STARWEB EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP (THE SEDG) (Sponsored by Flying Moose Technologies' Starweb Analyzer - http://flyingmoose.cjb.net) VOL 25 Jan. 31, 2000 CONTENTS Apology Feature Article - THE STARWEB FORMULA - A Rant by Elliot Hudes Questions - The Antimerchant SEDG Web Page URL The Captain's Log - The Paths That the Games are Taking The Swap Corner - The Starweb Analyzer for Dummies by Lee Knirko Correspondence - Scrapping/building industry; Increasing the number of players. APOLOGY Despite careful vetting the Y2K bug did appear to gain a foothold at the SEDG offices. Last issue of Jan. 17th was erroneously dated 1999. We are grievously sorry for the mistake. Heads will roll. (And none of our careful readership who can track a fleet thru a nebula spotted it ). FEATURE ARTICLE - THE STARWEB FORMULA! By Elliot Hudes (somnos@compuserve.com) Has Starweb become too predictable? Too easy? Is there a winning formula and because of this have we become stuck in a rut? I am going to say a resounding YES! If you play the game as efficiently as possible then you ultimately wind up with the same sort of play in game after game. That is, form a large alliance to enhance cooperation and scoring. And this ultimately leads to the two-pole game and the merchant race. Don't get me wrong. It's a great game and I enjoy it a lot but there are some aspects of the game that are getting kind of stale after 20 years. Such as the Merchant running away with the game as either a neutral trader or in a push by one of two major alliances in a game. First we have to agree on a few premises. If you don't agree with them then you won't ever see my point of view at all. 1) There is an optimal way to win, score and rank well in this game. This is a motherhood issue. Every game has winning strategies even those that rely on mostly luck. The fact is most of the SEDG issues have been pieces on how to play better. It is beyond the scope of this article to prove this point. If you don't agree with me on this point just join a Starweb game and shoot all your neighbors at first contact on turn 4 and let me know how you do . 2) There are certain advantages and disadvantages for each character type that allow the same scenarios to be played out over and over again. Some of these are: i) The merchant position is so crucial that you are at a disadvantage if you don't employ them. Combined with their considerable abilities to score you get a position that frequently runs away with the game and ends them prematurely. ii) The Pirate's inability to score well tends to the play of the ruthless warlord hell bent on conquest. Their disadvantage is so great that many refuse to even try and plunder and score. iii) The Apostle needs every resource in the game to compete with other players from worlds to convert to keys/ships to Jihad with. It's cheaper for an ally to trade with many players than to give it all to an Apostle. For an Apostle to win he must have allies willing to push him over berserkers or merchants. iv) Empire Builders rarely get to actually build up their industrial bases because it weakens them and their alliance in early wars. So what is the rut that you get into most often? In my opinion it is the coalescence of the web into two camps. The heated military aggression between these two groups soon ensues. During this stage both sides try to optimize their character types scoring as best they can without compromising the war effort. But what inevitably ensues is - 1) Empire Builders get HWs since they are very point dense. They get other worlds, as gifts become available. They rarely get to build industry as the pay back is 4 turns for the investment and while at war this could lose you the game. 2) The Art collector gathers the art. They use their remaining resources to support the war effort. 3) The pirate is given the lions share of the keys and ships for the war effort. And primarily they wage war since they cannot compete for score. 4) Apostles are employed as spies into enemy territory. Setting them up for major points would require the gifting of low population world to them and high pop worlds to their eventual Jihad target (often the EB). 5) Berserkers often set up to accompany Pirate keys into battle for support and their robotizing abilities. Time eventually runs out for them to score and win as outlined below. 6) Merchants are set up to do at least 30 metal/turn to each allied HW to ensure a steady supply of ships to the war effort and to half the number of ships required to haul metal. Due to the enormous number of points this brings in a merchant with 3 allies (a small alliance) will ensure their merchant brings in 120 metal/turn which is 960 points/turn. If the HWs are at full production by turn 9 (and I have seen it earlier) then a game that lasts until 7000 points should go until turn 16. This is not such a long game in itself and Berserkers/Apostles that need to position keys/PBBs together may require more turns than this. After all, a PBB dropped onto a 100-pop world is worth 400 points to the Berserker and 200 points to the Apostle. To get to 7000 points the Berserker will require a drop of 18 of these. This represents 450 ships or the full HW production of ships at 4 HWs for 4.5 turns. To compete with the modest returns of the merchant outlined above the berserker would need the full HW ship production from 4 HWs by turn 11. Taking into account that you didn't get into full production until T9 means that the first waves aren't seen at battles until turn 11 and you will only have the ships from turn 9 and 10 to fight with before having to start supplying the Berserker's scoring needs. The wars will not have been won before you need to give up on them. The fact is that many alliances are bigger and the merchant will threaten to end the game between turn 12-14. In these scenarios what becomes apparent is that even the vast abilities