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DECWAR.DOC
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DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 1
DECWAR Version 2.3, November 20, 1981
Introduction and Overview of the Game of DECWARs.
DECWAR is a real time space battle game designed to be
played by from 1 to 10 people. The object of the game is to
destroy all enemy bases and ships, and capture all enemy
planets, before the enemy does the same to you. Each person
plays on a separate terminal, and enters the game by selecting
8 DECWAR (on the MultiPlayer Host)
Players are free to enter and leave the game as desired, since
each has his own job and therefore won't interfere with the
other players (the jobs interact through a shareable high
segment).
Besides the enemy (Federation or Empire), the following may
also be a threat to your well being.
1. Romulans are nasty beasts that beginners are better off
without. However, if you're the only person playing,
the Romulan is your only competition. Romulans tend to
make for shorter games but when there are 3 or less
players a Romulan will be included. After the fourth
player joins the game, a Romulan will not be re-created
once he is destroyed. include Romulans in the game.
2. Black holes are annoying, since if you are displaced
into one, you're dead. They also tend to gobble up
stray torpedos. There is a 25% chance of black holes
being included in the game.
There are two primary opposing forces in the galaxy --
Humans (Federation) and Klingons (Empire). As you enter the
game for the first time, you get to choose which side you'll
join (unless there is a large imbalance in the team sizes). If
you are subsequently destroyed and later reenter the game, you
automatically rejoin your old team.
You get to select the ship you want to control from a list
of remaining ships on your side. There are 5 ships on each
side:
Federation ships Empire ships
---------------- ------------
Lexington Cobra
Nimitz Demon
Savannah Hawk
Vulcan Jackal
Yorktown Wolf
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 2
Due to continuous espionage activities, present front-line
ships of the Federation and the Klingon Empire are identical in
strength and weaponry. These ships can move from sector to
sector using either warp or impulse engines, can attack enemy
installations and ships using either photon torpedoes or
phasers, and can defend themselves against such attack using
their deflector shields. All ships also possess sub-space
radios which keep them in touch with friendly starbases and
other ships.
The various devices of a ship are subject to damage. This
damage may be due to enemy attack or to over use. These
damages, unlike total ship damage (see ship attributes below),
may be repaired while underway. If damage on a device is less
than 300 units, its performance is degraded. If damage is 300
or more units, the device is inoperative. A ship possesses the
following devices:
1. Warp Engines -- These engines are the normal mode of
travel for starships. The maximum speed is warp factor
6, with warps 5 and 6 risking potential damage to the
engines. If warp engines are damaged (less than 300
units) the maximum speed is warp factor 3.
NOTE
One warp unit is equivalent to one horizontal
or one vertical grid movement. A diagonal
movement is equivalent to the hypotenuse of the
horizontal and vertical sides.
2. Impulse Engines -- These engines are basically for
emergency use while the warp engines are critically
damaged. Impulse engines move the ship at warp factor
1.
3. Photon Torpedo Tubes -- Used to fire photon torpedoes.
If these tubes are damaged, the accuracy of torpedo
bursts is impaired. The maximum torpedo range is 10
sectors.
4. Phaser Banks -- Each ship possesses two phaser banks,
with a single phaser control. Damage to this phaser
control or to the ship's computer reduces the strength
of the phaser hit.
5. Deflector Shields -- The deflector shields of a ship
protect it from damage from phaser and photon torpedo
hits, and shield it from the energy released when a
star goes nova. The percent shield strength indicates
the percent of the incoming hit which will be
nullified. In addition, strong deflector shields may
deflect photon torpedoes with little or no damage.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 3
NOTE: If a ship's shields are up, the amount of energy
expended during movement is doubled.
6. Computer -- The ship's computer is used for computed
firing, computation during ship movement, and for
phaser control. If the computer is inoperative,
navigation during warp and impulse movement becomes
inexact.
7. Life Support -- If the life support units of a starship
are inoperative, the ship must either repair this
damage or dock within 5 stardates. If this is not
accomplished, the crew will die.
