Design and ProgrammingJeff McBride and Jeff Johnson
Addtional ProgrammingJeffery Krauss
ProducerBrian Walker
GraphicsEric Chang, Michael Miller, Michael Reichmann,
MusicEmil Herceg at Arte Wisdom
Sound EffectsMahendra Sampath
IntroMinds Eye
DocumentationKurt Kremer, Brett Kremer
Technical AdviceDavid Pugh
PlaytestingBill Bolosky, Dave Buchtal, Kent Cedota,
Emblazon Multimedia
Daniel Chenault, Paul Enfield, Michael Grier,
William Herlan, Peter Henriksen, Peter Horodan,
Brent Jensen, Mark Kenworthy, Stu Klingman, Steve Kruy,
Robert Lamb, Jim Lane, John LeVee, Hilton Lange,
Chris McBride, Jeff McCashland, Beth Moursund,
Chris Noon, Tony Pacheco, Chris Peltz, Tony Reynolds,
Jenifer Schlickbernd, Eric Snapper, Andrew Sterian,
Jeff Stone, Richard Sun, David Thiel, Brad Thompson,
Thomas Voigt, Ross Youngs
Special Thanks To...Sam Belcher, Peter Celella
Packaging Design and ArtworkSharon O’Neill
ProductionAntony Bond, Gary Lucken
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
Finding Multi-Player Games on the Internet 3-12
Passwords 3-12
Using a Timer Application? 3-12
Creating a Universe from the Command Line 3-13
Things Every Stars! Player Should Know 4-1
Tuning Stars! to Your Display Resolution 4-1
Replaying a Previous Turn 4-2
Saving Your Game -- What It Means 4-2
IVC O N T E N T S
Exiting the Game 4-4
Options for Launching Stars! 4-5
Copy Protection 4-7
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 Driver Basics 6-11
Terraforming 6-14
Planet Reports 6-21
Production 7-1
How Production Works 7-1
Adding an Item to the Production Queue 7-2
Removing an Item from the Production Queue 7-3
Production Templates 7-3
Clearing the Production Queue 7-7
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
Counting the Humber of Hull Designs 9-6
Adding Ship-based Scanners 9-7
Adding Cloaking Devices 9-8
Engines 9-8
Learning About Other Players’ Hull Designs 9-9
Trading Ship Designs 9-9
C O N T E N T SV
Managing Fleets 10-1
Assembling Fleets 10-1
Warp Speed 10-1
Finding a Specific Fleet 10-3
Switching Between Fleets 10-4
Naming Fleets 10-4
Using Fuel 10-5
Routing Fleets 10-7
Rendezvousing Fleets 10-8
Splitting Fleets 10-9
Merging Fleets 10-9
Scrapping Fleets 10-10
Report for Your Fleets 10-11
VIC O N T E N T 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’sAlready Inhabited! 12-4
Mining 13-1
Mining Colonized Worlds 13-1
Calculating the Rate of Decrease in Mineral Concentration 13-2
Mineral Concentration and Mining Efficiency 13-3
Remote Mining 13-3
Transporting Freight 14-1
Shipping Freight 14-1
Transferring Fuel and Cargo to Other Fleets 14-2
Jettisoning Cargo 14-2
Creating a Custom Transport Zip Order 14-3
Flinging Mineral Packets 14-4
The Basics of Combat 15-1
Fleet-to-Fleet Combat 15-1
Bombing Planets 15-4
Mineral Packet Bombardment 15-5
Ground Combat 15-6
Minefields 15-6
Starbase Combat 15-9
Claim Adjusters and Terraforming as a Weapon 15-10
Declaring Enemies and Friends 15-10
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 17-4
Detecting Opponents’Fleets 17-4
Pirating Using Stealth-based Scanners 17-6
C O N T E N T SVII
Reports 18-1
Keyboard Shortcuts 18-2
Sorting Report Fields 18-2
How the Sort Order Affects the Display Order of Planets and Fleets 18-2
Printing a Map of the Universe 18-3
Dumping Information to a Text File 18-3
Diplomacy and Trade 19-1
Player Relationships 19-1
Trading Fuel and Minerals 19-1
Trading Technology 19-2
Trading Ships 19-2
Trading with Transdimensional Beings 19-2
Joint Mining Ventures 19-2
Claim Adjusters and Orbital Terraforming 19-3
VIIIC O N T E N T S
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
Movement, Initiative and Firing in Battle 22-8
The Guts of Cloaking 24-1
Cloaking when the Ship is Empty 24-1
Cloaking for a Fleet with More than One Ship 24-3
The Effect of Multiple Tachyon Detectors 24-3
The Appendix of Cloaking 24-3
The Guts of Mass Drivers 25-1
Damage Potential of Mass Packets 25-1
Packet Decay Rate 25-1
Speed and Distance 25-1
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 Hulls B-12
Terraforming B-12
Torpedoes B-13
C O N T E N T SIX
Files Used in Stars! C-1
Frequently Asked Questions D-1
Glossary Gl-1
Index In-1
XC O N T E N T S
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.
