Note:  This WHATSNEW.TXT file only covers what TayNik Software has done with ISA.

This file does not specify EVERYTHING that has been done to ISA.  Some
are REALLY boring, others I've just forgotten about.



(**************************************************************************)
                              v0.994 - 01.24.03
     Note:  Some of these bugs were the result of the overhaul I did 
            in this version.  If you see a bug listed that you do not
            recognize, it's likely one that cropped up here (or you were
            lucky <g>).  I left the info in here just for the 'ell of it.
(**************************************************************************)


   - The door is now based on A.N.G.E.L., which supports Telnet.  See
     SYSOP.TXT for details.

   - Fixed a few cosmetic problems that cropped up here and there.  
     I won't list them 'cuz it's a rather boring list.

   - Removed the Proceed [Y/n] : prompt that was displayed before the 
     population report was displayed.  

   - Fixed the dual display of the attack force verification lines.

   - Removed the 'Check for Cracks' procedure since ISA is now freeware.
     Originally, ISA would check for known cracks and certain serial 
     numbers, and if found would delete the crack/remove the serial 
     number and exit.

  -  The 'Rare Metals' found on the Mining planets now correctly multiples 
     by the percentage.  If you received an additional 3%, it was originally 
     multipling by '3' instead of '.03'.  The money gained from this find is
     now displayed.

  -  The bank's interest is now multiplied correctly.  Same deal as 'Rare 
     Metals' above.  The interest gained is now shown at the end-turn.

  -  Fixed the PayPeace bug...  after paying the full amount to 
     restore peace, it wasn't actually affecting the empire's peace.  
     
  -  The bank now displays the default deposit amount when hitting [ENTER] for 
     the deposit.  It also now displays your deposited amount after it is 
     accepted.  Also, fixed a withdrawl bug where a) the incorrect amount was 
     withdrawn and b) it allowed you to withdraw your money after it notified 
     you that it would put you over your 1 billion carrying limit.

  -  Lowered the retinal scan delay to speed it up a bit... got annoying after 
     a while.

  -  The Exposition has been reactivated in the code.  However, it is not 
     listed on any menus!  You have to find it! :)

  -  The Underground has been reactivated in the code.  However, it is not 
     listed on any menus!  You have to find it, and it's VERY tough to find... 
     the key to get you into it changes on every keystroke on the menu it's 
     accessible from!  (Yeah, I'm mean! <g>).   Maybe I should put it on 
     the menu?  Nah...  well... dunno... maybe... nah.

  -  The money is now deducted from you when agreeing to the "shabby 
     character's" offer.  Not sure how this one slipped by!

  -  Implemented KILLED.DAT as a blacklist file.  Two uses:
       1)  If a player abdicates, his/her name is added to KILLED.DAT.  This will
           hopefully discourage the 'Lottery Cheat'.  (IE:  New player enters,
           doesn't like the lottery winnings, abdicates, re-enters the game, plays
           the lottery, etc. etc. etc.)  I will have this flag in the user record
           at a later date, but this will help for the moment.  You must manually
           delete the user's name from the KILLED.DAT file!
       2)  If the sysop, for whatever reason, doesn't want the person playing, add
           his/her REAL (IE: the name passed to the BBS via the dropfile) to this
           file.

     Notes:  Edit this file using any text editor, one name per line under the 
             '; comments'  You may add any comment you wish as long as you begin
             the line with a semi-colon... these are ignored.

   - The newspaper now reports lottery winnings.

   - The newspaper now reports when a user locates and enters the Underground.

   - ISA creates various subdirectories (DATA, DOCS, NEWS, etc.) and will automatically
     move the appropriate files to the appropriate directories if needed.

   - Modified the way Tourist Planets bring in income.  These can potentially
     bring more income than Mining Planets, HOWEVER, based on your situation,
     they can actually COST you money to maintain!

   - Fixed a few disaster bugs (things not adding/subtracting at the correct time,
     doing to opposite, etc.).

