Ship:

Planetary:

Ship:

For ship to enemy ship transfers:

For ships with Glory Devices:

For ships with at least one torpedo launcher

For Merlin Class Alchemy Ships:

Misc:

Asteroid is an add-on utility for VGA Planets 3.5 that provides the capability for players to capture asteroids and tow them to planets for added mineral resources and the ability gather Quadbenium (a new mineral) from the surface of the asteroid and use it as a super fuel.

Four new friendly codes are introduced with this program. They ARE case sensitive, the (n) represents the Asteroid # (not the ID#) and they are as follows:

With the added spacelane activity comes some risk. Each time an Asteroid is generated there is a chance that it might strike a planet. These Asteroids have no minds and wander blindly throughout the Echo Cluster. If they strike a planet damage will result.

If a ship has a friendly code of IA(n) selected (where n is the Asteroid Number) its waypoint will be set to the location of the Asteroid and it will move towards the Asteroid as host runs. As long as the IA(n) fcode is selected the ship will keep intercepting the asteroid, as long as the ship has fuel.

Asteroids move about the Echo Cluster under their own power. They contain a mineral called Quadbenium that allows them to absorb energy from space and use it for propulsion. Asteroids move at warps speeds raging between 5-10. The exact range for each Asteroid depends on its mass, the higher the mass the higher the average warp speed of the Asteroid.

To tow an Asteroid a starship needs to be at the same point in space as an Asteroid and select the friendly code of TA(n). This will cause the Asteroid to be "towed" by the ship. This process requires no fuel expenditure by the ship, due to the Asteroid’s self-propulsion.

If an Asteroid is towed into a planets orbit it will immediately impact onto the planet’s surface. This will cause damage to the planets surface. Damage means that colonists and natives will die (a % of them and lose 50 happiness points), also, mines, factories and defense outposts will be destroyed. The percentage of this damage is determined by the ASTCONFG damage multiplier setting:

ASTCONFG Damage Multiplier *(asteroid mass/1000)

Asteroid mineral yield is equal to a range between ½ of the Asteroids mass up to its mass plus 500 KT. This is the yield from an asteroid impact for EACH mineral (N, T, D, M). So a 1000 KT Asteroid could yield 1500 of each mineral onto the planet (if a max yield happened). The impact will place ½ of the yield on the planet’s surface and ½ into the ground.

To gather Quadbenium you need to be in the same point in space as the Asteroid and towing it (the gather code will still equal towing of the Asteroid). If you meet these criteria and set your friendly code to GQ(n). The (n) is the Asteroid number you are towing. Your ship will gather Quadbenium from the surface of the Asteroid. The amount of Quadbenium on the Asteroid is determined by its mass.

The mass divided by 10 will tell you how many micrograms of Quadbenium are on the surface of the Asteroid (assuming that none has been removed before you gather). (i.e., 5000 KT Asteroid has 500 micrograms of Quadbenium on the surface).

Starships can only hold so much Quadbenium. This amount is determined by the engine tech. The max amount of Quadbenium able to be stored in the Warp Core at any one time is (Engine tech / 2)*100. (i.e., Transwarps {tech 10} can hold [10 / 2 ] = 5 * 100 = 500 micro grams of Quadbenium.)

The only thing Quadbenium can be used for is Quadbenium Jumps. To perform a Quadbenium Jump you need to have at least 100 micrograms of Quadbenium in your warp core, a heading and a friendly code of QJ(n). Where (n) equals the number light years (multiplied by 10 with 0 = 10*10) you wish to jump.

If these requirements are met your ship will perform a Quadbenium jump before host runs. So yes it is possible to Jump before Rob, tow or any other missions. When the jump occurs you move along your preset heading, if you have no heading you will still burn Quadbenium, but stay at the same point in space.

A Quadbenium Jump of any length ( 10 - 100 Light years) burns 100 micrograms of Quadbenium. The Quadbenium burn does not depend on the length of the Quadbenium Jump.

If you are using WINPLAN (Planets v3.5) you can set your waypoint at a distance longer than the length of the Q-jump. If you do this and have a warp setting you will move normally after the Q-jump has been completed. i.e. You set a 181 LY Waypoint. You set fcode to QJ0 - you quad jump 100 light years and then the ship moves normally at warp 9 for another 81 LY.

