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------------------------------------------------------------- STELCON 2469 (TM) v1.6 COPYRIGHT (C) 1992 VU TRUONG ALL RIGHTS RESERVED Requirements : ~ VGA/MCGA (supports high-quality 256-color graphics) ~ IBM PC/XT/AT or compatible (386 STRONGLY recommended) ~ 640k memory and Dos 3.0 or later ~ 128k XMS (Extended Memory) ~ Microsoft or Logitech compatible mouse ------------------------------------------------------------- STELCON ~~~~~~~ TABLE OF CONTENTS 1.0 INTRODUCTION...........................................2 2.0 SETTING UP THE GAME....................................2 3.0 STARTING A NEW GAME....................................3 4.0 BASIC GAME PLAY........................................4 4.1 STARMAP.............................................5 4.2 THE MESSAGE WINDOW..................................5 4.3 THE STATUS WINDOW...................................5 5.0 MENUS..................................................5 5.1 GAME MENU...........................................5 5.1.1 ABOUT STELCON..................................5 5.1.2 END TURN.......................................6 5.1.3 LOAD GAME......................................6 5.1.4 SAVE GAME......................................6 5.1.5 QUIT GAME......................................6 5.2 STARS MENU..........................................6 5.2.1 SCAN STAR......................................6 5.2.2 NAME STAR......................................6 5.2.3 SHIP STATUS....................................7 5.3 FLEET MENU..........................................7 5.3.1 DEPLOY FLEET...................................7 5.3.2 FLEET POSITIONS................................8 5.3.3 FLEET COMPOSITIONS.............................8 5.3.4 ATTACK.........................................8 5.3.5 LAUNCH SSMs....................................8 5.3.6 CHANGE DESTINATION.............................9 5.4 EMPIRE MENU.........................................9 5.4.1 NEWS...........................................9 5.4.2 TECHNOLOGY.....................................9 - 2 - 6.0 REFERENCE GUIDE.......................................10 6.1 SHIPS..............................................10 6.2 PLANETS............................................10 6.3 QUICK-REF KEYS.....................................13 6.4 SCSETUP............................................13 7.0 FINAL NOTES...........................................14 7.1 FUTURE.............................................14 7.2 REGISTRATION.......................................15 7.3 CREDITS............................................15 7.4 DISCLAIMER.........................................16 1.0 INTRODUCTION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Welcome to Stellar Conquest 2469 (STELCON), the ultimate space strategy/war game! Prepare to conquer the unknown, explore vast regions of space, command starships, carriers , and other high-tech warships. Make surprise visits to a friend's home planet! Sure he/she might get pissed off, but hey, this game is not for wimps! STELCON is just about the most complex and graphically detailed game around! This game lets you take charge of an entire galactic empire. This is no mere space risk game of yester-year! There are many facets of controlling an entire empire. Crucial decisions are made at every turn, thus one must be aware of his/her fleets, status, and especially ranking among the players. Besides keeping your empire in order, you must also learn to defend yourself from forces who wish to bring upon your demise. Poorly defended worlds invite attack, but trying to protect all your worlds at once may spread them too thin. Thus a balance must be achieved in order to remain dominant in the universe. Remember: "Only the strong survive" 2.0 SETTING UP THE GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After unzipping STELCON, make sure you have these following programs : STELCON.EXE --> The actual game STELCON.DOC --> This document STELCON.PAL --> Stelcon palette STELCON.SPR --> Stelcon art files BITMAP.PIC --> White font file RBITMAP.PIC --> Red font file GBITMAP.PIC --> Green font file BBITMAP.PIC --> Blue font file - 3 - LOGO1.VGA --> First logo picture LOGO1.PAl --> First logo palette LOGO2.VGA --> Second logo picture LOGO2.PAL --> Second logo palette SCCONFIG.EXE --> Stelcon Configuration file When running the game, make sure all these files are in the same directory. 