New game starting - Far Horizons - galactic strategic role-playing From: ram@eskimo.com (Rick Morneau) Date: Mon, 19 Feb 1996 00:00:00 +0000 Howdy! The fourth edition of Far Horizons is now ready for testing, and I am seeking several new players. Far Horizons is a strategic role-playing game of galactic exploration, colonization, and conquest designed by me for play-by-email. The game is free. I am retired, and Far Horizons is one of my hobbies. My goal has been to design a realistic, open-ended simulation that let's a player play the role of a space-faring species as enjoyably as possible. Compared to similar games, Far Horizons is somewhat modest in its scope, since its goal is realistic role-playing, rather than Monty-Hall-esque space opera. Each ship, even the smallest, has a name, and your fleets are likely to be rather small. To make matters worse, ships get old and eventually have to be replaced or retrofitted. In Far Horizons, you can build normal colonies, environmentally disruptive mining colonies, or lucrative resort colonies. You can also wage war. However, conquering and then controlling an enemy planet is not easy. Destroying all life on a planet, though, is relatively easy. Grandiose battles between humongous fleets are extremely unlikely in a game of Far Horizons, although they can happen. In playing Far Horizons, you can use any text editor on any computer to read your status reports and prepare your orders - no special software is needed. You will also need a calculator, but the calculations are simple and there are not many of them. We will also have access to a custom-designed list server at eskimo.com that will forward messages to individual species or broadcast messages to all species, anonoymously or non-anonymously. Thus, if you wish, you can keep your real identity and email address secret. You are also free, of course, to communicate with other players directly. The previous test game, which just ended, had 22 players, and it appears now that almost all of them will be playing in the next game. I am hoping to attract about ten new players to increase the scope of the test as well as to replace some players that left during the previous game. While this will be a test game, I do not expect to make many changes. Most of the bugs were worked out in the previous tests. In the early stages of the game, there will be two turns per week, and your orders will be due at 12:00 noon universal time on Wednesdays and Saturdays. When things start getting busier (perhaps about turn 10 or 11), we will switch to one turn per week, and your orders will be due at 12:00 noon universal time on Saturdays only. (12:00 noon UT = 4 AM US Pacific time = 7 AM US Eastern time.) The game should start in about 2 weeks. The length of the game will be randomly determined and will not be announced until the very end. The minimum length will be 20 turns and the maximum will be 50. In the later stages of the game, expect to spend 4-5 hours per week preparing your orders and communicating with other players. Playing Far Horizons is a serious commitment, and your allies will be depending on you to play as diligently as possible. If you would like to play, you can obtain a copy of the current draft of the rules at the following ftp site: In one piece, compressed: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHRules.Z or in five pieces, uncompressed: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHRules.aa ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHRules.ab ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHRules.ac ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHRules.ad ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHRules.ae If you decide that you want to play, you will also need a copy of the file: ftp://ftp.eskimo.com/u/r/ram/pbem/FHTest This site can get extremely busy at times, so please be patient and keep trying. Uncompressed, the rules occupy about 220 kbytes (about 90 printed pages). If you want to play, please do the following: 1. Read ALL the rules CAREFULLY. 2. Answer all of the questions in the file FHTest and send it to me. 3. Fill out the set-up form in Appendix D of the rules and send it to me. My email address is ram@eskimo.com. The purpose of the questions in file FHTest is to reduce the high drop-out rate that often occurs at the very beginning of a new game. Unfortunately, many people will commit themselves to play before reading the rules, only to change their minds when they eventually do read them. If you have any questions about the previous game or about Far Horizons in general, please post them to this newsgroup. I'm sure that some of the previous players will be able to respond. My own access to this newsgroup, though, is limited and most articles will expire before I get the chance to read them. Because of this, if you do post a response to this article, I would appreciate it very much if you would also send me a copy via email. To whet your appetite, here is the introduction to the Rules: FAR HORIZONS is a strategic role-playing game of galactic exploration, trade, diplomacy, and conquest. The first and second editions were designed for play by postal mail. The third edition was our first foray into play by electronic mail, and many mistakes were made in the transition. This fourth edition has hopefully corrected those mistakes. At the start of a game, each player controls an intelligent species and the home planet on which it lives. As the game progresses, you can explore nearby regions of the galaxy and establish colonies. As you range farther and farther from home, you will encounter other intelligent species. These encounters can be hostile, neutral, or friendly, depending on the participants. Interstellar war is a distinct possibility. FAR HORIZONS, unlike some similar games, has been designed to make role- playing as easy and practical as possible. In addition to being a rich and realistic simulation, there are no true victory conditions - the game is played solely for enjoyment. However, at the end of the last turn, final statistics for all species will be sent to all of the players so that they can compare their relative strengths and weaknesses. Thus, rather than requiring a massive bloodletting as in some other similar games, it's possible for a peace-loving species to effectively "win". Still, those who enjoy a more aggressive game, or those who wish to role-play an "evil" or warlike species will not be disappointed. FAR HORIZONS does not discriminate against anyone - it simply tries to be as realistic as possible. Best regards, Rick -- *=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*= =* Rick Morneau ram@eskimo.com "Whenever you're in a hurry, =* *= Denizen of Idaho, USA slow down!" - me *= =*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=*=* Up