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******************************
* *
* PITT REAL TIME *
* *
* S T A R T R E K *
* *
* VERSION 3 *
* *
******************************
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 1
Introduction
PITT REAL TIME STAR TREK
Daniel R. Strick
version 3
edit 36
October 1975
INTRODUCTION
During the last three years, many Star Trek games have
been introduced to the University of Pittsburgh Illicit
Program Library (maintained on the directories of the
several Illicit Program Users). Several of these Commonly
Used Star Trek Programs (CUSPS) were written at the
University of Pittsburgh, but all of the major CUSPS were
written at other schools and smuggled across academic lines
on mag tapes disguised as frisbees. The CUSPS are written
in a variety of languages (FORTRAN, BASIC, MACRO, etc.) and
offer great diversity in rules and general characteristics.
Nevertheless, they were all written for one purpose: the
catharsis of all those nasty little frustrations accumulated
while jousting with recalcitrant programs.
Unfortunately all of the more sophisticated CUSPS exceed
the student core class (to the gratification of the Computer
Center) and the incidence of catatonia in the student body
is rising. In an effort to reverse the terrifying trend
toward increasing withdrawals (from computer courses), a new
Star Trek has been written (NSF grant 427698XPR). This CUSP
has a 2K low segment and a 5K sharable high segment,
permitting any student that can log in the false euphoria
engendered by Star Trek.
This program is upward compatible with the Yale Real Time
Star Trek (H. T. Hunt, October 1973) 'A'N'D 'I'S designed to
eliminate many of its less desirable features (erratic
timing, difficult computations, etc.) without sacrificing
the GREAT CHALLENGE.
2 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
The Universe
THE UNIVERSE
You are the commander of the Federation starship
ENTERPRISE. Your orders require you to search out and
destroy the hated enemy. If you are to accomplish your
mission, you must first understand the nature of your
universe and the things you will find in it.
Your universe is limited to the GALAXY; it is surrounded
by an impenetrable energy barrier and you cannot leave it.
The galaxy is divided into QUADRANTS arranged in a square
array (God will ask you for the size when he creates it).
The relative positions of the quadrants in space are those
of the quadrants in the matrix. Therefore the quadrants are
identified by their positions in the matrix (i.e. quadrant
2,5 is in the second row and the fifth column). Each
quadrant is a square 10 PARSECS on a side. Positions within
a quadrant are given by a coordinate pair as are positions
of quadrants in the galaxy. The only difference is that the
coordinates of a position within a quadrant are not
integers; they vary from 0.5 at the left and top edges to
10.5 at the right and bottom edges. Directions are given in
degrees with 90 straight up and 0 to the right.
The concept of the quadrant is critical to the game. You
cannot examine a quadrant in any detail when you are not in
it. Whenever you reenter a quadrant, it is like entering it
for the first time. The SIGNIFICANT objects that were not
destroyed when you last were in it will still be there, but
they will have moved! Partially damaged enemy ships will
have been repaired!
You share the galaxy with seven other kinds of objects.
They are STARS, STARBASES, ROMULANS, KLINGONS, GHOST SHIPS,
PHOTON TORPEDOES, and the EXCALIBUR. Stars, starbases,
Klingons, and Romulans are considered SIGNIFICANT; they will
never change quadrants or simply disappear without your
knowledge. In particular, Klingons and Romulans are your
enemies; what could be more significant?
Starbases are large installations designed to service
starships. They will give you all the energy (10000 units)
and photon torpedoes (30) that you can hold. If you have
devices damaged, a starbase can help you repair them. If
you have men killed, a starbase can give you reinforcements.
There is one difficulty; in order to get anything from a
starbase, you must DOCK with it. When you dock with a
starbase, your speed must not exceed 0.3 parsecs/starminute.
If it does, you will collide with the starbase, destroying
this rare and valuable asset.
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 3
The Universe
A ghost ship is a lost starship that wanders through the
galaxy with no destination or purpose; its crew is dead.
They are not only navigational hazards but also rare and
useful objects. You can dock with one and take its energy
and photon torpedoes (you are still limited to your maximum
capacity). The maximum ghost docking speed is 0.5 p/sm
RELATIVE TO THE GHOST.
