HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: hsu_wh@jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu (William H Hsu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Suggestions III: Nasty Guys You Don't Want to Meet
Date: 22 Jan 1993 22:01:04 -0500
Organization: Homewood Academic Computing, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Md, USA
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: jhunix.hcf.jhu.edu


	Here's a fun idea -- it can be built on the troll resurrection code.
Immortals a` la _Highlander_!  Not having achieved demigodhood yet, you can't
kill them permanently. They are very tough (100-200 HP), carry heavily
enchanted swords, and get multiple attacks. When you do manage to kill one,
he always rises from the dead in less time than it takes to consume the corpse
(it would be too ignominious a death, and can you _imagine_?!) The only way
to get rid of one is to haul it (a short distance) to an altar. Immortals and
and their corpses should not be polymorphable. Why? It's an intrinsic of those
aliens -- bleah! :-)  Now, what do you do at an altar?  Sacrifice:
Your sacrifice is consumed in a burst of flame! --more--
A voice booms out: "There can only be one!" --more--
You are struck by a lightning bolt! (Massive damage, not necessarily fatal,
if you don't have shock resistance; otherwise, you gain a level as per
consumption of a wraith corpse -- a clever simulation of the absorption of a
Quickening.)
	Immortals should only appear in a dungeon with altars. They stay out
of temples as per Elbereth. Get killed by one, and you leave only a cursed
hoard, no ghost.  The Kurgan (400 HP, purple `H') is a particularly nasty
Immortal -- the rest are red `H's who attack each other as per ring of
conflict.  Immortals have low AC but no armor, and regenerate ("I pumped enough
lead into him to drop a rhino...").  They run the gamut of alignments, so some
will be friendly ("The Immortal talks about the impending Gathering.")  They
will not attack in a temple, but will leave if they come back to life in one.
From: agrimm@slate.mines.colorado.edu (Snarf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: NetHack 3.1
Date: 27 Jan 93 23:01:39 GMT
Organization: Colorado School of Mines

Wow!!!

Yes, I just felt an unstoppable urge to post a *wow*.

Thanks to the Dev Team!
-- 
Snarf (alias Andy Grimm) agrimm@mines.colorado.edu  |      Cheery thought
"And if I refuse?"                                  |       for the day:
"If you refuse, you die, she dies, EVERYBODY dies." | Jump off a cliff, 20,000
Sounded reasonable to me!              -Heavy Metal | lemmings can't be wrong!
From: mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu (Mike Marcelais)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: [rec.games.hack] Frequently Asked Questions (WEEKLY)
Date: 27 Jan 93 15:43:21 GMT
Organization: North Carolina State University

In article <rec.games.hack_FAQ_728121603@cco.caltech.edu>, yucao@cco.caltech.edu (Yu Cao) writes:
|> Archive-name: games/nethack-faq
|> Last-modified: 18 Jan 1993
|> "What is the latest version?"
|> 
|>      NetHack 3.0j    {or 3.0 patchlevel 10, 3.0.10}

Hm....this seems out of date now.  (Or maybe it means that soon is measured in
years.  :-)

-- 

+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+
|  Mike Marcelais                     | mrmarcel@eos.ncsu.edu        |
|  356 Tucker, Box 04783, NCSU        | Fourth Bryan Productions     |
|  Raleigh, NC  27607                 | #include <disclaim.h>        |
+-------------------------------------+------------------------------+
| if the above address bounces, then try the address below:          |
| mrmarcel%eos.ncsu.edu@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu                              |
+--------------------------------------------------------------------+
From: ras@copper.denver.colorado.edu (Scooby)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: CAPITALIST HACKS
Keywords: pirating, nethack
Date: 27 Jan 93 03:44:33 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: University of Colorado at Denver

please find a general post here to the development team or whomever is out
there, concerning a possible violation of the licensing agreement.  i just
found a place called "Toy Liquidators" in Castle Rock, CO was selling an
old version of nethack called "NETHACK".  they show a 1988 copyright.  it 
turns out that Richard M. Stallman also has a 1988 copyright on this program,
as well as 1989 and 1990 copyrights by M. Stephenson (both under general 
public licenses).  the company involved in this capitalistic activity is 
(or was, should it maybe have gone out of business):  PC-SIG, 1030D East
Duane, Ave, Sunnyvale, CA  94086

to all netters, please pass this information on to any of the development
team or anyone in a position to deal with licenses.  

thanx in advance

---scooby
From: angus@hardy.u.washington.edu (Angus the Demonchild)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: Re: Hell
Date: 27 Jan 1993 21:59:10 GMT
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
NNTP-Posting-Host: hardy.u.washington.edu

In article <1993Jan27.192033.3866@stortek.com> busser@stortek.com
(Rick Busser) writes:
>I've finally finished the castle.  Now I fell through the traps in the castle
>down into hell.  I can't seem to find any stairs down and the stairs up take
>me right back to the castle level. What am I doing wrong? 

