forked from envs/starlanes
426 lines
13 KiB
Groff
426 lines
13 KiB
Groff
.TH STARLANES 6 "29 March 1996" "Starlanes V1.2.2"
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.SH NAME
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starlanes \- the game of starlanes
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.SH SYNOPSIS
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.BR "starlanes " [ -v | c | m ]
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.SH DESCRIPTION
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.B Starlanes
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is a game of interstellar commerce for 1 to 4 players. Players take
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two-phase turns: the first phase is movement, the second is trading.
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.PP
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The object of the game is to become as wealthy as possible by trading
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and merging companies whilst out-smarting your friends and enemies.
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.SH OPTIONS
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.TP 5
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-v
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Print version information
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.TP 5
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-c
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Force the game to play in color mode
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.TP 5
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-m
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Force the game to play in mono mode
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.SH PLAYING STARLANES
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.SS The Starlanes User Interface
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.B Starlanes
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is written using color ncurses, but will detect a black and white
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screen and will modify its output accordingly. On Linux, setting
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.B TERM=console
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or
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.B TERM=linux
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either on a virtual console or in a
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.B color_xterm
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window works well.
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.PP
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After the initial player determination screen, you will be presented
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with the main
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.B Starlanes
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screen. This screen is split into three individual windows: the
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.BR "map window" ,
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the
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.BR "company window" ,
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and the
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.BR "general info window" .
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.PP
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The
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.B map window
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shows the terrain of the universe. The legend is:
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.PP
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.RS
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.BR * " - Star"
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.br
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.BR @ " - Black hole"
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.br
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.BR + " - Infant company"
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.br
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.BR . " - Empty space"
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.br
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.BR A
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- Company A (Altair Starways)
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.RE
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.PP
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The companies are
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.BR "Altair Starways" ,
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.BR "Beetlejuice Ltd." ,
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.BR "Capella Freight Co." ,
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.BR "Denebola Shippers" ,
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and
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.BR "Eridani Expediters" .
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On the map, the companies are represented by the first letter of their
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name.
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.PP
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The
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.B company window
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shows information concerning the currently existing companies,
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including the company name, its price per share, and the current
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player's holdings.
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.PP
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The
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.B general info window
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will prompt the user for input if the player is waiting to move or
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trade, but will also display special announcements as they come up.
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During a player's turn, that player's name is displayed in the title
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bar of the window, along with his cash holdings.
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.PP
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Also, mention should be made of two other windows: the
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.B player standings window
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and the
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.B company detail window
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(not to be confused with the
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.BR "company info window" .)
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.PP
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The
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.B player standings window
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can be brought up during the player's move by pressing the
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.RB ' s '
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key. This window shows all the player's names, stock holdings, cash,
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and total worth, sorted by total worth. It also shows the number of
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sectors that remain to be filled by companies before the game ends.
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.PP
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The
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.B company detail window
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is invoked with the
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.RB ' c '
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key. It shows, for each active company, its name, price per share,
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size, and total worth (all player's shares * price per share). The
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company size and total worth are useful in determining the result of a
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.B merger
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(see below.)
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.PP
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If a screen redraw is necessary, pressing
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.RB ' ^L '
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at almost any of the prompts will accomplish that.
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.PP
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Finally, if the players want to
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.B quit
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before the game before is over, press
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.RB ' q '
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or
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.RB ' ^C '
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and a quit verification window will pop up. If
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.RB ' y '
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is pressed, the final game standings will be displayed, and the
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program will end.
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.SS Player Movement
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During the first phase of a player's turn, the computer will prompt
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for a move from a choice of 5. These moves are chosen randomly (for
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the most part). Upon making your move, there are several things that
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might happen. (NOTE: it is important to remember that two objects on
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the map are adjacent
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.I only
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if they are orthogonally adjacent. Diagonals
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.B don't
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count!)
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.PP
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If you move into a sector that is completely surrounded by empty space
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.RB ( . ),
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that sector will then contain an infant company
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.RB ( + ).
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.PP
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If you move next to an existing company
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.RB ( A - E ),
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that company will expand into that sector of the map. If the new
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extension of the company touches an infant company
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.RB ( + ),
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that infant company will also be assimilated.
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.PP
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Given that you're not moving next to an existing company, if you move next
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to a star
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.RB ( * )
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or an infant company
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.RB ( + ),
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a new company will be formed. You, as company founder, will receive
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.B 5
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shares in the company for free. For calculating how much a company
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will be worth, see
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.BR "Company Pricing" ,
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below.
