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12A. Asteroid |
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12K. Teleport |
Return to Add-On Sub-Menu |
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12B. Jump
Gate |
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12L. Machines
of Yore |
1. Introduction to VGA Planets |
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7. Minefields
Sub-Menu |
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12C. Raceplus |
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2. Race Information Sub-Menu |
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8. Combat
Sub-Menu |
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12D. Starbase
Plus |
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3. Friendly Codes Sub-Menu |
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9. Ion Storm
Sub-Menu |
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12E. Tachyon |
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4. Planet Information Sub-Menu |
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10. Misc.
Information Sub-Menu |
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12F. Fortress
Host (Fhost) |
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5. Starbase Information Sub-Menu |
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11. Strategy and Strategy Guides |
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12G. Nemesis |
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6. Ship Information Sub-Menu |
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12. Add-on Information |
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12H. Gryphon |
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12I. Jupiter |
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12J. Banzai! |
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GRYPHON ADD-ON: |
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GRYPHON An Add-On for
VGA Planets V3.5 (Host 3.2x) |
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Gryphon is copyright Oleg
Shvartsman |
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VGA Planets is a
trademark of Tim Wisseman |
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I. Introduction. |
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II. Installation. |
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III. Operations. |
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IV. Quick reference chart |
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V. Notes. |
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VI. Alt Tech |
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VII. Shareware. |
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VIII Thanks. |
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Overview |
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I.
Introduction. |
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Welcome to Gryphon! |
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Gryphon
is a next generation, power add-on to space strategy game VGA Planets. It was written |
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in
386 protected mode to allow me to fully exploit the architecture of newer
processors and more |
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power
and more abilities than ever. Gryphon
is the most feature-rich add-on to VGA Planets, providing |
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new
abilities designed for power (such as Asteroid Bases, Moving Mines, Fighter
Steal, Fighter |
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Base Assault,
Antifighter Mines, Tanks and Combat Robots, Orbital Bombardment, and Warp |
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Interdictors)
and convenicence (such as Ion Control, Exchange Ships, Sell
mines/defenses/Starbases, |
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Move
Natives, and Space Gambling). Never
before could you have and add-on with 40 new abilities and |
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almost 100 configurable
options for balancing them against one another. With Gryphon, |
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you will never lack an
appropriate tool to rain destruction on your opponents! |
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There
seems to be some confusion as to the proper spelling and meaning of the word
Gryphon. So, just as a |
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bit
of side info: GRYPHON: (from Fr. griffon, Lat. gryphus,and Gr. gryphon), in
the natural history of the |
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ancients,
the name of an imaginary rapacious creature of the eagle species, represented
with four legs, |
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wings
and a beak, -- the fore part resembling an eagle and the hinder a lion. In
addition, some writers |
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describe
the tail as a serpent. This animal, which was supposed to watch over gold
mines and hidden |
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treasrues, and to be the
enemy of the horse, was consecrated to the Sun; and the ancient painters |
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represented the chariot
of the Sun as drawn by griffins. |
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The
gryphon was said to inhabit Asiatic Scythia, where gold and precious stones
were abundant; and |
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when strangers
approached to gather these the creatures leapt upon them and tore them in
pieces. |
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(Encyclopedia Britannica) |
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This is the doc file for
Gryphon version 1.17a. |
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Gryphon
will display the version number every time you run it. The host will need to
check the run-time |
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screen or the log file
for details. The Gryphon program was written using 32-bit protected mode; it
requires |
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a 386 (or higher) processor and 1 meg of
memory, but it allowed me to do much more in terms of |
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the number and complexity
of abilities. |
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Gryphon
is still a work in progress; if any new abilities or changes to the existing
ones come to mind that |
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would contribute to the
general "coolness" of Gryphon, I will incorporate them without prior |
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notification (they will
be included in this doc file and the changes file, though). |
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To
search for changes, I would advise to run an appropriate file comparison
utility (such as fc or diff) |
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on
the old and new copies of the doc file. There might be several changes that
would not be noted |
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in the gchanges.txt file. |
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You
can always find the most recent version of Gryphon at
http://www.deathsdoor.com/stardestroyer; |
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if you obtained this
distribution from elsewhere, please be aware that this might be an older |
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version and there could
be improvements/bug fixes/etc on the "official" site. |
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Starting
with version 1.15, Gryphon comes Winplan-enabled, which means that Gryphon
icon will appear |
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next to Gryphon
messages, and that several special abilities with area effect which naturally
lend |
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themselves to being
shown on a map will be shown as UFO objects.
These abilities are: |
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Fascist
Deep Space Missiles (dark green squares), Rebel Deep Space Bases (aqua
squares), |
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Interdiction
fields (Bright red circles of proper radius with bright red squares
inside) |
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and Antimatter Missiles
(dark green squares). |
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Missiles
will show proper warp speed and direction.
In addition, there is a Windows-based config |
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program, gwconfig, which
optionally replaces regular configuration program. Gwconfig will also |
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automatically edit
aux*.ini files for you, inserting Gryphon into its proper place in auxhost
run. |
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Gwconfig is free of
charge for registered owners. |
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New Game Setup |
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II. Installation. |
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You
must install and configure the add-on to run in certain directories and skip
others. If you have a |
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multi-game,
multi-directory planets universe, it would be possible to specify what
directories you want |
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Gryphon to run in and
have a separate configuration for every one. |
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To
configure Gryphon for a specific directory, type the command GCONFIG
<directory-name>. |
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The
program will let you specify a variety of options and then place GRYPHON.CFG
into |
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the specified
directory. If Gryphon cannot find this
file when it runs, it will abort, so be sure to |
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configure
Gryphon before using it. You should run the GCONFIG just after running MASTER
and before |
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running HOST for the
first time. You can re-configure
GRYPHON as many times as you want. |
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If your host program
name is host.exe, use Timhost instructions.
If your host name is phost.exe, |
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use Phost instructions. |
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a) Timhost installation. |
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Unless you are running
GWconfig, you must add the lines: |
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Gryphon1.exe
<full-path-to-game-directory> into your auxhost1.ini file, |
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Gryphon2.exe
<full-path-to-game-directory> to your auxhost2.ini file, and |
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GryphonB.exe
<full-path-to-game-directory> into the auxbc.ini file. |
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Do
not type the quotes. Full path means
the _complete_ path to the directory, starting with the |
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drive
letter. These files must be in the
VGAP GAME DATA directory, where your game data files |
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reside. If these files
do not exist, create them. If they
already exist and you run other add-ons, be |
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sure
all of them are listed in mirror order, i.e. if you run Nemesis and then
Gryphon in your auxhost1, |
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run Gryphon and then
Nemesis in AuxBC and auxhost2. You
should put the gryphon1, gryphon2, |
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and gryphonb.exe files
into the planets program directory, where host.exe resides. |
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Host version 3.22.8 is
required, and 3.22.015 is required for Base Assault to work properly. |
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b) Phost installation. |
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This add-on will only
work for Phost versions 3.2.x and higher.
You should use the same instructions as |
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for host.exe, taking particular care of
running any add-ons in mirror order (if you have multiple |
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add-ons).