3.0 STARTING A NEW GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you first type STELCON at the dos prompt you will briefly see our logo then title screen. Click either mouse button to continue to the main menu. There you can start a new game or load an old game. When playing for the first time, you must to start a new game. Move the pointer over the NEW GAME box and click either mouse button. The game will then ask you a few questions regarding the universe you want to play in. The game will ask you the following question : How many players? --> Enter the number of players you want in the game. 2 or more human players are recommended. How many stars? --> Enter the number of actual star systems you want in the game. This can range from 5-20. Human or Computer? --> Hit 'H' for a Human player. Hit C for a computer player. Computer Level... --> Hit '1' for Easy, '2' for Normal, and '3' for Hard. Enter the name... --> Here you enter the name for the current player number. Once these questions are answered, you will see a miniature map of the actual playing field. White dots represent neutral stars. Coloured dots represent actual player stars. These colours mean : - 4 - BLUE --> Player one GREEN --> Player two CYAN --> Player three RED --> Player four MAGENTA --> Player five Hit the any key to re-randomize the stars. Once you are satisfied with the map, hit ENTER to continue. From there the game will begin. 4.0 BASIC GAME PLAY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The game is divided into turns and phases. Each turn represents one movement phase and one production phase. There can be an unlimited amount of turns. There are two phases: PRODUCTION and MOVEMENT. During the production phase, you can either buy more ships , put more money in your technological development fund, or save your production points for later. The production window will pop up at the end of each turn. On the upper left hand corner will be the name of the star you are buying for. Below that are the star's coordinates and the BUILD POINTS. Anything you buy requires BUILD POINTS. Listed below are the prices for each ship: FIGHTERS --> 10 BPs DESTROYERS --> 45 BPs CRUISERS --> 60 BPs BATTLE CRUISERS --> 100 BPs CARRIERS --> 150 BPs SSMs --> 30 BPs CREDITS --> 2 BPs In the production window there are a series of arrows. You click on these arrows to either buy or sell back what you have bought (You can't sell things from the last turn!). The left arrow sells equipment, while the right arrow buys it. Clicking the "IN:x" box will toggle between increments of 1's, 10's, 100's and 1000's. 1 means you transfer 1 ship at a time while 10 means you transfer 10 ships at time. Once you're done, click the "OK" box to go to the next star system (if possible). - 5 - During the movement phase, you can attack different star sytems, deploy a new fleet, rename a star, etc. A more concise explanation of these functions will appear in section 5.0, MENUS. 4.1 THE STARMAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The big upper portion of the screen is the Starmap. Here you will see all the stars in the known universe. You will do most of your coordinate-related commands on this screen. Fleets moving to their destinations can also be seen on this map. The starmap in this version is 20 X 15. Each square represents a sector or "light year" of travel. 4.2 THE MESSAGE WINDOW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This window will appear right below the starmap. Here messages will appear. You will also be doing keyboard input here. 4.3 THE STATUS WINDOW ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This window is comprised of the entire right half of the screen. Here is where data will appear when you scan a star. Below this window is a little status window. It will include the current player name and flag, the number of planets and fleets will also be displayed. 5.0 MENUS ~~~~~~~~~ You will encounter three diffrent menus during the movement phase. These include GAME, STARS, FLEET and EMPIRE. 5.1 THE GAME MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5.1.1 ABOUT STELCON ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This will display some cool information about Stelcon. Free memory will also be displayed. READ IT! - 6 - 5.1.2 END TURN ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you are done with your turn, click here to end your turn and continue to the next player (if possible). After everyone has taken his/her turn, the PRODUCTION PHASE will start. See previous text for more information. 5.1.3 LOAD GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will restore a previously saved game. Please note that the SAVE GAME has to be in the same directory as STELCON. Only a single game can be saved. 5.1.4 SAVE GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will allow you to save the game. Use LOAD GAME to restore the current game. 5.1.5 QUIT GAME ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ When you are sick and tired of STELCON (highly unlikely!), click this to return to the dos prompt. Please note that the game will be PERMANANTLY lost unless you saved it beforehand. 5.2 STAR MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5.2.1 SCAN STAR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This function will display information about any specific star system. Click the mouse over SCAN STAR. The message should then display "SELECT STAR". Place pointer over star image in the STAR MAP. The number and class of planets, the production, owner, and total number of factories and ships will be shown. 