TERRITORIES 3069: BRIEFING FOR NEW COMMANDERS Written by Jeffrey D. Hoffman Copyright (c) 1994. All Rights Reserved. Section I: Introduction It is the dawn of the 31st century. Tired of fighting amidst themselves, your race has united behind the common goal of total universal conquest. They have appointed you the commander in chief of their space program. You have been given huge automated factories, towering mineral silos, and millions of workers, ready to give their life in an effort to further the goal of ruling the universe. Driven by the fear that there are other races with similar intentions elsewhere in the universe, your scientists are working day and night to develop new engines, weapons, and defenses for your armada. However, after years of reaping the benefits of a bountiful planet, your home world lacks the required mineral resources to build the ships you need to destroy your enemies. Your silos contain only a small amount of minerals. Your scientists know that the other planets in your solar system are rich with the minerals you need, so you must launch mining ships to go and exploit those astral bodies. In addition, you must build and command ships to seek out the other solar systems in the universe. You must send out attack fleets, armed with the latest weapons and defenses, because there will be other races who are competing for the same goal. Good luck, commander. Section II: Getting started. TERRITORIES 3069 is a game of strategy. Don't let the fact that you will be controlling huge fleets of starships as they plunder the universe, destroying enemy ships and even other planets in the process, lead you astray from the simple concept that this game is all about strategy. Developing strategy and making that strategy work takes time. Playing TERRITORIES takes time. In fact, game-play in TERRITORIES is designed to give you all the time you need to control your vast forces through-out the universe. For specific information on how TERRITORIES is played, refer to chapter III. Part I: Creating your race The first step to getting involved in the universe is to establish your race. You can name your race anything you like, but once it is set, you can not change it. Some well-known examples include Corellian, Bejorin, and Klingon. After entering a name for your race, you will be prompted to select an icon which will represent a ship in your fleet. The window that is drawn to the right of the text window holds all of the available icons you can select from. Like the name of your race, once you have selected an icon, it is permanent. After selecting these two settings for your race, TERRITORIES 3069 will select one of the home worlds in the universe for your race to begin upon. Prior to stepping from your home world into the vastness of space, you must engineer your first ships that will begin exploring and trading in your solar system. Part II: Building ships Ship-building is a task you must soon master. There are two stages to successfully building a ship. The first stage is to build the components, or systems, that will be used to control, defend, and arm your ship. (For more information on ship systems, see section II.IV.) The second stage is to actually select the components that you wish to put together to form a ship, select cargo space size, and finally name your ship. At the end of the second stage, your engineers will actually begin putting your ship together. Let's examine the first stage closer. Immediately following the new race screen, you will find yourself at the FACTORIES menu. This menu allows you to select from the various systems your race has developed to be built and stored for future use on ships. Once you have started into the game, you can return to these factories any time you have a ship landed upon your home world. The FACTORIES screen has been divided up into several sections. The first section, on the left, lists all of the systems designed to be placed upon a new ship. These include all engines, shield generators, and weapons systems. In the upper right-most corner, you will see a small box which displays any PLANETARY systems such as planetary defense shield generators and mining equipment, which become very important as the game progresses. (For more information on planetary systems, see section II.III.) Finally, the box immediately below the planetary systems is a listing of the available minerals left on your home world. In the beginning, as you can see, there are very few minerals left, and you must carefully make your decisions about what will be built for your first ships. To build a new system for your ship, simply select the button with the name of the system you wish to build. The number immediately to the right of the name of the system represents how many of this system you have already built and can use on your next ship. For example, if one of the buttons read FUSION DRIVE: 3 then you have already built three engines, and selecting this button again will build a forth, provided you have enough minerals. Each component you build requires a specific number of minerals. Selecting the DESIGN SHIP button will bring up a second menu with similar attributes. At the top of the menu, you will find a button labeled NAME. Selecting this button will allow you to name the ship you are creating. Each ship must have a name in order to be built. The name of the ship is used when you move from ship to ship during game-play, so it is highly recommended that each ship have a different name. Below the name button, you will see a list that contains a button for each component that your race is capable of using. Ship engines are at the top of the list, followed by shield components, and the list ends with weapon components. Pressing a button will add a system to the new ship. The button will now appear pressed