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Fledgling Admirals VIII: beginners - lower intermediate - rusty oldtimers

Tue, 04 September 2012 12:53

Altruist

Commander

Messages: 1068
Registered: August 2005
Location: Berlin

Fledgling Admirals VIII
A pretty straight short game which is intended to lure back oldtimers (considering themselves beginner to lower intermediate) and to bring in new players. It's the 8th game I'll be hosting of this type. Each is a bit different and usually with a new bunch of players.

To make the battleground even, players experienced in the mean combat vs other humans will have to leave some leftover points in the race wizard (see restrictions).

Host is not playing and feel free to ask when you feel unsure about the conditions, Stars-version, abbreviations etc.

To get new players going, I'll give comments about your chosen race design to help you finetuining it. During the game several articles, tutorials and links will be provided helping you to find your way in the vast available knowledge base for Stars!.

If a friend told you about the game and you are keen on playing but lack a serial code, there are unique serial numbers available from Ron who is also running autohost, look in the following thread: Getting serial numbers.

Concerning problems of Stars with Win7 (64bit), here several solutions: Windows 7 compatibility issues? Look no further!

Game Info
Players: 6 - 9
Skill level: beginner - lower intermediate
Ranked: No
Version: 2.6 J rc4, 2.7 J rc3 (German) (downloads)
Autohost: Yes
Turn generation: 5 turns a week (Mo-Fr) up to year 2430, then 3 turns/week (Mo-We-Fr) as soon as requested by at least one player. Weekends and holidays off (do notify me about holidays).
Host is playing: No
Universe size: small packed (240 stars in a 800x800-ly-universe), distant starting positions
Starting conditions: ACC BBS
Victory conditions: Last Man/Last Team standing or consensus. Winning team mustn't exceed 2 players.

Game Rules
1) No pregame alliances which means that players should not get in contact before the game starts to optimize their race designs for a later alliance.

2) Using chaff, split-fleet dodge, mine damage dodge and the repair after gating loophole is ok, all other "cheats" are forbidden and most likely lead to your disqualification, for more info see the thread: Known Bugs (JRC3) - Player Exploitable Bugs / "Features" (or ask the host when in doubt)

Restrictions for your race-design depending on experience
Players which have already played Stars games vs humans will have disadvantages by leaving leftover points in the race wizard and some PRTs (primary race traits) might be forbidden. I'll check the races and especially to the beginners I'll be offering some advice how to improve your design.

a) for beginners (no Stars-experience vs humans or 1 game and soundly beaten):
* banned: AR (Alternate Reality) and PP (Packet Physics)

b) for advanced beginners (up to 3 games vs humans and not part of the winning alliance):
* banned: AR
* all other PRTs: 60 leftover points
Leftover points can be spent as you like.

c) for lower intermediates and (perhaps) rusty oldtimers:
* banned: JoaT, SD
* AR: 0 leftover points
* IT: 150 leftover points
* all other PRTs: 100 leftover points
Leftover points can be spent as you like except on mineral concentration.

If in doubt where to sort yourself in, send me an email and ask.

About race design
Here some very helpful links:
* Stars! Official Strategy Guide: Basic Race Design (especially the info about breakpoints at the end)
* Basic Race Design by Art Lathrop
* "Race Design, Step by Step" by Mahrin Skel 1997 v2.6/7
* Lots of more articles: Race Design/Strategy
Take it as hints and inspiration, never follow it to the point or believe everything what you read in the articles. But some stuff is really good and helpful. Remember that you need to adapt what you read to our specific game settings.

If you want to get a feeling how your race fares, test it in small packed vs 8 random expert AIs. Your race should manage to conquere the first HW between 2430-40. If you need anylonger, rework your race design.

Misc
* Inactivity: Players which have missed 3 turns will be set to inactive. I'll look for replacements if appropriate or may put in some last orders myself to upgrade the defenses but the game won't stop.
* No rule but especially new players I want to urge not to play in more than 2 games (better even only 1 game) of Stars. You will encounter various difficult tactical challenges and there are lots of good articles available, waiting for you to get inspired by them and to apply their ideas somehow onto your specific situation. After turn 30 orders and thinking will consume time and a good game will be in the back of your mind all the time. It's more fun to play only 1 game but to do this one right.

A note about game length and what you might have to expect
With the above turn generation and assuming the game will last for about 60 turns, the game will be played over a period of around 16 weeks (about 4 month). While this is rather short for a Stars-game, I want to remind everybody, it is not wise to sign up for the game when you already know that eg in 2 month you will be away/without internet connection for several weeks.

Small packed games with 6-9 players tend to be very fast paced. Thus you better don't expect a long peaceful development but skirmishes along your frontiers and somebody trying to invade your colonies perhaps as early as in the 10th and first fleets with destroyers in the 20ies. Early scouting is important not only to know your possible enemies but also to find a suitable ally. It's not at all like playing against the AIs, humans are tricky, nasty and look out for your weak spots.

Don't despair when you get wiped out. Usually you learn more from loosing a game than from winning... and the advantage of a short game: you can apply your newly gained knowledge soon in the next game and kick some admiral's ass.

Since this game is also for new players, the host will describe in detail how to use the autohost interface to upload/download turns.

There were other Fledgling Admiral games, the rules were slightly different, though. But to get you an impression, here what the players wrote about it:
FA I - FA II - FA IV - FA VI

If you are interested, please send to altruist (at) arglos (dot) net :
* the race file
* the password (none is needed but if you want to set one)
* your desired email address (which will be revealed to the other players after some time in the game)
* your nick at autohost
* a short note about your Stars-experience

I'll try to keep this post updated to display the players taking part.

Dead line for race submission: We, 19th Sept 2012.

Players so far (green with race file, orange without race file, (B):beginner, (BA):beginner advanced, (IL):intermediate lower)):

Scott (IL, rusty oldtimer)
Ben (IL, rusty oldtimer)
Alex_heney (IL, rusty oldtimer)
bluechucky (B)
Asmodai (B)
dennis (BA) no email-address yet
xb95 (B)
Vostromo (BA)
Mark Hewitt (IL)

Waiting list:

Axel (IL)

[Updated on: Mon, 17 September 2012 23:23]