Precision Software Applications Silver Collection 1

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Text File | 1992-09-01 | 19KB | 392 lines

CAMPAIGN Version 5.0 September, 1992 Dwain Goforth Milestone Software 1260 Sunset Avenue Arcata, California USA 95521 (707) 822-1291 USER MANUAL Welcome to CAMPAIGN, a strategy game for two players. CAMPAIGN requires an IBM-compatible microcomputer with a high-resolution VGA color graphics board and monitor. A Microsoft compatible mouse is also required. CAMPAIGN was formerly known as ARMY and CIVIL WAR. It is now thoroughly rewritten and updated with many new features. The following files are required to run CAMPAIGN and must be together on the default directory: CAMPAIGN .EXE - the main program LAND .EXE - landscape board design program CPPIECES .VGX - misc. graphics xxxxxxxx .BRD - board pieces and raft data files xxxxxxxx .LND - landscape data files xxxxxxxx .VGX - image files Also included is PCX2VGX.EXE which will allow you to use your own paint program with CAMPAIGN landscape boards (see below and about special contest.) PLAYING THE GAME: Upon startup CAMPAIGN will display the opening screen and then present you with the Main Menu. At the menu you may choose a board and play the game, create a new board piece setup configuration, edit a setup, delete a board file, run the LANDSCAPE program or quit back to DOS. The menu screen also displays the available boards to choose from (if there aren't any, you started CAMPAIGN from the wrong directory! Choose <Q>uit and change your default directory to the one with CAMPAIGN.EXE and the *.BRD files.) To play the game, hit the "1" key and then user the cursor arrow keys to select a board startup configuration file. Hit <ENTER> to start the game or <ESC> to return to the Main Menu. After selecting a board file you will be presented with the "OPTIONS MENU" where you may modify the features of the board before play and/or save any new configuration to file. OPTIONS MENU: At the options menu, you have a number of features and toggles you can set for game play. Most are self-explanatory but here are a few miscellaneous notes: "Toggle Random Rafts" will either start the game with exactly where the rafts were located when the board was saved (if DISABLED) or place them randomly (if ENABLED.) "Save Options to Disk" will write the current options configuration to the board file. You may want to do this after saving a game during play and wishing to use the file as a regular starting configuration (see "Saved-Game" status, below.) Please note that if you enable "grave markers", the markers do not change the game play in any way (you can fight or move across one or even stand on one if you're a big enough cad.) Grave markers are not saved between games. "Enable Wall/Bridge Effects" will allow cannons to blow up bridges and walls by "fighting" with a 6-die. Captains can build bridges and repair walls, also only with a 6-die. If you enable "reinforcements" you may occasionally receive reinforcements at the edge of the board closest to your Captain. - - - - - - - CAMPAIGN has two opposing armies, the West (blue) Army and the East (red/grey) Army. When the dice are presented on the left side of the screen it is West's (blue) turn, when the dice are on the right side of the screen it is East's (red) turn. Each player begins with playing pieces consisting of infantry, cavalry and cannons commanded by one or more Captains on a board of over 1000 locations containing forests, roads, rivers, walls, bridges and lakes. A few mines may be placed randomly on the field (presumably by a third party since neither player can see them.) If you are lucky, you may receive reinforcements during the game. The object of the game is to defeat the opposing Captain in battle while protecting your Captain from attack. If you lose your last Captain, you lose the game. Each kind of playing piece has its own movement power, fighting power and fighting range. For example, cannons are powerful but slow, can shoot over blocking pieces, break walls and blow up bridges, but can't go in the water (though they can ride the rafts.) Each turn consists in the play of four dice. For each die, a piece can either move or fight. Movement value is determined by the die value, the movement power of the piece, and the terrain that will be crossed. Fight outcome is determined by the die value and the fighting power of the attacker versus the defender's die value and fight power. It's pretty much that simple, either MOVE or FIGHT for four pieces per turn, so the novice can play instantly. You will find out right away, however, that defeating an intelligent opponent is no easy matter! The following is a list of the of the pieces, and kinds of terrain: ----- GAME PIECES ----- CAPTAINS - Your captain must protected at all costs. It is handicapped by slow movement (he has to pitch his tent and polish his boots at each stop.) It has a fighting power of 2.16667 times the die making it the strongest piece. The captain can fight with impunity against any other piece except the other captain; that is all fights INITIATED by a captain end in victory for the captain or a draw. The captain's attack range is 2 spaces but unlike all the other pieces can only be attacked from an adjoining space. Because of this, your captain is completely protected if it is surrounded by your men, water or walls (but see Cannon and walls). Captains cannot cross water either to move or fight (they don't want to get their boots muddy) but they can use the bridges or ride the rafts. Captains can repair bridges (destroyed by cannons) by "fighting" the blown up bridge section with a SIX die. Captains can also place new wall sections by "fighting" a piece of ground (not water) with a SIX die. Note that blown up bridges and new walls are NOT saved if you exit a game. CANNONS - The cannons are second in fighting power (1.83333 times the die) and can attack from within 3 spaces except against a Captain for which they have to be on an adjoining square. Cannons have the unique ability to destroy walls by using a six die to fight against a wall (only a six will work). After the wall is destroyed the pieces are free to move or fight through it. Cannons can also blow up bridges by "fighting" a bridge with a six die. While powerful, cannons are slow, having a move ability of only .75 of the die value. They cannot cross water (they would rust) but can use the bridges and rafts. They can, however, fight across water (cannonballs fly through the air, right?) CAVALRY - The horsemen have a move ability of 1.25 times the die value so they are the fastest