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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQS);faqs.146


was said in the previous paragraph about finding and reporting
bugs and receiving help also goes here.

1-4  How can I find out more about gb?
--------------------------------------
    Try logging in to one of the current games running.  Some games
have a guest account set up specifically for new users to find their
way around and ask questions.  When it asks for a password, simply type
"guest" or "guest 0" in most places, and you'll be logged in to the game.
There's no guarantee that there will be someone on who can help you and/or
has the time, but during the evening is generally the best time to try.

1-5  Where are the current games running?
-----------------------------------------
    I used to keep a list of this, but it's just too much of a pain.
The best way to keep track of which games are running (or about to be)
is to watch the alt.games.gb newsgroup.  It's very low volume, so that
should be no problem.  The FAQ gets out of date too quickly and easily
in any case.

    Once you get a server address and part, use the following examples
to connect you to a game with telnet if you're not using a client.  If
you're using a client, simply replace "telnet" with "gbII" or whatever
you've named the client executable in your directory.
on Unix:     "telnet pooh.caltech.edu 2010" or "telnet 131.215.48.30 2010"
or, on VMS:  "telnet pooh.caltech.edu /PORT=2010" etc.

    Note:  Some of these games are chronically off-line for one reason
or another; others are only up at certain (unknown to me) scheduled times.
Don't be surprised if you get a refused connection by more than one game.
If you want to enter one or more of the games that have not started yet,
check alt.games.gb for announcements about where to send your requests.

    Other games will be announced in alt.games.gb as they are started,
including periodic "blitz games" run by various people.  A blitz game is
essentially a gb game in which the updates are squeezed down into 5 to 20
minute intervals as opposed to the usual 1 or 2 per day.  If you're wondering
what an "update" is, read section 3 about playing the game.

1-6  Do I need a client to play gb?
-----------------------------------
    If you're going to play seriously, then the answer is yes.
Theoretically, one could get by using only telnet, but only the
client will process maps correctly and enable you to encrypt your
conversations, which is a convenient way to communicate at no cost
without being overheard on the game.

1-7  How can I start playing a game?
------------------------------------
    There are two ways to do this.  First, you can wait until
someone announces the beginning of a game.  This newsgroup is where
you'll see such announcements.  The person in charge of the new game
will either include (or point you to) a racegen program which you can
then use to specify what kind of race you want.  Then you log in to
the game and start playing when it starts!  Read on for more details
on what racegen is and how it works.
    Another way to get into a game is to log onto a currently
running game and ask.  In most big games, there are "sleepers," or
races which have dropped out for one reason or another (it's not
always due to weakness, sometimes time constraints are involved).
Also, many players with big races tend to look for people to help
them out since playing a big race in gb can be very time consuming.
    Most games now run with the "governor" code, standard since
pooh version 5.0 and in current versions of HAP.  This allows for
races to have one major leader who can delegate authority over given
ships and systems to his governors, who are independent players
recruited by the race leader.  This is a great feature for those of
you out there who want to play gb but lack the immense amount of free
time that leading a fully active race requires.

1-8  How much time does it take to play gb?
-------------------------------------------
    That depends entirely on the number of updates per day.  For
a reasonably large race (say, control of 40 planets) in a game with
70 star systems or so (3-8 planets per system), it will take you at
least one hour of playing time per update (this is vastly dependent
upon how efficient you are...use macros!).  This can go way up if you
are actively waging war with another player.  This time tends to
increase as the game goes on and you grow in power, but the main
variable in the whole time equation is simply how active _you_ want
to be.  It takes a very active race to come out on top in gb;
even on a one update per day schedule, it can eat up your time, so
consider yourself warned.
    Players who join only to play for a little while and then
drop out, leaving all that they've built to fall into ruin, are
generally frowned upon.  Sometimes it is unavoidable, but all
deities ask that you plan ahead.  Don't get yourself involved in
more than you can handle.  Drop-out players who don't get replacements
can seriously upset the game balance, ruining the game for many
other players.
    The advent of team races may offset both of these diadvantages,
but it's still best to be aware of them.

