Sysgen4 README

	Sysgen4 & suite will be available shortly on the archive server.
There have been some link problems getting it to a UNIX system to post
and it will be over as soon as those are sorted out. In the meantime some
commonly asked questions:

>What printers does it support?
	The whole thing is designed to be run on anything. Consequently
all of its output is dumb terminal ascii. There are one or two programs
that use Epson FX-80 escape sequences and are clearly marked. Two programs
only run under TurboC and use graphics. Other than that nothing fancy.
I would very much like to see other front ends written and will gladly help
interested people.

>I use a [insert wide variety of hardware]
	Perhaps I should have asked what operating system and compiler
people use. It has been throughly tested under MS-DOS with Lattice and
TurboC compilers. It will be tested on a SUN running SUNOS (BSD 4.3).
The

- - ---------
	This file contains a brief description of each of the programs.
See _progname_.OUT for a sample output. All the times mentioned in the
outputs were done on a 20MHz 386.
	To compile copy one of the make files to makefile and type "make
all". You will probably have to modify it a little. There is only one
compile time constant that is in magic.h. Define bit16 if your compiler
compiles ints to sixteen bits and comment it off otherwise.
	Please mail whatever changes you have to make to get it running
so I can update the information. In particular I would like proper UNIX
makefiles.
				Jo Jaquinta
				[email removed]
				November 1990

SYSGEN1 xx yy zz
	This is the level one system generation program. It produces basic
mainworld information.

SYSGEN2 xx yy zz
	This is the level two system generation program. It produces extended
system information.

SYSGEN3 xx yy zz
	This is the level three system generation program. It produces
information comparable with world builder's handbook.

SYSGEN4 xx yy zz PlanetName
	This is the level four system generation program. It produces
surface maps for a planet. It prints a high level map on the screen then
asks which triangle to expand. The triangles are numbered as in (A)
	 /\  /\  /\  /\  /\             	 /\
	/ 1\/ 2\/ 3\/ 4\/ 5\    	        /1 \
	\ 6/\ 7/\ 8/\ 9/\10/\ 	               /____\
(A)	 \/11\/12\/13\/14\/15\   	(B)   /\ 0  /\
	  \16/\17/\18/\19/\20/  	     /2 \  /3 \
	   \/  \/  \/  \/  \/  		    /____\/____\
	Next is will ask for a specifier. Each of the 20 big triangles is
expanded as per (B). If no specifier is given you get the whole large
trianlge. If a specifier of 1, say, is given you get the top little triangle.
This is recursive. Thus a specifier of 131 gives the top triangle of the lower
right triangle of the top triangle of the world triangle. Get it? Well,
play around with it and see.
	Lastly it asks for size. This is basically the number of times to expand
while printing. This size 1 is as is, size 2 is two on a side, size 3 is 4 on
a side, ....
	You can expand down to 16 triangles per side. The program doesn't
limit you but you will see it starting to get really ugly. Again,
experimentation is the best approach.

TTIMES xx yy zz
	This program computes the travel times between planets of the
star at the given system. It only computes them for the top layer though.

DETPRINT xx yy zz PlanetName
	This prints out level 3 details on a planet in English. Included are
physical stats, principal cities, local customs, local religion, law levels,
tech levels and hex row seasonal temperatures.

ORIGIN xx yy zz NumberPeople
	This is for finding origins of NPCs. You give it a system and the
number of origin planets to find. It first calculates the total population
from the vacininy then randomly selects planets based on population. It uses
the level 2 figures for the entire system to determine population.

SCANNER xx yy zz
	This is a simple interactive region examining program. It uses the
ANSI clear screen command. While in it the keys X, x, Y, y, Z, z shift along
the given axis. a, A, or + transpose amongst the three axis. The screen
maintains the level 1 info on the center system. 2 and 3 print the level 2
and level 3 information. Q quits the program.
	Really primitive.

TIMTBL xx yy zz time
	This prints a timetable for departing ships for a given system. The
time is measured in days and is an arbitrary number. The data is in the
following format:
The Franhe (Arnelia) out of Sosen (9985 9981 10012)
	Departing 10 for Mouthit (9999 9998 10004)
	26 High berths 2 booked, 3 standby
	7 Low berths 2 booked

The _name_of_ship_ (_owning_corporation_) out of _origin_ (_coords_)
	Departing _day_ for _dest_ (_coords_)
	_total_ High berths _n_ booked [i.e. high passage], _n_ standby [i.e.
middle passage]
	_n_ Low berths _n_ booked
The closer a ships gets to its departure date the fuller it will be. I used
it for a simple PBM game over the net that withered away.

SCAN xx yy zz
	This is really just a shell to search outward for whatever you want.
At the moment it prints where it is when a key is pressed and otherwise
searches for the mythical planet "Polo". Unless you are actually searching
for Polo you want to modify the program. It uses level 1 information but
that is easily changed (with the expense of speed). I have used it to look
for water worlds, high governments, etc... [see also capital].

NAME xx yy zz NumNames
	This uses the languages tables for the given system to produce
names. It produces as many names as given but the default is one.

HEXMAP xx yy zz time
	This is for producing a standard 15,000 mile per hex space map
for the area surrounding a planet. The time is optional to give settings
for the satelites. It doesn't seem to work for all planets correctly.
It first asks for the planet, then prints a list of the satelites and what
page they would appear on. It then asks for the number of pages wide and long.
It writes to the specified file in strips. Each is designed to fit on your
standard 8" paper in condenced mode. The strips can then be seperated and
taped together for your battle map.
	Try tracing the routes of the ships in coloured pencil as the
battle progresses. We did once and it was really worthwhile. Just like the
tatical maps in Star Wars!

PRMAP xx yy zz PlanetName
	This prints a triangle map of a planet surface. It prompts for a
file name to store the result in. It is straight ascii. It will ask for
a triangle, specifier and size. See sysgen4 for an explanation of what
these mean.

EPMAP xx yy zz PlanetName
	If under MS-DOS this prints a map to the PRN port. If under UNIX
you will want to change the line in the file or else a file called PRN will
be created. The graphics are printed with standard Epson FX-80 compatable
outputs. It will ask for a triangle, specifier and size. See sysgen4 for
an explanation of what these mean.

TCMAP xx yy zz PlanetName
	This is completely analagous to PRMAP except it prints the output
on the screen. It is only compilable under TurboC.

SECPRNT xx yy zz
	This prints a 10x10x10 "sector" starting with the coordinates given.
It uses Epson FX-80 compatable escape sequences for italics, and underligning
(to indicate POP of worlds). Waits for a keypress between pages.

CAPITAL xx yy zz
	This is similar to scan except it searches a 10x10x10 "sector" starting
with the coordinates given. It was originally used to determine the best planet
as a captial for a "sector". The current example searches for the highest tech
level. It uses level-1 information.