In addition, Gryphon supports the Timhost convention of placing alternate
hull, engine, |
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torpedo,
and beam definitions into the host directory, not the game directory. |
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Please place
hullspec.dat, engspec.dat, beamspec.dat, and torpspec.dat into the same
directory |
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as phost.exe. |
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This
add-on has not been given the same amount of testing with phost as it was
with host; bugs may exist |
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or
some abilities may not run. If you
find something that is not working properly, please |
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bring it to my attention
and I will resolve it as soon as possible. |
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Contents |
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GRYPHON.EXE |
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GCONFIG.EXE |
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Game Info |
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CONFIGURATION: |
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Occasionally,
you may be asked to run GCONFIG <directory-name> /new. The order is
important, and the |
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space
is required. That happens if you want
to "forget" the old values and use built-in defaults, or |
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if the format of the
config file changes with a new version of Gryphon. |
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There
are almost no enabled/disabled switches to abilities; instead, EVERY ability
can be effectively turned off |
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using its corresponding
settings. For example, to turn off Lizard troop carriers, set the decay rate
to 100. |
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The
following is the explanation of some of the options in the GCONFIG. You can
press Enter to accept |
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the
default value. If you have already
configured GRYPHON, the GCONFIG program will read the |
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existing GRYPHON.CFG
file and use the values in it as defaults. |
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NOTE: not nearly every
config option is explained here; those that are not explained are, in my
opinion, |
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self-explanatory. |
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If
you encounter a message "runtime error 003", then it means you are
trying to run GCONFIG on a non-existing game |
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directory. You have to run MASTER.EXE before running
GCONFIG. |
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Team
game: very important. This ability
changes race specials into ship specials;
ships can then be traded |
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for specials between the
races. |
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Fed Goodwill factor: up
to how many tens of clans will join the Federation colony. The default is 3 = up to 30 clans. |
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Native
Cryo hold capacity: this is the multiplier for cryogenic holds in Banshee
class native mover. |
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The default is 20 = 1600
clans. |
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Refit money factor:
multiplier for the cost of super-refitting components in flight. |
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Lizard decay percentage:
what percent of colonists in Cryogenic chambers die every turn in the
Saurian. |
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Cryo
hold capacity: this is the multiplier for cryogenic holds in Saurian class
troop carrier. |
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The default is 10 = 1500
clans. |
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Anti-fighter defense:
the more it is, the more fighters will be destroyed during a T-Rex
anti-fighter mine explosion. |
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Fascist missile sweep
probability: what probability a 10-heavy-phaser ship will have to sweep an
incoming missile. |
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Number of mines created:
determines the minefield size. The
radius is equal to the square root of the number of |
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mines, making the default
30 ly in radius. |
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Bio missile
effectiveness: what chance EACH colonist has of dying of toxin
poisoning. The more it is, the more |
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people will die. |
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Anti-fighter
missile effectiveness: the higher this is, the more fighters will die
following the anti-fighter |
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missile explosion. |
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Base
defense increase factor: the higher this is, the more difficulty the Coldpain
troopers will have penetrating |
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the base. 100 turns base boarding off. |
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Martial
law happiness decrease: The higher this is, the more the colonists' happiness
will decrease following |
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the martial law (to
prevent gambling). Set it to 0 to turn
gambling off. |
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Ravius Beam effect: by
how much an Onyx will raise the temperature of a remote planet (=the Onyx's
fuel use). |
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Share Hyper-Moscow: set
this on to allow other races to use the hyper-drive capabilities of the
Moscow Class |
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Star Escort. Set to off
to allow only the Imperials to use it. |
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Probability
of correct race detection by a Pawn: the probability that the cloaked ship's
race reported is in fact |
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the cloaked ship's race. |
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Cost
factor of Rebel deep space bases: This is multiplier to get the mineral/money
cost to build a deep space base. |
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Multiply this factor by
10 to get the amount of minerals and money. |
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Range of DSB detection:
how far the enemy ship must be in order to detect an active DSB. |
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Share
Hyper-Sage: set this on to allow other races to use the hyper- drive
capabilities of the Sage Class Frigate. |
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Set to off to allow only the Rebels to use
it. |
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Skill
of Colonial fighter pilots: the multiplier (percentage) by which Colonial
fighters are better than the |
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defending
fighters. Set it to 100 to make them
just as good, to 200 to make them twice as good, |
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and to 50 to make them
twice as bad. |
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Sale
of defenses/mines: How much money is received from a sale of 1 defense post
or a mineral mine. |
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You get 1 supply unit
plus (by default) 50% of the original cost. |
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Sale
of starbase: What percentage of the original construction+tech upgrade price
is received from a sold |
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starbase, both in
minerals and money. |
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Warp
factor to be slowed to by Interdictors: what is a maximum speed that an enemy
ship in an Interdiction |
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field can attain. Own ships can go two warp factors faster. |
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Antimatter
launcher cost: how many thousands of units of minerals it would take to build
a launcher. |
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Multiply this factor by 1000 to get minerals
and supplies, and by 2000 to get the money. |
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This factor times 2000
is also used to calculate how much money a missile launch will cost. |
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Tank
and ComBot strengths: the equivalent number of colonist clans necessary to
defeat a tank/ComBot. |
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Set Tank offense and
defense to 0 to disable tanks for that race; set ComBot defense to 0 to
disable |
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ComBots for that race. |
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Any
player can use a planetary FC
"GRY" to receive the list of Gryphon config options next turn in
the mail. |
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It
is very similar to Planets' own con Friendly code. When an item is yes/no, |
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1 signifies yes and 0 -
no or is disabled. |
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III.
Operations and abilities. |
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The
following section describes the new special abilities and how to use them.
Quick reference sheet follows |
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the
"long" explanation. For
shortness, FC will refer to the Friendly code of the appropriate ship. |
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Whenever I use an amount
in parentheses, like (75%), that means this value is configurable in GCONFIG. |
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A. Federation. |
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1) Move Natives. |
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The Fed Banshee class
ship can transport batches of (1600) native clans in its modified and
improved |
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version
of Lizard Cryo-Hold (see below for details). With an FC of "LNR", a
totally empty |
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(except
for fuel) Banshee can load and store in its cryo holds the native clans of
any race |
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excluding
the amorphs (hard to catch) and the reptians (very strong family ties). |
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The number of native
clans is determined by multiplying the cargo hold of a Bashee by |
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(20), configured
capacity of Federation CryoTanks. It can then take them to any planet and |
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unload with a FC of
"UNR". Three things can
occur: |
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if
the planet has no natives, the native
clans will unload and populate the planet; but as a |
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result of the move and
accompanying chaos, their government decreases by 1. |
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If
there already are natives of the same race, the natives add to the already
existing natives; |
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the
government is set to the lower of the two and the happiness is set to
100 |
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as a result of happiness
of the reunited clans. |
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If there are natives of
another race on the planet, nothing would happen, |
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since natives don't live
well together in VGAP. |
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Just
be careful not to load anything (besides fuel) onto the ship while the
natives are loaded, or |
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the cryogenic units
would break down and all natives would die. |
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NOTE:
it is possible to "steal" natives from planets owned by another
race, if their happiness level is |
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lower than 80% |
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2) Fed cooperation. |
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Seeing the kindness and
the order of the Federation colonists, a variable number of natives might |
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decide
to join the Federation colony as full citizens. The happiness must be greater
than 80% |
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and
the native race cannot be amorph. To stop native clans from joining, you can
set your |
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planetary FC to begin
with the letter "S". |
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3) Superrefit in flight. |
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Federation
starships no longer need a starbase to perform their super refit function. As
long as |
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a
ship has sufficient minerals/money and FC of "UFP", the ship can do
the superrefit. |
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Set
the first letter of the ship name to "E" if you want to up your
engines, or "T" for torps, or |
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"B" for beam
weapons. The old parts are too bulky
for storage, so they are ejected into
space. |
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NOTE:
due to some strange technological barriers <wink, wink> ships cannot
raise their engines, |
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beams
and torps from tech 6 to tech 7, and engines from tech 7 to tech 8. (This is
done to protect |
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Tim's
registrations). If the host desires,
he can increase the money cost of the upgrade. For |
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example, with the factor
of 2 it costs twice as much money to upgrade the parts as from a base. |
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The default value is (1). |
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NOTE:
If you have any torps on the ship and are upgrading launchers, the torps are
upgraded too, |
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but 50% of them are
disassembled to upgrade the other torps. |
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NOTE:
This is an UPGRADE, not a new component installation. You cannot built a ship with no torp |
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launchers and then try
to add launchers using UFP. At least level 1 launchers have to be present |
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on the ship. |
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4) Bonus-Refit. |
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This is a super-set of
superrefit-in-flight. Federation ships
in orbit around planets with "special" |
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natives
(human, silicon, etc.) can get their ships superrefitted up to level 10
without a base! |
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For the normal amount of
minerals and double the (money factor) (for presents to natives), Fcode |
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UFP,
the ship can do the bonus-refit. Set
the first letter of the ship name to "E" if you want to |
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upgrade
your engines, or "T" for torps, or "B" for beam
weapons. If you are upgrading |
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torps,
any torps presently on the ship are now useless (too low-tech) and are
discarded, |
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so transfer them to
another ship or lay and scoop them as minefield. |
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NOTE:
This is an UPGRADE, not a new component installation. You cannot built a ship with no torp |
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launchers and then try
to add launchers using UFP. At least level 1 launchers have to be present |
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on the ship. |
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B. Lizards |
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1) Cryogenic Cargo hold. |
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The
Lizards have developed a way to cryogenically freeze their warriors aboard a
Saurian class ship |
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and
beam them out onto enemy planets or to supplement their colonists on planets.
