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STAR EMPIRE PLAYER MANUAL for Star Empire v. 2.10 Copyright (C) 1992 Antoine Le Huenen As of Star Empire v. 2.00, Star Empire no longer requires registration. You are free to use Star Empire for as long as you wish, and you are not required to pay any fee to the author for the use of this software. Please do not modify Star Empire in any way, including the original archive. Special thanks to Mark Brister for beta testing Star Empire and for the use of some of his ideas. OVERVIEW Star Empire is a DOOR that runs under a BBS program. It is one gigantic game that is played with several people over the phone line with usage of the modem. Imagine, one system that deals with only one objective, to be ruler of the galaxy! WARRANTY This program is provided as-is, without warranty of any kind, either expressed or implied, and is only guaranteed to occupy disk space. In no event will the author be liable to you or anyone else for any damages, including (but not limited to) any lost profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential damages arising out of the use of, or inability to use, this program. COPYRIGHT This program is provided at no cost to you. However, it is NOT public domain; it is copyrighted by the author. You may distribute this version of the program freely, so long as all files in the distribution archive remain intact, without any changes or modifications. The distribution archive is in ZIP format; however, you may convert the archive to any format you choose, so long as the above requirements are met. THIS DOCUMENTATION IS INTENDED FOR THE PLAYER. The SysOp documentation can be found by viewing SE200.DOC included in this package. INTRODUCTION It is the year 2412. Throughout the centuries, Earth has been heavily polluted, with toxins ranging from simply hydro-carbons to nuclear waste. The planet is slowly dying. Life is ceasing to exist all over the planet. The rain forest is now gone, and desert landscape covers most of the planet. In a last effort of survival, man looked towards the stars... HyperTech, a new corporation, invented radical technology that allows space travel at beyond light speed. By jumping into a parallel universe known as "HyperSpace", where the speed of light is thousands of times faster than in our universe, a ship could travel in this universe normally then jump back into our universe. The distance travelled would be thousands of times greater. A prototype test ship was equipped with one and sent on a voyage beyond our solar system. Yet curiously, as soon as this ship jumped back into "NormalSpace", it was destroyed by an unknown assailant. Humans back on Earth, taken with desperation, started to build ships in order to colonize other planets, because planet Earth could not longer support them. Time was short, so every available ship was equipped with the new "HyperDrive". Every available pilot was rounded up and given order to colonize as many planets as possible, in order to maintain the human species. So thus the story begins... OBJECT OF THE GAME The object of the game is to colonize as many planets, in order to gain as much population as you can. Your score is greatly influence by the size of your empire. You start out in a Merchant Cruiser ship. The ship starts out in orbit around planet Earth, which is located exactly at the centre of the galaxy. Right away, it is recommeneded that you buy men from planet Earth, at 1 cash apiece, so you may start colonizing your planets right away. Your ship only have a limited amount of cargo capacity, measured in tons. Each person aboard your ship takes 1 ton cargo, and different objects you acquire throughout the galaxy each take a certain amount of cargo space to hold. However, almost right away, you will want to get moving, to be able to navigate and explore the galaxy. BEGINNING GAME NOTES The galaxy is divided into many sections known as sectors. Each sector is measured in "distance units", an abritrary unit used for measuring interstellar space. Each sector is 10,000 x 10,000 of these sectors. Time is calculated in rounds, each "round" being 2 seconds of game time. Star Empire is "real time", which means that action happens whether the user types things at his/her keyboard or not. In Star Empire, speed is measured in Warp Factors. Warp 1 is equivalent to the speed of light and allows the user to travel 100 distance units per round. The sector that planet Earth is located in is a "protected sector", which means that beginning players can test navigation and other concepts in this sector without the worry of being attacked by enemy ships. Planets in the game are bodies in instellar space that the user can colonize in order to earn score and gain in rank. Asteroids are objects that float around the galaxy, the user's can mine in order to earn cash. After you have read the tutorial section, it is a good idea to try trading with planet Earth by invoking the TRA command. You will already be in orbit around planet Earth when you begin the game. Try buying and selling items, and experiment with the menus. Also try using various commands just to see what they'll do. After you've got the basic "feel" for the game, try destroying an asteroid... or two. When you're really ready, try taking on an enemy ship. Don't be discouraged if you get destroyed, the enemy ships are tough on everyone. TUTORIAL SECTION At the beginning, each ship is equipped with an impulse and a warp drive. Think of impulse as your standard engines today, that travel in space like spacecraft today. They do not go very fast, but enable you to get detailed scans of objects as well as orbit planets and use space portals. The Warp drive is much faster, enabling you to go and even past light speed. It allows you to jump into a parallel universe where light speed is thousands of times faster than in NormalSpace, thus letting you travek faster than light. In this HyperSpace however, your scans are limited, and you ignore most things in NormalSpace such as Planets and Space Portals. Warp One is light speed, Warp Two is two times the speed of light, etc. Impulse drive, however, is measured in fractions of light speed. Therefore going half impulse would be measure as Warp point five. To travel in impulse drive, simple use a fraction with the NAV command, its layout as follows: NAV <direction> <speed> However, what does Direction or Speed refer to? To understand the size of the galaxy, think of a piece of graph paper. Each square on the graph paper is a sector within the galaxy. The galaxy's size is variable, dependant on the SysOp's wishes. However, each Sector Size is NOT variable, it is set. Each sector is actually a 10,000 by 10,000 grid. To travel, let's say, at light speed (warp factor 1), you will travel 100 distance every 2 seconds. That means, at warp factor 1, it will take a ship 50 seconds to travel across the sector. To go at half impulse (half light speed), you type in the following: NAV 0 0.50 That will bring your ship to half light speed. Warp Speed works on the same principle, simply use numbers greater than 1. For example: NAV 0 2 This would bring you to your current heading at warp 2. However, notice direction. This is NOT an abosolute co-ordinate, it is relative to your ship's bearing. Imagine that you're already heading 90 degrees at Warp 1, and you wish to change your course to 135 degrees. All you would type in is: NAV 45 1 The 45 means turn 45 degrees to the right, and the 1 is repeated to make sure you want to stay at the same speed. You may change this speed, changing the 1 to a 2 or whatever speed you wish, limited by your ship's capabilities. However, what would you do if you want to turn TO 45 degrees, and not 135 degrees? The answer is simple, do the reverse as follows: NAV -45 1 The negative (-) means turn left the number of