HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: vinson@shiva.seas.upenn.edu (Jack Vinson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Idea for Galaxy variant
Keywords: Galaxy
Date: 1 Oct 92 14:19:23 GMT
Organization: The University of Pennsylvania

<lckrplINNibs@cash.cs.utexas.edu> writes this in article mckinney@cs.utexas.edu (Durwood Y. McKinney)
>I was thinking about Galaxy the other day, and an interesting
>variant came to mind.
>
>What if each player had a secret power that benefitted their race
>in some way?  Like say, the ability to spend x amount of production
>to spy on an enemy planet, or the ability to make 1 group of ships
>per turn move faster than normal, or something like that.  You'd
>need 64+ powers defined, and this number would be a limit on the number
>of players that could be in a game.  

Something like this has already been dreamed up in the PBM called "Conquest
and Destiny" being run by Dan Canham.  The above idea is implemented in a
number of race types which each have a special ability that allows them to
make money faster or travel easier.  There are about eight races with
(virtually) no limit on the number of players compared to the sounds of
other PBM's (something well over 100), and one can join at any time.
The galaxy is populated with around 4,000,000 planets, so it might be a
while before the game is "finished" which I assume means that your race is
the last one left.

The races (or professions) are transformers (make more money from mines and
refineries) miners (able to mine asteroids and gas giants while others
can't), marauders (hi tech pirates), power corporations (makes stuff
cheaper to build), traders (trade centers, etc.), and travellers (ability
to move planets from star to star.

I haven't participated in battles, yet, but it looks like they are
conducted at one time on the computer rather than turn by turn with player
interaction, unless they are drawn out wars.  A stock market has been
developed along with the possibility of sending spies around to your
enemies (and friends).  You can form alliances with other races, build
rebel centers on enemy planets and lots of other fun stuff.

I'm playing by e-mail, his address is dan_canham@grace.bah.rochester.ny.us
for anyone interested.  By the way, I've only been at this for four or five
turns and have enjoyed it immensely.

The Purple Puddle Eater
Jack Vinson			vinson@unagi.cis.upenn.edu
From: Henri_Hayim_Farhi@cup.portal.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Legends: Grenade ?
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 92 10:48:55 PDT
Organization: The Portal System (TM)

Has anybody heard of an artifact called Thorgard (sp?) 's Grenade?  I have
acquired it in COA9 but can't even runeknowledge it for two more turns. It
sounds like a nice little SA item perhaps...
On another subject, for those of you who are in ROTI: what would you know
of the Demigod of the Illidari? I know where he is in one of the ROTI games
(you should see the loot that his lair has.... -drool-)
Well, a COA bug seems to be spewing ancient arcana recipes anytime you use
a healing potion. So I know how to make +5 mithril swords and axes now (for
all the good it is going to do me)
Lythande
Scarlet Begonia
From: johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John White)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Duelmasters: Various Comments and Questions
Date: 28 Sep 1992 20:14:09 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: scratchy.caltech.edu
Originator: johnjohn@scratchy

In article <1992Sep28.135902.5283@jade.tufts.edu> gharris@jade.tufts.edu  
(George W. Harris) writes:
>In article <1a3p87INN3ir@gap.caltech.edu> johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John  
White) writes:

>>Ok, but what size was Tula?  This is the stat that "implies" the most  
about  
>>a warrior.  Above size 12, and you're probably going to see warriors that  
do  
>>normal to good damage.  Was she well suited to SC?  With those two pieces  
of  
>>information, you can make an intelligent guess as to the damage  
capabitlity  
>>of your opponent...
>
>	Good point...Yikes, she's a midget--5'3".  She is, however, well-
>suited to her weapons.  Still, with a size like that, she's going to have
>to get lucky to hurt someone in chainmail.

Bzzzzzzt.  Wrong.  I have a size 5, strength 11 slasher that took out a APA  
SCUM at the FtF in two minutes with a Scimitar.  Remember, slashers do a lot  
of damage.

>Well, Tula was just 0-1, which could explain a lot.  Her loss comes
>against a warrior whose current record is 3-1, now a low challenger  
initiate.
>So she's not exactly what I'd call a dangerous opponent...

Hey, hey.  Don't jump to conclusions, here.  The slasher that I mentioned  
started out 0-1, (actually, he lost to Dennis's lunger, who ended up in the  
low challenger inits, if I'm not mistaken).  Right now, he's:  
11-7(1)-5-17-21-7-17; AdEx Attack, Init, Ex Defense, with FIVE fights.  You  
never can be too sure about how dangerous an opponent is until you fight  
him, and then, you still can't be that sure....

