@Wizz This also meshes with my own experiences there, up to the present day. Hadrix Kora is a heavy contributor to the uncomfortableness on Pub, as is the general clique he belongs to that basically seems to control the game.

@kalakh Speaking of… this just hit the boards last night.

=========================<* 8: Game Updates - 199 *>=========================
Message: 8/199 Posted: Jan 20 2023 Author: Discordia
Timejump XP Updates (Non-FS)

As we approach closer to the timejump, post-time jump XP and Sheet adjustments going forward will be:

For all Non-FS, 1000 XP base award
PLUS 150 per 5 years of a 15 year age-up.

Thus:

0 years: 1000xp
5 years: 1150xp
10 years: 1300xp
15 years: 1500xp

FS Characters will be handled separately. The goal with the XP award is to allow our Non-FS characters to come to greater parity with their level of skill after a fifteen year increase.

All XP adjustments will be handled by hand and annotated per character so that if a PC is shelved and their XP is rolled into a new PC, it will not include the XP gained by the time jump. Only their normally accrued experience points, as has always been the case.

Any Non-FS who wish to change their decision on whether or not they will be aging up and by how much, please either add a reply to your existing job or submit a new +request if you have not done so yet. Anyone who does not submit a +request will be assumed to be aging the full 15 years.

If you have more than one alt, you may include your decisions for all of them in one +request, just make sure to note each alt and your choice going forward.
------------------------------< +bbread 8/199 >-------------------------------

The original ‘awards’ were 0 XP for not aging, 150 for aging five years, 300 for aging 10 years, and the full 500 for aging the full 15 years, just so nobody has to scroll back a mile or two. Quite a difference, don’t you think?

Sound like damage control (to the tune of, ‘Please stay! We’re handing out oodles of goodies!’) to anyone else?

(Note: Edited to fix the message header.)

@Narson What was that motivation? Just 'cause I’m morbidly curious…

FWIW, not a fan of AoA, and likely never will be. Even if the subject of this board weren’t an issue (which I’m sure it is), there are too many sketchy things and flying monkeys for my taste, and too many good players run off by blatant favoritism, and a slightly less blatant habit of ignoring their efforts to contribute to the game. Who could blame them? If nothing you do is ever allowed to have any effect/meaning, why stay?

Skipping ahead 15 IC years and letting the Sith Empire have the galaxy, ostensibly to get the game back to ‘Star Wars’s best vibe, rebels vs. the empire’ is just the most recent sketchy decision, and I still wonder if it’s not another attempt to create A Game of Thrones IN SPACE. I also wonder which Sith Empire staff alt decided they wanted to win the game…

But I digress. The ones who have quit have the right (and healthiest) idea.

@CuriousGamer These things remind me a great deal of a Rollins Band song I used to play on the campus radio station. Think it was just called ‘Liar’. This isn’t nearly the whole song, but these are the words I remember when I think of abusers like Cujo and Hadrix.

'I’ll hide behind a smile… and understanding eyes…
And I’ll tell you things you already know, just so you’ll say, ‘I really identify with you, so much!’
I’ll come to you like an affliction. I’ll leave you like an addiction.
You’ll never forget me! YOU WANNA KNOW WHY?!!

‘CAUSE I’M A LIAR!!! YEAH! I AM A LIAR!!!’

‘I DON’T KNOW WHY I FEEL THE NEED TO… CAUSE YOU SO MUCH PAIN!
MAYBE IT’S SOMETHIN’ INSIDE, MAYBE IT’S SOMETHIN’ I CAN’T EXPLAIN…
‘CAUSE ALL I DO… IS MESS YOU UP AND LIE TO YOU!!!’

‘I LIE! I LIE AND LIE AND LIE! OH, I LIE…
I’LL LIE AGAIN! AND AGAIN!
I’LL LIE AGAIN AND AGAIN AND I’LL KEEP LYIN’!
I promise… HAHAHAHAHAHAAH!’

Groomers and cliquesters are a lot like this. Other players are just a disposable thrill to them, or a place to hide when the whistle is blown… or even the flying monkey squad that squashes all criticism of them, so they can continue to prey on vulnerable people.

