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Well, the federation is once again at war with the Klingon empire.
as captain of the U.S.S. Enterprise,
to wipe out the invasion fleet and save the Federation.
For the purposes of the game
the galaxy is divided into 64 quadrants
on an eight by eight grid,
with quadrant 0,0 in the upper left hand corner.
Each quadrant is divided into 100 sectors
Each sector contains one object
(e.g., the Enterprise, a Klingon, or a star).
Navigation is handled in degrees,
with zero being straight up
and ninty being to the right.
Distances are measured in quadrants.
One tenth quadrant is one sector.
The galaxy contains starbases,
at which you can dock to refuel,
The galaxy also contains stars.
Stars usually have a knack for getting in your way,
but they can be triggered into going nova
by shooting a photon torpedo at one,
thereby (hopefully) destroying any adjacent Klingons.
This is not a good practice however,
because you are penalized for destroying stars.
Also, a star will sometimes go supernova,
which obliterates an entire quadrant.
You must never stop in a supernova quadrant,
although you may "jump over" one.
Klingons can attack inhabited planets
and enslave the populace,
which they then put to work building more Klingon battle cruisers.
\*fSTARTING UP THE GAME\fR
To request the game, issue the command
a log of the game is written onto that file.
``\fB\-a\fP'' flag is stated before the filename,
thata file is appended to rather than created.
The game will ask you what length game
Valid responses are "short", "medium", and "long".
You may also type "restart",
which restarts a previously saved game.
the length of the game does not affect the difficulty,
but currently the shorter games tend to be harder than the longer ones.
You will then be prompted for the skill,
to which you must respond
"novice", "fair", "good", "expert",
"commadore", or "impossible".
You should start out with a novice
but if you really want to see
how fast you can be slaughtered,
start out with an impossible game.
if you forget what is appropriate
the game will tell you what it expects
If the game expects you to enter a command,
it will say ^"Command:\ "
and wait for your response.
Most commands can be abbreviated.
At almost any time you can type more than one thing on a line.
to move straight up one quadrant,
and the game would prompt you with
which could be put on still another line.
could have been abbreviated
"mov", "mo", or just "m".
If you are partway through a command
and you change your mind,
you can usually type "-1"
Klingons generally cannot hit you
if you don't consume anything
so some commands are considered "free".
As soon as you consume anything though -- POW!
.if !\n(.V .ta \w'Full Commands: '+1
.if \n(.V .ta \w'Full Commands: 'u
of the quadrant you are in,
You can get a status report alone
le1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 ce1 le3 l1 l.
0 . . . . . . . * . * 0 stardate 3702.16
1 . . E . . . . . . . 1 condition RED
2 . . . . . . . . . * 2 position 0,3/1,2
3 * . . . . # . . . . 3 warp\ factor 5.0
4 . . . . . . . . . . 4 total\ energy 4376
5 . . * . * . . . . . 5 torpedoes 9
6 . . . @ . . \ . . . 6 shields down,\ 78%
7 . . . . . . . . . . 7 Klingons\ left 3
8 . . . K . . . . . . 8 time\ left 6.43
9 . . . . . . * . . . 9 life\ support damaged,\ reserves\ =\ 2.4
Distressed Starsystem Marcus XII
The cast of characters is as follows:
The name of the starsystem is listed underneath
The word "distressed", if present,
means that the starsystem
Short range scans are absolutely free.
They use no time, no energy,
and they don't give the Klingons
another chance to hit you.
Shortest Abbreviation: st
This command gives you information
of the game and your ship, as follows:
Stardate -- The current stardate.
DOCKED -- docked at starbase
CLOAKED -- the cloaking device is activated
Position -- Your current quadrant and sector.
Warp Factor -- The speed you will move at
when you move under warp power
Total Energy -- Your energy reserves.
but the higher the skill of the game,
the slower it regenerates.
Torpedoes -- How many photon torpedoes you have left.
Shields -- Whether your shields are up or down,
and how effective they are if up
(what percentage of a hit they will absorb).
Time Left -- How long the Federation can hold out
if you sit on your fat ass and do nothing.
If you kill Klingons quickly,
the Federation is conquered.
Life Support -- If "active", everything is fine.
If "damaged", your reserves tell you
to repair your life support
before you starve, suffocate,
or something equally unpleasant.
Current Crew -- The number of crew members
This figures does not include officers.