--
John White
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu
|===============================================================|
|                          What the HELL?!                      |
|                   Did I come BACK to Caltech?!                |
|===============================================================|
-- 
John White
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu
|===============================================================|
|                          What the HELL?!                      |
From: kitten@scoraz.resp-sci.arizona.edu (Bruce Saul)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Galaxy newbie question
Date: 1 Oct 92 19:20:41 GMT
Distribution: usa,local
Organization: University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ


	I agree that the best composition of a fleet is
for single gun ships with big guns and nasty shields.

	However, I do have one design that has proven a
real killer in two different games.    First you have to
push your weapons tech to 2.5 or higher.   Then you build
this.


	32.50  10  4  20  0

  I called this class a Birman.  In game one it flew all over
enemy space gunning down waves of fighters with high tech
shields.    Two cautions.  First don't build it early.  A gun
of 4 is not that effective.  Second, have lots of cheap flack
in the squadron with a Birman to keep enemy big guns from
finding it.
	In the climatic battle of game one this ship class
made a low percentage shot and killed an enemy battleship.


		Bruce / kitten@sneeze.resp-sci.arizona.edu
Organization: Johannes Kepler University Linz - Computing Center
Date: Tuesday, 6 Oct 1992 15:18:54 CET
From: <K331280@ALIJKU11.BITNET>
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: LEGENDS 1.List of magic items

Hi all |

This list of magic items from ROI is a supplement of the list that was
posted here one week ago. It describes items from the former list that
were listed there with no commends. I use the same syntax e.g. con, obs..
etc.

482 Lost Scroll of Light
   obs: teaches a level 5 illusionist spell and 3 minor spells
500 The Spells of Genvor
   obs: teaches spell 126, 86 and two minor spells
550 Power of the Blade
   con: teaches Swordmaster
551 The Axemaster Text
   con: teaches Axemaster
553 Way of the Wood
   con: teaches Ranger
557 The path of the Wanderer
   con: teaches Priest of Thaman
584 Symbol of Masinome
   obs: +5 levels
585 Symbol of Nagashun
   obs: +5 Str, +5 combatknowledge, +4 levels, +5 mana, +3 reg., +2 MaR, +2 SaR
   spells: raise dead, darkness, with 10 mana
586 Symbol of Thaman
   obs: +3 Infl., +3 levels
588 Symbol of Chaos
   con: +5 Str, +5 Dex, +5 Con, -3 Infl, +2 levels
706 Desert Robes
   con: lowers chance of beeing seen, spell: Invisibility
877 Ring of Detection
   obs: spell detect invisible with 20 sp, saves SP
1019 Ring of Protection
   obs: +3 Infl, +5 Magic Resistace, +5 Special attack Resistance
1036 Collar of Corn
   obs: -50 Magic Resistance, spell bewitch monster with 20 sp
1133 Nameless Dagger
   RK: 5% chance per combat to get the status vampirelord, poison II,
       SA +25, attack bonus in winternight 100%, +5 holy mana, +3 mana
       save
   RM: user must be religion #8, gets 200% attack bonus, +100% if target
       is worship of another religion then #8 and priest
1196 Rillwind
   obs: is a sword of power
1241-1245
   obs: pieces of the tablet of law
   PS.: Does it really give the user a 100% permanent bless ?

Ok, I hope this list will help you, I will write down more in 3-4 days

   Yours, Mike
From: mckinney@cs.utexas.edu (Durwood Y. McKinney)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Idea for Galaxy variant
Date: 30 Sep 1992 22:23:33 -0500
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: cash.cs.utexas.edu
Keywords: Galaxy

I was thinking about Galaxy the other day, and an interesting
variant came to mind.

What if each player had a secret power that benefitted their race
in some way?  Like say, the ability to spend x amount of production
to spy on an enemy planet, or the ability to make 1 group of ships
per turn move faster than normal, or something like that.  You'd
need 64+ powers defined, and this number would be a limit on the number
of players that could be in a game.  

Furthermore, what if when you killed a player you acquired their original
power?  (I don't know, studying the ruins just before you nuke them to
oblivion, or capturing slaves of the destroyed player's race).  Killing
a player would involve both nuking the home planet and having no more of
the race's colonies around.  Anyone could nuke the colonies, but only the
person who bombed the home planet would get the power.  If 2 or more races
participated in a homeworld battle, the one with the highest number of
weapon factors surviving, modified for tech, would get the power.  If you
take someone out you get only their original power, not all the others they
have accumulated.

