Document what I've done.

[super-star-trek.git] / sst.doc

diff --git a/sst.doc b/sst.doc
index 1201d31bc58a74a78a950f5ad9b1dddf31cf744b..564b9dabff13b2b38500a5b29939d2d8f0ab85b4 100644 (file)
--- a/sst.doc
+++ b/sst.doc
@@ -581,7 +581,7 @@ you move, but higher warp factors require more energy.  You may move
 with your shields up, but this doubles the energy required.\r
 \r
 You can move within a quadrant without being attacked if you just\r
 with your shields up, but this doubles the energy required.\r
 \r
 You can move within a quadrant without being attacked if you just\r

-entered the quadrant or have bee attacked since your last move\r
+entered the quadrant or have been attacked since your last move\r

 command.  This enables you to move and hit them before they\r
 retaliate. \r
 \r
 command.  This enables you to move and hit them before they\r
 retaliate. \r
 \r


@@ -1407,6 +1407,8 @@ Impulse engines require 20 units to warm up, plus 100 units per
      quadrant.  Speed is just under one sector per stardate.\r
 \f                  ********MODIFICATIONS********                       25\r
 \r
      quadrant.  Speed is just under one sector per stardate.\r
 \f                  ********MODIFICATIONS********                       25\r
 \r

+Tom Almy's story:\r
+\r

 Back in (about) 1977 I got a copy of this Super Star Trek game for\r
 the CDC 6600 mainframe computer. Someone had converted it to PDP-11\r
 Fortran but couldn't get it to run because of its size. I modified\r
 Back in (about) 1977 I got a copy of this Super Star Trek game for\r
 the CDC 6600 mainframe computer. Someone had converted it to PDP-11\r
 Fortran but couldn't get it to run because of its size. I modified\r


@@ -1466,10 +1468,57 @@ Modifications I made:
   the algorithm.\r
 \r
   The DECUS version had a Deep Space Probe. Looked like a good idea\r
   the algorithm.\r
 \r
   The DECUS version had a Deep Space Probe. Looked like a good idea\r

-  so I implimented it based on its description.\r
+  so I implemented it based on its description.\r
+\r
+\r
+\f                                                                      26\r
+\r
+Eric Raymond's story:\r
+\r
+I played the FORTRAN version of this game in the mid-1970s on\r
+a DEC minicomputer.  In the late 1980s Dave Matuszek and I became\r
+friends; I was vaguely aware that he had had something to do with the\r
+original Star Trek game.  In October 2004, sitting in Dave's living\r
+room, we got to talking about the game and I realized it would make a\r
+great exhibit for the Retrocomputing Museum <http://www.catb.org/retro/>.\r
+\r
+A few quick web searches later we found Tom Almy's page.  We\r
+downloaded his code and Dave verified that that it was a direct\r
+descendent of UT Super Star Trek -- even though it had been translated\r
+to C, he was able to recognize some of his FORTRAN code.\r
+\r
+Thus, this game is a cousin of Eric Allman's BSD Trek game, which is also\r
+derived from UT Super Star Trek.  However, this one has had a lot more\r
+stuff folded into it over the years -- deep space probes, dilithium mining,\r
+the Tholian Web, and so forth.\r
+\r
+This lineage differs from most of the BASIC versions out there in that you\r
+set courses and firing directions with rectangular rather than polar \r
+coordinates.  It also preserves the original numbered rather than named\r
+quadrants.\r
+\r
+This game is now an open-source project; see the project site at \r
+\r
+     <http://developer.berlios.de/projects/sst/>\r

 \r
 \r

+Here are some good pages on the history of Star Trek games:\r

 \r
 \r

-\f               ----------ACKNOWLEDGMENTS----------                    26\r
+http://www.dunnington.u-net.com/public/startrek/\r
+http://www3.sympatico.ca/maury/games/space/star_trek.html\r
+http://www.cactus.org/%7Enystrom/startrek.html\r
+\r
+Modifications I made:\r
+\r
+* I cleaned up a lot of grubby FORTRANisms in the code internals.\r
+\r
+* I fixed a surprising number of typos in the code and documentation.\r
+\r
+* I changed the freeze logic to emit an identifiable magic number and\r
+  the thaw logic to check for it.\r
+\r
+\f               ----------ACKNOWLEDGMENTS----------                    27\r
+\r
+These are the original acknowledgments by Dave Matuszek and Paul Reynolds:\r

 \r
 The authors would like to thank Professor Michael Duggan for his\r
 encouragement and administrative assistance with the development of\r
 \r
 The authors would like to thank Professor Michael Duggan for his\r
 encouragement and administrative assistance with the development of\r


@@ -1487,10 +1536,7 @@ game, programmed in the BASIC language, by Jim Korp and Grady Hicks.
 It is the authors' understanding that the BASIC game was in turn\r
 derived from a still earlier version in use at Penn State University.\r
 \r
 It is the authors' understanding that the BASIC game was in turn\r
 derived from a still earlier version in use at Penn State University.\r
 \r

-\r
-\r
-\r
-                 ----------REFERENCES----------\r
+\f               ----------REFERENCES----------                         28\r

 \r
 \r
  1.  "Star Trek" (the original television series), produced and\r
 \r
 \r
  1.  "Star Trek" (the original television series), produced and\r