M.U.L.E. Post your scores here!

[carlsson]

Fun but strange round tonight. It started off rough with a fire in store while no player was farming energy, which could have led to disastrous results if it wasn't for all players switching to energy already in the next round. The smithore dried up after the fourth round, which forced me to leave a plot undeveloped due to no more mules! On the other hand, I decided to sell off my 11 units of crystite to the computer players at the average price of $80 each, arguing that pirates might arrive which they promptly did in the next round... Also noteworthy that the red computer player in round 11 hesistated to buy energy units at $45 each when he had $11000+ in cash to spend.

 

Rd Land Auction  Event              Smit Crys Food Ener  Order
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 --            Fire in Store        43   --   15   28  VC RC GC BH
 2 --            Planetquake          57   --   70   10  BH RC GC VC
 3 636BH         Meteor Strike        43  136   50   10  BH RC VC GC
 4 --            Meteor Strike        36   68   15   26  BH GC RC VC
 5 --            Fire in Store        90   80   27   79  BH GC VC RC
 6 --            Pirate Ship          43   --   89   42  BH GC RC VC
 7 824RC         Acid Rain Storm      50  120   57   43  BH GC RC VC
 8 1256RC        Planetquake          50   68   24   77  BH RC GC VC
 9 --            Sunspot Activity     50   72   26   70  BH RC GC VC
10 1236BH        Crazy Mule BH        50   60   22   21  BH RC GC VC
11 -- (Map full) Pest Attack RC       50  128   22   10  BH RC GC VC
12 --            Transport Ship       43   60   76   10  BH RC GC VC

 

Carlsson (Blue Gollumer) - 29929 pts

Colony Total - 83641 pts

Edited December 6, 2018 by carlsson

[+therealbountybob]

Fun but strange round tonight. It started off rough with a fire in store while no player was farming energy, which could have led to disastrous results if it wasn't for all players switching to energy already in the next round. The smithore dried up after the fourth round, which forced me to leave a plot undeveloped due to no more mules! On the other hand, I decided to sell off my 11 units of crystite to the computer players at the average price of $80 each, arguing that pirates might arrive which they promptly did in the next round... Also noteworthy that the red computer player in round 11 hesistated to buy energy units at $45 each when he had $11000+ in cash to spend.

Would be fantastic if the MULE logic could be given a few tweaks; the Mechtron's AI is sometimes a bit stupid

[carlsson]

Well, if the average price is $100 (range 48-152 if I'm not mistaken), $80 actually looks like a buying price if you have the extra money. I suppose the AI doesn't keep track of which events already have happened and the likelyhood events will happen, which is what we humans have in our favour.

 

Actually I would be interested to see a modern AI program playing M.U.L.E. against the computer players. Perhaps it is too complex for an AI to map out and figure out how to be successful, but then again there are computer programs playing fairly advanced board games including Go so why not.

[carlsson]

Ok, another average round tonight. Unfortunately I went straight into the lead, and as you know being in the lead early in the game is not particularly beneficial. I suffered three pest attacks and two crazy mules. In round 9, I was so afraid of pirates so I sold off my ~40 units of crystite at $72 each, only to experience an acid rain storm instead of the pirate ship, a move that cost me around 1700 points. Of course the pirates eventually arrived, at a point where all players had sold off their crystite stock so only the fresh production was lost.

 

Carlsson (Blue Gollumer) - 25379 pts

Colony Total - 83829 pts

 

Rd Land Auction  Event              Smit Crys Food Ener  Order
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 --            Fire in Store        57   --   46   28  BH VC RC GC
 2 804VC 744BH   Pest Attack BH       43   --  235   26  RC VC BH GC
 3 --            Sunspot Activity     64   72  140   20  RC BH GC VC
 4 704RC         Crazy Mule BH        44  140  113   81  BH RC GC VC
 5 --            Crazy Mule BH        44  136  133   54  BH RC GC VC
 6 1196RC        Acid Rain Storm      43   72   90   54  BH RC GC VC
 7 1136NS        Pest Attack BH       57   92   42   59  BH RC GC VC
 8 848GC         Sunspot Activity     36   64   33   22  BH RC GC VC
 9 --            Pest Attack BH       43   72   33   10  BH RC GC VC
10 -- (Map full) Acid Rain Storm      50  116   20   24  BH RC VC GC
11 --            Pirate Ship          50   --   15   48  BH RC GC VC
12 --            Transport Ship       57  100   ??   82  BH GC RC VC