You're assuming that there are down staircases in Hell.  There aren't.
You have to find another way down.

You sense the presence of spoilers.--More--

You need both teleport control and some method of level teleporting to
pull it off.  Drop yourself down to a level at or below the Wizard's
level, and work your way back up.  The deepest you can possibly go is
level 50.

Applying a mirror to yourself will give you an idea of what level the
Wizard is on.  If you are fewer than 11 levels above him, he will
merely be below you rather than 'far below.'
From: madmax@cellar.org (Alex Strumpf)
Newsgroups: rec.games.hack
Subject: "New" Monster
Date: 22 Jan 93 06:19:08 GMT
Organization: The Cellar BBS and public access system

Ok, since Terminators are too futuristic for Nethack, and since Vlad Tepes 
isn't..<smile>..try this on for size, folks: Introducing the 2nd Castle in 
Nethack(Castles4-6 :-) ) and inside..Doctor Victor("Don't call me Vic!") 
Frankenstein and assistant Igor("That's EYEGOR to you!"), who are naturally 
@'s, and the mad Doc's Monster, naturally a '. Ok, Ok, so it's a flesh golem, 
BUT it should have more HP and hits harder than the rest of the golems. AC 
should be..oh, call -10 or much lesser, should get 2 hits with hands, and 
should not carry weapons.  

Igor: should move slow and should carry weapons. Should always be as close as 
possible to Dr. F., in order to block any attempt to attack Victor.

Dr. Frankenstein: Naturally you treat him as a Healer-type; you know, wields 
a scalpel, wears a Lab coat(treat as cloak), wears Amulet of reflection(for 
physical exams), but not as much gold as a regular Healer(If he had more, he 
wouldn't have to resort to experimenting in a dingy castle :-) ). 

Also a Blue Dragon should be present(Unless there's a better way to provide 
electricity). And, almost forgot this, the Monster should be vu+nerable to 
fire, but not to electricity.

Any improvements on this? I hope so: I mean, this is NOT written in stone. :)

To start, just thought of this now: this castle level should be in Dlevel 
11-early 20's too, so you can get the amulet of relection before meeting 
Medusa. Why?!  Usually by the time a character meets the buzzing Xan, his/her 
feet are covered by shoes, since 99 times out of 100(in my case) the dwarf 
and all his gear appears first. I'm just keeping in that spirit.

Just a thought, 

Alex

madmax@cellar.org

PREFERRED mailpath: madmax%cellar@tredysvr.tredydev.unisys.com


"Well, you know what they say about hyperspace..they say it's a hypothetical 
 absurdity and that's something I've always wanted to be lost in."
From: ccjm@st-andrews.ac.uk (Colin Charles James MacDonald)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: SPACE MARINE: Questions.
Keywords: Epic Space Marine
Date: 22 Jan 93 11:44:53 GMT
Organization: St. Andrews University, Scotland.


In article <C13yon.Kv8@cs.umu.se> dvlgsd@cs.umu.se (Gunnar Strand) writes:
>
> I've recently invested in GW's epic game Space Marine,
>and have played a few battles so far. There are some 
>situations that have come up, which are not covered in the
>rulebook:
>
>1. Skimmers can make a pop-up attack and can see over any
>obstacle, according to the rules. But it seems like
>it would be impossible for them to have a line of
>sight to a unit which is hiding behind a buildning
>or a hill. We have tried to come up with
>a solution; they can only move upward about the
>length of their movement, and from somewhere along
>that vertical line try to determine a line of sight
>to a unit. Is this the correct approach, or is there
>already a common rule for this?
>
Yeah, dumb isn't it? We assume that they *just* pop over the cover (otherwise
they would be exposed too long) and that they really have no special ability
to observe. Alternatively, they can play using the normal rules (ie see over
everything) but then units on 'Advance' may fire at them as well. (as they take
a while to rise way up and then down again)

>2. Firing from behind killed units. Assume this situation
>have arisen:
>
>   SM Stand    SM Stand        ORC Stand
>
>All of the stands have first fire orders and that the
>orcs have won the initiative. If the orcs kills the
>closest SM stand (they don't have LOS to the second),
>would the second SM stand have LOS to the orc stand
>immediately afterwards, and be able to fire a round
>at the exposed orcs?
>
>3. Same as above but in close combat/advancing fire. If the
>orcs are in close combat with the first SM's, and eliminates
>them. Would it be possible for the second SM stand to
>fire at the orcs in the advancing fire phase?
>
We always decide LOS at the instant of fire, to speed the game up if for no
other reason. Bear in mind that in your second question, there are TWO SM
stands to one Orc stand, so not letting the second SM stand fire kind of
defeats the purpose of cheap screening units.
As to Q3, I'm not too clear on this one. We play it as before, LOS at time of
fire, so Advance units can fire at the victors, but I am not too happy with this
myself. Anyone got any suggestions (that will not slow the game down)?

