1 <?xml version="1.0" encoding="ISO-8859-1"?>
3 "-//OASIS//DTD DocBook XML V4.1.2//EN"
4 "docbook/docbookxx.dtd"[
5 <!ENTITY sst-site "http://sst.berlios.de/">
6 <!ENTITY retro "http://catb.org/~esr/retro/">
10 <title>Super Star Trek</title>
14 <firstname>David</firstname>
15 <surname>Matuzsek</surname>
18 <firstname>Paul</firstname>
19 <surname>Reynolds</surname>
22 <firstname>Tom</firstname>
23 <surname>Almy</surname>
26 <firstname>Stas</firstname>
27 <surname>Sergeev</surname>
30 <firstname>Eric</firstname>
31 <othername>Steven</othername>
32 <surname>Raymond</surname>
37 <para>Permission is hereby granted for the copying, distribution,
38 modification and use of this program and associated documentation
39 for recreational purposes, provided that all references to the
40 authors are retained. However, permission is not and will not be
41 granted for the sale or promotional use of this program or program
42 documentation, or for use in any situation in which profit may be
43 considered an objective, since it is the desire of the authors to
44 respect the copyrights of the originators of Star Trek.</para>
50 <literallayout format='linespecific' class='monospaced'>
51 SSSSS U U PPPPP EEEEE RRRRR
53 SSSSS U U PPPPP EEEE RRRRR
55 SSSSS UUUUU P EEEEE R R
58 SSSSSSS TTTTTTTT A RRRRRRR
59 SSSSSSSS TTTTTTTT AAA RRRRRRRR
61 SSSSSSS TT AA AA RR RR
62 SSSSSSS TT AA AA RRRRRRRR
65 SSSSSSSS TT AA AA RR RR
66 SSSSSSS TT AA AA RR RR
70 TTTTTTTT RRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE KK KK
71 TTTTTTTT RRRRRRRR EEEEEEEEE KK KK
73 TT RR RR EEEEEE KKKKKK
74 TT RRRRRRRR EEEEEE KKKKK
77 TT RR RR EEEEEEEEE KK KK
78 TT RR RR EEEEEEEEE KK KK
81 Produced For Your Enjoyment
98 SST 2K polishing and historical research by
103 <chapter><title>Introduction</title>
104 <para>The Organian Peace Treaty has collapsed, and the Federation is at war
105 with the Klingon Empire. Joining the Klingons against the Federation
106 are the members of the <quote>Romulan Star Empire.</quote> As commander of the
107 Starship U.S.S. Enterprise, your job is to wipe out the Klingon
108 invasion fleet and make the galaxy safe for democracy.</para>
110 <para>Your battleground is the entire galaxy, which for convenience is
111 divided up into eight rows of eight quadrants each, like a
112 checkerboard. Rows are numbered from top to bottom, and columns are
113 numbered left to right, so quadrant 1 - 8 would be in the upper right
114 hand corner of the galaxy.</para>
116 <para>During battle you will be concerned only with those enemies that
117 occupy the same quadrant as yourself. Quadrants are divided up into
118 sectors: ten rows of ten sectors each. Sectors are numbered in the
119 same way as quadrants, so the sector in the upper right corner is
120 sector 1 - 10. You have a short-range scanner which allows you to
121 look at the entire quadrant in a single display.</para>
123 <para>Enemies recharge during your absence. If you leave a quadrant
124 containing a weakened enemy, when you return to that quadrant he will
125 be strong again. Also, each time you enter a quadrant, the positions
126 of everthing in the quadrant (except your ship) are randomized, to
127 save you the trouble of trying to remember where everything in the
128 quadrant is. Notice that this refers only to the positions of things
129 in the quadrant—the numbers of each kind of thing are not changed
130 (except for black holes and the Super-commander, which move around
131 the galaxy). If you kill something, it stays dead.</para>
133 <para>The Romulans are not as serious a threat to the Federation as the
134 Klingons. For one thing, there are not as many of them. For
135 another, the Romulans are not as treacherous. However, Romulans are
136 not to be trifled with, especially when you are in violation of the
137 Romulan Neutral Zone.</para>
139 <para>There are two kinds of Klingons: Ordinary Klingons, which are
140 bad enough, and Klingon Commanders, which are even worse. Commanders
141 are about three times stronger than ordinary Klingons. Commanders are
142 more resistant to your weapons. Commanders can move about during
143 battle while Ordinary Klingons stay put. And finally, Commanders have
144 a thing called a <quote>long-range tractor beam</quote> which they can
145 use, at random intervals, to yank you away from what you are doing
146 into their quadrant, to do battle with them. There is also a special
147 commander, called the <quote>Super-commander.</quote> This character
148 is so bad he is reserved for the Good, Expert, and Emeritus games.
149 Fortunately, there is just one Super-commander in a game. In addition
150 to the undesirable traits of Commanders, he can move from quadrant to
151 quadrant at will, seeking out and destroying your starbases and any
152 helpful planets he runs across. He also has a spy planted aboard your
153 ship, giving him valuable information about your condition. Using
154 this information, he can do dastardly things like tractor beam your
155 ship when you are in bad shape. And once you've been tractor beamed
156 by the Super-commander —</para>
158 <para>But the advantages are not all on the side of the enemy. Your ship
159 is more powerful, and has better weapons. Besides, in the this
160 galaxy there are from two to five starbases, at which you can stop to
161 refuel and lick your wounds, safe from phaser attack or tractor
162 beams. But you had best not dally there too long, since time is not
163 on your side. The Klingons are not just after you; they are
164 attacking the entire Federation. There is always a finite <quote>time
165 left,</quote> which is how much longer the Federation can hold out if you
166 just sit on your fat behind and do nothing. As you wipe out
167 Klingons, you reduce the rate at which the invasion fleet weakens the
168 Federation, and so the time left until the Federation collapses may
169 actually increase. Since Klingons are the main threat to the
170 Federation, the Romulans do not figure into the <quote>time left.</quote> In
171 fact, you need not kill all the Romulans to win. If you can get all
172 the Klingons, the Federation will abide forever, and you have won the
175 <para>Space is vast, and it takes precious time to move from one place to
176 another. In comparison, other things happen so quickly that we
177 assume they take no time at all. Two ways that time can pass are when
178 you move, or when you issue a command to sit still and rest for a
179 period of time. You will sometimes want to do the latter, since the
180 various devices aboard your starship may be damaged and require time
181 to repair. Of course, repairs can be made more quickly at a starbase
182 than than can in flight.</para>
184 <para>In addition to Klingons, Romulans, and starbases, the galaxy
185 contains (surprise) stars. Mostly, stars are a nuisance and just get
186 in your way. You can trigger a star into going nova by shooting one
187 of your photon torpedoes at it. When a star novas, it does a lot of
188 dammage to anything immediately adjacent to it. If another star is
189 adjacent to a nova, it too will go nova. Stars may also occasionally
190 go supernova; a supernova in a quadrant destroys everything in the
191 quadrant andmakes the quadrant permanently uninhabitable. You may
192 <quote>jump over</quote> a quadrant containing a supernova when you
193 move, but you should not stop there.</para>
195 <para>Supernovas may happen spontaneously, without provocation. If a
196 supernova occurs in the same quadrant you are in, your starship has an
197 <quote>emergency automatic override</quote> which picks some random
198 direction and some random warp factor, and tries to throw you clear of
199 the supernova. If the supernova occurs in some other quadrant, you
200 just get a warning message from starfleet about it (provided, of
201 course, that your subspace radio is working).</para>
203 <para>Also a few planets are scattered through the galaxy. These can
204 sometimes be a great help since some of them will have <quote>dilithium
205 crystals,</quote> which are capable of replenishing the ship's energy
206 supply. You can either beam down to the planet surface using the
207 transporter, or take the shuttle craft <quote>Galileo</quote>.</para>
209 <para>Finally, each quadrant will contain from zero to three black
210 holes. These can deflect or swallow torpedoes passing near them. They
211 also swallow enemy ships knocked into them. If your ship enters one
214 <para>Star Trek is a rich game, full of detail. These instructions are
215 written at a moderate level—no attempt has been made fully to
216 describe everything about the game, but there is quite a bit more
217 here than you need to get started. If you are new to the game, just
218 get a rough idea of the kinds of commands available, and start
219 playing. After a game or two you will have learned everthing
220 important, and the detailed command descriptions which follow will be
221 a lot more meaningful to you.</para>
223 <para>You have weapons: phasers and photon torpedoes. You have a defense:
224 deflector shields. You can look at things: long-range scaners,
225 short-range scanners, and a star chart. You can move about, under
226 warp drive or impulse power. You can also dock at a starbase, rest
227 while repairs are being made, abandon ship, self destruct, or give up
228 and start a new game.</para>
230 <para>The Klingons are waiting.</para>
233 <chapter><title>How To Issue Commands</title>
235 <para>When the game is waiting for you to enter a command it will
242 <para>You may then type in your command. All you have to remember for each
243 command is the mnemonic. For example, if you want to move straight up
