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Section 1: Background
1.1 "You now face a new world, a world of change. The thrust into outer
space marks a beginning of another epoch in the history of man" -
General MacArthur (1962) [REF: 1.1A]
Some of you may recognise the source of that quote: Beyond Top Secret
by Timothy Good. I am something of a conspiracy theorist (to say the
least) and the history of Explorer2260 will reflect this. Sometime
after Easter I will be releasing the first section of the history
for feedback and it will include many of the stories which have been
going around in conspiracy theory circles for some time. The quote is
also very applicable to Explorer; it will be a new world, both for
gaming and the Amiga.. especially because it is always changing.
1.2 The Universe Today.
The galaxy is a vast place, far too big to model accurately. In
Explorer I will attempt to model, with as much accuracy as possible,
star systems within several hundred parsecs of Earth (about 150,000
systems). This gives a good balance of size v complexity. Space, as
we know it, is only one of a myriad of dimensions which science is
beginning to accept. The most relevent of these to Explorer is
hyperspace.... I have at present the positions for some 2,000 stars.
I would be grateful if anyone with access to star data, or knows
anyone who does, would mail me......
1.3 The Nature Of Hyperspace.
Hyperspace technology was originally brought to the human race by the
Mogensen. Although they gave very little in the way of details as to
the physics of hyperspace they, apparently, have very little data as
well. It is not known how Hyperspace was discovered or which race made
the breakthrough. Of the old races only the Vaipen (YES! A name which
starts with a V but isn't Vo**on!) and Ovaska apear to be highly
advanced in hyperspatial travel but very little is known about either
race, or their origins..... As a result Earth scientists have been
trying to fathom the mysteries of hyperspace for some time , with
mixed results.
1.3.1. The most important aspect of hyperspace is the fact that
time and space are not related in the same way as in normal
space: in hyperspace one parsec of normal space is equal to
about 200,000km. This means that a fast ship can make the
journey from Earth to AlphaCentauri in about 5 hours
hours (40,000Km/h = 11.1Km/s) whereas most normal ships will
take about 10 to 20 hours.
1.3.2. Hyperspace is distorted by objects in the real world according
to the Branney-Girvin boundary effect which states that objects
under a critical mass of 5*10^10Kg will have little or no
effect on hyperspace whereas objects over the critical mass
will exert a gravitational distortion explonentially greater
than in normal space due to the compaction of distance in
hyperspace. This means that ships must be guided by special
beacons, known as guide beams, generated by each jump point
and relay station (See section 1.3.4) The gravitational
distortion produces effects similar to black holes when a
very large gravity well is present. Ships which
leave the guide beams are likely to go off course and be
destroyed by grvitational tidal effects or by the next
hyperspace phenomenon.
1.3.3. Hyperspace exerts a drain on all electromagnetic signals. The
source of this drain, know to earth science as the Hornmoen
Effect (one for you George!), is unknown but it's affects can
be fatal. All ships entering hyperspace, with the exception of
some organic technologies developed by the Vaipen
and Ovaska, are subject to this drain which depletes all
electrical energy sources, including bio-neurological
signals. If allowed to continue this drain will not only
deplete a ship's whole power resever but also kill all it's
occupants. To overcome this ships must periodically return to
normal space to recharge ('charge-jumps'). The Average exposure
level is about 1 day: some races can survive longer but there
only the Ovaska can stay in hyperspace for over a week. There
have been reports of a race which apprears to live in hyperspace
but there have been no confirmed sightings.
1.3.4. During investigation of jump-gate technology (see section 1.4)
by the Mogensen and Stabo it was discovered that certain forms
of EM radiation, when modulated correctly, could cross the
realspace/ hyperspace boundry (it has been speculated that it
is by a derivative of this method that the Ovaska can enter
hyperspace without jump points). Without this fact interstellar
communication would be impossible.
1.3.5. As hyperspace is subject to massive gravitational distortions
electromagnetic signals can only travel so far before they
become lost or distorted beyond recognition (or depleted into
nothing). As a result signals sent through hyperspace, by the
method described in 1.3.4, must be boosted regularly. All
outposts act as relay stations and, where there are no outposts
for a considerable distance, specially constructed relay
stations boost the signal and provide basic services for ships
undergoing a charge jump (a bit like motorway services). Ships
which move out of range of relay stations are effectively cut
off unless they are equiped with laser communications systems
(which give double the range of normal signals but require an
open jump-point to enter hyperspace through, as well as
specialised equipment and permits) or comms drones. Comms drones
are small probes which must be given the required message and
are then launched into hyperspace where they lock onto the
nearest guide beam and transmit the message. They can wait for
a reply or return to the ship. They signal the ship which
launched them to open a jump point so that they can be
retrieved.
