Re: Galaxy Questions

From: bampton@cs.utk.edu (Howard the Energizer)

Date: Sun, 28 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000

In article <a9kl20ql@qnx.com> dagibbs@qnx.com (David Gibbs) writes:
>In article <3103a4e1.4404916@news.demon.co.uk>,
>Brian Greenfield <bri@dtseven.demon.co.uk> wrote:

>>2. Can I order a single ship to leave a group and transport cargo to
>>   another planet?

>Yes.  There are a couple of ways to do this...
>The key to this is the MAX keyword... this refers to the
>most recently created group.

>So, say you want to load 1 ship from group 10 and send it to planet A:
>L 10 COL 1
>S MAX A

>Would work, as would:
>B 10 1
>L MAX COL
>S MAX A

Blind galaxy supports an UNSAFEMAX option, which makes MAX refer to
the highest numbered group NOT in hyperspace. This lets you do some
more complex things with cargo ship movement which are more complex or
impossible to do without it. For example, equally load 2 of 3 cargo
ships with something, and ship them off elsewhere. Doing 2 loads commands
may result in uneven cargo loads. This can do very nasty things to you if
you make mistakes with MAX, so it is not enabled by default.

>>3. Can I predict the group numbers given to new groups? If my
>>   highest-numbered group is 10 and I split it, can I assume the
>>   split-off ships will become group 11 and issue orders to them?

>Generally, yes you can, but see my note on the MAX key word above.
>Let the program predict for you, rather than doing it yourself.

As a GM who watches what errors his players' orders generate, let me
second this and mention that manual number guessing/MAX misuse are the
more common ones.

>>4. If I have ships on a route and I then change the destination to
>>   somewhere else, what happens to the ships currently en-route?

>They keep going... once ships are in hyperspace, there is absolutely
>no way at all to change their final destination or arrival time.
>(Yes, this may mean that a mistake will leave you with a group on
>a 100 turn journey accross the map as a speed of 1.4.)

Blind Galaxy's FORECAST option makes this more difficult as you get a
semiaccurate turn report (assuming that no-one else submits orders).
Whenever the forecaster is fixed in Standard galaxy, it too will have
this ability to a greater or lesser extent.

Forecasts are your friend. If you've got them, use them. Tools like
goggle are good, but they may not be as precise on certain compuations
(speed, distance, resources, planet size). Nothing spoils an attack
more, than being 0.01LY away from the target with half you fleet...

Howard

--
Howard Bampton                      "The man without love gives no hostages
Internet: bampton@cs.utk.edu        to fortune." -- Black Omne
Sys Admin, Points unknown

References

Re: Galaxy Questions
dagibbs@qnx.com (David Gibbs)
Wed, 24 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000
Galaxy Questions
bri@dtseven.demon.co.uk (Brian Greenfield)
Mon, 22 Jan 1996 00:00:00 +0000