Planetary Defense You had heard the rumors and now you see that they are true, the nasty alliance/kingdom/tyranny from the nearby cluster is heading your way. I hope you have a good defense network set up, and lots of fuel to pump into it. A really good defense never lets an enemy get even close to your planet. Once there they need only to live a fraction of a segment to make a has been out of your planet, so stop them as soon as you can. Lets take each weapon system in turn and examine their role in the defense Torpedos: The main long range weapon (>5Au). This is the weapon of choice to take out his fighters, on the way to clean out the defenses on your world so he can send in his expensive ships to wipe you out. If you think that you have more fuel than him then its also a good way to remove so much of his fuel that the lasers can do their work later without his shields getting much in the way. Remember though that torpedos have a narrow span that they are truly effective in, so you'll want to have a new design for every 3-5 Au Lasers: Lasers have a greater punch than the torpedos, and are stronger than shields of the same tech level. They are not very good at ranges over 3Au though, but can be true ship killers. A laser platform popping out from hiding at a planet, shooting all it have and then quickly jumping to another system can be quite devastating. If his weapons are in retaliatory mode it also means that he will spend more fuel than you. Fighters: This can be a devastating weapon against ships coming too close to your planet. You don't want them to go out and meet the ship so the enemy gets a couple of turns to take them out with his torpedos however. They should be used for killing his fighters (this type should have high maneuverability) and for taking out his ships with when they enter your airspace (high attack and armor). Bases: These where not in use when this was written, so have not been tried out. They are the last ditch attempt to drive the enemy off, they will retaliate on anything shooting at your planet. They also has a large multiplier when it comes to actual combat with population unit against population unit. Fuel: As you have probably noticed throughout this file the key to defense is to have a lot of fuel. This means that you must cut off his supply of fuel. So shoot down all the transports tankers and so on that enters your system before they can dock with his warships. Once his ship is low on fuel he will be forced to retreat or it will die. Type 'advice ' to obtain advice on the following topics: ('*' denotes a new addition to the documentation) Topics: newbie defense ships *** Welcome to Cosmic Conquest!!! *** If you have gotten this far, you probably know about both 'help' and 'advice'. There is also a nuts and bolts description of the game parameters in 'describe'. To use 'advice' or 'describe', you can just enter the command, and it will list the topics avaiable. The first thing you want to do is set up a colony on the sector your race starts on. To do this, use 'list' to see what your capital is labelled. This will be the '@' symbol, followed by a number. For example, you may see the following output of 'list': /Milky Way/Sol/Earth: code owner type dam/eff pop/max mov loc @54 10 Capital 0 100% 1377/50000 3 (4,2) 100% Done. /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> @54 is this race's capital. As the game has been in progress a while, it has grown beyond the starting size of 1000/50000. To make a colony on the starting sector (4,2) the player would type, 'detach @54 50', and the output would look like: Object p302 created on sector 4,2. Next, the player would want to convert it into a colony. So, the player would type, 'convert p302 colony' then specify a size of 500 so that resources will not be used. (See help convert and help upgrade for information on how to later increase the maximum size to which the colony can grow.) This will look like: /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> conv p302 colony What is the max population (unadjusted for sector compat)? 500 Unit converted at a cost of 0r. /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> Congratulations! You are now mining res from a deposit. To see a rough estimate of how much will be produced, type 'prod'. Now, the next thing you want to do is to look for new deposits to mine. Use 'survey *' to see where the other deposits are located. Another way to see where the deposits are located is by using the 'rmap' command. This is useful fow graphically showing the locations, and prehaps the best route there, but doesn't show the value o the deposits. To see th values, use survey *. For this race, the output of survey * looks like: /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> survey * Sector deposits: 1,0 Arctic Mountains resources x 1 91% 2,4 Arctic Plains fuel x 1 45% 4,2 Arctic Mountains resources x10 100% * Drones of Dharma 5,4 Arctic Plains resources x 6 45% 7,3 Arctic Plains fuel x 3 49% /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> Sector 5,4 has a large res deposit, so it is a likely candidate for the next colony. It is also 45% compatible, so there is no need to set up a dome. So the player would once again detach from the capital. However, this time, more will be detached. A population unit (p###) needs to use 1 res each update from the planet's stockpile. Since this player has not yet mined any res, the unit has none to use, so it will decay a little. A good number to use is usually 65-70. So the player does 'detach @54 70'. This creates p303. Then the player issues the command, 'move p303 32', and sees: /Milky Way/Sol/Earth>move p303 32 (4,2) -> (5,3) 1 MPs (5,3) -> (5,4) 1 MPs /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> Now a list will show p303 at (5,4) and at less than 100% efficiency. The player must wait enough updates for the unit to reach 100% eff before it can be converted into a colony. Efficiency goes up by 5*work per update. A race with work 10 goes up 50% per update. The new survey * will look like: /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> survey * Sector deposits: 1,0 Arctic Mountains resources x 1 91% 2,4 Arctic Plains fuel x 1 45% 4,2 Arctic Mountains resources x10 100% * Drones of Dharma 5,4 Arctic Plains resources x 6 45% Drones of Dharma 7,3 Arctic Plains fuel x 3 49% /Milky Way/Sol/Earth> As 'help survey' shows, the sector with a colony has a * next to the race name, while the sector with just a p unit has the race name, but no *. The next thing this player will want to do is to design a ship and its components. For that see 'help design' and 'advice ships'. Once the designs are complete, they will need to be activated in a research center. So you have spread out over your planet, and look longingly at the stars. "How to get there?" you wonder. Of course, you must build a ship. The first step to building a ship is to design the components. In the beginning of the game, you will probably be limited in your technology level. I would recommend designing an engine first. Use the command 'new engine' to get into the design mode for engines. You can use '?' to list your options. For a start, try 'imp 11'. Then 'show' to see the design costs. It should look like: design engine > show Engine #0 STL INACTIVE 0/320 (0%) 0.0/2.3 cost=10r imp=11 vol=2 wgt=2 This design requires a propulsion technology of 2.32 ( 0.00) From this we see that it would cost 10 res (10r) to build this engine. It also requires a propulsion technology level of 2.32, and the player has a propulsion tech level of 0. Some other information is that it is a Slower Than Light drive (STL) and has not been researched (INACTIVE). The volume of this engine is 2, which means a hull design would have to allot at least size 2 to its engine room for this engine to fit in the hull. This is important when designing hulls. Lastly, it would take 320 points of research to develop this design to ACTIVE status, at which point a factory could begin construction of this engine type. You should now name the engine using the 'name' command. Once you are done with the design, use 'done' to end the design mode. If you realize you made a mistake, you can alter the design of an INACTIVE design with the 'old' command. I would recommend designing your first engine for the tech level you will be at in two updates. This is because you can research the hull and fuel canisters first. To figure out what tech level that will be, take your current tech level (0.00 in the above example) and add twice your int/10. So if the above race had an int (which you can see using 'profile' of 10, their tech level will be 2 * 10/10 = 2.0 in two turns. Next design a fuel canister, but I would suggest designing it for only 1 turn away. (Note, you can always adjust this with the 'old' command if you are delayed or want to make sure you have the right design.) I will leave the details to the reader. Say you end up with: design fuel containment > show Fuel #0 INACTIVE 0/570 (0%) 3.6/2.0 cost=5r cap=19 vol=9 wgt=19 This design requires an engineering technology of 1.99 ( 3.60) This takes up a volume of 9. So now we have the basic components of a ship, except the hull. Since you don't want to have to redesign the hull all the time, let's go with a design that can handle more advanced engines and a lot of fuel cans. Since the engine will take up 2 volume, if the engine room is made size 10, there is a lot of room to expand. Similarly, if the fuel section has a size of 30, plenty of fuel can be held. So we make the hull by 'new hull'. design hull > eng design engines > size 10 design engines > done design hull > fuel design fuel storage > size 30 design fuel storage > done design hull > show Hull: #0 Cargo Ship INACTIVE 0/0 (0%) 3.6/0.0 cost=0r size=0 wgt=0 armor=0 size vol wgt dam/eff status design other Bridge 0 0 0 0% Sensors 0 0 0 0% Quarters 0 0 0 0% Cargo 0 0 0 0% Weapons 0 0 0 0% Defenses 0 0 0 0% Engines 10 0 0 0% Fuel Storage 30 0 0 0% TOTAL SIZE OF SECTIONS EXCEEDS FREE SPACE BY 40 This design requires an engineering technology of 0.00 ( 3.60) WARNING: This hull has no bridge. Without a bridge this ship is useless. WARNING: This hull has no crew quarters. Some things of note are that to increase the size of a section, the section name must be entered, then 'size #'. When you want to change the size of another section, 'done' must be entered first, then the new section name. You should also see the warnings. You have to put a population unit (p###) on the ship for it to operate. Each member of a popn unit takes up 1 volume of space. So if you want to colonize a new planet, you need to send at least 50 people. Then the quarters must be size 50. I add 1 to the quarters so there can be a dedicated pilot, but if you remember to detach 1 from the new colony, that 1 could navigate the ship back to your HW to get more people. Since you don't want to shuttle back and forth a lot, make the quarters size 201. Use 'quarters', 'size 201' and 'done'. Another option is to put the pilot into the bridge, now that bridges can hold crew. Now you need to decide how big you want your bridge. Since this is your first ship, assume it won't get shot at. Then all you need in your bridge is room for someone to be able to "pilot" the ship. You don't actually do anything to have a pilot, you just have to have room in the bridge for it to be there. When people do start shooting at you, you will want to make the bridge large enough to accommodate some extra armor too, but for now just make the bridge size 1. Now 'show' gives the following information: design hull > show Hull: #0 Cargo Ship INACTIVE 0/0 (0%) 3.6/0.0 cost=0r size=0 wgt=0 armor=0 size vol wgt dam/eff status design other Bridge 1 0 0 0% Sensors 0 0 0 0% Quarters 201 0 0 0% Cargo 0 0 0 0% Weapons 0 0 0 0% Defenses 0 0 0 0% Engines 10 0 0 0% Fuel Storage 30 0 0 0% TOTAL SIZE OF SECTIONS EXCEEDS FREE SPACE BY 242 This design requires an engineering technology of 0.00 ( 3.60) Well, the warnings went away, but there is a message about the total size. What you need to do is (at the prompt of 'design hull >') set the size to 242. You can then see that this design will require 0.46 engineering technology to research. Now that you are done, use 'done'. You should get a message like: design hull > done 242 space used out of 242 Hull design #24 complete So now you need to research the design. If you have converted a population unit into a research center, then use 'research r## hull 24', where r## is the number of the research center you get using 'list r'. After the update the design should be 'ACTIVE', and a factory can build it. For an existing factory, use 'manufacture f## hull 24' to build it. You will be prompted for how many hulls you want to make. I would suggest 1-3 for starters. Now you should order the research center to study the fuel canisters. After the next update, the fuel design should be ACTIVE, and the hulls built. You can see the hulls with 'list' or for this particular design, 'list s' will show them. Now order the factory to manufacture the fuel cans (make about 2-3 per ship if you have the res to spare) and have the research center work on the engine design. When they are all built, use 'load' to load the components into the hulls. Use 'detach' to get popn units for the ships. I suggest having the ships in a sector with a Capitol or City so the detached units are at 100% efficiency. Then load them into the quarters. Use 'refuel' to get fuel into the ships, and 'pack' to pack res for shipment with the popn. Load the res package into the cargo bay (though it could be loaded anywhere with extra room) and 'launch' the ship. Then you need to 'order' the ships to a destination and speed. For example, if you had ship s1 at Earth, and wanted to send it to Mars, which is in your solar system, you would use 'order 1 des .Mars' where the .Mars specifies to move up to the star scope, then use Mars as the destination. Then use 'ord 1 speed' to set the speed. I would recommend setting the speed such that you will burn about half the fuel or a little more getting to the planet. Then, sit back, wait for the move segment, and watch your ship move to the new planet. Base units have several uses: 1) They are used to produce 'destruct' which is used to arm assault batteries. Each update, each base will produce destruct by the conversion 1r + 1f = 1d. So you will need to load fuel and resources into your bases to make destruct. The produced destruct will be placed in your stockpiles. 2) They provide planetary defense. Each base has intrinsic assault and turret guns, which are computed each update by the formulas: popn turret guns = 0.1 * (defense tech) * ---- 5000 popn assault guns = 0.1 * (weapons tech) * ---- 5000 Note that although bases can not be ordered directly to attack alien units, they WILL respond to alien actions such as land, launch, attack. Everytime an enemy ship or squadron tries an action, all bases on the planet will fire a salvo on the unit. 3) They provide defense benefits against land assaults. In general, a base has to be destroyed before any other land units in the sector may be attacked by a land assault. BOARDING Description: When a population unit attempts to board a ship, the target ship's quarter size is checked, and only that many boarders actually contribute in the assault. When the number of boarders is found, all population units of the defending ship are attacked one at a time by the following sequence: (1) (attack strength) of boarders is calculted by 0.01 * (boarders) * (boarder's weapons tech) + 1.0. (2) (defense strength) is calculated by 0.01 * (defenders) * 0.5 * [ (defender's weapons tech) + (defender's defense tech) ] + 1.0. (3) A (casualty scale) is taken to be the smallest populaton of the two units. (4) The maximum possible number of attackers killed is computed by (casualty scale) * (defense strength) / (attack strength) (5) The maximum possible number of defenders killed is computed by (casualty scale) * (attack strength) / (defense strength) (6) The actual number killed on both sides is then a random number between 0 and the maximum values described in (4) and (5) When your ship is attacked by fighters, energy or kinetic weapons, the attack class is first determined: attack by attack class fighter FIGHTER torpedo ENERGY laser ENERGY assault battery KINETIC If the attack class is ENERGY, the first that occurs is to try to deflect the attack by shields. Each shield online in the defense section will try to deflect the attack: 1) The chance that shield will work in any particular attack is its efficiency. 2) If the efficiency check is successful, the shield will dampen the attack according to the armor penetration function: strength' = AP( attack_strength, strength, shield_strength, EXCELLENT) where the argument EXCELLENT comes from the table: USELESS 0 POOR 1 FAIR 2 GOOD 3 EXCELLENT 4 and the armor penetration function AP is defined by: attack AP(att, def, effect) = attack * --------------------- attack + effect * def 3) If all of the attack strength is not deflected, some efficiency may be lost from the shield, and the next shield is attack by the remaining attack strength as described above. Note that shields only effect ENERGY attacks, and are ineffective against fighters and assault battery attacks. If any attack strength remains, the hull of the ships is attacked. The purpose of an attack is to penetrate all armor and to attack the components of sections and to try to destroy ship section. The effective hull armor is computed from the hull armor and ship damage level: 100 - damage effective_hull_armor = hull_armor -----------------. 