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             BATTLES OF TAU SETI




I. GENERAL INFORMATION.

Tau Seti is a star system in turmoil.  The population has divided
itself into two factions.  One faction is convinced that pollution
is destroying their civilization and is dedicated to the fight to end it.
They have named their organization: Environmentally Concerned Citizens
Against Pollution On Our Planet (or ECCAPOOP for short).

The other faction is convinced that the dangers of pollution are greatly
overexaggerated and are dedicated to fighting the effort to reduce pollution.
They have rather facetiously named their organization: We Are People
Always Dumping On Our Planet (or WAPADOOP for short).

The argument has expanded to the point of open warfare.  Both sides have
built star bases able to withstand up to 100 weapon hits as command
centers...

Battles of Tau Seti is a one or two player game which takes place
in a two dimensional battle area.  The object of the game is to
score more victory points than your opponent.  The first player
to score 100 points is the winner.  In a one player game, the computer takes
the place of the WAPADOOP player.

GETTING STARTED.  This game requires VGA.  You must have the following
files in the current directory:

   bts.exe
   cships.cls
   ship1.jtb
   ship2.jtb
   ship3.jtb
   ship4.jtb
   ship5.jtb
   ship6.jtb
   let1.jtb
   let2.jtb
   ex1.jtb
   ex2.jtb
   ex3.jtb
   base.jtb
   missile.jtb
   intro.jtb

Start the game by entering bts (Enter <bts s> if you do not want sound
effects on the opening screen).

BATTLE AREA.  The battle area is a grid which is divided into
100 quadrants.  Each quadrant is divided into 100 sectors.  Each
sector is divided into 100 locations.  Thus the battle area can
be thought of as a grid with 1000 X positions and 1000 Y positions,
giving a total of 1,000,000 distinct locations.  The screen shows
a 10 by 10 grid which represents either the entire battle Area (ZOOM1),
one quadrant (ZOOM2), or one sector (ZOOM3).  Use the (Z)oom, (U)nzoom,
and arrow keys to move the cursor and display the desired screen.
Quadrants are referred to with a two digit number of the form AB where
A is the row and B is the column.  Sectors are referred to with
a four digit number of the form AB CD where AB is the quadrant
that contains the sector and C and D are the row and column of
the sector within the quadrant.  Locations are referred to by
a six digit number of the form AB CD EF.  Thus location 43 67 24
refers to row 2 and col 4 of sector 43 67.

GAME TURNS.  The game is played in game turns.  Each game turn
consists of the following phases:
     -ECCAPOOP order phase
     -WAPADOOP order phase
     -combat phase
     -movement phase
     -resolution phase

GRID ITEMS.  Various symbols may appear inside of a grid position.
 The symbols are:

    blue ship pointing up........ECCAPOOP ship
    red ship pointing down.......WAPADOOP ship
    small dot....................scanned space
    small square with star.......repair base
    white base icon..............star base

Simple ship symbols represent small (less than 11 modules) ships. More
complex ship symbols represent medium sized ships.  The most complex
symbols represent large ships containing more than 30 modules.  When
viewing the grid at less than maximum zoom, a general rule
is that if any location within the grid position contains one
of the items, the item's symbol appears in the grid position.
For example, suppose you are viewing the grid at zoom level 1
(you are looking at the entire battle area) and the grid position
for quadrant 24 contains an ship symbol.  This means that quadrant 24
contains at least 1 ship.  You must zoom in on that quadrant to
discover how many ships are in quadrant 24.

STAR BASES.  Each player has 1 star base.  The star base is the
place in the battle area where the player builds ships and armies.
Attacking the opponent's Star base is the only way to accumulate victory
points.  Therefore, it may be a good idea to keep a portion of your
fleet next to your star base in order to protect it.  The ECCAPOOP
star base will be randomly located in the bottom right of the battle
area.  The WAPADOOP star base will be randomly located in the top left
of the battle area.

REPAIR BASES.  Two to twenty repair bases are randomly placed
in the center of the battle area.  Under certain conditions (See
Repair) damaged ships may be repaired at repair bases.  Control
of repair bases also gives a large bonus in reinforcement units.
The color of the repair base icon represents the following:

   white  -- status unknown
   blue   -- ECCAPOOP has at least 1 army on it (WAPADOOP has none)
   orange -- WAPADOOP has at least 1 army on it (ECCAPOOP has none)
   tan    -- no armies on base
   purple -- base contains both ECCAPOOP and WAPADOOP armies

SCANNED SPACE.  Each player can see an enemy ship only if it is
in range of a friendly ship equipped with an operable scanner.
The scanned space symbol shows you the extent of your scanner
ranges.  If the scanned space contains an enemy ship, the enemy
ship symbol appears in place of the scanned space symbol.

