BNT GAME 4!

^ Good thing you told us that, cuz in the darkness of space, no one can see your black flag.

In space, all warriors are cold ones.

I see somebody's HANKerin' to get swatted.

In space, no one can hear you scream.

In Wordforge, however, we'd prefer you didn't test that theory planetside.

What the hell, are people just blowing up left and right? I swear there used to be 15 or 16 players. This round is boring with less people.

Nick transferred all of his cash and planets to me and then blew himself up. I then consolidated everything I had, destroyed all of my planets, and then transferred all of my cash to Boss Hog immediately before dissolving the Alliance and blowing myself up. So, now he's very, very, very rich.

This round just wasn't fun because nobody was doing anything. This thread was half the fun in the other games but y'all are just a buncha boring sunsabitches.

Aw fiddlesticks. I found some of your systems and I was planning on attacking you later in the week.

I even found the system where you slept.

I was about to join the game, how many people are playing now?

Nine provided no one else quits.

I wanted you in on this one too. You're a worthy opponent.

If by "doing anything" you mean "putting a lot of effort and resources into building big fat balloon planets for the Dedicated Players to come along and pop whenever they feel like it", then no, I wasn't doing anything.


Empire-building is fun, but realistically it can't be more than a hobby for someone like me in a game like this.

And, you know, when the popper doesn't even bother to leave any debris behind, I for one have to assume they're deliberately trying to be anti-social. That tactic might make sense in a huge war against an alliance of roughly equal power where you aren't sure you can hang on to the planet and don't have the resources to move the spoils to your own territory, but when you go to the trouble of not leaving anything behind for the attacked player to merrily bang his or her head against if he or she so chooses . . . the word "spite" comes to mind, and it's too strong but I need to finish getting ready for church and can't be bothered to think of a better term at the moment.

Is this anything like the last game where you guys were at the top of the rankings? Because if Boss Hog now has the combined wealth of three empires it probably isn't worth joining,

^The only remaining Brethren member is Boss Hog, and he has nearly 200 billion the IGB alone. God knows how much he has on his planets. I'm pretty sure I was keeping up with him for most of the game, but now he's too far ahead.

I think we waited too long to start playing this again, or we just didn't start back up again at the right time.

Edit: If we ever have a next round, I think we should advertise a little better for it. Start a "How to Get Started" or "FAQ" thread. If we get enough people interested, instead of having strong players making up the bulk of one or two alliances, the stronger/more experienced players should maybe try to organize their own alliances with newer players. Kinda take them under their wing. More than one alliance would be interesting, and it would have the benefit of teaching others the basics without worrying as much about constant attack.

Also, we should try to figure out a time period that could work for most everyone's schedules (some people are busier at certain times of the year than others). This time, it was kinda sprung on us out of nowhere without any discussion.

There's still some fun left to be had:

POTN transferred all of his wealth to me and I sat on it letting it grow. Nick transferred all of his wealth to me and I sat on it letting it grow. I then consolidated everything, including my wealth, and transferred it all to Boss Hog. Yes, we were the four richest players in the game.

Now, what Boss Hog does from this point forward is his own business, but I believe that if he did nothing but let interest work for him he'd still win. I contemplated doing that myself, cutting down to one sector and putting billions of fighters on each planet, but decided against it.

I found this game completely by accident and could've gotten into it on the ground floor, but I really didn't have time at the time. And I, too, had some reservations with the way it was released.

Maybe when the next game launches, we should start a thread on Monday morning, working up to a Friday night launch (although being out here I'd likely be screwed because I'd still be at work for three hours after the West Coast). One thing I'd like to see discussed is significant changes from the rules.

i.e.: In this game, we've tweaked it so that direct travel will take... ; any changes to the mechanics of combat; banking, all the significant things--and the reason for the changes.

No offense, but if you aren't part of the Inner Circle, you start the game at a disadvantage. You've developed a sound strategy for the last game, but you don't even have any idea of the rules for this game until a couple days in. And if someone else starts the game, knowing the new rules, if they're smart they've already got a plan for how to exploit them; giving them a 24+ hour head start on everyone else.

Ideally, the administrator shouldn't play, but at the least, making sure everyone else knows any tweaks to the rules before the game has started (as well as the thought that went into them) with a few days to develop their own strategy for play.

