Re: PBEM Supremacy?

From: ben@abby.chem.ucla.edu

Date: Thu, 17 Jun 1993 20:04:50 +0000

In article <1vil38$k4t@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu>, at626@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dave Strout) writes:
>
>Was looking at the boardgame supremacy in the store this weekend and
>thinking that it would make a great PBEM game.  Sort of a Diplomacy on
>steroids.  (You won't negotiate with me??  Fine, negotiate with the Trident
>sub that just surfaced in the Med.)  Anyway, has anyone tried it / does a
>Dave Strout          <at626@cleveland.freenet.edu>

In my high school days I played a fair amount of Supremacy.  It's a fairly
decent game, but I've lost track of most of the supplements.  It's pretty
balanced, (Africa has a slight advantage, China a disad).

The main problem with it is that it is very difficult to take somone over,
i.e., get his 'supply center'.  The supply centers (they're really called that,
too) are very different from diplomacy (They show the maximum amount of
resources you can hol; each player [6, or 8 w/ supplement that I've never
played] gets 1.)  It is _MAJOR_ advantage to capture one.  So major, in fact,
that if you do get one, all remaining players must immediately gang up on you,
or you _will_ win.

Ahh.  NOw it all comes back to me.... Other problems:
If two players have a major war, they will almost certainly exhaust eachother
futily.  The only way to suceed, is to act as a vulture...

The 'stock market' is wacky too.  You either made a bazillion dollars, or zip,
and it basically depended on who goes first in that turn.  (This is with the
modified rules from the 'field marshall's handbook'; the original rules are
sorta unplayable, at least this way it's random...)  The designers try to
complesate by using kinda a 'guns vs. butter' type thingy, but it never seemed
to work.

MOney is too important.  YOu need money, and lots of it, to develope Nukes and
'L-stars' (defense sats).  If someone was loosing, their was an urge to borrow
12 billion (the max, with 25% interest) from them bank, go renegade and try to
nuke people.

Generally the game would end in a big stalemate, or a nuke-fest, ending the
game, in yes, a stalemate.

Secret diplomacy might make this game playable by EM, but I think it needs
major revioions.  Then again, I havn't looked at the latest set of rules.

Ben HItz
hitz@cuhhca.hhmi.columbia.edu

References

PBEM Supremacy?
at626@cleveland.Freenet.Edu (Dave Strout)
Mon, 14 Jun 1993 19:55:19 +0000