In the first part of this series (Issue #86), I briefly described how the computer-moderated, multi-player, play-by-mail game, Star Web, is played. What follows is a blow-by-blow account of the first official Star Web game, SQ2 (SW1 was a playtest game), as it looked from the viewpoint of one player - me.

When Rick Loomis first described the game to me at Origins II, I decided that being a pirate sounded like fun. Some weeks later I received a brief note: "Don, here is the free game of Star Web for review. You are a PIRATE. Your name is PZFST. The first turn is due September 15th [1976]. Let me know if you have any questions. Rick." Fortunately I already had the rules, which we were (are still are) selling. Attached to the note was a very small computer printout. In addition to my account number, game number, turn number, code name (PZFST - for Panzerfaust, the former name of this magazine) and score (zero), there was the following: "W44 (204, 223) [PZFST] (30, 2, 50, 100, T/O = 1, RMS = 30) F10 [PZFST] - 0 F127 [PZFST] = 0 F162 [PZFST] = 0 F174 [PZFST] = 0 F214 [PZFST] = 0." After carefully reading the rules book, I could interpret all this as follows: World #44, which connects thru the web with Worlds 204 and 233, belongs to PZFST (me). It has 30 Industries, two Raw Material Production factors (RMPs) and 50 Population with a limit of 100, I've owned in one turn and there are 30 Raw materials Stockpiled (RMS). At World #44 (W44), there are five keys (fleets), numbered 10, 127, 162, 174 and 214, all belonging to PZFST, and none having any ships attached. Each turn you receive a rundown like that on every world you own, have just probed, or at which you have a fleet.

The rules, at that time, did not indicate whether or not ships could move on the same turn they are built. But I wrote orders assuming that they could, since I figured if they couldn't, the movement orders would be ignored but the build orders wouldn't, so I had nothing to lose. I also asked that this question be clarified. Meanwhile, I used the 30 stockpiled Raw Materials and my 30 Industry manned by 30 of my Population to build 30 ships. I was confident that FBS (Flying Buffalo, Inc.) would not place two players at adjacent worlds when there would be 225 worlds and no more than 15 players. Since I had only two worlds to explore, and I didn't expect to need to defend my home world so soon, I decided to send 15 ships to each, so I could transport home as many raw materials found on the new worlds as possible, since my home world didn't begin to provide enough raw materials (2) to keep my (30) Industry working. So I put eight ships on F10 and seven on F214 and sent them to W204 and five each on the other three and sent them to W223. As it turned out I could move ships on the same turn they were built. I later learned that some other players did not move their ships on the first turn, because they didn't realize they could, and this gave me a one-turn jump on those players.

Turn Two

A couple of weeks later I got another, slightly larger, printout and a blank movement form with a notation indicating the next turn was due on 3 October. The printout showed that nothing had changed at W44 except the fleets were gone and I only had two Raw materials Stockpiled. These were produced automatically by my RMP and two Population.

W223, where I'd sent the three five-ship fleets, now showed up as mine and showed connections to two new worlds (76 and 166). It had no Industry, four RMP, four Population with a limit of four, and four RM stockpiled. I also found that i had captured a loose key there - that is, a key (fleet) with no ships and belonging to no one - F26. This was something I hadn't anticipated but certainly welcomed, not only for the extra three points per turn, but I knew I'd soon need a lot more than the original five fleets as I discovered more and more worlds to explore.

W204, where I'd sent the two large fleets, belonged to no one. It had not become mine when i moved in because it had one P ship that I'd have to destroy first. This was another unexpected development. It had no Industry five RMP, Population of 60 with a 130 limit, and no RMS. It also had an artifact, the Arcturian moonstone, of no value to me - or anyone but an Artifact Collector. I did capture another loose key, F166. And W204 connected with three new worlds: 61, 113 and 187.

To aid in planning my move, I drew a sketch map of what I knew of the Web so far: W44 in the center connecting with W-204 on one side and W223 on the other. Also connected with W223 were W76 and W166, and connected with W204 were W61, W113 and W187. Each world was represented by a circle, within which I placed their number, Industry, RMP, Population Limit, P ships, I ships and RMS. Lines showed the connections between worlds and rocket shapes represented each fleet with its number and the number of ships attached. The artifact was represented by its name within a rectangle attached to W204 by a short line. I then planned the next move for each fleet by pencilling in an arrow from it to its destination and noting its number and strength near the head of the arrow. I continued to use this mapping system throughout the game, though after several turns the maps got pretty large.

