![[RG]](/file/18246/World_Wide_Catalog_InfoMagic_Summer_1995.iso/pages/wmsumn_o.edu/paradise/monoglao.xbm/monoglao.png)
![[ Paradise Netrek ][ ]](/file/18246/World_Wide_Catalog_InfoMagic_Summer_1995.iso/pages/wmsumn_o.edu/paradise/biglogo.gif)
Machine Type Operating System
------------ ----------------
Amiga ???
DEC Ultrix
Alpha OSF/1
HP Apollo DomainOS SR10.X
HP 700-800 HP/UX 9.X
PC Linux (X11R5 or R6)
Linux Term (X11R5)
FreeBSD
SCO 3.2v4.2
Unixware 1.1
RS/6000 AIX 3.1
Silicon Graphics IRIX 4.0.5
IRIX 5
Sun SunOS 4.1 (Solaris 1)
Solaris 2
Example 2. Gnarl E. Dude has a PC sitting on his desk. He scans down the machine type list and finds PC in the list. Now, Gnarl knows that he is running SCO 3.2v4.2 He scans the OS list to the right of PC and finds the SCO entry; he's ecstatic. There is a binary for him to use.
Example 3. Imnotta Realuser has a PC sitting on his desk that runs Windows. He finds PC in the machine type list and things Great, there's hope yet. But, after looking at the OS column and not finding Windows, he's crestfallen. There's no supported binary for Windows! Poor guy can't play.
Example 4. Mac User has a Mac sitting on his desk. He looks at the machine type list in a pitiful attempt to find Mac listed there, but to no avail. There is no Mac binary, so he can't play.
First, you've got to know a little bit about the naming conventions us Paradise hackers use. It's a little convoluted, but it helps us keep track of what stage we're at while we're coding it.
The naming convention for binaries follows this form:
Now, the non-italicized text is always the same, for each binary. That you don't have to worry about (e.g., the ntparadise at the beginning of the name is always there). However, the italicized things you'll need to worry about:
Machine,OS Name
---------- ----
Amiga Amiga
Alpha,OSF/1 Alpha-OSF
DEC Ultrix DEC-Ultrix
HP Apollo Apollo-DomainOS
HP 700,800 HP700-800-HPUX
PC, Linux Linux-X11R5
Linux-X11R6
Linux-term
PC, FreeBSD FreeBSD
PC, SCO SCO
PC, Unixware Unixware
SGI, IRIX SGI-IRIX4
SGI-IRIX5
RS/6000, AIX RS6000-AIX
Sun, SunOS 4 Sparc-SunOS
Sun, Solaris 2 Sparc-Solaris
If you don't want to worry about all of this semi-arcane stuff, pick out the static client; it will work on every system, no matter what the library version is. The dynamic client will save you some disk space, but as of this writing, clients are typically less than 1MB in size.
Current systems that have two sets of binaries are Linux, FreeBSD, SunOS 4, and Solaris 2.
% gunzip netrek.machine/OS.gzThis will leave the binary called netrek.machine/OS in your directory.
Clicking on either of these two URLs will let you use your Web browser to fetch a client:
% ftp ftp.msi.umn.edu Connected to s1.msi.umn.edu. 220 s1.msi.umn.edu FTP server (Version wu-2.4(3) Wed Jul 20 17:52:30 CDT 1994) ready. Name (s1.msi.umn.edu:glamm): anonymous 331 Guest login ok, send your complete e-mail address as password. Password: glamm@msi.umn.edu (Put your email address here). 230 Guest login ok, access restrictions apply. Remote system type is UNIX. Using binary mode to transfer files. ftp> bin 200 Type set to I. ftp> cd pub/glamm/paradise/bin 250 CWD command successful. ftp> ls 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for /bin/ls. 226 Transfer complete. total 66 drwxr-xr-x 2 glamm msi 1024 Oct 16 00:25 current/ drwxr-xr-x 2 glamm msi 1024 Oct 16 00:14 expired/ lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 45 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.Alpha-OSF lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 43 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Alpha-OSF.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 47 Oct 16 00:37 netrek.Apollo-HPUX lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 45 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Apollo-HPUX.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 43 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.DEC-Ultrix.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 48 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.FreeBSD-dynamic.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 47 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.FreeBSD-static.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 50 Oct 16 00:38 netrek.HP700-800-HPUX lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 48 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.HP700-800-HPUX.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 47 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.Linux-X11R5 lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 45 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Linux-X11R5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 53 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Linux-X11R6-dynamic.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 52 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Linux-X11R6-static.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 46 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.Linux-term lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 44 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Linux-term.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 46 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.RS6000-AIX lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 44 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.RS6000-AIX.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 39 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.SCO lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 37 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.SCO.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 45 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.SGI-IRIX4 lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 43 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.SGI-IRIX4.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 45 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.SGI-IRIX5 lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 43 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.SGI-IRIX5.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 51 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.Solaris-dynamic lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 50 Oct 16 00:35 netrek.Solaris-static lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 55 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Sparc-Solaris-dynamic.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 54 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Sparc-Solaris-static.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 53 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Sparc-SunOS-dynamic.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 52 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Sparc-SunOS-static.gz lrwxrwxrwx 1 glamm msi 41 Oct 16 00:28 netrek.Unixware.gz drwxr-xr-x 2 glamm msi 1024 Oct 16 00:36 uncompressed/ ftp> get netrek.Linux-X11R5.gz local: netrek.Linux-X11R5.gz remote: netrek.Linux-X11R5.gz 200 PORT command successful. 150 Opening BINARY mode data connection for netrek.Linux-X11R5.gz (323453 bytes). 226 Transfer complete. 323453 bytes received in 3.68 seconds (85.75 Kbytes/s) ftp> quit 221 Goodbye. %
