3D Space

Jo Jaquinta (I think) said:
>    _Space is big_ Really big. A small 10x10x10 parsec cube, what I had

	Ah... been reading the _Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy_
series again, have we? :-)

	But getting to my reason for this post;  all of this activity
about 3D space and 3D space combat, etc, has reminded me of one of my
on-going projects.  Can anybody provide me with some suggestions for
an interesting space war combat system for a text-based interface?

	I hang out on a MUD called LambdaMOO, a nifty place with
extensive embedded programming capabilities.  Great place to make nifty
little multi-player games and such.  A while ago I coded a simple (in
game mechanics) but sophisticated (in underlying computing) space war
game.  Changes to the server broke some of the code, and now I'm looking
at new directions to go in before I rewrite it.

	The old game has very rudimentary game mechanics, Still, it
was a lot of fun at times.  The display was a simple listing of ships
and their coordinates, and you targeted ships by name (shooting at
where they are now) and fired photon torpedoes and warped by entering
destination coordinates.  Another player built a crewman that could
pilot and target in response to "spoken" commands, which created an
interesting atmosphere, much like naval combat, or traveller, or
star trek.

	Now I'm looking at redesigning and recoding the system. I'm
tempted to go the same route - use 3D coordinates but have a smart
interface ("crewmen") to hide the number crunching from the player.
But I'm wondering about other alternatives.  Suggestions?

Steven J. Owens
[email removed]