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(10.0) RACE ADVANTAGES
A version 3.0 feature is each race has their own advantages
over other races.
(10.01) PLAYER 1 ( The Solar Federation )
The Solar Federation is very good at making friends with the
natives that they contact. Their members are more
productive then the average. They collect twice the megacredits
per turn per tax rate percentage point from both the natives and
the colonists.
The Solar Federation has a set of strict laws that are enforced
by the universal environmental protection agency (UEPA). In order
to follow all the laws the Solar Federation can only mine at half
the normal rate.
The Solar Federation is the only race that can upgrade the
tech levels of old starships. If a Federation ship sets their
mission to "Super Refit" and is at a Federation starbase for one
turn. The chief engineer will remove the engines, beam weapons
and torpedo launchers and replace the parts with the highest
tech level parts available from the starbase's parts inventory.
If a higher tech part is not available the chief engineer will
not swap parts. Old parts taken off the ship will be placed
in storage.
(10.02) PLAYER 2 ( The Lizards )
The Lizards are a strong and powerful physically.
Their skin acts as a very tough natural armor. They are
very resistant to extreme cold and heat and weapons of
all types. A ship with a Lizard crew can survive over
150% damage before blowing up. Lizards are 20 times
more skilled at ground combat that any other race.
Lizards love to take over colony worlds by just landing
Lizard colonists.
They are very good at extracting minerals
from the ground. The weakest Lizards can toss 500 pound
boulders around with ease. All Lizard mineral mines produce
twice the minerals as any other race.
Some small Lizard ships can cloak.
The Lizards have a special "HISSSSSSSSSS" Mission that
will stops civil wars by transmitting threatening radio and
video messages to planetary populations. The fear of big
Lizards stomping on their planet tends to calm them down.
(Only ships with beam weapons can do the HISSSSS mission)
(10.03) PLAYER 3 ( The Bird Men )
The Birdmen are very sneaky. Many of their ships can
hide using a cloaking device built into the space frame (hull)
of their ships. Cloaked ships do not show up on enemy scanners
and protect them from enemy attack.
Cloaked ships are 4 times less likely to hit a space mine then
a visible ship. Cloaking does not protect a ship from web style
mines. Ships that are out of fuel cannot cloak.
The Birdmen are very good at spying on enemy planets. They
can use their "Super Spy" mission to get a normal exploration
report plus a "Spy" report that has the enemy's planetary
friendly code, however 20% of the time the enemy will catch
the spy team and be warned that the friendly code has been
discovered. Any ship that can cloak will be cloaked
during the "Super Spy" mission.
(10.04) PLAYER 4 ( The Fascists )
Three of the Fascist starships can cloak.
Fascist starships can plunder a planet for money and supplies.
When a planet is plundered 20% of the population (native and
colonist) is killed off and their personal belongings are
converted into supply units. Plundering for around 6 turns will
cause riots. Plundering for about 11 turns will cause a civil war,
but very few of the inhabitants will still be alive. The reason
it takes so long for the population to become upset and start
to riot is that everyone in the population that starts trouble
is killed.
(10.05) PLAYER 5 ( The Privateers )
Privateers have the unique ability to fine tune their
beam weapons to do 3X the normal damage to the enemy crew while
still doing normal damage to the enemy's hull. This makes them
very skilled at capturing enemy ships by killing off the crew.
The Privateers are also very skilled at robing fuel and
minerals from enemy ships using the "Rob Ship" mission. Enemy ships
won't find out about being robbed until it is too late.
Only ships with beam weapons can use the "Rob Ship" mission.
The rob mission takes place before movement and combat.
The Privateers is the only race that can build ships that have
gravitonic accelerators. Three ships that have the gravitonic
accelerators are the Meteor Class Blockade Runner, the BR4 Gun Boat
and the BR5 Kaye Class Torpedo Boat. These three ships travel at
a rate of twice that of a normal ship. At warp factor 9 these ships
will travel 162 light years in one turn. These ships can also cloak.
The major drawback of these ships is their very small size and
cargo room. They are also unable to survive even a single impact
with a space mine.
