STARWEB EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP (THE SEDG) (Sponsored by Flying Moose Technologies' Starweb Analyzer - http://flyingmoose.cjb.net) VOL 23 Dec 31, 1999 CONTENTS Editorial - Y2K Feature Article - HOW TO DO WELL AT STARWEB Part I by John Shannonhouse Questions - SEDG Web Page URL The Captain's Log - The Games Afoot - Random Year End Ramblings The Swap Corner - The Order Editor Part V - Preferences and Templates Correspondence - Starweb Analyzer Contest EDITORIAL - Y2K "The Eastern World, It is exploding, violence flaring, bullets loading. And even the Jordan River has bodies floating.... You tell me over and over and over again my friend. You can't believe you're on the Eve of Destruction" Eve of Destruction (can't remember the Author). Hey, Nemo isn't the only one who can do an incredibly insightful quote [Even when you can't get it right or remember the author]. [Hey ALTER] [Yah, El] [Back to your own column - you're not my particular angst!]. [NUTS]. Well, you may be wondering why this particular issue of the SEDG seems to be in your mailbox a tad early. I figured with the looming of Y2K and the Doomsayers that this could likely be the last issue of the SEDG before civilization falls and the long night begins. If so, you should take comfort in the fact that Starweb is Y2K compliant. You may have noticed that your turnsheet due dates never actually say a year. For those of you who have a Starweb Analyzer it may be reporting large negative due dates around the year-end because of this. Take heart, this just shows you that FBI will still be there and your turnsheets due on Jan. 3rd (whether 2000 or 1900) will still be run. But since electric power will fail, the Internet will fall and your computers will go offline you will have to bring your hand printed orders to Rick personally to get them run. Granted that may mean the reintroduction of the Pony Express by the Post Office (Gary get to work on this)! By keeping Starweb strictly as a Play-by-Mail game avoiding sexy graphical facelifts and digital upgrades we see the cunning and foresight that is Rick Loomis. Starweb may well be the only PBM to survive the Y2K bug! (Tongue in Cheek here Rick - just kidding - Please don't drop me from all my games!). As for my personal Y2K plans. At the moment I'm up at my cabin in the Muskoka woods (Central Ontario). Heating is done purely by air tight wood stove (and I have 10 cord of wood standing by). I have 180 litres of spring water in jugs. In worse case scenarios I can unroof the well and get access or use my ice auger to get thru the ice over the lake. My BBQ has 2 spare propane tanks and it sports a gas element for cooking. Don't get me wrong. I'm not paranoid. My cabin is always outfitted like this :-). And when civilization falls - who will be laughing then :-). See ya in 1900! El FEATURE ARTICLE HOW TO DO WELL AT STARWEB Part I John Shannonhouse (JohnShannonhouse@compuserve.com) I. INTRODUCTION This is "HOW TO DO WELL AT STARWEB" - not "HOW TO WIN AT STARWEB". There are several reasons for this choice of words. Many people play Starweb for the fun of it. A rating for them is just an incidental plus for the game. Their goals are completely different from the goals of someone trying to win the game. Actually, coming in first is the prime consideration of this 2nd type of player. A third category is the player pursuing a high rating where winning is secondary. The means of achieving those goals are frequently the same, but what the player wants in return is something very different. The three different types actually work extremely well together. Starweb, more than any other game, is a cooperative game between players with different needs and goals. An individual can try to go it alone, but he will almost always fail to do well unless he can become part of a strong alliance. Part of being a member of a strong alliance is ensuring that all members do well in the game in the way that matters most to them. An alliance is not something you enter just for your own benefit. For rating nuts, such as myself, this means that I can get a 1000 point rating out of a game while another member of my alliance actually wins if that is what he wants. I am perfectly willing to let someone else win as long as my score is extremely close. This discussion makes it clear that there are at least three different methods of "doing well" at Starweb. One is to have fun fighting and crushing the opponents. Another is to win at all costs. A third is to get the best possible rating out of the game, no matter who wins. Most people want all three, but one method will always be more important than the other two. Each of these approaches is perfectly valid and provides the player with goals, which will provide the basis of his enjoyment in the game. I belong primarily to the 3rd group which looks to get the best rating out of the game, but I will also cover "doing well" for the other two groups. II. SCORING RATES FOR THE DIFFERENT CHARACTER CLASSES The six categories of character