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Text File | 1990-08-21 | 16KB | 319 lines

The Galaxy ---------- The known galaxy comprises some 2000 star systems (although more may have been discovered by the time you read this message). Star systems are distributed throughout the galaxy in a more or less random fassion. In most cases there are great distances between star systems. Since direct flight from system-to-system would take several years, even with todays advanced technology, another means of travel had to be developed. Scientists with the Traders Guild came up with a concept that is now known as "warp-links". Warp links are kind of a trans-dimentional pathway between star systems. With warp-link travel, starships may move between star systems in a matter of minutes. Warp-Links do take their toll on the time-space barier. It seems that the universe was never intended to have holes cut in it, pathways created, etc. For this reason, only a maximum of eight warp-links may lead into or out of a star systems. Any more than eight could be potentially hazardous to the star system. The Traders Guild constructed these warp links throughout the known galaxy. It is said that there was some basic plan to the layout of these warp-links, but currently it seems that the bureaucratic minds of the Traders Guild have come up with a system that is more or less random, hard to deal with, and lacking any reason whatsoever (as bureaucratic types have a habit of doing). Other Races ----------- Over time, it became known that man was not alone in the galaxy. One by one, other alien races started popping up in the universe. Both warlike and peaceful, these races are still not fully understood today. For the most part, their technology is identical to ours, but some races seem to have far superior technology. Ship Configuration ------------------ Ship configuration is performed through the ship configuration at Sol. You may buy, sell, and upgrade devices there. Here's a brief overview of how your ship is constructed: A starship is basically a collection of "devices". Up to 15 devices may be contained on the starship. These devices include engines, phaser, shields, etc. Devices are available in multiple "classes". Classes are simply a designator of how good the device is. (i.e. a class-2 engine is more powerful than a class-1 engine). Most devices have multiple classes, but some are only available in one class. Combat is performed with PHASERS and PHOTON TORPEDOES. There are no fighters or mines as there are in other games. Trading ------- Trading in this game is a bit different than trading in other similar games. For one thing, we have five tradable commodities rather than the usual three. Here is a listing of the commodities and and their properties: FARMING: General agricultural products. Colonists on planets require farming products to survive. METALS/MINING: This includes your various metallic alloys, rare earth elements, etc. Metals are used in ship construction, housing, etc. Colonists on planets require a suitable amount of metals to build/maintain cities. INDUSTRIAL: Industrial products range from blenders to hover-cars; They are simply products that are required for daily living by colonists. ENERGY: Energy is an essential product necessary to provide power to operate all modern devices. Ships require energy for movement, weapons and shields require energy to operate, etc. PROD-INC: These are special units that are used to build "factories" on planets. "Factories" are used to perform the mining/farming/building/etc on a planet. Prod-Inc units are the only commodities not required by colonists and therefore, very few ports buy PROD-INC units. Trading is not based on simply arbitrary nuumbers like other games, but are based on the requirements of colonists on planets. Certain planets have a surplus of goods and some have deficiencies of products. Your role as a trader is to take the surplus products and give them to planets (ports) that require them. Trading can be summarized into the following steps: 1) Locate two ports that buy/sell different items. (i.e. Port A sells IND and buys ENE while port B buys IND and sells ENE) 2) Dock at port A, sell all of commodity A and buy commodity B. 3) Move to the sector of port B. 4) Dock at port B, sell all of commodity B and buy commodity A. 5) Move back to the sector of port A. 6) Repeat steps 2-5 until the ports' needs are satisfied. Docking can be accomplished in one of two ways. You can dock in the "normal" mode which is similar to other space trading games or you can dock in the "command" mode which is more efficient when using macros. Here is the summary of the modes: NORMAL: Dock using the "P" command. The port will prompt you for which products you wish to buy/sell. (i.e. "We are buying xxx units of energy, how many do you wish to sell ?") COMMAND: Dock using the "PC" command. The port will eneter command mode and you tell the port what you wish to buy/sell. (i.e. sell as much industrial as possible; buy as much energy as possible). Also, for ports that allow purchasing, you can purchase a port through the command mode. A special command has been created to help automate the trading process. It is the "create trading macro" command, activated with "VT" from the main menu. To use this command, go into a sector with a port, then use the "VT" command. You will be prompted for the port that you wish to trade with. If possible, a trading macro will be created which will use the "command mode" to automatically trade the most profitable commodities. One interesting point about ports in this game is that ports and planets are essentially the same thing. A port is simply a planet that has the trading function enabled. So, if you purchase a port, you essentially have a planet as well. Planetary production -------------------- Planetary production is very differant than with most other trading games. I'll try to outline some of the key differences here. Production is based on a series of five constants, known as the product "suitability" constants.These suitability constants are percentages in the range of 10%-90% specifying the suitability of the planet to produce these various items. Factories are used on the planet to produce these various commodities. For simplicity's sake, these factories are considered generic factories and produce all commodities equally. The factories are considered a multiplier of the suitability constants defined above. The third component in this scheme is the "base productivity constant" which is defined by the sysop at initialization time. The base productivity constant is the number of units that represent a 100% suitability with one factory. Here's an example: Item Name Suit. % Base