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The History Behind the New Team of Weapons and Tactics
The Beginning— Liberty City Emergency Services & Liberty City United Divisions
Our journey began in August 2008, shortly after the release of Grand Theft Auto IV on the PlayStation® 3. It all started when a small group of friends, who found immense enjoyment in the game, decided to offer emergency services to other players in the multiplayer free mode. Among them was Christopher, who took the initiative to create a website to establish and promote their services. This marked the beginning of our story. Without a particularly creative name in mind, the group decided on the straightforward title of Liberty City Emergency Services. Within a week, we had launched a basic website featuring a simple logo and a few images. Given that the oldest among us was just 15 years old at the time, securing professional-level web hosting and a domain for free proved challenging. As a result, we utilized the free Google Page Creator service.
In a matter of weeks, we expanded our offerings to include non-emergency services such as security and transit. These additional services were well-received by the community, and we quickly realized the need for a more fitting name. After much deliberation, we nearly settled on United Divisions of Liberty City but ultimately chose Liberty City United Divisions as our new name. This decision was a significant moment for us, as the name perfectly captured the essence of our services and provided a solid foundation for future expansion. Christopher, eager to help us establish a stronger presence, purchased our first dedicated domain, www.LibertyCityUnitedDivisions.com. While the length of the domain was not ideal, it was the best option available at the time.
Our multiplayer activities continued to thrive, and we gained a notable presence on the PlayStation® Network. However, this success brought challenges. Another group of players, unknown to us, adopted the same name, focusing on role-playing rather than public service. They hosted their site at lcudclan.com, while we had secured a shorter domain, lcud.co.cc, until the free registrar ceased operations. Eventually, we acquired a shorter, permanent domain: lcud.net. The coexistence of these two similarly named entities caused confusion within the community, as both groups had different playstyles. Despite our attempts to reach out to the other group professionally and amicably, our efforts were met with sarcasm and hostility. They refused to acknowledge that they had taken our name and insisted they were the original creators, despite our existence predating theirs by over a year. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to resolve the issue, we decided to focus on our own growth. Despite their unprofessional behavior, we maintained our integrity and even referred players interested in role-play to their group.
Despite the challenges of sharing a name with another entity, our operations continued to flourish both in-game and online. Our website was divided into two sections: our main site, which was migrated to Google Sites as Google Page Creator was phased out, and our forums, proudly powered by phpBB3. In anticipation of the release of Grand Theft Auto V, we began establishing a new entity, Los Santos United Divisions, at lsud.net.
Team of Weapons and Tactics
In late 2012, Christopher, the eldest of our group, found himself engaged in a game of Battlefield 3 on the PlayStation® 3. During one session, he received an invitation from a fellow player to join their "small clan." Although Christopher was initially hesitant due to negative experiences with previous clans, the recruiter was persistent. They assured him that his past concerns would not be an issue, emphasizing that their group was "nothing serious, just a relaxed gathering of friends looking for others to play with." Encouraged by their sincerity, Christopher decided to accept the invitation, joining a group known as the "3rd Infantry Division." The first few months passed smoothly, with casual and enjoyable gameplay. However, the situation soon began to deteriorate.
As the clan grew, it adopted a more rigid structure, and the atmosphere became increasingly tense. The leaders started imposing their preferred playstyle on the group, restricting members' freedom to enjoy the game in their own way. In addition, they enforced stricter schedules and demanded a minimum of 20 hours of gameplay per week, while recommending 25-30 hours for optimal participation. The situation worsened when one of the leaders went rogue, causing disruptions and blaming other members for their own actions. Ultimately, Christopher's patience was tested beyond its limits. In December 2012, after being threatened with expulsion for not wearing the official clan tags, he decided to resign from the 3rd Infantry Division.
