number I 70 cents

EE IiAmER5

Howard ThompsonEditorTHE SPACE GAMER

This is the introductory issue of METAGAMlNG CONCEPTSown magazine. THE SPACE GAMER will be devoted entirely tosupporting and improving science fiction gaming, a not unexpect.edgoal for the only company devoted solely to the hobby. We thinkscience fiction games are going to be a big part of the sciencefiction experience in a few short years and we'll be a part ofmaking it happen. THE SPACE GAMER will serve as acommunications forum for garners and a prod. A forum forthe phenomenon of science fiction in game form and a prodfor excellence and growth. You have our pledge that everythingin our means to support and improve the hobby for garnerswill be done. We ask your support in helping us do it.So, join us for the exciting early years of a new hobby;it's going to be fun.

AN OPEN LETTER TO SCIENCE FICTION FANS

till

till SPIIE GillER

number 1 70 centsTHE SPACE GAMER is published

quarterly by Metagaming Concepts. A sixissue subscription is $3, increasing to$4 for six after January I, 1976. Addresscorrespondence to: TSG, Box 15346,Austin TX 78761.

Copyright 1975 @ by MetagamingConcepts, all rights reserved.Printed in U. S. A.

CONTENTS,2 ••• Editorial "Why we do it"4 •••• Where We're Going: news from

Metagaming. 8 .... Straight From You: Letters in

9•••• Wantads: F rom readers10 ••• S-F Gaming News/Plugs

••12••• A Hugo for Games: A look intothe future

'13••• Science Fiction Game Surveyfrom Thomas Galloway

".15••• A Diversion: beginning the talesof future Games

18 ••• A STELLAR CONQUEST strategy

Editor: Howard ThompsonContributors this issue:

Thomas GallowayBrett Tondreau

z

WHY WE DO IT!

If you've ever been called upon todefend your enjoyment of sciencefiction or s-f games to your perplexedfriends you've had to answer thisquestion. For sure not everyone isexpected to like the same thing butif you have a hobby or pastime notshared by a large plurality of Amer­icans you'll be made to feel a bitwierd. Our society is pretty big onherd instinct. Peer pressure, conformitycall it what you will the thrust ofequality as currently defined militatesagainst being other than from the same'mold. Its somehow anti-democratic,anti-social, dangerous or just plainrude. Its as if the only path to freedom,justice, utopia and the like is for us tobo all the same. As if sameness some­how saves us from the dreaded chargethat our system is less than perfect.Hence wargamer's and s-f fans assumethe tinge of abnormality because theynumber a percentage too small to showup as statistically significant in a Galluppoll.

My s-f/gaming interests used to em­barass me with others. Condescendingpity is about the most you get from theherd. You miss out by not being in therewith the guys, or girls, and having adifferent hobby hurts the acceptancequotient. Being given to thinking is al­most enough without an interest in'fantasy' and games. My chagrin changedas all things must with time. Armchairsports freaks, pub crawlers, mystery,gothic, western, history, 'pop' psych,political, religious, food, drug, trueconfession' 8, music, etc, etc, etc,freaks who, however casually snide,cut s-f or games now risks a massivescathing of inmost bigotries.

On the level of escapism, s-f andgames are no better or worse than anyhobby. Its what you get from them that

counts. Its just that few of us do s-fin comparison with the hordes thatwatch As The World Turns. Asidefrom escapisIn 'play' is gaing groundin psychology as a concept of valuelearning theory, creativity, andintelligence measure. 'Play' is 2t thebase of all adult productive andcreative activityo Games are an ex­tension of infantile mechanisIns bywhich children adapt to and accom­odate the world. The mental activityassociated with playing a gaIne likeSTELLAR CONQUEST gives all thoseintuitive /deductive problem solvingm.echanisms a comprehensive workout. Research shows that the processof learning and problem solvingactually alters brain chemistry infavor of increased reasoning/Inemoryability. You don't play the gaIne tostretch your sInarts, you do it forthe fun or challenge. But, the byproduct of that fun is an extensivetuneup of your cognitive capacity.

It shouldn't come as a suprisethat you learn best and think bestwhen deriving pleasure from anactivity. In school its the exceptionrather than the rule that courseworkgives most probleIns when the classis painful bore.

Playing gaInes has a valuableeffect carrying over into our dailylives, which is Inore than you cansay for 20 hours of TV football.The value of the science fiction ex­perience is not as aInenable toIneasureable evaluation. An interestin s-f is part of a whole process offuture orientation. We all try to copewith, control, and plan for the futurebut the s-f fan makes it a concen­trated hobby. We are preoccupied withthe future as an alInost reality thathas a pervasive iInpact on our wholeway of living. With our western societyevolving at such a rapid rate Future

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Shock isn't just a catchy word. S-F fansexpect to inhabit SOIne portion of thefutures they escape into in fantasy. I'Innot aware of any scientific study on itbut I'd bet s-f fans suffer less, all elsebeing equal, froIn disorientation tosocietal evolution than others. S-F fansare used to adjusting Inentally to alteredenvironments, they enjoy it. This futureobsession wasn't too valuable in the darkages but it is in a time when experts areout of date in their specialty in a decadeor SOo

Gaming and science fiction do havereal value for our work-a-day lives. Apastime/escapism is what you make of itbut ours have good potentials. Many arenot doubt saying uh uh to these broadstatements so let's tie up some loose ends.All of us know SOIne garners or s-f fansso far gone into the escapism experiencethat whatever value potential the hOOby-hasnever gets transalated into reality. FortheIn the experience is a barrier to aworld they can't cope with on equal ter!Us.Other escapisms have their long terIn in­ternees also which shouldn't necessarilylead to condemnation for a whole hobby.Everything can be abused which is anattribute of its use rather than its inherentvalue. At least when they corne out of itthe future/cognitive value is still theirs toto use which is Inore than can be said forsome activitieso

My personal bias about gaIning and s-fis that 1 do get a lot of enjoyment from it.The people you Ineet are an intelligent,appreciable lot. Its value to Ine or mankindis up to Ine and rests on nothing else. IfI'In a failure that's Iny hang-up, not thefault of Iny hobbies. Its not popular to eIn­phasize individual iInportance just now,but then thats an understandable syInptOInof a society that frowns on everything ina Ininority, a minority that isn't currentlychic anyhow. Which brings us back towhere we started Inaking a good place toquit til next time. HT

WHERE WE'RE GOINGSince no one had ever heard of us til

our ads started appearing last fall itsfair to ask what to expect from us. Ouronly business is science fiction games,we won't diffuse our efforts on anythingelse. Our hobby is fairly new and growingso rapidly we can't even reach all thepotential customers. THE SPACEGAMER will provide a communicationsforum for fans that can support thehobby. It also gives us a place to tellour own story, which we badly need inthe face of the flood of mail fromSTELLAR CONQUEST. THE SPACEGAMER gives us a chance to tell every­one what's going on withour having tosay it ten times over. The magazine hadbeen planned for after our third or fourthgame but circumstances demand we doit now. Not that we regret it, we justwish our crystal ball was a bit more

clear"In trying to decide what sort of mat­

'erial is suitable for TSG who wouldread it weighed evenly with what hadto be accomplished. A sizeable minor­ity of our readers will be relatively new

