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STAR EMPIRE MANUAL - Star Empire v. 1.00 Copyright (C) 1992 Antoine Le Huenen OVERVIEW Star Empire is a BBS (Bulleting Board System) program. It is one gigantic game that is played with several people over the phone line with usage of the modem. Unlike most BBS programs, everything of this one is concentrated on the game. Imagine, one system that deals with only one objective, to be ruler of the galaxy! Distribution of this program is encouraged. It is free, and no registration of any sort is required. You may copy this program freely as long as it is not modified and that all files contained in this package are kept. REQUIREMENTS: To run, Star Empire requires at least 256k of memory, a hard drive or two floppy disk drives, an ANSI driver and a Hayes Compatible Modem. Before you may use Star Empire you must run INSTALL.EXE. Refer to the installation documentation (INSTALL.DOC) for more information. ABOUT STAR EMPIRE Star Empire started out in 1991 as a school project during my first semester of grade 11. I wished to hand it in as some extra curricular work, yet the teacher did not accept work that was done outside of the school. Therefore I was forced to abandon the idea of getting marks for it and continued making it out of personal interest. I started writing in in WATCOM Basic, yet the lack of power in that language forced me to translate it and continue writing it in the more powerful language ANSI C. Star Empire was written and compiled under Turbo C++ version 1.01. USAGE OF THE ANSI DRIVER Star Empire REQUIRES an ANSI driver. This driver is used to translate certain control codes and such that Star Empire makes references to. An ANSI driver, ZANSI.SYS is included in this package for your benefit. To use it, simply add it to your CONFIG.SYS file (if in existence). A sample would be: DEVICE=C:\BBS\ZANSI.SYS You may use any ANSI driver, yet ZANSI is recommended for its performance and reliability. EXECUTING STARV01.EXE To run Star Empire, simply type "STARV01" in your working BBS directory. You may first want to run the program in local mode, for testing purposes and advanced configuration. To do so, add the parameter /LOCAL when running it. This would be an example: C:\BBS>starv01 /local The program will then boot up in local mode. Once inside Star Empire, it is possible to know whether you are in local mode or not by looking at the status indicator. If it says: "Local I/O Only", you are in local mode. However, if you wish to run it normally right away, you may do so. Just make sure your modem is on, as it will immediately attempt to initialize the modem after execution. If it freezes at "Initializing Modem", make sure your COM port is functioning and that your modem is on. SYSOP COMMAND SUMMARY WHILE WAITING FOR CALLER In normal operation, the Status indicator should read "Waiting for Caller". During this time the program will wait for somebody to call your BBS, and pick up the phone when somebody does. Yet while nobody is calling there are certain commands that you (as the SysOp) may wish to use. They are all listed in the following: Q - Quit: This command allows you to quit the program and return to your Operating System (DOS). It will close all files and reset the modem, returning you to normal computer operation. H - Shell: This command allows you to make a Shell to your Operating System. In this mode your normal DOS command prompt appears, and you may delete files, do maintenance, and even run other programs. When you wish to return to Star Empire, simply type "Exit" at the DOS command prompt. T - Star Terminal: This command makes your enter the terminal program that is included with Star Empire. Once there, you may call up other BBS'es or do other modem activity. When you wish to return to Star Empire, simply hold down the Alt key and press 'x' on your keyboard. If you do that while you are online on another board, Star Empire will hang you up. Before entering Star Empire it will re-initialize the modem. <Space> - Local LogOn: This command allows you to log on your own BBS. It is recommended that before doing this you put the phone offhook by using the 'O' command, but it is not required. While you are online the modem will not pick up the phone whatever the case. L - List Users: This command lists all the current users on your BBS. At the beginning there will only be one user, you, yet as your BBS progresses you may get a very large number of users. + - Initialize Modem: This command re-initializes the modem, using the initialization string that you specified in the galaxy editor. A - Answer Phone: This command forces the computer to answer the phone with the answering string specified in the galaxy editor. Normally, Star Empire answer the phone automatically, yet there may be cases (NULL Modems and such) where you will want to answer the phone manually. O - Put Phone OffHook: This command puts the phone offhook indefinitively, until followed by another phone offhook, or re- initialization of the modem. You may do other commands while the phone is offhook. N - NULL Modem (9600): This command is used for high-speed NULL modems. It it used when you have a NULL modem attached to another computer, and you wish to use it at a much higher speed. The only speed for this option is 9600 baud, so make sure your other computer's term program is set