Archive-Name: games/netrek/faqLast-Updated: 29 Mar 1993Changes: None.TABLE OF CONTENTS: 1. What is Netrek? 2. It sounds interesting; how do I get started? 3. What's the difference between Xtrek and Netrek? 4. I've seen a game called Nettrek for the Macintosh; is that the same    thing as Netrek? 5. Can I play Netrek on my Mac/IBM PC/Amiga? 6. I would like to start a new server; what kind of hardware will I need? 7. I'm trying to start a new server, and I'm having problems.  Where can I    get help? 8. How do I get people to play my server? 9. I compiled the client source, but every time I try to connect to a server     it kicks me out or tells me to get a 'blessed' binary.  What gives?10. The game runs fine, but when the Netrek window comes up, I can't type    anything into it.  How can I fix this?11. OK, the game runs fine and I found a server and logged in, but there    doesn't seem to be anyone else around.  How can I find a game with    people in it?12. OK, now I'm in a game with other people.  What do I do?13. When I'm playing the game, people keep sending messages to me.  How can    I talk back to them?14. I would like to change what some of the keys do; for example, I'd    like 't' instead of 'T' to activate my tractor beam.  Is there a way    to change this?15. How does the rating/promotion system work?16. I keep dying.  How can I get better at the game?17. What is 't-mode'?18. What does DI stand for, anyway?19. Some of the servers and clients are called 'UDP'; what does that mean?20. Some of the servers and clients are called 'RSA'; what does that mean?21. I keep reading about the INL; what is it?22. Where can I get the most recent copy of this FAQ list?23. My GPA has fallen 25% since I started playing Netrek last semester.    How do you find time to do your homework and still make Admiral? NOTE: If you are using rn or trn, you can use ^G to browse throughthe answers.Subject: 1. What is Netrek? Netrek is a 16-player graphical real-time battle simulation with a Star Trek theme.  The game is divided into two teams of 8 (or less), whodogfight each other and attempt to conquer each other's planets.  Thereare several different types of ships, from fast, fragile scouts up tobig, slow battleships; this allows a great deal of variance in playstyles. Netrek is set up as a client/server combination; if you want to play,you'll need the client binary for your machine (most are X-based).Subject: 2. It sounds interesting; how do I get started? First, you need to get a client binary for your machine; read the Netrek FTP List (which is usually posted along with this FAQlist) to find an FTP site.  The client should run on anything thatruns X Windows, although the slower your machine is, the harder it'sgoing to be to play.  Slow networks are even harder to play with.If you don't know how to use FTP, ask your local guru about it.If you don't have access to FTP, you can use the mail server atdecwrl.dec.com.  Mail ftpmail@decwrl.dec.com with 'help' in the body(nothing else) and you'll get an automatic reply with instructions.Once you have the binary, rename it to something logical like 'netrek'and run it with 'netrek -h <hostname> -p <port>'.  Read the Netrek ServerList to find a server near you; the nearer, the better.If you get a 'netrek: Permission denied' message, try 'chmod 755 netrek'.After the game is over, try 'man chmod', it's too important to not know about.Subject: 3. What's the difference between Xtrek and Netrek? Xtrek is a precursor to Netrek.  It has many of the same elements,but it doesn't work as well because it isn't set up as a client-servercombination.  Unfortunately, Netrek is often called Xtrek.  This causes much confusion.This newsgroup really is dedicated to Netrek, but feel free to talk aboutXtrek if you want; many people here play both.Subject: 4. I've seen a game called Nettrek for the Macintosh; is that the   same thing as Netrek? No.  Nettrek is in the same family as Netrek (it's unclear which wascreated first), but it's not the same game.  It runs over Appletalkand doesn't have a whole lot of complexity.  If you're interested in it, the original version can be found in most net archive sites that supportMac games.  The most recent version is a commercial program called"Nettrek 3.0 - The Real Version," and is published by Premiere Technology,Inc.Subject: 5. Can I play Netrek on my Mac/IBM PC/Amiga? The Amiga client and server have just been released; they requirerelease 2 of the Amiga TCP/IP package (AS225) which is still in beta testing and probably won't be released for several months.  Read theNetrek FTP List to find out where you can get the client and/or server. If you have a Mac or IBM PC, you probably can't play.  If you aren't connected directly to the net via ethernet card or SLIP, you can't.  If you ARE connected via ethernet but aren't running X windows, you have a chance--there is a port for the Mac in the works, but nothing has yet been released.  If you're running Unix and X windows, you should be able to compile the source and it should work, emphasis on the 'should.'Subject: 6. I would like to start a new server; what kind of hardware will      I need? The server should run on anything that has Sys V shared memory and a good amount of CPU power.  