1-9  What is this newsgroup for?
--------------------------------
    This newsgroup is for the discussion of everything that has
anything to do with GB, including game announcement, rules discussion,
game editorials, etc.

**************************
Part II -- The Game Set-Up
**************************

2-1  What race should I choose?
-------------------------------
    As of this posting, just about every new game that is coming
on-line is accepting races generated by a program called "racegen."
You can get a copy of this at any of the ftp sites mentioned above,
and it compiles pretty easily on most systems.  Use this program to
generate your race and automatically send it to the appropriate
"deity".  Note that you usually have to compile a whole new version with
the proper destination address (for sendmail) in the code, but this is
easy...just find the destination address line (#TO, I believe) in the
code and change the address with your editor, then compile.

    NOTE:  In some new games, you'll be asked to use your
client to connect to a special racegen daemon on the eventual
gb server machine.  This greatly simplifies the process of game
registration since you don't have to have your own copy of racegen,
just the client.  Watch for specifics with new game announcements.
    There is now a facility on the machine listed above,
gb.dorm.clarkson.edu.  If you telnet to that machine and login as
menu, you will get a list of options, one of which will enable you
to run a remote version of racegen (which will send your race to
the game designated by you) to submit your race.  This is a very
convenient feature that makes it unnecessary to actually compile
and store the racegen code on your own account.
    Other programs, such as "opt_tech," which optimizes your
tech expenditures (read the docs for more details on how tech works),
and "psmap," which generates a postscript file containing a map of
your game universe from a list of stars, are also available via
this machine through a mail server.  For a help file regarding the mail
server, send email to "[e-mail]" with a subject of "HELP".

    Here is a reproduction of the help file currently on-line at
[e-mail]:

-- Begin included file --

The mail server on gb.dorm.clarkson.edu currently has several functions,
and more will be added as the demand arises.

*** "OPT_TECH" ***

"Opt_tech" is a C program that allows you to calculate the greatest use a
given amount of money could get in tech production.  When input the amount
you wish to spend, and a list of your planets's tech stats, it will
tell you what to invest where, and produce a file that can be used with the
gbII "shell" or "source" command, so the client will make all of the changes
for you.

To run "opt_tech" from email, send email to "[e-mail]" with
a subject of "TECH amount_to_invest", where the amount is an integer.  In the
body of the mail, send the output from the "status" command from your
race (See:  "How to send output from a command" below...).  VERY important -
you have to edit out part of your "status" log.  Namely, the beginning titles
and the ending totals.  The only thing that should be in the file will be a
set of columns, including the planet name, population, and 2 columns of
numbers.  The mail server will send you back an email message, the first
portion will tell you how much tech will be produced if you do what it
suggests, and the second portion (separated by a "CUT HERE") can be removed
from the message and fed into the gbII client's "source" command to actually
make those changes.  Please note that if you have a large empire, running this
command could take a while...


*** PSMAP ***

"psmap" is a program written in C which, given the output of your race's
"stars" command, will produce a nice looking PostScript map which looks really
peachy keen on laser printers.  :-)

HOW TO USE:  Put in the subject line "PSMAP mode", where mode is "0" for a
normal map, and 1 is for a map with circles around your home system at 50000
unit intervals (good for judging distances from your home system).  In the
body of the message, put the output from the "stars" command you get from
your race (See:  "How to send output from a command" below...).  The mail
server will then mail you your map, ready for printing on a PostScript printer.

*** FAQ List ***

If sent a message with a subject of "FAQ", the mail server will respond by
sending you a copy of the most current FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) List
from the newsgroup "alt.games.gb".  This list has lots of good info in it
regarding race stats, game play, etc., and is good for beginner players.

*** gbII Client ***

To get a copy of the latest gbII GB client, send a message with a subject
of "CLIENT".  A shell archive will be sent to you.

