Ogame - Day 1

Just for the record's sake, at the end of the first 24 hour period of my Ogame (Universe 31) I have the following buildings at the given level of development:

Metal Mine: 7
Crystal Mine: 4
Dueterium Synthesizer: 3
Solar Plant: 6
Robotics Factory: 1

Rank: 4571
Points: 6

On reflection, the Robotics Factory was probably a mistake this early.

Bored barrister has fun!

Entrepeneur magazine has published this article about a board game store owner. I've known a few stores that sell games to close over the years. This is devestating if they are the ony such store within hundreds of miles (as will often be the case in regional australia).

I also find it amusing that here's a live example of a couple lawyers turning their lives over to the power which traditional gaming still has to entertain. Inspirational!

Again, thanks to Yehuda of Jersualem Games for the Link.

MMPORG Resources

This post will be another work-in-progress collection of handy links, accessible from the side bar.

THIS IS PRIMARILY NOW A HISTORICAL COLLECTION OF BUSTED LINKS
edit - Feb 2010

Guild Wars

Guild Wars Portal Official Stuff

Mount & Blade

Mount & Blade download the client and play

O Game

Ogame site - sign up and play
FAQ Beginner index forum page #1 helpful discourses
FAQ Beginner index forum page #2 helpful discourses
Speed Sim combat simulator

Renaissance Kingdoms (RK)

RK site - sign up and play
Whithorn Forum Town news politics gossip and cartoons (seriously!)
Rules Official (pdf file)
LFA's Economics Tutorial Forum post containing handy links
Legal Corpus Constitution and laws of County Galloway and the Town of Withorn
Hypno's Guide Index to the most important game guides on the forums
Map of England and Scotland Baiboe's map from the forum
CBox on MacTavish Blog admin and stuff
Online Image Editor So you don't have to go offline!

Last edited 19 Oct 2007

Blog Index

Beneath is a list of the categories ('tags') I have used to index my blog. Click on the link to display all posts with that tag. This list is a work in progress and will be updated accordingly. I will put a link to this post on my sidebar to the left.

Anthropology
Computer Games
East Front II

Eurogames
Game Sessions
Gaming

IL 2 Sturmovik
Medieval Diplomacy
Miniatures
Modeling
My Gaming History

Off Topic
Ogame
Online
Painting

Real Life
Rennaisance Kingdoms
Review
Rome
Sport

Tech
Terrain
Tribal Nations

Online Campaigns

Having so much enjoyed the online dimension of my favorite WWII flight simulator, IL 46, I have finally dipped into the world of serious MMPORGS (mega multi player organised rampaging gaming scenarios).

I have joined two games, Rennaissance Kingdoms (medieval role play) and Ogame (space empire building). They both allow one to join and play for free, although both offer further advantages to players who contribute real dosh to the moderators. As I don't like paying for anything online (the internet wants to be free!), we'll see how it goes.

In honour of the occassion I have created a new collection of links on the sidebar to the left. I will now have to think a bit about my 'category' tags for my posts as, till now, I have been using 'online' as a tag for my flight sims only.

Ogame: My friend, Robbo, put me onto this game. He has been playing it for many many months now. It is a huge intergalactic strategic empire building game, subdivided into a number of 'universes'. Each universe is a discreet game, composed of thousands of players partaking in the struggle for supremacy. It is run from germany, I think, and has a huge following of german players.

I have just started my tilt at the iridium throne and at am present busy developing the planet Aardv Ark to the point where it can build space ships and reach for the stars. Aardv Aark is a fairly innocious planet, the tenth in System 494 in Universe 31. At present I am juggling the development of Metal and crystal mines, deuterium ('deut') production facilities and solar power plants. The accumulation of resources happens slowly over 'realtime', and one can only build or upgrade one facility at a time.

To build anything but basic production facilities (eg level 1 metal mine, basic research facilities) requires you to have built certain other buildings first. At the moment I don't have to worry about that too much, as the only requirement I have for all buildings of immediate interest is the accumulation of sufficient metal, crystals and deut. So I'm presently operating at a fairly base level of resource production and accumulation. There's a world of scientific advances, space travel, intestellar trade and combat and the intercinine politics of alliances and war to navigate in the future. I'll let you know how it goes.