244 one quadrant, you can type in the mnemonic (case insensitive)</para>
250 <para>and the computer will prompt you with</para>
256 <para>Say you type in <quote>manual</quote>. The computer then responds</para>
259 X and Y displacements-
262 <para>Now you type in <quote>0 1</quote> which specifies an X movement of zero and a Y
263 movement of one.</para>
265 <para>When you have learned the commands, you can avoid being prompted
266 simply by typing in the information without waiting to be asked for
267 it. For example, in the above example, you could simply type in</para>
273 <para>and it will be done. Or you could type in</para>
279 <para>and when the computer responds with the displacement prompt, you
286 <para>and it will understand.</para>
288 <para>You can abbreviate most mnemonics. For <quote>move</quote>, you can use any
295 <para>successfully. For your safety, certain critical commands (such as to
296 abandon ship) must be written out in full. Also, in a few cases two
297 or more commands begin with the same letter, and in this case that
298 letter refers to a particular one of the commands; to get the other,
299 your abbreviation must be two or more characters long. This sounds
300 complicated, but you will learn the abbreviations qGuickly enough.</para>
302 <para>What this all boils down to is:</para>
305 <listitem><para>You can abbreviate practically anything</para></listitem>
306 <listitem><para>If you forget, the computer will proompt you</para></listitem>
307 <listitem><para>If you remember, you can type it all on one line</para></listitem>
310 <para>If you are part way through entering a command and you change your
311 minde, you can cancel the command by typing -1 as one of the
312 parameters, with the exception of the manual move command.</para>
314 <para>If anything is not clear to you, experiment. The worst you can do is
315 lose a game or two.</para>
318 <chapter><title>List of Commands</title>
320 <sect1><title>Short-Range Scan</title>
324 Shortest abbreviation: S
325 Full commands: SRSCAN
330 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
331 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
332 suppressed; instead, a short-range scan will always be present on the
335 <para>The short-range scan gives you a considerable amount of information
336 about the quadrant your starship is in. A short-range scan is best
337 described by an example.</para>
341 1 * . . . . R . . . . Stardate 2516.3
342 2 . . . E . . . . . . Condition RED
343 3 . . . . . * . B . . Position 5 - 1, 2 - 4
344 4 . . . S . . . . . . Life Support DAMAGED, Reserves=2.30
345 5 . . . . . . . K . . Warp Factor 5.0
346 6 . K . . . . . * . Energy 2176.24
347 7 . . . . . P . . . . Torpedoes 3
348 8 . . . . * . . . . . Shields UP, 42% 1050.0 units
349 9 . * . . * . . . C . Klingons Left 12
350 10 . . . . . . . . . . Time Left 3.72
353 <para>The left part is a picture of the quadrant. The E at sector 2 -
354 4 represents the Enterprise; the B at sector 3 - 8 is a starbase.
355 There are ordinary Klingons (K) at sectors 5 - 8 and 6 - 2, and a
356 Klingon Commander (C) at 9 - 9. The (GULP)
357 <quote>Super-commander</quote> (S) is occupies sector 4 - 4, and a
358 Romulan (R) is at 1 - 6. A planet (P) is at sector 7 - 6. There are
359 also a large number of stars (*). The periods (.) are just empty
360 space—they are printed to help you get your bearings. Sector 6
361 - 4 contains a black hole ( ).</para>
363 <para>The information on the right is assorted status information. You
364 can get this alone with the STATUS command. The status information
365 will be absent if you type <quote>N</quote> after SRSCAN. Otherwise
366 status information will be presented.</para>
368 <para>If you type <quote>C</quote> after SRSCAN, you will be given a
369 short-range scan and a Star Chart.</para>
371 <para>Short-range scans are free. That is, they use up no energy and no
372 time. If you are in battle, doing a short-range scan does not give
373 the enemies another chance to hit you. You can safely do a
374 short-range scan anytime you like.</para>
376 <para>If your short-range sensors are damaged, this command will only show
377 the contents of adjacent sectors.</para>
379 <sect1><title>Status Report</title>
383 Shortest abbreviation: ST
386 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
387 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
388 suppressed; instead, a full status report will always be present on the
391 <para>This command gives you information about the current state of your
392 starship as follows:</para>
396 <term>STARDATE</term>
398 <para>The current date. A stardate is the same as a day.</para>
402 <term>CONDITION</term>
404 <para>There are four possible conditions:</para>
408 <listitem><para>docked at starbase.</para></listitem>
412 <listitem><para>in battle.</para></listitem>
416 <listitem><para>low on energy (<1000 units)</para></listitem>
420 <listitem><para>none of the above</para></listitem>
426 <term>POSITION</term>
428 <para>Quadrant is given first, then sector</para>
432 <term>LIFE SUPPOR</term>
434 <para>If <quote>ACTIVE</quote> then life support systems are functioning
435 normally. If on <quote>RESERVES</quote> the number is how many stardates your
436 reserve food, air, etc. will last—you must get repairs made or get to
437 starbase before your reserves run out.</para>
441 <term>WARP FACTOR</term>
443 <para>What your warp factor is currently set to.</para>
449 <para>The amount of energy you have left. If it drops to zero, you die.</para>
453 <term>TORPEDOES</term>
455 <para>How many photon torpedoes you have left.</para>
461 <para>Whether your shields are up or down, how strong they are
462 (what percentage of a hit they can deflect), and shield energy.</para>
466 <term>KLINGONS LEFT</term>
468 <para>How many of the Klingons are still out there.</para>
472 <term>TIME LEFT</term>
474 <para>How long the Federation can hold out against the
475 present number of Klingons; that is, how long until the end
476 if you do nothing in the meantime. If you kill Klingons
477 quickly, this number will go up—if not, it will go down. If
478 it reaches zero, the federation is conquered and you lose.</para>
483 <para>Status information is free—it uses no time or energy, and
484 if you are in battle, the Klingons are not given another chance to hit
487 <para>Status information can also be obtained by doing a short-range scan.
488 See the SRSCAN command for details.</para>
490 <para>Each item of information can be obtained singly by requesting it.
491 See REQUEST command for details.</para>
494 <sect1><title>Long-Range Scan</title>
498 Shortest abbreviation: L
501 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
502 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
503 suppressed; instead, a long-range scan will always be present on the
506 <para>A long-range scan gives you general information about where you are
507 and what is around you. Here is an example output.</para>
510 Long-range scan for Quadrant 5 - 1
516 <para>This scan says that you are in row 5, column 1 of the 8 by 8 galaxy.
517 The numbers in the scan indicate how many of each kind of thing there
518 is in your quadrant and all adjacent quadrants. The digits are
519 interpreted as follows.</para>
525 <entry>Thousands digit:</entry>
526 <entry>1000 indicates a supernova (only)</entry>
529 <entry>Hundreds digit:</entry>
530 <entry>number of Klingons present</entry>
533 <entry>Tens digit:</entry>
534 <entry>number of starbases present</entry>
537 <entry>Ones digit:</entry>
538 <entry>number of stars present</entry>
544 <para>For example, in your quadrant (5 - 1) the number is 316, which
545 indicates 3 Klingons, 1 starbase, and 6 stars. The long-range
546 scanner does not distinguish between ordinary Klingons and Klingon
547 command ships. If there is a supernova, as in the quadrant below and
548 to your right (quadrant 6 - 2), there is nothing else in the
551 <para>Romulans possess a <quote>cloaking device</quote> which prevents
552 their detection by long-range scan. Because of this fact, Starfleet
553 Command is never sure how many Romulans are <quote>out there</quote>.
554 When you kill the last Klingon, the remaining Romulans surrender to
555 the Federation.</para>
557 <para>Planets are also undetectable by long-range scan. The only way to
558 detect a planet is to find it in your current quadrant with the
559 short-range sensors.</para>
561 <para>Since you are in column 1, there are no quadrants to your left. The
562 minus ones indicate the negative energy barrier at the edge of the
563 galaxy, which you are not permitted to cross.</para>
565 <para>Long-range scans are free. They use up no energy or time, and can be
566 done safely regardless of battle conditions.</para>
568 <sect1><title>Star Chart</title>
572 Shortest abbreviation: C
575 <para>As you proceed in the game, you learn more and more about what things
576 are where in the galaxy. When ever you first do a scan in a quadrant,
577 telemetry sensors are ejected which will report any changes in the
578 quadrant(s) back to your ship, providing the sub-space radio is
579 working. Spock will enter this information in the chart. If the radio
580 is not working, Spock can only enter new information discovered from
581 scans, and information in other quadrants may be obsolete.</para>
583 <para>The chart looks like an 8 by 8 array of numbers. These numbers are
584 interpreted exactly as they are on a long-range scan. A period (.) in
585 place of a digit means you do not know that information yet. For
586 example, ... means you know nothing about the quadrant, while .1.