>4. Command units. The rules are very vague about how
>they move and fire. They have first fire orders for
>fire and always charge orders for movement according
>to the book. Now, are they allowed to move the charge
>distance (the double move rate) AND fire in the 
>advancing fire phase. Or perhaps even move in the
>movement phase AND fire in the first fire phase??
>
They can (IMHO) move a full charge move AND fire in the First Fire phase,
but I am only taking someones word for this.
>
>Gunnar Strand    DataVetenskaplig Linje       
>dvlgsd@cs.umu.se Umeaa Universitet           .
>090 - 19 71 75   Fysikgraend 29A:4 907 31 Umea

Colin.
From: randym@triton.unm.edu
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: SPQR is a crock?
Keywords: SPQR, tactics
Date: 27 Jan 93 14:27:56 GMT
Article-I.D.: lynx.1k665cINNl42
Distribution: rec
Organization: University of New Mexico, Albuquerque
NNTP-Posting-Host: triton.unm.edu

In article <1993Jan26.225003.17045@vax5.cit.cornell.edu> mvcy@vax5.cit.cornell.edu writes:
>
>Question to SPQRites: I remember reading in the scenario book (about the
>game as a history part I think) imitating the Roman tactics.  They mention
>charging with the hastatis and if they don't break the enemy, spending an Line
>command to retreat them through the principes.  As far as I can tell, there
>are no way for a unit already engaged in an enemy ZOC to move.  So what are
>they (H&B) talking about??
>

Well, they appear to heve left out a very important Roman tactic! Only
the Velites are allowed to disengage out of a ZOC. It appears that this
may have been dropped during playtesting, as it made the Romans even
more awesome. Our group has played most of the scenarios, and even
Magnesia from War Elephant. Has anyone out there actually _played_ Raphia
yet?


***************************************************************************

Yet another witty sig.line

***************************************************************************

Randy Moorehead
Zimmerman Library
University of New Mexico

Email at randym@hal.unm.edu  (internet) or ILL1@UNMB (bitnet)

Naturally my opinions are my own, and not shared by the powers that be.
From: brendan@cs.uq.oz.au (Brendan Mahony)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Space-based boardgames
Date: 21 Jan 93 23:41:11 GMT
Reply-To: brendan@cs.uq.oz.au

In article <rbr.727423776@well.sf.ca.us> rbr@well.sf.ca.us (Bob Rossney) writes:
>Merchant of Venus?  For a FIVE year old?  Maybe if you're planning on
>playing it with her in eight years.

I would stand up for the simplicity of Merchant of Venus.
Cut the game down a bit for the first game, use only scouts, no space
bases or factories and play to $1000, never play combat ever!
If she can really read at 9 year
old level she should be able to play it at this level since it resembles
a mixture of Monopoly and snakes and ladders and has the fun of
'discovering' new civilisations to trade with. The navigation circles
are the only tricky thing in the game. When you land on a navigation
circle you must choose a direction to move according to the dice you
have thrown. If she can play those counter movement games of the sort
"go back 3 spaces" she should be able to pick up the idea of nav
circles.
--
When soldiers form lines or hollow squares, you call it reason.
When wild geese in flight take the form of a letter V, you say instinct.
When the homogeneous atoms of a mineral arrange themselves into shapes
mathematically perfect you have nothing to say. You have not even invented a name to conceal your heroic unreason."
From: peters@physics.ubc.ca (Dan Peters)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Republic of ROME question, HELP
Date: 27 Jan 1993 21:16:49 GMT
Organization: The University of British Columbia
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: physics.ubc.ca

Peter M. White writes:

>Now we get to a sticky question: what if the HRAO steps down and the
>same senator eventually becomes next on the list because of low
>family card number?  Is he still unavailable?  I would say he is *not*
>available.

I would agree. (But low family card number isn't the issue; high influence is.)

>I think that "HRAO" is generally synnonymous with "presiding magistrate".

Yes, that's probably the intent (except during prosecutions, when the Censor is
presiding magistrate even though he's usually not HRAO at that point), but the
book doesn't make that clear. If you look up "HRAO" in the Glossary, it's the
highest ranking senator in Rome. The presiding magistrate is simply whoever is
in charge of the senate session at that moment.

