715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page i STARS! The Premiere Space Strategy Game PLAYER’S GUIDE http://www.webmap.com/stars! rec.games.computer.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page ii II COPYRIGHT AND CREDITS Design and Programming Jeff McBride and Jeff Johnson Addtional Programming Jeffery Krauss Producer Brian Walker Graphics Eric Chang, Michael Miller, Michael Reichmann, Emblazon Multimedia Music Emil Herceg at Arte Wisdom Sound Effects Mahendra Sampath Intro Minds Eye Documentation Kurt Kremer, Brett Kremer Technical Advice David Pugh Playtesting Bill Bolosky, Dave Buchtal, Kent Cedota, Daniel Chenault, Pau
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page iii CONTENTS Welcome 1-1 GETTING STARTED Single Player Setup 2-1 Playing the Tutorial 2-1 Starting a Single Player Game 2-2 Setting and Viewing Winning Conditions 2-3 Multi-Player Setup 3-1 Setting Up a Single Computer, Multi-Player (Hot Seat) Game 3-1 Setting Up Network-based Multi-Player Games 3-4 Setting Up Modem, FTP, and Play by E-mail Games 3-7 Setting and Viewing Winning Conditions 3-9 Adding Expansion Players 3-10 Being Absent from Play 3-11 F
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 IV 13/7/98 10:49 am Page iv C O NTE NT S Exiting the Game 4-4 Options for Launching Stars! 4-5 Copy Protection 4-7 THE STARS! SCREEN The Stars! Screen 5-1 Screen Layout 5-1 Command Pane 5-2 Messages Pane 5-11 Scanner Pane 5-12 Selection Summary Pane 5-17 PLAYING STARS! Planets 6-1 Your Home World and Other Inhabited Planets 6-1 Population 6-2 Minerals 6-4 Mines 6-5 Factories 6-5 Building Planetary Defenses 6-5 Planet-based Scanners 6-6 Starbases 6-7 Stargates 6-10 Mass D
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page v C ONT EN T S Adding Auto-Build Items to the Queue 7-9 Changing the Order of Planets in the Production Dialog 7-10 Conditions that Affect Production 7-11 Research 8-1 Fields of Study 8-1 Browsing Stars! Technology 8-2 Allocating Resources for Research 8-4 Cost of Research 8-5 Ship and Starbase Design 9-1 How to Approach Hull Design 9-1 Designing a New Hull from Scratch 9-2 Editing an Existing Hull Design 9-3 Deleting an Existing Hull Design 9-5 Counti
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 VI 13/7/98 10:49 am Page vi C ONT E NT S Navigation 11-1 Adding Fleet Waypoints and Tasks 11-1 Notes and Tips on Waypoints and the Scanner 11-2 Deleting Fleet Waypoints 11-3 Stargate Navigation 11-3 Wormhole Navigation 11-5 Colonization 12-1 Choosing Planets to Colonize 12-1 Colonizing an Uninhabited Planet 12-2 Shuttling Colonists with Freighters 12-3 Hey, that Planet’s Already Inhabited! 12-4 Mining 13-1 Mining Colonized Worlds 13-1 Calculating the Rate of Decrease in Mi
15 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page vii CO N TENT S Battle Plans 15-11 Battle Report 15-16 Viewing Opponent Fleets in the Summary Pane 15-17 Viewing Enemy Ship Designs 15-17 Fleet Report on Enemies and Other Players 15-18 Patrolling 16-1 Assigning Patrol Orders 16-1 Patrol Targets Enemies Only 16-2 Patrol and Battle Plans 16-3 Scanning and Cloaking 17-1 Scanner Technology 17-1 Selecting Fleets in the Scanner Pane 17-2 Scanning Planets 17-3 Cloaking, or Hiding From Opponents’ Scanners 17-
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 VIII 13/7/98 10:49 am Page viii C O NT EN TS RACE CREATION Designing Custom Races 20-1 Opening the Wizard 20-1 Advantage Points 20-1 Step 1: Basic Race Definition 20-2 Step 2: Primary Trait 20-3 Step 3: Lesser Traits 20-11 Step 4: Population Growth Factors 20-13 Step 5: Population Efficiency 20-16 Step 6: Research Costs 20-17 Finish 20-17 Predefined Races 21-1 Alternate Reality Races 22-1 THE GUTS OF STARS! The Guts of Combat 23-1 About the Battle Board 23-1 Armor, Shield
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page ix CO N TENT S Damage and Recovery Formulas and Calculation 25-2 The Guts of Mine Fields 26-1 Types of Mines 26-1 Detecting Mine Fields 26-2 Ship Cloak Effectiveness and Mine Fields 26-2 Race Traits and Mine Fields 26-2 BACK OF THE BOOK Keyboard Shortcuts A-1 Technology Tables B-1 Armor B-2 Beam Weapons B-3 Bombs B-4 Electrical B-5 Engines B-6 Hulls B-7 Mechanical B-8 Mines B-8 Mining B-9 Orbital B-9 Planetary B-10 Scanners B-11 Shields B-11 Starbase
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page xi INTRODUCTION Some leaders are forged in battle. Others prefer formal training with less bloodshed. With Stars!, your training ground is the tutorial. Use it, and you’ll massively reduce the chances of getting your butt kicked early by the computer or other more experienced players. The ancient races responsible for the formation of the Stars! universe didn’t play the tutorial. Read what happened to them.
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page xiii WELCOME TO THE STARS! UNIVERSE IT’S A RELATIVELY SMALL UNIVERSE, AFTER ALL Somewhere out on the edge of the Universe, two great races (the Sznip, a race of crustaceans, and the Fermis, a race of nuclear plasmatoids) have destroyed themselves and the chance for all remaining sentient races to evolve and expand into (nearly) infinite space.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 1-2 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 IN TR O DUC TI O N It’s the 2400th year of the Planetary Era. Your world is resource rich and bustling with technological development. Your political leaders are giddy and, with much fanfare, have just declared this as the first year of the Galactic Era. Your people are looking for a real leader.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 WELCO ME To contact us with your ideas and reactions, send e-mail to stars@webmap.com. To learn more about the Stars! universe outside your computer, visit our official Web site, Waypoint Zero, at www.webmap.com/stars!, and our publisher’s handsome Web site at www.empire.co.uk. To trade information and converse with other Stars! players, visit the Stars! Usenet news group, rec.games.computer.stars.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 1-4 IN T RO DU CT I ON 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 GETTING STARTED Welcome to Universe University—a short course in creating the universe, hosting games, and operating Stars! within the confines of your computer . Here are the administrative nuts and bolts every leader needs to know. Stay awake. You’ll probably use only 10% of what you learn here, but you never know which 10% it’s going to be.
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 2 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 SINGLE PLAYER SETUP PLAYING THE TUTORIAL Stars! contains an intelligent, online tutorial that, in the course of one short (and very real) game, introduces you to a variety of basic strategies and familiarizes you with all the player tools. If you’ve never played Stars! before, we highly recommend that you play the tutorial first. The current instruction is always highlighted.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 2-2 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 GE T TI N G S TAR T ED ¯ To start the tutorial where you left off, or to start over, click on New Game and Begin Tutorial, or use the Help (Tutorial ) menu item. STARTING A SINGLE PLAYER GAME Like we said, if you’ve never played Stars! or a game like Stars! before, we recommend that you play the tutorial before you strike out on your own. To start a new single player game: 1.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 SI NG LE PLAY ER SET U P 2-3 SETTING AND VIEWING WINNING CONDITIONS You can specify one or more winning conditions in step 3 of the Advanced New Game wizard. You can also accept the default conditions provided by Stars!. To view the winning conditions once the game has begun, choose the View (Race) menu item, then turn to page 3 of the View Game Parameters dialog that appears.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 2-4 13/7/98 10:49 am GE T T IN G S TAR T ED Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 MULTI-PLAYER SETUP SETTING UP A SINGLE COMPUTER, MULTI-PLAYER (HOT SEAT) GAME In a multi-player game, designate one person as the host. This person is in charge of generating turns and generally administering the game. A player can also act as host. What the Host Needs to Do (Hot Seat Play) Before you begin setup, have your players design their races and give you the race files for loading into the game.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-2 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 GE T TI N G S TAR T ED Player #1’s file is gamename.m1 (for example, redstar.m1). 4. Tell each player their number. They’ll need it to open the correct file at the start of their turn. 5. You’ll be prompted for a game name. Enter any name up to eight characters long (don’t worry about typing an extension). Stars! creates a set of files containing data for that game and each player in the game. You can save the game wherever you wish.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 M ULTI - PLAYER SET U P 3-3 ¯ To restart the host, start Stars!, click on Open Game, and choose the gamename.hst file. What Each Player Needs to Do (Hot Seat Play) If you’ve never played Stars! or a game like Stars! before, we recommend that you play the tutorial before you strike out on your own. That said: ¯ (Optional) Before the host creates a game, use Stars! Custom Race wizard to create a customized race, then give the race file to the host.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-4 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 GE TTI N G S TAR T ED If you wish, you can exit the game before or after you finish the turn. You can save your changes or start the turn again if you don’t like the way things are going. Read Exiting the Game on page 4-4 for more information. If you plan to be absent for two or more turns, follow the instructions in Being Absent from Play on page 3-10.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 MULT I - PLAYER SETU P Player #1’s file is gamename.m1 (for example, redstar.m1). The order of players listed in Step 2 of the Advanced New Game dialog becomes part of the turn filename for each player. 4. Tell each player their number. They’ll need it to open the correct turn file. 5. You’ll be prompted for a game name. Enter any name up to eight characters long (don’t worry about typing an extension).