in. To remove a system from a ship, press the button once more, and it will return to its out-facing position. Certain shield and weapon systems support multiple components to be installed within the ship. These components can be identified by a number directly right of the component name. To the right of the SHIP SYSTEMS area, you will find another box that changes as you add and remove systems from the ship. This box holds the amount of hull strength your ship has and it also will display how much cargo space your ship will have upon completion. During the beginning of the game, all new ships will automatically have 300 units of cargo space added to them upon engineering. In addition, those cargo spaces will be filled immediately with workers, ready to be transported to other planets for mining operations. Once the game is in progress, and you return to your home world, you will find a SIZE button located immediately right of the NAME button. This button allows you to adjust the amount of cargo space up or down, by simply entering a new number. For each number you enter, 100 units of cargo space are added. Select the BUILD THIS SHIP button to begin construction of this ship. You will be notified if there are any problems with this ship, such as lack of engines or name. If your ship can be completed, then your engineers will begin working on the ship. It will be ready following the next run of the turn processor. Part III: Technology and ship systems Over the course of the simulation, the scientists on your home planet will be hard at work developing new engines, shield generators, and weapon systems, and also trying to improve previously developed systems. You will be notified of any change in your technology in the information file. The following section outlines each of the systems, along with any upgrades that will be received over time. MANEUVERING THRUSTERS System type: ENGINE These short-burst thrusters allow a commander to maneuver his ship a single square in any one of eight directions. In addition, these thrusters are essential for ship rotation, and without these, a hyperdrive system is useless. FUSION DRIVE System type: ENGINE These nuclear-powered engines can propel a ship forward at amazing rates. These engines are extremely efficient, and have tremendous maneuverability. These are the standard engine for getting a ship from one place to another within a galaxy. When first developed, these engines will move a ship up to any position within a four square radius, but scientists are working hard to improve these engines and are hopeful to have them up to a seven square radius shortly. Fusion drives also have a built in navigation computer that allows commanders to enter coordinates anywhere within the galaxy and the ship will navigate there as fast as it can. HYPER DRIVE System type: ENGINE These mighty accelerators are designed for the sole purpose of propelling a ship forward faster than the speed of light. Although the design of these engines is not complete, your scientists are expecting to be able to go five times the speed of light upon completion. In addition, many believe you will be able to go as fast a nine times the speed of light in the near future. Hyper drives have no maneuverability, meaning that they are designed to move only in a straight line. Maneuvering thrusters are a necessity for high-precision calculation of long distance travel. DEFLECTOR SHIELDS System type: DEFENSE These powerful energy shields are nearly completed. Upon installation on a ship, each deflector shield generator added will be able to withstand damage equal to the hull damage capacity of the ship. For example, if a ship can withstand fifty points of hull damage, a single deflector shield generator will protect the ship for an additional fifty points. If a second is added, then the ship will be able to take a total of 150 points of damage. ASSIMILATION SHIELDS System type: DEFENSE The assimilation shield generators are based on the concept that energy can be assimilated into other energy. These shields, although undeveloped at this time, are expected to withstand twice the damage of a single deflector shield. For example, a single assimilation shield installed in a ship capable of withstanding 50 points of damage will add 100 points of damage capacity to the ship, making its total 150 points. CLOAKING DEVICE System type: DEFENSE Your scientists are hard at work developing this important defense component. When installed upon a ship, a single cloaking device will cause the entire craft to become undetectable to scanners, making it invisible to the enemy. However, because of the energy field enveloping the cloaked ship, the weapons systems can not fire until the ship has uncloaked. PARTICLE CANNONS System type: WEAPON Already developed, these cannons emit a burst of ionized particles which will strike an enemy ship inflicting 5 points of damage, per cannon, as long as the target is within a three square radius.* LASERS System type: WEAPON Scientists expect that they will be able to harness the power of the laser very soon. These high-energy beams of light are capable of inflicting 15 points of damage, per emitter installed upon the ship. The maximum optimal range of this device is four squares.* ION CANNONS System type: WEAPON This improved particle cannon uses a higher, more unstable particle to cause 40 points of damage to an enemy ship. This is the best weapon for long range combat as it has a radius of five squares.* DISRUPTER BEAMS System type: WEAPON These massive energy cannons produce a randomly pulsating burst of energy similar to the laser. These beams are incredibly strong and produce great damage upon enemy shields. Each cannon installed on a ship is capable of doing 65 points of damage. This weapon can wreak havoc on any ship within four squares.