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FEDOCS.TXT
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1993-10-18
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These are the docs for Fantasy Empires from SSI. Date 10-18-93
Overview: Fantasy Empires is a strategic wargame very similar to
Cyber Empires also by SSI. Combat resolution can be resolved by either
an arcade style mode featuring two player split screen or by a poorly
represented simulated style. The graphics and sound are well done although
some of the sounds come from Darksun also from SSI. The Gravis p.c. gamepad
is a wonderful joystick to use with the "Gauntlet(Atari)/Siege(Mindcraft)"
arcade combat resolution. The game centers around empire building by seizing
territories and then improving those territories in order to increase the
capacity to build troops and to allow the production of the magic using Heros.
Each territory grants a certain amount of income for each turn that it is
held. This income can be used to conscript military units, construct new
buildings, send aid to an ally, or keep enemies from attacking you. One of the
better features of the game versus other wargames is that there are enough
alternative strategies during game play and enough room to be creative that
it allows players to adopt different play styles. In other words you can use
your favorite hero/army types and adopt the strategy to them so that you can
play with your favorite types and do just as well against players who always
go for "only the best". One very important thing to remember (that can make
you dislike the game early on) is controlling a group of regular units
in combat. These are often better controlled by the computer and are sluggish
because the regular types are the weakest (level 1) troops. I feel the game
was designed for the players to work the heros into the battle plan and then
control them arcade style instead of endlessly "Questing" with them so that
they eventually get killed in the process. A mere level 1 mage hero is
a good example of just how much differnce a hero makes in combat. A mage with
the fireball (his weapon type) can raise castles, by knocking holes in the
walls to allow the hoards of regular troop types to enter and take control
of the battle. Although a mage is very slow moving, the fireball more than
makes up for the disadvantage. The magic items found by questing can be
cleverly combined with a troop type to make thier intrinsic powers much more
devastating. To continue with the example of the mage, Boots of speed
(found on Noble Quests) can turn the fireball tossing tortise into a
hellraising olympic sprinter. The first thing you will do when starting
the game is create "YOU". Your character is the ruler and general of your
empire. Understand that when you create your character, you should come
to a decision which types of troops you like the most. If you like mages,
like I prefer, you should choose your character to be a mage. The reason for
this is because since you are of the same class, you train these troops
better, and they perform better for you. Your character is never actually
in the game or on the field of battle. It represents you and allows a method
of keeping track of your statistics on wins/losses/campaigns etc. This
is a permanent character in the sense that after one campaign is completed,
you can then start another with the same character and the statistics will
be built upon. This gives a long term rating system of how you do as a
ruler. One final note to remember, just because you have the biggest, baddest,
empire in the realm, doesn't mean that the the underdog empire can't uncover
a valuable magic item and reduce your empire in a devastating way. You must
equally fear and utilize magic, and the items that posses it, to conquer all
of your enemies. Diplomacy is also a very big part of the game. Turn 4
enemies against you and suddenly you have an empire of 4 rulers and thier
individual magical abilites campaigning for your destruction. Thier magic
abilites alone in concert (no matter what thier combined size) can ruin your
chances of conquring and ruling the realm.
-MAIN MENU-
View Intro - View beginning intro
Load Game - Load saved game
Campaign - Select campaign play
Scenarios - Select a preset conflict
exit to D.O.S. - need I say more :)
SCENARIOS:
Again, straight forward. Ten scenarios give a basic introduction to the game.
I didn't particaularly enjoy these because of the preset characters and
positioning (which is what a scenario is). But I feel it detracts from the
enjoyment of using your own ruler and starting from scratch. There is a
complete description of each scenario as you select it.
CAMPAIGN:
This is the meat and potatoes of the game. You start with your ruler, a small
castle, two armories, and some troops, and 1 of each hero type. It allows
you to select which opponents you want in the game as well as how many (leave
the windows blank for less players). You can have up to 5 total players
either computer or human controlled. Make sure the NPC (Non Player Character)
title is under any characters that you wish the computer to control. I
reccomend first viewing all the characters available because they vary in
class/alignment/and level. The way to select a more skilled opponent is to
a NPC that is of higher level. They cycle in order of lowest to highest to
ease the selection process. The shield below each portrait square will be
the actual color and icon representing your occupied territories.
