MULTI-TREK is a game similar to traditional Star-Trek games
except that it involves several players (currently up to 8), who
play against each other rather than against imaginary Klingons,
Romulans or whatever. The MULTI-TREK universe consists of a 100
by 100 matrix, of which an approximate 20 by 20 matrix of each
player's immediate area is displayed and continuously updated at
their terminal. MULTI-TREK was originally submitted to the New
Orleans collection, then to the 1979 San Diego collection with
the addition of robot ships. This version has been recoded in
RATFOR and has significant enhancements and improvements, most
notably the addition of energy nets, an improved screen display,
much better input-output (any terminal with clear screen and
cursor positioning may be used at speeds from 1200 baud on up),
use of default ship and direction with most commands ("L" sets
the default direction), more competitive scoring, smarter robot
ships, and fewer bugs. Complete instructions for starting and
playing MULTI-TREK are in the file MTREK.DOC.

The game consists of a driver task (MTREKD), a player task
(MTREK) for each terminal, and a shared global common area for
inter-task communication. This version runs on IAS 3.0, however,
it should run under any system with shared global areas and
rudimentary task switching or time-sharing. Real-time systems
without time-sharing may have to play with priorities to insure
that the driver task gets sufficient CPU time and that all
players get an equal amount of time.

MULTI-TREK was written with a structured Fortran called
RATFOR. This UIC contains all of the Fortran produced by RATFOR,
as well as the RATFOR source (file type .RAT). The RATFOR
compiler is also included on the distribution tape.

MTREK will work properly with any terminal with clear screen
and cursor positioning. The source code is set up to drive
ADM3-A's or VT100's. if you are using different terminals, you
should modify the file "TERMINAL.RAT" (you could modify
"TERMINAL.FTN") to drive your terminal. Modification should be
straight-forward as the code is commented on where to change it.

To build MTREK, do

@BUILD

Send comments, problems, etc. to:

William Wood
Computer Center
Intstitute For Cancer Research
7701 Burholme Ave.
Philadelphia, PA. 19111
(215) 728 2760