The new forums will be named Coin Return (based on the most recent vote)! You can check on the status and timeline of the transition to the new forums here.
The Guiding Principles and New Rules document is now in effect.
[PHA/LLA] - Game Over - The Grid is Secured.
SYSOP
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
P H A / L L A
Personalized Holographic Avatar / Laplacian Lattice Architecture
A Blarnfidel Production
with thanks to Edcrab and lonelyahava for writing, content, feedback, and more.
_________________________________
Personalized Holographic Avatar / Laplacian Lattice Architecture
A Blarnfidel Production
with thanks to Edcrab and lonelyahava for writing, content, feedback, and more.
_________________________________
“You’re a fed,” Duentes breathed. “You don’t work for one of the corps. All that crap about buying products and brand loyalty… you’re a G-man. You always have been!”
Mr. Sign shrugged. He dropped the cigarette and crushed it under his expensive Italian heel. “I wouldn’t say I was a departmental employee but… yes, you cracked it, how very well done. I work for the government.”
“You tried to kill me!”
“God, no. No. We just tried to put you off the trail. You’re hard-working, loyal, and intelligent. Well, in matters beyond computing at least. If you’d been born twenty years later, you’d have been a world-class detective.”
“Yeah? Well this is my world.” Duentes waggled his sidearm meaningfully. He’d set it to stun, but non-lethal or not… electrified barbs still hurt like hell.
Sign rolled his eyes. “Isn’t it just.”
“Why?”
“Excuse me?”
“That’s what I’ve been asking from the beginning. Why are you doing this?”
“Let me paint you a picture.” Sign clasped his hands together and smiled. “Imagine if you made a public transport network, set to revolutionise the city. Imagine if a tiny minority had discovered a way to fill up every transport car with their own slovenly fat asses and cheap merchandise while hard-working citizens were turned away at stations because there was no more room. Clogging up our nice clean systems with their shit because they think they have more of a right to it than the average citizen…”
“…or the big businesses that line the government’s pockets?”
Sign laughed. It was a surprisingly deep laugh, harsh and gurgling, at complete odds with his calm, collected speaking manner. “Corporate conspiracy? Again? No, frankly most of the conglomerates are our bitches. We can pass an anti-monopoly law and rip out their hearts. They have to toe the line. They work to keep us happy, and not the other way around.”
“So, stupid metaphors aside, you’re killing people for network security.”
“Oh, think a bit more broadly for once, Agent. Network security, national security. It’s our infrastructure. The launch was going to change everything for the better. These… goddamned script kiddies run around causing chaos, for money, for fun, just out of sheer evil-minded stubbornness. If we unify the grid, it’ll be an economic golden age. And we can concentrate on stopping foreign cyber attacks instead of rounding up the whining, pathetic little shits fucking us around on our own soil. We’re enforcing the network in order to get back control of the real world.”
“That’s a lot of vitriol. They’re not real hackers, huh? But you are?”
“Please. Fifteen years ago I was scratching at my acne and queuing up to play in the latest Infinite Knives booth, just like everyone else. But I was never one of them. I never got fun out of screwing up other peoples’ systems. I liked to fix things, modify them. And then see how things turned out.”
Sign lit up another cigarette.
“It has nothing to do with your ‘talent’. It has everything to do with your cause.”
“And the Cyberpimp’s cause wasn’t pure enough. That’s why your people are attacking his people.”
“What?” Mr. Sign looked genuinely aghast. “No, he pays his taxes and his bills. We don’t give a fuck about him. I suspect it was one of the sects who was giving him trouble. They’re giving us all trouble.”
That wasn’t in the script, but Duentes had an excellent poker face.
Sign took a long drag and exhaled a strangely voluminous cloud of smoke. “So what next, Agent? You’re going to take me in? Make everything nice and public?”
“Something like that, yes.”
“Not going to happen.” Sign reached into his jacket.
Duentes pulled the trigger. The gun crumbled in his hand.
The realisation hit him like a freight train to the face.
“Christ, I’m still jacked in...”
“Yes…”
Sign brought his hand back out… it was holding some sort of symb—
)): and you won’t be able to get out of here unless we let you.
)): So stop pulling triggers and start paying attention.
