RETURN TO SWITCHBOARD |
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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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MACHINES OF YORE ADD-ON: |
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THE MACHINES OF
YORE -- Version 1.41 for VGA
Planets(tm) (Host 3.22.005 or greater) |
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Copyright (C) 1996 Dale
Pope |
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All rights reserved. |
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VGA Planets is a
registered trademark of Tim Wisseman. |
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1.0 Introduction |
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2.0 Installation |
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3.0 MoY Configuration |
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3.1 Create Machines /
Add Another Set of Machines |
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3.2 The Main Menu |
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3.3 The Editing Menu |
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3.4 Using with PHOST |
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4.0 The Machines of Yore |
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4.01 The Planet Walkway |
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4.02 The Gravity Well |
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4.03 The Anti-Cloak Field |
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4.04 The Disintegration
Beam |
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4.05 The Happy Planet |
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4.06 Unlimited Tritanium |
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4.07 Unlimited Duranium |
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4.08 Unlimited Molybdenum |
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4.09 Unlimited Neutronium |
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!All of the following
machines are available to registered users only! |
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4.10 The Flinger |
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4.11 The Detail Scanner |
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4.12 The Giant Bovinoids |
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4.13 The Ship-On-Ship
Transporter |
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4.14 The Tractor Beam |
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4.15 The Colonist
Spreader |
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4.16 The
Board-With-A-Nail-In-It |
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4.17 The Fighter
Commander |
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4.18 The Cyborg Crew
Terminator |
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4.19 The Machine Detector |
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5.0 Registering |
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Overview |
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1.0 Introduction |
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The
Machines Of Yore is an add-on for VGA Planets that scatters machines of
differing functions on planets |
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throughout
the cluster. One machine provides an
unlimited source of moly, another provides a more |
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efficient form of
transportation, another destroys ships lightyears away, and there are more. |
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These
machines were constructed long ago by a very intelligent and argumentative
alien species. Fortunately, |
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this very intelligent
and argumentative alien species also killed each other off long ago.
Apparently, |
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some
sort of argument developed as to what engineering software was the best to
design new machines. |
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There
were other arguments, too. Some wanted
to be the Empire of Yorians, and others wanted to be the |
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Empire
of Yoreans. And others wanted to be
the Empire of Yorelites. And others
thought "of" was |
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too wordy so they wanted
to be the Yorelite Empire. As more and
more others were created, they started |
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attacking
each other. Eventually, they had
completely eradicated themselves from the universe. Which |
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turned out to be a great
thing for the new species! |
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Another great thing for
the new races, all the machines were built of non-biodegradable material and
are 100% intact! |
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Contents: |
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MOY.EXE |
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MYCONFIG.EXE |
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New Game Setup |
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2.0 Installation |
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First,
this is a 32-bit DOS program and requires at least a 386 CPU. A DPMI server is also required. If you |
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don't
have a DPMI server (Windows, QDPMI, 386Max, NWDOS, OS/2, Win/NT, and Linux
DOSEmu |
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all
provide DPMI services) you will have to download a freeware DPMI server
(CWSDPMI). You can |
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download
it from ftp.simtel.net/pub/simtelnet/gnu/djgpp/v2misc/. CSDPMI2B.ZIP was the most |
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current release at the
time this document was written. |
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To
install MoY, just run 'install <PlanetsDirectory>' and it will copy the
files and the registration information. |
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If you are a registered
user of v1.00 do not delete it, the install program will extract the
registration name |
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and key, and copy it into
the new version. |
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If
you're using CWSDPMI you should put cwsdpmi.exe in your main planets
directory, as well. The MoY |
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programs will spawn
CWSDPMI automatically so you do not need to do anything else with it. |
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Then run the myconfig
program. |
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3.0 MoY Configuration |
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To configure MoY just
run myconfig.exe with the path to the game data. |
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3.1 Create Machines /
Add Another Set of Machines |
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The first thing MoY
config will do is ask which planets machines should be placed on: |
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(1) Any random planet |
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Will place machines on
randomly chosen planets. It also
provides a further option: |
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(1) within a Circle of a
specified radius |
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Will
only choose planets within a circle that you give it. It will prompt you for coordinates |
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for the center of the
circle and then for the radius in light years. |
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(2) Any planet on the map |
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It will just go and
start choosing random planets from anywhere on the map. |
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(2) Unowned random
planets |
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Will
choose planets randomly but will only put machines on those planets that are
not colonized. |
