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.sh 1 "Introduction"
.pp
Welcome to xtrek.
Xtrek is the latest in a line of games based on Empire on the PLATO
system.
Most of the ideas are stolen from the unix game
.i Trek83
by David Davis and Chris Guthrie and the VMS game
.i Conquest
by Jef Poskanzer and Craig Leres.
Xtrek is a multi-player, real-time game which runs under Ultrix 1.2
on X supporting workstations.
Since the game requires shared memory, the daemon and
player processes must be run on on an Ultrix machine.
However, the player program
.i xtrek
throws an X window up on any workstation running X.
Please send any ideas/comments to chris@ic.berkeley.edu.

.sh 1 "The Basic Idea"
.pp
When you play Xtrek, you enter a galaxy as one of four competing
races.
You have a warship at your command.
The galaxy contains forty planets, which start divided evenly between
the four teams.
The eventual goal of the game is to conquer the other teams' planets
and protect your own.
Usually this will involve frequently having to destroy other player's
ships while avoiding their efforts to destroy yours.

.sh 1 "Starting the Game"
.pp
To enter the game type
.b "xtrek monitor:0"
much like any X tool.
The program will use the $DISPLAY variable in your environment if
it is set.
If there is room in the game, you will see an entry window which may
contain some random status information and a choice of teams.
Click a mouse button in the box of the team you wish to join.
In terms of ship and planet abilities, all teams are identical.
Assuming everything is working properly (including xhosts) you
will be placed in the game.

.sh 1 "The Display"
.pp
When you start the game, you are given five or six windows.
The big left window is the local view from your ship.
You will see a number of objects in it.
First, your ship will always appear the center of the window.
Other ships will look like yours except that each
team has a different ship design.
On color workstations, each team also has a different color.
The small character (in hex) represents the player number.
Round objects with names on them are planets.
They also are the color of their owning team.
Small dots on the screen are torpedos.
You will come to recognize these after they kill you a few
times.
Enemy torps are a different shape than your team's torps.
Small circles are exploding torps.
Lines between ships are phaser shots.
They are never friendly.

.pp
The large window on the right is a map of the whole galaxy.
Only ships and planets appear on it.
Ships are just a player number (in hex) and team letter.

.pp
Directly below the galaxy window is a small window which
will occasionally contain warning messages like "Not enough
fuel to fire torp."
You will probably be killed shortly after this particular message.

.pp
Below the warning window is a message window.  This window
will be described later.

.pp
The small window on the left side is your status window.  It's
contents will be described later.

.sh 1 "User Interface"
.pp
The mouse is the most important interface.
When ever the game needs a direction, to turn your ship for instance,
it will use the mouse's position relative to your ship, in either large
window.
Torpedos and phasers will be fired toward the mouse's cursor, and
your ship will turn in the direction of the cursor when
appropriate keys are hit.
Commands are issued through the keyboard and mouse
buttons.

.sh 1 "Quick Instructions for Beginning Players"
.pp
Since no normal computer user will want to read the rest
of this document, the following is a quick explanation of
combat.  Try it for awhile, then come back and search the
document for more features.

.sh 2 "Combat"
.pp
To survive in combat, keep moving.  This is done by typing the
number keys, 0-9.  Ships can fly at warp five indefinitely.
Engines will eventually overheat at higher speeds.  Turning
is easier at low speeds.  Particularly good is warp three or
four.  You turn by pointing your mouse in the direction you
wish to go, and typing the rightmost mouse key.  You will
move relative to whatever window you happen to have the mouse
in.  When there is an opponent on the screen with you, you
probably want to start firing torps at him.  Again, point the
mouse where you want the torps to go and push the leftmost
mouse button.  If you get close enough, you might want to
try phasers.  Point the mouse directly at your opponent and
push the middle button.  A line will shoot out and you will
get a report on your damage, if you hit.

.pp
Torpedos that hit each do thirty points of damage to the
target.  Damage first comes off of shields, and when those
reach zero, damage comes directly off the damage stat.  When
your damage hits 100, your ship explodes and your opponent
gets credit for killing you.  You can repair damage by going
into repair mode (type 'R') but it will also leave you a
sitting duck for other players.  When you finish repairing,
use 'u' to put your shields back up.

.pp
Finally, if you get tired of playing, you can quit by typing 
.b Q
and waiting to self-destruct.

