Destruct command

The DESTRUCT command starts a countdown to destroy the player's current ship. ABORT cancels a countdown that has not yet finished. Both commands work in classic Galactic Empire and ge-next, but are disabled in ge-arena.

Syntax

DESTRUCT
ABORT

The commands can be abbreviated to DES and ABO. Neither takes an argument. Entering DESTRUCT again while a sequence is active restarts the full countdown; entering ABORT when none is active produces an error.

Starting and canceling

Self-destruct cannot be started in the neutral zone. Elsewhere, it can be started while the ship is moving, in hyperspace, or in planetary orbit. Entering the neutral zone during the countdown cancels it automatically. The player can also enter ABORT before the final update. Both forms of cancellation confirm the result to the initiating player, but automatic cancellation does not broadcast an all-clear to nearby ships.

Classic has no special cloak restriction for this command. In ge-next 0.3 and later, starting self-destruct takes an active or charging cloak offline, and the cloak cannot be activated while the countdown continues.

Countdown and warnings

The counter starts at 20 ship-state updates, not 20 seconds. With the normal six-second update interval, destruction takes approximately two minutes. The initiating ship sees 19 on the first update, then each lower number through 1; the ship explodes on the following update. The exact elapsed time depends on when the command was entered relative to the update cycle.

Other players within detection range can receive warnings at counts 10, 5, and 2. In ge-next, effective scanner range and nebula visibility determine who receives these warnings. Classic and ge-next through 0.3.2 broadcast an all-clear only if ABORT is entered below count 10; aborting at 10 omits it despite the warning already having been sent. ge-next 0.3.3 includes count 10 in the all-clear condition. Recipients are determined at the time of each message, so a ship that moved into range after the warning may receive only the all-clear. See Classic bug: Self-destruct abort omits count-10 all-clear.

Result

At zero, the ship is destroyed regardless of its condition. For the possible shock wave, shield effects, and kill-credit differences, see Self-destruct.

Destruct command

Contents

Syntax

Starting and canceling

Countdown and warnings

Result

See also