CHARACTER CREATION:
Choose an iconized portrait for your character and then follow the buttons
through the creation process. This is very straight forward so I will not
spend much time focusing on this. The only unseen ability is by adjusting
your Strength, Intelligence, Dexterity, Constitution, Wisdom and Charisma by
clicking on the actul number on the character display during the "reroll"
process. This will allow you to set them to whatever you wish. For those not
familiar with what attributes determine what in Dungeons and Dragons
characters, I will list the applicable ones now:
Strength - Higher strength increases your chance to score a hit on an
opponent as well as the additional strength damage inflicted.
(Fighter prime attribute)
Dexterity - This determines how well you use missile weapons as well as
making you harder to hit.
Constitution - This is the physical grade applied to your body in general.
higher constitution can grant additional hit points to
be awarded to each level gained above and beyond the regular
hit point points gained. Hit points are the numerical
representation of how much damage can be taken.
Intelligence - Higher intelligence allows better use of magic by getting
more spells and in this game, most likely mage spell points.
This also determines weather you can learn the higher level
spells and how many total spells you can learn.
(Mage prime attribute)
Wisdom - Higher wisdom allows bonus resistance to magic additional spells for
Clerics. In the game it most likely affects spell points.
(Cleric/Druid prime attribute)
Charisma - Determines your ability to affect others in a positive manner.
Most likely affects the diplomacy involved in the game. May
give bonuses to dealing with other rulers.
CAMPAIGN SETTINGS:
The two options on the campain menu are weather to have a historical or
random world and the ability to see all troops or evoke the fog of war.
The historical map is the same every time you play much like a board game.
The Random world option will allow the territories, the amount of income they
produce, the units the produce, and thier location to be randomly scrambled
and relocated. Unfortunately this does not "CREATE" a new map like
Civilization and other wargames. The geography of the map will remain
the exact same which unfortunately allows for experienced players to learn
the best way to approach the map (Like taking Austrailia in RISK). But
fortunately the random starting location of all the players helps counter
this and the lack of random terrain and boundries.
The SEE ALL allows every player to see each and every other players occupied
territories. This is also like playing a board game. The good thing is that
the FOG OF WAR option will allow the computer to hide all the enemy occupied
territories. The only enemy territories visible will be ones that are
adjacent or adjoining your occupied territories.
MAIN GAME INTERFACE:
You will see the main map, 4 different "gauges" above the map, the DM or
Dungeon Master above the map, an end turn button at the top of the main map,
a mini map below the main map, and a row of buttons below the main map.
The main map is where all strategic planning, production, troop movements,
and most spell casting will be executed. In unison with the buttons below the
main map and information gained from both the gauges and the DM above the map,
a course of action can be decided upon and put into motion.
GAUGES:
There are three crystal balls and a money plate above the main map. The
money plate will always reflect exactly how much money you have at any given
time. The three crystal balls will display how much power in a certain
spell catagory you have to cast spells. Each ball will glow with a different
color. The colors represent the class of spells the points go to i.e. Mage,
Cleric, and Druid. The more the ball each individual ball glows, the more
spell points you have in that class. The colors are GREEN for MAGE,
RED for CLERIC, and BLUE for DRUID. To obtain a Druid in the game, you must
work a Cleric up to level 9 by sending him/her on quests at which time he/she
will be given the option to change to the Druid Class.
Spells are determined by the highest level of your heros for each class.
In other words if you have 3 1st level mages, a 2nd level mage, and a 5th
level mage, then you will be able to cast what a 5th level mage can cast.
Spell point capacity and the rate of recovery may be determined the same way
but it's entirely possible that some formula such as the combined magic
or even an average of the mages levels and numbers may have an effect on this.
I am still expirementing with this. I do know that I had one 9th level Cleric
and was regaining spell points quickly and casting high level spells but also
had 7 mages levels 1-4 and my spell points almost never grew. My character
is a mage as well so I know this has little or no effect directly on spell
point recovery.
END TURN BUTTON:
Just press this button whenever you have finished making all moves, buys,
etc.. Turn order is random. You may be the last to move one turn and then the
first to move the next. This is something to be wary of or something you
may incorporate into a desperate strategy hoping to get lucky enough to go
before another player. Unfortunately there is no indicator of wether your at
the end, beginning or middle of a turn so to speak. So it's is very hard to
"plan" with this in mind.
MINI MAP:
This map allows you to point and hold the left mouse button down and scroll
alot around the map faster than by just moving the mouse pointer to a map
edge. Unfortunately this does not display or do anything else.
