Netrek

Ok, so I admit that's not a screen shot. I grabbed it off the Amiga Netrek home page.

Real play looks more like this:

That's an ogg (and boy does it look painful)...

Netrek is a hugely addictive, 16-player networked wargame, with a space theme. (No, it's not "Star Trek"). I've spent far too much time playing it.

There are two major branches of Netrek: Bronco, which is older; and Paradise. Paradise is typically faster (sometimes too fast), while Bronco is the "classic" game. I flatly refuse to get into a discussion over which is better. They're quite different; some people play both, while others swear that their favorite is the ONE TRUE TREK. Whatever.

These days, Paradise is all but dead, and even Bronco has lost much of its following. The advent of new, faster-paced multiplayer network games with more intense graphics (Quake comes to mind...) have drawn away some of the veterans, and made it harder to find new players.

If you want to get started playing netrek, check out the homepage of the type you want to try (see above). Be sure to read the FAQs before you start, and remember, when it comes to messages: read, READ, READ!