HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: mckinney@athena.mit.edu (Ethan L Mckinney)
Subject: Titan tournament
Keywords: Titan, MIT, SGS
Organization: Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 03:00:30 GMT

MIT's Strategic Games Society is pleased to announce its first tournament of the
'92/'93 school year  :

	MONSTER MASH '92

This Titan tournament will be held Saturday, October 3, 1992, at 10:30am, on the
MIT campus in Cambridge, MA.  It will be held on the second floor of Walker 
Memorial (Bldg.  50, next to the tennis courts on Memorial Drive east of 
Massachussets Avenue)  Please bring a copy of the game.  The event is free to MIT
undergraduates, $1 to all others (to help defray the cost of prizes and other
expenses).  Prizes provided in part by the Compleat Strategist.
Send questions to:  mckinney@athena.mit.edu


Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: quirk@pioneer.unm.edu (Gym Z. Quirk)
Subject: Re: Star Fleet Battles: strategy
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 92 00:35:52 GMT
Organization: Nit-Pickers for a Better Tomorow Afternoon

In article <1992Sep10.133138.2286@wkuvx1.bitnet> traveja@wkuvx1.bitnet writes:
>All SFB players,
>
>I am interested in talking with anyone concerning SFB.
>I recently posted to alt.games.sf2, and got several nasty
>letters via e-mail.

Well, since alt.games.sf2 is for the arcade game 'Stree Fighter II', I
wouldn't be surpised.  (Yeah, I'd have liked it if they picked a more
intuitive name, but that's another issue entirely.)

>I am currently playing in a Klingon civil war scenario. We do
>have smuggled technology, but the year is approx. 130. 
>Because of my most recent investments, I have technology for
>speed 15 drones. (I know it may sound boring, but part of the 
>fun is dealing with the smugglers and trying to out-develop the
>other Klingon factions) I want to know if anyone knows it I can launch
>these drones from my D-7D cruiser, tractor them at speed 20, and ram
>my hapless opponent with them. 

Tractoring your own drones breaks the lock-ons, rendering them useless.
(Re-read the Drone and Tractor beam rules.)

-- 
Capt. Gym Z. Quirk  (Known to some as Taki Kogoma)  quirk@pioneer.unm.edu
 I'll get a life when someone demonstrates that it would be superior to
                          what I have now...
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu (Bruno Wolff III)
Subject: Re: Titan -- non-game-altering house rules
Originator: bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu
Reply-To: bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu
Organization: University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee
Date: Mon, 14 Sep 1992 18:56:36 GMT

From article <1992Sep14.131736.7588@samba.oit.unc.edu>, by Steve.Zwanger@bbs.oit.unc.edu (Steve Zwanger):
> In article <1992Sep11.184401.12830@uwm.edu> bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu writes:
>>There is a counter strategy to this. If the hosee doesn't get a good roll
>>he can attack the Titan in the tower with an angel to call and have a good
>>chance of winning the battle.
> 
> This is suicide. The Tower is fantastic defensively, so the hosee is
> already at a big disadvantage, plus he usually has to protect his Titan,
> and certainly can't afford to attack with it. This leaves three basic
Of course its suicide. But if you don't make a roll that recruits, its also
suicide to let the other player attack you and get to bring in his angel.
First off the tower isn't as great as you say. You get to make a 3 on 2
attack which partially negates the tower skill bonuses. Also since you are
basicly doomed, you will be will to use your titan in the battle moderately
early. Since the other player has freely teleported to the tower, he is
planning on surving this battle and will probably hold back his Titan.
This will give you a firepower advantage.
You have a good chance of either mutualling or killing off most of his units.
Probably he will have to recruit a tower creature after the battle instead of
a warlock. Also if your units are cen cen lio gar ttn ang, he won't get an
angel for the battle. This could leave him in a precarious situation.
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: cpbeaure@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Chris Beauregard)
Subject: Re: BTECH - machine gun mechs
Organization: University of Waterloo
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 12:59:27 GMT

In article <1992Sep9.235904.15929@tdb.uu.se> m91kgh@tdb.uu.se (Karl-Gunnar Hultland) writes:
>cpbeaure@undergrad.math.waterloo.edu (Chris Beauregard) writes:
>: Did they actually document the effects of jumping further than you can
>: walk?  I always thought that it was just plain illegal to build a mech
>: like that...Of course, we had a house rule for that sort of thing.
>: Jumping futher than you can walk requires a piloting skill roll, wsiith
>: a +1 modifier for each hex past max walking distance, of you do a
>: standard fall (similar to missing in DFA).
>
>Sounds like a useful houserule IF you allow jumps to go further than
>your walking allowance.