* DISINTEGRATION CANNONS System type: WEAPON Although containing the anti-matter for these cannons is not possible at this time, your scientists will one day overcome this problem. This is the most powerful weapon available to your fleet. Each cannon installed on a ship is capable of 95 points of damage. However, because anti-matter is extremely unstable, these cannons are only for close-range combat within three squares.* HYDROGEN MISSILE System type: PROJECTILE WEAPON This projectile weapon was developed long before planetary peace was established on your home world. These missiles can travel up to ten squares to inflict 65 points of damage. If detonated in an empty coordinate, the surrounding coordinates will receive 32 points of damage from the explosion also. ELECTRON TORPEDO System type: PROJECTILE WEAPON Based on quantum physics, the electron torpedo is nearly complete. Although built entirely of electrons, this nearly-invisible torpedo bursts through most solid objects with ease, and detonates for 85 points of damage. Like the hydrogen missile, the electron torpedo has a range of ten squares. Anything in the surrounding coordinates of an open detonation will receive 42 points of damage. PHASE MISSILE System type: PROJECTILE WEAPON This weapon should be the crowning achievement of your scientist's development. Capable of leaving this dimension upon firing, and returning instantly upon impact with a target, there is little to stop this missile. Although design details are still on the drawing board, your scientists anticipate a damage capacity of 120 points of damage. Like other missiles, if detonated into an empty coordinate, the surrounding squares will receive 60 points of damage. *A beam weapon can be fired from outside of their range, but its effectiveness drops the further away you are from the maximum range. MINING EQUIPMENT System type: PLANETARY Mining equipment improve the productivity of the workers on your mining settlements. Although each mining equipment requires two workers to operate, it produces the equivalent number of units as three workers. PLANETARY DEFENSE SHIELD System type: PLANETARY These massive shield generators are still in development. Using the gravitational forces within a planet, these generators, which are roughly the size of a small island, produce an anti-gravity energy field around the planet. These are used to protect mining planets, asteroids, and stars from attack from enemy forces. Part IV: Minerals There are seven minerals you will need to mine from the surrounding planets in your solar system in order to build components for ships in your fleet. Chlorine and lithium are the only two elements that are collected in gaseous form from the aura of a burning star. Thorium, titanium, silicon, and yttrium are solid metals that must be mined from deep within a planets core. Finally, raw ore is found in abundance upon the asteroids in your solar system. Minerals are mined by taking workers from your home world out to each of the planets, asteroids, and stars in your solar system. Those workers will establish mining settlements which will collect minerals for transport off the planet later. It is most effect to use ships on trade routes to remove minerals from the surface so that you do not have to continually move each ship every round. Section III: Playing the game TERRITORIES is played in what I will refer to as 'turns.' As the commander of all the ships controlled by your race, you use your turn to issue commands to each of the ships. Later the 'turn processor' runs and takes all of the commands you have programmed into your ships, along with all of the commands all of the other players have issued to their ships, and evaluates and executes each command for each ship. The result of each command is seen the following day in the information log. There are several situations in which a player would want a ship in his fleet to continue doing a specific command even though completing that command could take longer than one turn processing. For example, traveling a great distance (100 squares, for example) using a low-efficiency fusion drive could take as long as 20 days. When you issue such a command to a ship, TERRITORIES will report back to you upon completion of that order. At the end of the above example, you would receive a message explaining that your ship has reached its destination, 100 squares away. During game play, you view the universe from a top-down view. You see what the ship you control sees, including planets, asteroids, stars, and enemy ships. As commander of the armada, your objective is to analyze what each ship sees, and make intelligent decisions based on what is going on in that section of the universe. TERRITORIES 3069 also provides you with several nice user-interface features. Because everything takes place on a coordinate basis, but most of the commands you will issue to a ship revolve around what it sees, you will often be able to use a 'on-screen selection grid.' This grid system is drawn in green, numbered lines which allow you to first select the X-coordinate, on screen, you will interact with, and then the Y-coordinate you wish to interact with. This process makes moving, fighting, and scanning objects on screen very simple. In addition, TERRITORIES 3069 has a built-in, on-screen numeric keypad which appears only when needed. Basically, the interface is designed so that the only time your fingers will touch a keyboard (unless you want them to) is to enter the name of a newly built ship. Part I: Selecting a ship to control Because these is literally no limit to the number of ships you can create and control, TERRITORIES offers a convenient way to sort your ships. There are three 'status's' for a ship: an unassigned ship, a fleetship, or a flagship. Let's