587 menas you know it contains a base, but an unknown number of Klingons
590 <para>Looking at the star chart is a free operation. It costs neither time
591 nor energy, and can be done safely whether in or out of battle.</para>
594 <sect1><title>Damage Report</title>
598 Shortest abbreviation: DA
601 <para>At any time you may ask for a damage report to find out what devices
602 are damaged and how long it will take to repair them. Naturally,
603 repairs proceed faster at a starbase.</para>
605 <para>If you suffer damages while moving, it is possible that a subsequent
606 damage report will not show any damage. This happens if the time
607 spent on the move exceeds the repair time, since in this case the
608 damaged devices were fixed en route.</para>
610 <para>Damage reports are free. They use no energy or time, and can be done
611 safely even in the midst of battle.</para>
614 <sect1><title>Move Under Warp Drive</title>
618 Shortest abbreviation: M
619 Full command: MOVE MANUAL <displacement>
620 MOVE AUTOMATIC <destination>
623 <para>This command is the usual way to move from one place to another
624 within the galaxy. You move under warp drive, according to the
625 current warp factor (see <quote>WARP FACTOR</quote>).</para>
627 <para>There are two command modes for movement: MANUAL and AUTOMATIC.
628 The manual mode requires the following format:</para>
631 MOVE MANUAL <deltax> <deltay>
634 <para><deltax> and <deltay> are the horizontal and vertical
635 displacements for your starship, in quadrants; a displacement of one
636 sector is 0.1 quadrants. Specifying <deltax> and <deltay>
637 causes your ship to move in a straight line to the specified
638 destination. If <deltay> is omitted, it is assumed zero. For
639 example, the shortest possible command to move one sector to the right
646 <para>The following examples of manual movement refer to the short-range
647 scan shown earlier.</para>
650 Destination Sector Manual Movement command
655 (leaving quadrant) M M 0 .2
658 <para>The automatic mode is as follows:</para>
661 MOVE AUTOMATIC <qrow> <qcol> <srow> <scol>
664 <para><para>where <qrow> and <qcol> are the row and column
665 numbers of the destination quadrant, and <srow> and <scol>
666 are the row and column numbers of the destination sector in that
667 quadrant. This command also moves your ship in a straight line path
668 to the destination. For moving within a quadrant, <qrow> and
669 <qcol> may be omitted. For example, to move to sector 2 - 9 in
670 the current quadrant, the shortest command would be</para>
676 <para>To move to quadrant 3 - 7, sector 5 - 8, type</para>
682 <para>and it will be done. In automatic mode, either two or four numbers
683 must be supplied.</para>
685 <para>Automatic mode utilizes the ship's <quote>battle computer.</quote> If the
686 computer is damaged, manual movement must be used.</para>
688 <para>If warp engines are damaged less than 10 stardates (undocked) you can
689 still go warp 4.</para>
691 <para>It uses time and energy to move. How much time and how much energy
692 depends on your current warp factor, the distance you move, and
693 whether your shields are up. The higher the warp factor, the faster
694 you move, but higher warp factors require more energy. You may move
695 with your shields up, but this doubles the energy required.</para>
697 <para>You can move within a quadrant without being attacked if you just
698 entered the quadrant or have been attacked since your last move
699 command. This enables you to move and hit them before they
703 <sect1><title>Warp Factor</title>
707 Shortest abbreviation: W
708 Full command: WARP <number>
711 <para>Your warp factor controls the speed of your starship. The larger the
712 warp factor, the faster you go and the more energy you use.</para>
714 <para>Your minimum warp factor is 1.0 and your maximum warp factor is 10.0
715 (which is 100 times as fast and uses 1000 times as much energy). At
716 speeds above warp 6 there is some danger of causing damage to your
717 warp engines; this damage is larger at higher warp factors and also
718 depends on how far you go at that warp factor.</para>
720 <para>At exactly warp 10 there is some probability of entering a
721 so-called <quote>time warp</quote> and being thrown foward or backward
722 in time. The farther you go at warp 10, the greater is the
723 probability of entering the time warp.</para>
726 <sect1><title>Impulse Engines</title>
730 Shortest abbreviation: I
731 Full command: IMPULSE MANUAL <displacement>
732 IMPULSE AUTOMATIC <destination>
735 <para>The impulse engines give you a way to move when your warp engines are
736 damaged. They move you at a speed of 0.95 sectors per stardate,
737 which is the equivalent of a warp factor of about 0.975, so they are
738 much too slow to use except in emergencies.</para>
740 <para>Movement commands are indicated just as in the <quote>MOVE</quote> command.</para>
742 <para>The impulse engines require 20 units of energy to engage, plus 10
743 units per sector (100 units per quadrant) traveled. It does not cost
744 extra to move with the shields up.</para>
747 <sect1><title>Deflector Shields</title>
751 Shortest abbreviation: SH
752 Full commands: SHIELDS UP
754 SHIELDS TRANSFER <amount of energy to transfer>
757 <para>Your deflector shields are a defensive device to protect you from
758 Klingon attacks (and nearby novas). As the shields protect you, they
759 gradually weaken. A shield strength of 75%, for example, means that
760 the next time a Klingon hits you, your shields will deflect 75% of
761 the hit, and let 25% get through to hurt you.</para>
763 <para>It costs 50 units of energy to raise shields, nothing to lower them.
764 You may move with your shields up; this costs nothing under impulse
765 power, but doubles the energy required for warp drive.</para>
767 <para>Each time you raise or lower your shields, the Klingons have another
768 chance to attack. Since shields do not raise and lower
769 instantaneously, the hits you receive will be intermediate between
770 what they would be if the shields were completely up or completely
773 <para>You may not fire phasers through your shields. However you may
774 use the <quote>high-speed shield control</quote> to lower shields,
775 fire phasers, and raise the shields again before the Klingons can
776 react. Since rapid lowering and raising of the shields requires more
777 energy than normal speed operation, it costs you 200 units of energy
778 to activate this control. It is automatically activated when you fire
779 phasers while shields are up. You may fire photon torpedoes, but they
780 may be deflected considerably from their intended course as they pass
781 through the shields (depending on shield strength).</para>
783 <para>You may transfer energy beteen the ship's energy (given as
784 <quote>Energy</quote> in the status) and the shields. The word
785 <quote>TRANSFER</quote> may be abbreviated <quote>T</quote>. The
786 ammount of energy to transfer is the number of units of energy you
787 wish to take from the ship's energy and put into the shields. If you
788 specify an negative number, energy is drained from the shields to the
789 ship. Transfering energy constitutes a turn. If you transfer energy
790 to the shields while you are under attack, they will be at the new
791 energy level when you are next hit.</para>
793 <para>Enemy torpedoes hitting your ship explode on your shields (if they
794 are up) and have essentially the same effect as phaser hits.</para>
797 <sect1><title>Phasers</title>
801 Shortest abbreviation: P
802 Full commands: PHASERS AUTOMATIC <AMOUNT TO FIRE> <NO>
803 PHASERS <AMOUNT TO FIRE> <NO>
804 PHASERS MANUAL <NO> <AMOUNT 1> <AMOUNT 2>...<AMOUNT N>
807 <para>Phasers are energy weapons. As you fire phasers at Klingons, you
808 specify an <quote>amount to fire</quote> which is drawn from your
809 energy reserves. The amount of total hit required to kill an enemy is
810 partly random. but also depends on skill level.</para>
812 <para>The average hit required to kill an ordinary Klingon varies from 200
813 units in the Novice game to 250 units in the Emeritus game.
