WRAITH BLASTER Version 1.0 MANUAL COMPUTERS AND BLIND OR VISUALLY IMPAIRED USERS Since you are a captive audience, I'm going to get on the soapbox for a moment. Computer technology is opening new worlds to people with disabilities. For blind and visually impaired people, screen reading software and speech synthesizers have made possible vastly increased productivity and career options, as well as access to the exciting world of computer gaming. But this access depends on the ability to read the screen in text mode. In the past few years the explosion of graphics has threatened to turn back the clock for blind people just as other people with disabilities and the DOS-command-line-frightened general public are about to gain even greater access to computers. (Yes, there is a screen reader for McIntosh, but it doesn't read icons, which means someone else has to occasionally tell the blind user what's going on. The standard for access, as defined by federal law, is "unassisted access". In any case, even if methods can be worked out for reading text presented in graphics mode, the trend is increasingly toward entirely textless control screens, which cannot be navigated by blind users at all.) It's neither obvious nor greatly important to the folks who are thrusting us headlong into the world of graphic operating systems, DOS shells, applications programs, and games, that in doing so, they may reverse the benefits that computer technology has conferred on people who are blind or visually impaired. If any of you corporate programmers out there see this game (particularly those at Microsoft who refuse to give the Windows source code to those who want to adapt it for voice output), I hope you'll put a little thought into this. After all, the future is likely to be voice-input-output interfaces for all users; graphics are just a way-station on the road to this future. Nearly all text games being produced today are modest shareware productions; new ones are few and far between. With corporate pressure to "stay current" a reality, the likelihood that blind computer users' job security will be threatened as their employers "upgrade" increases. The likelihood that a blind person with a voice adapted computer will be hired by a company whose equipment is graphics-oriented declines with each passing year. ACCESS NOTES FOR BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED PLAYERS A. Voice Output My information is that the majority of today's text game players are people who are blind or visually impaired. Being sighted, I don't have experience with screen-reading systems in general; the only one I've worked with is Artic. Earlier versions of Artic required users to go into review mode to read AGT game screens. Since the AGT title screen disappears after a while, the blind player never knew it was there and so had no opportunity to learn the names of the excellent people who invented the AGT game system, or the name of the person who wrote the game they were playing. The latest version of Artic works well with AGT games. You have two options: 1. Set Artic aptrack mode to read the output to the printer (the Artic script function), NOT the screen. Tell Wraith Blaster to feed its output to the printer, by entering SCRIPT at the first "What now?" prompt. After you do this, Artic will automatically read the Wraith Blaster text as it appears. Unfortunately, you can't do this until the title screen, the introductory text, the offer to let you read the instructions, and the first room description have appeared (an automatic AGT feature). You will need to use Artic cursor mode to read the introduction, instructions and first room description. Because the title screen disappears, you won't get to read it at all, unless you are quick with the review switch. Fortunately, there is a way around this last problem. Since Artic reads text "echoed" by batch files automatically, the Wraith Blaster batch file that starts the game (WB.BAT) has had the AGT title screen text added to it. Now even blind players can give proper credit to Malmberg and Welch! 2. AGT offers the option of forcing the game's output through the BIOS rather than writing directly to screen memory. To do this, you invoke the /B switch when starting the game. If you understand batch programming, you can add this switch to the line in WB.BAT that says "runb wb". Or you can bypass the batch file by just typing in : "runb wb /B". Either way, the latest version of Artic will then read everything, including the title screen, automatically. This may also work with other screen readers. It does slow things down some, though. B. Sound Effects A number of sound effects occur during the game. They are there to add interest for all players, but they are a helpful shortcut for people who don't want to wait for