mclure@sri-unix (05/16/82)
A bug report from one of our experienced Empire users: I have found that there is a problem with the education implementation in Empire. I have several times received the message, "A class of graduates ...", indicating an educational breakthrough, but the education level of my country, as indicated in the NATION report, has not increased above 0. I am not sure if the level is actually 0; it is possible that the data is correct and the report (i.e. NATION command) is incorrect, but that may not be the case. I just don't know. Without education of course, we cannot make technology, research, nukes. [Note from the Deity. empfix shows the e_level, t_level, r_level, h_level as all being 0.]
rej (05/17/82)
The education bug is well known at Cornell, where we are a few weeks into our first game. It effects not only education, but also tech., happiness, and resurch. The way to beat the bug is just to keep wasting your raw materials. Every so often your education or technology will go up. It seems to work best if you put in a lot of raw materials and let them sit overnight. Having several sectors at work is also helpful. psl knows about this bug and is working on a fix. Are running the game on a VAX? It seems hard for me to believe that this bug could have slipped thru, I am hypothesising that it is VAX related and did not show up when psl tested the program on an 11 (assuming that he did). Of course, I could be all wrong. Empire is an incredibly fascinating game, which is taking much too much of my time. I would really like to see a robot player to keep my people from starving and develop routes. I am playing as part of a team, and the other team member also spends a lot of time figuring out how to make things work. However, all my other work is suffering as I try to keep my head above water and my country in first place. psl is to be congratulated on a diabolical plot to keep graduate students from getting any work done. (Note to people who want to get work done: don't even read the documentation) For those who do not have empire or any of the two dozen or so games psl has written, I believe that it has been some months since anyone gave Peter's net address, which is esqure!psl - thru decvax or harpo, I think. He will tell you what to send and where. Ralph Johnson