The World of Computer Software/World_Of_Computer_Software-02-385-Vol-1of3.iso/s/sre0990a.zip/UNPACK.EXE/TEXT/SRTOPICS.HLP

Text File | 1993-01-07 | 29KB | 701 lines

The SRE Configurable text file!
IMPORTANT:  For instructions on modification, see the end of the file.  Be
            sure to modify Topics.HLP, not SRTopics.HLP, because Topics.HLP
            will not be erased when you upgrade to a new version of SRE.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

#key bulletin-version-information
  Solar Realms Elite 0.990 was written by Amit Patel at the Solar Realm\n\n
#end

#key bulletin-special-keys
1.      > will enter the 'max' value listed as MAX= on numerical input.\n
        This should save a lot of typing!\n
2.      Pressing K or M at a numeric prompt will enter 3 or 6 zeros for\n
        you, so it is now easier to say "6 million" (with 6M).\n
3.      Pressing Ctrl-C will return you to the BBS.\n
4.      Press SPACE to abort the display of a file; if you are viewing\n
        a long file (like the instructions), you might want to press\n
        ENTER when the Pause comes up instead of SPACE, because too\n
        many SPACEs will abort the display of the file.\n
5.      Press ? at a menu to re-display it.\n
6.      Press 0 or Q at a menu to quit.\n
7.      Press Z when choosing empires to toggle all.  You can choose\n
        "all but X" by pressing Z first and then pressing X, which\n
        will remove empire X from the list.\n
8.      Press ESC to quit a menu or empire-choosing prompt to abort.\n
9.      Press ENTER to select the default value at a prompt or menu.\n
        At most menus, the default action is to quit the menu.\n
\n
#end

#key bulletin-new-version
This is the new version of SRE!  If you have played SRE in the past, \
you will notice many changes.  The biggest thing is that 10 old credits \
are now one credit.  Your sysop may also have "non-inflation" set, which \
keeps prices low, even when you have a large empire.\n\n
#end

#key planet-petroleum
The income varies between 700 and 100,000 credits per planet, depending \
on supply [number of petroleum planets] and demand [total number of planets].\n
#end

#key planet-research
Research planets can increase the efficiency (production) of your planets.  \
By doing this, your planets will produce more profits for your investment \
than those of other players.\n
#end

#key planet-government
Government planets house covert agents and generals.  One government \
planet can house 50 generals or 300 covert agents (or a combination).\n
#end

#key planet-tourism
Tourism planets depend on people coming to your empire, so \
when conditions are bad (pollution or insurgencies), fewer \
people will be tourists, and profits will go down.\n
#end

#key planet-ore
Ore planets are a stable source of income.  Although they \
produce less money than tourism planets, they always are \
profitable, even in the worst civil wars or pollution.\n
#end

#key planet-antipollution
The Galactic Coordinator suggests having anti-pollution planets \
to combat pollution, preserve wildlife, and project a good image \
to your people.\n
#end

#key planet-urban
Urban planets encourage a population growth in your empire.  \
internal trade in cities and on planets is a source of income.  \
You collect tax money from the people.\n
#end

#key planet-education
Education planets cause students to come to your empire to study.  \
If the conditions in your empire are favorable, they usually do not \
go back home, so your empire gets an inflow of young educated citizens.\n
#end

#key planet-food
Food planets are needed to produce the food to feed \
your people and soldiers.  If you do not wish to invest \
in food planets, you can buy food from the food market.\n
#end

#key planet-supply
Supply planets produce military for less money than buying the military \
unit would cost.  However, you also have to consider the initial investment \
of buying a supply planet instead of a money-producer.  Sometimes \
it is cheaper to buy a tourism planet and use the money from there to \
buy a military; other times it is better to buy a supply planet.  Also, \
it is more convenient to have a constant production of military rather than \
having to buy it every turn.\n
#end

#key civil-war-general
Civil Wars are caused when you can't feed your people or pay to \
maintain your planets.  This civil war indicates either that you \
ran out of money or you had insufficient food.\n\n
#end