(10.06) PLAYER 6 ( The Cyborgs )
The Cyborgs have some of the most powerful starships, the
Cyborg Cube ships.
The Cyborg ships are able to repair in space at a rate of 10%
per month. A Cyborg ship that is repairing cannot move.
When a Cyborg ship destroys an enemy ship the debris and
fuel is beam aboard in the form of minerals.
Cyborg colonists that are placed on a planet that has native
population will convert the natives into Cyborg colonists.
The natives are converted to Cyborg at a rate of one native for
every Cyborg on the planet.
(10.07) PLAYER 7 ( The Crystal People )
The Crystal People can lay WEB MINES in space that
cause starships to come to a dead stop for one month.
(SEE MINE FIELDS) for more details on mines.
Any ship that is in a web mine field loses 25 KT of fuel per
turn trying to keep the shields up.
(10.08) PLAYER 8 ( The Evil Empire )
The captains of all ships in the Evil Empire can
use the "Dark Sense" to detect enemy colonists
living on planets within 400 light years. There is a 20%
chance that colonists on a single planet will be detected.
The "Dark Sense" is never wrong! Nothing can hide a planet from
the "Dark Sense."
(10.09) PLAYER 9 ( The Robots )
Can lay mines far better then all other races.
They can make four times more mine units per torpedo. This
makes their mine fields 4 times as larger then normal.
However, only one robot ship can lay mines, the Cat's Paw
Class Destroyer.
All robot ships with fighter bays can build fighters
in space using 3 tritanium, 2 molybdenum and 5 supply units
per fighter.
(10.10) PLAYER 10 ( The Rebels )
The REBEL GROUND ATTACK MISSION (sabotage planet).
Any of the Rebel's ships can land a very small team of
saboteurs onto the planet's surface. The team will destroy
30% of the planet's money, 40% of the planets supplies, 20%
of the defense outposts, 60% of the mineral mines and 30%
of the factories. In doing so 20% of the colonists on the
planet will be killed off. This will really upset the colonists!
If there are any natives on the planet they will be very
pleased about everything being destroyed. Rebels can
"self-destruct" their own planets if they wish by using this
ground attack mission.
They have many small friendly robots on
board all their fighter carriers that build fighters when ever
they can find 2 tritanium, 3 molybdenum and 5 supply units laying
around, whatever the ship's mission.
(10.11) PLAYER 11 ( The Colonies )
The colonists can use fighters to sweep for mines. Each
fighter can destroy 4 mines per turn. If the ship doing the
mine sweeping has beam weapons then the ship will also use
the beam weapons to destroy mines simultaneously.
The mine sweeping fighters can travel 100 light years from
the carrier when on a mine sweeping mission.
Colonist ships that have fighters bays can build fighters
in space using 3 tritanium, 2 molybdenum and 5 supply units
per fighter.
(10.12) A QUICK OVERVIEW
PLAYER 1 ( The Solar Federation )
Super Refit ( update tech of old ships )
2X income from planetary taxes
0.5X ore extraction rate and 25
PLAYER 2 ( The Lizards )
Ship with Lizard crew can take 150% damage before blowing up
20X ground combat!
2X ore extraction rate
The Lizard HISSSSSS! mission ( stops civil wars )
Cloaking ships
PLAYER 3 ( The Bird Men )
Cloaking ships (Including a cloaking battleship)
Super spy mission while cloaked
PLAYER 4 ( The Fascists )
Plunder natives and colonists for money and supplies
Cloaking ships
PLAYER 5 ( The Privateers )
Rob enemy ships
3X Crew kill when using beam weapons
Cloaking ships
Three ships with gravitonic accelerators
PLAYER 6 ( The Cyborgs )
Assimilate natives (turn natives to Cyborgs)
Recover minerals and fuel form the hull of defeated enemy ships
Repair self in space 10% per turn while stopped
PLAYER 7 ( The Crystal People )
Web space mines that entrap enemy ships and drain fuel
PLAYER 8 ( The Evil Empire )
The Dark Sense ( can detect the location of enemies remotely )
Starbases build 5 free fighters per turn using minerals only.
