Decwar version 2.2 user guide found

[hsnewman]

I have been lurking here for a while, it got me interested in decwar again! I found a PDF of the version 2.2 user guide here:
https://dn790005.ca.archive.org/0/items/decwar-version-2.2-guide-1980-06-03/DECWAR%20version%202.2%20Guide%201980-06-03.pdf

This might help yall in seeing the differences in the 2.3 source and the 2.2 executable.

DECWAR version 2.2 Guide 1980-06-03.pdf

[drforbin]

noah, that's the standard help file

[hsnewman]

June 3, 1980 vs December 25, 1979?

[drforbin]

hi Harris

[drforbin]

If you wanna understand the changes have a look at the history file.
I have merged all the changes from 80-81 into one big file chronologically

[statespacedev]

thanks for the discussion guys, this reminds me to put some more care into this topic -
feel a bit bad about it myself because within 'utexas folder', had left the 'user guide' topic in kind of a confusing 'situation' and state of things:(
just put in a commit to try to improve that a little bit - here in this folder you can see together 'side-by-side' the two '.hlp' files we have
two things are completely new to me thanks to harris's note above

• the 'december 25, 1979' date that was in the 2.3 compuserve .hlp file - hmmm, this coulda been a 'bug' there? had not noticed that until just now, went ahead and 'potentially debugged' that for now? 'november 20, 1981' looks right there?
• the pdf harris found does seem to match up with 2.2 utexas .hlp file there, and is fun because it's an old paper copy with a nice 'faded old printout feel' - i'm going to preserve this in my own 'archive of stuff' that's piling up over in my own repo:)

[statespacedev]

guys, just stumbled onto this purely by chance as was thinking about the discussion above - this is new (least to me)!!!:)
it's been there in the 'utexas23-reconstruction' folder, so have been treating it as 'likely direct from the primordial tap'
seems right!
https://github.com/drforbin/decwar/blob/master/utexas/utexas23-reconstruction/hlp/DECNWS.RNO
going from the bottom up -
.br;[DECWAR Version 1.0, 8-Sep-78]
.br;[DECWAR Version 1.1, 21-Sep-78]
.br;[DECWAR Version 1.2, 03-Feb-79]
.br;[DECWAR Version 1.3, 09-Feb-79]
.br;[DECWAR Version 1.4, 3-Apr-79]
.br;[DECWAR Version 2.0, 10-Jul-79]
.br;[DECWAR Version 2.1, 18-Nov-79]
.br;[DECWAR Version 2.2, 25-Dec-79]

[drforbin]

Yes Noah, that's what I was trying to tell you.
Look at the news file for develop it has merged copy of all chronological changes.

[statespacedev]

perfect, thanks merlyn! didn't understand until now!:) makes sense now - didn't really have that .rno file on my radar till now - hahaha:)

[drforbin]

[DECWAR Version 2.3, 20-Nov-1981]

The current version of DECWAR has
a new interlocking precedure which
should alleviate many of the long
delays formerly encountered.
It also has parameter settings for
beginner, intermediate, and expert
players. You will be asked which
settings you wish to use once you
are into the game.
The edit number, which is typed
out when you enter the program,
will be incremented whenever major
changes have been made. You can
use the NEWs command whenever you
notice a new version number to find
out what has changed.

.
[DECWAR Version 2.2, 25-Dec-79]

1. New Pre-game feature implemented. Users now will have the
   ability to 'inspect' a game (relative strengths of the two sides,
   who is on which side, etc.) before entering the game itself.
   Gripes can also be submitted from the pre-game, and the Help and
   News files can be inspected. See HELP PREGAME for details.

.
[DECWAR Version 2.1, 18-Nov-79]

1. TRACTOR command fixed.

2. Ships will no longer start the game within range of enemy bases
   or planets.

3. Ships will no longer blindly drive into black holes. Ships can
   still be DISPLACED into black holes by photon torpedoes and
   novas, however.

.
[DECWAR Version 2.0, 10-Jul-79]

1. DECWAR.INI is here! See help on DECINI.

2. Short, medium, and long output (controls output from hit
   messages, USERS, the LIST commands, POINTS, etc.). See help on
   OUTPUT.

3. You can give multiple commands per line. See help on INPUT.

4. New commands LIST and SUMMARY, and expanded commands BASES,
   PLANETS, and TARGETS. See help on LIST.

5. New default action for PLANETS (LIST PLANETS 10) and TARGETS
   (LIST TARGETS 10).

6. The help file has been reworked, and there is now help on all
   commands, plus some helpful hints and a description of the input
   scanner. For best results, print GAM:DECWAR.HLP on LPT1 (about
   25 pages).

7. GRIPES are now added to the beginning of the gripe file, and more
   information is recorded with each gripe (version, date, time,
   ship name, user name, TTY speed, PPN, TTY number, job number, and
   whether or not Romulans and/or black holes were included in the
   game).