100 Note that the ship damage level is computed from the sum of the fractional damage level of all its sections. The attack strength is further attenuated by strength' = AP( attack_strength, effective_hull_strength, quality) where quality (armor effectiveness) is determined from the attack class: attack class armor effectiveness FIGHTER EXCELLENT KINETIC GOOD ENERGY POOR If any attack strength survives the hull armor, it then attacks ship sections. While there is still strength in the attack, a section to attack is chosen randomly, the chance being proportional to the sqrt of its size (note that destroyed sections are not chosen). Once the section to attack is selected, first armor systems are attacked. The strength of the attack is reduced by each armor unit by strength' = AP( attack_strength, armor_strength, quality) where quality depends on the attack class and the armor class and armor_strength is effected by efficiency. For energy armor: attack class armor effectiveness FIGHTER EXCELLENT ENERGY GOOD KINETIC POOR For kinetic (standard) armor: attack class armor effectiveness FIGHTER EXCELLENT ENERGY POOR KINETIC GOOD If the surviving attack strength is greater than armor_strength the armor unit is destroyed, otherwise its efficiency is reduced by a factor of (armor_strength - strength')/armor_strength. All armor units in the section are attacked as above. If any attack strength survives, it then is used to attack section volume: volume = binomial_rand(0, attack_strength, 1) * 5. If volume > section_size, the section is considered to be 100% damaged and the attack_strength is reduced by section_size/5. Otherwise, the damage level of the section is increased by 100% * volume/section_size and the attack is stopped. The actual section damage is increased by (100 - section_damage)* damage/100. If there is damage done to the section, then each of the items in the section may be attacked, the chance of damage occuring to all occupants being the current section damage level. If the ships damage level is 100% (all sections destroyed), or greater than sections are damaged and success(ship_damage) succeeds twice, the ship will suffer a critical hit and the ship will be destroyed. When a combat is to occur between two fighter groups the first thing that is done is to determine who has the 'bounce' (e.g. - attacks first): Suppose squadron A is to attack squadron B. The difference in maneuverability 'dmnv' is computed and the chance of A getting the bounce is chance = 50% + 31.8309886% * atan(dmnv) . If this fails then B gets the bounce and attacks first. After determining who attacks first combat is evaluated: (1) The combat strength of the attacking unit is evaluated. This depends depends on the availability of fuel. The amount of fuel required for a full strength attack is the minimum of the amount of fighters from each group. (For example, if one group has 10 fighters and another 5, the attack will require 5f). If the group has enough fuel for the attack, the fuel is subtracted and the combat strength is evaluate from (attack strength) = (# fighters) * (fighter attack strength) otherwise, the amount of fuel is halved and the above strength is computed and divided in half. Note: In some cases squadons without fuel may not be allowed to attack. All groups can fight, however, if they are attacked by other fighters. (2) An attack coordination is then evaluated. This depends on the efficiency of the fighter unit. This is computed from the following formula: (coordination) = binomial_rand( eff/10, 10, 1) * 10 where the binomial_rand() function is evaluated by binomial_rand(a, b, c) = (int_rand(a, b) + int_rand(a, b) + c)/2 This strength is attentuated by the coordination by (combat strength)' = (combat strength) * (coordination) / 100 Note: It is always possible for a squad to have a 100% coordination. Also, if a squad has only 1 fighter, coordination is not evaluated. (3) The amount of defending fighters destroyed is evaluated: (a) The casualty scale is computed from (attack strength) (scale) = -------------------------------------- 1.0 + 0.5 * (defender's armor rating) (b) A shift is determined by comparing the attacking and defending maneuverability ratings (shift) = (attacker maneuver) - (defender maneuver) (c) and then the amount of fighters killed is computed (elim) = (scale) * ( 0.5 + 0.18309886 * atan(shift) ) 0 (elim) = binomial_rand(0, (elim) , 1) 0 If the defending fighters survive, the above sequence is repeated with the above defender now being the attacker. (I apologize for all of the physics, but this _is_ how the energy system works for the game. You don't need to understand this stuff to play!) FUEL What is 1f? The definition may seem rather strange, but it is the amount of energy required to accelerate 1 ton (2000lb = 4400kg) through -6 delta-gamma = 5x10 (read your relativity physics :) 15 or in terms of conventional units 1.98x10 J. By comparison, the total energy consumed in the United States in one year is 7x10^19 J (~35,000f). ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fuel Usage When Launching The amount of energy needed to launch a ship is computed using the depth of the potential energy well of the planet U(escape) = GMm/R where M=mass of planet, m=mass of ship, and R=radius of planet. In terms of escape velocity v(escape) = 2GM/R we have 1 2 1 2 2 U(escape) = - mv(escape) = - mc B(escape) 2 2 using B=v/c. 2 The rest energy mc can be converted to to our fuel units by 2 mc = 200000 weight where weight is in tons. Since 2 -1/2 gamma = ( 1 - B ) then the amount of fuel needed to launch can be shown to be 1 2 200000 - B(escape) fuel/ton. 2 For example, to launch a 5000 ton ship from Earth (v(escape)~= 11.4km/sec) requires 1 -5 2 200000 - (3.8x10 ) 5000 = 0.722f 2 ------------------------------------------------------------------ Fuel Usage During Acceleration Using special relativity, the Kinetic Energy of an object moving at velocity v 2 mc 2 2 K = ------------- - mc = mc ( gamma - 1 ) 2 -1/2 ( 1 - B ) = 200000 weight (gamma - 1). Therefore, the amount of energy, in fuel points, needed to change velocity is simply fuel = 200000 weight d(gamma). In Cosmic Conquest, gamma is proportional to your "speed factor" -9 gamma = 1.0 + 2.5x10 speed so fuel usage is directly proportional to changes in speed factors: -4 fuel = 5x10 (weight) (change in speed factors). For example, if you wish to accelerate a 5000 ton ship from rest to a speed of 50 then this would cost 125f. GROWTH The change of the population each update is: (change) = 10 * (growth rate) * (popn) * ( (compat) - (popn)/(max popn) ) where (growth rate) is your race's growth rate, (popn) is the population of the unit and (max popn) is the maximum population of that unit. The factor (compat) is the sector compatibility and ranges from 0 to 1. For domes and bases this is simply: (compat) = (unit efficiency)/100 and for other units (compat) = (sector compatibility)/100 Important: Population units (those with the 'p' designation) REQUIRE 1r per update or they will start dying off. The rate at which a unit dies off is dependent on it adaptibility: (change) = (popn) / (adaptibility) Note that if your adaptibility is 1, you will lose ALL of your people in one update if it isn't supplied. The necessary resources must be present in your planet's stockpiles. Examples: 50% eff dome with 200 pop and a maximum of 1000 pop, and growth rate of 3%: (change) = 10 * 0.03 * 200 * ( 0.5 - 200/1000 ) = +18 50% eff civ unit with 50 pop and a maximum of 500 pop, on a 50% compatible sector and 3% growth rate: (change) = 10 * 0.03 * 50 * ( 0.25 - 50/500 ) = +2 0% City unit with 45000 pop and a maximum of 50000 on a 100% compatible sector and 3% growth rate: (change) = 10 * 0.03 * 45000 * (0.0 - 45000/50000) = -12150 The amount of tech generated each update from a tech center depends on several factors: _ ___ _____ _ | | | | 1 $ popn | | IQ | work | - * log10( 1 + --- * ----- ) * | 1 + | -- + | ---- | 4 500 500 | \| 20 \| 40 | |_ _| If a tech center is domed, this amount is further reduced by a fifth. The cost for jumping depends on the range (L.Y) of the design, distance (L.Y.) and weight (tons) according to the following: distance If X = -------- then range / | weight | ------ * X, X < 1 | 10 fuel = < | | weight 2 | ------ * X , X > 1 \ 10 Notice: The position that you enter the star system is random, UNLESS, you specify a friendly ship in that system as the jump destination, of which you will be position near it (future enhancement will require 'jump beacons' for this effect). When you try to move into a sector occupied by non-allied land units, a land combat will occur. Units in the target sector are attacked one by one, by the unit you are trying to move into the sector. Units are attacked in the following order: (1) Military (2) Bases (3) Civilians (4) others Within the above groupings, units are attacked until they are either destroyed, captured, or they surrender. For each combat, an attack strength is computed by: 1 1 (attack_strength) = --- ( - ( (att_comp) + (att_comp2) ) + 100) 100 2 eff * --- * (a_population) * (race combat strength) 100 where (att_comp) is the compatibility of the attacker's sector for the attacking unit, and (att_comp2) is the compatibility of the defender's sector for the attacker. Note: If you are attacking with a military unit the (attack_strength) is further multiplied by the attacking race's weapons technology! The defense strength is computed by: 1 eff (defense_strength) = --- ( (def_comp) + 100) * --- * (d_population) 100 100 * (race combat strength) where (def_comp) is the compatibility of the defender's sector for the defending unit. This defense strength is further multiplied by the following factor: Unit Multiplier ---- ---------- research 0.1 factory " dome " observatory " colony 1.0 population " city 1.5 port " tech 2.0 capital " base 3.0 military average of defender's defense and weapons tech If the attacker's strength is 0, the attack is aborted. If the defender's strength is 0, the unit will surrender to the attacker. Otherwise, a combat occurs: 1) A (casualty scale) is determined by (casualty_scale) = minimum(att, def) + 1 2) Casualtieso f the defending unit are computed by att (casualties) = between [ 0 and (casualty_scale) * --- def 3) The same is evaluated by switching the defender and the attacker. If (casualties) are greater than the unit's population, it is destroyed. Otherwise the attacking unit loses efficiency according to the following relation: combat - 1 (new_eff) = (eff) * ---------- combat (Note: Military units do *not* lose efficiency during combat). The defending unit will only lose efficiency if the attack strength is greater than the defense strength. If the defending unit is domed, it will lose the dome IF the attack strength is greater than the defense strength. If the defending unit survives and does not surrender, the attacker must try again, otherwise, the attacker continues to battle the next unit. If all defending units are eliminated or surrender, the attacker occupies the square. The hit probability of a laser depends on range, pattern, target size, laser technology and efficiency: 1 range Define x = - ---------- 2 0.1 * size where range is in mAU and size is the size of the target. The hit chance is then computed from -ax hit_chance = max_prob * e where a is 1 for wide pattern and 1.5 for focused, and eff is the efficiency of the laser. The term max_prob is the best hit chance possible, determined by the laser's technology at manufacture: tech max_prob = ------------ * eff. 100 + tech The amount of fuel used by a laser depends on the strength of the attack. When the attack is resolved, the amount of strength that hits the target depends on the pattern. For focused attacks, the entire strength either hits of misses using the above hit probability. For wide pattern, each strength point is evaluated for hit or miss using the above probability, the total hits being the strength used to compute damage. Lasers are energy weapons. See 'describe damage' for information as to how damage is evaluated when an attack strength is applied against a ship. Type 'describe ' to obtain advice on the following topics: ('*' denotes a new addition to the documentation) Topics: growth mining fuel surface invest base jump repair land-combat fighter laser torpedo damage MINING Colonies and domes can create resources and fuel if they are located on a sector with deposits. The amount of resources extracted each update is given by: (amount) = (popn factor) * (sector deposits) * (work factor) * (eff) / 100 where --------------------- (work factor) = \/ 10 * (work rate) - 2 and ---------------------------------- (popn factor) = \/ (popn) / (unit type maximum popn) . If the sector is a fuel sector on a gas planet this amount is multiplied by 3.0. Domes are reduced by a factor of 5. SHIP REPAIR When a ship is damaged, it can be repaired by its crew. The total crew is the sum of the bridge and quarters section. Each crew member can fix 'work rate' amount of section size per update per section. So, for a work 10 race and a crew of 500 can fix 5000 section size per update per section. Ship repair is evaluated at each update. Ship systems can only be repaired if the ship is landed on a planet or space station. Damage is reduced by a half each update. The efficiency of ship systems loaded in a ship is increased each segment. A 'crew factor' is computed from 10 (crew factor) = ( crew * work_rate ) / ( ship_size ); and each system has it's efficiency increased by 800 * (crew_factor) / (number of segments) each segment - i.e. you get 800 * (crew factor) each update. This is a description of how the 'emissivity' of the atmosphere is related to the 'optical depth' and how the surface temperature is computed. The physics is pretty deep, but simple formulas are derived and are described at the end. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- The intensity I(z) absorbed as a function of path length z is related to the 'optical depth' X: / z | X = | k rho dz | / 0 by -X I = I e 0 where I is assumed to be the radiation input at X=0, 0 k = absorption coefficient, rho = molecular density and X starts at the 'top' of the atmosphere and increases towards the surface in the following model. The intensity emitted by a layer of atmosphere at optical density X is B(T) dX where B(T) is the blackbody function at temperature T: 4 -8 B = sigma T sigma = 5.6703x10 W ---- 2 4 m K Now, consider a layer of atmosphere dX, let the outward flow of radiation + - be I and the downward flow of radiation be I . With a little though it can be shown that - - dI = -I dX + B dX and that + + dI = I dX - B dX (going against dX! dX < 0 in this case) We get two differential equations + - dI + dI - (1) -- = I - B and (2) -- = B - I dX dX + - Define: phi = I - I (net flux outwards) + - and psi = I + I (total intensity radiated by the layer!) d + - dT Now: -- (I - I ) = pho C -- . In equilibrium dT/dt = 0 hence dz p dt + - I - I = constant = phi. (The net flux is the same at each atmospheric level). d psi So, (1) + (2) gives: ----- = phi d X and d phi (1) - (2) gives: ----- = psi - 2B d X However since phi is constant then psi = 2B. dB phi So, then -- = --- which gives the solution for B: dX 2 phi B = --- X + constant 2 Now we apply boundary conditions at the top of the atmosphere (X = 0) where - I = 0, and there we have that + phi = I = I (I is the necessary outward radiation flux to 0 0 balance the effect of solar heating, I will discuss this below). + and psi = I = I . 0 Therefore for any X we have that the local blackbody function B is given by: I 0 B = --- (X + 1) 2 Just above ground level we have that I 0 B = --- (X + 1) g 2 g Note that this *does not* determine the ground temperature, and in fact it is easy to show that there is a discontinuity at the ground, where the black body of the surface B is actually E I 0 B = --- (X + 2) E 2 g Note that in the case of no absorption that B is simply I , that this E 0 blackbody radiates the correct amount to maintain thermal equilibrium. How to determine 'decent' surface temperatures (based on this simple radiative model) is then straightforward: 4 B = sigma T E E so we have 4 2 sigma T = I (X + 2) E 0 g or 2 4 ----- sigma T = I 2 + X E 0 g 1 Since I = - (1 - r) S 0 4 where 0 < r < 1 is the planet's albedo and S is the solar intensity. Then it is easy to see that the planet's surface temperature is simply ___________ | > | (1 - r) S > T = | ---------- > E 4| 4 e sigma \| where the planet's emissivity e is related to the optical depth of the atmosphere X by: > 2 > e = ----- > 2 + X g Note that if there is no atmosphere (X -> 0) then e->1 so that T g E becomes the blackbody temperature __________ | T = | (1 - r) S B 4| --------- \| 4 sigma Note that the solar constant S depends on the local radiation intensity of the star and is related to the star's luminosity L and distance from the star by L S = -------- . 2 4 pi D 26 6 For the Sun, L = 3.85x10 W. Since the Earth is 150x10 km from the Sun, 2 this gives S = 1353 W/m and using r = 0.3, the blackbody temperature of o the earth is -22 C (254 K). However, the average surface temperature of o the earth is about 13 C (286 K) this is can be attributed to the earth's greenhouse effect (e.g. e < 1) which works out to be e = 0.6 (X = 1.33). g So, based on knowledge of the optical depth of the planet, its albedo r and the solar constant S it should be quite easy to determine an accurate value for the planet's surface temperature! The hit probability of a torpedo depends on range, optimal range (scale), torpedo technology and efficiency: scale - range Define x = PI * ------------- 1000 where range is in mAU and scale is the optimal range of the torpedo. The hit chance is then computed from 2 | sin(x) | hit_chance = max_prob * | -------- | | x | where the term max_prob is the best hit chance possible, determined by the laser's technology at manufacture: tech max_prob = ------------ * eff%. 