Anatomy of a BRE Team I have played on many different BRE teams, but each has been different. This file attempts to show you how a successful team works so that maybe your team can become more competitive. All of the successful teams have an identical infrastructure to one another. The 6 basic components of a winning team: (1) Leader (2) Diplomat/Galactic Coordinator (GC) (3) War Coordinator (WC) (4) 2nd Man (5) Insider (6) Players ---- Standard Hierarchy of team ---- ------------- Leader | 2nd Man / \ / \ GC WC \ / \ / Players The team, broken down: -Leader- The leader is the go to guy. He is the guy the team relies on, and who's final word goes. -Diplomat- The Galactic Coordinator (GC) should be the best diplomat. Not necessarily the leader, but the guy who knows who to make friends/win allies/and talk your team out of tight situations. -War Coordinator- Okay, so there is no place to vote for War Coordinator (WC) but there should be. Also, not necessarily the leader. This is the man who knows all the ins and outs of war. The WC must organize the team into an effective fighting machine and guide them into battle. -2nd Man- Trustworthy, knows what he's doing. Often times the Leader needs someone to turn to, everyone does. The 2nd man gives good advice and is willing to lend a hand, take away pressure, and be the clean up man. -Insider- The Insider is the veteran player. Knows what he's doing, and is very familiar with the game and how it is played. Often times has many allies to back him up, can pull you out of a bind through his experience. -Players- There are all different types of players, but a team needs a number of good, solid players to be successful. This is your manpower, right here is where it all begins and ends. Spectrum of players: Rogue ----- Rebel ----- Grunt ----- Go to guy + Rogue, doesn't care for team. Kamikaze. Kill em. + Rebel, always speaking up, can cause arguments. Can easily become a rogue. + Grunt, not outspoken, goes along with team and provides good support. + Go to guy, can always depend on em. Helps out teammates whenever he/she can and is a good player. ----------------------------------------------------------------- Circle Structure Other teams form a more organized, official type of team structure. In the Circle Structure, all the major players report to the leader, who is the center and of course main component of the team. Often times there is a Covert General or other position which is given to a player specializing in a particular area. War General / | \ / | \ Diplomat --- Leader --- Insider \ | / \ | / Covert General Hopefully, you enjoyed this file and it helps you to begin forming your own expert BRE team. Their are a lot of leagues needing good competition. BD Happy Gaming! -=+-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+ Somebody's IP strategy The strategy for the next interstate game will be based on two crucial features of the game: (1) the fact that a player can make money in the early days of the game by buying and selling food, and (2) the fact that each player makes 1% interest per turn on money he/she has in the bank while playing. If we are able to coordinate turns properly among 6-10 players, each player involved will be earning 160,000,000 coins per day in bank interest *PLUS* any money he/she makes from investments by the time the game is two weeks old. From that point, with proper use of group and individual attacks, we will be able to dominate this game even more thoroughly than Realms of Fantasy dominated the last one. Nobody in the game is *required* to use this strategy, although I believe you will find that the game is a lot more fun when you have tons of money. What I do require is that everyone in the game *understand* the strategy so that you don't interfere with it. If you have questions, page me or leave a comment so I can explain. This interstate game will be restricted access, so *ONLY* the people who ask to play and understand the plan will have access to the game. On the first day of the game, the first players to access the game (possibly people who won't even be playing regularly) will make enough money to purchase all of the food from the food market, and will then abdicate. This tactic means that *everyone* on the board must be careful to buy enough agricultural regions to meet his/her needs, but it also means that we will have a very easy way to make money. By the time you join the game, the food market will have zero units of food in it. At the end of your turn, you must make sure that you *leave* it with zero units of food, too. When you enter the game, you should immediately sell 29,650 units of food (all but 350 units) to the food market. You will be paid 6 coins per unit of food, for a profit of about 175,000 coins. When you get to the main prompt, *DON'T* buy any regions. Instead, *SELL* all 50 of your soldiers and both of your commanders. Next, go to the System menu and set your tax rate to 39%. These two measures will keep your expenses low and will save food. End your turn without attacking the pirates (after all, you have no military...). On your second turn, *BUY BACK* all of the food you sold from the food market. It will cost you three coins per unit, for a total cost of a little less than 90,000 coins. Funny... you just made a profit of about 85,000 coins, didn't you? On your third turn, you're going to sell all but about 300 of your food again; on your fourth, buy, and so forth, gaining about 85,000 coins every other turn (see the bottom of the document for the exact steps). Your purpose is to get to a point where you can afford 500 regions