RE: [VANILLA-LIST:3228] ping

[ronbarry@es.com]

> > The logical problem with LPS is that it makes no sense
> > that a race with 1/19th the planets of another would be
> > able to fend off that enemy for an extended period. 
> 
> Actually, it makes perfect sense.  There are dozens of examples from
> wars throughout history.  The farther you are from home, the harder it
> is to maintain your supply lines and the more it costs to attack.

I'm afraid I look at this from a siege point of view.  I agree that
it makes sense to an extent for there to be a home field advantage,
but if the invaders have enough time that they could start their own
support system on what used to be your home turf, the resupply cost
becomes negligible.

What you were saying about expense is covered as part of my plan, 
in a way.  Let me give a short intro to the 'mining shuttle' idea.

A mass driver is in essence a huge rail gun.  You load a projectile
on it, fire it off at 15miles/sec.  One way that has been discussed
for mining asteroids is to land a mass driver on a rock, have it
point away from earth, and keep loading it with pieces of asteroid.
You consume a bit of your raw materials, but it is cheap in the
long run.

I want to apply this principle to the materials coming in from the
outer planets.  It has many advantages.  You set it up so that a
'shuttle' coming from the farthest reaches of the galaxy gives you
only about 10% of a 'full' shuttle, and you never get half as much
out of your enemies' planets as they did.

Second, they can be diverted.  Just like scout bombing causes your
enemy to expend resources chasing nasty mosquitoes around the
galaxy, you can have ships redirecting your enemies' resources to
your own home planet - stealing their production and crippling
them.  This way, even at lps, if you have clue, you're not sunk.

Shuttles would have to take some time to re-aim so it isn't a no-
brainer, like bombing 5 armies in an AS, but when you see an enemy
flying from your best producer to your home planet at warp 2, you
have time to be suspicious.

> > Most of the stuff I've toyed with falls along the line of
> > restricting the capabilities of your ship based upon the
> > number and quality of planets your team holds at the time.
> 
> This is a FOCS.
> Fool around with it if you want, but it won't make a better game.

FOCS?

Several years ago, I might have agreed.  The problem is that 
where we used to have a pretty big following, we are really
trailing off.  At this point maybe what makes the game better
is just whatever the hell gets people playing.

We need to hold a publicity stunt of some sort.  'beat our
team and win $100' or something.  Shouldn't be too hard to
get sponsors in the form of advertising.  Might spark
interest again.

	rOn