HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Date: Mon, 31 Aug 1992 01:59:20 -0400 
From: Greg K Chung <gc2n+@andrew.cmu.edu>
Subject: Re: AA vs RankScum, kinda

Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 30-Aug-92 AA vs RankScum, kinda
"Timothy C. Worsley"@and (987)

> 	Well, RankScum and AA met again, sort of.  In fact, each team had only
> 5 regulars, and 2-3 (at different points in the game) subs.  The sub
> list was impressive, including Balinor, Akira, Mr. Wizard, and NSX.
> 	AA (away for some reason) chose Rom, so RS was naturally Fed.  


My favorite game highlights:

o	RS deciding this game is silly, so I take our last four armies and
dash for ERI.  And die before I could inde the planet.

o	Me, the SB, noticing a particularly potentially deadly base ogg
coming... me surviving the base ogg... teammates asking me how hosed I
was afterwards... and me distressing with 98% shields left.  And then
finding out the only wanted to touch the planet.



Greg
Token Yupa Boy

 
 ___                 ___
/ //                 \\ \
\_\\       ___       //_/   "I had a headache this big..."
 | |      '   `      | |    
 | |     @ ~ ~ @     | |    "...so I wrote to
 \  \    |  '  |    /  /        gc2n+@andrew.cmu.edu"
  \  \    \{=}/    /  /     
   \  \___/   \___/  /      "And now I feel better!"
    \               /       
     |             |
From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: newbie trying to get started
Date: 2 Sep 92 03:53:28 GMT
Distribution: usa
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

stanford@leland.Stanford.EDU (Scott Stanford) writes
> Typed (and here's where I think the problem may be - the faq list
> wasn't geared toward exact step-by-step instructions for us dullards):
> 
> netrek -h gs69.sp.cs.cmu.edu -p /usr/jch/netrek

Yeah, this would be a problem.  I'm not running a server, and
/usr/jch/netrek isn't a port number...

> The result is "netrek: Command not found."

You don't have a netrek client binary.  Get the file ftp-list.Z and
find an FTP site that offers a binary for your machine type.

Then, you want to find a site that actually has a netrek server
running on it.  Get the file server-list.Z and try some of the servers
in there.  Or just do 'telnet bigdog.cs.berkeley.edu 2520' for an
up-to-date list of which servers are currently active.

Pick a server that has no-one playing on it for your first game.  Or
maybe your first 10.  Learn to blow up Hosers (practise robots).
Learn how fast you can go, how quickly you can turn, what consumes
fuel, and what all the different commands do.  Then find a server with
1 or 2 people playing on it.  Ask them to blow you up 50 times in a
row, and try and learn while they do it.  You then have a choice
between diving straight into the game and learning as you go (risking
being called a clueless newbie whenever you make a mistake), or
downloading most of the archive, printing it out, sticking it under
your pillow, and absorbing it as you sleep (no-one actually READS the
stuff, do they?).  This'll probably cut your learning time.  Of
course, it'll also make you *think* you know what you're doing before
you have the skills to *do* anything constructive.  This is the
"clueful newbie" syndrome.  Just as annoying as the clueless ones, but
with an attitude :-)

> I've fucked up, but where?  Any help would be much appreciated - thx
> in advance!

Sure.  How did you say you got into Stanford again?  :-)

Oh yeah, this is a blatant start-of-the-school-year plug for the
archive site.  Everything you never wanted to know about netrek, and
then some.  Yes, I'm going to clean it up sometime soon.  Honest.
You'll no longer have to download 500k just to get at the good bits.
Yeah.  And would you like to buy this bridge whilst you're at it?

Jonathan H., jch@cs.cmu.edu                        Spaceman Spiff, Flying Pig
I run a Netrek information archive.   Access: [1] WAIS (gourd.srv.cs.cmu.edu, 
port 6000, name netrek-ftp)  [2] AFS (try cd /afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/jch/netrek)  
[3] Anon FTP from gs69.sp.cs.cmu.edu   [4] e-mail from ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: flan@starling.wustl.edu (Ian Flanigan)
Subject: Re: Hockey Night
Keywords: Excellent Hockey, Fish Sandia, Grunk Fail, No Dreams
Organization: Washington University, School of Engineering, St. Louis MO
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 06:15:07 GMT

A very excellent night of hockey it was!  Thanks to all who came.  We had teams  
of over four players for over two hours.  I think we peaked around 7  
players/team.  There was even someone from Berekeley there posing as Rear  
Admiral Sandia.  It would be nice get such excellent games more frequently.

