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HOST32.TXT
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1995-05-15
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VGA Planets HOST 3.2 Beta 3a
(The Final Beta)
Copyright 1992 -- 1995
By Tim Wisseman
HOST.EXE is protected under the copyright laws
of the United States of America and by International
Copyright Law.
The HOST.EXE program is owned by and remains the property
of Tim Wisseman the copyright holder.
All VGA Planets players and hosts are granted the royalty-free
use of HOST.EXE. The HOST program may be distributed freely
by all possible means.
The VGA Planets server HOST.EXE and
It's configuration program HCONFIG.EXE are
royalty-free programs. They may be used and given
out free of charge. You can download the
latest version from the:
The Tim Continuum BBS (209) 877-4921
cocomax@aol.com
The VGA Planets client program
PLANETS.EXE 3.00 is a shareware program.
Players are asked to please register PLANETS.EXE.
Planets Version 3.5 for MS-Windows is NOT
shareware, there is no shareware version of
it. There is only the registered version.
Tim Wisseman
PO Box 204
North Fork
CA 93643
VGA Planets is a player supported program.
My thanks to everyone that registered!
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Bugs fixed:
SEE: H32FIX.TXT for a complete bug fix list.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Host returns a DOS errorlevel 1 if there is a host crash.
-------------------------
If the "Climate death rate" is greater than 0% then:
Desert worlds now support at least 101 - ( planet_temp ) clans.
Ice worlds now support at least 1 + ( planet_temp ) clans.
-------------------------
FRIENDLY CODES:
(Most of these codes will only work if you are a registered player)
Codes dealing with deep space mine fields:
These control then number of torpedoes that are
coveted and laid as a mine field:
"mdh" mine drop half your torps
"mdq" mine drop one quarter of your torps
"md1" mine drop 10 torps
"md2" mine drop 20 torps
"md3" mine drop 30 torps
"md4" mine drop 40 torps
"md5" mine drop 50 torps
"md6" mine drop 60 torps
"md7" mine drop 70 torps
"md8" mine drop 80 torps
"md9" mine drop 90 torps
"md0" mine drop 100 torps
"miN" will lay a minefield in an enemies ID, were N is
the ID number of the enemy that you want the mines
laid as. N = ( 1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,a,b)
These mines will not effect the enemy race, but they
can and will damage you if you fly through the field.
"msc" If you mission is set to mine sweep this code will cause
the ship to scoop up the mines and convert them back into
torpedoes.
Glory device codes:
"pop" This code will cause the D19 or Saber class starships to
EXPLODE after moving, if they have fuel.
"trg" This code will cause the D19 or Saber class starships to
EXPLODE after moving, if they have fuel and any cloaked
enemy ship is detected.
"HYP" Hyperjump, this will cause a ship that has a hyperjump drive to
jump 350 light years and burn 50 KT of fuel. The waypoint of the
jumping ship must be greater then 20 LY and the ship must have
at least 50 KT of fuel. It is best to set the warp speed to 1
for the jump.
"mkt" Make torpedoes in space. Load your ship up with the items need
to build torpedoes and your ship will construct them in space or
over a planet. The items needed to build torps include one of
each mineral type plus the megacredits required.
Alchemy ship codes:
"ald" Alchemy Duranium. This code will cause an alchemy ship to
produce only Duranium.
"alt" Alchemy Tritanium. This code will cause an alchemy ship to
produce only tritanium.
"alm" Alchemy Molybdenum. This code will cause an alchemy ship to
produce only molybdenum.
Planetary friendly code:
"NUK" causes planet to attack all enemy ships in orbit.
(note: some ships are immune to attack)
"ATT" causes planet to attack all enemy ships in orbit that
have fuel.
(note: some ships are immune to attack)
"bum" beam up megacredits to all ships in ships in orbit (including
enemy ships). If more then one ship is in orbit then the
megacredits will be split between all the ships.
"con" Configure Message. Have the host send a listing of the current
host configure settings next turn.
"dmp" Dump old parts. If there is a starbase in orbit around this
planet then most the parts in the starbases storage bins will
be converted back into minerals and dumped to the planets
surface. Torpedoes will not be dumped.
Ship to enemy ship transfers:
"btt" Beam Transfer Torps. This code will transfer torpedoes of
like type from the ship with this code to all enemy ships
at the same point in space that have the same make of torp
tube.
"btf" Beam Transfer Fighters. The code will transfer fighters from
the ship with this code to all enemy ships at the same point
in space that have fighter bays.
"btm" Beam Transfer Megacredits. This code will transfer megacredits
from the ship with this code to all enemy ships at the same
point in space.
"gsN" Give Ship. This code will give starship to N race, where N
is the number/letter code of another race. When the starship
has this code the race represented by N will take control of
said starship on the next turn. A friendly code of
gs1 would give your starship to the Feds on the next turn.
The crew becomes crew members of the new controlling race.
For this to work there must be an enemy ship belonging to
race N with colonists at the same point in space as the ship
with the "gsN" friendly. Only registered players can give ships
away.
Ship to enemy planet transfers:
"bdm" Beam down Megacredits. This code will dump the megacredits from
the ship to the planet that it is in orbit around, no matter
who owns the planet.
Other codes:
"lfm" Load fighter minerals. This will load all the minerals and
money onboard the ship to build as many fighters as possible and
tells the ship to build fighters, regardless of the ships mission.
This code will only work for the Robots, Rebels and Colonials.
"cln" Clone. A ship code. This tells the starbase that you own and are
in orbit with to make an exact copy of the ship with this code.
The starbases' tech levels must be equal to or greater then
the ship being cloned. This will in most cases cancel out the
normal starship building on the starbase any turn that there
is a starship with this code in orbit. The cost of cloning a ship
(megacredits) is 200% of the original cost of building the ship.
The Privateers and Crystal People can not clone. You can not
clone ships that your race can already build.
The money and minerals are beamed directly from the planet to
space. The parts stored on the starbase are not used by the
cloning process.
