Internet Info 1997 December/Internet_Info_CD-ROM_Walnut_Creek_December_1997.iso/faqs/alt/games/vga-planets/alt.games.vga-planets_mini-faq

Internet Message Format | 1997-10-19 | 19KB

Path: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu!faqserv
From: [e-mail] (Auto FAQ Poster)
Newsgroups: alt.games.vga-planets,alt.answers,news.answers
Subject: alt.games.vga-planets mini-faq
Supersedes: <games/vga-planets/[e-mail]>
Followup-To: alt.games.vga-planets
Date: 18 Oct 1997 10:16:34 GMT
Organization: none
Lines: 486
Approved: [e-mail]
Expires: 15 Nov 1997 10:06:58 GMT
Message-ID: <games/vga-planets/[e-mail]>
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Daz Gedye)
NNTP-Posting-Host: penguin-lust.mit.edu
Summary: Answers Frequently Asked Questions on alt.games.vga-planets
X-Last-Updated: 1997/10/03
Originator: [e-mail]
Xref: senator-bedfellow.mit.edu alt.games.vga-planets:59222 alt.answers:29712 news.answers:114876

Archive-name: games/vga-planets/mini-faq
Posting-Frequency: fortnightly
URL: http://www.netlink.co.nz/~dgedye/vgap

Alt.Games.VGA-Planets mini-FAQ page.

Last updated Friday, 03 October, 1997.

This is the Mini Frequently Asked Questions List (FAQ) for the Usenet
Newsgroups Alt.Games.VGA-Planets. The current version of this FAQ is
posted to Alt.Games.VGA-Planets, alt.answers, and news.answers
fortnightly.

If you know of any FTP sites or Web pages not listed here please mail
me the URL plus a short description and I'll include them. In return I
am very happy for people to copy things from this document - that's
what I did it for!

Subjects covered in this document:

   1.Introduction - "What is VGA-Planets?"

   2.Strategy - Questions about strategy, and why you shouldn't ask me
   ;->

   3.Computer Players - "What are they, where to get them?"

   4.IRC - "Is there an IRC channel?"

   5.Spam - "What can I do about Spam?"

   6.Whiners - "This game sux dude."

   7.WWW - "Anyone know of any web pages?"

   8.FTP - "Where are the FTP sites?"

   9.Hosts - "I want to play!"



1) INTRODUCTION

VGA Planets is a graphical, multi-player, play by electronic mail,
space war game. This game simulates combat in space between galactic
scale empires. The game emphasizes colonization of space and the
development of the planets that you will find, colonize and/or
conquer. How well you develop these resources will determine what kind
of starships (freighters and capital ships) you will be able to
produce and how well you will be able to defend your space and attack
your neighbors. This game is designed to be a strategic and tactical
game of warfare, but you will also need to be able to build an economy
and service your empire. With a well developed strong economic base
you will have a greater potential for winning the game. As the leader
of your empire you are responsible for all of the decisions that
effect your growth and production (excluding, of course, being
attacked by your neighbor). You will decide how to best develop your
planets with the resources available to you. You will decide what type
of starship(s) to be built at your starbase(s). You are the mastermind
behind your race and you are in a race to see which empire can first
conquer the universe.

VGA Planets is designed to be able to handle from two to eleven
players in a play by mail (electronic mail) game format. The game is
designed to be played as a Net or Bulletin Board System (BBS) game (as
long as file transfers are permitted and available), although it can
be played solely on one computer. Many of the Net players are playing
using E-mail and UUENCODE.

This game is made up of two main parts; a Client Program and a Host
Program. Each of the players needs a Client program to view their
results and give their orders, and one person uses the Host program to
process those orders and generate new results. The Client Programs are
Shareware, the Host Program is Free.

The game sequence is:

Host: Runs Master.exe and Hconfig.exe to create a new universe.

Host: Runs a Host program to generate player files (player*.rst) Host:
distributes RST files to the players.

Player: Unpacks their RST file
Player: Gives their orders with a client program.
Player: Compiles all the orders they wish to give. (player*.trn)
Player: Gives TRN files to the Host.

Host: Runs the Host program to generate the next set of RSTs.
...and so on.

Client Programs:
Planets 3.0:
Requires a 286 with Dos and VGA graphics.

WinPlan3.5:
Requires Windows.
Shareware Versions of these programs are available at
http://www.vgaplanets.com/share.htm

Host Programs:
The official Host Program is available at :
http://www.vgaplanets.com/hst321.htm There is also a third party Host
program called PHost. It is available at :
http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~asterian/phost.html

Utilities.
There have also been many, many optional utilities written. These fall
into the same two categories. Player Utilities help the player by
providing more information or enabling certain tasks to be done
faster. Host Utilities are for hosts, and do things like altering the
behaviour of the universe, reading passwords for players who have
forgotten theirs, Artificial Computer players etc.