start at the last one. A flagship is one behind which many other ships follow. When an order is issued to a flagship, you are prompted as to whether or not you would like to issue to the command to the other ships in that fleet. Ships that follow a flagship are considered fleetships. These ships can be programmed individually or receive orders as a group from their flagship. Finally, unassigned ships are ships which do not belong to a larger fleet. Upon being built, all ships are unassigned, and it is up to you to move them into fleets if you wish. On the main menu, you will see two buttons which allow you to select ships within your armada. The first button is the FLEETS button. This button brings up a list of all of the flagships in your fleet. In addition, you can also access the unassigned ships through this button. It is important to note that the fleet you are in control of DOES NOT appear on this list. For example, if you are already in sorting by unassigned ships, you will not see a menu item for unassigned ships when you select the FLEETS button. When you select a ship name from the FLEET menu, you are immediately put in control of the flagship. The second button is immediately right of the FLEETS button. When selected, this menu lists all of the ships that follow the flagship you selected from the FLEETS button. If you are sorting by unassigned ships, this menu will list any ships that are not part of a fleet. IN REVIEW, to select a ship, first choose the fleet that the ship belongs to by use of the FLEETS button. Then select the SHIPS button and pick the name of the ship you wish to control. Once you have selected a ship, the playfield will change to display the surroundings that ship sees. The ship you are in control of is always in the center of the play field. Part II: Making orders Once you are in control of a ship, you can select the STATIONS button to affect the navigation, defenses, weapons, and status of the ship. Since you are in control of only one ship at a time, each menu you enter will represent the current settings for that ship. In addition, as mentioned above, if you are in control of a flagship, when you select an order for that ship, you will be prompted as to whether or not you would like to issue that command to all ships in the fleet. Doing so is like individually selecting each ship in the fleet and programming the same order into it. Programming a flagship is the easy way to issue a series of commands to a lot of ships. For specific information on each of the stations used to program a ship, see chapter IV. It is important to grasp one specific concept in TERRITORIES. During a turn, you can only issue one command from each of the three important stations: Navigation, Defenses, and Weapons. In one turn, for example, you can move this ship, activate its deflector shields, and also activate its particle cannon. You can not, however, activate a particle cannon and then fire it in the same round. Most of the menus in TERRITORIES are 'intelligent' meaning that they will ghost or not display a menu item which can not be activated until you have done something else. A good example of this is in the weapons menu. You can not select a target for a weapon if you have not activated the weapon. In addition, you can not fire a weapon if you have not activated it either. It is equally important to remember that if you program one command into a ship, such as a navigation command, and then return to the menu and enter a different navigation command, the first command will be over-written by the second. This is consistent through-out the defenses and the weapons menu. Here is another example. Earlier in the game, you activated a ship's lasers. Several turns later, you go to the weapons menu and activate a different weapon system, it's disrupter beams. In addition, you also press the fire button. At the end of the processing, you will discover that your ship's lasers fired because you over-wrote the original command to raise the disrupter beams with the fire command. If, at any point, you wish to check what commands have been issued to ALL ships under your control, you can select the OVERVIEW button from the STATIONS menu. Although the fleet overview may take a while to generate, it is a great way to check over all of the ships in your fleet to make sure that they are performing the correct actions. Part III: Information (seeing the results) As mentioned above, after you have programmed each of your ships to perform specific actions, like raising shields, firing weapons, or navigating somewhere in the universe, the turn processor is what actually interprets and executes those commands. The results of those commands, such as acknowledging that shields have been raised, a damage report from an attack on an enemy, or a notice that a ship has reached its destination, are kept in an information file. This file is available to you by pressing the INFORMATION button on the main menu. The information file is divided by ship name. Each ship under your control could be anywhere in the galaxy, so each reports important things its sees or experiences, allowing you to sort through the information and pick out the important details. I recommend that you CLEAR the information file after reviewing it, because otherwise the turn processor will continue to build onto the file, making it a rather large document and difficult to analyze later in the game. Reviewing the INFORMATION file is imperative to your survival in the universe. This file will immediately alert you to any danger that one of your ships might be in, or of any successes that your fleets have achieved. In addition, this file will also notify you of any technology improvements or other important information from your home world. If there is nothing for you to review, the