Following his resignation, Christopher began contemplating the idea of starting his own gaming community for Battlefield, akin to Liberty City United Divisions. To his surprise, less than 24 hours after his departure, three other members of the 3rd Infantry Division also resigned. Being friends on the PlayStation® Network, they naturally discussed their shared frustration and discontent with the direction the clan had taken. Christopher proposed his idea of creating a new community, and the others eagerly agreed. Together, they decided to establish a new gaming group, aptly named TWAT, an acronym for Team of Weapons and Tactics. This marked the official founding of Team of Weapons and Tactics in January 2013.
Christopher immediately took the lead in setting up the group's initial website, utilizing a subdomain on the Liberty City United Divisions domain: twat.lcud.net. Shortly thereafter, the team rented their first Battlefield 3 server on the PlayStation® 3. Within weeks, the server flourished, thanks to a dedicated group of administrators who consistently monitored and played on it. This active presence helped maintain a populated and popular server. Within a few months, the reputation of their server spread, with players on other servers praising the environment and culture fostered by Team of Weapons and Tactics. During this period, several more members left the 3rd Infantry Division and joined TWAT. The leaders of the 3rd Infantry Division responded with condescending remarks, making comments such as "thank the TWATs for taking our sloppy seconds", but their attempts to belittle the new group only highlighted their frustration.
Despite these childish taunts, the Team of Weapons and Tactics continued to thrive. The statistics spoke for themselves: while the 3rd Infantry Division's server traffic dwindled, TWAT's server remained consistently active, often reaching full capacity. The success of the server was undeniable, with our team proud of the stable and enjoyable environment they had created. As the community grew, Christopher recognized the need for a dedicated website. In May 2013, he registered the domain teamofweaponsandtactics.com, establishing the official standalone online presence of Team of Weapons and Tactics.
Merger of 2013
Both Liberty City United Divisions and the Team of Weapons And Tactics continued to thrive, and the setup of our newly initiated Los Santos United Divisions was progressing smoothly. However, it soon became apparent that maintaining LCUD, LSUD, and TWAT as separate entities was becoming increasingly cumbersome and needlessly expensive. Additionally, we received feedback from some members expressing concerns that our acronym (TWAT) was perceived as somewhat offensive by some of our female members. Compounding these challenges, we encountered issues when acquiring new servers, as our clan tag ([TWAT]) was often disallowed in server names due to the alternate connotations of the acronym, making it difficult to easily identify our servers.
After careful consideration and deliberation, a significant decision was made in July 2013: to merge Liberty City United Divisions (which primarily focused on Grand Theft Auto IV), the Team of Weapons And Tactics (centered on Battlefield 3), and Los Santos United Divisions (intended for Grand Theft Auto V) into a single, unified entity. This new organization, named the New Team of Weapons and Tactics, would not only support all three games and their future releases but also encompass a variety of other popular titles. Given that the Team of Weapons And Tactics was established in January 2013 and Liberty City United Divisions was originally founded in August 2008, we have collectively recognized 2008 as the year of our inception.
As a result of this merger, our domains lcud.net and lsud.net were subsequently relinquished later that same year. However, due to certain technical constraints with some of the backend services we relied on, we retained the domain teamofweaponsandtactics.com and continued to use it as our official website.
New Team of Weapons and Tactics
Our community continued to thrive as we expanded our reach and resources. By this time, we had successfully acquired a number of Battlefield 3 servers and had broadened our platform support from PlayStation® 3 and PlayStation® 4 to include the PC platform as well. In fact, we secured several Battlefield 3 servers on PC and even pre-ordered our first Battlefield 4 server for PC, ensuring it was deployed by launch day on October 29, 2013. By 2014, we had formed a strategic alliance with an existing clan known as United Special Forces (USF), integrating them into the New Team of Weapons and Tactics. Additionally, a new member from Canada joined our team, initially showing great enthusiasm for recruiting new members. Unfortunately, neither the collaboration with USF nor the new recruit panned out as hoped. Before the end of 2014, USF had disbanded from the New Team of Weapons and Tactics, and the Canadian recruit—who had gone rogue due to personal issues—was subsequently terminated from the team.