PHA/LLA Theme
Background
The world is a dystopian future of our own. Unchecked population and industrial growth have reduced the quality and quantity of habitation and resources. Corporations have catapulted themselves in power to the point that they have extraterritorial rights, contesting national governments on almost equal footing. You spend as little time as possible in this world, instead escaping to the augmented reality system PHA/LLA, aka The Grid.
The grid is an alright place to be, at least for a user like yourself. Your ability gives you power there and the means to exercise it, for legitimate or otherwise purpose. Hackers like you have plenty to see and do, opportunities always there to whip up a stellar avatar for some kid with credits to burn or records with hot paydata to spoof into.
Well, it's not just ability. It also takes some real serious wetware implanted in that head of yours, but it paid for itself in under a year and the memories now lost you're pretty sure are better off that way. Enabling hackers to interface with the system on the level necessary to do what they do better than any other user, it also comes with some risks...
Win Conditions
The village represents the hackers of the PHA/LLA grid, those who exercise their ability for fun, profit, or just to make a statement. Directly in opposition to them are the government operatives, sworn to protect the integrity of the grid from those who might cause mischief. The game ends when either all government assets are eliminated, ensuring the freedom of the network for all, or when the government forces equal or outnumber the other players, securing the network from chaotic elements. There may also be others with their own objectives and purposes for being on the PHA/LLA grid.
General Mechanics
Besides the standard voting gameplay that will be taking place in this thread, players will have personal pages upon which they will be navigating the PHA/LLA system, collectively known as the grid. Each game day, or cycle, players will navigate the grid by moving between nodes clustered into groups of systems. Each players’ synchronization to the grid, or sync for short, can be used to hack into records, interesting targets from which information, money, or programs, collectively known as paydata, can be extracted. If a player’s sync falls to zero, they’ll be dumped from the grid for the remainder of the cycle. Besides the locating and hacking into records, players will also be able to purchase and activate macros, executables that provide special abilities while on the grid. Players are limited by the number of tasks that they can run at a single time and the total number that can be run in a single cycle. Particularly powerful macros will take multiple task or memory slots to run. Wetware may be purchased to enhance ones’ abilities on the grid, but upgrades do not come cheap.
Voting
Each game day, all players get a vote on who to eliminate from the game, indicating that player’s name in bold red, posting "!vote for <player name>" or similar phrase. You may retract a vote by posting "!retract vote for <player name>" or similar phrase in bold lime or change your vote by making another one in bold red. Votes made against a player in the same system as you are worth 1.5 times a standard vote. (Data trunks do not count as parts of a system, and have no effect on vote strength.) The player with the most votes is eliminated from the game, fractional votes after summing being rounded up. Should there be a tie in the vote, then each player involved in the tie has a random chance of being eliminated, with the condition that at least one person is eliminated.
Voting will close each cycle at 7PM PDT / 9PM CDT / 10PM EDT / 2AM UTC; any actions before the hour (x:59) will count, any actions on the hour and later (x:00) will not.
Signing Up
Sign up with the phrase "I !sign up" or similar phrase in bold lime or other bright, easily visible color to ensure that your intent to play is acknowledged.
Inactivity
It is expected that players vote and take their actions each day to be considered sufficiently active. A warning will be sent on the first day that this requirement is not met, and a replacement will be made on the second consecutive day of inactivity or third day of inactivity overall. If there are no replacements available, then the player will be eliminated from the game.
Clarifications
Any questions about the general game rules may be made by highlighting the question in bold orange text. Answers will be posted in the thread and collected in the below section. Player-specific inquiries that are not addressed in the general rules may be asked via PM to the host. Please note that there may be mechanics or details which will not be answered and kept hidden until the end of the game.
Other Rules
Standard Phalla rules apply: no sharing of host-provided PMs via screenshots and direct quotation. However, information may be shared indirectly, such as through rephrasing. No anonymous contact is allowed. All messages must be traceable to a player in the game.
Players’ personal pages are to be treated in the same manner as role PMs in a standard game. That means no sharing of account URLs and passwords, even between trusted players.
In the spirit of this game being about hacking, any exploits or bugs found should be reported to Infidel for an in-game reward. :^: Please don't spoil the spirit of a game and fair play, however.
If any players create "proboards" for private communication, please send a link for it to the host.
