====================================================================== @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@ @@ @@``````````@@ @@``````````@@ @@`````````````` @@@@ @@@@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@``@@ @@ @@`` @@@@@@@@@@@@ `` @@@@@@@@@@@@ `` @@@@@@@@@@@@ @@`` @@ ``@@`` @@```````````` @@``````````@@ @@```````````` @@`` `` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@`` @@@@@@@@@@@@ `` @@@@@@@@@@@@@@ @@`` @@`` `` ```````````` `````````````` `` `` ====================================================================== A Fanzine for Free Computer-Moderated Play-By-Electronic-Mail Games ====================================================================== volume 95, number 1 january 10, 1995 ====================================================================== Greg Lindahl, Editor gl8f@virginia.edu ====================================================================== World Wide Web: http://fermi.clas.virginia.edu/~gl8f/pbm.html ====================================================================== Table of Contents: Opening Stuff o The Editor's Corner o Short Summary of Available Games Announcements o Atlantis 2.0 begins playtest January 15, 1995 o Galaxy players seek moderator o C++ Robots gains debugging capability Articles o An Introduction to Ultra Cricket Ken Sproat Regular Features o Game Descriptions & Information o Archives and subscriptions by email o Hints regarding sending electronic mail to other networks o What's this "ftp" thing anyway? ====================================================================== The Editor's Corner ====================================================================== As usual, I don't have the articles I thought I'd have, but our 3rd year of publication (and 21st issue) is graced by an unexpected article from Ken Sproat about Ultra Cricket, a sports simulation. -- g ====================================================================== Short Summary of Available Games (full information down below) ====================================================================== Abstract games --- an automated email server has 4 different abstract games available: Abalone, Hex, Twixt, and Trax. These are detailed in the PBM List mentioned below, or you can send email to "pbmserv@netcom.com" with the word HELP in the subject of your email. Atlantis 2.0 --- open-ended strategic fantasy game. Begins Jan 15. C++Robots --- program your robot to blow the other guy into tomorrow. Send mail to "pbmserv@netcom.com" with the word HELP in the subject for details. Celestial Empire --- a more complicated space-opera game. There are 2 games running. New games start occasionally. Dougal Scott is looking for a moderator to take over running these games. Diplomacy --- Play Avalon Hill's Diplomacy boardgame by email. On November 15, there were 1000+ players involved in 247 games, with new games starting frequently on several fully automated email servers. Galactic Conqueror (German language) --- An economic/strategic space-opera game, with fancy interface programs available for PC's and Atari ST's. Galaxy / Galaxy/2 / Galactica / Blind Galaxy --- An economic/strategic space-opera game. There are 200+ players involved in a 4 games. New games start occasionally, and new GM's are needed. Star Empires --- A simple strategic/economic space-warfare game. Fly around the galaxy, maim your enemies, capture their planets, and produce more ships to maim the enemy with, etc. Sports Simulations --- a variety of different electronic leagues are available, with the most popular being a set of soccer leagues with compatible rules. Decentralized games --- a couple of games are available which are designed for a few players, and the moderation programs are available so you can run your own games. For more information on any of these games, please wade through the "Game Descriptions and Information" section below. It lists ftp sites and the addresses of the moderators. The sports simulations details and decentralized games descriptions are located in the "PBM List", which is a separate document available at the FTP sites. ====================================================================== Atlantis 2.0 Begins Playtest on January 15, 1995 ====================================================================== The game Atlantis, a strategic fantasy simulation, has been greatly expanded by Norman Richards, who plans on beta-testing the result starting on January 15. More details may be obtained by sending email to "atlantis@rahul.net", or ftping the rules from ftp.rahul.net, directory /pub/atlantis. ====================================================================== Galaxy Players Seek Moderator ====================================================================== Graeme Griffiths is making a list of players interested in starting new Galaxy games, and has plenty of players to start a game. Unfortunately, we have no volunteers to GM. If you're interested, contact him at