100 + tech The amount of fuel used by a torpedo depends on the strength of the attack. When firing on a ship, the hit probability represents the chance that the torpedo will hit or miss. In the event of a hit, all attack strength is applied to the target, otherwise all strength misses. If the target is a fighter squadron, in the event of a miss then hit_chance fraction of the attack strength attacks the fighters. Torpedos are energy weapons. See 'describe damage' for information as to how damage is evaluated when an attack strength is applied against a ship. ACTION Concept: Define route node actions Syntax: action [] Description: Once you have created a route node, you will want to define which actions ships should perform upon arrival at the planet. The following actions are supported: action <#> reset Reset all action flags action <#> sector Designate landing sector action <#> destination Set destination planet, same as 'link' action <#> speed Target cruising speed action <#> land Land on the landing sector action <#> unload Unload packages from cargo action <#> load Load packages into cargo action <#> refuel Refuel the ship action <#> launch Actions are always performed in the order: land -> unload -> load -> refuel -> launch -> set destination/speed If some actions are undefined, they will simply not be executed. If an action fails, the ship will stop following the route and the owner will be informed. When a ship executes an unload action, it will unload ALL packages in its cargo section, and it will unpack them. When a ship executes a load action, it will attempt to load all of the packages in the planet's inventory until the ship's cargo section is filled. You should always specify a speed factor, since the ships will be ordered with this as their target speed. Note that if a node is in another star system (which is usually the case), that the ship will attempt to jump. If the jump is successful, then the ship will be ordered to this speed again. SEE ALSO: help: cargo, create, link, order, pack, routes AGENTS You are permitted to create agent to spy on enemy planets and ships. Agents can also be used to detect and kill enemy spies in the same scope, in addition to being able to perform sabotage and insurrections. Agents are can occupy either planet or ship scopes. Whenever you have an agent in either kind of scope, you can 'cs' to it freely and examine the scope as if you occupied or owned it. You are allowed to embark and disembark alien ships. Agents can eliminated by either assassination attempts or 'sweeps'. Actions by or against agents cost money. -------------------------------------- Creating Agents - An agent is created by spending money from a planetary treasury. Agents have a rating (PPV) which is a measure of how strong they are relative to other agents. The effective strength is logarithmic on the amount of money spent. When an amount of money is decided on to spend, the value of the agent is computed from PPV = log10($) Note that PPV is an integer value, so there is a chance that the value may be rounded up or down from the exact value of the log10(). For example, if you spend $1400, log10(1400) = 3.146. This means that the PPV will be either 3 (85.4% chance) or 4 (14.6% chance). You must use the 'create agent <$ | PPV>' function. The 'agents [] []' command is used to show what agents you have and behaves similar to the 'list' functions. Paying Agents - You agents will need money to perform some functions. You can give your agents money by using the 'pay ' function. Finding Alien Agents - You can use your agents to try to locate alien agents in your current scope. The effectiveness of this depends on how string your agent is and how much of his money you wish to allocate. The strength of the search is + log10(<$ spent>). Any agent of this PPV or lower will be listed. You must use the 'search <$>' command. Note that this command does *not* eliminate the detected agents, it only lists their presence and you will have to use the 'kill' or 'sweep' functions to eliminate them. (Note: if an agent is found on a ship it is arrested and eliminated.) Sweeping for Agents - You may spend money from your treasury to directly search and arrest alien agents. The effectiveness of the sweep is log10($). Any agents found by this method will be arrested and eliminated. You must use the 'sweep <$>' function. Embarking onto Ships - You may order your agents to load onto ships. When your agent is on board a ship you may 'cs' to it freely and list its contents if you wish - yes, this means you can stow away onto alien ships! To load onto a ship use 'embark '. Disembarking from Ships - If a ship is landed on a planet, you can tell it to leave by using the disembark command. You must use the 'disembark ' command. **** DOCUMENTATION IS STILL IN PROGRESS - OTHER COMMANDS ARE BEING **** ADDED SO BE PATIENT! -------------------------------------- See help on the following commands: agents create pay sweep search embark disembark ARM Concept: convert civilians into miltary troops Syntax: arm Description: You can create military units which have accentuated combat strengths. These units defend at a strength of your combat value per civilian. Each civ costs 1d to convert to a military unit. You may also move these units up to their full movement rate without any efficiency loss. Military units may move beyond their movement rates, but they will suffer efficiency losses. Miltary units have no growth, and are unaffected by sector compatibility. However, their combat strengths are affected by efficiency and racial weapons and defensive tech levels. SEE ALSO: help: combat, move describe: growth, land-combat ARMOR Armor is placed in ships sections to protect the contents of those sections. Armor may only protect the contents of the section in which it is loaded. The effectiveness of armor depends on its strength. in addition, there are two types of armor, Energy Armor and Kinetic Armor. The first kind, Energy armo, is used primarily to protect against energy weapons such as laser and torpedoes. Kinetic armor protects against guns and small arms fire such as those encountered during boarding attempts. Each kind of armor will provide some coverage against any kind of attack however. See help on 'combat'. The basic protection armor offers a section is proportional to the armor size and inversely proportional to the section's size. Larger sections need more armor to offer similar protection to smaller sections with less armor. Remember that armor does occupy space and tonnage so there is a tradeoff! To start a new armor design, you would execute the command 'new armor'. This will put you into the 'design armor' mode and the prompt design armor> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old armor'. A list of your current armor designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in armor design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save type <"kinetic"/ kinetic or energy armor "energy> strength strength of armor SEE ALSO: help: combat, design, new, old, research, manufact, build ASSAULT Concept: Assault a ship with another ship. Syntax: assault Description: This is used to attempt to capture an alien ship by boarding. You must be with 2 mAU to attempt this maneuver. In order to assault, there must be at least one population unit with assault orders (see 'help order') on the assaulting ship. Each time an assault is ordered, all currently ordered population units will assault the opposing ship. Population units on the opposing ship will defend against the assault. If all opposing population are eliminated during the assault, and if any of your population survive the assault, the opposing ship is considered to be captured, and your ship is docked with the captured ship. Assaulting population will be reloaded onto the assaulting if the boarding attempt is successul. You will have to 'load' them onto the captured ship. Requirements: You may not assault if your ship is docked. You must have impulse engines online. You may not assault landed ships (see 'help capture' for this case). SEE ALSO: help: capture, combat, dock, load, online, order, undock describe: boarding ATTACK Concept: Order a squadron to attack Syntax: attack Description: While fighter combat is automatic during segments when enemy units come within assault range (2mAU), this allows you to manually order an attack as well. SEE ALSO: help: combat, fighter, mission AUTOREPORT Concept: Generate a production report during updates Syntax: autoreport [] Description: This command will generate a report of the total production for colonies in the current operating scope or if provided. If the current scope or is a star system, all planets in the system will be reported. The option can be used to activate or deactivate this option. SEE ALSO: help: inventory, production, tax BASE Concept: Set a squadrons base scope Syntax: base Description: Squadrons will return to their base after their mission has been completed. When a squadron is launched or unloaded, its base is set to its parent by default. This can be either a planet or a ship. If you wish to change the base scope, it must be either another explored planet or a ship. When the squadron arrives at a planet, its speed is not changed, while when arriving at a ship, its speed it set to the speed of the ship and will follow the ship. SEE ALSO: help: mission, fighter, cs BASES Concept: military installations which produce destruct from fuel and res and defend against ship to planet attacks with default turret and assault battery systems. Description: Bases are created by converting population units into a base. A base has a default value of both turrets and assault batteries, depending upon the base size, efficiency, and the racial tech level. A battery of each type (1 assault and 1 turret) may also be loaded into the base, and the base's default values are added to the loaded battery values for the assault and turret strength of the base. These are useful for defending agianst ship to ground combat, and will automatically fire upon neutral, hostile, or warring races' ships which orbit the planet. Turret batteries still use fuel, and assault batteries use destruct when they fire. The fuel or destruct may be loaded into the base (see 'help load'.) or the base can automatically pull it from the planetary stockpiles. (See 'help autoload'.) Bases can also convert equal parts of res and fuel to make destruct. The res and fuel must be loaded into the base for the production to occur. The destruct will be placed in the planetary stockpiles. SEE ALSO: help: autoload, combat, convert, fire, load BATTERY Batteries are kinetic/small arms/laser type systems used to attack targets at close range. There are two kinds of batteries, assault and turret. Assault batteries are offensive weapons systems which can be used to attack enemy ships at 'assault' range ( < 2mAU ) and to bombard sectors on planets. Turret batteries are defensive weapons systems which provide a last line of defense against attacking fighter squadrons and missiles. The of a battery is used to compute the results of attacks by the system. Assault batteries use 1d (destruct) per point of strength used in the attack while turret batteries do not use any fuel or destruct. The strength for an assault battery is its 'assault' or 'bombardment' strength while the strength of a turret battery is its 'screening' strength. The of a battery can only be one for a turret battery. For turret batteries the rate determines how many defensive throws the battery has against an attacking fighter or missile in defense to a given attack. All defending turret batteries will try attacks against the attacking fighter or missile. Attacking missiles and fighters MUST survive all screening turret batteries before it can attack the ship. You may have more than one battery online in any section. Assault batteries only function from the weapons section of the ship while turret batteries only function from the defense section of the ship. Ammunition for batteries (in destruct points) are stored in 'magazine' units and there must be a magazine in the weapons or defense section for assault or turret batteries respectively. To start a new battery design, you would execute the command 'new battery'. This will put you into the 'design battery' mode and the prompt design battery> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old battery'. A list of your current scoop designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in battery design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save strength bombardment or screening strength type type of battery rate rate at which battery fires this is 1 for assault batteries and may be 1 or more for turret batteries SEE ALSO: help: build, combat, fire, magazine, manufacture, new, old BROADCAST Concept: Send a message to all players logged into the game Syntax: broadcast ' Description: This allows a player to transmit a message to all users who are currently receiving broadcasts (i.e. - 'gag' is off). The message is limited to 255 characters and will appear on the display of all accepting users. Note that this is a public broadcast. If you wish to send private messages use 'send'. Note: If you do not provide the argument, you will be prompted for it. This allows you to enter your message without being interrupted by other messages until you are done. SEE ALSO: help: chat, gag, nogag, send BUILD Syntax: build Description: Players can construct a wide variety of different objects which perform functions in the game. Most installations, such as factories, can be created using the 'convert' command and you should read the help on that subject. To build population based units such as colonies, research centers, etc., you should consult the help on the 'convert' command. The purpose of this help file is to describe how one goes about building a ship and the various systems which are necessary for proper operation of a ship. (Read help on 'ship' before proceeding with this description). The procedure for building a ship can be thought of as having three phases: Design --> Research --> Production First, you must specify a design. A design has technological requirements which is based on the complexity of the design. See help on 'design' for details on how the design system is implemented. Once a design has been established, the design can be made 'active' (which means that you can use it is a template for manufacturing) by assigning one or more research centers to it. Each design starts off with a research level of 0%. Each update, the research level of the design will increase depending on the complexity of the design and the number of research centers assigned to it. The research is considered to be complete when the research level reaches 100% at which point the design may now be manufactured. See help on 'research' for details on how the research system is implemented. Once research on a design has been completed, players may build objects from the design in factories that they construct. The output from the factory is a usable object such as a ship, or ship system. See help on 'produce' for details on how the production system works. SEE ALSO: help: convert, construct, design, produce, research, ship, tech CAPTURE Concept: Attempt to capture a landed ship with a population unit Syntax: capture Description: This is used to attempt to capture a landed alien ship by boarding. You must be in the same sector as the target ship. Each time an assault is ordered, the population unit will assault the opposing ship. Population units on the opposing ship will defend against the assault. If all opposing population are eliminated during the assault, and if any of your population survive the assault, the opposing ship is considered to be captured. SEE ALSO: help: combat, dock, load, move, online, order, undock describe: boarding CARGO ROUTES Concept: In order to facilitate the transportation of resources between planets, players are free to create transportation networks, known as cargo routes. A cargo route consists of a set of 'nodes', which can be linked together. A node is a static objects which represent standing orders for ships arriving at the planet at which it is defined. The purpose of this is to make it easier to maintain large empires and provide an automatic method to transport goods between planets. A route node can be defined by using 'create route ', where is a user specified name-tag which identifies the cargo route which it is to be a part of. The way to create a cargo route is to define a set of nodes with the SAME at each planet in the route and then 'link' them together. In order to assign a ship to follow a cargo route, you must first 'order route ' and then 'order route '. When this ship arrives at a planet with the same route defined at it, it will follow the orders of the node. After executing all of the orders for the node, it will then proceed to the next destination defined using 'link'. You can see what the properties of each node are by using the 'routes' command. There are a number of actions which can be defined at each node - sector, destination, land, refuel, launch, load, unload and speed (see help on 'action'). If a ship arrives at a planet which does not contain a node with it's route , it will behave normally. Note that checking for route actions are only checked upon arrival at a planet. If a ship following a cargo route is ordered to proceed to a planet in another star system, a jump order will be flagged and the ship will attempt to jump to the next star system once it has arrived at star scope. You can 'delete' route nodes if you wish. SEE ALSO: help: action, cargo, create, delete, jump, link, order, route CENTER Concept: Center a star/cluster/universe map about a specific object Syntax: center [] Description: This a map function which allows the user to center the map about the center of the scope (no argument) or a specific object. All maps will be plotted with the designated center in the middle of the screen. Examples: center s134 - centers the plot about ship #134 (from any scope) center Earth - centers the plot about the planet Earth (from star scope /01/Sol) center Sol - centers the plot about Sol (from star cluster scope /01) center 01 - center the plot about star cluster 01 (from universe scope) SEE ALSO: help: map, scope CHANNEL Concept: Designate a chat channel Syntax: channel Description: This command can be used to change the user's chat channel. Any user which has the same channel name set will receive all messages sent via 'chat'. SEE ALSO: help: chat, broadcas CHAT Concept: Broadcast on a channel Syntax: chat \ Description: A player can transmit a message to all users who are currently on the player's channel. The message is limited to 255 characters and will appear on the display of all accepting users. Although this is a public broadcast, only users on the player's channel will receive it. If you wish to send private messages use 'send'. Note: If you do not provide the argument, you will be prompted for it. This allows you to enter your message without being interrupted by other messages until you are done. SEE ALSO: help: broadcas, channel, gag, nogag, send COLONIES Concept: Print information on colonized planets Syntax: colonies [] planets [] Description: This prints a list of all colonized planets. If a is provided, it will display planets in that scope. SEE ALSO: help: power, survey COMBAT There are many ways to wage combat. Offensive weapons include assault batteries, lasers, torpedo tubes, and fighters. In some instances, fuel canisters are said to have made lovely fireballs out of player's worlds, but this is unconfirmed. To protect against these offensive weapons, ship hulls have armor, and additional armor can be made seperately and loaded into sections requiring extra protection. Shields protect against energy attack, and fighter squadrons intercept enemy fighters before they can attack a ship or planet. Land bases can also defend against orbiting ships and fighter squadrons. The types of offensive weapons, what they use to attack, and their ranges are listed below. Torpedo tubes: Torpedos use fuel to shoot a burst of energy out a range (as defined by the tubes when they are designed and built) from the ship, where it explodes, hopefully damaging anything near it. Their range is constant for a tube design, but they can be designed for ranges as large as a player's tech will allow. They are the best long range (3 AU +) weapons, and can attack fighter squadrons. Lasers: Lasers use fuel to send a beam of energy at enemy ships. The farther away the enemy is, the less chance the laser has of hitting the enemy. Lasers can be used in two modes. For a shot in a "wide" spread, each point of energy