Gal-XZ Wars 4.0 (c) Copyright 1988 Barry Kearns The Ultimate Space Game The main objective in Gal-XZ Wars is to pilot your ship through the universe, moving commodities from one place to another in order to generate funds, which can be used to purchase additional fighters to guard your ship, to enhance the abilities of your ship, or build colonies of your own. Commodities available for trading in this game are, in order of price: Food, Minerals, Equipment, and Computers. Governmental planets and colonies produce all commodities which can be taken for free, and can be sold at various ports. The ports in the universe are the main source of commodities in the universe, and they operate in the following manner: Class 1 ports offer Food for sale, and will purchase all other commodities. Class 2 ports sell Minerals and buy all others, Class 3 ports sell Equipment, and Class 4 ports sell Computers. Class 5 ports are a special case, as these are the ports to which you must go if you wish to purchase additional fighters or upgrade your ship's status. Class 5 ports are always located in the lowest-numbered sectors in the galaxy, and there is one Class 5 port for every 500 sectors in the galaxy (Galactic size is determined by the System Operator -- If you'd like to have the universe resized, leave a message to the Sysop asking to have the program registered...). Ports, planets and colonies will all produce a set amount of these commodities per day, up to a maximum level of seven day's worth of production. The ship you will be given at the beginning of your first game (and afterwards, if you are destroyed) comes equipped with a fuel generator that will generate 50,000 grams of fuel for your ship, each and every day, regardless of whether or not you play in the interim. Fuel production is cumulative, and there is no upper limit to the amount of fuel or gold that your ship can carry. Your ship also begins with 30 empty holds, 100 fighters with which to protect your ship, and 5100 grams of gold (abbreviated gAu). There are many functions available to you in your quest to rule the galaxy. The options available to you from the main prompt are as follows: nfo - Pulls up an information listing about your ship, detailing all relevant information, such as time remaining, fuel, gAu (the standard abbreviation used in this game, it stands for grams of gold..), number of fighters with your ship, installed options, and the amounts of the various commodities that you carry... ove - Use this command to move your ship to one of the listed connecting sectors. The nfo command lists the amount of fuel it will cost to move your ship to the new location. Fuel is generated at a fixed amount per day, and the only way to alter your daily fuel production is to upgrade the class of your ship, or to purchase a RamScoop. ighters - Use this command to station some of your fighters to guard a particular sector... you will be prompted for a the type of formation in which to place your fighters. The possible formations are Berserker, Chameleon, and Normal. Berserker fighters will automatically attack ANYONE except yourself who comes into the sector, and will fight to the death. These fighters attack at double efficiency, but this is an unwise option if you have allies.. The Chameleon formation instructs your fighters to tell anyone who "asks" that they belong to the "asker"... So if an enemy entered a sector with 10 of your Chameleon fighters, he would see "There are 10 fighters here, attached to you"... BUT if he attempts to pick them up without verifying their ownership, they will attack at TRIPLE efficiency.. Normal fighters will allow for allies to enter the sector if they know the proper password, chosen by you. This password can be used by your allies to enter the sector that you have claimed without having to destroy the fighters. Those who do not know the password will be forced to either retreat, attack the fighters, or attempt to commandeer them. Commandeer attempts can, however, be quite costly.. If the attempt fails, the sector fighters will attack at twice their normal efficiency. To recover fighters you have previously stationed, simply station zero fighters in the sector. ttack - Used to attack other players. The program will give a prompted list of ships in the sector with you, along with the pilot's name. After choosing who you wish to attack, you choose whether you wish to attack with a laser cannon (if you have one), or with fighters. If you attack with a laser cannon, fighters are ignored, and the determining factor is laser shielding and ship armor. If you can destroy all laser shielding, and then destroy all ship armor, the mothership will be destroyed. If you wish to use fighters instead, simply determine how many fighters you wish to send against your enemy's fighter guard and ship armor. When (or IF) you destroy your enemy, you will salvage a percentage of your enemy's gold and fuel... and - Used to land at a governmental planet or colony. If you did not create the colony, you must know the password to the fighters guarding it in order to land there. If there are no stationed fighters, you have two options. Either you can station your own fighters, effectively "stealing" the colony from it's creator, or you can destroy the colony. If you wish to destroy a colony, you must first destroy all defensive units stationed on that colony. If any defensive units have been stationed, only the colony creator can take products from it.