In what little experience I have with this kind of abuse on games, ones in which staff have near-total control of the information flow, things tend to simmer just beneath the surface, invisible to most of the player body of the game, for a long, long time. Most players go out of their way to avoid the clique the problem player is part of, if there is any warning at all. It’s only when the incidents begin to pile up, and victimized players begin to talk to one another outside of the game and discover patterns in their own experiences, that things come out, and usually it’s in one big rush. The game may or may not die as a result of it.

On the game I was on when I first saw this (a Fallout game run by the infamous Kat), a large part of the playerbase disappeared over the course of a month, and most of the players found out through paging one another, or talking to fellow players outside the game via emails or places like Discord. The game slowly withered and died for six or so months afterward, and by the time Kat actually banned the predator in question, it was much, much too late to save the game or what little credibility she had as a staffer.

Given that Cujo refuses to even acknowledge that any abuse occurred, let alone ban the player/staffer responsible, I don’t know how long it will take AoA to wither away, if it ever does. Remember that SerenityMUSH stuck around for a long, long time in spite of having similar problems, and an equally toxic staff culture. The same may happen here.

@Jennkryst Why does it not surprise me that AoA would waste time and effort on a kinks code system?

They wasted plenty of time on working elevators and trams, some of which eat coded money, in some locales, to say nothing of ‘balancing’ the coded weapons and ammo, most of which doesn’t begin to match old or new canon… and adding modifications that tend to be very rare (except for the garbage-grade versions that clog up the vendors everywhere) and cost many, many times more than the weapons themselves, just to turn those weapons back into something besides useless junk. Mostly what they managed to do is turn the gap between newbies and dinosaurs into a huge gulf, which I doubt was accidental.

Starship mods are treated much the same way, though the stock ships aren’t nearly as junked-up as the weapons (even if they are far more rare, since only a small number of each ship model exists on the game at any time).

And if you want anything modded, you have to find someone with the skills and coded equipment to do it. While this makes some sense, a staff member has to be available to adjudicate the actual modifications, just in case the tech succeeds wildly or fails; in the latter case, the mod is lost and the item being modded can be permanently damaged, reducing one or more of its base statistics. Needless to say, it takes very high skill levels in the necessary skills to generate consistent results. Like automated cargo running code, this is supposed to ‘encourage RP’. I don’t know about RP, but it certainly encourages frustration, as scheduling is the worst enemy of using coded mod systems.

There’s also pricey color codes for armor, weapons, etc., and something called ‘screambucks’, relatively recently added, that are supposed to be gained through RP, and can be used to purchase other coded rarities, like beskar metal for making Mandalorian armor. This is great for large groups and orgs, who have a habit of nomming one another heavily, but not nearly so useful for less active and/or ‘well-connected’ players, which are usually newbies; usually by the time the dinosaur groups finish nomming one another, they’ve run out of noms.

All of this code and coded objects may explain why the game suffers from persistent and often severe lag. Just typing +paycheck or +bbnew guarantees a wait of several seconds, minimum.

@SqeakyClean This confirms a LOT of things I’ve suspected for some time now.

And I can confirm that the playerbase emphatically did not want the time skip; that was a staff thing all the way, and Cujo admitted that he had been steering the metaplot of the game toward the Sith winning for a good while before deciding to announce the time skip. The playerbase was not even asked if they wanted this; they were just told ‘this will happen, and unless you figure out a way to opt out, you are aging 15 years’ (BTW, it’s a lot harder to opt out than go with the flow). And while noises are being made about the Sith Empire faction ultimately losing, the faction is recruiting heavily, much like the First Order back before that faction was made NPC. So I’m of the opinion that even if the Sith Empire loses, it will be a very long time coming, and even then I’m sure Aryn will fight it every step of the way.

Just one more chapter in the long-running ‘Imps win, LOL,’ side of Star Wars.

