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5 <!ENTITY sst-site "http://catb.org/~esr/super-star-trek/">
6 <!ENTITY retro "http://catb.org/~esr/retro/">
9 Copyright by Eric S. Raymond
10 SPDX-License-Identifier: BSD-2-clause
14 <title>Super Star Trek</title>
18 <firstname>David</firstname>
19 <surname>Matuzsek</surname>
22 <firstname>Paul</firstname>
23 <surname>Reynolds</surname>
26 <firstname>Tom</firstname>
27 <surname>Almy</surname>
30 <firstname>Stas</firstname>
31 <surname>Sergeev</surname>
34 <firstname>Eric</firstname>
35 <othername>Steven</othername>
36 <surname>Raymond</surname>
41 <para>Super Star Trek 2K is issued under the BSD license. Nothing in
42 this license grants or purports to grant any rights with respect to
43 the trademarks, copyrights or other property of the originators of
44 Star Trek or their successors in interest. We recognize and support
45 their right under the Berne Convention to recover damages for any uses
46 of this program which compromise their legitimate interest in
47 protecting their copyrights and trademarks or unjustly enrich
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85 Produced For Your Enjoyment
102 SST2K polishing and historical research by
107 <chapter><title>Introduction</title>
108 <para>The Organian Peace Treaty has collapsed, and the Federation is at war
109 with the Klingon Empire. Joining the Klingons against the Federation
110 are the members of the <quote>Romulan Star Empire.</quote> As commander of the
111 Starship U.S.S. Enterprise, your job is to wipe out the Klingon
112 invasion fleet and make the galaxy safe for democracy.</para>
114 <para>Your battleground is the entire galaxy, which for convenience is
115 divided up into eight rows of eight quadrants each, like a
116 checkerboard. Rows are numbered from top to bottom, and columns are
117 numbered left to right, so quadrant 1 - 8 would be in the upper right
118 hand corner of the galaxy.</para>
120 <para>During battle you will be concerned only with those enemies that
121 occupy the same quadrant as yourself. Quadrants are divided up into
122 sectors: ten rows of ten sectors each. Sectors are numbered in the
123 same way as quadrants, so the sector in the upper right corner is
124 sector 1 - 10. You have a short-range scanner which allows you to
125 look at the entire quadrant in a single display.</para>
127 <para>Enemies recharge during your absence. If you leave a quadrant
128 containing a weakened enemy, when you return to that quadrant he will
129 be strong again. Also, each time you enter a quadrant, the positions
130 of everthing in the quadrant (except your ship) are randomized, to
131 save you the trouble of trying to remember where everything in the
132 quadrant is. Notice that this refers only to the positions of things
133 in the quadrant—the numbers of each kind of thing are not changed
134 (except for black holes and the Super-commander, which move around
135 the galaxy). If you kill something, it stays dead.</para>
137 <para>The Romulans are not as serious a threat to the Federation as the
138 Klingons. For one thing, there are not as many of them. For
139 another, the Romulans are not as treacherous. However, Romulans are
140 not to be trifled with, especially when you are in violation of the
141 Romulan Neutral Zone.</para>
143 <para>There are two kinds of Klingons: Ordinary Klingons, which are
144 bad enough, and Klingon Commanders, which are even worse. Commanders
145 are about three times stronger than ordinary Klingons. Commanders are
146 more resistant to your weapons. Commanders can move about during
147 battle while Ordinary Klingons stay put. And finally, Commanders have
148 a thing called a <quote>long-range tractor beam</quote> which they can
149 use, at random intervals, to yank you away from what you are doing
150 into their quadrant, to do battle with them. There is also a special
151 commander, called the <quote>Super-commander.</quote> This character
152 is so bad he is reserved for the Good, Expert, and Emeritus games.
153 Fortunately, there is just one Super-commander in a game. In addition
154 to the undesirable traits of Commanders, he can move from quadrant to
155 quadrant at will, seeking out and destroying your starbases and any
156 helpful planets he runs across. He also has a spy planted aboard your
157 ship, giving him valuable information about your condition. Using
158 this information, he can do dastardly things like tractor beam your
159 ship when you are in bad shape. And once you've been tractor beamed
160 by the Super-commander —</para>
162 <para>But the advantages are not all on the side of the enemy. Your ship
163 is more powerful, and has better weapons. Besides, in the this
164 galaxy there are from two to five starbases, at which you can stop to
165 refuel and lick your wounds, safe from phaser attack or tractor
166 beams. But you had best not dally there too long, since time is not
167 on your side. The Klingons are not just after you; they are
168 attacking the entire Federation. There is always a finite <quote>time
169 left,</quote> which is how much longer the Federation can hold out if you
170 just sit on your fat behind and do nothing. As you wipe out
171 Klingons, you reduce the rate at which the invasion fleet weakens the
172 Federation, and so the time left until the Federation collapses may
173 actually increase. Since Klingons are the main threat to the
174 Federation, the Romulans do not figure into the <quote>time left.</quote> In
175 fact, you need not kill all the Romulans to win. If you can get all
176 the Klingons, the Federation will abide forever, and you have won the
179 <para>Space is vast, and it takes precious time to move from one place to
180 another. In comparison, other things happen so quickly that we
181 assume they take no time at all. Two ways that time can pass are when
182 you move, or when you issue a command to sit still and rest for a
183 period of time. You will sometimes want to do the latter, since the
184 various devices aboard your starship may be damaged and require time
185 to repair. Of course, repairs can be made more quickly at a starbase
186 than than can in flight.</para>
188 <para>In addition to Klingons, Romulans, and starbases, the galaxy
189 contains (surprise) stars. Mostly, stars are a nuisance and just get
190 in your way. You can trigger a star into going nova by shooting one
191 of your photon torpedoes at it. When a star novas, it does a lot of
192 dammage to anything immediately adjacent to it. If another star is
193 adjacent to a nova, it too will go nova. Stars may also occasionally
194 go supernova; a supernova in a quadrant destroys everything in the
195 quadrant andmakes the quadrant permanently uninhabitable. You may
196 <quote>jump over</quote> a quadrant containing a supernova when you
197 move, but you should not stop there.</para>
199 <para>Supernovas may happen spontaneously, without provocation. If a
200 supernova occurs in the same quadrant you are in, your starship has an
201 <quote>emergency automatic override</quote> which picks some random
202 direction and some random warp factor, and tries to throw you clear of
203 the supernova. If the supernova occurs in some other quadrant, you
204 just get a warning message from starfleet about it (provided, of
205 course, that your subspace radio is working).</para>
207 <para>Also a few planets are scattered through the galaxy. These can
208 sometimes be a great help since some of them will have <quote>dilithium
209 crystals,</quote> which are capable of replenishing the ship's energy
210 supply. You can either beam down to the planet surface using the
211 transporter, or take the shuttle craft <quote>Galileo</quote>.</para>
213 <para>Finally, each quadrant will contain from zero to three black
214 holes. These can deflect or swallow torpedoes passing near them. They
215 also swallow enemy ships knocked into them. If your ship enters one
218 <para>Star Trek is a rich game, full of detail. These instructions are
219 written at a moderate level—no attempt has been made fully to
220 describe everything about the game, but there is quite a bit more
221 here than you need to get started. If you are new to the game, just
222 get a rough idea of the kinds of commands available, and start
223 playing. After a game or two you will have learned everthing
224 important, and the detailed command descriptions which follow will be
225 a lot more meaningful to you.</para>
227 <para>You have weapons: phasers and photon torpedoes. You have a defense:
228 deflector shields. You can look at things: long-range scanners,
229 short-range scanners, and a star chart. You can move about, under
230 warp drive or impulse power. You can also dock at a starbase, rest
231 while repairs are being made, abandon ship, self destruct, or give up
232 and start a new game.</para>
234 <para>The Klingons are waiting.</para>
237 <chapter><title>Starting the Game</title>
238 <!-- This chapter is new in SST 2K -->
240 <para>The program will ask you some setup questions. You can give it
241 command-line arguments that will be treated as answers. Any token
242 may be abbreviated to a unique prefix.</para>
244 <para>The first question concerns whether you want a regullar,
245 tournament, or saved game. For discussion, see the <link
246 linkend="freeze">description of the freeze command</link>.</para>
248 <para>The second question will concern the length of the game.
249 Longer games include more enemies.</para>
251 <para>The third question will set the game's difficulty level.
252 You should probably start out at the novice level, even if you are
253 already familiar with one of the other versions of the Star Trek
254 game—but, of course, the level of game you play is up to you. If
255 you want to start at the Expert level, go ahead. It's your funeral.
256 The Emeritus game is strictly for masochists.</para>
258 <para>The fourth question, new in SST2K, sets the wayback machine. A
259 blank answer enables all SST2K features. Given a year, it will disable
260 features not implemented in that year or earlier. The year
261 '1973' approximated the original CDC 6600 FORTRAN game from UT Austin.
