HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: tom@soda.berkeley.edu (Tom Holub)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: ARF-MOO client
Date: 12 Nov 1992 11:04:09 GMT
Organization: U.C. Berkeley, CS Undergraduate Association
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu

In article <kf0X9uu00Vp5I3dpk7@andrew.cmu.edu> "Jonathan R. Ferro" <jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
)
)Sorry, I have to agree with ZZnew guy on this one.  The problem has
)never been "revealing any information that client X doesn't".  The
)problem has been ENFORCING A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD.  This includes (1)
)enforcing equality in the amount of effort each player must spend to
)acquire new information about the galaxy, (2) enforcing equality in the
)amount of "hiliting" each piece of information gets when it is revealed,
)and (3) enforcing equality in the amount of information that you must
)keep in your head in order to be a competent player.

(1) The amount of effort is the same; looking at the planet.

(2) OK, no more color clients.

(3) Irrelevant in this case.

)MOST important is the presentation of the planets themselves, as they
)and their armies are the primary object of the entire game.  There is a
)large difference between having to hunt for the army icon on an enemy
)homeworld between a cloud of orbiting ships (eventually resorting to
)repeatedly tagging it with the Info key), and just happening to be able
)to see that the border of the planet has gone from dotted to solid.

Gimme a break.  Really.
And would you ever NOT want to do an I on the planet anyway?

)For this reason, I DO consider it to be an info borg, not allowable in
)INL play, so long as no official proposal to change any part of the
)planet iconography has been passed.

It is not allowable in INL play if it is not a bronco-blessed binary
available from one of the FTP sites in the Netrek FTP list.  If someone
blesses it and puts it on an FTP site in the Netrek FTP list, I
would have no objections to it.

Note that this does not mean that you can bless the Pig borg and put
it up on an FTP site and have it be legal for INL play; any site that
allows a blessed borg will be taken off the FTP list.
 -Tom
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: von@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Steve Von Worley)
Subject: Re: Brick Verser in 2004
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 01:56:26 GMT

In article <8ezj=Xq00VpaNN4FF7@andrew.cmu.edu> "Timothy C. Worsley" <tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
>	After hearing SOOOOOOOO much about elections for SOOOOOOO long, I've
>come to the conclusion that if you want to be president, you have to
>start planning for it long in advance.  So I would like to start the
>Brick Verser (bav) in 2004 campaign.
>	According to our sources, 14,000 people read this bboard, most of them
>in the United States.  Given that we have 12 years to work on this, I'd
>say that we could build up a very solid base of support.  If we start
>now, we could have president Verser in 2004.  I don't know about
>everyone else, but I'd have more faith in Brick Verser to run our
>country than I've had for anyone else who has run in my lifetime.
>	So, bav, what party are you?  What is your platform?  We must start SOON.
NO NO NO NO NO NO NO NO

NNN    NN    OOOOOOO
NNNN   NN   OOO   OOO
NN NN  NN   OO     OO
NN  NN NN   OO     OO
NN   NNNN   OOO   OOO
NN    NNN    OOOOOOO

!!!!

	bav is nice, but we need spice in the executive office!

MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS
MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS MUCUS

			FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!

Imagine...

Boris Yeltsin:	 MUCUS, we need financial aid badly to rebuild our 
		 outmoded industrial base.  Please help us.

MUCUS:		 Suck me, maggot!

Chancellor Kohl: MUCUS, in response to your refusal to lower US interest
		 rates and drop tariffs on European Common Market goods,
		 I have decided to terminate the lease of all US military
		 bases in the south of Germany.

MUCUS:		 FUCK YOU!  WHERE THE HELL WAS  MY ESCORT!!!?!1!

Various Congresspeople:
		 The actions of MUCUS have lead to this most disturbing
		 state of affairs.  If MUCUS vetoes this bill, it will
		 confirm the fact that he has no feelings for the
		 average citizen of the US.

MUCUS:		 IF YOU DON"T START SCOUT BOMBING I'M GONA QUIT!!!1

So, the next time you vote, write in MUCUS for every race!

