re: simplyfying galaxy

From: cebra@ids2.idsonline.com (Jonathan Cebra)

Date: Fri, 19 Jun 1998 00:00:00 +0000

...
>> Nothing wrong with it at all, and yes they can be extreemly useful.  It's
>> just the number of designs you need...
>> In general if a simlified galaxy were in the pipeline, do people think
>> that ship design should be kept, or ditched in favour of 'standard
>> designs'.  In the latter case I would be interested to hear from
>> experianced players what should be included...

I don't see the need for simplification (which doesn't mean that others can't,
just as my lack of interest in NG doesn't stop others from enjoying it.) But
my perspective is that establishing standard designs will be helpful more in
the sense that you will know what to expect from your opponents than in
simplyfying your own orders.  If you want to simplify your own orders you can
write orders to design your standard ships and just paste those orders into
the first move of every game that you play.

On the other hand the fewer designs for warships (leaving freighters alone)
the less you have to worry about figuring out what sort of war fleets your
opponents are building.  The simplest case which would stay fairly true to
galaxy as now played would be three designs:
a big gun
a shotgun
and probes.

In that case you would only have to worry about the proper ratio of the three.
 As you add more options (shielded deflectors; warships with varying drive
ratios) you need to spend more time worrying about what others are building.

>The other modification I think should be made to Galaxy is that I think
>all races should get 0.05 tech in all techs every turn... I think that
>some discoveries would be broadcast and some would be made just by chance
>and so I think there ought to be some automatic progression.

This on the other hand is a modification which would add complexity rather
than simplicity.  You would either have to spend a lot of time upgrading your
ships or you would have a lot more groups floating around (since ships at
different tech levels don't group).  Although it may be more 'realistic'.