262 Here is a mapping of years to features:</para>
267 <listitem><para>Planets and dilithium mining</para></listitem>
271 <listitem><para>Tholians and their webs, supercommanders.</para></listitem>
275 <listitem><para>Deep-space probes.</para></listitem>
279 <listitem><para>Bad guys do tactical movement.</para></listitem>
283 <listitem><para>Bad guys can ram you.</para></listitem>
287 <listitem><para>Death ray gets an upgrade.</para></listitem>
291 <listitem><para>Automatic generation of self-destruct password.</para></listitem>
295 <listitem><para>Upgraded shields for bases, and chance of time-waeping through a black hole.</para></listitem>
299 <listitem><para>Our ship is bracketed in the chart/</para></listitem>
303 <listitem><para>Logic for inhabited worlds and Klingon captures.</para></listitem>
307 <listitem><para>Automatically update the long-range scan when displaying the chart.</para></listitem>
311 <listitem><para>Use color in interface.</para></listitem>
315 <listitem><para>Defeated Klingons can be captured.</para></listitem>
319 <listitem><para>The cloaking device.</para></listitem>
323 <listitem><para>Consistent dot-filling in the galaxy chart.</para></listitem>
327 <listitem><para>Alphameric coordinates.</para></listitem>
331 <para>Some caveats apply. The development history of this game is obscure; some
332 years of introduction have had to be guessed, and we have chosen guesses to
333 make support as many interesting wayback options as possible. Some options
334 are not affected by the wayback setting - notably, the TUI interface is always
335 available even though it wasn't written until 2005. Some early features,
336 notably "clockface" course setting, couldn't be reconstructed.</para>
339 <chapter><title>How To Issue Commands</title>
341 <para>When the game is waiting for you to enter a command it will
348 <para>You may then type in your command. All you have to remember for each
349 command is the mnemonic. For example, if you want to move straight up
350 one quadrant, you can type in the mnemonic (case insensitive)</para>
356 <para>and the computer will prompt you with</para>
362 <para>Say you type in <quote>manual</quote>. The computer then responds</para>
365 X and Y displacements-
368 <para>Now you type in <quote>0 1</quote> which specifies an X movement of zero and a Y
369 movement of one.</para>
371 <para>When you have learned the commands, you can avoid being prompted
372 simply by typing in the information without waiting to be asked for
373 it. For example, in the above example, you could simply type in</para>
379 <para>and it will be done. Or you could type in</para>
385 <para>and when the computer responds with the displacement prompt, you
392 <para>and it will understand.</para>
394 <para>You can abbreviate most mnemonics. For <quote>move</quote>, you can use any
401 <para>successfully. For your safety, certain critical commands (such as to
402 abandon ship) must be written out in full. Also, in a few cases two
403 or more commands begin with the same letter, and in this case that
404 letter refers to a particular one of the commands; to get the other,
405 your abbreviation must be two or more characters long. This sounds
406 complicated, but you will learn the abbreviations quickly enough.</para>
408 <para>What this all boils down to is:</para>
411 <listitem><para>You can abbreviate practically anything</para></listitem>
412 <listitem><para>If you forget, the computer will prompt you</para></listitem>
413 <listitem><para>If you remember, you can type it all on one line</para></listitem>
416 <para>If you are part way through entering a command and you change your
417 mind, you can cancel the command by typing -1 as one of the
418 parameters, with the exception of the manual move command.</para>
420 <para>If anything is not clear to you, experiment. The worst you can do is
421 lose a game or two.</para>
424 <chapter><title>List of Commands</title>
426 <sect1><title>Short-Range Scan</title>
430 Shortest abbreviation: S
431 Full commands: SRSCAN
436 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
437 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
438 suppressed; instead, a short-range scan will always be present on the
441 <para>The short-range scan gives you a considerable amount of information
442 about the quadrant your starship is in. A short-range scan is best
443 described by an example.</para>
447 1 * . . . . R . . . . Stardate 2516.3
448 2 . . . E . . . . . . Condition RED
449 3 . . . . . * . B . . Position 5 - 1, 2 - 4
450 4 . . . S . . . . . . Life Support DAMAGED, Reserves=2.30
451 5 . . . . . . . K . . Warp Factor 5.0
452 6 . K . . . . . * . Energy 2176.24
453 7 . . . . . P . . . . Torpedoes 3
454 8 . . . . * . . . . . Shields UP, 42% 1050.0 units
455 9 . * . . * . . . C . Klingons Left 12
456 10 . . . . . . . . . . Time Left 3.72
459 <para>In fancy mode, the display will use letters for Y coordinates.</para>
463 a * . . . . R . . . . Stardate 2516.3
464 b . . . E . . . . . . Condition RED
465 c . . . . . * . B . . Position e1, b4
466 d . . . S . . . . . . Life Support DAMAGED, Reserves=2.30
467 e . . . . . . . K . . Warp Factor 5.0
468 f . K . . . . . * . Energy 2176.24
469 g . . . . . P . . . . Torpedoes 3
470 h . . . . * . . . . . Shields UP, 42% 1050.0 units
471 i . * . . * . . . C . Klingons Left 12
472 j . . . . . . . . . . Time Left 3.72
476 <para>The left part is a picture of the quadrant. The E at sector 2 -
477 4 (or b4) represents the Enterprise; the B at sector 3 - 8 (or c8) is a starbase.
478 There are ordinary Klingons (K) at sectors 5 - 8 (e8) and 6 - 2 (f2), and a
479 Klingon Commander (C) at 9 - 9 (i9). The (GULP)
480 <quote>Super-commander</quote> (S) is occupies sector 4 - 4 (d4), and a
481 Romulan (R) is at 1 - 6 (a6). An uninhabited planet (P) is at sector 7 - 6 (g6)
482 (if it were inhabited, it would display as a '@'). There are
483 also a large number of stars (*). The periods (.) are just empty
484 space—they are printed to help you get your bearings. Sector 6
485 - 4 contains a black hole ( ).</para>
487 <para>The information on the right is assorted status information. You
488 can get this alone with the STATUS command. The status information
489 will be absent if you type <quote>N</quote> after SRSCAN. Otherwise
490 status information will be presented.</para>
492 <para>If you type <quote>C</quote> after SRSCAN, you will be given a
493 short-range scan and a Star Chart.</para>
495 <para>Short-range scans are free. That is, they use up no energy and no
496 time. If you are in battle, doing a short-range scan does not give
497 the enemies another chance to hit you. You can safely do a
498 short-range scan anytime you like.</para>
500 <para>If your short-range sensors are damaged, this command will only show
501 the contents of adjacent sectors.</para>
505 <sect1><title>Visual Scan</title>
509 Shortest abbreviation: V
512 <para>A visual scan is made in a particular direction of three sectors
513 in the general direction specified. This takes time, and Klingons can
514 attack you, so it should be done only when short-range sensors are
519 <sect1><title>Status Report</title>
523 Shortest abbreviation: ST
526 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
527 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
528 suppressed; instead, a full status report will always be present on the
531 <para>This command gives you information about the current state of your
532 starship as follows:</para>
536 <term>STARDATE</term>
538 <para>The current date. A stardate is the same as a day.</para>
542 <term>CONDITION</term>
544 <para>There are four possible conditions:</para>
548 <listitem><para>docked at starbase.</para></listitem>
552 <listitem><para>in battle.</para></listitem>
556 <listitem><para>low on energy (<1000 units)</para></listitem>
560 <listitem><para>none of the above</para></listitem>
566 <term>POSITION</term>
568 <para>Quadrant is given first, then sector</para>
572 <term>LIFE SUPPORT</term>
574 <para>If <quote>ACTIVE</quote> then life support systems are functioning
575 normally. If on <quote>RESERVES</quote> the number is how many stardates your
576 reserve food, air, etc. will last—you must get repairs made or get to
577 a starbase before your reserves run out.</para>
581 <term>WARP FACTOR</term>
583 <para>What your warp factor is currently set to.</para>
589 <para>The amount of energy you have left. If it drops to zero, you die.</para>
593 <term>TORPEDOES</term>
595 <para>How many photon torpedoes you have left.</para>
601 <para>Whether your shields are up or down, how strong they are
602 (what percentage of a hit they can deflect), and shield energy.</para>
606 <term>KLINGONS LEFT</term>
608 <para>How many of the Klingons are still out there.</para>
612 <term>TIME LEFT</term>
614 <para>How long the Federation can hold out against the
615 present number of Klingons; that is, how long until the end
616 if you do nothing in the meantime. If you kill Klingons
617 quickly, this number will go up—if not, it will go down. If
618 it reaches zero, the federation is conquered and you lose.</para>
623 <para>Status information is free—it uses no time or energy, and
624 if you are in battle, the Klingons are not given another chance to hit
627 <para>Status information can also be obtained by doing a short-range scan.
628 See the SRSCAN command for details.</para>
630 <para>Each item of information can be obtained singly by requesting it.
631 See REQUEST command for details.</para>
634 <sect1><title>Long-Range Scan</title>
638 Shortest abbreviation: L
641 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
642 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
643 suppressed; instead, a long-range scan will always be present on the
646 <para>A long-range scan gives you general information about where you are
647 and what is around you. Here is an example output.</para>
650 Long-range scan for Quadrant 5 - 1
656 <para>This scan says that you are in row 5, column 1 of the 8 by 8 galaxy.
