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BEGIN A Tactical Starship Simulation Copyright (c) 1984,85,86 by CLOCKWORK SOFTWARE PO Box 974 Bloomfield Hills, MI 48013 Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation I. INTRODUCTION I. INTRODUCTION I. INTRODUCTION Begin is actually a simulation of a simulation that tests your ability to command a fleet starship. For the first time, you will actually have the feeling that you are commanding a real starship, against real enemy captains. You will never be satisfied with a crude "quadrant-sector" game again. The action in Begin is controlled by you. The game can be fast-paced or leisurly, easy or hard, depending on your wishes. There are no artificial "skill levels" as employed by less sophisticated starship games. If you want an easy simulation, try giving the enemy inferior ships or take along many allies. If you want a fast game, fight fewer ships or use insane tactics. The point is, it's all up to you - there are an almost unlimited number of simulation scenarios. The object of Begin is (as usual) to destroy the enemy fleet before they destroy you. You will receive an evaluation of your performance at the end of the action. Your enemy is tough and experienced. He will do his utmost to destroy you with whatever equipment you give him. You can fight him by youself, or command a task force of computer controlled ships that you command. All computer controlled ships follow the same rules that you must follow while fighting. Enjoy this new level of sophistication in computer entertainment. II. OVERVIEW II. OVERVIEW II. OVERVIEW Begin is actually made up of four separate parts that happen in sequence, Setup, command input, strategy, and movement. A more detailed explaination of each of these can be found in a later section. The first part, Setup, will a ask a number of questions that will control what nations are involved and what class of ships will be used. After all questions have been answered, the tacical display will be draw and Begin will wait for you to enter a command. You may enter commands for controlling your ships weapon systems, defenses, status displys or for directing your ally ships. Command input will allow you as much time as you need to decide your action. You may enter an entire command on one line or allow Begin to prompt you for each part. - 2 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation After the entire command has been given, the strategy of all enemy and ally ships is determined. These ships follow the same rules for commands that you must follow. After all ships have determined their strategy, the realtime movement is performed. Realtime moves all objects according to the Begin laws of physics. Every item will be moved in sequence, ten times, to simulate simultaneous movement. Your crew will report most of the enemy and ally ships actions during this time, such as who is firing torpedos and who has been hit. At the end of this cycle, before you are again asked for a command, the tactical displays will be updated. One time through the above sequence is call a cycle, and is the basic unit of time in Begin. All time is measured in cycles but may sometimes be refered to as seconds, such as three seconds to self destruct. III. SETUP III. SETUP III. SETUP The distribution disk should contain two copies of Begin. One is named "BEGINS.EXE" which uses software floating point, and one named "BEGIN7.EXE" which uses the 8087 co-processor. If you do not have an 8087 installed in your PC you must use "BEGINS.EXE". Clockwork Software recommends installing an 8087 as it will increase the speed of play by approximately ten times. When you first execute BeginS or Begins7, you will be asked your name. The name you enter will be printed at the beginning of the prompt asking for command input. After entering your name, a list of possible nation will be displayed. You should then enter the nation you wish to represent. The nation you select decides what ships will be available to you and the temperament of your ally commanders. Once you enter your chosen nation, a list of that nations ship classes will be displayed and you will be prompted for the ship of your choice. The ships vary widely in speed, maneuverability, weaponry and shields strength. Next you must enter the number of ally ships you desire and the class of ship they will be. Ally ships are always of the same nation as the player. Finally, you must enter the nation of your computer oppenent, the flag ship class of the enemy, the number of allies the enemy has and their ship class. - 3 