Star Trek (text game)

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A simple version of Star Trek, running in a Linux command terminal
A simple version of Star Trek, running in a Linux command terminal

Star Trek is a text-only computer game that originated within the BASIC programming language hacker culture of the 1970s. It is thought to have been created by Mike Mayfield in 1971 on a SDS Sigma 7, then ported to the HP BASIC dialect for Hewlett-Packard minicomputers. The original game spawned many ports and variants. In addition to being tied to the Star Trek subculture popular with computer experts and programmers, Star Trek is itself a piece of hacker lore. The original game was not licensed by Paramount, owners of the Star Trek franchise.

The format of this game is often credited as being the progenitor of many 1980s outer space themed video games,[citation needed] of which Atari's Star Raiders is most notable and was itself cloned extensively. Atari also produced a version of this game directly in the Sears-only release Stellar Track.

Contents

The rules to the game are fairly simple. You are the commander of the starship USS Enterprise (NCC-1701) and have the obligation of eliminating the Klingon menace so democracy in the galaxy can be maintained. The original game existed within an 8-by-8 grid of the galaxy. The entire galaxy contains 64 quadrants and each quadrant contains 64 sectors. The starship can move either between sectors or between entire quadrants using text commands. The ship has a maximum number of energy units, which are used to move the ship, power the ship's shields, and fire phasers. The object of the game is to destroy all the Klingon ships within the galaxy without the Enterprise itself being destroyed.

The Enterprise has both long-range and short-range sensors. Long-range sensors show the area immediately surrounding the current quadrant, including any enemy ships and Starfleet bases. Short-range sensors allow the ship to map itself within the quadrant the ship is in, but does not show information outside of the present quadrant.

The computer can display a high level chart of the entire universe, but cannot show complete information on unvisited quadrants.

The Enterprise should avoid stars, as they contain no natural resources and are simply obstacles to traveling throughout the galaxy and within galactic quadrants. Starfleet bases are the Enterprise's lifeline when it has sustained damage or has been depleted of energy. A Starfleet base can be located via signaling using the ship's communication systems.

The Enterprise can destroy Klingon ships within the same quadrant using phasers and photon torpedoes.

With phasers, the player must choose how many units of energy are to be fired. The distance between ships determines how many units of energy are required.

The Enterprise has a limited capacity of photon torpedoes but can resupply at Federation starbases. The player must enter a trajectory for the torpedo to hit Klingon ships. Torpedoes can also hit stars, planets and Federation starbases.

The following is a list of known ports of the game to different computer language and hardware platforms:

EGA Trek is a shareware, turn-based combat game set in the Star Trek universe. EGA Trek is a graphical version of the original text-only Star Trek. Early versions of the game used traditional Star Trek terms like "phaser" and "Klingon", but were later replaced.

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_Trek_%28text_game%29"
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