For further details and other merchandise check out the order forms at
the official WWW page: http://www.vgaplanets.com

To register the client program contact the author:
Tim Wisseman, P.O. Box 204, North Fork, CA 93643-0204, USA.

Planets 3.0 for Dos:
Price: $15 (USA/North America) - $17 Foreign Air ($15 Surface)
WinPlan 3.5 for Windows:
Price: $20 (USA/North America) - $23 Foreign Air ($20 Surface)
Remember to make all checks payable to TIM WISSEMAN.

Tim also has a mailing list to keep people up to date on what is
happening with VGA-Planets. To join the list send a message to
[e-mail] In the body of the message you can send standard
mail list commands like: SUBSCRIBE vgaplanets UNSUBSCRIBE vgaplanets

The European distributor is
Jean-Marie Clement - [e-mail] - AllGames BBS - Fido 2:331/221 -
VgaPNet 57:39/1

The UK distributor is Gary Pendlebury - [e-mail]

2) QUESTIONS ABOUT STRATEGY:

A common posting on the newsgroup runs along the lines of:

Help! I am playing race X, and I am being attacked by races Y and Z.
What should I do?

Unfortunately the answer is complicated by such things as

     Are you using the latest version of host, or an earlier one? The
     original Host or PHost? What sort of various add-ons are you
     using? What variables has the host changed for your game set-up?
     How good are your opponents?

In fact there are so many variables that often the answer is a matter
of personal preference rather than "the correct answer". A discussion
of strategies is therefore beyond the scope of this document. The full
FAQ had a strategy section, but it has not been updated for quite some
time, due to the amount of work involved.

So what should I do?
First read the document files that should have come with the game
files. If you are playing in a game using a 3.2 series host you had
better read host32.doc because there are a lot of new features that
could catch you unawares. There are also other documents available at
most sites that may prove helpful, such as the Dreadlord Battle manual
or the H files. I would highly recommend getting a copy of Eden Tan's
excellent Infolist. This has most of the statistics and formulas that
people often ask for. Best of all, experiment and learn from your own
experience!

"Therefore, I say: Know the enemy and know yourself; in a hundred
battles, you will never be defeated. When you are ignorant of the
enemy but know yourself, your chances of winning or losing are equal.
If ignorant both of your enemy and of yourself, you are sure to be
defeated in every battle." Sun Tzu, "The Art of War" ~500 B.C.

3) COMPUTER OPPONENTS:

There are no computer opponents included with the basic game! However
Tim Wisseman wrote an add-on called c-player and generously released
the source code. This has led to a number of "cplayers" being written.
The earlier ones tended to cheat quite a bit to make up for their lack
of intelligence, but the later ones are getting more sophisticated.
None of them are as good or as interesting as a human opponent, but
they are better than nothing. Sadly Tim now has to spend a lot of time
modifying his Host program because of errors produced by
poorly-written c-players.

For more information on free c-players, see the excellent computer
opponents FAQ at Cliff Mc Keithan's page:
http://www.diac.com/~skye/silicon.html (I have been having trouble
accessing Cliff's page recently? )

Another page worth checking is The Q homepage at
http://www.sharenet.com/vgap/theq/q.html
The Q is shareware not freeware, however they also provide links to 4
freeware cplayers: ACP v4.22, Admiral v1.04, Dominion v2.02, DPlayer
v0.25

4) IRC:

For those with access to Internet Relay Chat, there are VGA Planets
channels on most of the major networks. The most popular is probably
#vgaplanets on Efnet. You will need to connect to an EFnet server such
as irc.neosoft.com 6665 and then join #vgaplanets

5) TROLLS, SPAM, AND MAKE-MONEY-FAST POSTS

Sadly these seem to be a fact of life on the net. Everybody hates
them, so there's really no need to post a follow up to any of these
sorts of posts. Ignore them, or if you really want to do something
useful examine the message headers to determine the site the message
came from and forward a copy including the full headers to addresses
like postmaster@, usenet@, news@, abuse@, support@, root@ at the same
site. Be polite and they may do something about tracking the offender
down. http://www.vix.com/spam/ has a lot of information about this if
you want to find out more.

6) WHINERS AND COMPLAINERS

Constructive criticism is generally acceptable on the group, but a lot
of time is wasted by people whining or making personal attacks on Tim
for not constructing the game the way they would have done ( if only
they had thought of it first). Here's an excellent piece of advice
courtesy of The Psyborg [e-mail]:

>Let me put this into easy to understand language for everyone out
>there:
>
>1.  If you don't like the product, don't buy it.
>2.  If you don't like the programmer, don't support his stuff.
>3.  If you think you can do a better job, VB costs under $200... 4.
>If you think the game needs something else, make the suggestion. 5.
>If your suggestion is ignored, either quit or keep playing.
>
>Is that simple enough or what?

