| Above is the vision that Maze Runner 3 experienced, this turn.
This is NOT where Maze Runner 3 is located in the maze. |
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* Click that image above of cops shooting at a bank robber to visit the It's a Crime PBM (Fan Site) Discord! |
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The ongoing Saga of Galaxy #223 in Galac-Tac |
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Thursday, December 4th, 2025 - 5:25 AM Issue #56 of PBM Chaos published yesterday, two days late. Thus do I begin putting this issue together, and what better place to start than with Galac-Tac? Specifically, Galaxy #223, where I try to recount my journey through this particular game of Galac-Tac. Last night, I managed to flesh my turn orders for Turn #7 out some more from 10, where I paused at, several days previously, and they now sit at 42. That's progress, but I'm not done with them, just yet. I still have more starships to issue orders to. I could fly right through my turn orders, getting them done quickly, if I wanted to. Galac-Tac, however, nudges me to invest more time and effort into the orders that I issue for my empire. The rules can be learned. I say that, even as I am still learning them. Reading them is the easy part. If only I had a photographic memory, and could just commit everything that I read about Galac-Tac to memory. The reality of the situation for me is quite different, though. I continually refer back to the rules. What am I missing? Anything? Worse, still, what have I already forgotten? What have I forgotten since this game first started? What have I forgotten since just last turn? This is probably my age creeping in. It's less a rules problem than a memory problem, or a problem with me grasping a given particular aspect of the rules or the game's mechanics. From cover to cover, the rulebook for Galac-Tac is 55 pages long. Get past the table of contents, and it's just 52 pages in length. The sections of the rulebook that I keep going back over, time after time, are only a fraction of that. Heading into Turn #7, the most time-consuming task about Galac-Tac for me is trying to decide what to build, and how many of each starship or platform. Replacing destroyed starships is simple and quick and easy. But trying to balance how much to spend on growing my empire's economy versus trying to grow my empire's war machine, that's where the time-intensity really increases for me. If I get that balance wrong, each turn, every turn, then my empire may well end up suffering for it. And I have an aversion, a natural and deeply-embedded aversion, to the positions that I play in PBM wargames suffering. So, I try to spend additional time trying to get it right. At this early morning hour, I find myself wondering whether I'm getting it right. Am I botching it? If I do botch it, the Galactic Grannies in this game of Galac-Tac, Djinni and Ajwan, will cackle with laughter. I really hate the thought of giving them that sense of pleasure. They would no doubt see it as me having it coming. I, of course, want to avoid at all costs serving them my empire's head on a silver platter. And if it's gonna happen, let it occur much later in the game, and not on Turn #7. Say, isn't the number 7 supposed to be lucky? It's nice having more PI to spend, this turn. It still sucks not having nearly as much PI to spend this turn, as I'd like. The fact that other empires in this game are likely in the exact, same boat as me, on the PI end of things, or perhaps even worse, provides me with little in the way of solace, at the moment. As of the current moment, my empire's BUILD orders for Turn #7 are seeking to construct 9 types of starships and 2 types of platforms. This should yield a total of 11 starships and 3 platforms. GTac is issuing a warning message to me about my attempt to TOW a platform. Galac-Tac GM Davin says that the TOW order works, and while error messages are always both annoying and a cause for concern, as long as the order actually works is what ultimately matters to me. I can live with a false warning message. As much as, if not more than, an attempt to defend star systems other than my production centers with platforms, what I am really after, right now, is to just test the TOW command. I want the 100% certainty that comes from actually using the order and it working as it is supposed to, so that when I actually need to be able to rely upon it in future instances, I can do so with complete confidence. In war, doubt is a killer! Two weeks between turns, which was the turn processing schedule voted on by players of Galaxy #223 before it started, allows plenty of time to be systematic and methodical in the issuing of one's turn orders - provided that you actually invest the time and make the effort to do so. As with many other play by mail games, Galac-Tac players can choose to wait until the last minute, in order to begin issuing turn orders for their position, which can many times turn out to be a disaster. Rushed for time, players can forget things or overlook particular things that they wanted to