Edited December 13, 2018 by carlsson

[carlsson]

This round started out very slowly and uneventful. For a long while I doubted it would reach any meaningful scores at all, but eventually it took off.

 

Before the last round, I had a lead of about 4500 pts, but due to the red computer had a decent crystite stock and a massive 12 plots (!) producing more of the same, he ended up with 66 more units than me at the end of the game (him well over 100 units) and multiplied by 144 that meant about 9500 pts which was enough for a total win over me by 1908 points.

 

Despite not winning the game, the final scores became surprisingly good anyway!

 

Carlsson (Blue Leggite in 2nd place) - 34768 pts

Colony Total - 112809 pts

 

Rd Land Auction  Event              Smit Crys Food Ener  Order
--------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 704VC 644BH   Acid Rain Storm      50   --   15   10  RC GC BH VC
 2 584NS         Meteor Strike        57   --   15   10  RC BH GC VC
 3 --            Fire in Store        57   --   15   10  RC GC BH VC
 4 344RC 344RC   Pirate Ship          49   --   15   10  RC GC BH VC
 5 392BH 332GC   Sunspot Activity     61  128   15   10  RC GC BH VC
 6 816RC         Meteor Strike        43   68   15   10  RC BH GC VC
 7 756NS         Planetquake          57   56   15   54  BH RC GC VC
 8 --            Planetquake          50  120   15   53  BH RC GC VC
 9 1050RC 1182RC Fire in Store        64   56   52  112  BH RC GC VC
10 --            Sunspot Activity     43  148  197  141  BH RC GC VC
11 --            Pest Attack BH       57   80  156   45  BH RC GC VC (*)
12 --            Transport Ship       43  144  131   10  RC BH GC VC (**)

 

This is how 12 plots of crystite looks like:

 

[tompateus]

Wow! It doesnt happen often that the comp. getting so good score.. fun! And they are almost all in on crystite..

Sometime its fun when strange things happen..

 

I was looking on Pirates of the caribbean just now, but now im gona play mule instead..

[+therealbountybob]

I enjoy reading the MULE reports Maybe the real skill in 1 player mode is to get the best colony score - help the mechtrons including tempting them to take the good crystite plots and then somehow making a killing on Smithore?!

 

Must play MULE

[carlsson]

What a cutthroat round! It started with all computers buying one extra plot each, but through their assaying I found the crystite first. In the end though the computer players catched up on me, and after round 11 I was about 500 points behind the green computer. At that time I believed all hope was lost, and also screwed up in the final round with assaying an energy plot before deciding to re-outfit it with crystite, ran out of time and lost the mule leaving one plot undeployed.

 

Then came the final round of auctions without trading, and it struck me that green player in the previous energy auction was denied to buy any units at all, so his 8 plots of crystite generated zero after selling off the surplus in the round before. Suddenly the odds were on my side and I won by a mere 314 points over ... red player, who just passed by the unfortunate green player.

