This is the player's manual for the StarCluster Play-By-(e)Mail game running at starcluster@lysator.liu.se. (Note: the game is still in development, and `StarCluster' is just the working name. It may be changed in the future.)
Recently added/modified text is in green (assuming your browser understands the markup used for this).
The game is operated by Leif Stensson <leif+pbmadmin@lysator.liu.se>.
The background story in the game is that Earth has colonized several other planets inside the Milky Way galaxy, and then sent a fleet of colonization ships toward a star cluster at the outer rim of the galaxy. While the colonization fleet was on its way, an alien race -- the Trialch -- has launched a war on the Earth `empire', which is consequently unable to continue the colonization effort, and the initial colonization fleet is left to fend for itself in the remote star cluster. Predictably, the absence of coordination in the colonization process has lead to numerous conflicts between the colonies, which may be a blessing in disguise, since it has lead the Trialch to leave the cluster colonies alone to fight each other.
The Trialch maintain a presence at the fringe of the cluster, and occasionally foray into it, but overall stay relatively neutral, partly relying on their superior numbers and technology in case the colonies should ever manage to marshall a concerted attack, and partly to avoid conflict with two other non-human races: the Krang, and the Zarth.
The Krang live on cold planets uninhabitable to Trialch and human alike, and usually keep to themselves, except for some erratic trading with the other races. The Krang have an uneasy peace with the Trialch, after a stalemate war over a part of space outside of the cluster. The territory is currently controlled by the Trialch, but their influence is relatively weak there.
The Zarth appears to be an ancient race, which for some reason has taken a casual interest in the events in the cluster. Little is known about the Zarth, except that ships travelling into their domains without an invitation tend to disappear, sometimes to reappear at unexpected places.
There is also some talk of a fourth alien race, the Wenjee, which inhabited this starcluster centuries ago, but seem to have been chased away by the Trialch.
The goal of the game is (1) to build an Earth colony/empire in the cluster, strong enough to deter the Trialch from invasion, and (2) to become the major force in the cluster. You can do this alone or in alliance with other players, but there will never be more than two winners in a campaign, so only the two largest players in an alliance count toward a victory. (While perhaps not a goal in itself, stamping out the Trialch colonies in the cluster may often become necessary in order to win...)
At the end of a campaign, a score is computed for each surviving player. The scoring method may vary between campaigns, but the factors taken into account will typically include number of systems under a player's control, the technology level, number of specific technologies known, the research capacity, the production capacity, and the amount of RU saved.
The star cluster itself is relatively flat, so charts are normally drawn two-dimensionally, without reference to the `depth' coordinate. The cluster is divided into sectors, named by their X and Y coordinates, producing a four-digit number: YYXX. When relevant, more precise locations are given as YYXX-yx, where the last `yx' is the location within the sector.
The situation in the cluster is roughly this:
Trialch border
(2020) . . . . . . . . . (2090)
. .
. .
. .
. . Disputed zone
Zarth . . controlled by
domain . . the Trialch
. . and Krang
. .
. .
. .
(9020) . . . . . . . . . (9090)
Zarth
domain Zarth domain
In other words, it is rarely feasible to venture into sectors whose X or Y coordinates are greater than 90 or less than 20.
The subcoordinate (the `-yx' part after the first four digits) is only used to indicate the location of ships in flight, and it is omitted when the subcoordinate is 55 (the centre of the sector).
A sector may be empty, or contain a star system. Star systems are initially categorized by `size', measured in terms of how much general resources are available and how much population the system is capable of supporting without special installations. (The basic size is usually constant, but can be increased through terraforming or decreased by major destructive weapons, but this usually requires a relatively high technology level.)
Once a colony has been established in a star system, installations may be built. Installations serve various purposes, such as increasing the system's ability to support habitation, improve the productivity, or provide special functionality.
There cannot be more than one installation of each type in the same star system, but there can be several different installations that have the same or similar effects.
The various colonies have their own economical systems, their own currencies, and so on, but the general measure of assets and resources in the cluster is Earth's standardized `resource units' (RU).