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It also provides you
with the choice of placing them within a circle or anywhere on the map |
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(see above). |
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(3) Owned by a specific
race random planets |
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Will
choose planets randomly but will only put machines on those planets owned by
a specific player. |
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It also provides you
with the choice of placing them within a circle or anywhere on the map (see |
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above). |
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(4) Planets that you
choose |
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Will
provide you with a map of all the planets and allow you to select planets
manually for each machine. |
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Left clicking on the
mouse will simply show you some information about the planet (ID#, name,
owner, |
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machine
set, and the type of machine). Right
clicking allows you to add, change, or remove a |
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machine from the selected
planet. |
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3.2 The Main Menu |
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(1) List configuration on
screen |
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Lists
the usefulness settings (see 3.3 The Editing Menu), the machines, what
planets they're on, who owns |
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them, and how long they
have been owned. If you just created
machines, all of them will appear to |
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be on unowned planets whether they're owned
or not. After MoY is run for the first
time everything |
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should appear normal. |
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(2) Save config to
'myconfig.txt' |
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Makes a text file
containing all the information that the 'List' command shows on screen. |
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(3) Create new config |
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Deletes any current
machines and makes new ones. |
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(4) Edit config |
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Brings up a menu with
several editing features. |
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(5) Add another set of
machines |
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Adds
another set of machines to the cluster.
You'll be prompted for the same information as when you |
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created the first set of
machines. The shareware version can setup a maximum of 100 machines. The |
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registered can put a
machine on every planet. |
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(6) Quit (and save) |
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Saves the present
configuration and quits. |
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(!) don't save, just quit |
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Quits without saving. |
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3.3 The Editing Menu |
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(1) List configuration on
screen |
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Lists
the usefulness settings (see below), the machines, what planets they're on,
who owns them, and how |
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long they have been
owned. If you just created machines,
all of them will appear to be on unowned |
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planets
whether they're owned or not. After
MoY is run for the first time everything should |
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appear normal. |
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(2) Configure machine
usefulness |
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Changes
the "usefulness" settings of a machine. The usefulness settings include such things
as the |
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number of turns until a
machine is usable, the radius (for machines like the Gravity Well), and other |
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mimumums and maximums. |
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(3) Enable all disabled
machines |
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Enables
all the machines that have been disabled.
It will go through the "Create Machines" menu and |
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enable the machines in
the way you specify. Machines that are
already setup will not be altered. |
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(4) Disable all type X
machines |
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Disables all machines of
a certain type (ie. all Gravity Well's). |
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(5) Manual edit |
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Will
provide you with a map of all the planets and allow you to select planets
manually for each machine. |
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Left clicking on the
mouse will simply show you some information about the planet (ID#, name,
owner, |
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machine
set, and the type of machine). Right
clicking allows you to add, change, or remove a machine |
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from the selected planet. |
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(6) Quit to main |
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Quits back to the main
menu. |
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3.4 Using with PHOST |
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MoY
will run with PHOST but with a little different results. MoY is designed to use auxhost1.ini and
auxbc.ini |
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but it can be run after
phase 1 and after phase 2 with PHOST except that some machines will
experience a |
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"delayed
reaction." For example, the
gravity well. If MoY runs in auxbc.ini
and the gravity well pulls a |
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ship in a player can
have combat with the ship immediately; alternatively, if MoY runs in
auxhost2.ini or |
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after phase 2 of PHOST the players would
have to wait until next turn for combat. |
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Some machines may also
cause PHOST to generate warning messages about cheating but nothing too
serious. |
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The next major release
of PHOST is expected to support auxbc.ini. |
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The batch file should
look something like this: |
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phost -1 [whatever other
parameters and directories] |
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moy.exe
<GameDirectory> 1 |
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phost -2 [whatever other
parameters and directories] |
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moy.exe
<GameDirectory> 2 |
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phost -3 [whatever other
parameters and directories] |
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Game Info |
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4.0 The Machines of Yore |
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Before
colonists can use a machine they first have to find it and study it. This
normally takes 3 to 4 turns |
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(configurable)
depending on the machine. As soon as
the colonists figure everything out they send |
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a message to tell their
emperor what it is and how to use it.