 

Carlsson (Violet Humanoid) - 28828 pts

Colony Total - 104913 pts

Rd Land Auction       Event              Smit Crys Food Ener  Order
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 644RC 700GC 640BC  Crazy Mule BC        57   --   15   10  RC GC BC VH
 2 --                 Planetquake          50   92   28   12  RC GC BC VH
 3 --                 Pest Attack RC       50  132   15   10  RC GC VH BC
 4 --                 Acid Rain Storm      57  140   35   50  VH GC RC BC
 5 --                 Pest Attack VH       36  112  235   25  VH RC GC BC
 6 580VH 520VH        Pirate Ship          50   --  229   10  GC VH BC RC
 7 788GC              Sunspot Activity     36  108  112   10  GC VH RC BC
 8 --                 Pest Attack VH       43   60   44   20  GC VH BC RC
 9 860RC              Sunspot Activity     43  136   15   31  VH GC RC BC
10 -- (Map full)      Meteor Strike GC     43   64   15   11  VH GC RC BC
11 --                 Acid Rain Storm      43  132   15   38  GC VH RC BC
12 --                 Transport Ship       57   80   48  173  VH RC GC BC

[tompateus]

Saved by the bell..?

 

Nice score..!

 

No need to assay a plot in the last few months, even a no crystite plot give produktion of crystite, specially if your plots are together.

[carlsson]

I know. Actually I had two energy plots next to eachother, and I knew one was low crystite. However I wanted to check the one next to it first, in case perhaps it was medium. It turned out to be no crystite, so I went to re-outfit the first one. With the energy crisis emerging right before the end of the game, I had been better off keeping energy anyway and perhaps had scored another 1000 points.

[tompateus]

Aha! I get your point.

[carlsson]

Not every day, the planet of Irata is the land of milk and honey. Tonight was a such day when everything looked dull and bleak until the very last round. After a few uneventful rounds, finally I got off to deploy two plots of crystite in the fourth round. Like ringing a bell, the pirate ship promptly arrived and confiscated my harvest. At the end of this round there also was a shortage of food and energy, though it never became really critical (IMHO). However the crystite price was only good for two rounds and helped me climb into the lead.

 

For the next five rounds, with a crystite price between 48 and 76, plenty of energy in circulation and not enough monopoly on food production to drive the price anywhere but down, the colony didn't really evolve in either direction. Before the final round, the colony total was just above 50K and if it hadn't been for the crystite price finally going up in the last round without trading, when all four players had massive stocks of it, the colony total would've been embarrasingly low.

 

Carlsson (Red Humanoid, second place) - 22411 pts

Colony Total - 84904 pts

Rd Land Auction       Event              Smit Crys Food Ener  Order
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 608VC 608BC 548NS  Sunspot Activity     43   --   15   10  GC VC BC RH
 2 --                 Planetquake          57   --   30   10  GC VC BC RH
 3 290VH 230NS        Fire in Store        50   --   49   20  GC BC VC RH
 4 --                 Pirate Ship          43   --   74   79  VC RH GC BC
 5 --                 Crazy Mule VC        43  100  133   60  RH BC GC VC
 6 359RH              Crazy Mule RH        57  136  194   55  RH BC GC VC
 7 --                 Acid Rain Storm      36   52   88   47  RH BC GC VC
 8 955BC 895NS        Fire in Store        50   60  149   32  RH BC VC GC
 9 1055GC 1271RH      Pest Attack BC       43   76  102   10  RH VC BC GC
10 -- (Map full)      Sunspot Activity     43   76   50   10  RH VC BC GC
11 --                 Meteor Strike RH     50   48   15   10  RH BC VC GC
12 --                 Transport Ship       43  136   15   10  BC RH VC GC

[tompateus]

I agree with bountybob, its a delight to read your m.u.l.e. reports..?

[carlsson]

Thanks. If you have the possibility while playing, feel free to copy my table layout writing down the numbers and events as you go. It serves both a tool while playing, and to memorize the game. Possibly one would extend it with current scores after each round too, but those are not as important for the tool purpose.

[carlsson]

Tonight I took a different approach, starting with smithore. Blue computer found medium crystite right away, but changed his mind in second round and converted it into food at the same time the green computer took up crystite instead.

In round 3, I found I suddenly was the only smithore producer and as things looked bleak, I didn't sell any in order to wait for the mules to run out, which happened two rounds later. At that point the smithore was high enough ($124) for me to sell and move into mining crystite as I had a couple of really nice plots undeveloped.

