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| THE REFERENCE
By C. Pirx
Last update 20th of May, 1996
Planeteers, fellow Privateers and the rest of the galaxy, This is a collection of the best material I could find on my tours through the vast and endless voids of the never ending Internet. To have the best use for it, download it, as the whole reference is on one page by simply using the "Save as" command in your browser. You can also download a file that contains "The Reference", written in Word 6.0, very good for easy printing. But check the release date carefully, sometimes this online reference will be more up-to-date. You will find all the information you need on a usual day in the echo cluster. All authors, from whom I took those information have been asked and they kindly gave me their permission (thanks a lot folks!) to use their work. It is not easy to keep up with all the modifications that are coming up all couple of months, so if you notice a mistake, or something else that can be improved, send me a note. If you do point out an error or give a good suggestion for how "The Reference" can be improved I will include it in the next version. Your name will also be added to the credits list. Just send me a note. Have fun playing VGA Planets,
Pilot Pirx
ContentsThis is the table of contents. This version covers:
Engines Table of Contents
Engine |
Tech |
Cost |
Dur |
Tri |
Mol |
StarDrive 1 |
1 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
0 |
StarDrive 3 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
5 |
1 |
StarDrive 3 |
3 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
5 |
SuperStarDrv 4 |
4 |
10 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
Nova Drive 5 |
5 |
25 |
3 |
3 |
7 |
HeavyNova Drv 6 |
6 |
53 |
3 |
3 |
15 |
Quantam Drive 7 |
7 |
170 |
3 |
3 |
15 |
Hyper Drive 8 |
9 |
200 |
13 |
3 |
25 |
Transwarp Drive |
10 |
300 |
16 |
3 |
35 |
Fuel UsageTable of Contents
Engine |
Warp 1 |
Warp 2 |
Warp 3 |
Warp 4 |
Warp 5 |
Warp 6 |
Warp 7 |
Warp 8 |
Warp 9 |
Star Drive 1 |
100.00 |
200.00 |
300.00 |
400.00 |
500.00 |
600.00 |
700.00 |
800.00 |
900.00 |
Star Drive 3 |
100.00 |
107.50 |
300.00 |
400.00 |
500.00 |
600.00 |
700.00 |
800.00 |
900.00 |
Star Drive 3 |
100.00 |
106.25 |
107.78 |
337.50 |
500.00 |
600.00 |
700.00 |
800.00 |
900.00 |
Super Star Drive 4 |
100.00 |
103.75 |
104.44 |
106.25 |
300.00 |
322.22 |
495.92 |
487.50 |
900.00 |
Nova Drive 5 |
100.00 |
103.75 |
104.44 |
106.25 |
104.00 |
291.67 |
291.84 |
366.41 |
900.00 |
Heavy Nova Drive 6 |
100.00 |
103.75 |
104.44 |
106.25 |
104.00 |
103.69 |
251.02 |
335.16 |
900.00 |
Quantam Drive 7 |
100.00 |
103.75 |
104.44 |
106.25 |
104.00 |
103.69 |
108.16 |
303.91 |
529.63 |
Hyper Drive 8 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
102.04 |
109.38 |
529.63 |
Transwarp Drive |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
100.00 |
The units are per 1/100,000 of a KT per LY I.e. 100 corresponds to .001 KT-fuel/KT-mass/LY A 200 KT ship going 20 LY at Warp 8 with Nova Drive 5 engines would take about 15 KT of fuel (.0036641*200*20) NOTE: Fuel usage formula is approximate with about a +/- 5 KT error
Beam TableTable of Contents The following table compares the various beam weapons. No major revelations here. Disrupters are the best beam weapons early in the game and Heavy Disrupters and Heavy Phasers are the weapons of choice among discerning warriors.
Name |
Tech |
MC/Beam |
Damage |
Kill |
Sweep/Trn |
Trit |
Dur |
Moly |
Laser |
1 |
1 |
3 |
10 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
X-Ray Laser |
1 |
2 |
1 |
15 |
4 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Plasma Bolt |
2 |
5 |
10 |
3 |
9 |
1 |
2 |
0 |
Blaster |
3 |
10 |
25 |
10 |
16 |
1 |
12 |
1 |
Positron Beam |
4 |
12 |
29 |
9 |
25 |
1 |
12 |
5 |
Disrupter |
5 |
13 |
20 |
30 |
36 |
1 |
12 |
1 |
Heavy Blaster |
6 |
31 |
40 |
20 |
49 |
1 |
12 |
14 |
Phaser |
7 |
35 |
35 |
30 |
64 |
1 |
12 |
30 |
Heavy Disrupter |
8 |
36 |
35 |
50 |
81 |
1 |
17 |
37 |
Heavy Phaser |
10 |
54 |
45 |
35 |
100 |
1 |
12 |
55 |
Finally, one little known fact makes these tables more useful. In a battle, the kill factor does nothing to help beat down shields. So if your object is to destroy ships, get the highest damage rated weaponry you can. But if you want to capture ships, balance the kill rating with enough damage rating to break through the shields.