Fortunately, with the loose keys I'd captured, I had just enough fleets to cover all the missions I had in mind, though I could have used more ships. The first job was to get some raw materials back to my home world. F162 transferred one ship to the new F26, loaded the four RMS from W223 and moved to W44. F174 transferred two ships to F26 and moved to W166 with three, to explore and, hopefully, capture it. F26, with three, then moved to W76 for the same purpose.

At W204 five ships were transferred to the new F166 and it was ordered to attack home fleets, so as to eliminate the P ship and gain control of W204. Of course only two ships would be necessary for that job, but five were assigned so that F166 would be ready to load the five RMP that W204 would produce next turn. Then F10, with five ships, was sent to W61 and F214, with five ships, to W113. This left W187 unexplored but I still had F127 at W223. It transferred one ship to P ships to defend W223 and proceeded with four via W44 and W204 and W187.

Meanwhile, there being no fleets at W44, I used the two RMS there to build two I ships, which could be transferred to fleets later.

Turn Three

When the next printout arrived, I found my score had reached 34 and that I still had not met any other players. Considering that it was quite likely to take around 5,000 points or so to win the game, it began to look like either a very long game or that I was 'way behind - or both. I also found that, by exploring the five new worlds whose connections were discovered last turn, I had established eight new connections. i also discovered that Worlds 61 and 166 connected with each other, forming a loop of five worlds with W204, W44 and W223, and that Worlds 113 and 76 both connected to a common, unexplored world, W56 (making a loop of six worlds, with W204, W44 and W223).

The most valuable of the worlds just explored was W187, which had two industries. Unfortunately, it also had one I-ship, so it would not be under my control until that had been eliminated. Of the other worlds explored, W113 had five RMP and W61 had four. Worlds 76 and 166 had neither Industry nor RMP, making them worthless to me. W61 had two artifacts: Volume Five of the Nebula Scrolls (worthless unless the other four volumes could be found) and the Plastic Pyramid. W166 had the Plastic Stardust. Each plastic artifact was costing me 10 points per turn until I could get rid of them somehow. Four new keys were captured: F69 at W187, F10 at W61, F210 at W76 and F104 at W166.

In preparing my next moves I assumed that I would be meeting other players any turn now, and I was worried about getting more of my home world's industries into production, in case I got into a fight. So I loaded W61's four RMS onto F10, W113's five RMS onto F214 and W204's five RMS onto F166 and sent them all home to W44. Also the four RMs were unloaded form F162 onto W44 for next turn's production. Then two new ships were built onto F162 by W44 and the two I ships built last turn transferred to it, bringing it up to eight ships. Then F162 was sent back to W223 to pick up the four RMs now there, plus the additional four that would be produced this turn. F127, with two ships, would remain at W187 to destroy the I ship there.

This left only six fleets to explore the eight new worlds! Since worlds 166 and 76 are worthless to me, I was less worried about having them exposed to encounters with other players, so I decided that W168, connecting W166, and W48, connecting with W76, would be the two left explored this turn. F104, with two ships, was sent via W61 to explore W144. F69, with two ships, was sent from W187 to W194. F111 was sent, with one ship, via W204 and W113 to W203. F174, with one ship, was sent via W223 and W76 to W56. To reach the other two it was necessary to move through the unexplored W56. I decided that the chances that it might be a black hole (where all ships would be destroyed), or defended by the ships of another player (who, if not doing anything else, would ambush my fleets) were small, and worth the risk. Anyway, W113 was one of my two biggest sources of RMs, which I wanted to protect by owning all adjacent worlds. I already owned W204 and moves to W203 and W56 have already been described. F26 was sent from W76 via W56 and W113 to W99 with two ships, and F210 via the same route to W208 with one ship.

It seemed that the Plastic Stardust was fortuitously placed to serve as a sort of mine field. If anyone moved in and took over W166, they'd also take over an artifact that would cost them ten points a turn. The Plastic Pyramid, at W61, was loaded onto F111, in hopes that it might come in handy at W203. It was certainly serving no purpose where it was. The Nebula Scrolls were sent to W44 on F10 to insure no one else could ever assemble all five volumes.

Finally, since they had no industry or raw material production to interrupt, worlds 76 and 166 were plundered, to get me 50 points each.

Turn Four - Contact!

