IRC Channel
From Astro Empires Wiki
Contents |
What is IRC
IRC stands for Internet Relay Chat. A channel on IRC is a where people can talk in a chat room environment.
Connecting
In the game, under Links at the top, there is a link to a pre-configured client [1] that will instantly join the AE channel. For those familiar with IRC or who want to use their own IRC client, the server is irc.coldfront.net and the Offical AE channel is #astroempires. An unofficial IRC channel that is commonly used by AE players is #LUEnar which was created by members of LUE based in Alpha. If you are having trouble connecting to IRC, make sure that a firewall is not blocking your connection. IRC runs on port 6667.
Using IRC
On IRC, commands are issued in the following form:
/command parameters
So to change your nickname in IRC which is highly recommended, do the following replacing newnick with the nickname you would like.
/nick newnick
To join a room, such as #LUEnar, one would use the join command.
/join #luenar
To join a room with a password (+k), you would use a command like this
/join #channel password
To leave a room, you must specify the room and can optionally put a reason
/part #channel a message right here
Finally, when quitting, you can also specify a message optionally
/quit a message on why you are quitting
In IRC, it is in general not advisable to copy and paste data into your chat. IRC sends them as individual lines and it moves all the text off the screen. This is called flooding the channel and many channels, including #astroempires will autokick a player that sets off the flooding protection. To paste something in an IRC, it is generally preferred if you use a pastebin [2][3]. For battle reports, AE players commonly use this. Be careful to save the link for your own records as well.
Uses
IRC serves many purposes and can be used for a variety of tasks. The instant sending and receiving of text makes IRC an ideal application for helping new comers to the game who might have an array of questions which might under forum based circumstances earn them a warning.
IRC also can act as a coordinating agent for guilds participating in attacks. Whereas private messages within the game can be sometimes missed and difficult to send to a large group of players, within an IRC channel orders and commands can be written and viewed by everyone instantly. Channels also provide extra security as operators can add a Key (+k) to a channel restricting who is allowed to enter and therefore view the chat which is occurring, this is particularly helpful if a guild is suspected of having spies within it who could view any announcements made. The low bandwidth and system resource nature of the program also means it can run in the background of a persons computer without any noticeable impact on a computers performance.
