This is an explination for beginners about how to handle your race and build up your economy in a Stars! game. In this example a HG JoaT is used for that purpose. Yes, it is long but read it and try it, it will pay off in your future games!

Link to the original article on www.starsfaq.com

***

3.11) HOW THE HECK DO YOU PEOPLE MANAGE TO GET OVER 25,000 RESOURCES BY 2450?

Subject: Re: 'EXPERT' Help wanted
Date: Sat, 16 Jan 1999 21:51:40 GMT
From: jasoncawley@msn.com
Organization: Deja News - The Leader in Internet Discussion
Newsgroups: rec.games.computer.stars

In article <36A0B37E.E7A38E49@bayesian.prestel.co.uk> ,
Theo Clouter <death@bayesian.prestel.co.uk> wrote:
>
> This is a small request for guidance, I have already spoken to Art
over
> this and am getting slightly better at race design, butr how do I break
> 30/50/70/100k resources after 50-70 years?

Well, let's shoot for 30k in 50 years Acc BBS first, ok?

I recommend you try to do that with a fairly simple race, not too jazzed up.
The idea is to learn how to run the empire-building phase, and see what
really matters in getting the performance. It is a lot easier to tweek a
way of doing things you know with a more complicated race than to discover
everything with one.

So, I recommend you shoot for the 30k with the Feds. As follows -

Federation
Jack of all Trades
IFE, OBRM, NAS
0.27/3.68g, -128/128C, 16/84mR
1/3 overall, eventually live almost everywhere with full terraforming
19% pop growth
1/1000 pop efficiency
10/9/13 factories
G box *not* checked
10/3/15 mines
Weapons cheap, rest expensive and start at 4.
Leaves 0 points.

The idea of the Feds is the main idea to understand in getting a big economy
by year 50 or so - sheer numbers of people. The factory settings aren't
great, but it may surprise you how much econ you can get without monkeying
with those very much. The Feds get a maximum planet size of 1,320,000 - the
most possible (non -AR anyway), since they get the +20% from being JOAT and
the +10% from OBRM. With the wide hab as well, they wind up with *lots* of
space for population. The huge planets and 19% growth rate will also grow
lots of people - 62,700 a year at 25% of capacity from the homeworld alone.
Also, the Feds get great starting tech, which makes getting going (and
moving all that pop growth) much easier. You start with 40 LY penscanning from all
scouts, frigates and DDs, so scouting is a breeze. And you start with
fuel-mizer equipped privateers to move pop, giving great range and speed
right from the start.

The autobuild to use with the Feds is -

auto 500 factories
auto 500 mines
auto 5% max terraforming
Don't contribute to research

You will want to make a few modifications to those orders on some worlds as
they develop, though. First, on the HW, you want to build 100 mines after
the first few years of factory building (and any extra scouts you need) - before
you run out of starting germanium. Just put them in at the top of the Q
when the G starts running low. The idea is to have enough G income from the
mining to be able to build ships to move pop.

The other modifications to the Qs relate to terraforming strategy. Here is
the way to play that with this race. On planets with 50 or better initial
hab value, put autobuild 1% max terraforming at the top of the Q once they
get over 200 resources. The idea is to get the best places turned into
breeders quickly, so they can export even more pop. The second modification
applies to all worlds that get to 500 resources before the autobuild lines
turn green. For those, once they hit the 500 resources, bump up that "auto
5% max terraforming" line to the top of the Q. The idea is to fully terraform
those places rapidly as or before they start to get crowded, but after they
can afford it. Incidentally, they will also build up some surface Germanium
(which can be used to put up bases or for exports) doing this, since the big
terraforming order will cut off the resources going to the factories
temporarily.

That's it for Q modifications, so not too much to do there.

