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Multi-Trek — A multi-player real-time space battle game
Version 3.0 Chuck L. Peterson clp@ssyx.ucsc.edu April 22, 1989
Introduction
Multi-Trek is a multi-player space battle game which uses the shared
memory facilities of UNIX to permit interaction between players. Each
player controls a spaceship, the statistics and scanners of which are
continuously displayed on the screen. The player's mission is to
cruise around the galaxy inflicting the most amount of damage possible
without being killed himself. There may be as many as 26 simultaneous
players.
Getting Started
When mtrek is started, you are prompted for a ship name. If the name
you enter is being used by another ship currently in the game, you will
be notified and asked to pick another. When your ship name has been
accepted, you are given the class selection screen. At this point,
type the letter associated with the class whose statistics you want to
look at. Type when the statistics of the class you want are
being displayed. After you are done selecting a name and class for
your ship, the Multi-Trek playing screen is drawn and play begins.
If the ship name you enter matches the name of a saved game, you are
requesting the use of that ship. If there is a Ship Password
associated with the ship when it was saved, you are required to know
this to recover the ship. Anyone can recover a saved ship not assigned
a password. If you have entered the proper password (assuming there is
one), you bypass the ship selection screen and enter the game itself.
Your ship will be in the same condition that it was when it was saved.
Documentation Conventions
This is a description of some of the conventions used in this document.
The notation of {ship} and {obj} is used in the specification of
commands which require a ship or object letter. The 26 lower-case
letters correspond to different player's ships. So if you want to scan
ship 'e', the command 'o{ship}' indicates you must type "oe". Objects
are specified with either a lower-case or upper-case letter. So if you
would like to scan a rapidly approaching plasma torpedo with object
letter 'B', the command 'O{obj}' means that you would type "OB". The
{ship} and {obj} letters are obtained from the tactical display, which
is described in Section 3.2. Many of the commands in mtrek are control
characters. These are indicated with a '^' preceding a letter. For
example; the command to redraw the screen is '^r', which you give by
typing the 'r' key while holding down the 'ctrl' key. There are also
commands which begin with the ESC character. To print your score, you
give the command 'ESC s' by typing the escape key (and releasing it),
then typing 's'. All items in the Multi-Trek universe which are not
spaceships are given the term objects in this document. Examples of
objects are plasma torpedoes, mines, drones, buoys, starbases, planets,
and nebulas.
Displays
Most of the data collected by your monitoring devices is printed in one
of 3 displays. These take up most of the screen. The leftmost box is
your ship monitor display, the box in the center of the screen is the
tactical display, and on the right side of the screen is the scanner
display. The scanner display is left blank unless something is being
scanned.
Ship Monitor
The statistics of your spaceship are printed here. This always
displays the current status of your ship, and is updated as your ship
changes. For example, when you increase your speed by repeatedly
pressing the 'w' key, you will immediately see the Warp: value being
updated to reflect your new speed.
Tactical Display
In the tactical display, the bearings and distances to the visible
ships and objects in your scanning range are printed. The angle
printed in the bearing field is the heading you would have to take to
put your ship on an intercept course. Each ship has a visibility index
associated with it which determines how far this ship must be into
another's scanning range before it can be detected. The large ships
tend to have higher visibility indices. Tactical display entries for
ships are printed starting at the top as those for objects are printed
starting at the bottom.
Ships displayed in the tactical display have the format:
letter name bearingdistance
And objects are displayed as:
letter) name bearingdistance
An entry is deleted from the tactical display when it refers to
something which is no longer visible or has left your scanning range.
The letter printed in a tactical display entry is used with commands
where a ship or object specification is required. For example:
'm{ship}' sends a message to a ship and 'ESC c{ship}' prints the class
of a ship.
When another player's ship is scanning you, a '*' appears in front of
the ship letter.
When there are quite a few ships and objects in the area, the tactical
display requires excessive terminal output to maintain. This output
can exceed 2400 baud and provide a major inconvenience for users on
slow terminals. It is possible to limit output by setting several
different variables: The variables bearing_dly, dist_dly, and xyz_dly
are used set to the number of ticks between the printing of bearings,
distances, and coordinates respectively. When bearing_dly=0, no
bearings are displayed at all. To inhibit the printing of some trivial
information in the scanner, turn off the verbose variable.
