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S p a c e E m p i r e E l i t e MS-DOS Version 1.0.0 by Carlis Darby & Mike Martinez Documentation by Carlis Darby Support BBS, HyperSpace I - Spartanburg, SC 803-576-6212 2400/9600/19200/v.32/v.42bis/MNP1-5 Copyright 1992, Carlis Darby and Mike Martinez Based on Space Empire Elite for Atari ST BBS's by Jon Radoff, Jurgen Van den Handel and Carlis Darby FOREWORD For many of you, this may be your first exposure to SPACE EMPIRE ELITE (hereafter known as SEE). SEE is by no means new, only new to the MS-DOS world. SEE is, by far, the most popular online game for the Atari ST BBS'ing platform. Many an MS-DOS user has admitted that their sole reason for calling an Atari ST BBS was to play SEE. Many people have contributed to the evolution of SEE and as such I feel it is necessary to give some background of the development of the game and to give credit to all those who have had a part in it. Space Empire was originally written for Atari ST BBS's by Jon Radoff. Jon quit working on Space Empire to pursue programming on the Amiga but his last revision (v6.04) continued to be played and remained very popular. In 1988, Jurgen Van Den Handel of the Netherlands, Holland decided to write his own Space Empire in an effort to fix some of the bugs that Jon had left behind in his last revision. His first release of SEE was almost identical to the last version of Space Empire by Jon. Jurgen then set to work on making the game even more enjoyable by adding new features and further enhancing an already superior game. The DUTCH CONNECTION BBS, Sysop: Steve Reed, was the support BBS for Jurgen's SEE. Steve also helped with the development of the game itself supplying new ideas and suggestions on ways to improve the game. When Steve had to return to the U.S. the support BBS for SEE came down (9.06 being Jurgen's last version). Steve brought the code with him back to the U.S. Mike Martinez and I had written a utility program for SEE called SEE COMPANION. It automated many of the functions a sysop was having to perform manually as well as adding some "asked for" features that were not incorporated directly into the game itself. I had conversed with Steve Reed through FNet mail to ask him some questions concerning some things Mike and I wanted to do with SEE Companion. Steve told me that he was not going to be able to support the game and asked me if I would like to take over the development of SEE. I eagerly accepted. I worked on SEE for almost 2 years. I fixed some bugs and made some adjustments to begin with, then went on to adding my own new features to the game itself virtually rewriting it in the process. During this time, I had many people from the MS-DOS world approach me about porting the game over. Since I did not own an MS-DOS machine (nor had any desire to at the time) it remained a game strictly for Atari ST BBS's. Several clones of SEE popped up about this time of which many of you have probably played on one BBS or another. Some of the clones were pretty close to SEE while others were not so close. As MS-DOS machines continued to drop in price, became a more multi purpose computer and my job is working with them on a daily basis I finally decided to take down HyperSpace I BBS, sell my Atari ST equipment and purchase an MS-DOS Compatible machine. I relinquished support of the ST version of SEE to some capable programers who had written utilities during the time I worked on SEE, much as I did before taking over development of the game. After several months of getting comfortable with my MS-DOS machine, I decided to begin work on a much requested MS-DOS version of the game. Porting SEE over took a lot of time and a lot of testing as there are many differences in the way data, I/O and many other machine specific functions are handled on the PC. As time went by, and SEE approached the beta testing stage, I decided to resurrect HyperSpace I BBS as a beta test and support board for the MS-DOS version of SEE so that I could test the package "live", and have a way to get/receive information from my beta testers. The game you have before you is the result of many hours and many beta versions. I hope that you enjoy SEE. GAME STRUCTURE SEE is a easy game to play, but a difficult game to master. These instructions will explain to you the basic features and functions of the game and what each particular item does. It will be up to you to decided how to use each of these to gain an advantage over your opponents and become the SPACE LORD. SEE can be setup to either reset monthly or never reset (Sysop Configurable) In each game, each player starts the month with 2 ore planets, 10000 Megatons of food, 