Ight... So where should I start? Well, if you are a kind of guy who wants to skip reading through tons of text, regarding information about the details of this clan just to see if this is the right place for you, then I can summarize everything in one sentence and if you don't like it you can skip the rest: this is a military-based post-apocalyptic totalitarian brotherhood. A shorter, easier-to-understand version: a clan guided by military principles. And that's that. If you do find yourself interested in such an introduction, please read on, as the following information might be very useful when deciding whether to join this group or not.
FURTHER INTRODUCTION
Yea, one introduction ain't enough... I need one more! In this one I will explain the "extended" version of our clan's description above.
Military-based: we follow certain basic military rules. For example, we have internal ranks. Following orders, coordinating your moves with your teammates and playing your role in the process of a competitive game is very important in this alliance. We (I) also keep an organized track of everyone who is active and everyone who's not. I make sure to organize games in a fashion that goes both by a specific schedule and the demands of my fellow co-players.
Post-apocalyptic: This one actually explains the name aswell. What is an apocalypse? Well, to me it is a catastrophy of enormous proportions. A war may be seen as such a catastrophy, may it not? And have we all not been through Counter-Strike, Call of Duty, Battlefield, Quake II, Quake III: Arena, Black, Half-Life (2)? Have we not experienced a type of war. Perhaps not in a fatal way, as our wars were "artificial" and "safe", but wars nonetheless. Wars implying defeat and victory, happiness and hatred, no? Couldn't we say that our personalities were altered with the age of modern computer? Could we not say that in a way, some parts of us, that are still present within, were "born" out of these artificial wars? Could we not call ourselves... sons of the apocalypse? (Nothing against lady viewers, it is just that most of people who play video games are male, and calling the clan "Humans of the Apocalypse" in hope to discard the inequality of sexes on the internet just doesn't quiet make it...)
Totalitarian: This ain't no democracy. Military has never been, isn't now and (I can bet my undergraduate college degree in history) never will be. Follow the policy or get kicked, simple as that. And policy is following orders of your superior officer/commander when deployed on a battlefield.
Last but not least... Brotherhood: Loyalty is everything. One for all and all for one. Help your team and the team will help you. "All wars are civil wars, because all men are brothers" - Francois Fenelon. This means: we play against each other, we say "Thank you, good game." and shake hands afterwards, no grudge, no hate; we play games against other clans, we say "Thank you, good game." and shake hands afterwards, no grudge, no hate. No offence, but if you fail to understand this concept then you shouldn't at all be playing online games... or real-life sports for that matter. For both others and your own good that is, it will save you lots and lots and lots of frustration (and thus your life, as it is proven by medical research that stress and frustration are consuming time from your life and making your chances die earlier than you actually should higher).
MAIN INFORMATION
Alright, that was introduction, now to the practical stuff. This is a clan for those who whish to press the limits of AoS as a battle-simulation. Tactics, teamwork and good creativity in order to, if not win, then really challenge the other team, thus creating an interesting gameplay for those who wish for "more" than just FPS. Luckily, AoS provides us a chance to not just experience action, but also logic and strategy, as it is possible, unlike in other FPSes (such as CS, COD and BF) to actually build structures and defenses, dig tunnels and underground networks.
We will be playing at different maps, but I will try and make sure for them all to be militarily "inspired". For example I tried a good Normandie map some time ago. We might borrow stuff like that. I am making my own maps too and I can have my computer on 24/7 at some periods, so hosting a server is not at all a problem.
Every month I will send a PM to every member of the alliance. A member has 14 days (two weeks), starting to count the day after member received the message, making it day 1. Failure to respond to this message until daychange[*] from day 14 to day 15 will result in you been placed into the "inactive" list. A simple "Hi, I'm alive and am still playing" is good enough for me. If you warn me before going inactive, you will still be placed under the "inactives", but you won't get any negativity for it.
So what's "negativity"? If you go inactive without saying anything, then come back and participate in clan events without explaining your absence, and then go inactive again, just like that. Well guess what, you will be kicked, also "just like that".
[*]GMT +1 is my timezone and the one I follow, make sure to check yours to prevent simple, yet annoying misunderstandings!
