Fleets  2.3     
____________________________
what's new
         : Improved scrolling 
         : Reads hull data from hullspec.dat, allowing program to work
           when game is altered by other programs
         : Displays ship specs
         : Displays summary of enemy fleet strength
         : Accepts any path to game directory

-----------------------------

WHAT IS FLEETS?
-----------------------------
Have you ever found yourself cloaked around an enemy planet
and did a listing of the enemy ships there and realized that 
now that you only can get a listing of the ships there, you don't
remember which ships were freighters and which were battle cruisers?
Or, how about when a ship goes from your short range scanners to 
only viewable from long range scanners and you forget what ship
#45 was? Wouldn't it also be nice to know which planets a ship that
suddenly disappears from your scanners could be hiding behind without
firing up planets.exe?

Fleets is a database program designed to read your data files
and keep a running log of all the ships that have come into your
short range scanners. It will give you the following information:

Ship id #
Owner of ship
Type of ship
Name of the ship
Ships location (xy coordinates and planet location)
Ships heading
Ships mass
Ships warp setting
All planets within one jump (at warp 9)
Tell you if the data is current
Give you the specs on each ship (even if game altered by altlist)
Summarize the fleet strengths of each race.
Let you print out ship info

*********
registered version only:
Write the info to disk in this format: fleets.(trn number)
*********

Once a ship has been logged, it will continue to be monitored even
if it is only on your long range scanners. You will also be able to
write notes about each ship in a small note area that is displayed
as you hilite that ship. The file "fleets.dbf" will be written to 
the game directory. If you are playing on a team, you can run the 
program using another race without any problems. For example, while 
testing this program I am playing in a team game where we share .rst
files. I have a directory named "team". I run fleets once for every
race in the team. 

C:\Planets         // planet.exe and fleets.exe are here
C:\Planets\team    // all .rst files are here then unpacked
Next run:
        fleets team <race>
        fleets team <race>
        fleets team <race> etc..etc..

All data is simply added. Just remember though, the current or stale 
status of the info is applicable to the race you entered. 

IMPORTANT:
You can delete any ship from the database by hiliting the ship and 
pressing the delete key. As you may know, when a ship is destroyed, 
vga planets gives you a distress call message and the name of the ship.
Be careful though. If the name of a ship was changed, you may accidentally
delete the wrong ship. Remember ships that are hilited are currently
visible and correctly identified regardless of any name change.

Disclaimer.
-----------
Although this program has been tested by the Author and two beta testers
the author accepts no responsibility for any undesired effect this program
my cause. If you use this program then you have accepted these terms.

Distribution
------------
This program may be given to anyone you wish as long as it is 
unmodified. 

Hardware Requirements.
----------------------
It requires a VGA card but if you can play planets then you have one.

It must be run in the same directory as you run Planets.exe
It needs a path to a play directory 
   ^^^^^

Getting started.
----------------
Copy fleets.exe into the same directory that you have planets.exe
Program syntax is as follows:
                                                 // Rebels are "a" not 10
        fleets <game_directory> <race (1-b) >    // Colonies are "b" not 11
                                       ^^^^
Example:
Your playing the Robots,
c:\planets        // planets directory
c:\planets\game1  // game1 directory
fleets game1 9 <enter>

Once the program loads, just press F1 for help.
All your ships and enemy ships _currently_ in your short range         
scanners will be white, while all others will be in green.

Credits
------- 
Program Author.

        Jim Wilson
        Internet: jim.wilson@ectech.com

        Snail mail  11839 Cibola Rd
                    Apple Valley, CA
                    92308

This program is Freeware.
However, if you wish to save valuable data and planets within one
jump of all ships, you should register. If you register you will 
be able to save the *current* data to disk with the file having
the extention containing the turn number. 

To Register:

       Send $5 to Jim Wilson
                  11839 Cibola Rd
                  Apple Valley, CA
                  92308

                  Please specify disk size.