Rennaissance Kingdoms: I came across this whilst surfing, on my second wave of search results into the shores of realtime reality. I've always been interested in medieval and rennaissance history, and I've been a role play gameer for decades. In my rpgs, I've had a particular intertest in low level adventures and adventurers, and the mundanities of my characters' everyday lives. If you take the 'tour' fromthe homepage I've provided a link for, you can see why it is , therefore that I was drawn to give this particular game a go.

This game originates in france and, although not as big as Ogame, still seems to always have at least several hundred players online at any particualar time. It is a bit more commerically oriented I suspect, but we will see how it goes.

For the moment, I am a loinclothed Scottish lad working for my keep in the mines near the new village of Whithorn in the County of Galloway. The only noteable I have ever seen is a candidate for the village mayorship who always seems to be in the tavern where I go with my uncouth accent to purchase bread. My present goals are to earn enough to stay well fed, become properly clothed, seek absolution and venture forth towards the distant centre of civilisation (I am thinking Edinburgh).

IL46: I have flown about five more sorties in the last two nights (realtime). All have occurred in daylight. All ended in grief as I wheeled once too often for one too many attacking dives against targets against which I'd not cleaned up efficiently on my previous runs. In all of them I sustained too much damage from AA fire to do anything but crash. Only twice did I manage to safely bail out (albeit, into captivity). My next step advance in this game will be psychological, knowing when to say 'enough is enough'.

Genova at Night

General Situation: The front has continued to advance in the allies favour to the west of Palermo, on the south coast of Bay of Naples. The allies have captured Monte Cassino.

My squadron of P38s has moved to the southern airstrip on the island of sicily (?). Its first mission is to locate and destroy reported vehicle concentration to the immediate west of the port city of Genoa. The airfields near Naples are a reserve target, in case for some reason we can't find the first.

Genova: I take off on a solo run a couple hours before midnight (server time, that is, (it's late afternoon in realtime)). The silver light of the moon adds a porcelain sheen to the mediteranean ocean, and there is still a faint mustard coloured glow on the western horizon. The diffusion of gold and silver lights in the cloud layers betwen green mountains is beauftiful.

Laden with a dozen rockets, I climb to altitude of 11000 feet for the crossing of the ocean. I am thus able to see the coast from a long way away, orienting myself by the distant docks of Genova. Descending at first to about 6000 feet, I quarter the area in which was reported the enemy trucks. Not seeing them, I descendto 1000 feet and repeat the exercise. The broken clouds above seem to loom threatingly over the hills and mountains, creating dangerous hazards in the diffuse light caused by the hazy conditions. Wind and rain buffet the plane a bit, together with the everpresent black puffs of AA fire, making my fruitless search moderately hazardous.

I lose my orientation once, and have to sudenly pull out of an unintended dive through blinding clouds, only several hundred feet above a rocky mountain ridge rushing towards me out of the haze. I decide to abandon this target. I gather my bearings and head off towards my secondary target, further round the bay, at an altitude of about 4000 feet.

Naples: Seeing Naples from maybe ten miles away, I swoop over it at about 400 mph, looking for any likely ground targets. Not seeing any in the gloom, I bank up and dive towards where my map tells me an enemy airstrip is. Sure enough, I am greeted by small caliber AA fire as I pull my plane's nose around the last few degrees in its diving flight, pushing well over 400 mph as I peer through my gunsight for the telltale flashes of the AA guns. I see it as a useful duty I can do my allied comrades if I take out AA obstacles to their daylight bombing runs. I get to learn to fly my plane at low altitudes, they get a safer run in on their targets.

In this instance I could see the flashes of maybe four separate AA emplacements, clustered around one end of the airfield complex. As I choose one to be my target I notice that there are quite a few undamaged aircraft sheds nearby, and quite a few camoflaged dispersal bays scattered around. In my brief glimpse away from the AA gun in my sights I don't, however, notice any enemy planes on the ground.

I unleash three pairs of 4.5" rockets, about half a second apart, as I swoop over the target gun. One of the last pair of rockets has a direct hit on the emplacement, destroying it in a bright fireball just as I fly over. I am minorly buffetted by the explosion, but suffer no damage. The other nearby guns are meanwhile pouring fire in my direction. I take several hits in my fuel tanks, causing a leak, but the plane is otherwise untouched.

