All,

I have been working for over 2 years on an web interface (RGTWCompanion) that can be used on an active TW game. (This was done with John Pritchett's knowledge and some much needed information from him as well) With the companion, all your personal assets and corporate assets are tracked near real time (in 30 minute data upload refreshes from the server) on a website that you login to with your in game username and password. Not only that, but it has a custom ship building and construction ordering tool, and a background service that delivers "ordered" ships to you in game based on build times. The build times can be modified by the sysop if too many ships are being built (supply shortages

One of the things I like about it is you can use it to strategize or monitor the game and your assets when you do not have access to telnet (they block it where I work) - of course I only use this on my lunch hour

It is a great tool for big games, and my hope is that it will someday enhance tournament play (with or without the custom ship component) for the community (for a small fee - lol maybe I will just put a donation button up). I am a TW sysop too, but I have nostly only been hosting closed games with my friends who have been acting as beta testers in a way. I feel I am ready for a BETA run with a public game hosted on my server. What do I need from the more experienced sysops? Please send me suggestions/URLs of the best game edits for the following situation:

Settings for a somewhat longer running game (1-2 months hopefully) with 5 members per corp.
Red and Blue hopefully relatively balanced on money earning potential. (i.e. I stink at figuring out good and fair settings for Red as I almost always play Blue)
Initial Colos?
Amount of Colos per day?
Bust clears?

I will of course be a sysop only in this game an will connect as an observer from time to time if needed.

I have early versions of other enhancements to the web pages that will allow you to control some actions in the game from the website if you use Swath and the server allows 'always on' connections and scripting. Before I begin to implement those, however, I want to get a real public game going and put the exiting code through its paces.

I put this all on hold for the past 6 months as real life got in the way. I just got a new laptop and I can finally work on my apps from anywhere in my house and during trips to Starbucks and Borders. That should speed up productivity on my part

Thanks in advance guys, and I will post to the Game Rebangs forum when I plan to open the game.

(bump) - could really use some insight if anyone is willing...

on the initial colos id say that depends on what the edits are like, if colos are important than lower the starting amount, make people fight for them,and if colos are important in the edit than lower the colo regen also..

Mbbs mode on, 1 day bust clears, 800-1k turns

and use non-gay ship edits


EDIT: and have no lag

All depends on what you're going for. Whether it's an unlim or a turns game, what kind of players you're looking to attract, etc.

Loc likes gay ship edits tho, don't listen to him.

Most games don't last 2 months, even turn games. By the 60 day mark it's so boring that most people just give up.

Anyway, I'd say 1k turns, 2 day bank, unlim time (time limits make it easier to invade to grid), 1-day bust clears (doesn't matter tho, people will team cash and clear each other's busts anyway).

Cols per day and initial cols depends on the kind of planets you have. If you're going for 1:1 fig prod you need a completely different planet approach than a 4:1 fig prod, likewise the colo strategy will be different.

For balancing between red and blue... give the red a good battle ship. Otherwise don't tweak too much. 100% ptrade and 1:1 eq production gives a developed blue a chance to cash, but it takes developed ports and a lot of fuel to pull that off... so 2 or 3 reds will still have a huge advantage team cashing. If the planet development is too slow then said cash spells an early death to the weary blue competition.

1 day mobiles are kindof worn out. Usually when a planet goes mobile quickly it has lame stats to match the speed, so keep all that in mind. Download the edits off vader's site. Some people love his edits, other's dont... but he has a wide array of edits on there from a ton of different edit authors to give you a wider perspective.

As for whether or not this tech will be viable... it all depends on ping time and scripting capability. If you use a blank web interface with a 500ms ping and I've got TWX scripts and a 170ms ping... you're better off just logging out and sitting someplace safe (like terra) till you get home and can compete. Obviously there's a lot of middle-ground there to cover... so we'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.

For the test game, my thought would be... bang something people know. Like a moon patrol or a killer instinct or a pirates or a (ugh) subzero or something with equal popularity. That way people with edit-specific experience can give your system a real test.

oh man, who told you my secret? my favorite past time is watching gay-ship porn

quote:Originally posted by LoCuTiS

oh man, who told you my secret? my favorite past time is watching gay-ship porn


Is that an option on the ship I missed?

ask sing, he produces the videos

Thanks to all of you for the input. Some of you even gave too much information!