Multi-Trek Guide
Written by Chuck L. Peterson, c...@flange.com
Multi-Trek is available with "telnet indial1.io.com 1701".
Mon Jan 3 10:28:03 CST 1994
Latest documents available via anon FTP to io.com: pub/usr/clp directory.
Objective
---------
The object of mtrek is to fly a spaceship around inflicting the
most damage to other players as possible, or to just fly around. You
can save your ship to resume play at a later time by going to a
starbase and saving. The high score list consists only of ships which
have saved at a starbase. A ship is taken off the high score list when
it is brought back into the game by it's owner resuming play. The ship
is put back on the high score list only if it lives to save at a
starbase again.
There are 13 ship types with various capabilities and of several races
to choose from. No alliances are enforced by the game; it is left to
the players to create their own gangs or to fight for themselves.
Game Screen with Labels
-----------------------
Indicates he's scanning you +- Scanner --------+
+- Your Statistics--+ |Enemy Ship Letter Bearing | |
| Your Name Here | || Enemy Ship Name | Distance |
| | || | | | | |
Gallium Twinzer -----+||-|------tactical display--|---|---+Mistress of Pain
Warp Energy: 0 |*b Mistress of Pain 198'-24 875 |Warp Energy: 140
Impulse Energy: 35 | |Impulse Energy: 50
Power Unused: 0 | |Power Unused: 133
Warp: - 6.8 | |Warp: 0.0
Shields: 8% | |Shields: 100%
Ph: 0 Damage: 170 | |Ph: 0 Damage: 0
Tp: 0 DmgCtl: 0 | |Tp: 0 DmgCtl: 0
Life Support: 35% | |Life Support: 100%
Anti-Matter: 4749 | |Anti-Matter: 3515
X: 6759 Cloak: 90 | H) plasma* 10'+09 1203 |X: 6656 Drones:---
Y: 21352 Mines: 5 | G) drone 2'+15 975 |Y: 21043
Z: 3187 HD: 16'+26 | r) Vulcan 229'-13 720 |Z: 3045 HD: 18'+24
---------------------+-|--|-------------------------------+Dst: 875 Ang: 3
| |
| | | Object Name | |
+- Your Statistics -+ Object Letter +- Scanner --------+
Tactical Display
----------------
The names of ships and objects in your immediate vicinity are
printed here. All objects within your scan range show up. The same is
generally true for enemy ships, except that ships at the outer fringe
of your scan range may or may not show up depending on the enemy ship's
size and power consumption.
A '*' in front of an enemy ship name indicates that he is scanning
you. A '*' trailing an object name tells you that the object is one
that you created. In the example above, the plasma was fired by our
ship.
Scanner Section
---------------
The Scanner portion of the screen is used to display information
about another player's ship or information about one of the other
"objects" in the game. The "o shipletter" command is used to scan
other ships. In the example above, the command "oh" was used. In a
similiar manner, objects are scanned with the "O objectletter"
command. For example, to scan Vulcan the command "Or" would be used.
Any object in the game can be scanned at any time, but ships must be in
the tactical display to be scanned. Ship letters are always lower
case, whereas object letters can be either upper or lower case.
The Scanner portion of the screen is also used for these commands:
# Display a list of players
ESC o Configurable option screen
? a-l Display one of 12 help screens
ESC D object Cheesy description of object
Setting Warp Speed
------------------
The maximum speed your ship moves at is about Warp 10, depending on
ship class. Negative warp values indicate that your ship is moving in
reverse. Use these commands to affect your speed:
w Increase speed by 0.2 warp
W Decrease speed by 0.2 warp
Ctrl-W Stop
@ num Set speed to specific warp value
x Engage transwarp drive
It is important to know your ship class's Maximum Turning Warp and
Maximum Warp values. If you attempt to turn your ship when travelling
faster than your Turning Warp, your ship will incur damage. Going
faster than your Maximum Warp will also give your ship damage.
Transwarp Drive
---------------
The Excelsior and DY-600 class ships are transwarp capable.
Transwarp lasts for about 10 seconds, and during this time your ship
will have an effective speed from around Warp 20 to Warp 30. Transwarp
drive can be engaged only when the ship is already travelling at Warp 3
or better. Damage occurs when engaged at less than Warp 4.
If your ship is equipped with "tracking transwarp", and transwarping is
engaged while something is being intercepted, transwarp will disengage
at the exact moment needed to place you as close as possible to what
was intercepted. Transwarping without tracking is a blind blast
through space and often places your ship far away... from everything.