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-6 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 GE T TI N G S TAR TED What Each Player Needs to Do (Network Play) If you’ve never played Stars! or a game like Stars! before, we recommend that you play the tutorial before you strike out on your own. That said: ¯ (Optional) Before the host creates a game, use Stars! Custom Race wizard to create a customized race, then give the race file to the host. Open the Custom Race wizard using the File (Custom Race wizard ) menu item.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 MULT I - PLAY ER SETU P 3-7 SETTING UP MODEM, FTP, AND PLAY BY E-MAIL GAMES All multi-player games need one person to act as the host. This person is in charge of generating turns and generally administering the game. A player can also host a game. What the Host Needs to Do (Modem/FTP/E-mail Play) Stars is turn-based, not real-time. This means modems can be used to transfer turn files once they are generated.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-8 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 8 GE T TI N G S TAR T ED 4. The Stars! Host dialog appears. Click on Close to stop the game until all players have submitted their turns. If you’d like to leave Stars! running, click on Auto Generate. 5. Before the first turn each player needs to download the universe file, gamename.xy, and their player file, gamename.mN (where N is the player number), for the newly created game. Alternately, you can upload or emailgamename.xy and gamename.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 9 MULT I - PLAY ER SET U P 1. Obtain the gamename.xy and gamename.mN files from your host, where gamename is the name entered by the host in the File Save dialog and N is your player number; for example, nonstop.m1. Place these files in a playing directory you’ve created on your own system. Use the same directory for each turn. You can create a unique play directory for each game, or put all games into one directory.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-10 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 10 G ET T ING STAR T ED Because you can control the variety and combination of winning conditions, more than one player can be declared the winner. All players are notified in a message when someone wins. You can continue to play past this point, or end the game. Track the score using Reports (Score) menu item (or by pressing F10). The Score sheet shows your score and current ranking, and a history of scores since the game began.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 11 MU LT I - PLAY ER SET U P When the player joins, right click in the Host dialog on the diamond next to their name and change the type to Human Controlled. Then, give the latecomer a break by asking the other players to leave them alone for N years. BEING ABSENT FROM PLAY When you miss a turn, Stars! will continue to follow your existing orders.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-12 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 12 G ETT IN G STAR T ED FINDING MULTI-PLAYER GAMES ON THE INTERNET If you want to join a multi-player game, or start your own, but can’t find other players, visit the Stars! Web site, Waypoint Zero, at www.webmap.com/stars! . Read the web pages on Player Resources for a list of host sites (growing weekly) and other host and player information.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 13 MU LTI - PLAYER SET U P CREATING A UNIVERSE FROM THE COMMAND LINE For experienced hosts only Use the following command to create a new game/universe without using Stars! setup dialogs: stars!.exe -a game.def game.def has the following format: Game Name Universe Size (0-4) Density (0-3) Starting Distance (0-3) Maximum Minerals (0/1) Slow Tech (0/1) BBS Play (0/1) ....
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 3-14 13/7/98 10:49 am G ET TIN G STAR T ED Page 14
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 4 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 15 THINGS EVERY STARS! PLAYER SHOULD KNOW TUNING STARS! TO YOUR DISPLAY RESOLUTION The higher your screen resolution, the better Stars! will look. However, it will run on any color VGA display. 1024 by 768 (or better) For maximum playing pleasure. ¯ Use this menu command: View (Window Layout > Large ). ¯ If you use large fonts, you may need to specify View (Window Layout > Medium). 800 by 600 This is the minimum recommended resolution. 1.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 4-2 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 GE T TI N G S TAR T ED 640 by 480 (VGA) This is the minimum required resolution. 1. Use this menu command: View (Window Layout > Small ). 2. Resize each of the windows to optimize the information you need to see at a glance. 3. Collapse tiles in the Command pane, expanding them when needed. 4. If the screen still seems too cramped try hiding the Toolbar using the menu item View (Toolbar).
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 T H IN GS EVERY PLAYER SH O ULD K N OW automatically. Each time you generate a turn, the old data in the Backup directory is overwritten with the previous turn’s data. Saving the Current State of Your Game Use the File (Save) menu item to save the current state of your game. This is useful if you need to exit the game before you finish your turn. When you restart Stars! just click on Continue Game to resume where you left off.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 4-4 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 GE T TI NG S TAR T ED If you close the game before saving you’ll be asked if you wish to save and submit your turn before exiting. EXITING THE GAME Select File (Exit) or File (Close). If you’ve made changes since the beginning of the turn, Stars! will prompt you to save or, if you’re in a multi-player game, to save and submit your turn.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 T H IN GS EV ERY PLAYER SH OULD K N OW 4-5 OPTIONS FOR LAUNCHING STARS! Stars! can be launched from a DOS or Windows command line, using the Stars! command only or with a variety of options. When using an option, you must also supply either a player or host file name as an argument. You can also supply only the player or host file name without any other options.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 4-6 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 GE T TI N G S TAR T ED Examples stars! Filename Load a player or host file, starting the game without loading the splash screen. stars! -w gamename.hst Load the host file and enter Auto Generate mode. stars! -w gamename.mN Load the specified player file and wait for the host to generate a new turn. stars! -t gamename.mN Load the specified player file; quit if the host has not yet generated a new turn. stars! -g gamename.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 TH IN GS EVER Y PLAY ER SH O ULD KN O W If you have Windows for Workgroups installed (Windows 3.11) you may want ato use the win /n option: win /n c:\games\stars!\stars!.exe -x -b c:\games\stars!\gamelist.txt This will prevent Windows from loading any of its network drivers and suppress its login prompt. If you only need to generate a turn for a single game you can still use the -g gamename.hst parameter with or without -x (use -x with Windows 3.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 4-8 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 8 GE T TI NG S TAR T ED In every case, Stars! will give you a chance to enter a unique serial number and continue play normally. How the Copy Protection Works Stars! is played by submitting player log files to the host (either a human or the game itself). Each log file is tagged with the serial number for the copy of Stars! used to generate the file, and a fingerprint of the computer on which the game was installed.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 9 THE STARS! SCREEN You can’t manage an empire with a stick and whistle.
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 11 THE STARS!-SCREEN The Stars! playing screen is divided into four panes: Command Scanner This is where you give detailed orders to your fleets and planets. Collapsible tiles display data and controls for the planet or fleet under your command. This is your view of the universe. Use the scanner toolbar to select filters and overlays. Manipulate fleet routes and track opponents who ignore your ‘no trespassing’ signs.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-2 T HE STAR S ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 SCR EEN COMMAND PANE The Command pane is where you give orders to a planet or fleet that you own. Select one of your planets to command and controls for giving orders to that planet appear on tiles. Select one of your fleets to command and controls for giving orders to that fleet appear. Moving and Collapsing Tiles You can individually move and collapse the command pane tiles.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-3 Status tile This tile displays planetary population, scanner and defense statistics. Resources/Year – The tile displays the number of resources, or units of work, available for use by the planet out of the total number of resources generated by the planet annually. The difference, if any, is the number allocated to research. Left-click on items in the tile for more information.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-4 T HE STAR S ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 SCR EEN Production tile This tile displays the planet’s production queue. Colors in the queue show completion status: Green: Blue: Black: Red: Gray: all will be completed this turn at least one will be completed this turn at least one more turn before even one is finished mineral concentration is so low that the time to completion exceeds 100 years will be skipped this year Auto build items display in italics.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-5 Fuel and Cargo tile Fuel — The Fuel gauge shows the current and maximum fuel level of the fleet under command. Cargo — The Cargo gauge shows the amounts of cargo loaded and the total capacity of the fleet. Left-click in the cargo gauge to transfer or jettison cargo, or pick up available salvage. Small screen layout: click in the Cargo gauge to see the cargo list.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-6 THE STAR S ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 SC R EEN Fleet Waypoints tile The Fleet Waypoints tile lists all the waypoints assigned the fleet under command. The first waypoint listed is the current location. If the fleet are in transit between waypoints, the location is given as coordinates in deep space. Right-click on the blue diamond to display a list of items at the same location as the selected waypoint. Select an alternate item to change the exact waypoint target.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-7 Transport tasks Use this task to load or unload minerals, fuel or colonists. The middle dropdown lists methods of loading and unloading. When you assign a load/unload action, the cargo name turns from black to green. Some load/unload actions allow you to specify exact amounts. Zip Orders: To quickly load fuel, minerals and colonists, right-click on the blue diamond and choose a pre-defined order from the list.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-8 T HE STAR S ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 8 SCR EEN Colonize Use this task to transport colonists to an unpopulated planet. The fleet must contain a ship with a colonization module, and must be loaded with colonists. Once the colony is established you can use freighters to transport additional colonists. Remote Mining Use this task to mine an uninhabited planet. The fleet must have robot miners.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 9 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-9 Lay Mine Fields Use this task to lay mines at the waypoint. Fleets given this task must have mine layers. The tile notes how many mines the fleet will lay for each year it performs the task. Patrol Use this task to intercept incoming enemy fleets. Set the detection range to specify how far away the patrol ship will look for interlopers.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-10 T HE STA RS ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 10 SC R EE N Bringing a Fleet or Planet into the Command pane Stars! provides more than one way to command a planet or fleet. Use the method that suits your needs. To command the planet you are orbiting, click on Goto in the Location tile. (The planet must already belong to you.) From the Command pane, you can select one of your fleets in the same location using the Fleets in Orbit tile.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 11 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-11 MESSAGES PANE Each year you receive reports about conditions in the universe and the progress of your empire. As your empire expands, you’ll find that some types of messages become routine and distracting, and can be filtered.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-12 T HE STA RS ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 12 SC R EE N Mail Form Scanner Status bar SCANNER PANE The Scanner pane is your window on the universe. All players see the same map but not the same details.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 13 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-13 Surface Minerals This view displays the quantity of minerals under the surface at each planet you own or have scanned. The mineral colors and scale matches the display in the Summary pane’s mineral content graph. Rescaling that graph rescales the bars in this view. Mineral Concentration This view displays the concentration of minerals under the surface at each planet you own or have scanned.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-14 T HE STA RS ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 14 SC R EE N No Player Information This view hides all traces of planet ownership. Just a thousand dim points of light. Add Waypoints Mode You can add waypoints for the fleet under command using just the mouse. This mode is primarily for beginning players, or anyone who wants to eat and play at the same time.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 15 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-15 Planet Names overlay This overlay displays planet names in the scanner. If the names are too crowded, increase the scanner zoom factor to place more distance between planets. If Player Colors is activated, planet names appear in the color assigned to that player. Your planet names always appear in white. Ship Count overlay This overlay displays the number of ships at a location.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-16 THE STAR S ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 16 SC REE N Status Bar Planets ID#, coordinates and name of planet selected in the Scanner Fleets, Mineral Packets and Wormholes Coordinates and name of selected fleet or other object Planet or fleet in Command pane When you select a fleet orbiting a planet, only the planet’s information is displayed in the status bar.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 17 THE STARS! SCREEN 5-17 SELECTION SUMMARY PANE The selection summary pane displays what you know about an object you select in the scanner. Planet Summary The planet summary displays information only for planets you’ve visited or scanned. Habitability Value Bright yellow indicates other objects at this location. Leftclick to scroll through their summaries. Right-click to select Starbase in orbit. Left-click to see design details.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 5-18 T HE STA RS ! 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 18 SC R EE N Fleet Summary The more significant type of ship in the fleet. Left-click to see other ship types. Right-click to see hull designs. A plus sign represents a ship type not shown. If you scan opponents with a Robber Baron or Pick Pocket scanner, you also see fuel and cargo levels Left-click here to display the race name and player number.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 19 PLAYING STARS! The essence of Stars! is resource management. To win, learn what it takes to smoothly and effectively grow and manage your empire’s industrial infrastructure. Learn when to colonize, when to move people and other resources so that your empire becomes stronger and more balanced with each passing year. Learn how to make resource management more expensive for your opponents than it is for you.