657 The numbers in the scan indicate how many of each kind of thing there
658 is in your quadrant and all adjacent quadrants. The digits are
659 interpreted as follows.</para>
665 <entry>Thousands digit:</entry>
666 <entry>1000 indicates a supernova (only)</entry>
669 <entry>Hundreds digit:</entry>
670 <entry>number of Klingons present</entry>
673 <entry>Tens digit:</entry>
674 <entry>number of starbases present</entry>
677 <entry>Ones digit:</entry>
678 <entry>number of stars present</entry>
684 <para>For example, in your quadrant (5 - 1) the number is 316, which
685 indicates 3 Klingons, 1 starbase, and 6 stars. The long-range
686 scanner does not distinguish between ordinary Klingons and Klingon
687 command ships. If there is a supernova, as in the quadrant below and
688 to your right (quadrant 6 - 2), there is nothing else in the
691 <para>Romulans possess a <quote>cloaking device</quote> which prevents
692 their detection by long-range scan. Because of this fact, Starfleet
693 Command is never sure how many Romulans are <quote>out there</quote>.
694 When you kill the last Klingon, the remaining Romulans surrender to
695 the Federation.</para>
697 <para>Planets are also undetectable by long-range scan. The only way to
698 detect a planet is to find it in your current quadrant with the
699 short-range sensors.</para>
701 <para>Since you are in column 1, there are no quadrants to your left. The
702 minus ones indicate the negative energy barrier at the edge of the
703 galaxy, which you are not permitted to cross.</para>
705 <para>Long-range scans are free. They use up no energy or time, and can be
706 done safely regardless of battle conditions.</para>
709 <sect1><title>Star Chart</title>
713 Shortest abbreviation: C
716 <para>As you proceed in the game, you learn more and more about what things
717 are where in the galaxy. Whenever you first do a scan in a quadrant,
718 telemetry sensors are ejected which will report any changes in the
719 quadrant(s) back to your ship, providing the sub-space radio is
720 working. Spock will enter this information in the chart. If the radio
721 is not working, Spock can only enter new information discovered from
722 scans, and information in other quadrants may be obsolete.</para>
724 <para>The chart looks like an 8 by 8 array of numbers. These numbers are
725 interpreted exactly as they are on a long-range scan. A period (.) in
726 place of a digit means you do not know that information yet. For
727 example, ... means you know nothing about the quadrant, while .1.
728 menas you know it contains a base, but an unknown number of Klingons
731 <para>Looking at the star chart is a free operation. It costs neither time
732 nor energy, and can be done safely whether in or out of battle.</para>
735 <sect1><title>Damage Report</title>
739 Shortest abbreviation: DA
742 <para>At any time you may ask for a damage report to find out what devices
743 are damaged and how long it will take to repair them. Naturally,
744 repairs proceed faster at a starbase.</para>
746 <para>If you suffer damages while moving, it is possible that a subsequent
747 damage report will not show any damage. This happens if the time
748 spent on the move exceeds the repair time, since in this case the
749 damaged devices were fixed en route.</para>
751 <para>Damage reports are free. They use no energy or time, and can be done
752 safely even in the midst of battle.</para>
755 <sect1><title>Move Under Warp Drive</title>
759 Shortest abbreviation: M
760 Full command: MOVE MANUAL <displacement>
761 MOVE AUTOMATIC <destination>
764 <para>This command is the usual way to move from one place to another
765 within the galaxy. You move under warp drive, according to the
766 current warp factor (see <quote>WARP FACTOR</quote>).</para>
768 <para>There are two command modes for movement: MANUAL and AUTOMATIC.
769 The manual mode requires the following format:</para>
772 MOVE MANUAL <deltax> <deltay>
775 <para><deltax> and <deltay> are the horizontal and vertical
776 displacements for your starship, in quadrants; a displacement of one
777 sector is 0.1 quadrants. Specifying <deltax> and <deltay>
778 causes your ship to move in a straight line to the specified
779 destination. If <deltay> is omitted, it is assumed zero. For
780 example, the shortest possible command to move one sector to the right
787 <para>The following examples of manual movement refer to the short-range
788 scan shown earlier.</para>
791 Destination Sector Manual Movement command
796 (leaving quadrant) M M 0 .2
799 <para>The automatic mode is as follows:</para>
802 MOVE AUTOMATIC <qrow> <qcol> <srow> <scol>
805 <para><para>where <qrow> and <qcol> are the row and column
806 numbers of the destination quadrant, and <srow> and <scol>
807 are the row and column numbers of the destination sector in that
808 quadrant. This command also moves your ship in a straight line path
809 to the destination. For moving within a quadrant, <qrow> and
810 <qcol> may be omitted. For example, to move to sector 2 - 9 in
811 the current quadrant, the shortest command would be</para>
817 <para>To move to quadrant 3 - 7, sector 5 - 8, type</para>
823 <para>and it will be done. In automatic mode, either two or four numbers
824 must be supplied.</para>
826 <para> If your game is in "fancy" mode, there ia a way to input
827 coordinates that avoids any need to remember thet the Y coordinate
828 comes first. Y values may be given as lowercase letters starting with
829 a = 1. So for example:</para>
837 <para>The previous move xommand could be expressed as</para>
843 <para>Automatic mode utilizes the ship's <quote>battle
844 computer.</quote> If the computer is damaged, manual movement must be
847 <para>If warp engines are damaged less than 10 stardates (undocked) you can
848 still go warp 4.</para>
850 <para>It uses time and energy to move. How much time and how much energy
851 depends on your current warp factor, the distance you move, and
852 whether your shields are up. The higher the warp factor, the faster
853 you move, but higher warp factors require more energy. You may move
854 with your shields up, but this doubles the energy required.</para>
856 <para>You can move within a quadrant without being attacked if you just
857 entered the quadrant or have been attacked since your last move
858 command. This enables you to move and hit them before they
862 <sect1><title>Warp Factor</title>
866 Shortest abbreviation: W
867 Full command: WARP <number>
870 <para>Your warp factor controls the speed of your starship. The larger the
871 warp factor, the faster you go and the more energy you use.</para>
873 <para>Your minimum warp factor is 1.0 and your maximum warp factor is 10.0
874 (which is 100 times as fast and uses 1000 times as much energy). At
875 speeds above warp 6 there is some danger of causing damage to your
876 warp engines; this damage is larger at higher warp factors and also
877 depends on how far you go at that warp factor.</para>
879 <para>At exactly warp 10 there is some probability of entering a
880 so-called <quote>time warp</quote> and being thrown foward or backward
881 in time. The farther you go at warp 10, the greater is the
882 probability of entering the time warp.</para>
885 <sect1><title>Impulse Engines</title>
889 Shortest abbreviation: I
890 Full command: IMPULSE MANUAL <displacement>
891 IMPULSE AUTOMATIC <destination>
894 <para>The impulse engines give you a way to move when your warp engines are
895 damaged. They move you at a speed of 0.95 sectors per stardate,
896 which is the equivalent of a warp factor of about 0.975, so they are
897 much too slow to use except in emergencies.</para>
899 <para>Movement commands are indicated just as in the <quote>MOVE</quote> command.</para>
901 <para>The impulse engines require 20 units of energy to engage, plus 10
902 units per sector (100 units per quadrant) traveled. It does not cost
903 extra to move with the shields up.</para>
906 <sect1><title>Deflector Shields</title>
910 Shortest abbreviation: SH
911 Full commands: SHIELDS UP
913 SHIELDS TRANSFER <amount of energy to transfer>
916 <para>Your deflector shields are a defensive device to protect you from
917 Klingon attacks (and nearby novas). As the shields protect you, they
918 gradually weaken. A shield strength of 75%, for example, means that
919 the next time a Klingon hits you, your shields will deflect 75% of
920 the hit, and let 25% get through to hurt you.</para>
922 <para>It costs 50 units of energy to raise shields, nothing to lower them.
923 You may move with your shields up; this costs nothing under impulse
924 power, but doubles the energy required for warp drive.</para>
926 <para>Each time you raise or lower your shields, the Klingons have another
927 chance to attack. Since shields do not raise and lower
928 instantaneously, the hits you receive will be intermediate between
929 what they would be if the shields were completely up or completely
932 <para>You may not fire phasers through your shields. However you may
933 use the <quote>high-speed shield control</quote> to lower shields,
934 fire phasers, and raise the shields again before the Klingons can
935 react. Since rapid lowering and raising of the shields requires more
936 energy than normal speed operation, it costs you 200 units of energy
937 to activate this control. It is automatically activated when you fire
938 phasers while shields are up. You may fire photon torpedoes, but they
939 may be deflected considerably from their intended course as they pass
940 through the shields (depending on shield strength).</para>
942 <para>You may transfer energy beteen the ship's energy (given as
943 <quote>Energy</quote> in the status) and the shields. The word
944 <quote>TRANSFER</quote> may be abbreviated <quote>T</quote>. The
945 ammount of energy to transfer is the number of units of energy you
946 wish to take from the ship's energy and put into the shields. If you
947 specify an negative number, energy is drained from the shields to the
948 ship. Transfering energy constitutes a turn. If you transfer energy
949 to the shields while you are under attack, they will be at the new
950 energy level when you are next hit.</para>
952 <para>Enemy torpedoes hitting your ship explode on your shields (if they
953 are up) and have essentially the same effect as phaser hits.</para>
956 <sect1><title>Phasers</title>
960 Shortest abbreviation: P
961 Full commands: PHASERS AUTOMATIC <AMOUNT TO FIRE> <NO>
962 PHASERS <AMOUNT TO FIRE> <NO>
963 PHASERS MANUAL <NO> <AMOUNT 1> <AMOUNT 2>...<AMOUNT N>
966 <para>Phasers are energy weapons. As you fire phasers at Klingons, you
967 specify an <quote>amount to fire</quote> which is drawn from your
968 energy reserves. The amount of total hit required to kill an enemy is
969 partly random. but also depends on skill level.</para>
971 <para>The average hit required to kill an ordinary Klingon varies from 200
972 units in the Novice game to 250 units in the Emeritus game.
