STARWEB EMAIL DISCUSSION GROUP (THE SEDG) (Sponsored by Flying Moose Technologies' Starweb Analyzer - http://www.flyingmoose.ca) VOLUME 69, Feb. 3, 2002 CONTENTS Feature Article - Requiem for a Veteran Starweb Player Questions - Squeeze that last Apostle point SEDG Web Page URL The Swap Corner - Starweb Analyzer V1.5 and V1.6 Correspondence FEATURE ARTICLE Requiem for a Veteran Starweb Player: Where do we go from here by Elliot Hudes Well, to be fair you should know my origins before you can formulate a conjecture about where I'm going. Originally I found the FBI flyer at a Comic book & Science Fiction Convention at York University circa 1976. During my undergraduate days myself, and several friends (including Mike of Flying Moose fame), managed to play in about 5 Starweb games. Remember, this was at a time that predates the Internet and Canada Post was nowhere near as fast as it is now with delivery from the USA in about a week (sarcasm dripping from the last statement). It was unusual for me to have two games overlap because ensuring that a turn would get to FBI on time was always an anxiety provoking challenge. The turn would arrive typically 10 days into the 14-day cycle. I would do the turn that day. NO MATTER WHAT! Despite family obligations, calculus exams or a trip - those orders had to be written and then sent priority post to get them in by the due date. To my credit I never missed a turn. I am unaware if there were slow games at the time. Playing Starweb in the summer was an even bigger challenge. During that era I would work at an overnight summer camp in Northern Ontario as a counselor for 9 weeks. The turns could arrive even later and I remember lining up at the staff telephone at 9:00 PM to phone FBI and verbally give them my orders (before their office would close down). I got more than one dirty look from staff waiting to call their girlfriends or parents while I casually exceeded my three minute limit with such mysterious statements such as F23AF200 or worse yet when I sent a diplo and actually said things like "Surrender or die backstabbing scum"! Occasionally I would catch a break and have my day off (one per week) the next day. I would hitch hike the 10 miles to the nearest town, Haliburton, orders in hand to find the Post office. I was clearly the oddball scifi doofus except that the kids thought I was extremely cool and we even had a Starweb Hobby Hub (Hobby group) where we would pour over my turnsheets and have upwards of 10 eight year olds helping define my strategy. Don't play with eight year olds. They lack insight into subtle strategy and have little use for diplomacy but they did seem to enjoy the guns on the fleets :-). This cycle continued through my undergraduate days. I even organized a gaming group of university students into a couple private games. Almost weekly we gathered at a local watering hole to drink a beer, recount a tale and show bravado to ally and opponent alike. I recall a particularly interesting morning in Anatomy class when my buddy Howard whispered to me during the lecture that on turn 2 he was over my HW and I should be prepared for blasting. Turn 2 made me think that he couldn't have such an advantage and I pulled my turnsheet out of my backpack and lo and behold I had a key hovering over his HW as well. It appeared that FBI had taken literally my request for Howard and I to be adjacent. While I had meant empires, they interpreted it as ring 1 HWs. As I approached my final year of Medical School, spent totally within the confines of the hospital wards I tapered off my gaming. Truthfully, I had little spare time with my medical boards looming and being newly married. I left Starweb behind because of time constraints not because I had tired of this diplomacy strategy game. Jump ahead to 1994. I am already settled into my home in the burbs and working at the local community hospital. My newly acquired email address seems to be only good for exchanging jokes with friends and the World Wide Web doesn't exist. Anything interesting on the internet is accessed via telnet or gopher space. Mike sends me an email telling me that he looked up FBI and now it's possible to play Starweb by email! Unbelievable! Now we were talking. A space opera PBM game played at the speed of light. No more orders and priority post on the day the turn arrives. This is in the days before Mudds or other live (via the web and server) Internet games. So, we played. Inevitably Mike and I developed the Starweb Analyzer, which in many ways is a great front end, allowing a graphical interface to the game for mapping, data searching and orders utilizing the text turnsheet as a pure data sheet. Life is good, I play many games, as many as 7 at a time and I try to win. Mike plays for pure warfare's sake and ignores his score (until the fateful game where I helped him push over the VPT and he tasted his first Victory Pin. Then he caught the lust for . - but that is another story). It's now almost 9 years later. I've played in just about every variant. I have set up innumerable private games with their own variants - teams of 5, 3, partners, partner-anonymous, handicapping etc. I have played for the win and I've played for rank. I've managed a win with just about every character type (not pirate - only third and not EB). With time I have developed a fair comprehension of the better strategies and military gambits and in truth, with a good alliance behind you anybody can win the game. So my tastes change. Taking a page out of a couple of players books I get a second account number with FBI. This was my play account. Here I could try other gambits and strategies that could ignore the scoring side of the game. This multiple personality ideology has grown in my mind to truly schizophrenic proportions. My ranking personality SOMNOS wish to win, rank and do well. He is extremely diplomatic. SLUMBER on the other hand tends to be more militarily based and look for those jobs that need doing although won't necessarily help me score or win. SNOOZER is my latest personality and not a fully functioning one yet. He likes to have fun. That is his credo. Things like PBBing enemy HWs for the sheer joy of it or pushing an unlikely player to the win are considered. I still have trouble explaining to my wife the differences between my serious and my not for real accounts. She just shakes