Here is a more in-depth explanation into some of the features that can change the server. 1) config/config.h defines : AUTOMOTD - Use this if you're not going to run the update daemon. This will check you .motd and rebuild it every once in a while. Don't use both AUTOMOTD and the update daemon. CHAIN_REACTION - This will not give credit for chain-reaction and will also report how a player died. CHECKMESG - log god or all messages. You should use LOGALL and LOGGOD parameters in .sysdef with these. ERIKPLAGUE - Eric Mehlhaff's planet plague code that was used for SINL 93. FEATURES - This is for client/server communication. You can specify options in the .features file that some servers may have. INL_POP - This is the planet pop code used in SINL 93. NEED_EXIT - Some systems need exit to be defined in socket.c NO_PLANET_PLAGUE - Don't allow planet plaguing. Don't use this with ERIKPLAGUE. PING - Allow ping stats support. This may increase the network load a little. RSA - Use RSA verification. Some method of verification is recommended. RSA is the most accepted method now. SHOW_RSA - Display some messages like failed RSA verification message and type of client on entry of player. RESETGALAXY - Every time a conquer occurs reset the galaxy. SELF_RESET - galaxy will reset if daemon dies. SHORT_PACKETS - Use short packets code. This may increase the load on the server but will decrease the network load by up to %50. SHORT_THRESHOLD - More support for Short packets. If you define SHORT_PACKETS it's a good idea to use this also. SURRENDER_SHORT - Cut the surrender time in half when the genocide counter starts. SPEEDUP - Some misc. improvements to make the daemon faster. TWO_RACE - Conquer only a 1/4 of the galaxy for the galaxy to reset. SENDFLAGS - Print flags used in the compile on the MOTD. CHECK_ENV - Check the environment variable NTSERV_PATH for the location of system files. GPPRINT - Print the path that is being used to find the system files. ONCHECK - trekon (xbiff) support for checking if the logins. NEWMASK - Use a newer tournament mask function that is less rigid than older version. Doesn't take preferences into account. RCD - Support Receiver variable distresses. (Saves on a lot of network traffic). FLAT_BONUS - 5x bonus for killing last army on a planet BASEPRACTICE - Base training server. (Need special robots, see README.basep). NEW_CREDIT - give 1 planet for destroying, two planets for taking. SBFUEL_FIX - fix starbase re-fueling NEW_ETEMP - Wreck's etemp fix DOGFIGHT - .sysdef interface for dogfight robot VOTING - allow voting mode ALLOW_EJECT - define to allow players to eject others (only when VOTING is defined). NO_BRUTALITY - disallow fighting between waiting players in the dogfighting mode (only when DOGFIGHT is defined). ROBOT_OBSERVER_OFFSET - define to ensure that the moderation robot is always in slot g. SB_RAPID_COOLDOWN - allows for twice the normal rate of weapon cool down; useful on base-practice. ALLOW_PRACTICE_ROBOT_SB - allows practice robots to be refit into starbases if defined. 2) .sysdef parameters: All parameters follow the rule: 1 = TRUE, 0 = FALSE CLUE - (0 or 1) Turn on clue checking HUNTERKILLER - (0 or 1) Have the hunterkiller on the server RESETGALAXY - (0 or 1) reset the galaxy every time the daemon starts LOGALL - (0 or 1) log all messages. Use with CHECKMESG. LOGGOD - (0 or 1) log messages with "god:" at the beginning. Use with CHECKMESG. CHECKMESG - (0 or 1) check message logging. DOOSHER - (0 or 1) Enable the auto-doosher. WHYMESS - (0 or 1) with .mk define CHAIN_REACTION will report how a player died. SHOWSYSDEF - (0 or 1) will show some of the sysdef options on the motd. PLANET_MOVE - (0 or 1) Not recommended. Will move the planets around. TOURN - ( >3 ) Number of players needed on each side for