-to s-f gaming and gaming in general.The rest will have a background in his­torical conflict simulations and havelittle trouble adapting to s-f themes.While its good to have a broad audienceit means the disparities in gamingexperience make it difficult to presentmaterial in such a fashion as to appealto both ends of the spectrum. The newgamers will need more basic articleswith lots of background. Experiencedgamers will want to take their ',know­

ledge for granted and go right to theesoteric presentations. Since one goalof TSG is to promote the hobby:of s-fgaming we're very much concernedwith novice gamers. Growth will comefrom them but as their knowledgeincreases they'll want more complex­ities. For reasons of complexity

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With the introductory issue weare trying a policy of bringing yous-f games from other publishersat a discount. If the policy worksyou'll see more titles next issue.The discount is only for TSG sub­scribers and only possible if wesell enough to continue quantitybuys.STAR PROBE from TacticalStudies Rules. This is a massivegame that eventually will have 3rules books, the first is availablenow. The game is played on a 2~OO

star map. Players explore and ex­ploit star systems in incredible de­tail of alien races, dangers, andresources. Players will seldomcontact each other though it is pro­vided for. Victory is measured bybest exploration results. You geta fantastic amount of variety anddetail, don't pass if you dig s-fexploration. $5.10 for TSG sub­scribers, $6 for all others.DUNGEONS AND DRAGONS alsofrom TSR. This is a 'swords n'sorcery' game with three rulesbooklets, liMen &: Magic ll

, "Mon_sters & T reasure" and liThe Un­derworld & Wilderness Adventure".The game is played in a mythicalruined castle with dungeons, treas­ure, monsters and such. Eachplayer /charactermoves about theruins trying to stay alive and scorepoints in combat or with 'find'. Thegame needs a referee but it'sreally taking hold as an almostsecond life of some s-f fans. $8. 50for TSG subscribers, $10 for allothers.

Order now, these are profes­sionally done and ~el1. worth it.

STELLAR CONQUEST wasn't the bestintroductory game. Many with no exper­ience made the quantum jump with notrouble but for others it was like tryingto read sanskrit with only two h 0 u r sinstruction. Experienced gamers tend. totheir learning difficulties, but, jus t .temember the problems you had if youdidn't have someone else to explain whatis now obvious,.

So we'll be speaking to two pretty.different groups. With your support andour sweat TSG can blen the worlds ofscience fiction and conflict games intoan enjoyable whole. But it means eachhalf of our audience will 'sometimes beleft with not .quite what he wants. Itsgoing to be almost unavoidable and weask your patience. Just remember thatwhile you're having trouble with a par­ticular article you won't be alone andmany others will be finding it exactlywhat they needed. W I' hope you get outof TSG what we like to read in 0 the rpublications. If each issue can give youa little humor, something to ponder,something to try and the urge to speakyour piece we'll be doing our job.

The first few issues of TSG will be ona quarterly basis as you see it now. Thenext issues will get bigger'as our fam­iliarity with doing a publication growsand as we get contributions. Whathappens after that depends on response,ie. how many subscribers we get. Goingat least bimonthly with significanly morepages per issue is the goal. Graphics,layout, and production will get betteras circulation grows. Mos.t of our sub­scriptions will come from word-of­mouth and from those who but our gamesso you can help by showing us around.There will be some advertising and pro­motion but mostly we'll grow from ourreaders. We'll do the best we can at whatwe like. If you like it too TSG will be aninstrumental force in helping s-f gaming

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grow into a viable part of the sciencefiction experience. If you don't like whatwe're doing let us know. We are interestedin what you have to say so please send usback the questionaire enclosed, it'll helpus know exactly how .we're doing. A si~­

ilar brief survey will be in each is sue sowe can have a running score.

Since most of our time is devoted to thegame 5 you want and neces sary mundanebusiness matters the bulk of what will beprinted will be contributions from readers.Some editorial effort will go into what yousay but you can expect to 'see it printed·ifif you have an idea and can string simplesentences together logically. The staff willcondentrate on garnes, oux news, and 8-£gaming news in general. Everything elsewill eventually come from yo~ so 'sPeak up.Most likely others will be interested inwhat you have to say and respon:d to, it.A small compensation will be. paid'for thebest contributions as determined by readervoting but it may be an issue or two befurethat is ironed out. That means that if thereare sufficient contributions for a meaning­ful vote next issue the best non-staff articlewill get $10 and the second best $5 with-allothers getting some free issues added totheir subscription. Not much admitted butit is something in addition to the joy ofseeing yourself in print.

In talking about ourselves its also fairto mention who you are. So far more haveresponded from our s-f ads than any other.Almost 10% are women, about 20 timesmore than wargaming in general, and we'llfollow their experience with particularinterest. Nearly a fifth are in the military,10% from Canada, and a fair chunk fromrural add res ses. W I' won't know much morethan that unless we undertake a big mar­keting type survey which we don't have thetime for. You share our joy with s-f andgames and maybe that's as much as anyof us need to know.

Looking ahead its not too early tomention our new game for the fall. Don'tsend money now, price hasn't been setyet and TSG subscribers will get a pricebreak on it and all games we do fromnow on. THE YTHRI, based on materialin The People of the Wind by specialarrangement with Poul Anderson, willbe announced next issue with details forordering. This game had the cover namePLANETHEAD ASSUALT until thegame rights to the book had been fin­alized. So, stay tuned for the TerranEmpire's combat assualt on Avalon,horne of the biracial Ythri, human cul­ture. And rember, subscribers onlywill be eligible for that price break. Wefeel those into s-f gaming enough tosupport a specialty magazine like THESPACE GAMER deserve some recogni­tion for their support of the hobby. Theleast we can do is give them a break inthe checkbook which is usually their&ain constraint on enjoying the hobby.

Another thing to look foward to is agame design contest. It will be limitedto science fiction/fantasy games withfhe winning game to be published by usin addition to a prize. Since we aren'tassuming we're the only people who candesign at least a few unknown talentswill be found for sure. In the long runMETAGAMlNG ",··ill develop a number ofoutside designers to produce most ofthe games we publish. The contestshould be announced next issue so getto work on those ideas you1ve nevercommitted to paper. Game designing isfun even if you don't have another blockbuster like Monopoly.