   - Fixed the 'peacefullness rollover' bug.

   - The tourist planets now pay correctly.  

   - Today's paper displays correctly from the Communications Menu.

   - Changed ISASetup.exe so that no line in the CFG file is blank.  
     ISA32.EXE was having a fit about it!

   - Fixed the Black Hole - it no longer takes billions of planets ;)

   - There are now additional requirements to purchase Mining Planets.

   - Fixed (again) the messaging system.

   - Ed Williams has taken over maintaining the player documentation 
     (ISA.TXT). !Bless that boy! :)

   - Fixed more cosmetic stuff and spelling errors.

   - Did a LOT of code commenting, getting rid of useless vars, cleaning of 
     code, etc.  Most of the work today was this, that's why only a few 'real' 
     updates.

   - The maximum allowed carried cash was raised from 1 Billion to 2 Billion.

   - The maximum allowed In Bank cash was raised from 1 Billion to 2 Billion.

   - Tweaked the Food market's numbers a bit.  It was producing to small of 
     amounts.

   - Changed the amount of food each 'unit' needs.  Makes a little more sense
     this way (to me anyway).

   - ISA now supports IGMs (In-Game Modules).  Uses STARTISA.BAT to run IGMs.
     what it actually does is when a user selects an IGM, ISA creates 
     DATA\USER????.OUT and DOIGM????,BAT (where ???? is the node number), 
     exits with errorlevel 254, the batchfile picks up the 254 and runs
     DOIGM????.BAT.  The IGM should read DATA\USER????.OUT, do it's thing, 
     then create DATA\USER????.IN and exit.  The batch then reloads ISA,
     ISA sees the OUT and IN files, knows it's returning from an IGM, reads
     the IN file, makes the changes, deleted the OUT and IN files and begins
     at the IGM menu.  Complicated?  Kinda... but this is the only way I could
     get ISA to call the IGM properly under WINS (WC5).

   - After each round, ISA will create DATA\EMPIRES.DAT that holds the User Name,
     Empire Name, and Protection Status for each empire in the game.  The IGM
     authors can use this to do whatever they want with it.  ISA only CREATES
     this file, it does NOT read it back in.

   - Spider's Realm (with source) is included with this version of ISA.  
     The aISA.PAS unit has the read/write routines for the IN/OUT files, 
     plus the DrawStars routine I use so the IGM author can make the IGM
     look seemless to the user.

   - There is a 'Space Ports' option off the Main Menu.  This is where the
     IGMs live.

   - Added a 'Public Relations' menu off the Main Menu.  Go here to 'fix' your
     Peace and Army Effectiveness ratings.  There is also a 'Special Event'
     choice off this menu.  I have not finished that section yet, so it does
     nothing at the moment.

   - ISA now saves the user's empire status after every round instead of only
     before the user exits the door.  

   - Played with the Peace and Army Effectiveness a little.  Lowered the
     draft rate at which the populations becomes ticked off.  Also the Peace
     and Army Effectiveness rates drop based on the user's Tax and Draft settings.
     It was originally a random type deal, which I meant to fix earlier but totally
     forgot about.

   - When looting occurs, some of your population may also be murdered.

   - Fixed the bank interest display a bit.  You now receive no notification of
     interest if you have no money in the bank.  If you have the max allowed in the
     bank (2 billion), you are told that no interest was paid because your account 
     it at the max.

   - The bank now charges you a 2% fee each month.  Just like a normal bank :)

   - Changed the cost of the planets.  The base cost for each planet is $30,000
     if you're under protection, $60,000 if you're not.

   - Created 993to994.EXE.  Run this before running this version of ISA!  The 
     structures of ISA.DAT and ISA.CFG have changed.

