robocop@unlisys.in-berlin.de (Thorsten Ebers) (12/05/90)
Powermonger hit the german streets today.well th egame is fascinating but more complex to play than Populous. So has anybody some game hints ? Or godd strategic way. greetings Thorsten
hjalmar@cbmswe.UUCP (Peter Hjalmarsson) (12/11/90)
In article <1990Dec11.121059@avahi.inria.fr> colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) writes: >Ok, let's start speaking of Playing PowerMonger... Hey, it sounds great, but... Is it HD installable? Does it multitask? I want to run this sucker during Christmas, but I want to run it from HD. Peter Hjalmarsson ...{uunet|rutgers|pyramid}cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmswe!hjalmar
colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) (12/11/90)
Ok, let's start speaking of Playing PowerMonger... How do you cope with the 12 carrier pigeons limitation? I find this the only dubious point of the game, since it is easy to send by mistake 3 ou 4 pigeons to a commander (forgot that the 2nd commander is selected, then change your attitude... a pigeon takes off). Populous didn't have anything irreversible, so you could battle fiercely for hours... PowerMonger seems more "irreversible" (new towns do not appear) Of course this may be only a first false impression, the game seems so rich... -- Colas Nahaboo, Bull Research France -- Koala Project -- GWM X11 Window Manager Internet: colas@mirsa.inria.fr, Phone: (33) 93.65.77.70, Fax: (33) 93 65 77 66 INRIA Sophia, 2004, rte des Lucioles, B.P.109 - 06561 Valbonne Cedex, FRANCE
rouaix@margaux.inria.fr (Francois Rouaix) (12/12/90)
In article <1990Dec11.121059@avahi.inria.fr> colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) writes: >Ok, let's start speaking of Playing PowerMonger... > >How do you cope with the 12 carrier pigeons limitation? I find this the only >dubious point of the game [ rest deleted] Well, another dubious point is that you have to send a pigeon to tell a captain to kill a sheep... I thought that the captain has some initiative after all. BTW, did someone find out the criterions for joining new captains ? It happened to me only once or twice, and I didn't understand why. --Francois -- *- Francois Rouaix // We are all prisoners here, * *- rouaix@inria.inria.fr \X/ of our own device * *- SYSOP of Sgt. Flam's Lonely Amigas Club. (33) (1) 39-55-84-59 (Videotex) * Disclaimer: Opinions expressed are my own, not those of my employer.
d89-rbi@dront.nada.kth.se (Ron Birk) (12/14/90)
I wrote about the REALLY BAD disk-routines in Powermonger, and I want to complete them on some new discoveries that a friend of mine found. And thats some serious stuff!!! Please read ahead if you want to know something: As I sad earlier the disk access was so bad so we decided to REWRITE ALL disk-routines in the game!! One thing that bothered me was that BULLFROG didn't turned the disk motor off, and your drive was on still rotating during the whole game!! SO my friend start to operate, and what did he found??? They didn't even include a CHECKSUM CHECK!!!! So what happen when you come to level 39 after some hours play? Yes you are correct!! The computer will flip out!! And that exactly what happened to us one time while we play. It doesn't matter how slow you read or how carefull you are, sometimes you will read some wrong bytes, and if you do not check the sector checksum you will get wrong data! So now we had a complete rewritten disk routines in our new version that do turn off the drive motor and do check the sector checksum!! If someone wonder, yes we did bought the original and we havent't spread our version, but we thinking about sending it to BULLFROG so they will learned to the next time! Why engage in a game so long time and do it so GOOD and destroy it with the bad disk access?? Lucky there aren't so many disk accesses but there some! Ron Birk
visconti@gecko.cis.ohio-state.edu (mark a visconti) (12/14/90)
I went out and bought PowerMonger today despite the fact that it won't multitask, won't let me run it from hard drive, and does a few other "bad" things. BUT ... It IS truly amazing!!! Whether or not the programming is at fault, it is very entertaining. The one question I have is ... Has anyone tried playing using a mull-modem cable or modem ? If so, how is the speed and game play ? Email or posts appreciated. The one BIG complaint I have with the game is with the little information windows that pop up. They are a pain to get rid of. Trying to close one results in one, two, or three others opening all too frequently for me. It tends to get annoying. But, the rest of the game is great! The one "common" bug that several games have is that they only run in 68000 mode. Well, not P.M., it actually works on an accelerated machine!!! - Mark ------------------------------- visconti@cis.ohio-state.edu
dvljhg@cs.umu.se (J|rgen Holmberg) (12/15/90)
In article <149@cbmswe.UUCP> ...{uunet|pyramid|rytgers}cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmswe!hjalmar (Peter Hjalmarsson) writes: >In article <1990Dec11.121059@avahi.inria.fr> colas@avahi.inria.fr (Colas Nahaboo) writes: >>Ok, let's start speaking of Playing PowerMonger... > >Hey, it sounds great, but... > >Is it HD installable? >Does it multitask? > >I want to run this sucker during Christmas, but I want to run it from HD. > Dream on :-) Maybe there are some enterprising hackers out there who have made an HD version. ;-) /Jorgen -- ******************************************************************************* email dvljhg@cs.umu.se - other ways to communicate are a waste of time. Everything I say is always true, just apply it to the right reality. "Credo, quia absurdum est."