973 Commanders normally require from 600 (Novice) to 700 (Emeritus). The
974 Super-commander requres from 875 (Good) to 1000 (Emeritus). Romulans
975 require an average of 350 (Novice) to 450 (Emeritus).</para>
977 <para>Hits on enemies are cumulative, as long as you don't leave the
980 <para>In general, not all that you fire will reach the Klingons. The
981 farther away they are, the less phaser energy will reach them. If a
982 Klingon is adjacent to you, he will receive about 90% of the phaser
983 energy directed at him; a Klingon 5 sectors away will receive about
984 60% and a Klingon 10 sectors away will receive about 35%. There is
985 some randomness involved, so these figures are not exact. Phasers
986 have no effect beyond the boundaries of the quadrant you are in.</para>
988 <para>Phasers may overheat (and be damaged) if you fire too large a burst
989 at once. Firing up to 1500 units is safe. From 1500 on up the
990 probability of overheat increases with the amount fired.</para>
992 <para>If phaser firing is automatic, the computer decides how to
993 divide up your <amount to fire> among the Klingons present. If
994 phaser firing is manual, you specify how much energy to fire at each
995 Klingon present (nearest first), rather than just specifying a total
996 amount. You can abreviate <quote>MANUAL</quote> and
997 <quote>AUTOMATIC</quote> to one or more letters; if you mention
998 neither, automatic fire is usually assumed.</para>
1000 <para>Battle computer information is available by firing phasers manually,
1001 and allowing the computer to prompt you. If you enter zero for the
1002 amount to fire at each enemy, you will get a complete report, without
1003 cost. The battle computer will tell you how much phaser energy to
1004 fire at each enemy for a sure kill. This information appears in
1005 parentheses prior to the prompt for each enemy. Since the amount is
1006 computed from sensor data, if either the computer or the S.R. sensors
1007 are damaged, this information will be unavailable, and phasers must
1008 be fired manually.</para>
1010 <para>A safety interlock prevents phasers from being fired through
1011 the shields. If this were not so, the shields would contain your fire
1012 and you would fry yourself. However, you may utilize the
1013 <quote>high-speed shield control</quote> to drop shields, fire
1014 phasers, and raise shields before the enemy can react. Since it takes
1015 more energy to work the shields rapidly with a shot, it costs you 200
1016 units of energy each time you activate this control. It is
1017 automatically activated when you fire phasers while the shields are
1018 up. By specifying the <no> option, shields are not raised after
1021 <para>Phasers have no effect on starbases (which are shielded) or on
1025 <sect1><title>Cloak</title>
1029 Shortest abbreviation: CLOAK
1030 Full commands: CLOAK ON
1034 <para>The cloaking device prevents your ship from being seen by any enemy
1035 vessels. When the cloaking device is in use, your subspace radio will
1036 not receive transmissions, torpedoes will be less accurate, you cannot
1037 dock, and you cannot use your warp engines. Enemy ships will get a
1038 chance to attack you when you turn cloaking on.</para>
1040 <para>The Treaty of Algeron with the Romulans in Stardate 2311 prohibits the
1041 use of cloaking devices. If a Romulan ship observes you cloaking or
1042 uncloaking after this point in time you will be in violation, which
1043 will hurt your final score.</para>
1045 <para>The Faerie Queene does not have a cloaking device.</para>
1048 <sect1><title>Capture</title>
1052 Shortest abbreviation: CAPTURE
1053 Full commands: CAPTURE
1056 <para>Ask a Klingon To surrender.</para>
1058 <para>The capture command provides a more humane way to end a battle than
1059 just destroying the Klingon battleship with the crew aboard. Assuming
1060 the subspace radio and transporter are working, and there is room in
1061 the brig, this command will ask the captain of the weakest Klingon
1062 ship in the quadrant to surrender. If the captain agrees, some of the
1063 crew will transport to your ship and the Klingon ship will be
1064 destroyed. This command does take time and you will be attacked by any
1065 other enemy ships if the surrender occurs.</para>
1067 <para>When you dock, any captured Klingons will be transferred to the base
1068 and you will be credited with the lives you save.</para>
1070 <sect1><title>Report</title>
1074 Shortest abbreviation: REP
1077 <para>This command supplies you with information about the state of the
1078 current game. Its purpose is to remind you of things that you have
1079 learned during play, but may have forgotten, and cannot otherwise
1080 retrieve if you are not playing at a hard-copy terminal.</para>
1082 <para>You are told the following things:</para>
1085 <listitem><para>The length and skill level of the game you are playing</para></listitem>
1086 <listitem><para>The original number of Klingons</para></listitem>
1087 <listitem><para>How many Klingons you have destroyed</para></listitem>
1088 <listitem><para>Whether the Super-Commander has been destroyed</para></listitem>
1089 <listitem><para>How many bases have been destroyed</para></listitem>
1090 <listitem><para>How many bases are left</para></listitem>
1091 <listitem><para>What bases (if any) are under attack; your subspace radio
1092 must have been working since the attack to get this
1093 information.</para></listitem>
1094 <listitem><para>How many casualties you have suffered</para></listitem>
1095 <listitem><para>How many times you have called for help.</para></listitem>
1098 <para>This same information is automatically given to you when you start to
1099 play a frozen game.</para>
1102 <sect1><title>Computer</title>
1106 Shortest abbreviation: CO
1109 <para>This command allows using the ship's computer (if functional) to
1110 calculate travel times and energy usage.</para>
1113 <sect1><title>Photon Torpedoes</title>
1117 Shortest abbreviation: TO
1118 Full commands: TORPEDO <NUMBER> <TARG1> <TARG2> <TARG3>
1121 <para>Photon torpedoes are projectile weapons—you either hit what you aim
1122 at, or you don't. There are no <quote>partial hits</quote>.</para>
1124 <para>One photon torpedo will usually kill one ordinary Klingon, but it
1125 usually takes about two for a Klingon Commander. Photon torpedoes
1126 can also blow up stars and starbases, if you aren't careful.</para>
1128 <para>You may fire photon torpedoes singly, or in bursts of two or three.
1129 Each torpedo is individually targetable. The computer will prompt
1130 you, asking for the target sector for each torpedo. Alternately, you
1131 may specify each target in the command line.</para>
1133 <para>Photon torpedoes cannot be aimed precisely—there is always some
1134 randomness involved in the direction they go. Photon torpedoes may
1135 be fired with your shields up, but as they pass through the shields
1136 they are randomly deflected from their intended course even more.</para>
1138 <para>Photon torpedoes are proximity-fused. The closer they explode to the
1139 enemy, the more damage they do. There is a hit <quote>window</quote> about one
1140 sector wide. If the torpedo misses the hit window, it does not
1141 explode and the enemy is unaffected. Photon torpedoes are only
1142 effective within the quadrant. They have no effect on things in
1143 adjacent quadrants.</para>
1145 <para>If more than one torpedo is fired and only one target sector is
1146 specified, all torpedoes are fired at that sector. For example, to
1147 fire two torpedoes at sector 3 - 4, you type</para>
1150 PHO 2 3 4 (or) PHO 2 3 4 3 4
1153 <para>To fire torpedoes at, consecutively, sectors 2 - 6, 1 - 10, and 4 -
1160 <para>There is no restriction to fire directly at a sector. For example,
1161 you can enter</para>
1167 <para>to aim between two sectors. However, sector numbers must be 1 to 10
1170 <para>In fancy mode, you can write "PHO 3 2 6 1 10 4 7" as</para>
1176 <para>Fractional Y coordinates are not supported.</para>
1179 <sect1><title>Dock at Starbase</title>
1183 Shortest abbreviation: D
1186 <para>You may dock your starship whenever you are in one of the eight
1187 sector positions immediately adjacent to a starbase. When you dock,
1188 your starship is resupplied with energy, shield energy photon
1189 torpedoes, and life support reserves. Repairs also proceed faster at
1190 starbase, so if some of your devices are damaged, you may wish to stay
1191 at base (by using the <quote>REST</quote> command) until they are
1192 fixed. If your ship has more than its normal maximum energy (which
1193 can happen if you've loaded crystals) the ship's energy is not
1196 <para>You may not dock while in standard orbit around a planet.</para>
1198 <para>Starbases have their own deflector shields, so you are completely
1199 safe from phaser attack while docked. You are also safe from
1200 long-range tractor beams.</para>
1202 <para>Starbases also have both short and long range sensors, which you can
1203 use if yours are broken. There's also a subspace radio to get
1204 information about happenings in the galaxy. Mr. Spock will update the
1205 star chart if your ask for it while docked and your own radio is dead.</para>
1208 <sect1><title>Rest</title>
1212 Shortest abbreviation: R
1213 Full command: REST <NUMBER-OF-STARDATES>
1216 <para>This command simply allows the specified number of stardates to go
1217 by. This is useful if you have suffered damages and wish to wait
1218 until repairs are made before you go back into battle.</para>
1220 <para>It is not generally advisable to rest while you are under attack by
1221 Klingons or Romulans.</para>
1224 <sect1><title>Call Starbase for Help</title>
1231 <para>[Originally, this command was called <quote>HELP</quote>, but
1232 these days that might be misconstrued as an attempt to browse built-in
1233 documentation! In some later versions it was CALL.]</para>
1235 <para>When you get into serious trouble, you may call a starbase for
1236 help. Starbases have a device called a <quote>long-range transporter
1237 beam</quote> which they can use to teleport you to base. This works
1238 by dematerializing your starship at its current position and
1239 re-materializing it adjacent to the nearest starbase. Teleportation
1240 is instantaneous, and starbase supplies the required energy—all
1241 you have to do is let them know (via subspace radio) that you need to
