Provided by:
uqm_0.4.0-1ubuntu1_i386 
NAME
Ur-Quan Masters
SYNOPSIS
uqm [options]
DESCRIPTION
The Ur-Quan Masters is a 2D inter-galatic adventure game. You return
to Earth with a vessel built from technology discovered from an ancient
race called the Precursors only to find it enslaved. Gather allies from
a wide variety of races, engage in space combat with various foes, and
save the galaxy from the Ur-Quan!
OPTIONS
Valid command line options:
-r, --res resolution
Sets the screen resolution. Unless --opengl is set, the only
valid values are 640x480 and 320x240.
-d, --bpp value
Sets the color depth. If you don’t set this, the game should
autodetect an appropriate value. Valid values are 16, 24, and
32.
-f, --fullscreen
Uses full screen mode. Pretty straightforward. Usually good to
combine with -r 320x240.
-o, --opengl
Use OpenGL drivers. This produces higher-quality graphics, and
may be faster as well -- but it also may not work on older
cards.
-c, --scale=mode
Graphics scaling mode (bilinear, biadapt or biadv). Default is
none. Try these to get smoother graphics with cost on
performance.
-b, --meleescale=mode
Melee scaling mode (nearest or trilinear). Default is trilinear.
Slower machine owners can set it to nearest to get better
performance in melee but degraded visual quality.
-s, --scanlines
Simulates interlaced displays.
-g, --gamma value
Sets gamma correction. 1.0 causes no change (unless your
graphics card is originally set to a different value). Higher
than 1.0 makes the image brighter, lower than 1.0 makes it
darker.
-p, --fps
Print fps information in the status window.
-n, --contentdir directory
Set the directory where the game will seek its data.
-h, --help
Display a help message.
-M, --musicvol volume
Set music volume (0-100).
-S, --sfxvol volume
Set sound effects volume (0-100).
-T, --speechvol volume
Set speech volume (0-100). If set to 0, game runs in ’no speech’
mode and oscilloscope reacts to the music.
-m 3d0, --3domusic
Use the 3DO remixed soundtrack for songs that were in fact
remixed. The default.
-m pc, --pcmusic
Use the .MOD based PC soundtrack everywhere.
-q, --audioquality high | medium | low
Specifies how nice the audio sounds. Slower machines should
lower the audio quality.
--addon addon
Replace addon by the name of an add-on to enable in the game.
See the section ’ADD-ONS’ in /usr/share/doc/uqm/manual.txt.gz
for details.
--sound openal | mixsdl | none
Specifies which driver/mixer to use. "openal" is only available
when it has been compiled in. It may produce higher-quality
sound and will probably be faster, but it is not very stable on
linux platforms, and may not work well with some sound cards.
Use "none" as a last resort if you cannot get other drivers to
work, or if you have no soundcard.
--stereosfx
Enables positional sound effects in melee. Currently works only
when using openal.
-u, --nosubtitles
Disables subtitles.
--cscan pc | 3do
Use either PC (text) or 3DO (pictograms) style planet
information when scanning. The default is 3DO.
--menu pc | 3do
Use either PC style (text and ’CREW’/’BATT’) or 3DO (pictograms)
in melee. The default is 3DO.
--font pc | 3do
Use either PC or 3DO style fonts and colors. The default is PC.
--scroll pc | 3do
Scroll voice-over/subtitles 1 page at a time (PC style) or
smoothly (3DO style) when using left/right arrow keys. The
default is PC.
PLAYING
The story so far
For the past decade, Earth and the rest of the Alliance of Free Stars
has fought the Ur-Quan and their Hierarchy of Battle Thralls. In the
course of the War, the Earthlings discovered a factory world by the
´Precursors´ - an impossibly advanced race that disappeared tens of
thousands of years ago. This colony, Unzervalt (aka Vela I), lost all
contact with Earth shortly after landfall.
