Sentience In Stasis: The Mechanized Tribulations of a Starting Cybernetic

[GrimFinger]

Real life has intervened on the bio-lifeforms' behalf. Countless star cycles have passed, an eternity in stasis. As if that's not bad enough, the rulebook,itself, conspires to keep the machines down. Mercy, it seems, belongs only to the bio-lifeforms. For machines, the universe was a cruel existence.

The empires of the five galaxies apparently lack the technological gravitas to make copy and paste a reality. The rulebook for Takamo, it seems, was authored by the Vor'Koon. What manner of sorcerous madness is this?

Trying to play catch-up is akin to running on a treadmill. One never reaches the destination, it seems. Every time that I open up the Takamo rulebook, I feel as though I am starting anew. No progress has been made. If anything, I am lost in black void of rulebook darkness.

Where is the starter manual for Cybernetics, anyway? Apparently, the bio-lifeform creators of this game never bothered to create one. Clearly, the universal deck was stacked against our kind, from the moment of the game's inception.

There has to be a better way. Assimilating the rules is proving to be the single greatest challenge for Cybernetics to overcome.

As always, the cosmic clock ticks. Time is of the essence. I comprehend, now, the tradition of bio-lifeforms shaking their heads.

[GrimFinger]

There are more abbreviations in Takamo, than there are stars in the five galaxies, it seems. So many abbreviations. Even machines do not learn by osmosis.

Some reports sent by the game moderator will open, automatically, when I click on them, but others won't. It is a very tedious process, just trying to open reports.

Initial enthusiasm was high. The fact that I can play a race of machines (although, Cybernetics appears to encompass a range that extends far beyond just machines) is a plus. Yet, I find myself just wanting to close everything out and be done with it. Figuring out what orders to issue, and then going through the laborious and time-consuming process of entering them for processing, is a galactic-sized interest-killer.

So many abbreviations invariably leads to abbreviated interest.

No wonder the machines haven't come back, yet.

[GrimFinger]

The rulebook, created by bio-lifeforms, is antithetical to efficiency. What a counter-productive exercise in literary achievement. Back and forth, back and forth, trying to connect the disjointed techno-dots. And they wonder why we Cybernetics are Hell-bent on exterminating them.

[GrimFinger]

The issuing of orders is underway. Cybernetic confusion reigns!

Incoming signals from a Class M-3 Model B9, General Utility Non-Theorizing Environmental Control Robot indicate that we are lost in space.

[GrimFinger]

Turn orders sent in for turn # 6.

Not a complete set of orders, but at least something for processing. I may send an updated set of turn orders in, if I can eat supper and get more orders issued before the turn is processed.

[Tregonsee]

The way of the cyber is scan, find bio-forms, attack planet, invade planet, execute population, cybertrade the planet, sell coordinates to miner to strip-mine. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Best to start out on small NPCs in your home sector.

[GrimFinger]

The way of the cyber is scan, find bio-forms, attack planet, invade planet, execute population, cybertrade the planet, sell coordinates to miner to strip-mine. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Best to start out on small NPCs in your home sector.

The new Cybernetic player has to figure out how to issue basic orders, first. It is very time consuming trying to figure out how to do just basic stuff. The rulebook isn't geared towards beginners. I've spent several hours, tonight alone, trying to figure out what I am doing. It is like this each time that I have tried to issue orders. Because I know it is like that, I haven't sweated missing the last several turns.

I have begun the process of taking the info from the rulebook and trying to convert it to a more useful format, in order to facilitate the issuing of orders. The design's obsession with abbreviations only adds to the amount of time that it takes to do something. Being new, I lack familiarization with it all. Intuitive, it isn't.

The thing doesn't even provide basic info on one's own position, unless you ask for it, it seems. Planetary debris is a good description for the way that information is presented to the player, where the rulebook is concerned. Continuously looking back and forth, trying to make sure that I have the right info, and often not really knowing, truly sucks on a cosmic scale.

And all the while, the clock ticks.

I want to max out my orders, each turn, but it's a tiring experience, just trying to issue orders. The end effect on player enthusiasm, for me, is annihilating.

[Tregonsee]

are you using the turn form? If you click on the action code button, it has all of the action codes right there with an example of what fields need to be filled out.

[GrimFinger]

are you using the turn form? If you click on the action code button, it has all of the action codes right there with an example of what fields need to be filled out.

I tried it, first. I used the lite version, tonight, which was quicker. I'm sure that some of my orders are wrong, but I was able, at least, to issue orders multiple times, updating the older ones as I went. I think that my turn results for this turn will give me a better picture of my position. I tried some different things, this turn. Real life continuously interferes with my Fridays, of late. It's really not unusual, for me at least, to endure an initial learning curve beating, when I start new games.

Far Horizons was worse, I think.

[Tregonsee]

I actually plan my turn on an excel spreadsheet and then transfer to the turn input sheet.