Lamentations of the Damned: Playing Far Horizons for the very first time

ENTRY ONE

Oh, woe is me!

Here I sit, with approximately a day remaining until my first set of turn orders for Far Horizons: The Awakening (Galaxy Alpha) are due. In all honesty, I haven't a clue as to what I am doing. I haven't read the manual. I have only skimmed over the Strategy Guide and Getting Started guide. Surely, I am damned in this game!

A quick glance at the Far Horizons website reveals many things and much detail, including a sample turn report. But, this is not what I need. None of it is what I need! Dammit all to Hell, the universe, itself, conspires against me! Where are the sample turn orders that a newbie to the game, like myself, needs??? Doesn't the game's moderator realize that we aren't all experienced Far Horizons players from the days of PBM olde, and that we haven't all absorbed the game manual by osmosis - yet?

I know that I've already downloaded the game manual. Yet, where is it when I need it? Looks like it's time to download it, once again - at a raging Internet dial-up connect speed of 16.8K. This will apparently take something on the order of thirty-seven years to download. Things are not looking so good for my empire, heading into turn # 1. I'll bet that one of those alien races out there with me in this game have swooped in and made off with the copy of the game manual that I downloaded previously. I did download it, didn't I? I know I did. I'm certain. I'm absolutely positive.

Yet, doubt lingers.

Oh, great! Just great. My download encountered a problem, so the game manual download is an aborted mission. I am beset by woe. This is no way to run a galactic empire. Far Horizons hates me. It's the game moderator's fault, no doubt. Is it merely coincidence that all of these problems are happening only to me? Can you say C-O-N-S-P-I-R-A-C-Y?

Well, I can't do anything, until I manage to successfully download that manual.

Time to go to Plan B.

The game moderator has the game manual up on his website in HTML format. So, no problem. Right?

Wrong-a-mundo!! The entire manual for the game in HTML format is not yet finished. Whatever is that game moderator up to? Is this any way to run a game? My God, man! Snap out of it!!

And they wonder why people miss getting their turn orders in on time.

NOTE: FAR HORIZONS is a strategic role-playing play-by-email (PBEM) game of galactic exploration, trade, diplomacy, and conquest. The first and second editions were designed for play by postal mail. Later editions were designed for play by electronic mail. The seventh edition rules and source code were released in 1999 by Rick Morneau.

I understand the frustration took me a good 4 weeks to understand everything myself even with the rules. Still pretty much a novice since this will only be my third attempt. But anyways I happen to have a copy of teh rules on my machine that I will attempt to attach.. I hope it clears some stuff up but will also confuse you lol. The charts the GM uploaded to his site is also extremely helpful

I have to say this game looks really good.
I have just signed up for a game of Starweb, I dont have more free time to play another game.

I do hope you share your gaming experience with the potential players on this website! :D

Looking forward to it.

[quote='Wolvar' pid='298' dateline='1300594165']
I understand the frustration took me a good 4 weeks to understand everything myself even with the rules. Still pretty much a novice since this will only be my third attempt. But anyways I happen to have a copy of teh rules on my machine that I will attempt to attach.. I hope it clears some stuff up but will also confuse you lol. The charts the GM uploaded to his site is also extremely helpful
[/quote]

That version of the rules is actually out of date. The most up to date version will always be at this link:

Updated Game Manual

Note, the rules haven't change, but there were lots of formatting changes. The latest one is much easier to read and use as a reference guide.

Edit: Hm, I saw that the large size of the rules is causing some problems on slower connections. I can split it up into multiple documents.

I found a copy of the rules on this website here: http://cetnerowski.com/farhorizons/pmwiki/pmwiki.php (I think this belongs to either jdukat or prozenfeld)

Be careful, there are some spam postings on the wiki. That website should work until I can finish copying it into the FH website.

Edit: The link to the PDF (this one) now points to a new copy that is much smaller in size (500KB). I will work on splitting it up into smaller PDFs and posting them.

ENTRY TWO

Yesterday, I attempted, yet again, to download the Game Manual for Far Horizons. I managed to get over half-way there, before disaster struck once more. Egads! Something sinister is afoot, here.

Resolute and undeterred, I initiated a download of the Game Manual for the third time. Simultaneously, I had the master brain of my computer to begin an automated search of every last nook, cranny, and crevice of my computer's two hard drives, to try and uncover the copy of the Game Manual that I had downloaded successfully a while back.

Bingo!

I began to flip through the pages of the electronic Game Manual, its PDF pages seeking to enlighten my brain orb, only to no avail. The brain rot had already begun to set in, apparently, so osmosis would not be an option for this game.

Damn!! I could hear game moderator Casey smirking at my galactic misfortune. I make a mental note to nuke his home planet from orbit.

Finally, the due date had arrived. Turn orders had to be in at a pre-determined time. So, in the finest tradition of PBM gamers down through the rich and colorful history of postal genre gaming, I headed off to work, instead.

Due date? What's that??

One of my fellow players in this game of Far Horizons must have unleashed a nanobot attack upon my memory, a bio-organic brain decay organism of some type. It may even have been a DNA-code bomb. Clearly, these bastards were playing for keeps! The thought occurred to me that the game moderator may be in cahoots with them. Things began to be more clear, now. It all began to make sense. Some nefarious hive mind was what I faced. This was going to be an uphill climb.

At T+ several, I finally managed to fire off a set of turn orders, oblivious to the relevance of any of it. True to form, my orders contained errors. There was no pleasing Casey. Damn him! Damn his game!

In an act that can only be called cosmic manipulation, the game moderator identified my error, and got me set upon the path of the straight and narrow. At long last, my turn results finally found me,a nd I opened them immediately.

Unfortunately, the transmission had been garbled. Frantic, I began to panic. Think, man! Think!!

Reaching for the activation button of another software program, I managed to de-scramble the mess, and at long, long last, my wait was over. Power coursed through my veins. I had defied all odds. I had survived the event, with nary a scratch.

I had managed to actually issue orders that worked. A magnificent space vessel now awaited my command. My research had already begun to pay off. Oh, Hell yes!! The collective efforts of all of my empire's enemies had been for naught.

Now, if I only really understood what I should be doing, to chart a winning course for my empire.

From a far corner of space, misery mocked me. It just stood there, taunting me. Heckling me like a galaxy-sized fool. It could have at least explained to me what a "normal" first set of turn orders should look like.

I've got a gnawing feeling that my empire has fallen behind, already.

All that I can say is.....Damn!!

ENTRY THREE

I have one day left, before the next turn orders are due in to the grandmaster of processing. My empire built a ship, last turn. Now, what to do with it?

Do I need to load it with anything? What am I missing, here? I really must make time to read that game manual, someday. I've browsed over it. I've glanced at it. I've even revisited it. But, I'm missing something. I'm missing a lot, actually.

Why? Because I don't even know how to move that ship of mine. The damned thing is capable of faster than light (FTL) travel between star systems, and I don't even know how to turn the ignition over on the thing. This new-fangled technology, I'm telling ya.

Manual, manual, manual. Now, where's that manual, again. I found it, last turn. Now, it's time for me to find it, again. Pah. Such unnecessary complications make galactic conquest far more difficult than it has to be. I hope like Hell that I don't have to read a star chart. It's not a language that I speak.

Well, I found the game manual, all right. Big help that was!! Oh, my God! I still have no clue what I should do. I need to colonize something. The only question is - what??? What? What?? What???

There are multiple planets in my home star system. Should I colonize those other planets, before launching towards the stars, in the hope of finding the right chunk of rock? Or, can I even colonize those other planets in my home system? If I can't, then what use are they in the game? Clearly, I am missing something.

I have found the section in the game manual on starting a colony. Apparently, I need Colonist Units (CU), Colonial Mining Units (IU), and Colonial Manufacturing Units (AU). That's all fine and dandy, but it's not really what I'm looking for. The game manual is 86 pages. Suffice it to say that I think that the game manual could be improved upon - a lot! It's probably fine for people who already understand what they need to do. It's not very good, in my considered opinion, at getting the new guy up and running quickly. It comes as no surprise to me that one player "had to drop out," before turn # 1. I can sympathize.

I understand why the Far Horizons website has an example of turn results on it. It lets other people - other potential players - get a basic idea of what they might see each turn, if they join and play the game. But, it is of zero use to the new guy who's faced with the uphill climb to sort this whole ball of wax out. Example turn orders, that's what they need. Example turn orders. Can you say example turn orders? Neither can the game's moderator, apparently.

Why does the new guy to the game need such? Because, he hasn't a clue as to what in the Hell he is supposed to do, in order to accomplish something that he thinks that he wants to do. At least, if he's anything like me, that's probably the case. That's the case with me, right now.

I simply want to move the ship that I built, and colonize a new planet. Sounds relatively uncomplicated, right? Wrong! Oh, baby, you got that one big time wrong! Big time!!

You know, I could get my turn orders in much quicker, if I only understood what I needed to do. Because the game has the benefit of being automated, that translates into us human creatures having to be exact with how we issue our orders for our respective empires. Screw it up, and you will receive error messages or what you want to do simply won't get done - and then you will begin to fall behind. Now, you tell me - if you're civilization might just end up on some alien space race's menu of destruction, then would you want your people to fall behind? Now, you begin to see my point, huh?

Damned game moderator!