5.2.2 NAME STAR ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This fiunction will allow you to name a star you own. It works much the same way as SCAN STAR. First place pointer over name star and click. "SELECT STAR TO RENAME" should appear in the message window. Second, place pointer over desired star system and - 7 - click. Third, enter the new name in the message window and press enter. Now the star will assume the new name! Please note that the new name cannot be over eight characters long. 5.2.3 SHIP STATUS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This function will display all available ships in the star sytems belonging to you. The numbers will be grouped into Fighters, Destroyers, Cruisers, Battle Cruisers, and Carriers, and SSMs To access this function, the click pointer over SHIP STATUS in the STAR menu. Once in this window, click the up and down arrows on the right to scroll the list up and down. Star ownership will be displayed along with the appropriate colored flag. Please note that the stars that do not belong to you will have dashes in place of values. 5.3 FLEET MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5.3.1 FLEET DEPLOY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This function will allow you to send a fleet out. After selecting this function, you will be prompted for a fleet name. After entering a fleet name, the message "PLEASE SELECT FLEET ORIGIN" will appear in in the message window. Place pointer over star system that you own and click. Next, you will be asked for a fleet destination. Click on the desired star system to be the fleet's destination. A window displaying the number of ships on the fleets origin star system will appear. Clicking the left and right arrows should remove and add ships you want to deploy. Clicking the INC box will enable you to select ships by the increments of either 1's, 10's, 100's and 1000's. Once this is done, click the box marked OK. Congratulations! You have launched your maiden fleet! In order to check on it, click fleet compositions (more on this below). - 8 - 5.3.2 FLEET POSITION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clicking this function will display the estimated time of arrival (ETA) for each fleet. Clicking the up and down arrows will scroll the list up and down. Numbers that appear under the ETA column indicate the number of turns it will take for the fleet to reach its destination. The fleet's current coordinates will be displayed in the column marked "COORDS." 5.3.3 FLEET COMPOSITION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Clicking this function will display all the ships that are in a fleet. The FLEET COMPOSITION window looks exactly like the SHIP STATUS window except that it displays the number of ships of each type in a particular fleet. 5.3.4 ATTACK ~~~~~~~~~~~~ When a fleet reaches a star system that you do not own, you must attack it or orbit it endlessly until a fleet from a rival empire arrives and blows it away! When you click the pointer over the ATTACK option, a window will appear showing all the fleets eligible for attack. Eligibilty depends only on whether or not a fleet has arrived at its destination. You cannot attack your own star system! Once you select a fleet to attack you must select its target. Enemy fleets will either be "ENEMY-STAR" or "ENEMY-FLEET". "ENEMY-STAR" means that you are about to attack the star system's defenses. "ENEMY-FLEET" means that other fleets hovering about. After that, a battle screen will appear showing your fleet pitted against the enemy's. After the battle has been decided, the losses for both sides will be shown. Click the mouse again to go back to the starmap. 5.3.4 LAUNCH SSMs ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Launching SSMs will allow you to attack any star system (no matter what distance) within the SAME - 9 - turn! This option will only allow you to knock out the star's defenses. Even though you might win the battle, the star will not belong to you; you will need to send some ships to conquer it. After the battle, the SSMs will automatically self-distruct , so if you still have some left over, they will all be destroyed. When you click this option, you will be prompted the SSM's origin. Click on the star system you want to launch the SSMs from. Now click the star you want to launch the SSMS to. From there click the number of SSMs you want to launch. The battle will then begin. 5.3.5 CHANGE DESTINATION (REGISTERED VERSION ONLY) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This function will allow you to change a fleet's current destination. When you click this function, you will be prompted for the fleet's name. Enter the fleet's name and hit enter. From there, move the mouse cursor over the desired star destination and click either mouse button. 