Another break in the pocket book that'sbeing tried this is sue is adve rtised onpage four. if enough are interestedwe'll carry other games by other pub­lishers such as STARPROBE andDUNGEONS AND DRAGONS. They aredifferent in style from anything we'ddesign yet professionally donp. Garnes

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offered by other publishers will be boughtin quantity which qualifies us for an add­itional 15'\'0 discount on the wholesale price.The 15'\'0 discount will be passed on to oursubscribers with all others paying regularprice. This can be done only if enough areinterested to warrant the bulk order. Thenormal retail discount is 40% which wewill still realize on the sale and which willgo toward our operating costs and helpingus promote s-f gaming. F rankly, its notworth handling other games unless theysell in fair quantity so if you like whatyou see order from us and save a buck.The questionaire asks about other gamesyou might like at a discount so let usknow what you want, if anything.

Much of what we do will be controledby economics. But since time is all youneed to have a good game money won'taffect game quality as opposed to packagingquality. If you didn't notice that was thetransition to the 'bad' news. Our sales ofSC were only about hali what we had ex­pected. This was due to the (shudder)recession, our advertising inexperience,and the fact that we were new comers toan area notorious for spotty quality. Hindsight tells us we didn't do badly at all. Itdoes mean our game production runs won1tbe as large for the next few games. Sinceunit co st goe s up dra stically in quantitie sless than SC's run it means the next fewgames won't have that wonderful plasticmap and full die-cutting for the counterswon't corne until game three or four. Theonly other step back will be to omit type-s etting of rule sand othe r printed matte rbut that will be offset by going to booklettype rules. That's the bad news. Gameswon't be as expensively produced as SCwas. We will be improving graphics andillustrations. For example we have per­mission to use Jack Gaughan's awardwinning illustrations for Jack Vance's TheDragon Masters with our insect culturesgame. We felt strongly about the plasticmap as a step up in quality from the

us;:'al paper maps so prices for the nextfew games may run a bit lower than SC.SC has to go to $9 after September 1 toallow for distribution with stores and aprofessional game cover. Other gameswill go from $6 to $8 depending. So the'bad' news turns out to be more of amixed bag. The main thing you willlose, in terms of cost to us, is theplastic map and typeset rules. Subscrib­ers will get a bit of a price break andstill have a soundly designed game.

The game after THE YTHRI will bethe one letters tell us we shouldn't dobut its really been fun doing so we'll goahead anyway. Its tentatively titledHYMENOPTRIA and will use the JackGaughan illustrations just mentioned.The brief blurb in flyers drew commentslike, l'sounds wierd", and II the othertwo sound interesting". But, we like itand feel some urge to be innovative.Based on play testing it looks like areal sleeper in terms of fun and play­ability. It will be a society level gamefor six players with the basic assump­tion being that the culture is biologyoriented rather than machine orientedas ours. We aren't really satisfiedwith the name so if anyone has an ideawith oomph send it in. You'll get a copyof the game and an extra years worthof TSG. Names are crucial to a game'ssuccess and a better one will probablymean the difference between ho humsales and popularity regardless ofdesign quality.

Many TSG articles will give a lot ofbackground and introductory materialon gaming in general for our relativelynew garners. Flack will corne fromboth sides on this. Newer garners willsay too many buzz words are being usedand too much being taken for granted.They are right from their viewpoint andutterly right that getting into gaming isrough on the novice. We'll always beguily of forgetting the novice and we're

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sorry. There's no help for it despite howhard we may try. Experienced garnersjust forget how much trouble it was tograsp the concept of what the games areall about. Newer garners are invited tosubmit articles despite their relative lackof experience. Only the garners justbegining to get it all sorted out can fullybridge the gap to the raw novice and makeconsistently meaningful comments abo u tlearning problems. Old timers are morelikely to tell the novice to keep pluggingand it'll all come clear. It will comeclear if you keep plugging but lTB ny whowould really get a bang out of games getdiscouraged to the point of disgust by theinitial dificulties. TSG will make everyeffort to develop material for learnersand make the acquisition of a new hobby asenjoyable as possible. We can't make youinto instant champs but hopefully we caphelp explain why you got wiped out so easy.

Articles about basics will hit oldergarners as of no use. They will be rightand wrong in condenmation all at the sa-m.etime. Despite experience most old timersaren't as good as they think they are.(Yeh guys, we really said it.) Only a min­ority of garners play close competitionunder controll"d circumstances such asexist in chess clubs with player ratingsand tournements. The best players will bein clubs strong enough to have contestsand such which includes only a handful ofexisting garners. Most games are reallyfiddled with by most garners rather thanreally played. Few players ever becomereally confident with the rules of even afew of the flood of historical games. And,few of those historical games are balancedenough to deserve the effort of nnastery.In short, most 'old timers' can benefitfrom going back to the basics unless the yare among the lucky members of a club.

By now most old garners with insurmount­able ego problems have stopped readingand thrown us aside so we can be evenbolder. How many old timers can do much

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more than wipe up novices on theirfavorite, oft played games", Their vic­tory is more a product of knowing agame than anything else. Not to saythey can't play well, they just haven'thad that much real competition. Formost games played in this countrytoday winning is a product of exper­ience on a game more than anythingelse. Ok, ok, it is exagerating buthow much truth is there in it that isusually glossed over. Most garnersreally into it are more likely to r e­gard themselves as budding designersrather than as premier garners. Morecomments about the game's designpass from during play than abo u tposition or strategy. They are playingthe game as an exercise in des i g ncritique instead of for the fun orcompetition. This is perfectly under­standable when you realize that theheroes of the historical game worldare the game designers and gam epublishers instead of game players.

Designers rather than game players.It does make you stop and think a bit.SOme garners shell out a hundred ormore a year and have no chance 0 frecO gnition. Is their's but to do andbuy? Hopefully that will change andwe hope to do our little bit to help.

This column will be a regular onewith each is sue. It will be devoted toTSG and METAGAMING CONCEPTShappenings. The rest of the magazineis open to our readers.

Shaan Striker, genetic mutationfrom Hymenoptria, J. Gaughan

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STRAIGHT FROM YOUDear Sirs,

You are brilliant! I have receivedSTELLAR CONQU,EST and am simply o"ver­joyed.

I like the game format. It is laid out to berealistic and enjoyable. I am particularlyimpressed by how you've managed to work inso many different aspects of science and s-f.Having tried to make s-f games myself I canappreciate the difficulty of performing such afeat with the skill you have displayed.

The game is a thinking man's pastime. Veryfew such games are in existence, though I feelthey are needed. I hope you make more ofthis sort. Please keep me informed.

In regard to your note to players, I wouldlike to say you know s-f readers well. Per­haps this is the reason behind the quality ofthe game. Keep up the good work!

Sincerely,James KrauseFranklin, Wis.

Dear Howard,Thanks for the votes. Just remember that

you can change trem anytime. I personallygave SC a 9.5. I agree it has flaws, but it isso far ahead of any other games I've seen(except my own, of course!), it's not funny.That's why it gets the 9.5. If another couplegames come along that are better- - -downshe'll go.

Thomas Galloway(Thomas Galloway designs a few games of

his own, SPACE HUK in particular, andmaintains a s-f games rating systemmentioned else where this issue.)

