Re: Galaxy

From: haines@eng2.eng.monash.edu.au (Andrew Haines, Civil, 1/113)

Date: Tue, 02 Mar 1993 03:44:42 +0000

In article <1993Mar1.135502.8782@zip.eecs.umich.edu>
charles@zip.eecs.umich.edu (Charles Jacob Cohen) writes:

>In article <1993Mar1.115202.14978@infodev.cam.ac.uk> js138@cus.cam.ac.uk
>(John Sloan) writes:
>>I've come to the conclusion, after many (well a couple) hours of musing,
>>that Galaxy suffers from the same feature prevalent in many Starspanning
>>stragey games which is this - it is too hard to defend.  Now this gives
>>the advantage to the attacker, which may be no bad thing, but means that
>>in general the person who attacks first will win, and you are left to
>>simply outguessing your opponents as to when that will be, as a war which
>>is too evenly balanced will leave both ofyou crippled.
>>
>>So my suggestion is this - limit the maximum distance which ships can travel.  If
>>the furthest a ship could (safely) travel was 20 light years, then there would
>>be strategic planets in large open tracts of space, ownership of which would be
>>vital to continue past them.  This would allow people to have a modicum of a
>>defensive strategy - defending only the key planets, and leaving the rest of the
>>defenses of large tracts of open space.
>
>It already works this way, sort of.  If you were to jump 100 light years
>to attack deep into someone's territory, then that person would have
>warning. Not only that, you tech level would be lower by the time you
>reached that planet in comparison to the defenders (who would have
>at least 5 turns to produce).  Yes, with a higher drive tech
>you could reach further quicker, but it is the same as having a high
>"jump" tech.  - Chuck

Except that drive tech is pretty cheap compared to what John suggests the
cost of "jump" tech would be.  I agree with John in that I'd prefer a bit
more aid for the defense by making distances harder to cross.  It seems to
me (after much less than a couple of hours of musing :) that 20 light years
is a good buffer distance at the start of the game, since most combat ships
will have a speed of 10 or less (ie no more than 50% of ship mass as
drive).  But it doesn't take long for increases in drive tech. to blow out
the necessary buffer distance.  In GALAXY Gamma one player has a drive tech.
of 2.65 on turn 17 - any 10 speed combat ships of his could already hit 26
light years away with no warning.  At this rate I can easily imagine drive
techs of 10 or more - making "no warning" attacks possible from half the
galaxy away!

Andrew Haines                       \ "You're all individuals!"
Computer Systems Officer              \ "WE'RE ALL INDIVIDUALS!"
Monash University, Melbourne, Australia \ "I'm not!" Monty Python:Life of Brian

References

Galaxy
js138@cus.cam.ac.uk (John Sloan)
Mon, 01 Mar 1993 11:52:02 +0000
Re: Galaxy
charles@zip.eecs.umich.edu (Charles Jacob Cohen)
Mon, 01 Mar 1993 13:55:02 +0000