BUTTONS:
The buttons and thier functions are explained below and are also covered
individually as they appear from left to right on the bottom of the map
screen. (NOTE: Any time a button is active, the shields that represent your
occupation of a territory will be outlined with a blue glow if you can
perform that particular function in that particular territory. When NO
button is pushed and you click on a territory, you will get the general
public information for that territory. It will include the the amount of
income collected per turn if occupied, the name of the territory, and most
importantly the types of forces that can be built in that territory. If you
have a button pushed and want to look at an unoccupied territory, click on
the shield button, and then click on the check mark. This effectively resets
the buttons so that none are active.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
FUNCTION | ICON | DESCRIPTION
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
BUILD (Building) Build various buildings in order to improve your
territories. To build, click on the button, choose
the type of building, and then click on the
territory.
Keeps - You must put a keep in every newly
conquered territory else your forces in that
territory will suffer casualties from raids.
Castles - Defend your forces and buildings
in combat. Good for protection from melee types
like Fighters, Orcs, Dwarves, Undead etc..
The bigger your castle, the more buildings that
can be placed within.
Armoury - Needed to produce forces. You can
train up to 3 regular armies OR 3 non-magic Heros
per armoury. Armies are actually in groups
of 20 so you can build 60 soldiers per armoury.
Wizard's Tower - This allows the production of
1 Mage Hero. Takes up as much castle space as an
armoury. Territory MUST support mages.
Clerist Temple - This allows the production of
1 Cleric Hero. Also takes up as much space as an
armoury. Territory MUST support clerics.
QUEST (Horse and Rider) By sending your Heros on quests, they can gain
levels of experience and find valuable magic.
The magic items may be equipable by that hero
only or may be placed in the vault. Use vaulted
items with the use magic items button. There are
5 levels of quests that are listed in order from
easiest to hardest or should I say deadliest.
To send a hero on a quest, click the button.
chose the territory containing the hero, click on
the quest type, and then left click the on the hero
on the forces scroll. A word of warning, if you
a hero on a quest it will take time and you cannot
recall them once they are sent. The Veteran Quests
take a turn or two the others get longer and longer
with increasing difficulty.
Veteran Quest - This quest is used to get your
new 1st level heros started on thier way to
bigger and better uses. You should also use this
as the quest for 1-5 level characters. Mainly
+1 and basic magic hero use only items are found
on these quests.
Noble Quest - This is where quests start to
pay off. Your hero can find +2 items and more
advanced personal hero use items. But the best
things are the vault items such as the rod
of trueseeing.
Daring Quests - These are still being explored.
Mainly +3 items and more advanced personal hero
items. Rod of Lightning is niiiiiice!
Dangerous Quests - Most likely +4 items.
There is a nice vault item called
the mirror of reflection obtained which
prevents all opponents from using trueseeing
on any of your territories.
very potent items. VERY DANGEROUS
Forbidden Quests - I am speculating that these
are rewarded with ARTIFACTS. If you are not
familiar with AD&D then let me explain.
Artifacts are weapons and magic items of
such immense power that they are one of a kind
e.g. Moljenor a.k.a. Thor's mighty hammer
or Excalibur a.k.a. King Arthur's sword.
Since +5 weapons are artifacts in AD&D and
the progressin of the bonus is equal to the
catagories of quests. This is very likely.
But these of course will not be limited to
weapons. SO, Do you feel lucky?
CONSCRIPT (3 heads and +) This button is used to "buy" new troops.
TROOPS Keep in mind that when you buy troops, that
you will also have to pay an upkeep cost per
turn. To buy troops click the conscript button,
click a territory to build in, click the type,
click the coin for each set of 20 you want to
buy. Remember 3 sets per armoury. To remove an
army in training, RIGHT CLICK on the army to
be removed in the double column disply. To
access the double column display, click on
the button that looks like a square with a
vertical line through it. This toggles
between portrait/info and the double column
display. Turns mean how many turns it takes
to build a paricular unit.
VIEW (Magnifying Glass) This gives a very detailed view of one of your
occupied territories. This cannot be used on any
other territory. To use simply click on the button,
and then click on one of your occupied territories.
MOVE This is the command to move units that have been
conscripted. To use click on the button, click on
the territory you want to MOVE FROM and then click
on the territory you want to MOVE TO. You will
notice after clicking on the territory to move
from, you will see a new set of highlighted
territories that are the only ones you can move to.
The general rule is that you can only move one
adjacent territory per army per turn. The only
exception to the distance is by sea. You can move
from a coastal territory to another coastal
territory ANYWERE. It takes atleast 2 turns to move
in this fashion.
INFO SHIELD (Shield) There are many different info shields available.
