The Complete Encyclopedia of Games 3/GAMES1000V3_d2.iso/strat/pro2/manus.txt

Text File | 1994-04-19 | 22KB | 511 lines

Ports of Call 2.0TM
The Maritime Simulation Game

(C) 1994, Rolf-Dieter Klein, Martin Ulrich

from
Rolf-Dieter Klein
Martin Ulrich

Graphics from
R.E. LaBarre
J.D. Sachs

Additional Graphics from Worldview(TM) & Majestic Places(TM)
    MediaClips:
 Photos: David K. Brunn, Tom Atwood
        "(C) Copyright Aris Entertainment, Inc., 1992"

Ports of Call  (C) 1994 Rolf-Dieter Klein und Martin Ulrich
===========================================================


About the Game
--------------

A Background on Tramp Shipping

The traffic of goods by sea is organized in accordance with international
agreements and contracts between individual countries. About 80% of the
goods (called "cargo volume") transported between two countries is handled
by ships registered under the flags of the countries concerned. The
remaining 20% are open to the free competition of ships under other flags.
These ships, called "tramp" ships, are usually prepared to transport all
kinds of goods. This aspect of the shipping business is the focus of Ports of
Call.

Whether a tramp ship owner makes a profit depends upon: on the one hand,
the laws, regulations and subsidies of his country, and on the other, the
rules of supply and demand. If, for example, there has been a good coffee
harvest, coffee prices will drop, and since there is a lot of coffee to be
shipped, the freight charges will rise. Now, if a lot of owners start to
compete for the business, the freight capacity will start to increase, with a
consequent drop in freight rates.
If the coffee harvest was bad, the freight rates will drop even though the
coffee price has risen, because the shipping capacity is now in excess.

If the business is exceptionally poor, it may be necessary for the ship owner
to temporarily lay his ships up. In this situation, the ships cannot be sold
profitably because the ships' prices have dropped (supply and demand).
Also it is not economically viable to operate the ships because the income
nowhere covers the overhead_fixed costs, such as maintenance and finance,
still have to be earned. This is now the time to buy good, used ships at a
low price. Apart from the economic aspects, life aboard a tramp ship can be
pretty exciting and that's no "old sailor's yarn"!



The Object of the Game

Each player founds his own shipping company, with a starting capital of $4
million to buy ships. Freight and ports of call can be chosen continuously
from offers on the market. Then the captain chooses an economic travelling
speed and casts off to encounter many adventures on the high seas.

After unloading his cargo, the captain is credited with the agreed payment.
Then he may refuel, make necessary repairs, and so on. The next job is to
find a new, lucrative cargo, buy further ships, and/or repay his mortgages;
in other words, he must have a more productive company than his
competitors.

The strategy of the game is flexible. A rogue will try to make a quick buck
by using cheap ships and juggling the freight rates to force his competitors
into bankruptcy. The careful player, in contrast, will build a solid financial
foundation. The superior speed of his high-tech fleet will enable him to
snap up the more lucrative contracts.

Any strategy is deemed to fail if you don't have a good captain to bring your
ship across the world's stormy seas.
The formulas for ship movement have been calculated so that ships respond
to changes in speed and movements of the rudder as in the real world. It is
recommended that the beginner does not start with ships that are too large.
These are slow to respond and, as such, require a more experienced captain.

The ship's movement at sea is accelerated. The captain, however, must
select the correct speed. Fuel consumption depends on the time at sea and
the weather conditions. Determination of the economic travelling speed
depends on fuel prices and freight rates. Hence, you can see that a captain's
decisions also have an influence on the success of the company.

The credit rating of an enterprise is very dependent on its social status. The
more ports served by a line, the higher the status. And an owner who is
operating modern, expensive ships has a naturally better standing than the
owner of a rusty, floating wreck. The captain's conduct also affects a
company's credit.

A player's chances of success improve the more he knows about
international shipping. All data for the game originated from actual
developments in the maritime world: the fluctuation of freight rates,
refueling costs, port charges, and ship operating costs. The ship operating
costs include amounts payable for tax, management, crew expenses, safety
precautions, and other costs_these vary significantly from country to
country. These general costs are calculated for each individual ship and are
reduced in accordance with the subsidies, tax reductions, etc., that are valid
in the country of registration. The accounts are then automatically debited
periodically, without on screen display to the owner.

Ship prices are the same for all ship owners. However, in reality, ship
building is subsidized differently in each country; therefore, a
compensatory figure is included in the basic costs.

In summary, Ports of Call has been developed with this motto in mind:
"Software with Hard Facts."