Well, we never design them to allow that, but I've seen one or two from
various magazines that do have those capabilities.  We figure, if anyone
_really_ wants to use them (they were really pretty shitty designs...)
they're quite welcome...

>: Personally, if someone wants to play with an obviously munchkin mech, I
>: let them...by themselves...of with other munchkins if they can find
>: them.
>
>Yeah, but what is a munchkin mech anyway? What could be a perfectly
>logical mech for me, designed to do a specific task could really be
>a totally stupid mech for another. I personally would not get into
>a 40 MG mech outside of the arena, but the fact is, in an arena giving
>the short distances a MG mech IS useful. The Steiner arena for
>instance is only 3 1/2 BattleTech hex across and in such a limited place
>MG are perfect.

A munchkin mech is pretty undefined, yes.  I think of a munchkin mech as
being something that would not generally be found in the field.  While a
40 MG mech is great for the arena, how many do you see on the average
battlefield?  Specific task mechs are okay, as long as they're not too
specific.  That pretty much covers mechs designed without _any_ weapons
or speed for hand-to-hand, fast, small, unarmed chargers, ultra-short
range mechs like the 40 MG model.  This is especially a touchier point
with really huge mechs.  A 100 ton mech without weapons (designed for
hand-to-hand - two clubs or something) is a good example.  Can you
justify spending 9,000,000 or so credits on a slow target?
Even custom designed mechs for a single individual are pretty much out.

Unless the guy is the leader of some house, he's not going to be able to
afford the huge amounts necessary to design a mech almost from scratch,
such as your 40 MG mech (all those ammo feed mechanisms - BRRR).  The
average Joe Mechwarrior definitely doesn't have that kinda cash lying
around.  Neither does Joe SolarisButtkicker.

>Karl-Gunnar Hultland              Vox Dei, Vox Populi
>m91kgh@bellatrix.tdb.uu.se

Chris Beauregard                                cpbeaure@napier.uwaterloo.ca
Warning:  These premises protected by reality.
From: russw@cs.utexas.edu (Russ Williams)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Titan - who does NOT like it?
Date: 8 Sep 1992 13:41:43 -0500
Organization: Great Northern Hotel
Distribution: na
NNTP-Posting-Host: cs.utexas.edu

In article <FULLMER.92Sep8001043@brazos.rice.edu> fullmer@rice.edu (Robert Fullmer) writes:
>[...] bargaining instead of
>fighting on small, insignificant battles. Of course, it might be argued
>such battles are best for practicing tactics, but I find they mostly
>just waste time, unless one player gets exceptionally lucky, which
>pretty much sucks anyway.

I've noticed from numerous Titan posts that different Titan playing groups
have widely varying styles.  I'm curious how often people fight battles.
The last game I played was 3-player, and there were probably 4 or 5 battles
actually fought out.  Is this typical, or higher or lower than other
groups?

R
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: nicholso@pioneer.arc.nasa.gov (Melvin H. Nicholson YBH)
Subject: Re: Speed Circuit
Organization: NASA Ames Res. Ctr. Mtn Vw CA 94035
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 20:09:22 GMT

This game is starting to sound very interesting.  Could someone please
post a review of the general mechanics in terms of player interaction
with the game (i.e. what sort of things does the player control?  is it
a card game?  a board game? some of each?  how much of each?)

Mel


Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: elm4252@venus.tamu.edu (MOORE, ERIC LEE)
Subject: RE: Re:Btech-Rifleman Varient
>from: dave@admiral.uucp (Dave Litchman)
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
>subject: Re: BTECH-RiflemanVarient
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 09:34:00 GMT


>>In article <2SEP199216114363@zeus.tamu.edu> elm4252@zeus.tamu.edu (MOORE, ERIC LEE) writes:
>>
>>Hookay.  This group is pretty good at pointing out the flaws
>>in mechs that are posted.  Here is one that I have converted
>>2 of my Rifleman to.  waddaya think? (besides the obvious
>>use of the XL engine)
>>
>>weapons          locat     crit     tonnage
>>lb-10x            ra        6        11
>>lb-10x            la        6        11
>>ammo (20)         rt        2         2
>>ammo (20)         lt        2         2
>>case              rt        1        .5
>>case              lt        1        .5
>>med laser         rt        1         1
>>med laser         lt        1         1
>>sma laser          h        1        .5

>I would move the LB ammo and the case to the arms. That way, if you take an
>ammo hit, you just lose the arm, with the respective AC. With the ammo in the
>torso, the ammo hit would destroy the torso, and due to the XL engine, the rest
>of the mech as well.

