From: http://web.archive.org/web/20070509020348/http://willowstrance.net/more.htm :
A long since deleted post from the SMR Forum:
And now for some Space Merchant History:
The late, lamented game Space Merchant had a controversy-filled history. One aspect of the game's past was the corruption showed by the game's staff that, in part, led to SM's downfall. While it is true that, during this writer's playing days (January, 2000-late summer, 2001), the corruption was pretty much limited to the so-called Veterans Games, where less than 20% of the SM playership did their thing, the end result was to give SM a black eye that helped hasten its downfall. Here from the successor game Space Merchant Realms Forum is a post by one of the all-time greatest players and alliance leaders from SM's past concerning the corruption that eventually destroyed the game:
fitch
Joined: 16 Sep 2002
Posts: 14
Posted: Wed Sep 25, 2002 10:46 pm Post subject:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Blum wrote:
"Admin favouritism towards HoA? Where did you get that from? Do you have any evidence (except for HoA being better than whatever your alliance was)
As for HoA having superior numbers that was true only for online numbers at specific moments. HoA, and other "Evil Empires" almost always had to fight groups that were at least twice it's size.
BTW, fitch, who are you? What alliance were you in in the good old days?"
I was Inspector Fitch back in the old days up until the Catronia Incident, after which I decided that the game was for the birds as long as the then-current staff was running it. I was with, at varying times with the Bounty Hunter's Guild, The Space Marines & Task Force Alpha aka TSM's recruitment/training alliance. What Blum says here about HoA's prowess in the past is all a self-serving myth.
First of all, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse was really nothing more than The Unforgiven sans Dude Man and Elvis Fett and renamed to fit Montana_Mike's weirdo predilections. TU, it may be remembered, was the admin's favorite alliance. It was the outfit that Speef, Gir Draxon and Dover all played with. The TU was also the beneficiary of the admin's in-game actions. Speef would change the make up of the universe, moving planets and stuff around in the name of "improving" the universe. It always worked to the advantage of TU and to the detriment of its opponents. Speef would freeze the accounts of entire alliances in the name of an investigation supposedly being made into cheating, a classic example of shooting first and asking questions later. These freezes always came just before a TU attack.
It was through such machinations that such major alliances as the Politburo and Willowstrance were destroyed. There were many players who saw through Speef's lies about how he was acting in the game's best interest, but just simply quit since they couldn't see anything that they could do to stop it. However, there was one player with the courage to stand up for that which was right. His name was Rat Fighter, one of the truely great all-time players of the old SM. He posted to the Webboard about Speef's cheatings on behalf of the TU and how it was ruining the game. The TU's leaders, Dude Man and Elvis Fett, were outraged by this courageous act and they rounded up over 100 of their puppets to post back against Rat Fighter and demand that he get banned from SM. In the face of this storm, there were only 2 SM players, Omega Prime and myself, who had the courage to post to the Webboard supporting Rat Fighter.
Speef followed the dictates of his TU bosses and banned Rat Fighter from the game. In response, a massive boycott movement sprung up from the players and roughly 40% of the players quit playing SM in a very short period of time. This boycott forced Shareplay owner Jonathan Manton to step in and attempt to fix the problem lest the boycott lead to the destruction of his perilously financed company. However, he failed to fully fix the problem by firing the likes of Speef and hire honest employees. Instead, he decided to ban the admins from playing the game. This had the unfortunate effect of admins not knowing just what effect their changes had on the game, which from what I've heard worked to the game's long-term detriment.
Another problem was that old habits died hard. Speef and his colleagues remained cheaters, but they were more careful in how they went about doing things. They turned a blind eye to TU/HoA cheating, but were quick to punish others for doing the same kind of things. Even when they moved against proven cheaters like Catronia, they would quickly backtrack. I left the game after it became clear that cheating would continue to ruin the game. I know of others who left for the same reasons later on. Eventually, all the cheating caught up with Speef and friends and their game eventually went kaput due to the lack of player support.
Now, we have honest and impartial admins with Spock and Azool. They have learned the lessons of the past. Mark my words, SMR will prove to be a far greater game than SM ever was. In fact, to some extent it already is, and we have Spock and Azool to thank for it.
Inspector FitchMPOG News-Log
Willowstrance Message Board
Home
I hope to see you again in SMR Fitch. You are missed.
I would like to point out some things though about this post you made. Willowstrance was not destroyed. We finished first in Famine and that was really the last game WT was in, in force though many, and it seems you also, did not understand that. Another important misconception that is held by many needs to be cleared up. Dude Man never tried to have me banned though I suspect you are correct that EF was a major force behind it and if not he was quite happy about it. Dude Man was an honorable player and still to this day has my respect and I believe he returns that respect to me and Willow. Personally I am sorry that such actions that I took in the name of honesty and honor back then, as pointing out that Speef and other admins were cheating, led to such dishonorable results as hurting the game and the Mantons. That was never my intent and I regret it. Though as most know, I will still make a stand for honor and honesty anytime anywhere.
Rat-Fighter
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Willowstrance Membership Circa 2006/2007
From: http://web.archive.org/web/20070509020348/http://willowstrance.net/cm.htm
Current Members
Trader Name Race Experience
1 Commander Mad-Dog (170) Creonti 68344
2 Lieutenant Commander willow (56) Alskant 59455
3* Lieutenant 1st Class Assian (162) Alskant 52607
4 Lieutenant Jr. Grade templar (95) WQ Human 44623
5 Lieutenant Jr. Grade MYTH (115) Alskant 44365
6 Lieutenant Jr. Grade Page (304) Salvene 41607
7 Lieutenant Jr. Grade icey (213) Ik'Thorne 40284
8 Lieutenant Jr. Grade Markus (103) Human 39375
9 Master Warrant Officer Infinity (46) Human 38059
10 Master Warrant Officer kratom (239) Thevian 34950
11 Master Warrant Officer lord_baboom (183) Thevian 34240
12 Chief Warrant Officer Tru Nebin (199) Alskant 31233
13 Warrant Officer Dilbert (181) Alskant 27179
14 Wing Leader Lord Sovereignty (167) Salvene 22952
15 Wing Leader Williamwall (178) WQ Human 22395
16 Chief Ranger OmegasGlory (108) Creonti 21079
17 Chief Ranger Bad MamerJamer (406) Alskant 20846
18 Chief Ranger Noah (168) Alskant 20258
19 Pilot Beavis230 (163) Creonti 11584
20 Pilot Micron (243) WQ Human 10518
21 Pilot Graduate Krom (140) Thevian 7980
22 Ensign Inspector Fitch (301) Human 4736
23 Chief Petty Officer Dinner (246) Salvene 2908
24 Chief Petty Officer L0sT (238) Alskant 2759
25 Chief Petty Officer Hunter (194) WQ Human 2441
26 Petty Officer butt rimmer (177) Alskant 1618
27 Recruit billyjome (455) Salvene 45
28 Newbie IceStorm (269) Alskant 0
29 Newbie infitus (176) Thevian 0
Current Members
Trader Name Race Experience
1 Commander Mad-Dog (170) Creonti 68344
2 Lieutenant Commander willow (56) Alskant 59455
3* Lieutenant 1st Class Assian (162) Alskant 52607
4 Lieutenant Jr. Grade templar (95) WQ Human 44623
5 Lieutenant Jr. Grade MYTH (115) Alskant 44365
6 Lieutenant Jr. Grade Page (304) Salvene 41607
7 Lieutenant Jr. Grade icey (213) Ik'Thorne 40284
8 Lieutenant Jr. Grade Markus (103) Human 39375
9 Master Warrant Officer Infinity (46) Human 38059
10 Master Warrant Officer kratom (239) Thevian 34950
11 Master Warrant Officer lord_baboom (183) Thevian 34240
12 Chief Warrant Officer Tru Nebin (199) Alskant 31233
13 Warrant Officer Dilbert (181) Alskant 27179
14 Wing Leader Lord Sovereignty (167) Salvene 22952
15 Wing Leader Williamwall (178) WQ Human 22395
16 Chief Ranger OmegasGlory (108) Creonti 21079
17 Chief Ranger Bad MamerJamer (406) Alskant 20846
18 Chief Ranger Noah (168) Alskant 20258
19 Pilot Beavis230 (163) Creonti 11584
20 Pilot Micron (243) WQ Human 10518
21 Pilot Graduate Krom (140) Thevian 7980
22 Ensign Inspector Fitch (301) Human 4736
23 Chief Petty Officer Dinner (246) Salvene 2908
24 Chief Petty Officer L0sT (238) Alskant 2759
25 Chief Petty Officer Hunter (194) WQ Human 2441
26 Petty Officer butt rimmer (177) Alskant 1618
27 Recruit billyjome (455) Salvene 45
28 Newbie IceStorm (269) Alskant 0
29 Newbie infitus (176) Thevian 0
Willowstrance
From: http://web.archive.org/web/20070509020348/http://www.willowstrance.net/ :
Willowstrance
SM/SMR's most successful alliance
Leader: Assian
Current Members
Willowstrance Message Board
Small part of the Wilowstrance history and legacy
Thanks goes to Yellow Moon for posting this story by Tempus.
Use Backspace on browser to return here from Famine in Flames
More History
Current history under the leadership of Assian
History and stories of former and some current members more added as they become available
Willowstrance
SM/SMR's most successful alliance
Leader: Assian
Current Members
Willowstrance Message Board
Small part of the Wilowstrance history and legacy
Thanks goes to Yellow Moon for posting this story by Tempus.
Use Backspace on browser to return here from Famine in Flames
More History
Current history under the leadership of Assian
History and stories of former and some current members more added as they become available
SMR Won the MPOGD Game of the Month Award in September 2013
Despite a continually shrinking player base and almost zero forum participation, SMR won the
MPOGD's Game Of The Month September 2013.
How did the thoroughly wretched game accomplish this feat? It is widely believed among former players that corruption involving hacks and automated voting was involved. MPOGD nowadays is so lame that it is quite conceivable that such chicanery could happen without its ownership either knowing or caring about it.
It was always outrageous that such great games such as Quest for Yap, the original Space Merchant & TEQ were never able to win this award even so much as once. But what does MPOGD care about quality? Just look at its directory and see all of the dead games that are listed there.
In any event, here is MPOGD's charitable description of SMR:
Description:Space Merchant is a game of trading, combat, strategy and role-playing. You compete with thousands of other players for the top rank. The competition is tough and you can only succeed with the help of your alliance members.
MPOGD's Game Of The Month September 2013.
How did the thoroughly wretched game accomplish this feat? It is widely believed among former players that corruption involving hacks and automated voting was involved. MPOGD nowadays is so lame that it is quite conceivable that such chicanery could happen without its ownership either knowing or caring about it.
It was always outrageous that such great games such as Quest for Yap, the original Space Merchant & TEQ were never able to win this award even so much as once. But what does MPOGD care about quality? Just look at its directory and see all of the dead games that are listed there.
In any event, here is MPOGD's charitable description of SMR:
Description:Space Merchant is a game of trading, combat, strategy and role-playing. You compete with thousands of other players for the top rank. The competition is tough and you can only succeed with the help of your alliance members.
SMR Won the MPOGD Game of the Month Award
Despite having a player base of 200, SMR won the MPOGD Game of the Month Award in August 2011.
Sunday, October 6, 2013
MPOGD News: Space Merchant Realms Returns
http://mpogd.com/news/?ID=4189
January 13, 2009
Space Merchant Realms Returns
In the past year Space Merchant Realms has undergone some serious changes starting the 1.5 version of their game in the open beta phase. The 1.5 version of the game is much different then the original version of the game which was quite similar to Space Merchant, the original turnbased space trading game that so many have used to model their style of game after.
Noticing a slight decline in the playerbase since the launch of 1.5, founder and operator of SMR has decided to run a 1.0 ''classic'' format game alongside 1.5 for those who would rather play a finished product.
The new round will launch on Saturday January 10th at http://classic.smrealms.de. Hope to see you all there. You can play the 1.5 version of Space Merchant Realms at http://www.smrealms.de.
January 13, 2009
Space Merchant Realms Returns
In the past year Space Merchant Realms has undergone some serious changes starting the 1.5 version of their game in the open beta phase. The 1.5 version of the game is much different then the original version of the game which was quite similar to Space Merchant, the original turnbased space trading game that so many have used to model their style of game after.
Noticing a slight decline in the playerbase since the launch of 1.5, founder and operator of SMR has decided to run a 1.0 ''classic'' format game alongside 1.5 for those who would rather play a finished product.
The new round will launch on Saturday January 10th at http://classic.smrealms.de. Hope to see you all there. You can play the 1.5 version of Space Merchant Realms at http://www.smrealms.de.
Sunday, September 29, 2013
Proof of HoA/SM Staff Collusion
Note: After the downfall of the original Space Merchant in the Summer of 2001, the Horsemen of the Apocalypse (HoA) alliance went over to the pay to play game Dark Age of Camelot on the Mordred Server. And guess who joined them there? The SM Staff such as Gir Draxon & Speef who showed the HoA such outrageous favoritism while SM was up and running. This blatant favoritism & corruption was one of the reasons why so many Veteran players got sick and tired of the game and just up and left. This was a key factor in the downfall of SM.
From: http://smrcnn.smrealms.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10223&start=10
Electricdeath
Quiet One
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 5:26 pm
Posts: 20
Location: Bay Area, California
Reply with quote
Post Re: Speef?