REINFORCEMENT UNITS (RU's).  RU's are the monetary unit you use to
buy ships and armies and pay for repairs.  Each player begins the game
with a 5000 RU's.  It costs 2 RU's to repair a module.  Each player receives
an additional amount of RU's each turn depending on the setup
parameters.  A player also receives RU's each turn for each victory
point accumulated and for each repair base controlled.


ARMIES.  Armies are used to invade and defend repair bases.  Each player
can buy up to 100 armies.  The following table describes the possible army
types:

    TYPE            COST      COMBAT RATING    ICON COLOR

       Militia         100 RU's        1            green
       Light Regular   200 RU's        3            blue
       Heavy Regular   300 RU's        5            dark purple

The combat rating of an army describes its offensive capabilities.
In addition, each army is assigned an efficiency rating (ER) between 0 and
100 which represents the experience and strength of the army.  Armies with
an ER of 100 are at 100% of maximum strength.  Armies with an ER of 0 are
destroyed.

SHIPS.  Ships consist of one or more modules.  Each module performs
a specific function, has a unique cost, and has a unique mass.
There are 10 module types:

REACTOR MODULES (RCT).  Reactor modules supply the power for all
other functions.  A ship must have at least one working reactor
for any other module to operate.  One reactor module is all you
need, although you may decide to design ships with more than one.

ENGINE MODULES (ENG).  Engine modules provide the thrust to move
the ship.  Each engine module supplies a certain amount of thrust
which is determined by your setup parameters.  Larger ships will
require more engine modules.

SCANNER MODULES (SCN).  Scanner modules scan the surrounding space
for enemy ships.  A ship equipped with an operating scanner module
can see 100 locations in any direction.

SHIELD MODULES (SHD).  Shield modules provide defense from enemy
laser attacks.  Each shield module has a chance of absorbing an
enemy laser attack and preventing any damage to your ship.  If
a shield module absorbs a laser attack, it has a chance of overloading
and becoming inoperable.

POINT DEFENSE MODULES (PDF).  Point defense modules provide defense
from enemy missile attacks.  Each point defense module has a chance
of intercepting a missile.  Intercepted missiles cause half the
damage as usual.

SHORT RANGE LASER MODULES (SRL). Each working short range laser
module can fire one short range laser at an enemy ship per turn.
SRL modules have a range of 10 locations and cause damage to
one module.

LONG RANGE LASER MODULES (LRL).  Each long range laser module
can fire one long range laser at an enemy ship per turn.  LRL
modules have a range of 20 locations and cause damage to two modules.

SHORT RANGE MISSILE MODULES (SRM).  Each short range missile module
can fire one short range missile at an enemy ship per turn. SRM
modules have a range of 20 locations and cause damage to two modules.
Each SRM module begins with 5 short range missiles.

LONG RANGE MISSILE MODULES (LRM).  Each long range missile module
can fire one long range missile at an enemy ship per turn.  LRM
modules have a range of 40 locations and cause damage to four
modules.  Each LRM module begins with 2 long range missiles.

ARMOR MODULES (ARM).  Armor modules provide additional protection
from any type of enemy attack.  ARM modules do nothing.  However,
they are invulnerable; they can never be made inoperable.  They
provide protection by absorbing hits that would otherwise damage
a module.  (When a ship is hit, a number of operable modules are
made inoperable.  The selection is random.  However, if an armor
module is selected, nothing happens since ARM modules are invulnerable).

The following table shows the mass and cost of each module type:

         Number   Module Type     Mass     Cost

           0         RCT            2       40
           1         ENG            2       30
           2         SCN            1       40
           3         SHD            1       10
           4         PDF            1       10
           5         SRL            1        5
           6         LRL            2       15
           7         SRM            1       10
           8         LRM            2       20
           9         ARM            3       20

G BOMBS. In addition to the player designed ships, players may
build a special pre-designed ship called a G Bomb.  To build a
G Bomb, enter 99 in the build ship screen.  G Bombs consist of
5 ARM modules and 1 RCT module.  The RCT module of a G Bomb has
been tuned to become sensitive to the proximity of enemy ships.
If an enemy ship with a working RCT module comes to within 15
locations of a working G Bomb, the G Bomb will explode.  Exploding
G Bombs cause damage to all ships within 30 locations, with closer
ships receiving proportionally more damage.  After exploding,
the RCT module of the G Bomb becomes inoperable.  The bomb can
then be repaired as usual and reused.  If a G Bomb takes damage
by enemy fire or through collisions, the bomb will explode.  G
Bombs behave like any other ship in all other aspects.

SET UP.  When you begin a new game, you are given the opportunity
to set certain game parameters.  These are:

Number of players. 1 or 2.