do, but end up bungling it and not actually do those things. It's not realistic to expect good turn results from a set of sloppy, half-assed turn orders issued. This is true, no matter what PBM game you're playing. I'm issuing 3 different CLASSIFY orders on Turn #7, which will create blueprints for my empire's shipyards to be able to build 2 more types of starships and 1 more platform type, going forward. I am also using the DECLASSIFY command to eliminate 3 different sets of blueprints, this turn. I am eliminating 2 of the starship classes that the game starts all new players off with. I'm just not a fan of the generic ship types that all players start off with. They leave me with a bland taste in my mouth, whether they're good starship designs or not. 1 of the ship classes being eliminated was a starship type that I designed early on, but after more thought and several turns of game play, I have decided that this particular starship design is obsolete. Thus, I don't hesitate to eliminate it from my empire's current design choices. With 3 new designs being added, and 3 designs being eliminated, my empire will remain at 38 different designs that I can build on any turn, as available PI allows. At present, my empire currently has 18 different classes of starships and platforms in operation. As they say, variety is the spice of life! Just now, I went in and consolidated on my CHART and SECURE orders issued, thus far. I can issue orders to 2 different starships on the same order line for both of those order types. Thus, the number of order lines in GTac now reads 34 for me. Using 1 order line for all of your orders will end up shortchanging you on options, if you go that route. I may not even end up needing my maximum allowed 50 order lines, thus turn, but what I am trying to do is to train myself to do this consolidated approach to issuing turn orders, where possible, so that it eventually becomes second nature to me. It's all about forming good habits on the order-issuing end of things. One of the best default maps that GTac, the player assistant program/app for Galac-Tac, comes with is the Destinations map. I have barely even looked at it, much less incorporated it into my turn-by-turn planning. That changes now! GTac will let you copy a command from one map to another map, using the Change shown information, and then you can paste it into another map of your choice's Change shown information option on your other map. This is really handy, and is a true time saver, compared to just typing in the command, manually. I'm cooking with Crisco, now, with these dashed lines representing destinations that my CHART orders for various starships for the coming turn now display as "visual information." The maps feature of GTac can really increase one's overall situational awareness. This comes in real handy, when you are faced off against multiple different enemies, simultaneously. As a game of Galac-Tac progresses from turn to turn, more and more information is generated - both for your own empire's assets, as well as for your enemies' assets. Being able to just look at a star map, and to quickly digest all of that information in visual form, is a godsend. I kid you not. When playing Hyborian War, I like to make my own maps and update them each turn. GTac makes this relatively easy to do. GTac isn't perfect, but it does provide players of Galac-Tac with a visual "force multiplier" of the battle space. The formulas can be a pain to figure out, at times, and I don't see a way to plot things by the SECURE order (which I use a lot), but the things that GTac can do and does do are quite impressive. For Turn #7, my primary military target will be star system 49-65, a Kroji Konfederation colony. It's a risky gambit, and may well prove to be a well-defended target, but I have decided to risk it, anyway. It's time for me to put my Droon Ship to use, and see how well that it stands up to enemy fire. To try and help ensure the survivability of this particular Droon Ship, I am also assigning additional starships to the task force. This targeted star system is located only a mere distance of 6 from the Kroji Konfederation's homeworld. Win or lose, this attack should wake Player Djinni up. She's been getting way too much rest, anyway. Destroying the colony isn't my objective. I don't even know what the PV value of this colony is. One of these days, I'm gonna have to send a starship to CHART it and find out. It's really about "sticking it to the man," so to speak, and to deny Djinni the easy use of it. Why? Because denial of access to resources can result in frustration. If you can't conquer your enemy outright, that doesn't also mean that you can't frustrate them. And being denied easy access to resources that sit right next door to your homeworld, that can be especially frustrating to a player in a PBM wargame. The player is ALWAYS the power behind the empire. After all, it's the player who is making all of the decisions for their empire. Frustrating your enemy can throw their thinking off. It can disrupt their ability to focus. A lot of war is the psychological