MEGA HYPER GALACTIC CONQUEST Version 3.0 David W. Dickie Edited by Eric Haines to remove mizpelled words and badly grammar with thanks from the author April 20th, 1994 ddickie@world.std.com revised June 28th, 1994 [Version 1.3] revised October 7th, 1994 [Version 2.0] revised October 20th, 1994 [Version 2.1] revised October 31st, 1994 [Version 2.2] revised December 2nd, 1994 [Version 2.3] revised September 25, 1995 [Version 2.5] revised November 16, 1995 [Version 2.6] revised August 24th, 1998 [Version 2.7] revised October 2nd, 2007 [version 3.0] revised November 21st, 2013 [version 3.1] Initial Play Testing by the following astute gamers: Kris Backman Marty Connell Jeff Goldsmith Eric Haines Rob Hendrie Keith Kendall Matthew McGillis Jeff Stern Bob Willis Dave Zimmerman Beta Test by some of the above and the following Stalwarts who stayed to the bitter end of the beta playtest: Terry Metcalf Brent Bunch Rob Whelan Roger Bagwell Christopher Lloyd Brady Gibbons Stephen Kwan Alex Simmons Neil Swanson Barry Maurer This game is dedicated to the Memory of Bob Willis, 1959-2007 Long Live the King TABLE OF CONTENTS TITLEPAGE MEGA HYPER GALACTIC CONQUEST JOINING A GAME QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS CONVENTIONS TURN PROCESSING TURN ORDER VICTORY CONDITIONS THE GAMEBOARD NON PLAYER RACES (NPRs) TECHNOLOGY ECONOMICS SYSTEMS STARPORTS SHIPS COMBAT TROOPS LEADERS POPULATION ALLIANCES COMBAT TURN RESULTS EXAMPLE TURN RESULTS STRATEGY AND TACTICS TIPS FOR NEW PLAYERS ORDERS TECHNOLOGIES 100 EU TECHNOLOGIES 250 EU TECHNOLOGIES 500 EU TECHNOLOGIES 1000 EU TECHNOLOGIES 2000 EU TECHNOLOGIES 3000 EU TECHNOLOGIES 4000 EU TECHNOLOGIES CHARTS ORDERS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER ORDERS BY TYPE MEGA HYPER GALACTIC CONQUEST MHGC is your typical expand / grow / kill everyone else space conquest game. The name is derived from an old game I wrote and ran at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI or the 'tute) and HyperEconomic Diplomacy (a.k.a. GeoDiplomacy or Geodip). I was playing Geodip at the time I became motivated enough to ruin my life with this incredible time sink. The game is at best vaguely related to either of these preceding games, so don't base any strategies on the name selection. In the game, players attempt to balance expansion, capital investment, technology investment, and military conquest in order to be crowned "Grand Poobah of the Universe." MHGC was originally written to play by Email. Now it runs over the web and has a spiffy front end, but you can still get the raw ASCII turn by going to: www.agirauniverse.com:8180/mhgc See the "MHGC quick start guide" about how to set up a MHGC demo game and use the GUI. JOINING A GAME MHGC is FREE, FREE, FREE. To join a currently running game, send the following mail: To: dave@dickieville.com Subj: REGISTER MHGC I wanna join! My race name is [a "short name" for you] [your Email address] QUESTIONS AND COMMENTS Because I am attempting to run this game for large numbers of players, time for answering personal Email is at a premium. If you are convinced you have found a bug in the program, send me Email immediately and I will work with you to resolve it. For questions or comments, check out the MHGC FORUM first (you can find it at www.dickieville.com, "dickieville blog"), send Email to me second. CONVENTIONS To make it easier to correlate sections of the rules with the specific orders used to implement your strategy, if orders are related to or referenced by a section, the order name is inserted in parenthesis () in the section text. Occasionally order options, or key words that are used to indicate a particular condition on turn reports, will be discussed as well; these are inserted into the text enclosed in square brackets []. For instance, you might see something like: "When ordering Combat Troops to change their posture (CCP) to Attack [A] or Defend [D] you should..." TURN PROCESSING You may miss up to two moves without being dropped from the game. This will typically not drastically deteriorate your position except in the early game or if you are under attack. If you miss a third turn, your race will automatically convert to a NPR. You may re-establish yourself at any time by submitting orders AND sending Email to me to reset your race. See "Kick starting MHGC" for how to run a game. Game turns typically run 3AM Tuesday morning EST (midnight CA time) and 3AM Friday Morning EST after the first 12 turns; the first 12 turns are typically 3AM Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday since they tend to be short. TURN ORDER (1) In sequence provided in player orders: Give orders to ships and Combat Troops (change destinations, postures, etc.) * Load/Unload cargo and troops, create trade route * Move IUs to Supply Depot Build spacecraft / troops / infrastructure / starport / etc. Buy technology Gift EUs, Spy, Alliances and / or War declared between empires Move leaders (2) Produce (3) Feed pop, Happiness check and results (including rebellion) (4) Grow pop (5) Pay maintenance (demobilize troops/spacecraft if necessary) (6) Move followed by Intercept followed by Guard * (7) Drop Combat Troops (8) Combat (including change of status if one happens, i.e. system becomes interdicted), ship to ship, then ship to ground, then ground to ground (9) Spy activities (10) Random events (11) Scans * Except for newly built ships VICTORY CONDITIONS The first player to reach 100 victory points wins. Ties are decided by the leader in NNP. You get victory points for each technology over 250 EUs you have and two for each system you have. Future Technology, unlike regular technologies, does not provide an associated new capability or artifact and can be purchased more than once. Each future technology you purchase is worth four additional victory points. While these conditions do not guarantee conquering the galaxy, it is an attempt to select a reasonable point to end the game such that things do not drag out after many of the players have been eliminated. A game can end earlier at the request of the majority of the players; under these conditions, the winner will be decided on by a vote of all players, one vote per system owned, majority wins. Victory points for technology are scored per the following table: 100, 250 EU technologies: 0 500, 1000 EU technologies: 1 2000, 3000 EU technologies: 2 4000 EU technologies: 3 FUTURE TECH 4 You also receive VP for leading in certain statistics, 2 points for 1st place, 1 point for 2nd place. This includes WAR NWR STP POP HAP PRD CTS GWR and TEC (see the section on stats). THE GAMEBOARD The gameboard is a one hundred by one hundred grid. Things always end turns on grid points. The game board wraps in both directions, so you can move 0,0 to 0,99 or 99,99 or 99,0. Movement and scans are square, more for your convenience than anything else. So a ship at 5,5 with a 3 scan and 3 move will detect anything and can move anywhere in the box defined by 2,2 2,8 8,2 8,8 (MO). NPRs There is a "generic" Non Player Race (NPR) that represents a small confederation of small systems. They are more or less like Player Races except they are not represented in ranking information (discussed in the "EXAMPLE TURN RESULTS" section). Other races may be NPRs as well; typically, these are to replace players that have dropped out of the game to prevent a sudden easily acquired set of systems for a neighbor to pick up. You will be able to tell what races are NPRs when you have contact (get a long or short range scan) with them. This information is displayed in the "Relationship with other Races" section of your turn report. Player Races you have had contact with display the Email address at which you may contact that player, while NPRs have the keyword "NPR" displayed. NPR races are somewhat xenophobic (but not necessarily war-like) and do limited negotiation with other races (including each other). You can trade with NPRs using the Trade Technology With NPR command(TTNPR). NPRs will inform you if you are violating their space, and may take offensive action against your intruding ship. They can attack you; whether they do is dependent on how you treat them, distance from them to your systems, and how well defended your systems are. As a final note, NPRs do cheat to some extent... they can see things outside their nominal scan range (but not very far), they produce slightly more than a player system would, and they pay less in maintenance for ships and Combat Troops. This is simply to make them challenging as an opponent, since they do not play with the intelligence of a human opponent. Occasionally, players will drop out of the game. In these cases, they are "buffed" up significantly in order to make them more difficult to capture, since NPRs are not as good as human players. TECHNOLOGY You can buy various technologies for different prices in Economic Units (EUs) (PT) (see TECHNOLOGIES section), by receiving a gifted technology from another race (GT), by doing a "Crash Research Program," or by capturing another race's system if you are significantly trailing that player in technology. Generally, the format of the technology description is: [technology number] technology name [required precursor technologies] description. The technology number is used in the order for buying that technology. The required precursor technologies are technology that you must already have in order to buy this technology. You may purchase or be gifted only one technology per turn. Likewise, you may only gift one technology per turn. However, you can institute a Crash Research Program (CRP) to purchase a technology at twice normal cost if you want to get a second technology the same turn. Technologies that are researched with CRP can be gifted like any other technology. Technology usually has some additional bonus associated with it: better units, better production, or other benefit. Some of these are "artifacts" which can be purchased on a system by system basis (BT). You can also destroy tech artifacts (DT) with the exception of "spies"; for spies, there is a separate order described under "Biomodification Technology," the technology needed to build spies (SRS). You cannot destroy tech or infrastructure (DI) if the system is under attack or interdicted. You can't buy the artifact until you get the technology. There is also a maintenance cost associated with the artifact; you must pay this each turn for each system with an artifact or it is destroyed. Note that it is perfectly acceptable to purchase a technology and an artifact for that technology in the same turn. You must, however, sequence your orders correctly in order to accomplish this. See the "ORDERS" section for some examples ECONOMICS Economics are based on various types of units, IUs, AUs, and EUs, as described below. Production of these units depends on the characteristics of your individual systems, a topic covered in more detail in "SYSTEMS." IUs are Industrial Units, a measure of the raw resources that are available. It takes 1 cargo capacity to move up to 20 IUs. IUs are stockpiled on a system basis. They can, however, be moved into "supply depots" (SISD). IUs that were moved into supply depots enter the military storage and distribution system, where dedicated clerks send them to almost, but not quite, the worst possible place to support your units. Somehow, thanks to Non-Commissioned Officers, it all works out and your ships remain in operable condition. AUs are Agricultural / Luxury units, a measure of consumer goods available for your population. Well-fed people are happy people. Happy people like to have children, foolishly believing the galaxy to be a warm and friendly place in which to raise them. It takes 1 cargo capacity to move up to 20 AUs. AUs are stockpiled on a system by system basis. EUs are Economic Units. A measure of the economy, tax base, etc. EUs can be shifted between systems at will. Thus only a stockpile for the empire is shown. EUs, unlike AUs and IUs, can also be gathered from trade routes with other players with the appropriate technology, Decentralized Trading. DCT allows you to gather up to 25% of another player's EU production from systems you have established trade routes with. This is limited to no more than 50% of the total system production, so if three players establish trades routes to a single system, each player begins to receive less trade EUs. It is also affected by a global setting by the system owner that can reduce the effectiveness of your route (see "Deny DCT" order). You can also automatically "kick back" some portion of your proceeds to the system owner with the "Split DCT" order. IF is Infrastructure, and represents roads, bridges, hospitals, Inter-spatial Hyperwarp Junctions, and all the other things that make life easier for the average working joe, and therefore make him more productive. It costs ten IUs per point of Infrastructure (BI) you build. Generally, 1 point of Infrastructure doubles the production of one billion population each turn. Having more Infrastructure than population doesn't help with production (empty highways are not particularly useful). You can also destroy infrastructure (DI). Since Infrastructure is built to last, you have to pay to destroy it. 5 EUs per IF destroyed. As with Destroy Technology, you can only do this to a system with normal status. SYSTEMS Systems can scan ships out to four squares away (more with special technology). Systems have a habitability value that represents the closeness of the environment to home and the amount of habitable land. The habitability value is displayed as Extremely Habitable [EH], Very Habitable [VH], Habitable [H], Poorly Habitable [PH], or Marginally Habitable [MH]. Marginally Habitable and Poorly Habitable systems are hard to settle successfully without advanced technology (you will find it hard to keep a large population happy; a small population will not produce much for you). Systems normally produce 5 units per point of population; the distribution of these units is controlled by a system profile, described below. Systems may be Metal Rich [MR] (doubles normal IU production), Agriculture Rich [AR] (doubles normal AU production), both [2R], or normal. Systems have System, AU, and Growth Rate profiles. The system profile specifies the division of effort in producing AUs, IUs, and EUs (by percentage, adding up to 100%, each a minimum of 10%) (CSP). The AU profile controls distribution of AUs to the population (this is described in more detail below). The Growth Rate Profile controls population growth. Systems also have IU and AU stockpiles. Systems may have various artifacts, depending on technology levels. Default values are 50 25 25 for the System Profile, 33 for the AU profile, and 100 for the Growth Rate profile. With the System and AU profile, the concept is that you, like the Fed, encourage or discourage activity in certain markets by indirect controls (CSP CAP CAPN). You can influence, but not totally control, planetary production with these profiles. Sure, you could ship in AUs to your MMR (mega-metal-rich) systems (no, they do not exist), but the lettuce is all wilty and the Spam... well, it's Spam. So some people are going to grow food even though the market is saturated. This also has the side effect of making MR and AR systems more balanced. The Growth Rate Profile is more directly controllable (CGR). You can convince the population to breed like bunnies, or you can cause makin' bacon to slow to a crawl. The growth rate, however, can never exceed a specific maximum (150%) or minimum (10%) of the people's basic desire to breed. Basic population growth is dependent on how happy the people are... if too depressed, they get off by slapping their spouses around rather than making whoopee. It is also influenced by population, starports, system habitability, technology, and system government (i.e., leaders... see "LEADERS" section). When using the controllable portion of Growth Rate, there is, of course, a certain cost in distributing condoms, moving hemlines up, etc. So each time you change growth rate for a system, it costs you 10 EUs. Systems can have disasters befall them. The effects of these disasters will be described in the turn report (see "EXAMPLE TURN RESULTS" section). Systems have a "happiness factor". This represents the attitude of the population. This is displayed as Extremely Happy [EH], Very Happy [VH], Happy [HA], Not Happy [NH], Unhappy [UH], or Rebellion [RB]. If the system is in rebellion, the population will secede from your empire. If they are unhappy or not happy, minor mayhem and sabotage typically result, with an occasional rebel NPR militia unit appearing on the scene. If they are Very Happy or Extremely Happy, they may turn out to show their appreciation for your glorious empire with some token of gratitude. Happiness is affected by spending AUs. Systems have an AU spending profile that specifies the percentage of the AU stockpile to released each turn (in other words, your system profile determines the number of AUs you produce and place on your stockpile; your AU profile determines the number of AUs you take out of your stockpile and give to the population) (CAP)(CAPN). There are technologies that affect happiness; these include Extended Home Computing (EHC) and Cyberspace (CS) which improve happiness directly, and planetary defensive technologies that let people sleep more securely at night (Planetary Defenses, Spacewarp Weapons, Advanced Planetary Defenses). See the "technology" section. To put it all together, suppose you have a system with the default settings and 4 population, with no technology or MR/AR/2R bonuses. They would produce 10 AUs, 5 IUs, and 5 EUs. All ten AUs would be fed to the population; if the AU profile was 10%, 1 AU would be fed to the population and 9 would remain in the AU stockpile (note that fractions are truncated; this is true of the System Profile as well). Systems can be in one of three statuses: Normal, Under Attack, or Interdicted. Systems in Under Attack status produce at half normal rate and pay twice as many IUs and EUs to build CTs, ships, and technological artifacts. They also cannot destroy technology, destroy infrastructure, or shift IUs to a supply depot. In addition to the other restrictions mentioned above, systems that are interdicted do not produce, and cannot build. See PLACING SYSTEMS IN UNDER ATTACK OR INTERDICTED STATUS for information on how systems change status. Landing 1 or more population on an unpopulated system makes it your own. You can immediately purchase infrastructure, etc., if you unload IUs the same turn. By default the CSP ratios are 50% AU / 25% IU / 25% EU and the CGR is 100. If two races attempt to land at the same system, the person landing first gets the system. Who lands first is determined randomly. The second landing order will fail (unless a "UG" order is specified; see SHIP ORDERS for details). Systems normally have a limit of 10 billion population which they can support without additional technology (BT EUS). STARPORTS Systems also have a starport at which ships and Combat Troops (CTs) are built, and which improves the general productivity of the system by promoting trade. Starports have a integer rating that indicates how may ships or CTs it can build. Starport rating is expressed as class 1, class 2, etc. One ship and two CTs can be built for each starport rating point (e.g., a class 2 starport can build 2 ships, 1 ship and 2 CTs, or 4 CTs). You may build or upgrade starports (BSP) at the following cost: 25 * 2 ^ (starport rating - 1) IUs and EUs So a class 1 starport costs 25 IUs and 25 EUs, a class 2 costs 50 IUs and 50 EUs, a class 3 100/100, a class 4 200/200, etc. Starports improve system productivity by 10% per rating; on a system with 4 population, no technology or other enhancements, it would produce 22 "units" of goods instead of 20. If you upgrade a starport, you pay the delta cost between the one you have and the one you are purchasing. Thus upgrading from a class 3 to a class 4 will cost you 100/100 IUs/EUs. You can only upgrade a starport by one class a turn. You may not build at a starport that you have already built or upgraded that turn, so be a little cautious about suddenly maxing out your building capability in the face of an oncoming horde. You may also destroy starports (DSP). Since these things are built to last, it is difficult and expensive to destroy one. You may reduce a starport's rating by 1 each turn, at a cost of 10 EUs per turn. SHIPS Ships in the game represent exploration, transport, or war vessels directly controlled by the empire. There is an underlying assumption in the game that civilian commercial space traffic is also occurring, but it is transparent to game play. This mechanism is how spies, leaders, and supply depot IUs are moved from system to system. But in all of these cases, there is a standard movement rate or assumed pre-planned distribution / movement rather than an actual vessel. The ships you do control traverse the interstellar spaces. They have five factors, Attack, Defense, Scan, Movement, and Cargo Capacity. They require maintenance costs be paid out of the empire's EU stockpile and IU supply depots. If the empire cannot pay the costs out of its supplies, the ship is destroyed. IU maintenance costs are double if the ship is not within 4 turns of a system owned by the empire (actual distance varies with movement rate) except for scout class (Scout, SuperScout, MegaScout) ships, which just pay the normal maintenance fees. IU and EU costs are half, rounded down, if the ship is at a empire-owned system. Ships have one of three postures: hostile [H], neutral [N], or friendly [F] (SP). If more than one ship is present, all ships will take the posture of the most aggressive ship (i.e., hostile followed by neutral followed by friendly). Ships from different races interact as follows: Ship 1 Hostile Neutral Friendly Ship 2 Hostile Attack Attack Attack each other each other each other* Neutral Attack 50% chance 10% chance each other of attack of attack Friendly Attack 10% chance Do not attack each other* of attack each other * Hostile ships fire first, then friendly ships fire (i.e., they lose initiative) Additionally, ships that are hostile will attack systems as specified in the combat rules given later. Ships that are neutral or friendly will not attack (or interdict) systems. Transports automatically assume a hostile posture if the Land Combat Troops order (LOCT) is used for ground assault in a system unless the owner is allied with the empire owning the system. Since this will cause all of your ships in the square to behave as if they have a hostile posture, using the Land Combat Troops order will automatically cause an all out attack on the system. Note the transport's posture really changes. If you want it to subsequently shift to a friendly posture, you must use the Ship's Posture (SP) order. Ship's posture and effects are mitigated as follows by relations between empires. Neutral empires are as described in the paragraphs above. Allied empires do not attack each other. Empires at war always attack each other. See "ALLIANCES" for more information on forming and breaking alliances. Ships also have a combat role (CSCR) that is significant when engaging in ground combat. A ship may have a Space Combat [SC], Multi-Role [MR], Ground Combat [GC], or a Raid [RD] role. See COMBAT for a description of how these roles affect combat. Transports and other ship classes that have cargo carrying capacity may also load and unload AUs, IUs, and population with a Load (L), Unload (U), or Unload Gift (UG) order, and load or land Combat Troops with a Load (LOCT), Land Combat Troop (LACT) , or Drop Combat Troop (DOCT) order (see COMBAT section for details on landing ground troops). Loading puts things on transports, while unload places removes them from the Transport and places them on a system. Loading and Unloading can only be done at a system you own, and the system must be in the same square as the Transport. There is an alternate Unload order, Unload Gift (UG), which gives things to the system you are at regardless of who owns it. There is also a System Load order (SL), which loads a transport from a system's stockpiles; this order allows you to give AUs, IUs, or population to another player by loading them on his transport (if he tried to load them with a standard load command, the load would fail since he doesn't own the system). One exception to the above is landing population in a uninhabited system, which will successfully unload the population and which causes it to join your empire. Landing combat troops on a system inhabited by another race with whom you are not allied causes a ground assault on that system. Landing combat troops at an allied system places your combat troops on the system in support of the allied empire, but the troops remain owned by you. There are a few tricks to this. You capture a system as soon as you unload your population onto it. Therefore, you can change the system's System, AU, and Growth Rate profiles using the CSP, CAP, CAPN, and CGR orders or its name with the NSY order (see "ORDERS") only AFTER you unload your population (since the system is not owned by you until that point). You have to sequence your orders properly in order to accomplish this. Ships may stand, move to a x,y location (MO), move to a system (MS), intercept another ship (I), or "Guard" (G) which allows a ship to move toward scanned ships in its range. Interception is useful to get intruding enemy ships prior to them reaching your systems. Guard is a good way to nuke those irritating scouts that like to buzz the outside of your empire. You begin the game with the ship classes shown below (showing [attack, defense, scan, move, cargo] in the brackets). Other ship classes become available with additional technology (BS). A full list of ship classes is provided in the CHARTS" section at the end of the rules. Scout [0/1/3/4/0] Cost 20 IU, 20 EU Transport [0/1/1/4/3] Cost 20 IU, 20 EU Frigate [1/2/2/4/0] Cost 30 IU, 30 EU Ship maintenance costs vary as specified in the rules above. Older ships can be salvaged (SS) at a starport on a system that is in "NORMAL" status in order to recover 75% of the IU and EU cost of building the ship (but obviously not the maintenance costs you have spent on it). COMBAT TROOPS Combat Troops (CTs) hold systems. They have two factors: Attack and Defense. Each ground troop requires one cargo capacity to transport. Troops also have a posture: Attack [A], Defend [D], Entrenched [E], or entrenching [1/2/3]. All troops can move between Attack and Defend postures at any time. If in defend mode, they add 50% (rounded up) to defensive capability but have NO attack. Infantry troops can also entrench. Whether a Combat Troop is an Infantry Unit or not is indicated later in the rules. When an infantry unit is Entrenched, its defense is doubled and its attack is one half rounded down. Additionally, its defense against ground bombardment (described below) is quadrupled or four times normal defense. It takes three turns to entrench a unit; while entrenching, the CT has a normal defense and no attack. Combat Troops have a gravity well disadvantage, and so can be crushed by space- to-ground fire (see "COMBAT"). Note that Combat Troops land (LACT) before ship movement and combat, so the transports carrying them must have been at the system you are attacking (and survived combat) the turn before. However, you may also drop combat troops in one-use "drop pods" which lands them at the end of movement with some chance (30%) of the troop burning up during the drop. The chance of getting smoked increases with PD, SW, and APD installations on the ground. Combat Troops can be salvaged (SCT) at a starport on a system you own in normal status to recover 50% of the original cost of the unit. You begin the game with the following types of units available (other types become available with technology) (BCU). Militia. [1/1] Militia cannot be transported. They cost 5 IU and 5 EU to build, and 2 EU / turn for maintenance. You may not have more Militia than population at a system. Militias are NOT infantry units. Shock troops. [2/2] Shock Troops cost 10 IU and 10 EUs to build, and 2 EU / turn maintenance. Shock Troops are infantry units. LEADERS Leaders are individuals that have come to power in your empire. They function as system governors or Admirals of a fleet. They have a significant effect on combat, disaster recovery, happiness, economic growth, and other things. This effect can be positive or negative (but is generally positive). You will get occasional reports concerning leaders' capabilities in handling a crisis. These will help you analyze a leader's strengths and weaknesses. You get leaders at random. When you get one, a description of the leader will be provided in your turn report and look something like this: Morta - Helsppit Morta graduated from the FORCE:GROUND Center for Tactical Studies in the top of her class. She was awarded the Distinguished SimNet Battleplay medal for her unorthodox approach in the Agincourt Milsim. She is reputed to be brilliant, friendly, and solidly grounded in the scientific disciplines. A solid, reliable manager with an eye for detail, she is a very impressive young woman. However, you can also do a "Leader Report" (LR) if you like raw numeric stats. When you get a leader, you deploy him or her with a "Move Leader" command (ML) or "Move Leader to Fleet" commands (MLF). You are not forced to do this; if you do not, the leader will float in limbo forever until (s)he dies of natural causes. It will take two turns for the leader to arrive at the system you have selected. You may also move a leader to an administrative position if they have a negative affect on a system (PLOI). Leaders do age. For a while, they will improve with time (how much is dependent on their intelligence). After a while, they begin to degrade (again, degradation rate is dependent on intelligence). Leaders also die of natural and unnatural causes. Natural causes include death during combat (see "FLEETS"); for unnatural, see the "TECHNOLOGIES" section on Biomodification technology. After ten turns, there is a small chance of leader death that grows with leader age. You can get a report on your leaders using the "Leader Report" (LR) command. This report shows five ratings for each leader: Management which affects production; Social, which affects system happiness; Combat which affects combat; Engineering which affects random events, and Intelligence which indicates how the leader will improve over time. The ratings go from 0 to 99, with a rating of 50 meaning the leader will have a neutral effect. The report also shows the leader's age (number of turns in the game), which affects degradation and chance of death. POPULATION Your people, measured in billions (one population point = one billion people). It takes one cargo capacity to move one billion people (in the form of frozen embryos with sufficient support staff and equipment to convert them to useful cannon fodder on a distant system). Population require food and luxury goods (AUs) to grow and to be happy. Unhappy people begin to create minor rebellions, and very unhappy people will cause the entire planet to rebel. Happiness is affected by capture and/or loss of systems, habitability, overcrowding, AUs spent (AU stockpile times AU profile, or numeric value... see system orders), leaders, combat situation, and certain technological advances. Systems that are UNHAPPY have a 50% chance of some kind of disgruntled population show of force. This is usually destruction of public goods (IUs or IF), but one in ten times is a NPR militia unit. Under these circumstances, you end up in ground combat. If the NPR militia unit is the only unit on the system at the end of the turn (the obvious default if you have no combat troops on the system), the system is "captured" by the NPRs, just as if you had a ground assault by a NPR transport. Systems that are NOT HAPPY have a 10% chance of a minor proletariat uprising. Systems that are Very Happy have a 10% chance of a "I love the emperor day," which has various random but beneficial results. Systems that are Extremely Happy have a 50% chance of a "I love the emperor" day. Systems that are in REBELLION automatically become NPRs, along with all combat troops on the system. There is one exception these rules; they do not apply if the system is UNDER ATTACK or INTERDICTED. Under these circumstances, systems that are UNHAPPY act as loyal little slaves. Systems that are in REBELLION have a ten percent chance of joining the attackers. You should note that the rules specify that UNDER ATTACK and INTERDICTED status have an EFFECT on morale. They do not automatically put the system