Re: [Olympia] Olympia vs. Atlantis

From: gdunbar@us.oracle.com

Date: Thu, 25 Aug 1994 18:27:54 +0000

In <b.easton.249.2E5C13C0@nepean.uws.edu.au>, b.easton@nepean.uws.edu.au (Brent easton) writes:
>In article <33emod$jsk@senator-bedfellow.MIT.EDU> cyu@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chong Yu) writes:
>>From: cyu@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chong Yu)
>>Subject: Re: [Olympia] Suggestions for Changes
>>Date: 24 Aug 1994 05:44:45 GMT
>
>>Can anybody tell me how much it costs to play Olympia?
>>Atlantis is similar...being a spin-off and all...plus it's free.
>>Anyone playing both care to comment?
>
>Olympia costs $2.50 per turn. Olympia is far superior to Atlantis. You can
>see that they have the same basic roots, but Olympia has been expanded and
>improved tremendously over Atlantis. I found started playing Atlantis,
>but got bored after about 10 turns, there really isn't that much to do!
>Olympia has been completely re-designed in many respects and extensively
>playtested to achieve a fairly good balance in the Economic areas. The areas
>of skills and Magic have really been expanded also.
>Well, I could go on, but instead, I suggest you get a copy of the rules
>and check it out. They are available from ftp.erg.sri.com in /pub/pbm/olympia.
>Cheers,
>Brent.
>----------------------------------------------------------------------
>Brent Easton                   | b.easton@uws.edu.au
>Contract Programmer            | P.O Box 10, Kingswood
>Uni. of Western Sydney, Nepean.| NSW 2747 Australia.
>Sydney, Australia.             | (P) +61-2-685-9614 (F) +61-2-685-9340
>----------------------------------------------------------------------

Well, I haven't played Olympia, so I can't make a comparison
between the two. However, I would guess that Olympia has more
variety, more depth, and better balance than Atlantis. It better,
or no one would pay to play it!

However, I am in the Atlantis game, and find it very entertaining.
The original reply to your message is correct; if you quit after
10 turns, there isn't very much you can do! However, he does have
a point- a lot of people go into Atlantis expecting to role-play,
or build small specialized factions. Unfortunately, this doesn't
work very well in Atlantis; the game is generally a battle for
resources, and if you don't join the battle (or ally with those
that have the resources), you will probably be eliminated (sooner
or later).

That being said, I think Atlantis is a great game. It is similar
to Spaceward Ho, or Empire (if you've ever played those), or even
Risk (it's quite a bit more complex than Risk) but the
player interaction and variety of players makes it much more
interesting.

The rules for Atlantis are available from ftp.erg.sri.com in
/pub/pbm/atlantis. Contact the GM, Jim Cotugno (The Big Guy)
at jjc@mpa15c.mv-oc.unisys.com if you want to play, or for
more information.

Geoff

References

[Olympia] Suggestions for Changes
srt@sun-dimas.aero.org (Scott Turner)
Fri, 19 Aug 1994 15:01:49 +0000
Re: [Olympia] Suggestions for Changes
gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Tue, 23 Aug 1994 02:19:16 +0000
Re: [Olympia] Suggestions for Changes
cyu@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Chong Yu)
Wed, 24 Aug 1994 05:44:45 +0000
[Olympia] Olympia vs. Atlantis
b.easton@nepean.uws.edu.au (Brent easton)
Thu, 25 Aug 1994 03:45:04 +0000