| Full Thrust Play-by-E-Mail Starship Combat Full Thrust is published by Ground Zero Games Copyright 1992, Jon Tuffley. FTJava Copyright 2000-2007, Jon Davis and Dan Blezek.

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Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I send orders to the FTJava Server?
2. How do I configure the FTJava client to read and write e-mail?
3. Has Damage Control been implemented? How does it work?
4. How do I plot orders and use the "Ghost plot"?
5. Why do the beam batteries report that I've scored two armor and one hull damage when the target has no armor remaining?
6. How do the "Fog of War" game options work?
7. What orders formats are available for cinematic movement?
8. How do I "strike the colors" for a ship?
9. How do I order an FTL jump?

### How do I send orders to the FTJava Server?

There are three ways to send orders to the game server.

The first method relies on the e-mail capabilities of the FTJava client program that came with the distribution ZIP file. The mail Preferences must be set correctly from the main menu. Once all orders have been entered, the user selects the 'Queue Orders' menu item. This action writes the orders into a file in the OutgoingGames directory. The main menu selection 'Send email' will then then submit all orders in the directory to the FTJava Game server.

The second method uses your current e-mail program and requires the XML orders file to be placed as an attachment in the mail message. Send an e-mail to the FTJava server at ftgm@nycap.rr.com with your orders as an attachment with the file name as the e-mail subject. Your message will not be received or interpreted if the XML orders are cut and pasted into the main text of the message. It must be attached as a separate file. In addition, the MIME type must be "text/xml" or "text/plain".

The third method is the submission of orders directly to me (davisje@nycap.rr.com) as a text file or an attachment. However, frequent use of this method is a 'career limiting' move and may result in less prestigious command assignments in the future.

### How do I configure the FTJava client to read and write e-mail?

The Preferences menu contains all the fields needed to receive and send e-mail directly from the client. The sample fields are typically used for POP3 mailboxes on your ISP.

- Incoming Games Directory - The name of the directory for all incoming files from the server.
- Email Address - Your current e-mail address for identification at the server.
- Mail Password - Your current e-mail password. This field may be left blank. The client will ask you for this password when you attempt to retrieve mail from your inbox.
- Mail Host - Your mail host IP address. This information should be available in your e-mail software you use for regular e-mail communication. Look under 'Mail Servers' for the Incoming mail server your software is using.
- Mail Folder - INBOX for POP3 mailboxes. This may be different for other mail protocols.
- Mail Protocol - The mail protocol your ISP is using for mail.
- SMTP Host - The outgoing mail server at your ISP.
- FTJava Email Address - Set this field to ftgm@nycap.rr.com
- Outgoing Games Directory - The name of the directory for all outgoing files from the client.
- Delete Fetched Email - Set to true or false. This flag, if set to true, will delete all FTJava e-mails received from the server after they have been retreived from your mailbox by the client. It will not make any other changes to your mailbox.
- Mail Username - The user name for your mailbox. This name will typically be your userid without the host information.

### Has Damage Control been implemented? How does it work?

Yes, damage control has been implemented and results of the damage control response will be included in the ship log for the damaged systems.

Damage control can be player directed or automated if no orders are given. A Damage control dialog is available during the movement phase.

### How do I plot orders and use the "Ghost plot"?

The current interface requires you to hit 'Enter' in the Plot Orders text field in order to update the "Ghost plot" on the Star Map window. The orders displayed on the Ghost plot are the ones that the Server will execute when it runs the turn. If it is not displaying what you think are the correct orders, then you could have either a orders syntax error or your main drives could be damaged.

### Why do the beam batteries report that I've scored two armor and one hull damage when the target has no armor remaining?

The reporting mechanic for the beam batteries and submunition packs is such that armor is hit first and hull points represent the penetrating damage that the target receives from rerolls. Any hit to armor is immediately transferred to the hull if no armor is present.

In addition, FTJava is configured to run in a "fog of war" mode, so you may not know the extent of your opponent's ship's or their status.

### How do the "Fog of War" game options work?

There are six levels of information on opposing ships.

- Full information with system status (default)
- Full information with no system status
- Mass, drives, and screen information only
- Mass information only
- Position, heading, ans speed information only
- No information

There are two game options for the "fog of war" games.

The first is a Level option that reports a fixed set of information on the opposing ships regardless of the range to the opponent's ships. The level of information is set at the beginning of the game and may be set anywhere from Full information with system status to Position information.

The second is a Range based option that reports a varying amount of information depending on the minimum ship range to the opposing target. It's based on a sensor range band. At the first range band, the highest level of information is available. At the second band, the information level drops by one. Therefore, at greater than five range bands from your opponent, you will not have any information on the opposing players ship. The default sensor range band is 18 mu.

### What orders formats are available for cinematic movement?

Due to a bit of debate over how cinematic orders are to be written, the FTJava movement parser supports two orders formats. "2P" and "P2" orders are both legitimate orders for a port 2 order.

The second digit in the set of cinematic orders is treated as main drive thrust orders. Therefore, "1s3" orders is a starboard 1 order witha main drive burn of three. "S1+3" is also interpreted in the same way.

### How do I "strike the colors" for a ship?

Type the order 'strike' during the orders phase as opposed to a movement plot orders.

### How do I order an FTL jump?

Type the order 'jump', 'ftl', or 'j' during the orders phase.