Monday, Feb. 26

Len Harold at: lharold@mrc.uidaho.edu wrote:

"I thought that LibertyNet was going to be SC's home. If SC is down because it needs a home I can probably give up some time on a HP9000/755/99 with 256Mb of RAM or a HP9000/735/125 with 144Mb of RAM. Of course there would be some stipulations, whoever is in charge of this part of SC send me some e-mail."

Thursday, Feb. 22

Ronald E Kinion at: i9130989@unicorn.it.wsu.edu wrote:

"I've done some fingering of Sylvan's gnu.ai.mit.edu account and if the stats are to be believed, his e-mail box is being emptied periodically without him logging in."

Boredom and chain mail hits scinfo list.

Tuesday, Feb. 20

SC fans learn a BayBank Contest used the SC logo on a mouse pad.

Friday, Feb. 16

Matt Murray (Mr. Yuk) at wrote he could use his police contacts in an effort to find Sylvan.

Wednesday, Feb. 14

Those with programming experience volunteer to fix the SC code. Others suggest writing a new game, though it could take six months to two years to get it online.

Writers are reminded: the code belongs to Sylvan.

The search for Sylvan beings

Tuesday, Feb. 13

The March issue of PC Gamer hits the magazine stands with a short article about Stellar Crisis. Quote: "Stellar Crisis is a remarkable galactic conquest game playable over the Web."

New people travel to the game but it's not there. Scinfo writers ask: Is LibertyNet taking notice?

The article appeared on line at: http://www.pcgamer.com/indexa.html

Nathan Gasser at LibertyNet gasser@libertynet.org responded to questions of why the game was unplugged, and hinted at its possible return if the code was fixed. He wrote:

"Its large loyal following was causing serious load problems on our server. The game is extremely inefficient with system resources, and hogs memory, CPU and network connections. If the game were rewritten to perform better we might reconsider.

Nate."

Monday, Feb. 12

Christopher Neitzert, Neitzert Multimedia Services at: chris@neitzert.com re-sent a message by SYLVAN when the game was moved from Lenox. It included specifications needed for the game:

1) I need a network pipe. SC actually uses very little bandwidth. It would probably monopolize a 56k bit line, share very nicely on an ISDN connection, or be almost unnoticeable in terms of bandwidth usage if you have a fractional T1 or better.

2) In order to use this bandwidth, I either need to have space on a machine of yours on the network, or be able to stick a machine of mine on there (which I would have to buy, since I don't have one). SC needs to be on something pretty fast if its going to share the system with other resources (pentium, SPARC station, HP 9000 or the likes), or it can be on a less equipped dedicated station (dx4/100 or the like). It needs about 16 megs of RAM for itself, although this doubles once an hour to do database backups (which, actually, I could do less often, like once a day, now that its stable in that regard).

This means it could survive on 24 megs if its the only thing running, more like 32+ if it shares the machine. 32 megs would be fine and still have the machine used as someone personal workstation or some such. Also, if you have a dedicated web server, SC can be stuck onto that with little to no impact on the web server's performance (especially if you convert to spinner, which I wholeheartedly suggest).

3) In order to maintain SC, I need an account on the machine in question. Not root, just an account. Not too difficult...

Sunday, Feb. 11

John M. Shuell jshuell@together.net wrote: I have offered the services of myself and my company to stellar crisis before. If Sylvan or anybody else who is in a position to make decisions would like to talk - drop me a line - jshuell@together.net."

Friday, Feb. 9

LibertyNet pulls plug on game!

Christopher Neitzert, Neitzert Multimedia Services at: chris@neitzert.com wrote: "I just tar'd up the game. Its sitting waiting for Sylvan or a new-server. Anyone..."

Thursday, Feb. 8

The first of many resets of the board begin, leaving many in a quandary about long-term games.

The game appears to peak in popularity and use. Simon (Jaberwocky, Dread Pirate Roberts) puts up an improved, new SC FAQ at: http://www.bindview.com/~sgillbee/sc2faq

Tuesday, Feb. 6

Christopher Neitzert, Neitzert Multimedia Services at:chris@neitzert.com warns scinfo group that LibertyNet would like Stellar Crisis to move by the end of February. Cost of keeping the game at LibertyNet was $65 a year.

Chris wrote: "If Sylvan can't be found and a home can, I'll see what we can do about moving it, HOWEVER SINCE THIS IS SYLVAN'S GAME, I really don't want to fiddle with anything outside of my agreed upon responsibility, which are Liaison with LibertyNet Admins (since I tons of crap going on there) and Starter of Game when it breaks."

Monday, Feb. 5

Doome complains of receiving 200 e-mail letters a day from a disgruntled player. The problem is quickly remedied!?!

Rob Quinn (at rjq@phys.ksu.edu) answers question about scinfo mailing charter:
Here's the general information for the list you've subscribed to, in case you don't already have it.

"Welcome to the Stellar Conquest discussion list.

This list is intended for players of Stellar Conquest (reachable at: http://www.lenox.com/games/sc). This list is unmoderated, so feel free to use it for anything you need, from asking about when a feature will be added, to complaining viciously about a bug, to threatening your enemies with detailed explanations of how you will sauté their entrails before consuming them. Whatever. All us creator types are on the list, so the programmer, artist, etc. are all available to you.

Have fun, and more importantly, spread wanton destruction among the foes of your immortal race!"

Friday, Feb. 2

Players can find a new strategy guide on line.

Those wishing to add to the guide can E-mail greeb to submit stuff.