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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.147


sector incompatibility.  In other words, a morph who loves water and forest
would rather ally with a desert/mountain/land loving normal than another
water loving normal, so don't be afraid to choose an unusual sector type.
It may enable you to exploit planets which other races wouldn't mind giving
away.

2-6  What happens if I get a rotten home planet?
------------------------------------------------
    As it says in the help docs, a good home planet or system can really
make or break your race.  In some games, the diety actually goes around
before the game and manually sets up everyone so that they can more or less
start off on an equal footing.  If this isn't happening, though, and you
start with a crummy home planet, be ready to fight your way out of it.  This
makes it all the more important that you establish yourself throughout both
your system and the surrounding ones.  Look on it as a challenge.  :)

****************************
Part III -- Playing the Game
****************************

3-1  What is a move seg?
------------------------
    A move seg (or movement segment) is a procedure during which the
server updates the positions of all ships in the game based on their
current orders.  For example, if you have a ship ordered to move toward
a particular star, planet, or ship, this process moves your ship closer
based upon the ship's speed.  You'll receive messages from the server
when you arrive at your destination, at which time your ship stops moving.
    Repairs also occur at move segs.  This means that everytime there
is a move seg, any of your ships which are currently trying to repair them-
selves, regardless of how they incurred damage, will have their damage
percent reduced by some amount.  For more information on how to repair
ships and so forth, see the help docs on scam.

3-2  What is an update?
-----------------------
    An update is a "glorified move seg."  Basically, everything that
happens in a move seg happens here PLUS the following:
        - Production occurs at your colonies
        - Ships attempting hyperspace jumps either jump or charge
          in increments towards a level where they can jump.
    What this translates to is this:  The pace of the game depends
almost entirely on how often these updates occur.  There will always be
a given number of move segs (usually anywhere from 2 to 6) between updates,
but updates are the real pulse of the game.  Also, you should note that
the period right after updates is usually when the most frantic action in
the game takes place.
    This is important when choosing what game you wish to play in.  For
example, if you live over in Europe and the update schedule is such that
updates always occur at 4 am for you, you might want to pass on the game.
If you aren't on at updates, enemies often get the chance of jump into your
system and start attacking while you aren't on to defend yourself.  This
can have disastrous effects.

3-3  What strategy should I use?
--------------------------------
    This sounds like a pretty hairy question, but I will try to
answer this in a limited fashion for beginners.  What you're basically
looking for is some simple-minded strategy that will get you through the
first 20-30 updates while you're still learning the ropes of the game.
Try to follow these two basic principles:  Produce and colonize.
    Your first and foremost need is to produce resources on your
home planet so that you can start building ships.  The fastest way to
start producing is to spread out and cover your home planet as quickly
as possible.  This will be the sum total of your turns for the first
several updates.
    Once you have resources, you get to start building ships.  If
you're a metamorphic race, that means you get to build pods.  This is
something you should do as soon as you get resources.  This is one of
the major advantages to playing a morph...pod-building ability.  The
nice thing about pods is that you don't need factories to build them,
which means they can be built on the ground and launched immediately.
Since pods are slow relative to most ships, however, it is imperative
that you launch them quickly so that you have a fighting chance to win
the race to all of the unoccupied systems.
    If you're a normal race, you should build a factory as soon
as possible and then modify it so that it can start producing cheap
shuttles.  After you've played a game, you'll realize why it is so
important to win the race toward unoccupied planets:  it is far, far
easier to take an unoccupied planet than to kick a hostile race off
of that planet.
    The best advice I've heard yet is that you should be sure to
understand the commands in the game so you can use them to your full
advantage!  It takes time and experience to learn the game, and it
will be a rewarding and fun experience if you approach it in the
right way.

3-4  Random Questions I Always Seem to Run Into
-----------------------------------------------

3-4-1 -- How do I change scope?
    That's the cs command.  Scope works just like directory
trees in Unix.  If you want to go to the top (Universe) level,
you type "cs /".  To go to a given planet, you'd type
"cs /starname/planetname".  To change scope to one level higher,
you use "cs ..".

