I'm brand new to the site, and wanted to compliment all the folks who have done such a great job in setting this up. Well done!!!

I'm a veteran MOO player, but I have no prior experience with net-related game playing, so I thought this would be difficult. Thanks to the excellent instructions, I had MOO up and runing on XP for the first time last night. (I'll post a report shortly)

After the disappointment of MOO III, I hadn't much hope for any new MOO experiences, so this is a real treat. MOO I is my favorite strategy game of all time - the balnces and interfaces in the game flow so seamlessly. It really does deserve the tribute that you have given it.

Thanks again for everything!

Players have until Monday night (their local time) to complete this event. Reports are due by the end of Tuesday night. Please post your game summary, or report, or a link to your report, in this thread. Reports or additional information to supplement game summaries are welcome any time, but at least a summary must be posted on time to be included among the list of official participants for this inaugural event.

Let the comparisons and discussions begin!


- Sirian
Event Sponsor

Not sure if this is the right place to post this, but I just realized (while working on my Report website) that there's no link from RealmsBeyond.net to the Realms Beyond Orion page. The only link is in Sirian's thread in the Master of Orion forum. The URL is easy enough, but if you don't know it's there, there's no way to get there from Realms Beyond. Maybe a link could be added to the Realms Beyond front page. While I'm at it, there's also no link from there to this new forum, the links still lead back to the old forum, and again if you didn't know the forums had moved, you wouldn't find these. There is a link in a thread in the General forum, but it's not obvious, and will gradually move down the page. Same for the links in threads in the Civ and GalCiv forums. Especialy as report times come up for both the First Imperium and the next Epic, it would be good to make it easy for visitors to the main Realms Beyond pages to find the new forums.

For those not in the gaming mainstream, Lineage II goes live next week.

http://www.lineage2.com/main.asp

This is a MMORPG from Korea that uses the Unreal engine.

I’ve been checking out the open Beta for a week or so, and my take is:

“Save your money.”

The good: Spell effects, character models, mood, lighting and music (a bit overwrought and flakey, but at least they tried), user controls and interface.

The ok: Scenery. Look controls.

The bad: Game engine (oddly enough) runs much more poorly than Unreal, engrish, minimal effort adapting game for North America, compass/minimap (or the explanation thereof), GM’s, monster AI and pathing.

The ugly: PvP and karma system, player bots, player griefers you can’t deal with due to (aforementioned) silly PvP and karma system, leveling grind, Grind, GRIND (assuming you can find someplace to level not being farmed by player bots or hunted by PK’s), downtime, Downtime, DOWNTIME.

Sigh. I would REALLY like to like this game, and am rather attached to my Dark Elf Assassin, but, sheesh! I actually have a rather high tolerance for griefers and jerks online—dealing with them adds a bit of spice to life. It is the downtime (and stupid GM’s) that are the killers for me.

Last night sums up my relationship with the game nicely. I ran around, did a couple of quests, got a couple of new ones and a new dagger , and trucked up to the edge of town. It was 10:30 pm; I had an hour of good gaming time ahead that could be stretched out if things were going well. I was stocked up and regenned, and had an open quest out in an area of the game I had never been to before. So I….logged out, picked up a book, and read a bit before bed. You see, I wanted to do something entertaining before I went to bed for the night…

I guess I’ll go explore the new area tonight. Unless something good is on TV. Or I’d rather clean up the kitchen. Or do laundry. Or wonder how long until WoW or EQ II.

Cy

I'm currently playing an Impossible game as the Psilons. My chief rival is the Bulrathi, who are about even with me in population but well ahead in technology and production. They have Class X planetary shields and Class VII deflectors, and I have nothing that can penetrate that shielding, so the combat is taking place over my planets.

Here's the start of one combat:






Although the Rhino is no threat to my planet, I'm going to target it first because it's the fastest:



And now the Rhino is just barely in range of my nuke missiles. I shoot one.



