POWER MACROS Welcome to POWER MACROS for Trade Wars, the best accessory for the serious Trade Wars player. I say that because now you have a combination of the convenience of macros and the effectiveness of doing it by hand. No more trade-off. Each macro only has a couple simple rules to be followed for effective use, but they MUST BE followed, or the macro will not work and you will have to figure out where you are and start over. Please read this file fully, print it out, and refer to it until you have mastered the use of each macro. LAYOUT The macros are logically laid out on the function keys as follows: F2: Equipment-Organics Pair Haggler Sh-F2: Equipment-Fuel Pair Haggler Alt-F2: Organics-Fuel Pair Haggler F3: Single Port Haggler Sh-F3: Fuel-Buying Haggler Alt-F3: Organics-Buying Haggler Ctrl-F3: Equipment-Buying Haggler F4: Automatic Port Credit-Drainer Sh-F4: Steal load of Equipment Alt-F4: 5 XP Equipment Stealing Loop F5: Single-Step/Scan Sh-F5: Post Toll Fighter Alt-F5: Pick Up Fighters F6: Disrupt Mines Sh-F6: InterPlanetary Material Shifter Alt-F6: InterPlanetary Colonist Shifter Ctrl-F6: Planet Invader (Registered version only) F10: TransWarp Safety Device Sh-F10: TW-Fuel Haggler (Registered version only)(next version) Alt-F10: TransWarp Trader (Registered version only) Ctrl-F10: TransWarp Colonizer (Registered version only)(next version) F11: Examine TWVIEW Data File Sh-F11: Make TWVIEW Data File Alt-F11: Make Game Record File Ctrl-F11: TWVIEW Fighter Scan Only F12: Turns Counter Sh-F12: Major Space Lanes Finder (next version) Alt-F12: Toggle Litter Mode Ctrl-F12: (Alt-0 if no extended keyboard) Initialize Ship Alt-* (grey asterisk): Turn ANSI On Alt-/ (keyboard slash) : Turn ANSI Off When setting up {COMMO} and adding your own macros for things, you may use the F7, F8 and F9 keys for your own things. You may also use any Alt-key combination that {COMMO} does not already use. Any of the combinations on the other Function keys that POWER MACROS does not use at present may be used in the future. F1 is {COMMO} help, so I stay off that key altogether. BEFORE USE 1) Using a text editor (QEDIT is highly recommended), edit the MACROS.SET file with your modem and terminal settings, taken from your current COMMO.SET file if you already use {COMMO}. The Trade Wars entries are grouped together, so those of you already using {COMMO} might just block copy the Trade Wars section of MACROS.SET into your current COMMO.SET. If you do not use {COMMO} yet, go ahead and treat MACROS.SET as the original, and add your settings to it. POWER MACROS relies on several environment variables set in the SET file, so you must use the one with the Trade Wars settings. 2) If you do NOT use ANSI, you must find the line in the MACROS.SET file that looks like this: {set ans,on} Delete that line. If you DO use ANSI, skip this step. 3) Then find the part of the SET file called "Paths and Files." Find the line for "Trade Wars Directory Path" and enter the directory path where you keep your Trade Wars data files and capture files (for TWVIEW -- the only data program supported by POWER MACROS). If you don't use data files or capture files for your games, don't worry about this step. 4) Now, if you have any log-in macros for {COMMO} or any other macros you use, you need to put them in the POWER.MAC file. Find the line in the POWER.MAC file that says "****END TWMACS****" and put your macros after that line. The rest of the file is the regular macros from Fred Brucker for downloads, etc. Note: I moved ZModem to the top line on the Upload Menu and the Download menu. You might find you prefer it that way. 5) Once you have the MACROS.SET and POWER.MAC files set to your configuration, you need to put them in the {COMMO} home directory. For safety, make a backup of your COMMO.MAC and COMMO.SET files. If you unzipped POWERMAC.ZIP into your {COMMO} directory, you need to delete COMMO.SET and rename MACROS.SET to COMMO.SET. Then delete COMMO.MAC and rename POWER.MAC to COMMO.MAC. If you unzipped POWERMAC.ZIP into a different directory, you want to copy POWER.MAC to COMMO\COMMO.MAC and MACROS.SET to COMMO\COMMO.SET. LOGGING IN TO TRADE WARS If you use automatic log-in macros to log on to your BBSes, make sure they do not take you any farther than the Trade Wars welcome screen. POWER MACROS must be able to take control at the command line. Log in to the game, read the news, read your messages, then when the sector display comes up, WAIT. POWER MACROS needs to initialize your ship for the current trading session. When the