Spacewar for the Mini-Robot GT40.

build/timestamps.txt

@@ -1437,6 +1437,8 @@ mini/-read-.-this- 197310250911.38
 mini/gtmac.mac 197310031729.12
 mini/gtros.mac 197309171214.52
 mini/ifmac.mac 197309171215.22
+mini/space.inf 197612031148.30
+mini/space.mac 197603291231.31
 minits/-how-t.21 198606231622.38
 minsky/tvdis.3 197602261842.17
 mits_s/3com.3 198302160708.38

doc/mini/space.inf

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+
+		SPACE WAR information, by Meyer A. Billmers
+
+
+   SPACE WAR is a two-player game played on the GT40 and the 11/45 with the
+GT40 keyboard and the GE1200 terminet keyboard. Before playing, the terminet 
+keyboard 3-position switch marked INHIBIT PRINT/NORMAL/TRANS should be in the
+INHIBIT PRINT position, the upper/lower case slide switch should be in the
+ALL CAPS position, and the terminet may be turned off line (press the STANDBY
+button). To invoke the game, type :SPACE at the system console. If the 11 /05
+switch register is non-zero, an initial message will appear on the GT40 and will
+remain until the GT40 switch register is made 0; then the game will start.
+
+   The object of the game is to destroy your opponent's ship. Each player
+(and thus, each keyboard) controls one ship -- the terminet controls the
+ship with the line in the center, the U.S.S. ENTERPRISE, and the GT40 keyboard
+controls the ship with no line, the B.K.E. MORONI-COMORAH (bastion of the Klingon
+Empire). The pointed end of each ship is forward, and missile come out from the
+forward end.
+
+   Control-keys are as follows:
+
+J - turns off all rocket engines.
+U - turns on forward engines (engines in the rear that cause forward acceleration).
+M - turns on backward engines.
+H - turns on counter-clockwise engines
+K - turns on clockwise engines.
+L - turns on shield. Turns off shield if shield already on.
+G - turns on cloaking device. Turns it off if already on.
+space - fires a missile.
+
+There are three bar-graphs at the bottom of the screen for each player (the set on
+the left is for the Enterprise), labelled E, P, and M. M is the number of missiles
+left to be fired. P is power - your immediate power reserves, to be thought of as
+a small fuel tank from which the ships engines, shields, and cloaking devices
+all operate. When P is zero, the ship is powerless to do anything. P is continually
+being replenished from the mail fuel tanks, represented on the graph by E -- energy.
+Energy has no short term effects on the handling of the ship, but it does have one
+important long term effect; once energy is zero, P can no longer be replenished
+and the ship becomes permanently powerless to steer or maneuver. (Missiles can
+still be fired, however, since missiles have their own self-contained power supplies).
+When a missile is fired, it leaves the ship with a standard velocity vector which is
+added to the ship's velocity vector; consequently, a missile fired from a ship 
+moving forward rapidly will have a greater absolute velocity than one fired from
+a ship which is backing up. Only the velocity of the missile relative to the ship
+is constant for all missiles.
+
+The cloaking device, when on, renders your ship invisible. Missiles may still be
+fired and you may still maneuver and be destroyed. The shield puts up a protective
+barrier which protects you from missile hits. But putting the shield up takes
+a large initial investment of power, and each time the shield protects you against
+a hit more power is consumed. If the available power drops below 50% there will
+not be sufficient power to maintain the shield, and it will go off automatically.
+Thus, while a shield will always protect you from one missile hit, it may not
+be adequate for multiple hits. Turning the shield on well in advance of missile
+hits allows time for power replenishment, which increases the number of missiles
+in a multiple attack the shield will repel. While P increases when the shield
+is up, it does so at the expense of E (also, the cloaking device consumes energy)
+so that these measures should not be used as routine defenses. Note also that
+when the shield is up, you cannot fire missiles through it.
+
+There is a portion of the screen at the top which is not visible, and flying
+into that hidden enables you to temporarily evade your opponent.
+
+There is toroidal wrap-around on all four edges of the screen. The edges are
+"sticky" -- when you go across one, your velocity is decreased. This applies
+only to ships, not to missiles.
+
+The object in the center of the screen is the sun. It exerts a 1/r gravitational
+field on all objects, ships and missiles alike, and will destroy a ship (or
+missile) that collides with it, with no damage to the sun. The twinkling points
+are stars and have no effect on the game.
+
+When a ship is damaged or destroyed, the console bell will ring. If destroyed, the
+ship will explode and fade away, and all three of its graphs will become zero.
+If damaged, some damage will be chosen at random and done to the ship. You may
+lose some missiles, power, energy, or a combination of all three. You win
+the battle by destroying your opponent, but you must survive for three seconds
+after destroying him, or the battle will be a draw.
+
+The program tallies battles won, and displays the results after each battle.
+The clock at the bottom of the screen times 15 minutes, then terminates the
+game and declares a winner. DISP will automatically be reloaded into the GT40
+at this time. The game may be terminated early by either player at any time
+by typing a control-D; this will also reload DISP.
+
+A note about controlling the ships -- turning on an engine (which will be
+indicated by a letter near your graph-information, and also by a blinking jet
+somewhere on your ship) causes acceleration to occur. Turning off that engine
+zeroes the acceleration, but not the velocity. You continue to move until
+the velocity is cancelled by firing an engine in the opposing direction.
+This is true for rotational engines as well -- they produce angular acceleration
+and unless you counter the angular velocity by firing an opposed engine, you
+will continue to spin.
+
+Also, a note about a hardware bug in the GT40. On occasion, (especially when there
+are lots of missiles on the screen) the scope will go blank. This is an unfixable
+hardware bug. If it happens to you while playing, the following fix is necessary:
+(all instructions are for the 11/05)
+
+First time -- press HALT, depress START and let it pop back up, place 1000
+in the switch register and press LOAD ADDRESS, raise the HALT/ENABLE key back
+up to ENABLE, place 0 back in the switch register, and press START again.
+
+All subsequent times -- just press START and release it.
+
+This restarts the program. The scope should come back on -- sometimes for just a
+fraction of a second, in which case you must press START again, sometimes it comes
+back for good. Eventually it will come back for good, but you may have to press
+START 5 or even 10 times in quick succession.
+
+Good luck, and may you defeat the Romulan slime-devils!
+
+