Being Absent from Play
Multi-player games only
When you miss a turn, Stars! will continue to follow your existing orders. All messages and data for the missed turns, such as planets discovered or battles fought, will be present the next time you load a turn.
Alternately, if you plan on missing more than a few turns, you can ask someone to look after your race for you or ask the host to substitute a housekeeper AI to keep your planets and fleets active. This AI does not develop any strategy for you.
Hot-seat and network players:
⇒ Just tell the host you're going inactive and ask them to substitute the AI in your place.
Modem, e-mail, or BBS players only:(includes AutoHost)
1. Give your host a copy of your history file, gamename.hN. This will allow the host to update the universe for you while you're gone.
2. Be sure that your host returns the history file and new turn file to you before you open your game. You won't be able to open your turn until this time.
If you're a host:
1. Open the Host dialog, if it's not open yet. Use File (Open), selecting gamename.hst.
2. Right-click on the blue diamond next to the name of the player who's absent. Choose Human (Currently inactive).
3. When the player returns, right-click on the diamond and select Human Controlled. You'll have to do this before the player can open their player file, gamename.mN.
4. If you're running the game over a modem, email or BBS, return the updated history file, gamename.hN, and player file, gamename.mN, to the player.
Missing Turns
If you miss one or more turns and don't follow the instructions for absent players described above, Stars! will continue to follow any existing orders. All messages and data for the missed turns, such as planets discovered or battles fought, will be present the next time you load a turn.