STARSHIP: Invasion

                               STARSHIP: Invasion


           copyright (c) October 1984 by Thinking Machine Associates.


              I.    INTRODUCTION:   STARSHIP: Invasion is a real time
         simulation of starship combat.  As the captain of the
         H.I.M.S. Stinger, you must intercept an invasion fleet and
         delay it as long as possible so that the rest of the Imperial
         fleet may have time to prepare against it.  At the same time,
         you must protect the six starbases in the sector which will
         serve as your re-fueling and repair stations.

              II.   THE H.I.M.S. STINGER:   The Stinger is one of the
         latest generation starships to come out of the ship-yards of
         the Sword Worlds.  Like its predecessor, the INTREPID class,
         the new EXCALIBUR class uses both a warp engine for long-range
         travel, and a sub-light engine for maneuvering and combat.

         In the new Excalibur class, the sub-light engine is further

         improved for increased speed.  In addition, to complement its
         phaser and photon torpedo weapons systems, a new anti-matter
         missile launcher has been installed.  This triad of weapons,
         in conjuction with a mark IV Aegis deflector shield generator
         should make this starship the match of even an enemy Enforcer
         fleet.

              III.  THE DISPLAY:   The display screen of the Stinger
         has many components, each of which is by itself very simple.
         In practice, however, when all the displays are flashing and
         relaying information, it is very hard to concentrate on
         fighting.  These displays are very important, however, as
         they tell the status of each system of the starship.  Below
         is a schematic representation of the screen:




                                 #######            SHIELDS/DAMAGE
              LRS        -5-4-3-2-1 0 1 2 3 4 5          100        GENERATOR
  o o o   000 000 000   5                      5     100   #  100   ||||||||||
 o  o  o 000  000  000  4                      4         ###        oooooooo
  o o o   000 000 000   3                      3   100 ###### 100   ||||||||||
         +-----------+  2                      2         ###
 ]ooooo  |           |  1                      1     100   #  100   MGe Wdr Sdr
 ]ooooo  |           |  0         VIEW         0         100            Shi Dam
 ]ooooo  |    SRS    | -1        SCREEN        -1     WEAPONS DISPLAY
 ]ooooo  |           | -2                      -2  ]||||||||||||||||||
   SrS   |           | -3                      -3  ]ooooo ooooo ooooo ooooo
   LrS   |           | -4                      -4  ]OOOOO
         +-----------+ -5                      -5
                         -5-4-3-2-1 0 1 2 3 4 5     Pha Pho AMP
                                                     +-----------+  BASES
 Co-ordinates =   6, 7       Trillum = 32456         |           |  1: 8,7
       Sector = -10, 6       Energy output = 000000  |           |  2: 7,9
                                   Shields =  00000  |   MAP     |  3: 4,2
                             Sub-light Drv =    000  |           |  4: 2,2
                                  Warp Drv =  00000  |           |  5: 5,8
                                                     |           |  6: 1,9
                                                     +-----------+


              IV.   VIEWS:  There are four displays that show you what
         is around your ship.  The main viewscreen in the center is
         where most of the action will take place.  Here your ship
         will appear in the center as a small triangle pointing to the
         left.  As your ship moves, the view around it will change,
         but the ship will always be in the middle of the screen.
              To the left of the viewscreen is the SRS, or short range
         scan.  Like the viewscreen, your ship is in the center.  The
         SRS will display all the ships in the quadrant, but will not
         show what type of ships they are.
              Right above the SRS is the long range scan.  Like most
         standard LR scans, this one shows the contents of the
         quadrants immediately surrounding the quadrant you are in.
         The first two digits ( {00}0 ) tell you how many enemy ships
         are in that quadrant.  The last digit ( 00{0} ) tells you
         what starbase is in that quadrant.  For example, 050 means
         that there are five enemy ships (05), and zero starbases (0).
         074 means 7 enemy ships with starbase 4, and 101 means ten
         enemy ships with starbase 1.  If the LR scan is damaged, you
         may get garbage instead of digits.
              Finally, the map shows an overall view of the whole
         sector that you are in.  Your ship (not in the center)
         appears as a blinking block.  Enemy ships appear in gray
         (normal intensity,) and starbases are white (high-intensity.)
         Next to the map are the co-ordinates of the six starbases.
         If a starbase is under attack, these co-ordinates will start
         blinking.