8. Sub-Space Radio -- The sub-space radio is used to
communicate with other ships, of either side. Bases
under attack also use the sub-space radio to call for
help and notify their team's ships of their
destruction.
9. Tractor Beam -- The ship's tractor beam is used
primarily to tow damaged friendly ships away from
danger. The beam can not be used unless both ships
have lowered their shields.
In addition to the individual devices discussed above, a
newly commissioned ship (or a fully repaired and rearmed older
ship) possesses the following attributes:
1. 5000 units of ship energy. Ship energy is used during
movement and phaser firing. It is also decreased each
time the ship gets hit with phasers or photon
torpedoes. If this quantity ever reaches zero, the
ship is dead. A ship possessing 1000 units of ship
energy or less automatically goes to yellow alert, and
a warning bell sounds after every move.
2. 2500 units of shield energy. This energy is stored in
the ship's shields (whether up or down), and is
separate from the ship energy. However, energy may be
transferred between these two energy reserves as
needed. If shields are up, their energy is decreased
each time the ship gets hit.
3. Zero units of ship damage. During battle, a ship
collects hits from enemy installations and ships. If
these accumulated hits ever reach 2500 units of damage
or greater, the ship is destroyed. Ship damage may be
reduced only by docking.
The galaxy is arranged in a grid of 75 by 75 sectors.
Players can move freely throughout the galaxy in search of
enemies, which come in several categories:
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 4
1. Romulan. This can be the most dangerous thing to come
up against, and fortunately there is a maximum of 1
Romulan in the game at any given time. The Romulan
moves around concealed by his cloaking device until he
comes across a suitable target (Federation or Empire
ship or base) which he immediately proceeds to attack.
An infinite supply of torpedoes and energy make him a
formidable foe. If you kill one, another will
eventually appear somewhere in the galaxy.
2. Enemy ship. This is the second most dangerous thing to
come across, since all enemy ships are backed by human
intelligence. All ships are created equal, and so the
outcome of a clash between two ships is usually due to
skill on its captain's part, although some other
factors do come into play.
3. Enemy base. These aren't dangerous unless you come
within range (4 sectors) since they are immobile. If
you ARE foolish enough to get within range, however,
their overwhelming phaser power will quickly pound you
into rubble! Destroying a base is useful primarily
because this removes it from use by your enemy (bases
are used as supply stations and as a refuge in times of
stress). A damaged starbase will slowly build itself
back to full strength if it is not completely
destroyed.
4. Enemy planet. These are just like enemy bases, except
that they are weaker (how much weaker depends on how
many fortifications the enemy has built on them), and
they can be captured. Their firing range is only two
sectors, and they can re-supply the enemy less rapidly
than can a base.
5. Neutral planet. While these aren't strictly classified
as enemies, they will take pot shots at you (their
range is also 2 sectors), so be wary of them. You can
capture neutral planets and win them over to your side.
When playing the game, all commands can be abbreviated to 2
characters, and some can be abbreviated to 1 character (you can
use the shortest unambiguous abbreviation). For a list of
commands type
HELP *
and for a description of an individual command type
HELP command
The help on individual commands will be read from this help file
(that's what the periods in column 1 are for in the long
description of each command). The legal commands are:
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 5
1. BASES -- List information on friendly and known enemy
bases.
2. BUILD -- Develop installations on a planet, and
eventually build it into a base. The planet must first
be captured.
3. CAPTURE -- Win a neutral or enemy planet over to your
side.
4. DAMAGES -- List damaged devices and their current
status.
5. DOCK -- Dock at an adjacent base or planet. This
increases your energy, replenishes your torpedoes,
repairs your ship a little, and reduces your ship
damage.
6. ENERGY -- Transfer energy between two ships.
7. GRIPE -- Record bugs, comments, suggestion, etc. in
the file GAM:DECWAR.GRP, which is periodically reviewed
by the implementors.
