Night Owl 7/Night Owl Shareware (NOPV7)(Night Owl Publisher Inc.)(1992).bin/022a/sre0984f.arj/SREHELP.TXT

Text File | 1992-06-21 | 27KB | 446 lines

^\74 SRE ^\70│ 0.984 │ Solar Realms Elite                                              ^\07

^\02Written by ^\0AAmit Patel^\02 in ^\0ABorland C++ 3.0^\02 (Borland International)
^\02With the ^\0ASpontaneous Assembly^\02 Library
^\07Call ^\0EThe Solar Realms BBS^\07, sysop ^\0ESunStriker
^\0B(713) 855-1665^\03  Houston, TX

^\02Send comments, registration forms, suggestions, and bug reports to:
^\0AAmit J. Patel
4851 Cairnsean
Houston, TX 77084-2541

^\0ETo get started
^\09──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────^\07
In ^\0FSolar Realms Elite ^\09[^\0BSRE^\09]^\07, you rule a solar empire.
The goal is to become and remain the most powerful empire.  You can gain
strength by buying forces, and you can gain size by colonizing planets.
You start with 2 ore-producing planets, 10000 megatons of food, 100 soldiers,
1 government management planet (if your sysop has government planets enabled),
and 2 generals.  You are required to feed your people and army, and to pay
your planets and army.  If you fail to do these things, disastrous results
may occur.  You are given 20 (set by sysop) turns (years) of protection,
during which you can not attack or be attacked.  You can not perform covert
operations (except Spy).  This provides a way for smaller empires to build up
their defenses and planets before they enter the "real world".

^\03A note on time units in SRE:  ^\0ETurns ^\07and ^\0EYears ^\07are game time
                              ^\0EDays ^\07and ^\0EHours ^\07are real time

The first thing you will see is the lottery.  If you buy a ticket, you must
pick 4 numbers, and depending on how many of your digits match the winning
digits, you may or may not win money.  If you win, the money will go into
your bank account, which can be accessed ^\0CONLY IN THE REGISTERED VERSION^\07
(Get your Sysop to register this game if she or he hasn't already done so!).

The first menu you will come across is the Diplomatic Relations menu.  This
menu has 8 options:

   ^\0E1^\07 - ^\0ANeutrality Treaty^\07 - This is a treaty with another empire that will
       prevent you from being attacked by the other empire ONLY IF the
       treaty is for more than 0 days.  It also allows trading.

   ^\0E2^\07 - ^\0AFree Trade Agreement^\07 - This treaty will also protect you from being
       attacked by the other empire if for more than 0 days.  This treaty
       also will earn money from tariffs from trade with the other empire.

   ^\0E3^\07 - ^\0AMinor Alliance^\07 - This treaty will not only protect you from the other
       empire's attacks, but the other empire will also send you defensive
       forces when you are attacked.  You will automatically send him or her
       forces when he/she is attacked also.

   ^\0E4^\07 - ^\0ATotal Defense^\07 - This is the same as the Minor Alliance, but each of
       you will send more forces in defense than in a Minor Alliance.

   ^\0E5^\07 - ^\0AArmed Defense Pact^\07 - This is a Total Defense pact that only applies
       to soldiers sent in defense, but more soldiers are sent with the Armed
       Defense Pact than with the Total Defense.

   ^\0E6^\07 - ^\0ACruiser Protection Plan^\07 - The heavy cruisers of both empires patrol
       the planet areas of both empires, to provide protection.

   ^\0E7^\07 - ^\0ABreak Treaty^\07 - This will automatically break ANY treaty.  BUT, if the
       treaty is for more than 0 days, the treaty is not broken until the
       other empire plays and learns of it.

   ^\0E8^\07 - ^\0AView Relations^\07 - This gives you a list of relations with other empires.

