BERMUDA RACE II INSTRUCTIONS
(SHAREWARE)
I. Objective and Introduction
The objective is to sail from Newport, Rhode Island to
Bermuda in the least amount of time. The normal sea-going
obstacles may be encountered. You may be penalized for bad
starts or persistently sailing in the wrong direction. You
could lose time from experiencing lost (damaged) bilge
pump(s) or being hit by following seas. You could lose
satellite navigation and have to find your own way. You
could be dismasted in a hurricane or run aground in the
flats off Bermuda. The player reaching Bermuda in the least
total time wins the race and may be listed in the players
hall-of-fame.
II. Installation (It is short, read all of it!)
Bermuda Race II may be executed directly from the floppy
disk or copied to another floppy or a hard disk. A backup
is recommended. If you put it in a subdirectory, keep it
together as you find it. The files are:
RACE02.PRG - main program
RACE.RSC - resource file
RACEPICS - subdirectory for pictures
If SAVEGAME.DAT or HALLFAME.DAT are on the disk or created
after running the program, keep them in the same directory
with RACE02.PRG and RACE.RSC. If the pics are not in a
subdirectory called "RACEPICS" create one and put them there
or they will not be found.
III. Operation
From the RUN menu, you may select "Sailing Instruction"
(Introduction to Sailing), "Pointers" (Race Description and
Pointers) or "Bermuda Race II" (the race itself). From the
File menu, you may select "Save Game" (save the current
game), "Restore Game" (restore a previously saved race) or
"Quit" (return to the desk top).
If you choose Sailing Instructions, then you may learn about
the boat, sails, compass, basic sailing or navigation. Each
part of this tutorial will provide you with a brief
explanation of the subject, combined with figures and a
question or two to test the skills covered. Use the mouse
with the right button on "Continue" or press the return key
to move from one frame to the next. To enter a numeric
answer, press escape to clear the field, enter the digits
and press return. Clicking the right mouse button while
pointing to "Return to Main Menu" will allow you to go onto
the other tutorial or the race itself.
Selecting "Pointers" from the Run menu will lead you to a
description of the race, a summary of commands used in the
race, sail management explanations, sailing performance
guidelines or centerboard operation. The commands and
functions available during the race are discussed in detail
below. Even experienced sailors are encouraged to review
the pointers provided to understand the particulars of how
to sail this race.
After selecting "Bermuda Race II" from the Run menu, a
dialog is displayed to select the seed for the random number
generator. Random numbers are used primarily to determine
the wind speed and direction. By varying the seed, you can
change the whole pattern of the race. Since a two-player
race differs from a one-player race, and follow-on races
start with the end of the previous sequence, an enormous
variety is available.
The next dialog allows the selection of the kind of race to
be sailed. Available options are:
(a) degree of difficulty;
(b) number of players;
(c) human or computer for second player;
(d) if computer, who starts first; and,
(e) fast or slow play.
The degree of difficulty ranges from 1 through 5, 5 being
the most difficult. The degree of difficulty primarily
affects how "smart" the computer is in determining its next
move as an opponent. The other selections require little
explanation except for "fast" versus "slow" play. Fast and
slow play simply determine whether the yacht's track is
plotted on the chart as the "Report" dialog is displayed.
The track is always plotted when the "Chart" function is
selected. After completing your selection click on "OK" or
press the return key.
The next dialog(s) is (are) for player registration. Enter
the name of your yacht and the name for the Captain. If
your system clock has been set, the current date will be
displayed. If your system clock has not been set, you can
enter the date. Edit as required with standard edit keys;
move from one line to another with the up and down cursor
keys. When finished, click on "OK," a return key press will
not work here. Note that the name of the yacht and captain
for the computer player may be changed.
Following player registration, the starting chart and dialog
are displayed once for each player. After the count-down,
select your initial course (check the wind direction) and
click on "OK" or press the return key. Click on "Continue"
or press the return key after the starting gun is fired.
The four control dialogs -- Report, Chart, Centerboard and
Sail will be displayed as requested on a background of the
current appropriate chart (Newport, Atlantic, Bermuda).
Report provides the most information about current
conditions but the dialog occupies half the screen. Chart
shows the current track and last recorded position, elapsed
time, speed, tack, wind speed and relative angle. From
Chart, you can select any of the other control dialogs;
however, Centerboard and Sail always return to the control
dialog from which they were called.
Centerboard and Sail allow you to adjust the centerboard
position and the amount of sail set, respectively. Both
centerboard position and sail area effect "luff" angle;
however, the centerboard position has far more affect than
sail area set. The relative wind angle and luff angle are
shown on the Centerboard dialog to assist in positioning the
centerboard. The maximum sail area for the current wind
speed is displayed on the Sail dialog to assist in setting
the sail area. Be careful, the amount is a maximum and if
you go only by that you may lose some sail (blown out)!
Both the Chart and Report dialogs may be positioned at the
top or the bottom of the screen to allow better viewing of
the yacht's track. Also the course may be selected from
either the Report or the Chart dialogs.
To change course, click on the arrows (1 degree change) or
the slider track (10 degrees change) or drag the control
slider to the new course. Two additional commands are
available from the Report dialog only -- "Exit" to quit the
race and a pair of radio buttons to modify the fast/slow
play mode (yacht track with Report dialog).
Key items to watch are: (a) the relative wind angle versus
the current luff angle and (b) true course versus ship's
heading. If the luff angle is greater than the relative
wind angle, the sails will luff (fall slack) and the yacht
will slow. With the centerboard up (partial or full), the
yacht will slip sideways due to the wind (set) and require
more frequent course corrections. True course is available
to guide the Captain unless satellite navigation is lost
during a storm. At the finish of the race, the race time
will be corrected for lost time (due to equipment failures)
and/or penalties, e.g., for a bad start. The winner will be
judged based on this total time.
Records of the five fastest times to Bermuda are saved in
the Players' Hall-of-Fame. Also shown, with the Players'
Hall-of-Fame, is the Historical Hall-of-Fame in which times
for historical race winners are shown. Good luck and good
sailing.
BERMUDA RACE II IS SHAREWARE. IF YOU USE IT AND INTEND TO COUTINUE
USING IT, YOU ARE ASK TO SEND $5.00 TO THE AUTHORS. PLEASE SEND YOUR
CHECK TO:
CARL CONNELL
4713 HERITAGE DR.
LYNCHBURG, VA 24503
THANK YOU
CARL CONNELL 75036,2274