VGA Planets is a trademark of Tim Wisseman.
These machines were constructed long ago by a very intelligent and argumentative alien species. Fortunately, this very intelligent and argumentative alien species also killed each other off long ago. Apparently, some sort of argument developed as to what engineering software was the best to design new machines. There were other arguments, too. Some wanted to be the Empire of Yorians, and others wanted to be the Empire of Yoreans. And others wanted to be the Empire of Yorelites. And others thought "of" was too wordy so they wanted to be the Yorelite Empire. As more and more others were created, they started attacking each other. Eventually, they had completely eradicated themselves from the universe. Which turned out to be a great thing for the new species!
Another great thing for the new races, all the machines were built of non-biodegradable material and are 100% intact!
To install MOY, just run 'install If you're using CWSDPMI you should put cwsdpmi.exe in your main planets
directory, as well. The MOY programs will spawn CWSDPMI automatically so
you do not need to do anything else with it.
Then run the myconfig program.
Some machines may also cause PHOST to generate warning messages about
cheating but nothing too serious.
The next major release of PHOST is expected to support auxbc.ini.
The batch file should look something like this:
All machine activity is logged in the file 'moy.log'.
Here is a list of all machines that presently exist but I plan to add
more in the future.
If colonists are transferred through the PW and the receiving PW is
unowned, they colonize it. If it is owned by another race, they fight according
to normal ground combat rules.
If natives are transferred through the PW and the receiving PW has no
natives, they "colonize" it. If a different native race is on the planet,
they fight on a 1:1 basis.
Colonist happiness increases (very slightly) on the receiving PW when
they through (it's better than a roller coaster!).
Native happiness decreases (very slightly) on the receiving PW when
they go through (natives are very queasy).
When natives are transferred to a planet with the same type of natives
but a lower government the level of government on the receiving PW will
increase one level.
The transfer occurs before movement.
Here is a list of the friendly codes and the maximum amount of each
item you can send through the PW ('##' represents the percentage amount
of an item to be transferred):
Occurs before and after movement.
The friendly code is 'ON*' to activate it.
At the moment, this doesn't quite work the way I want it to. I haven't
figured out how to decloak a ship without changing the ships mission. So,
for now, this machine will disable a ships cloaking device by changing
the mission from cloak to nothing. It will also change the mission on bird
ships from super spy to nothing. When I learn how to fix this, I will.
Occurs before and after movement.
The friendly code is 'ON*' to activate it.
Occurs before and after movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the ship you want to destroy.
There is no friendly code control.
No special friendly code required.
No special friendly code required.
No special friendly code required.
No special friendly code required.
Occurs before movement.
The friendly code is 'ON*' to activate it.
Scans before movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the ship you want to scan.
There is no friendly code control.
Bug found: When myconfig initializes a Giant Bovinoid planet it is supposed
put between 4 and 8 million bovinoids on the planet but instead it's putting
between 4 and 8 million colonists on the planet. If the planet isn't owned
then Host will just reset the number of colonists to zero but if it is
owned then someone is going to get a whole bunch of extra colonists. If
you're not using the "unowned" option you'll probably want to use a host
editor to check the Giant Bovinoid planets.
Occurs after movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the ship you want to transport
on top of.
Occurs before and after movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the ship you want hold on to.
Occurs before movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the planet you want to transport
your 10 clans to.
So, the board-with-a-nail-in-it causes 15% (up to a maximum of 150 clans)
of the population to die in ACME related accidents.
And, of course, the board-with-a-nail-in-it will always return home
and wait for you to send it somewhere else.
Occurs before movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the planet you want to send the
board-with-a-nail-in-it to.
Occurs after movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the carrier you want to unload
all its fighters.
The cyborg race are able to assimilate the cyborg terminator into their
collective immediately, before any crew are killed.
Occurs before and after movement.
The friendly code is the ID number of the ship you want the cyborg terminator
to beam to.
Occurs before and after movement.
The friendly code is 'ON*' to activate it.
For US$ 6.00, you
can register with your credit card through
PayPal.
