TWGS v1.029 Released by mk

The TWGS beta center has released a new Beta of TWGS. Here are a few of the new changes: Optimized menu display code. Added Total Server Connections, a value that tracks connections since the server first went online. Under Configure, Server, you may specify the number of connections to start tallying from (in case there was a reinstall) as well as the start date for tallying. Login name is now required in TWGS (gameop configurable). You can enable this requirement in Configure, Settings, Require Login name. It defaults to OFF. Limpet mines no longer turn rogue if abandoned. Rogue limpets are not consistent with the game’s design. In other words, a rogue limpet has no function since it cannot be tracked. Added player’s IP address to the sysop log. Enabled Trade Wars Turbo support.

Stories retired by mk

The TW Stories has been permanently retired to the Articles section.

Saturday, April 29, 2000

New IP for the home sector by mk

The Home sector had an IP change to 24.30.120.240. It will take a while until everyone’s DNS updates the regular address.

Ha ha ha…*cough* by mk

Timberwolf thinks he’s funny. no, really: Mana Knight just learned how to copy and paste!! OH WOW!! The man has talents we never knew he had. He copied the below article regarding the BOTE and pasted to his website cuz he claimed he had to take a test and therefore did not have time to write his own article ..” Ok Seinfeld, Ha ha ha…No. I’d really think you’d be working on your roof instead of your webpage. Somehow I don’t think that Practicing your “Mad r00fing skillz” is going to win you the WTC.

TW Turbo Announced by mk

Go see it. You’re still here? Go. Thoughts: Looks good! What impact will this have on the players? I can’t imagine anyone using a broadband connection like Cable or DSL would see any real improvement if they’re playing from a fast server. However, they should see improvements if they’re playing from a slower server. 56k users should be improvements no matter where they play. But the main impact will be on the servers themselves. Fast servers will probably see little improvement with their speed. But the program would still signifigantly lower the bandwidth usage and help out the slower ones. Will it lower CPU usage? I don’t know, but it looks like it should. I’m really interested to if I would be able to have 10 people on a server that runs off a 56k modem. A server running from a cable modem could have a tournament with 100 people on it simotaniously. Possible? Maybe.

Friday, April 28, 2000

Interview with the John Pritchett… with more spelling errors! by mk

John Pritchett who now owns Tradewars, was kind enough to take a few minutes from his work at McDonald’s to give me a interview. Read Part 1. Part 2 will be posted whenever. Read on as you learn how John gets a job at Martech: By destroying Gary Martin’s car! If you don’t want to read it now, then you’re lying to yourself!

Thursday, April 27, 2000

BOTE – um, yay? by mk

The BOTE 2000 has been announced. Since it doesn’t have a webpage and I have a test in a hour, I’ll just take what someone else said: “The BOTE (Battle of the Elite) is a tournament in which many top TW game servers and BBS’s send their best players. It will be held at Fament this year on July 4(subject to change). I would like to send a team to respresent Intergate and will hold a closed tryout game on May 13 (5K sectors, 1K turns, stock ships and planets) as I will be playing in it as well and evaluating players to choose the team. To play,just show up. It will be a closed game but I will have already added intergate regulars to the list and even if I do forget someone, I will be online at big bang and for a bit afterwards to add anyone i may forget. I want to see players kick each other’s asses and how you perform in actual game situations. Also I want to see how you behave attitude-wise. That means, no whining..no bitching..no swearing.. you lose ,be a good sport..I want us to show some class in the BOTE even if we get our pods handed to us. Next year , the BOTE 2001 will be held at Intergate so wouldnt it be cool to bring the BOTE title to Intergate where we can defend the title on our home turf next year. :)” With some luck, the BOTE is hoping to get Gatoraid to sponsor the event. Also in the works is the BOTE Tri-Lypithon channel witch will offer 3 channels of BOTE action. Call your cable operator for more information!