Another aid for relieving clutter in the tactical display is the range
variable. This is set to a distance such that only objects within this
radius will be seen. Setting this to a value beyond your ship's
scanning range will have no effect; this can only used for decreasing
one's scanning range. For example, ':set range=3000' will cause all
entries for objects in the tactical display to be within 3000 units.
Defaults for terminals less than 9600 baud:
dist_dly distances are updated once a second
xyz_dly coordinates are updated every few seconds
bearing_dly set to 0 so these are not displayed at all
verbose turned off so scanner output is shorter
Scanner Display
The scanner display is the area between the tactical display and the
right side of the screen. This displays the statistics of either a
specific ship, visible in the tactical display, or those of an object.
To display the stats of a ship, the command 'o{ship}' is used; where
{ship} is the ship's letter. When the ship moves out of scanning range
or cloaks, the ship is deleted from both the tactical display and the
scanner. One can print the stats of an object whether it is in
scanning range or not. To do this, enter the command 'O{obj}'; where
{obj} is the letter 'a'-'z' or 'A'-'Z' corresponding to the desired
object. Navigation
The navigation of a spaceship involves adjusting warp speed, deciding
when to engage the transwarp mechanism, and deciding on a course to
take. The easiest and most common way to set the ship heading is by
intercepting other ships and objects. This sets your heading on a
direct intercept course. The only time that you need to resort to
manual navigation is when avoiding things like plasma torpedoes or when
implementing a complicated attack strategy.
Manipulating Speed
The following 3 commands are used to quickly modify the current warp
speed:
w increases warp by 0.2
W decreases warp by 0.2
^w sets warp to 0.0
One may also immediately set one's warp to a specific value by using
the '@{num}' command where {num} is any decimal fractional number your
ship can travel at. Negative warp is defined to mean that your ship is
traveling backwards. This is especially useful in avoiding many of the
various hazards your ship will encounter. Just set your heading to be
on an intercept course with the thing to be avoided, then set your warp
to a negative value.
Warp speed is based on the model where the units travelled per second
at warp 1 is c*3*k where c is the speed of light, and k is some
constant. Warp 2 is c*3*3 * k, Warp 3 is c*3*3*3 * k, warp 4 is
c*3*3*3*3 * k, etc... One can see that the time it takes for a certain
space trip will be greatly reduced by a small increase in warp speed.
Associated with each ship are speeds at which the ship can safely
travel. The command 'ESC w' gives the turning, cruising, and emergency
warp speeds. Damage to the ship structure will occur when turning at a
speed exceeding ones turning warp.
For each warp 1.0 you exceed your cruising warp by, you lose 1 warp
energy per second.
For each warp .2 you exceed your emergency warp by, you acquire 1 point
of structural damage per second.
Transwarp
For spaceships so equipped, transwarp can be engaged with the 'x'
command. This greatly increases the speed the ship moves, and lasts
about 10 seconds. This effectively increases ones warp speed to
between 20 and 30. Thus, engaging transwarp at higher warp speeds
results in a transwarp that covers a greater distance in less time.
Transwarp requires a speed of at least warp 3, and damage will occur if
it is engaged while travelling slower than warp 4. It also uses up 30
units of warp energy. Some of the ship classes are equipped with a
tracking transwarp. If you have tracking transwarp, and begin
transwarping while intercepting something, the tracking will disengage
the transwarp at the exact moment needed to place you as close as
possible to what was intercepted. Transwarping without tracking is a
blind space-shot, and often places your ship far away... from
everything.
The Excelsior class spaceship does not start out with transwarp
capability. This is installed automatically the first time you orbit
Earth.
Intercepting
An intercept course can be made to something currently being scanned by
typing 'i'. This command toggles the intercept mode on and off. With
intercept mode on, a new heading is computed every second which puts
your ship on an intercept course with that being intercepted. Once the
ship is intercepting one ship or object, you can scan something else
without interrupting the intercept process. To have your ship
intercept the new thing being scanned, give the 'i' command twice; once
to turn off the previous intercepting, then again to turn on
intercepting of what is now being scanned.
