About ACS

Allegiance Command School.
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Clay_Pigeon
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Joined: Tue Mar 29, 2005 8:00 am
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Post by Clay_Pigeon »

About the program
The Allegiance Command School (or ACS) was founded in response to the need for experienced commanders to step forward and run games. Just like tabletop role-playing games need to be run by a good game master, good Allegiance games rely on good commanders to build bases, purchase tech, and organize the team. It is the mission of ACS to:
  • Train accomplished pilots in the art of command through a mix of reading, "written work" and one-on-one mentoring.
  • Service the Allegiance community by providing players who can competently command pickup games
  • Service younger and smaller squads by providing players who can competently command squad games.
  • Ensure that diverse segments of the Allegiance community benefit from the program
ACS runs in nine-week sessions with limited class sizes. Rather than accepting applications on a rolling basis (like @Cadet), each ACS session is preceded by an application period. Requirements are steeper than @Cadet, and expectations are higher. Students accepted into the program are expected to read the program's material and discuss in forum. Students are expected to command and log several games over the session, applying to gameplay what they learned in forum. A current list of our mentors can be found here. The list of graduates is maintained here.

A Brief History
The program was started by Phrase in early 2005. Despite the participation of expert commanders and one-on-one mentoring, the program had mixed success and languished due to neglect. The program was later picked up by Virulence, who reworked the program into a public forum for discussing command (making all of the previously written material publicly available). After several months under this format, Shizoku took up custodianship of the program, returning it to a closed-forum, "apply and be accepted" program like @cadet. He generated a great deal of new material for the program, and eventually involved every long-standing squad in a complete rewrite.

In February 2007, Shizoku gave up the program to Clay_Pigeon, who oversaw the completion of the rewrite and the oversaw program's initial classes. Several sessions ran under Clay_Pigeon's oversight, graduating many highly regarded commanders. In April 2008, Clay_Pigeon handed control of the program over to spideycw, an accomplished commander who remains the current ACS head.

ACS in its current incarnation has run longer than all of its predecessors combined. It continues to graduate competent commanders, and it as close as it has ever been to achieving its mission of providing all segments of the Allegiance community to reliable commanders.

The Application Process
Unlike @cadet, ACS does NOT have a rolling application process. ACS is a mentoring-oriented program with limited capacity. Due to our limited capacity, only applications sent during our announced application period will be considered. Applications sent during any other time will be discarded without response.

Keep an eye on the Allegiance News page for announcements regarding our next application period. Application periods are usually 3-5 days long and precede each ACS session. We will also pre-announce application periods, so people have time to prepare.

Prerequisites
To be an ACS candidate, a pilot must meet ONE of the following criteria
  • Must have graduated from Cadet II AND flown regularly for a period of 3 months AFTER graduation
  • Must have flown semi-regularly for a period of 18 months and achieved/maintained a rank of 10
  • Must have been a part of the community for 30 months (time spent in (F)AZ counts) AND lost the newbie tag
How to apply
To apply to ACS, PM the ACS Head with the following information
  1. Primary ASGS callsign (should be clearly related to the forum account).
  2. Primary play time (US Primetime, Euro Primetime, or some other timezone).
  3. Whether you want to receive an anonymous @ACS nickname.
  4. If you want an anonymous @ACS nickname, and you already have 3 hiders, we also need a hider nick to delete (so you can use your anonymous nick). This nick will only be deleted if you are accepted.
Only complete applications will be considered. Incomplete applications will be discarded. Obviously, applicants who don't meet the prerequisites will be denied.

The Verdict
All applicants will receive one of the following responses:
  • Acceptance -- Your application has been accepted, and you will be a part of the next ACS session
  • Deferred -- We believe that you would make for a great student, but we cannot take on any more candidates this session. Re-apply at the beginning of the next session, and we'll give you priority.
  • Try Again -- We cannot fit you into this session, and we cannot give out any more deferrals for next session. Unfortunately, you'll have to apply at the beginning of next session.
  • Needs Improvement -- While you meet the requirements, the instructors feel that you have not yet sufficiently mastered game basics, or have some other reservation about your joining ACS. If possible, a recommendation will be provided for how to improve your gameplay.
  • Denied -- You do not meet the requirements. Please reapply when you have.
The ACS head will review each application and make a recommendation to the instructors, who will approve or modify the recommendation. Applicants are usually notified of their status within 5 days of the end of each application period.

Expectations for students
All ACS students are expected to command a set number of games each week (currently 3). Students are expected to maintain a log of games commanded. For most games, the log can be kept to basics (coms, map, sets, factions, etc), though the game against another ACS student should have a more detailed log entry. In addition, students are expected to be active on the forums, though there are currently no explicit requirements about # of posts or anything like that. Just post questions, participate in discussions, etc. Avg weekly workload will be the time it takes to command 3 games in a week, plus 45-75 minutes on forum, maintaining your log and talking to others.

Current Staff
ACS Head: Spideycw
Penultimate Douchebag: Adam4
Douchebags Emeriti: Shizoku, Clay_Pigeon

Instructors/ACS Hider List
Adam4(Fear)
ChildOfDeath
Cronodroid (Ashriel)
Drizzo (MasterShake)
grav
OneManBucket
Lykourgos
mcwarren4
OneManBucket(Scruggs)
Ozzy(PoopShip)
Shizoku(Happy_Hamburger)
Spideycw(God)
Terralthra (Nebulon)
TheVoid37 (D0NINAT0R)
Last edited by Clay_Pigeon on Mon Jun 22, 2009 10:01 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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