1.4 JumpPoint technology. [REF:1.3A & 1.4A-E]
It was noted by science in the century that below the so-called
Planck-Wheeler length - which is 1.62*10^-35m or 20 orders of
magnitude smaller than an atomic nucleus - quantum gravity
fluctuations become so violent that space itself actually 'boils'
and becomes a quantum foam containing short-lived quantum wormholes.
When the Mogensen introduced jumpgate technology to Earth science they
also brought with them a material with very strange properties;
Hyspiridan60, as it became known, when exposed to a very high strengh
electric field modulates the field to exactly the correct frequency to
enlarge quantum wormholes. For some reason, still undetermined to this
day, the resonace created in the field boundaries forces one end of the
wormhole into normal space and the other into hyperspace. Provided that
a strong enough field is applied the wormhole will expand to a
diameter of aproximately 2 miles for as long as the field is applied.
When the field is removed the energy which forced the wormhole open
disipates as light and radiation into normal space and electrical
energy into hyperspace. A side effect of the jumppoint creation process
is that all jumppoints are one way: attempting to enter a jumppoint
from normal space into hyperspace which was created for a ship entering
normal space from hyperspace will result in your ship being torn apart
by quantum graviatational tidal forces. Due to the enormous energies
needed jumpengines and jumpgates must be given the exact mass of any
ship (or the total mass if there is more than one ship) which will be
passing through the jumppoint so that exactly the correct amount of
energy is used to open and maintain the jumppoint: too little energy
will result in the jumppoint collapsing as the ship(s) enter,
completely destroying them. Too much energy expenditure is wasteful and
is normally avoided unless the mass is not determined exactly.
1.4.1 Jumpgates. Excluding the Ovaska all races have to create
jumppoints to enter hyperspace. Only large ships have enough
room for bulky jumpengines so smaller ships must enter hyperspace
through jumpgate generated jumppoints. Jumpgates consist of 4
oval rings, 5 miles by 3, connected by 1.5 mile gantries. Each
gate has 8 deuterium/ tritium fusion reactors supplying 24
Hyspiridan60 field generators. Gates need to be constructed well
away from other constructions due to the intense radiation
created when a jumppoint collapses and are held in position by
16 hydrogen reaction thrusters. Gates are constructed by
specialised constructor ships or deep-space explorers.
Despite the number of fusion reactors the gate can take up to 5
minutes to recharge for another ship.
1.4.2 Jumpengines. Large ships can be fitted with jumpengines provided
that the ship already has a powerful reactor fitted. Jumpengines
exploit one of the most unusual properties of Hyspiridan60: if it
is suspended in a supercooled medium (liquid helium is normally
used) and the field modulation section is aligned correctly
the modulation focus can be directed to a fixed location
(normally to the side or rear of the ship for tactical reasons)
to create the jump vortex. Jumpengines have a default calibration
based on the maximum mass of the ship it is housed in, plus a
small leeway. It it possible, provided that enough power has been
built up, to make larger jumppoints but this requires a very
large, dedicated, fusion reactor and is thus only normally
available on large military ships and high cost transports.
1.5 StarNET.
This could really be a completely new section but it is mostly
background so it is included here.
Many communication systems exist in the present universe ranging from
simple laser comm systems up to the hive intelligences of the Vaipen
and, to a lesser extent, the Reticula and Nosnerual. Many races
communicate over a standard comms network called StarNET, the
interstellar equivalent of the 'internet'. StarNET is based around
an interconnected series of high strength narrow band microwave and
realspace/hyperspace transceivers which link nearly every net server
in known space: More or less every computer in known space is linked
to StarNET.
StarNET, and it's associated subsections, will only be accessable while
in dock or at a relay station.
1.5.1 The Infrastructure.
Space is a big place and light is, in interstellar terms at
least, somewhat slow. Were it not for the fact that high energy
Stable Baryon Transcievers can penetrate the realspace/HS
boundry (after correct modulation) interstellar, and long
distance interplanetary, communication would be impossible.
While short distance (ie: ship - ship, ship - planet)
comms are via normal maser links, interstellar communication
can be accomplished in one of two ways: maser link to a relay
station, which converts the microwave message into SBT format
which is then transmitted through hyperspace, detected by a
station in the recipients local space and send to the recipient
via maser. Very large ships may have SBT equipment fitted, in
which case direct communication is possible.
1.5.2 The NET.
All stations, and relay stations, must remain in constant
contact to provide guide beams for ships in hyperspace. Many
races exploit this to form a stable network known as StarNET.
Each race converses in it's own language over StarNET so all
net software has built in translation capabilities which can
convert nearly every known language into the native language
of the user. StarNET provides several services; real-time comm
channels (vid links/ voice links), email and BBSs. However,
built alongside these services is the IIN.