Name |
Tech |
Cost |
Dur |
Tri |
Mol |
Mass |
Kill |
Damage |
Laser |
1 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
10 |
3 |
X-Ray Laser |
1 |
2 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
15 |
1 |
Plasma Bolt |
2 |
5 |
2 |
1 |
0 |
2 |
3 |
10 |
Blaster |
3 |
10 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
10 |
25 |
Positron Beam |
4 |
12 |
12 |
1 |
5 |
3 |
9 |
29 |
Disrupter |
5 |
13 |
12 |
1 |
1 |
4 |
30 |
20 |
Heavy Blaster |
6 |
31 |
12 |
1 |
14 |
7 |
20 |
40 |
Phaser |
7 |
35 |
12 |
1 |
30 |
5 |
30 |
35 |
Heavy Disrupter |
8 |
36 |
17 |
1 |
37 |
7 |
50 |
35 |
Heavy Phaser |
10 |
54 |
12 |
1 |
55 |
6 |
35 |
45 |
Torpedo TableTable of Contents This table compares the ten different torpedoes available to the Echo Cluster. Note that the tech level is NOT the level your starbase needs to be able to build the weapon. Rather it is the tech level host uses to calculate the number of mines created by a torpedo type. (The same is true of the Beam Table, below.) In the original spreadsheet extra calculation columns are added. The user inputs a number into a cell. The program then calculates the number of mines and the radius of the minefield created. Please observe that the most cost-effective mine laying torpedo is the Mark 4 at 0.36 mines/megacredit but it only creates 36 mines per torp. The Mark 7 is second at just 0.44 mines/MC. For this author, the early game mine layer is the Mark 4 and the Mark 7 is the torpedo of choice. But be careful of falling into a rut! Mix in a few other types when you get opportunity and keep your opponents guessing!
Name |
Tech |
Mines |
MC/Tube |
MC/Torp |
Damage |
Kill |
Mark 1 |
1,00 |
1,00 |
1,00 |
1 |
5 |
4 |
Proton |
2,00 |
4,00 |
4,00 |
2 |
8 |
6 |
Mark 2 |
3,00 |
9,00 |
4,00 |
5 |
10 |
3 |
Gamma Bombs |
3,00 |
16,00 |
6,00 |
10 |
2 |
15 |
Mark 3 |
4,00 |
25,00 |
5,00 |
12 |
15 |
9 |
Mark 4 |
5,00 |
36,00 |
20,00 |
13 |
30 |
13 |
Mark 5 |
6,00 |
49,00 |
57,00 |
31 |
35 |
17 |
Mark 6 |
7,00 |
64,00 |
100,00 |
35 |
40 |
23 |
Mark 7 |
8,00 |
81,00 |
120,00 |
36 |
48 |
25 |
Mark 8 |
10,00 |
100,00 |
190,00 |
54 |
55 |
35 |
Name |
MC/mine |
Min/100mine |
MC/kill |
MC/dmg |
Trit |
Dur |
Moly |
Mark 1 |
1,00 |
100,00 |
0,25 |
0,2 |
1 |
1 |
0 |
Proton |
0,50 |
25,00 |
0,33 |
0,25 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
Mark 2 |
0,56 |
11,11 |
1,67 |
0,5 |
1 |
4 |
0 |
Gamma B. |
0,63 |
6,25 |
0,67 |
5 |
1 |
3 |
1 |
Mark 3 |
0,48 |
4,00 |
1,33 |
0,8 |
1 |
1 |
5 |
Mark 4 |
0,36 |
2,78 |
1,00 |
0,43 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
Mark 5 |
0,63 |
2,04 |
1,82 |
0,89 |
1 |
7 |
14 |
Mark 6 |
0,55 |
1,56 |
1,52 |
0,88 |
1 |
2 |
7 |
Mark 7 |
0,44 |
1,23 |
1,44 |
0,75 |
1 |
3 |
8 |