814 Commanders normally require from 600 (Novice) to 700 (Emeritus). The
815 Super-commander requres from 875 (Good) to 1000 (Emeritus). Romulans
816 require an average of 350 (Novice) to 450 (Emeritus).</para>
818 <para>Hits on enemies are cumulative, as long as you don't leave the
821 <para>In general, not all that you fire will reach the Klingons. The
822 farther away they are, the less phaser energy will reach them. If a
823 Klingon is adjacent to you, he will receive about 90% of the phaser
824 energy directed at him; a Klingon 5 sectors away will receive about
825 60% and a Klingon 10 sectors away will receive about 35%. There is
826 some randomness involved, so these figures are not exact. Phasers
827 have no effect beyond the boundaries of the quadrant you are in.</para>
829 <para>Phasers may overheat (and be damaged) if you fire too large a burst
830 at once. Firing up to 1500 units is safe. From 1500 on up the
831 probability of overheat increases with the amount fired.</para>
833 <para>If phaser firing is automatic, the computer decides how to
834 divide up your <amount to fire> among the Klingons present. If
835 phaser firing is manual, you specify how much energy to fire at each
836 Klingon present (nearest first), rather than just specifying a total
837 amount. You can abreviate <quote>MANUAL</quote> and
838 <quote>AUTOMATIC</quote> to one or more letters; if you mention
839 neither, automatic fire is usually assumed.</para>
841 <para>Battle computer information is available by firing phasers manually,
842 and allowing the computer to prompt you. If you enter zero for the
843 amount to fire at each enemy, you will get a complete report, without
844 cost. The battle computer will tell you how much phaser energy to
845 fire at each enemy for a sure kill. This information appears in
846 parentheses prior to the prompt for each enemy. Since the amount is
847 computed from sensor data, if either the computer or the S.R. sensors
848 are damaged, this information will be unavailable, and phasers must
849 be fired manually.</para>
851 <para>A safety interlock prevents phasers from being fired through
852 the shields. If this were not so, the shields would contain your fire
853 and you would fry yourself. However, you may utilize the
854 <quote>high-speed shield control</quote> to drop shields, fire
855 phasers, and raise shields before the enemy can react. Since it takes
856 more energy to work the shields rapidly with a shot, it costs you 200
857 units of energy each time you activate this control. It is
858 automatically activated when you fire phasers while the shields are
859 up. By specifying the <no> option, shields are not raised after
862 <para>Phasers have no effect on starbases (which are shielded) or on
866 <sect1><title>Report</title>
870 Shortest abbreviation: REP
873 <para>This command supplies you with information about the state of the
874 current game. Its purpose is to remind you of things that you have
875 learned during play, but may have forgotten, and cannot otherwise
876 retrieve if you are not playing at a hard-copy terminal.</para>
878 <para>You are told the following things:</para>
881 <listitem><para>The length and skill level of the game you are playing</para></listitem>
882 <listitem><para>The original number of Klingons</para></listitem>
883 <listitem><para>How many Klingons you have destroyed</para></listitem>
884 <listitem><para>Whether the Super-Commander has been destroyed</para></listitem>
885 <listitem><para>How many bases have been destroyed</para></listitem>
886 <listitem><para>How many bases are left</para></listitem>
887 <listitem><para>What bases (if any) are under attack; your subspace radio
888 must have been working since the attack to get this
889 information.</para></listitem>
890 <listitem><para>How many casualties you have suffered</para></listitem>
891 <listitem><para>How many times you have called for help.</para></listitem>
894 <para>This same information is automatically given to you when you start to
895 play a frozen game.</para>
898 <sect1><title>Computer</title>
902 Shortest abbreviation: CO
905 <para>This command allows using the ship's computer (if functional) to
906 calculate travel times and energy usage.</para>
909 <sect1><title>Photon Torpedoes</title>
913 Shortest abbreviation: PHO
914 Full commands: PHOTONS <NUMBER> <TARG1> <TARG2> <TARG3>
917 <para>Photon torpedoes are projectile weapons—you either hit what you aim
918 at, or you don't. There are no <quote>partial hits</quote>.</para>
920 <para>One photon torpedo will usually kill one ordinary Klingon, but it
921 usually takes about two for a Klingon Commander. Photon torpedoes
922 can also blow up stars and starbases, if you aren't careful.</para>
924 <para>You may fire photon torpedoes singly, or in bursts of two or three.
925 Each torpedo is individually targetable. The computer will prompt
926 you, asking for the target sector for each torpedo. Alternately, you
927 may specify each target in the command line.</para>
929 <para>Photon torpedoes cannot be aimed precisely—there is always some
930 randomness involved in the direction they go. Photon torpedoes may
931 be fired with your shields up, but as they pass through the shields
932 they are randomly deflected from their intended course even more.</para>
934 <para>Photon torpedoes are proximity-fused. The closer they explode to the
935 enemy, the more damage they do. There is a hit <quote>window</quote> about one
936 sector wide. If the torpedo misses the hit window, it does not
937 explode and the enemy is unaffected. Photon torpedoes are only
938 effective within the quadrant. They have no effect on things in
939 adjacent quadrants.</para>
941 <para>If more than one torpedo is fired and only one target sector is
942 specified, all torpedoes are fired at that sector. For example, to
943 fire two torpedoes at sector 3 - 4, you type</para>
946 PHO 2 3 4 (or) PHO 2 3 4 3 4
949 <para>To fire torpedoes at, consecutively, sectors 2 - 6, 1 - 10, and 4 -
956 <para>There is no restriction to fire directly at a sector. For example,
963 <para>to aim between two sectors. However, sector numbers must be 1 to 10
967 <sect1><title>Dock at Starbase</title>
971 Shortest abbreviation: D
974 <para>You may dock your starship whenever you are in one of the eight
975 sector positions immediately adjacent to a starbase. When you dock,
976 your starship is resupplied with energy, shield energy photon
977 torpedoes, and life support reserves. Repairs also proceed faster at
978 starbase, so if some of your devices are damaged, you may wish to stay
979 at base (by using the <quote>REST</quote> command) until they are
980 fixed. If your ship has more than its normal maximum energy (which
981 can happen if you've loaded crystals) the ship's energy is not
984 <para>You may not dock while in standard orbit around a planet.</para>
986 <para>Starbases have their own deflector shields, so you are completely
987 safe from phaser attack while docked. You are also safe from
988 long-range tractor beams.</para>
990 <para>Starbases also have both short and long range sensors, which you can
991 use if yours are broken. There's also a subspace radio to get
992 information about happenings in the galaxy. Mr. Spock will update the
993 star chart if your ask for it while docked and your own radio is dead.</para>
996 <sect1><title>Rest</title>
1000 Shortest abbreviation: R
1001 Full command: REST <NUMBER OF STARDATES>
1004 <para>This command simply allows the specified number of stardates to go
1005 by. This is useful if you have suffered damages and wish to wait
1006 until repairs are made before you go back into battle.</para>
1008 <para>It is not generally advisable to rest while you are under attack by
1012 <sect1><title>Call Starbase for Help</title>
1019 <para>[Originally, this command was called <quote>HELP</quote>, but
1020 these days that might be misconstrued as an attempt to browae built-in
1021 documentation! In some later versions it was CALL.]</para>
1023 <para>When you get into serious trouble, you may call a starbase for
1024 help. Starbases have a device called a <quote>long-range transporter
1025 beam</quote> which they can use to teleport you to base. This works
1026 by dematerializing your starship at its current position and
1027 re-materializing it adjacent to the nearest starbase. Teleportation
1028 is instantaneous, and starbase supplies the required energy—all
1029 you have to do is let them know (via subspace radio) that you need to
1032 <para>This command should be employed only when absolutely necessary. In
1033 the first place, calling for help is an admission on your part that
1034 you got yourself into something you cannot get yourself out of, and
1035 you are heavily penalized for this in the final scoring. Secondly,
1036 the long-range transporter beam is not reliable—starbase can always
1037 manage to dematerialize your starship, but (depending on distance)
1038 may or may not be able to re-materialize you again. The long-range
1039 transporter beam has no absolute maximum range; if you are in the
1040 same quadrant as a starbase, you have a good chance (about 90%) of
1041 re-materializing successfully. your chances drop to roughly 50-50 at
1042 just over 3 quadrants.</para>
1045 <sect1><title>Abandon Ship</title>
1052 <para>You may abandon the Enterprise if necessary. If there is still a
1053 starbase in the galaxy, you will be sent there and put in charge of a
