Documentation for the Spy! add-on V1.00I by Dlanor Blytkerchan (RLSystems) This documentation and the latest version of this add-on should be available at The Catacombes of The Hazardous Area.
URL:<http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/3966>
For more information about this and other add-ons by Dlanor Blytkerchan, mail <dlanor@dds.nl>
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0.0 Index
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0.0 Index
1.0 Introduction
2.0 Installation
3.0 Dropping Spies
3.1 Dropping spies on allied planets
3.2 Dropping spies on uninhabited planets
3.3 Dropping spies on your own planets
4.0 Dropping saboteurs
4.1 Dropping saboteurs on allied planets
4.2 Dropping saboteurs on uninhabited planets
4.3 Dropping saboteurs on your own planets
5.0 Spies at work
5.1 Spies getting caught
6.0 Saboteurs at work
7.0 Retrieving spies and saboteurs
8.0 Known bugs
9.0 The author
10.0 Guarantees
11.0 Sites of interest
12.0 Bugfixes
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1.0 Introduction
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Information is power. That axioma especially goes where warfare is concerned. I believe even Sun Tzu would agree on this. When playing VGA planets, you can be very sneaky and get all kinds of information without your enemy knowing about it. The arsenal of sneaky tricks that you have up your sleave has now been enlarged even more!
This add-on will allow all players to drop spies or saboteurs on enemy planets by simply using friendlycode 'SPY' on a ship with fighters to drop a spy, or 'SAB' on a ship with fighters to drop a saboteur.
Spies hack into the enemy computers and drain as much information as possible from them, then relaying it to you. Saboteurs do something entirely diffirent: they undermine the planet economy or damage the ship they are on. (More details in the chapters devoted to them).
This add-ons was written to provide a new weapon in the war against your enemies. Use it well!
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2.0 Installation
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This add-on was written to be used with Tim's host, and was tested on version 3.22.022. It is intended as an Auxhost 1 function, meaning it is executed before ship movement and economical development. I believe it will have the most impact if used in the auxhost 1 part of the sequence, before any other add-ons. I have not yet written an installer for this program, so installation goes by hand, but is really simple. You simply open the AUXHOST1.INI file and put drive:\directory\SPY.EXE path on it. For example. If I run the program from Z:\PLANETS.32 and have the host files in F:\PROCESS I'd put this line in AUXHOST1.INI:
Z:\PLANETS.32\SPY.EXE F:\PROCESS
That's all. The rest goes automagically.
Players do not need to install anything. Once installed. SPY will send a subspace message with general info on how to use the add-on but hosts are asked to send this file to the players.
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3.0 Dropping Spies
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Any ship with fighters and more than one crew memeber can drop a spy. The players simply sets friendlycode 'SPY' to do so. The program then looks to see if the ship has fighter bays, fighters and more than one crew member.
Dropping a spy will cost you one fighter and one crew member. Any spy flying to the surface of a planet has 50% of being spotted. Though this will not increase the chance of getting cought, it will alert the planet's owner about the spy's presence. If the dropping of the spies was succesfull, the ship will report to you saying "The eagle has landed".
As soon as a spy has landed, he will start spying on the inhabitants of the planet and hacking into their computers.
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3.1 Dropping spies on allied planets
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The add-on does not distinguish between allies and enemies: spies will be dropped on allied planets as well as on enemy planets and the spies will do their job. It is a good habit to mistrust your allies, so your spy will act as if there is no alliance.
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3.2 Dropping spies on uninhabited planets
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Spies on uninhabited planets will remain there and wait for the planets to be inhabited. It is a good idea to drop a spy on a planet you are leaving. This will allow you moniter the planet and know when it is taken over by an enemy (and obtain information about that enemy as well).
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3.3 Dropping spies on your own planets
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This is not possible.
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4.0 Dropping saboteurs
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Any ship with fighters and more than one crew memeber can drop a saboteur. The players simply sets friendlycode 'SAB' to do so. The program then looks to see if the ship has fighter bays, fighters and more than one crew member.
Dropping a saboteur will cost you one fighter and one crew member. Any saboteur flying to the surface of a planet has 50% of being spotted. Though this will not increase the chance of getting caught, it will alert the planet's owner about the saboteur's presence. If the dropping of the saboteurs was succesfull, the ship will report to you saying "The eagle has landed". As soon as a saboteur has landed, he will start wrecking havoc.
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4.1 Dropping saboteurs on allied planets
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The add-on does not distinguish between allies and enemies: saboteurs will be dropped on allied planets as well as on enemy planets and the saboteurs will do their job. This may be hazardous to your alliance..
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4.2 Dropping saboteurs on uninhabited planets
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Saboteurs will sabotage any planet not owned by the saboteur's race, but will never be caught because there's no-one to catch him..
