Sluissi Ship Construction

A Sluis Ship is a auto-loading ship. They come in a variaty of classes, such as shuttle, fighter, freighter, capitol ship. They can be saved, and are not erased, provided they are stored before the reboot. The first step to buying a Sluis Ship is having the money. A good Sluissi fighter is about 50,000 credits, so be prepared. Generally, don't settle for anything but the best.

The first step is to go to level 4 of the Shipyards, and select a ship model. There are 4 display areas, one each for shuttle, fighter, freighter, and capital. The models numbers begin with 1000. You can go to a display area and type view 1000.

When you have decided upon a model, go back to a ship automated teller machine (ATM) on level 2 and type build (ship_type) (model number) (ship name). Thus, if you wanted the fighter number 1000, you would type:

build fighter 1000 Example Ship

If you can afford it, the ship will be created and loaded into the dock you are in. It will look like this:

A Sluissi interstellar fighter (Example Ship) #xxxxx

You will be given a ship title and a security card matching to the ship. Now this is not a complete ship. It has no engines, no shields, no turrets, no fighter bays, and no weapons.

You should start with the engine component. Type cost engines. The last column gives the cost of the engine. At this point in time, all four ship types share the same engine costs. (This will change some time in the future but I felt the system was complex enough!) The numbers under the ship types are your maximum engine speeds. Divide that number by ten for your max acceleration and deceleration speeds. You should note that shuttles and fighters cannot purchase the largest engines. Once you have your engine selected, type:

buy (ship #) engine (#)

Where the number after 'engine' is from 1 to 9 (or less for shuttle/fighter). That will install a workable engine in your ship and allow you to launch. If your ship is not a shuttle, you will automatically have a hyperdrive put in as well.

Next you need shields! The difference between shields and hull is that when you get hit on the shields, you just loose shields. When you get hit on the hull, your ship is likely damaged, you yourself can take damage! Type cost shields and look up the costs under your ship type. Once you have decided upon a shield strength, type:

buy (ship #) shields (#)

Where the number after 'shields' is from 1 to 5. That will install a shield generator, and will start your shields off at 100%. Note that not all ships can get shields, and it will tell you as such. Particularly several small fighters and most shuttles cannot get them, and never will be able to have them installed.

After that, you need weaponry and possibly turrets. For a single room ship, such as most fighters and shuttles, the cockpit is the only turret. Type cost weapons and select an affordable weapon strength. Note that these numbers are not absolute. Weapon #4 does not do twice as much damage as weapon #2. Select a weapon that you want, and type:

buy (ship #) weapon (#)

You will then get a list of all installed turrets. The cockpit is already considered installed, thus you should see it listed. Enter cockpit and press return. This will put that weapon in the cockpit. For turrets, the format is:

buy (ship #) turret

And now you will get a list of UN-installed turrets, and you may select one then. Each turret has a unique name, so you may see "forward_turret", you may see "aft_turret" and "starboard_turret", etc. Names will vary, but the name should match up with one of the turrets in the ship model. After you have installed the turret, you need to put a weapon in it. See above for weapons.

Your ship might also need some other components. Here are some formats for them:

buy (ship #) bay (For fighter bays, where you can launch ships from your own ship)

buy (ship #) cloak (For cloaking devices, to hide your ship temporarily)

Ship Recovery Contracts

One of the MOST important things to buy for a sluis ship is recovery contracts. Always make sure you have a surplus. Before you buy a sluis ship, make sure you have enough money for at least 2 recovery contracts, and never fly a ship that does not have recovery contracts. It will hurt to have that 50k fighter destroyed and unable to get it back. When a Sluis ship is destroyed, it will end up back on the Sluis main dock. You must have the title to purchase recovery contracts, which are west of the main dock.

Storing and Retrieving a Sluis ship

Retrieval syntax: retrieve (card) (ship)

When you store a sluis ship, it must be docked and you must have the title. Go east of the main dock to use the retrieve and store commands.

The retrieve command allows you to retrieve your ship from storage only if you have the correct retrieval card with you. If you have more than one ship in storage, you may retrieve the correct one by looking at your card by the number listed on the card, which will give a description of the ship it is linked to.

The Cardme command is for use when you accidently lose your Sluis retrieval card. Just go there, and type cardme for a new card. You should get your retrieval card back.

The store command will store your ship on file for protection over reboots. The ship must be docked. Due to recent additions in the storage facilites, capital ships MAY be stored. When the ship is stored it is removed from the game along with the title. You are then given an autoloading object that will allow you to retrieve the ship. You must be carrying the title to store the ship.

Storage syntax: store (ship #)

The Sluis ATM's Other Features

Cost syntax: cost (ship number)

Gives you the costs to upgrade some of your ships components. If the price is 0 it means that you have not bought that ship part yet, and so it cannot be upgraded either.

cost (ship type) (model)

Gives you all the costs for buying different components for that particular ship type and model. Ship type must be one of the following: shuttle, fighter, freighter or capital. You can refer to the Sluis display level to see what models are currently available.

Sluis upgrade syntax: supgrade (ship id) (component)

Upgrading means taking that component and taking it beyond its current maximum. Only three things can be upgraded: hull, shields, and engine. Upgrading increases the strength of the component by 10%. So, if your engine gives you a speed of 100, after upgrading, it will have a speed of 110. Upgrading costs 20% of the original cost of the component, and can only be done 3 times.

Thats all there is to buying, and maintaining a Sluis ship. Please note, that if you leave a Sluis ship on a dock for more than an hour, and noone walks through that room within the hour, the ship may be lost. Ships lost due to negligence are usually not replaced, however if you lose your sluis ship, contact a wizard immediately. When you install a part on a Sluis ship, it will be erased once you store it, unless the part is Sluissi in nature.

If you have any questions about the process, the best place to go to is the SWmud newsgroup 'sluis'.

Written by Timetripp, Parts by Alexus