INFORMATION button will be ghosted and you will not be able to select it. Part IV: Winning the game Your scientists have determined that the universe is filled with other planets, asteroids, and stars. However, only one special kind of planet is capable of sustaining life: home planets. It is your ultimate objective to travel to each of the other solar systems in the universe and annihilate the home worlds in those solar systems. By doing so, you are granting your race total universal control, because no where else will life be possible, so there will be no one to stand in your way. Well, not exactly. Because at the same time you are venturing from your home world, other races, born around the same time your race climbed from the muddy waters onto land, are stepping from their planets, intent on the same goal. Only one race can control the universe. In order to win TERRITORIES 3069, you must use strategy to plan and establish trade routes with the other planets in your solar system. You must send scout ships deep into space to find your closest threats. You must plan attack patterns, and use technology to its fullest. You must know when to retreat, and when to launch an all out attack. TERRITORIES 3069 is based on strategy, so you must be able to plan for the future to win this game. Section IV: Controlling your fleet This section gives detailed instructions on what each of the STATIONS on a ship does. All of the menus in TERRITORIES 3069 operate the same. Clicking any of the buttons on the menu will activate or bring up another menu. If a menu item becomes ghosted, you will not be able to press that button. If you click outside of the gray menu area, you will abort out of the command you are issuing, or if you are at a specific station, you can return to the main menu by this means also. In addition, pressing the escape key at any point also acts like clicking outside of a menu. Part I: Navigation The navigation menu changes based on which engines are installed upon your ship. Starting on the far right side of the menu, if you have maneuvering thrusters installed, then the THRUSTERS button will appear. In the middle, if you have a fusion drive installed upon this ship, the FUSION DRIVE and the NAVIGATE TO buttons will appear. If you have a hyper drive installed upon the ship, the HYPER DRIVE button will appear on the far left. Below that, if you also have maneuvering thrusters, then the PLOT COURSE button will be visible. However, if your ship is in orbit around a planet (meaning your ship is drawn directly over a planet) the hyper drive and plot course buttons are replaced by the LAND button. If your ship's velocity is greater than the speed of light, meaning you are at hyperspeed one or greater, then your fusion drive and maneuvering thrusters are useless. The PLOT COURSE button is also replaced with a FULL STOP button which causes the ship to drop out of hyperspace at its current coordinates. THRUSTERS BUTTON This button brings up an eight-direction pad which allows you to pick the direction you wish to maneuver this ship in. In addition, the center button allows you to rotate this ship to a specific heading. FUSION DRIVE BUTTON This button is used to move a ship to a position that is visible on screen. When selected, the navigation menu disappears and a grid appears over the play field. Select the new square you want your ship to move to, and that coarse will be set in. The technology level of your fusion drive will determine how many turns it will take to reach the new location. NAVIGATE TO BUTTON In the event that the coordinates you want to move this ship to are not on screen, select the NAVIGATE TO button. A numeric pad will appear on the screen and you can enter the new coordinates, anywhere in the universe, that you want this ship to navigate to. The ship will then proceed to those coordinates using its fusion drive. The technology level of your fusion drive will determine how many turns it will take to reach the new location. PLOT COURSE BUTTON This button is similar to the NAVIGATE TO button in the respect that it also prompts you for coordinates. However, these coordinates are fed into your navigation computers and after the next turn processing, your computer will spit back out a new heading and distance to reach those coordinates using your hyperdrive. Once a new heading is calculated, this ship is automatically turned to that new heading. HYPER DRIVE BUTTON This button allows you to activate this ship's hyper drive. If you used the PLOT COURSE button on the prior turn, the hyper drive will echo back that it is programmed with a heading and distance and all it needs is a speed. A numeric key-pad will open up, and you can enter the hyper speed you wish to use to travel the pre-calculated distance. Upon reaching the end of the journey, the navigation computers will automatically stop the ship. If you select the HYPER DRIVE button without plotting a course, the ship will accelerate forward on its current heading, but will not stop unless you hit the FULL STOP button. If you select the HYPER DRIVE button while on route to a new destination, you can accelerate or slow down the ships progress along the route. FULL STOP BUTTON When selected, the ship will drop out of hyperspace and if a pre-determined course was already calculated, it will be lost. LAND BUTTON This button appears when this ship is over a planet. There are two types of settlements you can land upon. The first place you can land is your home planet. On the home planet, you can take and leave minerals, remove additional missiles, mining equipment, and planetary shields, and also access your home world's factories, ship building capabilities, and also repair damaged components of this ship. The other type of settlement you can land on is all other astral bodies in the