STARWEB EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP (THE SEDG) (Sponsored by Flying Moose Technologies' Starweb Analyzer - http://flyingmoose.cjb.net) VOLUME 49, June 4, 2001 CONTENTS Feature Article – SW-X1304 The Private Partners Anonymous Email Starweb Game Questions – Answered! Now how about nascent industry and mines? SEDG Web Page URL The Captain's Log - No Time... The Swap Corner – Examples from the Analyzer Correspondence – The SWAP Challenge FEATURE ARTICLE SW-X1304 The Private Partners Anonymous Email Starweb Game By Elliot Hudes Here is an account of a Private game that Dave Smith and I (Elliot Hudes) organized. I invited each team to write up the game from their own perspective. Some did, others were brief and of course there is always somebody who doesn't. In any case, I think the account is entertaining. Enjoy. The Premise 1) Game played anonymously -- player's honor not to talk amongst themselves. FBI not to allow Signs and Diplos! Game will be played in a non-scrambled (FBI) format. NONSCRAMBLED – so partners can share printouts! 2) Game played via email. FBI will assign code names. 3) Seven two-man/woman teams. On turn 1, each player chooses an ending score between 1 and 15,000. 4) Game ends when the first player crosses the victory point limit. The winning team, however, will be determined by the highest combined team score at that point. To clear up some potential confusion, just because Retief trips the ending score point, doesn't mean Retief's team wins. At that point, the game ends, and combined team scores are used for final scoring criteria. Be careful, then, to what degree you let your partner's scores separate. 5) Two week turnaround. 6) The usual - partners empires are adjacent and they have already met on turn 1. HERE ARE THE PLAYERS AND CHARACTERS Team 1 Gary Schaefers Berserker - GORT Mike Shefler Pirate - LYRA Team 2 Dave Smith Merchant - NEON Steve Parrish Pirate - MARS Team 3 Elliot Hudes Pirate - APEX Mike Wulkan Berserker - THOR Team 4 Lee Knirko Berserker - FATE Sean Corrigal Pirate - VEGA Team 5 Scott Davis Art Collector - OPAL Walter Schmidt Merchant - ENIF Team 6 Dick Donald Berserker - UNIX Ken Andrews Merchant - PAVO Team 7 Phil Boyd Berserker - JAVA Michael Hammerschmitt Apostle - EDEN The Final Results Final Results -- Victory-point limit was 15000 (1) Dick Donald [UNIX]: Berserker (Score=15252,Worlds=68,Keys=39,Ships=376,Industry=112, Mines=252,People=1268,Robots=265,Artifacts=19) Ken Andrews [PAVO]: Merchant (Score=13263,Keys=29,Ships=239,Artifacts=2) Total = 28515 -------------------- (2) Phil Boyd [JAVA]: Berserker (Score=9514,Worlds=10,Keys=19,Ships=105,Industry=8, Mines=34,People=82,Robots=19,Artifacts=4) Michael Hammerschmitt [EDEN]: Apostle (Score=9353,Worlds=6,Keys=19,Ships=196,Industry=34, Mines=28,People=149,Converts=662,Artifacts=14) Total = 18867 -------------------- (3) Steve Parrish [MARS]: Pirate (Score=9656,Worlds=90,Keys=68,Ships=616,Industry=123, Mines=414,People=6548,Artifacts=26) Dave Smith [NEON]: Merchant (Score=8785,Worlds=1,Keys=15,Ships=187,Industry=1, Mines=6,People=54,Artifacts=4) Total = 18444 -------------------- (4) Lee Knirko [FATE]: Berserker (Score=8816,Worlds=30,Keys=25,Ships=200,Industry=72, Mines=70,People=117,Robots=295,Artifacts=16) Sean Corrigal [VEGA]: Pirate (Score=7295,Worlds=16,Keys=26,Ships=364,Industry=7, Mines=57,People=697,Artifacts=2) Total = 16111 -------------------- (5) Scott Davis [OPAL]: Artifact-Collector (Score=2664,Worlds=1,Mines=8,People=37) Walter Schmidt [ENIF]: Merchant (Score=1417,Keys=2,Ships=5) Total = 4081 -------------------- (6) Mike Shefler [LYRA]: Pirate (Score=1679,Worlds=1,Ships=12,Industry=1,Mines=6, People=49) Gary Schaefers [GORT]: Berserker (Score=129) Total = 1808 -------------------- (7) Elliot Hudes [APEX]: Pirate (Score=1251) Mike Wulkan [THOR]: Berserker (Score=-165,Worlds=1,Mines=4,Robots=13,Artifacts=3) TOTAL = 1086 The Game Apex-Thor Perspective – Last Place - We were Eliminated ? Pirate/Berserker By Elliot Hudes Mike and I joined up to play a Pirate-Berserker combination. Our objective was to be a military force in the game. We were uninterested in points. As it turned out we were likely the first partnership to be eliminated. A humbling experience, as I hadn't been eliminated from a SW game since 1978. But I found it to be a lot of fun to fight the good fight while your HW is in flames. I am Apex the Pirate while Mike is Thor the Berserker. Turns 1-3 Expansion The usual – we chose the maximum 15,000 score for the VPT and we expanded to all borders as fast as possible. Turns 4-6 First Contacts I manage to meet Opal, Enif, Mars and Pavo. Thor meets Neon, Fate, Mars and Lyra. I decide to explore or probe all my borders on T4 in the hopes of finding some of the players ring 1 worlds. I figure Enif an Opal are partners from a T4 gift of a world with plastic. I also assume this makes Opal the lone Art collector in the game and Enif is his merchant (I was correct). By T5 my borders are terrific. Only Opal is moving in on me and I figure that's OK if he collects art. But my partner Thor has 3 different players at his three ring 1 worlds – Lyra, Fate and Neon. In addition I have met Unix and from the world it happened at I can see he is Pavo's partner. By T6 I have figured out the following I cannot explore anymore and my area sucks