The Excelsior class starship does not start out with transwarp capability;
a visit to Earth is necessary to get this.
Navigation
--------------
Nearly all navigation can be done by setting intercept courses
with other ships and objects. Use the "i" command to set an
intercept course with what is currently being scanned. A second
"i" command toggles intercept mode off. Be careful to not
use this command when exceeding your Maximum Turn Warp. The
command "ctrl-I shipletter" can be used to intercept a nearby ship
which isn't being scanned. Specific coordinates can be intercepted
with the "I" command.
Heading can be manually changed by turning off intercept mode and
using one of these commands:
l Right 1 degree L Right 5 degrees
h Left 1 degree H Left 5 degrees
j Down 1 degree J Down 5 degrees
k Up 1 degree K Up 5 degrees
Your ship is capable of determining from which direction a message is
sent. To put your ship on an intercept course with the last message
received, use the "ESC Ctrl-M" command.
Ship Power
----------
The total amount of power a ship can use is the sum of Warp Energy
and Impulse Energy. You can allocate this to one or more functions of
the ship: Warp Drive, Shields, Load Phaser, Load Torpedo, Damage
Control and Cloak. Both Warp Energy and Impulse Energy output can be
damaged when under attack. Warp Energy output is also damaged by
travelling faster than your ship's Max Warp speed. Warp Energy and
Impulse Energy are restored to normal with Damage Control. Extra Warp
Energy above a normal level can be obtained by visiting a dilithium
crystal planet such as Rigel XII.
Shields and Damage
------------------
Shields absorb the energy of incoming attacks, except for ramming.
Each time shields absorb an attack, they are lowered by an amount
proportional to the energy of the attack. Once shields have dropped
all the way down, further attack energy causes damage to Warp Energy,
Impulse Energy, and Damage. The Damage field refers to the structural
damage of your ship. A Damage amount greater than 100 causes Life
Support to drop by about 1% per second. Damage greater than 200
results in immediate explosion of the ship.
Commands for Shields:
s Raise shields by 1% per second
S Drop shields by 10% and hold
Ctrl-S Hold shields at current level
Damage Control
--------------
Power allocated to Damage Control repairs damaged parts of the
ship. The more power allocated, the faster repairs happen. Given
enough time, Damage Control will fully restore Warp Energy and Impulse Energy,
and completely repair any Damage.
Commands for Damage Control:
c Increase Damage Control by 5
C Decrease Damage Control by 5
Ctrl-C Set Damage Control to zero
Locking Weapons
---------------
To lock weapons on a ship or object, it must be within the
maximum torpedo range, about 1000 units. First scan it, then use the
Ctrl-L command. To lock on a ship not being scanned, but within scanning
distance, use the "ESC Ctrl-L shipletter" command. Most phaser and
torpedo weapons require that weapons be locked to have maximum effect.
Phasers
-------
Phaser range is typically from 0 to about 500 units depending on
ship class. Damage done by phasers is maximum at point-blank and
minimal at maximum range.
Phasers are loaded in increments of 5 power units. The waiting
period after firing phasers before they can be loaded again
is based on the firing strength. Firing phasers without weapons
being locked causes them to be fired wide. This gives half the
normal damage, but to everyone within phaser range; including ships
which are cloaked.
Commands for Phasers:
p Fire phasers
P Load another 5 power units into phasers
Ctrl-P Unload phasers
Expanding Sphere Inducer Phaser [ Ferengi ]
-------------------------------
When fired, the ES Inducer gives damage to all ships in phaser range,
cloaked or not. The amount of damage depends on how close the enemy
ships are to you, and how many of them are in range. Locking weapons
does not affect the ES Inducer in any way. The closer the ship is to
you, the higher the damage. Damage given to individual ships is
drastically reduced with more ships in phaser range.
Teleporter Phaser [ Freighter DY-600 ]
-----------------
This is one of 2 phaser weapons on the Freighter. Instead of causing
any damage, it teleports the enemy away. The higher the phaser
strength, the farther the distance of the teleport. This is used on
ships in Phaser range, with weapons locked. Switching between
phaser types is done with the "ESC Ctrl-P" command.
Disruptor Phaser [ Klingon D-10 ]
----------------
This functions much the same way as the standard phaser except that the
damage it gives is constant throughout phaser range. If weapons are
not locked, firing wide results in all ships in phaser range receiving
damage, but with an amount much less than if weapons were locked.