for that speed. C - Create Planet: This command is used to create a planet somewhere in your galaxy. Normally there is no need to create planets, as the installation creates them for you. Yet there are times when you wish to have a planet in a specific place. After selecting this, you will be prompted to enter the sector where you want the planet to be located. You may only create a planet in a sector that already has less than three planets, as three planets is the most each sectory can hold. You will then be prompted for several pieces of information concerning the planet, then it will be created and instantly added to your PLANETS.DAT file. U - User Editor: This is a general usage User Editor. With it you can edit many aspects of a user. The specifics are displayed later in this manual. G - Galaxy Editor: This command lets you edit your current BBS Setup. It is discussed later in this manual. P - Planet Editor: This command allows you to edit specific planets. The specifics are displayed later in this manual. S - Ship Editor: This command let you edit player's (or your own) ship. It is discussed later in this manual. LOGON OF A USER When somebody calls your BBS, the bottom of the Waiting for Caller screen will light up, and Star Empire will send the Modem Answer string that you specified in the Galaxy Editor. It will then attempt to connect with the user calling. You may force a hangup on the user by pressing 'H'. After the user is connected, the connection speed will be displayed for a few seconds whereas the logon procedure will commence. The initial information will be displayed, such as the program name Star Empire and the copyright information. Immediately after the user is required to type in is identification. This may be done in two forms. He may either type in his user name, where the computer will do a sequential search on the user database to retrieve the specific user information. Or the user may type in his user number for much faster access. After typing in his identification, the user must type his password. Failure to type the correct password means that the user cannot enter the system using that user name. Once the correct password is typed, the user has access to the system using his/her account. If the user has an access level of 250 or above (Co-SysOp access), he/she must type in an additional password. This password is the system password, otherwise known as the SysOp password. Only when this second password is typed in correctly may this user log-on. Each individual password can be changed through the use of the User Editor, and the SysOp password can only be change through the Galaxy Editor. NEW USERS Once a new user first logs on, he must go through a process which requires him/her to enter information that you the SysOp can use to validate him. He/she is required to state his/her REAL Name, address, phone number, postal code and such information. After this, the user is recorded in the user database, and the user gets limited access to the system. A new user starts out with an access of zero (0), and may be increased at the SysOp's discretion. Each new user receives a ship, 100000 cash and 200000 invested in the galactic bank. As well, he is put in orbit of Planet Earth, so he may buy supplies and such before exploring the galaxy. After you as the SysOp has checked over the account, you may or may not wish to validate this specific user. Select 'U' from the Waiting for Caller screen. You will immediately be asked which user you wish to modify. Just type in the user's alias, and his information will appear before you. After reviewing his information and possibly calling him to make sure he/she is real, you may validate him by changing his security level to ten (10). Simply press 'J', enter his new security level (10), then return to main menu, or as this may be the case, to the Waiting for Caller screen. To indentify new users, simply select 'L' from the Waiting for Caller screen. The entire list of users will appear before you. You can indentify new users by their security access of zero (0), and they are usually located near the end of the list. (This may not always be the case, as when users are deleted new users take their place in the list). SYSOP INFORMATION AND FUNCTIONS While a user is online, the SysOp has a special window on the bottom of the screen where he can view several pieces of information of the user that is currently online. Displayed are the user's alias, real name, phone number, security level and the current baud rate that the user is calling at. There is only one thing that needs describing of the SysOp window, and that is the "SysOp" display. There is either a "yes" or a "no". This is very important, for only with one person should it say "yes", and that is you! With this the user has full SysOp priveledges. What this means is that the user's name is the same as the SysOp name, specified in the Galaxy Editor. This is another layer of protection added to the BBS. While the user is online, the SysOp currently has two functions that he may use as interface with the user. Both are discribed, and may be used at any time. F1 - Pressing this key forces the user into "chat mode", with the SysOp. The SysOp may then talk to the user. The SysOp can disable this mode by pressing F1 again. The user however, cannot. F10 - Pressing this function keys makes the BBS hang