when it comes to metal. Opal is still moving in on me but nobody else. Neon/Mars are partners (witnessed gift). I know where Mars HW is from my mapping. Some probing by Thor puts Lyra/Fate together as a team and they are withdrawing from Thor (I am incorrect about this team up). Neon lands at the Thor HW with a small key. We have decided that it is the team of Neon/Mars that is most dangerous to us. Hauling metal begins. T7-9 The Build Up! T7 Thor misses his first turn. I seem to remember that Mike had a turn where he thought it was sent in but he didn't get a receipt. Subsequently he will miss another turn due to being too busy in the real world. Neon continues to map Thor's area. Mars arrives on a Thor border on his Neon side thus reconfirming their alliance. Opal continues to fly around my area but I just can't spare a key to bring him art because I'm trying to get up to full metal production. Fate takes 2 worlds from my buddy Thor. Are we going to have trouble with him too? T8 – Thor concentrates on bringing metal home since due to his missed turn. He loses a world to Neon thus confirming their hostile intent. It's official – Fate/Lyra and Neon/Mars are both after us ? I manage to rendezvous with Opal to give him art. T9 – I'm hit with a double whammy. Mars invades in force. Mike misses another turn! Interesting that Fate/Lyra stop nibbling at Thor and I don't know why. This is the turn Opal will see the art I've given him. Here is a copy of the note I sent Mike to explain our situation. * 87 ships invading Apex. 68 invading Thor. * This is a total of 155 ships. They are * sending in waves of 30 ships which makes me * believe their HWs are at full production. The * only way this is true is if we are facing the * Pirate-Merchant team. They would own 30 hauler * each and have 215 ships total. Is this possible? * I guess if they were at full production on T6 they * could do this. Would have required a full load of * metal to come home in merchant's hands on T4. * * What do we have? 2 HWs not at full production. * We own 184 ships. If we defend we don't go * out for metal and we are doomed as they keep * sending 60 ships per turn at us. If we go out * for metal they will hit our HWs and supress * industry - so who needs the metal :-(. * * We can't even go invade Mars as he is blocking * my two ring 1 worlds and in 2-3 turns he will be * able to defend against us. * * I think we should defend for a turn or 2. Then * we can nuke-AI the Apex HW. The Thor HW is not * useable to them unless they get a berserker ally. * So it can be plundered at the appropriate time. * When all is lost we take as much as we can to * the MARS HW and try to nuke it. At least they * won't win the game. * * Meanwhile let's make gifts to show our neighbors * who the aggressors are. We might get some help and * we will warn them that they have aggressive neighbors * with extra HWs. * * At my HW I can't get my haulers home without huge risk of * ambush. They come to ring 1. I can have 30 ships in the air * relatively safe from 87 invaders capture and 19 I ships. I * will have 19 supressed industry and able to build 11 more ships. As it happens my predictions are correct and that's how the game goes. T10-12 War on the Home Front T10 – Mars attacks – both HWs. At mine (Apex) it is 79 enemy ships to 75. My industry remains useable. Inside Thor it is 55 enemy ships to Thor's 77 with full industry builds. Mars has taken a ring 1 world. I ask Thor to robotize my HW and make it useless to the enemy. I gift Pavo a key at my HW to show him my dire predicament. He might not help me but he will be wary of Mars. I have gifted one of my ring 1 worlds to Opal to alert the friendly Art Collector as to my predicament. Thor gives Fate a ring 1 world for similar reasons. T11 – The robotization of the Apex HW fails. We are outgunned at both HWs by about 50% and no industry is building. Mars continues to send in ships. It is decided – we must leave. T12 – We manage to robotize my HW – it's useless to Mars/Neon while the Thor HW already robotic goes neutral. We have taken all we have towards the Mars HW. This was about 145 ships. Mars is taking our peripheral worlds now. T13-T16 The War on Mars None of our gifts to our neighbors seems to get a response. No help is forthcoming. T13 – our first wave is only 60 ships on 12 keys at the Mars HW. They have 121 ships on 6 keys. We go for a massive robotization and send keys out from the Mars HW to hunt for the Neon HW. T14 – Success. We have robotized the Mars HW. We lose 5 keys and still have 3 small ones left to be destroyed but we manage to deploy 4 keys to the far ring 1's to hunt for Neon. Meanwhile we have another 50 ships and 6 keys coming into the Mars/Neon border. Mars has fanned out from our HWs and is at most of our worlds ready to capture them. T15/16 – we have been burrowing into Mars/Neon and finally find a Neon world under fire from Vega. At this point we decide we don't have the resources to take a final HW and drop out. Lyra – Gort Perspective 6th place Pirate/Berserker [Have received nothing from Gary/Mike] Opal – Enif Perspective – 5th place Art Collector/Merchant By Scott Davis I can only give you a partial perspective from the OPAL point of view. I took over for Ron on about Turn 12. It was tough even after I purchased the SWAP around Turn 13 or