ort - Used to dock at a port in order to trade commodities or purchase fighters and other upgrade options for your ship. The nfo command lists the cost in fuel to dock at a port. reo - Use this command to reprint the sector information listed when you enter the sector, best used after gambling or using a RamScoop. olonize - Used to either create or upgrade the production of a planetary colony, or station defensive units. Initial creation of a colony costs 20,000 grams of gold, and will establish the following daily production levels (the numbers in parenthesis are the maximum levels that a colony can achieve). Food - 25 (125) Minerals - 15 (75) Equipment - 11 (55) Computers - 8 (40) Defensive units cost 150 gAu each, and have the same strength as an individual fighter, but once they are stationed, they cannot be removed, and no allies can use your colony... urn on - Used to energize the Vampire Trap upgrade option. eport - Use this command to check on the status of fighters that you have stationed in various sectors throughout the galaxy. ptions - Use this command to call up the secondary menu of commands, which are as follows: ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- sasis - If you have purchased a Stasis field generator at a Class 5 port, you can use this command to create an impenetrable sphere in which you can store fuel and gold for later recovery, or for transfer to an ally. You can create a field for only 10,000 grams of fuel, and will be prompted for a password. With this password, allies can open your stasis fields. The upstart of this being that allies can transfer fuel and gold between each other. If there is already a stasis field present in this sector, and you have purchased a stasis field disruptor, then you can forcibly open a stasis field if you don't know the password. However, this requires a HUGE fuel expenditure (200,000 grams of fuel). arp - If you have purchased a Warp field generator, this command will allow you to access the various functions of this device. A standard warp field generator will allow you to randomly move yourself to another sector in the galaxy, an ability that really comes in handy if you are blockaded by enemy forces and do not wish to commit suicide. If upgraded to a 'Mega-Warp' you will be able to initiate an 'Emergency Warp' feature. If this is energized, then your warp drive will be initiated ONCE upon an enemy attack, thereby removing you from the scene of the assault. If this happens, however, you must return to the game and re-energize it to restore its' protective abilities. If you upgrade to an 'Ultra-Warp' you will be able to activate a 'pinpoint' warp field, allowing you to choose the sector to which you will warp. thers - Will produce a list of other players in the game, along with a relative strength figure. For comparison, you can check the nfo command to determine your own strength. uy - Purchase fighters long-distance using this command. This is recommended only in emergencies, as the price is significantly higher when purchasing fighters in this fashion. min - Use this command to launch mines that you have purchased at a Class 5 port to a connecting sector... DON'T launch them to the sector you are in, or you may suffer the consequences.. Mines destroy fighters stationed with the flagship, but will not destroy the flagship itself.. That is still up to YOU to accomplish. If you have a mine disruptor, you can destroy mines in connecting sectors, and if you have upgraded it to a Minesweeper, you can set it to automatically alert to to the presence of mines in connecting sectors. amble - This command will allow you two options: Straight gambling, and the Galactic Lottery. Straight gambling will allow you to make even-money bets of any amount, so long as you have at least that much gold (Sorry, no credit..). The Galactic Lottery will allow you to purchase as many 100-gAu tickets as you wish... Each ticket will allow you to make a guess at the Winning Number, which is always between 0 and 999, inclusive. If you don't guess it right, a portion of your purchase price is added to the pot, and it just keeps growing until someone guesses it, at which time it all starts over at 50,000 gAu. can - Allows you to determine the existence of certain factors within sectors in the universe. A prerequisite for the use of this command is the purchase of a scanner at a Class 5 port. A low-power scan of a sector will tell you all connecting sectors, and whether there is a planet, port, or both in the sector. Low-power scans cost 200 grams of fuel. A high-power scan will give you the same information, plus the amounts available at present ports or planets, will tell if a stasis field is present, the number (if any) of sector fighters present, and the total number of player ships in that sector. High power scans cost 1000 grams of fuel. An upgrade option of the scanner is the Searcher scanner. This will alert you to the presence of fighters in connecting sectors (before you stumble into them.. Good to have if someone has stationed Berserker fighters).. The Searcher can be upgraded to a ManHunter scanner. This VERY expensive device will allow a user to scan large ranges of sectors looking for one particular player, and/or their fighters. Provided the user had enough fuel to support it, a scan of the entire galaxy would most probably give the exact location of the player in question...