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation IV. SHIPS IV. SHIPS IV. SHIPS All ships are controlled by a fixed number of attributes. These attributes control the ships speed, acceleration, turn rate, weaponry, shield strength etc. This section briefly explains how these attributes function. HELM HELM HELM The helm controls the direction and velocity of the ship. The ship will not always respond instantly to helm commands. Response depends on the size of the ship you are commanding and the current helm settings. Generally, the larger the ship or the faster the current speed, the slower the ship will respond to course and speed changes. The exception to this is that all ships respond instantly if the current speed and the requested speed are both warp one or less. For specified ship class attributes, consult your ships' library computer. Helm related commands are: Helm, Pursue, Elude, Report. WEAPONRY WEAPONRY WEAPONRY Available to you are a three different weapon systems that vary from ship class to ship class. Most ships have all three although of few of the smaller ships do not. These weapons are Phasers, Torpedos and Probes. All phasers banks and torpedoe tubes may be locked on a specified ship or turned to a specified relative angle off the current heading (mark). The target or course of a probe is specified at launch time since probes are "smart" in that they may pursue a specified target or course and may be controlled after they leave the ship. Phasers are short range weapons that hit their target instantaneously. The closer you are to the target, the better the hit. Torpedos travel at a specific velocity determined by the class of torpedo your ship carries although it is generally very fast. If the tube is locked on a target, the tube will "lead" the target to compensate for the target's course and velocity. Most classes of torpedo cannot change course one they are fired. Probes are very slow in comparison to torpedos. The advantage of a probe is the ability to pursue a target, and it's relativly large warhead. Probes may also be controlled after they are launched. They may be set to a specific heading or relocked on to a target. - 4 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation Consult your ships library computer for specifics on these weapons. Weaponry related commands are: Fire, Lock, Turn, Status, Torp, Phaser, Probe SHIELDS SHIELDS SHIELDS Shields protect the ship from being damaged by enemy (or ally) weapons. A shield will weaken in proportion to the magnitude of the hit on that shield. This type of damage is actually only temporary and the shield will regenerate slowly over time. If the hit is larger than the shield can absorb, then the ship will sustain damaged. The amount of damage will depend on the strength of the hit. Any of the ships systems may be damaged including the shields maximum strength. This damage is permanent and may only reduce the effectivness of the system as in the case of reactors, engines or shields, or may totally destroy the system as with phaser banks or torpedo tubes. Shield related commands are: Raise, Lower, Status, Shields STATUS STATUS STATUS All commands will result in the ending of your "turn" except for commands that only display status. The status command will display the current state of the entire ship, phaser banks, torpedo tubes, probe launchers, shields or active probes. This also includes scanning enemy or ally vessels and ally reports. Status related commands are: Damage, Report, Status, Banks, Tubes, Launchers COMPUTER COMPUTER COMPUTER All ships are equipped with a library computer. The library computer will display information on any ship class, torpedo class or probe. Computer related commands are: Library, Computer, Help V. ENEMIES & ALLIES V. ENEMIES & ALLIES V. ENEMIES & ALLIES All ally and enemy ships are given a "personality" when they are created. This consists of a number of attributes that control their bravery, aggression, fanatisism and loyalty, and is based - 5 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation on the race of that enemy or ally. ALLIES ALLIES ALLIES During play, your ally ships will engage the enemy at will although you are allowed to give them a few general orders. These include who to attack, what course to follow, hold fire, etc. They will almost always follow these orders unless they are not very loyal or the order is very unreasonable. In any case, they will give a response to that order. It is important to remember the orders you issued or you may render an ally useless. For example if you order an ally to follow a course, he will follow that order