HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: sfd@neuromancer.metaphor.com (Scott Drellishak)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Sound in the client
Date: 17 Aug 92 00:49:20
Organization: Metaphor Computer Systems
NNTP-Posting-Host: bezier.berkeley.edu

I've added sound for SPARCstations to the client, and wanted to
solicit suggestions before I release the code.  Right now, the client
spawns off a special process which wakes up every tenth of a second
and generates a tenth of a second of sound, by combining all
"currently active" sounds.  This means that sounds can overlap, which
is a Very Good Thing.  All the sounds are generated algorithmically by
default, but there are .xtrekrc options to cause the sound process to
read a file instead.  There are also .xtrekrc options to turn on sound
(it's off by default), to make it play sound through the headphones
rather than the speaker, and to adjust the volume.

Here is the list of sounds, and when they are played:

TORP_FIRE	a torpedo is fired on your tactical map.  Currently nothing
		by default, since torps are fired *alot*.
TORP_EXP	a torpedo explodes on your tactical map.
MY_PHASER_FIRE	you fire your phasers, and miss.
MY_PHASER_HIT	you fire your phasers, and hit.
PHASER_FIRE	somebody else fires their phasers on your tactical map,
		and miss.
PHASER_HIT	somebody else fires their phasers on your tactical map,
		and hit.
PTORP_FIRE	a plasma torpedo is fired.  Currently nothing.
PTORP_EXP	a plasma torpedo explodes on your tactical map.
SHIP_EXP	a ship explodes on your tactical map.
BASE_EXP	a starbase explodes on your tactical map.
MESSAGE_YOU	you receive an individual message.

So, what other messages should their be?  What other features should
this sound thing have.
--
/--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| Scott Drellishak   sfd@neuromancer.metaphor.com                          |
|         "It's Log!  It's Log!  It's big, it's heavy, it's wood!          |
|          It's Log!  It's Log!  It's better than bad -- it's good!"       |
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------/
From: sjsmith@cs.umd.edu (Stephen Joseph Smith)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Home-field advantage Re: SINL playoffs
Summary: Important follow-up to some whining
Date: 17 Aug 92 18:56:28 GMT
Organization: Dept. of Computer Science, University of Maryland at College Park

In article <BszM2q.DzK.1@cs.cmu.edu> spot@CS.CMU.EDU (Scott Draves) writes:
>this is utter bullshit.  Crackpot played 12AM and creamed them.

I am on the INL council.  Let me state that I will *never* vote for a rule
modification that gives the home team more home-server advantage than they
already have.  In particular, I will *never* vote for a head-to-head
tiebreaker, until the INL games are home-and-away split-in-half 
compare-results.

Already, of course, you want to play teams that are just about your level at
home.  Teams much better than you, the home field advantage won't matter;
teams much worse than you, you hope to beat anyway.

Add a tie-breaker advantage to this and the vagaries of the schedule would
be even more random.

Consider: Team CrackPot wins 3 games by convincing genocides over
strong teams.  Muppet Attack!!! barely wins 2 games, one home, one
away, against weak teams like Hell's Bagels and Lagg U. :-)  Muppet
Attack!!! loses a game away at the AA's, getting crushed by genocide
in 15 minutes.

Now assume Team CrackPot plays at xring.cs.umd.edu.  Lag is bad on the
CMU gateway, and Muppet Attack!!! squeaks out an 11-1-8 overtime win.

Under current INL rules, Team CrackPot advances on planets-for
tiebreaker, as I imagine almost everyone would agree they should.

Consider, however, the arguments that could be used for Muppet Attack!!!
advancing:
(1) "We won head-to-head."
(2) "We had to play the AA's."

Now think... is this scenario all that different from what we're
experiencing now?

---------------------------------------------------------------------------

On another note; if you want an INL change, don't post it to the newsgroup
and hope that someone on the INL council will see it.  KNOW YOUR INL
REPRESENTATIVE!  If you belong to an organization with an INL representative
(e.g. go to CMU, work at SSC), I imagine that that person is your INL
representative.  If you don't, pick someone.  I will be happy to entertain
INL suggestions from anyone who doesn't have an INL representative already.

- Gamera

Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Sat, 15 Aug 1992 19:35:36 -0400 
From: "Timothy C. Worsley" <tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Beef Client Borg?
	<1992Aug15.030703.776@newshost.unh.edu>
Distribution: usa

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 15-Aug-92 Re: Beef Client Borg?
Robert M. Kenney@baal.un (2979)


> 	People who worry about the effectiveness of Beef(the version I have,
>    anyways) either don't know what they're talking about, or are the type
>    who'd get upset if they were playing basketball against somebody, and that
>    person was wearing a different(possibly better) brand of sneaker.

