Differences from Atlantis New Origins

There is another Atlantis server running at atlantis-pbem.com (Referred to as Atlantis: New Origins, or just New Origins). It is largely the same, although there are some important differences.

Man-types, hit points, and maintenance

Man-types

The full set of man-types are always in flux. However, there is a significant difference in that New Origins usually runs with "leaders enabled" - which means leaders can be purchased in most every hex.

Miskatonic provides every faction with one faction leader (FLEAD) and two leaders (LEAD). If they die, new ones can be gotten via the WITHDRAW command.

Hit points

New Origins man-types all have one hit point (they take one point of damage in combat, then die). There is an endurance skill which adds one or two hit points (based on level), but it is usually disabled.

In Miskatonic, most man-types have 2 hit points. Leaders have 5, and faction leaders 10. Smaller man-types (goblins, gnomes, etc) have 1. Larger men (ogres and centaurs) have 3.

Maintenance

In New Origins, men cost 10 silver per month, and leaders cost 50.

In Miskatonic, men cost 5 silver per hit point per month (so, 10 for most men) - but leaders and faction leaders cost nothing.

Alignment

Miskatonic has the concept of faction alignment. A good faction may not recruit man-types marked evil (and vice-versa for evil factions and good man-types). Neutral man-types are available to good and evil factions.

Good and evil factions may not have relations better than UNFRIENDLY.

Units from good and evil factions may not GIVE items to each other.

Starting out

The New Origins nexus provides many options for getting out. In Miskatonic, the only way out is GATE. There are two options:

• CAST GATE RANDOM (don't forget to include your leader unit(s) - CAST GATE RANDOM UNITS 1234 NEW 1, assuming your leader unit is 1234 and you split out one of your leaders into a new unit). The hex will have a gate, so you will be able to CAST GATE RANDOM again if it is not to your liking.
• DECLARE ALIGNMENT GOOD (or EVIL) and CAST GATE ALIGNMENT - this will take you to a hex with a race matching your declared alignment. There probably won't be a gate, so you will be stuck in that area. (Remember to append UNIT to bring your leaders!)

Orders

Most orders are the same. There are a few differences

• Join: Because ships and fleets work differently between the two engines, the JOIN command also works a little differently. In Miskatonic, the JOIN command will always result in the unit following the target unit. If the target is in a ship, the unit will enter that ship. If not, an army will be created, containing the two units (New Origins does not currently have armies). Currently, Miskatonic does not support the JOIN NOOVERLOAD form.
• Pillage: In Miskatonic, pillaging is disabled while we work on the balance aspects of the game.
• Sail: SAIL is an alias for MOVE. The captain of a ship (or admiral of a fleet) may issue the ADVANCE command to force combat with units blocking entrance into a hex. They may also use MOVE commands as normal. Supporting units should still use SAIL to indicate they are aiding in providing the necessary man-months of sailing skill to move the ship.
• Production queue: Units may issue multiple PRODUCE orders, these will be kept in a queue. For example:

PRODUCE BOW LIMIT 100
PRODUCE SWOR LIMIT 100

If the unit produces 30 bows that turn, the next turn orders will contain PRODUCE BOW LIMIT 70 and PRODUCE SWOR LIMIT 100.

But the more common usage is to apportion production continually:

@PRODUCE HAMM LIMIT 10
@PRODUCE SWOR LIMIT 10
@PRODUCE BOW LIMIT 10

That same 30 production will be divided among the three weapon types every turn (assuming sufficient raw materials).

• Tax: Men with RIDI and a mount cannot tax. They need COMB or a weapon.
• Teach: In New Origins, only leaders can teach. In Miskatonic, any man type can teach.
• Countdown orders: The @ symbol can be used in front of any order to repeat indefinitely. Miskatonic supports an additional form @N (where N is a number). This can be combined in TEACH orders with !NEW (which replaces the NEW with the new unit's number). For example:

@TURN
FORM 1
BUY 10 HUMAN
@3 STUDY COMB
END
@3 TEACH !NEW 1
ENDTURN

This will cause the unit to form a new unit of 10 men each turn, and queue teach orders for 3 turns (bringing the new unit up to level 3). After two turns the units orders will include (assuming the new units were 1420 and 1421):

TEACH 1420
@2 TEACH 1421

(Currently, only TEACH is supported - it is expected that you will GIVE everything the new unit needs the first turn, and SHARE will cover any training fees)

Tactics Skill

Both Miskatonic and New Origins Atlantis are set for alternate tactics advantage (no free turn). In New Origins, the force with higher skill gets a bonus to your troops' combat skill equal to your tactics advantage (higher skill - lower skill). This bonus is said to last one turn according to the documentation, although I thought you got smaller bonuses each turn after the first...

In Miskatonic, the bonus is limited to half the starting skill of each soldier (rounded down). Recruits with COMBAT 1 get no bonus. But the bonus lasts the whole battle.

No cities

We definitely want to have cities, but as implemented, they just allow the most powerful players to rapidly get more powerful. As soon as we can find a solution that doesn't cause power run-away, we'll put it in.