From: beorn@elk.Berkeley.EDU (Beorn Johnson)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Pop code compromise?   Plague code?
Date: 26 Jan 1993 23:13:50 GMT
Organization: University of California at Berkeley
Distribution: world
NNTP-Posting-Host: elk.berkeley.edu


I see the following arguments concerning the pop-code:

	A 40 second pop check on all planets is bad because:
		1)  Artificial.
			[ This argument never quite works ]
		2)  Allows for a "pop clock", which is borgish.
			[ I'll buy this -- I've written and used a pop clock,
			and I don't really think it should be in the game ]
		3) Bronco does 10 second pops and bronco is the original
			definition of the game.
			[ This argument works well, but not on me . . .]
		4) For a given planet, why should three armies appear
			all at once after 40 seconds rather than seeing
			one army every 40/3 seconds?
			[ I don't know . . . ]

	A pop check that runs at less than 40 seconds is bad because:
		1)  I like the pop-clock, and I think it adds to the
			strategy of the game.
			[ perhaps true, but it's really not what the
			original authors intended ]
		2)  I don't like planets popping under me while I drop
			armies.  With 40 seconds, even without the timer,
			I at least have a good idea when the timing is
			good or bad.
			[ popping under a carrier is annoying . . .]
		3)  Taking an Agri is much harder because they will always
			pop unless you can take it with one ship, or get
			really lucky.
			[ To me this is the strongest argument.  I notice
			a huge difference taking agris on brono. ]

	It seems to me that a scattered pop which checks _one_ planet 
	(selected pseudo-randomly) _each_ second has the following advantages:
		1) Does not permit a _global_ pop clock, so your scout
			bombers aren't going to know to rush to a planet
			at a specific time.
		2) If you are watching one specific planet, you can sort of
			judge when it might pop, but since the planet selection
			is pseudo-random there is a range of planets.  Taking
			an agri is still a little difficult but much more
			like the original.
		3) Scout bombers don't get stuck trying to bomb several
			planets at once.
		4) Coding is easy.


OK, so what objections are there to this plan?  I think someone actually
implemented this some time back (but I forgot the server).  Actually, I think
this has been proposed already, but no one is careful enough to distinguish
arguments for/against 10-second pops and arguments for/against scattered pops.

NOT DONE YET:

Someone a while back complained about the plague code.  I was in an
INL game where my team's homeworld plagued in the first 30 seconds.
I think the plague parameters could be re-tuned to prevent this and
hardly anyone would notice.  Note that plagues are designed to limit
the natural growth of armies, and prevent a team from stockpiling a
planet so heavily that an enemy ship explodes before reaching orbit.
You can smooth things out by making plague more likely but costing
fewer armies.  Since planets an INL game don't have many armies for
most of the game anyway, the only visible affect would be that no one
gets their homeworld plagued to four in the opening minute.  (Makes
game more "comparable").

And another thing:  Why not just start INL games with 6 armies on each
planet?  I hate the opening AS round.

	Beorn (aka Snidly)