Speef and many of HoA I have seen a few years ago playing Dark Age of Camelot on the Mordred server...Haven't heard from them lately though. I am also from that era :)
Fri May 08, 2009 12:00 pm Report this post Profile ICQ AIM
From: http://smrcnn.smrealms.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10223&start=10
Electricdeath
Quiet One
Joined: Thu Apr 18, 2002 5:26 pm
Posts: 20
Location: Bay Area, California
Reply with quote
Post Re: Speef?
Speef and many of HoA I have seen a few years ago playing Dark Age of Camelot on the Mordred server...Haven't heard from them lately though. I am also from that era :)
Fri May 08, 2009 12:00 pm Report this post Profile ICQ AIM
Verenimija on the Manton's Failed Comeback
From: http://smrcnn.smrealms.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10223&start=10
Verenimija
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:27 am
Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Re: Speef?
Yeah. Seriously. Cory left and Shareplay died for a bit. Marta took the reigns for a time and then Shareplay got worse and worse. Finally they shut it down. I miss my old HoA comrades. Probably not enough to devote the time to this game, but still, good times.
Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:49 pm Report this post Profile
Verenimija
Joined: Fri Aug 14, 2009 5:27 am
Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Re: Speef?
Yeah. Seriously. Cory left and Shareplay died for a bit. Marta took the reigns for a time and then Shareplay got worse and worse. Finally they shut it down. I miss my old HoA comrades. Probably not enough to devote the time to this game, but still, good times.
Fri Aug 14, 2009 7:49 pm Report this post Profile
SM/SMR Player Contact Info Part I
Siege:
MSN: petrocanada415@hotmail.com
AIM: PetroCanada415
ICQ: Siege's profile
General information
Channels
General information
SiegePhotos
First name Joshua
Last name Lewis
Nickname Siege
UIN 52855723
Baalzamon:
AIM: SkiPhreak101
ICQ: Baalzamon's profile
General information
Channels
General information
BaalzamonPhotos
First name Charlie
Last name Morgan
Nickname Baalzamon
Gender Male
UIN 413058110
Blade:
MSN: leep24@hotmail.com
ICQ: General information
BladePhotos
First name Lee
Last name Prescot
Nickname Blade
Gender Male
Birthday 27 April 1978
Zodiac sign Taurus
UIN 152942051
About me I don't want to talk to strangers leave me alone perverts!
Languages English
seldum:
AIM: seldum111
Alexis:
MSN: LowryDDR82@hotmail.com
AIM: LowrdyDDR86
Strike:
MSN: blackthunder_pod@hotmail.com
ICQ: BlackThunder's profile
General information
Channels
General information
BlackThunderPhotos
First name Cyrus
Last name Varzi
Nickname BlackThunder
Gender Male
UIN 92925199
Languages German, English, French
Electricdeath:
AIM: Elec137
ICQ: Durandal's profile
General information
Channels
General information
DurandalPhotos
First name Christo
Last name Coan
Nickname Durandal
Gender Male
Birthday 06 October 1987
Zodiac sign Libra
UIN 145417848
Interests Games
Languages English
Jester:
MSN: snhender@hotmail.com
AIM: snhender@gmail.com
MSN: petrocanada415@hotmail.com
AIM: PetroCanada415
ICQ: Siege's profile
General information
Channels
General information
SiegePhotos
First name Joshua
Last name Lewis
Nickname Siege
UIN 52855723
Baalzamon:
AIM: SkiPhreak101
ICQ: Baalzamon's profile
General information
Channels
General information
BaalzamonPhotos
First name Charlie
Last name Morgan
Nickname Baalzamon
Gender Male
UIN 413058110
Blade:
MSN: leep24@hotmail.com
ICQ: General information
BladePhotos
First name Lee
Last name Prescot
Nickname Blade
Gender Male
Birthday 27 April 1978
Zodiac sign Taurus
UIN 152942051
About me I don't want to talk to strangers leave me alone perverts!
Languages English
seldum:
AIM: seldum111
Alexis:
MSN: LowryDDR82@hotmail.com
AIM: LowrdyDDR86
Strike:
MSN: blackthunder_pod@hotmail.com
ICQ: BlackThunder's profile
General information
Channels
General information
BlackThunderPhotos
First name Cyrus
Last name Varzi
Nickname BlackThunder
Gender Male
UIN 92925199
Languages German, English, French
Electricdeath:
AIM: Elec137
ICQ: Durandal's profile
General information
Channels
General information
DurandalPhotos
First name Christo
Last name Coan
Nickname Durandal
Gender Male
Birthday 06 October 1987
Zodiac sign Libra
UIN 145417848
Interests Games
Languages English
Jester:
MSN: snhender@hotmail.com
AIM: snhender@gmail.com
The Difficulty in Using the SMR Forums for Historical Research
One might think that it would be easy to use the SMR Forums to find contact information to get a hold of the players of the past to ask them questions for the purpose of doing historical research. Likewise, to read the threads for their history.
However, such is not the case.
For all too long, Forum moderation was in the hands a neurotic female named Nariis who once deleted over 200 threads in a single day just to show off her power. She also banned numerous "forum users" for little or no reason. As a result, lots of good stuff has been lost in ether space and it is impossible to find important players of the past and make contact with them.
This is also an indictment of the game operators who saw the damaging effect that Nariis's conduct had and failed to do anything about it.
And to think that there are folks who wonder just why SMR is all screwed up..................
However, such is not the case.
For all too long, Forum moderation was in the hands a neurotic female named Nariis who once deleted over 200 threads in a single day just to show off her power. She also banned numerous "forum users" for little or no reason. As a result, lots of good stuff has been lost in ether space and it is impossible to find important players of the past and make contact with them.
This is also an indictment of the game operators who saw the damaging effect that Nariis's conduct had and failed to do anything about it.
And to think that there are folks who wonder just why SMR is all screwed up..................
Friday, September 27, 2013
Internet Archive: Classic MPOGD News Post: Space Merchant Realms Newbie Game #2 to Start Soon
From: http://web.archive.org/web/20020803101324/http://www.mpogd.com/news/?ID=341
July 14, 2002
Space Merchant Realms Newbie Game #2 to Start Soon
Cut & pasted from the SMR Forum:
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2002 9:16 pm Post subject: New Games and the coming Version!!
The dates have been decided!!
First Newbie Game 2 Will be opening At approximately 3:00 AM Server Time (Germany) Monday July 15th. All players will be allowed to join this game free as always.
And next the long anticipated event SEMI WARS!
The very first Space Merchant Realms Semi War Game will be opening Midnight between Sunday and Monday July 21-22. The game will open at midnight but will cost 1 SMR credit (more about them below)
SMR Credits - SMR Credits are basically the things that let you into all types of special games. The only current special game is Semi Wars but more are sure to come. The easiest way to get SMR credits is by donating to Space Merchant Realms. Every dollar donated to SMR counts as one SMR Credit, so as you can tell this Semi War game will be very cheap so why not try it out? Once you donate the credits are your to do with as you please. In other words if you have a friend that really wants to play Semi Wars but cant donate money you can go ahead and lend/give him 1 SMR credit. There are also other ways to gain SMR Credits. Sunday after Newbie Game 2 Opens I will be holding a contest and giving out SMR Credits to the winners.
Note: If you have already donated your credits will transfer and you will get the corresponding number of SMR Credits.
Another anticipated event Veteran Game 1 (Yes it will have a different name don't worry ) - This game will be opening approximately August 3rd (within 1 day) at midnight server time. This game is also a free game but is limited to players ranked beginner and up.
Admin: Edit Posted by: Charles Rector
July 14, 2002
Space Merchant Realms Newbie Game #2 to Start Soon
Cut & pasted from the SMR Forum:
Posted: Fri Jul 12, 2002 9:16 pm Post subject: New Games and the coming Version!!
The dates have been decided!!
First Newbie Game 2 Will be opening At approximately 3:00 AM Server Time (Germany) Monday July 15th. All players will be allowed to join this game free as always.
And next the long anticipated event SEMI WARS!
The very first Space Merchant Realms Semi War Game will be opening Midnight between Sunday and Monday July 21-22. The game will open at midnight but will cost 1 SMR credit (more about them below)
SMR Credits - SMR Credits are basically the things that let you into all types of special games. The only current special game is Semi Wars but more are sure to come. The easiest way to get SMR credits is by donating to Space Merchant Realms. Every dollar donated to SMR counts as one SMR Credit, so as you can tell this Semi War game will be very cheap so why not try it out? Once you donate the credits are your to do with as you please. In other words if you have a friend that really wants to play Semi Wars but cant donate money you can go ahead and lend/give him 1 SMR credit. There are also other ways to gain SMR Credits. Sunday after Newbie Game 2 Opens I will be holding a contest and giving out SMR Credits to the winners.
Note: If you have already donated your credits will transfer and you will get the corresponding number of SMR Credits.
Another anticipated event Veteran Game 1 (Yes it will have a different name don't worry ) - This game will be opening approximately August 3rd (within 1 day) at midnight server time. This game is also a free game but is limited to players ranked beginner and up.
Admin: Edit Posted by: Charles Rector
Thursday, September 26, 2013
Classic SMR Forum Thread: need to break this trend
Note: Inspector Fitch was one of the greatest of the old time Space Merchant Players & Alliance Leaders. He retired from SM sick and tired of the Admin abuse, corruption and favoritism towards the Horsemen of the Apacalypse (HoA), especially that of Speef, that was plaguing SM. Most of the lamers in this thread claiming that Inspector Fitch was really this crector guy (aka myself) had never even heard of SM much less played it when he retired from the game. Just how anybody ever thought that Inspector Fitch and myself were one and the same is beyond me.
From: http://smrcnn.smrealms.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10227
SMR-CNN Index » Space Merchant Realms » General DiscussionAll times are UTC - 6 hours
need to break this trend
Reply to topic Page 1 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3 Next
Subscribe topic | Bookmark topic | Print view | E-mail friend Previous topic | Next topic
need to break this trend
Author Message
jmbstephenson
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:19 am
Posts: 16
Reply with quote
Post need to break this trend
i was searching SMR on google and came across this
Inspector Fitch’s Space Merchant History
This writer has learned that the legendary player of both Space Merchant & Space Merchant Realms, Inspector Fitch, has some time ago gone into permanent retirement as far as both of those games are concerned. This means that his long unupdated website will never get done. Inspector Fitch has kindly allowed that the text from his website, as incomplete as it is, be reproduced here in the Nexus. http://www.angelfire.com/space/inspectorfitch
Here it is:
Inspector Fitch’s Space Merchant Realms Help & History Website
Welcome to the Space Merchant Realms Help & History Website! I am Inspector Fitch, a long time Veteran player of the game who is well-equipped to help you with your SM/SMR needs. Not only am I player of both the original Space Merchant (SM) and also Space Merchant Realms (SMR), but I was also an alliance officer, and in some games an alliance leader. You will also find the History of the game, which should provide you with vaulable lessons from the past on how you should conduct yourself.
In addition, there will be a Biography section where you can read about the players of the past & present so that you can emulate the deeds of the great players while avoiding the errors of the not so great. There will also be an Alliances section where the histories of the most important alliances in the game will be recounted. If you are interested in one day becoming an alliance leader yourself, you should find this section most useful. Finally, I have conducted interviews with some of the most noteworthy players of the past. These luminaries include StarBlade, -=WarZone=-, Ozymandous, Thermopyle, Northern Warrior, jadn, and Brooke the Blue Falcon. You should find these interviews to be both interesting and informative.
This website concerns 2 somewhat different space strategy browser based games: The original Space Merchant & the unauthorized “close clone†Space Merchant Realms. Space Merchant began in March, 1998 as the first webgame version of Trade Wars 2002. Since it was effectively a monopoly on web-based space trading strategy games, SM’s playership grew by leaps and bounds and it quickly became one of the most popular games on the Internet. Its parent company, Shareplay, reaped huge profits from advertising both from SM, and from its other two games, Monarchy and Panumbra. Everything looked fine and dandy for both the game and the company. Indeed, Shareplay in the spring of 1999 initiated two ambitious projects: a space warfare strategy game called The Magellan Conflict and M.A.C.E., a game involving robot gladiators.
However, there was a serious defect that in the late spring of 1999 almost destroyed SM. It is generally well-known by gaming administrators that one of the keys to success in online gaming management is that you must be scrupulously neutral amongst the players and players’s groups. If anything, you must lean over backwards to avoid even the appearance of favoritism. However, the Shareplay staff failed to do that and that failure resulted in a large number of players leaving the game in a very short period of time. There was even an organized boycott with the websites of several alliances changed into Internet billboards advertising the game’s shortcomings. It was a dark time for SM, during which the game and company teetered on the edge of failure.
At this critical juncture, Jonathan Manton, the owner of Shareplay stepped in and seemed to fix things. He expressly forbade the staff from playing SM. This appeared to fix things especially since the staff had all been playing the game as members of the same alliance. This same alliance had received huge favors from the admins and that alliance’s opponents had been unfairly penalized by the admins. Following this decision, the admins became scrupulously neutral and the majority of the game’s players literally turned on the formerly favored alliance and smashed it. This led to changes in the admins’s former alliance. The leadership of this alliance resigned and was replaced by new leaders who promptly changed its name. The combination of the end of the brazen bias, coupled with the infamous alliance’s new leadership and name helped cause many SM players to believe that the old ways of doing things were over and that a new era was beginning. It appeared that the problem had been fixed for once and for all.
