DOS Games Discussion

In my time I've found three things that you can score points for rescuing:

• a federation base
• a Union ship
• settlers from a planet

It appears that it counts only if whatever it is has sent out a distress call. At least for bases - I don't know about the others. Is my inkling correct?

I discovered something else just now. Even when the SR scanner is damaged to 0%, you still get the scanner reports when a Mongol moves!

BlackMantis wrote:I figured it out once but then forgot how. If I have time I'll see about doing a little experimentation to work it out again. I know there's a way to input manual coordinates even if the computer is working, but I don't remember exactly how to do that either.

Hit F4 a second time.

Does anyone know how to use the manual coordinates DeltaX and DeltaY? I've never been able to figure it out. Doesn't seem to correspond to the grids at all. At least not the traditional way you would think of x and y axis'. It's pretty frustrating when your computer gets damaged and you find out a ...

When you move to a new quad, the positions of objects in the quad are re-randomised. I guess the idea is that the warp engines can't be used to navigate with precision, and so the reshuffling is a way of making you need the impulse engines to get the needed precision to position yourself next to a b...

Similarly, the (w)arp command box can be circumvented. Instead of entering "w" and then entering the warp factor in the popup box, one can simply enter (for example) "w4" and the speed factor is automatically set to warp 4. Indeed, it's worth noting that Warp doesn't work - it h...

As far as I can tell, the "destroy" date is approximate. Starbase is giving your their best guess how long they can hold out. Due to the inherent unpredictability of combat, it's actually probably more realistic that the projected date not be 100% accurate. Yes, that's what I reckon. I wo...

I do not know the author, but I've thought of doing this. Even lacking the source code, I still think it'd be worth attempting to craft a more modern "clone". Depends how true to the original you want your clone to be. I suppose the overall game mechanics would be quite easy to implement,...

But even after a StarBase has given a distress signal, in some cases even after the date I was told it would last till has passed, it seems I can still rely on its protection. Yes, if you're physically present in the quadrant the Starbase will persist indefinitely, even past when it would otherwise...

If your ship is in really bad shape, go Warp 1 to a nearby quadrant, and your ship should be in much better shape, even if they tractor beam you back to where you came from. This trick backfired when I tried it yesterday. Basically, my life support got damaged to 0% en route, and by the time I arri...

...did Nels ever make a version... Long shot, but does this mean you might know the author? Any chance he could be politely pestered for source code, or to see if a modern version could be adapted and compiled? It's one of three my favorite games from that era, along with Sopwith and Trek. I wouldn...

Speaking of points for rescues, if your ship is destroyed then do you lose them all? Or does it still score you for these behind the scenes? It should still score them? I think? Might have to doublecheck that one. It happened to me the other day, looks like it doesn't. :( Okay, now that I think abo...

I remember that in some earlier versions of EGA Trek, you could spend time repairing while there are Mongols in the quadrant, and they wouldn't attack you. But in later versions it will just ask you what you want to concentrate repairs on and then exit the transaction. Something else I've noticed is...

Death Ray -- four (five?) possible outcomes. 1) If I remember correctly, sometimes you'll fire it and nothing happens... this one I'm unsure about. 2) It explodes, destroying the ship. 3) It misfires, mutating part of your crew and leaving you dealing with goofy status messages and viewscreen displ...

I played this game in my youth, and have recently got back into playing it on DOSBox! Tip 1 - strikes me as cheating. Possibly a bug, but they might have decided to leave it in as an Easter egg. Does it work on all versions of the game? Tip 2 - just happens to be one that I discovered the other day!...