2 Elite tools for the discerning player
6 You need a C compiler and a working Tcl/Tk installation. (The
7 elite-editor program needs Tk; the rest of the tools don't.)
8 The Makefile works on my Debian GNU/Linux box (potato), but I'm
9 not making any promises about anyone else's. I've successfully
10 built earlier versions of everything under Cygwin, against
11 ActiveState's Tcl 8.4, but I've forgotten the Holy Runes. I do
12 have the `.def' file I used to build the DLL, though, for
13 whatever that's worth. (If you want to hack the Makefile to
14 work under Windows, I'll take a patch.)
16 The runes for Debian woody are:
18 $ make INCLUDES=/usr/include/tcl8.3
19 $ ROOTLY make install prefix=/usr
21 (where ROOTLY is some command which does things with root
22 privileges, say `sudo', `become root' or, at a pinch, `su -c')
23 because the Tcl installation no longer looks in /usr/local/lib,
26 The theory is that you should edit the Makefile for your system
27 and say `make'; then, as some suitably privileged person, say
28 `make install' and stand well back. Everything should then be
33 * If you can't build `pkgIndex.tcl', run `tclsh' and say
35 % pkg_mkIndex -verbose -direct . elite.so elite.tcl
37 to it. (Use `elite.dll' if you're on Windows.) Say
41 to see a list of suitable places for putting the kit. Pick
42 one. The directory `/usr/local/lib' appears in my
43 installation, so that's what I use.
45 * Make a subdirectory in the place you chose, and copy
46 `elite.so', `elite.tcl' and `pkgIndex.tcl' into it. All
47 should now be hunky-dory.
49 * Run (say) `elite-describe lave' to check that things are set
53 2. The command-line tools
57 * a number, between 1 and 8, for one of the standard eight
60 * a `galaxy seed' of 12 hex digits (a 48-bit value), for any
63 * a string `SEED:N' where SEED is a galaxy seed and N is a
64 number between 1 and 8, for the Nth galaxy in some custom
67 A `planet-spec' is interpreted relative to some parent galaxy.
70 * a number N, for the Nth planet in the galaxy (planets are
71 numbered pseudorandomly -- this is not often a helpful
74 * a `planet seed' of 12 hex digits (a 48-bit value), for any
77 * a pair of numbers `X,Y', for the planet nearest the point X
78 decilightyears rightwards and T decilightyears down from the
79 top left of the galaxy;
81 * a glob pattern (a string containing `*' and `?' wildcards,
82 matching any substring or any single character,
83 respectively), for the first planet whose name matches the
86 * a string `GAL:P', where GAL is a galaxy-spec and P is a
87 planet-spec, for the planet P in galaxy GAL.
90 elite-describe [-g GAL] PLANET ...
92 For each PLANET, print the planet data for that PLANET. The
93 PLANETs are interpreted relative to GAL, or standard galaxy 1 if
97 elite-map [-qv] [-g GALAXY] [-d DIST] [-w WEIGHT] [-W WD,HT] [-a ASP]
100 Prints a map of (part of) a galaxy to the terminal.
102 If PLANET is specified (which it usually is), a map of the area
103 around PLANET in GALAXY (default standard galaxy 1) is printed,
104 showing other planets within a box extending about DIST
105 lightyears around the PLANETs.
107 If no PLANETs are not specified, the entire galaxy is printed.
108 This is usually unhelpful.
110 The `-w' option plots a route through the listed planets,
111 highlighting the waypoints. See `elite-path' for the possible
114 Planets are shown as numbers or letters (or, occasionally a
115 sequence of letters). If there is only one PLANET, it is shown
116 as a `*'; otherwise, they're labelled `*0', `*1', etc. Planets
117 on the path are labelled `+0', `+1', ..., in the order you're
118 meant to visit them. (Note that if the path doubles back on
119 itself, the planets involved /won't/ be listed twice. Use
120 `elite-path' for a full guide on where to go, and `elite-map' to
121 visualize the route.)
