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8 <title>Super Star Trek</title>
12 <firstname>David</firstname>
13 <surname>Matuzsek</surname>
16 <firstname>Paul</firstname>
17 <surname>Reynolds</surname>
20 <firstname>Tom</firstname>
21 <surname>Almy</surname>
24 <firstname>Stas</firstname>
25 <surname>Sergeev</surname>
28 <firstname>Eric</firstname>
29 <othername>Steven</othername>
30 <surname>Raymond</surname>
35 <para>Permission is hereby granted for the copying, distribution,
36 modification and use of this program and associated documentation
37 for recreational purposes, provided that all references to the
38 authors are retained. However, permission is not and will not be
39 granted for the sale or promotional use of this program or program
40 documentation, or for use in any situation in which profit may be
41 considered an objective, since it is the desire of the authors to
42 respect the copyrights of the originators of Star Trek.</para>
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79 Produced For Your Enjoyment
101 <chapter><title>Introduction</title>
102 <para>The Organian Peace Treaty has collapsed, and the Federation is at war
103 with the Klingon Empire. Joining the Klingons against the Federation
104 are the members of the <quote>Romulan Star Empire.</quote> As commander of the
105 Starship U.S.S. Enterprise, your job is to wipe out the Klingon
106 invasion fleet and make the galaxy safe for democracy.</para>
108 <para>Your battleground is the entire galaxy, which for convenience is
109 divided up into eight rows of eight quadrants each, like a
110 checkerboard. Rows are numbered from top to bottom, and columns are
111 numbered left to right, so quadrant 1 - 8 would be in the upper right
112 hand corner of the galaxy.</para>
114 <para>During battle you will be concerned only with those enemies that
115 occupy the same quadrant as yourself. Quadrants are divided up into
116 sectors: ten rows of ten sectors each. Sectors are numbered in the
117 same way as quadrants, so the sector in the upper right corner is
118 sector 1 - 10. You have a short-range scanner which allows you to
119 look at the entire quadrant in a single display.</para>
121 <para>Enemies recharge during your absence. If you leave a quadrant
122 containing a weakened enemy, when you return to that quadrant he will
123 be strong again. Also, each time you enter a quadrant, the positions
124 of everthing in the quadrant (except your ship) are randomized, to
125 save you the trouble of trying to remember where everything in the
126 quadrant is. Notice that this refers only to the positions of things
127 in the quadrant—the numbers of each kind of thing are not changed
128 (except for black holes and the Super-commander, which move around
129 the galaxy). If you kill something, it stays dead.</para>
131 <para>The Romulans are not as serious a threat to the Federation as the
132 Klingons. For one thing, there are not as many of them. For
133 another, the Romulans are not as treacherous. However, Romulans are
134 not to be trifled with, especially when you are in violation of the
135 Romulan Neutral Zone.</para>
137 <para>There are two kinds of Klingons: Ordinary Klingons, which are
138 bad enough, and Klingon Commanders, which are even worse. Commanders
139 are about three times stronger than ordinary Klingons. Commanders are
140 more resistant to your weapons. Commanders can move about during
141 battle while Ordinary Klingons stay put. And finally, Commanders have
142 a thing called a <quote>long-range tractor beam</quote> which they can
143 use, at random intervals, to yank you away from what you are doing
144 into their quadrant, to do battle with them. There is also a special
145 commander, called the <quote>Super-commander.</quote> This character
146 is so bad he is reserved for the Good, Expert, and Emeritus games.
147 Fortunately, there is just one Super-commander in a game. In addition
148 to the undesirable traits of Commanders, he can move from quadrant to
149 quadrant at will, seeking out and destroying your starbases and any
150 helpful planets he runs across. He also has a spy planted aboard your
151 ship, giving him valuable information about your condition. Using
152 this information, he can do dastardly things like tractor beam your
153 ship when you are in bad shape. And once you've been tractor beamed
154 by the Super-commander —</para>
156 <para>But the advantages are not all on the side of the enemy. Your ship
157 is more powerful, and has better weapons. Besides, in the this
158 galaxy there are from two to five starbases, at which you can stop to
159 refuel and lick your wounds, safe from phaser attack or tractor
160 beams. But you had best not dally there too long, since time is not
161 on your side. The Klingons are not just after you; they are
162 attacking the entire Federation. There is always a finite <quote>time
163 left,</quote> which is how much longer the Federation can hold out if you
164 just sit on your fat behind and do nothing. As you wipe out
165 Klingons, you reduce the rate at which the invasion fleet weakens the
166 Federation, and so the time left until the Federation collapses may
167 actually increase. Since Klingons are the main threat to the
168 Federation, the Romulans do not figure into the <quote>time left.</quote> In
169 fact, you need not kill all the Romulans to win. If you can get all
170 the Klingons, the Federation will abide forever, and you have won the
173 <para>Space is vast, and it takes precious time to move from one place to
174 another. In comparison, other things happen so quickly that we
175 assume they take no time at all. Two ways that time can pass are when
176 you move, or when you issue a command to sit still and rest for a
177 period of time. You will sometimes want to do the latter, since the
178 various devices aboard your starship may be damaged and require time
179 to repair. Of course, repairs can be made more quickly at a starbase
180 than than can in flight.</para>
182 <para>In addition to Klingons, Romulans, and starbases, the galaxy
183 contains (surprise) stars. Mostly, stars are a nuisance and just get
184 in your way. You can trigger a star into going nova by shooting one
185 of your photon torpedoes at it. When a star novas, it does a lot of
186 dammage to anything immediately adjacent to it. If another star is
187 adjacent to a nova, it too will go nova. Stars may also occasionally
188 go supernova; a supernova in a quadrant destroys everything in the
189 quadrant andmakes the quadrant permanently uninhabitable. You may
190 <quote>jump over</quote> a quadrant containing a supernova when you
191 move, but you should not stop there.</para>
193 <para>Supernovas may happen spontaneously, without provocation. If a
194 supernova occurs in the same quadrant you are in, your starship has an
195 <quote>emergency automatic override</quote> which picks some random
196 direction and some random warp factor, and tries to throw you clear of
197 the supernova. If the supernova occurs in some other quadrant, you
198 just get a warning message from starfleet about it (provided, of
199 course, that your subspace radio is working).</para>
201 <para>Also a few planets are scattered through the galaxy. These can
202 sometimes be a great help since some of them will have <quote>dilithium
203 crystals,</quote> which are capable of replenishing the ship's energy
204 supply. You can either beam down to the planet surface using the
205 transporter, or take the shuttle craft <quote>Galileo</quote>.</para>
207 <para>Finally, each quadrant will contain from zero to three black
208 holes. These can deflect or swallow torpedoes passing near them. They
209 also swallow enemy ships knocked into them. If your ship enters one
212 <para>Star Trek is a rich game, full of detail. These instructions are
213 written at a moderate level—no attempt has been made fully to
214 describe everything about the game, but there is quite a bit more
215 here than you need to get started. If you are new to the game, just
216 get a rough idea of the kinds of commands available, and start
217 playing. After a game or two you will have learned everthing
218 important, and the detailed command descriptions which follow will be
219 a lot more meaningful to you.</para>
221 <para>You have weapons: phasers and photon torpedoes. You have a defense:
222 deflector shields. You can look at things: long-range scaners,
223 short-range scanners, and a star chart. You can move about, under
224 warp drive or impulse power. You can also dock at a starbase, rest
225 while repairs are being made, abandon ship, self destruct, or give up
226 and start a new game.</para>
228 <para>The Klingons are waiting.</para>
231 <chapter><title>How To Issue Commands</title>
233 <para>When the game is waiting for you to enter a command it will
240 <para>You may then type in your command. All you have to remember for each
241 command is the mnemonic. For example, if you want to move straight up
242 one quadrant, you can type in the mnemonic (case insensitive)</para>
248 <para>and the computer will prompt you with</para>
254 <para>Say you type in <quote>manual</quote>. The computer then responds</para>
257 X and Y displacements-
260 <para>Now you type in <quote>0 1</quote> which specifies an X movement of zero and a Y