1WELCOME 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. Once upon a time there was a
theory that said the Universe was made up of interconnected bubbles of
space/time. The Sznip and the Fermi War proved it. The detonation that
destroyed both these super races also caused these bubbles of real space to
pop (actually a simultaneous replacement of real space with null). All the
bubbles that is, but one. This bubble of space/time, your bubble, is all that
remains. And it’s small (too small) and full (too full) of sentient species, each
on the verge of colonizing other planets and traveling between the stars. Each
race is hungry to control the little bit that’s left.
There’s bound to be trouble.
WHAT YOU’RE DOING HERE
Fortunately, the destructive element found in the terrible weapons of the
Sznips and Fermis does not exist in the Universal Remnant. So there is a limit
to the trouble you and your opponents can cause. During your first year,
you’ll be ready to build your first simple space ships. Eventually you’ll build
interstellar cruisers and planet bombers, freighters the size of small moons,
and weapons that will make your opponents tremble or shrug, depending on
their confidence level. You’ll colonize world after world as quickly as only
your race can. You may get lucky, and find artifacts left by those ancient races
that catalyze your research efforts, or encounter transdimensional beings
offering you knowledge that only they possess, and at low, low prices. By the
time the space dust settles, 100, 200, perhaps 500 or more years will have
passed, and either you or one of your undeserving opponents will be calling
the shots. Or, shot up, war-scarred, and with too few resources to continue,
you’ll call a halt, shake hands and all settle down for a foot stomping game of
Fizbin.
1-2I N T R O D U C T I 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.
YOU ARE THE MASTER STRATEGIST
Use the Stars! control panels to command your capitol worlds and fleets, to
seek out strange new worlds and new civilizations, to boldly help your
neighbors understand their role in the doctrine of Manifest Destiny.
Stars! may seem complicated at first glance. Lots of tiles and windows, lots of
text, lots of colors. These things require a little explaining. Only a very little.
But not here. You won’t need to pay more than cursory attention to most of
the information on the screen, most of the time. It’s there when you need it.
You can even temporarily collapse some pieces if you find them distracting.
To orient yourself, before you go nose to beak with the other spacially
challenged races, PLAY THE TUTORIAL GAME. Just click on New Game in
the opening screen, then click on Tutorial in the New Game dialog.
To get help during play, LEFT-CLICK the mouse when you see this cursor:
Also consider clicking on Help buttons in the dialogs and choosing the Help
commands in the main menu.
Now get going. The universe is waiting, along with up to 15 other star-hungry
races.
WHAT YOU’LL FIND IN THIS PLAYER’S GUIDE
Use this guide to help you set up any type of single or multi-player game, to
familiarize yourself with the playing screen, and to learn both the high points
and the details of creating and running the universe. For quick reference,
everything in this paper guide is duplicated in the Stars! online help.
WE’D LIKE TO HEAR FROM YOU
Stars! was designed by strategy game fanatics for strategy gamers of all levels.
Many features in the game have appeared at the request of the Stars! players
community. So talk to us. Tell us what you think and what you want (keeping
in mind that Stars! is turn-based, not live action).
Multi-player games
You can challenge
other beings on a
single computer or
across a local area
network, or by
transferring turn
files using ftp,
modems, email,
computer bulletin
boards, or any
other file transfer
mechanism you can
think of. There’s
room for up to 16
of you in the Stars!
universe, with any
mix of human and
computer
opponents.
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.
W E L C O M E1-3
1-4I N T R O D U C T I O N
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.
2SINGLE 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.
¯ Just click on New Game in the opening screen, then on Begin Tutorial in
the New Game dialog. You can quit the tutorial at any time, saving your
place to begin again later.
2-2G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
¯ 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. Click on New Game on the opening screen or on File (New) from the
Stars! main menu.
2. In the New Game dialog, select the universe size, difficulty level and race
to play. To learn about or modify the attributes of your race, click on
Customize Race. The Custom Race wizard appears.
3. When you’re done selecting game settings, OK the New Game dialog.
You’ll be prompted to enter a file name under which to save the game.
4. 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
for each human and computer player in the game. You can save the game
wherever you wish. By default, game files are saved in the Stars! install
directory.
The game begins, with your home world displayed on the screen and in
the Command pane, Scanner pane and Selection Summary pane. For the
first turn, the Messages pane contains tips that help you get started.
5. Use this turn to investigate your home planet, start basic production and
research, and send your scouts out to learn about the nearby worlds.
