Vendetta Online: Dynamic Warfare

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Grab your best ship and gun because the Serco Itani War is heating up! Coming off the recent implementations of multi player ships the developers at Guild Software, creators of the space based online game Vendetta Online, recently unveiled a new addition to the game called Dynamic Warfare. Dynamic Warfare is an amazing new feature which pits players against each other in the Serco Itani War as they vie for control of conquerable sectors in the Deneb system. Not only do players fight in group versus group warfare, players also have the ability to man turrets either on player ships or on the large capital ships such as the trident or constellation class ships. Each capital ship in particular has multiple turrets which can provide another dimension to the warfare spanning the contested and war torn sectors in Deneb.

The new Dynamic Warfare replaces the old Border Skirmish which took place in a single sector in Deneb by way of a large battle. Dynamic warfare however spans a total of 177 sectors within the entire system of Deneb. Each sector has a battle winnable by either side which can range in size from small to medium to large. The winners of the battle automatically get their national color painted over the sector. The quantity of battles and differing outcomes currently makes the map of Deneb look a multicolored game board with Itani's and Serco's control waning and waxing depending on the action of the players from each nation.

In the back story of the Vendetta Online universe, the Serco and Itani have long been at war and the Deneb system has remained the front lines of this conflict. Originally belonging to the Serco, Deneb was lost to the Itani sometime during the past events of the war. With the implementation of conquerable sectors based on the actions or lack thereof of players adds a whole new dimension to the war and politics within the game. Developers have hinted at the eventual creation of an entirely conquerable Deneb in the near future, which could drastically alter the course of events within the game. Serco pilots see a conquerable Deneb as a way to reclaim their long lost territory from the clutches of the Itani. Itani's however believe that Deneb, which has remained in their hands for many years, is a crucial system in their ten system empire. UIT players, members of the neutral UIT nation, are not completely left out. Each UIT player has the option to join either army but can expect the loss of freedom of travel and less safety with the joining of either nationalist military. With dynamic warfare, this conflict has escalated from its previous minor disturbance within a couple of sectors to a system wide war zone, with players at the helm of the fate of each battle and ultimately the war.

Although stations and asteroid belts within the conflict zone are currently outside the scale of the warfare, the inevitable inclusion into the large scale warfare will have interesting effects to the war as a whole. Battles occurring throughout asteroid fields and stations could diversify as well as add intensity to the war. With the fate of Deneb in the hands of the players, more and more people are flocking to the region to join the fight. While the war continues, others not interested in fighting in the war continue to use the escalation of warfare as a means to sell smuggled high class weaponry out of the depths of UIT and Grey space. When Deneb is eventually entirely conquerable by either side of the war, it will have to take winning a momentous series of battles through large amounts of player organization and participation. The front line of the war has the possibility of moving in the future to neighboring systems such as Metana, an Itani system, or Geira Rutalis, a Serco system. The combined teamwork of entire nations could create a new and interesting future for the Serco Itani War and the history of the game as a whole.

The war in its entirety is not limited just to the Deneb region. A mission called "Capture the Cargo" is also an important aspect of the war. Capture the Cargo, or CTC, is a combat based mission that takes place through the hostile and unsafe region of gray space. Itani and Serco pilots must protect their shipments of cargo from not only hostile nationalists but also from the vast number of pirates that call the lawless and unregulated zone of grey space home. Pilots can also choose instead of protecting to focus on hunting down hostile ships containing cargo and gaining ground that way. Sedina B8, Sedina in general, Odia, and Edras seem to be the sectors with the most CTC based attacks either by pirates or

nationalists. CTC can also be influenced by UIT's either invited into the mission although the more they participate the more their faction will be affected by it. A player's faction will increase positively with whichever faction they protect and assist while their faction will be negatively affected with whichever faction's ships they attack or are pitted against. The winning faction who collects the most cargo each week receives the rights to purchase neutron mk3's which are high quality weaponry worth the fight.

Both CTC and Deneb have their fair share of benefits, risks, and excitement. Both missions put the long fought war in the hands of the players rather than in control by non player characters. Although the winning sides in both areas of the conflict changes with each week, the threat of a continuous win in either or both areas could propel one faction into a gain over the other. Nothing is certain when it comes to which nation could come out on top in the coming weeks and months of the war but one thing is certain and that's the players will heavily influence the present and future of the war.