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Originally posted by David Arthur:
I'm looking at mďsn ID 146, called "Assasination." In it, the player is told that "a member of the Confederation Senate will be travelling in a passenger ship through this region in a few hours" and that "it would be most unfortunate...if he were to meet with an... accident." Not only is there no reason given for this assasination, but there isn't even the slightest suggestion that there is any further reason that is not being revealed to the player. I have a hard time seeing how it promotes freedom to murder the people's representatives.

Well, the Confeds assasinate innocent people as well. I seem to remember that there is a confed mission where you are assigned to destroy a traitor captain's frigate. Now the captain's a bad guy but what about the crew. Is it justifyable to kill people who have been imprisoned or lied to, just to get a renegade captain?

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Originally posted by David Arthur:
The tractor beam can be convenient; I find the cloaking device's effect on shields to make it of little use except on ships with high armour.

Tractor Beam = Alien Ownage
Cloaking Device is good with high armour and sheild high recharge ships. Also it is good when you sneak up to and land on a heavily guarded planet.

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Originally posted by David Arthur:
I don't find that either government has ships that match my style of play. I prefer a Corvette-level ship. Mind you, the Confederate Osprey in Battle for Sol is pretty nice to fly.

Well then. The Rebels suit your taste more. They have a high shield recharge rate and high manueverability...

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Originally posted by David Arthur:
**I suppose it's all a matter of opinion. The Rebel ships look too violent for my taste.
**

The Rebel ships are sleek and deadly. The corvette is a knock-off of the one in Star Wars.

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Originally posted by General Rak:
Well, the Confeds assasinate innocent people as well. I seem to remember that there is a confed mission where you are assigned to destroy a traitor captain's frigate. Now the captain's a bad guy but what about the crew. Is it justifyable to kill people who have been imprisoned or lied to, just to get a renegade captain?

Do you think it's possible for one person to completely control an entire frigate, even if he is that captain? There's no way he could defect and take his ship with him unless his crew supported him. Indeed, the description says that the captain, officers, and crew are defecting, not just the captain.

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Originally posted by General Rak:
The Rebels suit your taste more. They have a high shield recharge rate and high manueverability...

No, they don't suit my taste more. The Rebel cruiser is way too slow, and the Manta, is even worse than a patrol ship, and is no substitute for a civilian fighter. The destroyer is fairly nice - particularly its shield systems - but it can only carry 30 tons of cargo.

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Originally posted by General Rak:
The Rebel ships are sleek and deadly.

Precisely. They look like ships designed for being unpleasant in.

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Originally posted by General Rak:
The corvette is a knock-off of the one in Star Wars.

Huh? The Maskirovka Corvette only bears a slight resemblence to the Correllian corvette, and this resemblance is not surprising, given that they serve in similar roles.

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I'd also like to add another point here, which is that the Rebels are by far the more aggressive party. Apart from the fact that they began the war in the first place, there's more evidence that can be found from some of the major mission strings:

• Rebel Pursuit (first major Confederate mission string): Chase Rebels who have attacked Ruby and recapture the particle beam cannon.

• Rebel Special Ops (Rebel string): Use the cloaking device to infiltrate Sol and steal unidentifed Confederate technology.

• Astrodyne Outpost (Rebel string): Steal the tractor beam from the Confederation for the Rebels.

In addition, the minor Rebel missions are such things as destroying freighter convoys, assasinating senators, and helping pirates escape a crackdown on illegal arms manufacturing, while more of the Confederate missions involve observing the Rebellion and reacting to their actions.

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for the original Escape Velocity(/url)

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Originally posted by Insano:
How do you know that they actually tricked the Pirates and didn't give them the supplies? How do you know that these rebels weren't being forced to do this? How do you know that the rebels didn't destroy the ships carrying the supplies that go to the pirates? I think I've made my case well enough.

Correction (to use your phrase) there are indeed Rebel Light Freighters in the game of EV. Dude ID 194 (Dude name - Rebel LF's) Govt ID 129 (Rebellion) Ship type 129 (Light Freighter). I have yet to see a Confed Warship attack any of these, but that is not to say it doesn't happen, I just have not seen it.

