New command

The NEW command purchases ships and major ship equipment at Zygor. In ge-next, it also purchases permanent ship upgrades.

Syntax

NEW SHIP class
NEW SHIELD mark
NEW PHASER mark

ge-next adds:

NEW UPGRADE
NEW UPGRADE number
NEW UPGRADE 7 [HIGH | NORMAL | LOW]

The ship must be orbiting Zygor, planet 1 in sector 0 0. The purchase also requires enough cash and, where applicable, an eligible ship class. In ge-next, players whose standing with Galactic Command is too poor cannot trade at Zygor until the penalty expires.

HELP CLASS lists the available ship classes and their class numbers. HELP NEWPRICE lists shield and phaser prices, but this is stored as text in the help file; it does not display configured values like HELP CLASS does. Server configuration is therefore authoritative, because prices and limits can be changed by the sysop without changing the help file to match. In fact, in classic GE, Mark-19 shields are listed at 250 million cash, but are actually set at 200 million, because the game's internal limits cap this value at 201.2 million. ge-next lowered the prices of both Mark-19 systems and updated HELP CLASS to match instead of changing the cap.

Purchasing a ship

NEW SHIP class purchases an additional ship of the selected class. It does not transform the current ship, trade it in, or immediately transfer command to the new vessel. The new ship becomes another persistent ship in the player's fleet.

A player who enters the game without a ship receives the configured starter class free of charge. That allocation is separate from a NEW SHIP purchase.

The full class price is deducted from the player's cash. A newly purchased ship starts as a fresh vessel with:

Mark-1 shields and Mark-1 phasers (if this class has them^[a]);
three flux pods;
no other cargo;
no damage;
full energy;
shields uncharged and down;
a random position in sector 0 0, safely separated from its planets; and
a new per-user ship number (used to sort the ship list, not shown to player).

The purchase fails if the player has reached the configured maximum number of ships. Classic Galactic Empire defaults to a maximum of 8 ships per player; ge-next defaults to 45.

Shields and phasers

NEW SHIELD mark and NEW PHASER mark replace the corresponding system on the current ship. Marks range from 1 through 19, but the selected Mark cannot exceed the maximum supported by the ship class. The purchase does not repair hull damage or unrelated systems. In classic GE and ge-next through 0.3.2, the replacement retained the old system's charge and damage state; downgrading shields could even leave the new Mark with more charge than its normal maximum. As of ge-next 0.3.3, a purchased shield starts down with zero charge, while a purchased phaser starts fully charged. This also clears damage to the system being replaced. See Classic bug: Replacement systems retain old charge.

The old system is traded in rather than discarded. Its trade-in credit is:

old list price - (old list price / 3)

Integer arithmetic is used, so this is approximately two-thirds of the old system's list price. The credit is subtracted from the new system's price. If the player still owes money and the difference is less than 1,000 credits, the game charges a minimum installation fee of 1,000 credits.

A player may also install a lower Mark. When the trade-in credit exceeds the new system's price, the excess is refunded after a fee equal to 2% of the trade-in credit. This makes deliberate downgrading possible, but prevents the player from recovering the entire credited value as cash.

Classic Galactic Empire permits a player to purchase the same Mark already installed and still applies the replacement calculation. ge-next rejects a same-Mark purchase because no equipment change would occur. ge-next also protects cash additions from overflowing the player's cash field.

Upgrades in ge-next

NEW UPGRADE without a number lists the upgrades available to the current ship class, their prices, and whether they are already installed. NEW UPGRADE number purchases an eligible upgrade.

Upgrade cost is based on the configured base price and the current ship class's damage factor (DAMF). Consequently, installing the same upgrade can cost more on a larger or more durable class. An upgrade cannot be purchased if the class is ineligible or that ship already has it.

The available upgrades are:

Enhanced scanners provide additional scan information and reduce the effects of jamming.
Armor plating increases the ship's durability.
Acceleration boosters improve acceleration.
Scan range boost increases scanner range.
Enhanced lock provides additional sensor information about a locked target's activity.
Enhanced damage control speeds repairs and provides repair-time information.
Transponder control changes how likely Cybertrons are to pursue the ship.
Reinforced neutron core allows the ship to sustain overspeed for longer.

Transponder control has three settings. It can be installed and configured in one command with NEW UPGRADE 7 HIGH, NORMAL, or LOW. Once installed, the setting can be changed at Zygor without another purchase charge. Buying it without a setting initially selects normal operation.

Upgrades belong to the individual ship. They cannot be transferred to another ship, returned for cash, or recovered after the ship is destroyed. Installed upgrades are listed by REPORT UPGRADE.

Classic and ge-next

Behavior	Classic Galactic Empire	ge-next
Purchase additional persistent ships	Yes	Yes
Replace shields and phasers	Yes	Yes
Equipment trade-in and downgrade refunds	Yes	Yes
Re-purchase the currently installed Mark	Allowed and charged	Rejected
Permanent ship upgrades	No	Yes
Galactic Command standing can block Zygor trade	No	Yes

Notes

↑ Technically, these values are set to 1 regardless; the check for whether a class has those systems is separate.