A few of us have been attempting to contact the dev team and get permission to build a new master server and possibly get our hands on and improve the source of both the master server and the game itself.
The following is copied from Facebook...
In Game Chat about changes some of us want to see in Mule.
Rhodan: i guess we need to press turborllia for the server side software. down time get frequent
Chuckie Chuck: Yeah, I asked Peter, he said they'd talk about it
Chuckie Chuck: He knows the downtime is getting to be a big problem
Rhodan: setting up our own server would be cheap
Rhodan: peter has mention to me they would probably release source code at some point
Rhodan: maybe this is the point
Chuckie Chuck: Hoping
Chuckie Chuck: Or put a few of us on a vollunteer dev team
Rhodan: that might happen quicker if we had a programmer willing to work on it.
Chuckie Chuck: C-128/Brent Goldberg is such a person.
Chuckie Chuck: And I would happily do what I can with Master Server Admin
Rhodan: yep i could do the same would even pay the monthly fee to maintain our own master server if they want to give it up
Chuckie Chuck: Yeah
Rhodan: cant imagine it costing more then 20 to 30 bucks a month
Chuckie Chuck: I suggested to Brent that if we are able to get the source to rewrite the networking to simplify hosting or add more port options so it's easier to run multiple host at one site.
Chuckie Chuck: and add code for reconnection
Rhodan: code for reconnect top of list then code for hosting from within the game
Rhodan: then fix last couple bugs, last not always winning auc etc
Chuckie Chuck: Yeah, that's a trickier one, but it must be doable.
Chuckie Chuck: Syncing players with different pings in auction is the issue there.
Rhodan: i would be very careful about in game mechanic changes. some of these fools would want to get rid of plot loss and other things that make this game great
Chuckie Chuck: Yeah, agreed, it's already had a few things changed from original that I know like.
Chuckie Chuck: No player events in round 1 or 12
Rhodan: only other major change i can think of at the moment is rework player land auction to be like the orignal version
Chuckie Chuck: know=don't
Rhodan: i would like see all events come back for rd 2 thru 12
Rhodan: cant really think of anthign else for game play
Rhodan: better ai
Rhodan: i could definitely lay out the strategy for a kick ass ai that brent could reprogram
beeman: hi guys sry was afk for a while
Rhodan: put in a random factor were the ai doesnt always sell his excess every rd make it unpredictable
Rhodan: of course he will sell if price hits a certain number
Rhodan: be easy to work ore to
Rhodan: stite a no brainer sell 80 or above hold if less
Rhodan: on ore just have ai check store number frequently during auc to determine if he sells or holds
Rhodan: that way if human players spike ai will hold all buy excess
Rhodan: and fix thier screwed up development
beeman: I wouldn't mind player events/bad events in round 1 even
Rhodan: if no mules or ore in store they make ore otherwise they may stite
beeman: I dont know why it has to be watered down
Rhodan: they develop no more then 3 food or nrg plots at any one time
Rhodan: make them well rounded and with random factor no one will kn ow if they will sell excess food and nrg cheap in any give rd
Chuckie Chuck: Hehe, someone copy and paste all this, lol
Rhodan: unless they pay for it say they always sell at somewhere betwenn 75 and 215
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River Sage and John Borton like this.
Chuckie Chuck I got one to add = If a player quits, AI has some method added to recognize all the players previous moves (AI currently only has history from the point in the game that the AI started playing and makes plays like ASSAYS that the player previously had done and gets stuck.)
Yesterday at 8:29am · Edited · Like
Mark H. Morrissey I would to see that a player in the game lobby could take over, w/ no AI...
Yesterday at 1:02pm · Like
Scott Leader maybe that can be made via vote? allow player to return or different person. By the way, my two cents-- all changes are good but no changes to game should be made. People who get pissed about plot loss need to suck it up, its part of the game.
Yesterday at 1:21pm · Like
Chuckie Chuck You will notice the people participating in the discussion are for making it closer to original, not further from.
Yesterday at 1:53pm · Like
Brent Goldberg Reconnect would be big. AI be less of a tool. Maybe a max price on transactions to prevent $600 sales? Anything more than $300 is manipulation and a time waster. I'd love to kill the sell-your-land-to-lower the price trick. It's a game killer and a time waster. Not big on lost plot removal. Could consider certain rounds. .. we probably need a council to make decisions.
