------------------------------------------------------------"Star Trek Game" from February, 1990------------------------------------------------------------ Do you remember where you were on Thursday night, September8, 1966? I certainly do -- I was watching the premiereepisode of an adult science fiction television programcalled "Star Trek". Millions of people were enchanted bythe program that evening (including me), and many millionsmore fell under its spell in the years that followed. The "Star Trek" program attracted an intensely loyal butrather small audience (at least, by network standards).During its three-year run on NBC, its ratings were nevergood enough to reach the top ten. In fact, it was almostcanceled after its second year on the air. Fortunately, amassive mail campaign by its fans convinced the network topostpone its cancellation -- at least for one more season. Following its removal from the network lineup, the programdisappeared for a while, only to resurface as repeats onlocal TV stations. And a strange thing happened -- theprogram became more popular in reruns than it ever had onNBC. Star Trek fan clubs and conventions were regularly attendedby thousands of people. A Saturday morning cartoon showappeared a few years after the cancellation with voicesprovided by the original actors, but it was no substitutefor the "real thing"; it only lasted one season. Anothermail campaign convinced NASA to name their first spaceshuttle after the starship commanded by Captain James T.Kirk; and so it became the Enterprise. Interest in the series never waned. Finally, after years ofanticipation, the adventures of the crew of the starshipEnterprise were resumed in "Star Trek, the Motion Picture"released in 1979. Since then, four more major motionpictures have followed. A new TV version, "Star Trek: TheNext Generation", now supplies a much-needed weekly dose ofintelligent science fiction. Computer Entertainment ---------------------- On the new "Next Generation" series, crew members entertainthemselves using computers. On the show, any crew membercan go to a "holodeck" where the ship's computer displaysthree-dimensional life-like holographic images of any sceneimaginable. That enables the "programmer" to play out hisor her fantasies. It is interesting to note that the first personal computersappeared in the mid-1970's -- just a few years after thenetwork cancellation of "Star Trek". And one of the firstthings the owners of those new computers did was to creategame programs based on the "Star Trek" theme, enabling themto play out their fantasies. Just imagine -- what would itbe like to be the captain of the starship Enterprise?Suppose you commanded one of the most sophisticated andpowerful space ships ever imagined, and that your decisionsaffected the lives of over four hundred crew members. Whatwould you do if your ship were attacked by vessels from theKlingon empire? Captain's Log ------------- Once all of the errors have been ironed out, you should beready to play the game. Here is the situation: you are thecaptain of the starship Enterprise. The portion ofFederation space which you patrol has been invaded byKlingon warships. Fortunately, the Klingons did not sendtheir heavy battle cruisers; instead, they sent dozens ofsmaller attack ships. Those small ships are no match forthe Enterprise in a one-on-one situation; apparently, theKlingon strategy is to send so many ships that theyeventually overwhelm the Enterprise. Your assignment is tofind and destroy all of the Klingon ships. After starting the game program, you will see a shortcommand summary. When you have finished reviewing thatinformation, press any key to begin the game. The nextscreen is the game's main display. In the upper left halfof the that screen, you will see a map of the currentsector. A sector is an 8-by-8 section of space. Yourposition in the sector is represented by the letter "E" forEnterprise. Stars are shown as asterisks, Klingons arerepresented by the letter "K", and a star base is shown asthe letter "B" (if one is present). In the upper right half of the screen, you will see a map ofthe known galaxy. Since you have only just begun the game,you only "know" one of the sixteen sectors. That is whyfifteen of the sectors in the galaxy are shown on the map asa series of dashes; until you visit those sectors andexplore them, they will remain unknowns. However, you doknow what is in your current sector. Known sectors arerepresented by a set of three numbers. The first digitrepresents the number of stars in that sector; the seconddigit represents the number of star bases in the sector; andthe third digit represents the number of Klingons. Forexample, if the galaxy map shows a sector code number of713, then you know that sector contains seven stars, onestar base, and three