More of the same is not a good idea, Z. The game needs fresh design, new mechanics. It should be looking at Eurogames for inspiration.

Hmmm, glad to hear they haven't abandoned it, but the MULE 2 betas I remember were light years from being able to don the name. I'm skeptical of their ability to finish before Christmas.

i totally agree. once in a blue moon i disconnect, and it's frustrating that i cant just rejoin the game.

I suggested a 'fix' for this very problem awhile back, but I don't think the devs have given it any thought :-(

http://www.planetmule.com/forum?topic=809.0

that would be too easy...

Find the MULE.exe in the downloaded files - MULE DOES NOT run through the web site

 

When you enter you name and pass nothing at all comes up?

Yeah, Leah, I haven't had any issues with mary either and find her to be an interesting opponent. she obviously isn't talkative though. Are you saying that she is in fact color blind? Cause I like to make mental note of such things.

P.S. I don't mean to generalize about the higher ranking players :p elitism, however, doesn't garner a healthy following. the amount of mulers is pretty pathetic at the moment (especially considering the beta testing of an unofficial sequel) and I personally think it is imperative to welcome new players.

Wow, this is really neat! Thanks for sharing, I'm gonna look into this...

two players move their joysticks at the same time essentially. i really hope they put that feature into both mules

I like the idea of keeping it simple, however your presentation is beautiful.

Reading it made it sound as though Crystite-finders might be getting paid to much, and I agree with the fellow above that streamlining this could work. A lot of it isn't necessary for the function of creating incentive.

That being said, I personally think that assaying plots already has the right incentives. The only risk involved would be eliminated by this. Except of course there probably wont be much fees paid with such a small window and cut-off point.

Another thing, now EVERYONE is going to HAVE to go assay every plot they own and any other plot they can. It will became another routine similar to hunting the wampus that everyone will attempt to do during the excess of their time.

thank you sir! kind of stolen/inspired by a board game called puerto rico.

what rly upsets me more than this though, about the current versions of mule 2, is that collusion has gone to the back burner of being a worker ability that no one is going to go out of their way to use. in the original mule you could collude anytime. its rly a shame

Please demonstrate a strategy that counters smithore bubbles without also putting you into second or third place (giving up any chance of being in first place)

I have yet to see it; anything that counters smithore drops your income such that you lose to the person that did not get involved in mining it or clobbering it.

All you have to do is produce enough smithy to influence the market and then actually sell it every turn instead of hoarding it. if everyone else just buys your smithy before the market can then you're forced into. obviously when people have enough money to do that it can't be countered, this will stay the same no matter what you do.

In the end someone usually gets the raw end of the deal. Market manipulation/speculation is where a lot of the fun, nuance, and interest is in with mule. if anything i think it should be expanded on.

The Space Pirates would function as a block on any production in the tile where the Space Pirates are present.

Every turn the market produces up to 5 security droids (one for each player?) the way it creates up to 14 mules every turn. It does this with certain resources that aren't totally relevant to the mechanic. it could be a new type of resource or any combination of current ones.

in the second development phase a player can grab that on security droid (once again in the same way you'd grab a mule) for a price derived from the price to make it (much like mules) and take it to the plot with the pirates on it. by hitting space the player removes the pirates and can move them around (similar to a mule!). the next time the player hits space, or they run out of time, they place the pirates on the plot they are standing on.

this mechanic was inspired by the robber/soldier from settlers of catan but doesn't have to function the same way. obviously the pirate gets moved around very differently.

i agree, the valuation of food and energy is always too low for anyone to sell to the market

but i think that the smithy bubbles get a lot of negative attention when in fact they can be countered, considering they're artificial in the first place. crystite in my opinion has a well balanced role in the current Planet Mule.