The |
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Saurian
class ship has to be empty of all cargo (besides fuel) and be orbiting a
Lizard planet. |
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With
the FC of "LCH" the ship can Load its Cryo-Holds with cargo space
of Saurian times (10), the |
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default
load factor. Therefore, in a default
game with a standard ship list, the max load is 1500 |
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clans;
that can do a good deal of damage in Lizard hands. The clans can be unloaded normally |
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(beam
down colonists mission); in the end of the turn, other colonists will be
defrosted and |
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put
into colonist quarters. NOTE: this
means only 150 clans per turn would be able to be beamed |
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down. Every turn, (5%) of clans would die from
Cryogenic storage accidents. NOTE: You cannot |
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use any of the
"beam up minerals" functions; that would disrupt the cryo chambers
and all |
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colonists
would die. NOTE: other ships cannot
beam minerals to the Saurian, or the same |
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effect would occur. You can safely beam up/transfer money and
fuel. |
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You would get a message
every turn advising of cryo-chamber status. |
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2) T-Rex Antifighter
mines. |
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A
T-Rex class battleship can choose to convert some of its torpedoes into mines
just before |
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battle. These mines would explode into small pieces
of shrapnel and damage incoming fighters. |
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Depending on the first
letter of the FC, 'Q' will convert a quarter of torpedoes, 'H' will convert a
half, |
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'T' will convert three fourths and 'A' will
convert all of them. If the first
letter of the FC is not one |
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of
these letters, no torpedoes will be converted. The more torps you use and the higher the
tech |
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level,
the more mines will be created.
Strength of the torpedoes can be adjusted in the GCONFIG |
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program.
This is done after movement, but before combat; you must have primary enemy
set to |
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something
(anything) or kill mission for this ability to work. |
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The formula for the
percent of fighters destroyed is: |
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(FOURTH_ROOT ((#_of_torps_used)^2 *
(torp_tech)^2 * config_strength)) / 100 |
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per enemy ship. |
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Use
FCode "xyz" to use this ability, where x is Q, H, T, or A for
quarter, half, three quarters, and all |
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torpedoes, y is "A" or "a", and z
is "F" or "f". The
case variations of the last two characters |
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is
to help avoid ships not fighting due to matching FCodes. For example, QAf or Qaf or QAF or |
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QaF will use 1/4 of
torpedoes. |
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WARNING:
the program does not detect if the ship is actually in combat. Do not use xAF
if you aren't |
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sure you'll fight, or
you will waste torpedoes. |
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Note: to avoid xAF
working two turns in a row in case a player missed his turn and forgot to
reset the |
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Fcode,
the ship has to be at warp factor higher than 0 to use this ability. In the
end of the turn, |
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xAF
will reset warp factor to 0, so that to use it on the next turn, the player
will have to |
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manually set the warp
factor. |
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C: The Birdmen. |
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1) Remote ID. |
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This
ability is shared with the Privateers.
A Skyfire class starship on an intercept mission and warp 0 |
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can
use its targeting scanners to thoroughly scan the target ship. With FC "RID", the ship will |
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report
the other ship's drivetech, number and tech of beams and torp launchers,
number of torps |
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or
fighters, mission, primary enemy, damage, different kinds of cargo, fuel and
the FC. The default |
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range for both races is
(162) ly. |
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2) Beacon-Minefields. |
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Birdman
ships can convert their torpedoes into deep space mines and, instead of
deploying them |
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into
a minefield, place a remote-response beacon on them and hide them under a
small portable |
|
|
cloaking shield. After receiving a signal, the beacons
collapse the cloaking fields and deploy |
|
|
the mines into regular minefields. For an added bonus, the Beacon minefields
allow one mine |
|
|
field totally inside one another! The
deploying ship must have the FC of "DBx", where x is |
|
|
"H"
for half of torpedoes, "Q" for a quarter of torpedoes,
"A" for all torpedoes, and "T" for three |
|
|
fourths of torpedoes. |
|
|
The max total amount of
beacons in the universe is 100. |
|
|
The minefield size is
determined with standard minefield size calculation, |
|
|
#-of-mines=#-of-torps-used
* (tech-of-torps)^2 |
|
|
After deployment, the
beacons remain linked to the ship that deployed them; when that ship uses |
|
|
FC
"UMB", all beacons that ship has created will be converted into
regular minefields. If the |
|
|
deploying ship is
destroyed, the Birdmen must get another torpedo ship with the same id number |
|
|
to deploy the beacons;
otherwise, the beacons will remain floating about, unclaimed. |
|
|
The Imperial Mig class
scout can detect and destroy the beacons; see its appropriate section. |
|
|
NOTE: the deploying ship
may stay cloaked for the entire time! |
|
|
3) Honor Device. |
|
|
Birdmen
have the Honor Device installed on all ships with more than 10 crewmen. See the Universal |
|
|
section on the Honor
device for details. |
|
|
4) Ship Warp Interdictor. |
|
|
In
addition to the universal Planetary Warp Interdictor, the Bird ships can have
a Ship-based Warp |
|
|
Interdictor installed
into the hull. |
|
|
Just
like the Planetary Interdictor, the Ship Interdictor is installed by joining
the ship with a Neutronic |
|
|
Refinery
vessel; However, by default it is less powerful and uses less fuel than the
planet-based |
|
|
device.
To install the Interdictor device, the ship must be at the same location as a
Neutronic |
|
|
Refinery ship and have
the FC of "BWI". To engage
the ship interdictor, use the ship |
|
|
FC of "EWI"; you must have more
than (20) fuel units to use the device. |
|
|
When
the device is engaged, all ships of all other races are slowed down to warp
(4); the Birdman |
|
|
ships can tweak their
engines to go up to two warp factors higher than the other races' ships. |
|
|
Therefore, the Birds
within the field can go the max of warp (6). |
|
|
5)
The Birdmen share the Red Wind fighter Steal ability with the
Privateers. |
|
|
See appropriate section for details. |
|
|
D. Fascists. |
|
|
1). Deep space missiles. |
|
|
In
their infinite pursuit of destruction, the Fascist government authorized its
ships' captains |
|
|
to install long-range
deep space missiles on all ships tech 6 and above. |
|
|
NOTE: the ships below tech 6, such as Ill
Wind, will NOT be able to launch missiles. |
|
|
From
now on, any ship with torp launchers and that is orbiting a Fascist
planet will be able |
|
|
to
launch three types of missiles: Anti-Fighter, Minefield, and Biological. Each
missile costs |
|
|
10
of each mineral and 20 fuel and moves at
warp (7) straight toward its target, which has to |
|
|
be an orbit of a
planet. To launch a missile, the ship
has to be of tech level 6 or above, be |
|
|
orbiting a Fascist
planet, have the necessary minerals in the cargo hold, warp factor 0 and |
|
|
set a waypoint to the
target planet. The range of the missile is unlimited; but be aware that
really |
|
|
long-range missiles could take a long time
to get to their destinations. |
|
|
The
FC for Anti-Fighter missile is "LFM". This kind of missile seeks out groups of
fighters. If no ships |
|
|
or
no ships with fighter bays or no ships with fighters are found, the missile
has no effect; |
|
|
otherwise,
it separates into many small warheads, each with individual targeting
capabilities. |
|
|
Each warhead one of four
things, with random probability: |
|
|
1: completely
misses. It would report "ship
undamaged" |
|
|
2: destroys a few
fighters. It would report "X fighters destroyed" |
|
|
3: destroys a lot of
fighters (hit a squadron on patrol).