1054 weaker ship, the Faerie Queene.</para>
1056 <para>The Faerie Queene cannot be abandoned.</para>
1059 <sect1><title>Self-Destruct</title>
1066 <para>You may self-destruct, thus killing yourself and ending the game. If
1067 there are nearby Klingons, you may take a few of them with you (the
1068 more energy you have left, the bigger the bang).</para>
1070 <para>In order to self-destruct you must remember the password you typed in
1071 at the beginning of the game.</para>
1074 <sect1><title>Quit Game</title>
1081 <para>Immediately cancel the current game; no conclusion is reached. You
1082 will be given an opportunity to start a new game or to leave the Star
1083 Trek program.</para>
1086 <sect1><title>Sensor-Scan</title>
1090 Shortest abbreviation: SE
1093 <para>Utilizing the short-range sensors, science officer Spock gives you a
1094 readout on any planet in your quadrant. Planets come in three
1095 classes: M, N, and O. Only class M planets have earth-like
1096 conditions. Spock informs you if the planet has any dilithium
1097 crystals. Sensor scans are free.</para>
1100 <sect1><title>Enter Standard Orbit</title>
1104 Shortest abbreviation: O
1107 <para>To land on a planet you must first be in standard orbit. You achieve
1108 this in a manner similar to docking at starbase. Moving to one of
1109 the eight sector positions immediately adjacent to the planet, you
1110 give the orbit command which puts your ship into standard orbit about
1111 the planet. Since this is a maneuver, a small amount of time is
1112 used; negligible energy is required. If enemies are present, they
1116 <sect1><title>Transporter Travel</title>
1120 Shortest abbreviation: T
1123 <para>The transporter is a device which can convert any physical object
1124 into energy, beam the energy through space, and reconstruct the
1125 physical object at some destination. Transporting is one way to land
1126 on a planet. Since the transporter has a limited range, you must be
1127 in standard orbit to beam down to a planet. Shields must be down
1128 while transporting.</para>
1130 <para>The transport command is used to beam a landing party onto a planet
1131 to mine <quote>dilithium crystals</quote>. Each time the command is given the
1132 landing party (which you lead) moves from the ship to the planet, or
1135 <para>You are advised against needless transporting, since like all
1136 devices, the transporter will sometimes malfunction.</para>
1138 <para>The transporter consumes negligible time and energy. Its use does
1139 not constitute a <quote>turn</quote>.</para>
1142 <sect1><title>Shuttle Craft</title>
1146 Shortest abbreviation: SHU
1149 <para>An alternate way to travel to and from planets. Because of limited
1150 range, you must be in standard orbit to use the shuttle craft, named
1151 "Galileo". Shields must be down.</para>
1153 <para>Unlike transporting, use of the shuttle craft does constitute a
1154 <quote>turn</quote> since time is consumed. The time naturally
1155 depends on orbit altitude, and is equal to 3.0e-5 times altitude.
1156 Shuttling uses no ship energy.</para>
1158 <para>You should use the same travel device going from the planet to the
1159 ship as you use to go from the ship to the planet. However it is
1160 possible to transport to the planet and have the Galileo crew come
1161 and pick your landing party up, or to take the Galileo to the planet
1162 and then transport back, leaving the shuttle craft on the planet.</para>
1165 <sect1><title>Mine Dilithium Crystals</title>
1169 Shortest abbreviation: MI
1172 <para>Once you and your mining party are on the surface of a planet which
1173 has dilithium crystals, this command will dig them for you.</para>
1175 <para>Mining requires time and constitutes a <quote>turn</quote>. No
1176 energy is used. Class M planets require 0.1 to 0.3 stardates to mine.
1177 Class N planets take twice as long, and class O planets take three
1178 times as long.</para>
1180 <para>Dilithium crystals contain enormous energy in a form that is readily
1181 released in the ship's power system. It is an excellent idea to mine
1182 them whenever possible, for use in emergencies. You keep the
1183 crystals until the game is over or you abandon ship when not at a
1187 <sect1><title>Load Dilithium Crystals</title>
1191 Shortest abbreviation: CR
1194 <para>This is a very powerful command which should be used with caution.
1195 Once you have dilithium crystals aboard ship, this command will
1196 instruct engineering officer Scott and Mr. Spock to place a raw
1197 dilithium crystal into the power channel of the ship's
1198 matter-antimatter converter. When it works, this command will
1199 greatly boost the ship's energy.</para>
1201 <para>Because the crystals are raw and impure, instabilities can occur in
1202 the power channel. Usually Scotty can control these. When he
1203 cannot, the results are disastrous. Scotty will use those crystals
1204 that appear to be most stable first.</para>
1206 <para>Since using raw dilithium crystals for this purpose entails
1207 considerable risk, Starfleet Regulations allow its use only during
1208 "condition yellow". No time or energy is used.</para>
1211 <sect1><title>Planet Report</title>
1215 Shortest abbreviation: PL
1218 <para>Mr. Spock presents you a list of the available information on planets
1219 in the galaxy. Since planets do not show up on long-range scans, the
1220 only way to obtain this information is with the <quote>SENSORS</quote> command.</para>
1223 <sect1><title>Freeze</title>
1228 Full command: FREEZE <FILE NAME>
1231 <para>The purpose of the FREEZE command is to allow a player to save the
1232 current state of the game, so that it can be finished later. A
1233 plaque may not be generated from a frozen game. A file with the
1234 specified <file name> and type '.TRK' is created (if necessary) in
1235 the current directory, and all pertinent information about the game
1236 is written to that file. The game may be continued as usual or be
1237 terminated at the user's option.</para>
1239 <para>To restart a game created by the <quote>FREEZE</quote> command,
1240 the user need only type <quote>FROZEN</quote> in response to the
1241 initial question about the type of game desired, followed by the
1242 <file name>.</para>
1244 <para>NOTE: A <quote>tournament</quote> game is like a frozen game,
1245 with the following differences. (1) Tournament games always start
1246 from the beginning, while a frozen game can start at any point. (2)
1247 Tournament games require only that the player remember the name or
1248 number of the tournament, while the information about a frozen game
1249 must be kept on a file. Tournament games can be frozen, but then they
1250 behave like regular frozen games.</para>
1252 <para>A point worth noting is that 'FREEZE' does not save the seed for the
1253 random number generator, so that identical actions after restarting
1254 the same frozen game can lead to different results. However,
1255 identical actions after starting a given tournament game always lead
1256 to the same results.</para>
1259 <sect1><title>Request</title>
1263 Shortest abbreviation: REQ
1264 Full command: REQUEST <ITEM>
1267 <!-- This is new in SST 2K -->
1268 <para>If you are using the screen-oriented interface, this command is
1269 suppressed; instead, a full status report will always be present on the
1272 <para>This command allows you to get any single piece of information
1273 from the <STATUS> command. <ITEM> specifies which
1274 information as follows:</para>
1280 <entry>Information</entry>
1281 <entry>Mnemonic for <item></entry>
1282 <entry>Shortest Abbreviation</entry>
1286 <row><entry>STARDATE</entry> <entry>DATE</entry> <entry>D</entry></row>
1287 <row><entry>CONDITION</entry> <entry>CONDITION</entry> <entry>C</entry></row>
1288 <row><entry>POSITION</entry> <entry>POSITION</entry> <entry>P</entry></row>
1289 <row><entry>LIFE SUPPORT</entry><entry>LSUPPORT</entry> <entry>L</entry></row>
1290 <row><entry>WARP FACTOR</entry> <entry>WARPFACTOR</entry><entry>W</entry></row>
1291 <row><entry>ENERGY</entry> <entry>ENERGY</entry> <entry>E</entry></row>
1292 <row><entry>TORPEDOES</entry> <entry>TORPEDOES</entry> <entry>T</entry></row>
1293 <row><entry>SHIELDS</entry> <entry>SHIELDS</entry> <entry>S</entry></row>
1294 <row><entry>KLINGONS LEFT</entry><entry>KLINGONS</entry> <entry>K</entry></row>
1295 <row><entry>TIME LEFT</entry> <entry>TIME</entry> <entry>TI</entry></row>
1296 <row><entry>BASES LEFT</entry> <entry>BASES</entry> <entry>BA</entry></row>
1302 <sect1><title>Experimental Death Ray</title>
1309 <para>This command should be used only in those desperate cases where
1310 you have absolutely no alternative. The death ray uses energy to
1311 rearrange matter. Unfortunately, its working principles are not yet
1312 thoroughly understood, and the results are highly
1313 unpredictable.</para>
1315 <para>The only good thing that can result is the destruction of all
1316 enemies in your current quadrant. This will happen about 70% of the
1317 time. Only enemies are destroyed; starbases, stars, and planets are
1320 <para>Constituting the remaining 30% are results varying from bad to
1323 <para>The death ray requires no energy or time, but if you survive, enemies
1324 will hit you.</para>
1326 <para>The Faerie Queene has no death ray.</para>
1328 <para>If the death ray is damaged in its use, it must be totally replaced.