@Jennkryst It should be noted that most of the original Koras used to be First Order PCs, who started chargen with the best stats and gear on the game. Except possibly for Sumi Kora, who is head of the Bounty Hunters’ Guild and built to a standard at least equal to the First Order PCs, none of the Koras started life as Mandalorians; they were all First Order PCs who somehow adopted the Mandalorian way of life after the First Order ceased to be a PC faction, so they didn’t have to retire their overbuilt PCs, or go totally Civilian.

It’s probably no coincidence that Clan Kora first popped up within a month of ‘The Mandalorian’ first airing.

@Wizz I suspect more newbies than we will EVER know about had a similarly horrible experience there, whether immediately or much later.

@Popes Or maybe they’ve just learned that they have to hide their bad behavior better, since the word’s out about it and the playerbase is a lot smaller than it used to be (because the word’s out about it).

Time will tell.

@Buttercup Hopes, love, best wishes, and prayers for you and yours. Hope you not only pull through, but get better faster than anyone expects was possible.

@Jennkryst I remember stories about how SerenityMUSH started life as a relatively short-lived Star Wars MU called ISD Revenge, but I had no idea it was a GOMO of AoA.

Given the fact that so much of AoA has played out like SerenityMUSH, I had entertained the thought that the connection between it and ISD Revenge ran deeper than just them both using DSS. It felt like more than a coincidence that the oldest ship on AoA, the Finalizer, just happened to be a Star Destroyer, and the centerpiece of ISD Revenge was surely also a Star Destroyer (I never played there, so I have no way of knowing. Though from everything I’ve heard, I feel like I dodged at least one bullet…).

Do you know if Mal and/or Inara copied AoA without permission to build ISD Revenge? It’s the kind of thing Mal would do, and might explain why Cujo seems so proddy about anyone trying to copy his gamewreck.

@Pavel

@Pavel said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

The adage of “any publicity is good publicity” still holds true.

I’m not sure this situation is quite that simple, so again, I both agree and disagree. I do remember mentioning that I am fascinated by failure, and this game is the biggest fail-fest since SerenityMUSH (a very high bar to jump).

Though I will say that anybody who reads any part of this thread and says, “Ooooh! I wonder if it really is that bad? I think I will play this game and find out!”, and follows through on that statement, is an idiot of the first order (pardon the pun) and deserves whatever awfulness happens to them. It could be compared to jumping into the Amazon River just to see if there really are piranha in the river.

I do appreciate the advice, though.

@Ashkuri I both agree and disagree. Mostly because this forum is intended to serve as a warning to players new and old about this so-called game.

It’s not free publicity if it doesn’t help them. The place has recently had an influx of new PCs, largely due to the introduction of the naval fleet combat system and the fleet captains initiative, and I can guarantee you that this thread has absolutely nothing to do with that. The sad part is that some of them are actual new players, who are going to learn the ugly facts about about this place the hard way, which we also have nothing to do with.

You’re right about them never changing, though. And as with all of these matters, the proof is in the posts:

=======================<* 7: Game Announcements - 132 *>=======================
Message: 7/132 Posted Author
Moar Noms Pls Feb 02 2022 Cujo

We’d love to. But we can’t.

The 20 noms a week you’re given is reaching the ceiling of what we can really do. Sometimes, as we see fit, the Staff will issue more noms, but its only when we can, which is something we have to choose wisely on.

Our recommendations is that if you’re attending a lot of big scenes during the week… please only +nom the people you directly interact with, or even better, the people who pose in ways that most impress you. You have to, as players, be a bit more stingy with your +noms if you want to have them last through the week, especially if you’re going to a lot of big scenes where you’re +nomming people that you’re not even ICly interacting with.

Sometimes, its best to just not +nom someone who isn’t putting a lot of effort out, or who you do not even RP with directly in a big scene.

Choose wisely, you really do only get 20 +noms a week.

