Shareware Game Pak/Shareware Game Pak For Windows.iso/aotd555d/aotdtext.exe/AOTDSYSP.DOC

Text File | 1991-10-15 | 13KB | 275 lines

╒══════════════════════════════════════════════╕
│ ARM OF THE DRAGON, Third Edition           │
│ Volume I of the Wars for Domination in 3045+ │
╞══════════════════════════════════════════════╧═════════════╕
│ By Steven H. Lin                         │
│ Original Program Concept by DevPalProj Team #1         │
│ BattleTech(tm) Concept by FASA Corporation             │
│ Copyright 1990, 1991 by Steven H. Lin. All Rights Reserved │
╞════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╧══════════════╕
│ Arm of the Dragon(tm) and AotD(tm) are trademarks of Merchant Prince Pro- │
│ ductions, Inc., registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.        │
╞═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╡
│ BattleTech(tm) is a trademark of FASA Corporation, registered in the U.S. │
│ Patent and Trademark Office.                            │
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╛



SYSOP'S GUIDE for AotD/3 Release 2



___Modemland Surgeon General's Remarks______________________________________
WARNING: This is a beta test release version of AotD/3. If you choose to run
AotD/3 on your computer, you do so at your own risk. AotD/3 has been known
to completely erase hard disk information, although many of these bugs have
been isolated and removed from the source code. This version is ostensibly
clean of such terrible maladies.



___Dedicated to...__________________________________________________________
My father, Wuu Shyong Lin, who struggled throughout his entire life against
virtually impossible odds merely to survive.



___Thanks to... (in no particular order of importance)______________________
Mike Altschul, Ph.D.
John Angus, Ph.D.
Mike Bayley of Mycroft Systems - for helpful hints
Wayne Bell - for writing WWIV
Dan Geatens
Kevin Higgins
Bruce Ikenaga, Ph.D.
Mike Janke
Gen. Arnie McAllister
Jeremy Noll, D.P.M. - for staying away
Keven Pittsinger
Allen Smith, Ph.D.
Mike Stewart, M.S.
Ronnie Toth
Peter Woodmansee - for a working DM library file!
... Miss North Miami, Miss Miami, Miss Homestead, and Miss U. of Florida -
    for gracing me with their presence, thanks, and wonderfully comfy hugs
... the various models and photographers who have graced me with their
    support...
... and all the other folks hanging out in the AOTD, DEV_ON, DOORWARE,
    DSPIRES, and FMN echos that have supported me and kept me going...


___Equipment Roster Checklist_______________________________________________
Requirements  MS-DOS computer
          450Kb+ free RAM
          Operational modem
          500Kb+ HD storage space
          ANSI driver

The above requirements are necessary for minimal operability of AotD/3 on
your system. However, there are no guarantees at any point that AotD/3 WILL
work at all; as stated by the Modemland Surgeon General, you use AotD/3 at
your own risk.

Preferences   386/486 MS-DOS computer
          640Kb free RAM
          High speed modem (HST, PEP, v.32, etc.)
          1Mb+ HD storage space
          Fast ANSI driver

The above preferences are suggested for better operability of AotD/3 on
your system, beyond the minimal requirements previously stated. Execution
speed improves, for instance, and more players can be accomodated.

Recommended   BattleTech Compendium (1)
Readings      Technical Readout: 2750
          Technical Readout: 3025 (1)
          Technical Readout: 3026
          Technical Readout: 3050 (2)
          House Kurita

Contrary to some persons' beliefs, the recommended readings are NOT text
files that can be picked up anywhere (even here)! The recommended readings
are texts published by FASA Corporation as the basis for its BattleTech(tm)
wargame. We cannot stress the importance of reading the "1st priority" items
marked above (indicated by the "(1)" after the title). Also, the "2nd pri-
ority" item is excellent for helping you to understand the advancements in
technology by the year 3052 (after the appearance of the 'Clans). However,
ALL of the recommended readings are extremely important in helping you to
build a solid foundation for yourself in helping your users to play AotD/3
and BattleTech in general and in understanding future improvements on AotD/3;
the 1st priority and 2nd priority items are so marked to help you in de-
termining which texts to obtain in sequence (the unmarked items can be ob-
tained in any order, at any time).

Optional      MechWarrior
Readings      House Davion
          House Marik
          House Steiner
          House Liao
          The Periphery
          Star League
          Wolf's Dragoons
          The Mercenary's Handbook

Like the recommended readings, the optional readings are materials from
FASA Corporation. However, these items are not as important in helping you
to understand AotD/3 itself, although they WILL totally complete your
understanding of the BattleTech(tm) universe. Therefore, although they are
marked as optional for the sole purpose of AotD/3, any self-respecting
gamer would obtain these items to enrich themselves for a deeper under-
standing of BattleTech(tm).

Steve Lin naturally has a rather extensive collection of BattleTech(tm)
literature and gaming materials, accumulated over the past few years. If
you need help in determining which specific text you should get, please
contact Steve and he will walk you through the process of prioritizing.

What, no quality gaming shop near where you live? What an unforgivable
atrocity! Well... nobody here (Steve & Co.) receives ANY money (revenues,
kickbacks, etc.) for promoting FASA products, BUT we do firmly believe in
the high quality of these products, which is partly the reason why we
developed AotD/3 as a tribute to one of FASA's games. If you wish to
correspond directly with a FASA officer or representative... lessee...
okay, Steve just handed me a Rolodex card... oh, I see, it's a mailing
address. What? Okay, I'll stick it in the text:

    FASA Corporation
    P.O. Box 6930
    Chicago, IL 60680

Anything else to say? Well, no... Okay, if you have any questions or com-
ments about AotD/3, please send 'em to Steve via the DevNet EchoMail con-
ference called "AOTD" or call directly to DevPalMiami.