I am going to take a break, and let my nerves calm down. This dilemma of trying to establish a colony has got me all on edge. I need a Marlboro - and I don't even smoke!!

Good idea. I'll start compiling some example orders along the lines of "How to do X"

Don't worry too much about errors in your orders. I watch them as they come in and will reply if it looks like you need it. If it comes to processing time and there are still errors, then in some cases I can manually fix simple problems.

Edit: See the new page http://fh.binaryelysium.com/How_do_I...

By the way, I like these posts (drama aside :P), because it helps identify trouble areas new players will run into. So I'll be attempting to fix them as you find them.

[quote='Ramblurr' pid='349' dateline='1300802554']
Edit: See the new page http://fh.binaryelysium.com/How_do_I...
[/quote]

Trying to avoid hijacking an interesting story, I created a thread with comments here: http://playbymail.net/mybb/showthread.php?tid=102

Entry Four

Here it is, with me tired as Hell and my body wanting me to head off to bed, and I remain stumped. Things are not nearly so obvious as some might think that they seem.

I have no idea if I should try to colonize other planets in my home solar system, or if I should launch a rocket ship to another star's solar system, and then try to colonize there. Which is better? I have no clue. I don't know what I'm doing, and I find no shame in admitting such.

I know that I need to do something. Maybe I should just pour all of my money into research. Or is money the correct term for it, for whatever it is that I am spending. The game manual is nearby. I do not consider it to be my friend.

I built a ship, last turn. Should I even bother to move it? Or should I wait? Maybe I should wait to move it, until I figure out what I am doing. Can a ship rust in space? Maybe what I created was a derelict, a floating space hulk, of a sort.

The game moderator doesn't like the drama of these postings of mine, in this thread. But, I don't like not knowing what I am doing, so that makes us even, I guess. Surely, there's got to be a better way, than the new guy (namely, myself) being left to sort it all out by themself.

If I want to move my shop to another star, is that when I will learn what planets orbit those stars? I assume so, but I really don't know.

There's so much that I don't know. There's more that I don't know than that I do know, about this game. Maybe I will grasp it, in due time. Perhaps it awaits me there, just over far horizons.

Entry Five

Well, the need for sleep ended up winning out over the desire to issue a perfected set of turn orders for the turn of Far Horizons due this morning, so a rather hastily cobbled Frankenstein set of turn orders were fired off in the direction of the game moderator, mere moments ago. Since the deadline for turn processing was less than an hour away, I felt that having some orders in were better than having no orders in, so Fate will have to have its way with my empire in the coming turn.

Lest one of those other players (the bastards that they are) seek to launch a surprise attack upon my homeworld so early into the game, an investment in planetary defenses seemed prudent. Plus, it also meant that I would get to try something new (new for me, anyway), this turn.

After sending my turn orders in, I decided to take a casual stroll of the Far Horizons website. Something caught my eye! What was it? A Player Tools section. Something foul is afoot, no doubt. Is this the game moderator's way of giving other players in the game an advantage over me? Doesn't the fool realize that they are likely conspiring, already?? Clearly, it may become necessary to fight fire with fire. I may just begin to dabble with such artifacts, myself. What then, conspiring fools upon your padded galactic thrones? Where will you be then, when your own swords of advantage are turned against you?

Oh, my God! There's a spreadsheet included amongst these player tools for the game. I hate spreadsheets. Oh, how I detest them! I don't know if I'm quite so desperate, yet, to subject myself to such insane cruelty and such infinite misery, as compelling myself to make use of a spreadsheet, in order to play this game.

And did I mention that I don't know whether I list START PRODUCTION once on my turn orders, and END in order to end production for all items just once, or if I need to do it as I tried to do it, with several instances of each, just for production issues. Why isn't this covered in that dad-burned magical game manual that the game moderator touts so much on the game's website? It is a manual of confusion, no doubt. Rick Morneau wrote that manual long ago, just to cause madness, I believe. Could it be that the game manual, itself, is an instrument of Chaos? GASP!! I dare say that it is so.

I didn't receive an automated message in my e-mail in-box that my turn orders had errors in them, unlike the previous turn. Automated error messages, indeed! More of an automated gloat system, if you ask me, all the more to increase the players' misery with, no doubt. Is there no end to such treachery?

My empire remains, yet alive, albeit not exactly prospering. What is prospering, within the context of this game, anyway? I mean, what's normal at this stage of the game? I'll guarantee you that there are people in this game, right now, that have already embarked upon a military build-up. In the days of PBM olde, we called them calculating bastards. Their kind's not dead. Their kind will never die. They're watching us all, right now. Plotting. Scheming. Planning. Their only interest is our collective doom.

Eternal vigilance - that's me and my measly little planet. An empire of but one singular world, a speck adrift in the ocean of deep space.

Entry Six

Well, along comes game moderator Casey to the rescue, once again - late as usual. He was probably wolfing down a banana cream pie, or slurping a margarita with a pink umbrella in it, while my empire's efforts to burst free from its galactic shrink wrap ground to a halt.

No colonist units were built (Exactly how does one "build" a colonist, anyway? Are we all robots, or something?). Even worse, no planetary defenses were erected. Fool!! Does he not comprehend the magnitude of the threats posed to my empire's homeworld by space aliens? Has he never watched any of those alien invasion movies of cinematic fame? Damn his game moderating hide!

OK, OK, so the game only looks at the first START PRODUCTION section, and it ignores any additional ones that the player tries to tack on. God forbid that anyone put that in the game manual, apparently. Or was it there, all long, and I merely overlooked it. How do we know for sure that this is the game manual that Rick Morneau actually wrote? Could it be that Casey, our illustrious game moderator, has grafted some type of alien technology runes over top of Rick Morneau's typewriter efforts? I'll be keeping an eye on this Casey fellow.

So, now we all head into the next turn, with one poor fellow's homeworld utterly bereft of planetary defenses - namely, my own. Never mind the vulnerability of being in such a conspicuous situation. I am in a galaxy teeming full of alien races Hell bent on my empire's utter destruction and my people's absolute annihilation, and here I continue to sit with a grand defense of zero. I would rather dine on Brylcreem.

While I await the invasion forces of my as-yet-unseen alien enemies, it's back to the drawing board for me.

In light this misfortune I've updated the orders verifier to detect duplicate sections and spit out an error message.

ENTRY SEVEN

Here I am, well ahead of schedule, and I have launched my turn orders for the next turn of Far Horizons: The Awakening towards the game moderator. Heathen dogs of the galaxy, know that my power is great! Perhaps I am progress well, after all.

I have discovered that the game manual did state the following: "Each section of the orders begins with a START command and ends with an END command. Each section should only appear ONCE." OK, OK, so it was in the game manual. I found it at the bottom of page # 6 of the game manual. Galactic domination cannot be impeded. We proceed forward, faster than the speed of light.

Now, watch old Casey tell me that I did something else wrong, this turn. Hey, just be glad that I am getting my turn orders in on time.

Sleep beckons me.

ENTRY EIGHT

Orders parsed successfully - No errors found. That was the auto-message that I received, yesterday, after sending my most recent set of turn orders off to the game moderator of Far Horizons: The Awakening. Now, here it is, Sunday morning, and where are the results of those very same orders? Nowhere to be found, of course. I make a mental note to myself to cane the game moderator severely, for this episode.

In related unrelated news, I see that Ixnay has revealed himself to be in this game with me. Unworthy of ruling an empire from scratch, Ixnay suffered the indignity of having a drop-out position pawned off on him. Hah! Fool and miscreant! His species name is the Consortium, and his empire's government type is Hierarchal Xenocracy. Exactly what the Hell is that, anyway? Is he some kind of zenomorph? Is that one of those things in the Aliens movie series? Or is that like some kind of smurf on alien crack?

Regardless, he's already bragging about moving forward with colonizing another planet. The greedy bastard!! I always figured him for the scheming type, anyway. I'll be keeping an eye out for any spaceships piloted by whacked out smurfs.

Now...where's my turn results?

[quote='Ramblurr' pid='304' dateline='1300629542']

Note, the rules haven't change

[/quote]

Where's the fun in that? The players' questions never change, so it's up to you to change the answers.

ENTRY NINE

Mere minutes before the perceived deadline, I hastily cobble together a bare bones set of turn orders, and launch them into oblivion towards the game moderator.

Beset by confusion, I rebel against calculated attempts by other players to confuse me, and fore go consideration of most options in the game. Does this type of approach jeopardize my empire? Most certainly. However, at least momentarily it sates the beast inside of me which begins to grumble, and which seeks to influence me to drop out of the game.

For the time being, interplanetary flight and colonization are out of the question. I'm lost - lost in space, and find myself cursing Jon Ogden for not progressing faster with Rimworlds. Fully comprehending the current game that I am in appears to be an event that lies somewhere over the far horizons of the future. I begin to wonder if Far Horizons' creator, Rick Morneau, was sinister enough to intentionally craft such confusion into the rules of his game. Surely, his legacy shall endure forever!

The only excitement in my turn, this time around, came in the form of the game moderator, Casey (apparently the very same one who wrecked the train in the ditch), became so flabbergasted, himself, that he botched things on his end, deleting turn orders already sent, and as if that wasn't bad enough, he also sent an announcement out via e-mail, but inadvertently ended up revealing who all of the players in the game are.

