This could get moved to the Lounge, possibly, but since it's a game that gives free ebooks I thought it might belong here.
While there's already a
discussion thread about
Planet Baen, it's a bit scattered as we tried to figure out what's going on with the game. This is a post to consolidate some of that data and give newcomers a better idea what to expect.
This is nowhere near as organized as I'd like, but I thought it'd be nicer to get *something* up now than to wait a week or two until I've got time to write up something smooth.
The Basics:
Play online game; win free ebooks. Winning one or two is easy; more takes putting actual time into the game. It's a slow strategy(ish) worldbuilding game.
Sign up with your BaenBooks email address; the coupons are only redeemable by the address you use for the game.
Game is in beta testing; you're being paid ebooks to find the bugs. Baen wants feedback (at the Baen Bar), and they also want players; they'll only find out what works & what doesn't by getting a lot of people involved.
Gameplay:
Game takes place in "cycles" of four hours realtime each. Every "cycle" you get new stuff: your population grows, you get more money, you produce energy and military, and so on. Every cycle, you can spend "surge points" to tap into your assets and grow faster. This lets you complete tasks and spend money to level up.
When you level up, even in the middle of a cycle, you get a new batch of surge points. At the early levels, it's common to level up a few times in a single cycle.
The Board:
The board grows to a maximum of 8x8 (at least so far). Assets recharge in 4 cycles, 2 if they're on a Quick Charge space.
City Cores:
City cores are special; advice on how best to deal with them isn't yet clear, but some info is available. Everything else is safe to just throw around at random, at least at the early levels--the penalty for fixing low-level mistakes at level 5 or 6 isn't much.
Other Assets
You need Energy. That's the bottleneck at the mid-to-high levels, and probably remains the bottleneck. (Well, actually, *money* is the bottleneck, but you get a lot more money by letting things sit there and grow than by using money assets. And things grow best when they have enough energy.)
Military is your protection against Whacks (random problems). Bliss is your backup resources when you're low on energy or food. Population is what you'll need at higher levels to grow faster.
These terms will very likely make no sense until about level 3 or 4.
You get an ebook for every 5 levels. (I think. Someone tell me if I'm wrong.) Getting to level 5 is easy. Getting to level 10 takes time; the switch from "~5000 bucks to go up a level" at the low end to "340,000" to go to level 8 is substantial.
Projects:
At low levels, you have to complete projects to go up levels: Buy resources, put some of them on your board (you can only have 4 unplaced resources at a time), and then pay to complete the project.
Fixes:
Mistake fixes cost money, which takes time to develop. Walking away from the game for two days is probably the least frustrating way to get the resources necessary to rearrange one's board. (This is very likely a bug; Baen will need a way to convince people to come *back* after they've left.)
Allies:
You get allies. (Well, you can get allies.) Allies are the other players; they can hand gifts to each other (and they do, because the gifts go away if they're not handed out). Gifts are apparently randomly available; if they're tied to one's politics or current assets, nobody here has figured out those details yet. People can probably throw gifts at random strangers as well. There doesn't seem to be any in-game benefit or change based on your allies, other than "get lots of them for more ebooks."
You get an ebook for getting 10 allies--it's unclear whether that's "people you add" or "people who mutually add you." However, the cost of allies doubles for each one; getting 10 is relatively easy; getting 25 for the next free ebook is very expensive.
Politics:
The game involves politics. Nobody here seems to know what they mean yet. It's possible that some resources aren't available based on politics, and it's possible that some do, or will, produce different amounts based on political skew. So far, we mostly seem to be ignoring politics.
The Mobileread Alliance:
Here's the list of players from Mobileread, which you can ally with, and many of them will ally back. If someone doesn't, assume that money is tight. It's easy to ally with the first half-dozen; after that, it gets noticeable; after 10, it gets downright pricey.
Different MR name and PB name:
Mobileread: PlanetBaen
AnemicOak: Rolo
ATDrake: Alexander the Drake
bgalbrecht: Francis7
BrianIsMe: Brian
Codetoad13: Marlowe York
colinsky: CRAIG
colleenFL: Ky
Crusader: MegaMan
DHNightshadow: Mercurius
ghostyjack: Bristol Bob
koland: BOTK
kraby: Proffy
Lemurion: Stark
MikeB1972: Mike
Pegster: Kalethea
rolalinii: Hild
scottken: ArchyToothless
travger: Trav
Same name at MR and PB:
Abtacha
Askyn
Cromag
Elfwreck
Freeshadow
gbm
Ginwen
Iphinome
Kaleissin
nightcolors
Oly
Orlok
sapphiresilver
theenframed
weedfreak
wyndslash
Xg4bX
Unknown name, but also playing:
khunnylex