Q. I got a binary, but it has a .gz extension on it and I can't figure out what to do with it?
A. Read the previous section on the
.gz
extension.
Q. When I type netrek, it tells me Command not found even when I'm in the directory it
is in. What's wrong?
A. It's probably not been made executable. At the command line type
chmod 755 netrek(netrek is the name of the client binary). This should make it executable. Also, some sites don't put . into the path. In this case, type
./netrekon the command line (again, netrek is the name of the client binary) to execute it.
Q. I got a binary, but it says something about lib*.so: expected version x,
found version y?
A. You need a static binary. Get the -static client. See the explanation on the difference between
static and dynamic
binaries.
Q. The client says 'Can't connect to metaserver.' What's wrong?
A. Either the metaserver is down, or your machine isn't doing name lookups right, or your machine isn't connected to the internet, or you're behind a firewall that restricts outgoing packets. If the metaserver is down or your machine isn't doing name lookups right, there's still hope. If not, you're out of luck.
If there's still hope, try this command:
% telnet 132.241.8.12 3521 | grep P$This command should list all Paradise servers. If it doesn't, the metaserver is down. In this case, you'll have to use the -h option to netrek to specify a host; e.g. netrek.paradise -h pippin.ee.usu.edu will connect you to pippin.
If the metaserver is down or your machine can't resolve hostnames, try using the IP address of the server you want to connect to. A list of current Paradise servers and their IP addresses is given here:
Server name IP address
----------- ----------
aedile.icaen.uiowa.edu 128.255.17.38
bayes.ibr.cs.tu-bs.de 134.169.34.33
hal.mathcs.rhodes.edu 198.78.24.13
mercury.infoshare.net 198.53.214.2
netrek.ids.net 155.212.1.12
paddington.city.ac.uk 138.40.1.5
panorama.poly.edu 128.238.42.53
seahorse.acs.brockport.edu 137.21.166.20
fantasia.eng.clemson.edu 130.127.152.72
field-of-dreams.mit.edu 18.241.0.66
netrek.cis.ufl.edu 128.227.224.6/128.227.176.6
netrek.engg.ksu.edu 129.130.41.86
paradise.geog.uni-heidelberg.de 129.206.65.21
europa.informatik.uni-frankfurt.de 141.2.5.3
mantaray.itlabs.umn.edu 128.101.113.1
defiant.theo-physik.uni-kiel.de 134.245.67.1
pippin.ee.usu.edu 129.123.4.76
cassius.cs.uiuc.edu 128.174.240.3
netrek.skypoint.net 199.86.32.45
1. Objective of the game
The objective of Paradise Netrek is to take over all the other team's planets. To do this, you must fight space battles to get kills, beam up your own armies, beam down armies to enemy planets, and develop planets.
2. Starting up the game
The first thing you should see after you start the game should be the metaserver window. This window lists all the servers that are currently available for play. Select a server that says Paradise next to it, otherwise you'll end up playing just plain Netrek.
Once you select a server, a screen should come up asking you for a name and password. Select an alias for yourself to use for your name. Or, if this is your first time playing and you're kind of nervous about trying to blast someone into oblivion, type guest for your name to just sample Paradise. If you want to know who the server gods are:
Alias Server God/Server ----- ----------------- Lynx Brandon Gillespie, pippin.ee.usu.edu Hammor Rob Forsman, netrek.cis.ufl.edu Key Heath Kehoe, aedile.icaen.uiowa.edu Kaos Mike McGrath, mantaray.itlabs.umn.edu MacCleod David Putzolu, cassius.cs.uiuc.edu(All you other server gods send me your name, alias, and server).