Agonizer Phaser [ Romulan Warrior ]
---------------
There can be a single charge of 40 units in the Agonizer. The agonizer
system converts a plasma torpedo into a plasma stream which has the
look and feel of a phaser weapon. This uses up a plasma torpedo; and
after fired, the usual plasma cooling delay of 3 seconds goes into
effect. When fired while weapons are locked on a ship in phaser range,
this will give 400 damage units. If weapons are not locked, firing
wide results in all ships in phaser range receiving 200 damage units.
Photon Torpedo
--------------
This weapon has a range which is from about 500 units to about 1000
units depending on class of ship. A ship can load only as many as it
has torpedo tubes. Unlike phasers, torpedo's give maximum damage
at maximum range, and minimum damage at minimum range.
Commands for Torpedoes:
t Fire torpedoes
T Load 1 torpedo into tubes
Ctrl-T Unload 1 torpedo
Plasma Torpedo
--------------
Some ships use plasma torpedoes instead of photon torpedoes. There is
1 torpedo tube in plasma equipped ships. Loading a plasma torpedo uses
85 energy units. The energy used to load a plasma torpedo is
immediately available on firing or unloading. If weapons are locked,
this is fired in the direction of what is locked on to. If weapons are
not locked, this is fired straight ahead. Unlike the other phaser and
torpedo weapons, this does not hit instantly. The plasma torpedo is a
device which travels from warp 9 to warp 10; and shows up in the
tactical display. It gives massive damage if it hits the target, but
it is possible to avoid. This is loaded, unloaded, and fired with 'T',
'^t', and 't' respectively. The plasma torpedo lasts 20 seconds, and
each of its last 5 seconds, it loses 10% of its strength. Plasma will
give 1500 damage units at full strength. This will hit any other ship
which comes within 200 units of it; friendly or not.
The plasma torpedo on the Romulan Warrior has adjustable speed.
Use the command "ESC T num" to set the speed of your ship's
plasma torpedoes. Available speeds are warp 5 through warp 10.
Faster torpedoes do less damage.
Obliterator Torpedo
-------------------
Several obliterator torpedos can be loaded and fired at the same
time, with each one drawing 10 power units. The Klingon D-11
replenishes obliterator torpedos automatically without requiring a trip
to a starbase.
Plasma Bolt Torpedo
-------------------
Only one plasma bolt torpedo can be loaded at a time, and one of
these requires 85 power units to load. These only hit a target when
weapons are locked on a ship within torpedo range. 750 damage units
are given to a ship when hit with this weapon.
The Gorn CV-97 can fire both plasma torpedos and plasma bolt torpedos.
Use the "ESC ctrl-T" command to switch between them.
Cloaking
--------
Some ships can engage a cloaking device which makes them invisible
to all other ships. Ships can cloak only for a limited time, and the
time remaining is shown in the Cloak field. When time runs out, the
cloaking device has burned out. Upon disengaging, the cloaking device
immediately regenerates available cloak time. To repair a burned out
cloaking device, or for the II-A to obtain a cloaking device to begin
with, you must visit Romulus. The "z" and "Z" commands turn on and off
the cloaking device. The BOP's cloaking device uses 80 power units.
A cloaked ship can lock weapons on nearby ships, but it cannot fire
phasers or torpedos. Mines, buoys and drones can be launched while cloaked.
Ramming
-------
You can ram your ship into another if distance is displayed as 0
units. The 'r' command is used to do this. Ramming gives 20 to 25
Damage to both ships. Shields are ineffective against ramming.
Self Destruct
-------------
Ships are capable of self destruction. When your ship gets wounded
beyond repair, engaging the auto-destruct mechanism may be the best
action. The "D" command is used to do this. The auto-destruct
sequence is aborted by using the "D" command again. The amount of
damage an exploding ship gives to nearby ships is dependent on the
amount of antimatter on board the exploding ship, and the distance to
the other ships.
Mine
----
It takes no power to lay a mine. You must wait at least 10 seconds
after laying a mine before you can lay another. Mines are placed 150
units directly behind your ship, or 150 directly in front when you are
travelling negative warp. Mines give 900 damage and have an activation
radius of 100 units. The "M" command is used to lay mines.
