From: greg@athena.cs.uga.edu (Greg Whitlock)
Subject: VGAPLANETS: Location and Description
Organization: University of Georgia, Athens
Date: Fri, 11 Dec 1992 23:01:53 GMT

I've seen many posts about where/what is VGAplanets. Here's some
info:

anonymous ftp VGAplanets from:  ftp.ucsc.edu
location: PC/vgaplanets-2.1/

ftp all the files from that directory.

Here's the planets1.doc that comes with the game.  If this interest
you, then planets2.doc can be found in the game package.

Hope this helps.

-greg

---------------------------planets1.doc-----------------------------

                VGA Planets(tm) Version 2.1 (9/12/92)

(0.0) ABOUT VERSION NUMBERS

         This is version 2.1 and will work with all pervious other
      version 2.1 releases. There are two major bug fixes in this
      program. One in HOST.EXE that fixes the problem with it
      crashing when a starbase is built. The other fix is in
      MAKETURN.EXE. It now sends messages correctly. All names
      that may be considered by some to be trademarks have been
      removed. From now on the date that the program was last
      updated to take care of any bugs will be shown on the main
      title screen. If there is not a date shown at the bottom
      of main title screen then it is a version from before (9/12/92).
      See PLANETS2.DOC section 9.0 to see a history of bug fixes.

(1.0) INTRODUCTION TO VGA PLANETS

         VGA Planets is a graphical multi-player play by turn war game
      which simulates combat in space between  galactic  empires.  The
      game  emphasizes  mining,  colonization  and the construction of
      starships. The players compete against each  other  economically
      and  militarily  on  a  galactic  scale.  The game system allows
      players to construct their own starships  by  selecting  various
      components  and  placing them on a given hull type. The game can
      handle from 2 to 11 players. The game is designed to be a BBS or
      Net game. This game can also be played on  one  computer  alone.
      This  is NOT a door game. The game can be played on any BBS that
      supports file transfers, with or without the sysop's help.

         VGA Planets can be compared to a 11 player  chess  game.  The
      game  is  a  play  by turn game much like chess. The game can be
      played on any IBM compatible with VGA  graphics  and  a  286  or
      faster CPU with a hard drive.

(1.1) THE SCENARIO:

         Ten  years  ago  a  small  fleet of freighters left your home
      world in a quest to  find  new  worlds  to  colonize.  Half  way
      through  your  journey  you lost all contact with fleet command.
      You then begin to fear the worst, a full scale galactic war  may
      have  broken  out  and  your small fleet may be the last of your
      race.

         You left home with four very special ships that were equipped
      with tech 17 Bussard Ramscoops which  gather  low  grade  matter
      from  the  interstellar  medium  and  converts it to anti-matter
      fuel. The tech 17 Bussard Ramscoop Fuel Ships  served  you  well
      until   you  lost  the  last  one  a  year  ago  when  the  final
      cobalt-lanthanide-boronite fractionator coil (CLBF  coil)  burnt
      out,  your fleet was then forced to make the rest of the journey
      burning low grade neutronic fuel. Your fleet finally arrived  at
      your  goal, the small Echo open star cluster on the outer tip of
      third major arm of the Milky Way. This open cluster contains 500
      planets that are all named after the stars from your  home  star
      sectors.

         The  last  fuel base you passed is over 7000 light years away
      and you are unable to build new CLBF coils. In  fact,  the  only
      know  source  of  CLBF  coils  is small super high tech research
      station ran by a group of Andromedians near  the  galactic  core
      30000  light  years away. The coils are shipped to all the major
      homeworlds by  Endoane traders. A  shipment  of  supplies  which
      included  20  new  CLBF coils was following one year behind your
      fleet until it was lost  to  a  unknown  band  of  pirates.  The
      highest  tech level ever achieved by your race has been tech 10,
      so it is really very unlikely that you  will  ever  be  able  to
      build  any  CLBF  coils  on  your  own.  Unless  you are able to
      reestablish contact with your homeworld  or  a  supply  shipment
      shows up you can regard this as a one way mission.

