It's loosely based on Sfc's Mirak race but it's not the same. Shape is somewhat similar but other parts are different so don't worry. Nice observation Matress!

You missed a few:

Barzan -> Barzans
Bynar -> Bynars
Norcadian -> Norcadians
Ocampans -> Ocampa
Teplan -> Teplans
T'rogorans -> T'Rogorans
Xirillians -> Xyrillians

I meant typos with the race name itself, such as Klongon instead of Klingon. But thanks for spotting that, .Iceman. I forgot the editor put an 's' at the end of every race name, although I admit I missed the Xyrillians one out. I'll upload a fixed copy of the files to my post.

*Edit - I updated the link in my other post,, but here's the new link again just in case: http://www.mediafire.com/?ywarotmwn5k

23rd September version

Page 8
(Referring to Dilithium and Raw Materials)
Dilithium and Raw Materials usage have not been explained by this point in the manual, therefore it might not be obvious to all readers. "Desirable for ship production" might be a better way to say it.


Page 9
The description of the first image on the page mentions Asteroids. There are no Asteroids in the image though (Although this is also explained). It would be desirable to acquire an image that does contain Asteroids in it. I'd make one but Supremacy is crashing on me for some unknown reason. I've sent Mike the huge error log that the crash is producing.

Credits can be used for ship maintenance and bribery, so this isn't an ideal description. Besides, it just doesn't sound right anyway.


Page 10
The last image on the page is rather small and has obviously been shrunk down. You might be able to put a larger image in if you cut most of the bottom off the image directly above it (The one with the three ships). The bottom of this image is mostly wasted space anyways. If the image was cut down, the text surrounding it could be shifted up by a line or two, which would provide more room for the last image, or could even allow for the first sentence on the next page to be shifted up.


Page 15
There's lots of empty space below this section. You could therefore perhaps expand the above sentence by adding:

I know, there might be space to expand into but that doesn't mean all of this will fit. It's all relevant info though that might be useful and there's probably a way to squeeze it all down.


Page 17
Each race has their own version of the Subatomic Simulators, so "or race equivalent" should be added to it. Additionally, virtually all ships have some inherent science capability. Hospital ships actually have an above average science capability because they have to research cures for plagues etc. There is also a special type of station called a science station, that is used purely for researching stellar phenomena. All empires have such a station, although they have different names.



Page 19
Since this feature hasn't been implemented yet, it should be in the future tense.



Page 20
As this is a warning about a missing feature, it should be highlighted in red for consistency.


Page 21
Where are my underscores?!

23rd September version

Page 8
(Referring to Dilithium and Raw Materials)
Dilithium and Raw Materials usage have not been explained by this point in the manual, therefore it might not be obvious to all readers. "Desirable for ship production" might be a better way to say it.


Page 9
The description of the first image on the page mentions Asteroids. There are no Asteroids in the image though (Although this is also explained). It would be desirable to acquire an image that does contain Asteroids in it. I'd make one but Supremacy is crashing on me for some unknown reason. I've sent Mike the huge error log that the crash is producing.

Credits can be used for ship maintenance and bribery, so this isn't an ideal description. Besides, it just doesn't sound right anyway.


Page 10
The last image on the page is rather small and has obviously been shrunk down. You might be able to put a larger image in if you cut most of the bottom off the image directly above it (The one with the three ships). The bottom of this image is mostly wasted space anyways. If the image was cut down, the text surrounding it could be shifted up by a line or two, which would provide more room for the last image, or could even allow for the first sentence on the next page to be shifted up.


Page 15
There's lots of empty space below this section. You could therefore perhaps expand the above sentence by adding:

I know, there might be space to expand into but that doesn't mean all of this will fit. It's all relevant info though that might be useful and there's probably a way to squeeze it all down.


Page 17
Each race has their own version of the Subatomic Simulators, so "or race equivalent" should be added to it. Additionally, virtually all ships have some inherent science capability. Hospital ships actually have an above average science capability because they have to research cures for plagues etc. There is also a special type of station called a science station, that is used purely for researching stellar phenomena. All empires have such a station, although they have different names.



Page 19
Since this feature hasn't been implemented yet, it should be in the future tense.