element. Get under the enemy's skin, and they tend to bring their emotions more into play. And emotions have a natural tendency to cloud their judgment. If your judgment gets clouded, then that can result in an increase in inefficiency in planning, and bad decisions all around. By targeting a player's mind by way of the Tool of Frustration, I target their empire's leadership, their empire's command and control. Explaining it, as I am doing here, undermines my ability to do it successfully, going forward, but this is a learning game of Galac-Tac, and it isn't just the rules and mechanics of Galac-Tac that players can learn and benefit from. By attacking this particular target, which is in very close proximity to her homeworld, Player Djinni won't feel comfortable allowing my forces to stay there (assuming that they win, which they may very well not). She will then need to place greater focus upon how to prevent that from happening or remaining. Compelling other players to do specific things that weren't an actual priority for them not so very long ago is one way to get an enemy to fight a war on your terms, rather than on their terms. The rules of Galac-Tac doesn't teach players any of this or many other things. That's not typically the purpose of rules and rulebooks for PBM games. Unlike some PBM games, Galac-Tac hasn't been scripted to death. If I were to start a new game of Galac-Tac tomorrow, I could play it an entirely different way. This is a big plus for Galac-Tac, in my book. The fact that each new game of Galac-Tac that is created will feature a star map where the star system locations are randomized in the game generation stage of the game's program further adds to Galac-Tac's replayability. Friday, December 5th, 2025 - 6:54 PM Barring any further changes to my turn orders for Turn #7, I'll be sending in 49 order lines of orders. Am I feeling confident, though, with the orders that I'm issuing?
In some things, yes, in other things, not so much. I'm taking some risks that are going to be costly, if I bungle things by making the wrong decisions.
Not much left to say, at this point. The turn orders deadline is tonight, and Turn #7 will process tomorrow morning (Saturday morning).
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Galac-Tac galaxy #223 has processed the current turn and the turn results are ready for your review. |
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Saturday, December 6th, 2025 - 9:42 AM Looks like Turn #7 processed a little bit late. I'm not sure if this is a bad omen for me and my empire, the Yonds of Droon, or not. But I've gotta look at my turn results, sometime, so I might as well go ahead and bite the bullet and download my turn results and get it over with. Overall, Turn #7 turned out to be a really good turn for me, even if on the combat front it proved to be largely uneventful. My empire's military forces only participated in just 2 battles on Turn #7. Droon forces prevailed in both battles, eliminating all enemy starships in the process, while absorbing no losses of our own. Some of my starships did incur minor damage, but most made it through these 2 battles completely unscathed. |
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Naturally, I removed my ships that participated in these two battles. Since my enemies' starships were all destroyed in these particular battles, that means that neither of these two enemies learned what kinds of starships that my empire fielded against them, this turn. And if there's anybody that just loves being kept in the dark, it's my enemies. Right, guys and gals?
Dead men tell no tales, and dead starship crew members send no reports back home on the outcome of battles that take place among the stars. What was Player Djinni of the Kroji Konfederation thinking? She's doing the same thing that she was doing before, albeit in a slightly different way. She opted to go cheap on defense, fielding only a single in-system Fighter for this particular Kroji colony system |
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4P/1;;/-16 = 21 PI to build |
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Tell me, what kind of defense did she get for her money, in this particular instance? And this is how she defends star systems that are colonies? Come on, Djinni! Is this what it means to be a Galactic Granny? Worse than losing a battle is losing the propaganda war. And what about Silent Brendan of the Wyvern Supremacy? He continues to make the same mistake with the design of his starships. |
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4P//14-14 = 24 PI to build 5P//14-14 = 30 PI to build |
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Same basic problem as Djinni. 4 or 5 phasers isn't what's the cause of death of those 3 starships that Player Brendan lost to my empire, this turn. Apparently, the Wyvern Supremacy is a space faring empire that has never heard of shield technology. It's less a question of his starships' weapons than it is the fact that he's building ships that are very vulnerable on the receiving end of weapons fire.