universe including asteroids, stars, and other planets. Whenever something can be taken from or left on a planet, there will be a + and a - button. To increase the number of something, such as workers or mining equipment, press the + button. To remove something, such as minerals, press the - button. In both instances, a numeric keypad will appear and you can load or unload whatever amount you wish. Part II: Defense The defenses menu allows you to raise and lower shields for this ship. The ACTIVE DEFENSE SYSTEM button is a drop-down menu which displays any shield systems which have been installed upon this ship. You can lower all defense systems by selecting the NONE menu item that also appears on that list. To raise a defense system, simply click on the ACTIVE DEFENSE SYSTEM button and then select the name of the shield system you wish to activate. If your ship is already protected by a shield system, but you want to raise a different one (such as activating your cloaking device but you are currently protected with deflector shields) then simply select the name of the new shield you wish to raise. During the next turn processing, the first system will be shut down, and immediately after the new system will be activated. Part III: Weapons The weapons menu allows you to activate a specific weapon system, target your weapons, and fire them upon a target. The ACTIVE WEAPONS SYSTEM button is the first button on the menu. When you select it, a drop-down menu will be drawn which lists each of the weapons systems you have installed upon this ship. If you wish to power up a weapon system, simply select its name. If you wish to power down your weapons, select NONE. TARGET BUTTON This button is only displayed if a weapon system is activated. The value of targeting a weapon system is that you can lock onto a specific target, either an enemy ship, a planet, or coordinates in space. Then, if either you or the targeted object move, your weapons are still locked on your opponent. Targeting takes one turn to complete. Once you have established a target, the TARGET button will be replaced with either the name of the ship you are targeting or the coordinates in space you are targeting. To clear the targeting computers, simply click on the button where the name appears, and you can re-target, or simply fire the weapon system. FIRE BUTTON Provided you have activated a weapon system, the FIRE button will appear. If you have already established a target, then your weapons will fire at that target during the next turn processing. If you have not established a target, then a selection grid will appear on the screen, and you can specify which coordinates on the screen you wish to fire at. If you are firing a beam weapon, such as lasers, you will be asked how many cannons you wish to fire (a ship can be installed with up to 9 cannons of each weapon system) and a numeric keypad will appear to get your response. If you are firing a projectile weapon, such as a phase missile, then this ship will automatically fire a single missile at the end of the round. Part IV: Scanners This menu is the fastest way to learn information about the planets, stars, and other spacecraft that surround this ship. When the menu comes up, you have three buttons to choose from: ASTRAL BODY, SPACECRAFT, and MAP. ASTRAL BODY BUTTON This button will activate the on-screen selection grid, and you can enter the coordinates of the planet you wish to scan. The scanners menu will return and the black LED screen will be filled with information concerning that planet, including the name of the race that has conquered it (if any), any defense shields that are activated, plus which mineral is available on the planet. If you scan a home planet, its coordinates will automatically be transferred into the long range scanner computers (the MAP button). SPACECRAFT BUTTON This button will activate the on-screen selection grid and you can enter the coordinates of the ship you wish to scan. In addition to the name of the ship, you will also see any shields, weapons, and damage the ship has taken, along with the heading, velocity, and name of the race that owns the ship. MAP These are your long range scanners. The whole play field will be momentarily replaced by a top-down view of the universe. Any home planets that you have scanned will be displayed by white coordinates on the screen. Stars are the yellow pixels, home planets are the bright blue pixels, asteroids are dark gray, and planets are dark shades of their own colors including blue, green, white, and red. In addition, the ship you are currently in control of is marked with a bright green dot, and darker green numbers represent its current coordinates. Press any key or click the mouse button to leave the long range scanners screen. Part V: Status The status window displays all information pertaining to the ship you are in control of. At the top of the menu you will see the name of the ship you are controlling. Immediately left of that name are the coordinates of your home planet, in case you ever forget. Immediately right of the name are this ships current coordinates in the universe. On the left side of the menu, all ship systems including hull damage, engines, shields, and weapons are listed along with a percentage of how well they are functioning. During combat, unless you have shields raised to protect this ship, each system has a chance of taking damage. As its functionality decreases, its efficiency will also decrease. You need to monitor those values, and if they become to low, you need to return to your home world and repair that system. On the top, right side of the screen you will find an ORDERS box. If you have programmed in any orders for this ship, a button with the name of the station that has issued the command will appear. For example, if