123 The `-q' and `-v' options allow optional suppression of the key
124 below the map. The defaults are as follows:
126 * A galactic map shows no key.
128 * A route map (with the `-w' option) shows the waypoints
129 (named PLANETs) and the planets on the path.
131 * An area map (around named planets) shows the names of all
134 The key can be made more verbose by giving the `-v' option, or
135 less verbose by `-q'. Note that the options parser is currently
136 really shoddy, and won't let you say things like `-qqq'.
138 The size of the map may be controlled by the -W option -- set WD
139 to the maximum allowable width, and HT to the maximum allowable
140 height (in columns and rows, respectively). The map will be
141 scaled so as to fit. The -a option sets the aspect ratio of
142 your characters, height to width (the default is about 2, and
143 seems right for viewing in an xterm with the standard fixed
148 elite-path [-g GALAXY] [-w WEIGHT] [-a ACC] PLANET PLANET ...
150 Computes a route through a GALAXY (default is standard galaxy
151 1), starting at the first PLANET listed, via the second, via the
152 third, etc., and ending at the last. For each planet you're
153 meant to stop at on the way, a summary line is printed giving
154 the planet's name, position, government type, economy type and
157 You can affect how elite-path selects its routes using the `-w'
158 option. The default is to minimize the number of hops. Other
161 hops Minimize number of hops. This is the default.
163 safety Maximize stability of the planets in the route,
164 to attempt to improve safety. Useful during the
165 early stages of the game.
167 encounters The opposite of `safety' -- minimizes stability
168 of planets in the route. Useful if you want to
171 trading Maximize the difference in economy type between
172 successive planets in the route. This should
173 give you an opportunity to make a good profit as
176 fuel Minimize absolute distance. For those on a
179 The `-a' option controls what total is accumulated down the
180 right hand side of the summaries:
182 none No running total down the right hand side.
184 distance Accumulate distance, in lightyears.
186 weight Accumulate the shortest-path weight function.
188 Beneath the path is printed a total for distance and weight if
189 these are interesting and not already displayed. The weight for
190 `hops' and `fuel' are simply the hop count and distance in
191 lightyears respectively; the other weight functions use
192 appropriate square-law functions.
195 elite-reach [-d DIST] [GALAXY ...]
197 For each GALAXY (default is the 8 standard ones), print summary
198 information for each planet, with blank lines separating
199 disconnected groups of planets, i.e., groups where a ship
200 capable of travelling DIST lightyears (default 7) can't get from
204 elite-find [-g GALAXY] [EXPR]
206 Without EXPR, simply prints summary information for each planet
207 in GALAXY (default standard 1).
209 If EXPR is specified, it must be a Tcl expression (as for the
210 `expr' command). Information is printed for each planet for
211 which EXPR returns nonzero. The EXPR may use the following
214 name The planet name, with initial capital letter.
216 x, y X and Y coordinates, from top left, in
219 economy From 0 (rich industrial) to 7 (poor
222 government From 0 (anarchy) to 7 (corporate state).
224 techlevel From 1 to 15.
226 radius In kilometres.
228 productivity In millions of credits.
230 population In hundreds of millions.
232 inhabitants A Tcl list of words describing the inhabitants.
234 description As a Tcl list of words.
237 elite-pairs [-g GALAXY] [-d DIST] AEXPR BEXPR
239 Prints the names of pairs of planets A and B in GALAXY (default
240 standard 1), no further than DIST (default 7) lightyears apart,
241 such that AEXPR returns nonzero for planet A and BEXPR returns
242 nonzero for planet B.
244 The expressions AEXPR and BEXPR may use the same variables as
245 for elite-find. In addition, BEXPR may use
247 d The distance between planets A and B.
249 a An array containing the information about planet
250 A. The indices have the same names and meanings
251 as the variables described above.
254 elite-cmdr [FILE] [-OPTION | ATTR | ATTR=VALUE | FILE] ...
256 A command-line Elite commander editor and viewer. With a single
257 argument, reads a commander file and displays its contents as a
258 human readable table. The arguments may be special options,
259 attribute names, attribute assignments, or filenames.
