Galaxy rationale (was Captureing worlds, Alliances, etc)

From: amead@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Alan Mead)

Date: Fri, 17 Jul 1992 19:41:46 +0000

I have played a few PBM games that had a "background story" that in
some way created a basis for "realism" in that game.  For instance,
if we assume that each race is different (and perhaps xenophobic) then
it is probably not realistic that a single (perhaps tiny) ship would
capture an enemy population of millions in a single turn.

[As a side point, I'd like to point out that realism isn't
   nessessarily a goal in game design...  I mean, is the "incoming
   groups" report realistic?  I don't think there is anything magical
   about the groups being headed for *your* worlds.  Why can't I get a
   report for alien ships headed for a neighboring world?  I think the
   answer is that the report makes the game more playable, which is the
   superordinate goal in game design.]

For the most part, Galaxy is ammendable to a number of "background
stories".  A couple I'm fond of are:

(1) you [the players] have just overthrown your (collective)
    overlords; now it is time to see which planet (not race-you're all
    the same species) will forge an empire.

(2) you are all in league to destroy your overlords.  You have
    already destroyed their fleets and now they only have their
    capital.  [This one requires that you edit the 'galaxyrc' file to
    make the overlord player sufficiently powerful and, perhaps,
    institute a few "house rules" about what the overlord player can
    do.]

So the point of this is that Galaxy can be modified (often without
altering the source code) to many different games that people have
suggested.  Also, I think that a short background story is useful and
important.