Another ordering option, for US$ 5.00, you can fill out my order form
found in moyorder.txt, and send it and a check
directly to me via snail-mail at:
Last updated: August 19, 1997
3.0 MOY Configuration
To configure MOY just run myconfig.exe with the path to the game data.
3.1 Create Machines / Add Another Set of Machines
The first thing MOY config will do is ask which planets machines should
be placed on:
(1) Any random planet
Will place machines on randomly chosen planets. It also provides a
further option:
(1) within a Circle of a specified radius
Will only choose planets within a circle that you give it. It
will prompt you for coordinates for the center of the circle
and then for the radius in light years.
(2) Any planet on the map
It will just go and start choosing random planets from anywhere
on the map.
(2) Unowned random planets
Will choose planets randomly but will only put machines on those
planets that are not colonized. It also provides you with the choice
of placing them within a circle or anywhere on the map (see above).
(3) Owned by a specific race random planets
Will choose planets randomly but will only put machines on those
planets owned by a specific player. It also provides you with the
choice of placing them within a circle or anywhere on the map (see
above).
(4) Planets that you choose
Will provide you with a map of all the planets and allow you to select
planets manually for each machine. Left clicking on the mouse will
simply show you some information about the planet (ID#, name, owner,
machine set, and the type of machine). Right clicking allows you to
add, change, or remove a machine from the selected planet.
3.2 The Main Menu
(1) List configuration on screen
Lists the usefulness settings (see 3.3 The Editing Menu), the
machines, what planets they're on, who owns them, and how long they
have been owned. If you just created machines, all of them will
appear to be on unowned planets whether they're owned or not. After
MOY is run for the first time everything should appear normal.
(2) Save config to 'myconfig.txt'
Makes a text file containing all the information that the 'List'
command shows on screen.
(3) Create new config
Deletes any current machines and makes new ones.
(4) Edit config
Brings up a menu with several editing features.
(5) Add another set of machines
Adds another set of machines to the cluster. You'll be prompted for
the same information as when you created the first set of machines.
The shareware version can setup a maximum of XX machines. The
registered can put a machine on every planet.
(6) Quit (and save)
Saves the present configuration and quits.
(!) don't save, just quit
Quits without saving.
3.3 The Editing Menu
(1) List configuration on screen
Lists the usefulness settings (see below), the machines, what planets
they're on, who owns them, and how long they have been owned. If you
just created machines, all of them will appear to be on unowned
planets whether they're owned or not. After MOY is run for the first
time everything should appear normal.
(2) Configure machine usefulness
Changes the "usefulness" settings of a machine. The usefulness
settings include such things as the number of turns until a machine is
usable, the radius (for machines like the Gravity Well), and other
mimumums and maximums.
(3) Enable all disabled machines
Enables all the machines that have been disabled. It will go through
the "Create Machines" menu and enable the machines in the way you
specify. Machines that are already setup will not be altered.
(4) Disable all type X machines
Disables all machines of a certain type (ie. all Gravity Well's).
(5) Manual edit
Will provide you with a map of all the planets and allow you to select
planets manually for each machine. Left clicking on the mouse will
simply show you some information about the planet (ID#, name, owner,
machine set, and the type of machine). Right clicking allows you to
add, change, or remove a machine from the selected planet.
(6) Quit to main
Quits back to the main menu.
3.4 Using with PHOST
MOY will run with PHOST but with a little different results. MOY is designed
to use auxhost1.ini and auxbc.ini but it can be run after phase 1 and after
phase 2 with PHOST except that some machines will experience a "delayed
reaction." For example, the gravity well. If MOY runs in auxbc.ini and
the gravity well pulls a ship in a player can have combat with the ship
immediately; alternatively, if MOY runs in auxhost2.ini or after phase
2 of PHOST the players would have to wait until next turn for combat.
phost -1 [whatever other parameters and directories]
moy.exe
4.0 The Machines of Yore
Before colonists can use a machine they first have to find it and study
it. This normally takes 3 to 4 turns (configurable) depending on the machine.