Good net connections are essential if you wantlots of players.Read the Netrek FTP list to find out where you can get the server source.Please get the permission of your sysadmins before setting up a server.Netrek doesn't need any additional bad publicity.Subject: 7. I'm trying to start a new server, and I'm having problems.  Where      can I get help? Read the Netrek FTP list to find out where the server-secrets files are stored (currently at gs69.sp.cs.cmu.edu). There is also a server maintainer's mailing list, netrek@iastate.edu.If you want to be put on the list, mail a short message to netrek-request@iastate.edu and include the amount of C experienceyou have, how much you know about netrek code, and anything elsethat might be interesting.Subject: 8. How do I get people to play my server? Generally, people call up the Metaserver (see below) and try to get intoa game that already has people in it.  If your school has a bunch ofpeople who play netrek, encourage them to use your server and peoplefrom other places will begin to.  If you don't have a local netrekpopulation, log on to the machine yourself and fight Hosers. The other option is to modify the server enough that people are interested in it for the novelty.  Several of the most popular servershave been created this way (Sturgeon and Foghorn come to mind).  Keepin mind, if you do this, that you will attract weenies more thanserious players.Subject: 9. I compiled the client source, but every time I try to connect to     a server it kicks me out or tells me to get a 'blessed' binary.       What gives? It's possible to modify the client source to do lots of tedious tasks(like aiming, dodging, that sort of thing) for you.  Since this givesyou a big advantage over a mere human, netrek has a way of knowing whetheryou have a client that was compiled by the netrek Gods or by you.  Ifyou compiled it, netrek will assume it's a cyborg, and will kick you outif it's not cyborg hours.  Check the Netrek Server List for cyborghours of the servers; sometimes they're legal, sometimes they aren't.   There are several different messages you can get when your binaryisn't what the server is expecting:1: "User binary failed to verify."The server is expecting a standard blessed client; read the netrek FTPlist to find out where you can get one.2: "No customized binaries.  Please use a blessed one."You have an RSA client, but the key for your client isn't on the list.  Mail the server god if you think your key should be included.3: "You need a spiffy new RSA client for this server!"You have a standard blessed client (or an unblessed client) but theserver accepts only RSA clients; read the netrek FTP list to find outwhere you can get one.   If you are interested in playing a cyborg, get the sourcefrom one of the FTP sites and start hacking, or download one of thepublic cyborgs.  It's probably not a good idea for new players touse cyborgs; cyborg players get called lots of nasty names, andthey tend not to learn how to play the game (since their client isdoing most of the work).  There is a mailing list for borg authors, mail trekwriter-request@b62103.student.cwru.edu to get on it.Subject: 10. The game runs fine, but when the Netrek window comes up, I can't   type anything into it.  How can I fix this?This is a problem under a few window managers (OpenWindows and ovlwm, forexample); it's netrek's fault, but you can fix is by adding the line"<window manager name>.FocusLenience: True" to your .Xdefaults file.Log out and log back in and it should work.Subject: 11. OK, the game runs fine and I found a server and logged in, but       there doesn't seem to be anyone else around.  How can I find       a game with people in it?Andy McFadden has written a nice little utility called Metaserver II(based on METASERVER, written by ERic Mehlhaff) that will tell youwhere there are active games.  telnet charon.amdahl.com 3520-3524 gives information in a number of formats.Subject: 12. OK, now I'm in a game with other people.  What do I do?The first thing you should do is bring up your message window (byhitting '?') and your player list (by hitting 'L').  Pressing a numberkey chooses your warp speed.  The left mouse button fires torpedos atyour cursor, the middle mouse button fires phasers at your cursor, and the right mouse button turns your ship towards your cursor.  Hitting'h' will bring up a help window with a list of basic commands.Subject: 13. When I'm playing the game, people keep sending messages to me.        How can I talk back to them?On the bottom right-hand side of your main window you'll see two long boxes.  The top one is where messages like "Not enough fuel forphaser" come up just before you die.  The bottom one is the one youuse to talk to people.  Move your cursor down there and type a characterto choose who to send the message to: 'A' for ALL, the capitalized team letter for the team (i.e., 'F' for Federation), or the playernumber for a message to a single player (i.e., 'c' to send to Rc).Type your message and hit enter when you're done.  Don't do this incombat.Subject: 14. I would like to change what some of the keys do; for example, I'd      like 't' instead of 'T' to activate my tractor beam.  Is there       a way to change this?There are two ways: first, do a shift-O.  This brings up the optionswindow.  Near the bottom there is a box for 'New keymap entries'.  Move your cursor to this box and type your new keymap entries.  