--------------------------------------------------------------- Myrmidon Version II Technical Reference Ward Cunningham 14 May 1975 --------------------------------------------------------------- Preface ------- Contents -------- I. Introduction And Philosophy II. The Nature Of Space A. Space B. Objects In Space C. Time III. Command Of A Ship IV. Ship Systems A. Navagation B. Propulsion C. Communication D. Defense V. Operation Strategy And Tactics --------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter I Introduction And Philosophy --------------------------------------------------------------- Date Ship Record --------- ---------------- ----------------------- 04/01/75 D.Elseburg Greatest Distance From Home Planet, 6.84E11. 12/25/74 Ncc-7094 Highest Defensive Rating Index, +7. 05/30/74 Thessaly-2 Maximum Intersecting D.Elseburg Relative Velocity, 6.21E9. 01/01/75 Ncc-7094 Most Ships Dammaged With A Single Weapon, 3. 05/26/73 Thresher Richest Fuel Stockpile With Single Owner, 124000. Figure I-1 Table Of Official Records --------------------------------------------------------------- Chapter II The Nature Of Space --------------------------------------------------------------- Space ----- All movement takes place in a three dimensional newtonian space. For the sake of communication these dimensions are labeled x, y and z with the z dimension generally considered up. The orientation of these dimensions is as shown in figure ii-1. The ship is considered the origin of the coordinate system unless some other origin is specifically stated. Distances are measured in miles, directions are specified as direction cosines. | z (up) | | | | | | (0,0) ---------------------- / / ship x / / / y Figure II-1 Coordinate System Space is very large in that it's bounds are at least two hundred orders of magnitude greater than the maximum ship sensor range and likewise one hundred ninty- five orders of magnitde greater than the distance that can be traveled in a lifetime. Needless to say, the assumption that space is infinite is a reasonable approx- imation for the near future. Due to the large dimensions of space the mean density of matter is very low, so low in fact that the likelihood of a collision between two bodies is negligible. In the event of an intersecting path intentionally planned, automated collision avoidance systems will make minor course corrections necessary. These course corrections are not reflected in the navagation reports so that it is not unlikely to find your ship occupying the samed space with some other object. Have faith, it is not. A second automated navagational system compensates for the forces of gravity. Even in the close proximity of a planet the forces of gravity are weak in comparison to the ships propulsion systems so that there is little loss in automating corrections. This same system will make the final maneuvers required in the process of obtaining orbit and docking. Objects In Space ---------------- There are only three types of objects of interest in space. The largest of these are the only natural objects, the planets. The location of three of the planets in this region of space is common knowledge and is of particular value in providing an inertial reference frame for most navigation. There are likely many more planets in uncharted regions of space however, since knowledge of their location is of great strategic value, information of this nature is difficult to obtain. All known raw resources are concentrated on planets. This includes the materials used in the construction of ships, the fuel used to propel them and the manpower that commands them. It is important to note that while the resourses of a planet are large, they are not limitless. Resource conser- vation programs, as disliked as they may be, should be employed to maintain the strength of the planets and the ships that emerge from them. Ships are the means of traversing space. The details of the capabilities and operation of a ship is the topic of later chapters in this manual, however at this time one point is worth making: although ships travel as an independent object they are by no means free from all bonds with the planets. Planets are required as a source of fuel, ship maintenance and new ship commissions with the latter two functions requiring a return to the planet of origin for completion. As a ship is a creation of a planet, the third object of interest is a creation of a ship. These objects are fuel canisters, a means of storing fuel external to a ship. Canisters were first developed as an aid in prolonged space flight however minor modifications have transformed them into items of extreme tactical significance. Again this will be discussed in detail in a later chapter. Time ---- The fourth dimension, time, is measured in the units of hours. These are newtonian hours in that they are the same for all ships and all observers. The basic unit of an hour is compounded or subdivided as necessary for all timing operations. Each ship is equipped with an accurate time standard which has been reset to zero hours on completion of the ship. The clock can be set to any value desired, further it is common practice to set clocks to a federation standard time to avoid confusion in communications. Reseting a clock will only change the readout, it will not effect any of the navigation systems that depend on accurate timing. Chapter iii command of a ship Command Structure ----------------- Control of a ship and its crew is through a somewhat rigid command structure. All commands are written and fall into two general catagories, orders and requests. Commands that directly affect the ship or ship systems are called orders, those that simply interrogate ship status are called requests. Requests are responded to immediately with the requested information, provided it is available, printed directly below the request. When an illegal command is given it is assumed to be a request and an error response is given immediatlely. Orders on the other hand take place at some time in the future. When given they are simply recorded on the ships agenda along with the time at which they are to take place. No response is given until the command is executed at which time the order along with any response is recorded in the ships log. Sample requests, orders and log entries are listed in figure III-1. Requests: plot trajectory of ship ncc-7094; what is our distance from ship thresher; print my fuel load and agenda; Orders: at 37.2 thrust x 1000 y 3000; in 2.75 hours turn thrust off; scan with radius 2.5e7 miles; Log Entries: 37.2000 Thrust 1000.00 3000.00 0.00000 Projected fuel exhaustion in 193.72 Hours 39.9500 Thrust 0.00000 0.00000 0.00000 Projected fuel exhaustion in 2.86E+6 Hours 39.9500 Scan 2.50E+7 3 Objects Located Figure III-1 Sample Commands and Responses Syntax ------ All commands must be typewritten and strictly adhere to the syntax described below. Several commands may be entered on a line or a single command may be split between several lines. A semicolon is used as a command terminator however it may be omited in circumstances where the termination can be determined form context. It is advisable to use semicolons to terminate all commands so that in the event a command is misunderstood it will not confuse subsequent commands. A command is composed of a string of elements consisting of words, numbers, and punctuation. Elements may not contain imbeded blanks and must not be split between lines. Words begin with a letter, contain letters, digits and the characters plus, minus and decimal point, and are significant to ten characters. Numbers consist of a string of digits, may be preceeded by plus or minus, may containing a decimal point, and may be suffixed by an e-format exponent specification. Punctuation is all non-blank characters not already accounted for. A stricter definition of these elements appears in the bnf of figure iii-2. Commands are scanned from left to right looking for a keyword called the verb. All words and punctuation before the verb are considered extrainous comments and are ignored. If however, a semicolon or number is encountered before the verb then to command is considered misunderstood. The verb determins the command type, request or order, and whether or not additional information is required. The remainder of the command is called the object which may contain positional or keyword arguments. The verbs and objects are printed in bold face type in the examples of figure III-1. ::= ::= ::= ::= | | | ::= ::= | ::= | | ::= | ::= a | b | c | d | e ... z ::= | | + | - | . ::= | ::= | ::= . | . | . ::= e ::= | ::= + | - ::= 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 ... 9 ::= Figure III-2 Command Syntax In BNF Time Specification ------------------ The time that an order is to take place is specified with the aid of on of the following requests: at