A quick overview for complete newcomers
What's it about?
I'm going to assume you know it is a play-by-email (PBEM) space war game. I suppose the key things which differentiate VGAP from other strategy games are:
- the depth of the game, which gives a sense of realism: internal consistency - aided by choosing sides based on popular SF races which gives an instant flavour to each empire; and
- the sheer length of the games (months) which draws you in, you forge relationships with other players over many months of working together (or against them). After playing the Borg for several months, it no longer seems odd to mull ways of manipulating the [Star Wars] Evil Empire into using their hyperships to attack the Mivorari.
There is also a 'Sim City' element to the game, where you can obsess about managing your economy to fund your fleets.
The games take months because although the first few turns are simple, soon your ships begin coming across your neighbours. A race to grab territory ensues and the complexity of negotiations, bluffs, and micromanaging your logistics for the inevitable wars mushrooms. And then there's the fighting...
Different people get different things out of the game. Some people just like the fighting / Sim City aspects. Some love the diplomacy, trying to manipulate other players into betraying their allies, doing four-way deals while trying to remain neutral themselves, etc.
Other games do bits of this reasonably well. But VGAP was arguably the first space strategy game, and its creator (Tim Wisseman) is dedicated to it and has been improving it for over 15 years. Few commercial games by big name companies last 5 years before support and development stops. Another reason Version 3 was big in the 90's was that much of the source code was open, allowing hackers to create add-ons for wraparound universes, extra race powers, asteroid strikes etc - most of which are now standard in Version 4 - this meant the game was much more customisable than others. Version 4 is near being launched now and has gone through 200 revisions which have been fanatically Beta tested by people who want to migrate from Version 3 to an even more complex, realistic game.
Many new players find the detail overwhelming. The trick is to realise that the immense level of detail is the unique and charming thing about the game. With 20 races with unique powers, and all sorts of combinations of allies / captured devices / terrain (wormholes, jumpgates etc) possible, it's likely that no one can keep track of all the rules any more, which means there are always surprises you can spring on people.
Basic mechanics - how to play
[Note for people migrating from VGAP version 3: to avoid confusion, check out the key differences between versions 3 and 4]
This site has so much information, that it is probably a little confusing for complete beginners. If you prefer a tutorial which assumes you know nothing, I suggest you start with this guide, on Olly's 'VGAP International' site, which is a tutorial for complete beginners. It's also got alternate versions in several languages!
There are one or two others too. Admiral Quixote wrote a nice concise one as a PDF file. Cody Nelson started GRG Zone aimed at helping beginners get started.
Having run through Olly's tutorial, I suggest you play a game or two for about 15-20 turns on a small map (perhaps 10 stars) against the AI (the computer player built into the latest versions of VGAP4). This will familiarise you with the mechanics. If you use a bigger map for a practise game, you won't learn much else, but it will make the game much more complex. You can find map-making utilities on the links page.
Following that, I suggest you skim the basic strategy guide on this site. This assumes you know the basics, and discusses how the self-professed experts approach the game. It covers game rules which aren't mentioned in the basic guides. Sometimes you can attack an enemy more effectively in a non military manner!
Each race has its own quirks, and there are how-to-play guides tuned to each race here.
If I have one tip for beginners, it is this: don't play on big maps. 20 stars per player is the maximum that experienced players use. The standard maps are 500 stars spread across 2,000 light years - this translates as a journey time of about 10 turns to get across the map, which makes planning an assault extremely difficult. It can take 100 turns to win on such a map, although it's usually obvious by turn 60 who's going to win in the long term. Much better to have a smaller galaxy allowing quicker resolution, so the end game doesn't drag on. Also although it can be fun to manage an empire of 100 bases and hundreds of ships for a while, it becomes a drag when you have to do it week after week. If you keep this in mind you'll have more fun.