Although the missile will do exactly one point of damage if it hits, the Rhino backs up to avoid it. Now the slower ships are in range of my Hyper-V missiles:



And the Warbear backs up to avoid the missile. The Rhino should be killed by the volley that's on the way; I spend this volley of planetary missiles on the Colony ship to further reduce the number of targets. Another Nuke is targeted on the Grizzly stack:



Now, I'm going to target the Warbear with the planetary missiles:



The Warbear is now in range of the Hyper-Vs:



And now the Grizzlies are coming back for more:



Four turns later, the Warbear is destroyed, and the Grizzlies are in range for a Hyper-V:



I finish off the Grizzly with one Hyper-V and three nuclear missiles left over.

I probably could have retreated my ships and beaten these guys with my missile bases, but this would have worked just as well if they were packing bombs or bio weapons. This trick is less effective if the invaders have good speed or missiles - although I've had good success in the latter case with a large design with auto repair and one rack each of Hyper-Vs and nukes. If you're careful in your targeting, you can often make two stacks back up on one turn.

I have no idea what posessed me to post this, but for some odd a reason a communal recipe thread seemed like a good idea. To get into each other's heads better and maybe try a new food.

I'll start.

I used to call it "The Reason I am Still Single" but now is refered to "The True Love Tester." A lot of my foods have fun names. No idea why. When I fix one of these now, my wife pleads and bargains with me for me not to eat it. I only feel that it is fair to post a warning, don't plan any romantic encounters or even any social functions for a few days... Or, if you are evil, make social plans. Punish society for their sins.

What you need.

6 large fresh eggs.
Several thick crusty slices of rye.
Bell pepper, cut into rings. I like using red and green for festive colours!
Cilantro, oragano, rosemary, dill, and salt and pepper to taste. Greens should be fresh and minced.
One vidalia or burmuda onion. Take your pick, both drastically change the sammich dynamic.
Good olive oil.
Red wine vinegar.
Mozerella cheese, hopefully freshly home made. Can also use feta cheese or even ricotta.
Capers and a pickle.
Oh yeah, some baby romaine head lettuce.

Be very careful how you prepare the eggs. Cook them wrong and your sammich is ruined. Yucky. I like the 13 minute method, which I will cover here. Fill large pan with cold water. Add eggs. Salt water and add a splash of olive oil. Bring to rolling boil. The moment it comes to a rolling boil, remove from heat, cover, and let sit for 13 minutes. When the timer dings, quickly spoon out eggs with a bit metal spoon and drop them carefully into a cold water and ice cube bath to stop the cooking. Egg whites should be soft and silky feeling, not rubbery. Yolks should be velvety and slightly crumbly, never hard or green or black. Eww. The texture is everything here.

Chop eggs into hunks. Don't mince, chop. Hunks. Large bit sized pieces. Chop mozerella into hunks. Add a small portion of eggs to a large stainless steel mixing bowl. Add a slight splash of olive oil and red wine vinegar. Add more eggs. Toss the mix, don't stir it with a spoon as you will only moosh the eggs. There should never be to much oil or vinegar. Just enough to coat the eggs, but not enough to be loose and runny at the bottom of the bowl. Add seasonings. Toss carefully. Add cheese. Toss. Add capers. Toss.

Prepare bread. I like mine lightly toasted, to carmalize. On bread, drizzle a slight amount of olive oil and vinegar, and add a smidge of the freshly minced oregano. On the bottom slice, lay a bed of fresh baby romaine leaves. Carefully spoon egg salad mixture on to lettuce bed. Add a slice or two of onion, a few rings of bell peppers, add top slice of bread. Serve with a fresh dill pickle... Hopefully home made as the store bought ones are nasty... Eww. Especially good with a dark bitter ale for some reason. I find the taste irresistable and delicious... I eat these probably, hrm, 2 or 3 times a week.

Delicious... And good for you. Different, as most people think of egg salad as nasty mustardy mayo nastiness smeared onto bread. Blech.

Again, I must warn you...

