The great thing about options is that they can be used or not. I don't think new options are going to confuse new players at all. Personally I'd love to see a planet delay "option" added. I could do much more to make specific style edits if such an option were available. If nothing else, remove one of the options that are very seldom used like the "no death delay option".

i think what prom was saying is the consistency of the game experience goes down the more options there are. now, im all for more configurable options, but i think the newb concern is valid. maybe we should come up with an official 'noob edit' to put in the database? then we get the situational non global options but the new guys still have a scriptable game to learn on.

also, while options are a good thing, the ability to easily see said options would also be important. i know its being worked on, but the more varied gameplay can only be helped by full disclosure...

Yes, the * screen would have to fully disclose the game settings in that edit.

As long as it's added in a way that's truly flexible, and doesn't conform to
any one person's agenda. Let the sysop be the arbiter of game styles for
his/her own server.

Otherwise, it'll only make things worse.

I like the idea of a ship delay option and a planet delay option since that would make the game more flexible. My experience says a planet delay wont be used except in very special circumstances and as such might not be worth the time and effort to code into the game.

H

Yes, I can see the only time it being used is along with ship delay. I think it would be a big step toward creating an edit that newer players could learn in. Photons off, ship delay and planet delay on and in sync. I've always wanted to make a game like that. One you didn't have to babysit 24/7 like you do truce games.

I do wish that the * key would show all settings...not some. For example, far as I can tell the turn bank is not displayed on the * screen.

As for the planet delay, I prefer that to be off. Yes, I've been p-dropped, but I also have success with dropping others myself. I would not play any games that has a planet delay - or a ship delay for that matter.

Think about this - an IDC is 15 tpw. Put a 1/4 ship delay on that and it will be easy to photon someone trying to moth because it will take him close to 4 seconds to move that ship.

I remember when I played on the old HVS MBBS game on my local BBs. That game had a full second ship delay so it would take FIFTEEN seconds to move the IDC..even longer if I have to tow it. No thanks.

I'm fine with no ship or planet delay.

But so as long as it is a sysop option and not a permanent game change, don't matter to me.

the sysops will bang the games people will play. no one is interested in maintaining an empty server. i think it would really suck to do a lot of work for an option that doesnt get used much- but if itll bring in 3 guys to play? hey why not. the demand will determine how it gets used or disused... time will tell.

My thoughts exactly, Booger.

At the risk of repeating myself.
The option wouldn't be for everyone. Just as photons off isn't for everyone. Things would have to be used in a fashion to where they would work.

1) Ship Delay 1/4
2) Planet delay 50 ms (or whatever works with 1/4 ship delay, which would have to be tested)
3) Photons OFF (It's not hard to moth down a stock style planet during an invasion)
4) Rob/Steal delay ON (Slow the game down)
5) Stock type edits (maybe a bit faster cits)

These are just examples, and wouldn't be for everyone. This style edit would be mainly for newer players and returning players to get a foothold on the game.

the danger with this is if you dont push someone to excellence, they wont excel. i hate when i play a game and someone 'takes it easy'. i want to know where the bar is so i can reach it and surpass it. and if you teach someone that they are competent then they step up and get swatted they get discouraged and leave. i guess if you want to cater to a casual player, the settings will help with that. but considering you have to download things and set them up to play right, you already ran off that casual gamer.

Actually an edit like I discribed wouldn't absolutely require many scripts. Say 250 turns per day and 5k sector universe could be done by hand. In a game like that at least they can learn the keystrokes and what each menu provides at a slower pace without getting vaporised in the first 10 minutes. After that they can move on to scripts if they choose. Some players may not prefer to move on and are happy with that type of game. It really isn't up to us veterans to push them into a style of play that they don't want to participate in.

The nice thing with all the options being SysOp configurable is it allows us SysOps to have games that are unique. In other words, we don't all have to run a Sub Zero or whatever (not saying that is bad). My wife and I play with the ship delay on in our private game and thoroughly enjoy it. I'd welcome a similar option included to allow a planet delay to see how that would be in our game. We know and recognize that most players hate any type of delay, which is why we only use them.

Either way, it's not that this is forcing a change. It gives the SysOp more options to have when creating a game. On/off- pretty simple. Use it or don't use it- pretty simple.

the thing is though, you wont get the veterans in those games to teach anything. yeah, you could muddle through and kinda figure out what button does what... thats a casual gamer. but that doesnt teach you how to play. competition makes you better.

i still think that aiming at a facebook type crowd requires facebook type installation(none) and play(which you outlined). i think the java client could work well in conjunction here- you cant really script from it, so there are no downloads or installation. can we make a board to run the java client without being accessible through regular telnet? if we cant then the upgrades have a real spot to thrive. if we can, then we dont really NEED the upgrade. you can already set up a game thru the editing to favor ship to ship or planet drops....

i really like the idea of being able to set each game on a board individually. thats the real gem of the new options... but not really relevant to the thread i guess.

Setup something like JTA, set a CPC of like 5, then choose a weird port. As long as the java
app is compiled to connect to the weird port, and the address/port is never advertised, it
would be pretty difficult and pointless to connect w/ TWXproxy.