5.4 EMPIRE MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 5.4.1 NEWS ~~~~~~~~~~~ This option will allow you to see the current empire news. In the news, you will see all the latest things that has happened to your empire, like technological advances, an attack on you system, or accidents. Click the up and down arrows to scroll through the news. News will be updated yearly, so if you don't view it during your current turn, you won't see it again on the next turn! 5.4.2 TECHNOLOGY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With this option you can grant CREDITS to your scientist to research and develop new technology. New technology will allow you to build stronger, faster, and better looking ships! The "CURRENT TECHLEVEL : x" tells you your current tech level (the higher, the better). - 10 - The "GRANT TO DEVELOP : x" indicates the amount of money required to attempt to discover the new technology. The "CREDITS" box indicates the total amount of credits in the empire treasury. Credits cost 2 BPs to build. The box next to the "CREDITS" box is the "CHANCES" box. This indicates the chances, in percentage or PC, of discovering the new technology. If you try to discover something and are unsuccesful, your chances of discovering it the next turn will improve. So one way or another, you will discover the technology. If you have enough CREDITS and want to try to develop some new technology, click the "DEVELOP" button. 6.0 REFERENCE GUIDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following text will summarize all the game's SHIPS and PLANETS. 6.1 SHIPS GUIDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The following text will explain all of the available ships in clear concise detail. LEGEND : ly/t = Light Years per Turn DPs = Actual damage done (Damage Points) APs = Armor points ( equivalent of 1 foot of titanium ) BPs = Building points ( Legal tender during production phase ) FIGHTERS -> Small pathetic attack ships. Great for sneak attacks due to their speed; otherwise a poor choice for defensive measures. Lacks armor and weaponry. Fighters have 2 mass laser cannons. DESTROYERS -> Good all-around attack ship. Destroyers have adequate defensive and offensive capabilities. Great for long range attacks due to its speed. Most bang for the buck according to "Dan's Guide to Buying Used Starships". Destroyers have 4 quad missile tubes on either end. Great against large ships. - 11 - CRUISERS -> Similar to destroyers but with more armor and less speed. Cruisers have 2 mass plasma accelerators on both sides. BATTLE CRUISERS -> Battle Cruisers or BCruisers are great for base defense and nearby attacks. Slow speed makes it useless for long-range attacks. Has great armor and weaponry. A very formidable ship. This puppy has 10 Mass Ion cannons. CARRIERS -> A behemoth among its friends. Carriers have incredible offensive and defensive capabilities. But due to its bulky size, speed is extremely limited. Carriers can have up to 10 Neutrino Accelerators. SSMs -> SSM stands for "Star-to-Star missile". These missiles can travel to ANY enemy star system within ONE turn. The purpose is to either destroy their defenses, or to piss them off. The following table will summarize each ship's speed, weapon, and armor capabilities. The cost to build the ship will also be on the table. Name | Speed | Weapon | Armor | Cost ------------+--------+--------+--------+------------ Fighter | 5 ly/t | 1 DP | 1 AP | 10 BPs Destroyers | 4 ly/t | 5 DPs | 5 APs | 45 BPs Cruisers | 3 ly/t | 5 DPs | 7 APs | 60 BPs BCruisers | 2 ly/t | 10 DPs | 10 APs | 100 BPs Carriers | 1 ly/t | 15 DPs | 15 APs | 150 BPs ------------+--------+--------+--------+------------ SSMs | 99 ly/t| 2 DPs | 1 AP | 30 BPs Def Sats? | N/A | 3 DPs | 3 AP | 20 BPs? This concludes the SHIP GUIDE. 6.2 PLANET GUIDE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There are five different planet types in the world of STELCON. The following text will describe each one's atmosphere, hydrosphere, production rates, population growth rate, and factory growth rate. - 12 - Planetary atmosphere and hydrosphere effects population growth rate. Production rates effect BP production (the higher the better). The greater the population, the higher the BP production. Factory growth rate affects the growth of production, which in turn, affects BP production. EARTH-LIKE (TERRAN) -> Great all-around planet for population growth and production. OCEAN-WORLD -> This planet has almost no land mass making it difficult for starship construction. But with the advent of new technology, starship platforms are built to compensate. DESERT-WORLD -> This planet, unlike the OCEAN-WORLD, has almost no liquid mass at all. Due to the intense heat, starship construction is known to be slow. Temperatures are known to have reached 260 degrees with almost NO precipitation. Sandworms have been sighted. TROPICAL-WORLD -> This planet is similar to EARTH, except for the huge amount of vegetation. This, of course, hinders starship construction; otherwise it is great for population growth due to an abundant food source. ASTEROID -> This is a barren, lifeless rock. Because of its flat land mass, this planetoid is great for starship construcdtion but poor for population growth. - 13 - The following table summarizes each planets characteristics. Name | Atmos | Hydro | Prod | PopRate| FactRate ---------+--------+--------+--------+--------+--------- EarthLike| Normal | Water | 100% | 10% | 10% Ocean | Normal | Water | 70% | 8% | 5% Desert | Normal | None | 80% | 8% | 8% Tropical | Normal | Water | 90% | 10% | 8% Asteroid | None | None | 90% | 6% | 9% ------------------------------------------------------- This concludes the PLANET GUIDE. 