Interstellar Communicator #10 From: dpierce@erinet.com (Daniel Pierce) Date: Sun, 21 May 1995 00:00:00 +0000 Interstellar Communicator Issue 10 Stardate 1042 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995 by Daniel Pierce dpierce@erinet.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- The official newsletter of Galactic Empires and Interstellar Traders Daniel Pierce, 17 Dean Place, Dayton Ohio 45420 USA We need your articles. Your comments. Your ideas. Your gripes. Star League Associated Press Release: "FASHION" WAR AVERTED THROUGH USE OF OLD TECHNOLOGY (Honesty 01:04:LLL) Trade negociations between the Veiled Society and the Amphi Consortium resumed today after the intervention of the Star League Trade Advancement Council (SLTAC). The Amphi were threating war after the hospitalization of it's three trade ambassadors. The ambassadors collapsed into coma's 3 seconds into the first face-to-face meeting with the Veiled Society trade group. SLTAC investigators quickly stepped in and determined that no harm had been meant, the problem was a result of the different ways the two species sense their enviroment. The Amphi Cosortium is a semi-aquatic species known throughout the Galaxy for it's keen eye-sight. Amphi can percieve nearly the entire electomagnetic spectrum and are renowned for their color coordination. Amphi fashion designers and decorators are in high demand throughout the galaxy. The Veiled Society (VS) on the other hand is not visually based at all. Members of the VS emit some form of self-described "Mental" energy that bounces off of items in thier enviroment and is received back by them, acting as a form of Sonar. Star League scientists have had no luck in trying to determine the nature of this "mental" energy. Fashion and style in the VS is totally based on shape and texture, with no regard of color. The normal robes used by members of the VS are a collection of sewed together patches and objects that the wearer feels are good to the touch. The end result being what some have called a "eye wounding explosion of clashing color". The sensitive eyes of the Amphi ambassodors were overwhelmed by the clothing of the VS. The SLTAC solved this problem through the use of an old technology called "Black and White" television. Currently the Amphi and the VS are talking about combining Amphi dyes with VS Temporian silk, both of which are well received on the galactic luxury market. What's going on? Trade is expanding at the Federation homeworld at 00:00:AAA and at the Antares Confederacy at 00:01:SCK. Other empires are building colonies and starports at both places with the intent to foster healthy competition in interstellar markets. Cut throat price wars are more like it. No major power blocks have arisen yet, with peace still abounding galaxy wide. The Boskone were seen for a while at a Star League starport, their intentions unknown. Looking over the statistics, the Federation has added a few starports, Dreenoi population seems to grow without limits, and fledgling empires are expanding their power base. Statistics: There are 916 suns, 507 planets, 125 Bases, 58 Starports, 33 Beacons, 4 Battle stations, 152 Trampships, 296 Transports, 509 Warships, 100 Merchantman, 109 Scouts. There are 40 Merchants, 20 Empires, 46 Live players, 14 Computer players. Federation 109 planets, 40 starbases, 4 starports. 6200000 people, 3209000 industry, 10 scouts, 116 warships, 157 transports. Star League 0 planets, 0 starbases, 0 colonies, 36 starports. 2368000 people, 365000 industry, 0 scouts, 11 warships, 14 transports, 140 others. Antares Confederacy 44 planets, 9 starbases, 0 colonies, 1 starport. 3672000 people, 1271000 industry, 5 scouts, 12 warships, 75 transports. Dreenoi 31 planets, 13 starbases, 0 colonies, 1 starport. 78837000 people, 3617000 industry, 5 scouts, 18 warships, 48 transports. Cyborg 33 planets, 3 starbases, 0 colonies, 3 starports. 552000 people, 726000 industry, 15 scouts, 15 warships, 45 transports. Mechs 0 planets, 0 starbases, 0 colonies, 3 starports. 357000 people, 300000 industry, 15 scouts, 9 warships, 15 transports. Weyland-Yutani 1 planet, 9 starbases, 2 colonies, 1 starport. 287000 people, 159000 industry, 1 scout, 1 warship, 1 transport, 12 others. Caladan 2 planets, 0 starbases, 0 colonies, 1 starport. 283000 people, 121000 industry, 1 scout, 1 warship, 1 transport, 1 other. Imperial Empire 51 planets, 26 starbases, 0 colonies, 1 starport. 945000 people, 437000 industry, 20 scouts, 80 warships, 96 transports, 30 others. Veiled Society 3 planets, 1 starbase, 0 colonies, 0 starports. 216000 people, 100000 industry, 1 scout, 1 warship, 1 transport. Hegemony 2 planets, 0 starbases, 0 colonies, 1 starport. 