#key civil-war-tourism
Tourism planets, although giving 40% more profits than ore, are susceptible to \
a loss of profits if another player performs insurgencies on you.  \
One strategy is to have some tourism and some of the lower-profit ore, \
because ore won't lose its profits during insurgencies.  The ore provides \
a stable source of income when you have tourism problems.\n\n
#end

#key civil-war-long-term-food
Even if you didn't have food shortages now, you can ensure that you don't \
have any in the future by being self-sufficient.  You should buy enough \
food planets to produce the amount of food you use each turn.\n\n
#end

#key civil-war-continuous
Many times one civil war leads to another because you are unable to \
stabilize the society.  You can sell your military and non-profitable \
planets (government, research, education, and urban) to reduce costs of \
operating your empire.  That way, you may have enough money to survive \
the next turn.\n\n
#end

#key civil-war-loan
You can also try to get a loan from the bank so that \
you can pay for your empire for a turn, which may stop \
the cycle of civil wars.\n\n
#end

#key help-strategies
Here are some popular strategies:\n
  1.  Buy lots of ore planets.  They are "safe"; they produce money even when\n
      your empire is in internal conflict.  This virtually prevents losses\n
      during insurgencies.\n
  2.  Buy lots of tourism planets, and with the extra money, buy a lot of\n
      covert agents to protect against insurgent aids by other empires.\n
  3.  Buy urban and education planets and set a very high tax rate (70-100%),\n
      so that you can make money from taxes instead of planets.  Some people\n
      prefer a lower tax rate (10-20%) so that more people will come to the\n
      empire.  If you keep a lower tax rate, be sure to buy a lot of food!\n
  4.  Increase your tax rate to boost your profits.  However, there might be\n
      civil unrest or mass emmigrations.  If you have enough education and\n
      urban planets, the losses might not be too bad.\n
  5.  Get a loan to buy extra planets.  If planets are inexpensive, you can\n
      make enough money with the new planets to pay back your loan the next\n
      turn.  (Registered versions of SRE only)\n
  6.  Buy research planets and build up the efficiency of your other planets.\n
      Then when you buy new planets, they'll be more profitable than everyone\n
      else's planets, since you researched and built up efficiency first.\n
  7.  Buy government planets and covert agents.  You can then Take Hostages\n
      from your enemies to earn money.  However, you usually need your own\n
      money supply in case your attempts fail.\n
  8.  If you can convince EVERY empire in your galaxy to keep exactly 1/10th\n
      of their planets as petroleum planets, the petroleum prices will be\n
      higher than tourism or ore.  This requires cooperation by all empires.\n
      If you keep a better ratio (1/20), the prices will be higher!\n
#end

#key help-research
Research planets can increase the efficiency (production) of your planets.  \
By doing this, your planets will produce more profits for your investment \
than those of other players.  For example, if you push your Ore profits \
up to 3,000 per planet, you will be making 2,000 profit, and someone else \
would be making 1,000 profit.  You will be able to buy twice as much as \
another player!\n
#end

#key help-covert-operations
With Covert Agents, you can perform underhanded actions that can seriously \
damage another empire.  Covert operations include:  Spying, Insurgent Aid \
(which reduces the production of the other empire), Dissension (cause \
military dissension), Demoralize (reduce the effectiveness of another's \
army), Take Hostages, and Bribe Spy.  To prevent other people from doing \
covert operations on you, you should keep a supply of covert agents (who \
try to intercept opponent agents).\n
#end

#key help-bank
The bank (in the Registered version) allows you to take a loan, deposit \
for interest, or invest in bonds.  For example, you can take a loan on the \
first turn to buy more planets than usual.  This could give you a head start \
in the game!  During the game, depositing money in the bank gives you a \
reserve in case you need money.  However, both cash and bank deposits are \
subject to being taken by Terrorists asking for Ransom (Covert Op 'Take \
Hostages').  If you do not need your funds immediately, you can save them \
by Investing.  Investments are completely safe; however the money does not \
return for a while.  They also give a very good profit.\n
#end