her head . I must tell you that lately I've been playing mostly SLUMBER games. It isn't holding any fascination for me to throw SOMNOS in the ring as a berserker, Apostle, Merchant or Art Collector and try to win. With the right group and scenario I know what needs to be done. That doesn't guarantee me success but I know enough about the game to know what behaviors will work. It's much more fun to throw SLUMBER in the ring and if he's outgunned 5 to 3 what the heck - Fire away! SNOOZER is in only one game at the moment but I will be playing his card more soon. He isn't very well developed yet but I hope to have fun with this one. Define fun? I'm not sure either yet but if an idea strikes his fancy he may do it. More and more I am finding that the game itself doesn't hold the same interest for me. I am looking forward to the turnsheets for a chance to chat with my gaming buddies about what is going on not just on the turnsheet but at work or at home. It's much more social. Also, the gaming pool of players is getting smaller and I know so many of them. They are all a bunch of neat and interesting guys (and some gals) and most of them know the game well enough that they are fine allies. So it's getting harder and harder to find a target to flex my bloodthirsty rage at. Who do you choose in a universe that is friendly and helpful? I'm becoming a lounge chair warrior, more content to relive the glory of past battles but not as interested in seeking it out. What does the future hold? I must admit I have been involved in the play testing of one Starweb variant developed by a competitor of FBI. There is another company that has sought me out to play test for them also but the turn cycle reportedly will be 4 days and the orders must be input on their web based graphical interface. On the surface that sounds great but it eliminates my ability to do my orders on my laptop wherever I may be while not connected to the web then email them in. The more the game relies on live contact the more limiting it is to us middle-aged gamers who don't have lots of spare time. And the game I am play testing? I am not going to say who they are here - as I have designated the SEDG as a vehicle for Starweb fans. Whether the other game evolves to the point where a similar newsletter is warranted will remain to be seen. Why mention them? Because they have something that FBI has been lacking. They have the programming code available and changeable on a moments notice. They are quite willing to change the code on a turn-by-turn basis while play testing not only to fix bugs but also to implement ideas regarding changes that players would like to try. Simple scoring changes to make characters more competitive are being tried out as well as more radical changes to the game. If Rick and FBI don't do something to advertise and make the game adaptable (at least create a Starweb 2003 variant) I am afraid they will go the way of Space War. (The first computer game ever created I believe and one that has eluded me so far - I would dearly love to download this game where your spaceship takes on an opponent - plus whatever software that would slow it down so it could be run on a modern computer. Email me if you can help me out). I for one don't wish Starweb to become a footnote in gaming history but I'm afraid they are doomed to the 1970s strata layer for future cyberpaleontologists unless a more proactive approach is taken. I'm afraid that Starweb is a metaphor for life. You start out as the young hotshot who doesn't know what's out there in the universe and evolve into the Veteran player with a few wins under his belt with the healthy respect of your allies and opponents and finally morph into the graying field general tired of the wars and longing for peace. Where am I? Where am I going? Stop at W190 uninvited and I'll show you. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- QUESTIONS - Can anyone answer these? Continuing our discussion on Apostle play, Paul Balsamo teased us with this interesting question. "Assuming you don't fire with home fleets and all of the worlds next to your HW are not robotized, there is a way to possibly gain 1 point through mirgation on the last turn. How?" Paul answers: Migrating 9-10 converts to a non-robotized world (even one belonging to another player) will net you 9 more converts that turn as population growth happens after migrators leave. That is, your HW will go down to 90-91 converts (assuming it was at 100) and back up to 99-100 on this turn. The 9-10 converts that get migrated will count in your total as long as they don't get killed at their destination. They will NOT be killed if they merely push the destination over its pop limit that turn (e.g. 90C with a pop limit=80) since the computer checks for pop limit deaths before migrators reach their destination. Now, whether you gain a point depends on your convert total that turn. We know that you get 10% of your total converts rounded up. So as long as your total wasn't going to end in a 0 or 1, then you gained a point. For example, you would've had 2235 and now you have 2244, you got 225 points instead of 224. Conversely, if you would've had 2231 and now have 2240, you still only get 224 points. Editor: All I can say is that Paul is an awesome Apostle and is one of the few who truly know how to play the position. Here is a new question by Jeff Calkins: >> Elliot, I'm playing a PBM in the final stages. I want to have my pirate capture and then plunder a world that has previously been PBBed. I successfully transferred a population to the bombed world and my pirate now owns it so I will plunder it this turn. Will my plunder be successful if the population dies (population capacity is 0 on bombed out worlds? Would it be successful if I transferred over another population this turn? Thanks for the help, Jeff Calkins << Editor: If the population dies and the world goes neutral you will not be successful plundering. I'm not sure if you will retain control if you migrate a population but I think it's worth a try. Let me know how it works out. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 SWAP CORNER STARWEB ANALYZER V1.5 - It's on the web site and it's no longer a Beta! Go get it! As before - registered clients of any previous V1.x version can upgrade for free. www.flyingmoose.ca Mike has already begun V2.0. He tells me that the computing environment/compiler that was originally used is now antiquated and is not being updated by the original software vendor. So, he is starting from scratch again. This is a great opportunity to put in your two cents worth regarding changes and additions you would like to see. We are even talking about making the Analyzer more broader based handling another Space Opera type game (hence the V2.0 designation). ----------------------------------------------------------------------- CORRESPONDENCE Ken Cassady wrote: Elliot, Since we are planning a new version here this is may wish list. Auto build map - This should be easy. The user places one world on the map then pushes the auto build map button and the map begins to generate itself. Phil Boyd responds: Graph traversals are well known. There is probably a component on the market someplace that will do this for you. Editor: We try to keep operating costs lean. Believe it or not the Starweb Analyzer has not allowed us to give up our day jobs. Mike tells me he is looking into some tweaks to the map to help place unmapped worlds and allow bulk movement of sections of the map around. Jack Fulmer writes: Hi Elliot, Happy New Year. I wanted to let you know that I'm going to try to write two articles for SEDG regarding playing specific characters successfully in anonymous games. I plan one for pirate and one for berserker. I'm going to try to write them as much as possible from a strategic /generic point of view rather than getting into the details of player's specific moves or details of my orders each turn. I find many of the articles written about specific games to be somewhat difficult to follow. The fly in this ointment is that both of the games I plan to write about are currently in progress. I'm having great success in both games, which makes it fun from my perspective. However, I won't write about an anonymous game in progress. One game will certainly end by February at the latest. The other is on T-16 but looks like it could go on for a while. So, one article hopefully for April publication in SEDG. The other not until second half 2003. I'm not sure that you want to keep SEDG going that long. Maybe revert to quarterly or bi-monthly publication? Let me know please as I won't bother to write them if they won't have a forum to be published. Regards... Jack << Editor: My intent is to put out the SEDG as long as I have material. After that I will put it out on an Ad Hoc basis as articles become available. At the moment there is no backlog and my coffers are empty. I would welcome your articles. Brett Bias writes: Elliot, I would like to join the SEDG. I have been away from Starweb for many years so I will start with a general question: WHAT IS THE CURRENT STATE OF THE STARWEB GAME? When I decided to play Starweb again (I wish that I hadn't waited so long) I was pleased to find that the game was still being run and that Flying Buffalo had a website. And I was very pleased to find the SEDG and the Starweb Analyzer program. So I signed up for a regular game and an anonymous game and waited for the games to start. That was almost 4 months ago. I figured that the PBM and PBEM industry had probably suffered with the advent of online computer gaming but I had no idea that the popularity of Starweb would have diminished so much. That brings up several more questions. These should probably be directed to Rick Loomis,but I will throw them out for general discussion. How many players are actively playing Starweb on a regular basis? How many games of Starweb are currently being run? What is the average start time between new games of Starweb? Has Flying Buffalo ever considered releasing Starweb as a commercial game? These are just some of the questions I have while I am waiting to play Starweb again. But the biggest question to be answered (and one that I notice has been discussed before on the SEDG) is this: What can be done to bring new players to the Starweb game? This seems to be a question with no easy answer. It seems that Flying Buffalo is a small company and I don't know how much they do to promote Starweb and their other games. This friendly small company atmosphere is one of the things I like about Starweb and Flying Buffalo. But I also want to play as many games as possible and that requires players. So what can we as players do to increase the number of people who are interested in Starweb? I am sure that the SEDG has gone a long way in keeping Starweb alive and promoting new interest in the game. Other than advertising, it seems that the best way to promote Starweb is by word of mouth. I have mentioned the game to several of my wargaming buddies but they don't seem interested. It seems that in this age of instant gratification via online games and hi-res graphics that PBEM gamers are a rare breed indeed. I am also going to try and post a handmade flyer at the local game store. It will just be something that briefly describes the Starweb game and I hope the game store will allow it. Beyond that I don't know what else to do. I fear that the heyday of PBM and PBEM games is over and that is very disappointing. But it is not my intention to lay a bunch of "negative waves" on everybody. As long as there is a core group of Starweb players then the game will live on. And waiting 4 months for a game to start is a small price to pay for playing a great game like Starweb. The anticipation of that first turn is still as exciting today as it was almost 20 years ago and I am sure that a lot of others feel the same way. So good luck, good gaming and I'll see you all in the Web. Brett Bias Editor: Thanks for your note. You are now on the mailing list. We have all noticed the shrinking player pool and lots of us have had suggestions but I think the majority of the responsibility for promoting this game lies with FBI. When I get the urge to play and no game is upon the horizon I frequently come up with an idea for a variant and email all the players I know about to form a private game. My last idea for a variant where we handicapped the scores of the different character types received such a warm reception that I started 2 different games with it. I suggest you advertise in the SEDG (with your email address) and fish for more players for a private game. El Well, that's it for Volume 69. 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