100 soldiers and 2 generals. The differences in the two games is simply the "never reset" version is reset manually by the Sysop whenever they choose. The scores are reset at the beginning of the month and the person with the highest score at that time is crowned SPACE LORD then entered into the SEE Hall of Fame. Planets and forces, however, remain in each players position. If the game is set for a monthly reset, the person with the highest score gets recorded as the SPACE LORD in the SEE Hall of Fame, but all players are deleted from the game and everyone starts from ground zero. The flow of SEE is another key in planning your strategy. The game goes through s series of options in the same order each turn. There are no options that allow you to branch off from this program flow. This makes it essential for you to plan your actions carefully. Each move you make in SEE can make you or break you and even have an influence on the outcome of battles between other players. THE GAME PIECES PLANETS - Planets are the key to success in SEE. Planets feed your population, produce credits, and generate forces. There are 3 types of planets that you may rule in SEE: 1. FOOD PLANETS produce food (obviously) which is CRITICAL to the survival of your empire. The food is consumed by any soldiers that you have and by the general population of all your planets. You have to determine how many of these planets you wish to keep on hand. If you have barely enough to feed them, an attack by enemy forces could leave you with a starving population that does not have the planetary resources to produce the amount of food they will consume. Food can be purchased at the FOOD COMMON MARKET (discussed later) but that is providing there is food available there. It is also more costly to purchase the food than to produce it. 2. ORE PLANETS are the "money producers" for your empire. These planets generate the credits you will need to fund the inner workings of your empire, pay and maintain your forces, and buy food and forces if necessary. Not enough of these and your empire's infrastructure will decay causing public unrest, thereby costing you even more credits to get things under control. You will probably have more ore planets than either of the other 2. 3. INDUSTRIAL PLANETS are producers of much of your military. These planets can clone soldiers and manufacture fighters, defense stations, carriers and heavy cruisers. While these items can be purchased at the GOVERNMENT SPENDING menu, it is cheaper to have them produced through industrial planet production than buying them "off the lot". You set the production percentage for each of the items you want to produce. You have 100% to play with and call allocate 0-100% to any of the five items the planets produce. You can do this in any combination of percentages as long as the total does not exceed 100% The maintenance costs of INDUSTRIAL PLANETS are also half that of FOOD or ORE PLANETS. SOLDIERS are inexpensive to maintain but they do require food to keep them going. Soldiers are good in a support role but you don't want too many as the amount of food your overall empire will require will be elevated. Soldiers perform in both an offensive and defensive capacity. GENERALS are commanders of the soldier transports and the soldiers on them. Each general can command up to 50 soldiers. FIGHTERS are used when attacking an opponent. They also require CARRIERS to "shuttle" them to their destination. For each 100 fighters you have, you must have a carrier to transport them. Fighters are used in an offensive capacity only. CARRIERS are required to get FIGHTERS to their destination. Each CARRIER can transport 100 fighters. CARRIERS are also required to transport forces and port food during the TRADING option. The amount of each item you can send is based on the number of CARRIERS you have. HEAVY CRUISERS are the "power" ships of your forces and as such are very costly to build or buy. They are the most effective of all the forces, however, and get to their destination without an escort. They are effective in both an offensive and defensive capacity. COMMAND SHIP is where your military leaders plan their strategies. It is not a fighting ship that you send on an attack. It is given an effectiveness percentage from 0-100%. The higher the COMMAND SHIP percentage the more effective your forces. A COMMAND SHIP percentage of 0 would mean your forces were 20% less effective than with a COMMAND SHIP percentage of 100. COVERT AGENTS allow you to hurt a player without actually attacking him. The COVERT AGENTS allow you to do such things as spying, bombing and other terrorist activities. The success depends on how many COVERT