It looks like geo1s.mps.ohio-state.edu will become the hockey server of choice.   
There were a few moments of bad lag, but on the whole it was pretty good.  If  
anyone has a better location or suggestion, let me know.

Thanks again to everyone who showed.  We all know that those who "couldn't make  
it" (Grunk) really just can't handle a *real* game. ;-)

See you all next Thursday at the latest.

--
Ian Flanigan		"Baboons stay soggy in milk."

Project Zeus
Washington University in St. Louis
flan@starling.wustl.edu
From: paulsen@eniac.seas.upenn.edu (Brian C. Paulsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Need an account in NY city
Date: 4 Sep 92 17:35:05 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

I'm kinda stuck in NY city with a machine that doesn't have an internet
connection.  If anybody knows someone who has a workstation with an
internet connection (so that I could play some netrek), would you be
able to send me some mail?

Brian
- FreeKill
From: hadley@vlsi.ics.uci.edu (Tedd Hadley)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Borgs : WHY? HOW? AS IF...
Date: 29 Aug 92 00:45:21 GMT
Distribution: rec
Organization: UC Irvine Department of ICS

In <l9svl6INNjth@aludra.usc.edu> eugenehs@aludra.usc.edu (HEUGE aka Eugene Hsu) writes:

>What is ther purpose of borgs (except for newbies to learn)?

   The best explanation I've heard is that it's a high-level competition
   between borg programmers.  People who use borgs written by others are
   really only atrophying their own playing skills (if they had any to begin
   with).  But that's their prerogative.

>Why do experienced trekkers require using borgs to play?

   Most experienced players don't use borgs.  As I've said before, a person
   can't use a public domain borg for long without wondering "Hey, maybe
   with some practice I can be almost as good as this borg!" (and it's true,
   you can).

   Of course, we shouldn't forget a simple rule of netrek:  If it's fun, it
   really doesn't require further justification.

>Why do servers "want" borgs? (by setting up Borg hours)

   In almost all cases, it's because the server god has a borg or robot
   he's developing and wants to test.  In a few cases, the server doesn't
   have the blessing code, so it can't keep borgs out.

>It seems like borgs take the skill out of the game and out of good players
>and into the hands of idiots without motor-skill (offense intended).  Those
>of us who practice and practice and practice (read "waste tons o time") have
>a decent chance against borgs, but those who haven't had so much time have
>to deal with death if they get near (read "have to run like hell if they want
>to live").

   Yeah, it is supremely frustrating at times.  I occasionally end up playing
   during some server's borg hours (not realizing it) and trying to kill
   some player extraordinarily gifted with the ability to shoot and dodge
   simultaneously ... wait-a-minute ... BORG.  Now I've already invested the
   time on the wait q, checked out the galaxy, planned attack ... I hate to
   quit now.  But after getting killed multiple times my blood pressure is
   shooting up like an old DD's engine temp ... RED-LINE:

      "me->ALL FUCKING BORGS!!"

   However, if you do have programming skills and a little time it's quite
   interesting to write some kind of cyborg/robot.  For example, I have a
   robot now which has done me a world of good on cyborg servers -- I play
   human, the robot escorts me.  Absolutely nothing better then an escort
   who follows directions exactly, who will do anything without question,
   who DOESN'T CARE ABOUT DI!  (And he chews up most borgs pretty easily.)

++
   Tedd Hadley (hadley@uci.edu)
From: paulsen@widget.seas.upenn.edu (Brian C. Paulsen)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: The BEST in the WORLD!!!
Date: 23 Aug 92 22:06:59 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

>Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 23-Aug-92 Re: The BEST in the
>WORLD!!! Robert Hill@norman.VI.RI (1113)
 

>> ANDY KUMEDA writes
>> > I was just wondering who everyone thought the BEST players in the world
>> > of Netrek were in the following categories:


Remember, Streaker's the BEST!!!
From: polk@Metaphor.COM (Ben Polk)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: 3rd space guardian robots
Date: 31 Aug 92 18:16:15 GMT
Reply-To: polk@Metaphor.COM (Ben Polk)
Organization: m4

In article <1992Aug31.005526.25160@coe.montana.edu>, osyjm@cs.montana.edu (Jaye Mathisen) writes:
|> In article <2476@cronos.metaphor.com> polk@Metaphor.COM (Ben Polk) writes:
|> >[discussion of why third space is good for sneaking in deleted]
|> >
|> >I LIKE playing games where you are trying to take or hold third
|> >space.  It calls for different strategy and tactics.  Your life
|> >is worth something, as it takes a long time to fly back, and giving
|> 
|> Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't we talking about say, an r vs f game with
|> r owning k and r space?  And then r's going down and taking Ori to conquer
|> the galaxy?

