For those that are new, I hope this post will help answer any questions you may have about what exactly this project is. For our regular players, this is the info you've been waiting for.

Introduction

What is OCS TWA?

OCS is Officer Candidate School, TWA is TradeWars Academy. In a nutshell, the site and server is a school ground of learning the dynamics of the game TradeWars. TradeWars Academy is split into two functions: the website, and the TWGS.

TradeWars Academy Website

The website contains all the content the players will be able to look up and reference. It will have flash demos of different areas, such as navigation, StarDock, planets, porting, and much more. It will cover various areas, such as helper programs (SWATH, TWXProxy, etc), scripts, and any other related topics. This site is a work-in-progress, meaning it is added to on a daily basis.

TradeWars Academy TWGS

The TWGS is where players can go and play games. They have a choice of three types:

OCS1- Student & Instructor vs Alien (Instructor is Observer or Player account)
OCS2- Student & Instructor vs Student & Instructor (Instructors are Player accounts)
OCS3- 2 Students & 2 Instructors vs 2 Students & 2 Instructors (Instructors are Player accounts)

The way it will work is:

1. Instructor will e-mail TWGS ScoreKeeper and request a game slot. Each Instructor will e-mail their username/password and their students username/password. Once completed, the TWGS ScoreKeeper will process, setup the game slot, and create the game, then e-mail the Instructor(s) when it is all ready. Remember these games will be closed, meaning only a player with a username/password can access.

2. While in the game, players can request tutorial instruction if their instructor is unavailable. To accomplish this task, our ScoreKeeper will monitor FedComm in all game slots and players will receive command codes to activate their game BOT. This BOT will provide help and instruction on various items such as how to create a planet, twarp, and other commands. It is similar to the ? menu in game, but a BOT will assist the player. There is more detailed information on the BOT in the topic OCS Player BOT.

3. In OCS1, the Instructor is an Observer only. The goal is to help teach the student how to build up and invade an Alien race. The lessons learned will help teach a player tactics needed to invade/defend/etc. In OCS2 and OCS3, Instructors are player accounts.

4. The games are Classic settings. OCS1 will have Ferrengi race only, and OCS2/OCS3 have no Aliens. No edits, all default ships/planets.

5. Once completed with a game slot, they e-mail the TWGS ScoreKeeper and send the formatted message notifying game letter and date to bang that slot.

We hope that this intro to what TradeWars Academy will draw in more new players, and existing players can utilize it to tune their skills. We strive to match students with instructors to teach the dynamics, from building to scripts and other functions.

Stay tuned for more details as we progress.

A few people have contacted me to offer their assistance with instructing, and I just want to thank those that are willing to help out. If you have time to teach, and would like to be a part of this project, please feel free to contact me.

ICQ: 209782543
MSN: thrawn702@hotmail.com
E-mail: twgs@outpost-4.com

Does the course cover pod piloting.
If it does? I would like to volunteer to teach it.
I really should change my name to "Kid Pod"