Customizing the Game Corporate Raider can be customized by the player to include any company (actual or invented), any user defined wire service event or to modify the constants used in the stock price formulas. To do this, the user can modify any of ASCII text files described below using a standard ASCII text editor. Care should be taken to exactly follow the format of these files to avoid malfunction. The Company Database The Company Database can be modified by editing the file "stocks.dat". Only 100 companies are allowed on the exchange so one company must be removed for each company added. Each line of the file contains the information for one company. The stocks are scrolled to the Ticker Window in the order that they appear in this file. There are six fields, each separated by one or more spaces. The line is terminated by carriage return and line feed characters, . These fields are: 1. Company Name - Up to 30 characters. Use underscores to separate words. 2. Ticker Symbol - Five characters. Must begin with an alphabetic character. 3. Industry Code - 1 to 12. Must choose one from this list: 1 - computers 7 - pharmaceuticals 2 - textiles 8 - petroleum 3 - steel 9 - automotive 4 - mining 10 - aerospace 5 - timber 11 - retail 6 - chemicals 12 - entertainment 4. Stock rating - a number from -3 to +4 derived from ratings such as Standard and Poors (not used by Corporate Raider). 5. Principal Business - Up to 30 characters. Use underscores to separate words. 6. Price to Earnings Ratio - Generally 0 to 100 (not used by Corporate Raider). The Wire Service Event Database The Wire Service Event Database is contained in the file "events.dat". The data must be formatted exactly as shown to avoid game malfunctions. Each field is terminated by either a new line or a tab . Each event must have a unique event number. Single events and root level scenario events occur randomly during the course of the game. When all of these events have occurred, the market closes. The linked scenario events are referenced by a root level scenario event or by another linked scenario event. The scenario events are linked together in a tree-like fashion to create a multi-leveled scenario with a multitude of possible outcomes. Any branch of the tree, except the root level, may have any number of sequentially numbered events, each with an equal probability of occurring. A single event can affect up to two targets. A target is either a single stock, a particular industry or all stocks. A variance is specified for each target in dollars significant to one tenth (NN.N). Any unused fields must contain 0. IMPORTANT: After events.dat has been modified, a new index file must be created by running "makewire". This program is provided with Corporate Raider. Wire Service Event Record format: 1. event number 1-999 - inside events (linked from insider information records) 1000-3999 - single events 4000-5999 - root level scenario events 6000-9999 - linked scenario events 2. first 55 chars of test 3. second 55 chars of text 4. target #1 0 = none 1-12 = industry code as specified above 99 = all industries five characters = ticker symbol of single stock 5. variance #1 6. target #2 7. variance #2 8. scenario branch block beginning event number 9. scenario branch block ending event number The Market Model Each time a stock scrolls into the Ticker window, it is modified beforehand by applying a "Normal Variance". The Normal Variance for a given stock is computed by first obtaining four random numbers between 0 and 50. These four numbers are then added together, 100 is subtracted from the sum, then the sum is divided by 10. This number is then adjusted by the Normal Variance Amplitude constant and the Performance Factor to obtain the Normal Variance applied to a given stock. The following is the equation for the Normal Variance: Where: NV is the Normal Variance R1,R2,R3,R4 are random numbers from 0-50 PF is the Performance Factor NVA is the Normal Variance Amplitude (R1+R2+R3+R4) - 100 NVA NV = ------------------- * --- + PF 10 100 The performance factor is derived from the companies last four months sales, earnings, assets and liabilities according to the following equation: DELTA_SALES = ( (S3-S2) + (S2-S1) + (S1-S0) ) * 100 ------------------------------------- S0 * DSA where S3 = sales from 3 quarters past S2 = sales from 2 quarters past S1 = sales from last quarter S0 = est. sales for current quarter DSA = Delta Sales Amplitude DELTA_EARNINGS = ( (E3-E2) + (E2-E1) + (E1-E0) ) * 100 ------------------------------------- E0 * DEA where E3 = earnings from 3 quarters past E2 = earnings from 2 quarters past E1 = earnings from last quarter E0 = est. earnings for current quarter DEA = Delta Earnings Amplitude DELTA_ASSETS = ( (A3-A2) + (A2-A1) + (A1-A0) ) * 100 ------------------------------------- A0 * DAA where A3 = assets from 3 quarters past A2 = assets from 2 quarters past A1 = assets from last quarter A0 = est. assets for current quarter DAA = Delta Assets Amplitude DELTA_LIABILITIES = ( (L3-L2) + (L2-L1) + (L1-L0) ) * 100 ------------------------------------- L0 * DLA where L3 = liabilities from 3 quarters past L2 = liabilities from 2 quarters past L1 = liabilities from last quarter L0 = est. liabilities current quarter DLA = Delta Liabilities Amplitude DELTA_SALES + DELTA_EARNINGS + DELTA_ASSETS PFA PF = ------------------------------------------- * --- DELTA_LIABILITIES 100 where PFA is the Performance Factor Amplitude Formula Constants It is possible to modify some of the constants that are used to formulate the stock market model. Varying these constants will affect the overall flavor and realism of the game. These constants are contained in the file 'constants.dat'. 1. Normal Variance Amplitude This is a number (1-200) that affects the amplitude of the normal stock variance. The greater the number, the greater the fluctuations in the Normal Variance. A larger Normal Variance Amplitude will decrease the relative effect of wire service events. 2. Performance Factor Amplitude This number (1-200) determines how much the Performance Factor affects the Normal Variance. The larger the number, the greater the effect. A value of zero will cause the Normal Variance to be totally random. 3. Delta Sales Amplitude 4. Delta Earnings Amplitude 5. Delta Assets Amplitude 6. Delta Liabilities Amplitude These numbers determine the relative effect of changes to the respective statistics with regard to the Performance Factor. Format: NVA PFA DSA DEA DAA DLA The Configuration File The configuration file, raider.cfg, contains three lines. The first line will contain either MONO, CGA or EGA. If CGA is selected, then the file CRAIDER.LIB must be copied from CRCGA.LIB. If EGA is selected, then the file CRAIDER.LIB must be copied from CREGA.LIB. The next line contains the pathname for the data files. The last line contains the pathname for the picture files (.LIB). Note that normally the configuration file is built by INSTALL.