"NAL" The alchemy function of a Merlin Class ship can be disabled with
a friendly code of "NAL" ( No ALchemy )
------------------------------------------------------------------
HYPERDRIVE SHIPS
An experimental Hyperspace device has been added to 3 ship classes:
PL21 PROBE
B200 CLASS PROBE
FALCON CLASS ESCORT
To use the hyperdrive set the ship's waypoint to a point
farther then 20 light years and set the friendly code to
"HYP". The ship will jump about 350 light-years and burn
50 units of fuel. The ship will come out of hyperspace
at speed zero and with no waypoint set. Ships in hyperspace
avoid all minefields. The hyperdrive can not be used to
escape a tow. This will not work if the ship is on an
intercept mission. Hyperjump ships can not tow another
during a hyper jump.
------------------------------------------------------------------
ENGINE TECH SHIELD BONUS:
A switch in HCONFIG.EXE, The Engine Tech shield bonus.
The power from higher tech engines increases the shield power of the ship.
How much? At 100%, a ship with transwarp engines fights like a ship that
is 300 kt more massive. The cost of one engine is added to the
combat mass of the to ship take in to account of the effect of the
higher tech engines powering the shields.
This shield bonus is based on the tech of the engines and not the
number of engines on the ship.
The engine tech to not effect the charge rate of the weapons.
The tech of weapons does not effect the rate of weapon recharge.
The shield bonus does not apply to ships attacking planets.
Remember if you don't like this turn it off.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
DATA WARNINGS:
Warnings: ( >>>GREEN<<< , >>>YELLOW<< and >>>RED<<< )
When host runs it now gives a "Data Status Message"
Green means the data from the player and in the host records are
100% normal.
Yellow means that there is a slight glitch in the data or
program. ( Bug? ) Don't worry about this error too much,
it is mostly harmless. But still should not happen.
The host has found that minerals or money are missing.
Red means there is some sort of problem. From one small error
from an unkown origin to wholesale cheating. This means that
minerals or money has showed up in a player's empire and the
host can know where it came from. The host will take action to
"correct" the problem during a red data status.
>>>WARNING<<< >>>WARNING<<< >>>WARNING<<<
Running METEOR.EXE will cause a >>>RED<<< or >>>YELLOW<<< data
status at random. There is nothing that can be done
to prevent this. It is best not to run METEOR.EXE when using
HOST 3.1x or HOST 3.2X, use the HCONFIG meteor settings instead.
----------
FRIENDLY CODE BATTLE ORDER:
All ships have an attack order.
They will fight in an order that depends on the friendly code.
The friendly code can give an attack value from 1 to 999.
To use attack values your friendly code must have a
numerical value. The attack values will NOT affect the way in
which a ships fights, it only effects the battle order.
Your enemy's attack values will NOT effect your battle order.
A attack value of 1 is the lowest possible attack value.
Here are examples of attack values base on some friendly codes
where "x" is any non-number character.
Friendly code Attack values
xxx 1000
1xx 1
10x 10
01x 1
999 999
123 123
18x 18
x23 23
xx2 2
x1x 1
The ship with the lowest attack value will
attack first. If two ships have the same attack value
the ship with the lowest ID number will attack first.
-------
PLANETS ATTACKING SHIPS:
The game can be configured so that the planetary friendly code "ATT"
or "NUK" causes a planet to attack any enemy ship in orbit.
This will override the matching friendly codes not fighting rule.
( ATTack or NUKe ). Some ship and race are immune to attack.
DISABLE TORPEDO SYSTEMS:
A ship may now disable it's torpedo systems by using the friendly
code "NTP". ( No TorPedoes )
If two ships that are enemies use the "NTP" friendly code they
will still fight. This is also a special case where matching
friendly codes does not count.
The "NTP", "ATT" and "NUK" must be all in uppercase.
This will also disable fighter launches.
--------
CHEATERS:
Very bad things happen to people that try to cheat. . .
The Tim Continuum is watching a little closer now.
It sees money from nowhere, minerals appear, torpedoes
turning into fighters, etc. . .
--------
SCAN RANGE:
The range that you can see enemy ships is now limited by a
scan range that the host can configure. Ships beyond the
scan range in open space can NOT be seen. An enemy ship in orbit
around a planet that you do not own and do not have a ship in
orbit around can not be seen.
--------
NO fuel:
Ships that have no fuel can not intercept or tow.
The host can decide if he will allow ships without fuel to
move short distances. ( The old no fuel "impulse" ship drift )
--------
WARP WELLS:
All planets place a stress on the time space continuum for a
distance of 3 light years (circle) in all directions. Any ship that
warps within a distance of 3.0001 light years to a planet will fall
into the planets warp well and end up at the planet.
Ships with a speed of warp 1 are not effected by warp wells.
Ships that have just dropped out of HYPER-SPACE are not effected
by warp wells.
---------
GROUND ATTACK: ( Dropping colonists )
The host can configure the ground attack and defense factors of
all races. Every 20 defense outposts add a defense factor to the
planet. ( 100 defense outposts would make a planet 5 times stronger
then it's normal defense factor. )
---------
SENSOR SCAN RANGES:
Ships can now have a very good chance of detecting all planets
within the sensor range that have less then 15 defense outposts and
has ether more then 15 factories or more then 20 mineral mines.
Every defense outpost reduces the odds of being detected by 6.6666%.
Any planet with no defense and more then 15 factories or more then
20 mineral mines will be detected.
A planet with 15 defense outpost or more can not be detected by
sensors.
---------
DARK SENSE:
The Evil Empire can now dark sense ALL planets within dark sense range
that have enemy colonists, except for Rebel colonies.
The Dark Sense is unable to find the Rebels.
---------
CLOAKING SHIPS:
Ships with damage greater than the amount of damage that
prevents cloak can not cloak.
If a cloaked ship hits a mine and its damage going beyond the
amount that prevents cloak the ship will fall out of cloak
instantly.
Ships may have to burn fuel to cloak. ( This is up to the host. )
The amount of fuel that the ship must burn is based on the hull
mass of the ship.
When a cloaked ship is burning fuel to stay cloaked and it
does not have enough fuel to remain cloaked the ship will decloak
and not burn the cloak burn fuel.