until you cancel it. If your ship sustains heavy damage (or even if it doesn't) you are allowed to trade ships with one of your allies. Ally related commands are: Tell, Order, Beam, Transport VI. COMMAND SUMMARY VI. COMMAND SUMMARY VI. COMMAND SUMMARY The following is a brief, although hopefully complete list of legal commands available to the starship commander. In a number of cases there is more than one form of the same command. For example, "tubes" is the same command as "status tubes". Each command description gives the general form of the command and a description of command operation. The description for each command is followed by one or more examples. Optional parts of the commands are enclosed in square brackets ( [optional] ). HELM: HELM: HELM: Helm [Course] <course> [Warp] <warp> The helm command controls the direction and velocity of your ship. The course is a heading between -360 degrees and +360 degrees. All vessels will take time to come to the new heading although it may sometimes seem immediate. The amount of time will depend on the size of your ship and the ship's current speed. The larger ships turning slower than smaller ships and fast speeds requiring more time than slower speed. All ships will seem to turn instantly at warp one or less. When turning, the ship will always turn in the direction that is the smallest distance to the new heading. The warp is the velocity you wish to maintain. The ship's velocity, like it's heading may require a certain amount of time - 6 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation to achive. Examples: helm course 60 warp 6 helm 225 3 PURSUE: PURSUE: PURSUE: Pursue <ship> [Warp] <warp> This command instructs the helm to always follow a specific ship. The ship may be an enemy or an ally ship. Examples: pursue the banshee warp 4 pursue proxima 2 ELUDE: ELUDE: ELUDE: Elude <ship> [Warp] <warp> The Elude command will instruct the helm to always point the ship away from a specific enemy or ally ship. Examples: elude dragon warp 8 elude ganther 7 CHART: CHART: CHART: chart [From] [<ship>] Every cycle the chart from your ship will be automatically displayed. If the chart moves off the top of the screen, entering "chart" will redisplay the current chart. The chart command will also allow you to display the chart from an enemy or ally ship perspective. WARP COURSE BEARING RANGE MARK Caspan: 4.0 305. Manual Helm Asp: 3.0 125. 305. 15035 0. The chart displays the names of all ships with the first ship being the charted ship. The current warp factor and course of each ship is displayed as is the range of each ship from the charted ship. The Bearing column show the bearing of each ship from the charted ship. The bearing is the course the charted ship must follow to head directly at a specific ship. The Mark column contains the degrees off the heading of the charted ship to a specific ally or enemy ship, for example, a mark of zero indicates the charted ship is heading directly toward a ship. Examples: chart chart from asp - 7 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation REPORT: REPORT: REPORT: report The report command displays various information about your ship. You may also request a report from an ally ship with the "order" command. SHIP NAME: Ketoi CLASS: Destroyer SURVIVORS: 200 CONDITION: 100% Functional NAVCOM: Manual Helm COURSE: 270. desired 229. current WARP: 6.0 desired 4.5 current Examples: report STATUS DAMAGE: STATUS DAMAGE: STATUS DAMAGE: SCAN SHIP SCAN SHIP SCAN SHIP [Status] Damage Scan <ship> The damage status will display the overall condition of your ship where as the scan ship command will show the same information about an enemy or ally ship. SHIP NAME: Viper CLASS: Frigate SURVIVORS: 18 REACTORS: 100% 5% XX BATTERIES: 75 75 68 XX BANKS: XX XX ch .. XX TUBES: ld XX LAUNCHERS: XX .. SHIELDS: XX 70% 1% 18% XX XX WARP: XX WARP TEMP: |9m LIMIT: 40m WARP POWER: 0 OTHER POWER: 262 RESIDUAL POWER: -6 The above scan reveals that the Klingon Frigate, Viper is heavly damaged. All "XX" markers show the systems that are completely non-functional. The Viper still has two working phasers, one is charged and one is discharged. One torpedo tube is still functional and is currently loaded and one probe launcher is undamaged but unloaded. Three of the six shields are - 8 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation completely destroyed, one is in good shape and two are very weak. The warp drive has been destroyed with it's temperature falling to zero. With the warp drive eliminated, there is not any warp power. The reactors are providing 262 units of power but the