8. HELP -- List or describe the legal commands.
9. IMPULSE -- Move using impulse engines.
10. LIST -- List various information about ships, bases,
and planets.
11. MOVE -- Move using warp engines.
12. NEWS -- Tell about any new features or enhancements
described in the file GAM:DECWAR.NWS.
13. PHASERS -- Fire phasers at a target.
14. PLANETS -- List information on friendly and known enemy
and neutral planets.
15. POINTS -- List your score breakdown so far.
16. QUIT -- Get out of the game.
17. RADIO -- Turn ship's sub-space radio on or off; ignore
or restore communications from individual ships.
18. REPAIR -- Repair your damaged devices a little.
19. SCAN -- Display the galaxy with the default range set
to maximum (10 sectors in each direction from your
ship).
20. SET -- Set various input and output defaults.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 6
21. SHIELDS -- Transfer energy to or from your shields;
raise or lower your shields.
22. SRSCAN -- Display the galaxy with a default range of 7
sectors (1 greater than the maximum warp factor).
23. STATUS -- List your ship's current status and supply
levels.
24. SUMMARY -- List various information on ships, bases,
and planets.
25. TARGETS -- List targets (enemies within range) and
their current locations.
26. TELL -- Send messages to other ships using the
sub-space radio.
27. TIME -- List information on run time and elapsed time.
28. TORPEDOES -- Fire photon torpedoes at a target.
29. TRACTOR -- Use tractor beam to tow friendly ships.
30. TYPE -- List current input, output, and game
characteristics.
31. USERS -- List the names and other information known
about the players currently in the game.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 7
General INPUT information
- Only the first 5 characters of each input word are stored.
Any characters beyond that are ignored.
- Input words may be separated by spaces, tabs, or commas.
- The input line can be terminated with <CR>, <LF>, <VT>, <FF>,
<ESC>, or ^Z.
- ^G toggles echo. At the beginning of each input line, echoing
is turned on. Typing ^G turns it off, the next ^G turns it
back on, etc. Echoing is always turned back on at the end of
an input line, or if ^U is typed.
- Multiple commands may be given on a single command line by
separating the commands with / (slash). If the TELL command
is given, it must be last on the line.
- Anything after ; (semicolon) is treated as a comment and is
ignored (but TELL rescans the line and takes the text after
the first ; as the message to send).
- <ESC> (escape, or altmode) entered as the first character in
response to the command prompt (even before ^H, ^U, or ^R)
repeats the previous command. This is useful when building a
planet, docking, repairing, firing torpedoes, etc. Altmode
can't be used to repeat a TELL command.
- Any ship name can be abbreviated to 1 character.
- Any command or keyword can be shortened to the shortest
unambiguous abbreviation, which is never more than 2
characters.
- Many commands require a coordinate as an argument (PHASERS,
TORPEDOES, CAPTURE, BUILD, etc.). The required coordinate(s)
can be specified in one of three ways:
Absolute - the default coordinate input type, which is simply
an absolute vertical position followed by an absolute
horizontal position. The coordinate may be preceded by the
keyword ABSOLUTE, but this isn't necessary unless the
default coordinate input type has been changed by SET ICDEF
RELATIVE.
Relative - the keyword RELATIVE, followed by a relative
vertical distance and a relative horizontal distance. A
positive distance is either up or right, and negative is
either down or left. The absolute coordinate is computed by
adding the relative distances to your current position. The
keyword RELATIVE isn't needed if the default coordinate
input type has been changed by SET ICDEF RELATIVE.
Computed - the keyword COMPUTED followed by a ship name. The
coordinate used is the location of the given ship. This
type of coordinate computation is available only to captains
controlling their ships through slow terminals (< 1200
baud), and requires an operational computer.