All powers would be secret.  They might at times be revealed through usage.
So the game would get kind of a cosmic-encounter or Illuminati type feel
to it, as well as the traditional galaxy stuff.

Of course, the hard part is coming up with 64 or so well-balanced powers.

Ken McKinney
From: picasso@bass.bu.edu (David Ondzes)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: DM: A Hollow Ween?
Date: 2 Oct 92 17:17:42 GMT
Organization: Wizard on Oz
In-reply-to: sms35849@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu's message of 2 Oct 92 14:08:39 GMT


>Garth, how did Solder of Fortune do at the F-t-F?  Has anybody received a 
>F-t-F newsletter yet?  I'm still waiting.

	I just got the ftf newsletter. 

	I will probably send about 10-12 guys (including Sampson) plus about
4-5 dead guys. One of the named Lightnting from arena 1 was real close to
ADM and I expect him to come back to life.


------------------------------------------------------------------------
|       ***      ***       | My Pride and Joy:                         |
|      ***      ***        | 	Max 5-148 of Skull Smasher in Kaltos   |
|     ***      ***         |    record: 114-52-2  (1 of my original 5) |
|    ***  **  ***          |                                           |
|   ***  **  ***           | Motto:          Perfect Warrior:          |
|  ***  **  ***            |   Slash 'Em Up    9-3-4-17-17-17-17 SL    |
| ************             |                                           | 
|************ izard of Oz  | picasso@bass.bu.edu                       |
------------------------------------------------------------------------
| Active Arenas: 18,33,35,43,58,100,102                                |
| coming soon to arena near you !                                      | 
------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: baj@acfcluster.nyu.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: RE: Legends-North Island
Date: 2 Oct 92 16:17:28 GMT
Organization: New York University

In article <3T5ZRB2w165w@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca>, jozborne@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca (John Osborne) writes:
> For any would be North Island players out there I talk to MG today and 
> guess what?  They are still having some trouble, "printing the maps".  I 
> heard the same story when they came out with the new rule books.  The old 
> blame it on the printer story.  Anyway the latest claim is 2 weeks before 
> they mail out the module books.  Translated this means yet another 4 to 6 
> weeks.
> 
> How many people will be joining the North Island campaign anyway?  There 
> was talk earilier of creating a Usenet faction.
> 
> John Osborne              jozborne@ersys.edmonton.ab.ca 

  I'm interested.  Although I haven't heard anything except about the
  Map problem, (but that's old news, I heard that story over a month
  ago.)

  We'll just have to wait and see when it will really come out.

           Barbara
From: johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu (John White)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: DM ??
Date: 30 Sep 92 21:28:19 GMT
Organization: California Institute of Technology, Pasadena
NNTP-Posting-Host: itchy.caltech.edu
Originator: johnjohn@itchy

In article <00961490.266E3000@abby.chem.ucla.edu> ben@abby.chem.ucla.edu  
writes:
>Hi Phil.

Hey, is PHil still out there?  He doesn't post, or send me email at all...

>I have a PL (in Khalums) whose stats are 10-10(+1)-6-15-17-11-15 Does  
Normal
>Takes Normal Normal Endurance.  He started out 4urancet has since slipped 
>to 5-6.  Predictably, learns about 1.5 skills/fight, but almost all of  
these
>have been init ~10/16; including not a single attack skill.

Yeah, I've seen alot of Pl's that have Init as a favorite learn.  My best  
PL, has 17 fights, and 11 attack skills, so I can sympathize on that account  
as well.

>I'm looking for help in a decent strategy, or even good style matchups.  
>He looks O.K. at Def-Def-Off (Waste like strategy), but He parries and  
dodges
>about equally poorly.  He doesn't seem to generate enough offense to beat 
>Wastes or Scum, and his defenses aren't good enough to stop a decent Lunger
>or Striker.  Furthermore, he doesn't have the endurance to go 10 min. or  
the
>Decise to beat any one to the punch.  I would DA him, except his stats are
>far to promising to throw away.  I want to at least see his NEx in attack
>and defense (Already has one Ex: Init).  But if you think I should let him
>go, say so, and give reasons.

All those weaknesses sound like the weaknesses of every PL execept for the  
top few ever made (Todd Thomson told me that at 4-5 fights, his PL, God, has  
3 AdEx's and an Ex.  Bastard).