has a chance of hitting the enemy ships, and the strength of the attack is the number of energy points which hit. A shot with a "focused" spread has one chance to hit or miss. If it hits, the strength of the attack is the total energy shot at the enemy. Lasers are good for midrange (2-3 AU) attacks. Assault batteries: Assault batteries unleash great power from destruct that they carry in magazines at enemies whom are at close range. Assault batteries can also rain destruct upon planets which they orbit to soften the land units up for invasions, or to turn the planet into a wasteland and force players to use domes until the land is repaired. Assault batteries only work from under 2mAU. Fighters: Fighters use fuel in their attacks upon enemies. Fighters can either use their own impulse engines and fuel to speed up and close in on their opponents, or they can be carried in a base ship which can unload them once it has achieved speed, and let them continue while it returns home. Fighters attack with a strength of roughly the number of fighters multiplied by the attack factor. This is divided by the enemy armor strength, and adjusted by maneuverability. Fighters can also bombard planets, costing 1 fuel point per bombardment. Fighters can do all of this using missions, or with the "attack" and "bombard" commands. Fighters work close up, by can race across a solar system to engage the enemy, which makes them the backbone of the combat system. SEE ALSO: help: armor, bases, battery, bombard, fighter, laser, magazine help: mission, order, shield, torpedo describe: boarding, bombard, land-combat, ship-combat advice: defense COMPUTE Concept: Request program to evaluate operation parameters Syntax: compute [ ... ] Description: This is useful for obtaining parameters/requirements for various calculations used in many game functions. Here are the currently programmed options: description ------ ------------ ----------- launch weight Impulse, fuel needed to launch land weight Impulse, fuel needed to land jump weight, range, Fuel cost needed to jump distance fuel weight, start speed, Fuel/impulse for speed changes end speed impulse " " Note: This list is intended to grow. If you have a request for something that you would like to be added to the list of options above, feel free to contact the game manager and we will see to it that your request is coded into this command. SEE ALSO: help: jump, land, launch, order CONSTRUCT Concept: Place a construction request for a factory Syntax: construct Description: This command is used to request a factory to produce its designated design. is how many units are requested at the next update(s). The chance of producing depends on the efficiency of the factory object. The design must be ACTIVE for production to take place. See also: build, design, update, manufacture CONVERT Concept: Convert a population unit into an installation Syntax: convert Description: Population units can be converted into colonies, domes, research centers, technology centers, factrories or bases. The valid types are: Minimum Maximum Type Description Size Cost Size Cost ---- ----------- ---- ---- ---- ---- colony mining colony 500 None 5000 25r dome domed mining colony 100 5r 1000 30r research research center 500 10r 5000 35r observatory observatory 500 20r 5000 45r factory manufacturing center 500 20r 5000 45r technology technology center 500 50r 5000 75r base military base 500 50r 5000 75r Colonies units can be converted into cities or ports, as follow: Minimum Maximum Type Description Size Cost Size Cost ---- ----------- ---- ---- ---- ---- city high population area 5000 10r 50K 110r port high population area 5000 50r 50K 150r allows jumps to planet In the event that you lose your capital, you may convert any city into a capital. There is no cost to do this. However, you may only have one capital active at any time. Do 'help capital' for information one what happens if your capital is lost. Your homeplanet will be changed to the location of the new capital. Ports allow yourself and allies to jump to the planet it is located. Notes: A minimum of 50 civilians must be present to convert into the new unit. Population and production is not affected by sector compatibility in an undamaged domed mining colony. Colonies converted to cities or ports must have a size of 5000 already. Cities and ports do not produce anything, even if they are on a deposit. Only ONE technology center may be present on a given planet at any time. Only ONE colony or base may be present in any sector. Only ONE city or port may be present in any sector. Example: conv p134 col 5000 Converts population unit p134 into a mining colony at a cost of 25 res. SEE ALSO: help: build, capital, dome, jump, list, research, observe, prodction, help: arm, survey, symbols, tech, upgrade describe: growth CREATE Concept: Create a route node Syntax: create route Description: This is used to define new route nodes. Note that each node has a user defined , and a system defined route number. The system defined route rumber is used to specify a route specifically. The route is ONLY used by ships arriving at a planet. All commands which act on a route node must use the system defined route number. You can delete a node with the 'delete' command. Each new route has its destination set to the player's home planet by default and this can be changed by using 'link' or 'action destination ...'. Example: create route A7 create a route node with id of 'A7' SEE ALSO: help: cargo, routes, delete CS Concept: Chance a player's current operating scope Syntax: cs [] cd [] (This is supported for people with "Unix-fingers") Description: The purpose of the 'cs' (change scope) command is to move the player from one scope to another. The argument can have a variety of formats that make it easy to move from scope to another. If no argument is provided, the default is the home scope. The usage of this command is best illustrated with some examples: Suppose /01/Sol has nine planets around it (with names of the planets in our solar system for simplicity). Example 1) Player is at /01/Sol/Earth. Usage of 'cs .' moves the player to the /01/Sol scope. Example 2) Player is at /01/Sol/Earth. Usage of 'cs .Mars' moves the player to the /01/Sol/Mars scope. Example 3) Player is at /01/Sol/Earth. Usage of 'cs ..' moves the player to the /01 scope. Example 4) Player is at /01/Sol. Usage of 'cs Jupiter' moves the player to the /01/Sol/Jupiter scope. Example 5) Player is at /01. Usage of 'cs Sol/Earth' moves the player to the /01/Sol/Earth scope. Example 6) Player is at /02. Usage of 'cs .01/Sol/Earth' moves the player to the /01/sol/Earth scope. Example 7) Player is anywhere. Usage of 'cs /01/Sol/Earth' moves the player to the /01/Sol/Earth scope. Example 8) Player is anywhere. Usage of 'cs /' moves the player to the universe scope. From the above example, you can see that two operators are provided. The '.' symbol refers to the parent of the current scope (or 'up' one level of scope) while the '/' symbol refers to the universe level scope. If either of these operators is not present in the first character then the appropriate child object is searched for. The full name of the object need not be specified, but just enough as to be unambiguous. Note: If a '~' preceded a the game will search through all explored planets, stars, and clusters (in that order) for an appropriate name. So, for example, if you wanted to 'cs' to the planet Earth, which you have previously explored, then 'cs ~Earth' will get you there. SEE ALSO: help: map, survey, scope DECLARE Concept: Sets your side of racial relations Syntax: declare Description: The options for relations are, in order of most peaceful to most hostile, allied, friendly, neutral, hostile, and war. The more belligerent of the two race's relations is used to set the 'functional relationship'. So if player [1] decides to declare alliance to player [2], whom has previously declared war upon [1], the resulting relations will still be war. All players start the game at neutral relations to everyone. Relations affect how various units behave. The following chart illustrates the new conditions for each step of the relations. Relation New Condition -------- --------------------------------------------------------- Allied Land units (and ships) may occupy the same land sector. Allied alien arrivals to the star scope are not noted. Friendly Ships and fighters will not be automatically attacked by fighters. Bases will not fire at ships and fighters arriving at planet scopes. Manual attacks (fire, attack, torp, etc.) do not work. Neutral Fighters attack when within 2 mAU Bases attack ships and fighters in orbit SEE ALSO: help: mission, observatory, relation DEITY Concept: Shows the last time that the game manager logged in Syntax: deity Description: Self explanatory. SEE ALSO: help: invis, who DELETE Concept: Delete a route node Delete a design Syntax: delete route delete Description: If you wish to delete a route node, change scope to the planet which hosts the node and use 'delete route '. Route numbers are listed by using the 'routes' command. If you wish to delete a design, you must specify the design class and the design number. Design classes are: hull, shield, armor, fuel, engine, laser, torpedo, sensor, scoop, battery, or fighter A design can only be deleted if it is either a hull, fighter, or not in service (no systems exist which use this design). SEE ALSO: help: cargo, create, design, new, old, routes DESIGN Concept: Specify a design template Description: Players are free to design a variety of ship components. These components may be assembled into a ship. This system allows players to freely design ships of any size and power, only limited by their current technology. You may design the following: hull, engine, fuel, sensor, armor, torpedo, laser, shield scoop, fighter, battery Please read help on each of these design classes (e.g. 'help hull'). SEE ALSO: help: build, manufacture, inventory, list DETACH Concept: You may detach population units from other population units or installations. Detach fighters from a squadron. Syntax: detach Description: A population based units such as a colony, capital, base, etc. may detach population units which can moved around and converted at the player's will. Since only population units may move and convert, this is the standard method to creating new population units. The new population unit is placed in the same sector as its parent. The new population units is given the amount of movement points currently available to its parent. Initially, each player starts off with one unit, his/her capital. You must detach population units from this capital in order to create the population units needed to explore and colonize. You may never detach your entire population from your capital unit. A detached popn unit has its efficiency dropped by according to the following table. A DOME-ed unit drops these pecentages by an additional 75%. Unit Percentage efficiency of child unit ----------- ----------------------------------- population 100% mining colony 75% dome 75% research center 50% observation center 50% factory 50% technology center 75% military base 100% city 100% space port 100% capital 100% This option also works for fighter squadrons. The child unit inherits the same properties of the parent squadron, except that fuel, weight, and volume are divided proportionally. SEE ALSO: help: move, convert, regroup describe: growth DISTANCE Concept: Measure the distance between two scopes Syntax: distance Description: This is used to measure the distance between two scopes/objects. The result is in either A.U. or light years depending on the scale. If a '*' is given for the second argument, the distance to all objects from the first in the current scope are computed. SEE ALSO: help: map, compute, order, jump DOCK Concept: Dock a ship with another ship Syntax: dock Description: If a one of your ships is within 50 mAU of another one of your ships, you may dock with it. This allows fuel and cargo to be transferred between the ships. Both ships may not be landed to do this maneuver. The ships may be undocked by using the 'undock' command. SEE ALSO: help: assault, load, undock DOME Concept: Construct a dome over an installation Syntax: dome undome Description: You may 'dome' a land unit in order to increase its population growth. A domed object is unaffected by sector compatibilities, and may grow to full population maximum. Domes are expensive, and only a unit at 100% efficiency can be domed. Only units that are at the game allowed population maximum may be domed. The resource cost to perform this operation is equal to the total amount of resources already invested into the unit to get it to the maximum size (i.e. - it will cost you twice as much to do this). You can remove a dome by using 'undome'. There is no resource recovery when you do this. Here is a table of the types of units that can be domed and the additional cost to do this: Type Cost ----- ----- colony 25r research 35r observatory 45r base 75r technology 75r city 135r SEE ALSO: help: convert, production describe: mining ENGINE A ship may not move unless is has at least one engine in its propulsion (engine) section. Engines are needed for accelerating a ship, launching, and landing. There two basic types of engines, faster-than-light (FTL) and slower-than-light (STL). FTL engines allow players to jump from one star system to the next, while STL engines are used for maneuvering in star systems (See help on 'jump' and 'order' for more information on the details of ship movement). Engines also need fuel to operate, so there must be fuel in fuel containment objects loaded into the fuel section of the ship. To start a new engine design, you would execute the command 'new engine'. This will put you into the 'design engine' mode and the prompt design engine> will be displayed on the scree nd you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in engine design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name type <"ftl"/"stl"> Engine type impulse thrust in tons (STL only) range range in light years show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save SEE ALSO: help: compute, design, jump, new, old, order ENROLL Concept: A player must enroll into the game before playing Description: Before you can begin play, you must create a race and designate a planet preference. After you have specified your race's characteristics, the program will try to find a star system available which contains your preferred planet preference. Your race will be created on this planet, on your primary sector type. The available commands during the enrollment procedure are listed below. If you wish to show your current race paramaters, type 'show'. When you are complete, type 'submit' to submit your design and to create the race. Note that you once you create a race you can't change the parameters, so don't submit until you are sure of your choices. If you 'quit' before submitting, your parameters are not saved and no race is created. You have 1000 points to distribute to the various characteristics, and the current levels can be seen by using 'show'. TIME: Syntax: time This can be used to show what the current update schedule is like. Keep in mind that usually at the beginning of a campaign that updates are run frequently, to move the startup along a bit. A typical game will slow down to about one update a day once things become somewhat complex. DEITY: Syntax: deity You can use this to find out about the person(s) in charge of the game. NAME: Syntax: name RACE CHARACTERISTICS: Syntax: intelligence combat work growth movement adaptibility See 'help race' for details. PLANET PREFERENCE: Syntax: planet where can be: earth mars ocean ice desert jovian Examples: plan earth create this race on an earth-like planet plan ice create this race on an iceball SECTOR TYPES: Syntax: sector type where can be: plains mountainous volcanic ocean gaseous and is either 'primary' or a number between and 0 and 90. Note that you may not have more that one primary sector type. Examples: sec type mount 60 60% mountain compatibility sec type ocean prim 100% ocean compatibility An additional cost is added for each non-zero sector type. SECTOR CONDITIONS: Syntax: sector condition where can be: desert barren temperate gaseous arctic and is either 'primary' or a number between and 0 and 90. Note that you may not have more that one primary sector condition. Examples: sec cond arc 40 40% arctic compatibility sec cond temp prim 100% temperate compatibility An additional cost is added for each non-zero sector condition. HOME PLANET MAP: Syntax: map cmap This shows you a map of your selected planet's geography and resource deposits. Do 'help map' and 'help rmap' for more information. 