*** How to send output from a command ***

Using the gbII client (available from scam.berkeley.edu (128.32.138.1),
in the directory /src/games/gb (it's gbII.client.shar.Z or gbII.client.tar.Z))
logging a command's output is very easy.  Simply type your command, followed
by a ">", and the file to log into.  For example, typing "stars > starlist"
would create a file called "starlist", and in addition to showing the output
to your screen, it would also save a copy of the output in that file.  Remember
to edit out the "gbII Log" title in the beginning of the file also.  The
"starlist" file can then be mailed to "[e-mail]" with a
subject of "PSMAP 1" and in no time you'll have a nice PostScript map.
When you are sending a log of your "status" output to be processed, remember to
not only remove the "gbII log" title, but also the column headers and the
ending totals as described in the "opt_tech" section.

If you have any problems or questions regarding the mail server on
gb.dorm.clarkson.edu, or have a suggestion on other things that can be put
either in the mail server or in the public access account (Telnet to
gb.dorm.clarkson.edu (128.153.48.5) and login as "menu", no password),
feel free to email me at [e-mail].

-- End included menu help --

    Here are the helpfiles included with racegen, which should
answer most of the questions about the program and its use:

--- Begin included racegen docs ---

How to get and compile racegen

First off, get net access.  Then you can use the file transfer program, ftp,
to get racegen from several sites, including scam.berkeley.edu.  Connect to
the remote system, use "anonymous" as your name (any password is OK), cd to
the src/games/gb directory, and get racegen.shar.  The whole process should
look rather like this:

> ftp scam.berkeley.edu
Connected to scam.berkeley.edu.
220 scam.Berkeley.EDU FTP server ready.
Name (scam.berkeley.edu:leonard): anonymous
331 Guest login ok, send ident as password.
Password:
230-Welcome Guest - access restricted.
ftp> cd src/games/gb
200 CWD command okay.
ftp> get racegen.shar
200 PORT command okay.
150 Opening data connection for racegen.shar (60101 bytes).
226 Transfer complete.
local: racegen.shar remote: racegen.shar
62071 bytes received in 6.1 seconds (9.9 Kbytes/s)
ftp> quit
221 Goodbye.
>

When a game is announced, the host will specify what sort of races are
desired.  If the game will not use the "vanilla" racegen, the host will post
a file called "game_info.h" that you will then use to compile racegen with.
Note that racegen.shar comes with a default game_info.h file.

Now you can make an executable racegen.  Unshar the archive you just got,
and make it:

> sh racegen.shar
x - racegen.c
x - racegen.h
x - game_info.h
x - Makefile
x - racegen.README
> make
cc -bsd -g  -target sun3 -c  racegen.c
cc -o racegen racegen.o -lm
> ls
Makefile        racegen*        racegen.c       racegen.o
game_info.h     racegen.README  racegen.h       racegen.shar

Now you are ready to go.  Just type "racegen", and it will run.  If it
does not, make sure you have the current directory "." as a part of
your path:

> printenv PATH
.:/usr/imports/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/ucb:/bin:/usr/bin
>

(Note that the first directory in my path *is* ".".  ':' is used to
separate the directories in this list.)

If "." is not in your path, you must either put the racegen executable
file in one of the directories that is in your path, or else put "."
into your path.  The second option is much easier:

> setenv PATH .:$PATH

Now you are ready to go!

   The creation of new races is controlled by the person hosting the game.
Player #1 (the first player enrolled into the game) should always be given
diety status, as many of the game default operations are placed in player #1's
control.  Other players may be designated as having diety status during the
enrollment procedure, but this isn't recommended (or needed in most cases).

