XSW Terminus FAQ

This is the official FAQ for the terminus XSW universe, previous versions of this FAQ were maintained by Mindflayer. Current versions are being maintained by LittleThor.

This list of questions and answers was generated by makefaq.py, a python script written by Dan York (dyork@lodestar2.com)

FAQ Revised: Sat Oct 20 14:35:53 2001

Table of Contents

1. Introduction and General Information
2. Beginners Questions
3. Economics
4. Combat

1. Introduction and General Information

1.1. What is Terminus?
Terminus is an Universe in which you can play the role of a starship pilot exploring space. You can trade and fight against other players and computer enemies. You can buy new ships and have a good time. To play this game you need the program XShipwars which runs on different Unix flavours and is currently being ported to Windows.

1.2. What is XShipWars?
XShipwars is a game which allows you to set up universes and play in them. The program is freely available and contains not only the client needed to play the game but also the server, which you will need if you plan to set up your own universe. Also provided are some tools to help create and admin your own universe.

1.3. I have a question concerning XShipWars
If your question is about XShipwars and not about this universe, you better check out the XShipwars FAQs first. That said, a few simple tips about various commands which you may find useful are included in the terminus FAQ too. If your question is still not answered, then you could try asking on the XSW mailing list, but please make sure it is a question about XSW itself, not terminus or any other universe.

1.4. Where can I get the latest version of this FAQ?
The latest version of this FAQ is available from the terminus site. The HTML version is at http://xsw.terminator.net/docs/terminus-faq.html.

1.5. My question is not answered in this FAQ
Mail me (LittleThor) your question and I will try to answer it and add it to the FAQ. If you already have the answer to your question, please mail it nevertheless (of course with the answer ;)) and I will add it to the FAQ.

1.6. What does it mean that this universe is unstable at the moment?
Well, it means exactly what it says. Recently a number of changes have been made to add new features that introduced the odd bug, most of these have now been fixed, but one or two may remain. Because of this the universe is likely to be reset reasonably soon to sort out the remaining problems. Once this is done the universe will probably return to the normal cycle of being reset around once every month or two.

1.7. Why does the universe need to be reset at all once it is stable?
As time progresses the players make a number of changes to the universe, cargo get's shipped from cheap places to expensive ones, bases begin to run out of weapons, troops, fuel, hull repair and other such items that are used up in everyday life. At the moment there is not a proper production system in terminus so none of these resources replenish naturally and as stocks begin to get low it becomes necessary to restock. What's more it is very hard to make changes to a running universe, so a reset is the best way to alter the parameters of objects, introducing new ship types for example.

1.8. Is there a mailing list?
There are two mailing lists for terminus. The first one is a very low-traffic moderated list that supplies you with announcements. It is mandatory for every player and you are subscribed to it as soon as you get an account. But there is also a free mailinglist for discussions concerning the universe. You can subscribe to it by sending a mail to majordomo@terminator.net with the body "subscribe xsw".

2. Beginners Questions

2.1. How do I get a permanent account?
To get a permanent account register your player on the terminus website. You will have to provide the name you want for your player, a password, your email-address and which empire you want to join. Because the accounts need to be set up manually it may take some time until it gets activated. You'll get a confirmation email when it is ready.

2.2. Which empire should I join?
The right one of course ;). There are four player empires (along with several AI ones, which, obviously players cannot join!). A short description of each can be found on the terminus website. However, everyone is pretty friendly here so don't think being PKU means you have to go round killing CMC or anything like that. Sure, it's fun if you want too, but nobody is going to force you into that role for now, the empires just aren't big enough for wars right now.

2.3. I just got my account, what should I do?
If you just got your account activated you should not go to battle immediately. Instead you should do a little trading until you have enough money to buy a good ship. However, before you can trade you'll have to buy a not so good ship, because the default runabout cannot carry much cargo. When you buy a new ship it's a good idea to sell all the Antimatter from the old one first, to get some extra money. Seeing as you start at your homeplanet when your account is first activated, this is the ideal place to buy your first ship, the procedure for trading and other places you can obtain ships is covered in the Economics section.

2.4. Which ship is the best?
This is a question to which there is no real answer, ask different people they will say different things, it's all a matter of taste. Different ships suit different individuals, they all have different strengths and weaknesses. Some are good for fighting, some colonising, others trading, some are cheap, some are expensive, fast, slow, good cloak, bad cloak, the list goes on. In general the more expensive ships are stronger, but also they tend to be slower. Maybe you might prefer one of the slightly less expensive ships that are still quite strong, but also quite fast, or even one of the really tiny ship that has a brilliant cloak and can almost totally disappear. The only thing I can really suggest is look at the ship stats page and try out a couple of ships until you find one that suits you.

