HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: osyjm@cs.montana.edu (Jaye Mathisen)
Subject: Re: INL strategy: take a weak planet, or the front line?
Organization: CS
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 03:45:43 GMT

In article <BvtIHs.FKr.2@cs.cmu.edu> hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill) writes:
>
>Mojo thinks you should leave a back line planet to take the front line.  I  
>strongly disagree.  Take as many cheap planets as you can.  If the front  
>is free, take the front.  If you don't own a back line planet, take the  
>back line planet.

Hmmm.  I would say, take anything you can lay your hands on.  Any planet
in the back is useful, especially if fuel, or repair, it's easier to SC
bomb if you have a place to park for a few seconds inbetween pops, or
even to prepare to ogg, or stage for a take.

If lag isn't good, it's fairly easy to scum a kill, then SC drop on the
back planets, while there's no way I could duke it out in a frontline
fight.

So I agree with Rob, grab anything you can lay your hands on, anyway
you can.

Grabbing back planets also forces them to consider retaking the back ones
in what may be a feeble attempt to produce armies, plus taking a back
planet provides more opportunity for some dopey clueless newbie to take
a wrong planet... :).
-- 
 Jaye Mathisen, COE Systems Manager                (406) 994-4780
 410 Roberts Hall,Dept. of Computer Science
 Montana State University,Bozeman MT 59717	osyjm@cs.montana.edu
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Fri, 9 Oct 1992 07:30:19 -0400 
From: Tomato Boy <stimpy+@cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: INL SB Proposal

Mojo writes:
#
# The INL server is based on the bronco source.  Bronco limits updates,
# so I assume the INL server does, as well.
#
# The INL Council is committed to not changing the server during the season.
# We may make this change for the playoffs.
#  -Tom

Yeah, max updates of 5 for the INL server. 
Relevant code from socket.c:

if (timerDelay < 200000) timerDelay=200000; /* MAX 5 updates for INL */

translation:  if the client asks for more than 5ups, only give
              it 5.

I think you just have to change that to:

if ((timerDelay < 200000) && (me->p_ship.s_type != STARBASE))
timerDelay=200000; 

translation:  if the client asks for more than 5ups, and he's not
              in a starbase, only give it 5.

Then again, I could be wrong.

--Rick
p.s. interestingly enough, the INL server seems to be based on
     the rwd4 version of the "bronco" source. The server name
     is defined as rwd4.mach.cs.cmu.edu, while in the final
     bronco release, the server name is removed from the code by
     a couple changes made by Terence. Also, the older INL servers
     still had the orbit bug in them.
From: sward+@CMU.EDU (David Reeve Sward)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: XG vs OTR stats
Date: 15 Oct 92 01:42:40 GMT
Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 14-Oct-92 Re: XG vs OTR stats by
Charles W. Swiger@andrew 
> Yeah.  To quote Mike "We sucked donkey dick."  I guess I was due for a
> beating in the base though; last INL game I got a 150 kill SB
> (admittedly against non-locals), this time I averaged about 10.  Ugh.

Yup, against us, FLEE (Rom), even though for much of the time you hung
out between Cap and Hyd... :(
Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 09:09:22 -0400 
From: David Reeve Sward <sward+@CMU.EDU>
Subject: Re: Something seriously amiss

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 14-Oct-92 Re: Something
seriously amiss by David Eng-Yeow Teo@cs.ut 
> I do know this, that was why I wrote that the client is acting like a borg
> with "See Cloakers" option on.  (See Above)
>  
> A borg is also a client and once a ship cloaks, the server no longer TELLS
> you where the ship is too!  The "See Cloakers" option is just a mapping of
> the rough position of the ?? on the galactic map, onto the local map.
> Tedd's visible tractors on cloakers, act in the same way.

Who cares?  Being able to see the cloakers on the tactical
_does_not_help_ except possibly to better alert someone that a cloaker
is there - and with this client, you will only get this effect when you
have _already_ tractored the person.  I certainly don't fire at where
the tractor lines point; if I did I'd never hit him.  If anything, they
act as a _distraction_ on the tactical, _hindering_ play.
From: echeverr@scf.usc.edu (Evil Geniuses For a Better Tomorrow)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Ok you scum
Date: 13 Oct 1992 14:42:58 -0700
Organization: Illuminus Cartel
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: girtab.usc.edu


If taking 3rd and 4th space is a viable strategy to genocide a difficult
LPS, i want to see it done in an INL game.  And then i want to see you crow
about your 'genocide' on r.g.n.