Oh, my God!! How funny was that?! I tried to tell him that this game was confusing, but did he listen? Oh, Hell no! Now, he knows, though. Now, the beast has bitten him squarely on the ass.

Oh, and did I mention that my turn orders for the last turn, the ones that yielded the auto-messages sent back to me via e-mail of, Orders parsed successfully - No errors found, ended up having errors in them, after all? I just can't win, it seems.

On a positive note, the game moderator was kind enough to send me back an edited version of the last turn' orders that I sent him, so that I could compare what I had tried to do with what I had intended to do. That was helpful. It doesn't pull back the massive cloud of confusion that has set in, but it was helpful, just the same.

Oh, oh, oh....What's this? While I am in the middle of writing this entry log, I check my e-mail, and it appears that I have managed to bungle my turn orders that I sent in only this morning, also. Oh, dammit it all to Hell!!

Screw it! I'll take a maintenance turn with nothing accomplished, this last turn.

And just when I thought that the cloud of confusion was beginning to recede. BAM!! Mega-cloud expands in size a zillion fold.

Doomed! We are all doomed, I tell ya.

Screw it! I'm going to go and find something to eat.

[quote='GrimFinger' pid='386' dateline='1300882171']
Entry Four

I have no idea if I should try to colonize other planets in my home solar system, or if I should launch a rocket ship to another star's solar system, and then try to colonize there. Which is better? I have no clue. I don't know what I'm doing, and I find no shame in admitting such.

[/quote]

FWIW, as a designer, I might allow a second planet in a system to produce something that is really useful, but the possibility that a second really good colony planet would appear in the home system would be programmed out of existence. It would give that player too big an advantage.

[quote='JonO' pid='597' dateline='1301493078']
FWIW, as a designer, I might allow a second planet in a system to produce something that is really useful, but the possibility that a second really good colony planet would appear in the home system would be programmed out of existence. It would give that player too big an advantage.
[/quote]

Yup, that's how it works in FH too. Home systems are a special case, generated after the rest of the galaxy, and have restrictions to prevent great potential colony planets from appearing in a home system. Though, they can become more useful at higher tech levels.

ENTRY TEN

Revenge is mine, damn you!! Galactic heathen, take note, for a small glimmer of hope finally shatters the fog of confusion - even if it proves to only be a temporary reprieve.

A multi-point jump this turn in one area researched signals success. Clearly, my empire is on the straight and narrow, once more, for we have finally managed to achieve something that rings loudly within us as progress. This is one techno-rune that we have solved, and power floods through to our souls. We are lifted by the iron fist of destiny. We bask in the glory and triumph of the moment.

Power is ours!

Power.....is.....MINE!!!

ROFL

ENTRY ELEVEN

Here it is, late as Hell, as I sit here trying to figure out what my empire's next set of turn orders for Far Horizons: The Awakening will look like.

This turn, I decide that I will try to move some ships, and I have discovered the Orders Verifier that game moderator Casey has tucked away on the Far Horizons website.

Talk about a pain in the ass! Man, I'm not trying to conquer the whole galaxy in just one turn. All that I want to do is to move some starships around. The JUMP command that I issue seems to pass the Orders Verifier just fine, but trying to move a starship from one planet in my home star system to another planet in my home star system doesn't seem to want to work, no matter how many times that I review the Game Manual.

I'm tired. I'm starting to get a headache. I start to question whether it's even worth it. I just want to move a ship. It's very tedious trying to figure out such bare bones basic tasks. It just drains the fun right out of it. I've got to go to bed, soon. I still don't know what I'm doing.

In all honesty, I can't say as I blame you for your frustration. The explanation of how to give a jump order sucks scissors sideways. It is possible that a player should know what all the codes in the examples mean, but as my first sergeant use to tell me, "Assumption is the mother of all foul-ups."

What the bleep is a PB or an FF??? (my guess is they are a type of ship like "Patrol Boat" or "Flying Fortress" but they could be anything and there's sure nothing in the section that explains what they are.) Again, what's a "Benjamin Franklin?" The face on the amount of currency you must send to the GM to get the order to go through??? (My guess this time is that it is the name of the starship, but there's nothing in that rules segment that supports that opinion.)

I am not suggesting that every section of the rules has to explain over again what all the codes are, but there should be an identifier explanation as well as an example. Something like: "A jump order consists of the ship's type-code followed by at least one space, followed by the ship's name, followed a comma and at least one space, followed by a destination code which can be the system's Cartesian coordinates ( x y z --spaces, no commas in-between) or by the code for planet ('PL') followed by a space, followed by the name of the planet."

Of course I have no idea if I have correctly identified the codes, but if there was something like this immediately preceding the examples, I suspect frustration would be lowered. Better still of course would be the UI that RAM is designing that wouldn't let you input anything that wasn't machine readable and doable by your ship.

By the way, I have no idea whether or not the player is supposed to type "START JUMPS ; Place jump orders here." and "END" or if they are part of the turn sheet. That may simply be the fact that I jumped into reading Movement Rules instead of RTFM from the beginning.

Grim, well you seemed to have puzzled it out, because your jumps went through this turn! :)

As for confusion with the syntax, that is the entire reason I created the How Do I... page, that succinctly explains the syntax of various orders with complete examples. I already linked this page earlier in this thread. If there is still confusion after referencing that page, then please let me know. We've already established the manual is not a good player guide. Please utilize the supplementary materials I've provided, and complain about them, so I can improve them.

Regarding the class abbreviations, yes it is unfortunate the original game designer chose to make those so prominent. There is a class abbreviations list . To make things even more clear, any time an abbreviations occurs on the wiki a simple mouse-over will provide a definition.

Before mouse-over -- After mouse-ver

Your "How Do I" is exactly what needs to be there. (Until you get your UI up.)

[quote='JonO' pid='697' dateline='1301838739']
By the way, I have no idea whether or not the player is supposed to type "START JUMPS ; Place jump orders here." and "END" or if they are part of the turn sheet. That may simply be the fact that I jumped into reading Movement Rules instead of RTFM from the beginning.
[/quote]

To counter this confusion I present the Orders Format page!

Do you need to start each section with a semicolon?

Um, no. ; denotes a comment. I thought I made that clear in the text:(

This would be a complete and valid, but empty, section:

START COMBAT

END

Do you know how I can word it to make it more precise?

Shades of INI files.

There is no reason why you shouldn't use whatever symbol for non-executable state you wish.

Question: Is it truly non-executable? i.e. if my turn shows up with a line commented out with a semicolon will it be ignored by the computer?

FWIW In an example, I would show only what is necessary to the example and any form of comment would exist outside of the example, but I am not sure that is more than personal preference. Maybe someone else has a thought.

[quote='JonO' pid='725' dateline='1301922958']
Question: Is it truly non-executable? i.e. if my turn shows up with a line commented out with a semicolon will it be ignored by the computer?
[/quote]
Lines starting with semicolon are removed during preprocessing before parsing.

The only time when comments may affect turn processing is when the comment line is (too) long - it may be split and the remainder of the line (without semicolon) might be executed. Most of the time such gibberish will be discarded by game parser with an error, unless you happen to create a valid command that way ...

[quote='prozenfeld' pid='726' dateline='1301923728']
unless you happen to create a valid command that way ...
[/quote]

Don't you just hate it when that happens? :)

ENTRY TWELVE

My empire continues to suffer under the Curse of the Moderator, a soulless entity that appears to be mindless, as well, since he suffers under the self-imposed delusion that I have "puzzled it out." The truth of the matter lies at the far end of the galaxy from the game moderator's understanding of the dilemma that I find myself in.

To make matters worse, to add insult to injury, Ixnay the Space Pheasant preens ceaselessly from the Blog Hell of the Consortium of his empire's good fortune in traversing and colonizing the galaxy. This Cockapea's conspiracy does not go unnoticed! With methodical mindlessness, he treads the path to intergalactic Hell. Conflagration awaits his Consortium ilk and the disease of their spread to other worlds. Like common vermin, the Consortium must be eradicated. No trace of their species' worthless existence will be left intact, 'ere this conflict is over.

In exceedingly ancient techno-runes, the secret to planetary colonization lies. What manner of madness is this game manual? It is a Consortium plot, no doubt, one that was left to lie in wait to ambush us, in our bid to conquer the stars. Foolish cretins! How brazen they are in their deceit, but we are not lambs to be led so easily to slaughter. When I, at long last, hold their homeworld in my grip, then shall they know the power that is but my own to command!

The worldforge that is my empire's industry now grows by leaps and bounds. If need be, I shall ravage my empire's homeworld to obtain the implements of war necessary to smite these Consortium fools. Such a small price to pay for galactic greatness.

What's this? FOOLS!! Can you not be entrusted with even the simplest of tasks? Why do I tolerate your weakness? You dare bring word to me that one of our starships has mis-jumped? You think me gullible? You live to serve me. I am not blind to Consortium sabotage. This is an act of war!

ENTRY THIRTEEN

Once more into the fray of issuing orders for my empire. The denizens of my realm are lost without me. Mere minions, they be.

How very unfortunate, then, that translation of the techno-rune that is the game manual for Far Horizons: The Awakening remains incomplete. Confound the race of extra-dimensional devils that created it!

Planetary colonization. Ah, a novel concept. My empire has mastered faster than light travel, yet my minions are clumsy in their attempts to colonize other worlds. How is it that we have mastered the stars, yet remain slaves of mere planets? My wrath shall be great, my fury truly on a galactic scale, if these obstacles to intergalactic greatness are not overcome soon.

