05-10-2021, 05:44 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-11-2021, 02:03 AM by GrimFinger.)
Log Entry 2
Player's Notes
OK, so here I am, at 11:43PM headed towards the deadline to get my turn orders in for Turn #1, and of course, I haven't a damned clue what I am doing. Lots of eye rolling and head shaking going on here, as I try to remember why that I signed up for this? Didn't I put myself through all of this once, before? Seems like such a distant memory, now.
All players are entitled to their respective opinions, of course, and my opinion is that I have been served a plate of confusion. Not by Raven, but by the game, itself. What do I do? How do I do it? Hell, where do I do it, for that matter?
Foremost in my thoughts, at the moment, is what all do I have that I can spend? It's not clear to me. Where do I find everything that I need in one small, tidy place? The example turn that Raven made up for us definitely isn't that. Honestly, I don't know what all that I can spend. I don't know what I am doing, nor why I am doing it. If I haven't had (or found) the time to read the rule book in the span of time since I last attempted to play this game (I never understood it then, either - but, in fairness, attacking Bernd (Ixnay) didn't really require a lot of understanding).
And because I don't know what I am doing, nor what to do, the game now seems like drudgery. What I am feeling, to capture it for posterity's sake, is how one feels when they are lost, hopelessly lost. I wouldn't characterize it as despair, but rather, more along the lines of annoyance. Yet, in order to minimize dropouts of players in Far Horizons, a reduction in learning curve i a necessity, in my book. Learning curves, time sinks, and obstacles to understanding are primary candidates for reduction, just to ensure that newbies to the game of Far Horizons won't feel so inclined to abandon ship on this game, before they even really get started good. My breathing is heavier, and I wouldn't be surprised if my blood pressure has gone up, and this without me even having issued the first order, yet. If a game is a form of entertainment played in order to have fun, then I sure ain't feeling that, right now. Work. Chore. The word drudgery comes to mind, once again.
PRODUCTION ORDERS - What is it that I produce? Yeah, sure, it's in the rules, but the rules are a mass of overwhelming text, at the moment. Here is the crux of it all. The "not knowing what I am doing" is critical. I don't want to quit the game, because I don't know what to do, yet not knowing what to do is what creates and drives this build-up within me to say, "Oh, to Hell with it all!" I just want to know what to do, so that I can do it. How much time have I wasted, already, just fretting over not knowing what I should do (much less understanding why I should do it)? If I don't issue production orders, then my empire doesn't grow, and if it doesn't grow, then it will remain weak. That's my philosophical dilemma, in a nutshell, right this very moment in time. And PBM companies and PBM moderators wonder why they lose a lot of players.
HOMEWORLD - Here is what my homeworld looks like, prior to me issuing turn orders for Turn #1:
---------------
Available population units = 1500
Production penalty = 0% (LSN = 0)
Economic efficiency = 100%
Mining base = 108.2 (MI = 10, MD = 2.07)
522 raw material units will be produced this turn.
Manufacturing base = 52.3 (MA = 10)
Production capacity this turn will be 523.
Total available for spending this turn = 522 - 0 = 522
Shipyard capacity = 1
---------------
Production penalty. Production capacity. Production this, production that. Confusion atop confusion, on top of confusion. So, the "solution," if indeed there be one, is to eliminate the confusion, so that I might turn the stress of not knowing what to do into energy and interest in the game. This, more than anything else, is what would help ensure that I remain in this game for as long as possible. It is less a matter of how a rule book presents what it has to say, than what it actually says. As much as teaching someone how to play a give game, rule books are frequently the primary source of confusion for a person new to a game. The title of this game, Far Horizons, is beginning to look more and more like what understanding this game is like. Namely, the understanding that I seek is located somewhere on the far horizon. And here I am, trying to deal with issues in the real world that think nothing of consuming every waking moment, nor of devouring me whole, and the expectation is that I have to absorb this thick ass rule book by osmosis. U.N.R.E.A.L.I.S.T.I.C.!