degrees. You may turn right up to 180 degrees, and turn left up to 180 degrees, which covers the entire 360 degree planet For example, there is no NAV 200 1, as this is covered by NAV -160 1. SPECIAL NOTE: Do not leave the sector. The sector that has planet Earth is a protected sector. If any enemy ships try to attack you, planet Earth will send a HyperBeam to the enemy ship, thus destroying it before it can cause you any harm. However, if you leave the sector you will forfeit this protection. SPACE PORTALS However, there is a way to travel great distances very quickly, though they are sometimes unpredictable and could leave you stranded in the far reaches of the galaxy. This method of travel is through the usage of Space Portals. First you must scan it to find your location, which is covered later, then you must go to impulse drive facing it (preferable half impulse). When you come within 100 distance from it, you will be warned that you are close to a Space Portal, and when you are within 50 you will automatically enter it. Each portal is linked to another portal, for example Portal 1 might be linked to Portal 2, but that doesn't necessarily mean that Portal 2 is linked to 1. Portal 2 might be linked to portal 5, etc. So be warry of using space portals unless you want to get stranded in space. SENSORS Sensors are your eyes and ears during the game; the only way to detect the presence of objects around your ship. There are different kind of scans. The first and most used of the Scans is the sector scan. It can be easily invoked by typing the following at the command line: SCA SE The first word is for SCAN, and the second is for SECTOR. This will give you a graphical display of the current sector, where your ship is a '+', planets are the number '1' through '3', and space portals are 'O's, enemy ships are non-capital letters, such as an 'a' or a 'z'. Asteroids are all other weird shapes that may be seen. The top of the sector scan is always 0 degrees, and the bottom is 180, left is 270 degrees, while right is 90 degrees (as is standard throughout the game). A sample of a sector scan would be as follows: Sector Scan (44) ╔═════════════════════════════╗ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . z . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . + . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . ( . . . . . . . $ . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . O . . . . . . .║ ║. . 1 . . . . . . . 3 . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . a . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ╚═════════════════════════════╝ One thing to mention about the picture scans. North (0 degrees) is always pointing up on these scans, just like on a regular map. South (180 degrees) is to the bottom, West (270 degrees) is to the left and East (90 degrees) is to the right. Yet there is another type of scan, which enables you to see objects outside of the current sector. This is a radius scan, which puts you in the middle and you try to scan out as far as possible. Otherwise though, it is identical to the sector scan. It can be invoked by typing the following on the command line: SCAN RA # The # represents the range you wish to scan. It starts at five, yet slowly increases as you improve your sensors. Those are the two picture scans. There are several precision scans, which scans a direct object. The most commonly used on is the planet scanner, which you can invoke by typing the following on the command line: SCAN PL # where # is the planet number. To find out the planet number, you must reference it to the number that appears in the sector or radius scan. There are several things which may impair this scan, however. First of all, if you are in HyperSpace, you may only find information about it's name, owner and position in the galaxy and sector. There is not surface scan available when you are in HyperSpace. Also, if the planet has a Force Field, there is also not surface scan available. However, if the planet is Cloaked (it will tell you that the planet is cloaked when you try to scan it), there is NO scan information available. This is the layout of a sample planet scan: Scanning Planet: Earth --------------------------------------- Owned by Fleet Admiral Sentinel Bearing: -135 Distance: 247 Sector Position X:4942 Y:3519 Planet Type: M Force field prevents Surface Scan --------------------------------------- Here are descriptions of the items found in the planet scan: Bearing: This is the general bearing to your ship. It is relative to your current heading, not an absolute bearing. Therefore, as this planet is at bearing -135, all you would need to do is NAV -135 <speed> to put your heading towards the planet. If the planet is at bearing 0, it means it is directly in front of you. Distance: This is a measure of the planet's distance from your ship. It is relative to the sector grid (as you know, a sector is 10,000 by 10,000). Therefore, a planet at 5,000 distance is exactly half a sector away from you, and would take about 25 to go there at warp 1. If you come within 250 distance from the planet at IMPULSE speed, you have the option of orbiting the planet. However, do not come to close to the planet, or your ship will crash. To orbit, use the ORB command. X and Y Sector Locations: This is simply the X and Y co-ordinates of the planet within the current sector, and can help in navigation or knowing where the planet is within the sector. This is given as a number between 0 and 9999, as there are 10,000 distance units within the sector. SCANNING SPACE PORTALS Portals may also be scanned, and they work the same way that planet scanning does, except for the fact that Space Portals OUTSIDE the current sector may be scanned, while you may only scan planets WITHIN the current sector. To scan a Space Portal, type the following at the command line: SCA PO # where # is the portal number. There may be anywhere in between 1 and 10 space portals in the galaxy at any one time. Unlike Planets, it is more difficult to reference them to your sector or radius scan. The only way is by colour, and it is up to the user to figure out which colour corresponds to which portal. The range at which you can scan a portal is dependant on the range of your radius scan. If it appears within the maximum range of your radius scan, then chances are you can do a direct scan. All portals are linked to other portals, so that if you come within 50 at impulse speed to a portal you will enter it and come out through the portal that it is linked to. This other portal may be anywhere in the galaxy, and most of the time cannot be scanned, as it usually is beyond your sensor range. Not all portals are stable. A stable portal is one that changes position every once in a while and changes its link to other portals every once in a while. A sample output from the scan portal command is: Scanning Space Portal: Alpha -------------------------------------- Bearing: -36 Distance: 4363 Sector: 44 Sector Position X: 2586 Y: 7248 Linked to Portal Beta Portal is Unstable -------------------------------------- Bearing, Distance and Sector Position are the same as with the planet scanner. There are three new items here, described below: Sector: This is the current sector that the portal is located in. This gives you a general indication of the portal location inside the galaxy. Linked: This shows what portal the current portal is linked to. That way, when you travel through the portal you will know what portal you are going to end up beside. When a portal is unstable, it means that the portal randomly changes position every once in a while, and it changes its link with other portals. However, there is no danger travelling through one of these portals, as other than the changing of position it acts just like any other portal. SCANNING ASTEROIDS Scanning asteroids work much in