| New Short Game |
Tue, 11 May 2010 15:14  |
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Anyone up for starting a new game? I've been playing AI too much, and I've never played against another player before.
I'm probably not going to have the experience to head it up, so a more experienced player may need to head it up. Just leaving this here if by chance someone is sitting around waiting for a game to start.
I don't really care how many players join, but I'd like to keep it at least at 1 generation per 24 hours.
-worm
"If I find in myself a desire which no experience in this world can satisfy, the most probable explanation is that I was made for another world."
-C.S. LewisReport message to a moderator
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| Re: New Short Game |
Wed, 12 May 2010 04:48  |
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 squeaksdaman |
 | Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 22
Registered: December 2009
Location: Australia | |
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Yes, I’m interested also.
I’m after a simple multi player game with simple standard vanilla rules. Just basic survival and conquest with a diverse set of races with as many other beginner players as possible. I just want to learn by baptism of fire and survive through a life of hard knocks. That’s my preferred learning style. It provides more motivation.
A little about me. I’m a beginner however I have played a multiplayer game recently, but performed poorly (came last), so I have others that can attest to my beginner status. I did learn a lot from the experience though and have since engaged in a lot of race design research and taken up reading this forum. But I feel safe in saying I’m very much still a beginner.
From other posts I’ve read, normally only games with a full description and firm rules are posted in “New Games Announcements” forum. Discussion about game rules and design and gathering interest is done in the bar. But as we now have 3 players already interested. Could we continue this thread and design the rules now?
How about: (Keeping it real simple, here are a proposed set of rules and conditions to get us started)
Universe:
- Medium
- Normal
- Distant
Conditions:
- AccBBS
- Random events on
- No PPS
- Standard cheats as outlined in auto host forum are allowed.
- No pre-game alliances
Races:
Stars is a pretty balanced game from what I can make out, but modern strategies developed in the last 10 years have made some races slightly more competitive than others. In pursue of all races being represented and played in the game, I propose no race exclusions, but some surplus points for some races to add balance. So no bans, just surplus points on the following:
CA - 200 point surplus or 150 point surplus if you agree to make your race PRT public at game start
JOAT – 150 points surplus or 50 point surplus if you agree to make your race PRT public at game start
SD – 100 points surplus or 50 point surplus if you agree to make your race PRT public at game start
Other:
No Winning Conditions. (Proposed only)
Just drop out of the game once your personal objectives for participating in the game in the first place have been meant or can no longer be meant. I.E If you need to be acknowledged as the winner, stay in the game until you can get the other players to agree or declare you the winner, if you find there is no hope in that, give up or find another objective. Winning could still be achievable, as players could agree on a winner as of a particular star date, then, continue on in pursuit of their own objectives. Playing does not necessarily mean denying anyone else their ultimate objectives. As such this could be described as a free universe. Play on or don’t play on, complete choice.
If a player drops out of the game then all planets are considered dead, non playable, excluding surface minerals. If a player gets observed or reported to have colonised a dropped out player’s planet, a 1 turn penalty for each planet colonised is applied by the host.
Turn generation schedule:
- M-F at 12 a.m. GMT
So players tentatively interested are:
Mindworm
Flamencowizards
Squeak
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| Re: New Short Game |
Wed, 12 May 2010 06:47 |
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Just as a hint:
For a beginners' game I'd suggest to choose a small universe. The game will last around 4-6 month.
The bigger the universe, the longer the game. And usually beginners itch to start a new game to implement the things learned in the last game, so better not make such a game last a full year.
But as I said, just a hint, finally the game needs to suit those who play in it (which I won't).
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| Re: New Short Game |
Wed, 12 May 2010 10:21 |
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Since this game seems to be filling with beginners, here's my 2c:
Listen to Altruist, he is wise to suggest a small universe for your first game. Small normal or small dense with distant starting positions will be fine. About 4 to 6 players would be ok in this universe size.
I'd scrap the penalty on SD, I've never seen SD penalised like that except in games with special limitations that favour it. The JOAT penalty is harsh, especially considering JOAT is a good 'first game' PRT, since it is very forgiving and scouts well, but it won't hurt your game not to have any/many in there.