However, old habits died hard. And so did the staff’s loyalty to the SM alliance that they had formerly played with. After a period of strict neutrality, the admins eventually slid back to their previously biased behavior. However, this was bias of a more subtle nature. This kind of bias took the form of taking the side of their former alliance in practically every in-game dispute while at the same time muting its impact by making changes after every serious dispute that did not appear to give their former comrades everything that they wanted.
One such incident that sticks out in the memory of old-timers like myself is the “Catronia Incident.†Catronia was the alleged real life wife of the leader of the alliance that the admins had formerly played SM with. She was caught by a Shareplay intern being a multi. Specifically, she created an account to map the universe with, then when that account had run out of Newbie Turns, she deleted it and then played SM with her regular account so that she could use her Newbie Turns expoiting the knowledge that she had gained with her temporary account. Well, the intern upon catching her, froze her account and posted on the SM Webboard about the incident. That brought down the house. The members of Catronia’s alliance claimed that they were utterly unaware that doing as Catronia did was considered multi’ng and hence cheating. That being the case, they demanded that Catronia be reinstated or else they would boycott the game. The admins then announced that they would forgive Catronia on the grounds that they had come to believe that she really did not think that she was cheating. Furthermore, the admins decided that in the future, interns would not be able to make decisions about cheating on their own.
This result was most unsatisfying to the players of SM. However, there was but little appetite for a renewal of the players boycott. Those of us players who still believed in ethics and morals eventually quit playing the game. We moved on to other, honestly run games, and left SM behind to rot. However, SM did not start rotting right away. Shortly after the Catronia Incident, SM instituted separate Newbie Games for beginning players. Also, Shareplay started a massive advertising campaign for the game that reportedly cost $50,000. Additionally, a major computer magazine, in January 2000, published a review of SM that gave the game a high grading. All this publicity had the effect of causing a flood of new players to try out SM.
Having said that, there is a serious problem with lamers in the SMR community. SMR is possibly the single most lamer-infested space trading strategy game there is. While the admins have been fair in their dealings with the players, they have also been remarkably lenient with players who harass others in the SMR IRC Chat and who send harassing msg’s to others in-game. The same is also true for the SMR Webboard where trolls with names like Blum & Elvis Fett who rarely, if ever, play the game routinely trash those who do. This situation has resulted in a steadily declining player base. If the SMR admins don’t get a handle it, they could see all the hard work that they have put into the game go down the drain.
Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:47 am Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I have read that before..Almost everything written there is a lie from a guy who is far from having ever been an experienced vet...
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:14 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Baalzamon
Destroyer of his own FU
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:57 pm
Posts: 2068
Location: 1261
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I've seen it too.
That guy came from an alliance that played multiple games. His alliance decided to come and make an impact on SMr and got their faces kicked in. Inspector Fitch (known also as Crector) stuck with it for a while longer then others from his alliance, thinking that he could become a great player, and considered himself a vet, and was teaching newbies how to play when he himself couldn't trade a 4x without dying. If you look at when that was written, you'll see that it was at least 6 or 7 years ago. The guy is a ;) off player who sucked and blamed everyone other then himself for it.
No, I never played when Inspector Fitch played, this is all info that I've gained over time...i like reading up on how SMR and SM used to be, including trolling old alliance websites.
Edit: moved to general discussion
_________________
Image
Image
Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:02 pm Report this post Profile ICQ AIM
Blade
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2002 1:52 pm
Posts: 899
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
crector use to write for a games review place and pretty much crapped on SM, saying how horrid it was community was bad, no game play and such, but the guy played for years, possibly one of the most hated players in SM history.
I have seen this write up before too, though did not know this Finch person was crector, he still plays now and then, so with all his anger towards the game, he cant hate it that much.
_________________
The truth is there, just don't look blindly
Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:57 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ WWW
DWill
Quiet One
Joined: Sun May 23, 2004 7:51 pm
Posts: 411
Location: Batavia, Illinois
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Long long time ago.
_________________
-when there is a will there is a way
Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:31 pm Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I think that that is him in DWill's avatar.
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:26 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
seldum
Beta Tester
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2002 11:01 pm
Posts: 852
Location: Wisconsin
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Quote:
The same is also true for the SMR Webboard where trolls with names like Blum & Elvis Fett who rarely, if ever, play the game routinely trash those who do.
lol
_________________
Image
Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:28 pm Report this post Profile AIM
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
*Reads Crector/Inspector Finch's "history" and shakes his longears in disgust*
It was many years ago but it still amazes me how distorted and biased Crector/Inspector Finch could be in his "interpretation" and "analysis" of SM. Anyway, at least it was fun flaming him while he lasted :mrgreen:
The only issue here is that new people reading Crector/Inspector Finch's "history" without previous knowledge could think his "history" is the real thing. Memories fade away, web sites and emails are lost, people forget, and perhaps soon or later Crector/Inspector Finch's "history" will be the official one.
Well, probably it doesn't really matter anymore, since SM is long gone for good and everybody moved on in life. Anyway, I will put my grain of sand and will try to set the record straight in some issues, for whoever may care about it :angel:
Thus, let's sit around the fire and bear with me. If I commit some mistake in my recollections, take into consideration that my memory is frail. In any case I suspect that even if I am wrong I am still a little less biased than Crector/Inspector Finch ;)
*The “Catronia Incident.â€
The funny thing here is that Crector/Inspector Finch uses some real facts to build a ridiculous boicott tale. So let's set the record straight on what truly happened:
a) First some backgound info: Catronia was a well known veteran in SM, who was married to Montana Mike, another well known veteran (by the way: they met and became a couple while playing SM). Toghether they set Horsemen of the Apocalipsis (HoA), one of the most feared SM alliances.
b) At the beginning of a game (Big Bang?), Catronia was set as the alliance's "newbie mapper" using his 500 newbie turns to explore the universe, while everybody else was trading. Once her newbie turns were done, she deleted her account, created a new one and started trading using her new 500 newbie turns.
And YEP: what she did was wrong. Interpret it as you want (honest mistake/loophole/cheating), but let's not make excuses, OK? :)
c) Catronia got caught by the game administrators and her account was suspended. She lost her experience, cash, ship, planet, etc.
So, as you can see, the initial part of Crector/Inspector Finch's tale is more on less accurate. However, from this point on he goes in a very bad trip. After Catronia got caught and punished what happened was:
d) Catronia and MM complained to the game administrators to get her account reinstated and her experience, cash, etc. back. The game administrators denied their requests. Apparently Catronia and Mike felt insulted/disrespected/aggraviated by the administrator's treatment and refusal. Additionaly, a lot of controversy rose at the SM webboard, with accusations and charges flying back and forth (boy, those were the days! :twisted: )
Finally, Montana Mike decided that he and Catronia have had enough. Overnight, Montana dissolved HoA and deleted his account, leaving the game.
f) Now, here comes the interesting part. Regardless their mistakes and faults, Catronia and Montana Mike were a part of the SM community. Mike in particular was one of the main movers and shakers and very commited to the game (and also a little hothead :lol: ).
g) However, one thing was to see Montana Mike and Catronia penalized, but to see them leaving for good was another thing. Thus, several players wrote Mike asking him to reconsider his decision and come back to the game. No "boicott" here, just people asking an old game buddy to reconsider and come back out of friendship and esteem.
g) Some days passed by, tempers chilled out, Mike and the administrators talked things down, and peace was restored. MM and Catronia decided to come back. However, the HoA alliance was not re-installed for that game; Mike and Catronia joined a new alliance and decided to take it easy for a while. Everybody moved on. End of story.
That is my take in the "Catronia Incident". Perhaps somebody has something to add/rectify/clarify.
Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:41 pm Report this post Profile
Freon22
Beginner Spam Artist
Joined: Wed Apr 17, 2002 4:09 pm
Posts: 3229
Location: USA
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Chocolate Bunny :D to bad Ardbeg not around anymore, I know you two got along very good. :lol:
But your count sounds about right, I had just started playing SM back then. It was also my second round before I visited the web board and remember reading some of the post on it. But by that time it was old news and HoA was back up to their full ownership of the game. I did have fun fighting them when I moved into vets. I was with tls and I forget what alliance you were in but tls and spb had fun trying to bring them down. We also had a war with your alliance but sorry just can't remember the name, I know Ardbeg was with HoA.
Anyway it was a good fun time, and good to see you around again.
_________________
http://freon22.jamwick.com/IndexPage.html
Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:04 pm Report this post Profile WWW
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Freon22 wrote:
Chocolate Bunny :D to bad Ardbeg not around anymore, I know you two got along very good. :lol:
But your count sounds about right, I had just started playing SM back then. It was also my second round before I visited the web board and remember reading some of the post on it. But by that time it was old news and HoA was back up to their full ownership of the game. I did have fun fighting them when I moved into vets. I was with tls and I forget what alliance you were in but tls and spb had fun trying to bring them down. We also had a war with your alliance but sorry just can't remember the name, I know Ardbeg was with HoA.
Anyway it was a good fun time, and good to see you around again.
Hey Freon22 I remember you too. I think we were even together in some alliance (Anla' Shok? SPAM?)
heh!! don't worry for not remembering my alliance. We were KAOS : Kill All On site ;)
Memories fade for all of us. Funny thing is that now that you mention Ardbeg, I was trying to remember his name but to no avail... it was such a long time ago :angel:
Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:29 pm Report this post Profile
Display posts from previous: Sort by
Reply to topic Page 1 of 3
[ 26 posts ]
SMR-CNN Index » Space Merchant Realms » General DiscussionAll times are UTC - 6 hours
need to break this trend
Reply to topic Page 2 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next
Subscribe topic | Bookmark topic | Print view | E-mail friend Previous topic | Next topic
need to break this trend
Author Message
Blade
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2002 1:52 pm
Posts: 899
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I was not sure if it was really you cb, but maybe that post has convinced me some what.
Nice to see you are still about.
Even MM made a return in 2003 for a game. But was quickly rushed back to DAOC.
_________________
The truth is there, just don't look blindly
Tue Mar 31, 2009 5:05 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ WWW
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Blade wrote:
I was not sure if it was really you cb, but maybe that post has convinced me some what.
Nice to see you are still about.
Even MM made a return in 2003 for a game. But was quickly rushed back to DAOC.
Well, I wonder whether you are Spamblade or not, so we are kinda even :mrgreen:
Anyway, I am not back. I am just checking how things have changed and who is still around. Like visiting your old highschool to check if the old walls finally were painted or your old teacher is still working ;)
Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:27 pm Report this post Profile
Freon22
Beginner Spam Artist
Joined: Wed Apr 17, 2002 4:09 pm
Posts: 3229
Location: USA
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Chocolate Bunny wrote:
We were KAOS : Kill All On site ;)
Thats the alliance name I was trying to remember. LOL
If there are a few of you guys still around you should try to bring that name back at lease one time. One thing that has changed since our SM days is that player names and alliance names change so much that the team name will never hold up over the years.
_________________
http://freon22.jamwick.com/IndexPage.html
Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:08 am Report this post Profile WWW
seldum
Beta Tester
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2002 11:01 pm
Posts: 852
Location: Wisconsin
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
TDZK ruined the KAOS name
_________________
Image
Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:38 am Report this post Profile AIM
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
That is normal, Freon22. I can't hardly remember a lot of things from SM. Sometimes I regret not saving my old ingame messages and board threads. A lot of funny stuff was lost that now would make an amusing reading :mrgreen:
An nope, I don't think KAOS will ever be back in SMR and that is well and good, because alliance names are just that: names. The soul and heart of an alliance are the players, and once they are gone, the alliance is not anymore. But KAOS was great fun while it lasted and I think it lasted way longer than anymore, managing to migrate from SM to TDZK (well perhaps Imperial Dreams managed to have even a longer life)
Seldum; to be honest I don't know what you mean saying that TDZK ruined KAOS' name. I was in KAOS for the full SM period and then, as everybody else, left during 2000-2001 when Shareplay went down. Then in 2003 I found that KAOS has been reborn in TDZK by the original team, and rejoined. I played TDZK for a while (2003-2004) until real life took me away.
My memories from my time with KAOS in TDZK are nothing but fun. Most of the original gang were back in force; Babaloo, Lapiz, Zmaniac, Jaimaster, Hyperion, etc. and a lot of new good players. Even Sliver was back eventually!. Of course, I can just talk for the short period I played.
What happened after I left with TDZK and KAOS I have no idea, so I don't know how good or bad things became.
Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:53 am Report this post Profile
Blade
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2002 1:52 pm
Posts: 899
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I tried to get a few of them playing again, but could not prise Baba, Lapis and Jai from TDZK. They never really came to SMR, though the KAOS name did, it certainly was not the KAOS of SM.
I am not SpamBlade, I started Bigbang and went from there. I remember you Choco, you might not remember me. I have Jai on MSN if you dont have his contact details, lost contact with Baba and lapis though :(
_________________
The truth is there, just don't look blindly
Wed Apr 01, 2009 2:12 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ WWW
Purify
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:25 pm
Posts: 1029
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
/me smiles and waves at the old people.
_________________
.....
Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:48 pm Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Choco I was in Anla'Shok with you..
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:56 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Siege wrote:
Choco I was in Anla'Shok with you..
Not only Anla'Shok... we were also in SPAM....