I fly north for about half a minute, steadying both my plane and my nerves, before looping upwards into a diving attack run on another of the gun emplacements. Selecting my target from a distance, I am again buffetted by nearby AA bursts as I approach at 400mph. Again, I unleash six rockets. This time the middle pair of rockets hit.

I immediately start a climbing course for home, kicking my rudder as I go to make me a harder target. I am uncomfortably near Naples. A lot of shells from heavy AA guns explode around me. I am maybe a couple miles out over the Bay, just starting to think I might be able to get my way home, when one of the larger shells gets lucky.

All of a sudden the plane starts a steep dive towards the left, almost immediately commencing to rapidly spin. I have about a second to check if any of my controls work. They don't. Making a snap decision, I hit the eject button.

Falling out my cockpit I have a glimpse of the damage suffered by my plane, most noticably by my left wing. Half of it is missing. Less than a minute later I watch my plane crash into the ocean beneath.

I float down beneath the silence of my parachute canopy. The guns are quiet. I survive the dip in the ocean and am captured. Total time, about 35 min.

Duel with Heinz

Two missions. Daylight. Clear. High scattered clouds. Flying a P38 'Lightning' with rockets on seek/destroy ground attack missions over Italy.

Morning: Skies to myself. Flew up to about 8000 feet over Bay of Naples on direct route to what is reported as an active enemy airfield a few miles east of Limone. Spot it from far away, enter controlled descent to attack run. Airfield appears pretty well wrecked by previous raids against it by others. I fly towards largest group of enemy plane silhouettes, and unload all twelve rockets over it in one attack run. Do a hammerhead turn nearby, returning with to strafe with cannons as i head south towards home. Throughout, notice several AA explosions in the sky, none of them near enough my looping diving plane to cause any worry. I fly a beeline to Palermo, use that as a IP for final turn into descent towards home base in long approach glide. Land in regulation fashion. Mission over in less than half an hour.

Early Afternoon: After checking the squadron notice board I observe that the enemy is destroying more ground targets than we are. So I decide to fly back to Venosa to try my luck again at finding the alleged vehicular targets in the vicinity. After a fairly thorough but frutitless search of the area, I enter a long climbing turn towards Limone.

As I do so I am sent a report of Enemy bomber heading off from either Naples of Milan, heading South. I know that I won't be able to intercept it before it strikes its target, but I might be able to catch it on its return journey if I am canny. I set up a patrol across what I believe will be its return route, flying large circles around an island out of AA range of Naples, covering the seaward approaches of the bomber to its base.

Within five minutes my plan pays off. In the distance I can just make out the black speck of the enemy plane as it returns from its mission. I am flying at maybe 6000 feet (above clouds), roughly level with the enemy. As he approaches, I climb and fly on a course that will bring me onto his tail. I come in from a highish angle, opening fire at a couple hundred metres. Streams of tracer pour out of his tail gun. One of his shells causes a minor fuel leak in my plane. I don't think I hit him.

He continues towards his base. I loop around and try again, braving the fire of his tail gunner. This causes me some more structural damage. Angered at this, I unleash six rockets in his direction, again from about 200-300 metres. They all miss. Taking hits all the time, I close on his rear, pouring MG and cannon fire into his right wing area. And see debris fly off but no smoke. I loop around for another attack run, noting that my fuel leak has grown worse. I am now pouring out a trail of fuel vapour, making me easily visible against the white clouds. I note he is diving away for cloud cover, so I pursue.

Spotting him a couple kilometres away and a thousand feet below, I try for a boom and zoom attack, diving beneath him and pulling up into his belly. Realising what I am upto, the German pilot slips down and into my turn, as I pull up beneath, exposing me to another of his gunners. More hits in my fuel tanks. Some minor damage to him.

I am considering whether to call it quits at this time and head for home while I still have some fuel and altitude (I am still 50 miles over enemy territory) when my plane decides for me. My right engine starts making terrible grating noises. I decide to try and get home.