I won't play, as I'm much too experienced, but if one of the beginners would like some comments on their race design, I'd be happy to take a look and pass a few tips to them. Race designs that work against the AI, can prove to be very unsuited for use against humans 
It's awesome to see at least four new players coming out of the woodwork so quickly after this game announcement, by the way  You've got enough player already to play in a small normal. One thing though, with a small game with few, beginner, players - you all need to commit to NOT DROPPING OUT if things go bad. It doesn't take long to play turns for a race that's being crushed, and it certainly doesn't hurt to learn some of the cheaper methods to slow an opponents assault.
[Updated on: Wed, 12 May 2010 10:27] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: New Short Game |
Wed, 12 May 2010 11:35 |
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oh ouch, yeah, I didn't notice that bit. Yeah, better if players don't drop at all. If your race is being crushed, just consider your game goal to have become 'hold out as long as possible' and play on. I might add that several times now I've played on from 'hopeless' positions, to go on to win the game outright, so I see little excuse for dropping. Fight to the last man/crab.
If a player drops outright, the worlds certainly shouldn't become a no mans land, that would have unfortunate side effect of penalising anyone that attacks strongly enough that their opponent drops... And learning how to deliver strong attacks is quite crucial to Stars.
[Updated on: Wed, 12 May 2010 11:37] Report message to a moderator
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| Re: New Short Game |
Wed, 12 May 2010 15:49 |
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| flamencowizard wrote on Wed, 12 May 2010 14:22 |
Is there somebody (not a beginner or playing in this game) who can look at my race file and make sure I'm not crippling myself somehow?
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I think Dogthinkers offered a race critique or you can PM me.
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| Re: New Short Game |
Thu, 13 May 2010 04:49 |
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| squeaksdaman |
| Crewman 1st Class |
Messages: 22
Registered: December 2009
Location: Australia | |
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Hi,
That dead world rule was only a proposal, in the interests of keeping it simple and keeping with the objective of just a short small beginners game, I no longer support the dead world idea for this particular game. I think it still has its merits, as it would force a range of interesting strategies and a dead zone would also act as a defensive barrier. I can explore these ideas later, perhaps in a another game one day.
Now to the topic at hand. --- A summary of the tentative revised rules and interested players. (These are only proposed and are for discussion, if you agree, please say so and then we can move on to formalising them)
Universe:
- Small
- Normal If 4-5 players or Dense if 6
- Distant
Conditions:
- AccBBS
- Random events on
- No PPS
- No pre-game alliances
- Standard cheats allowed. Chaff/Split Fleet Dodge/Overgate-merge
All other player exploitable Bugs are banned or any bug considered to be unacceptable cheats as outlined in this forum page are banned. http://starsautohost.org/sahforum/index.php?t=msg&th=238 7&start=0&rid=1368&S=23dc8a038a04d3b70a54bc5f087 07d49
Races:
All Allowed except CA.
JOAT – No NAS
Other:
No Winning Conditions.
Just drop out of the game once your personal objectives for participating in the game in the first place have been meant or can no longer be meant. It would be expected however that a moral commitment is made to stay in the game till a reasonable conclusion to the game is reached for the majority of players.
Turn generation schedule:
Mon-Fri at 12 a.m. GMT
So players tentatively interested are:
Mindworm
Flamencowizards
Squeak
Karl
Pydna
Once we can come to some agreement or acceptance of some game parameters, hopefully the very simple standard ones outlined above, we can begin race design to match, then find a host. I’d like at least 1 week to design and test my race.
Squeak
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| Re: New Short Game |
Fri, 14 May 2010 08:21 |
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| squeaksdaman wrote on Fri, 14 May 2010 05:21 |
I've been advised against Random Events On as I'm told it can upset the balance of the game.
Squeak
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There will be a degree of imbalance anyway. Some will a get better planet draw than others, starting positions will vary, etc.
I'd leave Random Events on. Without them there are no meteor hits but also no Mystery Trader & no wormholes. IMO Wormholes add a lot of interest.
In my first game a WM came through a hidden wormhole early on & it certainly tested me but working out how to handle that was very interesting as a (then) beginner.
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) and I think with a dense universe there will be more than enough planets for random events to happen on. Don't forget also that random events can be positive too (like finding a wealth of materials on your planet that you didn't know was there).
