I Remember Planets
(10/29/06)
I've
been playing TDZK for a long time now. I've been lucky enough to have
the chance to lead a wonderful alliance, fortunate enough to have been
able to be involved of many of the interesting events in the game, and
I’ve accumulated quite a few memories of TDZK over the years. And of
the things that most stand out in my mind when I think about my
experiences in this game, a great deal of them involve planets.
I
remember that the very reason I joined the alliance that would shape my
TDZK career in 2.0 was because Malhavoc said, “We own two planets” in
his recruitment spam – something which seemed inherently important to a
person new to the game. I remember how dismaying it was when our
planets were raided. I remember how exciting it was when we raided one
back.
I remember fighting SH alongside STS in 2.1, and our
attempt to take SH’s planets. I remember the anger I felt when Artur’s
multis shut down all secondary reloads. I remember our being forced to
gamble with roulette raiders, and how EVERY SHOT counted. The tension
was incredible.
I remember watching GTG/Discordia attack a SH
planet in 2.2, and lower the population enough that we were able to
throw together an opportunistic raid on the rock in twelve hours
notice, before the population was able to recover. I remember how
thrilling it was to be able to pull that off. I remember how this
started the main war of the round: Fury/Renegades/FF against
SH/HH/HC/CC/TPx/PRU.
I remember one of the worst days of my TDZK
career, logging on to find out that, due to incredible carelessness and
stupidity on our part, our prize planet had been stolen by a malevolent
newbie. I remember the op we threw together to raid it back, scraping
together five raiders and a couple cover and somehow managing to power
drain it without being jumped.
I remember the six hours of
desperate, constant restocking against three SH/PM raid teams as they
brought Asgard to within an inch of its life. I remember the
recklessness with which dronestockers threw themselves at the sector to
near certain pods. I remember how the issue exploded into hot debate on
the webboards.
I remember the hours spent designing and
brainstorming as we plotted how to take down Tyr, the most expensive
and intimidating planet in the game. And I remember the difficult,
ugly, but ultimately satisfying raid as we slowly overcame restockers
on the main PM planet after we became involved in a war with them and
switched the planned Tyr op to them.
I remember being up late,
watching with bated breath as GTG and KAOS made their attempt on Tyr in
the dead hours of the morning. I remember the astonishment I felt at
IA’s nonexistent attempts to defend. I remember the awe I felt when
they popped the planet and needed what felt like hours to kill all of
the ejectees.
I remember hearing the reverence with which 1.0
veterans spoke of Bubblegum, the 1.0 planet of TDZK legend. And then I
experienced our modern-day Bubblegum – the three day battle of 8002,
the largest battle in the history of the game. I remember the monstrous
effort of alliances on all sides. I remember #fury having the most
people it’s ever had, all eager to defend the rock. I remember the
furious jumps against terrible odds, the enormous, lag ridden battles,
the desperate restocking, the frenzied raiding, the thousands of shots
fired, the chaos as the planet finally fell.
I skipped classes
during that, skipped meals, barely slept. By the end of it, I was a
wreck, exhausted physically and mentally, having seen our plans for the
round falter in a colossal gangbang, and yet I had never felt so
involved and engaged in the game or passionate and proud of my
alliance.
And these are just some of my memories, and only
Fury memories. I also remember watching the prolonged battle as UF/DR
fought over Hell and the ridiculous number of pods when that rock
finally feel. I remember raiding planets and getting planets raided
from us. I remember desperately restocking and overcoming desperate
restocking. I remember being glued to the screen while we drone-raided,
refreshing madly, poised to trigger on anything that come IS because we
COULD NOT let a restocker dock on the planet. I remember political
drama caused by alliances hiding members of other alliances on their
planets.
Obviously, these are rosy memories. Planets had their
problems, no doubt. They were not always useful or exciting. Perhaps
they DID favor the bigger, better organized alliances. But I was
still dismayed when the initial discussion about 3.0 revealed that
planets were going to be removed. I wrote a long post then, explaining
my thoughts on the issue. I expressed my concerns to the admins. And
then I grudgingly accepted that the decision would not be changed and
waited to see how things would turn out.
And now, we’re finally
in Nomad. We don’t have planets; we have outposts. They are, as far as
I can tell, completely useless. They’re bland and soulless, they
provide almost no useful advantages to the owners, and they seem more
decorative than anything else. It is impossible to imagine outposts
having an significant effect on a round, or being centers of conflict,
or motivation for competition. They cannot be restocked, which
completely kills any potential they have as fortresses. You will never
see dozens of pods pop out of an outpost, or desperate effort made to
defend one, for this reason. They cannot even be captured, merely
destroyed.
Why? Why have planets been removed and replaced with
these wimpy, useless player-owned ports? What mechanic in Nomad is
going to produce the same drama, the same conflict between alliances,
the same passion and excitement? I don’t mean this as a rhetorical
question; I actually want an answer. I want to know what people are
going to fight over and care about when nothing matters. Planets
had their flaws, but they were nevertheless responsible for some of the
most critical, wonderful moments the game has ever offered, the moments
that made TDZK worth playing, the moments that we cherish years later.
Now they’re gone, and I’m not seeing why this was a good thing. Please
tell me Nomad can offer something comparable.