         Upon  arrival  at  the  first  world  you  came  to  all your
      starships were landed on the planets  surface  to  be  converted
      into  raw materials for the building of mines, factories and one
      low tech starbase. A small local system freighter  and  a  small
      capital ship was built as soon as your starbase was completed.

         You  soon  learn  that  you are not alone. Moving across your
      starcharts are enemy races that have followed you to  this  star
      cluster.  You  must  now put every effort into building the most
      powerful fleet of war ships possible before  you  are  attacked.
      Your best hope is to send small freighters in every direction to
      drop off colonists and supplies so that they can grow in numbers
      on new planets and extract the minerals that your starbase needs
      to build more ships.

         You need to act fast because your enemies will most likely be
      trying  to  expand  also.  Pay close attention to the starchart,
      because you will be able to  see  your  enemy's  ships  as  they
      travel between planets. Good luck...

(1.2) HELP!

         In  the  game you can press <H> on most screens to see a help
      screen that explains the that part of the game to you.

(1.3) GAME MAIL PACKETS

         The game works in much the same way as a mail reader program.
      The game is played offline in the same way that  a  mail  reader
      reads  mail  offline.  The game is moderated by the one computer
      which is playing host. The host computer generates game  results
      mail  packets  (  named PLAYER1.RST to PLAYER11.RST depending on
      which races are active in the game ) that are  then  transported
      to  the  players where ever they are... you can attach the files
      to EMail, use a BBS SIG to post the files to, send  the  packets
      over  the  Net or pass the files around on floppies. The players
      then run a unpack  (  UNPACK.EXE  )  program  that  decodes  and
      expands  the  game  results  mail packet into several data files
      before running the planets  main  program  (  PLANETS.EXE  )  to
      actually  play  the game. When you are playing the game you will
      be able to order your starships  around,  build  new  starships,
      receive  messages and perform many other fascinating activities.
      When a player has  completed  their  game  turn  they  exit  the
      PLANETS.EXE  program  and  run  a  program ( MAKETURN.EXE ) that
      packs the new data into a PLAYER1.TRN ( for player  one  )  file
      that is sent back to the host computer. After ALL the .TRN files
      from all the players are gathered together into one directory by
      the  person  hosting  the  game  the  program HOST.EXE is ran to
      decode  all  the  .TRN  files  at  once  and  generate  the  new
      PLAYER1.RST  ...  PLAYER11.RST files which are then sent back to
      all the players so that they can do this all over again. In many
      ways HOST.EXE acts like a mail server.

         NOTE: If any players miss out on a turn the game will continue
               just fine. Their ships and planets will continue
               performing their last order. Ships will continue on the
               same coarse and speed and planets will continue to mine
               minerals and produce supplies. A missed turn CAN'T be
               made up! The host can not use old .TRN files they are
               meaningless.

(1.4) THE HOST.EXE PROGRAM

         ALL the .TRN files of the players from all the players who are
      taking part in the current turn must be in the game host directory
      when you run HOST.EXE.

         You can only run HOST.EXE ONCE per game turn.

         Running HOST.EXE outside the directory that contains the game
      universe data files DOES NOTHING!

         .TRN files from other games are rejected by HOST.EXE and erased.

      My main play tester called me up and told me the following problem:

         Nine people are currently playing a game. One person somehow
      lost their .RST file. So they had the person hosting the game
      run HOST.EXE again. The player with the missing file then put the
      new .RST file on floppy and went home. They next day everyone
      puts all nine of their .TRN files in the host directory and
      HOST.EXE is ran. Everyone notices none of their new commands are
      reconized and the HOST.EXE says all but one of the files are stale.
      What went wrong?!?