1244 <para>This command should be employed only when absolutely necessary. In
1245 the first place, calling for help is an admission on your part that
1246 you got yourself into something you cannot get yourself out of, and
1247 you are heavily penalized for this in the final scoring. Secondly,
1248 the long-range transporter beam is not reliable—starbase can always
1249 manage to dematerialize your starship, but (depending on distance)
1250 may or may not be able to re-materialize you again. The long-range
1251 transporter beam has no absolute maximum range; if you are in the
1252 same quadrant as a starbase, you have a good chance (about 90%) of
1253 re-materializing successfully. your chances drop to roughly 50-50 at
1254 just over 3 quadrants.</para>
1257 <sect1><title>Abandon Ship</title>
1264 <para>You may abandon the Enterprise if necessary. If there is still a
1265 starbase in the galaxy, you will be sent there and put in charge of a
1266 weaker ship, the Faerie Queene.</para>
1268 <para>The Faerie Queene cannot be abandoned.</para>
1271 <sect1><title>Self-Destruct</title>
1278 <para>You may self-destruct, thus killing yourself and ending the game. If
1279 there are nearby Klingons, you may take a few of them with you (the
1280 more energy you have left, the bigger the bang). It is possible to
1281 win this way, if you kill off your last adversaries with the blast.</para>
1283 <para>In order to self-destruct you must remember the password you typed in
1284 at the beginning of the game.</para>
1287 <sect1><title>Quit Game</title>
1294 <para>Immediately cancel the current game; no conclusion is reached. You
1295 will be given an opportunity to start a new game or to leave the Star
1296 Trek program.</para>
1299 <sect1><title>Sensor-Scan</title>
1303 Shortest abbreviation: SE
1306 <para>Utilizing the short-range sensors, science officer Spock gives you a
1307 readout on any planet in your quadrant. Planets come in three
1308 classes: M, N, and O. Only class M planets have earth-like
1309 conditions. Spock informs you if the planet has any dilithium
1310 crystals. Sensor scans are free.</para>
1313 <sect1><title>Enter Standard Orbit</title>
1317 Shortest abbreviation: O
1320 <para>To land on a planet you must first be in standard orbit. You achieve
1321 this in a manner similar to docking at starbase. Moving to one of
1322 the eight sector positions immediately adjacent to the planet, you
1323 give the orbit command which puts your ship into standard orbit about
1324 the planet. Since this is a maneuver, a small amount of time is
1325 used; negligible energy is required. If enemies are present, they
1329 <sect1><title>Transporter Travel</title>
1333 Shortest abbreviation: T
1336 <para>The transporter is a device which can convert any physical object
1337 into energy, beam the energy through space, and reconstruct the
1338 physical object at some destination. Transporting is one way to land
1339 on a planet. Since the transporter has a limited range, you must be
1340 in standard orbit to beam down to a planet. Shields must be down
1341 while transporting.</para>
1343 <para>The transport command is used to beam a landing party onto a planet
1344 to mine <quote>dilithium crystals</quote>. Each time the command is given the
1345 landing party (which you lead) moves from the ship to the planet, or
1348 <para>You are advised against needless transporting, since like all
1349 devices, the transporter will sometimes malfunction.</para>
1351 <para>The transporter consumes negligible time and energy. Its use does
1352 not constitute a <quote>turn</quote>.</para>
1355 <sect1><title>Shuttle Craft</title>
1359 Shortest abbreviation: SHU
1362 <para>An alternate way to travel to and from planets. Because of limited
1363 range, you must be in standard orbit to use the shuttle craft, named
1364 "Galileo". Shields must be down.</para>
1366 <para>Unlike transporting, use of the shuttle craft does constitute a
1367 <quote>turn</quote> since time is consumed. The time naturally
1368 depends on orbit altitude, and is equal to 3.0e-5 times altitude.
1369 Shuttling uses no ship energy.</para>
1371 <para>You should use the same travel device going from the planet to the
1372 ship as you use to go from the ship to the planet. However it is
1373 possible to transport to the planet and have the Galileo crew come
1374 and pick your landing party up, or to take the Galileo to the planet
1375 and then transport back, leaving the shuttle craft on the planet.</para>
1378 <sect1><title>Mine Dilithium Crystals</title>
1382 Shortest abbreviation: MI
1385 <para>Once you and your mining party are on the surface of a planet which
1386 has dilithium crystals, this command will dig them for you.</para>
1388 <para>Mining requires time and constitutes a <quote>turn</quote>. No
1389 energy is used. Class M planets require 0.1 to 0.3 stardates to mine.
1390 Class N planets take twice as long, and class O planets take three
1391 times as long.</para>
1393 <para>Dilithium crystals contain enormous energy in a form that is readily
1394 released in the ship's power system. It is an excellent idea to mine
1395 them whenever possible, for use in emergencies. You keep the
1396 crystals until the game is over or you abandon ship when not at a
1400 <sect1><title>Load Dilithium Crystals</title>
1404 Shortest abbreviation: CR
1407 <para>This is a very powerful command which should be used with caution.
1408 Once you have dilithium crystals aboard ship, this command will
1409 instruct engineering officer Scott and Mr. Spock to place a raw
1410 dilithium crystal into the power channel of the ship's
1411 matter-antimatter converter. When it works, this command will
1412 greatly boost the ship's energy.</para>
1414 <para>Because the crystals are raw and impure, instabilities can occur in
1415 the power channel. Usually Scotty can control these. When he
1416 cannot, the results are disastrous. Scotty will use those crystals
1417 that appear to be most stable first.</para>
1419 <para>Since using raw dilithium crystals for this purpose entails
1420 considerable risk, Starfleet Regulations allow its use only during
1421 "condition yellow". No time or energy is used.</para>
1424 <sect1><title>Planet Report</title>
1428 Shortest abbreviation: PL
1431 <para>Mr. Spock presents you a list of the available information on
1432 planets in the galaxy which are potential dilithium sources. Since
1433 planets do not show up on long-range scans, the only way to obtain
1434 this information is with the <quote>SENSORS</quote> command.</para>
1437 <sect1 id="freeze"><title>Freeze</title>
1442 Full command: FREEZE <FILE NAME>
1445 <para>The purpose of the FREEZE command is to allow a player to save the
1446 current state of the game, so that it can be finished later. A
1447 plaque may not be generated from a frozen game. A file with the
1448 specified <file name> and type '.TRK' is created (if necessary) in
1449 the current directory, and all pertinent information about the game
1450 is written to that file. The game may be continued as usual or be
1451 terminated at the user's option.</para>
1453 <para>To restart a game created by the <quote>FREEZE</quote> command,
1454 the user need only type <quote>FROZEN</quote> in response to the
1455 initial question about the type of game desired, followed by the
1456 <file name>.</para>
1458 <para>NOTE: A <quote>tournament</quote> game is like a frozen game,
1459 with the following differences. (1) Tournament games always start
1460 from the beginning, while a frozen game can start at any point. (2)
1461 Tournament games require only that the player remember the name or
1462 number of the tournament, while the information about a frozen game
1463 must be kept on a file. Tournament games can be frozen, but then they
1464 behave like regular frozen games.</para>
1466 <para>A point worth noting is that 'FREEZE' does not save the seed for the
1467 random number generator, so that identical actions after restarting
1468 the same frozen game can lead to different results. However,
1469 identical actions after starting a given tournament game always lead
1470 to the same results.</para>
1473 <sect1><title>Request</title>
1477 Shortest abbreviation: REQ
1478 Full command: REQUEST <ITEM>
1481 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
1482 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
1483 suppressed; instead, a full status report will always be present on the
1486 <para>This command allows you to get any single piece of information
1487 from the <STATUS> command. <ITEM> specifies which
1488 information as follows:</para>
1494 <entry>Information</entry>
1495 <entry>Mnemonic for <item></entry>
1496 <entry>Shortest Abbreviation</entry>
1500 <row><entry>STARDATE</entry> <entry>DATE</entry> <entry>D</entry></row>
1501 <row><entry>CONDITION</entry> <entry>CONDITION</entry> <entry>C</entry></row>
1502 <row><entry>POSITION</entry> <entry>POSITION</entry> <entry>P</entry></row>
1503 <row><entry>LIFE SUPPORT</entry><entry>LSUPPORT</entry> <entry>L</entry></row>
1504 <row><entry>WARP FACTOR</entry> <entry>WARPFACTOR</entry><entry>W</entry></row>
1505 <row><entry>ENERGY</entry> <entry>ENERGY</entry> <entry>E</entry></row>
1506 <row><entry>TORPEDOES</entry> <entry>TORPEDOES</entry> <entry>T</entry></row>
1507 <row><entry>SHIELDS</entry> <entry>SHIELDS</entry> <entry>S</entry></row>
1508 <row><entry>KLINGONS LEFT</entry><entry>KLINGONS</entry> <entry>K</entry></row>
1509 <row><entry>TIME LEFT</entry> <entry>TIME</entry> <entry>TI</entry></row>
1510 <row><entry>BASES LEFT</entry> <entry>BASES</entry> <entry>BA</entry></row>
1516 <sect1><title>Experimental Death Ray</title>
1523 <para>This command should be used only in those desperate cases where
1524 you have absolutely no alternative. The death ray uses energy to
1525 rearrange matter. Unfortunately, its working principles are not yet
1526 thoroughly understood, and the results are highly
1527 unpredictable.</para>
1529 <para>The only good thing that can result is the destruction of all
1530 enemies in your current quadrant. This will happen about 70% of the
1531 time. Only enemies are destroyed; starbases, stars, and planets are
1534 <para>Constituting the remaining 30% are results varying from bad to
1537 <para>The death ray requires no energy or time, but if you survive, enemies
1538 will hit you.</para>
1540 <para>The Faerie Queene has no death ray.</para>
1542 <para>If the death ray is damaged in its use, it must be totally replaced.
