BATTLE MINES



FAQ

Due to among other things the intricacy of Battle Mine's set of rules, events will often happen that surprise and frustrate players. On this page, some clarification will be offered to supplement the game's full documentation.

  1. Game rules and bugs
  2. Undocumented rules and the "Quest"
  3. Game Challenges
  4. Production Problems
  5. Tithe Selection
  6. Stormy Weather



Something doesn't work! / I found a bug!

Battle Mines is a big complicated game, and I make mistakes in it frequently. Much more frequently than I like or should, but we struggle on.

If you find something you think is not in sync with the stated rules, please make a clear statement about it in a public forum so others can corroborate, and message me privately with the details.

That said, there are parts of the game not clearly documented with the intent of creating surprise and interest. Mostly this area of the game is clearly deliniated, and should be easy to spot. Read on for more details.


How do I complete the Quest? / I just got annexed! What the hell is that?

This, as alluded to here, here, and above, is the undocumented portion of the game. You will have to do some detective work yourself to find out the facts. Your neighbors may be more than happy to assist you, I however shall not.

If you are annexed and you want to know the mechanism by which this was achieved, start by examining your new master's view page.


This game's too hard. / My Warehouses keep burning down! / Some other player attacked me! It hurts!

Battle Mines is a game designed with one express purpose in mind: To keep a large number of people entertained for long periods of time.

It is intended to be an enjoyable passtime, not a thing to be used and discarded. To offset my finite programming capability, setbacks will occur all the time. Few worthwhile things will come easily. Battles hurt and knock you on your ass. It could take you weeks to learn to play effectively.

Take comfort in the fact that that statistically speaking, everyone else is in the same boat as you. As a prerequisite, you should enjoy lots of reading, and virtually interacting with people who may or may not take games way too seriously. ;)

If you are having trouble figuring out where to begin, the Quick Start section of docs might help you out.

If you are attacked, unlucky, or smashed beyond recognition, you will find the game is actually much easier for a weak player. Random events imparticular are drastically skewed to punish the wealthy and reward the unfortunate. If you have 20 Warehouses, the chances of one burning down are logically much higher than if you have 5.

With a little determination, your efforts will be rewarded. If not, I will rectify the situation to further my above stated goal.


Where are my materials? Production gypped me!

This is not a fun situation, but I can honestly say that 95% of the time the error is in the unfortunate party's judgement or understanding of the rules, rather than a mistake in the software.

To understand what really happened, it is important to take note of the order of events during Production, as they appear in the documentation, not on the events page. Important are Overflow due to Rain or Storms, and random events. These happen first, before things like mining and manufacturing hull upgrades!

If there is a serious concern, I can read over the logs to find out exactly what happened. This is somewhat laborious, so please only request my attention if you're absolutely positive something went wrong.


Are tithes totally random, or random by type?

When you are tithed, objects are selected randomly from your whole inventory, which means stocking up on bulk objects like coal and other common base materials will prevent you losing ICBMs.


Where did my grow bonuses go? / I overflowed more than I thought I would!

Stormy weather is a serious challenge. First of all, trees no longer contribute to object storage and protection against overflow. Second, none of the usual water-based bonuses (Sea, Rain, Dock) apply to growing Food. Third, the shield-dome of Technocracy is inoperational during such a storm. Watch out for this weather in your forecast!

Note that Stormy weather will affect indicators like your inventory and statistics the turn before it arrives. A very useful reminder!






BATTLE MINES
©2005-08 Erik Walle