home *** CD-ROM | disk | FTP | other *** search
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- UNIVERSE
-
-
- a space adventure game
- written in Turbo Pascal by :
-
- Andy Marcuse
- 140 Greenwood Ave.
- Waterbury, CT. 06704
-
- You are the commander of a starship of the United Federation
- of Planets. It is the most technologically advanced starship
- ever built by the Federation, and is specifically designed for
- your mission. You will be released from a starbase in an
- unexplored arm of the galaxy.
-
- Your mission is to explore the galaxy, bringing honor and
- new members into the Federation, while destroying those who dare
- oppose you.
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
-
- (C) Copyright 1987. All Rights Reserved.
- YOUR SHIP
- =============
-
- Your ship is the newest and most advanced ship in the fleet.
- It is heavily armed and well equiped. It was specifically
- designed for solo, long-range, deep space exploration. The ship
- has the following functions:
-
- - abandon ship A
- - send a boarding/landing party B
- - use the ship's computer C
- - give a damage report D
- - launch an exploratory probe E
- - inventory food supplies F
- - Help H
- - Impulse drive 1..9
- - list Known planets K
- - long range sensor scan L
- - show Messages received M
- - launch a probe w/NovaMax warhead N
- - fire phasars P
- - quit the game Q
- - fire the experimental death ray R
- - short range sensor scan S
- - fire a photon torpedo T
- - ultra-detailed scan U
- - show version V
- - warp drive W
- - self-destruct Z
- - Supervisor <esc>
-
- The computer can do a variety of different things. These are
- described in detail in the chapter about the computer.
-
- 0 - eXit the computer and return to the command level
- 1 - show Score
- 2 - set Options
- 3 - Restore shields
- 4 - manipulate Manpower
- 5 - manipulate Damage control
- 6 - Insert dilithium crystals into energy banks
- 7 - show Knowledge
- 9 - sub-space radio Communication
-
- Each of these functions is called by typing the letter that
- follows it. You will then be prompted for additional information
- that you must give. Most of these commands can be aborted by
- typing '-1' instead a normal response.
-
- Almost all of these systems are vulnerable to damage. When
- damaged they will continue to operate, but at a shorter range or
- lower efficiency. Fortunately, however, they can be repaired if
- Damage Control is working. Once Damage Control is destroyed,
- well...
- DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF FUNCTIONS
- =================================
-
-
- A - Abandon ship
-
- Abandoning ship means that you load all of your remaining crew
- onto the shuttle and try to warp all the way back to your
- starbase. If either the shuttle or the warp drive is badly
- damaged, you cannot abandon ship. Even if the warp drive is
- blocked, you may still have a chance of escape, depending on how
- it is blocked. There is always a chance of failure depending on
- the distance to the base and on the energy remaining.
-
-
- B - Board a vessel/send a landing party to a planet
-
- This command send the ship's shuttle to a planet or vessel to get
- various supplies. The maximum range of the shuttle is four
- sectors. You are asked to give the target sector and how many
- crewmen you wish to send. It takes 10 units of energy per person
- per sector traveled. The men are assigned from the the Excess
- Personnel grouping (see computer command #4). You cannot send
- more men then are in the excess personnel grouping.
- If you wish to dock at the base, simply board it as you
- would a planet. You will be refueled and resupplied if there are
- supplies allocated for you. You can check when supplies will be
- allocated with the computer's knowledge command (#7).
-
-
- C - use the ship's computer
-
- This will call up the ship's computer. The commands are fully
- described in the next section. Using the computer does not take
- a turn and does not use any energy. Note that the computer can
- be damaged. When it operating at less than 25%, none of its
- functions are available.
-
-
- D - give a damage report
-
- This will show the current status of all of the ship's systems,
- the amount of food remaining, the number of dilithium crystals on
- board, the number of exploratory probes left, and the total
- number of people on the ship. Note that the system is dependent
- on the damage control systems being in operation. If damage
- control is not functioning at 25%, a damage report cannot be
- given. It is also interesting to note that when damage control
- is completely destroyed, it cannot be repaired and cannot repair
- anything else.
-
-
- E - launch an exploratory probe
-
- This will launch a robot scanner device. It sends back a scan of
- space within a three sector radius as it travels along its
- trajectory. The normal range is 15 sectors. Launching a probe
- requires 10 units of energy and it takes one turn for the probe
- to complete its voyage. Your ship is initially supplied with 15
- probes. Pressing the spacebar during an explorer launch will
- cause the explorer to terminate at the current sector. This is
- useful if you wish to remember the exact co-ordinates of an
- object seen by the explorer
-
-
- F - inventory Food supply
-
- This command checks how much food you have on hand and calculates
- how long it will last, in StarDates. It does not take a game
- turn or use energy.