         Answer: When HOST.EXE was run the second time all old .TRN files
      and .RST files became stale files from last turn. Only the player
      that lost the .RST has a fresh file after they grabbed the new
      .RST file after the HOST.EXE program ran. All eight of the other
      players missed TWO turns because of this. The last turn because
      they had not turned in their .TRN files yet and the current turn
      because the files that they did turn in were stale and had to
      be rejected.
      
         Only ran HOST.EXE ONE TIME per turn.

         You may wish to make a backup directory to store all the
      current .RST files after you run HOST.EXE.

         Don't let anyone talk you into running HOST.EXE before the
      players have turned in their current .TRN files.

         HOST.EXE needs all the .TRN files all the players who are
      going to be in on the current game turn, because all the action
      and interaction between players TAKES PLACE AT ONCE, when HOST.EXE
      is ran.

         There is no reason for a anyone other then the game host's
      computer to run HOST.EXE.

      Stale File:    A .RST or .TRN from a previous game turn.
                  The HOST.EXE program rejects all stale .TRN files.
                  The player with the stale file will miss a turn.
                  If you unpack a stale .RST file all your data files
                  will be stale and you will end up producing a stale
                  .TRN file when you run MAKETURN.EXE.

      Fresh File: A .RST or .TRN from the current game.

         When a person misses a game turn. They MUST get a fresh
      .RST file from the host computer. Or they will end up with a
      stale .TRN file.

(1.5) BBS HOST SYSOP

         Just how many turns there are per day are  completely  up  to
      the person hosting the game.  You may wish to have only one game
      turn  per  day. If you are a sysop you may wish to just put in a
      little batch file that is run every day at clean  up  time  that
      has  your machine copy all the PLAYER*.TRN files into the proper
      directory, perform  a  game  turn ( run HOST.EXE ) and copy  the
      PLAYER*.RST  files  into a  directory from which the players can
      then download their file.

         If you have 120K or more of free memory you can run  HOST.EXE
      from a DOS shell.

         The game administrator has the option when first starting the
      game to give each race their own password  so  that  even  if  a
      player  is  able  to  download  another  player's .RST file that
      player will be unable to  open  it  without  the  real  player's
      password.

         I  strongly  advise the sysop set up the BBS in such a manner
      that the .TRN files can only be uploaded by the proper  players,
      unless  you feel that you can trust your players. For example: I
      am player 2 ( The Lizard Player ). The file that I upload  to  the
      BBS  host  computer  is  "PLAYER2.TRN". The file that I download
      from the BBS host is "PLAYER2.RST". Nobody else should have  the
      ability  to  upload  a  file  named "PLAYER2.TRN" and mess up my
      turn. Most BBS's are set up in such a way that I can  upload  my
      new  "PLAYER2.TRN"  over top of my old "PLAYER2.TRN" file and no
      one else can upload a file by that name.

         The .TRN and .RST are very small files and compressed by the
      game's programs. I really don't see any need to compress the files
      any more. I have never seen a UPLOAD (.TRN) take more then 2 SECONDS
      and a DOWNLOAD (.RST) no more the 20 SECONDS.

(1.6) INDEPENDENT HOST

         An independent host is a BBS user ( or Net  user  )  that  is
      hosting   a   VGA  Planets  game  on  their  own  computer.  The
      independent host uses the BBS only for a means  of  transferring
      the .RST and .TRN files to and from all the players in the game.
      The  easiest  way  of  moving  the files around is to attach the
      files to Email.

         Once  a  day  the  person  acting  as  the  independent  host
      downloads  all  the  .TRN files sent to him from all the players
      in the game and places the files  into  the  planets  directory,
      performs  a  turn  and  mails  the  .RST  files  back to all the
      players.

         The independent host should be sure to tell all  the  players
      what  time  the .TRN files have to be in by, when then next turn
      will take place and when they can log back onto the BBS to  pick
      up their new .RST file.

