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- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
- > Important notice: If you're upgrading, you need to read this file up <
- > point at which you are upgrading from. There are <
- > instructions such as 'delete this file' that you need <
- > to do if you want SRE to work correctly! <
- -----------------------------------------------------------------------------
-
- NOTE: To upgrade an old version of SRE, just unzip the ARJ (or ZIP) file into
- your SRE directory. You do not have to reset the game.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.983 [0.982b, since 0.983 isn't out]
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Chat mode fixed up so that it'll work better with locked baud rates.
- 2. A new option, SRE ENEMY, allows you to edit the pirate names (REGISTERED)
- 3. Numeric input has been made better.
- 4. F3 during chat turns the user's side on and off.
- 5. F1 during play displays a help window.
- 6. F2 during play displays a status window.
- 7. F7 and F8 decrease and increase user's time left, respectively.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.982
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Two status bars. (Wow.)
- 2. A resource file - SRE.RC - that lets you change the COM port parameters
- and the length of timeout before the keyboard times out. (And others)
- 3. Bug with short prompts and petroleum planets not giving money has been
- fixed.
- 4. Number of turns of protection bug has been fixed; previously, it gave
- one extra turn of protection.
- 5. Parameters such as /ANSI=0 didn't work with the DISPLAY or INSTRUCTIONS
- parameters.
- 6. FINALLY! SRE Checks time left on the board. On some door types, I was
- not able to figure out how much time was left, so SRE lets you play for
- an unlimited amount of time. Also, if the time left doesn't work for you
- (SRE expects minutes and your door type gives seconds or hours), you
- can disable the time-limit feature by using the command line option
- /NOTIMELIMIT. You can also edit SRE.RC to add the "No Time Limit"
- option. If you do want the time limit, use /TIMELIMIT [the resource
- file option is "Time Limit"]. The default is unspecified, and may
- change in future versions, so I strongly advise you edit SRE.RC and
- set your preference.
- 7. Bug with reports (bank investments and covert operation results) not
- showing up has been corrected.
- 8. Bug that made results of battles with over 3000 soldiers/fighters/
- cruisers has been fixed. Battle formulas are all-new (maybe not
- better).
- 9. Help is now context-sensitive. You can type "just enough" for SRE to
- fill in the rest, and press TAB to complete the word or just press
- RETURN if it's finished. (This also applies to bulletins.)
- 10. Running "SRE /?" will list all the parameters & switches.
- 11. Pressing ">" on a prompt will fill in the "max" value. This is very
- useful in the bank, to Withdraw All or Deposit All. (Not all prompts
- have this feature yet.)
- 12. Bug with entering long registration codes has been fixed. (It said
- "Thanks for registering" after you type in the numbers, but it didn't
- actually register the game.)
- 13. Some support (?) for COM3-8. You can edit SRE.RC to define your COM
- ports. (Untested)
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.981
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Problem with attacking is fixed. In 0.980, attacking did too much damage.
- 2. Problem that caused enemy players not to appear has been fixed.
- 3. Problem that prevented a player from *completely* destroying another with
- conventional attacks has been corrected.
- 4. F5 key returns the user to the BBS.
- 5. Scores won't show up locally when writing to SRESCORES.TXT/SRESCORES.ANS.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.980
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Both Short and Long instruction files. This is to encourage users to
- read the short one if they're intimidated by the long one.
- 2. A new user message in NEWUSER.ANS/NEWUSER.TXT that is (REGISTERED)
- displayed when a new player joins the game.
- 3. Reset in the unregistered version gives more options (Pirate Raid)
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.979
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 0. Since there never was a 0.979, there isn't anything new here.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.977
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. IMPORTANT!! Use the NEW "RESEARCH.DAT" file from the ARJ/ZIP
- 2. Major bug in Pirate Raids fixed. (REGISTERED)
- 3. Many options in RESET: date to start game, number of days before
- maintenance is run, whether the name of a defender in an attack is shown
- in the news file, whether failed covert ops are shown in the news file,
- and whether special attacks are allows. (REGISTERED)
- 4. The /BIOS switch is temporarily set to be default. /FASTWRITE forces the
- direct screen writes.
- 5. Much internal `cleaning up'. The code size decreased by about 15k.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.976
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Bug involving too high Galactic Coordinator taxes is fixed. If you had
- urban planets, the GC would charge you too much, usually more than you
- have.
- 2. Nuclear bombs have a maximum planet capacity of 300. This varies during
- play. This also overrides "What's NEW in SRE 0.974", #3.
- 3. Having government planets now reduces the severity of a civil war caused
- by not paying the planets. The civil war caused by not feeding the
- people is not affected.
- 4. IMPORTANT!!! Delete REPORT.SR
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.975
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Bulletins available at the main menu. Edit SREHELP.DAT and add bulletins
- in the form:
- #key bulletin-«name»
- «text»
- #end
- The text is word wrapped unless there is a \n in the file; the "\n" forces
- movement to the next line. The '\' character at the end of a line is a
- place keeper. Some editors erase spaces at the end of a line. The \ is
- ignored by SRE, but allows you to have a space at the end of a line.
- 2. Customizable help topics. Help topics are available from the system menu.
- They are in the form #key help-«name». See #1 for more details.
- 3. Editable hints. These are also in SREHELP.DAT, with the same format as
- #1 and #2 above.
- 4. User Preferences menu. If users are pressed for time, they can turn off
- some of the verboseness of SRE, at the expense of making the game look
- ugly.