3-4-2 -- How do I talk to others?
    There are three basic ways:
br <message> - This broadcasts a message that will appear on all
               active player screens except those players with a
               "gag" in place (you can see that in the who list).
               On HAP, if you broadcast, only those players who
               know something about your race will be able to
               "translate" your broadcast or your messages (see send).
ann <message> - This is the same as broadcast, except that it limits
                your audience to those players in the same stellar
                scope as you.  This is a good way to carry on a more
                sensitive conversation, but there's no way to be sure
                whether you're being overheard.
send <player> <governor> <message> - This sends a telegram to the named
                          player at a cost of 1 AP.  There is no cost for
                          communicating this way with the game deity.
    There is also a "cr <key> <message>" command available with
the gbII client, but it is discussed in the client Help just fine.

3-4-3 -- What should I do first?
    Once you get into the game and have connected using your
password (and your governor password, if applicable), type "help".
Read through all of the concepts listed first and then branch
out from there.  You'll find some topics in the main list have
no help files listed.  The docs always tend to suffer from game
advances which outpace anyone's ability to update them, but they
are definitely useful for the basics.

3-4-4 -- How do I interpret the maps?
    Well, the stellar system maps and the galaxy map should
be pretty simple to figure out.  Objects on the map which are
darkened completely are those in which you have people, either on
ships or planets.  Objects which are partially darkened are those
which you have data for but no people present.
    The planetary map is a grid.  When you refer to a given
sector, be sure to use (column,row) and not vice-versa.  If your
toggle switches (see "help toggle") are set in the default way,
the highlighted sectors are those with your people on them.  Any
sectors with numbers on them represent sectors occupied by other
players.  Sectors with letters or symbols on them imply the presence
of a ship with that symbol.
    Also as a part of the map, it lists how many sectors on
the planet you own, whether any aliens are present on the planet,
what your population is, the planetary compatibility (which depends
upon atmosphere and temperature), and a few other things that you
can look up in the help docs...it changes from game to game.

3-4-5 -- How do factories work?
    Well, first you build one, then you cs to it by typing "cs
<shipnum>".  Next, you use the modify command to get everything just
the way you want it, from ship type, to crew capacity, etc.  Once
it is the "perfect" design for you, type "order <shipnum> on".  It
will take a few updates for the F's damage level to go from 75 down
to 0, and you can only build ships (with the build command) at F's
which are undamaged.  Once you've turned a factory on, you can't
change the basic design of the ship, so plan carefully!  You can
modify the ship later at double the cost differential (which is
new cost - original cost) provided you can fit the necessary
resources into the cargo bay of your ship.  This means that ships
with 0 cargo capacity cannot be modified.

3-4-6 -- What tax rate should I set?
    After you've covered the planet and are on the verge of
building ships, start it off with a few percent.  This may vary
depending on your race, but I think it is a good rule of thumb.
This small amount will pay for your ships and keep you from losing
morale.  Later on, when you're not so worried about increasing
your sector efficiences, you can up the tax rate (but watch out
for insurgencies!).  Note that the higher the tax rate, the
less chance you have to increase in efficiency, and the average
efficiency of your planet directly determines how many resources
you produce in an update.  Also, note that heavily taxing your
people can have other ill effects in HAP.

3-4-7 -- What's the difference between military and civilians?
    Civilians have a fighting strength equal to your race's
fight.  Military have fighting strength 10 times stronger than
your civilians.  Contrary to what you might think, military
_cannot_ pilot ships _or_ fire guns...only civilians can do that.
Thus, if you have 5 guns on your explorer and 2 mil and 3 crew,
you will only be able to fire 3 guns at a time.  Also, if you have
only mil on board a given ship (ie. your only civ on board gets
killed by a lucky shot from an enemy), you cannot order the ship
to any destination.