(1.7) PLANETS ON ONE COMPUTER

         A  group of people can set up a game on one computer and take
      turns playing out their  turn.  After  everyone  has  had  their
      chance  to  play out their turn the game administrator will then
      exit the PLANETS.EXE program,  run  MAKETURN.EXE,  HOST.EXE  and
      finally UNPACK.EXE. All this will perform the math and file data
      file building for the next turn. The players can then once again
      take turns playing out their turn.

         All  the  files  remain in one directory on the computer. You
      may use the TURN.BAT file to run all  the  above  files  in  the
      correct order and return to the planets game automatically.

(1.8) PLANETS ON MANY COMPUTERS IN THE SAME BUILDING

         All   the  computers  must  have  the  planets  player  files
      installed in a directory. One computer must act as host and have
      the host files installed. You can use a network to transfer .RST
      and .TRN file back and forth or you can use a pair of floppies.

         If you are going to be using a pair of floppies:
      ....................................................................
         Label floppy one ".RST result files".

         Place the ".RST result files" floppy into the host computer
      and copy all the *.RST files from the Planets directory onto it.

         Pass the floppy around to each player so that they  can  copy
      the  file  that  belongs  to  them into their Planets directory.
      (HINT: player 2, the Lizard player,  has  the  game  installed  in
      directory  c:\PLANETS,  so...  the  Lizard places the
      ".RST  result  files"  floppy  into  drive  a:  and  types
      "copy a:\player2.rst c:\planets" ...  wham...  bam...  The  Lizard
      player  then  passes  the  floppy  along  to the next player who
      hasn't yet gotten their .RST file yet.)

         Players must run UNPACK.EXE to unpack  and  decode  the  .RST
      files.  The  players may then run PLANETS.EXE and play the game.
      After they finish their turn they then exit  the  game  and  run
      MAKETURN.EXE which generates a .TRN file.

         Label floppy two ".TRN the players turns".

         Pass  ".TRN the players turns" around to each player that has
      finished their game  turn  and  ran  MAKETURN.EXE  already.  The
      players then copy the .TRN file in their game directory onto the
      floppy  and  pass  the  floppy  along to the next player. (HINT:
      player 1, the federation player, has the game installed  in  the
      directory  c:\PLANETS, so the fed player places the floppy ".TRN
      the   player   turns"   in   drive   a:    and    types    "copy
      c:\planets\player1.trn  a:"  wham...  bam... The fed player then
      passes the floppy along to the next player)

         After all the .TRN files are gathered  they  are  all  copied
      into  the  hosts  directory  from  the  floppy ".TRN the players
      turns".

         The game administrator will  then  run  HOST.EXE  which  will
      decode all the .TRN files and generation brand new .RST files.

         The whole cycle repeats...
      ....................................................................

(1.9)  Playing planets from the HOST dir in a multi-computer game.

        You ready shouldn't play planets from the host directory if you
     are hosting a game where files (.TRN) and (.RST) are being
     transfered back and forth over modem or net. Set up another
     directory to play the game. The danger in playing from the HOST
     directory is you may clobber the in coming .TRN files by mistake
     when you run MAKETURN and the .RST files when you run UNPACK.
     If you do everyone but yourself will end up STALE! files and
     their commands will be thrown away.
        But if you MUST! play from the HOST directory then make
     sure you copy all the players .TRN files into the HOST directory
     AFTER!!!! you run maketurn to make your own .TRN file.
        After you have ran host you must copy all the other players
     .RST files out of the HOST directory and into a safe directory
     (the down load directory) BEFORE!!!! you run UNPACK or you will
     clobber and erase all the players .RST files before they get a
     chance to grab them.
        NEVER run TURN.BAT in a multi-computer game! TURN.BAT is
     for local games (one computer, one game directory).
        Please write your own batch files to make sure you do it
     right every time.
               For example:
                          maketurn
                          copy c:\updir\*.TRN c:\planets\
                          host.exe
                          copy *.RST c:\downdir\
                          unpack.exe
                          planets.exe

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
(2.0) PLANETARY ECONOMY

        The planetary economy is based on mining, factory production,
     taxes and population.

