ACP Convention
The Armed Cocktail Party War Convention (ACP War Convention) is an instrument of war by which the flag Armed Cocktail Party adheres to.
History
After Go With The Flow disbanded, the crew On the Rocks had intended to form a flag, and depart from island holding ventures. In the wake of disbandment, however, they received numerous unsolicited offers from various crews and flags. While this happened in the time of Go With The Flow, and often such behavior was reciprocated with a War Declaration, numerous things led to the effort to codify such behavior.
After forming Armed Cocktail Party, ACP wound up declaring war on a multitude of flags, and wound up fighting two successful wars against lesser flags. The wars declared and reciprocated led to a line of thinking that, some of the response behavior, and war behavior should be codified for all.
Wars against dockpressing crews had already been performed by other pirates such as Piplicus[1]. And, indeed, flags had been previously paid to return declarations of war.[2]
While all of these things had been previously done, nobody had attempted to quantify them in any reasonable way. The Avalon Convention and Fandango Convention, while still reasonably applicable to most situations, really did not have any language to support the issues that are associated with the player base often found on Doubloon Oceans.
Armed Cocktail Party recognized this early on, and decided to come up with a new War Convention to help fit their environment. The result was ACP Convention.
The original primary authors and contributors were: Fannon, Igniknot, Kerix, Ruthless, Thrynity, Tortie, Vader, Yaruto, and Zava. It was originally published in Sage Parley on June 2nd of 2006[3]. A revision was made on October 1, 2006 to bring the ACP Articles of Warfare up-to-date with current flag needs.
The ACP War Convention
Armed Cocktail Party ("ACP"), with this Convention of War hereby state our Rules of Engagement in instances of conflict, war, and for the resolutions thereof.
Article I. On Offenses Worthy of a War Declaration:
1. Sending a request for an alliance with ACP without first discussing said alliance with a titled member or the Monarch.
2. Sending a request for a crew in ACP to join your flag when it was not asked for.
3. Severe Dockpressing. Please do not attempt to pillage our pirates.
ACP defines dockpressing as a situation where someone is stalking on the docks and jobbing everyone in sight. On the first offense, ACP will simply ask for you to stop; should the dockpressing occur again within recent memory, you will once again be asked to stop, and you will be warned that the next offense will warrant a war declaration. On the third offense within recent memory (especially if the offenses all take place upon the same day, or in a span of hours), ACP will declare war. While many other monarchs may feel that it is unfair to declare war on others due to the actions of a few, ACP contends that this brings the issue to the attention of the offending parties so that it might be dealt with accordingly.
4. General actions that a majority of ACP members find displeasing: scamming, stealing, insults upon our flag and crews.
ACP reserves the right to declare war without prior warning, or for reasons not defined in this Convention.
Article II. On Acceptable Practices for Commencement of Warfare.
1. Paying blood money to the Monarch to accept and return a war declaration is acceptable. Money is to be paid once the declaration is returned.
2. Paying blood money to influence the politics and voting of another flag's royalty structure is unacceptable. Talking and influencing voting for war is acceptable, so long as nothing material changes hands to swing the vote.
3. Docktarting in an attempt to raise the fever for war is acceptable so long as Three Rings Terms Of Service is followed and adhered to. Harassment is NOT acceptable under any circumstances by ACP.
Article III. On the Dispensation and/or Disposal of Ships.
1. Any and all ships on the High Seas are fair game. Attacking any red outlined ship is acceptable, so long as it is performed accordingly within game mechanics.
2. Ship balancing (the action of pirates jumping on and off to even out seafaring might rings) is acceptable for engagements and re-engagements. The use of alts to circumvent normal might ratings is discouraged, and will not be performed by ACP members. We encourage those in opposition to us to do the same.
3. Ships in an engagement may be sunk without care for, or regard to, the population of the ship at the time it is sunk.
4. Deeds may be swapped OUT OF the warring flag AT ANY LEAGUE POINT. Deed swapping out of the warring flag to avoid an enemy attacker is only acceptable at a league point, where the vessel could acceptably be abandoned.
5. Dock stalking to check the status of enemy ships is acceptable. Attacking enemy ships which have just deported is acceptable.
6. Floating in alt crews is acceptable. Sinking enemy boats that are floating under a hostile flag is acceptable.
7. Engaging enemy floaters in pvp to slow them on their journey is acceptable, provided that game mechanics regarding might rings are satisfied.
8. Utilizing game mechanics (/vwho, /fwho, /who, old salts, etc.) to hunt enemy ships is acceptable.
9. Repeat engagements are acceptable, provided odds are fair and the game mechanics are satisfied.
10. Requests for disengagement from battle are given at the sole discretion of the person at the helm. (See: On Ransom)
11. Arranged and impromptu battles are both acceptable.
12. Bounties and Payments for sinkings are not only acceptable, but heartily encouraged.
Article IV. On Spying and Espionage.
1. Using alts to job in to opposing flags and eavesdrop on /crew chat is acceptable.
2. Using alts to spy on enemy flag missives, flag officer chat channels or flag discussions boards is unacceptable. Those caught in violation will be expelled from ACP.
3. Using alts to register on opposing flag forums to relay public domain info is acceptable. Relaying things in closed forums, or forums reserved strictly for special groups (e.g. Officers, Royalty) is unacceptable. Those caught in violation will be expelled from ACP.
4. Using alts to job aboard enemy vessels during combat for purposes of transmitting movement, move tokens, damage/bilge status, or other vital ship information, or for purposely booching a duty puzzle during a sinking fight is unacceptable. Those caught in violation will be expelled from ACP.
Article V. On Ransom.
1. Sea battle requests for ransom may be made at any time during the engagement. The choice of whether or not the request is accepted or denied is at the sole and total discretion of the person who is at the helm of the ship in question.
2. The terms of compensation for ransom during sea battle is at the sole discretion of the person at the helm of the ship in question.
3. Requests for ransom as a diversionary ploy is acceptable strategy.
Article VI. On the Cessation of Hostilities. (Or, "Truces") '
1. Either side may offer a truce at any time.
2. ACP will not return any truce without the tribute of one sloop, or other item(s) of the Monarch’s choosing, being paid before the truce is granted.
3. If the side suing for peace does not wish to pay the tribute, they shall endure 7 days for the truce to take effect via normal game mechanics.
4. ACTIVELY HUNTING a flag that has offered a truce is acceptable, and may be encouraged as circumstances allow.
5. Impromptu or ‘target of opportunity’ pvp engagements are acceptable.
Addendum: Applications and Remedies.
1. ACP shall follow this convention.
2. Any transgression of this convention by ACP Members shall be reported to the monarch, or any titled member. All transgressions will be dealt with in a timely manner.