up on the user. It is not wise to just hang up on a user, yet sometimes it is necessary. AFTER BEING IDENTIFIED In normal operation, after been identified, the computer will display a welcome message, that has the name of the BBS and the name of the person who's calling. It will also display the number of calls the user made that day. It will then proceed to display LOGON.TXT, which you may modify to display introductory messages or important information that you think the users should know about. After this message a pause will come, and the user must press a key in order to proceed. After doing that the computer will look to see if there are any messages waiting for the user. Messages in this case are computer generated ones. They are used to inform the user whether any planets have been attacked, the amount of cash gained in the galactic bank and such things. After they have been displayed they will be erased to leave space for new messages. If the user has more than one ship (a user can have up to ten ships, yet starts out with but a single ship), a small menu is displayed where the user must select the ship he wishes to use for this call. After the ship has been selected, a last introductory message is displayed and the user is given the command prompt. At the command prompt, he may use any of the many user commands that make up most of Star Empire. Below is a list of all these commands, as well as the security level required to access them. Security Level 0 Commands: HELP - This is the fundamental command that displays all commands that are available to the user. To avoid problems, the user can only see commands which are availble to him/her. The code for the commands are displayed as well as a brief discription of what the command does. BYE - This command makes the BBS instantly hang up on the user, thereby closing his/her account until he/she decides to call again. ROS - This command displays a roster of all current users on the BBS. It gives their user name, security level and current score. This command is used to identify the stronger players from the weaker players, so that some users would know which to avoid and which not to. CON - This command changes ship condition. There are three possbile ship conditions, Green, Yellow and Red. Right now they don't do anything in the game. Layout for command is: CON <condition>. REN - This command is used to name or rename your current ship. Up to two names can be issued. Examples are: USS ENTERPRISE, or TIME BANDIT. Layout for this command is: REN <first name> <second name>. REP - This commands gives various reports. There are variations on this command, which are: REP NAV - This command gives a navigational report of your ship, displaying its current X and Y co-ordinates, sector location, speed, and if in orbit the name of the planet it is orbiting. REP SYS - This command gives a system report of the ship. It displays information about the ship itself, such as energy, damage, and cargo. REP ACC - This command gives a report on your current accounts. It displays your name, user number, your rank, security level, cash on hand, cash in bank, your score and how much time you have left on the BBS for that day. Time is displayed in seconds. SCA - This command gives you two types of scans. One is a sector scan, while the other is a range scan. SCA SE - This command gives you a graphical picture of your current sector. Its layout is as follows: Sector Scan (44) ╔═════════════════════════════╗ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . 2 . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . + . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . 1 . . . . . . . 3 . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ║. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .║ ╚═════════════════════════════╝ The type of scan and current sector are displayed at the top. + - This is your ship, its position relative to the sector and the planets. # - These are planets. Up to three of them can be found in each sector. SCA RA - This is very similar to the sector scan. However, your ship is always in the center, while the planets position is relative to YOUR position. Right now there is not much use to the range scan, yet soon objects can be scanned that will be outside of the sector, such as space portals. With this command you must specify the range that you wish to scan. For example: SCAN RA 3 This would scan range 3, which is about two sectors radius. SCA PL - This is a planet scanner. When you scan a planet and you're in HyperSpace, very little information can be gained. Only its name, bearing, distance and sector position may be found in this fashion. So thoroughly scan a planet, you must be in NormalSpace. From there a surface scan is displayed, which shows Planet Type, population, and relative amounts of certain items that can be found on the planet. If, however, the planet is cloaked, then no scan can be made. If the planet has a force field, a scan can be made, but no surface scan is possible. When you scan, the third item on the command line is the planet. Layout would be: SCA PL <planet number>. ORB - This command makes you orbit the closest planet, as long as you are within the orbital range of the planet. Orbital range is 250 distance, although warnings will be issued when a ship comes within 500 of a planet. Yet you must be careful, because