28.4.2000.1.0
Contents
The solar system you are currently living in experienced a major change around 4 billion years after the date you are reading this. The G2 class star called The Sun entered its final stage of life and consumed its remaining reserves of energy before starting to go Supernova. Long before this happened scientists on Earth had come to the conclusion that when the Sun did eventually explode, the resulting shockwaves would engulf even the fastest manned craft capable of escaping the solar system. So after many hundreds of years of debates, Earth decided that the only way for mankind to survive would be in a totally new form.
By this time computing power had increased so exponentially that even the smallest machines were capable of emulating every atom in the human body and advances in parallel networking had meant that it was now possible to emulate entire cities. Although these communities had no physical form, the inhabitants experienced such a rich and full life that even the most skeptical of humans were now beginning to doubt whether it was better to live in the physical world anymore.
Tests were made with tiny machines called Genies that were able to travel vast distances at speeds close to light, collect surrounding matter, reproduce themselves and repeat the process. They would collect together and form powerful computers that could once again simulate cities and eventually whole worlds and galaxies of beings without being tied down to the physical constraints and dependencies of the universe.
For the next 2 millennia a vast project was undertaken to digitize and collect every aspect of life on Earth. From the smallest insects to every animal found in the oceans, the entire history of Earth and every inhabitant of it was fed into the biggest database ever known to mankind. Using the remaining resources of the planet, the Genies took off into the void with this data and began their long journey to save humanity.
About 500 million years after this, the Sun had increased its luminosity to such an extent that all the water on Earth had evaporated into the atmosphere and all remaining lifeforms on the planet become extinct. 100 million years later, the last Genies to leave Earth recorded a spectacular Supernova that is still visible today as a reminder of what was once our home.
The Genies rebuilt our Solar System inside their giant networks of computers and reverse emulated our world back to the time just after the last Ice Age in a hope that we would be given a second chance at living a peaceful life. Every millennium they assess our progress and introduce small changes that are hoped to redirect our fate on a global scale. (Although as in the case of the Religion Meme, these changes don't always go as planned.)
With the advent of the new millennium the time has come to judge us once again, this time the Genies have created Void...
Welcome to the Void Flight Manual.
If this is your first time aboard the Valen V please take the time to read through and familiarize yourself with your new ship. Even if you have piloted other Valen Ore Industry Designs craft before we advise you to read the entire manual in order to make full use of the latest in off-world intergalactic spacecraft.
The Valen V fighter is designed to replace the Valen 3 series multipurpose craft, which as you may know, has been been instrumental in the exploring, policing and trading of the Auroa region. Its compact 2 seater design allows it to house an extremely powerful Charged Photon Pulse engine while leaving enough room for optional extras such as a full military grade suite of 3 weapons and extra 30 ton cargo hold.
After 3 years of designing, flight trials and modifications we believe that we have created a craft powerful and versatile enough to take on any mission、whether its deep space reconnaissance, local law enforcement or interplanetary trading, no other space craft combines the agility, speed and strength of Valen V.
Housed within honeycomb titanium shielding is the trusted Valen cockpit design, as with all Valen craft the main computer console provides you with a simple to use interface to operate all vital system functions. Beginning with the V series, we have also incorporated the pilot escape pod into the cockpit which will now save you precious seconds in the unlikely event of a full system failure. This pod will automatically send out a beacon to the last Space Station you visited and your insurance company will have a new Valen replacement ship waiting for you when you get there. Your current credit and status rating will be preserved but unless you have Cargo Insurance, your cargo and equipment will be lost.
The Valen V class of ships are now equipped with a remote control sensing device that allows you to control all aspects of the main computer from PDAs (Personal Digital Assistants) such as the Palm™ organizer. (Currently only this device is supported.)
To initiate the remote link it is necessary to install the file Void.prc
After installation, the program may be activated by clicking on the Void icon on the Application Launcher screen. When you enter Void you will be presented by a screen showing various types of ships. Tap this screen to start.
The first time you launch Void you will be asked to select Normal or Trade Only. The Normal option allows you to enter the full Void galaxy, whereas the Trade Only option lets you practice your trading skills without entering space.
Space stations are located close to every planet in the galaxy and are heavily policed by the Federal Police Agency who try to prevent trading in illegal items such as Narcotics and DNA and will attack any ships found carrying such items. They also serve to protect the Space Stations from pirates such as the notorious Aikos who have a reputation for attacking poorly defended ships and planets.
The area around Space Stations usually have a number of FPA ships patrolling, so please be aware of these rules:
- If you are carrying illegal items, prepare to confront the Police.
- It is illegal to enter this area if you do not intend to enter the Space Station.
