FT CAD (long!)

Hey gang,

	There's been some talk recently about playing FT via Computer.
Although I'm not attempting to do that myself, I have been programming a
FT cad utility.  I currently design ships with excel and MS Paint.  The
end results are nice but the amount of disk space required to store the
ships is a little high.  There's also a problem with finding the correct
spreadsheet to go with a ship drawing.	I thought it would be handy to
integrate the two so you could both design AND draw your ship at the
same
time.

	I do plan on releasing the program on the net BUT I want to be
VERY careful about copyrights so I'm only designing the ENGINE, if you
will.  All data pertaining to system type, cost, mass and graphic
appearance will have to be entered by the user in a seperate text file.
I'll include example non-FT related systems in the text file so people
can
figure out the correct format.

	This will unfortunately require alot of work on the user's part
to
get the program up and running but it's the only way I can think of
providing a program without hurting GZG's FT sales.  Of course, there is
a
hidden benefit to entering the data yourself.  It should be very easy to
add systems your local group has developed or change some of the current
systems to match your house rules.  You'll also have a hull editor so
you
can even customize the look of your hulls.

	The program will use scalable vector graphics.	Nothing fancy
but
it'll get the job done without the need for tons of diskspace.	I'll
probably include a Bitmap dump(if you will) of a ship currently
displayed
so people can pull the ship into their favorite paint program and print
it
out.  I've wanted a program like this for over a year now.  I finally
decided to get off my butt (or on it actually) and code it.

	I'm writing the program for MS dos, standard VGA graphics.  It
should be able to run on very old IBMs and their clones so long as they
have a VGA board in them.  Yes, it's clunky compared to the nice windows
OS's out there but alot of my friends have old computers and won't be
able
to buy Win 95 machines for some time (spent all of their money on tons
of
minis... you know how it is).  I will probably include the source code
with the release of the program.

	No, it's not complete yet.  I'm about half finished and then I
have to get my friends to try and break it (they're pretty good at doing
that).	When I'm happy with it I'll put it on my web page and let you
know
about it.

Pete

=======================================================================
Peter Caron
pcaron@cris.com

"There is no nation on earth so dangerous as a nation fully armed, and
bankrupt at home."
			Henry Cabot Lodge