what's still missing from the original

[veridia]

- double check the probabilities of the events compared to the original

These two guys recorded events for 1093 games of M.U.L.E.

http://www.smithore.com/eventstats.php

One last thing, planetquake occurs before prouduction, not after. You don't mine 6 units of smithore and then magically lose three due to a quake. The quake disrupts production, such that you don't mine 6 in the first place, you end up mining 3 instead. Planetquakes are not like pirates that steal half of your mining production. So the production order should be switched to the original. Pirates should remain the way they are.

[C64 nostalgia]

Beginner and expert species are very much missing. Anyone with less than X number of games gets beginner advantages, and anyone with more than X number of games gets expert disadvantages. Implementing this regardless of species would make the games more evenly competitive.

[veridia]

Beginner and expert species are very much missing. Anyone with less than X number of games gets beginner advantages, and anyone with more than X number of games gets expert disadvantages. Implementing this regardless of species would make the games more evenly competitive.

This is not a very good idea because many of the players have been playing M.U.L.E. for 25 years on the Atari and Commodore version.

[C64 nostalgia]

Beginner and expert species are very much missing. Anyone with less than X number of games gets beginner advantages, and anyone with more than X number of games gets expert disadvantages. Implementing this regardless of species would make the games more evenly competitive.

This is not a very good idea because many of the players have been playing M.U.L.E. for 25 years on the Atari and Commodore version.

A lot of new players are just starting out. The original game offered a beginner species suited to their experience. Giving beginners the ability to be more competitive is great (Making every new player watch the introduction video would be awesome.). I'm not so concerned about how to determine who's a beginner and who's not. I would be happy allowing anyone who thinks they are beginner to have access to the beginner "species."

Your point about the shortcoming of determining beginners by total games played is good. Thanks for bringing it up.

[goblin]

If being like the original is the ultimate goal, then:

1) The pirates should be able to show up in round 12.  They did on the C-64 version (dunno about the Atari version).  it would def ad an element of surprise :-)  I know it did when they hit the first time on the C-64 in round 12.  both the pirate ship and the colony ship could "land" on the store in the C-64 version at the same time because they actually landed in different spots.

2) anything else?

I have the Atari 8 bit version and have played hundreds of times and have never seen a pirate ship in round 12.  The pirates came 1 to 2 times per game.   

[goblin]

Well, collusion and land auctions are pretty much things joined at the hip. I cannot think of any circumstance in which you would willingly part with a piece of land OTHER than an intentionally orchestrated deal with another player to achieve adjacency or other similar purpose. As you've seen from the "true value of land", it's basically impossible for you to randomly sell land to a random person at anything close to its true worth, so you'd never actually DO it unless you were trading plots with someone.

A time where you would want to sell some land is when you get screwed out of food in the early rounds via pest attack or mule gone crazy.  The player can rot on the vine for 3 rounds and end up with no money and a bunch of dead plots.  The only way he will get some cash is by selling one of his plots.   This has happened many times in 4 player gamesl.

[Blitzen]

That early on in a game, no one ever has enough money to pay properly for said desperate players plot... they usually hope to catch the wampus, a good break and then take a run at coming in at least 3rd in the games I've played.

If he does sell the land he is usually giving the game away to the buyer... and in other words he certainly won't be winning!

Why give the game to someone when it thereby excludes the possibility of you winning?

The greater challenge, and possibility for success, remains in holding onto the plot and making wild gambits - although less likely I have seen people win from such a position.

When the competition is fiercest, the other 3 players will be so busy worrying about one another, that you will still have some small advantages... their gratitude for you not quitting or giving it away can also be exploited.

Besides digging into last for 11 turns with dynamite instead of a shovel and then winning is a very liberating experience.

I agree it might be missing, but collusion and player plot auctions are totally worthless features imo.

[Mt Wampus]

     Why did Planet Mule try so hard to just copy the original game and spruce up the graffics? Sure we all loved the old MULE game but it had many flaws that should have been looked at and fixed not just carried over! The biggest joke to me is during the Auction phase where a guy can bid the price of a plot up as high as posible and just drop off the screen at the last second! I would rather see it where you cant drop off the screen and your required to pay ATLEAST the minimum at the bottom of the screen. A few new events could have also been added along with other original mule problems being improved! Even in last place i still run into the problem of a guy snatching my plot away! Much less of a problem than in the original game but still happens on occasion.

[veridia]

     Why did Planet Mule try so hard to just copy the original game and spruce up the graffics? Sure we all loved the old MULE game but it had many flaws that should have been looked at and fixed not just carried over! The biggest joke to me is during the Auction phase where a guy can bid the price of a plot up as high as posible and just drop off the screen at the last second! I would rather see it where you cant drop off the screen and your required to pay ATLEAST the minimum at the bottom of the screen. A few new events could have also been added along with other original mule problems being improved! Even in last place i still run into the problem of a guy snatching my plot away! Much less of a problem than in the original game but still happens on occasion.

Agreed, the auctions are ridiculous. The original version had just the right amount of time for auctions, thus preventing $1000 per unit of food scenarios. Auction timers should be reverted back to the original version.

[C64 nostalgia]

Pirates could attack in round 12, at least in the C64 version. They land in the store after the ship with a red box indicating they landed. [Cool sound for the pirate attacks, too.]

[mikman]

Pirates could attack in round 12, at least in the C64 version. They land in the store after the ship with a red box indicating they landed. [Cool sound for the pirate attacks, too.]

YES! I knew that they did that.  I just knew it happened to me back when I was a kid playing :-)  thanks for confirming it.

[Blitzen]

Never once have I seen a pirate ship on the last development.  Are you guys sure you were playing on Tournament mode?  And C64?

Hundreds of games played, never played anything but Tournament.  Wish I could find a quote somewhere, maybe Kroah could help...

[Blitzen]

Ah yes here it is from: http://bringerp.free.fr/RE/Mule/mule_document.html


Round event probability

At the last game round, the event is the return of the colonial ship. Otherwise, a random event is chosen.

Each event can occur only a limited number of time per game:

Event            Max per game
Pest Attack           3
Pirate Ship           2
Acid Rain Storm   3
Planetquake   3
Sunspot Activity   3
Meteorite Strike   2
Radiation           2
Fire in Store   2

[C64 nostalgia]

Ah yes here it is from: http://bringerp.free.fr/RE/Mule/mule_document.html

I remember pirates coming last round in C64 Tournament games...

Kroah used "The MULE version, used as a basis for this document, is a dump of the game for Atari 800 system in ATR format whose checksum is F76D2896." Maybe only the C64 version had last round pirates?

 

[Blitzen]

I've only played the c64 as well but have read the main differences between Atari original and c64 were minor fixes:

c64 got

1) truly random maps
2) commodity values ignore traded values on the last turn
3) planetquake no longer moves mountains / destroys mules

Read more here:
http://www.worldofmule.net/tiki-index.php?page=Atari+800