Planetarion Forums

First of all, thank you for taking the time to read this. I will be laying this out in a way that it will appeal to new IRC users who are not ‘skilled’ in its use. If you know a fair bit about IRC already you will know most of what I will cover here today, if not it all.

What is IRC?

IRC is shorthand for Internet Relay Chat. It is basically a Chat room network. You can create a channel for pretty much any purpose (am sure there is some restrictions that apply i.e. sexual content and profanity). You will find many channels on IRC. A lot are public channels for fun others are private for alliance use only (if you join an alliance they will give you all the details needed to access their private channels).
Why use IRC?

1. It allows for real time communication between alliance members, which makes alliance more efficient.
2. It is cost effective. Access to the IRC server is free and you do not need to pay to register any channels (although the IRC Client you use may have a fee).
3. Creates a large community which can make playing this game a lot of fun as you get to meet new people which can become friends. It’s not always about war

How do I connect to IRC?

To connect to IRC you need two things, the server address and an IRC client. An IRC client is an application that is used to using IRC; this can either be a web-application or a full application which you would need to download.

IRC Server: Netgamers (irc.netgamers.org Port: 6667)

Clients:

Web-Application: Click on Com Unit on the Planetarion overview page. This will pop up another window or tab asking if you wish to launch the client. There aren’t really any settings to configure with this. Just connect, tell it which channel you want to join and you also need to pick a nick name.

Application: mIRC is the most popular client out there. You can download this from http://www.mirc.com. When you down load you get a free trial, but after the trial you can still use this software without purchasing it. Before I go over mIRC settings let me introduce you to how netgamers works and common commands you will be using whilst on their server.

Netgamers

Netgamers runs a bot called P. This bot controls the entire server and operates channels that users create. Now for best use of this server you will need to register a nickname (usually the same name you want to use when you are on IRC). Go to http://www.netgamers.org, on the top right of the screen you will see the login box, just underneath that there is a register link. Click that and follow the instructions. Do not use a hotmail email address when registering, unfortunately they do not work with netgamers. You will need a different address even if you have to sign up for a new one, just for this. Yahoo and google mail works fine. After you have completed sign up you will need to use this new Netgamers account to authenticate your IRC client with P. This will be the first command I show you below, and this needs to be done every time you connect to Netgamers IRC Server.

Commands

Login: /msg [email protected] login username password (remember to use your Netgamers account username and password, not your Planetarion info)
Join a channel: /join #channel (channels always have# in front of them)
Join a secure channel. There are two ways to secure a channel, either by using a key (password) or setting it to invite only which is the most secure.
With key: /join #channel key
Invite only: /msg p invite #channel
/join #channel

Only users who have been granted access to a channel can use the invite command to it, which is why you have to authenticate your IRC client.

Auto Invite: /msg p set #channel autoinvite on (this will set P to invite you to the channel when you login to P.)

mIRC Settings

Now I will go over some mIRC settings. I waited till now as we will put some of the above commands into use with mIRC, so it was best for you to know them first.
When mIRC is loaded, click on the options button, which looks like a folder with a hammer next to it.

Click on connect. Here you can set your nickname and an alternative nickname in case you have a connect error, sometimes your old connection leaves a ghost which will stop you taking your main nick until it pings out.

Now click Server. Here you have a list of all servers. Find netgamers in the list and double click it.

Now click options. Tick the check boxes for;

1. connect at start-up
2. Reconnect on disconnection
3. Move to top of list on connect
4. Check for timed out connection
5. Preserve nicknames.

Some of these may be ticked already. Also make sure the default port is 6667. Now click on Perform, this is below the default port.

A new window will pop up cann Perform. Tick the check box (enable perform on connect) it’s the only one. You can leave Network set to All Networks. Below there is a text box to list all the commands you want to run when you connect to IRC. Put the commands like this;

/mode $me +x
/msg [email protected] login username password

These are the main ones. You do not need to put the auto invite command in here, once which has been set you can forget about it.
The mode command I specified will hide your IP from other users of IRC. The Netgamers server is generally a safe place but it is still best to be discreet.
Here you can also list join commands for channels you do not get an autoinvite to.

Now click on IRC. You will see a lot of checkboxes. We want to make sure 5 are ticked. These are;

1. Auto-join channels on invite
2. Rejoin channel when kicked
3. Rejoin channels on connect
4. Keep channels open
5. Hide channel key

Useful Channels:

#cservice - for help with anything P or Netgamers related.
#support - for help with anything Planetarion related.
#planetarion - a place to meet other Planetarion players, usually over 100 users in here at a time.

Ok I think that is enough to get you up and running. If you need further help find me on IRC in channel #dwellers and I will assist you.

-Imperial
F-Crew Recruitment HC