More like cork-filled bats.  It would be a level play-field if everyone
was allowed them, but we don't think that that's how the game should be
played.

ZZnew guy
From: fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: YAR.C (yet another reserved.c)
Date: 18 Aug 92 20:21:03 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <59744@mimsy.umd.edu> mcp@cs.umd.edu (Mike Polek) writes:
>Is there any way to legally have a patent revoked because it is 
>absurd???

I can't speak to your questions about RSA, but such esoteric concepts as
"backing store" are patented (which caused some problems for the X people).
The LZW compression used by UNIX compress is patented.  Lots of stuff is
patented, and it really sucks.

>Mike Polek
><Zen Ogger>

-- 
fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
[ Above opinions are mine, Amdahl has nothing to do with them, etc, etc. ]
Organization: Sophomore, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 23:52:53 -0400 
From: "Joseph E. Beck" <jb8n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: inl server


I was playing in a tournament and found out that you can't send
messages to yourself anymore.  This seems like an odd thing to do but
it's useful to clear your personal message board so you know the
messages you're seeing are "fresh" and don't have guess about whether
the request for escort is 5 seconds or 15 minutes old.  I was
wondering why it isn't possible to send messages to yourself anymore,
and if it could be reinstalled.  Basically, when I sent a blank
message to myself nothing happened.  Thanks.

	joe
	Purple haze
From: rkou@corvus.ucs (Roger H. Kou)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: netrek clients on NeXT
Date: 15 Aug 1992 09:28:00 -0700
Organization: USC Computing Services, Los Angeles
Distribution: rec
NNTP-Posting-Host: corvus.usc.edu


just wondering...

how many players play netrek on NeXTs? What do you do with the missing mouse 
button? Alt key or constantly holding both mouse button? 

thanks,

-RK
From: rone@alcor.usc.edu (Ron Echeverri)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: I will assault MUCUS(and he will not respond)
Date: 13 Aug 1992 22:47:54 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: alcor.usc.edu

In article <1992Aug13.162032.22758@dsd.es.com> mmoore@itchy.dsd.es.com (Michael Moore) writes:
>	You do have a good point.  But I think that anyone who will
>learn from being insulted will also learn just as well from not
>being insulted.  When I play, I just tell my team what a certain
>person did wrong, something like "R4, when you are taking a planet,
>cloak".  If they don't read, then it doesn't matter, but if they do
>and they truly are the type who are trying to learn, then they will
>heed this advice.  And I have accomplished the same thing Mucus does
>minus the degradation, insults, and possible hatred than can result
>from his method.


Yes.  But some people read.  From what i've seen, MUCUS asks nicely ONCE.
After that, things get worse.  I don't blame him.  If you read, then don't
do things wrong again....


>	No one should have to be insulted by anyone, I feel.
>And above a certain point, DI is immaterial.  Certainly I suppose
>newbies should listen to those who are more experienced than they,
>but if they're being insulted, why should they heed you?


Above a certain point, DI is immaterial?  Which point, the 5000 DI point?


>	If everyone who knew what they were doing taunted everyone
>else, I would not play this game.  As for letting MUCUS do as he
>pleases, that is and ever has been my philosophy on the subject.
>I am just amazed that there are so many who encourage his persona.


If everyone behaved like MUCUS, MUCUSity would lose its value quickly.
MUCUS would be pretty angry.


5150
to MUCUS or to not MUCUS, that is the question
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 03:39:22 -0400 
From: "Jonathan R. Ferro" <jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: One hockey suggestion
	<l8jttrINNcgv@alcor.usc.edu>

rone@alcor.usc.edu (Ron Echeverri) writes: 
[ Explains that his complaint was that players come in too close to
_each other_ after mutualling or other death near the puck. ]

Oh, I'm sorry.  I thought your complaint was that players were coming in
too close to the _puck_.

I think that this problem is just an overflow of the "Aigh!  Enemy!
Shootshootshootshoot!" mindset that is fostered by regular netrek.  In
hockey, the player who wastes fuel on weapons when the puck is not on
his tactical display will lose quickly.