Guardian updates, News at 11. by mk

Guardian announced that for the first time in 26 days, he UPDATED HIS PAGE. Let’s take a look at why he didn’t update: 1) I have fallen for someone and you know what that means … TW usually gets put on hold. I wouldn’t know about that, so I can’t comment. 3) Was on Vacation on the 9th – 15th of this month If you consider working on your webpage actual “Work” and not “Goofing off” like everyone else in this country, I’d probably agree with that. But since you consider it “Work”, I’d like to see what your boss says if he ever caught you updating. I can see it now: “Ho peon, what are you doing?” “I’m updating my web page sir!” “Good work! Keep it up and you’ll be promoted!” Or maybe because you DON’T update your page at work like everyone else is the reason you don’t update. Hell, even >I< was on vacation, and still did things on this page. It wasn’t updating, but I was working on two features which you might be able to see before the universe ceases to exist if John ever returns my mail. (Hint, Hint)

Tuesday, April 25, 2000

Tachyon released by mk

I did a small post about Tachyon last month. It’s a graphical space trading game taking elements from TW. It’s been released and the extra month seems to have helped the reviews. There’s one at https://www.dailyradar.com/reviews/game_review_666.html Since it didn’t completely blow, it looks like I’ll be buying it to give you people a review myself instead of Thief II. The things I do for you people….

Monday, April 24, 2000

I’m talkin’ bout some PHAT Rosaries, fool! by mk

I’ve possibly found the greatest online comic strip ever: Sinfest. This episode has touched me in a way no woman ever can. Here’s a quote: “GENESIS – and when he created the ‘Hood, the almighty Bro-God sparked up a Phat Doobie and said: “That’s Some Kind Shit!”

Wednesday, April 19, 2000

What a sad sad little newsgroup…. by mk

“So Sad, so strange, the egroups that is no more….” -Lord Tennyson egroups, (also now known as “the little usenet”) has recently had two groups fighting for control: The people bitching about the TW awards and the people bitching about the people bitching about the TW awards. It’s quickly become the most outrageous argument this side of Barefoot. If I were to compare this with movies, it would be the same as asking which one had the greater philosophical meaning: Monty Python and the Holy Grail or Strange Brew? Before you even think of sending me hate mail calling me a hypocrit, I state it now: I don’t give a damn that I didn’t win Eleq’s award. I posted what I did because I thought it was funny. But What ever happened to the egroups that was coherent most of the time? It’s been completely obliterated, much like my virginity should be by now. Unfortunatelly, not everything goes as planned.

I need some new ideas to put up in the titles by mk

Boo!! “We r0x0r j00” Inc has announced they’re joining the twleague. I’d add witty commentary here except I’m too sleep deprived to say any….Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz

The dictionary knows him well by mk

I looked up the term egotist in the dictionary today and came up with this: e·go·tist n. 1.A conceited, boastful person. Also see: Eleqtrizi’T

Tuesday, April 18, 2000

The 3rd annual Awards now listed by mk

The official 3rd annual awards have now gotten totaled and the winners announced. Congrats on all who won…and didn’t complain! I’d post my own snippy commentary, but it seems a lot of people have already done that for me. If you don’t agree with the award, then just join the bitchfest on egroups.

Sunday, April 16, 2000

HS announces…um, more awards. by mk

Eleqtrizi’T has announced his own brand of justice to be released upon the gaming public: The Home Sector Awards. Since Nobody cares who’s the best TWGS gameop, (Sorry Timberwolf, who loves ya?) I’ll just skip to the only category that matters: BEST WEBSITE – Dragon’s Elite This one tore me up. How can I even THINK about giving the award to anyone but Mana Knight? But fact is Mana Knight keeps wasting his life in school instead of giving us website updates. Plus, Guardian has the coveted guides of Shell’s that I was trying to get. Bastard. This decision comes after the epifany that Eleq actually, “put a lot of thought into this.” I think it’d be pretty easy to give me the award, and I didn’t even have to think about it. Simply replace all refrences of Guardian with Mana Knight and “wasting his life in school” with “answering the call of his midlife crisis” and you got a winner. Here’s how the description should have looked: This one tore me up. How can I even THINK about giving the award to anyone but Guardian? But fact is Guardian keeps answering the call of his midlife crisis instead of giving us website updates. Plus, Mana’s great skills destroyed me in the last tradewars game we played. Bastard. As far as Wasting my life away at school, next time you have to program a linked list within a linked list within a linked list that is dynamically allocated, feel free to give me a call. So go back to writing those articles about Britney Spears for wherever it is you work at and we’ll see how well you do after I take over the entertainment industry. At least I have my own TV show.

Ah, the mad bomber returns by mk

It’s been a pretty slow weekend, but egroups got mailbombed yesterday, so I guess everything is back to normal.