For research settings, you start with so much you can leave it at 0. After
the HW gets through making its factories and mines (to various hold levels -
on which more next) it will bring in some research resources. Use them to
buy the terraforming tech levels - weapons 5, then energy 5, (you start with
prop 5 BTW, because of the 4 box and +1 for IFE), then weapons 10. That
will give you up to 25 points of terraforming to do, and isn't expensive at all -
one expensive level and 7 cheap ones, all 10 or below. After you have all
that, you can divert to con for better ships (fuelxports and large
freighters) if you must, but the main thing should be the long slog to prop
10, energy 10, then weapons 16 for more terraforming. In an unopposed test,
you should be able to live with the starting tech for most of the game, in
terms of ships you need.

You want starbases only on the best, "breeder" worlds - those that will be
70%+ value after terraforming with 5/10/5 tech, say. On those, you want
their bases up before or around the time they get to 50% of capacity
pop-wise. Then they can make their own shipping to move their pop growth
above that figure. However, earlier on you can use orbital forts with
100/250 gates on them to speed up the return runs from the farther planets (buying
con 5 for that if you need it, naturally).

The HW should just grow until it has 330,000 people - you will cross that
line on turn 6 in an Acc BBS start. Then export the pop growth (only) to the
best places you have found. Send 50k pop to all the good worlds and 25k pop to
every green, in order high hab to low. If the pop rises a bit on you
because of mineral trouble, no biggie - but try to keep it under 440,000 pop
whatever happens, in this period.

Once the HW has green autobuild lines (factories or mines done next year to
the level that the pop can operate), stop exporting pop from the HW and let
it grow all the way to 660,000 pop. That won't take long from the time you
stop exporting - 6 years or so. The higher level will mean more mines
working, thus more G, etc. "Hold" the HW again at 660,000 pop, exporting
the growth there. When the factories that pop can operate (858) are up, "clear"
the HW Q so that the HW is "building nothing" (expect ships to move pop and
such). That will get you G for export, as well as the pop exports. Export
all of it you see on the surface Only go back to building factories on
the HW when you run out of places to send pop from it, or when you stop
doing micro-management. In a year 50 target test, though, you can let it grow and
build after year 40 regardless.

The other breeders, let them terraform after 500 resources and put up bases
on them, and let them grow to 50% of capacity. Then export their pop
growth, too, and their free G once their factories are done (though that will take
longer for many of them). The lower-value worlds, forget about em Or,
rather, just send them things, like more pop and more G.

You want to send more pop to the smaller places and any good places under
100k after the HW goes on its second, 50% level "hold". As breeders come on
line, get everyone to 100k or better, and after that if you keep doing MM work
shoot for at least 250k each place. Once a place has 250k, you can leave it alone
pop-wise - because then it will get to 500 resources on its own and
terraform itself. If you have more pop besides that needed for all this, hit the
better yellow worlds with 66k pop each and some G. -3 or better yellows (or so)
you can terraform right after landing, using only the pop resources. Worse
ones, let them build factories until they have 100 resources, then terra 1% a
year.

You will have a lot of G-running to do, and not enough to send at first.
Don't worry; with only 13 factories operated, places will get done and thus
free up more for export eventually. But don't leave it lying idle in places
that can't turn it into factories - get it to places that can.

For scouting, use the initial 3 ships and the following design - booster, scout,
fuel mizer, fuel pod, nothing else.

Build as many as you think you need to scout *literally everything* in the
galaxy by a reasonably early year. In tiny, before year 20. In small,
before year 30. When scouting, go fast - as fast as you can, burning the fuel (the
initial DD and armed probe are exceptions, since they will have warp 7
engines and not a lot of fuel per bit of weight - go warp 7 with them). Scout by
moving between worlds, not to them, to get the most out of that 40 LY
penscan ability.

For settling, you can use a few small colonies with fuel mizers for the
closest planets, just to get them started. Move the real pop to them with
privateers with fuel mizer and 3 fuel pods, going warp 8 or 9 all the time.
After those close in places, use a variant of that same privateer, but with
one colony pod in place of one of the fuel pods, and "crash-land" settle on
the farther places, 25000 colonists at a time.

