Re: [OT] JUMP and mail list archives

At least half a dozen list members have participated in a couple of PBeM
games of JUMP and it seems to be a pretty fair
explore-and-conquer-the-universe game.	Whether or not you like it
depends
on how much detail you want--it was a bit too simplified for me.  I
think it
would be pretty easy to implement fixes, though.

If I were assigned to fix it, some of the things I would fix are:
* add benefits for trading with other nations
*slightly more unit types to produce somewhat more complex combat
*add detail to tech tree
*give players the ability to influence what they're researching
*delete "transport through black hole"

  The main problem with it, though, is that as Player A gets an
advantage,
he becomes more and more unbeatable.  When you find a rich planet, you
get
more income; you use the income to build more ships; you use the ships
to
find more planets...  On the other hand, if you don't happen to have
juicy
planets around (or if you can't recruit/conquer them quickly), you're
sunk.
  That's not unrealistic on the face of it, but it's a problem from a
game
standpoint IMHO.  In theory (and in the Real World) the little guys can
band
together to hold off the superpower, but in the game, it's too easy for
the
superpower to lure smaller nations away from the coalition, then crush
the
coalition, then annex his "allies".   The diplomacy in a FTF game *may*
better enable the other players to keep the leader in check than I could
in
PBeM.
  It would be easy enough to fix with some kind of "Domestic Unrest"
factor
so that the bigger you got, the more you had to subtract from your
economy
(or the more likely you were to suffer insurrections).

YMMV

----- Original Message -----
From: "Gregory Wong" <sax@soundingrocket.com>
To: <gzg-l@csua.berkeley.edu>
Sent: Tuesday, September 25, 2001 2:30 PM
Subject: [OT] JUMP and mail list archives

> I asked this before, but I didn't get any responses.	I was looking
> for a review of the game JUMP, and someone pointed me to the
> archives for this list.  I then asked where I could find the archives
> for this list, and I didn't get a response.  Could someone please
point
> me to the archives of this list?
>
> Thanks.
>
> --Greg