The primary source of income for players is the production in inhabited star systems. The basic income from a star system is a function of the population:
Population Income
========== ======
0 1 RU (scavenging resources)
1-2 2 RU
3-5 3 RU
6-9 4 RU
10-14 5 RU
15-19 6 RU
20-26 7 RU
27-33 8 RU
34-42 9 RU
43-51 10 RU
52-61 11 RU
62-72 12 RU
73-83 13 RU
84-96 14 RU
97-109 15 RU
110-124 16 RU
125-139 17 RU
140-155 18 RU
156-172 19 RU
173+ 20+RU
The population in a star system cannot usually grown to more than five times the `size' of the system, plus one additional population unit for every third technology level. Higher population than this may be supported if special installations are present in the system. One such special installation is `hydroponic_plant', which allows the system to grow the population as if the `size' had been two units higher than it really is. To build installations of this type, the corresponding `hydroponics' technology is required. Another similar installation is `infrastructure', which makes the colony produce 2 RU more per turn, and allows the population to grow as if the `size' had been one unit higher than it is.
Every colony pays `taxes' to the empire that owns the colony, but the colonies also have local economies. A colony will set aside a certain amount of resources as a reserve, and resources in this reserve can be used to help finance repairs and some other activities. (If the reserves are not sufficient to finance repairs, you can still repair things, but then all required resources will be taken from the imperial budget.)
Every colony pays `taxes' to the empire that owns the colony, but the colonies also have local economies. A colony will set aside a certain amount of resources as a reserve, and resources in this reserve can be used to help finance repairs and some other activities. (If the reserves are not sufficient to finance repairs, you can still repair things, but then all required resources will be taken from the imperial budget.)
The local population may under certain conditions (typically strains on the local economy, such as when they are made to build many ships and other things for many turns in a row) become dissatisfied and be inclined to rebel. This, however, becomes less likely the more RU they have saved as local funds, and the more locally useful installations the system has.
Most things in StarCluster is accomplished with various kinds of `spaceships'. The term `spaceship' is used in a wide sense, including mobile, deepspace space stations, etc. (But regular space stations in orbit around planets count as `installations'.)
Each system has the capacity of building at least one installation or one piece of equipment each turn (assuming you can afford it), and systems with a population of 50 units or higher can build either one installation and a piece of equipment, or two pieces of equipment each turn.
To build spaceships, a star system with a `shipyard' installation is required. (Every player starts with at least one such star system.)
Initially, players are typically capable of building the following types of spaceships:
Explorer ships are medium fast ships that can move a distance of about four sectors per turn, and scan all sectors around it up to about two steps aways. Explorer ships have only marginal offensive ability, and minor defensive ability.
Scout ships are fast ships that can move a distance of about six sectors per turn, but they have more limited scan ability than explorer ships, marginal defensive ability, and no offensive ability whatsoever.
Cruiser ships are medium fast ships (like the explorer ships), but only minor scanning ability. On the other hand, cruiser ships have fair offensive and defensive ability.
Colonizer ships are large, slow, and expensive ships that can land in unpopulated star systems and establish colonies there. They have weak offensive ability, but are somewhat better in the defensive area (but not as good as cruisers).
On techlevel 2, it is also possible to build Guardian ships: slow and cumbersome ships mainly useful as a stationary defense system for planets. The have stronger offensive ability than cruisers, but are not as good at defending themselves.
On higher techlevels, additional ship types becomes available.
A ship normally consumes fuel in proportion to how far it travels during each turn; one fuel unit per sector (rounded upwards).
Ships are primarily rated by four abilities: speed, scan range, offensive (attack) strength, and defensive strength. Speed is measured in how many sectors a ship can travel per turn. Scan range is given as a value s which indicates that the ship can see sectors at a distance of up to (1+s)/2 sectors away. Ships normally just scan the places where they stop, not sectors they fly through. (The reason is that the ships travel through hyperspace, where the normal scan equipment doesn't work.)
Equipment can be used to enhance a ship's abilities in various ways. For instance, the `long_range_scanner' can be used to provide scan ability on par with an exporer ship to any ship. The `fuelscoop' increases a ship's ability to gather fuel in `empty' space, and the `warpdrive' can increase a ship's speed by roughly two units.
Of course, building some kinds of equipment may require that the player possesses some particular technology. The standard `long_range_scanner', for instance, can only be built by players who have the `earth_legacy' technology. (But all is not lost for players who have lost this legacy: the Krang can sometimes be persuaded to sell their own kind of scanner equipment, which is even better. And players willing to pay large amounts of RUs to the Krang may even be able to buy the basic `krang_legacy' technology...)
Some ships have special abilities. These special abilities include interdict and intercept (described below in the `Battles' section), fuel transfer (automatically transfer fuel to friendly ships), colonize (establish colonies), terraform (increase the usable size of small planets), planetkill (destroy installations, reduce population; might destroy the whole colony, and/or reduce the system size), and resource scan (locate resource from orbit, without having to establish a colony).