all at once -- 500 is the maximum you can buy in one turn in this game. If the region price is about 1,100 coins per region (which it should be when you have only 2 regions) you will only need about 450,000 coins. Why only 450,000? When you have that much money, you can spend it all on regions; and when you have regions, the bank will give you a nice, fat loan. So when you have one or two turns left, you should have enough money to buy about 400 regions. Buy them, go to the (S)ystem (B)ank menu, and take out a (L)oan for as much as you can. Spend that money to buy the remaining 100 you're allowed to buy this turn. *IMPORTANT: WHATEVER ELSE YOU DO -- EVEN IF YOU MAKE A MISTAKE AND END UP WITH LESS THAN 500 REGIONS -- MAKE ABSOLUTELY SURE THAT YOU LEAVE THE FOOD MARKET WITH ZERO FOOD IN IT! THIS IS A TEAM GAME, SO WE MUST MAKE SURE THAT EVERYONE HAS A CHANCE TO GET HIS/HER REGIONS!!!* Obvious question: What regions should you buy? I plan on buying about 475 desert regions and 25 agricultural regions. I have had very good luck with this combination in the past. Basically, you will want to buy some combination of the following: desert, mountain, river, and agricultural, with at least 5% agricultural (slightly more if you plan on lowering your tax rate later). You do *NOT* want to buy industrial or urban, even if you usually make money using the tax cycle, if you plan to be part of our long-term money-making strategy. The strategy we will be using in this game is much more profitable than the tax cycle, and it requires that you buy money-making regions. Using the food market feature, at least the first ten players should be able to get 500 regions apiece on the first day (because we only start with a pool of 5,000 regions in the land market, some people may not be able to get regions until the second or third day). ONCE YOU HAVE 500 REGIONS, YOU NO LONGER NEED TO DO THE FOOD CYCLE. THE PROFITS ARE TOO SMALL TO MAKE THE FUSS WORTHWHILE. JUST MAKE SURE YOU LEAVE THE FOOD MARKET EMPTY SO THAT OTHER PLAYERS CAN USE IT!!! Once you have some money-making regions, your goal is to make enough money that you can buy 500 *more* regions. Here are some tips to get there: 1. Don't buy any military until you're just about to get out of protection. This means you won't be able to attack the pirates, but that's O.K. -- they don't have much yet, anyway. 2. At the end of your turns, invest your money, but *ONLY* long enough to tie it up until the next time you play (usually 24 hours). YOU WANT YOUR MONEY TO BE IN THE BANK *WHILE YOU PLAY* (NOT TIED UP IN INVESTMENTS) BECAUSE YOU GET 1% INTEREST PER TURN ON MONEY IN THE BANK. 3. *DON'T* buy a few regions at a time. Let your money build until you can afford 500 all at once. Once you have 1,000 regions (probably by the third or fourth day of protection), *DON'T* buy any more regions. Let your money build up. You are going to need to buy some military so you don't get squashed right after you get out of protection. Also, our bank interest strategy will work best if everyone has some money coming out of protection. You'll find that 1,000 regions is plenty for what you need to do. We'll work out the details for leaving protection later, but here's a preview: our strategy will be to pass around our money to take maximum advantage of bank interest. In other words, say that I play first. When I've finished my turns, I send a trade deal with all of my money to Jerry. When he plays, he collects interest on his money *AND* my money. When he's done, he sends all of my money *AND* his money to Evvie... and so on. By my calculations, with this strategy, our money will more than double every day. In just a few days, we will be able to start dividing the money up, and *everyone* involved will end up with 1.6 billion -- the maximum amount of money you can have at a time and still gain interest. Just something to look forward to... DETAILED INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FIRST DAY 1. Turn One: Sell 29,650 food. Sell 50 soldiers. Sell 2 commanders. (Saves food!) SET TAX RATE TO 39%. (Also saves food!) 2. Turn Two: Buy back all the food in the market. Don't spend anything. 3. Turn Three: Sell *all food except 325 units*. Feed your people and end the turn; don't spend anything. 4. Turn Four: Just like turn two. 5. Turn Five: Just like turn three. 6. Turn Six: Just like turn two. 7. Turn Seven: Sell *all food except 325 units*. Check to see how many regions you can buy. If you can buy 450 or more, buy 425 desert and 25 agricultural. Go to the bank, take out a loan for as much as you can, and buy 50 more desert. If you cannot afford 450 regions or more, *DON'T BUY ANYTHING*. 8. Buy all food in the market, *EVEN IF YOU JUST BOUGHT REGIONS*. 9. If you didn't buy regions in turn seven, sell all food and buy regions now as described in turn seven. Otherwise, just keep your food and start stockpiling cash. 10. Whatever you do, *MAKE CERTAIN* that you leave the food market with zero food. *TAKE OUT A LOAN IF NECESSARY!!!!* Midgame: In this stage of the game, our objective is to use the 1% bank interest per turn (*not* investments) to build huge amounts of money. We will be trading around money so that every player can collect interest on *all* of our money. Those who want to participate in this plan will need to coordinate their logins and send all of their money at the end of their turns to the person who is scheduled to play next. People who will have to miss their turns for one reason or another will need to notify other players *in advance* to keep the money from getting stuck. Participating in this interest scheme is completely optional. Please *DON'T* join in unless you're willing to go to some extra trouble to make sure you log in reliably and regularly, *and* unless you're willing to coordinate your turns voice with the person directly before you and after you on the list. We're going to do what we can to make this plan easy, but mistakes could be disastrous. 