I peel off from my present attack run and set course for home. Curious, I look behind. There in the distance is my friend Heinz, following me from a safe distance. I am wondering why he doesn't either attack me or fly home when my right engine gives up entirely. I am now flying on one engine.

Throttling down, I take my bearings on the coast and divide my concentration between making an approach run for home and where Heinz is. He seems to be content hovering a few hundred feet above, about half a mile behind. So, nursing my sole straining engine, I enter approach run towards runway.

I have committed myself for a landing and am only a couple dozen feet off the ground when I hear Heinz fly directly over me. Looking up, I watch him pull up his nose so that his tail gunner can hose me with fire. In dodging out from his bullets I lose my alignment with the ground and am forced to retract my undercarriage and pour on the throttle. Thinking 'bugger it,' I start climbing towards his own lumbering machine.

Sadly, I forgot that I had slowed right down to land, and thus find my airspeed less than is needed. Stalling my plane at only a couple hundred feet above the ground, I lose control and crash my machine with fatal results. It is cold comfort that Heinz crashes a couple minutes later, victim of a late arriving spitfire. This mission took about an hour to fly.

Remember Zork? Then look at this!

Zork was one of the first computer 'adventure games'. It was text based, with simple geometric graphics of landscape (if my memory serves me right, though that might have been another game called 'Adventure'). It was played on the old green screen CRT. A combination of mapping issues, tricks, puzzles, riddles and such like problems, it was great fun and highly addictive.

It looks like it has generated a minor academic history (as I guess does the early days of personal computing generally). Here, for example, is a recent accademic paper on it. It's a guide to caves upon which the game's map was based. I haven't read it all, but the pictures are amazing!

Thanks to Yehuda for the link.

Lightning tour - Venosa and Limone (long post)

I flew only one long sortie tonight, about an hour and a half in a P38 lightning, loaded up with a dozen wing mounted rockets. Server time was early arvo, bright sun but hazy and turbulent beneath the scattered clouds at 1500 m. There were no other pilots online over Italy.

I took off from my squadron's base at Tripadi. The spitfires formerly also based here have moved North to near Mesina, a small coastal village twenty miles to the east of Palermo harbour. The front line has moved since last I flew over Italy. Then, there had been german fighters based at Mesina. I suspect they are now based near Limone. This is the Dynamic Campaign Generator at work.

Venosa: Having visited recent pilot logs (available on server) I knew that the red team (allies) hadn't hit many ground targets on the current map. So I obtained a list of target locations and flew towards the nearest - reported transport assets near the village of Venosa, a few miles inland of the the Bay of Naples' most easterly coast.

I used roads, railways and the occasional village to check on my navigation. Took awhile, the patchwork of fields beneath often serving to conceal the landmarks I was looking for. Eventually I located the target area, in a pass between coastal range and the high barren mountains which form Italy's spine.

Circling in at about 1800 feet, I knew there was opposition because there was the occasional burst of heavy AA guns nearby. I, however, couldn't see either the gun(s) or what it/they were protecting. Beneath me was a gentle rural scene, with a small village (Venosa) and many fields. I had about a 10 sqare mile area in which the target was supposedly located. I quartered the valley looking for my prey. To no avail.

On about my third pass over the village, nestled into the western slopes of the coastal range, I spotted what I thought looked like an 88mm AA gun set up near what looked like a school. I loosed off two pairs of rockets from under my wings on my fourth pass. Missing the gun, I rubbled the buildings to either side. Shame,' I thought to myself, and immediately began calculating my next attack run. I realised then how 'disconnected' an act is that of bombing from the air. On my fifth pass I destroyed the gun.

By this time, there was a growing amount of AA bursts and tracer filling the sky around. I made one more diving pass, failing again to spot any targets despite their firing at me. This area was too hot for me now, so I left. Maybe I'll return some day. Waving farewell to Venosa, I flew towards the bay to my west.

Limone: Following the coastline at maybe 2000 feet, its sandy beaches curving towards the Northwest, I observed the occasional village or river mouth pass beneath. Checking these against my map, I eventually turned out over the bay to prepare for an attack run on the port city of Limone.