Thursday, April 13, 2000

Speaking of domain names…. by mk

Ironically enough, The TWleague announced that they had just bought https://www.twleague.com and https://www.twleague.org. Why two domain names? I don’t know. But you can now get a snazy @twleague.org mail address or if you’re really r33t, you can get a @twleague.com addy. Ooooh. Note to self: Add supportive comment here.

Tuesday, April 11, 2000

Let’s talk about Domain names. by mk

I really hate the way Domain names are handled. Especially more so since potentially usable ones will just sit in the hands of domain name squatters looking to make a buck. Since the beginning of time, Tradewars.com (And more recently Tradewars.net also) has been held by people who don’t use it. Domain name squatters. Tradewars.com is most recently held by DNSbank, and a few months ago, the whois information said it was owned by tucows. That’s right, the site that rates downloadable software held it. William Smith who first came by a few months ago (Who will only be refered to as ‘Will Smith’ from now on since they both have the same size egos) tried to save tradewars but failed. However, his legacy lives on since his company registered tradewars2002.com, .net, and .org. Thanks buddy, your really helping us by taking these names. Who really needs three domains for one tradewars/TWGS site that still hasn’t materialized? More importantly, why does a company need a .org address? What pisses me off is that these domains are just SITTING. sure, they could be used for the greater good, but that would mean that greed would have to go out the window. There’s a simple solution in my book: simply make a bill that disallows the selling of domain names for more than what was originally paid for it. This usually amounts to a whole $75. While this won’t keep all the selling from stopping, it will be a big deterent and will stop people who sell their domains to big corporations for a million dollars. (Which has happened) I got my domain, good luck to the rest of you.

Monday, April 10, 2000

New TWGS revision released by mk

The latest version is 1.01.28.1947.274672.621687487778b or something like that. Here’s what “fixed:” Located several minor bugs in the mail system. These bugs were responsible for the mail file lockups that required that TWMAIL.DAT be deleted. Mail file corruption should be much less common after .28. Removed mail maximum until further notice. Previously, I had imposed a 1000 message maximum per player. I want to see how the system functions over the coming months without this maximum. Fixed bug that allowed non-corp players to escape the Interdictor Cruiser of other non-corp players during an attack. With all these gameplay bugs being fixed, how am I supposed to compete with people who don’t use bugs?

A strange, quiet week by mk

It’s been strangely quiet the past few days. Bad Girl hasn’t been flirting with anyone, and Egroups is actually NOT acting like a “Usenet group, but sent to your mailbox.” Isn’t this one of the signs of the apocalypse? But Eleq is still asking for donations so not everything has changed. Everyone has a hobby, I guess.

Thursday, April 6, 2000

We’re shutting down? Hee Hee by mk

If you haven’t figured it out yet, The Post I made on April 1st was an…April Fools joke. Imagine that. However, Tradewars.org will be closed for a while. It’s my 21st Birthday today, so I will not be making updates until I run out of money.

Mr. T Takes over EIS Tradewars Forum! by mk

That’s right sucka…er, People! Mr. T invaded EIS today. CLick here for the full story!

Wednesday, April 5, 2000

3rd Annual TW Awards by mk

The voting has begun on the 3rd Annual TW awards has begun! Let your voice be heard, because the old people ALWAYS vote, and you younger ones need to keep up! The voting process is very steamlined. Just vote for random people in every category until you reach Best Webpage. In that one, you vote for tradewars.org. Yes, Simplicity is good.

Tuesday, April 4, 2000

Your chance to bother John Prichett! by mk

I’ll be conducting an interview with John Prichett next week about…stuff. Anyway, I’m looking for people to send in any questions they might have about Tradewars, Cerial, or whatever. I’ll take the best ones and have John answer them….weather he wants to or not. Send your questions to mk@tradewars.org

New release of ATTAC now available by mk

After waiting, waiting, then waiting some more, a new version of ATTAC, a TCP-IP baised helper has been released! Here’s a few highlights: 1. Redid CIM to be faster 2. Cleaned up code to speed CIM up and rewrote code to process evil ports 3. Above 2 changes result in a 30% speedup of CIM processing based on a 5k sector universe completely explored 4. Added Buy Planetary Shields as a form the CIM speedup is a godsend. I remember the CIM before taking over ten minutes to proccess a 20k sector game on my Celeron 366. Taking a look at the Dev history, it also looks like the ZTM has been improved. Quick note: If you registered ATTAC already, you need to contact Earth to get new reg codes.