Drone
-----
Drones, like mines, require no power to fire and have a 10 second
waiting period. They behave like guided missles and have about half the
strength of a mine. Weapons must be locked on a ship or object when a
drone is fired, or it won't hit anything. Drones give about 400 damage
and have an activation radius of 100 units. Use the "d" command to
launch drones.
Buoy
----
A buoy is used to detect the presense of enemy ships, even if they
are cloaked. Ships have an unlimited supply of buoys, require no power
to launch, and have a 30 second waiting period before another can be
launched. The lifetime of a buoy is a few minutes. When another,
possibly cloaked, ship comes within 2000 units of your buoy, you are
notified of the ship's exact location. Your ship's last-seen-at data
is updated to reflect this, allowing you to set an intercept course to
the enemy ship. The "b" command drops a buoy at your current
location.
Anti-Matter
-----------
This can be viewed as your ship's fuel. The rate Anti-Matter is
used up by is based solely on the amount of Warp Energy you are using.
As all Impulse Energy is used before any Warp Energy is, this amount is
the power allocated to ship functions minus the amount of Impulse
Energy available. More Anti-Matter is picked up from your ship's home
planet.
Docking
-------
When your ship is stopped with a distance of 0 away from a
Starbase, you can dock by using the "." command. If you do not do this
soon, your ship will crash into the starbase; giving damage to both.
You can save your game only when docked at a Starbase. Use the "ESC S"
command to do this.
Orbiting
--------
When your ship is stopped with a distance of 0 away from a planet,
you can orbit by using the "." command. If you do not do this soon,
your ship will begin to burn up in the atmosphere. The planets Rigel
XII, Vulcan and Wrigley give out dilithium crystals which raise Warp
Energy beyond normal levels. Only your home planet will give you
Anti-Matter.
Sending Messages
----------------
Your ship allows you to send messages to another player, to all
players, or to a select list of players. Sending too many messages
during a short time causes your transmitter to burn out; and you must
wait several minutes for it to be fixed. Stars, the comet, and the
nebula all cause transmission interference.
The 3 ways to send messages to other players:
m ship Send a message to a specific ship
m* Send a message to all players
m> Send a message to your gang
To set up the list of ships in your gang:
ESC G ship ship ... ESC
Keymaps
-------
You can assign keymaps, also known as keyboard macros, to most keys.
To set up a keymap, type '(', then the key you want to map.
You then will be prompted to type in a line of what you want
it mapped to. To unmap a previously mapped key, use ')' followed
by the key. Keymaps are preserved across saving and restoring ships.
The text of mapped strings uses a format similiar to that used by
C Language strings. Use "r" to indicate a return. Control chars
are specified with their octal equivalent such as "/033" for escape.
Octal equivilent of control chars:
^A 001 ^B 002 ^C 003 ^D 004 ^E 005 ^F 006 ^G 007 ^H 010
^I 011 ^J 012 ^K 013 ^L 014 ^M 015 ^N 016 ^O 017 ^P 020
^Q 021 ^R 022 ^S 023 ^T 024 ^U 025 ^V 026 ^W 027 ^X 030
^Y 031 ^Z 032 ESC 033
It is inconvenient to manually set up favorite keymaps each time you
start a ship. A way to deal with this is to yank keymap definitions out
of one xterm window and paste them into the game xterm window. If you
like to have a keymap for each digit 1-3 to set warp to the
corresponding value and to map '$' to send a true message to all
players, you can use a file like this:
(1@1
(2@2
(3@3
($m*The Orion BR-5 is the ship of choice for weenies.r
Tractor Beam
------------
Your ship's tractor beam is used to pull the Mars Observer and
Hubble Telescope around with your ship. Use the '%' command when
weapons are locked to toggle on/off the tractor beam.
Scoring
-------
There are six components of a ship's score:
Gold Number of Gold bars
DmgGiven Amount of damage given to other ships
Bonus Points awarded for giving damage to experienced opponents
DmgRcvd Amount of damage received
Cfl Rough approximation of number of conflicts
Brk Penalty for getting an untimely network disconnection
Gold
----
Your ship starts out with 1000 bars of gold which are used to purchase
items from Starbases and Planets. When a ship is destroyed, its
gold bars are left in the "ship debris". If you are the first
one to the debris, you can retrieve the gold by locking weapons
on the "ship debris" and activating the transporter. Additional gold
can be obtained from Gorn and your ship's home planet.
