Frequently Asked Questions
Q: Whats 'Universal Crossfire'?
A: Universal Crossfire is an online text based RPG. It centers around mobile suit combat set in the last three months of the One Year War.
Q: What's this 'One Year War' I keep hearing about?
A: The One Year War was the bloodiest war in history. It was fought between the ruling Earth Federation and a separatist movement centered around Side 3 called the Principality of Zeon.
Q: What do you mean when you say ‘Role Play’?
A: Role-Play = How you play the role of your character.
There is some overlap (for example properly role playing a coward would dictate a very passive fighting style), the two are separate. Role Play is how your character acts, reacts, feels, and talks. Everything you do to flesh out your character is Role Play.
Q: Should I join The Earth Federation or The Principality Zeon?
A: Not my decision.
Q: Can I have a customized suit?
A: Limited modifications are allowed. Little things like switching out shoulder plates so that you've got two spiked shoulders or removing the Finger Cannons for a manipulator would be allowed for example. Big things like additional internal weapons, bigger reactors, hybrid mobile suits, etc. are off limits.
Q: OK, so what IS allowed at start up?!
A: As of the time The GM [G], and RGM-79 GM are common to Feddie Pilots and the Zaku's are common for the Zeek Pilots. If you have your heart set on some special mobile suit and feel that it isn't "broken" for this stage in the game you can ask for it, though it might not be approved.
Q: I want a Beam Saber / Beam Rifle!
A: Only a handful of suits have a powerful enough reactor to handle weapons like that. Unless your mobile suit has a good enough reactor and your side has the weaponry available it isn't happening.
Q: How do shields work?
Shields are like that part of your body that's there for if the situation goes bad. If you cannot avoid a Bazooka round you can simply hold the shield in the way and the shield will take all of the damage and your suit will remain undamaged. Tower shields are generally preferred because they cover more area and are easier to block with. If one is good enough they might even get multiple uses out of the shield but having only part of it ruined. However, powerful weapons like high explosives will typically blow the entire thing away regardless of size.
Oh and the Zaku’s shoulder shield is less effective than hand held models due to the difficulty in using it and its small size. It is significantly worse than the larger, more separated hand held models.
Q: How resistant is my weapon to enemy fire?
A: Not at all, many of them have high explosives and precision parts and none of them are armored. A good burst of Head Vulcans will destroy them. Of course when you boil it all down they are solid matter so far items using explosives they might be used to set off an explosive away from your mobile suit.
Q: This Luna Titanium stuff sounds pretty sweet, where can I get some?
Earn a Gundam...or a GM[G].
Q: Can I be a Newtype?
A: If you mean can your character start as a Newtype the answer isn't just no, but HELL NO. If you mean can it be earned through good roleplay the answer is yes.
Q: You're an asshole! Why can't you make an exception for me!
A: Because it would be unfair to the other players. And asking me to make an exception for you only hurts the chances of it ever happening for anyone else.
Q: Well screw you! I quit!
A: Fine, there's the door. No player is so important to me that I wouldn't let them go if they only want things there way. I am the Game Master, what I say goes. I'm not doing this to be an ass, I'm doing this because if I don't put limits then there will be no balance and then the game won't be fun at all.
Q: So you're the absolute power for Universal Crossfire?
A: Yes why you wanna hear it again?
Q: Well, if I disagree with your ruling can I at least argue my case?
A: Yes, briefly, you will have to cite precedent from the animation or a similar source.
Q: How do we communicate among ourselves?
A: There are a number of systems. In a non-minovsky environment radio is used just like now. In minovsky environments there are a few systems... Optical voice is basically Morse code transmitted between two mobile suits. It relays a text message between suits which can see each other. Touch Com is used between two suits which are touching each other, using smart skin technology two mobile suits can carry on a conversation in complete silence to the outside world. Hand Signals are used for maximum stealth; these are only used by Snipers and similarly sneaky bastards. In some rare cases land lines might be used where communications cables can relay the information like a telephone.
Q: Can I have a custom paint job?
A: at 5 Confirmed Kills, or Ace Status
Q: Can we rewrite OYW history (Zeon wins etc.)?
A: Actually Yes.
Q: How important is rank in this game?
A: A Lieutenant (JG) who is exceedingly good at piloting will be smiled on more than a Lt. Commander who relies on rank.
