Chain of Command

Description

Eschaton online is a persistent space simulation and team combat game that will let thousands of players simultaneously live and adventure in a futuristic science fiction universe. It will mark a departure from existing online games by putting power into the player's hands to shape the history of a universe through real politics and economics. Players will be able to advance into positions of real power as commanders, generals, presidents, and even emperors to direct the economic, political and military strategy of entire nations.

Eschaton goes far beyond existing online games by putting power into the player's hands to shape the history of an interstellar community through real politics and economics. It is also a simulated universe, and fighting is not the only aspect of gameplay.

Players will be able to advance into positions of real power as commanders, generals, presidents or even emperors, but they might also be content to simply play the game of life in the Eschaton universe. To that end, Eschaton will offer a broad range of more roleplaying-oriented activities, similar to those found in current online RPGs.

• Explore the most intricate and detailed realization of the galaxy to date. There are countless stars in the galaxy, and each solar system is realistically portrayed. All solar bodies and planets are to scale and infinitely detailed thanks to our fractal terrain system. Discover ancient alien artifacts, find the distant scattered descendants of the Diaspora, encounter alien races, and perhaps solve the universe's great mysteries. The layout of the known galaxy in Eschaton is based on real star catalogs and known extrasolar planetary systems. Exploring the Eschaton universe is the next best thing to exploring our own!
• Construct stations and outposts on planets, moons, asteroids, or in space itself. Harvest and refine resources to supply materials for your factories, allowing them to create new ships and units. Research and discover new technologies to gain an edge on your opponents--and on your allies!.
• Team together with thousands of other players to run a nation. Start your own corporation, faction, or state, if you can rally enough other players to your cause. You are only limited by the extent to which you can gain other players' cooperation.
• Join the Valtavech Republic's frontier contact division and undertake dangerous and all-important diplomatic and exploration missions. Enlist with the Valtavech Navy's special operations branch and foray deep into hostile territory. Become an outlaw and live a dangerous life on the frontier. Delve into the underworld as a smuggler or weapons dealer, or from the other side as a contracted bounty hunter or guardian.
• Carve out your destiny. Advance in the political, social, military, or corporate worlds. There are no experience points or levels, and all ranks and priviliges are rewarded through actual achievements as determined by other players. The fate of the universe is in your hands: make history!
• Join the military ranks and take part in an epic space war. Fight in massive battles with thousands of other players working together in a cohesive chain of command. Pilot a fighter; man a gunnery position or a missile launcher; identify, track and prioritize targets in the Operations Center of a military vessel; or take the helm of a capital ship and navigate it into battle. Unlike every existing game, Eschaton does not limit players to a single type of combat action. Every tactical role is available to you and your teammates. As you hone your skills in one particular role, you will become known to your superiors as a capable warrior and will be given more important combat assignments.
• Having proven yourself in the heat of battle and demonstrated your combat effectiveness to your superiors, accept a promotion and join the military chain of command. Direct the action strategically at any level of the command hierarchy: lead a fighter squadron into battle; captain a kilometer-long capital ship; command a strike force, a battle group or a fleet. As you prove your ability to motivate, command and effectively manage the players under you, you will advance according to your merits. At the highest levels, supreme commanders are indirectly responsible for the thousands of players and hundreds of thousands of units under their command.
• The specifics of the military hierarchy can vary depending on the political philosophy and military doctrines espoused by your nation. In the extreme cases, the power structure of your nation's military will be something completely unheard of on 20th-century Earth (such as the continuously shifting and multivariate hive-oriented nature of the Ixtek military command). But the people you lead are real, and your decisions have real consequences.
• The military chain of command does not exist in a vacuum. Nations in Eschaton are administered by a government of players. The government is responsible for managing the economy: development of the nation's resources, allocation of and distribution of materiel and labor, and in some cases even collecting taxes. Since the focus of Eschaton is the conflict between the nations, much of the routine work of government will be automated, allowing players to make high-level policy decisions without forcing them to supervise the routine operation of the government.
• Players may fulfill a governmental role in addition to their role as members of the military, but as they advance through the ranks of civil service they may find themselves spending more time managing and less time fighting. If he so wishes, an Eschaton player can play the management game exclusively without ever entering combat. Eventually he may find himself in the very seat of power, as the leader of his nation. Of course, leadership at this level is not always easy. For instance: if he is part of the Divine Naberhuis Mandate he will need to fight a duel to the death with the incumbent before he is allowed to become the Hierophant who acts as emperor and godhead to the Naberhuis people!