Species Log: Latorsan Nihi - The Coming of the Cosmic Sphere Lords

[GrimFinger]

Species name: Latorsan Nihi
Government name: Cosmic Sphere Lords
Government type: Benevotocracy Genetica


Log Entry 1

Thus begins the annals of the starfaring race known as the Latorsan Nihi. With the creation of the galaxy by the Cosmic Overmind, Raven Zachary, life is breathed anew into the old PBM game known as Far Horizons.

As this test game of Far Horizons proceeds forth from a state of stellar infancy, this thread will provide a space for me to share with the Ones and Alls of PBM gaming the trials, tribulations, and successes (if there be any) of my empire in this game - the Latorsan Nihi.

Long may the Cosmic Sphere Lords of the Latorsan Nihi thrive!

[Wilks]

I don't know why but I wish to know more about this Benevotocracy Genetica.

[GrimFinger]

I don't know why but I wish to know more about this Benevotocracy Genetica.

Me, too, Wilks, and I'm the one who created it. Because I was dealing with a deadline, I had to come up with a species name, a home planet name, a government name, and a government type. A decade ago, I played an iteration of this very same game, and for that game, I decided to adopt Darkseid from comic book fame as sort of my guiding inspiration for how I would play my empire. This time around, however, I decided to go another route, entirely, and just create an empire from scratch. Thus, this race and its government aren't really fleshed out, yet - with yet being the key word, here.

I wanted something different, and I wanted something that sounded a little different from what one might encounter with the other empires in the game. In fact, I wanted something that didn't exist. Benevotocracy Genetica is the government type, and the Benevo portion is derived from the word "benevolent." The tocracy portion I utilized because many different types of government that we human beings are familiar with end with "ocracy." A few examples of this are democracy, theocracy, autocracy, technocracy, and plutocracy.

Again, I wanted something different, and different sounding, thus why I didn't just stop at Benevotocracy. I wanted to add a little more verbal flair to the name, and Genetica is derived from the word "genetics," which had sort of a scientific flair to it. The letter "a" at the end of the "genetic" portion of the word "genetica" was more or less the verbal icing on the cake of it for me. Once I put it all together as Benevotocracy Genetica, it just sort of struck me as being what I would go with. The letter "a" at the end of genetica sort of reminds me of the old arcade game Galaga, or the not quite as old movie Gattaca. Those didn't really serve as inspiration at the time that I came up with it, but both of those yield a similar verbal flavor that I felt that I achieved with the word genetica.

Genetics, of course, is a branch of biology concerned with the study of genes, genetic variation, and heredity in organisms. These days, genetics and the splicing of DNA are in the news quite a lot. Thus, taken together, Benevotocracy Genetica implies a type of government that through genetic tinkering has yielded a better, more benevolent form of government.

[Wilks]

I picked up on Benevolent. I assumed Genesis.

Religion of the beginning or maybe looking for the Invisible Touch.

That's good stuff.

[GrimFinger]

Genesis - Invisible Touch, you mean?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jpmiZ7zsHXY

[Wilks]

I do. 

[GrimFinger]

So, I tried to post something here, but can't, due to some character length limit that I haven't been having in the past. It's almost one o'clock in the morning here, and trying to document my steps to figuring out how to play ends up being for naught. So damned frustrating!

Maybe I'll just miss the turn. It's a test game, anyway. I'm too tired for this nonsense.

[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.











---------------

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.

[GrimFinger]

Log Entry 3

Player's Notes

One dilemma that a new Far Horizons player faces is the issue of whether to try and increase their shipyard size on Turn #1.

From the rule book: The cost to build a shipyard is ten times the current manufacturing tech level. My empire's starting manufacturing tech level is ten.

Tech Levels:
  Manufacturing = 10

Thus, it would cost (10 x 10 = 100), in order to raise my shipyard capacity to Level 2. One hundred what, though? This is a good example of how rules that may seem obvious, at first, actually end up being confusing to players who lack familiarity with a given game. There are lots of different terms bandied about in the rule book. It really is easy to overwhelm prospective players, by simply assuming that they know which term is the proper fit, in a given instance. I don't know, and I've played the game before (approximately a decade ago).

One question that I have is, with regard to increasing the size of the shipyard, does it have to be paid for all in one turn? Or can it be paid for in installments, as with the production of other things in the game?

[GrimFinger]

Log Entry 4

Player's Notes

At almost 3:30AM, my turn orders for Turn #1 have been sent in for processing. This is one reason why it is a good idea to not wait until the proverbial last moment (or the last day), in order to try and figure out what you want your turn orders to be. Let the wise new player to Far Horizons take heed!