8. There are more SET commands, and the TYPE command has been added.
   See help on SET and TYPE.

9. You can gag against an individual ship.

10. Even if everyone gets killed, the old game hangs around for 5
    minutes before self destructing.

11. If the teams are too skewed you're forced to join the smaller
    team.

12. There are 9 ships on each side instead of 8, and some of the ship
    names have been changed.

13. There's a clock to keep you amused when waiting for reentry after
    being killed.

14. The amount of core required has been reduced from 8+58 to 5+46
    pages.

.
[DECWAR Version 1.4, 3-Apr-79]

1. TERMINATE command changed to QUIT.
   SEND command changed to TELL.
   New command SET NAME/PROMPT. No help available yet.

2. New players to a game will now have their choice of sides. Old
   players (ones that have met their maker) will join their previous
   team.

3. A ^C will now exit the game only at command level.

4. Players no longer will be able to ^C out of game while under red
   alert (you must QUIT to get out).

5. The Klingon ship RAVEN has been rechristened the MANTA to prevent
   conflicts between Romulan and Raven in computed fires.

6. Multiple jobs / TTY will no longer circumvent the dead ship wait
   time.

7. The REPAIR command has two new features. Using the ALL switch
   will initiate a repair sufficient to completely repair all
   damaged ship devices (with the corresponding pause time, of
   course). A user may also specify the amount of repair desired by
   simply appending a number to the REPAIR command line. (See HELP
   REPAIR for details).

8. Capturing a fortified (ie, built) planet will now involve an
   extra second of pause time for each BUILD the enemy has
   completed. 50 units of ship energy will also be subtracted for
   each BUILD.

9. Recently killed players reentering the game before their required
   wait time has been completed can now ask the program to wait the
   remaining time for them (saves timing it yourself).

10. The default for Romulans in the setup of the game is now TRUE.

11. NEWS will now pause between notes on each version to query the
    user whether to continue printing the file.

.
[DECWAR Version 1.3, 09-Feb-79]

1. Code removing dead and/or derelict ships thoroughly rewritten and
   debugged. We apologize for the many problems associated with
   version 1.2, the present version should now work properly.
   Please report any further problems with sudden ship removal via
   the GRIPE command.

2. A computed Photon Torpedo fire at a ship out of range will simply
   report this fact, rather than miss in the proper direction.
   Tracking of enemy ships will thus no longer be possible using
   this method.

3. Recent problems with continuing a CTRL-C'ed job resolved.

4. HELP and GRIPE now correctly restore the ship onto the display.

5. Error returns from CAPTURE and DOCK no longer considered as
   time-consuming moves.

.
[DECWAR Version 1.2, 03-Feb-79]

1. Code removing dead and/or derelict ships much improved. This fix
   should eliminate the full hit queue errors also.

2. PLANET command, plus dead planet removal code debugged and
   improved to prevent bizarre results under special conditions.

3. Critically damaged life-support will now decrement life-support
   reserves after time-consuming moves only.

4. USERS output shortened, but includes more info.

5. GRIPErs are now identified in the gripe file.

.
[DECWAR Version 1.1, 21-Sep-78]

1. New command ENERGY, for transferring energy ship-to-ship. For
   more details, see HELP ENERGY.

2. New command TRACTOR, for applying tractor beam to friendly ship.
   For more details, see HELP TRACTOR.

3. POINTS command greatly improved. For more details, see HELP
   POINTS.

4. Pauses in REPAIR, PHASERS, and TORPEDOES improved.

5. GRIPE and HELP now protect user from attack, unless he is already
   under red alert conditions.

6. Ship condition (green, red, etc.) more closely controlled.

7. When the first player is choosing the setup options, a
   entered in response to the questions will produce a regular game
   with no Romulans or black holes.

8. Output routines greatly improved, changes should be transparent
   to users.

.
[DECWAR Version 1.0, 8-Sep-78]

1. New additions to SCAN command. See HELP SCAN for details.

2. New command TIME gives various time info.

3. The commands BUILD, CAPTURE, DOCK, IMPULSE, MOVE, PHASERS,
   REPAIR, SCAN, and TORPEDOES now take actual physical time (most
   times are dependent on the slowest terminal in the game). See
   HELP PAUSES for details.

4. When you get killed, you now have to wait 2 minutes before
   restarting (don't try to cheat, or you'll have to wait even
   longer).

5. ^C will now abort stacked commands. See HELP CTL-C for more
   information.

6. ^T will tell you what state you're in via a changing program
   name. See HELP CTL-T for more information.

7. A lone altmode entered in response to the COMMAND prompt will now
   execute the previously entered command. This is useful when
   building a planet into a base, when docking, repairing, firing
   torpedoes, etc.