t-mode. CLASSICTOURN - (0 or 1) Emulate the old behavior of tournamentMask() by removing the restrictions on joining a diagonal race if 2 players are present on the opposing diagonal, and remove the logic not allowing teams to grow past 4 humans before T mode starts. REPORT_USERS (0 or 1) Report users on the metaservers if enabled. Disabling this option is useful for bot servers such as base-practice servers so they always report the server as empty. SHIPS - ( SC, DD, CA, BB, AS, SB ) Type of ships that are allowed at the server. WEAPONS - (TRACTOR, PLASMA) Special weapons that are allowed. PLKILLS - ( >=0 ) Number of kills needed to get plasmas. DDRANK - ( 0 - 7 ) Rank needed to get a DD. 0 = Ensign , 7 = Admiral DD_MINIMAL_OFFENSE - ( >=0.0 ) Minimal offense required to get a destroyer. GARANK - ( 0 - 7 ) Rank needed to get a GA. 0 = Ensign , 7 = Admiral SBRANK - ( 0 - 7 ) Rank needed to get a starbase. 0 = Ensign , 7 = Admiral SB_MINIMAL_OFFENSE - ( >=0.0 ) Minimal offense required to get a starbase. RESTRICT_BOMB (0 or 1) - Disable bombing out of t-mode. NO_UNWARRING_BOMBING - Don't allow 3rd space bombing at any time. HOCKEY - (0 or 1) Turn on hockey mode. Mutually exclusive with all other non-standard server modes. INL - (0 or 1) Turn on INL (clue game) mode. Mutually exclusive with all other non-standard server modes. CHAOS - (0 or 1) Turn on chaos mode. Ships are more powerful and re-generate faster. Mutually exclusive with all other non-standard server modes. TOPGUN - (0 or 1) Misc things to make playing harder and only clueful players may like.. Mutually exclusive with all other non- standard server modes. PRET - (0 or 1) Enable pre-t entertainment mode. Mutually exclusive with all other non-standard server modes. PRET_GUEST - (0 or 1) Use 'guest' logins for pre-t robots if set. PRET_PLANETS - (1-10) Set win condition for pre-t mode. This is the number of planets a team must be up by in order to win a round of pre-t entertainment. PRET_SAVE_GALAXY - (0 or 1) If set galaxy is saved on t-mode to pre-t transitions and if t-mode starts again within PRET_GALAXY_LIFETIME seconds the galaxy will be restored when t-mode starts. PRET_GALAXY_LIFETIME - (integer seconds) Number of seconds the saved t-mode galaxy is eligible to be restored when t-mode starts again. PRET_SAVE_ARMIES - (0 or 1) If set armies carried by players at the start of Pre-T will get returned to the players home planet. This will occur just prior to the galaxy being saved if PRET_SAVE_GALAXY is enabled. NEWTURN - (0 or 1) Different turning speeds. HIDDEN - (0 or 1) Enemy players that are far away from a friendly ship during t-mode will be hidden. MAXLOAD - (0 or 1) The maximum load allowed on the server's machine. PLANETS - (0 - 39) The planets the will be the home planets. There are 4 params here. The order is fed, rom, kli, and then ori. CONFIRM - (0 or 1) Use binary confirmation. UDP - (0 or 1) Allow UDP packets. Reduces lag. PING_FREQ - ( >1 ) how often to ping in seconds (default 1) PING_ILOSS_INTERVAL - ( >0 ) the interval in seconds over which incremental loss statistics are kept (iloss_sc, iloss_cs) PING_GHOSTBUST - (0 or 1) whether or not to allow ghostbusting based on the absence of ping responses from a client. PING_GHOSTBUST_INTERVAL - ( >0) based on PING_GHOSTBUST and PING_FREQ, the number of unanswered pings before ghostbusting a player. GHOSTBUST_TIMER - ( >0 ) Timer setting to ghostbust a client using the normal ghostbust routines. MAX_POP - Set the maximum number of armies a planet can pop too. ERROR_LEVEL - How much errors/debugging is sent to the ERROR file. Only 1-3 are valid. START_ARMIES - How many planets are initially put on a planet. VECTOR - (0 or 1) Use vector torps instead of normal torps. BASEPRACTICE - (0 or 1) Used to put server in basepractice