1329 This can only be done at starbase. Because it is a very complex
1330 device, it takes 9.99 stardates at base to replace the death ray.
1331 The death ray cannot be repaired in flight.</para>
1334 <sect1><title>Launch Deep Space Probe</title>
1338 Shortest abbreviation: PR
1339 Full command: PROBE <ARMED> MANUAL <displacement>
1340 PROBE <ARMED> AUTOMATIC <destination>
1343 <para>The Enterprise carries a limited number of Long Range Probes. These
1344 fly to the end of the galaxy and report back a count of the number of
1345 important things found in each quadrant through which it went. The
1346 probe flies at warp 10, and therefore uses time during its flight.
1347 Results are reported immediately via subspace radio and are recorded
1348 in the star chart.</para>
1350 <para>The probe can also be armed with a NOVAMAX warhead. When launched
1351 with the warhead armed, the probe flies the same except as soon as it
1352 reaches the target location, it detonates the warhead in the heart of
1353 a star, causing a supernova and destroying everything in the
1354 quadrant. It then flies no further. There must be a star in the
1355 target quadrant for the NOVAMAX to function. </para>
1357 <para>The probe can fly around objects in a galaxy, but is destroyed if it
1358 enters a quadrant containing a supernova, or if it leaves the galaxy.</para>
1360 <para>The target location is specified in the same manner as the MOVE
1361 command, however for automatic movement, if only one pair of
1362 coordinates are specified they are assumed to be the quadrant and not
1363 the sector in the current quadrant!</para>
1365 <para>The Faerie Queene has no probes.</para>
1368 <sect1><title>Emergency Exit</title>
1372 Shortest abbreviation: E
1375 <para>This command provides a quick way to exit from the game when you
1376 observe a Klingon battle cruiser approaching your terminal. Its
1377 effect is to freeze the game on the file 'EMSAVE.TRK' in your current
1378 directory, erase the screen, and exit.</para>
1380 <para>Of course, you do lose the chance to get a plaque when you use this
1384 <sect1><title>Ask for Help</title>
1388 Full command: HELP <command>
1391 <para>This command reads the appropriate section from the SST.DOC file,
1392 providing the file is in the current directory.</para>
1396 <chapter><title>Miscellaneous Notes</title>
1398 <para>Starbases can be attacked by either commanders or by the
1399 <quote>Super-Commander</quote>. When this happens, you will be
1400 notified by subspace radio, provided it is working. The message will
1401 inform you how long the base under attack can last. Since the
1402 <quote>Super-Commander</quote> is more powerful than an ordinary
1403 commander, he can destroy a base more quickly.</para>
1405 <para>The <quote>Super-Commander</quote> travels around the galaxy at
1406 a speed of about warp 6 or 7. His movement is strictly time based;
1407 the more time passes, the further he can go.</para>
1409 <para>Scattered through the galaxy are certain zones of control,
1410 collectively designated the <quote>Romulan Neutral Zone</quote>. Any
1411 quadrant which contains Romulans without Klingons is part of the
1412 Neutral Zone, except if a base is present. Since Romulans do not show
1413 on either the long-range scan or the star chart, it is easy for you to
1414 stumble into this zone. When you do, if your subspace radio is
1415 working, you will receive a warning message from the Romulan, politely
1416 asking you to leave.</para>
1418 <para>In general, Romulans are a galactic nuisance.</para>
1420 <para>The high-speed shield control is fairly reliable, but it has been
1421 known to malfunction.</para>
1423 <para>You can observe the galactic movements of the
1424 <quote>Super-Commander</quote> on the star chart, provided he is in
1425 territory you have scanned and your subspace radio is working.</para>
1427 <para>Periodically, you will receive intelligence reports from
1428 starfleet command, indicating the current quadrant of the
1429 <quote>Super-Commander</quote>. Your subspace radio must be working,
1432 <para>Each quadrant will contain from 0 to 3 black holes. Torpedoes
1433 entering a black hole disappear. In fact, anything entering a black
1434 hole disappears, permanently. If you can displace an enemy into one,
1435 he is a goner. Black holes do not necessarily remain in a quadrant.
1436 they are transient phenomena.</para>
1438 <para>Commanders will ram your ship, killing themselves and inflicting
1439 heavy damage to you, if they should happen to decide to advance into
1442 <para>You can get a list of commands by typing
1443 <quote>COMMANDS</quote>.</para>
1446 <chapter><title>Scoring</title>
1448 <para>Scoring is fairly simple. You get points for good things, and you
1449 lose points for bad things.</para>
1451 <para>You gain—</para>
1454 <listitem><para>10 points for each ordinary Klingon you kill,</para></listitem>
1455 <listitem><para>50 points for each commander you kill,</para></listitem>
1456 <listitem><para>200 points for killing the <quote>Super-Commander</quote>,</para></listitem>
1457 <listitem><para>20 points for each Romulan killed,</para></listitem>
1458 <listitem><para>1 point for each Romulan captured.</para></listitem>
1460 <para>100 times your average Klingon/stardate kill rate. If you lose
1461 the game, your kill rate is based on a minimum of 5 stardates.</para>
1464 <para>You get a bonus if you win the game, based on your rating:</para>
1465 <para>Novice=100, Fair=200, Good=300, Expert=400, Emeritus=500.</para>
1469 <para>You lose—</para>
1472 <listitem><para>200 points if you get yourself killed,</para></listitem>
1473 <listitem><para>100 points for each starbase you destroy,</para></listitem>
1474 <listitem><para>100 points for each starship you lose,</para></listitem>
1475 <listitem><para>45 points for each time you had to call for help,</para></listitem>
1476 <listitem><para>10 points for each planet you destroyed,</para></listitem>
1477 <listitem><para>5 points for each star you destroyed, and</para></listitem>
1478 <listitem><para>1 point for each casualty you incurred.</para></listitem>
1481 <para>In addition to your score, you may also be promoted one grade in rank
1482 if you play well enough. Promotion is based primarily on your
1483 Klingon/stardate kill rate, since this is the best indicator of
1484 whether you are ready to go on to the next higher rating. However,
1485 if you have lost 100 or more points in penalties, the required kill
1486 rate goes up. Normally, the required kill rate is 0.1 * skill *
1487 (skill + 1.0) + 0.1, where skill ranges from 1 for Novice to 5 for
1490 <para>You can be promoted from any level. There is a special
1491 promotion available if you go beyond the <quote>Expert</quote> range.
1492 You can also have a certificate of merit printed with your name, date,
1493 and Klingon kill rate, provided you are promoted from either the
1494 <quote>Expert</quote> or <quote>Emeritus</quote> levels. This
1495 <quote>plaque</quote> requires a 132 column printer. You may need
1496 print the certificate to a file, import it into your word processor,
1497 selecting Courier 8pt font, and then print in <quote>landscape
1498 orientation</quote>.</para>
1500 <para>You should probably start out at the novice level, even if you are
1501 already familiar with one of the other versions of the Star Trek
1502 game—but, of course, the level of game you play is up to you. If
1503 you want to start at the Expert level, go ahead. It's your funeral.
