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Adding to documentation
http://classictw.com/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=31807
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Author:  John Pritchett [ Tue Jul 05, 2011 12:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Adding to documentation

I'm still planning to open a TW manual wiki. But in the meantime, I had a thought that maybe a good way for me to help out in this area would be for members to post requests for information about particular features or aspects of the game or server. It's always a huge hurdle for me to sit down and document everything that needs documenting in this game, but any single piece of documentation isn't so daunting. So maybe if I can get an idea what gaps most need to be filled, that would be a great start. In particular, new features and changes for the latest version could probably benefit from some documentation.

Author:  Cruncher [ Tue Jul 05, 2011 1:53 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adding to documentation

I think what's really needed, especially for new sysops is documentation of tedit and all the options. (I just had to ask JP where a toggle was.)

Some things like the rob/steal factors for example MBBS is 50/70, TWGS is 100/100, but what does that mean and what effect will it have on the game if you choose different factors?

Screen shots with these types of explainations I beleive will be very helpful.

Author:  Singularity [ Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adding to documentation

Cruncher wrote:
Some things like the rob/steal factors for example MBBS is 50/70, TWGS is 100/100, but what does that mean and what effect will it have on the game if you choose different factors?


There is only one way to understand this, and there will only ever be one way, and that's to play the game and understand what the steal factor actually does in-game. There is simply no way to explain the setting and it's depths to sysops unless they have also played red. The best you can do is approximate with a few optimum experience formulas, or just say "the higher the setting, the more experience you need." In that case, no screenshots are needed.

Author:  John Pritchett [ Tue Jul 05, 2011 2:50 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adding to documentation

I definitely don't want to document to the point that it gives too much away. I'm not interested in providing formulas. If the community wants to present formulas as part of the community-driven docs, that's great.

I provide basic info on all TEDIT settings as part of TEDIT. I don't intend to give too much detail. In the rob/steal factors, for example, the description says you'll be setting a factor that effects how easily you bust as a function of experience. It's purposefully vague. I don't want to give details about what that function is. I could provide more info by telling you that a lower factor means you bust less and higher factor means you'll bust more. Anything more than that I'll leave to the community to figure out.

If you feel that a TEDIT description of a setting is confusing or lacking, let me know and I'll try to improve on it.

Author:  Cruncher [ Tue Jul 05, 2011 10:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adding to documentation

John Pritchett wrote:
I definitely don't want to document to the point that it gives too much away. I'm not interested in providing formulas. If the community wants to present formulas as part of the community-driven docs, that's great.


That was just the first example I pulled from the top of my head. The formulas are out there.

Sometimes I wish I could highlight, copy & paste the tedit menus. Could you display all the tedit screens and options? Then it will be easier to tell you which are too vague.

Author:  Vid Kid [ Tue Jul 05, 2011 11:11 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Adding to documentation

Here I can make this so much easier .. and you can do the typing and make manuals all you want ...

Join me in Team Speak 3 Client and ask all you want ...

I'll use all my years of experience in TWGS and playing to answer these questions you you have .. like I've done so many times before to others.

Most of it is so easy you might just be embarrassed after the asking.
Either way maybe you will share with others and spoil the game like
I do here for my family when we watch movies .. lol

Sometimes you just see it coming .. hahahha

take me up on this offer .. and you will be amazed at what you can learn in 20 minutes.

Vid

Author:  ctsurv553 [ Thu Aug 11, 2016 12:43 am ]
Post subject:  What happens when all ship numbers are in use

For the first time in more than 20 years of playing TW2002, I have encountered a game in which all of the ship numbers are in use by players and corps. If you have ever wondered what happens in this situation, read on:

1. If you try to buy an extra ship at StarDock, the game responds with this:

"
Which ship are you interested in (?=List) ?
Ship Category #25 Ship Class : Fighter Transporter

The cost for one of those is 2,000
Want to buy it? Yes

Well if that don't beat all, looks like we don't have anymore ships
in stock! You'll have to come back some other day to get one.


You have 37,910 credits.
<Shipyards> Your option (?) ?
"

If you attempt to Capture a ship from the Ferrengi or an Alien Trader, and all of the Ship Numbers are already in use, this happens:

"
Attack Dyattop's Merchant Cruiser (398,054-0) (Y/N) [N]? Yes
Combat scanners show enemy shields at 0%
How many fighters do you wish to use (0 to 60,000) [0]? 1
Your fighters encounter a powerful force-shield around the enemy ship!

You lost 1 fighter(s), 398,053 remain.
For defeating this villain you receive 359 experience point(s).
and your alignment went up by 390 point(s).
The ship is abandoned! Its all yours!
Just as you're ready to board it, it self destructs!

Command [TL=00:00:00]:[12216] (?=Help)? :
"

If someone tries to create a new player in a game with no available ship numbers, this happens:

"
You must now christen your new Animoso Merchant Cruiser
Choose a name carefully as you will have it for a while!

What do you want to name your ship? (30 letters)
Junk1

Junk1 is what you want? Yes

We're sorry, but all of the ships are in use in TW2002.
Please inform the Sysop and perhaps they can remove some
inactive players.