261 movement of one.</para>
263 <para>When you have learned the commands, you can avoid being prompted
264 simply by typing in the information without waiting to be asked for
265 it. For example, in the above example, you could simply type in</para>
271 <para>and it will be done. Or you could type in</para>
277 <para>and when the computer responds with the displacement prompt, you
284 <para>and it will understand.</para>
286 <para>You can abbreviate most mnemonics. For <quote>move</quote>, you can use any
293 <para>successfully. For your safety, certain critical commands (such as to
294 abandon ship) must be written out in full. Also, in a few cases two
295 or more commands begin with the same letter, and in this case that
296 letter refers to a particular one of the commands; to get the other,
297 your abbreviation must be two or more characters long. This sounds
298 complicated, but you will learn the abbreviations qGuickly enough.</para>
300 <para>What this all boils down to is:</para>
303 <listitem><para>You can abbreviate practically anything</para></listitem>
304 <listitem><para>If you forget, the computer will proompt you</para></listitem>
305 <listitem><para>If you remember, you can type it all on one line</para></listitem>
308 <para>If you are part way through entering a command and you change your
309 minde, you can cancel the command by typing -1 as one of the
310 parameters, with the exception of the manual move command.</para>
312 <para>If anything is not clear to you, experiment. The worst you can do is
313 lose a game or two.</para>
316 <chapter><title>List of Commands</title>
318 <sect1><title>Short-Range Scan</title>
322 Shortest abbreviation: S
323 Full commands: SRSCAN
328 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
329 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
330 suppressed; instead, a short-range scan will always be present on the
333 <para>The short-range scan gives you a considerable amount of information
334 about the quadrant your starship is in. A short-range scan is best
335 described by an example.</para>
339 1 * . . . . R . . . . Stardate 2516.3
340 2 . . . E . . . . . . Condition RED
341 3 . . . . . * . B . . Position 5 - 1, 2 - 4
342 4 . . . S . . . . . . Life Support DAMAGED, Reserves=2.30
343 5 . . . . . . . K . . Warp Factor 5.0
344 6 . K . . . . . * . Energy 2176.24
345 7 . . . . . P . . . . Torpedoes 3
346 8 . . . . * . . . . . Shields UP, 42% 1050.0 units
347 9 . * . . * . . . C . Klingons Left 12
348 10 . . . . . . . . . . Time Left 3.72
351 <para>The left part is a picture of the quadrant. The E at sector 2 -
352 4 represents the Enterprise; the B at sector 3 - 8 is a starbase.
353 There are ordinary Klingons (K) at sectors 5 - 8 and 6 - 2, and a
354 Klingon Commander (C) at 9 - 9. The (GULP)
355 <quote>Super-commander</quote> (S) is occupies sector 4 - 4, and a
356 Romulan (R) is at 1 - 6. A planet (P) is at sector 7 - 6. There are
357 also a large number of stars (*). The periods (.) are just empty
358 space—they are printed to help you get your bearings. Sector 6
359 - 4 contains a black hole ( ).</para>
361 <para>The information on the right is assorted status information. You
362 can get this alone with the STATUS command. The status information
363 will be absent if you type <quote>N</quote> after SRSCAN. Otherwise
364 status information will be presented.</para>
366 <para>If you type <quote>C</quote> after SRSCAN, you will be given a
367 short-range scan and a Star Chart.</para>
369 <para>Short-range scans are free. That is, they use up no energy and no
370 time. If you are in battle, doing a short-range scan does not give
371 the enemies another chance to hit you. You can safely do a
372 short-range scan anytime you like.</para>
374 <para>If your short-range sensors are damaged, this command will only show
375 the contents of adjacent sectors.</para>
377 <sect1><title>Status Report</title>
381 Shortest abbreviation: ST
384 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
385 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
386 suppressed; instead, a full status report will always be present on the
389 <para>This command gives you information about the current state of your
390 starship as follows:</para>
394 <term>STARDATE</term>
396 <para>The current date. A stardate is the same as a day.</para>
400 <term>CONDITION</term>
402 <para>There are four possible conditions:</para>
406 <listitem><para>docked at starbase.</para></listitem>
410 <listitem><para>in battle.</para></listitem>
414 <listitem><para>low on energy (<1000 units)</para></listitem>
418 <listitem><para>none of the above</para></listitem>
424 <term>POSITION</term>
426 <para>Quadrant is given first, then sector</para>
430 <term>LIFE SUPPOR</term>
432 <para>If <quote>ACTIVE</quote> then life support systems are functioning
433 normally. If on <quote>RESERVES</quote> the number is how many stardates your
434 reserve food, air, etc. will last—you must get repairs made or get to
435 starbase before your reserves run out.</para>
439 <term>WARP FACTOR</term>
441 <para>What your warp factor is currently set to.</para>
447 <para>The amount of energy you have left. If it drops to zero, you die.</para>
451 <term>TORPEDOES</term>
453 <para>How many photon torpedoes you have left.</para>
459 <para>Whether your shields are up or down, how strong they are
460 (what percentage of a hit they can deflect), and shield energy.</para>
464 <term>KLINGONS LEFT</term>
466 <para>How many of the Klingons are still out there.</para>
470 <term>TIME LEFT</term>
472 <para>How long the Federation can hold out against the
473 present number of Klingons; that is, how long until the end
474 if you do nothing in the meantime. If you kill Klingons
475 quickly, this number will go up—if not, it will go down. If
476 it reaches zero, the federation is conquered and you lose.</para>
481 <para>Status information is free—it uses no time or energy, and
482 if you are in battle, the Klingons are not given another chance to hit
485 <para>Status information can also be obtained by doing a short-range scan.
486 See the SRSCAN command for details.</para>
488 <para>Each item of information can be obtained singly by requesting it.
489 See REQUEST command for details.</para>
492 <sect1><title>Long-Range Scan</title>
496 Shortest abbreviation: L
499 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
500 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
501 suppressed; instead, a long-range scan will always be present on the
504 <para>A long-range scan gives you general information about where you are
505 and what is around you. Here is an example output.</para>
508 Long-range scan for Quadrant 5 - 1
514 <para>This scan says that you are in row 5, column 1 of the 8 by 8 galaxy.
515 The numbers in the scan indicate how many of each kind of thing there
516 is in your quadrant and all adjacent quadrants. The digits are
517 interpreted as follows.</para>
523 <entry>Thousands digit:</entry>
524 <entry>1000 indicates a supernova (only)</entry>
527 <entry>Hundreds digit:</entry>
528 <entry>number of Klingons present</entry>
531 <entry>Tens digit:</entry>
532 <entry>number of starbases present</entry>
535 <entry>Ones digit:</entry>
536 <entry>number of stars present</entry>
542 <para>For example, in your quadrant (5 - 1) the number is 316, which
543 indicates 3 Klingons, 1 starbase, and 6 stars. The long-range
544 scanner does not distinguish between ordinary Klingons and Klingon
545 command ships. If there is a supernova, as in the quadrant below and
546 to your right (quadrant 6 - 2), there is nothing else in the
549 <para>Romulans possess a <quote>cloaking device</quote> which prevents
550 their detection by long-range scan. Because of this fact, Starfleet
551 Command is never sure how many Romulans are <quote>out there</quote>.
552 When you kill the last Klingon, the remaining Romulans surrender to
553 the Federation.</para>
555 <para>Planets are also undetectable by long-range scan. The only way to
556 detect a planet is to find it in your current quadrant with the
557 short-range sensors.</para>
559 <para>Since you are in column 1, there are no quadrants to your left. The
560 minus ones indicate the negative energy barrier at the edge of the
561 galaxy, which you are not permitted to cross.</para>
563 <para>Long-range scans are free. They use up no energy or time, and can be
564 done safely regardless of battle conditions.</para>
566 <sect1><title>Star Chart</title>
570 Shortest abbreviation: C
573 <para>As you proceed in the game, you learn more and more about what things
574 are where in the galaxy. When ever you first do a scan in a quadrant,
575 telemetry sensors are ejected which will report any changes in the
576 quadrant(s) back to your ship, providing the sub-space radio is
577 working. Spock will enter this information in the chart. If the radio
578 is not working, Spock can only enter new information discovered from
579 scans, and information in other quadrants may be obsolete.</para>
581 <para>The chart looks like an 8 by 8 array of numbers. These numbers are
582 interpreted exactly as they are on a long-range scan. A period (.) in
583 place of a digit means you do not know that information yet. For
584 example, ... means you know nothing about the quadrant, while .1.