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 21 PLANETS Planets are the gold nuggets of the Stars! universe: everybody wants them, and hardly anyone wants to share. ‘Green’worlds give your people a place to grow, learn and produce.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-2 PLAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 ! world, whether it belongs to a computer-generated AI or a human, starts out with these same items. When you colonize another planet, you can build these and other items as your resources and knowledge of technology allow. All planets contain minerals. All home worlds start with the same surface mineral content — adjusted to even out any advantages or disadvantages provided by racial attributes.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 PLAN ETS with the optimal value of 100% may fully support 1,000,000 people. A planet with a value of 50% can support only 500,000 people. A planet with a value of -9% will kill 0.9% of the colonists on that planet each year. All planets with a positive value of less than 5% are treated as 5% planets in determining the maximum supportable population. Growth Rate The habitability value also determines your population’s annual growth rate.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-4 PLAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 ! Killer Planets Planets with negative habitability values kill colonists. The annual death rate is calculated as: Habitability Value / 10 of the colonists on the planet each year For example, a planet with a habitability value of -10% inhabited by 2000 colonists will kill 1% or 20 colonists per year.
5 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 PLAN ET S The mineral concentration on your home, or starting world never drops below 30. This world always retains this advantage, regardless of who occupies it during the course of play. MINES Mines extract minerals from the planet. As you mine, you decrease the concentration of minerals under the surface, adding them to the supply on the surface and making them available for immediate use.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-6 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 ! Whether you build defenses in a multi-player game depends on how much you can trust other players to leave your worlds in peace (there’s room enough for all in the Stars! universe—isn’t there?) While you can build as many defenses as you wish, you can only operate as many as your population has resources to handle.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 PLAN ET S 6-7 A planet’s scanner type and range appear in the Status tile. Planet-based scanners are useful for detecting opponent’s fleets that pass near or enter your empire. Only fleets that are cloaked have a chance of escaping detection. You can reduce the chances of fleets sneaking past if you place scanners on all your planets. When you select an enemy fleet, the scanner will also show the estimated path of the fleet.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-8 PLAY I NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 8 ! Your starbase is your primary defense against bombing and invasion by enemy fleets. Your planet can not be bombed or invaded as long as your starbase still exists. Defend it well. In the Scanner pane, a starbase appears as a yellow dot in orbit if a spacedock is present or blue dot, if no space dock is present. The Starbase tile describes a starbase belonging to the planet you’re commanding.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 9 PLAN ETS 6-9 Upgrading a Starbase You can upgrade a starbase by changing the hull or by adding or changing items in the hull slots. You receive full credit for the existing installation, paying only the difference between the old and new hulls. The upgrade appears in the production inventory, ready for you to add to the production queue when you wish.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-10 P LAY I NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 10 ! 7. Keep adding upgrades for each planet until you’ve upgraded all your starbases. 8. Close the Production dialog and the report. STARGATES Stargates are starbase installations that provide cargo-less ships with fuel-free, single year transport between your planets. This is the optimum way to move scouts and warships when you’re in a hurry, or any other ship that isn’t carrying anything but Fuel.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 11 PLANET S 6-11 MASS DRIVER BASICS Mass drivers provide a fuel-free method of transporting mineral cargo packets between planets, and, secondarily, can act as an effective long range weapon. Mineral packets are bundles of ironium, germanium and boranium. Mass drivers fling mineral packets at high rates of acceleration. This prevents you from flinging Fuel, which would explode, or colonists, who would, well, also explode.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-12 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 12 ! Building and Flinging Packets Mineral packets are built and flung as a function of the Production queue. The Production inventory will list a packet for each mineral and a mixed packet that contains all three minerals. When you click on a packet type in the inventory the numbers below the inventory show how many kT of each mineral the packet contains.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 13 PLAN ETS 6-13 You may fling packets at speeds up to three Warp levels above the rated speed. Packets flung above the rated speed become unstable, decaying at 10% per year for one warp level above the rated speed, 20% for two warp levels, and 50% for three warp levels. Packets decay in the year they are launched and in the year they arrive at a planet proportional to the distance they travel in those years.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-14 P LAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 14 ! than the driver’s nominal rating; and 2) packets flung at a speed higher than the recommended maximum from dual drive starbases decay as if they were flung at one warp speed lower. Packets as Weapons Packets flung at planets with a lesser mass driver or no mass driver damage the planet and kill inhabitants. A warp 13 mineral packet is about as close as Stars! comes to a doomsday weapon.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 15 PLAN ETS Habitable range Left-click to see the exact range Original Current value Best value possible applying current terraforming technology You don’t have to worry about the order in which the different factors are terraformed. The terraforming task that appears in the production dialog always works on the factor that is the furthest out of range.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-16 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 16 ! Terraforming tasks can use only the terraforming technology you possess. So, if you have only Radiation and Temperature Terraforming, you can modify only radiation and temperature levels, but not gravity. The terraforming will automatically act first on the environmental attribute which when modified will most improve the planet’s habitability.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 17 PLAN ET S 6-17 Max Terraforming changes any environmental attributes that you have the technology to change, up to the percentage you specify in the task. As each terraforming task completes, an environmental factor is improved by 1%. Terraforming as a Default Action You implement default terraforming by defining a default production template that includes auto-build terraforming tasks. This is done through the production dialog. 1.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-18 P LAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 18 ! 5. Click on Import to copy in the auto-build items from the production queue, then OK both the Customize… and Production dialogs. That’s it. The default production orders will take affect on every planet taken over or newly colonized. It does not affect any planets where colonists have already landed. Adding Terraforming to the Queue Manually 1.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 19 PLAN ET S 6-19 Types of Terraforming Technology Each of a planet’s three environmental factors has a matching type of terraforming technology: Temperature Terraforming, Gravity Terraforming, and Radiation Terraforming. Each requires a different combination of research: • Temperature terraforming requires research into Biotechnology and Energy. • Gravity terraforming requires research into Biotechnology and Propulsion.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-20 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 20 ! of just 15% normally. Terraforming requires research into only Biotechnology, instead of Biotechnology and three different additional fields. Claim Adjusters and Automatic Terraforming of Colonies Races based on the Claim Adjuster trait automatically terraform new colonies upon landing.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 21 PLAN ET S attack could turn into a shoving match if they begin terraforming operations of their own. Terraforming from orbit happens automatically as soon as your fleet arrives. Just set the destination planet as the fleet waypoint. No waypoint task is necessary. PLANET REPORTS The Planet Report displays the same information displayed by the Command pane, but for all your planets.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 6-22 P LAY I NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 22 ! Production – the item at the top that planet’s production queue. Click to access the queue. Mine – Number of mines in existence. Click for details. Fact – Number of factories in existence. Click for details. Defense – Type of planetary defenses. Minerals – Number in kT of each type of Mineral on the planet surface. Click on each number for details about that mineral. Mining Rate – Mining rate of each mineral in kT/year.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 23 PRODUCTION In Stars! you produce ships, mines, factories and defenses, and assign tasks, such as terraforming. The Production dialog lists all the things you can build or tasks you can perform on a specific planet, commands that allow you to add these items to the queue, information showing how much each item will cost and when or if it will be completed given your available resources.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7-2 PLAY I NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 ! The production inventory lists all the things you know how to build or tasks you can currently perform on that planet. Inventory of everything the planet can build. Like items are displayed in the same color. Amount of each mineral and number of resources required to produce one of whatever is selected in the inventory.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 PR O DUC TI O N Add an Item to the Middle of the Queue 1. Click on the item in the queue under which you want the new item to appear. 2. Click on an item in the inventory list, then click the Add button, or double click on the item in the inventory list. Add an Item to the Bottom of the Queue ¯ Click on the last item in the queue, then on an item in the inventory list. Then click the Add button, or double click on the item in the inventory list.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7-4 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 ! You apply templates by simply selecting the template name instead of manually adding the items to the production queue. When you apply a template, all auto-build items currently in the queue are replaced with the list of items in the template.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 PR ODU CT I O N 7-5 You want constant progress on improving the planet’s productivity. This is what fledgling colonies spend most of their time doing. Defenses (AB) Up to 2 If the planet is doing well enough to complete all those mines and factories you can afford to work on defenses a bit to keep from falling way behind. Fledgling colonies don’t make it this far.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7-6 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 ! When Contribute Only Leftover... is checked the custom template will include the label Don’t Contribute to Research (until production is complete). Otherwise the template reads Contribute to Research (before production begins). 3. Right-click on the blue diamond and select . 4. Select default or one of the three other template choices. 5. Click on Import . 6. Type in a name for the template and OK the name dialog.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 PR O DU CT I ON 7-7 Editing a Template 1. Repeat steps 1 & 2 above. 2. Right-click on the blue diamond and select . 3. Select the template to be edited. 4. Click on Import. 5. Type in a new name for the template if you wish and OK the name dialog. 6. Click on OK. The edited template is now ready to apply. Renaming or Deleting a Template 1. In the Production dialog, right-click on the blue diamond and select . 2.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7-8 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 8 ! If your planet’s mineral concentration runs so low that the time to completion exceeds 100 years, the item name turns red. This means it will practically never be completed unless you do something about it. You have two choices: transport minerals from other planets or use mineral alchemy (or use a combination of the two).
