Thursday, April 24, 2008

Dice Wars

Dice Wars is single-player browser strategy game created by GameDesign. In it, players fight for world domination "rolling" dice which represent units. The game looks much like Risk; however several differences in rules make for a different playing experience. You can play it at www.gamedesign.jp/flash/dice/dice.html

Rules
  • At the beginning of the game, territories are divided up randomly between the player and up to 7 computer-controlled opponents, and a random turn sequence is determined.
  • Each territory has a number of six-sided dice belonging to one of the players.
  • Each turn, a play may win opposing territory by attacking from an adjacent territory that has at least two of that player's dice on it. The number of dice on the attacking territory are rolled and compared to the dice rolled from the defending territory. If the defender's result is equal to or greater than the attacker's result, the attack is successfully repelled and only one die is left on the attacking territory. If the attack is successful, all but one of the dice are moved from the attacking territory to the newly-won territory. A player may launch any number of attacks in any sequence (but must stop when none of that player's territories have more than one die).
  • At the end of each player's turn, reinforcement dice are added to the player's territories. The number of reinforcements is equal to the maximum number of contiguous territories held. The distribution of the reinforcements is random, and not controlled by the play.
  • No territory may have more than eight dice. If there is more contiguous territories held than available places to fit in reinforcements, the surplus is carried over to the next turn.

Strategy
  • The reinforcement rules impact strategy in a way that makes this game very different from Risk. Isolated territories may at times be a disadvantage, in that they do not contribute to the number of reinforcements gained, but may absorb reinforcements. Cutting an enemy's contiguous terratories to minimize future reinforcement may be useful.
  • Because there is no way to move forces except through attack, large forces may be trapped in territories unable to be used because they are not adjacent to enemies. This can affect strategy.
  • After cutting the dominant opponent's territory, you might leave at least one of that opponent's isolated territories unattacked, even if it is weak. Instead, focus attacks on the largest contiguous area. The isolated territory will drain enemy reserves and resources, effectively weakening the primary enemy territories. It may be advantageous to allow the enemy to win attacks into your territory, to create opportunity to cut and isolate enemy territory, or to bring the combat front to a group of you own strong but isolated forces.

Misc.
  • Dice Wars is Browser game coded using Adobe Flash.
  • There is a multiplayer spin-off call KDice
  • This article started as a wikipedia page. I editted it heavily until it was deleted due to an RfD. Any of the above that is not my own work is Fair Use of discarded material, per wikipedia's rules.

Wednesday, April 23, 2008

Support Goldwater/Miller in 08!

...from the official campaign website...
“Better late than never,” we say!

Our heroes, our grandfather and father, ran for President and Vice President in 1964, and now we’re making our own fun run for the White House.

Why? Well, number one, we want to make a point that today’s Bush administration/Republican party is not something that Barry Goldwater or Bill Miller would recognize. These men stood for something that is sorely missing in today’s political landscape...true honesty.

So, let’s be honest, this is clearly just a cheap publicity stunt to promote the DVD release of CC Goldwater’s HBO Documentary Film, Mr. Conservative: Goldwater on Goldwater and The Stephanie Miller Show, Stephanie’s syndicated radio show.

So what?! Bill Miller knew they weren’t going to win their campaign either, so he used to make his campaign plane circle a few more times if he had a really good poker game going. Barry once said that every good Christian ought to kick Jerry Falwell right in the ass. We say we need more straight shooters in politics today!

We do seek to answer some serious questions. Like, what would Barry Goldwater think of the 2008 Democratic frontrunner, Hillary Clinton, a former Goldwater Girl, quoting him about gays in the military? “You don’t have to be straight; you just have to shoot straight”! What would Barry and Bill think of a party that lectures others about family values while getting caught in one hypocritical sex scandal after another? What would Barry and Bill, the smaller government guys, think about a 300 billion dollar deficit? The Iraq war? Warrantless wiretapping? The Terri Schiavo case? And the loss of civil liberties? What would Barry, who was good friends with JFK, or Bill, who had friends on both sides of the aisle, think of the tone of politics today? What would they think of their party being represented by the likes of Ann Coulter and Rush Limbaugh?

There are so many questions and we’ll feign knowledge on as many as we can. Since we’ve tossed our proverbial hats into the ring, we even went on a listening tour and everyone told us not to run...we didn’t listen. So join us, won’t you?

The “Where’s the Party” party brings you Goldwater/Miller ‘08...ex-Republican girls gone wild!

And remember, we have twice Hillary’s cleavage."


http://goldwatermiller08.com/

Tuesday, April 22, 2008

For Earth Day: See Car Talk!

The best - and definitely the most entertaining - page of gas-saving tips is hosted by Car Talk (Click & Clack - the Tappit Brothers) here: http://www.cartalk.com/content/features/fueleconomy/

They love cars, they love saving money, and they're funny! Go for it!
Michelle Obama : What She Really Said

I'll admit I thought it was a bit sharp (although very clever) for Michelle Obama to say of the Clintons: "..if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House..."

But ya know what? The Wolf Blitzer and company LIED about that quote.

Read what she actually said - the whole thing, and you'll see it has nothing to do with the Clintons; Michelle is talking about her OWN FAMILY:

"...MICHELLE OBAMA: [O]ne of the most important things that we need to know about the next president of the United States is, is he somebody that shares our values? Is he somebody that respects family? Is a good and decent person? So our view was that, if you can't run your own house, you certainly can't run the White House. So, so we've adjusted our schedules to make sure that our girls are first, so while he's traveling around, I do day trips. That means I get up in the morning, I get the girls ready, I get them off, I go and do trips, I'm home before bedtime. So the girls know that I was gone somewhere, but they don't care. They just know that I was at home to tuck them in at night, and it keeps them grounded, and, and children, the children in our country have to know that they come first. And our girls do and that's why we're doing this. We're in this race for not just our children, but all of our children....."


I'm not surprised that Obama's political opponents might pick out one sentence and twist it around. But why would Wolf Blitzer and Brian Todd and other so-called "reporters" take it out of context and pretend it was a reference to Clinton? Are they actual "reporters" or merely corporate whores, saying anything to make a story?

On the plus side, I'm happy to read what she ACTUALLY said. It's very positive!

http://mediamatters.org/items/200801250008?f=s_search

Sunday, April 20, 2008


Microsoft Announces Run-For-Office Pro

Redmond, WA - Run For Office Pro is Microsoft Corporation's new product aimed at the growing political campaign market.


Features
Run For Office Pro
provides everything a candidate needs to succeed:
  • Talking Points Generator: With Bluetooth earpiece for instant verbal regurgitation!
  • Media Manipulator Pro: Automatically rewards message-compliant reporters!
  • Anti-Investigator Firewall: Blocks unwelcome research into arrest records, lobbyist money, and more!
  • MS Money For Lobbyists: With advanced stealth favors capability!


Licensing
Run For Office
is offered at a convenient variety of pricepoints:
  • Run For Office (House of Representatives): $10 Million per seat.
  • Run For Office (Senate): $100 Million per seat.
  • Run For Office (Presidency): $1 Billion and up.


Disclaimers
  • Prices quoted are guaranteed to increase.
  • Run For Office Pro is not compatible with Democracy Classic.