Prod Factories Production --------- ------- --------- --------- ---------- Farming 45% 500 \ / 225 Metals 23% 1500 \ / 345 Industry 75% 2500 1 1875 Energy 84% 1000 / \ 840 Prod 16% 100 / \ 16 With two factories, the "production" would be double; With three it would be triple, etc. Now if things aren't already complicated enough, there is another factor that enters the picture: Colonists! Colonists are required to work the factories. (Factories don't produce much when nobody operates them). Each factory requires approximately 2500 colonists to produce it's full capacity. Factories with less than the requireed number of colonists will not produce the maximum amount. For example: Num Factories Colonists Req'd Colonists Actual Efficiency ------------- --------------- ---------------- ---------- 1 2500 2500 100% 1 2500 1300 52% 2 5000 2500 50% 2 5000 5000 100% 397 992500 100000 10% (rounded) The efficiency is a function of the total number of factories. (i.e. If you have 2 factories running at 50%, you would have the equivilant of 1 factory running at 100%) Colonists do require some basic resources to survive. These resources just happen to be (quite conincidentally) the first four products (Farming, Metals, Industry, and Energy). These requirements are figured on a ten-day calculation. Here's a table that may be of some assistance: Num 10-day requirement Colonists Farming Metals Industry Energy --------- ------- ------ -------- ------ 1 1 3 5 2 25 25 75 125 50 70 70 210 350 140 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2500 2500 7500 10000 5000 Although the requirements are based on a ten-day plan, colonists will use up products on a daily basis. (i.e. 2500 colonists will use up 250 units of farming per day, 750 units of metals, etc). Now you should be able to see how the trading ports work. The amount a port is willing to sell is the surplus over the 10 day requirement. The amount a port is willing to buy is how much they fall short of the 10-day requirement. Now, one final example showing how it all ties together for your basic 1-factory port: Farming Metals Industry Energy --------- --------- ---------- --------- Suit. Const: 53% 29% 72% 34% On Hand: 2650 4350 18000 3400 (10 day prod) Colonist req: 2500 7500 10000 5000 (10 day req) (2500 clnst) --------- --------- ---------- --------- Sell 150 Buy 3150 Sell 8000 Buy 1600 Now there's one question you're probably wondering at this time: Where do all of these colonists come from? Colonists migrate on a nightly basis. Colonists automatically gather to the richest planets. (based on product inventory). So the more products you have on had on the planet, the more colonists will show up. If all this math has you confused, don't worry. The game does almost all of the work for you. The planet report will automatically tell you how much more of the various products are required to sustain your current number of colonists. Drones ------ Drones are a special defensive (or offensive) device which allows you to drop off a self-contained drone with weapons, shields, etc onboard in a sector for a number of purposes. A drone is simply a cut-down version of a starship. Drones are generally stationary and must be dropped off by a player's ship. You may then drop off devices on the drone for its own defensive and/or offensive needs. Drones may have a variety of programs: 1] DEFENSIVE A defensive drone simply keeps to itself and does not attack any other ship unless it is fired upon first. 2] HOSTILE Hostile drones will attack any ship that enters the sector. The player will not be allowed to enter the sector until the drone is destroyed. (in other words, the drone fights to the death) 3] CHARGE TOLL A toll drone will require any ships to pay a toll before being allowed to enter the sector. The ship must either pay the toll or destroy the drone to gain access. Any tolls collected will immediately be sent to your ship. 4] GUARD PLANET A guard planet drone will attack any ship that attempts to LAND on a planet in the sector. (Or anyone who tries to create a planet if there is no planet already in the sector). The player must destroy the drone to gain access to the planet. The drone will guard the planet regardless of the owner. (i.e. You can guard a planet even if you don't own it) 5] GUARD PLANET/PORT This drone has all the traits of the "Guard Planet" drone (#4) above, but if there is a port in the sector, it will also attack any ship that attempts to dock at the port. Setting Up/Defending your drone ------------------------------- After creating a drone (the cost is about $25,000 credits), you will need to defend it with some weapons/shields or some other player will likely come along and waste it. The best way to protect a drone is the same way you protect your ship - with shields and phasers. You can place almost any device that is usable on your ship on your drone and it will act identically as it would on your ship. Your drone, like your ship, requires energy to operate any shields, phasers, etc that you may deposit on it. So you must drop some ENERGY on the drone for operating these devices. You may also drop off torpedo launchers or armor for additional protection of your drone. Remember, an unprotected drone may be easily destroyed by an attacker. MultiNode stuff --------------- This game fully supports multinode play. If the system you are playing on is a multinode system, then both nodes may have the game loaded and players may play simultaniously in the same universe. (As opposed to the original Galactic Warzone which only supported single node play). When two or more people are playing at the same time, if they enter the same sector, one of the players will be shown a message. that the other player has entered. (for example: Player A would see "Player B has just enetered the sector"). There are three special commands which may be used to assist multinode play. These are "SAY", "YELL", and "LIST". All three are available from the main menu. "LIST": The list command will produce a listing of all players currently online. It will display their name, node number, and time/date logged on. "SAY": The say command will allow you to broadcast a text string to anyone in the current sector. (People in other sectors will not hear the broadcast) "YELL": The yell command will broadcast a text string to all users online. (In ANY sector). There are two ways you can use the "SAY" and "YELL" commands in two ways. You simply type "SAY" and you will be prompted for what you wish to say or you can type "SAY <text string>" all on one line. For example: Method One : Method Two : Main Command (?=Help) ? "SAY"<Ent>: Main Command (?=Help) ? "SAY HELLO" <ENT> Say What ? "Hello"<Ent> : : xxxx says: Hello xxxx says: Hello :