Now for some real news…. by mk

Sorry for lack of updates since Saturday, but I only have access to this page through the “usefull” university servers. For the two of you who didn’t hear yet, EIS has bought out the rights from Gary Martin (Martech). Read it. Basically, this now puts John Prichett in charge. Before, John had specific rules to go through when designing the TWGS version and had to go through Gary Martin for any new version of the Door version, which is why the Door is far far behind TWGS. Garry Martin seems like he would more or less like to fall off the face of the earth, much like the author of TWHelp. More importantly, John now has the Name of tradewars 2002. This was also mentioned on Slashdot (Thanks to Earth for the link)

Saturday, April 1, 2000

Tradewars.org to cease operations by mk

This has been a while coming. As of next thursday, April 6th, Tradewars.org will cease operations. I’m sure you are all asking, “What are you doing! Stop messing with our minds, man!” The truth of the matter is that I lead two lives. “Joel Gonzales” who attends college at the University of Louisiana is my pseudonym. He doesn’t exist. My real name is Steve Burns. I host Blue’s Clues, which can be seen five days a week on Nick Jr. I used the other name simply as a cover as I like my privacy. Now on to the reason I’m quitting: as it stands, one Blue’s Clues episode takes five months of work to complete. (Multiple episodes are done at the same time) However, my role in each episode will be increasing and I no longer have the time to run this site. On the left is a picture I sent to Cruncher. On the right is a picture of myself. It’s suprising no one has sent me an email saying, “You look like that guy from Blue’s Clues!” Maybe it’s because I’m wearing a hat. Next, I will be selling the tradewars.org domain for $75 (The price I paid for it) under the following conditions: a) The Home Sector is unaffected b) I keep the mk@tradewars.org email address If you are interested, contact me. Lastly, I’ll be making my goodbyes on Thursday.

Seems everyone’s favorite Tradewars forum Troll, Barefoot has once again been making posts boarding on the “Who cares?” side of things.

But alas, the real reason I post this is the fact that he mouthed off to Cruncher for no reason. That’s right, he mouthed off to everyone’s favorite Pixie and completely destroyed her virginity. Alas poor Cruncher, for I knew thee well.

It’s sad really. She had just gotten a 15″ monitor and was about to experience the web like it should be too….

William Smith has made a post about how the human spirit survives where nothing else can.

Ok, not really. Instead, he claims that Eleqtrizi’T has “slandered” his company. You know, the one nobody knows exists. I don’t see how it’s possible to slander a company nobody cares about anyway. If you were on egroups two months ago, you might remember that this is the same person who jumped in from out of nowhere and claimed he would save the Tradewars community from…something. He told us this through a Press Release that he got out of a cerial box.

It’s these kind of people that make me want to Kill myself. Oh, and if you want to sue me Mr. Smith, here’s $5. That’s my total wealth.

If you’ve ever wanted to see an episode of Jerry Springer, you have to look no further than Egroups.

Lucas Aparently did something, and then frogman did something. Then they threw chairs at each other after they revealed they were cheating on each other with Midgets that were leading their own KKK faction. (I’d normally post a link to the messages, but after doing a search for “Mon Feb 28, 2000” and getting dates for Febuary 13th, 15th, 19th, and 23rd, I’ve given up on Egroup’s search engine.)

Now for the Springer Final thought:
“Can’t we all just get along?”

I’ve been informed that Cruncher actually does have a monitor that supports 800×600 (She can actually play Starcraft now) Since I have no intention of drinking tonight unless I find someone’s ATM card on the street, I’m changing the last line of the drinking game:

If Bad Girl ever stops flirting, drink till your stomach needs to be pumped!

Have a bottle of Jack you don’t know what to do with? Put it to something constructive, the Tradewars Drinking game!

Everytime….
Extern runs in TWGS, take a drink.
The Egroups forum is mailbombed, take two drinks.
Space Ghost dies, take a sip. (These add up, so don’t worry)
Saint wins a Good vs Evil game, chug it.
St. Trizi’T‘s Ego is bigger than his head, take a sip.
Someone makes 50 dupes and flies them to your q-cannons, take a drink.
Barefoot makes an idiotic comment, take a sip.
Hekate updates her page, chug it.

