Date: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 1:01am Forum: TRADEWAR From: ML:Reisa@MMN Msg#: 1419712 To: ** ALL ** Re: Helper Comparison Chart OK Folks, since we're having the "Which helper should I use" debate popping up again, it's time for me to post my helper comparison chart again :) Now, due to the fact I have been WAY short on free time lately, this is only SLIGHTLY updated from the last time I posted it. Several notes... 1. TW-ATS has quite a few new features activated in it's latest version, which I HAVE NOT been able to check out, so I left the chart as it was on TW-ATS. If you are interested in this program, download it, but realize it's quite a bit different since I wrote this chart :) (mouse support and some menus for example). There has been at LEAST 5 new versions released since this chart was made. I'll update the info as soon as I can :) 2. Does anyone know where I can get a copy of the latest TWTERM so I can evaluate it? I believe it's TWTERM 5.7. It seems that he's no longer affiliated with annex.com(?) and upon searching for TWTERM in the usual places, I have not been able to find ANY copies of it anywhere! *sigh* Help! :) 3. TWHelper's author has done away with the copy protection scheme he had instituted. You no longer have limits on how many installations you can make. I *do not* know if he has re-instituted the 5-logon limitation though, if anyone knows, please let me know :) 4. All the helper programs WILL WORK if you are using a Unix-style shell account to telnet to a board to play TradeWars. I have not been able to use any of them via PPP, but I did manage to get lucky using TWHelper and a program called CSLIPPER, via my SLIP account. Only got it to work once tho... never got it to work again :) I'll keep trying and let you know :) 5. Don't flame me if you don't agree with the chart. If there is info that is incorrect, or features not charted or outright errors, *PLEASE* let me know. But don't flame me :) I spent a LOT of time compiling this information, if you don't like it, make your own chart and post it :) 6. Lastly, I can't emphasize this enough...try them ALL, and give them a good long look. READ THE DOCUMENTS!!!! Choose the helper that works FOR YOU, and suits YOUR needs. And READ THE DOCS! :) Hope this helps ya'll!!! Please let me know if there are any errors ;) OK, chart will follow in the next few messages :) --- þ SLMR 2.1a þ TradeWars... It's not just a game, it's a way of life... --- Sent via MailLink, 31-JAN-97, 03:24:20, from: (MMN)Metropolis Downtown - (913)663-3333 Many Cities, Midwest (R)eply, (E)mail reply, (T)hread, (P)revious or (N)ext message? Date: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 1:01am Forum: TRADEWAR From: ML:Reisa@MMN Msg#: 1419713 To: ** ALL ** Re: Helper Comparison Cha 1/3 COMPARISON OF VARIOUS TRADEWARS HELPER FEATURES Jan. 1997 _______________________________________________________________________ Buggy means that the macro may lock up or have occasionally problems, and that in a near future version it should be fixed. In the TW_ATS column, "*" means it's a feature that the Author has in the program but has not finished coding/debugging it, so will be active in a future version. On all, ? means I'm not sure if it does that or not, either because I could not test it out thoroughly or I had an unregistered version of the helper and it wasn't available to me :) (I have twhelper and tw-ats registered, and my roommate has twar registered, so he did most of the twar rankings here. I do not have access to a registered copy of TWTerm, so most info on that program is from corpies who use the program.) No guarantee is made to accuracy, please let me know if you find anything outrageously wrong on the Chart, on the subjective stuff, it's *MY* opinion... you are welcome to share yours with me, but all flames will be ignored :) I spent *A LOT* of time compiling this, don't flame me! Versions Used: TWHelper 9.01, TWAR Beta C, TWTERM 5.5, TW_ATS .978 TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS Trading Macros: ---------------------------------- Single port trade X X X X Pair Trade, Any pair X X X X Triple Product Trade (i.e., BSB-SBS) X X X Triple Product Trade (BBB-SSS) X ? X Transwarp Trade X X X Evil Macros, Stealing/Robbing TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS ---------------------------------- Rob Credits X X X X Steal Equipment X X X X Sell Steal Move (SSM) X Sorta X X Sell Steal Transport (SST) X X X X Sell Steal Move Rob (SSMR) X Sell Steal Transport Rob (SSTR) X X Rob Move Rob (RMR) X X X Rob Transport Rob (RTR) X SST with Three Ships X(nice!) SST with different # holds on each ship X Steal to a planet Buggy ? ? Show