GALAXY: How to join a Galaxy Game From: graeme@abekrd.co.uk (Graeme Griffiths) Date: Wed, 08 Feb 1995 15:31:05 +0000 Graeme's Galaxy PBeM Guide v1.00 The number of Galaxy games running at one time is entirely dependant on the number of willing GMs. If no-one runs the games, there are no games. The key to joining a Galaxy game is hearing about the start-up of a game in time to join in. Before we discuss how to join, some caveats: You will need _some_ disk space. Turn reports can get huge !! Some people (esp. at academic sites) have a restricted disk quota, if this is you, you may have a problem. Also make sure you have a large enough mail-feed capacity to accecpt (sometimes up to 500K) the turn reports. Galaxy is a very LONG game. Some games have lasted nearly 2 years. Basically the larger the game the longer it runs. You will need to have uninterrupted Email access for that period. N.B. Students take note : If you're likely to lose access for a long period of time (summer holidays for example) you should take this into account before joining a game. Obviously everyone has time-off, and this can be got around, the GM will often call a halt during a holiday period or you can sort out advance orders for short breaks. The further on in the game you get the longer (and hence more time-consuming) the turns get. If you can't spend the time doing the turns you really aren't going to win. Some people quote anything up from 5 hours a turn for end-game turns. For Blind games (Thanks to Howard Bampton for this info) > Inital setup, maps, turn 1 orders (assuming new player): > 2-3 hours. > > Turn 2-10: 1-2 hours > Turn 11+ 2+ hours > > Add in time for diplomacy above that. If you can fulfill your responsibilities to the other players and the GM you are ready to play. Read on. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- How to join. ----------- Almost without exception games are announced in rec.games.pbm. Watch for these announcements and follow them up and you are in a game. However, as many are finding out, these announcements have recently become scarcer than hens-teeth, less games are starting. To combat this I have started a campaign to try and get more galaxy being played. First I have to find out if anyone wants to play, I have started this from my WWW page (URL at end) in the shape of a form. By filling in the form you express your interest to play Galaxy. When I get a list long enough I'll start bugging known GM's to see if they have the capacity to start a new game. With a bit of luck we should have a game in no time... Information about Galaxy can be obtained from the Galaxy PBeM Home-Page http://www.abekrd.co.uk/Galaxy The waiting-list form can be accessed from here. For those without Web access (I would really appreciate the form being used, its all automagic) you can Email graeme@abekrd.co.uk. Use subject "Galaxy waiting-list entry" and copy the form below. You should receive a reply showing your current waiting list entry. --------<Cut Here>-------- Name: Joe Bloggs Mail: jb@my.machine.domain Length: n months Turn: m Type" Normal Comments: Any special topics not already covered. --------<Cut Here>-------- Notes: All lines are case insensitive (Though I keep cases for names and mail addresses). Order is important "Name:" must be before "Mail:" and both must be before "Length" etc. You can have multiple "Turn:" and "Type:" lines to show inrerest in two/three different turn frequencies (e.g. 1 or 2 turns / week) or that you wish to play both Blind and Normal galaxy games. The "n" in "n months" should be divisible by 6 (i.e. 6, 12, 18, 24...) Replace "n months" with "indefinite" if you have no real time constraints. Comments are ignored by the parser the only records I keep are the original mail messages, and probably not for long. The parser _tries_ to ignore lines that don't parse, this means that if you send two "Turn:" lines and spell one "Trun:" (for example) the misspelt one will be ignored but the entry will pass as a valid entry (it has at least one "Turn:" declaration. -- Graeme Griffiths, | "I'd love to talk philosophy, but I gotta Abekas Video Systems +44 1734 585421| take a piss. Man that philosophy, runs graeme@abekrd.co.uk | right thru' ya." - Dave Lee Roth 1994 Ge e+ -k++++++ C- o# -d& e?????? B-- i** -t+=%% -e+ M-@ e+ !!!!!! Up