There are odds that a ships cloak may fail from time to time
and be seen. The odds of this is up to the host and can range
from 0% to 50%.
The cloak fail rate works as set in HCONFIG.EXE. The odds are within
a few percentage points of the set rate. The HOST.LOG now will tell
you how many cloak fails took place out of how many ships are cloaked.
---------
ANTI-SHIP MINE FIELDS:
The number of mines that a ship can sweep can be configured in
HCONFIG.EXE
The host has the option of letting overlapping enemy
mine fields destroy each other.
Both mines and web mines have a decay rate at which they
disappear do to natural causes. The default is 5%.
There is a maximum size that mine fields can be. If a ships tries
to expand a field beyond the maximum no more torpedoes will
be converted to mines. If a ship keeps it's mission to lay mines
the mines lost to decay will be replaced by new mines so long
as the ship has torpedoes.
Mine fields of the same race may overlap.
Mine fields and web mines may overlap.
The odds of hitting a regular or web mine can be changed by the
HCONFIG program.
Minefields no not merge.
There is now a limit on how far you can you can detect mine fields,
however you will now get a report on all mine fields within this
detection range. Both yours and enemy minefields. You will NOT receive
sweep information from enemy mine fields that have friendly codes that
match your ship's friendly code.
---------
MINERAL MINES:
The mineral mining rates of all races can be adjusted in the
HCONFIG program.
---------
ISOTOPE TRANS-URANIUM MUTATION RATE
The HCONFIG can set the rate at which new minerals are formed in the
planetary core of all worlds. The new minerals are formed by the
natural isotopic break down of uranium into trans-unranium elements.
Density ranges from 100 ( Large Masses ) to 1 ( Very Scattered )
More minerals are formed on planets with higher mineral densities
then on planets with lower mineral densities. This takes place
every turn.
If set to 5 (default) and a planet has a density of 100%
(Large Masses) 5 kt of each mineral will appear each turn in the
planet's core. This must be extracted by mineral mines to be
used to build ships.
---------
TAXES:
The amount of taxes that a race can collect per turn can be adjusted
in the HCONFIG program. However, if the rates are changed they will
not match up with the amount projected by the PLANETS.EXE / WINPLAN.EXE
programs. These programs expect the Federation player to get double
the credits and all other players to get normal credits.
---------
NEW NATIVES:
There is a switch in HCONFIG that that allows native races to be
discovered from time to time on worlds without native life. They
will be found only on worlds that do not already have native life.
---------
LONG RANGE SENSORS AND DISTRESS CALLS:
Starships that explode in battle will now be detected by all the
other races in the game. They will detect the (x,y) location of
the explosion and the name of the ship given in the distress call,
but nothing else. Ships that are captured and planets that are taken
over can not be detected on the long range sensors.
---------
ENEMY PLANETS:
Enemy planets can not be scanned for minerals by a ship in orbit any
longer. The enemy colonists are able to jam enemy starship sensors.
---------
HOST LOG:
The host.exe saves a record of the screen output of the last run
to a host.log file in the hst data directory.
Everything that was sent to the screen will be in the file.
---------
STRUCTURE DECAY:
You can set the rate at which structure on a planet decay when there
is not enough manpower on the planet to maintain them. The rate is
the number of undermanned structures that can be lost in a single
turn. If it is set to 3 then up to 3 of each type of structure
can be lost in a single turn on a planet that does not have enough
colonists to support.
---------
NO MONEY FIGHTERS:
The number of "free" fighters that each race gets at each starbase
each turn can now be configured. The default is 5 for the Evil Empire
only. The fighters still require minerals to build them. Each fighter
requires 3 tritanium and 2 molybdenum units to build.
---------
CYBORG ASSIMILATION RATE:
The rate at which the Cyborg player turns the native population
into Cyborg colonists can be set from 0% to 100% of the current
number of Cyborg colonists on the planet. The Cyborg player has
no control over the assimilation rate, only the host can change
it using HCONFIG.EXE.
---------
PASSWORD DISABLE:
If the passwords are disabled then all the players in the game
will have their passwords set to "NOPASSWORD" every turn.
---------
SCIENCE SHIPS: (Climate changers)
The climate temps of all planets range from 0 (ice planet) to
100 (hot desert). A climate type 50 is the best at supporting all
forms of humanoid life. The Crystals and the native Siliconoids
do best in hot desert climates.
In case you are wondering, the climate number works out to be
the average daytime temperature F.
There are three ship classes that are able to transform a planet's
climate just by orbiting it. Each ship will change the climate type
by 1 each turn.
Bohemian Class Survey Ship:
will make planets warmer until climate type 50 is reached.
Eros Class Research Vessel:
will make a planet cooler until climate type 50 is reached.
Onyx Class Frigate:
Will make any planet turn into a hot boiling pool of rock
and desert (temp 100).
---------
CLIMATES:
All humanoid type races do best on a type 50 planet
( Temperate - warm ).
The Crystal race does best on temp 100 ( Desert World ).
( If Crystal people like desert worlds = YES )
The Siliconoids also like temp 100 worlds.
The Lizards are unable to regulate their body temp so they
to like type 50 planets the best.
Rebels: Surface temp 19 and lower (ICE)
Maximum clans that can survive: at least 200
Fascists and Robots: Surface temp 81 and higher
Maximum clans that can survive: at least 60
All other races can only have one clan on a desert or arctic planet.
(Temp 0 or Temp 100)
---------
GLORY DEVICE:
Two ships in the game now have a device built into the hull called
a glory device. These two ships are the D19 and the Saber Class
starships. The device emits deadly berthold rays during its explosion.
When one of these ships set off the glory device it does
1 mine hit of damage to all ships at the same point in space and
destroys the ship using the glory device.
The glory device does less damage to your ships then enemy ships. The
D19 will do 20% normal damage and the Saber will do 10% damage to
ships that you own.
If the explosion takes place over a planet it can also kill a large
number of enemy colonists and natives as well as destroy objects
on the ground, such as factories.
Siliconoid, Reptiles, Bovinoids are immune to Glory Devices' effects.