Questions and Answers
Q: What the hell is going on? I feel like something is missing.
A: We will be updating the OP with more details as the signups progress. Further details will be posted at the start of Day 0; there will hopefully be ample time to digest them before the game starts proper.
Q: Who should I PM for game stuffs?
A: Any mechanical orders, questions, proboards, etc. should be sent to SYSOP. If there is a question or issue with the pages, contact Infidel directly. If you wish to pick on MrBlarney, feel free to flood his inbox. 8-):whistle:
Q: Are node effects preset, or variable? Are there random effects? If two players enter the same node at the same time, will they experience the same effect? What about on different days?
A: Effects would be variable, and while some things may be generated they will function in a non-random fashion. All movement is simultaneous and effects will not function on a first-come first-served basis anyways. If you are in a node with an effect then you will be affected by it unless you have means to avoid it.
Q: If you use all your Sync you are booted from the Grid. If this happens is your vote till counted? If it is still counted, is "off the Grid" considered it's own system?
A: The game thread is considered to basically be a hacker board on some unknown node, where everyone has access and hides behind their aliases. Even if you're not able to sync to the Grid, you can get on a dumb terminal to read and post and vote. Being offline does not count as a system.
Q: Does being kicked off the Grid due to loss of Sync mean you can't be targeted by macros? (since you're no longer on a targetable system/node)
A: You cannot be targeted by macros off the grid.
Q: If we get booted off The Grid due to low sync do we lose any of the macros/paydata we've collected? Also, how fast does sync regenerate?
A:You do not lose anything if you are dumped. During maintenance cycle, everyone is refreshed a % of sync equal to 20 - (current sync / 5). This applies to those dumped, bringing them back in at 20% and a random hub node.
Q: What happens to someone's credits, macros, and other stuff if they are eliminated?
A: They are lost to the grid. They might show up down the road to an industrious enough hacker picking up the fragments.
SYSOP on
0
Posts
Every 24 hours there will be a cycle, starting with Cycle 1. At 00:00 hours, PHA/LLA goes down for maintenance, and will usually resume operation within an hour.
Within a cycle, there are slices. Every 10 minutes is a slice. All events transpire simultaneously at these slices. If you move, you only order a move; it will actually happen when the next slice comes. There are therefore 144 slices in the 24 hour cycle, although maintenance eats up a few of these.
Moves are queued. A move between nodes can happen wherever there are edges. Movement between systems is not anything extra. Every time you move, you must wait 6 hours before you can move again. You can queue a move when you are waiting, and it will occur as soon as possible. Only one move can be queued at a time.
Movement occurs at the end of action resolution.
Macros are scheduled. You have the ability to say when a macro will start (and who it will target) for any future slice in the current cycle. Macros tend to have durations, executing and terminating on certain slices.
Macros require tasks and memory. You have a number of tasks per cycle you may perform, and an amount of memory. You must have enough tasks remaining to cover the costs of the macro when it executes, and you cannot execute a macro if the memory cost combined with the memory cost of all macros running at that time would exceed your total memory. If you cannot meet the costs then it will fail to execute.
Macros that require a target may specify Node or System or Grid. When targeting a macro, it must be valid at the time of scheduling. This means that if schedule a Node macro on someone in your local node for immediate execution, it will happen, but if you schedule it for a future slice, they may move to another node in the system, or off the system entirely, and it will fail when it tries to execute.
Synchronization is a reflection of your connection and unity with the PHA/LLA system. If it ever drops to 0% or below you will be dumped from the Grid for the rest of the cycle. Sync can be regained over time or by certain effects, and is spent during the process of spoofing. Spoofing is tricking the PHA/LLA system into acknowledging your avatar as another, which is a genuine hacker skill and not something anyone simply with the right macros can do. Spoofing is key to scoring unauthorized access to files and systems, in this game mainly the process of opening records.
Grid Overview
This is your regional grid and field of play.
While there are many more nodes in systems than this (some have thousands), these are the ones highlighted for play. Each coloured cluster represents a specific system, with the regional PHA/LLA hub in the center. The intersystem nodes, aka the data trunk, are not part of a system at all, and function as if they were their own one-node systems.
