All new players should read the following briefing before entering ICTW.  If you break any of the rules outlined below, then you will be permanently banned from the server - ignorance is not a defence.

NO CHEATING

Most of the common cheats and modifications used on Freelancer servers are automatically detected on this server.  This includes the use of other in-memory cheats and training/capture software.  Any attempt to use cheats or exploits or attack the security of the Ioncross server will cause penalties to be applied to the offending player.  These may include from being removed from the server, temporary/permanent banning and a report to their ISP.

NO BAD LANGUAGE

This is a G-rated international server.  Some of the players may be children.  You may not type racist, sexist, religious, political, or sexual remarks and of course, no swearing (in any language).  If you fail to heed this warning, you will be temporarily or permanently banned.

Remember this is a game and people want to enjoy themselves.  So please leave your baggage at the door.  This includes racism, sexism, intolerance and bad language.  There will be players on the server who hold different political, religious and  philosophical beliefs to you.  A number of players will not have English as a first language.  Be tolerant and try not to give or take offence.  This especially applies when using the Ventrilo in-game voice system.

NO F1 IN SPACE

Using F1 while in space to either avoid death or refuel your thrusters is unacceptable.  You will be warned and removed from the server.  Repetition of this offence will result in either temporary or permanent banning.

NO KILLING PLAYERS IN New York

Player versus Player (PvP) combat is not allowed in New York.  You may not shoot at another player in New York, no matter what faction they are playing.

NO TEAM KILLING

To leave New York you must choose a team by paying an entrance fee at Rochester Base.  You may not shoot at any team members.

You may only shoot Player ships that are RED to you. 

If a Player appears WHITE or GREEN you may not shoot them.  If you do, you will be banned from the server.

REMOVING A BAN

If you feel you have been banned incorrectly, then you may plead your case in the forum.  We suggest you stick to a polite description as to what you believe are the facts (and the more information the better).  Remember playing on this server is a privilege, not a right.

DON'T BE ANNOYING

It may be rudeness, taking other players' kills or drops, spamming the screen with inane chatter - don't do it.

Finally never, ever annoy the ADMIN players.  They tend to be cantankerous and arbitrary and their powers are absolute.

• You will always have a Life Support item in your cargo.  This is essential for your continued existence.  Lose your Life cargo and you will eventually die - immediately if you are destroyed in space or when you next dock or exit a station.
• Remember suicide is possible.  Do not sell your Life Support - unless you really want to die.
• If you die, you lose your ship and your resources will be severely depleted.  You will respawn at your initial starting base in the system.  If you do not have enough money to buy a new ship, your career as a freelancer is over.  You can enjoy drinks in the bar or delete yourself entirely and begin again.
   

• ICTW consists of four populated systems.  New York, Texas, Hamburg and Bering.  Texas and Hamburg have jump holes connecting them to Bering but New York is completely isolated.
• New York system reflects the struggle between Rhineland and Liberty, but in miniature.  It is essentially a training and testing ground for those pilots who wish to enter Total War.
• You enter ICTW at Rochester base in New York system.  The only way to exit the New York system is to pay a large entrance fee (bribe) to one of the faction representatives at the bar at Rochester base.  You will then resurrect at the base of your chosen faction in Texas or Hamburg.
• You will need to take missions at some of the bases and stations in New York system to accumulate funds for the bribe.  You will earn money faster if you upgrade your ship and weapons.
• Be careful who you choose to work for and who you kill.  Your reputation determines who will sell you weapons and the type of weapons you can buy.  It also determines who will attack you.  Bundschuh and Liberty are antagonistic towards each other, but both hate the Xenos.

Factions

• There are three main factions in New York: Bundschuh, Liberty Security Force (LSF), and Xenos
• The LSF are headquartered at Planet Manhattan
• The Bundschuh are headquartered at Planet Baden Baden
• The Xenos are headquartered at Buffalo Base
• Each faction has its own ships, weapons and equipment.
• You choose your faction by taking missions