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.PP
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If you happen to move next to a black hole
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.RB ( @ ),
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one of many things could happen, depending on the circumstances. See
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.BR "Black Holes" ,
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below.
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.SS Company Pricing
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Determining a company's price per share is fairly simple. Generally
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speaking, a company is worth
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.B $100
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for every sector it occupies (as given on the
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.B "company info window"
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under ``Size''), plus
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.BR $500
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for every sector it occupies which is adjacent to a star
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.RB ( * ),
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minus
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.BR $500
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for every sector it occupies which is adjacent to a black hole
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.RB ( @ ).
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If a
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company's price per share drops to 0 or less, the company vanishes
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(see
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.BR "Black Holes" ,
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below.) Also note that you will not be able to visually estimate a
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company's price per share if that company has undergone a stock split
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(see
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.BR "Stock Splits" ,
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below.)
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.SS Holding Bonus
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Immediately after a player's move, he is awarded a cash bonus equal to
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.B 5%
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of the total worth of his complete holdings. This bonus is awarded
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even if the game ends directly following the move (see
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.BR "Game's End" ,
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below.) This is the cash that the player will then use during the
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trading phase (see
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.BR Trading ,
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below.)
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.SS Trading
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If any companies exist after a player moves on the map, that player
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will be given the chance to buy and sell stock. This is where the
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game is really played. One must determine which companies are going
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to earn the highest profits in the next round and invest in those
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companies more heavily than ones that only have a small chance of turning a
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profit. (See
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.BR Strategy ,
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below.) The current player's cash value is printed next to his name
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in the
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.B general info window
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title.
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.PP
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Use the arrow keys to select a company you wish to trade stock in,
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then press
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.BR return .
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You will be asked for an amount to trade. Enter the number of shares
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you wish to purchase in this company. (Just press
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.B return
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again or enter
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.RB `` 0 ''
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if you don't really want to trade with this company.)
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Choose a negative amount if you want to sell shares (at
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.B 100%
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of their value.) At this point, the user can also press the
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.RB ' m '
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key to purchase the maximum number of shares possible, or press the
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.RB ' n '
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key to sell all of his holdings in this company.
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.PP
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Once the player has completed trading, he can press
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.B escape
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to end his turn, thereby transferring control to the next player.
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.SS Mergers
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When a player chooses a sector of the map that would cause two or
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more companies to touch, a
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.B merger
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occurs.
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.PP
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First, the companies sizes are checked
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and the company with the larger size absorbs the smaller.
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.PP
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If the companies are the same size, the company with the highest total
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worth absorbs the smaller.
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(The user can view company size and company total worth on the
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.BR "company detail window" ,
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see above.)
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.PP
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Finally, if both company sizes and total worths match, the companies
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will merge at random.
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.PP
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If a three or four-way
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.B merger
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occurs, the merges will take place one at a time, in an order that is
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somewhat clockwise.
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.PP
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After a
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.BR merger ,
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each player will have half the number of shares of
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held in the vanquished company added to the number of shares held in the
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still-existing company. The value of the still-existing company's
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price per share will increase by the vanquished company's
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price per share.
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.PP
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Additionally, each player receives a cash bonus equal to
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.PP
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.RS
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.RB "10 * " "stock price" " * " "holdings percentage" ,
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.RE
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.PP
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where
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.B stock price
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is the old price per share of the vanquished company and
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.B holdings percentage
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is the percentage of total stock once owned in the vanquished company.
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For example, imagine that
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.B Altair Starways
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(worth
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.B $500
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per share) is merged into
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.BR "Denebola Shippers" .
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Also, assume that the player owned
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.B 50%
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of the total shares in
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.BR "Altair Starways" .
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Using the formula, that player would receive a bonus of
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.PP
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.RS
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.RB "10 * " $500 " * " 50% " = " $2,500 .
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.RE
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.PP
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For more hints on how to deal with
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.BR mergers ,
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see
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.BR Strategy ,
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below.
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.SS Stock Splits
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When a company's price per share climbs above
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.BR $3,000 ,
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a
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.B stock split
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occurs. All player holdings in that company are doubled, and the
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price per share is halved. See
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.BR Strategy ,
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below, for money making tips during and after stock splits.
