STARNUKERS Atari ST Version 1.02D Copyright 1992 Scott Standiford NOTICE: Starnukers is share ware, not public domain! If you find this program of use, you are encouraged to register it with the author! Your $10 (U.S. Funds) registration fee will get you a complete version of the program with all the save & load game features enabled. In addition, you will be sent new and updated versions of the program whenever they become available! Send your registration fee to the address below: Scott Standiford 9509 Jene Dr. Sandy, Utah 84070 USA Be sure to include your address. Thanks! ---------------------------------------------------------------- PROGRAM DOCUMENTATION ---------------------------------------------------------------- I. Introduction Starnukers is a two player space war game. Each player commands a star ship, and is assigned the task of building star bases, destroying the enemy star ship, and thereby securing a particular region of space for his/her government. The game is played in real time between two different computers which are hooked together via modem or null-modem link. A one player target practice mode is also available to help sharpen combat skills. Though a game of strategy and tactics, quick reflexes and a cool composer are necessary during combat. Starnukers 2 is a complex game, but not difficult to learn. Once you have gotten the basics of star ship combat and navigation down, you'll be able to explore the deeper intricacies of inter-stellar warfare. The original Starnukers was written by me several years ago for the IBM PC and compatible computers. It was far less sophisticated than Starnukers for the Atari St. The game ran on only one computer, while the other player used any terminal program to receive information from the first computer. Though this system worked well, it required that only one player could act at a time; the game was broken up into a series of "moves". First player one would move, while player two waited, and then player two would move while player one waited. The game naturally took on an immediate air of a chess match, and though battles could be very nerve-racking, they were rarely "fast and furious." Starnukers for the ST, on the other hand, is designed to be run on both computers simultaneously. With each computer sending data to the other when necessary. This allows both players to play at the same time, and also makes for some very fast paced battles. II. System Set Up Note: The program SNMAPMK.TOS in the Starnukers archive is a utility to make new Starnukers galaxy map files. It is vitally important that when you generate a new map file, that your opponent has the same map file. Since SNMAPMK.TOS generates completely random maps, you can not simply have your opponent run the program when you do. One player must run the program and then give a copy of the new SNMAP.DAT file to the other player. Starnukers should run on any Atari ST (including STE) with at least 512K of RAM, and a color or monochrome monitor. If you intend to play with a friend you will also need either a null-modem or a Hayes AT compatible modem. Other modem formats are not supported. If you wish to play the single player practice mode, then you don't need to worry about connecting another computer. Simple select P)ractice from the main game menu. If you are going to play against another person, you will need to hook up a second computer. To do so, follow the directions below. Boot both computers normally, and make sure that the connections to the modem, or the null modem link, are properly made. Decide before hand which player will be player #1, and which will be player #2. (On modem games player #1 will be the player that dials, while player #2 will wait to receive the call.) Before loading the program, both players should decide what the highest baud rate that they can both support is. If playing over modem, this would be the highest speed of the SLOWEST modem. If playing via null modem link, then select 9600 baud. NOTE: Before you load the game you must set your desired baud rate via your control panel accessory. See your owners manual for complete instructions on operating the control panel. Now insert the disk with all the Starnukers files (it's important that all the necessary files be available in the same path! Note: The game will load much faster if used with a hard disk drive!) Load the Starnukers program (STARNUKE.PRG). You will see a message saying "Testing Processor Speed...". Starnukers is determining how fast your computer is so that it can set the game accordingly. This operation may take up to 10 seconds on some slower machines, so just be patient. Next you will see the introduction screen, showing credits, and asking you for your choices of game configuration. Your first choice will be to select the game mode. Your choices are Tournament (two player game), Practice (solo game), and Load saved game (not available in unregistered versions). If you just want to try the game out and shoot up a few practice drones then hit P for Practice. If, however, you will be challenging a friend (or enemy), hit T for Tournament. If you selected Tournament play you will now be prompted for your player number. Enter either 1 or 2 depending on what player number you and your opponent decided upon previously. If in Practice mode, you will not be prompted for player number. You will now be asked what type of star ship you want to command. There are five classes. Scout, Frigate, Destroyer, Cruiser, and Battlestar. Scouts are the fastest, but are also the weakest in terms