Yesterday at 2:17pm · Like · 1
Mark H. Morrissey On lands sales - only if the plot is undeveloped, and the owner is in 3rd or 4th place.......
Yesterday at 2:25pm · Like
Randy Carney i disagree with max transactions and nixing sell your land to lower price.
Yesterday at 2:36pm · Like
Brent Goldberg I might not do anything if I can't drop the stupid auction trick. I want to do things that speed up the game and prevent blatant cheating/collusion.
Yesterday at 2:45pm · Like
Brent Goldberg Mark -- that could be addressed simply by not having the price drop in half if you auction land and it fails to sell.
Yesterday at 2:46pm · Like
Brent Goldberg We could have people vote, and the number of votes a person have could be like "games played - games dropped". Put ideas to vote and let democracy rule.
Yesterday at 2:47pm · Like
Brent Goldberg Also, improving AI and network connect/reconnect could be goals.
Yesterday at 2:49pm · Like · 1
Randy Carney While transactions limited by the timer lets prices exceed 1500+ and occasionally wastes time when someone keeps running even though no one will sell there is big strategy in a high price transaction. First selling a unit high can change who is 1st ...See More
Yesterday at 2:55pm · Unlike · 2
Randy Carney I believe democracy for changing such game changing tactics would ruin the game. Though some features of that nature could be a toggle. Those who want to play that way can host a game with those features on.
Yesterday at 3:02pm · Unlike · 1
Chuckie Chuck Switchables
Yesterday at 3:03pm · Like · 1
Mark H. Morrissey There absolutely needs to be a penalty for quitting, and demonstrated propensity to do so... However, anyone can d/c their RJ-45 or Wi-Fi network to mimic such...
Yesterday at 3:04pm · Like
Mark H. Morrissey ...to get "around" quitting...
Yesterday at 3:05pm · Like
Randy Carney I think improving player experience is far more important then changing game mechanics. Reconnect, Stronger AI, Auto hosting, chat tools for in game and lobby, Full screen play and still see chat window!, etc
Yesterday at 3:10pm · Unlike · 2
Brent Goldberg An artificial technique to lower land sales to $250 is not "strategy". I suppose another approach is we could set a floor on land so it doesn't sell for less than $500 or something.
Yesterday at 3:59pm · Like · 1
Randy Carney it's not artificial, its a player initiated action and can be countered. It can't happen if another player keeps enough money to block it. There should be risk if a player or players commits all their money to ore, stite, food, nrg, land auction and on...See More
Yesterday at 4:12pm · Like · 1
Brent Goldberg Mark, if you can reconnect but choose not to, that's "quitting" Randy, we will have to come up with a way to agree as a group on changes. But the land auction trick is bullshit and has nothing to do with the original game.
Yesterday at 4:19pm · Like
Randy Carney the same thing can be done in the original game!
Yesterday at 4:20pm · Like · 1
Scott Leader Yeah the sell your own land is fine-- sometimes there isn't an auction and it can backfire when later on a lower placed player gets the plot. I dont think we change any of the game play-- just fix issues like having to sit through an auction when no player can afford the minimum-- that would help speed it up, and the other things Randy mentioned like allowing reconnect, full screen etc.
Yesterday at 4:30pm · Like
Randy Carney I have given valid uses and counters to this tactic all you have argue is you don't like it lets remove it. It does the same thing that a AI auction does if a plot doesn't sell. Lowers the price of the next auction! Why can the AI use this tactic but ...See More
Yesterday at 4:31pm · Like
Randy Carney Now I would suggest that if a player marks multiple plots to sell and his first plot doesn't sell then the auction ends just like the AI auction. Then he only gets one price deduction instead of two or three.
Yesterday at 4:33pm · Like
Chuckie Chuck Yup
Yesterday at 4:34pm · Like
Randy Carney I say lets stop beating a dead mule and make player auctions like the original!
Yesterday at 4:42pm · Like
Scott Leader I say we start with getting the damn site back up. Does anyone know how to reach these guys?
Yesterday at 4:44pm · Like
Scott Leader Then there is mule 2-- I really wanted to like it but we couldn't get games to finish. Have they worked that out yet?
Yesterday at 4:45pm · Like
Brent Goldberg It falls in the category of "unintended consequence". The purpose of selling your land is not to lower land prices. And it gets really painful when someone sells 2...3 plots. Its another way to keep games fair and shorter.