*Wonders what happened to Numb*
Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:27 pm Report this post Profile
White Wolf
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2003 11:40 am
Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
having played since beta testing in 96, closed beta... catronia and montana mike were present from the beginning, only thing i got to say is inspector fitch should have had his name changed to inspector b.... lmao hearing these names brings back memories. :caffeine: :caffeine:
_________________
(color=red) "play when you can. hunt when you must. rest in between.(/red)
Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:03 pm Report this post Profile
Display posts from previous: Sort by
Reply to topic Page 2 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next
need to break this trend
Reply to topic Page 3 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3
Subscribe topic | Bookmark topic | Print view | E-mail friend Previous topic | Next topic
need to break this trend
Author Message
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Yeah Numb is long gone, but I still have StarScream and HeadHunter on MSN.
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:35 am Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Strike
Quiet One
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2002 8:43 am
Posts: 220
Location: England
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I used to be in Crystal Moon and Payable On Death/Dreams (I still use my MSN occasionally, blackthunder_pod).
Don't remember if I was in Anla'Shok or not but I think I was.
Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:20 am Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ
Meathead
Quiet One
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 5:59 pm
Posts: 50
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Lots of guys I miss from the old days. Creel, Nighthawk, Chadster, Imhotep, Shady, Freak, Ozy, Mike, Cat, DaPlayaFA, Izzy, Candarius, and I wish I could remember more because I know there was alot more back in the day that are missed. A few of these guys were alliance mates but others were adversaries. It takes both to make a great game. I enjoy the cat and mouse games with great hunters as much as I enjoy the teamwork relationships with alliance mates.
Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:49 pm Report this post Profile
xARESx
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:10 pm
Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Woah Crector as an SM or SMR vet?How ridiculous can people be?That kid must have been having delusions.I remember quite alot of the events he wrote about and he was so far off that anyone who has a brain knows he was mad HOA beat up on him and his newbie guild its as simple as that. :twisted:
_________________
I'm almost always wrong :P
Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:10 pm Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Shady and DaPlayaFA are one and the same and still pop in lots..
Freak played last game in our alliance..
Izzy is on SMR daily.
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Mon May 11, 2009 7:52 am Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Hobbs
Quiet One
Joined: Sat May 25, 2002 1:55 pm
Posts: 244
Highscores: 3
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Siege wrote:
Izzy is on SMR daily.
Unfortunately. J/K j/k. I don't even know you.
_________________
What part of lockbox do you not understand!?
Mon May 11, 2009 7:11 pm Report this post Profile
Display posts from previous: Sort by
Reply to topic Page 3 of 3
[ 26 posts ]
From: http://smrcnn.smrealms.de/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10227
SMR-CNN Index » Space Merchant Realms » General DiscussionAll times are UTC - 6 hours
need to break this trend
Reply to topic Page 1 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page 1, 2, 3 Next
Subscribe topic | Bookmark topic | Print view | E-mail friend Previous topic | Next topic
need to break this trend
Author Message
jmbstephenson
Joined: Mon Mar 16, 2009 8:19 am
Posts: 16
Reply with quote
Post need to break this trend
i was searching SMR on google and came across this
Inspector Fitch’s Space Merchant History
This writer has learned that the legendary player of both Space Merchant & Space Merchant Realms, Inspector Fitch, has some time ago gone into permanent retirement as far as both of those games are concerned. This means that his long unupdated website will never get done. Inspector Fitch has kindly allowed that the text from his website, as incomplete as it is, be reproduced here in the Nexus. http://www.angelfire.com/space/inspectorfitch
Here it is:
Inspector Fitch’s Space Merchant Realms Help & History Website
Welcome to the Space Merchant Realms Help & History Website! I am Inspector Fitch, a long time Veteran player of the game who is well-equipped to help you with your SM/SMR needs. Not only am I player of both the original Space Merchant (SM) and also Space Merchant Realms (SMR), but I was also an alliance officer, and in some games an alliance leader. You will also find the History of the game, which should provide you with vaulable lessons from the past on how you should conduct yourself.
In addition, there will be a Biography section where you can read about the players of the past & present so that you can emulate the deeds of the great players while avoiding the errors of the not so great. There will also be an Alliances section where the histories of the most important alliances in the game will be recounted. If you are interested in one day becoming an alliance leader yourself, you should find this section most useful. Finally, I have conducted interviews with some of the most noteworthy players of the past. These luminaries include StarBlade, -=WarZone=-, Ozymandous, Thermopyle, Northern Warrior, jadn, and Brooke the Blue Falcon. You should find these interviews to be both interesting and informative.
This website concerns 2 somewhat different space strategy browser based games: The original Space Merchant & the unauthorized “close clone†Space Merchant Realms. Space Merchant began in March, 1998 as the first webgame version of Trade Wars 2002. Since it was effectively a monopoly on web-based space trading strategy games, SM’s playership grew by leaps and bounds and it quickly became one of the most popular games on the Internet. Its parent company, Shareplay, reaped huge profits from advertising both from SM, and from its other two games, Monarchy and Panumbra. Everything looked fine and dandy for both the game and the company. Indeed, Shareplay in the spring of 1999 initiated two ambitious projects: a space warfare strategy game called The Magellan Conflict and M.A.C.E., a game involving robot gladiators.
However, there was a serious defect that in the late spring of 1999 almost destroyed SM. It is generally well-known by gaming administrators that one of the keys to success in online gaming management is that you must be scrupulously neutral amongst the players and players’s groups. If anything, you must lean over backwards to avoid even the appearance of favoritism. However, the Shareplay staff failed to do that and that failure resulted in a large number of players leaving the game in a very short period of time. There was even an organized boycott with the websites of several alliances changed into Internet billboards advertising the game’s shortcomings. It was a dark time for SM, during which the game and company teetered on the edge of failure.
At this critical juncture, Jonathan Manton, the owner of Shareplay stepped in and seemed to fix things. He expressly forbade the staff from playing SM. This appeared to fix things especially since the staff had all been playing the game as members of the same alliance. This same alliance had received huge favors from the admins and that alliance’s opponents had been unfairly penalized by the admins. Following this decision, the admins became scrupulously neutral and the majority of the game’s players literally turned on the formerly favored alliance and smashed it. This led to changes in the admins’s former alliance. The leadership of this alliance resigned and was replaced by new leaders who promptly changed its name. The combination of the end of the brazen bias, coupled with the infamous alliance’s new leadership and name helped cause many SM players to believe that the old ways of doing things were over and that a new era was beginning. It appeared that the problem had been fixed for once and for all.
However, old habits died hard. And so did the staff’s loyalty to the SM alliance that they had formerly played with. After a period of strict neutrality, the admins eventually slid back to their previously biased behavior. However, this was bias of a more subtle nature. This kind of bias took the form of taking the side of their former alliance in practically every in-game dispute while at the same time muting its impact by making changes after every serious dispute that did not appear to give their former comrades everything that they wanted.
One such incident that sticks out in the memory of old-timers like myself is the “Catronia Incident.†Catronia was the alleged real life wife of the leader of the alliance that the admins had formerly played SM with. She was caught by a Shareplay intern being a multi. Specifically, she created an account to map the universe with, then when that account had run out of Newbie Turns, she deleted it and then played SM with her regular account so that she could use her Newbie Turns expoiting the knowledge that she had gained with her temporary account. Well, the intern upon catching her, froze her account and posted on the SM Webboard about the incident. That brought down the house. The members of Catronia’s alliance claimed that they were utterly unaware that doing as Catronia did was considered multi’ng and hence cheating. That being the case, they demanded that Catronia be reinstated or else they would boycott the game. The admins then announced that they would forgive Catronia on the grounds that they had come to believe that she really did not think that she was cheating. Furthermore, the admins decided that in the future, interns would not be able to make decisions about cheating on their own.
This result was most unsatisfying to the players of SM. However, there was but little appetite for a renewal of the players boycott. Those of us players who still believed in ethics and morals eventually quit playing the game. We moved on to other, honestly run games, and left SM behind to rot. However, SM did not start rotting right away. Shortly after the Catronia Incident, SM instituted separate Newbie Games for beginning players. Also, Shareplay started a massive advertising campaign for the game that reportedly cost $50,000. Additionally, a major computer magazine, in January 2000, published a review of SM that gave the game a high grading. All this publicity had the effect of causing a flood of new players to try out SM.
Having said that, there is a serious problem with lamers in the SMR community. SMR is possibly the single most lamer-infested space trading strategy game there is. While the admins have been fair in their dealings with the players, they have also been remarkably lenient with players who harass others in the SMR IRC Chat and who send harassing msg’s to others in-game. The same is also true for the SMR Webboard where trolls with names like Blum & Elvis Fett who rarely, if ever, play the game routinely trash those who do. This situation has resulted in a steadily declining player base. If the SMR admins don’t get a handle it, they could see all the hard work that they have put into the game go down the drain.
Sat Mar 28, 2009 3:47 am Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I have read that before..Almost everything written there is a lie from a guy who is far from having ever been an experienced vet...
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Sat Mar 28, 2009 2:14 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Baalzamon
Destroyer of his own FU
Joined: Tue Jun 20, 2006 4:57 pm
Posts: 2068
Location: 1261
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I've seen it too.
That guy came from an alliance that played multiple games. His alliance decided to come and make an impact on SMr and got their faces kicked in. Inspector Fitch (known also as Crector) stuck with it for a while longer then others from his alliance, thinking that he could become a great player, and considered himself a vet, and was teaching newbies how to play when he himself couldn't trade a 4x without dying. If you look at when that was written, you'll see that it was at least 6 or 7 years ago. The guy is a ;) off player who sucked and blamed everyone other then himself for it.
No, I never played when Inspector Fitch played, this is all info that I've gained over time...i like reading up on how SMR and SM used to be, including trolling old alliance websites.
Edit: moved to general discussion
_________________
Image
Image
Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:02 pm Report this post Profile ICQ AIM
Blade
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2002 1:52 pm
Posts: 899
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
crector use to write for a games review place and pretty much crapped on SM, saying how horrid it was community was bad, no game play and such, but the guy played for years, possibly one of the most hated players in SM history.
I have seen this write up before too, though did not know this Finch person was crector, he still plays now and then, so with all his anger towards the game, he cant hate it that much.
_________________
The truth is there, just don't look blindly
Sat Mar 28, 2009 4:57 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ WWW
DWill
Quiet One
Joined: Sun May 23, 2004 7:51 pm
Posts: 411
Location: Batavia, Illinois
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Long long time ago.
_________________
-when there is a will there is a way
Sat Mar 28, 2009 5:31 pm Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I think that that is him in DWill's avatar.
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Sat Mar 28, 2009 6:26 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
seldum
Beta Tester
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2002 11:01 pm
Posts: 852
Location: Wisconsin
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Quote:
The same is also true for the SMR Webboard where trolls with names like Blum & Elvis Fett who rarely, if ever, play the game routinely trash those who do.
lol
_________________
Image
Sat Mar 28, 2009 11:28 pm Report this post Profile AIM
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
*Reads Crector/Inspector Finch's "history" and shakes his longears in disgust*
It was many years ago but it still amazes me how distorted and biased Crector/Inspector Finch could be in his "interpretation" and "analysis" of SM. Anyway, at least it was fun flaming him while he lasted :mrgreen:
The only issue here is that new people reading Crector/Inspector Finch's "history" without previous knowledge could think his "history" is the real thing. Memories fade away, web sites and emails are lost, people forget, and perhaps soon or later Crector/Inspector Finch's "history" will be the official one.
Well, probably it doesn't really matter anymore, since SM is long gone for good and everybody moved on in life. Anyway, I will put my grain of sand and will try to set the record straight in some issues, for whoever may care about it :angel:
Thus, let's sit around the fire and bear with me. If I commit some mistake in my recollections, take into consideration that my memory is frail. In any case I suspect that even if I am wrong I am still a little less biased than Crector/Inspector Finch ;)
*The “Catronia Incident.â€
The funny thing here is that Crector/Inspector Finch uses some real facts to build a ridiculous boicott tale. So let's set the record straight on what truly happened:
a) First some backgound info: Catronia was a well known veteran in SM, who was married to Montana Mike, another well known veteran (by the way: they met and became a couple while playing SM). Toghether they set Horsemen of the Apocalipsis (HoA), one of the most feared SM alliances.
b) At the beginning of a game (Big Bang?), Catronia was set as the alliance's "newbie mapper" using his 500 newbie turns to explore the universe, while everybody else was trading. Once her newbie turns were done, she deleted her account, created a new one and started trading using her new 500 newbie turns.
And YEP: what she did was wrong. Interpret it as you want (honest mistake/loophole/cheating), but let's not make excuses, OK? :)
c) Catronia got caught by the game administrators and her account was suspended. She lost her experience, cash, ship, planet, etc.