The first thing I noticed on the printout for Turn Four was "Players you have met: EEKER!" His score was 195. Mine was 156. Further examination revealed that contact was made at W56. There was EEKER's F16 with two ships, and my F174 with one. The world belonged to no one, indicating we both arrived on the same turn. It had no Industry, three RMPs and two artifacts: The Ancient Sword and the Slippers of Venus.

W99 turned out to be a black hole, so the two ships were lost and F26 would appear at some other world in the Web, determined at random by the computer. W208 had no industry and three RMP, but having a population of only two, it could produce only two RMs a turn until the population grew to three.W203 turned out to be another zero Industry, zero RMP world - and I felt psychic for having sent the Plastic Pyramid there. W144 was also a no Industry, three RMP world, while W194 turned out to be the most valuable, with oen Industry and five RMP (and no I or P ships!). Loose keys were found at W144 (F107), W194 (F200), and W208 (F11).

The key to planning my next moves would, of course, be my reaction to the encounter with EEKER. With the possibility of soon finding myself surrounded by other players, I did not want to get tied down by a war with any of them until I had taken all the unowned worlds I could and had a better understanding of the strategic and diplomatic situation. Being an old Diplomacy player, I knew that folly it would be, in a game with several roughly equal powers, to attack one player without making some kind of arrangements with my other neighbors. But unlike Diplomacy, I didn't yet know who those neighbors were, or how to negotiate with them - except EEKER.

When you've met another player, as I met EEKER, or heard about one through another player, you can contact him through FBI, by sending a 3" x 5" card or a letter folded to 3" x 5" addressed to his code name. You can then exchange addresses, even phone numbers, if you choose, for quicker communication. Otherwise, you send in your note with your moves and he receives it with his printout - which means a turn is played before he reads it and another before you receive his reply. Anyway, the obvious thing to do was to send a note to EEKER and try to reach an understanding with him, so I'd be better prepared to meet other players. So here is the message I sent:

Dear "Eeker",

I believe it owuld be in the best interest of both of us to avoid coming to blows so early in the game. This could only weaken us both while the other players in the game continue to grow. I am, of course, planning to move more force into W56 and its neighbors as insurance, but I will not fire the first shot. I must insist, of course, that you refrain from moving to W113 or W76, which I control, and I will not move to W11, W46, or W83. This leaves the tougher question of who gets W56. Frankly, the system itself is of very little value to me, but its position next to two worlds I control makes me reluctant to concede it to you. Then there are the two artifacts. It's hard to say what constitutes a fair division of the "spoils" when I know nothing about you and what's valuable to you. Naturally, you're probably not anxious to reveal very much about yourself and neither am I. I will, at least, assure you that I'm neither a Berserker nor an Apostle. It is now up to you: will we negotiate or will we make war?

Also I gave him my home address so we could negotiate directly, without the great time-lag of going through FBI.

Of course, I had no idea what character type EEKER was or what his motivations in the game were. I had to be prepared in case he wanted to fight. Because of this, I was only able to spare two fleets for exploration. I wanted to get F174 away from W56 anyway, as EEKER's two-ship fleet there was big enough to knock it out if he wanted to fight, while it wasn't big enough to hurt him. (Two ships firing destroy one ship, unless the target moves, which halves the losses). So I sent F174 to explore W130, since it connected Worlds 203 and 194. F111 was sent from W203 to investigate W158. And F10, with four ships, was sent from W44 to W208 to pick up the loose key there (F11) and pick up more RMs. Worlds 144, 203 and 223 were plundered for 50 points each.

The 14 raw materials brought to W44 last turn were unloaded, and six new ships were built with the four unloaded last turn plus the two produced by W44. F162 picked up the eight RMS at W223, as well as the P ship, and moved them to W44. Three RMs were sent home from W194, two from W144 and one from W208.

I wasn't worried about EEKER moving to W76, since it was worthless and just plundered last turn. But W113 was a very important crossroads, as well as one of the two best producers of RMs I had. So F166, with ten ships, was sent to protect it (five ships from last turn, plus five built by W44). F214, with six ships (five from last turn and one built by W44), and F127 with four (two from last turn and two built by W187) moved to W56 to impress EEKER with my determination.

In Part III, "Expansion and Diplomacy", I'll cover the middle game period - my relations with EEKER, learning of and negotiating with other players and expanding to become the greatest power in the web. As that will involve more turns, more worlds and more messages, I'll have either taken up a lot more space (and time) or described it in less detail. Probably it'll take some of both to do it right.

Part III: Expansion and Diplomacy