Re: Hvy Plastic

After plenty of wholesome bang, the week ended with a whimper: the
server machine ran out of disk space, which auto-cancelled Friday's
update.

Our extensive logging and bug trapping take a lot of space. The backups
included the logs, which multiplied their disk space use. On Friday,
the automatic backup ran out of space after a blitz running on the same
machine had a crash-dumping fit. The failed backup duly cancelled the
update. Unfortunately, this crippled, but did not kill the server.
Players encountered various failures until the underlying disk space
problem was fixed on Sunday.

We should have watched disk space more closely. Sincere apologies to
the players.

In other, and much more fun news, Thistle invaded Metallica (sweeping
plenty of seamines the hard & painful way), and Belltower attacked
taodnt.


- = [ Empire Power Report ] = -
as of Wed May 6 21:03:51 2009

sects eff civ mil shell gun pet iron dust oil pln ship unit money
Thistle 180 97% 162K 8.8K 4.2K 430 4.6K 13K 250 1.4K 150 120 70 10K
beep 160 98% 146K 8.7K 3.4K 530 4.4K 9.1K 300 5.2K 90 100 70 4.1K
Belltower 180 93% 140K 7.0K 1.1K 275 1.7K 14K 200 1.4K 80 80 50 5.0K
taodnt 110 100% 103K 8.6K 2.6K 435 950 9.8K 150 1.9K 30 80 30 30K
Rocinate 90 100% 89K 8.1K 4.0K 360 4.2K 7.4K 250 3.9K 70 60 80 10K
Wales 90 100% 88K 5.8K 3.9K 230 2.0K 6.2K 200 2.2K 70 80 40 10K
Metallica 50 67% 36K 2.4K 700 65 400 4.0K 200 750 20 6 50 10K
Acetone 1 100% 1.0K 100 50 5 0 0 0 0 0 10 0 1.3K
---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ---- ----
worldwide 855 95% 766K 49K 20K 2.3K 18K 63K 1.6K 17K 500 530 380 50K


Hvy Plastic is running at empire.stdio.com, port 6665. Check out
http://www.pond.sub.org/~armbru/empire/hvy-plastic.html


Announcement from beep, (#7) dated Fri May 1 22:43:34 2009
now that we know she's a cyborg, all the ass-kicking makes sense.

Announcement from Plundaria, (#13) dated Sat May 2 00:12:31 2009
}Get of my Gorram Lawn or I'll have River Tam kick everyones Ass!
Ahh yes, another perfectly good sci-fi series killed by twits


Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Sat May 2 18:30:40 2009
anyone know how to get rid of erroneous bmap/intellegence info in winace
i have a sea sector that somehow thinks it is a gold mine.
i have cleared the intellegence. bdes'd the sector to sea so now
i get no info on the sector tabs as to when i gathered the info.
BUT the map still shows it as a sector only it is now colored like the sea
but has the g from the player color still there.
can't git rid of the sector LETTER!

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Sat May 2 18:34:01 2009
I have triedt he following.
a. clear intell.
b. bdes it to various states; sea, X , " "
c.) repeat above.
but when I clear intell and bdes it blank. then bingo it comes back
to the old player color and sector type. anything without a sector type
the old sector type reoccurs.

i think this happened when i import intell from one machine to another and some
offset acccidently got used. But i can't get rid of the stuff..

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Mon May 4 18:33:00 2009
I want to apologize to anyone where I may have
responder oddly or simply ignored a telegram.

I work on several machines but one of my machines at work
has a quirk, it overheats and reboots at random times
usually 3 times a week. Since I have it set up to
relaunch all programs turns out it autoread several
telegrams that I never saw because when I logged in at home
I just killed the connection.

So my apologizes. I might be annoying but I have not
intentionally ignored any telegrams.

Ding

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Mon May 4 18:34:10 2009
again any help on how to clear bad data in the winace database? or
do I have to just start fiddleing?


Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Mon May 4 18:43:32 2009
use telnet

Announcement from Thistle, (#1) dated Mon May 4 19:21:43 2009
Overheats and reboots 3 times per week,
hopefully at 5pm : mon wed and fri


Announcement from Wales, (#5) dated Mon May 4 20:54:12 2009
Thinking back to last friday's missed update.
Was I the only one with a vision of Markus spending
his day resting up against a Maypole while nubile
young women danced around him in a circle, slowly
entwinning colored ribbons until he was completely
ensnared.
After which they placed wooden offerings at his feet...
and then burned him like the witch/warlock he is?

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Mon May 4 21:01:31 2009
damn I bet this group could write one nasty group sci-fi fanstasy book by passing it section by section
between people. Violence, sex, buggery (Bungie), drunkedness (Mostly everyone but Mr. Ed. specificallY0
alternative weird music, etc....

have ronkendrick and marcus edit it. (electronically) would not want to get pages back from Marcus.

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Mon May 4 21:13:44 2009
who's got the boom boom?

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Mon May 4 21:19:20 2009
Mon May 4 21:13 Wales ship hits a mine five times

there are more efficient ways to minesweep ;)

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Mon May 4 21:45:35 2009
anyone ever see it this high?
Che: mil:110 che:76
opps typo.
Che: mil 100, che:56

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Mon May 4 21:47:24 2009
I've seen Che in the 200's before
but it may have been buggy code

Announcement from Plundaria, (#13) dated Mon May 4 22:06:51 2009
CHE can become huge with proper farming...

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Mon May 4 22:07:56 2009
do nukes reduce che?
or are those buggers just that cool?

Announcement from Plundaria, (#13) dated Mon May 4 22:08:13 2009
}> Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Mon May 4 21:01:31 2009
}damn I bet this group could write one nasty group sci-fi fanstasy book by passin
No bet there. It is a sure thing.

Announcement from Plundaria, (#13) dated Mon May 4 22:10:33 2009
nukes encourage che. Haven't you seen the hulk? Any 50's monster movie?
get off my lawn!

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Mon May 4 22:14:20 2009
--- At the Capital City, Kill 'em All ---
TheDeathAngel, after 2 weeks of nonstop war fare has announced
new cost cutting plans to help both improve army morale and
the bottom line.

"Today, We've begun a new plan to pay the Army in Ramen noodles.
After all, if they're good enough for broke College Students,
surely they'll be good enough to keep the Army happy."

Despite Rumors that the war isn't going well, TheDeathAngel
claims that his new secret weapon will carry the day.
"It's a simple cost benefit analysis, Their ships are worth
$X, and the secret weapon only cost $X/4"


Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Tue May 5 14:44:15 2009
the game is borken
utterly and completely borken

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Tue May 5 14:47:07 2009
I'm perfectly ok with getting slaughtered
it's a part of the game :)

but I think the idea that you can take a landing ship
drop some engineers into a sector
increase the eff
and then navigate your fleet in and drop units off
with full mobility is utterly and completely broken

whoever put the idea into the game should be taken out
and beaten


Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Tue May 5 15:52:00 2009
but those Enggenneers are so good. Gotta love em.
Smart little shits that can build tons of shit under duress
and make things work real good fast.

but me personally thinks that since mobility is NOT really time
associated and BUILDing should be time associated. (note everything in
empire builds to 100% only during a time associated event)
that the engineers building should cause AT LEAST an interdiction
for every 5 % deconstruction and every 1 % construction.
But if engineers are building a harbor or airport I think there should be
at least somesort of real time delay and a tele go out.

Telegram to DeathAngel: 12:12:43 Thistle engineers seen deconstructing a
sector. 6 hours before it reaches 0%.
Or

Telegram to DeathAngel: 18:12:43 Thistle engineers completely deconstructed
-34,-10 it appears they are constructing a harbor. It will reach 2% in 6 hours.

now these instantenous assaults get 'real-timed'

my 7 cents.