Klingons. The galaxy map also contains one additional piece ofinformation. Your current sector is shown in inverse video.Thus, at a glance you can see whether you are on the edge ofthe galaxy or in its center. If you have explored thesurrounding sectors, then you can also tell at a glancewhether or not they contain Klingons and/or star bases. Status Report ------------- Below the galaxy map is a summary report on the status ofthe Enterprise's engines and weapons systems. Almost all ofthem are expressed in percentages. The first two lines showthe impulse and warp engine status. The impulse engine isused to travel within a sector (within the 8 by 8 grid shownin the upper left); each move within a sector drains a smallamount of impulse engine energy. Your warp engine is usedto jump from one sector to another; each jump drains 10% ofyour ship's warp energy. The next line of the ship's status is your shield strength.Whenever Klingons are nearby, they fire their weapons atyour ship. As long as your shields are strong enough, theywill protect you from harm. However, each "hit" from aKlingon weapon drains a small amount of energy from yourshields. The closer the Klingons are, the greater theamount of energy decline. Should your shield's energy leveldrop to zero, the Enterprise will be destroyed. Below the shield energy report, you will see the currentstatus of your weapons systems. Phasers are an advancedversion of today's lasers. Each firing of your phaserweapon system drains a small amount of its energy; thefarther you shoot, the more energy is consumed. You alsohave five photon torpedos in your arsenal. There is noenergy level associated with the torpedos; once fired, theyjust keep going until they hit something or leave thesector. The final line of the status report lists the number ofKlingon invaders remaining. The total number of Klingonspresent at the start of each game will change randomly,although it will usually be something between 20 and 30.Once you have reduced the number of Klingon ships to zero,you will have accomplished your mission, saved theFederation, and won the game. Command Choices --------------- At the bottom of the screen, a short and rather crypticmessage from your crew awaits you -- "Command (I,W,P,T)?"They are asking you what you want to do. You can press "I"to fire your impulse engines, press "W" to engage your warpengines, press "P" to fire phasers, or press "T" to launch atorpedo. Use your impulse engines to move within the current sector.After pressing "I", the program will ask you which directionyou wish to move. You can only move up, down, left, orright, so you must press one of the four arrow keys toindicate your selection. After selecting a direction, youmust decide how far to move. The "dot" markers on thesector scan are exactly one parsec apart, so press a numberto indicate how many parsecs you wish to move. You cannotuse impulse engines to move through an obstacle or out ofthe current sector. [Note: Those of you with the new enhanced keyboard -- andthat includes all SL and TL owners -- will have troubleusing the up arrow. There is a bug in either Tandy BASIC orthat keyboard which makes it impossible for BASIC to detectthe up arrow. On that keyboard, you have the alternative ofusing the PAGE UP key in place of the up arrow.] If you move into a position directly to the left or to theright of a star base (indicated as a "B"), you will dockwith that base. When docked, you will be protected fromKlingon attacks. All of your engine and weapons systemswill be restored to full power. By the way, the bases havea rather limited supply of energy. You can dock at eachbase as often as you wish, and you will always be protectedfrom Klingon attacks. But you can only refuel at a givenbase once. There are only three bases scattered throughoutthe galaxy. Use your warp engines to move to another sector. Afterpressing "W", you will be asked which direction to travel.Once again, you can only warp up, down, left, or right. Usethe arrow keys to make your selection. Be sure to check thegalaxy map before making a warp move. You cannot warp outof the galaxy. And you would not want to warp into a sectorcontaining a number of Klingons when your shield energy islow. You may notice that if you use your warp engines to leave asector then return later, the arrangement of stars,Klingons, and possibly the star base will have changed.However, that re-arrangement is only an optical illusionresulting from the well known Daystrom parallax effect.