THE UR-QUAN MASTERS

version 0.1 alpha

Welcome to the first release of the Ur-Quan Masters port.  This
document will tell you everything you need to play, even if you've
never played the original.

For those of you who have played the original, read the first section
(starting the game) and the last section (control summary), and you'll
be good to go.

STARTING THE GAME

Simply invoke the executable from the directory you installed UQM in
to run the game.  (Under Windows, this is uqm.exe; under Linux, it's
uqm.)  This will use the default settings, which are 3DO music,
640x480 windowed mode, and pure SDL graphics drivers.  You may pass
various command line options to customize your experience:

	-r 320x240   (or --res)

Sets the screen resolution.  Unless --opengl is set, the only valid
values are 640x480 and 320x240

    -d 24         (or --bpp)

Sets the color depth.  If you don't set this, the game should
autodetect an appropriate value.  Valid values are 16, 24, and 32.

	-f           (or --fullscreen)

Uses full screen mode.  Pretty straightforward.  Usually good to
combine with -r 320x240.

	-o           (or --opengl)

Use OpenGL drivers.  This produces higher-quality graphics, and may be
faster as well -- but it also may not work on older cards.

	-c           (or --scale=mode)

Graphics scaling mode (bilinear, sai or supersai). Default is none.
Try these to get smoother graphics with cost on performance.
Sai and supersai only works with depth of 16bpp for now.
Under OpenGL, bilinear is only one that's implemented currently.

	-s           (or --scanlines)

Simulates interlaced displays.

	-p           (or --fps)

Print fps information in the status window.

	-n           (or --contentdir)

Set the directory where the game will seek its data.

	-h           (or --help)

Display a help message.

	-M           (or --musicvol)

Set music volume (0-100).

	-S           (or --sfxvol)

Set sound effects volume (0-100).

	-T           (or --speechvol)

Set speech volume (0-100).

	-e           (or --3domusic)

Use the 3DO remixed soundtrack for songs that were in fact remixed.
The default.

	-m           (or --pcmusic)

Use the .MOD based PC soundtrack everywhere.

	-q           (or --audioquality)

Can be "high", "medium", or "low".  Specifies how nice the audio
sounds.  Slower machines should lower the audio quality.

	-u           (or --nosubtitles)
	
Disables subtitles.

			     BUG REPORTS

This is an alpha release.  That means several things.  First, it means
that you're an alpha tester.  Be proud.  Second, it means that the
game is likely to crash with great frequency.  Upon finding a problem,
we'd like you to report it in our forum, but before you do, please do
the following:

- Try to isolate what causes it: "Crashes with a null dereference
  about half the time when firing and taunting with a Pkunk" is better
  than "Melee doesn't work."  If the game crashes, notice what error
  is produced; if the game hangs, check to see if the game-exit key
  (the backquote `) works.

- Check the TODO file in the top directory to make sure that we don't
  already know about it.

- Go to the Ur-Quan Masters forums at http://sc2.sf.net/ and post a
  description of the crash in the Technical Issues and Bugs forum.
  Check the posts on that forum first, to see if it's already been
  reported.  If it's been reported, and you have more information, feel
  free to confirm that you've reproduced it.  If ten people have already
  confirmed it, though, it's probably best to treat it as duly reported.


			   THE STORY SO FAR

For the past decade, Earth and the rest of the Alliance of Free Stars
has fought the Ur-Quan and their Hierarchy of Battle Thralls.  In the
course of the War, the Earthlings discovered a factory world by the
'Precursors' - an impossibly advanced that disappeared tens of
thousands of years ago.  This colony, Unzervalt (aka Vela I), lost all
contact with Earth shortly after landfall.

You are Captain Zelnick, a human that was born on Unzervalt and who
possesses a remarkable knack for Precursor technology.  You were the
one who worked out how to activate the Precursor installation.

It was a factory for building starships.  However, Unzervalt is
mineral-poor, and there were not enough materials available to
construct a complete vessel.  Your task is to command this craft, the
Vindicator, and return to Earth to tell them of the abandoned colony.
Also, if the War with the Ur-Quan continues, you must fight for Earth
and the Alliance as best you can.

There is a great deal more to this story.  Asking Starbase Commander
Hayes for background information will give you most of it.

		      INTERPLANETARY EXPLORATION

When in a Solar system, use the thrust and steering controls to move
about the system.  Intersecting a planet will move you to the
planetary system; flying over a planet or moon will then put you into
orbit.  From there you can talk to the inhabitants, or, if the planet
is uninhabited, send a lander down to gather minerals, investigate
energy readings, or capture life forms.

			    PLANET LANDING

To land on a planet, you need to achieve orbit, then fill a planet
lander with crew and send them down.  You will usually want to scan
the planet first.  Mineral scans will indicate easily harvestable
mineral ores and other resources.  Energy scans will indicate unusual
installations, which will effectively always be worth investigating.
Biological scans will show where life forms are on the surface.

