From: davidt@cs.utexas.edu (David Eng-Yeow Teo)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Lack of borg hosts
Date: 3 Oct 1992 04:40:48 -0500
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: notrees.cs.utexas.edu
Summary: Don't you know?

In article <60778@mimsy.umd.edu>, sjsmith@cs.umd.edu (Stephen Joseph Smith) writes:
> In article <80805@ut-emx.uucp> davidt@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (David Teo) writes:
> >During Non-Borg hours :-
> >
> >- This next point is an iffy and you may want to manipulate the ratio to
> >2:1 or whatever.  The suggestion is this, if there are more clients that
> >fail the binary test, than there are clients that passed, then allow
> >non-blessed clients in the game.  Afterall, if most of your players are
> >borgs and there are only 1 or 2 non-borg players, are you going to kill
> >T-Mode and chased the rest of the players away?
> 
> Now, these hypothetical scenarios which I am about to present assumes that
> you have a popular enough server for full 8-on-8 T-mode.  You don't, but
> maybe silly modifications like that are a big reason why.
> 

No I dont have a server presently and I have not implemented any of my suggestions before.  My former server (grit.cs.utexas.edu) did have full 8-on-8 T-mode during its peak hours.  Unfortunately I had to close it down because our system cant take that kind of lag and because the database was clobbered by some NFS problem.

> [long explaination...]

> Most of the popular netrek servers appear to be either
> 	a) nearly unmodified;

I dont agree with you there.  Nearly unmodified to what standard?  To Bronco's Vanilla standards or KSU Chaos standards?  Later on you stated examples of popular unconventional servers and contradicted yourself.

> Exceptions that spring to mind are fife.ecn.purdue.edu, with its weenie DDs,
> and sturgeon.cc.washington.edu, with its wacky changes, although one might
> claim that U. Washington has a large netrek base.
> 
> David, you have the capability of trying to be the much-pleaded-for "Good
> West Coast server."  You could do it in two seconds:
> 
> 	a) Make the server always blessed.

Have you tried to find out if sturgeon.cc.washington.edu is a blessed server?  Apparently not.  A server need not be blessed all the time, or "bronco" all the time in order for it to be popular.  Examples, Needmore, Foghorn (these servers closed down not because there was a lack of players but a lack of resources), sturgeon, rwd4 (with its vector torps), etc. 

If any of you new netrekers do not know of Needmore and Foghorn,

Needmore :- Favourite server for scumming, Borgs always welcome! (blessed???)
very popular.  Uses KSU WAY source.


Foghorn :- Almost everyone's favourite server then, had a player database of maybe about 5000 entries, almost always with a wait queue (I hated that) even late at night.  It disallows borgs though but it is not blessed!  It is definitely not bronco or even pure KSU for that matter.

Of course there are some popular pure bronco servers that are always blessed but you dont have to do that to create a popular server.

> - Gamera

Furthermore, I'm a rebel and I will never stick to a standard, sorry but I've always been like that.  :)
-- 
[1m[4mDavid Eng-Yeow Teo[0m

               [1m[7m>>>>> WHERE ILLUSION IS THE ULTIMATE WEAPON! <<<<<[0m