2.5. Where is my HomePlanet?
Your HomePlanet is located at the centre (co-ordinates 0, 0) of your home sector. Whenever the universe is reset you will always restart the game at your HomePlanet, just as whenever you die you will start at a random location in your home sector.

2.6. Where is my home sector?
If you are TGI then your home sector is sector 0, 0, in the bottom left corner of the universe. For WFG it is 0, 2, in the top left, for CMC it is 2, 0, in the bottom right, and for PKU it is 2, 2, the top right. All the other sectors are unclaimed initially, and usually retain a mix of planets from different empires, unless one goes on a large offensive that is!

2.7. How can I set a course to an object?
You can only set course for an object in scanner range. To do that, either press "i" and enter the objects name or middle-click on the object in the scanner-window. You don't have to enter the whole name, it is enough to just enter the first few characters of the name. Because there may be some objects with the same name it is better to use the objectnumber instead of the name. You can even intercept objects in other sectors as long as they are static.

2.8. How can I lock onto an object?
There are a number of ways of doing this, the easiest is using the mouse, simply left click on the object in either the viewscreen or scanner window. The object should now become highlighted and a full read out appear in the right hand panel below the scanner window. If you do not wish to use the mouse to lock then you can use the "tab" key, here terminus behaves differently from other XSW servers you may have used. The exact action of the "tab" key in terminus is dependant upon what weapon you have selected, if you have weapon 1 selected then "tab" will cycle through each object in scanner range 1 by 1 like on any other XSW server. When you have any other weapon selected however "tab" will just cycle between player and ai, things that could shoot at you, this makes it much easier to lock on and return fire in a fight.

2.9. Is there a way to see who is online?
Just type "e" (which will bring up the server prompt) and then "who" to get a list of all players online. You can also get a list of players online (along with their rank, empire and score) on the terminus website, simply go to the bridge, choose status, then logins.

2.10. How do I talk to other people?
Terminus now features a number of extra ways to communicate that are currently not available in any other xsw server! These com system add-ons can be a little hard to remember at first, but you'll soon get used to them and hopefully find them very useful for making plans with other players. This section is quite long, but please don't skip it, talking to other players is really one of the best ways to learn about the game!

There are four basic types of communication in terminus, Global, Empire, Private and channel based. All communication in XSW is based on the channel system (it is the only method to be found in most servers), and as such the new terminus com types make use of the basic channel system to send them. The two keys you need to know for basic communication are "k" to select a channel and ' to type a message, the channel and message you type depends somewhat on the type of message you wish to send.
Channel Based Messages
When you send a normal message in XSW pressing the '-key and typing the message text (finishing with return), it can only be heard by people who have selected the same com channel as you (avoid channels below 10 as some of these are used for the special terminus message types, see below). This might be useful if you want to have a discussion with a number of players of different empires but don't want anyone else to hear. When you receive a channel message you will see it in the message-window at the bottom of the main client window, looking something like this -

LittleThor [310:C] A channel message!

This shows you the message is a channel message and that it was sent on (and hence you must be tuned in on) channel 310 by the player LittleThor.

Global Messages
A global message is sent to every player currently connected, no matter what channel they are listening on, you'll often find a lot of people chatting through global messages. There are two ways to send a global message, either you tune to channel one and send the message as normal (channel 1 is the special global channel) or you can be tuned to any channel you want but put three slashes (///) at the start of your message, which makes just that one message global. Mostly it's easier to just be tuned to channel 1, but if you are having a conversation on a different channel and only saying the occasional thing globally the three slashes method can be handy. A global message looks like this -

LittleThor [1:G] A global message!

Note that this always shows channel 1 even if the player is on a different channel and using the /// method, a player's channel is kept secret.

Empire Messages
An empire message is sent to every player in the same empire as you that is currently connected, no matter what channel they are currently listening. Empires use this to discuss their plans, or call for help from their fellow empire members if they are attacked, etc. As with global messages there are two ways to send empire messages, either tune to channel 2 or precede a message with two slashes (//). An empire message looks like this -

LittleThor [2:E] An empire message!

Private Messages
A private message is sent from one player to another, useful for exchanging com frequencies prior to normal channel based chat, or for private communications with no need to select a channel. There are actually 3 separate ways to send private messages, but only one is used most of the time. The most common method is to put /playername: before the message eg /Guest 1:Hi guest will send the message 'Hi Guest' to Guest 1 - it'll appear like this on the guest's screen -

YourName [5:P] Hi Guest

The two remaining methods of sending a private message rely on you either being locked onto or intercepting the player you wish to send a message to. In this case it is obviously no longer necessary to specify a name, instead all you do is precede your message with a single /, the server will then send the message to the player you are locked onto, or if you have no lock, the one you are intercepting. The fact that you are locking/intercepting the player will be noted on the message in place of the P bit.