In short, I agree with your interpretation of the rules, but I would argue that
this is contrary to the _literal_ meaning of what is there.

Drin
--
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I think I think, therefore I think I am." 
- Descartes' failed attempt to discard the notion of objective reality.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: isopi@acf9.nyu.edu (Marco Isopi)
Subject: Re: New Illuminati
Organization: New York University
Date: Wed, 27 Jan 1993 02:56:45 GMT

aa699@Freenet.carleton.ca (Michel Boucher) writes:


>In a previous article, wilhelm@cs.cornell.edu (Wilhelm Uwe Georg) says:

>>Hey, I can't believe, that noone came up with any new ones.

>Actually, Uwe, the original pocket box game of Illuminati had three
>expansion sets.  If you're talking about the new Deluxe Illuminati
>(well...newer), I don't know what it had.  The expansion sets had
>additional cards and one even had a board on which to play.

Actually in the deluxe edition I noticed at least two groups
were missing: the elders of zion and the john birch society.
did anybody notice others?

>Michel

Marco
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: allan@gfx.engga.uwo.ca (Allan Flanagan)
Subject: WWII micro armour games...
Organization: University of Western Ontario, London
Date: Thu, 28 Jan 1993 04:36:31 GMT



Hello everyone,

I have recently got interested in WWII micro armour and was wondering what
rules most people use out there.  Any thoughts on what is the best rules
for WWII scenarios?  We currently use the JagPanzer (sp) rules but find them
rather lacking.  They have good order of battles but are a little too simplified
. 

Thanks for any info people can send.
Allan
From: jdarnold@HQ.Ileaf.COM (Jonathan Arnold)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Lord Of The Rings boardgames?
Date: 26 Jan 93 17:36:42 GMT
Organization: Interleaf, Inc.

In article <25JAN199322314689@vxcrna.cern.ch> casper@vxcrna.cern.ch (CASPER,DAVI./PPE) writes:
>In article <1k196oINN9a5@uwm.edu>, bruno@cerberus.csd.uwm.edu writes...
>>From article <1993Jan23.150005.6410@ips.cs.tu-bs.de>, by koch@eis.cs.tu-bs.de (Andreas Koch):
>larger scope of potential objectives.  I can't think of many historical games
>that incorporate this element - only Wacht Am Rhein (Battle of the Bulge
>monster) comes to immediately to mind.

One other game that does this quite effectively is Von Borries(sp?)
North African game (I'll be darned if I can remember the name of it -
it was originally in a Wargamer mag).  In fact, even the German player
doesn't know his goals until part way through the game, when he picks
one of three chits which explain it.  Then the Allied player has an
increasing chance of revealing it by using the "decoder ring".

+=================================+================================+
| Jonathan Arnold                 |  Interleaf, Inc.               |
| jdarnold@ileaf.com              |  Prospect Place                |
| Home: (617)335-5457             |  9 Hillside Avenue             |
| Bus: (617)290-4990 x5489        |  Waltham, MA 02154             |
+=================================+================================+
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: etxaha@eua.ericsson.se (Anders Hallberg)
Subject: Re: SFB: Rom. SkA vs Thol. DD- Any advice?
Keywords: SFB
Organization: Ellemtel Telecom Systems Labs, Stockholm, Sweden
Date: Thu, 21 Jan 1993 10:04:55 GMT

warren@nscf.org (L3 Warren) writes:

>etxaha@eua.ericsson.se (Anders Hallberg) writes:

>>byh@beaker.engin.umich.edu (Bartholomew Hsu) writes:
>>>	Hello.  I am a inexperienced SFB player stuck in a scenario flying a
>>>Romulan Skyhawk-A vs. a Tholian DD+web snare refit+Legendary Weapons officer.

>>You need to get on top of him and unload your torps so that he can't
>>avoid them. 

>Everyone who has replied to this so far has mentioned overloading the
>Tholian disruptors. I don't know about power curve on the Tholian, but
>a very effective attack on a floating map is to narrow-salvo the disruptors
>from 15 hexes.
I have checked the SSD's out now:
Skyhawk: 16wrp+2imp+3apr = 21
	He can move at speed 25 while cloaked, or alternatively use
	6 points for ECM at the same speed.  At speed 31 he can still
	put 2 points into ECM.
DD: 16wrp+3imp=19
	He can move at speed 25 with normal loads.  Every point of power he
	puts into ECCM will slow him with two movement points.  He gets some
	free ECCM due to his legendary W. Officer.  How much?