(Actually, that is just a bunch of doubletalk. Forgive me,but it did make the program shorter and easier to write thatway.) Offensive Power --------------- Your ultimate objective is to destroy Klingon ships, and youhave your choice of two weapon systems. Both are easy touse. Simply press "P" for phasers or "T" for torpedos. Onceyou have selected a weapon, indicate the direction to fireby pressing one of the four arrow keys. The Klingon shipsdo not have very strong shields, so a single hit from eitherof your weapons will destroy them. Phaser fire into a starwill have no effect; the star will simply absorb the energy.On the other hand, torpedos are quite powerful; they caneven destroy a star. This game may sound complicated to you now, but it isactually quite simple. It requires a fairly even mixture ofplanning, strategy, and luck to win. Several other featureskeep it from being too difficult. Even though Klingons havea reputation for being very crude, you will find that theyare actually quite polite. They will not attempt to run ormove away from the Enterprise, allowing you to pick them offat will. On the TV show, Captain Kirk had to make splitsecond decisions. In this game, you can take as long as youwant to decide on your next move. As simple as it might be, this program does serve as a goodintroduction to a number of other Star Trek theme games. Wehave four very good ones in the Grandy Software Library(GSL). In fact, I reviewed all four in the December, 1987,issue of ONE THOUSAND (Volume 3, Number 13, pages 38-40).Just for the record, I found the program called NEWTREK (GSL#40031) to be the simplest and most playable of the four. Ittoo is written in BASIC, although it is more than twice thesize of this month's program. Another BASIC program calledSTAR-TRK (GSL #30046) is even more complicated and, as aresult, more challenging. PC-TREK (GSL #40009) is unique in that it uses the functionkeys to issue commands. I found the on-screenrepresentations of the Enterprise, Klingons, and star basesto be confusing, but maybe you will like them better. TREK23(GSL #60007) is a super-duper version which is played inreal time -- the enemy will maneuver, attack, and destroyyour ship if you just sit and watch. In TREK23, you controleight star ships and one star base simultaneously. You canplay against the computer or against a friend via yourmodems. All four of these GSL offerings are good; in fact,each was good enough to earn a spot in our sharewarelibrary. If you like this month's DOWN TO BASIC program,then I encourage you to try one or more of these GSLversions. Wrapping Up ----------- Perhaps a few words about strategy and possible improvementsto this month's program are in order. First of all, beadvised that it is difficult to win. Do not be discouragedif you lose more games than you win. If you would like togive yourself a little edge, then there is a program changeyou might like. To scatter a few more star bases around thegalaxy, change the statement "NB = 3" (NB stands for theNumber of Bases) in the middle of line 1340 to somethinglarger, like "NB = 4" or "NB = 5". If you are up to aprogramming challenge, you might insert a question, askingthe player whether he wants the novice, intermediate, orexpert version. Based on the response, you can set NB equalto 5, 4, or 3, respectively. Speaking of bases, remember that an "empty" star base looksjust like one with a full set of refueling supplies. Assumethat the Klingons are jamming sub-space radio, so that youcannot radio ahead to check on the base's status. As aresult, you must keep track of which bases you have visitedand which ones you have not. Sometimes during the game, itis actually a good idea to AVOID docking with a star base.If your ship's energy levels are still high, you might findit wise to continue exploring the galaxy and return to thatbase later -- when you desperately need the energy it willprovide. During battle, keep a close eye on your shields. If theirstrength drops below zero, you lose the game. Since yourweapons only fire in one of four fixed directions, you mustuse your impulse engines to maneuver within the sector.Evaluate each move you make carefully. Sometimes, it iswiser to move AWAY from the Klingons -- even if it takes youmore moves to get into firing position. Remember, thefarther you are from the Klingons, the weaker their weaponsare, and the longer your shields will last. In addition, donot be afraid to shoot a star with a torpedo; as senselessas that action sounds, once in a while it will open a lanefor firing that makes it worthwhile. Since this month's program and article are already a littlelonger than usual, I will dispense with the line-by-linediscussion of programming theory that normally appears. Butnext month, I will be back with a brand new program in thestandard format. If you have a special request for aprogram, a question about BASIC in general, or a suggestionfor a future column, please write to me in care of ONETHOUSAND magazine. If you would like a speedy response toyour letter, be sure to enclose a self-addressed stampedenvelope. Live long and prosper. See you next month!