Both of our empires are still at Tech Level 1, so my empire doesn't have more advanced technology than Brendan's empire. Speaking of which, I still don't even have an idea how many star systems that the Wyverns control, at present. Maybe he's just building lots of starships or platforms, and stockpiling them for future use. Much like Player Djinni, Player Brendan is trying to wage war on the cheap. How's that working out for you, Brendan? My initiative to try and tow a platform on Turn #7 did, in fact, succeed. GTac issues an error message (two error messages, in fact), whenever you issue TOW orders, but the order will go through, as long as you meet all of the other parameters/limitations required for towing. I towed a Moon Battery from my homeworld to another star system, this turn. That's not nearly as impressive a feat as trying to tow a huge starbase, of course, but the fact that Galac-Tac players can tow platforms is not some inconsequential thing. It expands strategic options. Having more options in one's strategic arsenal is always better than having fewer options, is the way that I look at it. Granted, as this game proceeds, towing platforms might ultimately prove to be a losing strategy, but for the moment, anyway, I'm jubilant at the successful outcome of my empire's first towing test. Having some defenses at that receiving star system is better than having no defenses there, at all, from my perspective. Why not just build starships to defend all of my star systems with? Well, those Star Drive engines and Inertia engines aren't free, when constructing stuff at a shipyard. And at this still relatively early stage of the game, we're all pinching our star pennies and trying to squeeze the most bang for our space buck out of them. Plus, if towing was originally conceived of as a way to tow damaged starships to one's homeworld to repair them, and to allow nothing else of consequence, then that's simply what's known as a "lack of imagination." Besides, I'm already starting to build Repair Facilities. Instead of just towing damaged starships home to repair them, I aim to dispatch starships whose sole purpose is to serve as mobile repair crews. Why is towing damaged starships at half of the towing ship's maximum movement speed and distance a better solution than just sending out Repair Facilities at full movement speed and distance? To me, it's not. My empire's first Repair Facility came online in Turn #7, and is now ready for action. My intent is to preposition them in deep space at various points around the star map. As my empire acquires more and more of them, Droon repair capability will expand and become more and more robust. If need be, more than one Repair Facility can be used to fix starships (or platforms) that become heavily damaged. If you're not thinking like this, then your empire is already behind.
Whatever else may be truthfully said about it, Galac-Tac is a thinking man's game. Or if you prefer, a thinking woman's game. If everybody playing Galac-Tac is bound by the same set of rules and the same set of internal game mechanics, then one key edge and advantage that you can create for yourself is investing more thought into your turn orders. The rules and game mechanics remain steady. They are constants. Thus, if you aim to innovate in your strategy, then your brain trust that you carry around inside that head of yours is something that you should employ and take advantage of, every chance that you get, from turn to turn to turn.
Miscalculations can be costly. Not miscalculating is a better way forward, and avoiding miscalculations, altogether, can be best achieved by way of sinking more thought into your decision-making process as a player. As human beings, we will always be subject to being prone to error. There's no way around that. But to innovate on the strategy and tactics end of things, your brain and its attendant thought processes constitute the primary source of your empire's innovation capacity.
Yes, you can certainly learn from others, but there just aren't a lot of books and strategy guides that are currently readily available for you to readily access, in order to expand your strategic school of thought. Do you happen to have your own private library of what others have written on the topic of how to play Galac-Tac and how to become a better Galac-Tac player? Probably not. Thus, it's up to you, just as it's it's up to each and every individual Galac-Tac player, to discover and to discern better ways of doing things.
Otherwise, you will become more susceptible to losing your homeworld, as well as your other production centers and colonies, if you run into situations and in-game threats that manifest themselves to your empire's detriment. Maybe one of these days, Player Ajwan of Saydonia will write an article for PBM Chaos, explaining in great detail what it feels like when your homeworld comes under attack, and then, also, what it feels like when your empire loses its homeworld in a game of Galac-Tac.
What did she do wrong? Where could she have done better and improved her empire's chances of repelling that attack upon her homeworld? Ajwan waited too late to properly and fully prepare her empire's homeworld's defenses in another game of Galac-Tac, and her and her species in that game ended up paying the iron price, the ultimate price.
Would I have done any better in the same situation, had I been in Ajwan's shoes? Maybe. Maybe not. At the point a catastrophic event - nay, an existential event - of that magnitude suddenly manifests itself out of nowhere, your empire fights with what it has on hand. From my perspective, in that other game, Ajwan failed to adequately prepare.
