few turns.
Surrender and Battle End
Battle ends when one side or the other is destroyed, retreated, or surrenders. A battle MUST NOT END until one of these situations occurs, barring stalemate.
Surrenders
Surrender is the most common end to a battle. In MegamekNET, as in 3025 Battletech, units are most often too valuable to fight to the death.
When you surrender, you most often try to make a deal to retrieve as much of your force as you can, intact. Either side can make an offer of a deal, and the other side can accept or reject it. Make sure you are absolutely clear about what you are offering and what you are accepting - if you don't like the deal, or your opponent does not accept your terms, the battle MUST continue. There is no obligation to accept a surrender or to offer one. There is, however, a significant benefit to being reasonable and gracious in victory: WHEN you lose, not if, your opponent will be much more likely to be nice to you.
Retreat and Ejection
Units that retreat or are pushed off the field of battle are alive. If a unit is destroyed at the same time as being pushed off the map, it is dead.
Ejecting from a mek destroys the mek. It does, however, guarantee that the mek will be salvaged. After a battle, if you salvage a mek that was ejected by your side, you have a good chance of the pilot returning to his mek. If your opponent salvages the mek, he gets it without the pilot.
Victory
When a battle is over and any agreements on surrender have been completed, the winning player declares victory by typing "/victory" in the server. The losing player will acknowledge the result by typing "/defeat" in the server. At this point, ALL ACTIONS MUST CEASE. The battle is over, even if the game has not ended quite yet. No new attacks are allowed. Making additional attacks is cheating: you forfeit the game immediately, even if you had won, and any units you kill with that shooting are NOT dead. If such a situation arises, TELL A MODERATOR IMMEDIATELY. He can make an official note in the logs that the "misreport" is legal and correct, preventing later concerns. He can also deal with the cheating player.
Attacks that are declared BEFORE /victory are legal, and their results DO count. This includes weapon shots, charges, DFAs, and even units that explode from overheating. All those units, if destroyed, must remain destroyed.
Unresolved Games (Operations)
If an operation is interrupted (due to disconnect or other reason) both parties must then make every effort to complete the task as soon as possible. The disconnection forum can and must be used to keep track of pending tasks. Players are required to get in touch with opponents by appropriate means: forum, forum PM, and game PM are appropriate means.
Units destroyed permanently, by destruction of their Center Torso, in tasks that have not been reported CANNOT be used for other campaign battles. Units that were not destroyed may be used in other games.
The procedure to solve the issue once both sides are available to finish the task is as follows:
- Retask the battle with same task type and same target, and possibly with same units. If exactly same units can't be used, try and match the original Battle Value as closely as possible;
- If both players have exactly the same mechs as the original task, in exactly the same order, then the saved game can be used. In such a case, this is preferable to starting a new server, but it is not always possible. If the saved game cannot be used, create a new server and join it as if you had started a new battle.
- Destroyed units are to be ejected - or manually destroyed in case of vehicles/infantry;
- In case of requested additional ejection, do so;
- Units that were destroyed permanently (by destruction of all Center Torso internal structure) at the time of task interruption are destroyed - and thus WHOEVER salvages them MUST scrap them;
- Victory/defeat is issued as usual.
The most important part about reporting a disconnected game is that it be the correct task type, on the correct planet, at as close to the correct BV as possible, with all destroyed units correctly killed and thus removed from the campaign.
Moderator/Administrator involvement
Rules Violation and Punishment
MegaMekNET uses a "Three strikes" system. On first offense, you will lose 10% or 1000 EXP and C-bills, whichever is more. On second offense, you will lose 25% or 2500 EXP and C-bills, whichever is more. On a third offense, your account will be deleted. Furthermore, to appropriately tailor punishments to recurring offenses, the moderators may delete any entity involved in the offending action as part of a punishment.
Some minor offenses may result in just muting, kicking or banning, other serious offenses, such as but not limited to bug abuse and lying to a moderator, may cause up to 3 strikes to be issued for one offense.
At their discretion, moderators can apply smaller penalties, or larger penalties, than recommended. Moderators may also overlook a minor offense in favor of a warning. This is their individual decision, and they are not required to hand out any specific punishment.
In rare cases, the moderators may, as a group, decide to treat a number of smaller incidents as a single large incident and apply a single "Strike" with a larger penalty that that is indicated. This is, again, at their discretion, and is never done lightly.
Aiding and Abetting, Collusion and Conspiracy
Conspiring with others to break the rules, helping, advising or encouraging others to do so, withholding, forging or hiding evidence are all offenses on MegaMekNET. Ultimately, if you are aware that someone is breaking the rules and you are involved in any way shape or form, actively or passively, expect to be punished along with them.
Grievances
The moderators are the first and second courses of action for any player grievance.
If a player has a grievance with another player, he/she goes to a moderator for a ruling or posts on the Complaints forum. The moderator involved will post the ruling publicly on the Official Announcements Forum.
Appeals
If a player has a grievance with a moderator or a moderator ruling he/she may appeal to the moderators as a group by posting on the Complaints forum. The moderator team will review and rule on the moderator/ruling in question by majority vote and publish the vote results (majority and dissenting) publicly on the "Official Announcements forum".