I still had half my load of rockets. As a secondary target, if necessary, I knew there was a german airstrip to the north of the city. I suspected that Limones might be heavily defended, so I didn't plan to tarry as long as I had over Venosa.

I came in over the ocean at something around 350 mph at 500 feet, finding it relatively easy to study the harbour facilities and look for likely targets. I couldn't see any ships in harbour. Before long, the odd black burst of AA exploded nearby. I watched them impassively, clinically realising that if one hit me that would be my end, and even a close miss would probably irretrievably damage my plane, miles over hostile territory.

I sighted the flash of one of the heavy AA guns by its muzzle flash. It was almost at harbour edge. It looked like its landward aspect was concealed by the large industrial complex behind it.

I sent four rockets into the industrial backdrop, causing a satisfying explosion as I swooped over the still firing gun at high speed. Rubble from the factory was still in the air around as I jinked my plane (to make me a difficult shot to the AA) towards the secondary target.

A couple minutes later I swooped low over the airfield, identifying no assets worth my final rocket munitions. The field appeared abandoned. So I gained a bit of altiuted in a climbing turn back towards Limone. I reached about 2000 feet as I brought my nose onto a bearing towards the 88mm at the distant wharf.

I dived in at high speed, loosing my rockets whilst still at a 45 degree angle to target. I had a clear shot because the factory was no longer shielding the gun from this landward direction. I was bang on target, and was already pouring on the the power in a steep turning climb to get me away from the harbour and on course for home when my rockets destroyed the gun and all around.

I noted that my plane had been more stable aerodynamically at high speed close to sea level than it had been thousands of feet up. But that accords with what I know of compressibility, as the speed of sound is greater at sea level than at altitude (due the greater density of air). Big tick to the Flight Model of IL46.

The return journey over the sea was uneventful. I crossed the south coast of the bay to the west of Palermo, where I had planned, and was able to come in for a three point landing on my initial approach. I switched my engines off about an hour and a half after I'd turned them on.

Over Italy with an Italian

My Polish squadron having transferred from Scotland to Traperi in Southern Italy, I have been enjoying the sunny climes of the mediterranean skies recently. Tonight I flew a P38 lightning, and several spitfires. Not a lot of success with either.

Lightnings are difficult planes to fly. They are also, in their own way, a pleasure. These are the allied heavy fighters which had a twin engine setup, with the pilot inbetween in a fusealge which rests upon the single big wing. There is a twin tail type configuration also. Perhaps I need to get a photo of it? Anyway...

I've been reading a book about the history of this type of plane. It speaks of an early problem which earned it the reputation of being a 'pilot killer'. The problem is called compressibility, and it occurs in very high speed dives. Apparently, some of the air flowing over the flight surfaces cracks the sound barrier (though the plane never does), creating situation where airflow over the wings alters in its characteristics with a consequent almost total loss of lift. Thus the plane goes down. At same time, the consequent effect of the altered airflow over wings leads to almost total loss of tailplane (elevator). Thus one can't pull out of the dive.

I'd wondered whether compressibility was simulated in IL 46. I learnt that it is. Long steep dive into a vertical meeting with the ground was the result. At least there was Adzel in the air nearby in a Machi fighter to get a laugh out of it.

Flight two and three were in spitfires. Adzel shot out my controls on the second mission. I was able to bail out just before my left wing broke off. I watched the wreckage plummet to the earth beneath.

Flight three was an attempted tutorial with Adzel in a spit also, him trying to get me to fly formation. No chance, I'm only just getting to the stage where I can learn basic maneuvers, and probably need to put a bit of effort into learning to see the skies around a lot better. I seem to be losing other planes visually too often for comfort. I put the plane into a pancake landing before exiting.

Farewell Norway

I flew three flights over Norwegian seas yesterday afternoon. 'Taj' (Tajfl, actually, but I just call him 'Taj') from Slovenia was airborne in a german fighter. So I had some real opposition as I flew my beaufighter in from the sunset and declining light of dusk towards whatever naval targets were available. Realising my crate would be no match for Taj's FW190, I resolved to keep my eyes peeled for him and try and stay invisible.