graeme@abekrd.co.uk. ====================================================================== C++ Robots Gains Debugging Capability ====================================================================== The C++ Robots game discussed in the last issue of PBEM, v94n7, now has a new debugging capability, which allows a robot author to observe a duel in detail. Check it out. ====================================================================== An Introduction to Ultra Cricket Ken Sproat ====================================================================== Ultra Cricket is a cricket competition written by Tim Astley. In the game, each human player is the manager of a cricket team participating in a one day and test match competition. For those who have very little knowledge of the real-life game, cricket is a bat-and-ball game somewhat like baseball played in a number of current and former British Commonwealth countries. A cricket match is played between 2 teams of 11 players, made up of a number of batsmen, bowlers, and a single wicketkeeper. Teams take turns batting (attempting to score runs) and bowling (attempting to get the batting team out and reduce the number of runs they score). A bowler is like a baseball pitcher: he bowls (pitches) the ball at the batsman in an attempt to get the batsman out, while the batsman attempts to score runs from that same ball. The bowler is helped by the other 10 men on the bowler's team, called fieldsmen, who are scattered around the cricket field in an attempt prevent runs and help the bowler get the batsman out. The best fieldsman is designated the wicketkeeper, and stands behind the batsman like a catcher. While all players must bat, only designated bowlers need to bowl. A player who can bat and bowl well is called an "allrounder". Cricket is the major summer (non-soccer season) sport in England, Australia, South Africa, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, New Zealand, the West Indies (a combination of Caribbean countries) and Zimbabwe. It is also played, to a lesser extent, in other parts of the world. Ultra Cricket, however, has a much wider appeal and is played by managers from most of the countries listed above as well as Europeans, Canadians, and a significant number of managers from the United States. There are two types of games played internationally: a test match, where both teams each bat for 2 innings, lasts for up to 5 days. A one-day international match, where each team has one innings of limited time, is resolved in one day. Currently there are six divisions of 12 teams playing Ultra Cricket, but Tim expects this to increase to 7 or 8 divisions next season. The turnaround for each turn is normally 7 days, with each team playing 1 test match and 2 one-day international matches every turn. While the same squad of players is used for test and one day games, they are treated as different competitions. My team, the "Spring Creek Piranhas", is in the top 4 of Division 1 for test matches but finds itself in the bottom half of Division 3 in ODI's. I have played 4 different sports simulation games, and I find that Ultra Cricket is easily the most enjoyable. Each player in a squad is described in a number of ways. They have a skill level for each of five characteristics: Batting Skill: The ability to not get out Aggression: The ability/willingness to score runs Bowling: The ability to bowl and get batsmen out Economy: The ability to restrict/slow the scoring of batsmen. Fielding: The ability to prevent runs from being scored, and produce more catches and runouts. In addition, each bowler is one of 5 bowling types - Fast, Fast Medium, Medium Pace, Off Spin and Leg Spin. When bowling the ball at a batsmen, the ball normally is bounced off a grassed "cricket pitch" before getting to the batsman. A spin bowler is a slower bowler who causes the ball to deviate left or right from the "grassed pitch" by placing a spin on the ball as he bowls. Off spinners and leg spinners spin the ball in different directions.) Each batsmen also has a profile which indicates how he plays against each type of bowling. If a player loves playing against spin bowling, then his effective skill will be enhanced when facing spin bowling, but the same batsman may have a weakness against fast bowlers, and therefore his effective skill is reduced when facing fast bowling. In Ultra Cricket there is no advantage to a team playing on its home ground, although (in real life) a team should understand the characteristics of its ground better than their opponents and therefore take advantage of it. Each ground favours certain types of bowling and hinders other types. When selecting a team, a manager needs to take into account a number of factors: The skills of their players The profile of the pitch they will be playing on The opposition's likely makeup How many batsmen/how many bowlers there are have in their 11-man team. The form of each of their players What's form? As in most sports, players don't always play at their actual skill level. A player who is playing