• There are four types of ship available to players.  Light, Medium and Heavy fighters and Freighters/Armoured Transports.  Different bases and factions will have ships based on these four types.  With a few exceptions, weapons and equipment are not interchangeable between different faction ships or ship types.
• Your starting ship has only two forward guns.  Check you have adequate shield batteries (batts) and nanobots (bots) before exiting.
• Most weapons and equipment are available in a number of types.  Higher weapon and equipment types will generally use more energy and are expensive to repair.
• Your reputation determines your access to weapons and equipment.  As you become more friendly with a faction or commercial organisation, (usually by flying missions) you will gain access to better equipment.
• Equipment availability at bases may vary.  You cannot count on being able to buy weapons or bots/batts at any base.
• When you are in space, there is small but accumulative radiation damage to your ship.
• Your ship thrusters use fuel.  They are essential for combat (or for escaping it).  Watch your fuel indicator - you can only refuel at a base.
• Everything uses cargo space.  You must balance how much cargo space you devote to ammunition against the space for your countermeasures, shield batteries (batts) and nanobot repair systems (bots).  If you want to pick up valuable dropped items, you need some free cargo space.
• It will always be cheaper to fix the ship and weapons of a particular faction at their base rather than another facility.
• Guns vary in fire rate, hull/shield damage, range and energy use.  Find a combination to suit your flying style.
   

• Travel in space is only possible with your standard and cruise engines.  Cruise engines have recently been updated to achieve 320 m/s but, due to software incompatibility, your indicator will only indicate a maximum of 300.  Certain ships with advanced (88) thrusters may exceed this speed considerably - while thruster fuel lasts.
• Use the Trade routes map in your navigation display to find new bases.  Bases will usually be at the end of trade paths.  More trade paths will become visible as you travel through the system.
• The News at Rochester will provide you with other useful information on your environment.
• The Bounty Hunters own Rochester, but they do not maintain a space presence in New York.  The large red nebulae near their base are the Blood Clouds.  This nebulae is extremely dangerous - expect to sustain damage if you enter it.  Fort Bush and Battleship Missouri are near the radiation cloud.  If you take missions from there you could end up inside the cloud. Be careful.
• Entering a planet's atmosphere outside a docking ring or entering a sun's corona will result in extreme damage and probable death.  The AI navigation is useful but don't depend on it.
   

Combat is one way of progressing in ICTW. 

Combat increases your cash through mission bounties and dropped items and allows you to upgrade your ship and weapons.  Missions and ship kills count towards your reputation and the number and type of ship kills and any War and Neutral Points you collect will directly count towards your Performance Rating which will be displayed on the Player Statistics Web page of the Ioncross server.  Your in-game FL rating is related to the amount of cash you accumulate.

Combat in ICTW can occur in Missions, Random encounters and Player vs Player (PvP). 

Missions

A variety of missions are offered and some opponents will have better dropped weapons and items than others.  We recommend Level 1 and Level 2 for new players.  You will need to find your own comfort zone.  Dropped items from enemy ships are valuable and will usually be worth more than the mission.   Bots, batts, weapon replacement and damage are expensive - if you take too difficult a mission you may make an overall loss.  Remember, sometimes it makes sense to leave a target enemy until the last.  Once the mission is completed you are vulnerable to random encounters.

Random encounters

Randoms will usually occur when you are are travelling without a mission (although they can rarely occur during a mission).  Enemy fighters in these encounters are a step above the usual mission fighters.  Unless you are experienced, with a well equipped ship, we recommend you avoid them.  Ambushes can attract new enemies including large capital ships and gunboats.  What started with 2 enemies can suddenly expand to 10.  Discretion is usually the better part of valour.   On the other hand, random encounters are very lucrative both in dropped items and Points.  However, we recommend you attempt them in a group.

Plaver vs Player

Fighting team members is unacceptable and will also take a long time, as your weapons are not very effective against their shields.  Players exhibiting this kind of behaviour will be hunted, killed and permanently banned.  No matter what your real physical age, you are expected to function as an adult in ICTW.

Fighting players in other factions is acceptable - but difficult.  You must either travel to the other faction's territory or attack players who have made the journey to your territory.  You may also encounter players randomly if they are fighting in the War Zone - Bering.  Remember the stakes are high in PvP - each combatant is risking significant and expensive damage and the loss of their ship and resources.  Killing a highly placed player of an opposing faction can cause significant damage to their war effort. 

