From: Luis Miguel Sequeira <bc@fccn01.fccn.pt>
Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm
Subject: Galaxy: A modified battle algorithm
Date: 4 Jan 1993 01:49:43 -0600
Organization: UTexas Mail-to-News Gateway
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

andre@duteinq.et.tudelft.nl (Andre Verwey) writes:

>If the hard limit on the number of battlerounds if for example set on
>10, a fight can end undecided. This gives the defending player the time
>to add new products on a planet, or fly away with the remaining fleet.

>How do other people think about such a change?

amead@s.psych.uiuc.edu (Alan Mead) replies:

>I like it :)  Notice that you would also have to modify the rules
>(code) so that "left over" combatants wouldn't bomb.  Ie, currently,
>any hostile ships alive after combat will bomb.

Would this mean that ships would "coexist" in the same system?

Hmm...

I happened to talk to a friend of mine, which has coded a complete PBM
on a  week using dBase for  the PC (he's just 16  years old, so he has
got the time). To solve the problem of  "coexistence" vs.  "total war"
he  has come  out with a  quite interesting  solution: suppose  that a
fleet  receives the order of  "attack".  The rules   state  that, on a
system, there can be at most one fleet  with this  order (don't ask me
how  he's going to implement that,  I really don't have the foggiest).
Other fleets can "support". Fleets  who don't support get attacked! If
the attacking fleet (that single one) wins (with  the support it has),
it takes the planet. Wars are fought until utter devastation.

There are _no_ other limitations, and _no_ player alliances. Thus, you
can support your enemies just to keep your  fleet! You may  loose your
home planet in this way, but at least you would mantain the fleet...

Crazy, huh?

The point is, don't change the rules to a point that the game gets too
"strange"...  You are proposing that battles can remain undecided, and
you  can allow  for reinforcements later.   Fine.  But having to fight
another battle on the same system  next turn,  isn't that the  same as
waiting one turn for reinforcements,  and _then_ attack? Correct me if
I'm wrong...

Ok, you could have a fleet ready to reinforce three different battles,
and move just if need arises... which is something you can't do now.


gl8f@fermi.clas.Virginia.EDU (Greg Lindahl) writes:

>Indeed, it would probably be possible to produce so many small ships
>that a battle would never end, and the game could stalemate. You have
>to watch out for gotchas like this.

That's something I was hinting at;  if the game  changes too much, new
problems can arise which aren't covered by the actual rules...

jduffin@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Joshua Duffin) writes:

>Well, given that the current length of a game-turn is one or three years (I
>don't remember which) it's pretty hard to justify running out of time to shoot
>at each other.  

Yeah, just what I said above...


>Making battles more involved, though, sounds like a good idea
>to me, since (as the only way to win is throw warfare now) the game will
>ultimately be resolved through combat.  Given that, I think a greater level of
>detail, possible ship actions, and such would be good for the game.

Ugh!   Ship actions?? That   would mean 5  hours just   to complete my
orders!! No, no, NO!! Aaaaaghh!!

But I agree that the game would benefit from it... :-)

...

Bottom line:  change  what  you  want.  There will be  always  players
willing to test it... :-)

	- Luis Sequeira


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  bc@fccn01.fccn.pt                        Luis Miguel Sequeira
                                  Laboratorio Nacional de Engenharia Civil
  Phone 351-1-8482131 Ext. 2752   Centro Informatica/Grupo Sistemas Centrais
  "Don't call me, I'll call you"  Av. Brasil, 101 - 1700 Lisboa, Portugal
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Newsgroups: rec.games.pbm