To be real successful at Trade Wars you need a utility capable of
maintaining info on all the places and things you have explored. TWTRAK
answers this need. Here's what you get:
<<<<< SELECT MAIN DATABASE >>>>>
If you did not enter the name of the database when you started TWTRAK
then you will need to use this option in order to access many of TWTRAK's
features.
When you choose this option a window will open that asks you for the
database name. Simply enter the filename of the database. No need to enter
the extension. TWTRAK will automatically load the .SCT (or .WRP), .PRT, and
.NUM files associated with the database name.
For those times when you play in more than one game, use this when you
want to change databases.
<<<<< SCAN LOG FOR STATS >>>>>
I highly recommend that when you play TW, you open a capture file with
an extension of .LOG. Everything you discover will be saved to this text
file for later use by TWTRAK. Even the ports you get busted at. And if
you expect to use the Transwarp Route feature in TWTRAK this is where it
looks for deployed fighters.
Some of the important stats you'll want TWTRAK to manage are; Game
Configuration Screen (hit "V" in TW), Deployed Fighters (hit "G" in TW),
Your planet info (hit "T" plus "L" for corp, or "C" plus "Y" for personal).
If you forget to list these while playing, don't worry TWTRAK will
accumulate as much info as possible.
<<<<< MERGE DATABASE >>>>>
This feature is for those traders who play on a team. Simply get the .PRT
and .SCT files of your teammates exploration. You can then use this feature
to load their explored sectors and ports in with your's. The combined
database will then be written to disk and saved. You can now generate reports
and map just as if you had explored all the sectors yourself.
TIP: To save the most up to date information, make sure the file you use for
the merge file is the most recent of the two. For example you play at 1 AM
and your partner played at 7 AM, because of this your partners .PRT file has
the most recent info. You want to load his last. Enter the name of your
database as the main database. Then merge your partners files with yours. On
the other hand if yours is the latest, then select your partners files as the
main database and merge yours with his.
TIP on the above tip. Its a wise idea to rename the new merged PRT/SCT files
(use Shell To DOS). Then the next time you download PRT/SCT files it won't
overwrite your merged files. Also from then on, you can keep merging your new
PRT/SCT files to this database (and you won't have to bug your teammember
for his so often).
<<<<< DELETE BUSTED PORTS >>>>>
(Available only in the registered version)
There comes a time in every game where TW destroys the records of those
who have been busted. When this happens you will be free to rob all the ports
again. Naturally you'll need to clear your busted port listing and start a
new one. Use this when the time is right.
And when is the right time? TW works on a 14 day cycle. That means every 14
days all ports are cleared and you can return to busted ports to rob again.
To find out how many days left your game has, go to the configuration
screen in TW (hit "V"). There you will see how many days the game has run.
Take this figure and divide it by 14. Example: game is 55 days old.
55 / 14 = 3 with a remainder of 13. This 13 means the cycle is 13 days old.
1 more day and you can rob at all of your busted ports. Even if you get
busted today you can go back tommorrow and rob again.
<<<<< NEAREST PORTS >>>>>
(Available only in the registered version)
When you need to find the closest ports to any sector use this.
<<<<< FIND PAIRED PORTS >>>>>
(Limited in this the unregistered version)
Choose the type of paired port you want to examine. A complete listing
will be displayed and saved to disk. Only one type of paired port can be
viewed or saved at a time.
Those ports that have more than 90% of commodities on hand will be noted
with a "*". If both ports in the pair have a "*" then this is a good place
to start trading. Go to the one nearest you.
TIP: use the Display Path option to find which paired port is closest.
<<<<< BEST PORTS TO ROB >>>>>
This is designed for the Evil traders in mind. Two listings will be shown.
One is which ports have the most credits, and the other are ports for a
steal/trade loop.
1) TWTRAK finds all ports that sell equipment. It then searches for ones
that have had heavy trading. Thus you should be able to find lots of credits
to rob. Those ports in this listing have 85% or less of equipment on hand.
Those with a "*" have less than 50% on hand and should be your first choice
to check.
2) This technique is one of the fastest ways for an Evil trader to acquire
credits. Simply fill your holds with equipment and go to one of the ports in
this report. Then you can sell them your equipment. Right after that, steal
the equipment back then sell it to them again. This report lists all the ports
that will buy your equipment. Those with a "*" are ports TWTRAK feels will
give you top dollar for your equipment (but not neccesarily).
<<<<< MAP SECTORS >>>>>
The mapping console consists of 2 windows. Each window has a radius of two
sectors away from a sector you wish to map. If you use both windows at once
you can see up to 8 sectors away. To get info on a port in your map, simply
hit "P" then enter the sector number where the port is, then hit <ENTER>.
TIP: When examining sectors, TWTRAK follows a path straight out from the
sector you chose. Because of this warps are only checked one way. This can
be a problem for those inexperienced users.
To get around this you must do a thorough examination. First, when you find
an interesting sector do the following: Lets say you like 255 and it is
displayed in the left window. Choose the sector next to it and display it in
the other window. See if it warps back to 255. Thus you can check both ways.