So, as you can see, the initial part of Crector/Inspector Finch's tale is more on less accurate. However, from this point on he goes in a very bad trip. After Catronia got caught and punished what happened was:
d) Catronia and MM complained to the game administrators to get her account reinstated and her experience, cash, etc. back. The game administrators denied their requests. Apparently Catronia and Mike felt insulted/disrespected/aggraviated by the administrator's treatment and refusal. Additionaly, a lot of controversy rose at the SM webboard, with accusations and charges flying back and forth (boy, those were the days! :twisted: )
Finally, Montana Mike decided that he and Catronia have had enough. Overnight, Montana dissolved HoA and deleted his account, leaving the game.
f) Now, here comes the interesting part. Regardless their mistakes and faults, Catronia and Montana Mike were a part of the SM community. Mike in particular was one of the main movers and shakers and very commited to the game (and also a little hothead :lol: ).
g) However, one thing was to see Montana Mike and Catronia penalized, but to see them leaving for good was another thing. Thus, several players wrote Mike asking him to reconsider his decision and come back to the game. No "boicott" here, just people asking an old game buddy to reconsider and come back out of friendship and esteem.
g) Some days passed by, tempers chilled out, Mike and the administrators talked things down, and peace was restored. MM and Catronia decided to come back. However, the HoA alliance was not re-installed for that game; Mike and Catronia joined a new alliance and decided to take it easy for a while. Everybody moved on. End of story.
That is my take in the "Catronia Incident". Perhaps somebody has something to add/rectify/clarify.
Tue Mar 31, 2009 2:41 pm Report this post Profile
Freon22
Beginner Spam Artist
Joined: Wed Apr 17, 2002 4:09 pm
Posts: 3229
Location: USA
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Chocolate Bunny :D to bad Ardbeg not around anymore, I know you two got along very good. :lol:
But your count sounds about right, I had just started playing SM back then. It was also my second round before I visited the web board and remember reading some of the post on it. But by that time it was old news and HoA was back up to their full ownership of the game. I did have fun fighting them when I moved into vets. I was with tls and I forget what alliance you were in but tls and spb had fun trying to bring them down. We also had a war with your alliance but sorry just can't remember the name, I know Ardbeg was with HoA.
Anyway it was a good fun time, and good to see you around again.
_________________
http://freon22.jamwick.com/IndexPage.html
Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:04 pm Report this post Profile WWW
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Freon22 wrote:
Chocolate Bunny :D to bad Ardbeg not around anymore, I know you two got along very good. :lol:
But your count sounds about right, I had just started playing SM back then. It was also my second round before I visited the web board and remember reading some of the post on it. But by that time it was old news and HoA was back up to their full ownership of the game. I did have fun fighting them when I moved into vets. I was with tls and I forget what alliance you were in but tls and spb had fun trying to bring them down. We also had a war with your alliance but sorry just can't remember the name, I know Ardbeg was with HoA.
Anyway it was a good fun time, and good to see you around again.
Hey Freon22 I remember you too. I think we were even together in some alliance (Anla' Shok? SPAM?)
heh!! don't worry for not remembering my alliance. We were KAOS : Kill All On site ;)
Memories fade for all of us. Funny thing is that now that you mention Ardbeg, I was trying to remember his name but to no avail... it was such a long time ago :angel:
Tue Mar 31, 2009 3:29 pm Report this post Profile
Display posts from previous: Sort by
Reply to topic Page 1 of 3
[ 26 posts ]
SMR-CNN Index » Space Merchant Realms » General DiscussionAll times are UTC - 6 hours
need to break this trend
Reply to topic Page 2 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next
Subscribe topic | Bookmark topic | Print view | E-mail friend Previous topic | Next topic
need to break this trend
Author Message
Blade
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2002 1:52 pm
Posts: 899
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I was not sure if it was really you cb, but maybe that post has convinced me some what.
Nice to see you are still about.
Even MM made a return in 2003 for a game. But was quickly rushed back to DAOC.
_________________
The truth is there, just don't look blindly
Tue Mar 31, 2009 5:05 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ WWW
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Blade wrote:
I was not sure if it was really you cb, but maybe that post has convinced me some what.
Nice to see you are still about.
Even MM made a return in 2003 for a game. But was quickly rushed back to DAOC.
Well, I wonder whether you are Spamblade or not, so we are kinda even :mrgreen:
Anyway, I am not back. I am just checking how things have changed and who is still around. Like visiting your old highschool to check if the old walls finally were painted or your old teacher is still working ;)
Tue Mar 31, 2009 7:27 pm Report this post Profile
Freon22
Beginner Spam Artist
Joined: Wed Apr 17, 2002 4:09 pm
Posts: 3229
Location: USA
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Chocolate Bunny wrote:
We were KAOS : Kill All On site ;)
Thats the alliance name I was trying to remember. LOL
If there are a few of you guys still around you should try to bring that name back at lease one time. One thing that has changed since our SM days is that player names and alliance names change so much that the team name will never hold up over the years.
_________________
http://freon22.jamwick.com/IndexPage.html
Wed Apr 01, 2009 6:08 am Report this post Profile WWW
seldum
Beta Tester
Joined: Thu Jun 06, 2002 11:01 pm
Posts: 852
Location: Wisconsin
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
TDZK ruined the KAOS name
_________________
Image
Wed Apr 01, 2009 10:38 am Report this post Profile AIM
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
That is normal, Freon22. I can't hardly remember a lot of things from SM. Sometimes I regret not saving my old ingame messages and board threads. A lot of funny stuff was lost that now would make an amusing reading :mrgreen:
An nope, I don't think KAOS will ever be back in SMR and that is well and good, because alliance names are just that: names. The soul and heart of an alliance are the players, and once they are gone, the alliance is not anymore. But KAOS was great fun while it lasted and I think it lasted way longer than anymore, managing to migrate from SM to TDZK (well perhaps Imperial Dreams managed to have even a longer life)
Seldum; to be honest I don't know what you mean saying that TDZK ruined KAOS' name. I was in KAOS for the full SM period and then, as everybody else, left during 2000-2001 when Shareplay went down. Then in 2003 I found that KAOS has been reborn in TDZK by the original team, and rejoined. I played TDZK for a while (2003-2004) until real life took me away.
My memories from my time with KAOS in TDZK are nothing but fun. Most of the original gang were back in force; Babaloo, Lapiz, Zmaniac, Jaimaster, Hyperion, etc. and a lot of new good players. Even Sliver was back eventually!. Of course, I can just talk for the short period I played.
What happened after I left with TDZK and KAOS I have no idea, so I don't know how good or bad things became.
Wed Apr 01, 2009 11:53 am Report this post Profile
Blade
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sat Feb 23, 2002 1:52 pm
Posts: 899
Location: UK
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I tried to get a few of them playing again, but could not prise Baba, Lapis and Jai from TDZK. They never really came to SMR, though the KAOS name did, it certainly was not the KAOS of SM.
I am not SpamBlade, I started Bigbang and went from there. I remember you Choco, you might not remember me. I have Jai on MSN if you dont have his contact details, lost contact with Baba and lapis though :(
_________________
The truth is there, just don't look blindly
Wed Apr 01, 2009 2:12 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ WWW
Purify
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Tue Nov 23, 2004 3:25 pm
Posts: 1029
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
/me smiles and waves at the old people.
_________________
.....
Wed Apr 01, 2009 4:48 pm Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Choco I was in Anla'Shok with you..
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Thu Apr 02, 2009 11:56 pm Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Chocolate Bunny
Joined: Fri Mar 27, 2009 11:36 pm
Posts: 10
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Siege wrote:
Choco I was in Anla'Shok with you..
Not only Anla'Shok... we were also in SPAM....
*Wonders what happened to Numb*
Thu Apr 09, 2009 2:27 pm Report this post Profile
White Wolf
Joined: Mon Mar 03, 2003 11:40 am
Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
having played since beta testing in 96, closed beta... catronia and montana mike were present from the beginning, only thing i got to say is inspector fitch should have had his name changed to inspector b.... lmao hearing these names brings back memories. :caffeine: :caffeine:
_________________
(color=red) "play when you can. hunt when you must. rest in between.(/red)
Sat Apr 11, 2009 4:03 pm Report this post Profile
Display posts from previous: Sort by
Reply to topic Page 2 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3 Next
need to break this trend
Reply to topic Page 3 of 3
[ 26 posts ] Go to page Previous 1, 2, 3
Subscribe topic | Bookmark topic | Print view | E-mail friend Previous topic | Next topic
need to break this trend
Author Message
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Yeah Numb is long gone, but I still have StarScream and HeadHunter on MSN.
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:35 am Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Strike
Quiet One
Joined: Sun Jun 02, 2002 8:43 am
Posts: 220
Location: England
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
I used to be in Crystal Moon and Payable On Death/Dreams (I still use my MSN occasionally, blackthunder_pod).
Don't remember if I was in Anla'Shok or not but I think I was.
Tue Apr 14, 2009 11:20 am Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ
Meathead
Quiet One
Joined: Thu Nov 21, 2002 5:59 pm
Posts: 50
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Lots of guys I miss from the old days. Creel, Nighthawk, Chadster, Imhotep, Shady, Freak, Ozy, Mike, Cat, DaPlayaFA, Izzy, Candarius, and I wish I could remember more because I know there was alot more back in the day that are missed. A few of these guys were alliance mates but others were adversaries. It takes both to make a great game. I enjoy the cat and mouse games with great hunters as much as I enjoy the teamwork relationships with alliance mates.
Tue Apr 14, 2009 10:49 pm Report this post Profile
xARESx
Joined: Mon Apr 20, 2009 12:10 pm
Posts: 2
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Woah Crector as an SM or SMR vet?How ridiculous can people be?That kid must have been having delusions.I remember quite alot of the events he wrote about and he was so far off that anyone who has a brain knows he was mad HOA beat up on him and his newbie guild its as simple as that. :twisted:
_________________
I'm almost always wrong :P
Mon Apr 20, 2009 8:10 pm Report this post Profile
Siege
Newbie Spam Artist
Joined: Sun Jun 09, 2002 7:03 pm
Posts: 940
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Shady and DaPlayaFA are one and the same and still pop in lots..
Freak played last game in our alliance..
Izzy is on SMR daily.
_________________
Member of far too many to name, here are the main ones : The Edge, The Forsaken, S.P.A.M. , Anla'Shok, Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
Lead/colead : The Edge, Adult Swim, EPIC, Quiot Riot, Cereal Killers.
Mon May 11, 2009 7:52 am Report this post Profile MSNM/WLM ICQ AIM
Hobbs
Quiet One
Joined: Sat May 25, 2002 1:55 pm
Posts: 244
Highscores: 3
Reply with quote
Post Re: need to break this trend
Siege wrote:
Izzy is on SMR daily.
Unfortunately. J/K j/k. I don't even know you.
_________________
What part of lockbox do you not understand!?
Mon May 11, 2009 7:11 pm Report this post Profile
Display posts from previous: Sort by
Reply to topic Page 3 of 3
[ 26 posts ]
Saturday, September 21, 2013
OMGN News: Vague SMR New Game Announcement
News
Comment On This News (0)Save NewsPrint NewsEmail News
Vague SMR New Game Announcement
By: Charles Rector | Other | 11:51am, November 30, 2002
The following is an announcement from head Space Merchant Realms admin Mrs. Spock on whether or when there would be a new game at SMR. Notice how vague and confusing it is. Cut and pasted from the SMR Forum:
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 10:48 am
Post subject: New game
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hello,
we still struggle with death bug. i'll try to make some more changes to that code today. we can't start if we at least brought it down to an acceptable level. unfortunatly we can't tell you an exact date. whats sure it won't start before comming sunday (which is dec 1st) sorry about undefined delay. next thing thats sure: this game won't go on forever. if you disagree with current situation - sorry. get a real life for a week
please read my post about most important bugs in bug section of wm.
ty,
SPOCK
Views Today: 0 | Total Views: 68
Comment On This News (0)Save NewsPrint NewsEmail News
Vague SMR New Game Announcement
By: Charles Rector | Other | 11:51am, November 30, 2002
The following is an announcement from head Space Merchant Realms admin Mrs. Spock on whether or when there would be a new game at SMR. Notice how vague and confusing it is. Cut and pasted from the SMR Forum:
Posted: Fri Nov 29, 2002 10:48 am
Post subject: New game
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
hello,
we still struggle with death bug. i'll try to make some more changes to that code today. we can't start if we at least brought it down to an acceptable level. unfortunatly we can't tell you an exact date. whats sure it won't start before comming sunday (which is dec 1st) sorry about undefined delay. next thing thats sure: this game won't go on forever. if you disagree with current situation - sorry. get a real life for a week
please read my post about most important bugs in bug section of wm.
ty,
SPOCK
Views Today: 0 | Total Views: 68
OMGN News: SMR Beta Test Blues
SMR Beta Test Blues
By: OMGN | Other | 5:14am, November 22, 2002
Well we finally found the reasons for the server down times that have been occurring. The SMR staff has been updating the game, and now we’re into a beta test game. The game itself hasn’t changed; there are a few small niceties like a course count, and slightly easier navigation in the web boards. The only big improvement I’ve found so far is that the game is a lot faster.
The new game itself is very different, for this beta test, all our normal stats were put on hold and vets and newbs were allowed to mix company, which in itself would cause havoc, but then to better aid the beta test experience, they also gave the ships a huge turn per hour ratio (better known as speed). This allows those with lots of spare time to get in real fast and get to the top, leaving the rest of us to run around being hunted like the last wolf in Great Britain. The locations also seem to be a bit closer together, so every sector seems full of mines. The game is totally unbalanced and almost boring to play, it made a mess of the game badly.
Although a newer version is nice, it doesn’t seem to have any of the big improvements we all would have liked to see, like a Back button error being fixed, and a way to actually have NAP’s and MPP’s, and a fix to that bug that you can often get stranded in the middle of know where when u get killed.
It all comes down to if it was worth it or not, and while the improvements they made look nice, not too many people really care about looks as much as functionality. But if the server speed is part of the improvements, then it may just prove to be something worth putting our other games on hold for.
