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"On air. On sea. On land. Still the Internet's greatest wargame simulation."

Mid-Shipman's Empire

Deity: Mark Ballinger
Start Date: May 22, 2003
End Date: July 2, 2003 (41 days)
Code used: Wolfpack 4.2.11
Winner(s): DexterPV
Thistle
Pax
Armengar

Original Game Announcement

May 6, 2003

I'd like to gauge interest in a new long-term empire game, tentatively called "Mid Shipman's Empire". If I get enough sign-ups, I'll run the game; if not, I'll work on building a slow repeating game.

The point of "Mid Shipman's Empire" would be a game for non-newbies who are also not vastly experienced. By non-newbie I mean players who have played in some blitzes and/or a long-term game. Players should understand that citizens will starve if not fed and should have a basic idea of what they want to do on the first couple of updates.

My ground rules would be these:

1) No co-ruling;
2) No update attack scripting; (update attacks are fine, of course)
3) No "pre-diplomacy";
4) Offline intel-sharing is fine.

The ground rules would not be enforced, but I would ask for an honor system. Nobody is going to go down in Empire History for winning this game, although I hope everybody will have fun.

Please email me: mark - wolfpackempiredotcom if interested. Include your country name, your initial password, the number of blitz and long-term games you've played in and the time of day that would work best for you for updates.

I would like to start the game before May finished. LOTR2 will hopefully come soon after.

Empire 4.2.11
(KSU distribution 1.04, Chainsaw version 4.00, Wolfpack version 2.11)

The following parameters have been set for this game:
World size is 96 by 48.
There can be up to 99 countries.
By default, countries use their own coordinate system.

An Empire time unit is 1440 seconds long.
Use the 'update' command to find out the time of the next update.
The current time is Mon Jul 7 14:06:13.
An update consists of 60 empire time units.
Each country is allowed to be logged in 1440 minutes a day.
It takes 8.33 civilians to produce a BTU in one time unit.

A non-aggi, 100 fertility sector can grow 0.12 food per etu.
1000 civilians will harvest 1.3 food per etu.
1000 civilians will give birth to 5.0 babies per etu.
1000 uncompensated workers will give birth to 2.5 babies.
In one time unit, 1000 people eat 0.5 units of food.
1000 babies eat 6.0 units of food becoming adults.

Banks pay $250.00 in interest per 1000 gold bars per etu.
1000 civilians generate $8.33, uncompensated workers $1.78 each time unit.
1000 active military cost $83.33, reserves cost $8.33.
Happiness p.e. requires 1 happy stroller per 10000 civ.
Education p.e. requires 1 class of graduates per 10000 civ.
Happiness is averaged over 48 time units.
Education is averaged over 192 time units.
The technology/research boost you get from the world is 50.00%.
Nation levels (tech etc.) decline 1% every 96 time units.
Tech Buildup is limited to logarithmic growth (base 2.00) after 1.00.

Sectors Ships Planes Units
Maximum mobility 127 127 127 127
Max mob gain per update 60 90 60 60
Max eff gain per update -- 100 100 100

Ships on autonavigation may use 6 cargo holds per ship.
Fire ranges are scaled by 1.00

Options enabled in this game:
ALL_BLEED, BRIDGETOWERS, DEMANDUPDATE, EASY_BRIDGES, FALLOUT,
GODNEWS, GO_RENEW, INTERDICT_ATT, LANDSPIES, LOANS, NEUTRON,
NEW_WORK, NEWPOWER, NO_FORT_FIRE, NO_PLAGUE, NOMOBCOST,
NUKEFAILDETONATE, ORBIT, PINPOINTMISSILE, PLANENAMES, SAIL,
SHIPNAMES, SHOWPLANE, TREATIES, UPDATESCHED

Options disabled in this game:
BIG_CITY, BLITZ, DEFENSE_INFRA, DRNUKE, FUEL, GRAB_THINGS, HIDDEN,
LOSE_CONTACT, MARKET, MOB_ACCESS, NEW_STARVE, NO_HCMS, NO_LCMS,
NO_OIL, NOFOOD, NONUKES, RES_POP, SHIP_DECAY, SLOW_WAR,
SNEAK_ATTACK, SUPER_BARS, TECH_POP, TRADESHIPS,


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Mid-game Updates

Eight days after start, May 30, 2003

Mid Shipman's Empire has now seen 6 updates. 20 players signed up. 18 broke sanctuary on time; one original player and one sub broke sanctuary the next day. All 20 are still highly active, many thanks guys!

The world of Mid Shipman's Empire is packed tight. A 96x48 world with 20 countries, each starting with 35 sectors. All sectors had close to full citizens, but not much food. Still, we've only had limited starvation.

As soon as boats hit the water, the free-land grab began. Most battles right now are on those small islands (one is only one sector), although there have been limited skirmishes on main islands.

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Game Summary

Mid Shipman's Empire has come to and end. A secret four-way alliance of DexterPV,
Thistle, Pax and Armengar unleashed a furious attack just after my last posting
to this newsgroup. Other attacks co-incided, but this one was brought on by the
two power leaders and was decisive.

Yes, a four-way win in a twenty player game is not ideal, but probably is a
fitting end to this game. Power, "report", the world map and the last of the
announcements follow. I particularly enjoyed the final announcements about
building "mobility farms". Although not a new concept to me, it is a new phrase
and should be built into one of the Academy postings.

Mid Shipman's was a very small world with small resource-rich islands. Diplomacy
was huge, as an attack force could wipe out a home-island very quickly.

I'll leave award presentations to others. DexterPV was the tech leader for the
entire game and the power leader for most of it. Announcements were sparse.

I would like to commend all twenty players for their dedication to the game.
Everybody was active at the first few updates. Nobody threw in the towel too
early.

Thanks guys! More mid-level games coming up . . .

