Planet M.U.L.E.

Greets.

i see a lot of peeps "exploit" in this game.  I'm new, but lets see if i'm close, shall we?

1.  not being #1 in first rounds:  They do this by not puttin up a lot of mules on the plots they own(they do this to avoid the pests and such that hit #1's, they also do this so they can have priority when coming to land grants)  Example:  last game i played ole dude had 4 plots(2 were bare and other had grain/energy)  he then went out and found the crystal via assay and guess who got them plots.(he didn't get em all, but the majority)

2.  Peeps losing mules on purpose:  Do i need to say anymore?

3.  Peeps waitin for Ever to push the button after the summary:  Now i admit, i did this once, but i told em beforehand that i had to go poo.  i guess i took to long as they kicked me.

4.  Peeps going up and down on auctions and price negotians:  Jackholes do this to try to raise plots they have no interest in, they also wait till last second then try to bumrush the highest bidder.  if ya can't go down, then peeps would go to he price they be willin to pay, but no more



Solutions:


Ok first off,

lets take out the individual random events.  I've seen those make or break peeps. 

Second how about a blind land grand.  everyone has 15 seconds to pick a plot of land in secret, if anybody grabs the same plot, auction(between all those that picked plot) ensues. 

You cannot let go of mules, only way u lose a mule is via time up(and that can only be done once a round). 

Why can't we have it you can only move one way, u can only go higher if your a buyer, and you can only go lower if your a seller.  But there be a button/option for you to stop selling/buying when u want to stop.



there's prolly more but i'm new. 


any others you can think of?

Partly true, but I've never observed anyone not developing unless they just had no money related to buying land usually.  It is a goal not to be in 1st until at least round 8 normally though.


Yes, very common practice in 4 player M.U.L.E.  You'll accept it and even do it yourself in time.  It's a time honored tradition dating back to the beginning of M.U.L.E. in circles where 4 human players was commonly played clear back in 1983.  I never played 4 player, always had AI when I played the classic version, so it took getting used to when I started playing Planet M.U.L.E.  The most I ever played on the c64 was a 2 player with my sister and 2 AI.  It's practically boring after playing 4 player and getting used to the cut throat play style now.


I'd have to read the game log to determine if that was purposeful, but most host will allow you to take such a break.  I'm surprized to hear this.


Actually, this is a false assumption.  There is a goal in Planet M.U.L.E. to get 12 NON river plots, at nearly any price (I'll pay upto 3000 all the way until round 8 normally, if I can afford to spend 3000).  The idea is, convert 12 plots to crystite by round 12, and get SUPER PRODUCTION on round 12.  Combined with successful Smithore Exploits, it's a sure win.  All the seasoned players aim for this.  It's stiff cut throat competition true, but it's generally accepted and most of us have no hard feelings about it because that's just what M.U.L.E. is all about.  (It's like a kids games version of Wall Street Trading, you don't even want to think about how that world runs, stock brokers are A.H.'s)

Solutions:


Ok first off,


Yes, true, they do, and they need work, the formula's aren't quite right currently, but this version of M.U.L.E. is supposed to try to imitate the original, and that was very much part of the original, removing them would completely change the game play, and those of us who have played M.U.L.E. since the 80s would find the change intolerable.


Great idea for M.U.L.E. 2 but as stated above, this version is to imitate the original, and since the original was 4 players on one screen, collusion, and blind land grabs and the like were impossible, so steps have been taken to try to make this environment act as much like that original 4 people on one computer feel.  Doesn't mean people don't work around this (private chats via an instant messaging app or internet relay chat or something) but it isn't integrated into the game.


Again, would not be like the original game, plus, that feature can be a negative, although it is really hard to make a mistake installing a M.U.L.E. in this version.  In the c64 version you had to be very careful on Mule Placement, you couldn't just walk into your plot, there was a spot in the plot you had to be to successfully install the Mule without loosing it, so being able to loose mules is intended.


That would take a lot out of the game, this game really is about strategy, and it's much like wall street trading, and that is not a one way process either.  Dow goes up and down throughout the day nearly everyday, it's not constantly up or constantly down, it's supply, demand, and greed, and that was the original idea behind Mule in 83.




I personally would like to see this game get even closer to the original version and all your ideas do the opposite of that.

well then, i guess i'm lookin for a more strategy kinda game than a chance filled game where peeps exploit the mechanics of it.

