Decwar Commands

Examples:

H               Give general help info.
H *             List all available commands.
H H             List this block of text.
H SH            Give help for the SHIELDS command.
H HI G          Give some general HINTS and a description of the
                GRIPE command.

Move using IMPULSE engines

Syntax: Impulse [Absolute|Relative]

Move one sector vertically, horizontally, or diagonally (equivalent to warp factor 1). Ship condition changes to green.

Examples:

I 37 45         Move to sector 37-45.
I A 37 45       Equivalent to "I 37 45".
I R 1 -1        Move to sector 37-45, if your ship's present
                location is 36-46.

LIST ship, base, and planet info

Syntax: List []

The following information is available via the LIST command: - Name of any ship currently in the game (including the Romulan).

Keywords used with BASES, PLANETS, TARGETS, LIST, and SUMMARY (not all keywords are legal for all commands):

ship names      Include only specified ships (several ship names
                may be given, including Romulan).
vpos hpos       List only the object at the location vpos-hpos.
CLosest         List only the closest of the specified objects.

SHips           Include only ships (Federation, Empire, or
                Romulan).
BAses           Include only bases (Federation or Empire).
PLanets         Include only planets (Federation, Empire, or
                Neutral).
POrts           Include only bases and planets.  If no side is
                specified (Federation, Empire, Neutral, or
                Captured), include only friendly ports.

FEderation      Include only Federation forces.
HUman           Same as Federation.
EMpire          Include only Empire forces.
Klingon         Same as Empire.
FRiendly        Include only friendly forces (Federation or
                Empire).
ENemy           Include only enemy forces (Empire or Federation
                and Romulan).
TArgets         Same as enemy.
NEutral         Include only neutral planets.
CAptured        Include only captured planets (Federation or
                Empire).

n               Include only objects within n sectors.
ALl             Include all sides unless a side is explicitly
                given.  Extend the range to infinity unless a
                range is explicitly given.

LIst            List individual items.  Turn off summary unless
                command is SUMMARY or the keyword SUMMARY is
                specified.
SUmmary         List summary of all selected items.  Turn off
                list unless command is LIST or the keyword LIST
                is specified.  Extend the range to infinity
                unless a range is explicitly given.

And             Used to separate groups of keywords.
&               Same as AND.

Examples:

LIST            List all information available on all ships,
                bases, and planets.
LIST SUM        List all available info plus a summary of the
                number of each object in game.
LI EN BA        List the location of all known enemy bases.
LI SH           List all available info on all ships in the
                game.
LI CL PO        List closest friendly base or friendly or
                neutral planet.
LI 1 3 & 9 5    List the objects at locations 1-3 and 9-5.

MOVE using warp drive Syntax: Move [Absolute|Relative|Computed] Maximum speed is warp factor 6, which will move you 6 sectors per turn. Maximum SAFE speed is warp factor 4; warp factors 5 and 6 risk potential warp engine damage. Energy consumption per move is proportional to the square of the warp factor. If the ship's shields are up during this movement, the energy consumption is doubled. Moving changes your ship's condition to green.

Examples:

M 37 45         Move to sector 37-45.
M A 37 45       Equivalent to "M 37 45".
M R 4 -5        Move to sector 37-45, if your present location
                is 33-50 (move up 4 sectors and left 5 sectors).
M C W           "Ram" the Wolf.  No actual collision occurs, but
                your ship ends up adjacent to the Wolf's current
                position.

Display the NEWS file

Syntax: NEws

Display the file which contains information on any new features, enhancements, bug fixes, etc for each version of DECWAR.

Fire PHASERS at an enemy ship, base, or planet

Syntax: PHasers [Absolute|Relative|Computed] [energy]

Phasers must be directed at a specific target, and only one target may be specified per command. Obstacles seemingly in the path of the phaser blast are unaffected, since the energy ray is not a line-of- sight weapon. The size of the hit is inversely proportional to the distance from the target. Maximum range is 10 sectors vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each phaser blast consumes 200 units of ship energy, unless a specific amount of energy is given (the specified energy must be between 50 and 500 units, inclusive). The phaser banks have roughly a 5% chance of damage with a default (200 unit) blast, with the probability of damage reaching nearly 65% with a maximum (500 unit) blast. The severity of the resulting damage is also dependant on the size of the blast. Also, if your ship's shields are up, a high-speed shield control is used to quickly lower and then restore the shields during the fire. This procedure consumes another 200 units of ship energy. The weapons officer on board your ship will cancel all phaser blasts directed against friendly ships, bases, or planets. Firing phasers (or getting hit by phasers) puts you on red alert. NOTE: Although phasers can damage enemy planetary installations (BUILDs), they can NOT destroy the planet itself.