of berserkers to score is dwarfed by a scoring push by the merchant. They cannot hope to position their keys in enough places with enough ships to compete this EARLY in a game. What occurs is a race between two opposing merchants to the finish line. This also allows the remaining ships to continue to be used in the war effort, which neither side can give up without letting the enemy hordes in to reap havoc. And there is no way out! It is not likely you can get merchants in different alliances to agree that they should slow down. Aside from the fact that the one that is winning will not wish to stand down there is the issue of trust. Also, slowing down will mean that more ships must be set aside for hauling metal by the nonmerchant characters. The side that is not doing as well will not wish to do this. This becomes an arms race where neither side can afford to slow down. In my opinion there is only one way out of this scenario which is getting played out over and over in most games. That is to once again ask FBI to adjust the scoring. I believe that the merchant should not get more than 4 points/metal dropped. Even this may not be enough as a merchant in an alliance of 6 players could bring in 180 metal/turn (30 per HW) and reap 720 points/turn, which isn't bad at all. And if the merchant hauled as much as 60/turn he could bring in 1440 pts/turn. I know many of you will say that many Starweb universes can't support this kind of metal hauling, as the worlds close to the HW aren't as rich in mines. I say - GOOD!! This is what the merchant needs - a challenge. Many say their role is boring. I say it's only boring because it's not made into a challenge. There is a ton of metal and they need a paltry 30 ships to haul fully within an empire. If they would have to try to haul in excess of 30 metal/turn then they would have to use more ships than perhaps is necessary to just satisfy building needs. And they might have to start ferrying metal from worlds 2 turns away from a HW. Besides, in a good alliance player's work together to make their common goals happen. Any player is as active as he wishes to be while others just follow orders set out by their allies (which I think is the most boring way to play and not simply determined by 1 character type). This is the prime necessary refinement Starweb needs. I'm sure that many would chime in that we could adjust a lot more. Enhance the Apostle or enhance the pirate. It may be true but to avoid any major changes in the game I would just say to slow down the merchant. Pirates need little encouragement to play. If the game then lasted a little longer you may find that the berserker advantage would become more apparent with them winning the majority of games between turns 16-19. That may be so and it may also require some tailoring of score but if games routinely lasted to 19 turns then I'm sure you would see more of the military side of the game come to fruition. And if you could play on militarily for longer it would make it more interesting when you decided to shave off ships for a scoring push for other players like the berserker or Apostle. That would make it a much more interesting game. Heck, if you know the game is going to only go 13 or 14 turns there is no point in starting any military ventures and it just becomes a big race to score until the finish line. I find games this short a waste of my time and money! I may be too harsh and perhaps the merchant would be better off at something like 5 points/turn but at 8 the game for them is just a walk. If I could make only 1 more tweak to the scoring I would also give the Apostle a 100 point bonus for dropping a PBB on their Jihad target. In this way they may be able to compete with the berserker. They still would be restricted to only their Jihad target and so their points for converts would remain important but I bet if they would become contenders if they brought in an additional 2000 points for dropping 20 PBBS. Without these changes I believe that the experienced players will continue to do the smartest things under the present rules. That is, form a large alliance to enhance cooperation and scoring. And this ultimately leads to the two-pole game and the merchant race. It's time for a change. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS - Can anyone answer these? Here is a relatively obscure term I've heard in Starweb. The "AntiMerchant". I know what it is but 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 000123.1627-5 By Walt Schmidt walts@dorsai.org "We must indeed all hang together, or, most assuredly, we shall all hang separately." - Benjamin Franklin Ah - it's good to be back - and to have Alter once again tucked away where he belongs . As my first log of the new year, I want to speak a little about "the game," us "gamers," and that of which Elliot has also spoken. Yes, I have an ulterior motive - one that should become quite clear as you read on. Ben Franklin would have been a good Starweb gamer - he understood the importance of teamwork. But I wonder if he would have understood how the current understanding of what winning Starweb teamwork means, tends to lead the game down the same path, over and over again. Elliot has done a great job of describing the "form a large alliance to enhance cooperation and scoring...