Things that I've tried:
4-9-4-x-D, then offensive.  This tends to do well agains PL's or PS's that  
are going offensively, or offensives with low offense.  Very helpful, huh?

10-10-6-x-x or Lunge.  I've recently stopped using the lunge tactic, but  
that's up to you.  This seems to be your best bet: jump or die.  It does  
well against other PL's with low defense (I know, I know...), defensive  
PS's, Wastes (Waste, lunge style attacking matchups are generally weighted  
towards the lunging attacker), and even lungers (your PL will actually dodge  
at 10-10...).

What I haven't tried:

Middle numbers like 5-5-5.

Scumming.

Something along the lines of 10-5.

>No luck on favorite weapon either, but he doesn't attack all that often, 
>and he could be 1-5 skills from Expert (by my mediocre chart.)

I like the SC.  It's faster than the LO, and does more damage.  Tried the  
epee?  One of my PL's got a kill with one.

Anything else?

--
John White
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu
|===============================================================|
|                          What the HELL?!                      |
|                   Did I come BACK to Caltech?!                |
|===============================================================|
-- 
John White
johnjohn@cco.caltech.edu
|===============================================================|
|                          What the HELL?!                      |
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
From: rhl@valhalla.mitre.org (Roger Lincoln)
Subject: New game of Star Empires starting
Organization: The Mitre Corp., Bedford, MA.
Date: Thu, 1 Oct 1992 14:59:05 GMT


With the coming of peace in the universe of Star Empires Game 1, I
find it sad that the dismantling of the vast fleets of interstellar
war-machines should mean a reduced CPU-load for this beleaguered but
faithful workstation.  Therefore, in order to keep it and me at peak
workload I'm starting up a new game, Star Empires Game 4.

Star Empires is a simple multi-player space wargame played via E-mail
(emphasis on simple).  It's perfect for novice players and new-comers
are encouraged to play.  Players from Game 1 out for revenge are
encouraged to play (no need to mail me again if you have), and players
from Game 3 can write to me if they are worthy (meaning close to
extinction). 

This game will be using version 2.2 of the rules, based on the current
rules in Game 3 with a few additions and modifications.

Is your life just too drab and boring?  Are you caught in the rut of
midlife/puberty?  Spice up your meaningless existence by taking the
reigns of a tyrannical empire and lay waste to an entire galaxy!
Nothing comes close to the thrill of sending your armadas to your
allies homeworld and sticking him in the back, except maybe ben-gay on
your toilet paper.

Pending final minor coding changes and a potential business-trip, I
hope to start the game in a week or two.

If you're interested then write me at... rhl@valhalla.mitre.org.
Please specify if you'd like to join or if you want to see the

--
 \_____   \__ \__  \__     |  Roger H. Lincoln      | "We came in peace      |
 \__ \__  \__ \__  \__     |  MITRE Corp.           |   for all Mankind"     |
 \_____   \______  \__     |  Bedford, MA           | But all we got were    |
 \__ \__  \__ \__  \_____  |  C3I Division          |   these lousy T-Shirts |
 \__  \__ \__ \__  \_____  |  Mission Planning Sys  |                        |
From: dshaffer@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Donald A Shaffer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Where are Galaxy Rules and Utilities
Date: 5 Oct 92 19:07:40 GMT
Article-I.D.: andromed.Oct.5.15.07.38.1992.20526
Distribution: all
Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J.

>	Where can I find V3.1 rules for Galaxy ?  I can only find V2.7
>at ftp.erg.sri.com.

>	Also, is there an archive site for the Galaxy utilities,
>people have been coming up with, or would someone email them to me ?
   There are galaxy utilities?  Oh, me too! me too!
*****************************************************************************
fencers do it in the             *  Don Shaffer
   FLESHE'                       *  dshaffer@andromeda.rutgers.edu
******************************************************************************
From: inb@creare.com (Ian Brown)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: PBeM Hockey
Summary: New PBeM Hockey League
Date: 5 Oct 92 13:12:38 GMT
Reply-To: inb@creare.com (Ian Brown)
Organization: Creare Inc., Hanover, NH

With the end of the WeHL now at hand, I have decided to run a new hockey
simulation league.  I'm still working on the simulator and need to write the
rules, but I should get things done within the next week or two.

