posted 04-19-99 05:37 PM ET        

The Aredhran Challenge starts now !

Each player will receive a separate mail message from me, containing faction-specific information. Do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions, remarks or problems.

Whenever possible, use [email protected] to send me messages, as it automatically redirects them to my home or work address as appropriate. This way I'll be able to respond faster.

Let the Challenge begin, and may the best among you win ! We'll play a few turns, and see how things go. If the game is too slow or something does not go as planned, I can "recall" the game for a couple days and work out the problems, then resume.

Hope I didn't forget anything...

Yours faithfully,
Aredhran
CMN of the First Challenge

PS: The title is (c) cousLee

posted 04-19-99 05:40 PM ET            

1. The CMN (Creator / Moderator / Narrator)
- Prepares the scenario, determines who plays which faction, and starts the game
- Acts as a neutral referee whenever a question or problem arises (and since I'm Swiss, who could do this any better ). Takes action against cheaters (see below)
- Maintains a flow of information between the players, by e-mail or using the forums, posts the player's reports, verbatim or not.

2. The players
- Pledge they will abide by the rules and play an *Honest* game
- Do not cheat or intentionally take advantage of SMAC's "features"
- Refer to the CMN whenever there's a problem or question.
- Turn cheaters in to the CMN (remember: the CMN is your friend...)
- For the sake of making the Challenge known and interesting to the outside world, send the CMN an update of what their faction has been doing. It does not have to be every turn, and must not be a technical report of troop movements. We're interested in tactics, grand war stories and so forth. It must also be written in such a way that it does not reveal too much of the player's strategy. Stories may also posted directly on the Forums
- The last player in the turn (i.e. Peacekeepers) must send a copy of the save game to the CMN.

3. Cheating
We start this challenge to have good fun and to see who are the better players. Someone who cheats, by his very act admits that he is a loser and is not worth of participating to the Challenge.
The following things are considered cheating for the sake of this game. The list may not be comprehensive. If something unexpected happens, the players will decide if it is considered a cheat or not. The CMN has the final word on any decision.
Thus, when in doubt, always ask the CMN before committing a potentially illegal maneuver.
- Any reloading of one's turn. Probably the easiest cheat around, and impossible to trace (That's why we need Honesty)
- Upgrading units with the Workshop and using them in the same turn in a �last-ditch-save-my-arse-and-kick-yours tactic�. It is acceptable to use this feature at the end of one�s turn.
- Multiple Drops or Orbital Insertions using the right-click menu
- The "Instant Borehole" cheat (although I haven't been able to reproduce the bug- sorry Yin)
- Use of the Scenario Editor (of course)
- Use of Probe Teams against allies. A player can assume a �default� behavior, made known to all other players by e-mail (e.g. always declare war or always ignore). Otherwise, always ask the player you're probing what they want to do.
- MP allows diplomacy between human players even if no first contact was made. Make "in-game" contact before using diplomacy with that faction. Once the Council has been convened for the first time, this restriction is lifted
- Social Engineering changes "for just one turn" (eg. to build Elite Rovers or cheap "SP-builders") are forbidden. A minimum period of (1 + # of bases / 5) - rounded up - is OK. Again, Honesty is the key.
- Renaming a city to cash in multiple artifacts. A �normal� name change is acceptable.

posted 04-19-99 05:44 PM ET            

Gaia's Stepdaughters: ViVicdi ([email protected])
The Human Hive: cousLee ([email protected])
The University of Planet: dbrodale ([email protected])
Morgan Industries: GoobMeister ([email protected])
The Spartan Federation: HMFIC ([email protected])
The Lord's Believers: Yin26 ([email protected])
Peacekeeping Forces: MoSe([email protected])

posted 04-19-99 06:07 PM ET            

Large Map

Level has been set to Librarian, to avoid drone problems which, IMHO, would hamper game play.

Each faction has been granted a sum of �2'000 to use as they see fit (this way, players won't be tied too closely to my early game style)

No contacts have been made between factions as of yet.

That's it for now. The Challenge officially started April 19th, 1999 at 23:30 CET.

posted 04-20-99 01:38 AM ET            

If you don't mind receiving 300k emails, cousLee, I don't mind sending them.

If you want me to zip them to 75k instead, I guess I'll have to stop using Aladdin, which is a shame, because Aladdin is such a great unzip program ...

... on another matter, maybe I'm the only SMAC PBEM newbie here, but if not, understand how "save game" works. A single-player habit I have, strictly to guard against crashes, of course, is to save just before I end the turn. (This habit started with MoM, which would lock up during AI movement if a Planar Seal ended while two stacks occupied opposite sides of a Tower.)

Anyway, I saved game, SMAC automatically exited, I assumed that my turn was done, so I sent it off to cousLee. Little did I know there is a "proper place to save" when you "End Turn"! At the time I thought I had to reload and start from scratch, and when I did the awesome Energy Resources + Earthquake unleashed by a nearby pod evaporated into the ether (waah!)

Technically I broke the "no reload" rule, but realistically I don't think I cheated, since I got robbed instead of enriched, and I won't screw up my turn again, I promise!