6. Once you finish the turn, select the Turn (Generate) menu item or press
the F9 key. Your next turn generates immediately.
7. To quit, select File (Exit) or File (Close). If you’ve made changes since the
start of the turn, Stars! prompts you to save. If you don’t save, you’ll start
the same turn over the next time you open the game.
8. When you wish to continue the game where you left off, click on
Continue Game on the opening screen. You can also click on Open
Game, selecting gamename.m1 from the playing directory.
You can learn about
defining a race in
chapter 20,
Designing Custom
Races.
You can click on
Advanced Game in
the New Game
dialog to specify
the number of AI
(computer) players
and the conditions
for victory.
IMPORTANT: The
first time you play
Stars!, exit using the
File (Exit)
command. This
writes the stars.ini
file to the Windows
directory, saving
game options and
helping to prevent
that pesky serial
number dialog from
appearing again.
S I N G L E P L A Y E R S E T U P2-3
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.
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.
If Public Player
Scores is selected in
the game setup, all
player’s scores and
rankings appear in
the Score sheet.
2-4G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
3MULTI-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. Alternately, you can customize a race for
any player who wishes it.
To set up a multi-player hot seat game:
1. Click on New Game on the opening screen or on File (New) from the
Stars! main menu. The New Game dialog appears.
2. Click on Advanced Options, then specify options such as the universe
size, difficulty level, relative starting positions, accelerated play for BBS
games, number and type of players (Human or AI), and the victory
conditions. Be sure to load any custom race files provided by the players.
Create player positions for latecomers if you think it’s necessary.
3. The order of players listed in Step 2 of the Advanced New Game dialog
becomes part of the turn file name for each player.
Learn about
creating a race in
chapter 20,
Designing Custom
Races.
Learn about
Winning
Conditions, p 3-9
3-2G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
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. By default, Stars! will save the
game files in the Stars! install directory.
6. The Stars! Host Mode dialog appears. Create a password, if you want to
prevent other players from opening the game file. Click on Auto Generate
to start the game.
7. Help the players understand what they need to do using the instructions
in What Each Player Needs to Do. If you’re playing as well as hosting,
you’ll probably find it easier to start a second instance of Stars!, playing
from one and using the other to handle host duties.
¯ To quit the game, click on Close in the Host dialog.
M U L T I - P L A Y E R S E T U P3-3
¯ 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. Open the
Custom Race wizard using the File (Custom Race wizard) menu item.
Once the host creates the game, do the following:
1. Start Stars! and click on Open Game from the opening screen. Open your
player file, gamename.mN. The Host needs to provide you with the
gamename.
Your game begins, with your home world displayed on the screen and in
the Command, Scanner and Selection Summary panes. For the first turn,
the Message pane contains tips that help you get started. Investigate your
home planet, start basic production and research, and send your scouts
out to learn about the nearby worlds.
2. Place your game files in the same directory each turn. The directory
location is your choice—we recommend creating a play directory within
the Stars! directory to keep things simple.
3. Once you finish the turn, select the menu command Turn (Wait for New).
Stars! will minimize, waiting for a new turn. When the new turn is ready,
it will beep once and flash, while displaying Turn Available.
Learn about
creating a race in
chapter 20,
Designing Custom
Races.
Screen Layout
To change the basic
layout of the Stars!
screen use the View
(Window Layout)
menu item. You can
also rearrange and
open and close
tiles, and resize
individual panes by
clicking on their
edges and dragging.
For details, read the
start of chapter 5,
The Stars! Screen.
3-4G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
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.
SETTING UP NETWORK-BASED MULTI-PLAYER GAMES
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 (Network Play)
You will need to set up the game in a shared directory (sharepoint) accessible
to all players. This sharepoint is the place that will contain all the game files,
and where the players will go to open their games. The sharepoint can exist
on a local area network, or via a modem connection (if you are using
Windows 95 Dial-up Networking capabilities—just connect to the server
machine or to another Win95 machine with the Plus Pack installed). You can
also create network connections using PC-NFS or any other software that
allows you to attach directories on the remote server as if they were local.
Before you begin setup, have your players design their races and give you the
race files for loading into the game. Alternately, you can customize a race for
any player who wishes it.
To set up a network game:
1. Create the sharepoint that will contain all the game files. We recommend
keeping it simple—no more than one play directory per game, for all
players in the game. You can create this directory within the directory
containing the stars!.exe program, or anywhere else you wish.
2. Click on New Game on the opening screen or on File (New) from the
Stars! main menu. The New Game dialog appears.
3. Click on Advanced Options, then specify options such as the universe
size, difficulty level, relative starting positions, accelerated play for BBS
games, number and type of players (real or AI), and the winning
conditions. Be sure to load any custom race files provided by the players.
Create player positions for latecomers if you wish.