the screen reader to report frequently-appearing messages. Unique sounds identify each of the following occurrences: ship shields repaired your ship is attacked enter orbit your ship is hit dock sensors on your ship destroyed ship located ship identified out of fuel fire laser fire missile fire phaser fire photon torpedo fire particle beam fire disintegrator ACCESS NOTES FOR PLAYERS WITH LIMITED DEXTERITY A great many of the commands and words you will need to input in Wraith Blaster have been abbreviated to save keystrokes. Words which are standard to AGT games, such as directional commands, are abbreviated; they can also be entered with the cursor keys. Several standard commands can be initiated using the function keys. See below for explanations. Abbreviations for words unique to Wraith Blaster are listed here. Ship Controls Trade Goods Ship Weapons Cargo C electronics EL laser LA Dock DO drugs DR missile M MI Energy EE entertainment EN phaser P PH Identify ID platinum PLA photon torpedo T TO Locate LO rarities RAR particle beam B Orbit O disintegrator DIS DI Rank RA Ships Repair RE Miscellaneous Items Sensors SS Enterprise EP Shields SH Kaiser KA price-list PL Status ST Asimov AS prices PL StatusB STB Rapier RP bazooka BZ StatusM STM Clarke CK proprietor PRO StatusT STT Heinlein HN Burroughs BR Miscellaneous Verbs Sabre SA credits CR Kuttner KT controls CN Wraith WR THE GALAXY It is the year 2753, as reckoned by the Calendar of the Ancients. The origin of that Calendar is not well-understood in this modern age, though it is remembered and joked about from time to time. Some 300 years ago, in the heyday of the One World religion, the Calendar was taken far more seriously. In those times belief in the origin of humanity on the planet Earth was universal, and rituals commemorating both the planet and the Calendar were regular, commonplace events attended by nearly everyone. Today the One World religion survives in mutated form on just one planet, practiced by very xenophobic people who believe their planet, not Earth, was the origin of humanity. The rest of humanity, for the most part, regards the "one-planet" theory of human genesis as a myth. Many scientists believe the "one-planet" theory has merit, but cite a lack of hard evidence as to which planet it was. As to the planet itself, Earth's location is well known, but it is infrequently visited. It is a backwater, underdeveloped and dangerous to the unwary traveler. The Galaxy today is mostly concerned with trade and with the growing problem of space piracy. 200 years ago, the Colonial Administration linked all the human planets and represented them to the friendly non-human races with which humans traded. The Colonial Administration (CA) had the power of life and death over the people on most of the settled planets, then colonies of a relatively small number of densely-populated planets whose early history has been forgotten. The CA also maintained a huge navy which patrolled the trade routes between planets, protecting traders and travellers alike. But people grew weary of the CA's authoritarian ways, and as the colonies grew and became rich, they were able to hold the CA increasingly at arm's length. They stopped following CA orders and drastically cut the level of financial support that flowed into the CA's coffers. The CA adopted more democratic methods, but did so too late to turn the tide. Without funds, it had to reduce and eventually eliminate its navy. Today it is primarily an exploration and land-claim regulation service, seeking out and surveying new planets for colonization. It also sponsors archaeological research and provides information to tourists and business travelers. As the CA declined, criminals found they could operate with impunity in the space lanes. A black market sprang up in ships and ship weapons, and pirates and murderous psychopaths can now be found lurking in close orbit around almost every inhabited planet, waiting for victims. Interplanetary law enforcement today is sponsored by various vigilante societies, founded and funded by wealthy traders, some secretly backed by the larger planetary governments, which officially keep their hands off events outside their atmospheres. These societies pay a bounty for the destruction of the ships of pirates, psychopaths, and bounty hunters who don't follow their rules. They also pay those who cause the deaths of such criminals when not in their own ships. The societies have sophisticated monitoring satellites orbiting every planet, and these are linked to their headquarters via subspace communication channels. If a ship or person with a price on its/his/her head is destroyed, they know instantly, and pay the bounty electronically to the person responsible almost as quickly. Despite all this enforcement activity, the