list of busted ports X ? X Mark Busts as Rob or Steal Bust X Clear all busts X ? X Colonising Macros, Planetary... TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS ---------------------------------- Colonise using ore on planet X X X X Colonise, ore on one planet, X * leave cols on different planet Colonise, use fighter near terra X X X X Colonise, use planetary Transporter X X X Hauling/Moving colonists, X X * products between planets Auto Colonise on Top of Hour X Move Fighters Between Planets X X ? * Move Shields Between Planets X Buggy ? * Planet Trade (single product, sell to planet X X X X (buy and sell in one move X X X (buy all three products (SSS) X X Buy Shields & Fighters X X Twarp Planet and Negotiate Sale X Exploring, moving around TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS ----------------------------------- Level Diagraming X(1) X X (zero turn mapping) Amount of time to Zero turn map 5000 1.75hrs n/a 2.5 hr 1 hour sectors (14.4 modem, 386 w/2m ram) Auto Explore X Buggy X Trade, Rob, Steal, Deploy X X Fighters, while exploring Eprobing routines X X X X Locate enemy fighters X Go to specified sector, X scanning along the way "ZIP" you out of the sector X X ? Twarp/Warp you home FAST X Displays TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS ------------------------------------- Diplay path to certain sector X X X Display closest port selling ??? X X Display closest pair port, trade X X X ? Display closest steal pair X ? Display closest rob pair X ? Display closest unexplored sector X X Display ports arranged in order ? X of quantity available Display only ports at or X above certain percentage Display/locate dead ends X X X X Display/locate tunnels X X X X Display/locate bubbles ? X Display One Ways X X X Find Closest Fighter to X specified sector Map shows deployed fighters X X X Map shows one-ways (in- and outgoing) X X X Map shows type of port X X X X Map shows whether you busted there X ? X Additional Macros/Attack stuff TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS -------------------------------------- Jettison Product for experience X X Blow Up Planets for experience X X Manually Mark a sector busted/not busted X X X Mark a sector safe/not safe X X X Attack to destroy a trader/alien (auto) X X Attack to capture a trader/alien (auto) X X Pursue a ship/Attack/Capture X X upon catching up with them :) Automatically disrupt mines X X X * Fire photon into sector and follow X X X Chase photon fired into sector X Automatically deploy mines while X moving around Auto Twarp to toll fighter hit by enemy X Auto planet warp to toll fighter hit by enemy X Auto eprobe sector when fighter hit X Define a "Attack on sight" list * Auto attack those on Attack List * Continuously scan sector, auto photon * if density changes (truly devious!) Additional Features TWHelper TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS -------------------------------------- Built in com program X(2) X X X Built in Macro language X X * Auto warp out of sector X ? when someone warps in Abort twarping if no fighter X X X present Page/Fed Com/Sub Space while GUI X X Buggy >>> Continued to next message --- þ SLMR 2.1a þ TradeWars... It's not just a game, it's a way of life... --- Sent via MailLink, 31-JAN-97, 03:24:36, from: (MMN)Metropolis Downtown - (913)663-3333 Many Cities, Midwest (R)eply, (E)mail reply, (T)hread, (P)revious or (N)ext message? Date: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 1:01am Forum: TRADEWAR From: ML:Reisa@MMN Msg#: 1419714 To: ** ALL ** Re: Helper Comparison Cha 2/3 >>> Continued from previous message Scripting (TWAR won't page) Encryption of Sub Space messages GUI X X(v.995) Channel scanning to find X X X enemy channel Graphical map of the universe X X X X Notes on individual sectors X(3) Notes on individual games X X X Merge another player's CIM X X X Sorta into your file Stop scripting at specified X X number of turns left Stop scripting at specified X number of cycles (trades, robs, etc.) Determine Major Space Lanes X X X Designate "home" sector X Define Attack List * Save database to disk periodically X X X Temporarily disable helper commands X Change to another game file without X X leaving Helper Track port changes since last checked X Track enemy movements (via tolls) X Turn capture file on and off online X X X "unlock/lock" the Underground (devious!) X "locks on" and remembers best price X ? * while SSTing or Trading On-line text editor X X On-line Ship Catalog X X Drop to/Shell to Dos X X X ? Subjective Stuff :) -------------------------------------- Ratings given on a 1-10 basis, 10 being best Completely my own humble opinion, some opinions influenced by what I have