the same way as scanning planets and portals, except that you don't use number. They may be referenced to the sector or radius scan. To scan an asteroid type the following at the command line: SCA AS <symbol> The <symbol> may be any of the ten symbols on top of the numbers on your keyboard, and you must specify which symbol to scan. This is a sample of an asteroid scan: Scanning Asteroid: % -------------------------------------- Bearing: 68 Distance: 15044 Sector: 54 Sector Position X: 9103 Y: 9238 Heading: 4 Speed: 0.09 -------------------------------------- There are two new items here, described below: Heading: This shows the current heading of the asteroid in degrees. In empty space very few things stay still, and asteroid slowly move around the galaxy. This shows the current absolute heading of the asteroid. Speed: This shows the current speed of the asteroid in warp factors. Asteroids can never travel faster than light, so their speed will always be less than one. SCANNING ENEMY SHIPS Scanning enemy ships is done the same way as scanning asteroids, where you would type the following on the command line: SCAN SH <letter> where <letter> is the ship reference. A sample of a ship scan would be the following: Scanning Enemy Ship: g -------------------------------------- Bearing: -32 Distance: 27648 Sector: 36 Sector Position X:854 Y: 7379 Shields: Up Damage: 0 Percent Heading: 253 Speed: 0.53 -------------------------------------- Ships work in the same way as asteroids do, in that they move around the galaxy. The only difference is that enemy ships can travel in HyperSpace, at speeds often exceeding warp factor 4. There are two new items here, described below: Shields: Enemy ships, just like your ship, have shields to protect them from phaser fire and torpedos. There are two shield conditions, up and down. If the ship is in HyperSpace, its shields automatically go down, as their shields are useless in HyperSpace. Damage: This is the damage that the ship currently has to its hull, expressed as a percentage to the maximum damage they can take before they explode. In the combat section (see below), you will find out how to cause damage to a ship in order to destroy it. SHIP REPORTS Not only, as the Captain of a ship, need to know what lays around your ship, but you also need to know various things about your own ship and your status in the universe. The first, most common form of reporting is the system report, which tells you various things about your ship, its cargo, and status of weapons and shields. To invoke this report, type in the following: REP SYS This will bring up the systems report. Yet you don't always need to know things about your own ship. A sample of the REP SYS command would be the following: Star Cruiser: Time Bandit -------------------------------------- Condition: Green Energy: 100000 Max. Speed: 9 Acceleration: 75 Target: *None* Shields (Type 10): Down Phasers (type 10): Active Phaser Charge: 100 Percent Max. Phaser Range: 15000 Cloaking Device (Type 10): Off Damage: None (0%) Cargo Storage Men Onboard: 100 Food: 10 Flux Pods: 10 Decoys: 50 Torpedos: 100 Ion Cannons: 2 Fighters: 10 Free Cargo: 880 Tons -------------------------------------- There are several items here that need a bit of explanation. Condition: This is the current condition of the ship. There are three posible conditions: Green, Yellow and Red. However, besides that they serve no other purpose in the game. Energy: Everything you do in the game requires energy. Your engines need energy, your shields need energy, firing phasers need energy, etc. All of these devices draw on a common pool of energy from your dilithium crystals. This shows the current amount of energy. If ever your energy becomes too low, you may recharge your dilitium crystals by loading a flux pod. You can load a flux pod by using the FLU command. Max. Speed: This is the maximum speed that your ship can attain. It is expressed in warp factors, as this is the standard unit of speed in the game. Acceleration: This item displays your ship's acceleration. An acceleration of 100 means that your ship can rotate 100 degrees in any direction per round, and your ship can accelerate or stop at a ratio of 1 warp factor per round. Having an acceleration of less than 100 means your ship will take 2 or more rounds to be able to move into HyperSpace from a complete stop. Target: This shows your ship's current phaser target. Valid targets are asteroids and enemy ships. To lock (target) an asteroid or enemy ship, simply type LOC <target>. Targets must be locked before you can use your phasers on them. Shields: This shows you whether your shields are up or down, and displays the shield charge if they are up. Shields are used to protect your ship from enemy attacks. There are different shield types. Shield type 1 are standard shields, while type 10 are HyperShields. Normally, the higher the shield type, the better your ship is protected. Phasers: This displays the current condition of your phasers, whether they are online or are damaged. This also displays your phaser type. There are ten phaser types, ranging from 1 to 10. Unlike shields, all phasers are able to function in HyperSpace, as they work on a different principle. Phaser Charge: This displays the current charge in your phaser banks. Your phasers charge at a rate which is proportional to your phaser type. Phasers must be at 100% charge before they can fire. Max. Phaser Range: This displays the maximum range that your phasers can hit a locked target at. This range increases as your phaser type increases, as it is directly proportional to the ship's phaser type. Cloaking Device: This displays whether your ship has a cloaking device, and if it is, displays whether it is active or not. A cloaking device is used to hide your ship so that enemy ships are unable to scan it. This is a defensive device, but is very costly both in price and ship energy. Damage: This displays your current ship damage expressed as a percentage of the maximum damage that your ship can take before being destroyed. Men: This displays how many people you have on board your ship. People can be used to crew your ship and colonize planets (see below). Cargo: Displays your ship's manifest list. For a complete description of cargo items, see section GAME ITEMS below. Sometimes you will need to have a navigation report, to find out your position in the universe. The navigation report tells you what galaxy sector you're in, whether you're in HyperSpace or NormalSpace, your ship's speed in warp factors, and your sector position. Also, if you are currently in orbit around a planet, it will tell you what planet you are orbiting. To invoke the navigation report, type in the following: REP NAV A sample of the output from issuing this command would be: Navigational Report -------------------------------------- We are nagivating..... NormalSpace Sector: 44 Heading.... 0 Speed.... 