Octopus's Garden 47

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Issue Forty-Seven

1st May 2000
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HELLO, good evening and welcome to issue 47 of Octopus's Garden, the subzeen with its very own re-designed header. An html version of this subzeen is available on the Web at http://www.manorcon.demon.co.uk/octopus/index.html. It's also sent to the TAP mailing list, which you can join automatically by sending the message 'subscribe tap' to majordomo@diplom.org. The message 'unsubscribe tap' sent to the same address will get you off the mailing list.

Late, as in the late Dent-Arthur-Dent.

((Apologies for the lateness of this issue, which has been influenced by a business trip to Alaska and a family berevement. Nothing from Berry Renken, so the stand-by players take over both positions. In the meantime, we have a response to my "Missing, Presumed Fed" tagline from last time:))

Karl Muller writes :

Octo-dude: A bit late, but I needed to claim the reference to Lig Lury Jr.! I did a 'zine for four yers called "Fintlewoodlewix", so I know my Guide books!

((Indeed. The reference is to the editor of the (fictional) HitchHikers' Guide to the Galaxy, who fell under the influence of the Lunching Friars, who held that, just as lunch was the centre of man's day, so it should also be the centre of his life, and should therefore be held in very expensive resteraunts. Lig Lury Jr. went off for lunch one day and never returned. Since then, all Editors of the Guide have in fact been Acting Editors, with a sign on Lig Lury Jr.'s desk saying "Missing, Presumed Fed." I assume that Douglas Adams intended this as a mild dig at the lunching practices of the British publishing industry, where the business lunches are legendarily long.))

Nigel Hodge writes :

Your E-mail address was given to me by a friend who is also plays Railway Rivals. Do you have any downloadable / printable maps for the game? I've made an East Anglia map, but at present I've only just started putting it into Powerpoint format so that others can use it. Also, do you know of any programs that enable a hex-grid to be transposed onto an existing map (for example, a map pasted from something like WorldBook or Autoroute)? This would make designing maps a lot easier.

((See the attached, which I got from David Oya: ))

"The best news in the world of Railway Rivals for quite some time is a new project being undertaken by Paul Mazumdar, Martin Hosken and Randy Boring . They're working on software which will, firstly, create computer versions of RR maps in PDF format from data files, and secondly, adjudicate RR games automatically. I've already seen some of the results of their work as they've used the system to create PDF versions of my Africa and Buckinghamshire maps. They intend to make the software available to anyone who wishes to use it, probably setting up a website for it. To look at an example map turn, go to http://www.kings.cam.ac.uk/~pm107/games/turn8.pdf. For further details, contact Paul at Paul@Mazumdar.org."

Round 8 -- "William Rufus de Vane King" -- RR 1701 TT

Railway Rivals Map TT (Leapfrog)

2) (24-53) Allendale - Chester-le-Street: 1st PEAT 20+3 ; 2nd GOOCH 10-1-3 ; BLUES +1.
5) (52-42) Annfield Plain - Middleton: 1st BLUES 20+6+2 ; 2nd TURN 10-2-6.
7) (@3-13) Rest of England - Rothbury: 1st BLUES 20-3-2-2 ; PEAT +3+2 ; TURN +2
8) (16-65) Blyth - Middlesbrough: =1st BLUES 15-2-2-1-1 ; =1st GOOCH 15-2-1+1 ; PEAT 0-3+2+2+1+1 ; TURN +3+2
9) (21-@2) Bellingham - Any Port: 1st TURN 20-3+7 (Tynemouth) ; 2nd GOOCH 10-7+3 (South Shields).
10) (31-12) Gateshead - Amble: 1st TURN 20+3+1 ; 2nd PEAT 10-1-3-1 ; BLUES +1
11) (46-23) Durham - Alston: 1st GOOCH 20-3-4-1 ; BLUES +3+1 ; PEAT +4.
12) (55-33) Sunderland - Newcastle: 1st GOOCH 20.
13) (66-51) Redcar - Consett: 1st PEAT 20-1+3+2+1 ; 2nd TURN 10-1-3-3-2+1 ; BLUES 0-3-1+3 ; GOOCH +3+1.
14) (@1-41) Any Port - St. John's Chapel: 1st BLUES 20-1-1+5 (Middlesbrough) ; 2nd TURN 10-5 (Tynemouth) ; PEAT +1 ; GOOCH +1