.sh 1 "Status Line"
.pp
Now for some of the more technical details.
The status line appears below the local window
and contains the following useful information:

.sh 2 "Flags -- ship status flags"
.pp
Various flags tell the player that about his ship.
.(l
S     -- Shields up
[GYR] -- Alert status
L     -- Locked onto a target
R     -- In Repair mode
B     -- Bombing a planet
O     -- Orbiting a planet
C     -- Cloaked
W     -- Weapons overheated 
E     -- Engines overheated
u     -- Beaming up armies
d     -- Beaming down armies
P     -- Copilot permitted
.)l

.sh 2 "speed - ship's speed"
.pp
This is the speed your ship is currently travelling.
Ships move between warps 0 and 9.

.sh 2 "dam - current damage"
.pp
This is how much damage your ship has taken.
If it gets over 100, you die.
Damage repairs slowly if shields are down, faster if
ship is in repair mode.

.sh 2 "shd - current shields"
.pp
Shields start out at 100 and take damage when they are up.
When they hit 0, damage will come off your damage rating.
They repair faster than real damage.

.sh 2 "torps -- number of torps launched"
.pp
Each player is limited to twelve torps flying at any given
time.
This is a count of the torps you currently have in the air.

.sh 2 "armies -- armies on board"
.pp
This is a count of the number of armies you have on your ship.
Your ship can carry two times the current number of kills.
The maximum number of armies it can carry is ten.

.sh 2 "fuel -- how much fuel you have left"
.pp
Weapons and engines take fuel to run.
This is a count of the amount of fuel left on the ship.
Fuel regenerates slowly in space, but faster when orbiting a planet.

.sh 2 "wtemp -- weapons temperature"
.pp
Using weapons drives up this stat.
If it goes over 100, there is a good chance your weapons will
freeze up for a random amount of time.
The temperature drops over time.

.sh 2 "etemp -- engine temperature"
.pp
Running your engines at speeds over five cause engine temperature
to climb.
Running at less than five causes them to cool.
Over 100, engines can freeze up for a random amount of time.

.sh 1 "The commands"
.pp
These are the various key and button commands in the game.
They are not currently remappable.

.sh 2 "0-9 Ship's speed"
.pp
The numbers zero through nine set your ship's speed.
It takes time for your ship to accelerate or decelerate to the desired
speed.
Damaged ships can't use higher speeds.
When engines freeze, you can't set speed.
Setting speed breaks you out of a planet's orbit.

.sh 2 "k - set course"
.pp
The letter
.b k
or the right mouse button set your course towards the current
mouse position.
Turning towards the desired course can take time, depending on 
your current speed and damage.

.sh 2 "t - launch torpedo"
.pp
The letter
.b t
or the left mouse button launch a torpedo towards the current
mouse position if you have fuel and less than twelve torps
currently out.
Torpedos travel at warp twelve and do thirty points of
damage when they hit someone.
You cannot be hurt by your own torps.
The letter
.b T
launches a burst of three torps.
Torpedos tend to wobble a bit in flight so they won't always
go straight in the direction you want them to.

.sh 2 "p - fire phaser"
.pp
The letter
.b p
and the middle mouse button fire your phasers towards the current
mouse position if you have fuel.
You may only fire phasers once per second.
They cost a good deal of fuel.
If they hit someone, they will do 0-100 points depending on the
range.

.sh 2 "d - detonate other torps"
.pp
This command will detonate other torps near you, doing less
than maximum damage to you.

.sh 2 "D - detonate your own torps"
.pp
This will turn your own torps off (if you've missed)
so that you can fire new ones.

.sh 2 "+ - put shields up"
.pp
This key will put your shields up.
Raised shields will take damage.

.sh 2 "- - put shields down"
.pp
This key will put your shields down.
All damage will go directly to your damage stat.

.sh 2 "u - toggle shields"
.pp
This key will toggle your shields up and down.

.sh 2 "R - repair damage"
.pp
Your ship must be going warp zero to repair.  Hitting this key will
stop your ship and start repairing.  Your shields are down when you
are repairing and you cannot fire weapons.  In a nutshell, you are
a sitting duck.  Putting your shields up or moving is the best
way to get out of repair mode.
If your ship is orbiting a friendly repair planet, damage will repair
at a faster rate.

