Well, I don’t enjoy the way Tradewars “has evolved” (or devolved?).
So I have read a lot of comments from all of you. I admit, one can learn a lot from the smackTalks . But then I ask myself: why do I want to play this Game at all?
I am not getting schizoid, but I am in a process of trying to answer my Q.
Reasons I have for playing Tradewars:
I like playing a game without all this graphic stuff, but of course there are other textbased games. But they aren’t as challenging.
Back when:**** I used to play on BBS with modems 14k later 28 if you where lucky, and we had often more than 60 Players, playing over a period of months. I remember one game that took over 8 months, then I had to quit because the sysop got a new job and left town, closing the server of course.
Well that shows another aspect of the old games. Almost all players where from the same town, because it would have been to expensive to play on long-distance Telefonlines.
What else ? :
there were no scripts, some basic helpers, and most of all:
*** no way to stay 24 hours online. ****
Time limits where even more important for us then the turn limits. There were no unlimited Games, I doubt that they where possible at that time.
We kept the corps as small as possible, I played SOLO most times or with one maybe two partners and liked the game a lot. There was an almost unbelievable tension in the players, till the 24 hours were passed and we could get into the game again, not knowing what you may find then.
There were only a few red players, and they where usually happy when they got blue again.
Yea the ships for the reds where really awful, and if you wanted to win a game playing red, you really had to be the best player on the board.
Credits where made trading, farming, chasing undefeatable Ferrengis, our board let them be very strong in regen etc. SD was God, nobody would have tried to attack SD, till the Game was already won. There wasn’t any way a red player could come in the game and quickly make millions to run amok in the Game.
Ferengis always had the best ships, except for the ISS. If you could capture one of those you where a made man (or woman). Yea, we did have a number of female players on the board, not as much as the male, but quit a few.
Nobody did ZTM (time limit prevented that) and so if you found a good dead-end or bubble it was because of a lot of exploring and playing detective. By chance someone might find your home base, but if you had 2 of them you where pretty secure.
Exploring a new universe, was a mystery of itself. You cold get get stoned from it at times.
What am I saying?
It was fun, a lot more fun than now where a red player with some good scripts can dominate the game and win it in less than a weeks time.
That’s it for now, I am quit interested in what the players on the forum have to say to it.
As for me, I am a young man at 61 years of age and soon retiring. Perhaps then I will start a server or write a new Text Game altogether. Time will tell. Cheers to all of you trying to make the best of it- everyone in his(her) own way.
Jschrey

This is well said, Jschery. I too, remember these days of Tradewars. I agree with you the game was good back in its day. Times change and so do people and technology. In no way am I defending change. Most servers now days have mostly unlimited turns and time. But some servers have classic games as well. I currently don't have complete classic games available, but I do have some with minor edits, and by minor edits, I mean like turn adjustments and so forth. The two games I have running right now on my server that fit into the "classic" version, have no edits to aliens or planets or ships, just one has 500 turns with no time limit, and 2000 turns with no time limit. But, again, well said Jschery, well said... Come on over if you ever want to play...

So, let me get this straight... you used to be an avid player, but then dropped out of the game for over a decade and now feel you have the right to come back into the game and criticize how the true die-hard fans, the ones that have been playing for that same decade you were M.I.A., have "ruined [sic!]" it? heh. Hang on... I need a second to get over my amazement... <deep breath>

This is not 1989. Dial-up bbs boards are no longer the venue for the game (this new-fangled internet-thingy, dammit, ruined all those poor bbs's!). And I can't believe the nerve of someone seeking to gain an advantage in a competetive game...I mean, what are they thinking? Don't they know that this is "Trade-and-be-Nice"??? And this business about playing with people from around the world, man, that has taken ALL of the fun out of it - it's bad enough that we have to play with people that live farther away than my own zipcode! Next thing you know you'll be able to visit other countries without having to take a schooner to get there! And having two options for playing...red and blue? What is THAT!? I mean, everyone should have an ISS and a commission - so they can go kill mindless Ferrengi, cuz that's more fun than actually killing another human! Speaking of, you don't like playing against scripts...but think that hunting and killing Ferrengi (the only FULLY bot players in the game) is loads of fun? What?