Sandia
-- 
Steve Von Worley
von@cory.berkeley.edu
Computer Science Gradual Student
University of California at Berzerkly 
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: ramid@nyx.cs.du.edu (Rudy Amid)
Subject: Re: INHL: Boy, this sounds familiar
Organization: University of Denver, Dept. of Math & Comp. Sci.
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 92 06:50:50 GMT

JGR@ECLX.PSU.EDU (Jim Reisman) writes:

>  One option is to have a preliminary November Hockey Clue Classic, like 
>Rob's Netrek Clue Classic.  This would give us the ability to do a dry 
>run, and see what modifications we would need for a league. 
>
	Good idea.  Let's meet.

>  I don't think we would need any modifications in the hockey code to 
>start with. We just need somebody to offer the use of a machine which we 
>can run two hockey servers off of.
>
	Server: hockey.ksu.edu, port 2592 (Bronco hockey!)
	geos1.* runs hockey too but it's not stable (so it seems).

>Jim Reisman
>ID: Hockey-ikki
--
!Rudy Amid              ///
a434amid@cdf.toronto.edu//
amid@r-node.gts.org   ///
Netrek/IRC: Radix  \\X//
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: tsang@cs.washington.edu (Donald Tsang)
Subject: Re: New Server: ww2.cs.ucla.edu
Organization: Computer Science & Engineering, U. of Washington, Seattle
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 92 03:23:34 GMT

In article <> blojo@xcf.berkeley.edu (Jon Blow) writes:
>Scott suggests:
>
>> I'm certainly not going to bash people for playing a variant, like
>> some people seem anxious to do to Sturgeon.
>
>People bash on Sturgeon because it's dumb, not because it's different.
>Many people would say (and I agree) that the game is not nearly as
>interesting.

Yeah.  Err, something like that.  Sturgeon *is* kinda dumb.

I made Sturgeon for the "arcade monster" in all of us.  And to test new
off-the-wall changes when I felt like it.  There's lots less strategy
(except perhaps in SB ogging), and there's nothing *inherently* wrong
with that.

-- 
Donald Tsang                    "Ho!  Haha!  Guard!  Turn!  Parry!  Dodge!
tsang@june.cs.washington.edu     Spin!  Ha!  Thrust!"
..!uw-beaver!june!tsang                       -- Robin Hood Daffy
From: JGR@ECLX.PSU.EDU (Jim Reisman)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: INHL: Boy, this sounds familiar
Date: 12 Nov 92 23:27:43 GMT
Organization: Penn State Engineering Computer Lab
X-News-Reader: VMS NEWS 1.24

tom@soda.berkeley.edu writes:
>
> [...]
> 
>   My point is, RIGHT NOW is your chance to have a say in how the INHL
> runs.  All it takes is a little bit of time and a few ideas.  If you
> can't provide those now, then don't complain if the INHL doesn't fit
> your idea of what the INHL should be.  You have you chance; take it
> or leave it.
>  -Mojo
>  (Don't Think So)

  One option is to have a preliminary November Hockey Clue Classic, like 
Rob's Netrek Clue Classic.  This would give us the ability to do a dry 
run, and see what modifications we would need for a league. 

  We split up 20-24 clued players into 4 approximately equal teams of 5-6. 
The two pairs of teams play, followed by a match between the game winners
and losers. Since a hockey game takes only a little over an hour, it 
should be quite doable.

  I don't think we would need any modifications in the hockey code to 
start with. We just need somebody to offer the use of a machine which we 
can run two hockey servers off of.

Jim Reisman
ID: Hockey-ikki
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Wed, 11 Nov 1992 23:20:43 -0500 
From: "Timothy C. Worsley" <tw1r+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: ARF-MOO client

	Yesterday and today, I've held witness to a client called the ARF-MOO
client.  It is basicly the same as the the Berkeley client, but the
planet bitmaps have been changed.  On the tactical map, All planets with
>5 armies show as plain empty circles.  All planets with <5 armies
should as empty dashed circles.  On the galactic map, planets show as
normal, except that planets without armies are dashed.

Questions: Do people think that this is an info-borg?  If so, why so? 
If not, why not?  Should this be blessed?  Should it be suggested as an
NBR change, or does it not matter?  Should it be allowed for INL play?