'cmap' will plot a compatibility map of the planet's sectors with your current race settings. SURVEY OF SECTORS: Syntax: survey survey * You can use this to survey all sector for resource deposits or survey a specific sector. Do 'help survey' for more information. STARTING TECHNOLOGIES: There are four basic technology types: engineering, propulsion, defense, and weapons. You can set starting technology levels for any of these if you wish. Syntax: technology [ | specialty] where can be: engineering propulsion defense weapons and is a float number. If "specialty" is given, that is designated as your race's specialization and you will receive additional each update. Examples: tech eng 3.0 3.0 starting engineering tech tech prop 10.0 10.0 starting propulsion technology tech weap spec designate weapons tech as your specialty See also: race, help Fighters, Squadrons Fighters are a major fighting power, especially early in the game. Fighters use fuel for their attacks, and base their combat strength on their squadron size (strength) and attack value of each fighter. Fighters are given "missions" which determine how they will act in different situations. (See help missions.) To design a fighter class, execute the command 'new fighter'. This will put you into the 'design fighter' mode and the prompt design fighter. will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old fighter'. A list of your current fighter designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in fighter design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving man manueverability of the fighters attack per fighter firepower impulse impulse per fighter fuel per fighter max fuel containment SEE ALSO: help: attack, mission, combat, order describe: ship-combat FIRE Concept: Fire assault batteries Syntax: fire Description: This allows you to manually attack another player's ships and fighter units when they are within 2 mAU of your ship. SEE ALSO: help: combat, online describe: ship-combat FUEL CONTAINMENT Fuel can be used for ship propulsion or as ammunition for energy based weapon systems. Fuel is a commodity which is mined from fuel containing sectors by colonies. In order to use fuel, it must be stored in fuel containment units in the ships fuel section. Fuel containment is similar to a 'gas tank' for a ship. Fuel containment in the fuel section may be reloaded by using the 'refuel' command, or they can be unloaded, and loaded with fuel, and transfered in any manner which the owner sees fit. To start a new fuel containment design, you would execute the command 'new fuel'. This will put you into the 'design fuel' mode and the prompt design fuel> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old fuel'. A list of your current fuel containment designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in fuel design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save size maximum fuel containment SEE ALSO: help: compute, refuel GAG Concept: To disable reception of broadcasts. Syntax: gag Description: This command toggles whether or not you race's gag option is set. When gag is set, no messages issued by other players with the broadcast command are received. Chat messages are not blocked. If you wish to block chat messages simply set your chat channel to one which is not in use by other players. SEE ALSO: help: broadcast, chat GIVE Concept: Give things to another player Syntax: give Description: You can use this command to give objects to another player. This allows players to engage in trading of goods. You may give ships (with contents), squadrons, ship systems and packages. You may also give population units, colonies, and domes. In the event that a population type unit is involved, while the ownership of the unit changes, the race properties of the unit are still intact. You may only give things that are landed on a planet, and the receiving player must inhabit the planet. SEE ALSO: help: inventory, list, profile, race HELP Concept: Retreive a list of available topics and access these topics Syntax: help [] advice [] describe [] Description: The help function provides access to on-line documentation about game commands and concepts. To obtain a list of all available help topics, just type 'help'. To obtain help on a particular topic, specify . You must enter the full name of the topic (i.e. - no abbreviations). A copy of each help file should be available for users to download. Ask the game manager for information on how to obtain these. HULL The most basic part of a ship is the HULL. Without a hull there is no ship. A completed hull is therefore considered to be a ship for game purposes. All other ship components are considered to be hardware and are transported by the hull. A hull is considered to be divided into a maximum of 8 sections: bridge, sensors, quarters, cargo, weapons, defense, engine, and fuel storage. To start a new hull design, you would execute the command 'new hull'. This will put you into the 'design hull' mode and the prompt design hull> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old hull'. A list of your current hull designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in hull design mode are: Command Subcommand Description ------- ---------- ----------- name NONE Give the design a name size NONE specify ship size by tonnage show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without save done NONE save design and exit bridge size design bridge section show, done sensors " design sensors section quarters " design quarters section cargo " design cargo section weapons " design weapons section defense " design defense section engine " design engine section fuel " design fuel section The total size of the ship is given by the 'size' parameter. The size is given in terms of tonnage. However, and equal amount of volume is given for each tonnage point. The tonnage of a ship represents the MAXIMUM total weight that the ship can transport, including itself. The volume of the ship represents the total amount of available space available for transporting objects. Since objects have weight and take up space both of these are taken into consideration when objects are loaded into ship sections. All ships have a stated tonnage, and the class of ship is broken into the following ranges: Tonnage Class Symbol ------- ----- ______ < 1000 Shuttle s 1000 - 4999 Explorer e 5000 - 9999 Destroyer D 10000 - 16999 Frigate F 17000 - 23499 Light Cruiser L 23500 - 28999 Cruiser M 29000 - 34999 Heavy Cruiser H 35000 - 44999 Battle Cruiser Z 45000 - 74999 Battleship B 75000 and up Dreadnaught X Special classifications: > 50% cargo Cargo ship $ > 50% quarters Transport y > 50% fuel Tanker T You may customize the size of each section in any way that you deem fit, with the restriction that the sum of the weights and volumes of the sections and the hull may not exceed the hull size. You may not submit a design for research unless you have the appropriate ENGINEERING technology for the design. SEE ALSO: help: build, manufacture, load advice: ship *** Welcome to Cosmic Conquest!!! *** Cosmic Conquest (CC) is a multi-player game of galactic exploration, colonization and conquest. The object of the game is to 1) build and lead a powerful interstellar empire, 2) inflict pain and suffering on anyone that stands in your way 3) and HAVE FUN doing it! In CC you will begin with a fledgling race of your own design, on a planet type of your own choosing. The population of your race will grow as the game progresses, and you can design and build all kinds of ships and weapons for whatever purpose you see fit. The capabilities of your ships and weapons are determined by various technologies that increase with time. The CC universe is composed of a number of star clusters, each of which contains a number of stars. Each star has planets that orbit it, and each planet has its own unique geology and atmosphere. How compatible a given planet is with your race depends on how close the planet's conditions match your home planet's. The first thing you are going to want to do after creating your race is to do a survey map of your home planet and establish colonies on compatible sectors which contain resources or fuel.During the periodic updates which control the speed of the game, these colonies will attempt to mine resources and fuel and place these in your stockpiles for that planet. Resources are used to construct things such as factories, ships, and weapon systems, while fuel is used to power ship propulsion systems and serves the purpose of ammunition for energy weapons. You are also going to need to set up some ship building facilities so that you can transport colonists to other planets in your home star system and increase your production capacity. To construct a ship, you will first need to specify designs for the hull and propulsion system. Designs are specifications, but you cannot build according to a design unless the design is researched. So you will need to establish several research centers to make your designs usable. Designs that have been researched can then be submitted to factories, which you must also build, which build the actual ship or ship system. Once you have ships built, you can then load them with colonists and supplies and begin colonizing your home system. When your propulsion technology reaches an appropriate level, your ships may execute hyper-space jumps to other star systems and you can establish colonies there. The more technologically advanced your race becomes, the greater the distances and masses your race can jump. Somewhere along the line, you are going to meet other races and how you conduct your affairs is up to you. You can make friends, or enemies. Since CC provides 'broadcast' and 'telegram' features you can converse freely with other players, or just leave them a message. CC is designed to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week, so the game is always in progress, but presumably the Game Manager will see to it that the update schedule is set at a reasonable rate so that you probably won't miss much when you are not logged into the game unless you are involved in a battle. What happens if your race is destroyed? You can always create a new one! The only problem with starting a new race is that you start from scratch, so you probably don't want to do this unless you are truly despondent. :) Finally, while there is on-line help available for all commands and game concepts, you may also down the documentation so that you can print out you own game manual. These files can be found archived in the library for CC. INV Concept: List available objects in a planet's inventory (usually ship systems) Syntax: inventory [ | "package"] Description: This prints a list of all ship components in a planet's inventory. This command only works at planet scope. You can specify a design class or "package" to list only those items. SEE ALSO: help: list, pack, produce, scope INVEST Concept: Invest money into technology development Syntax: invest Description: A race can increase its rate of technology growth beyond that determined by the race's intelligence by investing money at a planet's technology center. There are four types of technology: propulsion, engineering, weapons, and defense. Money allocated to investment is removed from the planet's treasury each update. While you may not build more than one technology center per planet, you may build technology centers on each planet you colonize, by that increasing your net technology investment. The current technology investment levels at a technology center can be printed by using the 'list' command. You do not need to specify a technology center since the program will find yours if it exists. SEE ALSO: help: build, list, tax, tech describe: invest JETTISON Concept: Jettison a unit from a ship Syntax: jettison [
] Description: This is used to jettison an object from a section. The ejected object is destroyed. The reason that you have to specify the ship section is an extra level of protection against your nimble fingers :) Example: jettison #8 fuel c10 Jettison ship system c10 from the fuel section of ship #8 jet s8 q m235 Hurl civilian unit m235 into space SEE ALSO: help: load, land, unload JUMP Concept: Ships with FTL propulsion systems online can jump to other star systems Syntax: jump nojump Description: A ship with an FTL propulsion system online may jump to another star system. If the jump range (in light years) is less than the range of the FTL drive, the fuel cost increases linearly with distance. If the distance is greater than the jump range, the cost increases at a greater rate. Jumps are performed immediately. The positioning of the jumping ship in the designated star system is unpredictable. If you specify a ship as a destination, you will jump near the ship ( < 1AU ). Note that you must own or be allied with the target ship and the syntax must be in the form, for example: jump e123 #425 Jump e123 near ship with # 425 Jumps are restricted to either stars, ships, or planets. You may only jump to a planet if there is your own or an allied port on the planet. The port must be at 100% efficiency to perform this. Note: If you use 'nojump' you will get a report of the fuel needed to do the jump but there is no actual jump performed. A utility command 'jumpcost' can be used to get jump costs for distance, jump range, and ship weight. SEE ALSO: help: compute, jumpcost, nojump, online describe: jump JUMPCOST Concept: Obtain the fuel cost for jump parameters Syntax: jumpcost < nojump Description: A ship with an FTL propulsion system online may jump to another star system. If the jump range (in light years) is less than the range of the FTL drive, the fuel cost increases linearly with distance. If the distance is greater than the jump range, the cost increases at a greater rate. Jumps are performed immediately. The positioning of the jumping ship in the designated star system is unpredictable. You may only jump to another star system. Note: If you use 'nojump' you will get a report of the fuel needed to do the jump but there is no actual jump performed. A utility command 'jumpcost' can be used to get jump costs for distance, jump range, and ship weight. SEE ALSO: help: compute, eta, online, jumpcost LAND Concept: Land a ship on a planet Syntax: land [ | ] Description: If one of your ships is in orbit around a planet, it may land on the sector specified with . A landed ship may load and unload units, resources and fuel in the sector, engage in repair, or defend the sector. You may also specify a landed object as a way to pick a sector. Example: land 235 3,4 Land ship 235 on sector 3,4 land 235 x2344 Land ship 235 on sector with dome x2344 You must change scope to the planet that the ship is orbiting. SEE ALSO: help: compute, launch, load, unload, repair LASER Concept: Fire online lasers at a target Syntax: laser Description: This is used to fire all online laser systems at a target ship. There are two pattern types, "wide" and "focused". Wide pattern lasers attack on a fuel point-by-fuel point basis, each being evaluated as a hit or miss. Focused attacked attack as one attack, with either all fuel points hitting or all points missing. Lasers use fuel as ammunition. These are energy weapons and attacked propagate at the speed of light. The probability of a hit is range dependent. ----------------------DESIGN OF LASERS----------------------------------- Lasers are energy weapons and represents highly focused phased arrays of lasers which can penetrate enemy shields and hulls. Due to diffraction effects, the effectiveness of lasers decrease as the distance between firing ship and the target. Lasers have a strength in fuel points. These weapons move at light speed towards their target. See 'help laser' for details. To start a new laser design, you would execute the command 'new laser'. This will put you into the 'design laser' mode and the prompt design laser> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old laser'. A list of your current laser designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in laser design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save strength strength of laser SEE ALSO: help: combat, design, online describe: ship-combat advice: ship LAUNCH Concept: Launch a ship into orbit Syntax: launch Description: A landed ship can be launched into orbit. This maneuver uses fuel. Example: launch s235 Launches ship #235 You must be at the same scope as the launching ship. SEE ALSO: help: compute, land LINK Concept: Designate a target planet for a route node Syntax: link Description: This a way to specify the destination planet of a route node. This performs identical to the 'action destination ' command. SEE ALSO: help: cargo, action, routes LIST Concept: List objects in the current scope Syntax: list [-r | -b | -v] [ (*)] [ | ] ls [-r] [ (*)] [ | ] lb [-r] [ (*)] [ | ] lv [-r] [ (*)] [ | ] eta [ : ] ships Description: This prints a list of all objects belonging to the player at the current scope. If you use 'ls', you are requesting a 'short list'. This provides a brief listing of object codes and what they are. The optional filters out all objects types not listed: m - population units and other miscellaneous installations # - ship units The 'eta' command shows navigational parameters for ship objects. The 'ships' command lists all of your ships everywhere. Example: list # - lists all ships ls # - short list of all ships and factories The optional corresponds to the full object code for a particular object, a verbose listing is provided. Example: list #246 - list information about ship unit #246 The '-r' option can be used to obtain a recursive search through all subscopes of the current operating scope. If an object class list is provided or an object identifier is given, these/this will be searched for. The default is not to search recursively. Be careful using this option at scopes higher than star level since this may generate alot of output! The '-b' option provides a brief report of objects. The '-v' option provides a verbose report of objects. The user may also provide a scope(s) to search through. The user may also specify a set of symbols to search for: list e$! - list all explorers (e), cargo ships ($), and fighters (!) (Do 'help symbols' for a table of the various symbols used). The order of searches is done left to right. This command is rather robust an the user should experiment with the syntax. SEE ALSO: help: cs, scope, symbols LOAD Concept: Load a unit into a base or ship Syntax: load [
] ... Description: Any kind of unit or ship system may be loaded into a section in a ship. Bases must have fuel and res loaded in order to make destruct. If you are loading into a ship, you must also specify which
