L I N E W A R S Version 1.xx Made in Finland by Patrick Aalto First words This is a game I personally have long been waiting for. After I got tired of waiting, I decided to give it a try myself. This is actually my first attempt to create anything remotely useful using assembly language. This is essntially a two player game, played on two computers that are connected with a RS-232 cable and/or modems. You can play it alone, but then it is not very entertaining. Disclaimer (Sorry about this...) LineWars and LineWarC are distributed on an "AS IS" basis. I assume no responsibility for damages or loss of busines arising out of the use or incorrect use of this program on your machine or machines. Hardware Requirements You can play this in any PC having either EGA or CGA card and monitor. You should also have a RS-232-cable connected to your opponent's computer or you should have a modem if you plan to play it in a so called 'Duel Mode'. You can select the baudrate to match your connection between 300 and 19200 bps. In practice the lowest applicaple baudrate is 300, which is barely enough to drive the game somewhat over 15 frames per second. You ought to have a faster than 6 Mhz machine. On my PC/XT clone, which is an 8 Mhz 8086 -based machine, the actual frame rate varies between 10 and 18 frames per second. That is a bit slow, but tolerable. On the other hand on a 12.5 Mhz 80286 machine this game will run too fast for human reactions (mine, anyway) if you do not slow it down (using the FrameRate settings). The game The main objective in this game is to destroy your opponent. You are flying a Cobra Mark IV multi-purpose General Contact Vehicle, which is a very fast and manoeuvrable spaceship. Your opponent has a Cobra IV too, so you both have equal chances for winning. Which one wins depends on your reactions and tactical skills! The events of this game take place far away in intergalactic space, where stars are few and alien vessels common. Therefore, you should pay attention not only to your opponent but also to all other ships in your vicinity. Failing to do so may cost you your ship (not to mention your life!). Your ship is equipped with an Energy Shield, up to six Missi- les and two Beam Lasers, front and rear. If your Energy Shield is totally exhausted, your ship will cease to function. Energy shield absorbs incoming laser fire, as well as missile explosi- ons, if it is fully charged. Missile hit reduces shield energy very substantially, so it is always better to outmanoeuvre any incoming missiles (if you learn how to do it...) Energy shields will recharge gradually when you are not in fight. When you fire lasers (using ALT-key), your Laser Energy will decrease. When it is exhausted, your lasers start to go on and off. This is not dangerous, release the ALT-key, and soon Laser energy will increase. Any laser fire that hits your ship will show in blue, while your laser rods are yellow if you miss, and red if you hit your target. When your target is destroyed, the lasers register a sudden energy burst and turn white for an instant (EGA version). In CGA version all lasers are white, but if you miss, your laser rods are thinner than when you hit. To fire a Missile you should have your target on crosshairs, then press CTRL and a missile will be launched, provided you have any left. I should also tell you that there is a chance your Missile Launchin System (MLS) jams. If this happens, you cannot use missiles during the battle. If you get yourself killed, the computer will complain (loud- ly!). So be carefull... Game Keys The keys you need in this game are as follows: Up Arrow = Dive (nose down) Down Arrow = Climb (nose up) Left Arrow = Rotate (roll) ship counter-clockwise Right Arrow = Rotate (roll) ship clockwise PgDn = F9 = Decrease Speed PgUp = F10 = Increase Speed Alt = Fire Laser Ctrl = Target/Fire Missile F1 = Front View F2 = Rear View F3 = Left View F4 = Right View ESC = Quit (that is, surrender!) All other keys are sent to your opponent's CommScreen, so you can chat in the middle of a game. (But don't fall into that old trick, when your opponent asks you something, and then attacks while you have your 'pants down', ie. your fingers not on the control keys!) Ship's Console Your Cobra IV has a large MainViewScreen, which shows you all that happens outside your ship. You can set it to 'emulate' front, rear, left or right windows using function keys F1,F2,F3 and F4. In front and rear views you can use your Laser's sights to shoot accurately. On the bottom left corner of your console are the meters for Speed, Energy Shields, Laser Energy, View and Missile status. Below the MainViewScreen is the RadarScreen. This is a highly sophisticated 3-D viewer that shows you the locations of all ships in your vicinity. On the bottom right corner is the CommScreen. All messages you get from your ships computer or your opponent show in here. All messages that you send will also show on the screen. Main Menu When the game begins, you are presented a menu. This menu is what I call 'Main Menu'. It has eight options, each of which is described below in detail. You can select using either cursor- keys and pressing RETURN (or ENTER or <Ů), or you can press the appropriate function key (F1 ... F8). ESC will get you to main menu from anywhere, and pressing ESC while in main menu drops you back to DOS (or to BBS, if that is the case). Instructions Basics of the game, like what keys to use, plus a very short summary of menu functions. Play LineWars This is IT! When you select this, the game will begin. If you are using a line (War Mode: Duel), the game will now attempt to 'wake up' the other side and start the game. The game will then begin after a few parameters are exchanged between machines. Line Settings This is a menu that needs to be used if you play LineWars via communications line (which should be the case, although this is ofcourse not necessary). If you plan never to use a line, you can skip to the following chapter. There are four switches on this menu, as follows: 1) Port. You must select which Com Port to use. Currently the options include COM1 to COM4. 