ZZnew guy
Organization: Senior, IM - H&SS Track, Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Thu,  5 Nov 1992 22:45:27 -0500 
From: Craig Boas <cb39+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: Flt. Captain tufu? I don't think so.

Hi All!

Greg Dearing writes...

> After fingering netrek@bronco, I happened to notice this entry.
> 
>     Name               Hours      Planets     Bombing    Offense     Defense
> Fleet Captains:
> 124 tufu                3.54     10  1.10   187  0.78   138  1.51   130  0.78
>
> He has 3.39 ratings and by my best estimate should make Commander with
> a little effort and patience.  Anyone have any idea why he's listed as
> a Fleet Captain?

	I can't say for sure, but Jason Park (who played as tufu, grapes, and a
few other names I can't remember right now) hasn't played for quite a
while.  He may have made Fleet Captain at a time when the global
averages were much lower.  It seems likely his stats have fallen since
then.  It may also be a result of him being on during some sort of
database crash.  I was in once when the averages got messed up such that
each time you joined in you got your rank increased by one.  Terence was
in at the time and when I made admiral he took note and asked me if it
was OK if he demoted me to Commodore (my rank at the time).  It's
possible Jason was in at the time (or some other time when the bug
manifested itself) and since he didn't make admiral nobody noticed. 
These are just a few possible explanations.


Craig
(Balton)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: jive@spanky.ssc.gov (Jim Ivey)
Subject: Re: Brick Verser in 2004
Organization: SSC Laboratory, Dallas, TX
Date: Tue, 10 Nov 1992 05:21:47 GMT




> You got my vote!!!!  Come on...this man as the skills and tolerance to be
> the offical scheduler for TWNN (an at large team...) Now that take some
> talent!  I think that we should shoot for 2000 :)  Are you an old fart
> Brick *smirk* ? Of course in netrek-age-terms!

> Platform???  Of course...to get rid of call the SCUMS (tm) in D.C :)

> Streaker
> aka Running Mate?  --  Take that Jim :)


     You'll be too young, Phil:)

     Jim "God I'm such an old fart" Ivey
From: sunruh@nfsgate.austin.ibm.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: RSA AIX 3.2 client
Date: 6 Nov 92 20:54:47 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: IBM, Austin

i have ported over the RSA client to AIX 3.2.  the binary "x11netrek.aix32.Z"
has been put on pittslug, as well as, the "key.aix32" file.  i ask all of
the server gods to accept this binary and bless it.  NO modifications have
been made to this code.  doorstop.design.iastate.edu is accepting this as
a blessed binary and will allow normal access when they move to RSA. 

i am also working on a s5r4 Dell unix issue 2.2 verions of the same client.
if you have any question please send mail to "steve@bach.austin.ibm.com"
steve unruh
-- 
******************************************************************************
To be the Man, you have to beat THE MAN!
Wielder of the Infinity Gauntlet and keeper of the 5 cosmic cubes
flames > /dev/null&void
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Sat,  7 Nov 1992 00:35:16 -0500 
From: Nanci Ann Miller <nm0w+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: new no-profanity rule at rwd4

Actually, that has always been that way, or at least as long as I can
remember.  I vaugely remember a problem with excessive profanity (probably
only from a couple of induviduals) and to stop it, Randy (rwd4 god) banned
it from his server.  He was probably watching the messages (for those of
you who don't know, a server god can see every single message typed if s/he
wants to) and saw your message.  Either that, or he's got something
programmed into the server to automatically boot people who send a message
containing a word in some predefined list.  Anyway, I (and probably other
people as well) think it's a bit excessive, but you don't really have to
play there since there are enough other servers around these days, and when
you do, you might as well respect it.  Every server god I've known has said
over and over again, "Read the motd, read the motd...", and its always a
good idea to try to find out before hand the disposition of the guy who's
providing your entertainment.  *I* see nothing wrong with what you said (and
I'm sure many people here would agree), you just had the unfortunate luck
to say it at the wrong time in the wrong place.  Now you know, and feel
free to boycott the server.... :-)

Nanci
From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: more exodus bashing; also call for scrimmages
Date: 8 Nov 92 04:24:56 GMT
Distribution: na
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

fadden@uts.amdahl.com (Andy McFadden) writes
    Followup-To: alt.flame,misc.test
and he gets *two* of them to fall for it.  Grrrrrrr.  My successes
have always been singular.  Clearly, the gauntlet of misdirection has
been thrown down.