1543 This can only be done at starbase. Because it is a very complex
1544 device, it takes 9.99 stardates at base to replace the death ray.
1545 The death ray cannot be repaired in flight.</para>
1548 <sect1><title>Launch Deep Space Probe</title>
1552 Shortest abbreviation: PR
1553 Full command: PROBE <ARMED> MANUAL <displacement>
1554 PROBE <ARMED> AUTOMATIC <destination>
1557 <para>The Enterprise carries a limited number of Long Range Probes. These
1558 fly to the end of the galaxy and report back a count of the number of
1559 important things found in each quadrant through which it went. The
1560 probe flies at warp 10, and therefore uses time during its flight.
1561 Results are reported immediately via subspace radio and are recorded
1562 in the star chart.</para>
1564 <para>The probe can also be armed with a NOVAMAX warhead. When launched
1565 with the warhead armed, the probe flies the same except as soon as it
1566 reaches the target location, it detonates the warhead in the heart of
1567 a star, causing a supernova and destroying everything in the
1568 quadrant. It then flies no further. There must be a star in the
1569 target quadrant for the NOVAMAX to function. </para>
1571 <para>The probe can fly around objects in a galaxy, but is destroyed if it
1572 enters a quadrant containing a supernova, or if it leaves the galaxy.</para>
1574 <para>The target location is specified in the same manner as the MOVE
1575 command, however for automatic movement, if only one pair of
1576 coordinates are specified they are assumed to be the quadrant and not
1577 the sector in the current quadrant!</para>
1579 <para>The Faerie Queene has no probes.</para>
1582 <sect1><title>Emergency Exit</title>
1586 Shortest abbreviation: E
1589 <para>This command provides a quick way to exit from the game when you
1590 observe a Klingon battle cruiser approaching your terminal. Its
1591 effect is to freeze the game on the file 'EMSAVE.TRK' in your current
1592 directory, erase the screen, and exit.</para>
1594 <para>Of course, you do lose the chance to get a plaque when you use this
1598 <sect1><title>Ask for Help</title>
1602 Full command: HELP <command>
1605 <para>This command reads the appropriate section from the SST.DOC file,
1606 providing the file is in the current directory.</para>
1609 <sect1><title>Curses switch</title>
1613 Full command: CURSES
1616 <para>Switch from tty to curses interface. Mainly useful for
1617 debugging, when continuing a replayed game.</para>
1620 <sect1><title>Option setting</title>
1624 Full command: OPTIONS
1629 <para>Set or clear feature flags. With no argument, list feature flags. The verbs SET and CLEAR
1630 are available to set or clear a list of feature flags following on the line. Mainly useful
1631 for development and improving test coverage.</para>
1635 <chapter><title>Miscellaneous Notes</title>
1637 <para>Starbases can be attacked by either commanders or by the
1638 <quote>Super-Commander</quote>. When this happens, you will be
1639 notified by subspace radio, provided it is working. The message will
1640 inform you how long the base under attack can last. Since the
1641 <quote>Super-Commander</quote> is more powerful than an ordinary
1642 commander, he can destroy a base more quickly.</para>
1644 <para>Inhabited worlds can be attacked, enslaved, and forced to
1645 build more Klingon starships. They will send out a distress call
1646 by subspace radio when they are attacked, and you will lose contact
1647 with them when they are enslaved.</para>
1649 <para>The <quote>Super-Commander</quote> travels around the galaxy at
1650 a speed of about warp 6 or 7. His movement is strictly time based;
1651 the more time passes, the further he can go.</para>
1653 <para>Scattered through the galaxy are certain zones of control,
1654 collectively designated the <quote>Romulan Neutral Zone</quote>. Any
1655 quadrant which contains Romulans without Klingons is part of the
1656 Neutral Zone, except if a base is present. Since Romulans do not show
1657 on either the long-range scan or the star chart, it is easy for you to
1658 stumble into this zone. When you do, if your subspace radio is
1659 working, you will receive a warning message from the Romulan, politely
1660 asking you to leave.</para>
1662 <para>In general, Romulans are a galactic nuisance.</para>
1664 <para>The high-speed shield control is fairly reliable, but it has been
1665 known to malfunction.</para>
1667 <para>You can observe the galactic movements of the
1668 <quote>Super-Commander</quote> on the star chart, provided he is in
1669 territory you have scanned and your subspace radio is working.</para>
1671 <para>Periodically, you will receive intelligence reports from
1672 starfleet command, indicating the current quadrant of the
1673 <quote>Super-Commander</quote>. Your subspace radio must be working,
1676 <para>Each quadrant will contain from 0 to 3 black holes. Torpedoes
1677 entering a black hole disappear. In fact, anything entering a black
1678 hole disappears, permanently. If you can displace an enemy into one,
1679 he is a goner. Black holes do not necessarily remain in a quadrant.
1680 they are transient phenomena.</para>
1682 <para>Commanders will ram your ship, killing themselves and inflicting
1683 heavy damage to you, if they should happen to decide to advance into
1686 <para>You can get a list of commands by typing
1687 <quote>COMMANDS</quote>.</para>
1690 <chapter><title>Scoring</title>
1692 <para>Scoring is fairly simple. You get points for good things, and you
1693 lose points for bad things.</para>
1695 <para>You gain—</para>
1698 <listitem><para>10 points for each ordinary Klingon you kill,</para></listitem>
1699 <listitem><para>50 points for each commander you kill,</para></listitem>
1700 <listitem><para>200 points for killing the <quote>Super-Commander</quote>,</para></listitem>
1701 <listitem><para>20 points for each Romulan killed,</para></listitem>
1702 <listitem><para>1 point for each Romulan captured.</para></listitem>
1704 <para>100 times your average Klingon/stardate kill rate. If you lose
1705 the game, your kill rate is based on a minimum of 5 stardates.</para>
1708 <para>You get a bonus if you win the game, based on your rating:</para>
1709 <para>Novice=100, Fair=200, Good=300, Expert=400, Emeritus=500.</para>
1713 <para>You lose—</para>
1716 <listitem><para>300 points for each inhabited world you destroy,</para></listitem>
1717 <listitem><para>200 points if you get yourself killed,</para></listitem>
1718 <listitem><para>100 points for each starbase you destroy,</para></listitem>
1719 <listitem><para>100 points for each starship you lose,</para></listitem>
1720 <listitem><para>45 points for each time you had to call for help,</para></listitem>
1721 <listitem><para>10 points for each uninhabited planet you destroyed,</para></listitem>
1722 <listitem><para>5 points for each star you destroyed, and</para></listitem>
1723 <listitem><para>1 point for each casualty you incurred.</para></listitem>
1726 <para>In addition to your score, you may also be promoted one grade in rank
1727 if you play well enough. Promotion is based primarily on your
1728 Klingon/stardate kill rate, since this is the best indicator of
1729 whether you are ready to go on to the next higher rating. However,
1730 if you have lost 100 or more points in penalties, the required kill
1731 rate goes up. Normally, the required kill rate is 0.1 * skill *
1732 (skill + 1.0) + 0.1, where skill ranges from 1 for Novice to 5 for
1735 <para>You can be promoted from any level. There is a special
1736 promotion available if you go beyond the <quote>Expert</quote> range.
1737 You can also have a certificate of merit printed with your name, date,
1738 and Klingon kill rate, provided you are promoted from either the
1739 <quote>Expert</quote> or <quote>Emeritus</quote> levels. You may need
1740 print the certificate to a file, import it into your word processor,
1741 selecting Courier 8pt font, and then print in <quote>landscape
1742 orientation</quote>.</para>
1743 <!-- The plaque used to require an 132 column printer. Stas changed that. -->
1746 <chapter><title>Handy Reference Page</title>
1748 <literallayout format='linespecific' class='monospaced'>
1749 ABBREV FULL COMMAND DEVICE USED
1750 ------ ------------ -----------
1751 ABANDON ABANDON shuttle craft
1752 CA CAPTURE subspace radio and transporter
1754 CO COMPUTER computer
1757 DEATHRAY DEATHRAY (none)
1758 DESTRUCT DESTRUCT computer
1761 FREEZE FREEZE <FILE NAME> (none)
1762 I IMPULSE <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> impulse engines
1763 IMPULSE AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> impulse engines and computer
1764 L LRSCAN long-range sensors
1765 MAYDAY MAYDAY (for help) subspace radio
1767 M MOVE <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> warp engines
1768 MOVE AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> warp engines and computer
1769 O ORBIT warp or impulse engines
1770 P PHASERS <TOTAL AMOUNT> phasers and computer
1771 PHASERS AUTOMATIC <TOTAL AMOUNT> phasers, computer, sr sensors
1772 PHASERS MANUAL <AMT1> <AMT2> ... phasers
1773 TOR TORPEDO <NUMBER> <TARGETS> torpedo tubes
1775 PR PROBE <ARMED> <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> probe launcher, radio
1776 PROBE <ARMED> AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> launcher, radio, computer
1779 R REST <NUMBER OF STARDATES> (none)
1781 S SRSCAN <NO or CHART> short-range sensors
1782 SE SENSORS short-range sensors
1783 SH SHIELDS <UP, DOWN, or TRANSFER> deflector shields
1784 SHU SHUTTLE shuttle craft
1786 T TRANSPORT transporter
1787 W WARP <FACTOR> (none)
1791 L. R. Scan: thousands digit: supernova
1792 hundreds digit: Klingons
1793 tens digit: starbases
1795 period (.): digit not known (star chart only)
1797 Courses are given in manual mode in X - Y displacements; in automatic
1798 mode as destination quadrant and/or sector. Manual mode is default.
