Precision Software Appli…tions Silver Collection 1/Precision Software Applications Silver Collection Volume One (PSM) (1993).iso/games/egavga/autmon41.arj/READ.ME

Text File | 1993-07-30 | 27KB | 624 lines

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           *    AUTOMON 4.1 - copyright 1993 Ron Mignery      *
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MONOPOLY is a registered trademark of Parker Bros. Inc.
Their copyrights, however, have run out.





AUTOMON 4.1 is a DOS version of Monopoly for PC computers.


Version 4.1 adds the following features to version 4.0:

    Game Logging   - A record of each play in a game can be kept
                     in a file and replayed to any point.  This
                     feature is described in detail below.

    Free Rides     - Free rides on any lot may be bought and sold.
                     This feature is described in detail below.

    New Game       - New Game may be selected from the game menu
                     to clear out any old game.

    Mortgage Rates - The interest rate value for unmortgaging a lot
                     can be set to any value (default 10%). Interest
                     now charged for all transfers of mortgaged lots.

    Jail Cards     - Get out of jail free cards may now be selected
                     individually for buying and selling.

    House Auctions - Houses and hotels may now be auctioned.
                     This feature is described in detail below.

    Bug fixes      - Problems with bankruptcies, "Pay each player
                     $50" events, passing go, the auction menu,
                     and automatic house purchase have been fixed.


The author of this MS-DOS adaptation places no restrictions on the
distribution of this program.  Comments and inquiries may be directed to
the author at this address:

            Ron Mignery
            85 Bartlett Street
            Somerville, MA 02145


------------------------QUICKSTART-----------------------------------------------------

To run Automon, type the following at the dos prompt:

    MON41 <-options> <save_game_filename>/<custom_board_filename>

    examples:

                 C> MON41

                 C> MON41 -n

                 C> MON41 -?

                 C> MON41 FEB10A

                 C> MON41 /PARIS

                 C> MON41 -nsv2 FEB10A/PARIS

    The save_game_filename and custom_board_filename are both optional.
    Note that the '/' character is necessary to indicate a custom board.

You may instead simply enter DEMO to load and run a two player game,
you against the computer, with a customized board based on America's
favorite monopoly, baseball.  Incidently stadiums were ordered by
seating capicity.  How else could Cleveland come out on top?


---------------------HOW TO PLAY-----------------------------------------------------

AUTOMON is yet another version of Monopoly on computers.  It does
however have some features not found in other Monopoly programs.
Everything is displayed on a single text screen so there are no
distracting screen changes and no graphics hardware requirement.
Deeds are displayed automatically when appropriate or manually by a
view facility.  Automon is for those who have come to play Monopoly!
Graphics just slow you down and distract from the business at hand
(not to mention copyright and trade-mark issues).

Automon can be started by entering MON41 at the DOS prompt.

A representation of the standard Monopoly board will appear with GO
in the upper right hand corner.  The program will then be in a state
to accept the list of players with the cursor flashing for input on
the player edit line, the next to last line on the screen.  The user
should type in the name of the first player and press ENTER.  The
program will advance to receive the next name.  Note that the token,
name and cash on hand of all players appear in the upper left box of
the screen.  The token is a single character used to represent each
player on the game board and a default token will be provided by
the program for each player.

Pressing the up arrow will access data for players whose names have
already been entered.  The player edit line shows the token, name,
board position, liquidity (maximum cash that can be raised by
mortgaging and tearing down houses), total worth, autoplay status and
get-out-of-jail card ownership of the selected player. The tab key
moves the cursor to the other fields in the player edit line where
the default values can be altered.  Usually a player will want to
substitute a different character for their token from the one
provided by the program.

When all players have been entered (8 maximum), press ESC.

The user will then be positioned in the menu tree such that pressing ENTER
will shuffle the player order and present the user with the main menu.

In general, pressing ENTER will select the highlighted entry on the
active menu.  Pressing arrow keys will move the highlight.  Pressing
ESC will remove the menu.  Pressing the first letter of a menu entry
will select that entry.  The range of actions expected of the user
will be indicated on the bottom line of the screen.

On the PLAYER ORDER menu, the user has the option to perform a MANUAL
SHUFFLE of the players, to perform an AUTOMATIC SHUFFLE of the
players, to select the CURRENT PLAYER, or to choose to do nothing by
pressing ESC.

