Re: Tribe Vibes

From: Patrick Travers <ptravers@flash.net>

Date: Mon, 19 May 1997 00:00:00 +0000

I just started playing TribeVibes (or TribeNet as I was introduced to
it).  So far, I have had one turn.  The game is very challenging; Andrew
is not overstating the complexity of the possibilities here at all.

Honestly, I've spent over 60 hours reading rules, thinking about my
move, and talking to other players via e-mail.  And that's all within I
even woke one of the game masters up at 4:30am Australian time
(accidently, I assure you) because I was so excited about the game and
wanted my questions answered right away.  I don't think I'll ever be
allowed to forget THAT faux-pas.

I've never played a pbm game before; however, TribeNet appeals to the
great thinker in me.

I'm excited about the future of my clan.

My observations from my one turn so far:

1) The intracacies of the game leave you with LOTS of dreams; however,
at one turn every two weeks, I've computed that it will be 11 months
before all of my warriors are outfitted with slings and leather armor.
That's just the FIRST step in arming my clan.  Then comes bows (which
you have to search for staves in a forest and wax from beehives to make
the strings to go on the staff to make the bow), real metal armor (you
guessed it - you have to mine the ore, then mine coal, refine the ore
into usable metal in a refinery --- oh, did I mention that you have to
BUILD a refinery (which requires metal to construct, of course) --- oh,
and did I mention that you have to first STUDY refining, metalwork,
engineering, and stonework to be able to build your refinery..., you get
the idea).  All of this studying and construction must take a back seat
to feeding your people, herding your animals, finding a suitable place
to set up a village, etc.

2) The game is VERY realistic.  For instance: If you don't feed your
people, they go out and kill your herd animals for food.  You, of
course, could have done that in your turn instructions.  But, if you
don't provide enough food for them, your tribe members do it for you,
and only use half of the meat (because they're doing it in the middle of
the night to avoid your guards).  And if you run out of herd animals,
well, then, they die.

3) Did I mention that the game is VERY realistic?  Hunting parties
gather DRASTICALLY less food in wintertime.  It's currently winter on
the continent where I'm located; I have almost HALF of my tribe out
hunting for food; last turn (my first turn) they brought in enough to
feed just over 1,000 people.  My clan is almost 5,000 strong.  I will
have to slaughter a large portion of my herd of goats to keep my tribe
members from doing it for me; of course, at half the efficiency.

4) Your clan does not magically come about knowledge nor resources.  The
more that they know about a particular skill, say leatherwork, the
harder it is to acquire the next knowledge level.  There are 80 skills
in the game; each skill level is rated from 0 to 10.  You start out with
approximately 50 skill points.  That leaves 850 skill levels to attain
(425 game months, 213 real months, 17.75 YEARS).  Now, I must point out
that this is assuming that you achieve the skill level on the first
attempt.  This is not the case.  To go from level 5 in a skill level to
level 6, you only have a 50% chance to attain that improvement.
FURTHER, this assumes that this is your PRIMARY skill attempt.  You
actually get two skill attempts per turn (every two weeks).  The
secondary skill attempt only has HALF the chance of success that the
same skill attempt would have had had it been your PRIMARY skill
attempt.  In other words, the example above would have a 25% chance of
success as the secondary skill attempt.  WHEW.  Ok, now I'm hooked.
Given that a skill attempt level 1 is guaranteed while a skill attempt
level 10 has only a 10% shot, how long will it take to get TWENTY skills
to level 10?  Hmmm, let's see.  First turn, you are guaranteed to get
one level 1 skill and have a 50% shot at the second.  Second turn, same
thing.  la di da... it will take 13 turns to get all twenty skills to
level one.  It will take 13.5 turns to get level 2.  It takes 16 turns
to get level 3.  It takes 21 turns to get level 4.  It takes 23.5 turns
to get level 5.  It takes 25 turns to get level 6.  It takes 32 turns to
get level 7.  40 turns for level 8.  67 turns for level 9.  And,
finally, 134 turns for level 10.  Add that all up, and you have 385
turns to get 20 skills from level 0 to level 10.  And there are 80
skills in the game.  4 times 385 is 1540 turns.  770 months.  64 YEARS
playing Tribe Net.

5) You may attempt to do things in which you have no knowledge, but you
pay a stiff penalty (e.g. - people die trying to mine minerals or get
lost on scouting missions and never come back).

The only complaint that I have is it takes TOO LONG between moves.  In
todays minute-by-minute world, TWO WEEKS is ridiculous.  I'm in
communication with the game masters (Andrew is one of them) about
writing a version of TribeNet in Java, to be played at the rate of one
turn per day.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the game, it's complexity, the
interaction between players, and the realism that the designers built in
to the game.

Also try viewing http://www.flash.net/~ptravers/TribeNet.html.

Patrick

References

Tribe Vibes
"A. Davey" <adavey@ocean.com.au>
Mon, 19 May 1997 00:00:00 +0000

Referenced By

Tribe Vibes
"A. Davey" <adavey@ocean.com.au>
Mon, 19 May 1997 00:00:00 +0000