The Arenas

The time has come for your brand new character, fresh to the intrigues of Solaris City to fight in his first Solaris Match. Or you may be a grizzled veteran who is celebrating his 500th Solaris Match this week (only having lost an eye after all these years; terrible accident; doesn’t like to talk about it).  In either case, and for those in between, the following rules apply to each and every match played within the NBT-Solaris game system. These are here to make the matches run more smoothly, as well as to provide a level playing field for all participants, letting their skill and their ‘Mech decide the match.

Remember that these are NBT Comms and Servers, therefore all normal NBT Rules of Conduct apply and are in effect.  All the pilots are here to have fun, and none of us should want to diminish the enjoyment of others, either by what we say on comms or activities in game.

For the purposes of this rules page, we are working with a Friday 20:00 scheduled match. These rules apply no matter the day and time, of course.

Pre-Match

You’ve paid your dues, your ‘Mech is prepped and armed, complete with a shiny new coat of paint (desert camo for this match). Your palms are sweaty, and for the 100th time you wipe them on your shorts.  The day and time for your next match has been set: Friday at 20:00 hours.

Game Setup

All ‘Mech customization, configs and game setup must be completed before match time. Droptime and in-game are not the time to find out that your map doesn’t work, or that your config has FF armor when you meant to have Reflective.  Take care of all of these issues long before droptime, as you will not have time to deal with them in-game. If you miss the drop window due to fiddling in the ‘Mech Lab or because your Mercs is setup incorrectly, it counts the same as a disconnect or suicide, with all the penalties entailed.

In-Game Callsigns

Every character that is created for participation in Solaris Matches is required to have a unique Callsign chosen for them.  This is the Callsign that you MUST be wearing for your Solaris Match.  It must be EXACTLY like it is listed in the automation.  Even a single character difference will result in your being recorded as a no-show, forfieting all winnings, and a skunk being assigned to you as a pilot.

Connecting to NBT-Solaris Servers

T-10 Minutes - At 10 minutes before a match, all participants and observers must connect to the NBT Teamspeak2 Voice Comms, found at voice.netbattletech.com. There are rooms for each NBT Server and time used for Solaris Matches (NBT-Atlas and NBT-Avatar at present). The passwords on these rooms are the same as for you game server.  This is also where the Server Admins will announce server launch, changes due to problems and so forth.

Droptime - At 20:00 hours the Server Admin for the night will launch the Solaris Servers with the chosen map and match settings.  This will be announced in the TS2 channel.  You should immediately connect to the designated server, entering the game lobby. You will have 10 minutes until the game launches to choose your ‘Mech and ‘Mech camo scheme. All observers should select Camera Ship and ready up as well.

T+10 Minutes Server Launches - Solaris Matches only have a 2 minute join timer, so don’t mess around with it. Since everybody’s ‘Mech is known in advance, there is no reason to do so.  Be clicked in and ready to drop at T+10 minutes. Proceed to Rules of Engagement

Rules of Engagement

NBT-Solaris is primarily a Free For All type league. While other match types are played by the pilots and characters of the league, we have tried to keep one of the primary facets of the FFA game type intact. You do what you need to win. You play fair, abide by the few rules below, and play to win.

T+10 Minutes - NBT-Solaris is not a hot-drop league. Immediately upon dropping into the server, all ‘Mechs are to shutdown (S key by default). No movement, torso twist or weapons fire is allowed. You may look out your windows while shutdown though (which generally causes the arms to move). It is the responsibility of the Observers for a match to verify that all ‘Mechs are dead during this 2 minute period. 

T+12 Minutes - Match Begins - 2 minutes after server launch, the Monitor will annouce the commencement of the match. All ‘Mechs may then startup (S key by default) and begin play. At that point, all bets are off. There are a couple things to keep in mind while playing though.

• Camping – Camping in Solaris drops is slightly different from NBT drops.  Since winnings are based on not only surviving, but also on participation, it behooves each player to participate in the drop to their fullest.  The goal of NBT-Solaris is to fight. Survivor Awards are only granted if there is a single Survivor, not 2 or 3.
   
• Teaming - Teaming is the practice of multiple pilots, either from the same NBT unit, or even multiple units, joining together in a Solaris FFA Match and working together to defeat the other pilots.  NBT-Solaris is built around the strengths and weaknesses of the individual pilot, not of a NBT team.  While there are Team Battle matches, most matches are FFA Battle.  Pilots found to be taking part in teaming will have their NBT-Solaris access revoked, and will be limited to playing in other NBT leagues only (since they like team play so much).
   
• Suicides - Suicides (CTRL-Z) are perfectly legal.  The damage they do is real, and is levied against the other ‘Mechs.  At the same time though, a Suicide does major damage to your own ‘Mech as well, and if already damaged, could very well permanently destroy your ‘Mech.
   
• Disconnects - Disconnects are considered Suicides for the purposes of game reporting, so disconnecting before being killed will not protect you from anything or get you out of extra damage.

‘Mech Destroyed - Camera View - After your ‘Mech has been destroyed, you will be transferred to the camera view of the match.  All participants are to remain connected to the server for the duration of the match, as pilot disconnects can cause join lag, thus affecting the gameplay of the remaining pilots.

T+42 Minutes - Each Solaris match may last up to 30 minutes. At the 30 minute mark the server cycles, and all pilots are returned to the lobby.

Post-Match

When a Survivor (or Team Survivor) has succeeded in destroying all other ‘Mechs, or the game timer has run out, all pilots will be returned to the score page and then to the game lobby.  Mission Review is disabled for Solaris matches. Keep in mind that score has little to do with the winnings awarded to each pilot.

Once you return to the game lobby, please disconnect from the server as quickly as possible. If your game ran full time, then the next group is already lined up ready to enter the arena.  You may continue to use the TS2 Comms room, as the following group has their own sub-channel to use. Inform the Server Admin that the match is completed (either in Comms, or in the #NBT-Drop IRC channel).  The SA will then either down the server until the next match, or if time is short, begin setup of the following match right away.

Match results are posted at the end of each nights battles, so you may view them the following morning after the logs have been transferred and parsed.  See the Battle Wrapup page for more details on Awards and Match Results.