Miner 2149 Version 3.0 Copyright 1998, 1999 by Michael Baker

Thank you for trying this application. The latest shareware version of this program as well as technical support is available at www.Bprojects.com . The shareware version may be freely distributed over the world wide web. If this program is included in any compilation, book, CD, or other media, I request a free copy in exchange. I welcome your comments at my web site or by e-mail at miner@Bprojects.com (Internet addresses are subject to change.) Registered users may receive future updates by e-mail.

IMPORTANT: Before installing this software, you must read and agree to the conditions and terms in the software user agreement. This is contained in the SUA.txt file. Always back up your data before installing new software.

Contents:

Registration
Installation
Introduction
Playing Instructions
User Comments
Revision History
Legal Notices
Registration Information:

Instant registration available for only $12.00. If you have already registered this product, thank you.
Only registered users will be admitted to the Tycoon Club for high scores. Please do not send scores if you are not registered.
Registered users will be able to upgrade to future versions for free.
To register, simply start your internet connection then click here -> REGISTER!
For other ways to register through PilotGear, please call 1-800-741-9070 or visit PilotGear at www.pilotgear.com
Registration helps encourage new software development for the Palm OS Platform.
Installation:

These instructions apply to installation under Windows 9x. Users of other systems will need to alter these instuctions to their own system. To run this program, you must have the shareware Pocket C 3.01 or the freeware Pocket C run time 3.01 (included) installed on your Pilot. This program will only run on Palm OS 2.0 or higher. (It will not run correctly on an original pilot 5000 or 1000.) Please read the PocketC documentation (ReadmeC.txt) as well.

The following files must be installed on your Palm™ device to run this application (About 40K Total):

PocketCRT.PRC (30K Pocket C runtime. Install this only if Pocket C 3.01 or higher is not already installed. Only 1 copy of this file is required on your Palm(tm) device. It can be used with other Pocket C applications as well.)
MinerIcon.PRC (This file provides an Icon from the Applications menu on the Palm device.)
Miner30.PDB (This is the compiled Pocket C main program file.)
Additional files are included with this program due to the terms of Pocket C Runtime distribution agreement, but do not required installation to run Miner 2149. See the Pocket C documentation for details.
Step by step instructions:

HotSync(tm) your Palm(tm) device before installing the software.
Click on the Palm Pilot Install Tool on your desktop. This file should be located in your "Palm Desktop" or "Palm Pilot Desktop" folder under the Window(tm) Start Menu.
If you do not already have Pocket C 3.01 or Pocket C Runtime 3.01 installed, use the Install Tool to install "PocketCRT.PRC"
Continue using the Install Tool to install the files "MinerIcon.PRC" and "Miner30.PDB". (Other Pocket C run time files included with this program are not needed and do not need to be installed. See ReadmeC.txt for details.)
When complete, HotSync(tm) to transfer the program to your Palm(tm) device.
Tap the Miner icon and enjoy. (This program can also be run from the PocketC menu.)
Introduction:

The year is 2149. The invention of the Dark Matter Drive has made traveling between the planets commonplace. Mankind has spread among most of the planets of the solar system. Unfortunately, the Dark Matter Drive requires energy in the form of diridium, a rare compound that was initially manufactured from asteroids and meteorites that had landed on earth millions of years ago. With the supply of diridium on earth nearly exhausted, the economic viability of the off world colonies is threatened. As a former mining consultant, your economic viability is also threatened by the closure of many earth mines. Recent advances in mining and construction have made it possible to obtain diridium from large asteroids circling in the asteroid belt. It's dangerous work, but the riskiest jobs usually have the greatest payoff. The off world governments have offered financial backing to anyone who is qualified to construct and manage a two year mining operation on one of these asteroids. Six months ago, you received a communication that your application has been accepted. Your team of twenty people has trained extensively for this mission. The potential for death and disaster is high. Today, you risk everything in the hopes that your mining operations will bring you the riches you have only heard and dreamed about. Your transport is now boarding...