types are: Apostle, Artifact Collector, Berserker, Empire Builder, Merchant, and Pirate. In order to do well at Starweb, it is important to understand how they gain points in the game. Usually the Pirate will get an early lead in the game, but will be unable to sustain it past turn 11 or 12. Next, the Artifact Collector may gain the lead for a short time, but will soon be eclipsed by the Empire Builder. The merchant will rapidly surpass the Empire Builder and will usually maintain that lead for several turns, and finally the Berserker will gain the lead at the end of the game and will normally maintain that lead if he ever gains it. Notice that I did not include the Apostle in this list. This is because the Apostle will rarely if ever gain the lead in the game. If he does it will be very late in the game, and will occur only if the Merchants and Berserkers in the game have not been able to achieve their potential. The scoring rates help determine the player's choice of ending score if he wishes to get a good rating out of the game or to win. The pirate would want a very short game, as would the collector. The Empire Builder would want a game a little shorter than normal. The Merchant will want an average to long game, and the Berserker and Apostle would like a very high scoring game. This assumes that the goal is to win or get a good rating. This is not always the player's goal. For example, most players who choose the Pirate character do so for the fun of crushing other players, and are not very interested in a high rating. Most pirates actually choose the highest end score so that they have the best chance of getting a final resolution to their conflict, even though this decreases their chance of winning the game. Knowledge of these scoring patterns is also important when determining who needs to be stopped in the game. When a Merchant starts running away with the game, it is immediately obvious to everyone and appropriate steps can be taken to slow him down. Normally people look at the highest score in the game and work to slow that player down or to help others. This is a very dangerous method, because it overlooks the Berserker. It is hard to get worried about a berserker with a score of 650 while everyone else has a score over 4,000. It is not unusual for a Berserker to suddenly jump 6,000 points in one turn and be ready for another 3,000 the turn after which no-one can then stop. III. What character class should you choose to "do well" at Starweb? In general no one should play an Apostle unless he is just interested in learning more about the character. It has virtually no chance of winning a game, it is very difficult to get a high score, and there are much better characters available for the fun of combat. The one big advantage of an Apostle is his ability (through converts) to continue seeing worlds which do not belong to him. That can be important, and it does give a better direct view of what is going on in other places. Still, unless the idea of creating converts all over the place is more exciting to you than winning or getting a good score, try another class. I would be perfectly happy to have some one prove me wrong by writing an article on the subject, but I think the apostle competes with everyone else on too many levels to have much of a chance. (Editor's note: I know Paul Balsamo has written such an article and others would also disagree - but I agree the Apostle is the most difficult character to do well with). The Artifact Collector is good for people who love diplomacy and want to get a good rating or want to win. It is a position where diplomacy is the prime issue. The Artifact Collector can make the best gifts to the other character classes without harming himself in any way, and he trades those things for artifacts, which are worthless, harmful, or at best marginally helpful to the other players. The Berserker is the ideal class for everyone. It has tremendous offensive capabilities and can neutralize an opponent's home world in a flash. The Berserker wins far more than its share of games. The only drawback is that when the Berserker loses, it frequently loses big. This is a drawback for the player who is trying to maximize his rating, but not necessarily for the player trying to win or the person playing for fun. The Empire Builder is the ultimate middle-of-the-road class. It is difficult to win, but any Empire Builder who stays in the game will probably get a half-decent rating. Combat can be fun and does provide benefits, but diplomacy is again very important. Getting worlds as gifts is his most efficient method of doing well. It is also perhaps the best introductory character class for the beginning player. Simple mistakes or a missed turn are not as costly to the Empire Builder as to the other classes. To be a Merchant you must do a lot of communication with plenty of players. The Merchant wins more games than anyone else, and it is almost impossible to do poorly as a merchant unless you just are not trying. If you want to fight instead, the