ChiliDog

• Started playing: Beginning of beta 4C
• Sex: Male
• Known Aliases: StenkaRazin
• Best Finishing Position: 22nd in beta 5
• Mentors: Vedite, dixi

Beta 4c - Kril fighter/repairship/carrier My first message on the bulletin board by then LC Hexxia called for everyone to head one sector off to Mattas Head to take on some Tibs, so I rushed along. Yet, VC Peter shared my concern of a newbie rushing into war with 30 minutes experience, but I was reading the manual like a mad man in the background while I entered combat. I fired my first five shots at the infamous ace fighter Stile. It was such a great event, that I call it my homeland now.

Under lame pilot activity, the mighty Hexxia resigned, Peter took over. It was no easy task and he did well under the chaos we were under. But, he was killed (many thought by some cheating involved) and a small band of pilots found themselves stranded. Morale was low and a player many respected called himself Piscotoph gave some wise words, so I decided to dig deep and band those with me at TMC and so I formed squadron 987. Although most of the pilots were rookies like myself, I remembered these guys were the ones putting in 7-8 turns a day, so I told everyone we needed a name. I came up with Sacred Seagulls (Xin, Hover, Zirion, shadow_wolf, Valdano, Seth, Calundra, Septimus, vermillion and me). It was my last decision as squadron leader because after that we made decisions by collective agreement. At about the same time, Calundra the forever-positive poet created our logo - "forged in fire". Like seagulls that always seem to find their way home, we made our lives a holy legend to get home and out of the hornet’s nest of enemies we started in. It was the most amazing squadron I was on, and I doubt another will replace it because of the deep emotions and incredible odds that bonded us together.

We moved as one, except when Calundra overslept and we stood around to protect her despite the incredible odds. When we made it back to PK we were heroes, other pilots bore our insignia and we gave the Bors a good battle as the beta went on. Vedite became the LC and asked me to join him as his VC. I was honored. But, we were not match for the Bors due to the backstabbing Tibs. At the end of the game, SittingDuck remarked that our "angels" were a concern for his group near the end of the game. It felt good to be recognized by a superior legion. Lessons learned: (1) tri-naps never work, (2) never ever give up, (3) be a sport and give the superior legion the battle they deserve - they’ll respect you more for it.

Frantic 4c - Ajax repairship/carrier Rookie Talon becomes our LC, Stile (later to be called dixi) and I schooled him and I learned many subtle parts of the game from these two guys who always laughed at my more defensive nature. We were a great team, unfortunately, the Tibs lead by Hermione and Esperandus just had a better plan. One thing I like about Frantics is the great banter you share at Tara’s Bar and I enjoyed a few laughs when I picked up invulnerability in the roids with the Tib blob. My hit logs recorded nineteen zero attacks. Lesson learned: Carriers are not used to full potential in the beta games

Beta 5 - Kril cloaker Made 22nd place, but not shown in official rankings. Before the beta began, I spent a week writing a tutorial for new players. I wanted to create something that would be useful, appropriate and entertaining for a new player. I wanted to write it while I was still a new player. I appreciate when guy’s like Platao mention me when it’s quoted.

Many called us the dream team. Right from the start, we came out on fire. Talon and Dixi also had a plan before the beta started. And our legion watched in awe as the mighty 525ths ripped up the galaxy under their leadership. As a cloaker, my job was to scout out meat, because our blob ate everything up, we couldn’t seem to lose a ship even when we tried. Soon our over-confidence got the better of us, plus I think someone leaked whom our LC was, so we lost scans. Legion took over and asked me to lead with him. In the words of Boris, it was a perfect mix. He was cool under fire, gave the perfect amount of orders and I was knocking out pages of battle plan options every turn. We hung out in Tara’s toilet and even had a code system to identify each other because it was easy to imitate other pilots. (ahem)

Unfortunately for my brother-in-arms, I miscalculated the damage the tri-nap would do against us and with some bad luck of carrier pilots not making turns, which would cost us our homeworld. As I headed off to a semi-nude beach holiday in Thailand in real life, I left my legion at the worst possible time and it took many days of sun and massage to get over it. Upon my return, I found we still had the best fleet and took part in a huge bloodbath that to this day I have not seen so many ships destroyed in such a short period of time. I’ve never seen a more active and disciplined legion in my life. We had sixty ships following the target lists to the final end. Amazing! As Dixi cleverly posted in the Bugs forum, the Ajaxians won, having never lead a conclusive victory battle in the whole game, unless you count the time they backstabbed us and bombed our planet. My friendship with Chopper and Legion ran outside the game, as they were the first two folks I told about my wife’s pregnancy (as she wanted to keep it a secret for a few months) Lesson learned: Don’t bother with the rankings listings - it’s not for team players like myself

Frantic 5 - Ajax repairship/carrier With a taste for leadership, I took the role of LC and held it for most of the next 50 hours of this frantic. Setting a personal record for lost sleep and time spent on a computer in a two-day period in my life. I actually started hallucinating - and had to rely on my VCs to help me think straight. Lesson learned: I’m addicted to this game, so I donated half a day’s pay to make sure it doesn’t die.

Beta 6 - Bor bomber/cruiser Served in the cabinet under LC ScubaSteve, where I was greatly impressed with his early work, but found he made one too many poor choices towards the end and I went AWOL with my yellow cruiser. But, I never amounted to much; in fact, I fought alongside my former Bor mates at one point in my rebel cruiser. Lesson learned: Don’t go AWOL

Beta 7 Did not play - disenchanted after the last beta. I deleted my TVS folder that had personal essays on the game. I wish I had played; it would have been great to watch Legion lead a group to victory. Lesson learned: Don’t ever give up on this game.

Beta 8 - Ajax Bomber/Cruiser Served in the Ajaxian cabinet, offering ideas but a lot less vocal. Got a cruiser (who didn’t). Having a newborn allowed me to make almost every turn between for many weeks. Ironically, in the game where I was not an LC or VC, my legion wins and I get my first beta victory! But, it was sweet nonetheless. Lessons learned: (1) Uber-cloakers are hard to kill, (2) Xin is the best carrier I’ve ever seen, (3) despite his big mouth, Boris shares my list of excellent leaders with Legion, dixi and Chopper, (4) never ask to be in charge of the target list when you have a crying baby in the house, even a sleeping one.

Pre-Beta 9 I’ve never been born into the Tib family… could this be the time??