Dear Howard,I'm sending along a copy of Ash-Wing for

your perusal. I should warn you that the up­coming issue is the first of a series inwhich I valiantly strive to stop at twentypages. We did play the game one night atthe infamous Tankcon, held annually overChristmas. It's a small invitational con,about 5 or 6 guys. One gamer amongst the

bunch and he spent one whole eveningreading the rules. Then next evening heexplained in simple layman's languagewhat went on and away we went.Enjoyed it, too, I must admit, althoughnone of the rest of us were garners andI doubt if I'd ordinarily spend that manyhours at a game except at somethinglike this, when time meant absolutelynothing. Anyway there will be a reviewin this next issue of A-W.

Later,F rank Denton

(F rank has an excellent publication ofhis own and graciously agreed to doa review.)

Dear Howard,I am terribly sorry at being so slow

in writing to thank you for sending meyour game of STELLAR CONQUEST. Iam very impressed with the lucid wayin which you have handled the manyfacets of exploration, combat, tech­nology, and production. Although Ihaven't had a chance to play yet, yourbeautifully organized rules give me avery clear picture of the way a gamewould develop (a faculty I have pickedup in studying game rules for someforty years). Although my personalpreference is towards more abstractgames that play in a maximum ofsome two hours, that in no way de­tracts from the excellence of STELLARCONQUEST for those who like a com­plex simulation that is handled withgreat clarity.

Sincerely,Sid Sackson

(Even if we'd never sold a single copypraise from Mr. Sackson is some­thing we'll always remember.)

Dear Sirs,I and my friends have enjoyed your

game STELLAR CONQUEST immen­sely. It is far and away the most

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intelligent and sophisticated game I haveever played. Congratulations on an ex­cellent and well thought out idea.

The Player Record Sheets you includewith the game have proved invaluable forbookeeping. So invaluable that we find itdifficult to play the game now that we haveused them all up. Accordingly, I haveenclosed $10 for as many sheets as thecheck will cover.

Thank you very much,Richard Johnston

(For those others who are also running outyou can copy them if you wish or order20 for $1 printed on both sides in a moreconvenient 8 1/2 by 11 size.)

(This ends our letters this time. We do,thank the hundred or so others who wroteabout SC also. There will be more var­iety next time. All we had so far wasSC for comment. We did get a smallamount of flack on the game but less thana percent wanted a refund, not bad for anew firm that displayed the refund policyprominently. )

WANTADSOur wantad section is open to subscribers

at a rate of 50¢ for a twenty five word ad.Clubs can have a free ad if they offer someverification of membership and existence.Conventions or other special publicity canget a mention in the news section. Sincethis is our first issue we've only got cine.

KELLY MOORMAN, 601 Roselawn, MonroeLA 71201 wants to work up some play bymail games of SC and will be willing toact as moderator.

S-F GAMING NEWS/PLUGSFlying Buffalo Acquires Supernova

As of issue #25 Supernova, formerly as-f zine published by Lewis Pulsipher,will be published by The Flying BuffaloInc., Box 1467 Scottsdale, AZ 85252.Richard Loomis will serve as editor witha five issue subscription going for $2.TFB is primarily a publisher of computermoderated games played by mail whichhas begun to branch out into other areas.Lewis had been looking for a home forhis Zine which concentrated on s-f games,Diplomacy, variants, and fantasy games.His educational plans require him tospend a year in Europe in the near future.In a cooperative arrangement betweenTFB and Metagaming Supernova sub­scribers will get introductory copies ofTHE SPACE GAMER along with buyersof STELLAR CONQUEST. Hopefullycompetition through cooperation will helpthe whole hobby and encourage improvedquality.

ALIEN SPACE FROM ZOCCHl- Lou Zocchi, 1513 Newton Dr., Biloxi,MS 39532, publishes a tactical non-board space ship game called Alien Spacefor $4.50. He also has a catalog of manyother simulation games in print, mostlywargames but some s-f.

STARLORD from Flying BuffaloStarlord is a tactical/strategic game

where victory goes to the player whodoes a good job of producing for civilianconsumption. Record Keeping accountsfor movement and all other iuformationwith each of four players having hisown clear plastic 'board' and greasepencil. A more detailed review of thegame will appear next issue. $5 fromFlying Buffalo, address above.

Phantom Star ReportsTony Watson, 201 Minnesota St., Las

Vegas, NV 89107, publishes this zinefor 30f per issue for non-game players.It is devoted to his play-by-mail gamePhantom Star Raiders which is a simple.flo

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ship- ship tactical game.STAR PROBE AvailableStar Probe is a game of I'adventure,

conflict, and exploration is space" fromTactical Studies Rules, one of the morecompetent small game publishers. Thegame will eventually have three seperaterules booklets, each with as much materialas SC rules, with the first ore available now.The game is BIG with 2,000 stars portrayedon the simple black and white map. Therules available so far can give a completegame. Each player starts as something likea head of a deep space exploration having toselect and outfit and crew his own shi p. Thegame has incredible detail of resources,alien races and the like sufficient to satis-fy any s-f fans predilections for space explor­ation. More time will be spent on this gamein later issues. It is available for $6 fromTSR, 542 Sage St., Lake Geneva WI 53147 orfrom Lou Zocchi. In fact we like the game somuch we are offering it at a discount as shownin our ad on page 4. Color us envy green.

DUNGEONS 8< DRAGONS AvailableThis is a Isword n t sorceryl game where

luck and verve playa bigger role than directcompetition. It's getting .pretty popular andwe'd like to carry a review of it by someone'into' fantasy. We'll offer this at a discountalso but won't profess to fully understand itsince fantasy isn't our bag. The game isintended for play with miniatures but can beplayed without them. Just think of it as ag arne 'doorway to an experiential event andyou'll get the right picture. Reviewan:'one?

GALAXY II/STARBASE 2300Brett A. Tondreau, 5536 Kester Ave, Van

Nuys CA 91411, gamemasters two computermoderated pbm games. Rules for Galaxy IIare $1 including a large glossary of terms.A normal move is $1 with non~active turnsare less. The game is big and detailed andshouldn't be attempted by a novice. Starbase2300 is a simpler version of the other at 60fper turn that has only become recently avail­able. The note below was provided by Brett

who retains all rights of reproduction•

})

))