Builds:

GOOCH, brown: Conrad von Metzke: no builds
BLUES, blue: W. Andrew York: (H60) - J59 - J58 [-1 T] [-1 G] ; (J59) - Sunderland ; (Darlington) - C75. =-12-2
TURN, green: Rip Gooch: (M23) - A65 - Crook ; (Hexham) - J14 - I14 - H14 - G14 [-1 G] ; (F58) - D69 - D72 [-1 G]. =-12-2
PEAT, pink: Richard Weiss.: (G66) - D67 [-1 B] - C67 [-1 B] ; (Newcastle) - H56 [-3 T] - H55 [-1 G] ; (L67) - M68 - West Hartlepool ; (K67) - K66 - L65 [-1 G] =-10-7

	b/f	2	5	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	builds	c/f
GOOCH	82	6			13	6		12	20	4	1	+05	149
BLUES	85	1	28	13	9		1	4		-1	23	-14 +02	151
TURN	98		2	2	5	24	24			2	5	-14 +04	152
PEAT	63	23		5	3		5	4		25	1	-17	112
	328	30	30	20	30	30	30	20	20	30	30	-45+11	564

W. Andrew York takes over as the player of record for BLUES. Note that at least one joint run this time failed because each party expected the other to specify the route. For Round 9, you may enter up to 4 races and build up to 10 physical points of track (i.e. payments to rivals do not count against the limit, although of course you still pay them.) Please specify known payments to others in both races and builds! Could you all let me have Round Nine orders by FRIDAY, 19th MAY, 2000 to Peter Sullivan, octopus@manorcon.demon.co.uk

Races for Round Nine :

15) (14-45) Ashington - Bishop Aukland
16) (25-35) Hexham - Whitley Bay
17) (34-@4) Wallsend - Rest of England
18) (44-63) Crook - Eaglescliffe
19) (54-11) South Shields - Alnwick
20) (62-22) West Hartlepool - Haltwhistle
21) (@6-56) Cumbria - Seaham

PRESS:

TURN - All : Who needs press? The orders are so eloquent.

PEAT - TURN : When I started playing Rivals I made builds, based on calculations, that would have others pay to build over me. I thought the opportunity cost of lost alternative builds always made it a bad calculation. And, I received feedback from others who had tried the tactic - notably Doug Brown. (Now imagine in this game, if Doug were playing, Conrad named his track GOOCH or RIP, and used the colour Brown. I changed the spelling of peat moss to Pete, we'd have lots of confusion about labels.) To return to the prior thought - no, I wouldn't have built that spur - when Ashington comes up in a race you will go North and a total of 6 to get West and what could be a 3. But, maybe that will make the difference yet.

GM : I know Doug Brown is in hobby retirement at the moment - not sure if he is "lost" enough to become a target for one of Jim's searches yet...

Round 6 -- "John C. Breckinridge" -- RR 1702 TK

Railway Rivals Map TK

1) (15-56) Memphis - Cincinnati: 1st REDNECK 20-7 ; 2nd BOURBON/CUDZU 10 ; CUDZU +7.
2) (26-63) Louisville - Middlesboro: 1st CUDZU 20+4 ; 2nd TSR 10-14(XRP)-4-1 ; REDNECK +14(XRP) ; BLUES +1.
3) (35-12) Bowling Green - Paducah: 1st TSR 20-2+16(XRP) ; 2nd REDNECK 10-16(XRP)-2 ; BOURBON +2+2.
4) (44-21) Morristown - Evansville: 1st TSR 20-3-1 ; 2nd CUDZU 10 ; REDNECK +3 ; BLUES +1.
5) (52-@2) Lexington - Illinois/Indiana: 1st BLUES 20-5-1 (Louisville) ; 2nd BOURBON 10+1 (Louisville) ; CUDZU 0+1 (Louisville) ; REDNECK 0-1+5 (Evansville).
6) (66-33) Bristol - Nashville: 1st TSR 20-8-1 ; 2nd BLUES 10-1+8 ; BOURBON +1+1
7) (@3-42) Ohio - Knoxville: 1st CUDZU 20-2+9+1 (Cincinnati) ; 2nd BLUES 10-9+2 (Cincinnati) ; REDNECK/TSR (joint) 0-1 (Kenova).

Builds:

BOURBON, violet : Mike Barno: (G77) - I78 - Cincinnati ; (I7) - K6 - Dyersburg ; (P20) - P17 - O17 [-1 Bl] - Clarksville. =-13-1
BLUES, blue : Eric Brosius: (Z33) - A84 [-1 C] - H80 [-1 R] [-1 C] ; (X35) - B87 [-1 C] - B88 [-1 C] ; (D20) - C20. =-14-5
REDNECK, red : Neil Hopkins: (Q9) - Paducah ; (H81) - Cincinnati. =-6
CUDZU, green : Richard Weiss: (Evansville) - Y16 - Henderson - W15 - V14 - U15 [-1 T] - T15 [-1 R] - S15 [-1 T] - Hopkinsville [-1 T] - Q15 [-2 T]. =-12-6
TSR, orange, Andrew Glynn: (T14) - V15 [-1 R] ; (I 18)- I 21 [-1 Bo] [-1 Bo] ; (S15) - Hopkinsville - Q15 - Clarksville - N16 - N17 [-1 Bl] ; (J11) - L12 [-1 Bo] [-1 R] ; (K19) - Nashville. =-14-6

	b/f	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	builds	c/f
BOURBON	47	5		4		11	2		-14+03	58
BLUES	44		1		1	14	17	3	-19+02	63
REDNECK	53	13	14	-8	3	4			-06+04	77
CUDZU	80	12	24		10	1		28	-18+04	141
TSR	34		-9	34	16		11	-1	-20+05	70
	258	30	30	30	30	30	30	30	-77+18	409

Note that in Race 2 & 3, we have that postal oddity, an Exchange of Running Powers for two different races in the same round (as per postal rule Z5). Please read the rubric for special run destinations! For Round 8, you may enter up to 4 races and build up to 12 physical points of track (i.e. payments to rivals do not count against the limit, although of course you still pay them.) Could you all let me have Round Eight orders by FRIDAY, 25th FEBRUARY, 2000 to Peter Sullivan, octopus@manorcon.demon.co.uk

Races for Round Eight :

8) (16-43) Memphis - Knoxville
9) (25-@4) Louisville - Virginia/West Virginia
10) (36-22) Tullahoma - Henderson
11) (41-51) Rockwood - Frankfort
12) (53-62) Ashland - Pikeville
13) (64-14) Hazard - Jackson
14) (@6-31) Mississippi/Alabama - Clarksville

PRESS:

CUDZU - BOURBON : I games on the calendar change night. Lost my first hundred of the new year. Tables were hopping. All the dealers were in formal wear. Not exactly tactical or mind-involving. Thanks for asking.

CUDZU - GM : Enter Race #7. Special (Ohio) - Knoxville. Pay Blue two for the last two hexes into Knoxville. Stop and ride the remaining rides from the world's fair.

BOURBON - ALL : Sorry I didn't send any joint-run suggestions, but you didn't either. I offered five JRs for four races, with two unconditional skips and just one unconditional solo run. Instead, I'll probably run two races and regret one of them.