The keyword ABSOLUTE, RELATIVE, or COMPUTED is only given one
time for each set of coordinates. For instance, the TORPEDO
command can accept up to 3 coordinates, but the keyword
describing the coordinate input type is given only once, and
all coordinates must be of the same type.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 8
General OUTPUT information
The SET OUTPUT LONG/MEDIUM/SHORT command controls the length of
text output throughout the game. In particular, Medium or Short
hit messages received during battle are greatly reduced in
length when compared to the Long format. Unfortunately, these
shorter forms are not as self-explanatory as the Long form. The
following are some equivalent Long, Medium and Short hit
messages:
- Goblin @22-31, +83.6% makes 285.3 unit torpedo hit on
Vulcan displaced to 20-31, +72.1%
G @22-31, +83.6% 285.3 unit T V -->20-31, +72.1%
G 22-31 +83 285T V >20-31 +72
- Emp planet(3) @15-16 makes 155.5 unit phaser hit on
Buzzard @15-17, 66.8%
-@3 @15-16 155.5 unit P B @15-17, 66.8%
-@3 15-16 155P B 15-17 +66
Note: The -@3 indicates an Empire planet built 3 times.
- Star @22-31 +4,+2 makes 301.2 unit hit on
Panther displaced to 20-31 +2,+2, -72.1%
* @22-31 +4,+2 301.2 unit N P -->20-31 +2,+2, -72.1%
* 22-31 +4,+2 301N P >20-31 +2,+2, -72
Note: The relative coordinates appear due to a SET OCDEF BOTH
command. The Panther's shields are 72.1% of max strength, but
down (-72.1%).
The Decwar PRE-GAME feature
DECWAR provides a Pre-game feature to allow:
- New players to view the help file without entering the current
game.
- Experienced players to check the status of a current game
before choosing a side and ship.
- Players to submit Gripes without entering the game.
The commands currently active within the Pre-game section are:
Activate Gripe Help News Points Quit
Summary Time Users
The ACTIVATE command (valid only in the pre-game) is used to
exit the pre-game section and enter the normal ship setup stage.
The pre-game can be recognized from the 'PG>' command prompt.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 9
Some general HINTS
- When in doubt, use the on-line help system. See the help on
HELP for more information.
- If the output starts piling up in the middle of a battle, type
^O (CTL-O). None of your commands will be executed until
output is finished, so it's sometimes better just to ignore
the hit messages so your attack or run commands can be
executed immediately.
- Use multiple commands per line (separate commands with /).
Once you're in a danger area, things can happen faster than
you can react to them. Plan your action ahead of time, before
you enter a danger area.
- If some unexpected action happens, such as an enemy finding
you, and you have several stacked commands (either from a
multiple command line or typing ahead), type ^C to abort all
stacked commands (especially if it involves time consuming
commands such as BUILD, or commands that generate a lot of
output, such as SCAN). You can then proceed to remedy the
situation by giving your unexpected visitor a good beating.
- If you're on a slow terminal, use computed coordinates, and
move around a lot if you're fighting someone on a fast
terminal. Computed coordinates are the primary advantage slow
terminals have over the fast ones (computed coordinates give
slow terminals a fantastic tactical advantage over fast
terminals when used properly).
- Use <ESC> to repeat commands (see the help on ESCAPE). It's
just a convenience when building planets, etc., but in battle,
and combined with multiple commands per line and/or computed
coordinates (such as PH C B/M R 1 0 or TO 1 32 45), it can
make or break your career as a starship captain.
- Don't get within range of an enemy base, unless you enjoy
being pounded into rubble. You can kill a base just as well
from 1 sector outside it's range (use the WARNING keyword on
SCAN to see the range of an enemy base).
- Don't waste your energy and torpedoes firing at friendly ships
and bases. If you're not sure if it's friendly or not, type
HELP SCAN for a list of what's what. You can also use the
TARGETS command to see which enemies are lurking about (see
the help on TARGETS and LIST).
- Don't make it a habit of sitting next to stars; photon
torpedoes can turn them into novas, which are extremely
destructive. Conversely, if you notice an enemy ship or base
adjacent to a star, take advantage of the situation!
- One sure way to locate enemy ships is to watch for newly
captured enemy planets by using the PLANETS or LIST command.
