Conquest and Destiny From: playrofgms@aol.com (PlayrOfGms) Date: Sat, 10 Dec 1994 12:30:04 +0000 First, I would like to apologize in advance for any violations of netiquette. I am an AOL user making his first foray into the 'net, so please, send advice, not flames. However, I have been a lurker for a while in this group, and would like to start a thread to talk about Conquest and Destiny by Virtual Galaxy Systems. I'll start it with the GM's rules intro. >>--HISTORY OF THE GALAXY--< > In the beginning were the Progenitors from whom all life springs. In >the Eon of the First Expansion, the lineage of the Progenitors prospered >and flourished. After the passage of a hundred aeons of expansion, the >civilizations which had developed during the First Expansion began to >fragment. This was caused, in part, to the increasing physical and mental >diversity they experienced due to the multitude of environments and >challenges facing each race. Fragmentation was followed, perhaps >inevitably, by strife as total and deadly as 100,000 years of technological >development could make it. After only a few short centuries, the >Progenitors had lost their civilization. Their spirit had crumbled, and >much of their technology was irretrievably scattered. > There remained in the galaxy, however, many of the degenerate races >which were all that was left of the Progenitor's once great civilization. >Most of them barely managed to keep their civilizations on the positive >side of entropy, many on the brink of complete racial dissolution. Now >begins the Eon of the Second Expansion. Those independent, separately >evolved races which were too primitive to become a factor in the >Progenitor's war are entering interstellar space. Your race is one of >these. We, the remnants of a once great civilization, the Consortium of >Elder Races, do now contact you. > Hail from the Consortium of Elder Races. Our scanners have detected >energy emissions originating from your star system indicating that you have >successfully tested a faster-than-light interstellar drive. You now stand >poised on the edge of a precipice. The dangers of the arena ahead are >legion. The fight for survival is savage, and never-ending. The rewards >are great, the penalty for failure is oblivion. The Grand Chancellor, >chairman of the Consortium of Elder Races, will provide to all races >advice, warnings of pitfalls, and possible ways to avoid them. Our >galactic community is riddled with strife and battle. The eternal struggle >for supremacy is epitomized here. I am not in any way connected to Virtual Galaxy Systems, other than as a player and volunteer programmer for the front-end. I just think that C&D is one of the finest games of its kind ever developed. There are literally hundreds of options, with millions of possibilities. You play against other wetware, with all that entails. The Internet universe has been going for better than a year and a half, and a AOL only game started just a few weeks ago. C&D allows a level of depth and detail that no game I have ever seen has ever matched. I'm not talking about computer games here, they are non-starters. I'm talking about other PBMs. C&D has millions of stars and planets. Yet even a powerful empire starts to creak under its own weight after a few hundred star systems, so latecomers have plenty of room. The GM feels that more than 300 players in a game is too much for a assistant GM to handle, so that has been pegged as the limit for a particular game. The playing field itself could easily accommodate 5 times that many. Still, what was the last time you played a game against 300 live opponents? The possibilities may not be literally endless, but I have yet to find two players that are using the same strategy to play. Some of them use elements that are similar, but in this game details can be crucial, and most aren't even close to anybody else in their approach. So that this isn't entirely a shameless plug, I am going to tell you a little about how my game has been going. I play in the Betelgeuse galaxy, which is the AOL only game. I started out 4 turns ago, with nothing, and no experience with the game. I asked for advice and got led down the garden path, so I decided to get even. I founded my own corporation and coalition, and now have the largest company in the game (Of course, the others started just where I did, so I didn't have to catch up). I pursued a very aggressive scouting and colonization program, and now have 90 planets (Most without a thing on them but rocks). This meant that I had to set aside other approaches, so I have poor abilities in the applied sciences. I can go through wormholes, but not black holes. I can build trade centers, but not missiles. I nevertheless have been able to hold my own and even gain a little against the more experienced players who also play in the Internet game. If you ever wanted to play in a really BIG game, and test yourself against some of the best space-empire strategists to be found, instead of a pile of silicon, then you should at least check out C&D. Signing up is only $15, but I think that Dan would wait for that until you decided if you liked the game if you asked him. If you like, mention my name, I'll get free credit. The game is a PBEM, and like most really complex PBEM's is somewhat difficult to learn how to play, but the depth of the game makes it well worth it. Also, an early beta version of a front-end interface has just been developed, by another player who, like me, thinks so much of the game that he's working for free. This should considerably shorten the learning curve. I am working on a Windows version, and a OS/2 version is also in development. I have been playing every form of strategy game I could find for a long time, and I have never seen a better one. Dan Canham may be reached through the following ways: Internet address : p00791@psilink.com or VirtualCEO@aol.com Smail Virtual Galaxy Systems P.O. Box 498 Brockport NY 14420 As Dan is not even aware that I am doing this, any flames may be directed to : Dave Rickey Internet address : PlayrOfGms@aol.com Referenced By Up