if you go within 20 distance of a planet, you will crash and lose your ship and be instantly hung up! ROT - This command allows your ship to rotate a number of degrees. NOTICE: Degrees specified are relative degrees, not absolute! For example, let's say you are at 270 degrees, and you typed in ROT 90, you would rotate to 0 degrees, not 90! Negatives may also be used in rotate, so from 270 degrees, ROT -90 would rotate you to 180 degrees. You may only rotate up to 180 or -180 degrees, as that covers the whole 360 degree range. An example of its layout would be the following: ROT <bearing>. NAV - This command is your main navigation command that allows you to move throughout the galaxy. The second item of the command line specifies your speed in warp factors while the third item specifies your bearing. Like the rotate command, bearing is relative and works the same. If you wish to travel in NormalSpace, you may use decimal points while specifying warp factors. For example: NAV .45 0 would make you travel at almost half impulse at your current heading. Normal layout for this command would be: NAV <speed> <bearing>. STO - This command makes your ship come to a stop, slowing down until a full stop is achieved. This command does the same as NAV 0 0. FLU - This command loads a flux pods, which restores your ship's current energy up to its maximum. Since energy gets used up very quickly, sometimes it is necessary to flux half way through a journey. SHI - This command raises/lowers your deflector shields. Shields are your ship's main defense system, without it you are very vulnerable. However, standard shields cannot be used in HyperSpace, and are automatically shut down as soon as you enter HyperSpace. When you first raise your shields, they must be charged up. The rate that they charge at is dependant on the shield type. HyperShields (type 10), however, can be kept up in HyperSpace. They work in NormalSpace as well. INV - Cloak works much in the same way as shields, although they do not have to be charged up and are instantaneous. However, the draw back is that they consume huge amounts of energy, and cannot be used in HyperSpace. ANS - This command is to turn user ANSI On or Off. Layout for the command is: ANS <condition>. Condition can be ON or OF. CHAT - This command is used for chat requests to the SysOp. The SysOp may engage in chat with the user by pressing a key. A beeping sound is made locally so that if they SysOp is around he is notified of the chat request. Security Level 10 Commands (Validated Level): ADM - This command is used for Planet Administration. In order to do the administration of a planet, you must own it and be in standard orbit around it. A copy of the administration menu is displayed below. 1. Get Accounting Report 2. Alter Work Assignments 3. Adjust Tax Rate 4. Deposit Cash in Bank 5. Withdraw Cash from Bank 6. Transfer Men/Items to Surface 7. Transfer Men/Items from Surface 8. Set Trade Password 9. Rename Planet The above require some explanation, as explained below: 1) The Get Accounting Report allows you to view the planet's progress. 2) The Alter Work Assignments allow you to change the work rate of an item's production, the cost of the item, or the planet's reserves of the item. The production rate changes the percentage of men that are working on the production of the item. The total percentage may never exceed 100 percent, however. The cost of the item is how much you sell the item to other players. You can specify whether you want to sell the item or not, however. 3) Adjust Tax Rate. This item lets you change the planet's tax rate. Most of your income comes from taxes, yet the more you tax the population, the less they are able to produce. It's a 1:1 ratio, so taxing 50 percent will only allow 50 percent production. 4) This item allows you to deposit some of your cash into the planetary bank. It is always wise to have some cash in a planet bank, as cash on your person can be lost. However, if another user is able to take over your planet, all cash stored within the bank goes to them. 5) This item allows you to withdraw cash that has been stored into the planetary bank. 6) This allows you to transfer men or items to the surface, thus unloading them from your ship onto the surface. 7) This allows you to transfer men or items from the planet surface to your ship. However, you may only hold as much on your ship as you have cargo space. 8) This item allows you to set a trade password for your planet. Any user wishing to trade with your planet must know the trade password in order to proceed. 9) Rename Planet. This does exactly as the name says, it allows you to rename a planet. ATT - This command allows you to attack a planet in hopes to take it over. You must be in standard orbit around the planet you wish to attack. You may attack all planets except planet Earth, owned by the SysOp. If a planet is unclaimed (no owner), to claim it you need only to use the Admin command. However, if the planet is owned by someone else you must attack it to get it. Most of your score is based on your ability to take over planets, so it is wise to take as many as you can in order to be the ruler of the galaxy. You make attack planets with two items, fighters and photon torpedos. Photon Torpedos are good at illiminating planet force fields, and they cause mass destruction on the planet surface. Fighters, however, are more "conventional" in nature. They cannot break through planet force fields, yet they are good at taking over a planet in a clean way. The layout for the planet attack command is: ATT <number of items to use> <item>. TRA - This command allows you to trade with the planet you are currently orbiting. It is menu oriented like the Administration command, and is listed below. If the planet you are trading with is owned by a user, you have the following choices. 