- In general, don't waste photon torpedoes battering at a target
with 85-100% shields. The chances are good that they will
just be deflected harmlessly away. Use your phasers to weaken
the shields, then use torpedoes to finish him off. This is
especially true when attempting to destroy an enemy starbase.
- Use the SET command in DECWAR.INI to personalize the output to
your own tastes. That way you'll be guaranteed to have the
output set right each time you play a game.
- To always see the range and direction of any object listed (in
hit messages, output from the LIST command, etc.), SET OCDEF
BOTH. (The range is the magnitude of either delta v or delta
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 10
h, whichever is larger.)
Commands that take real time
Many of the commands are designed to take a certain amount of
real time. This is done to help equalize the game when there
are different speed terminals and different speed typists in the
game. Some commands take a constant amount of time, and some
are based on the speed of the slowest terminal in the game.
BUILD 5 to 7 seconds
CAPTURE 5 seconds + 1 second for each BUILD of enemy
planet
DOCK 2 to 4 seconds
IMPULSE 2 to 4 seconds
MOVE 2 to 4 seconds
REPAIR (0.08 * repair size) seconds (* 0.5 if docked)
You have 2 phaser banks, each of which must be cooled off after
it's fired before it can be used again. Each phaser bank takes
3 to 6 seconds plus the amount of phaser damage / 100 to cool
off. For instance, if there was a 300 baud terminal in the
game, and your phasers had 200 units of damage, each of your
phaser banks would take 6 + 2 = 8 seconds to cool off after
being fired. Therefore, you could fire once every 4 seconds, or
twice every 8 seconds.
After each burst of torpedoes the tubes must be reloaded before
being used again. It takes 2 to 4 seconds plus the amount of
torpedo tube damage / 100 to load a torpedo. For instance, if
there was a 300 baud terminal in the game, your torpedoes had
200 units of damage, and you had just fired 3 torpedoes, it
would take 3 * (4 + 2) = 18 seconds before you could fire
torpedoes again.
Use of ^C
If you're in command input wait (DECWAR is waiting for you to
type a command), typing a ^C will abort the game and return you
to monitor mode. When you abort the game in this manner, your
ship is returned to the pool of available ships. You will be
able to continue unless a new player has taken your ship or
someone has moved into the spot you occupied.
If you're not in a command input wait state when you type ^C,
any stacked commands (commands that you typed in ahead of time
that haven't been executed yet) will be aborted, and a series of
bells will be output.
NOTE: A ship under RED alert conditions can not be returned to
the monitor level except by using the QUIT command.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 11
List various BASE information
Syntax: BAses [<keywords>]
List location and shield percent of friendly bases; location of
known enemy bases; or count of bases of either side within a
specified range or the entire galaxy. The default range is the
entire galaxy, and the default side is friendly bases only. See
the help for LIST for more information and the complete set of
keywords that can be used to modify BASES output.
Examples:
BA List location and shield percent of all friendly
bases.
BA ENEMY List location of all known enemy bases.
BA SUM Give summary of all friendly bases.
BA ALL SUM Give summary of all bases.
BA CL List the location and shield percent of the
closest friendly base.
BA 34 26 List the location and shield percent of friendly
base at 34-26 (it doesn't have to be friendly,
but you can't see the shield percent of an out
of range enemy base).
BUILD fortifications on a captured planet
Syntax: BUild [Absolute|Relative] <vpos> <hpos>
A fortified planet hits harder and is more resistant to
destruction by the enemy. A planet can normally be built up to
4 times. As your team's starbases are destroyed by enemy
action, a fifth build will complete the construction of a new
starbase on the planet. Only 10 starbases can be functional at
any one time.
Examples:
BU 32 12 Build the planet at sector 32-12.
BU A 32 12 Equivalent to "BU 32 12"
BU R 1 1 Build the planet at sector 32-12, if your
present location is 31-11.