Examples:

PH 12 32        Phaser target at sector 12-32.
PH A 12 32      Equivalent to "PH 12 32".
PH R 2 -3       Phaser target at sector 12-32, if your location
                is 10-35.
PH C BUZZARD    Phaser the Buzzard (if in range).
PH C B          Same as PH C BUZZARD (ship names can be
                abbreviated to 1 character).
PH 300 12 32    Phaser target at sector 12-32, using 300 units
                of energy.

List various PLANET information

Syntax: PLanets []

List location and number of builds for all known planets, and a summary of planets within a specified range or the entire galaxy. The default range is 10 sectors, and the default side is every side. See the help for LIST for more information and the complete set of keywords that can be used to modify PLANETS output.

Examples:

PL              List all planets within 10 sectors.
PL SUM          Give summary of all planets in game.
PL ALL NEU      List all known neutral planets.
PL ALL CAP      List all known captured planets.
PL ALL 20       List all known planets within a radius of 20
                sectors.

List POINTS scored so far this game

Syntax: POints [Me|I|Federation|Human|Empire|Klingon|Romulan|All]

Itemize the current point breakdown. Information can be obtained concerning the points scored by your individual ship, your team, the opposition, the romulans, or any combination of the above. If the Romulan Empire is not involved in the game, the ROMULAN keyword will be ignored.

Categories in POINTS breakdown:
- Damage to enemies.
- Enemies destroyed (500 points each).
- Damage to bases.
- Planets captured (100 points each).
- Bases built (1000 points each).
- Romulans damaged/destroyed.
- Stars destroyed (-50 points each).
- Planets destroyed (-100 points each).

- Total points scored.
- Total number of ships commissioned.
- Total score / number of players.
- Total score / stardates.

Examples:

PO              List points for your ship.
PO ME           Equivalent to "PO".
PO KLI FED      List the score of the two teams.
PO ALL          List all the scoring information available.

QUIT the game

Syntax: Quit

Quit the game before normal end of execution and return to the monitor. Your ship is released for use by another player, you're chalked up as just one more casualty, and you can't CONTINUE the game. If you want to rejoin the game, you'll have to wait 2 minutes, and then either START or RUN the game. If you want to exit the game temporarily (to answer SENDS, etc.), type ^C (CTL-C), and you'll usually be able to CONTINUE. NOTE: If you're under red alert, you won't be able to ^C out of the game; you'll have to use the QUIT command.

Turn sub-space RADIO on or off, or set to ignore or restore communications from individual ships

Syntax: RAdio ON|OFf or RAdio Gag|Ungag

Turn your ship's sub-space radio on or off, thus controlling whether or not you'll receive any messages from other ships or your bases; or suppress or restore messages originating from specific ships.

Examples:

RA ON           Turn sub-space radio ON.
RA OFF          Turn sub-space radio OFF.
RA G L          Suppress all radio messages sent by the
                Lexington.
RA U W          Allow radio messages sent by the Wolf to be
                received.

REPAIR device damage

Syntax: REpair []

Repair damaged ship devices. If a ship suffers a critical hit to a device, REPAIR can be used to restore the device to full (or partial) working order. A REPAIR removes the specified units of damage from each damaged device, in addition to the normal repair rate of 30 units per turn. If the ship is DOCKED, the pause time for the specified REPAIR is reduced by half of that needed while in flight. If the repair size is not specified, REPAIR defaults to a 4 second repair (50 units + 50 more if docked). REPAIR does NOT reduce the SHIP damage.

Examples:

RE 100          Remove up to 100 units of device damage.
RE              Same as "RE 100" if DOCKED, else same as "RE
                50".