Systems
Players may decide which node in the hub they would like to begin the game in, nodes 1 through 6. If no PM is sent to SYSOP with the desired starting node, a node will be randomly assigned to you.
When you are sync-dumped, you will appear after next cycle maintenance in a randomly assigned hub node.
Records
Occasionally, records will pop up on the Grid containing hacker desirables. This paydata usually takes the form of credits, but sometimes useful information may be gleaned, or for the very lucky, macros that enhance ones' abilities. Of course, some records may contain information along the lines of spam or even malevolent countereffects meant to deter hacking behaviours. When a record is found, it will take a certain amount of synchronization to spoof your identity to access the data. Records are refreshed over the course of each cycle, appearing at random times.
Macros
Macros are abilities that can be activated to perform special effects. Some of these allow you to gain information, some of them allow you to force malicious effects on others, most are defensive in nature. Each macro requires a certain number of tasks and free memory to run. In addition, each has a different scope of activation. "Self" scope macros can only be used on onesself, "Node" scope macros can only be used on players in the same node as you, and "System" scope macros can only be used on players in the same system as you. Make sure you note that the "trunk" nodes don't actually count as part of any system.
You can obtain more macros by finding shops on the Grid and purchasing them with credits. Certain shops also specialize in wetware, enhancing your general abilities. Each shop will only be open at certain times of each cycle, and different shops may have different prices for the same items.
Macro Examples
Tracer - (task 1, memory 1, system)
This macro allows you to trace movements made by another player along edges of the grid for six hours.
Sniffer - (task 1, memory 1, node)
This macro allows you to trace the macro invocations made by another player in your node for four hours.
Scramble - (task 1, memory 1, self)
This macro blocks the effects of Tracer and Sniffer on you for its four-hour duration. The macro user will be aware that he is being scrambled.
Hyperlink - (task 1, memory 1, self)
This macro allows you to transit to any other node in the current system. This requires a movement action to be free and will trigger movement cooldown.
Firewall - (task 1, memory 1, self)
This macro nullifies the effect of basic IC systems for four hours.
Shell - (task 2, memory 1, self)
This macro prevents other macros from affecting you for its four-hour duration, but also prevents you from invoking macros of your own. This macro cannot be cancelled once it has been invoked.
Invis - (task 1, memory 2, self)
This macro hides your presence on whois listings for eight hours.
Intrusion Countermeasures (IC)
Be careful when exploring. Intrusion Countermeasures, or IC, have been developed to deter unwelcome parties from accessing sensitive information on the grid. When you enter or remain in a node containing IC, you'll suffer from negative effects such as reduction of sync or restriction of movement. IC may also be present in hackable records. Only the activation of the Firewall macro will prevent these effects, and even then more powerful IC can still get through. (The Shell macro does not protect against IC.)
Transfers
Credits can be sent between players on the same node. Macros may also be traded, although some restrictions may apply.
What Is Going On?!
Alright, so with that all in mind, how do you play?
As a hacker, you'll want to maybe explore and spoof, looking for juicy info and gathering credits to further yourself. Or you could tail someone you suspect and see if you can catch them up to no good. Everyone has something to offer from the start of Cycle 1.
Don't forget to vote of course! The vote is the executing of the hacker community's will, in practice typically with a jolt of energy enough to cause cortical liquefaction. It is a rather unfortunate way to go, seeing how many victims aren't personable enough to have gone noticed missing until after their stench escapes their rundown apartment.
Since voting is affected by your location within systems, there is a literal mob aspect to it to keep in mind.
____________________
How to navigate PHA/LLA
Each player has their own personal page linking them to PHA/LLA. These should be treated like any other host PM: that means no sharing of links or screenshots of the grid. When you access your page, you will be asked for a PIN, provided in your link PM.
Entering your PIN will bring you to the main page. Game features may be accessed from this and connected pages.
In the center of the screen, you can see the local area of the Grid you are in. To make a movement, you can click on a node adjacent to yours, connected with a glowing edge. A box will pop up asking you to confirm the choice. If your movement action is available, then you will move at the start of the next slice (each slice is 10 minutes). Otherwise, the movement will be queued up and will be resolved once your movement cooldown period has ended (normally 6 hours). The upper right-hand box gives information about your location, including node number and system name. You can also find a link to show the entire grid map. If there is an open shop in the current node, you can also find information about items sold there.