-
-
- H - Help
-
- This calls a menu that lists all of the commands that are
- available and prints an angle chart to help you orient yourself
- for giving the correct angle to a specific target. This list can
- also be obtained by typing '?'.
-
-
- K - list Known planets
-
- This checks the computer database which maintains a record of all
- the planets that have been scanned. It will not be available
- when the computer is damaged.
-
- L - Long range sensor scan
-
- The long range sensors are a means of seeing beyond the range of
- the short range sensors. It does have several disadvantages,
- however. First, the identity of the object cannot be determined,
- only its location. Second, it requires one turn. The long range
- sensor will scan the region between 5 and 12 sectors when
- operating at 100%.
-
-
- M - show Messages received
-
- This lists all sub-space radio messages that have been received
- recently. The time and probable place of the message are also
- recorded. This function depends on the computer and will cease
- to function when the computer is down.
-
- N - Launch a exploratory probe with a NovaMax warhead.
-
- This is an exploratory probe that is armed with a NovaMax
- warhead. The NovaMax warhead is probably the single most
- powerful weapon at your disposal. It is an explosive device of
- enormous size, and can destroy virtually everything. It explodes
- at the target sector, destroying everything in a three-sector
- radius. It is launched in exactly the same fashion as a regular
- explorer, but with a maximum range of 10 sectors. You will be
- asked when you wish to have the warhead detonate. Note that this
- number is actual distance units, not number of sectors, so be
- careful when launching at middle angles. The warhead can be
- detonated prematurely by pressing spacebar. This will not
- decrease the amount of damage it causes. If the explorer is
- destroyed before it detonates (by collision etc.), the warhead is
- lost. You are initially supplied with 3 NovaMax warheads.
-
-
- P - fire Phasars
-
- The phasars are one of the most important weapons at your
- disposal. It consists of a beam of pure energy that can be
- directed at any target. When using the phasars you will be
- prompted about whether you wish to use the single or multiple
- targeting mode. The multiple targeting mode will automatically
- prompt you for each vessel within range that the computer has
- deemed hostile. You will be given the location and the energy
- required to destroy the vessel. The multiple targeting mode will
- not select planets, however. The single target mode is used
- primarily against planets and friendly vessels. You must check
- (in the upper left corner of the screen) to see how much energy
- you have remaining. Using more energy than you have will result
- in the destruction of your ship. The efficiency of the phasars
- depends on the distance to the target. The farther away, the
- more energy required. The exact formula is :
-
- HIT = FIRED / SQRT( DISTANCE/2 )
-
- This is computed for you automatically in the multiple targeting
- mode.
-
-
- Q - Quit the game
-
- This is used when your mission is complete or you have decided to
- leave. It can only be done from the starbase (your original
- docking point), and if the starbase is destroyed, you must self-
- destruct (Z). You are not allowed to quit before the end of your
- mission. This time can be seen with the computer's knowledge
- base (command #7).
- R - Experimental Death Ray
-
- The death ray is a weapon of awesome destructive power. It will
- destroy all living things within a certain range using minimal
- energy. It is fatal to all known life forms. The primary problem
- with the death ray is that you do not wish to kill yourself. The
- special equipment designed to prevent the death ray from killing
- you is purely experimental, as is the death ray itself. The
- death ray is known to have problems when operated in the presence
- of large quantities of energy, such as energy banks, shields, and
- stars. It is therefore advisable to use it only in the most dire
- emergencies, when the only alternative is destruction.
-
-
- S - Short range sensor scan
-
- The short range sensors are the means of seeing space around your
- ship. The sensors give a visual identification to everything
- within 6 sectors of your ship. When they become damaged, you
- will see less. If they are operating at less than 25%, your ship
- is essentially blind.
-
- This is an example of a short range sensor scan, with examples of
- some of the mmore common things found in the universe.
-
- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ E - Your ship
- ~ ~ ~ ~ . . . . . . . ~ ~ ~ ~ f - freighter
- ~ ~ . . . . . . . . . . ~ ~ ~ B - Federation Starbase
- ~ ~ . K . . . . R . . . . ~ ~ K - Klingon Battle Cruiser
- ~ ~ . . . . * . . . . . . ~ ~ R - Romulan WarShip
- ~ ~ . . . . . . . . . . . ~ ~ * - star
- ~ B . . . . . E . . . . . . ~ O - planet
- ~ ~ . . . . . . . . . . . ~ ~ ~ - space out of sensor scan
- ~ ~ O . . . . . . . . . . ~ ~ range
- ~ ~ ~ . . . . . . . . . ~ ~ ~
- ~ ~ ~ ~ . . f . . . . ~ ~ ~ ~
- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ . ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
- ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
-
- A short range scan is done every turn automatically. If you use
- the short range sensor command it will clear and then redraw the
- screen. It will not take a game turn.