Q: OK I don't know anything about rank other than if you're lower than another guy you have to do what he says, explain to me how it works in play.
A: An ace Ensign who is brilliant and shows up and complete's his mission without hassle will have more pull than a Lt. Commander with the decision makers. Still it serves some purposes, and your rank should reflect your ambitions. For someone who's just in it to be a great pilot and fly cool suits Ensign works well. If you want to be more of a leader in the group Lieutenant (JG) works well and allows you to go either way with it. Lieutenant is for those individuals who want to be team leaders and take on those extra responsibilities. Lieutenant Commander is for a select few people who have ambitions to be more than an ace, and more than a mere pilot. If you want to be a Lt. Commander you'll have to pass an interview as well some people are simply drawn to higher ranks rather than really considering the responsibilities that come with them. The higher the rank, the more responsibility you must bear, and the greater your commitment of time and energy to the game must be.
As you no doubt guessed we're using the Naval Ranking System generally, though the Zeon Earth Invasion Force uses Army Ranks, along with certain units of the Earth Federal Forces. It goes like this...
Officer Ranks: (Low to High)
Naval > Army
^ Ensign > 2nd Lieutenant [Lowest]
| Lieutenant (JG) > 1st Lieutenant
| Lieutenant > Captain
| Lieutenant Commander > Major
| Commander > Lieutenant Colonel
V Captain > Colonel [Highest]
You can and probably will get promoted as time passes according to your abilities.
Q: Can we rise in rank?
A: Yes, of course.
Q: What is the purpose of medals?
A: They grant you prestige and that CAN have tangible benefits. Basically they're there to show that you did brave shit and proves you are a good pilot. We're using a simplified medal system based off of the US Army's: Gold Star, Silver Star, Bronze Star. The highest medal that you can achieve is the Federation Cross for the Federation and the Iron Crest for Zeon. These are equivalent to the Navy Cross and Iron Cross in real life terms, and having one of them denotes you as an exceptional pilot. You can expect people to treat you accordingly.
Q: How do we capture enemy pilots?
A: This has more to do with the setting than anything else. If you’re fighting on the enemy’s territory, especially right in his backyard, odds are the grunts on the ground are going to capture you after you’ve ejected. In an area that is essentially neither side’s odds are either side’s people are going to get away (unless there’s ground support to capture them). Capturing an enemy pilot with your mobile suit is rather tricky, and unless they surrender there’s really no way to do it from a mobile suit’s cockpit. If they do not comply there’s a great chance that you’ll crush your enemies in your hand rather than holding them thanks to their resistance. Once captured both sides will try and pry information from their prisoners. The Zeon will use torture (both physical and mental) to break a prisoner’s will and force him to give up his secrets. The Federation uses a far more humane technique of manipulating the prisoner and then (through friendship and a slight dose of sodium pentathol) getting him to give his secrets away voluntarily.
Q: Are there Prisoner Exchanges?
A: Yes, but only at a select few points in the game. If your side has prisoners and so does the enemy there’s a great chances that prisoners will be exchanged. If one side has more than another, command will decide who goes free and who stays in captivity.
Q: Can we capture enemy suits?
A: Yes, but it’s kinda tricky. Firstly the suit must be significant, both sides have more than enough captured Zakus and GMs than they need and don’t particularly care to put up with the logistics hassle of maintaining a foreign suit. Secondly it must be completely intact. Needless to say, as enemies don’t typically eject from completely intact mobile weapons odds are you’re going to have to piece it together from bits and pieces of destroyed mobile weapons. On the plus side of this, families can interbreed parts. For example [G] type suits have a huge number of common parts so a leg, arm, or head from a Gundam [G] can be slapped on a GM [G]’s body. Lastly you’ll probably need two of them. HQ will take great interest in the cooler suits and will want the intact captured suit for their study (sometimes this can lead to special upgrades.) Of course the enemy suits must be disabled on your side’s property as there’s no retrieving something that sits behind enemy lines.
Q: My friend (insert name here) told me what the zeons/federations briefing was and i dont like it can i use this info in game?
A:HELL NO! that is "Metagaming" for those you who dont know what this is it is using Out-of-play knowledge in play for an advantage. For example I noticed that someone has flash grenades in their loadout, therefore I will switch over to hardened mode. Unless you’ve got eyes like a hawk you can’t tell what type of grenades those are just by looking that them. That’s using knowledge that you as a player have as your character. This IS cheating and WILL get you punished.