A ship with fuel transfer abilities transfers fuel to other friendly ships in the same sector. As long as the fuel ship has enough fuel to move its maximum range the next turn, it will transfer one fuel unit to every friendly ship, and an additional fuel unit to each ship owned by the same player as the fuel ship if the receiving ship doesn't have enough fuel to move its maximum range the next turn.
The technological advancement of a player's empire is measured in two ways: a general rating referred to as the `technological level' (or `techlevel' for short) of the empire, and a list of specific technologies.
Initially, most of the former Earth colonies have a techlevel of 1 or 2, and share a technological heritage from Earth, referred to as the specific technology `earth_legacy', and zero or one (other) specific technology. A few colonies may have lost the `earth_legacy' technology, but they have usually developed some other technology instead.
Specific technologies can be developed with a directed research effort, once the basic theory underlying the technology has been developed. The more general techlevel is harder to develop, but tends to advance by itself as the number of specific technologies possessed by the player increases. It is possible to raise the technological level with sufficiently large research budgets, but it is roughly five times more cost effective to build research facilities, in the long run.
Normally, each player can only make one significant technological development each turn. But it is also possible to trade technologies with other players.
The order of events during a turn is:
Each turn report contains several sections, including game information, parsed commands, events, diplomacy, fiscal report, technology report, status reports, autopilot orders for next turn, and a skeleton orders sheet for next turn. The game information and parsed commands sections are normally the same as the server's automatic reply when you submitted the orders.
The game information indicates what campaign, turn, and player the report concerns. It also lists your email addresses, your empire's bids for tradegoods, and some other information.
The parsed commands shows the commands you've sent to the game (or the autopilot's commands, if you didn't send any before the deadline). Each command is indented and marked with a "greater than" symbol (>) first on a line, and then followed by the server's response to the command.
The events section reports events such as ship movements, battles, colonization, discoveries, and so on.
The diplomacy section describes the diplomatic status between you and the other players.
The fiscal section gives a summary of the empire's budget, beginning with the incoming balance from the previous turn and ending with the number of RU available for the next turn. Much of the information here is just a sum of the various expenses and incomes reported earlier in the parsed commands section or later in the status reports, but there are a few bits of information not present elsewhere in the turn report. This includes the cost for ship maintenance, and the administration overhead for maintaining the empire. The administrational overhead grows with the number of systems, and also increases as the empire's income and savings increase. (Local savings in the systems don't affect it, though.)
The technology report indicates what things you can build, what new technologies you can develop, your current technological level, and other information. Discoveries made at your research facilities are usually also reported here, rather than in the general events section.
The status reports gives close-up information about every system and ship you own, and all information they gather through scanning.
The autopilot section gives the autopilot's plan for the next turn, expressed in game commands. As long as the autopilot hasn't been disabled, the autopilot orders will be used if you don't submit any orders of your own before the next deadline.
The skeleton orders sheet contains a sketch for a new order sheet (and various information in comments) which you can cut and paste to save yourself some typing when writing commands for the next turn.
Commands are sent to the game by email to the address <starcluster@lysator.liu.se>. Orders must begin with
campaign NAME_OF_THE_CAMPAIGN
player PLAYER_NUMBER_OR_NAME
When you submit orders, you will more or less immediately (depending on the speed of mail delivery) receive a parsed reply where the server confirms that it has received your orders, and if the game understood the orders. Except for that, nothing will actually happen until the next update of the campaign. You can submit new orders at any time before the update--only the last set of orders submitted will be acted upon in the update.
You can put comments in the orders by putting a `#' or `>' first on a line, but you cannot have comments before the initial `campaign' and `player' directives.
The following commands can be submitted to the game:
ally WHO
This command is a synonym for `declare WHO ally'.
attach SHIP to fleet FLEETNUMBER
Make the given ship a part of the specified fleet. Fleets are numbered 1 through 9, and are created automatically when the first ship is added. Once a ship has been added, further ships must be at the same location as this ship if they are to be attached to the fleet.
bid AMOUNT resource units for GOODS
Set the empire's maximum bid for goods of the given type. This will be used by `trading station' installations when deciding whether to buy or not to buy goods from independent traders who show up in the system. (Normally, a trading station will try to get as good a price as possible, and never pay more resource units than the maximum bid for the goods type minus the number of such goods items that are already present in the system's storage.)