If you want to check all the sectors around 255, simply enter 255 to display
255. Then enter another sector to display in the other window. To keep 255 in
the first window enter it again. In this manner you can keep 255 in one window
while you check the other sectors in the second window.
Now the only thing missing is how to check a dead-end. Sometimes a decent
looking dead-end might have a secret warp that goes into it. To make sure a
dead-end you found for your home doesn't have one you'll have to wait till your
on-line in Trade Wars. First make a note of the sector before your dead-end.
Then while in Trade Wars mark that sector as an avoid. Now see if you can warp
to your dead-end. If you can then that dead-end has a secret warp and will not
make a good home. Check another.
<<<<< DISPLAY PATH >>>>>
(Available only in the registered version)
Now you can find the distance from one sector to another and the sectors
you will pass through. Excellent for seeing how close an ideal dead-end is
to Stardock and Terra Firma.
If you can Transwarp then this feature can help you find the shortest path
from one sector to the next. Provided of course that your deployed fighters
have been saved with the SCAN LOG option.
<<<<< FIND DEAD-ENDS >>>>>
This feature is excellent for finding a home or finding where others have
planets. When picking a dead-end for a home you will be given information on
how many sectors deep the dead-end is and if there is a port in the dead end
and what class the port is.
TIP: when looking for others, simply print the report then go to the Map
console. Use the Port Info feature to see how much quantity is on hand for
each port in a dead-end. Start looking in those dead-ends where there is less
than 100% on hand (indicates activity in that dead-end).
After you check all dead-ends with ports, start checking (either warp there
or use ether probes) those dead-ends that are 2 or more sectors deep. Lastly
check all the single deep dead-ends.
<<<<< FIND DOCKINGS >>>>>
To run this feature you need to have captured your playing session to a
text file. Give this file the name of your database and an extension of ".LOG".
TWTRAK reads the file, finds all the dockings you encountered, sorts them,
then saves them to disk in a text file with the extension ".TRD". Naturally,
the more moves your game allows the more dockings you will find. On games of
60-100 moves you may not find many dockings per trader. Thus you will have a
tougher time finding others.
The report will show the time you finished playing and all dockings that
you found within the previous 24 hours. After 24 hours you will get a message
"Trader Joe docked here 1 day ago.". Any dockings more than 2 days old are not
stored in the report.
This information can be useful in tracking other traders movements. By doing
so it is possible to set traps, or follow paths that may lead to their home
planet.
To set traps, find a port that is visited frequently by another trader and
set your trap there. Simply look at your docking report, find the trader
you're after. Then look through the previous days reports to see if a certain
port shows up on more than one day.
To track other traders, simply print out the docking report. Now go to the
map screen. Enter the sector of their first port. Now try to map a route from
the first port to the second, etc.. Use dockings for this trader that were
found in previous days and see if those ports will fill in the blanks. Once
you have an idea of the direction they travelled, then use the map feature to check for dead-ends at the beginning and at the end of the trail. Next time
you play Trade Wars, check out those sectors for the trader's planet.
<<<<< ADD REMINDER >>>>>
This nifty feature let's you add a reminder as to whose ship belongs to who.
Your reminder is attached to the end of the daily docking report.
TIP: As you know the docking log only gives the name of the ship that docked,
but not who owns it. During your travels you may find other ships parked in
Fedspace or out in space. Jot down the name of their ship. Then use this
feature to save that info to the docking report.
TIP: Another good way to find the owner of a ship is in Trade Wars Daily Log.
Here you will see messages like "Sinbad destroyed Salty's Cargotran at 3:00 AM".
When you compile your docking report in TWTRAK you may get a message like this,
"302 The Enterprise 3:10 AM". It's a pretty good guess that Sinbad is the one
who docked here.
<<<<< DELETE OLD DOCKINGS >>>>>
Every time you create a docking report it is appended to the previous days
report in the .TRD file. After many days the file may get large and have
obsolete ship names. You can use this feature to cut out old ones. TWTRAK
displays todays date. Figure how far back you want to save. Enter the month
and day for that date (TWTRAK adds the year and all "/" as necessary). All
reports BEFORE that day will be erased and all reports AFTER that day will be
saved.
<<<<< EXIT TWTRAK >>>>>
Upon exiting, you are asked if you wish to delete all .LOG files (NOTE: this
does not delete .SCT or .PRT files, only the capture files with an extension of
.LOG).
Default is to delete these files so you can create new ones the next day.
There is no need to click on the button if you want to delete. Simply hit
<ENTER> or push any mouse button.
<<<<< CONFIGURATION MENU >>>>>
Here you will be able to set the speed of the mouse, speed of graphics,
what line port you wish to use for printing, and whether you want sound
on or off.
TIP: if you SAVE the settings, TWTRAK will load them upon startup and use
those instead of the default settings.
+++++++++++++++
All your info can be printed so as to have it in front of you as you play.
If you prefer, the info is also saved to disk. This allows you to view the
info through your communication program while you play on-line (most comm
programs allow for viewing of a text file while playing on-line).
