Joystick Magazine 1995 July & August

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Text File | 1995-06-06 | 18KB | 384 lines

===================================================== What's Stars! all about? ----------------------------------------------------- Stars! is the only full-blown interstellar strategy game for Microsoft Windows that's fast-paced and simple to play while allowing you to carry out complex and clever strategies. You'll build starships, discover and colonize new planets, research new technologies, manage the essential elements of world economies, defend your empire and (no guarantees here) destroy all your enemies. One or more people can play, on a single machine, across a network, over modems, email or computer bulletin boards. Complex computer players are available for both single and multi player games. A tutorial and an extensive help file will get you up to speed in no time. To begin the tutorial, start Stars!, press the New Game button and select Begin Tutorial. ===================================================== Stars! Highlights ----------------------------------------------------- - 6 Different interlocking research categories with about 16 Tech Levels each! - Up to 16 players! - 27 fully configurable unique ship hulls to build custom ships! - Extended orders for ship movement allowing automation of menial tasks! - 4 Different levels of Computer players! - 22 different race advantages/disadvantages to tune a race! - Customizable races! - Configurable battle plans! ===================================================== How do I setup Stars!? ----------------------------------------------------- Place STARS!.EXE and STARS!.HLP in the same directory. Run STARS!.EXE for both single and multi-player games. Create a Program Manage icon for STARS!.EXE and you're ready to go. The file COMMDLG.DLL has been provided in case you do not already have one installed in your \windows\system directory. If you do not have COMMDLG.DLL installed, you may experience problems trying to open and save Stars! games. Copy this file to your \windows\system directory to rectify these problems. ===================================================== What are the system requirements for running Stars!? ----------------------------------------------------- Operating Systems Supported: Microsoft Windows 3.1, 3.11, and 3.11 WFW Microsoft Windows NT Microsoft Windows 95 Memory requirements: 4MB RAM 8MB is preferred Disk space requirement: 4MB for program and help files Video display: Color displays only 800x600x256 or better is strongly recommended 640 by 480 is playable but cramped 16 color mode decreases bitmap clarity ===================================================== How do I order the full version of Stars? ----------------------------------------------------- Read ORDER.TXT for ordering information, or check out the Help menu inside of Stars! ===================================================== What is shareware software all about? ----------------------------------------------------- This version of Stars! is Shareware. You can evaluate this product for up to 30 days without obligation; however, if you plan to continue using it after 30 days, you must register. Millions of computer users have found shareware to be the safest and most risk-free way to buy software. Independent shareware authors, like Ultimate Software, allow computer users to try out a program before buying it. Computer users can obtain a shareware copy of Stars! (or other shareware programs) for no-charge from a BBS or a friend, or for a small charge from a shareware disk vendor, retail store or flea market. If you find a shareware program to be useful and plan to continue using it after an evaluation period, then you are required to register it with the program's author. This will entitle you to receive the latest full-featured version of Stars! ===================================================== What's new for Version 1.10? ----------------------------------------------------- So what's this upgrade all about? --------------------------------- After Stars! initial release we've been flooded with feedback from users telling us what they liked about Stars! and what they didn't. Many of the requests were for things we've already planned to do in future versions, but a small core of requests came up repeatedly and we felt that we needed to address them before the next major release. Does that mean you've found a bunch of bugs? -------------------------------------------- Suprisingly, no. This update does fix a few minor bugs, but that isn't the main purpose of the update. So why are you releasing this upgrade? -------------------------------------- It turns out that we had a few more things to learn about how BBS/PBM games are conducted. People told us that the games of this genre typically generate only 1 turn per day, or 3 turns per week. Further, many bulletin boards don't run under Windows, so additional support was needed to automate turn generation during scheduled maintenance downtime. We also received numerous requests that the Shareware version be allowed to generate turns for registered players without crippling their technology. This would allow BBS operators to operate full BBS games without having to make an investment in a registered version. This release was designed to meet these needs. What are the new BBS features? ------------------------------ * The advanced game wizard now has an "Accelerated BBS Play" checkbox. Selecting this option will significantly speed game play and give people more things to do from the start. * New command line flags were added to allow Stars! to generate turns for multiple games as part of a DOS batch file that starts Windows up, does the processing, then