#key help-taxes
Taxing your people is sometimes helpful to make extra profits.  However, taxes \
are not necessary to survive.  If you keep a tax-free empire, many people will \
come to your empire.  When you are in trouble, you can call on these people \
to pay some taxes.  As long as you do not ask too much, they will comply.  \
On the other hand, you can encourage people to come to your empire with \
Urban and Education planets.  Then you can keep a high tax rate to earn money.\n
#end

#key help-draft-rate
If you want to draft your citizens during time of war, you can set \
a draft rate from 0 to 30%.  When another empire attacks you with \
a conventional attack, some of your people will be drafted to help \
defend the empire.  A million people turn into 100 soldiers.  When \
the battle is over, most of these people will be dead or they will \
leave your empire, so if you set your draft rate too high, your \
population will drop every time you are attacked, even if your \
military would have been able to handle the situation.\n
#end

#key help-petroleum
Petroleum prices fluctuate due to supply and demand.  If there are too many \
petroleum planets in a galaxy, the price will be low.  If there are few, \
the price will be high.  Having one petroleum planet for every 10 other planet \
types will keep the prices at around 2.5 to 3 thousand, which is better than \
tourism.  However, you have to convince the other players to do the same thing \
to prevent the prices from becoming too low.\n
#end

#key help-population
Urban planets increase the birth rate; the birth rate is affected by the number \
of people (parents) in your empire.  Education planets bring in new people, \
regardless of the current population.  So education planets are very good \
when you're small, and urban planets are good when you're large.\n
\n
To change the population growth/decrease, adjust your tax rate.  A side effect \
of decreasing your population by increasing the tax rate is a surge of income!\n
#end

#key help-nuclear-attacks
Nuclear attacks are illegal according to the Galactic Coordinator.  However, \
if you do want to try them, you need to have a lot of covert agents, who \
will search the area for black market agents who will illegally sell you \
the weapons (for a price, of course!).  Nuclear weapons destroy a large \
number of the opponent's planets, and your target will not even have a \
CHANCE to prevent it.  Be careful -- some of these underground traders \
may give you a faulty bomb!\n
#end

#key help-chemical-attacks
Chemical attacks are illegal according to the Galactic Coordinator.  However, \
if you do want to try them, you need to have a lot of covert agents, who \
will search the area for black market agents who will illegally sell you \
the weapons (for a price, of course!).  Chemical weapons kill approximately \
half of the opponent's people, and those poor civilians won't have a clue to \
what hit them.\n
#end

#key help-food-planets
On these planets, huge farms produce food, \
which is required for your empire to survive. \
An alternative to having food planets is to \
buy from the food market each year, but the \
risks are that the supply of food in the food \
market may run out.  Having a food planet is \
safer, but costs more than buying food from \
the market.  Having too many food planets \
leads to food surpluses, which can be sold \
for low prices to the market, or saved for \
a later time.\n
#end

#key help-ore-planets
A stable source of income, ore planets continue \
to function even during wars and domestic \
troubles.  They can be valuable if your tourism \
planets are not producing a good income during \
troubled times.\n
#end

#key help-tourism-planets
Producing more money (on average) than ore \
planets, the tourism planets depend upon the \
tourists spending money.  During periods that \
your empire is not PEACEFUL (such as after a \
civil war), the tourist attractions earn very \
little or nothing.  Too many tourism planets \
can cause your empire to be dependent on \
peaceful times, and the empire can easily \
collapse if you do have internal troubles. \n
#end

#key help-supply-planets
Supply planets can produce military at a lower \
cost than buying them.  They are also more \
convenient, because they keep producing military \
constantly.  You can set the balance of \
production by choosing "Supply Planet Production".\n
#end

#key help-government-planets
The base of the government agencies, these \
planets house the generals, who not only are \
military commanders, but are important \
political figures as well.  They set up bases \
of operations for which they required 1/50th \
of the planet's usable land area.  Therefore, \
50 generals can use a single government planet. \
The covert agents also roam these planets, and \
having over 300 spies on one planet causes them \
to fight each other for territory, leading to \
internal conflicts.\n
#end