In the early teens, the HW should be firing off those colonizing privateers
every year - 2 one year and 3 the next, e.g. In the 20s the second, 50%
hold should be on, and the HW should be building 3-4 privateers a year
(non-colony versions for the most part, but an occasional colony version for a yellow)
to move all its pop (55,700 a year even at 50% of capacity) and G (297kt even
at concentration 30 or below). Looping privateers from the early colonies will
give you some ship re-use early on, when the iron is likely to be tight
(because the privateers cost a lot of iron, and not many mines have been
built yet). After the pause to go to 660,000 pop, the iron situation will
clear up (several years income without building, freighters coming back and
piling up, and many more mines operating), so don't sweat it too much if it
looks dicey in year 12-14 or whatever.

OK? So that is a race and its how-to stuff It is straight "sheer
numbers of people", and gives a fast, smooth start (with only an early iron
crunch as a possibility to worry about, if you draw a low HW iron
concentration).

There are few other races that will get the numbers of people by midgame the
Feds will. Some, but few. And you should see from playing them that those
numbers of people are the main thing - because they don't have great
settings for factories or anything, and yet they can fly.

Once you get used to them, you can try modifying them for more by giving up
some of the easier start things, taking extra weaknesses, and narrowing the
hab a bit - but gradually on the hab. Like, no start at 4 box. NRSE. Grav
and temp narrowed to 60 wide each (click immune and back I mean). Then put
all those points into factories - 16 operated, 11 efficiency, G box, 12 eff,
cost 8 - in that order as and if you find things you can "do without" to pay
for them. Only keep a change if it improves the performance for you. On no
account touch the pop growth rate You will do everything more or less
the same with the modified races - they will just industrialize faster,
while the start will be a little harder (you will need to buy privateer tech at
some point e.g., and live with medium freighters for the close-in 2 year
runs), and perhaps have a few less worlds to land on (while getting more
from each one).

When you are done with all that, congrats - you will have mastered the JOAT
HG, one of the strongest race design ideas in stars, and one of the hardest
to shut down with early pressure in a real game. Sure, there will still be
many things to try after - IS races, CA races, HP econs, narrower hab
schemes with or without immunities, warfighting PRT races like SD WM and SS - but
knowing the JOAT HG is a great place to start that off, and frankly many
people weaken their performance when they move away from it.

I hope this is helpful, and have fun

Sincerely,

Jason Cawley

[Updated on: Mon, 20 February 2012 14:09] by Moderator

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Link to the thread in the Academy

Not so much a new game announcement as a teaser to come start or join a blitz in #stars!
We do regularly have a Friday night and Saturday night games but you get chance to play at any other time pop in and see if you can rustle up some interest.

1) An Introduction to Blitzing

2) Setting up mIRC and using mIRC

2.1) Downloading mIRC
2.2) Initial mIRC setup
2.3) Setting up DCC file transfers
2.5) Rules of the channels

3) Using the blitz bots

3.1) What are blitz bots?
3.2) How to send commands to the blitz bots
3.3) A list of the most commonly used commands
3.4) An example of joining and playing a game

4) Blitz rules and conditions

4.1) Universe Conditions
4.2) Multi year generations
4.3) The game timer
4.4) Special rules
4.5) Handicap rules

5) Blitz strategy

5.1) General guidelines
5.2) A few sample blitz races

6) Credits

1) An introduction to blitzing
==============================

Blitzes are fast stars! games played over an Internet Relay Chat (IRC)
network. The games use multi-year generations, normally batching up 4
years until 2440, 2 years until 2460 and 1 year thereafter, and are
usually finished over the course of one night. A timer will force
generate the game 5-10 minutes after first submission. To play a game
you will need a copy of stars!, an IRC client (mIRC is recommended), a
large pot of coffee and a few spare hours of your life. The coffee is
optional.