1.5.3 The Interstellar Information Network.
The IIN was, according to Eckerts "History of the major races",
originally started by the Munkvold in 260BC (earth years) but
it only attained it's widespread status in the last 300 years
thanks mostly to the efforts of the Mogensen and Nosnerual. The
IIN has evolved, through human computer engineering, to a
highly complex network spanning most of known space. The IIN is
a standard interface to information on nearly every major server
much like the www.
In Explorer the IIN will not consist of millions of nodes, though
the way the systems generates the sites will make it appear so.
The IIN (and StarNET to a lesser degree) will adapt to the player
and the universe so that it evolves with the DUM.
StarNET is the major meeting place of millions of people and as such is
used not only for communication but also for advertising and notices.
As such StarNET will be the place where the player can look for jobs,
ideas or warning that they are being hunted. Some of the things which
will appear on SterNET are:
=> Escorts. The player is asked to join an escort fleet for a
ship passing through dangerous areas of space.
=> Adverts. These will range from simple junk mail (oh yes,
there's nothing quite like junkmail to give a
sense of reality) up to job advertisements, corporate
ads and so on.
=> Companies. Many comapnies will have sites on the IIN (as well
as lesser services on StarNET). Here companies will
ply their wares and occaisionally post job notices or
escort requests.
=> Finance. You can't escape them even in an imaginary universe!
Here you will be able to open bank accounts, get loans
or insurance and many other bank type nightmares.
=> Email. The player will recieve email! Junk mail will, as ever,
will continue to be the bane of net life (though I will
include an option to turn it off) but the player will
recieve email from associates or companies, as well as
security forces and individual characters. In the net
version I hope to release pleayers will be able to mail
each other in the explorer universe.
=> Info servers. These are the libraries of Explorer. I will be
including all the game background, physics,
theories and technical details along with sections
on the denizens of the Explorer list (hell, you
lot deserve some credit beyond you names
appearing) as well as the reasons I am writing
Explorer and why I set out to involve as many
people as possible.
1.6 The Dynamic Universe Model.
Most trading games suffer from one huge limitation; the universe is
essentially static: borders are constant and nothing really ever
happens. Everyone knows that real life is not like this but no-one has
ever tried (well, that I've ever heard of) to implement a dynamic
universe (and I am beginning to understand why!). In a dynamic universe
NOTHING can be taken as constant; there will be several major
influences on the DUM:
The game seeds; large numbers used as the basis for the pseudo-
random number generators.
Race data; races will be defined by the model in many ways
including the technology level, propensity to engage
in conflicts, tactical levels, intelligence levels and
their rate of expansion etc... each race will
influence the models determining the system
ownerships, military models, StarNET and many other
game systems.
Conflicts; The outcome of conflicts can widely affect the DUM,
from the system onership levels all the way up to the
destruction of a race or the start of another
conflict.
Player Actions; The effect the player will have on the universe
will normally be small but there may be
occaisions when the player could save or destroy
the universe....
1.7 Stations (ground based and space stations...)
Here I must admit to cheating a little: My space stations will just
be large ships either attached to the surface or in orbit. This means
that several features will be available:
=> Stations CAN be destroyed or damaged!!! Unlike in Frontier where
you could blast away for hours with the biggest gun you could get
and nothing would happen it will be possible to damage stations
because of the fact they are ships I can use exactly the same
routines for calculating damage levels. If you use a really big
weapon (asteroid mast driver for example) you will effectively be
able to destroy a station. Stations will also be able to repair
themselves or (in the case of spacestations) moved out of orbit.
Reports of attacks on stations will appear in the news sites on the
IIN...
=> You can 'move around' inside them. By this I don't mean a first
person perspective walkabout game but rather the object data will
be used to create a wireframe representation of the station with
areas which you can visit highlighted. This map will be rotatable
and scalable so that you can select the area you want to enter,
=> Spaceships can function as stations. This is how I will get large
military ships (or interstellar passenger cruisers) to operate:
in a military ship the game works exactly as if it was a
spacestation with only military areas available. On a passenger
cruiser the same is true except that services will be restricted.
=> I will implement defense systems for stations; All the weapons
available to any large battleship can be fitted to a spacestation
(so if you'r in a tiny little fighter trying to attack a 7 mile
long spacestation you *will* die... believe me...)
When the player requests docking permission from the station the player
can either be brought in directly (under control of the station
computers) or asked to adopt a holding position outside the station
while other ships are delt with. Once in the station a fee wll be
deducted from the player's account for docking charges. If the player
is going to spend more than 3 hours in dock then an additional fee
must be paid for holding area space. Stays of more than 24 hours (All
time will be measured in Earth standard for simplicity, irrespective
of your race, but the time will be available in your race's
standard) will require a daily fee (paid in advance) and a room must be
rented by the player (or 'alternative arrangements....') the player
will be charged for every day the ship remains in dock *at the end of
the stay*
1.7.1 Station Facilities.
Space stations and ports are more than docking ports, all of them
provide other services from basic accomodation and network access
up to shipyards, shops and hospitals.