It's not as though she didn't have anything, at all, defense-wise, already in place, when that invasion suddenly appeared out of the blue with no advanced warning. At a bare minimum, it was an intelligence failure. She didn't know it was coming when it was coming, and she didn't have sufficient military assets on hand to ultimately prevail. Her homeworld fell. Her empire ceased to be. What a sad, sad day that must have been?
One of my primary tasks is to prevent a repeat of what happened to Ajwan in that other game of Galac-Tac, where my own homeworld and empire in Galaxy #223 is concerned. One way that I aim to succeed in that task is by exploring a whole range of different options. This necessarily entails an extensive amount of analysis be devoted to this cause of mine. I must study my enemies and their chosen array of activities. Individual battles will be won and lost, but war is more than the sum of the outcome of individual battles. Ultimately, what matters, is the war, itself.
As players of Galac-Tac, we are each tasked with prosecuting military campaigns. As long as no one is attacking you, it's not unduly difficult to plan and develop your empire's economic strength. But what about when your empire is under attack? What about when your transports begin exploding in space? Are you prepared for that? Do those kind of events increase your sense of urgency? How redundant are your empire's capabilities? That your transports aren't built for war, that they are routinely defenseless, none of that means that war won't find your empire, even if your empire isn't looking for war. What are you gonna do when it happens? When war comes, plans tend to go right out the window. As such, what are your empire's contingency plans? Or have you done any contingency planning, at all? Me? I'm willing to take risks. That translates into me being willing to inflict risks, especially of the unexpected variety, upon you, and all across your empire. I'm just one empire, though. You also have to worry about several other empires, as well. Maybe not now. Maybe just later. Or perhaps now, also, depending upon which of several other empires in this game of Galac-Tac decide to press their advantages. Maybe they live to exult in gaining the element of surprise. Are you ready for them? I mean right now. I mean tomorrow. I mean several turns from now. I mean the distant future, as well. I mean any of them and all of them, both simultaneously or individually. I mean them each and every turn. I type all of these Galac-Tac articles for an overarching purpose, and that is to try and make you think. Yeah, the propaganda aspect of the game is fun. Propaganda in PBM wargames is always fun. For me it is, anyway. If you are playing in Galaxy #223 of Galac-Tac, though, then know and realize that you are playing against a thinking and analytical and calculating alien species. You may aim to win, whereas I may aim for you to lose. To defeat you, I don't actually have to defeat you. I can nickel and dime your empire to death. I only have to slow down your empire's expansion and growth and economic development. To defeat your empire militarily outright requires substantially more resources than disrupting and impeding your empire. No matter what you choose to do, there's always more than one way to defeat your empire - and that's true for everyone playing in Galaxy #223, including myself! So far this game, every player in Galaxy #223 has had at least eleven hundred PI available to spend. Some have had more than that, perhaps even all of us. And what has your empire gotten for its money during the span of time between when this game first started all of the way through Turn #7? How confident have your spending decisions made you? Is your empire thriving? Forget your empire valuation score. Those are but mere numbers. How strong is your empire, actually, and in "real terms?" War isn't about waiting for your enemy to prepare. Everything in war isn't likely to go smooth and flawless. Each loss your empire absorbs creates a new "on-the-ground reality." Sure, your empire may have a plan. It may even have several plans. But how good are you at reacting on-the-fly? War is many things. War is an exercise in inconvenience. Remember that the next time that I attack you/ |
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Galaxy #223 Player Blurbs |
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No player blurb received. |
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No player blurb received. |
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Well, things are looking up (a bit) for the Kroji Konfederacy. My percentile went up a tick. (OK, so not really significant, but far better than going DOWN.) I lost a couple of ships, and blew up a couple of other people's, and otherwise it's been a pretty quiet turn, compared to some of the earlier episodes. I have (to my surprise) already completed my next set of orders. I used 36 lines, and spent the rest of the 50 just doing some decorative renaming so my ship names were consistent. I'm glad I spent most of the day on Galac-Tac. I really hate feeling like it's a chore and I have to get it done before a deadline whether I'm in the mood or not. I may not even review my orders - just coast for two weeks and hope I have a day off two weeks from now. Today, it was fun again.
