4.3BSD - /usr/man/cat6/battlestar.0

BATTLESTAR(6)                                                    BATTLESTAR(6)


NAME
       battlestar - a tropical adventure game

SYNOPSIS
       battlestar [ -r (recover a saved game) ]

DESCRIPTION
       Battlestar  is  an  adventure game in the classic style.  However, It’s
       slightly less of a puzzle and more a game of exploration.  There are  a
       few  magical words in the game, but on the whole, simple English should
       suffice to make one’s desires understandable to the parser.

THE SETTING
       In the days before the darkness came, when battlestars ruled the  heav‐
       ens...

                 Three He made and gave them to His daughters,
                 Beautiful nymphs, the goddesses of the waters.
                 One to bring good luck and simple feats of wonder,
                 Two to wash the lands and churn the waves asunder,
                 Three to rule the world and purge the skies with thunder.


       In  those  times  great wizards were known and their powers were beyond
       belief.  They could take any object from thin air,  and,  uttering  the
       word ‘su’ could disappear.

       In those times men were known for their lust of gold and desire to wear
       fine weapons.  Swords and coats of mail were fashioned that could with‐
       stand a laser blast.

       But  when  the darkness fell, the rightful reigns were toppled.  Swords
       and helms and heads of state went rolling across the grass.  The entire
       fleet of battlestars was reduced to a single ship.

SAMPLE COMMANDS
            take ---  take an object
            drop ---  drop an object

            wear ---  wear an object you are holding
            draw ---  carry an object you are wearing

            puton     ---  take an object and wear it
            take off --    draw an object and drop it

            throw  <object> <direction>

            !    <shell esc>


IMPLIED OBJECTS
            >-: take watermelon
            watermelon:
            Taken.
            >-: eat
            watermelon:
            Eaten.
            >-: take knife and sword and apple, drop all
            knife:
            Taken.
            broadsword:
            Taken.
            apple:
            Taken.
            knife:
            Dropped.
            broadsword:
            Dropped.
            apple:
            Dropped.
            >-: get
            knife:
            Taken.


       Notice  that  the "shadow" of the next word stays around if you want to
       take advantage of it.  That is, saying "take  knife"  and  then  "drop"
       will drop the knife you just took.

SCORE & INVEN
       The two commands "score" and "inven" will print out your current status
       in the game.

SAVING A GAME
       The command "save" will save your game in a file called  "Bstar."   You
       can recover a saved game by using the "-r" option when you start up the
       game.

DIRECTIONS
       The compass directions N, S, E, and W can be used if you  have  a  com‐
       pass.   If  you don’t have a compass, you’ll have to say R, L, A, or B,
       which stand for Right, Left, Ahead, and Back.   Directions  printed  in
       room  descriptions  are  always printed in R, L, A, & B relative direc‐
       tions.

HISTORY
       I wrote Battlestar in 1979 in order to experiment with the niceties  of
       the  C  Language.   Most interesting things that happen in the game are
       hardwired into the code, so don’t send  me  any  hate  mail  about  it!
       Instead, enjoy art for art’s sake!

AUTHOR
       David Riggle

INSPIRATION & ASSISTANCE
       Chris Guthrie
       Peter Da Silva
       Kevin Brown
       Edward Wang
       Ken Arnold & Company

BUGS
       Countless.

FAN MAIL
       Send to edward%ucbarpa@Berkeley.arpa, chris%ucbcory@berkeley.arpa, rig‐
       gle.pa@xerox.arpa.


4.3 Berkeley Distribution         May 6, 1986                    BATTLESTAR(6)