Merchant is still a good choice. The Merchant gets to full production before anyone else, and can free up more of his fleets and ships for combat than anyone else. The biggest drawback is that the Merchant has to spend more time on the phone (or by email) with other players than any other class. The Pirate is the ultimate character class for the player who plays Starweb for fun. The Pirate has virtually no chance of winning or getting a high score unless the game is very short, but his ability to capture fleets makes him one of the best offensive players around, and it is a lot of fun to attack. As a member of an alliance, his partners will provide him with huge numbers of fleets and ships to help him wipe out enemies. IV. How does an individual win a game of STARWEB? The Apostle needs worlds, fleets, ships and bombing targets. In fact he needs a lot of everything that everyone else also needs, and does not need anything that is unique to his character class. Gaining the location of high population worlds is important for his push later in the game. High population limit worlds should be gifted away as soon as possible to a non-Pirate so that they do not grow converts and lose their status as targets. Do not gift them to a Pirate because a Pirate will plunder them and keep them from growing. It is usually difficult to gain enough worlds, ships and fleets through combat to make it worth while unless a neighbor has dropped, so these must be obtained through diplomacy. The Apostle cannot afford to be quiet about this because all his allies have other allies who get more for the same things than he does. Pirates, Berserkers and Merchants make better use of fleets and ships, while Pirates and Empire Builders make better use of the worlds. It is hard to get them to "waste" the gift on the Apostle when it means so much more to the other players. Unfortunately this is the only avenue for points, so the Apostle must insist. If you play the Apostle for the fun of combat instead of for a win or a high rating, the converts can come in handy. Migrate converts into your opponent's area. Send a medium sized fleet just to explore, making converts as you go. Show up at his home world and then leave. The advantage is that you can now see what he is up to and how he is managing his fleets because your converts will keep you posted. They act as a spy network for you. The Artifact Collector must gain Art from many people as quickly as possible. It is almost impossible to gain art by force, so the Artifact Collector must make allies fast and move to take advantage of their good will. Immediately after meeting opposing players, the Artifact Collector should put his fleets at peace, move further into the other players' territories, and ask where to move to pick up Art. He should begin gifting away everything he has as fast as he possibly can so everyone will be friendly to him, and after gaining all the art available he should move it together quickly to build museums. He should reserve 2 or 3 worlds as museum worlds, which are as safe from attack as possible and their locations should not be revealed to anyone. This is not the class for the player who wants to fight, because he gets no special bonus to help him in combat and does not need anything which can normally be taken by force. (Editor's note: Actually I like the position of fighting Art Collector and will do an article in the future that mentions why.) The Berserker needs fleets and industry. It is usually a good idea to wipe out a neighbor early and use his home world as an additional power base. Make it decisive. Show up at the home world in overwhelming force, robotize it, and then sit back and wait for him to crumple under your ever-growing advantage. Then use ships from both worlds to move onto a third player, or just get set up with as many 27 ship keys as possible to prepare for bombs. Make them 27 ship keys so you can robotize the world after bombing. Wait and drop as many bombs as possible to catch everyone by surprise. If you can end the game in 2 turns it is almost impossible to stop you. The Berserker has the best individual chance of winning of any character type, though he will still do better as a member of an alliance. As you can see, the Berserker is also a great class for a player who loves the fun of combat. The Empire Builder has to work hard to do well. It is difficult to gain enough worlds through force, and diplomacy starts to wane if you pull too far in the lead. You must get allies to gift you home worlds early, and to keep gifting you worlds as the game continues. Be ready to scrap most of your ships for industry after reaching full production for those key extra points. If you have an opponent, knock him out fast so no one is attacking you while you are weakening your offense and defense by building industry. Make sure you follow your allies' instructions to the letter about the builds they want you to make with their home worlds. If you don't, they will take back those valuable worlds. If you want to fight