New PBEM games! From: dpierce@eri.erinet.com (Daniel Pierce) Date: Thu, 09 Mar 1995 09:08:50 +0000 From Unit 16: Announcing Interstellar Traders! Interstellar Traders is a free to play open-ended computer moderated play-by-email science fiction space opera game for any number of players. Players own and operate a merchantman starship, trading between planets, star bases and starports accross the galaxy. Your goal is to survive the other cut-throat merchants, vast alien empires and changing economic prices, getting filthy rich in the process. There is no end to the game, you set your own objectives and agenda. There is no beginning, one can join at any time. Interstellar Traders has been open since March 1, with turns being run twice per week on Tuesday and Friday at midnight. To learn more about Interstellar Traders, e-mail for the rules at dpierce@erinet.com. We have over a dozen players in the game and turns are short to write. What is Interstellar Traders? I.T. is a game of individual merchant traders who each own one starship in a galaxy of empires. As you travel from system to system you will trade raw materials at star bases, earning credits which will allow you to purchase more equipment and weapons for you starship. Some empires will be friendly, others will shoot you on sight. You start at a Star League Star Port with up-to-date lists showing where you can trade at other locations. Besides other merchants you will interact with the large empires of Galactic Empires. The importance of being a trader: You are the only people who can safely travel into just about any location. Although no one empire is your ally, you start with no enemies either. This gives you the advantage of being able to gather information on empire's locations, ships, ship movement, and the relative size of war fleets. Also, no one empire has the ability to build all the possible things in the game. You can act as arms dealer for empires who would rather not advertize that they may buy weapons from the Star League. Remember, you are like Harcourt Fenton Mudd, any Ferrengi merchant, Sir Francis Drake, Sindbad the sailor and Han Solo. To sign up for the game, ask for the rules, or if you have any other questions, email to dpierce@erinet.com (Daniel Pierce). ----- Announcing Galactic Empires! We are starting up and 'alpha' testing Galactic Empires (which will become a $1.00 per turn pay game) which is an electronic play-by-e-mail science fiction space opera game of exploration, colonization, diplomacy, and war. It has any number of players, all in the same game, with multiple types of games going on in the background (foreground for them). All positions in the 'alpha' are and will remain in the final game. If you want to become the terror of the galaxy, sign up now! What is Galactic Empires? Galactic Empires is a game of interstellar empire building amoung many other empires and other types of players. There is no end to the game, you set your own objectives and agenda. You start with a planet, a few ships, and a short list of other star systems. The rest is up to you. Unique to this game is the concept of "parents". A parent is the large computer (or maybe a human) run empire which you can declare yourself to be a part of. All the other players who have the same parent are really part of the same empire. If you, and a few of your friends are in the game and you declare the Federation to be your parent, then collectively, you and your friends ARE the Federation. Where you colonize, the parent will send people too. Where your planets, bases, colonies are, the parent will send ships to patrol. Where you have bases, the parent will send cargo ships to transport resources. Where you attack, the parent's largest battleships _may_ be automatically sent to attack too. Even the smallest, weakest players can be part of a vast empire, helping to set policy and long term goals, with the same technology level and abilities of the parent. Currently, the only empires that you can have as your parent are: the Federation, the Antares Confederacy, the Dreenoi, the Cyborgs, and the Mechs. Each empire has it's own special abilities and level of technology. A short list of the main actors of the galaxy: Formost and oldest of the empires is the Star League. They inhabit enormous star ports and build most of the starships that you will see. They have a star port in most sectors of the galaxy where you usually can get the highest profits on basic resources and get repairs done on your ships. All of the Star League star ports are 'open' locations where no one is permitted to fire upon another. The Star League will never fire on you unless you fire first, regardless of your hatred amoung the stars. At the first sign of an attack, everything the Star League has at that location will fire at the aggressor, making a very quick form of suicide. The Star League can build any ship, any device, and are the only ones who can build Stargates and hyper-long jump drives. Next in size is the Federation. They are the main muscle in the galaxy, owning hundreds of planets and starships. They try to set the law where ever they can. As they have spent most of their history blowing things up, they can build Planet Busters and Genesis Devices. Friends, but not to close, of the Federation is the Antares Confederacy. They split off from the Federation about 130 years ago in a bitter war of independance. For many years now they have put the past behind them and are now leaning toward becoming the Federation's strongest ally. Their empire is a loose confederation of smaller, independent empires. They can build Cloaking Devices and Solar Stabilisers (see Nova Bombs...). Next are the Dreenoi, a very alien empire. Dreenoi are bugs. Very large bugs with nuclear weapons. They breed like bugs. They don't like non-hive, non-insectoid races and view most humanoids as food. Their goal is to inhabit every system. Your home may be next on their list of targets for tonight. In the dark between the stars you can almost hear them munching. They can't build anything special but they work three shifts and have triple production of resources, build capacity, and population growth (they really are bugs). Somewhere in between are the Cyborgs. Half human, half machine, with a hive mentality that sometimes seems aimless and contradictary. They will ally with you one day and blow you away the next. They have double production of resources and build capacity, but a very low population growth. Last and worst of all are the Mechs. No one knows what evil empire's twisted genius created these metal monsters from hell. We can only hope he was the first to die. The Mechs goal is to stamp out all organic life in the universe. They have immense hyper jumping space stations which can overpower any opposition and vaporize entire planets. No one has found one of their systems and lived to tell the tale. They rarely mine resources, have a limited build capacity, and can make Nova Bombs, Star Blasters, and Star Citys. Rumors talk in wispers of another empire, the Boskone. No one knows of this empire, where they are from, or even if they are humanoid. All the evil of the galaxy is laid at their door step and they are said to be involved in all the crime going on in the more civilized sectors. The Federation claims that Boskone is running drugs into their class 10 planets with no regard for the law. The Antares Confederacy say the Boskone are buying and selling warships to the Cyborgs. The Star League claims that the Boskone are just a bunch of renegade Interstellar Traders and secretly implores the Federation to stamp them out. Some merchants, suspected of smuggling drugs, have been blown up by the Federation. Drugs have been coming into Federation and Antares space from somewhere and no one is talking. To sign up for the game, get a copy of the rules, or if you have any other questions, email to dpierce@erinet.com (Daniel Pierce). -- ********************************************************************* *: \ | / : Programming Services, Unit 16 : \ | / :* *: -- * -- : Daniel Pierce - dpierce@erinet.com : -- * -- :* *: / | \ : Pacunium-non-fumo - Money doesn't stink : / | \ :* ********************************************************************* Referenced By Up