The Spacer’s Guide to the Galaxy (Lite Edition) 1.0.2
This is the equivalent of a tourbook of the Escape Velocity galaxy; it gives the data on all the star systems and objects. It is based on the HyperCard 2.3 engine but does not require HyperCard to run (it is a self-contained application).
Warnings about printing
Printing of individual cards is enabled, but I currently recommend against printing because the Page Setup… seems to have no effect. Each card thus tends to print itself out on two
pages. In addition, pictures (such as planet/station images or maps) don’t seem to print.
Notes
The Guide is sometimes slow to respond to clicks, especially if you have a slower Mac.
Naviagtion hazards are only given numerically; the corresponding worded description (e.g. sparse asteroid field, dense asteroid field) is not included.
Star system traffic and “disasters” (news items which indicate price changes) are only verbally described. Exact numbers and probabilities can be extracted from the EV Data file but that isn’t done here.
The conventions for coordinates conforms to that used for computer graphics, but not to that used in mathematics (the y-axis is reversed). The coordinates shown here have not been changed.
Commodity prices are shown only as levels; the exact prices are currently not included in the Guide. For those interested in computing prices:
The medium price is the base price, and is not affected by your legal standing (see below).
High and low prices are computed using a single scaling factor. Multiply by the factor to get the high price; divide by it to get the low price.
The factor in EV 1.0.2 is normally 1.25. It becomes 1.1 if you’re hated on this planet/station (i.e. if it looks red on an IFF display), or 1.5 if you have dominated the planet/station.
All prices are integers; drop any fractions (do not round up).
“Disaster” prices are apparently unaffected by your legal standing on a planet/station.
Example: If widgets have a base price of 55 credits/ton, then its high price is normally 55 * 1.25 = 68.75 credits/ton, which is rounded down to 68.
Example: On a planet where you are hated where widgets prices are low, the price is 55 / 1.1 = 50 credits/ton.
Example: You decide to dominate the planet in the previous example. The price is now 55 / 1.5 = 36.67 credits/ton, which rounds down to 36.
Available items and ships can be determined by tech level. The tech level of items and ships is not currently included in the Guide, however, references by others such as the Escape Velocity Unofficial Web Site, the EV Ship Guide, and the EV Upgrade Guide give the tech level (usually called Availability). For those interested in gettting the best prices, find the planets with the highest tech levels as they give the largest discount. I have an approximate formula:
Subtract the base tech level of the planet/station from the tech level of the item/ship.
If this number is zero or less, the item/ship price is the same as the base price.
If this number is greater than zero, multiply the number by 3%. This is the discount off the base price.
Rounding is more complicated here; usually the first three significant figures are retained and the rest is changed to zeroes.
Hiring a ship costs 10% of the purchase price as computed above.
Your legal standing in a system doesn’t appear to affect prices.
Example: Lasers are a tech level 1 item and have a base price of 5000 credits. On a tech 2 world, they are discounted 3% and thus cost 4850 credits. On a tech level 5 world, they are discounted (3% * (5 - 1)) = 12% and thus cost 4400 credits.
Example: Rebel Manta fighters are a special item with a “tech level” of 5000. Since no world has a tech level that high, the price of Mantas is always the base price.
The difference between the standard and the “Lite” editions is that the landscape/starscape pictures of stellar objects (the ones that are shown when you land) are included in the standard edition, but are omitted in the Lite edition. This saves about 2.5 Mbytes. (Don’t try install those pictures from EV - the code to handle those pictures has been removed.)
Feedback
Mail your comments, suggestions, and any bug reports to me at walbert@leland.stanford.edu. And don’t forget to pay your shareware fees for Escape Velocity (and other high-quality shareware, for that matter).