I'll explain more when i get back home, right now i gots to goto work.

Just.... LOL

  Whole lot of BS!!
What is this?? chucky, why u spend your time posting this guy?? He pretty much just cut down everything pure about this game, eg.no mule dumping, blind ass auction??, no movement up an down on the line?? Obviously this joojoo guy is not a mule lover, he quits 3training games has 2abandoneds in 4games, talks alot o sheit about the best 4player game ever created.

@joojoo1975, find a new game you enjoy man. I find your views on mule making me ill while i try to eat my cereal. You need to pull it back a bit as you just popped up yesterday, and now you want to create  mule III? the crackhead edition?? no thanks.

ps. sorry if i come off rude, but thats MULE your talking bout. Im assuming youve never played mule as a boy, maybe try modern warfair for the xbox360.(no mule dumping there!).


DM xoxo

haha JooJoo very good comedy post.  You forgot one exploit though.

5. People are unfairly using their brains to figure out the price they are willing to buy or sell their units for.  Then they are exploiting the game mechanics to use the up and down arrows to unfairly position themselves at that price they had previously used unfair tactics to figure out.

    Boy you regulars sure stick together. Like a pack of wolves standing over a wounded animal. Let the poor guy speak his peace even though he is wrong! Haha

All I was trying to do was explain the history of a game that is nearing the 30 year mark, and some of his ideas may be great for a new version, but we don't want to put those elements in this current edition, and I was explaining why.  Not meant to belittle the guy.  I don't think I was being mean.  Seems like I get criticized for being objective by everyone these days.

I don't think we were picking on him....I just assumed he was trolling us and i trolled right along.   I didn't even read the other comments before i posted.  For the record I still think he is kidding and you can't take a joke MW.

Just Damn peeps.

first off, excuse me for having an oppinion.  i didn't know i have to be like ancient to actually have one.

it's true i didn't play mule on the atari or C64.  I played it on the nes, never played it with real life friends.  it was a nice game but it didn't have any lasting charsima for me.

Now i play this game with peeps and it's like "cutthroat is the only way to go"  Well excuse me for having a conscience.

MulesizeMe what are you, a child?  Did I hurt your Ego that much man?  Seriously, I don't think the devs are beating a path to my eletronic door to do whatever I say, so i think you can chill here m8.

C_Chuck.  thankyou for explaining in detail what you saw with my post, you helped me before with the modem and again with your point of view.

as for the rest of ya's  If someone is not throwing around gas and matches, lets ease up on the flames.



ok now that's been said :)



I'm just seeing what I would want out of the game.  that doesn't mean that it's 100% right.  that's why we come to the forums.  To discuss ideas and such and to throw em against other peeps so we can see thier point of view.  Personally, I Loathe games where "luck/Chance" play a major role, so my ideas try to curtail that as much as possible.  I've already admitted that I was new, but unless I'm totally off base, was my observations wrong? 

For instance.  peeps raising the price on a piece of land, only to run back down the last half second, these peeps had no intentions of actually buying the property, they just wanted to "stick" it to the other guy.  you all like this aspect?

Lets look at the "mule stampede" option.  you all agree that this is a valid Gaming technique, instead of an exploit where a player manupalates game mechanics to inflate the price of ore?

and on a final note, did you all agree or disagree that individual random events can make or break a player?

Is this what MULE's all about?  Is this what you want MULE to be? 

Yes, we all fully agree the random events can make or break a player, but yeah, it's part of M.U.L.E.

There is a new M.U.L.E. 2 Project in the works that will have new game elements and your suggestions would probably be better received in the forum for Mule 2 Suggestions.  We really do not want to change the mechanics for the specific game that is currently being played, Mule 2 is in Alpha Testing, and even when it goes Beta and then Released, many of us will still come back to this clone of the original, there is something to be said for status quo.  You can't mess with an original, or it ceases to be what it was, and what it was, was great in our eyes.  (You can always play 3 AI, start a game in training mode, join it and add 3 AI, and it will be very much like the MULE you played on the NES.)  The AI may just respond a little differently, and the random events are a bit buggy at this point in time.  Some issues do exist with the formulas.  This will however bring back the MULE you are looking for, simply playing without other humans.  Note, the game will not effect your rating in the ranks, but from the sounds of it, that's really not a concern for you.

ok since you insist you are not trolling i will play along.