-Uncle Gabby (mark)

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Final Power

Blue coloring on countries in the power chart indicates the winners of the game.



- = [ Empire Power Report ] = -
as of Wed Jul 2 12:33:34 2003
            sects  eff civ  mil  shell gun pet  iron dust oil  pln ship unit money
    DexterPV 217  100% 213K  16K 2.8K 494  3.3K  33K 5.1K 2.4K 233   58  140   99K
    15828.97
     Thistle 203   97% 189K  13K 4.1K 476  6.2K  35K 7.9K  11K 177   51  132   43K
    12771.94
         Pax 158   92% 147K 8.9K 4.2K 594   14K  24K 7.0K  22K 104   56   91   56K
    10817.75
    Armengar  90  100%  82K 9.3K 5.2K 267   13K  14K 7.1K  14K  34   37   90   71K
     6970.17
    Kurszlic 106  100% 101K  11K 3.7K 415  4.5K  25K 6.1K 8.6K  61   67   24 -329 
     5945.24
   OrionSynd 110   96% 106K 9.0K 1.1K 304  4.2K  26K 4.4K 1.9K  78   61   68  149K
     5746.73
   ToyMachin 100   99%  93K 7.2K 2.3K 277  9.3K  23K 2.8K 9.0K  45   57   34   16K
     5030.19
      Venaus  81   99%  78K 7.3K 2.4K 270  7.0K  17K 1.8K 7.1K  34   21    7   15K
     4613.79
    Stardust  27   94%  25K 1.5K 294   43    0  1.5K   0    0    0    3    4 -7.1K
      905.07
   unemployd   0    0% 486  554  253   45    0    0    0    0    0   32    2   25K
      215.84
     Finland   0    0% 1.8K 239   11    6    0    0    0    0    0   22    0   12K
      119.84
      Strata   0    0%   0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   40K
       42.10
       Shire   0    0%   0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    0   36K
       35.52
       Mizar   3  100% 2.6K  98    0    0    0    0    3    0    0    0    0  -15K
       35.00
       Bwian   0    0%   0   58    0    0    0    0    0    0    0    8    0  4.0K
       19.87
   PromisedL   0    0%   0   30    0    2    0    0    0    0    0    2    0  9.7K
       18.45
             ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
   worldwide 1.1K  98% 1.0M  84K  26K 3.2K  62K 199K  42K  76K 770  480  590  515K
 

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Final Report

Blue coloring on countries in the report indicates the winners of the game.

Wed Jul  2 15:43:35 2003
# name tech research education happiness capital
0 Gabby 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0,0
1 Shire 49.29 0.00 0.11 0.00 14,18
2 Finland 101.74 0.00 5.78 0.20 -22,20
3 pacer 90.94 0.00 4.22 0.04 9,19
4 DexterPV 170.11 0.00 37.53 8.95 -30,6
5 Mizar 77.89 0.00 1.58 0.00 9,-7
6 ToyMachine 132.75 0.00 31.50 13.09 -28,-2
7 Somewhere 79.73 0.00 1.39 0.00 -13,-1
8 Kurszlic 140.25 0.00 17.25 4.04 6,-6
9 Hellcat 79.52 0.00 1.69 0.19 -10,-12
10 PromisedLand 75.00 0.00 1.50 0.00 -25,-19
11 Venaus 141.09 0.00 33.02 11.20 -10,20
12 Perdition 83.78 0.00 0.97 0.00 26,6
13 Stardust 141.16 0.00 30.18 4.64 -47,3
14 Thistle 156.34 0.00 34.32 19.31 -44,-6
15 Armengar 153.70 0.00 32.89 12.40 -44,18
16 Pax 153.72 0.00 27.60 12.84 29,1
17 Bwian 79.04 0.00 1.55 0.00 30,-14
18 OrionSyndicate 134.48 0.00 23.15 8.09 -8,-8
19 unemployd 128.56 0.00 7.86 2.07 30,-24
20 Strata 52.10 0.00 0.17 0.00 -43,-21
21 visitor 0.00 0.00 0.00 0.00 0,0

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Final Map

[Editor's note: Final maps are rarely passed on in the game summaries. It was in this case, so we're passing it on as well]

