Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.1 6/24/83; site alice.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!decvax!harpo!eagle!allegra!alice!alb From: alb@alice.UUCP Newsgroups: net.games.emp Subject: The role of God Message-ID: <2264@alice.UUCP> Date: Thu, 27-Oct-83 20:11:25 EST Article-I.D.: alice.2264 Posted: Thu Oct 27 20:11:25 1983 Date-Received: Mon, 31-Oct-83 05:25:07 EST Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill Lines: 68 I have been the Deity on harpo for a couple of years now, and in that time we have played through four complete games and are just now starting our fifth. The players on harpo are very experienced and crafty, and we always enjoy games that are of the utmost fun and interest. I have also played as a player on another machine in a few games, so I know how both sides feel. Here are some helpful hints on how to be God (these have always worked for me): 1) Be completely impartial. If you are the kind hearted type of person (which you usually are, if you've taken this job), you will feel like giving all sorts of aid to the weak and victims of attacks. What you must realize is that warmonging countries are part of the game. We have one special standout on harpo, and he has helped to make every game incredibly exciting. If it were not for the aggressive countries, the games would be boring. So resist the desire to help out the weak, unless you are willing to give equal aid to the strong. 2) Never *offer* your services. Always wait until asked. 3) One thing I always do without charge is to crush gold bars. Gold bars have no value whatsoever, unless you consider the meager interest from banks as value. Unfortunately, gold mines quickly run out of mobility in delivering dust out, so some dust gets turns into bars whether or not you like it. It takes five units of dust to make one bar, so I always crush (using empfix) bars into five units of dust each when asked. This is done for free. I have talked to Peter Langston about the problem, and he has promised that he will make an unsmelting sector in the next version. 4) Don't run your own country. This means (1) don't expand country 0 beyond its one sanctuary and (2) don't create a normal country to be run by yourself as a plebe. The temptation to cheat is far too great; don't say to yourself, ''I just won't cheat.'' You will. 5) Because of number 4, you can easily get bored if all you do all day is sit around, answering prayers, and reading the news. So don't hesitate to poke around and cause a little trouble; just be fair about it. Remember, there are no laws, so you can be a bit of a nuisance in order to increase interest. Examples: - Put in a few sectors rich in assays and maybe even containing some valuable commodities. However, make them hard to get to; maybe surrounded by mountains or on a remote island somewhere. - Create new things. The game without source is not at all unchangeable. Using empglb.c and empdefs.h, you can do all sorts of neat things, from fooling with tables to vary what it takes to do what to making new types of ships. I have created radar buoys, which just sit (it takes 127 units of mob to move them 3 sectors) and spy, having a radar range of 10. After a discussion with Peter Langston about something called a war canoe, created a while ago by someone whose name I forget, I created my own. It can hold 999 of everything, shoot 127 guns at once (with a range of 127 sectors), spy 14 sectors with radar, move at incredible speeds, and is totally invisible to enemy radar unless they are in the same sector (due to a bug/feature, ships created by the local God cannot be built by a build command, but by using empfix, you can give them away; I never give away war canoes (I use them for spying and to peak curiosity), but I do sell radar buoys). All of this was done by adding a couple lines to empglb.c. In all, don't be stingy, but don't be over generous. God can make or break an Empire game; it is your responsibility along with the players to keep things going and interesting.