1.7.1.1 Accomodation. As I said above, if the player wants to
remain on a station for more than 24 Earth hours then
the player must rent a room (or cabin). If the player
is willing to pay for the more expensive accomodation
then the player's health will improve slightly,
otherwise the player's health will slowly decline....
1.7.1.2 StarNET Access. All stations, however basic, provide some
form of StarNET access. Some will have local networks as
well.
1.7.1.3 Docking services. These will range from just somewhere
where your ship is parked up to repair shops and refit
services provided by the station.
1.7.1.4 Shipyards. Some stations will have shipyards where you
can buy ships. You may own several ships but you can only
fly one of them.
1.7.1.5 Shops. Depending on the location and size of the station
you are at the variety, type and availability of goods
will fluctuate. Stations in, or near, a warzone will be
affected by blockades and transport difficulties by
reduced availability and higher prices.Many shops wil
appear on the local network but many will be accessable
in the station 'malls' (in cases like these the Wireframe
which represents the station will show a large block
for the mall, when the user selects the mall the view
will zoom in and the mall will be replaced with a
selection of polygons which can be selected to enter
shops.
1.7.1.6 Medical sercives/ Hospital. In Explorer the player's
health will be an integral part of the game. Depending
upon the player's chosen race and actions visits may be
required to medical bays on stations. In some places
these services will be free, in others they must be
payed for...
1.7.1.7 Security services. If you get up to no good then your
likely to end up here sooner or later. These guys mean
business and there's none of the 'you'r fined x' that
appeared in Frontier. If you get caught then you can be
fined or send to prison or both. Sentancing will be done
via a jury system, not by an individual officer, and many
races will have extradition treaties. The security
services will be able to freeze your assets (sounds
painful) if you evade capture.....
1.7.2 Station procedures.
1.7.2.1 Docking. When a player appoaches a station the docking
procedure will vary according to the player's ship type.
(see section 2.1 for ships) Smaller ships will be taken
into the docking tunnel (once any backlogs are cleared of
course) but larger ships must either enter zero-g loading
areas (for medium sized freighters) or send out shuttles
to dock with the station. Only smaller ships can approach
a ground station as larger ships may be damaged by
gravitational or atmospheric effects.
When the player docs at any station or capital ship the
craft will be guided automatically to a transport pad...
a diagram always helps; diag1.iff shows a docking port
situated on a planet or small station. The ship enters
the docking tunnel, under the control of the docking
computers and is moved over a docking pad. Once on the
pad the pad will be lowered into the dock bay and moved
to a free space: the user then has to go through customs
and security before entering the station. In ground based
stations ony one shaft can be used. In spacestations or
large ships two or four shafts may be used; see diag2.iff
1.7.2.2 Post Docking. Here the player must submit a manifest of
his cargo in case of a customs search. This is normally
the same as was compiled upon leaving the last station
(see later) normally this isn't checked but if it is, and
the manifest doesn't match the cargo, the player may be
tried for importing illegal goods or smuggling.
The player will also have to pay the standing charge for
docking. No more dock charges must be paid until the
player leaves.
1.7.2.3 Once on the station the player can either quickly sort
out whatever he/ she wants to do and leave or rent a
room. Rooms can only be paid for in daily or weekly
amounts and their price depends on the station, the room
and the person the player rents the room off. If the
player doesn't rent a room after 24 hours then the
player's health will begin to suffer and some
administrations may charge the player extra for
docking fees. The player will also be unable to, legally,
access any station services except for the docking port,
security service or rental agencies.
1.7.2.4 When the player is leaving cost of housing the player's
ship must be payed and a cargo manifest must be compiled.
The player doesn't have to compile a maifest which is
exatly what is carried in the player's ships but the
weight MUST be the same otherise the player's ships may
be destroyed in a jump gate collapse and it makes it much
easier for security to detect the manifest deception.
When compiling the manifest list the player will be
presented with a screen like the one shown below (I will
be releasing an actual picture in a few days)
+---------------------+ +-------+ +-------------------+
| Your hold contents | | Add | | The Manifest List |
+---------------------+ +-------+ +-------------------+
| | +-------+ | |
| | | Del | | |
+---------------------+ +-------+ | |
+---------------------+ | |
| * merchandise list | | |
+---------------------+ | |
| | | |
+---------------------+ +-------------------+
The merchandise list gives a list of ALL possible
merchandise..... The player will have to make sure that
the weight of you manifest matches his/her ship weight
(as it's easy to tell if you fake the manifest otherwise)
If the player submits a false manifest and the local
security force is good the player will be caught and
prosecuted (poss 2 year jail sentance and 10,000 credit
fine) otherwise the plyaer's ship will be lifted back
into the dock tunnel by the station lift and
then can proceed out into open space. If the player has
arranged to pick up the goods he/she may have to go to
a relay station (out in the boonies somewhere), another
station or a large ship which can be docked with.