261 The special options are:
263 -show Write the commander data to standard output as a
264 human-readable table. This is the default if no
265 other output action is requested.
267 -load FILE Read the commander file named FILE.
269 -save FILE Write the modified commander data to FILE.
271 -reset Reset the commander to the default `JAMESON'
274 -dump Write the commander data to standard output in
275 the form of a script which can be read back by
278 -read FILE Read attribute/value pairs from FILE, and modify
279 the commander accordingly.
281 An attribute name on its own is a request to print the current
282 value of that attribute. An assignment ATTR=VALUE makes ATTR
283 have the requested VALUE.
285 The attributes, their meanings, and the acceptable values are as
288 mission The commander's current mission. (0 is no
289 mission; 1 is searching for the Constrictor; 2
290 is killed the Constrictor; 3 is waiting for the
291 second mission; 4 is heading for Ceerdi; 5 is
292 heading for Birera; and 6 is all missions
293 completed.) Must be an integer between 0 and
296 score Current number of kills. Must be an integer
297 between 0 a 65535, or one of the strings
298 `harmless', `mostly-harmless', `poor',
299 `average', `above-average', `competent',
300 `dangerous', `deadly', or `elite'.
302 credits Number of credits. Must be between 0 and
305 cargo Size of cargo bay. Must be between 4 and 255.
307 gal-number Number of the current galaxy. Note that this
308 doesn't affect which galaxy the commander is
309 actually in -- set gal-seed for that. Must be
312 gal-seed Which galaxy the commander is in. May be any
315 world Which world the commander is docked at. May be
316 any planet-spec describing a world in the
317 correct galaxy. (Note that, since the commander
318 file actually stores the location as an x, y
319 pair and chooses the closest world to those
320 coordinates, and there are coincident pairs of
321 worlds, it is not possible to have a commander
322 start at some worlds.)
324 market-fluc The market fluctuation byte. Affects prices at
325 the space station. Must be an integer between 0
328 fuel Amount of fuel. Must be between 0 and 25.5.
330 energy-unit Strength of the ship's energy unit. May be an
331 integer between 0 (none) and 255 (scary cheat)
332 or one of the strings `none', `standard', or
335 front-laser, rear-laser, left-laser, light-laser
336 Strength of appropriate laser. May be an
337 integer between 0 (none) and 255 (scary cheat)
338 or one of the strings `none', `pulse', `beam',
339 `mining', or `military'.
341 ecm, fuel-scroop, enery-bomb, escape-pod,
342 docking-computer, gal-hyperdrive
343 Whether the ship has various bits of equipment.
344 One of `yes', `true', or `on' for yes, or `no',
345 `false' or `off' for no.
347 missiles Number of missiles carried. Must be an integer
350 hold-ITEM, station-ITEM
351 Quantity of some item in the ship's hold, or at
352 the station. Must be an integer between 0 and
353 255. ITEM must be one of `food', `textiles',
354 `radioactives', `slaves', `liquor-wines',
355 `luxuries', `narcotics', `computers',
356 `machinery', `alloys', `firearms', `furs',
357 `minerals', `gold', `platinum', `gem-stones', or
360 # A special attribute which is never printed. Its
361 value is ignored. This may be used to insert
362 comments in script files.
364 Anything else is assumed to be a filename, and loaded as for the
368 elite-prices [-g GALAXY] [-s SORT] [FROM TO]
370 Shows minimum, average and maximum profit (in that order, in
371 credits per unit) for the various commodities, starting at one
372 kind of world and ending at another.
374 By default, the commodities are listed in standard order, and
375 the profits are computed going from a poor agricultural world to
376 a rich industrial one.
378 You can change the worlds under consideration by typing a pair
379 of planet-specs or economy types (as printed by `elite-find').
380 Any planet-specs are obviously taken relative to GALAXY.
382 The SORT parameter may be one of `min', `max', or `avg' to sort
383 by minimum, maximum or average profit (highest at the top).