so. Ron had missed two turns and UNIX/PAVO were moving in on me. I tried to get the area running again, but then ENIF/Walt started missing his turns. UNIX robotized my homeworld on Turn 13, and I brought in a PBB to demolish in on Turn 14 (PBB safely dropped on Turn 15). I delayed, however, on demolishing the ENIF homeworld (which proved costly). ENIF/Walt never did come back to life and I couldn't get enough ships/production to fend off the UNIX/PAVO completely intact capture. I played around with my remaining ships until Turn 19, then dropped out. Walt only managed to turn in orders one more time while I was around – on Turn 17. At that time, I was trying to AI his homeworld, but we miscommunicated and he didn't transfer 35 ships to my key that was firing at industry -- thus allowing UNIX/PAVO to take the world with 29 industry instead of 14 or 15. -Scott/OPAL Fate – Vega Perspective – 4rth place Berserker/Pirate By Sean Corrigal Early on GORT attacked our domain and we decided he'd make a good target. We invaded his area and took over his HW around T8. About that time LYRA dropped as well but we never captured that HW. Then I proceeded on a war against JAVA. The war was going fairly well when MARS attacked. The attack was sudden and FATE and I were not prepared for it. We lost FATE HW, reducing us again to 2 HWs. Seeing this I was about to pull back my forces in the JAVA area when JAVA blew up his own HW. Not wanting to leave an area unplundered I left some forces there to take advantage of the now empty territory. I remember about this point getting a world gift from THOR. We had no idea what that was about but gifted a fleet in return as a gesture of faith. Unfortunately we forgot to declare ally so it got ambushed to death. Sorry Mike. :) MARS pressed us for the rest of the game driving us back. Had it been a bitter end game we would have made more of a fight out of it but as it was we decided to drop a bunch of PPB's to up our score. If it had ended in battle it would have been a tough one. We still had two HW's and a fair amount of fleets. But the MARS fleets were substantial and we were also being threatened by some fairly large EDEN fleets (and what was left of JAVA). So congradulations to UNIX and PAVO, you guys did amazingly well. Also congradulations to EDEN and JAVA. For losing a HW you guys still managed to score great! And finally congradulations to MARS & NEON. You guys had a really good fighting force built up and it was fun to see you come at us out of the blue. :) -Sean (VEGA) Mars – Neon Perspective 3rd place Pirate/Merchant By Dave Smith We (Neon and Mars) played kind of a schizophrenic game. Our first thought was simply to play a combative game, without consideration of points. Then we decided that we'd push my player position in terms of points, and consider being a dark horse if we could push my position over the top, while not worrying about Steve's point scoring. In other words, someone else would win; it just wouldn't be us. :-) Then we ended up being confronted, as a pirate / merchant team, with too many danged berserkers. Apex / Thor were a pirate / berskerker, and Gort was one as well. Early on, Apex pushed on through into our territory, captured a small key, and had mapping data on my home. We both thought that we were their logical target, and prepared to counter them. Opal and Enif missed some early turns, and we'd have loved to have gone after them, but A/T loomed to big in front of us. So we figured that if we were a target, better to make them one, first. And it was a pretty good fight, and they trashed Steve's home (which, BTW, we built back up by the end of the game). The Fate / Vega team had pissed Steve off early, but there wasn't much we could do until after Thor and Apex had been neutralized. And by then, it was obvious we weren't in the military shape we'd have liked to have been. Both of the A/T homes had been trashed as well. Gort had tried to do some gifting, etc. to get me up there as a merchant, but as I arrived, Vega was already there. So we pitched into Fate / Vega, pretty much catching them blindly. The big stand was at the old Gort home, and was, I think, pretty much of a standoff. All the while, to our south, the Opal / Enif area sat pretty dormant, and we couldn't do a blasted thing about it. By the time it looked like we could, Unix and Pavo were already there, with another blasted berserker. Go figure. :-) I would note, parenthetically, that this game ended on the day of my mother-in-law's funeral, and though I had the turn in the Analyzer, I flat forgot it. Had I unloaded my 1,000 points, we'd have finished second. But as my teenage daughter would say, "Dad, go cry about it." :-) El - I think we need to do this again, but make 'em five three-player teams. Same rules, point scoring, etc., though maybe we ought to up the ante to 20,000 points, since a three- way will push a merchant up even quicker. Thanks for a great game. Dave Java – Eden Perspective 2nd place Berserker/Apostle By Phil Boyd This was a lot of fun - Mic [EDEN] was a great partner. We set out from the beginning to get Mic as many converts as possible. The end game was then for me to come in and Martyr him to the win. Unfortunately around T8 I lost my concentration a little. That's when FATE and VEGA started making mincemeat out of me. Mic