WELCOME TO
YOU WERE BORN HERE
YOU WILL DIE HERE
THIS IS YOUR HOME
Spoiler for Lore:
You live in the year N+310, where N is the year in which your ancestors first made their home in the Pipeworks. This date has long since been forgotten.
A great war, details unknown, drew your ancestors - and many others - underground. They found the Pipeworks, a vast sprawling structure of pipes and rooms, rife with its own dangers but completely safe from the hell from whence they came. Nobody knows what these pipes were built for, or by whom - but one thing is certain: they're your home, and the only world you know. And they're home to about twenty thousand others, too.
Tales of the surface world have been passed down but all those who have seen it are dead. Many believe it does not exist. Maybe they're right. Who knows? You never will, surely. But as a rumbling vibration from deep, deep below thrums around you, you watch some dust fall from the ceiling and notice some cracks in the concrete you could swear weren’t there before. Maybe this place isn’t so safe.
The Pipeworks is a harsh environment, and there's no room for slackers here. Everyone has a job in some faction - everyone does their bit to keep the Pipeworks running flawlessly. Engineers keep the machinery and robots in operation, Sanitation workers keep the pipes clean and the air breathable, Hunters gather resources and mine for minerals, Megalomaniacs take tax and run the show, and Wraiths keep wrongdoers in check.
But 310-year-old technology doesn't last forever. Guess what? Something's broken. And it's the Main Reactor,the source of all energy used in the Pipeworks.
Everything is offline. No lighting, no heat, no food production, no water pumps… no earthquake resistance. Everyone is making do with whatever resources they've saved up, and the damaged Main Reactor is chucking out radiation from every angle. All reserves are starting to run dry and things are getting desperate, as yet another tiny earthquake passing through the increasingly fragile concrete structure.
In defiance, the community has rallied into five discrete groups based on their employment - five factions, each set on fixing the Pipeworks’ problems and the Main Reactor… or perhaps just taking control.
X hours to Pipeworks `color(Demagog Aves fabian771 Kuroaitou ddevans96 Silver Emerald worldwideweb3 DoubleCapitals ValerianFlame rob77dp cribcreaky)`
The Pipeworks is a multiplayer forum game in which players assume the role of a member of one of five factions.
The Main Reactor, the thing that powers the Pipeworks in which you all live, is broken. Previously, all five factions worked in harmony to keep life as satisfactory as possible deep underground. Now, each faction wants to take over.
The
Megalomaniacs want to retain their position at the top of the hierarchy.
The
Engineers want everything to be as efficient as possible and won't let anyone stand in their way.
The
Sanitation workers want everyone to stop fighting and just get back to work.
The
Hunters just want everyone to be friends.
And the
Wraiths... nobody really knows what they want. But if you need to ask, you'll probably end up dead.
In order to win, either your faction must be the last one remaining, or all factions must cooperate together to leave the Pipeworks and return to the surface world. But what are the chances of that happening, really?
Unlike other forum games of this calibre, you don't play individually - rather, you are part of a team and must make decisions together. You don't get to pick who you play with or what faction you're in (because you're born into it, silly). Communication will be restricted to factional titanpads (provided by the host) and this thread. No PMs, no Blab, no extra titanpads. If you wish to communicate with another faction, it has to be publicly, in this thread.
You are not obligated to reveal your identity to your faction buddies, however it may prove useful in getting them to trust you.
Spoiler for Actions:
Each faction gets 6 actions per phase. They are submitted by logging them in the top 6 lines of your titanpad.
"Group Actions" are special - in order to be successful, every member of the faction must PM the host to say that they approve the usage of the Group Action.
If all players approve, the action will be successful.
If at least one member does not PM the host, the action will be unsuccessful and those users will be named and shamed in the titanpad.
If at least one member PMs the host to explicitly say that they disapprove, the action will be unsuccessful, but they won't be named.
Here are some basic actions - the rest can be found in the
full rules document.
| Expand | Pick a tile in your territory and a direction, and expand your territory into that tile. |
| Illuminate | Pick a tile in your territory. All tiles within a radius of 3 (follows paths, does not bypass walls) are publicly revealed. |
| Item | Use an item. |
Evict
[GROUP ACTION] | Boot the target player from your faction.
Note: This group action does not require the target to PM the host. |
Each faction also has its own unique Group Action. You should check out the
document!
Spoiler for Items:
| Hammer | Up to 3 uses
Knock down a thin wall (a wall between two rooms) |
| Drill | Up to 3 uses
Knock down a medium wall (a wall between a room and a corridor) or a thin wall. |
| Bomb | - Convert the current tile into a room
- Create a hole in all 4 walls of this room
- Eradicate any nearby territory |
| Nuclear Bomb | - Convert the current tile into a room
- Place a Bomb in all 4 rooms adjacent to this one and detonate them immediately (to simulate a large explosion)
- Flood tiles near the middle of the explosion with Level 3 radiation, and tiles near the outside with Level 2 radiation |
As always, check out the rest of the items in the
full rules document!
Note that all factions start with some items - check these out on the spreadsheet!
Oh and by the way before you sign up - some players will be Spies, embedded in enemy factions and reporting back to their actual factions. They'll have access to both titanpads but aren't allowed to share the passwords of those titanpads. So have fun with that.
Disclaimers: The map is premade and does not change during gameplay except as a direct result of player actions. All Spies are premeditated - the factions they belong to and who they'll be spying on (though obviously not their identities).
Sign up below by posting the following agreement, along with the piece of information mentioned in the
rules document to prove that you have read the rules. It's on the first page. I want to know that you've at least clicked into the document, if not read it.
"I would like to play The Pipeworks.
I agree that this thread and the provided titanpads are the only method of communication available for Pipeworks discussion between players.
I agree to never reveal the password to a Pipeworks titanpad document no matter the circumstances."Please don't hesitate to post any suggestions, queries or qualms. Your comments will be taken into account and the best improvements may be added to the game - even if they change something fundamental.
End of sign-ups: Sign-ups have ended.Requested: suggestions on improving faction-faction combatThe ideal number of players is 13. More or less is fine. 10 is the minimum.