Some goods types are `crystals', `artifacts', `medicine', and `narcotics'. `Artifacts' is a general name for unknown devices of alien origin, and are investigated each turn, eventually yielding some kind of discovery; a research facility in the system improves the chances of making discoveries. Other kinds of goods are typically needed to allow special actions, or to build special kinds of ships, installations and equipment.
The default bid for all things is 0 resource units, meaning don't even try to buy.
build THING in SECTOR
Order the construction of `THING' -- a ship, an installation, or some kind of equipment -- in the specified sector. The sector must contain some production facility, which typically requires a star system. Usually, only one installation or piece of equipment can be built in each sector each turn, but systems with a population of 50 or more can build one extra piece of equipment. A `shipyard' installation is required for building spaceships at all, but once a shipyard is present in a system, it can build one ship per turn independent of the installation/equipment limitations.
colonize SECTOR
colonize SECTOR with SHIP
Attempts to colonize the specified sector. In order for this to work, there must be an unpopulated star system in the sector, and you need to have a spaceship capable of colonizing a system. If successful, the colonizer ship will land on a suitable planet, and cease to be a spaceship.
If a ship is given in the command, that ship will be used. If not ship is given, any available colonizer ship in the sector will be used.
declare PLAYER ATTITUDE
Declare your empire's diplomatic attitude toward another player (or one of the non-human races). The attitudes available are `friend', `ally', `neutral', and `enemy'. You must have the attitude `enemy' toward an empire to be able to attack it.
`Ally' and `friend' are similar, but differ in that two empires that have declared each other `ally' cannot declare each other enemies in one turn. (But an alliance can be ended in one turn by either ally declaring the other `friend' or `neutral'.) Also, an empire cannot have more than three other empires declared as `ally' at the same time.
describe THING
describe technology level N
describe techlevel N
describe every TYPE
describe all
Look up a technology, resource, installation, equipment, or ship type in the game configuration database, and report information about it.
"Describe technology level N" gives a list of all things belonging to that particular technology level. The "describe every TYPE" command describe all things of a particular type, e g ship type, installation, equipment, technology or resource. "Describe all" gives a description of every thing of every type.
These commands only gives information about things you can build or develop; things belonging to higher techlevels than your current, or that requires a special technology you don't have to build or develop, will not be described.
Since different campaigns can use slightly different configurations, the information you get with this command is more reliable than the `tables' section of the manual, which mainly describes the default configuration.
detach SHIP from fleet FLEETNUMBER
Detach the ship from the specified fleet.
develop TECH
Develop the specified technology. To succeed at this, you must fulfill the requirements, and be able to afford financing the directed research effort. (The `Technology Report' section of your turn report will tell you what technologies you can develop during the next turn.) It is normally possible for a player to develop only one new technology explicitly each turn.
done
This command is used to indicate the end of the order sheet, and tells the server to ignore any subsequent text in the orders email.
end
This command is a synonym for `done'.
enemy WHO
This command is a synonym for `declare WHO enemy'.
export WHAT from SYSTEM to SYSTEM
Automatically transfer `fuel', `resource units' or `goods' from one system to another, at a rate of a few units per turn if there is a surplus in the exporting system. Exporting requires a `trading station' installation in both the exporting and the receiving system, and exports can only be made at distances of 5+techlevel/3 sectors (rounded downwards), and no more than 10 sectors even if the techlevel is 18 or higher. To stop exporting, use "export nothing from SYSTEM to SYSTEM".
Note: the word `goods' should be taken literally, and refers to all kinds of goods. There is no way of exporting just one kind of goods, except by explicitly loading it on a ship and fly away with it.
friend WHO
This command is a synonym for `declare WHO friend'.
give AMOUNT resource units to WHOM
Hands over the specified amount of resource units to another player (assuming you have the required amount). Each turn, any player can give up to 10 RU to any other player, and allies and trading partners can transfer 15 RU per turn, but to transfer more than that, there must be sufficient contact in terms of ships from one player being present in systems controlled by the other player. Each ship will be able to transfer an additional 5 RU, up to a maximum of 100 RU.
give map to WHOM
give entire map to WHOM
give scan map to WHOM
Give a copy of your map data to another player. `Give map' and `give entire map' gives away all map information (including old information you have received from other players during previous turns), while `give scan map' just gives away your new scan information for the current turn.
give ship SHIP to WHOM
Give a ship to another empire. For this to work, the ship must be in a sector where the receiving empire has a ship, or owns a systems.
give system SECTOR to WHOM
give system in SECTOR to WHOM
Hand over control of a system to another empire. This command cannot be used to give away your last system. The receiver must either have a ship present in the system, or already own a system within ten sectors of the given system. If the system is under siege (enemy ships with total attack strength of 3 or higher present), the receiver must have a ship present in the system.
give technology TECH to WHOM
Share the knowledge of a particular technology with another player (or alien race). Note that the fact that you give away the technology doesn't automatically make the recipient capable of absorbing the technology; in other words, you usually cannot (successfully) give away technologies requiring high techlevels to player of low techlevels.
