Threshold Blog

Welcome to Threshold! This blog will focus on helping people better understand and play the Takamo play-by-email (PBEM) game. If you want to experience the joys and frustrations of a turn based PBEM, this is the place to be. Look for a new blog every Tuesday!

You may also be interested in the Takamo Universe blog, The Stellar Cloud, published every Thursday.

CLASSICS REGATTA IN THE FAL NEBULA – 2/24/2015

The three month event will see classic yachts of all varieties race in the Dal Drift. The Calik Starsystem is gearing up for the return of the Classics Regatta, which will coincide with the Onear Festival. With such a mixed fleet descending onto the Garrick Protostar, it is expected to be an exciting and competitive event. Read More

THINGS YOU MAY SEE IN TAKAMO UNIVERSE – 2/17/2015

There are many new items that will be in orbit or moving through the stars in Takamo Universe. Here are a few of them… Read More

The Dark Times – 2/10/2015

Historical societies across the Estra Galaxy suggest a number of dates for the beginning of the Estran Dark Times. However, the majority of historians argue for one of two periods. Read More

A Glimpse into the Future – 2/3/2015

Stellar Clouds. If you’re a Takamo veteran, you’ve encountered more than your share of thick, billowing stellar clouds. They are the debris of nebulas and star factories. They inhibit scanners and hide whole star systems in their dusty embrace. Death hides in stellar clouds. Black holes and neutron stars swim in the darkness. Read More

The Great Naval Yards of Estra – 1/28/2015

Vast numbers of ships were built during the Naplian Campaigns and the Cyber Wars. So great was the demand for new starships that the shipyards of the warring empires found it impossible to keep up with the demand. Read More

The Good, The Bad and The Ugly about Active Non Player Civilizations – 1/20/2015

Active Non Player Civilization (NPC) fleets have been roaming the galaxy during the entire time that the current PBEM has been running. However, the largest fleet consisted of only 5 cutters. That changed this past month as new subroutines were added to the existing programs. Read More

Bug Mechs! – 1/15/2015

The cyber rebellion brought about many changes in equipment design and application. Like any field of development there were dismal failures and monumental achievements. Read More

NAPLIAN IMPERIAL SECURITY FORCE (NISF) – 1/7/2015

The NISF were a state police of the Naplian Empire. There were three main branches within the NISF with a number of peripheral organizations. Read More

Terran Armored Units – 12/30/2014

The types of Main Battle Mechs and other armored fighting vehicles that were deployed during the Naplian Campaigns and the Cyber Rebellion number in the hundreds. Read More

More Variations on a Theme – 12/23/2014

As we continue building starships, we are also refining and diversifying the ship frames we have. For example, the early Terran designs usually have at least four variations of the frame. Each frame has a distinct internal structure that will affect armor, speed and other intrinsic features. Read More

Warship Designs – 12/17/2014

Many different starships are being designed for Takamo Universe. Some of those designs are for very specific tasks such as fuel haulers and mining ships. Others are multipurpose vessels. The Origa class light cruiser is an example of the latter. Read More

Building the Command Center – 12/10/2014

The Command Center. Your home in the Five Galaxies. This is where you will review reports, communicate with other empires, order your forces into action and issue commands to your worlds. Read More

Building your ground forces – 12/02/2014

Military Units (MU) in Takamo Universe are divisional sized units consisting of a number of brigades. The number and type of brigades allowed in a military unit will depend on the purpose of the unit and the technology of the empire. Read More

Cops and Smugglers – 11/25/2014

Police units. Why in the world would there be police units in a strategic science fiction game? Because there are criminals, smugglers, pirates, guerrillas and who knows what lurking in the backwoods of alien planets. Read More

Habitat Range and Goldilocks Zones – 11/18/2014

Everyone in Takamo knows what is meant by the term “Habitat Range”. In Takamo Universe, habitat range will have a similar meaning but in a new context. Habitat range will now consist of a single number instead of an atmosphere and hydrographic pair of numbers. Read More

CG-63B-1 – 11/11/2014

Ever wonder what kind of ship carries one of those 200 meter long metatanks we introduced some time ago? Well, here it is. At least the design specs anyway. It is a CG-63B-1 Metatank Drop Ship (refit). Read More

What are the colors of YOUR star fleet? – 11/4/2014

You will see a lot of color in Takamo Universe. Beautiful planets, blazing stars and colorful space ships. But wait! Not all of that color will be determined by the Takamo Universe team. Read More

Shameless Birthday Wish Report! – 10/29/2014

The diabolical shameless birthday wish resulted in not one but two cool art acquisitions for Takamo Universe! Thanks go out David Bellar, Larry Lawrence, David Williams, Len Ritnour (the dreaded Gedi Knights), and Georgia (Mom), for making this a reality! Read More

Focusing on the Future – 10/21/2014

As we move forward in the development of the new game, our focus is turning toward Takamo Universe and its features. Beginning this week, the Tuesday Blog is changing focus as well. Different aspects of Takamo Universe and perhaps comparisons with features in the original Takamo will now be grist for the Tuesday Blog mill. Read More

The name of the game is to spread out! – 10/14/2014

There is an interesting trend in the current galaxy that bears some discussion. It is an old tale but one worth telling again. It is about the tendency to consolidate entire sectors before moving out to claim other worlds. It is a natural desire to make sure the areas (in this case the star systems) around you are safe and free of threats. Read More