The resulting Berthold rays will kill ALL Amorphous life on a planet
that occupies the same point in space as the exploding starship.
This will cause all of the Amorphous natives to be converted directly
into supplies. They will be converted at a rate of 1 supply unit per
1000 natives.
Glory device codes:
"pop" This code will cause the D19 or Saber class starships to
EXPLODE after moving, if they have fuel.
"trg" This code will cause the D19 or Saber class starships to
EXPLODE after moving, if they have fuel and any cloaked
enemy ship is detected. The enemy is determined by primary
enemy or a kill mission (all cloaked ships).
---------
SUPER SPY DELUXE
The Birdmen's super spy has been enhanced.
When a player selects the Super Spy mission it will now have two parts.
The Super Spy portion of the mission will remain the same. It will
still go after movement, but the new part of the mission will go before
movement. It has the following effects. Each Bird Man starship
performing Super Spy will effect this mission whether it is desired
or not.
The Birdman starship will remain cloaked while performing this
mission if it have can cloak. Damage or lack of fuel might prevent
cloaking.
The starships will each have a 20% chance of changing the
planets friendly code to match the friendly code of the Bird Man
starship. This effect is cumulative and five starships can effectively
control a planets code. This means that if are 5 starships the Bird Man
will can control the planets friendly code.
Birdman starships on a super spy mission are immune to the
surrendering functions of starbases as long as they have at
least one unit of fuel.
If the Birdman ship switches to a mission other then super spy
it will surrender to a starbase if it's friendly code matches the
planet's.
---------
LOKI CLASS DESTROYER
The Loki Class Destroyer will now attack cloaked starships.
This vessel will detect and attack enemy cloaking starships.
The Loki emits a tachyon pulse that causes all cloaked ships
within 10 light years of its' position to come out of cloak.
Cloaked FED and LIZARD ships are not effected by the Loki.
They will remain cloaked.
---------
COBOL CLASS RESEARCH VESSEL (Colonial fuel scooper)
The Cobol Class Research is equipped with a simple Ram Scoop as a
part of it's hull design. The Ram Scoop will produce 2 KT of
Neutronium per light year traveled by the starship. So if the Cobol
traveled ten light years it would generate 20 KT of fuel. So in
theory, if it used less than 20 KT of fuel to go that 10 light years
the starship would experience a net gain in fuel.
The Cobol Class does not scoop fuel when it is on an intercept
mission, being towed and towing.
The HCONFIG can set the scoop rate at 0kt, 1 kt, 2 kt, 3 kt or
4 kt of fuel per light year. The default is 2kt.
---------
BIO SCANNER
The Cobol, Pawn and Brynhild class starships are capable of detecting
native life on other planets. If the starships mission is a sensor
sweep this ability will be activated. The range of the native life
detecting is the same as the sensor sweep range. The bio scanner will
be able to lock onto about 20% of all planets in range per turn.
The mission will tell you the type and number of natives that are
living on a planet with in its sensor range. It will also tell you
the climate of a planet with native life. The mission will not tell
you which race, if any, owns the planet.
Twenty or more defense outposts will shield a planet from the
Bio Scanners. You can bio-scan unowned planets, if they have less
than 20 defense outposts.
---------
ARIES CLASS TRANSPORT
The Aries Class Transport is an advanced alchemy starship. The
Aries will convert minerals into Neutronium. It will do this at
a rate of one unit of fuel per unit of any other mineral that
in placed in the starships cargo holds. So if one unit of
Tritanium is loaded onto this starship it will be converted
directly into one unit of fuel. This process requires neither
supplies or megacredits to be performed. The only way to prevent
the alchemy process from occurring is to have the starships fuel
tanks full. If the tank is less than full the starship will convert
enough minerals to fill it or until it runs out of minerals.
---------
LADY ROYALE
The Lady Royale is a pleasure starship. When there are clans on
board this starship it will generate one megacredit per clan on
board from gambling earnings.
You can collect money from a group of colonists on a Lady Royale the
same turn that they beam down to an unowned/enemy planet.
If 160 colonist clans beam down to a planet that you do not own
you will find 0 colonist clans plus 160 megacredits onboard the ship
the next turn.
---------
SUPER STAR DESTROYER
The Super Star Destroyer can perform an "Imperial Assault."
Any race that owns this starship can use this ability to their
benefit. To perform this attack the starship needs to drop
ten clans on an enemy planet. Once this is accomplished the
planet will be captured as that turn processes. The only
defense against this is actually damaging the starship
before it can drop clans. This will work against starbases,
Cyborg planets and homeworlds. This starship is immune to the
planetary ATT and NUK friendly codes.
The Super Star Destroyer can not perform this mission if
it has no fuel or any damage.
Any race owning a Super Star Destroyer can perform this mission.
The Super Stardestroyer is immune to all NUK / ATT attacking planets
if the Imperial Assault mission is turned on (HCONFIG). It does not matter
which race owns the Super Star Destroyer, it is immune.
---------
MINE FIELD FRIENDLY CODES
Mine fields have friendly codes. The mine field's friendly code
will be the same code as the planet that is nearest its center that
belongs to the race that owns the mine field in question.
So if you laid a mine field at Nixon and Nixon's friendly code is
"Q1m" and you own Nixon the mine field would have a code of "Q1m".
Any starship with that friendly code would be able to travel through
the mine field and not activate any mines. If the planet's friendly
code is changed the mine field's code will change to match it.
The minefield friend code takes effect as soon as the mines
are laid and change anytime you change the friendly code of the
planet controlling the mine field.
You will not sweep enemy mine fields that have friendly codes that
match the friendly code of your ship.
Web mines do not drain fuel from ships with matching friendly codes.
---------
ION STORMS
Ion storms are large charged plasma sub-space temporal anomalies.
Ion storms will appear at random and can from anywhere. When they
appear that can be of any size and power.
Ion storms move along semi-predictable paths at a warp factor
ranging from 1-10. These storms will not render Chunneling or
hyperdrive systems inactive, although if you use these systems
while in an Ion storm there is the possibility of some unpredictable
results.
