Welcome to the Ares Chronicles! We're looking for user-submitted articles for this area, such as:
-- fictional stories based on the Ares universe
-- reviews of Ares scenerio files
-- rants about the Ares community
-- any other kinds of writings that are even tangentally related to Ares
...so crack those knuckles and get writing -- then submit your article to the Ares Chronicles!
Is this the appropriate venue for strategy articles? This site seems to do everything I could ever hope to do with the Axis, with the exception of a strategy compendium. I think it would be worth making this the repository for ALL non-news articles, unless there was a way to make sub-catagories in this board (Reviews, Strategy, Other) or maybe make a seperate Review or Strategy board.
Also, any word on creating an Ares forum archive for the immortilization of quality forum posts?
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Pax - Drew Harry
sagitar@earthlink.net
(url="http://"http://www.axis.n3.net/")Ares Axis - axis.n3.net(/url)
"...they say that every five minutes someone dies in a car accident, but how often are there seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses in one hangar?" - Terminal 2, Where are monsters in dreams, Marathon Infinity
Here is a little story about a battle I came up with.
You are standing on the bridge of a new human gunship, comissioned only two weeks ago. You have almost forgotten the pride you felt when you were promoted to captain and given control of the gunship "The Graceful Ornithorhynchus Anatinus."
You think to yourself Fools, all of them. I have the most incompetent crew in this quadrent! They don't even know that Ornithorhynchus Anatinus means platypus!
You are very annoied at your crew because only one hour ago, a gaitori fighter accellerated right up to your ship, filling the entire view screen on the bridge, and blasted away about half your shields while you were on a lunch break. Your crew had no idea what to do, so they rammed the fighter with the ship until it went away. Your crew got scared of what might happen next, so they piloted your ship into an asteriod field to hide... after disabling one of the engines by hitting a green asteriod. You got to the bridge as quickly as possible, only to find your crew singing: "... nine-hundred bottles of Gungan beer on the wall, nine-hundred bottles of beer! You..." It took them a few minutes to realize that the anti-matter gun (actually a prop from The Rocky Horror Picture Show movie that you bought on e-bay, but your crew couldn't tell the difference) in your hand was pointed at them. It didn't take too much longer for them to realize that they should shut up.
"Captain!"
It was the voice of the most annoying ensign in the entire galaxy. Maybe they are the way they are because of the name their parents gave them. Their personality definately fits his name.
With a sigh you ask "What is it Ensign Smakmi?"
"Well, since you're the captain, I guess I have to do what you say, but I though the Galactic Command Manifesto states that no two or more members of the Human/Ishiman Co-operative are allowed to have sexual relations of any kind during work hours. Oh well."
With a loud SMACK!, Ensign Smakmi hits your butt hard. This happens every day, but the more it happens, the more you like it. (Note to readers: I don't specify the sex of Ensign Smakmi because I know many of the people in the Ares community have wildly varying prefrences. I also didn't specify if Ensign Smakmi is even human, since I know there must be some people reading this that are like that.)
"I wasn't asking you to... never mind. Just tell me what the problem is."
"Well, just look at the view screen."
You look at the viewscreen and don't notice anything unusual (aside from your crew). You're about to say that you don't see anything when a tiny moving light is spotted off in the distance. Then another appears, then another, then another... soon your viewscreen is filled with thousands of tiny moving lights.
"Ensign Smakmi! What the hell are those!?!"
"Captain, you aren't going to like this!"
TO BE CONTINUED
So what did you think of the story? If you like it, I'll write some more stories after I finish the second half of this story.
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"Well try to kill them with a fork-lift!"
The Notorious Bounty
Hunter,
Boba Fett
judygeof@ix.netcom.com
In a while I'm going to post a story about the rise to power/conciousness of the oracular net. I should finish it in a few days but plot suggestions are very welcome now.
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" Throught their history, these 'unenlightened' beings have continually organized to opposed the injustices and attrocities committed by their bretheran in power. We, as the prophets, would do well to learn from these humans."