The Consortium's man pigs snort loudly of their expertise in this area. Pah! Their celebration of their accomplishments shall be cut short by my war fleets. We shall see how well these fools celebrate, when they lie dying in the rubble heaps that were once their cities.

But, how is it that these miserable creatures, this sniveling upstart of a species, has managed to progress so fast? Conspiracy!! Clearly, they are in league with others. They receive aid and assistance from others, from some other space-faring species. My spies fail me. I grow displeased, once more.

And where is that confounded game moderator, anyway? He tests my patience. It has been a full minute. Where are my empire's turn results??

Why must I suffer the indignity of being beset by such fools?

ENTRY FOURTEEN

Confusion reigns!! What an utterly confusing game. Last turn, my ships jumped and scanned, just fine. This time around, nothing. I am miffed. I am befuddled. I am lost - lost in space, once again.

I had a tech level to increase on its own, this turn. I also have the technology, now, to build some kind of gun turret. I don't want to build that turret, though. Thumbs down! Thumbs down! Thumbs down! I think that I will print this set of turn results out, just so that I can crumple it up and toss it into the trash can.

Can somebody invade my homeworld and eliminate me, already?

I did an electronic search of the rulebook, just now, and I don't see any mention of the word turret in it. My empire doesn't build turrets. Will we be able to build widgets, next? How about cogs? Or sprockets?

Cogsworth Cogs, here I come!

Meet George Jetson...

Section A of the Rulebook is titled "High Tech Items and Capabilities"
A.4 on page 75 is titled "Auxiliary Gun Units"
"A species with a Military tech level of at least 10 may build Auxiliary Gun Units. These units are carried as
cargo and add to a warship's existing offensive power. Basically, these units can be used to convert unused
cargo space into additional offensive capacity."

I have to admit that I'm confused about how you can have such a hard time with this game. I have never before played this game, but I read the manual and read the Getting Started guides and I began playing with little trouble. Perhaps my Computer Science schooling makes it easier for me to understand and fill out the orders. Or perhaps I just have far more free time on my hands to read the manual and related guides.

I would recommend adding the AUTO command to your POST-ARRIVAL orders, as per section 9.9 (pages 55 and 56) of the rulebook, as it will automatically fill out part of your orders for the next turn, such as issuing instructions for your TR1 ships to jump to the nearest unvisited star system and run a system SCAN. The AUTO command was also mentioned in the Hints for Beginners article which can be found on the Far Horizons website.

Very well, I will end this attempt to provide a diary of thoughts from my perspective as a player. No further entries will be made.

The confusion, this time about, emanates from copying and pasting orders that worked the last turn, but didn't work this turn.

I did review the section of the rules on Auxiliary Gun Units. It's not as though I haven't reviewed the game manual, at all.

What is the point of utilizing AUTO orders, when one doesn't understand how to do the actual orders manually, first?

It is irrelevant to me if you or twenty-five thousand other players comprehend how to play the game. In order for me to play it, then I must comprehend the rules, also. The simple fact of the matter is, I don't. If the game manual is so easy to comprehend, then it shouldn't be revised further.

[quote='GrimFinger' pid='813' dateline='1302153932']
Very well, I will end this attempt to provide a diary of thoughts from my perspective as a player. No further entries will be made.

The confusion, this time about, emanates from copying and pasting orders that worked the last turn, but didn't work this turn.

I did review the section of the rules on Auxiliary Gun Units. It's not as though I haven't reviewed the game manual, at all.
[/quote]

Your post made it seem that you couldn't find the entry for this new technology in the rulebook, so I directed you to it, and the entire section where you will find future technologies that you might develop.

What is the point of utilizing AUTO orders, when one doesn't understand how to do the actual orders manually, first?

The point is that as a new player to the game, you should employ the devices that are there to aid new players. Upon using the AUTO command, you can view the orders that the program proposes for you and figure out by example how to use those particular commands. You can then disregard these suggested orders if you so choose.

It is irrelevant to me if you or twenty-five thousand other players comprehend how to play the game. In order for me to play it, then I must comprehend the rules, also. The simple fact of the matter is, I don't. If the game manual is so easy to comprehend, then it shouldn't be revised further.

From my brief experience with you on the Road of Kings, you appear to find ample opportunity to prove your intellectual superiority, beat people over the head with your logic and debate skills, and prove that your understanding of Hyborian War is superior to theirs.

That is not what I was doing here. I was attempting to open a dialogue about what precisely is so difficult about this game, as well as offer you suggestions about how you can better fill out your orders. Does it require proficiency in Computer Science to easily process the order structure? Perhaps so. Is the rulebook too cumbersome to understand, except for those who have an inordinate amount of free time such as myself? Perhaps so. Maybe other people are finding it as difficult as you? Maybe everyone else is having an easy time of it? I don't know.

And this is your response?

Indeed, our experience with one another is brief. Where Hyborian war is concerned, I don't seek to prove intellectual superiority of anything. My experience, where that game is concerned, is that players tend to believe whatever they want to. There's a lot about that game that remains an unknown to anyone outside of RSI. My basic view on that game is that, once a player understands what a given kingdom is capable of, then it doesn't matter who is one's enemies are, whether they be new to the game or a veteran of many years.

The whole purpose of me playing in this game of Far Horizons: The Awakening (Galaxy Alpha) is so that I can learn how to play the game. In order to do that, I have to learn the order codes. Copying and pasting a SCAN order should work consistently, from turn to turn. Yet, it did not, this turn. Do I find that to be confusing? Very much so?

The rules contained within the current Game Manual are Seventh Edition rules. Thus, those who played the game long before I did evidently saw fit to revise, and re-revise the rules, time and time, again. That the game's rules and order codes are comprehended by some will translate into some being able to play the game. To increase the potential player base of the game, the learning curve needs to be reduced - particularly for those with zero prior experience with the game.

If I understand the rules and the order codes and the required syntax, then it becomes possible for me to help in revising the rulebook for an Eight Edition. If I do not understand them, then I can't assist with such an undertaking.

This diary was an attempt to provide feedback to the game's moderator, with an entertaining spin. I had hoped to utilize it to help him to better understand how a person new to the game approaches the game, and help him to identify potential stumbling blocks. Ixnay started a thread of his own, so of late, I thought that I would attempt to increase the rope play aspect of things - especially since the others in the game had chosen to remain so very quiet.

I have reviewed all of the documentation listed on the website for this game, as far as I know. Some of it I have reviewed more than once. It would be nice to have example turn orders to review. Instead, we have example turn results. Example turn results are useful for generating interest on the part of prospective players. Example turn orders would be useful for comprehending how to actually issue orders correctly. This is why I have mentioned them, previously.

With regard to the gun turrets issue, I comprehend what they are. It would not be uncommon, however, for a player who is new to the game to use the word "turret" to search the game manual with, particularly since that term appears on the turn results, themselves. Yet, it's not in the game manual. Why? What purpose is served by utilization of terms distinct to turn results, but not found in the game manual? Such only serves to increase confusion, not simply for myself, but for new players.

Also, since this was the first time that new specific items were gained by my empire, the game only drained my enthusiasm, when they appeared on my turn results for this turn. It was a net gain for my empire, to be certain, but I didn't particularly care for technology to manifest itself in the game this way, as a matter of game design.

[quote='GrimFinger' pid='808' dateline='1302145218']
ENTRY FOURTEEN
Confusion reigns!! What an utterly confusing game. Last turn, my ships jumped and scanned, just fine. This time around, nothing. I am miffed. I am befuddled. I am lost - lost in space, once again.
[/quote]

I checked into this, turns out a BUG in order fetching caused some peoples orders to be zeroed out :(

You're totally sane, don't worry. I'll be re-running the turn shortly.

This diary was an attempt to provide feedback to the game's moderator, with an entertaining spin. I had hoped to utilize it to help him to better understand how a person new to the game approaches the game, and help him to identify potential stumbling blocks.

And I do appreciate this log for exactly that reason. In fact if you hadn't expressed confusion over the SCAN orders, I might not have caught the bug and error.

[quote='Ramblurr' pid='819' dateline='1302186889']I checked into this, turns out a BUG in order fetching caused some peoples orders to be zeroed out :(

You're totally sane, don't worry. I'll be re-running the turn shortly.[/quote]

I sent you an e-mail, already. Two areas that I had ordered research for increased this last turn, under the now-old set of turn orders. Maybe they had increased on their own, also. So, maybe my turn orders for this turn did not get processed, at all, originally, even though I thought that only part of them had gotten processed this turn, when I sent that e-mail to you a few minutes ago.

This diary was an attempt to provide feedback to the game's moderator, with an entertaining spin. I had hoped to utilize it to help him to better understand how a person new to the game approaches the game, and help him to identify potential stumbling blocks.

[quote='Ramblurr' pid='819' dateline='1302186889']And I do appreciate this log for exactly that reason. In fact if you hadn't expressed confusion over the SCAN orders, I might not have caught the bug and error.[/quote]

So, what was the source of this particular bug or error? When my turn orders arrive (I send them the same way, each turn), are they in text format? Or do they arrive in HTML format? Is the bug in question in the Far Horizons code? Or is it in third-party software that you are using to fetch all of our turn orders from your e-mail in-box?