AGENTS you have versus how many your opponent has. GAME PLAY In this section, you will be taken through an actual game turn to familiarize you with the flow of the game. Each turn will always unfold in this way, providing you have what you need to fulfill some of the options. SEE is not designed to be played from a menu. It is designed so that you have to make one decision after another and to be easy to play. This does not mean it is easy to master just that you can spend more time on strategy rather than figuring out a multitude of options. On to the game.... When you first enter SEE, you will be given the option whether or not you wish to use ANSI. If this is your first and your Sysop has enable the ability for you to use an ALIAS, you will be able to enter one at this time. If the ALIAS ability is turned off, your BBS login name will be used automatically. >> HyperSpace Software << presents S p a c e E m p i r e E l i t e MS-DOS v1.0.0 by Carlis Darby and Mike Martinez Support BBS: HyperSpace I - Spartanburg, SC 803-576-6212 -2400/9600/19200/V.32/V.42bis/MNP1-5 Copyright 1992, Carlis Darby and Mike Martinez All Rights Reserved Portions Copyright David Pence, Jon Radoff, Jurgen van den Handel, and STeven P. Reed Press any key to continue... At this point, you will receive any messages that were sent to you and also in news of attacks or covert operations directed at you. SEE INFORMATION MENU is where you can look at the news files, scores, read the documentation or any update notes. It also allows you the option of quitting back to the BBS if you decide not to take your turns at this time. SEE Information Menu ════════════════════ 1) Today's News 2) Yesterday's News 3) Players's Scores 4) Hall of Fame 5) SEE Docs 6) Update Info Q) Quit to BBS ════════════════════ 1) Today's News - allows you to view today's general news file. 2) Yesterday's News - allows you to view yesterday's general news file. 3) Player's Scores - displays the players scores and the number of planets each of them has. 4) Hall of Fame - allows you to look back at the previous monthly winners of SEE. 5) SEE Docs - allows you to read this document. 6) Update Info - should be checked periodically as new versions are release. Contains bug fix info and changes in game play. DAILY DIPLOMATIC PHASE - Allows you to make/break treaties with other Empires. Each treaty can be offered with a 0-14 day limit. The treaty remains in effect until it reaches 0 and one player attacks the other, or one of the players uses the Break Treaty option. Daily Diplomatic Phase ═══════════════════════════ <1> Neutrality/Peace Treaty <2> Free Trade Agreement <3> Minor Defense Pact <4> Total Defense Pact <5> Break Treaty <6> View Relations <0> Do Nothing ═══════════════════════════ What would you like to do? [1-6] 1) Neutrality/Peace Treaty - is basically a treaty saying I won't attack you and you won't attack me. 2) Free Trade Agreement - allows each player to benefit financially from each others commerce. Each turn you will receive 120 credits for each million people from each player you have a Free Trade Agreement with. 3) Minor Alliance Pact - causes 20% of your allies SOLDIERS and HEAVY CRUISERS to be added to your forces when someone attacks you. When your lost forces in the attack are calculated, of the 20% they sent, they will lose whatever percentage you did. 4) Total Defense Pact - is the same as a Minor Alliance Pact except that 40% of your allies forces will come to your aid. 5) Break Treaty - allows you to end your alliance early. If the player you break the treaty with has not played today, you will not be able to attack them until after they have completed their turns for that day. They will, however, be able to attack you on that same day when they logon if they so desire. Use this option carefully because if you play before they do, and your forces are inferior, you will be easy prey for an attack. 6) View Relations - allows you see who you have a treaty with and how many days are left on it, as well as who is an enemy, and with whom you have no diplomatic relations. In addition to these restrictions, when/if the player that is the SPACE LORD reaches 500 planets, all their treaties will be automatically reduce to a Neutrality/Peace Treaty. They will not be able to have any other treaties unless they drop below 500 planets, or another player takes over as the SPACE LORD. INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION ALLOCATION will allow you to set the percentage of each Industrial Planets resources will be geared to producing which product. Industrial Production Allocation ════════════════════════════════ Troop Cloning 20% Fighter Production 20% Carrier