Views Today: 0 | Total Views: 73
By: OMGN | Other | 5:14am, November 22, 2002
Well we finally found the reasons for the server down times that have been occurring. The SMR staff has been updating the game, and now we’re into a beta test game. The game itself hasn’t changed; there are a few small niceties like a course count, and slightly easier navigation in the web boards. The only big improvement I’ve found so far is that the game is a lot faster.
The new game itself is very different, for this beta test, all our normal stats were put on hold and vets and newbs were allowed to mix company, which in itself would cause havoc, but then to better aid the beta test experience, they also gave the ships a huge turn per hour ratio (better known as speed). This allows those with lots of spare time to get in real fast and get to the top, leaving the rest of us to run around being hunted like the last wolf in Great Britain. The locations also seem to be a bit closer together, so every sector seems full of mines. The game is totally unbalanced and almost boring to play, it made a mess of the game badly.
Although a newer version is nice, it doesn’t seem to have any of the big improvements we all would have liked to see, like a Back button error being fixed, and a way to actually have NAP’s and MPP’s, and a fix to that bug that you can often get stranded in the middle of know where when u get killed.
It all comes down to if it was worth it or not, and while the improvements they made look nice, not too many people really care about looks as much as functionality. But if the server speed is part of the improvements, then it may just prove to be something worth putting our other games on hold for.
Views Today: 0 | Total Views: 73
OMGN News: New SMR Vets Game Begins Soon
New SMR Vets Game Begins Soon
By: Charles Rector | Game News | Game Data | 5:34pm, November 12, 2002
Advertisement
CodemastersOn midnight game time, a new Space Merchant Realms Veterans Game will begin on November 15. SMR is a "close clone" of the original Space Merchant game. It can be accessed at: http://www.smrealms.de
Source: http://www.smrealms.de/smrcnn/viewtopic.php?t=1372
By: Charles Rector | Game News | Game Data | 5:34pm, November 12, 2002
Advertisement
CodemastersOn midnight game time, a new Space Merchant Realms Veterans Game will begin on November 15. SMR is a "close clone" of the original Space Merchant game. It can be accessed at: http://www.smrealms.de
Source: http://www.smrealms.de/smrcnn/viewtopic.php?t=1372
Friday, September 20, 2013
Internet Archive: Classic MPOGD News Post: Major Multi Scandal at Space Merchant Realms
From: http://web.archive.org/web/20020812143310/http://www.mpogd.com/news/?ID=304
June 3, 2002
Major Multi Scandal at Space Merchant Realms
The following was cut & pasted from an Admin Announcement on the Space Merchant Realms Forum
:
Posted: Thu May 30, 2002 8:05 pm Post subject: Today's events (multi search)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today after receiving a couple concerns about multis I decided to go ahead and do a multi search. Out of 805 current accounts I found 114 multis! All these multis will be deleted or disabled tonight. It was incredably suprising to see how many multis some people have. I think the grand prize winner was 7. His lucky prize will be 7 newly deleted accounts! We just want to let it be known that if you are using a multi you WILL be caught! In the new version we have even more ways of finding multis so unless you really enjoy having your accounts deleted please dont make ANY multis.
Admin: Edit Posted by: Charles Rector
June 3, 2002
Major Multi Scandal at Space Merchant Realms
The following was cut & pasted from an Admin Announcement on the Space Merchant Realms Forum
:
Posted: Thu May 30, 2002 8:05 pm Post subject: Today's events (multi search)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Today after receiving a couple concerns about multis I decided to go ahead and do a multi search. Out of 805 current accounts I found 114 multis! All these multis will be deleted or disabled tonight. It was incredably suprising to see how many multis some people have. I think the grand prize winner was 7. His lucky prize will be 7 newly deleted accounts! We just want to let it be known that if you are using a multi you WILL be caught! In the new version we have even more ways of finding multis so unless you really enjoy having your accounts deleted please dont make ANY multis.
Admin: Edit Posted by: Charles Rector
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Internet Archive: Classic MPOGD News Post: Space Merchant Realms Under Construction
| |||||
| |||||
Sunday, September 15, 2013
SMR Change Log Sept. 15, 2013
Change Log
Here are the updates that have gone live since your last visit, enjoy!
1.6.47 (14/9/2013 2:50:00 AM):
Port Raids
Upon completing a port raid you no longer get the money instantly and instead get the option to either raze or loot the port.
Razing a port forces a single downgrade and gives you 75% of the port's money.
Looting a port gives you 100% of the port's money.
Downgrade chance is now a 1% chance for every 325 damage done.
Ports now start with 1,250,000 + level * 1,250,000 + level^2 * 275,000 credits, or:
2,775,000
4,850,000
7,475,000
10,650,000
14,375,000
18,650,000
23,475,000
28,850,000
34,775,000
And are reset to their starting credits after having been looted or razed.
The bounty for killings players who are engaged in a port raid has been increased to 1,000,000 per port level.
The turns used to attack a port has been increased to 3 turns per player.
Continue 1.6.46 (13/9/2013 5:25:00 PM):
Trading
Trading profit has been increased by roughly 40%.
Goods now increase the port raid and upgrade money at a rate of 50 credits per good traded (previously 10 credits per good for upgrade and 0 for raid). This will increase the money available from port raids as well as making ports more likely to upgrade from regular trading.
Ship Changes
Changes are best viewed at http://goo.gl/JgVvSj, however a list of the changes also follows.
Bounty hunter to 7 hardpoints
Celestial Combatant to 2,656,949 credits and 7 hardpoints
Goliath to 2,580,866 credits and 7 hardpoints
Predator to 2,623,300 credits and 7 hardpoints
Resistance to 7 hardpoints
Retribution to 2,235,800 credits and 7 hardpoints
Proto Carrier to 2 hardpoints and 360 CDs
Assasin to 2,883,452 credits and 7 hardpoints
Celestial Mercenary to 7 hardpoints and 20 scouts
Federal Warrant to 3,026,598 credits and 7 hardpoints
Retaliation to 235,900 credits and 12 hardpoints
Federal Discovery to 1,335,689 credits and 4 hardpoints
Juggernaut to 5,404,130 credits, 6 hardpoints and 1300 armour
Vindicator to 6,400,000 credits
Assault Craft to 18,487,328 credits
Dark Mirage to 18,660,955 credits
Destroyer to 18,099,381 credits
Devastator to 18,318,853 credits
Eater of Souls to 18,572,719 credits
Mother Ship to 12,932,759 credits
Fury to 12,932,759 credits and 900 shields
Freighter to 5,791,393 credits
Planetary Freighter to 6,115,028 credits
Planetary Super Freighter to 6,235,792 credits
Planetary Trader to 5,983,335 credits
Trade-Master to 5,095,764 credits
Stellar Freighter to 7,008,455 credits
Thief to 7,802,157 credits
Advanced Courier Vessel to 5,560,740 credits
Inter-Stellar Trader to 5,914,159 credits
Ship Names
HTML ship names have been fixed.
Here are the updates that have gone live since your last visit, enjoy!
1.6.47 (14/9/2013 2:50:00 AM):
Port Raids
Upon completing a port raid you no longer get the money instantly and instead get the option to either raze or loot the port.
Razing a port forces a single downgrade and gives you 75% of the port's money.
Looting a port gives you 100% of the port's money.
Downgrade chance is now a 1% chance for every 325 damage done.
Ports now start with 1,250,000 + level * 1,250,000 + level^2 * 275,000 credits, or:
2,775,000
4,850,000
7,475,000
10,650,000
14,375,000
18,650,000
23,475,000
28,850,000
34,775,000
And are reset to their starting credits after having been looted or razed.
The bounty for killings players who are engaged in a port raid has been increased to 1,000,000 per port level.
The turns used to attack a port has been increased to 3 turns per player.
Continue 1.6.46 (13/9/2013 5:25:00 PM):
Trading
Trading profit has been increased by roughly 40%.
Goods now increase the port raid and upgrade money at a rate of 50 credits per good traded (previously 10 credits per good for upgrade and 0 for raid). This will increase the money available from port raids as well as making ports more likely to upgrade from regular trading.
Ship Changes
Changes are best viewed at http://goo.gl/JgVvSj, however a list of the changes also follows.
Bounty hunter to 7 hardpoints
Celestial Combatant to 2,656,949 credits and 7 hardpoints
Goliath to 2,580,866 credits and 7 hardpoints
Predator to 2,623,300 credits and 7 hardpoints
Resistance to 7 hardpoints
Retribution to 2,235,800 credits and 7 hardpoints
Proto Carrier to 2 hardpoints and 360 CDs
Assasin to 2,883,452 credits and 7 hardpoints
Celestial Mercenary to 7 hardpoints and 20 scouts
Federal Warrant to 3,026,598 credits and 7 hardpoints
Retaliation to 235,900 credits and 12 hardpoints
Federal Discovery to 1,335,689 credits and 4 hardpoints
Juggernaut to 5,404,130 credits, 6 hardpoints and 1300 armour
Vindicator to 6,400,000 credits
Assault Craft to 18,487,328 credits
Dark Mirage to 18,660,955 credits
Destroyer to 18,099,381 credits
Devastator to 18,318,853 credits
Eater of Souls to 18,572,719 credits
Mother Ship to 12,932,759 credits
Fury to 12,932,759 credits and 900 shields
Freighter to 5,791,393 credits
Planetary Freighter to 6,115,028 credits
Planetary Super Freighter to 6,235,792 credits
Planetary Trader to 5,983,335 credits
Trade-Master to 5,095,764 credits
Stellar Freighter to 7,008,455 credits
Thief to 7,802,157 credits
Advanced Courier Vessel to 5,560,740 credits
Inter-Stellar Trader to 5,914,159 credits
Ship Names
HTML ship names have been fixed.
Saturday, September 14, 2013
Space Merchant Realms Newsletter #37
Space Merchant Realms Banner
Dear Player,
The next exciting installment of SMR games is upon us! Step into the ring and get lathered up for the Fall Brawl. We're taking a breather from draft rounds for a bit to go old school. Blue racial 11 x 11 galaxies (Alskant will remain 12 x 12) circle the 5 x 5 green planet galaxies, with the large 30 x 25 neutral galaxy in the middle. Mines in the racials will be limited to 24 hours, mines in the neutral are at a 72 hour limit, and planet galaxy mines will last for 120 hours. Planets are set at 20/95/10. Game speed will be 1.5 with a turn maximum of 600. Alliances are capped at 16 players, 13 vets and 3 newbies, so start picking your squad and let's get ready to rumble!
We have made some interesting tweaks to the upcoming round. Changes include a trading increase of roughly 40% (I know, who doesn't love trading??)! Ports are also more likely to upgrade due to regular trading, as well as gaining more money from it. Along with this come a whole host of ship that you can check out at http://goo.gl/JgVvSj. We MAY even balance out PR cash, but you'll just have to come in game and test it to find out...
As always, SMR welcomes any new ideas for maps. Map ideas and submissions can be sent to any SMR admin or on the SMR webboard in the map submission thread.
Space Merchant Realms also very much appreciates the hard work of our primary coder, Page, and two other players who have started working on SMR code to make it a better game, Ronsilver and Astax. New features, long proposed, now have a chance to be added to game to add depth, balance and interesting new strategies.
See you in game!
Thank you,
The SMR Administration Team
Dear Player,
The next exciting installment of SMR games is upon us! Step into the ring and get lathered up for the Fall Brawl. We're taking a breather from draft rounds for a bit to go old school. Blue racial 11 x 11 galaxies (Alskant will remain 12 x 12) circle the 5 x 5 green planet galaxies, with the large 30 x 25 neutral galaxy in the middle. Mines in the racials will be limited to 24 hours, mines in the neutral are at a 72 hour limit, and planet galaxy mines will last for 120 hours. Planets are set at 20/95/10. Game speed will be 1.5 with a turn maximum of 600. Alliances are capped at 16 players, 13 vets and 3 newbies, so start picking your squad and let's get ready to rumble!
We have made some interesting tweaks to the upcoming round. Changes include a trading increase of roughly 40% (I know, who doesn't love trading??)! Ports are also more likely to upgrade due to regular trading, as well as gaining more money from it. Along with this come a whole host of ship that you can check out at http://goo.gl/JgVvSj. We MAY even balance out PR cash, but you'll just have to come in game and test it to find out...
As always, SMR welcomes any new ideas for maps. Map ideas and submissions can be sent to any SMR admin or on the SMR webboard in the map submission thread.
Space Merchant Realms also very much appreciates the hard work of our primary coder, Page, and two other players who have started working on SMR code to make it a better game, Ronsilver and Astax. New features, long proposed, now have a chance to be added to game to add depth, balance and interesting new strategies.
See you in game!
Thank you,
The SMR Administration Team
Sunday, August 25, 2013
TMSMR Strategy September 2003
The following is the Strategy Document written up by this writer as leader of the House Forsaken-affiliated Trex Mercenaries of Space Merchant Realms in September, 2003:
In previous rounds of SMR and its forerunner, Space Merchant, planets were at the core of most decent alliances’s strategy. Planets provided a measure of security for members and a base for operations. However, it was always difficult to build up and maintain them since most players considered it dull and boring , not to mention an activity that did little to boost their exp. As a result, only a few committed alliance members worked on the planets.