              V.    MAIN GENERATOR:  The main generator powers the
         entire ship.  The generator display, in the upper-right
         corner of the screen, display two things.  The bars on top
         and bottom indicate the maximum capacity of the generator
         and the center bar indicates the present load of the
         generator.  If the present load ever exceeds the maximum
         generating capacity, the generator will overload.  At first,
         an overload will only damage the generator, but since a
         damaged generator will produce less power, a chain reaction
         will soon occur, and the reactor will explode.
              In addition to this display, the energy board (below the
         viewscreen) will tell you how much power is being used.  The
         energy output is the present load on the generator.  Under
         normal circumstances, the generator should be able to handle
         loads of up to 18500 +/- 500, but this will drop if the ship
         is damaged.  Underneath, the amount of power currently used
         by the shields, sub-light drive, and warp drive is displayed.
              NOTE:  Most reactor explosions occur because the warp
         generator was brought on-line while the generator was already
         at maximum with the shields.  Because the warp drive
         generally requires up to 12000 units, it is important to
         lower the shields (which may take up to 14000) before
         warping.

              VI.   SHIELDS:  The mark IV Aegis shield generator has
         eight separate plates each protecting a different side of the
         ship.  The shield/damage display shows the value at which
         each of the plates is set (in the diagram, 100.)  It is
         important to realize that each component of the starship is
         in a different location.  The engines and main generator are
         in the back and the weapons systems are in front.  Because of
         this, and because the shields can not always be kept at
         maximum, you should select the shields appropiately.  i.e. if
         you are about to engage in a frontal attack, raise the front
         shields, or if the main generator is damaged, raise the rear
         shields.
              In addition to shields, this display will also show any
         structural damage.  If the shields are pierced, and the ships
         is damaged, the figure of the ship will blink in the damaged
         area.

              VII.  WEAPONS:  The Stinger has three types of weapons
         each with its own advantages and limitations.  The phaser
         weapon is an single omni-directional projector with a range of
         five sectors (to the edge of the viewscreen).  Although there
         is no limit to the number of shots it can fire, the projector
         gets hot after repeated shots.  The top bar in the weapons
         display shows the phaser overload status.  The higher it
         gets, the hotter the phasers are.  In general it is good to
         wait until they cool down, as repeated firings will overload
         it and possibly destroy the phasers.
              The photon torpedoes are roughly twice as powerful as
         the phasers, but they move slowly (well below the speed of
         light) and in that time their target can move away.  Unlike
         phasers, the ship only has twenty of them.  The middle bar in
         the weapons display tell you how many torpedoes you have
         left.
              The most powerful weapons of all are the anti-matter
         pods.  These weapons are ten times more powerful than
         photons, but there are only five on board, and their range is
         very limited.  In general, one must be nearly next to a ship
         to be in range.  The last bar in the weapons display tells
         you how many pods you have left.

              VIII. DAMAGE DISPLAY:  The indicator lights around the
         board (MGe, WDr, SDr under the generator display, for
         instance.) will give the damage status of all the systems.
         If they are blinking, that system is damaged.  If they are
         on, but not blinking, then the system is destroyed.
              The various systems are:
                 MGe            main generator
                 WDr            warp drive
                 SDr            sub-light drive
                 Shi            shields
                 Dam            damage control
                 Pha            phasers
                 Pho            photons
                 AMP            anti-mater pods
                 SrS            short range scan
                 LrS            long range scan

              IX.   WARP DRIVE:  Once the warp drive is engaged it
         will have to build up power to approximately 12000 units.  If
         either the warp drive or the main generator is damaged, it
         may take a while to build up.  Always watch the generator
         display as the power builds up.  If the power exceeds the
         generating capacity, turn off the shields, or abort the warp.
              Once in warp, you will see the blinking block on the map
         move from quadrant to quadrant and the LR scan update.

              X.    COMMANDS:  The movement of the ships in sub-light
         can be controlled using the cursor keys.  The rest of the
         commands are entered through the keyboard, but you must make
         sure that the keyboard is set to LOWERCASE, and the cursor
         keys are active.  You have the following commands:

              W  : Engages the warp drive.  Once it is engaged, it
         must build up power to 12000.  When the signal WARP WHEN
         READY appears, hit 'W' again to warp, or the space bar to
         abort the warp.  Once in warp you can use the cursor keys to
         change the direction, or the space bar to end the warp.
              T  : Once you hit this you must hit a direction with the
         cursor keys to fire a photon torpedo.  Hitting the space bar
         will abort this operation.
              P or Y : Same as photons.  This command fires phasers.
              A  :  Same as photons.  This command fires anti-matter
         pods.
              S  :  Raises every shield plate up 100 units.
              O  :  Turns all shields to 0.
              R  :  When followed by a direction (with cursor keys)
         this command raises one plate 100 units.
              D  :  This command drops one plate 100 units.
              Q  :  Pass.  This lets the enemy ships move, while
         repairing some damage in your ship.
              X  :  Self-destruct.  Once activated, type '#' (shift-3)
         to continue, or any other key to abort.