The current player will be highlighted in the upper left box and
will be listed on the player edit line.

Selecting ROLL DICE on the main menu will cause the dice to start rolling.
When a key is pressed the dice will stop and the current player token
will be advanced by the amount shown on the dice.

Dice values can be forced for test purposes by pressing a number key
to stop the dice rolling. When a second number key is pressed, the
dice are set to the numbers pressed.  Any roll from 0 to 18 may be
forced in this manner.

If a player lands on a purchasable lot, the player is given the
option to buy it.  If not purchased, the lot is auctioned by
agreement among the players and the results reported to the computer.

Selecting BUSINESS on the main menu will bring up a menu wherein the
player may mortgage and unmortgage lots and buy and sell lots,
houses, free rides, and get-out-of-jail cards.  This menu will appear
automatically if a player engages in a transaction for which
insufficient cash is at hand.

Ownership of a lot (if any) is indicated by a player token in the
lower left corner of the lot.  Development (if any) is indicated by a
number just above the owner token.  `0' indicates that all lots of
that color are owned by the same player (rent is doubled) but that no
houses have yet been built. A hotel is indicated by a `5' (5 houses).
`M' indicates that the lot is mortgaged.

When a player's turn is over, the ROLL DICE entry on the main menu
will be replaced with a NEXT PLAYER entry.  Selecting NEXT PLAYER will
begin the next player's turn.

Pressing `U' will undo an inadvertant ROLL DICE or NEXT PLAYER entry.

Any or all players may be set to automatic mode in which the computer
generates the moves, including buying of lots and houses.  This mode
may be changed individually at any time.  CTRL-A will toggle this
mode for the current player, or the PLAYER DATA facilty may be used:
Select PLAYER DATA from the main menu.  Select EDIT PLAYER DATA from
the PLAYER DATA menu.  Use arrow keys to move to the AUTO field in
the player edit line. Type 'Y' or 'N' to enable/disable auto mode.

When a player has insufficient liquidity to cover a debt, the program
declares the player bankrupt and automatically pops up the BUSINESS
menu.  A bankrupt player will have one chance to raise the money to
stay in the game by selling a property for instance (presumably with
the concurrence of the debtee).  If this remedy is declined by
pressing ESC or if the funds raised are still insufficient the player
is removed from the game (unless the stay in game when bankrupt
option is on).

Play continues in the above manner until only one player remains.

Knowledge of the rules of Monopoly is assumed.  Playing is intuitive and
mostly obvious.

In Monopoly, the players have no control over their movements (other
than to decline to leave jail on a particular roll).  They may elect
not to purchase or not to develop a property but this is usually
self-destructive behavior.  The real element of strategy is the
devising of deals among the players to the perceived advantage of all
parties to the deal.  The winning strategy is to propose deals that
are apparently advantageous to the other player but which are really
more to your own advantage.  Deals of this kind are by their nature
complex involving temporary or permanent free rides, kickbacks,
discounts and other arrangements that the computer cannot handle
alone.  To perform on an agreement, it may be necessary to execute
bogus sales and repurchases of property.  The program is designed so
that this can be done at any time.


-------------------------FREE RIDES-----------------------------------------

To facilitate complex deal making, Automon now incorporates trading
in free rides.  A free ride is when a rent is not charged a player
for landing on a lot.  Free rides may now be bought and sold though
only by agreement between the players involved.  Automon will then
perform on the free ride agreement in the course of the game.

To buy free rides, select BUY on the BUSINESS menu and FREE RIDES on
the BUY menu.  Select the lot and enter the number of free rides and
the agreed-upon price.

To sell free rides, select SELL on the BUSINESS menu and FREE RIDES
on the SELL menu.  Select the lot and the buyer. Then enter the number
of free rides and the agreed-upon price.

Note that free rides are cancelled when a property is transferred.

Free rides remaining can be viewed via the VIEW utility.


------------------------HOUSE AUCTIONS--------------------------------------

In the somewhat mushy standard rules, business can be conducted by any
player at any time, even while other players are rolling and moving.
With the computer, of course, events only happen one at a time.
Nevertheless it may occasionally be appropriate to conduct business
in the middle of someone else's turn.  For lot sales and purchases,
this can be achieved by the current player buying and selling as a
go-between. Houses have been another matter since the current player
could only buy and sell for his color lots if any.

Further, in a housing or hotel shortage, houses should properly be
auctioned to the highest bidder.

