ATTAC Online Help

Contents:

I-   Getting Started

II-  Menu Overview

III –Frequently Asked Questions

IV - Troubleshooting

V- Contact Us

VI – TWX Sync

 

I - Getting Started

Start ATTAC by running the ATTAC Program. This will bring up the session window.

Start by entering the server name and port number (default port is 23). Click Here for illustrated instructions on setting up a game.

Once you get tour game set up and running, the next thing you will need to do is update your CIM! You’ll want to do this often. A lot of ATTAC’s features are dependant on fresh data. Updating your CIM will make sure ATTAC has the most recent sector warps and port information. CIM is an acronym for Computer Interrogation Mode. Update your CIM by selecting “Mapping” from the top menu bar then select “Start CIM” from the drop-down menu. ATTAC will capture this data as you move through the universe, but running your CIM will fill in any information that ATTAC didn’t pick up on it’s own. Any veteran Trade Wars player will tell you that keeping your CIM up to date is a primary step to making your scripts more productive, and you a better player.

Main Console

From ATTAC’s main console, you’ll see a few things. Along the left side of the game screen you’ll see the “Status Panel”. The Status panel keeps you informed of your vital statistics while you’re playing the game (Figs, shields, credits, holds, etc.). This will update on it’s own while you’re playing or running a script..

At the bottom of the Status Center is the TWX sync Status window that tells you about the data you are sending and receiving from the Sync server, and the Script status window, which shows you information about any scripts currently running.

Along the bottom of the game screen, you’ll see the “Message Center”. The Message Center keeps you informed on what’s happening in the game (messages, alerts, etc.). While running an ATTAC script, the Status window will tell you about what the current script is doing.

 

II - Menu Overview

 

Connect

ATTAC

Game Info

Planet

Trading

Evil

Mapping

Utilities

Help

Remote System

Run User (REXX) Scripts

Show Deadend Sectors

Colonize Planet

Pair Port Trading

Sell Steal Move (SSM)

Start CIM

Import

Documentation

Disconnect

Calculator

Show Bubbles

Buy-Dump

Mega Jettison

Sell Steal Transport (SST)

Start Zero Turn Mapping (ZTM)

Export

Enter Registration Codes

Helper Parses Data

Move to Sector

Show Nearest Fighters

Sell from planet to port

Show Port Type

Bust List

Auto-Explore Universe

TWX Sync Connection Configuration

About ATTAC

Reset Game

Photon and Move

Show Known Planets

Planet Bust

Show Pair Ports

Show Evil Pairs

Ether Explore Universe

Remote connection Viewer

 

Exit

Use mine disruptors

Show Known Fighter

Buy Planetary Shields

World Trade

World Sell Steal Move (SSM)

View Ether Explore Log

Print DeBug info to screen

 

 

Escape to Sector

Show Blocked Ports

Resource Mover

 

 

 

Switch Databases

 

 

Pay Tolls

Show Avoided Sectors

 

 

 

 

Set Allies

 

 

Blind Warp Protection

Show Map

 

 

 

 

Limpet Scanner

 

 

Self Destruct Protection

Show Sector Information

 

 

 

 

Sysop Scripts

 

 

Auto-Haggle

Show Maxed Ports

 

 

 

 

Record Fast Macro

 

 

Show Message Center

Show Ports under construction

 

 

 

 

Play Fast Macro

 

 

Show Status Center

Show class O Ports

 

 

 

 

Web Resources

 

 

Macros

Show 1-way sectors

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Options

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Script Starting Key:

(C) Starts from “Command” prompt

(S) Starts from “Command” prompt at Stardock

 

Connect

Remote System – This connects you to a TWGS game server

Disconnect - This will disconnect you from a TWGS game server.

Helper Parses Data – When checked, allows ATTAC to recognize game data such as known planets, known fighters, current sector etc… Uncheck this to turn off the ATTAC parser. This makes a ATTAC run faster but ATTAC will not recognize any new data.

Reset Game – This erases all information ATTAC has stored about the current game. You would use this if your game is re-banged (with the same settings), or if you’re database is corrupted and you need to start from scratch.

Exit – Terminates the current ATTAC program session.