you have programmed this ship to move to new coordinates, a NAVIGATION button will appear. When you select one of these buttons, the complete order will be displayed in the text window at the bottom of the screen. In addition, you will be asked if you would like to remove this pending order. This is the way that you can check the commands programmed into this ship, and also remove any commands that you do not want to execute. Below the ORDERS box is the CARGO HOLDS box. This box lists the current inventories on this ship. If you are carrying any minerals, workers, mining equipment, or defense shields, you will see it in this box. ESTABLISH A TRADE ROUTE BUTTON This button is how you program a ship to form a trade route. A trade route is simply a command that makes this ship move back and forth from your home world and another planet. The ship uses all of its cargo space to remove minerals from the mining settlement and return them to the home world. You can not issue navigation commands to a ship on a trade route. The trade route will continue as long as there are minerals available to pick-up at the mining installation. Once a planet is depleted of minerals, you will be notified in the information file. To establish a trade route, pick this button. The on-screen selection grid will be activated and then you must select the planet you wish to remove minerals from. From that point forward, this ship will perform its duties of removing minerals from that planet. If you return to this menu you will discover that the coordinates of the trade planet are displayed where this button is. To stop a trade route, click on the button once more. You will be asked if you wish to end the trade route. JOIN A FLEET BUTTON If you want to put this ship into a fleet, you must select this button. Upon doing so, the on-screen selection grid will be displayed and you will click on the flagship you want this ship to follow. That ship must be on screen in order to be joined. Once this ship has joined a fleet, its flagship name will be displayed on this button. If this ship is a flagship, this button will display the word FLAGSHIP. If you wish to disband the fleet, meaning stop all ships in the fleet from receiving commands from this ship, select the FLAGSHIP button. You will need to confirm that you wish to disband the fleet. If you select yes, all ships that were following this ship will now be listed in the unassigned ships fleet. If you want to remove this ship from a fleet, then select this button again. After confirming that you wish to leave the fleet, this ship will be moved into the unassigned ships listing. Part VI: Overview of a fleet This is one of the most useful buttons in TERRITORIES. When you select this button, you will be asked to confirm that you wish to generate the overview file. When you select yes, a new menu will appear. The rotating gears, which you have seen before, means that the program is working. Generating the overview file usually only takes a couple of seconds to complete, but it varies based entirely upon how many ships it has to analyze. Be patient. When the generation is complete, a new menu will open, and you can now read the overview file. The overview file is subdivided into as many as three sections. Since what commands you have sent your ships varies every turn, this file will intelligently choose which of the three sections available to display. The first section lists any ships that are on trade routes. Additional information includes the mineral that ship is gathering, along with a position status as to whether it is at the trade planet, at the home planet, or on route to one of the two. The second section lists all other ships that are currently performing or have been programmed with commands. This section will list which ships are powering up weapons, which are raising or deactivating shields, which ships are on-route to specific coordinates, etc. The final section lists all ships that do not have orders. This section allows you to make sure that you have programmed all of the ships in your fleet. Section V: Astral bodies The following section explains, in detail, the many kinds of astral bodies you will encounter during your exploitation of the universe. There are in fact Part I: Your home planet The home planet from which you start is the most essential part of your conquest of space. This is the only place you can return to in order to build more ships, repair damaged systems on your current ship, build new weapons, engines, and defenses, and get workers to take to mining sites. There are four important menus associated with a home planet. HOME WORLD: MAIN MENU Upon landing on your home planet, you will be presented with a menu title by the name of your race, along with the words "HOME WORLD." This menu is the main home world menu and allows you complete access to the mineral silos on the planet. Although the ability to remove minerals from the planet silos is an option here, you will rarely use that. 99% of the time you will use the + button directly left of each mineral name to increase the amount of the respective mineral. In addition, this menu also grants access to the missile stores on your home world where you can reload empty cargo spaces with any available missiles to use in combat. Directly below the MISSILE STORES section is the PLANETARY EQUIPMENT section. Under this heading, you can remove mining equipment and defense shields, placing them in empty cargo holds for transport to another planet. Select the FACTORIES button to enter your home planets factories, where you can build new ships and new components for those ships. The REPAIRS button takes you to the rebuilding station where your ship's damaged systems can be repaired. To leave the planet's surface, select LIFT-OFF. HOME WORLD: REPAIRS MENU At