There have been a number of changes in SMR since the last round that make it very difficult, if not impossible, to build up and maintain planets. These include: no ports in planetary galaxies and no bank interest. There is also the matter of players not being able to plot course and/or use the jump drive any further than bordering galaxies. Trading is far less profitable now than previously. Also, the fact that most galaxies don’t have planets only makes it easier for the mad dog killer outfits to suppress planetary construction through regular raiding. The failure of racial councils to make peace only serves to close them off and makes it harder for traders to avoid the hunters. Likewise, the provision for planetary bonds only serves to increase the insecurity of the planets since there will be more folks aiming at harrying planetary builders in the hopes of hitting the jackpot.
What this means is that we have to do things differently this round than we would have done in previous rounds. Setting up and maintaining sizable minefields are out of the question due to the lack of money brought on in large measure to the lack of bank interest. Since planets are more or less out of the question, we need to use the Fed zones to our advantage. For individual members this means saving up turns to 300+ if you have either a well armed trader or a warbird. Stay within the offensive rating limitations of the Fed zones, arm yourself when you start playing and then sell weaps before logging off.
Counter-hunting is a tactic that alliance members need to use. This means killing all scouts that you find and also figuring out as many trade routes as you can so that if scouts appear on one route, you can switch to another. Avoiding ports that trade in Comps and Lux Items are a good way of avoiding predators altogether. For counter-hunting as an alliance, look down for the term, “combat sweeps.”
As an alliance as a whole, we need to have more folks on their IM’s and in the alliance IRC room whenever they are online, not just when they are in-game. We need to organize and execute some combat sweeps and planet busts. In order to facilitate concentration, alliance members, or at least those with decent fighting vessels, need to trade in the same racial galaxies which means trading up your relations with as many other races as you can.
The term “planet bust” should not require any explanation, although “combat sweep” probably does. A combat sweep is when some alliance members get on a shared communication forum such as an AIM chatroom or an IRC room. These members’s ships are concentrated in the same galaxy and they have scout drones out. Members report what their scouts pick up on them and then the pilots try hunt down/corner ships belonging to other alliances and destroy them. All members can participate in sweeps as long as they have scout drones and can send their information in even if their ships do not actively participate.
Combat sweeps can be a lot of fun and result in some pretty nice kills. However, they require advanced planning, solid committments from members to participate in them, and a target galaxy with a decent number of (at least 3) members’s ships in it. 300+ turns are needed for fighting ships to effectvely participate in them. Scout drones need to be deployed before the op starts and then withdrawn after it ends. It always has to be kept in mind that every sweep has the potential to be either fruitless and/or deadly for our side. Of course, the preferred victim of our sweeps would be the predators of the spaceways, but if they aren’t around, then peaceful traders would have to do.
Because of the importance of these operations, the alliance fund will pay for forces and also fighting ships used in them provided that the ship owner holds on to the forces and fighting ship for the next operation instead of going to a new ship. And please, nobody getting any Battlecruisers or other ships with zero or very little in the line of cargo holds. In order to make ourselves an effective force in the universe, it will be necessary to mount these operations on at least a halfway regular basis.
If we can mount these operations effectively, then we can make a name for ourselves as an alliance as well as individual players. It would also serve to give us something to do as oppose to just mindlessly go back and forth between the same ports. And, if we become feared, then there will be fewer bad persons who will want to mess with us either as a group or as individual players.
In previous rounds of SMR and its forerunner, Space Merchant, planets were at the core of most decent alliances’s strategy. Planets provided a measure of security for members and a base for operations. However, it was always difficult to build up and maintain them since most players considered it dull and boring , not to mention an activity that did little to boost their exp. As a result, only a few committed alliance members worked on the planets.
There have been a number of changes in SMR since the last round that make it very difficult, if not impossible, to build up and maintain planets. These include: no ports in planetary galaxies and no bank interest. There is also the matter of players not being able to plot course and/or use the jump drive any further than bordering galaxies. Trading is far less profitable now than previously. Also, the fact that most galaxies don’t have planets only makes it easier for the mad dog killer outfits to suppress planetary construction through regular raiding. The failure of racial councils to make peace only serves to close them off and makes it harder for traders to avoid the hunters. Likewise, the provision for planetary bonds only serves to increase the insecurity of the planets since there will be more folks aiming at harrying planetary builders in the hopes of hitting the jackpot.
What this means is that we have to do things differently this round than we would have done in previous rounds. Setting up and maintaining sizable minefields are out of the question due to the lack of money brought on in large measure to the lack of bank interest. Since planets are more or less out of the question, we need to use the Fed zones to our advantage. For individual members this means saving up turns to 300+ if you have either a well armed trader or a warbird. Stay within the offensive rating limitations of the Fed zones, arm yourself when you start playing and then sell weaps before logging off.
Counter-hunting is a tactic that alliance members need to use. This means killing all scouts that you find and also figuring out as many trade routes as you can so that if scouts appear on one route, you can switch to another. Avoiding ports that trade in Comps and Lux Items are a good way of avoiding predators altogether. For counter-hunting as an alliance, look down for the term, “combat sweeps.”
As an alliance as a whole, we need to have more folks on their IM’s and in the alliance IRC room whenever they are online, not just when they are in-game. We need to organize and execute some combat sweeps and planet busts. In order to facilitate concentration, alliance members, or at least those with decent fighting vessels, need to trade in the same racial galaxies which means trading up your relations with as many other races as you can.
The term “planet bust” should not require any explanation, although “combat sweep” probably does. A combat sweep is when some alliance members get on a shared communication forum such as an AIM chatroom or an IRC room. These members’s ships are concentrated in the same galaxy and they have scout drones out. Members report what their scouts pick up on them and then the pilots try hunt down/corner ships belonging to other alliances and destroy them. All members can participate in sweeps as long as they have scout drones and can send their information in even if their ships do not actively participate.
Combat sweeps can be a lot of fun and result in some pretty nice kills. However, they require advanced planning, solid committments from members to participate in them, and a target galaxy with a decent number of (at least 3) members’s ships in it. 300+ turns are needed for fighting ships to effectvely participate in them. Scout drones need to be deployed before the op starts and then withdrawn after it ends. It always has to be kept in mind that every sweep has the potential to be either fruitless and/or deadly for our side. Of course, the preferred victim of our sweeps would be the predators of the spaceways, but if they aren’t around, then peaceful traders would have to do.
Because of the importance of these operations, the alliance fund will pay for forces and also fighting ships used in them provided that the ship owner holds on to the forces and fighting ship for the next operation instead of going to a new ship. And please, nobody getting any Battlecruisers or other ships with zero or very little in the line of cargo holds. In order to make ourselves an effective force in the universe, it will be necessary to mount these operations on at least a halfway regular basis.
If we can mount these operations effectively, then we can make a name for ourselves as an alliance as well as individual players. It would also serve to give us something to do as oppose to just mindlessly go back and forth between the same ports. And, if we become feared, then there will be fewer bad persons who will want to mess with us either as a group or as individual players.
Saturday, August 24, 2013
Aaron Swartz was a Scumbag
Hacking is the same thing as breaking and entering one's home. As Declan McCullough wrote back in the late 1990's, there is no such thing as "hacktivism", only vandalism.
What gets me about this case is the way that his father has been acting. He talks as if MIT committed a great sin by alerting law enforcement to his son's crimes.
He was recently the subject of an article in the Chicago Sun-Times as saying that MIT needed to apologize for its actions and to do what his son wanted them to do: make journal articles and academic journals free of charge. Given the fact that academic journals are pretty expensive to publish, if they were made free, pretty soon there would be no more academic journals around.
Aaron Swartz was a scumbag no different than kidnappers and other kinds of violent hoodlums.
What gets me about this case is the way that his father has been acting. He talks as if MIT committed a great sin by alerting law enforcement to his son's crimes.
He was recently the subject of an article in the Chicago Sun-Times as saying that MIT needed to apologize for its actions and to do what his son wanted them to do: make journal articles and academic journals free of charge. Given the fact that academic journals are pretty expensive to publish, if they were made free, pretty soon there would be no more academic journals around.
Aaron Swartz was a scumbag no different than kidnappers and other kinds of violent hoodlums.
Thursday, August 22, 2013
Posting Suspended
As of now, I have posted just about everything that I have been able to find about the near dead game Space Merchant Realms. If I find anything new, such as a new SMR newsletter, I'll post it. At some time before I do my SMR tribute webpage(s) I'll ask around to fill in some of the mysteries that I have encountered.
For now this is crector over and out.
For now this is crector over and out.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
SMR Newsletter #36
Dear Players,
Round 67: Galactic Boxing
We have decided since Round 66 was so much of a success that we will hold another draft round for Round 67. The two leaders who have been selected as draft leaders are as XDemonX and JettJackson. They will be the ones who will be choosing the teams for the next game. We welcome everyone to partake in the new draft round. The round will go live this weekend on Saturday or Sunday, August 17th or 18th with turns going live on Wednesday August 21st after the draft. The draft itself will occur at 9PM EDT on Tuesday, which is 21/8/2013 3:00:00 AM Server time. The draft will carry out in #smr and like last time, there will be a draft party on Team Speak, details pending before the draft.
The details of the draft map are in the link as follows here:
A few other details, the draft game speed will be 2x and with a cap of 650 turns. All weapons and ship shops will be found in both neutrals. There will be a change in route distribution this time around however, as we have noted that there was very limited hunting in the previous draft round. We have decided to lower the port density in the racial galaxies and raise the port density in the neutral and planet galaxies. What this does is improves the racial routes and makes building planetary routes a bit more difficult as you will need to bust more ports to achieve a strong planetary route. Planetary levels will remain the same from the previous round which were level 53.33 or 50/100/10 Generators/Hangers/Turrets.
Key Changes
Some new changes have also occurred recently or will be occurring before the start of the draft round.
Some of the changes that are already in place are as follows:
The number of turns you will gain/lose are now shown when viewing a ship.
Alliance leaders can now see on the roster whether players are banned and until when. Any alliance member can see which of their allies are currently online.
Alliance leaders and players without an alliance are now shown how much money is bonded on each planet and for how long.
Cargo jettisoning has been updated with the new base experience formula, so the exp gain/loss should match that for buying.
There is now an input which you can use to centre the galaxy map on a sector.
You can now store a list of sectors under plot course to easily plot to, along with labels and repositioning - thanks RonSilver!
Changed the shade of blue for the experience text, it should now be significantly easier to read.
Viewing scout messages (when collapsed) is now significantly faster.
A couple other changes that will be going into the game have to deal with weapon and ship changes and they are as follows:
The weapon changes can be found here
These are mostly just changes to prices in order to bring them in line with the strength of the weapon, so weaker weapons are cheaper and stronger ones are more expensive. Also the weaker weapons are also more cost-effective for their strength (but who cares about anything other than the strongest weapons anyway?!) The only change you are likely to care about is the PPL going from 34% to 35% accuracy to match the HHG and Nuke.
And the ship changes can be found here
These are much more interesting and I'm sure you'll have comments, feel free to message them to Page in-game/irc, or post on the webboard etc.
In summary:
Buffs:
Death Cruiser
Federal Ultimatum
Federal Discovery
Juggernaut
Assassin (cheaper)
All cloaked traders (mostly in speed):
Thief
Deal-Maker
Blockade Runner
Stellar Freighter
Changes:
Federal Warrant (cheaper but no mines)
Nerfs:
Border Cruiser (defense)
Rogue (defense)
Help Always Needed
Remember Space Merchant Realms is Open Source! SMR has been released under the GPLv3 licence: (https://github.com/smrealms/smr). We are also considering a bounty based system for all volunteer coders. Any questions concerning open source and related items should be directed to Page or RCK. We look forward to some new coders helping to improve SMR!
See you in game!
Thank you,
The SMR Administration Team
Round 67: Galactic Boxing
We have decided since Round 66 was so much of a success that we will hold another draft round for Round 67. The two leaders who have been selected as draft leaders are as XDemonX and JettJackson. They will be the ones who will be choosing the teams for the next game. We welcome everyone to partake in the new draft round. The round will go live this weekend on Saturday or Sunday, August 17th or 18th with turns going live on Wednesday August 21st after the draft. The draft itself will occur at 9PM EDT on Tuesday, which is 21/8/2013 3:00:00 AM Server time. The draft will carry out in #smr and like last time, there will be a draft party on Team Speak, details pending before the draft.
The details of the draft map are in the link as follows here:
A few other details, the draft game speed will be 2x and with a cap of 650 turns. All weapons and ship shops will be found in both neutrals. There will be a change in route distribution this time around however, as we have noted that there was very limited hunting in the previous draft round. We have decided to lower the port density in the racial galaxies and raise the port density in the neutral and planet galaxies. What this does is improves the racial routes and makes building planetary routes a bit more difficult as you will need to bust more ports to achieve a strong planetary route. Planetary levels will remain the same from the previous round which were level 53.33 or 50/100/10 Generators/Hangers/Turrets.
Key Changes
Some new changes have also occurred recently or will be occurring before the start of the draft round.
Some of the changes that are already in place are as follows:
The number of turns you will gain/lose are now shown when viewing a ship.
Alliance leaders can now see on the roster whether players are banned and until when. Any alliance member can see which of their allies are currently online.
Alliance leaders and players without an alliance are now shown how much money is bonded on each planet and for how long.
Cargo jettisoning has been updated with the new base experience formula, so the exp gain/loss should match that for buying.