2.11. How can I hide my ship if I disconnect?
Unlike on other XShipWars servers, there is no need to hide your ship in terminus, it is done automatically for you. As soon as you disconnect the server will no longer consider your ship for any universe actions, you won't move, repair or be in any danger of being damaged or destroyed by hostile ships.

3. Economics

3.1. How does trading work?
Terminus features a more advanced economic system than most other universes, that allows you to buy and sell stuff for profit and also to buy new ships or new armament for your weapon system. To trade you have to bring up the "Economy Window" for the object with which you want to trade. There are a number of ways you can do that, first select the object as target, and then either press the ; key or press the right mousebutton to bring up the popup menu and select "Economy..." from the menu. A new window will pop up and show you what, how much and at what price you can buy or sell from the targeted object. You can also set up the client bring up the window by flying near (very near) to the object, although you may find this gets annoying, and it is disabled by default. To trade with the selected object, get near it (about 0.1 au), select the cargo you want to trade, enter the quantity in the bottom line and hit the buy or sell button.

3.2. What about those taxes
There are three different taxes on each trading post. One for friendly units, one for neutral units and one for enemy units. They are displayed at the top right corner of the economics screen. Currently all trading posts of your empire see you as friendly, while all others see you as enemy. So you would most times want to trade with trading posts of your empire, unless you don't have the time to get to one.

3.3. Where can I buy/sell what?
There are a number different places where you can buy and sell objects, each with different items available



Cargo means stuff like Textiles, Food, Electronics and the like, but most objects that trade cargo do not buy/sell all types of cargo, and of course they all value different goods. There are some very good trade routes to be found, if you do a little exploring.

3.4. How can I see what cargo I have loaded?
Simply enter your name in the upper line of the economy window and press refresh. Alternatively, press the "e"-Key and then enter "ex me", which will also show you the maximum amount of each item you can carry, along with a number of other stats about your ship.

3.5. When I buy lots of antimatter or hull repair I don't get it all, why is this?
If you buy antimatter or hull repair, you have to wait some time, until everything is transferred to your ship. If you leave before it is finished there is no way to get all the goods you paid for! To see how much you have loaded at the moment, press the "e"-Key and then enter "ex me" to see your current status. Alternatively just watch the client display closely.

3.6. What's special about raw material?
Raw material is a special product in that it's the only thing you are able to keep some of when you die. You may own a maximum of 100 RMU (RMU stands for Raw Material Units) no matter what ship you have. If you are killed by a player with more RMU than you then you keep all your RMU when you respawn, so new players can quite happily go after experienced players without fear of loosing too much if they lose. If you are killed by a player with less RMU than you or a raider then 33% of your RMU goes to the object that killed you. By investing wisely in RMU you will never lose too much when you are killed and should always be able to afford a new ship.

3.7. What's special about troops and colonists?
Another feature currently unique to terminus is colonisation. By trading the special products Troops and Colonists you can take over asteroids/planets/bases/docks/ports for your empire. So how does it work? well you will see on all the object types you can take over there are 5 extra products - Troops, Colony TGI, Colony WFG, Colony PKU and Colony CMC. The basic idea goes like this - whichever colony has the largest amount of colonists in it takes the item for their empire, so in order to take over a world you must sell your colonists to it, increasing their numbers until you have the most.

Of course no empire is going to let you just take over their worlds so most worlds will be defended by troops, which you must kill before you can exchange colonists. Invading a planet to remove enemy troops is also accomplished through the economy window, you select a number of troops you are carrying and sell them to a world to make them invade it. You will then see the battle progress in the message box at the bottom of the screen, until either all your troops die or all the defending troops die. Once the battle is over everyone currently connected will get a report as to whether or not you successfully invaded the base and how many troops each side lost. Assuming you won the battle you can now put some colonists down to take the item for your empire, at which point everyone in the game will be notified that you have changed the empire combination on it from xxx to yyy. Once you have taken over the item then you may want to sell some of your own troops to the world to defend it in case an enemy comes along to take it back.

So that is the basics of colonisation, but two questions remain unanswered, firstly where can you get troops/colonists and secondly why would you want to take worlds? Well, firstly you can buy troops/colonists from any colonisable item owned by your empire, you are allowed to remove all the troops if you wish, but only the player who first took a world for your empire may remove so many colonists that it reverts to the control of another empire. Luckily there is one place in the universe that will have a large supply of your empire's colonists and plenty of troops, not only that but they are very cheap and this planet can never revert to enemy control - that's right your home planet. As for what you gain, well, you gain the glory of having taken a planet from your evil enemies, the number of colonies owned by both you and your empire in the scoreboard increases, you get a couple of points, you no longer have to pay large taxes on the taken world, oh and you get quite a bit of cash from the sale of colonists.