   Race generation is often done using a rather complex point based system,
the idea being that you must spend a limited number points to get better
attributes.  The program that you do this creation process with is called
"racegen".  There are five types of data associated with each race that the
player can choose:

* Name, password, and other profile information -- While none of these have
any direct effect on game play, they add interest.  Name and password can be
set with racegen before enrolling in the game.  All of the others can be
changed as needed; see also: name, personal, profile

* Home planet type -- A race's home planet can drastically affect its game.
Jovian home planets are the most costly type, because jovians are huge planets
with about half the sector area of the universe on them.  Jovians are the only
worlds with gas sectors on them; gas tends to be resource-poor but fertile.
Class M (Earth-type) home planets are the next most useful, with a good
balance of fertility and resources.  Forest and water worlds are like class
M's and generally more fertile, but they are also smaller on average.  Desert
worlds have high resource content but are not very fertile.  Iceballs and
airless worlds are too small to make very good home planets, but they are very
common in the universe as a whole.

* Racial type -- There are two main racial types in GB: normal races (think of
humans, Klingons, Wookies, Pierson's Puppeteers, etc) and metamorphs (Alien,
the Thing, body snatchers, etc.)  The primary difference between these two
race classes is that only metamorphs may have pods and absorbtion as racial
attributes.  Metamorphs are also required to have one sex, which is another
advantage.  A secondary difference that is rather harder to notice is that the
price of various attribute combinations is slightly different for normals and
morphs in racegen, especially for some of the attributes' extremes.

* Compats -- The planets found in the GB universe are represented as arrays of
sectors of various types: ice, land, sea, etc.  Various races may have varying
degrees of compatibility with these sector types, which will affect the amount
of population they can grow on that sector type, and other things too.

* Attributes -- Attributes are quantizations of a race's abilities.  Currently
there are 11 basic attributes for each race:

** Absorbtion -- Only metamorphs may have this attribute, which allows them to
    absorb enemy troops and civilians in combat if the morph wins.
    Combined with pods, it allows metamorphs to replace alien population
    on planets when pods burst.

** Adventurism -- This described what percentage of a sector's population may
    move and explore other sectors.  High value tend to settle planets on
    their own far more efficiently. If you have a low value, you can order
    movements with the 'move' option.

** Birthrate -- This factor determines how rapidly the population in the
    sector will converge to the maximum population supportable on the
    there.  High values mean that the population multiplies faster.

** Fertilize -- This attribute represents the percentage chance that a race
    will increase by one percent the fertility of any sector it owns.  Any
    race may take advantage of space plows for a similar effect, once it
    gets to tech level 5.

** Fighting Ability - Higher values mean that the race is more likely to kill
    an alien than a lower value.  Races with lower values will usually need
    to have larger forces to win in direct combat over a high fighting
    ability.  It is important to note that this effects only land combat
    and ship boarding strengths, and not ship to ship fighting.

** IQ -- The raw growth rate of a race's technology is governed by the race's
    intelligence.  The technology increase per update is IQ/100.  Addi-
    tional technology gain is available by technology investments on the
    individual planets under the race's control.

** Collective IQ; IQ limit -- The intelligence of a race with collective IQ is
    related to the race's total population, as follows:
        IQ = IQ_limit * [ (2/PI) atan(population/50000)]^2.
    [Note:  Be careful with this one!  If you can't build pods, then
    having a collective IQ could be disastrous as you won't have the
        knowhow to build *any* kind of useful ships for a looooong time.]

** Mass -- Each race has a mass.  The heavier the individual, the more fuel it
    will take to launch and land ships full of the race.

** Metabolism -- This value controls how industrious the race is.  Higher
    metabolism races will produce resources more rapidly than lower
    metabolisms, and also increase the efficiency of sectors faster.

** Pods -- Pods are small ships, available only to metamorphs but at tech
    level 0, buildable instantly on the surface of planets.  Each one may
    carry a single crew-thing; this makes them ideal for settling other
    planets.  Pods which enter a system after having frozen in deep
    space will warm and eventually burst, possibly leading to spores
    landing on worlds in the new system.  If a spore lands on a sector, a
    ton or more of biomass will be created, resulting in a new colony for
    the podding race.  Note that spores may never land on alien occupied
    sectors unless the podding race has absorbtion.