#key help-education-planets
Educational planets have large universities to \
which students come from independent planets, \
where the educational facilities are not as \
large as those that your empire can afford. \
After seeing your empire's resources and power, \
most of the students remain in your empire to \
add to your general population.\n
#end

#key help-research-planets
These planets are set up as scientific research \
laboratories in which developments may or may \
not occur.  If a breakthrough occurs, it may \
benefit your empire and give you an edge over \
other empires that do not have your technology. \
The benefits are reported to you before the \
first status screen.  They include such things \
as proteins to increase crop yield on food \
planets to new tourist attractions that \
increase tourism planet revenues.  Some of the \
benefits will last forever and others are only \
temporary.\n
#end

#key help-urban-planets
Urban planets are devoted to housing people. \
Since every city has internal commerce in the \
form of stores, fuel docks, and other \
services, the urban planets earn revenue in the \
form of sales taxes.  Urban planets also \
increase the population of your empire, and as \
a result, increase the income taxes earned \
from your people.\n
#end

#key help-petroleum-planets
These planets supply petroleum (oil) to the \
galaxy.  All planets in the galaxy require \
petroleum to run machinery and vehicles.  If \
there are few petroleum planets, the demand \
for oil will be higher and the income per \
petroleum planet will be higher.  If there are \
too many of these planets, the price of oil \
will drop, and so will profits.  One problem \
of petroleum planets is high pollution.\n
#end

#key help-anti-pollution-planets
Anti-pollution planets are completely covered \
with forests and jungles to absorb the toxic \
chemicals released into the galactic atmosphere \
by petroleum planets.  Pollution causes reduced \
tourism, so the anti-pollution planets are \
neccessary to keep tourism active and also to \
reduce emmigration.\n
#end

#key help-score
Score is a measure of your people's pride in your empire.  Your score \
depends on your population and planets.  Every time you attack, you \
gain points if you win and lose points if you lose.  You also gain points \
when you buy planets.  The player with the highest score at the beginning \
of each day is chosen Solar Master, and that player receives a small prize.\n
#end

#key help-insurgencies
A quick reference for insurgency levels:\n
\n
        Peaceful\n
        Mild Insurgencies\n
        Occasional Riots\n
        Violent Demonstrations\n
        Political Conflicts\n
        Internal Violence\n
        Revolutionary Warfare\n
        Under Coup\n
\n
#end

#key SRE-command-line-options
Primary options (must be the first parameter)\n
HELP                 Shows this help\n
RESET                Start a new game\n
SYSOP                Sysop functions, such as resetting the game\n
REGISTER             Enter your registration numbers\n
\n
Secondary Options (may appear in combination with other parameters)\n
/NoANSI              Forces ANSI off\n
/ANSI                Forces ANSI on\n
/NoSpecialEffects    Turn off the special effects on the pause and Yes/No\n
                     prompts\n
/NoCheckTimeLimit    Disable time-limit checking\n
/CheckTimeLimit      Enable time-limit checking\n
/Local               Force local play\n
#end

#key hint-small-empire-no-planets
You may want to avoid building up your military until you have a lot of planets.  \
You also could sell your army and generals (to get more money) if you haven't \
already done so.  No one can attack you until your 'protection' is over, so \
there is no point in keeping and paying lots of money to maintain your military.  \
You could be spending your money on buying more planets!\n\n
#end

#key hint-small-empire-almost-ready
You may want to start building up an army now, since \
you will soon be out of protection.  After that, any \
other empire will be able to attack yours.\n\n
#end

#key hint-small-empire-no-money
You should get many tourism, ore, and petroleum planets \
so that you will have a good source of income.  You may \
also want to start establishing relations with other empires \
with treaties.  They will allow you to trade with other \
empires, and perhaps make a profit; some treaties provide \
defense from attackers.\n\n
#end