• Cujo
  ====================< Comment 1 - Added Feb 15 06:15PM GMT >====================
  Cujo Commented:
  Just to spotlight this post anew, once upon a time we only gave out somewhere around 5 to 7 +noms in a 7 day period on this game. The original intent being that +noms were given to those who most shined, like a Player of the Scene reward. As times have changed, people have come to expect to hand out one to everyone that is in a large scene with them, or anyone that poses in the same room as them. Though I understand the intent is to show appreciation for participation, we still strive to make RP the goal and the reward that is most desired overall, the +nom and the XP is second and third to the RP itself.

We have upped the number over the years, but also reduced the XP you get from a +nom as well, to balance it out. The rest of the above still stands too. Only give +noms to those you directly interact with in a large scene, or those who pose in ways that are above and beyond, to help show them that an impressively crafted pose is worth one of your precious +noms.

And yes, Bizz, I know that you tell people to just +nom people on their alts, because Cujo will never know. But I do know, Bizz… I do know. AND we can reject +noms too, if we feel so inclined, but we don’t want to be mean to you guys, because we love you (not Bizz, but everyone else.)
-------------------------------< +bbread 7/132 >--------------------------------

Having played on games that had absolutely no limit on +noms, +votes, +whatever, save that you couldn’t nom the same player twice in the same week, this reeks of bantha droppings. Even if it’s true, whose fault is it that Cujo and Company continue to cling to (not to mention continue to severely overcomplicate) such a ramshackle, outdated system as DSS?

Nobody’s fault but theirs, really.

@Warlander Meet the new theme post!

========================<* 6: Theme Discussion - 36 *>=========================
Message: 6/36 Posted Author
Current Theme Summary Feb 12 2025 Cujo

Our story is set 18 years after Episode IX: The Rise of Skywalker, in a galaxy ruled by the Sith Empire, where a fledgling rebellion is beginning to rise once more.

The Sith have abandoned the Rule of Two, expanding their ranks by training countless Sith Acolytes and warriors in temples scattered across the galaxy. Their dominion stretches from the Core Worlds to the Inner Rim, enforced by legions of Sith warriors, an iron-fisted military, and a vast fleet of Star Destroyers. Through terror and oppression, they maintain order, crushing all who defy them. Any system that resists is swiftly subjected to brutal crackdowns;entire populations are subjugated, cities are razed, and rebel sympathizers are executed publicly to serve as warnings. The Sith’s enforcers patrol every sector, hunting Jedi and traitors alike, ensuring no one is safe from their reach.

The Jedi, long thought extinct, have survived in secrecy. Led by Rey, they have spent nearly two decades gathering allies, stockpiling resources, and training a new generation of Jedi in hiding. The Sith Empire has sought them relentlessly, dispatching inquisitors and assassins to root them out. Those captured face grim fates;imprisonment, torture, or worse, forced conversion into Sith acolytes. Now, as the Rebellion stirs, the Jedi are beginning to emerge from the shadows to aid in the fight against the Sith’s tyranny.

At the head of the Sith Empire stands the enigmatic Darth Omen, a towering and fearsome Sith Lord who oversees the training of new Sith across the Empire. His apprentice, Empress Kessa;known to many as Darth Mirage;governs the Empire from Coruscant, ruling from the old Senate complex with ruthless precision. Both are masked figures whose true faces have never been seen, adding to their mystique and terror. Darth Omen is clad in black robes, a figure of raw power, while Empress Kessa drapes herself in ornate crimson outfits. Under her rule, entire worlds have been stripped of their resources, their populations enslaved, and their cultures erased to serve the will of the Sith.

Beyond the Sith’s reach, the Outer Rim remains a battleground of its own. The Hutt Cartel thrives, striking lucrative deals with the Sith to ensure their criminal enterprises remain untouched. They funnel Force-sensitive captives to the Empire, run smuggling operations, and serve as a shadow network for the highest bidder. In return, the Sith allow them to rule their crime-infested worlds unopposed, turning Nar Shaddaa and other underworld strongholds into dens of vice, corruption, and exploitation. Meanwhile, piracy has surged in the lawless territories, as warlords and marauders prey upon vulnerable trade routes. Some align with the Rebellion, striking at Sith supply lines, while others serve only their own greed, raiding anyone unfortunate enough to cross their path.