Other ships can also be intercepted without having to scan them. This
is done by using the '^i{ship}' command where {ship} is letter
appropriate for the ship you want to scan.
The interception of specific coordinates is done with the 'I' command.
After you type 'I', enter the destination coordinates at the
appropriate "X:", "Y:" and "Z:" prompts. Automatic intercepting will
not be turned on when you are exceeding your turn warp. Instead, your
ship's heading will change once to point in the direction of the
desired object, giving you the damage associated with the sharpness of
turn. If intercepting is turned on when one requests that his turning
warp be exceeded, it will be turned off. Manual Heading Manipulation
If you wish to manually change your heading, there are 4 commands to do
this:
l Changes heading 1 degree clockwise
h Changes heading 1 degree counter-
clockwise
j Changes heading 1 degree down
k Changes heading 1 degree up
The upper case versions of these commands are used to change your
heading in increments of 5 instead of 1. If your ship is intercepting
something, the heading is re-computed every second. Because of this,
it doesn't make sense to use these commands while in intercept mode.
Combat
This section discusses how to lock weapons, the cloaking device, and
how to fire the various weapons found in the game. Also covered is the
use of the shields, damage control, and the resources needed to use
these. Each ship is equipped with a type of phaser and a type of
torpedo.
The phaser types are:
phaser, expanding sphere inducer, teleporter, disruptor, agonizer
The torpedo types are:
photon, plasma, obliterator, plasma bolt
Some ships have several mines and drones at their disposal as well.
The use and effectiveness of each of these is described below.
A few ships are equipped with multiple phaser or torpedo weapons.
However, only one of each of these may be engaged at a time. The
selection of a specific phaser weapon is done with the command ':set
ph={type}' where {type} is one of: phaser, esi, teleporter, disruptor,
agonizer. A torpedo weapon is selected with the command ':set
tp={type}' where {type} is one of: photon, plasma, obliterator, bolt.
Locking Weapons
Ships can lock weapons on a visible ship or object within maximum
torpedo range. When this is done, a *** Weapons Locked *** indicator
appears below the scanner. To lock weapons on what is displayed in the
scanner, give the '^L' command. Locking on a ship within range, but
not displayed on the scanner is done with the command 'ESC ^L{ship}'.
Even though a cloaked ship can lock weapons on nearby ships, phaser and
torpedos cannot be fired while cloaked, but mines and drones can be.
The way locking condition affects the various weapons is discussed in
each of the sections below.
Phaser
This typically works from point-blank to around 500 units away
depending on class of ship. The phaser gives the most damage at 0
units away and no damage at the maximum range. The damage given by the
phaser is inversely proportional to the distance from the target.
Firing phasers at a target more than the maximum distance away will
miss. Phasers will always hit a target within phaser range, but may do
negligible damage.
The phasers are charged by allocating 5 units of energy at a time with
the 'P' command. These are fired using the 'p' command. Firing at
strength 20 is 4 times as strong as with strength 5. When these are
fired, the energy allocation goes to 0, but it takes 1 second per 2
energy units to cool off. The cooling off process is a combination of
a decreasing temperature and the deallocation of the huge amount of
energy. For example, when firing a 50 strength phaser beam, it takes
25 seconds to fully cool and for the power to be available again; but
after 10 seconds, another strength 20 phaser beam can be fired. If you
change your mind, you can unload the energy you allocated with 'P',
with the '^p' command. 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.
Expanding Sphere Inducer
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
The Freighter DY-600 is equipped with a Teleporter Phaser weapon. The
usual phaser commands are used to control this weapon. Hitting an
enemy ship with this causes it to be displaced a distance roughly
proportional to the strength of the blast. Weapons must be locked on a
ship in phaser range to use the Teleporter Phaser. Disruptor
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
This is an odd phaser weapon used by the Romulans. 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. Loading a torpedo tube takes up 10 units of energy,
and is done using the 'T' command, and can be unloaded if you change
your mind with a '^t'. All the loaded tubes must be fired at the same
time with 't'. These do not have the cooling delay associated with the
phaser or disruptor, but may have a minor synchronization delay of 2 to
3 seconds. Photon torpedoes have zero effect at their minimum range,
and do maximum damage at their maximum range. Photon torpedoes miss if
fired at something closer than their minimum range, farther away than
their maximum range, or if weapons are not locked. In a way similar to
the phaser, the photon torpedo's damage is inversely proportional to
the distance from the target to maximum torpedo range.