And lastly,
If Cruncher ever gets a monitor that supports 800×600, drink till you pass out!

Gotta love that Barefoot Guy who hangs out on the EIS Forum. In his latest Act of Stupidity, (one of Many mind you) He once again shows his suprior intellect. At least St. Trizi’T and friends have finally Made a Pact to ignore him. Damn Right! Hopefully, Barefoot will never pass on his/her Genes, thereby making Humanity a little less stupid.

Maybe I should just change this page into a rant site.

The Conquest of Fament
By: Lord Chaos

Throughout history, conquerors have been the chroniclers. As the only literate person on the Black Knights, it has fallen to me to put finger to keyboard and generate electronic representations of letters, or more colloquially, to put cyber-pen to cyber-paper. The following is a true account of the Black Knight’s rise to dominance.

NOT SO LONG AGO, ON A BBS FAR, FAR AWAY!!!

On the far off desert planet of Maverooine, a lone farm boy was contemplating vaperators, and joining the Academy to become a fighter pilot like the father who had abandoned him so many years ago, one Captain Zyrain. His name was Maverick, and his one trustworthy companion and friend on that planet was none other than Artemis, who some considered a vile peddler of smut, but who was actually a simple hedonist supporting a porn addiction. Hiring a seedy smuggler named Captncaveman, a mutant with enormous tufts of hair and a gift for foul-language, the duo escaped their desolation and set off on a journey that would lead them to high adventure.

Unbeknownst to this small group, on another planet, at the other side of the Galaxy were a trio of people who were idealists at heart but wore the mask of cynicism. They were members of a secret, covert, clandestine operation (shhhh…) meant to overthrow the reigning corporate structures, a vile conglomeration known as the Killbillies and Cementpond. This small strike force had managed to steal plans to an awesome battlestation these two corps, commonly known as Conglomerate, were constructing in low orbit around a moon that circled a planet in a system whose sector numbers cannot be posted due to ethical and legal difficulties. These brave souls held the names Dax the Hammer (known for his dancing abilities), Dstorm the Hauler (able to lift large things by the single pound), and Lord Chaos the Stealer (who later changed his name to escape a large bounty placed on his head by the deceitful Bajja the Ttuh but then changed it back because of peer pressure). All they needed was the manpower and dedication to make use of the hard-earned data.

That these two seeming disparate groups of people would join together in an attempt to free the universe seemed to be an impossible dream. Yea, and soon after combining their meager resources, the evil, rash, ill-tempered, sadistic, genocidal, patricidal, fratricidal, take-the-last-freezie-pop-sort- a-people…well, mean Conglomerate launched an offensive, scattering the newly formed Black Knights to the stellar winds. Not soon after, the aggressive Captncaveman met his doom in a battle against some thirty other people, 29 of whom he dispatched before succumbing. Was there no hope? Could there be a New Hope? Keeping these questions at the forefront of their minds, our brave heroes persevered, suffering scheduling difficulties, alignment difficulties, personality difficulties, non-appreciative CEO difficulties…until they met a young man who, while a child on the far flung planet of Dangit, had heard about the glorious feats the Black Knights had accomplished, and chose to take their name, honoring them with his very being. Thus it was that Black Knight one dark and seemingly dismal day fulfilled a life-long dream and joined the valiant corporation.

And yea the merchant freighters began to stream in, supporting the superhuman stealing efforts of Maverick, Artemis, and Lord Chaos, now called Goose but only temporarily. The word was money and the money was good. But did our saintly, nigh-perfect twarriors indulge in decadence and depravity with their newfound wealth? Of course they did, but they also kept their sights on the goal. Victory, and freedom for all! Yet still the setbacks came like a dam bursting forth. A sinister, amoral, make-comments-about-a-person’s-mother- type corporation, with members named for planets discovered early in man’s flight to the stars, continually pummeled the non-self-aggrandizing Black Knights, harassing other innocent corporations, forcing a once proud group known as the Jamrock Posse to seek shelter under the Conglomerate’s leathery wing. These rogues, thank The Everly Brothers and/or the Right Brothers (whichever one wrote “You Lost That Loving Feeling”), mercifully did not limit their onslaught to the brave resistance fighters, and equally disrupted the Conglomerate’s normal operations until one day…they just disappeared. Where did they go? Some say they had made enough money to buy a planet at the Galaxy’s edge, and now live the lives of quiet farmers, tending to livestock and feeding horses. We may never know.

