DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS

DECWAR Version 2.3, November 20, 1981

Introduction and Overview of the Game of DECWARs.

DECWAR is a real time space battle game designed to be played by from 1 to 10 people. The object of the game is to destroy all enemy bases and ships, and capture all enemy planets, before the enemy does the same to you. Each person plays on a separate terminal, and enters the game by selecting

DECWAR (on the MultiPlayer Host)

Players are free to enter and leave the game as desired, since each has his own job and therefore won't interfere with the other players (the jobs interact through a shareable high segment).

Besides the enemy (Federation or Empire), the following may also be a threat to your well being.

1. Romulans are nasty beasts that beginners are better off without. However, if you're the only person playing, the Romulan is your only competition. Romulans tend to make for shorter games but when there are 3 or less players a Romulan will be included. After the fourth player joins the game, a Romulan will not be re-created once he is destroyed. include Romulans in the game.

2. Black holes are annoying, since if you are displaced into one, you're dead. They also tend to gobble up stray torpedos. There is a 25% chance of black holes being included in the game.

There are two primary opposing forces in the galaxy -- Humans (Federation) and Klingons (Empire). As you enter the game for the first time, you get to choose which side you'll join (unless there is a large imbalance in the team sizes). If you are subsequently destroyed and later reenter the game, you automatically rejoin your old team.

You get to select the ship you want to control from a list of remaining ships on your side. There are 5 ships on each side:

Federation ships         Empire ships 
----------------         ------------
Lexington                Cobra
Nimitz                   Demon
Savannah                 Hawk
Vulcan                   Jackal
Yorktown                 Wolf

Due to continuous espionage activities, present front-line ships of the Federation and the Klingon Empire are identical in strength and weaponry. These ships can move from sector to sector using either warp or impulse engines, can attack enemy installations and ships using either photon torpedoes or phasers, and can defend themselves against such attack using their deflector shields. All ships also possess sub-space radios which keep them in touch with friendly starbases and other ships.

The various devices of a ship are subject to damage. This damage may be due to enemy attack or to over use. These damages, unlike total ship damage (see ship attributes below), may be repaired while underway. If damage on a device is less than 300 units, its performance is degraded. If damage is 300 or more units, the device is inoperative. A ship possesses the following devices:

1. Warp Engines -- These engines are the normal mode of travel for starships. The maximum speed is warp factor 6, with warps 5 and 6 risking potential damage to the engines. If warp engines are damaged (less than 300 units) the maximum speed is warp factor 3.

NOTE

One warp unit is equivalent to one horizontal or one vertical grid movement. A diagonal movement is equivalent to the hypotenuse of the horizontal and vertical sides.

2. Impulse Engines -- These engines are basically for emergency use while the warp engines are critically damaged. Impulse engines move the ship at warp factor 1.

3. Photon Torpedo Tubes -- Used to fire photon torpedoes. If these tubes are damaged, the accuracy of torpedo bursts is impaired. The maximum torpedo range is 10 sectors.

4. Phaser Banks -- Each ship possesses two phaser banks, with a single phaser control. Damage to this phaser control or to the ship's computer reduces the strength of the phaser hit.

5. Deflector Shields -- The deflector shields of a ship protect it from damage from phaser and photon torpedo hits, and shield it from the energy released when a star goes nova. The percent shield strength indicates the percent of the incoming hit which will be nullified. In addition, strong deflector shields may deflect photon torpedoes with little or no damage.

NOTE: If a ship's shields are up, the amount of energy expended during movement is doubled.

6. Computer -- The ship's computer is used for computed firing, computation during ship movement, and for phaser control. If the computer is inoperative, navigation during warp and impulse movement becomes inexact.

7. Life Support -- If the life support units of a starship are inoperative, the ship must either repair this damage or dock within 5 stardates. If this is not accomplished, the crew will die.

8. Sub-Space Radio -- The sub-space radio is used to communicate with other ships, of either side. Bases under attack also use the sub-space radio to call for help and notify their team's ships of their destruction.

9. Tractor Beam -- The ship's tractor beam is used primarily to tow damaged friendly ships away from danger. The beam can not be used unless both ships have lowered their shields.

In addition to the individual devices discussed above, a newly commissioned ship (or a fully repaired and rearmed older ship) possesses the following attributes:

1. 5000 units of ship energy. Ship energy is used during movement and phaser firing. It is also decreased each time the ship gets hit with phasers or photon torpedoes. If this quantity ever reaches zero, the ship is dead. A ship possessing 1000 units of ship energy or less automatically goes to yellow alert, and a warning bell sounds after every move.