        444444444333333333322222222221111111111---------000000000011111111112222222222333333333344444444
        876543210987654321098765432109876543210987654321012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
    -24 . . . d + b g o . . . . . . . . . j + m b k e = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . d m m m j i . . . .  -24 
    -23  . . . . . j + . . . . . . . . . . + b m m ! d . . . . . . . . . . . g . . * % m m + k . . . . . -23 
    -22 . . g t j . = . . . . . . . . . . i * + c m k . . . . = = = . . . . g b * = + + ! b + . e . . .  -22 
    -21  + + c m k + ! . a . . o g . h = . m m h m j . . . . = l d . p . . + k . o . + + + * + + h = = + -21 
    -20 % + k m m + * e h ) . . ) g e . . j k . + p . . . . = i j k b j . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .  -20 
    -19  . + * m k i + j . . . . # . . . . . . . . . . . . = ) m b * % = . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . -19 
    -18 e . + ! + + p . . . . = = . . . . . . . . . . . . = e * w m f h = . . . . . . . . . . . . . j h  -18 
    -17  + = . . h . . . . . . # . . . . . . . . . . . . . h m m c m ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . % k m b -17 
    -16 m e . . . . . . f i ! e k . . . . . . . . h ) j j = j j m b j j . . . . . . k j k . . . = * g i  -16 
    -15  h . . . . . . . k c j i h # . . . . . . . ! g w h = ! e k t . . . . . ) j h + d . j h = . . . ! -15 
    -14 . . . . b ) . . k h m m m # . . # . . . . . g g g k . . . . . . . . . . . j m * + + + . . . . .  -14 
    -13  . . . h g . . . = j m b m ) . = ) e j c . h * b k i . . . . . + + + = * l m m w + . . . . . . . -13 
    -12 . . . . . . . . = i * k j l # = . h i * k = e = = . . . . . . f * h . . k m m m b + . . . . . .  -12 
    -11  . . . . . . . . a % o h # . . = w m m m k = = . = ) k j + . + + . . . = e m m i + . . . . . . h -11 
    -10 ! . e . . . . . . . h . . = . . t k m m j = . . . . f * + h = . . . . . = = j m = = . . . . j d  -10 
     -9  m k i g . . . . . . . . . . . . k m b f k . . . . = f m * . . . . . . . . = = = = * ! o . e t m -9  
     -8 m m m * g . . . . . . . . . . . . # p m c c . . . = m m m + . . . . . . . . . . = ) g g + . = b  -8  
     -7  m m b g ) . . . . . . . . . . . . # a h a . . . k j m m b g . . . ) . . . . . . = g g e + + . k -7  
     -6 j j c p . . . . ) . . = . . . . . h . ) . . . = ! h + c i j g . . * g . . . . . . = g e . = . b  -6  
     -5  k j l . . . . = ! h ! g g . . . . . . . . . . = = + * k = = . . d g p o . . . . = ! g . . i h e -5  
     -4 . . . . . . . = l k j b e = . . . . . . . . . . o + d h . . . . . i g . . . . = = = = . . . . .  -4  
     -3  = = . . . . = h j m m * ) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . h = . = = i h j = . . . . . -3  
     -2 e k l . . . = d t m c m h = . . . . . . . . . . . + + . . . c . . . . = . = % j m m k = . . . j  -2  
     -1  m m t . . . j k k m h = g . . . . . j . . . . . + + . . . . . . . . . = = j t m m b * = @ = + + -1  
      0 + m j % k . . = g h i % = . . . . . = k = = . . h b b . . . . . . . . = h + m m m m k . . . = *  0   
      1  + b * = = . = . = p g . . . . . . i h h j = . . + + . . . . . . . . . = k b c m b k . . . . = j 1   
      2 m m ! = . = o . . . . . . . . . . g b ! k k = . f + * . . h . . . . . . ) k j l j ) h . . . = j  2   
      3  c m k = = g . . . . . . . . . . . l m m * e = . + + + + . i k k j . . . . . * . . . . . . = e m 3   
      4 j m k h . . . . . % i . . . . . . j m m m j = = + a . . . ! m t j . . . . . = . . . . . . . = k  4   
      5  i d = . . . . . j b h j k . . . . j m t o = . . . . . . k j c w % . . . . . @ . . . . . . . = = 5   
      6 = = = . . . . . k c m m b . . . . j * t h = . . . . . % k * m b d m . . . . = . . . . . . . . .  6   
      7  . . . . . . . . h m m b l . . . . d p = + e . . . . . . m m m m m . . . . a + . . . = h . . . . 7   
      8 . . . . g * . . = m m m t ! e . = = = = e a = = * . . . . j m * i . . . . . . + . . . ) * . . .  8   
      9  . . . g g ! = = ! * b j = = = = * . . = = = . i . . . . . k b g . . . . . . . h k i + j . . . . 9   
     10 h . . . o . . . t k j d = . . = h g g . . . = ! j k . . . . k h = = a . . . . m m m + k . . . .  10  
     11  . . . . . . . g = = i = . . . = g g . . . c * f k . . . . . . . . = m . . h a m m b + j . . . ) 11  
     12 e . d . . . . . e = . c . . . . = + = = h h k k k . . . . . . . . = m . . . . e m m m e . . . .  12  
     13  j k i k % . . . = . . . . . . . . * o = i b m m j . . . . . . . . . h . . . ) + j k h . . . = ! 13  
     14 j m m m i . . . . @ . . . . . . . . . . = a j m m * . . . . . . . . . . . . * . a . . = . . = .  14  
     15  j m m b a . . . . = . . . . . . . . . . . . l m i + . . . . o g . . . . . . . . . . . . . + = . 15  
     16 . k m w l . . . . a = . . . . . . . . . . + m m i . . . ! h * + h . . . . . . . . . . % g g c =  16  
     17  m m * m i . . . . + a . h . . . . o a . . . i a ) . + . . + b + + i g ) . . . . . . ! g g b w = 17  
     18 . t c j h . . . . + m j b * e . . j g g i + . . . . + . . + m j c + + j . . . . . . h g b . . =  18  
     19  = j p . . . . . + m m m + + l . l g m b * e . . h + . . ) i k m ! * k . . . . . . . k + * = . = 19  
     20 g = = = . . . k . + + m m m + k . j t c = = . . . k k . p . . % k j d g . . . . . ) . j = = = =  20  
     21  g g j . . . b h . j + + + + a i . = = = e = = + m m m . . . . . . ) . . . . . . + = = . . ! e g 21  
     22 b b o . . o m g + = . . j k k . . . a h i . . . b g m j . . . . . . . . . . . = + k j . . . . g  22  
     23  o . . . * m g + . . . . . k . . . a + + % . . + + j a ) . . . . . . . . . ) m + m + . . . . . . 23  
        444444444333333333322222222221111111111---------000000000011111111112222222222333333333344444444
        876543210987654321098765432109876543210987654321012345678901234567890123456789012345678901234567
 

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Awards

[handed out by DexterPV, one of the winners]

Biggest Small Guy Award
ToyMachine - good early diplomacy with Thistle, DexterPV and Pax (I
believe) kept him out of trouble and he hung in relatively unscratched
till the end

Smallest Big Guy Award
unemployd - annoying telegrams and annos and he quit as soon as he was
attacked, which was nice for Thistle, Pax and Armengar, but not very
sporting

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Announcements

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Thu May 22 19:18:46 2003
Freddie rolled over to squint into a depressingly beautiful sunrise.
After several dozen thumps to his temple from his current hangover,
he noted with some amusement that he was naked and lying outdoors in
a garden. His garden? If the thump-thump-thumping would stop a
minute he might work that thought out.

