Re: Newbie needs Blind Galaxy help

From: bampton@interlego.cs.utk.edu (Howard the Energizer)

Date: Tue, 04 Nov 1997 00:00:00 +0000

In article <63m1df$co0@bgtnsc03.worldnet.att.net> "Darren Lenda" <DELENDA@worldnet.att.net> writes:
>I've never played Galaxy or Blind Galaxy, but I have read ALL the
>documentation, rules, stategies, and hints.  I'll be in a game of Blind
>Galaxy next week and I need a few questions answered from a helpful vet.
>First, where can I get turn sheet crunching tools that will work with BG?

>I hear at there is least a battle summary program.

Check the FTP site, the stuff that your GM will send you when the game
starts, somwhere around at www.pbm.com,
http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bampton/ among others.

A couple of the options in the newer code cause it to crash, since I
use them, I'll eventually get around to fixing it.

> Second, I need a turn
>checker.  Is there a difference between a BG and a regular G turn checker
>(I would think so).

Blind Galaxy's turn checker is as good as most of them, and the
forecaster blows the doors off of any one I've seen (other than Kevin
Pankhurst's, and he no longer runs games, I think). The forecaster
gives you a report that shows what your turn report will look like
barring actions from other players (i.e. producition, movement,
battles). No more groups going to the wrong system. No more ships
stuck in hyperspace. Basically, your errors become tactical and
strategic, not typographical!

My personal experience has shown this:
Program Bugs: 2%
Gramatical errors: 30%
Typos (others not caught by a grammar checker): 30%
Full forecaster (hyperspace, production and routing miscompuatations): 38%

Tool users might claim the numbers for the hyperspace type problems
are fewer, but they still happen (I've seen groups 0.01 away and 1%
production errors result in a 99% done ship)....

I've largely stopped playing non Blind games because I can't get what
I want out of the tools; but I can out of a forecaster (and some
sed/awk/perl/sh scripts).

This assumes you use the server to check things for you, rather than
something like Goggle or GalaxyTV. If you have a fast email link,
there is little reason not to use the server one.

Grammarwise, anything except F and @ that work in standard galaxy are
legal in Blind (it isn't true the other way around, however- P/G/B/H/K/O
commands are different in one way or another).

> Lastly, the game I'm in includes partial techs.  I've
>seen this alluded to in some of the liturature, but it is not in the rules.
> Any details?

They are in the rules from 2.46 (and 2.4{3,4,5} I think). Look for the
"Partial Techs" section.
--
$1000 plus $1 per byte fee for proofing commercial mail sent to me.
Howard Bampton   bampton@cs.utk.edu        http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bampton/
System Administrator, Stibo Datagraphics   Fight spam: http://www.cauce.org/

References

Newbie needs Blind Galaxy help
"Darren Lenda" <DELENDA@worldnet.att.net>
Tue, 04 Nov 1997 00:00:00 +0000