I find that I keep mine set on the display
buildings shield. The reason for this is when you
lose a keep from a spell or you gain a territory
then you will see that the keep is missing on the
shield and can put one down to prevent attrition
and loss of that territory. The rest can be
learned quickly and are self explanitory.
DIPLOMACY (Scroll and ->) This is used to send messages, aid or even form
and alliance. All of these will be read by the
recipient on his/her next turn. You should recieve
a reply on your next turn in most cases provided
one was sent. Aid is for softening up opponents
to stay off thier hit list, often in response to
a request for aid. Forming an alliance with an
opponent can garauntee a term of peace. Be
careful about making pacts with chaotic characters
because they are not required to keep thier word.
if you are neutral or lawful, and break your
agreement with an opponent, the DM gets very angry
and does something very nasty to you....
MAGIC ITEMS (Grail [cup]) This button is used to access the vaulted magic
items. These items often have a limited number of
uses and often cast spells exactly like the spells
available to the magical heros but at no cost of
magic points. You can use tham as much as you want
on any given turn until they are used up. Some are
permanent items that automatically augment your
realm. When a charged item runs out of charges you
will not know that it is about to "crumble to
dust". It disintegrates when you attempt to use it.
DISK OPTIONS (Disk) Save and load games. Very self explanitory.
You can also "exit" to the main menu.
SPELLS (Rune) This will activate the spellbook. You can select
the spell of the type you want to cast which will
then make the book disappear. You are still is
SPELL MODE. The territory you click on with the
pointer will be immediately affected by the spell.
You can continue to cast the spell until you run
out of points. If you do not have enough points
to cast any spells you will get a message to that
effect. When looking at the spell book, notice the
crystal ball on the left page. It represents what
class of spells and what color of magic points you
will use to cast it.
GAME (3 slide bars) This is where you tune the game to your
SETTINGS preference. All of these are quite important.
DM Effects - Toggles the animation that slows
down access to areas like the spell book and
the buildings book. Also stops alot of the wait
time on other animated effects. Turn this off
after your sick of waiting.
DM Advice - This has got to be the most annoying
feature of this great game. After you have heard
all that there is to hear, shut him up! :)
Simulate - NEVER means you will fight arcade.
ALWAYS means a LAME no report battle
resolution.
PROMPT means you will always get an
annoying prompt before every
combat to sim or play.
Detail Level - This has got to be the most
important option in the setting list minus
the control settings. This determines wether
you have 1 man representing 20 on a battlefield,
1 man representing every 10 on a battlefield,
1 man representing every 5 on a battlefield,
or 1 man for every 1 man which is the best way
to play with faster computers. If you want
HOARDS of men figting like in SIEGE then set
this 1:1. If you have 1000 troops and can't
fit em all on the battlefield then set this to
1:5 or 1:10. 1:20 is gotta be for 10000 troops
or extremly slow machines.
View Character - This allows you to view your
character and all the others. You can see how
your doing statistically and what level you are.
Messages On - I assume you turn the messages off
like troop builds and other prompts....WHY?
Sound - Toggle sound on/off
Music - Toggle music on/off
Slide Bar - This adjust the music so you can hear
the DM speak. I keep mine at 2/3rds up.
ATT Control - This is what will control the
attackers forces in combat. JOYSTICK RECCOMENDED.
DEF Control - This is what will control the
defenders forces in combat. "" ""
Config Keys - This allows you to define all the
keys used in the game. If you have a joystick
then you only need to pay attention to the F1,F2,
F9,F10, and P. These are controls that are used
in unison with joysticks. Keyboard users need to
review all of them. besides the direction keys,
the other two like spacebar and left shift
control the use weapon and block repectively for
the attacker. Joystick users can use button 1 and
2 respectively. The defender keys are also
listed. Mages might use the block key for spells
that are selected just before combat is
initiated. I haven't tried this so expirement.
Calibrate Joysticks - This one was tough! :)
VIEW (Flag) This allows a complete overview of your entire
EMPIRE empire. Includes a complete list of forces.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMBAT:
Expirement with troop placements and make your own strategies. I would give
tips on this but it's rather fun expirementing and you might miss something
if you follow someone elses plan. The very first group of troops that you
place will be the group or hero that you control. The one thing I will say
again about combat however is throw your good heros into combat with your
forces. Then place your hero first so you control him/her. It's a blast
having a 13th level Dwarf with a +3 axe killing hoards of enemies with
minimal damage. If you place a group in the wrong place then hit the
button that looks like a circle with a line through it. You can place all
your forces and hit this button repeatedly until all your forces are picked
back up. After you have placed your troops, decide what your starting
orders are going to be. These can also be changed in battle by hitting the
F1 key for the attacker and F9 for the defender. This command effects the
behavior of all the computer controlled forces. The F2 and F10 keys are
to cycle through assuming command of each group of your forces. You can hit
"P" to pause the battle and unpause the battle.