Jump Gate is an add-on utility for VGA Planets 3.5 that provides the capability for players to Build, Attack, and Repair Jump Gates as well as using them as a form of travel. Four new friendly codes are introduced with this program. They are case sensitive and as follows:

With the convenience of controlled hyperspace travel comes risk. Each time a ship travels via Jump Gate, there is a small chance that an alien ship will exit the destination Jump Gate with the traveler. The aliens are a warrior race, intent on conquering all that they see. They will conquer the entire Echo Cluster unless stopped.

If the ship’s friendly code is set to BJG, an attempt to build a Jump Gate will take place. Jump Gates can only be built by Super Transport Freighters, sine one ship must have all of the building materials on board. The amount of building materials required to build a Jumpgate are configurable by the host. The host can configure the amount of Neutronium, Tritanium, Duranium, Molybdenum, and Supplies that are needed up to a 2600 KT cargo maximum

Additionally, there are restrictions on the number of Jump Gates allowed in the game. Jump Gates will only be built if there is room in the UFO database for one, the maximum number of Jump Gates has not been reached, and the desired location for the Jump Gate is at least 5.01 light years from the nearest planet. Jump Gates will be assigned a random ID# between 01-99 from the range of numbers available in the UFO database.

Jump Gates can be repaired by any ship carrying supplies and has its friendly code set to RJG. One point of damage is repaired for every five supplies on board the ship.

Any ship that has beam weapons in excess of Tech 2 can attack a Jump Gate by setting its friendly code to AJG. Any ship that meets these restrictions will attack a Jump Gate that is at the same location as the ship. Damage done to the Jump Gate is as follows:

Number of Beams * Beam Explosive Power

A Nocturne destroyer with Heavy Phasers would do ( 4 * 45 ) 180 points of damage while a Disruptor equipped Nocturne would do ( 4 * 20 ) 80 points of damage. Damage doesn’t effect the ability of the Jump Gate to operate, unless, of course, it is destroyed.

Note: The Ancient Jumpgate is not able to be destroyed.

Any ship that is at a Jump Gate and has its friendly code set to Jnn, where nn is the ID number of the destination Jump Gate, will travel to the destination Jump Gate. It will arrive with its speed and destination waypoint set to zero. It will travel at no cost in fuel. Builders of Jump Gates will be informed when foreigners use their Jump Gates. They will be told what kind of ship came through the gate and who owned the ship.

Note: Ships with ZERO fuel can not travel via a Jump Gate.

Each time a Jump Gate is used, there is a small chance that an alien ship will exit out of the destination Jump Gate with the traveler. This alien vessel will go on a rampage, attacking planets, attempting to conquer the Echo Cluster.

The creation of Alien Marauders can be turned off in the configuration program.

Setting a friendly code of ‘con’ on one of your planets will send the player a message that lists the configuration settings of the JumpGate program. (This is the same fcode that Tim uses in HOST 3.2 for this same purpose).

Jump Gates will send their owners a variety of messages over the course of the game. These messages range as follows:

The RacePlus is an add-on utility for VGA Planets 3.0 / 3.5 that takes provides all eleven races with new racial and ship abilities. This add-on allows for abilities ranging from a modest native government modification ability to the ability for a ship to generate a massive gravity well. The abilities provided to the races are many and varied.

There have been 21 new friendly codes added. They are divided by race as follows:

Feds:

Lizards:

Birds:

Fascists:

Privateers:

Cyborg:

Crystals:

Empire:

Robotics:

Rebels:

Colonials:

The following section covers all of the new race abilities and ship abilities that are provided by RacePlus. This is broken down by race and explains the abilities in depth. All of the new abilities can be turned on or off in the RPCONFIG program.

The Solar Federation

The money and supply requirements are as follows:

Note: The planet needs to be under Fed control for X consecutive turns before a government improvement can occur.

The Lizard Alliance

The Lizards have had a new ability added to their T-Rex and Madonnzila class warships. This ability only functions on these ships and only when they are under Lizard control. This new ability is linked to their new development of what has been termed the Chameleon Device.