Galaxy II is a computer moderateds-f space wargame written in the latterhalf of 1974. It is a game played by usinga computer to act as an objective mod­erator. Fifteen to thirty players partic­ipate by mail in turns taking place aboutevery five weeks. A great deal of lat­itude is permitted the players. He ispermitted to differentiate his 'Race's'characteristics", its leaders, its assoc­iations, its peacefulness or aggressive­ness, and anything else he feels isindicitive of his situation in the game.Each player assumes the identity of analien racial leader. His advanced cul­ture is described and given a startingstar position an a galactic map consistingof 90-100 stars and 4,000 spatial co­ordinates. The map and resources ofall stars, planets, and asteroids iscomputer generated. The playerinitially decides which of three basictypes he wishes his race to be, amember of the federation, a nomadicfreebooter, or barbarian. A good dealof the game can be devoted to obtain­diplomatic ties with the other mem-bers of your group or other players.The elimination of the other twogroups gives all members of thesurviving group a partial victory.Probes provide the player with infor­mation about mineral content, defensesand· offensive weapons, group andattack status, number and type of ships,and types of planetary bodies when theyenter a star system. Each player isin a position of omniscience over hisdomain and receives detailed reportseach turn describing the status of hisplanets and ships. Players name allships and colonies describing in greatdetails moves and orders for each.For example, a player may specifythat planet Achilles is to build Matter­Antimatter drives of installation inhis latest vessel Kondorn and thatoffensive beams, defensive shields,

II

probes, probe screens, power and lifesupport are to be installed in the ship.Players can order investment in individualcolonies levels of mineral or industrial 1

technological efficiency. Turn sheets canget quite long and complex as players col­onize more and more planets, probe morestars, and launch more ships. A playerwho thirty colonized planets and fifty spaceships could conceivably make 225,000seperate decisions in the course of one turn.After those decisions he must also considerhis crucial diplomatic correspondence.Galaxy II was designed to be a game ofcomplex, subtle relationships and would havenever have been conceived if the massiveinformation processing capacity of the com­puter had not been available.

STARGUARD AvailableMcEwan Miniatures, 380 D St., Salt Lake

City UT 84103, offers a "tactical infantrycombat in the year 2250" game that saysyou'll like it if you liked Starship T roope'l"s,Falkenuurg's 42nd or Dorsaii. That's a loteven if it does only part of it. Rules are$3.50 and there are about 40 different typesof miniature figurines that can be bought·seperately. We'd appreciate comments ora review from those who've played it.

T RIPLANETARY AvailableGame Designer's Workshop, 203 North St.

Normal IL 61761, offers Triplanetary, atactical maneuver game of single space shipson a hex grid board. The vector movementsystem gives a lot of emphasis to shipcontrol and accounts for most of the actualpIa y decisions. We will have more on thisone later and invite fan comments or a re­iew. 1£ there is enough interest we'll offerthis one at a discount also.

ORIGINS 1 conventionThe Avalon Hill Co is sponsoring a nation­

al wargames convention. Info: TAHC 4517Hartford Rd., Balto. MD 21214. Those in thearea can find out all they want about histor­ical wargaming on this one. Avalon Hillwas the company that started the wholehobby in the fifities.

A HUGO FOR GAMES?The .1980 convention has been a land­

m.ark success in the phenom.onon knownas science fiction. A friendly awardsbanquet crowd applauds the bestowingof a new Hugo for the best sciencefiction gam.e of the year. In a briefspan of half a decade the hobby of ahandful of hardy am.ateurs has becom.ea viable, stim.ulating pastim.e for asizeable m.inority of fans. Sciencefiction has officially recognized gam.esas well as print and film. The futureoriented s-f experience becom.esprogressively m.ore vibrant as itas sumes a m.ulti-dim.ensiona1 .way oflife.

The sm.all band of s-f gam.ers whoalready enjoy space gaming can onlyhope that a Hugo is in the future. Tom.o st fans it's but whim.sy. While s-f:dream.s comm.only stay in drearn.landit's not an entirely im.probable futurescenario. Til recently s-f gam.ersnum.bered in the hundreds, a far cryfrom. the hundreds of thousands whobuy bestselling s-f paperbacks. AHugo for best swahili novel of the yearwould have seemed m.ore likely. But,there's always a chance and thatchance looks fantastically better nowthan ever before.

The first commercially successfuls-f theme gam.e, Starforce, has beenpublished by the m.ail order war gameschamp, Sim.ulation Publications, andhas been a best seller of theirs for anumber m.onths. This is a consider­able event when their clientele consistsof historical wargame buffs whogobble up 18 or m.ore new wargam.etitles a year from SPl • Avalon Hill,established marketer of boxed war­garnes, is rumoured to be corning outwith a game version of Robert Hein­leins's Sta r ship Trooper s whichshould make a real splash with s-ffans. When the two 'biggies' of war­gaming get into the act with s-f gam.es

12

and m.ake m.oney it means s -f gaming willget the wide distribution and prom.otionnecessary to build a base of customers.Even if fans get turned off by the 'conflict'nature of these gam.es the attention theyattract will insure a several years longsurge of new s-f gaming titles.

Just as with s-f literature or film it isthe commercial operations that will rna keor break the hobby. So far s-f gaming is anout growth of historical wargaming. The Twofirm.s mentioned above account for 950/0 ofthat m.arket and no doubt view their dabblingin s-f games as an extension of their wargames.The effort is worth it because Starforce madem.oney and s-f magazines are a sustainingmedia for advertising. Starforce, and nodoubt Starship Troopers when it appears,are basically wargam.es with a science fic­tional thematic environment. Games arecompetitive in nature and for these two firmsthe games are expected to have a noveltyappeal to their existing historical wargamecustom.ers. A game with appeal for history/war buffs that also attracts s-f fans couldpotentially outsell a popular wargame. Therewill be exceptions to the heavy conflict con­tent. SPl is planning to publish a game to becalled Sorcerer that could have a heavy fan­tasy content. Most recent news for the gameindicates it will have a strong com.b ativetheme but sufficient fantasy m.ay find its wayin to save it with fantasy fans.

How these initial games sell and satisfac­tion of s-f fans with them will largely deter­m.ine what happens after that. They will attracta lot of attemtion and the first ones are andshould continue to sell well. If the designersm.iss the m.ark in giving s-f fans a lot of funand the novelty value wears off for historicalwargam.ers then the 'mini' boom in s-f gameswill fold in a year or two. So, the prospectsfor a gam.e Hugo look real right now. If them.ajor firm.s m.ake money from. s-f games inthe next few years then the s-f experiencewill be perm.anenUy expanded. If money islost then the prospect fades and gaming willbe confinded to historical wargam.er s and amodest number of s-f game hobbyists.

Of crucial importance in all this is theintentions of the big firms. Their presentbread and butter profits come from his­torical wargamers. Starforce compelsAvalon Hill to come out with an s-fgame to be competitive. The choice ofa Heinlein novel for a basis is a happyone. But, chances are that both firmswill tend to view s-f games as a methodof attracting s-f fans to their wargamesrather than as a part of science fiction.Such a viewpoint isn't ideal for s -f fansbut it m.akes a reasonable lot of sense:for the wargame firms. By any estimatethe potential number of s-f garners willnever be but a fraction of the 40-60,000active wargamers. The s -f market isnot large enough by itself to support agame to the extent the big firms need.A s long as their wargame customers buyso many different wargame titles itmakes more sense to tie up capital inwargame design rather than s-f gamedesign. S-F games are only attractivefor them when they also appeal to war­garners. What it adds up to is that thebig firms most likely won't treat s-fgam.ers as a seperate market.For thems-f gam.es will be just a different themeof wargame.