You are Captain Zelnick, a human that was born on Unzervalt and who
possesses a remarkable knack for Precursor technology. You were the
one who worked out how to activate the Precursor installation.
It was a factory for building starships. However, Unzervalt is
mineral-poor, and there were not enough materials available to
construct a complete vessel. Your task is to command this craft, the
Vindicator, and return to Earth to tell them of the abandoned colony.
Also, if the War with the Ur-Quan continues, you must fight for Earth
and the Alliance as best you can.
There is a great deal more to this story. Asking Starbase Commander
Hayes for background information will give you most of it.
Interplanetary exploration
When in a Solar system, use the thrust and steering controls to move
about the system. Intersecting a planet will move you to the planetary
system; flying over a planet or moon will then put you into orbit.
From there you can talk to the inhabitants, or, if the planet is
uninhabited, send a lander down to gather minerals, investigate energy
readings, or capture life forms.
Planet landing
To land on a planet, you need to achieve orbit, then fill a planet
lander with crew and send them down. You will usually want to scan the
planet first. Mineral scans will indicate easily harvestable mineral
ores and other resources. Energy scans will indicate unusual
installations, which will effectively always be worth investigating.
Biological scans will show where life forms are on the surface.
Minerals are necessary for building up and maintaining your flagship,
so harvest them wherever you can. There are nine varieties, each color
coded:
Common elements - (carbon, nitrogen) are cyan. Worth 1 resource unit
(RU) per unit.
Corrosives - (chlorine, iodine) are red. 2 RU per unit.
Base metals - (iron, tin) are grey. These are common, and usually
worth
harvesting, but not terribly valuable. 3 RU per unit.
Noble gasses - (argon, xenon) are blue. 4 RU per unit.
Rare earths - (lanthanum, ytterbium) are green. 5 RU per unit.
Precious elements - (gold, silver) are yellow. 6 RU per unit.
Radioactives - (uranium, astatine) are orange. 8 RU per unit.
Exotics - (antimatter, magnetic monopoles) are purple, and a princely
25
RU per cargo unit.
Minerals may be unloaded at Earth Starbase by talking to Commander
Hayes, which will give you RU that you may spend to upgrade your
flagship.
However, there are many hazards on planetary surfaces. Life forms are
often hostile, and need to be subdued with your stunner or evaded.
Earthquakes (expanding circles) can hurt your crew, lightning may crisp
them, or lava flows and hotspots can fry them. Be careful, especially
on hotter or more seismically and atmospherically active worlds. If
your crew level starts dropping dramatically, flee quickly with the
ESCAPE key!
Stunned life forms may be captured and analyzed by your planet landers.
The information you gain from this may not be immediately useful, but
it will eventually come in handy.
Landing on a planet costs fuel, and the heavier the planet, the more
fuel it requires. Make sure you don’t spend so much fuel exploring
planets that you can’t get back to Sol!
Interstallar travel
When you leave a solar system, you will push up into HyperSpace. In
HyperSpace you can travel great distances quickly, but you must
continuously thrust to move. Otherwise, you will gradually slow to a
stop.
While you can fly about in HyperSpace just like you do in a star
system, the Galaxy is LARGE, and you will usually want to use the Auto-
Pilot. To use the Auto-Pilot, select "Starmap" on the menu. This will
show you a map of the quadrant (the galactic Core is in the upper right
corner). To fly to a location, move the cursor there and press Enter.
Then press Space to engage the Auto-Pilot.
Diplomacy
When you encounter an alien starship, you will usually get a picture of
their task force and a chance to choose between conversation and
fighting. If you choose to fight, you will transition immediately to
space combat (below). Otherwise, you will talk first. If talks go
poorly, space combat will likely ensue.
If the task force shows ships streaming off in all directions, you have
reached a fortified world, and there are an unlimited number of
starships facing you. You cannot win such a fight - if combat ensues,
you will need to warp out.