0 Sector Position X: 5117 Y: 3694 Orbiting Planet Earth -------------------------------------- Navigating: This item shows the current space you are navigating, whether it be NormalSpace or HyperSpace. Just as a reminder HyperSpace is when you warp factor is 1 or above. Sector: This shows your current sector (galaxy location). Each sector is 10,000 x 10,000 distance units in size. Heading: This shows your ship's current heading in absolute degrees. Speed: This shows the ship's current speed, IN WARP FACTORS. If you are going impulse speed (travelling in NormalSpace), speed will be in decimal notation (ie. 0.50, 0.75, etc). Sector Position: This shows your ship's sector position. Remember that since each sector is 10,000 x 10,000 distance units, your ship's X and Y positions can only range from 0 to 9,999. If you are orbiting a planet, it will show the the name of the planet that you are oribiting. There is one last report you need to know of. This is your personal report of your account on the system, as registered on planet Earth. This form of report tells you your name, rank, security level, cash on hand, number of planets owned, score, and many other things that deal with your personal account. To get this accounting report, type in the following: REP ACC This is a sample output from the report account command: Account Report -------------------------------------- Name: Sentinel Rank: Fleet Admiral Security Level: 255 Mail Waiting: 0 Planets Owned: 1 Cash: 10000000 Cash in Bank: 0 Score: 10000000 -------------------------------------- There are a few items here that need a little explanation. Rank: Rank is a title that you receive based on how well you are colonizing planets and generally how well you are doing on the game. It is based on score (see below). Security Level: This is the Security Level that is given from the BBS. It is only a display, and does not affect the game in any way (unless you happen to be the SysOp). Mail Waiting: Other players may want to write mail to you, and this displays the current number of pieces of mail waiting for you to read. You have the option of reading mail when you initially log on to the game, and you may use the MAI REA command to read mail that is waiting. Planets Owned: This shows you how many planets you have colonized. (To take an un-owned planet, you use the ADMIN command). To get a current planet listing with their locations, use the PLA command). Cash: This is your current cash on-hand. Cash is the unit of trade in the game, and you can use cash to buy more ships, have your ship repaired or upgraded, and buy several items from planets. See the TRADE command below on how to use cash. Cash in Bank: Normally you will not want to have all your cash stored on your ship, so you can invest it in the planetary bank at planet Earth. Any cash deposited there is secure, and will earn an interest rate. Score: This is a score to show how well you are doing in the game. To find out how well you are doing compared to other players, you can get a player roster by using the ROS command. WINNING THE GAME That is about all you need to know about you and the universe. The next chapter will deals with winning the game, that is, colonizing planets and protecting yourself against enemy ships. PLANET TRADING In order to trade with a planet, you must be stopped, and you must be obiting the planet that you want to trade with! To engage trade with a planet, you need simply to type TRA at the command prompt. If you are trading at planet Earth or at a planet without a trade password, the trade menu appears which is displayed. However, on some planets there may be a trade password (in the Planet Administration menu, explained later). If that is the case you need to type in the planet's trade password before you may trade. The trade menu is as follows: 1. List Item Prices 2. Buy Items 3. Sell Items 4. Ship Maintenance If the planet is planet Earth or another full trade planet, 5 more options are displayed: 5. Buy New Ship 6. Upgrade Current Ship 7. Deposite in Bank 8. Withdraw from Bank 9. Transfer men from Surface Each of these is explained below: 1. This option lets you know what items the planet is selling and what their prices are. The item is displayed followed by its price. 2. This option lets you actually buy items. Even though all items are displayed, may only buy some of them. When purchasing, the maximum number you can buy is displayed, which is calculated by your cash, your cargo space and other variables. To find out what items do, see the GAME ITEMS section below. 3. This is the reverse of Buy Items, as it lets you sell items that you have on your ship that you no longer have use for. You get 50% of what the planet is offering to buy that item for. For example, let's say a planet was selling Ion Cannons for 100 cash. It would buy that same Ion Cannon for half the price, that is, 50 cash. 4. Ship Maintenance enables you to fix your ship, thus repairing all damage that has incurred. All planets have a set price of 2500 cash for this option. 5. This option let's you buy a new ship. They are quite expensive, ranging in the hundreds of thousands. There are two ship types you can buy, a Merchant Cruiser and a Star Cruiser. Merchant Cruisers have a large cargo capacity, but they are lacking in speed and in sensor ranges. Star Cruisers are very attractive combat ships. 6. This option lets you upgrade your current ship. Each upgrade costs more and more, it is an exponential cost. Upgrading Dilithium Crystals changes the maximum of energy your ship can store. Upgrading engines changes your maximum speed or your ship's acceleration. Upgrading shields and cloaking devices make them faster and more efficient. Upgrading sensors increases the range that your ship can detect things at. Buying more holds increases the cargo capacity of your ship. 7. This item lets you deposite cash in the galactic bank, so you can gain interest on that cash over time. It is recommended that you leave all unused cash here, yet you are permitted to store them in separate planets if desired. 8. This option lets you withdraw cash that you have stored in the bank. 9. This option lets you buy men from planet Earth at a price of 1 cash per person. This cash is their lifetime salary. This is the only way that you can colonize planets efficiently. It all starts here. However, your planet population starts to grow after the initial men have been put on it. PLANET ADMINISTRATION As with planet trading, to ADMIN a planet you must be stopped, and you must be orbiting the planet you wish to admin! If a planet is unclaimed (no owner), you use this option to declare it yours. Once you've owned it, Planet administration is what you do as the planet owner, to make sure the planet produces efficiently, and for general planet maintenance. You access the administration menu by typing ADM at the command prompt. You can only administrate your own planets, not other users. The following menu is displayed: 1. Get Accounting Report 2. Alter Work Assignments 3. Adjust Tax Rate 4. Deposit Cash in Bank 5. Withdraw Cash from Bank 6. Transfer Men/Items to Surface 7. Transfer Men/Items from Surface 8. Set Trade Password 9. Rename Planet Some of these need explaining, as described below: 1. This option gives you a full accounting report of the planet, so you may know current stocks of items, tax rate, work ratios and may other features of importance. 2. Alter Work Assigments let you choose the percentage of men you want working to produce a specific item. It also lets you put a price on each item, so that other users may purchase items from your planet. Take note that some items, such a force field generators and ion cannons are used by the planet when they are produced. You may also specify a reserve, which means that the planet will keep so much of the item without selling them. 3. This lets you set a tax rate on the populace, so you may gain money from the planet. This is a major source of income, yet the higher the tax rate, the less the planets will produce. 4. This allows you to deposit cash in the planetary bank, so you are not carrying around cash in your ship. Take special notice that this is different from the bank on Earth, which is a galactic bank. No interest is gained from this bank, it is merely a storage. Also, if you should be so unlucky as someone takes over your planet, they get the cash stored here. 5. This option allows you to withdraw cash that has been stored in the bank. 6. This option lets you transfer men or items from your ship to the surface of the planet. This is used for colonizing planets and adding security. 7. This is the opposite of 6, it allows you to take items or men from the surface into your ship. However, you are limited by cargo capacity, of course. 