174000 people, 100000 industry, 6 scouts, 1 warship, 1 transport. Questions: Q) Fuel consumption is behaving rather differently than I expected. When I saw that Yachts were consuming only 1 Fuel, I figured that Yachts were awfully small, so I could understand it. However, the transport I just bought is only using 3 Fuel per Jump. I certainly can't complain, but it seems surprising. a) Actually, the yachts are very fuel ineffeciant. Based on size they should only consume .1 fuel but, as small drives don't have the fancy bells and whistles the larger ones have they waste more fuel than they burn. Q) In the Star Base Report, there is normally: A Line listing the Cargo bay Contents, a line listing Trade costs, a line list "For Sale", giving the fighters, torps, and military, and then there is a Line with a > sign, listing fuel ore, organics, metals, and industry. There is a price by the industry. Based on previous experience, it seemed that the supplies by those numbers were not for sale, but rather were for local/owners use. Is this correct, or can I buy that stuff? a) Everything after "For Sale" and the ">" you can buy. Q) Jumping: we can jump one "group", so you can go from 00:00:LLL to 01:00:LLL, but can you go to any region (i.e. to 04:00:LLL)? a) Going from 00:00:LLL would take 4 jumps (four turns). If one wishes to take about 125 turns one can jump to 250:00:LLL. Quicker and maybe cheaper would be to build up an empire and build a Stargate or two. Q) How do we know which regions are scouted? Are only the ones that appear on the report scouted? a) As regions are scouted the important places will show up on the Market and Haven reports. All xx:xx:LLL locations exist and are added as needed. Q) What happens if we submit more than one copy of orders? Will only the last one submitted work, or will they cancel each other? a) The last one will be the one processed. Q) Does the population of a planet or base have any affect on the production capabilities? a) Without people the facilities that produce resources will not work, industry will not work, and are the main limiting factor to an empires growth. Q) When loading colonists on a Falcon, is 200 the upper limit or can you fit more units of colonists than other cargo types? Does everything in Traders take up one cargo space? That is, with 200 cargo capacity can I carry 200 colonists (say) and nothing else? a) Everything takes up one cargo space excepted the basic weapons on ships. Q) I tried this at 00:00:LLL: REPAIR b1 20. and got this message: There is not enough repair capacity at this Star Port. What happened? a) Repairs cannot be done unless the port has the resources to do the repairs. As some ports are very short on supplies, they have none to spare for repairs. Also, other ships are getting repaired too and may have used up the port's capacity. Q) You seem to be saying that we Traders can run multiple ships. So is it OK if I buy two yachts for fuel runs? a) Sure is. Although in a month it won't be as easy as it is now for a Traders to run many ships you will still be able to do fuel runs. For the uninformed a fuel run is jumping to a system with available fuel, getting the fuel, then jumping to a Star League port and selling it for a high profit. As yachts are cheap but can carry 1000 fuel they make great pocket tankers. Q) Suppose I want to buy an Industry and move it, to sell to someone else. How much does it cost? And how much does Basehull cost? Is it possible to load Industry onto a transport and sell it to the Star League? a) As one industry is built by 5 industry it would cost at most places 5 * "Cost to use one industry". At Terminus (00:00:LLL) that would normally be 5 * 2000 = 10000. It can be bought, loaded onto transport, and sold to anyone. Q) How do you command a Starbase to build a ship? a) BUILD <ship type> <class number>. For an Explorer that would be: BUILD SCOUT 1. For a Freighter: BUILD TRAMP 10. Q) Is it possible to "mine out" your home planet, such that it can no longer produce fuel ore, organics, and metals. a) It is not possible to mine out a planet using resource production facilities but, you can use up a system using the MINE commands. Q) Is there any help files that futher explain the economic model used in the game? I guess I am looking for help on what I should set my prices to. a) Set your prices to whatever the market can bear. The highest prices can be found at Star League Starports, the lowest from the small Empires. The economis model is free and open trade with the availability of resources and demand of finished goods setting how much you are willing to pay for the things you need. Q) Can you sell luxuries to your own colonies? To computer controlled independent worlds? a) You can sell luxury goods to anyone, including the independent worlds. Q) Can you load Fuel Production Units, Organics Prod. Units, etc ... onto a ship and then download them onto a colony world? a) No you cannot. Production facilities are mines, wells, farms, the infrastructure of production that cannot be lifted up from here and plopped down just anywhere and be expected to work. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Notes from above: Not many notes this stardate. I'm busy getting Mosaic to work on my frankenstein of a machine, writing the final rules, debugging errors, and adding EMMS index arrays to the game program. For more information contact dpierce@erinet.com. Turns are run twice a week, Tuesday and Friday. Interstellar Traders is free, Galactic Empires is $1.00 per turn. Both games are in the same galaxy. All turns are e-mailed and fully computer processed. ========================== End of Transmission =========================== Up