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.SS Black Holes
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Since
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.B black holes
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drain
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.B $500
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from any company that is in contact with them, it is possible that the
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company's price per share will drop to 0 or less. If this happens,
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the entire company is sucked out of space and all player holdings are
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lost.
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.PP
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If a player attempts to place an infant company
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.RB ( + )
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near a
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.BR "black hole " ( @ ),
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that infant company will be immediately sucked up, resulting again in
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an empty sector.
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.PP
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Likewise, if a player attempts to start a new company that would
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normally be worth $500 or less per share next to a
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.BR "black hole" ,
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the sectors that the new company would have occupied all become empty
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space
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.RB ( . ).
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.PP
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For some ways to make
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.B black holes
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work to your advantage, see
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.BR Strategy ,
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below.
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.SS Game's End
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The game ends when
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.B 54%
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of the map is filled with companies (about
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.B 70
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sectors.) The player who made the final move receives his
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.B 5%
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holdings bonus (see
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.BR "Holding Bonus" ,
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above) and the final standings window is displayed. The player with
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the highest total worth is the winner.
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.SS Strategy
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In order to maximize your profits, you must wisely invent your cash.
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For instance, if a company is near a black hole, it is likely that it
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will lose $500 per share in the next few rounds. Likewise, if a
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company is near a star, it might soon have a $500 gain.
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.PP
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Also, the
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larger the company, the greater that chance that it will be added onto
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(just because it takes up more room on the map.) If you own 300
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shares in a company, and its value goes up by $100 per share, that's a
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$30,000 increase in your net worth.
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.PP
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Another thing to watch for is when companies are about to merge.
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Remember that the number of shares you own in the smaller company will
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be halved before being added to the bigger one when they merge. This
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can be used to your advantage, especially if the smaller company is
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worth significantly less than the larger. If the big company is worth
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$2,000 per share, and the small is worth $200 per share, you can buy 10
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times as many shares in the smaller. When the companies merge, the
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number of shares in the smaller company is halved, but it's still 5
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times the amount of stock you could've purchased in the larger company.
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.PP
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Don't forget that when two companies merge, the players receive a cash
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bonus that depends on the percentage of stock they owned in the
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smaller company (see
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.BR Mergers ,
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above.) It is good to try to own a higher percentage than anyone
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else.
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.PP
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A way to gain profit earning potential is to have a large number of
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shares in a company when the stock splits two-for-one (see
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.BR "Stock Splits" ,
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above.) Even though your initial net worth remains the same after a
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stock split, you'll now increase your net worth by twice the value you
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used to whenever the company's price per share rises. Also, if your
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opponent has 100 shares and you have 150 before the split, that'll
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change to 200 shares and 300 shares, effectively increasing your lead
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in shares by 100%.
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.PP
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Black holes weren't present in the original game, but were added to
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give players who have fallen behind a chance to shaft the leaders. If
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your opponent owns 100 shares of Altair Starways and you only own 50,
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you can extend the company against a black hole. Your opponent will
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lose $50,000 from his net worth, but you'll only lose $25,000.
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.PP
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Finally, a reminder to invest as much money as you possible can each
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round (unless it's too risky.) The reason for this is the 5% cash
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bonus all players receive each round based on their holdings (see
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.BR "Holdings Bonus" ,
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above.) Your cash earns you no interest.
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.SH FILES
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.I /usr/local/games/starlanes
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.br
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.I /usr/local/man/man6/starlanes.6
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.SH AUTHOR
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This version of
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.B Starlanes
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was written and is Copyright (C) by Brian
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.RB `` Beej ''
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Hall 1995-1997. The author can be reached at
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.BR beej@ecst.csuchico.edu .
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.B Starlanes
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comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY. This is
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free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under certain
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conditions; read the file
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.I COPYING
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for details.
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.SH ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
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I'd like to thank the unnamed authors of the original Starlanes for
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creating such a thought provoking and fun to play text-based game. I
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got my first copy on a First Osborne Group (FOG) disk in what must have
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been 1982 or so, and used to spend endless hours playing against my
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friends. For us, the game is just as fun as ever. To the original
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authors, I salute you!
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.SH BUGS
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There are no computer controlled players.
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.PP
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Doesn't respond if ^Z is pressed to suspend the game.
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.PP
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If only one person is playing, he or she will frequently make enough
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money to break the fixed-field-length windows and/or cause the
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variable that holds player cash to overflow. Try to keep your
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earnings under $2 billion until I convert these variables to long
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doubles. :-)
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