CAPTURE a neutral or enemy planet
Syntax: CApture [Absolute|Relative] <vpos> <hpos>
At the start of the game, all planets are neutral (they fire at
everyone!). Once captured by either side, they fire only at
enemy ships, and can be DOCKed at to refuel and rearm, just like
a base (except a planet can only supply half the resources that
a base can). Enemy planets can also be captured. When
capturing an enemy planet, 1 second is added to the normal pause
time of 5 seconds for each BUILD present. Also, 50 units of
ship energy are lost for each build.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 12
Examples:
CA 12 32 Capture planet at 12-32.
CA A 12 32 Equivalent to "CA 12 32".
CA R 1 1 Capture planet at sector 12-32, if your present
location is 11-31.
DAMAGE report
Syntax: DAmages [<device names>]
List damaged ship devices and the amount of damage to each. The
condition of all or just selected devices may be examined.
Total ship damage is not reported.
Examples:
DA List all damaged devices and their current
damages.
DA SH T List damages for SHields and Torpedo tubes.
DA PH RA C List damages for PHasers, sub-space RAdio, and
Computer.
DOCK at a friendly base or planet
Syntax: DOck [Status [<device names>]]
Refuel, repair, and rearm your ship, and set your ship's
condition to green. While docked, any repairs are accelerated,
and you have an "infinite" supply of torps. If you have no
damages and are completely refueled and rearmed, DOCKing will
have no effect on your ship. A STATUS command string can be
appended to a DOCK order. The following table lists the maximum
resources available per move when DOCKing at a base or planet:
Resource Base Planet
----------------------------------------------
Ship energy +1000 +500
Shield energy +500 +250
Photon Torpedoes +10 +5
Life Support Reserves +5 +5
Ship Damage -100 -50
Ship Damage, if already docked -200 -100
Examples:
DO Dock, no status report.
DO ST Dock, show ship's status AFTER docking.
DO ST SH T Dock, show ship's shield strength and number of
torpedos on board AFTER docking.
Transfer ENERGY to a friendly ship
Syntax: Energy <ship name> <units of energy to transfer>
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 13
The receiving ship must be located in an adjacent sector. 10%
of the energy transferred will be lost due to broadcast
dissipation. If you attempt to send more energy than the other
ship can store (ie 5000 units), the transfer will automatically
be reduced to the maximum possible.
Example:
E I 1000 Transfer 1000 units of energy to the Intrepid.
The Intrepid will receive 900 units of energy.
Submit a GRIPE
Syntax: Gripe
Add a comment, bug report, suggestion, etc. to the top of file
GAM:DECWAR.GRP. Type in your comments, then ^Z (CTL-Z) to exit
and continue the game, or ^C (CTL-C) to abort and not send the
gripe. Each gripe is preceded with a header that includes the
version number, date, time, ship name, user name, TTY speed,
PPN, TTY number, job number, and whether or not Romulans and/or
black holes are included in the game. Unless you are currently
under red alert, GRIPE will protect you from enemy attack. To
view gripes not yet acted upon, type the file GAM:DECWAR.GRP.
To view answered gripes, and see what action was taken on them,
type the file GAM:DECWAR.FXD.
Give HELP
Syntax: Help [*|<keywords>]
Give general help info, a list of available commands, or a
detailed description of a particular command or keyword. Unless
you are under red alert, HELP will protect you from enemy
attack. The following conventions are used in the detailed
descriptions:
- The first line contains, in all caps, the keyword that help is
being given for.
- The syntax line (second line) lists the portion of the keyword
required to make it unique in caps, and the remainder of the
keyword in lower case, followed by any parameters (if the
keyword is a command).
- A quantity to be filled in is lower case and enclosed in <>
(angle brackets).
- Optional parameters are enclosed in [] (square brackets).
- A choice (either or) is indicated by | (vertical bar).
- Any parameter that must be typed in literally is started in
capital letters and continued in lower case. The upper case
letters signal the shortest unambiguous abbreviation (the
shortest abbreviation may change slightly, depending on
context).