hastoerm@vela.acs.oakland.edu (Moriland) (12/16/90)
In article <149@cbmswe.UUCP> ...{uunet|pyramid|rytgers}cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmswe!hjalmar (Peter Hjalmarsson) writes: >Is it HD installable? >Does it multitask? > >I want to run this sucker during Christmas, but I want to run it from HD. > >Peter Hjalmarsson >...{uunet|rutgers|pyramid}cbmvax!cbmehq!cbmswe!hjalmar Good Lord! We just got down arguing over the merits of whether or not a game should multitask and is HD installable! A good couple hundred messages we're devoted to the topic and it was Powermonger's lack of these features that started the whole flame war to begin with! How you could possibly have missed the searing messages flying back and forth is amazing to me! One last time, and listen closely as not to miss it: NO! Powermonger is NOT HD installable. It is NOT a multitasking game. It DOES run on an accelerated Amiga! (Tested on an A3000 under 1.3. Runs AMAZINGLY fast though!) Now, can we get back to dicussing the finer points of the game instead of bickering over whether or not it multitasks, etc? Sheeeesh! -Moriland -- /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ "As if things weren't bad enough already...."| Founder of: "Evil Young Please excuse my ramblings as they come from | Mutants For A Better Tommorow. a diseased mind. -Moriland | hastoerm@vela.acs.oakland.edu
nad@tegra.COM (Nancy Durgin) (12/16/90)
In article <86770@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <visconti@gecko.cis.ohio-state.edu> writes: > > I went out and bought PowerMonger today despite the fact that >it won't multitask, won't let me run it from hard drive, and does a >few other "bad" things. BUT ... > >It IS truly amazing!!! Whether or not the programming is at fault, it is >very entertaining. > I've only played it for a couple hours so far, but it does look *very* good! > [...] > >The one BIG complaint I have with the game is with the little information >windows that pop up. They are a pain to get rid of. Trying to close one >results in one, two, or three others opening all too frequently for me. >It tends to get annoying. But, the rest of the game is great! It says in the docs (and is also my observation) that when you click somewhere for a query, you will often get 3-4 windows, which are all stacked up. What is probably happening is that you are closing the top window and exposing the others underneath. > >The one "common" bug that several games have is that they only run in >68000 mode. Well, not P.M., it actually works on an accelerated machine!!! > Yes, it works on my 3000, but only under 1.3, as far as I can tell. Also, even on the slowest speed setting, things move *very* fast. I am going to try it on a regular 2000 to be sure, but I have a feeling that you are playing a very different game when you play it on the 3000 (this is also true of games like Star Control, which I have been playing on my 3000 -- I read comments from others about how you don't need to be a "joystick jockey" to play the game, and I say "huh?", because the computer is *very* tough on the 3000...). It might be time to distinguish between "running" on a 3000, and "being playable" on a 3000... Nancy -- ============================================================================== Nancy Durgin | (Usual disclaimers | Tegra-Varityper, Inc. uunet!tegra!nad | apply...) | Billerica, Massachusetts ==============================================================================
wdao@girtab.usc.edu (Walter Dao) (12/17/90)
I got the game and found it very entertaining. There are however little things that make it not as realistic. 1) Ok once a village has been conquered and all the men have been "enrolled" in the army, it is said that the village will be repopulated thanks to the storks. Now how do they eat ? (I dare you to leave a baby in some dead ghost city and come back 20 years later. the probability of getting a healthy lad is very low, more likely like rat or varmint fodder). 2) After a map square had been conquered, one is supposed to jump to the next piece of land not yet conquered and start from scratch. Hey !! isnt it supposed to be in the same cnnected world ? so why is it impossible to transfer all the resources into the conquest of the new land ? Common, in any real world situation, men and resources from the vainquished would have been used for strenghtening the army . Walter
sysop@insider.zer.sub.org (12/18/90)
> Well, another dubious point is that you have to send a pigeon to tell > a captain to kill a sheep... I thought that the captain has some > initiative after all. Hey, come on, when you beat that captain, you probably blew out all of his brain... so how can you expect anything like that from him ? > BTW, did someone find out the criterions for joining new captains ? It > happened to me only once or twice, and I didn't understand why. Just get enough people, set your people to passive, and attack the town. Then the captain will probably come out and will try tobeat you. If he doesn't succeed, and you don't kill him, he will then become a member of your team... (I had three captains to join me on one level... looked really nice...) --- SysOp @ INSIDER -- TT - Atari's answer to the ZX81 !