It would report "X fighters destroyed" |
|
|
4: follow a group of
fighters into the ship and explode in a fighter bay. In that case, a
fighterbay |
|
|
is completely destroyed.
(so now it is possible to see a Gorbie with fewer than |
|
|
10 bays, for example). |
|
|
NOTE: it is impossible
to detroy a carrier's only fighter bay. |
|
|
To
launch a Biological missile, set the FC to "LBM". This missile would release bio-toxins into
the |
|
|
planet's
atmosphere and have a (15%) chance per colonist to kill him. Therefore, the effects |
|
|
are
largely unpredictable; the missile might either have no effect or decimate
the entire |
|
|
population, but on
average it will kill 15% of the population. |
|
|
To
launch a Minefield missile, set FC of "LMM". This missile would deploy a
(900)-mine-units minefield, |
|
|
with a radius of (30) ly. |
|
|
NOTE: the minefields can be contained
entirely inside one another! I.E. you
can |
|
|
have two minefields at
[2000:2000] and not have them join together. |
|
|
The missiles can be
swept when they reach the target point. To attempt to destroy the missile,
you must |
|
|
set ships' missions to
mine sweep. The default chance of
successfully sweeping a missile is: |
|
|
Total#OfBeamWeapons
* BeamWeaponTechLevel * (100%). |
|
|
For
example, a Biocide with 10 heavy phasers will have 10*10*(100%) or 100%
chance. |
|
|
One Patriot with 2 Heavy
Blasters will have 2*6*(100%) or 12% chance. |
|
|
The
planetary defense (not starbase defense) outposts also participate in this
missile sweep. No special |
|
|
FC
is required; the defenses will automatically attempt to sweep all approaching
missiles. |
|
|
However, their effect is
much smaller than that of ship-based weapons. |
|
|
The
damage levels are of course configurable.
If the missile is detected in space (i.e. it has not yet |
|
|
reached
its target) then a scan message is sent to the owner of the target planet
every turn the |
|
|
missile is in flight, as
well as to the missile's owner advising of its status. |
|
|
A
player who owns the missile can destroy it at any time using planetary FCode
"Dxx", where xx is |
|
|
the missile's ID number.
This ability is transferred to non-fascist players during team game, |
|
|
but with a catch: the
Fascists, showing uncommon foresight, have built-in an override frequency |
|
|
into
each missile control unit they give away in their ships. A Fascist player can
"push the big |
|
|
red
button" for any missile in flight, whether launched by him or by someone
else. |
|
|
2) Board Base. |
|
|
The Fascists from a
Coldpain class Cruiser can board a base of an enemy race. If the assault is
not repelled |
|
|
by
the base troopers (the probability of the assault being repelled is: |
|
|
(#-of-defense-posts / 2)
minus 25% plus (25%) from the GCONFIG program), |
|
|
the base is damaged
(25%), all base fighters are smashed, half the defense outposts are broken, |
|
|
and all built components
(hulls, engines, beams, and launchers) are destroyed. In addition, all stored |
|
|
torpedoes
are beamed out into space. Some Fascist crewmen are killed during the
assault; since only a |
|
|
fully-crewed Coldpain
can do the board mission, the ship must return to a base to pick up
additional |
|
|
crew. The Coldpain have FC of "BBx",
where x is anything (to prevent the capture of the ship), not |
|
|
be cloaked, warp 0, and
not be towed. |
|
|
NOTE: the damage to base
is progressive; that means the first ship will damage a base to 25%, the next |
|
|
ship to 43%, the next to
58%, and so on. It is next to
impossible to completely destroy |
|
|
a base by boarding it
repeatedly. |
|
|
E: Privateers. |
|
|
1) Remote ID. Exactly the same as Birdman feature; see
Birds for details. |
|
|
2) Lady Royale Gambling
supervessel. |
|
|
The
Royale can now go to planets of other races and perform its gambling function
there, with |
|
|
one exception: the
proceeds go to the Privateers, not the planet's owner. The colonists beam up in |
|
|
the beginning of the
turn and return in the end; they do not pay taxes and are not present to work |
|
|
at the factories and mines. |
|
|
The Royale would need the fc of
"GXX" and warp 0. The Royale cannot be towed or attempt to
leave |
|
|
the
planet: if the colonists find out the ship is no longer at the planet, they
will revolt and destroy |
|
|
the Lady Royale. |
|
|
Warning:
do not try to attempt the gambling mission during the ion storm. The storm may pull the |
|
|
Royale off the planet. |
|
|
The owner of the planet
may institute martial law on the planet;
With the FC of "xML", where x is any |
|
|
character,
the police and special forces would prevent the citizens from leaving. However, this |
|
|
would
drop their happiness level by (25%) due to lost civil liberties. |
|
|
NOTE: the planet cannot
be taken by ground assault or space assault during the time the colonists |
|
|
gamble. Otherwise, the returning colonists
would announce what was done to them and the |
|
|
invading
colonists would join the colony of the old race! for Example, a Lizard colony has a
Royale |
|
|
in
orbit. On the same turn, a Fascist takes over the planet with ground assault.
When the Lizard |
|
|
colonists return, the
colony ownership would go back to Lizards, with all the Fascist troops
joining |
|
|
the Lizard government. |
|
|
3) Red Wind fighter
steal. |
|
|
The Red Wind class ship
that belongs to either Birds or Privateers can broadcast subspace messages |
|
|
to enemy fighter carriers at the same
location describing the beauty of the pirate way of life. This |
|
|
may convince a random number of fighter
pilots up to (30%) to desert and join the Privateer Red |
|
|
Wind, or (20%) to join
the Birdman Red Wind fighter team.
