Strange...

[Urban Ranger]

I have just noticed a player named Xman has been destroying a whole lot of petty bad players with really oddball names by scanning the daily log. I wonder if he has been using a lot of DLs to do that.

[Marko Polo]

I know what's happening here. People are joining as new users, they go directly to SD, sell they Merchant Cruiser buying Scout and transferring the excess money to their actual player's bank account.

Then they drive their 0 fig Scout to somewhere in the space, quit and starts with another name. It really sucks when the trader count is about 150 right now. I wonder if there is any mean to prevent this from happening?

[MarkG]

the current game has a max of 200 players

[Wittlich]

I wonder if there is a way to stop these DLs...it really messes with a good game and gives these cheaters an unfair advantage.



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After all is said and done, usually more is said than done.

[Spekter]

You can check the IP addresses of all players. Even dialup connections will show a grouping of the similar changing addresses. Unfortunately, this method screws my corp as all members live in my house and share my computer. I guess that does give us kind of an unfair advantage, though.

[Wittlich]

Well, I have no problem with multiple people in the same house playing. As a matter of fact, my roommate was playing in the beginning of this reset (Rhinephalz), and even though he has his own computer, we both use the same DSL router to access the internet.


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After all is said and done, usually more is said than done.

[Radagast]

Ok, my Scout Marauder ran afoul of the Ferrengi. Three questions:

1. I assume that Scout Marauder's do not come equipped with escape pods. Otherwise I would have one right now, right? (and also, I assume this is why Scout Marauders are relatively inexpensive?)


2. When one's ship is destroyed and one is without an escape pod, and the game tells one to wait a day, what does one get after that day? A new ship? I don't have a heckuva lotta dough in the bank, certainly not enuf for a new ship.

3. In the case described above, I suppose making a new name (a DL?) is considered cheating, just as it would be for people trying to make ships under one name, then capture/destroy them under another name. So, assuming I want to "play nice," I have no choice but to wait a day? Or is it considered "ok" to come back in with another name?

4. Is a "reset" a new game? And about when is the next reset anticipated? If this depends on game outcome, how long typically does it take to finish out a game?

Thanks!

-Rad the Destroyed

[Spekter]

quote: 1. I assume that Scout Marauder's do not come equipped with escape pods. Otherwise I would have one right now, right? (and also, I assume this is why Scout Marauders are relatively inexpensive?)

Correct.

quote: 2. When one's ship is destroyed and one is without an escape pod, and the game tells one to wait a day, what does one get after that day? A new ship? I don't have a heckuva lotta dough in the bank, certainly not enuf for a new ship.

You get a new merchant cruiser after the stupidity penalty of 24 hours of lost trading time, which really stings in a tight game.

quote: 3. In the case described above, I suppose making a new name (a DL?) is considered cheating, just as it would be for people trying to make ships under one name, then capture/destroy them under another name. So, assuming I want to "play nice," I have no choice but to wait a day? Or is it considered "ok" to come back in with another name?

It's considered cheating because it allows one person to have up to <corp limit> characters who act exactly the same. One player who plays all the characters in the corp gets to play <corp limit> times as many turns as everyone else. Plus he doesn't have that hint of mistrust of his corporate allies that everyone else has.

The Trade Wars League has a pretty good set of rules which we might want to consider adopting.

quote: 4. Is a "reset" a new game? And about when is the next reset anticipated? If this depends on game outcome, how long typically does it take to finish out a game?

Yep. A lot of people like to call it a "rebang", though - as in big bang again. Games usually play for either a preset number of days, or until a clear winner emerges. If Apolyton gets too much farther ahead of everyone else, the next bang could happen soon.

[This message has been edited by Spekter (edited May 09, 2001).]

[Marko Polo]

Small correction, when you have been destroyed and return to the game you DON'T get a new Merchant Cruiser but that cheap little Scout for free.