The Hell Of Figuring Out What To Do - So, here comes the hard part. The core lamentation stated, now I must slice and dice this beast of confusion, that I might rise to the occasion. So, let's do a quick electronic search of the far Horizons rule book, to try and get a better grip on what all that my space-faring empire can produce. Thus, let's just do a quick electronic search of the rule book for the term "production," and see what that yields.
---------------
CONTENTS
4 MINING AND MANUFACTURING
4.2 PRODUCTION CAPACITY
NOTE: Copying and pasting from the PDF version of the rule book sucks. A rule book in ASCII format would work much better for this purpose. So, let's try doing this a different way, by using screen captures from the PDF rule book, rather than go with a copy and paste approach.
![[Image: Production-1.png]](http://playbymail.net/FarHorizons/Production-1.png)
![[Image: Production-2.png]](http://playbymail.net/FarHorizons/Production-2.png)
![[Image: Production-3.png]](http://playbymail.net/FarHorizons/Production-3.png)
![[Image: Production-4.png]](http://playbymail.net/FarHorizons/Production-4.png)
![[Image: Production-5.png]](http://playbymail.net/FarHorizons/Production-5.png)
---------------
NOTE: The time is now 12:35AM. This is an inefficient method, particularly when one is trying to create some kind of visual guide of this nature, while simultaneously facing a deadline. It should, however, give a basic idea of what a person who is new to the game of Far Horizons faces, when trying to utilize electronic searches of the rule book to quickly absorb a basic understanding of the game. Tedious. Time-consuming. I grow despondent.
NOTE: Actually, the time is now 1:39AM, and I figured out why I couldn't post what I wanted to post in this message. It was due to me trying to just copy and paste images directly into the body of the text of this message - something that I full well know that I can't do, but which demonstrates why trying to do things when one is very tired isn't always a good idea. Tiredness, itself, induces more frustration on top of whatever other frustration already exists, and which can be attributed to trying to compress one's learning curve by cramming too much, too quickly. I went and did some household chores, thought about it, and then I returned here to resume trying to complete this posting. I still don't have my turn orders done (I haven't even really started on them in earnest, yet), but eliminating the frustration of not being able to post in my own forum here has reignited my interest in trying to get a set of turn orders issued for Turn #1 before the deadline.
Player's Notes
OK, so here I am, at 11:43PM headed towards the deadline to get my turn orders in for Turn #1, and of course, I haven't a damned clue what I am doing. Lots of eye rolling and head shaking going on here, as I try to remember why that I signed up for this? Didn't I put myself through all of this once, before? Seems like such a distant memory, now.
All players are entitled to their respective opinions, of course, and my opinion is that I have been served a plate of confusion. Not by Raven, but by the game, itself. What do I do? How do I do it? Hell, where do I do it, for that matter?
Foremost in my thoughts, at the moment, is what all do I have that I can spend? It's not clear to me. Where do I find everything that I need in one small, tidy place? The example turn that Raven made up for us definitely isn't that. Honestly, I don't know what all that I can spend. I don't know what I am doing, nor why I am doing it. If I haven't had (or found) the time to read the rule book in the span of time since I last attempted to play this game (I never understood it then, either - but, in fairness, attacking Bernd (Ixnay) didn't really require a lot of understanding).
And because I don't know what I am doing, nor what to do, the game now seems like drudgery. What I am feeling, to capture it for posterity's sake, is how one feels when they are lost, hopelessly lost. I wouldn't characterize it as despair, but rather, more along the lines of annoyance. Yet, in order to minimize dropouts of players in Far Horizons, a reduction in learning curve i a necessity, in my book. Learning curves, time sinks, and obstacles to understanding are primary candidates for reduction, just to ensure that newbies to the game of Far Horizons won't feel so inclined to abandon ship on this game, before they even really get started good. My breathing is heavier, and I wouldn't be surprised if my blood pressure has gone up, and this without me even having issued the first order, yet. If a game is a form of entertainment played in order to have fun, then I sure ain't feeling that, right now. Work. Chore. The word drudgery comes to mind, once again.