.sh 2 "o - orbit a planet"
.pp
If you are near a planet and going warp two or less this will
put in orbit around it.
You must be in orbit around a planet to bomb it, beam armies up
or down, or get fuel from it.
Enemy planets will damage you if you get near them.
Setting speed will break out of orbit.

.sh 2 "b - bomb a planet"
.pp
If an enemy planet has more than four armies, you can bomb
them.
With four or less armies, you must beam down armies
to defeat them.
Your shields will go down to bomb, and you will
take damage from the planet.
You get kills for the armies killed.

.sh 2 "z - beam up armies"
.pp
If your planet has more than four armies, you can beam
them to your ship to carry to other planets.
You must be orbiting to beam up armies.

.sh 2 "x - beam down armies"
.pp
This command will beam armies on your ship down to any 
planet you are orbiting.
If it is an enemy planet, you will kill his armies.
If all are killed and you land an army, you take the planet
for your team.

.sh 2 "L - get player list"
.pp
This gives you a quick list of other players.

.sh 2 "P - get planet list"
.pp
This gives you a list of planets.
You get information only on planets which your team
owns or has previously orbited.

.sh 2 "i - info on object"
.pp
This will pop up a window near the mouse cursor which contains
information about the nearest object (planet or ship).

.sh 2 "l - lock onto an object"
.pp
This will lock your ship onto the object nearest the mouse cursor.
If it is a planet, you will automatically go into orbit around it.
If it is another player, your course will constantly be adjusted if
he is moving.
To break the lock, just set course normally.

.sh 2 "C - throw a coup"
.pp
Sometimes players will discover that all their planets have been
taken.  In order to allow some form of return you can hold a coup
on your home planet assuming that the following criterion are met:
.(l
You must control no other planets.
You must have more than one kill.
There must be less than five armies on your home planet.
You must be orbiting your home planet.
.)l
After the coup, the armies on the planet will belong to you.
As they come back you can take over more of your occupied worlds.

.sh 2 "? - repeat all of the previous messages"
.pp
Message sending is detailed below.  This command allows you to
review the current set of them.

.sh 2 "c - cloak your ship"
.pp
This nifty command allows you to remain invisible on the main
window of every player.  This would be nice except that you cannot
fire weapons while cloaked, and your fuel usage goes way up.
Finally good players can shoot at you on the galaxy map window
where you will appear as
.b "??."
Typing 
.b 'c'
again will turn cloaking off.

.sh 2 "@ - allow/disallow copilots"
.pp
This feature allows more than one player to fly a ship.  It will
be discuss near the end of this document.

.sh 2 "S - Toggle visual status window"
.pp
This will turn a visually oriented status window on and off.

.sh 1 "Nitty Gritty Details"
.pp
This section contains the details on certain features.

.sh 2 "Planets and Armies"
.pp
Planets are updated every few minutes.  There is a random chance
that the number of armies will increase.  There is also a random
chance, that there will be a major die-off of armies.  This later
event is more likely on planets with many armies.
Planets with no armies will not spawn new ones.

.pp
Enemy planets do damage based on the number of armies they have.
This means planets with no armies do no damage.  Those with armies
will do (armies / 10) + 2 twice each second.

.pp
At least the team's home planets and randomly, others, will provide
fuel and repair services.  Obviously, this makes these planets
particularly valuable.  These planets are set up when the galaxy
is reset.

.sh 2 "Messages"
.pp
Messages are sent both from the daemon and from other players.
They appear in the message window at the bottom, right side of the display.
To send messages, just put the mouse into the message window.
You must type a character in that represents the recipient of your
message.  This can be 'A' for everyone.  [FRKO] to send to all members
of a given team.  [0-9abcdef] will send a message to an individual
player.  When you've typed this in, it will map to a proper address
and wait for you to type in some text.  When you type in a return,
your message is sent.

.pp
Now obviously, the next question is, "What if someone starts shooting
at me while I'm typing in my message?  Am I hosed?"
Simply move the mouse out of the window to defend yourself.  Messages
are only dealt with if the mouse is in the window.  You can stop
in the middle.

.sh 2 "Robots"
.pp
Robots are an attempt to allow/prevent certain things.  First, we want
beginning players to have some lousy competition so they can get some
practice without simply being targets for better players.  Secondly,
we want to make sure that taking over the galaxy is not a midnight
waltz.

.pp
In order to invite a robot into the game, go into another teams space
and bomb one of
.i their
planets.  A robot will promptly show up and kill you.  Or at least
try to kill you.  The more kills you have, the harder the robot will
try.