If I had thought about it, I could have loaded the game I had just saved, pressed "End Turn", my turn would have saved back automatically, and that would've been that. I wish I'd thought of that before I overwrote the new save file with the old one ... oh well, live and learn.

posted 04-20-99 03:23 AM ET            

I don't mind getting 300+k attachments, it is just quicker to send a zipped file. it also protects the game file from other things, like lost packets, or worse.

posted 04-20-99 03:53 AM ET            

I'm following a strict backup policy (yes, even at home - I got bitten one and that's enough), so unless my house burns down, the worst we're looking at is losing one turn.

posted 04-20-99 10:08 AM ET            

Question, can we post our own propaganda reports in the "planet" thread or do we email them to Aredhran?

I have no desire to post anything about strategy (because that would show that I have no strategy), but I would like to post messages about the glories of Morgan Industries...

2000 credits WHOOSH that's some money to spend.

If it is ok with Aredhran why don't we let this game go a couple of turns before starting Goob Challenge, to make sure that bugs are ironed out of the system.

Finally looking at my view of the map their are the clear squares that I have explored, the completely dark squares I have not, and then a bunch of squares that are shaded but I can see the underlying terrain. Is this a setting that I have never tried before? I was too tired to look through the menus.

posted 04-20-99 11:25 AM ET            

Cousin, do you remember Namor, the SubMariner? now I style myself Lal, Pravin Lal.
I wish you a nice look at my PB-loaded sub-carriers emerging from my deep-pressuredomed-bases, from your glassbottomed cruisers !

I'm a PBEM newbee too, ViVicdi, so thanx I'll make good use of your notes too.
Can't you just install WinZip along with Aladdin? You then go to Explore, View, Options, File Types (didn't check for the right english menu names...) and reset the .zip association to Aladdin if you want to keep using it to open zipped files.

If I got it right I may assume it's OK MOVING units, and THEN WorkshopUpgrading'em.
Is it good too if I upgrade that way a former to fungicidal halfway a RemoveFungus task?

Goob: Fog of War?

Now, since my DNA prevents me from cheating, now I know I can have a stroll around Geneva if needed, singin' "Burning down the House". I'll only have to care not to start my lighter while in the MontBlanc tunnel .
(OK, that was grim, people died)

I guess the round-robin order was picked by toss, I'll do some math with the timezones, but at first look we weren't so lucky.

Peace be in our times
Keeper of Mouthshut (too late...)

MariOne

posted 04-20-99 01:47 PM ET            

I think that Morgan Enterprises (M.E. for short ) should receive a 20 percent energy bonus above what everyone else receives due to Morgan's Yen (M.Y. for short)for business.

All in favor vote Aye in this post.

Aye

All in favor vote nay in this post.

...
...

I guess it is unanimous then

posted 04-20-99 02:30 PM ET            

Goob sheepishly walks to the Punishment sphere, ensign CEO Benjamin waits gleefully to turn it on.

posted 04-20-99 05:51 PM ET            

Just keep it to posts that are "Game/Story"-related, as opposed to technical/general issues which belong in here. My original idea was to have a thread one could read as some kind of short story relating the events but it's not carved in stone.

Cous: on the 2000 energy thing, I just thought about how fast these credits go when you start rushing production, and given the remarks I have received about that suggestion, it seemed about right. I'll keep your note in mind (for the next challenge )

Goob: If you load your game in the Scenario Editor and save it as a scenario (CTRL-F7 IIRC), you can select the actual difficulty level when you start the PBEM game (should you wish to change your Transcend to Librarian).

posted 04-21-99 11:49 AM ET            

See, Amen

or

See 'em in

?

MariOne

hey, a "bing"!...

YESSS, YESSSS!!!!
THAT'S IT! MY FIRST TURN INCOMING!
took 3 hours from K-land

posted 04-21-99 01:07 PM ET            

(maybe the new challenges will have only 5 or 6 players. thoughts?)

posted 04-22-99 04:36 AM ET            

Seven
Members of
Aredhran's
Challenge

Unveil your-turbaned-self!
MariOne

posted 04-24-99 02:59 AM ET            

Either under a new GUID class they create or squirreled away in some other key that they know has to exist on everyone's machine.

They probably encrypt the information and give it an odd name to make it harder to find.

But hey, it works! And that's the main thing ...

posted 04-25-99 12:57 PM ET            

To take your turn you would log in to the server and download your game. Then you would play your game, and finally upload it back to the server.

The reason I didn't mention it is because it seems like more work than PBEM, but it would allow the players to know what was happening -- and allow non-players to keep an eye on things, too, if they were so inclined.

A really good SMAC Server might even facilitate switching between PBEM and multiplayer.

posted 04-26-99 09:35 AM ET            

Diplomacy
All forms of communications, both known (in-game chat, e-mail, phone, forums...) and unknown to me (telepathy ?) between factions are allowed and even encouraged, as long as Initial contact has been made by units within the game.

Contact: Definition
If *any* of your units/bases is in a square adjacent to *any* unit/base of another faction, contact is considered made.