With regard to the broader issue of the game manual, itself, players need to understand that just telling someone new to the game to read the 93 page manual, and to re-read the 93 page game manual, and to keep re-reading the 93 page game manual does not make the game or its rules more intuitive.

I have downloaded the game manual more than once. I am well aware of where the latest version of it is on my computer's hard drive. I refer to it quite frequently, in fact - usually more than once per turn, even when I only submit a very basic set of turn orders. I don't operate in a vacuum or a void oblivious to the game manual and the rule set that it encompasses.

It is not an objective of mine to read the rules until I memorize them. If I did that, then how I approached the game would likely be quiet different from how many potential new players to the game would likely approach the game.

Granted, it might very well be true that, if I really honest to God truly wanted to learn and play this game so that I could excel at it, then immersing myself in 93 pages of rules until it all sank in could very well be one way to accomplish that. Except, that's not my goal - not right now, anyway. It may never be my goal. At this stage of things, I honestly don't know if the game is worth investing that much time in.

According to the INTRODUCTION for the game: In addition to being a rich and realistic simulation, there are no true victory conditions|the game is played solely for enjoyment.

So, no matter how much that one excels at it, it is impossible to achieve victory. After all, no true victory conditions exist. Which begs the question of why myself or any other player should feel pressured to consume a game manual, over and over and over, until things just sink in and our respective light bulbs go off.

There are some things in this world, including some rather dry material, that I do enjoy reading. A 93 page set of rules for a game that I know very little about, one which was resurrected from the dustbin of history, is not exactly a well spring of excitement for me.

Once upon a time ago, the Seventh Edition of the game manual for Far Horizons may have sufficed, the question of why the rules needed that many revisions wholly aside. I do not think that the Seventh Edition of the game manual suffices, today - a full decade into the 21st Century. If it is relied upon, then I think that the game's potential pool of active players will be far less than it otherwise reasonably could be.

Do I nitpick the rules? Sure I do. Do I criticize them? Positively. In order to explain them to others, I must first be confident of them, myself.

Some of the rules don't even apply to the player just starting out. I know that much from actually exploring the game manual. So, when they are first starting out, no new players to the game actually need to concern themselves with having to read and digest 93 pages. If they do, then odds are, I think, that their chances of ending up confused about something - about anything - increase. If they become confused at all, then odds are, at least some of them will quit without giving the game much of a chance. How, exactly and specifically, that player dropouts impact other players of Far Horizons, I really have no clue, at this juncture in time.

Using Hyborian War as an example, many players of that game have debated various aspects of that game for years - even decades - on end. Some of the same issues are debated over and over and over, again. There are, I think, worse ways to sort through differences of opinion, than by debating issues under contention. It has nothing to do with intellectual superiority. I've been alive on this planet for almost 48 years, now, and on a day in, day out basis, I encounter very little that might be recognizable as "intellectual superiority."

My experience, over the years, has been that analyzing and debating an issue or a problem can be helpful to myself (and sometimes to others, also) in better grasping whatever it is that is under consideration.

Where Hyborian War is concerned, I am not aware of a single player of the game, as many veteran players of the game that I know and have encountered over the years, that even knows the full and complete sequence of how everything in the games code is processed.

One issue that arises again and again in Hyborian War is over something called mega-alliances. One can either approach such an issue from the standpoint of logic, or from some other standpoint. One of the beauties of logic is that no one holds a monopoly upon it.

A lot of discussion on issues that pertain to Hyborian War are not grounded in either fact or logic. I don't simply assume that those who designed that game intended that there be no mega-alliances, simply because numerous other individuals dislike mega-alliances, or because they have concluded, using their own vague criteria, that the game's designers were opposed to such. Heck, the famed Robert J. Bunker talked about mega-alliances back in 1989, in his Paper Mayhem article about Supernova II. Where that game was concerned, Robert stated, "Mega-alliances are acceptable in my mind also because they are not as strong as most players would think."

Source: Paper mayhem issue # 38

[quote='GrimFinger' pid='821' dateline='1302192070']According to the INTRODUCTION for the game: In addition to being a rich and realistic simulation, there are no true victory conditions|the game is played solely for enjoyment.[/quote]

The above quote by myself from the Far Horizons game manual was a direct "copy and paste" operation.

Copying and pasting from the game manual is, thus, susceptible to syntax errors, it seems. The --- became a |, when copying and pasting into this forum. The same issue arose, when I copied and pasted it into my e-mail client, just now. It was also replicated, when I copied and pasted it into Notepad, and into Win2Pad.

[quote='GrimFinger' pid='821' dateline='1302192070']
So, what was the source of this particular bug or error? When my turn orders arrive (I send them the same way, each turn), are they in text format? Or do they arrive in HTML format?
[/quote]

I answered this in a reply to your email, but I'll include it here (with some edits) for the edification of others:

Email, in 2011, is much, much more complicated, and vastly different than it was in the 90s and early 00s. For this game (GA) I've been working on making the email processing robustly handle all the types of email players are sending me.

The orders you send from Outlook actually has two messages embedded in it. One is HTML and the other is plain text. My program has to specifically look for the plain text portion, and ignore the HTML portion. Thankfully it seems like Outlook Express does this as its default behavior. Some clients send HTML only.

[quote='GrimFinger' pid='821' dateline='1302192070']
Is the bug in question in the Far Horizons code? Or is it in third-party software that you are using to fetch all of our turn orders from your e-mail in-box?
[/quote]
Yes. No.

There is no 3rd party software involved in FH. The bug was simply a regression from an earlier bug fix. Technical details follow (and stringy code)
This was the offending commit that broke the orders fetcher.
This is the commit that fixed the regression. Turns out there was one case where decoding the payload was not a good idea: when the top most payload is not a message-part but in fact contains child payloads.

ENTRY FIFTEEN

Time travel is possible, it seems, if one is a game moderator. We are back to the future, or back to the past, or back to the present. I am not sure which, exactly. Regardless, the previous turn results were rendered a nullity, and consequently, void. They never happened.

Things proceed apace, as planned. Our large space fleet now plies the heavens, revealing world after world - soon to be ours. Soon to be MINE!!

Of course, it would help if we actually understood how to colonize these worlds. We have mastered the art of exploration, it seems. The stars have become as mere trinkets, and we move between them at a leisurely pace. But, colonization evades us. The techno-runes are cursed!! Executions have been ordered.

A new starship, a vessel built for war, now awaits its opportunity to do my bidding. Our enemies suspect nothing. The element of surprise is ours!

Where is that fool, Desaad?

ENTRY SIXTEEN

The one constant of the universe is that confusion reigns.

Another turn has passed. The fog of confusion associated with playing this game increases several fold. Due to a death in my family, no turn orders were issued for this turn. Yet, what should appear? A man with a sleigh pulled by tiny reindeer.

No. Wait! That wasn't my turn results for this game. Now, where are they? Oh, here they are. Right in the folder on my computer's hard driver that I downloaded them to.

The turn results start off well enough, with a note from the game's moderator. Likely, it's a canned note, one routine for any empire that misses issuing turn orders for a given turn. Why this is more important news than encountering another space faring species is anybody's guess, though. This is a rather subdued way to announce close encounters of this kind.

The SP Tilkata, they call themselves. A race of space-faring fish, no doubt. Perhaps they come in peace. Or, perhaps they are Consortium spies. It matters little. They are clearly a warlike species. At the moment, I have bigger fish to fry.

ENTRY SEVENTEEN

While admiring the new behemoth of a warship recently constructed, expanding the empire's war fleet capabilities significantly, word arrived from the depths of cold, dark space.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Aliens at x = 31, y = 19, z = 30:
Colony planet PL OfflineCache (pl #3) SP Consortium
(Economic base is approximately 6.)
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Offline Cache, eh? How very fitting, for in light of their threats and acts of sabotage, this world would find itself offline soon enough, indeed. A message from this species arrived shortly thereafter:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Bold Minions of Darkseid!
I see you have stumbled across one of our outlying
colonies. Please move on. This system is has restricted
access. There will be no further warnings.
If, by chance, you wish to open communications, set your
signal beacons to this frequency: ***.*******@*****.***
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Insignificant fools!! I will take their entire species offline, for their puny threats. Long have the Consortium and their allies been behind sabotage and attempted infiltration of my empire. They seek to warn us - they seek to warn ME?! It is they, who should be warned, for they have sealed their own doom.

Minions, the need for sacrifice on your part is all the greater now. There can be no rest, for these interlopers seek to rape worlds that do not belong to them. They are driven by greed.

Dispatch war fleets to their worlds. Their destiny has arrived. Their destruction is at hand!

For I.....am.....DARKSEID!!

ENTRY EIGHTEEN

Damned fools!!

What do you mean that you overlooked reporting an alien homeworld to me, several years ago?? Who are they, these insignificant insects that crave to be exterminated??

The Consortium?!

<Darkseid vaporizes his messenger with a bolt of Omega Beams that burst unexpectedly from his eyes.>

There are no oversights in intergalactic war, you fools! I command your obedience. Give to me a full report!

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Aliens at x = 32, y = 19, z = 34:
Home planet PL Ancient Temple (pl #3) SP Consortium
(Economic base is approximately 190.)
Colony planet PL InfoMine (pl #4) SP Consortium
(Economic base is approximately 7.)
TR1 DEEP SCOUT 05 (A5,D) SP Tilkata
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Ah, so that is where these space worms hide. Their presence could not long evade my senses, as was to be expected.