athfinder - This FREE navigational service is readily available to allow for ease of movement from place to place... simply input the target sector, and the Pathfinder will compute the shortest possible path to the target. A highly handy service, considering the incredible complexity of some of the created universes... rmscoop - This device will, after purchase, allow the user to sweep sectors of the galaxy attempting to recover residual fuel left in these sectors by hundreds of other, less efficient ships. Simply energize the field (which consumes 1000 grams of fuel), and you will recover a certain amount of fuel. Now, admittedly, this may be less than the cost of the field, but it may be more. That's just the chance you take.. Ship armor can be purchased, which will act defensively in the capacity of a fighter. Armor is cheaper than fighters, but will add to your fuel consumption.. Laser shielding is also available... this will only deflect laser cannon shots, but is weightless. Various classes of laser cannons can be purchased, with each class costing an additional 100,000 grams of gold. Each higher class of cannon is more efficient than the previous class. Laser cannons allow you to destroy a mothership without having to go through the fighter complement. Cannons use fuel to destroy shielding and armor, and fuel is one of the most plentiful things in this game... You could simply run off somewhere and hide (perhaps under an allies' fighter cover) and wait for your fuel to build up over many days... then a few well-placed shots, and your opponent is history. You may also purchase a cloaking device.. This will enable you to make your ship and all fighters with it both invisible and immune from attack until you return to the game, or you run out of fuel (whichever comes first). This consumes incredible amounts of fuel, eating up four times your daily issue of fuel for each day that it is active, including the day on which it is energized. If (When) you run out of fuel, your ship and fighters will re- appear, but if your fuel then exceeds 4 times your daily issue, the field WILL NOT reactivate itself... you must do this manually... You will be able to upgrade your ship as often as you can afford it.. all players start with a Class 1 Scout ship, and given enough money, could conceivably end up with a Class 75 Ultra-Cruiser... Class 5 ports will alert you to the amount of gold (abbreviated gAu for grams of gold) you will need to upgrade to the next class of ship... However, if your ship is destroyed, you start over with a Class 1 ship... The fighters you had stationed in other sectors ARE NOT destroyed with you... Each class of ship will generate 25,000 more grams of fuel, allow 20 more cargo holds, and give 5 more minutes daily than the next previous class.. The Class 5 ports are the only place to upgrade your ship and buy goodies... It will not list things that you cannot afford to buy, so just because you don't see it listed when you port once, doesn't mean that it's not for sale (it's just that you don't have the cash yet..) The goodies are listed in a specific order, so you may want to port and "just say no" to all of the prompts to find out exactly what you can buy with those hard-earned grams of gold.... this will only cost you a few grams of fuel, and may well prevent some forehead-slapping in the future.. People have noted that most sectors have paths leading back to themselves.. this is normal, and planned for... If you move to a sector you are already in, you WILL be charged for it, and likewise, if you send a mine to the sector you are in, you'll see the result... Government sectors are sectors directly connecting to Class 5 ports (i.e. All sectors listed on paths when you are at a Class 5 port..).. you cannot leave fighters in a government sector... The program will also attempt to prevent you from ending your game at a Class 5 port. This could result in traffic tie-up if it was not enforced, so please plan well if you are making an expedition to one of these ports. Fuel is fairly plentiful in this game, so it should only be purchased in emergency situations (such as being stuck at a Class 5 port with no fuel.. if you have only a little fuel, it may be wise to attempt RamScooping before purchasing fuel...) The following is a listing of prices for various devices in Galaxy Wars: 1 gAu each Grams of fuel 100 gAu each Ship armor 150 gAu each Colony defensive unit 200 gAu each Laser shielding 300 gAu each Fighters 1000 gAu each Cargo holds 1000 gAu each Gravitic mines 5 kgAu Scanner 1 kgAu = 1000 gAu 5 kgAu Stasis field generator 10 kgAu Mine disruptor 45 kgAu Upgrade Stasis field generator to add RamScoop 50 kgAu Cloaking Device 50 kgAu Stasis field disruptor 50 kgAu Warp field generator 90 kgAu Upgrade Mine disruptor to Minesweeper 150 kgAu Upgrade warp generator to 'Mega-Warp' 300 kgAu Upgrade 'Mega-Warp' to 'Ultra-Warp' 250 kgAu Upgrade stasis field disruptor to add Vampire trap 150 kgAu Upgrade Scanner to Searcher Scanner 300 kgAu Upgrade Searcher to ManHunter Scanner Ship Upgrades: 200 kgAu Upgrade ship from Class 1 to 2 400 kgAu Upgrade ship from Class 2 to 3 800 