in rebellion. So assault by Combat Troops may be the only quick way to take the system. ALLIANCES You can ally/declare war, send EUs, gift technology, or spy on any race you have made contact with (had a short range or long range scan of) from the turn you make contact on. Alliances allow you to override reactions for ship postures for specific races (DA). Likewise, declaring war does the same (DW). These overrides are described in the "SHIP" section of the rules. There is also a neutral posture (EWA). Declaring war automatically declares war for both races. Declaring an alliance declares an alliance from YOU... the other race will only become allied if THEY submit the same order. If you submit a DA (Declare Alliance) order but he does not, YOUR ships are treated as having a "FRIENDLY" posture, while his are whatever they are set at. If they are hostile, interaction occurs as if they were hostile and you were friendly regardless of your ship posture. Note that there is no way to determine whether the other player has ordered an alliance with you... it only shows up on his turn report. Trust is a difficult thing, isn't it? The various states you can be in and the results associated with submitting the Declare Alliance, Declare War, or End War/Alliance orders are shown in the chart below. Status, You / Them (N = Neutral, A = allied, W = At War, E = End War) N/N N/A A/N A/A W/W W/E Order DA A/N A/A Fails Fails Fails Fails DW W/W W/W W/W W/W Fails Fails EWA Fails Fails N/N N/A E/W N/N At the end of the order turn, any End War status's are converted back to "war." In other words, if you and the other player do not both declare an end to the war the same turn, you both remain at war. If you are both allied, your fleets combine in actions against enemy fleets and Combat Troops. See COMBAT for more details. Say your ships are in "Friendly" mode, and you encounter a ship in "Hostile" mode from a race that you are at war with at the same time you encounter a ship from a third race that is also in friendly mode. The two races in "friendly" mode ignore each other. The races that are at war are treated as if the ships were in "hostile" mode with one another (i.e., you do not lose initiative because your ship is in friendly mode and the other ship is in hostile mode) and attack each other. COMBAT There is an example at the end of this section. That should make things clearer. SHIP COMBAT Ship to Ground: Depends on combat role assigned as follows: Space Combat [SC]: Attack any spaceships as long as some are left. If no enemy ships are left, do not attack. Multi-Role [MR]: As Space Combat, except that if no enemy spaceships are present at the beginning of combat, default to Ground Combat role. The ship's attack factor, however, is halved when used for attacking ground troops since it's firing from a higher orbit. Ground Combat [GC]: Ships not engaged by enemy spacecraft attack Combat Troops. Attack factors from all ships in this mode are combined. Each 4 points of attack eliminates 1 point of effective Combat Troop defense per turn (note that Combat Troop effective defense may be higher than normal defense depending on the Combat Troop's posture). If insufficient attack points exist to eliminate a unit, they have an attack point / (5 * defensive capability) chance of destroying the unit. Attacks are allocated randomly to units until all attack points are allocated. Ship attacks occur prior to ground attacks. If no ground combat units are left, the ship does not fire. Ground troops have a small (25%) chance of escaping ground bombardment by hiding in caves. In this case they detract from the space attack but the unit survives. Raid [RD]: Ships not engaged by enemy spacecraft attack civilian targets. Each five points of attack eliminates one point of infrastructure, some part of an artifact, 10 IUs out of the IU stockpile or 10 AUs out of the AU stockpile (determined randomly). Population is eliminated by one billion people for every 25 attack factors used in the attack. If insufficient attack points exist to destroy a artifact or population, there is a attack point * 2 / total cost of artifact chance of destroying the artifact and a attack point / 25 chance of destroying 1 population point. Some attack points may be wasted shooting at non-existent targets (pounding the rubble, so to speak). Ship to ship: Simultaneous. The algorithm is as follows: Sum all attacks in SC, MR, GC, and RD modes; Calculate Multi Fleet Bonus (described below); Determine defense of all races you are attacking; If total defense is greater than 0 MR attacks are added to SC; If SC less than total defense, GC ships are shifted to SC, then RD ships, one ship at a time in random order, until SC greater than or equal to total defense or all ships are in effective SC mode; Effective attack = sqrt(random(1-SC^2)); Ships owned by empires you are attacking are eliminated in order of Combat Role(SC, then MR, then GC, then RD) within empire (and randomly within role), one at a time, until SC less than next ship's defense (each SC point eliminating a defensive point). If [random(1-100) less than remaining SC / ship's defense * 100] ship is destroyed; If ships are forced to move from GC or RD roles to SC, they only get 1/2 of their normal attack. Mixed Fleet Bonus (MFB) reflects the tactical advantage if you have a mix of ships of different base types. Ship base types are STANDARD, OFFENSIVE, DEFENSIVE and FAST. MFB is calculated as follows. If you have attack points in all four ship lines, those attack factors are multiplied by 3. If you have three ship lines, attack factors are multiplied by 2. With 2 ships lines, they are multiplied by 1.5. For instance, if you have one FF, one F, one Patroller, and one Striker, with 1 / 1 / 2 / 5 attack, the first attack point for each ship would be multiplied by four since you have at least one attack factor in all four lines, the second attack factor (for the Patroller and striker) would be multiplied by 1.5 since you have two ships lines, and the rest of the attack factors would be normal, giving you a 18 attack instead of a 9 attack. MFB doesn't help with ground combat. MFB stacks with leader bonuses. After all attacks are completed, the ships are actually "destroyed" (i.e., the order in which this happens doesn't keep a ship from "firing back"). Note that the effective attack is not sqrt(SC^2), or SC; this function provides a very different distribution that is weighed heavily toward the higher end of the 1 - SC scale. For instance, assume a total of 10 points of attack in SC mode; 10^2 = 100. A random number from 1 to 100 is selected, say 50. The square root of 50 is taken, and you have an effective 7 attack. You will always have at least a one attack. The only exception to the above is attacks with initiative, which are done first, destroying ships AND removing the ship's attack from the owner's SC, MR, GC, or RD points (whatever the ship's effective role is). The ship's effective role doesn't change the ordered ships posture; next turn, the ship will return to the previously set combat role (but obviously may be overridden again). FLEETS A Fleet provides a way to help administrate your ships when their numbers are getting large enough to be a burden. Additionally, a fleet allows you to use a leader to enhance the attack and defense of the ships traveling with the fleet (note that some ships may be members of the fleet without traveling with the fleet; see rules below). Fleets provide a method of giving orders to a large number of ships with a single command, including movement, loading and unloading cargo, setting posture, and setting combat role. Fleets also "roll up" a number of ships for reporting purposes into a single line. You form a Fleet with a "Create Fleet" command (CF), providing a fleet name used to reference the fleet from that point on (for you and the other players). Ships are added to the fleet with the "Add ship to Fleet" (AF) command. Ships that have not joined the main body of the fleet at the end of the turn move to intercept the fleet and are reported separately in the standard ship report section. You can remove a ship from the fleet with the Leave Fleet (LF) command, or by adding it to a different fleet. Movement for Fleets is very similar to that for ships, in that you may move to a X, Y location (MF), move to a star system (MFS), or intercept a ship (FIS). Unlike ships, there is no "Guard" order for fleets. The only real difference is speed (FS). A fleet may be set for automatic speed [A], or as a specific numeric speed from 1 to 9. In "Automatic," the Fleet moves at the speed of the slowest ship in the main fleet body. If you set a speed, the Fleet will move at that speed, leaving any slower ships behind. Speed is ignored for intercept situations; ships move at maximum speed to intercept other fleets or ships. Setting postures (CFP) for a fleet includes the standard ship postures (Hostile, Neutral, and Friendly) [H, N, F]. Setting the Fleet posture to one of these changes all ships in the fleet to that posture. There is also a Manual [M] setting that leaves the ships in whatever posture they were previously set, an Automatic Hostile [AH] posture that sets all warships (ships with 1 or better attack factors) to Hostile and all non-warships to Friendly, and an Automatic Neutral [AN] posture that sets warships to Neutral and non-warships to Friendly. As with postures, you may set a Fleet's combat role (CFCR) using the standard roles [SC, MR, GC, RD] or Manual [M]. The other options are to assume an Offensive [OF], Defensive [DF], Protective [PT], or Roll Your Own [RO] role. Offensive is best for system assault, Defensive for system defense, Protective for defending smaller craft from an attacker, and Roll Your Own for special cases. These roles result in the following: OF - Transports carrying CTs RD, non-attack ships SC, everyone else MR DF - All non-attacks SC, everyone else MR PT - All non-attacks RD, everyone else SC RO - You specify number of GC attack pts, number of RD attack pts, and combat role for non-attackers. All non GC/RD warships shift to MR, all Combat Troop carrying transports to RD. See the ORDERS section for a description of fleet orders, and EXAMPLE TURN REPORT section for a description of fleet reports. GROUND COMBAT Ground combat is run using the same basic algorithm as space combat, except all combat is simultaneous since there is no hostile / neutral / friendly posture for ground units. Ground attack occurs after ship combat, so units burned off from space are eliminated prior to this phase. Combat Troops from two empires may only be on a single system without attacking one another if both empires are allied with each other. If the alliance is terminated, the Combat Troops will attack that turn. PLACING SYSTEMS IN UNDER ATTACK OR INTERDICTED STATUS After all combat is resolved, the systems status is determined. Systems are in the Normal status if they are not under attack by a ship or ships with at least one attack point and at least one third as many attack points as you have defensive points in your and allied empire ships and / or artifacts (Planetary Defenses, Spacewarp Weapons, Advanced Planetary Defenses) at the star system . The enemy ship/ships must be set to attack the system (see "SHIPS"); that is, have a ship that is Hostile, a fleet of ships of which one is hostile, a fleet of ships where a Transport lands combat troops for a ground attack, or a ship or fleet of ships owned by an empire at war with you. The system is also under attack if non-owner, non-allied empire combat troops are in the system (for instance, the rebel militia s that can pop up on systems with low happiness) and have at least one third the defense points you have in your and allied empire Combat Troops. If the system is under attack, but total attack factors of enemy ships in the system do not exceed three times the total defensive factors of friendly ships in the system (owner or allied empire ships), the system is in Under Attack status. If the total attack factor is more than three times the defense factors, the system is Interdicted (note that a system with no ships is automatically interdicted). A system with enemy Combat Troops with attack points greater than or equal the number of defensive points of empire or allied empire Combat Troops is also in Interdicted status. See "Systems" for a description the effects of Under Attack and Interdicted Status on the system. Systems only change by one category a turn; thus, a "normal" system that is suddenly attacked by a ship with no defending ships will move to "under attack" status the turn it is attacked, then to "interdicted" status the next turn. Likewise, and interdicted system will change to "under attack" one turn and "normal" the next. CAPTURING SYSTEMS If all indigenous ground combat troops are eliminated and the attacker has at least one ground combat troop remaining, the system becomes the property of the attacker. Note that this means that the attacker can have his troops posture as defensive (defense increased by 50%, but they don't attack) and still take over the system if there are no other troops there. Of course, sometimes those scuds with the nasty biological payload wanders a bit off course and hits a major population center, or a nuke takes out a bit of industrial complex near the troops you intended to vaporize, but you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs. As a result, systems capture also results in the destruction of all stockpiles, the death of a Governor (if the system has one), a 10-50% population loss, and some chance of the destruction of Artifacts and Infrastructure. Additionally, the planet may rebel and join the attacker if the population is very unhappy. Poor habitability, low food supply, and heavily outnumbered troops or spacecraft affect happiness. Since rebellion results in a "friendly" takeover, the results are less drastic to the civilian population. If the planet rebels, all stockpiles are halved and the governor is either killed (75% chance) or joins the enemy. System capture is a major media event, played over and over again for your entire race. It therefore has an effect on everyone's morale. System capture results in a burst of patriotic fervor that increases happiness. System loss results in a burst of dissident dissatisfaction and marches on the capital demanding the beheading of the emperor (good thing you own all the guns and simply slag the saps) as well as lowered happiness. Finally, capturing a system from an opposing player with better technology than you results in a chance of capturing a technology from them. COMBAT EXAMPLE The Porkines move into a system owned by the Groachi with two destroyers, two frigates, and a transport with 3 jump troops. The ships have the following characteristics: Ship Posture Combat Role ------------- --------- ------------ Destroyer 1 Neutral Space Combat Destroyer 2 Neutral Ground Combat Frigate 1 Neutral Ground Combat Frigate 2 Neutral Raid Transport 1 Friendly Space Combat The Groachi have no ships in system, and are not allied or at war with the Porkines. That turn, the Porkines do not attack the Groachi but do get a short range scan. They find the system is metal rich, and submit orders for the transport to land combat troops. The Groachi player, however, has a Frigate and a Scout within one move of the system and order them to move to the system, just in case. The Groachi ships look like: Frigate Friendly Space Combat Scout Friendly Space Combat The next turn, landing the combat troops automatically makes the fleet hostile (changing any one ship's posture to hostile would have the same effect). Space combat comes first. Destroyer 1 and Transport have a combined 2 attack, which is less than the [2 + 1] defense of the Groachi. As a result, destroyer 2 is shifted to Space Combat, but because it shifted from GC to SC, it is only worth 1/2 normal attack. The Groachi forgot to change the posture of their ships, so the Porkines fire first (see the rules on the effect of ship posture on combat). A random roll of 1-3^2 or 1-9 results in a 4; the square root gives the Porkines a 2 attack; the Scout is selected first randomly, and destroyed. The Frigate has a 1/2 chance of being destroyed, and a roll determines that it does survive the combat. Now the Groachi fire back. Note that if the Groachi Frigate had been destroyed, the