Where do miniscule efforts like oursfit in the picture? So far as we knowwe are the only firm. to publicly commititself to s-f games as our sole activity.1£ science fiction games become anidentifiable sub-genre of s-f no one willbe happier than us. Our effort and goalis gam.es with s-f themes that are play­able and enjoyable not just because theyare somewhat like historical wargames.Almost by definition games are compet­itive and in that sense ours will be likewargarnes. However, a successful s-fgaming hobby will have a flavor andstyle all its own. What is great forhistorical wargames, in terms ofhobby enjoyment, isn't necessarily goingto turn-on s-f fans. Our approach ispart and parcel of the 'experimental'

13

nature of the first few issues of TSG. S-Fgaming will find its own style and enjoymentand when it does it will most likely be moreakin to science fiction fandom than wargam­ing. THE SPACE GAMER will be lookingfor that style and serve as a communicationforum for it.

"Hard" science fiction will be the startingpoint for our games because that's whereour interests and skills lie. Fantasy gam.eswill corne as designers with interestes inthat area come to the fore. We hope ourefforts have at least a small part in a Hugofor games. A Hugo will happen if game firmsgive enjoyment to s-f fans and the hobbygrows in its own way as a relation of sciencefiction. Our contribution can continue withthe level of response we've already experi­enced. Even if the big companies s-f games'mini' boom of the next few years flops we'llstill be around. So, stay tuned for a blow­by-blow account of a game Hugos chances.It seems possible now and should be pred­ictable in a year or two.

******SCIENCE FICTION GAME SURVEY

Anyone trying to get a feel for a newhobby needs a yard stick to measure what hefinds. A rating of s-f gam.es will give tnosewith nothing else to go on at least a generalfeel for how others react to specific games.Since preferences always vary you shouldalways gather your own information and forman individual opinion. Its the only sure wayof being satisfied.

The ratings we publish here are maintainedby Thomas Galloway, an amateur s-f gamedesigner of some repute. The rating includesthe games name, game time ill len~h ofhours to play, game time in turns to play,complexity index, physical quality of playcomponents, and an overall rating of howmuch the game was liked as a whole. Itshould be noted that too few ratings havebeen received so far for the scores to bestatistically significant. We have droppedthose games that had too few responses to'to have any meaning at all. Thomas is thedesigner of Space Huk and others.

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Survey results as of May 3, 1975Game Game Complexity Physical Overall

Game Name Turns Hours Rating Quality RatingGorgamella 29 6."35 7.35 8.71Dungeons 8< Dragons 31* 6* 7.83 8.11 8.56Space Huk (2nd) 24 7.33 7.50 8.50Stellar Conquest 29 6.5 7.26 7.58 8.304000 AD 28 2.8 3.75 9.25 8.20T riplanetary 15 4.5 5.77 8.27 7.70Lensman 35 9.4 7.98 6.86 7.61

II Helm's Deep 14 2.8 5.20 7.90 7.54Assassin 18 2.2 5.29 6.33 7.14Starforce 18 4.2 6.25 8.00 6.96Chainmail 20* 15* 7.25 6.86 6.86Space Huk (1st) 15 6.07 5.58 6.76Derch-Ach 11 .8 4.67 6.00 6.67Empire I 31 6 5.58 6.83 4.83Moonbase 14 5.00 5.00 4.752nd Galactic War 15 3.3 4.40 6.75 4.30Wayland Madness 13 .9 3.00 6.00 4.00Rigellian Wars 40 4.1 3.10 3.13 3.50

"Those items marked with asterisks indicate that the game rules or type of game doesnot lend itself well to set play times or that play limits are inappropriate. Most of theomitted answers apply to play-by-mail games where game hours is meaningless. Thelast three columns are based on a rating scale of from zero, lowest, to ten, highestrating. There are another thirty or so s-f games known to exist, mostly smaller ama­teur efforts. We will try to bring you information on most of those of any worth inlater issues.

We ask all to send in ratings for these games. In analyzing the results above we findseveral things that make no sense to us which is further proof that too few garners havesent in ratings for the results to be more than very vaguely meaningful. The bottomthree games will never have ratings higher than the top three but you can't say muchmore than that right now, so get cracking and send in your vote. Only in this fashioncan you get the yard stick needed for games.

Thomas is in the process of winding up his formal education so his address is up inthe air for the near future. Send your ratings to Thomas Galloway, c/o The Space GamerBox 15346, Austin, TX 78761 and we'll see that they are included in the next ratings. Be~ to include your name. This protects the survey from exploitation and allows youto change your vote later if your experience with the game changes your opinion.

We ask your advice and comments on these ratings. They should be expanded to includea few more variables, we think, and other things may need revising. At this time theratings are the property and effort of Thomas's but he'll need help with it in the futureas the nUTllber of responses grows. We'll be providing that help.

Don't underestimate the effect of ratings. They are the surest way garners have ofletting publishers know what they want, aside from buying a product and then findingout it wasn't what you'd been led to expect. If a game stinks give it that rating. If itsgood don't be niggardly in rating it high marks. This survey is your 'carrot and stick'over the hobby so use it and see what you want being 'published as a result.

A DIVERSIONT he sun and its attendent planets, one

a cloud flecked blue-green, swam im­perceptably through the dark. Tin ymotes of metal glint here and there asthe oi"lly evidence of sentient purpose.Suddenly, near the fertile world'ssmaller second moon a new swarm ofthose glinting motes began to jump intoexistence" The swarm broke into sev­eral thrusts and began a swift advanceinward down the gravity well toward thesmaller motes waiting in orbit. Energyscreens shimmered and sparked asopening showers of intelligent misslesclosed on target. The larger, morenumerous vessels of aggression pressedin, as if high losses were less impor­tant than potential advantage realized.Some of their number vanished to themissles and more to the ravening dam­age of energy pattern bases on theinner moon. The smaller fleet came tomeet rather than wait and be crushedin the narrowed mobility of nearplanet high gravity. Only the movementof ships and shimmer of defensescreens gave knowledge that this wasa clash of death rather than celestialballet.

Quickly, quickly the scarred battle­cruisers of attack drew closer, untilthe range of their projectors couldshower destruction on surface bases.The blocking fleet gave way in rapidlydiminishing nUITlbers, their frailability no match for the larger strikeforce. The Kledge Combine seemedvictorious in cunning suprise. A keydefensive position and prime worldabout to fall and with it a carefullybuilt position of strength, so crucialwas its value and unexpected itsassualt. The Kledge had paid a pricein scarce support craft, but its allvaluable heavy strike squadron wasstill intact. Repairs would be needed buttheir loss was less than would have been

IS

willingly given to win this battle.A thousand mile diameter area on the

southern continent had been cleared ofmajor operable defenses. Surface assualtcarriers began discharging air fighters intothe upper reaches of atmosphere with cover­age from frigates and escort class supports.Powered Infantry transports internally weretense readiness as drop capsules waited forrelease. The Combine was working swiftlyand well with its last reserve of experiencedforces in a classic, rapid surface assualt.It would be a badly needed victory and thatvictory was perceptibly theirs as the firstPI capsules began disgorging veterans onplanets surface.

