Amiga.org
Amiga computer related discussion => Amiga Gaming => Topic started by: Bifford on October 29, 2002, 07:33:56 AM
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Hi folks,
I'm not sure how many of you have heard of this game so I'll draw your attention to it!
And for those of you on a PC or other platform that are about to switch off --> Dont! Tales Of Tamar (TOT) is a cross-platform game that supports Amiga, PC, Mac, Atari and Linux computers!
The website for TOT is at http://www.tamar.net/ which is the frontend site - click on the snake in the Tamar title and you'll get to the section where you can download the demos etc.
So what is TOT? Loosely based around the medieval times you are placed in the world of Tamar with hundreds of other players from across the world. You have to expand and survive, decide if you wish to be a peaceful ruler, a trader, a merchant, a warlord and wether you want to co-habitate Tamar or try to rule it!
It is turn based and not dissimilar to Settlers/Foundation in its look and feel. Download the results of yesturdays turn, do your computations and upload that turn. Those of you short of bandwidth time only have to be online to get/send that mail. Easy.
This game is well worth buying, and for those of you in the UK or subscribed to Total Amiga take a look at my full review in issue 13. Those of you comming to WOASE this Saturday pop over to the Mediator table and get me to show you the demo and run you through my game as it stands atm.
TTFN!
Bifford
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You haven't any links for online reviews of this game? :)
I used to play something similar way back, when you had a castle and a little domain that you had to protect. (and if you forgot to check the status online you died.. ;) I don't remember the name though...
And what about new players? Won't the ones that already got the game for some time kill them off rather easily?
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At the moment I havn't placed a review of Tales online, no. While there are still copies of Issue 13 of Total Amiga (which is the mag I wrote the article for) for sale this will remain a print-only review.
However as soon as TA 13 goes out of stock, and the PDF copy of that issue appears in its place then I will let Martin WOlf upload a direct copy of the review to the Tales website. He's already seen the review and liked it - so either buy Total Amiga 13 or be patient ;)
As for the query about new people - you are not the only one to ask that, and until recently I couldnt have said about that in the review. Basically any new players will get placed onto an island that is (atm) sparsley inhabited which means your a good distance from other players and in an area where everyone is "new" (or as good as). My beta test game was placed slap dab middle of shed loads of already-BIG Lords. My new game (the one I recieved when Id bought the game) has been placed on a new island and so far the only living beings I have seen/met are Orcs, dwarfs and one scout from another land who's border's I have yet to find!! So worry not ;-)
TTFN
Bifford!
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wow, I am so going to get that game, sounds like a blast! :-)
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wow, I am so going to get that game, sounds like a blast!
Well, it certainly has a lot of potential, as well as room for improvement.
I've been playing it for just under a week, which is nothing (think of how much you can achieve in the first three or four turns of Civilization and you'll get the picture). There's not much to do so far, but plenty to aim for. Sam has already covered many of the good points.
IMO the game also has some glitches and niggles, none of which are fatal, but can be a bit annoying at first.
Like Sam said, I wouldn't worry too much about being stomped on as a new player. I'm still to meet anyone else, and my guess is that there's plenty of spare game-world to claim.
(Yes Sam, I'll be sending my feedback to Eternity)
:-)
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Bill
Firsly I thought your resume of Text Adventures
( sorry interactive fiction ;-) ) was excellent. It even
inspired me to go and find my old Spectrum +3 and
PAW from the shed.
I LOVE writing and playing adventures and it had been a forgotten hobby of mine.
On the ToT point, all I have seen is over someones shoulder while they played around with a Linux early version which didnt do much. I love the potential of
this game - it could be the best thing since the mud
"Ragnarok".
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@Blade
Wahey! Some nice feedback. That makes the effort worthwhile. Thanks.
:-)
I LOVE writing and playing adventures and it had been a forgotten hobby of mine.
The Amiga is very well supported when it comes to adventure authoring systems, and thanks to the portable nature of most interpreters, there are literally hundreds of new games than can be played on it. See the boxout for interesting links.
If there's enough interest, I'll do some more coverage in the future - maybe a feature on writing adventures or reviews of new games - but space is limited in Total Amiga, so I'll need readers' backing if I'm to persuade Robert to grant me some on a more regular basis.