1504 The emeritus game is strictly for masochists.</para>
1507 <chapter><title>Handy Reference Page</title>
1509 <literallayout format='linespecific' class='monospaced'>
1510 ABBREV FULL COMMAND DEVICE USED
1511 ------ ------------ -----------
1512 ABANDON ABANDON shuttle craft
1514 CO COMPUTER computer
1517 DEATHRAY DEATHRAY (none)
1518 DESTRUCT DESTRUCT computer
1521 FREEZE FREEZE <FILE NAME> (none)
1522 I IMPULSE <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> impulse engines
1523 IMPULSE AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> impulse engines and computer
1524 L LRSCAN long-range sensors
1525 MAYDAY MAYDAY (for help) subspace radio
1527 M MOVE <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> warp engines
1528 MOVE AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> warp engines and computer
1529 O ORBIT warp or impulse engines
1530 P PHASERS <TOTAL AMOUNT> phasers and computer
1531 PHASERS AUTOMATIC <TOTAL AMOUNT> phasers, computer, sr sensors
1532 PHASERS MANUAL <AMT1> <AMT2> ... phasers
1533 PHO PHOTONS <NUMBER> <TARGETS> torpedo tubes
1535 PR PROBE <ARMED> <MANUAL> <DISPLACEMENT> probe launcher, radio
1536 PROBE <ARMED> AUTOMATIC <DESTINATION> launcher, radio, computer
1539 R REST <NUMBER OF STARDATES> (none)
1541 S SRSCAN <NO or CHART> short-range sensors
1542 SE SENSORS short-range sensors
1543 SH SHIELDS <UP, DOWN, or TRANSFER> deflector shields
1544 SHU SHUTTLE shuttle craft
1546 T TRANSPORT transporter
1547 W WARP <FACTOR> (none)
1549 L. R. Scan: thousands digit: supernova
1550 hundreds digit: Klingons
1551 tens digit: starbases
1553 period (.): digit not known (star chart only)
1555 Courses are given in manual mode in X - Y displacements; in automatic
1556 mode as destination quadrant and/or sector. Manual mode is default.
1557 Distances are given in quadrants. A distance of one sector is 0.1 quadrant.
1558 Ordinary Klingons have about 400 units of energy, Commanders about
1559 1200. Romulans normally have about 800 units of energy, and the
1560 (GULP) "Super-Commander" has about 1800.
1561 Phaser fire diminishes to about 60 percent at 5 sectors. Up to 1500
1562 units may be fired in a single burst without danger of overheat.
1563 Warp 6 is the fastest safe speed. At higher speeds, engine damage
1564 may occur. At warp 10 you may enter a time warp.
1565 Shields cost 50 units of energy to raise, and double the power
1566 requirements of moving under warp drive. Engaging the high-speed
1567 shield control requires 200 units of energy.
1568 Warp drive requires (distance)*(warp factor cubed) units of energy
1569 to travel at a speed of (warp factor squared)/10 quadrants per stardate.
1570 Impulse engines require 20 units to warm up, plus 100 units per
1571 quadrant. Speed is just under one sector per stardate.
1575 <chapter><title>Game History and Modifications</title>
1577 <sect1><title>Origins</title>
1579 <para>The original Star Trek seems to have been written by Mike
1580 Mayfield at the beginning of the 1970s. His first version was in
1581 BASIC for a Sigma 7 in 1971; in 1972 he rewrote it in Hewlett Packard
1582 BASIC. The source is <ulink
1583 url="&sst-site;www/historic/mayfield.basic">available</ulink> on the
1584 SST2K website. In January 1975 it became part of the DECUS library
1585 under the name <ulink
1586 url='http://www.trailing-edge.com/~shoppa/decus/110174.html'>SPACWR</ulink>.</para>
1588 <para>While some people claim to have recollections of playing Trek
1589 games in the late 1960s, the earlier ones seem actually to have been
1591 <ulink url='http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spacewar!'>
1592 SPACEWAR</ulink>, the earlier space-combat game on the
1593 PDP-1. Mayfield <ulink
1594 url='http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html'>wrote
1595 in 2000</ulink> that he invented the Trek-style galactic grid, and the
1596 evidence seems to back that up. Some of the confusion probably stems
1597 from the fact that Mayfield's original and several early descendants
1598 were distributed under the name SPACWR.</para>
1600 <para>Many different versions radiated from Mayfield's original; most
1601 og the ones in BASIC are descended from a SPACWR version that David
1602 Ahl published in <citetitle>101 BASIC Computer Games</citetitle>,
1603 July 1973. This was a port of Mayfield's version obtained from the HP
1604 Contributed Programs library. </para>
1606 <para>Our SST2K is descended from a Taurus BASIC program by Grady
1607 Hicks dated 5 April 1973. This does not appear to have been derived
1608 from Ahl's SPACWR. The header says "GENERAL IDEA STOLEN FROM
1609 PENN. U.", and the game has several features not present in SPACEWR:
1610 notably, the Death Ray, ramming, and the Klingon summons to surrender.
1611 And, of course, it predates Ahl's book. The source is <ulink
1612 url="&sst-site;www/historic/UT-Trek.basic">available</ulink> on the
1613 SST2K website.</para>
1615 <para>Dave Matuszek, Paul Reynolds et. al. at UT Austin played the
1616 Hicks version on a CDC6600, but disliked the long load time and
1617 extreme slowness of the BASIC program. (David Matuszek notes that the
1618 Hicks version he played had a habit of throwing long
1619 quotes from Marcus Aurelius at the users, a feature he found
1620 intolerable on a TTY at 110 baud. It must, therefore, have been
1621 rather longer than the one we have.) The Austin crew proceeded to
1622 write their own Trek game, loosely based on the Hicks version, in
1623 CDC6600 FORTRAN. At that time, it was just called "Star Trek"; the
1624 "Super" was added by later developers.</para>
1626 <para>At the time the CDC6600 FORTRAN source was translated to C
1627 it emitted the message "Latest update-21 Sept 78". Thus, it actually
1628 predated (and may have influenced) the best-known BASIC version, the
1629 "Super Star Trek" published by David Ahl in his November 1978 sequel
1630 <citetitle>BASIC Computer Games</citetitle>.</para>
1632 <para>Ahl's "Super Star Trek" had been reworked by Robert Leedom and
1633 friends from (according to Leedom) Mayfield's HP port. There is
1634 internal evidence to suggest that at least some features of Leedom's
1635 SST may have derived from the UT FORTRAN version. In particular, Dave
1636 Matuszek recalls implementing command words to replace the original
1637 numeric command codes, a feature Leedom's SST also had.</para>
1639 <para>One signature trait of the UT FORTRAN game and its descendants
1640 is that the sectors are 10x10 (rather than the 8x8 in Mike Mayfield's
1641 1972 original and its BASIC descendants). The UT FORTRAN version also
1642 preserves the original numbered quadrants rather than the
1643 astronomically-named quadrants introduced in Ahl's SST and its
1646 <!-- Dave thinks his Fortran Star Trek used the clockface for quadrant -->
1647 <!-- navigation. -->
1649 <para>Eric Allman's BSD Trek game is one of these, also descended from
1650 FORTRAN Star Trek via translation to C. However, the mainline S (now
1651 SST2K) has had a lot more stuff folded into it over the years —
1652 deep space probes, dilithium mining, the Tholian Web, and so
1656 <sect1><title>Tom Almy's story</title>
1658 <para>Back in (about) 1977 I got a copy of this Super Star Trek game for
1659 the CDC 6600 mainframe computer. Someone had converted it to PDP-11
1660 Fortran but couldn't get it to run because of its size. I modified
1661 the program to use overlays and managed to shoehorn it in on the 56k
1662 byte machine.</para>
1664 <para>I liked the game so much I put some time into fixing bugs, mainly
1665 what could be called continuity errors and loopholes in the game's
1666 logic. We even played a couple tournaments.</para>
1668 <para>In 1979, I lost access to that PDP-11. I did save the source code
1669 listing. In 1995, missing that old friend, I started converting the
1670 program into portable ANSI C. It's been slow, tedious work that took
1671 over a year to accomplish.</para>
1673 <para>In early 1997, I got the bright idea to look for references to
1674 <quote>Super Star Trek</quote> on the World Wide Web. There weren't
1675 many hits, but there was one that came up with 1979 Fortran sources!