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 9 PR O DU C TI O N ADDING AUTO-BUILD ITEMS TO THE QUEUE Auto-build items are always in italic, but appear differently in the production inventory and queue. When they’re in the inventory, they are labeled as Auto-build. When you add them to the queue, they are labeled - up to ; for example, Factories Up to 50. The latter number indicates that the queue will attempt to produce the stated number of that item every year.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7-10 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 10 ! There are, however, differences between the behavior of auto-build items and others in the queue: • Auto-build items do not block the queue. If they cannot be performed, they are skipped over. • Auto-build items are never automatically removed from the queue. They remain there until manually removed and activate only when necessary and possible. • You never make progress on auto-build items.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 11 P RO D U CT IO N 7-11 CONDITIONS THAT AFFECT PRODUCTION Page 5 of the View Race dialog tells you if you excel at building and operating factories and mines, as well as how many resources N colonists will generate each year (not counting the resources created by factories). The more each of the following conditions are true, the more your race will excel at production: • One resource is generated each year for every seven colonists.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 7-12 P LAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 12 ! Disaster Strikes Planet X! When comets or other naturally occurring blunt instruments crash into inhabited planets, the planet’s production queue is reset. All work in progress is lost, including the resources spent on that work. It’s not all bad. Usually a cosmic barrage brings extra minerals that you can apply immediately to production.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 8 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 13 RESEARCH You can’t go from rubber band drives to ramscoops or from binoculars to 520X planetary scanners without applying mental elbow grease. This means research. Fortunately, to conduct research in Stars!, you need to know nothing of physics or animal husbandry, biomechanics or elastic waistbands. You only need to know which general areas of technology you wish to research and how many resources you wish to allocate to that research.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 8-2 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 ! cost of that item is reduced by 5%. You can eventually reduce the production costs for many items by 75%. This is also referred to as miniaturization. The type of research needed to gain a technology depends on the function of that technology. For example, most ship hulls require Construction research only.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 R ESEAR CH 8-3 To find an item quickly, select a technology category from the dropdown list Resource cost and weight Technical Warnings and notes about availability and race trait requirements Select to show only technologies you can currently build Cost appears when you haven’t completely researched the technology required to build the item.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 8-4 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 ! ALLOCATING RESOURCES FOR RESEARCH How Production Affects Research For research, you receive all resources from planets with nothing in the production queue and with auto-build turned off. You also receive all unspent resources from planets with queues blocked by lack of minerals.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 R ESEAR CH 8-5 To get your best estimate of how long research will take, look at both the current time estimate and the number of resources allocated the previous year (also shown in the Research dialog). Each turn, check how much the estimate changes as a result of changing conditions in your empire. To get a more accurate estimate, assign or change your research allocation as the last task of your turn.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 8-6 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 ! costs encourage you to develop a few initial technologies quickly and take them out into the universe. Generalized Research trait Research can be cheaper for some races than others. To learn how efficient your race is at performing research, choose the View (Race) menu item, then turn to page 6 of the View Race dialog.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 9 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 SHIP AND STARBASE DESIGN Use the Ship and Starbase Designer to create, edit and delete new ship and starbase designs. Once you create a new ship design you can add it to the production queue of any of your planets that has a starbase with a space dock. You don’t need a starbase to build a starbase. If your colony has the resources and minerals, just add the starbase to the queue.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 9-2 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 2 ! Spend time in the Technology Browser learning about the ship technology you think you’ll want to research. Take ship design into account when you plan your research strategies. If possible, design new ships only when you gain the technology you need to make a significant advance over older designs. DESIGNING A NEW HULL FROM SCRATCH Hull schematics show the type and number of components a hull is designed to hold.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 3 SHI P AN D STAR B ASE DES IGN 9-3 4. Attach components to the hull by dragging them from the list of ship components to a compatible tile on the ship schematic. Tip: Hold down the CTRL key to drag as many items as the slot can hold, or the SHIFT key to drag four parts at a time. The cost, mass, fuel capacity, shield and armor strengths, and other ship statistics are shown in the lower-right corner of the Designer.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 9-4 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 4 ! Select an existing design. 3. Click on Copy Selected Design. If the Copy Selected Design button is shadowed, you have reached the maximum of 16 concurrent ship designs. You must delete an existing design before you can design a new ship. If the Edit Selected Design button is shadowed, there are existing ships based on this design. Only designs for which no ships exist may be edited. 4.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 5 SHI P AN D STAR B ASE DES IG N ¯ To rename the design (creating a new design), click in the name field and type in a new name. Then click on OK. DELETING AN EXISTING HULL DESIGN If you delete an existing design, all ships that use that design are destroyed, and their minerals are lost to the cosmos. If you wish to retrieve some of the minerals used in the ship, scrap all the ships using that design, then delete the design.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 9-6 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 6 ! Example 3: If the ships of the type you wish to delete use any weapons, use them in a large battle as distracting cannon fodder, possibly keeping your more advanced ships safer a little longer. COUNTING THE NUMBER OF HULL DESIGNS To learn the total number of designs you’ve created: 1. In the Ship and Starbase Designer, select Existing Designs. 2. Click on the dropdown menu and count the number of designs.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 7 SHI P AN D STAR B ASE DES IG N Although Stars! will let you know if you’ve reached the maximum number of designs when you try to create a new design, you’re better off keeping track of the number yourself. If you’ve reached the design limit of 16 and wish to create a new design, you’ll have to delete an existing design first. To delete a design, use the Ship and Starbase Designer.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 9-8 PLAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 8 ! ADDING CLOAKING DEVICES A cloaking device reduces the range at which your opponents’ scanners can detect your fleets. There are several different types of cloaks, each reducing opponents’ scanner range by a specific percentage. The higher the percentage, the more the range is reduced. Cloaks on a ship can all be the same strength or of different strengths.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 13/7/98 10:49 am Page 9 SHI P AN D STAR B ASE DES IG N 9-9 Overthrusters Overthrusters give you an advantage in battle and help compensate for any movement penalties caused by hull and cargo mass. One Overthruster gives the ship one extra half square of movement per round of battle, with each additional Overthruster providing an additional half-square. Overthrusters and Maneuvering Jets are described further in the Mechanical section of the Technology Browser.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 1 9-10 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:49 am ! Page 10
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 1 MANAGING FLEETS A fleet is a distinct group of one or more ships, and can be any mix of ship types. Fleets can be created, merged, and split at any point in the game. You design the ship types, add them to production queues, create fleets, then assign waypoints and tasks. Fleets can be used for exploration, defense and offense, colonizing, remote mining, and transporting minerals and people.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10-2 PLAY I NG STARS 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 2 ! starbase or the fleet has Scrap Fleet or Colonize orders, or includes a hull with a colony pod, the fleet travels at the maximum possible speed for its engine and fuel supply. Maximum Speed All engines have an absolute maximum speed, a maximum safe speed, a maximum free speed and an optimum speed. The absolute maximum speed for all engines is warp 10. The maximum safe speed for most ships is warp 9.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 3 M ANAG IN G FLEETS Travel Warp 1 without Using Fuel Any ship can travel Warp 1 without using fuel. This means you travel 1 light year per year of play. You also generate tiny amounts of fuel at Warp 1, and may be able to put on small bursts of speed. This really is helpful only if you’re close to your destination, almost out of fuel, and don’t want to bother sending a rescue ship.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10-4 PLAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 4 ! If you are looking for a fleet with a specific composition: 1. Select the Scanner pane’s Ship Design Filter. 2. Select the ship type from the pop-up list. Only fleets that contain that type of ship will appear in the Scanner. 3. Double-click on the fleets now shown in the Scanner. If more than one fleet is at a location, continue to click. As you click, the fleets will cycle through the Command pane.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 5 M ANAG IN G FLEETS You can use either the new name or the fleet number when Finding a fleet. Other players cannot see the names you have given your fleets. USING FUEL Fuel is a manufactured commodity made of anti-matter and is measured in milligrams (mg). This means it has little effect on the ship’s mass (and thus, fuel usage). Fuel can only be obtained from starbases with ship building capability or from other fleets.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10-6 PLAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 6 ! Refueling To refuel, simply visit one of your planets with a starbase with ship building capability in orbit. You’ll be refueled automatically. Fuel can also be transferred between fleets manually or with a Transport waypoint task. Fuel and Combat Ships don’t use fuel while in combat.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 7 MANAG ING FLEET S Any ship can travel Warp 1 without using fuel. This means you travel 1 light year per year of play. You also generate tiny amounts of fuel at Warp 1, and may be able to put on small bursts of speed. This really is helpful only if you’re close to your destination, almost out of fuel, and don’t want to bother sending a rescue ship. ROUTING FLEETS Routing automatically sends fleets from one planet to another.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10-8 PLAY I NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 8 ! To pass fleets from route destination to route destination: 1. Set a route destination for each planet in your circuit or path. 2. Select the fleet to be routed. 3. Using the Waypoint Tasks tile, assign the fleet Route orders. When it arrives at a planet with a route destination, it will automatically be passed along. If the planet has a starbase with ship building capability, the fleet is automatically refueled as well.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 9 M ANAG IN G FLEETS 10-9 How to Pick a Fleet Out From a Crowd When two or more fleets are at the same location or close together, and you want to send another fleet to meet with one of them, do one of the following: ¯ If the fleets are close together, zoom in using the plus (+) key until you can see everything clearly. Then set the waypoint on the fleet you wish to rendezvous with. Press the minus (-) key to zoom out.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10-10 13/7/98 10:54 am P LAY ING ST AR S Page 10 ! If you would like to transfer some but not all ships between the fleet under command and a selected fleet at the same location, click on the Merge button on the Other Fleets Here tile. SCRAPPING FLEETS Scrap or destroy a fleet by merging it with a colony fleet or by choosing the Scrap Fleet waypoint task.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 11 M ANAGI N G F LEET S 10-11 REPORT FOR YOUR FLEETS The Fleet Summary report shows where all your fleets are currently located, the orders that each is to follow at the next waypoint, the fuel supply, cargo, fleet composition, cloaking percentage, and current mass. ¯ Go to a fleet by clicking anywhere in the row for that fleet. ¯ Display the fleet’s composition and any damage by clicking on the Composition column.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 10-12 13/7/98 10:54 am PLAYI NG ST ARS ! Page 12
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 11 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 13 NAVIGATION You cause a fleet to move by assigning it one or more destinations, or waypoints. You can assign a task at each waypoint, such as transport, colonize, remote mine or scrap fleet. When fleets reach their last waypoint they stop. ADDING FLEET WAYPOINTS AND TASKS To add a fleet waypoint and a task to accomplish at that waypoint: 1. Select the fleet into the Command pane.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 11-2 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 2 ! 5. If the fleet to continually repeat the entire series of tasks until it is interrupted, and if the final waypoint is the same as the starting waypoint, check Repeat Orders in the Waypoint Task tile. NOTES AND TIPS ON WAYPOINTS AND THE SCANNER Distance and the Scanner Grid When you set a waypoint, notice that the Scanner snaps to an invisible grid. The grid snap is one light year, and cannot be redefined.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 3 NAVI GAT ION 11-3 DELETING FLEET WAYPOINTS There are two ways to remove a waypoint: ¯ Click on the waypoint you want to remove, then press either the Backspace or Delete key. ¯ Click on the waypoint, then drag it to the next or previous waypoint and release. STARGATE NAVIGATION You must have a stargate at the source planet and at the destination planet. You can navigate using your stargates and Friend’s stargates.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 11-4 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 4 ! Stargate Travel Time 1 Year – Travel is safe. Uncertain – You don’t know anything about the planet or your data is old. Your stargate will attempt to make the jump, but there is no guarantee there is a gate at the other end. Danger — your fleet will take damage in transit. The fleet is exceeding the mass or distance limitation of one or both stargates.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:54 am Page 5 NAVI GAT ION 11-5 stargate. The mass limit is the top number on the stargate. If the source stargate belongs to a Friend, you’ll need to ask them about the mass limitation. You can exceed the acceptable mass capacity by up to five times the amount and possibly still arrive at the other gate. Ships will always take damage when you exceed capacity. There is also a chance that the ship will explode.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 11-6 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:54 am ! Page 6
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 12 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 COLONIZATION Colonize planets that are immediately habitable by you or that have a negative value but can be terraformed to become habitable. You should colonize as many planets as possible in order to increase the rate at which you gain resources, which you need to build better technology and more fleets. At the same time, don’t pull people off your home world so fast that you begin to lose significant resources.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 12-2 PLAYI N G STARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! The Habitability Value: Two numbers will appear here if you have the technology to terraform the planet. The first number is the planet’s current value. The second number (in parentheses), is the potential value of the planet if it were to be terraformed to the extent your current level of technology allows. If the second number is negative, the planet will just plain kill you.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 COLO N IZATI O N 12-3 The colonists will dismantle the colony ship when they land, using any leftover cargo and some of the minerals used in the ship construction to help start the colony. It’s usually a good idea to minimize the number of ships in the colonization fleet. Once the colony is established you can transport additional colonists using a freighter (colonists are unloaded, and the freighter proceeds to its next waypoint).