A treaty is used to ensure protection with your allies.  You can propose
one of the 6 types of treaties with another empire, and if the empire
accepts the treaty, you two will be friendly for a period of time.  If you
specify a length of time for the treaty to be obeyed, during that time, the
treaty is binding.  The other empire may not attack you or perform covert
operations on you.  Likewise, you are prohibited from attacking or
performing covert operations on the other empire.  When the treaty expires,
or if you specify 0 days for the length of the treaty, the treaty still
exists between your empires, but an attack or covert operation is not
strictly prohibited.  Performing one of these actions immediately cancels
the treaty.  Breaking the treaty is also immediate if the treaty has
expired.  Use of these treaties allows small empires to bond together or
with larger empires.  Also, trading is only allowed with empires you have
relations with (by having a treaty).  Both the Neutrality Treaty and the
Free Trade Agreement are meant to allow trading and to show good faith
without making a commitment of forces for defense.  A guerilla ambush,
however, is a surprise attack, and military defense treaties do not help
the defender.

Next, you will see a status screen with information about your empire.  It
will show such items as your credits, the number of each type of force you
own, the number of each type of planet you have, the condition of your
empire, the efficiency of your army, the number of covert agents you have,
and your population.

You will next be prompted to pay your forces.  You will have to pay to
maintain your planets, pay the bank (if you have a loan), "donate" to the
Galactic Coordinator, and spend money to reduce crime.  If you do not have
enough money, you may not have to donate, and if the game is REGISTERED,
and the sysop has installed a bank, you may visit the bank before paying
the forces (to get a loan or withdraw your savings).

   ^\0ENOTE^\07 : The number in brackets ^\09[]^\07 is the default.  If you press
          ^\09[^\0BENTER^\09]^\07, the default will be used.
          If it shows as ^\09[^\0BMAX=^\03####^\09]^\07, it is the maximum; default 0.
          If you press ^\0F>^\07, it enters the maximum number for you.

Then you will go to the food market where you can Buy or Sell food.  The
Food Market is owned by the Galactic Coordinator, who is trying to make a
profit.  It sets prices depending on how much food the market has, so if
there is a lot of food, the prices will be lower, and less food means
higher prices.  Also, your advisors will tell you whether you are not
producing enough food per turn to feed everyone.

Next, you must feed your population and army.  This is exactly like Paying
them.  If you can not feed them, you will be asked if you would like to
return to the Food Market to buy more food.  The default amount of food
to buy is the exact amount you need.

You next come to the covert operations menu ^\09only if^\07 you have covert agents.
Here are the options in this menu :
    ^\0A1^\0B - Send Spy^\07
        You can get information about another empire, similar but less
        detailed than your own status screen.  Spying may not always be
        successful, but you can guarantee that you can get a spy report by
        bribing a spy in the other empire (see option 9).  You can spy as many
        times as you like.
   ^\03*^\0A2^\0B - Insurgent Aid^\07
        By sending rebellious troublemakers and pamphlets an opponent empire,
        you can increase the internal violence in that empire.  To restore
        peace may be costly or impossible for the other emperor, and may cause
        civil war.  The violence in the other empire will cause tourism
        profits to decrease and the population to drop.  Insurgent Aid can be
        attempted once per turn per empire.  It's harder to do Insurgent Aid
        if the other empire is ^\03already^\07 in civil disorder.
   ^\03*^\0A3^\0B - Set up^\07
        Your spies send reports to empire A that it was attacked by empire B.
        Empire B receives a report that empire A attacked it.  Although the
        two empires may have been at peace prior to your meddling, they will
        believe that they were attacked by the other, and may retaliate.  This
        operation can be performed once per day to the empires.  You cannot
        set up empire A with empire B and then empire A with empire C on the
        same day, but you can set up A and B and then C and D.
   ^\03*^\0A4^\0B - Support Dissension^\07
        Your spies will encourage the opponent empires's soldiers to desert
        their posts.  This operation can be performed once per day per empire.
        Your spies will not attempt the action for 12 real hours.
   ^\03*^\0A5^\0B - Demoralize Troops^\07
        By sending distractions and interruptions to the target empire, you
        can reduce the training efficiency of their soldiers and reduce the
        effectiveness of the army.  You can demoralize troops of each empire
        only once per day.  Your spies will not attempt the action for 12
        real hours.
   ^\03*^\0A6^\0B - Bombing Operations^\07
        Your spies can booby-trap the target's food supplies.  Some or
        all of the food may be blown up.  This is useful in starving another
        empire to death.  You can bomb the food supplies of each empire
        only once per day.
   ^\03*^\0A7^\0B - Relations Spying^\07
        Your agents discover the treaties held by another empire.  You can
        perform this action as many times as you like.
   ^\03*^\0A8^\0B - Take Hostages^\07
        Your terrorist spies capture a prominent official from the other
        empire and demand a sum of money for his or her return.  The opponent
        emperor is forced to pay the fee, and you will receive the money.
        Taking hostages can be done once per day per empire.  The terrorists
        wait 12 real hours before performing the action.
   ^\03*^\0A9^\0B - Bribe Personnel^\07
        Bribing a spy in the other empire, you can be guaranteed spy reports
        without fear of your spy being executed.