ship still used -6 units of battery power last cycle to keep the remaining shields up. Examples: damage status damage scan viper RANGE: RANGE: RANGE: DISPLAY: DISPLAY: DISPLAY: SCAN RANGE: SCAN RANGE: SCAN RANGE: range <range> display <range> scan <range> Any of these commands will set the position display range. The position display is always in the upper right corner of the screen. The display show the location of all ships by placing the first two letters of the ships name on the display along with any active torpedos or probes. The range specified will control the magnification of the position display and only objects within this range will be displayed. Within the position display, the "<>" in the center indicates the location of your ship. On the monochrome monitor, all enemy object will be displayed "intensified" and all ally objects "normal". On the color monitor, all enemy objects will be "bright red" and all ally objects will be "Yellow". Examples: range 15000 display 15000 scan 15000 FIRE PHASERS: FIRE PHASERS: FIRE PHASERS: [Fire] Phasers [SPREAD] <spread> Fire [ALL] Phasers [SPREAD] <spread> [Fire] Phasers <list> [SPREAD] <spread> This command is used to fire one or more of your ship's phasers. Phasers will hit the target instantaneously but weaken with distance. The spread is the width of the phaser shot. The wider the area, the weaker the hit but you may damage more objects. The spread may be from 10 to 45 degrees and the list is which banks are to fire. - 9 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation Examples: fire phasers 1 2 3 spread 10 fire all phasers 45 phaser all 45 LOCK BANKS: LOCK BANKS: LOCK BANKS: Lock Banks [ON] <ship> Lock All Banks [ON] <ship> Lock Banks <list> [ON] <ship> When you fire your ship's phasers, they must be pointing at the target if you expect to hit anything. The "lock banks" command allows you to keep one or all of the phaser banks pointed at a specified target at all times. Examples: lock banks on zantha lock all banks on agena lock banks 1 2 and 3 on bismark TURN BANKS: TURN BANKS: TURN BANKS: Turn Banks [TO] Turn [ALL] Banks [TO] Turn Banks <list> [TO] In some circumstances you do not want the phaser banks to point at a specific target, but in a certain direction. The "turn banks" command will allow you to point one or all banks to a relative angle off the current course. This is refered to as the "mark". Examples: turn banks to 180 turn all banks to 0 turn banks 1 2 to 90 STATUS BANKS: STATUS BANKS: STATUS BANKS: [Status] Banks This command will display the current state of the phaser banks. Since the phasers automaticaly recharge over time after firing, you may wish to know how long until they are full charged. BANK STATUS: Bank Level Control Mark Status Target 1 100% locked 57 charged Bluefin 2 33% locked 57 drained Bluefin 3 67% manual 180 drained ... 4 .. damaged ... ..... .. 5 .. damaged ... ..... .. - 10 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation The above tube status display is from a Klingon Frigate which has five phaser banks. The first two banks are locked on the Orion ship, Bluefin that is currently at mark 57 degrees. The first bank is fully charged and ready for firing once the Bluefin is in phaser range. Bank two is currently drained and will not be ready for a number of cycles as indicated by the charge level. The third bank is set to a fixed mark of 180 degrees which means it is always turned toward the rear of the ship. The last two tubes have both been damaged and will not be of any further use. Examples: status banks banks DISABLE BANKS: DISABLE BANKS: DISABLE BANKS: Disable All Banks Disable Banks <list> Once a bank is fired it will immediately begin it's charge cycle. This may not be desirable if the ship has been heavly damages and you need to conserve power. This order will disable bank charging but will not effect the current charge of the bank. Examples: disable banks 6 7 8 ENABLE BANKS: ENABLE BANKS: ENABLE BANKS: Enable All Banks Enable Banks <list> This command will allow the tube charging to continue if it had been disabled. Examples: enable all banks FIRE TORPEDOS: FIRE TORPEDOS: FIRE TORPEDOS: [Fire] Torpedos <list> Fire [ALL] Torpedos This is the command to use to fire the torpedos. Torpedos travel at a specific velocity and will not hit a target unless the torpedo comes within it's proximity of a ship. Locking the torpedo tubes on a ship does not guarantee hitting it. Also refer to the "load tubes" command. Examples: fire torpedo 1 2 3 fire all torpedos torp all - 11 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation LOCK TUBES: LOCK