angst@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au (Angst) (08/24/90)
Anybody remeber the classic space strategy game "Reach For The Stars" ? I had
a copy on my C64 (I had a PET 4016 before that!) but there were also versions
for the "others".
Is there a version for the Amiga ? A similar game (1) ? I can't remember who
made it.
Angst
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Left. G: "Sir, what do we do if we stand on a mine ?"
Capt. B: "Well, normal proceedure, Leftenant, is to jump 200 feet into the air
and scatter oneself over a wide area."
-- somewhere no man's land, "Blackadder Goes Forth"
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(1) RFTS is a game played between four people (usually you and three computer
players). You are a space lord/tyrant who wants to build an empire. You
have to keep the population happy on your various plantes, build more
colonies and fight battles with the other Emperors. Excellent game.paulg@frith.uucp (Gregory R Paul) (08/25/90)
In article <4622@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> angst@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au writes: >Anybody remeber the classic space strategy game "Reach For The Stars" ? I had >a copy on my C64 (I had a PET 4016 before that!) but there were also versions >for the "others". > >Is there a version for the Amiga ? A similar game (1) ? I can't remember who >made it. > >Angst > > >(1) RFTS is a game played between four people (usually you and three computer > players). You are a space lord/tyrant who wants to build an empire. You > have to keep the population happy on your various plantes, build more > colonies and fight battles with the other Emperors. Excellent game. I have RFTS for my Amiga and have had it for a while now. I wasn't all that impressed with it. It was fun to play with for a little while, but I didn't feel much flavor of competition and there wasn't enough variety in the game to keep my interest long. -- Greg Paul | Electrical/Computer Engineer in search of a job.. paulg@frith.egr.msu.edu | Case Center Consultant | "So why exactly were these borogroves sysop: Sietch Tabr | so mimsy anyways?"
nad@tegra.COM (Nancy Durgin) (08/28/90)
In article <1990Aug24.211009.5098@msuinfo.cl.msu.edu> paulg@frith.uucp (Gregory R Paul) writes: >In article <4622@uqcspe.cs.uq.oz.au> angst@batserver.cs.uq.oz.au writes: >>Anybody remeber the classic space strategy game "Reach For The Stars" ? I had >>a copy on my C64 (I had a PET 4016 before that!) but there were also versions >>for the "others". >> >>Is there a version for the Amiga ? A similar game (1) ? I can't remember who >>made it. >> >>Angst >> >> >>(1) RFTS is a game played between four people (usually you and three computer >> players). You are a space lord/tyrant who wants to build an empire. You >> have to keep the population happy on your various plantes, build more >> colonies and fight battles with the other Emperors. Excellent game. > > I have RFTS for the Amiga. I think it is from Strategic Studies Group (not to be confused with SSI), which is an Australian company. They also did "Gold of the Americas". Anyway, I liked the game, and played it quite a bit. I think the playability suffers a little. As you become more powerful, it becomes kind of tedious to deal with all your ships and planets. It's been a while, but I seem to recall that the computer players liked to pick on the Human, so if you got unlucky in the initial setup, they would find you and kill you before you were strong enough to survive. If you got a good initial setup, then it was easy to win (given perserverence with the user interface tedium...). Also, though you can play with more than one human player, you would have to be very patient, as each player's turn takes a while, and should really be done secretly. Overall, I like the game. It wasn't copy protected, and would probably install on a hard disk (though I didn't try at the time...). Nancy -- ============================================================================== Nancy Durgin | (Usual disclaimers | Tegra-Varityper, Inc. tegra!nad@uunet.com | apply...) | Billerica, Massachusetts ==============================================================================
c315-25@cs.UAlberta.CA (Huisman Kenneth M) (04/08/91)
I just picked up Reach for the Stars for the Amiga (you can still get it if you order direct from EA). I used to have it for the C64, and found it to be a very good game. I have, however, noticed a bug in the amiga version. If you run under 1.3, it crashes when you try to save the game (it comes with WB 1.2 on the disk, and seems to work ok under that). I did notice a few people a while back posting on here that there were some bugs in it. Are there any other bugs other than the above that I should be aware of? I would also like to know if it is possible to change the amount of global RP's that you start the game with - you used to be able to change this on the C64 version. As far as the interface goes, to be honest, I prefer the C64's a little. The information is better organized on the C64 version. Any comments that other owners of the game have would be welcomed. Strategy tips would be welcomed too (although I know how to win on the C64 version). I must say, however, that this game has some of the best computer opponents I have seen in any wargame. Perhaps I should state that I thought that version 2's computer opponents were better than version 3's (note that version 2 comes as a subset of version 3 ). I wish SSG would do another version of this fine game... E-Mail replies would be Preferred, thanks. Ken Huisman c315-25@cs.ualberta.ca
daq@hpfcso.FC.HP.COM (Doug Quarnstrom) (04/08/91)
>I just picked up Reach for the Stars for the Amiga (you can still get it >if you order direct from EA). >I used to have it for the C64, and found it to be a very good game. >I have, however, noticed a bug in the amiga version. If you run under >1.3, it crashes when you try to save the game (it comes with WB 1.2 on >the disk, and seems to work ok under that). >I did notice a few people a while back posting on here that there were >some bugs in it. Are there any other bugs other than the above that I >should be aware of? There sure are. Sometimes entire task forces will just disappear for not reason. This pisses me off. It happens fairly frequently, and I sent that tape back with a fairly detailed description of the bug, and they just sent me another copy of the same disk. Oh well. doug