Getting Started
---------------

What You Need to Run Ports of Call

IBM PC-Version: Ports of Call will run on any of the IBM PC and fully
compatible family of computers with grafic adapters compatible to
Standard-VGA, provided you have a minimum of 640kB of RAM and run
DOS 3.2 or higher.


To start :Ports of Call
-----------------------

 Power up your system and boot with your systems disc.
 Mouse users will have to activate their mouse drivers (if this was not
done automatically when booting. Please consult your systems manual).
 Insert the Ports of Call disc and enter POC (5 1/4"-users start with disc
A)
 Answer the few and friendly questions about your sound preferences (we
suggest: external sound or none).
 3 1/2" users may now begin. 5 1/4" users please insert disc B.
 Mouse users will need the left and right mouse buttons only. The center
button will not play.
 Keyboard fanatics, cats and everybody elso who doesn't like mice, please
refer to the Appendix with a list of keyboard commands.

Personalizing Your Program
--------------------------

Ports of Call 2.0 gives you one hour of free demo time. In the unlikely
event of dissatisfaction with the programme, please give it to somebody
else. Do give away as many copies as you like or even better as you
possibly can. After one hour of playing time, Ports of Call 2.0 will aks you
to register. Please enter your name, city of residence and your personal
serial number when prompted.
The serial number is on the disc sleeve if you have bought the full version.
If you have downloaded the programme from a network or have been given
a disc or copied it from a friend, you will have to purchase a serial number
before you are to continue enjoying the game. Please use the registration
form (the file name is "Register.txt", please load it into your word processor
to fill it out) and e-mail, fax or mail it to us. After receipt of payment, your
serial number will be forwarded instantaneously.



Playing The Game
----------------

After you start the game, a requestor will appear asking you to choose the
desired time duration of play. You have options of selecting 1 hour, 2
hours, 3 hours or until the game is over. If you play a timed game and you
reach the time limit, you are given the option of continuing play or quitting.
After selecting the desired time duration, select OK.

Next, a requestor will appear asking you to select the degree of playing
difficulty. You will be presented with three options: Beginner, Expert and
Genius. If you are new - to the game, select Beginner, then select OK.

A requestor will then appear asking you to choose the number of players.
You can enter up to four. After entering the number of players, select OK.

The registration form requestor will appear asking you to fill out the ship
Captain's name and the name of the shipping company. Click with the
Selection button inside the Name drawer, type your name and press
RETURN. Then type a name for your fictional company and press
RETURN. Select OK.

After registering, you must choose a home port. Select any of the 28 ports
listed and select OK. A screen will then appear with a picture of the globe,
showing you the location of your port. Select go on to continue. The entire
registration and port selection process will be repeated for each player.

After all players are registered, the World Simulation Display will appear.
This is the main screen of the game, where all action starts and stops.


The Ports of Call Menu Bar

You can see the Menu Bar when you press the Menu (right) mouse button.
To choose a menu item, put the cursor on the Project heading and move it
down until the item you want is highlighted. Release the Menu button and
that item is chosen. The Project menu includes:

 About..., which brings up a window containing copyright information
and the version number. Free Memory measures (in bytes) how much
memory is currently available.

 Load will bring up the storage requestor so that you may load a
previously saved game to resume play.

 Save will save the current game you are playing, provided it has already
been named; otherwise, the storage requestor will appear so that you may
enter a filename and directory.

 Save As will bring up the storage requestor allowing you to specify any
drive or directory and filename to save the game to. After selecting Save
As..., type the name of the game in the filename box and the directory you
want to save it to in the drawer box and then select OK.

 Manual You have found it all on your own, as you are reading it right
now. To print it, please load the file "Manual.txt" into your word processor.

 If necessary, you can abandon play by choosing Quit. Then a requestor
will appear asking if you really want to do this for sure. Select OK to quit,
CANCEL to resume play. Upon quitting the game, you will be shown
which player has been most successful.


The World Simulation Display

The Simulation Display shows a map of the world on which the ships of all
ship owners are shown_you must buy a ship before you can see it.
Individual ships are displayed in the company colors. A ship will blink
several times when activity is expected. The numbers in rectangular boxes
represent the wind strength (on the Beaufort scale) for weather systems
calculated by the global weather simulator.
The higher numbers indicate storms.

The ACTION gadget in the lower left corner is labeled START. If you
select it again it will change to STOP. Selecting START allows the
SIMULATION ELAPSED TIME gadget to continue and the game to
proceed. Selecting STOP freezes the time gadget, allowing the player to
conduct business away from the ship.