A lull seemed to suddenly settle over the Galaxy, and attention was then paid to the various warring alien factions, the Gorn, the Arachnid, and the forever-annoying Ferrengi. Stardock itself changed hands. Traders did well to keep to their bubbles, not straying too far outside their known space. Among those who survived these trying and desperate times was the infamous, yet disturbingly non-aggressive Zoobar, from the nomadic tribe the Rogue Nation, and Adomma, fearless leader of a rag tag group of…well, you know that story. The Black Knights took this time to marshal their forces, waiting for the right time to strike. And then the day came…

The Black Knights received word that Grannie herself would be stepping foot on the battlestation, and that a well planned, if horribly executed, strike may well end the Conglomerate’s hold over the universe forever. The Black Knights assembled. Their faces were grave with knowledge of this all or nothing effort they were about to put forth. Unafraid, they dove into the fray. At first it was just Red Squadron, then Black Knight arrived, as though plucked exactly from “Sorry-I-Over-Slept,” a little known area of hyperspace. Taking losses equivalent to what they expected, indeed, what they planned for, the former underdogs managed to rip a hole down the body of the Conglomerate. And inside the carcass, they found the twisted remains of the Jamrock Posse, whom they quickly and compassionately disposed of with post-haste and speed.

Ascendancy was at hand. Now our group only need reestablish order among the few remaining groups left to secure a balance, to restore order, to bring freedom to a once oppressed universe. Zoobar remained as the one and only hold-out, seeking to subvert glory and good-taste by resisting the Black Knights, taunting them with his very presence. What were our heroes to do? Their resources low, spirits spent, they managed to reach down and grasp that very last bit of motivation and strength, and, indeed, rallied to eliminate the last and only threat. Zoobar was dead. A silly ewok song played across cyberspace.

Digest Version, Compiled from the Chaos History,
XXMNXMNIIIVII

Just kidding, folks. A great game, and we Black Knights bow humbly to Cruncher, Jake, Macahan, Queen, Hobbs, Renegade, Talara, Jfk, Jason, Bob Hovey, Havok, Bladerunner, Taipan, Snakey, Zoobar, and everyone else in the game. That was a lot of fun!

Any resemblance or similarities with any productions associated with Lucas Arts, or Lucas Art’s productions is purely coincidental. The names and characters of those involved have not been changed because the families involved probably won’t read this.

Tradewars.org’s Quotes page Note: This page contains some PG-13 material.

“here’s the team for TW2000, me, (darkhawk), mana knight, eleqtrizi’t. God of programing, god of bandwidth, god of news, self-proclaimed god of tw”
-The Real Saluki

“I once got a blow job while playing TW. That has to rank in the top 5 for sure!”
-Eleq

“IP MASK ARMED”
– Barnhill

“The Early dupe gets the worm.”
-Theguru

“Just when you thought ren was the biggest asshole, here comes Nik.”
-The Real Saluki

“check out this quote from one of the link pages…..Home Sector – Home Of TW2002 Legend EleqTrizi`T”
-Eleq’s Ego

“I read an earlier post about Evolution being in Canada. So I guess the name is sort of ridiculous.”
-Eleq

“WHAT FRAMES?!?! YOU?!?! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA”
-Eleqtrizi’T, after hearing about new site design using Frames (Did I prove him wrong or what?)

“hey, i didn’t know you moved *smile*”
-Micro, a month after the site moved.

“ohohoh…..Gypsy stole my title!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I’m gonna SUE!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
-Hekate

“I GOT CODINE AND IT ROCKS”
-Snake

“HVS suxs, Microsoft suxs, and Attac suxs”
-Nik

“If Roy Rogers is dead, who will make my hamburger?”
-Hosem

“You should master an easy program language first….like, ummmm…HTML.”
-Gypsy to Eleqtrizi’T

“is that how you come up with those sucky ass grafix, drink another beer till it looks good?”
-Gypsy to Eleqtrizi’T

Inductee #1: Librarian, Majornet Moderator

What was Happening:

Majornet, an interBBS network for MBBS systems, was always a place where players could talk about diffrent strategies, new games, or Tradewars in general. Many players chose this network over the Tradewars Forum.
Franz (A.K.A. Librarian) was one of the two forum Moderators left for Majornet.

