Battle Writing Format

Although I'm not going to kick out a writer for not formatting properly, this is the way to properly format a battle. It is very important that writers follow these standards, because if you don't then I have to fix it, and that delays updates.


Step 1: File format

Because I use Linux for my file editing, if you write battles in MS Word you need to save them as ASCII-compatible encode. There is a post on how to do this at the bottom of this thread.

Of course, if you write in Open Office, you're cools.


Step 2: Text Formatting.

Titles and scene breaks include the following coding -
<center><font color="3300FF" size=4><b>~</b></font></center>

Outcomes should include the following coding -
<center><b>Outcome: BLAH BLAH</b>
<br>PLAYER 1: BLAH
<br>PLAYER 2: BLAH</center>

I use <br><br> to denote paragraphs, I think it looks better than <p>. After the title and scene breaks should be a single <br>, so it should look like -

<center><font color="3300FF" size=4><b>TITLE</b></font></center>
<br>
BLAH BLAH BLAH TEXT
<br><br>
BLAH BLAH BLAH
<br><br>
BLAH BLAH BLAH
<br><br>
<center><font color="3300FF" size=4><b>~</b></font></center>
<br>
BLAH BLAH BLAH
<br><br>
BLAH BLAH BLAH
<br><br>
<center><b>Outcome: BLAH BLAH</b>
<br>PLAYER 1: BLAH
<br>PLAYER 2: BLAH</center>



Step 3: Outcomes - Damage

We have a very linear and standardized way we do outcomes. It is always the same.

The first line reads Outcome: followed by either Earth Federation victory, or Duchy of Zeon victory, or the character/team who won if it is a duel / Rogue victory.

Damage needs to be very specific. These are the only types of damage - Repairing, Injured, Destroyed, Fatigued, Missing in Action, Jailed, Captured or Killed in Action. The number of points should follow the type of damage.

For example, "Repairing 3" or "Repairing 2 Injured 3" or "Injured 3" or "Destroyed 3" Players who are killed should have the outcome "Name: Killed in Action." In addition, remember the following:

1 - If the player has a specialization or is on a base that reduces the damage type (see Appendixes thread for which reduce which types of damage) it will read for example, Repairing 3-1. We write it this way so the player will know the reduction is included.

2 - Rogues always have +1 days attached to Repairing damage, even if their mobile weapon never gets touched. It should read "Repairing 3-1", or "Repairing 3-1+1" if the Rogue also gets a Mechanic spec bonus. Remember that the +1 does not apply if the Rogue has access to spare parts cargo or is on a friendly base or a friendly Floating Dock.

3 - Ship captains ships are damaged separately from the captain themselves. Don't write a ships damage on the ship captains outcome line.


Step 4: Outcomes - VP and CP gains

VP/CP is a little more convoluted. There are standards for what the average VP and CP gain is for a certain type of battle, which are listed here.

Duel: 8 if losing, 9 if a tie, 10 if winning.
Ambush: 6 VP if losing, 7 if a tie, 8 if winning.
Spar/Blackout: 4 if losing, 5 if a tie, 6 if winning
All Range Attack/Failed Scout/Neutral Patrol engagement: 2 if losing, 3 if a tie, 4 if winning.

Only one side of a given fight can be a winner. In a mass FFA-style spar there is only one winner.

Assaults can have a range of anywhere from 1 VP to 15 VP/CP depending on the length and size of the assault.

There are a couple stipulations to this as well. For every 50 VP somebody has, the VP gain is reduced by 1. So if a person with 52 VP wins a duel to a person with 49 VP, the gains should be 10-1 VP gained.

In a situation where somebody is fighting in someone elses mobile suit, captaining a ship without ship captain specialization, or fighting while Repairing, Injured, Destroyed or Fatigued, the gain is halved and should read "8/2 VP gained" If they are Repairing/Injured/Destroyed AND Fatigued, the gain is cut to a fourth, reading "8/4 VP gained"

The Quick Learner specialization adds 1 to all VP gains until the player has more than 100 VP, and is noted as "8+1 VP gained." The Duellist specialization also grants +1 VP gained from duels in the same way. An MS with a Learning Computer always gets +1 VP to their final score in this way. These three benefits do not stack.

MS with EXAM systems, only in battles where they go berserk, have the VP gains halved between Marion and the pilot, rounding to whoever did more fighting. For example, rather than:

BD Player: 2 Days Repairs 10 VP gained
Other Player: 5 Days Repairs 8 VP gained

It should read:

BD Player: 2 Days Repairs 5 VP gained
Marion: 5 VP gained
Other Player: 5 Days Repairs 8 VP gained

If a person fights using both VP and CP in the same battle, they receive the entire gain for the stat they used for the majority of the battle, and half the gain for the stat they use for the minority. For example, "8 VP 4 CP gained"

Finally, sometimes I change VP gains a little, although I try to always be consistent with the changes. For example, if somebody captures an unoccupied base their VP gain will be low. If the same people duel each other over and over and over without a decent space of time between their duels, their duel VP gains will diminish. If somebody is attacked while in an airborne ship and basically does nothing their VP gains will diminish. Sometimes I drop VP gains a little if somebody takes no damage in a battle since they'll probably gain even more VP the next day. Do not make edits like these when writing a battle, I will make them in my edits.

In absolutely any situation even if you do NOTHING in the writing, everyone present earns at least 1 VP.

Thanks everybody who writes for me, you keep the game running <3