Production 20% Defense Station Production 20% Heavy Cruiser Production 20% ════════════════════════════════ Change Allocation ? [y/N] Choosing to change your allocation will prompt with each item and as you how much percentage of each Industrial Planet will produce each good. You may enter any value from 0 to 100, but the percentages of all 5 of the items cannot total in excess of 100%. Also keep in mind that just because you may say 20% of each item, doesn't mean that you will have the same quantity of each item produced. It takes more to produce a Heavy Cruiser than to Clone a Troop. PRODUCTION and BEGIN TURN STATUS is displayed next. ══════════════════════════════════════════════════ 38000 units of food grown. 4040000 credits worth of Ore has been mined. Command ship now at 100% of completion. You collect 345594 credits in taxes. Industrial Planet Production: Troops Cloned : 654 Fighters Produced : 598 Carriers Produced : 50 Defense Stations Produced : 327 Heavy Cruisers Produced : 337 Press any key to continue.... Begin-turn statistics Empire status ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ ICE'S Empire Score: 12800 Turns: 4 Credits: 51282242 Pop: 1446 Million Food: 38000 Megatons Agents: 48 Insurgency:PEACEFUL Comm.Ship: 100% completed Military: [Troops=12137] [Fighters=9123] [Def.Stations=3841] [Generals=250] [Carriers=95] [Heavy Cruisers=1774] [Effectiveness=100%] Planets: [Food=10] [Ore=202] [Industrial=94] You have 2 turn(s) of protection left. ════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ A few items on the screen that have not been discussed will now be covered: 1) Score - dictates who is the SPACE LORD. Whoever has the highest score at the end of the month gets their name put in the SPACE LORD HALL OF FAME. Keep in mind that while the more planets you have, the more power you have the determining factor of who wins is their score. 2) Insurgency Level - goes up when certain things happen in your Empire such as not feeding your people enough. They can also be raised by another player with the SUPPORT DISSENSION option in the Covert Ops section (explained later). Your insurgency can range from PEACEFUL to UNDER COUP. You have the opportunity to lower your Insurgency Level (if it is higher than PEACEFUL) each turn and you will be required to pay a fee to do so. You will be automatically prompted during your turn if your Insurgency exceeds PEACEFUL. 3) Effectiveness - determines how your troops will function in battle. A low Effectiveness can cause an otherwise powerful army to be overrun by an army of fewer numbers. Losing battles lower your effectiveness. Your effectiveness can also be lowered by the DEMORALIZE TROOPS option from the Covert Ops section (explained later). You have the opportunity to raise your effectiveness several percentage points (if it is below 100%) each turn by paying a fee. 4) Protection - allows you to develop your Empire without interference from other Empires. No empire will be able to perform Covert Ops or Attack your Empire in that time. You are granted 20 turns of protection when you start the game. You may not void this protection unless you have acquired a planet total in excess of 200. At that time, you may attack someone, thereby voiding your protection, or if you do not attack anyone, your protection will continue until you have used up your first 20 turns. MAINTENANCE FEES You will now be prompted to pay certain fees. Anywhere from 3-5 questions depending on the status of your empire. The first will deal with paying your maintenance fees of your forces. The amount required will be in []. Hitting a bare return at this prompt will automatically pay the default value inside the []. Not paying the full amount can result in the loss of a percentage of your forces based on how much you actually paid versus how much you were supposed to pay. Next, if your Effectiveness has dropped below 100%, you will be prompted to pay to have it raised. The default value is inside the []. Hitting a bare return will take the default value. Not paying this option will not result in the loss of anything, however your Effectiveness will not be raised and your forces will not be at optimum levels. The next one deals with the maintenance costs of your planets. Once again, the amount required is in the []. Hitting a bare return will pay the default in the []. Not paying the full amount here can cause a loss of planets. Paying less than half of the required costs on either maintenance option above will result in a CIVIL WAR, in which you will lost half of everything. Planets, Forces and Credits will all be cut in half. The next option will ask you to pay your Crime Prevention