1799 Distances are given in quadrants. A distance of one sector is 0.1 quadrant.
1800 Ordinary Klingons have about 400 units of energy, Commanders about
1801 1200. Romulans normally have about 800 units of energy, and the
1802 (GULP) "Super-Commander" has about 1800.
1803 Phaser fire diminishes to about 60 percent at 5 sectors. Up to 1500
1804 units may be fired in a single burst without danger of overheat.
1805 Warp 6 is the fastest safe speed. At higher speeds, engine damage
1806 may occur. At warp 10 you may enter a time warp.
1807 Shields cost 50 units of energy to raise, and double the power
1808 requirements of moving under warp drive. Engaging the high-speed
1809 shield control requires 200 units of energy.
1810 Warp drive requires (distance)*(warp factor cubed) units of energy
1811 to travel at a speed of (warp factor squared)/10 quadrants per stardate.
1812 Impulse engines require 20 units to warm up, plus 100 units per
1813 quadrant. Speed is just under one sector per stardate.
1817 <chapter><title>Game History and Modifications</title>
1819 <sect1><title>Origins</title>
1821 <para>The original Star Trek seems to have been written by Mike
1822 Mayfield at the beginning of the 1970s. His first version was in
1823 BASIC for a Sigma 7 in 1971; in 1972 he rewrote it in Hewlett Packard
1824 BASIC. The source is included in the SST2K repository. In January
1825 1975 it became part of the DECUS library under the name <ulink
1826 url='http://www.trailing-edge.com/~shoppa/decus/110174.html'>SPACWR</ulink>.</para>
1828 <para>While some people claim to have recollections of playing Trek
1829 games in the late 1960s, the earlier ones seem actually to have been
1831 <ulink url='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!'>
1832 SPACEWAR</ulink>, the earlier space-combat game on the
1833 PDP-1. Mayfield <ulink
1834 url='http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html'>wrote
1835 in 2000</ulink> that he invented the Trek-style galactic grid, and the
1836 evidence seems to back that up. Some of the confusion probably stems
1837 from the fact that Mayfield's original and several early descendants
1838 were distributed under the name SPACWR.</para>
1840 <para>Many different versions radiated from Mayfield's original; most
1841 of the ones in BASIC are descended from a SPACWR version that David
1842 Ahl published in <citetitle>101 BASIC Computer Games</citetitle>,
1843 July 1973. This was a port of Mayfield's version obtained from the HP
1844 Contributed Programs library. </para>
1846 <para>Our SST2K is descended from a Taurus BASIC program by Grady
1847 Hicks dated 5 April 1973. This does not appear to have been derived
1848 from Ahl's SPACWR. The header says "GENERAL IDEA STOLEN FROM
1849 PENN. U.", and the game has several features not present in SPACEWR:
1850 notably, the Death Ray, ramming, and the Klingon summons to surrender.
1851 And, of course, it predates Ahl's book. The source is included in the
1852 SST2K repository.</para>
1854 <para>Dave Matuszek, Paul Reynolds et. al. at UT Austin played the
1855 Hicks version on a CDC6600, but disliked the long load time and
1856 extreme slowness of the BASIC program. (David Matuszek notes that the
1857 Hicks version he played had a habit of throwing long quotes from
1858 Marcus Aurelius at the users, a feature he found intolerable on a TTY
1859 at 110 baud. It must, therefore, have been rather longer than the one
1862 <para>The Austin crew proceeded to write their own Trek game, loosely
1863 based on the Hicks version, in CDC6600 FORTRAN. Most of the code was
1864 written in 1973-1974. At that time, the game was just called "Star
1865 Trek"; the "Super" was added by later developers. In the rest of this
1866 history we'll call it the "UT FORTRAN" version.</para>
1868 <para>Dave Matuszek reports that the UT FORTRAN codebase he worked on
1869 in 1973-1974 was like Mayfield's original and most later versions in
1870 BASIC, in that it used used polar coordinates (a clockface angle
1871 and a distance) for manual navigation.</para>
1873 <para>Tom Almy writes: "I've received further information that the
1874 black holes, Tholian web, Super Commander, and Emeritus mode were
1875 added by Marc Newman."</para>
1877 <para>At the time the UT FORTRAN source was last translated to C it emitted
1878 the message "Latest update-21 Sept 78". Thus, it actually predated
1879 (and may have influenced) the best-known BASIC version, the "Super
1880 Star Trek" published by David Ahl in his November 1978 sequel
1881 <citetitle>BASIC Computer Games</citetitle>.</para>
1883 <para>This 1978 "Super Star Trek" had been reworked by Robert Leedom
1884 and friends from (according to Leedom) Mayfield's HP port. There is
1885 internal evidence to suggest that at least some features of Leedom's
1886 SST may have derived from the UT FORTRAN version. In particular, Dave
1887 Matuszek recalls implementing command words to replace the original
1888 numeric command codes during 1973-1974, a feature Leedom's SST also
1889 had but the 1973 and 1975 SPACWRs did not.</para>
1891 <para>One signature trait of the UT FORTRAN game and its descendants
1892 is that the sectors are 10x10 (rather than the 8x8 in Mike Mayfield's
1893 1972 original and its BASIC descendants). The UT FORTRAN version also
1894 preserves the original numbered quadrants rather than the
1895 astronomically-named quadrants introduced in Ahl's SST and its
1898 <para>Eric Allman's BSD Trek game is one of these, also descended from
1899 the UT FORTRAN version via translation to C. However, the mainline version
1900 (now SST2K) has had a lot more stuff folded into it over the years
1901 — deep space probes, dilithium mining, the Tholian Web, and so
1905 <sect1><title>Tom Almy's story</title>
1907 <para>Back in (about) 1977 I got a copy of the Super Star Trek game for
1908 the CDC 6600 mainframe computer. Someone had converted it to PDP-11
1909 Fortran but couldn't get it to run because of its size. I modified
1910 the program to use overlays and managed to shoehorn it in on the 56k
1911 byte machine.</para>
1913 <para>I liked the game so much I put some time into fixing bugs, mainly
1914 what could be called continuity errors and loopholes in the game's
1915 logic. We even played a couple tournaments.</para>
1917 <para>In 1979, I lost access to that PDP-11. I did save the source code
1918 listing. In 1995, missing that old friend, I started converting the
1919 program into portable ANSI C. It's been slow, tedious work that took
1920 over a year to accomplish.</para>
1922 <para>In early 1997, I got the bright idea to look for references to
1923 <quote>Super Star Trek</quote> on the World Wide Web. There weren't
1924 many hits, but there was one that came up with 1979 Fortran sources!
1925 This version had a few additional features that mine didn't have,
1926 however mine had some feature it didn't have. So I merged its features
1927 that I liked. I also took a peek at the DECUS version (a port, less
1928 sources, to the PDP-10), and some other variations.</para>
1930 <para>Modifications I made:</para>
1932 <para>Compared to original version, I've changed the
1933 <quote>help</quote> command to <quote>call</quote> and the
1934 <quote>terminate</quote> command to <quote>quit</quote> to better
1935 match user expectations. The DECUS version apparently made those
1936 changes as well as changing <quote>freeze</quote> to
1937 <quote>save</quote>. However I like <quote>freeze</quote>.</para>
1939 <para>I added EMEXIT from the 1979 version.</para>
1941 <para>That later version also mentions srscan and lrscan working when
1942 docked (using the starbase's scanners), so I made some changes here
1943 to do this (and indicating that fact to the player), and then
1944 realized the base would have a subspace radio as well — doing a
1945 Chart when docked updates the star chart, and all radio reports will
1946 be heard. The Dock command will also give a report if a base is under
1949 <para>It also had some added logic to spread the initial positioning of
1950 bases. That made sense to add because most people abort games with
1951 bad base placement.</para>
1953 <para>The experimental deathray originally had only a 5% chance of success,
1954 but could be used repeatedly. I guess after a couple years of use, it
1955 was less <quote>experimental</quote> because the 1979 version had a 70% success
1956 rate. However it was prone to breaking after use. I upgraded the
1957 deathray, but kept the original set of failure modes (great humor!).</para>
1959 <para>I put in the Tholian Web code from the 1979 version.</para>
1961 <para>I added code so that Romulans and regular Klingons could move in
1962 advanced games. I re-enabled the code which allows enemy ships to
1963 ram the Enterprise; it had never worked right. The 1979 version
1964 seems to have it all fixed up, but I'm still not overly happy with
1965 the algorithm.</para>
1967 <para>The DECUS version had a Deep Space Probe. Looked like a good idea
1968 so I implemented it based on its description.</para>
1970 <para>I imported CAPTURE from BSD Trek.</para>
1973 <sect1><title>Stas Sergeev's story</title>
1975 <para>I started from an older Tom Almy version and added features I had
1976 seen in other mainframe variants of the game, I wrote a screen-oriented
1977 interface for it based on the curses library.</para>
1981 <para>The Space Thingy can be shoved, if you ram it, and can fire back if
1985 <para>The Tholian can be hit with phasers.</para>
1988 <para>When you are docked, base covers you with an almost invincible shields
1989 (a commander can still ram you, or a Romulan can destroy the base,
1990 or a SCom can even succeed with direct attack IIRC, but this rarely
1994 <para>SCom can't escape from you if no more enemies remain (without this,
1995 chasing SCom can take an eternity).</para>
1998 <para>Probe target you enter is now the destination quadrant. Before I don't
1999 remember what it was, but it was something I had difficulty using.</para>
2002 <para>Secret password is now autogenerated.</para>
2005 <para>Victory plaque is adjusted for A4 paper rather than 132-column greenbar
2009 <para>Phasers now tells you how much energy needed, but only if the computer
2013 <para>Planets are auto-scanned when you enter the quadrant.</para>
2016 <para>Mining or using crystals in the presence of the enemy now yields
2017 an attack. There are other minor adjustments to what yields an attack
2018 and what does not.</para>
2021 <para>Ramming a black hole is no longer instant death. There is a
2022 chance you might get timewarped instead.</para>
2025 <para>"freeze" command reverts to "save", most people will understand this
2026 better anyway.</para>
2029 <para>Screen-oriented interface, with sensor scans always up.</para>
2033 <para>My changes got merged into SST2K in 2005.</para>
2036 <sect1><title>Eric Raymond's story</title>
2038 <para>I played the FORTRAN version of this game in the late 1970s on a
2039 DEC minicomputer. In the late 1980s Dave Matuszek and I became
2040 friends; I was vaguely aware that he had had something to do with the
2041 original Star Trek game. In October 2004, sitting in Dave's living
2042 room, we got to talking about the game and I realized it would make a
2043 great exhibit for the <ulink
2044 url='&retro;'>Retrocomputing Museum</ulink>.</para>
2046 <para>A few quick web searches later we found Tom Almy's page. We
2047 downloaded his code and Dave verified that that it was a direct
2048 descendent of UT Super Star Trek — even though it had been translated
2049 to C, he was able to recognize names and techniques from the FORTRAN
2050 version he co-wrote.</para>
2052 <para>This game became an open-source project; see the <ulink
2053 url='http://developer.berlios.de/projects/sst/'>project
2054 site</ulink>.</para>
2056 <para>After I launched the Berlios project, Stas Sergeev contacted me.