- T - fire photon torpedo
-
- Photon torpedoes are the other main weapon available to you. A
- photon torpedo is a warhead consisting of a matter-antimatter
- charge held apart by a magnetic field. When the torpedo
- detonates, the two combine unleashing a devastating amount of
- energy. The torpedos travel close to the speed of light, and
- will travel their full range (usually 9 sectors) in a single
- turn. If the torpedo does not hit something, it will
- automatically detonate when it reaches its maximum range.
- You start the game with 75 torpedoes and will get more if
- you return to the base for resupply. It is not advisable to run
- out in the middle of a game.
-
-
- U - Ultra-detailed scan
-
- The ultra-detailed scanner is a very precise scanner that will
- scan an object and search the computer database for all
- information concerning it. You will be given all the information
- that the computer has in addition to any results of the physical
- scan. It has a maximum range of 5 sectors and it does takes one
- turn.
- The last ten planet scans are recorded in the computer's
- knowledge base (command #7) and the planets need not be scanned
- again.
-
-
- V - show Version
-
- This command prints the current version of Universe that you are
- using.
-
-
- W - engage Warp drive
-
- The warp drive is the main means of faster-than-light travel. It
- is not a very reliable means of transportation, however. It is
- not accurate- you will frequently miss the target sector by
- several sectors. There can be trouble entering hyperspace or
- while in hyperspace. If you enter hyperspace too close to a
- large mass, the ship can disintigrate. Once you get into
- hyperspace successfully, there may be ion storms or tractor
- beams. An ion storm will cause the ship to be launched on an
- uncontrollable random trajectory. You may end up anywhere in the
- galaxy. A tractor beam will put you more or less wherever the
- user of the tractor beam desires. If you land on top of something
- when you exit hyperspace, your ship will be annihilated. The
- maximum range of the warp drive is 50 sectors.
-
- Z - self destruct
-
- This command will cause your ship to self-destruct. You will be
- asked to confirm the command, after which the ship will explode.
- The damage caused by the explosion will depend on the energy
- remaining in the shields and energy banks. The more energy, the
- larger the explosion. This command cannot be damaged and will
- always work.
-
-
- <esc> - Supervisor
-
- Hitting the escape key will clear the screen and bring up a fake
- DOS prompt. Hitting return will cause a fake error message to
- appear. Hitting <esc> a second time will return
- to the game. This can also be activated by pressing a function
- key or a cursor key.
-
- 7 8 9
- 4 6 - Impulse drive
- 1 2 3
-
- The impulse drive is the primary means of sub-lightspeed light
- movement. It is quite slow, but involves none of the risks of
- warp travel. To use the impulse drive you simply press the
- number on the numeric keypad and you will move one space in the
- appropriate direction. On a standard IBM PC keyboard, you should
- hit the NumLock key to change the cursor keys to numbers. If you
- do not hit NumLock first, the program interprets the cursor keys
- as <esc>, and will go into the supervisor mode. Moving one
- sector under impulse drive takes one turn and uses 25 units of
- energy.
-
-
- The ship's COMPUTER
- =======================
-
- C - use the ship's computer
- This will call the ship's computer, a supercomputer designed for
- extreme survivability in battle situations. Note that when it is
- operating at less than 25% none of its functions will be
- available.
-
-
- Here is a list of its different commands:
-
- 0 - eXIT the computer and return to the game
- 1 - show SCORE
- 2 - set OPTIONS
- 3 - RESTORE shields
- 4 - manipulate MANPOWER
- 5 - manipulate DAMAGE control
- 6 - INSERT crystals into energy banks
- 7 - show KNOWLEDGE
- 8 - sub-space radio COMMUNICATION
- 9 - tractor BEAM
- + - show original difficulty level
-
- Note that they can be summoned by pressing the letter that is
- capitalized as well as by the corrosponding number.
-
- The detailed descriptions are :
-
-
- 0 - eXit
-
- This simply brings you back into the main command level.
-
-
- 1 - show Score
-
- This shows the current score. This is not your cumulative score,
- but your score for this game.
-
-
- 2 - set Options
-
- The only option you have a choice of setting is the AutoTarget.
- This will print the possible targets for certain function with
- the associated sectors and angles, if appropriate. It can be
- turned off if desired.