sector display comes BACK up after the Ship Information screen, the initialization procedure is finished and you may begin playing. **NOTE** If you do not use ANSI, the macro will immediately go into the computer and send the command to toggle ANSI. It is doing this to make sure that ANSI is off in the game (for those who might use ANSI in the BBS but not the game). If the game has ANSI set to ON, the macro will turn it off for you. If ANSI is already off, the macro simply turns it on then off again to make sure. The macro will then initialize your ship like before. IMPORTANT: If you buy a new ship during a gaming session, or if you gain or lose holds, hit Ctrl-F12 from the main command line for the Initialize Ship macro. POWER MACROS must always know how many holds you currently have in order to operate correctly. THE MACROS Now we will go through the instructions for the macros one-by-one, as they appear on the function keys. With ANY of the macros, if you run into any trouble or want to abort the macro for any reason, press ESCape. Paired Port Hagglers F2: Equipment-Organics Pair Haggler 1) You must be in the sector with the Organics Selling port (Class 2 or Class 4). Make sure your holds have Equipment in them, or are empty. 2) From the main command line, press F2. 3) Enter the Sector number for the Equipment-selling Port. 4) Enter the Sector number for the Organics-selling Port. 5) (Shareware version): Sit back and watch it haggle. (Registered version): Sit back and watch it haggle. When prompted to keep the macro going, respond to the prompt (Enter y or n). If you happen to get thrown out of a port, the macro prompts you if you want to go again. Enter y or n for your preference. If you go again, the macro will complete the current transaction, then continue on as before. That should do it for the Equipment-Organics haggler. Shift-F2: Equipment-Fuel Haggler 1) Start in the Fuel Selling port (Class 3 or 4) with Equipment in your holds, or empty. 2) From the main command line, press Shift-F2. 3) Enter the Sector number for the Equipment-selling Port. 4) Enter the Sector number for the Fuel-selling Port. 5) (Shareware version): Sit back and watch it haggle. (Registered version): Sit back as before. If you happen to get thrown out of a port, the macro prompts you if you want to go again. Enter y or n for your preference. If you go again, the macro will complete the current transaction, then continue on as before. Alt-F2: Organics-Fuel Haggler 1) Start in the Fuel-selling port (class 3 or 5) with Organics in your holds, or empty. 2) From the main command line, press Alt-F2. 3) Enter the Sector number for the Organics-selling Port. 4) Enter the Sector number for the Fuel-selling Port. 5) (Shareware version): Sit back and watch it haggle. (Registered version): Sit back as before. If you happen to get thrown out of a port, the macro prompts you if you want to go again. Enter y or n for your preference. If you go again, the macro will complete the current transaction, then continue on as before. One Port Hagglers F3: Single Port Haggler The Single Port Haggler sells what is in your holds, and buys the most valuable commodity sold by the port. You can use it from Auto-Warp or from the main command line. 1) Pull up to a port that buys the product currently in your holds (or a Class 7 if your holds are empty). 2) From the main command line, or the Auto-Warp command line, press F3. 3) Sit back and watch it haggle. Shift-F3: Fuel-Buying Haggler The Fuel-Buying Haggler sells what is in your holds, then buys a full load of Fuel Ore, whether it is a Class 3, 4, 5 or 7 port. You can use the Single Port Haggler for a Class 3. Use the Fuel-Buying Haggler the same as the Single Port Haggler, but use Shift-F3 instead. Alt-F3: Organics-Buying Haggler The Organics-Buying Haggler sells what is in your holds, then buys a full load of Organics, whether it is a Class 2, 4, 6 or 7 port. You can use the Single Port Haggler for a Class 2 or 4. Control-F3: Equipment-Buying Haggler This macro is pretty much unnecessary, since the Single Port Haggler always buys Equipment if it is available, but I added this one for the sake of symmetry. Thievery Macros F4: Automatic Port Credit-Drainer This macro will check your current experience level, compute the safe maximum credit amount to rob, then port and rob until the port is empty. If the port has less than 700 credits, the macro does not rob. You must have an alignment of -100 or less to rob. 1) Pull up to a port that sells Equipment. 