Multiple ships can steal fighters; |
|
|
however, the number of
fighters stolen does NOT increase with the number of ships; rather, only |
|
|
the capacity of fighters
that can be taken away is increased. |
|
|
The fighters that do not
find enough space will return to their "home" carrier. |
|
|
Stolen fighters are
taken aboard Red Winds in ID number order. Cloaked carriers may not be
robbed, |
|
|
however the Red Wind may be cloaked while
robbing. |
|
|
Carriers on SuperSpy MAY
be robbed, even if they can cloak. |
|
|
The Red Wind must have
fuel and use the FC "SFx", where x is any alphanumeric character
(to prevent |
|
|
matching FC on combat ships). The mission is done during the AUXBC phase:
after movement, |
|
|
but before combat. |
|
|
NOTE: this ability
cannot be given away in a team game. |
|
|
F: The Cyborg. |
|
|
1) Move Mines. |
|
|
The
Cyborg ships can order any Cyborg minefield to move up, down, left, or right
on the starmap at warp |
|
|
(5) using the FC
"MMX" and: |
|
|
the first three
characters of the name must be the minefield's ID number. The fourth
character of the |
|
|
name
must be the direction to go, "D" for down, "U" for up,
"L" for left, and "R" for right. |
|
|
For
example, FC "MMX" and name 023D will cause the minefield 23 to move
down. |
|
|
The controlling ship
must have the warp factor of 0. |
|
|
2) Super Intercept. |
|
|
Both
cube ships can greatly speed up in their pursuit of an enemy vessel. Whenever
the ship is |
|
|
intercepting
an enemy and is not close enough to get to him in the regular movement
phase, |
|
|
the
ship will accelerate to twice its regular speed to cover twice as much
distance burning |
|
|
the same amount of
fuel! The cube's web/mine hit
probability is halved, because the ship |
|
|
moves so fast the mines
cannot lock on. The ship has to be
undamaged, have engines of |
|
|
tech 8 or higher, be on
an intercept mission, and have the warp factor EQUAL the engine tech level. |
|
|
G: The Crystallines. |
|
|
1) Move Web mine fields. |
|
|
This
ability is similar to the Cyborg move mines ability. The Crystalline ships
can order any Crystal |
|
|
Web minefield to move
up, down, left, or right on the starmap at warp (5) using the FC
"MMX" and: |
|
|
the
first three characters of the name must be the minefield's ID number. The
fourth character |
|
|
of the name must be the
direction to go, "D" for down, "U" for up, "L"
for left, and "R" for right. |
|
|
For
example, FC "MMX" and name 023D will cause the web minefield 23 to
move down. |
|
|
The controlling ship
must have the warp factor of 0. |
|
|
2) ComBots. |
|
|
The Crystal can build
ComBots to defend their planets. See
the Universal abilities section on ComBots |
|
|
for details. |
|
|
3) Ravius Beam. |
|
|
The
Onyx class starships have been outfitted with the Ravius Beam, designed to
increase a planet's temperature |
|
|
at
a distance. As long as the Onyx has
fuel, FC of "RAV" and has a waypoint set on one of the
planets, |
|
|
the Onyx would increase that world's
temperature by (1) degree per turn, burning (1) unit of fuel. |
|
|
NOTE: if the host sets
the temperature increase rate to more than 1, the fuel use will increase
accordingly. |
|
|
The range of this
ability is the ship's engine tech squared times 2. |
|
|
4) Honor Device. |
|
|
The
Opal class and the Topez class ships have Honor device installed in their
hulls. See the Universal
abilities |
|
|
section on the Honor
Device for details. |
|
|
5) Crystal Oscillator. |
|
|
The Crystal Thunder
Class Carrier has installed an Oscillator device. When engaged in the AUXBC |
|
|
phase (after movement, but before combat),
it will destroy all fighters in the forward-facing |
|
|
fighter bays of the
enemy carriers at the same location by inducing oscillations which shatter
the |
|
|
fighters' sensors and
central computer processor units.
Exactly (33%) of all fighters of the primary |
|
|
enemy
race are destroyed. Use the FC
"OSC" to use this ability.
You need at least 1 colonist clan |
|
|
on board the Crystal
Thunder to operate the device. |
|
|
NOTE:
to avoid enemy ships setting FC to OSC and not fighting the Crystal Thunder,
you can also |
|
|
use FCodes Osc, OSc, and
OsC. |
|
|
H. The Empire. |
|
|
1) ComBots. |
|
|
The
Empire can build ComBots to defend their planets. See the Universal Abilities section on
ComBots |
|
|
for details. |
|
|
2) Hyper-Moscow. |
|
|
Moscow class Star Escort
has had a hyperdrive installed. Just
like default hyperdrive-capable ships, the |
|
|
Moscow
will burn 50 units of fuel and jump (350) light years in the direction of the
waypoint. |
|
|
Just
set the "HYP" FC and warp factor to greater than 0. NOTE: Because of the size of the ship |
|
|
(it is much larger than
the probes) there MIGHT be a small inaccuracy in targeting (1-3 ly, at
random) |
|
|
so do not count on exact results every time. |
|
|
3) Imperial Pacification
mission. |
|
|
The
Super Star Carrier with 100 or more fighters in its bays can instantly
improve morale of any |
|
|
Imperial
planet's natives or colonists to 69% if it drops below 69. The ship has to be at warp 0, |
|
|
have FC "PAC"
and not be towed. |
|
|
4) Mig detection of
Birdman beacons. |
|
|
The Mig class scouts
will automatically detect and destroy all Birdman minefield beacons that are |
|
|
(20) ly from the ship's position at the
start of the turn. |
|
|
I. The Robots. |
|
|
1) Cloaker Detect. |
|
|
The Robotic Pawn class
Baseship may detect the computer emissions of enemy cloaked vessels nearby. |
|
|
With
the FC of "DEC" and warp factor 0, a Pawn may detect cloaked ships
of all races and |
|
|
super-spying Birds up to
(49) ly away with (50%) probability.
The computer chief will also report |
|
|
the warp factor the ship
is under, and will attempt to identify the race that owns the ship. That
cannot |
|
|
always
be accomplished, though, and in (50%) of the cases, the computer chief will
report a |
|
|
randomly chosen race,
that may or may not be the correct one. (in the other 50% of the cases, |
|
|
the
correct race will be reported). The
host may choose if the race of the cloaker receives a |
|
|
message about detection. |
|
|
NOTE: The Pawn on this
mission cannot be towed. |
|
|
2) Mass Drivers. |
|
|
As an alternative to
small/medium/large Deep space freighters, the Robots may now use Mass Drivers |
|
|
to transport minerals or supplies to distant
planets. This requires that a ship
with hull mass |
|
|
over 100 is stationed
above the "source" planet.
The ship must use the FC "MDx", where x is |
|
|
the
mineral to transport: "M" for moly, "D" for duranium,
"T" for tritanium, N for fuel and "S" |
|
|
for
supplies, have more than (20) fuel, and set the waypoint to the
"target" planet. |
|
|
The
next turn, (100) units of the mineral requested would be transported
over. |
|
|
NOTE: the target planet
must be closer than (100) ly. It does
not have to belong to the Robots. |
|
|
J: Rebels. |
|
|
1) Hyper-Sage. |
|
|
Sage
class Frigate ship has had a hyperdrive installed. Just like default hyper ships, the Sage
will |
|
|
burn
50 units of fuel and jump (350) light years in the direction of the
waypoint. Just set the |
|
|
HYP FC and warp factor
to greater than 0. NOTE: Because of
the size of the ship (it is much |
|
|
larger than the probes) there MIGHT be a
small inaccuracy in targeting (1-3 ly, at random) |
|
|
so do not count on exact results every time. |
|
|
2) Starbase Sabotage. |
|
|
Rebel
saboteurs can infiltrate the starbases of enemy races and reduce their hull,
engine, and tech |
|
|
levels.
