carlton@genrad.UUCP (Carl Hommel) (09/26/84)
Today's lesson is about how to get the most out of your limited empire
time (60 min here) and your BTU's.
Never do a census or commod report yourself. It takes too long. Rather,
execute backupdate, taken from this shar script:
(You will need to customize it for your country and password.)
----------------------------------------------------------------------
: to unbundle, "sh" this file -- DO NOT use csh
: SHAR archive format. Archive created Wed Sep 26 18:04:20 EDT 1984
echo x - backupdate
sed 's/^X//' >backupdate <<'+FUNKY+STUFF+'
X#! /bin/csh -fx
Xempire <country> <password> >> backout << __ASDF__
Xexecute cmds/.backupdate
Xbye
X__ASDF__
+FUNKY+STUFF+
ls -l backupdate
echo x - .backupdate
sed 's/^X//' >.backupdate <<'+FUNKY+STUFF+'
Xexec ve.out
Xupdate verbose >update
Xrealm 0 #7
Xmap # >map
Xcensus # >census
Xcommod # >commod
Xbye
+FUNKY+STUFF+
ls -l .backupdate
exit 0
----------------------------------------------------------------------
This will create the files map, census, and commod.
Now execute
ve -c ve.out census commod map
and use the 'a' command from ve to store all the commands you would normally
do in empire. Here are two tricks:
Do not do the following:
mov c 0,0 100 jjjuh *WRONG*
mov m 2,0 50 jugyh *WRONG*
mov f 5,3 120 bbgyh *WRONG*
If one of your mov commands fails (due to a lack of mobility, etc) all of the
mov commands following will be botched. Rather, type:
mov c 0,0 100 jjju
h
mov m 2,0 50 jugy
h
mov f 5,3 120 bbgy
h
This requires that you type two 'a' commands from ve for each move, but
insures that all of them will be processed.
Similarly, delivery directives require two lines:
deliv f -3,1 j (80) *WRONG*
will not work. To deliver all except 80 food from -3,1 to -1,1 type:
deliv f -3,1
j (80)
After you have flogged ve with everything you can think of, go into empire
and say
exec backupdate
Its that simple. If you still have BTU's, leave empire, and play with ve some
more. Iterate until the janitor throws you out, or your wife leaves you.
>From: chuck@dartvax.UUCP (Chuck Simmons)
>My problem is that I'm running out of BTUs. I've got about 700 Civilians
>crammed into my capitol, and I'm running out of BTUs. I update my nation
>twice a day. When I log on, I have all 255 BTUs available. But when
>I log off, I'm out of BTUs, and I still have women and equipment that
>need to be moved.
>From: yee@ucbvax.ARPA (Peter E. Yee)
>I think that you need to consolidate a little. A lot of deliveries is
>liable to drain your BTUs, since you use all of those moves, and things
>I think.
I disagree with Peter. Deliveries do not take BTU's! That is their great
advantage over doing dozens of mov commands. What you need to do is set
up sector clusters, as in the following hypothetical (and unrealistic) example:
map # >map
. . ^ ^ ^ ^ + + . ? ? .
h ^ ^ l ^ m j ^ + + . .
+ m ^ j + t ^ m j + + .
? + j ^ m o g m k d o .
+ + p ^ + u ^ + + . . ?
? c + + + m a + + ? . ?
Here, each iron mine delivers to an adjoining u/j/k, which delivers in turn
to a l/p/t/d. The t/d sectors are also served by o and g sectors.
While sucessful clustering is dependent on natural resources, it is worth
restructuring an empire to cut down on the amount of supervision and BTU's
it takes to keep the wheels of industry moving. Then you can do more important
things, like move ships, enlist people, and attack other countries.
Carl Hommel
Wife: Where did all your BTU's go?
Husband: I accidently contracted civilians in 0,0; and now I can't turn the
contract off or designate a new capital!