2) From the main command line, or Auto-Warp command line, press F4. 3) Sit back and watch. Don't worry, if you get busted the macro will stop automatically. Shift-F4: Steal Load of Equipment 1) Pull up to a port that has at least as many units of Equipment on the dock as you have holds. 2) From the main command line, or Auto-Warp command line, press Shift-F4. 3) Sit back and watch. Alt-F4: 5 XP Equipment Stealing Loop 1) Make sure your ship is equipped with a Psychic Probe. Have a calculator handy. 2) Pull up to a port that buys Equipment (Class 2, 3, 4, or 8), that is at 100% for Equipment, with Equipment in your holds. 3) From the main command line, press Alt-F4. 4) Answer y or n to the prompt, "Continue on 99.99?" Some ports don't seem to have a best price, or you will occasionally miss it. In those cases, you get 99.99% of the best price often, and you may want to just accept that. In normal operation, whenever the macro does NOT get 5 xp, it stops so you can change the best price if you want. If 99.99% is good enough for you, press y then enter and you will keep going. 5) Enter the number of holds you want to use. Default is the number of holds in your ship. 6) The macro ports and sells the Equipment. Write down on a piece of scratch paper the port's offering price. Then write down the P-Probe result. Divide the port's offer by the P-Probe result. For example: You sell 70 holds of Equipment. They offer 9900. The macro sends a carriage return and the Psychic Probe returns 97.52%. Divide 9900 by .9752. Take the result, drop the decimal and enter the result in the input box. For this example, you would enter 10151 (no commas). If the input box covers the numbers you need for calculating, press Page-Up and that will lift the input box off the screen. When done, press any key to restore the input box. If you are using 150 holds, the best price always ends with a 5 or 0. Get the division result, then round DOWN to the nearest 5 or 0. For example, if you calculate and the result is 10,151, enter 10150. If the result of the division is 10,154, your answer is STILL 10150. This might also be the case for 50, 100, 200 and 250 holds as well, but I KNOW that is how it works for 150. 7) Sit back and watch. Be ready to adjust the price if needed. Sometimes it takes a few tries to find the best price, especially when you first start with the technique. This is not the place to explain how the 5 point technique works, but if you play with it you will figure it out. If you are close to the price, try increasing or decreasing the price by 1 or 2. In the near future, Fred Brucker will release a new version of {COMMO} with some new macro functions. When he does, this macro will be rewritten to be totally automatic. As the macro language stands now, it is impossible to do that. The super-duper automatic self-correcting macro will only be available in the registered version of POWER MACROS. If you register, be on the lookout for the new version. Utility Macros F5: Single-Step/Scan 1) Make sure your ship is equipped with a density or holo scanner. 2) Pick your destination and enter it. At the Auto-Pilot prompt, hit S for single-step. 3) At the next command line, do a density scan. 4) From the main command line, press F5. 5) The macro will take you to the next sector on the path, then do a density scan for you. 6) To continue on to the next sector on your path, press F5 again. Shift-F5: Post Toll Fighter For those of you who use TransWarp, you know how important it is to have fighters around. This macro posts a single toll fighter. Press Shift-F5 wherever you want a fighter, and the macro will post it. If you are in a corporation, it automatically makes the fighter corporate. It works from Auto-Warp or the main command line. DO NOT USE THIS MACRO IN FEDSPACE!!! Alt-F5: Pick Up Fighters 1) Make sure you are in the sector with the fighter(s) you want to pick up. 2) From the main command line, press Alt-F5. 3) The macro will pick up all the fighters in the sector. F6: Disrupt Mines 1) Make sure you are in the sector adjacent to the target sector with mine disruptors on your ship. 2) From the main command line, press F6. 3) At the input, enter the target sector number. 4) At the input, enter the number of disruptors to use. 5) The macro will shoot until it uses the number of disruptors entered, or all the mines are disrupted. Shift-F6: InterPlanetary Material Shifter This macro will take product off one planet in a sector and move it to another planet in the same sector. You may not ever need to do this, but if you get into heavy planet-building, it will come in handy. 