likelihood that any particular criminal will die is still very low. The average interplanetary crook is not afraid of death or capture, and so the trade routes are crowded with dangerous characters who appear suddenly and inflict death and destruction at will. The most nefarious and notorious have acquired sufficient wealth and skill to be the owners and pilots of Wraiths, the fastest, deadliest ships in the galaxy. An encounter with one of these is likely to be fatal to the novice. In fact, a Wraith cannot even be detected with the standard equipment on most ships; they will appear, destroy, and be gone without the hapless trader knowing what hit him/her. Even the most experienced and well-equipped fighter may have trouble if several of them appear at once. Occasionally there appears in the space lanes a young adventurer with the will, the guts, and the luck to live long enough to become a threat to the Wraiths. It is only these few and courageous fighters who can keep the galaxy's worst criminals at bay and offer some measure of protection to travellers and traders. It is a dangerous calling, but perhaps the most honorable and heroic career in the galaxy. YOUR PLACE IN THE SCHEME OF THINGS You have grown up on the prosperous planet of Akron, one of the so-called "original" planets of the galaxy, which later colonized other planets and helped give birth to the Colonial Administration. Living near the spaceport as you do, from your earliest days, you have been surrounded by the excitement of interplanetary commerce and adventure. You have seen the wealthy traders flashing their precious metals and jewelry, and heard their tales of adventure, combat, and the finding of rare treasures and unknown places. For as long as you can remember, you have wanted to be like them. In your heart of hearts, you have harbored a secret desire to go up against a Wraith and show what you are made of. Today, you will have your chance. Fresh out of the Akron School of Interplanetary Commerce, from which you graduated with honors, you have been judged a good risk by the financiers. They granted you a loan sufficient to purchase a modestly-equipped trading vessel, and you have 200 credits left over in your electronic account, with which to purchase trade goods and begin the long journey to wealth and power. Basically, what you learned in the Akron School is to buy cheap and sell dear, and how to pilot a spaceship. You have spoken to several traders, and while they are always happy to regale you with tales of encounters with death and the exotic, they are jealous of their secrets and will tell you nothing of importance about trade routes. Accordingly, you have a healthy respect for the dangers that await you, but little idea of where to go. You realize you need to find a relatively safe trade route that is profitable, and build up your funds so you can improve your ship's weaponry before presuming to challenge the space criminals. You know that to do otherwise is likely to result in premature death. Save your position frequently! HOW THE GAME WORKS The game operates in two modes, Ship and Planet. As the game begins, your ship is in space dock on a space station; you are in a spaceport on a planet. There are places to go and things to do on nearly every planet. You should go everywhere and examine everything you find carefully. Most items you find will be of some value to you somewhere in the game. Some items you will be able to sell; others will get you out of a jam if used correctly. (NOTE: Each time you start a new game of Wraith Blaster, many of these items are randomly distributed around the galaxy. You will not necessarily find them in the same places from game to game!) If the planet has a trading post, you can buy or sell items for trade with other planets. Be careful! Prices vary; a good deal on one planet is a rip-off somewhere else. You can beam up to any planet's space station when you are in its spaceport; just enter "UP". If the space station has a Ship Improvement Shop, you can upgrade your ship's weapons both offensive and defensive, as well as buy fuel and other ship improvements. Beam down to the planet by entering "DOWN". While on board your ship, you can travel from planet system to planet system, and encounter and do battle with other ships. This takes fuel! Keep an eye on your ENERGY level; you could get permanently stranded. WINNING THE GAME Trading with other planets will increase your wealth. Becoming an experienced pilot and space fighter will increase your rank. Eventually, though, you will find you have achieved all your goals and will want to retire. In order to win, you must: have at least 30,000 credits (IMPORTANT: see "MONEY", below) have achieved the rank of "Master" find the right place to retire VOCABULARY Wraith Blaster