Ok, so you've entered your name and password. Now, you should take a few seconds to look at the screen on the right hand side. Up near the top of the screen there should be four different teams you can pick from - Romulan, Federation, Klingon, and Orion. Directly right of the teams is the countdown timer; this timer counts down while you're idle. If you're idle for too long, the game quits.
Directly underneath the teams is a list of server parameters. Don't worry if you don't understand them all yet; you won't need to. Of primary importance is the ship list at the top of that section. Putting your mouse cursor into the Fed, Rom, Kli, or Ori boxes at the top of the window and typing a letter corresponding to the ship that you want to use will put you into the middle of the current game with that type of ship.
Another thing of great importance is the planet limit. Check down the list of server parameters to see what the planet limit is; typically it is anywhere between 14 and 25, usually 17. This means that the combined planets ruled by your team and the opposing team can only add up to 17.
Now, the left side of the window shows the copyright and whatever the message of the day is. This isn't too important yet, so go ahead and select a ship on the right side of the screen.
3. Basic ship descriptions
What? You mean you want to know what the ship types are? Well, here is a brief summary of each:
1. SCOUT (SC)
Small, fast, maneuverable. Doesn't carry much fuel or weaponry, but can scan planets from distances (most other ships have to orbit a planet to find out what's on it).
2. DESTROYER (DD)
Lightweight, agile fighter. Packs a punch, and under a skilled pilot, can easily take out a battleship. It's not much good for attacks on bases, though, but it's low warp-prep time and high warp velocities make it a good tool for carrying armies around.
3. CRUISER (CA)
Medium ship. This ship is about average in every category. Average weapons, average turning and speed, average army carrying capacity. This is the default ship.
4. BATTLESHIP (BB)
Heavy ship. This ship can't turn worth a darn or go anywhere real fast, but if you're looking to get rid of that pesky enemy near your home planet or take out the enemy base, this is the ship that has the power to solve your problem. One of the two primary base killing ships.
5. ASSAULT (AS)
Another heavy ship. Basically a big army transport with good damage capacity. It's tractors/pressors aren't worth much, but it's torps can do some serious damage if used effectively. Mostly used for transporting armies around, because this ship can carry three arrmies per kill instead of two.
6. STARBASE (SB)
This is the mother of all bases. This ship generally does planetary defense for two or three planets, as well as storehouse armies (up to 25 can be on board). Plasmas, missiles, kililer phasers and torps make this a dangerous enemy to contend with one on one.
7. ATT (AT)
If you see this ship, forget it. Wait until it blows you up and don't approach the ship again. It's unlikely that you'll ever get to use this ship; many older Paradise players remember it, but it's usage has really dropped since June 1994.
8. JUMPSHIP (JS)
This is a flying engine. With the highest warp speeds, nothing else will come close to catching it. Don't dogfight with it, though; it's phasers and torps can be sneezed at. Doesn't take too much damage, either. However, it's tractor/pressor range and strength can make this ship a real annoyance to the enemy, as well as its four docking ports that allow you to carry your ships to take planets or ogg.
9. FRIGATE (FR)
Cousin to the battleship. Another heavy ship, slightly faster and a bit less powerful than the battleship. Another ship of choice when attacking bases.
10. WARBASE (WB)
The starbase's younger brother. Generally more maneuverable than a starbase, it comes with the same array of weaponry, but it's not as thick-skinned as the starbase. It can't carry armies, either. It can defend at the beginning of a game or bomb the enemy to smithereens, though.
11. LIGHT CRUISER (CL)
This ship and a DD are a matchup. The light cruiser is not much different that the DD; it's a little faster, but can carry fewer armies.
12. CARRIER (CV)
Not found on all servers, this ship is a slow planetary defense or base attack ship. It can beam up armies and use them as fighters, each which fires a torpedo at the enemy they are directed at. It's slow speed makes this ship a sitting duck to attack, though.
13. UTILITY (UT)
Not found on all servers, this ship carries PTs on board. This ship makes an effective weapon against a base if played right. Left alone, it's pretty useless.
14. PATROL (PT)
Small, fast, not much in the way of army carrying, torps, or phasers, but my oh my, those default missiles pack a huge punch. Six PT missiles will kill a battleship, but watch out so that you don't get tractored and phasered.
