From: jtgorman@cs.arizona.edu (J. Taggart Gorman)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.games
Subject: Re: Looking For Spaceward Ho! 3.0 Suggestions
Date: 28 Jul 92 22:00:10 GMT
Reply-To: jtgorman@cs.arizona.edu (J. Taggart Gorman)
Organization: Organization?  We don't need no steenking organization!
Discliamer: Upon my being captured or killed, my professors will
            disavow any knowledge of me, my statements, and/or
            my mission.


In article <meharg.712349217@sfu.ca>,
Citizen meharg@fraser.sfu.ca (Gersham William Meharg) writes :
>Spaceward ho is an awesome game, now that version 3.0 is coming out It
>has the potential to be even better. Heres some suggestions:
>
>3. Technology isnt very good when building ships - who uses less than
>maximum shields or weapons when building ships. The only reason would
>be to adjust the mini if you are short on metal or cash. It makes those
>scroll bars useless if they are always put to maximum.  My suggestion 
>would be to only let the user set the mini technology and pick a hull
>type. Add some hull types replace fighters with frigates, destroyers,   
>battleships (and Deathstars!, maybe not).  They would differ in price
>metal and combat capability (possibly allieviate problem 2 above).

  I have to disagree with this, as I am sure, a few other will.

  I will always use full tech to build fighters, but in my style of playing, I
have one big fleet of fighters.  When I go after an opponent, I destroy one
planet every second or third turn.  I then colonize, if it will do me good,
then I move on.  If the enemy attacks the planet, I might be to far away to go
back and take it, so I have a "hole" in my conquests.  Since I have so many
planets and most can take an attack from several high tech fighters, I ignore
the missing planets.  Later, when I want to completely destroy the player, I
have to check every one of these planets.  Do it by jumping from star to star?
No, takes to long.  Disperse the fighter fleet?  No, they are best in large
groups, plus they can be beating up elsewhere.  So what do I do?
  I build scouts with the highest range, speed, and shields, but I give them
a weapon tech just high enough to destroy the current enemy ships I encounter.
Sure, it takes 40 rounds to destroy a planet, but I need only one scout and
I have not stripped my war effort of any fighters.

  Another use of "low tech" is when you find one of those players that does
nothing but build.  You know, the planets with 500 6/6 satellites.  (How the
hell does the computer do that?  I swear that is cheating, since they never
leave their planet, but somehow have found 100,000 metal on their own planet.)
So I build 100 10/10s even though I have 30/30 tech.  Numbers over high tech.

  And, if there was a way to protect those colony ships, I'd build a few 1/1
colony ships for backwater duty...  (hint, hint!)

  So please, DT, don't remove the sliders.  Some of us _do_ use 'em!

|--------------------------------|    "If you were happy all of your life,
|      J. Taggart Gorman Jr.     |     you wouldn't be human - you'd be a
| jtgorman@caslon.cs.arizona.edu |     game show host."
|--------------------------------|             Winona Ryder, in _Heathers_