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 12-4 PL AY I N G ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 ! Head ‘em Out 1. SHIFT-click in the Scanner on the destination colony or colonies. 2. For each waypoint where you wish to unload colonists, specify Transport as the action and Colonists as the cargo, then specify the amount you wish to unload. Be sure not to unload more colonists than the planet can support. HEY, THAT PLANET’S ALREADY INHABITED! You can’t colonize a planet already inhabited by another race.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 MINING Most of a planet’s minerals lay under the surface, unavailable for use until your colonists mine them. You can build mines on your own worlds, or use robot miners to mine uninhabited worlds. The mineral content and concentrations for a planet are shown in the Selection Summary pane and the Minerals on Hand tile. The number of mines that have been built and can be operated appear in the Minerals on Hand tile.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13-2 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! 2. Look at the mineral concentration information in the Selection Summary pane and the Minerals on Hand tile. Click on the mineral name or value in either of these locations to display information on the density of each mineral under the surface. 3.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 M I NIN G 13-3 MINERAL CONCENTRATION AND MINING EFFICIENCY The rate at which mineral concentration is reduced is not related to how efficient a player is at mining. When the concentration reaches 1 both on your planet and an opponent’s planet, the player who has more mines but is less efficient at mining can extract as many kTs as a very efficient player operating fewer mines.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13-4 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 ! causes the minerals to be loaded from the miner to the freighter in the most optimum way possible. When you set the mining fleet as the waypoint instead of the planet the mining fleet is orbiting, the freighter will automatically follow the mining fleet wherever you send it.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 14 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 TRANSPORTING FREIGHT You can transport minerals, fuel and colonists from waypoint to waypoint. These waypoints can be either planets or fleets. Freight is either carried in ships that have cargo holds or cargo pods, or flung across space using mass drivers. For a description of different cargo modules and mass drivers, refer to the Technology Browser. SHIPPING FREIGHT To get the transport process started: 1.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 14-2 PLAY I NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! Repeat Orders If you want to set up the fleet to endlessly follow a route until you specify otherwise, check the Repeat Orders box in the Fleet Waypoints tile. If you want the fleet to return to its planet of origin as part of the route, be sure to specify that planet again as a waypoint. For a description of each Transport order, read about the Transport task on page 5-7.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 TR ANS POR T ING FR E IG HT Transferring cargo to an opponent’s ship or a planet you don’t own effectively does the same thing: you lose the cargo. Jettisoned cargo is lost to the cosmos. You cannot jettison cargo if there is salvage at the same location. CREATING A CUSTOM TRANSPORT ZIP ORDER A Zip Order is a common Transport order you wish to specify many times in a game, just by selecting the Zip Order name.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 14-4 PLAY I NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 ! 7. Type the name, and OK the dialog. The new order appears in the Custom Order dialog. 8. OK the Custom Order dialog. 9. Right-click on the blue diamond again. Your custom Zip Order appears in the pop-up. Editing a Custom Zip Order ¯ Repeat steps 1 - 5 above, and in step 5, select the order you wish to modify. ¯ Click on Import and OK the Rename Zip Order dialog.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 T R ANS PO R TIN G FR E IG HT 14-5 Slower speeds allow you to fling packets to planets with lesser mass drivers (meaning you want the planet to catch the packet). Packets flung above the rated speed are unstable but get there quicker and do more damage. For the packet to arrive safely, the target must also have a driver of equal or greater capacity.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 14-6 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 6 ! Displaying any Packet’s Destination When you click on any mineral packet in the Scanner, its destination (and contents) is displayed in the Summary pane. Packet Physics Races with the Packet Physics trait always detect any mineral packet in flight, regardless of the packet’s location in the universe.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15 13/7/98 10:55 am THE BASICS Page 7 OF COMBAT Here’s how to create and specify battle plans, initiate all types of combat, and watch a replay of a battle in space. In general, all you need to know about the outcome of a battle is described in the message you receive. If you lose a battle and don’t know why or just want to compare your tactics to those of your enemies you can watch a replay of the battle in the battle VCR.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-2 PL AY IN G ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! When you receive a message about a battle pressing the Goto button will select the location of the battle in the Scanner pane, and the button text will change to View. Pressing View allows you to review the battle, helping you learn how the enemy attacks, and how your attack was successful or failed. Battle Orders don’t Interfere with Waypoint Tasks By default, new armed fleets start out with attack orders.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 C O MB AT 15-3 Reviewing a Space Battle After a while you will find that there is no need to view most battles. There are times, however, when you were sure that you had overwhelming forces and still got your rear kicked. That’s where the Battle VCR comes in to play. It is a great place to learn about the characteristics of your opponents’ fleets and to determine your opponents’ battle strategy.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-4 PL AY IN G ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 ! You can also open the VCR from the Battle Summary report. Just double click on a row in the report. Use the Reports (Battle ) menu item to open the Battle Summary report. This report summarizes all battles that took place the previous turn. BOMBING PLANETS Bombing happens automatically. All you need to do is send your bomber fleet to the enemy planet.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 CO MB AT 15-5 Special Bombs Claim Adjuster races can learn to build the Retro bomb, a type of terraforming weapon used to return the planet to its original conditions. Smart Bombs destroy colonists, but not Mines or Factories. They are twice as effective as other bombs at penetrating planetary defenses.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-6 PL AY IN G ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 6 ! GROUND COMBAT To invade another player ’s planet and initiate ground combat: 1. Build a fleet with one or more freighters. 2. In the Waypoint Task tile, use the Transport task to load colonists onto the fleet. Try to load what you think will be an overwhelming number. 3. Set a waypoint to your opponent’s planet. 4. Use the Transport task to drop all colonists at the new waypoint.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 CO MB AT 15-7 Players Affected by Minefields Mines are not set off by fleets belonging to you or your friends. Only neutral and enemy fleets will have trouble navigating the your minefields. Minefields as Scanners Minefields in the Scanner To view minefields, use the Scanner pane’s Mine Fields overlay.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-8 PL AYI N G STARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 8 ! Minefield Coverage Use the Scanner ’s Mine Fields overlay to show the area of space covered by the field. Click on the field to display the mine type, field size, decay rate, and owner in the Selection Summary pane. Minefield Decay Minefields decay at a rate of 1% a year. You should plan to replenish the fields as needed. (If enemy or neutral ships thin them out, you’ll need to rebuild as well.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 9 C O MB AT Do this for all beams in the fleet, then add all the answers. The sum will be the number of mines you’ll sweep each year. If the fleet is in more than one minefield, it sweeps this number simultaneously from each minefield Range zero and shield only weapons can not sweep mines at all. Gattling weapons are more effective at sweeping minefields. Consult the Technology Browser to learn the exact level of effectiveness of any particular weapon.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-10 13/7/98 10:55 am P LAYI NG STAR S Page 10 ! CLAIM ADJUSTERS AND TERRAFORMING AS A WEAPON Races based on the Claim Adjuster trait can perform negative terraforming on an enemy’s planet while in orbit. If the planet has a starbase, you must destroy it before you can begin this type of attack. Orbital Terraforming Terraforming from orbit requires a fleet outfitted with Orbital Adjusters. These are described in the Mining Robots section of the Technology Browser.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 11 CO MB AT When you give a fleet attack orders you can choose who to attack: all enemies, all neutrals and enemies, everybody or a just a specific opponent. Friends are also immune to your minefields, automatically refuel at your starbases and are allowed to use your stargates. Fleets with the waypoint task of Patrol will only attack Enemies.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-12 13/7/98 10:55 am P LAY I NG ST AR S Page 12 ! Unmodified Default battle plan. Read further in this chapter for an explanation of each field in the plan. All new ships start out with the Default battle plan. This plan sets up a default attack strategy if the fleet is armed, and a default flight strategy is the fleet is unarmed. You can’t rename or delete the Default plan, but you can modify it.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 13 C OM BAT • Unarmed Ships — Target any ship not carrying weapons or bombs.. • Fuel Transports — Target Fuel Transports only.. • Freighters — Target Unarmed Freighters only.. Here are a few examples of targeting: Primary target: Bombers/Freighters; Secondary target: Fuel Transports Any enemy bombers and freighters are targeted first. Once they are gone, the attacker looks for and tries to destroy enemy Fuel Transports.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-14 13/7/98 10:55 am P LAYI NG ST AR S Page 14 ! Example use of Disengage in targeting and as a tactic. Choose tactics to use on primary and secondary targets. A tactic applies to the entire fleet. • Disengage — Attempt to run away as soon as possible. Seven squares of movement on the battle board are required to leave the battle. As movement ranges from square to 2 squares per round it can take from 3 to 14 rounds to disengage.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 15 CO MB AT Maximize Damage Ratio will not necessarily close to what may be considered the best location for you ship’s weapons if it is carrying both short and long range weapons. For example, if you design a cruiser that carries range 6 missiles and a range 2 beam weapon, odds are that you will never get closer than range 6 in the battle.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-16 13/7/98 10:55 am P LAY I NG ST AR S Page 16 ! 3. Choose a Secondary Target for your ship to attack if the primary target type is not present. 4. Choose a Tactic. 5. In a multi-player game you can choose Who to attack. 6. When you finish, OK the dialog. Your changes take affect that turn. BATTLE REPORT Use this report to view statistics for each battle that took place the previous turn, and to review the battles in the VCR.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 17 CO MB AT Our Dead – total number of our ships that were destroyed Their Dead – total number of their ships that were destroyed VIEWING OPPONENT FLEETS IN THE SUMMAR Y PANE To learn about an opponent’s fleet: • If your opponent’s fleet is in space, left-click on the fleet symbol. If there is more than one fleet at the location, right-click and select the enemy from the popup list.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 15-18 13/7/98 10:55 am P LAYI NG ST AR S Page 18 ! FLEET REPORT ON ENEMIES AND OTHER PLAYERS To display intelligence reports about other player’s fleets, choose Others’ Fleets from the Reports menu (or press F3 three times). The report can be sorted by any of its fields. • Display opponents’ fleets in the Selection Summary pane and in the Scanner, following in the report’s sort order, by using the left and right bracket keys, ‘[‘ and ‘]’, while the report is active.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 16 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 19 PATROLLING While on Patrol, your fleet will automatically intercept and attack any incoming enemy fleets within a specified range. Fleets on patrol will not target neutrals or friends. ASSIGNING PATROL ORDERS To place a fleet on patrol duty: 1. Give the fleet one waypoint in the scanner. 2. In the Waypoints Task tile, select the Patrol task. 3. Select an Intercept Range.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 16-2 PLAYI NG STARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! ¯ To station a patrol at a particular location, send the fleet to that location and then give it the Patrol task and select the Repeat Orders checkbox in the Fleet Waypoints tile. The fleet will only target enemies within its Intercept Range from that point and will automatically return there after the intercept. PATROL TARGETS ENEMIES ONLY Fleets on patrol will only intercept and attack Enemy fleets.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 PATR O LLIN G 16-3 PATROL AND BATTLE PLANS Patrol takes battle plans into account when deciding who to intercept. Your primary target will be matched according to its hull type. For example, if you target unarmed ships, your patrol fleet will only target fleets guaranteed to be unarmed. You would not target a battleship, even if you’ve fought it before and know that it doesn’t have any weapons on board.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 16-4 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am ! Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 17 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 SCANNING AND CLOAKING Scanners tell you about: • planetary environments • enemy fleets • minefields • mineral packets in transit • salvage • wormholes Both planets and ships can have scanners. You initially create a planet-based scanner by adding it to your production queue. Afterward, the scanner is automatically upgraded as your technology improves. Ship-based scanners must be included in the hull design.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 17-2 P LAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! Planet-penetrating scanners These scanners can detect fleets in orbit around a planet. They also can tell you planetary statistics from a distance, such as mineral concentrations under the planet surface. Normal, non-penetrating Scanners These scanners cannot penetrate a planet. Any object orbiting the planet is hidden from your radar. Minefields are cloaked 75% from this type of scanner.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 SCAN NI NG AND CLO AK IN G Estimated Path of Another Player ’s Fleet Click in the Scanner on an opponent’s fleet to display its estimated path. The arrow points in the approximate direction of travel. Tick marks appear on the line indicating how far the fleet will move in a year at its current speed. Since a fleet travels in a straight line from waypoint to waypoint, you can use this path to estimate the fleet’s origin and destination.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 17-4 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 ! CLOAKING, OR HIDING FROM OPPONENTS’ SCANNERS Cloaking devices allow you to reduce your opponent’s effective scanner range in detecting your cloaked fleet or planet. Cloaking devices do not make your fleet or planet invisible: no matter how strong the cloak, the object will always be visible to another fleet at the same location. Cloaking reduces your opponent’s scanner range by a specific percentage.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 SCAN NI NG AND CLO AKI N G 17-5 combination, you’ll create a gauntlet that opponents’ships aren’t as likely to sneak through undetected. Also consider placing sentry ships at uninhabited planets along your border. They will help prevent any unseen planet-hopping by your opponents. Even if a ship is cloaked, you will still detect it when it passes by.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 17-6 PLAYI NG ST ARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 6 ! significantly harder for enemies to sneak past fleets carrying this device. A great option for ships on regular patrol duty. When you add a Tachyon Detector to a hull design, the Ship and Starbase Designer displays other player ’s cloaking effectiveness on the design’s scanner information line.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 18 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 REPORTS Reports list all statistics for all your planets and fleets, other player’s fleets you know about, and battles from the previous year. ¯ Hide columns by clicking on the column label and selecting Hide the . ¯ Show a hidden column by clicking on any column and selecting Show the . ¯ Choose a new sort order by clicking on the label and choosing forward or reverse order.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 18-2 P LAY ING ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS F3 opens the Planet Summary Report, then toggles to successive reports: second press opens the Fleet Summary Report for your fleets; third press opens the Others’ Fleet Summary Report; fourth press opens the Battle Summary Report; fifth closes the report window. Pressing the ESC key also closes the report window.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 R EPOR T S PRINTING A MAP OF THE UNIVERSE ¯ Print a pictorial map of the universe using the File (Print Map ) menu item. This sends a black and white plot of the universe to your printer, with the black background reversed to white. You can the zoom level of your printout by specify the number of pages to print: the larger the number, the greater the zoom. The map supports the Planet Names Overlay and No Player Info view only.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 18-4 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am ! Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 19 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 DIPLOMACY AND TRADE Multi-player games only Stars! has features that allow you to practice diplomacy in multi-player games. Use the mail feature of the Message pane to communicate with other players, arranging alliances, rendezvous, trade agreements, joint remote mining ventures, and non-aggression pacts. (Stars! mail works equally well for hurling insults and taunts.) Stars! does not require one winner.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 19-2 P LAY I NG STARS 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 ! Fleet-related trades can be automated by setting your waypoints between planets or fleets, specifying Transport orders, then selecting Repeat Orders. Automate mineral packet-based trade by adding Mineral Packets (Auto Build) to your production queue and aiming the mass driver at the correct planet. TRADING TECHNOLOGY It is also possible to trade technological research data by scrapping fleets at each other’s starbases.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 DI PLO MA CY AN D TR ADE 19-3 CLAIM ADJUSTERS AND ORBITAL TERRAFORMING Races based on the Claim Adjuster trait can terraform other player’s planets from orbit. This creates unique opportunities for diplomacy or war. If the owner is your Friend, you perform positive terraforming (adjusting planetary conditions toward the inhabitants’optimal conditions). If the owner is your Enemy, you perform negative terraforming.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 19-4 P LAYI NG ST AR S 13/7/98 10:55 am ! Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 RACE CREATION In Stars! there are no superior races, there are only superior styles of play . Learn your race’s strengths and weaknesses. Test them against a variety of opponents and universe configurations. Start with small games and work your way up, fine tuning as you go.
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 DESIGNING CUSTOM RACES The Custom Race wizard allows you to create, save and edit your player races. Here, you define a race’s strengths and weaknesses. The trick lies in balancing advantages with disadvantages in order to achieve a mix that makes the best use of the stuff of creation — units of primordial ooze called advantage points.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 RAC E CR EATIO N STEP 1: BASIC RACE DEFINITION Race Name and Password Name your race and if you wish, choose a password. The password chosen when a race is created is attached to the race file. While you may change the password during the game, that change applies only to the current game. Opening that race file for use in another game will require proper entry of the original password.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 D ESI G NI NG C UST O M R AC ES 20-3 Leftover Advantage Points — Factories You will get one additional factory for every 5 leftover advantage points. These will be available immediately. Leftover Advantage Points — Defenses You will get one additional defense installation for every 10 leftover advantage points. These will be available immediately.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-4 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 RAC E CR EATI ON Exclusive Engines • Settler’s Delight engine—Warp 6 for free, but only for Mini-Colonizer hull Exclusive Components • Flux Capacitor increases the damage done by all beam weapons on Hyper-Expansion ships by 20% Limitations • Cannot build stargates • Maximum population limitation is what the planet would normally support for a race with your environment requirements Super-Stealth trait Starting Advantages • Tech level 5
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 D ESI G NI NG C U STO M R AC ES Exclusive Abilities • Travel through opponent’s mine fields at one warp speed faster than the limit stated in the Technology Browser • Gain research by spying and combining it with your own research.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-6 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 6 R AC E CR EATI O N Claim Adjuster trait Starting Advantages • Technology level 1 in Energy, Weapons and Propulsion, level 6 in Biotech • Ship capable of terraforming other players’planets from orbit Exclusive Components • Retro Bomb de-terraforms planets • Orbital Adjuster modifies other player’s planet environmental conditions from orbit Exclusive Weapons • Bombs that de-terraform worlds.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 D ESI G NING CU ST O M R AC ES Exclusive Weapons • Mini Gun, power 13, range 2, sweeps mines at 208/year Exclusive Components • Tachyon Detector, reduces the effectiveness of other players cloaks by 5% Exclusive Abilities • Colonists defend better • Ships heal faster • Planetary defenses cost 40% less • Your colonists on freighters reproduce at of their maximum rate, beaming down excess babies when orbiting a planet you own Limitations •
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-8 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 8 RAC E CR EATI ON Exclusive Abilities • Mine fields act as non-penetrating scanners. Cloaks work as an absolute percentage against mine scans. • Can travel through opponent’s mine fields at two warp speeds faster than the limit stated in the Technology Browser • Can remotely detonate standard minefields • Mine fields decay at a rate of 1% a year per planet enclosed in the field.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 9 D ESI G NI NG CU STO M R AC ES Interstellar Traveler trait Starting Advantages • 2 planets with 100/250 stargates (in non-tiny universes only) • Tech 5 in propulsion and construction • One scout • One colony ship • One destroyer • One privateer Exclusive Hulls • Stargates with unlimited range and capacity. Exclusive Components • Anti-matter Generator acts as a 200mg anti-matter fuel tank and generates 50mg of fuel every year.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-10 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 10 RA CE CR EAT ION Exclusive Components • Orbital Construction Module that contains viral weapons capable of killing 2000 enemy colonists per year and that colonizes worlds by transforming into an Orbital Fort Exclusive Abilities • Lives on starbases only, not planets • Starbases are 20% cheaper to build (non-cumulative with Improved Starbases) • Population acts as natural miners and scanners • Remote mine own planets (since they live
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 11 D ESI GN IN G CU ST O M R ACE S STEP 3: LESSER TRAITS Specify/view the lesser traits for your race. You’ll probably find several traits that won’t affect your playing strategy. Each time you choose a trait that prevents you from developing something, you’ll gain advantage points you’ll be able to use elsewhere or, if you’re in the hole, bring the balance closer to being above zero (you have to be above or at zero before you can click on Finish).
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-12 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 12 R ACE C R EATIO N Ultimate Recycling trait When you scrap a fleet at a starbase, you recover 90% of the minerals and 70% of the resources used to produce the fleet. The resources are available for use the next year. Scrapping at a planet gives you 45% of the minerals and 35% of the resources. These resources are not strictly additive.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 13 D ESI GN IN G CU ST OM RACE S Low Starting Population trait Instead of 25000 people, you start with 17500 (30% fewer). It takes a long time to overcome a lower starting population — it helps to have a high growth rate, but even then it can be painful. Bleeding Edge Technology trait New technologies initially cost twice as much to build. As soon as you exceed all of the tech requirements by one level, the cost drops back to normal.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-14 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 14 R ACE CR EAT IO N The gravity and temperature of every planet are picked at random, but are slightly weighted to favor values in the middle of the spectrum. If you move the colored bar away from the center, the advantage points increase, compensating for the reduction in the number of habitable planets you will encounter. The radiation level of a planet is chosen completely at random.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 15 D ESI GN IN G C U STO M R ACE S Selecting immunity is different than expanding the habitable range to fill the entire spectrum. Immunity treats every point in the spectrum as 100% ideal. A range widened to fill the spectrum treats only the mid-point as 100% ideal. The edges of the range are 0% ideal. Maximum Population Growth Set the maximum colonist growth rate between 1% and 20% per year.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-16 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 16 R ACE C R EAT IO N STEP 5: POPULATION EFFICIENCY Specify/view the efficiency of your colonists, mines and factories for all the planets you inhabit. If you are confused about whether increasing or decreasing a value is Click on the spinner copntrol to increase or decrease a setting. providing an advantage, watch the advantage points box as you click on the controls.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 17 D ESIGN IN G CU ST OM RACE S 20-17 These are only simple examples of possible strategies—make the choices that suit your game the best, keeping in mind the rules determining the rate at which mineral concentration is reduced. Next you’ll specify the cost of research for your race. STEP 6: RESEARCH COSTS Specify/view how efficiently your scientists use planetary resources in their research.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 20-18 13/7/98 10:55 am RA CE CR EAT ION Page 18
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 21 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 19 PREDEFINED RACES Stars! provides several predefined races you can use without modifying or as a basis for a race you wish to design. Each predefined race has specific strengths and weaknesses you can use in determining your playing style and strategies. Use the information provided in the Custom Race wizard along with the information provided in this chapter to learn about each predefined race.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 21-2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 R AC E C R EATI O N Disadvantages Tiny survival range—you won’t find many planets you can colonize. Can’t use advanced war-related technology. Unable to use penetrating scanners and engine technology is sometimes unreliable. Strategies Research for defensive hull types, long range weapons, propulsion (fast engines), construction (large cargo capacity).