I was responding to the somewhat divergent sub-thread about the 2 race galaxy.  
I realized after I posted that that wasn't clear.  Sorry about that...

You want everything posted here to make sense?!  

Ben
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: shafto@aristotle.ils.nwu.edu (Eric Shafto)
Subject: Re: Hints for Beginners
Organization: The Institute for the Learning Sciences
X-Newsreader: Tin 1.1 PL5
Date: Thu, 3 Sep 1992 20:05:37 GMT

Andrew Markiel (amrk@troi.cc.rochester.edu) wrote:

: I can say that netrek has had at least one beneficial effect for me...I now can
: type about three times faster than I could before I played netrek, and I think
: a lot of the speed is due to trying to punch out fast messages in combat...:-)
: 
: -Grey Elf



Y7eah, mne too.  IU type mnuch fasre tan I userd to.  Tjhanks,
bnetrek.

--
*Eric Shafto             * The excursion is the same when you go looking  *
*Institute for the       * for your sorrow as when you go looking for     *
*    Learning Sciences   * your joy.                                      *
*Northwestern University *                Eudora Welty, The Wide Net      *
From: botelle@widget.seas.upenn.edu (Justin Botelle)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: 3rd space guardian robots
Date: 28 Aug 92 12:56:53 GMT
Organization: University of Pennsylvania

In article <lyodav.714977954@vincent1.iastate.edu) lyodav@iastate.edu (Sun God) writes:
)In <1992Aug27.183709.7708@news.cs.indiana.edu) "Marc VanHeyningen" <mvanheyn@silky.cs.indiana.edu) writes:

)Offense: stays the same
)Planets: Stay the same, but 1/2 credit for neut, 1/2 for take
)Bombing: seperate the married cousins, ogging and bombing. This would only
)   include armies bombed. Credit would be given for reinforcing a friendly
)   planet up to 4. (clever eh?)
)Defense: Is changed from the current meaningless stat to the # of armies 
)   destroyed on enemy ships. Is weighted to a factor of 1/2. Is weighted this
)   way so that about 3 armies must be ogged to give the same credit as for
)   one planet, which is perfect since the average planet take uses 3 armies.

Why not make a separate Category for Ogging.  I *don't want* my defense to
increase.  Defense is for the weak and cowardly (Hi Scott).
) 
)   Ok, this gives the average player 3.5 DI per hour instead of 3.0. That's
)where the new (and naval-rank accurate) rank of Flt. Adm. comes in. You'd

Oh sure.  Except, there can only be *one 5 star Admiral.  Sorry, loser idea

If you want to make the rankings more accurate, get rid of Fleet Captain, call
them all Commodores.  Rename Commodores Rear Admirals.  Call all the Rear
Admirals Vice Admirals.  Leave Admirals alone.  Then we'd be all set.

)though. *sigh* It would require starting with a new database...

Obviously the drawback.  The ranking name changes would *not require a new
database .. and would be trivial to implement.

Justin
From: spot@CS.CMU.EDU (Scott Draves)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: Way to make netrek much more challenging.
Date: 30 Aug 92 05:44:30 GMT
	<930O03.y71c100@amdahl.uts.amdahl.com>
	<17p14pINNle3@agate.berkeley.edu>
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon University
Originator: spot@HOPELESS.MESS.CS.CMU.EDU


tom> I think the color clients should work the same way; green and
tom> yellow are solid borders, red is dotted.

yes yes yes.  (i play worse on color because of this.)

-- 
			grenada
Scott Draves		panama
spot@cs.cmu.edu		iraq
From: eugenehs@aludra.usc.edu (HEUGE aka Eugene Hsu)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Borgs : WHY?  HOW?  AS IF...
Date: 28 Aug 1992 12:29:42 -0700
Organization: University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA
NNTP-Posting-Host: aludra.usc.edu


Just trying to make a point or bring forth a discussion.