2) Setting up mIRC
==================


2.1) Downloading mIRC

mIRC is available from many sites across the Internet, a few are listed
below:

http://www.mirc.com
http://www.mirc.org
http://www.mirc.co.uk
http://www.tucows.com
http://downloads.cnet.com
ftp://ftp.demon.net


2.2) Initial mIRC setup

After you have downloaded and installed mIRC you will first need to set
a
few basic preferences.
Run mIRC and close the pop-up splash screen.
Set the following preferences:


Connect

IRC Network : chat.freenode.net
Full Name : <Your name>
Email Address : <A contact email address>
Nickname : <The name you wish to use on IRC> (This must be shorter

than 10 letters)
Alternative : <A nickname to use if your first choice is already
taken>

Connect/Options

Reconnect on disconnection : Ticked

Connect/Local Info

On connect always get local host : Ticked
Lookup Method : Server

Connect/Identd

Enable Identd Server : Ticked
User ID : <Your nickname>

IRC

Rejoin channels on connect : Ticked


Those settings should be sufficient to allow you to allow to connect to
the Freenode IRC network and chat. Go back to the main Connect
options window and click [Connect to IRC server]. A window titled 'mIRC
Channels folder' will pop up, untick 'pop
up folder on connect' and close the window.


2.3) Setting up DCC file transfers

You will now need to set-up mIRC to handle stars file transfers
correctly. By default mIRC rejects all file transfers apart from a few
sound, text and picture formats. It will need to be configured to accept
stars files and route them to your stars! folder

Open the mIRC options dialog

DCC / Folders

Under DCC get folders click [Add]
The 'DCC get folder' will open
In the 'Save files with these extensions' box add the text
*.r?,*.r1?,*.m?,*.m1?,*.x?,*.x1?,*.h?,*.h1?,*.hst
Click the 'Into this folder' button and choose your stars folder or a
sub folder of it

Change 'DCC Ignore' to ignore only

If you feel particularly worried about security you may wish to leave
the 'DDC Ignore' type on 'Ignore Except' and add all the stars! file
type mask's (*.r? etc.) individually to the list of accepted file types.

If you have real problems setting up DCC transfers the bot RandomHost has
ftp access. Please ask in the channel for advice on using it.

2.4) Using mIRC

Firstly if you are not connected you will need to connect to a IRC
server on
the Freenode network.
Type '/server chat.freenode.net' into the text box at the bottom of mIRC
and
you should begin to connect.
Next you will need to join the chat channels that the stars! players
use. The two channels are ##Stars!, which is the main chat channel, and
#blitz, which is the channel that blitz status messages are shown in.
Use the commands '/join #blitz' and '/join ##Stars!'.

To chat in a channel just type your message in the text box with the
channel window open and hit return (Please note : #blitz is a moderated
channel, so you won't be able to chat in it. all arrangement of games
is done in ##Stars! ). To chat privately to someone double click on their
name in the nickname list and send your message in the window that
opens. To send a file right click on the recipients nickname and choose
DCC/Send, choose the file you wish to send and click [Send]

That's the bare minimum you need to know to get you started and play
blitzes. The rest you can work out for yourself or from the manual /
FAQ. A good springboard for more information is at
http://www.mirc.co.uk/irc.html,
take a look at the FAQ's there if you want to know more about mIRC.


2.5) Rules of the channels

For your own and others sanity and enjoyment some behaviour in the
channel is frowned upon. Unless you wish to be the subject of a game of
lamer ball keep the following to a minimum:

No use of colours in the chat channel
No swearing
No written abuse of other users
No flooding i.e. sending a stream of messages in a short time
No repeating i.e. don't send the same message over and over again
No Auto Away messages


3 Using the blitz bots
======================


3.1) What are blitz bots?

The blitz bots are mIRC clients running a script to automate game
creation, turn generation and distributing the files for a game of
stars! Ask in the channel for a recommended bot to use.