2057 We worked together to merge in his changes.</para>
2059 <para>Modifications I've made:</para>
2063 I converted the flat-text SST.DOC file to XML-Docbook so it can be
2064 webbed. (That's what you're reading now.)
2067 The command-help code needed a rewrite because the flat-text form of
2068 the documentation is now generated from XML and doesn't have the
2069 easily recognizable section delimiters it used to. I wrote a script
2070 to filter that flat-text form into an sst.doc that's easy to parse for
2071 command descriptions, and changed some logic in sst.c to match.
2074 I've cleaned up a lot of grubby FORTRANisms in the code internals —
2075 used sizeof(), replaced magic numeric constants with #defines,
2076 that sort of thing. Later I translated the code from C to Python.
2079 I fixed a surprising number of typos in the code and documentation.
2082 All the game state now lives in one big structure that can be
2083 written to and read from disk as one blob. The write gives it an
2084 an identifiable magic number and the thaw logic checks for same.
2087 I made the internal pager work, and in the process got rid of a number
2088 of platform dependencies in the code.
2091 The HELP/CALL/SOS command is now MAYDAY.
2094 Status report now indicates if dilithium crystals are on board.
2097 At Dave's prompting, restored the Space Thingy's original elusive behavior.
2100 Clean separation of game engine from the UI code, improving Stas
2101 Sergeev's excellent work on the curses interface.
2105 <para>Here are some good pages on the history of Star Trek games:</para>
2109 <ulink url='http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/'>http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/</ulink>
2112 <ulink url='http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html'>http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html</ulink>
2115 <ulink url='http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html'>http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html</ulink>
2120 <sect1><title>Authors' Acknowledgments</title>
2122 <para>These are the original acknowledgments by Dave Matuszek and Paul
2125 <para>The authors would like to thank Professor Michael Duggan for his
2126 encouragement and administrative assistance with the development of
2127 the Star Trek game, without which it might never have been completed.</para>
2129 <para>Much credit is due to Patrick McGehearty and Rich Cohen, who assisted
2130 with the original design of the game and contributed greatly to its
2131 conceptual development.</para>
2133 <para>Thanks are also due to Carl Strange, Hardy Tichenor and Steven Bruell
2134 for their assistance with certain coding problems.</para>
2136 <para>This game was inspired by and rather loosely based on an earlier
2137 game, programmed in the BASIC language, by Jim Korp and Grady Hicks.
2138 It is the authors' understanding that the BASIC game was in turn
2139 derived from a still earlier version in use at Penn State University.</para>
2142 <sect1><title>References</title>
2144 <para>These are the original references by Dave Matuszek and Paul
2148 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> (the original television
2149 series), produced and directed by Gene Rodenberry.</para></listitem>
2151 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> (the animated
2152 television series), produced by Gene Rodenberry and directed by Hal
2153 Sutherland. Also excellent, and not just kiddie fare. If you enjoyed
2154 the original series you should enjoy this one (unless you have some
2155 sort of a hangup about watching cartoons).</para></listitem>
2157 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Making of Star Trek</citetitle>, by
2158 Steven E. Whitfield and Gene Rodenberry. The best and most complete
2159 readily available book about Star Trek. (Ballantine
2160 Books)</para></listitem>
2162 <listitem><para><citetitle>The World of Star Trek</citetitle>, by
2163 David Gerrold. Similiar in scope to the above book.
2164 (Bantam)</para></listitem>
2166 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Star Trek Guide</citetitle>, third
2167 revision 4/17/67, by Gene Roddenberry. The original writer's guide
2168 for the television series, but less comprehensive than (3) above.
2169 (Norway Productions)</para></listitem>
2171 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Trouble With Tribbles</citetitle>, by
2172 David Gerrold. Includes the complete script of this popular show.
2173 (Ballantine Books)</para></listitem>
2175 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle>, <citetitle>Star Trek
2176 2</citetitle>, ..., <citetitle>Star Trek 9</citetitle>, by James
2177 Blish. The original shows in short story form.
2178 (Bantam)</para></listitem>
2180 <listitem><para><citetitle>Spock Must Die</citetitle>, by James Blish.
2181 An original novel, but rather similar to the show <citetitle>The Enemy
2182 Within</citetitle>. (Bantam)</para></listitem>
2184 <listitem><para>Model kits of the Enterprise and a <quote>Klingon
2185 Battle-Cruiser</quote> by AMT Corporation are available at most hobby
2186 shops.</para></listitem>
2192 <appendix><title>Setting the Wayback Machine</title>
2194 <para>SST2K and its ancestors have a long history. One of the
2195 objectives of this project is to make that history available.
2196 Accordingly, here is a timeline of the development of SST2K and
2197 its ancestors, as closely as we can reconstruct it. Someday this
2198 may become the basis for a "wayback machine" switch that enables
2199 feature sets by year.</para>
2202 <listitem><para>1971 — Mike Mayfield's original BASIC Star
2203 Trek.</para></listitem>
2205 <listitem><para>5 April 1973 — Grady Hicks's BASIC version fot
2206 the Taurus.</para></listitem>
2208 <listitem><para>Summer 1973 — Dave Matuszek, Paul Reynolds, and
2209 the Austin crew begin work on the UT FORTRAN version.</para></listitem>
2211 <listitem><para>1974 — Dave Matuszek gets distracted by other
2212 things, notably a job change and the birth of his first
2213 child.</para></listitem>
2215 <listitem><para>21 September 1978 — This was the date on the
2216 first FORTRAN version Tom Almy saw, on which he based his later C
2217 translation.</para></listitem>
2219 <listitem><para>1979 — Marc Newman adds Tholians,
2220 super-commanders, and Emeritus mode.</para></listitem>
2222 <listitem><para>1995-1996 — Tom Almy translates his FORTRAN
2223 port to ANSI C.</para></listitem>
2225 <listitem><para>1997 — Tom Almy finds the sources for UT
2226 FORTRAN on the Web and merges in features new since the 1978 version:
2227 EMEXIT, Tholian Web, improved death ray. He adds deep-space probes
2228 from the DECUS version.</para></listitem>
2230 <listitem><para>10 October 2004 — ESR starts hacking on Almy's C
2231 translation, de-FORTRANIZING the code. HELP/CALL/SOS becomes MAYDAY.
2234 <listitem><para>30 October 2004 — SST2K project started on
2235 Berlios.</para></listitem>
2237 <listitem><para>18 January 2005 — First changes merged in from Stas
2238 Sergeev. The curses interface is added.</para></listitem>
2240 <listitem><para>September 2006 — BSD features merged
2241 in. Inhabited-worlds features and weighted critical hits date from
2242 this time.</para></listitem>
2244 <listitem><para>9 October 2006 — Translation to
2245 Python.</para></listitem>
2247 <listitem><para>1 March 2017 — Color added.
2248 Cloaking device and capture command added from BSD (via Almy's
2249 2013 version)</para></listitem>
2251 <listitem><para>25 March 2019 — At long last, chart entries are
2252 uniformly dot-filled. (Suppressed in the plain and almy
2253 interface styles.)</para></listitem>
2255 <listitem><para>25 August 2023 — Coordinates optionally in
2256 alphameric mode, e.g "b3" rather than "2 - 3". (Suppressed in the
2257 plain and almy interface styles.)</para></listitem>
2262 <para>One as-yet unanswered question is when the code changed from
2263 distance/direction navigation to coordinate offsets. Dave Matuszek
2264 believes it must have been after he stopped working on the game in
projects / super-star-trek.git / blob