              XI.   DOCKING:  If you are in the same quadrant as a
         starbase you may dock with it to re-fuel and repair damage,
         but be aware that your shields are down while in dock, and
         that it takes time to repair damages.  It is not recommended
         to dock while under attack.  If your starbase is destroyed
         while docked, your ship will be destroyed as well.

              XII.  THE ENEMY:  There are six types of enemy ships,
         each progressively more powerful:

              '#'   ASSAULT SHIPS.  These ships are fast and
                    maneuverable, but not very dangerous.
              '@'   LIGHT CRUISERS.  These ships, mainly designed as
                    command ships for groups of assault ships, have
                    photon torpedoes.
               -    HEAVY CRUISERS.  These ships look like small
                    triangles (like your ship) but they point to the
                    right.  They more heavily armoured than light
                    cruisers.
              '*'   ENFORCERS.  These ships are fast and powerful.
                    They generally concentrate on your starbases
                    first, so its a good idea to destroy them as soon
                    as possible.
              -     AVENGERS.  These missile ships look like small
                    boxes.  Their phasers are weak, but their photon
                    torpedoes can track you.
              -     WORLDKILLERS.  The high of technology, these ships
                    are large and powerful.  In addition to tracking
                    torpedoes, they have powerful phasers and shields.
                    They sometimes travel in wolfpacks of three.

              XIII. HINTS:  For the first couple of games get the feel
         of the ship.  Move around, warp, fire your weapons and make
         sure you are familiar will all the displays.  This is
         particularly important, since the information they provide is
         often vital.
              The enemy ships come in waves.  At first there are only
         two groups on the map, then three come, and so on.  In
         general the enemy fleets move towards your starbases, the
         first fleet going after the first base, etc.  In practice,
         you will not be able to keep all your starbases alive, but it
         is imperative that you keep at least one alive.  As long as
         you have a starbase, you can keep on re-fueling and repairing
         your damage.
              If you have an undamaged generator, you can usually warp
         with all you deflector shields set to about 300 without
         overloading the generator.   Once you get to an enemy
         quadrant you can then raise your shields.  Remember that
         phasers use up a lot of energy too, so make sure that you do
         not set the shields too high.

              XIV.  ABOUT THE GAME:  Originally I came up with this
         game because I was very disappointed with the Star Trek
         games.  Even if they were not in real time, they were not
         very complicated.  As far as I know, mine is the only version
         with multiple shields, overloading generators, and moving
         ships.  That plus the real time aspect really made a
         difference.  In general, I like complicated games over simple
         (and mindless) arcade games.  I don't think STARSHIP:
         Invasion can really be called a thinking game, but I know
         that if you don't like involved games, you're not going to
         like this one.
              Admittedly I'm not totally satisfied with the game as it
         is now.  I definitely have to write a version for the color
         card (when I get a color card) and perhaps a version with
         more intelligent ships.  Certainly a good sequel would be
         STARSHIP: Penetrator, in which you must go into enemy
         territory and destroy an enemy starbase, or something.
              In case you're interested, I wrote the game in TURBO
         Pascal (a language for which I have nothing but praise) and
         the source code came out to be over 70k.  (I had to split it
         into two files.)  And in case you're really interested, I
         will provide you the source code if you register your copy.

              XV.   ABOUT OTHER THINGS:  If you really like this game,
         why not support the people who bring you these games and
         register your copy for the modest fee (modest compared to $40
         for a store bought game) of $15.  After all, how can we
         continue without user-support?  In exchange for registering I
         will send you the source code in TURBO Pascal (on disk), and
         will be glad to answer any questions which you may have
         concerning it.
              In any event, enjoy this game in the spirit in which it
         is written, and if perchance you should find that my efforts
         have not been wasted in its writing, please send me a message
         at the Boston Computer Society Bulletin board, I would be
         very glad to hear your comments. (Even if you don't like the
         game I would like to hear your comments.)

              Please register your game by sending $15 to:

                               George Moromisato
                                15 Whittier Rd.
                                Natick MA 01760

              Who knows?   I may even write a sequel.