Just my

I'm 'Boss Hog', last surviving member of the coast. I'm going to be moving 'beyond the rim' as it were, being content to build systems and do crazy shit, like building warp links between rival players' home systems.

If nobody bothers me, I won't bother anyone, but as Darkstryke found out, the compounding interest on 200 billion credits is quite a hammer to have come down on your sectors. I'll be doing my usual exploring and information trading, but now, instead of credits, I want something else.

You've gotta entertain me. Find me a good riddle, or something cool on the net. Make a sector that connects to only prime-numbered sectors greater than 100, and put an empty planet I can take. Fun stuff, you know?

I'll be shoring up my defenses and slowly expanding, but there aren't many targets I can't take out at this point, so I'm not going to bully anyone.

Stryke, if you feel I came down on you too hard, PM me and we'll discuss compensation.

Wow. The game administrator, the owner of the site that hosts it, and their hand-picked cronies just happened to dominate the game. Again. Color me surprised.

This is the problem with the way things are being run. I don't believe for a second y'all didn't have a plan in place and were aware of when the game was going to go hot long before anyone else who was playing.

This is why no one wants to play. Partly because the time commitment is huge and partly because it isn't any fun to play in a game where the deck is stacked against you unless you are of the Chosen Few.

In a straight game, I don't buy for a second that Chewie would have a chance against Darthstryke. He just doesn't have the right discipline to play the game. But of course if he is propped up by like, three other fairly good players, it is impossible for him to lose.

I'm sorry if this is harsh or if I come across as a cunt, but this is my read on things. There is a problem with the way the game is being run and if there wasn't a lot of action in this game its because most of us have a better idea of fun than to be stomped in an unfair game.

No you come across the same way you always do when we play this game, as a sore loser.

What the fuck are you talking about? I've been at the top or near the top in just about every game, regardless of who is in my alliance. I start out, find a good group of folks, and build my own worlds. In this case, I didn't find out who the Bretheren were until after I joined them, they were the only alliance in the game.

I forgive you, though, for looking like a cunt. You probably weren't taught any better that what you THINK and what actually IS can be (and in your case often are) two radically different things. Maybe you didn't notice, but I was leading my alliance in cash assets before they left. Don't have the discipline? Play the game and prove me wrong, or shut the fuck up.

Edit: Didn't Bailey WIN last game?

OK. Forget I said anything. But if you're scratching your heads in the next game because no one wants to play...

No, did manage to piss you off immensely though.

While I don't agree with all of Volpones apparent belief in some BNT conspiracy, I do think he has a point about the admin of the game playing (hence why in the last game I offered to take over from Nick after I blew my ship up but was turned down). Lots of settings get changed back and forth without much thought on how they will improve the game as a whole.

I think for one making realspace travel easier is completely the wrong direction, it removes the entire worth of warp links.

In my mind realspace travel should be bumped up to the maximum possible level with no engine upgrades possible, have a small 2000 sector or so galaxy, and increase the cost of spaceborne defences. Make warp editors cheap, but ships can only carry one at a time so that people can carry one in case they get lost and really need to travel home.

I don't change the values of realspacing, it seems to be variable.

Only carrying one warp editor at a time would be a pain in the ass. Besides, it'd just mean I'd have to spend an extra day lurking in the federation sector until I got my engines up to snuff for realspacing.

[action=Elwood]tries to remember what forum this is in and contains himself.[/action]


Nick and I were talking one night about Volpone's thread, something about remember BNT, and I suggested another game. It was as simple as that. He started it on a lark, and I approved.

That you are made of fail and suck, ain't my problem.

You misunderstand, if altering the game I would make it so that even with fully upgraded engines realspacing takes a lot of turns. Within your first couple of hours of playing this game you can upgrade to engines that make warp links irrelevant and the universe feels damn small with no location having any strategic advantage to any other.

Make the universe smaller so things are more concentrated, but then make it so that people actually can hide out in the vastness of space. Stop the game producing automatic 1-2-3-4-5-6-etc warp links so that hiding your sector by deleting incoming warp links would be truly useful. Information sharing alliances would be encouraged as it would be virtually impossible to do a complete sweep of the galaxy by yourself without spending tens of thousands of turns.