Minerals are necessary for building up and maintaining your flagship,
so harvest them wherever you can.  There are nine varieties, each
color coded:

COMMON ELEMENTS (carbon, nitrogen) are cyan. Worth 1 resource unit
(RU) per unit.

CORROSIVES (chlorine, iodine) are red.  2 RU per unit.

BASE METALS (iron, tin) are grey.  These are common, and usually worth
harvesting, but not terribly valuable.  3 RU per unit.

NOBLE GASSES (argon, xenon) are blue.  4 RU per unit.

RARE EARTHS (lanthanum, ytterbium) are green.  5 RU per unit.

PRECIOUS ELEMENTS (gold, silver) are yellow.  6 RU per unit.

RADIOACTIVES (uranium, astatine) are orange.  8 RU per unit.

EXOTICS (antimatter, magnetic monopoles) are purple, and a princely 20
RU per cargo unit.

Minerals may be unloaded at Earth Starbase by talking to Commander
Hayes, which will give you RU that you may spend to upgrade your
flagship.

However, there are many hazards on planetary surfaces.  Life forms are
often hostile, and need to be subdued with your stunner or evaded.
Earthquakes (expanding circles) can hurt your crew, lightning may
crisp them, or lava flows and hotspots can fry them.  Be careful,
especially on hotter or more seismically and atmospherically active
worlds.  If your crew level starts dropping dramatically, flee quickly
with the ESCAPE key!

Stunned life forms may be captured and analyzed by your planet
landers.  The information you gain from this may not be immediately
useful, but it will eventually come in handy.

Landing on a planet costs fuel, and the heavier the planet, the more
fuel it requires. Make sure you don't spend so much fuel exploring
planets that you can't get back to Sol!

			 INTERSTELLAR TRAVEL

When you leave a solar system, you will push up into HyperSpace.  In
HyperSpace you can travel great distances quickly, but you must
continuously thrust to move.  Otherwise, you will gradually slow to a
stop.

While you can fly about in HyperSpace just like you do in a star
system, the Galaxy is LARGE, and you will usually want to use the
Auto-Pilot.  To use the Auto-Pilot, select "Starmap" on the menu.
This will show you a map of the quadrant (the galactic Core is in the
upper right corner).  To fly to a location, move the cursor there and
press Enter.  Then press Space to engage the Auto-Pilot.

			      DIPLOMACY

When you encounter an alien starship, you will usually get a picture
of their task force and a chance to choose between conversation and
fighting.  If you choose to fight, you will transition immediately to
space combat (below).  Otherwise, you will talk first.  If talks go
poorly, space combat will likely ensue.

If the task force shows ships streaming off in all directions, you
have reached a fortified world, and there are an unlimited number of
starships facing you.  You cannot win such a fight - if combat ensues,
you will need to warp out.

			     SPACE COMBAT

When combat begins, you are prompted to select a ship from your task
force.  A one-on-one space combat then begins, and continues until
either the enemy fleet is destroyed (in which case you salvage the
wrecks and continue the game), your flagship is destroyed (ending the
game), or your flagship warps out of combat (consuming 5 fuel units
but ending the encounter).

Each ship has two major stats: Crew and Combat Battery.  Crew are
effectively hit points.  Getting hit by weapons kills crew, and if all
crew are eliminated, the craft is destroyed.  Firing weapons typically
requires energy from the combat batteries, which is replaced over
time.  The precise speed of energy regeneration and cost of weapons
fire varies by ship.

Space flight is *mostly* inertial (you'll drift if you stop
thrusting), but each ship has a maximum velocity that can only be
exceeding by "gravity whipping" around the planet.  Don't hit the
planet unless you want to take LOTS of damage.

Each ship has a primary and secondary weapon mode, unique to that
race's craft.  The descriptions of those follow.

			  SHIP DESCRIPTIONS

			 Androsynth Guardian
Primary weapon: Fires homing acid bubble clouds.
Secondary weapon: Transforms into the 'Blazer', a comet that does
considerable damage by ramming its opponents.

			 Ariloulaleelay Skiff
Primary weapon: Auto-aiming, short-range laser
Secondary weapon: Random teleport
Note: The Skiff is inertialess, and stops instantly when thrust is
removed.

			  Chenjesu Broodhome
Primary weapon: Crystal Shard.  Will travel until the fire button is
released, then shatters.
Secondary weapon: De-energizing Offensive Guided Interceptor.
Launches an autonomous DOGI that rams the opponent to drain their
combat batteries.

			     Chmmr Avatar
Primary weapon: Immensely powerful short-range laser
Secondary weapon: Tractor beam.
Note: Has three orbiting "ZapSats" that attack anything that gets in
range.

			    Druuge Mauler
Primary weapon: Long range, high-recoil cannon
Secondary weapon: Sets one crew on fire to gain combat energy.