5150
see, i think that cmu has the most talented netrek players anywhere.  but it's
sad to see some of these 'masters' of netrek act like weenies by defending a
weenie tactic.  hell, if you aren't good enough to genocide, let the timer
do it.  that's what it was made for.
From: margot@disuns2.epfl.ch (Joel Margot)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Ogging advice?
Date: 11 Oct 92 01:46:30 GMT
Reply-To: margot@disuns2.epfl.ch (Joel Margot)
Distribution: rec.games.netrek
Organization: Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne

Anyone can give me some advice about how to raise my offensive rating? Is 
ogging and killing in more general the only way? If so, how to ogg what? and
with what ship? Also, what is considered a good and a bad offensive rating?

Thanks.
From: hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: LA Riot -vs- GB, game stats
Date: 12 Oct 92 19:33:06 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

Steve Von Worley writes
> In article <0eqEJ3m00Vpa036kpQ@andrew.cmu.edu> "Timothy C. Worsley"  
<tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> >Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 11-Oct-92 Re: LA Riot -vs- GB,
> >game s.. Steve Von Worley@cory.Be (1051)
> >
> >> >Golden Bears at :) at flint, Bears playing without UDP and :) 
> >> >playing with UDP.
> >
> >> Mojo you are such a weenie!  Why do you have to rehash this over and
> >> over and over... ?
> >
> Instead of just saying "Golden Bears at :)", Mojo insists on accusing
> us of using UDP in the match mentioned above, when we agreed not to
> beforehand.  His insinuation is very insulting to former Team :) 
> members; he is in effect calling us liars, as we have assured him we
> used TCP.  Thus, I issued a rebuttal, as I was captain of the 
> revered Team :).
> 
> Sandia

Tom has never quite gotten over this game.  Perhaps it is time to bury the  
hatchet?  Tom:  who do you suspect used UDP?  In any case, its ancient  
history (like the UPENN genocide by akira).  Lets kiss and make up, boys.

Rob
aka Spaceace!
From: paulsen@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (FreeKill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Third space scum:  AKIRA?
Date: 14 Oct 92 22:38:53 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <Bw0wGy.Lw3.2@cs.cmu.edu> hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill) writes:
>
>Taking 3rd/4th space is a justifiable alternative, in my opinion.
>
>I know akira doesn't do this often, and I do think it is effective in  
>stopping a grid-locked LPS-TPS(two planet stand).

Except for the fact that we owned virtually all of our space...
Kevin did the right thing, though.  The Feds woulda been down to an LPS
in about 30 minutes if he didn't grab 3rd party space.

I look at it as he stopped a potential genocide of his team, not as stopping
one for his team.

Brian
From: tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Timothy C. Worsley)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Hell Peacock
Date: 9 Oct 92 15:36:16 GMT
	<1992Oct9.113650.15009@mnemosyne.cs.du.edu>
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 9-Oct-92 Re: Hell Peacock Rudy
Amid@nyx.cs.du.edu (711)

>    Discouraging ogging?  How is this done?  Without actually making a server
> mod, this is going to be rather hard to do.  "Ogging" is a way of netrek --
> it's part of the game strategy and can be fun too.


	You got it.  There were server mods on Bezier specificly to discourage Ogging.

ZZnew guy
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 15:45:57 -0400 
From: "Timothy C. Worsley" <tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: XG vs OTR stats

name				kills	losses  armies  planets	 hours
-------------------------------------------------------
Mr. Wizard           78      74     104       4    1.93
Warsong              82      58      51       9    1.95
Balton               34      45       1       0    0.91
Iron Sheik           55      59      91       1    1.30
Balinor              80      93      13       2    1.90
Mr. Fuji            108     109     268       4    1.89
EEK!!                71      85     113       2    1.92
Hiemdall             88      95     245       3    1.90
Dr. Destructo       109     101     325       1    1.85
Andre the Giant      81      79     127       1    1.60
British Bulldog      71      68     180       2    1.92
Slick                98     107     220       1    1.90
Jake The Snake       89      58     286       2    1.95
Elf of Doom          19      69     283       0    1.94
Akira                71     111      71       2    1.90
ZZnew guy            85      78      86       5    1.92
Superfly             27      36     145       0    0.60

Starbases:
name		kills	losses	hours
-------------------------------------------------------
Balton             62     2   1.31
Andre the Giant    18     2   0.32

