                        Empire : Deity Command Summary

This  list  contains  one-line  descriptions  of each Empire command meant for
deity use:

             EMPIRE DEITY COMMANDS
Add Country  Create a country
    Country  List the countries with their status
       Edit  Modify sectors, nations, etc.
       Give  Give(take) Commodities and/or money.
New Capital  Give a new country a capital
     Offset  Temporarily change coordinate system
       Turn  (Dis)allow logins, change the startup message

Special Deity Syntax: @<CNUM>;<SECTS>.

For example, to see country #3's sector 2,-2, type:
   [##:##] Command: census @3;2,-2
Or to see country #5's realm 4, type:
   [##:##] Command: census @5;#4

                        Empire : Deity Command Summary

                           Comments from Dave Pare

I've been deity of seven or eight games, and each time I learn  something  new
about how far I should go, and how active a role I should take.

There are several things a deity should take into account.

 1)  Bug policy.  When a player says that a bug bit him, how do you handle it?
     Since I used to hack on the game at the same time players would  play,  I
     used  to  have  a nasty bug policy.  That is, if a bug bites a player, he
     loses.  It is very difficult to verify if a player really did lose  those
     1000  gold bars from that bank because of a bug.  Also, whenever a player
     had something bad happen to him, he'd  yell  BUG.   All  too  often,  the
     player just did something stupid.

     If  a player ever found a good bug (and reported it in a timely fashion),
     I'd give him some kind of reward.   The  reward  was  generally  material
     enough  to  encourage  them to report bugs, but not too much so the other
     players complained.  If through use of this bug the  player  manufactured
     too many goodies for himself, I acted to redress the balance immediately.

                        Empire : Deity Command Summary

     This whole case is only interesting when the Deity knows the Empire code,
     and can identify bugs as such.

 2)  Unskilled  players.   It's  tough watching your friends lose in an Empire
     game.  Helping just a little by giving information, or by giving a teensy
     bit of assistance is BAD.  Empire is NOT a game of socialist care for the
     needy; it's more like survival of the fittest.  Players  should  sink  or
     swim on their own.  If you help a novice, you're deliberately hurting his
     opponent.  Some players will lose, and as Deity you'll have to  stand  by
     and watch this happen.

 3)  Answering  random  prayers.   If  you DO help someone, help them in rela-
     tively minor ways.  Do things like fill in some ocean, etc.   Don't  give
     away  commodities  --  except  perhaps food.  Whatever you do, don't give
     tech, military hardware, civilians, military, or any information at  all!
     The game is very stingy with information, and you should be too.

                        Empire : Deity Command Summary

 4)  Security.  Make SURE that nobody else has access to the data directories.
     There are always players who will do anything to win.  If you  help  them
     control  themselves  by  making  the data completely unavailable -- watch
     those dump tapes too -- you'll be doing their moral  fiber  and  everyone
     else a favor.

Remember,  as  Deity  your  job  is to make the game fair.  Don't hose players
(unless they cheat -- and you catch them!)  and don't  give  out  information.
Information is very important in Empire, and as Deity you've got access to all
of it.  Be careful in what you say, and how you leave your terminal at  night!

Unless  you've  got  nothing else to do, a Deity should keep player communica-
tions to a minimum.  Handling special player requests  gets  tedious  after  a
while;  make  players pay for Deity assistance.  One game I suggested that the
only way players could get the Deity to fill in  ocean  sectors,  zap  plague,
etc,  was to offer a real-life sacrifice to the deity -- a few bottles of good
beer, for example!  I got perhaps a dozen bottles, and managed to greatly cur-
tail player requests at the same time!

                        Empire : Deity Command Summary

In  summary,  an  Empire  game  should be between players.  Any time the Deity
helps anyone, Deity intervention starts becoming a factor in the game.   As  a
Deity,  you  absolutely can't go wrong if you do nothing at all except routine
game maintenance.

See also : none