   - Added the following to ISA.DAT (Player database):
       Planets Available             (Fixes the MaxPlanets bug!)
       Local Recons Sent Today     (For use with MaxLocalRecons)
       Remote Recons Sent Today   (For use with MaxRemoteRecons)
       Local Attacks Sent Today   (For use with MaxLocalAttacks)
       Remote Attacks Sent Today (For use with MaxRemoteAttacks)	
       Research Satellites                          (Future Use)
       Research Satellites Engineers		    (Future Use)
       Research Satellites Scientists               (Future Use)
       Research Satellites Under Construction       (Future Use) 
       Research Satellites Completion Percentage    (Future Use) 
       Engineering Satellites                       (Future Use)
       Engineering Satellites Engineers             (Future Use) 
       Engineering Satellites Scientists            (Future Use) 
       Engineering Satellites Under Construction    (Future Use)
       Engineering Satellites Completion Percentage (Future Use)
       Blacklisted				    (Future Use)
       BlackListDate                                (Future Use)
       BlackListReason                              (Future Use) 
       Swiss Bank Account                           (Future Use) 
       IRA Account                                  (Future Use)
       Money Transfers                              (Future Use)

   - Added the following to ISA.CFG (ISA Sysop Config File):
       Maximum Money Transfers per day.             (Future Use)
       Maximum Money Transfer Amount per transfer.  (Future Use)
       Days until inactive empires are deleted.     
       Maximum Attacks per day
       Use BlackList                                (Future Use)
       Days users remain blacklisted                (Future Use) 

   - Lowered the effects of the 'aliens forces' disaster.

   - The creature that offers to Nuke another empire now acknowledges
     the payment so you know the transaction was successful.

   - Fixed the food market.  Seems it was losing food it had and
     was not properly tracking the food users were selling to it.

   - Changed the types of some of the fields in the user record.

   - Added Redraws to the menus.  Hit '?' to redraw the screens.  The
     option is NOT on the menu.

   - Added a 'Show Settings' option to display the sysop configurable
     setting for the game.  (IE:  Turns, Planets Available, Attack Limits, 
     etc).

   - Fixed the Max Planets bug.

   - Fixed the Max Recons bug.

   - Fixed the Max Attacks bug.

   - Ammo is back in.  Only Machine Gun Troops and Anti-Air Guns require ammo.
     The Laser based unit are self-charging.

   - You must now have enough ammo to send out Machine Gun Troops.  Each 10
     Machine Gun Troops requires one box of ammo. (Yeah, BIG boxes!)

   - You must now send food with your troops leaving for an attack.  If you 
     do not have enough food to feed them, you will be unable to send.

   - Redrew the PreGame, Lottory and Bank screens.  The colors now match 
     the rest of the game.

   - Added a check for negative food to the rest of the negative checks.  Seems
     I left that one out for some reason.

   - If the food market hits 0, then it is given more.

   - Changed the food planet production to 2550 tons per planet.  

   - You can now set the tax and draft rates to 0%.
  
   - Fixed the military and industry rates to accept up to a three digit length
     no matter what the current rates are.    

   - Default draft rate for new users is now 1%. 

   - Added a Lord Spider hint about the Exposition and Looking for Food.

   - Upped the Food market production x10.

   - Put a check in for empires named :
       Lord Spider
       Lordess Taylor
       Lord Nicolas
       Princess Taylor
       Prince Nicolas
       Princess Tay
       Prince Nik
       Madam Tay
       Sir Nik
       Madam Taylor
       Sir Nicolas
       Lordess Trinity
       Princess Trinity

     These are reserved for NPC's, etc. and users are not allowed to use.  
     These all may not be used, and I will be adding more in the future.

   - Fixed the display of ammo percentage on Industry and Training report.