Unfortunately my strategy didn't work until the end, so yet another 2nd place in a tight game with just 618 points between #1 and #3, and a mediocre colony total.

Carlsson (Violet Humanoid) - 22734 pts, second place

Colony Total - 87057 pts

Rd Land Auction       Event              Smit Crys Food Ener  Order
-------------------------------------------------------------------------
 1 668GC 712RC 652NS  Sunspot Activity     57  112   15   10  RC BC GC VH
 2 318VH              Pest Attack BC       36   80   15   10  GC VH RC BC
 3 258NS              Acid Rain Storm      50   60   17   10  VH GC RC BC
 4 --                 Crazy Mule GC        53   60   15   24  VH GC BC RC
 5 --                 Pirate Ship         124   --   28   34  VH RC BC GC
 6 525RC              Sunspot Activity     81   72   33   20  VH RC GC BC
 7 --                 Pest Attack VH       43   68   36   10  RC VH GC BC
 8 813VH              Acid Rain Storm      50   80   21   38  GC VH RC BC
 9 813GC              Planetquake          43  124   28   41  VH GC BC RC
10 -- (Map full)      Pirate Ship          64   --   34   73  VH RC GC BC
11 --                 Acid Rain Storm      64  104   32  125  GC VH RC BC
12 --                 Transport Ship       50  100   18  112  GC VH RC BC

 

[carlsson]

By the way, World of M.U.L.E. tweeted an Irataian zodiac. I commented that players of the Atari, and perhaps also PC-88 and MSX2 versions would object about the use of "orange" when they mean "red". Players of the PC Booter version in composite mode uses entirely different colours though.

 

[tompateus]

Orange..?! That's blasphemy..! ?

[Preppie]

Hi guys, this is my first post Took my 800xl out of storage recently (and my ST) and dismantled and cleaned them, then checked some software was still working and played a few games.

 

In my search though memory lane I found a folded piece of paper with my old Mule best scores. Highest I had was 54,842 (colony score = 122,819). Best colony score was 130,642 although I only got a personal score of 48,830 on that game.

 

Not sure if these are valid for your list or if you want me to spend another 1000 hours playing to get my skills back

[carlsson]

Generally we count scores set in 2013 or later, but the real fun is to replay the game.

[+therealbountybob]

Hi guys, this is my first post Took my 800xl out of storage recently (and my ST) and dismantled and cleaned them, then checked some software was still working and played a few games.

 

In my search though memory lane I found a folded piece of paper with my old Mule best scores. Highest I had was 54,842 (colony score = 122,819). Best colony score was 130,642 although I only got a personal score of 48,830 on that game.

 

Not sure if these are valid for your list or if you want me to spend another 1000 hours playing to get my skills back

Yes another 1000 hours mandatory sentance Welcome Preppie, glad to see thinks still worked, post here or on the High Score Club Season rounds anytime

[Preppie]

Ok, I'm off to planet Irata.

[Preppie]

My 800xl RF is messed up so had to play on an emulator 'till the monitor cable is delivered, hopefully that will work better.

 

My first game in about 20 years, not too bad. Pirate ship on 2nd turn was nice (I think they only come once per game) and fire in store on 3rd turn made my food/energy investment payoff while the computer players were all heavy into smithore.

 

score = 30,314

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by Preppie

[carlsson]

IIRC pirates arrive at most twice. Some of the other events may also be restricted in number of appearances.

[tompateus]

Long live planet Irata!?

[carlsson]

I wonder how difficult it would be to edit the map. Mainly I'm thinking how the game would turn out if the river was horizontal (4+4 squares) instead of vertical (2+2 squares). Everyone and their dog would be able to farm food so there never would need to be a shortage. Fewer squares for the rest though. Energy can be produced in the river though at limited capacity. Since the store exits are to the left and right, one would have to wade across the river most of the time, which would slow down how much you can achieve in one round. I have a feeling that the computer players don't account for crossing rivers and mountains when they take their turn, so it could make one more difference.

 

Has anyone seen a copy of M.U.L.E. with modified map, if it is possible?