As practiced from the 11th to 20th centuries in Western societies, a duel is an engagement in combat between two individuals, with matched weapons in accordance with their combat doctrines.
What do we learn from this definition of a Duel?
1. Duels are outdated.
*grin* Okay.. let's try that again.
1. "an engagement in combat" - Actual fighting takes place.
2. "between two individuals" - Two people regardless of affiliation, friendship, or other ties that bind.
3. "with matched weapons" - You don't challenge a 3 year old. Nor do you swing your fist at Hulk Hogan.
4. "in accordance with their combat doctrines" - Some difference between the combatants is allowed, but all according to predefined agreements and/or combat styles.
How can we translate these 4 short points to TGW?
Simply put:
1. Rebuild. [spoiler]For as long as you are having your duel, rebuild. Of course, getting massed just before going to work or sleep is a proper excuse, but generally, try to rebuild a.s.a.p. If your duel lasts longer as 24 hours, and you didn't rebuild in 24 hours, it can be safely said that you lost.[/spoiler]2. Don't call in others. [spoiler]For as long as you are having your duel, you two are to be the only ones fighting each other. You will be doing good damage (see 1) so it is fair to keep things between you. After your duel is over though.. all bets are off.
[/spoiler]3. Maintain standards. [spoiler](see 1) Doesn't mean you rebuild you pre-duel 5T defence each time your dueling partner takes it down, but if you are afraid of taking too much damage you can agree with your dueling partner (before the fight, see 4) to have 5 rounds, rebuilding to lower standards each time. For example, 5T start, 2T rebuild #1, 1T rebuild #2, 500B rebuild #3 and final round rebuild 1T. Just an example, if you and your dueling partner can agree to lower or higher defences, by all means, adhere to that. Summary point; when your opponent looks at your account, they should see a proud defence, similar to their own. Not one tenth of their own. Also, don't expect 20m armysize players to present you with a T+ defence. Be fair to both challenger and challenged, in which balance the challenged party has more rights. Again.. You don't challenge a 3 year old. Nor do you swing your fist at Hulk Hogan. If you do.. you're either being an idiot (to think that will give you any rep), or even more of an idiot (to think you might scratch the Hulk).[/spoiler]4. Talk it through. [spoiler]Before the fight, agree on basic limitations. E.g. "starting defence", "number of rounds", "planets yes/no", "ascension yes/no", etc.. Talk to your commanders, your alliances and your officers. No one is to fire at your opponent for dueling you and vice versa. During the fight, talk about how quickly defences went down, how well their MS held out against yours, etcetera. Keep a light tone, after all, you made a good agreement earlier about the losses so you know you will have fun at some, reasonable, expense. After the fight, talk about how much fun you had and how you got to appreciate each other better (or not). Either way, your friendship is stronger, or your vendetta/blood feud settled down a bit. If not, go at it again.[/spoiler]Now why would anyone agree to duel anyone, if the costs seem that much higher as the rewards you reap?
Various possible reasons come to mind, looking at history.
[spoiler]1. Single Combat. Alliance champions, taking on each other to decide a VERY long lasting conflict. Aftermath; alliances use the Combat result as the official outcome of their war.
2. Blood feud/Vendetta. A grudge match.. someone offended you once too often? Duel it out!
3. Friendship Fight. Both of you love to mass, and want to try it out on each other? Duel! Or mass someone together, but a duel can decide who is the best of you two.
4. .. creative entry ..[/spoiler]
Duels are fun.
A few guidelines if you don't know what to propose to your dueling partner:
[spoiler]1. Challenger provides the turns for the fight, the loser provides repair naq refund. When you are both out of turns, the duel is over. Agree between yourselves how many turns you want to use, the challenger should be eager (and able) to supply. He is looking for a clean fight, good for their reputation and fun to watch, and if all things are as they should be, so is your partner.
2. Accept the outcome, whatever it may be. ME is bugged, so hard to use as an actual reference. Ask three independent players to anonymously (anon. to all but the dueling parties) provide an assessment of who won and who lost. These three should meet on MSN/IRC and get a 100% unanimous decision out, judging three things: Speed of Rebuild (who was there to rebuild fastest); Standards Maintained (who kept their defences as fair as possible); Agreements Upheld (who played most fair). Their material includes spy logs, timestamped evidence by players (after they rebuild) and possibly MSN chat logs (provided by both parties separately).
If that is too complex, just decide between yourselves. You managed to decide to duel, agree upon rules, so you should be able to decide who won and who lost.
3. 200B is the lowest acceptable defence. If you cannot build a 200B def, think again about dueling, or agree to duel someone your own size. 5T is the highest acceptable defence.. But remember, this is something you have to agree on together. What is fair according to your size, and what is fun for the opponent to take out?
4. Talk.. talk.. talk.. talk.. and be as active as you possibly can. You are dueling. You're not playing hide and seek.
[/spoiler]And last, but DEFINITELY not least:
[spoiler]TAKE BETS!! Use the money people bet on you as a prize for the winner, (after paying the return of the winning bets, of course) and ask people to invest in a duel. Some people might just LOVE to be able to invest in a duel if it provides them with fun and potential gain afterwards.
Of course, these bets should not interfere with the actual duel, so agree upon a reliable third party (together) who will keep the naq/uu/turns that people bet. This third party sets the rates for betting objectively, and once the rates are set, people can start betting. Take a day or two to collect bets.. Betting is off the moment the duel commences. After the duel, the third party sends the returns of winning bets to the proper individuals, takes (agreed upon) commission and sends the remaining funds to the winner.
It can be AWESOME. For everyone, gamblers and duelists alike.[/spoiler]
Long post.. but I hope there's something in here for some people. Maybe lessons, maybe ideas.. I don't expect anyone to actually do it, but if there's ONE who does, I'll be ultimately pleased (and surprised..).