ObTrekBitch: he only succeeded cos of the lag... uh, whoops, wrong
excuse... cos they're from IAstate... yeah, that's it.

ObNethack: new cursed item -- the gauntlet of misdirection.
Organization: Carnegie Mellon, Pittsburgh, PA
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Thu,  5 Nov 1992 20:19:05 -0500 
From: "Jonathan R. Ferro" <jf41+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: sunscreamer's How to be a Scoutbomber, part 2

bagel@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Prime Wordsmith for Hell's Bagels) writes:
> A scout's dangerousness is measurable in discrete terms.  If a scout
> is close enough to an enemy planet that he can orbit it and bomb it
> for three seconds without being tractored off or hit by torps, then
> he completely owns the planet.  If he can get to the planet but not
> without another ship being there, he exerts threat upon the planet --
> but his chance of success is about 1 in 2 if he takes the gamble.
> If he can't get to the planet before an enemy picks up, he exerts
> no influence at all upon the planet.  Always try to be in a position
> where you "own" as many planets as possible.  "influence" is also
> important, but not as vital.  "own"ing agris is the best thing you
> can do for your team.  As long as you "own" an enemy planet, it
> might as well be your team's.

And to think that after several HOURS of watching over ZZnew guy's
shoulder all I came up with on my own was "Hey, you know, there is a
positional aspect to good SC bomber playing."  I feel like my
understanding of the game just tripled.  Yowza!

Commander JonRock

-- Jon Ferro               Einsprachigkeit ist heilbar
From: davidt@cs.utexas.edu (David Eng-Yeow Teo)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Latest GrandFather Borg
Date: 6 Nov 1992 01:51:55 -0600
Organization: CS Dept, University of Texas at Austin
NNTP-Posting-Host: libyan.cs.utexas.edu
Keywords: ftp site, grind.isca.uiowa.edu

Hi!
Latest GrandFather Borg just sent to grind.isca.uiowa.edu
should be in the /unix/netrek/binaries directory, as for when it will
appear there, pester milutz@icaen.uiowa.edu.  He's the one in charge.

Not all bugs have been fixed though, sorry no time.  However, there are
definitely a couple of improvements over the older version like a
modified version of jch's windowing, ocf client interface, Bronco client
interface, and some borg code fixes etc.  Try it and see.

I'll try to fix it in the future but at the mean time, you may pester
nicknac@wam.umd.edu.  Yes, pester him, :) he has the entire borg code 
and he can compile different versions of the borg for you.  For instance,
if you have a color monitor and you would like the planet bitmaps to be
like the original bitmaps and not like the beef bitmaps, tell him, he can
compile one for you and etc. etc. 

However, don't pester me because I'm not going to be here :).

Happy netreking!

See ya!

P.S.:  Above all, the new borg is smaller and faster.
-- 
David Teo
(davidt@cs.utexas.edu)
University of Texas at Austin

Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: sherod@newton.Colorado.EDU (Scott Herod)
Subject: Re: freedom of bitmaps
Organization: University of Colorado, Boulder
Date: Sat, 14 Nov 1992 05:10:07 GMT

In article <Bxo0po.5Cr.2@cs.cmu.edu> hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill) writes:
>
>An idea that was tossed around last night (this morning :) in side salad's  
>nightly 3:30 food break was the possibilty of each person designing the  
>bitmaps for his(her) own ship.
>
>Is this a good idea?
>
>Future netrek game:
>
>R5->ALL  DOOSH!
>Ff->ALL  Yeah, but my ship looks cooler than yours.
>
>Rob
>aka Spaceace!

The biggest problem I foresee is what to do about people on black and white
machines.  As it is I sometimes fire at my teammates when I can't get a
color machine.  Otherwise I like it.