8. This allows you to set a trade password, so only users that know this password may trade with your planet. They will be required to type in the password every time they try trading with the planet. 9. This option allows you to rename the planet. The planet name may be up to 20 alphanumeric characters. PLANET MAINTENANCE AND SECURITY Before we go on, there are several things that you should know about planets. Even though you own planets, they will use items on the planet to defend the planet and for daily maintenance. For example, the men on the planets will automatically eat a certain amount of food every day. To produce a force field, you only need one force field generator. This will give the planet a 1% force field, but unlike the cloak generator (see below), the force field will remain in effect until destroyed without using additional force field generators. In order to have a full strength force field (100%), you need to have at least 100 force field generators on the planet. The force field does not take effect right away, it will take a day before the men have time to install the force field generators. Let us imagine that there is a planet out there that has 150 force field generators, but doesn't produce them. After day 1, the men will automatically install 100 force field generators to produce a 100% force field. This will leave 50 force field generators on the planet. During this same day, let us imagine that a ship comes along and makes a large dent (75% damage) to the force field. The force field is now at 25%. On day 3, the men will use the remaining 50 force field generators, which will bring the force field up to 75% from 25%. When your planet first produces a cloak generator, it will use it the very next day. For every day you want the planet you remain cloaked, the planet must have an additional cloak generator. Keeping a planet cloaked is a good idea if you want it secure, but trade is unable to take place as other users will be unable to directly scan the planet. Special Note: Although other users are unable to scan a cloaked planet, the planet owner is able to scan it. To protect the planet against enemy attacks, it is also a good idea to produce ion cannons. Ion cannons will fire and try to destroy ships in orbit that are attacking the planet. An ion cannon will continue blasting away at the ship until it leaves the sector or goes into HyperSpace. If, however, the ship is to return to NormalSpace while still in the sector, the ion cannon will continue blowing away at the ship. The planet only requires one ion cannon to work, but it is a good idea to have at least 100 on the planet, as many can get destroyed by fighter warfare (see below). Normally, you'll want to have fighters protecting the planet. Fighters are all-purpose defenders and attackers of planet. In order for another player to be able to take over your planet, they must first destroy ALL of your fighters. The more fighters that you have the longer you will be able to sustain an attack. ATTACKING A PLANET In order to attack a planet, your ship must be stopped and orbiting the planet that you wish to attack. Sometimes, you will want to attack another user's planet to increase your population instead of colonizing. This is a more risky business, because it is difficult at best to estimate a planet's security. If the planet has a force field, you know that it is very well defended. There are two forms of attack, using fighters and using photon torpedos. You must be in orbit around the planet you wish to attack. Planet Earth may not be attacked. If you want to use fighters, you use the following command: ATT FIG #### where #### is the number of fighters you wish to attack with. It is wise to use all your fighters in one blow, as to damage the planet's defense system. If you succeed in taking over the planet (ie. you destroy all enemy fighters), the planet is yours, and you can the treat it like any of your own planets. However, during the attack there will be spoilage. If you do not succeed in taking over the planet in one shot, and the planet has ion cannons, it will begin firing on your ship. The only way to avoid damage or possibly being blown up is to escape to HyperSpace and leave the sector. The range of their ion cannons is the entire sector, and distance within the sector makes no difference. If the planet has a planetary force field, or you wish to cause mass damage to the damage, you may use Photon Torpedos. To do that, you use the following command: ATT TOR #### where #### is the number of torpedos you wish to attack with. Using this command you CANNOT take over the planet, although you may destroy all of the enemy fighters. To claim it, you MUST use at least one fighter. Attacking a cloaked planet is not different from attacking a normal non- cloaked one, if you are lucky enough to find it. Cloaked planets appear on sector and range scanners, because of the energy disturbance, but cannot be scanned directly. To remain cloaked, a planet must use on planetary cloaking device per day it wishes to remain cloaked. If any cloaking devices are on its surface, it will use them automatically. ORBITING A PLANET To orbit a planet, you must type ORB at the command line when you are wtihin a planet's 250 distance orbital range. Although your ship will warn you when you are close to a planet, you may not actually orbit it until you are within 250 distance from it. You MUST be in orbit for the following commands to work: TRA, ADM, ATT. CREATING A PLANET You may create a planet using a Genesis Device. When you have at least one genesis device, simply type GEN at the command line. A Very Good/Very Good planet will be created in a random position in the sector. In order to create a planet there must be 2 or less planets already in the sector, to avoid overcrowding the galaxy. MINING AN ASTEROID Another way to get cash besides gaining interest in the bank and taxing a planet is to mine asteroids. To do that, you must first find an asteroid on your sector or range scan. They are represented by the characters of the shift-numbers, '!' to ')' inclusively. First, you must lock the asteroid, using the LOC command. It must be within sensor range. You do that by typing the following on the command line: LOC <asteroid> where asteroid is the asteroid's symbol, which is referenced on the sector or range scan. After the asteroid is locked, you simply use your phasers or a single photon torpedo to destroy it. Phasers are used like this: PHA If you don't want to be bothered with locking the target, you may simply send a photon torpedo at the asteroid by typing the following command: TOR <asteroid> Make sure that you are in NormalSpace when you fire the photon torpedo. It will take much longer for the torpedo to hit the asteroid than it would by simply phasering it. After that, your crew will automatically scavenge parts of the asteroid, which will give a cash value. Cash gained in this fashion is very low, ranging from 1,000 cash up to 5,000 cash. To gain more cash faster, you may attempt to destroy an enemy ship, described later. FIGHTING ENEMY SHIP TUTORIAL Enemy ships are fought much in the same way as Asteroids are destroyed. However, they're much more dangerous! The first step in fighting an enemy ship is to navigate your ship outside of the planet Earth sector, as no combat can take place in that sector under the protection of Earth. First of all, do a maximum range scan and find a ship that you want to attack. Type in a range scan that is similar to this: SCA RA 9 A possible range scan output might look like this: Sector Scan (9x) ╔═════════════════════════════╗ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . a . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . + . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ╚═════════════════════════════╝ In this case, there is only one enemy ship to attack, ship A. The next thing you want to do is come to a complete stop by typing the following command: STOP The next thing you'll want to do is raise your ship's shields, to protect you from enemy phaser fire. If you have not already done so, type in the following: SHI You'll want to get a better look at the enemy ship, so you should do a direct scan by typing in the following at the command line: SCA SH A A possible output would be as follows: Scanning Enemy Ship: a -------------------------------------- Bearing: -32 Distance: 27648 Sector: 36 Sector Position X:854 Y: 7379 Shields: Up Damage: 0 Percent Heading: 253 Speed: 0.53 -------------------------------------- OFFENSIVE TACTICS Alright.... now, let the games begin! We'll let him know we're out here, so first you'll have to lock the target then fire your phasers. Do so by typing the following at the command line: LOC a followed by: PHA It is critical that you notice that the ship name 'a' MUST BE IN LOWERCASE. Ship 'A' is NOT THE SAME as ship 'a', although Star Empire only currently uses lowercase lettering. It will say "Target Out of Range" in this case, but usually the enemy ship will be in HyperSpace so it will give a different warning message. However, the target will sense that you're attacking it, so will immediately jump to warp 7 and head towards you. There is no need to scan it now, just wait until the message: "Enemy ship a has jumped to NormalSpace!" You'll want to do as much damage as you can now, so launch three photon torpedos if you have them by typing the following at the command prompt: TOR a TOR a TOR a It should display three "torpedo firing messages". Unless the enemy ship goes into HyperSpace, the torpedos should impact causing some damage. You should also fire your phasers using the: PHA command, to try to do as much damage to the enemy ship as possible within the shortest period of time. Keep on phasering it whenever possible, and keep firing photon torps while the ship is in normalspace. Eventually, in this case enemy ship 'a' would be destroyed (or even you might be destroyed), and the winner will be able to scavenge the destroyed ship for spare parts which results in cash. If the enemy ship jumps into HyperSpace, you may wish to also jump into HyperSpace so you can use your HyperPhasers. To do so, just type in the command: NAV 0 1 As soon as you're in HyperSpace, type PHA at the prompt, then get out of HyperSpace! Shields normally (Shield type 10 exception) don't work in HyperSpace, so ships are very vulnerable there. DEFENSIVE TACTICS If you have decoys, launch at least 5 of them by typing the command DEC on the command line five times. This will give you some protection if an enemy torpedo starts tracking you. When in NormalSpace, always try to keep your shields up at all time. If you have a cloaking device, engage it using the INV command. Remember though, you cannot fire your phasers or photon torps while you are cloaked. If an enemy ship fires a photon torpedo, the best thing to do is to go into HyperSpace. This will force the torpedo to lose its track on you. Unless you have HyperShields (shield type 10), try to keep out of HyperSpace as much as possible. GAME ITEMS There are several items in Star Empire that you can purchase and create from planets. Each one of these items is described below with their purpose in the game: Men: Men are basically people. Men are primarily transferred from planet Earth for the purpose of colonizing planets. Men are also used to crew ships. Food: Food is used to feed people that are on planets. The ratio of food to men is about one food unit for every person on a planet. If food is located on a planet, the people will automatically use the food and you will be given a warning if the planet has run out of food. Flux Pods: Flux pods are used by ships to recharge their dilithium crystals. Generally, a ship should contain at least 5 flux pods, because if they don't and they run out of energy, they will be stranded in space. Decoys: Decoys are used and launched by ships in order to avoid enemy ship torpedos. Hopefully, when the torpedo starts tracking your ship, it will track and impact on the decoy instead. Torpedos: Torpedos are a long range offensive weapon used by ships in ship to ship combat. Unfortunately, they only work in HyperSpace, and travel quite slowly when compared to phasers. Also, if the ship the torpedo is tracking goes to HyperSpace, the torpedo will lose its target track and become ineffective. Torpedos can also be used in planetary combat as a wepon of mass destruction, or be used to lower a planet's force field. Ion Cannons: Ion Cannons are used by planets to defend themselves against ships that are attacking the planet. Ion cannons fire once per round, and cause 15 Hull Points of damage against the ship that is attacking, if their shields are not raised. Fighters: Fighters are used by ships to attack planets and by planets to defend against attacking ships. In order to take over the planet, there must be no fighters left on the planet, and the attacking ship must send down at least one fighter. Genesis Devices: Genesis Devices are used by ships to create Very Good/Very Good planets. The sector mustn't be already crowded (ie. less than 3 planets) in order to create a new one. Cloak Generators: Cloak Generators are used by planets to hide the planet from all unwanted users. The owner of the planet can still scan the planet, other users are limited to range and sector scans, as no direct scanning is permissible while the planet is cloaked. Force Field Generators: Force Field Generators are used by the planet to defend the planet against unwanted attack, and to prevent the surface scanning of planets. In order to remove a planetary force field, the attacking ship must send a barrage of torpedos. COMPLETE GAME COMMAND SUMMARY This is a command summary of all the commands available from within Star Empire. They are listed in the same order as in the help screens. ? - This is the fundamental command that displays all commands that are available to the user. To avoid problems, the user can only see commands which are availble to him/her. The code for the commands are displayed as well as a brief discription of what the command does. [ - Pressing '[' on a blank command line will replay your last command. This is useful when you want to scan a planet while you're closing in on it, and it save retyping "scan pl #" all the time. BYE - This command makes returns the user back to the BBS. VIE - This command allows the user to view the current game statistics. It shows the SysOp name, the name of the BBS, a small galaxy map, the current number of players, the days of non-use until player deletion, the number of Space Portals in the galaxy, the number of Asteroids in the galaxy and the number of Enemy Ships in the galaxy. ROS - This command displays a roster of all current users on the BBS. It gives their user name, security level and current score. This command is used to identify the stronger players from the weaker players, so that some users would know which to avoid and which not to. NAV - This command is your main navigation command that allows you to move throughout the galaxy. The second item of the command line specifies your speed in warp factors while the third item specifies your bearing. Like the rotate command, bearing is relative and works the same. If you wish to travel in NormalSpace, you may use decimal points while specifying warp factors. For example: NAV 45 .50 would make you travel at almost half impulse at your current heading. Normal layout for this command would be: NAV <speed> <bearing>. HELM - This command works in the same way as the "nav" command, except that it uses absolute bearings instead of relative bearings. STO - This command makes your ship come to a stop, slowing down until