                    BATTLECRUISER:3000AD READ ME
                    ----------------------------

[10.12.97]

                 A WORD FROM THE SUPREME COMMANDER
                 =================================
                 
Most of you are no doubt aware of the controversy surrounding the premature
release of BC3K a year ago. Yes, the product was not ready for release and
regardless of whose fault it was, I have worked very hard this year to complete
this development and bring this whole saga to an end. 

You will no doubt agree that the game has come from totally unplayable to a
complex and enjoyable experience. All of you have waited patiently while some
of you have opted to ridicule myself, my team and my life's work in the online
forums. Nevertheless, I have stuck to my game, to my dream and to my goals 
always hoping that one day the world would see what it is I have created. You 
are all witnesses to the hard work that my team and I, including my dedicated 
testers, have put into this development. We could all have quit when we had the 
chance. We didn't.

In April, I realized that patching the game to completion would most likely
take it into the holiday season and that, once again, graphics technology 
would pass me by. I did not believe that you folks would want to wait an entire
year to play a game that sported old technology considering the recent crop of
advanced games currently on the market. Some of you, disappointed, have already
stopped playing, saving the game for that day when it would be completed. My
thoughts led me to sanction the upgrade of the graphics technology in order to
keep up with recent trends. Once you start the game, these updates will be
immediately evident. You will NOT believe that you are playing the same game.

All the renderers have been updated. The graphics enhancements alone are too
numerous to list but consider that the BC3K core consists of over 25 independent
renderers with more being added to support 3D accelerators. External planets
now have high definition maps even though only the solar system has been updated
for this. To include maps for the entire galaxy would mean a 100MB patch. 
The final v2.0 cd-rom will have high res map support for the entire galaxy. The
cloaking system now uses a renderer with advanced transparency routines. You 
will also notice the beautiful lens flare effects in space and on the planet, 
the cloud cover on planets as well as the new collision detect routines which 
is still work in progress. The most significant gameplay feature you will 
notice is Xtreme Carnage. It now supports the advanced ACM scripting technology 
and is more streamlined and a lot of fun. You may want to start your adventures 
here, once you apply the patch. The explosions have also been updated and timed 
based on frame rate. Missiles are now more deadly, the flight engine on the 
surface has been slowed down and enemy ai has been updated. Significant 
optimizations have also be done to the kernel itself upon which BC3K runs. All 
in all, you will notice some significant improvements in v1.01D6 over v1.01C5.3 
and certainly the original v1.00 release.

In order to keep the series alive there was no way that I could continue 
development in order to release a final v1.1 without financial support. It has
been extremely difficult to fund this development on a shoe string budget and
it is your support of v2.0 that I am counting on in order to continue supporting
the title. As a result of this and other developments, I have decided to bypass
v1.1 entirely and do a commercial re-release of the title for retail sales and
distribution in 1998. This title has now been dubbed, Battlecruiser 3000AD v2.0.
and will include the v1.1 patch and all the enhancements that have been done 
and which you will now see when you apply the included patch. Existing owners 
of the original v1.00 will be charged a minimum fee for the upgrade which will 
include a new cd-rom and on-line manual. Plans are underway to include a printed 
manual if possible. New users will be able to purchase the full repackaged 
v2.0 directly from 3000AD or via the retail channel. 

Some of you have expressed concern over being charged for a game that you paid
for a year ago. I understand those concerns but unfortunately, there is nothing
that I can do. I have plans to do a non-enhanced v1.1 patch for those who
request it but I can only do this once v2.0 is completed and released. I am
counting on you to understand my position on this matter. With advancements in
3D accelerator technology, you can expect to see a FREE 3Dfx patch for v2.0
once it is completed next year. I also have plans to do a Rendition and PowerVR
patch once the 3Dfx one is completed. I have also announced a sequel to the
title, Battlecruiser Commander (working title), as well as several add-ons for 
it. As existing owners of BC3K, you can expect to purchase these titles at
significantly reduced prices. If you missed the press release, you can catch it 
on www.game-wire.com. Anyway new titles in the series are as follows:

[Battlecruiser Commander]

A tentative working title for the sequel due out next year. All new galaxy, new
class of Battlecruiser with the ability to carry a variety of fighters, 3Dfx,
Rendition, MMX support as well as over 30 new features including the much
awaited ship to ship comms and direct first person control of deployed
personnel (as if you were controlling one of your ships). Support for buying
components to build your own bases and cities on planet surfaces is also
planned!

[BC3K: Strike Pak]

This is already in development and will allow you to board, in first person
perspective, ships that you target. You will also be able to walk around inside
your own Battlecruiser. The first pak will probably have 2-3 ships from each
class, ie carrier, cruiser, transport, station, base. More will be done based
on the success of the add-on. This add-on can be played stand-alone or linked
to Battlecruiser Commander. Now you can board Gammulan ships, stations and
bases and kick some serious butt. The Level Infinity team (splinter group from
BPD, the guys who brought you The Gate conversion for Duke3D) are already
on-board and will be working on designing all the ship interiors as
'levels'. Expect a demo of the Battlecruiser model which you can walk around
in, sometime soon.

[BC3K: Skirmish Pak]

A multi-player add-on for Battlecruiser Commander supporting TCP/IP, modem &
direct connection. Like Xtreme Carnage, this add-on will have a smaller unique
galaxy but will support all the features in BC3K and BC. You can enter as any
alien nation, caste with any ship type. Trade, mine, invade, hijaak etc.
Everything you can now do in BC3K and in BC, you will be able to do in the
Skirmish Pak.

                       TECHNICAL SUPPORT INFO
                       ======================
                       
There are several files included in the patch

README.TXT       - This file
BC3KHELP.TXT     - Installation assistance
BC3KVER.TXT      - Version control file. Lists new features and changes
BC3KBUGS.TXT     - Master bug list. Lists fixed and pending bugs. PLEASE check
                   this file before reporting a bug.

For more technical support, please visit the official BC3K web site COMMLINK
area at www.bc3000ad.com. If you are not already registered, please do so and
re-enter using the password provided. Updates will be available in the FTP
section of the Cargo Bay. The site is undergoing siginificant upgrades so please
excuse the mess. Here, you can download the preview manual in a file called
BC3KMAN.ZIP. You will need the Adobe Acrobat 3.01 reader (www.adobe.com) for it.
A new file, called BC3KNDX.ZIP is also available. It contains all the manual
appendix data in MS Word format complete with screen shots. You NEED this file!
If you don't have MS Word, you can download the latest version of the MS Word
Viewer at www.microsoft.com. These files were created using MS Word '97 so you
need the latest version and NOT the one which ships with the WIN95 cd-rom.

Have fun and PLEASE post your feedback at the site. Let us know what you think
of the D patch and perhaps, I may just release another version with the final
changes to the orbital model, tacOPS and surface ops <g>

Regards


Derek K. Smart, Ph.D.
President, Lead Developer
3000AD

email: support@bc3000ad.com
CSI  : 76704,162