There is now an input which you can use to centre the galaxy map on a sector.
You can now store a list of sectors under plot course to easily plot to, along with labels and repositioning - thanks RonSilver!
Changed the shade of blue for the experience text, it should now be significantly easier to read.
Viewing scout messages (when collapsed) is now significantly faster.
A couple other changes that will be going into the game have to deal with weapon and ship changes and they are as follows:
The weapon changes can be found here
These are mostly just changes to prices in order to bring them in line with the strength of the weapon, so weaker weapons are cheaper and stronger ones are more expensive. Also the weaker weapons are also more cost-effective for their strength (but who cares about anything other than the strongest weapons anyway?!) The only change you are likely to care about is the PPL going from 34% to 35% accuracy to match the HHG and Nuke.
And the ship changes can be found here
These are much more interesting and I'm sure you'll have comments, feel free to message them to Page in-game/irc, or post on the webboard etc.
In summary:
Buffs:
Death Cruiser
Federal Ultimatum
Federal Discovery
Juggernaut
Assassin (cheaper)
All cloaked traders (mostly in speed):
Thief
Deal-Maker
Blockade Runner
Stellar Freighter
Changes:
Federal Warrant (cheaper but no mines)
Nerfs:
Border Cruiser (defense)
Rogue (defense)
Help Always Needed
Remember Space Merchant Realms is Open Source! SMR has been released under the GPLv3 licence: (https://github.com/smrealms/smr). We are also considering a bounty based system for all volunteer coders. Any questions concerning open source and related items should be directed to Page or RCK. We look forward to some new coders helping to improve SMR!
See you in game!
Thank you,
The SMR Administration Team
House Forsaken is Dead
In the early days of Solar Empre, June-October, 1999 House Forsaken was the mightiest clan in the game. At least that is until the likes of the Evil Empire, TalkHouse & the Trex Mercenaries showed up. Even then, HF's position was strong enough that in January 2000 SE creator/developer/operator Bryan Livingston awarded them their own SE game that was admined by HF members. HF was also a multi-game outfit that also had strong clans in other major online games such as at Battle.net and in Everquest.
However, HF succumbed to hubris and became too big for its britches. This happened in March, 2003 in the game of TDZK that was created/developed/operated by HF members Jerle & Hotaru. In that game 2 HF members, one of whom named Hyperion had played SE under the name of HY and who had originally been a HF recruit in SE (and if a certain story is true played SE with HF back in late 1999 under the name of -=WindKull=-), were caught brazenly cheating. In a related incident in the same month, Hyperion committed treason by destroying a HF planet (Planet OMGN).
Since HF prided itself as being a clan that claimed to have honor at the very core of its being and repeatedly used the idea that it was a honorable outfit in its recruiting that was firmly opposed to cheating, one have thought that the HF leadership would have come down hard on the cheaters. Instead the opposite happened. The leadership acted as if nothing bad happened and that, if anything, the real culprits were those who brought the cheating to the attention of the clan. Additionally, the leadership failed to provide even the slightest discipline to Hyperion for his SE treason.
The end result of all this was the mass resignation of almost every member of the HF Browser-Based Gaming Realm (about half of the membership of ) and with that the single most active unit within HF ceased to exist. From that point on, HF went into a state of decline and fall and after years of being little more than a glorified "forum clan" has ceased to exist.
However, HF succumbed to hubris and became too big for its britches. This happened in March, 2003 in the game of TDZK that was created/developed/operated by HF members Jerle & Hotaru. In that game 2 HF members, one of whom named Hyperion had played SE under the name of HY and who had originally been a HF recruit in SE (and if a certain story is true played SE with HF back in late 1999 under the name of -=WindKull=-), were caught brazenly cheating. In a related incident in the same month, Hyperion committed treason by destroying a HF planet (Planet OMGN).
Since HF prided itself as being a clan that claimed to have honor at the very core of its being and repeatedly used the idea that it was a honorable outfit in its recruiting that was firmly opposed to cheating, one have thought that the HF leadership would have come down hard on the cheaters. Instead the opposite happened. The leadership acted as if nothing bad happened and that, if anything, the real culprits were those who brought the cheating to the attention of the clan. Additionally, the leadership failed to provide even the slightest discipline to Hyperion for his SE treason.
The end result of all this was the mass resignation of almost every member of the HF Browser-Based Gaming Realm (about half of the membership of ) and with that the single most active unit within HF ceased to exist. From that point on, HF went into a state of decline and fall and after years of being little more than a glorified "forum clan" has ceased to exist.
Sunday, August 18, 2013
Lotus's SMR Gameworld
SMR Gameworld
- MainPage
- Screenshots
- Old Game Maps
Getting Started
- Current Sector
- Turns Explained
- SMR Glossary
- Game Icons
- SMC Tutorial
Basic Gameplay
- Moving
- Trading
- Fighting
- Ports
- Planets
- Protection
Strategy
- What to do First
- Trading
- Hunting
- Making Experience
- Making Money
- Lurking
- Mining
- Planet Building
- Planet Busting
- Port Raiding
- After You Die
Trader
- Trader Status
- Polotics & Relations
- Alignment
- Alliance
- Ship Management
Refrences
- Game Formulas
- Ship List
- Weapons List
- Shop List
- Level Requirements
- Ranking System
- Wep power Level's
- Ship Equipment
Other
- Game Terms
- SMC
- IRC/mIRC
- General Tips
Downloads
- SMC
- Cracked SMC
- MGU
- SMR Banker
- Excel Trade Calc
Helpful Links
BoB's SMR Tools
Crusaders Help Portal
Space Merchant Realms Live
Space Merchant Realms Beta
SMR Web Board
SMR Manual
Current Game: Fungal Infection
Start Date: 5/28/2006
End Date: 8/13/2006
Game Speed: 1.5
View Galaxy Map
Download FULL SMC Maps
Download FULL MGU Maps
Welcome to the SMR Offical GameWorld Site!
The SMR Gameworld is a collection of information about Space Merchant Realms, designed to help new and old players. It is a growing database of all things SMR past and present. It has many expainations and guidesabout many different aspects of the game, as well as detailed refrence sheets for all kinds of data. There are many Downloads available as well as game maps for both SPace Merchant Companion and Merchants Guide to the Universe. Up to date Game Forumlas with new updates as the happen. Any and all guides are the property of their creators, I try to give credit but if I forgot please just let me know and I will give all credit necessary to the creator.
If you are looking for something and cannot find it, or you have something you would like added to the SMR Gameworld, you can contact LotuS Ingame or in IRC Chat #smr.
This being said, Welcome to Gameworld, hope you enjoy your stay and find what your looking for. please Report Errors, or anything else to LotuS in IRC.
Internet Archive: B.O.B.'s SMR Tools
B.O.B.'s SMR ToolsWelcome to my SMR tools section! I have recently recreated my Mining & Planet Building tools into a Windows Program It is in its Beta Stages, and much more user-friendly than the web counterparts. Please DOWNLOAD and TRY this new tool! If you would like to use the online version of the above tool (not updated as frequently as the Windows Program) see below:Seeds Report This script breaks down into 2 main sub scripts, with 2 minor sub scripts: The seeds portion is designed to let your alliance members know where to seed. The sector portion is designed for your miners. This will allow them to look up a sector beforing going their to see if any seeds need to be filled. Planets Report This script is a simple report that gives you a summary of what each planet needs to be stocked in (shields/drones). There is always a couple of reference tools available: Ship List Tad bit more advanced than the ship list that you will find at SMRealms For instance, each ship row has a drop down menuthat displays what shops will sell the shop. Weapon List Tad bit more advanced than the ship list that you will find at SMRealms For instance, each weapon row has a drop down menuthat displays what shops will sell the shop. Shop List There current is no Shop list that you can find at SMRealms | ||
| B.O.B. Space Merchant Realms v1.0.0 ©2001-2009 Hosted by B.O.B. Script runtime: 0.04 sec | ||
Classic MPOGD Forum Thread: Space Merchant Realms
Ravenger
ravenger Posted - 17 June 2002 16:25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey if all of you remember Space Merchant there is a
new remake out now called Space Merchant Realms which
is now fully functional. great game free~Rav
crector
crector Posted - 17 June 2002 23:27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, I'm in SMR right now. However, do my playing
time in both SMR & TDZK, I don't have the time to
report on it for MPOGD & probably won't until Friday.
Currently, I'm ranked #39 out of 369 players & as for
my alliance, its like this:
TREX MERCENARIES (17)
Roster / Message Board / Planets / Forces / Options /
List Alliances / Politics
crector's message of the day
Let's go explore the universe!
Soldiers of Fortune for Fun and
Profit............................. The Official Space
Merchant Affiliate of HousE ForsakeN,
http://www.clan-forsaken.com
Alliance Name Total Experience Average Experience
Number of Members
Trex Mercenaries 10250 854 12
Current Members
Trader Name Race Experience
1* Petty Officer crector (37) Human 1702
2 Navigator Stryker (197) Salvene 1589
3 Navigator Unknown Soldier (207) Salvene 1544
4 Navigator Rumpus ChubbyKnucks (185) Human 1506
5 Navigator Mikeyp (117) Alskant 1358
6 Sophomore Recruit DracoLichB (212) Ik'Thorne 545
7 Sophomore Recruit Boblober (85) Creonti 530
8 Sophomore Recruit Boba Fett (184) WQ Human 494
9 Sophomore Recruit Hyphven (339) Thevian 367
10 Sophomore Recruit Orbulos (202) Alskant 316
11 Freshman Recruit Drax (137) Human 233
12 Recruit nick (192) Salvene 66
Sorry, Doug. Couldn't resist. :)
crector
crector Posted - 14 July 2002 14:25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:
In case anyone's interested, I wound up ranked #216
out of 1,318 players. My alliance, the Trex
Mercenaries, did much better overall, ranking #11 out
of 100 alliances. Still, SMR NG #1 was a blast despite
some glaring bugs that went unfixed and the lack of
some features from the old SM such as alliance-wide
messaging.
Montana_Mike
montana_mike Posted - 16 July 2002 19:16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geez! Are the people behind that illegal copyright
violation still trying to make a go of it?
DeadlyPencil
deadlypencil Posted - 17 July 2002 1:13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
just a suggestion: post a link
crector
crector Posted - 17 July 2002 22:42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, SMR may be a ripoff & an unauthorized one at
that, but the copyright owners aren't complaining, at
least not that I know of. It's a lot better than the
original SM & the admins fix bugs & other problems
faster & better than in the original SM. Of course, MM
here is bitter because he & his oh so feared & vaunted
Horsemen of the Apocalypse got themselves kicked
around in SMR until they finally faded away into the
sunset.
crector
ravenger Posted - 17 June 2002 16:25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Hey if all of you remember Space Merchant there is a
new remake out now called Space Merchant Realms which
is now fully functional. great game free~Rav
crector
crector Posted - 17 June 2002 23:27
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Actually, I'm in SMR right now. However, do my playing
time in both SMR & TDZK, I don't have the time to
report on it for MPOGD & probably won't until Friday.
Currently, I'm ranked #39 out of 369 players & as for
my alliance, its like this:
TREX MERCENARIES (17)
Roster / Message Board / Planets / Forces / Options /
List Alliances / Politics
crector's message of the day
Let's go explore the universe!
Soldiers of Fortune for Fun and
Profit............................. The Official Space
Merchant Affiliate of HousE ForsakeN,
http://www.clan-forsaken.com
Alliance Name Total Experience Average Experience
Number of Members
Trex Mercenaries 10250 854 12
Current Members
Trader Name Race Experience
1* Petty Officer crector (37) Human 1702
2 Navigator Stryker (197) Salvene 1589
3 Navigator Unknown Soldier (207) Salvene 1544
4 Navigator Rumpus ChubbyKnucks (185) Human 1506
5 Navigator Mikeyp (117) Alskant 1358
6 Sophomore Recruit DracoLichB (212) Ik'Thorne 545
7 Sophomore Recruit Boblober (85) Creonti 530
8 Sophomore Recruit Boba Fett (184) WQ Human 494
9 Sophomore Recruit Hyphven (339) Thevian 367
10 Sophomore Recruit Orbulos (202) Alskant 316
11 Freshman Recruit Drax (137) Human 233
12 Recruit nick (192) Salvene 66
Sorry, Doug. Couldn't resist. :)
crector
crector Posted - 14 July 2002 14:25
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Update:
In case anyone's interested, I wound up ranked #216
out of 1,318 players. My alliance, the Trex
Mercenaries, did much better overall, ranking #11 out
of 100 alliances. Still, SMR NG #1 was a blast despite
some glaring bugs that went unfixed and the lack of
some features from the old SM such as alliance-wide
messaging.
Montana_Mike
montana_mike Posted - 16 July 2002 19:16
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Geez! Are the people behind that illegal copyright
violation still trying to make a go of it?
DeadlyPencil
deadlypencil Posted - 17 July 2002 1:13
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
just a suggestion: post a link
crector
crector Posted - 17 July 2002 22:42
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Well, SMR may be a ripoff & an unauthorized one at
that, but the copyright owners aren't complaining, at
least not that I know of. It's a lot better than the
original SM & the admins fix bugs & other problems
faster & better than in the original SM. Of course, MM
here is bitter because he & his oh so feared & vaunted
Horsemen of the Apocalypse got themselves kicked
around in SMR until they finally faded away into the
sunset.
crector
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)