Any Rebel ship with more than 10 crew, at warp 0 and not towed, with FC
"SBx", where |
|
|
x
is any character, can beam in a few saboteurs and if there is an area that
has a tech level |
|
|
above
1, it will be reduced by 1 level. The area is chosen randomly among those
that are above 1. |
|
|
NOTE:
If there is a native race on that planet that originally helped to develop
that technology, |
|
|
they will help to
upgrade it back to level 10 and the mission will have no effect. For example, |
|
|
if there are ghipsoidal natives on a planet
and the Rebel ship sabotages engines, the |
|
|
Ghipsoids
will push the engine tech level back up to 10. If that happens, the host will have |
|
|
a
message about it in the log file, but the Rebel player will NOT receive a
mail message. |
|
|
The Rebel ship may not be
cloaked. |
|
|
The
Rebel ship will sustain some crew casualties during this mission. The ship
must return to a |
|
|
"real" Rebel
base (not one of the DSBs, see below) and be "fixed" before it can
do a Sabotage |
|
|
mission again. |
|
|
3) Rebel Deep Space
Bases. |
|
|
Rebel
ships can construct and maintain Deep Space Bases on asteroids floating in
deep space. |
|
|
They
cost 10*(5) units of each mineral, supplies and money. Any Rebel ship with
FC |
|
|
of
"DSB" and the required minerals on board can build a base at any
point in space, |
|
|
not
necessarily in Rebel space. At least 1 clan of colonists must be inside the
ship; |
|
|
they
will build the base and then transfer over to administer it and work on it
once built. |
|
|
The
base cannot be built at the same location as a planet, because a sun's
gravity makes |
|
|
the
asteroids there too unstable. The
builder-ship must not be cloaked, but it may be |
|
|
moving. The base, once built, will repair any Rebel
ship at the same location instantly |
|
|
and
at no cost and will provide 1 free torpedo per turn to every ship stationed
over that base, |
|
|
built from materials
collected from nearby asteroids. |
|
|
If
an enemy ship starts its turn within (25) ly from the base, it will send a
subspace message |
|
|
to
the ship's owner informing him about the base. The radar technicians on the
base will also |
|
|
inform the Rebels of the
base's detection. |
|
|
Any enemy ship with
mission kill or primary enemy Rebels and possessing beam weapons can |
|
|
destroy the base by
moving to it. The base is not armed
and is unable to offer any resistance. |
|
|
A maximum of 100 bases
can exist at any one time. |
|
|
4) Honor Device. |
|
|
The Sage class and the
Deep Space Scout ships have Honor device installed in their hulls. See the |
|
|
Universal abilities section on the Honor
Device for details. |
|
|
K. Colonials. |
|
|
1) Fighter-vs-base
strike. |
|
|
WARNING: this mission
needs host 3.2.015 to allow for base destruction. With prior versions of |
|
|
host, the base will be damaged but not
destroyed. |
|
|
The
colonial ships can send fighters to attack enemy bases. Several ships can join their fighter |
|
|
squadrons
to attack a base at an enemy planet by using the FC "FBA", setting
the warp |
|
|
factor to 0 and waypoint
to the target planet. The attack value
of an attacking fighter is: |
|
|
4 * (120%). |
|
|
The
defensive value of a fighter is: 4, a defense outpost is 1. |
|
|
Only fighters and
defenses of a starbase participate in defense. The following is the algorithm |
|
|
used to determine the outcome of the battle: |
|
|
while (there are
attackers) and (there are defenders) do begin |
|
|
if (random
(attackers*skill-of-pilots) > random(defenders) then |
|
|
increment base's damage |
|
|
if (random
(attackers*skill-of-pilots) > random(defenders) then |
|
|
decrement defenders |
|
|
if (random
(attackers*skill-of-pilots) <= random (defenders) then |
|
|
decrement attackers |
|
|
if base's damage >=
100 then |
|
|
kill all defenders |
|
|
end |
|
|
if there are no defenders
left then |
|
|
destroy the base. |
|
|
The surviving fighters
DO NOT RETURN from the mission. |
|
|
NOTE:
To prevent this ability's abuse in the end-game, it is performed in auxhost2
phase, after |
|
|
movement and combat. |
|
|
NOTE:
If the base does not exist when the fighters get to that planet, the fighters
expire in space. |
|
|
Be sure there is a base
at a target planet! |
|
|
2) Ion Control. |
|
|
Any
Colonial ship of tech level 6 or above can now manipulate ion storms. for Ion
Control, use the |
|
|
FC
"IOC" and a ship name corresponding to the operation you want. |
|
|
The
first character of the name is the operation code, and the 2nd and 3rd
characters are the |
|
|
ID number of the storm,
01-50. |
|
|
The following are the
different operations on the storms and corresponding codes: |
|
|
a) Create a storm: "N" |
|
|
b) Increase the storm
radius: "I" |
|
|
c) Decrease a storm
radius: "D" |
|
|
d) Strengthen a storm:
"S" (increase voltage) |
|
|
e) Weaken a storm:
"W" (decrease voltage) |
|
|
f) Turn approximately 90
degrees clockwise: "R" |
|
|
g) Turn approximately 90
degrees counterclockwise: "L". |
|
|
For
example, to weaken storm 17, have a ship with FC "IOC" and the name
"W17". If the storm |
|
|
does
not exist, it will be ignored on call to weaken, increase radius, or decrease
radius, |
|
|
and
created on strengthen, with random location and radius. With a call to New, a
small ion |
|
|
disturbance will be
created at the location of the calling ship. |
|
|
NOTE:
multiple ships can operate on one storm.
For example, you could turn the storm |
|
|
180 degrees, strengthen
it, and increase radius, all in one turn, with 4 ships. |
|
|
NOTE: to dissipate an
ion storm, weaken it ("W") until it's gone. |
|
|
NOTE: when creating a
new storm, its ID will be the first one available, not the ID you have |
|
|
indicated in the name. |
|
|
NOTE: Artificial ion
storms will weaken slightly every turn if untended. |
|
|
L. Universal Special Abilities. |
|
|
1) Planetary Warp
Interdictor. |
|
|
All races can build a
Planetary Warp Interdictor devices installed on planets. The Interdictor is installed |
|
|
by dismantling a
Neutronic Refinery vessel and converting its parts to build the device; to
install the |
|
|
Interdictor
device, the planet must have an orbiting Neutronic Refinery ship and have the
FC of "BWI". |
|
|
To
engage the Planetary Warp Interdictor, use the ship FC of "EWI";
you must have more than (40) |
|
|
fuel units to use the
device. When the device is engaged,
all ships of all other races are slowed down to |
|
|
warp
(4); the ships of the race that owns the device can tweak their engines to go
up to two warp factor |
|
|
higher than the other
races' ships. For example, the Birds
within the field Birdman-planet-generated |
|
|
Interdiction field (at
the beginning of the turn) can go the max of warp (6), while other ships can
go up |
|
|
to warp (4). |
|
|
2) Tanks and ComBots. |
|
|
The
Tanks and ComBots (Combat Robots) are additions to VGAP's weak system of
ground combat. Now, in |
|
|
addition
to using colonists to defend and attack planets, (all) the races can use
tanks to defend and |
|
|
attack
and (Crystals and Empire) can use ComBots to defend their planets. The default attack value |
|
|
of a tank is equal to
(10) clans and a defense value is (5) clans; one tank takes up 2 cargo spaces
on a |
|
|
ship. A Combot is equal to (50) clans on defense,
and it cannot be used for offense (because they are |
|
|
too big to be
transported on starships). Each planet
can build up to square root of the population of |
|
|
tanks and ComBots; for
example, a planet with 400 clans can build 20 tanks. 1 tank costs 10 units of all |
|
|
minerals
and 50 MC; 1 ComBot costs 50 of each mineral and 200 MC. Use a planetary FC "B1C" to |
|
|
build 1 ComBot (if a
race can) and "B1T" to build 1 tank. With an empty ship (excepting fuel and |
|
|
money).