Page 20
As this is a warning about a missing feature, it should be highlighted in red for consistency.


Page 21
Where are my underscores?!

Matress, It's done. You may want to pay extra attention to a new image in the manual. CB

Regarding the minors insignias names, a couple are still wrong.

Bynar -> Bynars
Ocampans -> Ocampa (though some sources also use Ocampans - but the game uses Ocampa)

El_Aurians , El-Aurians (underscore?)

It's the insignia's fault. They renamed themselves. Damn them...

I'm not sure how the game reacts to underscores vs hyphens. I've been trying to find the El-Aurians in a game but like I said, my game is currently broken for unknown reasons (Even freshly downloaded copies crash) so I can't check it out myself. The game is coming up with a 3.1mb long error.txt file, which is the biggest error i've ever seen the game produce. God knows what the cause is but i've forwarded it to Mike. If people could just keep an eye out for the El-Aurians and take a note of whether their image works or not (And whether their image has an underscore or a hyphen) then we'll know for sure.

Both download links updated.

The insignia has the underscore, the race's name has the hyphen, hence my comment. Underscores are usually used to replace blank spaces. It's not really important.

I just remembered that we have a Supremacy Wiki, so i've added in a link to the manual in case anyone Checks It Out.

Page 2:
Research Matrix Option -> Research Matrix option

Page 3:
'BOTF´-> 'BOTF'
I don't like the term "artificial intelligence program", but that's just me probably. It's not really a program as much as code that is an integral part of the game.

Page 8:
The image could have a Gas Giant, to show the blue letters, and to inform that each system generates 10 Deuterium per GG they have. It could also be mentioned that each planet can have up to 5 Moons,and that Moons allow expanding the system's population. While at it, each system can have up to 10 orbits.

Page 9:
Stellar bodies in the galaxy map (Quasars, Pulsars, X-Ray Pulsars, Black Holes) and their effects.
Nebulae, and Rogue planets - mention Omarion and the Dominion.
Wormholes ?
BTW, the planetary bonuses [food, energy] apply system wide, and compound on each other (they should be additive really...)
university count -> Research facilities
Intelligence Points description is not justified on the right side.
Trained by Academy per turn -> Trained per turn
Materials per turn -> Mined per turn
Remove (your fuel), it's already mentioned a few lines above as being starship fuel.

Page 10:
Colony ship III -> Colony Ship III

Page 11:
needs to be colonized -> can be colonized
Most ships have weapons (high level colony ships for example), not sure if they can Engage (can't see why not really).

Page 12:
Are there white colored sectors ?
games panels -> game's panels
Consistency in the bullets:
* MAIN - galaxy panel
* SYSTEM - colony management panel
* EMBASSY - diplomacy management panel
* SCIENCE - research management panel
* INTEL - intelligence management panel
* MENU - main menu

Page 13:
Mention 10 base food per system.
Mention system base production = population count.

Page 14:
Scraping -> scrapping
25% of its credits cost: there's no credits cost, there's actually no cost at all (except time), but you are returned credits for scrapping a structure, an amount equal to 25% its *build cost*.

Page 18:

Remove Federation science station, it's already 2 lines below, in Science Stations.

Page 21:
Text justification, right side.

Page 22:
The game calls base structures Production Facilities, and Production Categories are Food, Industry, Energy, Research and Intel (by this order in the colony management panel). IMO this nomenclature should be used here (Population and structures table) and throughout the manual, for consistency. No Universities please! Only the Federation has them...

Thanks .iceman I think I did everything. There may be one or two things I didn't understand. I made a few improvements myself.

You seem to know a lot about the proposed structure of the game along with Matress and others. I am wondering if it would be desirable to document the accepted game features (in the manual) not implemented yet so that individuals new to the forum don't have to hunt for it or propose it again when it has already been discussed to death. The size of the entire forum is overwhelming. I'm not likely to read everything back to 2007 while you all may have done so. I wish there was some quick "get up to speed quick" resource. I think Mike has the same sense of this given his post about "Read this before you propose a game idea." Along the same lines I saw a post from someone who wisely advised getting the game done quick before there is so much feature creep that it sinks the whole project.

