Mini-Startrek

Also referred to as Apple Star-Trek. Sold by Apple Computer on cassette tape for $5, order code A1T006X.

History

This game by Robert J. Bishop was published in the Interface Age magazine (May 1977). At the time, Star-Trek games were popular and various variants were written for mini- and microcomputers. This one was specifically written in Apple BASIC for the Apple-1.

Instructions

Rules of the game, as lined out in the issue of Interface Age:

The galaxy is divided into 64 quadrants arranged in an 8x8 grid: each quadrant is further subdivided into 8x8 sectors. Your mission is to find and destroy the seven Klingon spaceships hiding somewhere in the galaxy: you are allotted 15 stardates and have two starbases at which you can refuel. You are initially supplied with 3 photon torpedoes and 500 units of energy. Your energy supply is used to:

1. move you around the galaxy,
2. fire your phasers, and
3. protect the Enterprise via its deflection shields which are automatically activated by the on-board computer every time a Klingon fires at you.

Each time you enter or maneuver within a quadrant containing a Klingon, he will shoot at you, and the amount of damage his phasors did to your shields will be indicated. Each time you shoot at him with either phasors or photon torpedoes and fail to destroy him, he will also return fire upon you.

Commands

There are six commands available to you; they are numbered from 0 to 5:

Command	Function
0	Moves the Enterprise. Computer responds with; VECTOR ?, to which you must specify the number of sectors you wish to move, both horizontally and vertically. A positive horizontal move is to the right, and a positive vertical move is up. These two vector components must be separated by a comma; for example: -21,35 would move the Enterprise 21 sectors to the left of its current position, and 35 sectors up.
1	Short Range Sensor Scan. Prints the quadrant you are currently in, with the Enterprise represented by the symbols: <*> , Klingons represented by: + + + , starbases by: >!< , and stars by: *.
2	Long Range Sensor Scan. Displays a 3x3 array of nearest neighbor quadrants with the Enterprise's quadrant in the center. The scan is coded in the form: KBS, where K is the number of Klingons, B is the number of starbases, and S is the number of stars in the quadrant.
3	Fire Phasers. The computer informs you as to how much total energy you have left, and then waits for you to indicate how much of that energy you want to fire at the enemy. (Note: the closer you are, the more effect your phasers will have on the Klingons, and conversely!)
4	Fire Photon Torpedo. You have no control over the course of the torpedo; the on-board computer automatically aims at the enemy, taking care to avoid hitting any intervening stars or starbases. (Again, the closer you are, the better your chances of hitting the Klingon.)
5	Library Computer. The library computer allows for the following two requests: Zero) Cumulative record of the results of all previous longrange sensor scans of the galaxy. Non-zero) Status report.

Expenditure of supplies

Moving from one quadrant to another uses up energy and one stardate. However, movement within a given quadrant uses up only energy.

Relative positions change with time

Much can happen in a few stardates! Consequently, if you leave a quadrant and then later return, don't expect the Klingons, stars, etc. to still be in the same relative positions that they were in when you left! The number of each will still be the same, but their positions will be different. This means that whenever you enter a new quadrant, you don't know just where the various objects will be; in fact, don't be too surprised if once in a while you collide with things!!!

Replenishment of supplies

Docking at a starbase re-initializes your supply of photon torpedoes to 3, and your energy supply to 500. Docking is accomplished by moving the Enterprise to any one of the four sectors immediately adjacent a starbase, above, below, left, or right.

Battle retreat

Firing zero units of phaser energy will return you to command mode. This allows you to retreat from battle.

Galaxy co-ordinate system

Quadrant 0,0 is the lower left hand quadrant of the galaxy, and quadrant 7,7 is the upper right. Likewise, sector 0,0 is in the lower left hand corner of the quadrant and 7,7 in the upper right. (Thus, the galaxy resembles a Cartesian co-ordinate system with the x-axis pointing to the right, and the y-axis pointing up.)

References

• Interface Age (May 1977, p. 132-134), where this game was published originally.
• Some history on other BASIC Star-Trek games.