3-4-8 -- What should I set my mobilization level at?
    I've found that it's a good idea to mobilize only a few
very large planets that you may own.  The reasoning for this is
long and involved, but you'll learn through experience that
mobilizing small planets (as opposed to building weapons plants
there) only makes them more vulnerable to a metamorph invasion
force.  Mobilizing big planets still leaves you vulnerable to
a ground assault (your high mob allows enemy troops to arm just
as easily as you can if they bring their own destruct and absorb
a few hundred civilians, for example), but big planets require a
lot of AP's to take and require a lower mobilization in order for
planetary guns to come into effect.

3-4-9 -- How do planetary guns work?
    You don't have to load them.  These guns will take destruct
directly from your stockpiles (provided you have some dest there).
You can actively use them against ships in orbit around your planet
by using the "defend" command (in the help files).  These guns will
also _automatically_ fire on any non-allied ship that tries to land
on your planet...even a couple of medium caliber planetary guns
is better than nothing.  Also, the ship may not be destroyed, but if
it is damaged, there is a chance that it will crash land, thwarting
the attack.  You get a certain number of planetary guns proportional
to how many sectors you own on the planet and how high your mob level is.

3-4-10 -- How do atmosphere processors work?
    To put it simply, it doesn't matter who builds a processor...
only who currently owns it.  A processor will slowly change the
atmosphere of a planet (rate inversely proportional to planet size)
to the ideal preferences of the owner of the processor at a cost of
3 fuel per update, which must be loaded into the processor.  The last
time I checked, processors will continue to eat up 3 fuel per turn
if they have fuel to burn even after a given planet is perfectly
atmospherically compatible with the owner, so it's a good idea to scrap
processors once you reach this goal.

3-4-11 -- What's the quickest way to jump to other systems?
    Since you receive jump technology at a tech level of 50, your
best bet is to have a ship ready to modify once you get there.  If
you're going to build a large fleet of jump ships, you'll save
a lot of res by just building a factory and starting it up AFTER
you've been able to design the ship with jump included.  Some
players, though, prefer using a few heavily armed explorers or
Terraformers (which have large hanger and fuel capacity for long
jumps) which they modify for jumping as soon as they can, saving
a few updates by not having to wait for a factory to come on line.

3-4-12 -- How do I get hyperdrive on board ships?
    In order to get hyperdrive aboard ships such as
e's and T's, you must first have a given number of resources
in the cargo bay.  The amount depends upon the new cost
of the ship with hyperdrive minus the old cost (double that
to get the cost of the upgrade).  That means you must be able
to fit that many resources _on_board_ your ship to make the
upgrade.  For e's, big cargo holds aren't very common, so you
might find that you have to "bootstrap" your way up by upgrading
the size of your cargo hold.  See the "upgrade" command in the
help files for more info.  In case the help files aren't very
enlightening, here's an example of how to build a jump capable
terraformer:
> build T 2,2  (let's say this gives you T #1456 in sector 2,2)
> load #1456 r 18
> cs #1456
> upgrade hyper    (now you've got hyperdrive capability)
> load #1456 r 16  (assume you want to add a crystal mount)
> upgrade mount    (now when you jump, you'll do it in one update,
                    and you'll use a _lot_ less fuel, if you've
                    got a crystal in the mount, of course)
> load #1456 x 1   (assuming you have a crystal on the planet)
> mount #1456      (now you can take advantage of your xtal mount)

    Say I wanted to increase the hanger capacity of my T,
here's how I would do it:
> cs #1456
> load #1456 r 2    (This can cost 2 or 4, depending on your T)
> upgrade hanger 6  (Default hanger of a T is 5...you must also
                     have a high enough tech to build this kind
                     of ship)

3-4-13 -- How do I build ships in space?
    Well, the way to do this is get a ship into orbit with
the resources you need.  You can use just about any ship, but a
shuttle works just fine.  You can load it with an infinite number
of resources, but you just can't land an overloaded shuttle...so
you _don't_ need ships with huge cargo bays to build some of the
larger structures like H's, O's, S's, etc.
    You can get resources onto the shuttle by ferrying them
up from the surface with another ship.  Once you have done that,
change scope to your shuttle, and type "build <shiptype>".  This
will create a new ship docked to your shuttle.  You can then
launch it or do whatever you want with it (but be careful about
trying to land damaged ships!  Some ships are built with a certain
damage level that must then be repaired...others can't land at all).