Group Etiquette

• If you are flying with a group of players, you should determine a policy for collecting dropped loot before you leave on a mission. Some policies that work well include alternate tractoring or dividing the spoils on the way back to base.  Tractoring loot from a ship that has been destroyed by another player, or substantially damaged, is stealing from a team member.  No-one likes a thief.  Be polite and be fair or you may find no-one will group with you which will prevent you from taking lucrative missions.
• Don't be afraid to tell someone that their tractoring is unacceptable.  In standard Freelancer, hitting the tractor after a kill is almost automatic, sometimes people don't realize they are doing it, or that it isn't appreciated.
• Colliding with a team member's ship can damage them (and yourself).  The AI autopilot is somewhat lacking. It will occasionally let you run into planets/bases/team members etc.. be extra careful about flying in formation.

Suggestions

• Learn to use your lateral thrusters (A, D), reverse thruster (X), and forward thrust (Tab) effectively in combat.  Lateral movement makes avoiding weapon fire and targeting your moving opponent easier.
• Gun platforms, Cruisers and Gunboats should be avoided.  Only experienced player groups should attempt destroying them
• Enemies will use Cruise Disruptors to knock you out of cruise flight and shockwave mines to alter your flight path.
• Missiles can blow guns off your opponents, making them less dangerous.
• If your shield goes down, expect to take hull damage and, if you don't use nanos for repair, then expect to lose wings and guns.
• Each of the guns from the different factions has advantages and disadvantages... learn them.
• Countermeasures are your friend. Learn to use them to avoid cruise disruptors.  Turning on your countermeasures in your weapon list makes them fire automatically.
• Be careful with missiles. If the blast hits a friendly ship or base it will instantly become hostile.
• If you are not completing a mission you are at the risk of ambush by enemy forces.  These are top gun military and pirate fighters with a variety of ships and weapons.  Unless you are in a group or have sufficient experience and a well-equipped ship, the safest thing is to escape with cruise engines or use thrusters with lots of manoeuvring.
• You probably want to fly in a group... there is only so much you can do without help.
   

A growing number of players are also Trading.  As there are no easy routes, you will earn your profit and may need to arrange escorts.  The dynamic economy of ICTW can offer significant advantages to the canny trader. 

To be a Trader you will need to gain sufficient funds to purchase a freighter or armoured transport and the necessary reputation to purchase goods.  Most importantly, you need to know the best trade routes in your system - so landing at a large number of bases while amassing the fortune and rep needed to buy a ship, will let you view base commodities in space using your nav map (click a base, then the ?).  Prices on commodities will vary.

The best trade routes are usually long and you can expect multiple random encounters and occasionally PvP from opposing factions.  Your survival will often depend on escorts - who will need to be paid (generously) from your profits.

Once you leave New York, you may you can take out life insurance against the cost of your death and resurrection. 

Home planets and bases allow you to purchase Economy Points, for around $45K each.  These purchases enhance your Performance Rating and assist the progress of the war, but 50% of them are removed upon your death and returned to you as cash (with a severe discount).  If you have less than 10 Economy points then you will only have 5 Economy points cashed.  Your faction is willing to advance you these 5 points, if you have no Economy points, but when you reach -10 points you will receive no more cash and your career is over.
 

Your Performance Rating, faction rank and player ladder position are shown on the Ioncross Player Statistics Web page.  Player data is updated frequently.  However, your Economy, War and Neutral Points will only be removed from your cargo hold and recorded, on every server maintenance cycle.  A cycle will occur every 8 hours (approximately).  When you receive a 10 minute warning of a maintenance cycle, it's a good idea to try and return to home base to buy Economy Points.  The cost of Economy points will vary but will usually be around $45K.  The value of points differs depending on the faction you choose, but generally 1 Point will generally add 2 points to your Performance Rating.

Each faction has a ranking system and your player name on the Player Stats page will be prefaced by your rank. 

E.g. [LtCdr] Viper,  [Maggot] Boots

Performance rating  is calculated by combining number of ships kills and the number of War, Neutral and Economy Points you acquire.  Your in-game rating is irrelevant to your ICTW performance rating, but is a good indicator of the amount of cash a player possesses.  Remember that low cash is not an indicator of low combat ability.

Your performance and the number of opposing House ships and installations you destroy, will effect the progress of the war between Liberty and Rheinland.  The current state of the war is displayed on the Ioncross House Statistics Web page.