Just an idea from the office of records.

Zeleni: I kind of liked your grey Orion icon better. I tend to associate (wouldn't we all) green with the Orions. Maybe you could start with the round grey one and add two different shades of green in some areas of it. My suggestion would be the outer rim and one other area. The image also gets a bit lost in the shine of your new one. Here is an example. I will have to admit it might look too friendly for the Orions.

Captain B

Communications Officers:

I posted a quick tutorial on how I made the manual and a ZIPx file with the manual images that do NOT have language elements in them (except for 3 you might still use). They are in the same directory as the manual on Share Point.

Sorry this wasn't sooner. I had a busy week.

Yes, the forums are quite messy. It doesn't help that people don't read the stickies either
I proposed having a sticky with the current problems and whatnot, and it was a pain having it accepted. They finally did, but still not everyone reads it. Most people only read a few threads. It doesn't help that it's been a long time since the latest release either, so there's plenty of duplicated bug reports.
It might be a good idea to include the accepted game features in the manual. Some are still open I guess, but it wouldn't hurt.
As for getting the game done asap, I agree. There's too much "diversity" in the game, too much is trying to be included - it's almost like it's a ST compendium. Some stuff doesn't really work, it'll be just a resource drain IMO. Unfortunately, Mike has a RL job

Page 9:
The whole list for stellar bodies is Neutron Star, Radio Pulsar, X-Ray Pulsar, Black Hole, Quasar
Nebulae can have Rogue planets (and eventually will allow the player to extract Deuterium)
Crystalline planets are working more or less the same as GGs now, though there are some bugs with them (Collect Deuterium, deut extraction, etc)

Page 12:
Like I mentioned earlier, minors do not have AoI, their sectors are not colored white. Only their sector is colored *grey* when they're independent. (See image attached - Andoria; Xepoli is under the Fed's blue AoI so it's purplish)


More stuff:

Explain trade routes (IIRC 1 is created per 150 pop in the system)

Explain Scan range vs Area of Influence (See image attached - homesystems have scan range 1 by default, and Sol's 206 pop grants it an AoI of 2 [I removed any ships from the vicinity so that the squares from the scanners don't show])



I can send you a BMP of the image if you want.

One other thing that could be mentioned, moon sizes and their pop. Small=1, Medium=2, Large=3.

Scan range vs Strength should probably also be explained.

Ship stats in general, including Refire Rate, Shield Recharge, Evac, Work Force (colony, transport), etc.

I recently noticed that Mike asked on Codeplex for someone to write descriptions and other information to go in the game Trekpedia, especially for map objects like stars.

As .Iceman said, it's probably best to only include released game features in the manual to avoid confusion. I'm considering writing some of these descriptions, so i'm just giving a heads up that the Trekpedia might include more game information in future for those people who want to get a little bit more technical. You might need to add some new manual sections on the Trekpedia in future if Mike includes the descriptions.

Actually, I said the accepted game features could be included. They may change, but at least they're exposed to the public.

--



Page 8:
The size of the sun image is scaled to the number of planets in the system (maximum of 10). More planets / smaller sun. Less planets / larger sun.

- I think this happens only with lower resolutions like 1024x768 and below. The display scales with resolution.


Page 9:
Asteroids (far left) can be mined for raw materials using the asteroid sweeper (in build menu page 15).

- The asteroid sweeper gives you +40% raw materials, which means that if the system doesn't have the raw materials special, the sweeper is useless.

Systems with gas giants (Type B planets) generate 10 deuterium/turn for each gas giant. Each planet can have up to 5 moons and moons will eventually be colonized to expand the system’s population.

- These 2 sentences should probably be separated, as it might give the impression that moons are exclusive to GGs.

- Crystalline planets also generate 10 deut/turn currently, but ships can't Collect Deuterium from them. Also, the Deuterium Plant can't be built in systems with Crystalline planets only, so I'm guessing they shouldn't generate Deuterium at all.

Other stellar bodies that can appear in sectors include Quasars, Pulsars, X-Ray Pulsars, Black Holes, Nebulae, Rogue Planets (Omarion and Dominion) and eventually wormholes.