** Sexes -- Each race has a number of sexes. This represent the minimum
    population that a sector must have in order to be able to reproduce.
    Lower values are preferable to high values for colonization efforts.
    It is not recommended to have more than 3 to 6 sexes at the outside,
    unless you are really looking for a challenge
--- End included racegen docs ---

2-2  What's the difference between a normal and a morph?
--------------------------------------------------------
    A "morph," or "metamorph," is described in the standard docs
as the type of race you'd see in John Carpenter's "The Thing."  The
major differences between morphs and normals can be summarized like this:

    -- Morphs can absorb enemy bodies when they attack a sector
    -- Morphs can build spore pods on planetary surfaces
    -- Morphs' IQ is determined only by their population

    It used to be the case that morphs had a very high metabolism
and very high fighting strength to go along with all of this, but
the advent of racegen has changed that considerably.  Now, morphs can
have all of the basic characteristics of normal races -- but the
three attributes mentioned above are only available to metamorphs.
The disadvantage that offsets this option is that some items will
be more expensive in racegen.
    I'll discuss these three items in reverse order:  First, morph
IQ is based on some exponential population formula.  In all games, this
means their iq starts at 0, and the maximum possible morph IQ can be set
by the player in racegen.  A common practice is for morphs to spend
a great deal of tax money investing in tech to offset this disadvantage, but
it still takes a while to "take off."  The low iq means that morphs cannot
rely on shuttles (which require some minor tech ability to build) to ferry
them around to colonize planets early in the game.  Morphs, however, have
the ability to build spore pods.  These pods require no tech to build and
are very cheap.
    The major advantage to spore pods is this low cost and the fact
that they can be built right on the planet's surface (while most other
ship types require factories which need resources to be turned on and
time to repair before actually building any ships).  The drawbacks to
pods are that they are slow and that they explode upon entering star
systems.  That's not _always_ a drawback, but early in the game, it will
mean that several pods must be sent to a system in order for you to have
a good chance at landing morphs on a planet or two.  The success rate of
spore pods (ie. whether they explode harmlessly or result in a colony)
varies from game to game from 20% to 40%.
    The other major difference between morphs and normals which is
mentioned above is morphs' special combat ability.  If a morph attack force
defeats another race in ground combat, a large fraction of the defeated
enemy will be "absorbed" by the attacking morph race, enabling morphs to
actually _increase_ their population through attacking.  Thus, late in
the game when all planets are covered and well-defended by other races,
morphs still have a chance to do some serious damage by showering an enemy
system with pods and perhaps landing enough morphs in the system to cause
a lot of problems, if not to take over a planet or two.

2-3  Which is better, morphs or normals?
----------------------------------------
    This is debatable.  Each race type has its own advantages and
drawbacks.  It also depends upon the modifications made for the particular
game you are in. Generally, each race type can be led to success by
a good player, and alliances between morphs and normals are quite common
and can be very effective (since the normals generally have the high
tech levels while morph's pod launching ability and generally high
metabolism and/or fighting strength can help the alliance).

2-4  What kind of planet should I choose?
-----------------------------------------
    This is covered in large part in the above racegen docs, but I
can make some comments about common questions that arise.  Of all types
of planets, class M's are chosen for homeworlds around 75% of the time.
This is because they are the largest of any type planet except Jovians.
Thus, they can support a high population (for taxation and tech purposes),
and they usually have a fairly high number of resources.  Another common
choice is desert, since it is on the same order of size as a class M
planet.  Deserts have more resources, but are less fertile and are
rarer in some games than class M's (also, you should take 100% desert
as a sector preference, which means you can't spend as much on the other,
more common, sector types).
    Big planets have two big advantages:
1)  The larger the planet, the faster you will produce resources from
it once you have covered the planet.  The formula for resource
production goes as (1 - avg efficiency) ^ (number of sectors), so
the more sectors you have, the better.  Races that select small home
planets tend to get left behind early on in the race to build the
first ships for this reason.
2)  The planet is much harder to conquer.  Even if an enemy manages
to field a temporarily superior force to your planetary population, odds
are he won't have the AP's necessary to take the whole thing in one
update, so you have time to marshal reinforcements if you're in a bind.
    Here's a brief summary of the various planet types, to the best
of my knowledge, along with an estimate of how common these planet types are.
*NOTE* This will vary from game to game.
    The relative sizes of each of these planets, as well as the
benefits (and % of races which choose each type of planet, etc.) will
also vary from game to game.  When using racegen, you'll typically pay
(or get a bonus) for the type of planet you choose to start with, and
the deity will try his best to see that your points are fairly spent.

