To Boldly Go

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To Boldly Go (commonly known as TBG) is a free open-ended science fiction play-by-web turn-based strategy game. Although most of this text-based space simulation game has a hard SF look, the treatment of very advanced aliens as deities and the use of spells adds a fantasy element. Also referred to as a space opera, it's a game of exploration, combat, trade, adventure, learning, acquisition and diplomacy.

Jeremy Maiden is the designer and original gamemaster of TBG, which started as a 25 person playtest in 1997. Since then, the "playtest" has taken on more-or-less permanent status -- over 1,500 turns and counting -- and the game's capacity is now 199 players. Although the name and some in-game chrome evokes a Star Trek philosophy/feel, TBG is not a Star Trek game.

To Boldly Go was voted one of the "Top 10 PBEM games of 1999" by PBeM Base International.

[edit] Overview

Each new player is a starship captain, given an old and failing ship by a group of mysterious aliens ("the Great Old Ones") with which to make a name for themselves. The starship comes with four inexperienced officers, no crew, and is made of primitive demo modules carrying just $500 units of energy (with energy functioning as money). Play begins in a star system containing an alien homeworld and other useful locations.

Because demo modules decay rapidly, players must find non-demo replacements fairly quickly (especially a warp drive, which is essential for most movement). Modules of various tech-levels can be acquired by purchasing them from shops, successfully completing adventures, trading with player-ships, or attacking other ships (either aliens or players).

Local space is a cluster of a hundred stars or so, containing about fifteen hundred assorted locations of interest: any other stars aren't accessible yet. A typical turn consists of having the four officers do things (for example, the science officer might go netrunning in the old Empire's computers while the weaponry officer hunts criminals, the medical officer researches medicine, and the engineer raises cash by asteroid mining), exploring for hidden opportunities, possibly a battle with another player or alien, and often ends with a jump to a different star for the following turn's adventures.

Interacting with other players and learning the various alliance connections and "social customs" (e.g., the less powerful ship is usually expected to hail the more powerful ship) is a significant part of TBG, and a key to maximizing ship development. While the TBG turn mechanism supports an anonymous ship-to-ship mail system and a turnly public newsletter, large amounts of diplomacy occurs via e-mail. Communications originate from a multitude of diverse forums -- both public and private mailing lists -- as well as direct mails to allies (to plot strategy) and adversaries (for the clever to sow confusion and discord).

Players choose their own goals and play until achieving them, or until some disaster -- often in the shape of another player -- destroys their position. New positions are usually available within a week of passing a short proficiency test (to ensure players understand a few key rules and are "serious" about playing).

Turns process three times a week (Monday, Wednesday and Friday, at noon Pacific time), with ship and officer actions selected using a web form. Here's an example turn.

[edit] What sets TBG apart

TBG is not a space empire game: players don't get lots of pieces or complex economies to control. It's not a wargame: combat is only one of many routes to power and attacks are motivated more by loot than conquest. It's not a role-playing game: although there are opportunities to role-play in player-to-player communications, the game itself is computer moderated in everything but very long-term growth in the universe.

TBG is also not a visual game: aside from the static starmap and player-created ship flags, the game uses a combination of text and tables to impart information. This minimalist approach is in keeping with its creative roots in play-by-mail games such as Diplomacy. That said, player-run alliances and information sharing groups have created some rather sophisticated mapping, tracking and database systems to enhance gameplay.

In addition, TBG is not for those with a short attention span. Although the game mechanics are fairly simple and orders are easy to enter, the game takes several hundred turns to master and ship development is relatively gradual. Large empires (or perhaps more accurately, large player-factions/alliances) are possible, but, with each player being limited to one ship, such empires must be controlled by skill and diplomacy rather than raw power.

[edit] Technical Notes & Development History

TBG's code is about 15,000 lines of C programming language. The game is playable with all known web browsers, even including MSN TV (formerly WebTV).

TBG was originally intended as a demo for a commercial game, but the for-profit approach was eventually dropped as unworkable. Plans for a more sophisticated TBG-2 were discussed as early as 1998, getting so far as the testing of various components and (in 2002) a prototype game implemented in nesh (cleverly called "TNG" by some). However, the inherent limitations of nesh led to a new effort using nesh-2/sash, referred to as TBG-2004 (and later TBG-2005), which stalled after a number of small sub-games, utilities and toys were produced. In August 2005, a small development team tried again, this time using the Ruby programming language, under the project name TBG_200X. Although this effort produced a ship modelling demo, there ultimately were not enough programmers interested in developing the game in Ruby.

As of 2007, the TBG_200X project has been revived with Perl as the programming language. A radically different user interface and turn-resolution process is currently invisioned and in the very early development stages.

Due in part to the on-again off-again work on TBG-2004/2005/200X, there were no major design changes to TBG from 2004 to 2006, although bugs were still found and dealt with from time to time. As of March 2007, Eric Moore has taken over as the gamemaster, and various game enhancements are being implemented or tested.

[edit] External links

• Official Website
• TBG Design - The official design/gameplay discussion group.
• TBG Galactic Portal - A compilation of TBG-related pages.
• TBG Rules and a player-created Rules Index
• The Ultimate Guide to TBG - A "how to" manual suitable for new players.
• The Unofficial Subspace Times (SST) Archive - A turnly newsletter containing player rankings, posts, and a snapshot of game activity.