The SIMULATION ELAPSED TIME gadget contains a simulated 24-hour
clock and boxes representing days. The passing of weeks and years are
shown underneath.

The window in the lower right corner continuously displays the realtive
wealth of the shipping companies. The columns are kept in the shipowners
colors. The numbers display the status points of the corresponding shipping
company. The leader is the company with the highest status.

You must select STOP before you can select any of the gadgets on the right
side of the World Simulation Display: GLOBE, OFFICE and SHIP
BROKER. Selecting SHIP BROKER brings up a requestor showing the
current ship owners' company names with buttons next them. When you
select a button, a screen will appear showing you an elevator. The elevator
has five floors from which to choose, where you can buy or sell ships and
get information about the ship market.

Selecting OFFICE also lets you select a company name to take you into
that company's office. This is where your books are kept, statistics are
analyzed, mortgages and bank overdrafts are applied for and repaid, profit
and loss statements are prepared and business developments are kept track
of. You can also change the location of your home port from within your
office if you think it is more economical to operate under a different flag.

Hint: Checking your office periodically will prevent theft.

Selecting GLOBE allows each player to determine the location of his ships,
the ship's route and Estimated Time of Arrival (ETA). These details are
recorded on the Globe, which can be rotated into any viewing position
when you hold the Selection (left) mouse button down on the rotation
gadget in the coordinate system and drag it to a new positions while still
holding down the Selection button.

After all the ship owners have bought their ships, select START. The map
will blink the ships in the owners colors to signify an activity will occur.


The Port Display

You will now be presented with a screen showing the captain's cabin_you
can see your port through the porthole. The chalkboard contains
information regarding the city and country of your port. The captain's log
lists the last port visited, cargo, profits, bank balance, ship condition and
available fuel (in tons). The clipboard contains options which you can
activate by selecting them.

Repairing Your Ship

If you have bought a used ship, chances are that it needs a little minor
repair. After selecting REPAIR, you will be presented with a requestor
showing you the damage and repair status of your ship. You can select the
level of repairs you want or can afford.

Refuelling Your Ship

To refuel your ship, select REFUEL. This will bring up the refuelling
screen, where you can select how much fuel to put in your ship. By clicking
the select button on any of these buttons: 25%, 50%, 75% or 100%, the
fuel will rise in the tank to that level.

Chartering Your Ship

Selecting CHARTER allows you to choose where you will go next and
what type of cargo to carry. Every port has different types of cargo_some
worth a lot more than others. To determine the best cargo, click on the
various destinations and available cargoes to determine the most lucrative
charter.
Time freight is an option that appears to be extremely lucrative. Do start
this business carefully, as the program takes into account the actual average
waiting time outside the ports (as stated in the UN shipping statistics).

Hint: Some dangerous cargoes do affect the ships condition.

Laying Up

Laying up means to anchor your ship for a short time. You may want to
wait until the laws of supply and demand command a higher price for your
cargo. As a ship owner, it may become necessary to temporarily "lay up" the
ship for a week or so, because it is not economically viable to to operate the
ship when the income doesn't cover the overhead.

Loading Your Cargo

When you are ready to embark, select LOAD CARGO, then select OK. The
screen will turn blank indicating an action is taking place and you will
return to the World Simulation Display. Your ship will appear in your
company color. When it blinks on and off, you are ready to navigate
through the harbor on the way to your port of call.


Navigating Your Ship

Navigation is the most important aspect of being a successful Captain. The
ship must be maneuvered in and out of different harbors and oftentimes
through difficult obstacles.
The Navigation Control Panel is made up of the following components: the
Power Regulator, Speed Indicator, and Rudder Regulator (see Figure 3).
Each one must be mastered to successfully navigate your ship.

The Power Regulator

The power regulator functions similar to a gas pedal in a car. To go faster,
hold the select button down and drag the speed regulator up to go forwards,
and down to go backwards.
Actual ship acceleration is simulated, so it takes time to gain speed. With
the regulator positioned in the exact center (represented by a horizontal
line) the ship's engine is at idle.

The Speed Indicator

The speed indicator is represented by a small horizontal line directly to the
right of the power regulator. It functions similar to a speedometer by
showing you how fast you are moving.
If your ships speed is high, you have a lot of momentum and it will take
longer to slow down or change direction. Beginning ship captains should
take time and experiment with the navigation control panel until they are
famlllar with maneuvering techniques.