Theformat is <newchar><oldchar>, so 'tT' will remap tractor beam to 't'.Netrek also recognizes a .xtrekrc file; a 'keymap:' line in there will allow you to map as many as you want.  Format is the sameas above.If you forget where you mapped a key, remapping it to itself ('ee', forexample) will reset that keymap.Subject: 15. How does the rating/promotion system work? Do a shift-I on yourself; you'll see four ratings there, one for planets,one for bombing, one for offense, and one for defense.  The planet, bombing, and offense ratings are measured in DI/hour; for each planetyou take, army you bomb, and player you kill you get a certain amountof DI (which varies depending on the server)--the average amount perhour is your rating.  Your rating is equal to (your DI/your hours)/(total DI/total hours); therefore, if you have a bombing rating of2.0, you bomb twice as many armies as the average person on the server.This is true for all ratings.  All ratings are updated only in t-mode. Now do a shift-U.  Listed there are the thresholds for each rank.  Your overall rating is your planets+bombing+offense.  To make a rank,you need to have the DI required for that rank, and your ratings needto be above the rating required for that rank (i.e., to make Admiral,you need 320 DI and your ratings need to be above 8.0).  You can alsomake a ranking by having ratings good enough for a level and *twice*the DI you would need for the next level (So you can make Admiral with ratings of 7.0 and 640 DI).  This equation is recursive once, so youcan also make it with 6.0 ratings and 1280 DI (which would take about 200 hours!).  You can't make it with 5.0 ratings and 2560 DI; notonly would you flunk out first, the server wouldn't promote you anyway. On most servers, your defense also needs to be above .8 to advancepast Lt. Commander.  Note that suggestions on how to improve the rating system occurabout twice a week in rec.games.netrek, and the general consensusis that it isn't worth the hassle.Subject: 16. I keep dying.  How can I get better at the game? The best way is probably to talk with someone who knows how to play.There is also an archive of hints and suggestions on how to play better; read the Netrek FTP List to find out where it islocated.Subject: 17. What is 't-mode'? T-mode is short for 'tournament mode.'  To keep some integrity in thedatabase, ratings are calculated only when there are a certain numberof people in the game (actually, when there are a certain number ofpeople on two separate teams.  On many servers, you need 4 playerson 2 different teams; 4 teams of 2 players won't do it).  When the game goes into t-mode, there will be a 't' flag in your listof flags, and there will be a message like "Dan Quayle declares selfas Galactic Emperor and chaos breaks out!"  When the game drops outof t-mode (because someone quit), the 't' flag will disappear andthere'll be a "Dan Quayle is locked up and order returns to the galaxy"message.   It's generally considered rude to bomb or take planets out of t-mode.Some servers punish people for trying.Subject: 18. What does DI stand for, anyway?Destruction Inflicted.Subject: 19. Some of the servers and clients are called 'UDP'; what does       that mean?UDP is a network protocol that is much more lenient than TCP (which is what netrek was originally based on).  If you don't have a local server, using a UDP client on a UDP server could reduce your lag considerably.  Read the Netrek FTP List to find out where you can get a UDP client.(Many thanks to Andy McFadden, Netrek Guru, for writing the UDPprotocol).It also stands for Undertow Directional Pull; mail rhodesia@wixer.cactus.orgfor details.Subject: 20. Some of the servers and clients are called 'RSA'; what does      that mean?RSA is a new way for servers to make sure that players are not usingcyborg clients.  The RSA package generates a header file containinga public and a private encryption key.  These keys are compiled intothe client; the private key encrypts the data and the public keydecrypts it.  The main advantage of RSA over the old reserved.cmethod is that the server gods need know only the public key; theRSA package can be kept in a few select hands.  Also, if someonebreaks the protection on a certain private key, that key can beturned off by the server god, and that client will no longer work.  Subject: 21. I keep reading about the INL; what is it?The INL is the Intercollegiate (or International) Netrek League, a collection of teams from different organizations around the country who periodically beat up on each other.  The fall season is over; directions for applying for the spring league will be posted sometimein January.  Mail tom@soda.berkeley.edu if you have any questions about the INL.Subject: 22. Where can I get the most recent copy of this FAQ list? You can either look in the back messages of rec.games.netrek, orftp it from one of the archive sites; read the Netrek Server/FTPlist to find out where it is stored.  It's also in the Usenet archiveat pit-manager.mit.edu.  telnet charon.amdahl.com 3524 gives the serverinformation from the server list.Subject: 23. My GPA has fallen 25% since I started playing Netrek last       semester.  How do you find time to do your homework and       still make Admiral?Sorry, nobody's found an answer to this one yet.  Just remember that(GPA+kill ratio) is constant.