On the ToT point, all I have seen is over someones shoulder while they played around with a Linux early version which didnt do much. I love the potential of this game - it could be the best thing since the mud "Ragnarok".
Well, there's little to see at every turn, specially in the early stages. It's also worth noticing that the Amiga client for ToT is the most advanced, with the others lagging a bit behind. In simple terms, it's a bit like playing Civilization by e-mail, but since I'm a big fan of Civ type games, this isn't a problem...
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@Bill
"If there's enough interest, I'll do some more coverage in the future - maybe a feature on writing adventures"
YES PLEASE.
" or reviews of new games - but space is limited in Total Amiga, so I'll need readers' backing if I'm to persuade Robert to grant me some on a more regular basis."
You got it, if you need a petition no problemo. I can fake names as much as the next man ;-) Seriously
though its the only article in there I have read more than once. In old magazines ( Crash etc ) I used to flip straight to reviews of adventure games. It is also the best way to start to learn how to WRITE games in general because it forces you to think about game state.
If you don't carry on writing articles like that one Ill buy software from Haage & Partner as revenge.
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@Blade
"If there's enough interest, I'll do some more coverage in the future - maybe a feature on writing adventures"
YES PLEASE.
Well, I asked the same question on the Total Amiga mailing list, and to put it mildly, the response was lukewarm.
To put it in simple terms, I doubt I can persuade Robert to grant me space for any more articles on the subject under the circumstances.
You got it, if you need a petition no problemo. I can fake names as much as the next man ;-) Seriously
though its the only article in there I have read more than once. In old magazines ( Crash etc ) I used to flip straight to reviews of adventure games. It is also the best way to start to learn how to WRITE games in general because it forces you to think about game state.
I agree with you. The fact is that those people who are interested are very interested, but the numbers are low.
If you don't carry on writing articles like that one Ill buy software from Haage & Partner as revenge.
NOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Seriously, this feature came about because I had mentioned starting up a web site focusing on interactive fiction (or text adventures) on the Amiga, and Robert picked up on it. The web site is still a possibility - I haven't decided yet - but unless Robert or the Total Amiga users demand otherwise I'm mothballing any plans to write any more I-F articles for the magazine, at least for the foreseeable future. There just doesn't seem to be enough interest to justify the space.
Getting things back on-topic, does anyone else here besides me and Sam Bifford play Tales of Tamar?
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Getting things back on-topic, does anyone else here besides me and Sam Bifford play Tales of Tamar?
Sure !! And if you want you can find me (Baltasar) on an
penisula (sp) in the north-west of Nonakesh.
Bin there for 4 years now, and gonna send out my first amy
tommorow (gotta have some more land).
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Balti wrote:
Sure !! And if you want you can find me (Baltasar) on an penisula (sp) in the north-west of Nonakesh.
Good to hear, although I still haven't made a note of the name of the island that I'm on. Must do that when I next load it up. I'm on the east coast of wherever it is, so I'm probably not that close to you.
[/quote]Bin there for 4 years now, and gonna send out my first amy tommorow (gotta have some more land).[/quote]
Not quite that long for me, though I'm not far behind. I've met one other scout and located two other unoccupied villages not far away, but I'm having trouble working out how to build a marketplace. I've built a drill ground, sawmill and blacksmith, and I can build stables, but not a marketplace. (and yes, before you ask, I do have the required tech level)
Oh well, at least there don't seem to be any orcs in the vicinity.
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@bhogget
Ups slight mistake, as it is actually the north-east .. :oops:
(don't know how that happened)
It's quite likely that you are on the same island so I will
send you a PM with my coordinates.
Seems that there are quite a few unoccupied villages, and not
as I thoght just a few in places were the old king has been fired
by it's population.
AFAIK you also need enough people to build a marketplace (maybe
7500 ??).
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@Balti
AFAIK you also need enough people to build a marketplace (maybe 7500 ??).
Aha! That could be it. My population stagnated for a bit because I set my customs taxes too high before I realised what the "normal" level should be. Shame really, because the customs tax hardly brings in any revenue at the moment anyway.