To activate the Chameleon Device on either of these vessels you use the friendly code of !nn or !!n. The nn represents the type number of a hull design in the game. See Table 1.1. The !!n friendly code represents all ship hull types that are 100 or more. The n is the ones digit in a 100 or more numbered hull identifier.

Table 1.1!nn Friendly Codes

Table 1.2 !!n Friendly Codes

The Chameleon Device burns fuel while activated. This fuel consumption is based on the cloak fuel burn rate in HCONFIG.EXE of HOST. If the cloak fuel burn rate is set at 5 KT per 100 KT of mass, the Chameleon Device burns just 5 KT of fuel per turn. The Chameleon Device fuel burn is not based on mass it is just a flat rate.

While the Chameleon Device is active all enemies ships and planets will see you as the hull type you have selected to emulate. The hull type listed in Table 1.1 or Table 1.2 will be the image that enemies see when they scan you or do a (V) view command of your ship. If a Chameleon Device ship engages in combat it fights as the type of ship it actually is, not as what it looks like. The Chameleon Device does not change the ships mass, heading, ID# or owner. It only changes the appearance of the hull type of the vessel. ( So, yes, you could look like a 700 KT mass probe if you wanted to.)

The Bird Men

The Bird Men’s Brightheart Class ship now has the ability to allow the crew to plant a bomb onboard an enemy ship. This bomb will explode and cause damage to the enemy ship. This is an ability that is linked to the Bird Men’s Brightheart Class ship. This mission will only function from this type of vessel and only for the Bird Men.

This missions success rate is dependent on the configuration settings in the RPCONFIG setup. The % chance of the mission failing can be set between 0 % - 20%. So when this is set to a percentage number the program will check to see if the sabotage crew gets caught by ship security on the enemy vessel. The other configurable setting is the number of Bird Man ships that can perform this mission to the same ship. The range is 1-10. So if it is set to 5, you can have up to 5 ship performing this mission simultaneously to an enemy ship.

To perform this mission several requirements need to be met. The Bird Man ship needs to have at least 41 crew people on board. They need to have forty supplies and some fuel.

To perform the mission the Bird Man ship(s) set their friendly code to EGG. Then they transfer at least one unit of fuel to the target ship (this is just the targeting mechanism). This will cause the forty supplies on the Bird Man ship to be used (as equipment and bomb parts) and they will disappear. In addition to the supplies and fuel costs the mission automatically beams forty crew people onto the enemy ship. This is the point at which a check for Bomb Fail occurs. If the mission is successful a bomb will go off and the enemy ship will take the equivalent of 1 mine hit of damage. Also, the forty crew people will be placed back onto the Brightheart.

MINE HIT DAMAGE = 10000 / Hull Mass

If the mission fails the following occurs. The crew that beamed over are captured and eventually spaced. There is a 50% chance that these prisoners will give away the command codes to the Brightheart before they are spaced. If this happens the Brightheart (that had the failed mission) will have its warp speed set to zero and its cloaking device will deactivate.

The Fascists Empire

The Fascists new ability is now linked to the D3 Thorn ship. This ship in the hands of the Fascists will allow them to perform a ship boarding mission. This means that they will beam a boarding crew aboard an enemy vessel and have the ability to capture the target ship.

There are two configurable and controllable portions to the Fascist’s mission (other than on or off). The first is the combat modifier of the boarding crew. This is a number between 1 - 4. This is the attack factor by which the number of crew in the boarding party is multiplied by. This resultant number will determine if you capture the ship or just kill enemy crew equal to the boarding party times their multiplier. (i.e., The 150 person boarding crew has an attack multiplier of 4. This mission will capture a ship with 600 or less crew, or kill off 600 crew, if the enemy ship had 601+ crew). The other configuration is the fail rate of the mission. This is a number between 0-30%. If the mission fails the boarding crew was detected coming aboard, isolated and spaced.

To perform this mission you need to meet several requirements. The ship must have at least 151 crew. It need to have 40 supplies and some fuel. To perform the mission you transfer at least 1 unit of fuel to the target ship. The friendly code needs to be set to BAC. This will cause 150 of the D3’s crew to beam over to the enemy ship. The supplies will then disappear. This is the point where the program checks the fail rate of the mission.