A few hours later… Well, I've already gone back and fixed a few things. I got some advice from Davin (a question anyone could ask and he would answer willingly - no "insider information") and changed my mind on a plan. Then I noticed I'd overlooked three pending "where do I send this ship now?" notes I'd written. Once again, the mind/note-reading function of Gtac failed me! So, I made a few less unnecessary name changes and sent up 50 orders again. It was really good to actually have the time (or allow myself to spend the time) to get all my orders done in one sitting. I did all the easy, obvious stuff, made plans to address new situations, and built stuff to carry out future plans. Back in the day, when I was self-unemployed, I had the time AND mental faculties to hold the Big Picture in my head and keep up with the details. Many years older, not any wiser, and far more preoccupied with a full-time job, it's a struggle. But I am committed to doing my best, and maybe even coming out on top of the heap. At least I'm gonna give the other players a run for their money, and make it worth THEIR time to play. I'm enjoying the banter, and the challenge of playing a rather different game than the ones I participated in decades ago. We'll see where I end up. See you in the stars, folks!
Djinni |
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Once again, when I previously wrote a GT Blurb for PBM Chaos Issue 56, I found myself still stuck on 11 Orders. By Thursday Evening, before the Friday Midnight Deadline, I had settled upon a mere 14 Order Slots. Friday Afternoon, I realized that my First Order Slot was Blank and what I thought I would be Building would not be Ordered to be Built until Turn 8, thus leaving me a mere 13 Order Slots for the Deadline. I currently have 3 Orders submitted for Turn 8 via the GTac App; whereas, in comparison, I have received reports that the two Galaxy Grannies have each submitted 50 and 34 Orders. My Interest in playing this Learning Game still exists, but truthfully, it exists in hopes that the future Galaxy 228 Game will at some point get filled with 8 to 10 Players. Galac-Tac is a Deeper Game of Strategy than it appears to be on the surface. In this Learning Game, we have begun knowing exactly how many Players are playing this Learning Game, plus the location of each Home World, unless we misplace this Info. I want to play in a Game where the Players initially have No Idea who exactly is playing, plus where each Home World is located before the Game begins. Misraw currently maintains an Empire Valuation in the 100th Percentile! My Short-Term Goal is to Avoid Being the First Empire Eliminated from this Learning Game. We shall see how many Orders I have added when you read Issue 58 of PBM Chaos. Hammer, Minister of War |
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No player blurb received. |
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Player Blurb - GrimFinger |
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Turn #7 of Galaxy #223 did not feature a lot of battles. Just 2 for my empire, and just 4, total, across the galaxy, in spite of there being 6 active empires in this particular game of Galac-Tac. Even still, for me, personally, Turn #7 featured two extremes.
One was the fact that my first use of the TOW command was a success, thus validating one of my war doctrines for Galac-Tac. And two, Player Djinni's Kroji interstellar con men proved to have very little fight in them, this turn, even at what I had already decided would be my empire's primary military target for Turn #7.
Djinni, you disappoint me!
Such pathetic defenses, and at one of your empire's colony systems, at that. I had hoped for more. Truly, I had. PBM Chaos readers can only guess at the level of disappointment that the Krojis' soft defenses at star system 49-65 inflicted upon me, this turn. Et tu, Brute?
So now, I have to try and figure out which of her empire's other star systems would make a more worthy target for military assault. I don't actually know the PV values of any of Djinni's star systems. I should probably look into correcting that oversight in the not too distant future. Then, perhaps, my selection of which star systems to target might improve noticeably.
Since the bulk of her empire's military strength wasn't hanging around star system 49-65, this turn, it must be residing elsewhere. The only question is, where?
Like Elmer Fudd hunting wabbtits, I'm hunting Krojis. Ssshhh! Be vewy, vewy quiet. I'm hunting space wabbits!
By this point in time, a full seven turns into the game, the dastardly Krojis have dispersed widely. Two more Kroji starships were encountered during a Cease Fire at star system 75-40, this turn. 75-40 is a distance of 27 from the Kroji homeworld at star system 55-67, Taberna Suprema. 75-04 lies a distance of only 22 from the Saydonian homeworld located at 53-36. Now, where's that line that the Krojis and Saydonians agreed upon, again? From my perspective, both of their empires look like jigsaw puzzles.