PLAYER 9 ( The Robots )
4X Space mine laying bonus ( 4X the number of mines per torp )
Can build fighters in space
PLAYER 10 ( The Rebels )
Can sabotage planets ( destroy structures and start a civil war )
Can build fighters in space
PLAYER 11 ( The Colonies )
Can use fighters to mine sweep
Can build fighters in space
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(11.0) NATIVE RACE ADVANTAGES
Every native race has an advantage or behavior that in most
cases can be used for your advantage.
(11.1) HUMANOID
Any starbase that is built around a humanoid planet will have
tech 10 hull technology automatically.
(11.2) BOVINOID
Every 10000 Bovinoids will produce 1 supply unit per turn.
To collect the supplies you must have 100 colonists (one clan)
for every supply that you collect.
(11.3) REPTILIAN
If there are 100 or more Reptilians living on a planet then
your mining rate will be doubled. They will gladly help your
colonists mine and move large boulders.
(11.4) AVIAN
Are quick to forgive you for overtaxing them. They will allow you
to slightly overtax them without growing unhappy. ( They are some
what dumb)
(11.5) AMORPHOUS
The Amorphous lifeforms eat 500 colonists ( 5 clans ) per turn.
They will not pay taxes and will become upset if you try to tax
them. The Cyborg cannot assimilate them.
(11.6) INSECTOID
Insectoids produce twice the normal amount of credits per turn
per percentage as other native races.
(11.7) AMPHIBIAN
Any starbase that is built around an amphibian planet will have
tech 10 beam weapon technology automatically.
(11.8) GHIPSOLDAL
Any starbase that is built around a ghipsoldal planet will have
tech 10 engine technology automatically.
(11.9) SILICONOID
Any starbase that is built around a siliconoid planet will have
tech 10 torpedo technology automatically.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(12.0) NATIVE GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS AND TAXES
None : no taxes may be collected
Anarchy : 20% of normal may be collected
Pre-Tribal : 40%
Early-Tribal : 60%
Tribal : 80%
Feudal : 100% (same as colonists)
Monarchy : 120%
Representative : 140%
Participatory : 160%
Unity : 180%
(12.1) COLLECTING TAXES FROM NATIVES
To collect taxes from native races you must have 100 colonists
( one clan ) for every megacredit taken.
megacredits available from natives =
( native population ) * ( tax rate % ) * ( government factor % ) * 0.001
EXAMPLE:
PLANET : Kzin
8,000,000 natives
10% native taxes
Humanoid / Tribal
1200 colonists
( 8000000 ) * ( 0.10 ) * ( 0.80 ) * 0.001 = 640 megacredits
If you have 64000 or more colonists ( 640 clans ) you will be
able to collect the 640 megacredits from the native. Since you only
have 1200 colonist on this planet you can only collect 12 megacredits.
The natives will keep 628 megacredits and may still become upset
with you for taxing them at a rate of 10%.
(12.2) COLLECTING TAXES FROM COLONISTS
megacredits available from colonist =
( colonist population ) * ( tax rate % ) * 0.001
EXAMPLE:
PLANET : Kzin
7,000,000 colonists
10% native taxes
( 7000000 ) * ( .10 ) * 0.001 = 700 megacredits
(12.3) TAKING OVER PLANETS WITH COLONISTS
You can take over a planet by dropping off one or more clans
from a starship using the starships "<C>" command.
Colonists don't always survive on the planet's surface. They may
be killed off by amorphous natives or a harsh climate.
Colonists need supplies to survive on planets that have an
arctic or desert climate.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(13.0) DEFENSE AND ATTACKS
This is a list of the details of space combat.
(13.1) PLANETARY DEFENSE
Planetary defense systems are very weak when
compared to the defense systems of even a medium sized starship.
The firepower of the planet is added to the fire power of the
starbase.
The number of fighters that a planet can launch is the
number of fighters that on the orbiting starbase plus the
SQR( defense outposts ).