of firepower and defenses. Battlestars are on the opposite end of the spectrum, they are loaded to the gills with weapons and defenses, but are agonizingly slow... You must choose what you think is the best arrangement. After a few practice missions you will have a better feel for how each star ship handles. Each player can select whatever star ship he/she prefers, so choose carefully, it's going to be a hard fight if you're commanding a scout and your enemy has a battlestar! Notice I said hard, not impossible! You will then be asked for your name and the name of your star ship. You can enter names of your choosing here or simply hit RETURN to have random names assigned. Finally, you will be asked if you want to play via modem or null modem. If you select null modem, the game will immediately start loading the galaxy map file. This file may take anywhere from 5 seconds to 1 minute to load depending on the speed of the disk drive the file is loading from. Be patient, it's a big galaxy out there!!! If you chose to play via modem, however, and you are player #1, you will then be prompted for the phone number to dial. After entering the number, the computer will dial and wait for the other computer to answer the phone. If you are player #2, then the computer will set your modem to auto-answer and wait for an incoming call. Once communications have been established, both computers will start loading the galaxy map file. If one computer finishes loading before the other, it will wait for the other to catch up. When both computers have loaded their galaxy map files the game will commence. III. Starship Controls 101 Assuming that you've hooked both computers up properly, and that they are now in communication with each other, you will see your main command screen. This screen consists of your short range scanner screen (box in upper left hand corner), your ship statistic (text and two bar graphs in the upper right hand corner), and the command menu (bottom half of screen). The short range scanner (SRS) is your window on the galaxy. It's a top down view of everything surrounding your star ship for 5 sectors (dots) in every direction. Your ship is represented as a green triangle, the enemy ship is represented as a red triangle, stars are white and look like an *, your star bases are green and look like three horizontal lines stacked on top of each other, enemy star bases are the same except colored red, mines are red + symbols, stellar debris (from destroyed star bases) are red x symbols, and voids (black holes) appear as a blank space (no dot) on the display. The firing range of your weapons is also equal to the viewing range of your SRS, so if you can see an enemy ship or star base, you can shoot at it! Remember, though, that if you can see it, it can see you too, and it will be firing at you! All the vital information about your vessel is listed to the right of the SRS. The information display will look like the following... Alert: GREEN Cloaking: Deactivated Location: 195-150 Decoy: None Energy: 6000 ( 6000 ) Decoys: 5 Shields: 6000 ( 6000 ) Reactors: Deactivated Lasers: 3500 ( 3500 ) Mines: 100 Torpedoes: 50 ( 50 ) / 5 Laser Heat:====================================== Drive Heat:====================================== Heading Velocity Distance Battleaxe: 270 4 - Target: - - - We will now look at what each readout means. First is your alert status. This sample display shows it as GREEN. This means that your ship's condition is good and that there are no hostile forces around. A condition of YELLOW means that the enemy is close, but still out of firing range. RED signals that the enemy ship is within 10 sectors (each sector is 1 dot on the SRS). Next is your location display. The galaxy is 200 sectors wide by 200 sectors tall. Each sector is given a coordinate number. The top left most sector is 1,1. The bottom right most sector is 200,200. The exact center of the galaxy is 100,100. With this coordinate system you can always tell exactly where you are in the galaxy by looking at your location display. Energy is displayed next. This is your ship's main energy banks. All energy expenditures for life support systems and the use of your engines are taken from your main banks. If you energy in the main banks reaches zero, your ship will be immobilized until you put more energy in the bank. The number in parenthesis to the right of your energy number is the total amount of energy your main banks can hold. This number varies from ship type to ship type, but will never change once the game has begun. Your shield energy is listed below your main bank energy. Your shields are electromagnetic barriers that are generated by your ship. They completely surround your vessel and they will absorb enemy fire, and prevent most of the damage to your ship. If the energy in your shield banks ever falls below zero, your ship will be destroyed. It is CRITICAL that you maintain the energy in this bank. The number in parenthesis to the right of your shield energy is the maximum amount of energy your shields can hold. Keep your shield energy up, or you won't live to regret it! The next listing is your laser energy. This is the amount of energy in your lasers banks. Your lasers are one of your two primary weapons systems (torpedoes being the other). When you fire your lasers you specify the amount of energy to fire. The larger the burst, the more damage you will due to your enemy. Naturally, it is to your advantage to keep your lasers fully charged in case you have to fight your way out of a situation. Next you