Should posts on Alt.Games.VGA-Planets be restricted solely to the
discussion of the game itself, or is it an arena where fellow VGAP
enthusiasts can discuss anything they like? This is a matter of
personal opinion, however it seems a safe prediction that
advertisments for games that are in direct competition with VGAP will
not be all that popular with some of the more 'excitable' members of
this newsgroup.

7) TOP TWENTY WORLD WIDE WEB PAGES:

(Note: Once upon a time I had a listing of every WWW site relating to
planets. That was easy when there was only a dozen of them. Now there
are too many to keep track of, so I'm just listing what I feel to be
the essential ones for a begginer.)

1
http://www.vgaplanets.com
The Official Home Page.
This is run by Tim Wisseman himself. 'Nuf said.

2
http://www.netlink.co.nz/~dgedye/vgap
The mini-FAQ page.
A HTML copy of the Alt.Games.VGA-Planets mini-FAQ. Aimed at newcomers,
it contains a short introduction and a list of key sites & links.
Maintained by Daz Gedye

3
http://www.netlink.co.nz/~sgedye/vgap
VGA Planets Common Player Utilities List.
This page's goal is to have links to every player utility there is on
the net. A "One Stop Shop" for all players. Maintained by Steven
Gedye.

4
http://www.jacobean.demon.co.uk/gtrav.html
or
http://www.pbmgames.com/gtrav/gtrav.html
Galactic Traveller
The comprehensive resource for Galaxy, VGA Planets and Stars!. All you
need in one place.

5
http://www.mosquitonet.com/~scotty/vgap/
The Neutral Zone.
A comprehensive site complete with a introduction to VGAP, a beginners
guide, FTP & WWW Site lists, a local archive full of the finest VGAP
software with ratings and descriptions, screen shots, a strategy
archive, and search engine. New additions include Mission Ops, a
automated area for hosts to announce games and players to add their
info so they may be selected as replacement players. The Neutral Zone
is also the "Home of The Planeteer", VGA Planets finest bi-monthly
publication available in the WinHelp format and now HTML. Maintained
by Scott Shepherd - [e-mail] - In AK, USA.

6
http://www.diac.com/~skye/silicon.html
Cliff Mc Keithan's homepage.
Author of the dominate cplayer utility. Links to all the other free
computer players and a Cplayer FAQ.

7
http://www.geocities.com/~vgap
VGA Planets, Halfling Style!
Psst! Checking for VGAP Addons? Maybe a COMPLETE Friendly Code chart?
With up-to-date links, all available Add-On documentation 'on site',
semi-graphical as far as listings of WWW pages, etc.

8
http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~asterian/phost.html
PHost homepage.
Contains all the latest PHost stuff, The Portable Host Development Kit
for budding programmers, plus the latest versions of utilities with
PHost support. In Michigan, USA.

9
http://www.chem.vu.nl/Studenten/kreike/vgap.html
Timo's VGAP Infopages
Original stuff - things you can't find on any other vgap site. 1001
newsgroup strategies, lists with ready-to-use shipnames, and The
complete Birdmen Guide to the Galaxy, A 125 kB plain text file about
how to play the Birdmen. SuperSpy,Nasty combat tactics, Host, Phost,
Fhost, altlists, addons, in short: everything!

10
http://www.rcci.demon.co.uk/
or
http://www.ixc.net/~den
The Den of the Draconian.
The VGAP Polls, Chat Room, RCC and the VGAP4 Draconians at the Den.

11
http://www.sharenet.com
The Sharenet Trolls' web page
home of The Q (cplayer), VPA and eventually home of our automated
hosting.

12
http://www.dragonfire.net/~JumaFORCE/consortium
The Command Consortium
If you want hint booklets, VPA, encoding programs, zipping programs,
and almost anything else that you need to play VGAP, come to The
Command Consortium.

13
http://www.cybercomm.net/~eculp/tgot.html
The Gamesters of Triskelion
Custom games one at a time, using mixes of Phost and TimHost, with Dan
& Dave add-ons. Lord Krell's custom VGAP related WAV files available,
and access point to the Hall of Infamy. VGAP Description, online BBS
listings, Player Form form to be considered for TGoT play, FTP and
SITES links. The Hall of Infamy featured Biographs and Photos of many
of the VGAP Community, be sure to visit!

14
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/3535
THE PIRATE'S PLANET PAGE
a page especially designed for Privateers players, plus The Reference:
a handy Reference for VGA Planet containing tons of information.
Commander Pirx - [e-mail]

15
http://www.primenet.com/~cam/
CYBER CONNECTION BBS
VGA Planets Files, Internet Utility Files, Our VGA Planets Games, VGA
Planets Hosts seeking players, VGA Planets Players seeking games. In
Boise, Idaho USA [phone].