the top of the repairs menu will be the word "REPAIRS" followed by the name of your current ship in a black, indented box. This menu is divided into two sections. The left section is labeled SHIP SYSTEMS. The right side is labeled AVAILABLE MINERALS. The SHIP SYSTEMS section will be drawn differently based on what components are installed on your current ship. A button will appear for each system on your ship. The button will be labeled with the name of the system along with the percentage it is operating at. 100% is the best a system can be. Anything less should be repaired, as lowered efficiency of a system will make your ship less efficient in navigation and combat. To fix a system, simply click on the name of the respective system. Your engineers will attempt to repair the system. Provided there are enough minerals available on the planet to fix the system, it will be fixed to 100%. If your engineers lack the appropriate minerals, you will be notified. HULL DAMAGE BUTTON If your ship has taken hull damage, a button will appear below the AVAILABLE MINERALS section. Selecting this button will instruct your engineers to rebuild the hull of your ship. Like ship systems, they must have enough minerals to complete the repair. As you repair systems the quantity of minerals in your silos will decrease visible beneath the AVAILABLE MINERALS menu. DISMANTLE BUTTON There comes a time in every ship's life when the age of its components makes it outdated and a burden upon a fleet. Whether it is limited damage capability, slow engines, or lack of a cloaking device, there is an easy way to remove an old ship from your fleet. Select the DISMANTLE button, and after confirming your action, your engineers will begin to dismantle the ship. Any systems on the ship at 100% efficiency will be removed and placed back into your equipment stores. All other systems will be melted down into scrap minerals, which will appear in your mineral silos. Once you have selected a ship for dismantling, you will be unable to select that ship again for the remainder of the turn. The ship will gone after the next turn processing. HOME WORLD: FACTORIES MENU This menu has already been explained in section II, part II. HOME WORLD: DESIGN SHIP MENU Although this menu has also been explained in Section II, part II, there are a couple of rules to keep in mind prior to building a ship. First, all ships must be built with at least one kind of engine. If the ship is being built with a hyper drive installed, you must also install maneuvering thrusters so that you can control the direction of hyper jumps. In order to carry any minerals or missile weapons, a ship must have cargo space. Use the SIZE button to increase and decrease the amount of cargo space you add to this ship. Finally, when you select the build this ship button, your engineers will determine if they have enough minerals to build this ship. Originally, at the start of the game, your engineers had a special store of enough minerals to build the first ships you requested. Now that those ships are built, your engineers need to use the minerals in your silos. If you lack any minerals, you will be notified. Part II: All other astral bodies In addition to home planets, the universe is made up of stars, asteroids, and colorful planets. Each kind of astral body produces a different, but equally important, mineral which must be mined by your race in order to survive. In addition, each astral body in the universe has a limited amount of minerals available to mine, so often times, late in the game, you must seek out new planets to exploit for minerals. ASTEROIDS These large chunks of icy rock produce large quantities of raw ore. All solar systems have a belt of these asteroids somewhere in orbit around their binary stars. These astral bodies are the easiest to mine, and often it takes only a group of miners a couple of weeks to establish fully-functional mining settlements to rid the asteroid of its precious ore. STARS These huge, swirling spheres of gas are the only known place for mining lithium and chlorine gas. In order to remove the gas from the star, your workers will establish huge, orbiting solar stations which will collect particles from the bursts of gas that erupt from the surface of these stars. PLANETS Planets come in a variety of colors including blue, red, green, and gray. Although the color has nothing to do with the mineral that is available on its surface, planets can be mined for thorium, titanium, silicon, and yttrium. These astral bodies are often hostile places, making mining them extremely difficult, and often takes years. Because of this, most mining settlements are made up of families instead of simply mining workers. When you land on an astral body, the menu is always the same, save for the title of the menu which explains the type of astral body you have landed upon. There are four buttons you can select while you are landed upon the surface. MINERAL NAME (CHLORINE, LITHIUM, etc.) BUTTON This button displays the name of the mineral which can be mined on this astral body. In addition, it also displays how many units of this mineral are available to be transported off of the planet. The + and - keys allow you to increase and decrease the amount of mineral on the planet's surface, respectively. WORKERS BUTTON The + and - buttons adjacent to the WORKERS button allow you to increase or decrease the number of workers mining this astral body. The larger this number, the more minerals which are mined during one turn. MINING EQUIPMENT BUTTON By increasing the amount of mining equipment available to the workers on this astral body, you can increase their productivity as dictated in section II, part III. You can also remove the amount of mining equipment on this planet by using the - button adjacent to this button.