Additional stats

name				Died/with		Killed/With  Freindly/killed
Warsong			20/48		0/0			0/0
Balton			10/25		0/0			0/0
Iron Sheik		1/4			5/13			0/0
Superfly			0/0			9/18			0/0
Mr Fuji			4/5			18/43		0/0
Balinor			13/28		0/0			0/0
Mr. Wizard		14/41		4/6			2/3
EEK!				11/19		3/7			0/0
Hiemdall			12/29		5/28			0/0
British Bulldog	1/2			8/20			0/0
Dr. Destructo		0/0			27/58		0/0
Andre the Giant	3/27			9/27			0/0
Slick			3/5			10/25		0/0
Elf of Doom		0/0			3/6			0/0
Jake The Snake	5/10			16/39		0/0
Akira			9/16			3/7			0/0
ZZnew guy			18/45		1/2			0/0

ZZnotes:

Andre many of Andre the Giant's lost and Hiemdall's Ogged armies were on
the base.  The fact that Mr. Wizard killed freindly carriers is more 
testement that we were trying for the last planet than that he messed
up.  I'm amazed that he's the only one to do this.


ZZnew guy
From: tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu (Timothy C. Worsley)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Iron Man Netrekkers
Date: 10 Oct 92 03:00:16 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 9-Oct-92 Iron Man Netrekkers Jay
C Thaler@cps.msu.edu (886)

> Who out there is the best at
> everything?  SC bombing + ogging + planet scumming + basing + escorting
> + defending, etc?

	Balton and Akria come to mind as great all-purpose players.  Probably Balton.

ZZnew guy
From: botelle@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Justin Botelle)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Everyone is oggable
Date: 12 Oct 92 23:09:24 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <Bw0wBr.LnE.2@cs.cmu.edu) hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill) writes:
)
)Everyone is ogged on occasion.  Even Hector...:-).
)
)Justin is so scared of me, he refuses to carry in games that I play  
)in.....:-).  No seriously, I took him out a couple of times the last time  
)I saw him in....big deal....even runnerscum can be ogged...:-)

Yes you did.  The last time you saw me, you took me out by my ogging you.

You have killed me many times, but all of them have been near a planet
that I have tried to take.

Now, if you want to talk about oggs, remember that time I nailed your 
sorry AS ass by Veg (it was a clue game, I think, but the person near
you was a spectator as I phasered you mercilessly).  Yes, you were Fed.

)Rob
)aka Spaceace!

Justin

P.S.  Is it true what Streaker said about those frat boys coming in and
demanding to play that startrek game?
From: bharat@shadow.Eng.Sun.COM (Bharat Mediratta)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Something seriously amiss
Date: 14 Oct 1992 22:29:13 GMT
Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc.
Distribution: world
Reply-To: bharat@shadow.Eng.Sun.COM
NNTP-Posting-Host: shadow

In article ldog0gINNf2m@grit.cs.utexas.edu, davidt@cs.utexas.edu (David Eng-Yeow Teo) writes:
>
[...] 
> 1)  Visible Tractors :-
> 
> Approved but maybe you ought to look at it again.  If you tractor or pressor someone before he cloaks, the tractor lines will still be there.  In such situation, the client is acting like a borg with "See Cloakers" option on.

Sure...with the visible tractors on, you can see where the enemy is.
But god help you if you start shooting at what you see, because
once a ship cloaks, the server no longer TELLS you where the ship is!
It gives you a location that isn't even too close.  As a borg advocate,
you should know this, David.

	-Bharat
> 
[...]
> David Teo
> Author of GFBorg
> Server Admin of Grit
> 
> >>> Blessing a Borg doesn't make it any more legitimate than it was before. <<<
> 



---
    /\        Bharat Mediratta
   \\ \       Graphics Continuation Group
  \ \\ /      
 / \/ / /     
/ /   \//\    SUN Microsystems, Inc.	
\//\   / /    Mailstop: MTV18-218
 / / /\ /     2550 Garcia Avenue, Building 18
  / \\ \      Mountain View, CA 94043
   \ \\       Phone:  (415)336-4347, FAX:(415)336-5471
    \/        Email:  bharat.mediratta@eng.sun.com



Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Thu,  8 Oct 1992 04:22:26 -0400 
From: "Timothy C. Worsley" <tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: BEER!!!!
	<92067@netnews.upenn.edu>

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 7-Oct-92 BEER!!!!
FreeKill@eniac.seas.upen (382)

> Also, to the IC - Have you read the book Illuminatus?  If so, you guys
> should start slipping the word "     " into your posts.