recommended the retreat to his area - but I wasn't going to leave my 30 industry for anyone to use. Mic and I tried to make a run of it - but with only one HW it was tough. Phil Boyd Unix – Pavo Perspective – The Winners Berserker/Merchant By Dick Donald Following is a game summary from the perspective of the UNIX/PAVO team: First three turns were fairly standard, with both of us exploring as fast as possible. On turn 4 we met our first neighbors, UNIX meets EDEN (apostle) and ENIF. PAVO meets MARS and APEX. UNIX gifted a world to EDEN to see if he responds, but he never did. UNIX also discovers a black hole (the hard way). We also figured out the map pattern, which helped in further exploring. We decided to be pushy about ownership of worlds where we met others, and it paid as Pavo captured 3 worlds where he stood pat after meeting others. UNIX found a direction where no one has been encountered yet, and continued moving in that direction for the next several turns. Meanwhile PAVO has brought both of our HWs up to full production. Lack of activity had identified OPAL, ENIF and VEGA as drop possibilities, but OPAL and VEGA returned to life on turn 10. However, we think that we knew the location of one of OPAL/ENIF home worlds, and since we had forces in the area, we pursued it, finding it on turn 11. We robotize that HW on turn 12, with OPAL and ENIF keys not moving, so things looked like a piece of cake. However, OPAL woke up on turn 13 and prevented capture of many Iships from industry worlds in the area, and brought in a PBB on turn 14 to blow up his former HW. Meanwhile, JAVA had shown up at a number of former ENIF worlds and was moving in our direction. We decided to ignore JAVA for now while picking up as many OPAL/ENIF worlds as possible. We found the ENIF HW on turn 15 and secured it with sufficient ships to hold it should OPAL counter. Meanwhile, PAVO had been gifted keys on APEX HW as THOR robotized it and MARS captured all the keys, and on THOR HW as MARS captured it, so as far as we knew MARS had 4 HWs. There was nothing we could do however, but keep on with our own plans. Just as we start to mop up ENIF keys lying all over the place, he comes to life and starts running around. Fortunately, we vastly outnumber the OPAL/ENIF keys, so it is just like swatting flies as we knock them off as we catch them. At the same time, the JAVA attack had disappeared. We assumed that he was under pressure from his other side and had returned to defend his area. By turn 18 most of the OPAL/ENIF keys had been eliminated and we decided to push in other directions searching for soft areas. UNIX also started building PBBs to begin scoring, as PAVO has been doing well all along as a merchant now supporting 3 HWs. UNIX moved into border worlds with JAVA, EDEN, and APEX (we already controlled most of the old OPAL/ENIF area) and found several hi pop worlds to PBB. Starting with turn 19 all attention was given by UNIX to making and dropping PBBs and robotizing as many worlds as possible, a function that was able to continue unhindered for the next 5 turns to end the game. PAVO was able to drop double metal on all 3 HWs during the same period to push his score as well. We were lucky that we were never seriously attacked, and we had neighbors who missed turns. We built some defenses on our borders with EDEN and MARS so that they would have had to move in one world at a time, but it never happened. By knocking out OPAL/ENIF and capturing their entire territory, we controlled more than enough worlds for PAVO to gather metal and UNIX to find PBB targets without any conflicts. I also have a turn by turn log, in case anyone is interested, although it says pretty much the same as the above using a lot more words. Dick Donald ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS - Can anyone answer these? Joe Taormina jumps in: You have a couple questions that need answered in the latest SEDG. This one: Originally posed by Scott Davis: >Do you know what will happen if I PBB a world at the same time that I migrate (not drop) a robot to that world? Will the robot capture the blasted world or will it be killed by the population the moment before the PBB is dropped? I read the rules and could not figure out where population migration fit into the order of things.< This question was already asked (by me) in V2 and answered by John Shannonhouse in V3: >> Question: If I migrate a robot to a world on the turn it is bombed, will I gain control of the world? Or will the robot die in attacking the pop or in the bomb? << John Shannonhouse answered: The robot will survive and you will own the world. This is unlike migrating a convert to a world with no population. You will *not* own it with the convert until the *following* turn. Editor's Note: We have a difference of opinion – Paul Balsamo says -> Paul Balsamo's answer: Scott, migration of anything (pop/convert/robot) happens before pop kills and PBBs. While you can migrate population to a world being PBBd and get the points for the poor slob when he gets killed, you cannot capture the world with a migrated robot on the same turn as the PBB gets dropped (the robot gets kill by the population or by the PBB and is not there to capture the world). FYI: migrating pop leaves before population growth and before convert conversion and arrives after convert