STARLANES(6)STARLANES(6)NAMEstarlanes - the game of starlanesSYNOPSISstarlanes [-v|c|m]
DESCRIPTION
Starlanes is a game of interstellar commerce for 1 to 4 players. Play‐
ers take two-phase turns: the first phase is movement, the second is
trading.
The object of the game is to become as wealthy as possible by trading
and merging companies whilst out-smarting your friends and enemies.
OPTIONS-v Print version information
-c Force the game to play in color mode
-m Force the game to play in mono mode
PLAYING STARLANES
The Starlanes User Interface
Starlanes is written using color ncurses, but will detect a black and
white screen and will modify its output accordingly. On Linux, setting
TERM=console or TERM=linux either on a virtual console or in a
color_xterm window works well.
After the initial player determination screen, you will be presented
with the main Starlanes screen. This screen is split into three indi‐
vidual windows: the map window, the company window, and the general
info window.
The map window shows the terrain of the universe. The legend is:
* - Star
@ - Black hole
+ - Infant company
. - Empty space
A - Company A (Altair Starways)
The companies are Altair Starways, Beetlejuice Ltd., Capella Freight
Co., Denebola Shippers, and Eridani Expediters. On the map, the compa‐
nies are represented by the first letter of their name.
The company window shows information concerning the currently existing
companies, including the company name, its price per share, and the
current player's holdings.
The general info window will prompt the user for input if the player is
waiting to move or trade, but will also display special announcements
as they come up. During a player's turn, that player's name is dis‐
played in the title bar of the window, along with his cash holdings.
Also, mention should be made of two other windows: the player standings
window and the company detail window (not to be confused with the com‐
pany info window.)
The player standings window can be brought up during the player's move
by pressing the 's' key. This window shows all the player's names,
stock holdings, cash, and total worth, sorted by total worth. It also
shows the number of sectors that remain to be filled by companies
before the game ends.
The company detail window is invoked with the 'c' key. It shows, for
each active company, its name, price per share, size, and total worth
(all player's shares * price per share). The company size and total
worth are useful in determining the result of a merger (see below.)
If a screen redraw is necessary, pressing '^L' at almost any of the
prompts will accomplish that.
Finally, if the players want to quit before the game before is over,
press 'q' or '^C' and a quit verification window will pop up. If 'y'
is pressed, the final game standings will be displayed, and the program
will end.
Player Movement
During the first phase of a player's turn, the computer will prompt for
a move from a choice of 5. These moves are chosen randomly (for the
most part). Upon making your move, there are several things that might
happen. (NOTE: it is important to remember that two objects on the map
are adjacent only if they are orthogonally adjacent. Diagonals don't
count!)
If you move into a sector that is completely surrounded by empty space
(.), that sector will then contain an infant company (+).
If you move next to an existing company (A-E), that company will expand
into that sector of the map. If the new extension of the company
touches an infant company (+), that infant company will also be assimi‐
lated.
Given that you're not moving next to an existing company, if you move
next to a star (*) or an infant company (+), a new company will be
formed. You, as company founder, will receive 5 shares in the company
for free. For calculating how much a company will be worth, see Com‐
pany Pricing, below.
If you happen to move next to a black hole (@), one of many things
could happen, depending on the circumstances. See Black Holes, below.
Company Pricing
Determining a company's price per share is fairly simple. Generally
speaking, a company is worth $100 for every sector it occupies (as
given on the company info window under ``Size''), plus $500 for every
sector it occupies which is adjacent to a star (*), minus $500 for
every sector it occupies which is adjacent to a black hole (@). If a
company's price per share drops to 0 or less, the company vanishes (see
Black Holes, below.) Also note that you will not be able to visually
estimate a company's price per share if that company has undergone a
stock split (see Stock Splits, below.)
Holding Bonus
Immediately after a player's move, he is awarded a cash bonus equal to
5% of the total worth of his complete holdings. This bonus is awarded
even if the game ends directly following the move (see Game's End,
below.) This is the cash that the player will then use during the
trading phase (see Trading, below.)
Trading
If any companies exist after a player moves on the map, that player
will be given the chance to buy and sell stock. This is where the game
is really played. One must determine which companies are going to earn
the highest profits in the next round and invest in those companies
more heavily than ones that only have a small chance of turning a
profit. (See Strategy, below.) The current player's cash value is
printed next to his name in the general info window title.
Use the arrow keys to select a company you wish to trade stock in, then
press return. You will be asked for an amount to trade. Enter the
number of shares you wish to purchase in this company. (Just press
return again or enter ``0'' if you don't really want to trade with this
company.) Choose a negative amount if you want to sell shares (at 100%
of their value.) At this point, the user can also press the 'm' key to
purchase the maximum number of shares possible, or press the 'n' key to
sell all of his holdings in this company.
Once the player has completed trading, he can press escape to end his
turn, thereby transferring control to the next player.
Mergers
When a player chooses a sector of the map that would cause two or more
companies to touch, a merger occurs.
First, the companies sizes are checked and the company with the larger
size absorbs the smaller.