- Direct landing on a planet is strictly forbidden (and dangerous) unless you have a Solar Pulse or similar engine.
- All pilots must pass through immigration/quarantine after entering a Station.
To enter a space station you must maneuver your craft in front of the docking bay doors and enter slowly. Stations always point their doors towards planets and spin slowly in order to maintain artificial gravity inside. Once inside, your ship's computer will automatically connect to the InterDock Network and will display the main docking page that allows you to access 5 areas of the Station:
Trade
The trading area of a Space Station is where you buy and sell items from various planets you have visited on your journey. Prices vary from planet to planet and a substantial amount of money can be made by buying from one place and selling to another.
Equip
From time to time you will need to upgrade your ship with new equipment, more powerful weapons, a larger cargo bay or extra fuel. The Galactic Trading and Commerce Group govern the quality of this equipment so all Space Stations in the galaxy have the same prices.
Status
A `black box` type device installed in the cockpit of Valen V craft constantly records all information about your current status. Although it has enough memory for over 30,000 hours of flight, it will transfer its memory banks to the Space Station computer whenever you are docked. To view a summary of this data you may bring up the Status screen to show; your current rank, cash, cargo weight, total assets, number of kills, number of completed missions, number of hyperspace jumps and the overall distance traveled (ODT.)
Map
A comprehensive map of the entire galaxy can be accessed from this part of the computer, you may also view details about each planet and jump directly into hyperspace from here.
Mission
From time to time you will be offered to perform missions for various planets or corporations, this screen will give you details about the current mission undertaken.
Leave
To leave the space station and enter the outer atmosphere of the planet, press this button. After the automatic undocking sequence is complete you will be facing the planet and have the space station directly behind you. You may at any time reenter the Station again.
The main flight display is divided into two sections, the top part of the screen displays the view from one of the external ship cameras. The target crosshair is in the center of the display and changes shape when an object is in range.
The lower portion of the screen shows the main computer console panel:
The left side of the panel has 3 meters showing your current Velocity (SPD), distance from the planet's surface (ALT) and an indicator (DNG) which will flash rapidly when the computer's AI system detects potential danger.
Please note that the Valen V must be equipped with a Solar Pulse engine to land on most planets. Attempting to enter the inner atmosphere without one will cause serious damage.
The Valen's pitch is shown by a small dot that moves up and down a vertical bar. Although you are flying in free space your ship maintains a 'virtual level' to help you navigate near planets.. When the dot is in the middle of the bar, the ship is traveling level.
On the right-hand side of the panel there are 2 meters showing the current Energy level of your craft`s batteries (ENG) and also the temperature of the Laser systems (LSR). The number of available Missiles and ECM devices is also displayed here.
The radar is located in the center of the panel and displays the location of nearby objects, the V shape represents the area in view from the cockpit. Around the outside of the radar there is a small dot that shows the direction to the nearest docking station, when the dot is hollow the station is above you, when it is filled the station is below you. The GTCG provides the following guidelines for finding and entering a Space Station:
After leaving Hyperspace fly directly towards the planet while keeping an eye on the Space Station locator on your radar. When the planet fills most of the screen and the ALT meter shows 1/4, turn 180 degrees around and fly back towards the Station. When the Station is in sight, align up directly in front of it and proceed ahead at half speed. When within close range, slow down and enter the bay doors directly head on.
Failure to enter the space station correctly can be fatal.
The radar is divided into 4 quadrants that display the current selected Laser, Missile, ECM or View. You can tap on one of the 4 quadrants to change the current selection. Tapping on the V changes between Front and Rear views.
The Left and Right keys activate side thrusters that control yaw, while the Up and Down keys activate vertical thrusters for changing pitch. You may reverse these keys from the Preferences menu. The Thrust button is used to fire rear mounted Ion-Thrusters for maneuvering your ship around, please keep an eye on your Energy as accelerating uses fuel.
Press Fire/Use to fire the selected Laser, Missile or ECM device.
Selecting Preferences from the game at any point allows you to change:
Space Dust - Turns on/off the small particles of dust that help you judge your speed and location.
- Invert Up/Down - Swap the Up and Down keys
- Screen Inverting - Invert the main 3D screen
- Colour - For devices that support colour, this switches between Colour and Black&White modes.
Your craft is currently fitted with grade C military weapons as required by the Federal Police Agency. This section will give you an overview of this upgrade.
Located in the front and rear of the Valen V are Cold Activated Laser cannons providing you with a sustained 10 Megakol burst. Both units are equipped with a safety system which powers down the laser when the Kopanium rods reach critical temperatures, this new feature now prevents the core implosion which has been a common complaint about older craft.