Huh?

ZZnew guy
From: jhammond@acpub.duke.edu (John Kirk Hammond)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: More dogfighting foo
Date: 14 Oct 92 19:52:58 GMT
Organization: Duke University; Durham, N.C.

Dogfighters are losers.

-Kirk / Lance
 ^^^^ my name is Kirk, not John - no comment please
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: danny@cs.su.oz.au (Danny)
Subject: Fair popping
Organization: Basser Dept of Computer Science, University of Sydney, Australia
Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1992 23:35:08 GMT

In article <1bicmdINN58u@agate.berkeley.edu> beorn@berkeley.edu writes:
>I agree that this is not conclusive evidence, but balancing the random
>number generator wouldn't be too hard and wouldn't affect the game negatively
>either.  At least some sort of record could be kept of army pops so that
>it can be reviewed.

I don't understand this.  If the (pseudo) random number generator is using
any reasonable algorithm, then you get fairness automatically.  The chances
of a seriously unbalanced pop ratio are very small.  For comparison, the
chances of getting 60 or more heads in 100 coin tosses is only 0.0108

Danny.
Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 16:14:45 -0400 
From: Greg K Chung <gc2n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Was AKIRA/Crippler being a butthead? You call it!!!!

How many times must we go through this debate?

You get ~0.0000 DI for bombing or taking third race.  Thus if you 3rd
race scum, you're not scumming at all, since you're losing ratings.

Thus, you can't claim that people bomb 9x30 armies to get DI!  If you did get
DI, everyone would go bomb the other space after the initial bombing run.
From: MrYuk+@CMU.EDU (Michael Juster)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: OTR vs xg
Date: 13 Oct 92 05:32:06 GMT
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

WE SUCK BIG LONG THICK HARD JUICY DONKEY DICK

-Mike
Admiral chi
Slick - Co-Captain of Off The Top Rope
From: cvadrayb@vmsb.is.csupomona.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Things I do when I'm bored.
Date: 16 Oct 92 10:40:46 GMT
Organization: California State Polytechnic University, Pomona
Nntp-Posting-User: cvadrayb

In article <1992Oct16.083446.25203@cs.brown.edu>, esj@cs.brown.edu (Eugene Santos Jr.) writes:
> In article <UerYWqG00Vp0MCK0xB@andrew.cmu.edu> rg3c+@andrew.cmu.edu (Randy Eugene Griffith) writes:
> 
>>Do note that a lot of geeks for some reason take offense when you do
>>these fun activities.   They'll start telling you how you should play
>>the game.  So what do you do?  Well you have a couple options.. One,
>>lock onto them and get on top of them and follow them everywhere.  Not
>>only does this annoy them but when they are engaged and you blow up on
>>top of them (of course, you keep your shields off) you can usually kill
>>them.  Another thing you can do, since the ones who will get mad at you
>>are the ones who think they control the game or something, is get a few
>>legitimate kills, pick up all your team's armies, and then get yourself
>>killed deliberately.  That's only really useful if the geek is the one
>>who is trying to play team captain or something.  If they are starbase,
>>you have some other options.  For instance, fly near enemy territory,
>>stop, cloak yourself, and then fly back at your own SB.  More often than
>>not they've lost track and think you're an ogger and start going nuts
>>trying to kill you.  You can also dock with your SB, sit on top of it
>>and constantly fire your weapons.  I'm not too sure, but I think this
>>will run down the SB's fuel????  And it goes without saying that if the
>>other team is ogging your SB, you need to dock with it (no shields) and
>>blow up on top of him.
>>
> 
> This is what get's you called a *ahem* "dick" to say the least.
> If you ever try to do any of the one things above during a game
> where at least 50% of the players on your team WANT to play
> seriously, you are an undisputed bonafide *ahem* "dick".
> You are ruining someone elses fun, and they certainly do
> happen to be a majority in this situation. Think twice before
> doing this. And if this doesn't bother you the least bit,

Actually, even if he was joking, there are times I think doing just that
to a few of the uptight people playing.. Although - yes, when everyone else
is being serious, I try my best to do well.. 

It IS awefully annoying, being clueless like myself, to get shouted at for
something as trivial as a 5-10 second lag or something.. sure I might end
up in the middle of 3rd-4th space, but maybe I LIKE it there :).. ugh

-Me
DaVandal
Organization: Senior, Chemical Engineering, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1992 03:35:54 -0400 
From: Kevin Michael Bernatz <kb32+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Was AKIRA/Crippler being a butthead? You call it!!!!