Pah! Damned Galactic Grannies up to no good, if you ask me.
The Yonds of Droon experienced 4 different cease fires, this turn, and fortunately, none of our starships went missing, quite unlike another turn not so very long ago. There's a reason expendable ships are called expendable to begin with. Replacing them hasn't proven to be unduly difficult, at all. GTac informs me that my empire has now charted 38% of the galaxy. I can't help but to wonder how much of the galaxy my fellow players in Galaxy #223 have successfully charted, thus far. If my starships didn't keep on bumping into the starships of other empires, resulting in cease fires and cancelled CHART missions, then my empire would be well past 38%, by now. Player Richard Lockwood and that Castle Anthrax empire of his accounted for more of my empire's cease fires than any other empire, this turn. No doubt, Castle Anthrax is expanding and growing in both economic and military strength. Castle Anthrax is on the rise! Player Ajwan continues to plot and scheme. I'm convinced of it. No doubt, she's plotting my doom and the death of my empire. And after all that I have done for her and those wretched Saydonians, too! And I really don't understand how Player Hammer issues so few orders, each turn, yet his empire had managed to surge into the 100th percentile in empire valuation scoring, recently. The math on that seeming contradiction just ain't adding up! When are the Scroids of Hammer's Misraw gonna put those Krojis in their place is what I want to know? Oh, look! A brand new container of cashew nuts just begging to be opened and munched on. Ruling a space empire in Galac-Tac is rough, I tell ya. Let's compare Galaxy Statistics for the current turn, Turn #7, to the previous turn, Turn #6. |
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Thus, you can easily see that 6 more star systems in the galaxy have become colony systems, since last turn. Such greedy players! Also, another empire now has finished developing one of their colony systems into a full blown production center. The nameless scoundrel! Just in case you're out there wondering, that bacon that I ate yesterday morning tasted better than these cashew nuts that are serving as a makeshift breakfast for me, this morning. I wonder what my fellow Galaxy #223 players will be dining on, this morning? From the looks of it, Djinni and Brendan are dining on crow, today. More of their starships destroyed and blown to smithereens. Go on - take another bite of this fresh crow that I'm spoon-feeding the both of you, this morning. Yum, yum! As she reads this, Player Ajwan will probably be laughing. At least, up until the part where I mention that Droon task force that has now taken up position over in her neck of the interstellar woods. It's a quick reaction force, in case Ajwan gets an itchy trigger finger. Don't think that I won't retaliate, Ajwan! Of course, I did have that cease fire with Saydonia to occur at star system 67-45, this turn. Her empire of Saydonia is already wealthy, so why is she still nosing around looking for more resources to exploit? Sheer greed, if you ask me. My empire rose from 89th Percentile, last turn, to 92nd Percentile, this turn, so that's an improvement. I don't like being in free fall, even if it is just a bunch of numbers on digital paper. All of these other empires out there just sucking up all of the galaxy's resources, that's what lies behind my own empire's fall out of the 100th Percentile on Empire Valuation scoring. I'm convinced of it! It couldn't possible be due to me bungling my empire's economic strategy, now could it? Hush, those of you in the peanut galley beginning to heckle me about this! |
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Above is a star map of where my empire encountered most of its ceasefires on Turn #7. That big purple and white star is Player Richard's homeworld, star system 07-29. All that I'm really trying to do in this sector of space is to chart unexplored star systems to determine their PV value. As you can plainly see, one of the star systems above and to the right of Richard's homeworld has a PV value of 6. The yellow diamond at the top is star system 75-40, where I encountered a 2 SSD Kroji starship, this turn. Above it, but out of sight on this particular map segment, is another ceasefire, where I encountered 2 Saydonian starships at star system 67-45. For me, Turn #7 proved to be a bit anticlimactic. I just didn't end up launching as many military strikes as I probably should have, and not all of my attempts at carrying out attacks panned out. 2 battles out of 5 locations that I sought to carry out attacks in were all that transpired. Slim pickings for me, this turn. Of my 11 attempts to chart unexplored star systems, this turn, only 6 of them proved to be successful, the remaining 5 resulting in ceasefires occurring (ceasefires are when your mission orders get cancelled, as well as the other player's mission orders, when both of your ships encounter one another at the same star system location, and