Klingons are nasty little creatures that are bred for
meanness. They enjoy firing their phasers at you. When
they hit you, the energy you must dissipate is proportional
to their energy and inversely proportional to the square of
their distance. When they are 2 parsecs distant, they will
hit you with all their energy (initially about 500 units).
They lose energy only when you hit them with your phasers;
firing their own doesn't cost them anything.
Romulans are in many ways easier to fight because they do
not fire phasers which act instantaneously over any
distance. However, Romulans are no less dangerous; they
fire photon torpedoes. If you are sufficiently agile, you
can dodge the torpedoes for they do not follow you. They
move at a constant velocity once fired (Romulan torps move
at 0.65 p/sm relative to the Romulan). Unfortunately, if
you let a Romulan's torpedo hit you, it will hurt you more
than the average Klingon phaser hit; the energy of the
torpedo is the same as the energy of the Romulan (initially
around 500 units) when it fired the torpedo and is not
decreased by the distance it had to travel. Like Klingons,
Romulans will lose energy only when you hit them with your
phasers.
The Excalibur is a Federation starship and likes the
enemy no more than you do. When you find it in a quadrant
with enemy ships, it may fire its phasers at them. You are
warned that you can hit it with your phasers and that this
is NOT considered a proper amusement for the captain of the
Enterprise.
4 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
The Commands
THE COMMANDS
As commander of the starship Enterprise, you control it
by typing commands on the TTY. Each command is a positive
integer (except the ^Z and ^C commands). Negative commands
will cause the program to type a list of the commands. The
zero command is ignored.
Many of the commands request specific input which will
always be numeric. If the command asks for a "target", you
must type a pair of coordinates (position within the current
quadrant) on a single line. These coordinates must be
separated by some non-numeric character (e.g. a comma).
All other requests will be for a single number on a single
line. When a command requests specific input, you may
cancel it by typing ^Z (control-Z, not uparrow-Z).
You may type any number in either integer format or fixed
point format. The program will convert the input as
required (it rounds when converting to integer). Exponent
notation will not be recognized. The program will normally
not read any part of a line until you type a break character
(e.g. carriage return).
The Star Trek program asks for a command by typing an
asterisk at the left margin. If you do not enter a command
in about 2 seconds, it will type a TIMING CHARACTER and
update the universe by one STARMINUTE (it changes the
positions of moving objects, etc.). Thereafter, it will do
one starminute every second or so until you enter a command.
If you do not enter a command in 50 starminutes, the game
will exit and ask for a "CONTINUE" command (in case your TTY
dies).
MOVING
Most of the game will be spent moving. Three commands
are available for changing your course. Each command reads
your desired speed and bearing from the TTY and causes you
to accelerate a little bit each starminute until the desired
course is obtained. Unlike Yale Real Time Star Trek, the
acceleration VECTOR is constant (the bearing and speed are
not changed independently).
The only differences between the three commands are the
magnitude of the acceleration and the energy used when
accelerating. Normal acceleration (command 1) is about 0.5
p/sm**2 and costs about 40 units for a VELOCITY change of
1.0 p/sm. High acceleration (command 10) is twice as large
and costs twice as much (for the same velocity change).
Emergency acceleration (command 11) is twice as large and
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 5
The Commands
costs twice as much as high acceleration.
If you request a speed greater than or equal to 1.0 p/sm,
the Enterprise will enter HYPERSPACE as soon as its speed
reaches 1.0 p/sm. When the Enterprise is in hyperspace, it
cannot interact with any other object in any way. It cannot
use its short range sensors or fire phasers and photon
torpedoes. The only thing it can run into is the edge of
the galaxy.
If the enterprise is in hyperspace and you request a
speed less than 1.0 p/sm, the Enterprise will leave
hyperspace as soon as its speed drops below 1.0 p/sm.
If the Enterprise is not in hyperspace and it comes
within about one parsec of another object (except as noted
under docking) it will COLLIDE with that object. If the
object is a star, the Enterprise will be destroyed.
Otherwise the object will be destroyed, the Enterprise's
shields (see the deflector commands) will be destroyed, and
the Enterprise will be hurt (see the damage report command).