Repair.  The number you enter is the number of modules repaired
each turn if the repair conditions are met.

Thrust.  The number determines how much thrust is delivered
by each working engine module.  Higher numbers lead to faster
ships.

Player RU.  The number entered is the Reinforcement unit
multiplier that is used to determine how many bonus RU's
the player receives for victory points and repair bases.
Higher numbers lead to greater bonuses.  Use these parameters
to handicap a two player game.  In a one player game, these
parameters are ignored(both are automatically set to 5).

Delay.  Controls the length of delay between the display of various
messages.

Level.  The number entered determines the strength of the computer
opponent in a one player game.  Higher numbers lead to a stronger
computer opponent.  This parameter is ignored in a two player
game.

Sound.  Lets the player turn on and off sound effects.

Number of repair bases.  Lets the player choose between 2 and 20 bases.

II. ORDER PHASE.

Within each player's order phase, he can design ships, build ships,
build armies, examine various summaries, and give orders to individual
ships.  E(X)IT ends the players order phase.

II-A. ZOOM1 OPTIONS.  The following options appear on the zoom1 screen,
which is the screen showing the entire battle area:

(B)UILD.  Use the (B)UILD screens to build ships or armies.  Enter
the ship class number or the army type.  Ships are built and
placed near your star base.  Armies are built and placed in your
star base.  Armies start with an ER of 50.  You are limited to 100
ships and 100 armies.

(S)ummary.  The (S)ummary command brings up a summary sub-menu which allows
you to pick between ship, repair base, class, and army summaries.

The ship summary shows the following information:

       # - the ship number
   class - the ship class
location - the ship location
     crs - the ship course
     spd - the ship speed
     arm - the number of armies contained by the ship
     tm  - the total number of modules on the ship
     dm  - the number of damaged modules on the ship
     de  - the quadrant number of the destination if the ship is under
       a MVT order
     ok  - Y if the ship has a working reactor, N otherwise
    emy  - Y if the ship is in weapon range of an enemy with at least 1
       undamged module, N otherwise
      w  - Y if the ship has been given an order to fire a weapon, N
       otherwise
     mov - a movement order (mvt,fll,acc,stp) if the ship has one
     rep - Y if the ship is under repair
     tar - the target number if the ship has one

The repair base summary shows the following for each repair base:
the repair base number, the quadrant where it is located, the number of
friendly and enemy armies it contains, and the name of the player who owns
it.  Question marks are shown if the information is unavailable.  To be
able to see detailed information about a repair base, one of your ships
must scan it or you must have an army on it.

The class summary shows information about the choosen ship class similar to
that shown in the define class screen.

The army summary shows the following for each army:

     # - the army number
  type - the army type icon
   loc - the army location.  If it is a number, it is the number of
     the ship transporting the army.  Otherwise, SB means that the
     army is on your star base and RBx means that the army is on repair
     base x.


(A)utoshoot.  There are three types of automatic fire available.  Selecting
autoshoot from the main menu will cause the computer to assign weapon
targets for all of your available ships.  The targets must be scanned
enemy ships with at least 1 undamaged module in range of your ship.
Autoshoot will also target the enemy star base if it can.  You can then
selectivly overlay the targets for individual ships if you wish.
Selecting autoshoot from the main menu again will clear the targets from
all your ships, in effect giving a general "hold your fire" order.
You can toggle between autoshoot on and autoshoot off as many times as you
like.  The second type of autoshoot occurs at the zoom2 level when the
cursor is placed over a sector that contains friendly ships.  Selecting
autoshoot then will cause the computer to assign a target for all friendly
ships is that sector.  The third type of autoshoot occurs at the zoom3
level when the cursor is placed over a friendly ship.  Selecting autoshoot
then will cause the computer to assign a target for just that one ship.
There is no corresponding "hold your fire" toggle at the zoom2 or zoom3
levels.  You must access the fire weapon screen to cancel the orders.

(D)EFINE CLASS.  Each player must design his own ship classes.
Ship classes consist of at least one module and no more than
100 modules.  The maximum number of any one type of module is
9, except for ARM modules.  You can have up to 99 ARM modules
in a ship class.  Each player can design up to 20 different classes.
You cannot erase or modify a class after you have designed it.

The numbers to the right of the module names in the design ship
screen show the current number of that module, the cost for
one module of that type, and the mass for one module of that type.
Enter the module number to add a module of that type to your design.
Enter <shift> and the module number to remove that module.  Upon
exiting, you will be given an opportunity to name your ship class.

SHIP ATTRIBUTES.  In addition to the modules numbers, a number
of other ship attributes is displayed on the design ship screen.
These include size, mass, cost, and maximum acceleration (MAXA).