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Tue May 5 18:22:49 2009
the real problem IMO is that empire has been
driven from a Strategic game to a tactical game
a few changes that would help redirect game play
1) Dump land units totally. they're a purely tactical
creature that has very little game benefit

Second, Dump all missions except air superiority
third, rebalance air combat to make more sense

Announcement from Hanuman, (#12) dated Tue May 5 19:56:35 2009
I'll be out of town until Sunday. Plundaria will watch you.

Announcement from beep, (#7) dated Tue May 5 20:29:37 2009
better make sure all the blinds are securely closed then...

Announcement from PNN, (#14) dated Tue May 5 20:38:06 2009
PNN Headline News
Breaking news

The heavens parted and thus spoke Hauman

} > Announcement from Hanuman, (#12) dated Tue May 5 19:56:35 2009
} I'll be out of town until Sunday. Plundaria will watch you.

The panic was immediate and total

-=[ EMPIRE NEWS ]=-
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
! "All the news that fits, we print." !
::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
Tue May 5 20:17:38 2009



The details of Empire news since Mon May 4 22:11:04 2009

=== Foreign Affairs ===
hvy_plastic endures lawless rioting several times

=== The Home Front ===
Tue May 5 19:57 Thistle endures lawless rioting several times
Tue May 5 19:57 Beep endures lawless rioting several times
Tue May 5 19:57 Metallica endures lawless rioting several times
Tue May 5 19:57 Acetone endures lawless rioting one time
Tue Ma
Thousands of voices cried out, why Hanuman, why have you abandoned us!

Announcement from PNN, (#14) dated Tue May 5 20:39:31 2009
Tue May 5 19:57 Wales endures lawless rioting several times
Tue May 5 19:57 taodnt endures lawless rioting several times
Tue May 5 19:57 Belltower endures lawless rioting several times
Tue May 5 19:58 Natives are restless several times

Thousands of voices cried out, why Hanuman, why have you abandoned us!.

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Wed May 6 01:29:23 2009
since I don't think most of you are any kind of stalker. Here a link
on my youngest daughter: Athlete of the week, new Notre Dame track scholarship
and soon D1 track star... *(perhaps)*
www.kdlt.com
click on athlete of the week.

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Wed May 6 01:30:28 2009
wrt to lawless rioting....Acetone had ONE sector and it rioted..
heheh

Announcement from Hanuman, (#12) dated Wed May 6 01:36:28 2009
} do nukes reduce che?

No.

} or are those buggers just that cool?

Yes.

Insomnia, on the other hand, isn't.

Announcement from Hanuman, (#12) dated Wed May 6 02:25:58 2009
} the real problem IMO is that empire has been
} driven from a Strategic game to a tactical game
} a few changes that would help redirect game play
} 1) Dump land units totally. they're a purely tactical
} creature that has very little game benefit
}
} Second, Dump all missions except air superiority
} third, rebalance air combat to make more sense

I played *one* game without land units (Retro, 2004). Doesn't exactly
make me an authority on what the game was / would be without land
units.

For what it's worth, Retro was an educational experience, but not one
I'm too keen to repeat. I found small islands hard to conquer, and
large islands impossible. Could have been my incompetence at this
kind of game, but I doubt I remained *that* incompetent for all of its
50-something updates.

In my opinion, Retro was strongly biased towards conventional
stalemate. And prolongued conventional stalemate isn't what I'm
looking for in a game. I want a bit more fluidity. I readily admit
that current Empire without mods has too much of it. The Hvy Metal
family of games is an attempt to figure out how to correct that, among
other things.

In Retro, I spent all game fighting one neighbor. I eventually
bruised his economic backbone together with a friend. I reduced him
to having to designate parts of his country 0% fortress to keep my
paras away, and to receiving SAMs from his friend wholesale. I
*still* couldn't hold any sectors on his start island.

I believe some other players had comparable "successes" against
competent enemies.