Class M - 15% - These planets are usually about 60% water, 20% land, and an
                even mix of everything else.  Once in a while, you'll find
                a class M with an abnormal atmosphere (like heavy in
                methane content).

Jovian - 10% - These planets are 100% gaseous, and they are usually
               twice as large as the typical class M planet.  They tend
               to be very high in fertility, too, so you can easily build
               up a large population for taxation and tech purposes.
               Also, ships in orbit around Jovians add fuel to their
               holds every update (tankers are twice as efficient at this),
               so even if you're not a Jovian-type race, having one of
               these nearby can be a tremendous asset.

Water - 5% - These are largely water planets, and I've found that they
             are generally resource poor.  They can be quite large, ranging
             up in size to class M quality, but they are usually about 40%
             smaller.

Desert - 5% - These planets are usually 80% desert and 15% mtn/ice.  They
              are _very_ nice as far as resource content is concerned, and
              their size range is much like Class M planets.

Forest - 5% - These planets are almost entirely covered in forest, which is
              the rarest sector type.  Resource content is fairly good.
              Size range is between Water planets and Class M's.  Fertility
              is higher than on a normal class M.

Iceball - 20% - These planets are generally small (1/5 the size of class M's
                or less), and they consist of around 75% ice and 25% mountain.
                Relative to their size, they are resource rich, but the
                small number of sectors means that resources will come more
                slowly.

Airless - 30% - These planets are mostly land (75%) with some mountain and
                ice sectors.  The atmosphere is almost always hostile, of
                course, but these planets are probably the most resource
                rich relative to their size (ie. 1/3 the res of a typical
                class M but 1/5 the size).

Asteroid - 10% - These are just floating rocks in space, not good for a
                 heck of a lot.  They don't count as planets in victory
                 conditions, and they usually have very few resources,
                 and the small number of sectors make it very difficult
                 for most asteroids to ever contribute to your cause,
                 though having colonies on them have other advantages,
                 such as morale bonus.  Sector types are random but range
                 among land, desert, ice, and mountain.

2-5  What sector preferences should I take?
-------------------------------------------
    The most common sector type besides gas is water, but this is
misleading since there are so many water sectors on Class M's (in addition
to those on waterball planets).  Running a close second is land terrain,
which is found on just about every planet type.  Forest is probably the
least common, making it an unusual and often strategic addition to your
list of preferences (remember, you pay for both the % compatibility and
an overhead cost for each of your sector prefs).   Mountain is convenient
to have since it is usually high in resource content and found in small
amounts on many planets, and ice is also a common choice.
    I've also noticed that taking a combination of desert and
a choice of mountain, land and/or ice in your sector prefs somehow
entices the server into making your race a "methane breather" some of
the time (or maybe it's just bad luck).  The problem with this is
that most planets will be extremely incompatible with your race, meaning
your pop will grow very slowly and often leave you vulnerable to invasion.
You'll find yourself at a rather large disadvantage until such time as
you or an ally can build atmospheric processors (at a pretty high
tech level, so it takes a while).  Some games (with my strong approval)
are phasing out the possibility of methane breathing races except by
request.
    This is not to say that you should always choose water, land, and
mountain as your sector prefs.  In many cases, alliances are made based on