A: Generally, StarCluster works like most other PBM games: you submit commands by sending emails to the game server, and then you receive a turn report every time the game has been updated. (As long as the deadline for the update hasn't been passed, you can always send in new orders if you change your mind. The server will use the last set of orders submitted before the deadline.)
The individual games, which are what you actually participate in when you play, are referred to as `campaigns'. Within a campaign, you control a small empire in a remote star cluster, and have the task of making it the major force in the cluster.
Refer to the Player's Manual for more information about how the game works in general.
A: Watch the StarCluster Home Page for announcements for new campaigns. Instructions for how to join a game will appear together with the announcement. Usually, you will be told to send an email with a subject line of `APPLY FOR CAMPAIGN ccc' (except that `ccc' should be the name of the campaign) to the game server.
A: It depends on the campaign. Twice a week is the normal speed, but there may be slow campaigns that are only updated once a week, and fast campaigns that are updated three or more times per week. The twice-per-week campaigns are usually updated on Mondays and Thursdays, with order deadlines somewhere between 15:00 GMT and 18:00 GMT. (The actual update may not happen until some hours later, and the game server may accept new orders past the deadline if the update process hasn't started.)
A: PBM games are often divided into two categories (computer-moderated and human-moderated) depending on whether a game server does most of the work or whether it requires a significant amount of manual work for the game administrator. StarCluster is mainly computer-moderated, but with some human intervention (mainly for providing `news bulletin' and `rumours' sections in the turn report, but these are not always present in every turn report, and are sometimes computer-generated).
A: It depends. Right now (October 2001), there's only one StarCluster server, since the game is still being developed, so there's only one site and one administrator, who can be reached at <leif+pbmadmin@lysator.liu.se>. In the future, the game may be released as some kind of free software, and then you may have to check the home page of the particular server you're using to find out who administrates it.
A: StarCluster has been running its regular updates on automatic since summer 2000, and there has been no need to take any drastic measures (such as recalling a turn update and redo it) since some in the autumn of 1999. There tends to be one or two "bumps in the road" each year, such as an update being unexpectedly prevented due to big upgrades, or "disk full" situations, but there has never been any significant loss of data due to this.
New features are occasionally added, but aside from minor additions such as a new type of ship, equipment or installation, this has only happened a couple of times in the last years. In April 2003, the game got a web interface, the game government types (which had been available for show for a long time) started mattering a bit, and a kind of movable minefields were introduced in the game.
A: The basic rules for how the game works are in the Player's Manual. More general rules for proper behaviour apply, but they're a bit hard to describe in detail since the subject by its nature is a bit vague. However, here's a few clarifications of a few possibly unclear points that have come up previously:
A: Watch the StarCluster Home Page for announcements for new campaigns. Instructions for how to join a game will appear together with the announcement. Usually, you will be told to send an email with a subject line of `APPLY FOR CAMPAIGN ccc' (except that `ccc' should be the name of the campaign) to the game server.
A: You can look at an old turn report at
The details may have changed a bit since then, but the style, layout, and contents in general is largely the same.A: Just where they stop, each turn. Ships travel through hyperspace, where the regular scan equipment doesn't work.
A: That depends. Most ships automatically collects one unit of fuel (actually, fusible material, but the game metaphorically refers to it as if it were liquid fuel) from space every turn, no matter what. If the ship has special equipment to collect fuel (such as the "fuelscoop" available on techlevel 1), it collects fuel faster. Some special ships collect more than one unit of fuel per turn even without special equipment. (And `Probe' ships don't collect any fuel by themselves.)
When located in a friendly system with a fuel depot or other installations capable of providing fuel, the ship is also refuelled faster. How much faster depends on how much fuel is available in the system. Typically, ships try to get one fuel unit if there is any fuel unit available, another if there is more than one fuel unit left after that, a third if there is more than two fuel units left after taking the second, and fourth if there is more than three left after taking the third, and so on. The order in which the ships are refuelled is more or less random.
If there is plenty of fuel in a system, ships belonging to players you have declared `friend' or `ally' will also be given some fuel, although not as much as your own ships.