2. 2500 units of shield energy. This energy is stored in the ship's shields (whether up or down), and is separate from the ship energy. However, energy may be transferred between these two energy reserves as needed. If shields are up, their energy is decreased each time the ship gets hit.

3. Zero units of ship damage. During battle, a ship collects hits from enemy installations and ships. If these accumulated hits ever reach 2500 units of damage or greater, the ship is destroyed. Ship damage may be reduced only by docking.

The galaxy is arranged in a grid of 75 by 75 sectors. Players can move freely throughout the galaxy in search of enemies, which come in several categories:

1. Romulan. This can be the most dangerous thing to come up against, and fortunately there is a maximum of 1 Romulan in the game at any given time. The Romulan moves around concealed by his cloaking device until he comes across a suitable target (Federation or Empire ship or base) which he immediately proceeds to attack. An infinite supply of torpedoes and energy make him a formidable foe. If you kill one, another will eventually appear somewhere in the galaxy.

2. Enemy ship. This is the second most dangerous thing to come across, since all enemy ships are backed by human intelligence. All ships are created equal, and so the outcome of a clash between two ships is usually due to skill on its captain's part, although some other factors do come into play.

3. Enemy base. These aren't dangerous unless you come within range (4 sectors) since they are immobile. If you ARE foolish enough to get within range, however, their overwhelming phaser power will quickly pound you into rubble! Destroying a base is useful primarily because this removes it from use by your enemy (bases are used as supply stations and as a refuge in times of stress). A damaged starbase will slowly build itself back to full strength if it is not completely destroyed.

4. Enemy planet. These are just like enemy bases, except that they are weaker (how much weaker depends on how many fortifications the enemy has built on them), and they can be captured. Their firing range is only two sectors, and they can re-supply the enemy less rapidly than can a base.

5. Neutral planet. While these aren't strictly classified as enemies, they will take pot shots at you (their range is also 2 sectors), so be wary of them. You can capture neutral planets and win them over to your side.

When playing the game, all commands can be abbreviated to 2 characters, and some can be abbreviated to 1 character (you can use the shortest unambiguous abbreviation). For a list of commands type

HELP *

and for a description of an individual command type

HELP command

The help on individual commands will be read from this help file (that's what the periods in column 1 are for in the long description of each command). The legal commands are:

1. BASES -- List information on friendly and known enemy bases.

2. BUILD -- Develop installations on a planet, and eventually build it into a base. The planet must first be captured.

3. CAPTURE -- Win a neutral or enemy planet over to your side.

4. DAMAGES -- List damaged devices and their current status.

5. DOCK -- Dock at an adjacent base or planet. This increases your energy, replenishes your torpedoes, repairs your ship a little, and reduces your ship damage.

6. ENERGY -- Transfer energy between two ships.

7. GRIPE -- Record bugs, comments, suggestion, etc. in the file GAM:DECWAR.GRP, which is periodically reviewed by the implementors.

8. HELP -- List or describe the legal commands.

9. IMPULSE -- Move using impulse engines.

10. LIST -- List various information about ships, bases, and planets.

11. MOVE -- Move using warp engines.

12. NEWS -- Tell about any new features or enhancements described in the file GAM:DECWAR.NWS.

13. PHASERS -- Fire phasers at a target.

14. PLANETS -- List information on friendly and known enemy and neutral planets.

15. POINTS -- List your score breakdown so far.

16. QUIT -- Get out of the game.

17. RADIO -- Turn ship's sub-space radio on or off; ignore or restore communications from individual ships.

18. REPAIR -- Repair your damaged devices a little.

19. SCAN -- Display the galaxy with the default range set to maximum (10 sectors in each direction from your ship).

20. SET -- Set various input and output defaults.

21. SHIELDS -- Transfer energy to or from your shields; raise or lower your shields.

22. SRSCAN -- Display the galaxy with a default range of 7 sectors (1 greater than the maximum warp factor).

23. STATUS -- List your ship's current status and supply levels.

24. SUMMARY -- List various information on ships, bases, and planets.

25. TARGETS -- List targets (enemies within range) and their current locations.

26. TELL -- Send messages to other ships using the sub-space radio.

27. TIME -- List information on run time and elapsed time.

28. TORPEDOES -- Fire photon torpedoes at a target.

29. TRACTOR -- Use tractor beam to tow friendly ships.

30. TYPE -- List current input, output, and game characteristics.

31. USERS -- List the names and other information known about the players currently in the game.

General INPUT information

- Only the first 5 characters of each input word are stored. Any characters beyond that are ignored.