The Birdmen Guide to the Galaxy

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                   (What to do with your special mission.)


<============================================================================>
<======   3.1 The ship mission   ============================================>
<============================================================================>

* All your ships can perform a Super Spy. This is a special ship mission, just
like other missions like Lay Mines and Sensor Sweep.
* Every ship that can cloak, will cloak when its mission is set to Super Spy.
A ship that needs fuel to cloak, will use fuel.
* The Super Spy mission will give you certain information of enemy planet. You
will get this information in two messages. The first message is exactly the
same as you would get when your ship is on Exploration mission:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-z0180)<<<Sub Space Message >>>      |
    |                                       |
    | From: BSC Cyborg Tracker              |
    | At:Tera 9                             |
    | Temp: 57 ( Temperate - warm )         |
    | There are enemy colonists             |
    | living on this planet.                |
    | The colonists are part of the         |
    | Colonial race.                        |
    | Sensors show that there are           |
    |  283 enemy clans.                     |
    | They have a starbase.                 |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+

Needless to say the last line only appears when your ship (in this example the
BSC Cyborg Tracker) is orbiting a planet (in this example Tera 9, ID #180)
with a starbase.

The second message includes the extra spy info:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-z0180)<<<Sub Space Message >>>      |
    |                                       |
    | From: BSC Cyborg Tracker              |
    | At:Tera 9                             |
    | The planet has 0 megacredits          |
    |  68 mineral mines                     |
    |  114 factories                        |
    |  65 defence outposts                  |
    | The planetary friendly code is : D12  |
    |  Minerals on/in the planet            |
    | N: 1415 M: 1214 T: 1422 D: 1239       |
    |   Supplies :  0                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+




<============================================================================>
<======   3.2 Notes about the spy info   ====================================>
<============================================================================>

* The Friendly Code you get is the FC of this turn, and there is no guarantee
it will be the same next turn. Your opponent might change it. Scouting an
enemy territory to make a collection of his Friendly Codes is rather
senseless.
* You can't scan enemy planets for natives, but you can be pretty sure that
when you've found this planet with a large amount of MC you've found yourself
a planet with natives. Selling all supplies on a regular planet having about
100 factories for four turns results in 400 MC. When you find a planet with
2000 MC or more you can be for almost 100% sure it will have natives. (Or a
starbase: your enemy might accumulate money for new ships. Easy to check: the
starbase should be mentioned in the first message.)
* When you see a planet that has a far lower number of factories and/or
defence units than the maximum number that would be allowed by the number of
clans, you've found an enemy planet that is still in development. Decide
whether it is an outpost at the edge of your enemies territory or a minor,
unimportant planet. In any case: if it has megacredits it has natives.
* Planets with an extreme amount of supplies will have a Bovinoid population.
Same could apply to planets with orbiting Merlins/Refinery ships.
* You will get some info about the minerals on and in the planet. You can't be
sure how much minerals of type X there are on the surface ready to be beamed
up by you. It will however give you the odds: the more kT mineral of type X
there are, the more kT mineral there will probably be on the surface. Don't
forget to look how many mines there are to make an estimation of your future
bait.
To state clearly: the 1415 kT Neutronium of the example above means that the
combined amounts of Neutronium on the surface and the Neutronium buried deep
in the core equal 1415 kT.
* Since host v3.22.010 the last line mentions the number of supplies. For host
v3.22.009 and earlier (v3.14!) this line shows the number of megacredits (for
the second time.)



<============================================================================>
<======   3.3 Advanced Super Spy   ==========================================>
<============================================================================>

* Since host version 3.22 the Super Spy mission is slightly enhanced. Next to
the functionality described above, a Birdmen ship with its mission set to
Super Spy has a 20% chance to change the FC of an enemy planet to match its
own ship FC. This can be turned of using a ship FC starting with x or X.
* This FC change only applies to enemy planets, not to unowned or own planets.
* Advanced Super Spy happens before all other missions and after all other
missions. So you have a chance to change the FC of a planet just before you
leave its orbit (i.e. before movement), and just after you've entered its
orbit (i.e. after movement). However you will get the regular Super Spy info
only after movement.
* If you change the FC you will get a message like this:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-p0180)<<< Spy Report >>>            |
    |                                       |
    | From: BSC Cyborg Tracker              |
    | Our spy team has                      |
    | changed the planetary                 |
    | friendly code on:                     |
    | Tera 9 ID #180                        |
    | to: bum                               |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+