Looks like I'm going to have to be patient a bit longer. While I'm at it, I have another question: can the blacksmith be accessed in any way? Can I tell him what to make or buy things from him? I mean, someone has to make the weapons and armour, right?
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No I don't think you can tell the blacksmith what to produce,
but you can always buy what is produced at really low prices
(one gold-piece per unit). And now guess where :-D ;-) :-P
But I didn't know that the custom tax had such a big influence, so
I might try to lower it.
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Oh and as a sidenote:
You got <7500 people, but have to finance all those buildings ?
Man your in trouble :-P :-P
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@Balti
No I don't think you can tell the blacksmith what to produce, but you can always buy what is produced at really low prices (one gold-piece per unit). And now guess where :-D ;-) :-P
You tease!! ;-)
But I didn't know that the custom tax had such a big influence, so I might try to lower it.
It does if you set it 10 times higher than it should be! :-o
You got <7500 people, but have to finance all those buildings ?
Man your in trouble
I noticed. :-(
Still, nothing that can't be remedied if I abstain from building stuff for a bit. :-D
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@bhogget
You wouldn't have any use for those weapons anyway as an army
is quite expensive (~1000 goldpieces for the minimal 50 men).
I'm not sure if you still got a chance or if you are allready over
the point of no return. The buildings you have should result in
cost at ~8000 plus the cost of research. Could be hard to press
that out of so few, and still attract new people.
Under what nick to you play, and are you anywhere near the
coordinates I've send you ?
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@Balti
You wouldn't have any use for those weapons anyway as an army is quite expensive (~1000 goldpieces for the minimal 50 men).
I know, but knowing how to do things is important.
I'm not sure if you still got a chance or if you are allready over the point of no return. The buildings you have should result in cost at ~8000 plus the cost of research. Could be hard to press that out of so few, and still attract new people.
Hmm, maintenance costs aren't as high as that, and I'm still making more per quarter without taxing people to death. I'll just have to see how it goes.
Under what nick to you play, and are you anywhere near the coordinates I've send you ?
See the PM I've sent you. Don't want to give away too many state secrets in public, you know. ;-)
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Hi guys.
First off your all (both ;-) ) aware of the tot web forum, right? if not goto:
http://www.eternity-computer.de/phpBB/
On there you will find a section for hints/tips/problems/ideas etc etc.
Bill - certain buildings require certain population levels - to date I still dont have a trade center even though that game has a barracks and stuff.
also - be warned not to move too fast with buildings, my beta game i built as soon as i could, researched as much as i could, then people died or left and population plummeted as did gp so i didnt have enough money to keep things up - 4 turns in a row 0gp. only just recovering from the depression!
TTFN
Bifford
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@Bifford
Sure I know the ToT-forum, and thats were you can read the
peace-agreement I've made with Charras (only in german).
But a thread like this is a fine way to raise awarness about
the games outside those who allready have it.
About the early building:
I've build the sawmill long before I had any use of it, 4000 coins
lost per season :-x :-x But I have waited with the blacksmith as
long till I had enogh resorces&research to make real use of it.
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@Bifford
First off your all (both ;-) ) aware of the tot web forum, right? if not goto:
http://www.eternity-computer.de/phpBB/
On there you will find a section for hints/tips/problems/ideas etc etc.
Hi Sam. Yes, I'm aware of the forum. It was just a bit on the quiet side there though! ;-)
Besides, me being thick isn't eaxctly a game problem, eh?
Bill - certain buildings require certain population levels - to date I still dont have a trade center even though that game has a barracks and stuff.
Seems that way. I guess I'm too used to games live Civ etc., where the requirements are there for the player to see.
Seems in my case I just don't have enough slaves..err.. inhabitants.
also - be warned not to move too fast with buildings, my beta game i built as soon as i could, researched as much as i could, then people died or left and population plummeted as did gp so i didnt have enough money to keep things up - 4 turns in a row 0gp. only just recovering from the depression!
Yep. Hopefully I've caught the trend in time, but we'll see over the next year or so. If I can turn things round over that time I should be alright, having only lost some development time in relation to my neighbours.
If you're a Civ player, it's very tempting to build and build quickly, but in Tamar it seems that can be a fatal mistake.