There is only one problem with moving the ammo and cases into the arms.
The inner sphere does not have the technology to do such a thing.  


                                        Mok

a.k.a.  Mjr Kessel
        CMDR 537th Heavy Company
        (2nd Company on the horizon...<WHOA Salvage>..)
        Mercs employed by Federats

        How can you expect to outwit a maniacal genius on an
        empty tummy?   
                                        -Eve
                                         Mann and Machine
From: Bruce_Harper@mindlink.bc.ca (Bruce Harper)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: A3R : Canadian Ship Builds
Date: 9 Sep 92 15:51:17 GMT
Organization: MIND LINK! - British Columbia, Canada

Dave Casper is right again - 4.91 states that Canadian fleets are build in the
U.S. box.  I think I added that at the last minute, just to avoid the question.
Note also that such fleets must be initially deployed to Britain (unless they
are used to reinforce a remnant in the SW box), and that such intial
deployments count against the U.S. initial deployment level (20.712 is not
restricted to American units - it includes Canadian fleets and post-surrender
British units built in the U.S.)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: A3R : Canadian Ship Builds
From: demon@desire.wright.edu (Stupendous Man)
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:41:25 EST
Organization: Demonic Possesions, Inc.

In article <1992Sep4.154628.15779@gtephx.UUCP>, bakerj@gtephx.UUCP (Jon Baker) writes:
> I have a simple question about British ships built in Canada.  I don't
> have the rules with me, so I can not quote rule #'s.  Basically, UK is
> allowed to build 2 factors per turn in Rosyth, and 1 per turn in Canada
> (possibly increased to 2 by a variant).  Ships that are reconstructed
> are placed on the board immediately.  Obviously, ships built in Rosyth
> are placed in Rosyth.  Where are ships built in Canada placed?

	The US box.

Brett                                                      
_______________________________________________________________________________
Proconsul Computer Consulting                                        CHA-CHING!
Better, Cheaper, Faster					       (Pick any two :)
Disclaimer:								   NOT!
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: yduj@hal.gnu.ai.mit.edu (Judy Anderson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Enchanted Forest rules wanted
Date: 12 Sep 92 17:06:34 GMT
Organization: Jack's Place, Sharon MA USA


We have just purchased the Ravensburger game Enchanted Forest at a
garage sale for fifty cents.  Surprisingly, it looks like all the
components are there.  However, unfortunately the rules aren't there.
Would anyone who has a copy of this game be willing to photocopy the
rules and physmail them to us (or, gasp, type in the relevant bits, or
already happen to have them online)?  Any help would be appreciated!

       Judy Anderson yclept yduJ     'yduJ' rhymes with 'fudge'
	      yduJ@symbolics.com      yduJ on LambdaMOO
    Join the League for Programming Freedom, league@prep.ai.mit.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: Geir Aalberg <geira@ifi.uio.no>
Subject: WWII Naval miniatures paint schemes
Organization: Dept. of Informatics, University of Oslo, Norway
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:39:16 GMT
Originator: geira@vak.ifi.uio.no


	--- Request for info on WWII ship colors ---

Some time ago I got C-in-C's Action Stations miniatures rules and some
of their *beautiful* 1/4800 ships. Trouble is, in all my years of
browsing bookshops I've yet to come across any hard facts (or better,
color illustrations) on WWII naval camouflage. Now, I know the Federal
Standard numbers forwards and backwards, and have dozens of books on
vehicles, planes and modern naval paint schemes, but WWII - zilch.

If anyone among the readership has knowledge of suitable books
(preferrably with ISBN numbers), magazines or the like - I'd be most
grateful. Please post or email me directly - and you will get good
karma in return.

PS! Why isn't there any rec.models.military? Although this is related
to miniatures it really should have been adressed to modelling
fanatics. Judging from the number of questions received by the
International Plastic Modellers Society (IPMS) on paintings &
markings, this is an area where the participants are more than eager
to share their none-too-trivial information...

...just a thought!