As soon as the colonists figure everything out they send a message to tell
their emperor what it is and how to use it. This message can be repeated
at any time by setting that planets friendly code to '?**' (** can be anything).
4.01 The Planet Walkway
A Planet Walkway exists on two planets and they allow anything to be transferred
between those two (and only those two) planets.
##N neutronium (up to 1200 kt)
##T tritanium (up to 1200 kt)
##D duranium (up to 1200 kt)
##M molybdenum (up to 1200 kt)
##S supplies (up to 1200 supplies)
##C colonists (up to 12000 clans)
##V natives (up to 12000 clans)
##$ megacredits (up to 100000 MC)
EXP send 1 colonist clan through to explore the other PW
For example, a friendly code of '05V' would send 5% of that planets natives
through the PW. A friendly code of '00V' would send 100% of the natives
through the PW (or at least 12000 clans of them).
4.02 The Gravity Well
This machine can pull all ships within 50 ly into orbit around the planet.
Ships that are in orbit around near by planets are protected from the gravity
well.
4.03 The Anti-Cloak Field
Forces *all* ships within 80 ly to decloak.
4.04 The Disintegration Beam
Can completely destroy any specified ship within a 40 ly radius.
4.05 The Happy Planet
Plants on the planet release a gaseous substance into the atmosphere that
makes the colonists and natives very happy. Consequently, they can be overtaxed
(by approximately 3 times normal). They also have an increased growth rate.
Any natives on the planet have grown immune to the substance.
4.06 Unlimited Tritanium
It maintains a constant source of 500 kt of tritanium below the surface
at a 100% mining rate.
4.07 Unlimited Duranium
It maintains a constant source of 500 kt of duranium below the surface
at a 100% mining rate.
4.08 Unlimited Molybdenum
It maintains a constant source of 500 kt of moly below the surface at a
100% mining rate.
4.09 Unlimited Neutronium
It maintains a constant source of 500 kit of neutronium below the surface
at a 100% mining rate.
!All machines beyond this point are available to registered
users only!
4.10 The Flinger
It will throw all ships within a 50 ly radius of the planet. The ship will
be thrown somewhere (randomly) between 300 and 500 ly in a direction opposite
to the planet. In the process, the ships will get between 1% and 15% damaged
(dependent on the distance thrown).
4.11 The Detail Scanner
Provides a detailed scan on a specified ship within a 200 ly radius. It
will scan cloaked ships, as well.
4.12 The Giant Bovinoids
A race of giant bovinoids that make twice the amount of supplies that normal
bovinoids make.
4.13 The Ship-On-Ship Transporter
Similar to the chunnel. Instantly transports all ships from orbit right
on top of any ship within 180 ly.
4.14 The Tractor Beam
Similar to the gravity well, but this will not pull ships into orbit. It
will lock and hold a ship (within 60 ly) at its current point in space.
4.15 The Colonist Spreader
Transports 1000 colonists to any planet on the map.
4.16 The Board-With-A-Nail-In-It
Sends an artificially semi-intelligent flying board-with-a-nail-in-it to
any planet on the map. The board-with-a-nail-in-it will then fly around
scaring colonists into their ACME Home-To-Orbit Escape Pods. However, being
a quality ACME product, the pods will either (a) go backwards into the
ground, (b) fly upwards until they remember that gravity exists, or (c)
not launch until someone climbs into the engine to figure out what's wrong.
4.17 The Fighter Commander
Sends a command to a carrier within 80 ly that will cause the fighters
aboard to leave the ship and fly into oblivion.
4.18 The Cyborg Crew Terminator
Beams a cyborg terminator on to a ship within 50 ly. The cyborg will terminate
the entire crew, as well as any clans in the cargo bays.
4.19 The Machine Detector
Detects when any machine has become active and tells the player where it
is located. It cannot, however, distinguish between different machines.
It will only tell a player where a machine is, not what the machine is.
5.0 Registering
Registered users will be able to use all the machines, and also be able
to put a machine on all 500 planets if they wish to do so. All upgrades
to this program, including the addition of new machines, will be free to
registered users.
7516-75 Street
Edmonton, Alberta
T6C 2E8
Canada