Solaris Stable Rules

While NBT-Solaris focuses on the accomplishments and battles fought by the individual pilot, we have also provided the ability for small groups of pilots to band together to share resources and skills. These “Stables” also create a special role-playing enviornment for the member characters.  Being a member of a stable provides specific benefits to your character, but at the same time, can be pricey as well as potentially hazardous to your character’s future. Below you will find the pros and cons as well as directions for setting up and maintaining a stable.

Benefits and Restrictions

To begin with we will cover the limits and restrictions placed on the creation and membership of a Solaris Stable. The goal of a stable is not to recreate a NBT league team, or to form a group to team up in FFA matches (though there are Team Battle matches available).  NBT-Solaris is designed in such a way as to basically force pilots to get to know pilots outside of their own unit.

• A stable may have a maximum of 5 character members
• Only a single member of a NBT team may be a member of the stable
• You may not sign more than one of your characters to the same stable
• Only a single member of the stable may sign up for any individual FFA match
• Stable members may only fight together in Team Battle matches
• Stable members are the only characters that may transfer money to one another

There are two sets of fees involved with the setup and maintenance of a stable.  These fees may be lowered by having a character with Stable Management skills.

• Stable Registration - 250,000 c-bills x Solaris Rank. This registers your stable with Solaris Administration, and makes it available to other character to join.
• Stable Membership Fees - 50,000 c-bills x Solaris Rank. This fee is due immediately upon signup, and is due each week that the character is a member of the stable.
• C-Bill Transfer Fee - 5% of amount

Sounds like a lot of hassle doesn’t it?  Why would a character/pilot wish to restrict themselves in this way, plus pay dues to do so? There are quite a number of potential benefits that a stable membership can grant to a character. It all depends on who your stablemates are.

‘Mechs

Probably the primary and most used advantage (or disadvantage depending on how you look at it) is that members of the stable are able to use each other’s ‘Mechs in any Solaris match, as long as they are operational.  5 characters x 3 ‘Mechs each, means that a stable could have a maximum of 15 ‘Mechs available for use in matches by the membership. The disadvantage to this is..... somebody else is using your precious ‘Mech! It could be scratched, damaged, or (whisper it) DESTROYED! 

OK, calm down. While the above is true, there is a plus to offset the potential hazards.  While the repairs of your ‘Mech are still your responsibility (they will be auto-deducted after the match), you do receive a portion of the winnings from the match your ‘Mech was involved in.

• ‘Mech Owner Reimbursement - 25% of winnings from match that ‘Mech was involved in

Skills & Traits

The possible combinations of bonuses and penalties available here are almost limitless.  A vast majority of the character skills and traits play some role, large or small, in during the course of play in NBT-Solaris. As a member of a stable, you will have access to the skills and bonuses of your stablemates.  You also may be affected by their negative traits as well. The amount of effect varies depending on the specific skill or trait, but this effect can be increased (bonuses) or decreased (negatives) by having a Stable Manager as part of your stable.  The following are some examples of skills and traits that can have an effect on your stable. This is by no means all of them, as listing them all would make this ruleset scroll about 30 pages.  Pick your stablemates wisely and make the most of the character creation system.

• If your character is a Stable Manager, and you sign up a Gambler, a Technician, a Wealthy/Well-Connected character, and an experienced 'MechWarrior, the stable would gain access to the primary skills of each. The Tech would help lower the repair costs of all repairs done in the stable (his own would be cheapest of course), the Gambler would get higher returns on bets and such, the Wealthy character would have access to more funds, the experienced MechWarrior would have the crowd popularity (prominence) and therefore pull in larger 'crowds' to matches, and therefore more money, while your character (as a Stable Manager) allows those bonuses to work together more effectively.

Stablemate Replacement

In the case that you are unable to participate in a scheduled match for emergency reasons, you will be able to allow a member of your stable to participate in the drop in your place.  This substitution counts towards that pilots total matches for the week, so a pilot that has already had 3 matches that week may not be substituted.  The following are the Substitution Rules:

• Original Character’s selected ‘Mech will be used in drop
• Solaris Rank of substitute character will be applied to RAM
• Substitute will receive 75% of all winnings. Remaining 25% goes to original signed character
• Damage to ‘Mech is the responsibility of the ‘Mech Owner (per normal Stable rules)
• No skunks are assigned to any pilots

Team Battle Matches

Stables are also able to fight together in the various Team Battle games available to the league.  When a Team Battle game is available in the schedule, the Stable Founder may sign up your Stable for the match. Make sure that you have enough pilots to meet the requirements of the battle as Team Battle matches may require from 2-5 characters to fight.

In figuring the total awards for a Team Battle Match, all of the above rules apply.  The change is that the awards are then split evening between all members of the Stable.  Thus if 2 members of a 5 member stable fight in a TB Match, winning 1 million c-bills, each member of that stable will receive a 200,000 c-bill award.

Creating a Stable

The creation of a stable is a fairly simple process, though expensive. The first rule is that you may not form or join a stable until you have reached Solaris Rank 5 or higher.  If you are a member of a Stable and your Solaris Rank drops, you are NOT removed from your Stable.  But if you leave your stable at that point, you may not be reinivited until your Solaris Rank improves.

If you have a group of characters that wish to form a stable, one of the characters should go to the Stable Control page in their Pilot Automation.  Choose “Create New Stable”. You will need to select a unique Stable Name and select a maximum of 4 active characters (who are not already members of other stables) to invite to your stable.  You do not have to select all 4 at this time, as the others may be added later. Also on this page you will be informed of the registration cost for your stable.

Once the Stable Registration is submitted, the fees will be deducted from your account, and the invitations will be sent to the other characters. They may then accept or decline the invitation.

• Stable Registration - 250,000 c-bills x Solaris Rank.

Maintaining Your Stable

Each member of the stable contributes to the reputation and costs of the stable. Whenever a battle is fought by a member of the stable, the battle data from that match is applied to the stable’s record. The better the members do, the better the stable is rated. 

Unfortunately, maintaining a stable can be very expensive. Renting a location that can hold multiple ‘Mechs (up to 15), maintaining the premises, as well as promoting your stable’s upcoming matches can be quite expensive. The costs involved are paid by each member of the stable.

• Stable Membership - 50,000 c-bills x Solaris Rank per week

An additional responsibility of stable members is the creation of role-play based around the 2-5 characters that are working together in order to succeed on Solaris VII. As such, each member needs to do their part to add to the history and role-play of the stable as a whole, writing news posts and role-play articles using the stable as the basis for development. For more details, see the Role-Play Development section.