Re: Galaxy - Attrition and vacant positions

From: graeme@postimpressions.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths)

Date: Sun, 28 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000

In <cebra.176.00DBF623@ids2.idsonline.com> cebra@ids2.idsonline.com
    (Jonathan Cebra) writes:

>We had an earlier request from Graeme for suggestions for ways to deal with
>attrition of players from Galaxy - especially early in the game.

>One thread suggested designing Galaxy playing robots, though I suspect that
>writing such a robot might be a greater task than writing the game code.

[Protocols snipped]

>I think that all of the above protocols could be automated.  They would
>probably have the most impact early in the game, but that's not necessarily a
>problem.   It's also true that the larger the game the less effective this may
>be (as a larger percentage of the potential pool of players will already have
>signed up or decided the game is too big for them.)

These _could_ be automated (fairly easily on my server) and I would consider
it had Stig Hemmer not come up with the following:

> Another idea:
>
> Add a "Round -1" to the game.
>
> In this round the only commands available are the 'meta' commands:
> renaming your race, changing your password and email address etc.
>
> Anybody who doesn't send any mail for this round are dropped.  (Empty
> orders are OK)
>
> Then generate a galaxy with the remaining players.

I think this is quite brilliant. I've considered similar things to Jonathon's
protocols but never got as far as specifying them which I think Jonathon did
a good job with but Stig's has a simplicity I rather like. I'm going to look
at the code now to see how easy round -1 would be to implement. I think the
major problem will be working out what the server needs to generate for turn
1 and what it needs to generate for turn 0 thereafter (the game generation
code is really flaky). I think I can make a dummy data file that will hold
no planets and all the races and then generate a second data file from the
first.... hmmm.

I think Jonathon's is easier to implement but Stig's is a more complete
solution.

Good ideas, they're like buses, you want one and then two come along at once.

More thoughts ?
--
Graeme Griffiths - Post Impressions (Systems) Ltd
Disclaimer: I do not speak for anyone but myself and I do that badly.
Mail: graeme@postimpressions.co.uk
Spam: All unsolicited mail will be reported, and billed for my time.

References

Re: Looking for a good pbem
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Simplifying Galaxy
Stig Hemmer <stig@pvv.ntnu.no>
Sun, 14 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Simplifying Galaxy
weertj@xs2.xs4all.nl (Jacco van Weert)
Wed, 17 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Simplifying Galaxy
graeme@postimpressions.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths)
Thu, 18 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Simplifying Galaxy
cebra@ids2.idsonline.com (Jonathan Cebra)
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Galaxy - Attrition and vacant positions
cebra@ids2.idsonline.com (Jonathan Cebra)
Sat, 27 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Looking for a good pbem
Yoni Rhein <famrhein@worldnet.att.net>
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Re: Looking for a good pbem
lindahl@pbm.com (Greg Lindahl)
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Simplifying Galaxy
Stig Hemmer <stig@pvv.ntnu.no>
Sun, 14 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Simplifying Galaxy
weertj@xs2.xs4all.nl (Jacco van Weert)
Wed, 17 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Simplifying Galaxy
graeme@postimpressions.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths)
Thu, 18 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Simplifying Galaxy
cebra@ids2.idsonline.com (Jonathan Cebra)
Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Galaxy - Attrition and vacant positions
cebra@ids2.idsonline.com (Jonathan Cebra)
Sat, 27 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000
Re: Looking for a good pbem
Yoni Rhein <famrhein@worldnet.att.net>
Thu, 11 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000