Archive through June 27, 2019
Star Fleet Universe Discussion Board: Federation & Empire: F&E INPUT:
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Archive through June 27, 2019
Slack plus dicebot would appear to be an option. It requires you to install Slack, but you might find that you like it.
I just setup a slack for the game. Paul, you should have an invite from them. I'm thinking it will be a convenient way to do game-related communication. I'd definitely suggest installing their app.
What is slack?
One thing I like about pbem dierollers and email in general is it is possible to put all your emails in a directory structurre (each player turn in its own folder) so that you can go back and examine things when there are issues.
Some methods of providing die rolls do not easily lend themselves to this.
Slack was originally written as a communication tool for teams of computer programmers. You can think of it as a more-convenient form of email for people you email frequently. One limitation -- if you don't want to pay for their paid plan, which is somewhat expensive, it will only show you the 10,000 most recent messages. It's convenient enough for sending messages that you can run through that total faster than you might expect.
Roller is convenient but may be cheatable . . . you can delete the roll! Though if the other person has notifications enabled, they might still see it. Not sure.
If you are that worried about cheating, play someone else.
Hey now, that's rude.
***
Anywho, you can't use it to cheat as long as you send it to all players involved (assuming you are talking about PBEM roller). The PBEM roller sends to the email of all people that you specify with their email when you roll.
If you are using some other method, well I cannot help you there.
I'm not. I was just checking it out and thought I'd mention it.
I also have used the PBEM roller for more than a decade. It is very good and convenient - and it's also flexible if you learn to work its codes.
I do not see any way of cheating with the PBEM roller if you send out the roll to all email addresses at once.
I also agree with David Merritt. If you're worried about cheating, play someone else. Seriously, almost all of us are old men now and if one of us hasn't learned how to lose gracefully then he never will.
That being said, I can occasionally be a whiny a** b!t*H when it comes to the dice, so I tolerate the same in others.
Fortunately, Richard Eitzen helped me to become more zen about dice. 
We all get annoyed with the die rollers. All the more so when we have a huge compot total and then roll a 1 when we want to punish our enemy.
Just look at the Coalition assault on the Hydran capital planet in the Dawn of the Dead thread (actually Empires of the Dead game). I rolled three consecutive 1s with a compot in the mid 240s. That gets to be depressing after a while. So I understand and sympathize with Paul and the way dice are not atleast equal on the more important rolls in battle.
I never get annoyed with the die rollers, unless they are a real person who is annoying in general.
:p
My opponents can vouch for this.
I believe dice are... random. Even paying attention to them is a waste of time. Seriously. If you are unlucky you are unlucky - bitching and moaning about it won't change the roll, and I guarantee will not affect the next roll. Sure, sure, you rolled bad in the capital assault, the attack on Gibraltar, whatever. Napoleon had a few bad rolls at Waterloo - stuff happens. If your strategy depends on the die roll then your strategy is bad. And there are ways around it - have everyone roll a 4 for every combat, have reroll chits, etc. Or play chess or Go. Don't play cards though.
Yes. I can vouch for the Truth of Richard's statement.
Sadly, like a stereotypical ginger, I just get strong emotional reactions to dice and have to actively suppress them (positive or negative) to keep my cool.
It's kind of like getting mad at the weather or other things that are uncontrollable. It's illogical, but it's not an unusual Human reaction.
Richard is more like a German. I'm more Irish.
I don't really get that. I do have a temper. I just save it for the important things.
Heh. I'm the opposite. I usually keep my cool when it comes to the important things.
Like, I am of mixed feelings on dice; like, it does get tiresome when folks complain about their terrible luck all the time, but the result of the dice are certainly relevant to the outcome of the game. As such, I report dice rolls and averages (as, well, what happens in the game and where the game goes often depends on what the dice do), but I try to do so dispassionately, myself.
Like, you can't just ignore the dice results when reporting a game:
"The Kzinti attacked a Lyran BATS, and didn't kill it."
is vastly less useful information than "The Kzinti attacked a Lyran BATS, in the 3 rounds of the approach, the Kzinti rolled 1, 2, 1 and the Lyrans rolled 3, 5, 6, mangling the Kzinti, who gave up before they even got to the base". Which possibly explains why the Kzinti failed to do the thing they planned on doing.