In the same turn your enemy will also get a message:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-p0180)<<< Planetary Message >>>     |
    |                                       |
    | Distress CALL!                        |
    | From: Tera 9                          |
    | We have found Birdmen                 |
    | spies on the planet.                  |
    | They have CHANGED the planet's        |
    | friendly code!                        |
    | The code is now: bum                  |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+

* Every ship has a 20% chance of changing the FC, so if you've got more ships
with the same FC in orbit you've got an higher chance. Five ships will have
100% chance of changing the planetary FC.
* If you succeeded in changing the FC of a planet/starbase, this
planet/starbase has 20% chance to strike back if it has more than 30 defence
units. If so, the planet will destroy 10 defence units. The blast of those 10
exploding defence units will decloak all ships in orbit. You will get a
message like:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-p0180)<<< Spy Report >>>            |
    |                                       |
    | From: BSC Cyborg Tracker              |
    | Our spy team has                      |
    | changed the planetary                 |
    | friendly code on:                     |
    | Tera 9 ID #180                        |
    | to: bum                               |
    | Enemy defence outposts                |
    | are using an ion                      |
    | discharge overload                    |
    | to decloak all ships in orbit!        |
    | They sacrificed ten outposts.         |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+

In the same turn your enemy will also get a message:

    +---------------------------------------+
    | (-p0180)<<< Planetary Message >>>     |
    |                                       |
    | Distress CALL!                        |
    | From: Tera 9                          |
    | We have found Birdmen                 |
    | spies on the planet.                  |
    | They have CHANGED the planet's        |
    | friendly code!                        |
    | The code is now: bum                  |
    | Defence outposts using an             |
    | ion discharge overload to             |
    | decloak all ships in orbit.           |
    | Ten outposts sacrificed.              |
    |                                       |
    +---------------------------------------+

This is not cumulative: no matter how many ships you've used to change the FC,
the chance of a counter-attack is always 20%. 
* When you succeeded changing the FC of an enemy planet/starbase to 'mfX' to
manipulate his minefields (see below) and that planet has more than 30
defence units, the chance of such an ion discharge is not 20% but 100%! You'd
better know what you're doing. Remember that if you decloak for the ion
discharge the planet will not attack your spying ships because both the
planet and your ships have the same FCode. But enemy ships in orbit will if
they have their mission on KILL or if they have their primary enemy set! Your
ship will not surrender to the Starbase even if it has been set to Force
Surrender, because your mission is still Super Spy.



<============================================================================>
<======   3.4 Using (Advanced) Super Spy   ==================================>
<============================================================================>

* Few people know that SS and SSD are separate missions and occur at different
times in the host processing. As always: information is power. If you are in
deep space and end your turn in orbit over an enemy planet with your mission
set to "super spy" you will only get the Super Spy part of the mission.  So,
if you don't want to risk having an ionic pulse short out your cloaking
device, set your mission to "cloak" instead of super spy, or use a Friendly
Code of 'X..'.


If you WANT to try changing the code, just leave its mission on super spy.
This is particularly useful if you want to steal everything and leave in one
turn, just bring in 5 ships with the same code with mission CLOAK, next turn
set fcode to 'bum' (or, if using the AHost host addon: BMM, BUT, BUD, etc)
and set a waypoint for a few LY away. You change the code, beam it up, AND
leave all in the same turn. Now make a run for it.[9]


1. Beaming up minerals from a starbase can be risky: when you set your ship FC
to the FC of the enemy planet and the starbase has its mission set to Force
Surrender you'll lose your ship the moment you'll change the ship mission
from Super Spy to another mission! Planets however can't force a ship to
surrender...

2. Use a couple of Scouts to lock the FC and use Fearless Wings and Resolutes
to beam everything off the surface: fuel and minerals! You could combine this
with tip 3.
Don't bother to return the minerals to your planets when you're deep in enemy
territory. Use the minerals to build new torpedoes, and jettison the remaining
minerals in space.

3. You could use 'battle'groups of 5 Swift Hearts be sure to lock a FC..[7]

4. Keep a couple of your ships in orbit of an enemy starbase/planet with their
mission set to Super Spy and their FC set to 'bum'. This will force the enemy
starbase/planet to beam up its megacredits to _all_ ships in orbit. Every ship
will get an equal share of MC... Success guaranteed!

5. Of course you're not messing around with enemy planet at random: your spy
info will guide you to the key planets of the enemy. Scout for starbases.
Look for possible starbase locations and rob them blind before they get
built. Search for natives (see 3.2 notes above) and milk the cash
cows of
your enemy. Remember which enemy planets have an high concentration of
minerals and a lot of mines, and use those planets to refuel your ships. Use
his supplies to repair your ships.

