+-------------------------------------+ | Universe Documention | | Part 3A | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | A T-Men & Wareforce Dox File | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | Typed up by | | The Camel Jockey | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | Special Thanx to | | Silicon Warrior | | & | | A.P.G | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | Written for | | | +-------------------------------------+ +---------------+ | Drive Systems | +---------------+ +--------------+ | Drive System | +--------------+ +---------+ | Purpose | +---------+ This section will allow you to ue the sub-light and hyperspace drives to move from star to star, planet to planet, or change your planetary orbit. This section requires that the sub-light navigation program be running to use the sub-light engines, or the hyperspace navigation program be running to use the hyperspace engines. +----------------+ | Implementation | +----------------+ After selection drive system from the flight menu, the computer will display the drive system sub-menu. Select the sub-light drive for planet to planet or orbital transfers, or the hyperdrive for star to star transfers. +------------+ | Hyperdrive | +------------+ The computer will display a list of star names, their coordinates, and a visit flag which displays "Y" if you have visited there before, of "N" otherwise. Use the up and down arrow keys to select the starsystem you wish to visit. Note that you do not need to use the shift key when using the arrow keys. Near the top of the screen is an area for entering coordinates manually. This is used if the distance to your destination is too great for your drive an you must make several jumps. You may enter coordinates here by moving the starsystem pointer up to the amnual entry line (use the up arrow key). After positioning the starsystem pointer, you may then jump to or obtain daya on that system. At the far right hand side of the screen you will see a "visited" indicator that is set to "Y" if you have been to that system before, or an "N" if you have not. If the indicator is set to "Y", you may obtain data on the planets orbiting that star by pressing the option key. The planetary data will include the planet name, the sophistication levels of the drydock and starport (including of course whether or not the planet has a starport drydock), and the type of planet. You may return to the starsystem list by pushing the start key. You may select a star as your destination by pressing the select key. If the starsystem pointer is on the manual entry line, it will first be necessary to enter the proper coordinates. To do this, press the option key and a small cursor will appear after the "X". Enter the X, Y, and Z coordinates, pressing return after each. Then you may press the selection key to select those coordinates as your destination. You will now see the Local Group map as the hyperspace navigation program plots the appropriate coordinates. The source coordinates will be displayed on te left, while the destination is displayed on the right. The distance between the two locations is given at the center of the map, measured in light-years. The amount of energy needed for he jump is displayed at the bottom of the map. To make the jump, push the select key. To abort the jump, push the option key and you will return to the starsystem list. If the computer beeps when you push the select key, the hyperspace navigation program has rejected the jump due to insufficient energy or an illegal jump distance. Once the hyperspace navigation program has accepted a valid jump, the computer will begin calculating, fueling, and sequencing for the jump. Dont be alarmed if you see strange patterns of light on the screen. This is simply sensory distortion due to the hyperspace effect. providing you obeyed the orbital radius minimum for a hyperspace jump, you will find yourself at the destination. If you were too low in the orbit (less than 20,000 kilometers), you will find that you did not move. You may also have damaged your hyperdrive. To return to the drive system menu, you must first have the starsystem list displayed on the screen. Pushing the start key from this point will return you to the drive system menu. +-----------+ | Sub-Light | +-----------+ At the bottom of the screen is the status area. Here is where the computer displays the current scale, coordinates, selected object, and status. Upon entering sub-light drive, you will be in the select scale mode, use the option key to toggle between solar and planetary scales. the select key will activate that scale. The start key will activate that scale. The start key will return you to the drive systems sub-menu. +-------------+ | Solar Scale | +-------------+ If you select the solar scale, the computer will begin by doing a solar scan. This scan will look for all planets and stars for your current location. The star, if present will be displayed at the center of the display area. Planets will appear as dots, and your ship will appear as a dot with a box around it. The computer will switch to the destination select mode. To select your destination, use the option key. One of the dots will begin to blink, indicating the current object. Information on this object can be seen at the bottom of the screen. These objects are always planets, with the exception of the one object which is your ship. The data on the object includes the object name and its coordinates, displayed as rho, phi, and theta respectively. All angles are displayed in degrees. Pressing the option key again will select the next object. Continue pressing the option key again until the destination planet you want is displayed. At this point, press the select key to select the select the current object as your destination, or the start key to return tothe select scale mode. After selecting your destination, the sublight navigation program will make the appropriate computations. At the bottom of the screen you will see the following information: +-------------------------------------+ | Time........Time in minutes needed | | for the transfer | + + | Ore.........The amount of Ore IV | | needed | + + | Energy......The amount of energy | | needed | +-------------------------------------+ Push the select key to begin the transfer, or the start key to abort. If the computer beeps after pressing the slect key, the sub-light navigation program has rejected the transfer. This is due to either insufficient energy, ore, or the number of gravities of thrust needed for the maneuver is too great. During the transfer, time will be speeded up to approximately 500 game minutes per 1 second of real time. After the transfer, you will return to the select scale mode. +-----------------+ | Planetary Scale | +-----------------+ If you select the planetary scale, the computer will begin by doing an orbital scan, then a planetary scan. A polar view of the planet will appear at the center of the display. If your ship is within the range of the orbital beacon for the type of orbital scanner you have, one or more dots will appear, indicating objects in orbit. The computer will switch to the destination select mode and a cursor will apprear in the "rho" coordinate. You are now in the destination select mode, and the computer is waiting for you to enter the coordinates of your destination. The coordinates are as follows: rho, epsilon, theta-epsilon, and theta. To enter the coordinates, simply type in the numbers, entering all angles in degrees. A radius or angle that is too small or large will be rejected. The minimum radius will be 5% greater than the radius of the planet. For example, the minimum orbital radius around Axia would be 6615 kilometers. The maximum radius will be around tem times the radius of the planet. You may hit return for the radius without entering a number if you do not wish to manually enter coordinates. If you have entered coordinates, you may press the select key to select those as your destination. Otherwise, you may press option to display the coordinates of the objects in orbit. You may select an object as a destination by pressing select when the object's data is at the bottom of te screen. Due to the physics of planetary orbits and te limitations of sub-light engines, you will not be able to select a destinatin whose orbital radius is within 500 kilometers of your ships's orbital radius. Objects other than an orbital drydock or your ship appear with the description "HRS#". This is a hi-resolution scanner section and enter the appropriate contact must be within range of the scanner, so you may wish to first transfer to the contact's location. In order for your orbital scanner to pick up other objects in orbit, you must be within range of the orbital scanning beacon. The beacon is a ring of satellites surrounding the planet at an orbital radius equal to five times the radius of the planet. To be within range, the difference between your orbital radius and that of the beacon must be less than the maximum range of your orbital scanner. After selecting a destination, the sublight navigation program will compute the course and resources needed. The following data will be displayed: +-------------------------------------+ | Time........Time in minutes to | | complete the transfer | + + | Ore.........Amount of Ore IV needed | + + | Energy......Amount of energy needed | +-------------------------------------+ If you now press the option key, a "V" will appear at the end of the status line indicating that the transfer will be "visual". This means that you will be able to watch the maneuver on the screen. This will be interesting to watch since the transfer uses real formulas, however it will take considerably longer than a "non-visual" transfer. To select a non-visual transfer, press the option key again. This will turn off the "V" on tthe screen. At this point, you may press select to begin the transfer. After the transfer, you will return to the select scale mode.