16
http://nospin.com/vp.html
Nospin site.
Newbie friendly. VPLANETS Listserv mailing list for VGA Planets.
Maintained by Bob Wright [e-mail]

18
http://users.aol.com/dangale/index.html
Dan and Dave Shareware Products

8) ANONYMOUS FTP SITES:

ftp://ftp.wilmington.net/vgaplanets
Tim Wisseman's Site.
Here you can find the latest releases of the official software and
authorised add-ons.

ftp://ftp.fu-berlin.de/pub/pc/msdos/games/vgaplanets
THE ftp site. The biggest, the best, the busiest. In Berlin, Germany.

ftp://ftp.demon.co.uk/pub/games/pbem/vgaplanets
or
ftp://ftp.pbmgames.com/pub/gtrav/vgaplanets
Galactic Traveller
The comprehensive resource for Galaxy, VGA Planets and Stars!. All you
need in one place.

ftp://ftp.mosquitonet.com/pub/pc/vgap/
The Neutral Zone FTP Archive

ftp://ftp.sharenet.com/pub/users/sharenet
The Sharenet trolls' FTP site.

ftp://bar.starwarrior.com/pub/DeltaLeague

ftp://ftp.erg.sri.com/pub/pbm/vga_planets

ftp://ftp.solace.mh.se/pub/msdos/games/VGA-Planets
In sweden

ftp://bucket.ualr.edu/pub/vgap
University of Arkansas, USA

ftp://faui43.informatik.uni-erlangen.de/mounts/gonzo/pds/freeware/soft
ware/dos/games/planets

ftp://moonbase.wwc.edu/pub/planets
Walla Walla College, WA, USA

ftp://ftp.onwe.co.za/pub/VGAPlanets
This site has the Informer & Afsim utilities from Sean Martens,
nothing else.

ftp://rigel.phys-chemie.uni-marburg.de

ftp://ftp.teleport.com/users/goldman/VGAP
Ted's Universe

ftp://ftp.cts.com/users/sd/s/shdwhawk/vgap
Maintained by Chris Evans [e-mail]

9) HOSTING SITES:

So now you want to play? Hosting a game over the net is a big
commitment and requires alot of work on the Hosts part. Also since it
is best if a host does not play in their own games they are doing this
for little or no reward. Bear this in mind and be nice to hosts! Make
sure you know what you are doing first. Read the docs, play against a
cplayer for a while to get the "feel" of things. When you've done that
you are ready to play for real.

Hosts will advertise on the newsgroup when they have a game ready to
start. Remember to reply to THEM, not to the newsgroup! Also there are
few things more irritating than someone who starts a game and then
quits partway through. Hosts faced with this problem will advertise
for replacement players on the newsgroup.

As well as that, there are automated hosts on the web, and
professional hosts who charge:

http://www.islandnet.com/~dafriese/robo.html
AUTOMATED Vga Planets Web Site

http://www.anawave.com/~Spacenet
SpaceNet PBEM
We began as a private group playing PBEM games for ourselves and our
friends but soon grew to a size that required a more professional
structure. We are a gaming Net run by gamers for gamers. (from 38
cents to 54 cents a turn)

http://www.zweb.com/c4
Winplan Host: The Apex of VGA Planets!
VGA Planets hosted by folks who take their gaming VERY seriously.
Error-free, dependable service, including transmittal of TRN CHECK
reports, twice a day, to confirm arrival of TRN orders, file
integrity, check for staleness, and client errors. Online AND phone
support 7 days a week (415-340-8017). Player sorting based on level of
expertise and setup scenarios, relayed via a detailed online Mission
Request form. In short, the kind of professional system demanded by
VGAP experts, and crucial to novices. The WH midi collection is a
must-visit! (NO CHARGE FOR FIRST GAME, then 16 cents to 30 cents per
turn thereafter) Maintained by Manny "Knightwing" Asencio -
[e-mail]

http://www.mindspring.com/~johnw/epsilon/
Epsilon 3
This is a site dedicated to the hosting of VGA Planets. Most games
hosted from this site are free, but there are also some tournament
games offering cash prizes and free games to winners.

http://galahad.xstor.com/~todds/vgahost.htm
Todd's VGA Host Page, Free Hosting for Beginning and Experienced
Players

http://home1.gte.net/mouser
The Mouse Hole-VGA Planets
This is a free hosting site that will be running a varity of VGA game
senerios and settings. New game beginning constantly. Come join us.

http://www.atcon.com/~voyager
NAVGAP
NAVGAP is a free, automated site specially dedicated to hosting VGA
Planets over the Internet. All players, new or veteran, registered or
unregistered, are invited to join!