   ^\03*^\07 - Only available when NOT in protection.

If your sysop is running the ^\0BREGISTERED^\07 version, and the bank is
enabled, you will enter the bank.  You can deposit credits as a savings
account, on which you will earn interest, or get a loan, which you will
have to pay yearly installments.  Each year, interest is accumulated
on a savings account or on a loan.  Early payback of a loan reduces some
of the interest costs.  You can also invest in Galactic Coordinator Bonds.
They cost 7500 credits and they return 10,000 credits after some amount
of time.

You will then come to the ^\0Egovernment spending^\07 menu.  You have the option
of buying various forces.  Some are defensive, and others are offensive:
  ^\0ASoldiers                   ^\03Defensive and Offensive
  ^\0AFighters                   ^\03Offensive
  ^\0ADefense Stations           ^\03Defensive
  ^\0AHeavy Cruisers             ^\03Defensive and Offensive

^\07You can also Colonize Planets:
  ^\0EFood^\07
                            On these planets, huge farms produce food,
                            which is required for your empire to survive.
                            An alternative to having food planets is to
                            buy from the food market each year, but the
                            risks are that the supply of food in the food
                            market may run out.  Having a food planet is
                            safer, but costs more than buying food from
                            the market.  Having too many food planets
                            leads to food surpluses, which can be sold
                            for low prices to the market, or saved for
                            a later time.
  ^\0EOre^\07
                            A stable source of income, ore planets continue
                            to function even during wars and domestic
                            troubles.  They can be valuable if your tourism
                            planets are not producing a good income during
                            troubled times.
  ^\0ETourism^\07
                            Producing more money (on average) than ore
                            planets, the tourism planets depend upon the
                            tourists spending money.  During periods that
                            your empire is not ^\03PEACEFUL^\07 (such as after a
                            civil war), the tourist attractions earn very
                            little or nothing.  Too many tourism planets
                            can cause your empire to be dependent on
                            peaceful times, and the empire can easily
                            collapse if you do have internal troubles.
  ^\0ESoldier^\07
                            Multiple military training camps train soldiers
                            for your army.  Approximately 10 soldiers are
                            produced per planet per year.  Although buying
                            soldiers seems to be a better option, the
                            soldier planets are better once your empire
                            becomes larger, since the prices of soldiers
                            rise to several thousand.  Also, soldier planets
                            are more convenient.
  ^\0ESupply^\07
                            Your sysop may have Supply planets enabled instead
                            of Soldier planets.  Supply planets produce all
                            types of military rather than only soldiers.  This
                            makes it even more convenient to keep a constant
                            production of a good military.
  ^\0EGovernment^\07
                            The base of the government agencies, these
                            planets house the generals, who not only are
                            military commanders, but are important
                            political figures as well.  They set up bases
                            of operations for which they required 1/50th
                            of the planet's usable land area.  Therefore,
                            50 generals can use a single government planet.
                            The covert agents also roam these planets, and
                            having over 300 spies on one planet causes them
                            to fight each other for territory, leading to
                            internal conflicts.
  ^\0EEducation^\07
                            Educational planets have large universities to
                            which students come from independent planets,
                            where the educational facilities are not as
                            large as those that your empire can afford.
                            After seeing your empire's resources and power,
                            most of the students remain in your empire to
                            add to your general population.
  ^\0EResearch^\07
                            These planets are set up as scientific research
                            laboratories in which developments may or may
                            not occur.  If a breakthrough occurs, it may
                            benefit your empire and give you an edge over
                            other empires that do not have your technology.
                            The benefits are reported to you before the
                            first status screen.  They include such things
                            as proteins to increase crop yield on food
                            planets to new tourist attractions that
                            increase tourism planet revenues.  Some of the
                            benefits will last forever and others are only
                            temporary.
  ^\0EUrban^\07
                            Urban planets are devoted to housing people.
                            Since every city has internal commerce in the
                            form of stores, fuel docks, and other
                            services, the urban planets earn revenue in the
                            form of sales taxes.  Urban planets also
                            increase the population of your empire, and as
                            a result, increase the income taxes earned
                            from your people.  Don't underestimate their
                            power --- even though they seem to do very little
                            at first, they become more influential the longer
                            you've had them.
  ^\0EPetroleum^\07
                            These planets supply petroleum (oil) to the
                            galaxy.  All planets in the galaxy require
                            petroleum to run machinery and vehicles.  If
                            there are few petroleum planets, the demand
                            for oil will be higher and the income per
                            petroleum planet will be higher.  If there are
                            too many of these planets, the price of oil
                            will drop, and so will profits.  One problem
                            of petroleum planets is high pollution.
  ^\0EAnti-Pollution^\07
                            Anti-pollution planets are completely covered
                            with forests and jungles to absorb the toxic
                            chemicals released into the galactic atmosphere
                            by petroleum planets.  Pollution causes reduced
                            tourism, so the anti-pollution planets are
                            neccessary to keep tourism active and also to
                            reduce emmigration.

