Blackout

Mission Brief

Two teams face off in a battle for control of communications within a planetary system. Three Comm Arrays serve as the objectives as the defending team fights to keep them online, while the attacking team attempts to impose a communications blackout. Points are earned by maintaining control of the objectives and the team with the most points at the end of the battle wins.

What to expect: Ship Combat, Zero G FPS Combat, Hacking

Rules of Engagement

Teams

  • Team White: The defending team tasked with keeping the comm arrays online.
  • Team Black: The attacking team tasked with disabling the comm arrays.

Team Black has an inherint disadvantage due to the automatic missions to restore comm arrays which may draw interference from outside players. To offset this disadvantage the larger team should be assigned as Team Black.

Objectives

The objectives are the comm arrays orbiting one of the following sets of planets and moons.

  • Hurston: moons Aberdeen, Ita, and Magda
  • Crusader: moons Cellin, Daymar, and Yela
  • ArcCorp: main planet plus moons Lyria and Wala
  • microTech: moons Calliope, Clio, and Euterpe

Contesting An Objective

Any form of combat is permitted in the efforts to contest an objective, with the exception of items found in the Restricted Items.

Team Black must fully disable the comm array in order to capture the objective.

Team White must restore comms in order to capture the objective.

Note: You must have a crypto key in order to disable or restore a comm array. Participants are expected to come prepared with their own crypto keys.

Scoring

  • There is a 10-minute unscored grace period at the start of the event or after recovering from an interruption. This grace period allows Team Black an opportunity to contest and capture objectives before scoring starts.
  • Points are awarded to the each team based on the amount of time each Comm Array remains under their control.
  • If all three Comm Arrays are online at the same time, a condition “Whiteout” is called and if all three Comm Arrays are disabled at the same time, a condition “Blackout” is called. Bonus points are awarded to the controlling team during either of these conditions.
  • The winning team is the one who earns more points at the end of the designated time window.

Preparation

T-30 Minutes: Party Launch and Resource Transfer

  • All participants form a single party and launch from menus. Once in game, the party is disbanded and the two teams split into their respective parties.
    • Late arrivals join their respective parties in game when space allows.
  • Team White, the defenders, set their respawn location at the nearest L1 station.
  • The Black, the attackers, set their respawn location at the nearest L2 station.
  • All participants should prepare for combat by transfering any necessary equipment to the respawn location and then muster near the station.
  • Party members MUST NOT approach the objectives before the event start.
  • NOTE: Crypto Keys will be required to perform any hacking activities. Each participant is expected to come prepared with their own Crypto Keys, and looting of Crypto Keys is allowed during the event.

T-5 Minutes: Confirmation and Final Count Down

  • Both teams confirm that resources are in place and party members are ready.
  • Participants remain at their respawn stations in preparation for the event start.
  • Org leaders or their designated representatives may travel to the objectives verify the starting condition of the three comm arrays prior to event start, but all team members must be at the respawn stations in order for the event to start.

T-0: Event Start

  • The 10-minute grace period starts and participants may approach and begin contesting the objectives.

Recovering From Interruption

Org leaders or their designated representatives can ask for a server relaunch if there is a signficant interruption to gameplay, such as third party interference or degraded performance.

In the event of a server relaunch there will be a 10-minute preparation period before combat is allowed to resume when all players should muster at their respawn stations. This preparation period begins once all players have joined the server. Once the preparation period is completed a new 10-minute grace period will be granted to the defending team before scoring can resume.

Resources

Special Equipment Requirements

Crypto Keys will be required to perform any hacking activities. Each participant is expected to come prepared with their own Crypto Keys, and looting of Crypto Keys is allowed during the event.

Tracking Overlay

The following URL can be used to provide a stream overlay with the current score, countdown timer, and live status of the objectives.

  • URL TBD

Change Log

  • 2023-01-17: Initial Revision