When I come in too close to an enemy and he starts shooting at me for no
real positional reason my response is to make SURE to die quickly.
Coming in a second time slightly farther away from an opponent who has
already used half his fuel and whose shields have been toasted by my
explosion is clearly to my advantage, no?

But then again, as a finesse player in real life I've always been
slightly annoyed that fighting wasn't a five-minute major instead of a
two-minute minor, and I'm kinda pleased that people who have no tactical
purpose in mind when distributing random destruction are free to screw
themselves in this way.

--
Jon Ferro		MIT Transportation Modelling Research Center (TMRC)
jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu	"We can hack it!"
SGNTR VRS VRSN 3.1B: Strppd nd cmprssd fr qckr trnsmssn! nfct yrs tdy!
From: jjudy@argon.berkeley.edu (Jack W. Judy)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: A no-eyes-required keymap!
Date: 19 Aug 1992 11:01:20 GMT
Organization: University of California, Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: argon.berkeley.edu

This is Commodore LURI's Keymap: (Must be right handed with the mouse!)


Main keymaps:
-------------

s = plasma	= left hand pinky
e = pressor	= left ring finger
r = det		= left middle finger
t = tractor	= left pointer finger
  = shileds	= left thumb
b = bomb	= left double lowered pointer finger

This way I do not have to look for the most often used keys.
Especially in a dog fight.


Second Order Keymaps:
------------------

w = max warp	= extended left ring finger or extended pinky
y = det mine	= extended left pointer finger
g = beam down   = lowered left pointer finger
] = beam down   = nice symmetrical keys
h = beam up	= lowered extended left pointer finger
[ = beam up	= nice symmetrical keys
d = lock on	= lowered left ring finger
l = lock on	= habit but I gotta look
f = repair	= lowered left middle finger (tricky having soo many keys
                  together but it works great when you get used to it.
                  No need for the shift key!  You may want to remap all
                  these keys to their upper case version just incase the
                  caps lock gets stuck.
R = repair	= usually so this when I can glance at the keyboard
a = cloak	= extended left pinky
c = cloak	= gotta look to hit this reliably :( thats why I use "a"
                  but I leave it by habit.

Third Order Keymaps:
--------------------

all number = warp speed
- = max warp
= = udp
x = change ship
p = planet info
P = toggle planet names on local screen
o = options menu
O = options menu
, = war status
i = info
. = info
I = extended info
/ = extended info
C = Coup
{ = message window
} = player window
; = Rotate Galactic
' = Rotate Local
U = Ranking Window

right hand = mouse controls of course!

This way I do not have to look for the most often used keys.
Especially in a dog fight.


Keymaps for cutting and pasting:

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
keymap: 11223344556677889900-@w@lldlccac seyrdtTyDsfbb[z]xgxhzxrRRCCQQ==**,wii.iII/IpPOOoO}L{?;B'VPNhhHh?hUUMM
-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Tell me if you like 'em.  I just hate it when I look down for a key and
then look up to see my ship exploding! :(

-Jack (LURI)
From: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Sound in the client
Date: 18 Aug 92 06:45:56 GMT
Reply-To: jesup@cbmvax.commodore.com (Randell Jesup)
Organization: Commodore, West Chester, PA

sfd@neuromancer.metaphor.com (Scott Drellishak) writes:
>MESSAGE_YOU	you receive an individual message.
>
>So, what other messages should their be?  What other features should
>this sound thing have.

	Include the text of the message (also, there should be one class
of message for each window).  The text allows text->speech like I use on
the Amiga (currently hacked into the scrolling-window handling code in
amigawindow.c).

-- 
"Rev on the redline, you're on your own; seems like a lifetime, but soon it's
 gone..."  Foreigner
-
Randell Jesup, Jack-of-quite-a-few-trades, Commodore Engineering.
{uunet|rutgers}!cbmvax!jesup, jesup@cbmvax.cbm.commodore.com  BIX: rjesup  
Disclaimer: Nothing I say is anything other than my personal opinion.
From: fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: MetaServerII v0.1
Date: 22 Aug 92 21:10:48 GMT
Organization: Amdahl Corporation, Sunnyvale CA

In article <BtD0Mn.JCE.1@cs.cmu.edu> jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick) writes:
>fadden@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) writes
>> In the best spirit of reinventing the wheel and combining processes (hi Ray),
>> I'd like to announce MetaServerII, currently running on charon.amdahl.com.
>> 
>> If you'd like to skip the BS and see what it does, try:
>> 
>>     telnet charon.amdahl.com 3520
>
>Got connection, nothing happened.