6.3 QUICK-REF KEYS ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ With this new version, keyboard shortcuts have been added! Hit F1 for help. (SF1 stands for SHIFT-F1) GAME MENU ~~~~~~~~~ F1 = HELP F2 = SAVE GAME F3 = LOAD GAME F4 = END TURN STAR MENU ~~~~~~~~~ F5 = SCAN STAR F6 = NAME STAR F7 = SHIP STATUS for STARS FLEET MENU ~~~~~~~~~~ F8 = DEPLOY FLEET F9 = FLEET POSITIONS F10 = FLEET COMPOSITIONS SF1 = ATTACK SF2 = LAUNCH SSMS EMPIRE MENU ~~~~~~~~~~~ SF3 = TECHNOLOGY SF4 = NEW 6.4 SCSETUP ~~~~~~~~~~~~ SCCONFIG has been re-done and renamed to SCSETUP as of version 1.4. SCSETUP will allow you to set the parameters for STELCON. - 14 - VGA FADING -> This will either turn ON or OFF the VGA Fading. If you experience flicking, turn this option OFF. Otherwise, the game will look A LOT better with it on. BATTLE SPEED -> Battle speed can range from SLOWEST to FASTEST. For a 386 25SX, the optimal speed would be 3 or NORMAL. For a 286 12mhz, the optimal speed would be 1 or FASTEST. MENU COLORS -> There are 4 different menu colors to choose from. Pick the one that suits your taste. (REGISTERED VERSION ONLY) 7.0 FINAL NOTES ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 7.1 Future Releases ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This game is in NO WAY completed! More features are being added with the writing of this text. With registration, you will receive the latest version along with notices of new releases and updates. Look for these future add-ons : NEAR-FUTURE ~~~~~~~~~~~ - Defense satellites (great against fighters!) - Mass Industrial complexes (Production of star will double!) - Setup trade routes for more BP production! Trade and use comodities like Chemicals,Metals,Supplies and Energy! - Bigger starmap! Up to 100 X 100 for the true wargamer! - The use of scenarios instead of random starmaps! - Worm hole/Gate construction. Go anywhere, anytime, in ONE turn! - Soundblaster support! - Even modem play! - And Much, much more! - 15 - If you think you have some more good ideas or suggestions, feel free to write to us! We will keep you on our mailing list. You will be notified of future updates, FOR FREE! 7.2 REGISTRATION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well its time for me to ask you for a donation (College is expensive). Please note that this game is in NO WAY crippled! You might see some extra commands in the menu, but most likely they're still in construction. This game is meant to be shareware and will stay that way. The cost of registration will be $20. Yes, twenty miserable bucks will get you most (if not all) the above! With this registration you will be notified of future programs and updates! Please fill out the ORDER.FRM. Thanks for playing STELCON! 7.3 CREDITS ~~~~~~~~~~~ Programmer -> Vu Truong Game Design -> Vu Truong Graphics -> Vu Truong Documentation -> Vu Truong Dan Chang Nairn Baliber Beta Testing -> Dan Chang Mike Dinh Nairn Baliber Beta Distribution -> Mike Waldron sysop of Sweetlife For new versions of STELCON, call Sweetlife BBS at (818) 882-9058. You can reach me there via the STELCON forum. I can also be reached via Uni'Net and Smartnet. You can also reach me on CompuServe. My user ID is 70242,3015. Updates can be Freq' at 1:102/815 under "1SCV*.*" - 16 - 7.4 DISCLAIMER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ DISCLAIMER/WARRANTY/LICENSE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIS PROGRAM, DOCUMENTATION, AND GRAPHICS FILES ARE COPYRIGHT 1992 BY THE AUTHOR (VU TRUONG). YOU ARE HEREBY GRANTED PERMISSION TO FREELY DISTRIBUTE AND USE THIS PROGRAM FOR PERSONAL USE. YOU MAY UPLOAD THIS PROGRAM TO AN ELECTRONIC BULLETIN BOARD SYSTEM OR AN INTERNET FTP SITE PROVIDED THAT ALL THE ORIGINAL PROGRAMS ARE KEPT INTACT AND UNALTERED. THE REGISTERED VERSION ON THE OTHER HAND, MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED IN ANY WAY. YOU ARE SPECIFICALLY PROHIBITED FROM SELLING OR CHARGING OR REQUESTING ANY MONETARY AMOUNT FOR THE DISTRIBUTION OR USE OF STELCON OR ACCOMPANYING DOCUMENTATION. STELCON MAY NOT BE USED FOR ANY COMMERCIAL PURPOSES WITHOUT MY PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION. STELCON MAY NOT BE DISTRIBUTED FOR USE WITH ANY FOR-PROFIT PRODUCTS (SOFTWARE, HARDWARE, OR OTHERS) WITHOUT MY PRIOR EXPRESS WRITTEN PERMISSION. THERE IS NO WARRANTY OF ANY KIND; THIS MAGNIFICENT PIECE OF WORK IS PROVIDED ON AN "AS-IS" BASIS. THE AUTHOR OF THIS SOFTWARE (VU TRUONG) SHALL NOT BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER THAT MAY RESULT, DIRECTLY OR INDIRECTLY, FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE OR DOCUMENTATION. BY OWNING A COPY OF AND OR USING STELCON, YOU AGREE TO ALL THE ABOVE TERMS.