-Final statement of Salrilian reformist Sirthis before his execution.
Well, since strategy articles are considered viable content, I may as well post my first contribution to the growing area of Ares Strategy.
-----Targeting (Mistreated)-----
Many people do not consider targeting in Ares to be very important. The extent that most people use it for is to assign esorts to transports or to their flagship. At best, they use it for fleet structure (Carrier-2 gunships-2 cruisers each attached to gunships, ect.) However, targeting can actually win you a battle. It can be the deciding factor in same species games, which are what tournaments are all about.
Use 1: Taking out someone specific: Preferable your opponent's HVD. In an Ishiman vs Ishiman game, where both sides use the double carrier-rest cruisers tactic, which is so very common, it is whoever loses their HVD first that usually loses. Therefore, target the cruisers to the HVD to swarm it so you can kill it with your HVD, and send your carriers to the planet so they can support each other. And ishiman carrier on it's own is pretty easy to kill- is far more difficult. This is why attacking is generally preferable. This is by far my favorate use of targeting, since I usualy play games against opponents of the same species.
Use 2: Lures: A great tactic, best for humans since the ship mix is always the same. No doubt most of you have read the attack magnet strategy on the axis page. This is an elaboration on that as well as an explanation of why it works. I will use the example of humans and gunships with an ATR. A human HVD travels through hyperspace much more quickly than the gunships do. Therefore, if you are defending the assault transport, and your opponent comes at you out of hyperspace, you have the advantage of using your hvd to pick off his while your gunships, which are grouped together, will eat him alive. When the gunships arrive moments later, they all drop out of hyperspace in different places. Your gunships are in a group. This means that you can divide and conquer your opponents gunships, and you still have your HVD. I can win most of my human games with this strategy.
Use 3: Defence: If you are looking to defend your planet, then do. Don't attack just because you're worried. Patience can be rewarding provided you do the right things. DO NOT target your fleet to your HVD, they will be moving around and all over the place, making them easy prey. Additionally, they will be trying to follow you while fighting, which gets them killed really quickly. Instead, target your ships to a fixed or slow moving point, such as a carrier which is targeted to your planet. This way, you will be the anvil to your opponent's hammer; he may strike, but when the hammer breaks the anvil is still fine. This also allows you to use your HVD to move around and be it's best without leading your fleet astray.
These are just some of the uses of targeting, and now that people know them I'll likely never win another game, since they form the basis of my tactics.
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Lewis,
save yourself the pain,
you'll never get there.
-Radiohead, "Lewis (Mistreated.)"
Guys... This isn't the place to be submitting stuff, you want to hit the "Submit Article" button on the main chronicles page. That way it'll let the moderators/admins accept the article and post it to the page.
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Pax - Drew Harry
sagitar@earthlink.net
(url="http://"http://www.axis.n3.net/")Ares Axis - axis.n3.net(/url)
"...they say that every five minutes someone dies in a car accident, but how often are there seven hundred and sixty one armless and legless corpses in one hangar?" - Terminal 2, Where are monsters in dreams, Marathon Infinity
Wow, I posted that back when my post count was 23. Christ, how I wish I could go back to then and just undo some of things I've done since. I mean... when was that? How many mistakes have I made since? Coming back to the Ares forums would have been one I can tell ya. I think I've 'degraded' so much since then. If I only knew then what I know now. But there's no going back, not ever.
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There are only 3 kinds of people: those who can count, and those who can't.
Quote
Originally posted by Joveia:
**Wow, I posted that back when my post count was 23. Christ, how I wish I could go back to then and just undo some of things I've done since. I mean... when was that? How many mistakes have I made since? Coming back to the Ares forums would have been one I can tell ya. I think I've 'degraded' so much since then. If I only knew then what I know now. But there's no going back, not ever.
**
Its a simple progression of life. You learn from your mistakes and can only make amends for your ignorance.
It happens to most of us, nobody is perfect.
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"I'm a controversial figure. My friends either dislike me or hate me."