terminates Windows. * Both the shareware and registered EXE may be used to host games regardless of whether individual players are registered or not. Advanced game setup options and custom race creation must still be done by players with registered copies. * The shareware version defaults to Moderate for the starting distance between players. Is there anything else in this upgrade? --------------------------------------- Stars! is a work in progress. We are always making changes. With 1.1, you get the features weíd already coded and tested after releasing 1.0, along with the new features we implemented based on your requests. Weíre including these in this release because, well, thereís no reason not to. So what are the other features we'll get with Version 1.10? ----------------------------------------------------------- * VCR improvements. Weíve added additional fleet information. Attacks now have some animation to help make attack sequences easier to understand. * Scanner mode improvements. You can turn modes like radar coverage, fleet view and planet names on and off independently of each other. A new mode that displays planets based on population has been added. * Cloaking has been reworked. Cloaks may now be used to help cloak uncloaked ships in the same fleet. * Various item costs and abilities have been tweaked to improve game play. For example, the mineral costs of some of the lower tech beam weapons has decreased slightly. * The host mode dialog now displays more information about player status for network games. Did you fix any bugs in this release? ------------------------------------- We fixed all 8 reproducable bugs that people have reported to us. None of these were major, or caused a crash or data corruption. There have been other bugs reported that appear to be problems with specific display drivers. We appreciate any and all bug reports and investigate them all. How do we send you bug reports, suggestions, and feedback? ---------------------------------------------------------- You can mail them to Star Crossed Software, or you can email them to Jeff_McBride@msn.com. Remember that msn is a beta product and often there are delays and mail can be lost. This was why we didn't initially publish an email address for comments. What's the deal with your Web Site? ----------------------------------- We're waiting on Ma Bell to install a 56k line. They promise it will be in by June 12. If you try http://www.webmap.com/stars! at 12:01 am on June 12 and it isn't there, try again in a few days. We're working on it. Really. Are you going to put out the playerís guide in a printable form? ---------------------------------------------------------------- Yes. It will be available on our web site and we'll distribute it at various FTP sites. How do I patch my registered version? ------------------------------------- Place the patch.exe and stars!11.upd in the same directory as your registered version 1.00 of Stars!. Run patch. If I upgrade, do all the other players in my game need to upgrade? ------------------------------------------------------------------ This version is backward compatible with Version 1.00. However, Version 1.00 will NOT read files created by Version 1.10. Do NOT upgrade until AFTER the host of your game has generated a new turn with the new version. If in doubt, back up your game files before upgrading. If you open a 1.00 game and look around and save, and the host hasn't upgraded to 1.10, your history file will be ignored and you will lose all data about previously visited planets. The previous description was confusing. Can you restate that? -------------------------------------------------------------- Sure. If you are playing a game against computer players, upgrade and things will just work. If you are playing a multi-player game. Wait for the host to tell you that they have generated the new turn with the new host. Then upgrade. Do I have to pay for this upgrade? ---------------------------------- This upgrade will be distributed free of charge across the net. If you don't have access to the internet, Star Crossed Software will provide you a patch disk for $5, which includes shipping and handling if you are in the US. Ok, how do these new features actually work? -------------------------------------------- * Accelerated BBS Play. This appears in the New Game Setup. When you check this box, the following happens 1) Players start out with a population 4 times larger than normal. 2) All planets have 20% more minerals. 3) Planets with poor mineral densities are improved by a few percentage points. 4) The default starting distance between players is now "Moderate". What this means is that you can build 5 to 10 ships your first turn if you choose, complete research up to 2 tech levels a year, and in general jump-start the game. You don't need to worry about running out of colonists if you want to send out a bunch of colony ships at the beginning of the game. In practice, games with this option have a lot more decisions to be made from turn 1 on. The first 10 turns accomplish what usually takes about 30 to 50 turns. Games with this option usually have a winner emerging before turn 100. The disadvantage to this option is that some of the subtlety of Stars! is lost. You don't have to make as many of the early resource tradeoffs that have a large impact on your later strategy. Most BBS games will find that this disadvantage is outweighed by the faster pace. * New Stars! command line flags -x Exit Windows when Stars! exits. -b games.txt Generate turns for each game listed in games.txt For example if your BBS is OS/2, NT or Windows-based you can launch Stars! with the -b <filename> parameter to batch generate turns for multiple games. Stars! will automatically exit when the last turn has been generated. The file listing the games should contain one game name per line including the full path like so: c:\games\stars!