Amiga Elysian Archive/AmigaElysianArchive.iso/prog/arexx/megawars.lha/Information

Text File | 1990-09-19 | 10.2 KB | 184 lines

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 Welcome to Mega-Wars I! As a new player, you will be placed at the rank of

"Cadet". As a Cadet, you will be able to choose from 10 different trainer

ships that you will guide on your mission. The ships are separated into two

groups of five--each side getting five ships. The "sides" that these ships

belong to are known as the Coalition and the Kyron Empire. These two powerful

forces have been at war with each other for many milleniums, and it will be up

to you to guide your ship to accumulate as many points for your side that you

can. As you begin to accumulate more points, your rank will change. After

being a cadet for the first 20,000, you will be promoted to the rank of

Lieutenant. When you accumulate 120,000, you will be promoted to a Captain.

And a score of more than 600,000 will earn you a rank of Admiral. With each

rank, you will be given different ships to choose from. Obviously, as your

rank increases, the ships you will guide will become more powerful. An Admiral

can stay in a fight 8 times longer than can a cadet. And an Admiral's blow is
also 8 times STRONGER than a Cadet's.
 The starship you will guide is noted by a single letter, as follows:

   Coalition    Empire   Acheron

      L           D         A
      N           G
      R           H
      S           T
      V           W


 These letters will stand for different ships as your rank increases, as

already explained. The Acheron is an enemy to both sides. The Acheron race

possesses great technology and are not a force to be reckoned with. They

usually appear in the midst of a battle between two starships--usually after

both ships are depleted. They appear seemingly from nowhere, and attack. We

do have reason to believe that they possess what is known as a cloaking device

that aids them in this procedure. Our scientists have been trying vehemently

to duplicate their technology, but we have had no success to date. If you DO

cripple an Acheron, you may be able to obtain their cloaking device--a weapon
that will surely be useful to you and your crew.

 Once in command of your starship, your first officer will act as your liason

to the ship and its crew. All your "orders" will be carried out immediately

after you issue them. All messages from the computer will be preceeded with a

";". Your "orders"--or what we will call commands--may be abbreviated to two

letters. For example, "MO" can be used for the "MOVE" command. Multiple

commands may also be entered on a line if they are separated by a slash (/)
character.

 Each command is explained in greater detail within the game in the online

help facility. Enter "HELP" at any prompt for more information. For expample,

entering "HELP" and "DA" when prompted for a command will provide information
about the "DAMAGE" command.

 MOVING YOUR STARSHIP

 Enter "MO" and a pair of coordinates to move to that destination.

The coordinates mentioned refer to the X,Y position along the axis. The X

position ALWAYS comes before the Y position and is represented by the

HORIZONTAL (left to right) numbers on a SCAN map. The Y

position ALWAYS comes AFTER the X position and is respresented by the VERTICAL

(up and down) numbers on a SCAN map. Note that
the destination must be within your movement range of 10 sectors.

 Enter "MO R" and a pair of relative coordinates to move to a location
relative to your current position (a minus sign signifies negative movement).

 For example, "MO 30 25" will move your ship to the coordinates 30-25. If you

wanted to move from there to 35-20, you could enter either "MO 35 20" or you
could enter "MO R 5 -5".

 EXAMINING YOUR SURROUNDINGS

 Use the "SCAN" and "LIST" commands to examine your surroundings. Note that

enemy and neutral planets will only be listed if they have been scanned or
listed and stored in the team data banks previously.

 Enter "LI", a range, and one or more keywords to obtain more specific

information. Keywords include: ALL, SHIPS, BASES, PLANETS, COALITION, EMPIRE,
and ENEMY.

 For example, "LI ALL PL" will list all captured planets for both sides. Also

note that enemy captured planets are only listed if they are in range.
Scanners can not pick up possessions more than 15 sectors away.

 Enter "SC" to obtain a fresh map of your immediate surroundings within 7

sectors. A range can also be specified. For example, "SC 3" will display a
much smaller map.

 ENERGY INFORMATION

 Energy units are required for all commands. Some commands require very little

energy (e.g. "RADIO" or "SCAN"). Other commands require a great deal (e.g.

"MOVE" or "PHASERS"). Each type of ship also consumes energy at a different
rate.

 Every ship begins the game with 5000 units of energy. Energy units are

obtained from the Primary Energy Banks and the Shield Energy Banks on a ship.

Energy units can be transferred between these banks as the need arises. Energy
units also can be transferred to another ship.

 If the energy level of your ship falls below critical level (less than 1000

units) an audio alarm will be sounded. When the energy level of a ship is
depleted, the ship is destroyed.

 REFUELING and ENERGY RESOURCES
 Use the "DOCK" and "ENERGY" commands to refuel and transfer energy.