Use FC "LTN" to load as many tanks as would fit into the ship from
a planet; use FC "UTN" |
|
|
to
unload tanks. If tanks are unloaded to
a friendly planet, they are added to the current stock; |
|
|
if they are unloaded to
an enemy planet, combat ensues. First,
the tanks fight the ComBots (if any); |
|
|
then,
tanks fight tanks (if any); then, tanks fight defending colonists. |
|
|
NOTE: during the ground
combat involving these new war machines, the defending side DOES NOT get |
|
|
any bonuses from the
colony defenses or the colonist's natural combat abilities: the inborn
strength |
|
|
or ferocity means
nothing next to tons of combat armor. |
|
|
NOTE: if a ship lands
assault troops to a planet, they first fight ComBots, then tanks, then
colonists. |
|
|
WARNING: if a ship
carries tanks, it CANNOT carry any other cargo (besides money). If you load
anything |
|
|
else, all the tanks are DESTROYED. |
|
|
NOTE: when landing
troops, all tank landing battles are resolved before any colonists from any
ships |
|
|
are landed. |
|
|
3) Ground Bombardment. |
|
|
Ships
can choose not to engage the ground defense posts in combat and use orbital
bombardment instead. |
|
|
This will allow you to
capture planets with all defense posts intact and with colonists already |
|
|
on the planet, ready to work and pay
taxes. Assault factor is determined as
follows: |
|
|
# of colonists killed =
(#-of-beams-corrected-for-damage * tech-of-beams) - # of-defense-posts |
|
|
NOTE: with phost, the
max damage to the planet is 100. |
|
|
1
factory + 1 mine are destroyed per 5 colonists killed. The ships take damage from defense
outposts |
|
|
on planets; damage
determined as number of dps minus (tech-of-engines + tech-of-beams)*2. |
|
|
Therefore,
a ship with heavy phasers and transwarps can ignore up to 40 dps with no
damage, |
|
|
and add 1% of damage per
dp thereafter. If the planet has a base or over (100) defenses, then orbital |
|
|
bombardment
is not allowed. There is a chance for
surrender of all colonists to the race that bombards, |
|
|
equal
to 20% plus
(number-of-colonists-killed times cowardice-factor) / 125. |
|
|
So a ship with 10 heavy phasers bombarding a
planet with 40 dps can hope for a 49% chance |
|
|
of
survivors surrendering. All damage to
ships is done before any damage to the planet, |
|
|
so that small ships
could not bombard heavily defended planets.
Damaged ships would not |
|
|
use all of their beams. |
|
|
To
initiate orbital bombardment, have a ship orbiting an enemy planet with less
than (100) dps |
|
|
and no starbase at warp
0, FC "GRB" and not towed. |
|
|
4) Antimatter Doomsday
Missile. |
|
|
The
Antimatter DoomsDay Missile is the ultimate weapon in the VGAP universe. It
is a huge missile, filled |
|
|
with
antimatter, that moves at warp 9, cannot be swept, and that totally destroys
a planet and all life |
|
|
and
all structures on it, converts it to 100 degree desert world, destroys the
starbase and all ships |
|
|
up
to 1 ly away, and damages all ships up to 100 ly away. Unfortunately,
antimatter is very expensive |
|
|
and takes a long time to
produce; therefore, the launcher takes (10) turns and (5000) units of every |
|
|
mineral and (10000) MC
to build; the planet has to have more than 1000 colonists, a starbase, and FC |
|
|
FC "BAM" to
start building the launcher. |
|
|
Every race in the galaxy
gets a progress report on building from its spies. |
|
|
NOTE: the launcher is
destroyed whenever the planet changes ownership. Therefore, the best way to |
|
|
survive
a missile is not let it finish building. You have to keep the first letter of
the FC "B" if you |
|
|
want to continue
building launcher; the building will be suspended if the first letter is not
a "B". |
|
|
After
(10) turns, the launcher is built and you can launch missiles. Each missile
costs (10000) MC and (1000) |
|
|
units
of fuel; it also takes (3) turns to aim/launch. Every race in the galaxy receives a spy
report |
|
|
on
a planet preparing to launch a missile.
To launch, have all the required money/fuel available |
|
|
and
set the FC of the planet to the ID# of the planet you want to pulverize and
keep it until the |
|
|
missile
is launched. All computing resources
of the world are required to move the missile and |
|
|
evade destruction;
therefore, each planet can have a max of ONE missile in flight. |
|
|
NOTE: if ownership of
the planet is changed during the missile flight, both the missile and the
launcher |
|
|
are destroyed. |
|
|
|
5) Honor Device. |
|
|
Selected ships (all
Birdmen, Opal, Topez, Sage, and Deep Space Scout) have the Honor Device built
into |
|
|
their hulls. This device
will explode the ship if it is captured, damaging all ships nearby by (1) mine |
|
|
hit and damaging other ships of the ship's
previous owner at the same location by (20) percent |
|
|
of
a mine hit. The operation is automatic, no special FC or other requirements
are necessary. For |
|
|
example, an Imperial
task force attacks a Birdman planet with a Deth Specula in orbit (uncloaked) |
|
|
and
a cloaked Swift Heart. If the Deth is
captured, it will self-destruct, all surviving Imperial |
|
|
ships will get a mine
hit's worth of damage, and the Swift Heart will get 20% of a mine-hit worth |
|
|
of damage. |
|
|
6) Ship Exchange. |
|
|
This
ability would improve an otherwise painful process of exchanging ships under
Timhost. With Gryphon |
|
|
ship exchange, you no
longer need 3 ships, 2 turns, and clans on board; you are also protected from |
|
|
betrayal
from the other player: if the other player does not want to give his ship, he
won't get yours |
|
|
either. To activate, set
FCode of a ship to "EXx", where x is any character. Next turn, the
next-higher-ID- |
|
|
numbered ship from
another race with IDENTICAL FCode will be swapped with yours and FCodes of |
|
|
both
ships will reset to QQQ. Neiter ship
can be cloaked during transfer of ownership. If there are no |
|
|
other
ships with identical ID, the exchange will not occur (you may want to see
that your opponent |
|
|
does not set a EXx on a
worthless ship, giving it away for something potentially good of yours). |
|
|
7) Sell
Mines/Defs/Facs/Starbases. |
|
|
You
can sell mines, defenses, factories and starbases on planets where you don't
want them or when they |
|
|
run out of
minerals. The FC is "SDx"
for sell defenses, "SMx" for sell mines, "SFx" to sell
factories, |
|
|
and "SSB" for
sell starbase, where x is the number of units you want to sell divided by 10. |
|
|
For
example, "SM5" will sell 50 mines.
NOTE: if the planet has less than 50, none will be sold. |
|
|
Note:
"SD0", "SM0" and "SF0" will not sell anything.
You will get back (50%) of all money and minerals |
|
|
and 100% of supplies
back when you sell structures, and 50% of money that went into tech |
|
|
upgrades; however, if a planet has (for
example) humanoid natives and hull tech of 10, you will |
|
|
not
get any money for the hull tech. Sold
factories will get the same amount of money as a sold mine. |
|
|
To prevent Birdman
practical jokes (don't really need that starbase at the Birdman border, do
you?), a |
|
|
ship of yours has to be
orbiting that planet with FC "YES" for the structures to be sold. |
|
|
Team game. |
|
|
The
host can configure Gryphon so that it uses team game rules. It is a very important config item. |
|
|
This ability changes all race specials into
ship specials; ships can then be
traded and the effect |
|
|
is still there. For example, with team play a Lizard player
can give an T-REX to a Borg and then |
|
|
the
Borg would be able to use the anti-fighter mines just like a Lizard. Only certain ships are |
|
|
transferrable:
only the original, race-designed ships would do. For example, a Borg
Victorious |
|
|
bought
from the Fascists would be able to launch missiles, but a Deth Specula would
not, |
|
|
since the Birdmen can
also build that ship. Therefore you
should always check before |
|
|
buying a ship to use a race special. |
|
|
NOTE: Timhost's default ship list is used
for checking. |
|
|
IV.
Quick Reference Sheet. |
|
|
Move Natives: empty
Banshee, LNR to load, UNR to unload.
(1600) clans. |
|
|
Cooperation:
automatically, with >80% happiness. |
|
|
Superrefit: have the
money and minerals. FC UFP, first
character of the name set to what you want to upgrade. |
|
|
Cryo Cargo holds: empty
Saurian, LCH to load, beam down to unload.