Playing Instructions:

Miner 2149 is a realistic simulation based on complex formulas derived from real life situations. As a result, everything you change in the simulation will effect the outcome of your colony.
At the start of each simulation, you will be awarded a 1,000,000 credit stipend to build your colony.
Before you start your mining colony, you must select an asteroid to mine. First, you will gather information by launching probes to nearby asteroids. You will be allowed to launch up to 5 probes. Launching more probes will give you more choices for where to build your mining colony. Each probe will cost you 17,000 credits and will give you information about one asteroid.
Select an asteroid from the list your probes send back. Each asteroid will have information about the asteroid class and its terrain. A class 1 asteroid is the easiest with many ore veins, smooth terrain, and low risk of disasters. A class 5 asteroid is the hardest to mine with few ore veins, rocky terrain, low output mines, and high risk of disaster.
From this point on, what happens to your colony is up to you. Most of the screen is taken up by the mine site map at the top left of the screen. When you first start, only the Mother Ship will be on the map.
The Mother Ship will provide life support, living quarters, and food for 21 days. The 20 workers you bring with you to start building the colony will depend on this. After 20 days, you better have life support, power, hydoponics, and a sickbay in place.
To Begin:
Use the building selector at the bottom left of the screen to select the object you want to place on the map. To start building, select the bulldozer. Notice that the name and cost of the selected building or tool will appear in the box below the selector.
Next, tap the smooth area immediately next to the mother ship where you want to bulldoze.
Press "+1" on the Advance bar to go to the next day. Bulldozers take 1 day to clear a space.
Next, use the scroll buttons again to select the building you want to construct. Tap the screen on the clear space you created to begin construction of the selected building. A construction symbol will appear to indicated the building is being constructed.
If you forget what is being built on a construction site, tap the site to bring up information about the project on that site.
If you placed the wrong building, press the undo button on the building selector.
You will use the on screen buttons to interact with your mining colony.
Level: Each asteroid has 3 levels. Use the level button to switch between different levels.
Reports: This bar gives you three choices, Operation report, Production report, and Options (the "x"). These reports will inform you about the condition of your mining operation and workers.
Operatations: Keep a close eye on the food supply and life support. Previously viewed values are in parenthesis.
Workers: The number of workers in your colony.
WorkForce: The percent of jobs occupied by workers.
Morale: Indicate the current morale of your workers. Try to keep morale high.
Wage: The current daily wage for your workers in credits.
Life Support/Food/Health: Shows the available supply of these items. Less than 100% indicates the need to build more of these structures.
Occupancy: Shows the percent of available living quarters occupied. More than 100% implies that workers are becoming overcrowded.
Production Report: Shows many aspects of diridium production
Mines: The total number of mines in your colony
Processor: Shows percent of processor capacity being used. When this goes beyond 100%, its time to build another processor.
Power: Indicated the amount of needed power being supplied by your power plants. When this drops below 100%, its time to build a new power plant.
Sell Price: Indicates the current selling price of Diridum in credits/ton.
Diridium: The amount (tons) of diridium you have stored for future sale.
Storage: Shows the amount of storage used.
30-Day Projection: is helpful to budget your expenses, but it is not always accurate as it does not account for buildings being built, or disasters that may occur.
Options:
Auto Save: With this function enabled, your game will automatically be saved each time the advance bar is pressed. The default is enabled. Disabling the autosave feature will speed updates when the advance bar is pressed.
Gridlines: This toggles grid lines off and on. New users may find this feature helpful when learning where to place new buildings.
Save: Save your current game in one of four slots. Games saved in the autosave slot can be re-loaded at the start of the program.
Load: Will load a previous game. This will overwrite the current game.
Save & Exit: Saves your game to the autosave slot and exits the game
Resign: Terminates your current game.
Advance: Pressing the buttons on this bar will advance time one, seven, or fourteen days. Each time this bar is pressed, the state of your colony is saved (if autosave in enabled) so you can return to it later.
Wage: Changes the daily wage for the workers. An average wage is about 600-700 credits per day, but this will change depending on the selling price of diridium. (The workers aren't stupid.)
Diridium: Press the storage container on this bar to sell some of the diridium that you have mined and processed. The storage container will fill up as your storage space is used. When the container is all black, you have used all available storage.
Undo: This button is located on the building selector. (The clockwise arrow.) Use this button to undo the last building that you placed.
Do not exit while "Updating..." or "Saving ..." is displayed or your game could be lost during the process.
If you change applications while playing Miner, you will need to re-start the program by simply tapping "Load Mine" and selecting the game to load. If you have autosave enabled, the top game slot will be your automatically saved game.
To build your colony, you will need to know the many types of buildings available and terrain present:
Building/Symbol Description Build Time (Days) Workers Needed per Building Cost in Credits
Construction The construction symbol indicates an area under construction. Tap the construction area to obtain information about a particular construction project. variable 5 ---
Bulldozer Use this to clear smooth areas for building. 1 1 6,500
Diridium Mine A diridium mine finds the ore that will be sent to the processors for conversion to diridium. Also, a diridum mine will tunnel down to the next level if nothing is directly below it. This structure can only be placed on an ore vein 7 30 45,500
Hydroponics Garden As you are away from civilization, your colony will need this structure to grow food to feed itself. One structure will feed about 200 workers. 10 12 65,000
Tube Connector This low cost structure connects buildings to expand your colony quickly. 2 0 13,000
Life Support Generator Build this to ensure your workers have enough air to breathe. One life support system will support about 400 workers. 10 15 65,000
Quarters for Workers This is the living area for about 50 of your workers. 9 1 58500
Space Port Build this for trading processed diridium. The space port can transfer large amounts of cargo in a short time. You only need one of these. (Unless you want a backup pad incase one become damaged by a crash landing.) Without a space port, sold diridium transfers slowly to waiting ships. 10 20 65,000
Power Plant The power plant supplies electricity to keep your buildings working in top shape. A low amount of emergency power keeps is available if the Power Plant is destroyed. Warning, power plants have a tendancy to explode. 15 30 97,500
Processor The ore processor plant converts the diridium ore to diridium that you can trade for credits. One processor can handle the output of 3-4 diridium mines. 15 20 97,500
Sickbay As in real life, you will need a sickbay to care for injured and ill workers. One sickbay can care for 300 workers 12 12 78,000
Storage A storage facility will hold processed diridium until you are ready to sell it. You will need to build more storage facilities as your number or mines and processors increase. 9 12 58,500
Clear Area This represents an area that has been bulldozed and is ready for building. --- --- ---
Smooth Area A smooth area is a flat area without too many rocks. A smooth area can be cleared by a bulldozer in order to build. --- --- ---
Rough Area This type of terrain is too rocky to bulldoze. You cannot build on this area. --- --- ---
Ore Vein Place a mine on an ore vein to begin extracting the diridium ore. Do not bulldoze mines as this will destroy them. --- --- ---
Mother Ship This is the ship you arrived in. You cannot build a new mother ship. The mother ship will provide essentials such as food, lodging, and power for the first 21 days of your colony. --- --- ---