sysop@insider.zer.sub.org (12/18/90)
> So now we had a complete rewritten disk routines in our new version that do > turn off the drive motor and do check the sector checksum!! How about posting them to a FTP-Server ? Amiga - What else ? | Garry Glendown The Insider HST/V32 0662177923 // | UUCP: cbmvax!cbmger!inside!garry Fido: 2:243/43.999 // | garry@fulmin.rhoen.sub.org Garry@DGIHRZ01.BITNET \X/ | Zerberus: SYSOP@INSIDER.ZER --- SysOp @ INSIDER -- TT - Atari's answer to the ZX81 !
ilios@pro-graphics.cts.com (James Sibley) (12/18/90)
In-Reply-To: message from nad@tegra.COM
In reference to all those informational windows that keep popping up.
All you have to do is right click on the question mark button and they all
disappear. The only problem I have when doing this is when a window is
covering the question mark button. Oh well, at least you can drag them too
like regular Workbench windows...
Just trying to help...
ProLine : ilios@pro-graphics "Nous Sommes Du Soleil"
UUCP : ...crash!pro-graphics!ilios We Are Of The Sun
ARPA/DDN : pro-graphics!ilios@nosc.mil We Can See
Internet : ilios@pro-graphics.cts.com YESpochron@cat28.cs.wisc.edu (David Pochron) (12/19/90)
>In article <86770@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <visconti@gecko.cis.ohio-state.edu> writes: >>The one BIG complaint I have with the game is with the little information >>windows that pop up. They are a pain to get rid of. Trying to close one >>results in one, two, or three others opening all too frequently for me. >>It tends to get annoying. But, the rest of the game is great! When you get all those windows popping up, just click on the "?" command with the right mouse button - all the windows go away! (You don't even need to be in "?" mode to use this feature!) In fact, there are a lot of "right mouse button" features that I did not know of until I re-read the manual! Now, I have a question: Is there anyway to leave men in a town? I know you can recruit them, but not drop them. Also, how do you get them to farm? I don't see any plowed fields appearing. How do you get the men to chase birds? Or even more importantly, kill an enemy carrier pigeon? I've made it 2 or three territories out in all directions, and now I'm stuck because the surrounding territories have around 100 bad guys all after you! (I'm only given 18 at the start of the round!) -- ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- David M. Pochron | from Rescue Rangers, _A Fly in the Ointment_ pochron@garfield.cs.wisc.edu| Gadget to Dale: "Keep the hands off the body!" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
tmclauch@cs.strath.ac.uk (Thomas S McLauchlan CS89) (12/19/90)
In article <1854@harlie.tegra.COM> nad@harlie.UUCP (Nancy Durgin) writes: >In article <86770@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <visconti@gecko.cis.ohio-state.edu> writes: >>The one BIG complaint ... >>windows that pop up. They are a pain to get rid of. Trying to close one >>results in one, two, or three others opening I think it could be that you have selected the _ ? _ icon this means when you try to shut a window it open another information window on someone/thing else. I'm only guessing though :) - Scott Mclauchlan
sysop@insider.zer.sub.org (12/20/90)
> It says in the docs (and is also my observation) that when you click somewhere > for a query, you will often get 3-4 windows, which are all stacked up. What is > probably happening is that you are closing the top window and exposing the > others underneath. Hey, what they probably meant was that there may be several people or things at the same place, so that multiple windows have to come up. But: That thing isn't written too good, which leads to multiple windows containing the SAME information. And, while we're at it, PM has some problem selecting places that lie on a mountain... it often selects points that lie further to the back... Anyway, a nice game (I had 5 extra captains on my table just yesterday, the other two didn't fit anymore!) > Yes, it works on my 3000, but only under 1.3, as far as I can tell. Also, Use `setcpu romboot' and insert PM before it loads 2.0, that will do, too! Amiga - What else ? | Garry Glendown The Insider HST/V32 0662177923 // | UUCP: cbmvax!cbmger!inside!garry Fido: 2:243/43.999 // | garry@fulmin.rhoen.sub.org Garry@DGIHRZ01.BITNET \X/ | Zerberus: SYSOP@INSIDER.ZER --- SysOp @ INSIDER -- TT - Atari's answer to the ZX81 !