-
- 3 - Restore shields
-
- This will allow you to transfer energy from your energy banks to
- the your shields. The efficiency of this transfer depends of how
- well your generators are functioning and how many Dilithium
- crystals you have; with the generators at 100% operation and 10
- Dilithium crystals, the generators will change 100 units of
- energy into 1% shield strength.
-
-
- 4 - manipulate Manpower
-
- This allows you to move personnel from one system to another.
- The number of people in a system does not reflect how fast the
- system can be repaired, but rather how efficiently it operates.
- If there are less than the minimum number of people in a system,
- it cannot operate at maximum efficiency. Damage control cannot
- repair a system to beyond this limit until more personnel are
- assigned to the system.
-
-
- 5 - manipulate Damage control
-
- This allows you to move personnel in the damage control systems.
- This will change the repair rate of that system. The more people
- that you have assigned to a system, the faster it will be
- repaired. Note that damage control itself is subject to damage,
- which will effect the rate that all systems are repaired.
-
-
- 6 - Insert dilithium crystals into energy banks
-
- *** NOT CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING ***
-
- This is a very risky operation in which you try to place some of
- you dilithium crystals directly into the energy banks. Normally
- you can change 1 dilithium crystal into 500 units of energy, if
- the operation is successful. There are two things that can go
- wrong. One is that the crystal cannot be used for conversion,
- and will be ruined when you try to convert it. The other is that
- it will not convert properly. This will cause the complete
- destruction of the ship.
-
-
- 7 - show Knowledge
-
- This will call up the computer's knowledge base for you. It will
- contain the location of your original docking point, the minimum
- length of your mission and any other relevant information. It
- will also record the last 10 planets that you have scanned.
-
- 8 - send sub-space Communication
-
- *** NOT CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING ***
-
- This will send a sub-space radio message to Federation Starfleet
- command. There are several disadvantages to sending a message.
- First is that it uses huge amounts of energy (500 units, average)
- to send it beyond ~20 sectors. Second is that it will reveal
- your position to any ship that is scanning sub-space radio
- frequencies. The third is that there is a signifigant time delay
- until any response can be received.
-
- The main messages are :
-
- HELP, which asks federation command to send any available help.
-
- LOCATE, which asks for the location of any enemy fleets that
- Intelligence knows about.
-
- CHALLENGE, which issues a challenge to any enemy vessels that are
- in the vicinity. Issuing a challenge uses three times the normal
- energy requirement, since it must be broadcast in all directions.
-
-
- ASK, which sends StarFleet ommand a request for instructions and
- orders about a situation or problem you have encountered
-
- Note that due to the delay in response time, your ship must
- remain in the general vicinity of where the message was sent in
- order to receive a reply.
-
-
- 9 - tractor Beam
-
- *** NOT CURRENTLY FUNCTIONING ***
-
-
- + - show original difficulty level
-
- This will show you the difficulty level of the game on a scale of
- 1 to 10. A game of level 1 is virtually empty and ludicrously
- easy. A game of level 10 is suicidal. A game of level 5-7 is
- normal.
-
- The Scoring System
- ====================
-
- Universe has two separate ranking methods. One is a simple
- score, which calculates the total number of points which you have
- acquired in playing Universe. This method gives points for each
- enemy destroyed (the number dependent of the type of enemy) and
- for each goal accomplished. For the common enemy ships, the
- points are :
-
- Romulan 10
- Klingon 25
- Vesarus 100
- Curidian 150
-
- There are other enemies, for which StarFleet command will award
- you mission points. You will also receive mission points for
- successfully following out certain additional missions.
-
- There are also penalties which you may incur :
-
- Destruction of the ship -500
- Abandoning ship -100
- Disobedience -100 to -500
- Cowardice -250 to -750
- Treachery -500 to -1000
-
- StarFleet command determines what applies to the latter
- three catagories. Fortunately there is no penalty for stupidity
- other than what the enemy wrecks upon you.
-
- The second method is a ranking of player skill. The current
- version of Universe uses four primary factors. The first, your
- raw rating, is the average in points per turn. A rating version
- of Universe uses four primary factors. The first, your raw
- rating, is the average in points per turn. A rating of 100 would
- be about 7 points per turn. The second, the save rating, is how
- many help calls you have responded to successfully. A 100 for
- this would indicate saving 90% of all help calls. The third, the
- major kills rating, is how many large enemy vessels you destroyed
- per game. A score of 100 would indicate an average of 6-7 per
- game. The final rating is the survival rating. A score of 100
- would mean you survived half the games you played. This is not
- valid for beginning players without enough experience. It is
- hopefully a more accurate measure of a player's actual skill.