Retro wasn't really non-tactical. It just had fewer tactical options.
They pretty much boiled down to "shell to deity and explore", until
transport planes added "strip air defense and paradrop" to the mix.

It ended in a nuke fest. That part was allright.

Announcement from beep, (#7) dated Wed May 6 02:43:31 2009
metalhead is, however, correct that a tactical exploit like
the engineer thing is questionable. interdiction missions are
supposed to prevent the need to baby-sit your country 24-7
because your enemy might "do stuff" while you were offline.
interdiction of moving 10 civs around, while ignoring the
much more important "stuff being done" by the engineers is,
as Spock would say, illogical.

Announcement from Plundaria, (#13) dated Wed May 6 11:22:27 2009
perhaps interdiction or return fire should be called whenever
the work command is used.

Heh, would make an engineers life rough.. Improve 10%, *BOOM* take
50 damage to sector.


Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 14:26:28 2009
the biggest thing about a retro game is
ensuring an area that is relatively vulnerable
particularly by taking small islands 2 sectors from the start island
and enabling easy bridging, so you take a small offshore island
and work your way in.

a non land unit game lends itself to continant play where
you have fronts and the concept of a static battleline makes sense
you also have to look at plane ranges, ship movement and
decide how small the world is going to be.
for example the world is much smaller if fighters have
range 14+ rather than range 10


Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 14:27:19 2009
the work command is an abberation and an abomination and
should be taken out back and shot

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 14:33:41 2009
but yes, non land unit games are about grinding things down
bombing banks, capitals, tech centers, killing civilians
at the early level, deitying sectors and walking mil in
(f1s used to have the drop ability and were available at tech 40
so you could paradrop from f1s, who remembers that?)

another issue is how fast civs/mil/ everything grows
1 update every 2 days at 60 ETUs is a VERY different game
than 2 24 ETU updates every day.
empire wasn't really designed for 60 ETU updates

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 16:31:30 2009
and that's another rather inane aspect of missions.
you have one shot weather it's 1 unit or 10 units
one ship or ten ships
if you're going to have an interdiction it should fire at everyone
not simply average it over multiple ships or units.

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 20:58:34 2009
moving Iron will trip interdiction???
WTF

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 22:12:22 2009
ok, so a battleship does 105 damage and my hart returns fire for 29?

Announcement from beep, (#7) dated Wed May 6 22:31:06 2009
you've gotten too soft-harted in your dotage.

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Wed May 6 22:34:20 2009
*sigh* I thought we got meaner in old age

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Wed May 6 23:56:06 2009
Hey metal You have to learn to exploit weird as ***.
from way far away a sector of lots of mobility take 20 iron and move it
within range of the bb's they interdict and blow up some iron.
you lose 15 iron and he losses a pair of shells.
repeat this 70 times and his battleship has no shells.
same with lameass plane interdiction.
costs you iron and mobility in worthless sectors.

interdiction long ago needed the option /units+ship+mil-com+bars
and then it would have worked correctly.

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Thu May 7 06:02:13 2009
except that it works erratically not consistantly
I'll move 20 iron it gets blown up
I move 50 iron and no one cares
100 mil, no big deal,
50 mil 3 sectors away? BLAM!

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Fri May 8 20:04:18 2009
how odd
one of my sectors is damaged but I have no
telegrams of when it was shelled

Announcement from Belltower, (#4) dated Fri May 8 20:26:27 2009
I have been trying to get ahold of marcus, but me thinks
he has logs that can provide you with missing info.
I had winace xdump fail during an update and it had autoread on
and I lost my prodcution report. Sucks to have missing info.

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Fri May 8 20:48:31 2009
and that's another thing
ships should not be able to fire from a less than 60%
harbor. that's gamey as hell

Announcement from Metallica, (#2) dated Fri May 8 21:01:28 2009
ahh the variable update
another crappy thing to screw defenders over
LOL
.

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