PRODUCTION ORDERS - What is it that I produce? Yeah, sure, it's in the rules, but the rules are a mass of overwhelming text, at the moment. Here is the crux of it all. The "not knowing what I am doing" is critical. I don't want to quit the game, because I don't know what to do, yet not knowing what to do is what creates and drives this build-up within me to say, "Oh, to Hell with it all!" I just want to know what to do, so that I can do it. How much time have I wasted, already, just fretting over not knowing what I should do (much less understanding why I should do it)? If I don't issue production orders, then my empire doesn't grow, and if it doesn't grow, then it will remain weak. That's my philosophical dilemma, in a nutshell, right this very moment in time. And PBM companies and PBM moderators wonder why they lose a lot of players.
HOMEWORLD - Here is what my homeworld looks like, prior to me issuing turn orders for Turn #1:
---------------
Available population units = 1500
Production penalty = 0% (LSN = 0)
Economic efficiency = 100%
Mining base = 108.2 (MI = 10, MD = 2.07)
522 raw material units will be produced this turn.
Manufacturing base = 52.3 (MA = 10)
Production capacity this turn will be 523.
Total available for spending this turn = 522 - 0 = 522
Shipyard capacity = 1
---------------
Production penalty. Production capacity. Production this, production that. Confusion atop confusion, on top of confusion. So, the "solution," if indeed there be one, is to eliminate the confusion, so that I might turn the stress of not knowing what to do into energy and interest in the game. This, more than anything else, is what would help ensure that I remain in this game for as long as possible. It is less a matter of how a rule book presents what it has to say, than what it actually says. As much as teaching someone how to play a give game, rule books are frequently the primary source of confusion for a person new to a game. The title of this game, Far Horizons, is beginning to look more and more like what understanding this game is like. Namely, the understanding that I seek is located somewhere on the far horizon. And here I am, trying to deal with issues in the real world that think nothing of consuming every waking moment, nor of devouring me whole, and the expectation is that I have to absorb this thick ass rule book by osmosis. U.N.R.E.A.L.I.S.T.I.C.!
The Hell Of Figuring Out What To Do - So, here comes the hard part. The core lamentation stated, now I must slice and dice this beast of confusion, that I might rise to the occasion. So, let's do a quick electronic search of the far Horizons rule book, to try and get a better grip on what all that my space-faring empire can produce. Thus, let's just do a quick electronic search of the rule book for the term "production," and see what that yields.
---------------
CONTENTS
4 MINING AND MANUFACTURING
4.2 PRODUCTION CAPACITY
NOTE: Copying and pasting from the PDF version of the rule book sucks. A rule book in ASCII format would work much better for this purpose. So, let's try doing this a different way, by using screen captures from the PDF rule book, rather than go with a copy and paste approach.
---------------
NOTE: The time is now 12:35AM. This is an inefficient method, particularly when one is trying to create some kind of visual guide of this nature, while simultaneously facing a deadline. It should, however, give a basic idea of what a person who is new to the game of Far Horizons faces, when trying to utilize electronic searches of the rule book to quickly absorb a basic understanding of the game. Tedious. Time-consuming. I grow despondent.
NOTE: Actually, the time is now 1:39AM, and I figured out why I couldn't post what I wanted to post in this message. It was due to me trying to just copy and paste images directly into the body of the text of this message - something that I full well know that I can't do, but which demonstrates why trying to do things when one is very tired isn't always a good idea. Tiredness, itself, induces more frustration on top of whatever other frustration already exists, and which can be attributed to trying to compress one's learning curve by cramming too much, too quickly. I went and did some household chores, thought about it, and then I returned here to resume trying to complete this posting. I still don't have my turn orders done (I haven't even really started on them in earnest, yet), but eliminating the frustration of not being able to post in my own forum here has reignited my interest in trying to get a set of turn orders issued for Turn #1 before the deadline.