Concerning the Assasination of a Confederate diplomat traveling on a 'Passenger ship': You are not given the mission by a high rebel officer, all you know is that it is someone who looks to be a rebel operative. The fact that your legal standing with the Rebellion increases by 15 points in the game leads me to believe you are indeed doing the Rebels 'Dirty work' in this mission. As David stated, the diplomat is only identified as a Confederation Senator, not someone directly involved with the Confederate War effort against the Rebels. (Think about it, the Confederate Senate does not only work on matters relating to the war between the Confeds.and the Rebels.) I find it difficult to come up with a reason to support a cause that promotes the Assasination of Diplomats traveling on unarmed passenger ships, (Executive Transports have no weapons).

As for your suggestion that perhaps the Rebels tricked the pirates and did not give them any of the munitions, you may be correct. After all, my only reason for thinking this might be happening is the fact that you are offered the mission in a Confederate Region of the galaxy and that the mission ends at a Pirate Base. You are met by a small group of persons that are identified as being Rebels. The fact that your legal standing with the Rebels improves by 50 points at the conclusion of the mission also leads me to believe you are in fact working for the Rebels. This fact also I believe counters your suggestion that perhaps they are being forced to do this by the Pirates themselves.

In conclusion, a brief note to David, if and when you find yourself with more time at the end of August and if you decide to enter into another WebStory on the side of the Confederation, I would be pleased to join you in your effort to counter the terroristic acts of the so-called freedom loving Rebels, after all, I did not feel your cause was hopeless in Battle for Sol when it was met with an untimely end.

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Originally posted by ChristopherH:
Correction (to use your phrase) there are indeed Rebel Light Freighters in the game of EV. Dude ID 194 (Dude name - Rebel LF's) Govt ID 129 (Rebellion) Ship type 129 (Light Freighter). I have yet to see a Confed Warship attack any of these, but that is not to say it doesn't happen, I just have not seen it.

The düdes for Rebel light and bulk freighters are only used sparingly in the game, and then only for military convoys.

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Originally posted by ChristopherH:
As David stated, the diplomat is only identified as a Confederation Senator, not someone directly involved with the Confederate War effort against the Rebels. (Think about it, the Confederate Senate does not only work on matters relating to the war between the Confeds.and the Rebels.) I find it difficult to come up with a reason to support a cause that promotes the Assasination of Diplomats traveling on unarmed passenger ships, (Executive Transports have no weapons).

Exactly. If this was somebody who was important to the military, don't you think they'd be transported on a frigate or cruiser rather than an executive transport?

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Originally posted by ChristopherH:
In conclusion, a brief note to David, if and when you find yourself with more time at the end of August and if you decide to enter into another WebStory on the side of the Confederation, I would be pleased to join you in your effort to counter the terroristic acts of the so-called freedom loving Rebels, after all, I did not feel your cause was hopeless in Battle for Sol when it was met with an untimely end.

Whether or not I'll be participating in any more webstories remains to be seen, but thanks for your offer.

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for the original Escape Velocity(/url)

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Originally posted by David Arthur:
**Do you think it's possible for one person to completely control an entire frigate, even if he is that captain? There's no way he could defect and take his ship with him unless his crew supported him. Indeed, the description says that the captain, officers, and crew are defecting, not just the captain.
**

I bet there is at least 1 unwilling crew member. Therefore, the confederation is harming inoccent people.

So much for this being continued in which government is better...

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Originally posted by General Rak:
I bet there is at least 1 unwilling crew member. Therefore, the confederation is harming inoccent people.

It's almost impossible to conduct a military action without innocent people being harmed; however, there's a big difference between going around murdering innocent people with no purpose or justification and being forced to kill innocent people in order to prevent the growth of an organisation that practices the former. Also, since the Rebellion routinely kills Confederate civilians for no purpose, how do you think they would treat a crewmember on a defecting frigate who opposed the Rebellion?

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Originally posted by Insano:
So much for this being continued in which government is better...

Don't look at me; I'll stop posting these here as soon as people stop posting things I have to respond to. (Actually, since I'm going away, I'll stop posting these anyway, but you get the idea.)

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David Arthur
(url="http://"http://members.aol.com/darthur1/talon-ev/")Talon Plugin for the original Escape Velocity(/url)

I agree with David Arthur. That's how war is. In the Rebs blow Civilian ships to smithereens, that justifies maybe killing one person on a defecting ship. If he didn't want to defect, why'd he go then?

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"Harmless" combat rating? Blah, I can easily take out unarmed disabled ships sometimes.