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. To set
the plasma speed for warp 10, use the command ':tpspeed=10'. Valid
speeds are from warp 5 to warp 12. Less damage is done at the faster
speeds.
Obliterator
Several obliterator torpedos can be loaded and fired at the same time,
with each one drawing 10 power units. These only hit a target when
weapons are locked on a ship within torpedo range. (100 * num_torps)
damage units are given to a ship when hit with this weapon. The
Klingon D-11 replenishes obliterator torpedos automatically without
requiring a trip to a starbase.
Plasma Bolt
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.
Mine
Most ships are equipped with a few mines. These are released with the
'M' command and take no energy to do so. One must wait 10 seconds
after releasing a mine until he can release another. Mines explode
when any ship comes within 100 units of it. If one's speed is
negative, the mine is put 150 units in front of the ship. Otherwise,
it is put 150 units behind the ship. A mine gives 900 points of
damage.
Drone
Drones are fired when weapons are locked on a ship or object. The
drone follows the target until it either is less than 100 units away
from the target in which case it explodes giving the ship damage, or
it's activation time runs out. A drone gives 400 points of damage.
This will only hit what the weapons were locked on to when it was
fired. A drone is released with the 'd' command and takes no power,
but one must wait about 10 seconds until another can be released.
Buoy
Buoys are used to detect the positions of other ships. A buoy is
released with the 'b' command. Another ship triggers the buoy by
coming within 2000 units. This causes a message to be relayed to the
buoy's creator giving the location and name of the spotted ship. One
must wait a long time after a buoy is released before another can be
released.
Cloaking
Only a few ships are equipped with cloaking. The cloaking device sucks
power on every ship so equipped. There is a limit on the time you can
have the cloaking device engaged which varies from ship to ship. The
cloaking device will burn out if you do not turn it off before this
time runs out. A trip to Romulus is required to fix a burned out
cloaking device and for the Constitution II-A class ships to initially
install one. This device is turned on with 'z', and off with 'Z'.
Examining the time remaining in the device is done with the 'ESC z'
command.
Ramming
You can also damage other ships by ramming them. Using the 'r' command
causes yourself as well as all other ships within 0 units away to
receive from 20 to 25 damage.
Shields
The shields are an important part of the combat systems aboard your
ship. The shield value printed on the screen is a percentage value
representing the strength of your shields with full shields being 100.
All attacks except for ramming hit the shields first. If the shields
are still partially up after the hit has lowered them, no damage has
occurred to your ship. But if your shields have been taken all the way
down, or are down to begin with, the hit will get through and damage
various parts of your ship with a strength depending on how much the
shields absorbed. The command 's' makes the shields raise 1% per
second. You can stabilize the shields at the current level with the
'^s' command. With the 'S' command you decrease the shields by 10% and
stabilize them. The shields use up 1 energy unit for every 5% they are
up.
Damage Control
Damage to your ship is repaired by allocating energy units to damage
control. In general, the more you put in damage control, the quicker
your Warp Energy, Impulse Energy, and Damage get fixed. When your
Damage number exceeds 100, you lose life support. When your life
support reaches 0, your crew dies and the game is over. Life support
can only be fixed at odd-numbered starbases. Damage control is
allocated in units of 5. To increase damage control use 'c'; to
decrease use 'C'; to set to zero use '^c'.
Auto-Destruct
When your ship gets wounded beyond repair, you may choose to engage
your ship's auto-destruct mechanism. This is done using the 'D'
command. If you have assigned a password to your ship, you will have
to type that in now for verification. You can abort the auto-destruct
sequence with 'D' while there are more than 5 seconds remaining until
detonation. Detonation also occurs when a ship accumulates more than
200 damage points. 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.
Ship Systems
This section describes the relation between Warp Energy, Impulse
Energy, and Anti-Matter. Also covered here is information about the
Ship Password, Docking and Orbiting.