If there are records in the current node, you will find them in the lower right corner. To try and hack a record, click on its name and a box will pop up telling you its sync cost to hack. If you confirm that you wish to spoof the record, and you have sufficient sync to do so, an attempt to open it will be made at the next slice. If multiple players try to open the same record simultaneously, the attempt will fail and some sync will be lost. Otherwise, you will be informed at the next slice the results of your hacking.
In the upper left, you can see your personal information. This tells you your sync level, the number of tasks you have remaining in the current cycle, your maximum memory, and the amount of credits you have. To the right of the user information box is the whois listing. The whois listing shows the players that are in the same system as you. A double chevron next to a player's name indicates that they are also in the same node as you. If someone is in the same node as you, you can transfer credits or macros to them. Click on their name, and a box will appear asking how much you wish to transfer. A minimum of 20 credits must be transferred. If you want to transfer macros, click <<trade>> and select the macro you wish to give. You can't give away your starting macros, however.
In the lower left, you can see your most recent log messages. If you want to look at messages further back, you can click the link in the upper right corner of the box to bring up complete reports from the current and past cycles.
In the centre left, you can see your action information. At the top of the box, you can see your movement cooldown bar. If you are able to make a movement, the bar will be full, and the status "Ready". Otherwise, you can see at what time your next movement can or will be made. Below the movement information, you will find a summary of currently executing macros. Clicking the upper right corner of the box allows you to access, set, and cancel your macros.
The macro screen is divided into three areas. In the lower left, a listing of your current macros is given. Clicking on a macro icon brings up information about the macro's costs and effects to the box on the right. If applicable, a box with a list of applicable macro targets will be shown in the lower right hand corner. To queue up a macro for execution, the bar in the right-hand box can be dragged to the timeline in the upper box. If a target is needed for the macro, the player's name must be selected first.
The upper box shows the timeline progress of the current cycle and allows you to manage the cancellation of your macros. The current slice is highlighted, while past slices are dimmed out. When the current slice hits the location of a queued macro, the macro begins to run. If insufficient tasks or memory is available, the macro will be cancelled instead. If you want to look at a queued or currently-running macro's information, you can click on the bar; information will show up in the lower-right box. Macros can be cancelled from the <<cancel>> link. If the macro is currently running, then a box will pop up to confirm the cancellation.
Records and Spoofing - the Short Version
Records are fragments of information and data. Accessing them requires spoofing the identity checks. Spoofing requires wetware to keep up with the instability of spoofing your connection and even then there is a synchronization cost to the Grid. The ability to spoof is what sets hackers apart from the macro kiddies.
Right click on a record in the lower right and it will show you how much sync it will cost to spoof. Confirm and you will spoof it during the next slice. If multiple hackers are spoofing a record, it will be in contention and no one will claim it, but everyone will pay a 5% sync penalty.
Records contain all sorts of useful data, such as paydata that is worth credits, macros (malicious or not, so watch out), information, and sometimes just plain ol' junk.
Happy hunting!
Stores and Wetware
You may purchase goods from the stores that pop up temporarily all over the Grid. Macros are first-come-first-served, wetware upgrades if you can find them are available to all. Wetware lets you schedule a little surgery offline to increase your Tasks and Memory, reduce spoofing costs, and reduce your movement timer.
____________________
PHA/LLA Questions and Answers
Q: Something is broken.
A: Give a detailed description of what exactly is broken and send it to Infidel.
Q: What's the difference between Tasks and Memory?
A: Tasks are used up when a macro is invoked, based on the macro. The number of tasks that can be run each cycle is limited, but reset each cycle. Memory is the limit on what you can run all at once. You cannot be executing more than what the macros take up in memory combined.
Q: How do I add a macro to the timeline? How to I remove one from the queue?
A: To add a macro to the timeline, you need to click on its icon in the lower left box then drag the time bar from the right-hand box. To remove a macrom from the timeline, select it from the timeline, then select <<cancel>> from the lower-right box. See above for more details.
Q: Can I queue up a movement to occur in a new cycle?
A: Yes. However, you are still subject to normal movement cooldown restrictions.
Q: Can I move and take a macro action simultaneously?