Meteor storms may occur while you are building your mining colony. Fortunately, your mother ship brought along a mobile laser platform. During a storm, the mobile laser platform will automatically proceed to the best vantage point in your colony. Use your stylus to point to inbound meteors to destroy them. Only meteors on the screen are in range of the platform. Meteors that leave the screen have fallen out of range. The mobile laser platform must have power to operate. The more you use the laser, the longer the recharge time for another shot. Low power states for the colony will also result in long recharge times. A meter at the bottom right of the screen shows your recharging time. The meteors can be very small and fast, so be sure your handheld's screen contrast is adjusted appropriately.
The simulation will end if you run out of credits, your 2 year term is completed, you are ousted for low morale, or the colony death rate approaches 100%. If you run out of credits, your creditors might extend you additional credit with the hope of recovering their losses. However, this is less likely to happen on more difficult asteroids.
There should be no need to delete a database as you can easily save over older games. However, should the need arise, first start the Pocket C application. Then tap "menu" then "databases". Miner 2149 game databases are "Miner GameX" Press delete to delete the appropriate database.
Here are a few strategy tips to get you started
All buildings must be built next to a completed building. You can only build in four directions from a building such as North, South, East, West.
Smooth areas must be cleared by a bulldozer before building.
Avoid bulldozing ore veins. Bulldozing ore veins will destroy them. You do not need to bulldoze an ore vein building a diridium mine.
As in real life, it costs money to build things in this simulation.
It takes time to complete a building, so plan ahead.
On the building selector, objects that you can afford to build will be in regular text. Objects you cannot afford to build will be in reverse text.
Watch your expenses, life support, and workers. Remember, if you run out of credits, life support, or workers, you will be removed from the mining colony.
If you have too many or too few workers, consider changing the wage you are paying them.
Build a power plant, landing pad, mine, life support, and processor early.
If you get into financial trouble, you might need decrease the worker's pay to zero for a short while. This will severely lower morale causing workers to leave your mining operation.