SIZE.  The total number of modules.

MASS.  The total mass of the ship.  Each module type has a different
associated mass.

COST.  The cost to purchase the ship.

MAXA.  Battles of Tau Seti conforms to the Newtonian laws of motion in
two dimensions.  Ships require thrust to start them moving in
a direction.  Once moving, they require thrust to change their
direction or to stop.  A journey from one location to another
usually consists of accelerating during the first half of the
journey and deaccelerating during the second half.  MAXA represents
the maximum amount of acceleration that the ship is able to produce.
It is directly dependent on the mass of the ship, the number
of working ENG modules, and the setup parameters.

In addition to the ship attributes shown on the DESIGN CLASS screen,
a number of other ship attributes and information indicators is
shown on the GET SHIP screen and on the zoom3 screen when
the cursor is positioned over a ship.  These are:

CLASS NAME.  The name of the class.

OPERABLE MODULES.  The number of undamaged modules on the ship.

VELOCITY. This is the speed in locations per turn.

ARMIES.  The number of armies carried by the ship.

COURSE.  This is the direction the ship is moving in standard
degree representation.

DISTANCE.  This is the distance and bearing between the current
ship and the last friendly ship which you have accessed with a
(G)et ship command.  If the current ship is the first ship you
have accessed this turn, the distance is to your star base.

RCT.  This indicator appears if the ship has no working reactors.

DNG.  This indicator appears if the computer has determined that
the ship is in danger of leaving the battle area, and thus being
destroyed.

FLL.  This indicator appears if the ship is following another
ship.

TOW.  This indicator appears if the ship is towing or being towed
by another ship.

EMY.  This indicator appears if the ship is in weapon range of
an enemy ship with at least 1 undamaged module.

WPN.  This indicator appears if the ship has been given an order
to fire weapons.

MVT.  This indicator appears if the ship has been given an order
to move to a specific location.

ACC.  This indicator appears if the ship has been given an order
to accelerate in some direction.

RPR.  This indicator appears if the ship has met the repair conditions.

Note: There is an important distinction between a working module and
an undamaged module.  Undamaged modules are modules that have not been
damaged.  Working modules are undamaged modules that operate due to the
presence of an undamaged RCT module.  ARM modules are always undamaged
since they are invulnerable.  When you are looking at an enemy ship,
you are given the number of undamaged modules, but you must use your best
judgement to determine if the ship has a working reactor.  The EMY
indicator and autoshoot options are also based on undamaged modules.

II-B. ZOOM2 OPTIONS.

(E)xamine armies.  If you position the cursor over a sector that contains
a repair base or your star base and select this option, you will
obtain a report detailing all of the armies contained on that repair or star
base.

(A)UTOSHOOT.  Gives random firing orders to all friendly ships in the selected
sector.


II-C. ZOOM3 OPTIONS.

(E)xamine armies.  This is exactly the same as the examine armies option
on the zoom2 screen except that the cursor can be placed anywhere on the
screen.

(A)UTOSHOOT.  Gives a random firing order to the selected ship.

(G)ET SHIP.  The (G)ET SHIP option is used to obtain information about
enemy and friendly ships. The (D)ESIGNATE option is available for all
ships in the (G)ET SHIP screen while the (O)RDER option is available to
only friendly ships in the (G)ET SHIP screen.

(D)ESIGNATE.  This option is available on both the zoom3 screen and the
(G)et ship screen.  Use the (D)ESIGNATE option to mark a friendly or
enemy ship as a target.  Friendly ships are targeted for towing
and following. Enemy ships are targeted for boarding and attacking.
Each player can designate up to eight targets at a time.  Target
numbers can be reused as often as needed by simply designating
another ship with the same number.  For example, suppose there
are nine enemy ships in range of a group of friendly ships.  You
can use the (D)ESIGNATE command to designate eight of them as
targets.  You then order one or more of your ships to
fire on one or more of the eight designated targets, saving
some of your ranged weapons.  You then (D)ESIGNATE the remaining
ship as target one.  You then give orders to your
ships to fire at the new target one.  Any weapons allocated
to fire at the original target one are still allocated to fire
at the original ship, even though it is not now targeted.

(N)EXT SHIP.  The (N)EXT SHIP option appears on the zoom3
screen and also on the (G)ET SHIP screen.  Use it to move the
cursor to your next ship.

(O)RDER.  Use the (O)rder command to access a list of order options.
An order option appears on the order screen only if the current
ship is eligible to carry out the order.  An exception to this rule
is that the (F)ire weapon option appears even if the ship cannot fire its
weapons.  Thus was done because there may be information on the
fire weapon screen that the player will find useful.  If the ship has no
reactors, it can do nothing so the (O)RDER option does not appear on the
(G)ET SHIP screen.  The order option is available on both the zoom3 screen
and the (G)et ship screen.  (O)RDER options include: stop, accelerate,
move to, join, engage tow, release tow, and fire weapons.