Space combat
When combat begins, you are prompted to select a ship from your task
force. A one-on-one space combat then begins, and continues until
either the enemy fleet is destroyed (in which case you salvage the
wrecks and continue the game), your flagship is destroyed (ending the
game), or your flagship warps out of combat (consuming 5 fuel units but
ending the encounter).
Each ship has two major stats: Crew and Combat Battery. Crew are
effectively hit points. Getting hit by weapons kills crew, and if all
crew are eliminated, the craft is destroyed. Firing weapons typically
requires energy from the combat batteries, which is replaced over time.
The precise speed of energy regeneration and cost of weapons fire
varies by ship.
Space flight is mostly inertial (you’ll drift if you stop thrusting),
but each ship has a maximum velocity that can only be exceeding by
"gravity whipping" around the planet. Don’t hit the planet unless you
want to take LOTS of damage.
Each ship has a primary and secondary weapon mode, unique to that
race’s craft. The descriptions of those follow.
Ship descriptions
Androsynth Guardian
Primary weapon: Fires homing acid bubble clouds.
Secondary weapon: Transforms into the ’Blazer’, a comet that
does considerable damage by ramming its opponents.
Ariloulaleelay Skiff
Primary weapon: Auto-aiming, short-range laser.
Secondary weapon: Random teleport.
Note: The Skiff is inertia-less, and stops instantly when thrust
is removed.
Chenjesu Broodhome
Primary weapon: Crystal Shard. Will travel until the fire
button is released, then shatters.
Secondary weapon: De-energizing Offensive Guided Interceptor.
Launches an autonomous DOGI that rams the opponent to drain
their combat batteries.
Chmmr Avatar
Primary weapon: Immensely powerful short-range laser.
Secondary weapon: Tractor beam.
Note: Has three orbiting "ZapSats" that attack anything that
gets in range.
Druuge Mauler
Primary weapon: Long range, high-recoil cannon.
Secondary weapon: Sets one crew on fire to gain combat energy.
Earthling Cruiser
Primary weapon: Homing nuclear missile.
Secondary weapon: Point-defense laser.
Ilwrath Avenger
Primary weapon: Short-range flamethrower.
Secondary weapon: Cloaking device.
Kohr-Ah Marauder
Primary weapon: Spinning blades that stop and home when the fire
button is released.
Secondary weapon: Fiery Ring of Inevitable and Eternal
Destruction (F.R.I.E.D.), a short-range corona of energy that
blocks shots and inflicts lots of damage.
Melnorme Trader
Primary weapon: Charged shot. The longer the fire button is
held, the stronger the shot.
Secondary weapon: Confusion beam that scrambles enemy controls.
Mmrnmhrm X-Form
Primary weapon: Lasers (X-form) or homing missiles (Y-form).
Secondary weapon: Switch between X-Form and Y-Form.
Mycon Podship
Primary weapon: Homing Plasmoid.
Secondary weapon: Regenerate 4 crew.
Primary weapon: Howitzer cannon.
Secondary weapon: Secondary with left and right arrows rotates
the primary cannon. Secondary with Primary launches space
marines that invade the enemy ship and kill their crew.
Pkunk Fury
Primary weapon: Three-way cannon.
Secondary weapon: Fling insults at opponent. This is the only
way the Pkunk can regenerate combat energy.
Note: On occasion, a destroyed Fury will be resurrected with
full fuel and power.
Shofixti Scout
Primary weapon: Energy Dart.
Secondary weapon: Glory Device. When pressed three times, the
ship will self-destruct, inflicting vast damage on nearby
vessels.
Slylandro Probe
Primary weapon: Lighting weapon.
Secondary weapon: Absorb a nearby asteroid and convert to combat
power. This is the only way the Probe can recharge.
Note: The Probe is inertia-less and always in motion. Pressing
thrust will reverse its direction.
Spathi Eluder
Primary weapon: Simple forward cannon.
Secondary weapon: Backward Utilized Tracking Torpedo (B.U.T.T.),
a homing missile fired from the rear of the vessel.
Supox Blade
Primary weapon: Forward firing glob weapon.
