Role Playing Rules for all players
Rule #1.
Tagging
Non clan role players no longer need to use a [RP] tag infront of thier name.
All players are considered RP players on TFL. Hovever, if they wish to
advertise they belong to a certain faction, tagging as outlined below will be
needed. (Do not attack a player Lvl 35 or lower, unless agreed by both sides.)
Some examples below:
- [Merc]Roo-Avery
- [Trader]Roo-Avery
- [Police]Roo-Avery
- [Pirate]Roo-Avery
- [BH]Roo-Avery
Role Players without a faction are considered contractors by default.
Only clan members can be tagged as Navy.
Clans will use their Clan Tag, (e.g., [KOR]Adm.Sinister, [KAOS]FemmeFatale,
[BLC]Anderson )
Rule #2.
One faction/one clan rule
Topfreelancers allows you a maximum of five characters. However, you may only
hold a membership in one clan at a time. If you are caught with more than one
clan tag on your account you will be suspended without warning. Allowances
during clan transitions can be given, and exceptions can be made with approval
from the Admin.
` In addition, you may only belong to one faction at a time. In other words, if
you are a member of a trader clan, you may also have an [RP]Trader character,
but may not have an [RP]Pirate character. For players who are sharing the same
computer, it is suggested that you create separate windows accounts to keep the
characters on different accounts.
Pirates who wish to Smuggle are encouraged to do so. As long as they keep to
the one faction rule. This means you will need to smuggle with your clan tagged
character(s) and you are only permitted to land on bases/planets that your
faction reputation allows you to.
When participating in Events please note; during Unknown Alien Events, you may
you use your Clan/RP Tagged character. For any other events we recommend
creating a [Event] character.
Rule #3.
Clans and Reputations
Clans must show on the main website which of the 5 types they are: e.g.,
Police, Pirate, Navy, Mercenary or Trader.
Role players must become enemies with the natural enemy AI of their clan type
such that the enemy AI pilots and bases are Red to them (e.g., Police, navy and
bounty hunter clans must become enemies with all the AI pirate clans; Pirates
must become enemies with the house police, navy, BH and any other AI that is
normally Red to them.)
Mercenary and Traders, only, can remain WHITE or NEUTRAL as between law and
order and lawless AI factions and may work for either lawless or law and order
clans.
Unoffical or waiting Clans cannot be based in systems that are RED to them.
Players who are found NOT to have the proper Reputation with their enemy AI -
for example, if a bounty hunter player is seen able to land on Crete, OR a
Pirate player is seen able to land on Planet Cambridge, that player shall be
suspended for anywhere between 1 to 14 days, and have their reputations
corrected by the Admin.
Clans are limited to 10 members per clan. This includes recruits and
leadership. The ONE exception to this rule are the [TFL]Police clan who are
permitted up to 15 members.
Rule #4.
Clan Factions and "Official Status
There are now 17 'Official Factions' you may choose from on TFL. Each faction
coming with its own private system only accessible by the clan recognised as
the official clan of that faction.
If another clan has already claimed the faction you wish to role play, you may
claim to be that faction, although you will not be recognised as official and
you will not have access to the Faction only system.
Unofficial clans will still be able to access the Clan Leaders forum and they
will still be entitled to a Private forum as long as you meet the separate
requirements for Private Forums found
here and a Ventrilo Private channel also.
Rule #5.
Taxes, Tolls, Fees and Fines
Legally, only Navy clans may order other role playing pilots (clan or non clan)
to:
1. Report for inspection
2. Report for payment of Taxes or Tolls
3. Leave their system under threat of attack.
Only Navy Clans can impose taxes or tolls to all Role Players travelling
through or otherwise using the 4 House Systems. This can be charged as a one
time payment covering a period of time such as one week or one day. Navy clans
will not abuse their authority by imposing unreasonable taxes or tolls and must
post their rates on the Forum for all players to see. A Navy's taxes or tolls
cannot be applied outside their House System. Any other group which attempts to
charge a tax or toll is in violation of the law.
Pirates are free to Tax, Toll or seek protection money from whoever they wish
along as they are in their own system(s). Although this must be kept to a
resonable amount and in line with the Level 35 rule.
Rule #6.
]Trade Agreements and Fee's
Traders may seek payment of fees as a percentage of profits realized on sale of
commodities. This is left to the discretion of the Trader. Whether the profit
split is in favour of the Trader or second party is left to those negoiating
the deal.
Rules around shipping Commodities in Sirius.
You may only hire a Trader or Trade clan to ship commodities if you own the the
system or station they are either being bought in or sold in.
Official House Navy Clans
Either the point of purchase or point of sale must be within the House Navy's
space. However, the point of purchase or sale can not be a Pirate Base.
Pirates
Either the point of purchase or point of sale must be within the Pirate Clans
own system(s). The exception to this is Pirate bases of thier faction within
House System. The Pirate clan may hire a trader to buy or sell from thier bases
in Libery for example.
TFL Police The TFL Police may order good purchased and sold at any base
(excluding Pirate bases) within the 4 major house systems.
Other factions and Affiliations
Factions other than listed above may order the purchase of goods bought and
sold at any of thier bases throughout Sirius Space.
Rule #7.
Trader Monopoly on Nomad Weapons in the Bottom Unknown
System
The Bottom Unknown contains two planets, each with a wholesale Weapons
Warehouse.Only Traders May Enter The Bottom Unknown Weapons Warehouses. All
clans and Freelancers MUST hire a Trader to buy weapons from the Bottom Unknown
Weapons Shops. Traders may hire Escort Clan members to assist them - no others.
