Communicators
IntroductionCommunicators are the basis for most communication in Miriani. Anyone with a communicator can talk to anyone else with a communicator, communicate privately with their alliance, or privately with their friends. They can be slightly complicated, however, so this guide aims to familiarize you with all of their functions!
Transmission basics
When you begin playing Miriani, you are given a receiver-only communicator. You will almost certainly want to replace it with a fully functional communicator. For instructions on doing this, please type HELP FAQ or HELP GETTING-STARTED. This document deals with operating your communicator, not obtaining one. You should replace anything in <less-than and greater-than> signs with your own text, not including the signs.
The most useful channel is the General Communication channel. Everyone in all three alliances has access to that one, making it extremely useful for discussing issues directly related to starship piloting. To transmit on it, you can type TRANSMIT GENERAL <MESSAGE>. This can be shortened to TRANS GEN or TR G for speed. There are some conditions associated with using this channel, so please read HELP COMMUNICATOR RULES before using it.
The second most commonly-used channel is the chatter channel. Everyone in the three alliances has access to this channel, making it very good for everyday chatter. To transmit on it, you can type TRANSMIT CHATTER <MESSAGE>. This can be shortened to TRANS CHAT or TR C for speed.
The third most commonly-used channel is the first private alliance channel. This channel allows you to communicate with members of only your own alliance, other people can't hear it. You can transmit on this channel using TRANSMIT 1 <MESSAGE>. As before, this can be shortened to TRANS 1 or TR 1.
But wait, there's more! You have a whole other nine alliance channels to transmit on! TR 2 will transmit on your alliance's trading channel. Channel 3 is your alliance's distress channel, and 4 is the exploration channel. Channels 5-10 are just regular old, numbered channels. To see a semi-complete list of channels you can access, type TR CHANNELS.
There's also an interalliance channel, which only exists when your alliance is at a full alliance treaty with another. If you have this nifty old alliance, you can type TR ALLIANCE <MESSAGE> or TR INT <MESSAGE>.
Just when you thought you could communicate no more, there is another channel for you to utilize, known as the short-range channel. When you type TRANSMIT SHORT-RANGE <MESSAGE> (or TR SHORT), your communicator will switch into short-range mode and transmit a message to any other communicator in the sector. This is valuable for those trips out of communications range where communicating is vital but not possible using standard beacons.
Transmission tuning
To save time, you can tune your communicator to transmit on one channel by default when you type TRANSMIT <MESSAGE>. By typing TRANSMIT TUNE <CHANNEL>, you will tune your communicator to that channel. Please be aware that you will NOT hear any other channels but that one and General Communication while your communicator is tuned! You can reset it to listen to all channels by typing TRANSMIT TUNE ALL.
Private linked channels
If you need a private way to communicate with friends or business partners, you can establish a private linked channel with them! Nobody else can see what you say on a linked channel, so you can be assured total privacy. There are several commands for dealing with linked channels, which will be listed when an explanation of each one following:
TRANSMIT LINKED [person] - If you don't include [person], this command will give you a list of everyone you have established a link with. If you do include a person's name, it will check to see if you have a private link with that person or not.
TRANSMIT LINKCOUNT - This tells you how many private links you have.
TRANSMIT LINK <PERSON> - This command will ask the target person if they would like to establish a link with you. If they accept, you will be linked.
TRANSMIT UNLINK <PERSON> (or DELINK) - This command will break the link with the target person.
TRANSMIT UNLINK ALL - This will terminate all of your private links.
TRANSMIT <PERSON> <MESSAGE> - This command will transmit a message over the private link with the target person, as long as you have established a link with them.
TRANSMIT HISTORY - Displays the last few messages transmitted over the general communications channel.
REPLY <message> - This command will send <message> to the last person who sent you a private transmission.
REPLYLOCK <person|off> - This command will lock your replies to a single individual. If you type REPLYLOCK OFF, it will go back to responding to the last person to send you a transmission. Typing REPLYLOCK with no arguments will tell you which mode you're currently in.
TRANSMIT HARDLINK <PERSON> - Establishes a matching alias that you can use for <PERSON>. This alias serves the dual purpose of becoming a command that you can type to quickly communicate with the person you're hardlinked with. For example, if you hardlink 'pal' to Joe Schmoe, from then on you can either type 'PAL HELLO!' or 'TR PAL HELLO!' to communicate with him.
TRANSMIT HARDLINK REMOVE - Remove a hardlink.
Muting Channels
TURN COMM - Deactivates your communicator, preventing sending/receiving.
MUTE COMM - Presents a menu of channels that can be muted.
UNMUTE COMM - The opposite of MUTE, this presents a menu of channels that can be unmuted.
NOTE: If you disable the general communication channel, you may miss out on special host-run roleplaying events.
Metafrequency Transmitters
There are also seperate communicators that you can buy called Metafrequency Transmitters. These are useful for talking to a small group of people. Each transmitter can tune to up to 20 frequencies with the USE command. These frequencies range from 1.0 to 500.0. So for example, you could tune your communicator to the frequency 45.21 and then tell all your friends to tune to that channel too, and you can then all chat together without having to have everyone hear. However, there's always the chance, though small, that someone else can be on your frequency.
You can transmit on these communicators using either the METAF command or by using a frequency alias. The METAF command requires two arguments: The number of the frequency and your message. To find which number your frequency is, type: METAF LIST. For instance, if channel 100.0 is listed as number 3, you would say hello by typing: METAF 3 Hello!
The second, and preferred, option allows you to set an alias to use as a command for a particular channel. To activate this functionality, USE your communicator and select the frequency you want to apply an alias to. From the menu, choose 'Change Label'. The label you assign will be the command that you type to communicate on that channel. So for example, if you tuned your communicator to channel 100.0 and changed the label to CHEESECAKE, you can now type CHEESECAKE <message> to speak on that channel. If you ever want to remove the label, follow the same procedure above and simply hit enter instead of typing a new name.
Sometimes it can be beneficial to ignore a certain frequency temporarily. To do this, simply type: MUTE <channel> ON <communicator name>. Alternatively, you can USE <communicator>, select a frequency, and choose the 'Mute Frequency' option. To unmute, just repeat the command.
Emoting
Sometimes you want to laugh or cry. We have you covered. The following emotes are covered as a single message: laughs, giggles, chortles, snickers, cries, sobs, mumbles, coughs, snorts, groans, yawn, sigh, chuckel, cackle, laugh, begawk, moan, whisper, and sing.
However, sometimes you may want to laugh AND say something. To do this, just add asterisks (*) around your emote of choice and put it at the end of your transmission. This works with: laughs, giggles, chortles, snickers, cries, sobs, mumbles, coughs, snorts, groans, yawns, sighs, and chuckles. Example: *laughs*
Examples:
TR CHAT *laughs* (This becomes: [Chatter] Albori laughs.)
TR CHAT I dropped my taco! *cries* (This becomes: [Chatter] Albori transmits through tears, "I dropped my taco!")
Starship Relay Channel
Some starships possess a relay channel upgrade which allows them to relay communicator signals among a select group of individuals. The following commands apply to ship relay channels:
CHANNEL - In the starship control room, this allows the ship owner to enable/disable the relay, authorize a communicator, or deauthorize a communicator.
TR SHIP [message] - Transmits [message] to the ship relay channel if you're authorized.
TR SHIP UNLINK - Unlinks your communicator from the ship relay channel.
This covers communicators! If you have any further questions, you are more than welcome to type ASSIST to request personal assistance from a staff member.
Related Topics: Communicator Private Link Services