- When in doubt, use the on-line help system. See the help on
HELP for more information.
- If the output starts piling up in the middle of a battle, type
^O (CTL-O). None of your commands will be executed until
output is finished, so it's sometimes better just to ignore
the hit messages so your attack or run commands can be
executed immediately.
- Use multiple commands per line (separate commands with /).
Once you're in a danger area, things can happen faster than
you can react to them. Plan your action ahead of time, before
you enter a danger area.
- If some unexpected action happens, such as an enemy finding
you, and you have several stacked commands (either from a
multiple command line or typing ahead), type ^C to abort all
stacked commands (especially if it involves time consuming
commands such as BUILD, or commands that generate a lot of
output, such as SCAN). You can then proceed to remedy the
situation by giving your unexpected visitor a good beating.
- If you're on a slow terminal, use computed coordinates, and
move around a lot if you're fighting someone on a fast
terminal. Computed coordinates are the primary advantage slow
terminals have over the fast ones (computed coordinates give
slow terminals a fantastic tactical advantage over fast
terminals when used properly).
- Use <ESC> to repeat commands (see the help on ESCAPE). It's
just a convenience when building planets, etc., but in battle,
and combined with multiple commands per line and/or computed
coordinates (such as PH C B/M R 1 0 or TO 1 32 45), it can
make or break your career as a starship captain.
- Don't get within range of an enemy base, unless you enjoy
being pounded into rubble. You can kill a base just as well
from 1 sector outside it's range (use the WARNING keyword on
SCAN to see the range of an enemy base).
- Don't waste your energy and torpedoes firing at friendly ships
and bases. If you're not sure if it's friendly or not, type
HELP SCAN for a list of what's what. You can also use the
TARGETS command to see which enemies are lurking about (see
the help on TARGETS and LIST).
- Don't make it a habit of sitting next to stars; photon
torpedoes can turn them into novas, which are extremely
destructive. Conversely, if you notice an enemy ship or base
adjacent to a star, take advantage of the situation!
- One sure way to locate enemy ships is to watch for newly
captured enemy planets by using the PLANETS or LIST command.
- In general, don't waste photon torpedoes battering at a target
with 85-100% shields. The chances are good that they will
just be deflected harmlessly away. Use your phasers to weaken
the shields, then use torpedoes to finish him off. This is
especially true when attempting to destroy an enemy starbase.
- Use the SET command in DECWAR.INI to personalize the output to
your own tastes. That way you'll be guaranteed to have the
output set right each time you play a game.
- To always see the range and direction of any object listed (in
hit messages, output from the LIST command, etc.), SET OCDEF
BOTH. (The range is the magnitude of either delta v or delta
h, whichever is larger.)