heard many other players say and their troubles with the various programs. TWHelp TWAR TWTERM TW_ATS Profitability of the Trading Algorithm 10 7 9 8 The reason TWH gets such a high ranking on this is cause it "locks" onto the best price and remembers it. The other programs re-haggle at the port each time you return to it during a trading/sell-steal script. Re-haggling each time also slows down the script. Ease of set up 7 8 9 5 How long it took me to set up each program: TWH: 11 minutes. TWAR: 28 minutes. TWTERM: 12 minutes TW_ATS: 16 minutes TWAR woulda taken less time but there it took me forever to figure out how to download my .CIM into the program. Setup time consists of time spent (AFTER unzipping the program) setting up the program for your modem, for the game file, calling the board, and downloading a .CIM (port and sector, 5000 sectors) TWAR modem setup was fast and simple. Heck, all of them really were :) Ease of use 7 8 10!! 5 Always a tough thing to rank. In MY opinion, TWHelper is the easiest to use. But I'm ranking this based on talking with over 100 players on 7 different boards over two years of playing... helper discussions always being a popular topic grins. For newbie players, TWTERM has them all beat...you don't need to know a thing about the game to use this program. TW_ATS is still being fine tuned, although I figured it out quickly enough, it is confusing to use and not very intuitive. Each new beta version he issues has improved dramatically. TWAR has a fairly extensive on-line help, the best of all the helper helps, although it could be cleaned up a bit (recommends stealing at experience/80 for holds, instead of exp/20!!!) Perceived speed of scripts 8 7 8 10 Again, a tough thing to rank. The perceived speed of the scripts can vary, at times drastically, due to board usage and lag and line noise and sun spots and spilled coffee and stuff like that. TWAR's scripts rehaggle, slowing them down, TW-ATS rehaggles, also, but has the option of having the local TW stuff from being shown on your screen, speeding it up immensly. I used each program to move 5000 colonists from planet to planet, just to see how they'd rank in speed... they all moved the 5000 colonists within 42 seconds of eachother. TW_ATS the fastest, TWTERM the slowest. Memory use 8 7 9 8 I can run all 4 programs, including TWH's GUI version, on my 386 with 2 megs of ram, dos 6.22, 20 meg MFM hard drive (don't laugh too hard please grins) TWHGUI and TWTERM have the best memory usage, with it's "virtual memory" way of dealing with ram-cheap machines... 5000 sectors explored, full port data in file. For *ME* TWTERM has never locked up on me. Not once. TWHelper and TWATS lock up the least overall, TWAR and TWH GUI are right about tied for locking up on me. If you run TWAR in protected mode, it seems to do away with all the lock ups (did for me) (locking up meaning locking up my computer and forcing me to reset the computer.) Here's the stats. (Note: 386EMM is active) Memory available before loading any helper: 1,150,784 After loading: TWHelper 88,240 TWH GUI 143,568 (Protected mode. Some functions unavail) TWAR 60,224 TWTERM 216,386 TW_ATS 79,640 "Look and Feel" 8 (GUI=10) 7 10 4 Again, highly subjective. I like the "clean screen" of TWH and how fast I can tell it what I want it to do. TWAR has pop-up menus, which allow you to choose what you want, for instance, a trading macro to trade for, which I dislike cause it slows me down, but are easier to use. TWTERM has prompts on how to use the macro appear on the bottom of the screen, which are faster than the pop-up menus, a nice happy medium between TWH's method and TWAR's method. TW_ATS will prompt you also... biggest hassle is remembering to put leading zeros in if the port number is less than 4 digits or the planet number is less than 3 digits. TWTERM and TW_ATS both take up a portion (about 14 lines) of your monitor screen with their interface. TWH GUI version is wonderful, with it showing the map on the top half along with mouse-able buttons for many macros. TWH map is the most informative and easy-to-read. TWTERM has a nifty way of split-screen maps, grins... I can never remember tho to hit "L" to leave the map instead of "esc" but that's me. TW_ATS map needs work on the amount of info it displays, but displays fastest, since it uses ansi vs. going into VGA graphics. TWAR map is the slowest to display on my system, and doesn't show deployed fighters. Additional Comments... -------------------------- All four programs have the ability to dial into the BBS itself. TWAR has the best built-in com program, can download and upload files even! TWHelper has the most limited com program. Although the docs say