* * * Intra-Galactic Battles (C) Copyright 1990 William D. Hause * * *
                        S H A R E W A R E
           Intra-Galactic Battles Rules and Information
Location:
     The game takes place in a section of the galaxy surrounding the
Earth.  The game map is a section of space 250 light-years by 150
light-years.  Game coordinates go from (0,0) in the bottom left corner up
to 150 at the top of the screen and 250 at the right side of the screen.

Ships:
     There are four different types of ships: Andromedan, Federation,
Gorgon, and Orion.  The difference between each type is in the type of
weapon they use.  There are six different classes of each ship type.  The
value of each class is given when selecting a ship.  Class 5 is a base
station and is worth the same amount as a class 4 ship. Class 6 is a star
base and is worth twice as much as a class 4 ship. Star bases and base
stations are immobile and have more crew than mobil ships do.

Movement:
     The speed at which ships move depends on the amount of energy
allocated to movement in the energy allocation editor.  Larger ships
require more energy for movement.  The speed the ship is going is
displayed just below the line where energy is allocated to movement in the
allocation editor.

Disengagement:
     When a ship leaves the boundaries of the game map it is considered to
have disengaged and is deleted from the game.

Shields:
     Like movement the shields on large ships require more energy than the
shields on small ships.  Both shield strength and the amount of energy
allocated to shields are shown in the allocation editor.  Shield strength
depends on the amount of energy allocated to the shields and the size of
the ship.  For example a class 4 ship must put 4 times as much energy into
shields as a class 1 ship for the shields to be the same strength.  The
damage done to the ship is reduced by a factor of 10 for each unit of
shield strength.  For example if the strength is 3 then damage is reduced
to 1/30 of what would have been done with no shields.  If the strength is
0.5 then damage is reduced to 1/5.  There is always 0.1 units put into
shields automatically which is not displayed.

Tractor beam:
     When energy is allocated to the tractor beam, the tractor beam target
will be pulled directly toward the ship.  The target will be pulled more
quickly if more energy is allocated to the beam.  A tractored ship will
move at a speed equal to 2/3 of the speed it would move if the tractor
energy were put directly into movement for the tractored ship.  For
example if 10 units of energy were used to tractor a class 4 ship it would
be pulled at a speed of (2/3)*(10/4)=1.67.  Just remember larger ships are
pulled more slowly than small ships.

Transporters, boarding parties, reinforcements and crew size:
     Transporters are used to transport crew to other ships.  The
transporter requires no energy.  When crew are transported onto an enemy
ship, a battle takes place aboard the ship.  For every two defending
crewmen who are killed three attacking crewmen are killed.  For example
one must beam more than 30 crewmen onto a ship with 20 crew to take it
over.  The "Identify Ship" procedure gives an indication as to how many
crew are on an enemy ship. A reading of "Strong" means there are more than
20% of the original crew size aboard the ship.  A reading of "weak" means
there are between 0 and 20 percent of the original crew aboard and a
reading of "No Life" means there is no one on board the ship accept the
computer.  When crew are beamed onto a friendly ship no battle takes place
and they add to the already existing crew.  Ships on a different alliance
are considered to be enemy ships and ships on the same alliance are
friendly independent of the ship type.  For example a Federation type ship
and a Gorgon type ship may belong to the same alliance.  Occasionally a
repair will be made on a damaged ship.  The more crew there are aboard the
ship, the faster the repairs are made.

Weapons:
     There are five different types of weapons used in Intra-Galactic
Battles.  There are phasers, disrupters, photon torpedoes, neutron
torpedoes, and plasma torpedoes.  All weapons (accept plasma torpedoes) do
the same average amount of damage.  More damage is done when the weapons
are fired close to their target.  The efficiency of each weapon (accept
plasma torpedoes) increases as more energy is put into it.  For example
one phaser charged to 100 units does more damage than two phasers each
charged to 50 units.

Phasers: 
     Phasers were developed before any of the alien empires had rebelled
against the Federation and are therefor used by all types of ships.
Phasers may be charged to a maximum of 100 units.

Photon Torpedoes:
     Photon torpedoes were developed by the Federation and are aboard all
Federation ships.  The power of a photon torpedo does not depreciate with
distance but the probability of it hitting its target does.  Photon
torpedoes may be charged to a maximum of 100 units.

Disrupter Torpedoes:
     Disrupters were developed by the Gorgon Empire and are aboard all
Gorgon ships.  Disrupters always do damage to their target but the amount
of damage is unpredictable.  Disrupters may be charged to a maximum of 100
units.

Neutron Torpedo:
     The Neutron torpedo, unlike all the other weapons, does no damage to
ships but kills almost twice as many crew as the other weapons.  The
weapon was developed by the Orions who engage in battle only for material
gain.  The neutron torpedo enables them to capture a ship undamaged and
use it against their enemy.  Neutron torpedoes may be charged to a maximum
of 100 units.

Plasma Torpedo:
     The plasma torpedo was developed by the Andromedans and is aboard
each of their ships. The plasma torpedo is unique in several ways.  Unlike
the other weapons, the plasma torpedo does not inflict its damage at the
time of firing.  It moves directly toward its target at a speed of warp
6.5.  Its energy depreciates at a rate of one unit for each light-year
traveled.  Thus if it were charged to a value of 300 units before firing,
then after traveling 200 light-years it would hit for 100 damage points.
There is no limit to the amount of energy which may be put into a plasma
torpedo.  It is therefor a good long-range weapon. A plasma torpedo may be
avoided by simply traveling at a speed of warp 7 or greater.