1676 This version had a few additional features that mine didn't have,
1677 however mine had some feature it didn't have. So I merged its features
1678 that I liked. I also took a peek at the DECUS version (a port, less
1679 sources, to the PDP-10), and some other variations.</para>
1681 <para>Modifications I made:</para>
1683 <para>Compared to original version, I've changed the
1684 <quote>help</quote> command to <quote>call</quote> and the
1685 <quote>terminate</quote> command to <quote>quit</quote> to better
1686 match user expectations. The DECUS version apparently made those
1687 changes as well as changing <quote>freeze</quote> to
1688 <quote>save</quote>. However I like <quote>freeze</quote>.</para>
1690 <para>I added EMEXIT from the 1979 version.</para>
1692 <para>That later version also mentions srscan and lrscan working when
1693 docked (using the starbase's scanners), so I made some changes here
1694 to do this (and indicating that fact to the player), and then
1695 realized the base would have a subspace radio as well — doing a
1696 Chart when docked updates the star chart, and all radio reports will
1697 be heard. The Dock command will also give a report if a base is under
1700 <para>It also had some added logic to spread the initial positioning of
1701 bases. That made sense to add because most people abort games with
1702 bad base placement.</para>
1704 <para>The experimental deathray originally had only a 5% chance of success,
1705 but could be used repeatedly. I guess after a couple years of use, it
1706 was less <quote>experimental</quote> because the 1979 version had a 70% success
1707 rate. However it was prone to breaking after use. I upgraded the
1708 deathray, but kept the original set of failure modes (great humor!).</para>
1710 <para>I put in the Tholian Web code from the 1979 version.</para>
1712 <para>I added code so that Romulans and regular Klingons could move in
1713 advanced games. I re-enabled the code which allows enemy ships to
1714 ram the Enterprise; it had never worked right. The 1979 version
1715 seems to have it all fixed up, but I'm still not overly happy with
1716 the algorithm.</para>
1718 <para>The DECUS version had a Deep Space Probe. Looked like a good idea
1719 so I implemented it based on its description.</para>
1722 <sect1><title>Stas Sergeev's story</title>
1724 <para>I started from an older Tom Almy version and added features I had
1725 seen in mainframe variants of the game, I wrote a screen-oriented
1726 interface for it based on the curses library.</para>
1730 <para>The Space Thingy can be shoved, if you ram it, and can fire back if
1734 <para>The Tholian can be hit with phasers.</para>
1737 <para>When you are docked, base covers you with an almost invincible shields
1738 (a commander can still ram you, or a Romulan can destroy the base,
1739 or a SCom can even succeed with direct attack IIRC, but this rarely
1743 <para>SCom can't escape from you if no more enemies remain (without this,
1744 chasing SCom can take an eternity).</para>
1747 <para>Probe target you enter is now the destination quadrant. Before I don't
1748 remember what it was, but it was something I had difficulty using.</para>
1751 <para>Secret password is now autogenerated.</para>
1754 <para>Victory plaque is adjusted for A4 paper rather than 132-column greenbar
1758 <para>Phasers now tells you how much energy needed, but only if the computer
1762 <para>Planets are auto-scanned when you enter the quadrant.</para>
1765 <para>Mining or using crystals in presense of enemy now yields an attack.
1766 There are other minor adjustments to what yields an attack
1767 and what does not.</para>
1770 <para>Ramming a black hole is no longer instant death. There is a
1771 chance you might get timewarped instead.</para>
1774 <para>"freeze" command reverts to "save", most people will understand this
1775 better anyway.</para>
1778 <para>Screen-oriented interface, with sensor scans always up.</para>
1782 <para>My changes got merged into SST2K in 2005, and I work on it now.</para>
1785 <sect1><title>Eric Raymond's story</title>
1787 <para>I played the FORTRAN version of this game in the late 1970s on a
1788 DEC minicomputer. In the late 1980s Dave Matuszek and I became
1789 friends; I was vaguely aware that he had had something to do with the
1790 original Star Trek game. In October 2004, sitting in Dave's living
1791 room, we got to talking about the game and I realized it would make a
1792 great exhibit for the <ulink
1793 url='&retro;'>Retrocomputing Museum</ulink>.</para>
1795 <para>A few quick web searches later we found Tom Almy's page. We
1796 downloaded his code and Dave verified that that it was a direct
1797 descendent of UT Super Star Trek — even though it had been translated
1798 to C, he was able to recognize names and techniques from the FORTRAN
1799 version he co-wrote.</para>
1801 <para>This game became an open-source project; see the <ulink
1802 url='http://developer.berlios.de/projects/sst/'>project
1803 site</ulink>.</para>
1805 <para>After I launched the Berlios project, Stas Sergeev contacted me.
1806 We worked together to merge in his changes.</para>
1808 <para>Modifications I've made:</para>
1812 I converted the flat-text SST.DOC file to XML-Docbook so it can be
1813 webbed. (That's what you're reading now.)
1816 The command-help code needed a rewrite because the flat-text form of
1817 the documentation is now generated from XML and doesn't have the
1818 easily recognizable section delimiters it used to. I wrote a script
1819 to filter that flat-text form into an sst.doc that's easy to parse for
1820 command descriptions, and changed some logic in sst.c to match.
1823 I've cleaned up a lot of grubby FORTRANisms in the code internals --
1824 used sizeof(), replaced magic numeric constants with #defines,
1828 I fixed a surprising number of typos in the code and documentation.
1831 All the game state now lives in one big structure that can be
1832 written to and read from disk as one blob. The write gives it an
1833 an identifiable magic number and the thaw logic checks for same.
1836 I made the internal pager work, and in the process got rid of a number
1837 of platform dependencies in the code.
1840 The HELP/CALL/SOS command is now MAYDAY.
1843 Status report now indicates if dilithium crystals are on board.
1846 At Dave's prompting, restored the Space Thingy's original elusive behavior.
1849 Clean separation of game engine from the UI code, improving Stas
1850 Sergeev's excellent work on the curses interface.
1854 <para>Here are some good pages on the history of Star Trek games:</para>
1858 <ulink url='http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/'>http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/</ulink>
1861 <ulink url='http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html'>http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html</ulink>
1864 <ulink url='http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html'>http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html</ulink>
1869 <sect1><title>Authors' Acknowledgments</title>
1871 <para>These are the original acknowledgments by Dave Matuszek and Paul
1874 <para>The authors would like to thank Professor Michael Duggan for his
1875 encouragement and administrative assistance with the development of
1876 the Star Trek game, without which it might never have been completed.</para>
1878 <para>Much credit is due to Patrick McGehearty and Rich Cohen, who assisted
1879 with the original design of the game and contributed greatly to its
1880 conceptual development.</para>
1882 <para>Thanks are also due to Carl Strange, Hardy Tichenor and Steven Bruell
1883 for their assistance with certain coding problems.</para>
1885 <para>This game was inspired by and rather loosely based on an earlier
1886 game, programmed in the BASIC language, by Jim Korp and Grady Hicks.
1887 It is the authors' understanding that the BASIC game was in turn
1888 derived from a still earlier version in use at Penn State University.</para>
1891 <sect1><title>References</title>
1894 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> (the original television
1895 series), produced and directed by Gene Rodenberry.</para></listitem>
1897 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle> (the animated
1898 television series), produced by Gene Rodenberry and directed by Hal
1899 Sutherland. Also excellent, and not just kiddie fare. If you enjoyed
1900 the original series you should enjoy this one (unless you have some
1901 sort of a hangup about watching cartoons).</para></listitem>
1903 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Making of Star Trek</citetitle>, by
1904 Steven E. Whitfield and Gene Rodenberry. The best and most complete
1905 readily available book about Star Trek. (Ballantine
1906 Books)</para></listitem>
1908 <listitem><para><citetitle>The World of Star Trek</citetitle>, by
1909 David Gerrold. Similiar in scope to the above book.
1910 (Bantam)</para></listitem>
1912 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Star Trek Guide</citetitle>, third revision 4/17/67, by Gene
1913 Roddenberry. The original writer's guide for the television
1914 series, but less comprehensive than (3) above.
1915 (Norway Productions)</para></listitem>
1917 <listitem><para><citetitle>The Trouble With Tribbles</citetitle>, by
1918 David Gerrold. Includes the complete script of this popular show.
1919 (Ballantine Books)</para></listitem>
1921 <listitem><para><citetitle>Star Trek</citetitle>, <citetitle>Star Trek
1922 2</citetitle>, ..., <citetitle>Star Trek 9</citetitle>, by James
1923 Blish. The original shows in short story form.
1924 (Bantam)</para></listitem>
1926 <listitem><para><citetitle>Spock Must Die</citetitle>, by James Blish.
1927 An original novel, but rather similar to the show <citetitle>The Enemy
1928 Within</citetitle>. (Bantam)</para></listitem>
1930 <listitem><para>Model kits of the Enterprise and a <quote>Klingon
1931 Battle-Cruiser</quote> by AMT Corporation are available at most hobby
1932 shops.</para></listitem>
projects / super-star-trek.git / blob