jreuter (11/15/82)
We are running "Export version of Sept 26 1981" (not the latest) of empire on our 11/23 2.8bsd system here, and I have discovered some problems. 1) The automatic defence from firing doesn't seem to work (we haven't tried assaults on defended sectors yet) for either ships or forts. We can fire away on ships and forts from ships or forts and we don't get any defensive fire in return! 2) I flew a few plane over a conglomeration of enemy battleships and pt boats (about 50 of them altogether) and found, much to my surprise, that the all fired upon me! After making a few more test flights over these boats, I sat back amused at my discovery. After consulting with my enemy, he informed me that my flight had deplete some of those ships to a NEGATIVE amount of shells, which he then unloaded in tremendous amounts at a nearby harbor (e.g. that negative amount becomes unsigned when unloading). Has anyone else witnessed these? I am really bothered by the lack of defense when being fired upon! Also, what kind of ships are supposed to be able to mine? The documentation is inconsistant, saying in one place that only destroyers can mine, and in another place that d's and heavy cruisers can mine. We haven't been able to make ANYTHING mine! Am I overlooking something? Jim Reuter (decvax!pur-ee!purdue!ncrday!cincy!jreuter)
sjb (11/16/82)
(This applies to Export Version of sometime in 1982 (either March, May, or July)) It is true that (unfortunately) when you fly over enemy territory or ships, every gun that can fire back on you fires one shell. i.e. even if you only fly one plane over and airfield with 999 guns, each gun will fire a shell at you! This totally depletes the reserves of an airfield (and a fleet for that matter!) so that at the loss of a few planes, you can leave your enemy totally helpless. Destroyers and heavy cruisers should be able to mine. Minesweeps are the only ones that can pick mines up (safely, that is!)
mab (11/30/82)
In my empire playing, I have encountered some bugs which can change the
output of the game DRASTICALLY. Here's a summary:
1: It is possible to make infinite amounts of certain commodities at no cost
other than BTU's
2: Any sector with 50 military, no guns and no shells can, in a two step
process, take on and defeat a fort with 999 military, 999 guns, and 999
shells, even if the fort's country has a 100% tech factor (or close).
3: The time limit of 60 or 120 minutes can be virtually disabled.
4: Nuclear wastelands can be re-used.
I'm not going to tell you how to use these bugs, I intend to only
let you know they exist so you can tell if someones cheating...
Hint for #4: there's other means for taking a sector than 'move'...
I'd like to hear about any other -important- bugs, not just trivial
things.