Questions about Hosting and the Game in General

G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.empire (More info?)

Ok, I got my new "used" dual-CPU VA/LINUX box off of Dovebid and am learning
how to host and play. I'm a rookie, so please don't overly flame my
questions:

1. Is it alot of work to host a game? I realize I shouldn't try it without
more play experience. It just seems that there are NOT may games going on.
Is there a need for more hosting? I can't get in a game to save my life.
And, yes, I'm talking games with 1 turn every 24 hours or so. People do
actually PLAY this game don't they? Also, is there a guide to hosting.

2. Are the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" servers available? Which was
a bigger success?

3. How can a unit enter a mountain hex? If so, how?

3. Is food production and usage usually active in the big games people play?

4. Why is the Python client, PtKei so hard to use? I use WinACE (which is
an excellent product) because the Python client is so "sparse". Gosh, I
can even see the map in PtKei.

5. I'm running Suse 9.0 (on my server). Should I compile the server to use
Posix threads? Do you have to do this to host alot of users?

6. I see that map sizes are selectable by the Deity. What are the commons
sizes and number of continents, islands, and the sizes of both used?

7. I *LOVE* the concept of fortresses. PLEASE tell me they can shoot in
most games. Also, are bridges and towers generally allowed?

8. What are the most loved and hated server options. If I ever did host,
which ones should I enable and which ones should I disable? Is nuclear war
a common ending?

Thanks, Kelly


--
Kelly Miller
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.empire (More info?)

I consider myself a newbie, however, I will try to help:
I will answer your questions inline:

"Kelly Miller" <fkmiller@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:m6WdneDKq6eCZSXdRVn-jw@comcast.com...
> Ok, I got my new "used" dual-CPU VA/LINUX box off of Dovebid and am
learning
> how to host and play. I'm a rookie, so please don't overly flame my
> questions:
>
> 1. Is it alot of work to host a game? I realize I shouldn't try it
without
> more play experience. It just seems that there are NOT may games going
on.
> Is there a need for more hosting? I can't get in a game to save my life.
> And, yes, I'm talking games with 1 turn every 24 hours or so. People do
> actually PLAY this game don't they? Also, is there a guide to hosting.

I don't think there's a lot of work involved in hosting. The biggest part is
making sure the game runs w/o a hitch. It does help, however, if the host
has "other" things going on. I can't explain that, as its quite intangible.
However, I can say that it involves the "theme" of the game.

> 2. Are the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" servers available? Which
was
> a bigger success?

As far as I know, they're "one-shot" games. I cannot comment on success, as
I only played in StarWars (since I started playing Empire *after* LotR
started), howver, based on what I've read, I think LotR was more
successful - although StarWars had much more server mods.

> 3. How can a unit enter a mountain hex? If so, how?

I dealt with this issue as well, as a WinACE user. Simply "explore" the
mountain hex and you'll take it. WinACE, for whatever reason, ignores
Mountain hexes when you explore.

> 3. Is food production and usage usually active in the big games people
play?

I guess you started misnumbering here:

I think for the big games, food is enabled, although, for me, food has only
been enabled 50% of the time (1/2). (only played 2 "big" games). Personally,
I prefer food to be enabled.

> 4. Why is the Python client, PtKei so hard to use? I use WinACE (which is

> an excellent product) because the Python client is so "sparse". Gosh, I
> can even see the map in PtKei.

I don't think its hard to use per say, just that you need to enter empire
commands to update the info you see, unlike some clients, like WinACE, that
are programmed to automatically refresh info from the server.

> 5. I'm running Suse 9.0 (on my server). Should I compile the server to
use
> Posix threads? Do you have tt to do this to host alot of users?

Sorry, can't help. Only use RH Linux. The threaded version never seemed to
work, so, I compiled w/o.


> 6. I see that map sizes are selectable by the Deity. What are the commons
> sizes and number of continents, islands, and the sizes of both used?

I don't think there's a standard - however, whatever the default is
represents a good rule-of-thumb.


> 7. I *LOVE* the concept of fortresses. PLEASE tell me they can shoot in
> most games. Also, are bridges and towers generally allowed?

I think fort fire, many timed, is disabled - for one reason or another, but
its hardly a standard and quite often is enabled as well. I dont think I've
played a game where bridges are not enabled.

> 8. What are the most loved and hated server options. If I ever did host,
> which ones should I enable and which ones should I disable? Is nuclear
war
> a common ending?

Sorry, too new to comment. I think nuclear is usually left enabled, if
nothing else, as a last resort to end the game.

> Thanks, Kelly
>
>
> --
> Kelly Miller

NP Scott

Newb

g
z
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.empire (More info?)