- Maybe the manual should have the descriptions for the stellar bodies. I'd separate Nebulae and Rogue Planets from the rest though. Also, Rogues are only generated inside nebulae AFAIK, so that could also be explained - and the mention of the Omarion Nebula as the location of the the rogue planet The great Link, homeworld of the Dominion, should be clarified, as the meaning of "Omarion and Dominion" isn't very clear.

Current Credits per Turn (for the next turn).

- A bit plain. These are taxes payed by the empire's current population; the more pop, the more Credits. Etc.

Morale: Affected by many factors (page 23).

- This is the empire wide Morale level, which is an average of the Morale level of all systems in the empire. Some structures affect Empire Wide Morale, others only system level Morale.

Research Points are displayed as total accumulated followed by current points per turn after the slash (based on the total research facilities in your empire).

- Starting tech level affects total accumulated. Also, total research facilities might be misleading, as some labs might be unmanned or not powered.

BTW, those values in Empire Info and Requisition are from the previous turn, not projections on the current one.


Page 11:
your empire stockpile -> your empire's stockpile

Construction ships can:
* Avoid
* Build Station [and then you select which type that is available]

Transport ships can Drop Troops / Assault System / whatever (though it's not implemented yet)


Page 12:
It'd be nice if the movement pic had some contested sectors, since they're mentioned in the text.
The hyphen in the INTEL bullet is in bold, contrary to all others.
Page 6 is mentioned 3 times in a row.



Page 14:
Scrapping a structure returns 25% of its build cost.

- In Credits, returned to the empire's Credits stockpile.

, a feature missing in BOTF I.

- Not really necessary to mention.


Page 16:
Explain shipyard docks.

and the Starfleet emblem (0/120) indicates personnel.

- For consistency, it should be personnel that is in bold, not Starfleet emblem.


Page 22:
When a race is on its ideal planet it has its highest growth rate.

- When a race is on its ideal planet TYPE it has its highest growth rate.

Dominion Founders live on Rogue planets

- They only live on one, The Great Link

Mine is 1280x1024 and it still happens to me, although only with larger systems. Best to put the display change limit as 1280x1024 instead of 1024x768. The limiting factor in this particular issue is the width of the screen, not the height, so wide-screen monitors are unlikely to encounter any display changes caused by large systems.

Also add in the fact that they will be colonised by the building of a structure, or people might ask questions about whether their moons have been colonised or not.

I'm writing up some descriptions for the star types if you're interested, Captain, although i'm trying to make them as technical as I can, based on info from Memory Alpha and real astronomy sites. I've only done the stars so far though and haven't done anything else like Wormholes etc. To my knowledge, .Iceman is correct about Rogues only being present in Nebulae, although they are still extremely rare, especially since Nebulas themselves are rare.

Credits are/will be deducted for fleet maintenance. More ships means higher maintenance costs. If the maintenance costs are greater than income, you'll lose money.

You might want to mention in the manual that some minor races have special structures entirely devoted to boosting morale on a system or empire scale. Some structures also have negative morale effects. (Such as the Klingon Mining Prison) Some have morale effects as well as other bonuses.

Maybe all Galaxy sizes (in sectors) could be listed - instead of mentioning the larger size only, in the new features section.

Mention using Credits for rush-building items somewhere.

Explain how building minor race special structures works:
- minors can't build their own structures, only empires can
- only annexed minors, not subjugated ones
- structures are destroyed if the minor leaves the empire

Well, they're likely to ask questions about how many structures they need to build, depending on how many moons/sizes the system has.



In game terms, these are not really interesting. In the game, a star is a star. I mentioned the other stellar bodies because they affect the game in some way - scan range, damage to ships, etc. That's what players need to know.

Ooops, only saw the update to the manual now.

Page 8:
The size of the sun image is scaled to the number of planets in the system
(maximum of 10). More planets / smaller sun. Less planets / larger sun.

I'd remove this sentence altogether, and just mention the max # of planets (10).

Moons come Small, Medium and large

Large (capital L).
Also, this sentence should come in the next page, where it is explained that planets can have up to 5 moons.


Page 9:
Other stellar bodies that can appear in sectors include Neutron Stars, Quasars, Pulsars, Radio Pulsars

Remove the Pulsars, they're either Radio or X-Ray.