Groachi, due to loss of initiative, would not be able to return fire. The Frigate has a one attack, which is randomly assigned to the Transport (the Transport and Destroyer 1 being in Space Combat and therefore the first attacked). The Transport is destroyed. Space combat finished, we turn to the ground attack. Porkine Transport 1 landed three jump troops prior to its destruction. Opposing them are three militia and three shock troops. Space to ground attacks come first, however. Porkine Destroyer 2 is in ground attack mode but had to shift to Space Combat and so has no ground attack. Frigate 1 is in Ground attack, and Frigate 2 is in raid mode. Frigate 1 attacks a militia at random. This militia is in "Defend" mode with an effective defense of 2; the Frigate has a 1 / (5 * 2) = 1/10 chance of destroying it, and misses. Frigate 2 attacks a tech artifact at random. This system has only one artifact, Extended Home Computing (otherwise the artifact would be selected at random as well). Since EHC costs 50 EUs, the Frigate expends all attack factors for a (1*2/50) or 4% chance of eliminating the artifact. In total during the attack on the system one attack factor in "Raid" combat mode was used; there is a 1/25 or 4% chance that one billion people were killed, and it is determined that they were. Now the Combat Troops get into it. Attacks, unlike their space counterpart, are conducted simultaneously, with elimination decided by attack roll and random selection of units. At the end, the Groachi have one militia left. The Porkines have two jump troops. Since the Porkines have more attack factors than the Groachi have defense factors on the ground, the system moves toward "interdicted" status, but since it started at "normal" and only shifts one status per turn, it ends up in "under attack" status this turn. The Porkines have two Destroyers and two Frigates for a total of 6 attack factors; the Groachi have one Frigate with a 2 defense factor. This provides a attack/defense ratio of 3 to 1, exactly what is needed to interdict the system if the ground troops had not already done so. TURN RESULTS (text) The following is an example turn report. The numbers have been changed to protect the guilty, so don't try to add them up. It begins with a header containing the turn number and any general information that needs distribution to the players. This is followed by the ORDER PROBLEMS section, which shows: 1) any rejected orders and the reason for the rejection 2) capture of unowned systems as a result of a pop unload 3) any technology purchased; the LT order displays all techs owned 4) any gifted technology (to you) 5) any gifted EUs (to you) Next is the Rebellion section. If any of your systems are not happy [NH], unhappy [UH] or in rebellion [RB] and a minor or major rebellion occurs as a result, it will be shown here. Random events such as "I love the emperor day" are shown here as well. Next is the Maintenance Costs section. The maintenance report lists all uses and production of EU, AU and IU resources. You may suppress this report with a No Maintenance Costs listing order (NMC), shorten it by eliminated the detailed ship, CT, and spy maintenance costs with a Short Maintenance Costs order (SMC), or print the entire report with a Long Maintenance Costs order (LMC). The last order used will be the default for any following turns. Then comes the combat section, which shows the initial state and final result of any combat situations your ships or systems might be involved in. Random events follow. It should be noted that these effects are done after maintenance costs, so they do not show up in the maintenance section and final systems totals might be different from what you think. Then comes the Report Section. This section shows three reports. The first is the economic report, which shows the EU stockpile, IU Supply Depot, and EU, AU and IU production for your empire. EU production includes EUs gathered in trade. It doesn't include any changes due to random events. The second is the statistics report, which shows your ranking in: GNP - Gross National Product (AUs+IUs+EUs produced + DCT*) NNP - Net National Product (IUs + EUs produced + DCT*) WAR - Number of warships NWR - Number of non-warships STP - Number of starports POP - Total population HAP - Happiness per capita PRD - Productivity per capita SYS - Number of Systems GWR - Population growth rate TEC - Technological advancement (in terms of # of techs) VCT - Meeting victory conditions (systems + techs) * DCT is trade generated by Decentralized Trading technology Ties are all shown at the same level; i.e., if there are three races, two with 1 Frigate and one with no Frigates, you would see a WAR rating of "1" for the first and second race and "3" for the third race. So a "1" means you are first or tied for first. The third report is the Relations with other empires, where your status (Neutral, Allied or at War with) other races is displayed. This information is displayed the turn AFTER you receive a long range scan of the race (or, in the unlikely event of a short range scan of a race as first contact, that turn). Your ships are displayed next, with the system a ship is it (if it is at one), ship number, ship type, current X and Y location, planned move, posture and combat role displayed. The planned move can be a desired x and y location for ships moving to a X,Y coordinate or a system, or can be "I [ship number]" if intercepting a ship or IF if intercepting a fleet, a "G" if it is in Guard mode (even if it has moved as a result), or can display the word STAND if the ship is not moving. Then the ship's posture and combat role follow. If intercepting a fleet, the fleet name is then shown. For transports, the cargo being carried is displayed on subsequent lines. Ships tagged with a "*" in front of them are in the same square as a system or ship you do not own and bear closer scrutiny. Your fleets are next. The fleet report includes the system the fleet is at (if it is at one), the fleet name, the fleet's x and y coordinates, the fleets desired x and y coordinates (with the same options as for ships), the Posture and Combat Role (with more options than ships; see "FLEETS" for a full list), and the total attack, defense, and cargo capacity for the fleet. If the fleet is intercepting another fleet, the name of the fleet being intercepted is displayed on the next line, followed by any cargo the fleet is carrying on subsequent lines. Home world reports come next. They show the system owner, the population's happiness, the happiness trend, the system name, its X, Y location, the starport rating (followed with a "*" if it was just built or upgraded), its status ("norm", "UA" for under attack, or "INT" for INTERDICTED), the number of billion people, the amount of Infrastructure, the Habitability of the system, whether it is metal rich, agriculturally rich, or both, the AU stockpile, the IU stockpile, and the system Growth Rate. Tech, leaders, trade routes, and combat troops in the system are listed underneath. Systems tagged with a "*" in front of them are in the same square as a ship you do not own and bear closer scrutiny. Scans of other's ships, fleets and system follow. They are laid out as above, except: (1) The ship/fleet owner is displayed instead of the system it is at (2) long range scans don't display posture or combat role (3) long range scans on systems only display owner, name and location (4) the ships last position is shown instead of it's future position* *i.e., the position it moved from rather than the position it is moving to) Systems that are not owned by another empire show up as "Unknown." They may be a NPR or they may be uninhabited... you need to get a short range scan to find out. The next section contains a map of the universe as you know it. You may suppress the map with a "NOMAP" order and turn it back on with a "MAP" order. The last order used will be the default for any following turns. Note that the example map is only to show the format, and doesn't match the scan reports. In a real turn report, it would. These maps should be relatively self-explanatory. The things to watch for are: The map is printed in 5 x 5 quadrants. You only get quadrants you have seen something in (this includes your own ships). Systems that you have seen are always displayed on the map, along with the latest name and owner. Systems you know about due to a CD ROM of Ancient Wisdom (a random event) are displayed as unowned, unnamed systems. Generally, the system name is centered one y coordinate below the system. If the system is at y = 0; then it is placed above the system. Also, the name will be pushed in the x direction if it would be clipped by x = 0 or x = 99. If system names overlap, one of the system's names is placed two y coordinates away instead of one (two down except if y is 0 or 1, then two up). Finally, if the system name is going to overwrite something significant, the program tries to move it to a better location. If it fails (i.e., the alternate location also has a ship or system) the name will not overwrite the significant data, and the letter preceding and following the system or ship is blanked to make the system or ships stand out, i.e.: U* Jellybean with a scout will look like: U* Jel 2s an instead of: U* Jell2sean The key on the bottom shows you everything you might have seen; sometimes the actual ships or players are in a fleet or in a potential conflict situation, so the symbol may not be displayed on the map. EXAMPLE TURN RESULTS MHGC GAME beta [--------------------------------] TURN 49 _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ _/_/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/_/ _/ _/_/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/ _/_/_/ _/_/_/ NEXT TURN ORDERS DUE: FRIDAY *********************** THIS IS AN EXAMPLE NOTE FROM THE GAMEMASTER *********************** BEGINNING OF TURN REPORT----------------------------------- ORDER PROBLEMS (if any)------------------------------------ ML Ldr_501 Harn # MOVE NEW LEADER ***ERROR You don't own that Leader! TECHNOLOGIES YOU OWN: Powered Armor Extended Home Computing Bioengineered Foods Cybernetic Tanks Planetary Defenses Missile Technology Improved Engines I Advanced Missile Tech Cybernetic Banking Extended Use of System Biomodification Improved Weapons I Improved Electronics Decentralized Trading Cyberspace Improved Electronics II Improved Weapons II Virtual Reality Banking SISD Xerox 10 ***ERROR system is UA MESSAGES --------------------------------------------- MESSAGE RECEIVED VIA SUBETHERAL BROADBASE SENSORS: The Groachi ambassador sends the following official notice: Prepare to die, alien scum! We claim all space within 6 squares of our systems! REBELLION (if any) --------------------------------------- WE LOVE THE EMPEROR DAY ON SYSTEM Frags!!! Excited population explodes into song! MAINTENANCE LISTING--------------------------------------- MAINTENANCE LISTING--------------------------------------- IU SUPPLY DEPOT / EU STOCKPILE INITIAL: 72 65 EU USED IN PURCHASES OR CGR: - 220 SYSTEM AU IU EU SYSTEM Frags INITIAL STOCKS 0 105 25 PURCHASES - 40 PROFILE 10% 58% 32% PRODUCTION + 21 + 83 + 34 AU PROFILE 100% AU EATEN BY 10.000 POPULATION - 21 IUs TRANSFERRED TO SUPPLY DEPOT - 34 ARTIFACT Extended Home Computing - 2 ARTIFACT Bioengineered Foods - 0 ARTIFACT Planetary Defenses - 3 ARTIFACT Cybernetic Banking - 0 TOTAL 0 114 54 ......................... [DELETED FOR BREVITY] ......................... SYSTEM Holdwall INITIAL STOCKS 0 14 283 PROFILE 10% 15% 75% PRODUCTION + 8 + 8 + 44 AU PROFILE 100% AU EATEN BY 8.164 POPULATION - 8 IUs TRANSFERRED TO SUPPLY DEPOT - 14 ARTIFACT Extended Home Computing - 2 ARTIFACT Bioengineered Foods - 0 ARTIFACT Planetary Defenses - 3 TOTAL 0 8 322 BEGINNING IU SUPPLIES/EU STOCKPILE 182 322 SHIP 943 - 2 -2 ......................... [DELETED FOR BREVITY] ......................... SHIP 1270 - 2 -2 CT 35 -2 ......................... [DELETED FOR BREVITY] ......................... CT 237 -5 Spy 300 -5 Spy 853 -5 Spy 58 -5 FINAL IU / EU TOTAL: 67 207 COMBAT (if any) -------------------------------------- ============COMBAT RESULTS FOR SYSTEM Minty============ *Barnacle_Boys 1375 Cruiser 44 49 STAND H MR *Grunts 1860 Battleship 44 49 STAND H SC *Grunts 93 Battleship 44 49 STAND H SC Barnacle_Boys Minty NHv 44 49 1 Norm 8.1 9 VH 0 33 150 TECH: EHC BF PD CB ======CONFLICT RESOLUTION====== ====RACE RELATIONS==== | Grunts| Barnacle_Boys| Grunts| | ATTACK | Barnacle_Boys| ATTACK | | ====SPACE ATTACK EFFECTIVENESS==== The dreaded Grunts gets a WIMPY 19% effectiveness during combat The dreaded Barnacle_Boys gets a DEADLY 90% effectiveness during combat ====SHIPS DESTROYED==== Barnacle_Boys Cruiser 1375 expertly deflects enemy salvo![74/30] Grunts Battleship 93 expertly deflects enemy salvo![87/35] ====SYSTEM STATUS==== System is UNDER ATTACK ============END OF THIS COMBAT============ RANDOM EVENTS (if any) ------------------------------- You have found leader Ldr_374 Gov. Ldr_374 moved through the ranks of FORCE:SPACE R&D centers, demonstrating an unusually strong grasp of the underlying quantum hyperdynamic megaquantum mathematics theory used in the development of the latest weapons systems. Many feel, however, he is not working up to his actual potential. Considered a friend of the ecology, he has argued many times against economic expansion at the cost of the environment. He graduated from World University Branon with a degree in drama, and some suspect his technical capabilities as a result. One humorous story that has made the rounds was an occasion where he spent a half hour attempting to troubleshoot a computer problem, only to find the unit was unplugged. Several impressive Tri-V appearances have boosted his career significantly, allowing his distinguished, statesmanlike demeanor to be played for maximum effect. You've received comments on Gov. Glorm Your old SPACE:FORCE buddy Admiral Mangobler drops a line concerning the fine performance of Gov. Glorm on suppressing the hypernet bandit rebellion. PLAGUE ON SYSTEM Grond! 89 PERCENT POPULATION LOSS! NEW FISSIONABLES STRIKE IN SYSTEM Minty! 31 PERCENT INCREASE IN IU STOCKS! STAFF REPORTS: ----------------------------------- ECONOMIC REPORT Barnacle_Boys STOCKPILE/DEPOT: EU: 207 IU: 67 PRODUCTION: EU: 334 IU: 193 AU: 70 STATISTICS REPORT GNP NNP WAR NWR STP POP HAP PRD SYS GWR TEC VCT Barnacle_Boys 11 11 1 15 10 12 16 13 11 13 7 8 REPORT ON RELATIONS WITH OTHER EMPIRES Grunts (trusses@aol.com) : At War Our Ambassador to the Player10 reports the extinction of this race. Freepeople (chris@unixsoft.demon.co.uk) : Allied Our Ambassador to the Dogs reports the extinction of this race. Haldermen (sxk13@psu.edu) : At War Groachis (NPR) : At War Boviners (afs@qad.com) : At War LEADER TRANSIT REPORT Leader Ldr_374 is awaiting assignment INTELLIGENCE REPORT Spy 300 is at Xecut SPY FAILS TO GET ECONOMIC REPORT ON Boviners ***SPY CAUGHT BY COUNTERINTELLIGENCE AND KILLED! Spy 853 is at Nowheld SPY REPORTS ON SYSTEM Nowheld Badhombres Nowheld HAv 101 43 3 Norm 11.5 12 EH 2R 0 407 150 TECH: EHC BF PD CB EUS LEADER: Roach CT NUM: 117 Badhombres Cybertank defend CT NUM: 288 Badhombres Jump attack CT NUM: 289 Badhombres Jump attack Spy 58 is at Phaser SHIP REPORTS FOR YOUR SHIPS: AT SYSTEM NO. TYPE X Y dx dy P CR Marron 943 Frigate 50 34 STAND H MR 1210 SuperScout 30 40 20 40 F SC ......................... [DELETED FOR BREVITY] ......................... 