To address these two points, a house auction feature has been added
to house purchases.  If the player selects to buy 0 houses, then a
procedure begins to auction one house.  Like lot auctions, house
auctions must be settled among the players and reported to the
computer.

The house auction feature can also be used for out-of-turn house
purchases with the current player serving as go-between.


--------------------COMMAND LINE OPTIONS------------------------------------

Parameters may be passed to Automon on the command line as follows:

        Example:

                 C> MON41 -nsv FEB10A/PARIS


Theline switch -h or -? generates the following message and
terminates:

        Format: mon4 [-hvsn] [saved_game] [/custom_board]

        -h = help (this message)
        -v = disable direct video for incompatible video cards
        -s = silent mode
        -n = no color mode for non-gray-scaling b&w videos

Direct video access makes windows pop up much faster.  This could
create problems for non-standard video systems.  To prevent video
problems, the command line switch, -v, defeats direct video access.

The command line switch, -s, causes Automon to operate in silent mode.
When invoked, audio is disabled, even if a non-silent game is loaded.

The -n command line option allows Automon to be run on systems with
non-gray-scaling monochrome video systems.  The screen will display
entirely in black and white.


---------------------PLAY OPTIONS-------------------------------------------

Common playing variations such as pre-dealing deeds, putting tax
money on Free Parking, relaxing color lot requirements, allowing
rerolls on leaving jail, disabling housing shortages, etc. may be
individually enabled through the options facility.

The options facility is invoked by selecting MORE... on the MAIN menu
and OPTIONS on the MORE menu.  Selecting SET OPTIONS displays the
options and allows them to be changed.  RESET OPTIONS sets all
options to their factory default settings.  KEEP OPTIONS saves the
current settings in the file AUTOMON.CFG which become the default
settings when Automon is first started.  The values of the options are
saved when a game is saved.

Options exist to enable or disable sound and to set the playing speed
of the program.  A useful option for high speed games causes messages
that normally go away by themselves to wait for a keypress.

One option disables auctions.  Another allows players to remain on
the board after bankruptcies.  These two options allow a variation on
the basic game that "corrects" a major weakness of the standard
game.  In a game of even just two players, there is enough money at
the start of the game to buy every property on the board.  Any player
who doesn't purchase a property he/she lands on is simply being
foolish.  If players started with less money (say $200), could
survive early bankruptcies, and would not lose properties on which
they land to low bidders in auctions, then strategy in property
purchases would become a viable element of the game.  The saved game
MIN demonstrates such a game.

The interest charged for unmortgaging and remortgaging (bankruptcy)
lots may now be set as a player option.  The rules are misleading as
to whether the official 10% applies to the amount of the loan or
to the face value of the property.  Apparently the latter is true
and previous versions of Automon have been in error on this point.
The default value is now 10% on the face value of the property.


------------------------NEW, LOAD AND SAVE GAMES----------------------------

Any game may be saved at any point and restored and played later.
A game file consists of information on the names of the players,
their positions and assets, and the current options settings.

Additionally, if a log was open when the game was saved, a
corresponding log file will exist containing the starting game
file information plus information on every play in the course of
the game.


NEW GAME:

To start an entirely new game, select MORE... on the MAIN menu, GAME
on the MORE menu, and NEW GAME on the GAME menu.


SAVE GAME:

To save a game, select MORE... on the MAIN menu, GAME on the MORE
menu, and SAVE GAME on the GAME menu.  A menu of the current saved
games and a blank entry appears:

To update an existing saved game, move the highlight to the game to
be updated and press ENTER.  Press ENTER again to save the game.

To replace a saved game, move the highlight to the name to be
replaced and press ENTER.  Type in the new name under which you wish
to save the game and press ENTER.

To add a new saved game to the list, move the highlight to the blank
entry and press ENTER.  Type in the name under which you wish to save
the game and press ENTER.

Games are individually saved on the current directory as files with a
.MON extension.


LOAD GAME:

A game may be loaded at any point.  Select MORE... on the MAIN menu,
GAME on the MORE menu, and LOAD GAME on the GAME menu.  A menu of the
current saved games appears:

To load an existing saved game, move the highlight to the game to be
loaded and press ENTER.


---------------------LOAD, EDIT AND SAVE BOARDS-----------------------------

In the same way as a game, a board may be saved at any point and
restored and played later.  A board file consists of information on
lot names and rental values, the text and actions of community chest
and chance cards, the levels of salaries, the cost of houses, and the
rates and limits of taxes.