   - Changed the food requirements to the following:

     People      -  100 tons of food required for every 1,000,000 people.  
                    (IE: .0001 ton per person per month)
                    Remember, the number of people displayed is x1,000,000.
                    So if ISA shows your population as 16, the actual size
                    of your population is 16,000,000.
     KnifeTroops -  .005 ton per.
     Guntroops   -  .004 ton per.
     LaserTroops -  .003 ton per.
     Fighters	 -  .003 ton per.
     Bombers	 -  .003 ton per.
     AntiGun	 -  .002 ton per.
     AntiLaser	 -  .002 ton per.
      
   - Replaced all ANSI screens with internal ISA screens for quicker dynamic draws.

   - Fixed the listing of Main Menu options.  They now match the rest of the menus.

   - Updated the scoring calculations, here is what items are worth score-wise now:

	Urban Planets = 5
	Industrial    = 4
	Food          = 3
	Camps	      = 4
	Tourist	      = 1
	Mines	      = 6
	KnifeTroops   = .03
	GunTroops     = .03
	LaserTroops   = .02
	Fighters      = .02
	Bombers       = .02
	AntiLaser     = .01
	AntiGuns      = .01
	Recons        = .5

   - Changed the stats menu 'Year #' to 'Play #'.

   - Now displays the name of the empire you are sending a recon agent to
     or attacking.

   - Fixed the "can't add more than 255 planets at a time' bug.

   - The disasters now report the damage amounts to the paper.

   - Bank now pre-calculates the maximum amount you can deposit or withdraw. 

   - If your bank account is over the limit, as much of the over limit as possible
     is transferred to your on-hand money before being taken for taxes.

   - Ammo can now be sold via the Underground.

   - Fixed the colors on the blackmail listing.

   - Added bank balance to the stats display.

   - Upon resetting ISA with ISASetup, Spider's Realm's 'Comment Wall' datafile
     is deleted if it exists.

   - If STARTISA.BAT doesn't exit in your ISA main directory, ISASetup will create it.
     However, you'll still need to edit it to fit your system setup.  

   - Pretty much rewrote the Recon routines.  Streamlined a little more, changed
     the costs a bit, changed how the success of the recon is determined,
     moved the routines to their own unit, changed the wording a bit, enabled
     better reports of what happened (IE: instead of : "Your civilians were 
     bombed.", it will not report similar to : "Your civilians were bombed by 
     an agent from Ducky's empire, 10,000 civilians were lost."

   - Changed the local and remote attack confirmation prompts.

   - It now checks for new messages after each turn.  This way it's a little
     more on an 'instant message' deal.  While it's not REALLY instant, it's
     close enough for government work. ;)

   - The recon results are now reported to the paper.

   - You can no longer populate planets won from the Lottery as Mining Planets.

   - When losing planets in an attack, mining planets are the last to be taken.

   - Added indication of InterBBS in System Stats display.

   - Covert Ops were showing as '0'.  Fixed.

   - Negative bank fees were fixed.

   - Can no longer place captured planets as mining.

   - Added the possibility of a stock dividend at the end of the each turn.

   - Changed the Exposition Gain/Lost routines.  Seems at times it would either
     not pay or take enough, or would dip into negative numbers.

   - Same deal when looking for food.

   - Fixed the negative money bug when selling items in the underground.

   - Lowered the value of items in the underground.

   - Fixed the negative money/food deal when selling food at the market.

   - Added negative checks at the Mining and Tourist Planets payoff.

   - Fixed a few potential divide by zero problems.

   - Approx. 30% of the troops now retire each year.  Amounts are reported to the paper.

   - Tweaked the attack/defend strengths a bit.

   - It is now a little harder to recruit Gun and Laser Troops.

   - If your industrial or military production is set to 0 on an item, it
     now creates NONE of that item (as is correct... seems if you had it set 
     to 0, it was rounded to 1).  You will still get a small amount from the
     draft.

   - Fixed the 'unlimited lotteries on first play of day' bug.

   - Up'd the default amount of food the food market has.  Was previously 
     10,000,000 (which is enough when the game is at lower levels, but not
     NEARLY enough when it's been active for a while).  The new default 
     amount is 500,000,000.