This message can be repeated at any |
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time by setting that
planets friendly code to '?**' (** can be anything). |
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All machine activity is
logged in the file 'moy.log'. |
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Here is a list of all
machines that presently exist but I plan to add more in the future. |
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4.1 The Planet Walkway |
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A
Planet Walkway exists on two planets and they allow anything to be
transferred between those two |
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(and only those two)
planets. |
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If colonists are
transferred through the PW and the receiving PW is unowned, they colonize
it. If it is |
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owned by another race,
they fight according to normal ground comat rules. |
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If natives are
transferred through the PW and the receiving PW has no natives, they
"colonize" it. If a |
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different native race is
on the planet, they fight on a 1:1 basis. |
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When
sending the same type of natives but with a higher level of government
through the PW the natives |
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on the receiving planet
will increase their level of government.
It increases one point every time |
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natives
go through until the governments are equal.
For example, if you had unity amphibians going |
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to
monarchy amphibians they would be upgraded to representative, then participatory, |
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and then reach unity. |
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Colonist
happiness increases (very slightly) on the receiving PW when they go through
(it's better |
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than a roller coaster!). |
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Native
happiness decreases (very slightly) on the receiving PW when they go through
(natives are |
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very queasy). |
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The transfer occurs
before movement. |
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Here
is a list of the friendly codes and the default maximum amount of each item
you can send through |
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the PW ('##' represents
the percentage amount of an item to be transferred): |
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(all these maximums are
configurable) |
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##N
neutronium (up to 1200 kt) |
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##T
tritanium (up to 1200 kt) |
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##D
duranium (up to 1200 kt) |
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##M
molybdenum (up to 1200 kt) |
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##S
supplies (up to 1200
supplies) |
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##C
colonists (up to 12000 clans) |
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##V
natives (up to 12000 clans) |
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##$
megacredits (up 10 100000 MC) |
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EXP
send 1 colonist clan through to explore the other PW |
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For
example, a friendly code of '05V' would send 5% of that planets natives
through the PW. A friendly |
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code of '00V' would send
100% of the natives through the PW (or at least 12000 clans of them). |
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4.2 The Gravity Well |
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This
machine can pull all ships within 50 ly (configurable) into orbit around the
planet. Ships that |
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are in orbit around near
by planets are protected from the gravity well. |
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Occurs before and after
movement. |
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The friendly code is
'ON*' to activate it. |
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4.3 The Anti-Cloak Field |
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Forces *all* ships
within 80 ly (configurable) to decloak. |
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At
the moment, this doesn't quite work the way I want it to. I haven't figured out how to decloak a |
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ship without changing
the ships mission. So, for now, this
machine will disable a ships cloaking |
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device
by changing the mission from cloak to nothing. It will also change the mission on bird
ships |
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from super spy to
nothing. When I learn how to fix this,
I will. |
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Occurs before and after
movement. |
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The friendly code is
'ON*' to activate it. |
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4.4 The Disintegration Beam |
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Can completely destroy
any specified ship within a 40 ly (configurable) radius. |
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Occurs before and after
movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the ship you want to destroy. |
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4.5 The Happy Plants |
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Plants
on the planet release a gaseous substance into the atmosphere that makes the
colonists |
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and
natives very happy. Consequently, they
can be overtaxed (by approximately 3 times |
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normal). They also have an increased growth
rate. Any natives on the planet have
grown |
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immune to the substance. |
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There is no friendly code
control. |
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4.6 Unlimited Tritanium |
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It maintains a constant
source of 500 kt (configurable) of tritanium below the surface at a 100%
mining rate. |
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No special friendly code
required. |
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4.7 Unlimited Duranium |
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It maintains a constant
source of 500 kt (configurable) of duranium below the surface at a 100%
mining rate. |
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No special friendly code
required. |
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4.8 Unlimited Molybdenum |
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It maintains a constant
source of 500 kt (configurable) of moly below the surface at a 100% mining
rate. |
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No special friendly code
required. |
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4.9 Unlimited Neutronium |
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It maintains a constant
source of 500 kt (configurable) of neutronium below the surface at a 100%
mining rate. |
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No special friendly code
required. |
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!All of the following
machines are available to registered users only! |
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4.10 The Flinger |