1. List Item Prices 2. Buy Items 3. Sell Items 4. Ship Maintenance If it is planet Earth you are trading with, owned by the SysOp, you have the additional options. 5. Buy New Ship 6. Upgrade Current Ship 7. Deposit in Bank 8. Withdraw from Bank 9. Transfer Men from Surface The above require some explanation, as explained below: 1) List Item Prices is used to find out which items the planet is currently selling and the cost of each of the items. When selling items, they are always half the cost of the item, rounded down. 2) Buy Items allows you to buy the items that are selling, at the price listed in list item prices. 3) Sell Items works in the same way, and if you cannot buy an item, you cannot sell it. 4) Ship maintenance is used to repair hull damage that your ship has sustained. No matter the planet it costs 2500 cash for the repairs. 5) Buy new ship allows you to buy a new ship. A user can have up to ten ships at any one time. However, to be able to transfer into a new ship, you must hang up and call back. There are two types of ships you can buy, star cruisers and merchant cruisers. Star cruisers have better speed, acceleration and sensors, while merchant cruisers have little of the latter but has large cargo space. 6) It costs 100000 cash to upgrade a ship. Every time you upgrade it, your ship's maximum energy increases by 10000, your ship's cargo space goes up by 500 tons, your ship's acceleration goes up by 10, your maximum speed goes up by 2 warp factors, and your shields, cloak and sensors go up by 1 type. 7) When you deposit cash into the galactic bank, it is forever secure. You can also gain interest on cash on the bank. However, in order to withdraw cash from the bank, you must come to planet Earth. 8) This works the same way as depositing cash, but instead you can withdraw cash from the galactic bank. 9) Transferring Men from Surface is the only way to get men to populate your planets. They do not cost anything, but you must have the cargo space to hold them. Security Level 250 (Co-SysOp) EDIT - This allows the SysOp or Co-SysOp to enter the online editor. To enter the editor, however, you must type in the SysOp password correctly. Only after that is done may you use the SysOp editor. There are several areas that you can edit, as listed below. 1. Display User List 2. Display Planet List 3. Modify User 4. Modify User's Ship 5. Modify Galaxy Settings 6. Create Planet 7. Modify Planet The need more explanation, as explained below. 1) This gives you a list of all users, there security level, and their status. Their status is whether they are active or deleted. When a user is deleted, they simply get a deleted flag. They can always be resurrected, until a new user comes in and takes their place. 2) In order to display a planet list you must specify the sector that you wish to display. 3) Modify User is used to change the stats of a specific user. All of their stats can be changed, from their alias to the number of calls they made today. However, a Co-SysOp (250 access) cannot change an alias or password, and individual's passwords are not displayed at that access level. The Co-SysOp may, however, upgrade someone's access level up to the level of the Co-SysOp. 4) Modify User's Ship works in the same way as modify user, but first you must choose which ship you wish to modify of the user. You can also be given a ship list, that displays its name, type and location. 5) From the Modify Galaxy Settings, you can change the game's current configuration. If you ever want to change your (the SysOp's) alias you MUST do it from here! Your account will be changed automatica- lly. 6) This allows you to create a planet. You must specify in which sector you wish to create the planet. It will then inform you if there are already 3 planets within a sector. If there are not, it will ask you basic information about the planet, such as name, location and such. For advanced modification of the planet you create use the planet editor. 7) This allows advanced modifications of planets. Security Level 255 (Full SysOp) SHELL - This command allows you to make a temporary shell to DOS through the modem. However, the SHELL.BAT batch file must be edited correctly. If it is not correct, it will crash the board and hang up on the person wishing to shell. CLOSE - This command allows you to remotely shut down the BBS. It can be useful in certain cases. Once the board is shut down, it can only be put back up locally. OBJECTIVES IN GAME While playing the game, your objectives are to conquer as many planets as possible in order to rule the galaxy! CLOSING NOTE Well, that about does it for now. If you have any questions or comments, or would like to see the latest version of Star Empire, please call Temporal Existance BBS at (416) 429-6626. This is the programmer's personnal board, so you may ask questions directly. Well, that's it! Hope you enjoy the program!