\play\frenzy.hst c:\games\stars!\play\game.hst c:\user\john\stars!\killer.hst You can name this batch list anything you want. If you are running a DOS based BBS but have some version of Windows installed on the machine, you can launch Windows and Stars! from a nightly maintenance script like this: win c:\games\stars!\stars!.exe -x -b c:\games\stars!\gamelist.txt This will launch Windows and Stars!, generate a turn for each game listed in gamelist.txt, and exit Stars! and Windows. If you have Windows for Workgroups installed you need to use the /n parameter for windows: win /n c:\games\stars!\stars!.exe -x -b c:\games\stars!\gamelist.txt This will prevent Windows for loading any of its network drivers and suppress its login prompt. If you only need to generate a turn for a single game you can still use the -g gamename.hst parameter with or without -x. The -x flag is for 16-bit Windows only. Behaviour of the -x flag on OS/2, Windows NT, or Windows 95 is undefined and probably not what you want. * Shareware version may host registered players Version 1.00 allowed this as well, but would peg all player's tech levels to 10. Version 1.10 will allow registered players to progress up to tech level 26. Shareware players will still be limited to 10. * VCR improvements First, a note: These improvements do not purport to turn the VCR into the best thing since sliced bread. They are incremental improvements that you're getting because they were completed at the time we did the patch. These improvements are only a small fraction of the changes we're planning for the next version. That said, they significantly enhance players' understanding of battles. Attacks are now animated. Laser and torpedo fire are shown to give a better representation of who's attacking whom. The status text to the right of the board now displays the tactic being employed by the active ship. This helps you figure out what your opponent is trying to do. Clicking on the VCR selects the ship in the square (right-clicking brings up a list). A button has been added in the status area that pops up a picture of the hull of the selected ship. The battle plan option "spread out" is a more aggressive at spreading your ship stacks out. * Scanner mode improvements A new scanner mode, Population Value, has been added. This mode displays planets you own in green, planets owned by friends in yellow, and planets owned by neutrals and enemies in red. The bigger the circle, the larger the population. There are now 5 base scanner modes: Normal View -- the standard view your planets and ships view Planet Value -- planet size depends on habitability Minerals at Planet -- pie charts of minerals at the planet Population View -- planet size depends on population No Player Information View -- hides all traces of planet ownership in the scanner The above modes are exclusive w.r.t. each other. The following 5 modes can be overlaid in any combination: Add Waypoint, Radar, Fleet View, Ship Filter, Planet Names. Ship Filter has been expanded to allow multiple ships to be displayed. * Cloaking Changes Cloaking can now be shared by an entire fleet. The cloaking percentage of a fleet is now displayed in the Fleet Composition tile, except when in small screen mode. Cloaking percentage is calculated as follows: In order for matter to be cloaked, it requires a certain number of cloaking units per kT: 100 units/kT 50% cloaked 300 units/kT 75% cloaked 600 units/kT 87.5% cloaked 1000 units/kT 93.75% cloaked Cloaking can never exceed 95% Between those reference points, cloaking percentage is linear. 40 units cloak at 20%, 180 units cloak at 60%, etc. Ship Cloak units are the sum of all cloaking devices on the ship: Transport Cloak (50%) 100 units/kT Stealth Cloak (40%) 80 units/kT Super-Stealth Cloak (65%) 220 units/kT Ultra-Stealth Cloak (75%) 300 units/kT Chameleon Scanner (20%) 40 units/kT The total number of Cloaking units for a ship is obtained by multiplying the Cloak units by the weight of the ship without cargo. To determine the percentage a fleet is cloaked, sum up the total number of cloaking units in the fleet and divide by the mass of the fleet, including fuel and cargo. Example: A small freighter with a Quick Jump 5 engine, Tritanium Armor, and a Transport Cloak weighs 90kT empty. This freighter has 100 units/kT * 90kT = 9000 units of cloaking. By itself, empty, the freighter is visible to enemy scanners at only 50% of their maximum range. If you completely fill the freighter with fuel and cargo, the ship now weighs 360kT. Its cloaking units/kT are 9000 / 360 = 25 units/kT. The freighter is now only 12.5% cloaked. Now assume that the empty freighter is placed in a fleet with an empty scout that has a Quick Jump 5 engine, Laser, and a Bat Scanner, which weighs 15kT when empty. The entire fleet weighs 105kT, so traveling together, this fleet would be 9000 / 105 = 85.7 units/kT approximately 43% cloaked. * Part cost changes You can view these in the tech browser. We will also be publishing this data in table form in the printable documentation. Nothing major, just changing production costs slightly to improve the game balance. * Host dialog improvements The host dialog now displays player's status as dead if they have been eliminated and no longer waits for a turn to be turned in from deceased players. The dialog also shows the status of players who have saved turn changes, but not marked their log file as turned in. Will these changes ever appear in the player's guide? ----------------------------------------------------- Yes, we'll be updating the player's guide and making it available on our Web site.