Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!sun-barr!apple!motcsd!dms!rotberg
From: rotberg@dms.UUCP (Ed Rotberg)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Looking for Comments/Suggestions for Spaceward Ho! Version 2.0
Message-ID: <1258@dms.UUCP>
Date: 3 Jun 91 17:02:47 GMT
References: <157332@pyramid.pyramid.com>
Organization: Atari Games Inc., Milpitas, CA
Lines: 75

From article <157332@pyramid.pyramid.com>, by bjb@pyramid.com (Bruce Beare):


Peter;

	I would like to see the retreat feature you mentioned.  I believe the
higher the SPEED the better chance that the fleet could retreat.  I like the
suggestion that the retreating fleet cannot get the last shot off.  Retreat
is only effective if the fleet has the range to get to another planet.  
Speaking of that, where will the ships retreat too?  The nearest planet, the 
closest planet, your nearest colonized planet, ...?

	I think a better suggestion than communication, if it is every man for
himself, is to allow "rumors from traders" or "spies" that would give you 
info on fleet concentrations or unexplored areas or metal rich planets, etc.

	There is no way at the moment for multiple players to fight against
other teams of players in a team style event.  I think this cooperative
concept is worth considering.

	I also liked the suggestion to leave the metal from the players just
eliminated at the last colonized planet he was at.  His red planets should
die off and kill all the colonists.

	Don't you just hate it when you scrap a fleet at an uncolonized 
planet and the game doesn't warn you that you will not get the metal?  If you
later send a colony fleet to the planet, you will need to mine it just like
raw metal!  How cheap.

	I have often scrapped fleets in hyperspace and sometimes the metal
appears to come to me and sometimes ends up elsewhere.  What is the algorithm
for this?  I don't think you should be able to scrap fleets in hyperspace.

	I have so often added ships to the build queue but then forgot to
allocate money for ship building.  Can't the game warn me that I have not
allocated money?

	Similarly, I would like it to warn me the first time I create a new
ship/sat but forget to start building it!  Usually I have allocated money
but I have not placed it in the queue.

	I do not want to see the warning screens about my fleets that are
no longer in existance.  Especially when I just manually moved all the ships
from the fleet.

	I want the planet money allocation window to CORRECTLY show the
red (underfunded) planets.  I have often eliminated a planet and ignored
the warning message but later found out that another planet was also
underfunded even though it shows as adequately funded in the window.

	I do not like to see 800K files for my large universes.  The file
sizes must reduced!

	I am tired of waiting several minutes per update for large worlds
when I am the only human player in the game.  My MAC has the memory, so why 
doesn't Spaceward Ho just leave the file in memory and write the file after
it has updated the screen (in the background) or every so many turns.  As
it is now it must read the file in and write it out every turn.  Consider the
time to read and write a 800K file, not to mention the wear and tear on my
disk drive.

	I would like to see the player number in the summary window, so that
I do not need to keep reviewing the battle to see who it was.

	I would like to see the planet budget window not reduce the money
for a red planet below the minimum unless I specifically move it below for
that planet.  ie if I am increasing spending on tech, I don't want my red
planets to be underfunded.

	I would like to be able to construct my own model of a computer 
opponent and then play against him.  If this would be possible, then we
could all use our own models to fight against each other to determine who
has the best algorithm.  Robot Wars!!!!

						Ed Logg