Cluster Wars (formerly Empyrean Challenge)

[GrimFinger]

Another turn, another set of shocking revelations...

First and foremost, I have a gigantic food crisis. The tutorials cleverly neglected to warn of this, ostensibly to teach us all a lesson early in the game while there's still time to recover. Ugh.

Address the shortage of food that is occurring, ( your population is eating 1/4 of 1 food per Pop per turn)—look up food requirements—and you should be out of food this turn.
Assemble 1,250,000 Farm-1’s.

You could also use the Ration order to reduce the amount of food that they eat, however this would start producing “Rebels”. You could get away with this for a few turns, but it would be problematical.

Source: http://www.clusterwars.com/cluster-wars-tutorial

[ixnay]

Another turn, another set of shocking revelations...

First and foremost, I have a gigantic food crisis. The tutorials cleverly neglected to warn of this, ostensibly to teach us all a lesson early in the game while there's still time to recover. Ugh.

Address the shortage of food that is occurring, ( your population is eating 1/4 of 1 food per Pop per turn)—look up food requirements—and you should be out of food this turn.
Assemble 1,250,000 Farm-1’s.

You could also use the Ration order to reduce the amount of food that they eat, however this would start producing “Rebels”. You could get away with this for a few turns, but it would be problematical.

Source: http://www.clusterwars.com/cluster-wars-tutorial

That was in the turn-2 tutorial, which in its original emailed form did not include the warning about sending ships out with no food. I accept full blame for not remembering to address the food question before building those ships. But turn-2 was a little late to warn of this issue. If my theory about population hoarding food until its stockpile is complete is correct, even doubling my farms on turn 1 wouldn't have resolved the crisis fast enough to get ships outfitted so fast.

Also, one of the moderators sent a separate email about the food crisis -- and admitted that he had put it into the test configuration so long ago he hadn't remembered it himself. In that email he advised those of us who were tripped up by it to take it as a lesson learned cheaply, and that we can still get some scouting done if those starving ships move quickly.

I do not forget that this is a test game. I imagine in a real commercial game this food crisis will not be baked in. I also imagine that the rules will more clearly state how food-stockpiling works, to help players plan accordingly.

[Darth Pedro]

You will find that you get no warning about any issues until you have them.

---

I suggest you read this page in entirety.

http://empyreanchallenge.com/ECWxManual/?page_id=304

[ixnay]

I read that page fully before commenting here. It says the population attempts to build their stockpile to 4 turns worth. It doesn't say that they will grab food prior to your add-on or transfer orders. So basically you need your pop to have 4 turns worth of food before you can send any ships out. That's a major point that new players should be made aware of.

[ixnay]

Looks like they are re-running the turn today. I'll post an update here as soon as I get my hands on the rerun. I doubt it will change anything on my turn, but it might change Pool Boy's and Darth Pedro's results a bit.

[GrimFinger]

Did another turn run?

Were does it even say when the next turn is due?

[Darth Pedro]

When you get an e-mail from Vern announcing that the new Turn (or re-run Turn) is available for download, he will usually include the due data in that message UNLESS he forgets.

You can send ships out without food, they will eventually starve though. I suspect the rerun is to trap some of the errors evident in the current turn. This is NOT unusual with this "TEST" game process. If you have an issue, it is good to discuss it here but everyone really needs to file a Help Desk Ticket.

I am the editor for the manual and I have to file tickets quite often just to get clarifications of some questions I have when attempting to correctly update the document. Being a technical writer by profession, I think I am doing a good job. I also realize that the people with a long history in the game have tunnel vision and sometimes can't keep track of what is a new rule or function and what worked in a game years ago. It is complicated.

Yes, the interface software (Central Command) needs to be completely revamped and I have made suggestions along those lines as I see some of them repeated in the commentary from the newer players. I understand that Vern is involved in a long process to get that done too. It's not like he's a full time dedicated to this task. What I am doing is just for fun and because I can.

[ixnay]

You and Vern are doing great! Keep it up! Adding this sub-forum as an official communication channel for the game is a good step in development maturity. We can kibbitz and crank about the game (that we love, in spite of its problems), and hopefully keep your creative fires lit.

[Vermi]

Looks like they are re-running the turn today. I'll post an update here as soon as I get my hands on the rerun. I doubt it will change anything on my turn, but it might change Pool Boy's and Darth Pedro's results a bit.

they ran the turn again partially because some ships that should have moved did not. On the rerun - they're where they should be

[Darth Pedro]

Also some changes in Farms and Food production. Let's see if it all works correctly...mine will need to wait until Saturday morning.