/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ < Reach for the Stars Sofdocs--Written by Black Fire > \/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/ Introduction The object of this game is to accumulate the most points. Points are gained by completing the victory conditions. There are four of these: Colony Development, Starship Battles, Planetary Conquest, and Colony Destruction. At the start, each category is weighted with a modifier of 2, but you can change that (See Main Menu selections). Explanation of Victory Conditions Colony Development - You get points for developing industry and improving social status on your colonies. I don't know exactly how many points you get, but it's multiplied by the modifier. Starship Battles - Pretty obvious. After each battle, you will be told how many victory points you earn. (See Combat-Invasion Phase for more). Also, all points you earn are multiplied by the modifier. Planetary Conquest - You get points for conquering a planet which has been colonized by another player. I don't know the exact amount again, but it is multiplied by the modifier. Colony Destruction - This involves totally blowing away a colony belonging to another player. (You can't destroy your own colonies.) These points are also multiplied by the modifier. First Menu Selections After you get past my title page(s), you should get the first menu up on the screen. It's relatively simple to understand and if you have trouble with it, you might as well give up all hope of learning to play this game. The keys that are in use on this menu are 1-9, A-C, R, and Space. Here is a brief explanation of what they do: 1) Player 1 7) Player 3 2) Human 8) Computer 3) ........ 9) Beginner etc. I will explain keys 1-3, because keys 4-9 and A-C do the same thing for the other 3 players. (Four players are always used.) 1= Change name of player. Easy enough. 2= Toggle human player or computer. Computer players finish up the required 4 players. 3= Change ability level FOR COMPUTER ONLY! Set the computer players to Beginner if you're just starting. They will default to Expert unless you change them. Again, use 4-6 for Player 2, 7-9 for Player 3, and A-C for Player 4. Use R to continue a saved game, if you don't have one saved, it won't work, so skip it. After you've got it set up, press Space to go onto the next menu. Main Menu Selections I'll go through these by number, just press the number of the one you want. Nothing difficult here. 1) Scenario Length - Choose 40, 80, or 150 turns. Take my advice and stick with 40 at first. 2) Novas --+ 3) Natural Disasters !__ I don't have the manual so I can only 4) Xenophobes ! guess what these do. Let it go at 5) Solar Debris Effect--+ saying they add random events to game play. Try them yourself and see what happens. 6) Random Star Map - Usually the stars are layed in out in a set (and astrologically accurate) map. You can make it random by just choosing this. 7) Task Force Setup - This will give each player a task force out in space at start. Normally, you must build build this first one just like the rest. This selection makes for quicker colony development for all players. 8) Variable Production Costs - This option lets you modify how many RP's (Resource Points, money basically) it costs to build various things. Unless you have played a couple of times, don't mess with the numbers or you could end up screwing the game royally. 9) Variable Victory Conditions - This is where you can modify not what you have to do to win, but how much each is weighted. At start, each has a weight of 2, you can change them, but all numbers must add up to 8. R) Return to First Menu - Just in case you want to review it or change something before you go on. Once you've got all these set to your liking, press Space to go on to the game. Game Overview The game moves in cycles of 2 turns. The first turn consists of the Combat & Invasion Phase, followed by the Production Phase. Combat involves all players simultaneously, but the Production phase goes through the players one by one. After all players have completed the Production Phase, the game moves on to the second turn which consists of just the Movement Phase. The movement phase also moves through the players one at a time. After all players have finished moving, you will see the task forces move around and the cycle will restart at the combat-invasion phase. NOTE: The Combat-Invasion Phase will only be displayed if a human player is involved in combat in that turn. Combat & Invasion Phase The first part of this phase is Starship Combat. This is where you earn points in the category of the same name. When the Combat Phase begins, you will get a display similar to this: COMBAT DISPLAY : TARAZED : K : BROWN (1) BLACK FIRE (3) PLAYER 3 (2) PLAYER 2 (4) PLAYER 4 : GOOD : . . : POOR : . . : ---------------------------------------- TRANSPORT : 20 : . . : 1 : . . : : . . : . . : . . : . . : ---------------------------------------- MARK I : 12 : . . : . . : . . : : 2 : . . : . . : . . : ---------------------------------------- MARK II : 4 : . . : . . : . . : : . . : . . : 2 : . . : ---------------------------------------- MARK III : . . : . . : . . : . . : : . . : . . : . . : . . : ---------------------------------------- MARK IV : . . : . . : . . : . . : : . . : . . : . . : . . : ---------------------------------------- The important parts to recognize are as follows: 1) Where it says "TARAZED" on the example. This is the star system you are fighting over. Ignore the "K" and "BROWN", they are just for astronomical use and mean nothing in the game. 2) The names at numbers (1)-(4). The two highlighted names are the player who are in combat. 3) The words "GOOD" and "POOR" on the example. These are a pretty good indication of each player's chances of winning. The left column is Player #1 and the right column is Player #4. In this example, Player #1 will most likely easily blow Player #3's ships away. 4) The numbers and/or dots on the grid. First off, a set of dots (. .) is just SSG's way of putting a zero there. Now, each box contains two sets of numbers (or dots). The top number shows the number of normal functioning ships that player has in the area. The lower number is the number of damaged ships of that type the player has in the area. Naturally, normal ships will fight better than damaged ships. Now a little more on combat, the more enemy ships you defeat in combat, the more points you get (i.e. if you defeat 4 Mark I's and a Mark II, you get more points than defeating a pair of Mark I's alone). Mark IV's are the most powerful ship and so on up the list, until you hit the Transports which have almost no fighting capability. You press Space to fight a round or ESC to wimp out and retreat. Combat continues until one side retreats or is destroyed. Keep pressing Space to go thru more rounds of combat. Before I go on to the Production phase, let me explain the main map which you'll see most of the time. Main Map & How to Move Around What you'll be seeing most of the time is the main map. This on the screen during most of the Production and Movement Phases. The graphic display shows a portion of the galaxy map. The circular type patterns which change shape are star systems. The non-changing shapes are dust clouds. The solid block is your cursor. The shapes that resemble the Enterprise and Klingon vessels are task forces. Each player has a different shape for his task force. Player #1's is the Enterprise facing right. Moving around the screen can be done in several ways: I,J,K,M - Move the cursor up, left, right, or down one star system. The numbers 1-6 move the cursor one block in the following directions: ^ \ 1 / 6 2 5 3 / 4 \ v S followed by a number 1-9 moves you to that sector. P will show you a small scale map of the entire galaxy at once. (>