Note:
Pirates are no longer allowed to enter the Bottom Unknown system to purchase
the 4 Nomad Weapons and Lvl 10 Codename weapons. Only Traders are allowed to do
this. Any Pirate seen to be breaking this rule is to be reported in the
Cheaters and Disruptors thread in the TFL Forums. Punishment will be severve
and dealt swiftly. Lvl 10 Codename weapons will be available from numerous
wrecks around Sirius. And also, please be aware that there will be a number of
Lvl 9 weapons available to all clan members from thier clan base inside of
thier private clan system.
Rule #8.
Docking Clearance/Scanning for Cargo
All players must request for clearance to dock on any base in the presence of a
naval or police officer who has jurisdiction in that area. Anyone who violates
this may be declared an "enemy" of the state at the Navy or Police officer's
discretion.
Likewise, any player who refuses to submit to a cargo scan may be declared an
"enemy" of the state at the navy or police officer's discretion. A Naval
officer must be in the same system to request a player to stop for a scan.
Rule #9.
Known inherent Freelancer Glitches/Bugs
No "Warping"
"Warping" is the use of multiple characters to gain a tactical advantage and is
not allowed. An example of this would be if a trader escapes from a pirate, and
the pirate logs on with another character in the system ahead of the trader.
No "Leapfrogging"
For those of you who know the bug, you may not use this to travel between
systems
No using multiple computers to spawn new characters and steal their money.
Do not use Game bugs and glitches that give you advantage over other Players.
This is a modded and competitive server so people will get upset if you use
these and you will get banned. Also these bugs really screw the server up and
lag too.
Rule #10.
Combat Rules
When you die from a non-duel, player versus player combat, you will leave the
system you died in immediately. If you are docked in the system, announce your
intentions to not engage and to leave the system. Dock immediantly at the first
base out of system you can. You can only return to that system if:
A: The attacking forces are completely destroyed.
B: The attacking forces have left the system.
Please note:
If the attacking force takes over the the system, they can stay there, but as
soon as a new defending force is sent to clear out the attacking force, the
attacking force MUST respond and fight. If they do not fight the defending
force within 15 minutes, the forced out people may return.
24 hour limit for holding a system.
While fighting, you may be reloaded by traders and dock to reload, but only
within the system. If you leave the system you are considered dead, and cannot
return.
Rule #11.
Bounties, Hits and Trader Takedowns
Rules for the above can change depending upon the roleplay on the server at the
present time. Current rules and regulations can be found in the corresponding
forum. And any issues, problems or questions should be directed to either A TFL
ADMIN or Lieutenant Adams via PM.
Additional Notes:
The generally accepted definition of "warping" is switching characters to gain
an advantage in combat. There is almost no way to define it any better, or to
set any more rules about it to discourage it. The only way to prevent Warping
is to allow only one character per player; that's right, you can only create
one character on this server. That way you can't switch.
However, we can agree that it's an option that would cause more problems than
anything else. It would disallow tournament or special event characters, and it
would make it very hard for ADMIN or Moderators to function unless they do so
from their "roleplaying" characters.
But still, there are players out there who are warping; some who try to deceive
it, and some who blatantly do it. These are the same types of players who scour
the rules and bend them as far as they can. They expect a rule for every
conceivable situation, and if it's not mentioned they will do it. They will
then go and report everyone else who MIGHT be breaking it. I will not write an
entire ruleset involving every situation for warping, because I believe for the
most part we only have a few players with this bad attitude. But I will give a
few examples:
(1) Planting a character in multiple systems.
In the past there was alot of clans notorious for doing this this. They would
camp in the navy systems, and switch characters whenever a navy player logged
on. It doesn't happen so much anymore, although there are still a few players
who do this (although they'll log off for 5 minutes, and then come back on with
their "other" character who happens to be where a trade run is ending). These
are obviously not roleplaying people, as all they want to do is get into a
position to kill someone a lot quicker. This kind of thing ultimately kills RP
because anyone who wants to play a Navy clan gets overwhelmed, and make it
totally not fun.
(2) Switching characters or logging off to prevent death.
In the past, most of the traders were notorious for this, where when a pirate
got close they would F1 while in space and either switch characters or leave
the game. It does not happen so much anymore, but there are still a few who
blatantly do this. This kinda of behavior should be frowned upon; anyone who
exits the game in space with an enemy in the same system is acting in very bad
form. Of course, if you're docked you can do what you want, although you should
not switch characters if you're being chased. This kind of thing ultimately
kills RP because piracy becomes impossible, and instead of pirate clans we end
up with pirate "navies" who just go for the kill, and not for the loot.
As you can see, it's impossible to write rules for this, because players can
always claim "oh, I didn't even see you there" after switching characters. And
sometimes it might be true. Maybe a trader finished his run and wanted to play
with his other character. But then again, the trader could be lying. We all
know there are dishonest players out there, probably the same ones that demand
rules be made for everything.
The bottom line is use your discretion. We can hope that everyone plays the
game fairly and not ruin it for other players.
These rules are subject to change without notice by the TFL Admin Team Please
check the Server Rules and the RP Rules on a regular basis and visit the TFL
Forums for additional updates and information. Email comments and Suggestions
to Admin@TopFreelancers.net or PM
the TFL Admin Team in the TFL Forums.