COMMAND ICON
BOMBARD - [CATAPULT] - This command tells your foces to stand in place.
All ranged weapons will fire at targets while
melee forces will stand and fight if approached.
HARRASS - [SWORDMAN] - This command tels your ranged weapons to track and fire
at the nearest enemy. The melee forces will taunt the
enemy by moving around and sometimes drawing ground
forces into your ranged weapons fire.
ASSAULT - [SWORD] - This command tells all your forces to charge and
go kick some butt. Not much explanation needed.
RETREAT - [FLAG] - RUN AWAAAaaaaaay! (must go to a north or south edge
of the screen to leave) THIS COMMAND IS NOT AVAILABLE
ON ISLANDS WETHER ATTACKING OR DEFENDING BECAUSE THERE
IS NOT AN ADJACENT TERRITORY UNDER YOUR CONTROL.
If you have am spellcasting hero in the battle, you can pick a spell to use
with the rune icon at the troop placement screen (that is if the spellcasting
hero is of sufficient level to cast a combat spell). I have not figured out
if it's a button/keyboard activated spell or if it is cast at the beginning
of the battle.
To the victor go the spoils AND the buildings.
GAME NOTES:
* If you lose a territory and then go back and reoccupy it. All the buildings
besides the Keep will still be there unlike Cyber Empires.
* Learn which spells focus mainly on buildings and which focus mainly on
troops. Use Truesight as much as you can and keep track of what is where.
then use the costly spells intelligently. A couple of destroyed buildings
can often hurt an opponent more than destorying a bunch on troops. Mainly
because you hit him in the pocket book and the ability to use the building.
Don't be surprised if you find that opponent going around begging for aid.:)
* When first starting the game, realise that nuetral territories take a
certain amount of troops to successfully secure them. This is based on
the terrain. I wouldn't send less than 100-120 fighters into a mountain
nuetral territory. The formula for how many troops it takes to gain control
of a nuetral is a constant because you are always left with the same amount
of troops after occupation. i.e. attacking a mountain nuetral with 120
fighters leaves 32 or so left. Terrain also effects combat as it aids the
defender in varying degrees.
* I have noticed that it gets harder and harder to find magic items on the
lower quests as the game progresses. It's almost as if they get tapped out.
* The islands may be a pain to quickly inhabit but they are great for a
stealthy approach for hiding some major buildings. Scatter a few out in the
island areas and make your opponents play hit or miss. Construct some
hero building facilites and then just build heros and make those islands
the questing "stations". But you still need to garrison them a bit.
maybe even consider it your emergency reaction navy.
* If you attack a castle then ranged weapons or siege equipment is absolutely
a MUST. You will just walk around and be archer bait otherwise. If you get in
a situation like this then just sound the retreat and leave. The only
exception is if you have a druid because he's not ranged like a mage, but he
has exploding acorns and can hit the front three adjacent spaces with fire
and can walk up to a castle wall and blow it to smithereens.
* You can't control Catapults or Ballistas so place them inside castle walls
or way behind the lines if attacking.
* Be aware that certain hero types have a level limitation.. But human
fighters who are weaker in the beginning are unlimited in D&D but may have a
limit in this game. If they do then rest assured it's probably 24th or 30th
level or so. Enough to become truly powerful. We are talking taking out an
entire 500 unit army by himself.
* You can leave your "Behind the lines" territories devoid of all armies
as long as it has a keep but I reccomend leaving at least 2 guys in every
territory like this. Simply because that territory might coome under a spell
attack. And if you lose your keep and there are no men there, you will lose
that territory and have to go back to reclaim it including losing the forces
to recapture it. If you leave 2 men not armies just men, then you will be
given 1 turn to rebuild the keep so that you will hold onto it. If you have
other buildings there and lose it because of a spell attack you will regret
it. Also most of the troop oriented attack spells are a percentage based
formula so that if you lose up to 50% of your troops, that will equal 1 man
and you will still have 1 there and can still cover your base.
* Don't make the mistake of buying a building(other than keeps) in the first
2-3 turns. You MUST put keeps in the newly conquered territories and they
cost a whopping 7500 gold pieces. If you construct building other than keeps
too dearly, you won't have money to expand your empire.
Docs by,
-=LORUS=-