Desaad, they are to be destroyed! I command you - annihilate them!! Lay waste to their empire, and exterminate these vermin.

WHAT?!

Their allies? Do not trouble me with such trivial details, Desaad! You have your orders. See to it that you carry them out - to the letter.

Or it is you, Desaad, that shall taste my fury unleashed!

Do not fail me, Desaad. Do.....not.....fail.....ME!!

ENTRY NINETEEN

Granny Goodness had arrived in sector. She had been dispatched by Darkseid as Ambassador to the Consortium - an ambassador of war!

Long had this galaxy basked in relative peace. This Harmony of the Ages was about to be abruptly ended. How very fitting, then, that the author of its destruction would be Darkseid.

A long chain of events had long since been set into motion, the ripple effect of which would eventually span the length and breadth of the entire galaxy. This was not the result of chance or mere happenstance. Rather, this was a culmination of cold calculation.

Intercepts of transmissions along entire communication spectrums had been occurring for years on end. The entire mass of space in this galaxy had been seeded at Darkseid's direction. It was beyond question that there was method to his madness, but to what end? What grand purpose motivated him escaped even Desaad's cunning mind.

The war forges of the empire were churning out warships with ever-increasing size and regularity. The early scouting efforts had paid off. Entire worlds now fell under Darkseid's sway with systematic precision. The rape and plunder of these worlds fueled an explosion in new Apokoliptian technologies.

Granny Goodness was the vanguard of the invasion force. The peace-loving fools of the Consortium had severely miscalculated. There was a reason that proper implements of war were hideously expensive. It all just depends upon how much that a given species values their survival and their freedom.

Granny Goodness locked her weapons on target. For a moment, time, itself, seemed to pause, and the priesthood of peace stood ready to be sacrificed upon the altar of one who calls himself........DARKSEID!!

ENTRY TWENTY

ACK!! The attack of the ISP has foiled our plans. Bastards!!

The Consortium, acting in league with my Internet Service Provider (ISP), disrupted all communications grids within my empire. As a consequence of this treacherous act, no orders could be issued to my empire's forces. Confound these intergalactic heathen!

Finally getting back online, last night, I was too tired to try and sort through the hieroglyphics that have been passed off on us players as a rulebook for this game. So, I went to bed, and it felt good. It may well have been the best decision of my rule, to date.

The turn results, having not been run this morning, by the time that I roused from my overdue slumber, meant that I could try to slip some orders past the game moderator, before the processing clock struck the witching hour.

The Consortium player, rumored to be a Tibetan monk on crack, maintains a news blackout. That fool!! Does he not realize that such only serves the interests of the Boredom Empire?

Current starship sensor scans reveal the following:

Aliens at x = 31, y = 19, z = 30:
Colony planet PL OfflineCache (pl #3) SP Consortium
(Economic base is approximately 6.)
ES AntiVirus (A2,O3) SP Consortium

The ISP's treachery allowed these Consortium fools to dispatch an escort ship to counter the recent arrival of Granny Goodness into the contested sector.

My Worldforges continue to churn out implements of war, as my main warfleets continue to amass their strength, in preparation of the Consortium's annihilation-to-come. Assuming, of course, that I don't die of boredom in the meantime.

From my perspective as a player, this game is dreadful, insofar as the sense of dread that consumes me, if I am faced with the prospect of trying to issue turn orders quickly.

Most players in this game of Far Horizons have seen fit to not even bother to post in the forum, here. For all practical purposes, they are irrelevant to me, as a new player to this game. Their self-induced silence only serves as a continuous motivation for me to drop the game. Playing mind games with the Consortium player is the brightest star in the constellation of game players in Far Horizons for me, to date. Of the multiple other alien space empires that my empire has encountered in the game to date, my empire has maintained a wall of silence, as far as direct player-to-player communications is concerned.

How much of an impact my play of my empire, thus far, has had on the other players in this game to date remains largely a mystery. The Consortium player has, it seems, altered his empire's decisions to some degree, based upon my own in-game actions and forum postings.

My choice of playing my empire has not been with an eye towards the survival of my species. That seemed a rather drab choice, so I opted for something else. Namely, the destruction of the Consortium.

Why? Because I can, that's why.

Eventually, other players in the game will seek my empire's destruction. There are more than enough of them to pull that off, I'm certain - particularly since I don't understand the full mechanics of the rune that is the game manual.

The real question, though, is not that, but rather, what will be the eventual fate of the Consortium?

Humorously, their fate is death. Their homeworld's location long since revealed to other players in this game that also read these forums, they are a sitting duck. Consequently, they must undertake accelerated military preparations - and heightened communications with other players, lest the Consortium fall into a state of galactic ruin, sooner rather than later.

If other players do not seek out and engage the Consortium militarily, then they will build a formidable alliance with their early space contacts. The longer that they are given to build up, the harder that they will be to overcome over the long term - especially since they already have at least one ally in the game.

More than once, thus far, I have contemplated dropping out of this game. If I did, what then?

Well, I suspect that the game would be largely played out in relative silence, save for player-to-player communications via e-mail, once more empires come into contact with one another over the course of game play. In this sense, the game would be much like the game of old, I suspect.

ENTRY TWENTY-ONE

Combat log:

End of battle in sector 31, 19, 30.

And, of course, a direct communication from the Consortium slime.

You received the following message from SP Consortium:

*** End of Message ***

All in all, a dreadfully boring turn.

ENTRY TWENTY-TWO

"Sire," Desaad began. "Conflict has been initiated."

"About time," Darkseid responded. "For years, you fools have piddled around, with nothing to show for your efforts."

"These things take time, sire," Desaad replied, a growing sense of uneasiness causing his heart to beat faster. "I have good news to report, sire."

"Then, out with it, you fool!" the evil one replied, even as he turned his back to Desaad, in order to gaze out across the view afforded him from where he stood in the compound.

"As you well know, sire, the Consortium..."

"Damn the Consortium!" Darkseid bellowed. "They are a race of fools led by fools!"

"Yes, sire," Desaad continued, the sense of dread within him starting to build. He always hated those times when he was the messenger, for Darkseid's unpredictable nature sometimes bode ill for messengers, regardless of whether the news was good or bad. "The Consortium ship opened fire, first, and..."

"WHAT?!" the evil overlord raged. "What do you mean that they fired first, Desaad?"

Desaad quivered.

"You were given explicit orders, Desaad," Darkseid barked gruffly in the direction of his servant and adviser.

"But, sire, the enemy has been destroyed," Desaad quickly responded. "Our Apokoliptian technology was much too advanced for the Consortium to deal with."

"Our Apokoliptian technology?? What do you mean, OUR Apokoliptian technology, Desaad," quizzed Darkseid, his eyes beginning to glow a dark crimson.

"Infinite apologies," Desaad replied, as he stepped back a bit, as Darkseid's eyes began to glow. "YOUR Apokoliptian technology, sire. It was too much for the enemy to handle."

"Of course it was, you fool!"

Desaad continued, "M'Lord, the Consortium war vessel, an antique quaintly named AntiVirus, must have been crewed by green recuits. They opened fire on Granny Goodness."

The evil Desaad went on to detail the report of the exchange of fire between the two species' warships. The AntiVirus, perhaps seeking the element of surprise, launched a salvo against Granny Goodness. The Apokoliptian ship was prepared, however, and the AntiVirus hit only empty space. Apokoliptian electronic counter-measures had prevailed.

Instantaneous retaliation followed.

The AntiVirus was struck, the impact causing multiple deaths and injuries throughout the ship's crew. The Consortium's captain ordered his ship to fire again, which they did, only to once again miss the intended target.

Granny Goodness, well outside of visible range of the AntiVirus, maintained its status of locked weapons on its adversary. An Ambassador of War, Granny Goodness responded to the second missed salvo fired by the AntiVirus.

The impact of weapons fire caused a series of bright explosions across the AntiVirus' bow, followed almost immediately by a huge explosion. Then, the AntiVirus was no more.

Just as the Apokoliptian starship prepared to target the Consortium planet in-sector, a large vessel warped in. It was quickly identified as the Consortium vessel, SystemBus, a large TR8 class of space freighter.

Shortly thereafter, another vessel warped into the sector. This, however, was no Consortium vessel. This was the Tilkatan starship, Colony Prime. The crew of Granny Goodness duly reported back these new findings.

In Darkseid's mind, there could be only one explanation.

CONSPIRACY!!

Elsewhere in the galaxy, Kalibak had encountered yet another space-faring species - The Neohumans.

What would this new species portend for the galaxy?

ENTRY TWENTY-THREE

What is good in life? To crush your enemies, to see them driven before you, and to hear the lamentations of their women.

Or, so it has been said.

As the Consortium player laments the loss of half his navy (yet another Consortium lie!), perhaps Ixnay will learn from the error of his ways. For one thing, a species centered around the concept of technology should know better than to not keep their AntiVirus protection up to date. And for another thing, the Consortium is not well served by mistaking Darkseid for a virus.

It wasn't so very long ago that Ixnay declared the conflict with Darkseid to be a phony war. Prior to that, he had declared Darkseid's scout to be the remnant of some ancient civilization, long since gone from the Consortium's star cluster.