Examples:
H Give general help info.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 14
H * List all available commands.
H H List this block of text.
H SH Give help for the SHIELDS command.
H HI G Give some general HINTS and a description of the
GRIPE command.
Move using IMPULSE engines
Syntax: Impulse [Absolute|Relative] <vpos> <hpos>
Move one sector vertically, horizontally, or diagonally
(equivalent to warp factor 1). Ship condition changes to green.
Examples:
I 37 45 Move to sector 37-45.
I A 37 45 Equivalent to "I 37 45".
I R 1 -1 Move to sector 37-45, if your ship's present
location is 36-46.
LIST ship, base, and planet info
Syntax: List [<keywords>]
The following information is available via the LIST command:
- Name of any ship currently in the game (including the
Romulan).
- Location and shield percent of any friendly ship, or any ship
within scan range (10 sectors).
- Location and shield percent of any friendly base, or any base
within range.
- Location of any known enemy base (any base that has previously
been SCANned or LISTed by anyone on your team).
- Location and number of builds of any known planet, or any
planet within range.
The above information is also available, in whole or in part,
through the SUMMARY, BASES, PLANETS, and TARGETS commands. Each
command has it's own default range, side (Federation, Empire,
Romulan, Neutral), and object (ship, base, planet). LIST (and
SUMMARY) include everything (infinite range, all sides, all
objects) by default. On output, enemy objects are flagged with
* (star) in column 1 unless the command is TARGETS.
Keywords used with BASES, PLANETS, TARGETS, LIST, and SUMMARY
(not all keywords are legal for all commands):
ship names Include only specified ships (several ship names
may be given, including Romulan).
vpos hpos List only the object at the location vpos-hpos.
CLosest List only the closest of the specified objects.
SHips Include only ships (Federation, Empire, or
Romulan).
BAses Include only bases (Federation or Empire).
PLanets Include only planets (Federation, Empire, or
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 15
Neutral).
POrts Include only bases and planets. If no side is
specified (Federation, Empire, Neutral, or
Captured), include only friendly ports.
FEderation Include only Federation forces.
HUman Same as Federation.
EMpire Include only Empire forces.
Klingon Same as Empire.
FRiendly Include only friendly forces (Federation or
Empire).
ENemy Include only enemy forces (Empire or Federation
and Romulan).
TArgets Same as enemy.
NEutral Include only neutral planets.
CAptured Include only captured planets (Federation or
Empire).
n Include only objects within n sectors.
ALl Include all sides unless a side is explicitly
given. Extend the range to infinity unless a
range is explicitly given.
LIst List individual items. Turn off summary unless
command is SUMMARY or the keyword SUMMARY is
specified.
SUmmary List summary of all selected items. Turn off
list unless command is LIST or the keyword LIST
is specified. Extend the range to infinity
unless a range is explicitly given.
And Used to separate groups of keywords.
& Same as AND.
Examples:
LIST List all information available on all ships,
bases, and planets.
LIST SUM List all available info plus a summary of the
number of each object in game.
LI EN BA List the location of all known enemy bases.
LI SH List all available info on all ships in the
game.
LI CL PO List closest friendly base or friendly or
neutral planet.
LI 1 3 & 9 5 List the objects at locations 1-3 and 9-5.
MOVE using warp drive
Syntax: Move [Absolute|Relative|Computed] <vpos> <hpos>
Maximum speed is warp factor 6, which will move you 6 sectors
per turn. Maximum SAFE speed is warp factor 4; warp factors 5
and 6 risk potential warp engine damage. Energy consumption per
move is proportional to the square of the warp factor. If the
ship's shields are up during this movement, the energy
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 16
consumption is doubled. Moving changes your ship's condition to
green.
Examples:
M 37 45 Move to sector 37-45.
M A 37 45 Equivalent to "M 37 45".
M R 4 -5 Move to sector 37-45, if your present location
is 33-50 (move up 4 sectors and left 5 sectors).