1) Be in the sector with the planets, and know the planet numbers of the Source planet and the Destination planet, and the number of the commodity to move (1 for fuel, 2 for organics and 3 for equipment). 2) From the main command line, press Shift-F6. 3) At the input, enter the number of the Source planet. 4) At the input, enter the number of the Destination planet. 5) At the input, enter the Product type number. 6) Sit back and watch the macro move all of the selected product from the Source planet to the Destination planet. The macro will stop when the Source is empty or the Destination is full. Alt-F6: InterPlanetary Colonist Shifter This macro will take colonists from one production group on one planet and put them on a production group on another planet in the same sector. 1) Be in the sector with the planets, and know the planet numbers of the Source planet and the Destination planet, the number of the commodity (1 for fuel, 2 for organics and 3 for equipment) to move colonists from, and the number of the production group on the other planet to put colonists on. 2) From the main command line, press Alt-F6. 3) At the input, enter the number of the Source planet. 4) At the input, enter the number of the Destination planet. 5) At the input, enter the Source Production group number. 6) At the input, enter the Destination Production group number. 7) Sit back and watch the macro move the colonists from the Source to the Destination. The macro will stop when the Source is empty or it has moved 10 loads. Control-F6: Planet Invader (Registered only) The Planet Invader was invented to cope with a BBS that set the photon duration to 10 seconds. If you are not using photons, it is probably not worth using this macro, but it will work without photons. It is also good for those who might forget a keystroke or two, such as CLAIMING the planet after defeating the fighters. How many of us have done that, then taken ANOTHER quasar blast when trying to land on what we thought was our planet? This macro will NOT make that mistake. This macro has a lot of settings and options, so it might be confusing at first. Make sure you understand it thoroughly before using it in a game, because this one could cost you your ship if not used correctly. TransWarp Macros F10: TransWarp Safety Device If you have a TransWarp drive, you want to use this macro EVERY TIME you TransWarp. Why? Because if you don't have a fighter on the other end the macro aborts the TransWarp. 1) Enter the sector number of the destination. 2) At the question, "Do you want to engage the TransWarp drive?", press F10. 3) Sit back and travel with full confidence that you will get there safely. Shift-F10: Keep Fuel for TransWarp Single-Port Haggler (Registered only) (Next version) Alt-F10: TransWarp Trader for Class 4 and 5 Ports (Registered only) 1) Start from either sector with NO fuel in your holds. You may have the commodity that the port buys, or you may have empty holds. 2) From the main command line, press Alt-F10. 3) Enter the Sector number for the Class 5 Port. 4) Enter the Sector number for the Class 4 Port. 5) Sit back as before. Control-F10: TransWarp Colonizer (Registered Only) (Next version) Data Macros F11: Examine a TWVIEW Data File 1) Make sure you have your Trade Wars directory entered in the .SET file as described above. 2) You must have EXAMINE.EXE either in the Trade Wars directory, or in a directory in the PATH command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 3) From the main command prompt, press F11. 4) At the input, enter the file prefix (the letters in front of the period). The macro will tack the .DAT on the end and show you the data file. Shift-F11: Make A TWVIEW Data File 1) Make sure you have your Trade Wars directory entered in the .SET file. 2) You must have CONVERT.EXE, and Qedit in the Trade Wars directory or in directories in the PATH command in your AUTOEXEC.BAT file. 3) From the main command prompt, press Shift-F11. 4) At the input box, enter the file prefix. 5) Wait while the macro makes the capture files, then when Qedit starts, you will have to clip the top off the three capture files. (down to the CIM command prompt in the .SCT and .PRT files, and to the G in the .FTR file) 6) Make the data file. If it is a NEW data file, be sure to name the file the prefix entered in the input box, with the .DAT extension. The Fighter Scan has the same prefix, with the .FTR extension. The Sector Report has the same prefix, with the .SCT extension. The Port Report has the same prefix, with the .PRT extension. Alt-F11: Make a Game Record File 1) Make sure you have your Trade Wars directory entered in the .SET file. 2) From the main command prompt, press Alt-F11. 