II-D. (G)ET SHIP OPTIONS.

(L)EADER.  The (L)EADER option is used to move the cursor to the
ship that the current ship is following due to a (J)oin command.

(O)RDER, (D)ESIGNATE, (N)EXT SHIP.  These options work the same here
as they do when they appear on the Zoom3 screen.

II-E. (O)RDER OPTIONS.

Selecting (O)rder brings up a screen divided into three areas:
navigation control, weapon control, and towing control.  The (N)ext
option at the bottom of the screen brings up the next order screen which
is the army control screen.

II-E-1. NAVIGATION CONTROL.

The top line of the navigation control area shows the current navigation
orders.  The following options appear if the ship is able to carry them
out:

(S)TOP.  This option appears if the ship is moving and it has
working engine modules.  A ship under a stop command will continue
to fire its engines in the direction opposite of its velocity
until it stops. A ship under a stop command will have the STP
indicator shown on its ship summary.

(A)CCELERATE.  This option prompts the player for a new acceleration
percent and direction.  A Ship can thrust anywhere between 0 and
99 percent of its MAXA.  Players must enter a two digit percent
and a three digit direction in standard degrees (000 is straight
up, 090 is to the right, 180 is down, 270 is left).  A ship under
an accelerate command will have the ACC indicator shown on its
ship summary.  Warning: like most other commands, accelerate stays
in effect until another command cancels it.  A ship given a command
to accelerate will continue to accelerate until you give it another
accelerate, stop or move to command.

(M)OVE TO.  This option causes the ship to attempt to move to
a specified location under autopilot.  The player is prompted
to enter the six digit location number of the desired destination.
E. G.  23 45 67 will cause the ship to move to location 67 of
sector 45 of quadrant 23.  A ship under a moveto command may appear
to not move directly towards its target.  Ships will often overshoot
their target, stop, turn around and try again.  The ship will
eventually get there, but not necessarily in the most efficient
manner.  You may find it advantageous to order a ship to move
to a spot; and, when it gets close, give it a stop command.  A
ship under a move to command will have the MVT indicator shown
on its ship summary.

(J)OIN.  This option appears if there is a targeted friendly ship
within 10 locations of the current ship.  Both ships must have
zero velocity.  JOIN enables the player to create fleets of ships
by designating one of them as the leader.  Other ships then join
up on the leader ship through the JOIN command.  Ships joined in this manner
will attempt to keep formation with the leader ship when the leader ship
moves.  When the player presses the (J)oin key, the screen cycles through
the elibible leader ships.  Ships should not be ordered to follow
a ship that has a greater MAXA.  If you do so, the slower ships
will drop out of formation during the movement phase.  Ships will
also not be allowed to follow a ship that is following another
ship.  Ships can be ordered to drop out of formation at any time
by giving them a movement order (such as stop, accelerate, or
move to).  Ships following another ship are flagged with the FLL
indicator in the ship summary.

II-E-2. WEAPON CONTROL.

The top lines of the weapon control area show the current weapon
orders.  The (F)IRE WEAPON option is always available.  Selecting
this option causes the fire weapon screen to appear.  The top of
this screen shows eight boxes, one for each target number.  If the
box is white, the target number is not used.  If the box is blue,
the targeted ship is a friendly ship, shown here for information only.
You cannot fire at a friendly ship.  If the box is red, the targeted ship
is an enemy ship out of range.  Targets shown in orange boxes are the
only one you can shoot at: targeted enemy ships in range.  Information
in each box includes the target number, the number of operable modules
on the target, and the total number of modules on the target.  A weapon
system abbreviation also appears for any applicable weapons.  Below the
target boxes are four boxes, one for each weapon system.  Each box contains
the abbreviation for the weapon, the number of weapons ready to fire,
and the target numbers for any enemy targets in range of that weapon.
You are then prompted to enter the target number for each weapon system.
All weapons of a specific type must be allocated against zero or one ship.
For example, suppose you have 5 LRM modules and two enemy ships within
long range missile range.  You can elect not to fire any LRM
(by selecting target zero), or you can elect to fire all five
LRM at either of the two targets.  You cannot elect to fire 2
LRM at one ship and three at the other, or just fire one LRM at
one of the ships.  You may, however, fire LRM at one ship and
another weapon type at another ship.  Target 9 is reserved for
the enemy star base.  It will appear as an option in the fire
weapon screen when the star base is within range.  Star bases do not
need to be targeted.  All hits on star bases result in one victory
point.  You may not attack repair bases.  The WPN indicator is shown
on the ship summary if the ship has been given an order to fire its
weapons.