After eating this, your breath will smell like you french kissed a zombie. Your SO will most likely flee from you. So will most other folks. Eating one of these is antisocial at best, criminal at worst, with Dubbya showing up at your door asking you about Dubbya Emm Dees. Please, for the love of all things good, don't dutch oven your SO after eating one of these. (Farting and pulling the blankets over their heads) Don't go on car trips. Don't go to movie theatres. Don't take romantic baths together, unless you really did want a bubbling hot tub on the cheap. Do NOT feed to small children and then send them home with their parents, as said parents might try to put a voodoo curse on you or give you the evil eye come next gathering. Do NOT feed to dog or cat or fox or house hold pets. Just take my word on this one mmmkay?

Now that AP is getting close, is anybody getting AP (besides me)?

I think I already know the answer, but thought I'd ask anyway. I guess I'll be playing AP in between my MOO tournaments.

1991. No, that is not a year. That is the number I am both praising and cursing.

Today, I really had my game face on. I cleared one thousand nine hundred and ninety one lines today in Tetris, my personal best. Beat my last score by one measly little line... But it's just not good enough... grrr. I have played this game since... Well some time in the 80s. It's been many years. I have always hoped to clear 2k lines, earning an unofficial Master's Title. Sadly, I don't know of any more official TetraCons, so I don't think titles matter any more. Of course, I would still love a Grandmaster's Crown, but, that will never happen. I no longer have the motor control to even dream of clearing 3k. There are folks who play Tetris by score, something that has never caught on with me. All that matter is the lines cleared, no fancy doodads, bells, or whistles. No falling pianos to crush tiles into place, no bombs, no bubble pop pops. Just good old fashioned line clearing goodness.

I don't know how many people play this game, or how many people here play hardcore Tetris. After about 500 lines, it becomes quite fast. Panic must be banished and your nerves made steely. Instinct must be finely tuned. Gambles must be made, gambits that will either carry you through or crush you in humiliating defeat. After 1000 lines, it gets scary. You live or die by pure reflex, instinct, and lucky gambits. I love that nervous sweaty queasy feeling... When you finally blow it, your hands shaking, your eyelids twitching, all those little nervous tics on your face and neck... What a feeling.

I play several clones, one of which does not get as fast, for practice, and can often clear over 100k lines in a good practice session... But in the real game... I just can't clear the 2000 mark. After all these years, all these attempts, having it in reach, I just can't do it and I feel like such a failure. It's bitter... As I get older, I am slowly losing my lightning fast reflexes. I don't think I am going to make it.

So close... it hurts.

"Out in the West Texas town of El Paso,
I got some shots and got sick as a dog."
(To the tune of the Marty Robbins classic . . .)

Hail, a few words from the Rambling Rogue. We leave soon, can't say when. Been getting "processed" by the Army, which is similar to Arlo Guthrie's "inspected, injected, neglected and seee lected." (From Alice's Restaurant.)

I had most of my shots up to date, but bless the Army, they gave me more, and when taking the blood for the HIV test, left a massive bruise. It's still green. The Navy Corpsman who did it last week left nary a trace. Go figure. Have been sick as a dog for the last two days, not sure if it was the flu shot (which I did not need, season is over) or the small pox, or the rubella, or . . .

I qualified Expert, again, with the 9mm, 280/300, but was kicking myself for missing a target from "Being Hasty" and pulling versus squeezing the trigger. Pulled high and left, off target. Treebeard and my old pistol instructor would not be pleased. Musn't be hasty . . . however, I don't think that where I am going there will be much shooting. (crosses fingers)

Got some excellent gas mask training, and even better first aid training. Small group instruction is still one of the Army's strong points. I will say that our firing range safety and pistol techniques instructor is a little "zen" for my taste, but it worked.

Been watching the news, and a few comments:

Was gratified to see that someone used an F-16 and a 2000 lb bomb the other day to take out a sniper. Hmmm, proportional response. They oughta take out that bridge where the contractors got hung out to dry the same way.