If the mission fails the Fascist crew was caught coming aboard and spaced. This does not cause anything to happen to the D3 (Fascists are immune to torture). If the mission succeeds the Fascists will kill a number of enemy crew equal to 150 times the attack multiplier. If this amount is greater than the crew of the target vessel it is captured and is then crewed by a 75 member Fascist crew. The other 75 are lost in battle against enemy crew and intruder defenses.

The Privateers

The Privateer’s new mission, Crew Replacement, is race specific to the Dwarfstar Transport. This mission compliments the Privateer’s 3.2 host ability of capturing vessels in space. This mission allows them to restock ship crews in space by transferring clans from the Dwarfstar to any other vessel.

To perform this mission all you need to a Dwarfstar a ship requiring crew and some clans. To execute the mission you need to have the Dwarfstar with clans on board. The Dwarfstar positions itself under the ship needing crew and sets its mission to intercept the ship that needs crew. Then you transfer the clans to the target ship you are intercepting. To start the transfer you need to set a friendly code of TCC. The clans will beam over and each clan will become one crew person. As soon as the transfer is done, the program will automatically cause your Dwarfstar to reset its mission to CLOAK. There is not limit to the amount of clans that can be transferred, except that you can not exceed the ships max. crew limit.

The Cyborg

The Cyborg’s new mission, Super Tractor Beam, is race specific to the Quietus Class Cruiser. This mission allows the Quietus to generate a high energy tractor beam. This is the most powerful tractor beam ever developed. This beam will allow the Quietus to PULL ships to it, and not just tow them.

This mission has three configurable components. The first is the amount of fuel consumed each turn that the beam is active. This configuration ranges between 200 and 350 KT per turn. The next is the range of the of the beam. The range can be between 25 and 100 LY. The last configuration is the fail rate of the tractor beam. The host can configure the beam to fail 0-10% of the time. This means that the target ship will break the tractor beam if the percentage requirement is met. So if the fail rate is 5% there is a 5% chance that the target ship could break the beam and escape. Ships with more than two engines or a hull mass that is greater than 300 cannot be towed.

To activate the beam the Cyborg have to be within range of the target ship. Range is dependent on the RPCONFIG settings. They then set their mission to INTERCEPT and selected the ship that they wish to use the tractor beam on, as the intercept target. Then they set their friendly code to ‘STB’. This will draw the target ship to the Quietus Cruiser, unless the ship escapes (per Tractor Beam fail rate).

The Crystal People

The Crystal People will now have to ability to gather up some of the fuel that gets drained into their web mine fields. They will also receive "free" torpedoes at starbases that are built over Siliconoid planets. This new ability only has one configurable part. This configuration lets the host decide how many "free" torpedoes will be given to each starbase. The configurable rate is between 1-10 torpedoes. To select the torpedo type you wish to receive you need to set the fcode of the planet, the starbase is over, to MKn (where n is the torp type - i.e. MK8 = Mark 8 {tech10} torps)

The new ability of the Crystals allows them to gather fuel from ships trapped in web mine fields. The Crystals only gather fuel from ships that are being drained by the fields. They do not gather fuel that is drained from a mine hit. When a ship ends a turn in a web field it loses 25 KT of fuel due to web drain (as per standard web mine drain rules). With this new ability will cause Crystal ships in the same web field to gather this fuel (provided they have the space). Additionally, the power surge of fuel being drained from enemy ships helps keep the minefield from deteriorating like normal. If more than one Crystal ship is in a web field, the fuel drained from enemy ships will be split evenly between the Crystal ships. To get this fuel the Crystal ship(s), also, need to end their turn inside the web field.

The Evil Empire

The Evil Empire has a fearsome new race specific mission for the Gorbie Class Battlecarrier. This new ability is called a Gravity Well Generator. The new Gorbies under RacePlus can perform this mission if they meet specific criteria.

The Gravity Well Generator (GWG) is only installed on Gorbies equipped with Transwarp Drives and Heavy Phasers. These Gorbies are the only ships with stable enough power conduits to handle the massive amounts of energy that get channeled through the ship when the GWG is activated.