 

ATTAC

 Run User Scripts - Click here to select which of your REXX scripts you want to run. To run encrypted scripts, select from the dropdown files of type “Encrypted REXX Scripting Files”

Calculators

·       Quasar Cannon Calc - Calculates Quasar Cannon blasts. To do this,
land on the planet you want to invade and take the first 2 blasts from the cannon. Enter the damage figures in the boxes provided and the calculator will tell you how much fuel is left on the planet and what the next 10 blasts will be. Will work on any type planet

 

Move To Sector (Control O)- This will warp you to a sector. (c)

Photon and Move - Type the sector you want to launch a Photon Torpedo into and it’ll launch the photon and move into that sector.
(c)

Use Mine Disrupters – Type the sector you want to launch mine disrupters into and it will launch N of them
(c)

Escape - Allows you to escape to a predetermined sector allowing you to get out of a jam.
(c)

Pay Tolls – Gives you the option to pays/kill or do nothing when encountering any toll fighters. Gives you the option to kill or do nothing when encountering any defensive fighters. ATTAC will not attack fighters even if you select the kill option when there are more than 50 fighters in the sector.

Blind T-Warp Protection – Prevents you from T-Warping your ship to sectors where none of your fighters are; thereby, destroying your ship. Registered version only

Self Destruct Protection – Prevents you from self-destructing. Registered version only

Auto Haggle – Automatically haggles at ports for experience while trading

Show Message Center – Shows the message center at bottom of the screen

 

Show Status Center – Shows the Status center at the left of the screen

Show Warp Paths – Shows warp paths to selected sectors

Macros – Allows you to make macro keys to run custom scripts and keystrokes. To run a rexx script, add a macro like this “rexx: script.zrx” (without the quotations)

Options - Allows you to reconfigure your game settings.

Game Info

Dead End Sectors - Shows any dead end sectors you’ve come across while exploring the universe. Great for finding a secure home for your empire.

Show Bubbles - Finds bubbles with a user-defined minimum and maximum sector size, how many entrances you want, etc. Shows in map form.

Show nearest fighters – Self-explanatory, shows nearest fighters to a given sector. It will only search a radius of 10 sectors.

Show known planets – Shows any planets you’ve come across in your exploring. Useful for keeping tabs of enemies

Show known fighters – Shows fighters you’ve found in your exploring

Show blocked ports – Shows ports blocked by other player’s fighters

Show avoided sectors – Shows any sectors you’ve put on your avoid list

Show map – Shows a map of sectors surrounding the one you’re in. You can click on any sector in the map to re-center the map

Show sector information – Gives info on current sector and adjacent warps

Show maxed ports –Shows ports with a maximum amount of Fuel Ore/Organics/Equipment

Show ports under construction – Shows ports that are under construction

Show Class 0 ports – Shows all special ports you’ve found

 

Show 1-way Sectors – Shows sectors with 1-way warps

Planets

Planet Colonize – Colonize planets. Allows you to select what method of warping you want. Allows you to take fuel from a different planet than you are colonizing. It will then colonize the planet for N cycles. (c)

Buy/Dump – Buys product from a port in your sector or nearby and dump them on your planet. (c)

Sell from Planet to Port – Sells product from a planet to a port (c)

Planet Bust – Run from Star dock, you use this script to build experience. You can name the planet you create whatever you like. (s)

Buy Planet Shields –Buys planet shields from any class 0 port or Stardock  (c)

Resource Mover

·       Move Colonists - move colonists between two planets. The planets do not need to be in the same sector. (c)

·       Move Resources - move products between two planets. The planets do not need to be in the same sector. (c)

Trading

Paired Port – Allows you to move between two ports and trade them down until you reach the minimum percentage set as part of the ATTAC Options. You can haggle or not haggle. For non-adjacent ports, just type in the second port manually and the check boxes should be automatically populated. (c)

Mega Jettison - Ports and buys a little of everything and haggles each time making experience. (c)

Show Port Type Class X Port - Shows all ports of type X

Show Pair Ports - Shows all the pair ports in the game. Equipment-Organic, Equipment-Fuel, and Fuel-Organic. An asterick is shown if the port is on your bust list .