The sale of US Army clothing at the Bagdad Thieve's market does not surprise me. Someone is bound to lose an item here and there in a fire fight . . . As far as the media's hype in re the chance for infiltration, etc, the same stuff has been for sale at "The Cavalry Store" for years. (A catalogue house that caters to folks obsessed with military paraphanelia, and knives in particular.) Heard on the same news show that a few dozen Humvee's are unaccounted for and that the media wag reporting that feels that is a security issue. hmmmmmmmmm We shall see.

The Bruhaha over "they should have been armoring Humvees long ago, what is happening now is too little and too late" puzzles me. The Humvee was never meant for MOUT. (Military Operations in Urban Terrain.) So, as the mission changed, and crept into nation building (which some of us predicted . . . .) the Army has to adapt, and they are doing it as quickly as time and money allow. That is nothing new. I am at a loss at the complaints in re zero defects expectations, but those who say "you should have planned for this" ignore the very real money limitations that the Army not at war faces in choosing how to spend money where. On the flip side, the soldiers emailing home that they feel like sitting ducks in a Humvee should be listened to.

Have heard some odd stories in re how the information age has changed the letter home. Apparently, some soldiers are getting a chance now and again to use a chat client to talk to the home front, not sure how it works. The Chaplain says it is a mixed blessing, as the immediacy of the chat bypasses the self censorship that letter writing often induces. In short, there were some incidents where the post chat led to depression due to a "fight." Saw that years ago in the Navy, on a MARS station (HF patch to Ham radio operators) when one of our sailors got into an argument with his wife "over the phone" that was so vitriolic that the Ham radio operator cut the patch.

Writing letters: good. Nagging and carping with the home front: bad. Getting a box of cookies from home: priceless.

El Paso. Nice place to visit, not sure I'd want to live here. The Mexican food in San Antonio is loads better.

Rogue out

In the Ground Pounder thread, several players were discussing how the game calculates the cost of new factories and upgrades once a new level of Robotic Controls is discovered. . If you haven't read it, the Strategy Guide claims that the game only charges you the base tech price for your first Pop*2 factories, then charges the refit cost, then the full 1.5*base cost for the remaining factories until you reach Pop*3. However, Sirian has mentioned that in fact you pay the increased cost immediately. I had noticed that it didn't work quite how I expected, but wasn't sure why. I discussed my 'theory' in
This Post.. I thought it had something to do with the game starting the refits when factories hit CurrentPop*2, not after they max out the planet at MaxPop*2, and the costs wouldn't kick in until then.

Since we are at the point of transition now in our SG, I just looked through several planets in the save, and adjusted sliders to determine what is going on. It turns out Sirian is right (no suprise), and that my CurrentPop*2 is also partially right. Once a new level of robotics is discovered, ALL new factories from that point forward cost 1.5*Base Cost (or 2*Base for level IV, etc). So, in fact, new colonies are buying even their initial factories at a 50% premium. In our case, Industrial Tech 8 means we are paying 1.2BC/factory. The odd thing is that it stops building factories at CurrentPop*2, and everything else goes into refitting existing factories, rather than letting you at least build out to the normal MaxPop*2 and then refit. For growing colonies, that means they will hit an early wall, at which time new factories beyond 2*CurrentPop will not be built until existing factories are refitted. Because their pop is still growing, however, each turn some will go back into building a few factories for new growth, then the rest into refit, but it will not 'build ahead' so there are factories waiting to be used by next turn's new growth.

Hopefully that didn't confuse anyone. The main thing to take away is to emphasize Sirian's earlier point, that if you get Robotics too early, it can actually cripple your growth curve. Maxed out colonies can increase their potential production, but growing ones have just had their growth cut by 50%, PLUS a pause while they upgrade what factories they have built once they hit CurrentPop*2. If most of your colonies are still in the growth cycle, avoid Robotics! If a majority of your colonies are maxed out, then it will result in a net increase in productivity, although you must take into account the stunting of newer colonies, and if they are critical border areas, you may want to use some reserves to at least help them over the Refit Hump. If you have a mix of Maxed and growing colonies, it's a judgement call, but hey, that's why they call it a strategy game!