Scott
From: srt@aero.org (Scott R. Turner)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: New Server: ww2.cs.ucla.edu
Date: 6 Nov 92 21:33:41 GMT
Organization: The Aerospace Corporation, El Segundo, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: sun-marino.aero.org

Boy, I hate it when someone posts a spoof server!  I'd much rather
read through reams of posts from INL teams bashing one another.  :-)

My spoof servers are usually different enough that they'd require
quite a bit of hacking.  I'm trying to encourage a little creativity
and variety in the Netrek community, but getting nowhere.  Do people
expect that if they change the hallowed server they'll get sturgeoned?
I for one am happy to have new servers like Sturgeon and the dogfight
server available, regardless of whether I play there a lot or not.
I'm certainly not going to bash people for playing a variant, like
some people seem anxious to do to Sturgeon.

Here are my suggestions for variant Netrek that should be easy to hack
from the standard server.  I haven't actually looked at the server
code, so if I'm wrong on how easy some of these mods are, please
correct me.

* Fog Of War.

In vanilla Netrek you pretty much always know where someone is.  Only
ships on the back edge of the map are likely to be invisible.  I think
an interesting mod would be to greatly decrease the radius used for
ship detection, perhaps as low as 1/10 of the galaxy width.

On the surface it might appear that this would make ogging much
easier, because you wouldn't have as much advance warning.  That may
be true, but remember that oggers will also not be able to see their
targets as easily.  I think it will balance out; but maybe not.  Worth
a try to see, though.

* Modified Ship Capabilities / Rebirth

First, make every ship except the SB and the AS be able to carry 3
armies, regardless of number of kills (including with no kills).  The
SB still carries 25; the AS 5.  This has a number of effects: (1)
Obvious ogg targets go away.  (2) More coordination is needed to take
planets.  (3) Planet taking is slowed by the necessity to shuttle
armies in.

Second, make anyone who dies with 1 kill or less and without taking a
planet to wait 30 seconds before re-entering the game.  This has
several effects: (1) Suicidal ogging becomes much less effective and
(2) LPS play will change (exactly how is difficult to say - probably
the advantage goes to the attackers).

There are a lot of servers out there that get little play.  How about
someone taking a chance and implementing something a little different
and maybe a little interesting?

					-- Scott T.
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: von@cory.Berkeley.EDU (Steve Von Worley)
Subject: Re: xtrek lossy game recording
Organization: University of California, at Berkeley
Date: Sat, 7 Nov 1992 05:35:58 GMT

In article <61812@mimsy.umd.edu> leonard@mimsy.umd.edu (Leonard Dickens) writes:
>Donald Tsang writes:
>>In article <> leonard@mimsy.umd.edu (Leonard Dickens) writes:
>>>Well, here is my two cents... it relies on the ability of the existent
>>>server to reproduce most of what goes on in netrek from relatively
>>>minimal information.  In particular, the server can do games on the
>>>fly using only the information coming in through 16 socket
>>>connections.  (Amazing, huh?)  This is not that much info.
>>
>>Uhh, that won't work.  Things like torp-wobble wouldn't stay constant.
>
>Not so.  (At least if my feeble understanding of the server is
>correct.)  As far as I know, torpedo positions are totally determined
>-- when they are fired and every time beyond that -- by the firing
>ship position and the state of the random number generator, .  So, all
>you need to know to record a torp's flight is that info... pretty good
>compression, I would say.
>
>The objection that Sandia raised about needing the server code in
>order to program the recorder is a good one.  Nonetheless, I think
>that most games that *I* would want to see a recording of would be
>played on whatever the canonical netrek server is currently the vogue for
>INL.  So my scheme still makes sense.

I'm not trying to rain on your parade, but...

Another problem.  Say you change the INL server very slightly, say in
a small upgrade, so that somewhere in the code the random number
generator is called an extra time.  From that point on, your random
numbers are not the same, and everything which you reconstruct which 
depends on the state of the generator comes out wrong, like planet
pops, torp wobble, etc.

Other small tweaks to the INL server which are reasonable also effect
the ability to reconstruct correctly, like planet position changes.

Thus, with a very small change to the server, you create two
separate classes of recordings and recorders.  Unfortunately, such
little tweaks go on all the time, so you end up with many different
variants of recordings which don't play correctly, except on one player,
based on the original server.  Blech.

Steve
-- 
Steve Von Worley
von@cory.berkeley.edu
Computer Science Gradual Student
University of California at Berzerkly 
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek