RacePlus

Authors: Dan and Dave

The ability that is now added to the Feds is called Native Government Enhancement. This ability allows the Feds to educate natives on planets that have a poor native government. On a planet that has a government that ranges from Anarchy to Representative this ability may be used.

On a planet meeting the above conditions the Feds can implement their “education system.” This system requires an investment of money and supplies on the part of the Feds. The Feds need to own the planet for X turns (Where X is the configured number of turns in the RPCONFIG program) between each government increase. If the planet is owned for X turns and the planets friendly code is set to “HUD” for all of those turn and the required amounts of money and supplies are present the native government will “evolve” up one government level.

The money and supply requirements are as follows:

Anarchy to Pre-Tribal – 100 supplies 375 Megacredits
Pre-Tribal to Early Tribal – 150 supplies 625 Megacredits
Early Tribal to Tribal – 200 supplies 875 Megacredits
Tribal to Feudal – 250 supplies 1125 Megacredits
Feudal to Monarchy – 300 supplies 1375 Megacredits
Monarchy to Representative – 350 supplies 1625 Megacredits
Representative to Particip. – 400 supplies 1875 Megacredits

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

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

Index Number Ship Class
1 Outrider Class Scout
2 Nocturne Class Destroyer
3 Bohemian Class Survey Ship
4 Vendetta Class Frigate
5 Nebula Class Cruiser
6 Banshee Class Destroyer
7 Loki Class Destroyer
8 Eros Class Research Vessel
9 Brynhild Class Escort
10 Arkham Class Frigate
11 Thor Class Frigate
12 Diplomacy Class Cruiser
13 Missouri Class Battleship
14 Neutronic Fuel Carrier
15 Small Deep Space Freighter
16 Medium Deep Space Freighter
17 Large Deep Space Freighter
18 Super Transport Freighter
19 Kittyhawk Class Carrier
20 Nova Class Super-Dreadnought
21 Reptile Class Destroyer
22 Lizard Class Cruiser
23 T-Rex Class Battleship
24 Serpent Class Escort
25 Saurian Class Light Cruiser
26 White Falcon Class Cruiser
27 Swift Heart Class Scout
28 Fearless Wing Cruiser
29 Dark Wing Class Battleship
30 Valiant Wind Class Carrier
31 Resolute Class Battlecruiser
32 Bright Heart Class Destroyer
33 Deth Specula Class Frigate
34 D7a Painmaker Class Cruiser
35 Victorious Class Battleship
36 D7 Coldpain Class Cruiser
37 Ill Wind Class Battlecruiser
38 D3 Thorn Class Destroyer
39 D19b Nefarious Class Destroyer
40 Little Pest Class Escort
41 Saber Class Frigate
42 Lady Royale Class Cruiser
43 Dwarfstar Class Transport
44 BR4 Class Gunship
45 BR5 Kaye Class Torpedo Boat
46 Meteor Class Blockade Runner
47 Red Wind Class Carrier
48 Skyfire Class Cruiser
49 Madonnzila Class Carrier
50 Bloodfang Class Carrier
51 B200 Class Probe
52 Biocide Class Carrier
53 Annihilation Class Battleship
54 B41 Explorer
55 B222 Destroyer
56 Firecloud Class Cruiser
57 Watcher Class Scout
58 Quietus Class Cruiser
59 Small Transport
60 Ruby Class Light Cruiser
61 Emerald Class Battlecruiser
62 Sky Garnet Class Destroyer
63 Diamond Flame Class Battleship
64 Onyx Class Frigate
65 Topez Class Gunship
66 Opal Class Torpedo Boat
67 Crystal Thunder Class Carrier
68 Moscow Class Star Escort
69 Super Star Destroyer
70 Gorbie Class Battlecarrier
71 RU25 Gunboat
72 H-Ross Class Light Carrier
73 Mig Class Scout
74 Super Star Cruiser
75 Super Star Frigate
76 Super Star Carrier
77 PL21 Probe
78 Instrumentality Class Baseship
79 Golem Class Baseship
80 Automa Class Baseship
81 Cat’s Paw Class Destroyer
82 Q Tanker
83 Cybernaut Class Baseship
84 Pawn Class Baseship
85 Iron Slave Class Baseship
86 Tranquillity Class Cruiser
87 Falcon Class Escort
88 Guardian Class Destroyer
89 Iron Lady Class Frigate
90 Sage Class Frigate
91 Deep Space Scout
92 Patriot Class Light Carrier
93 Armored Transport
94 Rush Class Heavy Carrier
95 Little Joe Class Escort
96 Cobol Class Research Cruiser
97 Aries Class Transport
98 Taurus Class Scout
99 Virgo Class Battlestar

Table 1.2 !!n Friendly Codes

Index Number Ship Class
0 Sagittarius Class Transport
1 Gemini Class Transport
2 Scorpious Class Light Carrier
3 Cygnus Class Destroyer
4 Neutronic Refinery Ship
5 Merlin Class Alchemy Ship

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’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 41crew 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 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 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’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. Thefirst 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 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 recieve 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 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 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 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 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 defene 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.

HOST Sequence

AUXHOST 1

Load RacePlus
Boost Governments
Sabotage Ships
BoardShips
Transfer Colonists for Crew
Super Tractor Beam
Build Free Torps
Remember Fuel Amounts
Gravity Well Generator
Repair Robot Ships
Fighter Stealth Gather
Booby trap planets

AUXHOST 2

Load RacePlus
Activate Chameleon Device
Refuel Via Web
Return Beams to Gorbie
Booby Trap Activation

• Design:
  Dave Killingsworth & Dan Gale
• Special Consulting:
  Tim Wisseman, Conrad Lesnewski, Edward Jones, Jim Welch, Richard Vogt
• Programming:
  Dan Gale
• Documentation:
  Dave Killingsworth
• BMP Artwork:
  Mark Stewart, Tim Wisseman, Kenneth Wisseman, Dan Gale, Dave Killingsworth
• Special Thanks:
  Anyone We Forgot.