Top:         Transverse Thruster (available only on more
               expensive ships)

Below:         Speed Indicator

Right:         Power Regulator

Bottom:         Rudder Regulator


The Rudder Regulator

The rudder regulator is identical to a steering wheel. When the ship is
moving forward, dragging it to the left will turn the ship left and dragging it
right will steer the ship right. When the ship is traveling backwards it
functions the opposite.

Entering a Harbor

The goal when entering a harbor is to safely dock your ship and park it
inside the blue target shaped like an arrow (called the berth). The front of
the ship must be pointing in the same direction as the arrow to successfully
dock the ship, and the ship must be motionless and parallel to the dock
inside the blue target (this gets you a status point with every new port you
master). The hourglass represents how much time you have to accomplish
this. You can use tugboat assistance if you feel it is too difficult, but tugs
cost you a lot of money. If you are low on funds, you will be forced to steer
by hand.

Leaving a Harbor

You successfully leave a harbor by navigating your ship through the blue
target window. You aren't penalized for exiting backwards. The goal is to
safely exit without crashing or going beyond the time limit shown in the
hourglass. You can use tugboat assistance if you feel it is too difficult, but
tugs cost you a lot of money. If you are low on funds, you will be forced to
steer by hand.

On the Open Sea

When you have successfully left the harbor, a screen will appear containing
information on your destination, freight on board, distance to travel (in
nautical miles), and the deadline for delivery (if any). Also, you may choose
your traveling speed (in knots). Remember, the higher the speed, the more
fuel is consumed; on the other hand, a long joumey results in a high total of
fixed operating expenses. After making your choices, you must challenge
the cold, cruel sea_you may STOP ACTION at any time during the voyage
to catch up on office work, buy ships, and so on. Bon Voyage!

And the Winner Is...

When the game is over, the Ranking List will appear. The winner is
determined by who has the highest status. If it's a tie score, the assets are
taken into account.


Appendix:
---------

Keyboard-users guide to the wonderful world of
Ports of Call keyboard commands.

Principally you say OK, when entering CR (as in Carriage Return).

For a Yes you enter Y or CR.

Cancel is said by pressing C or ESC or N, as in "no".

When entering Text please end with a CR. The Cursor must thus be deleted
from the text column before you can say "OK" with another CR or Cancel.

When you encounter a number of select buttons placed in columns, please
use your cursor keys or the numeral keys to select the button of your
choice. The button chosen will be highlighted. Enter CR to select.
The numeral keys are assigned to the select buttons from top to bottom in a
rising sequence. Usually beginning with the number 1.
Example: Selection of the degree of difficulty:

Beginner    -1
Expert        -2
Genius        -3

OK            -CR

Use your cursor keys to select a home port for your ships.

The functions: About..., Load, Save, Save As... and Quit are selected with
the keys
A for About...
H for Help...
L for Load
S for Save
N for Save as ..
M for Manual
Q for Quit.
The selection of the game to load uses the function keys F1, F2. Scroll the
list of games with your cursor keys and select the drawer with CR and the
filename with a second CR.

In the World Simulation Display, the
1 leads to the Globe. Rotate the globe with your cursor keys.
2 leads to the Office and
3 leads to the Ship Broker.
Stop- and Start-Action is controlled with your space bar.

In the Office you call up
Info by pressing I,
Action by pressing A and
OK by pressing CR.
For all further functions, the numeral keys are assigned to the select
buttons from top to bottom in a rising sequence.: 1,2,3,....6. CR says OK.

At the Ship Brokers you enter the floor numbers 1 - 5 as shown in the Lift,
use the E to get to the Exit.
For all further functions, the numeral keys are assigned to the select
buttons from top to bottom in a rising sequence.: 2,3,4....
Or, where applicable in this order:
1  2
3  4
5  6.
CR says OK.

In the Port-Display use
1 to Repair,
2 to Refuel,
3 to Charter
4 to Lay Up, and
CR to Load

When Refuelling use
1 to fill up 100%
2 to fill up 75%
3 to fill up 50%
4 to fill up 25%

When Chartering operate the
right column with the cargoes from top to bottom with the letters
Q,W,E,R,T,Z (Y),U,I,O,P, and the
left column with ports of destination from top to bottom with the numerals
1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,0.

Steer by hand is chosen by keying 1, the tugs help is requested by CR.

The Navigation Control Panel is operated using the cursor keys.
For emergency manouvers use
page up for full speed ahead, and
page down for  full speed astern.
Home puts Power- and Rudder-Regulators to Neutral. For the Transverse
Thruster use CTRL and right and CRTL and left.

Enjoy the game.
=========================================================================