"Good morning, sire. Beautiful day!"

Freddie could have pissed his pants, if he'd had any on. He guessed
it was good he was outside afterall. "I'll have to take your word on that."

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Thu May 22 19:42:15 2003
Uh oh

[186:640] Command : starv *
Thu May 22 19:41:29 2003
Starvation
own sect eff

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Thu May 22 19:42:25 2003
346 sectors


> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Fri May 23 03:28:37 2003
Anyone have any sheep straps? The soldiers are getting
restless...

Melech

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Fri May 23 04:28:08 2003
hahaha! Good one. Try "info demob" instead. You'll find they lose
interest in sheep and you'll get a few more civs out of the deal.

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Fri May 23 04:35:17 2003
Lose interest in sheep!?

NEVER!!

King Fredrick Giscard XI

> Announcement from Finland, (#2) dated Fri May 23 08:26:07 2003
>> Announcement from (0) Gabby dated Fri May 23 12:41:43 2003
>Uh oh
>
>[186:640] Command : starv *
>Thu May 22 19:41:29 2003
> Starvation
>own sect eff
>346 sectors

Yeah, 17 of those will be mine. I've not played a game
with food on before and didn't (a) build an agribusiness for the
first update or (b) sensibly distribute my starting food to my distrib
centre.

Duh.

Well, I live and learn.

-Shanks of Finland

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Fri May 23 10:57:26 2003
Well, even if you had designated an aggi sector,
it wouldn't have had any mobility, so the food
will still be sitting there. Of course, you
could then move it manually. Don't worry, you
can build fishing boats after the next update.
Then, you won't need an aggi sector to feed your
people...

> Announcement from Thistle, (#14) dated Fri May 23 11:18:40 2003
Finland:
You are not fooling me. This is
your strategy to increase your
education PE, lowering civs by
starving the poor buggers.

Captain Shel M. Down
Thistle Naval Intelligence

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Fri May 23 12:50:28 2003
?can build fishing boats after the next update.
?Then, you won't need an aggi sector to feed your

That's not the only reason he'll want fishing boats.

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Fri May 23 12:53:57 2003
?your strategy to increase your
?education PE, lowering civs by
?starving the poor buggers.

Some people consider starvation (deliberate
or otherwise) a hostile act.

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Fri May 23 15:38:48 2003
That depends on whether it's in the first person or the third
person...

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Fri May 23 19:22:05 2003
There is no conversation more delicate than
telling your wife you're playing a new game
of empire...

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Fri May 23 19:25:02 2003
The brain fog Freddie found himself in was slowly
lifting. "Do I know you?"
"I hope so sire. I'm Henry, your valet. Your robe?"
Freddie took the garment offered and put it on. It had
a reassuring and familiar feel to it. His memories slowly
started switching back on. I'm Fredrick Giscard XI. Daddy
is King Giscard X and he dropped me off on this dismal island,
when? "Has there been any word from my father yet?"
Henry looked down. "No, sire. Still no news."
"How long have I been on this island?"
Henry stiffened and spoke slowly. "Twenty-two years now, sir."
Freddie swayed and stumbled as more of his memories returned
to him from their hiding places. That, and his hangover decided
to reassert its control over the situation. How could dad
leave me on this dreadful island so long.
Henry helped him inside and to a chair. "That was quite
the party you threw, sir. I think you set a new record
for yourself. It lasted just a day under six weeks this
time. Breakfast?"
Freddie's stomach gave a little twist. "No, not just
yet. Better make it a pitcher of Alka-Seltzer and a bottle
of whiskey for a chaser."
"Right away, sire" and Henry started out of the room.
Freddie stared blankly through the large windows across
the sea. "And start the preparations for a new party! Six
weeks is nothing."
"Same guest list as before, sire?"
"I want every available maiden and every last sheep on
this island at this one. Send word out by the royal guard
that this is a mandatory shindig, no exceptions."
"Right away, sire."

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Fri May 23 19:31:04 2003
? There is no conversation more delicate than
? telling your wife you're playing a new game
? of empire...

You told?!

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Fri May 23 19:31:52 2003
I would like to know just how Kurszlic was able to produce two ships this
update.

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Fri May 23 19:32:27 2003
Well, how else was I going to explain why I
needed to go "work" on the computer every night
at 10:15?

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Fri May 23 19:33:04 2003
Harder is telling her you're in the mood to kick ass and
dealing with her anger that it isn't her...

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Fri May 23 19:33:21 2003
Update #2, "your first command is bud h 1"

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Fri May 23 19:34:19 2003
Never mind - I see he did it directly after the update!
Nothing to see here --- move along now...

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Fri May 23 19:35:20 2003
2??

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Fri May 23 19:36:00 2003
Yes, I see your greatness now, K - congratulations.

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Fri May 23 19:38:45 2003
The honor of boat #0.

Probably the high point of my game.

King Fredrick Giscard XI

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Fri May 23 19:39:22 2003
}> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Fri May 23 19:22:05 2003
}There is no conversation more delicate than
}telling your wife you're playing a new game
}of empire...

No, no, no. Games of empire never end.

"Yes, honey, it's still the same game. Yes, honey, amazing, huh, that
the game is running for so long...it must be the longest
running game of empire in history..."

> Announcement from unemployd, (#19) dated Fri May 23 19:44:11 2003
i was wondering how you were going to handle breaking ten minutes
before the first update, Finland. mustve been fun.

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Fri May 23 19:46:06 2003
For those of you who are just boarding on late from Lanny Andelin's
(excellent) Newbie game, Carcinoma has gone through a name change...

Such an ugly name, Carcinoma, but at least it's a hard one to slag,
unlike PeckMoth (nothing personal), which is oh so ripe for name
slagging...