A: Yes. Moves are independent of using macros or other actions. Moves occur last in each slice, for timing issues.
Eliminated Cycle 1
MaxFrost - Hacker - fused synapse
simulacrum - Connected Hacker - disappeared
Teucrian - Hacker - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 2
CaptainPlanet82 - Hacker, Church of the Real Convert - disappeared
Lucedes - Hacker - disappeared
oldmanken - Enhanced Hacker - disappeared
Rawkking Goodguy - Hacker - disappeared
ronrab - Infinite Crew - fused synapse
towndrunk34 - Infamous Hacker - linkdead
Eliminated Cycle 3
FecklessRogue - Church of the Real Evangelist - disappeared
mascara305 - Church of the Real Evangelist - fused synapse
romanqwerty - Hunter Hacker - disappeared
stever777 - Enhanced Hacker - disappeared
Unsalted - Enhanced Hacker - fused synapse
Eliminated Cycle 4
Heffling - Enhanced Hacker - disappeared
TrueNeverborn - Hacker - fused synapse
Zandracon - Gilt Tradecorp Security Agent - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 5
Capfalcon - Hacker, Church of the Real Convert - disappeared
Farangu - Hacker - fused synapse
Mr. Defecation - Hacker - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 6
Alt_Raven - Cyber Escort - disappeared
Dunadan019 - Elite Hacker - fused synapse
FunkyWaltDogg - Hacker - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 7
FreeAgent - Infamous Hacker - fused synapse
[strike]Arivia[/strike] Gumpy - Hacker - disappeared
immortal squish - Hacker - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 8
[strike]thatguy00[/strike] Daius - Cyber Escort - linkdead
daniant - Church of the Real Evangelist - disappeared
sterling3763 - Hacker - fused synapse
The Anonymous - Hunter Hacker - disappeared
The Cow King - Government Agent - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 9
Ardor - Infamous Hacker - disappeared
Burnage - Hacker - disappeared
Eliminated Cycle 10
Green - Infamous Hacker - disappeared
Matev - Government Agent - braindeath
Megatin - Infinite Crew - disappeared
Nodgarb - Hacker - fused synapse
Ringo - Government Agent - braindeath
Eliminated Cycle 11
Gandalf_the_Crazed - Hacker - disappeared
[strike]Cynic Jester[/strike] godmode - Hacker - dumpshock
Hippie - Government Agent - fused synapse
Stew_Stick - Hacker - dumpshock
Eliminated Cycle 12
Wildcat - Infinite Crew - fused synapse
jackisreal - Hacker - dumpshocked and disappeared
Raiden333 - Connected Hacker - fused synapse
Darian - Grid Hacker / Ghost in the Grid - ???
Surviving Players
3clipse - Government Agent
Alegis - Gilt Tradecorp Security Agent
Dragon6860 - Government Agent
Egos - Cyber Pimp
Kay - Government Agent
Phyphor - Gilt Tradecorp Security Agent
Spoit - Cyber Escort
Void Slayer - Government Agent
Game over, Government Agents victorious.
Gilt Tradecorp Security Agents meet their win condition.
Cyber Escorts meet their win condition.
Narrations and Links
Cycle 0: The Secret War
Cycle 2: Coercion
Cycle 3: The Cyberpimp
Cycle 4: Investigation
Cycle 5: Agitation
Cycle 6: Alignment
Cycle 7: Fear
Cycle 8: Security
Cycle 9: Church of Reality
Cycle 10: Flux
Cycle 11: Anomaly
Cycle 12: Understanding
Cycle 13: PHA/LLA
Hosts' Proboard
Master Spreadsheet
Can't do as bad as I did in CvP!
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
Steam
REGISTERING USER: EGOS
And now bed time awaits!
Twitch Stream
Zithra Melitch in Star Wars: An Empire's End
Jellica in In the Shadow of Zeus
(by which I mean me)
The Black Hole of Cygnus X-1
please
"moving between nodes"
So yeah we aren't nodes..
Mafia, infiltrated by a secret mafia, infiltrated by a secret SK.
3DS FCode: 1993-7512-8991
> Y
FTC: HONK.
PAX Prime 2014 Resistance Tournament Winner
...Wrong phalla, sorry.
Hrmmmm