World Trade – Will automatically trade at every known paired ports shown in your pair port list and give you the option of haggling for experience, as well as, dropping fighters as you go. (c)(TIP: Update your CIM first!)

Evil

Sell Steal Move (SSM) - Will sell equipment to a port then steal back the equipment from that port then it moves to an adjacent port and repeat the process. Evil only. (c)

Sell Steal Transport (SST) – Sell, Steal, Transport. Sells to ports, steals from ports then transports to another ship and repeats the cycle (c)

Bust List - Shows a list of all the ports you’ve been busted at. Allows you to clear busts manually. Also allows you to manually add busts

Show Evil Pairs - Show all XXB ports. Busted ports are marked with an asterisk

World SSM – Automatically goes from port to port in your evil pair list and performs the SSM. Refurbishes your ship with holds from Stardock or a Class 0 port. Options for dropping fighters and for leaving your cash on a planet every N cycles. Great for making money quickly (c)

Mapping

Start CIM - Run CIM. Updates sectors found while exploring and port data via (C)omputer (I)nterrogation (M)ode. Option to run either Sectors, Ports or Both.

Start ZTM – (Z)ero (T)urn (M)apping. Great for games with small amounts of turns. Maps the warps in a universe without costing you turns to do it.

Auto-Explore Universe – Automatically explores the universe starting with any predetermined sector and gives the option to trade and haggle while exploring. Great way to make money and experience at the beginning of the game. Requires a ship with holographic scanner. Option to drop figs while exploring. Options to avoid planets and sectors with more than N fighters. (c)

Ether Explore Universe – While at StarDock, explores universe with ether probes and keeps a log of what it finds
(s)

View Ether Explore Log – Views the log captured while running ether explore script.

Utility

Import ... TWX File - Imports TWX version 1 formatted file.

Export ... TWX File - Export a TWX version 1 formatted file. You can use this to share your game data with other helpers that support the format.

  • Exports unexplored sectors (unexplored.txt)- Exports all unexplored sectors from Data Base
  • All CIM Data (cim.txt) - Export all cim data in text.
  • CIM Sectors (sectors.txt) - Export ONLY sector data as text.
  • CIM Ports (ports.txt) - Export ONLY port data as text.

 

TWX Sync Connection Configuration – This is where you identify the TWX Sync server that ATTAC will connect to and share game data through. See also: TWX Sync Server

Remote Connection Viewer - This allows other players to connect to ATTAC and watch you play. This is ALWAYS turned off by default each time you start ATTAC. To enable it, click the checkbox “Enable Remote Connection” on the form. The default port is 2004 and the default password is “attac”. You can change these settings when you create a new game or by selecting ATTAC->Options. ATTAC supports up to 10 connections.


Print Debug info to screen – If you have trouble with attac, select this menu item, and copy all the data and paste it into an email to tradewars@hotmail.com


Switch Game Databases - Switch to another database without logging off. If you switch in the middle of a game, make sure the universe sizes match.

Set Allies – Use this to set up your allies. This will only affect toll or defensive Fighters you encounter. If your ally is in a corp, then those corporation fighters are also considered as an ally. ATTAC will always pay tolls you run into if that toll belongs to an ally EVEN IF you have ATTAC set to kill toll fighters.

Limpet Scanner – Continually scans for any limpet mines, corp or personal and increments a count for each sector it appears in. You can then sort the data by count and see which sectors limpit mines visited most. (The most visited sector is usually their home base)

Sysop Scripts

  • Add Players to closed game. – create a file called “players.txt.” Add one player per line. Then run this script and select the file “players.txt.” The script will then add all the players to a game. Options for standard or blank password. (must be at main tedit menu)
  • Upgrade Ports – Will upgrade ALL the ports in a game. (must be at main tedit menu)

 

Record Fast Macro (F3)– Automatically records macros for your use. To stop recording the macro, select this item again or hit F3. (up to 100 characters)

Play Fast Macro (F4)– Automatically plays recorded macros.

Web Resources – http://www.tw-attac.com

Help

Documentation - A link to the online docs.

 

Register ATTAC - Registered your version of ATTAC by entering your reg codes here.

About - Version Number and other stuff.

