PBEM Volume 2 Issue 5 From: gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) Date: Fri, 10 Sep 1993 22:10:29 +0000 ====================================================================== @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@ @@ @@``````````@@ @@``````````@@ @@`````````````` @@@@ @@@@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@``@@ @@ @@`` @@@@@@@@@@@@ `` @@@@@@@@@@@@ `` @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@`` @@ ``@@`` @@```````````` @@``````````@@ @@```````````` @@`` `` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@@@@@@@@@@@ `` @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@`` @@`` `` ```````````` `````````````` `` `` ====================================================================== A Fanzine for Free Computer-Moderated Play-By-Electronic-Mail Wargames ====================================================================== volume 93, number 5 september 10, 1993 ====================================================================== Greg Lindahl, Editor gl8f@virginia.edu ====================================================================== Table of Contents: Opening Stuff o The Editor's Corner o Short Summary of Available Games Articles o Atlantis 1.0: A Retrospective Greg Lindahl Regular Features o Game Descriptions & Information o Archives and subscriptions by email o Hints regarding sending electronic mail to other networks o What's this "ftp" thing anyway? ====================================================================== The Editor's Corner ====================================================================== You might have noticed a dearth of recent issues. This is due to two different factors: lack of articles from outside writers, and my busy summer schedule. However, the impending release of Atlantis 2.0, the release of Arena, and the start of the alpha-test of Olympia II have shamed me into putting quill pen to paper once again, so here's your issue. I need more articles. So far the only articles related to the actual games available have been novice articles about Galaxy and Phoenix. This might give you some clues as to what kinds of articles you might write. -- g ====================================================================== Short Summary of Available Games (full information down below) ====================================================================== Arena --- fantasy arena combat game. In beta-test, with occasional service interruptions and bugs still being found. Atlantis --- An open-ended economic/strategic fantasy game. Positions for Atlantis 2.0 are now available, and the game is starting Real Soon Now. Celestial Empire --- a more complicated space-opera game. There 5 games running with about 100 players. New games start occasionally. Dougal Scott is looking for someone to take over running these games. Diplomacy --- Play Avalon Hill's Diplomacy boardgame by email. There are 1000+ players involved in ~200 games, with new games starting frequently on several automated email servers. Galaxy --- An economic/strategic space-opera game. There are around 500 players involved in a dozen or so games. New games start occasionally. Robert Novak is starting lots of games at the moment. Judgment Day --- A simple strategic game of economics and warfare, set in the "modern era": tanks, plans, and atomic bombs. Currently in beta-test. Phoenix --- described below. You can ftp the rules, but no game positions are currently available. Sports Simulations --- a variety of different electronic leagues are available. Each game generally does one or two seasons per year. Decentralized games --- a couple of games are available which are designed for a few players, and the moderation programs are available so you can run your own games. For more information on any of these games, please wade through the "Game Descriptions and Information" section below. It lists ftp sites and the addresses of the moderators. The sports simulations and decentralized games listings are located in the "PBM List", which is a separate document. ====================================================================== Atlantis 1.0: A Retrospective Greg Lindahl ====================================================================== Russell Wallace recently sent out the rules for Atlantis 2.0, his second generation version of Atlantis. Version 1.0 was a very simple implementation of a strategic fantasy wargame: no economy other than trade between players, movement limited to one map square per turn, and no specialization of player factions. I'd like to take a few moments to look back at version 1, and talk about a feature of the game that I don't think was intended. It has less to do with the rules, actually, or the game mechanics, than with the world on which the game took place. I call the feature I'm going to talk about "instability". A little instability is good for the soul, but a lot is not. The boardgame Risk suffers from a similar instability. In Risk, the goal is to conquer the world. Every turn, players receive income depending on how much territory they hold. In addition, every turn each player (usually) receives a card, and sets of 3 cards can be turned in for bonus armies. So far, it's a very simple game. The interesting situation arises because the