What the Hell Went Wrong?

While there are no doubt that there will always be arguments, one person in particular (Who will remain anonymous) did nothing but flame people in the forum and call them various names. When Jake brought this person to Librarian’s attention, he didn’t ban him from Majornet as one might think.

Instead, Librarian started spamming the tradewars forum with the Marjornet rules. (It seems that Libraian didn’t even read the tradewars forum before the incident.) Many people made posts responding to Librarian asking him to stop spamming, but Librarian singled out Kurt’s Spirit (Who was posting from Fament) for unknown reasons and asked Jake to remove his Majornet access. Jake refused, and Librarian took away Fament’s feed to Majornet for 30 days. Later, Gypsy posted his views about the ordeal from azi.com, and Azi also lost their access for 30 days. Banning someone for voicing their opinions against the moderator? Looks like your doing a great job librarian. Keep up the Red Star work.

While both Azi and Fament now have their access back, the Tradewars majornet Forum has taken a heavy toll for it. Unfortunatelly, the Traffic in the Majornet TW forum has dropped, and I doubt it will regain it’s former popularity anytime soon.

Inductee #2: High Velocity Software

What was supposed to Happen:

At this point in time, the internet was just starting to take over, and more and more local BBSes were shutting down in favor of ISPs and the larger multi-node MBBS Systems. Since the Door version of TW didn’t support Multi-player, Martech was looking for someone willing to make a port of Tradewars that had Multi-player support, and worked with MBBS, which almost all multi-node BBSes were running. HVS was eventually given this job, and it looked like Tradewars was about to enter a new era.

What the Hell Went Wrong?

This should have been a no-brainer for HVS. One has to wonder if they had a special department who’s only job was to figure out (As Next Generation puts it) how to steal Defeat from the Jaws of Victory.

As most of you have played the MBBS version of Tradewars, you’re probably very aware of the problems. Almost every release (If not EVERY Release) had at least one bug which could screw up the entire game if only one or two people used it. The Bugs ranged from Infinite Credits, to an easy way to destroy StarDock. My personal take on this, I have to wonder if HVS ever even did slight testing for bugs. In one version of MBBS TW, when selling a ship with a TWARP-1, the computer automaticaly assumed that it was a TWARP-2 instead, and allow you to make infinate credits. How hard would it be to spot that bug?!?!?

The main reason HVS was chosen for this port was because they had an extensive background in MBBS Software Development. Martech didn’t have any. This gives no excuse, not that there is ever an excuse, to have constant buggy releases. HVS also waisted their time with features nobody ever asked for such as the ability to turn SST off. Add a questionable cost, (Although in their defence, the price would be justified if we didn’t get half-a**ed releases.) there’s little doubt that more than a few people have left Tradewars after losing months of work to a bug user.

Now that TWGS is out, we can finally expect some great releases to look forward to.

Former Inductee: Rippers BBS

What was supposed to Happen:

or a Year or two, Rippers had fallen out of the TW BBS race. Larry Drum’s BBS had Turned more into a local ISP and as a result, less of Larry’s time was dedicated to TW. But, Rippers was sold off to another ISP, and with a lot of freeded up time, Larry was ready to Rumble. With Stardock having been down for more than a year, it was ripe for another Free TW BBS to come into the scene, and was even asked to join the TW WebRing.

hat the Hell Went Wrong?

ote: (2/2/99) Rippers has reorganized itself and made some changes, so it is no longer an “official” Hall of Shame inductee,” but it will remain here as a reminder of what to be carefull of when appointing a staff for a bbs. Help them out in rebuilding their tradewars games!

Unfortunatelly, During the First game, one of Ripper’s Game Moderators was found using T-Edit to create funds for his Corporation. After this information came to light, Rippers was removed from the TW Web Ring. While some will argue that this was an honest mistake, another Rippers sysop was found cheating AGAIN, in the next Tradewars game! The First Sysop cheating should have told Larry that the Rippers staff needed some reorganization. However, it looks like Ripper’s reputation may be tarnished beyond repair.