Sunset: I took off in the last fiery rays of the sun, setting over the Scottish landmass. I headed into hotile waters at under 200 feet in clear skies, hoping to not reveal my plane to any enemy on high flying patrol. I also flew on a course a bit south of the direct path. As I approached the Norwegian coast I caught sight of my opponent far far away and several thousand feet above, to my North. He didn't seem to react to me at all. Splitting my attention between the sea while I looked for targets and the sky while I watched Taj fly away, I began to turn towards the north so I could follow the coast. Almost straight away I saw a freighter in the distance. Using trim controls, I maneuvered into an attack run at about 100 feet, all the time looking to my West as Taj vanished into the fiery bloom of sunset.

I dropped the torpedo from a long way away, and was had flown in a long curve north and west before it struck the target. I was nowhere near it, and racing for home on a path to the North of the direct route. Before I reached base, I learnt that Taj had been shot down by naval AA fire. My landing was regulation in its perfection.

Dusk: Confident in my invisibility I tried to repeat my previous mission. The air was full of the red light of sunset. Beautiful. As the Norwegian coastline came into view, I still hadn't spotted Taj. I thought nothing of it. Near where I'd spotted the tanker I came under fire from a motorboat. Circling back towards it I felt some of its shells striking home. More than I'd hoped for. To this day, I don't know if there was another boat in the vicinity or not.

Anyway, I muffed my torpedo run. As I came out of my tight turn to come onto the boat I was approaching from the wrong angle, and my wings were still banked as the ship rushed towards me. Hurriedly I dropped the torpedo, knowing as I did so that I was too fast, too close, too high, too banked to have any chance of hitting him. Not wanting to tarry, knowing that the AA fire would be visible for many miles and draw Taj in his FW 190 like a moth to a flame, I skedaddled for home.

Before long, I realised I had a problem. Although both engines were ticking over nicely I was only managing to go slightly quicker than stall speed, with a huge yaw to the right which kept making the plane wanting to point its nose groundwards in that direction. I was spending most of my concentration on trying to keep plane in the air and flying towards home. I suspect I'd lost most of my tail and possible the rear bits of at least one wing. Not good when you're flying alone over the North Sea with a hostile fighter in the area.

Sure enough, in sight of the green lands of Scotland, I heard the sound of several shells striking my plane from behind. I heard five 'clunks'. Then his shells found my cockpit and the world turned black.

Evening: I can't recall much of this flight. It didn't last long. I flew a Mustang (single seater long range fighter) in the growing dusk towards the target area with a couple of medium sized bombs beneath me, but don't think I'd crossed the front line, when Taj warned me that he was behind me with some bullets flying past my left wing. I immediately dropped my bombs (they slow you down significantly) and threw my plane into gyrations trying to get back over friendly fleet AA guns.

No luck. Taj locked onto my rear and took out my engine. Stranded, I started a long glide towards friendly lines (I had gained a lot of altitude during the chase). Taj was having nothing of this tactic, and put a few more shells into my plane. I had no choice but to bail out, and watched my plane tilt at an increasing angle into a nasty crash in the ocean. Taj waggled his wings on his return journey past me in midair. My pilot was captured.

I did not know it then, but this was my final flight over Norway for forseeable future. The squadron has moved to Southern Italy to participate in the next campaign on the Norwegian Server.

Tale of the bung VDU

I have been out of action with the computer I use for blogging (and gaming [gulp]) for about 24 hr because the widescreen monitor crapped out on us and it took about that long to get replacement in place. Needless to say, no retailer selling faulty merchandise stood much of a chance against the 'Lead Negotiator'.

It's a minorly interesting tale in itself, that of the bung vdu.

I had finally managed to have about three hours free with no likelihood of interuption on sunday evening. I sat down and got onto hyperlobby before chosing my poison. The screen seemed to ratchet up in brightness. I didn't think anything of it. Then it did it again. About a minute later it went blank. Not good.

Like the well trained geek-illiterati--but-knows-it that I am, I checked all the connections, checked with other users of the machine whether they'd changed settings or had any anomalies. They hadn't, and all the connections were okay. Puzzled I switched screen off, then on again. Clear picture - no problems. My eyes no doubt gleamed with the light of hope.

Alas! About two minutes later, the brighten, brighten, blank out phenomena repeated itself. This time I go to our older computer, access the manual etc on the disk that came with the vdu. No answers there. I check forums online. No luck there. I'm not impressed.