Page 12:
Area of Influence is explained wrong. It is pop/100 sectors. At the beginning of a game, it's not one like mentioned, it's zero; it expands to 2 when it reaches 200 pop. It might go higher, it's not the limit - especially now that system pops were increased...

A new route is granted at multiples of 150,000.

150 pop, not 150,000!


Page 24:
The moon size pop caps are wrong, they're 1, 2 and 3.

Page 2
Ship building option -> Ship Building option

Page 8
in center of the red area -> in the center of the red area

Page 12
Right justification

Page 23
Population Bonus -> Inhabitability Class

You're probably wondering where the records officer went but I have been reading and working on your manual suggestions. They are great. They are humbling. Keep em coming. Up till now I have been stealing white space to add everything but have started reaching limits. Thus, the delay in posting a corrected manual involves some rearrangement and rethinking of its structure. Future manuals will probably need to be Zipped for size. I am going ahead with a section on accepted features not added yet. The manual will be in 3 parts. Part 1: Overview of the Panels and program structure with basics to get people started. Part 2: Game Play Detail Part 3: Reference Material and a Reference on Future Accepted game features. As the features are added they will be moved from Part 3 into Parts 1 and 2.

The new manual will arrive this weekend.

.iceman. I have some questions on some of the things you wrote.
Matress Star descriptions would be great. Maybe email direct to me. I plan structure descriptions too.

Thanks guys, I appreciate all the interest and help.

CB.

Sounds like a plan



Fire away, at any time.



Too much detail on stuff that is not really useful and/or can be found in the game might be counterproductive.
You know most people don't really like to read stuff, especially when it's a lot.

I agree, whilst i'm going to be writing the star descriptions, I don't think the manual needs them; they will be there in the game *IF* people want to read them. But they're not going to want to in the manual.

I simply mentioned that I would be doing them so you could mention in passing that the Trekpedia contains information such as star descriptions. nothing more than that is needed.

If you want to split the manual into three parts, you're going to need to consider how you deliver it to people. Three parts means three lots of downloads and a risk of people having parts from different revisions or even missing out parts. The easiest way to avoid this is to zip up the files, but not everyone has access to zip facilities. Winzip is the best as far as I care but you have to pay for it. Winrar is free but has a horrible interface for people who have never used anything like it before.

Of course, since the game itself is zipped up, we would hope this isn't such a problem...

Sharepoint used to throw fits if you uploaded files bigger than 7mb. This was a temporary problem though and seems to have been resolved since the manual is being uploaded without problems - and it's around 10mb already. I don't know of any other upload limits so it might not be such a problem as you imagine.

The 3 part manual is still meant to be one continuous manual. I don't want to make it any longer than I have to. The purpose of the 3 parts is to separate things people HAVE to know to start playing the game, from things that are NICE to know when playing the game. Whenever I learn something new, I like to have the boundaries of the topic. How big is the topic? Give me an overview as to what I will be learning. I prefer an initial framework that I can then plug things into and know where they fit. I'm no good when someone starts teaching something and I have no idea where it is going.

Part 1 is the framework. Part 2 are the pieces that plug in, and Part 3 are finishing touches-numbers that are useful to know. If done right, most individuals will be able to read the first shorter part, and then play and figure most of it out. If they get stuck they have a reference in Part 2. If they want to really get good, they familiarize themselves with the numbers that go into the program.

Overall, I want to be clear with brevity coming in a close second.

What I thought you meant by star descriptions and what I meant by structure descriptions is simply their meaning in the game.

CB

Oh, well this is an example of what i've written for the stars so far. Like I said, this information isn't necessary for most people, it's just background info for those that are interested. And it's not even finished yet so don't take it as written.

The manual rewrite is posted. I got most, if not all, the changes in.

MOE: I think the star description is mostly for the TrekPedia. We probably want star and structure descriptions that impact the game. ie the bonus received when you build a special structure etc.

.iceman: I played with it and at the lowest initial tech level I still began with more than a single sector influence level for the empire. I am not sure the description in the manual is correct.

CB

...I was writing this for the Trekpedia. I could always do a rewrite with info like that in though.