1270 Cruiser 48 45 I 990 H MR HOME WORLD REPORTS: OWNER SYSTEM NAME HA X Y SP STAT BI IF HB XR AU IU GR Barnacle_Boys Frags HA^ 50 50 2 Norm 10.0 10 EH 2R 0 114 150 TECH: EHC BF PD CB LEADER: BlueWizz CT NUM: 195 Barnacle_Boys Jump attack CT NUM: 196 Barnacle_Boys Jump attack CT NUM: 209 Barnacle_Boys Jump attack CT NUM: 210 Barnacle_Boys Jump attack CT NUM: 211 Barnacle_Boys Jump attack ......................... [DELETED FOR BREVITY] ......................... SHIPS SCANNED: OWNER NO. TYPE X Y ox oy P CR Grunts 110 Scout 39 48 STAND ......................... [DELETED FOR BREVITY] ......................... *Grunts 93 Battleship 44 49 STAND H SC FLEETS SCANNED: OWNER FLEET NAME X Y ox oy P CR S ATTK DEF Freepeople Thunderous 49 45 46 45 F OF 4 2 5 LEADER: Gen_Killer Transport : 150 Destroyer : 23 CT NUM: 165 Freepeople Cybertank attack SYSTEMS SCANNED: OWNER SYSTEM NAME HA X Y SP STAT BI IF HB XR AU IU GR Haldermen Gander 47 38 Grunts BEDROCK 28 41 Grunts pot 51 57 Freepeople Fivernine 55 33 Groachis Freehold 54 37 --------------------END OF EXAMPLE RESULTS--------------------------- STRATEGY AND TACTICS TIPS FOR NEW PLAYERS The following information is based on previous games; it may not be the best strategy for you. Games in the past have typically broken into three phases. The first phase is the expansion phase, where you try to grab as many systems as you can. The second phase is economic development; purchasing and installing tech, trying to maximize population growth, etc. to improve your empire's NNP standing. The final phase is war. In the first phase, concentrate on expanding as quickly as possible. Because of the relative coordinate system, it is very difficult for people to determine how big an empire you own. Meet them as far out as you can, and set boundaries at the outermost limit you can get agreement for. Load transports with 2 population points and 20 IUs. Drop off 1 population point and 10 IUs per system, using the 10 IUs to buy a infrastructure. Because uncrowded systems tend to be very happy, the population will quickly expand past the two or three you could have dropped off anyway, and it allows you to send the transport on to another system immediately. This strategy is called the "virus" approach. Avoid building warships and CTs unless unavoidable. The only exception is very valuable systems, such as your home system (remember, Fast Frigates are a early technology and allow a ship to be within one move of a system but outside the system's scanning range). If it is unavoidable, because of hostilities by an adjoining race, take comfort in the fact that the attacker tends to be as screwed as the defender in these cases, because expending resources on war keeps you off the exponential growth curve in this phase. Get in touch with everyone you see. Sharing information is critical in determining who is winning in these stages, before spies become available, and knowing who is winning is significant in positioning yourself for later phases of the game. Additionally, technology sharing cartels (using the "Gift Tech" order) are extremely advantageous in reducing the costs of purchasing technology. The more races participating, the cheaper the cost of technology for each player. Finally, keep happiness in the VH to EH range to keep population growth high and to collect any extra "I love the emperor day" bonuses. In the second phase, usually starting around turn 15 plus or minus a few, taking out NPR systems and an occasional raid on a nearby, poorly defended system may be advantageous, and you should defend your high value worlds against sneak attacks by Fast Frigates. However, primary emphasis should be on improving productivity of your systems. Again, keep your happiness high to keep the population growing. This also keeps you positioned for emergency measures if you suddenly need to shift production to IU or EUs, since happiness will take a couple of turns to drop to NH or UH (of course, once it does, it takes an equally long time to crawl back up to VH or EH). This is also the time to cement alliances. Because it is easier to defend than attack in this game, it is rare when one player is on the warpath by themselves. Alliances win or lose the game in the final analysis. In the third phase, usually starting around turn twenty five or so, the easy targets (empires that have not done well) tend to become targets of opportunity for small coalitions of stronger groups. This is usually the turn other race's Cruisers or Light Cruisers start to show up on your scans. Because defensive ships are so much cheaper that attack ships (both in terms of the technology cost and actual ship cost per attack point fielded), surprise is important to success. This is also when larger alliances are beginning to coalesce. Around turn 40-50, there are usually two or three large groups and a few independents fighting it out for supremacy. In the second and third phases, population is high enough that population growth is very hard to keep up. Use the morale boost from capturing systems to land population on your best worlds from transports (once Extended Use of System is installed so you can get them past 10 billion) in order to keep them expanding at a reasonable pace. Remember that you get the morale boost from capturing a system the next turn, and supplement it with a high AU profile the same turn. A few tactics hints. Shift Transports with cargo (particularly Combat Troops) to "RAID" combat role. This protects them from space attacks. Watch out for MRC and Armed Transports, however... they will actually fire on the system, potentially destroying the real estate you are trying to capture! Shift these to GROUND COMBAT instead. Shift scouts and empty transports to "SPACE COMBAT" and warships to "MULTI ROLE" if you are not concerned about losing the non-combatants, or are outnumbered. Scouts and transports will absorb enemy fire first, allowing warships to survive and attack a second round. If you are going to back-stab an empire you are allied with, use the EWA order, not a declare war (DW); this shifts you to neutral while leaving your opponent in allied status, allowing you to get initiative in subsequent conflicts (where as a DW order will place you and your opponent in "at war" status). Watch out for where your SISD stockpile is being replenished from. While you can have resources automatically taken from different systems if your supply depot is not large enough to pay for ship maintenance by setting the AUTOSISD flag, it is much better to plan your stockpile replenishment. Remember that any single system can become a point of vulnerability to spies; with sufficient numbers of spies a system can be forced into rebellion, eliminating any SISD order for the turn. Also, ships can end up greater than four moves from a system you own and cost a bit more than expected. As a result, it is wise to keep some contingency funds in your Supply Depot. If you have space superiority, RAID may be a better option than ground attack. With some luck, you will eliminate Planetary Defenses (or better), reducing ground force effectiveness against space attacks. Also recognize that any system with greater than 10 billion people due to Extended Use of System tech is likely to face a sudden loss of excess population if EUS is wiped out by a raid. ORDERS ORDER FORMATS My order parser is not very complex... it's called "sscanf", a relatively simple minded C routine. So, given its lack of sophistication, you need to be very precise about formatting your orders. The general rule is provide your orders on a single line, with all values specified, separated by white space (blanks or tabs). For instance, on Unload from ship 32 6 population and 20 AU: U 32 6 P WRONG.... 6 and P swapped U 32 P = 6 WRONG.... no equal sign, only white space U 32 P,6 WRONG... no comma, only white space U 32 P 6 A 20 WRONG... can't put both loads on same line U32 P6 WRONG... no white space between the U and 32 or P and 6 u 32 P 6 WRONG... Orders are case sensitive U 32 P 6 YES! ALMOST THERE.... (now you need to unload the AU's) U 32 A 20 DONE! RIGHT FORMAT... if only you could carry it! Watch out for these common errors: M0 32 10 10 WRONG.... used a zero in M0 rather than a cap O MO *** ERROR unknown order M0 MS 32 10 10 WRONG.... MS moves ships to systems, not to locations *** ERROR could not find system 10 ML CROSKO UG WRONG.... if the leader name is "Crosko" or system is "Ug".... orders are case sensitive COMMENTS Anything after the last value on the line is ignored, so feel free to put comments on a line AFTER an order. It is better to separate it with a standard comment marker (a #) because there are some orders with optional values; if you do not use a #, the order checker will generate a warning to make sure you have not improperly specified one of these optional values. These type of comments may be useful in the case of a rejected order, since the entire line is provided just above the reason for the rejection, i.e. U 32 P 6 # Unload nonexistent pop to test Dave's program ***ERROR Ship doesn't have enough pop *** Don't try that again, or your ship will explode Additionally, any line whose first non-whitespace character is a # sign will be treated as a comment (use a # followed by a tab or blank, as this will be read as a string) like so: # U 32 A 1 This order won't be processed! #U 32 A 1 This order should generate an error... no white space ***ERROR Unknown order #U SEQUENCING TRICKS Since orders occur "instantaneously" in the order you specify them, you need to watch for a few things. For one, when buying things, put the least important last: PT 6 # GEE! I can really use this technology in a few turns! BS Earth D # Oh, yes, the Destroyer to keep my homesystem # from being overrun by the ravaging Bug people *** ERROR - insufficient EUs in stockpile to build this ship When capturing an uninhabited system, always put system profile changes, AU profile changes, AU or IU unloads and builds after unloading pop from the ship: U 32 P 2 *** You've captured unowned system Hoggle U 32 I 20 CSP Hoggle 25 25 50 BI Hoggle 2 works, while CSP Hoggle 25 25 50 ***ERROR: You don't own that system BI Hoggle 2 ***ERROR: You don't own that system U 32 I 20 # giving it to the system, but I'm about to own it anyway U 32 P 2 *** You've captured unowned system Hoggle doesn't. Likewise, if you want to buy a artifact the same turn you buy the prerequisite technology: PT 2 *** You have purchased Extended Home Computing BT 43 EHC works, BT 43 ***ERROR: You don't have the necessary tech PT 2 *** You have purchased Extended Home Computing doesn't. Finally, remember that ship movement orders set DESIRED location; the ship doesn't actual move until the "movement" phase. Thus the following set of orders for ship 2 over system "Warpoint": L 2 P 1 MS 2 Humbug # MOVE TO SYSTEM ONLY 2 SQUARES AWAY U 2 P 1 will load ship 2 with 1 bi of pop from Warpoint, set desired location to system Humbug, then unload the pop back to Warpoint. During the movement phase, the empty ship will move to Humbug. ORDER FORMAT FOR ALL ORDERS INITIAL ORDER LINE Order must ALWAYS be preceded by a order identifier line: MHGC_ORDERS [game name] [race name] [optional password] or MHGC_ADMIN [game name] [race name] [optional password] or MHGC_DELAYED_ORDERS [turn to execute] [game name] [race name] [optional password] You will know the game name and your race name from your first turn report (and can change it once with the CRN order described below). You may also set an optional password with the SPW order to prevent other players from humorously disbanding all your warships or other little jokes. If you do not use the SPW order, the optional password is ignored, even if set. If you do set it, you must include it or your order will be rejected. All lines from the MHGC_ORDERS, MHGC_ADMIN, or MHGC_DELAYED_ORDERS line to the end of the mail message are assumed to be orders (random lines will generate error messages in the "ORDER ERROR" section). MHGC_DELAYED_ORDERS is different from MHGC_ORDERS only in that it is intended to allow submission of orders for future turns, so that you may submit orders to keep your empire running if you are on vacation or otherwise unable to send them in directly. PLEASE ONLY USE DELAYED ORDERS FOR THIS PURPOSE. Since delayed orders have to be carried along between turns, they take up disk space that I have to pay for. Also note that the order checking program will check these orders as if they were for the next turn to run; clearly, this may result in errors because you are anticipating the game situation as it will be in another turn or two. However, the check can still catch syntax errors and the like, and so I have left it enabled despite the likelihood of erroneous error messages. There are two differences between MHGC_ORDERS / MHGC_DELAYED_ORDERS and MHGC_ADMIN. The first is that MHGC_ADMIN doesn't constitute formal submittal of orders, and thus can be used to check your orders without fear of the turn running with the set of orders you have submitted (of course, the reverse is also true; if you submit only MHGC_ADMIN orders, your orders will not be used when the turn is run). The second difference is that MHGC_ADMIN will tell you the number of players that have not submitted orders and the number of player that have set a hold on the turn (see the next section for a description of "HOLD"). ADMINISTRATIVE ORDERS: Note that these are the ONLY orders you can submit via the MHGC_ADMIN command that will be applied permanently. For instance, a EMAIL command will only change your Email address if you submit it as a MHGC_ORDER. Simulate Turn - causes a turn report to run that shows the effect of your orders. To avoid giving away information in the game, scans are disabled and ships cannot move farther than their scan radius. Certain orders, like gifting tech and spy orders are disabled. Statistics are not printed. Otherwise, it's a good way to make sure you have planned your supply depot, infrastructure builds, and the like properly. SIMTURN ----- Segment Turn Report - causes your turn report to be sent in five sections, and your map to be sent as individual pages, rather than one large file. If you are having a problem because your turn reports are getting too large and your Email handler or Gateway is choking on it, set this flag. Note, however, that segmenting does not apply to turn results requested with a RESEND order. These are still sent as one large file. SEGMENT ----- Don't Segment Turn Report - Sends your turn report as one Email message, and your map as a second Email message. NOSEGMENT ----- Confirm all orders - echoes back all orders on your order acknowledgment. CONFIRM ----- Don't confirm all orders - Only returns erroneous orders in your order acknowledgment. NOCONFIRM ----- Hold next turn - Sets your vote to hold the next forced turn. If 75% of the players either do not turn in order or set HOLD the turn will not run. The HOLD is cleared when the forced turn is supposed to run, so it must be submitted each week for multiple week holds. Also, if all orders are in, the turn will run and the hold will be cleared. For a "friendly" game, you may want to agree with all other players to HOLD each turn; then the game will run only when all players have submitted orders. HOLD ----- Clear hold on next turn - Clears the HOLD put on the turn NOHOLD ----- Cause your turn report to automatically aggregate enemy ships into "fleets" based on x, y location. These fleets have the same reporting structure as a standard fleet, with some minor exceptions, but cannot be used to distribute orders to ships or have an admiral. This can be helpful later in the game to reduce the size of your turn report for players that are generating huge numbers of ships but are not using fleets to move them. It also causes ships in combat reports to be aggregated the same way, but in this case the ship includes its posture and combat role inside brackets {F/N/H for Friendly Hostile Neutral and S/M/G/R for Space Combat Multirole Ground Raid). AUTOFLEET For instance, with AUTOFLEET set, you might see this on a combat report: *Hopeless <>TEMPFLEET<> 50 50 STAND H M 0 194 204 Mass Transit: 2314[HR] Dreadnought: 705[HS] 2321[HS] 219[HS] 636[HS] 2018[HS] 1630[HS] 93[HS] 582[HS] HvyBattleshp:2299[HS] CT NUM: 2950 Hopeless Ogre attack ----- Turn off autofleets. NOAUTOFLEET is the default for new games. NOAUTOFLEET ----- Cause your map to contain an indication of all spaces you have scanned during turns TRACKSCAN was turned on. This can help make sure your scouts don't leave any "holes" where you have missed scans in the past. With TRACKSCAN on, any space you have never seen directly is indicated with a tilde (~). Spaces that are within the scanning radius of an enemy ship or system are indicated with alternating tildes to make it easier to see their scan range. TRACKSCAN is the default in new games. TRACKSCAN ----- Turn off TRACKSCAN. NOTRACKSCAN ----- SYSTEM ORDERS: Name System: The new system name may only be 12 characters long. A few comments; generally, change system name at the END OF YOUR ORDERS. This protects you from having the order fail for some reason (like it is a duplicate name of some other system) and having all subsequent orders for that system fail (since they will be using the new name, which will not have been applied; in