The Empire Between Your Ears – 10/8/2014

I just read about how Mantox’s Grief, a black hole in the Aster Nebula, came to be. I also learned what happened to the Maugham refugees after the I-AM-I cybers destroyed the Maugham homeworld. I never knew this about Takamo and the Estra Galaxy. That is interesting since I created it. Read More

Randy’s Birthday Blog – 9/30/2014

I spent the day thinking over the blessings of the past year. They are legion. Old friends are still there and still bless me whenever we get together. I have made new friends by the bucketload this past year as people have joined the ranks of Takamo Universe programmers, writers, artists, modelers, content builders and supporters. Read More

The First Fiction Contest – Its Legacy – 9/23/2014

The first fiction contest is turning out to be a great event that will have a lasting effect on the Takamo game system. James MacKinlay deserves a huge thank you from all of us for bringing this about. Read More

In the spirit of the Takamo Fiction Contest – WILD WOLVES By Roger Buchholz – 9/17/2014

In the spirit of the Takamo Fiction Contest currently under way, we submit for your reading pleasure a story written long ago by one of the original Takamo players. You will note a number of familiar names. We hope you enjoy it. Read More

Q&A – Diplomats and Spies – 9/9/2014

This week, Thom Walla answers a few questions about the new Spy and Diplomat actions. Read More

Rifting in Estra – 9/2/14

Rifts. An altogether confusing and amusing subject. There are of course two types of Rifts in Estra. One is a subsector wide behemoth that will crush your ships to dust should you ever venture into its subsector. The second is an ethereal disturbance you notice as you are scanning a location. Read More

Player Quotes – 8/26/14

Well, I thought it was time to publish the next set of Takamo player coments. Enjoy! Read More

Diplomats and spies – 8/19/14

The last time Takamo was played, it ran from April 1998 until July of 2005. Many new features were introduced during the run, more functional fighters, carriers, new fleet orders, new world types, new ship types, new planetary defenses, as well as many actions upgraded to a “move and do.” However, there were still quite a number of new features that remained in development and only partially completed.Read More

TAKAMO FICTION CONTEST! – 8/12/14

Today’s blog is devoted to announcing a unique partnership between the TU staff and several player-authors of Takamo fiction. It’s a writers contest with RU’s as the prize. Here is their spiel: Read More

Welcome to the labratory – 8/5/14

As part of the Takamo Universe development effort, certain new features will appear in Takamo. Our purpose in doing this is to see if players will use the feature and get player feedback. Read More

Foreign aid – 7/30/14

Let’s talk about foreign aid. Yes, there is foreign aid in Takamo. You can provide foreign aid to any planet if you have the coordinates. So what can you do? Read More

The WANTED list – 7/22/14

If you have been looking through the forums lately, you may have noticed a new thread entitled “WANTED”. No it is not an ad for corporate services, nor is it a hit list of empires that someone wants demolished. It is a list of the names of Takamo veterans that we are hoping to track down to let them know that Takamo is back! Read More

The Monster in the Room – 7/15/14

Wow. The past couple of turn runs have been…FUN! We couldn’t figure out what was wrong with our email service. Two weeks ago, we had an unusual number of turn results that didn’t reach players and, unknown to us, a few player orders that did not reach us. Read More

It’s Greek to me! – 7/8/14

Let’s talk about data tracking in Takamo. It is both the Achilles’ Heel and the Narcissistic beauty of the game. Thanks to the effort that Thom Walla has put in over the years, it is a lot better than it used to be but it is still a Herculean task. Read More

How am I doing? – 7/1/14

Let’s address the greatest problem that most players face in Takamo…the tyranny of the unknown. The idea that every other player empire out there is doing better than your empire. It is the thought that at any moment a massive alien fleet is going to black out the sun on your home world and reduce your empire to dust in a single turn. Read More

CHAOS ON THE PRODUCTION LINE! – 6/24/14

Well, what a week I have had! For those of you still waiting for some or all of your gratis star ships, I can only say that they are on the way. Grinding out turns for ALL of the player positions in the game has been quite an undertaking! Read More

Fall In Recruits! – 6/17/14

We are having so much fun running the original game that we want to see more veteran and new players joining up! Read More

Laser-like focus! – 6/10/14

Takamo, the PBEM, has been up and running almost four months now. The response from those playing has been all over the board.Read More

Trade and Population: Making your empire ripe for destrAWESOMENESS, we meant awesomeness – 6/3/14

We have received numerous e-mails regarding trade and population in the game. So, in today’s blog we will review those topics.Read More

Do you Dread the Dreadnought? – 5/26/14

This Memorial Day weekend has been an eventful one. We sent out the Memorial Day gifts of a Class 1 Dreadnought to each player, we announced the new 2nd empire policy, and we reinstated the player forums on our website.Read more

Which input page should I use? I don’t know. Third base!

This week we’ll work through a number of issues that have been raised in the PBEM game, Takamo. Read more

The sweet sound of addiction… – 5/12/14

We’re having a blast meeting new players and getting reacquainted with players from long ago. Part of the fun for us is corresponding with all of you each week. Here are some quotes from those conversations. Read more

Bug hunting – 5/6/14

We are always striving to fine tune Takamo and make it better and easier for players. For those of you who didn’t get in on the fun this last turn, we had quite a bit of excitement when there were wholesale failures to move and overhaul fleets in Takamo. Read more

Send forth the Probes! – 4/29/14

Welcome to Threshold! This blog will focus on helping people better understand and play the Takamo PBEM game. If you want to experience the joys and frustrations of a turn based PBEM, this is the place to be. Read more