Rules of the Server

# The Chain-of-Command

This server operates primarily under a military style chain-of-command format. For server government and rule enforcement, the chain-of-command is all important. The player's High Caliber Navy (HCN) rank is used for this purpose.

You are always to obey the orders of a superior officer in matters of server rule enforcement.

You are not permitted to disrespect any superior officer.

You are REQUIRED to accept any punishment from a superior officer, but are permitted to file a protest through the appeals process described later on.

The server ranks can be split into three groups...

* **Enlisted**
All players begin as enlisted sailors. You will have to climb through the enlisted ranks by serving as crew in the HCN to increase in rank. Enlisted players are not permitted to discipline or order other enlisted players around, except when permitted to in a ship crew position. You will not be able to command HCN ships while enlisted, but you can command ships in the Atlantic Coast Guard (ACG) still.

**Enlisted Ranks** - *Seaman-Recruit, Seaman, Petty Officer, Chief Petty Officer*

* **Officers**
Players who have proven themselves knowledgeable in all or most ship systems, and MATURE enough, may be selected and approved for promotion to officer ranks (beginning at Ensign). Officers are able to command their own HCN crews and ships. When becoming an officer, a player must make additional agreements to abide by server rules and to help enforce rules on the server and keep the peace.

We do not have permanent full-time moderators here, but instead our Officers are expected to help fulfill the role of moderation. Depending on specific rank, officers will have short term, local, and long term and server wide mute and jail abilities (described later on).

**Officer Ranks** - *Ensign, Lt. Junior Grade, Lieutenant, Lt. Commander, Commander, Captain*

* **Admiralty**
These are the highest ranking server developers and players with administrative duties. They are the highest ranking players on the server, at the top of the chain-of-command who serve as the admin, and deal with major server issues, decisions and rule violations. They must also review punishments, officer performance, and recommendations for promotion.

**Admiral Ranks**: *Commodore, Rear Admiral Lower (1 star), Rear Admiral Upper (2 stars), Vice Admiral (3 stars), Admiral (4 stars), Fleet Admiral (5 stars)*

## Player Rights

The purpose of the military government and chain-of-command is to keep an orderly, efficient system. At the same time...we do not wish to make it too much like the military, to the point where it takes the fun away. This section identifies basic players rights that all players will have...

Unlike the real military, your superior officers are not permitted to boss you around. Superior officers are only allowed to directly order you in matters of rule enforcement or server maintenance/operation issues.

You have freedom to enjoy anything that you want on the server at any time, no activities will ever be forced. There may be times certain activities may be denied (such as technical difficulties), but you'll never be forced to join any event or follow any officer you do not want to. You are free to leave any event or the crew/ship of any officer at any point.

You have the freedom to ignore any player in-game or in discord that you are not able to get along with. In fact, you are encouraged to do so before situations get out of hand and enforcement is necessary. The server will do its best to implement and maintain appropriate commands that make this possible. Admiralty ordered forced ignores may become a thing too, where we can force two players to no longer be able to communicate with each other.

Angering your commander on board a crew, ship, or other command, might earn you punishments from your commander (demotion on board the ship, removal from crew, brig time?), but it is not a server violation to perform poorly or otherwise disobey orders of your commander during gameplay events. Breaking server rules, or disobeying superior officers in server matters as discussed above, is what lands you in hot water with the Admiralty.

### Schoolyard Rules

In general you should behave on this server the way you are expected to behave (not how you REALLY behave, but how you know you are suppose to) in a school. The developer is an old guy, who is too old for your bullsh\*t, and also works in the education field. I want this server to in fact be somewhat educational...it is if give it a serious try (unless you already know all of this stuff...like a few of you do lol). That being said though, the rules are to focus on fighting anything that prevents fair and fun gameplay on the server, to maintain the peace of the server with decent and appropriate discussion with a focus on ships, subs, anything naval, military, WW2, etc. Officers and Admirals are expected to shut down any discussion that begins to violate the peace of the server, or prevents the ability to focus on our main topics.

If you might get in trouble for saying it at school, then you probably shouldn't say it here either. This goes for all things cussing, inappropriate, sexual, offensive, hate speech, bullying, insults, stalking, and so forth.

Debates on various topics are allowed on the basis of free speech, as long as the debate remains respectful and doesn't violate any other rules...and can not interfere with the primary focus of the server.

Officers are instructed to maintain the peace of the server, and are to shut down any discussions or arguments that are getting out of hand. Mass mutes may even be done if it involves many people. Don't get offended if this happens, think of the officers like a teacher trying to get the classroom back under control. Mutes on their own are not official server punishments, and as long as the situation cools down after that no further action should be needed. Just chill out until the mute expires.

Officers are also not allowed to engage in arguments with players over punishments or continue any sort of drama. Players are not permitted to disrespect a senior officer. You may be muted if you don't calm down. At this point a mute should be considered your final warning, because if you continue to disrespect the officer or do not accept your punishment, you can then be court martial with the Admiralty. Even if you feel an officer is treating you unfairly, you must accept your punishment at the moment. But you will have the ability to file an appeal with the JAG (discussed below). Even if the JAG sides with your appeal and the officer's actions were deemed unjust, you still could be found guilty for not accepting your punishment at the time and causing excessive drama! So calm down, and file your report with the JAG.

## The Rules

### Major

Cases of extreme hate speech, threatening speech, sexual harassment, extreme bullying, stalking (including sharing personal information and pictures of somebody), and illegal activities are extreme violations and may be subject to instant banning.

Acts of hacking, sabotage or griefing against this server is also an extreme violation subject to instant banning.