2) Baud. You also need to tell the game what is the baud rate of the connection. You can select a fixed rate between 300 and 19200 baud, or Check to make LineWars use the presently active baudrate of the line. 3) Connect Mode. There are three possible positions for this switch. If you plan to use LineWars with a direct line or if you use some other program to make calls with your modem, you can set it at the 'Direct Line' - position. If you plan to use the LineWars Terminal (described later) and dial your opponent using LineWars, or if you plan to use LineWars for answering incoming calls, you should set this switch to the 'Hayes-modem' - position (provided your modem is compatible with the Hayes 'AT-commands'). The third position, BBS-door, is explained in detail in LINEWBBS.DOC. Normally you should not set Connect Mode to this option. 4) Dial. Use this switch to tell LineWars whether your modem should use tone- or pulse signals when making a call. Note, that the communications line MUST be 8 databits, 1 stop bits and no parity ! War Settings This menu you need to use whether you play single or with a friend. The switches are: 1) War Mode. Select 'Duel' if you want to use the line, 'Single' if you want to play alone. If Single, the Line Settings will have no effect on the game. 2) Key Damp. Turn this switch off, if you are very experienced in flying a spacecraft! Try it, at least. 3) Framerate. Use this setting to select the best framerate for your skills and machine. I think the 18 Hz (that is, 18 new pictures, 'frames', every second) is the best. Unless you have a 6+ Mhz AT, 'Fast'-position will not make the game run any faster. On 12.5 Mhz AT the difference is very notable! If you are just practicing, the 9 Hz might be right. 4) Enemies. Against how many at a time can you handle? Note by the way, this the maximum number of ships, not the number of ships that attack you all the time. This has no effect when playing 'Duel'. 5) Codename. If you are playing 'Duel', you can now select a horrifying nick-name that creates terror in your enemy... Terminal If you have no other terminal program to use when dialing the computer of your friend, you can use this one integrated into LineWars. It is very simple, for example it doesn't interpret ANSI-codes, but it works. When Terminal is started, you can see the active com port and baudrate from the bottom left corner. From the bottom right corner you see whether you are Offline or Online. The keys you can use are as follows: F1. If you have selected 'Hayes-modem' and you are Offline, now pressing F1 lets you dial a number. If you are Online, you can hang up pressing F1. F3. Pressing F3 switches between Server-mode (Local echo on, if Offline and Hayes-modem, wait for a caller) and Normal-mode (Local echo off, don't answer incoming calls). You should not change this unless you can't see what you have typed. If both ends are in Server-mode, characters will echo from one machine to another endlessly ! By convention only BBS- door activates Server-mode automatically. ESC quits Terminal and returns you to main menu. Ctrl-X quits LineWars running at the other side under BBS-door. All other keys will be sent to the line just as in any other terminal program. View Scores Here you can see your current status, against who you have played, how many times did you lose or win, and what is your overall score against any of your enemies. If Score is greater than one, you are ahead, if not, you are behind your enemy in your Combat Rating. Regardless of the Connect Mode, if either player selects Play or Terminal and the other player is in the Main Menu, the same operation will be performed on the other end too. What's ahead for LineWars? - Sound effects - More and different ship types - Better line-error check during the game - A real BBS-door-game with multiple players (?) - More speech - Hercules and VGA versions - Steering also with Joystick or Mouse If you want to register this version and receive new versions in the future (which will include above mentioned enhancements and many more), please send $24 to the address mentioned at the end of this document. If you wish to have a full source code, please send $42 to that address. In the case of the source code registration, please enclose one diskette (5.25" 360KB or 3.5" 720KB). Please use the registration form supplied with this package (LINEWARS.REG). Thanks to: (in random order) - Frank M. Ramaekers Jr. for FontEdit and FontLoad - Vesa Lappalainen for RS-232 comm. package - Alan D. Jones for Play (voice output) - Janne Niinist” et al. for many valuable ideas - Pekka Koivunen (SysOp of Spruce Wood Lane MBBS, 358-41-832162) Kim Heino (SysOp of BCG-Box, 358-21-404036) for many hours of testing and many good ideas My address is: Patrick Aalto Hiekkapohjan koulu 40270 PALOKKA Finland