I have played CALVIN since last December ('cept for summer) and
lately have moved out to try other servers.  The one thing that
has really disturbed me is BORGS.

Those people who play borgs often say 'If you don't like Borgs
get off.'  BUT I prefer to just kill the borgs off (whenever I can).
Of course this often gets me phasered to death by auto phasers  8(

Since I am not yet a nettrek master I must comment on this.  IT seems
as if anyone can  *steer* a battleship with a borg client that vs. a
non-clued team could clean house.  I can only get about 1/1 ratio vs borgs.

OK : ranting over : flames about to start : profanity perhaps used in anger

What the HELL!  Borgs?!?!  What the F*CK!  It's like these guys can't play
the game at all and depend completely on having the advantage of seeing
cloakers and being able to kill anything in phasor range to live.

Some may consider Borgs as using an automatic transmission vs. a manual
transmission, but I consider it more like having a Chauffeur and a gunner
sitting in your limo vs driving your car yourself.

What is ther purpose of borgs (except for newbies to learn)?  

Why do experienced trekkers require using borgs to play?

and

Why do servers "want" borgs? (by setting up Borg hours)

I am hoping that more experience players enter this discussion.  I am
not sure if this has been put under the knife before and I don't knoew
if I will be flamed at all.  If so... so be it.

I just had to get this anger off my chest and I am not near an X-term.  8)

It seems like borgs take the skill out of the game and out of good players
and into the hands of idiots without motor-skill (offense intended).  Those
of us who practice and practice and practice (read "waste tons o time") have
a decent chance against borgs, but those who haven't had so much time have
to deal with death if they get near (read "have to run like hell if they want
to live").  

well that's it... please feel free to continue this thread (maybe we can
ban borgs altogether *ponder*)  hmmm I sense some flames and some oggs 
coming my way... 

=HEUGE=
aka heugeheuge
aka Eugene Hsu

asta


-- 
Eugene P. Hsu 
eugenehs@aludra.usc.edu			eph3205@ultb.rit.edu
Univeristy of Southern California	Rochester Institute of Technology
Electrical and Biomedical Engineering 	a.k.a. H  E  U  G  E
From: sfd@neuromancer.metaphor.com (Scott Drellishak)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: NEW SERVER (If you use a borg READ THIS) (and maybe even if you don't)
Date: 30 Aug 92 00:08:12
Organization: Metaphor Computer Systems
NNTP-Posting-Host: soda.berkeley.edu
In-reply-to: milutz@icaen.uiowa.edu's message of Sun, 30 Aug 1992 00:30:03 GMT

In article <1992Aug30.003003.22815@icaen.uiowa.edu> milutz@icaen.uiowa.edu (Mike Lutz) writes:
>- On friday nights something wierd will happen...

Excellent!  More servers need to experiment with new ideas.  By the
way, how many people enjoyed fuel explosions and shrapnel, Wednesdays
on bezier (before it went away)?
--
/--------------------------------------------------------------------------\
| 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!"       |
\--------------------------------------------------------------------------/
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: jch+@cs.cmu.edu (Jonathan Hardwick)
Subject: Re: Borgs : WHY?  HOW?  AS IF...
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon
Date: Fri, 28 Aug 1992 20:02:52 GMT

eugenehs@aludra.usc.edu (HEUGE aka Eugene Hsu) writes
> Those people who play borgs often say 'If you don't like Borgs
> get off.'  BUT I prefer to just kill the borgs off (whenever I can).

If you want to play vs borgs, do so.  But don't whine about it.  There
are plenty of human servers around.  Use them.

> What is ther purpose of borgs (except for newbies to learn)?  

Borg trek.  Mindless violence.  Blood.

> Why do experienced trekkers require using borgs to play?

To play on borg servers when they want mindless violence.

> Why do servers "want" borgs? (by setting up Borg hours)

To attract trekkers wanting mindless violence.

> It seems like borgs take the skill out of the game and out of good players
> and into the hands of idiots without motor-skill (offense intended).  Those
> of us who practice and practice and practice (read "waste tons o time") have
> a decent chance against borgs, but those who haven't had so much time have
> to deal with death if they get near (read "have to run like hell if they want
> to live").  

So don't play on borg servers.  Tell newbies not to play on borg
servers.  Whatcha want, a Purple Heart?