(2.1) MINERALS

         There are 4 types of minerals:

         Neutronium  is  the  super  dense  mineral  used  for fuel on
      starships. It is far too  unstable  for  use  in  building  ship
      components.

         Duranium  is  a  very  strong mineral used to build the frame
      work of starship components and the armor skin of starbases  and
      fighters.

         Tritanium  is  a  mineral that is able to withstand very high
      pressures and  temperatures.  It  is  used  widely  in  starship
      construction.

         Molybdenum  is  used mainly in high power energy wave guides.
      It is important for weapon construction and engine construction.
      High tech components tend to use greater amounts  of  molybdenum
      then lower tech components.

(2.2) MINES

         Mines  extract  minerals  from  the planet core as long as at
      least one of the four minerals are present. If no  minerals  are
      present  mines  are  completely  useless. The cost of building a
      mine is 4 megacredits and a supply unit. The maximum  number  of
      mines  that  can  be  constructed  on a planet is limited by the
      size of your colonist population.

         Starships and colonists can  take  a  mining  survey  of  the
      planet  which  will  show you a graph of the amounts of minerals
      remaining unmined in the planets  core  and  a  listing  of  the
      amounts  of  ore  that  have been mined so far and are ready for
      use.

         The survey will also tell you the number of mines present  on
      the planet. The rate which your mines can extract ore out of the
      ground  depends  on the concentration of the ore. There are five
      grades mineral concentration.
           1. very scattered
           2. scattered
           3. dispersed ( three mines can extract a KT per turn  )
           4. concentrated
           5. large masses ( one mine can extract a KT per turn )

         The  amount of mineral in a planet is rated at five different
      grades.
           1. none
           2. very rare
           3. rare
           4. common
           5. very common
           6. abundant

(2.3) FACTORIES

         Factories  produce  one  supply  unit  each turn. The cost of
      building a factory is 3 megacredits and  one  supply  unit.  The
      maximum  number  of  factories that you can build on a planet is
      limited by the size of your colonist population.

(2.4) DEFENSE POSTS

         Defense posts protect the planet  from  attacking  starships.
      The  cost  of  building a defense post is 10 megacredits and one
      supply unit. The maximum number of defense posts you  can  build
      on a planet is limited by the size of your colonist population.

(2.5) SUPPLIES

         The  supplies  produced  by  your factories can be carried by
      starship to new planets to be used to build new factories, mines
      and defense posts. You  can  also  sale  supply  units  for  one
      megacredit each.

(2.6) TAXES AND POPULATIONS

         By  taxing  the  colonist  and  native  populations  you  can
      generate megacredits  for  building  mines,  factories,  defense
      posts, a starbase and starship components.

         The populations will become upset with you if the tax rate is
      too high or there is over population. They may also become upset
      if  there  are too many mines, factories or defense posts, if an
      environmentalist movement begins within the population.  Over  a
      number  of  turns  the  populations  of a planet may become very
      unhappy. If they ever become too unhappy they will start a  riot
      or  even  a civil war. If this happens they will kill each other
      and destroy your mines, factories and defense posts.

         The tax rate tends to slow down the birth rate. You  can  use
      this  factor  to  prevent  over  population. Keep in mind that a
      population with a tax rate of 0 will  cause  the  population  to
      expand at the maximum possible rate.

         A  planet's  climate  will also effect the maximum population
      and the birth rate. Temperate  warm  planets  provide  the  best
      possible conditions for all lifeforms. Desert and arctic planets
      are the worst possible conditions for life. If the population is
      ever  greater  then the population that the planet's climate can
      sustain the planet will consume supplies in order to survive. If
      the climate is too harsh you may have to make regular  freighter
      runs of supplies to the planet to keep the colonists alive.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

(3.00) STARSHIPS

         Starships are built at starbases out of three basic minerals,
      Tritanium, Duranium and Molybdenum. The starships travel at very
      high  speeds  between  planets  performing various missions. The
      funds needed to build starships is taken  directly  out  of  the
      planetary  economy.  The starships transport cargo and colonists
      as well as battle enemy ships.