>If the Rom starts to get too close, he can forfeit
>arming disruptors for a turn or two to extend the range. This is the beauty
>of disruptors.
The romulan will run after him at top speed.  Remember that the Skyhawk
does not have to pay any holding cost for his torps.

>If this is what the Tholian is doing, you can use ECM and reinforcements
>to make the Tholian com in closer. If you can keep maneuverability up,
>and reinforce 6 points on a shield and keep him on it, he'll basically
>have to give up the saber dance and come in to overload.
With turn mode A and medium range, keeping him on one shield should be fairly
easy.  Better still, use the 6 batteries to reinforce the shield in case
he hits.  If he misses, no power is wasted.

>When he does this, his power curve could be impacted enough that an anchor
>attempt could work. You could also bolt and run like hell until you get
>your torps rearmed. With luck, and phasers, you could do a nice volley of
>internals to him.
If the Tholian is close enough for bolts to work, launched plasma should work
better unless he (the Tholian) is moving very fast.
  If the Tholian wants to try and match the Skyhawks close range firepower, he
has to overload.  If he overloads, he will eat launched torpedoes.

>Warren
-- 
\Anders Hallberg (etxaha@eua.ericsson.se)

"Highly organized nonsense is of no more intrinsic worth 
 than random nonsense." - Chris Williams
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: emcglynn@moose.uvm.edu (Ted McGlynn, In the back row!)
Subject: Re: A&A: Destroyers
Originator: emcglynn@moose.uvm.edu
Organization: University of Vermont -- Division of EMBA Computer Facility
Date: Fri, 22 Jan 1993 18:40:01 GMT

From article <22JAN199308093365@utkvx2.utk.edu>, by drevik@utkvx2.utk.edu (Drevik, Steve):
> One thing A&A seems to lack is the ability to protect transports
> from submarines without one or two battleships present.  I suppose
> other subs could be used for a 'shoot back' capability against
> sneak attacks.
> 
> Has anyone every tried adding destroyers to the game?  I would
> envision their stats like:
> 	Attack 1
>         Defense 3 (against subs and aircraft only, not against BW)
>         Cost: 8?
>         Move: 2 (of course)
> 
> any ideas?
> 

   Sounds like a tres cool idea......any play testing on it?? Seema a little
cheap tho, how about 9 or 10 cost??  Fighters would be walking into a death
trap.......

Tedler
From: rlbell@babbage.uwaterloo.ca (Richard Bell)
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
Subject: Re: Star Fleet Battles
Date: 26 Jan 93 21:02:06 GMT
Organization: University of Waterloo

In article <6361@rosie.NeXT.COM> robert_walton@next.com (Robert Walton) writes:
>Some SFB Questions:
>
>1) How does one get started in SFB?  It seems everyone posting to the net  
>is an expert who started playing a decade ago.  I read one post the other  
>day so full of acronyms and jargon as to be meaningless to a potential  
>entrant!  Is this a game with high barriers to entry?

Finf someone with the complete rules and play several rounds of the cadet's
game.  After six or seven games you will have mastered the basic rules, and
"advanced Missions" is only two or three sessions later to learn.  The nice
thing about "Doomsday" SFB is that the rules read well.   
>
>2) Why hasn't the game improved its graphics?  Seems like such a popular  
>game would have no trouble keeping up to date on graphics quality, but  
>this doesn't seem to be the case.  The current materials in the store look  
>to me like they're published out of a garage by amateur artists.  Is there  
>some war with Paramount over publishing rights?  To add insult to injury,  
>the games seem to rely on ships and equipment illustrations from the TV  
>version (hokey) rather than the movies (much improved).  Look at new  
>entrants like Battletech.  I have no real interest to play this game (the  
>whole premise seems pretty silly), but the graphics of some of the recent  
>stuff make the SFB stuff look pretty feeble.
>
>3) Why hasn't there been an aggressive inclusion of the ST:TNG period?   
>Seems like this would be a hot item...

Paramount pulled the rights.  No game company is allowed to release a
Star Trek anything.  The only reason that SFB is still published at all
is that Franz Joseph Designs has (had) the rights for all of the ships
seen in ST:TOS, not Paramount.  Notice the absence of FASA's Star Trek:
the role playing game, and the demise of FASA's ST: starship combat simulater,
which included all of the ships from the series, and first three movies.  
Newsgroups: rec.games.board
From: hughes@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Lucian &)
Subject: Looking to Buy Wasteland
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: TIN [version 1.1 PL8]
Date: Sat, 23 Jan 1993 13:36:29 GMT

I'm offering $10 (I'll pay postage).

Newsgroups: rec.games.board