other players, you can get your allies to assist you in fighting an opponent while you move in and take worlds. The Empire Builder is also the natural General or Coordinator of the attack since he wants to take and hold territory while others have different goals. The Merchant has the easiest time winning the game. Haul for as many people as possible. War is your ally. A player at war does not want to waste his own ships and fleets keeping his home world supplied with metal. Even if you start to run away with the game, most players will not try to stop you. That would weaken their own power base. You must talk with everyone to find the best places to pick up metal. Gift your home world away early to an Empire Builder and begin racking up points. Work closely with Berserkers. They cannot give you robotized home worlds to slow you down, and if they robotize a neighbor's world the same thing applies. The Merchant gets full production faster than any other player and can maintain it with fewer ships than any other character class so he has more raw force to use for fighting. Early in the game the Merchant is the most powerful player and can easily overwhelm any neighbor in a war. The Pirate has a hard time of it. He must begin plundering early, and keep it up. It may be a good idea to plunder the home world at turn 1 for the extra 50 points before the production loss would be too high. Only worlds with high mines must be spared. The Pirate also needs to attack at least one of his neighbors and begin plundering captured worlds. He needs a constant flow of worlds from his allies. This will be difficult. He will lead the game very early and his allies will become frightened of his success. Since the Pirate gets fewer and fewer points every time he plunders a world, his rate of growth will actually slow down instead of increasing as everyone else's does. Convincing his allies of this fact will be the hardest task. If you are playing for the fun of combat, however, this is the best character class. If any of your allies are in a war they will get you fleets and ships to attack the enemy. Frequently several allies will gift you huge numbers of fleets and ships at the same time. You can then move in, crushing resistance as you go and capturing enemy fleets to add to your power base. You will certainly be involved in any well-run combat involving your allies. C0NTINUED IN VOLUME 24 .... ----------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS - Can anyone answer these? I have no questions - do you? ----------------------------------------------------------------------- STARWEB EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP - is now available on the web. Look for our new MAPPER'S SECTION on the SEDG Web Page. http://www.accessv.com/~somnos/sedg.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE - THE CAPTAIN'S LOG 991224.1228-5 By Walter Schmidt walts@dorsai.org The Games Afoot - Random Year End Ramblings "In the cold of [Starweb], under prudish [mapping] fogs, except when slaughter is afoot, you only glimpse the crawling cruelty of your fellow men. But their rottenness rises to the surface as soon as they are tickled by the hideous fevers of the [game]." - Louis-Ferdinand Celine [NEMO!] [Yes, Alter - and you're not even letting me start this log off?] [HELL, no - not when you start with a quote like that. Why such negativism?] [Not really negativism - read on]. As the new millennium approaches [either a day or a year and a day away - depending on how you're counting], let's take a short look at gaming from a particular perspective - and while we wax a bit philosophical. All that follows is, of course, hypothetical, and just the random ramblings of this old salt. You see, John and Elliot have done an admiral job of looking at the good side of gaming. So in the form of seeking balance, let's visit the dark-side. [AH HA! I thought you said no negativism?] [Not negativism, Alter - just the dark-side]. Looking at my [MY?] [Yes, my] opening quote - don't ya just love it when a fellow gamer has their well thought out plans messed up - whether by accident or design. And they undergo a transformation from their usual mild mannered self into something akin of a demon... "It is vain to say human beings ought to be satisfied with tranquillity: they must have action; and they will make it if they cannot find it." - Charlotte Bronte Then there is the gamer who if they can't find the level of action they seek - will go to any extreme to make it happen, regardless of promises made... "The weak are the most treacherous of us all. They come to the strong and drain them. They are bottomless. They are insatiable. They are always parched and always bitter. They are everyone's concern and like vampires they suck our life's blood." - Bette Davis You've heard me speak of "him of the clean hands." In many ways they don't have the strength to under take action on their own. They are forever whispering... "Nothing is sacred to a gamester." - Bernard Joseph Saurin An "Amen" to that! [AH, Nemo - maybe we're taking this dark-side thing a tad too far] [Alright, Alter] And to end on a lighter note or two. "The true division of [gaming] is between those who live in light and those who live in darkness. Our aim must be to diminish the number of the latter and increase the number of the former. That is why we demand education and knowledge." - Victor Hugo So we [WE?] [Yes, we!] [OKAY, I agree] hope all of you continue to spread the word of SEDG as a way to learn a bit more about this game that will be beginning its fourth decade very soon now. A game which we all enjoy notwithstanding its lack of state-of-the-art graphics and multi-media venue. And if I may leave us - and this millennium end - with a quote from someone who surely knew what it took to move from the dark-side into something so much more... "Knowledge is happiness, because to have knowledge—broad, deep knowledge—is to know true ends from false, and lofty things from low. To know the thoughts and deeds that have marked man's progress is to feel the great heart-throbs of humanity through the centuries; and if one does not feel in these pulsations a heavenward striving, one must indeed be deaf to the harmonies of life." - Helen Keller Shai Dorsai! Nemo ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE - THE SWAP CORNER THE ORDER EDITOR Part V Preferences You can set certain preferences for how the order editor is set up by going to File->Preferences and selecting the Order editor. Always on top - If you like to keep your order editor window on top and keep going to the World View or Map view and look for information you can select this. The effect is to make the Order editor window ignore standard Window's protocol to disappear when you click on another window. In this way you can find things you want and type them into the editor without having to call up the Editor window again. I love this feature out of shear laziness :-). Automatically Generate a Template - If you do not check off this preference then the Order Editor opens with just the ORDERS and END statements and puts in the correct header information in the Final View. You can now put in orders freehand. But if you would like some organization added by the Analyzer you can create a template, which has various options. Basically it will create an order sheet which has a comment line identifying each world you can do orders for and a list of incomplete orders for you to complete. You must select whether you want these orders listed in World or Execution order. In World order all incomplete orders for a world are placed with each world (Builds, unloads and fleet orders). In Execution order the Build and Unload orders are listed first by themselves and then the fleet orders are listed in world order. Here is an example of an Editor in Execution order - ORDERS *-------- ** Build Orders [NEUROLEPT] W240B2 *-------- ** Unload Orders [NEUROLEPT] F23U5 *-------- ** W28 [NEUROLEPT] F9 [NEUROLEPT] F196 *-------- The lines that start with * are comment lines that will be automatically stripped out before submission to FBI (as will be the player nametags). In addition, you have the options to add in other orders automatically. If you wish art orders to be included there is a preference slot to check off. If you would like more information on the Order Editor so that you don't have to keep referring to the World View or Map you can also select to include full world information into the World header comment line. If you choose to annotate the orders you will also add a comment after each fleet to show you the details of the fleets. Let's look at the example again with full Comments and Annotation. ** Build Orders [NEUROLEPT] W240B2 *-------- ** Unload Orders *-------- ** W28 (140,240,252) [NEUROLEPT] (Captured,Metal=2,Mines=2,Population=54,Limit=79,Turns=1) [NEUROLEPT] F9 *F9[NEUROLEPT]=9 (Moved) [NEUROLEPT] F196 *F196[NEUROLEPT]=0 (Captured) ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRESPONDENCE Elliot Hudes: Hello Allies, Customers and Starweb Opponents The Starweb Analyzer Contest! Mike and I have decided to do a little Flying Moose Technologies Promotion. If you can get a friend, ally, opponent to buy the Starweb Analyzer on your referral you will be eligible for our draw. Your name will be placed in the bin and the draw announced May 20th, 2000 (Assumes civilization doesn't fall at Y2K). The prize will be a Flying Moose Technologies T shirt (style/size based on what is available). Our goal is to get the majority of Starweb players playing via our GUI interface -The Starweb Analyzer in the new Millenium. Remember to tell your friend to inform us as to who referred them. Enter as often as you like! ----------------------------- Maureen Hudes said: Elliot - you should get off the computer now - we are going to play some old fashioned board games! Editor: Groan! Well, that's it for Volume 23. Don't be afraid to submit articles or suggestions. They don't have to be long. Address your correspondence to Elliot Hudes at somnos@compuserve.com