Mark 8 |
0,54 |
1,00 |
1,54 |
0,98 |
1 |
1 |
9 |
Best value/MC: Mark 4 torps
Best value/Min: Mark 8 torps Mines Laid = # torps * (torp position)^2
Mines Swept = # beams * (beam position)^2 * mine sweep rate Mine Field Radius = sqrt(# mines)
NOTE: The formula for laying/sweeping mines is based on the POSITION of the type of torp, not the actual tech of the torp e.g. Mark 7 (tech 8, pos 9) gives 9^2 = 81 mines, not 8^2 = 64 mines
Mine TableTable of Contents This table shows the number of torpedo's required to create a field of a certain diameter
Diameter |
# of mines |
|
|
Mk2 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
of field |
deployed |
Mk1 |
Prot |
Gam |
Mk3 |
Mk4 |
Mk5 |
Mk6 |
Mk7 |
Mk8 |
10 |
25 |
25 |
6 |
3 |
2 |
1 |
- |
- |
- |
- |
20 |
100 |
100 |
25 |
11 |
6 |
4 |
3 |
2 |
2 |
1 |
30 |
225 |
225 |
56 |
25 |
14 |
9 |
6 |
5 |
4 |
2 |
40 |
400 |
400 |
100 |
44 |
25 |
16 |
11 |
8 |
6 |
4 |
50 |
625 |
625 |
156 |
74 |
39 |
25 |
17 |
13 |
10 |
6 |
60 |
900 |
900 |
225 |
100 |
56 |
36 |
25 |
18 |
14 |
9 |
70 |
1225 |
1225 |
306 |
136 |
77 |
49 |
34 |
25 |
19 |
12 |
80 |
1600 |
1600 |
400 |
177 |
100 |
64 |
44 |
33 |
25 |
16 |
90 |
2025 |
2025 |
506 |
225 |
127 |
81 |
56 |
41 |
32 |
20 |
100 |
2500 |
2500 |
625 |
277 |
156 |
100 |
69 |
51 |
39 |
25 |
The table shows the number of mines that have to be deployed per light-year radius.
Light-year radius |
Number of Mines |
|
Light-year radius |
Number of Mines |
|
Light-year radius |
Number of Mines |
|
Light-year radius |
Number of Mines |
|
Light-year radius |
Number of Mines |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 |
1 |
|
31 |
961 |
|
61 |
3721 |
|
91 |
8281 |
|
121 |
14641 |
2 |
4 |
|
32 |
1024 |
|
62 |
3844 |
|
92 |
8464 |
|
122 |
14884 |
3 |
9 |
|
33 |
1089 |
|
63 |
3969 |
|
93 |
8649 |
|
123 |
15129 |
4 |
16 |
|
34 |
1156 |
|
64 |
4096 |
|
94 |
8836 |
|
124 |
15376 |
5 |
25 |
|
35 |
1225 |
|
65 |
4225 |
|
95 |
9025 |
|
125 |
15625 |
6 |
36 |
|
36 |
1296 |
|
66 |
4356 |
|
96 |
9216 |
|
126 |
15876 |
7 |
49 |
|
37 |
1369 |
|
67 |
4489 |
|
97 |
9409 |
|
127 |
16129 |
8 |
64 |
|
38 |
1444 |
|
68 |
4624 |
|
98 |
9604 |
|
128 |
16384 |
9 |
81 |
|
39 |
1521 |
|
69 |
4761 |
|
99 |
9801 |
|
129 |
16641 |
10 |
100 |
|
40 |
1600 |
|
70 |
4900 |
|
100 |
10000 |
|
130 |
16900 |
11 |
121 |
|
41 |
1681 |
|
71 |
5041 |
|
101 |
10201 |
|
131 |
17161 |
12 |
144 |
|
42 |
1764 |
|
72 |
5184 |
|
102 |
10404 |
|
132 |
17424 |
13 |
169 |
|
43 |
1849 |
|
73 |
5329 |
|
103 |
10609 |
|
133 |
17689 |
14 |
196 |
|
44 |
1936 |
|
74 |
5476 |
|
104 |
10816 |
|
134 |
17956 |
15 |
225 |
|
45 |
2025 |
|
75 |
5625 |
|
105 |
11025 |
|
135 |
18225 |
16 |
256 |
|
46 |
2116 |
|
76 |
5776 |
|
106 |
11236 |
|
136 |
| |