The number of fighter bays that a planet has is the
SQR( defense outposts ). If the planet has a starbase then
the planet gets 5 extra fighter bays.
If a fighter from a planet side based fighter is hit by
enemy fire he is beamed back to the planet .001 milliseconds
before the fighter explodes. He is then ready to attack the
next incoming ship in a new fighter if the planet survives
the attack. Fighter pilots from a starbase are unable to
beam out.
The tech level of the beam weapons on a planet is
SQR( ( defense outposts ) * 0.5 ) or the tech level of
beam weapons of the starbase ( the greater of the two ).
The number of beam weapons that a planet has depends on the
SQR( ( defense outposts + starbase defense ) * 0.3 ).
Shield power and resistance to damage in KT/SHIELD is
100 + ( defense outposts ) + ( starbase defense )
You can compare this number to these ships:
B200 CLASS PROBE 30 KT/SHIELD
OUTRIDER CLASS SCOUT 75 KT/SHIELD
MISSOURI CLASS BATTLESHIP 395 KT/SHIELD
BIOCIDE CLASS CARRIER 860 KT/SHIELD
MERLIN CLASS ALCHEMY SHIP 920 KT/SHIELD
GORBIE CLASS BATTLECARRIER 980 KT/SHIELD
(13.2) GROUND WAR
You may attack an enemy planet by dropping off colonists.
Your colonist and the enemy colonist will fight it out until
there is only one group of colonists left. The kill ratio is one
of your colonists will kill one of theirs. Who ever has the
most colonists left after the fight owns the planet.
The exception to the above rule is the Lizards. One Lizard
colonist will kill 20 enemy colonists before being killed.
You may take over unowned planets by beaming down one or
more colonists. The following turn the planet will belong to you.
(13.3) SHIP TO SHIP MATH
The strength of the shields and the ship's armor is
determined by the mass of the ship's hull. The mass of cargo, fuel,
weapons and engines does not count toward stronger shields.
The percentage of energy lost from a shield that is
hit by enemy fire follows the formula:
LOSS% = Tetawatts * ((80 / hull_mass ) + 1
hull_mass is empty hull mass in kilotons
For a list of weapon energy output stats see (14.0)
All torpedoes have a 35% chance of missing their target.
The percentage of damage done to a ship's hull follows
the formula:
DAMAGE DONE % = Tetawatts(E) * [ ( 80 / (hull_mass + 1) ] ^2 + 2
CREW KILLED = Tetawatts(K) * [ ( 80 / (hull_mass + 1) ]
High tech weapons do no more hull damage to ships with masses over
500 Kilotons then low tech weapons, but they do a much better job
of dropping the enemy shields.
The damage done to an enemy by a fighter does not depend on
the mass of the enemy ship at all. A fighter does 4 points of
damage to the enemy ship's hull or drops the shields by 4 points.
It does not matter if it is a 30-kiloton scout or a 900-kiloton
battleship.
(13.4) SHIP DAMAGE EFFECTING WEAPONS AND ENGINES
A damaged starship may loose some of its firepower and
shield strength.
SHIELD STRENGTH = 100 - ( SHIP_DAMAGE )
MAX BEAM BANKS = 10 - ( SHIP_DAMAGE ) * 0.1
MAX FIGHT BAYS = 10 - ( SHIP_DAMAGE ) * 0.1
MAX TORP TUBES = 10 - ( SHIP_DAMAGE ) * 0.1
A damaged starship must slow.