kkeranen@kontu.utu.fi (04/11/91)
>There sure are. Sometimes entire task forces will just disappear >for not reason. This pisses me off. It happens fairly frequently, >and I sent that tape back with a fairly detailed description of the >bug, and they just sent me another copy of the same disk. Oh well. I had this problem and some other weird bugs. Most of them have been history since I began NOT to restore previous turns while playing. If I want to restore game I always reboot the machine. My version 3.01 still has some annoying features like awfully sticky windowing. And now some answers to Ken >I have, however, noticed a bug in the amiga version. If you run under >1.3, it crashes when you try to save the game (it comes with WB 1.2 on >the disk, and seems to work ok under that). My version (3.01) works fine with 1.3 . I have even installed the game on my hard disk. >I would also like to know if it is possible to change the amount of >global RP's that you start the game with - you used to be able to change >this on the C64 version. As far as the interface goes, to be honest, I >prefer the C64's a little. The information is better organized on the >C64 version. Yes, the interface is sticky... There is no direct way to change global RP's , but if you have newzap (or other disk editor), do this: Save current game and newzap this save_game_file. Global RP data is located at sector 16, position 1DA,1DB. Now just change this hex-value, save file back to disk and resume game. I always play with random star setup, advanced scenario and enchanced veterans ( I may have also other options). Enchanced veterans made good resistance in the beginning but now they are no match to me. Here is my basic strategy: Consentrate early in the game expanding and building your economic base (unless you discover enemy planet very early, when you should use all your efforts to totally wipe him out). I start investing on ind. tech at the first turn by cutting initial army to 2 (leaving 4 PDBs) and not spending all RPs on planetary industrial level. Don't waste your RPs on nav tech or ship tech unless it's vital. The idea is to first increase ind tech to 3 and then, with more resource points, rapidly increase ship tech to 3. This stage is usually critical since you probably have enemy contact before reaching ship tech 3. You may need to leave some of your newer planets under enemy control for the time being, in order to gain more time to fortifying your border planets. It's important not to panic under enemy advance. Once I had to fall back so far, that I had only three planets left. I heavily fortified these three planets (80-150 PDBs, Mk III) and computer opponent focused on other enemies. So I got time to build up to MK IV and I eventually won that game. I use the following methods when colonising new planets: I drop the first 5 colonists on the planet during the movement only turn. I keep the population low (5-6) until environment reaches 40.(BTW, you should't colonise planet if you don't have RPs to fully invest on social environment. If planetary env. is low, invest on it, too). At this point it's best to increase environment to 90. Having environment level at 100 is NOT profitable until ind tech 3 and planetary industrial level 107 (or ind tech 4 and planet ind level 92), that's easy to calculate. I have found this matter very significant. Also reserve enough global RPs to support planets industry. The first principal stage was expanding. The second one is fortifying which I described briefly. During the second stage you should prepare for the final stage, the offensive stage. When you have secured your borders ( I usually build a medium size MK III war ship navy for backup defensive force if I'm not sure my PDBs can stand attacks) you should still colonise new planets. The colony size is in the end the only thing that counts. If there are no good planets nearby, you can use two different techiques. 1. Colonise one poor planet(in the edge of your territory) for one turn in order to use this planet as temporaly base. From this planet you might be able to send task forces (with enough transports!) to unexplored planets. If you don't support this temporal base, you lose only 5 transports. 2. Send 15 or more transports (maybe with escorts) to planet where exists enemy war ships. When the battle begins do NOT crush the enemy, but choose to withdraw. Now you can withdraw your ships to most planets in the galaxy, even outside the navigational range. The final phase begins by increasing your industrial tech and ship tech to 4. Now you can build your attack force(s) based on MK IV ships. While first conquering back those planets that you lost before, increase nav tech to 4, if it's not already. Now it's time for the final offensive. If you don't have enough native planets, you can choose one enemy planet and kill the enemy population in the following way: first bombard the PDBs down (It's important to notice that PDBs can't effectively resist MK IV warships). Don't drop too much soldiers on the planet, just enough to wipe the enemy out. This should have happened during movement only turn. Now comes the production turn. Do NOT use RPs on ANYTHING, that is: army support=0, pop. service=0. So remove all RPs that are more than 0 by dafault. Next turn you should have at least 10 MK IV warships and 1 transport in orbit. As you have no garrison left on the planet, you may attack the planet and the population decreases. Because you don't support population either, social environment and industry decreases and that also decreases population. You can go on like this by attacking planet every turn and dropping one soldier at even turns in order to own the planet during production. Finally there are no enemy left. The drawback with this method is that if planets industrial is above 100, it will cut down to 100. Kimmo