to use your existing com program to initialize the modem, I have never found it necesary to do so, I just start up TWHelper and type ATDT phone number, or set it up to autodial. All programs dialed into the board at basically the same speed. TW_ATS and TWHelper didn't like it much when I try to answer some email while they are still active (scrambled up my screen). I never tried it with TWTERM so I can't say... TWAR gave me no problem with email. Easiest to Understand Documentation award goes to TWTERM. Most Comprehensive Documentation award goes to TWHelper. Funniest Documentation goes to TW_ATS. (it needs A LOT of help tho!) Most Useless Documentation award goes to TWAR (Just states features, not how to use them.) Best On-Line Help award goes to TWAR. Worst On-Line Help goes to TWHelper (just a listing of the commands!) >>> Continued to next message --- þ SLMR 2.1a þ TradeWars... It's not just a game, it's a way of life... --- Sent via MailLink, 31-JAN-97, 03:24:50, from: (MMN)Metropolis Downtown - (913)663-3333 Many Cities, Midwest (R)eply, (E)mail reply, (T)hread, (P)revious or (N)ext message? Date: Tuesday, February 4, 1997 1:01am Forum: TRADEWAR From: ML:Reisa@MMN Msg#: 1419715 To: ** ALL ** Re: Helper Comparison Cha 3/3 >>> Continued from previous message General Recommendations: ----------------------------------- Best program for the computer illiterate: TWTERM Best program for Newbie Players: TWTERM Best program for Good Players (never play evil) TWAR & TWHelper Best program for Evil Players (never play good) TWHelper & TW_ATS Best program for Expert Players: TWHelper & TW_ATS Best program for the Truly Devious muhahaha: TW_ATS Best program for the Saints and ChatWar'ers: TWAR Best program for the Impatient: TWAR Best program for those who fall asleep at TWHelper the computer (i.e., loudest alarms) Best program for Annihilating the Universe: TW_ATS Best program for Running Away: TWAR & TW_ATS Best program for Writing Macros: TWTERM Best program for those who say "nifty!!!" TWTERM Best program for those who can't find "m" TWAR Most Established Programs: TWHelper & TWTERM Still in Beta: TWAR & TW_ATS Summary... MAKE YOUR OWN DECISION!! ----------------------------------- Try them all. Use them for a while, don't make a decision based on one hour's worth of usage. Each one has it's advantages and disadvantages. Especially if you are a new player, I would recommend NOT making a decision on which one to register until you have played the game for a while... you will find your helper needs will change over time, and as you begin to learn more about the game. The worst thing you can do is register a program just because the best player in the game uses it. The best thing you can do is *REGISTER* the helper you choose... these guys spent a *LOT* of blood and sweat and BBS credits developing these programs. Don't hack them or use a friends reg code... spend the 25 cent stamp and the less than $25 to register them. You will save MUCH MORE than the cost of registering the program you choose over time in BBS credits. Support them!!!! They are the greatest! How to Reach The Authors, Get the Programs, Cost of Registering, Etc. --------------------------------- TWAR: Douglas Underwood $20 US/$25 Canadian. 43 Hughes Cres. States good for ALL future versions of TWAR. Ajax, Ont. 4 logon names maximum per registered copy. L1T 3P9, CANADA GO SWREG on compuserve to register online. COMPUSERVE: 71511,3025 INTERNET: dougwood@cml.com TW_ATS: Dean M. Ellis $25 US BadHouse Software Good for all upgrades through version 1.99999 1317 San Fernando Road, #244 3 logon names maximum per registered copy. Burbank, CA 91504 (answers his email fastest of them all grins) INTERNET: Shark@mpb.com TWHELPER: Mike Ingraham $21 includes Universe Mapping Feature, GUI, & Just FUN Software Shipping and Handling. Upgrades are $3. 4790 Naniloa Dr. **Unlimited Logon Names!** (Universe Mapping Salt Lake City, UT 84117-5547 use to be $5, now is part of package?) INTERNET: mingraham@intele.net (Email is rarely answered, rumor has it) Support BBS: Just FUN Software BBS (801) 278-8839 log on as "Just Fun" with a password of "software". TWTERM: Will Boyett TWTERM $18, Also has available TWSOUNDS II for $5, 11955 209th St. TW JUNKIE disks of TW Shareware for $9, and a Lakewood, CA 90715 printed TWTERM Manual for $9. 3 logon names max. SUPPORT BBS: 1-818-779-5600 or } NOTE: I do not think Telnet to: 204.74.67.1. } you can get in touch When asked for your name, enter: SUPPORT } with author here now! --- þ SLMR 2.1a þ TradeWars... It's not just a game, it's a way of life... --- Sent via MailLink, 31-JAN-97, 03:25:06, from: (MMN)Metropolis Downtown - (913)663-3333 Many Cities, Midwest