User Comments:

"...one of the best for the pilot so far..." -H.V.
"I have downloaded Miner 1 week ago...and spend more than 1 hour in the bed every night with my pilot... and Miner." -S.T.
"Your program is excellent, excellent." -M.L.
"I love this game. I can actually sit down and get lost for a while playing it. " -P.K.
"As I write this I'm off to PilotGear to register Miner 2149. I have to say, What a great game!" -D.M.
Revision History

10/1/1998 - Original 1.0 shareware release
10/8/1998 - Revision 1.01 release
Improved speed of "Next" function update
Added animation to Map drawing
Repaired problem with diridium production formula
Fixed Undo routine so that it now properly gives back credits.
Various other minor bug fixes and play enhancements.
10/19/98 - Revision 1.02 release
Morale formula improved
Hi-score system added
Reminder routine added to shareware version to encourage registration. (Sorry. I tried not to do it, but very few registered.) Reminders are not shown on the registered version.
11/6/98 - Major revision 2.0 general release!
New graphical user interface!
Easier building selection
More on-screen information
Sleeker look
Longer time advancement (up to 14 days)
Negative credit balance allowed as long as there is enough stored diridium to cover debts
More disasters added!
Further refinements in simulation formulas. More difficult levels are now harder.
11/18/98 - Minor update to 2.01 (Not released)
Added danger of being ousted if morale drops too low.
Added ability of registered users to convert downloaded shareware versions into registered versions automatically by installing over a registered version after the registered version has been run at least once.
4/22/99 - Miner Version 3.0 general release
More difficult levels are now even harder
Added a mobile laser platform to defend against meteor storms
Added ability to Save/Load multiple games
Autosave feature can now be disabled to speed game play
Now works with PalmPilot Personal! (Tap the "i" icon in the upper right corner if the screen erases on PalmPilot Personal.)
Optional grid lines added for novice users
Processor capacity added to operations report
Important information now highlighted on reports.
Exiting application now returns the user to the applications menu on Palm OS 3.0 or above
Hardware keys disabled to reduce risk of accidental exit from program
Registration reminders removed. (Users will be on their honor to register. Please note that this is an experiment in response to user requests that reminders be removed.)
New simulation events added
Instructions improved
Minor bug updates introduced in last version
Possible future updates
None Planned. Send your suggestions.
Note: Registered users can use future updates so register now if you haven't done so!
Legal Notices

Windows™ is a trademark of Microsoft Corporation
Palm™, Hotsync™, and Palm Computing Platform™ are all trademarks of 3Comm.

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