In the months following the release of Grand Theft Auto V on PC in 2015, many of our members were thoroughly enjoying Grand Theft Auto Online. However, a significant issue arose due to the prevalence of griefers maliciously modding the game, causing disruptions and crashes for other players. In response to this growing problem, Christopher, one of the founders of the New Team of Weapons and Tactics, developed and released his own companion software, Extender Information Security 2015, designed to protect players from malicious modders. While the software was not without its imperfections, numerous updates and new releases followed the initial launch, each offering enhanced protection and additional security features. Collectively, the software was downloaded over 5,000 times across all its versions. However, it was officially discontinued shortly before January 1, 2018, as Take-Two and Rockstar Games began to strictly enforce rules prohibiting the use of modifications in GTA Online.
Today
As we fast-forward to the present day, it is now 2024— marking approximately 16 years since we embarked on our journey in 2008. While our path has been filled with both triumphs and challenges, we have always committed ourselves to maintaining a professional environment where players can socialize, play, and enjoy themselves to the fullest.
Throughout this journey, we have encountered our share of adversity, including moments when other gaming clans and communities attempted to undermine or ridicule us, believing they were superior. However, we are proud to say that we are still here, and we continue to thrive!
Our resilience over the years is a testament to our unwavering dedication. Successfully managing and sustaining an organization requires not only hard work but also logical thinking, persistence, dedication, and a genuine passion for what we do. Even the clans that sought to imitate us could not endure as we have. Despite the disrespect and challenges we faced from these entities, we have chosen not to descend to their level by engaging in petty disputes or gloating over their failures. As the saying goes, "Why beat a dead horse?" Our longevity and continued success speak volumes on their own. While we acknowledge that we are not without flaws, it is evident that we must be doing something right!
Trivia
Please see below for various facts and interesting tidbits about our organization and the clans and groups that attempted to rival us:
- In 2016, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics acquired a new domain, ntwt.us, and migrated our site to this domain, replacing our original teamofweaponsandtactics.com domain.
- Although teamofweaponsandtactics.com is no longer our primary domain, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics retains the rights to it due to technical limitations with certain legacy backend services that do not permit domain name changes. As with other secondary domains under our control, visiting this domain will simply redirect users to our active site.
- In 2021, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics re-acquired several of its old, previously abandoned domains for historical preservation. These domains are classified as secondary domains and automatically redirect visitors to our current live site. These include:
- The rival clan that attempted to imitate us, known as the LCUD Clan (lcudclan.com), appeared to also attempt to expand to the streets of Los Santos (seemingly under the website lsudclan.com), but quickly ceased operations on December 2, 2013, as per an official announcement on their website, not even lasting a couple of months beyond the inception of Grand Theft Auto V.
- In April 2021, the New Team of Weapons and Tactics strategically acquired the lcudclan.com domain to prevent any future incidents of mimicry or unauthorized use of our brand. This acquisition further symbolizes our strength, perseverance, and agility. The domain https://www.lcudclan.com/ now redirects to our live site.
- The disorganized clan led by a 40-year-old manager known as Sergeant-Crunch, called the 3rd Infantry Division (3rdinfantrydivision.enjin.com), disbanded less than a year after the formation of the Team of Weapons And Tactics. Despite their efforts to sustain their website, the last recorded donation was made on June 11, 2015. Their site has remained inactive since July 2015.
- A former recruit from Canada, bvet4dog, who was believed to have personal issues possibly exacerbated by drug use, went rogue and caused significant disruption by banning all players on one of our Battlefield 3 PC servers. Following this incident, he was terminated from our team and subsequently formed his own clan named [KS] Killing Squad. He managed to take a few members with him and even fabricated tournaments featuring fictitious matches between Killing Squad and the New Team of Weapons and Tactics, claiming victories for Killing Squad. However, his newly formed clan was short-lived and disbanded within a few months. After their downfall, some of his members returned to our servers as visitors.