The Matter/Anti-Matter Annihilation Chamber
There are two sources of energy aboard all ships; impulse energy and
warp energy. The total amount of energy one can use is the sum of
these two amounts. Impulse energy is used first, and there is no
noticeable side effect from using it. Warp energy is used by
allocating the use of more energy than you have impulse energy.
Warp energy is generated by the annihilation of matter and anti-matter
by having tiny amounts of one coming in contact with the other. This
process is controlled with strong magnetic fields. The energy released
by this reaction is focused with dilithium crystals. The acquisition
of more dilithium crystals causes better utilization of the
annihilation process; which translates into more warp energy being
available. These crystals are obtained by orbiting the planets Rigel
XII, Wrigley, or Vulcan. Anti-matter is used up at a rate of 1 unit
for every 10 units of warp energy being used per second. More anti-
matter is picked up from one's home planet.
Ship Password
The ship password has two uses in Multi-Trek. The first is for saved
game verification, and the second is for engaging the auto-destruct
mechanism. To assign a password to your ship, use the 'ESC P' command.
The current password can be seen by using the 'ESC p' command.
Docking
When a ship is a distance of less than 2 away from a starbase and at a
speed of 0, docking is performed with the '^d' command. Warning: If
you do not dock with the starbase now, your ship will crash into the
starbase causing damage to both. Typically, odd numbered starbases
repair life support and even numbered starbases replenish torpedos.
One may save his game only when docked at a starbase. If there is a
password assigned to a ship when it is saved, the user must type it
when retrieved. If not, anyone from any account can resume that game
by requesting the ship name. See the section on the "ship password"
above.
Orbiting
When a ship is a distance of less than 2 away from a planet and at a
speed of 0, the orbiting process is performed with the '^o' command.
Warning: If you do not orbit the planet now, your ship will accumulate
structural damage from the friction generated by the decaying orbit. A
ship receives anti-matter when orbiting its home planet, and it
receives dilithium crystals when orbiting Rigel XII, Wrigley, or
Vulcan.
Scoring
Ships saved at a starbase are eligible for the high score list. The 6
categories a ship is rated on are:
Time Total time spent in the game.
Avg Time Average duration between game saves.
Breaks A secret cheating index.
DmgRcvd Total amount of damage received.
Damage Total amount of damage inflicted.
Conflicts Total number of ships engaged.
A maximum for each category is found by looking at all high scores.
For each category in the ship's score, a percentage of the maximum
value for that category is found. The Brk percentage is subtracted
from 100. The "Pct" field in the high score entry is the average of
these 6 percentages; and scores are sorted with this. The ship's class
letter and name follow the "Pct" field.
The Unix Interface
You can assign the SHIP environment variable to specify both the ship's
name and class you want to use. The desired class is specified by
giving the full name for the class or by giving the letter associated
with it in the class selection screen. The environment variable is of
the form name:class. Either of these fields can be left out,
indicating that want to choose that field each time you play.
Setting the SHIP environment variable
This is how you set environment variables in the Csh:
% setenv SHIP "Enterprise:Constitution II-A"
This is how you set environment variables in the Bourne shell:
$ SHIP="Enterprise:Constitution II-A"
$ export SHIP
Command Line Arguments
You can now use the -name and -class options to override either, or
both of the fields in your $SHIP for setting your ship's name and
class.
For Example, to make a Romulan ship named Rocinante:
% mtrek -name Rocinante -class "Romulan Bird of Prey"
or
% mtrek -name Rocinante -class e
Keyboard Mapping
There is a command in mtrek which allows you to map certain keys to
mtrek command strings. Mapping a character is done with the '('
command, and unmapping is done with ')'. The '(' command prompts you
for a character, then for the string you want that character to
generate. Control characters may be in this string by specifying them
with the corresponding 3 digit octal escape. For example, the escape
character is \033.
.mtrekrc
Each time you play, mtrek looks for your initial keyboard mappings in
the file .mtrekrc in your home directory. Each line in this file
contains a keyboard mapping definition.