1. Money stored in the bank draws 1% interest per turn. 2. Players can use trade deals to swap money and get more interest. 3. The maximum amount of money that will draw interest is 1,599,999,999. By Sunday, 4/18, the first batch of players in the game will be out of protection. (On Saturday, we will have zero turns of protection left at the start of our turns, but you can't send a trade deal to a person with zero turns of protection.) Starting on Sunday, we will start playing our turns according to a schedule, so that each player, at the end of his/her turns, can send every penny he/she has to the next player in line. Here are the requirements of the plan: 1. When you log in, you *MUST* check BRE_LOCAL for important announcements and for confirmation that the last player has played and left you the money. 2. When you start your turn, you will be offered a trade deal in which you receive tons of money in exchange for nothing. You should accept the deal, and leave the money in the bank for all ten of your turns. Do not spend this money or the interest from this money. Note: I have heard that if you get a trade deal involving lots of money and then the game crashes, you may lose *ALL* the money. Therefore, after you've accepted the trade deal, play one turn, quit out of the game, and go back in. We don't want to take chances here! 3. During your turns, add as much of your own savings and your own income as you can to the money pool without destabilizing your realm. It is *NOT NECESSARY* to build up a large military at this point: 60,000 - 100,000 missile bases (and only a few thousand soldiers and tanks is probably plenty. I know that this advice may contradict your instincts if you're a League 202/Softnet veteran, but strong defenses are *not needed* right now. We may lose many regions to attacks, but the time lag will prevent us from being completely destroyed, and the important thing at this point is *money*, not regions. Within two weeks, we will get back everything we've lost and much, much more. 4. On your last turn, you *MUST* send a trade deal to the next person on the play schedule. That deal should offer the person all your money in return for *nothing*. (No monkey-business here, guys. We mean business in this game, and San Diego's honor is at stake.) Make absolutely sure that you don't forget or miss your chance to send this trade deal: slow down as you're nearing your last turn and keep an eye on the "turns left" listing when you get to the "Buy" menu so you don't run out of turns unexpectedly. 5. When you're done with your turns, you *MUST* leave a message in BRE_LOCAL indicating that you've played your turns, tell us where you've sent the money, and describe anything unusual that you encounter. 6. Get the phone number of the person who's playing ahead of you and the person who is directly after you, and be prepared to use those numbers. Communicate! I know that this plan has a lot of "*MUST*"'s in it. It's probably too much hassle for anyone who's not overcompetitive like me , and no one is required to use this strategy. If you do decide to participate, though, it is *crucial* that you follow the plan carefully. Why all the fuss, you may be saying? 1% interest per turn per player sounds very small, but it's actually a *huge* amount of interest. By making sure that every player can draw as much interest as possible, we will take control of this game. The Plane: Let's look at a scenario. We'll just go through two days of money-swapping to see how things turn out. I'm assuming that each player starts with 25 million and adds 15 million a day to the pool. This scenario actually *underestimates* our income because it ignores compound interest. I'm also assuming that only five people will be involved, just to keep things easy. DAY 1 PLAYER START AMOUNT INTEREST INCOME END AMOUNT 1 25,000,000 2,500,000 15,000,000 42,500,000 2 67,500,000 6,750,000 15,000,000 89,250,000 3 114,250,000 11,425,000 15,000,000 140,675,000 4 165,675,000 16,567,500 15,000,000 197,242,500 5 222,242,500 22,224,250 15,000,000 259,466,750 DAY 2 PLAYER START AMOUNT INTEREST INCOME END AMOUNT 1 259,466,750 25,946,675 15,000,000 300,413,425 2 300,413,425 30,041,342 15,000,000 345,454,767 3 345,454,767 34,545,467 15,000,000 395,000,234 4 395,000,234 39,500,023 15,000,000 449,500,257 5 449,500,257 44,950,025 15,000,000 509,450,282 Money growth is *geometric*, not linear. If we have ten people working together, we will have to split up into smaller "exchange groups" after just a few days to keep the money pool *under* 1.6 billion (see "Key Facts," above). Later, those groups will split into even smaller groups, and within a couple weeks *each player* will end up with 1.6 billion. We'll figure out the details of our play order and splitting up the money in BRE_LOCAL. If you want to be part of the money rotation, leave a me a message (public or private, as you prefer) in BRE_LOCAL telling me the range of times you could play *EVERY DAY*. Once we have a schedule set, I will consider reserving time on one of the nodes for BRE players. If you don't have a single time every day when you can play, we may still be able to get you involved, but we should talk soon to figure out a strategy. P.S. We will have a chance to