I: When the sea breaks,

If there was ever a defining moment for Foxhole, its community, the developers, and the PressCorps, it is, without question, the Jade Cove Missile Crisis of War 19. The history has been told a million different ways, and stubborn egos will continue to keep watch over their version of events.

So what's one more?

Here is the official PressCorps story:

The Jade Cove is a city in west central Farranac Coast that serves as the region's victory point. It is considered by many to be a critical checkpoint to secure passage between the middle and southern thirds of the region. But when it is addressed historically in the Foxhole community, people are most likely referring to a specific player-driven episode that happened in the game. That episode goes by several names: The Jade Cove Missile Crisis, The Farranac Missile Crisis, The Jade Cove Nuke, The Nuking of Jade Cove, or simply, "Jade Cove."

The crisis occurred in December of 2018 during War 19, amidst a strong Colonial Christmas counter-offensive across a wide, cross-regional front. The counter-offensive was also a comeback, with large momentum and morale riding on its success or failure. In Farranac Coast, Wardens retreated from Jade Cove's peninsula, to the Apollo's Landing district just north across the river, and a battle ensued on the parallel bridges that connect the two. (It should be noted that while these geographic descriptors may still be used with the current map as of this writing, the world map used in 2018 was different.)

Meanwhile at the Scarp of Ambrose rocket site, just a few hundred meters north of the battle, regimental infighting was reaching a flashpoint.

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In Foxhole, rockets are strategic game-changers. Normally, world structures like Town Bases can be rebuilt an infinite number of times after being destroyed. When struck by a rocket, any world structure within a rocket’s blast radius is permanently destroyed for the duration of that War. Rockets are popularly known in the community as "nukes," but the rocket's warhead is non-nuclear, and there is no danger from fallout or radiation. Regardless of how they're called, rockets require a tremendous amount of coordination, recon, supply, construction, protection, and long-term planning. As such, a majority of rockets are handled by Regiments, Foxhole's version of MMO clans.

The Warden North Star regiment, aka [WNS], was conducting an operation to launch a rocket superweapon at Jade Cove. In a PressCorps interview, [WNS] leader UEemperor described a use-it-or-lose-it mentality, in the event the Colonials established a foothold beyond Jade and run rampant in the middle portion of Farranac. Simultaneously, he had hoped to stymie the Colonial offensive in Farranac while denying them use of Jade Cove as a base of operations.

(Above) A contemporary Discord screenshot of [WNS] Cerberus in an unspecified channel defending his regiment's actions in the ensuing hours of the launch. Posted by an unknown user to the #foxhole-discussion channel in the Foxhole Discord on 12/27 at 12:37 EST.

Meanwhile, other Wardens - regimented and unaffiliated - were attempting to talk down [WNS] UEemperor through World/Region text chat, Discord messages, and local voice chat at the rocket launch site. They argued the Colonials could be held at Jade Cove's dual bridges, and the city could be retaken with relative ease from the north in a counterattack. By contrast, the Colonials would have a much harder time breaking through the city’s thin, southern bottleneck again. The Warden Navy regiment - aka [WN] - even claimed to have snuck a spotter close enough via gunboat to target what they considered to be a better target at nearby Victa. [WN] also claimed to have destroyed the Jade Cove town base themselves.

A screenshot of the in-game Warden Region chat, taken some time before the rocket launch. Posted by Discord user "CSPAN" to the #foxhole-discussion channel in the Foxhole Discord on 12/27 at 10:36EST.

II: When the stars fall,

With the rocket fueled at half capacity, the minimum amount needed to fire at a target only within regional borders, the rocket was successfully launched. It made swift landfall on Jade Cove on Wednesday, December 26th 2018 sometime between 21:58-22:00EST. Day 347 of the 19th Foxhole War, 18:54 in-game War Time.

It is unknown how many Colonials were killed from the rocket itself. Estimates are on the low end due to the 10 minutes required for the spotter to lock onto the target, giving ample time for a majority of Colonials to fall back outside the blast radius. The only known and easily-available footage of the physical rocket making impact on the city comes from the user “SeedMovie” on YouTube (known in the game as Seed), who was recording from the Colonial point of view. It shows about a dozen Colonials with light vehicles, huddled around the uncaptured town hall in a clearly taunting manner, but not much else.

It is also unknown if any Wardens were killed in the blast. Live, radio-informed map footage of the impact from [WNS] Cerberus shows only Colonial infantry on both ends of both parallel bridges connecting Jade Cove to Apollo’s Landing. Additionally, Seed's footage shows no Wardens within the radius of a watchtower built directly adjacent to the uncaptured town hall. Finally in the Warden chatbox, player “LeckTheTech” (no affiliation with user “Lek”) is shown to have killed 4 teammates simultaneously mere seconds after the impact, but the [WNS] Cerberus footage shows this came from a green ash grenade thrown at the launch site - either in anger or as a troll. A squad of [82DK] were claimed to have been taken out along with a field artillery piece, but no evidence has surfaced to corroborate the witness testimony.