Kelly Miller <fkmiller@comcast.net> writes:

> Ok, I got my new "used" dual-CPU VA/LINUX box off of Dovebid and am learning
> how to host and play. I'm a rookie, so please don't overly flame my
> questions:
>
> 1. Is it alot of work to host a game? I realize I shouldn't try it without

Stick to stock code and common options.

Maybe an experienced deity cares to comment on this in more detail.

> more play experience. It just seems that there are NOT may games going on.
> Is there a need for more hosting? I can't get in a game to save my life.
> And, yes, I'm talking games with 1 turn every 24 hours or so. People do
> actually PLAY this game don't they? Also, is there a guide to hosting.

Yes, people play. At the moment, some of us are playing the Retro
game.

> 2. Are the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" servers available? Which was
> a bigger success?

As far as I know, there are no servers running these mods right now.

Which one was a bigger success? Apples and oranges, I think. Players
seemed to have fun with both mods.

> 3. How can a unit enter a mountain hex? If so, how?

A land unit enters a mountain just like any other sector: march. It
just costs a lot of mobility.

> 3. Is food production and usage usually active in the big games people play?

It's active more often than not in `big games'.

> 4. Why is the Python client, PtKei so hard to use? I use WinACE (which is
> an excellent product) because the Python client is so "sparse". Gosh, I
> can even see the map in PtKei.
>
> 5. I'm running Suse 9.0 (on my server). Should I compile the server to use
> Posix threads? Do you have to do this to host alot of users?

Both should work, but I'd recommend `make linux' for you, because it
is better tested.

> 6. I see that map sizes are selectable by the Deity. What are the commons
> sizes and number of continents, islands, and the sizes of both used?

Depends on what kind of game you want. Maybe some experienced deity
would like to comment on this.

One of the easiest ways to screw up a game is to have too much land.

> 7. I *LOVE* the concept of fortresses. PLEASE tell me they can shoot in
> most games. Also, are bridges and towers generally allowed?

Option NO_FORT_FIRE governs whether they can shoot. NO_FORT_FIRE is
quite popular (like it myself), but there are games without it.

Bridges are generally allowed. Getting rid of them would take a bit
of hacking.

EASY_BRIDGES is sometimes on and sometimes off. If it's on, the
economics of the stock game make playes build bridges everywhere,
which is mildly silly.

BRIDGETOWERS is rarely on.

> 8. What are the most loved and hated server options. If I ever did host,
> which ones should I enable and which ones should I disable? Is nuclear war
> a common ending?

Well, we dropped some of the worst in recent versions of the code :)

Unless you know what you're doing, I recommend to stay away from the
following: NUKEFAILDETONATE, BIG_CITY, DEFENSE_INFRA, FUEL, GO_RENEW,
MARKET, NO_HCMS, NO_LCMS, NO_OIL, RES_POP, SLOW_WAR, TRADESHIPS. Not
all of these are bad, but those who aren't require suitable game setup
adjustments to keep the game balanced.

I invite everyone to post their option hate list.

Nuklear war is uncommon in the stock game, because the game tends to
end before anybody reaches tech level sufficient for serious nuking.

> Thanks, Kelly
>
>
> --
> Kelly Miller
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.empire (More info?)

I have to agree with the comment that using more of the command line options
is good. As far at PtKei, I'm a big Python fan, so it seems like there is
more of this in my future. WinACE is a critical tool for attracting new
players, however. I intend to use it -- possibly indefinitely -- but at
least until I understand the command line ALOT better. I'm a LINUX kinda
guy too. Has anyone every tried WinACE running inside of LINUX using WINE?
I've got VMWARE (virutual machine), but unfortuately it is the "LINUX
inside of XP" version not the "XP inside of XP" version. :-(

Thanks, Kely

"Gemini" <geminiatwebsagacitydotcom> wrote:

