Tournament News #3: The WarBOT Dream
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Greetings, Tournament Warlords!
We now have 176 players from 28 countries "Activated" for the Tournament!
22 players are being certified and will be activated as soon as they're
ready. The scenario packages for the Practice Round are being assembled,
and although things are taking longer than expected, we are definitely
making progress! Sorry for all the delays - it's been a little harder
than we expected to simultaneously coordinate 4 versions of WarBOT
(PC-Windows, PC-DOS, Mac-PPC, and Mac-68k) and 4 flavors of scenario
(PC-Deluxe, PC-Classic, Mac-CD, and Mac-Classic). I guess we're learning
from the Practice Round experience too!
(This time the fun story comes after the essential info that follows.
But for best effect, we recommend that you read the story first and come
back to the information!)
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Critical WarBOT Information Follows! -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
WarBOT is now ready for Mac and Windows! The DOS version is still
being ported; it should be ready soon but in the meantime we have
made a less-sophisticated substitute available:
(1) If you email warlords@pixgen.com and put one of the following
commands in the Subject: line, WarBOT will be emailed to you
as (large!) attached file:
Subject: GetDOSWarBOT
(PC, DOS version. ~400k when 100% ready.)
Subject: GetWinWarBOT
(PC, Windows version. 1.4 MB total.)
Subject: GetMacPPCWarBOT
(Mac, PowerPC version. 1.4 MB total.)
Subject: GetMac68kWarBOT
(Mac, 68k version. 1.2 MB total.)
(2) If large email attachments are a problem for you, get WarBOT from
the Web via http://www.pixgen.com/elam/warlords/
(3) If you have downloading problems, email Elam Birnbaum, elam@pixgen.com
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
On a quiet peaceful evening, after a long strenuous day of training your
forces and preparing your new tactics and strategies for the upcoming
Tournament, you finally lie fast asleep on the great bed in your fortress.
Fast asleep, that is, until a strange and wondrous dream enters your
unconscious mind, a vision so compelling that the excitement roils your
brain, stimulating the strange and mysterious centers of thought that
lead your mind - eager despite its lack of rest - back to consciousness.
You sit up, and shake your head to clear it. Rest does not come easily to
a Warlord awaiting the first battles of the World Tournament, but
dreams certainly do!
But as you awaken, you soon realize that this was no mere dream.
Indeed, it was a serious vision. Alas, now you can only remember the
ending! You remember there was a mysterious chariot drawn by the
finest team of horses you'd ever seen, careening frantically through
the darkness, stopping briefly outside a large gate to deliver one
of many packages, and then continuing onwards to fulfill its missions
elsewhere.
You remember something more: in the vision, it was *your* gate!
How did the rest of the vision go? You can't remember, but curiosity
motivates you to dress quickly and seek the night watchmen for any news.
Maybe there's a package outside the gate right now! You find the guards
quickly, but not as quickly as your curiosity demands. However, the watchmen
report nothing unusual. Still, you head down to the main gate to see for
yourself. Besides, maybe the night air will clear your head enough for
you to get back to sleep again...
You reach the gate, and find nothing. But the scene jogs your memory,
and the visions return!
In your mind you see scribes writing with feather pens, foot-soldiers
practicing with swords and pikes, cavalry riding horses, and a mighty
Warlord gazing out across a battlefield while holding a crystal ball in
his hand. Inside the ball you can barely discern a strange scene.
Two vast armies stand arrayed for battle beneath two great flags.
Clearly a mighty battle is brewing... But what are all those numbers?
The armies stand still, yet numbers march across the scene, statistics
and parameters and variables... Unit strengths, terrain factors,
statistics upon row of combat statistics. And then the results of
some sort of calculation: percentages, probabilities, survival odds.
And at the end, what is that? Two different types of
words: "Lives!", and "Dies..."
Quickly you realize that the mighty Warlord is *you*, that one of
the great flags is *yours*, and that the numbers and statistics
describe your armies and your foes', the same armies that swarm across
the battlefield where the Warlord is standing!
Yes, you understand! This is the Warlords Battle Odds Tool. WarBOT!
The vision comes stronger now, clearer. Truth, once caught, is easy prey!