understands many basic commands found in most adventure games. In addition to the basic vocabulary, this game understands the following verbs or commands (with abbreviations): ORBIT (O) GIVE SELL DOCK (DO) HAND CARGO (C) STATUS (ST) PAY INFLATE LOCATE (LO) SENSORS (SS) ENERGY (EE) IDENTIFY (ID) FLEE BUY REPAIR (RE) PURCHASE SHIELDS (SH) CREDITS (CR) RANK (RA) SHOW There are also a few more specialized commands. INTERACTING WITH CHARACTERS There are several people in the game with whom you may interact. Most of these interactions will be limited. It will often be useful to SHOW (an item in your possession) TO (a trading post) PROPRIETOR. It may also be necessary to SHOOT (someone) WITH (some weapon). COMMON COMMANDS The function keys control the most common nondirectional commands in the game. Pushing a function key causes the command to appear on the screen. If you need to input a noun, the game will wait until you do so and press enter before continuing. A command which does not require a noun, such as "LOOK", will be obeyed immediately. You don't need to hit enter. Function Key Command F 1 GET F 2 DROP F 3 EXAMINE F 4 READ F 5 OPEN F 6 CLOSE F 7 INVENTORY F 8 LOOK MOVING You can move in the eight most common compass directions, as well as up and down. You don't need, and can't use, such words as "GO", "WALK", "ENTER", or "EXIT". To move in any direction, enter the direction you wish to take. All of these can be abbreviated to one or two letters: NORTH N SOUTH S EAST E WEST W NORTHEAST NE NORTHWEST NW SOUTHEAST SE SOUTHWEST SW You can also control direction by using the cursor keys as though the little arrows pointed to the four cardinal directions on a map. The other directions can be controlled as follows: HOME northwest PAGEUP northeast PAGEDOWN southeast END southwest "-" up "+" down If you are unsure of where to go at any time, you can enter "LIST EXITS" and the game will give you the options for your current location. (NOTE: Experienced AGT game players: Because the verb "show" is used for other purposes in this game, "SHOW EXITS" will not work as it does in other AGT games.) REPEATING COMMANDS AGT saves your last command and allows you to repeat it, assuming you haven't entered anything else, without retyping it. To do this, enter "AGAIN" or "G". CHAINING COMMANDS You can type in several valid commands in a row, separated by commas, and the game will execute them one at a time. Of course, if the results of a command in the chain alters the situation significantly, the rest of the commands that follow may no longer be valid. For example, you can type: GET CUP, EXAMINE IT, DROP IT, NORTHEAST Each command will be evaluated and the appropriate response will occur before the game goes on to the next command in the list. If dropping the cup causes an explosion and blows you to kingdom come, you may not be able to go northeast, even though you entered the command. AVOID putting "AGAIN" or "G" more than once in a chain of commands! Since AGAIN repeats the last command, and the last command only, something like: BUY CUP, AGAIN, AGAIN can produce an endless chain of repeated commands, and your only escape will be to reset the computer. BRIEF AND VERBOSE In the normal course of the game, every time you enter a location you will get a full description of that location. This can get to be pretty boring if you've been to the same place several times. (Access Note: it can be excruciatingly boring to listen to with the typical screen reader.) If you enter "BRIEF", you will only get the full description the first time you enter a new location. Each subsequent time you go there, you will only get the name of the room. To go back to the full description every time, enter "VERBOSE". SAVING AND RESTORING You can save your position at any point in the game. Just enter "SAVE"; the game will prompt you for a file name. To restore a previously-saved position, just enter "RESTORE"; the game will list the available save files and ask you to choose one. SHIP CONTROLS Once in orbit, the cursor keys and home, end, page up, and page down control the ship's movement through space. (Or you can type in the direction.) Cargo (C) This command gives tells you three things: your cargo bay capacity; how many units of trade goods you are carrying whether in the cargo bay or held outside the ship by a tractor array; how many units of each kind of trade good item you are carrying. Controls (CN) This command gives you a list of the ship's controls, with abbreviations, and describes their functions. Dock (DO) This command is used to dock the ship when you are in orbit. Energy (EE) You can check your fuel level with this command. A full charge of fuel may be purchased at ship improvement shops for 50 credits. While you may purchase a new charge without having exhausted