In 59 NE, a number of long running planetary survey missions, that had been fully funded by the Council to locate a suitable planet to host the Wargames, finally concluded. Some of the submissions barely met the criteria laid down by the council, with such lack of effort making clear that it was a simple cash grab by the survey operators involved.
Of the five that were deemed viable and appropriate, three where eventually rejected on subtle technicalities and of the remaining two, Entropy was finally chosen due to the improbably high proportion of landmass that was comprised of islands and island clusters, with a total area under 5,000 square kilometers - making them ideal battlegrounds. Thus, six years later, the ECZ was born!
It was not long after this that Titan Corporation commissioned a large orbital in equatorial, geostationary orbit around the planet. This would serve as an operational command centre to oversee the prodigious amount of technology required to manage the games and reset the environments at the conclusion of a conflict. It would also serve as a staging post for the raft of support subsidiaries that would inevitably be attracted to such an environment as well as providing crews and operational staff with accommodation, R&R facilities, and a wealth of illicit activity that seemed to attract very little effort to eradicate.
As it is predominantly the same set of islands on Entropy that are continually reused for the wargames, Titan Corporation took the decision early on to see the substrate and upper bedrocks of these islands with a classified active nano technology. This, combined with their industrial replicators, is capable of restoring any given island to its former glory upon the completion of a given campaign.
Depending on the size of the island and the extent of the damage inflicted to the landscape through the course of the engagement, the restoration process typically takes between a few days and a week. In rare situations where the schedule is particularly tight, teams may encounter remnants of past battles that have not been cleaned up before the current battle had to start. These abandoned structures can often hold a wealth of valuable information but also tend to attract the larger native wildlife as they provide refuge from the elements. They should be approached with caution...
Titan Corporation released a declassified interface to this subsurface nanotech to allow the deployment payloads to also leverage it to reshape the terrains and provide solid foundations for the facilities and outposts to be constructed on. Early attempts to create these structures using the direct matter conversion and tactical geothermal tethers alone yielded structures that were unable to withstand the rigours of combat to a satisfactory level.
There are twelve separate factions operating with the ECZ and you have a choice as to which one you align yourself too at the very start of your campaign. Each faction will have a strength and a weakness in a specific unit technology, in addition to either a weapon or component technology type.
The official rationale behind this is stated as: Technologies the faction were significantly involved in the development of, they are rewarded with a proportionate increase in effective research level, for those they opposed, a proportionate decrease.
Unofficially, it is widely believed that this ruling is in place, simply because it acts as a disruptor to the war games, and this pleases Mistress Yang...
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
Faction Summary:Words about this faction coming soon... Need to think about what we want to say about them to differentiate them from each other
There are a growing number of unconfirmed rumors that combat teams have encountered, what are believed to be Titan Corporation Special Agents so some engagements. Anecdotally, these would appear to be more likely on the higher profile conflict resolutions, and those that Titan Corporation would seem to have a vested interest in a specific outcome.
No one has been able to obtain much intelligence about these elusive units other than they appear to operate largely in isolation, occasionally in small, coordinated groups, and ALWAYS exceptionally hard to kill. You should make every effort to avoid engaging with them, should you encounter any...