All warp changes will be cancelled and the velocity of the
Enterprise will be averaged with that of the other object.
If the Enterprise is in hyperspace when it enters a
quadrant and then drops out of hyperspace, any enemy ships
that are in the quadrant will be surprised and unable to
fire for at least one star minute. If the Enterprise enters
and leaves hyperspace inside the same quadrant, the enemy
will not be surprised and will fire immediately, causing
great damage.
SHORT RANGE SONAR
Two commands use the short range sonar to examine the
contents of the current quadrant in some detail. The SHORT
RANGE SCAN (command 2) types a picture of the current
quadrant. This is a 10 by 10 matrix of characters. Each
character represents an object close to that position. The
meanings of the characters are as follows:
. - no object,
* - star,
B - starbase,
R - Romulan,
K - Klingon,
X - the Excalibur,
G - ghost ship,
T - Enterprise photon torpedo,
P - enemy photon torpedo,
E - the Enterprise.
If two objects are close to the same position, only the one
6 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
The Commands
that appears last in the above list will be displayed. If a
star is between an object and the Enterprise, that object is
not VISIBLE and (with the exception of stars) will not be
shown in the short range scan.
The short range scan also lists many useful data in
addition to the quadrant picture. One of of these data is
the CONDITION, a color indicating the gravity of the current
situation. The colors and their meanings in order of
increasing severity are:
GREEN - none of the following is true,
YELLOW - you have less than 500 units of energy left,
ORANGE - there is an enemy ship in the quadrant,
RED - a photon torpedo is in the quadrant.
The condition of greatest severity (that exists) is
displayed.
The SHORT RANGE TRACK (command 15) lists all visible
enemy ships and moving objects. It gives their positions,
speeds, and energies. When their speeds are nonzero, it
also gives their bearings.
If you cannot see an enemy ship you do not know where it
is and therefore cannot fire at it. On the other hand, if
you cannot see them, they cannot see you and therefore
cannot fire at you.
LONG RANGE SONAR
The LONG RANGE SENSOR SCAN (command 3) is used to examine
the contents of the 9 quadrants you are in or near. It
types a 3 by 3 array of quadrant "content"s (the Enterprise
is in the center quadrant). Each "content" is a string of 4
digits or periods. These characters indicate (from left to
right) the number of Romulans, Klingons, starbases, and
stars in that quadrant. Periods are used instead of zeros.
If the "content" is blank, the quadrant is outside of the
galaxy.
PHASER FIRE
Your phasers are your short range weapons. They act
instantaneously over any distance and simultaneously on all
visible enemy ships (and the Excalibur). Your phasers "hit"
an object with an energy proportional to the energy you fire
(the amount deducted from your supply). The magnitude of
the energy hit drops off with distance and is equal to the
energy fired at about 3 parsecs. Your phasers are somewhat
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 7
The Commands
directional and must be fired directly at the enemy if you
are to do the most damage. The energy "hit" is deducted
from the object's energy. An object is destroyed if its
energy is no longer positive.
The normal phaser command (number 4) asks for a "bearing
to fire". The alternate phaser command (number 44) asks for
a "target to hit".
PHOTON TORPEDOES
Your photon torpedoes are your long range weapons. They
do not act instantaneously; they must first be launched and
then must move to their target, but will always destroy
anything they hit (other than the Enterprise). Your
torpedoes are exactly like a Romulan's. They will hit the
Enterprise if you let them come within collision radius
(about 1 parsec).
Your torpedoes are ALWAYS launched with a speed of 0.5
p/sm relative to the Enterprise. The normal torpedo command
(number 5) asks for a bearing for each torpedo. The torpedo
will be launched with a velocity (relative to the
Enterprise) in the requested direction with the standard
magnitude. In other words, the torpedo's actual velocity
will be the vector sum of the requested velocity and the
Enterprise's velocity.
The alternate torpedo command (number 55) asks for a
"target" for each torpedo. The ship's computer will compute
the bearing for you. If the Enterprise is moving in such a
way that the torpedo cannot achieve the required bearing
(remember, it must be launched with a speed of 0.5 p/sm wrt
the Enterprise), the torpedo motors will burn out and the
torpedo will have the same position and velocity as the
Enterprise. You will then have one starminute for evasive
maneuvers before the torpedo warhead is automatically armed.