The GWG mission has three configurable parts to it. These are the range of the GWG, the fuel cost of the GWG and the length of time that the GWG disables the Gorbies engines and beam weapons. The range is between 25-100 LY. The fuel cost can be configured to be 300 to 500 KT of fuel.

The "recharge" period of the Gorbie is between 2-4 turns.

To activate the GWG the Gorbie sets its friendly code to ‘SUK’ and has to have fuel enough to start the GWG process. The Gorbie can not be over a planet. If it is, it will destroy the Gorbie and any ships in orbit with the Gorbie. This destruction happens as a direct result of the conflicting gravity spheres of the planet and Gorbie. These conflicts cause the ships to be torn apart. Starbases receive damage from stress waves. Starbases will receive 50% damage to its current state. (if the base was 50% damaged it would become 75% damaged). The starbase defense rating is reduced by 50% and 50% of the fighters are lost.

When the mission is activated it will cause all ships (including your own), that have a base hull mass of 200 KT or less to be drawn to the Gorbie. There is no way to escape this gravity field. Ships pulled to the Gorbie in this manner have their warp set to zero. Once the mission is activated the engines of the Gorbie will become non-operational and the beam weapons will be inactive and unable to fire. This disability lasts for a number of turns equal to the configuration setting.

The Robotic Imperium

The Robotics now have a new ability added to their Cybernaut Class ship. The Cybernaut now has the ability to repair other vessels in space, without supplies. They can also repair Robotic crew members by using supplies.

The Cybernaut mission is activated by selecting the friendly code of ‘RDV’. This will cause the Cybernaut to repair the most damaged vessel at its location. If the vessel is a Robotic ship the Cybernaut will repair (fix / restock) 5 Robotic crewman per 1 supplies onboard the Cybernaut. This mission requires that the Cybernaut be under Robotic control and that it have at least 1 unit of fuel.

The Rebel Confederation

The Rebels now have the ability to place a boobytrap on planets. This boobytrap is a transwarp sensitive tractor beam. This ability is inherent only to the Rebels.

The ability has two configurable parts to it. The configurations are the amount of fuel required to ‘crash’ a ship on a per engine basis. The range is 75 - 150 KT of fuel per engine on a ship. The next configuration is the maximum number of planets that can have a boobytrap active at one time. This range is 5-10 planets.

To perform this mission you need a ship (any one will do, as long as it has enough cargo space to hold the components). The components need to set a boobytrap is clans (any number) and fifty supplies. Then you drop clans on an unowned planet and the fifty supplies. The next turn that you own the planet (provided you wish to perform this mission) you set the planets friendly code to BBT and beam up ALL of your clans. This will cause the planets friendly code to randomize and the boobytrap will become active. The boobytrap is dependent on fuel (Neutronium) to function. So make sure you have fuel available on the planet when you take your clans off. The trap requires the configured amount of fuel per engine of the target ship you might destroy.

When the trap is activated it scans its planetary orbit for transwarp signatures. (This will even sense cloaked ships due to their Transwarp subspace eddies disturbing the planets atmosphere). When the planets senses transwarp signatures it will lock onto the ship with transwarp engines and attempt to pull its engines off. To do this the planet must have sufficient fuel to do this (number of engines times the fuel per engine cost). (i.e., 2 engine ship (configuration says 100 KT of fuel per engine) = 200 KT of fuel required to pull the engines off and destroy the ship. If a ship is destroyed it will deposit all of its fuel onto the planets surface, thus fueling the device for more turns and ships. If there is more than one ship with transwarp engines the planet will attack the ship with the MOST engines. In the event of an equal number of engines the planet will take the heaviest ship, with the most engines.

If there is insufficient fuel to take all of the ship’s engines, the planet will damage that ship in a proportion equal to the number of engines that CAN be effected divided by the total number of engines. (i.e., A planet with 750 units of fuel attempts to destroy a Virgo. The planet burns up 700 units of fuel {only fires what is needed for what it can effect} and locks onto the Virgo’s engines. It will be unable to destroy the ships since it has to be able to pull off all of the ship’s engines. Since it is short of fuel, the beam spreads out its 700 KT of power over eight engines but only has seven engine destructive power. This will cause 87% damage to the ship. Since its power (number of engines effected divided by the total 7 / 8 = .87) is not high enough to take all of the engines it damages struts, structural integrity, and hull integrity.