Computer run ships:
     If you would like the computer to control a ship then, when adding
the ship enter 'Computer' when asked who will be commanding this ship.
Next enter the alliance which the computer ship will be fighting on.  The
computer will be in complete control of this ship for the entire game or
until it is captured by a player.  Computer ships may be on different
alliances, and fight for or against human players.  A computer run ship
may attack any other ship which is on a different alliance.

Code Word:
     Code words should only be used when two people are playing against
each other.  Normally no code word should be entered when adding a ship to
the game.  (The code word for computer run ships is the word 'Computer'
and must be entered with a capital C.  It is considered cheating to look
at the allocation or weapons lock-on editors for computer run ships on
enemy alliances however.)

Auto Pilot:
     When the auto pilot is activated the ship will automatically set its
heading toward the target ship.  All other allocation is under control of
the player.

Computer Control:
     When the computer control is activated the ship will be run by the
computer.  The player commanding the ship controls only the target ship
setting and the firing of weapons.  The computer will allocate energy to
shields, movement, weapons etc. but it will not fire the weapons for the
player.

Heading selection:
     The heading for a ship may be entered from either the game map menu
or the main menu.  To enter a ship heading first select the ship and then
enter the heading.  The heading is entered in degrees between 0 and 360.
A heading of 0 is the same as 360.  A heading of 0 or 360 is straight up
and the degrees go clockwise from there.  For example 90 degrees is toward
the right, 270 is toward the left and 180 is straight down.

Playing a game:
     To play a game you first select the teams or alliances.  Each
alliance should have about the same total value.  Next play until only one
alliance has any crew left.  The computer will tell you when this is the
case and how many crew are left on the winning side.  Next replay the same
game only switch alliances.  Use the number of crew remaining at the end
of each game to determine the over-all winner.  If you would like to play
against the computer then please see the paragraph on "Computer run ships"
above.  There are six preset scenarios which may be selected.  In each
scenario you select your alliance and the computer controls the other
alliance(s).  You are now ready to play the game.

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                 Intra-Galactic Battles Background

    The Federation is the name given to the United Countries on Earth and
those Earth colonies on other planets which remain loyal to the Earth.
The Federation was formed in the year 2022 when the three major capitalist
super-powers (The United States of America, Japan, and The Union of Soviet
Socialist Republics) decided to unite under a single government for
economic reasons. By the year 2055 the other nations of the earth had
joined the Federation either voluntarily or by force.

    The most important and revolutionary discovery since Einstein's theory
of general relativity was made in the year 2054 by a group of scientists
working for the Andromedan Corporation, the worlds main producer of space
probes and exploration vehicles.  These scientists developed theories and
made discoveries regarding the existence of fourth dimensional space which
later led to the development of a space warping device by which matter
could be transported over a short distance without passing through the
space between the starting and ending points.

    In the year 2104 the first warp engine was made by the Andromedan
corporation.  This engine could only move a ship at slow speeds at a great
energy cost and was therefor not practical at that time.  As technology
advanced new sources of energy such as matter-antimatter generators were
developed. Warp engines then became the main source of propulsion for
spacecraft.

    The materials needed for the matter-antimatter reaction to occur were
rare and expensive.  An abundance of these materials was eventually
discovered by the Andromedan Corporation on a planet located 187 light
years from Earth. This planet was known then only as planet AXJ-74-4.
Despite the ten years required to get there, it was quickly colonized by
the people of Earth.  Eventually however in the year 2195 the people of
this planet revolted against the Federation and formed their own
government.  They became known as the Andromedans.

    The first alien intelligent life was discovered by federation
explorers in the year 2128 on a planet 105 light years from Earth.  The
people on this planet were living in their stone age and were very
barbaric in their ways having no respect for life whatsoever. They were
however found to be highly intelligent. This newly discovered race of
people called themselves the Gorgons and that is what they became known as
to the people of the Earth. The Gorgons were both educated and exploited
by the Federation. They were given the latest Federation technology which
they used against the Federation in order to gain their independence in
the year 2218.  The Gorgons because of their barbaric nature became the
most feared enemy of both the Federation and the Andromedan empire. Due to
the great distances between the planets the Gorgons, at that time, were
not a great threat to humanity.

    Shortly after the discovery of the Gorgons, another intelligent race
of people was discovered in the year 2142.  These people called themselves
by no one name for they were not united.  They lived in small tribes and
villages and many of these tribes only survived by raiding the farming
villages.  These people became known to the people of Earth as the Orions
because they were located at one of the stars in the constellation of
Orion.  The people of Earth gave the gift of technology to the Orions as
they had not yet learned their lesson from the Gorgons.  In the year 2225
the Orions gained their independence.  While the Orions are not as
barbaric and cold blooded as the Gorgons, they do continue to survive by
stealing from nearby planets and passing ships. For this reason they are
considered to be a menace by the  Federation.

    Over the years 54 other intelligent races of beings have been
discovered however none have been interfered with in any way and all of
them are thousands of years behind the Federation in technology. If there
are other races which are more advanced than the Federation, they
apparently don't want to be discovered.

     It is now the year 2355.  There has been peace with the Federation
for over 100 years but now tensions are building between the Federation,
Andromedan, Gorgon, and Orion empires as it now only takes a matter of
hours to travel from one home planet to the other.

     Battles have been breaking out all over the galaxy.  You are the
commander of a starship or perhaps a fleet of starships.  It is your job
to defend your empire and win the war for your people.