I switch the monitor off and on again. Again, the screen goes active for a couple minutes. Goes blank. Hope begins to sink. I idly sit there switching things off and on again, booting and rebooting, disconnecting and connecting, until all hope is dead.

Now is time to see whether problem is with screen or computer. Maybe it's the legendary 'driver' that all geeks refer to when things break down. I put the suspect vdu onto our older computer. The screen goes blank. It is definitely the screen which is the cause of my sadness.

Now we have had it replaced. The resident geek where I work (like, manage computer systems of hundreds of users across the state type geek) was highly puzzled. As were those at the store where we bought the screen (some 'computer wharehouse/recycle store' near corner Payneham Rd and Steven Tce, if you know Adelaide). To their credit, they replaced it with another. I note that this screen, while having same model number, had different but similar packaging, user booklet, chords. Wonder why?

Anyway, I'm happier now.

Puerto Rico and Billionaire

Tonight we had a bit of a gaming session. Started with eight player Billionaire. Then five player Puerto Rico.

Billionaire, as always, was a noisy and fun game, with lots of minor subplots as people traded pairs back and forth and tried to keep track of the taxman. Wayne was pretty chuffed to have an eight player game.

Nancy won, followed by Paul, Wayne and Jess (tied for third), Me, Jarrod, Shaun and Marko.

Paul, Marko, Wayne, Shaun and myself then played a game of Puerto Rico. This was the first time we've played this five players, and the first time Wayne and Shaun had played it. They both picked up the mechanics pretty quick. The Game took a bit over two hours, ending when victory point counters and colonisists both ran out on the same turn.

Shaun won with 64 points, having chased the money early and had the coffee market to himself for awhile. I came a narrow second (62), having used a customs house to magnify the VP bonus I'd derived from moderate but constant volumes of produce going through my harbour for almost the entire game. Paul and Marko came next (50 and 49 respectively), with Wayne (36) bringing up the rear in an honourable late recovery following about three turns where nothing went his way.

Good clean fun game, but might have to try something else next time to let the lessons settle in.

Billionaire

Billionaire is a simple card game characterised by much shouting and bidding and trading of sets of cards as players race ahead in a mad free for all to complete a card set of one of the market 'suits'. The player who manages to do this first in a hand will have managed to collect in their hand either a full and complete set of one of the commodity suits (filling their whole hand), or possibly the 'Billionaire' card instead of one of the cards of the suit.

Besides the suit cards, the deck contains two cards that are 'wild' in trading, the Billionaire and the taxman. In each hand, one player will end up with the Billionaire card in their hand. If they were the players to 'go out', it doubles their score for that hand. If they are stuck with it in their hand when another goes out, they are penalised. Similarly, there is a 'taxman' card, and whoever ends up with it in their hand at the end of a hand is penalised.

The player who 'goes out' in a hand scores the value of the suit they collected, (doubled if they have billionaire card). Those who hold the Taxman (and Bllionaire, if someone other than the person who 'went out' has it in their hand) are penalised. Scores are recorded. The next hand is dealt. This continues until someone reaches the score agreed on to be the winning score (a billion, obviously, if you have time, less if you don't). That person wins.

The heart of the game is its trading session. The idea is that a person swaps one or more cards with another. They announce how many cards are in the set they are offering to trade by calling (shouting) out the number. Another player may match this number of cards, and the sets are then exchanged. Taxman and Billionaire get passed around as wild cards as players choose. This continues until someone goes out by shouting "Billionaire!"

A noisy and interactive card game that has lots of non hostile shouting. At about $10 AU, good to have around. Also, we've played it with upto 8 players which is pretty handy at times (took aobut an hour and a half with eight players upto 200,000,000).

Xenophon

Xenophon was one of the first historians. He was also a soldier. He marched in the invasion of Persia by the 10000. This is he.

I found this picture on Wikipedia. I am uploading it as my 'avatar' on various forums where I'm known by my flight name, 'Xenophonic'.

Not that I chose the name because of the man. It was an invented word when I came up with it. But I'm getting sick of people thinking its some cute variation of 'zenophobic'.