Docking fees will *NOT* be constant, even within the same station; matters
like where the player's ship is docked, it's type and size and the amount
of traffic will change the price asked. For example: a station where there
is a lot of traffic can charge less for docking as it has more cash to work
with, docks with low traffic must charge more to make up the shortfall.
If the player has a large ship then he/she must pay more because he/she is
taking more space up. Some stations will have better facilities in
specific docking bays, for which the player must pay more...
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
2.1 Ships. Each race (see section XX.XX) will have it's own distinctive
ship design and technology. Some will use fairly simple technology
whereas some will use technology hundreds of thousands of years
more advanced than the average. The technology will start at a level
where hyperspatial travel is attainable as I have assumed that any
race capable of sustainable spatial travel will inevitably contact a
race with hyperspace technology. Ships will be build from a variety of
materials depending upon technology level ranging from simple metals
to highly complex metal/organics and true organic technologies. In this
section I will mention hyperspace and hyperspatial travel. These terms
are explained in section 1.3 and 1.4.
The major ship groups will include the following types. Only private
craft, shuttles and log-range shuttles can be purchased from dock
yards. Larger ships, or ships designed with specialised military
purposes, can only be bought from specialist yards, or not at all.
Despite this it will be possible to fly, or at least command, nearly
all of the ships. The player WILL NOT be able to fly ships developed by
the Vaipen or Ovaska among others. The reasons for this are given in
the section on races. BioTech craft are considered in a sepearate
section as they are very hard to classify.
Private Craft: Single pilot or small crew ships, small in size
with limited range, cargo and weapons
capabilites. These craft will normally be used
within a single system or neighbouring systems.
Due to their small size they may only enter
hyperspace via jumppoints created by a jumpgate
or large ship. These ships will be favoured by
pirates which have a large base ship to provide
firepower support due to their relative
cheapness and availability.
Private fighters: Custom or ex-military craft which are normally
only available on the black market. Often owned
by pirates, raiders and bounty hunters or by
Shuttles: These craft range in size from ships similar
to private craft up to transport vehicles capable
of carrying up to about 200 passengers with some
cargo room. They are not suited to long-haul
flights, only being able to carry enough fuel and
resources for about 36 hours travel. Shuttles are
the main form of transport between space stations
and surface ports, as well as between space
stations and ships too large to enter the station
docking tunnel.
Only the largest shuttles can create their own
jumppoints and none of them have very good weapon
capabilities.
L.R. Shuttles: Long range shuttles are more suited to the
demands of long distance travel than standard
shuttles. They have better EM damping, allowing
longer periods in hyperspace, and larger fuel
stores and power plants. L.R shuttles can take
between 400 and 2000 passnegers and are used by
many tansport lines for interstellar package
holidays. Again, only the larger craft have jump
engines but only the smaller craft can dock with
stations. The larger shuttles require 'ferry'
shuttles to load and unload passengers. These are
either provided by the station or are carried in
the shuttle's docking port.
Cruisers: These ships can carry up to 5000 people and the
largest is a mile long. All of them can create
their own jumppoints and can stay in hyperspace
nearly as long as military ships. None of these
ships can dock directly with a space station and
they normally carry between 10 and 15 shuttles to
load and unload passengers.
Traders: Traders range from shuttles with the passenger
spaces replaced with cargo space up to custom
traders which will accept cargo modules (large,
normally sealed, modules which are attached to
pylons on the ship). None of these ships have
built-in jump engines, although some could accept
them if cargo space was sacrified. Traders rarely
have good weapon systems, relying more on
escorts or blind chance. Nearly all of these ships
can dock directly with stations, although only
the smallest ones can enter atmospheres or high-g
wells.
Bulk traders: Larger relations of traders which have integral
jump engines, large cargo holds and cargo module
pylons as standard. These ships also have much
better offensive and defensive weapon systems
than traders. Their size prevents them from
docking with stations, or entering atmospheres,
so loading and unloading is normally done in
zero-g docking areas or in a holding position
outside a station.
D.S Traders: Traders and bulk traders do not have the
capability to travel very long distances, usually
no more than 48 hours travel. Deep space traders
have modified power plants, more powerful EM
damping hulls and nearlt twice the fuel reserves
of their smaller cousins. This gives them almost
96 hours flight time (even though the ship must
make a charge jump every 24 hours). D.S traders
are usually much larger than normal and bulk
traders (the latest model from XianTech is 2 and
a half miles long and can carry over half a
million tonnes) and can be narly as well armed as
a small military cruiser.
Explorer/Mapper: These ships are exclusive to Earth and are among
the largest ships in the known universe (nearly
as big as a Vaipen Hiveship, the largest seen
was 12 miles long) with the largest, Excaliber,
at just over 7 miles long. These ships are used
by companies for deep space mining and
exploration and by the Earth government for
jumpgate and station construction. These craft
can stay out of contact for over five years
without difficulty and can house over 200 ships.