Perceptible, but not actual, as a gambledtrap closed. As yet unused ground defensesopened fire on the waves of assualt capsules"A newer flicker of motes leapt to existencenear the inner moon, already at combatacceleration" And, on that moon itself theprojectors recently believed wasted shotout new beams of raw molecular energy..The Unity had used its painfully accruedadvantage to lay, and spring, a trap for thenucleus of effective opposition. Without •that hope giving nucleus the Kledge Combinelost whatever chances time and luck mightbring their way in the near future. TheUnity's hegemony would be complete withonly mopping up in the months ahead. Thepinned force tried vainly to flee the conflictintact to fight another day but the reversalwas too complete, the trap too deep and"strong. The last most of the Combine shipssaw was the previously damaged Warp Fort,Xenophon, bearing slowly down, sprayingspace Itime distortion in every direction.Only scattered, shattered remnants left thesystem pell-mell into the void for unchart­ered regions beyond the Unity's interest.The Kledge cast of the die had failed in abrilliant snare and all was lost.

Eldon Tannish slumped at his terminal,totally drained. That last assualt almostgot him as his depleted Resource Indices

tnutely attested on his printout. But,Eldon's coldly spliced logic and angeredflair for vicious counter attack hadtutnbled a tnost dangerous opposingalliance. Review analysis undoubtedlywould reveal weakness in his play but hisgatne would alsO would also add to hisrising repute as one of the youngestlikely Masters in years. Pressure playwas his tnost rapidly itnproving assetas a gro';"'ing nutnber of losers couldattest.

The control cubicle:.clock showed thelast confrontation sequence had used upaltnost the full eight hour gatne allottnent.Thankfully his opponents had resignedtheir hopeless position rather thanplay out the last, exhausting tninutes.Gatnes ended before titne only by un­anitnous ~onsent and Eldon had beenwell willing to let thetn have a slightlyhigher' ending score than they couldhave tnaintained for the full eight hours.No need to build blood enetnies forf"ture gatnes and his position, whiledotninant, did have weaknesses thattnight be stutnbled on by accident.Unlikely, but itnpossible with a consentending. Better to accept a tnost satis­fying victory now with no extra-gatneprobletns to haunt hitn later in thetournetnent.

It was only Eldon's second annualNOReON tneet as a ranked player andstill early going So he needed to save forlater. He rose frotn his seat and tnovedoutside the soundproof chatnber in astudied calUl. Gatne time was for gam­ing and practice for practice but the tnoredurable Masters knew to wash it fromthe mind for reasonable intervals or faceinsanity. Eldon was still learning andlearning well what it would take to play

, the gatne into his tniddle years. Heloved the intense experience of cotnpet­itive play and would do everything in hispower to retain status ranking as long aspossible. And, all consuming insanitywas one of the quickest ways out. Not

16

that insanity was cause for loss of rankingbut an untended neurosis was an inevitableprelude to ditninished judgetnental capacity.The Game wasn't like the old chess wherean unstable genius, and there had been tnany,

, could win almost as an outgrowth of possessedconcentration. The Gatne was 'a Ululti-playerevent and an unstable player couldn't longhandle the requiretnents of diplotnacy andcotnprotnise under pressure. A tnentally un­controlled player was an unreliable ally andpositive danger to hitnself, best elitninatedas soon as possible. Early elitninationsrapidly destroyed a player's ranking in a'what have you done lately' ranking schetne.

A trickle of other gamers were tnovingfrotn their gatne cubicles, their gatnes alsohaving ended early. Eldon tnoved to the exitof the gatning area and turned to wait for Alba.She had been one of the six others in the gamewith Eldon and one of histnajor antagonists,this time anyway, in the alliance had nearlybroken hitn at the end. More wotnen like Albawere joining and cotnpeting strongly in theGatne and Alba was one of the better rankednovices. More wotnen in the games was givingthetn a different flavor. But, the gatne wasalway,s evolving which sotne of the old gamersseetned to ignore.

"Good gatne, " Eldon greeted."You'd think so anyway," retorted Alba as

she approached. "If those other idiots hadn'twanted to quit I'd have cut your margin lotsin the Phoenix Pritne sector. You weren'tnearly as strong as they thought."

"That's what the results will show anyway,Alba, " Eldon replied turning to walk with her."It wasn't easy to figure but 1 was stretchedthin. Of course, an accotnplished gamer willget the tnost from the position," he added witha gleatn.

"Insufferable tnale pig," snorted Alba turningon her heel.

Eldon pleasurably watched her retreatingbackside. Wotnen in gaming were a probletnin terms of their variant styles, but theirstyle, as with men's, had inherent disadvan­tages if you knew how to use it. SotnetitnesAlba got hitn and he stuck it back whenever

he could to maintain any personaladvantage possible.

Eldon tnoved slowly down the broad halloutside the cubicles area toward theplayers lounge. The huge public arenahadn't started to empty yet and he couldjust beat a rush of twenty thousand spec­tators. As Eldon entered he noted thehuge central display had begun recapsof early finished games. He selected aprivate lounger with a good view to seehow he'd come out. Sipping a coolSynthaHl he noted with satisfaction a31% score for the game he'd won. Anunusually high score when starting pos­ition, strength of opponents, and prob­able finish all counted. The gatne had onlyseven players, one more than minimum,giving hitn maximum opportunity toexercise his loner's style. Odds weremost against him in ten to twelve playerbrawls where compromise and diplomacywere an over shadowing must. Albahad gotten excellent coordination/cohesion scores for her seminal role inleading the group that nearly got him.His victory this time would make itharder to be the loner so completelywhen facing any of the losers again.Since the expected score in a sevenplayer game was a little over 140/0 his31% was sure to up his average signif­icantly.

"Good game, II greeted Basil Samiv."Best you hold back a bit or your goingto be a mark for the Masters. Thoseguys will go out of their way to burn ahotshot. "

"We humble ranked novices just doour best and take blind luck when we getit," Eldon returned. "I'll have a hardenough time with the cotnputer giving mesituations I'm weakest in as it is. 1 bet1 won't get less than a nine player gamefor the rest of the tournement."

llHope so, II said Samiv amiably, "welike to see prodigies lump it, helps myaging novice ego." Samiv had nevermoved up from Ranked Novice class, it

17

was true, but he was capable of playingtwo levels above himself in occasionalflashes of brilliance. He'd never concen­trated his efforts sufficiep.tly to pertnan­ently improve his game since career andfamily entered his equations. Eldon hopedto make a living from the Game and neverhave to be a grub employee as were manyserni-permanent novices ..