TUBES: LOCK TUBES: Lock [All] Tubes [ON] <ship> Lock Tubes <list> [ON] <ship> Like the phaser banks, the torpedo tubes must point at the target you are trying to hit. The "lock tubes" command allows you to "lock" one or all tubes on a specified target. Examples: lock tubes on eagle lock tubes 4 5 6 7 on talon lock all tubes on bluefin TURN TUBES: TURN TUBES: TURN TUBES: Turn Tubes [TO] Turn [ALL] Tubes [TO] Turn Tubes <list> [TO] This command controls the torpedo tubes in the same way the "turn banks" command controls the phaser banks. The "turn tubes" command will allow you to point one or all tubes to a relative angle off the current course. This is refered to as the "mark". Examples: turn banks to 180 turn all banks to 0 turn banks 1 2 to 90 STATUS TUBES: STATUS TUBES: STATUS TUBES: [Status] Tubes This command will display the current state of the torpedo tubes. The torpedo tubes, like the phasers, will be automatically reloaded after firing, although they must be charged before the torpedo may be loaded. TUBES STATUS: Tube Level Control Mark Content Prox Target 1 0% locked 95 mkvii 500 Eagle 2 100% locked 95 empty .. Eagle 3 33% manual 135 empty .. ... 4 ... damaged ... ..... .. ... The above tube status display is from a Federation Destroyer which has four torpedo tubes. The first two tubes are locked on the Romulan ship, Eagle that is currently at mark 95 degrees. The first tube contains a "mkvii" class torpedo with it's proximity fuse set to 500. Tube two is currently empty but the level indicates it will be loaded during the next cycle. The third tube is set to a fixed mark of 135 degrees and will not be ready to fire for a number of cycles since the charge level is now only 33 - 12 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation percent. Tube number four has been damaged and is of no further use. Unlike the phaser banks which are ready once they reach a level of 100 percent, the torpedo tubes are not ready until the following cycle. Examples: status tubes tubes LOAD TUBES: LOAD TUBES: LOAD TUBES: Load [All] Tubes [Proximit] <prox> Load Tubes <list> [Proximit] <prox> Initially the torpedo tubes are not enabled for loading. This command starts the loading process or allows you to changes the proximity of the torpedos loaded after issuing this order. The proximity is the distance the torpedo must be from a ship before it will detonate. The minimum and maximum proximity depends on the class of torpedo. Examples: load tubes prox 500 load tubes 1 2 3 350 load all tubes prox 425 UNLOAD TUBES: UNLOAD TUBES: UNLOAD TUBES: Unload All Tubes Unload Tubes <list> This order will remove the current torpedos, if any, from the tubes and allow new torpedos to be loaded. This would allow a new proximity torpedo to be loaded without firing the current torpedos although you would still have to wait for the tubes to be charged. Examples: unload tubes 1 2 3 unload all tubes DISABLE TUBES: DISABLE TUBES: DISABLE TUBES: Disable All Tubes Disable Tubes <list> Once a tube is fired it will immediately begin it's charge cycle. This may not be desirable if the ship has been heavly damages and you need to conserve power. This order will disable tube charging but will not effect any torpedos that may already be loaded. - 13 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation Examples: disable tubes 6 7 8 ENABLE TUBES: ENABLE TUBES: ENABLE TUBES: Enable All Tubes Enable Tubes <list> This command will allow the tube charging to continue if it had been disabled. Examples: enable all tubes FIRE PROBES: FIRE PROBES: FIRE PROBES: [Fire] Probes <list> [AT] <ship> [Fire] Probes <list> [Course] <course> Fire [All] Probes [AT] <ship> Fire [All] Probes [Course] <course> Once the probe launchers have been loaded, this command is how you launch your probes. Unlike torpedos, the probes target or course is set when launched. Probes may also be controlled after they have been launched using the "lock" and "turn" commands, or prematurely exploded using the "destruct" command. Examples: fire probes 1 2 course 180 probe all at agena probe all course 180 TURN PROBES: TURN PROBES: TURN PROBES: Turn Probe <code> [Course] <course> Turn All Probes [Course] <course> This command allows you to reset a specified probe or all probes to a new heading after launch. The "status probes" command will show the control codes of all your active probes. Examples: Turn probe af101 course 90 Turn all probes to course 270 LOCK PROBES: LOCK PROBES: LOCK PROBES: Lock Probe <code> [On] <ship> Lock All Probes [On] <ship> This command allows you to relock a specific probe or all probes on a new target