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< Reach for the Stars Sofdocs--Written by Black Fire >
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Introduction
The object of this game is to accumulate the most points.
Points are gained by completing the victory conditions. There are
four of these: Colony Development, Starship Battles, Planetary
Conquest, and Colony Destruction. At the start, each category is
weighted with a modifier of 2, but you can change that (See Main
Menu selections).
Explanation of Victory Conditions
Colony Development - You get points for developing industry and
improving social status on your colonies.
I don't know exactly how many points you
get, but it's multiplied by the modifier.
Starship Battles - Pretty obvious. After each battle, you will
be told how many victory points you earn.
(See Combat-Invasion Phase for more). Also,
all points you earn are multiplied by the
modifier.
Planetary Conquest - You get points for conquering a planet which
has been colonized by another player. I
don't know the exact amount again, but it is
multiplied by the modifier.
Colony Destruction - This involves totally blowing away a colony
belonging to another player. (You can't
destroy your own colonies.) These points are
also multiplied by the modifier.
First Menu Selections
After you get past my title page(s), you should get the
first menu up on the screen. It's relatively simple to understand
and if you have trouble with it, you might as well give up all
hope of learning to play this game. The keys that are in use on
this menu are 1-9, A-C, R, and Space. Here is a brief explanation
of what they do:
1) Player 1 7) Player 3
2) Human 8) Computer
3) ........ 9) Beginner
etc.
I will explain keys 1-3, because keys 4-9 and A-C do the same
thing for the other 3 players. (Four players are always used.)
1= Change name of player. Easy enough.
2= Toggle human player or computer. Computer players finish
up the required 4 players.
3= Change ability level FOR COMPUTER ONLY! Set the computer
players to Beginner if you're just starting. They will
default to Expert unless you change them.
Again, use 4-6 for Player 2, 7-9 for Player 3, and A-C for Player
4. Use R to continue a saved game, if you don't have one saved,
it won't work, so skip it. After you've got it set up, press
Space to go onto the next menu.
Main Menu Selections
I'll go through these by number, just press the number of the
one you want. Nothing difficult here.
1) Scenario Length - Choose 40, 80, or 150 turns. Take my advice
and stick with 40 at first.
2) Novas --+
3) Natural Disasters !__ I don't have the manual so I can only
4) Xenophobes ! guess what these do. Let it go at
5) Solar Debris Effect--+ saying they add random events to game
play. Try them yourself and see what
happens.
6) Random Star Map - Usually the stars are layed in out in a set
(and astrologically accurate) map. You can
make it random by just choosing this.
7) Task Force Setup - This will give each player a task force out
in space at start. Normally, you must build
build this first one just like the rest.
This selection makes for quicker colony
development for all players.
8) Variable Production Costs - This option lets you modify how
many RP's (Resource Points, money
basically) it costs to build
various things. Unless you have
played a couple of times, don't
mess with the numbers or you could
end up screwing the game royally.
9) Variable Victory Conditions - This is where you can modify not
what you have to do to win, but
how much each is weighted. At
start, each has a weight of 2,
you can change them, but all
numbers must add up to 8.
R) Return to First Menu - Just in case you want to review it or
change something before you go on.
Once you've got all these set to your liking, press Space to
go on to the game.
Game Overview
The game moves in cycles of 2 turns. The first turn consists of
the Combat & Invasion Phase, followed by the Production Phase.
Combat involves all players simultaneously, but the Production
phase goes through the players one by one. After all players have
completed the Production Phase, the game moves on to the second
turn which consists of just the Movement Phase. The movement
phase also moves through the players one at a time. After all
players have finished moving, you will see the task forces move
around and the cycle will restart at the combat-invasion phase.
NOTE: The Combat-Invasion Phase will only be displayed if a human
player is involved in combat in that turn.
Combat & Invasion Phase
The first part of this phase is Starship Combat. This is where
you earn points in the category of the same name. When the Combat
Phase begins, you will get a display similar to this:
COMBAT DISPLAY : TARAZED : K : BROWN
(1) BLACK FIRE (3) PLAYER 3
(2) PLAYER 2 (4) PLAYER 4
: GOOD : . . : POOR : . . :
----------------------------------------
TRANSPORT : 20 : . . : 1 : . . :
: . . : . . : . . : . . :
----------------------------------------
MARK I : 12 : . . : . . : . . :
: 2 : . . : . . : . . :
----------------------------------------
MARK II : 4 : . . : . . : . . :
: . . : . . : 2 : . . :
----------------------------------------
MARK III : . . : . . : . . : . . :
: . . : . . : . . : . . :
----------------------------------------
MARK IV : . . : . . : . . : . . :
: . . : . . : . . : . . :
----------------------------------------
The important parts to recognize are as follows:
1) Where it says "TARAZED" on the example.
This is the star system you are fighting over. Ignore
the "K" and "BROWN", they are just for astronomical use
and mean nothing in the game.
2) The names at numbers (1)-(4).
The two highlighted names are the player who are in
combat.
3) The words "GOOD" and "POOR" on the example.
These are a pretty good indication of each player's
chances of winning. The left column is Player #1 and the
right column is Player #4. In this example, Player #1
will most likely easily blow Player #3's ships away.
4) The numbers and/or dots on the grid.
First off, a set of dots (. .) is just SSG's way of
putting a zero there. Now, each box contains two sets of
numbers (or dots). The top number shows the number of
normal functioning ships that player has in the area.
The lower number is the number of damaged ships of that
type the player has in the area. Naturally, normal ships
will fight better than damaged ships.
Now a little more on combat, the more enemy ships you defeat in
combat, the more points you get (i.e. if you defeat 4 Mark I's
and a Mark II, you get more points than defeating a pair of Mark
I's alone). Mark IV's are the most powerful ship and so on up
the list, until you hit the Transports which have almost no
fighting capability. You press Space to fight a round or ESC to
wimp out and retreat. Combat continues until one side retreats or
is destroyed. Keep pressing Space to go thru more rounds of
combat. Before I go on to the Production phase, let me explain
the main map which you'll see most of the time.
Main Map & How to Move Around
What you'll be seeing most of the time is the main map. This on
the screen during most of the Production and Movement Phases. The
graphic display shows a portion of the galaxy map. The circular
type patterns which change shape are star systems. The
non-changing shapes are dust clouds. The solid block is your
cursor. The shapes that resemble the Enterprise and Klingon
vessels are task forces. Each player has a different shape for
his task force. Player #1's is the Enterprise facing right.
Moving around the screen can be done in several ways:
I,J,K,M - Move the cursor up, left, right, or down one star
system.
The numbers 1-6 move the cursor one block in the following
directions: ^
\ 1 /
6 2
5 3
/ 4 \
v
S followed by a number 1-9 moves you to that sector.
P will show you a small scale map of the entire galaxy at
once.
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