STARS! Struck
by Trey Murff
Greetings fellow gamers! It has been a while, but I haven't forgotten you. I have spent the time since my IHHD article involved in one of the coolest games around. What kind of game, you ask, could have kept me away for so long? Well, it's not one of the new super gee-whiz real time games. In fact, it's not real time at all. It's a turn based game usually played via email or in blitz games using IRC. So, enough already My most recent incredible find is STARS!.
Mark Frantz has already written an excellent review of STARS! for WorldVillage, so check out his article in Gamers Zone where you can read about some of the details of the game. I, on the other hand, want to share some of the excitement and details of playing STARS! in a multiplayer environment. There are a number of ways I could accomplish this but I was intrigued with the idea of sharing this as a story.
To create some meat for the story, I solicited the help of 3 other players that are/were involved in the game (which is still going on): Tom Hopkins, the Hopkinites; Rick Blackwell, the Scorpanoids; Matt Gardner, the Excanoids; and yours truly, the Zotzs. Each of us kept a journal which you can read by clicking on the authors names. I have combined the journals into a single account which is presented with out any bias on my part (yeah, right).
Before I begin, however, I would like to tell you how the game is setup and how the turns are conducted. To begin with, each player must create a race file. This file contains the attributes that define your race. There are primary and secondary racial characteristics that must be chosen as well as lesser traits that help determine your overall strategy. This race file is sent to the person hosting the game who, upon receiving everyone's race files, generates the universe. The universe file is then sent to the players who proceed to generate their turns. The players then send their turns to the host who processes them and sends the results back to the players.
The game now proceeds with players generating turns, sending the turn to the host and the host sending the results back to the players. We agreed to generate turns once a day and have (I am still playing) a deadline of 10pm CST. If you don't get your turn to the host in time, the turn will be generated anyway and your forces are stuck with their previous orders.
Well, enough detail, on with the story!
Originally, scholars thought that the universe was infinite and each race believed they were alone. However, with the invention of faster than light travel, they soon discovered this was not true. Through random encounters and decoding of interstellar transmissions, nine races were identified. Four of these races were neighbors and resided in the easternmost part of the universe. These races included the Hopkinites, Scorpanoids, Excanoids, and Zotzs.
These four races rapidly grew and expanded until chance encounters became very frequent. The Hopkinites were flinging packets of minerals with sophisticated monitoring equipment at random planets attempting to probe and map the universe. The Excanoids, realizing that chance encounters often lead to war, began developing the infrastructure to support such an occasion. The Scorpanoids, having just undergone political upheaval, satisfied public unrest by shipping their citizens off to colonize other worlds. While the Zotzs, having just discovered stealth technology, tried to avoid contact while slowly expanding.
The proximity of these races, however, precluded a peaceful coexistence. The Scorpanoids, in particular, were in the unenviable position of having at least 5 neighbors. The Hopkinites were in a slightly better position with fewer neighbors. While the Zotzs and Excanoids were strategically located in the lower right and upper right hand corners of the Galaxy with only 2 neighbors each.
The Scorpanoids had the technology to build low cost colony ships. They sent these ships in all directions to rapidly colonize and establish their space. They soon bumped into the Hopkinites to the north west and the Zotzs to the south. Peaceful relations were maintained until the Hopkinites and Zotzs ran out of room to expand.
The Zotzs had nowhere to expand. They were able to grab a prime planet to the west and a decent planet to the north, but no other nearby planets were habitable. They made a decision to take one of the Scorpanoid planets but questioned how they should proceed without appearing the aggressor.
Biding their time, they contacted the Hopkinites and their neighbors to the west, the Stargazers. Both had borders with the Scorpanoids and were glad to initiate peaceful relations. It was now time to attack.
It just so happened that the Scorpanoids had taken a planet that was far enough south for the Zotz to lay claim to. They did so and used it as an excuse to start attacking the Scorpanoid planet.
The Zotz also contacted the Hopkinites about their planned attack, who saw it as a fortuitous time to start their own aggression. The Excanoids, to the east of the Hopkinites, seemed content to strengthen their infrastructure and wait for an opportune moment to attack the Hopkinites.
What the Hopkinites and Zotz didn't know was that the Excanoids had made an agreement with the Scorpanoids. They were waiting for the Hopkinites to commit their resources against the Scorpanoids, and then they were going to make a surprise attack.
The Scorpanoids repelled an initial attack by the Zotz. Unfortunately, things did not go as well against the Hopkinites. They were able to hold their own, for a while, but it appeared as if the Hopkinites were getting the upper hand.
The stage was set for a great battle when the Scorpanoids were faced with a civil war. Actually release 2.5 of STARS! came out and the Scorpanoids decided to drop out to get involved in a game with the new release (The new release contains many changes/enhancements over release 2.1). The others remain in the game with the hostilities between the Hopkinites and Excanoids increasing.
I look forward every night to generating my next turn. I am also involved in another local game with a group of my friends. I am doing a little better in that game but only time will tell.
In my opinion, STARS! is one of the best multiplayer games available today. If you like games that involve strategy, discovery, and surprise, make sure you drop by the STARS! web page and download a copy of the demo. You might also want to subscribe to the STARS! mailing list by sending a message to stars-list-digest-request@umich.edu with SUBSCRIBE as the subject. New games are announced regularly, so you should have no problem finding opponents.
Make sure you check out Matt's, Stinger's and my journals for more detailed information. You will find plenty of insight into the psychological aspects of the game, as well as a variety of game strategies.
Copyright 1996 Trey Murff for Infomedia. All rights reserved worldwide.