after launch. The "status probes" command will show the control codes of all your active probes. - 14 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation Examples: Lock probe bg505 on rattler Lock all probes on mamba LOAD PROBES: LOAD PROBES: LOAD PROBES: LOAD LAUNCHERS: LOAD LAUNCHERS: LOAD LAUNCHERS: Load Launchers <list> [Proximit] <prox> [Time] <time> Load [All] Launchers [Proximit] <prox> [Time] <time> Unlike the torpedo tubes, the probe launchers will not load automatically, they must be loaded manually with this command. Probes do not require any energy to load or launch, the only requirment is that the launcher must not be damaged. At load time, all probes are assigned a control code which must be used to control a probe after it is launched. Examples: load launchers 4 5 6 prox 500 time 20 load all launchers 450 15 load probes 200 10 UNLOAD PROBES: UNLOAD PROBES: UNLOAD PROBES: UNLOAD LAUNCHERS: UNLOAD LAUNCHERS: UNLOAD LAUNCHERS: Unload Launchers <list> Unload All Launchers This command will unload the probes from all of the specified launchers. Examples: unload all launchers unload launchers 2 4 DETONATE PROBES: DETONATE PROBES: DETONATE PROBES: Detonate [Probe] <code> Detonate All [Probes] This command will allow you to prematurely destruct any one of, or all of your active probes. The "status probes" command will show the control codes of all your active probes. You may also control any enemy or ally probe if the control code is known. Examples: Detonate all Detonate vq637 - 15 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation STATUS PROBES: STATUS PROBES: STATUS PROBES: Status Probes This command will display the status of all probes launched by your ship. The display will look like the following: PROBE STATUS: Code Course Bearing Range Time Range/Target ya101 345 165 1200 12 853 Zantha zi102 120 300 2525 17 .... In the above display, the probe "ya101" is currently following course 345 degrees with a bearing from our ship of 165 degrees. It's current range from us is 1200 and has 12 cycles until destruct. It is locked on the Zantha and has a distance of 853 from the Zantha. Probe "zi102" is not locked on any target, but is following a manual course of 120 degrees. Examples: status probes STATUS LAUNCHERS: STATUS LAUNCHERS: STATUS LAUNCHERS: [Status] Launchers This status command will display the current state of all probe launchers. The following is a sample status display: LAUNCHER STATUS: Launcher Status Contents Prox Time Code 1 Ready Pxii 500 20 dg350 2 Damaged .... ... .. .... 3 Ready empty ... .. .... This display shows that launcher one contains a "Pxii" class probe with a proximity fuse set a range of 500, and a time fuse set to 20 cycles. The control code for this probe will be "dg350". Launcher two is damaged and is not functional but launcher three is ready to be loaded. Examples: status launchers launchers RAISE SHIELDS: RAISE SHIELDS: RAISE SHIELDS: Raise [Shields] <list> Raise All [Shields] This command allows you to raise all or specific shields if you lower them with the "lower" command. Initially all shields are "up". - 16 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation Examples: raise shields 1 2 3 4 raise all LOWER SHIELDS: LOWER SHIELDS: LOWER SHIELDS: Lower [Shields] <list> Lower All [Shields] Drop [Shields] <list> Drop All [Shields] This command allows you to lower all or specific shields. Normally you will want to keep all shields up, as they are initially. This may not be the case if your ship has been damaged and you are short on power. Shields have the highest priority for power utilization from the reactors and batteries. If you are using battery power, you may need to drop a number of shields to maintain the weapon systems. All shields require the same amount of power unless they are down or destroyed. Shields will not regenerate if they are down. Examples: lower all shields drop shields 1 2 3 lower 1 2 3 STATUS SHIELDS: STATUS SHIELDS: STATUS SHIELDS: [Status] Shields The shields status command will show you the current state of all the ship's shields. SHIELDS STATUS: Shield Field Status Functional Effective Regen. 