Obviously there is no way to prove that an e-mail exchange or a phone call took place, so one more time, Honesty is the key.

posted 04-26-99 11:49 AM ET            

You're correct. Please add this to my post above:

The faction who build the Empath Guild may contact all other factions after completion.

All Commlinks are considered available to all factions after the Planetary Council has met for the first time.

Also note that Sunspot activity will prevent *all* communication with other players, (except for savegame transmission of course )

posted 04-26-99 12:56 PM ET            

And what about atrocities committed during sunspots?
Even if sanctions were not applied, some factions seemed to get to know it in my SinglePlayer's when comms were reestablished, and that was enough for them to declare Vendetta, some other seemed not to care, wether they knew or not.
Will the game handle it (i.e. will human players be notified, if it applies), or our nerve-stapling will remain completely secret?

posted 04-26-99 04:04 PM ET            

Example,

Gaians have the Hive comm Frequency, they sell the frequency to the University for 30 credits, the university in turn has the Morgan's frequency, they sell the Hive frequency to Morgan fo 50 credits (making a tidy little profit) Morgan later learns that UoP took advantage of them and declares Vendetta annihilating the UoP in a matter of a couple of years.

Sorry for the graphic violence above

posted 04-27-99 06:18 PM ET            

(What does speaking of myself at the third person say about my personality ? )

Please advise the CMN when commlinks are gained through contact or transactions.

Also CC me on "final" decisions made in diplomacy exchanges by e-mail (or other means of communication).

posted 04-29-99 03:38 AM ET            

However, having yet one more source of information to go out and check is a bit of a hassle for me. Why can't we just do this in here ?

(Sorry Markos, nothing against Apolyton...)

posted 04-29-99 05:18 AM ET            

here is some technology:
Discover .5
Bookmark Abilities
Prereq: Internet Explorer or Netscape Communicator
Allows: freeform posting

posted 04-29-99 05:39 AM ET            

My brilliant researchers had discovered bookmarks when your puny Believers "scientists" (if such a thing even exists) were still in Stone Age, using NCSA Mosaic...

Provost Aredhran

posted 04-29-99 11:59 AM ET            

CEO Goob

While I have no aversion to using another Forum, I don't see an advantage to switching to the Apolyton Forum. If we have a thread here or one there, it will be equally easy to find, and since the rest of my posting is here it seems to be the logicale choice.

Though actually it is easier for me to email to the group that I have passed my turn on. The posting that I would do is to continue a story line/narrative thread.

Creating a thread at Apolyton to record the passing of the game file will not generate much interest in the game by others, a thread that has our wonderfully witty and well written narratives might. I have no interest in moving the narrative threads to another forum. (Unless we want to do a straight copy and paste and have them in both places.)

posted 04-30-99 07:13 AM ET            

I didn't even peek in yahoo anymore.

If it's unanimous I'll try it, but I prefer the no content turn passsed e-mail note.

posted 04-30-99 08:31 PM ET            

http://apolyton.net/forums/Forum27/HTML/000006.html

For the time being, I'll keep the Story thread in here (consider it a probation period for Apolyton )

If performance is better and general public acceptance is good, maybe I'll move the whole stuff over there.

posted 05-04-99 04:45 AM ET            

dbrodale had to drop out (see "Message from dbrodale" thread).

If someone wants to take his place as Leader of the University of Planet, simply send me an e-mail. The first one to do so will be the new Provost. In the interim, as your CMN, I will assume the position of Vice-Provost (cousLee, please send the turn to me).

posted 05-04-99 01:21 PM ET            

JAMiAM has been accepted as new Provost of the UoP, in replacement of Don

Aredhran, CMN

posted 05-04-99 01:21 PM ET            

JAMiAM has been accepted as new Provost of the UoP, in replacement of Don

Aredhran, CMN

posted 05-07-99 01:16 PM ET            

Do tell do tell

Goob

posted 05-18-99 09:13 AM ET            

> Aredhran:
>
> You'd better take me off because I'm not following the turns closely enough,
> and I should. I'm deeply involved in this Civ3 thing now (as a lowly idea
> collector). Sorry to let you down. In fact, I'm involved in two games.
> I'd better fix that, too.
>
> O.K. Lots of people are clamoring to get into the game.
> By the way, you are doing a great job! I hope to see your help for Civ3!
>
> Yin

So, there is another slot open. As before, candidates should e-mail me at the address above, first in gets the coveted seat of Leader of the True Believers (no, cous, you can't play two factions in the same game )

I will announce who the new player is here as soon as a suitable candidate has been found. In the interim, I'll play Yin's turn.

posted 05-19-99 04:04 AM ET            

*** NO MORE CANDIDATES ACCEPTED ***

Last night, Sister Miriam Godwinson appointed Archbishop Jimmytrick as the new leader of the mundane affairs of the church, so that she could spend more of her precious time in prayer and contemplation.

Let's hear it for Jimmytrick, Archbishop of the Lord's Believers.

posted 05-19-99 08:02 PM ET            

Let's try to have a better average than 1 turn per week now !