			Geir Aalberg

Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: dv52151@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Axly)
Subject: Re: BTECH-RiflemanVarient
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sat, 5 Sep 1992 14:52:04 GMT

dave@admiral.uucp (Dave Litchman) writes:

>I would move the LB ammo and the case to the arms. That way, if you take an
>ammo hit, you just lose the arm, with the respective AC. With the ammo in the
>torso, the ammo hit would destroy the torso, and due to the XL engine, the rest
>of the mech as well.

Inner sphere cannot have CASE in the arms. 

Axly
From: jba@ai.mit.edu (Jonathan Amsterdam)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Stock market mechanisms
Date: 11 Sep 92 19:03:17 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory

I'm curious about the mechanisms used to simulate stock markets in various
games.  I already know about Supremacy's (losing) method, but I don't know
how, e.g., AH's Stock Market or Stocks and Bonds games work.  I saw them in
a store today and was tempted to buy them just to satisfy my curiosity, but
then I realized that this is a much cheaper way to do it!  Will someone
familiar with these games please tell me how they do it?  Thanks.

	Jonathan Amsterdam
From: dddawson@lpl.arizona.edu (Doug Dawson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: BTECH - machine gun mechs
Date: 11 Sep 92 02:06:31 GMT
Organization: Lunar & Planetary Laboratory, Tucson AZ.

In article <1992Sep11.092910.1@wombat.newcastle.edu.au> c9036991@wombat.newcastle.edu.au (I CANT HAVE VULGAR QUOTES, THOUGH ONE SPRINGS TO MIND WHEN I THINK OF YOU) writes:
>
>	What the hell use is a mech with 40 machine guns? Or more than 2
>	machine guns for that matter ... I havent got the Solaris rules, 
>	so you have to excuse me if i seem ignorant or rude, but if you stay 
>	outside 3 hex range with a mech full of machine guns, its not going
>	to hit you is it. (or is it????)
>
    Well, In Solaris rules, all ranges are multiplied by four, so
    machine guns can hit out to 12 hexes.  Further, most weapons have
    delay times: a PPC can only fire once every 4 turns...but MGs can
    be fired every turn.  Finally, all heat costs are multiplied by 4:
    ER PPC's generating 60 heat...(of course, the heat chart is
    multiplied by four...but heat sinks _aren't)...MGs still have no 
    heat cost.

    Thus, in Solaris, MGs have a range of 12, fire more often than
    nearly any other weapon, and are one of the few weapons that doesn't
    threaten your mech with overheating.  Very nearly the ideal
    weapon...
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: vjelinek@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Virginia G Jelinek)
Subject: Re: Stellar Conquest
Organization: The Ohio State University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 21:03:28 GMT

In article <nn6ydwl@rpi.edu> cleggp@aix.rpi.edu (Paul Jason Clegg) writes:
>Does anyone still play Stellar Conquest from AH?  Anyone still have the
>original MetaGaming copy from who-knows-when?  I was disappointed they
>changed the "Dreadnought" to the "Death Star"...
>
>...Paul
>
Paul-

My friends and I play AH's version of Stellar Conquest every so often (once or 
twice a year).  It's always sooooo satisfying revealing that first Death Star 
on an unwary/obstreperous opponent and making space dust out of him :-).

Bill
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: sap@sactoh0.sac.ca.us (Stephan A. Puga)
Subject: Anyone play DragonMasters?
Organization: Sacramento Public Access Unix
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 92 06:13:54 GMT

Has anyone played this game?  I believe it is from GDX/Games
Workshop.  It basically looks like another board wargame, but it
does(at least the figures) look kind of neat, especially painted!
If anyone ahs played this game, I would appreciate some
mini-reviews or whatever to guide me in my decision-making!
Thanks!

-- 
#############################################################
# "Its been surreal!"         #     sap@sactoh0.SAC.CA.US   #  
#     -- Gogo Dodo            # UUCP=..ames!pacbell!sactoh0 #
#############################################################
From: eam3@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric A. Meyer)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Computer Games (was Re: Hostility in Gamers)
Date: 8 Sep 1992 20:51:11 GMT
Organization: Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, OH (USA)
Reply-To: eam3@po.CWRU.Edu (Eric A. Meyer)
NNTP-Posting-Host: thor.ins.cwru.edu


In a previous article, mfterman@phoenix.Princeton.EDU (Mutant for Hire) says:

>The one thing that I do think would work very well, and for which we
>have the technology today, and is slowly coming into vogue, is the
>computer mediated RPG/Wargame. People have pointed out that rule
>complexity is often the price for realism. TimeLords, which has one of
>the best systems for dealing with damage, is almost too hideously
>complex to be usuable, and it takes a real masochist to deal with it.
>
>In some ways it would be simpler to let the computer handle all the
>calculations and telling the human to merely roll to hit, roll for
>damage, (optionally roll for hit location) and then let the computer
>work out all the effects. I'm assuming that people still want to roll
>their own dice, just to give some feel that their character isn't
>being run for them.