585 menas you know it contains a base, but an unknown number of Klingons
588 <para>Looking at the star chart is a free operation. It costs neither time
589 nor energy, and can be done safely whether in or out of battle.</para>
592 <sect1><title>Damage Report</title>
596 Shortest abbreviation: DA
599 <para>At any time you may ask for a damage report to find out what devices
600 are damaged and how long it will take to repair them. Naturally,
601 repairs proceed faster at a starbase.</para>
603 <para>If you suffer damages while moving, it is possible that a subsequent
604 damage report will not show any damage. This happens if the time
605 spent on the move exceeds the repair time, since in this case the
606 damaged devices were fixed en route.</para>
608 <para>Damage reports are free. They use no energy or time, and can be done
609 safely even in the midst of battle.</para>
612 <sect1><title>Move Under Warp Drive</title>
616 Shortest abbreviation: M
617 Full command: MOVE MANUAL <displacement>
618 MOVE AUTOMATIC <destination>
621 <para>This command is the usual way to move from one place to another
622 within the galaxy. You move under warp drive, according to the
623 current warp factor (see <quote>WARP FACTOR</quote>).</para>
625 <para>There are two command modes for movement: MANUAL and AUTOMATIC.
626 The manual mode requires the following format:</para>
629 MOVE MANUAL <deltax> <deltay>
632 <para><deltax> and <deltay> are the horizontal and vertical
633 displacements for your starship, in quadrants; a displacement of one
634 sector is 0.1 quadrants. Specifying <deltax> and <deltay>
635 causes your ship to move in a straight line to the specified
636 destination. If <deltay> is omitted, it is assumed zero. For
637 example, the shortest possible command to move one sector to the right
644 <para>The following examples of manual movement refer to the short-range
645 scan shown earlier.</para>
648 Destination Sector Manual Movement command
653 (leaving quadrant) M M 0 .2
656 <para>The automatic mode is as follows:</para>
659 MOVE AUTOMATIC <qrow> <qcol> <srow> <scol>
662 <para><para>where <qrow> and <qcol> are the row and column
663 numbers of the destination quadrant, and <srow> and <scol>
664 are the row and column numbers of the destination sector in that
665 quadrant. This command also moves your ship in a straight line path
666 to the destination. For moving within a quadrant, <qrow> and
667 <qcol> may be omitted. For example, to move to sector 2 - 9 in
668 the current quadrant, the shortest command would be</para>
674 <para>To move to quadrant 3 - 7, sector 5 - 8, type</para>
680 <para>and it will be done. In automatic mode, either two or four numbers
681 must be supplied.</para>
683 <para>Automatic mode utilizes the ship's <quote>battle computer.</quote> If the
684 computer is damaged, manual movement must be used.</para>
686 <para>If warp engines are damaged less than 10 stardates (undocked) you can
687 still go warp 4.</para>
689 <para>It uses time and energy to move. How much time and how much energy
690 depends on your current warp factor, the distance you move, and
691 whether your shields are up. The higher the warp factor, the faster
692 you move, but higher warp factors require more energy. You may move
693 with your shields up, but this doubles the energy required.</para>
695 <para>You can move within a quadrant without being attacked if you just
696 entered the quadrant or have been attacked since your last move
697 command. This enables you to move and hit them before they
701 <sect1><title>Warp Factor</title>
705 Shortest abbreviation: W
706 Full command: WARP <number>
709 <para>Your warp factor controls the speed of your starship. The larger the
710 warp factor, the faster you go and the more energy you use.</para>
712 <para>Your minimum warp factor is 1.0 and your maximum warp factor is 10.0
713 (which is 100 times as fast and uses 1000 times as much energy). At
714 speeds above warp 6 there is some danger of causing damage to your
715 warp engines; this damage is larger at higher warp factors and also
716 depends on how far you go at that warp factor.</para>
718 <para>At exactly warp 10 there is some probability of entering a
719 so-called <quote>time warp</quote> and being thrown foward or backward
720 in time. The farther you go at warp 10, the greater is the
721 probability of entering the time warp.</para>
724 <sect1><title>Impulse Engines</title>
728 Shortest abbreviation: I
729 Full command: IMPULSE MANUAL <displacement>
730 IMPULSE AUTOMATIC <destination>
733 <para>The impulse engines give you a way to move when your warp engines are
734 damaged. They move you at a speed of 0.95 sectors per stardate,
735 which is the equivalent of a warp factor of about 0.975, so they are
736 much too slow to use except in emergencies.</para>
738 <para>Movement commands are indicated just as in the <quote>MOVE</quote> command.</para>
740 <para>The impulse engines require 20 units of energy to engage, plus 10
741 units per sector (100 units per quadrant) traveled. It does not cost
742 extra to move with the shields up.</para>
745 <sect1><title>Deflector Shields</title>
749 Shortest abbreviation: SH
750 Full commands: SHIELDS UP
752 SHIELDS TRANSFER <amount of energy to transfer>
755 <para>Your deflector shields are a defensive device to protect you from
756 Klingon attacks (and nearby novas). As the shields protect you, they
757 gradually weaken. A shield strength of 75%, for example, means that
758 the next time a Klingon hits you, your shields will deflect 75% of
759 the hit, and let 25% get through to hurt you.</para>
761 <para>It costs 50 units of energy to raise shields, nothing to lower them.
762 You may move with your shields up; this costs nothing under impulse
763 power, but doubles the energy required for warp drive.</para>
765 <para>Each time you raise or lower your shields, the Klingons have another
766 chance to attack. Since shields do not raise and lower
767 instantaneously, the hits you receive will be intermediate between
768 what they would be if the shields were completely up or completely
771 <para>You may not fire phasers through your shields. However you may
772 use the <quote>high-speed shield control</quote> to lower shields,
773 fire phasers, and raise the shields again before the Klingons can
774 react. Since rapid lowering and raising of the shields requires more
775 energy than normal speed operation, it costs you 200 units of energy
776 to activate this control. It is automatically activated when you fire
777 phasers while shields are up. You may fire photon torpedoes, but they
778 may be deflected considerably from their intended course as they pass
779 through the shields (depending on shield strength).</para>
781 <para>You may transfer energy beteen the ship's energy (given as
782 <quote>Energy</quote> in the status) and the shields. The word
783 <quote>TRANSFER</quote> may be abbreviated <quote>T</quote>. The
784 ammount of energy to transfer is the number of units of energy you
785 wish to take from the ship's energy and put into the shields. If you
786 specify an negative number, energy is drained from the shields to the
787 ship. Transfering energy constitutes a turn. If you transfer energy
788 to the shields while you are under attack, they will be at the new
789 energy level when you are next hit.</para>
791 <para>Enemy torpedoes hitting your ship explode on your shields (if they
792 are up) and have essentially the same effect as phaser hits.</para>
795 <sect1><title>Phasers</title>
799 Shortest abbreviation: P
800 Full commands: PHASERS AUTOMATIC <AMOUNT TO FIRE> <NO>
801 PHASERS <AMOUNT TO FIRE> <NO>
802 PHASERS MANUAL <NO> <AMOUNT 1> <AMOUNT 2>...<AMOUNT N>
805 <para>Phasers are energy weapons. As you fire phasers at Klingons, you
806 specify an <quote>amount to fire</quote> which is drawn from your
807 energy reserves. The amount of total hit required to kill an enemy is
808 partly random. but also depends on skill level.</para>
810 <para>The average hit required to kill an ordinary Klingon varies from 200
811 units in the Novice game to 250 units in the Emeritus game.
