Odyssey/Polaris

From: Kjetil Friden <cezton@nvg.ntnu.no>

Date: Thu, 21 Oct 1999 00:00:00 +0000

Hola!

I'd like to introduce a rather new science fiction spare
opera type of PBeM game called Polaris.  It has finished
playtesting nicely some weeks ago, and has changed name
from Odyssey to Polaris.  It is an interesting game, with
a good moderator.  The game in itself is all computer
command environment, but stuff that you can't make a
computer game handle for you, is done with extraordinary
orders which the moderator does himself.

News is handled in an elegant way.  You may make money
by taking sponsors in various methods.  Most of these
require headlines however, and this normally means that
as an explorer with a sponsorship contract, what you
find will be public in some way.  So, the GM is sort
of paying you to tell the others what you find.

The game is rather complex, and there are a lot of rules.
However, you don't need them all to begin playing.
Also, the item listing are huge, but this only needs
be looked up.

The turns are created with a small utility and the
game as such requires Windows/NT environment, I think.
The actual turns are just numbers, but you can make
a summary for yourself.  The number turn is sent to
the orders e-mail address, and action is sequencial.
With that I mean that each action take a certain number
of minutes or hours to complete and two ships which
starts at the same place at the same time, can move
at the same speed and do things exactly at the same
times.  You can make printouts at the end of whatever
days, like after specific actions are completed
etc.  Maximum printout frequency is 10 days.

You can run starships, merchants, ground teams,
colonies, companies, organisations etc.  You start
with a company, belonging to a certain species
and with a speciality (bonus in a field) and a
Solar Freighter.  The ship is a reasonably all-round
ship, but with its limitations.

Compared to other open-ended games, this game can
be relatively cheap.

We are twelveish players, and I have nothing to do with the
running of the game.  I simply would like others to
consider the game.  Check out this URL:

http://www.daredevil.force9.co.uk

rec.games.pbm

Odyssey/Polaris

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