Dex

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Fri May 23 19:48:30 2003
I can think of a few choice "slags" to sling against
the name "Dexter"...

:-0

Hellcat

> Announcement from unemployd, (#19) dated Fri May 23 19:49:27 2003
dexter the molester

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Fri May 23 19:50:06 2003
Dixter VD

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Fri May 23 19:50:21 2003
Exactly my point... No fun in a name that doesn't get tossed about
at least a little bit... :)

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Fri May 23 19:50:33 2003
Gee Gabby, could you have made the starting
islands any smaller?

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Fri May 23 19:52:38 2003
It's not that the starting islands are small -
they're the same size as any standard blitz - it's
just that woth a world size this small and with this many
countrie, we're *right on top of one another*.

Cozy, eh? Now who just farted?

Hellcat

> Announcement from Finland, (#2) dated Sat May 24 02:08:25 2003
>> Announcement from (19) unemployd dated Sat May 24 12:43:40 2003
>i was wondering how you were going to handle breaking ten minutes
>before the first update, Finland. mustve been fun.

Tell me about it. :-[

> Announcement from Finland, (#2) dated Sat May 24 02:09:38 2003
>> Announcement from (14) Thistle dated Sat May 24 04:18:09 2003
>Finland:
> You are not fooling me. This is
>your strategy to increase your
>education PE, lowering civs by
>starving the poor buggers.
>
>Captain Shel M. Down
>Thistle Naval Intelligence

*whistles innocently*

> Announcement from Armengar, (#15) dated Sat May 24 10:48:53 2003
? Announcement from Finland, (#2) dated Sat May 24 02:08:25 2003
?> Announcement from (19) unemployd dated Sat May 24 12:43:40 2003
?>i was wondering how you were going to handle breaking ten minutes
?>before the first update, Finland. mustve been fun.

?Tell me about it. :-[

Well, let me tell you it is much better than breaking a couple
hours after the first update :-)

Sinari

> Announcement from unemployd, (#19) dated Sat May 24 13:55:05 2003
damn i was all excited about a wild saturday night of ship
navigating...

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Sat May 24 14:54:20 2003
The sheep are breathing easy now. No weekend updates. No
ships on the seas. The sheep were spared this weekend.


> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Sat May 24 15:27:10 2003
PromiseLand, all this talk about sheep is making me feel like
you're actually Bungie in disguise. If this is the case,
I feel it is your duty to export flocks to all other countries
in order to satisfy our military men.

Try this:

move sheep 0,0 * ?des=e 100

Thanks!

Hellcat

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Sat May 24 17:08:08 2003
Hellcat

It's called a monopoly. And they're too good to part with
so easily anyways. Why, 100 sheep are worth at least 1,000
lcms in a park!


> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Sun May 25 20:19:45 2003
Okay, someone code up a new sector type, grassland '~', to produce sheep.
Happiness = #sheep/population. Use 'convert' to produce food in a pinch,
but the military gets really unhappy.


> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Mon May 26 03:31:19 2003
?> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Sun May 25 20:19:45 2003
?Okay, someone code up a new sector type, grassland '~', to produce...

Better yet, someone fix the WinACE code so the Telegrams window
wraps messages properly.

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Mon May 26 04:54:08 2003
Actually, the Winace code has been fixed
to show the telegrams properly. The newest
version is 2.2.11 Unfortunately, Winace still
makes the anno's witht he lines too long unless
you hit return at the end of each line. They
are properly displayed now at least...

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Mon May 26 08:20:41 2003
I'll try to remember the hard returns. I've been out
of Empire and WinAce for a while.

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Mon May 26 10:20:56 2003
I guess we should be concerned. Sounds like you've been out
of Empire and WinACE longer than you've been out of sheep.

Hmmmmmm...

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Mon May 26 10:48:55 2003
All this talk of sheep has got *me* nervous.

Look, promisedland you'd better not be Bungy posing as a newbie. The
game *WAS* supposed to be for relatively new players. If any of you
reading this doubt me, just do a google search on r.g.e for "bungy" or
"bungholio". Better yet read the results of IW4. This guy is *NOT* to be
trifled with. It seems he usually has something about sheep in his
country name. Given the biblical implication of a name like PromisedLand
w.r.t sheep, it might not be a coincidence. If any of you find this bungy
character is a neighbor of yours, I recommend you immediately pounce on
him. If you let him get ahead, he will eat your lunch, to say nothing
of what he will do to your sheep!

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Mon May 26 12:34:14 2003
Next you'll claim I'm Hannibal Lechter.

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Mon May 26 14:33:46 2003
ALL HEAR THIS:
PremiseLand is in real life, HANNIBAL LECHTER!

He eats his own flesh and washes it down with cocktails
of Wylers lemonade mix and cheap gin.

I just thought that I'd *warn* you.

That is all.

Hellcat


wire y > anno=20030530

Announcements since Mon May 26 17:45:18 2003

> Announcement from unemployd, (#19) dated Mon May 26 19:09:08 2003
hmm i just noticed that wolfpackempire.com got a makeover. dunno how
long ago it happened but it looks pretty nice.

zdone y

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Mon May 26 20:02:03 2003
I take back what I said about PromisedLand being
Bungholio. He never would have left his coast
undefended with ships in the area.

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Mon May 26 20:27:42 2003
Anyone heard from Armengar? He seems to
have redesignated his cap...or something...

> Announcement from pacer, (#3) dated Mon May 26 20:39:41 2003
Armengar is pretending to be a turtle while off-line...
another tool in the toolbox.

> Announcement from Armengar, (#15) dated Mon May 26 23:55:53 2003
Well well, it certainly did not take long for the first
skirmishes to break out.

