Transfer command

The TRANSFER command moves items between a ship and a planet while the ship is in orbit. Transferring up moves items from the planet to the ship; transferring down moves items from the ship to the planet.

Classic Galactic Empire provides the basic numeric command. ge-next retains that behavior and adds abbreviated directions, bulk quantities, safer capacity handling, and several convenience forms.

Requirements

In standard play, a transfer requires the ship to be in stationary orbit around a planet. Wormholes cannot hold inventory and cannot be used for transfers.

Transferring up is permitted when the planet is owned by the player or has no owner. Transferring down is always permitted to the player's own planet.

The sysop option TRANSOPT controls whether a player may also transfer goods down to a planet owned by somebody else. It defaults to enabled in both classic GE and ge-next. With the default setting, players can supply allies, contribute material to another player's colony, or otherwise give cargo directly to a planet they do not command. This is a one-way deposit: TRANSOPT does not grant permission to transfer the goods back up. Once deposited, they belong to the planet's owner.

The reason given for disabling TRANSOPT is to prevent one person from using multiple BBS accounts to funnel the starting resources and later production of several empires into a single account. That can give the chosen account an artificial early advantage. The original configuration notes point out that this is less concerning on systems where every playing account must be paid for. Outside that multiple-account concern, disabling the option also removes legitimate player-to-player supply transfers and is not required by the normal ownership model.

The planet's trade password and team-trading setting apply to buying and selling, not to direct inventory transfers. Being allowed to trade at a team planet does not make the visitor its owner for TRANSFER UP, and it does not affect whether TRANSOPT permits a transfer down.

Classic Galactic Empire

Classic syntax is:

TRANSFER UP amount item
TRANSFER DOWN amount item

The direction must be written as the complete word UP or DOWN. The amount must be a positive number:

TRANSFER UP 3 ION
TRANSFER DOWN 500 FOOD

A request fails if the source does not contain the full numeric amount. A transfer up also fails if the requested cargo does not fit aboard the ship. Classic's help omits gold and spies.

The classic capacity check is affected by Classic bug: Cargo weight overflow. A sufficiently large inventory can wrap the calculated cargo weight and allow a transfer that should have exceeded the ship's capacity.

ge-next

ge-next syntax is:

TRANSFER U(P) amount|ALL|MAX item
TRANSFER D(OWN) amount|ALL item

The command itself and item names can still be abbreviated in the usual GE fashion. The direction may additionally be reduced to the single letter U or D:

TRA U 3 ION
TRA D 500 FOOD

Planets in the neutral zone do not accept transfers down in ge-next, to keep players from modifying those planet records and accidentally giving away items that can be sold.

Numeric amounts

A positive number transfers that exact quantity. As in classic, the transfer fails if the complete requested amount is not available at the source or, for an upward transfer, does not fit aboard the ship.

ge-next also prevents a transfer from overflowing the destination's stored item quantity. If a planet is nearly at its representable maximum, a downward transfer is reduced to the remaining room or refused when no room remains.

ALL

ALL selects the complete source quantity:

TRANSFER UP ALL MISSILES
TRANSFER DOWN ALL GOLD

For an upward transfer, ALL means everything of that item currently on the planet. The request still has to fit in the ship; ALL does not silently substitute a smaller quantity when cargo space is insufficient.

For a downward transfer, ALL means everything of that item aboard the ship.

MAX

MAX is available only when transferring up:

TRANSFER UP MAX FOOD

It calculates how many units of the selected item can fit in the ship's remaining cargo capacity and requests that quantity. The planet must contain that complete amount. If it contains less, use ALL or a specific number instead.

MAX differs from ALL: ALL starts with the planet's inventory, while MAX starts with the ship's available capacity.

Negative amounts

A negative amount means "transfer all but this many" from the source:

TRANSFER UP -20 FLUX
TRANSFER DOWN -5 MISSILES

The first example leaves 20 flux pods on the planet and transfers the rest up. The second leaves five missiles aboard and transfers the rest down. The command fails if the amount to be retained is greater than the source quantity.

Comparison

Feature	Classic GE	ge-next
Direction	Full `UP` or `DOWN`	Full words or `U`/`D`
Exact numeric amount	Yes	Yes
`ALL`	No	Up or down
`MAX`	No	Up only; based on remaining ship capacity
Negative amount	No	Transfers all but the specified amount
Gold and spies	Supported by code but omitted from classic help	Supported and documented
Cargo calculation	Vulnerable to classic cargo-weight overflow	Uses corrected capacity calculations
Destination overflow protection	No equivalent upper-bound handling	Transfer is limited or refused before the counter can overflow
Neutral-sector transfer down	No explicit neutral-sector guard in the command	Prohibited

ge-arena

ge-arena uses a special upward-transfer path for arena supply planets. While in orbit, TRA UP works by itself; additional words after UP are ignored. It collects every item that is eligible and will fit, installs usable upgrades, applies instant maintenance when present, and leaves behind anything the ship cannot carry or use.

TRA UP
TRA UP ITEMS

The second form behaves like the first. This tolerance allows players familiar with ordinary GE syntax to add an unnecessary word without losing the pickup.

A normal numeric downward transfer remains available for cargo items:

TRA D 3 MINES

Arena upgrades are planetary pickups rather than ship inventory and therefore cannot be transferred down.