Writing Orders

User Manual (1978)

Writing Orders

General Rules

All orders should be typed or clearly printed on 8.5 by 11 inch paper, and pages should be numbered if there are more than one.

At the top of each page of his turn, the player places his signature, player name, player ID No., game No., and game turn number.

The game turn No. is the number of the last print-out received.

To distinguish between zero and O, the player writes his zero’s with a slash through them: 0.

All orders referring to a quantity of a unit do not need a comma between the quantity and the unit.

Orders should be written in the same order as the Sequence of Play; orders not written this way may not be executed. For instance, if a player writes an assembly order before a dis-assembly order, the computer will decide that there is no assembly order, and the assembly order will not be executed.

All orders are addressed to ships or colonies. The I.D. No. of the ship or colony is the first part of most orders.

Orders are carried out only if the ship or colony has the necessary units to fulfill the order. For example, if a player ordered 100 space drives transferred, and he only has 60, then only 60 space dives will be transferred.

Players can use “//” to prefix comments in their orders. The “//” and all text to then end of the line will be ignored by the parser. For example,

// This is a comment
39, bombard, 121, 75%. // This is a comment

is the same as

39, bombard, 121, 75%.

List of Orders

Their format and examples.

Combat orders

For all combat orders, the percent commited is expressed as an integer and the percentage sign is required. 10% means barely committed and 100% means totally committed.

Bombard Format

Ship/Colony No. , "bombard" , Defender Ship/Colony No. , percent commited .

Bombard Examples

39, bombard, 121, 75%.

Invade Format

Ship/Colony No. , "invade" , Defender Ship/Colony No. , percent commited .

Invade Examples

22, invade, 342, 55%.

Raid Format

Ship/Colony No. , "raid" , Defender Ship/Colony No. , percent committed , material raided .

In raids, the material raided must follow.

Raid Examples

98, raid, 644, 28%, gold.

For support orders, the supported players ship/colony ID No. is shown.

Support Attacker Format

Ship/Colony No. , "support" , attacker colony or ship ID No. , Defender Ship/Colony No. , percent commited .

Support Attacker Example

20, support, 342, 45, 35%.

No. 20 supports No. 342 in its attack on No. 45.

Support Defender Format

Ship/Colony No. , "support" , Defender Ship/Colony No. , percent commited .

Support Defender Examples

20, support, 342, 40%.

No. 20 supports 342 in its defense.

Set Up Orders

Format

"set up" , type (ship or colony) , Establishing Ship/Colony No. , "transfer" , quantity and item , ... , "end".

The word "END" must be written at the end of set up orders only.

You may split this order over several lines.

Examples

set up, ship, 29,
  transfer, 50,000 structural units,
                 5 space drives-1,
                 5 life supports-1,
                 5 food,
                 5 professionals,
                 1 sensor-1,
            10,000 fuel,
                61 hyper engines-1,
end.

The “-1” in “space drives-1” refers to TL-1.

Assembly orders

Factories and mines are assembled into groups automatically. This can cause issues in rare cases.

Factory Assembly Format

Ship/Colony No. , "assemble" , quantity of factory units , units the factory will make .

Factory Assembly Examples

91, assemble, 54,000 factories-6, consumer goods.

Mine Assembly Format

Ship/Colony No. , "assemble" , quantity of mine units , Deposit No. .

Mine Assembly Examples

83, assemble, 25,680 mine-2, 148.

Other Assembly Format

Ship/Colony No. , "assemble" , quantity of units .

Other Assembly Examples

58, assemble, 6,000 missile launchers-1.

Disassembly orders

Format and examples are the same as for assembly orders, with the word “disassemble” replacing the word “assemble.”

Build Change Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "build change" , Factory Group No. , item to start building (or "retool") .

Examples

16, build change, 8, energy weapons-4.
16, build change, 9, research.
16, build change, 10, retool.

Transfer Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "transfer" , quantity and unit type, Receiving Ship/Colony No.

A future version of this command will allow you to transfer multiple items with one command. Until then, you must use multiple transfer orders.

Examples

22, transfer, 10 spy units, 29.

Mining Change Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "mining" , Mining Group No. , new Deposit No .

Examples

348, mining, 18, 92.

Market Order

Buy Units Format

Ship/Colony No. , "buy" , quantity , unit type, price in GOLD each .

Examples

555, buy, 25,600, STU, 0.01.
555, buy, 1,300, AUT-1, 1,000.
53, buy, 8,000, space drive-3, 0.1.

Buy Technology Levels Format

Ship/Colony No. , "buy" , technology level , price in GOLD each .

Examples

53, buy, TL-6, 1,000,000.

Quantity for TL must be omitted.

Sell Units Format

Ship/Colony No. , "sell" , quantity , unit type , price in GOLD each .

Examples

721, sell, STU, 0.5.
721, sell, AUT-4, 8,000.
44, sell, 4, space drive-3, 0.2.

Sell Technology Levels Format

Ship/Colony No. , "sell" , technology level, price in GOLD each .