iron out any questions at the meeting on Sunday, but we need to work out a schedule before then so that we can get started. *DON'T MAKE INVESTMENTS ON SATURDAY* unless you already know the time you'll be playing on Sunday and you're certain that there's no conflict. How to Handle the Billions O.K. Within about a week, everyone who has been participating in the coin exchange cycle will have 1.6 billion coins of his/her own. The next logical question is the best way to use this money to take over the game. The first question is how to collect the maximum interest from the coins. The simplest way would be to do what we've been doing so far (keep the money in the bank for ten turns, pulling 15,999,999 in interest per turn) and just leaving the money in the bank overnight. I do not recommend this strategy, though, (a) because it doesn't take the best advantage of your money, and (b) because coins that you leave in the bank overnight *CAN BE BOMBED*. The strategy I have been using is to invest my 1.6 billion for 24 hours at the end of my turns for the day. I invest my money in 400 million coin chunks to soften the impact of any crashes. At the start of the next day (assuming no crashes) I have approximately 160 million to spend on attacks and missile bases. I then pull 15,999,999 a turn for my remaining nine turns for a net on the day of just over 300,000,000 coins (not even counting the money I make from my rapidly-expanding empire...). Some alternate strategies can produce more daily money (up to 1.3 billion a day of spending money), but they will require more "build-up" time. I believe that 300 million a day will be sufficient for our purposes in this league. Now ... the next question is what to do with the money. My first suggestion is *NOT* to buy regions. If you buy military instead, successful attacks will produce *more* regions in the long run than region purchases can now. Remember that jets you buy at this point in the game can be reused over and over before they are completely exhausted. Regions will produce money for the rest of the game, but diminishing returns are a big problem here: once you have 2,000 regions, the price is too high. From what I have learned about attack and defense odds and about maintenance expenses, the only military I have been buying has been jets for offense and missile bases for defense. When jets return from an attack, I go into the Interplanetary menu and send them out again *before I play*. When I purchase jets, I send them out on the same turn. Therefore, I pay *no* maintenance costs on my offensive military. When I can avoid paying for more, I only pay maintenance costs on my *defensive* military one turn out of ten. I send all of my missile bases in trade deals to the person who is playing directly after me (offering 200,000 missile bases in return for 200,000 missile bases, and so on). This tactic saves tens of millions per day, but it is *NOT* safe for the last person to play before maintenance (who would be without military when attacks come in!). It can also be risky if you do not have someone playing directly after you, because, as a hub, this system will have to run maintenance *MORE* than once a day for the rest of this game. Even after we are done with the money cycle, it will be a good idea to play at regular times and keep in communication with the people who play before you and after you so that you can save military costs with the least possible risk. Now: attacks. Three hundred million coins a day will allow you to buy and launch about two million jets a day (remember that you have to buy 1 carrier for every 100 jets you purchase, and that you have to pay to join an attack). The main constraint is that you can only *create* two attacks per day (one personal, one group); as far as I know, you can *join* as many attacks as you like. Therefore, I suggest that everyone create a group attack every day, even if you only send one soldier and delay it for several days: once attacks start coming back, we will have more military than we know what to do with. I recommend individual attacks against players with more than two thousand regions, and group attacks against "All". The first day I was out of the coin cycle, I sent out a group attack against "All" on Gateway, and sent 1.4 million jets. The next day I got back almost 1,100 regions. This is going to be fun. Hail the Bright Empire! Long may her pennants wave! -=+-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+=-=+ IP DIPLOMACY IP Diplomacy is one of the most important strategies in IP BRE, and it is one of the most overlooked. If you are a good diplomat you will have a much easier time in BRE. If you are a banker empire you will want to become allied with the top board in networth so they can help draw the fire. If you are more of a military empire you will want to be allied with whoever is going to be one of the big powers later in the game. If you break your treaty with a board, then it will give you a bad reputation and in the next game it will be harder to get allies. One thing you must do to the board you want to be allied with is always be nice, no matter what you do. Find out who there leader is and convince them that you would be a good ally. You just have to become a diplomat. Here is a list of the usual types of treaties you have with other BBS's and what they usually mean: Allied - If you are allied with someone it means that you will help them if they are having trouble and they will help you. Both of your BBS's will co-operate, etc... Peace - This just means that your BBS will not attack there's and they will not attack you.