DAMAGE % = Number of Engines That Could be Fully Effected by Available Fuel / Engine Total

The boobytrap ignores ships equipped with less than transwarp engines. For a trap to be deactivated all you (or your enemy) needs to do is drop at least one clan onto the planet. This will immediately deactivate the trap. Rebel ships will be effected by the boobytrap when they enter orbit, unless they have their friendly code set to BBT. Enemy ships with BBT friendly code are not so protected.

The Lost Colonies of Man

The unmatched ability of the Colonial fighter pilots is once again demonstrated by their new ability, Stealth Fighter Gather mission.

This new ability is race specific to the combination of the Sagittarius and Gemini class ships. This mission only has one configuration. This configuration is determines the maximum fail rate of the Stealth Fighter Gather mission (SFG). It is ranged between 5-50%.

This new mission is linked to the ability of the Colonials to have excellent fighter and ship to ship communication. The combination of the Sagittarius and Gemini allows for unprecedented levels of this communication. This mission will allow fighters from a Colonial Sagittarius to sneak onto an enemy planet and steal a unit of fuel, supplies.

To initiate this mission you need fighters, a Sagittarius, a Gemini and a target planet. To start this mission you need to have the fighters on the Sagittarius. The Gemini and the Sagittarius need to be at the same point in space and they need to be with in 100 LY or less of a target planet.

When you perform the mission you set the Sagittarius to intercept the target Gemini (the one to receive the minerals) and you set its friendly code to ‘SFG’. You then set the friendly code of the Gemini to equal the target (planet you want to gather from) planet’s ID# . You also, need to set its mission to GATHER X, where X is one of the items you can select to be gathered.

When this is done the fighters will launch and raid the planet. The planet does have some measure of defense against this mission. The planets defense outposts can help protect from the effects of this mission. The number of defense outposts will determine the percent chance to catch the fighters coming into the planet. (i.e., 20 defense outposts = a 20% chance to catch a fighter sneaking in). If a fighter is caught it is destroyed. The max. percentage of being caught is determined in the configuration setting (5-50%). You can have more defense outposts than this but it does not improve your odds of catching the fighters, the pilots are just to impressive.

The calculation for being caught is done as follows. The program looks at the number of defense outposts and uses that as a base number for shooting down fighters. If the number of defense outposts exceeds the configured maximum, the maximum is used for calculating fight shoot down. This final number is both the chance to be caught and if caught, the percent of fighters possibly lost. A mission that has a 30% failure chance and is caught, will loose up to 30% of the fighters used in that sortie.

If an ally wishes to allow you to raid his planet and not shoot you down. He can select the planetary fcode of ‘SFG’ for his planet. You can raid a planet with SFG fcode and will not be shot at.

The fighters, after gathering, fly back to the Gemini and deposit their minerals there and then return to the Sagittarius before movement commences.

Starbase+ is an add-on utility for VGA Planets 3.5 that provides starbases with more inherent abilities.

Several new friendly codes are introduced with this program. They ARE case sensitive and are as follows:

Minefield Fcodes:(Planet Codes)

Component Transport Codes: (Ship Codes)

Electronic Megacredit Transfer Codes:(Planet Codes)

Note: The "con" planetary friendly code will cause HOST to send its configuration setting and the add-on to send its configuration settings to the player in a message.

Table 1.1

Engines (n) codes

Beams (n) codes

Torp Launchers (n) codes

To cause the starbase to sweep mine (with beams or fighters) you need to set the planets (the planet the starbase is orbiting) to SMF. This fcode will cause the starbase to use its beam weapons to fire in random patterns and destroy mines. The number of mines destroyed is based on the Starbase+ config setting for beam sweep rate. Number of beams * beam tech squared * {SPCONFIG setting for beam sweep rate). This is a variable and independent setting for regular mines and web mines.

#mines destroyed = (Number of beams* beamslot squared) *(beam sweep rate)

Starbase fighters will automatically launch and sweep mines (if this option is configured to be on). The fighters sweep at the rate set in the SPCONFIG program. The Colonial race always have a 100 LY sweep range. The fighter range for the other races is based on the starbase’s tech levels. To determine the sweep range you add Hull Tech, Engine Tech and Beam Tech together. Then you divide by 3 and multiply that result by 10. This will give you the fighter sweep range in LY.

