TRIREME


TRIREME was written in FORTRAN/66 by Steve Estvanik and was on the 1982 release of the Contributed Software Library.

The original Interex Abstract is below:

TRIREME is a battle between the Greeks and the Romans in the Aegean Sea. Use your force of triremes to wipe out the other side.


A sample dialog of a few of the game's commands and their display follows.

  • Note there seems to be a bug in the QUIT command, apparently the game won't let you QUIT unless it is followed by a SKIP command:

  • 
          TRIREME           AUGUST 25,1981 
                     STEVE ESTVANIK 
     
    Need introduction ?Y
    
     You command a fleet of 5 Greek triremes.  A Roman 
    fleet has caught you in Triton Bay and you must fight. 
    Romans prefer to board and use their marines rather 
    than manouver their ships.  Your ships are faster and  
    easier to handle; your crews better trained. 
      
    You also have catapaults on board.  Due to pitch and 
    roll effects, they are more effective  when fired  
    broadside than head on. 
      
    Your crews can row indefinitely at speed 2.  They 
    can row faster for short periods, but will then need 
    to rest.  Your ships are easily handled and speed 
    changes are immediate. 
      
    Throughout, you must also fight the clock.  All 
    ships will move (unless you've ordered them stopped) 
    at set intervals. 
     
    Try to ram and sink the Roman fleet. 
    Ram damage is a function of rower strength 
    and ship speed.  After ramming you can  
    send boarders to try and capture the ship. 
      
    Try not to come to close to land, as turning when 
    close will cause you to run aground. 
      
              This game is loosely based on an article 
              in Scientific American, spring , 1981 
      
                            : 
    Ships are indicated by   n 
      ':' shows the prow      R 
                               - 
      'X' shows sand bars; you'll run aground and lose 
          a turn if you hit these areas. 
      
    Possible commands are: 
           Note: only first 2 letters of command are needed. 
          Some commands let you specify individual ships or 
          your whole fleet by using '9'. 
      
         HE.LP 
      Ship direction, activity: 
         BA.CK OFF  
         CH.ANGE DIRECTION  <1:Starboard/2:Port> 
         KE.EP IN PLACE   
         SP.EED CHANGE  
      Battle commands: 
         SH.IP OARS  
         PU.T OUT OARS  
         FI.RE CATAPAULT FROM  
               Note: all catapaults are mounted in bow 
      Other:  
         ST.ATUS 
         SK.IP TO NEXT UPDATE 
         MA.P   
         QU.IT 
      
      
    Your fleet commander's name (30 characters) ?XYZ
    
    Difficulty level (1-5) ?1
    
    Updates will occur every    350 
    Game # (3 digits) ?111
    
    Time:    360   Command: ?MA 1
    
    X                            X            X      XX        X      1 
    X         X            XX                                  X      2 
    X                          XX   X                          X      3 
    X                                                          X      4 
    X        -  -  -  -                      -                 X      5 
    X        R  R  R  R                      R                 X      6 
    X        1  2  3  4                      5                 X      7 
    X        :  :  :  :                      :                 X      8 
    X                                                          X      9 
    X                                                          X     10 
    X                                                     X    X     11 
    X        X                                                 X     12 
    X                                                          X     13 
    X                X  X                                      X     14 
    XX                           XXXXXXXXXXX                   X     15 
    Time:    378   Command: ?MA 15
    
    XX                           XXXXXXXXXXX                   X     15 
    X              X             XXXXXXXXXXX                   X     16 
    X         X X                XXXXXXXXXXX                   X     17 
    X                            XXXXXXXXXXX                   X     18 
    X                            XXXXXXXXXXX                   X     19 
    X        :   :   :           XXXXXXXXXXX :   :             X     20 
    X        1   2   3                       4   5             X     21 
    X        G   G   G                       G   G             X     22 
    X        -   -   -                       -   -             X     23 
    X                                                          X     24 
    X                                                          X     25 
    X                                                          X     26 
    X                                                          X     27 
    X                                                          X     28 
    X                                                          X     29 
    Time:    391   Command: ?ST
    
      
    **** CURRENT STATUS ****  TIME:    391  Score:        -350 
              STR    FIRE  ROWING  SPEED  DIR   AGROUND  OARS    I      J 
        GREEK FLEET 
         1    300     10    300      1      3      0     11     20     10 
         2    300     10    300      1      3      0     11     20     14 
         3    300     10    300      1      3      0     11     20     18 
         4    300     10    300      1      3      0     11     20     42 
         5    300     10    300      1      3      0     11     20     46 
        ROMAN FLEET 
         1    400     10    300      1      7      0     11      8     10 
         2    400     10    300      1      7      0     11      8     13 
         3    400     10    300      1      7      0     11      8     16 
         4    400     10    300      1      7      0     11      8     19 
         5    400     10    300      1      7      0     11      8     42 
    Time:    403   Command: ?HE
    
                            : 
    Ships are indicated by   n 
      ':' shows the prow      R 
                               - 
      'X' shows sand bars; you'll run aground and lose 
          a turn if you hit these areas. 
      
    Possible commands are: 
           Note: only first 2 letters of command are needed. 
          Some commands let you specify individual ships or 
          your whole fleet by using '9'. 
      
         HE.LP 
      Ship direction, activity: 
         BA.CK OFF  
         CH.ANGE DIRECTION  <1:Starboard/2:Port> 
         KE.EP IN PLACE   
         SP.EED CHANGE  
      Battle commands: 
         SH.IP OARS  
         PU.T OUT OARS  
         FI.RE CATAPAULT FROM  
               Note: all catapaults are mounted in bow 
      Other:  
         ST.ATUS 
         SK.IP TO NEXT UPDATE 
         MA.P   
         QU.IT 
      
    Time:    424   Command: ?QU
    
    Time:    432   Command: ?SK
    
     * * * Ships advance * * * 
      
      
     
    Roman      1  shifts to direction      2 , speed      1 
    Roman      2  shifts to direction      2 , speed      1 
    Roman      3  shifts to direction      2 , speed      1 
     
       Scoring: 
          Remaining strength differential:       -5940 
                             Time penalty:     23 
                   5    Greek ship reward:   1000 
                   5   Roman ship penalty:   1500 
      
    SCORE:       -6463 
     
    **** COMPATABILITY STACK OVERFLOW 
    ABORT: TRIREME.PUB.TRIREME 
    Special CM stack marker cap.  CM was interrupted
    Cap has been removed.  ISM used to get CM state.
    NM TRANS 31.011a0014 
       CM SYS  % 162.23273  CXFILE+%13310           CISEG2           
    Program terminated in an error state. (CIERR 976)
    CPU=9. Connect=1. FRI, FEB 22, 2002,  4:41 PM.
    

    Return to Top of Page
    Back To Empire On The HPe3000 Page