If the companies are the same size, the company with the highest total
worth absorbs the smaller. (The user can view company size and company
total worth on the company detail window, see above.)
Finally, if both company sizes and total worths match, the companies
will merge at random.
If a three or four-way merger occurs, the merges will take place one at
a time, in an order that is somewhat clockwise.
After a merger, each player will have half the number of shares of held
in the vanquished company added to the number of shares held in the
still-existing company. The value of the still-existing company's
price per share will increase by the vanquished company's price per
share.
Additionally, each player receives a cash bonus equal to
10 * stock price * holdings percentage,
where stock price is the old price per share of the vanquished company
and holdings percentage is the percentage of total stock once owned in
the vanquished company. For example, imagine that Altair Starways
(worth $500 per share) is merged into Denebola Shippers. Also, assume
that the player owned 50% of the total shares in Altair Starways.
Using the formula, that player would receive a bonus of
10 * $500 * 50% = $2,500.
For more hints on how to deal with mergers, see Strategy, below.
Stock Splits
When a company's price per share climbs above $3,000, a stock split
occurs. All player holdings in that company are doubled, and the price
per share is halved. See Strategy, below, for money making tips during
and after stock splits.
Black Holes
Since black holes drain $500 from any company that is in contact with
them, it is possible that the company's price per share will drop to 0
or less. If this happens, the entire company is sucked out of space
and all player holdings are lost.
If a player attempts to place an infant company (+) near a black hole
(@), that infant company will be immediately sucked up, resulting again
in an empty sector.
Likewise, if a player attempts to start a new company that would nor‐
mally be worth $500 or less per share next to a black hole, the sectors
that the new company would have occupied all become empty space (.).
For some ways to make black holes work to your advantage, see Strategy,
below.
Game's End
The game ends when 54% of the map is filled with companies (about 70
sectors.) The player who made the final move receives his 5% holdings
bonus (see Holding Bonus, above) and the final standings window is dis‐
played. The player with the highest total worth is the winner.
Strategy
In order to maximize your profits, you must wisely invent your cash.
For instance, if a company is near a black hole, it is likely that it
will lose $500 per share in the next few rounds. Likewise, if a com‐
pany is near a star, it might soon have a $500 gain.
Also, the larger the company, the greater that chance that it will be
added onto (just because it takes up more room on the map.) If you own
300 shares in a company, and its value goes up by $100 per share,
that's a $30,000 increase in your net worth.
Another thing to watch for is when companies are about to merge.
Remember that the number of shares you own in the smaller company will
be halved before being added to the bigger one when they merge. This
can be used to your advantage, especially if the smaller company is
worth significantly less than the larger. If the big company is worth
$2,000 per share, and the small is worth $200 per share, you can buy 10
times as many shares in the smaller. When the companies merge, the
number of shares in the smaller company is halved, but it's still 5
times the amount of stock you could've purchased in the larger company.
Don't forget that when two companies merge, the players receive a cash
bonus that depends on the percentage of stock they owned in the smaller
company (see Mergers, above.) It is good to try to own a higher per‐
centage than anyone else.
A way to gain profit earning potential is to have a large number of
shares in a company when the stock splits two-for-one (see Stock
Splits, above.) Even though your initial net worth remains the same
after a stock split, you'll now increase your net worth by twice the
value you used to whenever the company's price per share rises. Also,
if your opponent has 100 shares and you have 150 before the split,
that'll change to 200 shares and 300 shares, effectively increasing
your lead in shares by 100%.
Black holes weren't present in the original game, but were added to
give players who have fallen behind a chance to shaft the leaders. If
your opponent owns 100 shares of Altair Starways and you only own 50,
you can extend the company against a black hole. Your opponent will
lose $50,000 from his net worth, but you'll only lose $25,000.
Finally, a reminder to invest as much money as you possible can each
round (unless it's too risky.) The reason for this is the 5% cash
bonus all players receive each round based on their holdings (see Hold‐
ings Bonus, above.) Your cash earns you no interest.
FILES
/usr/local/games/starlanes
/usr/local/man/man6/starlanes.6
AUTHOR
This version of Starlanes was written and is Copyright (C) by Brian
``Beej'' Hall 1995-1997. The author can be reached at
beej@ecst.csuchico.edu. Starlanes comes with ABSOLUTELY NO WARRANTY.
This is free software, and you are welcome to redistribute it under
certain conditions; read the file COPYING for details.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
I'd like to thank the unnamed authors of the original Starlanes for
creating such a thought provoking and fun to play text-based game. I
got my first copy on a First Osborne Group (FOG) disk in what must have
been 1982 or so, and used to spend endless hours playing against my
friends. For us, the game is just as fun as ever. To the original
authors, I salute you!
BUGS
There are no computer controlled players.
Doesn't respond if ^Z is pressed to suspend the game.
If only one person is playing, he or she will frequently make enough
money to break the fixed-field-length windows and/or cause the variable
that holds player cash to overflow. Try to keep your earnings under $2
billion until I convert these variables to long doubles. :-)
Starlanes V1.2.2 29 March 1996 STARLANES(6)