Yeah yeah yeah.  You managed to hit it when it mysteriously choked for an
hour.  I'm still not sure what the deal was.  It ran all night without a
problem, and handled a couple hundred connections.  Weird.  Guess I'll have
to turn the debugging stuff back off and see if that hoses it again.

On a related note, ansari@geo1s.mps.ohio-state.edu (Waheed Ansari) pointed
out that my missing player on the KSU server was an Independent team puck.
I was starting from Fed instead of Ind when printing players.  That's now
fixed.

So, try it again.  charon.amdahl.com (129.212.11.1), ports 3520, 3521, 3522,
3523, and 3524.

-- 
fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden)
[ Above opinions are mine, Amdahl has nothing to do with them, etc, etc. ]
From: gc2n+@andrew.cmu.edu (Greg K Chung)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: RANK SCUM over HELL'S BAGELS: Let's Eat!
Date: 13 Aug 92 00:43:40 GMT
Organization: Freshman, Math/Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA

A quick summary from the RS-HB game:

Hell's Bagels had trouble digging up their players.  We ultimately
started 30 minutes late in a 7x7 game.  HB chose ROM with ROM/DRA agri! 
RS chose FED with VEG/ORG agri.

From the conquer file:
---------------------
Conquer! Wed Aug 12 20:31:40 1992

  The galaxy has been conquered by the Federation:
  The Federation:
                Thor (F4) with 7 planets and 85 armies.
            Stiletto (F6) with 4 planets and 11 armies.
              ensign (Ff) with 2 planets and 18 armies.
                 Owl (F7) with 1 planets and 30 armies.
             Phantom (F2) with 0 planets and 48 armies.
           Spaceace! (F8) with 1 planets and 13 armies.
                 Pez (F0) with 0 planets and 38 armies.
  The Romulans:
             no clue (Rb) with 3 planets and 60 armies.
               moldy (Rc) with 0 planets and 127 armies.
              raisin (Re) with 0 planets and 123 armies.
               plain (Rd) with 3 planets and 12 armies.
              aramis (R3) with 2 planets and 22 armies.
          Puppy Seed (Ra) with 0 planets and 56 armies.
            eggplant (R1) with 1 planets and 10 armies.
               stale (R9) with 0 planets and 17 armies.
---------------------

RS dominated the entire game, but had trouble breaking the ROM/DRA agri
LPS.  ROM was taken only to be lost... DRA was taken only to be lost. 
In the end, we neutered TAU while we had DRA.  The Bagel carrier (F1)
went to TAU to take it, while our carrier took ROM...Thanks to all the
Bagel escort who faithfully left ROM open while escorting F1...



As mentioned earlier, HB was short players.  We agreed to a 7x7 game
which we played for a while.  A couple of minutes in, they asked to
bring in an INL sub -- proposed FreeKill.  We said we would agree if we
could have SpaceAce!.  Both captains agreed to these terms and we
brought in SpaceAce!  The Bagel sub, it turned out, was ZZnew Guy.  



Team Ramk Scum is now 2-1 with 2 genecide wins and an overtime loss to
Arrogant Assholes.
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: ahabig@bigbang.astro.indiana.edu (Alec Habig)
Subject: Re: 3rd space planet taking
Organization: Indiana University Astrophysics, Bloomington, IN
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 10:47:52 GMT

There seems to be a lot of people who think that this is too easy.  There also
have been some valid points on why it can be useful.  Thus, rather than just
totally turning off 3rd space taking, how about just making it a little more
difficult.  Here are some ideas :

1) Make war status permanent.

2) Make more intellegent gaurdians.  There are some good robots out there now
with tactical sense as well as dogfighting abilities - use them.

3) Make neutral armies shoot bombers twice as fast.

4) The neutral race gets ticked, and some planets join the non-offending team
for protection (this is what would happen in a real political situation).

If some/all of these changes were added, then it would be ensured that 3rd
space scumming would be a seldom-used but still available tactic, that would be
harder to pull off.  Also, things like declaring war in order to give HAL the
kill would still be viable.

Just flat out outlawing it is a non-creative knee-jerk solution, like a xterm
lab saying "netrek games are keeping work from being done - no game playing" 
instead of saying "gaming only during certain hours and real work has 
priority".

Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: rg@msel.unh.edu (Roger Gonzalez)
Subject: So, what is up with the SINL now?
Organization: UNH Marine Systems Engineering Lab
Distribution: rec
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 1992 01:51:02 GMT


Gashouse Gorillas played Golden Bears away.  There were horrendous network
problems, ON THEIR NETWORK.  Unfortunately, the 250-350ms lags added by the cs
gateway at berkeley (with occasional 1500ms or 3500ms or full ghostbust) were
added to our constant 200ms lag just getting out there.  Yes, they had lag
too, lets say 251-351ms.  But ours was 451-551ms.  With ghostbusts.  I
personally was ghostbusted 5 times in 20 minutes.

We want to play them again, but the season is officially over.  Technically, I
suppose we lost, since we all quit without finishing the game.  I think we
could have won, given a fair chance.  And seeing as a win would make us
3 wins to 1 loss, the same as RankScum, we want a replay.

So what's the deal?  Do we take our 2-2, and be thankful?  Or do we get a
chance to play another game with GB on a fair machine halfway between, say,
nova.ksu?

Seeing as I haven't seen any playoff games scheduled yet, and I know (I
-think- I know) that GB is a team of gentlemen, can we schedule in a quick
replay?

The whole thing wouldn't be so much an issue if it hadn't been their gateway's fault.

-Wanting to be beaten fairly,
 Rogue
--
"The question of whether a computer can think is no more interesting
 than the question of whether a submarine can swim" - Edsger W. Dijkstra 

Roger Gonzalez   -  rg@msel.unh.edu
Division of Bit Banging and Reluctant Robotics
UNH Marine Systems Engineering Laboratory, Durham, NH  03824-3525
(603) 862-4600 -4399 (fax)

Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick)
Subject: Re: YAR.C (yet another reserved.c)
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Fri, 14 Aug 1992 14:45:00 GMT

adc@tardis.msu.edu writes:
> jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick) writes:
> > rjones@itchy.dsd.es.com (Ray Jones - Perp) writes
> > > the method for RSA is completely public.  Exporting it isn't a problem. 
> > 
> > Well, RSA bitched and moaned about the release of practical code to
> > the net, but I haven't heard anything since.
>
> Well, obviously you were not personally contacted by their lawyers.
> Write and attempt to distribute the code and you'll get polite little
> letters from them.

Right.  But this hasn't stopped the spread of the e-mail encryption
code (which at least has strong commercial possibilities).  What makes
you think it would stop the spread of a Better Netrek Blessing Scheme
(which has very few commercial possibilities, since Netrek is free)?
As Ray pointed out, RSA can sue him/us/whoever for everything we ever
made off netrek, and make no money whatsoever.  What's in it for RSA,
apart from an embarassing lawsuit?

Jonathan H.
From: amrk@troi.cc.rochester.edu (Andrew Markiel)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Quite unhappy
Date: 17 Aug 92 03:42:42 GMT
Organization: University of Rochester (Rochester, NY)

In article <59697@mimsy.umd.edu> jerryw@cs.umd.edu (Jerry Wieber) writes:
>> (see original article for quoted comments)
>
>This is a problem with the League.  There seems to be different ideas
>of what constitutes a team.  Is it just fun, clue games or is it
>interschool rivalry?  Tom seems to view the League as the later, and I
>tend to feel the same way.  It adds something to the games when you
>represent your school (and maybe someday your company) in competition.

The problem with this is that there are relatively few schools who can field
a full team, while many of the people who would like to play in the INL (for
example, myself, or the 12AM) are from places which have neither the players,
nor the hardware, to field a full INL team. The difficulty is that netrek
requires some special equipment (Xterminals, or equivalents). Currently, the
netrek community contains many people whose only association with each other is
that they know about the game, and have somehow managed to acquire access to
the machines necessary to play.
>Muppet Attack (0-4) is really an incarnation of Team Testudo, the 
>Spring INL team that almost made the playoffs.  We play with only
>local people from UMd.  When we need subs, we take local people only.

Again, this is not possible for some teams which have no local subs.
>I have a hard time with teams who are short a person or two, and then
>scum the net for the best available player, rather than using their
>local player base for subs.  I believe this was the key difference
>between the Spring INL and the SINL.

I will grant that this is a problem. I think the two rules, namely
1) you cannot use a player on another team as a sub, and
2) the opposing captain has to approve the subs (i.e. he can veto if the
team tries to sneak in some great ringer)
will prevent this from being a problem, whle allowing fair games to be played.
>The council should discuss this....
Agreed.
>
>-Jerry  <Stress> <Dogmeat>

-Grey Elf