Despite the fact that there are only 30 of them
in use (4 are in construction as of 14 Jan 2260)
all but 8 of them are owned by corporations, the
other 8 being owned by the government and either
in deep space or on loan to one of the other
races. These craft have weapon systems as good,
if not than, any of the ships in service in the
Earth Stellar Forces and can carry as much as 2
or 3 deep space traders. It has been suggested
that one of the ships in custruction,
provisionally called 'Archon', is going to be
bigger still and may be used by the military as a
mobile caommand station.
Colony Ships: These ships are similar to explorer ships but
normally only about half the size. They are
primarily used to transport colonists and their
equipment to new outposts which are not suitable
for passenger cuirsers. These craft have integral
jump engines and docking facilities so they can
function as orbital stations while the final
outpost is being constructed. Ship suggested by
Karl A Rostrup.
Military Ships. These are only very basic classifications as in many
races the lines between the craft types are blurred.
Recon/ Patrol: Small, lightly armed, very fast craft with no
jumpengines or cargo/ passenger space or other
capability. Normally only used when quick recon
missions are required.
Fighters: These range in size from craft barely larger than
recon ships up to well armed, powerful heavy
fighters. None of these craft have jumpengines
and the weapons capabilities are dependant upon
the ship type and race.
Troop Transports: Modified deep space shuttles which are used to
move ground troops and milirary hardware around.
All the following craft have jumpengines and heavy em damping hulls for
prolonged hyperspace immersion.
Battleships: Well armed craft with limited fighter storage
facilities. Normally used as escort firepower
for Destroyers, Heavy Cruisers, Dreadnoughts
and SuperDeadnoughts.
Destroyers: Heavily armed craft which can carry up to 30
fighters and recon craft. Normally they also
have troop transportation space and cargo areas.
Heavy Cruisers: Fighter transport craft. These ships also include
cabins for piolts and engineers. The space
restrictions this poses means that these ships
do not have brilliant weapons systems and must
have a battleship or destroyer escort.
Dreadnoughts: Very well armed ships which can carry up to 100
fighters, their pilots and engineers, troops,
hardware and still have room for fast, powerful
drive systems.
S.Dreadnoughts: SuperDreadnoughts are among the most powerful
ships in the galaxy. Each can carry over 200
fighters and a crew of nearly 1000 people. The
weapons systems these can carry can literally
flatten the surface of a planet or destroy space
stations.
2.1.2 Organic technology.
This is still an emerging field of research and very little is
understood about life which can survive in space without difficulty.
Only the Vaipen and Ovaska appear to have mastered organic spacecraft
and the appear to follow more or less the same trend; the smaller ships
look very similar to the larger ones, and there have been some
suggestions that that is exactly the case; the smaller ships are just
younger relations of the larger ships. Organic technology has many
advantages over normal technology, not least in that it repairs itself
and can reproduce (although no-one knows how... the Vaipen and Ovaska
are very secretive and no-one who has even come close to finding out
much about them has ever been seen again). What is known is that these
ships have a symbiotic relationship with the pilot (although this link
can be broken) and, in the case of the Vaipen and probably the Ovaska,
they are part of a single, race wide, hive mind.
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3.1 Weapon systems.
Due to the large number of races in the Explorer universe it is not
possible to give exact classifications to the weapons sytems. What
follows is a rough outline of the general types of weapon and defense
systems.
Small ships will either be unable to accept weapons (some private
craft) or will have a single, possibly rotating, weapon pylon. Larger
ships can have many weapons pylons (20-30 on a Super Dreadnought). The
turrets will be controlled by the computer unless the player takes over
control. One problem with weapon systems is that they take power.. a
lot of it, so if all the weapons are in use then the ship's jumpengines
will have to be taken offline (and it can take up to 15 minutes to get
them back on again)
3.1.1 Offensive systems.
Blasters: Small, low power weapons which are not much use for
anything except as a last resort. Normally based
around laser technology or low energy plasma
generation.
Cannons: Range from small lasers not much bigger than a
blaster up to lasers capable of generating pulses
in excess of a terawatt. The largest cannon
available is the Todhoeman650 which is a gigawatt
beam laser with petawatt (10^15 watts) pulse
activator (ie: it has a continuous beam at 120
gigawatts and a pulse capability up to 2.5
petawatts, even during beam generation)
Projectile: These systems fire unguided missiles of various
types and sizes. All these require ammo stores.
All projectile weapons will have built in self
destructs which will stop them causing too much
damage to surrounding planets.
Shells: These are basically hull piercing metal
'bullets'. Some have explosive charges.
Mass drivers: fire everything from small metal
spheres up to large lumps of rock. The
largest of the family is the planetary
bombardment driver, banned in nearly every
system (but proclaimed as a holy weapon
by the Dervishes of Eie).