I guess, jschrey, the endless posts here complaining about how the game is played show really only one thing clearly: you do not have a grasp on how the game is played.

"...now where a red player with some good scripts can dominate the game and win it in less than a weeks time..." What? A lone red player is mincemeat in any decent game. How about you join a good game, on a good corp, and try to learn something about how to play, instead of complain about how it has changed and how much you don't like it?

Barring that, call up some local friends, bring all of your 'puters over to one house, and hook 'em all up. Then you can all play in the same room and hunt Ferrengi to your hearts' content. Just don't waltz in here and tell 95% of the players active today that they're playing the game "wrong."

Too bad, Mythrandir,you didnt understand a word, did you? Well I did not expect that you would understand anything that differs from your sight of things.

I agree with myth.

He also shares my opinion.

Would like to add : "That’s it for now, I am quit interested in what the players on the forum have to say to it."
"Well I did not expect that you would understand anything that differs from your sight of things."


I've accually tackled this topic, several times- And you, jschrey, chimed in several times- If you haven't figured it by now, it's not my problem.. Keep to the simple minded times, for that matter, keep riding a bicycle, or using a conventional oven, hell, for that matter use a wood burning stove, or a stick and fire.. Since you refuse to evolve.. don't forget to find a comfy cave... We've found the best way to do certian things, and use a script to impliment them. Scripts do not make players better, just give us time to have a life.. Speaking of which, pick one up while your out.

Graz

At the age of 54, I offer an Answer:

ADDICTION

quote:Originally posted by jschrey

Well, I don’t enjoy the way Tradewars “has evolved” (or devolved?).
So I have read a lot of comments from all of you. I admit, one can learn a lot from the smackTalks . But then I ask myself: why do I want to play this Game at all?
I am not getting schizoid, but I am in a process of trying to answer my Q.
Reasons I have for playing Tradewars:
I like playing a game without all this graphic stuff, but of course there are other textbased games. But they aren’t as challenging.
Back when:**** I used to play on BBS with modems 14k later 28 if you where lucky, and we had often more than 60 Players, playing over a period of months. I remember one game that took over 8 months, then I had to quit because the sysop got a new job and left town, closing the server of course.
Well that shows another aspect of the old games. Almost all players where from the same town, because it would have been to expensive to play on long-distance Telefonlines.
What else ? :
there were no scripts, some basic helpers, and most of all:
*** no way to stay 24 hours online. ****
Time limits where even more important for us then the turn limits. There were no unlimited Games, I doubt that they where possible at that time.
We kept the corps as small as possible, I played SOLO most times or with one maybe two partners and liked the game a lot. There was an almost unbelievable tension in the players, till the 24 hours were passed and we could get into the game again, not knowing what you may find then.
There were only a few red players, and they where usually happy when they got blue again.
Yea the ships for the reds where really awful, and if you wanted to win a game playing red, you really had to be the best player on the board.
Credits where made trading, farming, chasing undefeatable Ferrengis, our board let them be very strong in regen etc. SD was God, nobody would have tried to attack SD, till the Game was already won. There wasn’t any way a red player could come in the game and quickly make millions to run amok in the Game.
Ferengis always had the best ships, except for the ISS. If you could capture one of those you where a made man (or woman). Yea, we did have a number of female players on the board, not as much as the male, but quit a few.
Nobody did ZTM (time limit prevented that) and so if you found a good dead-end or bubble it was because of a lot of exploring and playing detective. By chance someone might find your home base, but if you had 2 of them you where pretty secure.
Exploring a new universe, was a mystery of itself. You cold get get stoned from it at times.
What am I saying?
It was fun, a lot more fun than now where a red player with some good scripts can dominate the game and win it in less than a weeks time.
That’s it for now, I am quit interested in what the players on the forum have to say to it.
As for me, I am a young man at 61 years of age and soon retiring. Perhaps then I will start a server or write a new Text Game altogether. Time will tell. Cheers to all of you trying to make the best of it- everyone in his(her) own way.
Jschrey

word to that kav

quote:Originally posted by jschrey

Too bad, Mythrandir,you didnt understand a word, did you? Well I did not expect that you would understand anything that differs from your sight of things.


