NEW STUFF IN VERSION 2.6: DREAD Sysop Mode SYSOPS! Please read SYSOP.DOC for NEW instructions on calling Dr. Dread, calling the Sysop Mode, and Maintenance. This opens the SYSOP MODE program for deleting players who may have obscene names, moving players to Zone one who may be stuck in a different zone due to a bug. (No such bug reported, but there could be a first time!) Allows inputting of the registration key. It also shows all the users by different sorting criteria -- shows by alias as well as real names. You may also reset the game in sysop mode. MORE GLECKLES & EXPERIENCE PER BATTLE: Players now receive 10x more gleckles and experience per battle. Capture Dr. Dread more quickly! ;) 100 ZONES: There are now 100 Zones and more Command Centers have been added. In the first several zones there are command centers to make it easier to move from zone to zone and still have safety while trying to increase from rank 1 to 2. STARDUST: When a new agent joins the force, s/he is introduced to StarDust, who is utilized as an orienteer -- guiding each new agent with instructions and hints until the agent reaches Rank 2. StarDust is also around in Rank 2 greater ranks, but not in a guiding capacity. ZONEPAK: On the bottom right of the screen while in the Zones, you will see a (Z)onepak. This is where you will store various items which you can purchase from one of Dr. Dread's Lab technicians while in the zone. STRANGE MAN IN GREEN LAB COAT: This is Dr. Dread's Lab Tech. He will offer to see you certain items if you can catch him. He is a very nervous little man and may disappear at any moment, so hurry and make your purchases and let him get on his way. Items he will sell: Waves & Life: He will offer these at a cost much less than can be obtained from the Command Center. Bioscanner: When you walk over another agent, it will ask if you wish to (C)hallenge or (B)ioscan the agent. Bioscan will show you their equipment and Life so that you can decide if you really want to challenge them. Radar Tracker: When used will show you which zone each agent is located in, and if they are in the zone or in the command center of that zone. Invisibility: When used, this will make you invisible to all other players until the next day you play. If another player bumps into you, however, s/he will still be asked if s/he wishes to Challenge or Bioscan you. Your little guy will show to you as "invisible" to remind you that you are invisible. Transmitter: Allows you to send messages from the zones instead of having to go to the command center. Teleport Tokens: These allow you to teleport to any of the 100 zones. Using "1" will take you to the command center in zone 1. 0 will cancel. Map of Zones: This is a full-color map which shows all 100 zones, the doors to each zone and the door colors. The maps wear out with use and you'll note that the paper map is worth 2 uses, but you can purchase a heavy-duty map which is worth more uses. BABBETTE'S BOUTIQUE: Find Babbette's Boutique in the Command Center. Select the name of an agent to send a gift to, then select the gift. You will gain romance points each time you send a gift. You will also send a card to the agent receiving the gift. Then when they log on or check their messages, Babbette's Messenger Service will deliver the gift to them along with your card. As you accumulate Romance Points, Venus will come down to you and trade 50 Romance Points for items of more value in your quest for Dr. Dread. COLOR: More color has been added to text in the game. AGENTS ON LINE: Other agents on-line are now a different color so they can be differentiated from those who are off-line. MISSION GLECKLES: Mission gleckles are now worth 75, instead of 30 each. MISSION EXPERIENCE: You now get 600 experience for completing a Mission, rather than 300. SYSOP MODE: REGISTRATION & USER EDITOR In order to run the sysop user editor and maintenance function you must call DREAD by adding the word "sysop" at the end of the command line as the 2nd variable passed. OTHER ADDED FEATURES: Users may now put spaces in their aliases. If they type a duplicate or too short alias, it now clears the line before allowing them to retry. Bank: You may now select all the gleckles you have for deposit or withdrawal by typing 1. Readme.txt has also been copied to sysop.txt since a few have complained that there are no installation instructions. Which there are, but they haven't looked in the readme.txt file. Player challenges bug is fixed. Now you can REALLY only have 5 player challenges a day. 2.1 was allowing an unlimited number. Messages being sent by phone were being erased before getting a chance to read them if you happened to be walking across another player -- as the "Do you wish to challenge agent blahblah?" came up. This has been fixed so they are now on separate lines and won't overwrite one another. Messages are now given to you upon entrance to the game, rather than having to report to the command center. NEW STUFF IN VERSION 2.1: Fixed bug in private phone chat. NEW STUFF IN VERSION 2.0: GLECKLE QUOTA: You begin each day with a 30 gleckle quota to find gleckles in the Zones. This is the number of gleckles distributed for you to find. As you defeat a droid or a challengee, you earn an additional 10 gleckles for your quota. QUARTERS: It now costs to stay in the quarters. You will pay based on your rank. Funds will be deducted from your account if you are not carrying gleckles. It's best to stay in the Zones so others can challenge you while you're off-line. You suffer no penalties at all for losing a battle off-line so stay in the Zones to allow other players the fun of challenging you. KEY INVENTORY: Key inventory can now be seen when showing the regular inventory. SHIELDS: Shields have been done away with. Your account is credited the value of the shield you once owned. BATTLES: Battle field is larger. Battlers are smaller. Droid hits are more like agent hits now. To knock out the Droid you must deplete his life as shown at the bottom right of the screen. You must hit a grey spot to make it black, or you must hit an entire black row in order for a hit to count. PLAYER CHALLENGES: Players can now challenge other players to a friendly competition. The challengee has unlimited waves and does not suffer any penalties. The challenger can earn experience and gleckles by challenging, but can also lose experience of s/he loses. The challenger is also limited to the number of waves and life in his/her possession. To defeat the challengee, you must deplete all of their Life. The challengee's life is never actually lost however when they return to the game. This is designed for off-line challenges, the computer plays for the challengee. But you may also challenge an on-line player. The computer will still play for the challengee however. STORE: More gear options have been added in the store. Names of items have been changed to make them more exciting. hehe (yah, shure). WAVES & LIFE: They're cheaper now. (For all you whiners! ;) MESSAGES: The message database is now limited to 100 messages. That should probably be ample messages for leaving messages. I doubt too many players leave a lot of messages. If you find that it isn't enough and your players are pretty verbose, let me know and I will increase that count. I'm just trying to keep your hard disk cleaned up. The maintenance routine will delete any messages over 100 messages beginning with the oldest. NEW STUFF VERSION 1.9: Many zones now have shortcuts to and from other zones which can only be entered via the colored doors. To enter through the colored doors, you must go on a key quest. By trying to enter a colored door, you will be told how you can obtain the colored key for that door. Once you have that color of key, you may enter freely through all the doors of that color. BATTLES: When a Droid comes upon you in the Zones for a battle, you are now asked if you wish to try to disassemble the Droid. This keeps the screen from redrawing if you don't have the waves or life to battle the droid and would have to yell to get out anyway. MULTIPLE PLAYERS IN THE ZONES: If you are on a multi-node or single-node BBS you can now see the other players that are in the zones. If the other player is on line while you are on line, you will see their movement only as you move. If that player is transported to a mission, battle or trap, they will disappear from the zone while they are away. As you pass over the spot where the other player is sitting, you will be told who that player is and offered a chance to challenge them to a friendly battle. DREAD HEADS: In the Personnel office you may view a list of Dread Heads. Those who have battled Dr. Dread's body guard Droid and lived to capture Dr. Dread. It lists agent names, ranks, scores, and the date of capture. NEW PLAYER HINT: You should spend all your gleckles on life and waves in the first 3 Ranks as the Droids in the first 5 zones are fairly easy to beat. You should start investing your gleckles in equipment around the middle of Rank 3. Thanks!