OBS 1 Part 1: The Beginning.

This is how it all started.  This one single picture spawned a series of threads that dominated the Vs. Debates and would become a part of SB lore forever.  As a precursor to the Story Debate thread, OBS was the first thread of its kind on Spacebattles.  This thread, however, was not like the story debates that followed; OBS was a far different beast.  Instead of a war of words, OBS started off as a war of pictures.  Rules and laws legislated in overly long posts were broken with one touch of the render button.  OBS was juvenile, chaotic, and lawless.  OBS was glorious anarchy.

The first set of pictures were of Cool Guy's Galaxy-X starship taking out Big Steve's prized Asskicker.  Big Steve had been going around the forums boasting about the greatness of his Eclipse Class Super Star Destroyer.  There was no end to Steve's bullying in the Vs. Debates; in nearly every thread, Steve reminded the forumers that his starship was supreme.  This constant harassment caused much resentment in the SBverse, but nothing was done.  Never before has a member dared to go toe-to-toe with Big Steve, as any such challenge meant certain death.  These two pictures changed all of that and sparked a war that engulfed all of Spacebattles.

Soon after Cool Guy's strike, Big Steve received aid from an unexpected source: Kosh800.  Both Kosh and Big Steve were alpha males on the forums who competed for dominance, so one would have thought that Kosh would've joined in on Cool Guy's side.  This became the first rule of OBS: expect the unexpected.  Anything can happen, and everything will happen.  Kosh's first action in this war is displaying a picture of his imperial fleet dropping out of hyperspace with the intent on destroying Cool Guy's Galaxy-X.

He failed.  Kosh and others soon learned that one must be careful in what they show in their pictures.  Making a beautiful rendering showing off your fleet oftentimes led to your opponent using it for target practice.  This became another rule in OBS: Think before you render.  In the beginning of the OBSverse, the powers would generally recreate the enemy's fleet in their own rendering and destroy it.  This would change in later wars that took place in the OBSverse.

As the war heated up, more members became involved, and they were dedicated to the spirit of OBS: pictures.  One such member was Speedy, who entered the war and aligned with Cool Guy.  The industrial capabilities of these two powers would become damn-near unstoppable.  OBS would soon become a war of attrition, and anyone who is not fully dedicated will lose.

During the first part of the war, reports started to come in that the Galaxy-X had been destroyed.  A member by the name of Reaperman entered the war and declared that he had destroyed Cool Guy.  Reaperman made the rookie mistake of posting a message about the destruction without a detailed picture depicting it.  As Reaperman and others would learn by the end of the first OBS war, pictures are the ultimate authority in the OBSverse.  In what would become a standard OBS move, Cool Guy rendered a picture that shows a different story.  Instead of completely destroying the Galaxy-X, Reaperman only succeeded in taking out the stardrive section.  Cool Guy and the rest of the crew were able to safely escape in the saucer section and return to base for repairs.  This is something that would become an annoyance to new members who tried to participate late in the thread.  Unprepared for war, they would type out their moves and post it with a satisfying grin on their face; they believed that mere words would be enough to take down their opponents. Reality would soon come crashing down on them as no more than two hours later, the new guys would see a nice shiny picture undoing everything that they typed.  Most would quit in frustration while some would adapt.  OBS is not for everyone as only the strongest survive.  The weak were better off playing in a newly created thread called, "Story Debate;" a poor imitation of OBS.

After undergoing repairs, the Galaxy-X had a new mission: seek out Reaperman and eliminate this new threat.  While out on this search and destroy mission, Cool Guy came across a fleet of ships loyal to Reaperman and obliterated them.  This was the first time another member's picture was directly used against them.  Taking a rendering of one of Reaperman's fleets, Cool Guy superimposed his own starship over it and created a far different image.  This technique was not used often during the first OBS war, but in future wars, it became standard fare.

The great OBS war was now in full swing.  Cool Guy and Speedy mobilized a fleet for a massive strike against the enemy.

As the allied fleet approached imperial territory, Kosh prepared his forces for battle.

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