Brig Space -- The space left in your brig
Klingon Power -- The number of units
needed to kill a Klingon.
Remember, as Klingons fire at you
they use up their own energy,
so you probably need somewhat less
Skill, Length -- The skill and length
of the game you are playing.
Status information is absolutely free.
Long range scan gives you information about the
that surround the quadrant
A sample long range scan follows:
Long range scan for quadrant 0,3
l1 c1 ce1 c1 ce1 c1 ce1 c0
l1 c1 ce1 c1 ce1 c1 ce1 c0
l1 c1 re1 c1 re1 c1 re1 c0
l1 c1 re1 c1 re1 c1 re1 c0
tell the number of objects
The units digit tells the number of stars,
the tens digit the number of starbases,
and the hundreds digit is the number of Klingons.
"*" indicates the negative energy barrier
at the edge of the galaxy,
"///" means that that is a supernova quadrant
Shortest Abbreviation: da
A damage report tells you what devices are damaged
and how long it will take to repair them.
Full Command: warp factor
The warp factor tells the speed of your starship
when you move under warp power
The higher the warp factor,
and the more energy you use.
The minimum warp factor is 1.0
there is danger of the warp engines
increases at higher warp speeds.
Above warp 9.0 there is a chance of entering
.bl "Move Under Warp Power"
Full Command: move course distance
Consumes: time and energy
This is the usual way of moving.
The course is in degrees and the distance is in quadrants.
To move one sector specify a distance of 0.1.
Time is consumed proportionately to
the inverse of the warp factor squared,
and directly to the distance.
Energy is consumed as the warp factor cubed,
and directly to the distance.
If you move with your shields up
it doubles the amount of energy consumed.
When you move in a quadrant containing Klingons,
they get a chance to attack you.
The computer detects navigation errors.
you run the risk of running into things.
The course is determined by the
Space Inertial Navigation System
Star Fleet Technical Order TO:02:06:12,
after which it becomes the base for navigation.
navigation becomes inaccurate.
it cannot be calibrated extremely accurately
until you dock at starbase.
.bl "Move Under Impulse Power"
Full Command: impulse course distance
Consumes: time and energy
The impulse engines give you a chance to maneuver
when your warp engines are damaged;
however, they are incredibly slow
(0.095 quadrants/stardate).
They require 20 units of energy to engage,
and ten units per sector to move.
The same comments about the computer and the SINS
There is no penalty to move under impulse power
Shortest Abbreviation: sh
Full Command: shields up/down
Shields protect you from Klingon attack
A shield which is 78% effective
and let 22% in to hurt you.
The Klingons have a chance to attack you
every time you raise or lower shields.
Shields do not rise and lower
will be computed with the shields
at an intermediate effectiveness.
It takes energy to raise shields,
Shortest Abbreviation: cl
Full Command: cloak up/down
and hence they do not fire at you.
They are useful for entering
and selecting a good position,
weapons cannot be fired through
due to the huge energy drain
only starts the cloaking process;
Full Commands: phasers automatic amount
phasers manual amt1 course1 spread1 ...
Phasers are energy weapons;
the energy comes from your ship's reserves
("total energy" on a srscan).
It takes about 250 units of hits
Hits are cumulative as long as you stay
Phasers become less effective
the further from a Klingon you are.
Adjacent Klingons receive about
at five sectors about 60%,
and at ten sectors about 35%.
They have no effect outside of the quadrant.
Phasers cannot be fired while shields are up;
They have no effect on starbases or stars.
the computer decides how to divide up the energy
among the Klingons present;
in manual mode you do that yourself.
amount (number of units to fire)
for each of the six phaser banks.
terminates the manual input.
.bl "Fire Photon Torpedoes"
Full Command: torpedo course [yes/no] [burst angle]
Torpedoes are projectile weapons -- there are no partial hits.
You either hit your target or you don't.
A hit on a Klingon destroys him.
A hit on a starbase destroys that starbase
Hitting a star usually causes it to go nova,
and occasionally supernova.
Photon torpedoes cannot be aimed precisely.
They can be fired with shields up,
but they get even more random
as they pass through the shields.
Torpedoes may be fired in bursts of three.
the burst angle is the angle
which may vary from one to fifteen.
says that a burst is not wanted;
if stated on the same line as the course)
says that a burst is wanted.
.bl "Onboard Computer Request"
Full Command: computer request; request;...