You can build a ^\03command ship^\07, which will add power to your heavy
cruisers during battle.  The command ship's strength increases by 5%
automatically (at no cost) each turn.  You can also build it up by spending
money (to build faster).  In battle, one general is required to command
every 50 soldiers.  One carrier is needed to transport 100 fighters to
the site of conflict.

You may also buy ^\02covert agents^\07, which allow you to perform ^\04immoral^\07 acts
on other empires, such as spying, encouraging soldiers to dissent, taking
hostages, setting up two empires against each other, reducing another
army's effectiveness with distractions, and aiding rebels to produce
internal conflicts.  Covert agents are very useful to bring down a large
empire if you are a small empire.

You can also sell any item except a planet or the command ship for one-
half of the current price.  This can allow you to have ^\09"^\0Binvestments^\09"^\07:
you can buy an item at a low price when your empire is small and as
inflation causes prices to rise, you can wait until the prices are twice
as much as when you bought the item, and then you can sell the item
for a profit.  When you sell a planet, you can release it, but you will
not receive any money for it.

The system menu can be accessed by pressing ^\09[^\0B*^\09]^\07.  The system menu allows
you to go back to the bank or covert operations menu.  It also lets you
see your status screen or the scores.  You can buy a Super Lottery Ticket
in this menu.  One Super Lottery Ticket is selected at the end of the day
to be the winner.  All players will be notified of the winner of the
jackpot.  From the system menu, you can configure the game to your suiting,
(like changing colors, choosing short/long descriptions, etc.), see the
intructions (this file!), check waiting trade deals, abdicate (who'd want to
do that?), and set the taxation rate (the percentage your police steal from
each person's pocketbook every year).

After you are finished spending, you are given the option to attack
another player.  You cannot attack a player that is in protection;
you cannot attack if you are in protection, unless you wish to void
your protection.  To void your protection, you are required to be a
large enough empire with an adequate defense force.  You are not allowed
to attack an empire that you have a ^\03binding treaty^\07 with.  Treaties
that have expired but that are still in effect are no longer binding,
and attacking that empire will cancel the treaty.

^\0AConventional Attack^\07
The normal way to attack another empire, the conventional attack uses
your soldiers (led by generals), fighters, and heavy cruisers for battle
and looting.  If you win, you can capture some of the opponent's planets
and take some of the money.  The battle comes after a declaration of
war, so the opponent has time to call her or his allies for defense.
This is the only honorable way to fight another empire.

^\0AGuerilla Ambush^\07
This somewhat immoral act is a surprise attack on the opponent that allows
no warning, so the victim empire has no time to call allies.  Also, the
soldiers are randomly shooting at the enemy, so no generals are needed
to lead them.  There is no good way of knowing the enemy casualties, and
no planets can be captured.  However, fear can be spread in the civilian
areas of the opponent's empire, and some of the soldier defenses can be
weakened.  There is a risk that the opponent will capture a few of your
soldiers and discover your identity; otherwise your attack will go
unnoticed.