3-4-14 -- How come I don't have any resources yet?
    Often, races with low metabolisms and/or small homeworlds
or worse, a combination of the two, will take painfully long to
start generating any resources.  You can help alleviate this
problem by buying a reasonably high metabolism.  I usually find
that 1.0 gets me off fairly quickly, but if I have the points
to spend, I'll go higher.  High metab isn't so crucial for
Jovian races since they start with huge homeworlds, so this
minimum could go down to around 0.85 or so, in my opinion.

3-4-15 -- How come my pods didn't explode when they reached their destination?
    Speaking from personal experience only, pods can explode at
an update or a move seg.  The chance of this happening for each pod
at each update/segment is around 30%.  Thus, if your pods arrive at
a system, go ahead and set them on course for nearby planets.  Some
might actually get there before exploding, giving you a new colony
in the early parts of the game.

3-4-16 -- How do I get a list of where my crystals are at?
    Once you are at tech 50, you'll be able to see the
location of all crystal sectors on planets you have explored.
At times, these sectors will be covered by structures built
by you or someone else (such as F's, a's, Y's, etc), but you
can get around that problem by using "toggle geography" and
than viewing the map.

3-4-17 -- How do I get crystals?
    If you occupy any crystal sectors, you have a chance,
depending upon that sector's efficiency, to mine a crystal at
every update.  Once you've mined from around 1-6 crystals from
a given sector over time, it will revert to a "normal" sector.

3-4-18 -- How do I get a list of ship types I can build?
    Try "build ?" which is described under "help build."  This
will give you a summary of ship types.  If you want detailed info
on a specific ship, type "build ? x" where x is the letter that
represents that ship type.

3-5  Final Warnings and Advice
------------------------------
    If you see a bug, tell the deity in charge.  Period.  Many
games are thrown out of balance by players who find bugs and exploit
them.  If you're really in this to have fun and play the game well,
you shouldn't need to cheat to win.
    Remember that some types of ships are built with damage
that takes a few updates to repair.  This means that you'll have
to plan ahead, and, more importantly, don't try to land these or
any other damaged ships unless you want to risk losing them!  You
have a percentage chance equal to the ship's damage of crash
landing and possibly destroying your ship!
    Use the "tactical" command often to check for the presence
of enemy ships which may not show up on your map.  Remember, to
check an entire system for enemies, it might be better to do a
"tact g" rather than just a "tact."  This gives tactical reports
for your planets only (which is still full coverage most of the
time) and avoids repetitive tact reports from every single one of
your ships in system.  Also, be careful what orders you give in
Universal Scope (the top level)...sometimes, asking for tact
reports from all of your ships (or even just stock reports) can
tie up the game and waste a lot of everyone's time.
    Remember that some types of ships can't be built in factories,
most importantly ships such as Stations and Habitats.  To build
something like this, you can overload a shuttle in orbit!  Also, be
sure you know what the rules are for Habitats in your game (ie. do
they produce extra resources every turn?  If so, how many?).
    If you've got "smart guns," learn how to use them and take
advantage of them!  Don't get caught off-line at an update only
to have everything you hold dear destroyed simply because you didn't
set up a protection network.
    The beginning of the game is a critical time when you need
to get your race started off and several updates occur very close
together in order to get things moving.  When you sign up for a
game, be sure you can make this first update "blitz" or you may
find yourself hopelessly behind.
********************* I M P O R T A N T ***************************
    Finally, remember that the deity of the game is there to
help you.  If it weren't for him/her, you wouldn't be playing GB
at all.  So don't whine.  Be polite.  Make constructive comments.
It'll be easier for everyone that way.
********************* I M P O R T A N T ***************************

