PBW "newbie game" - Page 17

Phoenix-D · #**161** July 15th, 2001, 07:27 AM

heh, Newbie 2 is starting to turn into an Intel Version of M.A.D...since no one can stop intel attacks because of the bug, we just sling attacks back and forth.

Phoenix-D

BeeDee10 · #**162** July 15th, 2001, 08:53 AM

Kind of a pity, I'd been hoping to avoid that due to the way the CI bug has totally whacked the balance between offence and defence. Won't be as much of a _strategy_ game if it all comes down to abstract intel point generation and the luck of hitting valuable ships/planets with intel ops rather than valueless ones.

Ah well, at least this way I'll get to see how bad the CI bug will impact the game under field conditions...

Dragonlord · #**163** July 15th, 2001, 09:13 PM

Well you got me at a disadvantage in Newbie II because I still don't fully understand the CI bug. usually my attacks go through, but it also happened that three small ones were stopped at the same time.

I also wonder if the xenophobic roleplaying that Phoenix is doing in Newbie II will carry over into Newbie I. If it does, I'm in trouble in newbie I with Baal's hugely armored fleet at my border...

BeeDee10 · #**164** July 16th, 2001, 02:32 AM

Well, I don't intend to "exploit" the CI bug, but it's kind of hard to avoid if one starts firing off lots of offensive covert operations. My plan is to shift to intelligence sabotage instead of counterintelligence if the game actually does turn ugly, and hope that that balances better.

(at this point I'm still not sure whether it's all going to fall apart into full-scale war or whether it's all just misunderstanding and mistrust that can yet be rectified. Phoenix doesn't seem overly xenophobic towards me, after all, though perhaps the Certadsh simply consider machine intelligences to be more trustworthy and inherently peaceful than organics. From my perspective attempting to mediate this dispute I can see how one might think that way.

CaptSpoogy · #**165** July 16th, 2001, 02:46 PM

Personally, I for banning CI in Newbie I if everyone else agrees. I think it could possible destroy our game. I don't mind if the AI uses it - but once all the people do...it's going to destroy any strategy...

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BeeDee10 · #**166** July 17th, 2001, 12:26 AM

The problem with the counterintelligence bug is that counterintelligence operations are badly crippled; no matter how many you've got running, they'll only block the first attack that hits you in the course of a single turn. What's more, the points will still be deducted from your other counterintelligence projects as if they'd blocked the other attacks even though they didn't.

This means that if you're running 12 counterintelligence IIIs, each with a hundred thousand points accumulated, and the enemy hits you with 8 sabotage projects simultaneously, then the first sabotage will be blocked and the remaining 7 will succeed. 8 of your counterintelligence projects will have points deducted from them as if they'd blocked all 8 attacks.

In other words, intelligence attacks still work at full strength but the _defence_ against them has been hopelessly crippled. At least so say the reports on this forum, I haven't actually tested this myself yet.

I really don't know what the best way to handle this is; banning intelligence operations altogether comes to mind, but that seems a little harsh. I hope that Malfador comes out with another patch that fixes this soon, so that we can simply upgrade to a new Version and relax.

Dragonlord · #**167** July 17th, 2001, 12:42 AM

Hmm in that case we should probably ban the use of all offensive intelligence (hence all intelligence) in Newbie II. Unfortunately I had a few crew conVersions in queue Last turn, but I won't launch any more offensive intel if we all agree to do that.

Phoenix-D · #**168** July 17th, 2001, 02:28 AM

A FEW?!

4 ships is a few?

Time for a non-use pact. Burn all the intel centers!

ah, crud. The AI would probably exploit that little hole, wouldn't it.. though I don't think I've been hit by AI intel yet.

EDIT: OK, stopping all intel against humans now..

Phoenix-D

[This message has been edited by Phoenix-D (edited 17 July 2001).]

BeeDee10 · #**169** July 17th, 2001, 07:00 AM

I've been hit by the Nostropholo a few times, but the CI that I've been running has always been enough to stop it so far. the CI bug only kicks in when more than one attack hits simultaneously.

CaptSpoogy · #**170** July 17th, 2001, 05:38 PM

Well, Baal has just dropped out of the original "Newbie" game...

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