More recently, he had declared Granny Goodness to be puny, and not much of a threat to Consortium interests.

With the arrival of two rather sizable transports in the contested sector, this turn, this star system has now become a target rich environment for Granny Goodness - the loss of either of which, individually, poses the potential for the loss of greater economic investment than the recently destroyed Consortium warship, AntiVirus.

The enemy will want revenge, of course. They always want revenge. It doesn't matter what the particular species is. All species always want revenge, it seems.

The Consortium, failing to understand its enemy, pays the price, accordingly, for basking in ignorance. Ignorance, of course, is the antitheses of an information-based society. And the Consortium's government wonders why many of the Consortium's citizens have criticized their government's handling of interstellar relations. Because the Consortium's government has proven itself to be utterly incompetent, that's why!

All propaganda and intentions aside, the evidence is clear - the Consortium fired first!

Combat log:

End of battle in sector 31, 19, 30.

The responsibility for the galactic conflagration that follows, then, lies properly at the Consortium's feet.

It was no mere coincidence that the large Tilkatan transport arrived in-sector in the very same disputed star system on the very same turn as the large Consortium transport. The Tilkatans' intention is crystal clear - to provide aid and comfort to the enemy.

As both the Consortium and the Tilkata now begin to transition to more of a proper war footing, in order to better deal with the threat posed by the alien species that faces them, these Minions of the entity known now as Darkseid, communication and coordination between those species will now take place at an accelerated rate.

None of which will, of course, help either of them next turn.

There is a lot about this game that I don't yet understand. I do understand, however, how to destroy the vessels of their respective star fleets.

While both species now make military preparations for full scale space warfare, and while both species now pray to their respective gods, neither of them have demonstrated themselves to be competent in the art of inter-species communication.

All evidence to date is that neither of these two space faring empires crave peace between themselves and Darkseid and his Minions. Accordingly, then, it comes as no real surprise that both empires stand at the brink of an abyss of conflict with Darkseid. Peace is not a priority of either empire, their internal and external propaganda notwithstanding.

Peace is not a concept taken seriously by either species. Neither is survival, apparently. Else, how does one explain the nearly non-existent effort that the two species, combined, have put into communicating effectively with the alien adversary that now looms large in their respective trains of thought?

After token efforts at communicating, failure ensues. How very unsurprising, when one pauses and takes time to reflect upon such meager efforts.

The Consortium plots and schemes to conquer outer-lying worlds, in order to plunder and rape them of their natural resources. They do so in order to ensure that their empire can deal with any potential military threats, over the long term.

The universe is large - incredibly large. But, the galaxy is relatively small, compared to the vast expanse of the entire universe.

Did the Consortium really and truly believe that its scheme to ravage worlds - to exploit them for ill-conceived Consortium gain, would go unnoticed by the powers that be scattered across the galactic rim?

The fate of the AntiVirus and its crew is a testimony to the failure of the Consortium government's thinking. That species' government has chosen to willfully, deliberately, and consciously ignore repeated warnings, and it was even so utterly foolish as to communicate a direct threat to Darkseid via the in-game communication system. And all of this was done in the interests of.....peace?? That seems rather unlikely, and quite illogical.

The Consortium's flaunting of its friendship with the Tilkatans does that species precious little good, looking at things from Darkseid's perspective. In earnest truth, why shouldn't Darkseid now target the Tilkatans for military retaliation?

Very soon, the combined Tilkatan and Consortium star fleets should arrive on scene to deal with the threat posed by Darkseid's war machine. Accordingly, the arrival of such is unlikely to catch Darkseid by surprise. Indeed, Darkseid may well be counting on it.

Of course, what do I know, though? The mechanics of this game largely remain a mystery to me. War, however, I am no stranger to.

ENTRY TWENTY-FOUR

The plague of armed conflict had now spread even further, engulfing the Tilkata and ensuring that galactic peace was a fleeting commodity.

Granny Goodness, Ambassador of War to the Consortium, now held the dubious distinction of dual ambassadorships, for she was now Ambassador of War to the Tilkata, as well.

Acting on orders from Darkseid, himself, Granny Goodness initiated a military strike against the large Tilkatan space freighter, Colony Prime, disabling its engines and leaving it a sitting duck just floating in space.

Parademons then boarded the ill-fated freighter, taking hostage its entire crew, and flying it back to the nearest Apokoliptian War Forge. There, in relatively short order, the massive vessel was stripped of any usable technology, and scrapped to provide material for a huge new statue crafted in the likeness of Darkseid's image.

The Consortium space freighter, SystemBus, witnessing the attack, prepared to flee the system for the safety of deep space well beyond this star system's gravitational pull. Granny Goodness, ever alert for just such a ploy, locked its Apokoliptian sensors on target.

A huge explosion lit up the target zone! SystemBus and its crew were suddenly no more, blown to smithereens in the twinkling of an eye. The Consortium had craved war, and now it was beginning to reap the just reward of its years of misguided policy. On the Consortium homeworld, many citizens now began to clamor for their government to sue for peace.

While far out in in the vastness of space, a sole pair of eyes began to glow bright crimson.

He already knew the outcome of the battles, even as his imperial messenger approached his throne room to deliver him the news.

His enemies would yield to him that which he sought, or entire worlds would fall prey to the fury of his galactic wrath.

Enjoying both sides of the story!

ENTRY TWENTY-FIVE

As the government of the species known as the Consortium continues to weave a web of galactic deceit, let us review a couple of his claims, by subjecting them to the starlight of scrutiny:

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']For the benefit of other species, who might be listening. HEED THESE WARNINGS:

1. Darkseid does not respond to communication, and will apparently attack anything that moves.[/quote]

There is no truth to this assertion. That the Consortium has failed in its bid to manipulate the entire spectrum of interstellar communications to its own advantage should not be mistaken for a supposed inability - or even unwillingness - on the part of Darkseid or his empire to respond.

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']2. Darkseid is undefeated in multiple combats, suggesting superior military tech.[/quote]

Provoked combat, I might add, both politically and militarily. The AntiVirus initiated military hostilities with Darkseid, after firing upon Granny Goodness.

The Consortium has clearly embarked down a path of deception unrivaled in the history of the galaxy, heretofore. Their aim is clear - to establish information dominance!

-----------------------------
It will take a few turns to get our scouting program back in order and re-establish info dominance in our sector of the galaxy.
- The Consortium
-----------------------------

The historical record on who fired first, in the exchange of fire between the AntiVirus and Granny Goodness, is not murky. To the contrary, combat logs from the event are crystal clear, and long since a matter of public record.

The Tilkatan ship entered a known war zone. The Consortium had previously declared the Tilkata to be friendly. Then, in a rapid blur of convenience, a story was concocted as cover for what was, in actuality, a plot by Consortium government officials at the highest levels to feign surprise at what their previously-declared friends were up to - and in their own star system, at that. The Consortium stretches truth to the breaking point, in its bid for information hegemony, as a precursor of some greater plan to enslave the galaxy within a sphere of Consortium-approved "information." Darkseid is not deceived! Darkseid claims no halo, but the Consortium seeks a deliberate widening of the conflict beyond the exceedingly narrow scope of the conflict's battlegrounds, thus far - a conflict that has taken place wholly and only in Consortium-controlled star systems.

Whatever supposed "evil" that Darkseid may represent to the galaxy, one thing is beyond dispute - evil takes many forms, and the Consortium is drenched in the evil of its own malevolent lies and treacherous deception!

ENTRY TWENTY-SIX

Let us now explore further, the lies and propaganda of the Consortium.

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']
3. Darkseid has fielded a frigate, so his Manufacturing tech is at least 20.[/quote]

Here we have a classic case of Consortium hypocrisy, in brazen fashion. They brag about rushing out their empire's largest warship, ever, the frigate Shockwave, even as they criticize Darkseid for building the very same class of vessel that they, themselves, are building. This is clearly a case of the pot calling the kettle black, in the words of the long-extinct human race of Planet Earth fame, from a bygone era.

The Consortium government's memory is also hyper-selective and conveniently short. Here is a recent communique that the Consortium government sent to the Minions of Darkseid:

You received the following message from SP Consortium:

*** End of Message ***

Note how they boast proudly and arrogantly about building a dreadnaught, even as they clearly lack the technology to do so. More Consortium lies revealed for what they are - pure galactic tripe!

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']4. Darkseid has played us all for fools with his pretense at being hapless and confused by this game. He has projected large amounts of force-concentration and demonstrated high tech levels. He also mastered the art of "hijacking" the Tilkatian colonizer. He knows very well how to play this game, and is very comfortable with setting up his orders.[/quote]

How desperately - and sloppily - the Consortium government grasps at straws to distract from their incompetence and their treachery. The Tilkatan ship entered a known war zone. Accordingly, it was forfeit, as a spoil of war, under longstanding and widely accepted rules of civilized warfare by many species.

No one has played the Consortium for fools. They are fools!! They are hopelessly tangled in their ill-conceived web of deception intended to confuse and mislead other species across the galactic rim.

