Stars! is a computer strategy game for the Windows platform. If you want to learn more about this game, or if you want to download a playable demo version, visit the Stars! WWW page:

CHARTER: rec.games.computer.stars

This newsgroup is a forum for the discussion of the strategy game "Stars!", written by Jeff Johnson and Jeff McBride.  This newsgroup will not be moderated. Acceptable postings to this newsgroup include:

• Announcements of new "Stars!" games requiring players, or existing "Stars!" games in which replacement players are needed

  As a courtesy to readers, these announcements should begin with the key word GAME: at the beginning of the subject line. The key word REPLACE: should be used if replacements for an existing game are sought.

  Games in which players are required to pay a fee for participating should clearly indicate this in the game announcement. Postings that do not announce the beginning of a new pay-for-play game but instead advertise the pay-for-play service itself fall under the category of 'commercial services' and will be governed by the rules regarding advertisements below.

• Strategies for playing the game
• Tips and questions regarding the game mechanics
• Suggestions for future versions of the game
• Information on new releases, upgrades, patches, etc. from the game authors
• Direct comparison of "Stars!" and other strategy games in the same genre
• Announcements of commercial or shareware programs or services that are directly related to "Stars!"

  These postings must be concise and informative, must contain a minimum of hype, and no more than 1 advertisement per month for a single product or service is allowed.

  All advertisements should be marked with the key word AD: or ADVERTISEMENT: at the beginning of the subject line.

• Announcements of free programs or services directly related to "Stars!"

  These postings are not considered advertisements but should nonetheless be governed by common sense and restraint in the nature of the announcement and the frequency of posting.

  It is suggested that such posts be marked with the key word ANNOUNCE: at the beginning of the subject line.

Postings containing binary files (regardless of encoding) are UNACCEPTABLE for this newsgroup.  Rather than posting a binary file, the binary file should be placed at an appropriate FTP site (such as the /pub directory of beast.webmap.com, which is the main "Stars!" FTP server) or posted to alt.binaries.games or alt.binaries.misc and a pointer to the binary file's location posted to this newsgroup.

• IT - Inter-stellar Traveller
• IS - Inner-Strength (note that one should be careful when using
  IS to mean Inner-Strength and not Inter-stellar Traveller)
• SS - Super-Stealth
• WM - War Monger
• JOAT - Jack of All Trades
• CA - Claim Adjuster
• AR - Alternate Reality
• SD - Space Demolition
• HE - Hyper-Expansion
• PP - Packet Physics
• HP - Hyper-Producer (a race design for high resource output)
• HG - Hyper-Growth (a race design for high population growth)

• PRT - Primary Racial Trait (e.g., Super Stealth, Alternate Reality)
• LRT - Lesser Racial Trait (e.g., Improved Starbases, Total Terraforming)

• BB - Battleship
• CA - Cruiser (CA is also used for Claim Adjuster, perhaps CC is better)
• DD - Destroyer

• PBEM - Play-by-E-Mail
• MM - Micro-management