In the immediate aftermath of the detonation, the Colonials moved back into the city with a mechanized infantry platoon to hold the position where the town hall once stood. Some Warden infantry forded the river and climbed the destroyed parallel bridges to begin skirmishes, but, with their tanks unable to cross with them, were unable to form an effective counter-attack.

(Left) Contemporary screenshot of the now-defunct Foxhole War Map bot, showing its map of the strategic situation the morning after the rocket launch. Posted by user "Sethfire" to the #foxhole-discussion channel of the Foxhole Discord on 12/27 at 06:17EST.

(Right) Image emphasizing the contrast in distance between the first Colonial (long line) and first Warden (short line) rocket operations. Posted by an unknown user to the #foxhole-discussion channel in the Foxhole Discord.

Blame, arguments, shock, memes, and misinformation from both factions swept through every channel of communication: World/Region chats, countless local voice conversations, the Foxhole Subreddit, YouTube comments, most regimental Discord servers, and the Foxhole Official Discord. Many of the comments and conversations on the Foxhole Discord can be searched and viewed today in real time as the incident unfolded (just search “jade cove”, sort by “old”, and go through 6 pages of menus until you get to comments from December 26th).

If there was ever a "living history" for MMOs, it's Foxhole's social media on the hours, days, and weeks following the launch.

III: When my heart cries,

I remember hearing about it at my family's post-Christmas party (Filipinos love Christmas). My uncle was drunkenly singing a Bon Jovi song on the karaoke machine when I happened to pull up Discord on my phone. The number of pings and DMs I came into was once-in-a-lifetime, and I regret not taking a screenshot. I was actually quite flattered people had thought to individually give me a heads up, but I was even prouder of how many PressCorps reporters were jumping on the story and assembling the fundamentals (the who, what, when, where, why, and how), entirely of their own volition. I was nervous of taking on the story at first, since it was likely going to take on a heavy dose of drama the Corps makes a point of avoiding, but the sheer amount of misinformation (and likely disinformation) spewing from every conceivable channel spurred us on.

Before, the PressCorps was seeped in its own lore and the theatrics of my multiple characters. As the actual player-reporters of the PressCorps kept wading through the mountain range of info, all that self-story building faded into the distant background, and we were left with a report ready to air within 24 hours of the initial incident, including interviews with:

• [WGA] Serenity, member of the Warden Guardian Angels who permanently switched factions after being targeted in teamkill attacks.

• [WN] VonKlaus, leader of the Warden Navy, which was accused of fermenting the blue-on-blue teamkilling that followed the rocket launch (the "civil war").

• [WNS] UEemperor, leader of the Warden North Star who ordered the rocket launch on Jade Cove.

The were visual issues with the livestream, the interviews probably could have been edited for time better, and any attempt by me to ad lib new information that wasn't on the script was painfully obvious. There's a lot of info I missed I later discovered through research for this very page. Hell, I hadn't even locked in the Geoffrey Jennings character voice yet (once again reminding everyone I do use a voice pitch changer).

But the fact the PressCorps was able to gather information, conduct interviews, and present this story to the public one day after it happened - and get the story fundamentally correct - is a testament to the Corps' collective power when it has the time and determination.

Contemporary cross-faction public opinion strongly suggested the targeting of Jade Cove was considered helpful for the Colonials and harmful for the Wardens, based on the amount of visible discourse. As that discourse quickly devolved into an uncontrollable frenzy, some Wardens took it upon themselves to enact revenge through in-game teamkilling and Discord harassment. However, misinformation purportedly turned the revenge teamkillings into sporadic free-for-alls, as it was not immediately clear to players at the time which regiment actually launched the rocket.

Many names were floated, but the three main tags involved were:

• [WGA] Warden Guardian Angels - the regiment that constructed and fueled the rocket, but handed off targeting and launch operations to [WNS]. Claimed to not have been involved in the targeting or launch decisions.

• [WN] Warden Navy - the regiment most vocally opposed to the targeting of Jade Cove and seemingly most involved group with at least promoting revenge teamkills.

• [WNS] Warden North Star - the regiment that conducted the actual targeting and launch.

The fact that all three regiments started with the word "Warden" likely added to the mass confusion.

Images of Discord conversations strongly suggest a "kill on sight" order was issued by the Warden Navy's leadership for any member of [WNS] and [WGA]. [WN] Von Klaus denied these claims in a PressCorps interview, however in the same interview, he also stated he would personally break Terms Of Service and fire at two members of [WNS] leadership on sight if he ever came across him in the game.