Agencies. Again the default is in [] and hitting a return at this point will pay that amount. Not paying adequate amounts here can result in various random crime activities happening to your Empire. If your Insurgencies are above PEACEFUL, you will be given an option to pay a fee to lower them a notch, it is a simple Y/N statement. Failure to pay can result in more unrest as well as your Insurgencies going back up another level. FOOD COMMON MARKET is where you pay to feed your general populace as well as your Soldiers. If your planets are not producing enough food, you may buy food here providing there is Food in the Market. Food is replenished on a daily bases. Food excesses may also be sold here. The cost of food is based on supply and demand. The more food there is available, the cheaper it is. Welcome to the Food Common Market Current quantity available is 150000 Food is in LOW demand. You currently have 38000 megatons of food. Would you like to [b]uy, [s]ell, or [C]ontinue? COVERT OPERATIONS - The following menu will appear if you have purchased any COVERT AGENTS. These options allow you to do nasty things to an opponent without actually attacking them. The only thing you stand to lose are some Covert Agents. The costs on these vary according to how powerful your Empire is. These are also a good way to wreak some havoc on an Empire that is too large for you to attack militarily. Several small Empires concentrating these options on a big Empire can inflict some serious damage. Covert Operations...... ════════════════════════════════ 1. Send spy................7500 2. Insurgent Aid.........100000 3. Set up................100000 4. Support Dissension....200000 5. Demoralize Troops.....250000 6. Bomb MIL/CIVIL target.250000 7. Tap Communications....250000 8. Take Hostages.........300000 9. Bribe General.........500000 A. Bribe Covert Agent....500000 0. Done ════════════════════════════════ You have 48 Agents, and 45843756 credits. Which would you like to do? [?=Help] 1) Send Spy - will allow you to see the status and military holdings of another Empire providing you are successful in the attempt. 2) Insurgent Aid - raises the Insurgency Level of your target immediately if successful. You may do this repeatedly until your target is under the greatest possible Insurgency (UNDER COUP). Your target will have to pay to get this rate back under control. 3) Set Up - allows you to set an Empire with another Empire. In other words, you can set Player A up with Player B. This option will actually be processed during daily maintenance and if successful, will send a message to Player A that Player B attacked him. Useful if trying to start a war between two players. 4) Support Dissension - stirs up trouble in another Empire's Soldiers. If successful it will cause 15-25% of them to desert. 5) Demoralize Troops - send women and alcohol into another Empire causing their Effectiveness rating to drop. 6) Bomb Mil/Civil Target - allows the choice of several different areas to bomb. These options are processed during daily maintenance so you will not see results until the next day. 1) Military Headquarters - destroys a portion of your opponents Generals. 2) Logistics Center - prevents the distribution of food to their troops as well as any other logistical operations for one turn. 3) Intelligence Headquarters - will destroy a portion of your targets Covert Agents. 4) Imperial Foodstores - destroys a portion of your target's food supply. 5) Civilian Targets - will do something to a civilian target than can cause random unrest to develop amongst the general populace. 6) Communications Center - prevents your target from sending or receiving messages for that day. GOVERNMENT MARKET - is probably one of the most critical areas of SEE. This is where you buy military forces. Many of these forces can be produced by Industrial Planets, but you can supplement what is produced by purchasing more. If you have an excess of an item, you may sell it back to the Government Market as well, but you will only receive 1/2 the current market value if you decide to do this. Command Ship, Planets, and Covert Agents cannot be sold back. Current market prices : # Item Price Owned ─────────────────────────────────────── <1> Soldier Troops 1120 0 <2> Fighters 1576 0 <3> Def. Stations 1928 13841 <4> Generals 12415 0 <5> Command Ship 60960 100% <6> Colonize Planet 84947 306 <7> Covert Agents 5841 48 <8> Heavy Cruisers 6571 1774 <9> Carriers 15552 0 <0> Done ─────────────────────────────────────── Your credits amount to 45843756, 3 turn(s) left. Would you like to buy [1-9], [s]ell, or [C]ontinue? Done At some point, the number of planets generated by the Government Market will