Full range SCAN

Syntax: SCan [Up|Down|Right|Left|Corner] [|

Display a selected portion of the nearby universe. If no range is specified, SCAN defaults to a square scan range of ten sectors from the present ship location. The keywords UP, DOWN, RIGHT, LEFT, and CORNER modify this to include only the part of this original square specified (relative to the ship). The maximum scan range is 10 sectors, and larger specified ranges are reduced to this value. If individual vertical and horizontal ranges are specified, the scanning field will be shaped accordingly. The WARNING keyword if added to the end of a SCAN command string will flag the empty sectors within range of an enemy base or planet with !'s instead of . 's. The SCAN symbols and their meanings are:

L, N, S, V, Y   Federation warships
C, D, H, J, W   Empire warships
        ??        Romulan warship
        <>        Federation starbase
        )(        Empire starbase
         @        Neutral planet
        @F        Federation planet
        @E        Empire planet
         *        Star
                  Black hole
         .        Empty sector
         !        Empty sector within range of enemy port (only
                  when using WARNING keyword)

Examples:

  SC              Scan universe within a radius 10 sectors.
  SC 10           Equivalent to "SC".
  SC 13           Equivalent to "SC 10" or "SC".
  SC 4            Scan universe within 4 sectors.
  SC 4 4          Equivalent to "SC 4".
  SC 2 8          Scan up to 5 rows and 17 columns, centered on
                  the present ship location.
  SC U 4 7        Show only upper half of normal "SC 4 7" scan.
  SC C -5 -5      Scan the region bounded by the present ship
                  location and the location (-5,-5) sectors away
                  (puts ship in upper right corner of the scan).
  SC W            Same as "SC", plus shows danger zones around
                  enemy bases and planets.

SET input and output parameters

Syntax: SEt

Keyword Value    Description
------- -----    -----------
Name    name     Change name (shows in USERS).
Output  Long     Default.  Use longest output format.
        Medium   Use medium output format.
        Short    Use short (cryptic) output format.
Scan    Long     Default.  Use long format scans.
        Short    Use 1 character symbols instead of 2.
Prompt  Normal   Default.  Use "COMMAND:  " prompt.
        Informative Use "> " for prompt.  Precede the ">" with:
                 S if shields are down or < 10%.
                 E if ship energy < 1000 (yellow alert).
                 D if ship damage > 2000.
                 nL if life support is critically damaged (n
                 stardates of reserves).  Ttytype CRT, ADM-3a,
                 ADM-2, SOROC, BEEHIVE, ACT-IV, ACT-V Doesn't do
                 anything yet.
OCdef   Absolute Default.  Display all coordinates in absolute
                 format (vpos-hpos).
        Relative Display coordinates relative to your location
                 (dv,dh).
        Both     Display coordinates in both absolute and
                 relative form.
Icdef   Absolute Default.  All input coordinates default to
                 absolute.
        Relative Input coordinates default to relative.

Examples:

SE PR I         Switch to informative prompt.
SE OU S         Set output format to short.
SE N THOR       Change your name in USERS to THOR.

SHIELD control

Syntax: SHields Up|Down or SHields Transfer

Raise or lower ship shields, or transfer energy between ship and shield energy reserves. Raising shields consumes 100 units of ship energy, lowering them or transfering energy is "free". NOTE: Shield condition is displayed as +n% for shields up, n% of full strength, or -n%, for shields down, n% of full strength.

Examples:

SH U            Raise shields.
SH D            Lower shields.
SH T 500        Transfer 500 units of energy TO shields
SH T -500       Transfer 500 units of energy FROM shields

Short Range SCAN

Syntax: SRscan [Up|Down|Right|Left|Corner] [|

Equivalent to SCAN, but with a default scan range of 7 sectors. For complete information on sensor scans, see the help on SCAN.

Show ship STATUS

Syntax: STatus [Condition|Location|Torpedoes|Energy|Damage|Shields|Radio]

Show the current stardate, plus the status of any of the ship attributes: ship condition, location, number of torps, ship energy, ship damage, shield energy, and radio condition. Ship condition can be green, yellow (low on energy), or red (in battle). Radio condition is either on or off.

Examples:

ST              Give full status report.
ST T            Report how many torpedos remain on board.
ST E D SH       Report the ship energy, the ship damage, and the
                shield condition (energy, %, up/down).
ST L            Report the current ship location.

Give SUMMARY on number of ships, bases, and planets

Syntax: SUmmary []

Give any of the information available from the LIST command, but give only a summary by default. See the help on LIST for more information and the complete set of keywords that can be used to modify SUMMARY output.

Examples:
SUM             Tell how many ships, bases, and planets are in
                the game (broken down into friendly, enemy, and
                neutral categories).
SUM EN          Tell how many enemies are in the game (number of
                Romulans, enemy ships, enemy bases, and enemy
                planets).