    *** RELAX.  IT IS ONLY A GAME. ***

------
    Comments, flames, and questions are welcome and should be sent
to me at [e-mail].  This will be posted monthly or as the
need arises, and I'll email it upon request.  Copies are also available
via anonymous ftp at morticia.cnns.unt.edu (login as the user "anonymous"
and give your email address as the password when ftp asks for it).  Also,
you can get a copy of this by sending a null mail message to the
address "[e-mail]" with the subject line "FAQ".

Doug Ingram -- Fnebish Legion // [e-mail] // "Carpe Datum."

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From: [e-mail] (Doug Ingram)
Subject: Alt.games.gb (Galactic Bloodshed) FAQ  [Part 2 of 2]
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Followup-To: alt.games.gb
Originator: [e-mail]
Lines: 1187
Sender: [e-mail] (Doug Ingram)
Organization: University of Washington, Seattle
Date: Mon, 16 Nov 1992 17:51:13 GMT
Approved: [e-mail]

Archive-name:  alt-games-gb/part2

    This is the second part of the alt.games.gb FAQ sheet v4.02.

    This posting serves as an appendix to the alt.games.gb
FAQ sheet.  It has a series of ten questions asked to several gb
veterans by Mike Varney [and painstakingly edited by me :)] and
their responses.  These questions and their responses are designed
for novice players.  They don't cover many aspects of the game, but
they can be very helpful.  Unlike the first posting of the FAQ, this
one is unlikely to change over time unless I get new submissions for
answers to these questions.  I am not exactly looking for new
submissions, but...
    Please only submit answers to these questions if you feel like
you have something new or different to say.  Also, I will reject any
submissions whose format does not EXACTLY match the format I already
have in this posting.  Even if I get a few more good sets of answers,
I'm really tired of editing things to get them into the proper format
to make this post readable.

Contents:
PART 1 -- Setting up your race
    Should I choose a metamorphic race or a normal race?
    What type of home planet should I choose?
    How should I spent my remaining points?
    What sector preferences should I choose?
PART 2 -- The Beginning of the Game
    What should I do before the first update?
    What is the first ship I should build?  The second?
    What can I do to increase my resource production on any
        given planet?
PART 3 -- Later in the Game
    Should I colonize the planets in my own system first, or should I
        focus on arriving in other systems before opponents can?
    What should I do when I see another ship other than my own?

Changes from last posting:
none

[Editorial comment:  These answers are not all necessarily right.  As
you will see from the wide range of answers for each question, everyone
has their own playing style and their own opinions on how newbies should
proceed.  In my opinion, there are several misleading and some totally
wrong answers in here, so take these with a grain of salt.  I'm not
saying that all of my strategy tips are foolproof:  I've tried to give
a balanced view of the game in light of all the different viewpoints
I've heard.  Still, I may not have succeeded in presenting the whole picture
accurately, and I don't want to pretend to know everything about the
way the game should be played.  In sum...you have been warned.  Also,
I have edited the original responses where necessary to make them more
readable, either by slightly rewording a vague sentence, making the
format more readable, changing grammar here and there, etc.          ]