   I did this for a Cyberspace campaign I ran once....anyone who has
dealt with I.C.E. systems can probably guess why I felt it necessary
to have the computer handle the combat rolls and table lookups.  I
allowed for input of dice rolls, but the computer would do the roll
if asked.
   This is what computers can do for RPGs, without a doubt.  When the
system slows down the gameplay--code it!  (Well, that's MY philosophy,
anyway.)

>With wargames, certain concepts like not knowing where your opponent's
>pieces are and having limited visibility rules, becomes much easier.
>As are all sorts of complicating rules like delayed communications,
>keeping track of which pieces can move and do what, etc. are much
>easier.

   I remember a really old game (perhaps published by Avalon Hill)
which was available for the Atari 400/800 series.  It included a
standard wargame board and cardbord counters representing tanks,
artillery, and so on.  The computer played one side, the player the
other.  You plugged in your units' hex numbers as they moved and
the computer told you what you could see and when you died.  And
that was in 1982!  I almost did the same thing for Flat Top so
that you could move your scout planes in a completely hidden manner,
but never got around to it.
   Anyway, two-player computer games could be better than board
games for this very reason.  (Strategic conquest, anyone?)

		-EMeyer

-- 
"Unstable condition--a symptom of life       | Eric A. Meyer (eam3@po.CWRU.edu)
 In mental and environmental change          |  Alumnus,  Beta Nu of Theta Chi
 Atmospheric disturbance--the feverish flux  |---------------------------------
 Of human interface and interchange-"  -N.P. |    "What do you think, sirs?"
Newsgroups: rec.games.board,rec.games.frp.advocacy
From: gletty@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu (Bruce Gletty)
Subject: Re: Hostility in Gamers toward Certain Games
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 19:08:19 GMT

ericho@microsoft.com (Eric Hough) writes:

>In article <vm6pbdkl@csv.warwick.ac.uk> bsrae@warwick.ac.uk (Dave Lockwood) writes:

>>My observation (which may be biased or unfair) is that most role-playing
>>gamers have never had to work (outside academia) in the real world. Having
>>done ten years in industry before becoming a mature student, I had to
>>do enough role-playing and making up the rules as I went along 
>>during working hours to want something more mechanistic as a hobby (see above).
>>There is a definite tendency to give up RPGs at graduation. 
>>One (very rude) view is that most people have
>>to grow up at that point ;-) Another (equally rude) is that once you have a
>>salary coming in you can afford something better :-). 
>>It might be interesting to note how many flames
>>of this paragraph have .edu or equivalent addresses ;-)

>Well, I have been out of college and working for 2 1/2 years now and I am 
>an avid player of both role playing and board games. I play AD&D with
>two different groups, some of whom work at microsoft some of whom work at
>other places in the 'real world'. I also am a avid Star Fleet Battles player 
>and I enjoy a good game of diplomacy now and then. In fact, I also enjoy a 
>good game of bridge when I can find enough people who also like bridge. 

I have been out of college for over 15 years, and still like role playing 
games. I also like board games. Miniatures are OK, but are too much work
and expense to really get into. In all cases, who you play with is as (actually
more) important than what you are playing. As a matter of fact, which RPG makes
very little difference, but who is the GM and who you are playing with is
critical. I tend to like complicated games, but only if the rules make sense
and flow smoothly.

I have also never been able to understand why anyone would refuse to play 
X with someone just because they play Y. If you don't like Y, just drop it
and keep playing X.
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: mcs52867@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu (Mike)
Subject: btech from the ftp sight
Organization: University of Illinois at Urbana
Date: Sun, 13 Sep 1992 22:31:20 GMT

HELP!!!
i finally got a copy of the computer version of battletech, but you can't
select weapons. then i found out that there was a file left out and tried
to get it off the ftp site. it won't let me switch to the directory saying
that the connection is timed out. it's at 131.188.1.43 in /pub/pc/incoming
under mechup.zip.
if anybody already got the new file off could you please email it?
thanks
mike
mcs52867@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu

Newsgroups: rec.games.board