Sinari

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Tue May 27 02:46:39 2003
It's time again ladies and gentlemen for the Midship Sheep Joke of the
Day, brought to you by the Dodge Ram, built Ram tough (ie. 10 hcm,
5 lcm, 50 avail):

Kurszlic and PromisedLand are flying the herd to a new farm in a jt. Two
Mizar jf2 rise to intercept, doing 90% damage. The engine fails and the
plane begins to fall quickly to the ground.

Kurszlic: Quick! Grab a parachute and jump!
PromisedLand: What about the sheep?!?
Kurszlic: Fcuk the sheep!!!!
PromisedLand: (pause) Do you think we have time?

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Wed May 28 05:27:35 2003
It's time again for the Monday Night Empire halftime sheep trivia
question. If you think you know the answer, dial 1-800-328-74337 for a
chance to win a real big prize.

The question is

"How do Thistleoneons find sheep in tall grass?"

Call in now. We'll be back with the answer after the halftime show....

> Announcement from Thistle, (#14) dated Wed May 28 09:11:16 2003
The men of Thistle are a hearty seafaring
bunch, with certain unmentioned primal needs.

We have found that impersonating the sheep
mating call "here woolly woolly" serves us well.

Captain Whalt E. Vrittakes
Thistle Dept of Husbandry

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Wed May 28 15:17:23 2003
For those of you still with us, we have the answer to the Monday Night
Empire halftime sheep trivia question...

"How do Thistleoneons find sheep in tall grass?"

...

"Quite nice, thank you."

> Announcement from unemployd, (#19) dated Wed May 28 17:08:59 2003
he'll be here all week :/

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Wed May 28 17:14:28 2003
If we work at it, we can cut that week short...

> Announcement from visitor, (#21) dated Thu May 29 12:56:19 2003
"Thank you for calling Empire Realty. Your call is very
important to us so please remain on the line for the next
available operator. If you're calling about free land being
available, we regret to inform you that all free land has
now been taken. If you wish to purchase additional land,
please be advised that the ante is a quart of blood. Thank
you for your interest in Empire Realty"

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Thu May 29 18:32:24 2003
Here's a tip I learned from Bungie:

Take one of his radar sectors, and then use it to "snapshot"
his island. You will see all of his sectors and exactly
how they are designated.

Here's another tip for all you newbies out there
(I am guessing PromiseLamb is one of them?):
"des * p"

Greeting!

Hellcat

> Announcement from Stardust, (#13) dated Thu May 29 19:02:16 2003
It's very nice of you to want everyone to be
so happy...

> Announcement from PromisedLand, (#10) dated Fri May 30 00:34:01 2003
I didn't realize Tikrit already had Internet service restored.

> Announcement from Bwian, (#17) dated Fri May 30 06:23:14 2003
Hmm... I seem to have all these pesky thistles growing in
my garden... now where did I put that herbicide?

[Editor's Note: big gap in announcements to the following set...]

> Announcement from Pax, (#16) dated Thu Jun 26 06:27:38 2003
Well, Gabby, I think it's clear now that the 'quiet' you
noticed was the lull before the storm as folks preped.
Quite an exciting update with 5 full scale invasions launched:

Kurszlic > Venaus
Orion > Venaus
Dexter > Kurszlic
Thistle > Orion
Pax > Stardust

leading to 3 cap-sacks!

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Sat Jun 28 06:48:15 2003
Waahh!!

> Announcement from Thistle, (#14) dated Mon Jun 30 08:48:41 2003
The alliance of :
DexterPV/Thistle/Pax/Armengar
respectfully declares a win for
the Midshipman game.

Please respond your agreements or
or disagreements.

Thistle

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Mon Jun 30 12:21:10 2003
A four way victory declaration?
That has to be the lamest ending I've ever seen!

Personally I would contest but I'd like to
ive some of the other lesser coutries a chance
to rip the "victors"...

Hellcat

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Mon Jun 30 19:17:23 2003

Seems lame to me too, but if that's what they want,
they can have it. Beat me so, better luck next time.

I could kick around a little but going broke next turn
anyway. Couldn't take on all four even if Orion loaned
everything to me. (Thanks guy!)

See ya next time!

Kurs

> Announcement from Thistle, (#14) dated Mon Jun 30 19:24:54 2003
To the comments regarding our being lame
because of the 4 way alliance:
Thistle/DexterPv formed a secret alliance
around tech 30. With the countries being so
close, we decided to ask others to join.
Even a weaker country could have hurt us
if they managed to capture or destroy one of
our banks. Other nations could have done likewise
but apparently chose not to join together
until too late in the game.

Thistle

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Mon Jun 30 19:26:31 2003
[8:640] Command : news 1
=== Firestorms ===
Mon Jun 30 16:46 Thistle artillery battery massacres Gabby defenders
Mon Jun 30 16:46 Thistle naval gunners support troops attacking Gabby

You do realize that I now have che in that sector? Those are
some powerful che!

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Mon Jun 30 19:26:32 2003
Four seems like a bit much for the number of starting players. The top two
definitly have it, but if they want to share with #3 and #4, its ok with
me. I'm in another long term game already, and I wouldn't mind seeing
this one end.

-TM

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Mon Jun 30 19:28:05 2003

I'm not thrilled with four either, but as far as I can
tell, these alliances go back aways. It would be hard
to convince them to fight it out.

My next question: how soon would any of you like to see
another mid-level game? It wouldn't be "midshipan's", ie
with this kind of setup.

-Gabbyb

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Mon Jun 30 19:36:00 2003
I am all for having another game along the lines of this one.
But maybe with a different world setup and different
initial parameters to make the play and tactics
a little different (how many times can I use the
word "different" in the same sentence?)

I liked the update frequency and time of day.
I'm working fulltime, have a 5 month old kid
and am taking two graduate level elevtrical
engineering classes so as you might imagine
my time is rather limited.