the last one, partial charges are not available. Fire (Shoot) This command fires the weapon. You must SHOOT (ship name) WITH (weapon name). You will be told whether you have hit or missed. If hit by a strong enough weapon, the ship is destroyed. If hit by a weaker weapon, the ship may be damaged or not. To do this, you must know the name of the ship (see below). Flee This command causes your ship to dock at the nearest space station. It is best used when under attack by large numbers of ships. While not foolproof, you have a better chance of surviving if you FLEE than if you just DOCK. Identify (ID) This command will state the class of an uncloaked ship that has been located. Locate (LO) This command allows one to locate a ship that is not cloaked, once the sensors are on. Orbit (O) This command puts you in orbit around the current planet. Repair (RE) When in space dock, this command restores your shield strength. Each repair job costs 30 credits. Sensors (SS) This command turns on the ship's sensors and must be used to locate and identify ships. Shields (SH) This command gives you a report of your shield strength. Status (ST) This command will tell you whether the ship is docked or in orbit and at which station or around which planet. SPACE COMBAT You may or may not encounter other ships during orbit. Ships may be hostile (must be destroyed before they destroy you) or friendly (will not harm you unless attacked). Your Early Warning System will tell you if another ship is nearby. You must then gather information about it before you can decide whether to attack it. Destroying the ships of pirates or criminals will pay a bounty. In addition, sometimes a passenger ship contains a criminal. If such a ship is destroyed, a bounty is paid. Finally, one can purchase a tractor array that recovers cargo. If you destroy a cargo ship and there was cargo aboard, the tractor array will recover the cargo automatically. The tractor array can hold an unlimited number of objects OUTSIDE the ship. Units of trade goods picked up by the tractor array therefore are not affected by your cargo bay capacity. These are reported as item units and added to the total number of units you are carrying. They can be sold at trading posts like other items. Rank Destroying certain ships also increases one's rank. The more dangerous or aggressive the ships destroyed, the faster your rank increases. One's rank affects weapon accuracy; the higher your rank the less frequently you will miss with a particular weapon. You can determine your rank at any time in the game by entering the command "RANK" or "RA". ATTACK STRATEGY TIPS To destroy a hostile ship, the pilot must first locate it using the ship's sensors and determine what kind of ship it is. Then the appropriate weapon must be fired. Certain types of weapons are required to destroy certain types of ships. If a player has not yet purchased the weapon and meets a hostile ship that requires it, the player must flee or die. Different planets have different levels of ship traffic. Dangerous ships are more likely to hang around some planets than others. ARMOR vs. SHIELDS The force shield is a ship's first line of defense against attack. A direct hit with any weapon will reduce shield strength. Different types of weapons reduce shield strength by different amounts. Once shield strength is 0, the next accurate shot will hit the ship's armor directly. The strength of the armor determines whether actual damage will occur to the ship from such a hit. The more powerful a weapon, the better chance it has of damaging or destroying an unshielded ship. YOUR SHIP Your ship is initially equipped with a laser and 5 missiles. It has weak armor and a class 1 shield (Shield1). You can upgrade your weapons and shields, but your armor, being a structural element of the ship, cannot be improved. OTHER SHIPS There are ten ship classes in use in the galaxy. These are detailed in Jane's Guide to Spaceships, which you may be able to purchase at some point in the game. Jane's gives detailed information on each ship's weaponry, both offensive and defensive, as well as the strategy employed by the typical pilot of each class of ship. Unlike your ship, other ships have varying strengths of armor, but no shields. Passenger and freight vessels, and some armed vessels, are not aggressive and therefore do not fear attack under ordinary circumstances. Aggressive armed vessels are outlaws not permitted to purchase weapons or ship improvements on the open market. They can obtain weapons, cloaking devices and cloaked detectors on the black market, and these items are easily installed by amateurs. Shields, however, are very high-tech, complex equipment which can only be installed in registered Ship Improvement Shops. Aggressive ships are actively wanted by the