If the player still feels treated unjustly, he/she may then appeal to Vertigo and the broader Moderator base by posting on the Complaints forum. He/they will then decide to either uphold the original decision or modify it, and publish the decision on the Official Announcements forum.
Note that any appeal means that the case is opened for review and revision of the original decision, including the possibility that the penalty may actually be increased if it is determined that the original penalty was more lenient than the guidelines recommend. Additionally, frivolous appeals with no substantive merit will be viewed as possible rules abuse, and may carry their own penalty. As such, be sure and present any and all relevant evidence and witnesses when appealing. Evidence and/or witness accounts not presented will not be considered after the decision on the appeal is made.
Administrator/Moderator Deliberation
All Deliberations by MegaMekNET officials is closed door to the general public. If you have a grievance with a moderator, present your case as described above. Accountability for moderator actions will be deliberated but may not be made public without Vertigo's consent.
Other things
Games vs. Solaris Training Company
When attacking SOL with a tutorial operation, a faction player can only use Light and Medium 'Meks, where the combined skill of the MechWarrior is greater than 7 (i.e. 3/5, 4/4, 4/5 etc) The SOL player is allowed to cancel the task without penalty if disallowed units are used against them.
Please bear in mind that while not all SOL players are complete novices to BattleTech, they are new to this server, and should be welcomed and treated with respect.
History
3.7: June 8th, 2007 - Added rules to new Wiki! Added Grievences and Appeals section. Rewrote rule on map position as is reflected in current game environment. Added "Administrator/Moderator Deliberation" with respect to current environment. Edited Optional Rules for currency. Made several grammatical fixes. Added reference points for clarity. Rearrangement of topics and sub-topics. Made it Pretty =] (appologies if a Mod/admin should have done this). (Inert Ingredient)
3.6: July 7th, 2005 - added rule on creating new accounts (Hotshot)
3.5: April 19th, 2005 - new priority of arranged games over blind attacks and procdure
3.4: March 29th, 2005 - clarified the remap rule
3.3: March 26th, 2005 - Added the "legal units vs. SOL" clause
3.2: January 5th, 2005 -Additions made to the paragraph regarding punishments
3.1: November 22nd, 2004 -Remap rule readded
3.0: November 20th, 2004 - Swarm rule removed due to new army system - Remap rule removed
2.9: October 22nd, 2004 -Removed rule on "Dumping ammunition during deployment" since this is no longer possible
2.8: September 07 2004 "Not a roleplaying server" rule re-added. Avoidable vs non-avoidable bug clarification Correction of lost Map rules: With all players agreeing, RMG settings do not have to be used. Added unilateral remap rule. Added "AFK disconnect" rule - a person who is idle for a long period of time is treated exactly as a person who disconnects. Clarified disconnection report rules, RE saved games and using units in other games. Clarified intention behind reporting a disconnection when the exact units are not available. Removed references to megamek.com in favour of megamek.net Removed the term "newbie" in favour of "new player" and "SOL player"
2.7: May 15, 2004 Rewording of large parts of the rules to remove ‘obsolete’ rules relating to previous versions of Megamek. Removing some of the redundant phrases and ‘clunky’ phrases. Clarification of several rules.
2.6: April 18, 2004
Punishment "centralization" and rewording to be more consistent.
Report of bugs and bug abusers.
Re-added bug classification and "best effort" rule.
Removed unconscious and shutdown units rules.
Swarm rule reworded for clarity.
Added host rules.
Added dedicated host rules.
Reworded "respect" rule to include cheating accusations.
Reworded moderator/player interaction.
Reworded the "unresolved task" section.
Added detailed report procedure for unresolved tasks.
2.5: December 18, 2003 History moved at end of document. Changed "Megamek.NET" into "MegamekNET". Added "Coach" rules. Changed "Stalemate" rule wording. Removed "unwilling". Changed "Victory" rule wording. Substituted "all fire" with "all actions". Added reference to "/defeat" server command to end a fight. Added moderator discretionality rule. Added reference to appeal and grievance procedure.
2.4.3: October 28, 2003 Added exemption of infantry for swarm rule. Clarified wording of prohibition against 1 player fighting multiple tasks simultaneously. Removed (now) extraneous rules for selection of maps. Changed "Starting Positions" rule (removed modifiers).
2.4.2: October 23, 2003 New Map rules to fit with Random Map Generator.
2.4.1: October 20, 2003 Corrected inappropriate wording in client files modification section. Removed units.cache from the list of non-modifiable files.
2.4.0: October 19, 2003 New multiplayer rule (no more multiple accounts for one person). Merged "losing your link" and "real life" rules. Added specific client files which may not be modified.
2.3.2: September 10, 2003 Replaced "meks" with "units".
2.3: September 09, 2003: Reformatted to 80 columns. Modified "delay rule". Modified rule on all battles being visible to the .Net server.
2.2: July 07, 2003: Changed "reporting" section to handle auto-reporting. Modified "swarm rule" slightly. Clarification to map selection and position choice ordering, for the one guy who insisted that you could change maps AFTER your opponent picked his starting position.
2.1: May 06, 2003: Added history section. Re-added lost rule about multiple accounts and transfers between them.
