Torn City Times

IIIlusionist [253384] — The forums are a great place to engage in discussion and get annoyed, meet new people and create new enemies, voice your opinion and be ignored. I take on a backseat approach to the forums, looking at what goes on from afar rather than posting. There are, in my opinion, a few types of people that roam the forums. Lets start with my personal favourites, "Trolls". Trolls, for those of you that dont know, are people who prowl the forums looking for any chance to derail a thread and inspire chaos. Some find them annoying, while others enjoy the read; I myself am quite amused by their comments. One of the most famous trolls is Evil-Duck [1182047]. Even the name is enough to send shivers down your spine and move your cursor to the x button. However, the name is also enough to draw your eyes for a cheeky glance at his latest antics. Maybe his most famous troll was when he announced he would be planting a dirty bomb on a faction of his choosing. He had every...

IIIlusionist [253384] — The spotlight now turns to Milk and Cookies, MnC. There have been a fair few mergers throughout the years, most of which go on without a hitch. MnC is one faction that has shown just how much two factions can benefit from a well organised merger. Milk and Cookies is the result of the joining of Rockers and Secret Service, and took around three weeks to complete. Rockers had been around for nearly eight years, and were led, at the time of the merger, by Blexi [1458703]. Secret Service was led by HippoHugger [140306]. They were both active factions, but were in no position to even consider competing with any of the HoF factions. They all hopped over to Rockers, as it had better specials, and a vote was cast to choose a new name. The name was chosen because the new faction wanted to represent the two factions that merged. So the name Milk and Cookies was voted the best, and it is still undecided which of the factions is to be the milk, and which is to be the cook...

IIIlusionist [253384] — We rejoin the faction journey in 2008. The number of factions dwindled, and targets to war became harder to find, even with full beam lights. Then, in 2008, peaceful factions were introduced in an effort to increase the number of factions. Factions had the option to remain peaceful untill they declared on another faction. The hope was that factions could build up their respect and war when they were ready, it didn't work. According to an announcement made, out of 800 factions created only 4 decided to war, the rest choose the path of peace. In response, peaceful status was given for 3 months for new factions, after which anyone could declare on the faction. 2008 saw the arrivals of faction specials and in 2009 NAPs and peace treaties were added. Now we come to the 2009 and 2010 systems. Factions were put in to one of ten ranks or unranked. The idea was that you war factions within your own rank to get the best respect gains, warring a faction outside your...

IIIlusionist [253384] — (re-publish before part 2) There are over 2,500 factions in Torn, varying in size, strength and activity. Factions have seen many changes over the life span of the city. The ranking system wasn't in place at the beginning, there were less organised crimes, no armories and there were also different staff positions, such as third in command and treasurer. However, some of the biggest and most discussed changes are the different warring systems, which are what this article will focus on. Factions war for many reasons; for fun, pride, grudges and to cure their boredom. But most importantly is to gain respect. We will start at the beginning, or as close to it as possible. When factions first came about, there was no such thing as chaining, non-aggression packs or peace treaties. In fact, before Spring 2005 there was no such thing as factions. There was no faction headquarters like there is today, people would just put a "tag" in front of their name to...