Yesterday at 4:46pm · Like
River Sage I would most like to see a player reconnect feature if you accidentally get disconnected. As well as energy plots. Didn't the original game have special energy plots (
Yesterday at 4:51pm · Like
River Sage ?
Yesterday at 4:51pm · Like
Randy Carney Why is it unfair to buy land cheap? Because you wasn't wise enough to keep money on hand to artificially (your favorite word not mine ) raise the price of land? Its ok to jack the price up and force someone to buy high but its unfair to buy as cheap as one can?
Yesterday at 4:55pm · Like
Brent Goldberg No I don't think the original game had special energy plots. However, food was more significant because it was calculated pre-production rather than post-production.
Yesterday at 5:02pm · Like
Scott Leader I would like us to leave the game alone but only make the changes to the external issues like speeding it up with no buyers for auctions, reconnect ect- you will NEVER get all players to agree so better just leave it alone...
Yesterday at 5:04pm · Like · 2
Brent Goldberg I think most of the changes I've proposed can be argued as "speeding up the game" with minimal effects on current game dynamics.
Yesterday at 5:06pm · Like
Brent Goldberg I'd love to get the average game time to an hour.
Yesterday at 5:07pm · Like
Brent Goldberg If we could cutdown 90 seconds per round, we'd have it. Reconnect + 1 hour games = better Planet MULE!
Yesterday at 5:08pm · Like
River Sage I agree with almost everything Brent sj and rho have said. We should leave the game alone though, including the auction trick.
Yesterday at 5:12pm · Like
Randy Carney I agree but there is no way of doing it without losing to much of what makes the game great.
Yesterday at 5:13pm · Like
Randy Carney For those who want a shorter game go 6 or 9 round tournament games and have separate ranks for those games
Yesterday at 5:17pm · Like
Scott Leader 9 round game is a good idea. However, a few things like A) No timer on auctions that no one can bid. B) Auto production so everyone's space bar get hits automatically, C) fast selling-- so like if you hold down it speeds up the selling to store - would knock 5 minutes off games.
Yesterday at 5:48pm · Like · 1
Brent Goldberg @River Lol...
Yesterday at 5:56pm · Like
Brent Goldberg Totally disagree. An hour game could be done by doing things like Scott suggested.
Yesterday at 5:58pm · Like · 1
Mark H. Morrissey And, the player ranks shown should be the actual rank of the player - not how prolific they at playing MULE...
Yesterday at 6:01pm · Like
Brent Goldberg What if AI mode had a "no show" mode that didn't change 8 plots? That'd improve AI right there.
Yesterday at 6:01pm · Like · 2
Maximus Wilder we just need to have a list of all of our ideas and then hold a vote on each of them somehow. get all the mule players we can to meet somewhere on the internet to hold it. the main theme here seems to be fixing the ai's playing strat. its really bad, and getting back into games after disconnect is a great idea.
Yesterday at 7:03pm · Like · 1
Brent Goldberg All of this discussion is pointless unless I can get the source code.
Yesterday at 7:22pm · Like
Scott Leader
http://www.turborilla.com/contact/ Turborilla
turborilla.com
Yesterday at 7:24pm · Like · Remove Preview
Brent Goldberg Player Rank is a host function
Yesterday at 8:01pm · Like
Chuckie Chuck Player rank is actually a master server function.
Yesterday at 8:10pm · Like
Brent Goldberg As I meant
23 hrs · Like
Timothy Patrick Hastings Guys may I again ask you to forward all this mule related shit to the forum? the site is back up and for players who have no facebook or havent joined the group are missing out. This group is for game posting when site is down. Also the player bashing can be forwarded there too. thx guys!
3 hrs · Like
Brent Goldberg Better group of people here and its more convenient than the forum.
3 hrs · Like
Timothy Patrick Hastings Also I'm pretty sure all these ideas are falling on deaf ears ...the dev team hasnt joined this group, so they no nothing about these chages yall would like to make.
3 hrs · Like · 1
Brent Goldberg I emailed them Scott. I'll let you know if I hear back!
3 hrs · Like
Brent Goldberg The dev team is right here Tim!
3 hrs · Like
Timothy Patrick Hastings my asshole, ill believe it when i see it!
3 hrs · Like
Brent Goldberg ^- right here
3 hrs · Like