1 0. UP 225eu 100% 225eu 100% 0.90% (front) 2 60. DOWN 225eu 100% 0eu 0% 0.00% (front right) 3 300 DOWN 225eu 100% 0eu 0% 0.00% (front left) 4 120 UP 225eu 100% 175ue 71% 0.64% (rear right) 5 240 UP 112eu 50% 56eu 25% 0.23% (rear left) 6 180 damaged ... ... ... ... ... (rear) The above shield status display is from a Federation Heavy Cruise. All ships have six shields, each shield protecting a specific portion of the ship called the shield's "field". Each field covers an area 60 degrees wide or 30 degrees to each side of the field values in the display. The status column of the display shows if the shield is UP, DOWN or 100 percent damaged. The column labeled "Functional" shows the maximum possible strength the shield may reach and the "Effective" column shows the current strength of each shield. The "Regen" column shows the rate at which the effective strength of each sheild will regenerate or "grow" every cycle. Both the functional and - 17 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation effective columns contain two values. The first is the hit that the shield will protect the ship from. The second number is the percent of maximum strength for that sheild. In the shield status display, shield one is up and is 100 percent functional and 100 percent effective. Once a shield's effective strength reaches the functional strength, it will stop regenerating. Shields two and three are 100 percent function but have been lowered to conserve power making the effective strength zero. Shield four is 100 percent functional but only 71 percent effective due to hits on that shield. The fifth shield is only 50 percent effective due to damage inflicted when hits reached the ship's hull through shield six. Shield number six is no longer functional and will no longer regenerate or comsume power. Examples: status shields shields TRANSPORT: TRANSPORT: TRANSPORT: BEAM: BEAM: BEAM: Transport <ship> Beam <ship> The transport or beam command will allow you to trade ships with any functional ally ship with a range of 3000 or less. Examples: beam altair beam to the agena transport enterprise SELF DESTRUCT: SELF DESTRUCT: SELF DESTRUCT: Self [Destruct] <time> Destruct <time> This command will start the self destruct sequence to the number of cycles specified. Once started, the time will count down by one each cycle. Self destruct may be aborted if the time is greater than five cycles. The size of the blast created when your ship explodes depends on the size and condition of your warp drives. If all of your warp drives have been destroy, no blast will occur unless your ship is carring a suicide bomb. The ships of certain nations always carry a suicide bomb which will add to the size of the explosion if you self destruct. The bomb will not explode if you are destroyed by probe or torpedo hit. Examples: self destuct 10 destruct 5 - 18 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation ABORT DESTRUCT: ABORT DESTRUCT: ABORT DESTRUCT: Abort Destruct Abort This command will abort a self destruct sequence if the destruct time is still greater than five cycles. Examples: abort destruct abort LIBRARY COMPUTER: LIBRARY COMPUTER: LIBRARY COMPUTER: Computer Ship <nation> <ship class> Computer Torpedo <torpedo class> Computer Probe <probe class> The library computer will display all specific information on any ship, torpedo or probe. Examples: computer ship klingon frigate computer torpedo mkvii computer probe pxii HELP: HELP: HELP: Help The help command will display a brief list of all valid commands. It will not show you the format of any of the commands but will refer you to this manual. Examples: help QUIT: QUIT: QUIT: Quit This command will abort the simulation at the end of the current cycle. Issuing this command will result in a penalty that will reduce the size of the evaluation. Examples: quit ORDER ALLY: ORDER ALLY: ORDER ALLY: TELL ALLY: TELL ALLY: TELL ALLY: Tell <ally> Target <enemy> Targeting Orders Tell <ally> Hold [Fire] Tell <ally> Open [Fire] Tell <ally> Disengage - 19 - Begin A Tacical Starship Simulation Tell <ally> Escort <ally> [At] <range> Mission Orders Tell <ally> Course <course> Tell <ally> Retreat Tell <ally> Cancel Tell <ally> Attack <enemy> Same as Cancel and Target Tell <ally> Report If you have ally ships, you may issue them any one of a number of general orders. There is actually to types of orders, who to shoot at, and what mission to perform. The orders Target, Hold Fire and Open Fire may be given before or after the orders Escort, Course or Retreat. Cancel will allow an ally to choose their one mission and Disengage will allow them to choose their own target. Issuing the Attack order is the same as issuing a Cancel mission order followed by a Target order. The Report order will instruct an ally to transmit his current orders to your ship for viewing. This report looks very much like a Report command except it also contains the ally's current mission and target. Examples: tell the agena to attack the derango order washington course 90 order enterprise escort armstrong at 5000 tell the terra report - 20 -