812 Commanders normally require from 600 (Novice) to 700 (Emeritus). The
813 Super-commander requres from 875 (Good) to 1000 (Emeritus). Romulans
814 require an average of 350 (Novice) to 450 (Emeritus).</para>
816 <para>Hits on enemies are cumulative, as long as you don't leave the
819 <para>In general, not all that you fire will reach the Klingons. The
820 farther away they are, the less phaser energy will reach them. If a
821 Klingon is adjacent to you, he will receive about 90% of the phaser
822 energy directed at him; a Klingon 5 sectors away will receive about
823 60% and a Klingon 10 sectors away will receive about 35%. There is
824 some randomness involved, so these figures are not exact. Phasers
825 have no effect beyond the boundaries of the quadrant you are in.</para>
827 <para>Phasers may overheat (and be damaged) if you fire too large a burst
828 at once. Firing up to 1500 units is safe. From 1500 on up the
829 probability of overheat increases with the amount fired.</para>
831 <para>If phaser firing is automatic, the computer decides how to
832 divide up your <amount to fire> among the Klingons present. If
833 phaser firing is manual, you specify how much energy to fire at each
834 Klingon present (nearest first), rather than just specifying a total
835 amount. You can abreviate <quote>MANUAL</quote> and
836 <quote>AUTOMATIC</quote> to one or more letters; if you mention
837 neither, automatic fire is usually assumed.</para>
839 <para>Battle computer information is available by firing phasers manually,
840 and allowing the computer to prompt you. If you enter zero for the
841 amount to fire at each enemy, you will get a complete report, without
842 cost. The battle computer will tell you how much phaser energy to
843 fire at each enemy for a sure kill. This information appears in
844 parentheses prior to the prompt for each enemy. Since the amount is
845 computed from sensor data, if either the computer or the S.R. sensors
846 are damaged, this information will be unavailable, and phasers must
847 be fired manually.</para>
849 <para>A safety interlock prevents phasers from being fired through
850 the shields. If this were not so, the shields would contain your fire
851 and you would fry yourself. However, you may utilize the
852 <quote>high-speed shield control</quote> to drop shields, fire
853 phasers, and raise shields before the enemy can react. Since it takes
854 more energy to work the shields rapidly with a shot, it costs you 200
855 units of energy each time you activate this control. It is
856 automatically activated when you fire phasers while the shields are
857 up. By specifying the <no> option, shields are not raised after
860 <para>Phasers have no effect on starbases (which are shielded) or on
864 <sect1><title>Report</title>
868 Shortest abbreviation: REP
871 <para>This command supplies you with information about the state of the
872 current game. Its purpose is to remind you of things that you have
873 learned during play, but may have forgotten, and cannot otherwise
874 retrieve if you are not playing at a hard-copy terminal.</para>
876 <para>You are told the following things:</para>
879 <listitem><para>The length and skill level of the game you are playing</para></listitem>
880 <listitem><para>The original number of Klingons</para></listitem>
881 <listitem><para>How many Klingons you have destroyed</para></listitem>
882 <listitem><para>Whether the Super-Commander has been destroyed</para></listitem>
883 <listitem><para>How many bases have been destroyed</para></listitem>
884 <listitem><para>How many bases are left</para></listitem>
885 <listitem><para>What bases (if any) are under attack; your subspace radio
886 must have been working since the attack to get this
887 information.</para></listitem>
888 <listitem><para>How many casualties you have suffered</para></listitem>
889 <listitem><para>How many times you have called for help.</para></listitem>
892 <para>This same information is automatically given to you when you start to
893 play a frozen game.</para>
896 <sect1><title>Computer</title>
900 Shortest abbreviation: CO
903 <para>This command allows using the ship's computer (if functional) to
904 calculate travel times and energy usage.</para>
907 <sect1><title>Photon Torpedoes</title>
911 Shortest abbreviation: PHO
912 Full commands: PHOTONS <NUMBER> <TARG1> <TARG2> <TARG3>
915 <para>Photon torpedoes are projectile weapons—you either hit what you aim
916 at, or you don't. There are no <quote>partial hits</quote>.</para>
918 <para>One photon torpedo will usually kill one ordinary Klingon, but it
919 usually takes about two for a Klingon Commander. Photon torpedoes
920 can also blow up stars and starbases, if you aren't careful.</para>
922 <para>You may fire photon torpedoes singly, or in bursts of two or three.
923 Each torpedo is individually targetable. The computer will prompt
924 you, asking for the target sector for each torpedo. Alternately, you
925 may specify each target in the command line.</para>
927 <para>Photon torpedoes cannot be aimed precisely—there is always some
928 randomness involved in the direction they go. Photon torpedoes may
929 be fired with your shields up, but as they pass through the shields
930 they are randomly deflected from their intended course even more.</para>
932 <para>Photon torpedoes are proximity-fused. The closer they explode to the
933 enemy, the more damage they do. There is a hit <quote>window</quote> about one
934 sector wide. If the torpedo misses the hit window, it does not
935 explode and the enemy is unaffected. Photon torpedoes are only
936 effective within the quadrant. They have no effect on things in
937 adjacent quadrants.</para>
939 <para>If more than one torpedo is fired and only one target sector is
940 specified, all torpedoes are fired at that sector. For example, to
941 fire two torpedoes at sector 3 - 4, you type</para>
944 PHO 2 3 4 (or) PHO 2 3 4 3 4
947 <para>To fire torpedoes at, consecutively, sectors 2 - 6, 1 - 10, and 4 -
954 <para>There is no restriction to fire directly at a sector. For example,
961 <para>to aim between two sectors. However, sector numbers must be 1 to 10
965 <sect1><title>Dock at Starbase</title>
969 Shortest abbreviation: D
972 <para>You may dock your starship whenever you are in one of the eight
973 sector positions immediately adjacent to a starbase. When you dock,
974 your starship is resupplied with energy, shield energy photon
975 torpedoes, and life support reserves. Repairs also proceed faster at
976 starbase, so if some of your devices are damaged, you may wish to stay
977 at base (by using the <quote>REST</quote> command) until they are
978 fixed. If your ship has more than its normal maximum energy (which
979 can happen if you've loaded crystals) the ship's energy is not
982 <para>You may not dock while in standard orbit around a planet.</para>
984 <para>Starbases have their own deflector shields, so you are completely
985 safe from phaser attack while docked. You are also safe from
986 long-range tractor beams.</para>
988 <para>Starbases also have both short and long range sensors, which you can
989 use if yours are broken. There's also a subspace radio to get
990 information about happenings in the galaxy. Mr. Spock will update the
991 star chart if your ask for it while docked and your own radio is dead.</para>
994 <sect1><title>Rest</title>
998 Shortest abbreviation: R
999 Full command: REST <NUMBER OF STARDATES>
1002 <para>This command simply allows the specified number of stardates to go
1003 by. This is useful if you have suffered damages and wish to wait
1004 until repairs are made before you go back into battle.</para>
1006 <para>It is not generally advisable to rest while you are under attack by
1010 <sect1><title>Call Starbase for Help</title>
1017 <para>[Originally, this command was called <quote>HELP</quote>, but
1018 these days that might be misconstrued as an attempt to browae built-in
1019 documentation! In some later versions it was CALL.]</para>
1021 <para>When you get into serious trouble, you may call a starbase for
1022 help. Starbases have a device called a <quote>long-range transporter
1023 beam</quote> which they can use to teleport you to base. This works
1024 by dematerializing your starship at its current position and
1025 re-materializing it adjacent to the nearest starbase. Teleportation
1026 is instantaneous, and starbase supplies the required energy—all
1027 you have to do is let them know (via subspace radio) that you need to
1030 <para>This command should be employed only when absolutely necessary. In
1031 the first place, calling for help is an admission on your part that
1032 you got yourself into something you cannot get yourself out of, and
1033 you are heavily penalized for this in the final scoring. Secondly,
1034 the long-range transporter beam is not reliable—starbase can always
1035 manage to dematerialize your starship, but (depending on distance)
1036 may or may not be able to re-materialize you again. The long-range
1037 transporter beam has no absolute maximum range; if you are in the
1038 same quadrant as a starbase, you have a good chance (about 90%) of
1039 re-materializing successfully. your chances drop to roughly 50-50 at
1040 just over 3 quadrants.</para>
1043 <sect1><title>Abandon Ship</title>
1050 <para>You may abandon the Enterprise if necessary. If there is still a
1051 starbase in the galaxy, you will be sent there and put in charge of a