A line is of the form:
{char}={string}
For example, my .mtrekrc looks like this:
[=@-14\r
]=@14\r
{=CCCC
}=cccc
+=m*At this stardate, I am transferring command to "The Battle Bridge".\r
-=m*<< Subspace Beacon >>\r
^=\033S
Weapons:
^l locks weapons
u unlocks weapons
T loads torpedoes
t fires torpedoes strongest:maxweakest:min
^t unloads torpedoes
P loads phaser
p fires phaser strongest:minweakest:max
^p unloads phaser
d releases a drone
M drops a mine behind you if warp > 0; in front of you if warp < 0
r rams all ships a distance of 0 away
b releases a movement detection buoy
D enables/disables auto-destruct sequence
Navigation:
h changes heading c-clockwise 1 degree
H changes heading c-clockwise 5 degrees
l changes heading clockwise 1 degree
L changes heading clockwise 5 degrees
j decreases pitch down 1 degree
J decreases pitch down 5 degrees
k decreases pitch up 1 degree
K decreases pitch up 5 degrees
w increases warp by 0.1
W decreases warp by 0.1
^w changes to warp 0.0
ESC w prints cruising and max speeds
x engages transwarp drive if warp >= 3; damage occurs if warp < 4
i intercepts ship being scanned
I intercepts coordinates you enter
^i{ship} intercepts {ship} if in range
^o orbits a planet when distance < .2 units
^d docks at starbase when distance < .2 units
z turns cloaking device on
Z turns cloaking device off
ESC z prints remaining time left in cloaking device
@{num} sets warp to value typed in
Scanner:
o{ship} displays {ship} on scanner
o. displays closest ship on scanner
O{obj} displays {obj} on scanner
O{digit} displays "Starbase {digit}" on scanner
O. displays closest object on scanner
Miscellaneous:
c increases damage control
C decreases damage control
^c sets damage control to zero
s raises shields one percent/second
S lowers shields by 10% and stabilizes
^s stabilizes shields
X turns off sensor probe
^x clears old messages
^e makes energy available
m{ship} sends a subspace message to {ship}
m. sends a subspace message to closest ship
m* sends a subspace message to all ships
R{ship} ignores messages from {ship}
ESC R prints ships whose messages you currently ignore
ESC S saves game if docked at a starbase
ESC s prints your score
ESC M prints heading of where last message came from
ESC ^m changes heading to direction of last message
ESC m prints number of mines left
ESC d prints number of drones left
ESC b prints time until another buoy is ready
ESC p prints types of phasers available
ESC t prints number of torpedos left and torpedo types available
ESC T prints number of torpedo tubes
ESC r prints weapon ranges
ESC l{ship} intercepts coordinates of where {ship} last seen
ESC L{ship} prints coordinates of where {ship} last seen
ESC ^l{ship} locks weapons on {ship}
ESC # prints your ship's slot letter
ESC c{ship} prints name and class of {ship}
ESC ^r{ship} prints name, score, and rank of {ship}
ESC ^s prints current scanning range
ESC P enables you to enter a new ship password
ESC ^p prints current ship password
ESC g prints name of galaxy you are in
(for use with auto-destruct & retrieval of saved game)
(c{string} maps character 'c' into {string}
(from then on, the command 'c', will be repaced with string)
)c unmaps character 'c'
('c' is given its original meaning)
Q quits game (verify with (y)es or (n)o )
^h gets some simple help
^r redraws screen
Set Variables:
range Shortens the distance at which objects must be
before they are printed in the tactical display.
Example: ':set range=3000'
ph selects a type of phaser
Example: ':set ph=phaser' or ':set ph=teleporter'
tp selects a type of torpedo
Example: ':set tp=photon' or ':set tp=bolt'
report sets minimum damage to other ships reported
Example: ':set report=50'
beep beeps on command errors
Example: ':set beep' or ':set nobeep'
bearing_dly prints bearings in tactical display
Example: ':set bearing' or ':set nobearing'
dist_dly Sets number of ticks between distance updates.
Example: ':set dst_dly=10'
xyz_dly Sets number of ticks between coordinate updates.
Example: ':set xyz_dly=10'
bearing_dly Sets number of ticks between bearing updates.
Bearings are not printed if this is zero.
Example: ':set bearing_dly=10'
verbose Prints more information in scanner.
Example: ':set verbose' or ':set noverbose'
()