============= A N A R C H Y ============= RELEASE 1.3 A Space Combat and Trading Game for the TI83 and TI83+ Written by Paul Robson (Coding/Design) and Konstantin Beliakov (Graphics) Introduction ------------ Anarchy is a space trading game, loosely modelled along the same lines as the classic "Elite". It's not half as complex though (well, it is only about 5k in size) The aim of the game is to trade goods amongst the sectors of the galaxy, raising money to buy better equipment for your ship. ..... no, the aim of the game is to blow up as many bad guys as you can, whilst trading to get $$$ so you can blow up more bad guys. Then blow up the good guys ! The Anarchy World ----------------- The Anarchy world is a galaxy consisting of 64 sectors, arranged as an 8x8 grid. Each of these sectors contains a single planet. The galaxies of "Anarchy" have dissolved into Chaos ; there is no real effective government, just a loose collection of worlds held together by the need for trade. (A bit like the USA). And it's getting rapidly worse as the galaxy descends into chaos. The only difference between the worlds is the degree of madness the local ruling faction is willing to tolerate. Some sectors are (relatively) peaceful, and have trading craft that trundle around harmlessly (unless you shoot at them !), and some..... aren't, shall we say ? These are generally to be avoided until you have upgraded your ship somewhat. Like a lot. A visit to a very anarchic world will last about 10 seconds. Seven of those are waiting for you to get in range :) Beginning --------- The game runs under ION. Load it, start it, you'll see the title screen. You can press A to continue your old game, or C to start a new game. If it's the first run it doesn't matter what you press, of course. Docking ------- You start your game coming out of warp, and arrive in the vicinity of a peaceful (relatively !) local star. From here, you will head (hopefully) towards the local docking point. Docking is automatic. When you dock, you can trade, and upgrade your ship, and get your breath back. Display ------- Unless you have the map or the trading screen up, you can see the front view. There are sights, for aiming with, an energy bar, a display of your weaponry, and a scanner. If you score a hit, the whole information bar line on the screen (the bottom 8 pixel lines) reverses. Warping ------- Warping is how you transfer between galaxies. Pressing the C key (see later) brings up the local galactic map, with your current sector highlighted. You can warp to another sector by holding down the direction(s) you want to go in, and press the A key, or you can use the C key to return to the front view. The darker sectors on the map are the nastier ones. This information is updated periodically via the Galactic Net. However, there is no guarantee of it being up to date, due to the collapse of government in the galaxy. This (conveniently) can also be used as a "Pause" function. The game stops stops when you are displaying the map. If you need to make a cup of tea. Or do some work. Bear in mind that because this game doesn't use the TIOS (spit!) it won't go into power down mode. There's a catch however. If you "warp" (i.e. you use the A key), this will cost you, in energy, about half the maximum energy of your ship. This is to make a "warp rod". If you get it wrong, warping will start, but your ship will explode on coming out of warp. To make life easier, by agreement (about the only thing the rulers agree on), all ships leaving dock are given one ready made warp rod. This doesn't cost them much, because they have solar plants driven by the local rotating black hole (why you can't see it). This doesn't explain why you have to pay to get your energy back when you dock. Well, they have to make *some* money don't they ? Fighting -------- Well, it happens, a fair bit, in fact. You have two forms of self defence (three if you count an emergency warp i.e. running away). Lasers and Missiles. Lasers have to be fired and aimed manually (and can be upgraded). Missiles have to be fired manually, but home in on the nearest passing ship. (You can't blow yourself up). The catch is (there always is one) that missiles are rather expensive. And you can only have four of them. Lasers are fired with A, and Missiles with B You do get $$$ for blowing up the ships. Well $ anyway. Unless they're the really hard ones. And I'm not going to tell you which ones are the hard ones. Largely because when I wrote this they hadn't been designed, so I don't know. Blowing up ships with missiles is vaguely satisfying. This is probably down to me..... so I wouldn't come round my house on a dark night, put it like that. The missiles are VERY effective. Like 100% effective. One piece of luck ..... your new ship is equipped with 4 missiles. Don't waste them ! Trading ------- To get money you can trade in one of 8 items. You can buy and sell them from the trading screen that appears when you dock. A buys the item and B sells it (buying is subject to that item being available). It is worthwhile noting that it is a good idea to sell things for more than you paid for them. You get more money if you go somewhere nastier. If you dare. At the top of the trading screen is the sector ID and your $$$. At the bottom is the equipment you can buy. This is, in increasing order of profit and/or illegality. (Though because anarchy reigns, no-one cares except the guys trying to get it off you) This is what you can buy :- Food (looks like a chicken) Alcohol (bottle) Medical Supplies (Box with red (black) cross) Electronics (DIL IC Chip) Precious Stones (Diamond) Prisoner Transport (Bars) Weapons (Gun) Alien Spies (Insect) Each symbol is followed by two numbers. The first, right next to it is the amount you hold of that item. The second is the cost of that item. If no cost is displayed, that item cannot be traded here. You have a limited cargo hold. Items come packed in Galactic Standard Container sizes, so it doesn't matter what you have, you can still only have so much cargo (currently 24 GSC spaces) When you've finished trading press C to enter space. This places you a short distance outside the space station, you can then warp, or you can, of course, re-dock with the space station, though you might have to fight your way in. Equipping --------- You can buy four things ; you can recharge your ships batteries (fixed cost), missiles (fixed cost), buy upgraded lasers (depends how much they are upgraded already) and buy upgraded shields (ditto). You do this by selecting them using the arrow keys, and buying them, like trading. These aren't cheap, but are requirements if you want to go some place tough. Note, not advisable, they are requirements. Other Stuff that I'm thinking about ----------------------------------- Alternate galaxies. Missions to complete. Going to bed. Being Blown Up -------------- You can't lose in this game. The bad news is that if you are blown up, you get half your gold nicked when you are picked up in your escape capsule. The good news is that the insurance gets you a new ship. Of course, insurance being what it is it won't be as good as the old one, it'll be downgraded slightly. Getting Out ----------- To get out, (in space), press the A key then the C key. You will return to ION. Your game is automatically saved. Keys ---- Can't find A,B and C ? They are actually 2nd, Mode and Delete respectively. Not only do I write comments in my code, I abstract a fair bit of the I/O as well, and I don't use the ruddy TIOS. One of the routines abstracts the keyboard I/O to three keys and the arrow keys. That's why all my games use 2nd/Mode/Del. Bugs ---- If you find something, or you have any suggestions, mail me, or Konstantin if you prefer. Paul Robson (autismuk@aol.com) Konstantin Beliakov (zkostik@hotmail.com) May/June 2001 v1.1 Released 12-Jun-01 ======================= - First version released to ticalc.org v1.2 Released 13-Jun-01 ======================= - Trading screen keys operate quicker (Dock.Z80) - Rearranged files so all data at the end (Boot.Z80) - Reduced Energy Loss when firing slightly (Data.Z80) - Spent a lot of time trying to track the TI83+ Crashing bug. It seems to have disappeared. I don't know why :( v1.3 Released 14-Jun-01 ======================= - Hadn't fixed TI83+ bug. Was due to enemy lasers being drawn (Draw.Z80) off ship space. Fixed now.