List information on TARGETS

Syntax: TArgets []

Primarily for locating targets during battle, when a SCAN would be too time consuming. List location and shield percent of any enemy ship, base, or planet in range; name of any enemy ship in game (including the Romulan); or location and number of builds of any known enemy planet. TARGETS is equivalent to a LIST command with a default range of 10 sectors and a default side of enemy.

Examples:

TA              List all targets within 10 sectors.
TA 10           Equivalent to "TA".
TA 5            List all targets within 5 sectors.

TELL another ship something using the sub-space radio

Syntax: TEll All|FEderation|HUman|EMpire|Klingon|ENemy|FRiendly| ;

Send messages to one or several of the players currently in the game, with no range limitation. Players who have turned their radios off, or have a critically damaged sub-space radio can not be sent to. The TELL command can not be repeated using the ESCAPE key (no junk mail!).

Examples:

TE V;Hello!     Send "Hello!"  to the Vulcan.
TE KL;DROP DEAD Send "DROP DEAD" to all Klingons.
TE V,E;HELP ME  Send "HELP ME" to the Vulcan and Excalibur.

List various TIMEs

Syntax: TIme

List time since game started; time since your ship entered the game; run time for your job so far this game; total run time since login; and current time of day.

Fire photon TORPEDO burst

Syntax: TOrpedo Absolute|Relative|Computed n v1 h1 v2 h2 v3 h3

A photon torpedo is aimed along a path in physical space, thus any object lying along its path will intercept the torpedo. One, two, or three torpedoes may be fired with one command, and the torpedoes may be individually targeted, or fired at a common location. The minimum range of a torpedo is 8 sectors, but some will travel 10 sectors before self-destructing. Torpedoes may be deflected from the desired track by a number of different factors, including your ship's shield strength, computer and torpedo tube damage, and torpedo misfires. A torpedo misfire also aborts the remainder of the burst, and sometimes damages the torpedo tubes as well. Torpedoes can cause stars to go nova, and can also destroy planets (if no enemy installations remain intact). "Accidental" hits on friendly ships, bases, or planets are automatically neutralized. A torpedo burst uses no ship energy. Firing torpedoes (or getting hit by one) puts you on red alert.

Examples:

TO 1 12 24        Fire one torpedo at sector 12-24.
TO 3 12 24        Fire three torpedoes at sector 12-24.
TO 3 6 7 8 7 9 12 Fire one torpedo at sector 6-7, one at 8-7,
                  and one at 9-12.
TO 3 12 24 13 39  Fire one torpedo at sector 12-24, and two at
                  sector 13-39.
TO A 3 12 24      Equivalent to "TO 3 12 24".
TO R 2 2 -5       Fire two torpedoes at sector 22-25, assuming
                  your location is 20-30.
TO C 3 BUZZARD    Fire three torpedoes at the Buzzard.
TO C 1 E          Fire one torpedo at the Excalibur.

TRACTOR beam

Syntax: TRactor or TRactor Off

Tow another ship of the same team. The two ships must be located in adjacent sectors and both ships must have their shields lowered. Once such a beam is applied, either ship can pull the other behind it using warp or impulse engines. Energy consumption for the towing ship is 3 times the normal rate for movement with the shields down. The ship being towed will end the move trailing the lead ship. If either ship raises deflector shields, the tractor beam is automatically cut. The tractor beam will also be broken if either ship is hit by a torpedo or damaged by a nova.

Examples:

TR              Break any existing tractor beam.
TR OFF          Equivalent to "TR".
TR B            Apply tractor beam to the Buzzard.

TYPE game, input, and output settings

Syntax: TYpe OPtion|OUtput

Type the current game OPTION and OUTPUT settings.
The OPTION settings are:
- The version number and date of implementation,
- Whether there are Romulans in the game,
- and whether there are Black Holes in the game.
The OUTPUT settings are:
- SHORT, MEDIUM, or LONG output,
- NORMAL or INFORMATIVE command prompt,
- SHORT or LONG sensor scans,
- ABSOLUTE or RELATIVE default for coordinate input,
- ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE, or BOTH for coordinate output,
- and the current TTYTYPE.

Examples:

TY OP           List the option settings.
TY OU           List the output settings.

List USERS

Syntax: Users

List all ships currently in the game. Include ship name, captain (may be changed by SET NAME), TTY speed, PPN, TTY number, and job number. If the output format is set to medium or short, omit the TTY and job numbers. If the output format is set to short, omit the TTY speed and PPN (include only the ship name and captain).