Your craft is capable of housing the following additional upgrades:
(please note that not all upgrades are available on all planets)
Electronic Counter Measures
Very powerful electromagnetic transmitters that fire out the front of the craft, they work by taking a 'snapshot' of all ship transmissions at the time of launch. They then sit and wait transmitting dummy signals that makes it appear to the Missile that the ship has been destroyed. Effective range ~4Km, active time <30 seconds. Some system functions may become unstable in close proximity to an active ECM device.
Exonite IV Medium Range Homing Missiles
Automatically programmed by the main computer whenever an object passes under the crosshair to apprehend and destroy (with a maximum blast radius of <3Km) all but the fastest of vessels. The missile launcher is located in the lower front of the craft at an angle of 22 degrees down (this now reduces the recoil and backtrace problem found in ships using these projectiles.)
SafeDock™ Automatic Docking Computer
Providing a 99.6% successful docking rate this option includes light weight Tractor Field Thrusters fitted to the side of the ship that lock on to the outer docking bay door signals. Automatically activated by maneuvering at least 5 km in front of the space station and coming to a halt with the station inside the target sight. Cannot be deactivated once locked on.
Photon Laser Enhancement
Designed to supplement the standard CAL cannons, these lasers will double your fire power to 20 Megakols. 6 rapid-fire burst capacitors reserve energy between charges to achieve sustained fire, unlike standard CAL systems that require a 30 millisecond recharge.
Large Cargo Bay
This extended cargo bay is attached to the lower hold of the ship allowing an additional 30 tons of space. Anti-inertia devices ensure that the bay does not affect flight dynamics.
HyperJump Unit
Allows one trip of up to a distance of 210 Light Years. These expensive devices can only be used once before becoming unstable.
Cargo Insurance
This will insure all of your cargo (and extended cargo bay) plus equipment against theft or destruction. Please read small print for details.
This is a one claim policy, after which a new policy must be purchased at full price. Claims must be made within 30 days of loss and can only be made for entire Cargo bay, Extended Cargo bay and Full Equipment contents. Policy does not apply to loss due to Supernova activity or due to falling into Blackholes. Replacement will be made after a full investigation is completed into the loss. Offer not open to employees of the Ayu Insurance Group or affiliated companies.
Fuel
The Valen V has a maximum capacity for a 10 light year Hyperspace jump and you may purchase additional fuel at all Space Stations. Short term energy for the flight thrusters and shields come from Lithium Cells that are recharged for free while the ship is docked.
The Void galaxy is populated by over 400 planets each of which is classed by the Hule and Kurt Scale to be in one of 3 stages of development:
Class A
Rich, well developed planets that enjoy a range of plentiful recyclable resources. These planets have reached the level where crime is all but totally eliminated, wars are nonexistent and hardships such as famine and poverty are dealt with in a swift and efficient manner.
Governments are usually Corporate, Democracy or Unified and trading is safe and usually predictable. Illegal items such as Narcotics and DNA are not only banned, but more importantly totally undesired by its population. Income for these planets tends to be generated internally from clever uses of energy.
Class B
Semi-developed planets in the B class house the most diverse of inhabitants. While for the most part enjoying a comfortable life, many inhabitants of these planets still crave the dangerous things in life. Crime and poverty is usually high and this is reflected in their relaxed trading restrictions on banned or dangerous goods . Natural resources are quite often still in abundance, so the need of items such as Ore and Minerals is usually low. Common sources of income are mining and agriculture.
Governments include, Communist, Dictatorship and Anarchy.
Class C
These developing planets are quite often newly inhabited (either by evolution or artificial seeding) worlds with a low level of technical knowledge. Space stations for these worlds are provided and maintained by the Galactic Trade and Commerce Group. Items such as Luxuries, Gold, Diamonds, Narcotics etc. are not usually found on these planets and so the people have no need for them.
When governments do exist on these worlds they are usually Volatile, Undeveloped or Free.
To navigate around the galaxy you will need to use the Galaxy Map page. This will show both your Current Location and the current Selected Planet. To obtain details of the Selected Planet from the Docking Stations Navigation computer press the Details button on the top of the screen. You may also query the database to find a planet by name, click on the Find button. Once you have chosen the planet next on your route press the HyperSpace button to jump into its outer atmosphere.
Press the Zoom button to get a detailed look at the area around the Selected Planet, large dots show planets that are within range of your ship's long range fuel capacity. As your ship has a maximum range of 10 light years at a time, you should choose your route carefully.