Masers: Microwave lasers. Produce extreme heating upon
contact which can cause the hull of a craft to melt
or explode. Very useful on organic technology.
Missiles: Guided projectiles with high explosive charges.
Magnetogravitic: Use magnetic and gravitational fields to disrupt
the electronics and control systems of another
craft. Requires large amounts of energy!
Particle Beam: Fires a highly charged stream of particles, to
remove ECM protection, followed by a high explosive
projectile. Only any use against slow moving
targets.
Positron Cannon: Fires a pulse of positrons (anti-electrons). As
you can imagine this is rather destructive.... :)
Fry Cannon : A very thin cable is shot at the target and, upon
contact, the full power of the attacking ship's
power plant is sent down the cable, fusing all
the other ship's systems. Only useful agains small,
slow moving, close range targets.
Mines: Proximity and contact mines, some carry explosive
charges others have large batteries that discharge
through the mine casing upon contact (like the Fry
Cannon)
Atmospheric Incinerators: Highly reactive substances are launched
into the atmosphere of the planet resulting in
atmospheric ignition and the depletion of oxygen and
other gasses.
Nerve Gases/ Biological agents..... guess!
3.1.2 Defensive systems.
Interceptors: Projectile cannons which fire specially designed
rounds consisting reflective coatings, defraction
gratings and explosive charges which destroy,
diffuse or slow and weapon they get in the way of
(in theory at least). These are normally fitted to
highly sensitive scanners (see section 3.1.3)
ECM: Static fields which upset the guidance systems of
missiles and can prematurely destroy explosive
charges in unguided missiles. Useless against
lasers, masers or mass drivers.
EM Dampers: Not really defensive, these devices reduce the
speed at which hyperspace drains e.m energy. This
allows ships to spend longer in hyperspace (about
10 or 15 percent longer)
Decoys: Self explanitory really...
AMsystems: Anti-missile systems consist of missles which are
designed to intercept other missiles in flight be
they guided or unguided. These weapons are only
partially effective against mass drivers.
Stealth: Reduces the overall visibility of the craft. This
is either in the form of a visual cloak or IR/EM
cloaks. Systems with visual cloaks must be
specially designed to take such systems... and they
are VERY expensive.
3.1.3 Detection Systems.
IR/EM: Various devices for detecting the infra-red/
electromagnetic signatures of other craft. More
advanced forms of this technology can even detect
the hearbeats of the crew of a ship at close range!
HS detectors: Hyperspace propogates em radiation much faster than
normal space so it is possible to detect the firing
of missiles or lasers before they are visible. Most
interceptor cannons rely on these systems.
Visual: Erm... looks for other ships....
3.2 Organic Technology.
Organic technology is much more diverse than normal technology, and
many variations exist. Many of the weapon types outlines above have
organic technology counterparts in addtion to:
Worms: Teeth with tails. These are fired from the host ship towards
a target which suddenly becomes dinner for several hundred
mouths. Any ship caught in the way of these voracious beasts
will find itself full of holes...
EBeam: A favourate weapon of the Vaipen these are something of an
enigma. They appear to be a single beam of electrons at
high speed and energy. No-one knows how the ships manage to
produce these beams, or how they are controlled into a
cohesive weapon.
Several other form of organic technology have been reported but no
more information is available.
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4.1 Exploring and Mining.
Mining in Explorer is a bit more convoluted than in other such games.
Firstly, unless you want to run the risk of having your claim stolen
you must get a permit to mine and/ or explore a system. Once you have
one of these (which don't come cheap) you will need a *big* ship! In
addition you will need the following equipment: orbital mapping probes,
surface prospectors and several mining rigs. Orbital mapping probes aree
also required for mapping systems.
To explore or mine a system you will nearly alwasy need a ship with
it's own jump enginesas it is rare for a jump gate to have been
constructed in an unexplored system. It is quite common however for
explored systems to still have unused resources and unmapped planets
but these will require permits from the system's owners before mapping
or mining can be started (and you often have to pay for the rights to
sell the mined material)
Anyway, to work... once the player has arrived in the system the
orbital probes can be launched. Each one can have it's own destination
(although sending several to the same planet will increase the speed at
which that planet is mapped). When the probes have mapped the planet the
player will be informed to that effect. The player can either recall
the probes and head back to civilisation to register the maps and
possibly name the planet/ system or launch a surface prospector from
the orbital probe to map the mineral deposits. Once again the player
will be informed once the area requested has been mapped and can either
recall the probes or send out the mining drones.