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 PREDEFINED RACES HUMANOIDS Physical Traits Thin skin, rudimentary senses, efficient fat storage capabilities. Social Traits Over promoted. The absolute average race, with no special abilities or disabilities. Can swing either way, playing a defensive game that focuses on outgrowing and outproducing opponents, or an offensive game that focuses on crushing opponents through military might.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 21-4 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 4 R AC E C R EATI O N Primary Diet Cellulose and Spackle. Best Universe/Game Size Large or better universe. You’ll need time to increase your population size and develop powerful weapons. Advantages Immune to temperature. Good fighters, with top of the line warships and superior battle initiative. Cheap research for energy and weapons. Better than average with factories. Able to build cheaper starbases. Shields regenerate during battle.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 PREDEFINED RACES Primary Diet Anything burnt or injected with a summer discharge also used externally to accelerate tanning. Best Universe/Game Size Medium to large universe. This will give them time to grow and develop technology before encountering other races. Advantages Can live on almost any planet. Excellent at robotic mining. Good at fighting and building starbases. Able to sneak up on opponents and steal valuable minerals.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 21-6 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 6 RAC E CR EATI ON Best Universe Size/Game Difficulty Has the potential to do well in any size of universe. Advantages None of the other pre-made races grow faster (only the humanoids come close). Wide habitability range, as well as the ability to eventually terraform each environmental variable up to 30% makes proliferation highly likely.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 PREDEFINED RACES Primary Diet Grits. Best Universe Size/Game Difficulty Does better in a medium universe, even better in a large to huge universe, at any level of game. Advantages Immune to all environmental attributes, which means you can colonize any planet. Produces resources quickly. Has access to additional ram scoop engines. All engines use less fuel. The ultra flexible and powerful Metamorph hull is available only to your race.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 21-8 13/7/98 10:55 am RAC E CR EATI ON Page 8
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 22 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 9 ALTERNATE REALITY RACES Although Alternate Reality is really a primary trait, it’s responsible for races so unusual it deserves its own chapter. POPULATION AND GROWTH Alternate Reality races are highly developed energy-based life forms. Their bodies are fragile, flattening like paper under any but the lightest gravitational conditions. As a result they have adapted to living in starbases instead, controlling their planets from orbit.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 2 22-2 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 2 RAC E CR EATI ON MINING These folks can’t build mines. Using energy powers alone, they can do a limited amount of mining equal to this formula: Mining = SQRT(Population/10) However, since they don’t actually inhabit the planet, there is nothing to stop them from remote mining worlds they own as well as uncolonized worlds. DEFENSES Likewise, they can’t build defenses.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 1 THE GUTS OF STARS! Guts = MC2 Something for the geek in every emperor .
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715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 23 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 THE GUTS OF COMBAT Here’s some information to help you understand the behavior of fleets in battle. You may find it useful in planning battle strategies. It may also help satisfy your drive to collect Stars! military trivia. ABOUT THE BATTLE BOARD The battle board is the grid you see in the Battle VCR. The fleets are distributed on the board as tokens. Each token is a stack of identical ships from a single fleet.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 23-2 13/7/98 10:55 am T HE GU TS O F ST AR S Page 2 ! ARMOR, SHIELDS AND DAMAGE Read this section with the following section on Weapon Properties for a fuller understanding of how armor, shields and specific weapon types interact in Stars!. Armor and Shields Hulls have a base armor value. Additional armor is added to this value. Shields will take damage and fail before enemy weapons attack your armor. In a token the shields overlap.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 3 T H E G UT S O F CO MB AT Damage Damage is applied as follows: If the damage applied to a token’s armor exceeds the remaining armor of one or more of the ships in the token, then those ships are destroyed. Any remaining damage is spread over the ENTIRE token, with the damage being divided up equally among the remaining ships. A separate damage value is stored for each token in the battle.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 23-4 13/7/98 10:55 am THE GU T S O F ST AR S Page 4 ! The following beam weapon information is provided for comparison purposes. See the Beam Weapons section of the Technology Browser for the exact statistics of a specific weapon.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 5 T HE G UT S O F C O MB AT 23-5 according to its accuracy value. Normal torpedoes have an accuracy of 75%, which means that it is likely that three of the four torpedoes would hit. Torpedo accuracy can be improved using Battle Computers. Jammers can decrease the accuracy of enemy torpedoes. Torpedoes that hit their primary target apply half of their damage directly to the armor of the target token.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 23-6 13/7/98 10:55 am T HE GU T S O F ST ARS Page 6 ! Jammers Jammers decrease torpedo accuracy. The Jammer 10 and 50 are available to Inner Strength players only. Jammer strength is additive. For example, a ship with three 20% Jammers reduces a normal torpedo’s 75% accuracy by 20% three times: 75 x .8 x .8 x .8 = 38% torpedo accuracy Battle Computers These devices increase the initiative of all weapons on the ship.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 7 T H E G UT S O F CO MB AT Energy Dampener This device slows down ALL ships in the entire battle board by 1 square of movement per round, for the duration of the battle. This is true even if the ship carrying the Dampener is destroyed before the end of the battle (the device has a lasting affect). The effect is not additive, so there is no advantage or penalty for having more than one Dampener in a battle.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 23-8 13/7/98 10:55 am THE GU T S O F ST AR S Page 8 ! Ship location (cont) Annual rate (cont) Stopped or orbiting, with at least one Fuel Transport hull in the fleet additional 5% Stopped or orbiting, with at least one Super Fuel Xport hull in the fleet additional 10% For example, a ship with a base of 25 damage points (dp) plus armor with a value of 75 dp has a maximum armor value of 100 dp.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:55 am Page 9 T HE G UT S O F CO MB AT 23- 9 The Formula for Movement Movement = (Ideal_Speed_of_Engine - 4) 4 - weight 70 4 Number_of_Engines + ⁄ x Number_of_Maneuvering_Jets + x Num_Overthrusters Movement in Squares per Round Round Movement 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 1 0 1 1 1 0 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 2 1 1 1 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 2 1 1 2 2 1 2 2 2 1 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 2 3 2 2 2
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 23-10 13/7/98 10:56 am T H E G UTS O F ST ARS Page 10 ! their range 1 weapons are much better than yours. You will stay at range 2 because that is where you will do the highest net damage. Overthrusters, Maneuvering Jets and Movement Multiple Overthrusters and Maneuvering Jets are additive. One Overthruster gives the token a speed bonus of square of movement per round, with each extra Overthruster adding square.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 24 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 11 THE GUTS OF CLOAKING In order for matter to be cloaked, it requires a certain number of cloaking units per kT. When a ship is empty, its cloak provides the maximum amount of cloaking possible with that device. When the ship has cargo, the weight of the cargo reduces the number of cloak units per kT, and thus, the cloaking percentage.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 24-2 13/7/98 10:56 am T H E GUT S O F STARS Page 2 ! freighter with cargo, it weighs 161kT. To calculate the new cloaking percentage: 1. Calculate the total number of cloaking units for the ship: Max_cloak_units/kT x Ship_mass_empty. Example: 70 units/kT x 91kT = 6370 total cloak units 2.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 TH E G UT S O F C LOAKI N G 24-3 CLOAKING FOR A FLEET WITH MORE THAN ONE SHIP In a fleet with more than one ship, uncloaked ships are counted as cargo when calculating units/kT. Let’s place our empty freighter in a fleet with an empty scout that has a Quick Jump 5 engine, Laser, and a Bat Scanner, which weighs 15kT when empty.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 24-4 13/7/98 10:56 am T H E GUT S O F STARS ! Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 25 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 5 THE GUTS OF MASS DRIVERS DAMAGE POTENTIAL OF MINERAL PACKETS So you always wondered exactly what sort of damage a mineral packet was capable of doing? Here’s the scoop on mass packets. Mineral packets can be flung at speeds from Warp 5 to 3 Warp levels above the driver’s rated speed. Exceeding the rated speed will form unstable packets that will disintegrate and lose minerals as they travel.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 25-2 13/7/98 10:56 am TH E G UT S OF S TAR S Page 2 ! DAMAGE AND RECOVERY FORMULAS AND CALCULATION When a packet hits a planet without a mass driver, or with a mass driver rated beneath the speed of the incoming packet, damage will be done. Damage is determined by the speed of the packet, not the rating of the driver sending the packet. For example, if a Warp 5 driver flings a packet at Warp 8 to another Warp 5 driver, damage will be done to the receiver.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 T HE GU T S O F MASS D RI VER S 25-3 Example You fling a 1000kT packet at Warp 10 at a planet with a Warp 5 driver, a population of 250,000 and 50 defenses preventing 60% of incoming damage. spdPacket = 100 spdReceiver = 25 %CaughtSafely = 25% minerals recovered = 1000kT x 25% + 1000kT x 75% x 1/3 = 250 + 250 = 500kT dmgRaw = 75 x 1000 / 160 = 469 dmgRaw2 = 469 x 40% = 188 #colonists killed = Max. of ( 188 x 250,000 / 1000, 188 x 100) = Max.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 25-4 13/7/98 10:56 am T H E GUT S O F S TAR S ! Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 26 13/7/98 10:56 am THE GUTS Page 5 OF MINEFIELDS TYPES OF MINES Normal Effect: Blows up. Maximum safe speed: Warp 4 Damage/ship: 100 (125 for ramscoops) for each engine Minimum fleet damage: 500 points (600 for ramscoops) Probability of hitting one: 0.3% per light year traveled for each warp over the safe speed. Example: A fleet traveling Warp 9 has a 1.5% chance per light year traveled in a turn.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 26-6 13/7/98 10:56 am T HE GUT S O F STARS Page 6 ! Speed Trap Effect: Halts the fleet, does no damage. Maximum safe speed: Warp 5 Damage/ship: none Minimum fleet damage: none Probability of hitting one: 3% per light year traveled for each warp over the safe speed. Example: A fleet traveling Warp 9 has a 15% chance per light year traveled in a turn. Traveling 10 light years through the minefield that turn, the fleet is going to trigger a mine.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 7 T H E GUT S O F MI NE FIE LDS Mine Dispensers Available by Race Space Demolition: Mine Dispenser 40 (lays 40/year) Mine Dispenser 50 (lays 50/year), available to all except War Monger Mine Dispenser 80 (lays 80/year) Mine Dispenser 130 (lays 100/year) Heavy Dispenser 50 (lays 50/year) Heavy Dispenser 110 (lays 110/year) Heavy Dispenser 200 (lays 200/year) Speed Trap 20 (lays 20/year), requires Space Demolition or Inner-Strength trait Speed Trap 30 (l
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 26-8 13/7/98 10:56 am T HE GU T S O F STARS ! Page 8