Some special ships (such as the `Starbase') can transfer fuel to other ships in the same sector; this happens automatically when the ship has more fuel than roughly the amount it needs to travel its maximum distance in one turn.
A: Generally, no. A few ships have a special `fuel transfer' ability which allows (automatic) transfer of fuel to other ships when the transferring ship has more than enough fuel to fly its maximum range the next turn. Another trick is to unload fuel from a ship with the `unfuel' command, and then use `refuel' to give it to another ship; however, a bit of fuel is lost in the process, and the ships have to be in a sector with enough unused fuel storage capacity to hold the fuel between the `unfuel' and `refuel' commands.
A: That depends on the ship type, but most normal ships cost 1 RU to maintain if they are not in a friendly system at the end of a turn, and another 1 RU if they moved during the turn. Special ships may cost a few more RU to maintain.
The exact maintenance costs depend on campaign configuration, which can differ from one campaign to another, so it is impossible to give an exact answer here. Use the `describe' command to get the information about ship abilities and requirements in the campaign you play.
A: No. The ship is built during the turn, while other ships move.
A: No, all research is accumulated, and any `excess' research done during one turn will carry over into the next turn.
A: The players sort of know where all the stars are, but every star isn't relevant -- only the ones with usable planet systems really matter. So, the systems that show up on the map as you explore the cluster are not newly discovered stars, but previously known stars which you have just discovered to have usable planets.
A: It's decided randomly; usually, one player succeeds and the others fail. In some (rather rare) cases, everyone fails, but this usually only happens if something else (such as battles) interferred with the colonization process.
A: You generally can't put more than one unit of the exact same type on the same ship, but you can you put different units with similar effects on the same ship. If you do this, the effect depends on what the unit does. Units that enhance attack or defence ability are additive, that is, a +1 and a +2 unit gives a +3 effect together. The same goes for fuel storage capacity. For speed, scan and fuel gathering, only the highest individual rating counts.
A: Declare them `enemy' (with `declare EMPIRE as enemy', or the abbreviated form `enemy EMPIRE'), and all your ships will automatically fight theirs whenever they encounter them. Conquest of enemy systems will also happen automatically whenever possible.
A: This is already partly covered by the "How does diplomacy work in the game?" question above, but focusing on the particular diplomacy levels, the following things can be noted:
`Enemy': your ships will attack when they encounter systems and ships belonging to someone you've declared enemy, or who has declared you enemy.
`Neutral': no special effects.
`Friend': ships and systems belonging to someone who has declared you `friend' will be `friendly' in terms of providing some basic assistance in terms of refuelling and repairing ships when there is capacity available that isn't used by that player's own ships and systems. The most important effect of this is that your ships cost 1 RU less to maintain if they're in a friendly system.
`Ally': same as friend, except that players who have mutually declared each other allies cannot change diplomatic status to `enemy' in a single turn.
Lastly, the ability to use another player's jumpgates is determined by what the diplomatic level the player has chosen with the `jumpgate policy' option. The default is `friend'.
Refer to the game documentation for more details.
A: Deliver it to a research facility, and your scientists will try to figure out what it is and how it works. Eventually, you will get a report about it (in the `Technology Report' section of your turn report). This may take a few turns, especially if the thing is of alien origin or is of a high techlevel.
Once you're scientists have manage to identify an object, they will leave it alone if it is an object you can already build yourself. If it isn't, they will proceed to pick it apart, trying to figure out how to build one. This may or may not be successful, and whether successful or not, the object may be destroyed in the process.
Some objects, particularly objects described as an `alien computer', will rarely lead to any specific technological discoveries, but will give a general research boost (i.e. bring you closer to the next techlevel) when disassembled.
A: You generally can't put more than one unit of the exact same type on the
same ship, but you can you put different units with similar effects on
the same ship. If you do this, the effect depends on what the unit does.
Units that enhance attack or defence ability are additive, that is, a +1
and a +2 unit gives a +3 effect together. The same goes for fuel storage
capacity. For speed, scan and fuel gathering, only the highest
individual rating counts.