It seems to me that what you're upset with is that the players are better than the ones you were used to playing with. Your post displays your ignorance of how the game plays today. You can't really effectively critisize something that you don't understand.

I think the smack talk needs to be laid off of this one. I agree with Jsch, i like the way games were played in the good ol' days. I also think that scripts have their place too. But what i find intolerable are people who think it's perfectly ok to just run a script then walk away, go to work, or do whatever, then come back and see that you have destroyed all these people and added a bunch of crap to the log that takes forever to go through cause Planet . has been destroyed like 5,000 times. Seriously.. in my humble opinion.. your not dedicated to the game.. if you don't think you have to be sitting in front of the terminal to play it "properly"

besides, i don't ever remember the old games that he described ever being "play and be nice" it just took more strategy to conduct a war than just running a script to build up really quickly and destroy everything around you.

i start scripts and walk away, and i have more heart into the game then you clowns ever will

quote:Originally posted by Tchiak

besides, i don't ever remember the old games that he described ever being "play and be nice" it just took more strategy to conduct a war than just running a script to build up really quickly and destroy everything around you.

Your right. When was the last time you played TW with 40 players or more over a long period of time?
Perhaps its possible to design Settings for a Game of "Old Times", but we probably would not find enough players to make it a good Game.
What kind of settings?
[?]
Time limit to stop ZTM
scrap ships for red, all good ships require a good alignment.
Turn Limit in a big Universe
registring with sysop, getting mail with rules.
perhaps no longtime scripts, short macros/scripts like ppt or so would not change the style of the Game?
perhaps Solo, so there is more diversity?
etc.?????
No sense in setting up a Game like this till there is enough people interestet in it.
[?]

to Jschery..
This is my view of the old game..
1) Most players who were develop'd didnt share and had this truly anal attitude (I know it so fuk off)..
2) The scripts were around back then, I just doubt your local board had the competition level to see such scripts. Mix that around with the fact that some of us have (just like you) been in this game for much of the games life and this has allow'd us to share what we know (those of us who dont carry the old bbs attitude) and write some really killer scripts.
3) You need to learn to understand scripters&scripting a bit.. Then you can kill them..
4) Reds could actually make MORE back in the old bbs days.. The accepted bugs/differences (Megarob was one of those, except the value was somewhat different) would allow reds to make really WICKED cash, In a organized game with those edits I think that reds would make more cash than they do today..
5) Lets not forget that the # of players in the game was really low in most games compared to todays game.. I dont think most bbs's never even seen 200 people join a game, much less 200 people logging onto the bbs at the exact same time to play that game because it's opening.
6) People did ztm..

Now to the post about "Walk away and all ur stuff goes boom"..
Please can you supply me with a script that will play the game fully.. To my knowlege there is no such script.. the only scripts that come close are VERRY wasteful on turns and hence they are only used in unlimited turn games.. now if your returning and you like the good ole days then you wouldnt be in any UNLIM turn games.. Come try some 600 or 500 turn games..

I think it's a mix of fear and dissapointment for you guys really.. It's a bit like not tapping tha peice of sweet Butt when it's in front of you and then a few years later you get the chance and it's gone sour lol ..

1) I am neither afraid or dissapointed
2) Never had a problem finding enough people playing on the local BBS's i played on. So using the excuse of making the game easy to anyone who jumps in, just to increase the amount of people in the game just cheapens it in my honest opinion.

quote:Originally posted by Tchiak

1) I am neither afraid or dissapointed
2) Never had a problem finding enough people playing on the local BBS's i played on. So using the excuse of making the game easy to anyone who jumps in, just to increase the amount of people in the game just cheapens it in my honest opinion.



How is the game in it's current form too easy for ppl to just join and win.. I mean just a few post up it was that the games are too difficult to play..
What is it?