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It will throw all ships
within a 50 ly (configurable) radius of the planet. The ship will be thrown somewhere |
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(randomly) between 300 and 500 ly
(configurable) in a direction opposite to the planet. In the process, |
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the ships will get
between 1% and 15% damaged (dependent on the distance thrown). |
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Occurs before movement. |
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The friendly code is
'ON*' to activate it. |
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4.11 The Detail Scanner |
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Provides a detailed scan
on a specified ship within a 200 ly (configurable) radius. It will scan cloaked ships, as well. |
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Scans before movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the ship you want to scan. |
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4.12 The Giant Bovinoids |
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A race of giant
bovinoids that make twice the amount of supplies that normal bovinoids make. |
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There is no friendly code
control. |
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4.13 The Ship-On-Ship
Transporter |
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Similar
to the chunnel. Instantly transports
all ships from orbit right on top of any ship |
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within 180 ly
(configurable). |
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Occurs after movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the ship you want to transport on top of. |
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4.14 The Tractor Beam |
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Similar
to the gravity well, but this will not pull ships into orbit. It will lock
and hold a ship |
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(within 60 ly
(configurable)) at its current point in space. |
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Occurs before and after
movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the ship you want hold on to. |
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4.15 The Colonist
Spreader |
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Transports 1000
colonists to any planet on the map. |
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Occurs before movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the planet you want to transport your 10 clans to. |
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4.16 The
Board-With-A-Nail-In-It |
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Sends
an artificially semi-intelligent flying board-with-a-nail-in-it to any planet
on the map. The
board-with-a-nail-in-it |
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will then fly around
scaring colonists into their ACME Home-To-Orbit Escape Pods. However, being |
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a quality ACME product, the pods will either
(a) go backwards into the ground, (b) fly upwards |
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until they remember that
gravity exists, or (c) not launch until someone climbs into the engine |
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to figure out what's
wrong. |
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So, the
board-with-a-nail-in-it causes 15% (configurable) (up to a maximum of 150
clans (configurable)) of the |
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population to die in ACME related accidents. |
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And, of course, the
board-with-a-nail-in-it will always return home and wait for you to send it
somewhere else. |
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Occurs before movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the planet you want to send the board-with-a-nail-in-it to. |
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4.17 The Fighter
Commander |
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Sends
a command to a carrier within 80 ly (configurable) that will cause the
fighters aboard to leave |
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the ship and fly into
oblivion. |
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Occurs after movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the carrier you want to unload all its fighters. |
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4.18 The Cyborg Crew
Terminator |
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Beams
a cyborg terminator on to a ship within 50 ly (configurable). The cyborg will
terminate the entire crew, |
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as well as any clans in
the cargo bays. It will then assume
command of the vessel and wait for |
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further orders. |
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The Cyborg race are able
to assimilate the cyborg terminator into their collective immediately, before
any crew |
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are killed. |
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Occurs before and after
movement. |
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The friendly code is the
ID number of the ship you want the cyborg terminator to beam to. |
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4.19 The Machine Detector |
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Detects
when any machine has become active and tells the player where it is
located. It cannot, however, |
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distinguish between
different machines. It will only tell a player where a machine
is, not what the |
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machine is. |
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Occurs before and after
movement. |
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The friendly code is
'ON*' to activate it. |
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HOST Sequence |
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AUXHOST 1 |
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AUXBC |
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Credits |
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Design and Programming:
Dale Pope |
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REGISTRATION INFORMATION |
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5.0 Registering |
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Registered
users will be able to use all the machines, and also be able to put a machine
on all 500 planets if |
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they wish to do so. All upgrades to this program, including the
addition of new machines, will be free to |
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registered users. |
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To register, fill out
the order form found in moyorder.txt and send it with a cheque or money order
for $7(Canadian) to: |
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Dale Pope |
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7516-75 Street |
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Edmonton, Alberta |
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T6C 2E8 |
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Canada |
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E-mail:
scarecrow@thewindow.com |
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I, Dale, can be
contacted via e-mail at scarecrow@thewindow.com |
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An on-line and up to
date version of the Machines Of Yore documentation can be found at: |
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http://www.ualberta.ca/~capope/moy/ |
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