+-------------------------------------+ | Universe Documention | | Part 1B | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | A T-Men & Wareforce Dox File | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | Typed up by | | The Camel Jockey | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | Special Thanx to | | Silicon Warrior | | & | | A.P.G | +-------------------------------------+ +-------------------------------------+ | Written for | | | +-------------------------------------+ +------------------------------+ | Navigation and Orbits | | & | | Operation of the On-board | | Computer | +------------------------------+ +---------------------+ | Navigation & Orbits | +---------------------+ The area of space containing the Local Group is divide into a cubic volume of space 200 light years on a side. Appendix A contains a list of stars and their coordinates within this cube. Note that the home star of the Local Group, Hope, lies at the center of the cube. Navigation from star to star is accomplished using hyperspace. The X, Y, and Z coordinates of your destination are fed to the hyperspace navigation program and the rest is handled by the computer. A hyperspace jump, regardless of the distance, takes 6.8 days. Navigation within a solar system is accomplished using sub-light engines. In order to move from planet to planet, you need to feed te sub-light navigation program the current coordinates of the planet. Since plantes move, their locations cannot be presented in a table. Rather, the current coordinates of a destination planet can be obtained from the solar scan in the sub-light drive section. The coordinates for a planet are given in spherical coordinates, with one slight modification. When arriving at a planet, you are placed into a standard orbit which is to be defined as an orbit with a radius four times the radius of the planet. All other coordinates for the orbit are zero. Changing planetary orbits are also accomplished using sub-light engines. For planetary orbits, it is necessary to feed the sublight navigation program the coordinates for the new orbit. +------------------------------------+ | Operation of the On-Board Computer | +------------------------------------+ The computer system abord your ship consists of a computer processor and a mass storage unit. These units work together to perform all computer activites aboard your ship. The mass storage unit stores the programs, while the computer processor executes them. There are ten computer programs that you may purchase to run on your computer. Two of these programs, sub-light navigation and hyperspace navigation, are absolutely essential to operate your ship. The following is a description of each of the ten programs: +--------+ | Weapon | +--------+ Controls the loading and aiming of missiles and lasers. +----------+ | Autofire | +----------+ This program is not currently implemented. +--------------------+ | Amphibious Assault | +--------------------+ This program controls the descent and deployment of assualt capsules. It must be running for assault capsule use. +---------+ | Defense | +---------+ The Defense program causes systems aboard your ship to emit random radio-pulses in an effort to confuse incoming missiles. +----------+ | Resource | +----------+ Controls scanning of a planet surface for valuable ores. Must be used to land ore processors. +---------+ | Docking | +---------+ Performs all computations necessary in order to dock your ship with either another ship or a drydock. Docking attemps will not be allowed if this prgram is not running. +-----------------+ | Shuttle Control | +-----------------+ Controls the ascent and descent of orbital shuttles. Must be running to land orbital shuttles. +------------------+ | Sub-c Navigation | +------------------+ Performs all computations necessary in order to execute a sub-light nameuver. In addition, this prgram actually controls the ship attitude and engine thrust to make the maeuver totally automatic. If this prgram is not running, no sublight maneuvers will be permitted. +-----------------------+ | Hyperspace Navigation | +-----------------------+ Performs all computations necessary in order to execute a hyperspace jump. If this prgram is not running, no hyperspace traver will be permitted. +--------+ | Market | +--------+ Analyzes the cargo aboard your ship to determine the category (ie. food, narc, arti) of each piece. If this program is not running, you will not be able to determine the category of each piece of cargo. Each of these programs has a characteristic called timeshare. This is the about of time-space the program occupies in the computer processor and mass storage. Appendix D contains a list of programs and their timeshare values. For instance, the resource program takes up two timeshare units. From Apendix C, under processors, you can see that the Alkis 2 processor can hold up to 12 timeshare units. This means that the Resource program consumes 2/12 of the processor space. Also from Appendix C, under Mass Storage, you can see that the Skandis unit can store up to twenty-five timeshare units. Thus the resource program consumes 2/25 of the storage space. It is important to not however, that processor space is only used when program is running. Storage space on the other hand is used regardless of the run state of the program. Aprogram in mass storage has three characteristics: Status, Load State, and Priority. All three of these chracteristics can be viewed or changed by you at any time in the Program Control section. The status of a program may either be "run" or "halt". If the status is read or set to "run", the program is in operation and uses up processor space. A "halt" condition suspends execution and frees up processor space. The status condition does not affect storage space. The load state of a program may either be "auto" or "manual". If a program is set to maual, the status of that program can only be changed by you. A program in auto can have its status changed by the computer itself. For instance, if the hyperspace navigation program were in a halt status with auto load, the computer could begin executing that program if needed. If you attempt to plot a hyperspace jump, the computer will run the program automatically without your having to change the status manually. The priority value of a program is only meaningful if the program is set on auto load. Priority values range from zero to nine, with nine having the highest priority. If the computer encounters the need to run a program which is set to auto load, it will first check if there is enough free space in the processor. If there is, it will simply go ahead and execute the program. If not enough free space exists, the computer will attempt to halt another auto load program. The only auto load prgram the computer will halt are programs with the same or lower priority than one it is trying to run. If the computer cannot free up enough space, it will abord the attempt.