II-E-3. TOWING CONTROL.

The top line of the towing control area shows the current towing
status of the ship.  The following options appear if applicable:

(E)NGAGE TOW.  This option appears if there is an targeted eligible
ship within 11 locations of the current ship.  You may tow either
friendly or enemy ships.  Engaging tow on an enemy ship automatically
causes the enemy ship to be boarded.  Boarded enemy ships become
prize ships and are transferred to your fleet and placed in tow.
If you have the maximum number of ships, 100, or the maximum
number of classes, 20, the transfer may not be allowed.  To
tow a ship, your ship must be close enough (within 11 locations)
and match velocity to a certain extent (the x and y components
must each be within 11 locations per turn.)  To be eligible to
be boarded, enemy ships must have no working reactors.  Friendly
ships do not have this restriction.  Once a ship is placed in
tow, its engines cease to function.  The mass of the towed ship
is added to the mass of the towing ship to arrive at a new MAXA
for the two ships.  The towed ship is pulled next to the towing
ship during the movement phase.  The towing ship can tow the towed
ship to wherever you desire (usually a repair base or star base).
Both the towing and the towed ships have the TOW indicator shown
on the ship summary.

(R)ELEASE TOW. This option appears if the current ship is towing
another ship.  Only towing ships can release a tow; towed ships
cannot.

II-E-4. ARMY CONTROL.

The army control screen shows each slot on the current ship that could
contain an army, assuming the ship is undamaged.  Each ship can carry
up to x armies where x is the number of non-armor operable modules on the
ship divided by 10, rounded down.  For example, a ship with 24 non-armor
modules can carry 2 armies and, therefore, two slots will appear on the
army control screen.  Use the arrow keys to select a slot, and press enter
to load an army and space to unload an army.  Armies will always load
into the highest empty slot available.  However, just because two slots
appear doesn't mean that two armies can be loaded.  The slots represent
potential army positions which could exist provided the ship has suffered
no damage.  For example, a ship with 24 non-armor modules, 10 of which
are damaged, would have two slots but only one army could be loaded.
Overloaded conditions may occur, however, when the ship takes damage after
it has loaded armies.  You can unload from an overloaded slot but never
load into an overloaded slot.  To load an army, the ship must be stopped
and be in a sector that contains your star base or a repair base.  The base
must also have an army to load.  Press enter to cycle through the available
armies until you have loaded the desired army.  To unload an army, the
ship must be in a repair base sector or your star base sector.  You do
not have to stop to unload an army.  You cannot unload armies on the
opponent's star base.


III. COMBAT PHASE.  Combat phase occurs after both players have
entered orders.  One player is randomly picked to shoot first.
All of his ships fire, then all of the other player's ships fire.
A window appears which displays some of the results of the combat.
Hits on ships are randomly distributed to operating modules.  ARM
modules are never damaged.  If a ship carrying one or more armies
is damaged, the armies are damaged proportionally.  For example,
if a ship carrying 1 army and consisting of 10 non-armor modules
takes damage to one module, then the army loses 1/10 of its ER.  If
a ship carrying armies loses all of its reactors, all of the armies
on board are destroyed.

Army combat occurs after ship combat for each repair base that
contains opposing armies.  Army combat occurs in the reverse
order as ship combat.   E. G. If WAPADOOP's ships fire first, then
ECCAPOOP's armies will fire first.  During army combat, each army will
randomly pick an opposing army to shoot at.  Friendly ships in the same
sector will add laser fire to support ground combat.  Missiles are
designed to be effective against ships only, so missile fire is not
included in support.  The damage to the enemy army will result in a
lowering of its efficiency rating (ER).  The loss will depend on
the ER of the firing unit, the type of firing unit, and any support
from friendly ships.  If the ER of the enemy unit is reduced to
zero, it is destroyed.  The ER of the firing unit is increased by 1 to
reflect its additional experience.

IV.  MOVEMENT PHASE.  After combat, ships attempt to carry out
their movement orders.  Ships which have taken damage may fall out of
formation.  Ships which leave the battle area are destroyed.
If two ships end the movement phase in the same location, a collision
occurs.  In case of a collision, the smaller ship is destroyed
and the larger ship is damaged by the number of modules on the
smaller ship.  If two colliding ships are of the same size, they
are both destroyed.  Leaving the battle area and collisions are
the only ways that ships are destroyed.  Ships damaged in battle
remain in the game to drift as hulks, limp back to a repair base,
or be towed or boarded.

V. RESOLUTION PHASE.  During the resolution phase, ships are repaired,
additional reinforcement units are awarded, armies increase their
efficiency ratings, victory points are displayed, and a save game option
is offered.