386 3. The graphical editor
388 elite-editor [GALAXY | FILE | -jameson]
390 Starts the RIGHT ON COMMAND-LINE Commander Editor and Map. This
391 is a Tk program -- you'll need that installed to run it.
393 I'll not go into excruciating detail about how to work the
394 program. It's fairly simple, really.
396 The map view lets you colour-code planets according to
397 techlevel, government or economy. The colours ought to be as
400 Colour Government Economy Techlevel
402 Red Anarchy Poor agri 1
403 Orange Feudal Average agri 2 or 3
404 Yellow Multi-gov Rich agri 4 or 5
405 Green Dictatorship Mainly agri 6 or 7
406 Blue Communist Mainly indust 8 or 9
407 Magenta Confederacy Poor indust 10 or 11
408 Violet Democracy Average indust 12 or 13
409 White Corporate Rich indust 14 or 15
411 The connectivity map shows how you can get around the galaxy
412 using hops of up to 7 light years.
414 Planet names are unhelpful except at small scales. The
415 placement algorithm could do with a lot of work.
417 Clicking on the map with button 1 (usually the left one) sets
418 the destination world, marked with an orange cross. Clicking
419 with button 3 (usually the right one) sets the home world,
420 marked with a red cross, and with a green hyperspace-range
421 circle around it. (The circle doesn't actually correspond
422 exactly with hyperspace reachability, because there are rounding
423 errors in the distance computation. ROCL correctly emulates the
424 rounding errors from the original game.)
426 Double-clicking opens a window showing information about a
427 planet. Two info windows can be open at any time, one for the
428 home world and one for the destination.
430 The bar along the bottom of the map window shows the names of
431 the home and destination worlds, and the distance between them.
432 You can type new names (or any old planet spec) into either to
433 select different planets. The change will take place when you
434 press return or when the input focus moves. Pressing control-
435 return will pop up the appropriate planet info window.
437 The `Compute path' lets you do the same kinds of computations as
438 the elite-path tool. It plots a route from the home to the
439 destination. The path is shown in orange on the map.
441 The commander editor should be self-explanatory, but maybe a few
442 pointers might be helpful.
444 The entry fields for items with pop-up menus are disabled when
445 the menus show values other than `Custom', so you must first
446 choose `Custom' from the menu if you want a fancy value.
448 The `Show galaxy map' button opens a map which will be tied to
449 the commander window. When you select a home world (button 3),
450 this will set the world where the commander will start. Note
451 that the market prices (in the `Cargo' window) update
452 automatically as you move about the universe. It is quite
453 possible to travel about entirely new universes by turning off
454 the `Standard galaxy' button and typing some hex number into the
455 `Galaxy seed' box. All of the ROCL tools work in these custom
456 universes. Note that your docked planet is recorded as an x, y
457 coordinate pair, so Elite can't tell which of two coincident
458 planets you're docked at (yes, there are such pairs). ROCL
459 won't cope with this at the moment.
461 Lasers are a bit odd. Bit 7 is a `rapid-fire' bit. It doesn't
462 affect the strength of the laser, but means that there's no
463 delay between shots. The low 7 bits control the strength, but
464 without the rapid-fire bit, powerful lasers will tend to fire
465 more slowly than weak ones. Some comparisons in the program are
466 for exact laser power: you can't damage the Constrictor or
467 Cougar ships unless you have military (or 0x17 slow-firing)
468 lasers; and you can't fragment asteroids unless you have mining
469 or 0xb2 rapid-fire lasers. (The 0xb2's pack a serious punch. I
470 recommend them as an upgrade for commanders who don't wish to
473 One suggestion I've heard of, if Elite is too easy, is to start
474 at Lave (as usual), with no money, lasers, missiles, or fuel.
475 You can get your first money by ramming asteroids (easy but
476 unrewarding) or pirates (risky and tedious), and start trading
477 food and other cheap items.
479 $Id: README,v 1.6 2003/03/04 10:25:43 mdw Exp $
~mdw / rocl / blob