With a flash of insight, you discover that just as the pen is the
chief instrument used by the scribe, and the sword is the main weapon
carried by the soldier, and the horse is the primary motive force of
the cavalry, so too is the WarBOT the true tool of the mighty Warlord!
A scribe who has practiced with his pen can more easily write the truth,
a soldier trained in the sword can more readily strike a true blow,
and a cavalryman who knows his horse well can quickly make a true battle
charge. So, too, a Warlord skilled in using the WarBOT can determine
the truest, most fair outcome of any battle. With WarBOT, you know
that you have only to ask the gods of battle what will happen in a
given attack, and they will tell you! Those statistics are exact measures
of force, those probabilities are "random" odds of survival, and the words
"Lives!" and "Dies..." are the judgement of the Tournament Battle Rules,
which prevent your foes from "getting lucky" and winning battles unfairly.
This crystal ball is no feeble tool!
You shiver, not from the chill of the night air, but from a sudden
awareness of the new strategic powers the WarBOT gives you.
Now, an army is no longer a cudgel, an unwieldy club which might as easily
shatter and crack as it might beat the foe senseless. An army no longer
wins battles by some random mix of luck that is only partly guided by
strength. No! With the WarBOT telling the true odds, the correct
outcome is always known, and now your army becomes the finest of
rapiers, a sword so sharp that it can slice a foe to ribbons with a
single swish of the blade. You realize that if you know the exact battle
odds, you can shave the margin of victory as thin as you like, and still
cut the enemy down stone cold dead! Victory comes now, not from luck
or even overwhelming force, but from superior strategy and tactics.
The Warlord who learns the nuances of combat with WarBOT and learns
to combine his units into the most effective stacks is now not merely
*likely* to win, but certain of it!
You nod to yourself. This opens up some exciting possibilities!
And now the rest of the vision comes back to you. Knowing how useful
this tool must be, you trace back in your mind to the beginning of the
vision, the part that explains how to obtain the WarBOT.
You quickly remember that there are two means to get WarBOT now,
and you may choose whichever you prefer:
(1) If you email warlords@pixgen.com and put one of the following
commands in the Subject: line, WarBOT will be emailed to you
as (large!) attached file:
Subject: GetDOSWarBOT
(PC, DOS version. ~400k when 100% ready.)
Subject: GetWinWarBOT
(PC, Windows version. 1.4 MB total.)
Subject: GetMacPPCWarBOT
(Mac, PowerPC version. 1.4 MB total.)
Subject: GetMac68kWarBOT
(Mac, 68k version. 1.2 MB total.)
(2) If you prefer not to receive large file attachments, download
WarBOT from the Web via http://www.pixgen.com/elam/warlords/
(3) If you have downloading problems, send email to
Elam Birnbaum, elam@pixgen.com
And now you remember that if you send the right command, WarBOT will be
delivered to you immediately, and you can begin practicing with it for
the Tournament!!!
You smile. This was a grand vision!
As you head back to your chambers to return to sleep, two final thoughts
pass your way. You remember that the Tournament Organizers have promised
to give you a complete tutorial and list of WarBOT tips in the Practice Round.
And you remember that you *must* obtain WarBOT and become familiar with it
soon, so that you can really practice with it and quickly reach the level
of asking the intelligent, important questions that you know you will have.
It will do you no good to discover all the subtle nuances too late, for
after the Practice Round all battles will count, and if you fail to do
your homework now, your lessons shall be taught to you the hard way -
at the skilled and merciless hands of your foes!
Indeed, at this thought alone you are too eager to sleep.
You wake your steward and give orders to obtain WarBOT immediately!
And then, at last, you return to bed, and there, with a radiant smile
on your face, you dream of a mighty Warlord gazing out across a
battlefield, holding a crystal ball in his hand. Inside the ball
you discern a strange scene. Two vast armies stand arrayed for battle
beneath two great flags. Clearly a mighty battle is brewing...
And when you awake the next morning, you find that a shipment *has*
arrived in the night, and you open it eagerly to discover the very
crystal ball you dreamed about the night before!
-- Bob Heeter, on behalf of the Tournament Organizers