will find your torpedo reading. The first number is the number of torpedoes you have on your ship. The number in parenthesis is the maximum number your ship can carry, and finally, the number after the slash is the number of torpedoes you have loaded and ready to fire. It takes time to load torpedoes into the firing tubes. All ships have only 5 tubes, so you can only fire 5 torpedoes at once. In the next column you will find a readout showing the status of your cloaking device. Your cloaking device will render you virtually invisible to any ships and star bases. When the cloaking device is off this readout will show "Deactivated". It is important to pay attention to this readout as it is easy to turn your cloaking device on and forget about. Since the cloaking device consumes so much energy, it is wise to use it only for a short time. Next you will find a readout marked Decoy: and one marked Decoys:. The first tells you how much longer a currently deployed decoy will remain active. If none are active it will say "None". The second readout tells you how many decoys you have on board your vessel. Unlike other expendable items on your ship, you can not reload decoys at star bases. Decoys are only effective while your cloaking screens are on. The next readout shows you the status of your ship's fusion reactors. If they are on you will see "Active" in this space. Your reactors will generate energy and feed it into the main energy banks of your ship. Be advised, however, that the heat produced by your reactors will slow down the cooling of your main drive! Use with care. Next you will find your mine readout. This shows you how many mines you have available on your vessel for deployment. All ships can carry a maximum of 100 mines. Mines are useful for protecting star bases, and diverting your opponent to other areas of the galaxy. Be careful, though, because running into your own mines is just as dangerous as running into enemy mines. Below all the text readouts you have two bar graphs. The first shows your laser heat. As you fire your lasers they will heat up. The heat is quickly dissapated into the icy vacuum of space, but you must still be careful not to over heat them. The hotter your lasers are, the less accurate they become. The second bar graph shows your drive heat. Your main drive generated tremendous amounts of heat as it moves your vessel around. The faster you go, the more heat you generate. High speed maneuvering, such as turning while moving at speeds in excess of 90% of your maximum speed, generate a lot of heat. This heat will dissapate, just as laser heat, but at much slower rates. You will be warned when your drive heat gets critical. If the drives heat too much, the computer will shut down the engines automatically to prevent them from exploding. The danger of this is clear. If you are running from a superior enemy, and your only hope of survival is to flee, you will most certainly be destroyed if your engines over heat and shut down. Therefore, be very careful that you manage your drive heat effectively. Also, be careful not to leave your reactors running. Although it is a luxury to have the extra energy they produce, your drives cooling will be drastically impaired. Remember also, that running at flank speed, 100% of your maximum, is very wasteful both in energy and heat. A speed of about 85% is the most efficient cruising speed. Below these two bar graphs you will see your tactical display. This consists of heading, velocity, and distance readouts for both you and your opponent. You will see a - (dash) under the distance readout for you vessel. (Obviously there can be no distance to yourself!) You will also see dashes in the other readouts for the enemy ship if he is not within range. This tactical display will show you your current heading, and velocity, two very important pieces of information. When your enemy is in range (about 20 sectors or less) you will see his heading, speed, and his distance from you. This is invaluable for setting up tactical engagements. Keep close eye on his heading and speed, as he might decide to bolt away quickly and try to lose you if the fight should not being going well for him. Your heading is measured in degrees. There are 360 degrees in a circle. You can, therefore, specify a degree measurement as your course. The degrees are laid out as follows: 90 135 | 45 \|/ 180 --------- 0 /|\ 225 | 315 270 You can see from this chart that if you wanted to go "north" on the galactic map, you would set a course of 90 degrees. "South" would be 270, "South-West" would be 225 and so on. -Main Control Menu- Below all of the above mentioned information you will find your primary control menu which looks something like the following: Command> N - Navigation F - Fire Control E - Engineering C - Cloaking R - Radio Room D - Damage Control S - Enemy Scanner B - Build a Base X - Dock at Base L - Launch Decoy M - Mind Drop Q - Quit & Save A - Attack Base Z - Long Range Scan To select from the menu type the letter that correspons to the function you want. Note that in the un-registered version of the game, option Q (Quit and Save) will not save the game, it will simply exit the game. IV. Star Ship Systems We will now look at each of the star ships systems and functions. Please note, that while you are busy in a sub-menu, handling some ship's functions, the rest of the galaxy continues to roll on. So don't be surprised if you're busy setting your shields and your enemy comes up and hits you with a full spread of torpedoes! Make sure you keep a keen eye on your