Q: I heard about this "Dud rule" what is it?
A: Duds (non-functioning ammo) are a reality of combat. However because the defender might simply call 'dud' whenever he gets hit seriously to avoid damage I have to put a rule in place. You can call one solid projectile (Beam Weaponry does not misfire) a dud for the entirety of the game.
Q: What does that little ‘Initiative’ thing mean at the bottom of the Mission?
A: That decides who is going first in this little turn based game. It typically goes to whomever is on the offensive this mission.
Q: Well I’ve got a hand free and we’re at melee, how does an unarmed melee attack go?
A: Simple, you use one of your actions to punch / kick / slam / etc. your enemy. Needless to say as your mobile suit was not built for this it’s not going to deal much damage, but still it hurts. There is honestly no concrete rule regarding unarmed melee, simply think about what you’re doing to the enemy (or what’s being done to you) and act accordingly. You’re hitting them with a great big block of machinery with a certain amount of force; it’ll hurt, just not as much as say a dedicated melee weapon. Spent weapons and shield bashes are no different for this in terms of the damage they deal when used as clubs or bludgeoning instruments.
Q: How do blinding weapons work?
Provided the enemy falls prey to they are blinded for one round. At the start of their next round (you must spend one round blinded) they regain use of their visual sensors. A short incredibly intense flash of light will briefly overload a Mobile Suit's cameras at it first tries to adjust to the light (but can't) and then tries to correct for it. Sustained flash weapons are impossible as the Mobile Suit's camera would simply correct and the effect would be lost.
Q: I freaking hate blinding weapons! What is "Hardened Mode"?
A: "Hardened Mode" is a special setting for your visual sensors that "hardens" them against blinding attacks by limiting the amount of light that they process. In practical terms it means that you can burn an action to recover use of your cameras. It is incompatible with other camera modes, for example if you want to make a precise long range sniper shot you'll have to switch off the Hardened Mode.
Q: *Screams* I'm headed straight for a Bazooka round and used all of my booster to jump!
A: Yep, that's a commonly used tactic.
Q: Can I shoot it down with my head vulcans?
A: Yes, but only once per engagement, they're small fast moving targets. This of course requires an action to be used.
Q: My suit doesn’t have head vulcans! Can I do anything to stop the incoming?
A: If you’re using a Gatling you can use that as essentially a large Vulcan, but other than that you’re at a decided disadvantage. Still, if one is using a Machine Gun if one uses an action to shoot at a large slow moving projectile (Sturmfaust or thrown Grenade) and they shoot as much ammo as their maximum rate of fire per round (50 shots) / full magazine capacity they can shoot it down.
Q: He followed it up with a Sturmfaust!
A: If there's enough distance between you can him you can blow that up too using the Vulcans. You get one Bazooka and one Grenade / Sturmfaust per engagement, after that you'll have to rely on your wits.
Q: How many rounds should I fire from my head / chest vulcans to shoot down a rocket / missile / sturmfaust / grenade?
A: 100. They're tough targets and will require the full burst.
Q: And now he’s brandishing a Bazooka at close range!
A: *Sigh* You’re really getting fucked. Once per engagement you can smack the enemy’s weapon away, saving yourself from point blank doom. This like all of the counter actions requires an action to do.
Q: I was thinking of holding / blocking the enemy’s Beam Saber wielding arm to save myself. How would that work?
A: The same way as smacking away a point blank attack with a ranged weapon. In fact it even uses the same action. So if you deflect that fatal beam saber attack you can’t smack away a Beam Spray Gun later.
Q: Maybe I could blow up that Bazooka clip on his front skirt armor, or toss one of my bazooka clips at him and shoot it! How would that work?
A: Sufficient localized damage will detonate a munitions clip, typically a short burst of vulcans or a sufficiently close attack with a high explosive weapon will do the job. If the clip / drum / rounds do go off you’ll take massive localized damage on top of whatever the hit did. For say a Machine Gun clip the damage should be comparable to a cracker charge. For a Bazooka clip or something similar the effect is like eating a sturmfaust. This is why few suits have ammo on the front of their suits. As for tossing stuff at your opponent and then detonating it that’s not too terribly effective. Generally you’re not accurate enough to land it right on top of them and then blow it up at the right moment. Blowing up a clip nearby an enemy is DRAMATICALLY less effective than hitting them with the rounds inside the clip. Generally speaking it’s only negligibly effective, as blast damage and fragments really aren’t any threat to a mobile suit.
