The following are meant as general guidelines to Standard Operating Procedures at theStarbase. These are documented with the intent to help Warriors understand what usually happens. These are general guidelines, not hard and fast rules. Although I will do my best to notify Warriors of any variances, notification is not guaranteed.
Game Etiquette and Use of theStarbase Forum
Etiquette means different things to different people, please read Player Etiquette for one person's opinion. TheForum is analogous to a Wild West Saloon and Warriors can plan on meeting and interacting with many types of personalities when they enter. Moderation is kept to a minimum but a few things like name calling and disparaging remarks will not be tolerated.
Some boards are moderated for relevance to the main topic. Off-topic posts will be removed.
Withdrawing from games: updated 11/10/2008
Warriors may drop out of games by sending a drop command to the Auto Troll host. A player with an AutoScore <5 may drop out of a game without penalty assuming the game is beyond turn 20. Players with AutoScores <6 may be allowed to drop without penalty given The Admin's permission. Warriors with AutoScores >6 will incur penalty points. Note that any player dropping before turn 40 is not eligible for ribbons or sportsmanship points for that game.
Exceptions may be made for extenuating circumstances, contact The Admin for more information.
All games are run as schedule dictates and players should assume there will be no delays or postponement for the game duration. Delays and vacation time postponement requests will be considered and accommodated where possible if 2/3rds of the game players agree to it. A 2/3 vote does not guarantee a delay! Until the delay is approved by the Administrator players should assume the game will proceed as scheduled. If a delay is granted the next host will execute on the specified day even if Early Host option is on. This is to protect other players that may be depending on that specific host run date and have planned their life accordingly.
Host rollbacks are disruptive events and will be kept to a minimum. As a general rule, if there was occasion for any player’s game position to be damaged by any event that was theStarbases’ direct or indirect responsibility the host *will* perform a rollback. Requests for rollbacks due to events not associated with theStarbase will most likely be denied.Host Rollbacks
Unclaimed races, dropped races & use of computer players: updated 11/10/2008
In general, a race will remain open and available for joining for 4 to 10 turns after the game has started. Unclaimed races are generally turned over to a computer player (CP). The CP of choice is Spacelord. Warriors may initiate a vote to have unclaimed races killraced so there will be no trace of the unclaimed race in the game. This vote request should be posted in theForum.
Warriors are usually dropped from a game after missing 3 turns, warriors may also manually drop the game. The status of a race that has been dropped by a Warrior is determined by the race's score and rank. The following table applies:
| Score or Rank | Determination |
|---|---|
| Rank in top 5 | Game delay for 7 days to allow replacement player to join. If race is not taken game continues under CP and race is left open for joining by other warriors. |
| Rank <Top 5 & score >6% |
Determination of CP or kill-race will be made by majority vote of remaining players. If vote is tied then race will remain as a CP. |
| Score <6% | Race defaults to CP unless a vote to kill-race is initiated by a warrior and the vote carries by 67%. |
Note that when a CP takes over for a race it can be surprising to a Warrior allied with the dropped race since the CP will not be honoring the alliance. The AWL counter on the game page indicates how many turns a warrior has missed and is a good indication of the likelihood of a CP taking over the race. The host will attempt to provide notification in theForum for races turned over to a CP.
Exceptions: If the game is still in its early stages the race may be held static without a CP until a replacement player is found. Also, some games are not conducive to a CP (ex. Wormhole games). In this case the race may be kill-raced and eliminated from the game without a warrior vote.
For new games it is intended that games will start within 30 days of being posted. Warriors will have no more than 48 hours after the last race slot fills to submit their turns before Host executes. Games that have not filled and have at least 8 warriors will start near 30 days after posting. Games that have less than 8 warriors may be mothballed or terminated.
All warriors including warriors banned for excessive dropped games* may join ongoing games if the "Join as" button is available. Warriors joining ongoing games are eligible for ribbons and awards based upon the following schedule:
| Participates for 10+ turns before game ends | Receives 25% of all bonus points |
| Participates for 20+ turns before game ends | Receives 50% of all bonus points |
| Participates for 30+ turns before game ends | Receives 75% of all bonus points |
| Participates for 40+ turns before game ends | Receives 100% of all bonus points and receives all award and game ribbons. |
* Warriors blocked from joining new games may remove their penalty by participating in ongoing games. See Blocked Players section for more information.
Mothballed games will go active when 8 or more warriors have registered. While a game is mothballed registered warriors may elect to remove their registration by submitting a drop request to the autohost.
Game Completion
Games complete when the stated win criterion is met. In games where alliances are allowed a game may also be called to an end if the top 4 players agree. The call for game end may be requested by one of the Top 4 players posting a message on the game’s forum board calling for a vote to end the game.
When a game completes the following actions take place:
A player will be banned if caught using multiple registrations or after not heeding multiple warnings from theManagement. Banned players will have their accounts removed from theStarbase and their email address will be blocked.
Players may be blocked for different reasons with the most common being they exceeded their dropped games to played games ratio. Players blocked due to excessive dropping may remedy themselves by picking up a race that is open in a currently active game. Each game picked up counts towards their "played game" count which improves their dropped game ratio. Blocked players may resume joining regular games once their drop ratio is not exceeded. Blocked players may also reinstated their accounts by contacting theAdmin and providing sufficient remedy against why they were originally blocked.
Restricted access may occur due to incorrect email addresses or other functional reasons that do not allow theStarbase to properly communicate or transact game functions with the player (bad email address, aggressive spam filtering). Restricted players should contact theAdmin immediately so the problem can be resolved. Restricted and blocked players should have an indication on their player page indicating their status.