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']5. Darkseid has executed the classic "rush strategy" -- amass forces early and clobber the nearest neighbor fast. Any deficiencies in economic development can be more than made up for in the pillaging of entire homeworlds. His hijacking of a mere transport netted over 700 economic units. I have played this strategy many times in other games. The only way to stop him is to take advantage of his over-extension now, before he can consolidate power.[/quote]

Is there no end to Consortium hypocrisy? They have played this strategy many times in other games, they assert. And what stopped them in this game from using the strategy that they seek to falsely assign to us? Nothing, of course. Their grand object is to distract other species from actually scrutinizing the lies that pour without ceasing from Consortium government figureheads, by tossing up an endless smokescreen of criticism of Darkseid. Once more, as with the building of frigates, it is OK for the Consortium to do such things, but other species should not. Darkseid is not subservient to the likes of these Consortium demons!

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']6. Darkseid has been playing us all like a fiddle, masterfully. Is he new at FH? I don't know. But he is certainly an experienced PBM gamer, and I have a strong suspicion that his game log was designed at least in part to lull his competitors into a false sense of security. And it worked. Bastard.[/quote]

It is evident on its face that I am an experienced PBM gamer. Else, why would I have started this website? Once again, the Consortium seeks to erect strawman arguments, and then demonize Darkseid for having the courage to stand up to - and reveal - this nest of liars that is the Consortium government.

ENTRY TWENTY-SEVEN

And yet another "message of peace" sent by the Consortium prince of lies to the Minions of Darkseid:

You received the following message from SP Consortium:

*** End of Message ***

If our ship was so puny, then why did it supposedly destroy half the Consortium fleet? Consortium provocation has been a recurring theme in Consortium attempts to "communicate" with the Minions of Darkseid.

Are the words "a right solid beat-down" the words of a species actually seeking peace?

The Consortium is a species of war mongers!! The limited military strikes that they have suffered, thus far, have grown out of a Consortium policy of lies, lies, and more lies - not to mention threats.

Information dominance, indeed! It is deceitful propaganda of the very worst sort that spews ceaselessly from all quarters of the Consortium government.

ENTRY TWENTY-EIGHT

"Desaad!" commanded Darkseid. "Report!"

His servant slithered closer to the throne, his master's stern gaze evidencing the seriousness of the moment.

"Yes, m'Lord," Desaad replied, the gnawing feeling in the pit of his stomach the same as always in the presence of this planet's overlord.

"The Consortium transport has been destroyed, as you commanded, m'Lord," Desaad paused, afraid to scratch the itch on his chin.

"And the Tilkatan transport?" followed the immediate retort. "What of the Tilkatan ship?"

"Your forces have seized it, m'Lord," again, Desaad replied. "All proceeds as you predicted."

Darkseid stared into the depths of Desaad's soul.

"The Tilkatans will crave revenge, no doubt," Darkseid pondered aloud. "Dispatch more ships to the war zone to enforce the embargo against the Consortium vermin!"

"Aye, m'Lord," Desaad acknowledged in the most humble fashion that he could muster. "Aye."

"And what news do you bring to me of the Neohumans?" Darkseid inquired.

Desaad responded, "They seek technology, m'Lord."

"Are they allies of the Consortium?" the overlord asked?

"This remains an unknown factor in the galactic question, sire," Desaad quipped. "The Neohumans are an unknown.....commodity."

ENTRY TWENTY-NINE

Let us examine closer the propaganda that pours forth in ever-increasing volumes from the Consortium.

Consider, galactic friends, the following Consortium assertion:

[quote='ixnay' pid='1072' dateline='1305039202']2. Darkseid is undefeated in multiple combats, suggesting superior military tech.[/quote]

Multiple combats? Indeed, but out of the three starships engaged by Darkseid's forces, two of them were transports. Unarmed transports. There haven't been multiple combats between multiple Consortium and Apokoliptian warships. Only one, the battle where the AntiVirus, acting on direct orders from the highest echelons of the Consortium government, fired on an Apokoliptian vessel. The Apokoliptian ship returned fire, in self defense.

Having initiated hostile military action, the Consortium now seeks to cry foul. If they did not want their star vessels to be fired upon, then why did they take it upon themselves to initiate combat with AntiVirus?

Attempting to deceive the galaxy at large, by portraying Apokoliptian military prowess as vastly advanced above Consortium military technology, without emphasizing that two of the three vessels cited in support of their assessment of technology differences were not warships (which is relevant, to obtain an honest assessment of comparative military technology), only serves to demonstrate the extremes to which the Consortium will go, in its vain bid to portray itself in a positive light.

With regard to hijacking a ship, I did take note of it, during one of my numerous prior attempts to gain a better understanding of the rules and mechanics of this game. This portion of the rules isn't as confusing as some of the other parts that I have encountered since I first started playing this game.

[quote='ixnay' pid='1088' dateline='1305378146']
We take a moment now to drop out of character...

* * *

Hahahahahahaha! Darkseid's logic is as tortured as the now-deceased crew of the Tilkatian colonizer were, no doubt, just prior to their demise!

This little colony we had was an insignificant little presence in a nothing-burger star system. Had Darkseid come in with his own colonizer and demanded a planet, I would have made no strenuous objection. I will even go so far as to say that if he had returned with a warship with at least a small colonizer-type freighter to lend at least a stamp of legitimacy to establishing a military presence there, I would have been unable to justify a deep-space attack.[/quote]

Does anyone really and truly believe that the Consortium would not have objected, had I dispatched a colonizer-type freighter to the sector in question, and commenced colonization efforts? How quickly and efficiently the Consortium processes its lies for propaganda purposes!

ENTRY THIRTY

In the wake of the eruption of open hostilities that destroyed the Consortium star vessel, AntiVirus, a period of relative peace took hold across the galactic rim.

Was this merely a precursor to greater galactic peace?

Or were the dogs of war about to be released across the entire galaxy?

ENTRY-THIRTY ONE

With no response to my prior e-mails having been forthcoming, I have decided to post a closing entry in this, my diary-like thread that pertained to my relatively short stint in the game, Far Horizons.

Though I skimmed the rules many times, I never did end up reading the entire rulebook for Far Horizons from cover to cover. In hindsight, it's just as well, it seems, since the game has apparently gone belly-up, while Ramblurr continues his tour of the world. I don't really begrudge him the opportunity that has manifested itself before him. Moderate a dated space game, or tour the world? That one is a no brainer, in my book.

I never managed to colonize another planet, in spite of my previous alluding to the same. It's such a shame that we didn't get at least one more turn run, since more warships were en route to enemy locations. Pah!

At game end, what I now affectionately refer to as the last turn run for this particular game of Far Horizons, the Minions of Darkseid controlled a fleet of four warships. Respectively, they were:

Escort Granny Goodness
Escort Devilance
Frigate Mantis
Frigate Himon

Originally, I had intended to post nothing that would be informative of what my empire was created around - Darkseid. Sure, old Darkseid is a comic book character, but I needed something to go with for this test game, and he seemed as good of a choice as any.

The game was a fairly quiet one, for the relatively short duration that it lasted. To help fight the boredom, I decided to deviate from my original plan.

I opted to forward with the war against the Consortium, when I did, primarily because I felt that it would damage that empire's chances of winning the game. War, by its very nature, tends to be an expensive undertaking, and this game proved to be no exception to that general rule. At a bare minimum, by being hard-nosed about war with the Consortium, it would force that player to alter their existing strategy.

It never mattered to me how my empire ultimately fared. My perception of Darkseid is that he acts in his own interests, on his own whims. No sacrifice is too great for his ultimate glory.

My own experience in the game was that Ixnay, the Consortium player, would not favor fighting a war against an empire on his own home turf - complicated by the fact that he likely did not know where my own homeworld was located. I found his homeworld first, and he suffered for that stroke of destiny.

I perceived that Ixnay wanted to build up his forces unobstructed. he wanted to develop a good economy, one that would provide a solid footing for wars to come much later. What better way to throw a monkey wrench into Ixnay's plans, than by forcing him to contend with war well before he wanted it?

Regardless of how Darkseid's war with the Consortium would eventually turn out, I felt that it would leave the Consortium weakened - and hence, easy prey for other empires that made contact with them later in the game.

Revealing the locations of Consortium worlds ensured that Darkseid could never hold them uncontested, for any length of time. They were, in a word, expendable.

At game end, my empire's tech levels were as follows:

Tech Levels:
Mining = 24
Manufacturing = 25
Military = 21
Gravitics = 16
Life Support = 8
Biology = 11

The overall minimal amount of communication and interaction with other empires in the game made the game far more boring that it had to be. Little wonder why Darkseid acts as he does - The loneliness of space definitely impacts the mind.

The game is better suited to creating an empire from scratch, than it is trying to make a pre-existing empire fit within the game's format. There were no Boom Tubes nor advanced Apokoliptian technology to aid me in this game. And that, I think, is one of the deficiencies of the game, although how does one design a game to effectively allow one to emulate virtually any pre-existing space culture known to the human imagination?

Having no advanced Apokoliptian technology to speak of, I opted for the next best thing - the impression of advanced technology. Destroying the Consortium freighter helped with this, although I had enough sense to know that I wasn't fooling any experienced Far Horizons players. For all practical purposes, though, Ixnay, himself, was the other players in this game, as far as I was concerned.

I didn't really know how to role play Darkseid. I never really intended to. But, as things progressed, I decided to inject him into the dialogue, for better or for worse. I didn't feel that he would trust anyone, and that coming into contact with Darkseid's empire would be quite a different adventure than, say, coming into contact with NASA or with Starfleet would be.