the unit is to be loaded. The unit may not be loaded if this will cause the total volume to exceed the section's size. You may load from either a planet that you are landed on OR from a ship that your ship is docked with. You may provide more than one to load onto the factory or ship. Resources, fuel, and destruct may also be loaded or unloaded from base units. The syntax is: load <"fuel" | "resources" | "destruct"> SEE ALSO: help: unload, dock, list MAGAZINE Destruct is used as ammunition for kinetic weapon systems (batteries). Destruct is a commodity which is produced by bases. In order to use destruct, it must be stored in magazine units in either the ship's weapons section for assault batteries or defense section for assault batteries. Magazines are similar to a 'clip' for a hand gun. Magazines reloaded by using the 'arm' command, or they can be unloaded, and loaded with destruct, and transfered in any manner which the owner sees fit. To start a new magazine design, you would execute the command 'new magazine'. This will put you into the 'design magazine' mode and the prompt design magazine> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old magazine'. A list of your current magazine designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in fuel design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save size maximum destruct SEE ALSO: help: bombard, combat, load, rearm describe: bombard, ship-combat advice: defense, ships Type '? ' or 'help ' to obtain help on the following game commands and concepts: ('*' denotes a new addition to the documentation) ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Note: There are three help related commands, 'help', 'advice' and 'describe'. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Topics: GENERAL CONCEPTS quick help build design produce enroll race scope intro observatory ship segment tech update combat scoop cargo tactics symbols GENERAL COMMANDS cs name quit repeat time who INFORMATION AND REPORTS colonies distance inv list observe profile show survey autoreport production power compute deity relation whereis ships BUILD AND DESIGN FUNCTIONS construct new old PRODUCTION, TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS invest research tax manufacture construct give COMMUNICATIONS broadcast channel chat gag post read send MAPS center map rmap rotate zoom POPULATION FUNCTIONS convert detach move regroup upgrade capture dome arm autoload SHIP MOVEMENT AND MAINTENANCE FUNCTIONS dock jump land launch load order rearm refuel scan tactical undock unload jettison scrap transfer offline online bank SHIP COMBAT FUNCTIONS assault laser torpedo retaliate bombard fire TRANSPORTATION pack unpack SHIP SYSTEMS AND DESIGN hull engine fuel sensor armor torpedo laser shield scoop fighter battery magazine CARGO ROUTES routes action link FIGHTER FUNCTIONS mission base attack segments MANUFACTURE Concept: Assign a design to a factory object Syntax: manufacture Description: This command is used to associate a factory with a design. The 'construct' command is used to place orders during updates. Note that a factory may not build a design which is larger than its current size rating ( 10 x population ). As the population of the factory unit grows, so will its size rating. SEE ALSO: help: build, construct, design, load, update MAP Concept: Plot a map to screen of the current or specified scope. Syntax: map ["noname"] [] Description: A universe scope map plots all star clusters and ships of yours. A star cluster level map plots all stars in the star cluster and all ships of yours. Stars and star clusters are denoted by a '*' symbol. The color of the symbol is indicative of its depth relative to a plane running through the origin of the universe: YELLOW is closest to you then CYAN, RED and farthers is BLUE The universe map can be rotated (see help on 'rotate') about the X, Y, or Z axis to assist in viewing the map. A ship is denoted by a colored numeral, the color being characteristic of its owner. A star level map plots all planets and ships. There are symbols for the various types of planets: @ - Earth-like o - Mars-like O - Ocean x - Ice/Arctic H - Desert ~ - Jovian . - Asteroid If you haven't surveyed a planet, the planet is plotted with a '?'. At planet level, this plots each planet as a rectangular array of sectors. There are several types of sectors and conditions. Generally, the color of a sector indicates its condition: BLACK on WHITE - arctic BLACK on GREEN - temperate BLACK on BROWN - barren YELLOW on BROWN - desert BLACK on BLUE - ocean There are also sector types, each having it's own symbol: - land ^ mountain o volcanic . sea ~ gas Landed units are also plotted out on their respective sectors. To find out details of what is actually in a sector, do a survey of the sector. If the argument 'noname' is included, plots will not show planet/star/cluster names: map noname SEE ALSO: help: scope, survey, zoom MISSION Concept: Give a squadron a mission Syntax: mission [options] Description: There are currently seven mission types: mission options ------- ------- patrol segments escort NONE attack segments bombard sector CAP segments land sector retreat NONE scout NONE Each mission has its own special behavior. Patrol - The squadron will alternate destination and base indefinitely. It will basically travel between two points. (This is still under construction but will eventually include intercepting enemy squadrons and ships too). The number of segments to remain over the destination is also required. Escort - The squadron will shadow a ship or another squadron. This enables it to defend the ship or squadron if it is attacked by enemy fighters. Fighters on the escort mission which are loaded into the cargo hold of a ship will be automatically unloaded to defend the ship in the event of an attack. Scout - The squadron will proceed to its destination, wait the scheduled number of segments, and then return to base. Note that the squadron will NOT attack when reaching its destination (although it will defend if attacked). Attack - The fighters are ordered to attack any enemies that they encounter. The number of segments to remain over the destination is required. Bombard - Bomb the specified sector upon arrival. CAP - "Combat air patrol" - arrive at destination and remain over it for the specified number of segments. Land - Land on the specified sector upon arriving at a planet. Retreat - This is not currently implemented. When the number of segments over the target has expired, the squadron will return to its base. SEE ALSO: help: attack, base, fighter, order describe: ship-combat MODIFY Concept: Change a factory's design Syntax: modify factory Description: This is used to change the design that a factory will manufacture. Syntax is the same as for the 'construct' command. See help on 'construct' for details. See also: build, construct, design MOVE Concept: Move a population unit Syntax: move Description: Population units may be moved from sector to sector by specifying a "move list". This is a list of moves from the original sector to adjacent sectors. The move list is a sequence of characters which represent each move of that population unit. There are eight directions available: '7' | '8' or 'n' | '9' -------------------------------------- '4' or 'w' | | '6' or 'e' -------------------------------------- '1' | '2' or 's' | '3' Moving from one sector to another costs movement points and the actual costs depend on on the compatilities of the next sector. You can see your movement point cost of a sector by doing a survey of the sector. If you attempt to move into a sector occupied by another player, a battle will occur. If the opposing force is destroyed, and your unit survives, the move is considered to succeed and the remainder of the move is executed. Only population units and armies may move. You must have movement points available to move, and each popultion unit may always move at least one sector per update. Movement points are regenerated during the updates. Although only population units and armies may actually move, all population type units have movement points. This movement points are inherited by any population units which are detached from it. The efficiency of a population unit is divided in half for each sector that it moves. Army units can use up the racial movement points without losing efficiency. However, movement beyond the racial movement points will cause the army to suffer the penalty of losing 1/2 of their efficiency for each move beyond that range. Example: move m2031 99ee3s move population unit m2031 NE, NE, E, E, SE, and then 'S' SEE ALSO: help: convert, combat, survey, update describe: arm, growth, land-combat NAME Concept: Change the name of your race or that of an object in the current scope. Syntax: name name Description: Players can change the name of their race or a specied object. this command. A name may have spaces in it: name The Sputniks change the name of your race to "The Sputniks" name s124 Sputnik change the name of s124 (ship #124) to "Sputnik" If the target it an object, it must be in the current scope. See also: scope, list, profile, who, send NEW Concept: Create a new design Syntax: new Description: This is used to initiate a new design. Read the help on 'design' for details on this. See also: design, old, build ************************************************************************** * This Cosmic Conquest server is a public service to the Internet of * * NovaLink Information Service. NovaLink users have access to a * * number of other features, including exclusive multiplayer roleplaying * * and strategy games, UNIX/Internet access, computing file libraries * * and professionally moderated forums. For more information, * * telnet to novalink.com and type "info" at the login prompt. * * Signup (data): 800-937-7644. Customer Service: 800-274-2814. * ************************************************************************** OBSERVATORY Concept: A unit that can observe distant objects. Description: Observatories are used to examine unexplored scopes such as planets and star systems. In order to observe a scope, the scope must be within observation range of the observatory. The range increases with your race's engineering technology and efficiency of the observatory. Observatories also report the arrival of non-allied ships to the star system in which the observatory is located. Ranges are reported in mAU. If the target scope is within observation range, the scope is marked as explored and you may observe the target scope freely. Observatories can be built from a civilian at 100% efficiency at a cost of 20 resources. The observatory range is: range = (efficiency^2/10) * engineering_tech * (pop + 500) / 5500 SEE ALSO: help: scope, cs, tech, observe, convert OBSERVE Concept: Aim an observatory at a specific scope. Syntax: observe Description: Observatories are used to examine unexplored scopes such as planets and star systems. In order to observe a scope, the scope must be within observation range of the observatory. The range increases with your race's engineering technology and efficiency of the observatory. Observatories also report any non-allied alien arrivals to the star scope. Ranges are reported in mAU. If the target scope is within observation range, the scope is marked as explored and you may enter the target scope freely. Examples: Observatory m26 is located on /01/Sol/Earth. Suppose you wish to survey /01/Sol/Mars. You should change scope to Earth and then issue the command: obs m26 .Mars Remember that the "." operator moves up one scope. SEE ALSO: help: cs, declare, scope, survey, tech OFFLINE Concept: Order a ships system to be in an offline state Syntax: offline Description: A ship system may only be used if it is in online. If a system is offline, it will not participate in functions which may require a system of its type. is a ship system unit. If 'all' or '*' is given for , then all systems in that section will be ordered offline. SEE ALSO: help: bank, online OLD Concept: Edit or examine an existing design Syntax: old Description: This is used to return to an old design. You may change the design parameters if the design does not have a research level. Read the help on 'design' for details on this. SEE ALSO: help design, new, build ONLINE Concept: Order a ships system to be in an online state Syntax: online Description: A ship system may only be used if it is in online. If a system is offline, it will not participate in functions which may require a system of its type. is a ship system unit. If 'all' or '*' is given for , then all systems in that section will be ordered online. SEE ALSO: help: bank, offline ORDER Concept: Order an object to perform a task Syntax: order [] Description: Some objects require special orders to perform some tasks. If is a ship, you may change its destination orders and speed with: order destination [ | ] order speed order segments order course order route Note that the speed factor is sub-light velocity. If you wish to jump to another star system, you must use the 'jump' command. Sub-light movement require that you have STL propulsion online. Jumps require FTL propulsion online. If you specify a ship as a destination, your ship will navigate towards the target ship: order s123 dest s412 Navigate s123 to s412 This is used to position your ship for docking or assaults. A ship may be ordered to navigate by specifying a non-zero number of segments. If this is set, the ship will navigate using impulse power on the designated course (between 0 and 360). When the number of navigation segments reaches zero, navigation will then be disabled and the ship will move towards its destination scope. Zero degrees is 'up' and increases in a clockwise direction (e.g. - 90 degrees is 'right', 180 is 'down', 270 is 'left'). You may order a transported population unit to assault by changing scope to the ship which is transporting the population unit, and the ordering it to assault: order assault Put into assault mode order none Put into idle mode If you wish to assault an enemy ship with boarders, the boarding parties must have assault orders. If they do not have assault orders they will not participate in the boarding attempt. If you wish yur ship to follow a cargo route, you must specify both the route and set the flag: order $245 route xyz Cargo ship $245 assigned 'xyz' order $245 route on Activiate $245 to follow route SEE ALSO: help: assault, build, cargo, design, dock, jump, online describe: boarding PACK Concept: Bind resources, destruct and money into an object which can be transported Syntax: pack Description: If you would like to transport resources and money on one of your ships, this will create an object in your planetary inventory. The appropriate amount of resources/money will be subtracted from the stockpiles. The contents of the package can be retrieved with the 'unpack ' command. Note: Your current operating scope must be a planet where you have resources and/or money to transport. SEE ALSO: help: unpack, load, unload, inv THE PLAN In the beginning was the Plan. And then came the Assumptions. And the Assumptions were without form. And the Plan was without substance. And the darkness was upon the face of the Workers. And they spake among themselves, saying, "It is a crock of shit, and it stinketh." And the Workers went unto their Supervisors and said, "It is a pail of dung, and none may abide the odor there of." And the Supervisors went unto their Managers, saying, "It is a container of excrement, and it is very strong, such that none may abide by it." And the Managers went unto their Directors, saying, "It is a vessel of fertilizer, and none may abide its strength." And the Directors spoke amongst themselves, saying one to another, "It contains that which aids plant growth, and it is very strong." And the Directors went unto the Vice Presidents, saying unto them "It promotes growth, and it is very powerful indeed." And the Vice Presidents went unto the President, saying unto him, "This new plan will actively promote the growth and vigor of the company, with powerful effects." And the President looked upon the Plan, and saw that it was good. And the Plan become Policy. ------- COLONIES Concept: Print information on colonized planets Syntax: colonies | planets Description: This prints a list of all colonized planets. SEE ALSO: help: power, survey You can access the playtest by using the Internet. If you have a local Internet server, you can use TELNET to access the game. To do so, merely log onto your local Unix machine, and do telnet balder.novalink.com 3270 The port number is important. When you are connected you will be asked to provide your Novalink User-ID and your 'access code'. You can set your access code by doing 'access <6 character access code>'. Note that you must be logged into the game to set your access code, and you must have a race created. Therefore, you MUST enroll through Novalink, and set your access code through there. However, once this is done, you can get in through telnet. If you know of people who would also like to playtest this game over the Internet, they are welcome to telnet to the CC port. If they don't have a Novalink user ID, they can just enter 'new' at the login prompt and they can create their own user ID.  HELLO DOCTOR NAME CONTINUE YESTERDAY TOMORROW A MATH STORY One day while drifting off to sleep in Edith Cockins Hall, I was suddenly awakened by this cute little equation named Polly Nomial. Now Polly was a formula that could really expand the circumference of your reciprocals. We punted the lecture and headed for her domain. Though she lived in a conservative field, everything about her was conjugate. After a few drinks, I found we shared many common logarithms, especially intercepts of surfaces. Speaking of such corollaries, she had the most intense spherical trigonometry I had seen in a while. Finally, she said, "Let's stop these elementary transformations!", as she grabbed my mantissa and did some heavy interpolating, followed by permutations on my roots and powers. Now, the normal component of my vector is usually quite long; however, when she started differentiating, I couldn't take it anymore and I extrapolated all over her curvalinear function, sending my secant in an orthogonal trajectory. So I lay in upper Helix as she fondled my asymptotes, thinking I had exceeded my bounds. But I was not so inversely proportional! I ground my Bessel function into her Fourier transforms, once again having another series expansion. We pounded our centers of mass together sending her into a geometric progression. My grinding gradient had an irreducable arc length, in converging, diverging sequence, until her critical point was reached, as she had the most powerful moment of inertia I had ever felt. We were into all kinds of coordinates that night, everything from partial fractions to kinky power residuals, even characteristic equations and matrices. However, just as we were starting rectilinear motion... the bell rang. I woke up, found myself asleep, sighed and begrudgingly progressed to exotic integral equations and unresolved determinants. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Once upon a time, pretty Polly Nomial was skipping through a field of vectors when she came to the edge of a singularly large matrix. Now Polly was convergent, and her mother had made it an absolute condition that she never entered such an array without her brackets on. But Polly had changed her variables that morning and had been feeling particularly badly behaved, she ignored her mothers's condition on the grounds that it was insufficient, and made her way in among the complex elements. Rows and columns enveloped her on all sides. Tangents approached her surface. She grew tensor and tensor. Quite suddenly, three branches of a hyperbola touched her at a single point, she oscillated wildly and lost all sense of directrix. She tripped over a square root protruding from the erf, and tumbled headlong down a steep gradient. When she was once again in possesion of her variables, she found herself apparently in a non-euclidean space. She was being watched, however: that smooth operator, Curly Pi, was lurking inner product. As his eyes devoured her curvilinear coordinates, a singular expression crossed his face. Was she convergent? He wondered. He decided to integrate improperly at once. Hearing an improper fraction behind her, Polly rotated and saw Curly approaching with his power series extrapolated. She could tell at once from his degenerate conic and his dissipative terms that he was bent to no good. ``Eureka!'' she gasped. ``Ho,ho,'' said our operator. ``What a symetric little asymptote you have. I bet your angles are just dripping with secs.'' ``Stay away from me!'' she said. ``I haven't got my brackets on.'' ``Calm yourself, my dear,'' he said. ``Your fears are purely imaginary.'' ``I, I,'' she thought, ``Maybe he's not normal..Maybe he's even a homomorphism.'' ``What order are you?'' the brute demanded. ``Seventeen,'' she replied. Curly leered. ``Enough of this idle chatter. Lets go to a decimal place I know, and I'll take you to the limit.'' ``Never!'' she gasped. ``Arcsinh!!!'' He swore the vilest oath he knew. Coshing her over the coefficient with a log until she was powerless, Curly removed her discontinuities. He stared at her significant places and began smoothing out her points of inflection. Poor Polly. She could feel his hand tending towards her asymptotic limit. The algorithmic method was now her only hope. Her convergence would soon be gone forever. Curly's radius squared itself. Polly's loci quivered. He intergrated by parts. He intergrated by partial fractions. The complex beast even went all the way around and did a contour intergration. Curly went on operating until he was completely and totally exhausted of all his primitive roots. When Polly arrived home that night, her mother noticed that she had been truncated in several places. But it was too late to differentiate now. Nine transformations later, she went to L'Hopital and generated a small but pathological function which left zeros and residues all over the place and drove poor Polly to deviation. The moral of this story is: If you want to keep your expressions convergent, keep them well differentiated from complex operators. POST Syntax: post You can use this to post a message to the news bulleting board. The CC line editor will be involked and you message can be composed and send, to a limit of 16512 characters. To terminate the message, enter a period '.' in the first column. To abort the message, enter a tilde '~' in the first column. SEE ALSO: help: send, read POWER Concept: Shows your current power list or that of another race Syntax: power [] top [] Description: Display the power listing of all race, or another race if is provided. The data displayed is estimated, except the row for your race. The 'top' function allows you to list the top rated players (e.g. - 'top 5'). If no argument is provided, the top 10 races will be displayed. The VP listed in power are those of planets for which the race has build a tech center. The home world of a race also gets counted for having the capital, so its VPs are doubled once a tech center is built there. SEE ALSO: help: colonies, convert, planets, survey PRODUCE Concept: Factories are used to manufacture researched designs. (Documentation still in progress *** 4/15/94) PRODUCTION Concept: An information command which shows estimated production Syntax: production [] Description: This command will report the total estimated production for colonies on the current operating scope or if provided. If the current scope or is a star system, all planets in the system will be reported. You may also have the server generate a system telegram during updates by using 'autoreport'. SEE ALSO: help: autoreport, tax describe: invest PROFILE Concept: Examine racial characterictics Syntax: profile [] Description: This prints information about your race's characteristics (a'la enroll). It lists who you are, your race's names, compatibilities of various sorts, and current technology levels. If you specify a unit argument, you will get a profile of the race of that unit, if it is a land unit. This is useful for gathering information about alien races whose units you may have captured. Tech levels are not provided. SEE ALSO: help: race, enroll, tech GENERAL COMMANDS: cs [] name name quit repeat time who INFORMATION AND REPORTS: distance inventory list [-r ] [ ] [ | ] ls [-r ] [ ] [ | ] observe profile ships [] show survey [ | ] BUILD AND DESIGN FUNCTIONS construct build new old PRODUCTION, TECHNOLOGY AND ECONOMIC FUNCTIONS invest modify factory offline
online
research tax COMMUNICATIONS broadcast ' channel chat \ post read [news] send MAPS center [] map [] rmap [] rotate zoom POPULATION FUNCTIONS convert detach move regroup upgrade SHIP FUNCTIONS assault dock jump jumpcost nojump land laser launch load [
] order [] refuel [] tactical [ | pending] torpedo undock unload [
] TRANSPORTATION pack unpack quit Concept: Exit the game Syntax: quit Description: This returns you back to main BBS menu. Since the game is an ongoing entity, all work is saved and your race continues to function, with or without your presence. SEE ALSO: help: segment, update RACE Description: The parameters which you choose to characterize your race affects the growth of your population, the minimum rate at which technology grows, the production of resources, fighting ability and the ability of your race to adapt to hostile environments. the minimum value for any of these parameters is 1, and there is no maximum (limited by the 1000 enroll point constraint). The intelligence level of your race affects the minimum rate at which technology advances without technology investment. The combat level of your race affects its ability to win land battles and boarding attempts on enemy ships. The work level of your race affects that rate at which colonies extract resources and fuel from sectors with these types of deposits. The growth of your race affects the rate at which population units will increase. The movement level represents the amount of movement points per update available for population units. The larger this value, the more sectors a given units can cover per update. Note that you can always move at least one sector. The adaptibility level controls the range of extreme conditions that your race can survive in. The larger this parameter is set to, the more extreme conditions can be survived by this race. Note that if this value is small (e.g. 1 or 2) your race may have difficulty surviving in conditions that vary much from your home world. SEE ALSO: help: profile, enroll, invest, move, assault, update advice: newbie READ Syntax: read read news read # When you have messages waiting, you can use this to read your messages. After reading each message, you are prompted as to what to do with the message: n - move on to the next message, saving the current p - move back to the previous message, saving the current r - reply to the sender (if the message was sent by another player). d - delete the message and proceed to the next one f - forward the message to a player l - list the messages, by number and subject e - email the message to an internet address # - display the message with the number input q - quit reading mail, saving the current message (and all other undeleted messages) If the 'news' argument is provided, you will read the news messages which the system and other players post. You can also read a specific message number by providing the message number: read #2547 SEE ALSO: help: broadcast, chat, gag, send I changed the impulse movement so that you CAN specify a speed which will require a larger impulse than your engines will deliver. What will happen if your impulse is too low is that your ship will accelerate, and may take a few updates to reach the desired speed. Since the fuel level is based on (relativistic) kinetic energy, the fuel consumption will be linear - e.g. if it takes a full 10 fuel to reach the desired speed, the sum of all the fuel to get up to full speed should be roughly 10. If you have a sector compatibility (all affects taken into consideration) which is nonzero, but less than 1%, you get a 1% compatibility. This will enable you to colonize sectors with 50 pop (but don't expect any growth :). I have decided that creating colonies/centers is too easy. I intend on making it so that you have to pay resources to up the population capacities of colonies (for example). So, say, if you convert a population unit to a colony with 0 resources, the population max will be that of a population unit. You need to provide resources as part of the conversion to increase this. This will prevent people from making colonies for the sake of defending territory without making an appropriate investment :)  REARM Concept: Load destruct from planet or docked ship into a ship's magazines Syntax: rearm
Description: This is used to transfer destruct from planet stockpiles if your ship is landed or from another ship if your ships is docked. Destruct is loaded up to the amount specified or the maximum space available in magazines. Since magazines may be operate in both the defense and weapons section of a ship you must specify "defenses" or "weapons" for
. You may specify a negative value for . The amounts to unloading from the magazines in the designated section. SEE ALSO: help: colonies, dock, list, load, survey, unload REFUEL Concept: Load fuel from planet or docked ship into a ship's fuel containment Syntax: refuel [] Description: This is used to transfer fuel from planet stockpiles if your ship is landed or from another ship if your ships is docked. Fuel is loaded up to the amount specified or the maximum space available in fuel containment. If the optional case is used and an undocked ship ID is given in the third field, the ship will dock with the indicated ship, refuel, and undock; hence saving a bit of time and typing for the player. You may specify a negative value for . The amounts to unloading from fuel containers. SEE ALSO: help: dock, inventory, list, load REGROUP Concept: Combine two population units Combine two squadron units Syntax: regroup Description: This is used to absorb a population unit into another. The final number of movement points, efficiency and damage is the weighted average of the two (so be careful when you use this). Population units must be in the same sector to do this. You may also use this to regroup fighters. They must be either in the same sector or within assault range. Example: regroup p117 p43 Population unit p117 is assimilated by p43 regroup !123 !234 Combine two fighter squadrons. SEE ALSO: help: detach, list RELATION Concept: Shows your current relations or those of another race Syntax: relation [] Description: Display the relationship of your race with others, or another race if is provided. Note that the 'functional relationship' between the two is the most belligerent of the two. Mutual neutrality relationships are not displayed. SEE ALSO: help: declare, power REPEAT Concept: Repeat the previous command Syntax: repeat !! Description: This command is used to repeat the previous command entered. SEE ALSO: help: help, quick RESEARCH Concept: Order a research center to research a design Syntax: research Description: This is used to order a research center to spend time researching a design. The is the unit designation of an existing research center. The design class can be one of: hull, engine, fuel, sensor, armor, laser, torpedo The design number is the assigned design number. To see the existing design numbers you can use 'show' for this argument. You will then be prompted for the design number. After successful order, this research will advance the research level of the design until it is active and ready for production. More than 1 research center on any number of planets may be assigned to research a design. Example: research m124 hull 335 Do research on hull design 335 Note: This command prompts the user each step of the way if a complete command line is not given. SEE ALSO: help: build, design, produce advice: ship RETALIATE Concept: Order a ship's weapons system(s) to be in a retaliate state Syntax: retaliate Description: A ship weapon system may retaliate if the ship is attacked. If a weapon system is offline or is online and not in retaliate mode, it will not participate. If 'all' or '*' is given for , then all online weapon systems will be ordered to retaliate. Note that ship systems are preceded by a '%' symbol. Ship bank IDs are just plain numbers between 1 and 255. By issuing a bank ID, all systems with that bank ID will be set to retaliate. See also: online, offline, combat RMAP, CMAP Concept: Plot a map which shows resource/fuel content of sectors of an explored planet. Syntax: rmap [] cmap [] Description: This command is used to display a resource/fuel deposit map of a planet. Two maps are displayed. The left hand side map displays which sectors contain resources and fuel deposits. Sectors with resource deposits are displayed blue and those with fuel deposits are green. Any sector which contains a colony will also display a blinking colony symbol. For reference, a geographic map is displayed on the right. This shows the geographic information of the planet, and this is the same informations which can be obtained with the 'map' command for a planet. A 'cmap' is a sector compatibility map for your planet. Each sector is color coded by compatibility according ro this table: Color Range ----- ----- green 90-100 cyan 60-89 yellow 20-59 red 1-19 black 0 SEE ALSO: help: aliens, map, survey ROTATE Concept: Rotate a cluster/universe map about the x, y, or z axis by a specified angle. Syntax: rotate Description: The stars in a star cluster and the clusters in the universe occupy a three-dimensional space. However, a map can only show a two dimensional projection of this data on your screen. This command allows the user to rotate the map about the x-axis (horizontal axis), the y-axis (vertical axis), or the z-axis (and axis perpendicular to the screen). The angle specified must be an integer between 0 and 360 degrees. Rotations are performed about the current center point. A new map is immediately plotted after a rotate operation. SEE ALSO: help: map, zoom, center ROUTES Concept: List all cargo routes at a planetary or star scope Syntax: routes [] Description: This is used to list all routes at a planet. If you are at star scope, all cargo route nodes defined in the system will be listed. If you specify , the specifics of that node will be listed (provided you are in the same planet scope). SEE ALSO: help: cargo, action, link, jump, order SCOOP Fuel scoops are used to skim fuel points from the atmospheres of Jovian planets. They represent a large tethered object which is lowered into the atmosphere of a jovian from orbit. They collect fuel at a rate per update specified in the design. Fuel scoops operate from the fuel or cargo section of a ship and replenish online fuel containment units in the fuel section of the host ship. A scoop must be online to be deployed. While deployed, the ship may not launch, land or move to another destination. To start a new scoop design, you would execute the command 'new scoop'. This will put you into the 'design scoop' mode and the prompt design scoop> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old scoop'. A list of your current scoop designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in scoop design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save rate rate at which scoop gathers fuel NOTE: The paramets is the average fuel points gathered PER UPDATE. Fuel is collected each segment, the amount being the divided by the number of segments per update. SEE ALSO: help: build, design, manufacture, new, old, research SCOPE Description: Cosmic Conquest has its universe structured as a tree of "scopes." These are organized analogous to a directory tree such as in DOS or Unix. The highest level scope is called the "universe scope." This scope encompasses all objects in play. The second level scope is called the "cluster scope." These objects are attached to the universe scope and represent groups of stars that are near each other. The third level scope is called the "star scope." Stars are attached to star clusters and have planets that orbit about them. The fourth level scope is called the "planet scope." Planets are attached to stars and have surface geologies and atmospheres. Resources and fuel are usually found in mining sectors and can be extracted with colonies. A player can move between scopes by using the cs ("change scope") command. The prompt displayed describes the current scope that the player is at. The format for the prompt is similar to a "path" such as in DOS or Unix. Information displayed by 'map' and 'survey' will depend on the current scope that the player is at. The current scope that the player is at decides the "base scope" to which commands are referenced. o Universe scope example: / > shows that the player is currently at the universe level scope. o Cluster scope example: /01 > shows that the player is currently at the cluster level scope corresponding to the '01' star cluster. o Star scope example: /01/Sol > shows that the player is currently at the star level scope corresponding to the 'Sol' star system, which is a member of the '01' star cluster. o Planet scope example: /01/Sol/Earth > means that the player's current scope is at the planet named 'Earth', which is a member of the 'Sol' star system, and that this star system is a member of the '01' star cluster. SEE ALSO: help: cs, map, survey, order SCRAP Concept: Scrap a ship, system or installation Syntax: scrap Description: A landed ship can be scrapped. There will be a partial recovery of resources invested into the construction of the ship. You may also scrap systems in your inventories. Example: scrap s235 Scraps ship #235 scrap c117 Scrap system #117 scrap m234 Scrap tech center #234 You must be at the same scope as the ship or system you wish to scrap. You may only scrap when at planet scope. If an installation unit is scrapped, the unit is NOT eliminated, but is converted to a population unit and half of the resources from the total investment are recovered. SEE ALSO: help: build, manufacture, convert, upgrade SEGMENT Description: The game manager has the option of subdividing each update into several movement segments. During movement segments, ships will move toward their destination under impulse power if one is set and orbitting ships may scoop Jovians for fuel. The purpose of movement segments is to smooth out the motions of ships/missiles. For a given velocity, a ship/missile will cover the same distance during an update. The distance traveled during a segment is scaled according to how many segments per update are set by the game manager. Note that there is ALWAYS at least one segment per update, since an update also triggers a movement segment to be executed. Each segment components inside ships, and fighters which are landed in a sector also containing a ground unit, have damage repaired and efficiency upgraded. Each segment, the ammount of efficiency upgraded is computed by the following formula: eff gain = 800 * work * crew / [(hull vol) * (# segments/update)] Fighters which are grounded have an efficiency gain of the race's work, unless the fighter is landed in the same sector as a base. In this case, the fighter is restored to full efficiency in a single update! SEE ALSO: help: scoop, time, update SEND Concept: Send a private