(3.01) TECH LEVELS

         There are four different tech levels at every starbase. These
      four tech levels are, starship hulls, starship engines, starship
      beam weapons and starship torpedoes. The tech levels range  from
      1 to 6 in the evaluation version of this game and 1 to 10 in the
      expanded registered version. You must spend megacredits for each
      leap  in  tech  level  you  take.  The cost of each jump in tech
      levels increases as you move up in tech levels.

         Your choice of starship components increases as you  increase
      your  tech  level.  The cost of high tech starship components is
      far most then basic low tech versions of the same components.

         Every starbase's tech levels are  independent  of  all  other
      starbases.  When  you  build a new starbase all four tech levels
      start at level 1.

(3.02) NEW SHIPS

         The most important part of a starship is the  hull.  At  hull
      tech level one you have a choice of only about 3 different types
      of  hulls.  At  higher  tech  levels  you may have as many as 20
      different types of hulls, depending on the galactic empire  race
      you as playing.

         The hull is the spaceframe that all other starship components
      are  mounted  on to form a ship. Hulls require anywhere from one
      to as many as ten engines depending  on  the  type.  As  a  rule
      smaller ships have only one or two engines.

         Some  hulls  come  with fighter bays. These ships are able to
      carry and launch fighters.

         Some ships have areas that you can mount  torpedo  launchers.
      Starships  that  have  torpedo  launchers  can  carry  and  fire
      torpedoes at enemy  ships.  There  are  10  different  types  of
      torpedoes and torpedo launchers.

         Most  ships are able to have beam weapons. These are the main
      weapons used on starships. There are 10  different  types.  Beam
      weapons  are very useful at destroying enemy fighters as well as
      firing directly at the enemy ship.

         From the starbase's starship building screen you are given  a
      chance  to  pick the components that you wish to put together to
      form a ship. If you lack a part you can call a sub  screen  that
      allows  you  to  build a new part, such as a engine, a weapon or
      even a whole new hull. After you have decided on all  the  parts
      to put together to form a new ship your plan is submitted to the
      starbase. Your new ship will be completed the following turn.

(3.03) WEAPON BANKS AND FIGHTER BAYS

         There  are different types of weapons systems that a ship may
      have. The main weapon system is a beam  type  weapon  (  lasers,
      phasers,  etc  ).  A  beam  type weapon draws its power from the
      ships engines, so as long as an engine  is  working  the  weapon
      will have energy to fire.

         The  auxiliary weapon system can be a torpedo launch tubes or
      fighter launch bays.

         A fighter takes up one kiloton in the cargo hold.  In  combat
      the fighter is moved from the cargo hold into the fighter launch
      bay  to be fuel and armed. Fueling and arming a fighter can take
      up to 2 minutes. A ship with a greater number of fighter  launch
      bays  will  be  able  to  get  more fighters into combat sooner.
      Fighter bays are designed  into  the  hull  and  unlike  torpedo
      launchers  can not be added. Some races ( such as the federation
      ) have very few, hull  designs  that  include  fighter  bays.  A
      starbase has room for up to 60 fighters to be used in defense or
      to be transferred to a ship with fighter bays.

         The  torpedo  launch tube aims and arms standard torpedoes. A
      standard torpedo takes up one kiloton of cargo space. In  combat
      the  torpedo  is moved from the cargo hold into the launch tube.
      Arming and energizing the  torpedo  takes  20  seconds  on  most
      ships.  The  torpedo is the most powerful weapon on any starship
      and have a range second only to fighters.

