This tutorial describes how to play timed Bronco
Netrek games in the Draft League, World Netrek League (WNL), or
International Netrek League (INL).
Requirements
Before playing in a scheduled game, you should know how to:
We also recommend practicing combat on busy pick-up servers
before your first scheduled game.
Connecting to the Server
Servers for scheduled games aren't listed on the metaserver. To connect, you must know the host name and port number. You'll probably learn those from an e-mail like this one:
From: captain@bigu.edu
To: team-awesome@mailing-lists-r-us.com
Subject: Scrimmage Wednesday!
What: Scrimmage vs We Like Kitties
When: 19th, 9:00 PM Eastern (6:00 PM pacific)
Where: -h twink.crackaddict.com -p 4566 / 4000 (Team Awesome)
-p 4577 / 5000 (We Like Kitties)
In this case, you play at the server twink.crackaddict.com. Four ports are listed: a pair for the Home team and another pair for the Away team. Connect to port 4566 to play for Team Awesome. Connect to port 4000 to observe them.
Command line users do this:
netrek -h twink.crackaddict.com -p 4566
Another alternative is to edit your client's configuration file (.xtrekrc or .paradiserc) to include the connection info:
server: twink.crackaddict.com port: 4566
Each port has a seperate queue, so if you get stuck in line for a player slot, then try your observer port.
Upon connecting, you will be asked for your name (use anything except guest) and then for "a new password". Servers for scheduled games do not access pick-up character databases. In fact, the server won't remember your character or your stats for any future games. To see what is retained from the game, read Stats and Recordings.
We recommend using the same character name for each game. If stats are compiled for the entire season, then you can see your total stats accumulated under that name.
You can only choose one race. Prior to the start of the game, the Home team must be Federation and the Away team must be Romulan.
| Team Role |
Start Race |
Mode | Typical Port # |
|---|---|---|---|
| Home | Fed | Player | 4566 |
| Home | Fed | Observer | 4000 |
| Away | Rom | Player | 4577 |
| Away | Rom | Observer | 5000 |
These start races are temporay.
Your team will choose another one later.
Pregame
Plan to connect a few minutes before the scheduled time.
Before the action starts, players assemble on the server to practice skills and to discuss strategy and maybe other things. You can practice fighting the opposition. You can also take planets or use a SB, but everything will reset when the game begins, so don't worry about trying to get an advantage.
If you want to dogfight, then look for pilots on the other team who also want practice. Every player (non-observer) has a presence in the form of a ship, even if they aren't using it. They may be away from their terminal, or they may be simply talking.
To help people who aren't ready for combat yet, the server has a confine feature. If it's activated, then you may be prevented from flying deep into enemy space by an invisible wall. Colliding with it simply stops your ship from moving into the protected area. There will still be some room in the middle of the galaxy for you to dogfight with the other team. Ships that fly into this region are probably looking for a sparring partner.
Of course, once the game is in progress, there will be no invisible walls and you can blast anyone.
After races have been chosen by both teams, the game begins when both captains agree to start. This might not be exactly the scheduled start time. To clarify the role of captain:
Usually the team captain also does the server duties.
Upon the start signal, all ships will explode. Now you can re-enter as your new race. However, the actual start of the contest will begin in one minute. This is still in a pregame mode, so your conquests won't matter. Instead, focus on rehearsing your strategy and remembering the planet layout, such as where the agris are. Note that you can see the enemy planet information now, but when the game actually begins, their resources will be hidden until your team can orbit them.
After a one minute countdown, all of the ships explode again.
You may now re-enter and conquer the galaxy.
Regulation
Stats are compiled during game time, but rank is irrelevant. Anyone can play any ship. However, your team only gets one base. If it explodes, you won't get another one for 30 minutes.
Each team can take a timeout. There is a random delay between the time when the timeout was called and the time that the game actually pauses. The pause may happen immediately, or it may take a few minutes. A timeout lasts about 5 minutes unless both captains agree to start earlier. During this time, all ships are frozen and the enemy ships become invisible. After the TO, the game continues exactly as it was progressing before.
The game may be paused without taking a timeout. The effect happens immediately, but this feature is usually reserved for problems like half the team busts, etc.
When time expires in regulation, everyone
will explode again. The result may be overtime,
or it may simply be a postgame chat if the game is over.
Overtime
Everyone begins overtime with a fresh ship. Any armies that were carried by your team members are placed on your homeworld.
OT is sudden death. You win as soon as your team
has 11 planets and your opponent has no more than 8.
Stats and Recordings
After the game, you can remain on the server. Stats get published.
There are logs too. And recordings.
Check out http://www.netrek.org/stats/
Note that your messages are logged. Postgame messages
are not recorded automatically by the server, although
the recipients might log them.
Server Commands
Send yourself the message "help" for details regarding server
commands.
Hints
In the beginning, there are lots of armies. Bombing is good.
Since nobody has any kills when overtime begins, the first kill is really important. Be cautious in overtime and don't let the enemy earn that first kill.