REPAIR BASE OWNERSHIP.  A repair base is considered to be owned
by a player under the following circumstances:

  1.  The player must have at least 1 army on the base.
  2.  There can be no enemy armies on the base.
  3.  There can be no enemy ships with working RCT modules in
      the same quadrant.

REPAIR.  Ships are repaired under the following circumstances:

  1.  They must have zero velocity.
  2.  They must be located in the same sector as the player's star base or
      in the same sector as a repair base owned by the player.
  3.  There can be no enemy ships with working RCT modules in
      the same quadrant.
  4.  The player must have sufficient RU's remaining.  It costs 2 RU's
      to repair each damaged module.

Modules are repaired at a rate that is determined by the setup
parameters.  Missile ammunition is resupplied during repair.

REINFORCEMENT UNITS.  Players are awarded additional RU's as follows:

  1. He always gets 10 RU's.
  2. He gets an additional x RU's for each repair base he owns, where
     x = 120/total number of repair bases.
  3. He gets an additional 1/2 RU for each victory point he has
     accumulated.

The RU numbers shown above are multiplied by the RU set up parameters.
For example, to give no additional RU's, set the RU parameter
to zero.  To give twice the number shown above, set the parameter
to 2.  To give nine times the number, set it to 9.  In a one player
game, both RU parameters are always set to 5.

ARMY EFFICIENCY UPDATES.  During the resolution phase the efficiency rating
(ER) of all armies is updated as follows:

   1. If the army is on a ship, its ER stays the same.
   2. If the army is on a star base its ER is increased by 1 up to a
      maximum of 100.
   3. If the army is on a repair base and the repair base is owned by the
      player (see above), its ER is increased by 1 up to a maximum of 100.
   4. If the army is on a repair base and the repair base is not owned by
      the player, its ER is reduced by 1.  However, it will never be
      decreased below 1 in this manner.

SAVE GAME.  To save the game, enter a number between 0 and 9.
Games are saved to the current directory.

VI. FORMULAE.

1.  Each shield module has a 30% change that it will intercept an
incoming laser attack.  However, if it does intercept the attack,
it has a 20% chance that it will overload.

2.  For human players, each point defense module has a 20% chance of
intercepting an incoming missile attack.  For a computer player,
the chance is dependant on the level as follows:

       level     chance of intercepting

    8,9             40%
    7,8             30%
    5,6             20%
    3,4             10%
    0,1,2           00%

3.  In army combat, the loss of ER that the target takes as a result
of enemy fire is:

          (a * b + c) / 10

where a = combat rating of firing army (see army table)
      b = efficiency rating (ER) of firing army
      c = support from friendly ships

where support = smaller of 600 or 2 * number of SRL modules providing support
        + 10 * number of LRL modules providing support

4. The number of operable modules damaged by a G bomb explosion is:

         (31 - a) * 3

where a = distance between the ship and the bomb.

5. The maximum acceleration (MAXA) of a ship is:

        a * (b+3) * 6 / c

where a = the number of working ENG modules on the ship
      b = the number entered in the thrust set up parameter
      c = the mass of the ship

VII. TACTICS AND HINTS.  Do not read this section if you would
like do discover the best tactics on your own.  The game will
probably be more enjoyable that way.

SHIP SIZES.  The controversy over the comparative merits of a
lot of small ships versus a few large ships has been argued by
naval theorists for years.  Both options have their advantages.
Large ships are more survivable.  They can take several hits
and still keep firing.  In a fight between one 30-module ship
and three 10-module ships, I have found that the 30 module ship
usually wins.  However, three small ships will repair faster than
one large one (since the repair rules function by ship and not
by module).  Also, smaller ships can be split up and used to search
more area.   Small ships with a healthy number number of LRM provide
a cheap offensive force. Small ships also help to divide the fire of
the enemy.  You should have both small and large ships in your Navy.
As you approach the 100 ship limit, you may have to start 'throwing away'
your small ships by sending them towards the enemy star base and building
only large, expensive ships.

TOWING.  I have found towing disabled friendly ships and boarding
disabled enemy ships to be a very important part of the game.
You may wish to design a TUG class of ship that consists
of 1 RCT, 5 or more ENG, and maybe 1 SCN.  Keep the tugs out of
harms way.  Let them follow your fleets into battle and try and
rescue disabled ships.  A small investment in a few of these
ships can repay itself many times over.  Tugs with scanners can
also double as scouts.  An early scouting report can give you
time to set up your defense or offense.  A friendly ship inside
of a repair sector can reach out and pull another ship into the
sector by engaging tow.  This is a handy way of repairing disabled
ships fast.  Conservation of momentum is not maintained as one
ship engages tow on another.  Thus towing becomes a useful way
of adding or subtracting velocity.  For example, a ship moving
less than 11 locations per turn can always be immediately stopped
by a stationary ship within towing range.