The computer command gives you access to the facilities
which allows you to do all sorts of fascinating stuff.
score -- Shows your current score.
course quad/sect -- Computes the course and distance from whereever
you are to the given location.
If you type "course /x,y"
you will be given the course
to sector x,y in the current quadrant.
move quad/sect -- Identical to the course
except that the move is executed.
chart -- prints a chart of the known galaxy,
everything that you have seen with a long range scan.
The format is the same as on a long range scan,
that you don't yet know what is there,
and ".1." means that you know that a starbase
exists, but you don't know anything else.
that you are currently in.
trajectory -- prints the course and distance
to all the Klingons in the quadrant.
warpcost dist warp_factor -- computes the cost in time and energy
to move `dist' quadrants at warp `warp_factor'.
impcost dist -- same as warpcost for impulse engines.
pheff range -- tells how effective your phasers are
distresslist -- gives a list of currently distressed
More than one request may be stated
Shortest Abbreviation: do
You may dock at a starbase
when you are in one of the eight
When you dock you are resupplied
with energy, photon torpedoes, and life support reserves.
Repairs are also done faster at starbase.
Any prisoners you have taken
You do not recieve points
Starbases have their own deflector shields,
so you are safe from attack while docked.
.bl "Undock from Starbase"
This just allows you to leave starbase
so that you may proceed on your way.
This command allows you to rest to repair damages.
It is not advisable to rest while under attack.
.bl "Call Starbase For Help"
Shortest Abbreviation: help
You may call starbase for help via your subspace radio.
Starbase has long range transporter beams to get you.
they can't always rematerialize you.
You should avoid using this command unless absolutely necessary,
for the above reason and because it counts heavily against you
Shortest Abbreviation: ca
You may request that a Klingon surrender
(but only as many as your brig
It is good if you do this,
because you get points for captives.
if you ever get captured,
you want to be sure that the Federation
has prisoners to exchange for you.
You must go to a starbase
to turn over your prisoners
to Federation authorities.
Full Command: visual course
When your short range scanners are out,
you can still see what is out "there"
you can only see three sectors at one time,
and it takes 0.005 stardates to perform.
The three sectors in the general direction
Shortest Abbreviation: abandon
The officers escape the Enterprise in the shuttlecraft.
If the transporter is working
and there is an inhabitable starsystem
otherwise you leave them to die.
You are given an old but still usable ship,
Shortest Abbreviation: ram
Full Command: ram course distance
Consumes: time and energy
This command is identical to "move",
from making navigation errors.
You get very nearly slaughtered
Shortest Abbreviation: destruct
Your starship is self-destructed.
Chances are you will destroy
Shortest Abbreviation: terminate
Full Command: terminate yes/no
Cancels the current game.
a new game will be started,
Shortest Abbreviation: shell
Temporarily escapes to the shell.
When you log out of the shell
you will return to the game.
The scoring algorithm is rather complicated.
you get points for each Klingon you kill,
for your Klingon per stardate kill rate,
and a bonus if you win the game.
points for the number of Klingons left
for each star, starbase, or inhabited starsystem
and for each casualty you incur.
You will never get a promotion if you
destroy a starbase or inhabited starsystem,
or destroy too many stars.
Command Requires Consumes
\*fabandon\fR shuttlecraft, -
\*fca\fRpture subspace radio time
\*fcl\fRoak \*fu\fRp/\*fd\fRown cloaking device energy
\*fc\fRomputer request; ... computer -
\*fdestruct\fR computer -
\*fhelp\fR subspace radio -
\*fi\fRmpulse course distance impulse engines, time, energy
\*fl\fRrscan L.R. sensors -
\*fm\fRove course distance warp engines, time, energy
\*fp\fRhasers \*fa\fRutomatic amount phasers, computer energy \*fp\fRhasers \*fm\fRanual
\ \ amt1 course1 spread1 ... phasers energy
\*ft\fRorpedo course [\*fy\fRes] angle/\*fn\fRo torpedo tubes torpedoes
\*fram\fR course distance warp engines, time, energy
\*fsh\fRields \*fu\fRp/\*fd\fRown shields energy
\*fs\fRrscan [\*fy\fRes/\*fn\fRo] S.R. sensors -
\*fterminate\fR \*fy\fRes/\*fn\fRo - -
\*fv\fRisual course - time
\*fw\fRarp warp_factor - -