ΫΫΫ» ΫΫ» ΫΫ» ΫΫ» ΫΫ» ΫΫ» ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΫ» ΫΫ» ΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΘΫΫ»ΫΫΙΌ ΘΝΝΫΫΙΝΝΌ ΫΫΙΝΝΝΝΌ ΫΫΙΝΝΫΫ» ΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΙΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΫΫΫΫΫ» ΘΫΫΫΙΌ ΫΫΊ ΫΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΫΫΫΫΙΌ ΫΫΙΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊΘΫΫ»ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΘΝΝΝΝΌ ΫΫΙΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΙΝΝΌ ΫΫΙΝΝΫΫ» ΫΫΊΘΫΫ»ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΘΫΫΫΫΊ ΘΫΫΫΫΫΫΙΌ ΫΫΙΌ ΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΫΫΫΫΫ» ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΫΫΊ ΘΫΫΫΫΊ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΝΝΌ ΘΝΝΝΝΝΌ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΌ ΘΝΝΝΌ (c) 1993 - Computer Support Services Version 02.03.01 T A B L E O F C O N T E N T S OVERVIEW 2 SHAREWARE CONCEPT 2 SUPPORT 2 SETUP & CONFIGURATION 3 BANK ACCOUNT INTEREST 3 CLOAK FAILURES 4 FERRENGI HOME WORLD 4 GENERATE BULLETINS 5 KRYSTALLINE ENTITY 5 FED OFFICER PAYCHECKS 6 PORT REPLENISHMENT 6 REGISTRATION 6 SHIP EDITOR 7 UNDERGROUND HIT CONTRACTS 7 1 ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» NU-XTERN was meant to add many features that Ί OVERVIEW Ί were not included in the original Trade Wars ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ 2002 but should have been (in my humble opinion of course). Such features include Variable Rate Interest at the Galactic Bank with an optional Account Cap, Cloak Failures, allowing Ferrengal to Progress to a Level 5 Citadel, create a bulletin in any of 4 different formats at will, have the Krystalline Entity attack planets and kill colonists, pay Federation Officers based on Alignment, Experience or Both and optional force them to kill Aliens to collect their pay, replenish a specified number of ports to full capacity each day, edit the ship specifications and have the Underground automatically place Hit Contracts out on Good Traders. You need not use all of these features, just the ones that you feel will make the game more enjoyable and interesting to your players. Don't immediately discard an option because you may think it too harsh, try setting the option to a very low probability just to keep your traders alert! ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» This program is ShareWare and you are granted a Ί SHAREWARE CONCEPT Ί license to use this product for a period of ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ thirty (30) days without paying a registration fee. After the initial examination period, you are expected to either register the program or discontinue it's use. You may copy the ZIP file in it's entirety without modifications or additions to it's contents to any computer you wish including public or commercial Bulletin Board Systems and this author hopes that you do. Remember, by not registering this product, you are not only stealing from the author, but you are ultimately stealing from yourself as authors who do not get paid for their products do not continue to make corrections and enhancements to the product. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» As always we like to hear from our users. Be Ί SUPPORT Ί it a complaint, a problem or a suggestion, we ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ want to hear from you. There are 4 ways you can reach us. One is through our Customer Support BBS which is called StarPort Omega at (609) 784-1529 and send mail to NILES BISHOP. If you are a member of the Prodigy Service and would like to reach me there, you can send E-Mail to CNHS68A and you can send the mail to Mark Cusumano. The above two ways are the easiest way to get a hold of me for questions and comments as I check mail daily and can dash you off a prompt reply. You may also try Ma Bell and reach me at my office most of the time at (609) 589-1125 and ask for Mark Cusumano (don't worry about the last name, Mark will do fine). If I'm not in and you leave a message remember that I will be calling you back collect. If you don't want the collect call, either try back later or try one of the other methods. Lastly we can always be reached by mail at Computer Support Services - 22 McIntosh Road - Sewell, NJ 08080-3034. And I will send you a reply back as quickly as possible. Self Addressed Stamped Envelopes always expedite a reply. 2 ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» Setting up the program is a snap. Just copy Ί SETUP & CONFIGURATION Ί NU-XTERN.EXE into the same directory as ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ TW2002.EXE. Then in the batch file that contains you nightly maintenance for Trade Wars add NU-XTERN after the EXTERN program. For example, an event batch file for PCBoard would look something like this: CD \PCB\DOOR\TRADEWAR EXTERN NU-XTERN CD \PCB BOARD If you wish to run the bulletin generator, it can be run one of two ways. The bulletins can either be updated after each play or once a night. If you are going to generate the bulletin once a night just add NU-XTERN /B after the NU-XTERN line in your nightly maintenance batch file. If you want to update the bulletin after each play then add the line after the TW2002 line in the door batch file. For example a PCBoard door batch file would look something like this: CD \PCB\DOOR\TRADEWAR TW2002 -DOOR NU-XTERN /B CD \PCB BOARD The final step is to actually configure the options for NU-XTERN and this is done simply by typing NU-XTERN /C to bring up the configuration program. If you are upgrading from a previous version, you only need to configure any new options that were not contained in your current version. Each of the different options and what their settings mean is described below. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» Originally, the only way to make any interest Ί BANK ACCOUNT INTEREST Ί on your money was to create a planet and dump ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ the money in your citadel. This seemed unfair to newer players in a developed game or players who do not feel that a planet is for them. This option will allow you to set the interest rate, whether it is fixed or variable and what limit you want to place on the account. If you use this option, any player receiving interest on their account will be sent a Sub-Space message from the Federation telling them their current account balance and the interest rate that day. Below is an example of the configuration screen: Minimum Bank Interest [4]: Maximum Bank Interest [15]: Maximum Bank Value [1000000]: If this option is not your cup of tea, just enter 0's for all of the options in this section. If you want bank interest you will have to decide whether you want it to be variable or fixed. Fixed interests calculates the same rate every day while variable picks a random rate between two extremes you pick. If you want a fixed rate, just make the minimum and maximum rate the same, if you want variable, set the minimum at the lowest interest rate you want the account to earn and the maximum at the highest interest rate and the computer will randomly pick a different rate between those two rates. 3 Optionally, you may want to limit the amount of credits that can accrue in any one bank account. For instance, you may want the account to stop bearing interest when the balance reaches 1,000,000 credits. To do this you would just enter 1000000 for the maximum bank value. If you don't care how high the account balance goes to, enter a 0. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» In a well developed game, cloaking devices can Ί CLOAK FAILURES Ί make the game real boring as the price for one ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ is only 25,000 credits, any reasonably good player will make sure they have an ample supply of them on hand. This makes attacking them impossible as they are never visible for any other player. To undue this advantage, and because nothing works 100% in space, we added the ability for cloaking devices to randomly fail. When one does fail, the players on-board computer will in form him. Below is an example of the configuration screen: Cloak Failure Percentage [3]: Of course if you don't think cloaking devices should ever fail, simply set the percentage to 0. The percentage can be set from 1% to 100% in which case the cloaking device will always fail. This percentage is check for EACH cloaked player so that if you set the percentage a 5% and you had 100 cloaked players, on average 5 of them will fail. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» Ferrengal is an interesting little place. Ί FERRENGI HOME WORLD Ί Unfortunately as you players get stronger, ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ Ferrengal gets weaker. If you owned a planet and someone ran into the mines around your planet, you'd replenish them, the Ferrengi don't. You'd be rushing to get colonists and product to put on your planet to upgrade your citadel, the Ferrengi don't. Some SysOps solve this by going into TEDIT and making Ferrengal a level 5 Citadel right off this bat and this is not a bad idea, but it would make it more interesting if players, as they try and take over the planet, find out that it is slowly becoming more powerful. For instance, one day a player scans the planet and sees it has it's normal level 3 Citadel, so they go stumping off and make plans for attack only to find out that when they come back it now has a level 4 Citadel! Below is an example of the configuration screen: Mines/Day [10]: Colonist Groups/Day [5]: Production Units/Day [5]: Citadel Wait Days [30]: Ferrengal T-Warp Percent [5]: Shields/Day [5]: Setting the Mines/Day option will allow you to replace any mines that have been disrupted or were exploded by a trader at a certain rate. In no event will the total number of mines exceed 99. This will allow Ferrengal to replace any mines that got destroyed. Naturally, setting this value to 0 will disable this option. Since upgrading the citadel requires both population and product minimums, you can either wait for the normal birth/death cycle to increase the population to its required amount or you can help it along with this option. For each colonist group you specify, an Ore worker, an Organics worker and an Equipment worker will be added to the planet. In no event will more then 1,000,000 4 colonists be working on a given product. If you want the population to increase naturally, just enter a 0 here. Q-Cannons and citadels require large amounts of product and naturally the colonists on the planet will build more, but if I had a planet and