AUTOPILOT.  You do not need to be stopped to engage the autopilot.  However,
if the ship is moving in the wrong direction, it will come to a complete
stop before moving towards its destination.  If your ship is moving in
one direction and you decide to send it in another direction, it may
be faster to manually steer it towards the target via ACC commands before
engaging the autopilot via a MVT command.  The autopilot does not always
function well with small MAXA's (under 0.5).  In those situations, you
may need to start it out with ACC commands until it gets moving before
engaging the autopilot.

WEAPONS.  Long range missiles are your most important weapon.
They have twice the range and hitting power of the next best
weapon.  Their major disadvantage is that you only get two missiles
per module.  You should always think about reloading at a repair
base as soon as you have fired LRM.  Try not to waste them
by firing too many at any one ship.  Short range lasers are so cheap
that you may want to consider using them as filler, bulking up your
ship designs and helping to protect other modules, much like ARM modules.

AUTOSHOOT.  Be careful when using these options or you may end up
waisting ammunition.  The autoshoot logic is fairly unintelligent and
may well end up firing at ships you know are already disabled.

MODULES.  I can see no reason to give any ship more than 1 scanner.
In fact, I would put scanners only on about half of my ships.
A ship can see an enemy ship if the enemy ship is scanned by
any other friendly ship.  It doesn't need to scan it by itself.
Star bases, repair bases, and friendly ships do not need to be
scanned.  Point defense module and shield modules are both effective.
I would use them on all but the smallest ships.  ARM modules are effective
but expensive.  Design your classes so that ships which you expect to
move together have similar MAXA. Use more RCT modules in big ships.

STAR BASES.  Since you get extra RU's for each hit on a star base,
it may be to your advantage to go for early victory points, even
if you have to lose several ships in doing so.  For the same reason,
you may need to keep a portion of your fleet close to your star base.
You could keep several thousand RU's in reserve instead.  Position
your home defense fleet 10-30 locations in front of your star
base so that you can fire on incoming ships before they get
in LRM range of your star base.  Watch for enemy ships sneaking
in from the sides.  Be sure to repair and resupply your home fleet
after a battle.

BATTLES.  It is often to your advantage to have a small velocity
when in combat.  Then disabled ships are left in the area after
combat and are easily towed to repair sectors.   The best position
to fight is at zero velocity inside of a repair sector.  However,
if you expect to lose the battle, you may want a high velocity
so that the enemy will have a hard time boarding your ships.
In general, the faster a ship is going, the harder it is to attach
a tow.  You may want to steer your ships directly at the enemy
fleet in the hope that it will collide with an enemy ship if it
is disabled.

COLLISIONS.  Collisions are not infrequent, even with a battle
area of a million locations.  If a ship is repaired and resupplied,
you may want to move it out of the repair sector to make room
for others.  Tightly packed formations are, of course, more
prone to collisions.

ARMIES.  Heavy regulars may look like the best 'bang for the buck'
since they have 5 times the hitting power of militia but only cost
3 times as much.  However, they get no defensive bonus and, therefore,
die just as fast as militia.  But if you build just militia, you may
run into the 100 army limit.  So I have yet to figure out the best
stategy here.

G BOMBS.  G Bombs can be thought of as a cross between a mine
and a fire ship.  As a defensive weapon, you can place them in
the enemy's predicted path of attack, much like a mine field.
As an offensive weapon, you can launch them at a group of enemy
ships.  G Bombs are dangerous and should be used with caution.
Keep them away from friendly ships.  An exploding G Bomb in
the middle of a group of friendly ships would be disastrous. Since
they have no engines, they must be towed everywhere.  Only LRM have the
range to safely disarm a G Bomb.  Here is one possible tactic:  Launch
an attack at a group of enemy ships in three waves.  Put one or two
large ships with many ARM modules in the first wave.  The enemy ships will
tend to use most of their LRM on the first wave.  Put one or more G Bombs
in the second wave.  They should follow close enough to the first
wave so that the enemy has not had a change to replenish its long
range missiles.  If so, the G Bombs should be able to get within close
range, where they will do a lot of damage when they explode.
The third wave should consist of enough ships to clean up.  Make
sure that the third wave follows far enough behind the G Bombs
or they will be caught in the blast.  A three layer defense could
also be used in a similar manner.


FINAL NOTE.  I know the intructions sound complicated and confusing, but
many of the screens are self explanatory.  Once you start playing around
with the screens and the commands I am sure that things will begin to make
more sense.  If you get stuck in a screen, usually space bar, return, or
<x> will return you to the previous screen.