message to another player Syntax: send [] Description: This command allows a player to compose a message with a topic line and delivers it to the designated player. Note that either the destination player's name OR player number may be used. Once the message sender has been started up, the player will be asked to specify a topic line and then the body of the message. A message may be up to 512 characters long, and a running total of the remaining characters are given on the lefthand column. To terminate a message, you must put a period '.' in the first column. This will send the message to the other player. If the other player is logged on, he/she will be notified of the message immediately, otherwise, the other player is notified at login time. If you wish to abort the message you are currently typing, you must put a tilda '~' in the first column. The message will not be sent and you will be returned to the command prompt. SEE ALSO: help: broadcast, channel, chat, gag, read SENSOR Sensors are used to detect the state of enemy ships, and to probe planets without having to orbit them (see 'tactical' and 'scan'). Without sensors, your ships are literally blind, so it is important to protect your sensors. Sensors are also required to both pinpoint a ship or planetary jump destination, and guide jumping ships. To start a new sensor design, you would execute the command 'new sensor'. This will put you into the 'design sensor' mode and the prompt design sensor> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old sensor'. A list of your current sensor designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in sensor design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save range range in mAU Remember 1mAU = 1 milli A.U. = 1/1000 distance of Earth to Sun. SEE ALSO: help: jump, design, manufacture, new, old SHIELD Shields are defense systems which protect your ship against laser and torpedo attacks (energy weapons). When attacked by such a weapon the shield will match the attack on a fuel point basis up to the strength of the shield, in an attempt to deflect the attack. This defense costs fuel points which must be supplied by a fuel containment unit in the fuel section of the ship. If the entire attack is not deflected, the surviving attack points will attack the ship. Shield units must be online to operate. You may have more than one shield unit operational at a time. To start a new shield design, you would execute the command 'new shield'. This will put you into the 'design shield' mode and the prompt design shield> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old shield'. A list of your current shield designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in shield design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save strength strength of shield SEE ALSO: help: build, design, manufacture, new, old, research SHIP Description: A 'ship' is defined as an object which may launch a payload into orbit, transport cargo, execute attacks on targets and land on planets. Not all ships will have all of these functions, and these are defined by the current operational status of the ship. A ship is subdivided into 'sections' which are areas which can hold a designated amount of cargo. Each ship may have a combination of the following eight sections: Section Primary purpose ------- --------------- 1) bridge Necessary for ship operations. If this section is destroyed, the ship may not execute any orders and is 'dead-in- the-water'. 2) sensors All equipment related to observing and examining anything outside the ship must function from this section. 3) quarters This is used to house all crew. You may not load more crew onto a ship than is available in crew quarters. 4) cargo This section represents space used for general transport. 5) weapons All offensive weapon systems function from this section. 6) defense All special defensive systems function from this section, such as shields. Note that energy armor and kinetic armor function from ANY section that they are loaded in. 7) engine This section is used to house the propulsion systems of the ship. 8) fuel This section is used to store and distribute fuel for engine and weapons/defense consumption. Fuel scoops function from this section. Ships without bridges and quarters are also called satellites. As indicated, they can not be given orders, but do serve useful purposes. Each section has a primary purpose, but may also be used to transport cargo if needed. Usually, ship 'systems' are loaded into the appropriate sections from which they are functional. For example, weapons systems should be loaded into the weapons section of the ship, crew are always loaded into the quarters section, propulsion systems are loaded into the engine section, etc. Note that energy armor and kinetic armor will always function (i.e. - protect) in any section it is loaded. You may load a system into a section where it is non-functional. Such a system is considered to be general cargo and may become functional only if it is in a section from which is may be functional. A 'system' is an object which, when loaded into an appropriate section, may be functional. Here is a list of the general types of systems available for use by a ship and the sections from which they function: System Functional Section(s) ------ ------------------ 1) engine engine 2) fuel containment fuel, defense (for shields) 3) armor (energy/kinetic) ALL 4) shield defense 5) laser weapon 6) torpedo weapon 7) LR/SR sensor sensor 8) fuel scoop fuel Note that the bridge doesn't need any system to be loaded for it to be operational (save needing at least one crew member to be in quartered). As a matter of fact, there is no minimal qualifications of the bridge of the ship except that it not be destroyed. However, it is probably a good idea to give it some size so that armor can be loaded in to protect it. Remember, that if the bridge is destroyed, the entire ship cannot be ordered. SEE ALSO: help: build, inv, list, load SHOW Concept: Display information on factories and designs Syntax: show designs show Description: This prints a list of all available designs or designs in a design class. Example: show designs Display all active designs show engines Display all active engines SEE ALSO: help: build, design, list, new, old advice: newbie, ship SURVEY Concept: Print information on various objects and planet sectors Syntax: survey [ | | *] Description: This prints a survey of the current scope. If no argument is given, the information is about the current scope. If a argument is given, the survey will be for that scope. Example: Suppose our current scope is /01/Sol/Earth then survey - survey of current scope (/01/Sol/Earth) survey . - survey of parent scope (/01/Sol) survey /01/Sol - survey of the /01/Sol star system survey .Mars - survey of /01/Sol/Mars Suppose our current scope is /01/Sol then survey - survey of current scope (/01/Sol) survey . - survey of parent scope (/01) survey Mars - survey of /01/Sol/Mars If your current scope is a planet, supplying coordinates give a survey of the sector x,y (see 'help map'). If you supply a wildcard '*' at planet scope you will get a list of any resource/fuel sectors, your racial compatibilities, and a summary of the types of units present on each of those sectors. SEE ALSO: help: scope, cs, map, rmap SYMBOLS Concept: Each unit in the game has a unit symbol which identifies which kind of unit it is: Description: Ship/Fighter units: Symbol Type ----- ---- # Generic ship identifier s Shuttle e Explorer d (Destroyer) Escort D Destroyer L Light Cruiser M (Medium) Cruiser H Heavy Cruiser Z Battle Cruiser B Battleship X Deadnaught $ Cargo ship T Tanker y Transport + Defense Satellite ^ Missile : Satellite ! Fighter squadron Ground units: Symbol Type ----- ---- m Miscellaneous unit identifier f Factory @ Capital p Civilian (population) c Colony C City r Research center t Tech center b Base o Observatory x Dome a Military System units: Symbol Type ------ ---- % Ship system identifier SEE ALSO: help: convert, design, manufacture TACTICAL Concept: Obtain a tactical analysis from the perspective of a ship, observatory or show current pending attacks Syntax: tactical tactical tactical pending Description: This is used to show current information about alien ships in the current scope. The argument may be either another ship object, or '*' for all ship objects. Only ships with online sensor range will be analyzed. Observatories can also do tactical scans. Simply change scope to the observatory's planet, and all objects within the observation range will be analyzed. If 'pending' is given, a display of all pending energy attacks will be displayed. An alias for 'tactical' is 'scan'. SEE ALSO: help: combat, observatory, online, scan, sensor TACTICS Concept: Some useful tactics players have developed. Description: Starting off: Detach primarily from your capitol, since civilian units from it are at 100% efficiency, as opposed to 50% from other units. Remember, only colonies and domes can produce resources or fuel. Other units (such as your Capitol, @) can't produce them. Don't detach too much from your Capitol though, since growth is on a logrithmic scale, it will take a long time to get it back up to a decent level. Use ships (once you have them, engines, fuel containers and fuel) to move units so they don't lose efficiency walking. If you are lucky, you can research and build stuff in factories all in the same turn, but it is wiser to make a few research centers early and research the designs you have planned, rather than waiting until the last minute. Usually about 3 research centers and about 3 factories on your homeworld will do a good job in the early stages. Exploration: Send along a 100%, 50 popn and 20 resources so that the first planet you come to with a 1% compatible sector you can set up an observatory and scan all of the systems planets. Use the command "dist *" at the new stars to see the closest planet. If you have a sensor on board, after each segment you are on, use "scan *" to see if you can see the new planet, or just "scan ". Use "tact *" to see who owns any strange ships in the area. This can be helpful for deciding whom to talk to about alliances if you haven't already exchanged starting cluster or star locations. Don't forget, you can dome sectors of 1-20% compatability and get more out of them than a colony will give you. Fighting: Fighters are key. I think. SEE ALSO: help: broadcast, map, survey, scope, who advice: defense, newbie, ship TAX Concept: Direct some of your production capacity into generating money Syntax: tax Description: Money is needed to invest into technology centers, and can also be exchanged between players (see 'help pay'). The degree of taxation is governed by which can be between 0 and 100. Note that a high tax rate can cause planet populations to revolt, so it probably a good idea to keep it low. Taxation also inhibits the production rates of colonies, high tax rates reduce resource/fuel production by an amount proportional to the planet tax rate. Each planet that you inhabit has its own tax rate, the default value being zero. You must change scope to each planet whose tax rate you wish to change. SEE ALSO: help: tech, invest, list, pay, cs, survey TECH Description: Technology is a measure of the advances your race is capable of using. There are 4 types of technology: Propulsion, Engineering, Weapons, and Defense. Your race's intelligence determines the base rate at which your technology levels will advance. You can also INVEST money into a specific technology's growth if you have a Tech Center unit. Tech Centers can increase the rate of technology growth in a non- linear fashion. For example, an investment of $50 will increase a selected technology level by 0.1, whereas an investment of $200 is required for a 0.3 increase. the output of listing a tech center shows the current investment levels, the expected increase, and the current technology levels of any technologies with an investment level greater than zero. SEE ALSO: help: Propulsion, Defense, Engineering, Weapons, Convert, Invest, Tax describe: invest (More documentation on the way...) TIME Concept: Show current game time and related information Syntax: time Description: The time command returns the current time, scheduled updates and segments and other time related information. SEE ALSO: help: update, segment TORPEDO Concept: Fire all online torpedos Syntax: torpedo Description: Torpedos are energy weapons that have an optimal convergence range. This means that they have the best chance of hitting their target if it is close to the optimal range of the torpedo system. See also: combat, online --------------------------------------------------------------------- TORPEDO Torpedoes are energy weapons and represent a concentrated blast of confined energy which has an optimal convergence length. Targets at the convergence point will experience the maximum effect of the attack. Torpedoes also have a strength in fuel points. These weapons move at light speed towards their target. See 'help torpedo' for details. Remember that what you are actually build is the torpedo launcher. The torpedoes are created by the launcher as they are fired, the necessary fuel being taken from the fuel section. To start a new torpedo design, you would execute the command 'new torpedo'. This will put you into the 'design torpedo' mode and the prompt design torpedo> will be displayed on the screen. You can now experiment with various design parameters. If you wish to modify an inactive design (one which has not been researched) do 'old torpedo'. A list of your current torpedo designs will be displayed and you will choose the number of which one you wish to modify. See help on 'new' and 'old' for more details. The commands available when you are in torpedo design mode are: Command Argument Description ------- ----------- ----------- name Give the design a name show NONE show current design abort NONE exit without saving done NONE exit with save strength strength of armor range optimal range in mAU SEE ALSO: help: fire, retaliate, shield describe: ship-combat TRANSFER Concept: Transfer an object from one section of a ship to another Syntax: transfer ... Description: Sometimes it is useful to move on object from one section of your ship to another. This command is used to do this. The unit may not be transfered if this will cause the total volume and weight to exceed the new section's size. If you provide a list of an attempt will be made to transfer all objects to the . Population units may not be transferred out of the quarters section. SEE ALSO: help: list, load, refuel, unload UNDOCK Concept: Undock two docked ships Syntax: undock Description: If a pair of ships is docked, they may be undocked by specifying one of the pair of ships. Ship components may be loaded onto one ship from another ship when they are docked. Ships may also be refueled from one another when docked. Ships may not be ordered if they are docked. SEE ALSO: help: order, dock, load, refuel, transfer UNLOAD Concept: Unload a unit from a ship or factory onto a planet Syntax: unload Description: This is used to remove a unit from a ship or factory and put it into the sector on which the ship/factory is located. Examples: unload f12 m17 Unload unit m17 from factory #12 unload 8 c10 Unload ship system c10 from ship #8 You must be landed on a planet to unload. If you wish to transfer a unit from one docked ship to another use the 'load' command. Resources, fuel, and destruct may also be loaded or unloaded from base units. The syntax is: load <"fuel" | "resources" | "destruct"> See also: load, land UNPACK Concept: Retrieve resources and money from a package. Syntax: unpack Description: This allows you to retrieve the contents of a package object in your planet inventory created as a result of the 'pack' command. The resources and money are placed in the planet's stockpiles and the package object is deleted. Note: Your current operating scope must be a planet where the object is in the planet inventory. SEE ALSO: help: pack, load, unload, inv UPDATE Description: The pace of Cosmic Conquest is controlled by updates that are scheduled by the Game Manager. During the updates, a variety of maintenance activities are done such as population growth and assignment of movement points, mining of resources and fuel by colonies, construction of ships by factories, movement of planets around their primaries, and terraforming activities. In addition, ship components in the planetary inventory are restored to full efficiency. Updates are subdivided into shorter "movement segments" in which ships are moved toward their destinations (see 'help segment'). Players can see when the next update and segment are scheduled by using the 'time' command. SEE ALSO: help: time, segment UPGRADE Concept: Upgrade the maximum population of an existing land unit. Syntax: upgrade Description: Land units, regardless of their type, have a maximum population that can be supported. The size of the unit can be increased by investing resources into the upgrade, up to its maximum size. The types, with minimum and maximum sizes and costs are listed below: Minimum Maximum Type Description Size Cost Size Cost ---- ----------- ---- ---- ---- ---- colony mining colony 500 None 5000 25r dome domed mining colony 100 5r 1000 30r research research center 500 10r 5000 35r observatory observatory 500 20r 5000 45r technology technology center 500 50r 5000 75r base military base 500 50r 5000 75r city high population area 5000 10r 50K 110r port space port 5000 50r 50K 150r Notes: Except for domed units, the actual maximum population that can be supported is derived from the sector compatibility. The efficiency and damage of the unit can reduce the real maximum population of the unit. Example: upgr m134 5 Invests 5 resources into the upgrade of unit m134. SEE ALSO: help: convert, list, survey, tech, research, build, observe WHEREIS Concept: Find out what scope an object is at Syntax: whereis Description: This command is used to make it easier to locate an object if you know it's object code. Examples: whereis p74 whereis $135 whereis !35 SEE ALSO: help: colonies, inv, list, scope WHO Concept: Print out who's logged into the game Syntax: who Description: This lists all players who are currently logged into CC and have made themselves visible. SEE ALSO: help: power, invisible, broadcast, chat ZOOM Concept: Set the zoom factor for a star/cluster/universe maps Syntax: zoom Description: A player may zoom in or out of a map. The must be an integer greater than or equal to 1. A magnification of 1 represents maximum zoom out. All maps are plotted relative to the current center point. After a zoom, the map is immediately replotted. SEE ALSO: help: map, center, scope