1052 weaker ship, the Faerie Queene.</para>
1054 <para>The Faerie Queene cannot be abandoned.</para>
1057 <sect1><title>Self-Destruct</title>
1064 <para>You may self-destruct, thus killing yourself and ending the game. If
1065 there are nearby Klingons, you may take a few of them with you (the
1066 more energy you have left, the bigger the bang).</para>
1068 <para>In order to self-destruct you must remember the password you typed in
1069 at the beginning of the game.</para>
1072 <sect1><title>Quit Game</title>
1079 <para>Immediately cancel the current game; no conclusion is reached. You
1080 will be given an opportunity to start a new game or to leave the Star
1081 Trek program.</para>
1084 <sect1><title>Sensor-Scan</title>
1088 Shortest abbreviation: SE
1091 <para>Utilizing the short-range sensors, science officer Spock gives you a
1092 readout on any planet in your quadrant. Planets come in three
1093 classes: M, N, and O. Only class M planets have earth-like
1094 conditions. Spock informs you if the planet has any dilithium
1095 crystals. Sensor scans are free.</para>
1098 <sect1><title>Enter Standard Orbit</title>
1102 Shortest abbreviation: O
1105 <para>To land on a planet you must first be in standard orbit. You achieve
1106 this in a manner similar to docking at starbase. Moving to one of
1107 the eight sector positions immediately adjacent to the planet, you
1108 give the orbit command which puts your ship into standard orbit about
1109 the planet. Since this is a maneuver, a small amount of time is
1110 used; negligible energy is required. If enemies are present, they
1114 <sect1><title>Transporter Travel</title>
1118 Shortest abbreviation: T
1121 <para>The transporter is a device which can convert any physical object
1122 into energy, beam the energy through space, and reconstruct the
1123 physical object at some destination. Transporting is one way to land
1124 on a planet. Since the transporter has a limited range, you must be
1125 in standard orbit to beam down to a planet. Shields must be down
1126 while transporting.</para>
1128 <para>The transport command is used to beam a landing party onto a planet
1129 to mine <quote>dilithium crystals</quote>. Each time the command is given the
1130 landing party (which you lead) moves from the ship to the planet, or
1133 <para>You are advised against needless transporting, since like all
1134 devices, the transporter will sometimes malfunction.</para>
1136 <para>The transporter consumes negligible time and energy. Its use does
1137 not constitute a <quote>turn</quote>.</para>
1140 <sect1><title>Shuttle Craft</title>
1144 Shortest abbreviation: SHU
1147 <para>An alternate way to travel to and from planets. Because of limited
1148 range, you must be in standard orbit to use the shuttle craft, named
1149 "Galileo". Shields must be down.</para>
1151 <para>Unlike transporting, use of the shuttle craft does constitute a
1152 <quote>turn</quote> since time is consumed. The time naturally
1153 depends on orbit altitude, and is equal to 3.0e-5 times altitude.
1154 Shuttling uses no ship energy.</para>
1156 <para>You should use the same travel device going from the planet to the
1157 ship as you use to go from the ship to the planet. However it is
1158 possible to transport to the planet and have the Galileo crew come
1159 and pick your landing party up, or to take the Galileo to the planet
1160 and then transport back, leaving the shuttle craft on the planet.</para>
1163 <sect1><title>Mine Dilithium Crystals</title>
1167 Shortest abbreviation: MI
1170 <para>Once you and your mining party are on the surface of a planet which
1171 has dilithium crystals, this command will dig them for you.</para>
1173 <para>Mining requires time and constitutes a <quote>turn</quote>. No
1174 energy is used. Class M planets require 0.1 to 0.3 stardates to mine.
1175 Class N planets take twice as long, and class O planets take three
1176 times as long.</para>
1178 <para>Dilithium crystals contain enormous energy in a form that is readily
1179 released in the ship's power system. It is an excellent idea to mine
1180 them whenever possible, for use in emergencies. You keep the
1181 crystals until the game is over or you abandon ship when not at a
1185 <sect1><title>Load Dilithium Crystals</title>
1189 Shortest abbreviation: CR
1192 <para>This is a very powerful command which should be used with caution.
1193 Once you have dilithium crystals aboard ship, this command will
1194 instruct engineering officer Scott and Mr. Spock to place a raw
1195 dilithium crystal into the power channel of the ship's
1196 matter-antimatter converter. When it works, this command will
1197 greatly boost the ship's energy.</para>
1199 <para>Because the crystals are raw and impure, instabilities can occur in
1200 the power channel. Usually Scotty can control these. When he
1201 cannot, the results are disastrous. Scotty will use those crystals
1202 that appear to be most stable first.</para>
1204 <para>Since using raw dilithium crystals for this purpose entails
1205 considerable risk, Starfleet Regulations allow its use only during
1206 "condition yellow". No time or energy is used.</para>
1209 <sect1><title>Planet Report</title>
1213 Shortest abbreviation: PL
1216 <para>Mr. Spock presents you a list of the available information on planets
1217 in the galaxy. Since planets do not show up on long-range scans, the
1218 only way to obtain this information is with the <quote>SENSORS</quote> command.</para>
1221 <sect1><title>Freeze</title>
1226 Full command: FREEZE <FILE NAME>
1229 <para>The purpose of the FREEZE command is to allow a player to save the
1230 current state of the game, so that it can be finished later. A
1231 plaque may not be generated from a frozen game. A file with the
1232 specified <file name> and type '.TRK' is created (if necessary) in
1233 the current directory, and all pertinent information about the game
1234 is written to that file. The game may be continued as usual or be
1235 terminated at the user's option.</para>
1237 <para>To restart a game created by the <quote>FREEZE</quote> command,
1238 the user need only type <quote>FROZEN</quote> in response to the
1239 initial question about the type of game desired, followed by the
1240 <file name>.</para>
1242 <para>NOTE: A <quote>tournament</quote> game is like a frozen game,
1243 with the following differences. (1) Tournament games always start
1244 from the beginning, while a frozen game can start at any point. (2)
1245 Tournament games require only that the player remember the name or
1246 number of the tournament, while the information about a frozen game
1247 must be kept on a file. Tournament games can be frozen, but then they
1248 behave like regular frozen games.</para>
1250 <para>A point worth noting is that 'FREEZE' does not save the seed for the
1251 random number generator, so that identical actions after restarting
1252 the same frozen game can lead to different results. However,
1253 identical actions after starting a given tournament game always lead
1254 to the same results.</para>
1257 <sect1><title>Request</title>
1261 Shortest abbreviation: REQ
1262 Full command: REQUEST <ITEM>
1265 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
1266 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
1267 suppressed; instead, a full status report will always be present on the
1270 <para>This command allows you to get any single piece of information
1271 from the <STATUS> command. <ITEM> specifies which
1272 information as follows:</para>
1278 <entry>Information</entry>
1279 <entry>Mnemonic for <item></entry>
1280 <entry>Shortest Abbreviation</entry>
1284 <row><entry>STARDATE</entry> <entry>DATE</entry> <entry>D</entry></row>
1285 <row><entry>CONDITION</entry> <entry>CONDITION</entry> <entry>C</entry></row>
1286 <row><entry>POSITION</entry> <entry>POSITION</entry> <entry>P</entry></row>
1287 <row><entry>LIFE SUPPORT</entry><entry>LSUPPORT</entry> <entry>L</entry></row>
1288 <row><entry>WARP FACTOR</entry> <entry>WARPFACTOR</entry><entry>W</entry></row>
1289 <row><entry>ENERGY</entry> <entry>ENERGY</entry> <entry>E</entry></row>
1290 <row><entry>TORPEDOES</entry> <entry>TORPEDOES</entry> <entry>T</entry></row>
1291 <row><entry>SHIELDS</entry> <entry>SHIELDS</entry> <entry>S</entry></row>
1292 <row><entry>KLINGONS LEFT</entry><entry>KLINGONS</entry> <entry>K</entry></row>
1293 <row><entry>TIME LEFT</entry> <entry>TIME</entry> <entry>TI</entry></row>
1294 <row><entry>BASES LEFT</entry> <entry>BASES</entry> <entry>BA</entry></row>
1300 <sect1><title>Experimental Death Ray</title>
1307 <para>This command should be used only in those desperate cases where
1308 you have absolutely no alternative. The death ray uses energy to
1309 rearrange matter. Unfortunately, its working principles are not yet
1310 thoroughly understood, and the results are highly
1311 unpredictable.</para>
1313 <para>The only good thing that can result is the destruction of all
1314 enemies in your current quadrant. This will happen about 70% of the
1315 time. Only enemies are destroyed; starbases, stars, and planets are
1318 <para>Constituting the remaining 30% are results varying from bad to
1321 <para>The death ray requires no energy or time, but if you survive, enemies
1322 will hit you.</para>
1324 <para>The Faerie Queene has no death ray.</para>
1326 <para>If the death ray is damaged in its use, it must be totally replaced.
