06-14-2013, 03:55 AM
One of the most "challenging" space empire PBM games of the 80s was Empyrean Challenge. It pushed the standards of the day to the limit in terms of informational awareness, design and customization, text reporting, team-based competition, military planning, and cost. (Mature positions could cost in excess of $10/turn -- in the 80s!)
Now it is back in the form of Cluster Wars. Original creator Vern Holford (interviewed elsewhere in these fora) has assembled a team and is recreating this beast with significant updates in terms of rules and (especially) tools. He ran game #1 of what he is calling a "pre-alpha" release, which seems to have concluded. Now game #2 is starting up, with a full roster of 20 players (I believe).
I will blog about it here in this thread. If anyone here is interested in joining, I encourage them to contact Vern (go to www.clusterwars.com for info). PBM games are usually hit with dropouts, and an early take-over of an abandoned position should find you in good shape for a full experience and an even shot at victory.
CW uses a highly customized MS Access client tool to both display every detail of your empire and provide you with power tools to craft your orders. It is, in my humble opinion, somewhat confusing. But the team has now put together a detailed tutorial to help get players through the first few turns. The first turn tutorial can be found here:
http://www.clusterwars.com/cluster-wars-tutorial
This tutorial, along with the MS Access tool, the CW web site, and the rules, suffers from deficiencies in layout, formatting, clarity, completeness, and accessibility to the uninitiated. But it more than makes up for that with enthusiasm, nuts-and-bolts knowledge-sharing, and a sense of collaboration with the development team. Like the game, it is a diamond in the rough.
The basic premise is that our star cluster is recovering from a dark age in which our old civilization crumbled and humanity shrank to a set of isolated star systems. Now, stardrive-capable civilizations are emerging on these planets simultaneously, and the race is on. Not only is this a race for control of the star cluster -- it is a race for survival. Every homeworld is approaching its population limit and death rates will soon go up. To save our people we must expand.
Unlike the old Empryean Challenge, in which 20-25 people were jammed onto one homeworld and forced to cooperate in order to face the other homeworlds in deep space, Cluster Wars grants each player an entire homeworld with a command economy. It appears we have been given a small bump in certain technologies to start with. Each player needs to set up their production lines, put together a complex interplanetary supply chain, boost technology quickly, and prepare colonizer ships to grab their share of habitable worlds, all in balance with spinning up military and naval defense forces and power-projection capabilities.
Turn 1 is out and orders are due back 6/20. Tomorrow I will post some screen-shots and review the basic approach I am taking (which, as it happens, is more or less in line with the turn 1 tutorial.)
Now it is back in the form of Cluster Wars. Original creator Vern Holford (interviewed elsewhere in these fora) has assembled a team and is recreating this beast with significant updates in terms of rules and (especially) tools. He ran game #1 of what he is calling a "pre-alpha" release, which seems to have concluded. Now game #2 is starting up, with a full roster of 20 players (I believe).
I will blog about it here in this thread. If anyone here is interested in joining, I encourage them to contact Vern (go to www.clusterwars.com for info). PBM games are usually hit with dropouts, and an early take-over of an abandoned position should find you in good shape for a full experience and an even shot at victory.
CW uses a highly customized MS Access client tool to both display every detail of your empire and provide you with power tools to craft your orders. It is, in my humble opinion, somewhat confusing. But the team has now put together a detailed tutorial to help get players through the first few turns. The first turn tutorial can be found here:
http://www.clusterwars.com/cluster-wars-tutorial
This tutorial, along with the MS Access tool, the CW web site, and the rules, suffers from deficiencies in layout, formatting, clarity, completeness, and accessibility to the uninitiated. But it more than makes up for that with enthusiasm, nuts-and-bolts knowledge-sharing, and a sense of collaboration with the development team. Like the game, it is a diamond in the rough.
The basic premise is that our star cluster is recovering from a dark age in which our old civilization crumbled and humanity shrank to a set of isolated star systems. Now, stardrive-capable civilizations are emerging on these planets simultaneously, and the race is on. Not only is this a race for control of the star cluster -- it is a race for survival. Every homeworld is approaching its population limit and death rates will soon go up. To save our people we must expand.
Unlike the old Empryean Challenge, in which 20-25 people were jammed onto one homeworld and forced to cooperate in order to face the other homeworlds in deep space, Cluster Wars grants each player an entire homeworld with a command economy. It appears we have been given a small bump in certain technologies to start with. Each player needs to set up their production lines, put together a complex interplanetary supply chain, boost technology quickly, and prepare colonizer ships to grab their share of habitable worlds, all in balance with spinning up military and naval defense forces and power-projection capabilities.
Turn 1 is out and orders are due back 6/20. Tomorrow I will post some screen-shots and review the basic approach I am taking (which, as it happens, is more or less in line with the turn 1 tutorial.)