^\0ANuclear Offensive^\07
Rumours have spread concerning nuclear weapons that are being sold on
the black market, now even in our galaxy.  The Galactic Coordinator is
currently trying to destroy the sources of these weapons.  It may be a
while before you are able to get nuclear weapons, if at all.  Nuclear
weapons can spread radiation and make dead planets from productive ones.
Naturally, any empire caught using nuclear weapons will be punished or
eliminated by the Galactic Coordinator.  If you think you can withstand
the force of The Galaxy's forces, you can take the risk...

^\0AChemical Warfare^\07
Poisonous chemicals have been banned in our galaxy, but exist in many of
the barbaric galaxies in the universe.  Occasionally these chemicals are
brought to our galaxy for causing human misery.  Due to the highly
uncivilized nature of these weapons, the Galactic Coordinator is tightly
enforcing the ban.  If you found even possessing chemicals that can be
used for chemical warfare, you will be instantly annihilated by The
Galaxy's army.  Don't even think of using these.

^\0APirate Raid^\07
If you pay attention to the events that occur before the status screen,
you may notice that various teams of Pirates take some of your military,
covert agents, planets, food, or money.  You can raid these foes from the
attack menu by sending a military and lots of money to capture back some
of their goods.  Included in the items you capture may be items that they
have captured from other empires.

After you have finished in the battle section, you may trade with another
empire.  You can trade with any player that you have a treaty with, even
if the treaty has expired.  You can choose how much you would like to
send to the other empire, and how much you will demand in return.  If you
are generous, you may wish to send items without demanding anything in
return.  Trading requires enough carriers to carry everything you send
^\0Dand^\07 to carry everything that will be sent back.  With trading,
if you are a small empire, you can send items to a larger empire and
demand more money than you paid for them.  The larger empire will be
receiving these items for less then the prices are there, and you will
be able to sell them for more than you bought them for.  This is ^\0Fvery^\07
profitable for both empires.

Sometimes, you may get a ^\0FResearch Development^\07 menu.  Usually your
research development teams work on their own, but you can occasionally
direct them to work on a specific advancement.  You can spend "research
points" which are created by research planets to improve your planets'
efficiency.

The final status screen will then be displayed.  This screen tells you
how much your population has changed, and in what ways.  People leave
and die when you have internal conflicts, and they come and are born
when your empire is running well.  The immigration rate is increased
by getting education planets, and the birth rate increases with urban
planets.  The death rate increases with overcrowding, and the emmigration
rate increases with violence in your empire.  Also shown on this screen
are losses from a civil war, if you have one.

You are asked if you would like to continue playing your turns, or if
you would like to quit.  If you quit, you will see the score list, and
then you will be allowed to write messages.  Messages can be written
to one or more players.  To write to all players, press ^\09"^\0B*^\09"^\07, meaning
public message.  Press ^\0BRETURN^\07 to stop toggling players and to
start writing the message.  Each time you start a new line of the
message, the current line number is displayed.  You can type up to ^\0399^\07 lines
in each message.  Enter a line with just ^\09"^\0B/S^\09"^\07 on it to end the message.  You
can choose to make the message anonymous if you wish.

As if this weren't enough, you will also need to think about your strategies.
The types of planets you buy will probably be the most influence in
determining how successful you are (for a while, at least).  Some players
go for Tourism because it makes a lot of money; others go for Ore since
it is stable and does not lose profits when your empire goes through civil
war.  Others like Education and Urban planets and collect high taxes.  There
are many other strategies available to you, so explore the possibilities!

^\0EA Note from the Galactic Coordinator^\09  (^\0BIt^\09)^\07
  "Asks you-Why does It collect taxes?  It have to fund the food market.
   It run a communications network that gives all empires free message
   transmissions and free notices when they attacked.  It also have to
   pay the losses on the Super Daily Lottery, 12% of each day's prize
   comes out of Its money.  Then maintain an army It must to stop you big
   empire from using chemical and nuclear weapons; It to protect empires
   under "protection" supply security; It also spend money stopping black
   market men.  On humans It spend a lot of time and money providing, so
   taxes a little you should pay."          ^\01─^\09─^\0BGalactic Coordinator^\07

(don't tell ^\03It^\07 that ^\03It^\07 has bad sentences──It's struggling with English.)

^\0EThat's about all!  Enjoy the Game!

^\0B                                Amit Patel^\03, programmer