I'm not si sure I'd be involved in the "strategic
objective" scenarios advertised on RGE...I just can't allocate 24-hour
blocks to Empire right now.

Hope to see you all soon.
Hellcat

> Announcement from OrionSyndicate, (#18) dated Mon Jun 30 19:57:11 2003
I've been fighting back against Thistle
for the fun and practice of it but figured
updates ago that it was futile against this
alliance.

Congratulations guys. You played a great
game.

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Mon Jun 30 20:01:59 2003
Perhaps lame is not the right word. Just seems like
a win by committee. Not that I'm not beat regardless!
:(

Now, if you guys were to take out all the rest of
players, then go at each other 2 vs 2, then 1 vs 1.
Guess I'm just getting old.

Back in the old days, they'd take me out with a 5mt
in middle of my home island. Once I think the water
flowed into the wasteland sectors and it looked like
an atoll. Just a ring of sectors. Not a single
mushroom cloud this game?! Yep, getting too old for
this. :(


> Announcement from OrionSyndicate, (#18) dated Mon Jun 30 20:03:03 2003
I really enjoyed playing in a game where I
wasn't the first person out! I would love
to play in another one soon.

I thought the setup was okay except for the
high gold content on the islands. I think
that made the initial land grab too important -
if you didn't get an island you were screwed.

> Announcement from Thistle, (#14) dated Mon Jun 30 20:06:01 2003
Definitely interested in another game.
Would like to see co-rulers allowed.

Any setup Gabby thinks up is fine with me.

Thistle

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Mon Jun 30 20:33:02 2003
Perhaps Kurszlic's case illustrates best what Gabby has been saying all
along. Countries dissapear fast in the Midship game.

Basically, 5 jf1, 2 bb, 10 mb and 10 spies brought about Kurszlic's end.
He went from the #2 spot to broke in three updates. It would have been two
updates, but for the loan from OrionS.

The story is even worse now. My jhb and jt can reach every sector
in the world now. They can just about fly right around the world in
fact :)

My point is this: The geopolitically and strategically interesting aspects
of this game dissappeard at tech=160, which was last update.
World's too small any more. The game is, for most intents and purposes,
over.

As for Hellcat's "lame victory" claim I say bullshit and spare us your
sour grapes. All four countries made an equal contribution to the
alliance in terms of discussion, planning, strategy, tactics, negotiation
and conquest. Our relative positions on the power chart in no way reflects
the contributions of the four members of the alliance.

Anybody left at this point deserves special mention for surviving in a
relatively unstable game. IMHO, two deserve special mention:

Biggest Small Guy Award
ToyMachine - good early diplomacy with Thistle, DexterPV and Pax (I
believe) kept him out of trouble and he hung in relatively unscratched
till the end

Smallest Big Guy Award
unemployd - annoying telegrams and annos and he quit as soon as he was
attacked, which was nice for Thistle, Pax and Armengar, but not very
sporting

...

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Mon Jun 30 20:39:50 2003
...

And finally, as for the game play aspects, I found them to be excellent.
Just enough variation to make the game interesting and not follow the
usual Empire plots. Especially noteworthy:

- the opening problem of distributing food
- the rich small islands (took me a few updates before I 'reso'ed
them)
- the close quarters made the race to tech 125 imperative
- no SUPER_BARS in combination with close quarters ...
- no update scripting (very enjoyable feature, everyone obeyed, too)
- and finally, the small number of sectors to manage

Dex

> Announcement from Kurszlic, (#8) dated Mon Jun 30 20:50:25 2003

"All four countries made an equal contribution"
:)

Well, I see where I went wrong. Thanks for the lessons,
everyone. Been fun.

Ideas for next Midshipman:
Permanently ally blocks of countries together.
1-10 vs 11-20
:)

I've got to go back to playing StarCraft.

Ta!

> Announcement from Pax, (#16) dated Mon Jun 30 22:31:57 2003
Well, I have to admit I don't think I contributed quite
as much to our nascent win as Dexter or Thistle, but I
did feel that I helped out. Plus, since I had originally
broached alliance with Thistle and Kurszlic at the same
time (Thistle was ready to commit to something earlier);
without Pax joining the 'quadruple alliance' I would almost
certainly have ended allied with Kurszlic & Orion, which
would have made thinks a lot dicier for Thistle/Dexter.

Also, I know Armengar would have done more but RL kept
him away a lot.

Anyway, thanks all for a great game; in particular: Mike,
for great expert advice; Jeff, for being the driving force
in our alliance; and Orion for being such a good sport.

I know I learnt a lot this game, as I never played in
a world this small or with with no_fort_fire, or go_renew
though I still got plenty more to learn... I hope there's
a new game soon!

P.S. I thought the small resource-rich island idea worked
great.


> Announcement from Armengar, (#15) dated Tue Jul 1 02:06:29 2003
If it makes people feel better, I can withdraw from the
"committee". I agree that a three-way win is large enough,
and I'm happy enough to have survived. Count me in as a
cheerleader :-)

Sinari

I also liked the game setup: small islands, relatively
low number of sectors per country etc.

I personally dislike maps where the islands are close
enough that you can reach them just by bridges (in
this case even one bridge was enough, which is too
little). Larger distances between islands, and no bridge
towers would be interesting, and would cut down a bit
the advantages of large countries. In war one should
consider a bit more carefully how to place resources,
when they could not be transported from one edge of
the world to the other with practically no trouble.

GO_RENEW with those high-gold small islands was a neat
idea, perhaps there were a bit too many of those however.
A "treasure island" game might be fun, where most of the
map would be just that plain 15 gold and oil, with just
a couple happy surprises somewhere for the lucky guys.

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Tue Jul 1 04:09:17 2003
Well Dexter, it's not sour grapes...
so I won't have to spare you anything.

I just don't like seeing guys get bored with
a game and then just quit. Maybe that's
just me.