 Enter "DO" at a friendly planet, base, or Flagship (Admiral) to refuel. A

starship will be replenished twice as quickly by docking at a friendly base
rather than a planet.

 Enter "EN" and a ship name, and a number to transfer that many energy units

to the other ship. Note that the two ships MUST be next to each other in order
to transfer successfully.

 CAPTURING PLANETS

 Use the "CAPTURE" command to capture a planet. Note that only planets may be

captured. Bases must be destroyed. At the start of a game there are 10 bases

on each side and 60 neutral planets to be captured. Neutral planets attack ALL
players until captured.

 Enter "CA" and the coordinates of a neutral planet to capture that planet.

Note that you must be adjacent to the planet in order to use the "CAPTURE"
command.

 You can also capture enemy planets in the same way. The capture will occur

more quickly if you first destroy all military builds on the planet. In order

to destroy a build you must move adjacent to the planet and attack with your

phasers. You can also use torpedoes, but torpedoes will destroy a non-built
planet.

 BUILDING ON PLANETS
 Use the "BUILD" command to fortify planets and create starbases.

 Enter "BU" and the coordinates of a planet to build on that planet. After

five builds, the planet will become a starbase if there are less than 10
friendly bases at the time.

 Note that in order to use the "BUILD" command you must be adjacentto the
planet you are attempting to fortify.

 FIRING PHASERS AND TORPEDOES
 Use the "PHASER" and "TORPEDO" commands to attack.

 Phasers travel through solid objects. You do not have to be in line of sight

in order to attack with a phaser. Torpedoes travel in straight lines and do

not travel through solid objects. It will hit (and possibly destroy) any

object in its path, including planets, ships, stars and bases. A fired torpedo

has a range of 10 sectors before it self-destructs. A torpedo can displace an

object by up to 3 sectors, but will be neutralized upon striking a friendly
object.

 Enter "PH" and a target location to fire a phaser. For example, "PH 29 29"
will cause a phaser to be fired at coordinates 29-29.

 You can also specify the power of the phaser shot in terms of energy units

("PH 500 29 29"). The ship condition and abilities determines the amount of

energy units actually used. If no blast size is specified the ship will use

the default setting for the ship type. Note that there is a maximum size
allowed, and that high amounts can damage your phasers.

 Enter "TO", a number, and a target location to fire that many photon

torpedos at those coordinates. For example, "TO 3 29 29" will cause 3 photon

torpedoes to be fired at coordinates 29-29. A maximum number of torpedoes may
be fired at one time depending on ship type.
 Entering a range and keyword also is acceptable on these commands. Enter
"TO C 3 W" to fire three photon torpedoes at the USS Wolf.

 REPAIRING YOUR SHIP
 Use the "DOCK" and "REPAIR" commands to repair your starship.
 Enter "DO" at a friendly planet or base to repair a damaged starship.

 In the event of an emergency you can sometimes repair your ship in flight.

Enter "RE" and the amount of energy units to repair the isolated damage. For
example, "RE 250" will allocate 250 energy units to repair starship damage.

 Enter "RE ALL" if more than one ship system is damaged. Note that this is a

very time consuming command. Certain damages can also only be repaired by
docking at a port.

 STATUS OF YOUR SHIP
 Use the "STATUS" command to obtain status information about your starship.

 Enter "ST" to learn about your stardate, starship condition and location,
torpedo and energy capacity, damage report, shield strength, and radio status.

 COMMUNICATING WITH OTHER PLAYERS
 Use the "TELL" command to communicate with other players.

 Enter "TE" and one or more keywords (which include COA,EMP,ENE,ALL, etc.) to
communicate with other players.

 For example, "TE WRV" would attempt to send a message to the USS Wolf, the
USS Ronin, and the USS Viper.
 Use the "RADIO" command to prevent messages from other ships.

 Enter "RA GAG" with one or more ship initials to prevent messages from that

ship. Enter "RA GAG" with that same ship name to un-GAG that ship. Note that

entering "RA ON" will un-GAG all ships that were gagged. Keywords can also be
used on this command.

 For example, "RA GAG T" will prevent all messages from the T starship from

displaying on your screen. "RA GAG T" or "RA ON" will un-GAG the T starship.

Entering "RA GAG COA" will prevent all messages from all Coalition ships from
appearing on your screen. Other keywords include EMP,ENE and ALL.

 Entering "RA OFF" will prevent any and all messages from other ships from
appearing on your screen.


 If you are new to Mega-Wars Ib, let the Admirals know that you are still

learning. Usually if you do not attack them they will leave you alone. Pick

an empty game or one with the least amount of players. Most players are more

than willing to help you get started. Move around a lot and try all your
commands. Most of all, have FUN!