The Bargain Hunter V2.0 For Trade Wars 2002 V1.00+ by Dave Noel INTRODUCTION Welcome to The Bargain Hunter! If you are an avid Trade Wars 2002 player I think you will like this support program. When I played Trade Wars 2002 I very quickly accumulated a piece of paper with pairs of sectors numbers that contained ports selling what the other was buying. Soon I had a messy piece of paper with tons of numbers on it. To make it even worse I was playing the game on several different BBS's. Wanting to rid myself of this mess and to optimize my trading I came up with The Bargain Hunter. The purpose of this program is to find the best trade routes in your Trade Wars 2002 game. What I mean by the best is two ports that are located in adjacent sectors that are both selling a product that the other is buying. After the routes are found The Bargain Hunter will write them to a file which you can print out from DOS or an ASCII editor. DISTRIBUTION You may distribute The Bargain Hunter free of charge provided that no charge is levied. You may distribute The Bargain Hunter provided that no changes are made to the program or documentation. DISCLAIMER Dave Noel provides The Bargain Hunter software package as is. I shall in no way be responsible for any damages to your computer system nor the data stored therein. OPERATION To execute this program you must be playing a game on version 1.0 or higher. First run your favorite Terminal software, log onto the BBS and start playing Trade Wars 2002. Type C at the main prompt to initiate the Crai XXV OnBoard Computer. At this point shell to DOS and execute the batch file I have included called TBH.BAT. It looks like this : @ECHO OFF TBH2002.EXE NOTE! Do not attempt to execute TBH2002.EXE directly it has a tendency to make your terminal program lockup and you will have to reload it. I recommend that you install this batch file as an external protocol or as a hot-Key in your terminal software for more convenient use and to retain starship appearance. When TBH loads it will ask you a few simple setup questions. What com port you are using (only 1 and 2 are supported) Current baud rate (300,1200,2400,4800,9600,19200, or 38400), Parity (none, even, or odd) Stopbits(1 or 2) Databits(5 through 8) Name of file to store results in I suggest naming it similar to the name of the BBS the game is on. NOTE! Data file must not contain a path. TBH will also add the extension '.TBH' Produce full port report. (Registered Ver. only) If set to yes information about what is being bought and sold is also recorded to the data file along with some other information. After these questions are answered TBH will engage the Crai XXV OnBoard Computer of your Starship and download information about the ports you have seen and sectors you have visited. After TBH finishes downloading this information, it searches the data and links together starports that will produce the largest financial gain with the least number of turns. TBH will then write the report of linked sectors to your specified data file and return you to the Computer menu of 2002. NOTE! TBH will only be able to create a report for your known universe. It will not create a report for unexplored space. SUPPORT I have only tested this version at 1200/2400 8N1 I am not sure how it will operate at higher speeds (I am not as fortunate as some to own a 9600+ baud modem). If you find any bugs please let me know. I will do what I can to fix them. I can be reached via BITNET DCN1@LEHIGH or at the addresses listed later in this file REGISTRATION If you register your copy of The Bargain Hunter you will have other options available to you. They are : 1. As I mentioned before registered users will be able to create A full Port report along with a quick one. Look at the included SAMPLE.TBH file for an example. 2. The StarDate is written to the header of all '.TBH' files. This is very useful in determining when The Bargain Hunter was last executed. 3. Another data file will be written to your disk with the extension '.888'. This file will contain the sector numbers of all the class 8 ports in your known universe sorted from least warps out of that sector to the most. If you ever wanted to create the ultimate trading planet, this option will solve your problems. Look at SAMPLE.888 for an example. 4. A new program has been added to TBH package. It is called The Space Walker 2002. This program makes a giant leap forward in the game play of Trade Wars 2002. If you ever ran out of turns for the day and still wanted to roam the galaxy, this program is for you. It allows you to move through your known universe while off-line. You might want to use this in conjunction with the class 8 port report to find a very secluded part of the galaxy for a planet, or just to get a better feel of how the sectors are interconnected in your particular game. To use this program just run your registered version of TBH on your favorite BBS. TBH will then write a datafile called 'File_name_entered_by_you.SPW'. Then when off-line execute SPW2002 and type in the file name you entered when prompted by TBH(Do not enter the extension). When in emulation mode SPW2002 will display the sector number you are in, any port information in that sector, and the warps out of that sector. Sectors you have not visited are in red and ones you have seen are in blue. One important thing about SPW2002 is that you can jump to any sector you have been to(similar to TransWarp.) So for example if you are in sector 45 which only has a warp to 78 you could type in 235 and you would be there. These are the Registered options to TBH. More options are being created at this very moment, So if you register now you will be registered for all new options added to future releases of TBH. To register your copy please fill out the inclosed order form and send to one of the following addresses along with a self addressed stamped envelope and $3 for the one key or $5 for two keys. AUG 20-MAY 10 : Dave Noel Lehigh University U.C. #29 BOX F18 Bethlehem, PA 18015 or MAY11-AUG 19 : Dave Noel 14 Christine Drive Atkinson, NH 03811 NOTE! If you sent in a donation of $2 before AUG 15 1991 send in the enclosed order form with two names and I will send you two keys free of charge. Good Luck Battling the Ferrengi Dave Noel Trade Wars 2002 is (C) Copyrighted 1990, 1991 under the names of Gary & Mary Ann Martin Martech Software, Inc (TM)