(3.04) FIGHTERS

         For  use  on  starbases  as  a  long  range  defense  against
      attacking  enemy  starships.  Starships with fighter launch bays
      can carry fighters to attack enemy ships at ranges  far  greater
      then  torpedoes  or  beam  weapons. A starbase can hold up to 60
      fighters.  Some  of  the  larger  carriers  can  hold  over  200
      fighters. All fighters fire very powerful tightly focused energy
      beams  that  do  a good job of wearing down an opponents shields
      and can punch holes in vital parts of enemy ships. Fighters  are
      very good at defeating very large and heavily armored ships.

         Fighters  can be destroyed by enemy fighters that are able to
      gain a weapons lock as the fighters passes within close range of
      each other as they close in on the enemy ship.

         An enemy ship can fire a beam weapon at a fighter to  destroy
      it.  Very  few  ships, however, are able to defeat a large scale
      fighter attack with beam weapons along.

(3.05) WEAPON KILLING/DESTRUCTIVE POWER

         The damage done  to  an  enemy  target  is  measured  in  two
      different ways, killing power and destructive power.

         Killing power is a measure of how deadly the weapon is to the
      crew  of  an  enemy  ship.  If  a crew is killed off the ship is
      rendered helpless and is easily captured.

         The destructive power is a measure of how much damage can  be
      done  to  the  superstructure,  engines and weapon systems of an
      enemy ship.

         Torpedoes have the most power at long ranges and beam weapons
      are most powerful at close ranges.

(3.06) STARSHIP REFIT

         After a starship has returned from a mission or has just been
      constructed you can use the starbase to refit the ship. When you
      refit a ship you have the chance to load torpedoes  or  fighters
      onto the starship if it is capable of handling them.

         Use  the  planetside transporters to beam fuel and cargo onto
      and off of the ship. New ships begin the game with no fuel.

(3.07) FUEL

         All starships  use  neutronium  for  fuel.  Neutronium  is  a
      superdense  material  found  at  the core of many planets. It is
      also know as "neutronic" fuel. The fuel  is  millions  of  times
      denser  then common elements such as lead or gold. The fuel must
      be stored in a very powerful inertial damping field  to  prevent
      damage  to  the  starship's  superstructure.  The amount of fuel
      that a starship can carry is limited  by  the  strength  of  the
      inertial  damping field only and not the cargo room available on
      the ship.

(3.08) CARGO

         The cargo that a ship may carry includes supplies, colonists,
      tritanium, duranium and molybdenum. If a ship has  one  or  more
      torpedo  launchers the ship may carry torpedoes. If the ship has
      one or more fighter bays the ship may carry fighters.

         You can have the ship unload cargo  onto  a  world  that  you
      currently  do  not  own.  After  one  or more colonist clans are
      unloaded onto a  planet  that  planet  then  becomes  yours  the
      following  turn,  unless there are enemy colonist already on the
      planet, in which case a planetside war will take place.

         Cargo can in an emergency be  jettison  into  deep  space  to
      make  the  ship  lighter  so  the  ship  can travel faster or to
      prevent an enemy from seizing  the  cargo  if  the  ship  is  in
      danger of being captured.

         Ships  can  transfer cargo from and to any other ship located
      at the same location in space. The command  is  designed  mainly
      for  fuel tankers so they can transfer fuel to ships that are in
      need of fuel.

(3.09) PRIMARY ENEMY

         You  can  set  the  primary  enemy  of  each  ship. This is a
      standing order to attack any ship that belongs  to  the  primary
      enemy race that is located in the same position in space.

(3.10) SHIP MISSIONS

         Each  ship  can  perform  one  of eight various missions that
      include  exploration,  patrol,  defense,  kill,  transportation,
      colonize, tow and intercept.

         The  exploration mission orders the ship to spy on planets to
      see if any enemy colonists are living there and if they  have  a
      starbase.

         The  kill  mission orders the ship to attack all ships of any
      race other then your own that are located in the  same  position
      in space as your ship.