M C W "Ram" the Wolf. No actual collision occurs, but
your ship ends up adjacent to the Wolf's current
position.
Display the NEWS file
Syntax: NEws
Display the file which contains information on any new features,
enhancements, bug fixes, etc for each version of DECWAR.
Fire PHASERS at an enemy ship, base, or planet
Syntax: PHasers [Absolute|Relative|Computed] [energy] <vpos>
<hpos>
Phasers must be directed at a specific target, and only one
target may be specified per command. Obstacles seemingly in the
path of the phaser blast are unaffected, since the energy ray is
not a line-of- sight weapon. The size of the hit is inversely
proportional to the distance from the target. Maximum range is
10 sectors vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Each phaser
blast consumes 200 units of ship energy, unless a specific
amount of energy is given (the specified energy must be between
50 and 500 units, inclusive). The phaser banks have roughly a
5% chance of damage with a default (200 unit) blast, with the
probability of damage reaching nearly 65% with a maximum (500
unit) blast. The severity of the resulting damage is also
dependant on the size of the blast. Also, if your ship's
shields are up, a high-speed shield control is used to quickly
lower and then restore the shields during the fire. This
procedure consumes another 200 units of ship energy. The
weapons officer on board your ship will cancel all phaser blasts
directed against friendly ships, bases, or planets. Firing
phasers (or getting hit by phasers) puts you on red alert.
NOTE: Although phasers can damage enemy planetary installations
(BUILDs), they can NOT destroy the planet itself.
Examples:
PH 12 32 Phaser target at sector 12-32.
PH A 12 32 Equivalent to "PH 12 32".
PH R 2 -3 Phaser target at sector 12-32, if your location
is 10-35.
PH C BUZZARD Phaser the Buzzard (if in range).
PH C B Same as PH C BUZZARD (ship names can be
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 17
abbreviated to 1 character).
PH 300 12 32 Phaser target at sector 12-32, using 300 units
of energy.
List various PLANET information
Syntax: PLanets [<keywords>]
List location and number of builds for all known planets, and a
summary of planets within a specified range or the entire
galaxy. The default range is 10 sectors, and the default side
is every side. See the help for LIST for more information and
the complete set of keywords that can be used to modify PLANETS
output.
Examples:
PL List all planets within 10 sectors.
PL SUM Give summary of all planets in game.
PL ALL NEU List all known neutral planets.
PL ALL CAP List all known captured planets.
PL ALL 20 List all known planets within a radius of 20
sectors.
List POINTS scored so far this game
Syntax: POints
[Me|I|Federation|Human|Empire|Klingon|Romulan|All]
Itemize the current point breakdown. Information can be
obtained concerning the points scored by your individual ship,
your team, the opposition, the romulans, or any combination of
the above. If the Romulan Empire is not involved in the game,
the ROMULAN keyword will be ignored.
Categories in POINTS breakdown:
- Damage to enemies.
- Enemies destroyed (500 points each).
- Damage to bases.
- Planets captured (100 points each).
- Bases built (1000 points each).
- Romulans damaged/destroyed.
- Stars destroyed (-50 points each).
- Planets destroyed (-100 points each).
- Total points scored.
- Total number of ships commissioned.
- Total score / number of players.
- Total score / stardates.
Examples:
PO List points for your ship.
PO ME Equivalent to "PO".
PO KLI FED List the score of the two teams.
DECWAR GAME INSTRUCTIONS Page 18
PO ALL List all the scoring information available.
QUIT the game
Syntax: Quit
Quit the game before normal end of execution and return to the
monitor. Your ship is released for use by another player,
you're chalked up as just one more casualty, and you can't
CONTINUE the game. If you want to rejoin the game, you'll have
to wait 2 minutes, and then either START or RUN the game. If
you want to exit the game temporarily (to answer SENDS, etc.),
type ^C (CTL-C), and you'll usually be able to CONTINUE. NOTE:
If you're under red alert, you won't be able to ^C out of the