1327 This can only be done at starbase. Because it is a very complex
1328 device, it takes 9.99 stardates at base to replace the death ray.
1329 The death ray cannot be repaired in flight.</para>
1332 <sect1><title>Launch Deep Space Probe</title>
1336 Shortest abbreviation: PR
1337 Full command: PROBE <ARMED> MANUAL <displacement>
1338 PROBE <ARMED> AUTOMATIC <destination>
1341 <para>The Enterprise carries a limited number of Long Range Probes. These
1342 fly to the end of the galaxy and report back a count of the number of
1343 important things found in each quadrant through which it went. The
1344 probe flies at warp 10, and therefore uses time during its flight.
1345 Results are reported immediately via subspace radio and are recorded
1346 in the star chart.</para>
1348 <para>The probe can also be armed with a NOVAMAX warhead. When launched
1349 with the warhead armed, the probe flies the same except as soon as it
1350 reaches the target location, it detonates the warhead in the heart of
1351 a star, causing a supernova and destroying everything in the
1352 quadrant. It then flies no further. There must be a star in the
1353 target quadrant for the NOVAMAX to function. </para>
1355 <para>The probe can fly around objects in a galaxy, but is destroyed if it
1356 enters a quadrant containing a supernova, or if it leaves the galaxy.</para>
1358 <para>The target location is specified in the same manner as the MOVE
1359 command, however for automatic movement, if only one pair of
1360 coordinates are specified they are assumed to be the quadrant and not
1361 the sector in the current quadrant!</para>
1363 <para>The Faerie Queene has no probes.</para>
1366 <sect1><title>Emergency Exit</title>
1370 Shortest abbreviation: E
1373 <para>This command provides a quick way to exit from the game when you
1374 observe a Klingon battle cruiser approaching your terminal. Its
1375 effect is to freeze the game on the file 'EMSAVE.TRK' in your current
1376 directory, erase the screen, and exit.</para>
1378 <para>Of course, you do lose the chance to get a plaque when you use this
1382 <sect1><title>Ask for Help</title>
1386 Full command: HELP <command>
1389 <para>This command reads the appropriate section from the SST.DOC file,
1390 providing the file is in the current directory.</para>
1394 <chapter><title>Miscellaneous Notes</title>
1396 <para>Starbases can be attacked by either commanders or by the
1397 <quote>Super-Commander</quote>. When this happens, you will be
1398 notified by subspace radio, provided it is working. The message will
1399 inform you how long the base under attack can last. Since the
1400 <quote>Super-Commander</quote> is more powerful than an ordinary
1401 commander, he can destroy a base more quickly.</para>
1403 <para>The <quote>Super-Commander</quote> travels around the galaxy at
1404 a speed of about warp 6 or 7. His movement is strictly time based;
1405 the more time passes, the further he can go.</para>
1407 <para>Scattered through the galaxy are certain zones of control,
1408 collectively designated the <quote>Romulan Neutral Zone</quote>. Any
1409 quadrant which contains Romulans without Klingons is part of the
1410 Neutral Zone, except if a base is present. Since Romulans do not show
1411 on either the long-range scan or the star chart, it is easy for you to
1412 stumble into this zone. When you do, if your subspace radio is
1413 working, you will receive a warning message from the Romulan, politely
1414 asking you to leave.</para>
1416 <para>In general, Romulans are a galactic nuisance.</para>
1418 <para>The high-speed shield control is fairly reliable, but it has been
1419 known to malfunction.</para>
1421 <para>You can observe the galactic movements of the
1422 <quote>Super-Commander</quote> on the star chart, provided he is in
1423 territory you have scanned and your subspace radio is working.</para>
1425 <para>Periodically, you will receive intelligence reports from
1426 starfleet command, indicating the current quadrant of the
1427 <quote>Super-Commander</quote>. Your subspace radio must be working,
1430 <para>Each quadrant will contain from 0 to 3 black holes. Torpedoes
1431 entering a black hole disappear. In fact, anything entering a black
1432 hole disappears, permanently. If you can displace an enemy into one,
1433 he is a goner. Black holes do not necessarily remain in a quadrant.
1434 they are transient phenomena.</para>
1436 <para>Commanders will ram your ship, killing themselves and inflicting
1437 heavy damage to you, if they should happen to decide to advance into
1440 <para>You can get a list of commands by typing
1441 <quote>COMMANDS</quote>.</para>
1444 <chapter><title>Scoring</title>
1446 <para>Scoring is fairly simple. You get points for good things, and you
1447 lose points for bad things.</para>
1449 <para>You gain—</para>
1452 <listitem><para>10 points for each ordinary Klingon you kill,</para></listitem>
1453 <listitem><para>50 points for each commander you kill,</para></listitem>
1454 <listitem><para>200 points for killing the <quote>Super-Commander</quote>,</para></listitem>
1455 <listitem><para>20 points for each Romulan killed,</para></listitem>
1456 <listitem><para>1 point for each Romulan captured.</para></listitem>
1458 <para>100 times your average Klingon/stardate kill rate. If you lose
1459 the game, your kill rate is based on a minimum of 5 stardates.</para>
1462 <para>You get a bonus if you win the game, based on your rating:</para>
1463 <para>Novice=100, Fair=200, Good=300, Expert=400, Emeritus=500.</para>
1467 <para>You lose—</para>
1470 <listitem><para>200 points if you get yourself killed,</para></listitem>
1471 <listitem><para>100 points for each starbase you destroy,</para></listitem>
1472 <listitem><para>100 points for each starship you lose,</para></listitem>
1473 <listitem><para>45 points for each time you had to call for help,</para></listitem>
1474 <listitem><para>10 points for each planet you destroyed,</para></listitem>
1475 <listitem><para>5 points for each star you destroyed, and</para></listitem>
1476 <listitem><para>1 point for each casualty you incurred.</para></listitem>
1479 <para>In addition to your score, you may also be promoted one grade in rank
1480 if you play well enough. Promotion is based primarily on your
1481 Klingon/stardate kill rate, since this is the best indicator of
1482 whether you are ready to go on to the next higher rating. However,
1483 if you have lost 100 or more points in penalties, the required kill
1484 rate goes up. Normally, the required kill rate is 0.1 * skill *
1485 (skill + 1.0) + 0.1, where skill ranges from 1 for Novice to 5 for
1488 <para>You can be promoted from any level. There is a special
1489 promotion available if you go beyond the <quote>Expert</quote> range.