6. Annoy your enemy.. Same as 3 but with another FC: 'dmp'. The starbase will
now dump all its unused ship parts. You never know what the damage is you've
done, but some players do build lots of ship parts they won't use immediately.
Works perfectly for the Federation: their Refit mission tends to stock lots of
ship parts on starbases.

7. Remember that lowercase FCs like 'bum' and 'dmp' only work for registered
players. If your enemy is not registered, you'd better find yourself a better
cash cow (i.e. a registered player).

8. When fighting an enemy that makes heavy use of his minefields you can
change his universal minefield code. If you put a "mfX" being x a character
of your choice on a planet owned by him, all the minefields will not affect
your ships that have this code. An universal mfX code will be overridden when
a planet with a higher ID has a different mfX FC. The best way to make use
of this feature is to find a planet without starbase and recently colonised.
Also if the planet has defence posts but when there is no ship nearby to
attack you, you can change the FC of the planet during several turns.
Also, if this planet is the planet with the highest ID of all the planets of
this player he can do nothing to break your control over his minefields.
* A dangerous toy, but may be a serious option. It has been tried and proven
worthful in special circumstances. If you have many ships that have to move
through many different minefields (webs!!) owned by the same race you can try
and lock the FC of a planet with five ships, but make sure they are either
cheap (scouts) or can win a battle (Dark Wing with lowest ID# plus 4 others).
It all depends on the question if the fast progression you can make by free
movement through the minefields outweighs the cost.
Remember if there are more planets with mfX as a friendly code the planet with
the highest ID will determine the universal minefield friendly code. [4]

9. This advanced Super Spy mission makes it more risky to spy on your allies
and friendly neighbours...:-( If you SuperSpy and set the first letter in
your FC to x or X (Example "xF1") your ships will NOT try to change the FC,
and therefore will NOT be decloaked if unlucky! This will work for the latest
versions of Host (v3.22.10) and Phost.



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                  What to check if you're looking for a new game.


<============================================================================>
<======   4.1 Cloaked ships attack   ========================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: YES
This will let you attack enemy ships while you're cloaked. You simply fly in
with your mission set to 'Super Spy' or 'Cloak' and your Primary Enemy set to
race XXX. If there is a ship of that race your ship will engage combat. If
there are more ships of race XXX, you will engage them all. 
If your ship has survived combat and it didn't get too much damage to prevent
cloak, your ship will cloak again. If it has too much damage, it will attack
the planet if it is owned by your Primary Enemy or when the planetary FC is
set to ATT or NUK. A cloaked ship with the Primary Enemy set will only attack
the ships of your primary enemy but not their planets.
It is easy to imagine that the default setting YES gives you some great combat
tactics - more than any other cloaking race. You've got the largest cloaking
ships in the game!



<============================================================================>
<======   4.2 Cloak Prevent Damage   ========================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: 1
This number is the maximum percentage of damage you ship can have before its
cloak fails. For example when the cloak prevents damage % is 15, you'll
decloak when your damage is 15; you will still be able to cloak when your
damage is 14 %.
So the higher this percentage the better!
Note: if your ship carries supplies they will immediately be used to repair
the damage
-between ship vs ship and ship vs planet combat
-after ship vs planet combat
-after all ships have moved through the minefields
-after all Glory Device attacks.
However if you are decloaked by the damage you will only cloak again at the
end of the turn!



<============================================================================>
<======   4.3 Odds of cloak failure   =======================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: 0%
Title says it all.
Don't play in a game where this %% is too high, or you'll get screwed. Your
strong points make use of the cloak option. If this fails, your only
advantages are gone.



<============================================================================>
<======   4.4 Privateer rob cloaked ships   =================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: NO
If this option is YES than this means that the Privateers can rob your ships
from fuel and cargo even if he can't see them. This can make it very hard to
beat the Privateers. See section 6.5 'Dealing with the
Privateers'.



<============================================================================>
<======   4.5 Cloak fuel burn per 100 kT   ==================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: 5
This means that your ships need fuel to cloak. The amount of fuel that is used
for cloaking is depending on the mass of the ship. Lucky for you your ships
have a low mass. The Deth Specula, the Swift Heart and the Red Wind all use 5
kT fuel in the default host settings.
The lower this value is the better!
Since host v3.22.005 and phost v2.13b the Resolute and Dark Wing don't apply
to this setting any more: their advanced cloaking devices won't use fuel.



