LINE NOISE News from Chez Diesel 25 September, 1988 WARNING... Don't venture into space tomorrow afternoon unless you are ready for a fight! This Sunday will see the implementation of the rest of the pot-shot commands. All those mag-guns and lasers that have been cluttering up your holds will finally be useable, so there will probably be a bloodbath until the novelty wears off. It's quite complicated, but I hope you will soon get the hang of it - remember, practice makes perfect! will fire your mag-gun at Prod if he is in the same sector as you (he will make a very good target!); the syntax is the same for lasers. will shoot at the first ship in the sector (you can check the order of players by typing ). will pick the most powerful weapon that is undamaged. Typing will give you a detailed explanation. Ammo for the guns costs 1K for a 10-shot cartridge, weighing 1 ton. The command is . Guns will do 2 points of damage to the hull, but will not damage any other part of the ship. Lasers will do 5 points of damage and twin lasers 7; both of these can also damage shields, engines, computer, weapons, tractor beam or cargo. The good news is that spybeams will not be damaged - otherwise it could prove extremely expensive! The damage to the hull is halved if the defending ship's shields are switched on. If you try to fire a weapon that is out of commission (or one that you don't have) it will tell you and you'll have to try again. Using weapons will drain your power very heavily - guns use 2 to operate, lasers 15 and twin-lasers a massive 30! Tractor beams also use 2. If you don't have enough power you won't be able to use them. Everytime a weapon gets damaged its effectiveness is reduced by one point until eventually it is useless. Missiles, which have been in for a few weeks now, have a straight 80% chance of hitting their targets. The other weapons take account of the level of computer that you and your opponent have - the higher the computer level, the more chance you have of hitting another ship, and the less chance of being hit yourself. If you have your computer on auto and somone fires a weapon at you, the computer will automatically run away by moving the ship one location in the direction of the nearest planet (discretion being the better part of valour). If you have the computer on manual and someone fires at you, your shields will be switched on and a MAYDAY will be broadcast to all other players, telling them you are being attached, and what sector you are in. With any luck, reinforcements will be forthcoming. You have a choice at this point of fighting back or fleeing. If you succeed in blowing someone to bits, you can use your tractor beam to pick up any cargo they were carrying. Our Illustrious Leader is undecided about putting in the full attack mode, as described in a recent Line Noise. It's possible that pot-shotting will prove quite sufficient to assuage the lust for gratuitous violence. Personally, it's times like these that make me glad I don't own a ship - I've no intention of leaving Chez Diesel ever again!