4. Controlling your ship
So now you've selected a ship, and you're sitting staring at the left side of the window, going, "Wow, I've got my own ship..." Well stop staring and do something! Here's a quick rundown of the essential keys that you'll need to start out with:
(1-9): Controls impulse speeds. Certain speeds are good for certain ships. Generally, 4 is about right for BBs, 6 for DDs. The rest you have to find out by from experience.
Left mouse button: Fire a photon torpedo. This fires one shot of a primary offensive weapon toward the cursor. Be forewarned, photons wobble in flight.
Middle mouse button: Fire phasers. This fires one phaser shot to the spot directly underneath the cursor. If there's a ship there, you hit it. If not, you're spewing out energy into empty space. Try again. Note that all weapons have limited ranges, and this one is no exception.
Right mouse button: Turn ship. This makes your ship turn toward the cursor. Nothing else special about it.
(s): Raise/lower the shields. Shields use fuel while they are up, so lowering them may conserve fuel. Beware a sneak attack, thoough.
(z): Beam up armies from a friendly planet. You need at least 0.5 kills to beam up armies.
(x): Beam down armies to a friendly or an enemy planet. Watch out for the 'Sorry, there are already xx planets in play' warning and enemy attackers!
(t): Tractor beam. Opponent got out of the way of your carefully laid torp stream? Swing him around back into it with the handy dandy tractor beams. Even useful for swinging your enemy into stars. Watch out; your enemy might use the same tactic on you.
(Y): Pressor beam. Uh oh, you're directly in the enemy's torp path and out of fuel. Apply your pressor beams to him and dodge out of the way! Then call for help.
Dashboard: This isn't a key, but shows your status. It shows bars corresponding to how much fuel, shields, hull, speed, and armies you have. The fuller the bar, the less fuel, shields, hull, and the more speed & armies you have. Once your hull hits 0, you're dead. Once your fuel runs to 0, you stop. Once your shields hit 0, you start taking hull damage. It's pretty much self-obvious from there on.
5. Sending messages
Ok, you're wandering around the galaxy, doing serious harm to the enemy, when suddenly you notice that there is TEXT scrolling in a window down toward the bottom of the screen. Out of curiosity, you read some of it. Cryptic messages flash by, like 'F5->FED Ogg R2' or 'F5->ALL Geez, that player 6 doesn't know what the heck he's doing' or... WAIT A MINUTE! YOU'RE PLAYER 6! Boy are you mad at player 5 now...
You've a few choice words for player 5, but how do you send messages to someone else or to groups of people? Ok, if you want to type, hit 'm'. This gets you into message mode. Now, select a destination for your message. If you want to tell player 5 that he is a butthead, type 5 at this point. If you want to alert your own team to the enemy's presence, hit 'T' at this point. Other teams may be selected by the first letter of their race - 'F' for Fed, 'R' for Rom, 'K' for Kli, and 'O' for Ori. Or, if you just want to trash talk in front of everyone, try the 'A' key to send it to all.
Now that you've selected a person or group to send it to, type your message. It might not all fit on one line, so you might have to send a couple of lines. After you're done typing the message, hitto send it out.
keymap: tTTtg--ghsshnddnjDDjv``vNote that it takes something like tTTt to interchange the function of two keys. In this, I've switched it so that tractors are 't', entering warp is 'g', shields is 'h', detting enemy torps is 'n', detting my torps is 'j', and afterburners are 'v'. This makes almost all the functions I need for playing the game fit perfectly under my left hand.
Another feature that the Brazilian takes advantage of (besides superb experience and maneuvering skills) is to see everyone's tractors and pressors. He enables this by this setting in his .xtrekrc file:
showAllTractorPressor: on
Finally, in order to save time typing, the Brazilian defines his own macros. These send computed messages to people with a total of two keystrokes - shift-X and the letter of the macro he wants to send. For example, at the beginning of the game, he uses the macro
macro.b.T: BOMB! BOMB! BOMB! BOMB! BOMB! BOMB!to tell people to get in an AS and bomb the enemy.
You can help your cause a lot in Paradise by making use of the .xtrekrc options and macros. Bill Dyess has written up an excellent page on the options avaialable for use in your .xtrekrc file, as well as a comprehensive guide to macro definitions.
Alternatively, you may find some people attack the WB that usually pops up at the beginning of a game. You may find it very difficult to bomb the armies out from underneath a tough WB. So, help the players out that are trying to do this by getting a BB or a FR and attack the WB while your teammates bomb his planet!
An somewhat important thing is to also fire at incoming oggers for your base. Your base can only fire so many plasmas, torps, and phasers, and while your base may be good enough to hit with most of them, a well-synced ogg may result in more ships coming through than he can handle. So, help your base out and fire at those enemy ships to destroy them.