Technologies can only be transferred when the giver has a ship present in one of the receiver's systems, or the receiver has a ship present in one of the giver's systems.
load AMOUNT GOODS on SHIP
Load the given amount of the given goods type on a ship.
mount EQUIPMENT on SHIP
Once a piece of equipment has been built, it must be mounted on a ship in order to be used. This command does that. For this to work, the equipment must be available in a star system, and the ship must be present in the same star system at the beginning of the turn.
move SHIP to SECTOR
move Fleet_FLEETNUMBER to SECTOR
Orders the specified ship or fleet to travel toward the specified sector. The movement of fleets are limited by the slowest ship in the fleet. Ships attached to a fleet cannot be moved separately, unless detached first.
name ship SHIP "NAME"
name system SECTOR "NAME"
These commands are synonyms for `set name of ship SHIP to NAME' and `set name of system SECTOR to NAME'.
refuel SHIP
refuel SHIP with N fuel units
Most ships gather a bit of fuel by themselves, and all ships refuel a few units per turn from a friendly system's fuel stores when fuel is available. However, sometimes you may want to refuel faster than this, and this command does that: it transfers fuel from a system's fuel stores to the ship, until either the ship has a full tank or the system's fuel stores are exhausted (unless an amount of fuel is explicitly specified). The transfer happens immediately, before the ship moves, while the automatic refuelling happens after all ships have moved.
repair WHAT in SECTOR
reopen WHAT in SECTOR
Sometimes, things break down, and sometimes things get shutdown. These commands are used to repair broken equipment and installations, and reopen installations that have been shutdown. Repairing or reopening something typically costs about one third of the original construction costs. The resource units for explicit repairs comes out of the imperial economy (except in some special cases, where the command response says otherwise). The `repair' and `reopen' commands act before movements and battles, while the automatic repairs (done by space stations, repair stations, etc) are done after movements and battles.
research AMOUNT
Abbreviation of `spend AMOUNT resource units on research'.
scrap INSTALLATION in SECTOR
scrap EQUIPMENT in SECTOR
scrap SHIP
Scrap an installation, a piece of equipment, or a whole ship. Installations and equipment just disappear when scrapped, but ships are partially recycled if they are parked in a system when you scrap them. If the system has a shipyard, roughly one third of the original construction cost is recovered and added to the system's local economy. If the system doesn't have a shipyard, only about one fifth is recovered. Scrapping a ship in empty space means you just abandon it, meaning no resources are recovered.
set email ADDRESS
set alternate email ADDRESS
set fallback email ADDRESS
set priority email ADDRESS
Set the regular, alternate, fallback, and priority email addresses respectively. The regular email address is where most of the game-related email is sent.
The priority email address is where the game sends urgent information, such as the "You haven't sent in any orders and the next update is in less than 24 hours" reminder. If you don't set a priority email address, the regular email address will be used for urgent letters too.
The alternate email address is just another address from which the game server is prepared to accept orders.
The fallback email address is not used for anything in the game; its purpose it to be a hint for the game administrator what address to use instead of the regular address in case letters to the regular address starts to bounce.
set government type to WHAT
Attempts to change your realm's government form to WHAT. Changing government form has a risk for failure, in which case the government form may stay unchanged, or turn to anarchy.
Note, February 2000: Currently available government forms are: empire, kingdom, federation, dictatorship, anarchy, and theocracy. There isn't a whole lot of difference between the government forms yet, but there will be some differences in terms of the levels for tax, system savings, and sponsoring rather soon.
set name of empire to NAME
Sets the name of your empire. The name must not be longer than 15 characters, and consist of one or more words, each beginning with a letter. An underscore counts as a word space.