SAVE BOARD:

To save a board, select MORE... on the MAIN menu, BOARD on the MORE
menu and SAVE BOARD on the BOARD menu.  A menu of the current saved
boards and a blank entry appears:

To update an existing saved board, move the highlight to the board to
be updated and press ENTER.  Press ENTER again to save the board.

To replace a saved board, move the highlight to the name to be
replaced and press ENTER.  Type in the new name under which you wish
to save the board and press ENTER.

To add a new saved board to the list, move the highlight to the blank
entry and press ENTER.  Type in the name under which you wish to save
the board and press ENTER.

Boards are individually saved on the current directory as files with
a .CSU and .BSU extensions.


EDIT BOARD:

To edit the lots of a board, select MORE... on the MAIN menu, BOARD on
the MORE menu, and EDIT BOARD on the BOARD menu.

The passing GO salary may be set on the Go square.  A bonus value may
also be set on the Go square to be added to the salary when a player
lands on Go.

The tax rate and maximum may be set on the INCOME TAX square.

The tax value may be set on the LUXURY TAX square.

The cost of houses may be set on any color lot property.  This cost
will then apply for all houses on that side of the playing board.


EDIT CARDS:

To edit the community chest and chance cards, select MORE... on the
MAIN menu, BOARD on the MORE menu, and CARDS on the BOARD menu.  From
the CARDS menu, card text and actions may be edited, and the cards
manually or automatically shuffled.

Note that the `>' character on the card selection menu marks the
current top of the deck.

The action code displayed when a card is edited determines what
happens when that card is turned (case sensitive):

A positive number means that the player receives that amount of
cash.  A negative number means the player pays that amount.

A 't' followed by a number means the player transfers to the square
indicated.  Note that 0 is the GO square and 39 is BOARDWALK.  tJ
transfers directly to jail, tR transfers to nearest railroad at twice
the normal rent, and tU transfers to nearest utility at 10 times the
roll of dice.

JF and JFF mark get out of jail free cards. Only one of each is
allowed.

RE receives $50 from every player and PE pays $50 to every player.
REnn receives $nn from every player and PEnn pays $nn to every
player.

For assessment and repairs cards, the house and hotel costs are set
with the H action code.  HnnnTmmm marks a cost per house of $nnn and a
cost per hotel of $mmm.  H25T40 would mark the normal REPAIRS card for
example.  For backward compatibilty with earlier versions of Automon,
AS and RP mark normal assessments and repairs respectively.

The action codes can be modified to any value consistent with the
above interpretation.


LOAD BOARD:

A board may be loaded at any point.  Select MORE... on the MAIN menu,
BOARD on the MORE menu, and LOAD BOARD on the BOARD menu.  A menu of
the current saved boards appears:

To load an existing saved board, move the highlight to the board to be
loaded and press ENTER.


------------------------GAME LOGGING----------------------------------------

A game log of every event in a game can be initiated by selecting
MORE from the MAIN menu, LOG from the MORE menu, and ON from the
LOG menu.  When the log is turned on, the state of the game at that
point is saved to a file.  Every subsequent event in the game is then
saved to the same file until the game ends or logging is turned off.

Logging can be turned off in the same way it is turned on.  The log
will also be turned off if a new game is loaded, player data or order
is altered, or the board is edited.

When the log is active, a flashing asterisk (*) appears below the word
"MONOPOLY" on the right side of the screen.

If a game is saved while the log is open, an additional file,
<game_name>.log, is created.  Later, when the saved game is loaded,
the log file is loaded as well and the log is automatically opened.

If a log exists for a game, whether open or closed, the log can be
viewed by selecting MORE from the MAIN menu, LOG from the MORE menu,
and VIEW from the LOG menu.  The user can then scroll through the
script with the arrow, page, home and end keys.

If ENTER is pressed while viewing a log, the user is presented with
the REPLAY menu from which a FAST, NORMAL, or SINGLE-STEP replay mode
can be selected.  Fast mode will replay with no delay and no sound.
Normal mode will replay with the normal values of the game.
Single-step will replay one line of the log at a time.  The user may
also select EXIT from this menu to terminate replay.

When a replay mode is selected, Automon then replays the log up to
but not including the line at the top of the log view window (marked
with a `>') at the selected speed.