<============================================================================>
<======   4.6 Cloaked mine odds   ===========================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: 0.5 %
This means you've got a lower chance to hit an enemy mine when you're flying
cloaked. Nice eh? The setting could vary between 0.2 and 0.9.



<============================================================================>
<======   4.7 Ground attack ratio   =========================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: 1 : 1
You're a cloaking race, and you have cloaking ships with useable large
cargoholds - it would be very welcome to play in a game where you get a
ground attack advantage of say 5 : 1 to 10 : 1. (Using default game settings
the Lizards get a ground attack advantage of 30 : 1, the Fascists get
15 : 1.) Use this advantage to conquer low-populated enemy starbases without
having to destroy them.



<============================================================================>
<======   4.8 Free fighters   ===============================================>
<============================================================================>

Default: 0
Your economy is quite bad, so 1 or 2 free fighters per starbase per turn
wouldn't hurt you. In fact it would save you lots of MC that you can use to
buy the techlevels for your Dark Wings. The number of free fighters doesn't
have to be high, 2 free fighters is OK because you will only use those
fighters as defence on your starbases. (The Evil Empire get 5 free fighter by
default, but they need the fighters in their assault vessels.)



<============================================================================>
<======   4.9 Engine Shield Bonus   =========================================>
<============================================================================>

The effects of this host setting are quite complicated for the Birds. Your
important warships have only two engines, you are an aggressive race which has
to move constantly and you have usually a fuel shortage
If you would have ships with poor engines you would have to tow them into
combat, what results in the towing ship being uncloaked. Therefore you will
have Transwarp Engines on nearly all of your ships.
An high setting for the Engine Shield Bonus (ESB) will help you with all your
transwarped ships more than the other races during the early stages of the
game since your relatively light ships fight much better with the added bonus
mass.
The situation changes however drastically in the later part of the game. Most
of your enemies will start pumping out large carriers that you will confront
primarily with your Dark Wings. Since the hull of a Dark Wing is already
heavier than 320 kT, an ESB does not help you al all against incoming
fighters, while your enemies can gain additional resistance against your
torpedoes from their ESB.
An high setting gives you therefore a clean disadvantage when you fight
against large carriers. And later in the game all races but the Fascists will
throw carriers at you. (The Privateers will fight you only if they have
stolen something massive to impress you, everybody else has carriers that are
superior to the Dark Wing.)
Only if you plan to use your Resolutes to fight the big carriers as well
(which I recommend not to do), you need an engine shield bonus of at least
47% to give your Resolutes the necessary battle mass for a more effective
resistance against fighter hits.
So in short games, especially if they are mineral poor, you as a Birdmen
prefer a high Engine Shield Bonus, while in long games with lots of resources
a low setting is much better for you. [11]



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  About alliances, trading and getting what you need most from your allies.


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<======   5.1 Useful Allies   ===============================================>
<============================================================================>

* Every player would like to make some kind of agreement with you. Your
cloaking capabilities together with the information you will gather about your
enemies will be regarded formidable. When you're attacking you are a fearsome
opponent. Every player would like to have spy info about their enemies. Every
player would like to have the cloaking minelayers, minesweepers,
battlecruisers and battleships you have. So _you_ will be the one to choose
your ally. Pick the one you like most.
* Remember: you don't have to ally. You could always sell or trade spy
information. Other players may hire your ships - the ships will still be in
your possession.
* You don't need ships of other players to fight: fighting is not your special
ability. Choose your ally wisely, and try to fix one or more of your major
problems.
* A free-fighter race would be a nice ally. Hammering again on your bad
economy, your free-fighter ally could provide you with fighters that are at
least 95% cheaper. You will have to buy your fighters, but the Robots, the
Rebels and the Colonies can make a fighter from 3 Tritatium, 2 Molybdenum and
5 supply units where you will need the same minerals and 100 MC. Filling a
starbase will cost you 60 x 100 MC == 6000 MC. With a little help from your
ally it will cost you 300 supplies.... Very good deal: trade info for
fighters.
Use cloaking Red Winds to carry the fighters to your starbases, they can hold
exactly 60 fighters. Why tell your ally where your starbases are?
Example: Drop your minerals on a Rebel planet. The orbiting Gemini will use
the minerals to make fighters. The FC of the Gemini is set to 'btf' - your Red
Wind will fly by cloaking and will be loaded with fighters on the fly.
(Transfer Fighters happens before Movement.)
* Ally to the Empire or the Cyborg to overcome your lack of big carriers. Get
him to send you some decent carriers to defend your empire.
* Ally to the Federation or the Lizards to solve your economy problem. Borrow
some climate changers and extract some cash from your ally.
* Ally to the Privateers to provide you with meteors. A meteor will tow
a Dark Wing without fuel problems.
* Ally to the Crystals. You just don't want to fight against them. Their
webmines take away most of your cloaking advantage.