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4.3 Dropping saboteurs on your own planets
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This is not possible.
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5.0 Spies at work
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Spies hack into the computers on the planet they are located on and will gather as much information as possible from there. The amount of information they gather per month depends on the population size of the planet. A message could look like this:
<<< SPY REPORT >>>
I have tapped into the computers of
planet ID#: 1
owned by The Solar Federation
This is the information I have gathered:
planet ID#:2
Owner: The Solar Federation
FriendlyCode: NUK
Colonists: 10000000
MegaCredits: 512
Supplies: 7614
Buildings: (M/F/D)
15/4/364
Minerals: (On ground/In core/Density)
Neutronium: 5313/2431/15
Tritanium: 321/5/23
Duranium: 234/321/21
Molybdenum: 312/54/23
They have a starbase!
The next message could then look like this:
<<< SPY REPORT >>>
Info on the starbase:
Defense: 200
Damage: 0
Tech levels: (E/H/B/T) 7/6/8/10
Fighters: 60
As you can see, the spy tells you everything you want to know about the planet, but not everything about the base: they tend to have better security, so the spy won't even always get into their system..
If the planets he is on does not have the largest population in the race, the spy will try to get on a reighter (if there is one) and stow away. From that ship, he will tell you what other ships surround him, telling you about their weapon complements, class, etc.
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5.1 Spies getting caught
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A spy has a 20% chance of getting caught each turn. The chance that he will survive a year is about 7%. If he gets caught, it will be after he has relayed all the information he could. You won't know about it until you notice he has stopped sending info, next month. If you catch a spy, you will immediatly know about it: you'll get a message telling you that a spy has been caught and killed, and what race he was.
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6.0 Saboteurs at work
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A saboteur will try his best to destroy anything on the planet - even unowned planets - and upset the natives - even amorphous natives. He will destroy mineral stores, supplies, credits, mines, factories, defense posts..
He will tell you what is left of the planet after he's done that.
A saboteur will randomize a planet's friendly code, destroy mines, factories and defense posts, destroy mineral depots, supplies and megacredits, upset the colonists and the natives, and prevent the owner of the planet to build a starbase.
A saboteur on a ship will attempt to randomize the course and speed settings of the ship, try to set the mission and primary enemy to 0, open the bay doors so all cargo is lost aand damage the ship.
Saboteurs do not always succeed on every part of their mission. The chance that they do succeed on every part is about 0.6%. This is due to the ship security on the computer systems he has to work with.
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6.1 Saboteurs getting caught
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A saboteur has a 40% chance of getting caught after a month of work. The chance that he will srvive a year is about nil. If he gets caught, it will be after he has destroyed what he could, and relayed information on the planet or ship he is on. You won't know about it until you notice he has stopped sending you messsages, next month. If you catch a saboteur, you will immediatly know about it: you'll get a message telling you that a saboteur has been caught and killed, and what race he was.
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7.0 Retrieving spies and saboteurs
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The only way to stop a spy or saboteur from doing his job is for the owner of the spy or saboteur to take over the planet or ship he is on. A spy will not allow himself to be ordered to stop doing his job.
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8.0 Known bugs
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If a ship is destroyed with a spy/saboteur on it and the same class of ship with the same ID# is built in the same turn, the spy/saboteur will live on, on that ship, miraculously surviving the destruction of the ship he was on and traveling lightyears to the new ship. There is no way to prevent this, nor is the chance of this happening any more than slim. I do not intend to remove this "bug" because it will probably never happen..
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9.0 The author
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The author of this and most RLSystems software is commonly known as Dlanor Blytkerchan. His real name remains a mistery, even to his closest friends, but his first name may be deduced from the name he will tell you. The author can be reached at <dlanor@dds.nl>. If you need any more information, on RLSystems, RLSystems' software, Dlanor or anything else, simply send him a mail. If you want to send him money, please do.
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10.0 Guarantees
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This software is provided "as is". There are no warranties or guarantees of any kind. If your computer crashes, your cat dies or your grandmother gets a heart attack, it's your problem, not mine: I will not be held responsable nor will I be liable to anything.
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11.0 Sites of interest
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Interesting sites for you to visit:
The Hazardous Area - VGA planets game site implementing this add-on
<http://huizen.dds.nl/~dlanor/>
The Catacombes of The Hazardous Area - VGA Planets support site and home to this add-on
<http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Fortress/3966>
The RLSystems main page - other RLSystems software (non-VGA planets)
<http://almere.flnet.nl/~0landheer01/RLS_E.html>
VGA Planets - Tim Wisseman's page
<http://www.vgaplanets.com>
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12.0 Bugfixes
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V1.02F
Some messages have been fixed.
The program now supports alternate race names and hull specs.
V1.01F
Some minor bug fixes |