Examples

721, sell, TL-4, 800,000.

Quantity for TL must be omitted.

Survey Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "survey" .

Examples

23, survey.

Probe Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "probe" , Orbit No. , ... .

You may include multiple orbits in one probe order. They must be separated by commas.

Examples

28, probe, 6.
31, probe, 2, 4, 5.

Spy Orders

Check Rebel Format

Ship/Colony No. , quantity of spies , "check rebels" .

Convert Rebels Format

Ship/Colony No. , quantity of spies , "convert rebels" .

Incite Rebels Format

Ship/Colony No. , quantity of spies , "incite rebels" , Defender Ship/Colony No. .

Check For Foreign Spies Format

Ship/Colony No. , quantity of spies , "check for spies" .

Attack Foreign Spies Format

Ship/Colony No. , quantity of spies , "attack spies" , Defender Ship/Colony No. .

Gather Information Format

Ship/Colony No. , quantity of spies , "information" , Defender Ship/Colony No. .

Examples

38, 1, check rebels.
38, 119, convert rebels.
38, 1, check for spies.
38, 102, attack spies, 54.
38, 998, incite rebels, 54.
38, 12, information, 54.

News Release

Market Planet News Format

"news" , Market Planet Location , message text .
"news" , Market Planet Location , message text , signature .

The message text must be enclosed in double quotes. Odd characters in the message may cause your orders to be rejected.

Signature is optional. If you include it, it must be enclosed in double quotes.

Market Planet News Examples

news, 02-29-64/3, "I'll be putting space drives-3 on the market next turn.".
news, 02-29-64/3, "I'll be putting space drives-3 on the market next turn.", "Tras-yo of Blenora".

Trade Station News Format

"news" , Trade Station Colony No. , message text .
"news" , Trade Station Colony No. , message text , signature .

The message text must be enclosed in double quotes. Odd characters in the message may cause your orders to be rejected.

Signature is optional. If you include it, it must be enclosed in double quotes.

Trade Station News Examples

news, 632, "I'll be putting space drives-3 on the market next turn.".
news, 632, "I'll be putting space drives-3 on the market next turn.", "Tras-yo of Blenora".

Jump Orders

In-System Jump Format

Ship No. , "move" , Orbit No. .

If your ship is in the 11th orbit you will need to specify which star you are jumping to. You do that by putting the star’s sequence letter and a dash in front of the orbit number.

In-System Jump Examples

77, move, 6.
88, move, C-4.

System Jump Format

Ship No. , "move" , Destination Location

System Jump Examples

79, move, 4-6-19.

Draft Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "draft" , quantity and type of unit .

Examples

13, draft, 3,600 soldier.
78, draft, 16,880 trainee.
99, draft, 5,000 CNW.

Disband Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "disband" , quantity and type of unit .

Examples

13, disband, 3,600 soldier.
78, disband, 16,880 trainee.
99, disband, 5,000 CNW.

Pay Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "pay" , wages , type .

Examples

38, pay, 0.7, unskilled.
38, pay, 1.6, professional.
38, pay, 1.2, soldier.

Ration Orders

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "ration" ,  ration percentage % .

Ration is expressed as an integer and the percentage sign is required. 50% means one-half of a full ration and 100% means a full ration. Starvation sets in at 25% of a full ration.

All population units on the ship/colony are assigned the same ration.

Examples

16, ration, 50%.

Control Orders

Format

Empire No. , "control" , Location .

The location must include the orbit number.

Examples

28, control, 2-4-6/9.

Un-Control Orders

Same as Control orders, except the word “un-control” replaces “control.”

Examples

28, un-control, 2-4-6/9.

Naming Orders

Names may be no more than 24 characters long, including blanks.

Naming Planets

Format

Location , "name" , name .

The name must be enclosed in double quotes. Odd characters in the name may cause your orders to be rejected.

Examples

5-12-38, name, "Goldball".
5-12-38/2, name, "Goldball Prime".

Naming Ships and Colonies

Format

Ship/Colony No. , "name" , name

The name must be enclosed in double quotes. Odd characters in the name may cause your orders to be rejected.

Examples

39, name, "Dragonfire".

Trade Station Orders

Format

Trade Station Ship/Colony No. , "permission" , Receiving Ship/Colony No. , "granted" .
Trade Station Ship/Colony No. , "permission" , Receiving Ship/Colony No. , "denied" .

The receiving ship/colony is a proxy. By granting or denying permission to it, you are actually granting/denying permission to the Empire that controls that ship or colony.

Examples

138, permission, 200, granted.
162, permission, 100, denied.

Colonization Orders

Format

Receiving Ship/Colony No. , "permission to colonize" , Location .

The location must include the orbit number.

The receiving ship/colony is a proxy. By giving permission to it, you are actually granting permission to the Empire that controls that ship or colony. You can’t revoke permission to colonize after it has been granted.

Examples

129, permission to colonize, 99-12-26/3.

Sequence of Turn Execution Appendix I