Ctrl-L Lock Weapons for Transporter
$ Transport gold aboard ship
ESC $ Print amount of gold aboard ship
Ctrl-G Drop a portion of your gold
Summary of Ship Classes
-----------------------
Class Warp WarpEn IE CLK XWP DR M ---phasers--- ----torpedoes---- Scan
II-A 9 14 50(130) 40 yes 10 8 Ph 50 0-700 Ph 4 40 500-1800 13000
EXCEL 10 12 130(160) 50 yes 5 Ph 65 0-600 Ph 6 54 500-1200 10000
GLXY 9 9 128(158) 60 yes 10 8 Ph 70 0-500 Ob 8 80 500-1200 13000
DY-600 8 11 120(120) 60 yes 30 Ph 20 0-500 Ph 1 200 500-1000 8000
RBOP 12 14 80(110) 50 yes 6 Ph 25 0-500 Pl 1 15 500-1000 8000
RWAR 12 13 80(110) 70 yes 5 Ag 40 0-500 Pl 1 60 500-1000 8000
D-10 10 12 120(150) 60 15 8 Di 60 0-500 Ph 8 112 500-1000 8000
D-11 10 13 120(150) 60 20 Ph 35 0-1000 Ob 5 50 300-1200 8500
BR-5 14 16 90(130) 60 yes 10 Ph 40 0-500 Ph 2 30 500-1000 7500
BR-1000 13 14 80(120) 60 8 2 Ph 50 0-500 Ph 1 50 500-2500 8000
CL-13 10 11 50( 80) 90 yes 10 Ph 100 0-1000 Ph 3 30 500-1000 7500
CV-97 9 11 110(130) 110 20 Ph 75 0-500 Pl 1 50 300-1200 10000
FRNGI 11 13 110(140) 50 20 ES 50 0-500 Ph 5 40 500-1300 8000
Multi-Trek Command Summary
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Combat Navigation
------ ----------
^L lock weapons w speed up by 0.1 warp
^U unlock weapons W slow down by 0.1 warp
T load torpedoes ^W stop
t fire torpedoes @value set warp to value
^T unload torpedoes x engage transwarp
P load phasers i intercept thing in scanner
p fire phasers ESC ^m intercept last message author
^P unload phasers ^i ship intercept nearby ship
d fire drone ESC l ship intercept where last seen
M drop mine I intercept coordinates
r ram adjacent ships . dock or orbit adjacent planet
b drop buoy
D toggle self-destruct End Game
z turn on cloaking --------
Z turn off cloaking Q quit game
ESC ^L ship lock weapons on ship ESC S save game when docked
ESC P set new ship password
Shields & Damage Control Sending Messages
------------------------ ----------------
c increase damage control m ship send message to ship
C decrease damage control m * send message to everyone
^C turn off damage control m > send message to closest ship
s raise shields at 1%/sec ESC G ships... ESC set up gang list
S lower shield by 10% R ship block messages from ship
^S hold shields level ^X clear messages from screen
Changing Course Scanning
--------------- --------
h heading +1 degree o ship scan ship
H heading +5 degrees o . scan closest ship
l heading -1 degree O obj scan object
L heading -5 degrees O . scan closest object
j pitch down 1 degree O num scan starbase number
J pitch down 5 degrees ESC o game option window
k pitch up 1 degree # display current players
K pitch up 5 degree ? [a-l] display help screen
X turn scanner off
Miscellaneous
--------------
ESC R frequencies blocked ESC b when next buoy is ready
ESC v current & normal visibility ESC ^S scan range
ESC # your letter designator ESC w warp capability
ESC M direction of last message
ESC p phaser types available ESC t num torpedoes onboard
ESC W max torp & phasers capable ESC d number of drones on board
ESC m number of mines on board ESC D obj description of object
ESC z cloaking device status ^R Redraw Screen
ESC r weapon ranges ESC L ship print where last seen
( key map given key to a string % turn tractor beam on/off
) key unmap given key $ beam aboard gold bars
ESC s your score ESC $ amount of gold on ship
ESC c ship score of other ship
Phaser and Torpedo Config
-------------------------
ESC ^w always fire phasers wide ESC ^T set torpedo type (CV-97)
ESC ^n fire phasers narrow ESC T num set plasma speed (RWAR)
ESC ^P set phaser type (DY-600)
--
Marc Reeve
just some guy in Santa Cruz
e-mail (consistent): cmr...@gorn.echo.com
Who is Vicki Robinson, and why is she haunting me?