The Ion storms will cause cloaking systems to fail completely
while within the storm. If the storm is powerful enough it can
completely disable shielding systems while within the storm.
Smaller starships do not handle Ion storms as well as larger
ships. Although a starship's crew experience will help moderate (lessen)
the damage that is caused by an Ion storm. If the crew is experienced
enough they may help the starship to avoid damage altogether.
There is only four things that will gain a crew experience. These
four things are movement (the larger the starship's mass the more
experience that will be gained), surviving combat, performing alchemy
missions, and surviving an Ion storm. There is not any way that you
can tell how many experience points a ship has. This information is kept secret.
Ion storms will cause mine fields to be cloaked from your sensors.
This means that while a mine field is covered by an Ion storm you will
be unable to detect it or sweep it. The only exception to the no
sweeping rule is the Colonials. The Colonial fighters can sweep mine
fields that are covered by Ion storms.
Ion storms have movement vectors that change at a relatively
small rate, therefore their path is somewhat predictable.
Ion storms are a configurable switch in the HCONFIG. The number of
active ion storms can be set. There can be from 0 to 50 storms active
at once in the game.
Ion disturbances can form in the deep void of spaces just outside of the
echo star cluster. They are normally prevented from forming by the stellar
winds radiating from the stars of the echo cluster. They are area high
speed charged particles that are bounded by a natural warp shell that
enables them to travel at faster then light speeds. The energies
within the disturbance are constant through out the disturbance.
Disturbance have two phases:
The power increase phase: The disturbance's voltage and speed will
slowly increase as the size of the disturbance decreases to
a smaller diameter.
The weakening phase: The disturbance's voltage and speed decreases
as the diameter of the disturbance increases.
Sometimes a weakening disturbance will suddenly increase in size
while loosing a great amount of both speed and energy. These effect
is commonly known as "pan caking".
The heading vector of a ion disturbance can not change more then
20 degrees per turn.
There are five classes of disturbances, the class is determined
by the voltage of the disturbance.
ION Disturbances
Class 1: ( Harmless ) Voltage is less then 50 meV
Class 2: ( Moderate ) Voltage ranges from 50 to 99 meV
Class 3: ( Strong ) Voltage ranges from 100 to 149 meV
___________________________________
Storm Level
Class 4: ( Dangerous ) Voltage ranges from 150 to 199 meV
Class 5: ( Very Dangerous ) Voltages at or above 200 meV
___________________________________
Storms and disturbances will not harm planets, only starships.
All starships can navigate a class 1, class 2 or class 3
ion disturbance with full shields.
All ion disturbances and storms make cloaking impossible.
Class 4 and class 5 storms can damage or destroy a starship.
They can also kill the ships crew.
When a storm enters a class 4 or class 5 ion storm the
ships shields will be rendered inoperative.
Solid matter acts as a damper against the effects of voltage
fluxes. If you must travel through a ion storm, be sure
to load the ship with as much fuel and cargo.
Class 4 and class 5 ion storms will drag starships along
with them. The drag speed is 75% of then speed of the storm.
There have been reports of ion storms with voltages over 451 meV
having an unexplained effect on starships. Starships that have
entered storms of that power and have ether been destroyed or
have vanished, never to be seen again.
---------
CHUNNEL
Chunneling is the process where a Firecloud Class Cruiser uses a temporal
rift in the subspace time continuum. This rift is a maelstrom of tachyon
energy formed in the shape of a tunnel.
To open a Warp Chunnel a Firecloud needs to have at least 50 KT of fuel.
It then selects its friendly code to the ID number of another Firecloud.
This causes a targeting subspace signal to be generated. The firecloud
then projects a stream of accelerated tachyon particles that cause a rift
in the subspace time continuum. The generation of this high energy
beam uses up 50 KT of fuel from the projecting Firecloud. This rift is
anchored to the destination Firecloud.
Once the Chunnel is generated the Chunneling Firecloud moves into the
Chunnel. This causes the Chunnel to collapse. As the Chunnel collapses
it pushes the Firecloud (and most other starships that were in the same
point is space as the Firecloud) along in front of it as it collapses.
This movement expends uses no fuel on the Chunneling starship(s), since
they are being pushed along by the collapsing Chunnel (subspace temporal rift).
Needless to say, traveling through a high energy rift comprised of
tachyon particles can have an adverse effect on your starship systems.
Any starship completing a Chunnel will exit subspace with its shielding
systems inoperative. The Chunnel, in effect, strips the starship(s) of
their shields for that turn. By the next turn the shielding systems
will be functioning again.
How to Initiate a Chunnel
To start a Chunnel, as stated above, the traveling (or initiating)
Firecloud needs to set its friendly code to the ID number of the
Firecloud it wishes to travel to. Both Fireclouds need to have their warp
factor set to zero (0). If the warp factors are not set to zero or the
Fireclouds are under tow the Chunnel will not occur.
Chunneling happens as part of the movement phase of the host. It is the
last segment of the movement phase. So it is possible for starships to
move to the Firecloud before it Chunnels and then move with it.
A ship belonging to a race other than the race of the Firecloud
opening a chunnel at the same point in space as the firecloud must
have a warp speed of 0 to enter the chunnel (way point setting does
not matter). The chunnel ship's race can enter the chunnel at any warp speed.
For Example: If fleet of enemy ships that warp onto a planet that
is hiding a firecloud with its chunnel engaged only the enemy ships
with a warp speed of 0 will enter the chunnel. The only ships that
can move onto a planet with a warp speed of 0 are ships that are
being towed. None of the ships that moved their under their own power
will enter the chunnel, but any ships that they are towing will.
Cloaked starships moving through a Chunnel will remain cloaked. . .
For Example:
In a game somewhere there is a Cyborg player asking himself:
Hmmm. . . wow I wonder how all these Meteor Class Blockade Runners ended up
at my homeworld. . .
A pair Fireclouds can not use a chunnel if ANYSHIP with fuel locks
a tow beam on ether one, the warp speed and waypoint setting of the ship
locking the beam does not matter.