(which) ultimately leads to the two- pole game and the merchant race" game. So I won't repeat that which you can find above. But presuming you also would like to see a few different scenarios surface, what can we do? For starters we can all participate here. Write an article for SEDG. And if you don't feel like going down that path - then write a letter to the editor. Express your opinion, ask your questions, and disagree with us - we who are already writing. You see - the paths that the games are taking - are the results of what some of us "will continue to do (as they are) the smartest things under the present rules," or are at least what WE think are the smartest things to do. But considering the number of players in the "game" - it would not surprise me if you - one of you who are lurking about, reading SEDG - if you might be able to teach us [OLD-Farts] [Alter, I felt sure you would have commented already, especially with my remark about you being back where you belong] [AND it's good to see you too, Nemo] [My apologies] [APOLOGY accepted, you old fart] [...] As I was saying, it would not surprise me if you might be able to teach us veteran players, a thing or two. But as they said about the New York Lottery - ya gotta be in it to win it. And I don't see that many of you joining in here. I know I've received some email that challenges positions I've taken - but I've not seen those challenges put forth here. Think about it - as William Shakespeare said, "For 'tis the sport to have the engineer - hoisted with his own petard." And you just might be the one to get it done. On the other hand... - Shai Dorsai ! Nemo ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE - THE SWAP CORNER Today I have a column submitted by my good friend and gamer Lee Knirko (71361.3005@compuserve.com). Lee is a self-professed computer illiterate and he compiled some notes on some of the challenges he faced setting up the Starweb Analyzer in the hopes of helping neophytes avoid some pitfalls. In truth Lee did a fine job and I certainly reserve the right to jump in and editorialize especially when I feel his problems relate to old habits rather than the software. Elliot Starweb Analyzer for Dummies (such as me) By Lee Knirko The StarWeb Analyzer is a product worthy of admiration. Mike approaches that of a genius in working out the many, many obstacles of successfully writing the software. Never mind that some of us, myself included, are so used to manually processing Starweb turns, that we are reluctant to use ALL of the features of the program. Even if you are playing a solitary anonymous game, using the Analyzer enhances your pleasure because it saves information about worlds that you have previously seen. Using a number sheet to record when you have last seen a world, a method I had been using which became much too tedious, and saving all your previous turnsheets for reference is much too much work. The Analyzer accumulates that data for you each turn. Never mind if you have your own way to map the web and prefer to not employ the Analyzer's software to help with the mapping. The information on the turnsheet, telling you which worlds have new information each turn, is a great deal of help in manual mapping. My only problem with Analyzer mapping is that you have to prepare and print a new map each turn, and the process does not give you a map index so you can find worlds on your map. [EDITOR'S NOTE - The software doesn't require a map index because if you view it onscreen simply typing any fleet, world or art number in the order entry box followed by '/' causes the world to light up on the map and the world list. Lee is correct, if you prefer to print out the map on paper you bypass this function.] Elliot Hudes is a super teacher and solver of problems in using the Analyzer. He responds promptly to your questions, and does a very effective job of telling where to look. The limitation, of course, is that he is not looking at your data and cannot point out what you did wrong. [EDITOR'S NOTE - You can send me your turnsheet and I will help trouble shoot things such as why a particular turnsheet won't show up but be sure to confirm that I'm not in that game. I don't want my opponent's turnsheets.] Doing wrong was my continuing experience. I told Elliot I was willing to share with others the mistakes I made in setting up and using the Analyzer, in hope that others similarly burdened with the "Dummy" problem would not hesitate to give it a try. First of all, you need to open a folder in your C drive, which I labeled Starweb. In that folder, open a file for every game you are playing. Setting up the Analyzer is a bit tricky, especially since rarely, at first, will it be the first turn of the game for you. You need to get it started with the earliest turn you have available. When you start up the analyzer, you will see a red hat as the third button, which reads Set Up Wizard. Clicking that results in a box that asks for Turn 1 information, that you probably don't have. So, click on button that says "Manual, I know what I am doing" even if you don't know what you are doing. Then things start getting easier. When you come to the game name, it's the first serious pitfall. FBI has a line in all turnsheets that reads like GAME SW-1234, Turn 10, Menkar When you set up the game, you MUST copy the game description EXACTLY like it appears on your turnsheet. SW-1234 is the correct way. SW1234, SW1234M, SW- 1234, or other errors will not accept the turnsheet. The next big thing, is the button called Edit Game Profile. Here you must enter the exact player name of yourself and all your allies that you are entering turnsheets for combining. Menkar is correct. Check all allies code names for the correct spelling. Once you get all this set up correctly, it saves it for all the games you are playing for future turns. [EDITOR - Computers are notorious for being sticklers for accuracy. Yes, the spelling of the Game Name must be exactly correct :-).] Next, getting the turns entered can be a frustrating operation unless you know what can go wrong. To see what the analyzer accepted or rejected, click the X. The list that went by quickly the time after you ordered Process turnsheets is then repeated. Initially, I found that many of the turnsheets were not accepted. [EDITOR - Actually you don't have to click the X. Just minimize the Analyzer window and check which turns didn't get processed in the processing window. These turnsheets obviously have a formatting problem that you will have to repair.] Elliot's