Key:  FEEP = [e-mail] (Christopher Fodor // Feepness)
      KJM = [e-mail] (Kevin Martin // Lestat)
      GVB = [e-mail] (Toni Kotinurmi // Keskiolut)
      NEUE = [e-mail]  (Derek Jewhurst // Neue Regel)
      GARF = [e-mail] (Jari Koivikko // Garfel)
      RN = [e-mail] (Rob Nesius)
      GURU = [e-mail] ( David Fernandez // Thing )
      MUU = [e-mail] (Dan Andersen // Muu)
      FNEB = [e-mail] (Doug Ingram // Fnebish Legion)
      MICR = [e-mail] (Jason W. Solinsky // Microbians)
      TRIB = [e-mail] (Shire // Tribbles)
      NB = [e-mail] ()
      PW = [e-mail] (Petri Wessman // TheCulture)
      FGS = [e-mail] (Jerry Liu // Froos)
      GRIF = [e-mail] (Paul Daniels // Griffons )
      PILL = [e-mail] (Scott Donavan // Pillarian )
      TAO = [e-mail] (Jukka Sinisalo // Tao)
      EMPI = [e-mail] (Samuli Suomi // Empire)
      LB = [e-mail] (Link Baker)
      CLAW = [e-mail] (Mitch Ferguson // Greenies)
      ZURG = [e-mail] (Mike Simmonds // Zurgithian)

******** PART 1 - SETTING UP YOUR RACE ********

(1)  Should I choose a metamorphic race or a normal race?
--------------------------------------------------------

FEEP Normal for me.  With high IQ, and try to max out metabolism.

KJM  Metas are more work because they are able to send pods out fairly early
     in the game.  Typically, they will have a large number of pods out at
     most times.  Since they need to get ahead early, you really have to
     pay attention to them.

GVB  Whatever, not too specialized race is the main point. If you have a
     specialized race, you MUST know what you're doing.

NEUE Normal

GARF I prefer normal 'cause i get lot of tech

RN   The concept of a 'normal' race might be more comfortable for a
     newbie.  There are a number of pros and cons to consider.  The
     normal races, also referred to as 'techies', start out with their
     IQ at a high number.  Their tech then increases roughly at the rate
     of IQ/100.  Which means it grows at a linear rate.  Morph's intel-
     ligence, on the other hand, is based on their population.  So, before
     a Morph can increase it's tech, it must increase it's population.
     In consideration of this, Morphs have the ability to build 'pods'
     at zero tech, and launch them to other planets, thus letting them
     expand throughout their home systems at a comparable rate to the
     'techies'.  Morph's usually have a higher 'fight' than 'normals'.
     It is possible for Morphs and Techies to be allies.  The game is
     not 'morphs' against 'techies'.

GURU If you want to get the higher tech toys first, get a normal race with
     a high int; otherwise, a meta is a better choice.  They start out slow
     but can catch up quickly.

MUU  Well, as a newbie, I would start as a normal race.  They get a
     technological advantage over the meta's right from the start.
     They are also much more straight forward to play.  Meta's can get
     get very complex and very time-consuming in the beginning.
     Also, Normal's tend to attempt to enslave Meta's as soon as
     possible.  Therefore, if you are not very experienced, you will
     not be able to keep a Meta as a free empire.

FNEB Choose metamorphs if you want to concentrate more on ground fighting
     and a more dynamic (and time-consuming) game.  Choose a normal race if
     you'd rather experiment with building ship types, with the ultimate
     goal of finding a good metamorphic ally to do the "dirty work" for you.
     Both types of races can just as easily win the game, and they're both
     just as difficult to learn how to play well.

MICR You can have fun with both types of races. I've always found the HAP
     racegen to favor normal races and the GB racegen to favor
     metamorphs, but the universe will always need a mixture of both. In
     my experience metamorphs have represented a considerably greater
     time consumption than normals, so you should take this into account.
     (of course any race will take a long time if you occupy to much of
     the galaxy). On the GB racegen you can create some interesting
     crosses between metamorphs and normals (like races with collective
     IQ's but neither pods nor absorb.) Most of these combinations are
     disastrous, but others (like a collective IQ, no pods Jovian) can
     be both interesting AND playable.

TRIB I would suggest a normal race, they tend to have less ship to worry
     about, and a lot less complications.  A meso to be effective must
     know about tech investiments, how to maximize population, and uses
     of pods.

NB   If you want to explore all the nifty ship types of the game, I would
     suggest you not be a metamorph. Also, being a metamorph successfully
     requires either tireless fingers or an understanding of macros!