If anyone would like to play, please drop me a note and I'll send you the rules
once they're written.
From: dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Magic Items In Realm of the Immortals
Date: 30 Sep 92 22:46:04 GMT
Article-I.D.: netcom.1992Sep30.224604.23427
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

wbock@polyslo.csc.calpoly.edu (Smarmy):
>Magic Items Seen In Realm of the Immortals

Thanks for the information!  A couple of comments, off the top of my head:

> 476 Veil of Nightmares {Bracelet}

Teaches some not-very-impressive spells -- and has a chance of driving
you insane.

> 486 Book of the Lady I {Book}
>          Obs: Teaches 60, 61, 200; Cures Insanity.

1. Do you read this book (character action) or activate it (basic)?
2. Does doing so use it up, or can you pass it from character to character?
   (i.e., Does having it mean you have a permanent cure for insanity?)

>          RK: Teleport somewhere; +8 DF if race is Javelin.

There's a bug in the Runeknowledge spell that causes it to print/interpret
the race limitation as a weapon.  When you send in a turn, write a note
explaining what happened, and they'll write back telling you what the race
was *supposed* to be.

-----
Dani Zweig
dani@netcom.com

   Aphorism is better than none.
From: gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl)
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Re: Programming a PBM game: What language is best?
Keywords: Programming, BASIC
Date: 29 Sep 92 17:18:45 GMT
Article-I.D.: murdoch.1992Sep29.171845.9287
Organization: Department of Astronomy, University of Virginia

In article <-r+pf7g.dani@netcom.com> dani@netcom.com (Dani Zweig) writes:

>It proves that GWBASIC is Turing-equivalent and that your friend
>is a masochist.  We already knew the former...

Actually, quite a few of the early commercial PBM games were written
in Basic. Can we please have language flamewars elsewhere?
From: hall@kronos.arc.nasa.gov (Michael Hall)
Subject: Re: Newbie question on galaxy
Organization: NASA/ARC Information Sciences Division
Date: Wed, 30 Sep 1992 19:59:05 GMT

In article <Sep.30.10.36.57.1992.20040@andromeda.rutgers.edu> dshaffer@andromeda.rutgers.edu (Donald A Shaffer) writes:
>
>  Please pardon this complete newbie to the game of galaxy :) but I was 
>wondering if you experienced galaxy players would give me some advise.  Is 
>it generally better to arm ships with one big gun, or to arm a ship with many
>smaller guns.

This will probably be a controversial question.

IMHO, it is *generally* better to arm ships with one gun than with
many smaller guns - *not* *always*.  Having one gun per ship
generally means you have more ships, and that is very important
in galaxy.  It's usually better to have N fighters with 1-strength
guns than a single ship with N 1-strength guns.  Although the
shields on the single ship will be tougher, the fighters give
you probabilistic shielding by being extra targets.  Also, if
your choice is, as you said, between one *big* gun or one ship
with lots of little guns, the big gun will become obsolete
less quickly (as your opponents' shield tech improves) than the
little guns.

If some conditions hold, it can make sense to build some ships with
multiple guns:

  * Even your smaller gun size will be able to take out enemy ships well,
    which means your weapons must be superior to the enemy's shields,
    probably due to technology rather than design, and you don't foresee
    this changing in the near future even with projected enemy gains in
    shield technology.

  * Similarly, your shields on a larger ship can stand up the typical
    firepower of the enemy, and will continue to do so in the near future.

  * You already have adequate fighter cover.

  * You already have some guns that can take out the best shielded
    enemy ships imaginable.


It's hard to go wrong with the basic fleet composition: hundreds
of fighters (like 1 1 1 1 0), a dozen destroyers (like 4 1 4 4 0),
and a couple of big guns (like 20 1 30 10 0), even if they all have
just one shot each.  But when you are technologically (and to some
extent industrially) superior, you can take out your enemy a *bit*
more efficiently by adding some multiple shot ships to the rest of
your fleet.

-- 
Michael Hall            \"Your blackjack bankroll behaves much like a portfolio
NASA Ames Research Center\ of stocks.  A mathematician would describe it as
hall@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov \following a random walk with an upward drift." -Wong
From: barnett@ecs.umass.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: No longer looking for AD&D players.
Date: 25 Sep 92 23:08:25 GMT

Greetings,
	Well, that took a whole 2 hours longer than I expected!  Thank you
to all who replied to my AD&D game openings but I have now got a full game.
	Anyone who has contacted me already should have received mail from
me.  Please, no more entrance requests.
	Again, thank you.

							John W. Barnett
							barnett@ecs.umass.edu