It is unknown the actual extent of the revenge teamkillings, as little evidence of killfeeds in the ensuing hours and real-life days exist. It would also be difficult to differentiate between concerted revenge teamkills, acts of self-defense, uninvolved players caught in the crossfire, by-stander intervention, and accidental teamkills that happen regularly throughout a war.

No audio or video of these large-scale teamkills exist beyond what is known by the PressCorps, and it is difficult to parse how long it went for. Known evidence suggests the "civil war" crescendoed quickly once Jade Cove was destroyed, and did not last more than a couple of hours, though isolated incidents may have occurred later as aftershocks.

Additionally, the in-game report system was utilized extensively in the wake of the rocket launch. It may be going too far to say the report system was weaponized, as many people reporting geuinely believed [WNS] to be griefing, especially when word got around the rocket had killed teammates. Regardless, [WNS] was certainly on the receiving end of most of those mass reports.

What is known with absolutely clarity is the infighting was enough to completely shatter Warden morale and organization.

What started as Colonials sallying out from their last-stand in the southern regions, turned into a fight for the River Mercy in the center, and eventually a Warden implosion that saw two more rockets strike towns deep into their regions in the north. It would not be until the 2022 Warden "30/32" comeback of War 93 that Foxhole would see a comeback of this scale. While that era of the Wardens as a faction is viewed for its controversy and disunity, evidence suggests that a "Jade Curse" didn't really materialize. The Wardens would go on to win Wars 20 and 21, and the fastest war in Foxhole history, the 48-hour War 26, would also go to them. Additionally, there were dozens of other Warden regiments still operating as usual.

(Left) Day 278, approx. Dec 23rd, 2018. Arguably, the high water mark of Warden advance.

(Right) Day 451, appox Dec , 2018. The results of the Colonial counter-offensive that ultimately won them War 19.

Note that spent rocket sites and their targets are in red, with Jade Cove and the rocket site that struck it located in the central-west coast at the mouth of the river. Screenshots taken from FoxholeStats.com, taken by Gil Brian Perez/Potato.

(Below) Re-created, interactive maps by the PressCorps' Zack Dawson.

IV: Yet will I trust my saviour.

As players debated what should become of [WNS], others pointed out flaws in the fundamental mechanics of the rocket's operation. It was argued the rocket was too powerful on a strategic level, to be made so accessible to only a handful of players, with so little input from the rest of the faction. While [WNS] believed their actions correct, potentially thousands more thought otherwise, and appeared to be in the strong majority.

When does the freedom of a smaller group supplant the freedom of the rest of the faction?

How does Foxhole, an MMO designed around teamwork en masse, handle the inherent politics of a wide-scale war?

No concerted mechanic has been implemented that officially democratizes the targeting and launch system. However, the launch sequence did see a major change. From 2018 to 2024, the rocket launch sequence took 10 minutes. As of late 2024, it takes 72 real-life hours, and every player is informed of the targeting during that timeframe. This significant increase, coupled with its mass publicization, now makes it more difficult for an isolated group to make secret plans, and gives time for the rest of the faction to apply social pressure. 

So far, no incident involving rockets has reached parity with Jade Cove of War 19, but the shadow of the incident hangs heavy over all strategic disputes. 

The context surrounding the events of the day were spectacular. War 19 was the largest, most populous, and bloodiest (1.7m combined dead) seen up to that point. It was an update war, with the battle tanks first saw excited deployment and ferocious action. Forward momentum by the Wardens over the first 13 real-life days of fighting - a victory nearly assured - was dramatically overturned in a Colonial Christmas resurgence. And of course, the first rocket superweapon was launched...by the Colonials on the old Warden town of Spade in then-Mooring County (now The Moors). The operation that was so straightforward, it was quickly forgotten.

Straightforward, in the face of what happened at the crown jewel of Farranac Coast - The Jade Cove.

The Jade Cove Missile Crisis of War 19, or simply known as “Jade Cove”, is a cultural touchstone in the vast history of Foxhole. It was an episode that saw ego and hubris consume one group, malicious spite another, and the raw energy of it all leaving a community reeling.

It is, in the opinion of this reporter, one of gaming's greatest stories, Foxhole's rawest days, and, perhaps, the PressCorps' finest hour.

When the sea shakes, then I trust my saviour.

When the sea breaks, still I trust my saviour

that if the sea crumbles into rust, tumbles into dust,

yet will I trust my saviour.

When the stars call, then I trust my saviour.

When the stars fall, still I trust my saviour.

And if the stars crumble into rust, tumble into dust,

yet will I trust my saviour.

When my heart sighs, then I trust my saviour.

When my heart cries, still I trust my saviour.

And if my heart crumbles into rust, tumbles into dust,

yet will I trust my saviour.

When the stars fall, then I trust my saviour.

Coming "Soon"

History Part 5: Wires and Lights in a Box

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