- The Technicalities of the System
- ==================================
-
- The game program consists of two main programs UNIVERSE.COM
- and UNIPLAY.COM, and several sets of overlays (used to avoid
- Turbo-Pascal's 64 Kb limit on code size), and a datafile,
- UNISTAT.DAT. These are the essential files needed to run
- Universe. The source code consists of 12 files with the .INK
- suffix. They all start with the three letters 'UNI'.
-
- The program has several quirks. One of the most important
- is that keyboard input is not buffered. What this means is that
- anything you type while the computer is occupied will be lost.
- This should not be important, since everything is fairly quick,
- but it is noticable while using the numeric keypad for moving
- under impulse drive for an extended distance. This is a specific
- modification, and it can be disabled.
-
- Another quirk is the program's use of the numeric keypad in
- the numeric mode and not in the cursor mode. Pressing a cursor
- key will probably be the same as typing <esc>. To get out of
- this just hit <esc> and then NumLock to get into the numeric
- mode. Hopefully a future version will NumLock automatically.
-
- The game uses a coordinate system with the X-axis horizontal
- and the Y-axis vertical. The sector <1,1> is in the upper left
- corner and the sector <100,100> is in the lower right corner.
-
- <1,1> ... <125,1>
- : ... :
- : ... :
- <1,125> ... <125,125>
-
- When you need to give an angle or bearing, the following chart
- applies with relation to the short range sensor scan :
-
- 90
- 135 | 45
- \|/
- 180 ----E----- 0
- /|\
- 225 | 315
- 270
- USING THE UNIVERSE SHELL
- ========================
-
- The shell program is very simple. You have a choice of 9
- commands :
-
- 0 - eXIT
- 1 - PLAY a game
- 2 - show SCORES
- 3 - show RATINGS
- 4 - show TOP 10
- 5 - show CURRENT
- 6 - show VERSION
- 7 - ADD player
- 8 - DELETE player
- 9 - print to FILE
-
-
- 0 - eXIT the shell
-
- This will return you to the operating system prompt.
-
-
- 1 - PLAY a game
-
- This will chain to the game program, and you will have to enter
- your name and password, after which you will immediately start
- fighting to try to save your skin.
-
-
- 2 - show SCORES
-
- This lists the scores of all current Universe players.
-
-
- 3 - show RATINGS
-
- This lists the ratings of all the current Universe players.
-
-
- 4 - show TOP 10 games
-
- This lists the scores from ten all-time highest scoring games.
- 5 - show CURRENT ships
-
- This tells you what each players ship has by way of additional
- engineering features that they found during the course of
- previous games. These will be lost the next time their ship is
- destroyed.
- The possiblities are :
- food double-capacity food storage
- energy double-capactiy energy storage
- xtal double-capacity crystal storage
- lwarp 75 sector warp range
- probe 30 sector probe range (and 20 sector Novamax range)
- Awarp accurate warp
- gen double efficiency generators
-
-
- 6 - show VERSION
-
- This prints the current version of Universe that you are playing.
-
-
- 7 - ADD player to Universe system
-
- This adds a player to the list of current Universe players.
- There is currently an arbitrary maximum of 255 players. This can
- be changed by changing the MaxUser constant in the UNITYP.INK
- file.
-
-
- 8 - DELETE player from Universe system
-
- This deletes a player from the list of current Universe players.
- Note that this deletion is permanent and that you must know the
- password in order to successfully perform the deletion.
-
- 9 - print complete scores to a FILE
-
- This prints 3 files to disk which contain a complete list of all
- available statistics on the players.
- The three files are SCORE.DOC, KILL.DOC, and SAVE.DOC.
- SCORE.DOC contains a list of the most common statistics.
- KILL.DOC contains a list of all the various enemy kills.
- SAVE.DOC has a very detailed list:
- planets subdued
- help calls received \
- help calls saved > for planets, artridean, base, other
- help calls lost /
- how many times you caught the virus
- derelicts boarded
- games longer than stardate 00.05.00
- games longer than stardate 00.10.00
- games where you cleared all hostile forces
- times you abandoned ship
- times you used the death ray
- times you self destructed
- number of driden waves encountered
-
- This program has been released into the Public Domain.
- Permission is hereby granted for the copying, distribution and
- modification of this program for recreational purposes, provided
- that all references to the author are retained.
- Any use of this program for commercial, promotional, or any
- other situation where profit may be considered an objective, is
- strictly forbidden.
-
- The original VAX FORTRAN Unvierse game was by Rajiv Sud of
- MIT, to whom credit is due for the basic foundations of this
- game. I have the FORTRAN source to his game if anyone would like
- to see it.