MAX WARP SPEED = 10 - ( SHIP_DAMAGE ) * 0.1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(14.0) SHIP WEAPON AND ENGINE STATS
Starship torpedo and beam stats:
*Gamma radiation kills enemy crew
*Explosive yield damages enemy ship's hull
*Energy is measured in TetraWatts
TECH COST KILL EXPLOSIVE
Mark 1 Photon: 1 1 4 5
Proton torp: 2 2 6 8
Mark 2 Photon: 3 4 3 10
Gamma Bomb: 3 10 15 2
Mark 3 Photon: 4 12 9 15
Mark 4 Photon: 5 13 13 30
Mark 5 Photon: 6 31 17 35
Mark 6 Photon: 7 35 23 40
Mark 7 Photon: 8 36 25 48
Mark 8 Photon: 10 54 35 55
Laser: 1 1 10 3
X-Ray Laser: 1 2 15 1
Plasma Bolt: 2 5 3 10
Blaster: 3 10 10 25
Positron Beam: 4 12 9 29
Disruptor: 5 13 30 20
Heavy Blaster: 6 31 20 40
Phaser: 7 35 30 35
Heavy Disruptor: 8 36 50 35
Heavy Phaser: 10 54 35 45
Engine Specs
TECH COST MAX SAFE WARP
StarDrive 1: 1 1 1
StarDrive 2: 2 2 2
StarDrive 3: 3 3 3
SuperStarDrive 4: 4 10 4
Nova Drive 5: 5 25 5
HeavyNova Drive 6: 6 53 6
Quantam Drive 7: 7 170 7
Hyper Drive 8: 9 200 8
Transwarp Drive: 10 300 9
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(15.0) MOUSE DRIVER SCALING FACTORS
Some users may find it hard to control the movement of the
mouse. There are many different types of mouse devices all of
which have different levels of sensitivity.
There are two kinds of scaling factors built into most mouse
drivers. One is sensitivity (or speed) and the ballistic gain.
Sensitivity is measured from 1 to 100 (100 being the fastest)
Mouse sensitivity switches
/S sets both horizontal and vertical sensitivity
/H sets the horizontal sensitivity
/V sets the vertical sensitivity
For example: /S50 is an average speed mouse
Ballistic gain profiles number from 1 to 4
/M1 select ballistic profile 1 (slow acceleration)
/M2 select ballistic profile 2 (moderate)
/M3 select ballistic profile 3 (fast)
/M4 select ballistic profile 4 (no acceleration)
Most users like the setting when playing planets:
MOUSE /S30 /M1
You can set your mouse sensitivity by editing
it in your CONFIG.SYS file. For example:
DEVICE=C:\MOUSE\MOUSE.SYS /S50/M1
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
+--------------------------------------+
| Strategy Hints for VGA Planets 3.0 |
+--------------------------------------+
Things to remember . . .
Don't WASTE your fuel!
(HINT: Don't fly around at warp 9 with low tech engines, that
is VERY stupid)
Have your freighters bring fuel home.
High technology engines are very important.
Your planets will quickly run out of minerals. There is only a
limited amount of minerals in to core of each planet. It is very
important for you to search for new planets with minerals and bring
the minerals back home to your starbase.
Mines only remove minerals from the ground, they DO NOT
produce minerals out of thin air, they will stop giving you
minerals when the planet runs out of minerals. When a
planet runs out of minerals all the mines on the surface
become useless junk that cannot be recycled. Mines are
a permanent scars on the planets surface and will add slightly
to the planet population's discontent.
Molybdenum is the rarest mineral of all.
Be careful not to run out of any one mineral or you
won't be able to build any new ships.
Don't leave your friendly code set to "AAA" or else enemy
ships will very easily steal fuel and minerals from your planets
and enemy starbases my force you to surrender. Think of the
friendly codes as the planets or ships "password" that allows
access to the starship transporters and planetary defense
shields.
Also two ships or a ship and a planet of different races will
not attack each other if they have matching friendly codes.
Change the friendly code on the starships that are defending
your planets. If you don't enemy ships can set their friendly codes
to "AAA" and fly right past the ships that are guarding your
planet and attack your planet.
It is very dangerous to be next to an enemy STARBASE if they
know your friendly code. This gives the power to the starbase
to drop your shields and beam your whole crew off in a matter
of seconds and force your ship to surrender.
Do as much exploring as possible. Small freighters are great
scout ships and they are dirt cheap. Send them out to parts
of space where nobody will bother you.
Attack enemy freighters with small warships (capital ships).
This will really cause great pain to your enemies.
Be aware of your special race advantages and use them.
Be aware of your enemies special race advantages.