This command may normally only be used once in the campaign.
set name of ship SHIP to NAME
set name of system in sector SECTOR to NAME
Set the name of one of your ships or systems. You must own the ship/system at the beginning of the turn to be able to set its name.
set option OPTION VALUE
set option OPTION=VALUE
Set game options. The following options exist:
ascii_map says whether you want an ASCII (text) map of recent scan information included in each turn report. Valid values are `on' and `off'.
autopilot says whether you want the autopilot function to run your empire if you happen to miss an update deadline. Valid values are `on' and `off'.
auto_refuel says how fast you want your systems to automatically refuel your ships. Valid values are `slow', `standard', and `fast'. They give roughly 2, 4, and 6 fuel units transferred respectively. (Ships that are low on fuel, i.e. have too little fuel to move their maximum range next turn, get a bit more.)
gif_map indicates whether you want a GIF map of all your accumulated scan information included in each turn report. Valid values are `on' and `off'.
jumpgate_policy indicates at what diplomatic level other nations may use your jumpgates. Valid values are `friend' (the default), `ally', `neutral' and `closed', where `closed' means that no other nations may use your jumpgates at all.
map_grid says what kind of sector grid you want superimposed on the image map. Valid values are `none', `dots', and `line'. `Dots' is the default.
map_size says what size you want the image map to be. Valid values are `small', `medium', and `large'. `Medium' is the default. The other sizes may not be available in all campaigns, but the map drawing program will default to `medium' if the size you specified isn't available.
new_order_sheet indicates what kind of new order sheet you want the game to include with your turn report. Valid values are `on', `off', `quiet', `brief', and `verbose'. (March 2000: there isn't really all that much difference between the different styles yet, except that `off' skips the whole `New Order Sheet' section of the turn report.)
order_ships_by controls the order of ships in the listing of ships. Valid values are `name', `type', and `sector' (and `location', which is a synonym for `sector'). The default order is by name. The `All Known Ships' listing is always ordered by sector, no matter what value this option has.
our_ship_list controls the verbosity of the listing of a player's own ships. Valid values are `standard', `brief', and `verbose'. (And `short' and `long', which are synonyms for `brief' and `verbose', respectively.) If our_ships_list isn't set, the value of the option report_style will be taken as a default.
report_style allows you to adjust the style of future turn reports. Valid values are `short', `standard', and `long'. The information presented in the reports are essentially the same whichever style you choose; the style mainly affects the layout and phrasing of the reports. If this option is not set, `standard' is assumed.
system_tabular controls the inclusion in the turn report of a tabular summary of all your systems. Valid values are `on' and `off'.
set password to PASSWORD
Sets the authentication password (for use in the web interface).
settle SECTOR
settle SECTOR with SHIP
A synonym for the colonize command.
shutdown INSTALLATION in SECTOR
Some installations cost resources to maintain. This command can be used to shutdown such installations if necessary. "Close" can be used as a synonym for "shutdown". An installation that has been shutdown can be reopened with the `reopen' command (which costs about one third or so of the original construction cost for the installation).
spend AMOUNT resource units on research
This is the brute-force way of advancing your research status, which leads to higher technology levels. Your research is also advanced when you develop specific technologies, and by research conducted at your `research facility' installations. To a lesser degree, your research is also advanced by receiving technologies from other empires.
sponsor SYSTEM with AMOUNT resource units
This command transfers resources from the central administration to the local administration in the specified system. This may be useful to keep automatic factories going in systems with low production.
terraform SECTOR
Attempts to terraform the specified sector. You need a ship with terraform ability in the sector to do this, and only systems with a size less than 8 can normally be terraformed. Each successful terraforming increases the usable system size by one. Each attempt at terraforming a system costs about 20 RU.
You need the `terraforming' technology (techlevel 7) to be able to build ships with terraform ability.
transfer EQUIPMENT from SHIP1 to SHIP2
Move equipment between ships. The ships (obviously) need to be in the same sector for this to work, but there doesn't have to be a system in that sector.
unfuel SHIP
Being more or less the opposite of the `refuel' command, this command transfer fuel from a ship into a system's fuel storage. The fuel transfer happens immediately, before movement and battles. Roughly 50% of the ship's fuel will be unloaded, and one fuel unit will be lost in the process. The command can be repeated to unload more fuel, but it will refuse to unload the last two fuel units from a ship.
unload AMOUNT GOODS on SHIP
Unload the given amount of the given goods type from a ship.
unmount EQUIPMENT from SHIP
Removes a piece of equipment from a ship and places it in storage in a star system. (Note that you don't need to own, or even be on friendly terms with, the system where you unmount equipment. In other words, this command can be used to give equipment to other players.)
unset email
unset alternate email
unset fallback email
unset priority email
Remove the setting for an email address. After an update where these commands were processed, the game will use the default email address instead of the address that was unset. Unsetting the regular email address will make the game stop sending you turn reports, and may cause the empire to be taken over by the autopilot (even if you turned off the autopilot in previous orders).