number of bonus armies rises with each set turned in. Since the other forms of income in the game are roughly constant, eventually the cards become the most important factor. In addition, when a player is wiped out, the conquerer receives their cards, and can immediately turn in a set for additional armies. These rules combine to mean that the game generally ends with one player turning in cards, wiping out the weakest player, turning in more cards, wiping out the next weakest player, and so on until they are the only player left. Is this good? Well, in the case of Risk, it is a good thing, because it means that the game ends after a limited amount of play, and the players don't have to stay up all night to finish a game. Most boardgames have similar mechanisms that force an end to play. So what does this have to do with Atlantis? Well, in Atlantis, the players who controlled the forests and mountains were the only people who could produce, among other things, weapons. Weapons were necessary if you wanted to tax the peasants, and taxing the peasants was a very, very lucrative pastime. It was so lucrative that it created a similar unstable situation. The Atlantis world was divided up into small islands, each of which had 5-10 mountains and forests. Once a group of players had control of one of these mountain or forest squares, then interesting things began to happen. Adopting a "first strike" strategy was very important. There was no advantage for the defender in combat, other than that the attacker had to move to the defender was, wasting possible study time, and the spread-out nature of defensive operations thus meant that attacking had a large advantage. The combat system was a "winner take all" system when the sides were asymmetrical -- and attacking armies tend to be more concentrated than defensive armies. Second, some the game mechanics were quite useless in the starting game. You could use wood to build bows, or boats. Bows meant you could tax and raise a huge army. A boat was, well, a boat. You could sail to other islands and run into huge armies. Thus, building boats was a waste of time until you controlled your entire island. Finally, the game was turned into an instant kill-or-be-killed contest. If a group of players suffered a setback, it was likely that they were totally hosed and were best off dropping out and restarting elsewhere. This process would have continued until one group was in charge of each island. What would have happened next? Well, we may never know since Russell isn't adding any new players and it seems that quite a few of the old players have dropped out, but odds are that the various islands would start invading each other -- and it's possible that the older islands might have such a superiority in number of weapons that they could take out a second island. And a third. And so on, producing a global runaway. What could have made this situation more stable? Most open-ended games strive to set up a situation where the system tends toward equilibrium, not towards total victory after a few battles. Putting limitations on taxation income would have done that in Atlantis. Not only was the money produced per turn per man too large, but the total amount of taxable money available was so large that even at this stage, where the first island is mostly held by one group, over 90% of the tax money is still waiting to be collected. The rules do allow for an equilibrium situation as the population balances against the food supply, but the initial populations were so low that this equilibrium was never reached. Second, the terrain could be more mixed, such that each island contains many possible production centers instead of just a few groups. This might create a situation with balance-of-power dynamics... or not. Finally, the combat system could be revamped. Version 2 is very different from Version 1. Among other changes, weapons are no longer needed to tax, so control of weapons production will no longer be the only way to success. Russell has stated that the terrain will be much more mixed than Version 1. But the combat system has not changed much. My prediction is that Version 2 will turn into a runaway, much like Version 1, and I'll probably end up dead, much like Version 1. However, just like Version 1, I'll have fun dying, and that's what gaming is all about, after all. ====================================================================== Game Descriptions and Information ====================================================================== FTP Site: ftp.erg.sri.com username: anonymous Directory: pub/pbm Contains back-issues of this magazine, source for Galaxy, and rules for a whole bunch of games. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- FTP Site: ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl username: anonymous Directory: pub/pbm The same stuff as sri.com, often a little more up-to-date. ====================================================================== Game: Arena Type: fantasy arena combat Duration: open-ended Turns: as often as you like GM: srt@aero.org Email server: arena@sun-dimas.aero.org Status: currently down but coming back Real Soon Now Description: Arena burst forth from Scott Turner's fingers after he looked at a Dungeon Masters turn. It reminds me a lot of the ancient microgame "Melee" designed by Steve Jackson: you begin with a set number of points, and use them to design a gladiator. Unlike Melee, you then send your gladiator off to combat with a set of orders, and the battle is fought without human intervention. Winners grow stronger. Right now the game is in beta-test. The GM asks that you only fight a few battles per day. The rules are available from the ftp sites. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Atlantis 2.0 Type: strategic economic/military, fantasy setting Duration: open-ended Turns: one per week GM: rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace) Status: accepting new players, starting RSN Atlantis 2.0 is the second generation version of Russell Wallace's open-ended fantasy game. It features multiple faction types, a mostly player-run economy, simple economics, and a simple combat system. A magazine is generated weekly and is posted to rec.games.pbm. It should also be available at the ftp sites. The rules are also available for ftp at the ftp sites. I recommend that you read the rules before writing Russell. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Celestial Empire Type: strategic economic/military space-opera Duration: close-ended, 30+ turns Turns: one per week GM: Dougal.Scott@fcit.monash.edu.au Status: occasionally starting new games Description: Players compete to capture worlds which produce many different types of resources, of which different amounts are needed to manufacture various items. The author, Dougal Scott, is currently running several games, and he periodically starts new ones. The rules may be ftp-ed from yoyo.cc.monash.edu.au in the directory /pub/celemp. After you've read them, if you still want to join a game, send your name to Dougal.Scott@fcit.monash.edu.au. He's also looking for a new administrator to take over running his games, so he can finish his degree. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Diplomacy Type: email version of Avalon Hill's pure strategy game Turns: frequency varies from one per day to one per 2 weeks for different games. Email Server: judge@morrolan.eff.org HELP in body of message, Email Server: judge@u.washington.edu the subject is ignored. Description: The Diplomacy Adjudicator is a fully computer-moderated gamemaster for Avalon Hill's Diplomacy boardgame. To get more information from the moderator, send email with the word "HELP" in the body of the message (the subject is ignored) to judge@morrolan.eff.org. Some information is available via FTP from milton.u.washington in the public/misc subdirectory. All of the information up for ftp is also available via the email server. There is also an older diplomacy Judge at judge@u.washington.edu, which is not starting any new games but has lots of standby positions available. Diplomacy is probably the biggest PBEM game out there, with 200 games going as of July 15, a 100% increase over the past year. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Galaxy Type: strategic, economic/military, space opera setting Duration: typically 50-80 turns Turns: typically 1 or 2 per week GM: rnovak@nyx.cs.du.edu (Robert Novak) GM: bampton@cs.utk.edu (Howard Bampton) GM: rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace) Email Server: beast-serv@acca.nmsu.edu, Subject: HELP Description: The game typically takes place on a 100x100 2D map, with a few hundred planets and 20 to 50 players. Players compete to capture planets, which can be used for economic expansion. You may purchase technology in several different areas, allowing your ships to fight harder and move faster. Galaxy turns range in size from 10kbytes early in the game to 100-200kbytes late in the game. The rules and source code are available for ftp. You can write to humans who run games; they start games occasionally and also have standby positions. They are: rnovak@nyx.cs.du.edu bampton@cs.utk.edu rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie Howard Bampton has a variant called "blind" galaxy. You can ftp the source for it from cs.utk.edu:/pub/bampton. There is an automated email server which runs some mailing lists. You can talk to it by sending email to beast-serv@acca.nmsu.edu with the word "help" in the subject. Note: in the subject. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Judgment Day Type: strategic economic/military, present day setting Turns: one per week GM: rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace) Status: beta test. one game running. standby positions available. Description: Judgment Day is a game for up to 25 players. Each player controls an empire which can build weapons and attack each other. When the nukes start flying, remember to duck and cover. Judgment Day's beta-test is nearing the end, with near-obliteration of all world powers. The source code for the game is available from Russell. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Trax Type: Abstract Strategy Turns: ?, unlimited duration GM: Mel Nicholson Status: Currently accepting players Email Server: munch@soda.berkeley.edu (with "help" in subject) This is an automation of Smith's abstract strategy game Trax. The server maintains a ladder and facilitates competition and informal play. For information, mail munch@soda.berkeley.edu with the subject "help". ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Sports games and Decentralized games are on the PBM List, distributed separately on the Internet, and at the end on CompuServe. ====================================================================== Archives and subscriptions by email ====================================================================== PBEM is archived at "ftp.erg.sri.com" and "ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl". I will also be setting up a mailing list to distribute this magazine, but keep in mind that it will be posted on a regular basis to at least Usenet and CompuServe, so if you're reading it now, you probably won't need to get on the mailing list to receive it in the future. ====================================================================== The remainder of this magazine doesn't change, and isn't of interest to most readers anyway. Skip it. ====================================================================== Hints regarding sending Electronic Mail to other networks ====================================================================== OK, so now you're wondering, "I'm using FidoNet or CompuServe or FoobieBlech and those email addresses he keeps on talking about sure look funny to me!". Welcome to the modern world of networking. See, there's this big amorphous network called the Internet that lots of other networks, like FidoNet, CompuServe, DELPHI, America Online, GEnie and (soon) Prodigy are hooked up to. And you can send email between all of them, if you know the right incantations. Often size or cost limitations will keep you from being able to play games on another network, but at least you can send me letters to the editor or articles. Compuserve: If your ID is [76515,1122] then your canonical Internet address will be 76515.1122@compuserve.com -- notice that the comma has become a period. To send mail from CompuServe to the Internet, you use this sort of address: >INTERNET:gl8f@virginia.edu Compuserve users have to pay extra for mail to or from the Internet. If you're a flat-fee user, the cost is 5 cents per 2500 characters, minimum 15 cents, and the first $9 per month is free. This can add up to a bit of money if you send frequent messages, or get into a Galaxy end-game where your turns are large. In addition, the maximum size for a given message is 50kbytes, and most Internet games do not split their game turns into pieces if they are too large. But you can try. Diplomacy and ARENA, for example, should definitely be ok in size, and Diplomacy games with no press don't send that many messages. America Online has an 8kbyte limit on email messages, so it isn't very useful. Their addresses look like: username@aol.com I don't know anything about DELPHI, other than that their addresses look like username@delphi.com Prodigy has a gateway under construction, but have yet to work out a mechanism to charge their users for sending email back and forth. Their addresses will look like username@prodigy.com GEnie's addresses look like this: username@genie.geis.com FidoNet addresses, such as "Dale Webber at 1:105/55.0", look like dale.weber@p0.f55.n105.z1.fidonet.org in Internet form. To send email to the Internet from FidoNet, send normal netmail to the user UUCP, and then on the first line of the message, put the line: To: gl8f@virginia.edu Unfortunately, unless your FidoNet BBS is hooked directly to the Internet, they ask that you keep email under 10kbytes and only occasional. Ask your sysop for more information. I can mail you a list of public-access Unix sites with Internet email capabilities. Just send me a short note, using the above info, to "gl8f@virginia.edu", and I'll mail a copy back. ====================================================================== What's this "ftp" thing anyway? ====================================================================== ftp is an acronym for "file transfer protocol", and it is only directly available to the privileged few who are directly hooked to the Internet using heavy-duty hardware. There is a way to use ftp via email, and if you can get email to me, I will send you a document explaining how to use it, or send email to ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com, with an empty Subject: line, and the word "help" in the body of the message. The Dutch ftp site, ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl, has a way for you to retrieve any of its files via email, either by sending it mail or telneting to it. To get the helpfile either : telnet ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl 2001 MAIL <your mail address> HELP (for small help file) or SEND HELP (for big help file) or INDEX (for the index) QUIT or mail to pbm-server@cp.tn.tudelft.nl with the following body : BEGIN HELP or SEND HELP or INDEX END ====================================================================== PBEM is published monthly. Please redistribute it far and wide, but do not modify or delete any articles. Write me if you want to redistribute it in other forms; such permission is easy to obtain. For example, some old articles are being translated into German. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE! Our focus is primarily on free wargames, but we're interested in articles about anything relevant. Up