Learn about
creating a race in
chapter 20,
Designing Custom
Races.
Learn about
Winning
Conditions, p 3-9
M U L T I - P L A Y E R S E T U P3-5
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). Stars! creates a
set of files containing data for that game and each player in the game.
Save the game in the shared directory.
6. Select Auto Generate in the Host dialog. The dialog will minimize,
waiting for all players to submit their turns. Stars! automatically submits
any turn into the shared directory. Once that’s done, Stars! automatically
generates a new turn, then returns to wait mode.
7. If you want to force a new turn to be generated, double-click on the Stars!
host icon, then select Generate Now from the Host dialog. To cause Stars!
to auto-generate turns again, select Auto Generate again. The dialog will
minimize and wait for players as before. Stars! will continue to follow any
existing orders for players who didn’t submit their turns on time. All
messages and data for the missed turns, such as planets discovered or
battles fought, will be present when they load the new turn.
8. Help the players understand what they need to do using the following
instructions in What Each Player Needs to Do (Network Play). If you’re
playing as well as hosting, you’ll probably find it easier to start a second
instance of Stars!, playing from one and using the other to handle host
duties.
¯ To quit the game, click on Close in the Host dialog.
¯ To restart the host, start Stars!, click on Open Game, and choose the
gamename.hst file.
3-6G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
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.
Once the host creates the game, do the following on the machine where
you’ll play:
1. Start Stars! and click on Open Game from the opening screen. Open your
player file, gamename.mN. This file should be located in the shared play
directory (sharepoint) set up by the host. The host is also responsible for
supplying you with the gamename.
Your game begins, with your home world displayed on the screen and in
the Command, Scanner and Selection Summary panes. For the first turn,
the Message pane contains tips that help you get started. Investigate your
home planet, start basic production and research, and send your scouts
out to learn about the nearby worlds.
2. Once you finish the turn, select the menu command Turn (Wait for New).
Stars! will minimize, waiting for a new turn.
When the new turn is ready, the Stars! icon will beep once and flash,
while displaying Turn Available. 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.
Learn about
creating a race in
chapter 20,
Designing Custom
Races.
If you plan to be absent for two or more turns, follow the instructions in Being
Absent from Play on page 3-10.
M U L T I - P L A Y E R S E T U P3-7
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. You can do this through a BBS, e-mail,
upload/download from an FTP site, or using any other method you wish to
transfer files from the host to player systems. There aren’t any special transfer
protocols for modem users—you’re just uploading or downloading files.
Before you begin setup, have your players design their races and give you the
race files for loading into the game. Alternately, you can customize a race for
any player who wishes it.
To set up a modem or email-based game:
1. Click on New Game on the opening screen or on File (New) from the
Stars! main menu. The New Game dialog appears.
2. Click on Advanced Options, then specify options such as the universe
size, difficulty level, relative starting positions, accelerated play for BBS
games, the number and type of players (real or AI), and the winning
conditions. Create player positions for latecomers if you wish.
Player #1’s file is
gamename.m1 (for
example, redstar.m1).
Tip: Notice the
Accelerated BBS
Play option in the
Advanced Game
setup. You may
wish to check this
option during setup
to jump-start the
game.
Learn about
creating a race in
chapter 20,
Designing Custom
Races.
Learn about
Winning
Conditions, p 3-9
The order of players listed in step 2 of the New Game dialog becomes
part of the turn filename for each player.
3. Save the game using any name up to eight characters long. 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. By default, Stars! will save the
game files in the Stars! install directory.
3-8G E T T I N G S T A R T E D
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.mN to each player. These files will be
located in the same directory in which you saved the game.
6. Help the players understand what they need to do using the instructions
in the following section on What Each Player Needs to Do
(Modem/FTP/E-mail Play). If you’re playing as well as hosting, you’ll
probably find it easier to start a second instance of Stars!, playing from
one and using the other to handle host duties.
After each player has sent you their turn (in the form of the log file,
gamename.xN) do the following:
1. Place each player’s submitted log file in the directory where you set up
the game.
2. Start Stars! (if it’s not already running), click on Open Game, and open
the host file, gamename.hst.
3. If the Stars! host is set to auto-generate mode, it will automatically
generate the new turn as soon as you move the player log files into the
game directory. If you’re generating turns manually, then select GenerateNow from the Host dialog. Stars! will continue to follow any existing
orders for players who didn’t submit their turns on time. All messages and
data for the missed turns, such as planets discovered or battles fought,
will be present when they load the new turn.
4. Once the turn is generated, notify the players that the new turn is
available. You can e-mail or upload each newly updated gamename.mN
file or allow each player to download it themselves.
What Each Player Needs to Do (Modem/FTP/E-mail Play)
(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.
Once the host creates the game, do the following on the machine where
you’ll play:
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