- 5. Fast files. The files are MUCH faster than those of 0.970. However, on
- some computers (386/33), you may not notice.
- 6. Main Menu now contains 9 options instead of 6. The new ones: Status,
- See Bulletins, and Diplomacy.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.974
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Computer-controlled enemies can be attacked with Pirate Raid. There
- are 9 computer enemies that steal things from players. The players can
- attack back and take back their items. (REGISTERED)
- 2. Guerilla attacks work now! (REGISTERED}
- 3. Nuclear attacks kill 25% of the opponent's planets. (REGISTERED)
- 4. Chemical attacks kill 50% of the opponent's population. (REGISTERED)
- 5. Saves in a turn. If the user hangs up during play, it saves the place
- and starts there again next time.
- 6. New covert op: Treaty Spy, #7.
- 7. Investments. At the bank, you may invest money and it will return
- in 36 real hours.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.973
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Planet prices in protection are much lower than they used to be. This
- will allow the empires to grow much faster.
- 2. Main Menu available by editing the batch file. Change
- SRE
- to
- SRE /MENU
- 3. News files NEWS.TXT and YESTNEWS.TXT list major events of the day.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.972
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Some covert operations now include a risk factor displayed before
- the player is certain that he/she/it wants to perform the covert op.
- 2. New covert operation: Bombing, #6
- 3. F10 = chat. Chat finally works acceptably. Control-R + a number
- changes colors.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.971
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
- 1. Bug fix: the Abdicate option didn't work. It caused a "divide error"
- and sometimes locked up the system.
-
- 2. Scores files generated automatically --- SRE produces SRESCORES.ANS and
- SRESCORES.TXT every time its run instead of the batch file running
- SRE SCORES.
-
- 3. The batch file needs to be created again. Re-Run SRINSTAL's Batch File
- Setup option.
-
- 4. The instruction file can be sent to a file with
- SRE INSTRUCTIONS /LOG /ANSI=1
- to produce an ANSI instruction file (SRE.LOG), or
- SRE INSTRUCTIONS /LOG /ANSI=0
- to produce a non-ANSI instruction file (also in SRE.LOG). You can
- then copy SRE.LOG to another file. This need only be done once.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.970
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-
- 1. Instantaneous petroleum price fluctuations. This prevents one user from
- taking advantage of extremely high petroleum prices. It is also more
- realistic for the game.
- 2. Guerilla Warfare
- Explained in the instructions to the game.
- 3. Several command-line options:
- A. /ANSI=0
- Forces ANSI off. Can be used with /LOG and SCORES to produce
- a non-ANSI score file.
- B. /ANSI=1
- Forces ANSI on. Can be used with /LOG and SCORES to produce
- an ANSI score file.
- C. /LOG
- Writes all output to a log file, SRE.LOG. (In ANSI if ANSI is on).
- You can also use this option to extract the instructions to a file
- with "SRE /LOG": play the game, and view the instructions. Then
- and edit the SRE.LOG file and copy the instruction part to a
- separate file.
- D. /BIOS
- Uses the BIOS for output instead of direct-screen writes. Use
- this for non-compatible computers or multi-tasking systems.
- You can also use this to get rid of snow on CGA systems.
- E. /NOSPECIALEFFECTS
- Turns off the special effect cursors at Yes/No prompts and at
- pauses. This greatly reduces the size of the LOG file. Also,
- some modems have bufferring that continues output even after
- the user has pressed a key. If so, this option will speed up
- remote game operation. (Ask users if PAUSE immediately goes
- away when they press a key or if there's a delay; if there is
- a delay, use this option.)
- F. /LOCAL
- For BBS door files that don't send the right message to SRDOOR
- that the user is local, this option forces LOCAL play.
- 4. Batch file setup inside of SRINSTAL. You don't have to run two programs
- (SRINSTAL, SETUPBAT) to install SRE --- just one.
-
- What's NEW in SRE 0.965
- +-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+-+
-
- 1. New planet types (Anti-Pollution, Petroleum)
- 2. System Menu (in the Government Spending Menu)
- A. Super Lottery - Buy tickets and the game picks a winner daily
- B. Scores
- C. Check trade deals that had to be rejected because player couldn't
- meet the demands
- D. Covert Operations
- E. Bank
- F. Show Status
- G. Set Tax Rate
- H. Toggle Expert Mode
- I. Abdicate
- J. Change Colors
- 3. Bank available before paying planets
- 4. All-new improved SETUPBAT program, that allows:
- A. Outputting the scores to a separate ANSI/text file
- B. Recording all actions of all players in a trap file
- 5. A nicer-looking status bar
- 6. Command line parameters:
- REGISTER
- Registration of the game. If you send the registration form in,
- we will send you three code numbers to you that you type in with
- this option.
- REREGISTER
- Registration of the game if it is already registered to someone else.
- BANK
- Setup of the bank: creates the bank and sets an interest rate. This is
- available in the registered version only.
- RESET
- Erase all players, and set options. Options are only available in the
- registered version.
- SCORES
- Displays only the scores. Either run "SRE SCORES" as a door program
- to allow the scores to be sent to the user directly or create a score
- file with "SRE SCORES /LOG /ANSI=1 /LOCAL" and copy SRE.LOG to another
- file. ("SRE SCORES /LOG /ANSI=0 /LOCAL" for a non-ANSI score file)
-
- (See the new instruction file for details)
-
-
-