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 9 BACK OF THE BOOK It ain’t over yet.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 A 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 10 KEYBOARD SHORTCUTS Press To F1 Open the online help. F2 Open the Technology Browser . F3 First press opens the Planet Summary Report . Second press opens your Fleet Summary Report . Third press opens the Other ’s Fleet Summary Report . Fourth press opens the Battle Report . Fifth press closes the report window. F4 Open the Ship Design dialog. F5 Open the Research dialog. F6 Open the Battle Plans dialog.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 11 TECHNOLOGY TABLES These tables list statistics on each piece of technology available in Stars! Use the following guide to determine the unit of measure for a statistic: If the category is a technology, such as Energy, the unit is in levels of technology successfully researched. If the category is weight or a mineral name, the unit is in kilotons (kT). DP or Dmg measure damage in points or percentage to a hull, people or surface installations.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-2 13/7/98 10:56 am B ACK OF T HE BO O K ARMOR Page 2
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 T ECH NO LOGY TAB LE S BEAM WEAPONS B-3
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-4 13/7/98 10:56 am BACK O F T HE BO O K BOMBS Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 5 T ECH NO LO GY TAB LE S ELECTRICAL B-5
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-6 13/7/98 10:56 am B ACK OF T HE BO O K ENGINES Page 6
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 7 T ECH NO LOGY TAB LE S HULLS B-7
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-8 13/7/98 10:56 am BAC K O F T HE BO OK MECHANICAL MINES Page 8
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-10 13/7/98 10:56 am B AC K O F TH E B OO K PLANETARY Page 10
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 11 T ECH NO LOGY T AB LES SCANNERS SHIELDS B-11
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-12 13/7/98 10:56 am B AC K O F T H E B OO K STARBASE HULLS TERRAFORMING Page 12
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 13 T ECH NOLO GY TAB LES TORPEDOES B-13
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 B-14 13/7/98 10:56 am BAC K O F T H E B O O K Page 14
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 C 13/7/98 10:56 am FILES USED Page 15 IN STARS! HOST FILE — GAMENAME.HST This is the file containing the information the host program needs for a specific game. This file should be available only to the person playing the host. UNIVERSE FILE — GAMENAME.XY This is the universe file, containing information about the positions of all the planets. It does not change over the course of the game.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 C-2 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 2 BAC K O F T H E B O O K LOG FILE —- GAMENAME.XN These are the log files. N is a number from 1 to 16, representing the player number. This is the log of orders given by a player for the current turn. This file is submitted, either automatically or manually, to the host program. The host adds the changes to the player’s .mN file, and returns that file to the player when the new turn is generated.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 FILES USE D IN STA RS ! C-3 password. Whenever you open a game file that is protected by this password you will not be prompted to enter it. Number of Backup Directories Set this option in the [Misc] section of stars.ini: Backups=N Where N is a number between 1 and 999. Backup directories will be named Backup1 to BackupN and old game files will be stored there according to the turn number.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 C-4 13/7/98 10:56 am BAC K O F T H E B O O K Page 4
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 D 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 5 FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS IS ANYONE OUT THERE? Do the AIs (computer players) cheat? Stars! is one of the few games where computer players do not cheat. The Stars! AIs are governed by the same code that governs human players, and receive the same information. Expert level AIs start with more race design advantage points than human players —that is the only difference. If you feel like you've been taken advantage of by an AI, let us know.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 D-2 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 2 BAC K O F THE B O OK every aspect of the game. If these resources don't yield answers to your questions, you can send e-mail to support@webmap.com, or visit these web pages: UK: http://www.empire.co.uk/support/support.htm US: http://www.empire-us.com/support/support.htm How do I submit bug reports? 1. Write a description of the suspected bug in a text file. 2. Zip all the relevant game files and the text file: pkzip gamename.zip gamename.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 FRE Q UE NT LY ASK ED Q U EST IO NS D-3 METHOD 1 Each player can submit their turn, saves, and then goes back to the splash screen using File (Close). You don't have to exit Stars! between players. METHOD 2 If you have enough memory (about 2-4MB per player depending on the universe size) you can run multiple instances of the game. An "instance" is one running session of the game. For Setup and Play details, see Chapter 2, Multi-Player Setup.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am FR EQ U EN TLY AS K ED QU EST I O NS Page 4 D-4 It depends. If the machine cannot run Windows, then the answer is No. If the machine can run Windows but usually does not, then the answer is Yes. It is possible to launch Windows and Stars! from a DOS batch file in such a way that Stars! will generate turns for one or more games and then exit all the way out of Windows allowing the batch file to continue where you it left off.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 5 FR EQ UE NT LY ASK ED QU EST IO NS All game files are compressed and encrypted to provide security for all players. Players cannot read or modify data files. You can however, at any time, open a saved race file (including the file for a race currently in play) and make edits. As you are playing a race, you might discover a weakness you would like to correct for the next time you play that race.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 D-6 13/7/98 10:56 am B ACK O F TH E B OO K Page 6
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 7 GLOSSARY ADDED COST OF RESEARCH The added cost of research represents the cost of such things as dilution of research efforts across more than one field, ramp up time to switch to entering a new fields of study, etc. AI An AI is a computer player. AIs always exist in single player games and can exist in multi-player games, if chosen. AIS AND ADVANTAGE POINTS The easy AIs receive substantially fewer advantage points than you do.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 GL-2 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 2 B ACK O F TH E B OO K BEST WARP SPEED This is the maximum warp speed that the engines on this ship design can go at 120% normal fuel consumption or less. For Ramscoop engines it is the maximum speed the engine can travel withut using fuel. This number appears in the Fleet Composition tile for the selected fleet. This speed appies only to travel between waypoints, not battle. CAPITAL SHIP A ship with a power rating of at least 2000.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 GLO S SAR Y FIBONACCI SERIES Fibonacci numbers are the unending sequence 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34 ... where each term is defined as the sum of its two predecessors. FLEET COLORS A blue fleet belongs to you. A red fleet belongs to an opponent. A purple fleet indicates that both your fleet and an opponent’s fleet are in the same, or nearly the same, location. HOST FILE gamename.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 GL-4 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 4 B ACK O F TH E B OO K MINERAL ALCHEMY You will be able to turn resources into minerals. One instance of mineral alchemy will use 100 resources to produce one kT of each mineral - or only 25 resources for players with the Mineral Alchemy trait. This item will be available in the production inventory and can be automated through the auto build feature of the production dialog.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 5 GLO S SAR Y the Custom Race wizard. If the file is password-protected, you will be asked for a password. The .r extension is not required for a race file, so you may open race files saved using a different extension as well. RATING A ship’s rating is a relative value of its offensive capability. They are useful only for general comparison of similar ship designs to help you decide which design might be more effective in battle.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 GL-6 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 6 B ACK OF TH E BO O K Warships — all other armed ships, including armed freighters. Bomber — any ship based on one of the Bomber hulls. TOKEN Each token is a stack of identical ships from a single fleet.
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 7 INDEX A Abandoning a planet 6-2 Absent from play 3-11 Added cost of research Gl-1 Advanced Remote Mining trait 20-11 Advantage points 19-1, 19-2 to 3 AI defined Gl-1 housekeeper 3-10 Alternate Reality trait 20-9 to 10, 22-1 to 2 Armor damage repair effect of weapons on 23-2 table B-2 Attacking fleets 15-1 to 2 Auto-build add to the queue 7-9 to 10 automate with templates 7-3 behavior 7-10 B Backups option for ini file C-3 Battle board 22-1 Battle com
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 IN-2 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 2 I ND EX Commanding fleet 5-10 planet 5-10 Universe creation 3-13 Colors, player 5-16 Computer player, see AI Copy protection 4-7 to 8 Custom production templates, see Templates, production Custom Zip orders, see Zip orders D Damage display 23-3 distribution 23-3 repair 23-7 Default battle plan 15-12 Default production template 7-5 DefaultPassword option for ini file C-3 Defenses, planetary building 6-6 coverage 5-3 effectiveness 15-6 number op
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 3 IN DE X Friends, declaring 15-10 to 11 Fuel and Cargo tile 5-5 Fuel calculating usage 10-5 combat 10-6 defined 10-5 estimated usage 10-5 Fuel transports 10-6, 22-8 ramscoop engines 9-8, 10-6 refueling 10-6 running out (almost) 10-6 to 7 sharing 10-5 slowing down 10-5 stargates 10-6 trading 19-1 usage 5-6 wormholes 10-6 new hulls 9-2 to 3 other player’s designs 9-9, 15-17 trading designs 9-9 schematic 9-2 ship hulls table B-7 starbase hulls table B-1
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 IN-4 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 4 I ND EX planet summary 5-17, 6-4 Mineral packets as scanners 17-2 bombardment 15-5 building 6-12, 14-5 catching 6-12 damage 25-1, 25-2 to 3 distance 25-1 flinging 6-12, 14-4 to 5 decay rate 25-1 intercepting 6-13 scanning 14-6 speed 6-12, 25-1 summary 14-6 use as scanners 6-13 terraforming function 6-13 Minerals on surface all known planets 5-13 planet summary 5-17, 6-4 Minerals on Hand tile 5-2 Mines basics 6-5 building 13-1 number operating 5
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 5 IN DE X upgrades 7-2 R Race design efficiency strategies 20-16 emblem 20-3 growth conditions 20-13 habitable range 20-13 maximum growth 20-13 name 20-2 lesser traits 20-11 to 13 password 20-2 predefined 20-2, 21-1 to 7 primary traits 20-3 to 10 race file 20-17, C-1 research costs 20-17 Radar, see Scanners Ramscoop engines 9-8 Regerentating Shields trait 20-14 Remote mining creating a mining fleet 13-3 defined 13-3 joint ventures 13-4 modules 13-3 Re
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 IN-6 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 6 I ND EX Setup FTP 3-7 to 9 hot seat 3-1 to 4 modem 3-7 to 9 network 3-4 to 6 e-mail 3-7 to 9 single player 2-2 Shield sappers 23-4 Shields effect of weapons on 23-2 table B-11 Ships design, see Hull design number at a location 5-15 Shortcuts, see Keyboard/Mouse Single player games continue 2-2 start 2-2 Space Demolition trait 20-7 to 8 Speed optimum 10-2 maximum 10-2 minimum 10-2 safe 10-2 warp one 10-3 Starbase tile 5-4 Starbases building 6-8
715 Stars Guide 9/6/98 Part 3 13/7/98 10:56 am Page 7 IN DE X Ultimate Recycling trait 20-12 Universe creation command line 3-13 during setup 3-1, 3-4, 3-7 Universe map, printing 18-3 Unload All 5-7 Unload Exactly 5-7 W Wait for %...
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