There is another paragraph below (if you scroll down a bit) dedicated to explicitly giving you an understanding of SotA's rank system. There is also one for rules and your application form that needs to be filled and posted either here, on this very thread, or PMed to me personally in order to join the brotherhood. Whichever feels more comfortable.
General information: I started SotA back in August last year, making us officially a "young" clan, as an alliance group of people playing Supremacy1914, an interesting RTS (Real Time Strategy) game. I have been a member there since mars 2009 and am still playing it. Our alliance is growing, both there and on other sites. Perhaps not so much for the past two months, due to people having to cut off some time from games and focus on their spring exams, but still. We have about 20 members there, unfortunately only about a third are active, another third are semi-active and the rest are either dead or I don't know. But they were loyal members and fun to play with, so I'm kind of backholding myself from kicking them in hope that one day they shall return. Plus it doesn't cost me extra time or anything to just have them as "inactive" rather than deleting them altogether.
Some about me: I'm 18, but turning 19 next month (May 2012). I'm currently studying physics and math at Lund University in Sweden, but I will change to programming science till Autumn and start the pursuit of my life-long dream which is game/software/program developing and 3D-movie making. I'm from Ukraine. I like X-box 360, reading books, writing books and playing AoS.
RANKS: DESCRIPTION AND ROLE
We have 6 ranks: Elder, General, Colonel, Captain, Sergeant and Private.
Elder: The leader(s) of the brotherhood. These are the main administrators. They plan and announce events, help new members understand structure and organization of the alliance, giving promotions, contact and co-work with other clan leaders to launch joined games. Controls the entire brotherhood.
General: The "roosters of the farm", if you so will. They are the highest rank on the battlefield and have the final word in every tactical assault and longwise strategy of the games they're in. They give orders to Colonels and Captains. But the duty of Generals is dual and they must also help Elders with administration, planing games and matches against other groups. They must be able to overtake job of Elders in their absence. This includes: hosting games, mark those who are inactive, give minor promotions (up to Captain) and other activities. In command of an army.
Colonel: A Colonels job is limited to only military operations. But, they must help out with administrational work if an Elder or a General demands so. They give orders to Captains and Sergeants. One could simply summarize that Colonels are substitutes for Generals. They may also give promotions, but only up to Sergeant. In command of a brigade.
Captain: Following notice of our extraordinary phisolopher, but very unfortunately for millions of people not so extraordinary psychic, Karl Marx, you could say that Captains are the upper-middle class of this clan. They are the "factory owners" whereas Elders are Emperors, Generals are Kings and Colonels are nobles. The mission of Captains is to make sure that orders of a Colonel or a General are executed out in combat. Their focus lies more on short term tactics to, together with their Sergeants, accomplish a task from a superior officer, rather than long-term strategy planing for the entire match. Just as Colonels, Captains are also obligated to help Generals and Elders to administrate the clan if such a demand arises. In command of a plutoon.
Sergeant: They make sure that Captain's tactical orders are followed out there during the heat. They report any illoyal activity, griefing, pointless building, shooting up in the air and been what-so-ever completely pointless to the team. You could say that they "keep an eye" on new players. This is sort of our "probation ceremony". A Sergeant's role when it comes is to take point and charge their team wherever Captain tells them to charge. They are not obligated to help out with the administrative work. In command of a squad.
Private: The working class, if you allow (don't you just love my socialist analogies?). These are typically the new members that need to prove themselves and their loyalty towards the brotherhood. They must execute every order given by a Captain or a Sergeant (and by other superior ranks aswell). Ain't no command ova' noth'n. Do your scene and enjoy the show.
An important thing to keep in mind is that there may only be one of the highest present rank per team per server. So if you are a Captain and currently the highest rank in your team, lets say green, another Captain may not join the same server and the same team. This is to prevent struggle for leadership. If a Colonel joins that server then the number of Captains no longer matters because it's all up to Colonel then.
Here is it all rounded up in numbers:
32 p. (16 vs. 16) = (per team) 1 General, 1-2 Colonels, 2-3 Captains, 3-5 Sergeants, 5-10 privates.
Brotherhood = everyone.