         The  colonize  mission  orders  the  ship  to disassemble the
      starship when it reaches an unowned planet and to use the  ships
      parts  to  make  supplies  for the colonists after unloading any
      colonists, cargo and fuel on the ship to the planet's surface.

         The tow mission orders the ship to lock a tractor beam on any
      ship that is at the same position in space. The amount  of  fuel
      the  towing  ship  will  burn  is proportional to the sum of the
      masses of both ships times the warp factor. If the ship that  is
      the  target  of  the tractor beam has a warp factor greater then
      the ship using the tractor beam the target ship will brake  free
      of  the  tractor  beam.  If both ship are using tractor beams on
      each other the ship with the higher warp  factor  will  tow  the
      ship with the lower warp factor.

         The  intercept  mission orders the ship to intercept ships by
      ID number. You can use list and view commands to find  the  ship
      ID  number  of  the  ship  you wish to intercept. Your ship will
      follow the intercept target ship until your  ship  runs  out  of
      fuel or the target ship disappears behind a planet.

         No matter which mission a ship is on when it enters a battle,
      the ship will do it's very best to win the fight. Mission in no
      way affects the way in which a ship will fight.

(3.11) STARSHIP NAVIGATION

         Your  starship  can  be  in  orbit around a planet or in deep
      space between the  planets.   Your  ships  which  are  traveling
      through  deep space will show up are green dots on all your maps
      and charts. Your ship will also show up as  a  red  dot  on  all
      enemy  charts  in  the same way enemy ships will show up on your
      maps as red dots. The navigation  map  shows  planets  as  white
      dots.   Any  planets  that you own will have blue circles around
      them. If you have any ships in orbit  around  any  planets  they
      will show up as green circles.

         The  WAYPOINT  is  a  point  in  space that you are setting a
      coarse to travel to. The waypoint shows up on the navigation map
      as a green circle with a green  line  running  to  your  current
      location. Use the arrow keys or the mouse to set a new waypoint.
      If  you  set  your  waypoint  on an object such as a planet or a
      starship the green circle will turn yellow and the name  of  the
      new waypoint will appear under the navigation map.

         The distance is the number of light years to your
      current waypoint.

         The  number of light years a ship will travel in a light year
      turn increases as a square of your warp factor.

      Speed              Distance traveled in a game turn
      Warp factor  1         1 light year
      Warp factor  2         4 light years
      Warp factor  3         9 light years
      Warp factor  4        16 light years
      Warp factor  5        25 light years
      Warp factor  6        36 light years
      Warp factor  7        49 light years
      Warp factor  8        64 light years
      Warp factor  9        81 light years

         Your  E.T.A.  is  your  estimated  time  of  arrival  at your
      waypoint in months (game turns). E.T.A. is based on  your  speed
      and distance.

(3.12) FUEL

         The  amount  of fuel needed to reach your current waypoint is
      dependent on the ship's mass and warp factor  and  the  type  of
      engine  the  ship has. Tech one engines (stardrive 1's) are very
      poor engines and waste large amounts of  fuel  at  speeds  above
      warp  factor  one.  Tech  six engines are very fuel efficient at
      speeds up to warp factor 6. At speeds above warp  6  the  engine
      begins  to  waste large amounts of fuel. The engine construction
      screen will show you a graph of the  fuel  efficiency  curve  of
      each  engine  type that you have the both then engine tech level
      and materials to construct.

         It is a very good idea to invest the best  engine  technology
      possible.  With  high  tech  engines  your ships will be able to
      travel very fast and use very little  neutronium  fuel.  Engines
      may be the most important factor in expanding your empire faster
      then your enemies.

         The  weight  of  your  ship is the sum mass of all parts that
      make up your ship. The mass includes the hull, engines, weapons,
      cargo and fuel. The amount of fuel your ship needs  to  burn  in
      order to move increases proportionately to your ship's mass.

         The max weight is the maximum mass your ship may have when it
      has a full load of cargo and a full fuel tank.

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                     [ Continued.... SEE PLANETS2.DOC ]