> I consider myself a newbie, however, I will try to help:
> I will answer your questions inline:
>
> "Kelly Miller" <fkmiller@comcast.net> wrote in message
> news:m6WdneDKq6eCZSXdRVn-jw@comcast.com...
>> Ok, I got my new "used" dual-CPU VA/LINUX box off of Dovebid and am
> learning
>> how to host and play. I'm a rookie, so please don't overly flame my
>> questions:
>>
>> 1. Is it alot of work to host a game? I realize I shouldn't try it
> without
>> more play experience. It just seems that there are NOT may games going
> on.
>> Is there a need for more hosting? I can't get in a game to save my life.
>> And, yes, I'm talking games with 1 turn every 24 hours or so. People do
>> actually PLAY this game don't they? Also, is there a guide to hosting.
>
> I don't think there's a lot of work involved in hosting. The biggest part
> is making sure the game runs w/o a hitch. It does help, however, if the
> host has "other" things going on. I can't explain that, as its quite
> intangible. However, I can say that it involves the "theme" of the game.
>
>> 2. Are the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" servers available? Which
> was
>> a bigger success?
>
> As far as I know, they're "one-shot" games. I cannot comment on success,
> as I only played in StarWars (since I started playing Empire *after* LotR
> started), howver, based on what I've read, I think LotR was more
> successful - although StarWars had much more server mods.
>
> > 3. How can a unit enter a mountain hex? If so, how?
>
> I dealt with this issue as well, as a WinACE user. Simply "explore" the
> mountain hex and you'll take it. WinACE, for whatever reason, ignores
> Mountain hexes when you explore.
>
>> 3. Is food production and usage usually active in the big games people
> play?
>
> I guess you started misnumbering here:
>
> I think for the big games, food is enabled, although, for me, food has
> only been enabled 50% of the time (1/2). (only played 2 "big" games).
> Personally, I prefer food to be enabled.
>
>> 4. Why is the Python client, PtKei so hard to use? I use WinACE (which
>> is
>
>> an excellent product) because the Python client is so "sparse". Gosh, I
>> can even see the map in PtKei.
>
> I don't think its hard to use per say, just that you need to enter empire
> commands to update the info you see, unlike some clients, like WinACE,
> that are programmed to automatically refresh info from the server.
>
>> 5. I'm running Suse 9.0 (on my server). Should I compile the server to
> use
>> Posix threads? Do you have tt to do this to host alot of users?
>
> Sorry, can't help. Only use RH Linux. The threaded version never seemed to
> work, so, I compiled w/o.
>
>
>> 6. I see that map sizes are selectable by the Deity. What are the
>> commons sizes and number of continents, islands, and the sizes of both
>> used?
>
> I don't think there's a standard - however, whatever the default is
> represents a good rule-of-thumb.
>
>
>> 7. I *LOVE* the concept of fortresses. PLEASE tell me they can shoot in
>> most games. Also, are bridges and towers generally allowed?
>
> I think fort fire, many timed, is disabled - for one reason or another,
> but its hardly a standard and quite often is enabled as well. I dont think
> I've played a game where bridges are not enabled.
>
>> 8. What are the most loved and hated server options. If I ever did host,
>> which ones should I enable and which ones should I disable? Is nuclear
> war
>> a common ending?
>
> Sorry, too new to comment. I think nuclear is usually left enabled, if
> nothing else, as a last resort to end the game.
>
>> Thanks, Kelly
>>
>>
>> --
>> Kelly Miller
>
> NP Scott
>
> Newb
>
> g
> z

--
Kelly Miller
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.empire (More info?)

"Kelly Miller" <fkmiller@comcast.net> wrote in message
news:m6WdneDKq6eCZSXdRVn-jw@comcast.com...
>
> 4. Why is the Python client, PtKei so hard to use? I use WinACE (which is
> an excellent product) because the Python client is so "sparse". Gosh, I
> can even see the map in PtKei.

It's not all that hard to use. It just lays open the native command set for you
more than WinAce, which I think is a good thing - because sometime or another
you're going to have to learn to interact directly with the server. I
personally think that relying on the "pretty face" that WinAce gives you is a
crutch. If you don't believe me, then ask Bungie - he still uses the native DOS
client for all his games!

As for not seeing the map, did you try the tips I gave you in the other thread?

>
> Thanks, Kelly
>

Good to see more fodder^H^H^H^H^H^H new players in the games lately! Keep it
up.
 
G

Guest

Guest
Archived from groups: rec.games.empire (More info?)

>2. Are the "Star Wars" and "Lord of the Rings" servers available? Which was a
bigger success?

Mith must love this one

On a positive note, the ultimate cure for hangovers has been discovered!!!

Background: this girl from Colorado was in an automobile accident and had 40%
of her skull removed. Due to bureaucratic paperwork delays the hospital refused
to put her skull back for 90 days until they got paid. Anyway she found that
her brain kind of oozed out of her skull at night while she was sleeping,
giving her excrutiating headaches.

Voila! The light goes on

Premise: the cause of headaches is your brain crashing into the inside of your
skull while it is sloshing around

Experiment: see how much you can drink without shaking your head around and
paining your brain by banging it against the inside of your skull

Predicted result: no bashing of brain, in the morning no pain

My co-ruler and I have been testing the hypothesis for weeks now, with a
startling success rate of 100%, hypothesis confirmed!!!

One unpleasant side effect is your country tends to slide down the power chart

Success guaranteed only for fine quality Napa/Sonoma Valley wines so far,
though Rommulan Pilsner also seems to work (got to carefully control the
experimental details, according to Feynman)