			  Earthling Cruiser
Primary weapon: Homing nuclear missile
Secondary weapon: Point-defense laser

			   Ilwrath Avenger
Primary weapon: Short-range flamethrower
Secondary weapon: Cloaking device

			   Kohr-Ah Marauder 
Primary weapon: Spinning blades that stop and home when the fire
button is released
Secondary weapon: Fiery Ring of Inevitable and Eternal Destruction
(F.R.I.E.D.), a short-range corona of energy that blocks shots and
inflicts lots of damage

			   Melnorme Trader
Primary weapon: Charged shot.  The longer the fire button is held, the
stronger the shot.
Secondary weapon: Confusion beam that scrambles enemy controls.

			   Mmrnmhrm X-Form
Primary weapon:  Lasers (X-form) or homing missiles (Y-form).
Secondary weapon:  Switch between X-Form and Y-Form.

			    Mycon Podship
Primary weapon:  Homing Plasmoid.
Secondary weapon:  Regenerate 4 crew.

			     Orz Nemesis
Primary weapon:  Howitzer cannon.
Secondary weapon: Secondary with left and right arrows rotates the
primary cannon.  Secondary with Primary launches space marines that
invade the enemy ship and kill their crew.

			      Pkunk Fury
Primary weapon:  Three-way cannon
Secondary weapon: Fling insults at opponent.  This is the only way the
Pkunk can regenerate combat energy.
Note: On occasion, a destroyed Fury will be resurrected with full fuel
and power.

			    Shofixti Scout
Primary weapon:  Energy Dart.
Secondary weapon: Glory Device.  When pressed three times, the ship
will self-destruct, inflicting vast damage on nearby vessels.

			   Slylandro Probe
Primary weapon:  Lighting weapon.
Secondary weapon: Absorb a nearby asteroid and convert to combat
power.  This is the only way the Probe can recharge.
Note: The Probe is inertialess and always in motion.  Pressing thrust
will reverse its direction.

			    Spathi Eluder
Primary weapon:  Simple forward cannon.
Secondary weapon: Backward Utilized Tracking Torpedo (B.U.T.T.), a
homing missile fired from the rear of the vessel.

Alpha release warning: Since collisions are only using bounding boxes
right now, the B.U.T.T. missile is far more likely to hit you on
launch than your opponent.

			     Supox Blade
Primary weapon: Forward firing glob weapon
Secondary weapon: Secondary + left or right will cause you to drift
laterally, while Secondary + thrust will make you fly backwards.  This
cancels your current velocity, so be careful!

			  Syreen Penetrator
Primary weapon: Particle Beam Stiletto.
Secondary weapon: "Syreen Call" - psychic attack that induces enemy
crew to jump ship, where you (or your opponent) may capture them to
add to your complement

			   Thraddash Torch
Primary weapon:  Straightforward blaster cannon.
Secondary weapon: Afterburner.  The afterburner exhaust does more
damage then the blaster, so use it as a weapon!

			     Umgah Drone
Primary weapon:  Anti-Matter cone.  Does not require combat batteries to use.
Secondary weapon:  Fly backwards suddenly and at high speed.
Note: The Drone only recharges batteries if you do not fire for a long
time, and then the energy all returns in one lump.

			 Ur-Quan Dreadnought
Primary weapon:  Fusion Blast.
Secondary weapon: Launches autonomous fighters to harry the enemy.
When they run low on fuel, they will fly back to the Dreadnought.
Catch them before they expire.  Each fighter requires one crew to
pilot it, so take care not to weaken the core ship.

			     Utwig Jugger
Primary weapon: Six-shot cannon.  Requires no combat battery energy to fire.
Secondary weapon: Force shield.  Absorbing hits re-energizes your
batteries.  When the batteries are exhausted, the shield is
permanently disabled until combat ends.

			     VUX Intruder
Primary weapon: Gigawatt laser.
Secondary weapon: Limpet mines that track enemy ships and slow them
down dramatically if they hit.

			   Yehat Terminator
Primary weapon: Twin autocannons.
Secondary weapon: Force shield.

			 Zoq-Fot-Pik Stinger
Primary weapon: Anti-matter spray gun.
Secondary weapon: "Tongue attack", a point-blank range attack that
does grievous damage.


			   FULL GAME CONTROLS SUMMARY

	Space flight

UP or ENTER:        Thrust
LEFT and RIGHT:     Steer
SPACE:              Main menu

	Menus

Arrow Keys:         Scroll through selections
ENTER:              Make selection
SPACE:              Up one level

	Space Combat

UP or ENTER:        Thrust
LEFT and RIGHT:     Steer
SPACE:              Fire Primary Weapon
ESCAPE:             Fire Secondary Weapon
Numpad + and SPACE: Emergency Warp Escape


	Planet Exploration

UP:                 Forward
LEFT and RIGHT:     Steer
SPACE:              Fire stun bolt
ESCAPE:             Blast off


			   MELEE CONTROLS SUMMARY

	Top Player

E:                  Thrust
S and F:            Steer
Q:                  Fire Primary Weapon
A:                  Fire Secondary Weapon

	Bottom Player

UP:                 Thrust
LEFT and RIGHT:     Steer
RSHIFT:             Fire Primary Weapon
CTRL:               Fire Secondary Weapon