3) At the input, enter the capture file prefix. 4) At the input, enter the date you wish to begin capturing the daily log. 5) The macro makes a file with your Ship Information, the Game Configuration and Status Screen, the Trader Rankings and Alien Rankings, the Daily Log from the date you specified, your Corporate Planet Scan and Corporate Asset Scan. 6) You can view the file with any text reader (such as LIST or the DOS TYPE) or editor. Control-F11: TWVIEW Fighter Scan Only 1) Make sure you have your Trade Wars directory entered in the .SET file. 2) From the main command prompt, press Control-F11. 3) Enter the TWVEW Data file prefix. 4) The macro captures the fighter scan, then starts Qedit. Clip the top off the file. The macro goes into CONVERT.EXE after Qedit. Read the new fighter scan into the data file. 5) The macro starts EXAMINE after CONVERT is done, so you can check the TransWarp menu with your new fighter list. Setup and Control Macros F12: Turns Counter This macro will calculate the number of turns from one sector to another, for as many sectors as you want to check. Say you are trading in 250, with 23 turns left. You need to go to StarDock, to 1 to get some colonists, then home to your planet. You want to know how many turns you need. Remember, the macro only computes TRAVEL TIME. Any porting or other turn-taking activities you will do on the run will have to be figured in on top of the travel time. 1) From the main command prompt, press F12. 2) Enter the Starting Sector in the box. If you are counting turns from your current sector, just hit ENTER on the empty box for Starting Sector and enter the Destination Sector in the next input box. 3) Enter the Destination Sector in the next input box. 4) If you want to check another path, enter the next Starting Sector, then the next Destination Sector. Continue to enter sector pairs until you have entered all the paths you want to check. 5) Press enter on an empty Destination Sector box to begin calculations. 6) The macro computes the distance for each pair and displays the results. Shift-F12: Major Space Lanes Finder (Next version) Alt-F12: Toggle Litter Mode When litter mode is in use, the macros post a single toll fighter in every port they come across, except in FedSpace or one is already there. Litter Mode starts set at OFF. To turn it on, press Alt-F12. To turn it back off, press Alt-F12 again. It may look like nothing happened, but the macro sets a variable. Remember, it starts at OFF, and when you hit it once, it goes to ON, then back to OFF, so only hit it once. The Single Port Hagglers, the paired port hagglers, the Single-Step/Scan, the Credit Drainer and the 5 Point Steal Loop all will post a fighter in any port sector not in FedSpace that does not already have a fighter. Control-F12: (or Alt-0) Initialize Ship Every time you buy holds, lose holds, gain holds by blowing up someone, or buy a new ship, press Control-F12 from the main command line. When the sector display comes back up, the macro is over. CONCLUSION That's it for now. Good luck and happy trading. If you have problems, questions or comments, you can post them to Fred Polli on the National Trade Wars Echo on a FidoNet board, or you can call Dimension 7 BBS in Eugene, Oregon (1-503-461-2219. 14.4 HST) and leave a personal message to Fred Polli. Hopefully the instructions are clear and understandable. They work for my wife, so they should be ok. ;) Watch out for new versions of Trade Wars or {COMMO}. Either release will be followed shortly by a new version of POWER MACROS. I will announce new versions of POWER MACROS on the Fido echo, and the WWIVNet Trade Wars sub from Castle RavenLoft. Registration is only $10 plus $2 postage and handling. You get a disk with the registered version and a keyboard template. To register, send a check or money order to: Frederick R. Polli 717 W. Quinalt Springfield, OR 97477 Include a letter with your name, address, and what kind of disk. Also, tell me if you do NOT have an extended keyboard. The shareware version does not support the XT keyboard (except for Initship, which is vital to operation of the macros), but I will set up a version of the registered macro file for the XT keyboard. Give me a couple weeks. Also, REGISTER {COMMO}!!!!!! Fred Brucker has written a wonderful program, and without {COMMO} there is no POWER MACROS.