How to reach DevPalMiami?

    [The Deviant's Palace] at Miami
        305/899-1841, 2400 & higher bauds
    Supporting HST, v.32, v.32bis, v.42, v.42bis, LAPM, and MNP
    FidoNet 1:135/105.0
    WWIVnet 3519
    EchoNet 50:5305/505.0
    24 hours except ZMH



___A Few Points on AotD/3 Operations________________________________________
AotD/3 is relatively easy to manage. There's no need for you to pester your
players into doing anything (well, except for actually trying out the game).

About player record editing: There hasn't been any questions concerning this
at this time. There will be a player record editor for AotD/3, made
available to registered sysops only, as one of the benefits of registration.

About daily maintenance: At this time, there are a few things that can be
classified as "daily maintenance" functions that occur within AotD/3.
However, AotD/3 has been designed in such a way as to actually spread out
these maintenance tasks throughout a few players' sessions online in the
game, so no one really notices anything untoward; not more than 2-3 seconds
maximum is discernably "lost" to the player. However, if AotD/3 is not
played for a long period of time, the first few players after the hiatus
will notice a few slow points in the game (especially at HST speeds). Then
again, the fewer the number of players, the less maintenance is required,
so it works itself out (unless, of course, your board is extremely popular
but somehow ends up being down for a week!).

Become a knowledgeable AotD/3 sysop: read the recommended (and optional)
readings. If necessary, get into an argument with FASA over the rules (don't
tell them I told you to do so!).



___Registering Your Copy of AotD/3__________________________________________
Okay, here's the painful part: deciding whether or not to become a regis-
tered AotD/3 sysop.

We all know about the raging pricing war going on (well, this sucker has
been alive ever since some nut started to charge for DOORs), and we all have
been hit by a monetary crunch these days. Now, we also know that there are a
lot of supposed "free" BBS's that actually DO charge ALL of their users for
merely logging onto their board. The sysops of these boards have accumulated
incredible amounts of money, and they hide behind this mask of "Hey, I run a
free BBS and I don't have any money!" sort of trick. Well, these l0sers can
just go to hell. Leeching money from your users and NOT bothering to give
some of that money back to Modemland in the form of registering ice is de-
plorable to the max.

DevPalProj was a money maker in the past. That is, all DevPal sysops and
syspros were professional programmers and engineers who had joined together
to become a cohesive design team for various corporations and government
agencies. Not to brag, but it's true that DevPalProj had become a
significant player among the higher echelons of computer America, repre-
senting a devotion to the arts of computer design, engineering, and pro-
gramming. However, the dissolution of DevPalProj has brought low one of the
more prolific teams in U.S. computer history, something that will be ex-
tremely difficult to duplicate, even as the former members have separated to
pursue wildly varying careers.

Now that Steve Lin is virtually alone (not counting us grunts), there is no
pressure to produce any cash cows from his present computer pursuits. Al-
though his involvement in the computer, photography, and gaming industries
has boomed recently, he has been moving steadily away from software develop-
ment, with the exception of any existing products he has produced; it has
been rumored that once he graduates from the med schools, he will turn his
back on serious computer programming forever. We hope this will not be the
case.

One of Steve's last projects in DevPalProj was the production of a gigantic
online game based in UNIX for enjoyment of BattleTech fans everywhere. This
was a major undertaking, and the game, Arm of the Dragon, was moderately
popular. However, the level of sophistication was too high for the average
BBS user, so much that the only regular players were diehard BT fans. Just
prior to the dissolution of DevPalProj, Steve began coding for a very
scaled-down version of AotD (called "AotD/MS-DOS" to differentiate it from
"AotD/UNIX"), geared toward normal humans. After several painful months (two
deaths, several exams, a couple of Board exams, an inquisition, sickness, a
gunshot wound, lots of travel around the world), AotD/3 was completed (sort
of).

Now, as in the past, Steve's registration philosophy is simple: make your
product affordable for everybody. Now, there's always a few money misers out
there, but assuming that you are a decent person, you'll agree with us that
AotD/3 is more than reasonably priced.

How so?

Well, here's a registration chart, effective 8/1/91 until replaced by a
more recent schedule:

1. Registration of AotD/3 Release 2 (any version)..........US $15.00

2. Unregistered Status on DevPalMiami 135/105..............FREE
3. 1-Yr. Normal Membership on DevPalMiami 135/105 for a
   Registered AotD/3 Sysop ON or AFTER 2/15/91.............US $3.00
4. 1-Yr. Preferred Membership on DevPalMiami 135/105 for a
   Registered AotD/3 Sysop ON or AFTER 2/15/91.............US $5.00

5. Consideration for possible beta test site status........FREE

How to register: Basically, you definitely pick #1 if you're going to
register AotD/3... then you may choose between #2, #3, and #4 for AotD
support and upgrades, and then you decide whether or not you would like
to apply for beta test site status... These five options are printed on
the registration form (see REGISTER.FRM), and all you have to do is circle
the appropriate numbers on the form!

What does having a registered copy of AotD/3 mean?
    - A registration key with your name, BBS name, phone number,
      registration code, etc.
    - Addition of NightVeil weaponry and vehicles to the available
      ironmongery
        - Access to the latest beta and registered-only versions of AotD
        - Faster responses to questions and suggestions
    - Peace of mind and potential happiness
    - Our thanks

Fill out the registration form in REGISTER.FRM, and send in the form with
the payment (check or money order made payable to "Steven H. Lin" only,
please; no cash) to:

    Steven H. Lin
    1251 NE 108th St., #621
    Miami, FL 33161