In addition to the regular commands, you can also give instructions for the game to execute particular commands on the next turn by putting "next turn:" before the order. E.g., to build a scout in sector 4711 next turn, you give the command
next turn: build scout in sector 4711
However, this will only insert the command into the autopilot order sheet, and the new order sheet that is included in the turn report. If you have disabled the autopilot and don't submit any orders, or if you submit new orders without the "build scout in sector 4711" command, the order will not be carried out.
The game will not check that the order after "next turn:" is a valid order until the order is really about to be executed, during the next turn. In other words, this is more of a reminder service than a real order.
The server allows you to abbreviate things in several ways.
The first way is that equipment and installations can be referred to by the abbreviations used in the "summary" tables in the turn report, e.g. "WD" for "warpdrive", "RF" for "research facility", "FSFac" for "fuelscoop factory", and so on.
The second way is that the fuzzy-matching feature allows you to misspell words (within reason) and still have the server understand them. Since leaving our a few letters at the end of a word is a kind of misspelling, this can be used to abbreviate words.
The third way is using the wildcard feature, which is invoked by putting an asterisk (`*') inside a word, or at the end of it. For instance, "fuelscoop_factory" can be referred to as "fuel*fac". (Note that this doesn't work as a regular expression or a Unix shell glob. The `*' is interpreted as meaning `increase the fuzzy-matcher tolerance for this word, and allow even more fuzziness right where the * is'.)
When abbreviations seem suspicious, ambiguous, or just misspelled, the server may inform you of this fact in brackets in the parsed orders, producing a response like:
> set optioon autolrefuez to defualt
[assuming `optioon' means `option']
[assuming `autolrefuez' means option `auto_refuel']
[assuming `defualt' means `default']
[option value `default' is equivalent to `standard']
Setting option auto_refuel to `standard'.
This particular example, while genuine, is of course a bit extreme. :-)
The server allows you to save yourself some typing when you want to give several similar commands, such as building the same kind of thing in several places, or moving several ships to the same location. The way to use this feature is to give a list of items inside curly braces and separated by commas. For instance, the command sequence:
build fuelscoop in sector 1234
build fuelscoop in sector 2345
build fuelscoop in sector 3456
can be abbreviated to
build fuelscoop in sector {1234,2345,3456}
This feature can be used more than once in each command, so it is possible to say things like:
build {fuelscoop,shipyard} in sector {1234,2345}
However, note that this will be expanded to four commands, building a shipyard and a fuelscoop in each systems, not just a fuelscoop in 1234 and a shipyard in 2345. To make sure you know what is going on, the server will respond to orders with multiple-item expansions by echoing back each expanded order (preceeded by "==>") before trying to carry it out. In other words, an order like:
mount {fuelscoop,warpdrive} on Cruiser_3
will get a reponse along the lines of:
> mount {fuelscoop,warpdrive} on Cruiser_3
==> mount fuelscoop on Cruiser_3
OK.
==> mount warpdrive on Cruiser_3
There is no warpdrive in system 1234.
To prevent excessive looping in the server's parser, each multiple-item expansion is not allowed to expand to more than 40 commands.
Battles occur automatically when ships and/or systems belonging to two enemy empires are present in the same sector.
Battle takes place in two stages: first spaceships fight other spaceships, and then surviving spaceships fight and attempt to conquer enemy colonies. (Conquest normally succeeds if and only if the attacker is the only player with surviving ships in the sector.)
Special attacks can occur outside of the two regular battle stages. For instance, `early attacks' happen before ships move, while the normal attacks happen after ships have moved.
The formulae involved in computing battle outcomes are somewhat complicated, but the basic formula for the probability of doing ship-to-ship damage is:
1 + a
P = -----------
1 + a + d
where `a' is the attacker's offensive strength, and `d' the defender's defensive strength. However, this only applies for the first, normal attack a ship makes. Ships with offensive strength greater than one gets to make more than one attack (if there is more than one enemy ship), each attack with the ship's attack strength reduced by one, until either the attack strength has dropped to zero, or there are no more enemy ships. The attacks are distributed semi-randomly between enemy target.
Refer to the `Tables' section for information about what values the individual ships have, or use the `describe' command.