 

Cutting and Pasting

 

Copy - ATTAC does not have a menu option to copy. To copy text just highlight it. It will automatically be copied to the clipboard

Paste - ATTAC does not have a menu option to paste. To paste text from the clipboard to ATTAC, just click the right mouse button. To paste data into the fedcomm/private comm windows, use Control V.

 

III -FAQ

Email Support
Email ATTAC support at tradewars@hotmail.com with question, comments or suggestions about ATTAC
User Documentation
(Click on a link to find the answer)

·       How do I create a game?

·       How do i run a REXX script?

·       How do I create/delete macros?

·       What is Remote Connection Viewer and how do i use it?


Forum Support
Your online forum is located at http://network54.com/Hide/Forum/27576 . You can post suggestions, bugs and comments as well as read up on other peoples thoughts of ATTAC.

Scripting Support and TWX format
This file is the support doc for REXX scripting
This file is the support for the TWX format

Revision History
ATTAC Revision History in text format (updated 3/26/2000)
Tradewars 3.xx Revision History in HTML format (updated 11/13/1998)

Common Questions

How do I register?
Go To www.tw-attac.com and click on 'Purchase'. Then click on 'Click here to use our Secure Server' Once you have purchase ATTAC, I will automatically receive email notification and request from you four (4) Tradewars Handles. Once I receive those from you, I will send you the registration codes for those handles.

 


Does ZTM save the data if it crashes or I lose my connection?
Yes, since ZTM saves the data as it scrolls across the screen in real-time. Therefore, you only need to start off from where you last left off

 


What does it mean in port listings when I see ?? as the port amount or percentage?
That means that ATTAC does not know the amount or percentage. Lets say you pass through a sector. ATTAC only sees the port type so it will register a unknown amount.

 


Please explain further since i am still confused. I ran CIM, shouldn’t the ports change from ?? to the actual amount?
They should but there is a chance the might not. The reason is this. Lets say an opposing player drops a toll fig in that section. In this case, that port does not show up on your CIM. Therefore, ATTAC will know "see" that section and it will remain as a ??

 


I am using Show Nearest Fighter. I know i have a fighter 10 hops away. Why isn't it showing up?
The reason is that ATTAC limits the total number of sectors that it searches. Currently the limit is 1,000,000. After it reaches that number and it has not located a fighter, you get "No fighters found in 10 sector radius) Mathematically, if every sector had 6 warps, searching through a radius of 10 sectors would be 6 raised to the power of 10 which is 60,466,176 which would take a long time.

IV - Troubleshooting

Problem: My Status panel is not updating (or shows all zeros).

Resolutions:

1) Press “I” from the command prompt

2) Update your CIM

 

Problem: ATTAC seems to be running very slow, or is crashing often.

Resolutions:

1) Make sure it is not the game server first. Try connecting to the game using Windows telnet client and see if the game still seems to be operating slowly. To connect using windows telnet client click Start> Run> then type in the window telnet://<your game server address>. Just remember that while connected using this method you don’t have the use of ATTAC’s advanced features (Blind Warp / Self Destruct protection).

2) Remove any old installations of TW-ATTAC, Since the new installation may be trying to update your old libraries, Sometimes this can really slow things down, or even make the helper unstable.

For Further information, visit ATTAC’s FAQ Page.

 

V – Contact Us

You can contact ATTAC in a few ways:

If you have a general question, or are looking for more effective ways to use ATTAC, or just want to swap tips with other ATTAC users, you can look through, or post it in the Forums on the ATTAC web site.

If you need more specific help, you can contact ATTAC Support at tradewars@hotmail.com

 

VI – TWXSync Server

TWXSync is a real-time synchronization server for compatible Tradewars Helpers. When connected to the TWXSync server, your Tradewars client is constantly sending/receiving data to/from teammates connected to that game.

TWXSync will revolutionize tradewars, the way scripting did. All teammates will instantly have real-time access to ALL other teammate’s data. As you see a port’s information, that amounts and percents will instantly be sent to the sync server. Anyone connected to that game will instantly get the information sent to them. If they are offline, then they will get the information when they sign on.

For all the documentation, visit the TWX Sync page.

 

 

 


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