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