"
TWGS then automatically logs you off.

I can't think off-hand of any other situations that might be affected by this, but it looks like any player or Corp that manages to corner all surplus ship numbers, by either buying extra ships at StarDock or capturing Alien ships, has effectively crippled all the other Players and Corps, and is also denying access to any new players. I've never heard of this situation being used as a game strategy, but it seems to pretty much eliminate competition. The only way to fight back would be to find the sector(s) where the hoarder is stashing ships, go in there, and kill them. Could be difficult and very expensive if the parking sector is at the far end of a well defended tunnel. Or the Sysop could declare this to be a dis-allowed strategy and limit individuals and Corps to some reasonable amount of ships so that no one can "corner the market" and shut out everybody else. Reds that make a lot of money quickly with Rob and Steal tactics could conceivably buy up all the available ships early in the game by buying the cheapest ships (Merchant Cruisers) and not spending money to equip them, just tow them to the parking sector and leave them. Has anyone heard of this actually being used as a game strategy?

Author:  Star Killer [ Thu Aug 11, 2016 1:02 am ]
Post subject:  Re: What happens when all ship numbers are in use

ctsurv553 wrote:
For the first time in more than 20 years of playing TW2002, I have encountered a game in which all of the ship numbers are in use by players and corps. If you have ever wondered what happens in this situation, read on:

1. If you try to buy an extra ship at StarDock, the game responds with this:

"
Which ship are you interested in (?=List) ?
Ship Category #25 Ship Class : Fighter Transporter

The cost for one of those is 2,000
Want to buy it? Yes

Well if that don't beat all, looks like we don't have anymore ships
in stock! You'll have to come back some other day to get one.


You have 37,910 credits.
<Shipyards> Your option (?) ?
"

If you attempt to Capture a ship from the Ferrengi or an Alien Trader, and all of the Ship Numbers are already in use, this happens:

"
Attack Dyattop's Merchant Cruiser (398,054-0) (Y/N) [N]? Yes
Combat scanners show enemy shields at 0%
How many fighters do you wish to use (0 to 60,000) [0]? 1
Your fighters encounter a powerful force-shield around the enemy ship!

You lost 1 fighter(s), 398,053 remain.
For defeating this villain you receive 359 experience point(s).
and your alignment went up by 390 point(s).
The ship is abandoned! Its all yours!
Just as you're ready to board it, it self destructs!

Command [TL=00:00:00]:[12216] (?=Help)? :
"

If someone tries to create a new player in a game with no available ship numbers, this happens:

"
You must now christen your new Animoso Merchant Cruiser
Choose a name carefully as you will have it for a while!

What do you want to name your ship? (30 letters)
Junk1

Junk1 is what you want? Yes

We're sorry, but all of the ships are in use in TW2002.
Please inform the Sysop and perhaps they can remove some
inactive players.

"
TWGS then automatically logs you off.

I can't think off-hand of any other situations that might be affected by this, but it looks like any player or Corp that manages to corner all surplus ship numbers, by either buying extra ships at StarDock or capturing Alien ships, has effectively crippled all the other Players and Corps, and is also denying access to any new players. I've never heard of this situation being used as a game strategy, but it seems to pretty much eliminate competition. The only way to fight back would be to find the sector(s) where the hoarder is stashing ships, go in there, and kill them. Could be difficult and very expensive if the parking sector is at the far end of a well defended tunnel. Or the Sysop could declare this to be a dis-allowed strategy and limit individuals and Corps to some reasonable amount of ships so that no one can "corner the market" and shut out everybody else. Reds that make a lot of money quickly with Rob and Steal tactics could conceivably buy up all the available ships early in the game by buying the cheapest ships (Merchant Cruisers) and not spending money to equip them, just tow them to the parking sector and leave them. Has anyone heard of this actually being used as a game strategy?


Yes. As I said in the other post where you asked about this. It is called a buyout. ships and planets have a set number in any game. though it is used it actually not very effective in games with a lot of players as corps/players tend to collect extra ships in games. so a corp could get their playing back in buy freeing up a ship. plus in turn based game you would burn all your turns trying to move all the the ships out of fed space. theres a lot of down sides to ship buy outs with very little gain IMO. But it was tried in the 2016 Ice tournament on my server. planet buyouts are more common and I have seen that many times. but as I said b4 a lot of sysop's have rules against it.



sk

Author:  Micro [ Thu Aug 11, 2016 8:36 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Adding to documentation

Planet buyouts typically happen in planet cashing games like Moo2. Players are creating planets so they can sell the product to the port in the sector, but blowing the planet up would cost money. It is not a malicious buyout, but just a matter of cash flow, and it isn't that hard to find an empty planet and blow it up to create a new one.

Ship Buyouts are almost always done with malice.

The default number of ships is 800, but this can be increased to 2000 during BigBang.

The default planet limit is 20% of the total size of the universe in sectors, but can be increased to 40% during BigBang.

Neither of these values can be changed after the game starts.

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