a full stop is achieved. This command does the same as NAV 0 0. ROT - This command allows your ship to rotate a number of degrees. NOTICE: Degrees specified are relative degrees, not absolute! For example, let's say you are at 270 degrees, and you typed in ROT 90, you would rotate to 0 degrees, not 90! Negatives may also be used in rotate, so from 270 degrees, ROT -90 would rotate you to 180 degrees. You may only rotate up to 180 or -180 degrees, as that covers the whole 360 degree range. An example of its layout would be the following: ROT <bearing>. CON - This command changes ship condition. There are three possbile ship conditions, Green, Yellow and Red. Right now they don't do anything in the game. Layout for command is: CON <condition>. REN - This command is used to name or rename your current ship. Only one name can be issue. Examples are: ENTERPRISE, or ARMED_AND_BIG. Layout for this command is: REN <name>. REP - This commands gives various reports. There are variations on this command, which are: REP NAV - This command gives a navigational report of your ship, displaying its current X and Y co-ordinates, sector location, speed, and if in orbit the name of the planet it is orbiting. (See tutorial section for more information). REP SYS - This command gives a system report of the ship. It displays information about the ship itself, such as energy, damage, and cargo. (See tutorial section for more information). REP ACC - This command gives a report on your current accounts. It displays your name, user number, your rank, security level, cash on hand, cash in bank, your score and how much time you have left on the BBS for that day. Time is displayed in seconds. (See tutorial section for more information). SCA - This command gives you two types of scans. One is a sector scan, while the other is a range scan. SCA SE - This command gives you a graphical picture of your current sector. Its layout is as follows: Sector Scan (44) ╔═════════════════════════════╗ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . + . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . $ . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . O . . . . . . .║ ║. . 1 . . . . . . . 3 . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ╚═════════════════════════════╝ The type of scan and current sector are displayed at the top. + - This is your ship, its position relative to the sector and the planets. # - These are planets. Up to three of them can be found in each sector. O - This is a Space Portal. $ - All starnge symbols are Asteroids. SCA RA - This is very similar to the sector scan. However, your ship is always in the center, while the planets position is relative to YOUR position. Right now there is not much use to the range scan, yet soon objects can be scanned that will be outside of the sector, such as space portals. With this command you must specify the range that you wish to scan. For example: SCAN RA 3 This would scan range 3, which is about two sectors radius. SCA PL - This is a planet scanner. When you scan a planet and you're in HyperSpace, very little information can be gained. Only its name, bearing, distance and sector position may be found in this fashion. So thoroughly scan a planet, you must be in NormalSpace. Layout would be: SCA PL <planet number>. (See tutorial section for more information). * A planet has the number between 1 and 3 on the range scan. SCA PO - This command lets you scan a Space Portal, if it is within range. This is the only object in the galaxy that cannot be directly referenced to the sector or range scan. Layout is: SCA PO <portal number>. (See tutorial section for more information). * A portal has the letter O on the range scan. SCA AS - This command lets you scan asteroids before destroying them. It is done in the same way as scanning planets, and can be referenced to the sector or range scan. For example, if you see a '$' on your sector or range scan, you may type: SCA AS $ to scan it. (See tutorial section for more information). * Asteroids have weird symbols on the range scan. SCA SH - This command lets you scan an enemy ship. It is done in the same way as scanning planets, and can be referenced to the sector or range scan. For example, if you see a 'a' on your sector or range scan, you may type: SCA SH A to scan it. (See tutorial section for more information). * Ships are lower case letters on the range scan. ORB - This command makes you orbit the closest planet, as long as you are within the orbital range of the planet. Orbital range is 250 distance. Yet you must be careful, because if you go within 20 distance of a planet, you will crash and lose your ship and be instantly sent back to the BBS! FLU - This command loads a flux pod which recharges your ship's dilithium crystals, so you are now at maximum energy. It is often necessary to flux several times in a journey, as energy can be sometimes used up very quickly! (Note: Star Empire v. 2.00 has auto-reflux, so you don't have to flux, it will be done automatically. However, make sure you have flux pods!) SHI - This command raises/lowers your deflector shields. Shields are your ship's main defense system, without it you are very vulnerable. However, standard shields cannot be used in HyperSpace, and are automatically shut down as soon as you enter HyperSpace. When you first raise your shields, they must be charged up. The rate that they charge at is dependant on the shield type. HyperShields (type 10), however, can be kept up in HyperSpace. They work in NormalSpace as well. INV - Cloak works much in the same way as shields, although they do not have to be charged up and are instantaneous. However, the draw back is that they consume huge amounts of energy, and cannot be used in HyperSpace. DEC - This command launches a decoy. Decoys are used to evade enemy torpedos in the hope that when the torpedo starts tracking you it will track and hit a decoy instead of the hull of your ship. GEN - This commands launches a genesis torpedo, thus creating a new planet within the immediate area. Take note that each sector can only hold a maximum of three planets. The planet created will have an environment and resources of Very Good/Very Good. LOC - This command is used to phaser lock a target. You must target both asteroids and enemy ships before you can fire your phasers. To lock a target, use the following command line: LOC <target symbol>. For example, to lock asteroid $ you would type: LOC $, and to lock enemy ship you would type: LOC A. PHA - This command fires a phaser beam at a target. Note that the target must be locked before you can fire at it (see LOC command above). You can only hit a target if you are within the same space as your target is (either normal or hyperspace). Phasers must be at full charge before they can fire. Phaser range and re-charge rate is dependant on your phaser type. Generally speaking, the higher the phaser type, the better the phaser. TOR - This command launches a torpedo at a target. Unlike the phaser command, the target must not be locked, and the torpedo range is up to your sensor range. However, there are some severe limitations withe the photon torpedo. First of all, they can only travel in NormalSpace, so you cannot use them in HyperSpace, and if your target goes to HyperSpace before the torpedo has time to impact on its hull, the torpedo loses the target track and becomes useless. Secondly, unlike phasers, they do not instantly hit. It takes time for them to travel through NormalSpace, so the farther away the target is, the longer it will take the torpedo to hit the target. ANS - This command is to turn user ANSI On or Off. Layout for the command is: ANS <condition>. Condition can be ON or OF. MAI WRI - This command lets you write an electronic mail to another user. You may write to any user on the sysop, and there is no limit to how much