Photon torpedoes are not launched as soon as you request
the launch, but are launched at the rate of 1 per
starminute. Note that the torpedo's actual velocity will
not depend on the ship's velocity at the time of the launch
request but on the ship's velocity at the time of the
launch.
8 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
The Commands
TRAVELLING
If you become bored waiting to move or for a device to be
repaired, you can use the TRAVEL command (number 7) to
eliminate the wait between starminutes. You should use this
command with discretion since the game enforces a time limit
and you cannot afford to waste starminutes.
(P.S. 1 starday = 100 starminutes)
DAMAGE
When you are hit by phasers or photon torpedoes or let
yourself run into another object or the edge of the galaxy,
you will be hurt. This can mean the damaging of devices,
the killing of captains, or the killing of general purpose
"crew". This is very important since you cannot use devices
that are damaged or have lost their captains. Devices can
be repaired and captains can be replaced, but this takes
time and can leave the enterprise more or less defenseless
for the duration. Worse, if your crew is wiped out, you
lose the game.
The DAMAGE REPORT command (number 9) is used to list
deaths and damage times. Damage time is automatically
reported when a device is first damaged, but additional
destruction is not reported. To get the actual damage time,
you will have to use this command.
DEFLECTORS
The Enterprise has SHIELDS (DEFLECTORS) that protect it
when hit by phasers or torpedoes. The energy "hit" is
deducted from the shield energy and does not cause damage or
kill men. An additional advantage is that the energy you
put into the shields is doubled while it is there; it
dissipates twice as much energy as it would in the
Enterprise's general energy supply.
A shield can deflect only as much energy as it contains.
If a shield is "knocked down" by more energy than it holds,
the shield is destroyed and the undeflected part of the
"hit" is deducted from the Enterprise's energy supply. The
undeflected energy also damages devices, kills men, and
causes miscellaneous havok.
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 9
The Commands
The Enterprise has 4 shields. Each shield deflects hits
on its side of the Enterprise. Shield orientation is fixed
with respect to the galaxy; it does not depend on the ship's
bearing.
90
SHIELD 1
-----------
I I
180 I ENTER I 0
SHIELD 2 I PRISE I SHIELD 4
I I
-----------
SHIELD 3
270
Energy is put into the shields with the RAISE DEFLECTORS
command (number 12). The DROP DEFLECTORS command (number
13) returns the shield energy to the general energy supply.
GALACTIC MAP
When you use the long range scan or the short range scan,
you discover the contents of one or more quadrants. If you
are not a Vulcan, you will have difficulty keeping track of
the details. The ship's computer remembers the details for
you (Don't laugh, this computer is reliable!) and will
regurgitate them when prodded with command 16, GALACTIC MAP.
The quadrant contents are listed in long range scan format
with unknown quadrants represented by a pair of question
marks. An "E" is typed to the right of the quadrant that
contains the Enterprise.
THE OTHER COMMANDS
Six commands have not yet been discussed. Two of them,
PULSIVE BEAMS and COMMUNUCATIONS are not implemented and are
included only for compatibility with the Yale Real Time Star
Trek. The SET TIMING CHARACTER command changes the
character that is typed to indicate the passage of a
starminute. The STATUS REPORT types some of the information
given by the short range scan that does not require the
short range sensors. The SAVE GAME command writes a short
file containing all the information required to resume the
current game at a later date with the RESTORE GAME command.
The TORPEDO LAUNCH CANCEL command (number 20) can save you
torpedoes whose launches are pending.
10 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
Starting and Stopping the Game
STARTING THE GAME
The Star Trek program is a core image and should be
started with the RUN command. For example, if the program
is called STRTRK.SHR and belongs to user [1,4], you should
type
RUN STRTRK[1,4] ;SEE FOOTNOTE*
when your tty is in monitor mode.
After you have started the program, it will type a few
lines designed to put you in the Star Trek playing mood and
ask for the galaxy size. You may then enter the desired
galaxy size (the number of quadrants on a side of the
galaxy) to create a new game or type the number of the
restore command (19) to continue an old game.