readouts while you're busy! -Navagation- When you select N from the main menu you will be asked to input your new course, then your new speed. Your ship's maximum speed will be listed for your reference. Enter a course from 0 to 360 degrees, and then a speed from 0 (for stop) up to your ship's maximum speed. -Fire Control- This is your access to the ship's fire control computer. If your enemy is not in range, you will not be given access to the computer, and an error message will be displayed. If you enemy is in range, however, you will be asked if you wish to fire torpedoes or battle lasers. Select T for torpedoes or L for battle lasers. If you select torpedoes you will then be shown the number of torpedoes loaded and ready to fire, and asked for how many you wish to fire. After you input this data, the torpedoes will be fired and you will be advised of how many hit the target. If you select lasers you will be prompted for the amount of energy to fire in the burst. You can not fire more energy than is in the laser banks. It is not wise to fire burst that are much larger than 500 units. The larger the burst, the more heat it produces. If you fire too much, you could damage the lasers or at least severely heat the lasers. Once fired, you will see the heat generated from the burst register on the laser heat display. -Engineering- Engineering is one of your most important function. When you select E from the main menu, you will be presented with a sub-menu that looks like the following: Engineering Control- 1 - Transfer Energy TO Lasers 2 - Transfer Energy FROM Lasers 3 - Transfer Energy TO Shields 4 - Transfer Energy FROM Shields 5 - Reactors On / Off X - Exit Options 1 - 4 allow you to transfer energy between the 3 energy banks (Main, Shield, and Laser). If you wish to transfer 500 mergs of energy from the main banks to the laser banks you would select option 1 then enter 500. If you wished to transfer 1250 mergs from the shields back to the main banks, you would select option 4 then specify 1250. Be careful not to put more energy in a bank than it can hold. Excess energy is vented into space! Option 5 allows you to toggle the fusion reactors on and off. The fusion reactors generate energy and deposit it in the main banks. If the main banks are full, the energy will simply be vented into space. Option X will exit you back to the main menu. -Cloaking Device- Selecting C from the main menu will toggle your cloaking device on and off. Due to the tremendous power usage of the cloaking device you will not be able to fire any weapons or deploy any mines while the cloaking device is in operation! When you issue the order to raise the cloaking screens it takes a few seconds for the cloaking device to power up. You will see a countdown from 10 to 0 while the screens raise. Until they are completely raised you will be visible to enemy ships and star bases. While the screens are raising, you will not be able to fire weapons or deploy mines. When you issue the order to drop the cloaking screens it will take your cloaking device several seconds to power down completely. You will see another countdown from 10 to 0 while the screens lower. The catch is that while they are lowering, you will again be visible, but you won't be able to fire! This is an extremely vulnerable time! Be very careful where, and when you decide to de-cloak. -Radio Room- The sub-space radio allows you to send messages to your opponent. This option is obviously rather useless in the single- player practice game. Messages of up to 55 characters can be sent and will not be sent until RETURN (ENTER) is pressed, or you reach your 55 character limit, at which point the message will be truncated and sent. Sub-space radio messages will be displayed on your enemy's Spacecom display just below his SRS readout. -Damage Control- Even though your ship is equipped with very effective electromagnetic shields, they cannot always absorb all impact of the enemy's weapons. If the enemy succeeds in scoring a particularly heavy hit, you may sustain system damage. When this occurs you will hear a short warning claxon sound. When you select option D from the main menu you will see a sub menu showing you your four major systems: Main Drive, Battle Lasers, Torpedoes, and Cloaking Device. If a system is operable you will see the word "Nominal" in green next to that system. If you see "Non-Op" in red, you know that system has been damaged. You can select that system's number (from the sub-menu) to order it to be repaired. Repairs cost valuable energy, and don't always succeed, so be prepared to spend lots of time and energy repairing systems. Of course, docking at a star base will immediately repair all your systems. -Enemy Scanner- The enemy scanner is a long range motion tracking system. It provides you with a rough estimation of your enemy's location. This system is highly accurate at short range, but it gets less accurate the farther away your enemy is. Be aware that at extreme ranges the accuracy can deviate by as much as 25 sectors! Also, because of this deviation, you will almost never get the exact same reading twice. Use this as a general guide, not an accurate sensor. -Build A Base- This option will only work when you are stationary and next to a star. When you meet these conditions and select this option, you will use 1500 mergs of energy from the main energy banks and the star will be converted into a star base. This star base will reload your weapons, recharge your energy banks, and repair your damage when you dock with it (see below). Star