[ Galaxy ][ GalaxyNG ][ Getting Started ][ FAQ ] Blind Galaxy ][ Galaxy Plus ]
Last update November 5-th, 2003
Galaxy a free very addictive play-by-email war game for multiple players. A
game usually has somewhere between 10 and 80 players and one Game Master that
runs the game. Each player gets to play one nation. The game is set in a Galaxy
filled with many planets. Each nation starts with one populated planet. The
other planets are empty. The goal of the game is to conquer the whole Galaxy by
colonising the empty planets and killing the other nations.
A game runs several turns a week. Players send in orders before each turn.
These orders tell what the player wants his nation to do, and after each turn
runs each player receives a report that states what happened that turn.
There are many programs that allow you to graphically browse these turn
reports. They show a map of the galaxy, the position all ships, and all kind of
other statistics, and allow you to create orders.
When you play a nations you can do many things. You can design your own
ships. Each ship has many parameters, drive, number of weapons, shields, and
cargo capabilities. These can all be tweaked to create many different ship
designs. Populated planets can be used to build the ships you designed. The
ships can be used to transport cargo and colonize planets, or to fight battles
with your neighbours to take over their planets. Ships can be improved by
technology research.
Experienced players do not operate alone, they use diplomacy to create a
pacts with other players, and attack their enemies together. Back stabbing,
double deals, and other treason are of course also possible, no-one is to be
completely trusted, and you will find that Galaxy is a good simulation of
real-world politics. It is also very addictive :)
On these pages you can find documentation on how to play in a galaxy game or
how to host a galaxy game of your own.
Galaxy has been around for quite a while. Many variants have been developed
during that time. In random order:
Galaxy. This is the original version of galaxy, it was developed Russel
Wallace somewhere in 1991 or maybe even earlier (V2.9 has a 1991
copyright).
From time to time are starting new games. If you want to join,
you need to check the galaxyng sites mentioned in the games page, or you can put
yourself on the galaxy
list. (The same list can be used to join Blind or NG games.)
Blind Galaxy. It differs from Galaxy in that less information is visible.
For instance you do not know what other nations there are in the Galaxy until
you encounter them. The game was developed by Howard Bampton. He frequently
starts new games. The code is a massively hacked offshoot of the early
versions of Galaxy plus substantial new code. The home page of Blind Galaxy is
on http://www.cs.utk.edu/~bampton/blind.html.
Galaxy PBW, a verion of Blind Galaxy that can be played via the WWW. The
home page is on http://pc046b.fzu.cz/galaxywww/.
Galaxy plus (G+). A variation of the game developed in Russia somewhat
similar to GalaxyNG but there are differences. Galaxy is
Big in the former soviet union. Some links: Unidentified Planet, News and Links, Sargona server, Lucky, PBEM Latvia, Galaxy Viewer "Next Generation", First Moscow server.
GalaxyNG. This is a
partial rewrite of the original code to create a more stable version of galaxy
developed by a number of people. It also introduces some changes to the rules
and the option to create more diverse kinds of galaxies. There are three main
servers.
One is GalaxyNG Main Server with loads of information is at http://www.galaxyng.com/ng/games.html.
The second server
is run by Steve Webb, for a status of his games see http://www.badcheese.com/~steve/pbm.shtml.
The third server is run by Remo Fleckinger, for a status of his games see http://www.refs-home.net/galaxyng/index.php.
GalaxyNT
a port of GalaxyNG to Windows NT.
Blind GalaxyNG. This is a modification of GalaxyNG source code to create a
game that is like Blind Galaxy.
Galaxy G.
Galactica and Galaxy/2 are extinct varients, Galaxy/2 was the precursor to Galactica.
Maintained by Frans Slothouber, fslothouber@acm.org.