If the player leaves the system any orbital probes or surface
prospectors which have been left behind will self destruct
(to prevent others from raiding them for their data) mining machines
are not similarly affected. The positions of all mining probes is
recorded in the player's logbook automatically (including systems name,
coordinates, entry point and planet id and coordinates)
When the player wants to retrieve the mining drones he/she must enter
the system and signal them. If they have enough fuel left inside them
then they will come to the surface, lift off and travel to the
player's ship. If they do not have sufficient fuel to lift off they
will come to the surface (all mining probes will remain below the
surface to prevent detection) and signal the player to come and pick
them up. All probes have individual signal codes which the player can
set (as can other miner's) so it is possible, if the player can get
hold of someone else's codes, to hijack the other's machines. Mining
machines can be configured to stockpile the materials which have
already been processed and can make several trips to and from the
player's ship to transfer all the materials.
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5.1 Military Service.
"Join the army they said, it's a man's life they said..." Thats exactly
what you can do. Occaisionally the armed forces of each race will start
recruitment drives on StarNET. When the player answers one of these
adverts, provided background checks come up ok, he/she will become a
member of the local fighter pilot corp. The player's ship will be sold
off (the player can do this before joining to get the best deal). After
a period of training and testing (which is shorter for experienced
players and only needs to be taken the first time you join up) the
player will be put on operational service. If the local area is quiet
then the player will, if possible, be transfered to another station
(the player has to fly there in his/her own, military issue, ship).
Missions are issued every one or two days and will not consist of
single tasks in most cases. The possible types of mission include:
=> Patrol. Fly around the designated area making sure everything
is ok.
=> Recon. Get in there and get some info.
=> Hunt. Information shows that x is in area y but we aren't sure
of the exact location. Find it.
=> Destroy. Guess
=> Follow. Find out where x is going but don't be seen!
=> Attack. Guess....
=> Escort.
=> Protect.
=> Run Away! Run Away!
=> Undercover. I can't tell you for security reasons.
Each mission will consist of one or more of the above tasks string
together by the DUM/mission generation system.
Promotion and awards depend on your sucess and the difficulty of the
game (medium difficulty gives the fastest promotion whereas easy and
hard games take forever). Promotions are also affected if you leave
the armed forces.
Every year (except during wars...) the player will be given the option
to leave the armed forces. Doing so will allow the player to continue as
normal but it does mean that if he/she joins the forces again then
his/her rank may not increase as quickly as it would otherwise.
If you are on a station which is taken over you stand a good chance of
being killed. If the station breaks away from it's government you
will have the option to leave and move to another post or to remain
and 'defect' to the station command.
Sometimes you will be posted to a capital ship rather than a station in
which case the location of your base will be constantly changing. This
will be accounted for by the navicomp.
Players will be able to be put in charge of stations. This will mean
that players can (but not must) have control of the day-to-day running
of the station. It will also be possible for players to expand the
station, especially ground based ones.
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6.1 The Races
-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-
7.1 Technical
Ok... heres the fun part. Explorer will be based around a small
bootsrap loader which will start up the library code. All the
functionality of Explorer, it's gfx routines and so on will be
implemented via libraries. This means that it will be easy to produce
different versions of the code. As things stand at the moment I am
considering writing versions of the libraries for AGA and RTG. (as a
combined AGA/RTG lib is too slow on AGA and clumbersome on RTG)
However, because of the structure of the libraries it should be
possible for 3rd parties to develop ECS routines.
7.1.1 The engines.
The 3D engine will be a lightsourced, shaded, texturemapped
engine which will include variable lighting, transparency and fog
effects (you waon't believe how easy fog is once you get your
head around it). The user will be able to select the detail
levels, rendering method (plain polygon up to full rendering)
and rejection systems (I will be using a painter algorithm which
automatically adjusts itself, thanks to some tricky queue code,
to keep the speed up at the expense of detail, this can be turned
off if you don't mind slowdown in complex views.) I will,
probably, be using Kalms CPU3BLIT1 c2p routine in the AGA version
for best performance.
The other graphics engines will render onto a normal intuition
screen (minus titlebar and gadget of course) for maximum OS
compatability.
Input devices are interpreted by control modules which watch the
ports and produce signals which the user can configure in the
game controls editors. Each ships will have it's own actions and
movement definitions which can be triggered by user defined keys.
7.1.2 The modules.
Each one of the control modules will monitor a certain port. The
modules are specifically written to take certain port states and
produce defined results. These results ae fed into the control
interpreter which maps module outputs to control states using
user defined settings.
References:
1.1A Beyond Top Secret, Timothy Good (Sidgwick & Jackson) Page: 540
1.3A Branney and Girvin, 'Hyperspatial Dynamics' Foreman Press #2189.4354
1.4A New Scientist, issue 2022 'Planes, trains and wormholes'
1.4B New Scientist, issue 4324 'Fly me to the stars'
1.4C Jackson and Moss, 'Theories of interstellar travel', Blackson
1.4D Maclean, 'Harnessing Quantum Gravity', Lewis Associates, June 2134
1.4E "Hyperspace, jumppoints and related matter" translated from Higher
Mogensen.
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