.pp
Robots are very much like other players.  The only advantage they
have over other players is that they don't use fuel.  Otherwise,
their torps do the same damage.  They can be somewhat better shots
when they are angry, and they never miss with their phasers.


.sh 2 "Weapons"
.pp
Torpedos move at warp twelve and have a random life of three to nine
seconds.  They tend to wobble a bit, so their accuracy goes down
a bit at longer ranges.  Torps will detonate if they get close to a
ship and do full damage.  They will do less damage to objects at a
slightly longer distance.  Torpedos will not be detonated by another
player on the same team, but they will do damage if something causes
them to explode.

.pp
Phasers must be within about 10 degrees of their target to hit.
Phasers that hit will maintain a line between the two ships.
Ones that miss will stick out to nowhere and look stupid.
All phasers cost a good deal of fuel.  It takes one second
to recharge your phasers for another shot.
Your phasers will affect your own team.

.pp
Ships that explode cause 100 points of damage with about the same
range as a torpedo.  Don't get too near one.

.sh 2 "The Galaxy"
.pp
You will bounce off the edge of the galaxy if you run into it.
Torpedos explode if they hit it.

.sh 2 "Ship's Status"
.pp
Your ship's alert status will tell you how close you are to enemy
ships.  Yellow alert represents about two screens distance.  Red
alert means that the enemy is on your local screen (even if cloaked).

.sh 2 "Xdefaults and options"
.pp
You can put the following options into your .Xdefaults
.(l
xtrek.boldfont:		6x10b
xtrek.font:		6x10
xtrek.name:		DragonSlayer
xtrek.reverseVideo:	off
xtrek.showShields:	on
xtrek.showStats:	on
xtrek.stats.geometry:	+0+655
xtrek.GAlertPattern:	0xf
xtrek.YAlertPattern:	0xa 0x5
xtrek.RAlertPattern:	0x0f 0x0f 0x0f 0x0f 0xf0 0xf0 0xf0 0xf0
xtrek.ralert:		red
xtrek.yalert:		yellow
xtrek.galert:		green
xtrek.border:		blue
xtrek.background:	black
xtrek.text:		yellow
xtrek.fed:		yellow
xtrek.rom:		red
xtrek.kli:		green
xtrek.ori:		slate blue
xtrek.warning:		red
xtrek.unknown:		light grey
xtrek.me:		white
.)l

.sh 3 "Fonts"
.pp
These options allow you to change fonts used in the game.
Our advice: "Don't."

.sh 3 "name"
.pp
This is your playername.

.sh 3 "reversevideo"
.pp
On black and white monitors this can ease eye strain.

.sh 3 "showShields"
.pp
This causes the shields of you and other players to appear
as a circle around your ship when they are up.  This can
be useful, but keep in mind that your shields are really only
half that size.

.sh 3 "showStats"
.pp
This option will put up a visual status window above your display.
Some players find this easier than numbers.  It also seems to
increase the number of X errors somewhat.  The stats.geometry
uses standard X syntax for a screen position.

.sh 3 "Alert Patterns"
.pp
These patterns are useful for showing your current alert status
based on the border pattern.  It is used for black and white
monitors only.
The alert colors are used for color monitors.  I think changing
them would be silly.

.sh 3 "The remaining color definitions"
.pp
These options allow you to set colors on various objects
so you can get much more information from your display.
Obviously, these only matter for color monitors.

.sh 2 "Other programs related to xtrek"
.pp
There are few other programs that come with xtrek that
have some use in the game.  They are described below.

.sh 3 "Copilot"
.pp
This program, started with the command:

.ti 1i
.b "copilot monitor:0 pno"

will allow you to fly a ship with player number pno
if he so permits.  This command is pretty robust.

.sh 3 "scores"
.pp
Xtrek does, in fact keep some statistics around in the
file .scores.  Scores can be used to print this information out.
It obviously should have been built into xtrek itself.

.sh 3 "robot"
.pp
This is the program xtrek uses to send robots into the game.
Robots work but the code needs a rewrite badly, and the current
robots are much to tough for beginning (or even expert) players.
Robots come with gobs of command line options, but you'll have
to look at the code to see what they do.

.sh 3 "watch"
.pp
This was a quick and dirty monitor program that allowed
you to watch a game, switching between players.  It was
never brought up to the current specs and doesn't work.
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