The minimum range of a chunnel is 100 LY.
---------
TOW CAPTURE
The Privateers and Crystals can capture starships in space that
are out of fuel. To capture the helpless enemy starships they need
to lock a tow beam onto the enemy starship. When they do this the
capturing vessel beams over armed crew members to take over the enemy
starship. When the starship is secured (all the enemy crew jettisoned
into space) half of the capturing starship's crew or a full compliment
for the captured starship (which ever is less) will beam over and man
the captured starship. (i.e., Say starship A has 500 crew and captures
starship B which normally has a crew of 1000. 250 crew member from
starship A will man starship B. If B had only required 100 crew members
to be full only 100 crew members would have beamed over to run the
starship).
As stated above the crew of the captured starship is ejected into
space except for Solar Federation, Privateer, Evil Empire and Colonial
starships. With these races some of the crew members will rather go
traitor than be ejected into space. the following shows the
percentage of original crew members that grovel well enough to be kept
on as lesser crew members.
Race %traitor
Feds 90 %
Privateer 100 %
Empire 40 %
Colonial 70 %
---------
UNHAPPY NATIVES
Natives will accumulate loose happiness points each time their planet
is attacked. The more a planet is exchanged between players the
lower the happiness of the natives.
---------
RUNNING OUT OF FUEL
Ship out of fuel will show up under the view command as having the
speed of warp 0.
Ships without fuel can not beam cargo down to an unowned planet.
---------
CLOAKED SHIPS CAN ATTACK
A ship that is cloaked can attack starships belonging to its
primary enemy race. Cloaked ships will not attack enemy planets,
unless they are damaged in an attack on an enemy ship and are
forced to decloak over an enemy planet.
---------
HIDDEN MINE FIELDS
All races, except for the Colonies of Man, can not see or sweep
a minefield that is inside an ion storm. They can sweep mines in an
ION storm with fighters.
---------
NO HIGH ASCII FCODES
You can not set your FCODE to any non-printable ASCII code.
If you do it will be reset to "AAA"
---------
EXPLODING TOW SHIP
If a ship that is towing another ship explodes from damage caused
by mine field hits, the ship that was under tow will be dropped at
the position of the explosion.
---------
FORCE SURRENDER
The starbase's force surrender mission takes place before
ship movement.
---------
NEW RACE NAMES
If the host person changes the name of the races and places the new
RACE.NM file into the universe directory (where the *.HST are), the
new names will be transferred to all players using the version 3.5
WINPLAN.EXE for MS Windows client program.
---------
SHIP BUILD QUEUE
When a game reaches the 500 ship game limit the new ships will
be build in a queue order. If starbase ID # 347 builds ship number
500 this turn then starbase ID # 348 will build the next ship
as soon as one is destroyed.
---------
BUILD PRIORITY POINTS (PBP)
This ship build queue can be bypassed using priority build points.
Every time you destroy 100kt of enemy starship hull you earn 1 PBP.
Ships under 100kt count as 1 point.
If you have more then 20 PBP's you get to build new starships before
anyone else with less PBP's than you.
Every build make or every clone you make will cost you 1 PBP per
every 50 kt of hull that you make. Ships under 50 kt will cost you
1 point.
If you have more then 20 PBPs you might be able to both clone and
do a normal build at the same starbase at the same time, if your
PBPs don't drop below 20 during the builds/clones.
You get 1 PBP if you set off a glory device or colonize/scrap a ship.
---------
IONIC PULSE
If a planet detects that it is a victim of a super spy mission
and it has more then 30 defense outposts, it can burn up 10 of
the defense outposts to emit an ionic pulse that will uncloak
all cloaked ships in orbit.
A planet has about a 20% chance of pulling this off if it
was the victim of a super spy mission.
---------
MINE HITS MAY SLOWDOWN STARSHIPS
Starships below a HCONFIG set tech level that hit a space mine will be
slowed by 10 LY if it has more than 10 LY to travel when it hits the mine.
(default tech level = 7)
---------
MESSAGES SENT TO HOST
Any message sent to the HOST (WINPLAN.EXE can do this) is stored in
the HOSTMESS.TXT file.
---------
MISC. INFO
A ship with one engine can always be towed by a ship with
two or more engines.
Pillage mission will report native and colonist populations
Terraforming ships will report surface temp.
100 = desert, 0 = ice
Ships that surrender have their mission set to nothing.
No population can be over 25,000,000.
No population will grow larger after it has reached 10,000,000
The Siliconoid name race have the maximum growth rate on
desert planets.
Explore missions now report on the planet's climate.
All ships explore, even cloaked ones. The explore mission is not
needed.
---------
HCONFIG SETTING EXPLAINED:
HCONFIG.EXE now makes a CONFIG.TXT file in the hst data directory that it is
configuring when you save. This a text file is a listing of the current
config settings being used in the game.
Recycle rate of colonizing ships
The percentage of minerals recovered from the hull of a
ship that is crashing on to a planet on a colonize mission.
Odds of a large meteor impact
The percentage odds that ONE large meteor will hit one of
the 500 planets.
This setting has NOTHING at all to do with the last full screen
of meteor settings.
Mine fields YES/NO
Allows new mines to be dropped. Will NOT turn off mines that
already exist.
Web Mine Fields YES/NO
Allows new web mines to be dropped. Will NOT turn off mines that
already exist.
Alchemy Ships YES/NO
Allows alchemy ships to do their job of alchemy/fuel making.
Or do nothing.
Delete old messages YES/NO
Deletes old unread messages each turn.
Disable all passwords YES/NO
Turn off passwords every turn.
Ground combat ratio
The number a race will kill when attacking an enemy by
dropping (beaming down) one colonist on an enemy with a
ground defense ratio of 1.
Ground defense ratio
The number a race will kill when defending against an enemy
with a ground combat ratio of 1 that is dropping (beaming down)
colonists on them.
Free starbase fighters
The number of "no money" fighters made at that race's starbases
each turn. (Each fighter requires 3 tritanium and 2 molybdenum)
Mineral mining rate
The percentage of normal that a race's mines extract minerals
from the ground.