Amidst this turmoil, the Rebellion has begun to rally around its mobile command center;Organa’s Hope, a massive shipyard and production facility capable of jumping from system to system. Named in honor of the late Leia Organa, this formidable vessel is the key to the Rebellion’s strategy. From its hangars, the Resistance plans daring strikes against the Sith Empire, seeking to dismantle its oppressive rule one battle at a time.

The fate of the galaxy hangs in the balance. The Sith Empire’s reign of terror has cast a shadow across every world, but the embers of rebellion refuse to die. The Jedi, the Rebellion, and the desperate souls of the Outer Rim all stand at a crossroads. Will the Sith crush all opposition, or will the Rebellion ignite a new hope?

(This is your latest summary of the game’s setting and theme, feel free to share it around and reference it to others.)
--------------------------------< +bbread 6/36 >--------------------------------

Same as the old theme post… big surprise, right?

@Watcher616 In the meantime, the Sith Empire is snapping up at least one world for every world the Resistance might have a chance at gaining, probably because Aryn has at least one leadership alt there. She has alts in leadership positions in every major faction (Empire, Resistance, Mandalorians/Kora), except possibly the Hutt Cartel.

@MisterBoring said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

I got an itch to go actually look at AoA today and well, even without the absolutely crap behavior from staff, this game is far too complex for my tastes.

Speaking of messes, this just hit the grid. Note the posting dates of the original message and the comment.

=========================<* 8: Game Updates - 218 *>=========================
Message: 8/218 Posted Author
Free Starter Ship Dec 09 2023 Cujo

Hello all

We’re instituting a new Chargen feature, in the form of a free starter ship. If you make a new character, and want to request a free ship once you are IC, then we offer you the newly updated Slingshot cargo hauler.

The new Slingshot comes with 200 tons of cargo space. Max Speeds of 50 MGLT in space, and 80 MGLT in atmosphere. It is still a 1 crew ship, with a bunk behind the pilot’s station, with interior room for 2 passengers to at least sit fiairly comfortably while traveling the space lanes.

In the end, we are now offering free ships out of chargen. If you make a character, and want a ship to start off with, and the new Slingshot variants sound appealing to you, then make that new character, and put in the request once you are approved and IC!

• AoA Staff
  ===================< Comment 1 - Added Jan 26 06:09PM GMT >===================
  Discordia Commented:
  think Please note a few things about the starter ships. You may not resell them, pass them on to other players, or otherwise profit from the ships, beyond ther scope of what you do in regards trading/travelling. They are offered to players as a means to allow you to get up and running for travel and running cargo only.

When you no longer want/need the ship, +request to staff and we will reclaim them.

Additionally, please be aware that these ships are intended to give you a leg up. If they remain your own/regular ship is your choice, but please be aware that if you mod the ship, and later trade it back into staff/we reclaim it for inactivity, etc, you will not get back the money you paid for any modifications you added to these ships, nor will we return the mods to you to use on a new ship. Ideally, you should be looking to purchase a ship of your choice and add mods to those, as those can be resold/traded if desired. Though you still won’t get back the cost of mods if you resell the non-starter ship to staff.

Please see +bbread 8/222 and +bbread 8/225 for some of our other ship programs.

for those of you wishing to sell back ships you no longer need/want that are not the starter ship, you can sell these back to staff for half of the base credit cost you paid. Mods costs will not be returned to you.
------------------------------< +bbread 8/218 >-------------------------------

The delay in posting this is pretty interesting. Good mods are still too rare and expensive to risk losing them to such a bad trade as this policy sets up, creating a powerful incentive to hold on to modded ships (an incentive the dinosaurs likely paid no attention to, since they’d do that anyway. It’s not like anyone’s going to prevent them from hoarding ships).

And I’m sure if you ask about it, ‘It’s always been like this!’.

@Warlander (Much as I don’t like to reply to myself, I felt that this needed to be said.)

The really sad part of this is that these two new staffers may really be doing their jobs with good intentions, and have no idea just how their work may be (mis)used.