Sweep Range = [ (Techs/3) *10]

The number of beams available for sweeping by the starbase is determined by the following formula.

Number of beams = ( Starbase defenses) / 20]

The tech level of the beams is based on the beam tech level on the Starbase.

The amount of mines swept by a starbase is determined as follows.

Mines Swept = (number of beams * Slot level of beams squared)* (sweep rate)

To gather up a minefield with a starbase you need to meet several criteria. The base must be with in the designated beam sweep range of a minefield. If they are they set the planets fcode to MSC. This will cause the Starbase to gather up all of the mine units in that field(s). It will convert them into the highest tech torpedo type available. To determine minefield to Torp yield you do the following equation.

Number of New Torps = ( mine units / Torp slot )

Laying mines with a starbase is a all or nothing process. To do this you set the planets fcode to LMF and this will convert all of the torpedo stock on the starbase into mine units. The torpedoes convert using the following formula to determine torpedo yield. Note: LWF will lay a web mine field if the base is a crystal starbase.

Mine unit yield = (Torp slot * number of Torps)

To transport a starship component you must be at a starbase. To load a component you use a special friendly code. (see above). The Gxx Fcodes will get a component from the Starbase and place it on the ship. Each component will require a certain amount of space. This space (in KT) is determined in the SPCONFIG settings. You can load a MDSF up to its 200 KT maximum weight limit. You can not load more than one type of component at a time. You can only get components at your own starbase(s).

The program checks for available space on the ship before it loads a component. If there is not enough space the component will not be loaded. If you later try to load cargo on the ship and this act would exceed the freighters weight capacity (including the component) the program will trim off the excess cargo that was loaded.

To unload components you use the Uxx Fcodes (see above). You can unload at any starbase(s). Note: If a ship is captured in battle your enemy with also get the components that were on that transport. Also, if the Tag Special Transportation is enabled all med. freighters carrying components will have "ST :" added to the front of their ship name.

With the release of v2.1 of the Starbase+ program a new feature has been added. This feature now allows for Starbases to transfer megacredits between them (with some limitations).

The config program (SPCONFIG.EXE) allows you to configure the maximum amount that a Starbase can "send" in one turn. The options are 1000, 2000 3000, 4000 and 5000 megacredits per Starbase per turn. This is the limit that any Starbase can "send" in one turn. To send you select the planet friendly code of TMn - where n is the number 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5. The n number times 1000 will determine the amount of megacredits you attempt to send.

There is no limit to how much a Starbase can receive in one turn. The limit is that only ONE Starbase can be selected to receive megacredits during any one turn. If more than one base is selected to receive (Planet Fcode "RMT")the base with the lowest ID# will receive the megacredits.

If a Starbase attempts to send more megacredits than is allowed in the configuration it will send NO megacredits (0).

A Starbase must have 20 points of "TECH" to be able to send or receive megacredits (TECH would be adding up all of your tech levels and if they add up to 20 or more the Starbase can send or receive.

Starbases can only send and receive to other Starbases of the same race.

Only one Starbase can receive megacredits in any one turn.

If a planet has less than the amount you have set to send it will send all of the megacredits available on the planet (up to the limit set by your planetary friendly code).

Sphere is a host add-on product for VGA Planets. It will convert any VGA Planets map that adheres to the standard coordinate system (1000 to 3000) into a sphere, allowing ships that travel off one side of the map to reappear on the opposite side (e.g. a ship on the southern edge of the map can travel 100 lys south and be at the northern edge of the map). The default "seam" is 50 lys from the edge of the standard (i.e. X or Y < 950 or X or Y > 3050) but this may be configured to accommodate "compressed maps" (e.g. a map of 350 planets with all planets between 1500 and 2500).

This should make the game a bit tougher. No longer can a player put all his forces on his front lines and leave his rear areas undefended. The increasingly popular "Invasion" games should be a bit more challenging as Homeworlds may come under attack from the other side of the map. It should also end the complaint of those players who find themselves stuck in a corner of the map without any decent planets - just move to the another corner.