2001-08-15 - 11:59 p.m.

Planetarion: Havoc Time

This most recent round of Planetarion ended yesterday at 12:00 Central European Time. It was Round 4 if anyone's keeping track. I wasn't awake to see it end, because that's 6AM U.S. time.

My galaxy finished at #21, which was a bite in the ass. We'd been hoping to stay in the top 20, but someone bumped us out in the last few hours.

I personally finished just barely in the top 160, which isn’t the top 100, but isn't bad. I'm still Galactic Commander and the galaxy hasn't fallen down around my ears.

The thing is, the round is officially over, but Planetarion is still running. The creators don't have round 5 ready, and it looks like they won't have it ready for at least a few weeks.

Guess what that means? It's Havoc time!

Since the round is officially over, the creators are going to stir the pot by giving out "havoc donations" - which are huge gifts of resources to every single player. The havoc donation for a top 200 player like me is roughly equivalent to what I would earn in about four days. A tidy chunk of change, but nothing to go crazy about. However for the smaller players ("newbies" or "n00bs" as are called) the havoc donation represents more cash than they'd see in months and months. In other words, it's time for them to go hog-wild.

If this havoc period is anything like the one at the end of the last round, we'll soon be up to our ears in attacks from previously tiny players. According to the creators it's time for the little players to "get even," but most of the people who attacked us last time we had never heard of.

So, it's time to batten down the hatches and try to hang on. Happy, happy, joy, joy.