vigilantes; their destruction pays a bounty calculated according to the aggressiveness and dangerousness of the ship. SHIP WEAPONS Offensive Weapons You must have a weapon powerful enough to destroy a particular ship. A more powerful weapon can kill a weaker ship, but a weak weapon can't destroy a more powerful ship. A laser, missile launcher and 5 missiles are standard equipment on your ship. The following additional offensive ship weapons are available: Weapon Price missiles 5 for 250 phaser 2000 photon torpedoes 5 for 1200 particle beam 5500 beam recharge (50 shots) 500 disintegrator 8000 cloaked detector 8000 When you have a weapon which must be reloaded, you can enter a command to learn how many shots you have used. These commands are: Missiles: STATUSM (STM) Photon Torpedoes: STATUST (STT) Particle Beam: STATUSB (STB) Defensive Weapons The standard class 1 ship shield is rated 100. Other defensive ship weapons available include: Weapon Price class 2 shield2 (150) 750 class 3 shield3 (250) 2500 class 4 shield4 (400) 5000 cloaking device 10,000 PERSONAL WEAPONS You will need hand weapons to survive a number of situations on various planets. You will have to look sharp to find the right weapon. MONEY You start out with 200 credits. All money transactions are handled electronically; you never have any cash in hand. Trading posts and ship improvement shops are always honest and will buy and sell for the posted prices. Other folks may not be so reliable, but you have no choice. VERY IMPORTANT!! - - - - - - - - VERY IMPORTANT!! YOU CANNOT HAVE MORE THAN 32,767 CREDITS. Here's why: Computers, surprisingly enough, have problems with large numbers. The amount of memory needed to manipulate numbers with lots of zeros is prohibitive. The alternative is to express large numbers in ways that don't use so much memory. This is usually done with "scientific" or "exponential" notation. For example, the "integer" 50,000 can be expressed exponentially as 50 times 10 to the third power, or, in computer language, as 50*(10^3). For reasons I don't understand, the range of numbers which a computer can handle when expressed as an integers is -32,767 to 32,767. Numbers above or below this range must be expressed exponentially. If this is not done, the computer will take your number and do a computation on it to put it back into the acceptable range. it doesn't care whether this new number is positive or negative, so long as it's in the range. So, computers CAN handle large numbers when expressed properly. Unfortunately, AGT games CAN'T, at least when they are written by people who aren't programmers. The AGT system doesn't understand exponential notation. It can only use integers within that range of -32,767 to 32,767. In Wraith Blaster, therefore, if you sell something that ought to raise your total above 32,767 credits, you will suddenly find yourself with LESS THAN 0 credits. A LOT less. The computer's computation will give you somewhere around -32,000 credits. If that happens, even if you have an extended cargo bay full of rarities and manage to sell them at the highest price, you will still have less than 0 credits. In other words, you'll have to restart or restore, because you won't even be able to buy fuel. You need, among other things, at least 30,000 credits to win. If you have that much, concentrate on reaching Master rank and finding the right retirement spot so you can win. You will need to destroy ships to increase your rank, and doing so will bring in bounty credits. Watch your credits carefully! Buy and sell just enough to keep your energy up, your weapons loaded, and your total just over 30,000. TRADE Certain planets have trade opportunities. You can purchase goods at some planets and sell them at others. Different planets sell and buy at different rates. Trade items are purchased and sold in standard units for each type of item, one unit at a time. The amount of goods you can buy depends on the state of your bank account and on the size of your cargo area. Your ship's standard cargo space hold 20 units, and you can add an extra cargo bay. PLANETS Most planets are inhabitable. Some are hostile to human life but can be explored if you have the right equipment (which you will probably find sooner or later). The inhabited planets are at various degrees of development. Some have Trading Posts on their surfaces. Others have Ship Improvement Shops on their space stations. A very few have both. All planets are worth exploring. You may find profitable trade markets. Or you may find valuable treasures for which the proprietors of certain trading posts will pay handsomely. Or you may find the equipment you need to explore previously fatal or inaccessible places. Any planet can be dangerous if you don't have the right weapons or protection. Good luck!