I agree that if you have a plane or ship
that can navigate the entire world that it
makes the whole thing seem kind of moot.

Why the cursing anyway?
Frustrated?

;-)

Hellcat

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Tue Jul 1 06:38:50 2003
?> Hellcat wrote
?<snipped>
?Why the cursing anyway?

I wanted to say "get stuffed" which is a better expression for the matter,
I didn't think you Yanks would get it. Well, except maybe Kurszlic...

Dexta

> Announcement from Hellcat, (#9) dated Tue Jul 1 07:17:50 2003
How very apt. Can't think of a diplomatic way to
address your obvious frustrations, so you resort
to cursing, insults, and xenophobic barbs.

Have a nice day..."winner".

:-P

Hellcat

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Tue Jul 1 07:38:40 2003
I'm glad some of the others expressed reservations about
the gold (and to a lesser extent oil) content on the islands.
I started to type a message about this three times, and each
time it came out sounding like I was whining. It's amazing
how such a small detail like that can really change the way
a game turns out. But that's not to say that the winners
didn't deserve their position. I know some people had
pretty valuable islands nearby, but couldn't hold them or
didn't make good use of them. But having said that, if you
only had a 2 sector rock to share with a neighbor, you might
be a forced into a fairly agressive stance. Sort of like
Germany at the turn of the last century. I might not have
my history correct here, but I beleive it also might be
why the Congo was the Belgian Congo back then. All those
little European countries felt they needed a couple of
60% gold sectors in order to keep playing with the big boys.

(oops, I meant to say Germany at the beginning of the last
century)

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Tue Jul 1 07:41:08 2003
In any case, I'll demobalize my Wehrmacht (I mean Budeswehr)
now an be everyone's friend. See you in the next game...

- ToyMachine

> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Tue Jul 1 08:15:58 2003
I don't think Armangar should withdraw from the gang of 4.
If I wanted to challenge his position, I'd have to sail past
some of his pretty formidable allies, only to be greeted
by a bunch of fortified HATs. At least they wouldn't be in
mountains, but anyway, no thanks.

The other option for continuing the game might be for the
rest of us (that ones with sectors that is) fight it out
for a consolation prize. But we'd have to have the first 4
declare friendly so we could get past all those bridges. I
beleive the a good part of the world has been paved by now.
I wonder what the deity's "cen ?des== *" would look like?

- TM

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Tue Jul 1 10:54:00 2003

[5:640] Command : cen * ?des==
Tue Jul 1 10:53:22 2003
CENSUS del dst

184 sectors

[5:640] Command : cen * ?des=.

1210 sectors


> Announcement from ToyMachine, (#6) dated Tue Jul 1 11:28:21 2003
So about 15% of the oceans. That's actually lower than I
thought it would be. Maybe it seems like more since you're
bound to bump into a bridge along all those narrow channels.

> Announcement from Gabby, (#0) dated Tue Jul 1 11:54:10 2003
I'll post a map with the power report to r.g.e.

> Announcement from OrionSyndicate, (#18) dated Tue Jul 1 21:45:48 2003
So what is the point of building all those bridges?
It seems to me the work would be better spent building bars.

At tech 100, you will need to mine 218 iron to make the
100 hcm needed for the bridge. So that's 218 units of
work to make the iron, 218 to make it into hcm, and 41
to build the bridge makes 477 total work to build a bridge.

Now if you have an 80% gold mine, you could take 265 of that
477 and turn it into 212 dust. Then take the remaining 212
and make 42 bars.

The 42 bars will generate $630 / update. Compared to $500
for civs, and you don't have to feed the bars.

Of course this all supposes that you have an 80% gold sector.
At tech 100 you break even with a 54% gold sector.

At tech with an 80% gold mine, 10 the bars would earn you $850 / update. At infinite tech the bars still earn $587 vs $500
for the bridge.

I didn't go through the math until right now, but I had
a feeling this was the case. Anyone see a hole in my logic?

> Announcement from OrionSyndicate, (#18) dated Tue Jul 1 21:48:01 2003
(Repeating the paragraph that didn't get word wrapped in my
previous msg).

At tech 10 with an 80% gold mine, the bars would earn you
$850/update. At infinite tech the bars earn $587 vs $500 for the bridge.

> Announcement from OrionSyndicate, (#18) dated Tue Jul 1 21:55:59 2003
Well to answer my own question, I guess bridges are very
nice as highways around your island. Also block other people's ships.
And of course connect islands.

But early in the game I thought build bridges everywhere since they
pay for themselves. Guess you have to watch following the common wisdom.
Bridge towers are much worse - the work could be used to earn $2500 / update
from bars instead of the $500 in taxes.

> Announcement from OrionSyndicate, (#18) dated Tue Jul 1 21:56:48 2003
Looking around the map I don't really see many bridges so
maybe everyone else figured this one out already!

> Announcement from DexterPV, (#4) dated Wed Jul 2 01:07:05 2003
OS:

Think of = + and @ as a farm for mobility. Mobility farms :) Bridge spans
are nice because they don't take up valuable real estate. Consider
this stub of bridge spans abuting enemy territory E

    . . . . . . . . . . . E E
   w = = = = = = = = = = E E E
    . . . . . . . . . . . E E

These 10 spans make 600 mobility per update, which is very useful if
you need to pump supplies forward for your invasion force. Move 100 shells
onto bridge span, then from there into enemy territory. Move 50 mil onto
bridge span and then into enemy territory. And so on. The mobility drain
on the w-sect is nearly zero, but you get your gear/mil inserted. You
can imagine that the bridge spans don't even have to be in line for it
to work

    . . . . . . . . . 
   = = = = w = = = = E
    . . . = = . . . .
   . . . . . . . . . 

This works just as well...

Dex

ps. At game's end, I counted 90+ contiguous span/tower/road sectors in
my mobility farm. 5400 mob per update

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