From: reynolds@cs.iastate.edu (Owen Reynolds)
Subject: Another Chainsaw commentary
Summary: yes, it is.
Organization: Iowa State University, Ames IA
Date: Thu, 19 Nov 1992 01:58:04 GMT

    A snapshot of the Chainsaw II game from not too long ago:

         sects  eff  civ  mil shell gun  pet iron dust food oil  pln ship money
 Vulgaria 120   93% 104K 2.0K 375  120  1.4K  10K 2.9K  20K 2.3K  80   20   50K
 Temekula 140   90%  98K 2.8K 2.1K 150  950   19K 2.0K  54K 5.4K  70   40   55K
     beep  80   89%  57K 3.0K 600   90  8.1K 9.8K 3.0K  40K 7.8K  60   50   15K
   Sardar  75   97%  68K 750  700   70  1.6K 5.5K 3.0K  28K 5.1K  30   30   25K
  Albania  50   97%  46K 1.2K 675  115  1.1K 4.5K 1.3K  12K 5.4K  90   10  125K
     Pern  45  100%  45K 1.9K 775  145  1.2K 5.4K 2.4K  27K 6.2K  20   30   20K
 badlands  70   98%  61K 1.1K 475   80  850   12K 1.1K  32K 2.6K  20   20   90K
  Calhoun  65  100%  55K 2.0K 875  110  1.7K  10K 1.9K  33K 5.2K  10   30   35K
Space Mad  30   89%  24K 1.1K 675   80  350  2.9K 1.7K  15K 3.0K  20   10   15K
     PSBL  20  100%  22K 950  825  120  1.3K 3.5K 1.1K  19K 4.5K  30   30   10K
     Bore  35   95%  30K 1.6K 550   50  2.2K 4.5K 1.8K  12K 2.1K  20   20  5.0K
Oglethorp  45   94%  33K 1.0K 550  110  350  5.4K 1.6K  12K 1.9K  20   20   20K
      CTE  42   94%  33K 2.0K 574   71  650  5.3K 2.8K  23K 4.0K   0   28   55K
  Horgoth  50   92%  34K 2.1K 1.1K  60    0  8.8K 350   30K 2.1K   0   20  105K
Shockwave  25   86%  14K 650  100   15  650  550    6  5.1K 200    0    3   11K

    A a paragraph for each country:

Vulgaria got off to a fairly good start, finding 5 more sectors of free land
    then anyone else, and a few players who never logged on during the update
    warning you get with SLOW_WAR (it requires two updates, but most people
    declare war 30 seconds before an update, so you have 12 hours real-time
    warning.)  Apparently (s)he was hemmed in by allies, since (s)he has
    recently started attacking a real country, Albania.

Last year someone told me Temekula was more of the Pern school of empire. The
    sort of country which actually needs a reason to declare war -- likes
    to see a fair fight -- that sort of thing. If he ever was that way, this
    game now solidly places him in the power-mower school of empire play.
    Without any comments on the horse-power, please.


I haven't heard a peep from beep...couldn't resist.

Sardar has done a fine job of taking over several fodder. Apparently, the ruler
    has had to leave town several times, so it's been played by at least two
    people.

Albania was the richest country for nearly the entire game. In a viscious
    war with Vulgaria, which he is slowly losing, his cash production is only
    slightly troubled.

Pern is Pern. The budget command allowed him to run on a shoe-string budget,
    keeping just over $2K cash on hand for several updates, while
    aggressive neighbors allowed him to counter-attack and gain some land.

Badlands has also done a lovely job of taking over countries whose rulers have
    quit. (S)he is another of the countries which are actually in a war with
    another active country, Space_Madness.

Calhoun is an amazing story in fodder survival. Taking over for Yikes!, and
    gaining plane tech only through tech bleed, it will be a sad day when
    someone with 100 more tech points flattens him/her.

Space_Madness has done a remarkable job producing guns and tech with only 30
    sectors.

I have no idea what the rest are doing. I think Horgoth declared war on
    somebody, or something like that.


    I think the code, and the way the game plays in general is pretty good,
and it deserves a lot better. I'm in awe at the number of people who can't
repel a cargo-ship invasion with 12 hours warning. Not that it isn't a good
game, but it really could have used a few more experienced players.
    I'm sure the Mr. Scum and friends are too modest to really advertise
the exciting new aspects of empire play this code introduces, so I'll try
and remedy that in the near future in an attempt to drum up interest for
ChainSaw III (or is that a novice game? Damn good idea, if it were.)