neither of your ships have combat orders of some kind to act upon). Those eight ships that went missing, last turn, plus one other destroyed in another battle that I won, while none of them individually were particularly important starships on their own, their collective loss ended up translating into me having less options for Turn #7. I could have reassigned other ships from non-combat duties, last turn, but eventually, secondary tasks will pile up, if you don't ever make them an actual top priority, from time to time. Pay me now, or pay me later, as the saying goes. Even as those starships were destroyed in battles on Turn #6, other warships were built in the same turn, and combined with additional new warships that my empire constructed on Turn #7, my empire isn't really any the worse off, now, all things considered. For all of my talk about various battles that have occurred, since Galaxy #223 of Galac-Tac first began, the larger reality is that most of what all six of us players in this game have been doing, for the most part, has been non-combat stuff. Over the last day or two, one thought that has crossed my mind more than once is how I used to see Galac-Tac's ability to allow players to build tons of starships on any given turn, as long as their empire had the available PI on hand to fund such spending sprees, could make Galac-Tac a real headache to issue orders to all of those individual starships. Now that I'm more into an actual game of it playing against other players, I find myself wanting, craving, desiring to build more and more ships. Naturally, as might be expected, my eyes are bigger than my empire's wallet. I did, however, find it ironic how my perception about building a lot of starships over the course of a game of Galac-Tac had changed so much from negative to positive, since my first impression of the game from casually looking at it several years back. |
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* All Galac-Tac content and images copyright © Talisman Games. |
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It's good to be back on schedule, with this latest issue of PBM Chaos to come down the pike! Now, if I can just continue along this path, that will be even better.
Did you find anything in this issue to enjoy? I sure do hope so. I do know that people are still reading new issues of PBM Chaos as they come off the digital publication line, so I'll take that as a positive sign. Here at home, we got our Christmas tree up, finally. At the moment, I am munching on one of my wife's "everything bagels." It's been a long time, since I last had a bagel. My wife likes them. We just don't tend to buy them very often. For this year's Christmas present, if you could have any PBM game brought back from the dead, which one would you pick - and why? Be sure to write in and share your thoughts about this PBM Question in time for me to share it before Christmas Day actually arrives. My best guess is that there will be two more issues of PBM Chaos to publish, before Christmas Day heralds its arrival. December 15th and December 22nd are publication dates for PBM Chaos. Either the 22nd or the 29th of December, one of those two, might get sacrificed in the interest of me surviving this holiday season. I may be able to swing all three of the remaining Mondays in the month of December, for issues of PBM Chaos, but don't be surprised if one of them ends up falling by the wayside. If I counted right, just now, there's been an issue of PBM Chaos to publish once per week for every week since PBM Chaos returned back on August 4th, 2025. There have been a few issues that have published one or two days late, recently, but they still published the same week, in every instance that they were scheduled to publish. An imperfect record, for sure, but a respectable frequency of publication, nonetheless, in my opinion. Trying to peer into the future is always an inherently problematic proposition, but from my cat bird's seat as editor of PBM Chaos, things are looking good, as we veer towards the PBM year of 2026. What's that, you say? Have a second bagel? Well, gee whiz, thanks! I appreciate that kind offer. I think that I will. My wife probably won't mind. It's very tasty, according to my taste buds. For those old birds of play by mail gaming out there with the really good (and long) memories, whom among your number remembers an old PBM game called Age of Gold? It was run by a PBM company in the 1980s called Nevanis Games. Adventure in Singshala, it advertised. It appears to have been an RPG PBM game of some kind. Turn fees were $2.50 a turn, in American dollars. It was operated out of Bemidji, Minnesota. Rules, set-up, and your first turn would set you back only $4. And on that note, It's time for me to undertake a little bit of proofreading, to keep the PBM torches and PBM pitchforks to a minimum. Until next issue, take care of yourselves, and do enjoy the Christmas holiday season! Charles Mosteller Editor of PBM Chaos |
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