be less than the demand to buy them. New planets are produced daily but are normally bought up quickly by the first few players. The Sysop has the option to adjust the maximum number of planets a player can purchase per day after exceeding 200. If it gets to the point where there are never any available when you need to purchase them, you may want to ask you Sysop to lower the number of planets a player can purchase per day. WAGING WAR - is your next option. At this point you may choose to attack an opponent. You may not attack an opponent until your protection is gone or you have exceeded 200 planets. If you have exceeded 200 planets and you still have turns of protection left, no one can attack you until you void your protection by attacking someone or your 20 turns of protection are used up. Battle phase! Which Player? [A-Y, '?' for list, Return aborts] LIST PLAYERS List of Players/Scores. ─────────────────────── Name No. P Score ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ A THE SATHARIAN EMPIRE 99 10800 B ICE 306 12800 C JOE BOB 110 1000 E LIZARD MAN 12 2800 F SPRING CHICKEN! 395 600 H JOHN DOE 19 1400 ══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════ Which Player? [A-Y, '?' for list, Return aborts] If you choose to attack a player, you will be prompted for how many Soldiers, Fighters and Heavy Cruisers to send in the attack. You must send at least 1 of 1 item. The battle will be calculated and you and your target will lose a portion of their forces based on how powerful the attack was. Successful attacks will give you a portion of your opponents planets. If you take their last planet, you will get any left over credits and military equipment. If your attack is unsuccessful, your effectiveness will drop and you will have to pay in order to raise it. TRADING - allows you to port items to another player. This is useful for allies to send items back and for to each other. If you have one particularly large player, a great number of players can trade a quantity of their forces to one player in order to try to knock the large player down to size. This is a smart strategy if you suspect someone is about to "run away" with the game. Do you wish to do any trading? [y/N] There are 3 criteria that must be met in order to trade. You can only trade with an ally, you must have exceeded 200 planets, and you must have enough carriers to carry the goods you are trading. MESSAGE EDITOR - allows you to send messages to one, some or ALL of the other players. Helpful for coordinating strategy for allies, or just generally taunting an enemy. Use the Space Empire Commlink? [y/N] Yes Which Player? [A-Y, Z = to ALL, '?' for list, Return aborts] to ALL Send a message to ALL, except : Which Player? [A-Y, '?' for list, Return aborts] NOBODY Enter a message to ALL. press /H for help 1) I love SEE! 2) /s Message saved :1 line(s). Send Anonymously? [y/N] No Another? [y/N] No ----------------------------------------------------------- CONCLUSION This document is intended to be a "road map" on how to play SEE. It is up to you to determine what route you will take to reach your goal of SPACE LORD. Each "playing piece" and option has been explained. It is up to you to work out the best strategy to give you a winning combination. There is no one correct method to playing SEE. Timing is a critical a factor as anything. Should I attack Player A now before they get too big, or do I want to save my forces hoping for a larger victory, should I go against a smaller player risking fewer forces but getting fewer planets in return. Things like this are to be considered and you must be prepared to accept the consequences of your actions. Don't expect to master the game after only one month. Try different strategies and find one that works for you. Your key to success will be the ability to adapt to the unexpected and to try to anticipate your opponents actions. I hope you enjoy Space Empire Elite. Carlis Darby DISCLAIMER (Boring Legal Stuff) This software is presented "as is". Carlis Darby, Mike Martinez and HyperSpace Software make no guarantees. SEE has been tested extensively on several BBS systems without any problems. Carlis Darby, Mike Martinez and HyperSpace Software are not responsible for any damage done to your system by use of this product nor is there any warranty for the use of this software. Use at your own risk. COPYRIGHT INFORMATION SPACE EMPIRE ELITE is copyright 1992, Carlis Darby, Mike Martinez, and HyperSpace Software, All Rights Reserved. Portions are Copyright, Jon Radoff, Jurgen Van Den Handel, Steve Reed, and David Pence. SUPPORT BBS: HyperSpace I - Spartanburg, SC 1-803-576-6212 - 2400-19,200 Baud v32/v42bis/MNP1-5.