Hee hee hee,
	I was wondering if this would ever make it to n.r.g.n.  

Situation:
	Orion  pseudo LPS.  Ori is agri, they have Freekill and alot of other
good players.  We have alot of good player too, but are totally unable
to take Ori or (Arc, Pol, Urs.. they had 2 planets most of the time). 
We already owned Lal, so I decided to take Kli space. (We owned Rom
space already).

Facts (I believe):
	1) You don't get credit for bombing independent planets and/or taking them.
	2)  I'm not an Admiral and never will make one
	3) Check Crippler's stats...he's at maybe 5.00 max.. hardly an admiral
scum character.
	4) Taking 3rd space is a legitimate tactic.  You guys just couldn't
stop me/didn't want to stop me.
	5) Even paulson admitted that after Yea Boy!!! left we would have been
down to a LPS in no-time at all if I didn't force you guys to defend Kli
space singlehandedly.

	In other words, the situation warranted a take of 3rd space since we
would never genocide you by normal methods.  Your team failed to prevent
this (which isn't that hard) and you lost.  C'est la vie.

-KB
From: mcn@cwru.edu (Michael C. Neuman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: RSA stuff
Date: 16 Oct 1992 22:42:21 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio (USA)
Distribution: world
Reply-To: mcn@b62103.student.cwru.edu
NNTP-Posting-Host: b62103.student.cwru.edu

In article <61219@mimsy.umd.edu> mcp@cs.umd.edu (Mike Polek) writes:
>In article <1bl0dsINN98b@usenet.INS.CWRU.Edu> mcn@b62103.student.cwru.edu  
writes:
>-1) It's a pretty good idea, but what happens if you want to invalidate a key?  
>-You have the .reserved file which is essentially nonsense binary. If, for  
>-example, I want to remove the sun4 key, how would I do that? 
>Yup, I plan on posting by client... all architectures for a particular client
>in one file. Andy McFadden has suggested that we probably need a better
>form of key management, and I agree. I just don't have time to write it
>at the moment. Perhaps soon....

  Okay, I hacked up a solution which works pretty well. When you stick all the  
keys in the .reserved file, you also put in what machine that key is for in a  
reservedindx file. So, for example, if I put Sun4, Next, and test into my  
reserved (in that order), my .reservedindx would read:
Sun4
NeXT
Test
None

  When a user leaves (it had to be when he leaves cuz the way the reserved  
packet scheme works), it'll log a message like:

Leaving: Guru             (F1)   0P   0A   0W/  0L   0min  7  
<mcn@b62103.STUDENT.CWRU.Edu> [NeXT] Fri Oct 16 18:11:08 1992

  I still am having a problem with Genkeys (I think), though... I ran genkeys  
on a Sun4, and finally had it spit out the .dat and .h files... I compiled my  
client with the .h, and appended the .dat file to my .reserved (and added the  
appropriate entry to my .reservedindx). It identified the binary correctly, but  
also claimed it was a borg... I'm working on tracking down the problem now...

--
        Mike Neuman                mcn@b62103.student.cwru.edu
  "To make a machine that will be proud of us." - Thinking Machine's motto
==============================================================================
* Maintainer: NeXT netrek archive--b62103.student.cwru.edu:/pub/games/netrek *
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: gdearing@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Gregory D Dearing)
Subject: Re: New way to annoy people
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Tue, 13 Oct 1992 22:20:44 GMT

In article <131803eSabjZ00@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com> fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) writes:
>In article <1992Oct13.151334.26558@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu> gdearing@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Gregory D Dearing) writes:

>
>I think you missed the point.
>
>-- 
>fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
>[ Above opinions are mine, Amdahl has nothing to do with them, etc, etc. ]

Actually, I got the point...just a little belatedly =).  I cancelled the
article within 10 mins of posting it.  In my own defense, my reasoning
was somewhat clouded by this:

Greg "Don't mix alcohol with burritos bigger than your head" Dearing
aka. Porkchop
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: genie@netcom.com (Gene Choi)
Subject: Blessed borgs?  Check out the SGI client!!!
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest) 
Date: Wed, 14 Oct 1992 19:38:31 GMT


You think visible tractors are bad?  You should go check out
the blessed SGI client.  It even shows other people tractoring
your ass!

It's actually amusing to see all these lines come out from all
surrouding ships when you uncloak.  But makes it rather difficult
to fire phasers among all the confusion.

Gene