If a key is pressed during log replay or if single-step mode
has been selected, replay will halt and the REPLAY menu will be
redisplayed.

When replay terminates, either by reaching the end line or from the
EXIT selection in the REPLAY menu, the user then selects whether the
log is to remain open.  If left open, the log will be truncated at
the replay end point and added to by subsequent game events.

A log may be saved to a file by saving a game with the log open as
described above.

Note that a game log should not be replayed on a board that is
functionally different from the board on which the log was created.


----------------------------MISC.-------------------------------------------

Up to eight players are allowed at a time.  Any printable character
may be used for a player token.

Current time, duration and number of dice rolls in the game can be
displayed.  Select MORE... on the MAIN menu and TIME on the MORE
menu.

The user may exit to DOS and return at any point. Select MORE... on
the MAIN menu and DOS on the MORE menu.  Type EXIT at the DOS prompt
to return to Automon.

The two most common actions, rolling of dice and proceeding to
the next player, can be undone by pressing "U."

Pressing ESC at the main menu will clear the screen and ask you if
you wish to quit.  This facility could be used to redraw the screen
if it for any reason gets garbled.

Pressing a key at the main menu for a player running in automatic
mode will disable automatic mode.  This would allow you to stop
and edit a game with all players set to automatic.

Jail residents can be distinguished from visitors by a colored
background on their token.  Vistors have a white background on
their tokens.

Ownership of get out of jail free cards is indicated by asterisks
at the end of the player status line.  Cards are used automatically
to exit jail.  They may nevertheless be bought and sold.

A minus sign at the start of the player information line indicates
that the player is on average losing money with each turn.

Pauses in the program when messages are displayed may be cut short
by pressing any key during the pause.

An asterisk appears after the name of players who are currently
set to automatic mode.

A bankrupt player will have one chance to raise the money to
stay in the game by selling a property for instance (presumably
with the concurrence of the debtee).  If the funds are insufficient
the player is removed from the game.

Interesting information about the course of the game is available
from the board view facility.  Select VIEW BOARD on the MAIN menu.
The average income per turn for each player is then displayed in the
upper left box.  This might be useful for declaring winners in
incomplete games.  Note that if no player has a negative income, the
game would likely continue indefinitely.  The total expenditure on a
lot by each player, living or dead, and their free rides remaining,
if any, can be displayed by pressing the arrow keys to select a lot
and then pressing ENTER.  Pressing the arrows then displays the
number of times each player has landed on the lot. Because of
jailings and transfer cards, not all lots are visited with the same
frequency.  The actual frequencies for each lot can be empirically
evaluated here.  The magnitude of the differences may surprise you.

A command line switch, -2, is supported to provide compatibility with
Automon2 saved games.  A saved game generated by Automon2 may be
loaded and run by Automon4 as in this example:  mon4 -2s old2 When
this option is invoked, all games loaded by the load games facility
are loaded in the old format.  New format games may not be loaded
while this option is in effect.  Note that all games are saved in the
new format regardless of the setting of this option.  Automon remains
file-compatible with Automon2 custom boards.

A hot-key, ctrl-a, sets the current player to automatic mode at the
main menu prompt.  Pressing any key while a player is executing in
automatic mode will disable automatic mode for that player.
Additionally, automatic mode can be changed by the editing of player
data.

A hot-key, ctrl-o, toggles sound at the main menu prompt.  Note that
this can overide the -s silent mode command line option.


------------------------DISTRIBUTION----------------------------------------

The following files constitute the Automon 4.1 distribution:

MON41    EXE  The game play executive file
ATL_CITY BSU  The default playing board description file
ATL_CITY CSU  The default cards and options description file
CUSTOM   BSU  A sample custom playing board description file
CUSTOM   CSU  A sample custom cards and options description file
REVERSE  BSU  Another sample custom playing board description file
REVERSE  CSU  Another sample custom cards and options description file
AUTOMON  CFG  The current game configuration file
T4       MON  A sample saved game (all players set to auto)
L4       MON  T4 set at maximum speed
N2       MON  A sample saved game (one player set to auto)
MIN      MON  A sample saved game (demos new options)
READ     ME   This file
DEMO     BAT  Runs saved game N2 with the CUSTOM board
WEIRD    MON  A sample saved game with a sample log
WEIRD    LOG  A sample log


Borland C++ was used to create automon 4.1.

***END of READ.ME***