the Q-Cannon just zapped someone, I wouldn't wait for my colonists, I'd ferry more product to the planet. That's what this next option will do. For each unit you specify, 4 Ore, 2 Organics and 1 Equipment will be added to the planet each day. In any event no more than 10,000 of any given product will exist on the planet. Of course if you want the colonists to produce all the product, enter a 0 here. Naturally, you don't want the citadel to be upgraded to quickly so this option will allow you to specify the minimum number of days between citadel upgrades. This number is a minimum since even after that number of days has elapsed, the planet must still have the required colonists and product before the next level citadel can be built. Naturally one the level 5 Citadel is built no more upgrading can be done. If you don't want the citadel to be upgraded, enter a 0 here. This of course means that the minimum days to wait must be at least 1 for citadel progression to occur. A level 4 Citadel is great if run by a human player, but worthless to Ferrengi since there is no option to move the planet. Setting a percentage other than 0 for this option will allow Ferrengal to T-Warp to a random empty sector taking it's mines, marker beacon and fighters with it. In the process 50% of it's ore will be depleted. OK, you've got your level 5 Citadel, big deal you have no shields. This last option will allow you to slowly (or quickly) start building up planetary shielding. The planetary shields will never exceed 1000 so the planet isn't totally invincible. If you don't want shields on Ferrengal, just set this to 0 ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» The bulletins create by TradeWars suffer Ί GENERATE BULLETINS Ί several problems. One they do not support ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ PCBoard or WildCat format color codes, they are only created if a player picks omputer ist and the format of the bulletin is the format the user picked. Also, the corporate rankings are not shown and you cannot name the bulletin only the directory it writes to. The bulletins built here take care of this. You may elect to have none or all 4 bulletin types printed. To generate a bulletin of a specific type, just type in the full qualified path name for the bulletin. To remove a bulletin type just enter a '-'. To leave the bulletin the way it was previously configured. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» Just to make life a little more interesting, Ί KRYSTALLINE ENTITY Ί you can unleash this little devil on the ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ universe. The Krystalline Entity will randomly pick a number of sectors to invade. If there is a planet in the sector it will suck up a percentage of the colonists and half that percentage of organics. It will also transform the planet into a class K planet (Desert Wasteland) and post messages to the daily log and the owners of the planet. The configuration screen looks like this: Number of Sectors to Hit per Day [20]: Percentage of Population to Kill [50]: 5 If you wish to disable the Krystalline entity, just enter 0's for all the options. Otherwise the Krystalline will choose the specified number of sectors each day and if a planet is there, it will attack doing damage in the amount specified in the second option. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» As a Federation Commissioned Officer you should Ί FED OFFICER PAYCHECKS Ί be entitled to additional compensation. Of ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ course the Federation has the right to expect you to elevate the galaxy of evil also. This option will allow you to set up a pay incentive for officers and assign them work. The options for this are as follows: Credits/Alignment [0]: Credits/Experience [100]: Interval between Raises [500]: Days between Paychecks [7]: Required Number of Kills [2]: You can pay Federation Officers based on their alignment, experience or both. Normally you would pick one or the other, but you can use both. The third option is a little more difficult to explain. If the interval is set as in the example at 500, then the pay will be based only on experience or alignment levels of 500,1000,1500, etc. A player with a 1657 alignment would get paid as though he had a 1500 alignment. Of course no payments will be made unless a character has at least a 1000 alignment (which is needed for a Federation Commission). The fourth option will let you determine how often Federation Paychecks are issued. Naturally if this is set to 0, no paychecks will be issued. You can also set the number of ships that must be killed by a player per pay period before they can collect their money. If they do not make the required kills they will be given a message as to why they were not paid. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» In a game with many developed players and large Ί PORT REPLENISHMENT Ί capacity ships, ports can quickly become ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ depleted and the built in replenishment of 10% per day just doesn't cut it. For this reason you need to send in the StarPort Replenishment Freighter. The freighter will pick a selected number of ports and replenish them full up. It can also take money from the port (leaving less for evil payers to steal). The configurable options are as follows: Number of Ports to Replenish [20]: Percentage of Credits to Take [50]: The Number of Ports to Replenish will determine the number of ports per day the StarPort Replenishment Freighter will hit. It does not remember which ports it hit so it may hit the same port more than one in a day or even the next day. The Percentage of Credits to Take will determine what amount of credits are to be taken from the port leaving less for evil players to rob. You can disable either option by enter a 0 for either. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» In order to register this program you will need Ί REGISTRATION Ί your TradeWars Registration code that you got ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ when you registered TradeWars. You can either run TEDIT and get it or if you prefer, our registration option will also display the Registration Code. When you receive our registration code, simply enter the registration option and enter the code we have provided. If you typed it in correctly, the registration option will disappear and the program will be fully registered. 6 ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» This feature will allow you to change the Ί SHIP EDITOR Ί specifications of the ships that come with ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ Trade Wars 2002. You will be able to change everything about the ship including the ship name (Note: The names will be garbled and you will not be able to change them unless you are running Trade Wars 2002 v 1.03d). Be very careful with this program as it changes TW2002.EXE. If you are running any anti-virus software that detects any change in an executable file, then changing the ship name will trigger it. For instance, if you are running Norton Anti-Virus and have it set to detect unknown viruses then if you change a ship name and later run TW2002, Norton will pop up and tell you that TW2002 may have an unknown virus. So, after changing a ship name run TW2002 locally by typing: TW2002 -locl and see if your anti-virus software sets off alarms. If it does, it should have some sort of option to update it's CRC list. If you don't do this then when a user goes to run Trade Wars, your anti-virus software will pop-up and lock your board up. Below are the following items that you can change on the ship and what they do. No numeric field may exceed 32767. Ship Name: This field is 18 characters in length although you may type in a longer name it will get truncated. Hold Cost: This is the cost for the initial holds the ship has, this value along with the next 3 make up the cost of the ship. Main Drive Cost: This is the cost of the ships main drive. This value along with the other 3 make up the cost of the ship. Computer Cost: This is the cost of the on-board computer for the ship. This value and the other 3 make up the cost of the ship. Hull Cost: This is the cost of the outer shell. This value and the value of the other 3 make up the cost of the ship. Maximum Holds: This is the maximum number of holds that the ship can have. Initial Holds: This is the number of holds you get when you buy the ship Moves per Day: This is the number of turns a player gets per day if they are using this ship Maximum Fighters: This is the total number of fighters the ship can support. Maximum Shields: This is the total number of shields the ship can support. Combat Odds x 10: This is the fighting odds times ten. For instance if a ship fights at 1.5 to 1 than this number would be 15 Maximum Mines: This is the total number of mines the ship can carry. Maximum Beacons: This is the total number of beacons the ship can carry. Max Genesis Torp: This is the total number of genesis torpedoes the ship can carry. Sector Scanner: Can this ship carry a sector Scanner? TransWarp Drive: Can this ship carry a TransWarp Drive? Planet Scanner: Can this ship carry a Planetary Scanner? Max Photon Missl: This is the total number of Photon Missiles the ship can carry. Fighters/Attack: This is the maximum number of fighters that can attack at a time. ΙΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝ» Good players get to collect those neat bounties Ί UNDERGROUND HIT CONTRACTS Ί placed by the federation on evil players but ΘΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΝΌ evil players must place their own hit contracts. You can change this by having the underground automatically post hit contracts on good players. You can find out about new hit contracts by 7 going to the tavern and listening in on the conversation. Kal Durak will announce all new Hit Contracts. The options for Hit Contracts are as follows: Credit/Alignment Point [100]: Alignment Points Between Updates [500]: Minimum Alignment Needed [1000]: Credits/Alignment Point will determine the value of the contract placed. A good player with an alignment of 500 with a 10 credit/alignment setting would post a hit contract of 5000 credits on that player. Since peoples alignments change daily, you don't want contracts updated daily, you should set an increment. For instance if you set Alignment Points Between Updates to 100 then hit contracts would only be placed at the 100, 200, 300, etc. levels. You can also specify the minimum Alignment needed for a contract to be placed. To disable this option, all the values to 0. To disable the last option, set it to 0. 8