conversion/apostle world capture and before population kills of any kind. Editor: The answer was obtained by Scott Davis who actually tried it. Paul was correct. Scott said: Nope. It doesn't work. Looks like the robot moves in, is killed by 4 population, THEN the PBB occurs. Another question asked was: If you robot attack but your key is destroyed you will do no damage to the population and receive 0 points. In this case the allied berserker successfully does the kill. Will the program credit you? I still haven't received any answers from our knowledgeable readers. Paul Balsamo's answer: Not 100% sure, but I would have to say a berserker doing an R0 receives no points no matter who else kills population (or how they do it). Joe Taormina's answer: I don't know this for certain, but I wouldn't think so. Firing happens simultaneously, so shooting at pop will count even if you lose the key, just like two keys can kill each other. All shots are fully effective. But dropping robots happens after all normal combat, so if the key is destroyed, I would think that the program would read this as an attack with no ships, and therefore no attack at all. As I said, I'm not certain, but that seems like the logical reasoning. Here is a question from Norman Hecht: What's the maximum number of links from a single world that anyone's seen? Given that the Black Box sometimes can add or change links, I'm curious to find out what can happen here. Paul Balsamo's answer: First, Hello Norm! Haven't played with you since my first apostle game SW-900 something (PINKLORD/JOLLYRGR/LORENZO). I assume that a world could connect to every other world in the game, so my answer is 254. Rick has always told me about wanting a map that has every world in the game connect to 1 nexus world (with the age old question of: When everyone goes to that world and meets on turn 2, do you fly back to your HW letting everyone else know where your HW is?). I have personally seen the BB add connections to a world until it had 10 connections. Joe Taormina said: In my case, the maximum has been 9 links. Rick Loomis said: It is possible for us to set up a map where one world is connected to ALL the others. We have often discussed what might happen in this situation. This means that EVERYONE will show up there on the first turn (as it is adjacent to everyone's homeworld.) On turn two, do you send that fleet back to your homeworld and show everyone where it is, or move to a random world on the map and get lost? (Well, you can't get COMPLETELY lost as you can always go back to the "everyworld".) A berserker should immediately migrate robots in from his homeworld, and put ISHIPS on the world to ambush everyone who flies through it! (But of course every berserker in the game could do likewise. And other players could migrate population in to kill the robots. And....) Answer: the upper limit is 254. I know we've made maps with 15 connections. New Question – What is the largest number of mines or industry you have found at a world (before anyone builds up the industry)? ---------------------------------------------------------------------- STARWEB EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP - is now available on the web. There is a new map (SW-Z1306) in the MAPPER'S SECTION on the SEDG Web Page. http://www.accessv.com/~somnos/sedg.htm ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE - THE CAPTAIN'S LOG 010506.1653-4 By Walt Schmidt walts@dorsai.org No Time... "Our deeds disguise us. People need endless time to try on their deeds, until each knows the proper deeds for him to do. But every day, every hour, rushes by. There is no time." - Haniel Long Right now Long is right - there isn't enough time. So, this month's log is almost non-existent. But what I will share with you is a URL that speaks of some youngsters who clearly have too much time on their hands. And while I am no over-reactive alarmist, yes - I run Zone Alarm, and today it intercepted two attempts to scan my computer - one of which appeared to originate from a national bank's computer system!!! So, take a minute or five and read about computer guru Steve Gibson site's DoS (Denial of Service) attacks, it is a worthy read: http://grc.com/dos/grcdos.htm 'Til next log - Shai Dorsai ! Nemo ----------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE - THE SWAP CORNER The Starweb Analyzer is a graphical tool that allows you to combine the data from several player's turnsheets in addition to retaining information from previous turns that are no longer seen. This information is displayed in a 'World View' that looks quite like a turnsheet. It also has a mapping area and an Order editor. It is beyond the scope of a text only newsletter to show you all these functions graphically but I encourage you to go to the Flying Moose Technologies' web page to see more about this useful Starweb tool. http://flyingmoose.cjb.net I can show a couple of examples of what the Analyzer can do for you. The World View can be saved and send to allies. In this example from SW-Z1307 you can see the combined header information (each contains the players met and score listing from the bottom of a turnsheet). New worlds that have never been seen have an * in the left margin. Worlds that were seen on previous turns have a turn number in the left margin AND in <> brackets further