Q: Hey, this guy dropped a pretty sweet weapon, can I pick it up and use it?
A: Yes, though certain weapons cannot be used. For example, if a suit that cannot use a beam weapon tries to pick up a Beam Spray Gun or such it will not work because their power output isn’t great enough to operate the weapon. For another example, some of the rarer weapons might have their onboard systems encrypted, disallowing easy access to all but the designated user. You’ll need to take these weapons back to base if you intend to crack their encryption.
Q: Uhm, I just got stabbed in the reactor, what’s going to happen?
A: When a Mobile Suit’s reactor is hit the reactor blows. Thankfully it isn’t as powerful as a nuclear weapon, but it still deals significant damage up close. It can be survived of course, often easily, but it does deal a good deal of damage in a significant area. This only applies for Beam Weapons, Heat and solid weapons will simply cause the reactor to scram and the MS will shut down.
Q: Hey I just blew up this guy when I stabbed him in the reactor and my suit survived the explosion! I want to join one of my buddies in raping this other guy! How do we determine posting order?
A: Generally speaking when one fight is concluded I will give you an ETA in turns to reach whichever fight you wish to approach. After you’ve spent that time in transit (from your POSTING your departure for that fight) you may enter combat on whichever turn the ETA falls upon or later depending on your preference. When you arrive you are considered to be at long range. After you post your arrival the posting order is set and must obey the order as posted. The ONE exception to this is when you’re close to the battle (like close enough to have a case for it being within long range), in which case you go after the defender to reflect your change of priority.
Q: I gots me a Gundam [G]! What all can I put in the Multi-Launcher?
A: That multi-launcher has a 16 round cylindrical magazine, and a number of munitions are available for it including...
- Flares (Blinding weapons)
- Smoke (Multispectral, blocks IR as well)
- Minovsky Particles (Shuts down radar and radio in the area of effect)
- Illumination (Sustained light shell for night fighting)
- Anti-personnel (Kills exposed personnel, it's utterly ineffective against a Mobile Suit, but it calls an area effect auto against exposed infantry)
Basically anything that you might pack into a medium to heavy mortar is fair game (but needs approval).
Q: I gots me a Dom! Is there anything special about it I should know?
Yes, Doms are treated as normal mobile suits in all but one respect. In addition to the three actions all suits get they get a MOVE action on top of that. This action cannot be used for anything other than moving on the ground and cannot be used as a dodge. It is SOLELY to reflect the Dom’s ultra high mobility on land. The Rick Dom does not possess this ability.
Q: Sorry, but I can't be here for the next game. Is that OK?
A: Hey, it's a game, not life. Just be sure and tell me instead of just taking off if u signed-up for the round.
Q: You said that you might exclude me if I don't show up more often what's up with that?!
A: If you don't post enough to participate in combat with any regularity you're just snatching away the fun of your opponent. That's rude to them, and complicates matters for me. Doing this can and will get you thrown out of the game.
Q: Uhm, what's this about participation issues?
A: As I said earlier, do not sign up if you cannot offer a sufficient amount of your time to be fair to your opponent. It's unfair to both sides to sign up and then make one response per day. The enemy can't be attacking the rest of your forces and the rest of your forces don't have an active NPC to fill in for your absence. Everyone loses. I'm going to come right out and say that if you do this more than 2 times (we all make mistakes) you are probably going to get yourself excluded.
Q: Uh oh! I'm gonna die! What can I do?!
A: You can eject or bail out from most suits if it's looking bad. Though that can mean capture, or that the enemy will squash you once you're out. If you die you will need to create another character.
Q: I didn't quite confirm that i'm present for the round in the briefing room by gametime... Do you think that you could possibly include me as an NPC or something this round so that I have something to do?
A: No, if you make one exception it will be thrown back at you for the rest of your tenure as GM, especially about something this important. Pretty soon the problem might become 'what's the point of having a set starting time if we hold for every last player'?
Don't bother asking, the answer is no and it ain't changing.
Q: Wow you seem a little pissed on that last one...
A: That is because i know people are going to ask and i dont feel like telling every last player.