instructions to save each turnsheet as Menkar_t10.txt seems simple enough to follow. Here are some of my mistakes, which are hard to find if you don't know they are there: Menkar_ t10.txt Doesn't like the space after the Underline Menkar_t10txt Needs the period Menkar_t10.txtt Extra T somehow got in there Mnkar_t10.txt Misspelled player name [EDITOR - Told ya - computers are very picky - they want it down the correct way :-).] An Ally deleted the FBI game description, because it was already previously shown on the T/S. I had to send the T/S to Elliot who immediately discovered what was wrong. Reentered exactly like FBI does, and it was accepted. Allies' ISP for some unknown reason entered four spaces at the beginning of each line. Looked fine, but not accepted. He taught me how to put his T/S in WORD, Search for four spaces and replace with nothing, and it was accepted. Subsequently, he does this before sending his T/S (thanks!) [EDITOR - The Analyzer will tolerate quote marks (>, >>, and > ) but strange spacing will make a turnsheet unreadable by the program.] In an anonymous game, I saved the T/S as Menkar_t10.txt, but the name in that game was, say, Oracle. Should have been saved as Oracle_t10.txt. Anyway, almost all of the dumb things I could do I have done, and the entering of turnsheets has progressed smoothly of late. Presumably, to add the listing of artifacts, the Analyzer separates out all artifacts and puts them on separate lines. I find this uses up space, and may be confusing based upon FBI issued turnsheets. It's not too hard to edit the artifacts to the line above where they usually appear. Another editing problem, is that some lines go to space 79 and will wrap to the next line; at least with my word processor and printer. The wrap is usually a comma, so I go through the combined and delete those extended commas in space 79. [EDITOR - Obviously Lee is still printing out the combined turnsheet on paper. Many of us just look at the world view (a combined turnsheet of all your allies) on our computer screens.] Still another problem is that some players do not set their download to accommodate at least 72 spaces. This results in many longer lines wrapping at the middle of the line. Again, fixing it before sending just involves deleting the hard return one space after the short line, similar to moving the artifacts to their usual place. [EDITOR - Actually world information that wraps is usually tolerated by the Analyzer in V1.3] Forgetting to put the combined T/S into text had been a problem until I was scolded by allies for sending them gibberish. Hard to forget now. I am sure that more modern software would solve many of the problems I had run into. But, you have to work with what you have. I would welcome comments and questions. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRESPONDENCE Sharon Wyatt said: Suggestion for SEDG, Discussion of Scrap and Build Industry orders. The rulebook is a little murky about how to write the orders and what can be done with them. For instance increasing industry at home world. Building industry in barren areas, etc. and not just for EB's. Editor: Great idea. Anyone out there want to write a brief answer to for the next correspondence section? How about a short article on this topic? Jack Fulmer said: Hi Elliot. Just wanted to say thanks for SEDG. I've been reading it for a few months. Sorry to lurk and not contribute. The pressures of reality have so far prevented a contribution. Someday I should write something about multi-SW, my particular passion. Here's a question to pose to your readers. "How can we help FBI acquire more Starweb customers / players?" Seems to me that the ranks are still slowly dwindling. I would like to see that change. Obviously Rick Loomis would like that too. Anyone have great marketing ideas to pass on to Rick? They would need to be very low cost and easy to implement. Keep it going... Jack Fulmer Editor: Since I am not a multi player I would welcome an article on Multigame play. In fact we have not had many articles about variant games. If anyone wishes to write an article dealing with such variants as Anonymous, Bitter End, Multi, Time Travel or some of the extinct ones such as Pandora's Box there is a very good chance they will be the feature articles for an upcoming SEDG. As to marketing ideas for Rick - Since Rick is a subscriber, he will see anything that you send in so go ahead. Editor: Mike has asked me to keep advertising Flying Moose Technologies Starweb Analyzer Forum Message board. So here it is ad nauseum :-). From Mike Wulkan - CEO Flying Moose Technologies Flying Moose Technologies would like to announce the opening of the Starweb Analyzer Forum message board powered by Coolboard.com. You can go directly to the board by using this connection --> http://www.coolboard.com/board.cfm/mb=973080192651561&mc=RB0011&ric=105 705001 This is a message board where public discussions on any topics pertaining to our company, the Starweb Analyzer or Starweb can be posted. It is similar to a Usenet newsgroup and I find the handling of threads much easier to follow. This can be a great place to meet other Starweb fans and users of the Starweb Analyzer. You can share secrets, tips and hints about using our software and just chat with other gamers with similar interests to you. Flying Moose Technologies will monitor the board so you can even ask us questions, make future requests for features and just chat. If you have a serious bug to report or require FAST Technical support I would advise you to continue to use my email address (or one of the Tech support addresses listed on our web site). This Forum is meant to be a more social milieu and I don't promise a response as quickly as I can via email. Mike Elliot Hudes said: 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! Well, that's it for Volume 25. 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