mode. TRANSWARP_ENABLE - (o or 1) Turn on transwarp capabilities. TRANSWARP_SPEED - (0 or 1) How fast transwap is. WHITELIST_INDIV - (0 or 1) Allow whitelist to overide :i messages WHITELIST_TEAM - (0 or 1) Allow whitelist to overide :t messages WHITELIST_ALL - (0 or 1) Allow whitelist to overide :a messages LAME_REFIT - (0 or 1) If 1 use the historic ship refit criteria; if 0 use the criteria the original developers intended (>25% fuel, >25% shields, >75% hull). Defaults to classical criteria. LAME_BASE_REFIT - (0 or 1) Same as LAME_REFIT but exclusively for starbases. Dog-Fighter Specific Defines: CONTESTSIZE - ( >0) Number of the contestants needed before starting. NUMMATCH - ( >0) Number of matches per contest. SAVE_DOG_STAT - (0 or 1) Save the player stats? (not implemented yet..). In addition ship characteristics can be changed. The list of characteristics that can be changed are: TURNS, ACCS, TORPDAMAGE, PHASERDAMAGE, PHASERFUSE, PLASMADAMAGE, TORPSPEED, TORPFUSE, TORPTURNS, PLASMASPEED, PLASMAFUSE, PLAMSATURNS, MAXSPEED, REPAIR, MAXFUEL, TORPCOST, PLASMACOST, PHASERCOST, DETCOST, WARPCOST, CLOAKCOST, RECHARGE, ACCINT, DECINT, MAXSHIELD, MAXDAMAGE, MAXEGNTEMP, MAXWPNTEMP, EGNCOOLRATE, WPNCOOLRATE, MAXARMIES, WIDTH, HEIGHT, TYPE, MASS, TRACTSTR, TRACTRNG. To set ship characteristics you need to do something like the following: SHIP=1 BB PHASERCOST 945 AS TORPCOST 210 ! MaxWpnTemp should ONLY be defined when non-chaos mode. SB MAXWPNTEMP 1500 END Unless SHIP is 1 the stats between SHIP and END will not be read in. This example sets the NEWSHIP defines found at some servers. A '!' is a comment. 3) .time file. The time file is an array field that is 7 by 24. Each line is for the days of the week and each character in the line is for the hours. Line 0 is Sun. Line 6 is Sat. Char. 0 is 12am and char 23 is 11pm. Allowable characters are: X - Non-playable hours. The server is down. C - Clue hour. The server is up and checking for clue. Anything else is interpreted as playable. 4) .features file. The .features file specifies the features specific to a client that are allowed at a server. There are two formats for a line in the features file. The client type is gotten from the RSA client type field. 1) : EX: BerkRick Moo: SMARTMACRO NEWMACRO This method doesn't check for the version of the client. It is assumed that every version of this client will have these features. 2) *confirm:: EX: BerkRick Moo*confirm:2.00.15: WHY_DEAD This method checks the version sent by the client to see if the client is new enough to have this feature. The client has to have a version >= to the version specified to have the server send the message to the client. The Version field in is in the format of: Version:PatchLevel. 5) .banned file, clue-bypass file. These both use a similar format. The .banned file lists players that are banned from the server. The .clue-bypass lists players that don't need to go through clue checking. Each line in these files should follow the format: @ The domain field can contain the total domain such as guzzler.ecst.csuchico.edu or can contain "*"s for all names such as *.ecst.csuchico.edu would include all machines in the .ecst.csuchico.edu domain. Under Solaris 2.5.1 the wildcard "*" does not work. If wish to ban all login attempts from rpi.edu, I must have something like this in my .banned file: leemy@rpi.edu If I do a leemy@*.rpi.edu the ban does not work. If the "*" wildcard method does not work try this way. 6) Robot configuration The newbie and pre-t robots accept commands from players by default. To prevent potential abuse this feature may be deactivated by editing robotd/defs.h and changing the line: #undef BOTS_IGNORE_COMMANDS to #define BOTS_IGNORE_COMMANDS This change will require the bots to be re-compiled and reinstalled.