A: It makes it possible to produce more fuel in the system. To take advantage of this, you need to build a `fuel refinery' installation.
A: The `ore' resource represents an above-average presence of basic material resources in the system. By building a `mining station' installation, you can increase the system's income by several RU per turn.
A: Nothing until you've developed the `enegry crystals' technology, which will then allow you to build highly efficient scanners, as well as power plants that increase both fuel and material production in the system. However, unlike the `fuel' and `ore' resources, which are used directly by the installations that take advantage of them, the crystals need to be extracted (by the `enegry crystal extractor' installation) before they can be used. This has the downside that it causes a bit more overhead, but the advantage that the crystals can be loaded onto ships and transported to other systems (allowing you to build energy crystal scanner arrays in other systems than just the one where the crystal resource is). You can also sell the crystals to other players.
The crystal resources are fairly rare, but even without one, you might be able to obtain crystals by trading with other players. Occasionally, independent traders may also appear in your system, willing to sell crystals and other stuff, but this is only likely to happen if you've announced a sufficiently attractive offer for the items in question with the `bid' command.
A: Declare them `enemy' (with `declare EMPIRE as enemy', or the abbreviated form `enemy EMPIRE'), and all your ships will automatically fight theirs whenever they encounter them. Conquest of enemy systems will also happen automatically whenever possible.
A: The turn reports list email addresses of the other players, to let you conduct diplomacy as you see fit. There are some game commands related to diplomacy, in particular `declare' which is used to announce your diplomatic status towards another empire. At present (October 2001), there are four primary diplomatic status levels: enemy, neutral, friend and ally. These diplomatic levels can also be used as abbrevited forms of the `declare' commands.
`Enemy' means your ships will attack the other empire's ships and systems as they encounter them. `Neutral' means no particular actions will be taken on encountering them.
`Friend' means the other empire is allowed to receive a bit of fuel from your systems, and to share some other functions (most notably the use your jumpgate system, if you have one). `Ally' works just like `friend', except that two players that have mutually declared each other `ally' may not switch diplomatic status directly to `enemy'. (They may switch to `friend' or `neutral', however, and can then switch to `enemy' the next turn.)
The other game commands that may qualify as diplomacy-related are the various `give' commands that can transfer resource units, ships and systems to other players.
A: Well, you can declare them friend, enemy, ally, or neutral just as with any other empire. You can give them things, and you can attack (and be attacked by) them.
If you give them RU's, ships, or star systems, this will increase their goodwill towards you, and if you bring armed ships into their territory, it may decrease their goodwill. How much this goodwill is worth depends on the situation...
The Krang are the only ones you are at all likely to be able to do any significant trading with. The Trialch, being enemies of the Earth empire, are not particularly friendly, and the Zarth are not particularly interested.
The turn report will inform you about any special opportunities for trade or diplomacy with the alien races, but this is rather rare.
A: This is already partly covered by the "How does diplomacy work in the game?" question above, but focusing on the particular diplomacy levels, the following things can be noted:
`Enemy': your ships will attack when they encounter systems and ships belonging to someone you've declared enemy, or who has declared you enemy.
`Neutral': no special effects.
`Friend': ships and systems belonging to someone who has declared you `friend' will be `friendly' in terms of providing some basic assistance in terms of refuelling and repairing ships when there is capacity available that isn't used by that player's own ships and systems. The most important effect of this is that your ships cost 1 RU less to maintain if they're in a friendly system.
`Ally': same as friend, except that players who have mutually declared each other allies cannot change diplomatic status to `enemy' in a single turn.
Lastly, the ability to use another player's jumpgates is determined by what the diplomatic level the player has chosen with the `jumpgate policy' option. The default is `friend'.
Refer to the game documentation for more details.
A: No, all research is accumulated, and any `excess' research done during one turn will carry over into the next turn.
A: Deliver it to a research facility, and your scientists will try to figure out what it is and how it works. Eventually, you will get a report about it (in the `Technology Report' section of your turn report). This may take a few turns, especially if the thing is of alien origin or is of a high techlevel.