1490 You can also have a certificate of merit printed with your name, date,
1491 and Klingon kill rate, provided you are promoted from either the
1492 <quote>Expert</quote> or <quote>Emeritus</quote> levels. This
1493 <quote>plaque</quote> requires a 132 column printer. You may need
1494 print the certificate to a file, import it into your word processor,
1495 selecting Courier 8pt font, and then print in <quote>landscape
1496 orientation</quote>.</para>
1498 <para>You should probably start out at the novice level, even if you are
1499 already familiar with one of the other versions of the Star Trek
1500 game—but, of course, the level of game you play is up to you. If
1501 you want to start at the Expert level, go ahead. It's your funeral.
1502 The emeritus game is strictly for masochists.</para>
1505 <chapter><title>Handy Reference Page</title>
1507 <literallayout format='linespecific' class='monospaced'>
1508 ABBREV FULL COMMAND DEVICE USED
1509 ------ ------------ -----------
1510 ABANDON ABANDON shuttle craft
1512 CO COMPUTER computer
1515 DEATHRAY DEATHRAY (none)
1516 DESTRUCT DESTRUCT computer
1519 FREEZE FREEZE <FILE NAME> (none)
1520 I IMPULSE <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> impulse engines
1521 IMPULSE AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> impulse engines and computer
1522 L LRSCAN long-range sensors
1523 MAYDAY MAYDAY (for help) subspace radio
1525 M MOVE <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> warp engines
1526 MOVE AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> warp engines and computer
1527 O ORBIT warp or impulse engines
1528 P PHASERS <TOTAL AMOUNT> phasers and computer
1529 PHASERS AUTOMATIC <TOTAL AMOUNT> phasers, computer, sr sensors
1530 PHASERS MANUAL <AMT1> <AMT2> ... phasers
1531 PHO PHOTONS <NUMBER> <TARGETS> torpedo tubes
1533 PR PROBE <ARMED> <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> probe launcher, radio
1534 PROBE <ARMED> AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> launcher, radio, computer
1537 R REST <NUMBER OF STARDATES> (none)
1539 S SRSCAN <NO or CHART> short-range sensors
1540 SE SENSORS short-range sensors
1541 SH SHIELDS <UP, DOWN, or TRANSFER> deflector shields
1542 SHU SHUTTLE shuttle craft
1544 T TRANSPORT transporter
1545 W WARP <FACTOR> (none)
1547 L. R. Scan: thousands digit: supernova
1548 hundreds digit: Klingons
1549 tens digit: starbases
1551 period (.): digit not known (star chart only)
1553 Courses are given in manual mode in X - Y displacements; in automatic
1554 mode as destination quadrant and/or sector. Manual mode is default.
1555 Distances are given in quadrants. A distance of one sector is 0.1 quadrant.
1556 Ordinary Klingons have about 400 units of energy, Commanders about
1557 1200. Romulans normally have about 800 units of energy, and the
1558 (GULP) "Super-Commander" has about 1800.
1559 Phaser fire diminishes to about 60 percent at 5 sectors. Up to 1500
1560 units may be fired in a single burst without danger of overheat.
1561 Warp 6 is the fastest safe speed. At higher speeds, engine damage
1562 may occur. At warp 10 you may enter a time warp.
1563 Shields cost 50 units of energy to raise, and double the power
1564 requirements of moving under warp drive. Engaging the high-speed
1565 shield control requires 200 units of energy.
1566 Warp drive requires (distance)*(warp factor cubed) units of energy
1567 to travel at a speed of (warp factor squared)/10 quadrants per stardate.
1568 Impulse engines require 20 units to warm up, plus 100 units per
1569 quadrant. Speed is just under one sector per stardate.
1573 <chapter><title>Game History and Modifications</title>
1575 <sect1><title>Origins</title>
1577 <para>The original Star Trek seems to have been written by Mike
1578 Mayfield at the beginning of the 1970s. His first version was in
1579 BASIC for a Sigma 7 in 1971; on 1972 he rewrote it in Hewlett
1580 Packard BASIC.</para>
1582 <para>While some people claim to have recollections of playing Trek
1583 games in the late 1960s, the earlier ones seem actually to have been
1585 <ulink url='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!'>
1586 SPACEWAR</ulink>, the earlier space-combat game on the
1587 PDP-1. Mayfield <ulink
1588 url='http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html'>wrote
1589 in 2000</ulink> that he invented the Trek-style galactic grid, and the
1590 evidence seems to back that up.</para>
1592 <para>Many different versions radiated from Mayfield's original; most
1593 are descended from a version misleadingly called SPACEWR that David
1594 Ahl published in <citetitle>101 BASIC Computer Games</citetitle>,
1595 1973. This was a port of Mayfield's version obtained from the HP
1596 Contributed Programs library.</para>
1598 <para>Our "Super Star Trek" came through a Taurus BASIC program by
1599 Grady Hicks dated 5 April 1973. This does not appear to have been
1600 derived from Ahl's SPACEWR, at least not directly. The header says
1601 "GENERAL IDEA STOLEN FROM PENN. U.", and the game has several features
1602 not present in SPACEWR: notably, the Death Ray, ramming, and the
1603 Klingon summons to surrender.</para>
1605 <para>Dave Matuszek, Paul Reynolds et. al. at UT Austin translated the
1606 Hicks port into FORTRAN and considerably enhanced it. The name "Super
1607 Star Trek" and many design features (including command abbreviations
1608 rather than command numbers) were probably picked up from a second
1609 BASIC version published by David Ahl in his 1978 sequel
1610 <citetitle>BASIC Computer Games</citetitle>.</para>
1612 <para>One signature trait of FORTRAN SST and its descendants is that
1613 the sectors are 10x10 (rather than the 8x8 in Mike Mayfield's 1972
1614 original and its BASIC descendants) Also, you set courses and firing
1615 directions with rectangular rather than polar coordinates. FORTRAN SST
1616 also preserves the original numbered quadrants rather than the
1617 astronomically-named quadrants introduced in David Ahl's 1978 BASIC
1618 version and descendants.</para>
1620 <para>Eric Allman's BSD Trek game is one of these, also descended from
1621 FORTRAN SST via translation to C. However, the mainline SST (now
1622 SST2K) has had a lot more stuff folded into it over the years —
1623 deep space probes, dilithium mining, the Tholian Web, and so
1627 <sect1><title>Tom Almy's story</title>
1629 <para>Back in (about) 1977 I got a copy of this Super Star Trek game for
1630 the CDC 6600 mainframe computer. Someone had converted it to PDP-11
1631 Fortran but couldn't get it to run because of its size. I modified
1632 the program to use overlays and managed to shoehorn it in on the 56k
1633 byte machine.</para>
1635 <para>I liked the game so much I put some time into fixing bugs, mainly
1636 what could be called continuity errors and loopholes in the game's
1637 logic. We even played a couple tournaments.</para>
1639 <para>In 1979, I lost access to that PDP-11. I did save the source code
1640 listing. In 1995, missing that old friend, I started converting the
1641 program into portable ANSI C. It's been slow, tedious work that took
1642 over a year to accomplish.</para>
1644 <para>In early 1997, I got the bright idea to look for references to
1645 <quote>Super Star Trek</quote> on the World Wide Web. There weren't
1646 many hits, but there was one that came up with 1979 Fortran sources!