fact, for a duplicate name, you will get lots of "you don't own that system" errors). Second, use this order sparingly. Changing system names every turn will indeed screw over players using the MS order to send ships to your systems and not looking very carefully at their map, but this is not the intent of the order. NSY [old system name] [new system name] ----- Change system profile [ %AU / %IU / %EU ] (note that the total of the three values must add up to 100 or the order will be rejected) CSP [systemname] [integer value 10-100][10-100][10-100] Example to make system Humbug produce 25% AUs, 50% IUs, and 25% EUs: CSP Humbug 25 50 25 ----- Change AU profile (percentage 0-100%) CAP [systemname] [percentage integer value 0-100] Example to make system Humbug move 33% of its AU stockpile to the population each turn: CAP Humbug 33 ----- Change AU profile (numeric number 0 - 100) - This order releases a specific number of AUs to your population each turn instead of a percentage of the stockpile.) CAPN [systemname] [integer value 0-100] Example to make system Humbug provide 10 AUs to the population each turn from its AU stockpile: CAPN Humbug 10 ----- Change Growth Rate (percentage 10-150%) Costs 10 EUs. CGR [system name] [integer value 10-150] Example to make system Humbug population grow at 50% of the standard rate: CGR Humbug 50 ----- Shift IUs to Supply Depot [no. of IUs] - shift IUs into your supply depot to maintain ships. (note: This order has some unusual properties. It sets the DESIRED number of IUs for the system to shift to the Supply Depot. IUs are actually shifted in the maintenance phase. Since this phase comes after production, it means you may use the system production from the turn to maintain your ships. If you attempt to shift more IUs than the system has in its stockpile after production, all IUs in the stockpile will be shifted. Note also that random events occur after maintenance, so a random event cannot wipe out your IU stockpile and therefore leave you with insufficient IUs to maintain your fleet. There is one situation, however, where you can have a problem... if spies lower morale enough on the system to cause it to rebel. SISD [system name] [integer value 1 - no. of IUs in stockpile] Example to set DESIRED number of IUs for system Humbug to place in the Supply Depot to 20: SISD Humbug 20 ----- Counter Intelligence. Hire those bodyguards and staff up the FORCE:GROUND marine brigade guarding your treasured technology. Increases your chance of catching a spy by [base chance] * (#EUs + 10) / 10 for all orders. It also decreases the chance of success for spy activities by [base chance] / (#EUs+10)/10. See "Biomodification Technology" for more on spies. CI [systemname] [amount of EUs / 10] Example to catch spies at four times the base rate (almost automatically catching everything but the lowest probability activities), and quarter the chances for a successful order at a cost of 30 EUs on system Bawana: CI Bawana 3 ----- Build or Destroy (combat unit, ship, infrastructure, tech. artifact, starport) Build Combat Unit BCU [systemname][ M ] [Optional Posture] [ S ] (A, D, or E, defaults to A) (see Technology list for other options) (see Combat Unit orders for Posture explanation) Build Ship BS [systemname] [ S ] [optional Posture and Combat Role] [ T ] (F, N, H and SC, MR, GC, RD) [ F ] (defaults to N SC) (see Technology list for other options) (see ship orders for Posture and Combat role option explanations. Note that you cannot do "G" because that would allow the ship to move the same turn it was built). Build Infrastructure BI [systemname] [amount of infrastructure to buy] Destroy Infrastructure DI [systemname] [amount of infrastructure to destroy] (costs 5 IUs) Build Tech Artifact (you must own technology) BT [systemname] [tech type] (see Tech list for options) Destroy Tech DT [system name] [tech type] Build Starport or upgrade a starport by 1 BSP [system name] Destroy Starport DSP [system name] (reduces starport size by one, at cost of 10 EUs) Examples: BCU Gander S # Build myself a SHOCK TROOP! BS Gander F # Build myself a FRIGATE! BI Gander 3 # Build 3 additional IF BT Gander EHC # Build Extended Home Comp. BSP Gander # Add one class to Gander Starport DSP Gander # Reduce Gander Starport by one ----- System load (puts things on transports in the system). Note that AUs and IUs count as a twentieth of a cargo point, so any number of AU and IUs between 1 and 20 will take one cargo point. This is very similar to the "L" or Load command. The only difference is that in this case the system gives things to the ship rather than the other way around, and as a result can be used to load items on a ship that the player who owns the system does not own. SL [shipnumber] [ A ] [number of AUs] [ I ] [number of IUs] [ P ] [number of people / 1 billion] Example to load two pop, 11 AU and 9 IU on a transport no. 19: SL 19 A 11 SL 19 I 9 SL 19 P 2 SHIP ORDERS: Disband Ship DS [shipnumber] ----- Salvage Ship - recover 75% of the original cost of a ship at a starport on a system in "NORMAL" status. Costs one "build" for the turn (i.e., if a class one starport salvages a ship it cannot build another that turn) SS [shipnumber] ----- Change posture (hostile, neutral, friendly) - See "SHIPS" for how these postures affect encounters between ships. SP [shipnumber][ H ] (for Hostile) [ N ] (for Neutral) [ F ] (for Friendly) Example to make ship 93 take a hostile posture: SP 93 H ----- Change Combat Role - see "Ground Combat" for how these options affect a ship's actions in combat. CSCR [shipnumber] [SC, MR, GC, or RD] Example to make ship 93 take a Raid Combat Role: CSCR 93 RD ----- Move (to X Y) (note: ship will always take shortest path, even across wrap around borders) (note: remember, this sets a ships DESIRED location, the ship actually moves during the "movement phase") MO [shipnumber] [xloc] [yloc] Example to make ship 93 move to 54 89: MO 93 54 89 ----- Move to system - Note that this is just an easier way to specify a ship's destination. On the turn result, the ship will be listed as moving toward a generic system. (Note: ship will always take shortest path, even across wrap around borders) (Note: remember, this sets a ships DESIRED location, the ship actually moves during the "movement phase") (note: Desired X and Y location on printouts will show "MS *" instead of system coordinates; this is to prevent players from trading homeworld names and using a MS order to find out their exact relative locations) MS [shipnumber] [systemname] Example to make ship 93 move to system Guacamole: MS 93 Guacamole ----- Intercept (shipnumber) (for intercepting enemy ships, or joining up with own ships). If you intercept someone who is intercepting someone else, things will usually work out sensibly: the non-interception moves occur, then the interceptions of moved ships are done and done again, until all interceptions have been done. Circles of ships intercepting each other close toward a common center point. (Note: ship will always take shortest path, even across wrap around borders) I [shipnumber] [shipnumber to intercept] Example to make ship 93 move to ship 123: I 93 123 ----- Guard (shipnumber). The ship will stand unless an enemy ship is within one move; if so, it will move to that ship (closes first, randomly for ships at the same distance). It will not move to ships owned by allied players. G [shipnumber] Example to make ship 93 watch for incomming ships: G 93 ----- Load / Unload cargo (IU, AUs, population). Note that you can do as many of these as you want, as long as you do not exceed the capacity of the transporting vehicle. So you can Unload 3 pop, load 16 AUs, and load 14 IUs all in one turn. Unload (U) and Unload Gift (UG) are the same except regular Unloads will fail for a system you do not own (this is usually only significant if you are in a race for an unowned system; it would be nasty if the other race landed first and then you "gave" them your population). L [shipnumber] [ A ] [number of AUs] [ I ] [number of IUs] [ P ] [number of people / 1 billion] U [shipnumber] [ A ] [number of AUs] [ I ] [number of IUs] [ P ] [number of people / 1 billion] or UG [as for U order] Example to make ship 93 load 2 billion pop, 10 AUs and 10 IUs: L 93 P 2 L 93 A 10 L 93 I 10 ----- Load combat troops (only from systems you own, or from systems owned by allied races) LOCT [shipnumber] [combat troop number] Example to make ship 93 load Combat Troop 19 and 61: LOCT 93 19 LOCT 93 61 ----- Land combat troops (results in combat if you don't own the system and are not allied with the system owner) LACT [shipnumber] [combat troop number] Example to make ship 93 land Combat Troop 19 and 61: LACT 93 19 LACT 93 61 ----- LEADER ORDERS: Change Leader Name (you can only do this once) CLN [leader name] [New Name] Example to name leader LDR_125 to Galrond: CLN LDR_125 Galrond ----- Leader Report LR Provides a stats report on all of your leaders. ----- Move Leader (in transit for two turns, arrives third turn) ML [leader name] [systemname] Example to move leader Galrond to system Humbug: ML Galrond Humbug ----- Move Leader to Fleet(in transit for two turns, arrives third turn) MLF [leader name] [fleet name] Example to move leader Galrond to Fleet Battlegrp_1: MLF Galrond Battlegrp_1 ----- Put Leader On Ice. Puts leaders on the administrative circuit and away from managing your systems. They stick around for five more turns, but otherwise don't affect your empire. You take a leader off ice using the Move Leader command until they are dead. PLOI [Leader number] COMBAT TROOP ORDERS: Disband Combat Troop DCT [troop number] ----- Salvage Combat Troop - returns 50% of the Combat Troop original cost. Takes a starport build (i.e., a class 1 starport cannot salvage a CT and build a ship in the same turn) at a system you own in "NORMAL" status. SCT [troop number] ----- Change posture (Attack, Defend] CCP [troop number] [ A ] (for ATTACK) [ D ] (for DEFEND) [ E ] (for Entrench, Infantry Only) Example to Change Militia unit 16 to Attack: CCP 16 A FLEET ORDERS: Create Fleet - Note fleet names must be less than 13 characters. CF [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] Example to create fleet "TaskForce_12" at 12 45 CF TaskForce_12 12 45 ----- Create Fleet XY coordinates - creates a fleet at the x, y locations specified. This operates just like a CF order with one exception; any ships at the location at the end of the turn that do not belong to a fleet already join the new fleet. CFXY [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] This order provides one useful capability that the standard CF does not. You can create a new fleet and have ships that are built during the turn at that location join it. This can be used in combination with a "DELAYED_MHGC_ORDERS" to provide orders to new ships. Consider the following where you must submit orders for turn x and turn x + 1 at the same time (x + 1 with MHGC_DELAYED_ORDERS). Turn x: BS mysys T Turn x+1, you want to load and move the transport build on turn x... but you don't know what the number is. Instead, you do the following; BS mysys T CFXY MYFLEET2 mysys-xloc mysys-yloc Turn x + 1: LF MYFLEET2 P 1 MFS MYFLEET2 mynextsys ----- Add to fleet from X, Y location. This works something like the CFXY order, but adds ships from a X, Y location to an existing fleet. AFXY [fleetname] [xloc] [yloc] ----- Add to Fleet - you may specify up to ten ships per AF order AF [fleet name] [ship number] [optional additional ship numbers] Example to add ships 34, 877 and 134 to fleet TaskForce_12 AF TaskForce_12 34 877 134 ----- Move Fleet MF [fleet name] [X location] [Y location] Move Fleet to System MFS [fleet name] [system name] ----- Intercept Ship FIS [fleet name] [ship number] ----- Disband Fleet DF [fleet name] ----- Fleet Report - generates a report on ships in fleet (which will show up in your ORDER PROBLEMS section) FR [fleet name] ----- Leave Fleet LF [fleet name] [ship number] [optional ship numbers, up to 10] ----- Set Fleet Speed - "A" will set fleet speed at the speed of the slowest ship in the main body of the fleet. 1-9 will cause the "fleet" location to move at that speed; slower ships will fall behind. FS [A, or integer 1 - 9] ----- Change Fleet Posture - M keeps all ships at their current posture settings. H, N, and F cause all ships in the fleet to change to Hostile, Neutral, or Friendly posture respectively. AH causes all combatant (1 or greater attack factors) ships to shift to Hostile, and all non-combatant ships to shift to Friendly. AN causes all combatant ships to shift to Neutral, and all non-combatant ships to shift to Friendly. CFP [Fleet name] [M, H, N, F, AH, AN] ----- Change Fleet Combat Role CFCR [Fleet name] [M, SC, MR, GC, RD, OF, DF, PT] or CFCR [Fleet name] [RO] [# GC pts][# RD pts] [SC, MR, GC, RD] ----- Fleet Load or Unload - this is assigned to a random transport with cargo capacity that part of the fleet and located with the fleet. Unload Gift (UG) is like Unload but will not fail if you attempt to unload at a system you do not own. FL [fleet name] [I, A, P] [no. to load] FU [fleet name][I, A, P] [no. to unload] or FUG [fleet name] [I, A, P] [no. to unload] ----- Fleet Load or Unload Combat Troop - this is assigned to a random transport with cargo capacity that part of the fleet and located with the fleet. FLOCT [fleet name] [CT number] FLACT [fleet name] [CT number] EMPIRE ORDERS: Declare alliance (remember you can only do this for races you have contact with) DA [race name] Example to ally with the Ravaging_Bugs DA Ravaging_Bugs ----- Declare war (remember you can only do this for races you have contact with) DW [race name] Example to declare war with the Ravaging_Bugs DW Ravaging_Bugs ----- Deny DCT - reduces the amount of trade EUs a player will receive from you to a minimum of 25% of normal DD [race name] Example to reduce DCT trade with the Ravaging_Bugs DD Ravaging_Bugs 50 ----- End War / Alliance (returns you to Neutral Status toward another race) EWA [race name] Example to end a war with the Ravaging_Bugs EWA Ravaging_Bugs ----- Gift EUs (remember you can only do this for races you have contact with). If someone gifts EUs to you, a line is displayed in your ORDER ERRORS section, along with an indication of whether it occurred before or after your orders were processed (so if you are taking the 50/50 chance and spending EUs the same turn they are gifted to you, you can determine why your orders failed if they do). GE [race name] [number of EUs] ----- Gift Technology (remember you can only do this for races you have contact with) - this order costs YOU one half the cost of the technology; how you get reimbursed for it is up to you. You may only gift one technology per turn. You may not gift technology for which the receiving race does not have the prerequisite technologies. If someone gifts technology to you, it is displayed in the ORDER ERRORS section of your report, along with an indication if it was done before or after your orders were processed (so if you are taking the 50/50 chance and attempting to build an artifact the same turn you are gifted the tech, you can determined why the order failed if it does). GT [race name] [tech number] Example to give Extended Use Of System to the Ravaging_Bugs GT Ravaging_Bugs 11 ----- Split DCT - returns a percentage of any DCT (trade) EUs to the system owner, from 0 to 100 percent SD [race name] Example to return 50% of all DCT trade to the Ravaging_Bugs SD Ravaging_Bugs 50 ----- Trade Tech To NPR - This is a tech transfer between you and a NPR, equivalent to each of you doing a "Gift Tech" to one another. The NPR can accept or refuse the order, and all the conditions for the Gift Tech order still apply. TTNPR [tech number you want to trade][tech you want][NPR name] Example to offer Extended Home Computing for Powered Armor to NPR race Homeboys: TTNPR 2 1 Homeboys ----- Purchase Technology - You man only purchase or receive (as a gift) one tech per turn. PT [technology number] Example to purchase Extended Home Computing PT 2 ----- List Technology (list all tech owned by your empire) LT ----- Automatically resupply your IU Supply Depot. IU stockpiles on randomly selected systems are used to place the necessary supplies to keep all ships alive in your stockpile. Systems must be in "NORMAL" status. AUTOSISD ----- Turn off automatically resupply your IU Supply Depot. NOAUTOSISD MISCELLANEOUS