Once you're scientists have manage to identify an object, they will leave it alone if it is an object you can already build yourself. If it isn't, they will proceed to pick it apart, trying to figure out how to build one. This may or may not be successful, and whether successful or not, the object may be destroyed in the process.
Some objects, particularly objects described as an `alien computer', will rarely lead to any specific technological discoveries, but will give a general research boost (i.e. bring you closer to the next techlevel) when disassembled.
A: A player's chance of receiving a technology depends on how advanced the technology is compared to the receiving player's empire. Players who fulfill the requirements for developing the technology themselves have about 90% chance of successfully receiving the technology from someone else. Players who don't fulfill all requirements, but are at a general techlevel equal to or higher than the technology's techlevel, also have a good chance (60-80%) of receiving it. Player's who don't fullfil the requirements, and who are one techlevel below the technology's techlevel, have some chance (20-30%) of receiving it. Player's who are more than one techlevel below the technology's techlevel have little or no chance of receiving it successfully.
Note that the percentages given above are approximate, since the exact chance also depends on various properties of the individual technologies (such as specific prerequisite technologies) and the relative technology level of the giver and the receiver.
A: Yes, but just slightly.
A: The technology may be too advanced for you to make full use of, even if you have it. Some ships, installations, and pieces of equipment that can be built when a certain technology is possessed, may also require that you are of a certain minimum techlevel, but with luck, you might be able to receive a technology from another player even if you're one step below that techlevel.
A: It depends on the configuration of the campaign, but the default configuration is 12+techlevel sectors, up to 21. Then bonuses for special equipment and special technologies can be added, up to a range of 27.
The distance is computed in the usual Euclidean way, as the square
root of the sum of the squares of the differences in the x and y
coordinates. That is: sqrt((x1-x2)^2+(y1-y2)^2).
A: Well, you can declare them friend, enemy, ally, or neutral just as with any other empire. You can give them things, and you can attack (and be attacked by) them.
If you give them RU's, ships, or star systems, this will increase their goodwill towards you, and if you bring armed ships into their territory, it may decrease their goodwill. How much this goodwill is worth depends on the situation...
The Krang are the only ones you are at all likely to be able to do any significant trading with. The Trialch, being enemies of the Earth empire, are not particularly friendly, and the Zarth are not particularly interested.
The turn report will inform you about any special opportunities for trade or diplomacy with the alien races, but this is rather rare.
A: Unless you're friendly with the Trialch, or for some other reason unpopular with the Krang, there is rarely any cause for worry. You can try giving them something, but this may not have any particular effect; however, they sometimes repay substantial gifts by giving you a technology in return, and/or by declaring you a friend (the main benefit of which is that you can use their jumpgates if you are in range, and refuel your ships a little at their systems).
A: If it's early in the game and you haven't managed to antagonize them (for instance by colonizing systems "north" of the 20xx border), there is usually no cause for any major concern. If it's not so early in the game, make sure your systems are well defended. If not, you can try to buy a bit of goodwill with the Trialch by giving them a system, but this may not give you more than a few extra turns of peace before they attack, if that was their original intention.
A: The Zarth tend to come and go as they please. If you haven't antagonized them by attacking them or any other obvious act of open hostility, they aren't likely to cause any major problems. Sometimes, they may even be helpful, but that is a rather random event.
A: Take pictures. The Wenjee are supposed to be extinct, or at least chased away from this star cluster over a century ago. (They may return in some campaigns, however.)
A: The Trialch are generally hostile towards Earth and the colonies, but they don't usually react until the colony empires are starting to grow large, or seem generally to prosper. So, in a way, the fact that you have been declared an enemy by the Trialch is a sign that you are doing well.
Unless it's past turn 40, you shouldn't have to worry too much about the Trialch, as long as you don't act openly hostile towards them. They may attack a system or two, but they are highly unlikely to mount any large-scale attack before turn 40 or so, unless you provoke them directly.
You can buy some temporary goodwill with the Trialch by giving a system to them. This may give you enough goodwill to be declared neutral again, at least for a few turns. But this is hardly a winning strategy in the long run...