1647 This version had a few additional features that mine didn't have,
1648 however mine had some feature it didn't have. So I merged its features
1649 that I liked. I also took a peek at the DECUS version (a port, less
1650 sources, to the PDP-10), and some other variations.</para>
1652 <para>Modifications I made:</para>
1654 <para>Compared to original version, I've changed the
1655 <quote>help</quote> command to <quote>call</quote> and the
1656 <quote>terminate</quote> command to <quote>quit</quote> to better
1657 match user expectations. The DECUS version apparently made those
1658 changes as well as changing <quote>freeze</quote> to
1659 <quote>save</quote>. However I like <quote>freeze</quote>.</para>
1661 <para>I added EMEXIT from the 1979 version.</para>
1663 <para>That later version also mentions srscan and lrscan working when
1664 docked (using the starbase's scanners), so I made some changes here
1665 to do this (and indicating that fact to the player), and then
1666 realized the base would have a subspace radio as well — doing a
1667 Chart when docked updates the star chart, and all radio reports will
1668 be heard. The Dock command will also give a report if a base is under
1671 <para>It also had some added logic to spread the initial positioning of
1672 bases. That made sense to add because most people abort games with
1673 bad base placement.</para>
1675 <para>The experimental deathray originally had only a 5% chance of success,
1676 but could be used repeatedly. I guess after a couple years of use, it
1677 was less <quote>experimental</quote> because the 1979 version had a 70% success
1678 rate. However it was prone to breaking after use. I upgraded the
1679 deathray, but kept the original set of failure modes (great humor!).</para>
1681 <para>I put in the Tholian Web code from the 1979 version.</para>
1683 <para>I added code so that Romulans and regular Klingons could move in
1684 advanced games. I re-enabled the code which allows enemy ships to
1685 ram the Enterprise; it had never worked right. The 1979 version
1686 seems to have it all fixed up, but I'm still not overly happy with
1687 the algorithm.</para>
1689 <para>The DECUS version had a Deep Space Probe. Looked like a good idea
1690 so I implemented it based on its description.</para>
1693 <sect1><title>Stas Sergeev's story</title>
1695 <para>I started from an older Tom Almy version and added features I had
1696 seen in mainframe variants of the game, I wrote a screen-oriented
1697 interface for it based on the curses library.</para>
1701 <para>The Space Thingy can be shoved, if you ram it, and can fire back if
1705 <para>The Tholian can be hit with phasers.</para>
1708 <para>When you are docked, base covers you with an almost invincible shields
1709 (a commander can still ram you, or a Romulan can destroy the base,
1710 or a SCom can even succeed with direct attack IIRC, but this rarely
1714 <para>SCom can't escape from you if no more enemies remain (without this,
1715 chasing SCom can take an eternity).</para>
1718 <para>Probe target you enter is now the destination quadrant. Before I don't
1719 remember what it was, but it was something I had difficulty using)</para>
1722 <para>Secret password is now autogenerated.</para>
1725 <para>Victory plaque is adjusted for A4 paper rather than 132-column greenbar
1729 <para>Phasers now tells you how much energy needed, but only if the computer
1733 <para>Planets are auto-scanned when you enter the quadrant.</para>
1736 <para>Mining or using crystals in presense of enemy now yields an attack.
1737 There are other minor adjustments to what yields an attack
1738 and what does not.</para>
1741 <para>Ramming a black hole is no longer instant death. There is a
1742 chance you might get timewarped instead.</para>
1745 <para>"freeze" command reverts to "save", most people will understand this
1746 better anyway.</para>
1749 <para>Screen-oriented interface, with sensor scans always up.</para>
1753 <para>My changes got merged into SST2K in 2005, and I wortk on it now.</para>
1756 <sect1><title>Eric Raymond's story</title>
1758 <para>I played the FORTRAN version of this game in the mid-1970s on a
1759 DEC minicomputer. In the late 1980s Dave Matuszek and I became
1760 friends; I was vaguely aware that he had had something to do with the
1761 original Star Trek game. In October 2004, sitting in Dave's living
1762 room, we got to talking about the game and I realized it would make a
1763 great exhibit for the <ulink
1764 url='http://www.catb.org/retro/'>Retrocomputing Museum</ulink>.</para>
1766 <para>A few quick web searches later we found Tom Almy's page. We
1767 downloaded his code and Dave verified that that it was a direct
1768 descendent of UT Super Star Trek — even though it had been translated
1769 to C, he was able to recognize names and techniques from the FORTRAN
1770 version he co-wrote.</para>
1772 <para>This game is now an open-source project; see the <ulink
1773 url='http://developer.berlios.de/projects/sst/'>project
1774 site</ulink>.</para>
1776 <para>After I launched the Berlios project, Stas Sergeev contacted me.
1777 We worked together to merge in his changes.</para>
1779 <para>Modifications I've made:</para>
1783 I converted the flat-text SST.DOC file to XML-Docbook so it can be
1784 webbed. (That's what you're reading now.)
1787 The command-help code needed a rewrite because the flat-text form of
1788 the documentation is now generated from XML and doesn't have the
1789 easily recognizable section delimiters it used to. I wrote a script
1790 to filter that flat-text form into an sst.doc that's easy to parse for
1791 command descriptions, and changed some logic in sst.c to match.
1794 I've cleaned up a lot of grubby FORTRANisms in the code internals --
1795 used sizeof(), replaced magic numeric constants with #defines,
1799 I fixed a surprising number of typos in the code and documentation.
1802 All the game state now lives in one big structure that can be
1803 written to and read from disk as one blob. The write gives it an
1804 an identifiable magic number and the thaw logic checks for same.
1807 I made the internal pager work, and in the process got rid of a number
1808 of platform dependencies in the code.
1811 The HELP/CALL/SOS command is now MAYDAY.
1814 Status report now indicates if dilithium crystals are on board.
1817 At Dave's prompting, restored the Space Thingy's original elusive behavior.
1820 Clean separation of game engine from the UI code, improving Stas
1821 Sergeev's excellent work on the curses interface.
1825 <para>Here are some good pages on the history of Star Trek games:</para>
1829 <ulink url='http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/'>http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/</ulink>
1832 <ulink url='http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html'>http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html</ulink>
1835 <ulink url='http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html'>http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html</ulink>
1840 <sect1><title>Authors' Acknowledgments</title>
1842 <para>These are the original acknowledgments by Dave Matuszek and Paul
1845 <para>The authors would like to thank Professor Michael Duggan for his
1846 encouragement and administrative assistance with the development of
1847 the Star Trek game, without which it might never have been completed.</para>
1849 <para>Much credit is due to Patrick McGehearty and Rich Cohen, who assisted
1850 with the original design of the game and contributed greatly to its
1851 conceptual development.</para>
1853 <para>Thanks are also due to Carl Strange, Hardy Tichenor and Steven Bruell
1854 for their assistance with certain coding problems.</para>
1856 <para>This game was inspired by and rather loosely based on an earlier
1857 game, programmed in the BASIC language, by Jim Korp and Grady Hicks.
1858 It is the authors' understanding that the BASIC game was in turn
1859 derived from a still earlier version in use at Penn State University.</para>
1862 <sect1><title>References</title>
1865 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> (the original television
1866 series), produced and directed by Gene Rodenberry.</para></listitem>
1868 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> (the animated
1869 television series), produced by Gene Rodenberry and directed by Hal
1870 Sutherland. Also excellent, and not just kiddie fare. If you enjoyed
1871 the original series you should enjoy this one (unless you have some
1872 sort of a hangup about watching cartoons).</para></listitem>
1874 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Making of Star Trek</citetitle>, by
1875 Steven E. Whitfield and Gene Rodenberry. The best and most complete
1876 readily available book about Star Trek. (Ballantine
1877 Books)</para></listitem>
1879 <listitem><para><citetitle>The World of Star Trek</citetitle>, by
1880 David Gerrold. Similiar in scope to the above book.
1881 (Bantam)</para></listitem>
1883 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Star Trek Guide</citetitle>, third revision 4/17/67, by Gene
1884 Roddenberry. The original writer's guide for the television
1885 series, but less comprehensive than (3) above.
1886 (Norway Productions)</para></listitem>
1888 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Trouble With Tribbles</citetitle>, by
1889 David Gerrold. Includes the complete script of this popular show.
1890 (Ballantine Books)</para></listitem>
1892 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle>, <citetitle>Star Trek
1893 2</citetitle>, ..., <citetitle>Star Trek 9</citetitle>, by James
1894 Blish. The original shows in short story form.
1895 (Bantam)</para></listitem>
1897 <listitem><para><citetitle>Spock Must Die</citetitle>, by James Blish.
1898 An original novel, but rather similar to the show <citetitle>The Enemy
1899 Within</citetitle>. (Bantam)</para></listitem>
1901 <listitem><para>Model kits of the Enterprise and a <quote>Klingon
1902 Battle-Cruiser</quote> by AMT Corporation are available at most hobby
1903 shops.</para></listitem>
projects / super-star-trek.git / blob