kgAu Upgrade ship from Class 3 to 4 1600 kgAu Upgrade ship from Class 4 to 5 3200 kgAu Upgrade ship from Class 5 to 6 etc.... Laser cannons: 100 kgAu per class (Class 5 is 500 kgAu, etc..) Mail-ordering of fighters costs a base amount of 2500 gAu, and each fighter costs 500 gau. There has been a recent rash of attacks by Energy Vampires... these 7- dimensional creatures feed on the same fuel that your ship uses, and they tend to roam the galaxy looking for sources of food.... since you exist in a mere 3 dimensions, it is impossible to defend against these creatures, (unless you have a Vampire Trap) short of ensuring that you carry little fuel with you... Scientists have recently finished work on a capture and containment system for Energy Vampires based on the stasis field concept, due to the fact that it has been discovered that while the Vampires can actually enter inside a stasis field, it appears that they cannot exit from one... This tends to lead to confrontations with Vampires (hungry ones, I might add) that are trapped within already placed fields... when the fields are deactivated, the creatures attack with a vengeance.... You can upgrade a stasis field disruptor, giving it a Vampire Trap attachment... this will, if it was energized when a Vampire attacks, capture and hold the attacking Vampire until you can get to a Class 5 port.. You can then have the trap cleaned for 20,000 gAu... It is advised that if you have this attachment, you energize it as soon as you begin your turn.. This will use a set amount of fuel for the entire playing session, and must be re- activated every time you play (if you still want the protection).... Recently, travelers have reported encountering a Crystal Vortex, which caused their ship hulls to be crystallized in various colors, giving them mysterious benefits or penalties. There have been many more beneficial reports than negative ones, but a few who entered have had their ships ripped apart by the gravitational forces... In any case, this Vortex disappears immediately after discovery, so a decision to enter or not is immediately necessary. Some have said that there are twelve different hull colors, and that some benefits are permanent. And finally, registered versions of this program allow a "Rebellion" option... If you gain immense power in a particular game of Gal-XZ Wars 4.0 you may decide to try to overthrow the government. Using the ebel option will declare you a rebel, and the Empire will launch its' Imperial Star Cruiser 'Armageddon'... you and the Cruiser will then hunt one another until one is destroyed... The Empire will send waves of suicide fighters against you, so make sure you are quite strong before attempting this, and find the Cruiser quickly, or it's curtains for you... If you can destroy the 'Armageddon' then you will receive a bonus of 10 MILLION gAu and a discount on registration of your own version of Gal-XZ Wars 4.0... Hints and Tips for Beginning Warriors: This game can tend to lead to people acting very ruthlessly, so here are a few ideas that have been worked out by myself and a few of my users. Each new user (or user beginning over after having been destroyed -- The program will probably tell you who did you this favor..) will be given an initial allowance of 5100 gAu. This will allow for the purchase of either a stasis field generator or scanner, and still leave a bit of gold with which to begin trading. I personally favor the purchase of the stasis field generator, as this will allow you to preserve much more of your progress at the beginning of the game. At the end of your turn (assuming you have left at least 10,000 grams of fuel in your tanks), simply create a stasis field and place all of your remaining gold and fuel within it. If you are destroyed, the odds are strong that the field will still be there when you log back on. Simply go back to that sector, open the field, and you've recovered fairly well from the trauma. If someone has disrupted your field, and there was not a huge amount of fuel or gold within it, at least you have the satisfaction of knowing that they spent 200,000 grams of fuel to open it. One of the best ways to ensure survival, however, is the establishment of alliances with other players. Once these are created, the possible benefits are almost too numerous to mention. Weaker players can leave gold/fuel within a stasis field, and tell a stronger player the password, in exchange for the protection given by hiding under the cover of the stronger player's fighter guard. Alliance members can station fighters in connecting sectors to take over a small segment of the galaxy, and create colonies for the use of all allies. But before you rush off to form an alliance, be reminded of the fact that these are PEOPLE you are dealing with, and some of them can be quite ruthless... Vendettas can get really messy in this game, with huge feuds propagating through alliance ties, and it can all get quite ugly quite quickly. It is, of course, up to the user to determine how best to survive and prosper within the game. My only hope is that, whatever your strategy, you enjoy the game. Barry Kearns (Author)