To survive in Void you will have to learn how to trade wisely. The trading area of all docking stations feature a sophisticated computer that keeps track of prices and quantities of all items on sale on the planet. All prices are in UCR (Universal Credits) and weights for each item are indicated by either t (Ton), kg (Kilogram) or g (Gram). Before departing the space station be sure to check the quantities in your cargo bay as its very difficult to get refunds later on.
The 5 columns of this screen show the Item type, Unit type (U), price to buy or sell (P), quantity available on the planet (Q) and the amount of the item you have in your cargo bays (I). A value in the Quantity (Q) column indicates how much of the item is currently in stock on the space station.
Item Unit Average Price Minerals t 9 cr Ore t 10 cr Luxuries t 32 cr Machinery t 34 cr Alloys t 35 cr Rare Artifacts kg 64 cr Radioactive kg 65 cr Platinum kg 86 cr Gold kg 87 cr Diamonds g 94 cr Narcotics kg 143 cr DNA g 152 cr Narcotics are banned on all planets in the galaxy.
Cryogenically frozen DNA was banned by the Galactic Trade and Commerce Group a number of years ago after artificial seeding experiments by certain class B planets caused a fatal imbalance in the planet's evolutionary process. The virus known as Etola evolved into strain that was impossible to detect or kill, the planet and its citizens had to be vaporized to stop the spread of the deadly virus across the galaxy.
Click on the Buy or Sell buttons to make your trade. The graph shows the prices for the item on the last 5 planets visited, use this information to determine when and where to trade.
Enter the amount you want to buy/sell and press OK. The Station's computers will automatically update your account and the cargo transfer will take place.
When you enter Void you will start as a Trainee. You Rank will advance with every Kill, Trade and Mission you complete and eventually you elevate past Novice and into the realms of an Expert. A select few of you may then become Masters.
From time to time you may encounter other Valen pilots who, like yourself have every intention to become a Master too.
Use your skills wisely.
After proving to the GTCG that you can perform basics such as Combat, Space Docking and Trading you will eventually reach the level of Novice. Your name and craft number will then be registered with the Central Federation computer so that Space Stations know that you are qualified to perform missions.
Most missions will involve traveling to a planet and delivering an item or person, sometimes you may be asked to collect a lost or stolen item and return it. When you have proven yourself in battle you may also be asked to rescue a planet from an alien invasion, or deliver dangerous cargo.
Most missions pay well and they usually improve your reputation, so if you are offered, accept them. You can however, at any point while docked abort a mission by pressing the Abort button on the Mission screen.
There are various ways to make money in Void, this is an example of the some strategies used:
Trader
This is the simplest and safest method to make money and will take some time before you start making a fortune. It is however a good way to start exploring Void. Be careful not to buy illegal items if you are offered them as you will be hunted down fairly quickly. Most Valen craft you meet will be Traders or Bounty Hunters.
Bounty Hunter
Each time you destroy a ship you will automatically be paid a bounty by one of the enemies of the vessel you destroyed. You will also have a chance to pick up the cargo left behind, unfortunately there is no way of knowing what you have picked up until its in the Cargo hold. Most times you will find items such as Minerals or some Rare Artifacts but occasionally you may pick up a cargo worth a fortune or even your life! This is one of the risks of bounty hunting, if you pick up a cargo of illegal items prepare to face the police or worse...
Pirate
Most pirates in the Void galaxy such as the Aikos prey on weakly defended craft that look like they are carrying valuable amounts of cargo. Pirates are very good at disguising themselves as honest trading ships until they spot something that takes their fancy, at which point they attack.
Mercenary
Mercenaries make their money by performing missions for their own and other planets. Although this can be time consuming without purchasing HyperJump units, the rewards can be high. The Tabisan are such a race of people, these experienced pilots explore the galaxy at their leisure looking for appealing work. Although the Tabisan are usually very friendly they are also ruthless in battle, they carry some of the most advanced weaponry known and should be approached with caution. Legend has it that the Tabisan also possess the knowledge to find wormholes through to other galaxies.
Black Market Trader
This is probably the most dangerous but potentially profitable ways of making money. Narcotics and DNA take up small amounts of cargo space and can produce a very high degree of income due to the wild price fluctuations across planets. The only drawback is that you will become a fugitive wanted by both the Police and greedy pirates.
To continue using Void please register it for a small fee at www.palmgear.com
You will be emailed a personal registration code that must be entered into Void by selecting Register from the menu. Please be careful to check your code and make sure that all capitals, lower case letters and numbers are correct.
NB Some fonts make certain letters and numbers appear similar, such as I and 1, 0 and O. If you are unable to enter the code correctly try viewing it with a different font.
Please visit www.pdaBusiness.com for other Palm based software.
Email can be sent to support@pdabusiness.com
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© 2000 Giles Goddard. All rights reserved.