#key hint-small-empire-command-ship
You should start work on your command ship.  It will build \
up automatically each turn, or you can spend extra money to \
build it up quicker.  It acts as a powerful leader when you \
go into battle.  It adds to your heavy cruiser strength by \
providing a central flagship.\n\n
#end

#key hint-small-empire-covert-agents
You may want to buy covert agents to prepare you for the world \
out of protection.  Other empires may send spies to yours or they \
may try to perform covert operations on your planets or people.  By \
keeping covert agents, you can defend yourself against these types \
of attacks.\n\n
#end

#key hint-insurgency
You might need to sell some of your assets so that \
you won't go through civil wars.\n\n
#end

#key hint-covert-agents
You may want to buy covert agents so that your empire will \
not be vulnerable to covert operations that can cause damage \
or riots.\n\n
#end

#key hint-tax-rate
You may want to go to the Operations Menu (*) and increase your \
tax rate.  This will increase the money you have to spend.  On \
the other hand, if you lower it, you will attract people to your \
empire.\n\n
#end

#key hint-soldiers
Your empire lacks soldiers, which are useful for both offense and \
defense.\n\n
#end

#key hint-defense-stations
You may want to buy some defense stations.  They are a good form \
of defense against attacks.\n\n
#end

#key hint-pollution
You need anti-pollution planets to reduce pollution in your empire.\n\n
#end

#key hint-lottery
Perhaps you should buy some lottery tickets as an investment for \
tomorrow!  Who knows, you may win!\n\n
#end

#key hint-end-of-protection
This is your first turn out of protection.  Other empires can attack you, \
perform covert operations on you, and trade with you.  Good luck in surviving \
the 'real' world!\n\n
#end

#key hint-last-turn-of-protection
This is your last turn in protection.  Other empires will be able to \
attack you, so be sure to buy a defense this turn!\n
#end

#key hint-research
You might want to buy research planets so that you can improve the \
efficiency of your planets.\n
#end

#key reset-inflation
\n
There are two sets of game rules in SRE:II.  \
You can have Inflation (similar to the older versions of SRE), \
where prices increase as the empire gets larger, or \
Non-Inflation, where prices remain relatively constant.  \
The Non-Inflation rules include bureaucracy costs, and are \
more challenging.  You may want to run the Inflationary \
version for a while until your players are used to the new \
version; you may want to set up another game for `advanced' \
players (non-inflationary).  \
\n
#end

#key reset-maintenance-interval
\n
You can allow more time for users to play their turns by \
assigning more than one real day for each game `day'.  \
(The system will run maintenance less often.)  \
This may be useful if your games are full and users are unable \
to call daily.  \
\n
#end

#key reset-galactic-coordinator-taxes
\n
The Galactic Coordinator \
collects taxes from all the empires, and also gives out \
money each day.  If you set a higher tax rate, your \
players will pay more, but they'll also receive more; \
the Galactic Coordinator will also give money to some \
empires after they suffer civil wars, and the amount \
is greater if you use a higher tax rate.  However, if \
the tax rate is too high, your empires will be paying \
too much for taxes and they won't grow as well.  \
\n
#end

#key reset-planet-market
\n
You can specify how many planets to put into the initial \
market.  Although the initial reaction of most sysops is \
to put in as many as possible, we've found that the games \
last longer if there are few planets available.  Players \
that start later are able to catch up more easily to provide \
more competition.  \
\n
#end

#key reset-planet-limit
\n
You can set a limit on the number of planets a player can buy \
in one turn.  If you wish to do this, enter the limit; otherwise, \
press Enter.  \
\n
#end

#key reset-planet-regeneration
\n
Planets are automatically regenerated for players to buy.  \
You can set the number of seconds it takes to add one \
new planet into the planet market.  \
\n
#end

#key reset-food-market
\n
You can specify how much food to put in the food market.  \
Warning:  putting no food in the market may destroy \
players who accidentally forget to buy food planets.  \
\n
#end

#key reset-new-player
\n
You can play either an Emperor or Emperess who will be able to rule \
for centuries.  Once you create a ruler, the same ruler will be used \
after the reset.  (You will be able to create a new empire each time.)  \
\n
#end