Threats, planning, or discussion of acts of sabotage, griefing, or hacking against this server, or any other server, or any player, is an extreme violation. "Joking" may be met with one warning but continued discussion will result in banning.

Finding a way to maliciously exploit the server that seriously damages the quality of life for other players, or causing crashes or lag intentionally on the server, is a serious violation.

You are not permitted to use unauthorized client-side mods or hacks while playing on the server. The only allowed mod is Optifine. Ask for permission to use other mods (as long as they don't alter gameplay).

You must accept any punishments from a senior officer when they are given.

You must not disrespect a superior officer.(edited)

### Minor

You must obey a superior officer over server operation or maintenance issues.

You may not use offensive speech or disrupt the peace of the server in a way that goes against the standards described in the Schoolyard Rules section. This also includes spamming and excessive caps.

You will treat other players with respect.

You will ignore (by your own will or with a command) any player that is disrespectful towards you, or that you cannot be respectful towards.

You will report any exploits you discover, or any known issues or crashes you cause. You will not be held responsible for causing a crash as long as it is an accident and you come forward to let us know what happened. Plus it helps me a lot when you let me know this stuff so I can try to fix it. If I go looking through the logs though, and I discover you did something and you tried to hide it or lie about it, I won't be happy.(edited)

### The Commander's Rights

As stated above, players cannot be ordered around typically, but things change when you join under a crew/ship. This can include permanent ship crews with the HCN underneath a captain, or can be the temporary crew you are with right now like in an ACG world.

We allow COs (Command Officers) the freedom to run their crew the way they want (provided they don't violate any serious rules). If they decide they want to impose a rigid command structure and be strict and demanding, it is their right to do so.

In the event that you do not like this person's style of command, any player is always free to leave any crew. They are expected to do so if getting along with the crew becomes an issue.
COs are permitted to add or remove crew at any time as well.

We encourage players to join up with crews with others that they get along with and share similar views and style of gameplay with.

### Disciplinary Actions

We hope that the majority of cases will be able to be handled with the mute and ignore system. In the event of more serious, repeat violations, the next level of punishment will become the Merchant Marine Service (MMS).

The MMS operates the merchant ships. When used as a punishment, the MMS is used essentially as a jail. You will be stuck on board of an AI merchant ship, possibly allowed some limited control of the ship as well. If the ship makes its delivery without being sunk, you can be released from the MMS early (though major offenders might require more than one run). Communication may be set so that you can only talk to other players close to you or in the MMS.

Server jail is used when the MMS isn't functional, or if a player is a major offender who lost their MMS rights. This will just be a jail in the city.

* **Banishment (later development)** - Players who consistently cause minor to moderate violations, refuse to follow the chain-of-command, and repeatedly cause problems for the server may be a candidate for Banishment. This is not like a server ban, but instead banishes you from the ACG and HCN units and all public areas of the server and Atlantis City. The only thing that will be left for you is a pirate lifestyle. You will hide in the corners of one of the world servers (most likely APG) and scrape a living together. You will only be able to survive and build in survival mode with the materials you can find in the world. So you'll probably be stuck with sailing boats...but maybe you'll get lucky and manage to steal a ship from someone or salvage a wreck. There won't be any way to save a copy of it though, once it's gone it's gone. It will be lonely...you'll be permanently banned from the discord and muted from all other players on the server. The ONLY people you will be able to talk, is the other banished toxic players who are in close proximity to you.

* **Ban** - used only as last resort, for players who hack or are completely out of control, or for planning or doing illegal activities like hacking. In all other cases we must attempt to use our toxic players as a resource for merchant ship and pirate targets.

### Judge Advocate General (JAG)

The Judge Advocate General (JAG) handles military justice. The JAG officer is one, or more than one, individual selected by the Admiralty to fulfill the role. The JAG is ideally selected from an outside, or someone who doesn't regularly play on the server, so as to attempt to avoid bias. The JAG's identity is kept TOP SECRET. The reason for this is to protect the JAG officer from harassment.

Player reports are made using a confidential form or email directly to a JAG officer. The JAG officer may designate members of the Admiralty to investigate or observe any claims mentioned.
Players may report instances of players breaking major rules, hacking, as well as protest the actions and punishments of superior officers. Note that reports are taken seriously, and using reports as a means of causing drama is frowned upon. Reporting players for minor infractions may be ignored and warned if found to be frivolous. If your issue could be resolved by you using /ignore on the other player, or by you leaving a hostile crew, it will likely be found frivolous. The JAG officer will respond to the player's report, though responses may take time. It is the JAG's discretion if he will inform the reporter if any action was taken against the reportee.
[4:22 AM]
Player appeals will also be made by confidential form to a JAG officer. A JAG officer will return to you with a reply on your appeal. Note that the JAG office is the final step of appeals. The decision of the JAG court is final, though additional appeals can be made.

Players who are charged with major crimes that require punishment beyond basic mutes, warnings, and MMS, will be Court Martialled with the JAG. The JAG will hold a hearing

on the player in question to determine if further punishment is warranted. The JAG will contact the player for their defense, gather all available data and evidence, and make its decision.

Refusal to adhere to the orders of the JAG can be grounds for more serious punishments.

## Construction Rules

* Multi-Vehicle Plots (Ships & Submarines)
Building multiple ships or subs within the same dry dock plot is not permitted. You are allowed to have sub-vehicles, like aircraft on ships and other attachable vehicles. But you are not permitted to have more than one separate stand-alone vehicle in one dry dock (temporarily floating airplanes and other small vehicles, and parts of ships to work on them is ok).