Editing Netrek (section)

== Description ==
The following describes ''Bronco Netrek'', also known as ''[[Vanilla (computing)|Vanilla]] Netrek''. Other variations of the game exist, such as ''Hockey Netrek'' in which players use tractor beams to manipulate a hockey puck.  ''Paradise Netrek'', which originated as a re-implementation of Netrek at Utah State University, has radically different gameplay, including a far larger number of planets, ''transwarp'' speed, new ship types, and an additional rank structure.  However, ''Bronco'' is the most prevalent form.

''Netrek'' is essentially a greatly expanded version of ''[[Empire (PLATO)|Empire]]'', a multi-user space combat game that ran on the [[PLATO (computer system)|PLATO]]. ''Empire'', in turn, is essentially a multi-user version of the seminal ''[[Spacewar!]]'', the earliest computer video game. Like those games, in ''Netrek'' each player takes command of a starship, which they pilot about a 2D map of the game galaxy, as seen from above. The game combines both tactical combat and strategic goals.

===Planets and facilities===
The game galaxy consists of 40 planets distributed about the map. The map is further divided into 4 sectors of 10 planets each. ''Netrek'' divided the players into one of four teams, loosely based on the ''[[Star Trek]]'' universe; the [[United Federation of Planets|Federation]], [[Romulan]]s, [[Klingon]]s, and [[Orion (Star Trek)|Orions]] (or "feds", "roms", "klis", and "oris", respectively). Each team is assigned to a single sector when the map is reset.

The planets differ from each other in terms of military or agricultural development; at the start of a game each team has several planets under their control one of which is their homeworld, usually named after an actual planet in the [[Star Trek]] Universe (such as Earth for feds, Romulus for roms, Orion for oris, Klingus for klis).  Some worlds, however, have special facilities that help any friendly units in orbit of them.  Repair facilities, represented by a wrench, speed up repairs to the player's hull and shields, which take damage while battling enemies. Fuel depots, represented by a fuel can, speed up the fuel recharge rate of any ships in orbit of the planet.  Some worlds may have both these while others have one or none.  As well as fuel and repair facilities, some planets generate armies at a faster rate than other planets; these planets are known as agricultural planets, or "agris". A team's home planet always offers fuel and repair facilities, but is never an agricultural planet.  Of the nine other starting planets, two are agricultural and others are assigned fuel depots or repair facilities.  Planets slowly generate armies (and at a faster rate if agricultural), which may be beamed up by players, and then beamed back down onto enemy planets to capture them. Planets can be bombed to kill off armies, but only to a point; dropping armies is always required.

Planets will fire upon enemy ships in orbit, even to the point of captured homeworlds firing upon ships from the homeworld's starting faction as they appear over the planet.

===Combat===
Unlike ''Spacewar!'' or ''Empire'', ''Netrek'' includes many different ship types with their own strengths and weaknesses. Some, like the scout, are faster and are useful for long range hit-and-run attacks. Others, like the battleship, are extremely powerful but slow, useful primarily for point defense.

A player obtains "kills" either by killing an enemy ship or by bombing enemy armies. The number of kills decides how many armies a player's ship can carry. The player's kill count resets back to zero each time their ship is destroyed, requiring them to obtain more kills before they can carry armies and capture planets.  Consequently, people with two or more kills are often targeted for "ogging" (a kind of kamikaze attack) just to remove the threat of them carrying armies.

Enemy ships can be destroyed using two main weapons systems: phasers and photon torpedoes. Phasers are instantaneous beam weapons which cannot be dodged, while torpedoes take time to travel to the target and thus can be dodged. Other shipboard combat systems include shields, and tractor and pressor beams. When a ship is destroyed, the player chooses a new ship and reappears next to their team's homeworld.

In addition, ships also sustain damage if they are too close to an explosion, such as those created by another ship being destroyed, and ships take damage from hostile planets they are close to.