bases have heavy disruptors and will defend themselves from enemy attack. However, a star base is really no match for a star ship, and the base's odds of winning a fight by itself are slim. Therefore, when one of your star bases is under attack it will radio you and request assistance. It's location will be specified to aid you in finding it quickly. Also, if you attack and enemy star base, you can be sure your enemy will know about it! -Dock With Base- Selecting this option only works if you are next to a star base and stationary. This function will reload your weapons and recharge your energy banks, as well as repair your damaged systems. It sometimes takes several dockings to fully recharge energy banks. Be advised that while you are docking you are vulnerable to enemy attack! -Launch Decoy- Decoys are small electronic devices that will fool your enemy's motion trackers (Enemy Tracker) into thinking that the decoy is you. However, this only works if you are also cloaked. Decoys have limited life spans so you must use them with care. The usual procedure is to engage your cloaking device then drop a decoy. Once the decoy is deployed you could then move at flank speed to a new location, and theoretically go there without your enemy ever knowing you had left your old location. If your enemy should move to the area where your decoy was deployed, however, he will find that you're not there! Decoys will not fool a ship's short range scanners. -Mine Drop- Selecting this option will ask you for the number of mines to drop. You can specify up to the number you currently have in your hold. If you select 0, you will cease to drop mines. The number of mines you specified will drop out exactly behind your star ship as you fly through space, 1 mine per sector. Therefore, to drop all 100 mines you would have to fly 100 sectors. Be careful not to run into your own mines!!! -Quit & Save- This option will quit the game and save the current game to disk. Note that the save option does not work in the unregistered version of Starnukers! -Attack A Base- This option will allow you to fire on enemy star bases if any are in range. If more than one enemy base is in range, your firing computer will automatically target one at a time. You have the option of attacking with either your lasers or your torpedoes. Torpedoes have a higher probability of success than lasers, however, torpedoes not only destroy the enemy star base, but also the star it was built on. When you destroy an enemy base with torpedoes the star will be turned into a void (black hole) and a ring of stellar debris will encircle the now dead star. If you are next to a star base when it blows up you will take damage. You will also take damage if you fly through the stellar debris at a later time. If you hit an enemy star base with lasers, however, the enemy base will be destroyed but the star will remain undamaged. This is referred to as "liberating" the star. It can then be built into one of your star bases if you so desire. -Long Range Scan- Your long range scanner (LRS) is exactly like your short range scanner (SRS) except it shows you a larger area of space. It is especially useful when you are laying mine fields. V. Winning The Game Obviously, you must destroy the enemy starship to win the game. However, since your enemy will rely upon his starbases to refuel, rearm, and repair, it makes good strategic sense to seek out his starbases and destroy them! Remember, also, that the more bases you destroy the higher your score will be! Besides, it sure is fun nuking enemy starbases, and that's what the game's all about... Starnuking! In addition to the obvious route of destroying the enemy's starship, there is another way to win the game. If you can keep 10 or more of your starbases alive, while destroying all of the enemy's starbases, you will win the game due to a superior military presence in the region. At the end of the game points are awarded based on your actions in the game. Although it is possible for the loser to have more points the winner, s/he will not be entered in the high score log. Points are awarded as follows: Star Base Built................100 Enemy Star Base Destroyed......250 Enemy Star Base Liberated......300 If your score is high enough, and you win the game, you will be entered in the high score table. VI. Conclusion In closing I'd like to point out that this is a fairly complex game. Don't expect to master it overnight. It takes practice to become skilled with the game. Eventually you will be able to work miracles with your star ship. I have made no attempt to address the strategy and battle tactics involved in this game. If you get playing with an opponent who is as skilled as you are, you can expect a long winded match. Always remember that your highest priority is to destroy your opponents war ship. This may not, however, be the best way to win the game. If you can keep 10 or more of your star bases alive, and also manage to destroy all your enemy's star bases then you will also win. One final tip: Don't be cocky when attacking enemy star bases. I've been vaporized when attacking a group of three or more enemy bases, even though I was flying a battlestar! Sometimes bases will put up very little defense, and sometimes they will gun for you like there's no tomorrow! Finally, if you find any bugs in the game, please let me know about them so I can take care of them. You can reach me at the address listed at the front of this manual, or on my GEnie account (S.STANDIFORD). Thanks for your support, and good hunting!