Army = 16-40 units.
Brigade = 8-20 units.
Plutoon = 4-10 units.
Squad = 2-3 units.
Promotions
...are given over time to those who show the following three qualities(in order of their importance):
1. Loyalty
2. Skill
3. Activity
As you can see, loyalty is much more important than either skill or rate of how many hours you spend on the internet every day. If you show loyalty and willpower to not only remain in the alliance, but become its impartible substance, you will make your way up without any trouble. But as with most of things in life, it will take time.
RULES (A.K.A "DO/DON'T DO THIS OR YOU GET KICKED")
Ahh yes, here comes the party pooper...
1. You must be able to write and read in everyday English without any inertia. I do not demand fluency, as this is an international clan and not an american/brittish one. But, since it is an international clan, you must be able to communicate with your team members.
2. As I have explained in some part of the text above, I send out a message every month to every member, so that I can count how many are active or simply reachable. If you go inactive twice without stating any reason at all (you can at least come up with a lie that your computer was broken, at least that shows that you've taken time and compassion to write me a message, instead of just blatantly ignoring me) you will get kicked.
3. If you swear inappropriately[*], you're out. Everyone's got a bad day sometime, but there ain't no reason to ruin it for all your teammembers. Follow the advice of our friendly neighbour Spiderman: "If you can't say anything nice, don't say anything at all."
[*]I can live with occasional "damn" here and there, but that's it!
4. Pointless activities. Includes: meaningless/harmful griefing (it is OK to grief the opposing team), shooting in the air (just for the "adrenaline", I guess), running around and hitting teammates with spade, building purple houses designed to hold an imaginary teaparty, and many, many more. I do not have anything personally against these activities, but they all hold a common threat towards victory: waste of time. If you are bored, I'd prefer you to say goodbye to the team and turn off your computer, go read a book or something. But by doing pointless things not only do you hold up a slot that otherwise might be taken by a player that would actually bring use to the better of the team, you might also distract other people from doing what they actually should. A member wont get kicked over a minute just because he felt an urgent rush to bring down a tree or so (we've all been there, I am no exception), but if you will continue to do nothing but griefing trees for half an hour, you might get a warning. If you disregard this warning, you'll get kicked from the server. If, next time we play together, you still continue to do pointless things, and you still disregard a warning (for the second time now) you will get kicked from the brotherhood. If you do not wish to participate in our games any longer because you find them boring, there is a much easier way to change clan: you can just send me a message that you no longer wish to be a part of SotA, that's all. I'll instantly delete you from the list, and everyone's happy. No need in creating hatred and grudges either to "revenge" your wasted time here or just for the sake of it.
GUIDELINES (A.K.A. "JUST DO/DON'T DO THIS, WILL 'YA!")
1. Don't hold grudges. This applies to both internal and external matches.
2. Don't start discussing politics or religion. It allways leads to flame wars on chat and just ruins the game for everyone. And for crying out loud, don't discuss n.a.z.i.s, just don't...
3. Use your brain. Don't treat it like a foe, because it is your friend, trust me.
4. This should probably be under rules, but I see it as more of a guideline: Not following orders = pointless activities.
5. Have our tag ([SotA]) and your internal rank in front of your name ingame when playing on SotA servers. For example "[SotA] Captain habahabaha2010". When playing on servers of other clans or just random public servers, you don't have to have your SotA rank, as it wouldn't really matter to other people. There you may just have the clan tag.
SPECIALIZATION
I had to make a separate piece for this. The Specialization is what you do when NOT given orders. This is your "thing". If for example your team consists of 7 brothers and your captain has named 3 of them to join him in an assault while not mentioning a word about you, you just proceed with what you should do. Be it camping for enemy units at the flag or building defensive walls, it's what you should do.
There are 7 different types of specializations. 3 of which are useful for all game modes, 3 are focused on "ctf" (capture the flag) and "tc" (team control) gamemodes only, and one which is only for "ctf" mode. You may have up to 3 specializations at a time (giving you a choice of what to do when actually in game), one of them must be an "AGM" (only if you choose more than one specialization).
AGM = All game modes.