Jonathan H., jch@cs.cmu.edu                        Spaceman Spiff, Flying Pig
I run a Netrek information archive.   Access: [1] WAIS (gourd.srv.cs.cmu.edu, 
port 6000, name netrek-ftp)  [2] AFS (try cd /afs/cs.cmu.edu/user/jch/netrek)  
[3] Anon FTP from gs69.sp.cs.cmu.edu   [4] e-mail from ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com
From: jasonp@cunix4.Prime.COM (Jason R. Pascucci)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re: 3rd space planet taking
Date: 24 Aug 92 03:10:50 GMT
Organization: Prime Computer, Inc.

In article <AeZznZW00VB8M200oi@andrew.cmu.edu>, Greg K Chung <gc2n+@andrew.cmu.edu> writes:
> Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 18-Aug-92 Re: 3rd space planet
> taking Eric Shafto@aristotle.il (1386)
> 
> Great!  Then when my team is up 18 planets to 2, I go bomb 3rd space and
> then the game is 18-3, 18-4, 18-5 etc.  Which means that WMAM! I finish
> bombing and take the planet, getting real DI for them.
> 
> Cool...
> 

This of it this way: 

1) They are using armies to take over gained planets instead of dropping
them on your core. This wins if you are doing any reasonable form of
scout bombing. If you aren't, then you are going to lose
anyway. 

2) If you can get to them, then you suddenly have some more armies
that you didn't before. What do you care if the enemy is DI scumming?

I could see it implemented as the planet which is getting attacked
stays third-party, perhaps the closest to your border go on your
side first, then working inward. This would give the best chance for
your team to get some of the armies. Also, it allows someone
to take a stalemate LPS and turn it back into an interesting
game...etc...

-- 
Jason R. Pascucci
jasonp@primerd.prime.com
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: chris@inconel.engr.wisc.edu (Christian Rohrmeier)
Subject: rwd4 and bronco data base
Organization: U of Wisconsin-Madison College of Engineering
Date: 4 Sep 92 01:17:17 CDT

In rwd4 it says it has the bronco data bases. Well, how come I'm not
a commander on rwd4 then???

-Chris 
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
From: rjones@itchy.dsd.es.com (Ray Jones - Perp)
Subject: YAR.C
Organization: Design Systems Division, Evans & Sutherland, SLC, UT
Date: Thu, 27 Aug 92 03:26:42 GMT


Guess who just got permission to use, modify, and distribute RSAREF in the
netrek server/clients? :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) :) 

I will begin work on a new reserved.c as soon as I can.  I'm not sure I can
make it compatible with the existing method (the message would be much
longer in the new one) but since it would require recompiling the clients
and servers to work, that's okay... 

Of course, I have no idea how to handle such a thing as making sure that
the thousands of copies out there get rebuilt....  I'm just a hacker..
that problem is out of my field :)


Ray
(very happy about this whole thing.)
--
                                          rjones@dsd.es.com
From: hill@norman.VI.RI.CMU.EDU (Robert Hill)
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek
Subject: Re:  Fall INL rosters
Date: 27 Aug 92 01:39:29 GMT
Organization: School of Computer Science, Carnegie Mellon

ZZ writes
> Excerpts from netnews.rec.games.netrek: 26-Aug-92 Fall INL rosters CS
> 60C Lab Assistant@web (139)
> 
> > When are the roster for all teams both
> > at-large and school teams due??
> 
> 
> > In other words when is CMU's draft thingy gonna
> > be over..
> 
> 
> > Duck
> 
> 
> 	We aren't really what's holding up the INL; are we?  There are a  
lot of
> schools who haven't started yet, and we should really wait for them.
> 
> ZZnew guy
> 
> PS
> Our draft is a MESS.  

CMU isn't what is holding up the INL.  The council hasn't even starting  
team applications, as far as I know.  Several schools haven't even started  
yet, so I don't see the INL starting until late sept-oct.  Of course, this  
isn't the offical INL-council word, just my opinion.

I don't think our draft is a mess.  Our draft is non-existant.  Everyone  
knows what is going on, and all the players who I have talked to are happy  
about the situation.  I am quite pleased, although it looks like Wizard  
will have more of the CMU clue, which is fine.  Some people still play to  
have fun.

Rob
aka Spaceace!
Newsgroups: rec.games.netrek