Photon strength also varies with ship type. Bases and BBs have the strongest torps. PTs and SCs have the weakest. To become effective, you must learn to kill even the biggest ships with the smallest ones, and vice versa.
If you get good enough, you can hit cloakers with your phaser locking skills. It's generally easiest to place your cursor over the galactic map on top of where the cloaker is and fire. If you lock, hit him over and over again. If not, it's generally better to fire a photon spread to find him.
Phaser energy is fairly costly due to its large damage potential at close range. It also has a moderate weapon temp cost.
Plasma lobbing is a difficult skill to learn. As a base, lobbing plasmas is a fun thing to do, but watch out! They consume a great deal of weapon temp. This weapon can actually be used with high accuracy on cloaked oggers, since it tracks just enough to hit incoming enemies in warp. Generally, a well placed plasma and a couple of short phaser shots will take out any type of enemy. If they're running with shields down, the plasma will completely destroy any ship it hits.
Missiles actually do a fair amount of damage for the limited weapon temp and fuel they consume, if they hit. Missiles can be detted by clued players for almost no damage, though.
Special Brazilian note: It takes exactly 6 PT missile hits to kill a fresh BB.
Tractors and pressors can also be used for non-agressive purposes as well. For example, you can push the person you're escorting out of the way of an enemy torp stream. As a base, you can drag a wounded teammate into safety behind you from enemy oggers. As a JS, you can use them to help your teammate take planets and to hold off enemies.
Another special Brazilian note: If your enemy is using a JS and some other ship to take planets, and the taker doesn't cloak while docked on the JS, tractor the taker off the JS (yes, this can even be done with the JS warps by) and plaster the taker for an easy doosh. This causes damage to the JS as well.
Phasers: Can fire one burst about once per second. Damage decreases with increasing range. Range and initial damage varies per ship. Moderate fuel and weapon temp cost. Cannot be detonated, but a fairly precise strike is needed to hit an enemy.
Plasmas: Can fire exactly one at once. Damage is constant over entire flight path; they are useless on anything less than a FR or a BB. Heavy damage. High fuel and weapon temp cost. Cannot be detonated, but a direct phaser strike will neutralize them. This weapon tracks enemies slightly, even if cloaked.
Missiles: Can fire up to four at once (two on a PT). Damage is constant over entire flight range, and is dependent on ship type. Moderate-heavy damage. Moderate-high fuel and weapon temp cost. Can be detonated for little damage. This weapon tracks enemies very well, even if cloaked.
Tractors and Pressors: Only one beam at once. No damage, but range is dependent on ship type. Can be used to yank enemies off of bases, or bases off of planets. Does not work on cloaked players.
First off, you're going to need some critical keys under your fingers. Find the special weapons key, the afterburner key, the shield key, the repair key, the tractor key, the pressor key, the phaser button, and the torp button. Next, zoom the galactic map (default: <Tab> key) so you can see incoming oggers.
This is a document that covers the history of Paradise. It is incomplete.
Here's a basic list of Paradise concepts. You can also read Hammor's quick guide to clue. It's aimed at those who already know how to operate their vessels, but you can still read it to get an idea of what you don't know about your ship.
If you have a question that you can not find the answer for, send email to glamm@msi.umn.edu. He will include your question and his answer in this document.
Take a look at Hammor's window layout (21K GIF).
Or maybe you want to learn how to identify all the ships of the different races (15K GIF).
Anyone who remembers the old infoserver will remember this one.
Tin Man has some tips on playing paradise.
Take a look at some proposed modifications to Paradise.
You can get a sample of some logo pages for a few major servers.
How to install and debug the server.
How to configure the server using the .sysdef file.
You can also write macros to help you send informative messages quicker.
Here's how you send messages to other players.
Probably one of the reasons Paradise is still alive is the tournament queue.
Paradise just recently added an observer mode that is vastly superior to that provided by the INL server.
We desperately need game documentation. If you would like to help us out by contributing, please compose a normal text document and email it to paradise-workers@reed.edu. I will edit it for accuracy, slap HTML tags on it and stick it in here. You don't have to document much, just explain one small feature like planetary atmosphere or how to scout or how to use the options window in the client. If enough people contribute we'll get a good set.
![[Paradise]](/file/18246/World_Wide_Catalog_InfoMagic_Summer_1995.iso/pages/wmsumn_o.edu/paradise/bobparam.gif)
Paradise Netrek Hackers / <paradise-workers@reed.edu>