3.2) How to send commands to the blitz bots

The best way to send a command to a bot is to double click on its
nickname in the names list and type any commands into the private chat
window that opens. Most commands take the form
!command <gamename> (parameters)
Where <gamename> is the name of the game you are playing as shown in the
channel. If you prefer you can use the form /msg <blitzbot> !<command>
<gamename> (parameters) from any channel window.


3.3) A list of the most commonly used commands

All commands are in this format unless otherwise specified: /msg
<blitzbot> !command <gamename> (parameters)

!blitzcmds
Will give you a list of the commands for the bot.

!displayuniverse
Messages you the universe definitions for said game.

!gameinfo
Gives information about the game, timer modes, players (! turn out, .
turn in ,- player inactive), year, date created, and similar.

!joingame
Joins the named game.

!unjoingame
Will unjoin a joined game.

!resend (.xy)
Makes the bot resend your turn file to you. If you include the .xy
parameter the bot will send the universe file. Used as !resend game .xy
(note the space
between
gamename and parameter).

!inactiveplayer (player)
Equivalent to setting a race inactive on autohost - the bot will not
wait for that player, but they may still submit their turn if they wish.
If the player parameter is left out you will inactivate yourself. Only
the host can inactivate other players.

A full list of commands written by Alien can be found at

http://www.fantasycomic.com/alien/blitz.txt


3.4) An example of joining and playing a game

When a game has been organised and and a experianced player has created
the game you will see an advert of the form

<KJBot> --- <GAMENAME> Game created in #Blitz (Owner:Leon Name:Join me
Version:2.7j Timer:NORMAL)

Firstly you will need to send a !joingame GAMENAME command to the bot.

Your join of the game will be confirmed in #Blitz

Agree the game settings with the other players

Choose or create a race

When all players have joined the game the host will close the game and
you will be asked for a race file. You *MUST* use the filename requested
by the bot. Rename your race to the correct filename. Open your race to
check that the J patch bug hasn't ruined the race. After that *Open your
race to check that the J patch bug hasn't ruined the race*. DCC the race
to the bot.

The bot will confirm receiving your race in #blitz

When all race's are in the host starts the game and you will receive by
DCC the games .xy file and your first turn (.m file).

Play the turn then DCC your .x file back to the bot

When you've won the game or been ground underfoot use the
!inactiveplayer command to set yourself inactive

Gloat or cry and take your race back to the drawing board )


4) Blitz rules and conditions
=============================

4.1) Universe Conditions

Theoretically any game conditions can be used for a blitz but the bigger
the game the longer it takes, usually the game settings are optimized for speed.

Blitzes are nearly always played in Tiny universes, from sparse one
world wonderthons to packed games filled with multi-world races.
Accelerated BBS play is nearly always used. Public player scores is a
favourite as you don't have as much time for
the finer points of scouting and diplomacy.
Victory conditions are very rarely used.


4.2) Multi year generations

The game is usually played with multiple years generated for each game
turn. The default settings are

4 years per turn until year 40
2 years per turn until year 60
1 year per turn from that point


4.3) The game timer

The games are played against a timer. When the first player submits a
turn for each generation the timer will begin to count down. If the
timer reaches 0 without all players submitting then the game force
generates. The default setting for the timer is 600 seconds, 10 minutes.


4.4) Special rules

These rules are default, and only change upon agreement of players
involved.

No packets are allowed

On the subject of bugs and 'features'
See http://www.starsfaq.com/bugs.htm for an explanation of each
'feature'
Chaff > Allowed
Split Fleet Dodge > Allowed
Abuse of Battle Board Overload > Banned
Abuse of 0.2% Minimum Damage > Banned
Abuse of North/South Minefield Immunity > Banned
Abuse of East/West Speed Bump Minefield Immunity > Banned
SS Pop Steal > Banned

4.5) Handicap Rules


Recently a group have players have been trying to balance out the games
PRT's with a race wizard advantage point handicap based on PRT. This is
still a working in progress and the exact handicaps may have changed by
the time you read this so if you join a handicapped game ensure you
check with the other players. The response to these rules from regular
(some very experienced) players has been very positive so far and it is
likely that these will become a regular used rules variant.