electronic mail can be sent at a single time (only limited by disk space and user time). A message may be of up to 40 lines in length, each line 80 columns. Take a special note, however, that if you're half way through a word and come to the end of the line, there is a special word wrap feature that brings the word over to the next line and lets you continue writing. In order to save, bring the command prompt by typing '/' on a blank line, and type 'S' to save. MAI REA - This command does the opposite of the MAI WRI command, that is, it lets you read mail that has been written to you. It will display the electronic mail, and after the last line a command prompt will be displayed. From this command prompt you may do one of three things. The first command is 'D', which deletes this piece of electronic mail and continues to the next message. The command 'N' stores the message for future reference and continues to the next message. Finally 'Q' let's you quit from the reading of messages, and brings you back to your normal command prompt. CHAT - This command is used for chat requests to the SysOp. The SysOp may engage in chat with the user by pressing a key. A beeping sound is made locally so that if they SysOp is around he is notified of the chat request. ADM - This command is used for Planet Administration. In order to do the administration of a planet, you must own it and be in standard orbit around it. A copy of the administration menu is displayed below. 1. Get Accounting Report 2. Alter Work Assignments 3. Adjust Tax Rate 4. Deposit Cash in Bank 5. Withdraw Cash from Bank 6. Transfer Men/Items to Surface 7. Transfer Men/Items from Surface 8. Set Trade Password 9. Rename Planet The above require some explanation, as explained below: 1) The Get Accounting Report allows you to view the planet's progress. 2) The Alter Work Assignments allow you to change the work rate of an item's production, the cost of the item, or the planet's reserves of the item. The production rate changes the percentage of men that are working on the production of the item. The total percentage may never exceed 100 percent, however. The cost of the item is how much you sell the item to other players. You can specify whether you want to sell the item or not, however. 3) Adjust Tax Rate. This item lets you change the planet's tax rate. Most of your income comes from taxes, yet the more you tax the population, the less they are able to produce. It's a 1:1 ratio, so taxing 50 percent will only allow 50 percent production. 4) This item allows you to deposit some of your cash into the planetary bank. It is always wise to have some cash in a planet bank, as cash on your person can be lost. However, if another user is able to take over your planet, all cash stored within the bank goes to them. 5) This item allows you to withdraw cash that has been stored into the planetary bank. 6) This allows you to transfer men or items to the surface, thus unloading them from your ship onto the surface. 7) This allows you to transfer men or items from the planet surface to your ship. However, you may only hold as much on your ship as you have cargo space. 8) This item allows you to set a trade password for your planet. Any user wishing to trade with your planet must know the trade password in order to proceed. 9) Rename Planet. This does exactly as the name says, it allows you to rename a planet. ATT - This command allows you to attack a planet in hopes to take it over. You must be in standard orbit around the planet you wish to attack. You may attack all planets except planet Earth, owned by the SysOp. If a planet is unclaimed (no owner), to claim it you need only to use the Admin command. However, if the planet is owned by someone else you must attack it to get it. Most of your score is based on your ability to take over planets, so it is wise to take as many as you can in order to be the ruler of the galaxy. You make attack planets with two items, fighters and photon torpedos. Photon Torpedos are good at illiminating planet force fields, and they cause mass destruction on the planet surface. Fighters, however, are more "conventional" in nature. They cannot break through planet force fields, yet they are good at taking over a planet in a clean way. The layout for the planet attack command is: ATT <number of items to use> <item>. TRA - This command allows you to trade with the planet you are currently orbiting. It is menu oriented like the Administration command, and is listed below. If the planet you are trading with is owned by a user, you have the following choices. 1. List Item Prices 2. Buy Items 3. Sell Items 4. Ship Maintenance If it is planet Earth you are trading with, owned by the SysOp, you have the additional options. 5. Buy New Ship 6. Upgrade Current Ship 7. Deposit in Bank 8. Withdraw from Bank 9. Transfer Men from Surface The above require some explanation, as explained below: 1) List Item Prices is used to find out which items the planet is currently selling and the cost of each of the items. When selling items, they are always half the cost of the item, rounded down. 2) Buy Items allows you to buy the items that are selling, at the price listed in list item prices. 3) Sell Items works in the same way, and if you cannot buy an item, you cannot sell it. 4) Ship maintenance is used to repair hull damage that your ship has sustained. No matter the planet it costs 2500 cash for the repairs. 5) Buy new ship allows you to buy a new ship. A user can have up to ten ships at any one time. However, to be able to transfer into a new ship, you must hang up and call back. There are two types of ships you can buy, star cruisers and merchant cruisers. Star cruisers have better speed, acceleration and sensors, while merchant cruisers have little of the latter but has large cargo space. 6) It costs 100000 cash to upgrade a ship. Every time you upgrade it, your ship's maximum energy increases by 10000, your ship's cargo space goes up by 500 tons, your ship's acceleration goes up by 10, your maximum speed goes up by 2 warp factors, and your shields, cloak and sensors go up by 1 type. 7) When you deposit cash into the galactic bank, it is forever secure. You can also gain interest on cash on the bank. However, in order to withdraw cash from the bank, you must come to planet Earth. 8) This works the same way as depositing cash, but instead you can withdraw cash from the galactic bank. 9) Transferring Men from Surface is the only way to get men to populate your planets. They do not cost anything, but you must have the cargo space to hold them. NEW - This command allows you to change ships while remaining online as long as you have more than one ship. A menu will come up displaying available ships, and you will automatically be transferred to the ship you've selected. SysOp Commands EDIT - This command is covered in SE200.DOC and is NOT available to the average user. SHELL - This command is covered in SE200.DOC and is NOT available to the average user. VARIABLE LIMITATIONS Throughout the game, you will probably notice that certain items are limited to a specific range. For example, if you're cash goes beyond a billion, you will notice that even though you might receive more cash, it will get "bounced" back to a billion. The following variable limitations are present in the game: - A user may only have up to 10 ships. - A user may only own up to 20 planets. - Warp factor 40 is the fastest speed available. - Phaser, shield and cloak types are limited to 10. - Planets are able only to have up to 100,000,000 men. - Planets can only carry 10,000,000 of each item (food, flux pods, etc). FINAL NOTES These are the fundamentals of the game. Try to explore the galaxy, and use different commands in different areas. Don't be afraid to experiment! If you lose your ship, you will always be given another one. Good luck!