Taxes collected
The percentage of normal that tax money is collected from the
colonists and natives.
Rebels build fighters in space YES/NO
Rebels build fighters in space aboard ships with fighter
bays and 5 supplies/3 tritanium/2 molybdenum for each fighter
built?
Colonies build fighters in space YES/NO
The Colonies of Man can build fighters in space aboard ships
with fighter bays and 5 supplies/3 tritanium/2 molybdenum for
each fighter built.
Robots build fighters in space YES/NO
Robots can build fighters in space aboard ships with fighter
bays and 5 supplies/3 tritanium/2 molybdenum for each fighter
built.
Cloaked ships may be Robbed YES/NO
The Privateers can rob money, fuel and minerals from ships that are
cloaked.
Empire's Dark Sense range
The range of the dark sense will work from an Empire ship to an
enemy planet in light years.
Lizards can use hiss mission YES/NO
Lizards can use the HISS mission to claim down the natives.
Rebels can use ground attack YES/NO
Rebels can use the ground attack mission to mess up enemy
planets.
The Feds can super refit YES/NO
The Feds can fix up old ships by putting new parts on them
using the Super Refit mission. Super refit requires a full
set of parts for the ship to work correctly.
For Example:
To super refit a Nova Class you need at least 10 beams of
any one type on the starbase and at least 10 torp tubes of
any one type on the starbase. Normal ship building takes place
before the super refit, so if some other ship uses the refitting
ship's parts before hand, the super refit will not take place and
the ship will be left with no weapons. NOTE: If the Nova has 10 torp
tubes and 10 beams before the super refit, it will have the same
weapons after if there were not a full set of better parts on the
starbase.
Cyborg assimilation rate
The percentage rate that the Cyborg colonists can convert
native races to Cyborg. At 100% the number of natives converted
equals the number of Cyborg colonist or the number of natives,
which ever is the smaller of the two.
Colonial fighter mine sweep rate
The number of mine units one Colonial fighter can sweep in a turn
at a range of up to 100 light years.
Colonial fighter can sweep webs YES/NO
If yes then the Colonial fighters can sweep web mines as well.
Effect of HISSS mission
The number of "Happy Units" that a HISS mission hits a planet with
per ship. A planet's "Happy Units" range from 100 (Happy) to
0 (WAR!) to -300 (AARRRGG!!!!!!)
Rob mission failure rate
The percentage of the time that the rob mission does nothing.
Planets can attack Rebel ships YES/NO
A planet can attack a Rebel ship in orbit using the "NUK" / "ATT"
Friendly codes. ( This takes away the Rebel ground attack )
Planets can attack Fascist ships YES/NO
A planet can attack a Fascist ship in orbit using the "NUK" / "ATT"
Friendly codes. ( This takes away the Fascist pillage attack )
Science ship bonus YES/NO
The "Bohemiam", "Eros" and "Onyx" class science ships are
allowed to change the climate of planets that they are in
orbit around.
Fed crew bonus YES/NO
All Fed ships get a 25% shield boost between battles.
All Damaged weapons are still able to fire.
Odds that a cloak will fail
The percentage chance that a ship's cloak fails to work.
Fuel used to cloak
The amount of fuel in kilotons needed to cloak 100 KT of
ship hull. (Cargo and weapons don't count)
Ships without fuel can move YES/NO
Ships without fuel can move without fuel on "impulse power"
alone.
Ship visible range (StarCharts)
The range in light years that a ship that is not cloaked and
not behind a planet can be seen.
Sensor mission range
The range in light years at which ship sensors will work to
detect enemy mines and factories.
New natives will appear YES/NO
One planet is picked. If it has no natives then a new group of
of natives will appear.
Planetary 'NUK' friendly codes YES/NO
Planets can attack a ship by setting their friend code to
"NUK" or "ATT". Planets will attack even if the ship is out of
fuel.
Overpopulations eat supplies YES/NO
Planets will eat supplies to survive when the planet becomes
overpopulated. If set to NO the supplies are continued to
be produced and the population stops growing.
Isotope Trans-uranium Mutation rate
The number of KTs of new minerals produced in the cores of
all planets from the break down of natural uranium.
This is the number of KTs that would be produced on a
planet with a mineral density of LARGE MASSES per turn.
The amount of new minerals is less on planets that have a lower
mineral density.
Planetary structures decay rate
The number of surface structures that disappear each turn
when the number of structures on a planet is greater then
the maximum number of structures allowed.
Web mine decay rate
The percentage of Web mines that are lost each turn from
each field.
Mine field decay rate
The percentage of normal mines that are lost each turn from
each mine field.
Odds of hitting a mine per L/Y
The odds that you will hit a mine per light year the
ship travels. A die is rolled for each light year traveled.
Travel 100 light years through mines the die will be rolled
100 times (You might make it).
Odds of hitting a web per L/Y
The odds that you will hit a web mine per light year the
ship travels. A die is rolled for each light year traveled.
Maximum mine field radius
The maximum radius that a mine field can have in light years.
Mine detect range
The range at which enemy ships will detect the mine field
in light years during a mine sweep mission.
Mines destroy enemy mines YES/NO
When two (enemy) mine fields meet they blow each other up.
Engine tech boosts shield power YES/NO
The power from higher tech engines increases the shield
power of the ship.
Engine tech boosts shield power %
The percentage of boost that an engine will boost the ship's
shields.
Mine field sweep rate
The number of mine units that one x-ray laser can sweep in a
turn and how many hundreds of units a heavy phasor can sweep
in a turn.
Web mine field sweep rate
The number of web mine units that one x-ray laser can sweep in a
turn and how many hundreds of units a heavy phasor can sweep
in a turn.
Mine field sweep range (LY's)
How close in light years a ship must be before it can sweep
enemy mine fields.
Web mine field sweep range (LY's)
How close in light years a ship must be before it can sweep
enemy web mines.
Cloaked ship will hit mine odds
Odds that a cloaked ship will hit enemy mines per light year
traveled. (Cloaking does not effect a ship's chances against
web mines)
Amount of damage that prevents cloak
If a ship has this or greater amount of damage then it can not
cloak.