ORDERS Send Message - Sends messages to other races. The format is slightly unusual: MESSAGE [optional racenames] optional further MESSAGE lines as many lines of message text as you care to type . The optional racenames may contain as many races as you want to receive the message. If you specify no races, the message is broadcast to all players. If you find the number of races do not fit on one line conveniently, you may specify further races by using additional MESSAGE lines in the same format. On subsequent lines, you may enter whatever text you wish to send to the different races. The message is terminated with a period as the first character of a line. The MESSAGE and"." keyword may not be used as the first word of a message text line. Be very careful to terminate your message properly, as incorrect termination will result in all subsequent orders being interpreted as part of the message! You may want to put messages at the end of your orders to be safe. Example to send the message "Roses are Red, Violets are Blue." to all races: MESSAGE Roses are Red, Violets are Blue. . Example to send the same message to just six specific races: MESSAGE Blutos Mangos Gollywogs Bratwursts MESSAGE Googly_eyes Ratfinks Roses are Red, Violets are Blue. . Example of a bad message (with embedded MESSAGE and ".", as well as no white space after the actual message terminator): MESSAGE Googly_eyes Are you getting the MESSAGE I am sending you? . I don't think so. .end of my message ----- Modify Maintenance Cost Listing (see "EXAMPLE REPORT" for description of these options) NMC (no report) SMC (short report) LMC (long report) ----- Change Map Listing NOMAP (suppress maps) MAP (include map) ----- Echo will simply print the line in the ORDER PROBLEMS section of your report. It is typically used to mark versions of your orders if you submit a late order change that may or may not make it in time, and want to know which version was processed. ECHO [anything] Example to print the line 'Version 7 of FirBolg turn 14 orders'. ECHO Version 7 of FirBolg turn 14 orders ----- Change Race Name - You may only do this once. Race names must be less than 16 characters, with no white space (BLOW HARDS is wrong, BLOW_HARDS is right). Names are case sensitive. The race name will be echoed back to you. CRN [new name] ----- Set Password - You may set an optional password. If you do, your begin order line (MHGC_ORDERS) must include the password or your orders will be rejected. Passwords are case sensitive. The new password will be echoed back to you. SPW [password] ----- Change Email Address - You may change your Email address. This is the address your turn results are sent too, as well as the address displayed to other players that have had contact with you, so be careful not to make a mistake. You cannot change your Email address unless you have set a password. The address can have no white space. EMAIL [address] TECHNOLOGIES Note: Technology dependencies provided in the tech tab are more current, particularly dependencies on prior technologies. This list may be out of date. 100 EU TECHNOLOGIES [1] Powered Armor- Allows creation of Jump Troops. Use Build Combat Unit order (BCU) with a "J" to indicate Jump Troops. [2] Extended Home Computing - Wire homes with interactive TV, etc. Cost 50 IUs. 2 EUs maintenance / turn. Increases population happiness. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a "EHC" option. [3] Bioengineered foods - Allows creation of plants and animals tailored to the system at a cost of 50 IUs. No maintenance cost. Increases AU production for the system by 50%. Use the Build Tech (BT) order with a "BF" option. [4] Cybernetic Tanks- Allows creation of Cybertank battalion . Use Build Combat Unit (BCU) order with a "C" option. [5] Planetary Defenses - Develop engineering techniques to improve capability to place military installations on moons, asteroids, hardened sites on planets. Subtracts one from the attack of each hostile empire attacking the system and provides a one defense when calculating system status. Halves the effectiveness of spaceborn attacks on combat troops. It also provides a small happiness boost to the system's inhabitants. Cost 25 IU. 3 EU / turn maintenance. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a "PD" option. [6] Missile Technology - Allows creation of Patroller class vessels. These ships have better attack and defense, but because missiles need to be replenished cannot move far without outrunning their supply lines. [7] Solar Concentrators - You can harness the energy of the sun and direct it as a beam with awesome potential for destruction. However, because the concentrator needs to be located very close to the sun and is very delicate, they are easy for enemies to find and destroy. Allows creation of a Striker (ST). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "ST" option. 250 EU TECHNOLOGIES: [8] Improved Engines I [Powered Armor]- Allows creation of a Fast Frigate (FF). Use BS order with FF option. [9] Advanced Missile Tech [Missile Technology]- Allows creation of a Defender (DE). Use BS order with DE option. [10] Networked Cybertank [Cybernetic Tanks] - Allows creation of a Cybertank battalion where minds controlling the tank are like nodes in a hypercube. Use Build Combat Unit (BCU) order with a "N" option. [11] Cybernetic banking [Extended home computing]. Software providing better control over funds, general economic conditions. Cost 50 IUs, 50 EUs. Increases EU production for the system by 50%. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a "CB" option. [12] Extended Use of System [Planetary Defenses]- Investment in asteroid cities, terraform etc. for the system. Costs 100 IUs and 3 EUs per turn maintenance. Allows population to grow beyond 10 billion in that system. Use Build Tech order (BT) with a "EUS" option. [13] Extended Powered Armor [Powered armor] - Improvements to powered armor shielding. Allows creation of Defensive Jump Troops. Use Build Combat Unit order (BCU) with a "D" to indicate Defensive Jump Troops. [14] Biomodification [Bioengineered Foods]- Allows a person to be biologically altered to appear to be from a different race. A spy can be created for a cost of 20 IUs and 20 EUs. 5 EU / maintenance a turn. Build with a Build Tech (BT) order with a "S" option. Spies can perform a variety of functions (but only one per turn). Each attempt by a spy has a probability of success. Each attempt also has a probability of capture and death for the spy (independent of the success or failure of the spy's action). These affects are modified by the Counter Intelligence order (see orders section). Spies provide the following orders: Move - Move to new system. Spy takes distance / 6 turns to get to system. You may only move to systems owned by races you have had contact (had a short range scan of a ship or system) with. SMV [spynumber] [systemnumber] Move to new system at location x y. As Move, but you specify the system's x and y coordinates (so name changes cannot cause your move order to fail). Note that this order will appear to execute in your order acknowledgment, even if there is no system at that coordinate. This prevents using unlimited SMO orders to determine system locations in unexplored space. SMO [spynumber] [system x coordinate][system y coordinate] Spy out system - Provides a short range scan of a system. SOS [spynumber] Spy out technology - Determines all technologies known by another race SOT [spynumber] Spy out leader - Gets a printout of all available information on the governor of a system. If the system has no leader, the order is canceled. SOL [spynumber] Spy Vs. Spy - Get a printout of all of your systems the system's owner has his spies on. SVS [spynumber] Spy out Economics - Gets a printout of the economic report of the system's owner (EU stockpile, IU supply depot, AU, IU and EU production) SOE [spynumber] Spy out Map - Gets a long range scan of some of the owner's systems SOM [spynumber] Spy out Numerical Stats - Gets a printout of the stats report of the system's owner (GNP, NNP, etc.) SON [spynumber] Assassinate Leader - Eliminates the leader of a system. If the leader transfers out, or there is none, this order is canceled. Because it is very difficult to penetrate security in a fleet, leaders on fleets cannot be assassinated. SAL [spynumber] Sabotage - Eliminates one tech artifact, IU stockpile, or AU stockpile, selected randomly SSB [spynumber] Eliminate Trade Route - Eliminates a trade route. You can do this on your own systems if someone who has established a trade route with your system has fallen out of favor with you. SET [spynumber][racename] Uprising - lowers happiness of population, attempts to get population to revolt. SUP [spynumber] Retire Spy - You would have to pay his pension, but they always seem to die of natural causes right after retiring... SRS [spynumber] All orders with their chance of success and of capture are as follows: Order Chance of success Chance of capture SMV Move 100% 5% SMO Move to system at x y 100% 5% SOS Spy out system 100% 5% SOT Spy out technology 50% 10% SOL Spy out leader 50% 10% SAL Assassinate Leader 30% 30% SSB Sabotage 20% 40% SET End Trade 20% 40% SUP Uprising 50% 10% SVS Spy vs. Spy 25% 50% SOE Spy On Economics 50% 10% SON Spy On Numerical Stats 100% 5% SRS Retire Spy 100% 0% [15] Improved Weapons I [Cybernetic Tanks] - Allows creation of a Destroyer (D). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "D" option. [16] Improved Electronics I [Extended Home Computers]. Allows Superscout (SS). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "SS" option. [17] Solar Collectors [Solar Concentrators]. Improvements allow storing the energy of the sun, but again size and the delicate nature of the equipment make it hard to defend. Allows creation of a Pounder (PO). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "PO" option. 500 EU TECHNOLOGIES [18] High Energy Physics [Improved Engines I] Allows creation of a Light Cruiser(LC). Use BS order with LC option. [19] Neutrino Emission Seeker [Advanced Missile Tech] - Allows creation of a Guardian (GU). Use BS order with a GU option. [20] Improved Solar Collectors I [Solar Collectors] - Allows creation of a Mauler (MA). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "MA" option. [21] Decentralized Trading [Cybernetic Banking] - By selling your transport to civilians, who somehow always managed to remain friendly with everyone while making a huge profit, you establish a trade route that you can tax. Take any transport and specify a new ship order, Convert Transport to Trade (CTT) to create a trade route between the system the Transport is at and your empire. The order is: CTT [shipnumber] See the section on trade routes for details. You can only establish trade routes with other races. Only one trade route per system per race. Trade route is lost if system is ever interdicted or in case of a change in owner. [22] Plasma Weapons [Networked Cybertanks] - Improves weapons and shielding capability of Cybertanks. Use Build Combat Unit (BCU) order with "P" option. [23] Cyberspace [Cybernetic Banking] - Your people can be wired to jack into cyberspace, making them happier. Cost 100 EUs. 2 EU maintenance / turn. Use Build Tech order with "CS" option. [24] Spacewarp Weapons [Extended Use Of System] - Beats the gravity well advantage of spaceships by using short range teleportation capability. Like PDs, it subtracts 5 attack factors from all hostile empires attacking the system, provides a one attack, and provides a 5 defense when calculating system status. Since these weapons are decentralized, they can only be destroyed by ships using the "Raid" mode of ground attack (i.e., randomly). It also provides a small happiness boost to the system's inhabitants which is additive with Planetary Defenses. Cost 50 IUs / 50 EUs, 5 EU maintenance / turn. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a SW option. [25] Improved Electronics II [Improved Weapons I] - Allows Extended System Scans to a six range. Cost 30 IU, 30 EU, 2EUs / turn maintenance charge. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a ESS option. [26] Advanced DNA manipulation [Biomodification] - Improves general medical capability, reduces the effects of plague by half No costs associated; if you have the tech, this applies everywhere. 1000 EU TECHNOLOGIES [27] Systems Integration [High Energy Physics]- You put the pieces together, and out comes the Multirole Combat Ship (MCS). Use BS order with a "MCS" option. [28] High Res Neutrino Scanners [Neutrino Emission Seeker] - Allows creation of a WarStation (WS) a la DS9. Use BS order with a "WS" option. [29] Improved Weapons II [Improved Electronics II]- Allows creation of a cruiser. Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "C" option. [30] Improved Solar Collectors II [Improved Solar Collectors I]- Allows creation of a Eliminator (E). Use Build Ship (BS) with a "E" option. [31] Virtual Reality Banking [Decentralized Trading, Cyberspace] - Those financial wizards have done it again, jumping on the cutting edge of computing capability to the point where they can do trading, etc. in VR. Cost is 75 EUs, 75 IUs. Improves EU production by 50% (in addition to Cybernetic Banking, a total of 125%). No maintenance charge. Use the Build Tech (BT) with a "VRB" option. [32] Farcaster Portal [Spacewarp Weapons] - Provides the capability to teleport things between systems with farcaster tech. Cost 100 EU and 100 IUs to establish farcaster portal. Then you can send one cargo point of material for 5 EU (for instance, one combat unit, 20 AUs, 20 IUs, etc.) to any other farcaster capable system. You may only cast to your own systems. The sending and receiving systems must be in normal status (not under attack or interdicted). To build farcaster tech, use the Build Tech order (BT) with a "FP" option. To teleport something, use the following new order: TP [from sysno.][ A = AUs] [no. of AUs] [tosysno.] [ I = IUs] [no. of IUs] [ C = combat unit] [unit number] [33] Core Mining [Spacewarp Weapons]- Advanced sensor systems and teleportation techniques provide access to new mineral deposits. Increase IU production by 50% . Costs 150 EU. No maintenance charge. Use the Build Tech (BT) order with a "CM" option. [34] Artificial Food [Advanced DNA Manipulation] - Congratulations! You've modified your population until they enjoy the taste of plastic waste products. Increases AU production by 50% (125% with Bioengineered Foods). Cost 30 IU and 30 EU. 3 EUs / turn maintenance charge. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a "AF" option. [35] Ogre [Extended Powered Armor, Plasma Weapons] The war machine that can kill a world becomes yours [15/20]. Cost 60 IU and 60 EU. 5 EU maintenance turn. Use Build Combat Unit (BCU) with a "O" option [36] Plastisteel Construction [Improved Electronics II] - Allows creation of a Armed Transport (AT). Use BS order with AT option. 2000 EU TECHNOLOGIES [37] Matter-Antimatter Engines [Systems Integration] - Allows creation of a Fast Cruiser (FC) class ship [8/10/4/7/0]. Cost 70 IUs 70 EUs. Use BS order with a FC option. [38] Integrated System Defense[High Res Neutrino Scanners] - Networked clusters of Missile Platforms with time slicing ultrasensitive neutrino sampling acquisition sensors kick the hell out of enemies. Allows creation of a Monitor (MO). Use BS order with MO option. [39] Photon Torpedoes [Improved Weapons II] - Allows you to build a Battleship (B). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "B" option. [40] Improved Transports [Systems Integration] - Allows you to build a Mass Transit class Transport(MT). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "MT" option. [41] Tachyon Emission Sensors [Farcaster Portal, Improved Electronics I] Allows creation of a Megascout (MS). Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "MS" option. [42] Improved Electronics III [Improved Electronics II] - Allows Extremely Extended System Scans to a ten range. Cost 30 IU, 30 EU, 2EUs / turn maintenance charge. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a EESS option. You must have a ESS installed to build a EESS. 3000 EU TECHNOLOGIES [43] Alchemy [Core Mining] What do you know, they finally found the answer. Improves IU productivity by 50% (125% with Core Mining). Cost 100 IU, no maintenance charge. Use Build Tech (BT) with a "AL" option. [44] Advanced Planetary Defenses [Farcaster Portal] A new, improved version. Cost 200 IU, 200 EU, 5 EU / turn maintenance. Halves the effect of attacks on any system resource (combat troops and civilians) and provides a [5/15/0/0/0] ship-like capability in your system. This combines with Planetary Defenses and Spacewarp Weapons, so a system with PD, SW, and APD reduces effectiveness of space borne attack on Combat Troops by a factor of 4, on Civilian targets by a factor of 2, and has a 6 attack and 20 defense each turn. It also provides a small happiness boost to the system's inhabitants which adds to PDs and Space War Weapons. Cost 200 IUs and 200 EUs, 5 EUs maintenance per turn. Use Build Tech (BT) order with a "APD" option. [45] Improved Weapons III [Photon Torpedoes] - Allows creation of a Heavy Battleship (HB) class ship. Use BS order with HB option. [46] Graviton Engines [Matter-Antimatter Engines, Improved Transports] - Allows creation of a Fast Battleship (FB). Use BS order with FB option. [47] Improved Solar Collectors III [Improved Solar Collectors] - Allows creation of a Deathstar class ship. Use BS order with a DS option. [48] Matter / Antimatter Warhead [Integrated Systems Defense] - Only a matter of time before your control of matter and energy allow the creation of the most destructive warhead in the known universe. Use BS order with a BB option. 4000 EU TECHNOLOGIES [49] Dreadnoughts [Improved Weapons III] - Take a wild guess.. allows creation of a Dreadnought class ship. Use Build Ship (BS) order with a "DN" option. [50] Warp Tunnel [Advanced Planetary Defenses, Virtual Reality Banking]. Like the Farcaster, but you can move a ship (and everything on it) to another system with WT tech for 10 EU. The same restrictions that apply to Farcasters also apply here. Cost 150 IU, 150 EU, 10 EUs / use. Use the Build Tech (BT) with a "WT" option. To send a ship through the wormhole to a different system use: WTP [shipno] [system name] Or, to send a fleet (only ships with the fleet move through the warp tunnel; those attached but no collocated with break their link with the fleet and move to the star system the fleet departs from) WTPF [fleet name] [system name] [51] Future Technology - technology so overwhelmingly advanced, no one can quite figure out what it does. But it's pretty impressive anyway, so you get victory points for it (one per FT you own). Unlike other technology, since you can't build anything with it, you just keep purchasing more (but no more than one a turn). You cannot trade or capture future tech. CHARTS (Note: In game charts are more up to date, these may not be accurate) Stats are: attack/defense/scan-range/movement/cargo 1 cargo == 1 pop or 20 AUs or IUs Name stats cost maint Tech Cost IU EU EU IU SHIPS (BS order) Scout(S) [0/1/3/4/0] 20 20 2/5 2/5 Transport(T) [0/1/1/4/3] 20 20 2/5 2/5/10 Frigate(F) [1/2/2/4/0] 30 30 2/5 2/5/10 Patroller (PA) [2/5/2/2/0] 30 30 2/5 2/5/10 6 100 Striker(ST) [5/1/2/2/0] 30 30 2/5 2/5/10 7 100 FastFrigate (FF)[1/2/2/5/0] 40 40 2/5 2/5/10 8 250 Defender (DE) [4/8/2/2/0] 40 40 2/5 2/5/10 9 250 Destroyer(D) [2/4/3/4/0] 50 50 2/5 2/5/10 15 250 Superscout(SS) [0/1/5/5/0] 20 20 2/5 2/5 16 250 Pounder (PO) [8/2/2/2/0] 40 40 2/5 2/5/10 17 250 LightCruiser(LC)[3/5/2/6/0] 50 50 2/5 2/5/10 18 500 Guardian (GU) [7/12/2/2/0] 50 50 2/5 2/5/10 19 500 Mauler (MA) [12/5/2/2/0] 60 60 2/5 2/5/10 20 500 MRC Ship (MRC) [4/6/3/6/4] 70 70 2/5 2/5/10 27 1000 WarStation (WS) [11/17/2/2/0] 60 60 2/5 2/5/10 28 1000 Cruiser(C) [6/10/4/4/0] 60 60 2/5 2/5/10 29 1000 Eliminator (E) [18/6/2/2/0] 60 60 2/5 2/5/10 30 1000 Armed Trans.(AT)[4/6/3/5/5] 70 70 2/5 2/5/10 36 2000 Fast Cruiser(FC)[7/8/3/7/0] 80 80 2/5 2/5/10 37 2000 Monitor (MO) [16/20/2/2/0] 70 70 2/5 2/5/10 38 2000 Battleship(B) [10/14/4/5/0] 80 80 2/5 2/5/10 39 2000 ImpTransport(MT)[0/8/1/8/8] 60 60 2/5 2/5/10 40 2000 Megascout(MS) [0/8/8/8/0] 40 40 2/5 2/5 41 2000 HeavyBattle.(HB)[14/16/4/5/0] 90 90 2/5 2/5/10 45 3000 Fast Battle.(FB)[9/12/3/8/2] 90 90 2/5 2/5/10 46 3000 Deathstar (DS) [30/8/2/2/0] 100 100 2/5 2/5/10 47 3000 Big Brother(BB) [22/30/2/2/0] 100 100 2/5 2/5/10 48 3000 Dreadnought(DN) [20/20/4/5/0] 100 100 2/5 2/5/10 49 4000 TROOPS (BCU order) TYPE stats EU IU Inf. Maint Tech Cost (EU) Militia(M) [1/1] 5 5 N - 2 Shock(S) [2/2] 10 10 Y - 5 Jump(J) [3/3] 20 20 Y - 2 1 100 Cybertank(C) [5/6] 30 30 N - 5 4 100 NetCybertank(N) [6/8] 40 40 N - 5 10 250 DefJump(D) [3/5] 30 30 Y - 2 13 250 PlasCyber(P) [10/12] 50 50 N - 5 22 500 Ogre(O) [15/20] 60 60 N - 5 35 1000 PDS (BT order) PDef(PD) [0/1/0/0/0] 25 - - 3 5 100 Spacewarp(SW) [1/5/0/0/0] 50 50 - 5 24 500 AdvPD(APD) [5/15/0/0/0] 200 200 - 5 44 2000 Name stats cost maint Tech Cost IU EU IU EU INFRASTRUCTURE (BI order) 10 - - - EU BONUS (BT order) CyberBank(CB) +50% 50 50 - - 11 250 Trading(CCT order) trade route Transport - - 21 500 VirtualBank(VRB) +50% 75 75 - - 31 1000 IU BONUS (BT order) CoreMines(CM) +50% - 150 - - 33 1000 Alchemy(AL) +50% 100 - - - 43 2000 AU BONUS (BT order) BioFood(BF) +50% 50 - - - 3 100 ArtificialFood(AF) +50% 30 30 - 3 34 1000 HAPPINESS (BT order) ExtHomeComp(EHC) +? 50 - - 2 2 100 Cyberspace(CS) +? - 100 - 2 23 500 OTHER (BT order) ExtendSystem(EUS) +max BI 100 - - 3 12 250 BioModSpy(S) SPY 20 20 - 5 14 250 ImpSystemScans(ESS) 6 range 30 30 - 2 25 500 AdvDNA(none) stops plague 26 500 Portal(FP) teleport 100 100 - 5/use 32 1000 ExtSysScans (EESS) 10 range 30 20 - 2 42 2000 WarpTunnel(WT) tp ships 150 150 - 5/use 50 4000 Future Tech 1 VP per FT 51 8000 TECHS GROUPED BY COST No. Tech Name P1 P2 COST Ship/CT/Artifact Stats unit cost maint 0 basic spaceflight 0 0 0 Scout 0/ 1/ 3/ 4/ 0 20/ 20 2-5/2-10 0 basic spaceflight 0 0 0 Transport 0/ 1/ 1/ 4/ 3 20/ 20 2-5/2-10 0 basic spaceflight 0 0 0 Frigate 1/ 2/ 2/ 4/ 0 30/ 30 2-5/2-10 0 basic spaceflight 0 0 0 Militia 1/ 1 5/ 5 0/ 2 0 basic spaceflight 0 0 0 Shock 2/ 2 10/ 10 0/ 2 1 Powered Armor 0 0 100 Jump 3/ 3 20/ 20 0/ 2 2 Extended Home Comput 0 0 100 EHC (Improve Moral) 50/ 0 0/ 2 3 Bioengineered Foods 0 0 100 BF (1.5 x AU Prod) 50/ 0 0/ 0 4 Cybernetic Tanks 0 0 100 Cybertank 5/ 3 30/ 30 0/ 2 5 Planetary Defenses 0 0 100 PD (see rules) 25/ 25 0/ 3 6 Missile Technology 0 0 100 Patroller 2/ 5/ 2/ 2/ 0 30/ 30 2-5/2-10 7 Solar Concentrators 0 0 100 Striker 5/ 1/ 2/ 2/ 0 30/ 30 2-5/2-10 8 Improved Engines I 1 0 250 FastFrigate 1/ 2/ 2/ 5/ 0 40/ 40 2-5/2-10 9 Advanced Missile Tec 6 0 250 Defender 4/ 8/ 2/ 2/ 0 40/ 40 2-5/2-10 10 Networked Cyber Tank 4 0 250 Networked Cyber 6/ 4 40/ 40 0/ 2 11 Cybernetic Banking 2 0 250 CB (1.5 x EU) 50/ 50 0/ 0 12 Extended Use of Syst 5 0 250 EUS (Pop > 10) 100/ 0 0/ 3 13 Extended Power Armor 1 0 250 Defensive Jump 3/ 5 30/ 30 0/ 2 14 Biomodification 3 0 250 S (Spys) 20/ 20 0/ 0 15 Improved Weapons I 4 0 250 Destroyer 2/ 4/ 3/ 4/ 0 40/ 40 2-5/2-10 16 Improved Electronics 2 0 250 SuperScout 0/ 1/ 5/ 5/ 0 20/ 20 2-5/2-10 17 Solar Collectors 7 0 250 Pounder 8/ 2/ 2/ 2/ 0 40/ 40 2-5/2-10 18 High Energy Physics 8 0 500 LightCruiser 3/ 5/ 2/ 6/ 0 50/ 50 2-5/2-10 19 Neutrino Emission Se 9 4 500 Guardian 7/12/ 2/ 3/ 0 50/ 50 2-5/2-10 20 Improved Solar Colle 17 13 500 Mauler 12/ 5/ 2/ 3/ 0 50/ 50 2-5/2-10 21 Decentralized Tradin 11 0 500 22 Plasma Weapons 10 0 500 Plasma Cyber 10/ 8 50/ 50 0/ 2 23 Cyberspace 11 0 500 CS (Improve Moral) 50/ 50 0/ 2 24 Spacewarp Weapons 12 0 500 SW (see rules) 50/ 50 0/ 5 25 Improved Electronics 15 0 500 ESS (Scan to 6) 30/ 30 0/ 2 26 Advanced DNA manipul 14 0 500 27 Systems Integration 18 10 1000 Multirole_CS 4/ 6/ 3/ 6/ 4 70/ 70 2-5/2-10 28 High Res Neutrino Sc 19 0 1000 Warstation 11/17/ 3/ 3/ 0 60/ 60 2-5/2-10 29 Improved Weapons II 25 0 1000 Cruiser 6/10/ 4/ 4/ 0 60/ 60 2-5/2-10 30 Improved Solar Colle 20 0 1000 Eliminator 18/ 6/ 3/ 3/ 0 60/ 60 2-5/2-10 31 Virtual Reality Bank 21 23 1000 VRB (1.5 x EU) 75/ 75 0/ 0 32 Farcaster Portal 24 0 1000 FP (Teleport materials) 100/100 0/ 0 33 Core Mining 24 0 1000 CM (1.5 x IU) 100/100 0/ 0 34 Artificial Food 26 0 1000 AF (1.5 x AU) 30/ 30 0/ 3 35 Ogre 13 22 1000 Ogre 15/20 60/ 60 0/ 2 36 Plastisteel Construc 25 0 1000 ArmedTrans 4/ 6/ 3/ 5/ 5 70/ 70 2-5/2-10 37 Matter Anitmatter En 27 0 2000 FastCruiser 7/ 8/ 3/ 7/ 0 80/ 80 2-5/2-10 38 Integrated Systems D 28 0 2000 Monitor 16/20/ 3/ 3/ 0 70/ 70 2-5/2-10 39 Photon Torpedos 29 35 2000 Battleship 10/14/ 4/ 5/ 0 80/ 80 2-5/2-10 40 Improved Transports 27 0 2000 MassTransit 0/ 8/ 1/ 8/ 8 60/ 60 2-5/2-10 41 Tachyon Emission Sen 32 25 2000 Megascout 0/ 8/ 8/ 8/ 0 40/ 40 2-5/2-10 42 Improved Electronics 25 0 3000 EESS (Scan to 10) 30/ 30 0/ 2 43 Alchemy 33 0 3000 AL (1.5 x IU) 100/100 0/ 0 44 Advanced Planetary D 32 41 3000 APD (See rules) 100/100 0/ 5 45 Improved Weapons III 39 0 3000 HvyBattleshp 14/16/ 4/ 5/ 0 90/ 90 2-5/2-10 46 Gravitonic Engines 37 40 3000 FastBttleshp 9/12/ 3/ 8/ 1 90/ 90 2-5/2-10 47 Improved Solar Colle 30 0 3000 DeathStar 30/ 8/ 2/ 3/ 0 100/100 2-5/2-10 48 Matter / Antimatter 38 0 3000 BigBrother 22/30/ 2/ 3/ 0 100/100 2-5/2-10 49 Dreadnoughts 45 0 4000 Dreadnought 20/20/ 4/ 5/ 0 100/100 2-5/2-10 50 Warp Tunnel 43 44 4000 WT (Teleport ships) 150/150 0/ 0 ORDERS IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER # [anything] AF [fleet name] [ship number] [optional additional ships] AFXY [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] AUTOFLEET AUTOSISD BCU [system name][ M / S / etc. ] [opt. A / D] BI [system name][amount of infrastructure to buy] BS [system name][ S / T / F / etc.][opt. F/N/H SC/MR/GC/RD] BSP [system name] BT [system name][tech type] (see Tech list for options) CAP [system name][percentage integer value 0-100] CAPN[system name][integer value 0-100] CCP [troop number][A / D / E] CF [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] CFXY [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] CFCR [Fleet name] [M, SC, MR, GC, RD, OF, DF, PT] CFCR [Fleet name] [RO] [# GC pts][# RD pts] [SC, MR, GC, RD] CFP [Fleet name] [M, H, N, F, AH, AN] CGR [system name][integer value 10-150] CI [system name][amount of EUs / 10] CLN [Leader Name][new leader name] CONFIRM CRN [new race name] CSCR[ship number][SC, MR, GC, or RD] CSP [system name][integer value 10-100][10-100][10-100] DCT [troop number] DF [fleet name] DI [system name][amount of infrastructure to destroy] DS [ship number][ H / H / F] DSP [system name] DT [system name][tech type] DW [race name] ECHO[anything] EMAIL [new Email address] EWA [race name] FIS [fleet name] [ship number] FL [fleet name] [I, A, P] [no. to load] FLACT [fleet name] [CT number] FLOCT [fleet name] [CT number] FR [fleet name] FS [A, or integer 1 - 9] FU [fleet name][I, A, P] [no. to unload] or FUG [fleet name] [I, A, P] [no. to unload] G [ship number] GE [race name] [number of EUs] GT [race name] [tech number] HOLD I [ship number][shipnumber to intercept] L [ship number][ A / I / P] [number to load] LACT[ship number][combat troop number] LF [fleet name] [ship number] [optional ship numbers, up to 10] LMC LOCT[shipnumber] [combat troop number] LR LT MAP MESSAGE (see "MESSAGE" order section for more details) MF [fleet name] [X location] [Y location] MFS [fleet name] [system name] MHGC_ADMIN [game name] [race name] [opt. password] MHGC_DELAYED_ORDERS [turn to do] [game] [race] [opt. password] MHGC_ORDERS [game name] [race name] [opt. password] ML [leader name][system name] MLF [leader name][fleet name] MO [shipnumber] [xloc] [yloc] MS [shipnumber] [system name] NMC NOAUTOFLEET NOAUTOSISD NOCONFIRM NOHOLD NOMAP NOSEGMENT NOTRACKSCAN NSY [old system name] [new system name] PLOI[Leader number] PT [tech number] RESIGN SEGMENT SCT [Combat Troop number] SISD[system name] [integer value 1 - no. of IUs in stockpile] SL [ship number] [ A / I / P] [number to load] SMC SPW [new password] SS [ship number] TRACKSCAN U [ship number] [ A / I / P] [number to unload] UG [ship number] [ A / I / P] [number to unload] WTP [ship number] [system name] WTPF [fleet name] [system name] ORDERS BY TYPE -------------------------- Ship Orders Change Ship Combat Role - CSCR[ship number][SC, MR, GC, or RD] Destroy Ship - DS [ship number] Drop Combat Troop - DOCT [ship number] Gift Ship - GS [race name] [ship number] Intercept Ship - I [ship number][shipnumber to intercept] Load Cargo - L [ship number][ A / I / P] [number to load] Land Combat Troop - LACT[ship number][combat troop number] Load Combat Troop - LOCT[shipnumber] [combat troop number] Move - MO [shipnumber] [xloc] [yloc] Move to Star - MS [shipnumber] [system name] Unload - U [ship number] [ A / I / P] [number to unload] Unload Gift - UG [ship number] [ A / I / P] [number to unload] -------------------------- System Orders - Build Build Combat Unit - BCU [system name][ M / S / etc. ] [opt. A / D] Build Infrastructure - BI [system name][amount of infrastructure to buy] Build Ship - BS [system name][ S / T / F / etc.][opt. F/N/H SC/MR/GC/RD] Build Star Port - BSP [system name] Build Tech Artifact - BT [system name][tech type] (see Tech list for options) Destroy Infrastructure - DI [system name][amount of infrastructure to destroy] Destroy Starport - DSP [system name] Destroy Tech - DT [system name][tech type] -------------------------- System Orders - Other Name System - NSY [old system name] [new system name] Purchage Tech - PT [tech number] Shift IUs to Supply Depot - SISD[system name] [integer value 1 - no. of IUs in stockpile] Load - SL [ship number] [ A / I / P] [number to load] Send System Information - SSI [race name] [your system name] -------------------------- System Orders - Profile Change AU Profile - CAP [system name][percentage integer value 0-100] Change AU Profile Numeric - CAPN[system name][integer value 0-100] Change Growth Rate - CGR [system name][integer value 10-150] Change Profile - CSP [system name][integer value 10-100][10-100][10-100] -------------------------- Combat Troop Orders Change Profile - CCP [troop number][A / D / E] Destroy - DCT [troop number] -------------------------- Leader Orders Change Name - CLN [Leader Name][new leader name] Move - ML [leader name][system name] Move to Fleet - MLF [leader name][fleet name] Put On Ice - PLOI[Leader number] -------------------------- Spy Orders Counter Intelligence - CI [system name][amount of EUs / 10] Move - SMV [spynumber] [systemnumber] Move to X:Y - SMO [spynumber] [system x coordinate][system y coordinate] Spy out system - SOS [spynumber] Spy out technology - SOT [spynumber] Spy out leader - SOL [spynumber] Spy Vs. Spy - SVS [spynumber] Spy out Economics - SOE [spynumber] Spy out Numerical Stats - SON [spynumber] Assassinate Leader - SAL [spynumber] Sabotage - SSB [spynumber] Eliminate Trade Route - SET [spynumber][racename] Uprising - SUP [spynumber] Retire Spy - SRS [spynumber] -------------------------- Fleet Orders Add ship - AF [fleet name] [ship number] [optional additional ships up to 10] Add at X:Y - AFXY [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] Create - CF [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] Create at XY* - CFXY [fleet name] [xloc] [yloc] Change Combat Role - CFCR [Fleet name] [M, SC, MR, GC, RD, OF, DF, PT] Change Combat Role - CFCR [Fleet name] [RO] [# GC pts][# RD pts] [SC, MR, GC, RD] Change Posture - CFP [Fleet name] [M, H, N, F, AH, AN] Destroy Fleet - DF [fleet name] Intercept Ship - FIS [fleet name] [ship number] Load - FL [fleet name] [I, A, P] [no. to load] Land Combat Troop - FLACT [fleet name] [CT number] Load Combat Troop - FLOCT [fleet name] [CT number] Report - FR [fleet name] Set Speed - FS [A, or integer 1 - 9] Unload - FU [fleet name][I, A, P] [no. to unload] or Unload Gift - FUG [fleet name] [I, A, P] [no. to unload] Leave Fleet - LF [ship number] [optional ship numbers, up to 10] Move Fleet - MF [fleet name] [X location] [Y location] Move Fleet to Star - MFS [fleet name] [system name] * automatically adds ships at that location -------------------------- Game flags / Globals AUTOFLEET AUTOSISD CONFIRM Change Race Name - CRN [new race name] Declare War - DW [race name] Split DCT - SD [race name] [1-100] Repeat in orders - ECHO[anything] Set Email - EMAIL [new Email address] End War/Alliance - EWA [race name] Gift EUs - GE [race name] [number of EUs] Gift Tech - GT [race name] [tech number] HOLD Long Maint Report - LMC List Tech - LT MAP MESSAGE (see ?MESSAGE? order section for more details) No Maint Report - NMC NOAUTOSISD NOCONFIRM NOAUTOFLEET NOHOLD NOMAP NOSEGMENT NOTRACKSCAN RESIGN SEGMENT Split DCT - SD [racename] [percent to split] Short Maint Report - SMC SPW [new password] TRACKSCAN -END OF RULES-