Thanks Rhodan.  However, your points apply to anyone who buys plot first turn.  I'm wondering more specifically about the strategy of selecing a river/valley plot first turn rather than a plain or mountain plot.

Most people I've seen select mountains, then put food or energy on them first turn.  Selecting a valley ensures decent food first turn, but puts you behind in terms of non-valley plots.  The question is, is it a viable strategy, and if so, how does one make IT work?

Can more copies of the mulebots not be made?  Well, maybe not mulebot04, it's always having problems, but mulebot01 seems fine.  I'm not sure how it all works, but surely the bots are just programs that can be copied and given new names, aren't they?

[Pros:]

Pros:

• Will rarely have less than -1 food, so always time to do something on your turn
• Buying auctioned plot for 972 first turn and catching wumpus can still have productive first turn

Cons:

• Can't produce crystite or smithore
• Makes "magic 12" practically impossible

What else?

As a new player, I look at the rankings and think "well, I've got no shot at getting anywhere near the top", escpecially with the limited number of games happening.  So I see two problems here.  1)  Not enough people playing, and 2) rankings discourage new players from trying to work their way up the ladder.

May I suggest going to a seasonal, or annual, ranking system?  January 1st, archive all the old records so they're still accessable (for example, if someone wants to see the all-time leaders, or who had the best winning % in 2010), but start the new year at 0.  This gives new players a chance to place.

I believe giving newer players a chance to place in the rankings, as well as removing people who probably haven't played in years from the current standings, would appeal to those who are only now discovering the game.  Obviously there's a lot more than this that has to be done if you want to attract and retain new players (I have a ton of ideas) but it's one part of an overall strategy.

P.S.  I also think it would reduce the number of people making "smurfs", since they would get a reset each year.

Would you be able to allow using tab to move from the username box to the password box.  I know it seems like a minor nitpick, but I (and I'm assuming most people) are just used to typing [username-tab-password], and it's kind of annoying to have to go [username-hand to mouse-click on password box-hand to keyboard-password.]

I don't have much problem with it.  It IS a little tricky to see if you're on the min/max lines. Perhaps make the characters a little duller when not on the auction block, and a little brighter when they are?

There's a second part to that as well.  Jerks will drive people off, but friendly will make them stay.  I've played with a few people who are happy to chat, and that makes the game much more fun.  Even Mulesballs is growing on me lol.  But when you play an entire game with fewer than 3 words between you, you may as well be playing against AI.  Say hi, ask where you're from.  Discuss events in game, etc.  It really makes a difference.  People will stay if the positive outweighs the negative.

It is obvious you love this game, and you're putting noticable effort into the the 2nd edition.  However, if you truly want this game to be widely popular, you'll need to consider how to deal with inappropriate behaviour.

While "freedom" is a very important concept on the internet, it is still important to realize that many people are quickly turned off by the behaviour and language of other players.  I recommend two things to make the game a more positive experience:

1) an abuse report option.  Since logs are kept of every game, it would be easy enough to confirm inappropriate behavior, and ban the culprit.

2) a lobby moderator.  Not only would there be to option for an immediate response, but if there are any technical problems, like the current one with Bot04, he or she would be able to quickly address it.

I love this game, even if I'm not very good at it, and don't want to be driven away just because a few jerks can't control themselves.

There really needs to be a report abuse button for this game.

Anyway, see his comments below and judge for yourselves.  I don't think he's really a new player, as he says.

http://www.planetmule.com/server/chats/chat_game_102207_user_20398.html

Is this when CCMuleBot04 stopped working?  The game has been down to a single MuleBot all day, making it difficult to get a second game going, unless someone wants to host.

Okay, just tried playing with 3 people and 2 AI and it crashed on turn 1.

On a related note, the rankings will be reset once beta is over I hope 

Just played a game with no glitches, except for poor AI tactics.

Agreed.  Just played a game against 4 AI and ended up with 18 plots, while the AI were at 10/9/9/8.  AI needs to be able to count. 

Hi all,

Joined PlanetMule a week ago (actually joined it a long time ago but never started playing against others until this week).  I'm also an original MULE player, having loved it on my C64, especially when my friends would join me.

Living in London (UK), so it's difficult to log in during peak times.  I know I'm late to the game, and the number of regular players has dropped (apparently due to some players spoiling the fun for others?), but I'm hoping to find a regular group of players with whom to play.

I don't abandon games, and hopefully my internet connection is solid enough that that will never happen.  I appreciate competativeness, but don't like people getting on others' cases because they made a poor decision, or decided to be nice.  In the end it's not worth letting yourself get angry over.  Have fun, laugh at mistakes, and do your best; that's how I approach the game.

Please say hi if you see me in the lobby. 

Is this still ongoing?