<============================================================================>
<======   5.2 Useful Ships   ================================================>
<============================================================================>

* MBRs. For their speed. MBRs can serve you in two ways: the first being a
very, very fast Super Spy ship, the second a way to tow large freighters 162
LY a turn. (for planet-hopping large distances.) Are also very easy to capture
but you'll be lucky to hit one.
* Aries. To solve your fuel problem. The Aries needs minerals to make fuel but
it functions cheaper than a Neutronic Refinery Ship. You can put the ship on a
starbase to keep it hidden.
* Cobol. To solve your fuel problem. The Cobol makes fuel dirt cheap but it
will reveal the position of your planets. A cloned Cobol with Transwarp drives
and low tech arms will repay its total costs within 5 turns use. (Compared to
the standard supply/mineral conversions of the Merlin and the Refinery Ship.)
With some special precautions a Cobol can be captured in combat.
* Fireclouds. This solves your fuel problem like no other ship can, and makes
you more versatile. Only 50 kT of fuel and many ships can be ported to
anywhere in your empire. Remember, the turn you chunnel you won't have
shields, so make sure you won't be attacked that turn. A detailed course on
chunneling is out of the scope of this manual, but it can serve many purposes,
transferring whole battlegroups, large stocks of minerals and clans at
relatively low cost, so if you can get your hands on one of these babies do
your most to get them.
* Carriers, carriers, carriers... etc.
* HYP ships. Very useful to expand your economy fast. HYP ships are easy to
capture but hard to find. In decreasing order of usefulness: Rebel Falcon,
Empire Probe, Cyborg Probe.
* Terraformers to give your planetary economy the push it needs.
* Don't be afraid of using Super Star Destroyers, Lokis or Glory Devices.



<============================================================================>
<======   5.3 Trading your ships   ==========================================>
<============================================================================>

* [More than everything else written down here: this is my opinion. Take it as
you want it.]
Every player would like to get one of your cloaking ships. Cloaking
minelayers, minesweepers etc. You'll have to think twice before trading a ship
with a cloaking device to a race that doesn't cloak. You'll give him something
he/she doesn't have: Invisibility.
Trading a cloaking ship can have devastating effects: other than non-cloaking
ships you won't see it coming when it comes your way again.... Imagine your
former ally, now your backstabbing opponent will use your ex-cloakers as the
first strike fleet.
* You can build a few ships that are 'safe' to trade: the Skyfire Class
Cruiser and the Valiant Wind Class Carrier. Why anybody should want a Skyfire
I don't know, but the Valiant with its 7 beams and 3 bays can be very useful.
There are a couple of races that lack a decent mid-size carrier. The Lizards
for example only have their Madonzilla with 4 beams and 5 bays. They can
afford the fighters and their 150 % damage will turn the carrier into a
dangerous weapon. 
When you trade it to the Feds, they will add their 3 bonus bays when the Fed
Crew Bonus is on, and they'll transform it into a 7 beams and 6 bays ship.
Same to the Cyborg: they have a lot of money but they've got no carriers...
Just their Biocides.
You can even sell your Valiant to the Rebels and/or the Colonies. Yeah, right!
Next to their tech 10 battleships (Rush and Virgo) they only have their
single-use Patriot Class Light Carrier. The Patriot has 2 beams, a mass of 90
and a cargohold for 30 fighters. It will explode when entering any minefield,
it's beams won't do nothing and after one combat the number of fighters will
have to be replenished. Your Valiant on the contrary weights 180 kT, has 7
beams and it will hold 80 fighters! I'm sure you will be able to convince your
ally the Valiant is the one ship he/she is missing!
* There are ships that you NEVER must trade. The first one is the Swift Heart.
This ship is very cheap to clone and you, with your strategy of not build
freighters, will have many planets without enough defences to defend from a
cloaked attack. Never let the Privateer get his hands on a White Falcon - with
its fuel capacity of 430 it will rob almost any ship making him too strong.
Neither a Dark Wing. Think on what you would do against a Privateer Dark Wing
towed by a MBR.... [1]

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