Secondary weapon: Secondary + left or right will cause you to
drift laterally, while Secondary + thrust will make you fly
backwards. This cancels your current velocity, so be careful!
Syreen Penetrator
Primary weapon: Particle Beam Stiletto.
Secondary weapon: "Syreen Call" - psychic attack that induces
enemy crew to jump ship, where you (or your opponent) may
capture them to add to your complement.
Thraddash Torch
Primary weapon: Straightforward blaster cannon.
Secondary weapon: Afterburner. The afterburner exhaust does
more damage then the blaster, so use it as a weapon!
Umgah Drone
Primary weapon: Anti-Matter cone. Does not require combat
batteries to use.
Secondary weapon: Fly backwards suddenly and at high speed.
Note: The Drone only recharges batteries if you do not fire for
a long time, and then the energy all returns in one lump.
Ur-Quan Dreadnought
Primary weapon: Fusion Blast.
Secondary weapon: Launches autonomous fighters to harrass the
enemy. When they run low on fuel, they will fly back to the
Dreadnought. Catch them before they expire. Each fighter
requires one crew to pilot it, so take care not to weaken the
core ship.
Utwig Jugger
Primary weapon: Six-shot cannon. Requires no combat battery
energy to fire.
Secondary weapon: Force shield. Absorbing hits re-energizes
your batteries. When the batteries are exhausted, the shield is
permanently disabled until combat ends.
VUX Intruder
Primary weapon: Gigawatt laser.
Secondary weapon: Limpet mines that track enemy ships and slow
them down dramatically if they hit.
Yehat Terminator
Primary weapon: Twin autocannons.
Secondary weapon: Force shield.
Zoq-Fot-Pik Stinger
Primary weapon: Anti-matter spray gun.
Secondary weapon: "Tongue attack", a point-blank range attack
that does grievous damage.
General game controls summary
F1 Pause game
F10 Exit game
F12 Emergency exit
Full game controls summary
Space flight
UP or ENTER: Thrust
LEFT and RIGHT: Steer
SPACE: Main menu
Menus
Arrow Keys: Scroll through selections
ENTER: Make selection
SPACE: Up one level
Conversations
LEFT and RIGHT: Rewind/Forward
UP and DOWN: Scroll through selections
ENTER: Make selection
SPACE: Skip, Show/Hide summary
Star Map
Arrow Keys: Move the crosshair
ENTER: Select destination
SPACE: Main menu
Keypad +: Zoom in
Keypad -: Zoom out
Space Combat
UP or ENTER: Thrust
LEFT and RIGHT: Steer
RIGHT SHIFT: Fire Primary Weapon
RIGHT CTRL: Fire Secondary Weapon
ESCAPE: Emergency Warp Escape
Planet Exploration
UP or ENTER: Forward
LEFT and RIGHT: Steer
RIGHT SHIFT: Fire stun bolt
ESCAPE: Blast off
Melee controls summary
Top Player
E: Thrust
S and F: Steer
Q: Fire Primary Weapon
A: Fire Secondary Weapon
Bottom Player
UP or ENTER: Thrust
LEFT and RIGHT: Steer
RIGHT SHIFT: Fire Primary Weapon
RIGHT CTRL: Fire Secondary Weapon
These controls are configurable by editing the keys.cfg file which will
be automatically generated in your personal directory for uqm data the
first time you start the game. On Unix systems this personal uqm data
is stored in ~/.uqm.
Later versions of The Ur-Quan Masters will include a key configuration
tool. In the meantime, the keys.cfg has a bunch of comments in it that
should help you set up your joystick and remap key controls to your
satisfaction.
AUTHOR
The Ur-Quan Masters was derived from code written by Toys for Bob, Inc.
for the 3DO version of ’Star Control II’, with their permission and
encouragement. See /usr/share/doc/uqm/AUTHORS.gz for a complete list
of authors.
2004-03-07 UR-QUAN MASTERS(6)