in to notify you that the information is dated. Composite Report for SW-Z1307, Turn 17 Composite Report: Players [BECRUX]: Empire-Builder (Information current as of turn 17) (Score=7709,Gifts=1,Worlds=58,Keys=27,Ships=347,Industry=193,Mines=258, People=4595,Ally/Loader=[PRIEURE],Ally/Loader=[VORLON],Met=[SHADOWZEN], Ally/Loader=[LOTHARIO],Ally/Loader=[SOMNOS],Ally/Loader=[DOLAR], Ally/Loader=[NORTHSTAR],Ally/Loader=[TRITON]) Players you can see this turn: [TRITON] [DOLAR] [SOMNOS] [SHADOWZEN] [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] [VORLON] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 4842 5226 5519 6126 8524 8680 10656 [DOLAR]: Artifact-Collector (Information current as of turn 16) (Score=7275,Gifts=1,Worlds=3,Keys=16,Ships=29,Mines=6,People=244, Artifacts=32,Ally/Loader=[NORTHSTAR],Ally/Loader=[TRITON], Ally/Loader=[BECRUX],Ally/Loader=[PRIEURE],Ally/Loader=[VORLON], Met=[FLATHEAD],Met=[SHADOWZEN],Ally/Loader=[LOTHARIO], Ally/Loader=[SOMNOS]) Players you can see this turn: [SHADOWZEN] [PRIEURE] [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] [VORLON] [BECRUX] [TRITON] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 3813 3935 4217 4232 5897 6798 7530 [FLATHEAD]: Artifact-Collector (Information current as of turn 5) (Score=330,Worlds=23,Keys=22,Ships=60,Industry=46,Mines=69,People=942, Artifacts=8,Met=[LOTHARIO],Met=[SOMNOS],Met=[NORTHSTAR],Met=[PRIEURE], Met=[VORLON]) Players you can see this turn: [VORLON] [SOMNOS] [PRIEURE] [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] Their scores (not necessarily in order): -20 376 611 637 862 [LOTHARIO]: Apostle on a Jihad against [BECRUX] (Information current as of turn 17) (Score=5226,Gifts=2,Worlds=21,Keys=26,Ships=312,Industry=34,Mines=87, People=88,Converts=2243,Ally=[SOMNOS],Ally/Loader=[DOLAR], Ally/Loader=[NORTHSTAR],Ally/Loader=[TRITON],Ally/Loader=[BECRUX], Ally=[PRIEURE],Ally=[VORLON],Met=[FLATHEAD],Met=[SHADOWZEN]) Players you can see this turn: [VORLON] [BECRUX] [TRITON] [DOLAR] [SOMNOS] [SHADOWZEN] [PRIEURE] [NORTHSTAR] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 4252 4842 5519 6126 7709 8524 8680 10656 [NORTHSTAR]: Empire-Builder (Information current as of turn 17) (Score=8524,Worlds=53,Keys=33,Ships=671,Industry=274,Mines=254,People=4 758, Artifacts=24,Ally=[TRITON],Ally=[BECRUX],Ally=[PRIEURE], Ally/Loader=[VORLON],Met=[FLATHEAD],Met=[SHADOWZEN],Ally=[LOTHARIO], Ally/Loader=[SOMNOS],Ally=[DOLAR]) Players you can see this turn: [LOTHARIO] [FLATHEAD] [VORLON] [BECRUX] [TRITON] [DOLAR] [SOMNOS] [SHADOWZEN] [PRIEURE] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 2460 4252 4842 5226 5519 6126 7709 8680 10656 [PRIEURE]: Empire-Builder (Information current as of turn 17) (Score=4252,Worlds=21,Keys=17,Ships=144,Industry=156,Mines=82,People=16 53, Artifacts=21,Ally/Loader=[VORLON],Met=[FLATHEAD],Met=[SHADOWZEN], Ally=[LOTHARIO],Ally/Loader=[SOMNOS],Ally=[DOLAR],Ally=[NORTHSTAR], Ally=[TRITON],Ally=[BECRUX]) Players you can see this turn: [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] [VORLON] [DOLAR] [SOMNOS] [SHADOWZEN] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 4842 5226 6126 8524 8680 10656 [SHADOWZEN] [SOMNOS]: Merchant (Information current as of turn 17) (Score=10656,Gifts=2,Worlds=18,Keys=30,Ships=391,Industry=4,Mines=74, People=1431,Artifacts=3,Ally=[DOLAR],Ally/Loader=[NORTHSTAR], lly=[TRITON], Ally=[BECRUX],Ally=[PRIEURE],Ally/Loader=[VORLON],Met=[FLATHEAD], Met=[SHADOWZEN],Ally=[LOTHARIO]) Players you can see this turn: [SHADOWZEN] [PRIEURE] [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] [FLATHEAD] [VORLON] [BECRUX] [TRITON] [DOLAR] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 2460 4252 4842 5226 5519 6126 7709 8524 8680 [TRITON]: Berserker (Information current as of turn 16) (Score=3935,Gifts=2,Worlds=13,Keys=19,Ships=150,Industry=68,Mines=36, People=80,Robots=134,Ally/Loader=[BECRUX],Ally/Loader=[PRIEURE], Ally/Loader=[VORLON],Met=[FLATHEAD],Met=[SHADOWZEN], Ally/Loader=[LOTHARIO], Ally/Loader=[SOMNOS],Ally/Loader=[DOLAR],Ally/Loader=[NORTHSTAR]) Players you can see this turn: [DOLAR] [SOMNOS] [SHADOWZEN] [PRIEURE] [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] [FLATHEAD] [VORLON] [BECRUX] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 2460 3813 4217 4232 5897 6798 7275 7530 9162 [VORLON]: Pirate (Information current as of turn 17) (Score=4842,Gifts=2,Worlds=38,Keys=45,Ships=481,Industry=11,Mines=96, People=2457,Artifacts=19,Met=[FLATHEAD],Met=[SHADOWZEN], Ally/Loader=[LOTHARIO],Ally/Loader=[SOMNOS],Ally/Loader=[DOLAR], Ally/Loader=[NORTHSTAR],Ally/Loader=[TRITON],Ally/Loader=[BECRUX], Ally/Loader=[PRIEURE]) Players you can see this turn: [BECRUX] [TRITON] [DOLAR] [SOMNOS] [SHADOWZEN] [PRIEURE] [NORTHSTAR] [LOTHARIO] [FLATHEAD] Their scores (not necessarily in order): 2460 4252 5226 5519 6126 7709 8524 8680 10656 Composite Report: Worlds 16 W1 (17,123,184) <16> [TRITON] (Industry=3,Metal=29,Mines=7,Population=7R, Limit=150,Turns=3,I-Ships=7) F11[]=0 F101[]=0 (Lost by [LOTHARIO],Moved) F247[FLATHEAD]=7 (Ambush) W2 (27,88,98) [BECRUX] (Metal=10,Mines=4,Population=109,Limit=109,Turns=1) (F82[LOTHARIO]-->W27) W3 (13,83,142,202) [BECRUX] (Metal=22,Mines=3,Population=50,Limit=50, Turns=2) * W4 (11,181,217,218) [] (Lost by [SHADOWZEN],Industry=4/0,Metal=8,Mines=5, Population=142,Limit=169,I-Ships=0(AF224)) F224[NORTHSTAR]=39 (AH) F25[VORLON]=31 (Moved) V4:Nebula Scrolls, Vol. IV (F181[NORTHSTAR]-->W218) And onward down to W255 I have also said a lot in the past about filters and sorts of the reams of data available in the Starweb Analyzer. Here is an example. Suppose you are a berserker who wishes to find all the juiciest worlds to PBB within 1 turn of your HW. You could do the following. Filtered View for Worlds SW-Z1307, Turn 17 Non Robotic Worlds Worlds <= Ring Limit 3 Sorted by: by Population (Descending) ================================================== W74 (113,130,149,154) [NORTHSTAR] (Industry=10,Metal=23,Mines=8, Population=140,Limit=171,Turns=5) (F180[SOMNOS]-->W113 F234[SOMNOS]-->W113) W108 (60,91,100,205) [NORTHSTAR] (Metal=40,Mines=8,Population=129, Limit=205,Turns=6,I-Ships=1) F105[VORLON]=5 (Moved) W10 (132,136,149) [NORTHSTAR] (Industry=3,Metal=19,Mines=6,Population=116,Limit=168,Turns=2) V38:Arcturian Lodestar V59:Radiant Sword V62:Ancient Sepulchre V78:Arcturian Moonstone V90:Plastic Sphinx V98:Arcturian Sphinx F96[LOTHARIO]=5 (Gift from [SOMNOS]) F174[TRITON]=13 (PLANET-BUSTER) W187 (68,117,129,159) [NORTHSTAR] (Industry=2,Metal=12,Mines=4, Population=109,Limit=109,Turns=1,I-Ships=1) This list continues down to a population of 0. Now how about that blank template for orders in the Order Editor? I usually set up my template to give orders that include details of fleets and include art. I don't allow the details of worlds to be shown in the Order Editor (too cluttered for me). Remember that the Draft set of orders include comments preceded by an *. These are deleted by the Analyzer before creating the final set of orders suitable for emailing to FBI. Here is a blank order template. ORDERS *-------- ** W5 [SOMNOS] F218 *F218[SOMNOS]=7 (Moved) *-------- ** W16 [SOMNOS] W16B1 *-------- ** W25 [SOMNOS] F166 *F166[SOMNOS]=8 (Moved,At-Peace) *-------- ** W32 [SOMNOS] F132U4 [SOMNOS] F132 *F132[SOMNOS]=2 (Moved,At-Peace,Cargo=4) [SOMNOS] F198U50 [SOMNOS] F198 *F198[SOMNOS]=25 (Moved,At-Peace,Cargo=50) *-------- [snip] ** W221 [SOMNOS] F89U8 [SOMNOS] F89 *F89[SOMNOS]=9 (Cargo=8) [SOMNOS] V50 *Plastic Sword [SOMNOS] V56 *Blessed Sword [SOMNOS] F155U2 [SOMNOS] F155 *F155[SOMNOS]=1 (At-Peace,Cargo=2) [SOMNOS] F182U2 [SOMNOS] F182 *F182[SOMNOS]=1 (Moved,Cargo=2) [SOMNOS] F185U27 [SOMNOS] F185 *F185[SOMNOS]=14 (Cargo=27) [SOMNOS] F188U22 [SOMNOS] F188 *F188[SOMNOS]=11 (At-Peace,Cargo=22) [SOMNOS] F200U16 [SOMNOS] F200 *F200[SOMNOS]=8 (Moved,At-Peace,Cargo=16) *-------- The unload orders are completely filled out for worlds with industry e.g. W221. The fleet numbers and art numbers are present as a memory aid for you to complete the orders. Worlds with industry will also put down incomplete build orders for you. Here is an order template – I've completed the orders and put in some comments (to inform my allies of my plans and keep a record for myself). ORDERS * I project gaining 968 points this turn. * * Good gaming! *-------- ** W5 [SOMNOS] F141L F141W16W45 * 10 metal to W45. *-------- ** W10 I am setting up W10 as a PBB target for Triton-Lothario. * Please note - N* needs to gift W10 to Lothario's Jihad target. [NORTHSTAR] * W10G=JIHAD TARGET [SOMNOS] F96U6 * 48 Pts. [SOMNOS] F96G=LOTHARIO * to Join Triton in a bombing run. *-------- ** W16 [SOMNOS] W16B1I *-------- ** W22 Vorlon doesn't need me here - I dive deeper into Shadows. [SOMNOS] F192Q F192W218W92W81 *F192[SOMNOS]=39 (Moved) *-------- ** W32 Prieure HW - needs metal for his industry building. * 51 metal - 408 points. [PRIEURE] F32T4F26 * Will allow me to get 23 metal from W39. [SOMNOS] F26U15 [SOMNOS] F26T2F177 F26W39 * Out for 16 metal. [SOMNOS] F177U36 [SOMNOS] F177W39W226W142 * Out for 40 metal. Here is how it looks once I strip out the comments. SW-Z1307 T-16 [SOMNOS] Elliot Hudes, Acct #, security # ORDERS F141L F141W16W45 F96U6 F96G=LOTHARIO W16B1I F192Q F192W218W92W81 F26U15 F26T2F177 F26W39 F177U36 F177W39W226W142 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRESPONDENCE To – All Flying Moose Technologies Customers Fr – Elliot – VP, FMT Re - THE SWAP CHALLENGE Mike and I would like to challenge any players who presently own a Starweb Analyzer (Evaluation, Registered or Beta) (or anyone who is about to purchase one) to an email game of Starweb. Two week turnaround and a 15,000 VPT. Just to keep things interesting I propose a little wager. Winner of the game will get a Flying Moose Technology cap or shirt (as long as sizes and stock hold out). To keep things interesting, if Mike or I win there should be something wagered as well (we already have shirts and hats ). Perhaps Rick will allow us to win a Victory pin. Or perhaps the losers must write a SEDG article for me ;-). Be aware that if we only get 7 players this will be played as a dual position multi game. If interested – email me with your character type, name and Account number. Elliot Regarding last issues 'A STARWEB STORY OF MURDER AND BETRAYAL' Craig Steele said: My comments - as Lothario the apostle - on The Police Action That Ate SW-1307: It was my idea to keep Elliot guessing on the fact that Becrux and I had allied with Triton, Dolar & Shadowzen. I had a feeling that the game would generate into a mega-alliance scoring race (won by either an AC or by Elliot's merchant) if it was well known that it was 5 versus 4 