"Bet you score gets a two minute run downon the Rec Network tonight," observedSamiv.

Eldon did too but feigned modesty withfair conviction. Samiv drifted on and wasobviously going to be a bit weak in themorning. Eldon always took it easy eventhough the synthetic drugs and alcoholweren't that bad on the mind unless done incontinual excess"

A monitor was waiting to hand him amessage plug as looked up. Tomorrow'sgame already! Eldon inserted the plug inhis ear and waited for it to security checkhis skull Ident implant. He made no ,notes,such things were sometimes lost or stolen,all fair game so long as no personal orproperty damage resulted. The plug wasfoolproof since it would only work for nimand the organic code would soup if it gota wrong ident check.

Eldon's suspicions were confirmed.Eleven players in a limited resource, rapiddevelopment scenario. The player indexaverage was one forty! That was an awfullylarge, high powered group for only thirdround. It was almost like a semi-finalmatch last year. Most of the players wereknown to Eldon which meant the computerhad tagged him as needing stiffer compe­tition. He must actually have a chance offinishing with the first echelon playersfor the whole tournement ! There had beentalk that this year's Garnes would be thebest in ten years and his next game line-upwas an almost absolute confirmation.

As Eldon played through the messagegame specs again he also watched therecaps. An original field of 1300 had beencut to under 200 and only half those would

A STELLAR CONQUESTSTRATEGY

Those new to games like SC have a hardtime of it until a few attempts are undertheir belts. A side from that there are fewsociety level games around. It's quite achange from. the usual diet of historicalwargamers. A winning strategy is morecomplex to plan and execute with a multi­plicity of factors to balance. Most war­games are battlefield commander gameslimited to tactical movement and arrange­ment of military forces. Society levelgames require broader skills that consid­er economics, resources, population,and technology as well as military dec­isions. These wider skills mean winningcan be achieved by a variety of methodsthat may be beyond the tactical geniusthough he's still a formidable foe.

It's risky for designers to suggeststrategies. In this case it's sure to make

18

be left after the morrow's game. Second my B- player status stick. The strategyround ended qualifying for those without suggested here has so far held its own inpermanent ranking from last year. Of a variety of situations. It's conservative,that 200 only fifty hadn't made second round snit ed for those who aren't yet SC champs.cut last year. Eldon just missed it last capable of manipulating the game's fullesttime but was now one of the few remaining nuances. It will keep you in the game longof almost a quarter million initial local enough to learn and have you in a positionentrants. Most weren't good but it was to be dangerous in the later going if othersatisfying to know he'd make money this players take you for granted.year and become something of a celevrity A good strategy uses your strengths andif he could survive two more games. That exploits opponents weaknesses while main-bothered him since the Game specs only taining a flexibility of options. That maygave him a 37% chance of making his 9% sound a bit Greek but it means you shouldscore for tomorrows match. He pocketed select a developmental and military strategythe plug for review later and rose to suited to you and that allows for the abilitiesmake his way to the Pleasure quarters and actions of opponents. Each game shouldwhich were superb even for New Lavegas. playa bit differently to avoid becomingThe turn of events warranted diffusing predictable, hence vulnerable. The basichis thoughts for tonight of he'd be unable elements determining your strategy areto function from anxiety. A bit of silly limited intelligence, multiple factors,juice and some professionally boistrous random exploration results, and opponents.companionship for the night would do the The game moves through three phasesh"ick. "If it does good feel it, II the that do blend into each other. Explorationsaying went. Prudery and guilt of self is first and should have the goal of locatinghad demised long before Eldon's birth. Terran type planets for colonies. Put most

---to be continued --- of your population into one colony to serveas a strong base. But, don't make thatcolony close to opponents. You will needliT almost immediately and should get 3MAto give added exploration and defensivemobility. Resources found in your quadrantpretty much dictate development. Two 0 rmore Terran planet colonies close togetherfacilitate defense and mutual emigration ofcolonists from one to the other. A coloniz­able NM planet in conjunction with a Terranplanet makes an excellent industrial base toexploit fairly early. Rember, an IU needsfour years to pay for itself on a non-NMplanet but only two production years on anNM planet. Build industry early and rapidlyon non-NM planets or they won't have timeto pay for themselves. The victory condi­tions are territorial but that doesn't meanyou should spread all over the map. Asingle ship is sufficient to control a systemfor victory points at end game when it doescount. Keep your population together in big

enough colonies to be useable. You cannever build Dreadnaughts if you don'thave a colony with forty industrialunits. Your early goal is to buiH aslarge an industrial base as possible tosupport the war phase that comes later.You may get wa~s as early as productionyear four or five so have some defensesto protect against the player who decidesto conquer an industrial base. A playerwho goes to war early runs risks, buthe can be a real danger. His early pro­duction went into warships so he won'thave the industry for a sustained effort.He depends on taking your colonies andusing their production to make hisconquests good. He must come into yourterritory far from his base. Use thisto your advantage. A small strike forcecan keep him off balance threatening .!!!!..home planets. The early aggressorthreatens moves deeper into your areaso you must be prepared to defend. But,he can't know your strenght or boldness.An attack toward his home systems maybe a full fleet or single Escort. he can'tbe sure. A counter threat delays hisreinforcements as they hold to assessyour strike. Since the early warriorwon't get production from conqueredcolonies until the second productionyear of conquest delayed reinforcecmentsleave him open to your rebuilt fleet.

You'll always be torn between buildingindustry or war material. You'll neverbe strong enough to meet all threats butyour opponents aren't either so don't letit paralyze actions. Bluff and threatento the maximum. Convince opponentsyour main strength is always againstthem. I wish there was better advice onhow to handle the game as it movesthrough exploration, build-up, and warphases. There's no way through the con­fusing fog t>ut playing good opponentsto build skili and understanding.

About the only rule of thumb is a postmortem on what happened. If you lost

19

territory by being in the wrong place atthe wrong time or by being outmanned whenyou got there odds are you're being outsmarted. If most of your victories comewithout much battle or seem to fall in yourlap then you've got the edge. Despite whatwas said earlier about the strategic em­phasis of SC's design tactics, in terms ofbluff and psyching, are crucial determin­ants in specific battles. Being a masterbuilder with the most industry doesn't saveyou from losing if you don't read threatsearly enough to meet them with sufficientforce.

COMING. NEXT ISSUE

*More pages next time*A suprising turn in the 'tale s of

Tannish'*Star Probe commentary and

review*A preview of THE YTHRI* More SC variants and, a dis­

cussion of why Robotic IU's andPlanet Force Screens AREN'Tultimate weapons.

*Letters and articles from you*An updated games survey*An outrage from the editor*New games, wantads. and more

we aren't sure of yetIt'll be mailed in late Augustso don't delay on that subscrip_tion.

DON'T MISS IT !Six issues only $3 thru 1975

mETA6Amln6 COnCEPTSBox 15346Austin, Texas 78761