Clans unfreeze automatically when beamed down. |
|
|
Antifighter mines: First
letter of the FC of the T-Rex determines the number of mines, if primary
enemy is set. |
|
|
Remote ID: Skyfire FC
"RID", warp 0; must be in range. |
|
|
Birds have Honor Device
on all ships. |
|
|
Beacon minefields: any
Birdman ship, deploy FC "DBx", where x is "H",
"Q", "T", or "A"; undeploy FC "UMB". |
|
|
Ship Warp interdictor:
BWI to build, EWI to engage. 20 fuel. |
|
|
Deep
space missiles: Fascist ship over fascist planet, warp 0, FC "LBM",
"LFM", "LMM" for biological, fighter, |
|
|
|
and minefield
respectively. Minerals and fuel required. |
|
|
Board Base: fully-crewed
Coldpain, FC "BBx", not-cloaked, not-towed, and warp factor 0. |
|
|
Gamble: Lady Royale over
enemy planet, FC "GXX", unless martial law is declared. Do not
leave the planet. |
|
|
Bloodfang: fighter
steal, FC "SFx", within 1 ly from enemy carriers. Must have enough space and fuel. |
|
|
Move Mines: Borg, FC
"MMX", first three characters of name is the ID, fourth character
direction: "L", "U", "R", or "D". |
|
|
Super Intercept:
automatically on intercept of enemy, Bio or Anni. |
|
|
Move webs: Crystals, FC
"MMX", first three characters of name is the ID, fourth character
direction: "L", "U", "R", or "D". |
|
|
Ravius Beam: onyx, has
fuel, FC "RAV". |
|
|
Crystals have ComBots. |
|
|
Crystals have Honor
Device on Opal and Topaz. |
|
|
Crystal Oscillator:
Thunder, FC "OSC", destroys fighters on enemy carriers. |
|
|
Empire has ComBots. |
|
|
Hyper-Moscow: just like
built-in Hyperdrives, on Moscow Class Star Escort. |
|
|
Imperial Pacification:
SSCarrier, FC "PAC", increases happiness of colonists and natives
to 69%. Warp 0, Not towed. |
|
|
Mig Scout detects and
destroys Birdman beacons. |
|
|
Robots detect enemy
cloakers. Race could be
incorrect. Pawn at warp 0, not towed,
FC "DEC". |
|
|
Mass
Drivers: move minerals without ships. Any ship over 100 mass, FC
"MDx", where x is mineral to |
|
|
transport: "M",
"D", "T", "S", or "N". |
|
|
Hyper-Sage: just like
built in Hyperdrive, on Sage class Frigate. |
|
|
StarBase
sabotage: decrease enemy bases' tech levels.
Any rebel, not cloaked, warp 0, not towed, |
|
|
FC "SBx". Fully crewed. |
|
|
Deep
space bases: build "DSB", (50) minerals, supplies, and money; 1
clan; the base will fix all ships and |
|
|
give 1 free torp per ship
per turn. |
|
|
Honor device for rebels
on Sage and Deep Space Scout. |
|
|
Fighter-vs-base
strike: any Colonial carrier with FC "FBA" can send its fighters to
attack a base of |
|
|
an enemy. Warp 0, waypoint to target planet. |
|
|
Ion Control: ship with
hull tech 6 or higher, FC "IOC", name: first character as operation
code, second |
|
|
and third as storm ID. Must have fuel. |
|
|
Planetary
warp interdictor: Universal. FC
"BWI" to build, "EWI" to engage. Must have fuel to
operate. |
|
|
Must have Neutronic Refinery to build. |
|
|
Tanks:
to build planetary FC "B1T" for 1 tank, "B1C" for a
ComBot. Ship FC "LTN" to load from planet, |
|
|
"UTN"
to unload to planet. Defaults: 1 tank on offense = 10 colonists, on defense =
5 colonists, |
|
|
1 combot on defense = 50
colonists. |
|
|
Orbital Bombardment: FC
"GRB", warp 0, not towed, over enemy planet with less than 100
defenses and |
|
|
no starbase. |
|
|
Antimatter Missile: FC
"BAM" to build Launcher, or target planet ID to launch. Takes
multiple turns to |
|
|
build/launch. The ultimate weapon in the game. Must
retain ownership of the planet. |
|
|
Honor device: automatic. |
|
|
V. Notes. |
|
|
The
Gryphon program was written using 386 protected mode. This means that Gryphon does not have
a |
|
|
DOS 640-k memory
limitation and explains why I am able to do so much :) However, you are required to |
|
|
have
at least a 386 computer with 1 meg of extended memory. I decided to go with it because
everyone |
|
|
and their brother now
has at least a 386; if not, you can get a 386 motherboard for less than the
cost of |
|
|
Gryphon. |
|
|
BE
VERY CAREFUL when assigning your ships destructive FCs. Many of them work on your own
planets/ships |
|
|
as well as the enemy. |
|
|
This
add-on has been given a good amount of testing. There COULD be some bugs that escaped
detection; |
|
|
if you find any, please
e-mail me at |
|
|
os80308@ltu.edu
and you will be the first to receive the fix! |
|
|
This
add-on will create a file called GRYPHON.LOG in the planets game directory
and will log most |
|
|
(not all) GRYPHON actions
there. |
|
|
VI. Alt Tech |
|
|
It is possible to use
Gryphon with various alternate tech files out there. |
|
|
However, there are some
restrictions: |
|
|
* Number of planets HAS
to be 500. |
|
|
* Number of possible
hull designs HAS to be 105. |
|
|
* Number of Hull tech
slots HAS to be 10. |
|
|
* Number of Engine,
beam, and torp designs HAS to be 9. |
|
|
* The map HAS to be
equal to or below 4000x4000 ly in size. |
|
|
If
any of the above are violated, the results are unpredictable. Other than
that, alt techs are OK, though |
|
|
some
side effects may develop: for example, if an alt hull file redefines an
Emerald (hull number 61) |
|
|
to Coldpain's slot (36)
and team game is in effect, the Emerald would start boarding bases! Or, if a
banshee |
|
|
is
redesigned to have 500 cargo hold, it will hold millions of natives. You have to keep hull |
|
|
reassignments in mind
when deciding what alt tech file to use and when configuring Gryphon. |
|
|
Credits |
|
|
Design and Programming:
Oleg Shvartsman |
|
|
REGISTRATION INFORMATION |
|
|
VII. Shareware. |
|
|
This
add-on is being distributed as shareware.
This means you will not get a full-featured program until |
|
|
you register. To register, send a check, cash, or money
order for 10 American dollars plus a |
|
|
form found in the file GORDER.FRM to: |
|
|
Oleg Shvartsman |
|
|
29631 Westbrook Pkwy. |
|
|
Southfield, MI 48076 |
|
|
USA |
|
|
To
encourage registration, this program will cease to function after turn 20 of
the game. This does NOT |
|
|
mean you can start
testing at turn 45 and continue for 20 turns; it means the FIRST 20 turns of the |
|
|
game, 1 to 20. In addition, a nag message
will be sent to all players every turn.
I am sorry about these |
|
|
restrictions, but I have
spent well over 150 hours writing and testing Gryphon and I consider that
effort |
|
|
is too much to waste. Other than that, all features of Gryphon
are enabled. |
|
|
Gwconfig, Windows-based
config program, is only available for registered users. |
|
|
Note about snail mail
orders, especially from abroad: Since it is much less convenient than
e-mail (and because |
|
|
I don't usually keep
international stamps handy) there could be a delay in mailing you the
registration, up to |
|
|
a week. In addition,
those who register by e-mail will automatically get unlimited free updates
and upgrades, |
|
|
but those of you who register by snail mail
will either have to live without upgrades or add an extra 50 |
|
|
cents S&H per
upgrade that you want to be sent to you to the order price. |
|
|
VIII. Thanks. |
|
|
Thanks go to: |
|
|
Tim: everyone knows why. |
|
|
Armin Trott: for hosting
beta game, many ideas and a lot of help. |
|
|
Martin Ederveen: for
many productive discussions. |
|
|
brianlg@primary.net for
web server space. |
|
|
cook@sos.net for the
Gryphon Logo. |
|
|
If you have any
questions, please e-mail me, os80308@ltu.edu.
I answer 95% |
|
|
of all my mail within
1-2 days, even hate mail :) |
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