Ships with one engine can tow
If set to no a one engine ship can not tow another ship and
can always be towed by a ship with two engines.
Hyperdrive ships
If set to yes then the 3 ships with hyperdrive are allowed to
use it.
Climate death rate
The percentage of population that dies on a desert or arctic
planet until the population reaches 1 clan. (Some races have
a climate bonus on desert or arctic planets).
Planets have gravity wells
If yes all ships that come within 3.0001 light years are pulled in
to the planet.
Crystal people like desert worlds
If yes the Crystal People have a max population on desert worlds.
A max pop of 5,000,000 on temperate-warm worlds.
Normal mines destroy web mines
If yes and mines destroy mines switch is also yes then normal mines
will destroy web style mines when they overlap. Default is NO.
Climate limits populations
If set to yes (default) the climate of a planet will limit
the number of people that can live on the planet. If set to
no you can pack up to 25,000,000 on all planets, including
ice and desert planets.
Maximum Income
This is the maximum amount of megacredits that a planet can
produce in a single turn.
Ion Storms
The maximum number of active ion storms in the game, these
number can range from 0 to 50.
Chunnel
If yes the Firecloud will be able to make a Warp Chunnel.
Spy Boost ( Deluxe Super Spy )
If yes the Bird Men will be allowed to change the friendly
code of the planet to match the friendly code of their ship.
Ion Storms Hide Mines
If yes the ion storms will hide deep space mines from
mine sweeps.
Glory Device
If yes the D19 and Saber class ships will be able to
engage a device that causes their ship to explode.
Loki Anticloak
If yes the Loki class ship will cause all ships within
10 light years to decloak.
Lady Royal makes money.
If yes the Lady Royal will make 1 megacredit for every
colonist clan on board the ship.
Cloaked ships attack.
If yes all cloaked ships can attack any visible enemy
ship that matches its primary enemy.
Clone
If yes all races, except the Privateers and Crystals can
clone captured enemy ships at a 200% cost of normal.
Boarding Parties
If yes the Privateers and Crystals can capture any enemy
ship that is out of fuel, just by locking a tow beam on the
enemy ship.
Imperial Assault
If yes the Super Star Destroyer will capture any enemy planet
just by dropping 10 clans onto its surface.
Cobol fuel scoop
This is the amount of fuel that a Cobol class ship will extract
from the near-vacuum of space for every light year that the
ship travels (range 0 to 4 ) default = 2
Aries Alchemy
If yes the Aries class starship will convert minerals into fuel.
Bioscanners
If yes the Cobol, Pawn and Brynhild class starships are
capable of detecting native life on other planets. If the
starships mission is sensor sweep this ability will be activated.
Mine Hit Tech Slowdown
This is the tech level of starship hulls that are not slowed
down by a mine hit. Ship hulls at this tech level and above will
not be slowed by a mine hit. Ship hulls below this setting will
be slowed by 10 LY when they hit a space mine.
(range 1 to 10 ) default = 7
---------
These setting have nothing to do with the setting on the
first screen for one meteor impact. I feel that it is best
that you don't ever use this last page of meteor settings.
If over used these tend to spoil the game by overloading the
universe with too many minerals. This will cause the 500 ship
limit to be reached too quickly.
Odds of small meteor impact on all
The odds that a small meteor will hit a planet.
A die is rolled for each planet. (500)
Number of LARGE meteors impacting
This number of large meteors will hit.
Send Meteor Messages YES/NO
A message will be sent to each player for each large
meteor to hit anywhere and a message for each small
meteor to hit a planet that the player owns.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTE:
External Meteor programs may cause errors in host 3.2
When starting a new game in a new directory copy a HCONFIG.HST into
the new directory or run host one time then run HCONFIG.EXE to
change the default HCONFIG.HST made by the HOST.EXE when it doesn't
find a HCONFIG.HST file.
WARNING: Do not use CPLAYER version Alpha 1 or Alpha 2 with any of
the 3.1x / 3.2 versions of HOST.EXE. Alpha 1 and Alpha 2 will
cause fuel and mineral dumps to explode.
Use version 3.01 or higher only.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
SOFTWARE ORDER FORM FOR 1995 and 1996
Name______________________________________________________________________
Address___________________________________________________________________
City______________________________________State_________ZIP_______________
Country (if outside USA) __________________________
Circle disk size: 5 1/4" 3 1/2"
1.2M 1.44M | Europe
USA | Asia
Which item(s) do you wish to order. North | Africa
America | Australia
[ ] VGA Planets 3.00 DOS ( shareware ) ( $2 ) | $4 Air
[ ] VGA Planets 3.00 DOS registered version ( $15 ) | $17 Air
[ ] Planets 3.5 for MS-Windows BETA Test ( $20 ) | $20 Air
(Plus final release version when finished) |
|
[ ] VGA Planets starcharts set ( four 8 1/2" X 11" ) ( $3 ) | $3 Air
____ additional starchart sets ( $1 ) | $1 Air
|
[ ] 16" X 16" Plastic starmap ( $9 ) | $12 Air
|
[ ] VGA Planets Complete Users Manual ( $23 ) | $35 Air or
8.5" X 11" 129 pages in color | $23 Surface
By: Dave Killingsworth | Mail
|
[ ] VGA Planets Source Book ( $22 ) | $30 Air or
(Artwork and Players Guide) | $22 Surface
8.5" X 11" 75 pages in color | Mail
NOTE: VGA Planets requires a 286 or faster IBM compatible, VGA graphics
card and a hard drive. The price includes normal postage.
[ ] Two day priority mail $3 extra ( USA only )
Amount enclosed: $__________
Mail to: Tim Wisseman
P.O. Box 204
North Fork, CA 93643-0204
Internet Email: cocomax@aol.com
VGA Planet Support BBS: (209) 877-4921
Important: Make checks payable to "Tim Wisseman"
I would like to update my list of BBS's where planets is being played
to help new planets players find a place to play.
Do you know of a BBS where Planets is being played?
BBS NAME/NUMBER____________________________________________________________