with 1 non-allied. By keeping our involvement secret, I'd hoped that the game wouldn't polarize quite so quickly, and the Shadowzen-Vorlon (heavy on the Babylon 5 references all game long) would be allowed to play out to some reasonable conclusion. We discussed early on the idea of attacking the non-allied EB Prieure. He had no friends, Becrux and I needed something to do with ships for some number of turns before creating bombs with them, but discarded the idea as bad since we didn't want to create a two front war for our alliance. Plus, I got distracted by some pretty baubles available when Flathead dropped - and did an awful job of really claiming many of them - but, it did distract us from the possibility that Prieure might attack us. Imagine my surprise in learning that Prieure the EB was being played by an old nemesis. We'd had a set too in an earlier game where I felt like the wronged party and was denied a pirate win (such a rare jewel) which de-generated into a war where we earned each others respect. We'd vowed to meet again, and fight it out honourably with no obscurity on either side. Unfortunately, I didn't think this was the game for it. Only Dave can answer whether he joined Elliot's side as much for a chance to lock horns with me again as for any sort of strategic gain. I even tried to use logic on him to dissuade him from his course, reasoning that Elliot would win easily if I couldn't funnel ships to Triton without fear of a border war breaking out. He was having none of it. Having said all that, the war against Prieure went quite well. True, he landed on my home world, and was beaten back, but we had 2 of his ring 1 worlds and had cut off his flow of reinforcements. I was close to converting back all of the worlds he had stolen on the way in to my homeworld. We'd have won if Vorlon and Northstar hadn't stuck their noses in. It was fun, but once Shadowzen pulled his "Benedict Arnold" on us, it all had to be put aside. For me, it wasn't firing at Triton or ransoming Dolar's homeworld (both inexcusable, but correctable), it was the language and insults contained in his emails around that time. I'm sorry, I don't play StarWeb to have my genealogy called into question because I had the nerve to suggest that perhaps he'd over- reacted. I can't remember who exactly came up with the idea of approaching Elliot's motley band (might have been me), but once we hit upon it as a course of action, it was unanimously agreed that we embark on that fairly radical course of action. It was deemed that putting a player in his proper place was more important than score or rank or past grievances or something as mundane as winning. Although that still didn't stop me from trying to appeal to Elliot's sense of altruism to let someone other than a stinkin' merchant win yet another game of StarWeb. But no, Elliot by this time was slavering over the victory pin ;-) and there was no dissuading him. Certainly my most memorable game of StarWeb. An experience I'd hope not to repeat in quite this manner, but a memorable game nonetheless. Craig Steel Lothario the Apostle Editor's note: Ah, but the pin was so bright and shiny and I just had to have it :-). Ken Kohn said: What an amazing game! When I read some of those email exchanges I become slightly nauseous - that someone with that amount of nasty behavior plays StarWeb will only keep me away! I'm glad you enjoyed it...I don't think I could have. Editor: Well, I had to sit back and laugh at how serious people were taking it all :-). Lee is having a mapping problem on his computer while using the Starweb Analyzer – is anyone having similar problems? Mike and I believe it's a bug inherent with accidentally activating the right mouse button while dragging a world on the map with the left button. Let me know. From Lee Knirko: The Analyzer mapping option is a very valuable procedure in constructing a map for a Starweb game. Having played Starweb for over 25 years, and as an accountant, I am from the old school where paper and pencil are my principal tools for working each turn. Accordingly, I prefer to transcribe the map from the Analyzer to a 1/4" square sheet of graph paper, and make an index for locating the worlds. However, using the Analyzer for mapping can be very frustrating due to a "shut down" panel that appears at random times. Often, I can plot dozens of worlds without the shut down coming up. Other times, it comes up after only a few worlds, like 5, are plotted or moved. All procedures since the prior "Save map" order are lost, necessitating starting over again since the last save. Eventually, I get so paranoid that I save after every 5 actions. The error message reads: "The program has performed an illegal operation and will be shut down. If the problem persists, contact the program vendor" Option are to "Close" or "Details" Close brings you to the Desktop which starts the Analyzer going again and results in the map as previously saved. Details brings up a box reading "SWMain caused am invalid page fault in module SWMain.exe at 016f:004b94a8. Registers: 6 lines of letters and numbers and other stuff. I wonder if this condition is only confined to both my PC and Laptop, or if other users of tAnalyzer mapping experience the problem. LEE Well, that's it for Volume 49. 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