First I apologize for my rant (Paul), second I apologize for cluttering the topic (to both of you). In response (Peter), you are of course correct, if the dice are the reason, then they are the reason, and should be reported. But these statistical dice summaries clearly are driving me nuts.
I've been known to report die rolls in interesting cases, but I don't do analysis, that just feeds people's complaints about die rolls. :p
I understand your frustration, Paul. It is a terrible feeling to go into battle, having planned on ahieving your objective with even mediocre die rolls, then rolling in the toilet and getting routed. The old saying goes "you win some, you lose some." Losing more often than winning is disheartening.
I notice that you report die rolls often, along with die roll averages. Now, I love numbers, but obsessing over them is just not healthy. I agree with Richard's approach here; perhaps it is the Stoic readings I'm into right now, but if something is out of your control you shouldn't treat it like it was your own failure. (Conversely we should not be patting ourselves on the back for winning a questionable battle just because we rolled well.) Maybe Richard can lead a zen retreat for dice-obsessed F&E players
Seriously, though. Harping on the bad die rolls and failed assaults is just plain bad for mental health, and sucks the fun out of the game. I've seen players quit because they felt like they were playing right, but felt the dice were against them. We don't want to lose you, Paul.
Sorry for the unsolicited advice...just hope you stick with it, is all.
Hi Karl
Totally agree....I just don't want the last games dice to go the same way.
We are using a new dice roller - it actually as allowed me to roll higher once or twice.....so a big improvement on the old one
C5 continues
In the north - I never rolled better in any of the two main battles - and we didn't roll the dice for the third battle (full coalition line v a crippled FF - the 'brave' Kzinti BC retreated!).
It does mean 902/1304 is in a partial grid (which happens to be part of the plan - the defending fleets of 902 and 1304 should have been in deep space without supply - although looking on numbers, 902 would have needed the dice reversed to have gone done - 1304 should have easily died though).
In the south - dice remained poor for the Coalition and the raid on 617 was cancelled after the 3rd approach round (only time I rolled well - we both rolled well and my line took a lot more damage than I was expecting).
718 has had an approach battle and I retreated after it (the force was far too weak to face a major planet and the final forces which moved there generated a larger than expected reaction).
Losses so far are a bunch of Coalition cripples and a dead D7, versus 2 dead Hydrans BATS, a dead RN and HN and a crippled RN.
1017 is next....which should see the SB die (19 attackers v SB+6 defenders)
Coalition turn 5 combat is over.
Dice was nicer - but still favoured the Alliance.
1017 did indeed die.
4 Hydran BATS died in total plus the SB
Hydrans lost a RN, HR and HN.
Coalition lost a D7C, D7 and 2 x DD's
Coalition have a huge stack of cripples an the Hydrans a couple.
SB 215 also has 2 SIDS on it.
Dice averaged out at 3.3 v 3.9 over the turn, but in large battles average was 2.8 v 4.1.
Hydrans was also successful in both persuit attempts (and the dice was nice to them in both - they got enough to get their targets and all the Coalition could do was kill fighters).
The Hydran Old Colonies is atleast cut off.
C5 combat is over. Hydran losses include the 1st fleet SB and all of their remaining BATS, plus RN, HR, LN, HN, and 2 SIDS on their 2nd fleet SB. They also took a couple of crips. In exchange, they killed 4 Coalition ships (by Paul's count) and caused maybe 50EP worth of crips.
On the bright side, they still hold all of their original planets.
Also worth mentioning -- as a result of C5 combat, the Hydran MB setup over Hydramax has succeeded, incrementally improving their defense there.
Yes - and several Coalition ships are also Out of Supply in Hydran Space (3 Lyrans and 4 Klingon).
Retrograde and Strategic Movement has been completed.
In the north - modest forces are in 1001, 1202 and large forces in 1401 and 1407.
Coalition are also attempting to deploy 4 PDUs on 2 Large and 2 Small planets in 1401.
In the South - the Coalition generally stayed forward deployed.
Full strength Klingon reserves are in 1401, 1407 and 2 in 1214.
More modest Lyran reserves are in 504, 411 and 1407.
Both Lyrans and Klingons spent 4 Ep's field repair 1 ship each (Lyran BT and Klingon CV |Tug).