CTO = "ctf" and "tc" only
CTFO = only "ctf" rounds may use this specialization
Attacker (AGM): you make your way to the enemy side of the map and try to shoot as many as possible.
"Flanker" (AGM): you flank and distract enemies in order to help attackers to kill as many of them as possible. And how do you do that? You just run at them and try to hit them with a spade, or through grenades or something.
Defensive builder[*](CTO): building defenses at the base, perhaps protecting the flag or making it hard to retrieve for the other team.
Offensive builder[*](CTO): building trenches and protective walls out on the battlefield, trying to get a path for your teammates as safe and close as possible to the flag of the oposing team.
[*]When been a builder you must choose a second specialization. This is what you do when you're "done" building things.
"Camper"(AGM): I think you already guessed what this one does. I personally find word "sniper" not enough to describe the role of this unit. Campers are defensive. They sit down and tight behind a hill or some and strike any incoming foes to the ground.
Flag retriever(CTFO): the name speaks for itself. Interestingly, it means literally what it means: retrieving flag of the enemy team when not given any other orders by a superior officer. So, even if everyone knows that a certain player has this specialization the Captain might give him orders to sit down and camp while someone else tries to take the flag. Reminds me of american football where everyone knows who quarterback is, but not if he's gonna pass the ball or go for it him/herself.
Digger(CTO): digging useful tunnels and trenches. Making tunnels to the enemy side and leting your team know of their existence and whereabouts (and do so on team chat, not global!).
REQUIREMENTS TO JOIN
None. Except Engish and an application form, but we've covered that up already. I believe that everyone deserves a chance. But trust me, I have a keyboard and I am not afraid to use it. If you don't follow the rules, you're out. Drama queen? Out. Hatred-spreader? Out. Not following orders? Out. Fan of "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"? Out. (Hahaha, just kidding. Or am I...)
We are not promoting "pr0"-s. Most of people actually find bragging an annoying habbit. This is a competitive alliance, yes. But we are competitive to make ourselves better and enjoy the games while we're at 'em, not to make others look worse.
HAVE A COMPLAINT?
Someone got undeserved promotion? A player is griefing and nothing is done about it? Instead of giving you orders your Sergeant tells you how much he loves "My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic"? Send me a personal message and we'll sort it out.
CURRENT MEMBERS
By order of their acceptance into the brotherhood.
bov930527 (12.04.12.) Ingame: Breuce
kingjj (27.04.12.) Ingame: Kingjj
Scipion (03.05.12.) Ingame: Scipion
APPLICATION FORM
You are required to post answers to questions 1-4 in order to join the brotherhood. I would though appreciate if you answer 5-7.
Q#1. Is it within the realms of your linguistic ability to fully comprehend the query written on this very line? What I'm trying to get across is... YOU. ENGLISH. YES? NO?
Q#2. Do you like AoS? Is it a game that you will actually play in a week or two?
Q#3. What specialization would you like to have?
Q#4. What is your ingame name? You must inform me if you change it and what you change it to.
Q#5. Do you know anything about hosting servers? Does your RL situation allow to host servers? If I need help to host a server, could you do that for me?
Q#6. What's your native language? What languages do you master? I know four and a half (my German is a bit rusty), so perhaps you might talk to me in a different language than English, if you need help. But you still must be able to speak English. I know Russian, Ukranian, Swedish and as I sad, a bit of rusty German. So you can speak with me in those languages if you can't say something complicated in English. Even if you don't speak any of those, I would still like to know what languages you possess so that you may, if you wish off course, help the brotherhood within that area, if we'll ever need help.
Q#7. If you do play AoS frequently, at which times do you usually log in and how long are you online?
Thank you for your cooperation.
After you've answered these questions either on this thread or sent them to me in a PM, I will check them in case you are a complete idiot, and I assume you are not, and I will accept you into the brotherhood.
Lastly I would like to publically thank DeathEnhanced and BOYOO for their tips to newly started clans. They have many good points.
Clan created on April 12th 2012
All trademarks reserved @2012
Copyright Breuce Entertainment @2010-2028
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P.S. If you actually read all this you are my hero. Even if you won't join my clan and yet you read all this, thank you, thank you.