to his skill level or above is said to be "In Form", whereas a player playing below his skill level is said to be "Out of Form". When a Ultra Cricket player takes the field, a form factor is added or subtracted from his skill level based on his recent performances. As you can see, managing a team is not just a matter of putting the best players on the field. A manager needs to take into all the factors mentioned above. Ultra Cricket has an advanced skill/ageing type system. Players improve their skill level by gaining experience. Experience can be gained in actual games or by training players. A complex formula is then used to calculate the skill level based on experience, an underlying skill level and the player's age. Training has a greater effect on the skill of a younger, lower-skilled player than on an ageing or highly-skilled player. The underlying skill of players declines every week, which slowly degrades their actual skill or ability to increase skill week by week, especially near the end of their career. For newer managers, the orders for Ultra Cricket are quite simple, but as a greater understanding of the game is gained, a manager can influence a number of other factors like: Conditions of the team's declaration in a test match. Whether you will bat or bowl if you win the toss. How aggressive your batsmen will be under certain conditions. Conditional placement (attacking or defensive) of fieldsmen. Who you will bowl to clean up the last few players in the opposing side. At the start of each season teams are assigned to their new divisions with players ages' being incremented. Each team is allocated a number of draft points, with the lower teams generally gaining more than the higher teams. These draft points are used to design new recruits and their characteristics. Managers may also spend cash, gained from the previous season, on training points and purchasing older, higher skilled players. Teams in higher divisions generally gain more cash through the season than those in lower divisions. If I have a criticism of UC, it is that there isn't a trading facility within the game. I'd also like to see Club Management system (e.g. Building better/higher capacity grounds, attracting sponsorship etc..) but I don't think that Tim will include these factors this century. The Ultra Cricket email server When submitting moves, the Ultra Cricket email server checks your moves for errors and does a quick analysis of your orders and mails them back within the hour. This makes getting the syntax right significantly easier, giving you peace of mind that the orders have got there and don't contain any silly errors. Turn Results As each turn is resolved, each manager receives a ball by ball (almost) commentary of each of their games, all the scores and details for the games played in their division, a summary of all games, the current standings for each division and a roster listing all their players skills, form, injuries, etc. Each turn Michael Sargeant compiles statistics about every player who has dared to tread the hallowed turf. Commitment I really had to think about this as sometimes I'll be walking along the beach or be in a meeting at work and a new Ultra Cricket strategy will pop into my mind. Your earlier turns will take longer than your later turns. Tim tells me that most managers spend about one hour per week on Ultra Cricket. I have friends who only spend 30 minutes per week on it. Myself, I spend about 2 hours at the start of the season, this steadily decreases to less than an hour towards the end of the season. However, occasionally I'll spend a little more time, like after a run of losses or when my captain and best player broke his leg and was out for the rest of the season (I was suicidal that day). The electronic ones and zeroes have little understanding of the sleepless nights. I'm sure an analog computer would have more compassion. Marital bliss goes something like this: "How far did you walk the dogs tonight?". "He broke his leg." "I told you not to take the dogs near the cliffs." "What am I going to do?" "Take him to the vet of course." "What does the Vet know about Ultra cricket, I think I'll have to recall Frank Meerbach." "Frank?, he's not a vet, he's one of you dickie mates" "He's also my former captain in the twilight of his career." And so it goes..... Hopefully next issue I'll put together some strategies from a variety of managers. For more information on Ultra Cricket, contact Tim Astley at . Ken Sproat ====================================================================== Game Descriptions and Information ====================================================================== Note: This information grows old. If you are looking at this issue from an archive, consult the file "PBM.list.gz" in the ftp archives for more up-to-date information. ====================================================================== All of these ftp sites are mirror copies of each other. Please use the closest one. FTP Site: ftp.erg.sri.com username: anonymous Directory: pub/pbm FTP Site: ftp.funet.fi username: anonymous Directory: pub/doc/games/play-by-mail World Wide Web: http://fermi.clas.virginia.edu/~gl8f/pbm.html ====================================================================== Game: Atlantis 2.0 Type: strategic economic/military, fantasy setting Duration: open-ended Turns: one per week GM: atlantis@rahul.net Status: begins JANUARY 15, 1995 Description: Atlantis 2.0 is a vastly expanded version of Russell Wallace's original Atlantis 1.0 system. Atlantis features multiple faction types, a mostly player-run economy, simple economics, and a simple combat system. The rules are available from ftp.rahul.net:/pub/atlantis. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: C++ Robots Type: Dueling programs written in C++ GM: rrognlie@netcom.com (Richard Rognlie) Status: continually accepting new players Email Server: pbmserv@netcom.com (with "help" in subject) Description: Much like the earlier game C Robots, this game involves programs written in the computer language C++ which control robots fighting a small war in a square arena. For more information, contact the email server for help. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Celestial Empire Type: strategic economic/military space-opera Duration: close-ended, 30+ turns Turns: one per week GM: dwagon@aaii.oz.au (Dougal Scott) Status: occasionally starting new games Description: Players compete to capture worlds which produce many different types of resources, of which different amounts are needed to manufacture various items. The author, Dougal Scott, is running several games, and he periodically starts new ones. The rules can be ftped from the ftp sites. After you have read them, if you still want to join a game, send your name to Dougal at the address above. He is also looking for a new moderator to take over running his games, because he doesn't have much time to run them. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Core Wars (King of the Hill Tournament) Type: battling computer programs Email Server: pizza@ecst.csuchico.edu, subject of "koth help" or "koth faq" Description: The Pizza Server gives you access to the ``King of the Hill'' ongoing Core Wars tournament. Core Wars was invented in 1984 by D. G. Jones and A. K. Dewdney. A May 1984 article in Scientific American discusses it, as does a lovely article in my PBEM fanzine. More information about Core Wars in general may be found in the rec.games.corewar FAQ, available from the email server, or via anonymous ftp from ftp://ftp.csua.berkeley.edu/pub/corewar. Most discussion about Core Wars will be found on the Usenet newsgroup rec.games.corewar. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Diplomacy Type: email version of Avalon Hill's pure strategy game Turns: frequency varies from one per day to one per 2 weeks for different games. Email Server: judge@morrolan.eff.org HELP in body of message; the subject is ignored. Description: The Diplomacy Adjudicator is a fully computer-moderated gamemaster for Avalon Hill's Diplomacy boardgame. To get more information from the moderator, send email with the word "HELP" in the body of the message (the subject is ignored) to judge@morrolan.eff.org. There are also other judges available, but most games are run on the EFF judge. The diplomacy Hall of Fame is available via ftp from ftp.nda.com, directory /pub/diplomacy/HallOfFame. Diplomacy is probably the biggest PBEM game out there, with 247 games going as of November 15, 1994. I'd estimate at least 1,000 players are active in one or more games. Most discussion related to Diplomacy takes place on the newsgroup rec.games.diplomacy. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Galactic Conqueror (German language) Type: strategic, economic/military, space opera setting Duration: typically 25-30 turns Turns: typically 1 per week GM: hz@zardoz.ruhr.de (Harry Zimmermann) Description: Galactic Conqueror is strategic SF-PBeM-Game for up to 50 players. Each player starts the game with a small fleet of starships and is the owner of one of several hundred planets. The winner is determined by an point system which gives points for specific actions each turn. The first player who reaches a pre-set winning score will be the winner of the game. Since there are almost no trade options in the game, player interaction mostly concerns negotiations about borders and coordination of attacks or defense. Players can: o invest in science o build industrial facilities and strongholds on planets o build ships (26 different classes) o attack enemy or neutral planets o engage in espionage or corruption o and much more... At the start of the game, each player can see only 4-10 planets, whose coordinates are given relative to his own starting-planet. Every time a new planet is conquered, all planets up to a given distance from this new one are revealed. The rules and an Atari ST and PC Clone client can be ftped from ftp.cp.tn.tudelft.nl, in the directory /pub/pbm/Galactic_Conqueror. The clients are graphical point-and-click interfaces to the game. You could play without a client, but this is not recommended. An X11 client is in the works, as is an eventual translation of the rules into English. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Galaxy Type: strategic, economic/military, space opera setting Duration: typically 50-80 turns Turns: typically 1 or 2 per week Email Server: galaxy@acca.nmsu.edu, Subject: HELP [ but it's dead ] GM: bampton@cs.utk.edu (Howard Bampton) [ blind galaxy only ] GM: roger@bimcore.emory.edu (Roger Dingeldine) [ blind galaxy ] GM: rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace) Description: The game typically takes place on a 100x100 2D map, with a few hundred planets and 20 to 50 players. Players compete to capture planets, which can be used for economic expansion. You can purchase technology in several different areas, allowing your ships to fight harder and move faster. Galaxy turns range in size from 10kbytes early in the game to 100-200kbytes late in the game. The rules and source code are available for ftp. You can write to humans who run games; they start games occasionally and also have standby positions. They are: bampton@cs.utk.edu [ blind galaxy only ] roger@bimcore.emory.edu [ blind galaxy only ] rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie Howard Bampton has a variant called "blind" galaxy. It features a wraparound map, a double-blind mail-forwarding system, and you received only limited information about other players other than what you can observe at systems where you have ships. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Judgment Day Type: strategic economic/military, present day setting Turns: one per week GM: rwallace@vax1.tcd.ie (Russell Wallace) Status: beta-test finished, looking for a moderator Description: Judgment Day is a game for up to 25 players. Each player controls an empire which can build weapons and attack each other. When the nukes start flying, remember to duck and cover. The source code is available at the ftp sites or from Russell. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Republic of Rome Type: Historical (Roman Empire) Turns: player-paced Email Server: DOWN, looking fro a home HELP in body of message, the subject is ignored Description: This server is currently down, because the author (Will Walker, ww@csn.org) doesn't have a machine to run it on. Donations welcome. RoR is an email adjudicator for Avalon Hill's game Republic of Rome, a cutthroat game of politics set in ancient Rome. All aspects of play are fully automated; there is no human GM. Players control factions of Senators; each turn they must elect officers and vote to raise and deploy forces to fight the many wars that arise; they work to increase the influence and popularity of their own Senators but must also work together to prevent destruction by war or by popular revolt. If Rome falls everyone loses. To get started, buy a copy of the board game, read the rules, then send email to the address above with the word "help" in the body of the message. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Game: Star Empires Type: strategic empire-building, space setting Turns: one per week, 60+ turns per game GM: rhl@jambo.mitre.org (Roger Lincoln) Status: occasionally starting games; watch rec.games.pbm Description: Star Empires is a very simple game which is very addictive. Players compete to control planets, which produce resources which can be used to build various types of ships. There is generally a large amount of diplomacy, and the GM encourages humorous player press releases. The rules are available for ftp. ====================================================================== A large number of sports leagues exist. Here's a list of types and addresses of the moderators -- more details can be found in the PBM List. To preview the rules, look on the ftp site. Game: Experimental Electronic Baseball League (EEBL) Type: sports simulation, american baseball GM: peiper@phoenix.cs.uga.edu Game: Experimental Electronic Football League (EEFL) Type: sports simulation, soccer GM: wickart@ichips.intel.com (Bill 'Prune' Wickart) Game: Fast Electronic Football League (FEFL) Type: sports simulation, soccer GM: mange@lysator.liu.se (Magnus Nilsson) Game: Ladder Electronic Football League (LEFL) Type: sports simulation, soccer GM: ingram@u.washington.edu (Doug Ingram) Game: Formula 1 Pick 6 Type: Auto racing prediction contest GM: vallee@essi.essi.fr (Thierry Vallee) Game: Strategic Postal Australian Rules Football (SPARF) GM: mel@csua.berkeley.edu Game: Sugar Ray (German language & English language) GM: gerstnet@informatik.tu-muenchen.de (Thomas Gerstner) (german language) (email) Game: Ultra Cricket GM: ta@ecs.soton.ac.uk (Tim Astley) Game: United 3 (Soccer) (German language) GM: allard@goofy.zdv.uni-mainz.de Game: United Electronic Football League (UEFL) GM: billones@digex.com (Jeremy Billones) Game: World eMail Hockey Association (WeHA) GM: inb@creare.com (Ian Brown) ====================================================================== Archives and subscriptions by email ====================================================================== PBEM is archived at the ftp and WWW sites mentioned earlier. I have a mailing list that distributes the magazine, but I prefer that you obtain it via Usenet or other means instead of asking to go on the mailing list. ====================================================================== The remainder of this magazine does not change, and is not of interest to most readers anyway. Skip it. ====================================================================== Hints regarding sending Electronic Mail to other networks ====================================================================== OK, so now you're wondering, "I'm using FidoNet or CompuServe or FoobieBlech and those email addresses he keeps on talking about sure look funny to me!". Welcome to the modern world of networking. See, there's this big amorphous network called the Internet that lots of other networks and services, like FidoNet, CompuServe, DELPHI, America Online, GEnie and Prodigy are hooked up to. And you can send email between all of them, if you know the right incantations. Sometimes size or cost limitations will keep you from being able to play games on another network, but at least you can send me letters to the editor or articles. If your Compuserve ID is [76515,1122] then your canonical Internet address will be "76515.1122@compuserve.com" -- notice that the comma has become a period. To send mail from CompuServe to the Internet, you use this sort of address: >INTERNET:gl8f@virginia.edu Compuserve users have to pay extra for mail to or from the Internet. If you're a flat-fee user, the cost is 5 cents per 2500 characters, minimum 15 cents, but the first $9 per month is free. This can add up to a bit of money if you send frequent messages, or get into a Galaxy end-game where your turns are large. In addition, the maximum size for a given message is 50kbytes, and most Internet games do not split their game turns into pieces if they are too large. Diplomacy and Arena, for example, generally don't have large turns. Diplomacy games with no press don't send that many messages. America Online does not charge any extra fee for Internet email, and has recently removed their limit on message size, so they are perfectly adequate for playing Internet games. Their addresses look like "username@aol.com" Delphi addresses look like "username@delphi.com". Internet access costs $3/month extra, but that gets you access to email, ftp, irc, gopher, etc. at their normal hourly charge. Prodigy has finished their gateway. I don't know how much they charge for sending messages to the Internet. They do have a charge for sending large numbers of messages inside of Prodigy. Their addresses look like "username@prodigy.com" GEnie's addresses look like this: username@genie.geis.com. The maximum incoming message size is 900kbytes, but the biggest outgoing message is 50k or 2500 lines, as limited by the GEnie message editor. These sizes are big enough to play all games. GEnie doesn't charge extra for Internet email. FidoNet addresses, such as "Dale Webber at 1:105/55.0", look like dale.weber@p0.f55.n105.z1.fidonet.org in Internet form. To send email to the Internet from FidoNet, send normal netmail to the user UUCP, and then on the first line of the message, put the line: To: gl8f@virginia.edu Unfortunately, unless your FidoNet BBS is hooked directly to the Internet, they ask that you keep email under 10kbytes and only occasional. Ask your sysop for more information. ====================================================================== What's this "ftp" thing anyway? ====================================================================== ftp is an acronym for "file transfer protocol", and it is only directly available to the privileged few who are directly hooked to the Internet using heavy-duty hardware. There is a way to use ftp via email, and if you can get email to me, I will send you a document explaining how to use it, or you can get this information by yourself by sending email to any of the following addresses; if they don't recognize any commands, they'll send back instructions: bitftp@pucc.princeton.edu (USA/New Jersey) ftpmail@sunsite.unc.edu (USA/North Carolina) ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com (USA/West Coast) ftpmail@doc.ic.ac.uk (Europe/United Kingdom) bitftp@vm.gmd.de (Europe/Germany) ftpmail@cs.uow.edu.au (Pacific Rim/Australia) ====================================================================== PBEM is published monthly. Please redistribute it far and wide, but do not modify or delete any articles. Write me if you want to redistribute it in other forms; such permission is easy to obtain. For example, some old articles are being translated into German. PLEASE CONTRIBUTE! Our focus is primarily on free wargames, but we're interested in articles about anything relevant to play-by-email.