TERMINATING THE GAME
You may terminate your mission by typing the ^C command,
killing the last enemy, letting the Enterprise be destroyed,
or using the game saving command. When your mission is
terminated, the program types a pair of numbers that rate
your demonstrated abilities as a starship captain.
One of these numbers is called "TOTAL EFFORT" and is
simply ten times the percentage of the total enemy force
destroyed since galaxy creation. The other number is called
"PROFICIENCY" and is ten times the percentage of the total
enemy force destroyed since the last game restoration (or
galaxy creation) multiplied by the number of starminutes
permitted for the entire game and divided by the number of
starminutes used since the last game restore (creation).
The proficiency is 1000 if you destroy enemies at exactly
that rate required to destroy the entire initial invading
force within the initial time limit.
- - - - - - - - - -
*This is only an example. The file name and ppn will
probably be different. You can probably get the correct
name from the same place you got this manual.
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 11
Benediction
BENEDICTION
This game is not always easy. Sometimes we will win and
sometimes we will lose. But whatever the outcome, we must
give thanks
To the industrious souls who wrote this game and others like
it that we might fill up our logged out quota,
To the Computer Center that we might play it (Don't use it
when the system is busy),
To the military-industrial complex for making this war
possible, and
To the enemy and crew for sacrificing their lives that we
might amuse ourselves.
Good Luck!
You will need it.
Daniel R. Strick
12 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
Index
INDEX
acceleration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
collisions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
commands . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
communications command . . . . . . . . . 9
condition . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
CUSP . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
damage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
damage report command . . . . . . . . . 8
deflector . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
direction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
docking . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3
drop deflectors command . . . . . . . . 9
emergency warp change command . . . . . 4
Enterprise . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
Excalibur . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3
galactic map command . . . . . . . . . . 9
galaxy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
galaxy size . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
ghost ship . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3
high warp change command . . . . . . . . 4
hyperspace . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5
Klingon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3
long range scan command . . . . . . . . 6
moving . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
normal warp change command . . . . . . . 4
parsec . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
phaser . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3, 5, 6
phaser fire command . . . . . . . . . . 6
photon torpedo . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3, 5, 7
pulsive beams command . . . . . . . . . 9
quadrant . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
quadrant size . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
raise deflectors command . . . . . . . . 9
rating . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10
restore game command . . . . . . . . . . 9
Romulan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2, 3
Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise 13
Index
save game command . . . . . . . . . . . 9
set timing character command . . . . . . 9
shield . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
shield destruction . . . . . . . . . . . 8
short range scan command . . . . . . . . 5
short range sensors . . . . . . . . . . 5
short range track command . . . . . . . 6
significant object . . . . . . . . . . . 2
star . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
starbase . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2
starday . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
starminute . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
status report command . . . . . . . . . 9
target . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
time limit . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
timing character . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
torpedo cancel command . . . . . . . . . 9
torpedo fire command . . . . . . . . . . 7
travel command . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
visibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6
zero command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
^Z command . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4
14 Manual of Operations for the U.S.S. Enterprise
List Of Commands
THE COMMANDS
-1 - LIST THE COMMANDS
1 - NORMAL WARP CHANGE
2 - SHORT RANGE SENSOR SCAN
3 - LONG RANGE SENSOR SCAN
4 - FIRE PHASERS
5 - FIRE PHOTON TORPEDOES
6 - PULSIVE BEAMS
7 - TRAVEL
8 - STATUS REPORT
9 - DAMAGE REPORT
10 - HIGH WARP CHANGE
11 - EMERGENCY WARP CHANGE
12 - RAISE DEFLECTORS
13 - DROP DEFLECTORS
14 - ATTEMPT COMMUNICATIONS
15 - SHORT RANGE TRACK
16 - GALACTIC MAP
17 - SET TIMING CHARACTER
18 - SAVE GAME
19 - RESTORE GAME
20 - CANCEL PENDING TORPEDO LAUNCHES
44 - ALTERNATE PHASER FIRE
55 - ALTERNATE TORPEDO FIRE
^Z - CANCEL COMMAND
^C - SURRENDER