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Recruit - Lesson 3: Essential Elements

There are many small extras to life in the Vast Empire that can confuse the new recruit. Many of these are items that can be used elsewhere; others are particular to online Star Wars clubs in general. (Note: If you should find something that you would like to see added to this page, feel free to refer the request up the chain of command.)

Topic Categories:

Activity Tips
Storynet Writing tips
IRC commands
Battle Board
Military Specialty

Army Information
ID Lines
Reports
Stormtrooper Weapons & Equipment
Army Organization
Chain of Command

Final Steps to Complete Basic Training:
Complete tests for Lessons 1, 2, and 3 successfully (in development)
Choose a Primary and Secondary Specialty
Sign up on Battle Board
Installation and Use of IRC program (or attain waiver to continue use of Java Client)

Activity Tips

Storynet Writing Tips
One of the activity paths in the Stormtrooper Corps is that of participating in squad-level or higher missions. Of course, individual or small group stories are permitted as well, and the following guidelines also apply to them.

1. If involving other members of your squad, obtain at least their tacit approval of your portrayal of them and their actions. Going along with that notion, clear any major plot changes with your squad leader and/or story coordinator beforehand.

2. No one person can single-handedly win a battle. Consistent is the concept that teamwork wins engagements. Remember that always as superhero actions and the handling of super-weapons will likely only end up with you in a bacta tank for five months or just plain dead.

3. If you have taken the time to start a post, do not stop in mid-stream unless you intend to promptly come back and edit (i.e. NOT start a new post) your current post. Also state the intent to do so. This will not seriously create continuity issues for you and others.

4. Present your post as cleanly as possible. Include line breaks to space apart dialogue and action. Use paragraphs as needed; they are not your enemy. If you are going to type in a word processing program and then cut and paste into a post box, we suggest using the lowest common denominator program. Notepad/Wordpad type programs will not add coding which is prone to cause errors when interpreted by the database once you post. Repeat after me: "I type my resume in Microsoft Word, not my Comnet posts."

5. HTML encoding. It is proper to italicize ship names, such as the VSD Dominion when mentioning them in a story. You may often wish to emphasize something by placing it in bold. The following are the proper encoding you can directly type into a post to obtain the desired result (example, followed by the way you would present it in your post):

Bold: <b>Bold:</b>
Italicize: <i>Italicize:</i>
Underline: <u>Underline:</u>
Strikethrough: <s>Strikethrough:</s>

There are other codes which will do the same thing, but this is a basic set of examples.

6. HTML linking. At times you will wish to insert an image, a hyperlink, or an email. Just typing or cutting and paste the link only creates more work for those you wish to get the information to. With a bit of coding, you can make the process a whole lot easier for others. For example:

To create a direct hyperlink, add the following code:
<A HREF="http://www.vastempire.com">The Vast Empire</A>
To insert an image, use the following:
<IMG SRC="image.gif"> (replace image.gif with whatever relevant hyperlink you need)
To insert an email hyperlink:
<A HREF="mailto:[email protected]">Send me mail</A>

7. Character development. In no other venue is it as easy for you to develop a distinct personality for your Vast Empire persona. Use this time wisely to create a three dimensional, consistent character. Your fellow squad members (and higher ups) will thank you for the effort.

Basic IRC Commands 

There are three syntax conventions that you need to remember with IRC commands.

All IRC commands begin with the forward slash, " / ". Anything else you type is considered text typed to the screen as normal conversation.

All channel names begin with a pound sign, " # "There is an exception here. Some channel names will begin with a " & ", but those are few and far between and you may never see them in your travels on IRC.

IRC is not case sensitive. So you can use either upper, lower, or mixed case letters if you wish in your commands.

Note: the use of " # " indicates that the channel name should be substituted...
i.e. #vast_empire in these examples.

Once you have a nick you like, you would be doing yourself a favor to register it with the IRC server. You do this by typing in the main dialogue window (i.e. not a channel):
/nickserv register [password] [email address]

From then on out, when you authenticate, you will need to identify yourself with Nickserv using the following command structure:
/nickserv identify [nick] [password]

Battle Board and Specialties

The Battle Board is our online game tracking and challenge utility. As a member, you sign up on the boards according to the games you own and are willing to play others with. From there you schedule matches and record the results so that your participation and activity can be tracked. You can sign up and set up matches by following this link.

The Army Specialization program allows you to choose a military training path that allows your character to be proficient in a particular area; such as field medicine, heavy weapons, combat pilot and many, many others. You can find more details here.

Army Information

ID Lines
Vast Empire Army members are required to have ID Lines. One utilizes ID lines in communication emails, comnet posts, etc. Its just a way of showing your ranks, positions, and awards.

You first obtain your ID line by joining the Vast Empire. Once you pass your training, you will be placed in Drill squad and your ID line will be emailed to you.

The basic template of an ID is as follows:
Position/Rank Name/#Squad/#Platoon/#Company/#Regiment/#Battalion/Planet/VEA [awards][medals]

An example of this would be:
TRP/PFC Trooper/1SQD/1PLT/1CMP/1REG/1BAT/Tadath/VEA [LoC]

A sampling of position and rank abbreviations follow:

...and so on.

Reports

All members who have graduated training are required to provide their commanding officer and/or ranking superior with a weekly status report. In these e-mail reports, members should inform their CO of any projects they are currently working on or assigned to, any gaming events they are participating in and how they are progressing, any ideas they may have for their squad/platoon, and any other general duties they are performing.

 Additional Items

Stormtrooper Weapons & Equipment - this information can be found in the Basic Information section of the Army Training Center and can be found here.

Army Organization - this information provides a breakdown of the common personnel elements and the basic top-down configuration of the Stormtrooper Corps. It too can be found in the Basic Info section.

Chain of Command - this is the means in which communications flow within the Stormtrooper Corps. Should you have a problem or request, it will begin at the first level of authority above your current position. Unless asked for openly, do not presume to violate the chain of command in order to expedite a request unless you feel there is cause for a grievance. Additional details can be found in the Basic Information section linked above.