4. Combat

4.1. What is there to fight?
There are basically 2 things that you can fight in terminus, players or AI. You will find AI come in a number of different forms, raiders, stations and HQs.

4.2. What are raiders?
Raiders are pirates, groups of ships belonging to a number of raider empires who hide cloaked near bases and along major shipping lanes waiting to pounce upon whatever players may pass them by. You will find that raiders fly many different ship types, and often have made odd modifications to their ships. You should never judge a raider by what their ship looks like, what appears to be an eagle may well be twice as strong as a rothkar! That said, single raiders do not usually provide too much of a threat to the well equipped traveller, although groups that aren't busy fighting each other can be a pain.

4.3. What are stations?
Stations are outposts placed around the galaxy by each of the player empires. Each empire currently owns 12 stations, each conforming to the same design. A station acts as a defence post, boasting an impressive array of weapons, hardened hull and stealth technology, making it hard to spot from a distance. Stations also act as refueling points carrying plentiful supplies of antimatter for passing vessels. Inexperienced players should probably avoid getting too close to hostile stations, but for experienced players they shouldn't be too hard a target.

4.4. What are HQs?
Like stations, HQs are placed by each of the player empires. Each empire currently owns 5 HQs, each conforming to the same design. An HQ is a real sign of the power and glory of the empires, boasting extremely high quality weapons with massive ranges and armour capable of sustaining massive damage with a highly advanced damage control system. Couple this with their high quality scanners, allowing them to spot you a long distance away, and advanced stealth technology, stopping you from spotting them until you get quite close and you have a formidable opponent. HQs should provide a bit of a challenge for even the most experienced players, if nothing else their heavy armour means they will take some time to destroy.

4.5. What about the borg I've heard some players mention?
It's true there is a fourth type of AI object I neglected to mention above, these are rarely seen in the universe, because most of the time they are out fighting the imperium in deep space. However, occasionally a group of borg do manage to make it into the core of the universe, when this happens you will be informed of the attack by email. If you are unlucky, you will run into a biiiig (and I mean big!), bad cubic thing, which will take about 500 photon torpedoes to kill, and which will kill you very easy. Those cubes are called borg. As you see, it is a bad idea to attack them alone. You should get some players who are willing to help you and attack together with them.

4.6. What do all the bars and numbers on the lefthand panel mean?
You might like to look at a labelled diagram of the lefthand panel to see what is what. For a description of exactly what each thing means/does read on.

4.7. What are weapon frequency and shield frequency?
In XSW your weapons and shields each have a frequency. Generally it doesn't matter what frequency you have your weapons and shields set too, however if the frequency of a weapon matches the frequency of the shields it is fired against then it is able to go straight through the shields and damage the hull. It's pretty useless gameplay wise, as it's pretty much impossible to tell what shield frequency someone is using, unless they leave it on the default frequency, so remember to change it! Shield frequency can be changed by pressing the "f"-key and weapon frequency by pressing the "y"-key.

4.8. How does power affect my ship?
The amount of power you have is critical to a number of aspects of the ship. As your available power decreases the ship draws more reactor energy to replenish it, as it does so decreasing the amount of power available for engines, damage control and cloak. You will also notice that your shield strength monitor reads exactly the same as your power meter, the lower the amount of power you have the lower the amount of damage your shields can absorb. You'll have to manage your energy carefully, every time you fire a weapon it requires energy, so running out will not only leave you almost unable to move, unshielded and unable to cloak, but also unable to fire. A lot of players leave shields turned off because they feel losing energy when hit has so many side effects, whereas hull has practically none, except for it being much slower to repair than energy is to recharge.

4.9. What's the difference between Photon/Quantum/Plasma torpedoes?
Photon torpedoes are your general purpose torpedo, fast, with medium range and doing medium damage (30). Quantum torpedoes are slower, with longer range and doing a little more damage (40). Plasma torpedoes are the the slowest of all, with medium range and doing the most damage (50).

4.10. What's the difference between FAC/LOC/HEC missiles?
The letters signify the different properties of the missiles -



As for actual properties, well the FAC missile does 100 damage and is the quickest missile. The LOC does also does 100 damage but is slower and has a longer range. The HEC missile is slowest of all, has the same range as the FAC, but does 200 damage.

Contributors...

Without the following people, this FAQ would not have been possible:
Stein (TGI), the great master and designer of this universe and early contributor to the FAQ, who pointed out many things that could be added.
Mindflayer (TGI), mainter of older versions of the FAQ.
PyroGX (PKU), for providing early spelling fixes and also some improvements to the answers.
urgs (TGI), for providing many spelling corrections and questions.
The following people for sending questions and answers: Michal Szczotka a.k.a psivirion(CMC), Al Arduengo a.k.a. ?

LittleThor (CMC)