When designing the race leave the following amount of points leftover
based on your PRT. The first 50 points leftover can be left to go to
whichever start advantage you wish.

AR 0
SS / PP 100
WM / HE 125
SD 137
IT / IS 150
JOAT 175
CA 200

In a tiny universe the WM handicap is 150

5) Blitz strategy
=================

(To be completed) Meanwhile take a look at Omnivores excellent blitz
strategy guide at

http://www.starsfaq.com/articles/SRU/art75.htm

And at Ashtur an'Vangans guide at

http://www.angelfire.com/ok/docdiggers/stars1.html

Both concentrate on different aspects of blitzing and it is worth
reading both.


5.1) General guidelines

In short think speed, any strategy where you don't plan on having won or
being unstoppable by year 50 at the latest is a loser.


5.2) A few sample blitz races

All races below are designed for non-handicaped games.

Killer Bees - Dan Neely

JOAT
IFE NRSE OBRM NAS
1/171 20%
15/9/21 3g Factories
10/3/25 Mines
Energy, Weapons, Construction Cheap.
Propulsion Normal
Electronics, Biotechnology Expensive
No start at 3

Strategy:

Build econ till turn 8
Then set research to 40res/year and field to con (will say 5 years, but
you'll get it in 4) Turn 12> queue enough privs to hold 3.5 years of
growth. 16: fill
privs and
queue another batch.
Repeat until you have enough pop to fill your HW.
Get jihad BB tech.
Kick ass


Malthus - OWK

JOAT
IFE, NRSE, OBRM, NAS
1/7 19%
15/9/16/3G Factories
10/3/16 Mines

Weapons cheap, rest expensive and Start at 4

Blitz race developed as a variation of a Jason Cawley design submitted
to the Stars! Newsgroup. Major changes from base design was left
shifting of Grav and Temp, and selection of "start @Tech 4" box.

Strategy is extremely quick scouting to find the 3-4 greens in the
galaxy followed by immediate colonization in order to out-ramp
one-world- wonders. Race will start with privateers and ability to make
scout-based minelayers in 2400 -- this has proved useful once or twice
in that minefields are not expected that early. Secondary strategy is
limiting opposition growth by engaging in a pop-drop war while economy
ramping and research is carried out.

A fairly generic and forgiving race to try out blitzing with. Has won a
few even.


mèhlá' - Alien

WM
CE, OBRM, NAS, RS
1/171 20%
15/7/25/3G Factories
11/3/19 Mines

Weapons cheap, rest expensive and Start at 3

An even more radical 1WW approach, built for both speed and capacity. It
can choose to churn out DDs from year 0-4, or sit still and build, both
will get it out ahead of most races barring early 1/800 -f designs and
the like, though it will bypass those fast. The resource maximum for a
world is well over 4k res,

and what it can output is then only rivaled by strong JOATs. The cheap
engines and ramscoop availability makes for mass production of cheaper
warships, coupled with the superior hulls of the WM, the BC and DN, it
can be quite a force to be reckoned with. It can start churning out
jihad BCs by the early to mid twenties. This time is likely the one
where it is the strongest, at least if there are multi planet races it
has not yet managed to kill. Considering the universe hab distribution
it is likely that it will find at least one more planet, be it severely
yellow. If that happens its edge becomes even greater.

For more speed but lesser capacity one can change the econ to 15/6/21g
11/3/20. One can also shift all habs to the far right to improve chances
of matching habs with other 1WW races, for easy access to new colonies.


6) Credits

Compiled by Leon Coles
Blitz bot commands by Alien
Proof reading and improvements by : Alric, Alien, Heinz89
Races by Dan Neely, OWK ,Alien
Blitz Strategy guide by Omnivore



(updated by Ron, to replace Starlink with Freenode)

[Updated on: Fri, 01 January 2010 10:45] by Moderator

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[Updated on: Wed, 11 May 2005 02:39]

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