April Fool's joke in MOO II

macraig · April 2, 2003, 16:22

I was reminded again, for only the second time in all the years I've played MOO II, of a silly little joke in the game, sort of an Easter Egg:

TURN SUMMARY

Citizens demand a stadium.
And more cream of celery soup.

Since this happened late yesterday (or perhaps just after midnight), I realized that it might have actually been an April Fool joke; I think the first time I saw it years ago might also have been in early April.

Has anyone else ever seen this? If not, I rightfully claim the throne as MDP (Most Dedicated Player).

vmxa1 · April 2, 2003, 17:15

I was playing all day yesterday and did not notice it, but that does not mean it did nto happen as I do not look super close at the summary.

Main_Brain · April 3, 2003, 06:53

http://apolyton.net/forums/showthrea...threadid=78341
muahah! And the Winner is.. Me!! (this Year at least ;=) )
Yet I grant you the Title of MDP's Sidekick :P

Kaptain Ken · April 3, 2003, 13:22

I too played on the first, but forgot to look for it as I disable most of the turn summaries. I remember this being discussed in previous years, but forgot to look for it. If you want to check it out, you could reset the date on your computer to April 1 and see if it comes up.

Urban Ranger · April 4, 2003, 10:52

That's right, I remember it. Kinda cute.

macraig · April 4, 2003, 22:50

I reset the system date to try to duplicate it, and it turns out it's very easy to do. There seem to be two triggering events: the system date being April 1st, and having just built your first colony. Apparently you'll always see the message in the Turn Summary the turn after the new colony is built. (See screencap)

macraig · April 4, 2003, 22:54

.

Kaptain Ken · April 5, 2003, 09:53

macraig

Proof positive - Good job. Thanks for the screen shot.

Wormhole · April 9, 2003, 05:33

Thats a kind of homage to Sid Meir, the guy who created the Sim City series... Thats what I heard anyway... Has anyone ever had the threat of a comet destroy their system... I never got that...

Kaptain Ken · April 10, 2003, 13:27

I can't believe only four votes so far, where are all the Moo lovers? Played many times with no comet, but I mostly play without random events.

vmxa1 · April 10, 2003, 13:50

Ok here my two cents. I can not recall, but I am sure I seen it. I tend to play with out any random events in all games. I usually run with them on until I have seen most of them and then disable it.
I feel almost the same way about the Anties. They are just boring after a time, they can't do anything and are not even fun to slap around.
I mean they show up with 2 dinky ships. I do not capture them, so the only value they have is if I want to end the game.

macraig · April 10, 2003, 17:12

Quote:

Originally posted by vmxa1
Ok here my two cents. I can not recall, but I am sure I seen it. I tend to play with out any random events in all games.

vxma:

Actually this April Fool's joke will appear regardless of how the Random Events toggle is set... it's not generated by the same subroutine that handles those. Or were you just responding to the comments about comets?

Gilgamensch · April 11, 2003, 04:06

I must admit I never checked for this kind of message...........
I ever hardly read the summary screen.....

For the random events:

2nd vmxa1..........

Zaphod Beeblebrox · April 25, 2003, 21:29

never saw that one. comets come from time to time like diseases and maybe other stuff (long time i played moo2). you assign a lot of scientists and after some turns you get a message the problem was solved

vmxa1 · April 26, 2003, 01:36

Quote:

Originally posted by macraig

vxma:

Actually this April Fool's joke will appear regardless of how the Random Events toggle is set... it's not generated by the same subroutine that handles those. Or were you just responding to the comments about comets?

The comets.

catullus · April 29, 2003, 05:10

(late reply)
I saw it first time in 1997. Positive of that. "That's weird, I thought".
First reported in usenet April 1st 1997:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=n...generation.net

and

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm...5rsr%404ax.com

and

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=n...1.news.aol.com

So you're some years late to claim victory...

I remember the discussions back then, it's an obvious reference to SimCity. And IIRC, the programmers were living off noodles and celery soup in the last coding stages, working night and day to finish the game.

C.