   - Added two options to the Recon menu.
     (9) - Raid Food Storage  (Same odds as rest of recons)
     (A) - Hack Bank Account  (3x harder than rest of recons, and MUCH more 
                               expensive)

   - Restructured the disasters.  They shouldn't come up as often (unless you 
     just REALLY have bad luck), and they aren't nearly as destructive as they 
     were.

   - The Currency Drop disaster now shows the percentage value your money dropped.

   - Fixed the HUGE Mining Planets Bounty bug. (Sorry, no more $1.7 Billion
     extra income. <g>).

   - Replaced the Wrestling in the Underground with a Slot machine.

   - Fixed a Yes/No problem when creating a new empire.

   - Hopefully <g> fixed having to reset the game before playing it the first time.
     We'll see.  If you still get errors when trying to run ISA the first time after
     setting it up, run ISASetup and hit 'Reset ISA'.

   - Run ISA /M /TOSS to toss process/toss packets without logging into the game.
     ISAToss is no longer needed and no longer included with ISA.

   - OK, I softened up...  the underground is no longer hidden.  Access it
     via 'U' from the Main Menu.
     
 
(**************************************************************************)
                            v0.993a - 04-11-01
(**************************************************************************)

   - This minor update is mainly to fix the RTE you receive when running a
     TP program on a fast computer.  All EXEs have been recompiled to correct
     this problem.  The code is 'really' a 0.994 alpha version, so a few minor 
     things may have been changed since 0.993... but none that I remember 
     offhand.
   - Changed copyright notices, company names, etc.
   - The ISA BBS Door is now freeware!  Key generator is now included!  Run
     ISAREG.EXE, enter the Sysop and BBS names when prompted, then use 
     ISASETUP.EXE to insert the registration information.
   
   - TayNik Software was formerly DreamWare.  Visit http://www.taynik.com
     for information about ISA! :)


(**************************************************************************)
                            v0.993 - 12-15-97
(**************************************************************************)

   - Now owned/maintained/toiled over/supported/etc. by DreamWare.
   - Replaced the FOSSIL requirements with RMDoor (which should soon be
     replaced with DRMDoor).
   - The above forced the use of a new *.CFG file, along with ISA.CFG.
     ISASetup forces the name NODEx.CFG where x is the node number.
     Structure:

     GAP
     D:\TP\BIN\
     DreamNET
     Andy Stewart
     57600
     ------------
     Dropfile Type (GAP=DOOR.SYS, SF=SFDOOR.DAT, WC=CALLINFO.BBS,
                    WWIV=CHAIN.TXT, TRIBBS=TRIBBS.SYS, RBBS=DORINFO.DEF)
     Path to Dropfile
     BBS Name
     Sysop Name
     Locked Baud Rate (0=Not locked)
     ------------
   - Removed Avatar support.  ANSI and ASCII only now!  (Maybe RIP or
     HTML later).
   - Changed the spelling of the name to 'InterStellar Annihilation'.
     (IE:  Killed the '-'.  Never liked that! <g>).
   - Everything has been colored.  Went through a few boxes of crayons
     on this one!  Also fixed quite a few typos, and probably created
     a few also.
   - Re-did the lottery a bit...  (including color, etc...)  it is now
     6 numbers, and winnings are:

     Match 1 : 1 planet, $500
           2 : 5 planets, $5,000
           3 : 10 planets, $25,000
           4 : 25 planets, $100,000
           5 : 100 planets, $1,000,000
           6 : 250 planets, $10,000,000
   - The UnderGround and all references to it are gone.
   - Hitting enter when changing the percentage of Industry, Taxes, Draft,
     etc. no longer sets it to 0, it remains at the current value.
   - Replaced all references to 'Solar System' with 'Galaxy'.
   - Names with all spaces and/or nul characters are no longer allowed.
     ISA treats it the same as hitting [ENTER].
   - "Read Instructions" now defaults to NO.
   - New Stats Screen
   - New menus and sequence all around!
   - Re-did the 'Training Camp' menu.
   - Newspaper is now 'The Cosmic Star'.
   - Removed Bar, Bartender and Casino.
   - Removed 'Change effects' and 'Set graphics' options.
   - Nuked support for sysop's optional files (LOGON, QUAKE, etc...).
   - Removed all 'crippling'.  Everything is available in both the
     registered and unregistered modes.
   - Removed support for 'NOTRANS' semaphore.  Money transfers are
     now ALWAYS allowed (as long as you have $$).
   - Maintanence is now run automatically when the first player
     logs on after midnight.
   - Bumped up food production a bit.
   - DISASTER.EXE is now internal.  You have a 1 in 25 chance of getting
     nailed by a random event.
   - Earthquake event is now a Super Nova.
   - Bank has been TOTALLY re-done.
   - New Exit Screen.
   - Added new title screens.  All ANSI screens are now internal.
   - Removed all *.ANS and *.AVT files.
   - The Random events are now a little more realistic.
   - Rewrote the random event procedure...  (Goes with above).
   - Bank can now only hold 1 billion.  Any excess money is taken for taxes.
   - Replaced all the old pauses with the new pause.
   - Removed 'Too much money in bank' from end of turn stats.
   - Recon cost has been dropped by 90%.
   - Renamed NODES.CTL to ISANODES.DAT (converted automatically).
   - Removed support for the 'BIOS' semaphore.
   - New Industry Report.
   - Newspaper is now colored and pauses correctly.
   - Messages are now displayed as:

     - Incoming transmission from blah blah [X]
     - Sent on blah at blah
     -------------------------------------------
     message
     -------------------------------------------
   - Removed 'Minimum Travel Time' for attacks.  All attacks default
     to 1 hour. (Immediate).
   - Changed 'View Diplomatic Relations' screen.  Now lists ALL
     empires.  If no treaty, then displays 'At War'.
   - Planets are now classified.
   - 'Cash Production' report is now on same screen as the 'payment'
     screen.  Also reports total amount of $ made this month (turn).
   - Removed support for MNODE.CTL.  ISA's is now multinode aware at
     all times.
   - New Score listing.
   - Under 'See Scores', blue are empires under protection, dark blue
     are empires NOT under protection.  Also, removed the protection
     turns left display.
   - The Immortal status is GONE, it's a continuing game now.
   - Added new user opening menu.
   - Each turn is now a month.  Each year is one game day.
   - 'End of Turn' report is now the 'Monthly Report'.
   - Removed the message menu from the exit procedure.
   - The player is informed (at the main menu) when playing his/her
     last turn.
   - Modified the pricing scheme.  Commodities are a little easier to
     purchase now.
   - Instead of the prices being updated each time you buy something
     from the spending menu, prices are only updated when you enter
     the menu.  IE:  Prices do not change each time you purchase
     something from the menu.
   - All references to ammo have been nuked!
   - Maintenance, etc. is run after the copyright screen, before the
     main menu.
   - Tweaked planet production a bit.
   - Removed 'Exposition' from the Payment menu.  (Hidden feature).
   - Fixed the population report.  Now should give an accurate total.
     Also, 0 movements are no longer shown, and negative amounts
     cannot occur.
   - Most prompts look similar to: [].
   - Entering a blank name for the empire now aborts the name.
   - Added daily quotes to the newspaper.
   - Updated/changed/fixed ISASETUP.EXE.  Cut the size of the EXE
     by about 24k (compared after both EXEs were PKLITE'd).
   - Renamed ISA.DOC to PLAYER.DOC.
   - Added full screen message editor.
   - ISAScore no longer needs nor accepts parameters.  Simply
     run ISAScore to create an ASCII scorefile called SCORE.ISA.
     Cut the size of the EXE by about 4k (compared after both EXEs
     were PKLITE'd).