Or maybe they’re the same sort of scum as Cujo and Company . Or somewhere in between. Until something happens to reveal the content of their character, we have no way of knowing.

If you want to take a chance on dealing with them regarding the game’s many, many issues, please give them the same respect you’d give any other player you haven’t dealt with before (I probably don’t have any need to say this, but I’ll say it anyway, just in case). Good luck if you do take the risk.

@ThisGuy Leviathan and Heureux, to my way of thinking, aren’t there to help change anything for the better; Cujo and Company aren’t about that, and never have been.

I suspect that their primary function, whether they know it or not, is to find out who is complaining, and what they are complaining about. So when nothing changes and the player later posts about it someplace like here, it’s easier to find out who that person is on the game and silence them, most likely by banning them.

Which doesn’t actually help him and his, either, since creating disgruntled former players who have some degree of dirt on you is rarely a good idea, and players who are friends with the banned person are likely to leave. You can lead a troll to answers, but you can’t make him THINK.

@Raistlin Color me interested. I’ve been meaning to read that system, but I never seem to get around to it.

@Lemon-Fox I very much appreciate your admission that you might have misread my intentions. Thank you. Frankly, I’m not really into complicated combat systems, no matter who designed them or how refined or kludgy they are, and the ground battle system as listed was so eye-crossingly complex that I couldn’t even finish reading it. If you really are playing with those two systems and having fun with them, and I really hope you are, I won’t try to dissuade you. That’s just not why I commented on them.

@Lemon-Fox said in Star Wars Age of Alliances: Hadrix and Cujo:

So, this is part of why I feel like old salt is interfering with giving stuff a chance. I’ve been on the game for a while now, and I’ve not experienced…hardly anything listed here.

As with most of ‘the AoA experience’, I suspect this phrase should be capped off with the word ‘Yet.’ I hope not, but experience has taught me better than to harbor hopes that usually turn out to be false, or at least misplaced.

Hobbie already laid out the reasons for this better than I ever could, but for my part I’ll repeat that not only did Cujo and Company fail my test long ago, they continue to do so, and their behavior has gotten worse, not better. Even if they seem to have learned to hide it better than before. This may be a large part of why you haven’t had ‘the AoA experience’ to date.

@Lemon-Fox I’d really love to know who got bent out of shape about your apping a character who didn’t start at the bottom (which, for what it’s worth, I find hilariously petty, even by AoA standards, since the position was, as you said, largely ceremonial). I like learning more about the people who play there, good or bad. The good so I know who might be good people to know, and the bad so I know who to avoid like the plague.

Also, if you want to know why I, or anyone else here, feels the way we do, feel free to read the entire thread. You’ll either agree or disagree with us, as is your right. You may also learn things you may not have known about AoA. Possibly things you may not want to know.

And as for me ‘crapping all over it’, ‘being a giant dick about it’, ‘such a sourpuss about this’, ‘salty’, etc., etc., etc… reread my posts on this subject. Compare it to other posts here, including your own. I have my moments of anger and bitterness, as does everyone, and I’m choosing to believe that this is one of yours, because, contrary to what you may be thinking, I respect players and staff, yourself included, until they give me a very good reason not to.

And unlike you, Cujo and Company failed that test long ago, and have only gotten worse since. Positive change just isn’t a thing that happens on AoA, largely because of the sheer toxicity of the upper echelon of staff there, and until some or all of them change their ways, which they show no signs of ever doing, or leave and turn the game over to people who know and appreciate the value of respect for themselves and fellow players, positive change will remain an alien phenomenon there.

Feel free to disagree with me. As I said before, that’s your right. If this thing actually succeeds, and actually results in player driven, meaningful change to the grid (especially if it includes seeing the Sith Empire pushed into the position the Resistance occupies right now, a situation that I would consider proof positive that Aryn and her ilk aren’t just letting everyone think they’re accomplishing something while nothing meaningful actually changes) I’ll reevaluate my position. And if you and yours actually are having fun and don’t eventually get the full AoA experience (aka being screwed over by one or more staffers in at least one major way), I’ll be happy to be wrong.