The order of ship-to-ship attacks is random; each ship picks an enemy target at random, and attacks. Ships with several attacks often, but not always, fire two or more attacks at each target if the enemy managed to avoid being hit the first time. (They may go on and fire on a ship that has been hit already, if the ship seems likely to survive if left alone.) When firing on a single enemy ship, ships with many attacks may have difficulties to use all their attacks.
Each time a ship is hit, it suffers a damage between 15 and 140+5*(a-d/2) percent of total destruction. However, if it has a defense rating higher than 1, or has some equipment aboard, it has a chance of reducing the damage at the expense of losing defensive strength for the remainder of the battle. (It dodges the full impact of the attack by having non-vital parts of the ship take more of the damage.)
Each ship capable of attacking (i.e. with an attack rating greater than zero) will attempt to invade an enemy systems in the same sector if there are no defending ships left after a battle. The turn report will indicate whether the invasion attempt was successful or not. It typically takes one to five attacks to invade a system without defensive installations. (Note that ships that moved during the turn normally only fight with about half strength during invasion attempts, although they do fight with full strength in ship-to-ship battles.)
Some ships have special abilities that affect their actions in battle (but these ships also fight as normal ships, if they have any ordinary attack ability).
The Interdict ability gives a ship a chance of preventing enemy ships from leaving the sector. The chances of success depend on the interdiction strength and the difference in technology level between the interdictor and the "victim". A ship can only use its interdict ability during turns when it didn't move itself.
The Intercept ability gives a ship a chance of "pouncing" on enemy ships in sectors within intercept range, by tracking them and moving into the sector as the enemy ships arrive there. Intercept range is measured in the same way as scan range; however, to be able to know where to intercept enemy ships, the interceptor ship must have the enemy ship within its own scan range, too. (It is not enough that another one of your ships or systems can scan the enemy.) Much as the interdict ability, the intercept ability cannot be used if the interdictor ship itself moved during the turn.
The Aegis ability is a way of partially shielding other ships by a combination of using forcefields and putting itself in the way of incoming attacks. Ships with the aegis ability absorb roughly half the damage inflicted upon other ships in the sector, until the aegis ship itself is too damaged to manoeuvre. If several aegis ships are present in the same sector, they try to take turns in absorbing damage. Aegis ships usually only sacrifice themselves to protect ships belonging to the same empire, not to mere friends or allies. (But they do protect friends and allies indirectly, by being another potential target for the enemy.) Aegis ships can move and use the aegis ability in the same turn.
Note: the terms "interdictor", "aegis ship" etc above refer to all ships with these abilities, not just the ship types named after the ability ("Interdictor", "Aegis", etc). The Trialch `Corrector' class battleship, for instance, has both interdict and intercept ability.
Note: the terms "interdictor", "aegis ship" etc above refer to all ships with these abilities, not just the ship types named after the ability ("Interdictor", "Aegis", etc). The Trialch `Corrector' class battleship, for instance, has both interdict and intercept ability.
Most of the action in StarCluster is accomplished on the level of ships and/or systems, but there is an empire (which may be called something else if you have selected a different government form) for each player, and some things in the game are controlled per empire. These include:
There are several government types (or government forms, or polities) to choose from; but currently (May 2003), they mostly just differ with respect to taxation levels, which can be one of the following: minimal, low, medium and high.
MINIMAL TAX: Anarchy is the government form with the lowest `tax' levels, where the local economies keep more resources to themselves and are the most active with building installations and such without waiting for your orders. You still control a government-like structure on the interplanetary level, which mostly consists of the space fleet, and you can still give orders for building things in systems, though. You just have less resource units to spend on these things. On the other hand, you get a lot of infrastructure for free.
LOW TAX: The federation government form is a compromise between anarchy and more conventional government. You control more resources than under an anarchy, but less than under the other government forms.
MEDIUM TAX: the empire, kingdom and theocracy government forms offer essentially the same level of control and taxation, except that theocracies have a slightly easier time pacifying rebellious populations. On the other hand, the population under theocracies are prone to building an installation type called "grand cathedral", so in a large empire, lots of resources can disappear into these otherwise not very useful installations.
HIGH TAX: the dictatorship governments are currently the only government type in the "high taxes" category.
Generally, the lower the taxes, the more often it will happen that the local population decides to build installations they consider useful, without you ordering it. This can be both a good and a bad thing; good since they chip in some resources from private sources, making the installations cost less than otherwise; bad since it can make resources disappear into a spontaneously build installation when you were planning to use it for something else.
The higher the taxes are, the more likely it is that your system populations will be dissatisfied, and perhaps rebel if you build too much in their system.