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gameplay.doc - instructions for "WARPSPACE"
INTRODUCTION
WARPSPACE is a two-player space ship battle game. It's called
WARPSPACE because it is a hard-hitting, head-to-head battle to the
death.
WARPSPACE is played on two computers, using modems. It happens in real
time, and has an arcade-game feel to it. The game uses high-resolution
EGA graphics.
As we said, WARPSPACE is about space ships. It is inspired by Star
Trek so there are Romulans, Klingons, Federation ships, etc.
Actually, there are eight different races to choose from. When you
start, you must decide what you will be. NOTE: The races have been
renamed by Peter to protect the innocent.
Your ship has phasers, photon torpedoes, shields, and warp-drive. You
can customize your ship by selecting how fast it will fly and how
hard your weapons fire. Fast ships use up more fuel, but they can
manuever better.
Torpedoes come in various sizes. You can have one monster torp, or
ten small torps, or anything in between.
Phasers have a "recharge time" which you select. If you choose 1 each
shot is fairly wimpy. On the other hand, if you choose a recharge
time of 30 it will be a monster phaser blast!
Your ship has short, medium, and long range scanners. Use the short
range when you really get into the fight. Your ship has a status display
showing shield strength, speed, heading, engine temperature, fuel,
and damage. If you get 1000 points of damage, you are dead. If you
overheat, run out of fuel, or get lots of damage, try to limp away
and rest for a minute or so. Your repair crews will soon have
you repaired and refueled (if you have some shields).
Since this is a space game, there are stars and planets. You can
orbit a planet to refuel or just hang out. When you leave orbit,
you get a "slingshot" effect that may send you off at high speed.
You can do a "jump" between solar systems by flying through a star
and hitting "j". Different solar systems belong to different races
in the galaxy.
If you stay near a planet for a while, you will soon notice that it's
moving. Planets orbit stars, and the stars themselves also orbit
through space. Planets come in "Class-M" (life-supporting) and "Class-D" (dead)
types. The terminology is from Star Trek.
WHAT YOU NEED TO PLAY IT
To play this game, you need two IBM-PC compatible computers with
modems. The modems should be Hayes-compatible, 1200 or 2400 baud.
The game requires EGA graphics. A 286 machine is recommended.
The game consists of two programs, USER.EXE and HOST.EXE. One machine
must run the host, and the other must run the user. Basically, the
user phones the host, and the host answers and starts the game.
One gotcha - call waiting may kill the link. So if the game crashes,
blame it on that salesman who phoned you while you were playing.
HOW TO PLAY
1. Setup
Give your opponent a copy of the game disk. Instruct him to run
either HOST.EXE or USER.EXE. You must then run the other program.
When you run the program, a copyright message will appear.
Hit any key to proceed.
You will be asked to enter a number (1 - 8) to select the kind of ship you
want to be (Klingon, Federation, etc.). Type the number and hit return.
Next, you will be asked to enter the max speed of your ship (1 - 10).
Enter the number and hit return. Note that a ship is very hard to steer at
its maximum warp speed. So if you enter 1, your ship will be extremely slow
and clumsy. However, it will be able to carry lots of armies to help you
conquer enemy planets. If you select a high max speed, like 15, your ship
will be fast and manuverable, like a fighter. But it won't be able to carry
many armies.
After this, you will be asked to enter the number of torpedo tubes
you have (1 - 20). When you've fired all your tubes, you have to detonate
some of those torps before you can fire again. Torps auto-detonate near an
enemy ship, or after 30 seconds. If you have a small number of torpedo tubes,
each torp will be fairly powerful. If you have a lot of tubes, each torp will
be small.
Next, you must select your phaser recharge time (1 - 30 ). A short
time (1) means you can shoot pretty often. However, each shot is rather wimpy.
For harder-hitting phasers, choose a longer recharge time.
At this point, the game will come up. You'll see your ship in the
center of the screen. The game begins on the long-range screen, so you will
have a view of the whole galaxy. You are now in the practice mode. Read up on
the keyboard commands and practice flying around a little. You'll need
to turn off num lock to use the keypad.
Turn off NUM LOCK! The numeric keypad keys are used to control
your ship. However, NUM LOCK must be off. The key commands are summarized
later on. At this point, however, we want to proceed with the modem hook-up.
Press control d. The screen will clear and the message WHICH PORT?
will appear. Enter 1 or 2. Return. (Sorry, guys, we can't support any other
com ports at this time.) Next, the message WHICH BAUD RATE? will appear.
Type in either 1200 or 2400 and hit return. Note - both players must
use the same baud rate! You do not have to use the same com port. You just
use the com port your modem is in.
At this point, the HOST program will be waiting for a phone call.
The HOST will print a line of *'s on the screen as it waits.
The USER program will ask for a phone number to dial. Enter the HOST's
number and hit return. Note - the HOST should be ready and waiting when
the user dials in.
When the connection is made, the HOST operator will see the
message "Downloading the Universe - this takes about a minute." (or something
like that /*MJE*/. The USER does not see a message, but he waits patiently for
a minute. Then the game will come up and each player will see his ship.
At this point, you are ready to start fighting. Note - if you and
your opponent choose different ships, you will start off in different solar
systems. If you choose the same type of ship, you will start in the same solar
system - and you might both appear in the same spot! Federation ships always
start in the Sol star system, for example, while Romulan ships always start
in the Sirius star system.
THE KEYBOARD COMMANDS
Seat yourself comfortably in front of your computer. Get a firm grip
on your mouse - and shove it out of the way (Joystick is now supported
/* MJE */). This game is played on the keyboard. TURN NUM LOCK OFF! Also,
turn CAPS LOCK & SCROLL LOCK off.
Numeric Keypad Keys
4 = Turn left (proportional to speed)
6 = Turn right (proportional to speed)
8 = Increase speed by one warp factor - up to your maximum.
2 = Decrease speed by one warp factor.
+ = Increase shield power 10 points - up to 100 points max.
- = Decrease shield power by 10 points.
* = Fire one torpedo in specified weapons direction.
Aiming Weapons
sxxx <return/enter> - where xxx is direction 0 - 360 degrees. Aims all
weapons in specified direction. Example: s180 return
will cause all torp & phaser shots to be fired at 180
degrees.
Aiming with Letter Keys
Use the lowercase keys q,w,e,a,d,z,x,c to aim your weapons.
Hit the key and return. Then, fire weapons. The following
diagram indicates the directions specified by these keys.
q w e
\ | /
\ | /
a------ -------d
/ | \
/ | \
z x c
If you hit 2 adjacent keys, the computer will aim your weapons
halfway in between. For example, de return or ed return will aim
the weapons halfway between d and e.
Firing Torps
After aiming, hit * on the keypad to shoot a torp. You must be on
the "short-range" screen to actually see the torp. If no torps shoot,
you are either low on fuel or you need to detonate some of your
previous torps.
Detonating Torps
Hit uppercase D to detonate a torp. Torps will auto-detonate
if they get close enough to the enemy ship. They also detonate after
30 seconds.
Firing Phasers
Hit lowercase p to fire the phasers. If phasers do not fire, you
are either low on fuel or the phasers haven't recharged yet.
Using Shields
Using Scanners
Interstellar Jumps
THE SHIP STATUS DISPLAY
Fuel
Temperature
Damage
Shields
Speed
Heading
Win/Loss Score
HOW TO QUIT
ESCAPE ESCAPE (2 times)
BUGS AND ERRORS
(Your guess is as good as mine, I fix 'em when I find 'em. /* MJE */)