A good mix of luck and skill is what mule has always been about.  The player events that punish the 1st place player and rewards the lower placed players was one of the great innovations that M.U.L.E. brought to the video game world.  Trying to position yourself lower is most certainly not an exploit of any kind, but instead a strategy.

As far as the land point goes, there is a lot of different opinions on what the value of a given piece of land is.  It sounds to me like you ran up following someone and then at the last second they ran down.... Land auctions work pretty good right now compared to how they used to work....if you don't want to pay too much for land don't go higher than you want to pay....but why begrudge advanced players from using advanced techniques on each other?

Same thing with the various auction dances....often times 1 unit of food or energy is worth a different amount than the next.  Dancing up and down during an auction is considered rude if it has no purpose, but it is such a rare occurance that in my close to 500 games of MULE i think i have only seen it 3 times, every time by brand new players.

Moving on to the "mule stampede".  I am guessing you witnessed someone letting mules go from the store.  This is indeed a valid strategy to create a 2nd smithore shortage, and there are several strategies to defend against this very thing.  Letting mules go can also be used to deprive other people of mules.  Either way this is not an exploit, but a strategy.

M.U.L.E. was a ground breaking game that was very far ahead of its time.  This is a tribute site to honor the game.... I have been where you are, trying to make improvements that i thought would improve gameplay, and having everyone shoot them down.  But I think before you can really appreciate the fine points of this game you should play 50+ games.  This game is very subtle.  Some of the strategies are so subtle, that it is not surprising that you don't recognize yet that they are strategies.  I know that there seems to be a lot of luck in this game, but in the long run the most skilled players will always win much more frequently that the lesser skilled players.

I think why you got flamed so much is your use of the word "exploit".  Nothing in your posts were exploits of any kind.  I know that's what set off my sarcastic 1st response.  You came onto a fan site for a site dedicated to a legendary game nearly 30 years old, and then called everyone who plays it an exploiter for playing the game how it was always meant to be played.  I'm quite surprised more replies weren't like MSM's.

Rough start on the forum aside, I hope you stick with it and become a MULE junkie!

thanx for the clarification folks.  but i'm not gonna stick with it.

Goodluck to you game, i hope it does what u all want it.


Botom line the game(in my newb and humble oppinion) has too much chance involved.

Basically if i wanted to play games of chance, i would goto a Casino.


G'luck in Yo' Strugles folks


JooJoo out.

                 Your comments were great Chuckie. I thought that Mule was a bit harsh even though i think you are both right. I was joking more than anything. I do think guys should be free to speak even when its crazy thats what the forums are all about.  People also need to quit being so sensative and quick to be defensive around here(seriously). If i got upset and left after every one of my comments got attacked i would have quit Planetmule 1000 times already. HaHa
 P.S. I still think the Plot loss/Gain event is to harsh before round 4. Oh it be true.

Correction.  Mule is a game of skill (much like chess and poker).  Chuckie Chuck made the most fitting analogy to Wall Street Trading, most definitely.  (secondary correction - Casino games are also not games of chance, only game of chance in appearance.  House always wins, even when you think you are winning.)

Sorry that you feel the way you do about the game, JooJoo.  It is probably, "not your cup of tea".  As, and please don't take this the wrong way, it is not a game for quitters.  "To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield", should be basis of each player's attitude.  I can support this with one observation in my experiences playing here at PM.  The players that have played a substantial number of tournament games, those with higher win percentages verses those with lower win percentages, did not win by chance, they won through persistence.  The others got one too many hard punches dealt to them and they essentially gave up, "Oh.. there's no chance for me now".  And it was the attitude of defeat that ensured their defeat, not the hard punches.

Mule is a very challenging game, especially against 3 other flesh and blood opponents.  If you like challenge then you should like Mule.  And if you can handle and accept that you may lose, but be vigilant to never give up, you can be a winner.

Sincerely,
Hotblack Desiato
-Spending the year dead.  For tax reasons.

Since I've found mule again.  It is the only game I play now.  Mule is my long lost love from way back as a 14 year old (26 years ago.)

However, when I played it on the C4.  We had constant 4 players going all weekend for a time.  2 on keyboard and 2 on j-sticks.

This game is just way to awesome.  Sure, I would like to see a couple mods.  1 being specie bonus'