ROCK

http://users.evtek.fi/~jussiava/pa/wiki/the_rock.jpg

The origin of ROCK dates back to the end of round 2 as a partnership known as Stryke. Stryke was a rapid reaction force working via email and ICQ. During Furgion's total dominance of Round 3. Stryke's memberbase of 50 semi-active players did their very best to repel wave after wave of attacks. A tough decision was made to disband the alliance after both partners decided to go their separate ways. One partner made a sensible decision to join a "large" alliance in which he still prospers to this day.

In Round 4 TGO (founder of stryke and p19) made the decision to launch a parallel alliance called [p19]. Planets in the same parallel had a distinct traveltime advantage to eachother, much like the cluster advantage later on. The original goal of this alliance was to be a small, secretive, tight-nit and covert collection of hard-core players specialising in infiltration and prevention, rather than outright defence.

Unfortunately, harsh rivalry from x19th and pax19 made this largely ineffective and it became apparent that the only way forward was to open up the floodgates of random recruitment. It was at this point that the TGO began to seek officers who might aid him in this mammoth task. HC's were appointed: Druid, Tarik and The Infiltrator. A public structure was formed, and [p19] began to grow.

Shortly afterwards [p19] was blessed with the timely and unexpected arrival of an enthusiastic and charismatic young officer named Defgha, whose hardworking and friendly manner helped to swell [p19]'s memberbase to over 100. At this point, many of ROCK's present officers and veterans began to arrive, setting off a craze of nick changes to adopt the T#O style (in the style of the great TGO, great nicks came about such as TFO, TDO, etc.), which created much confusion but helped to add unity and direction to an arguably Newbie alliance that so desperately needed such things

As the end of round 4 approached, [p19]'s position versus the other two main parallel alliances improved greatly, eventually leading them to overtake pax19, and to finish the round just 20 places behind the almighty x19th.

It was around this time that [p19] were lucky to acquire Judder (x19th's "Angel") and Terra (also an x19th player), who both quickly shot up the ranks showing maturity and ability to command and motivate.

During these last few weeks, it was decided that the spirit of [p19] was something which nobody wanted to lose and the floodgates were once again thrown open, but this time as 'ROCK'.

The motive behind naming the alliance ROCK has been forgotten - a few theories include the rock-like solidarity of the alliance's members, the alliance's ability to "rock" the universe, or even the alliance Commander's taste in music. The most likely however, is that the name delves deeply into the very roots of Planetarion - after all, isn't that what this game is about - just a load of mineral enriched rocks?

Since then, ROCK's mammoth leap into round 5 has provided success after success with it's memberbase swelling to over 300 actives including some very proficient officers, slamming this now well-known and respected alliance up to an average of 4th in the PA tagged rankings, and approximately 13th overall.

At the very pinacle of it's greatness, ROCK's new re-vamped image and style for round 6, coupled with an enhanced external affairs team, ROCK looked set to share in domination of the round and be considered one of PA's most improved alliances. Despite this success ROCK did not rest on its laurels and limit its membership to only the elite of Planetarion. In fact, ROCK began to support the new influx of players as Planetarion grew in reputation and memberbase, wishing to improve the general playing skills of the community and attract more players to the game. To this end ROCK was re-organised into a two-tier structure with the longer standing and experienced players in the main wing of the alliance and a new wing was created, titled 'ROCK Junior', intended for the training and development of beginners.

ROCK Junior started small but soon ballooned to a membership of almost 200 players thanks, in part, to the efforts of the hard working and charismatic officers that led the group. Many future greats in ROCK and Planetarion as a whole developed at this time, especially between rounds 6 to 8, some staying with ROCK after being promoted and others deciding to leave to take officer positions in larger alliances. Much of the reputation of the 'ROCK spirit', or community spirit, was generated at this time and still exists today.

At the peak of its activities in round 7 and 8, ROCK Junior rivalled the main wing of the alliance in terms of attacks, defence coverage and activity, spurred on by several initiatives intended to increase competition between ROCK Junior members. A controversal point scoring system was introduced by TGO and implemented by Thely, Tauc_Redfox and DrK_Assassin, who split the wing into a number teams - Nike (led by Thely), The Flying Foxes (led by Tauc_Redfox) and the Assassins (led by DrK_Assassin). Weekly goals were set by the captains of each team and the best of each team were considered for promotion.

In political terms, ROCK has always attempted play the game with a degree of honour and in consideration of the game as a whole. They regularly suffered at the hands of the larger blocks that became prevalent in later rounds because they sided with the underdogs in an attempt to level the playing field. This rarely worked and was the cause of much contention within the alliance membership. Continuing as a very big player in the political affairs of the Planetarion Universe, membership levels dropped when Planetarion changed its revenue method from advertising to being subscription based. This pattern could be seen in many alliances around this time however and not just in ROCK. The knock on effect of requiring players to pay for full accounts meant that only the truely dedicated players stayed and ROCK's recruitment and training wing began to decline and wain by the end of Round 8. Around this time ROCK also began playing other games, such as Starsphere and Planetia. It has been debated whether this led to further decline to an already partly discontent alliance or if it helped keep ROCK together. The truth is probably somewhere in the middle.

To limit the effect of a declining membership, ROCK joined forces with a number of like minded alliances, sharing their defence networks and participating in a number of high profile retaliation attacks. TFD and Vengeance are of particular note, and ROCK maintained a firm friendship with both alliances for a number of rounds, eventually enveloping TFD into its ranks when TFD disbanded at the end of round 11.

ROCK's current (and future) goal and vision statement remains the same: ROCK members have priority every step of the way. Officers and high commanders are there to serve the needs and wishes of these members in any way possible. They are our life, our blood, the very makeup of ROCK (and planetarion) and we shall continue to strive to make sure they get as much defence as we can arrange for them, and that their attacks as remain fruitful and fun as possible, never forgetting that FUN is what this is all about.