#key info-register
\n
If you register,\n
\n
 1.  You will have a Solar Bank where players can make deposits, \n
     get loans, and invest their extra cash.\n
 2.  Your name will appear at the end of the program as a \n
     "registered sysop".\n
 3.  There will be a few extra options when you reset the game.\n
\n
Registering is a way of showing your support for this game; please \
do not register just to get the bank and extra options.  I am not \
providing these features as a way to "cripple" the unregistered version; \
they are a way for me to show my appreciation to those sysops who \
support my work.\n
\n
If you wish to remove the "UNREGISTERED" message at the end of the game, \
read the Docs/Resource.DOC file.\n
\n
#end




#EOF

─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Instructions on modifying the help file (HELP.DAT):

The help file is set up as a series of topics marked by #key and #end.  You
can change any parts of the text, but be warned:

   1.  SRE does not read your end-of-lines as the end of a line.  It
       instead does word-wrapping automatically.  You need a '\n' sequence
       to force SRE to go to the next line.  This is usually easier than
       word-wrapping yourself.

   2.  Many editors remove trailing spaces at the end of the line.  For
       easier editing without worrying about the trailing spaces, SRE
       reads the '\' at the end of a line and ignores it.  You put a '\'
       character at the end of the line AFTER the spaces, and SRE will
       keep those spaces.

   3.  More details on the format:
          │
          │ #key «type»-«name»
          │   «text»
          │ #end
          │
       The 'type' is pre-determined by SRE.  Currently supported are
       "hint", "help", "civil-war", "planet", and "bulletin".  See below
       for a description of each type.  The 'name' is an identifier that
       SRE uses to distinguish between the many entries under a single
       type.  For example, 'planet' might be the type, and 'tourism' would
       be the name.  In "help" and "bulletin", you can use your own names.
       In the others, you may not (use the names already in this file).
       The 'text' is as described above in #1 and #2.  It can be as long
       as you'd like, and SRE will word-wrap and insert pauses as needed.

   4.  Notice that you can add any text that you'd like between the #key and
       #end statements (as comments).  Anything after the #EOF will be
       ignored (for increased speed in searches).

   5.  There is a new-line ('\n') at the end of each block of text.

   6.  You can modify SRTopics.HLP if you wish, but I recommend that you
       modify Topics.HLP instead.  That way, when you upgrade, and get a newer
       SRTopics.HLP, your own additions won't be erased.  SRE will search
       first in Topics.HLP for help topics, and if they aren't there, it will
       search in SRTopics.HLP.

Have fun customizing SRE for your own BBS!

─[PLANET TEXT]───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The first time a user buys planets, this text is displayed.  You can use
this to introduce users to the types of planets and their uses.  You can
also modify the descriptions to match something about your BBS.  Don't
change the name of the planet, because SRE will still look for the original
name!
   │
   │ #key planet-«name»
   │   «text»
   │ #end
   │

─[CIVIL WAR TEXT]────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The civil war text is displayed when a user goes through civil war.  It is
meant to help out those who don't know how to recover from food/money
shortages.  Don't change the name, because SRE expects certain names.
   │
   │ #key civil-war-«name»
   │   «text»
   │ #end
   │

─[HELP TEXT]─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
The help text allows the user to access help on any number of topics.  The
help is available in the System Menu by pressing 'H'.  The format of the
help text is:
   │
   │ #key help-«name»
   │   «text»
   │ #end
   │
Where 'name' is the help topic that the user types in to see the text.  You
can add all types of topics - popular strategies, rules for tournaments,
hints, BBS advertisements, etc.

─[BULLETINS]─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
You can add a bulletin with:
   │
   │ #key bulletin-«name»
   │   «text»
   │ #end
   │
You can add any name you want (case insensitive, but case is displayed in the
list of bulletins).  The user can type in the name of the bulletin and the
text will appear.  Since the user is typing in the name, keep it short for
convenience.
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────