pieces. They can cross water (if the far shore is within range) but the water will slow them down to just reaching the far shore no matter if the die value is greater. Their fighting power is 1.1667 times the die and they can attack within three spaces. Fighting across water will reduce their fight power by one. If they are defeated in battle by a net score of less than one, a Cavalry will turn into an Infantry (i.e., only the horse got killed.) INFANTRY - The foot soldiers take the brunt of the fighting and are often called on for suicide missions (just like real life.) They have a fight power of one and a move ability of one times the die. They only have an attack range of one so they cannot fight across water but can move across water with the same restrictions as cavalry. QUICK TABLE PIECE MOVE POWER FIGHT POWER FIGHT DIST RELATIVE POWER Captain .5 * die 2.1667 * die 2 14 Cannon .75 * die 1.8333 * die 3 11 Cavalry 1.25 * die 1.1667 * die 3 7 Infantry 1.0 * die 1.0 * die 1 6 ----- TERRAIN ----- ROADS - Roads allow moves at the regular one times the move value. Roads are fast paths through the forest. Do be aware of the subtle turns in the roads as you may not find out you landed in forest until it is too late. BRIDGES - Moving from a bridge has .75 the value of the die. FOREST - Rate of movement in the forest areas is 1/2 times normal, but only when you STARTED on forest. That means crossing forest from a start on a road still gives the move ability of roads. WATER - The rivers and lake on the board are barriers to captains and Cannon (except for bridges and rafts). No piece can land on water but Cavalry and infantry may be able to cross it. Water slows down travel and weakens the fighting power of Cavalry. There may also be mines in water. WALLS - Walls are barriers to all pieces, but can be broken down by Cannon fighting them with a six die. No piece can fight across a wall, including Cannons, no matter the normal range. RAFTS - The two rafts provide quick transport across lakes or up and down rivers. All you have to do is move to them and you will be on your merry way. Note that the raft will stay on the other side until you get off and you or your opponent again moves back on to them. Moving from a raft is .75 times normal. IMPORTANT NOTE - When designing landscape boards using LAND.EXE you should not have wide areas of water on the edge of the board, or a raft may stop on the edge of a board but too far from any land. MINES - If you have enabled the random mines from the Main Menu there will be between 5 and 15 randomly placed mines on the board. If a mine is within your movement range you will hear a small beep and see a warning message. If you land on one or cross over one say goodbye to that piece (including your Captain!) It is possible to deduce where the mines are and try to lure an enemy over one. Mines may also show up on the water. If you cross a mine while on a raft you will lose your piece, but the raft will continue on its journey. ------- GENERAL RULES --------- When you fight, the computer will role the opponents defense die, announce the winner and display the score. A little practice with the scoring will give you a feel for fighting ability. No piece can move past an enemy piece if the path (determined by the computer, of course) would land on the location of the enemy piece. You will see a "blocked by enemy" message. Also, Captains and Cavalry cannot fight a piece if the path to that piece is blocked by an enemy piece. This is not true for Cannon because cannonballs fly through the air, remember? And Infantry can fight only one square away, anyway. You are given the option to back out of a move or fight by hitting the any key (space bar is convenient). You may also put a die back and choose another by choosing "BACKUP" when a die is waiting for a move or fight choice. Occasionally, a Cavalry or Cannon piece will be defeated, but instead of being completely destroyed, it is changed into an Infantry piece. This is because the difference in the attacker's and defender's score is less than 1.6666. In other words, you have only knocked the man off his horse or disabled the cannon, not the cannoneer. (1.6666 is the magic number because of the mathematical relationship of the dice) You may also be priviledged occasionally to roll four-of-a-kind, in which case you will receive a FREE TURN! SAVING THE GAME - If the players wish to end the game before a captain is defeated they may quit via the <ESC> key when CAMPAIGN is waiting for input. You will be asked to confirm your choice and then be allowed to save the game in its present configuration (all dice, pieces, rafts, but NOT destroyed or new walls and NOT blown up bridges.) The default filename for the saved game is LASTGAME.BRD. (You may skip saving the game by hitting the <ESC> key which will take you back to the Main Menu.) Please note that resuming the game later will start with the same player who's turn it was when the game was saved. In this case will be saved in the "SAVED-GAME" status, which means when you again load the game you will be presented with the option of either returning to the exact place in the game (even in the middle of a turn), or to "turn off" the saved-game status and use the regular Options Menu. ----------------------- EDITING PLAYING BOARDS: Choosing Edit Playing Board from the Main Menu will display the playing board and place the rafts in a default position. The other pieces are arranged on the side of the board, ready for you to place them. To add a piece to the board, move the cursor to it, click the left mouse button (or hit <ENTER> if playing with keyboard.) Then move the cursor to the desired location and hit the right button (or <ENTER>) to place it. You may repeat this until the board is to your liking. You are limited to 80 total pieces on the board (with unlimited wall placement) You can add walls to the board by doing the same process with the wall piece which is off the board to the right. You may remove a piece from the board by clicking it with the RIGHT mouse button. You can also move the rafts to new locations by first choosing them with the left button and then dropping them with the right button. When satisfied, hit <ESC> and enter a filename for the board. The .BRD extension will be added automatically so do not add an extension (or use the period or illegal filename characters (\,/:*?) in the name.) You may then modify the remaining options for the board at the Options Menu when you load the board. You can also abort the process by hitting <ESC> at the filename prompt. NOTES ON PLAYING BOARDS: Remember that if you save a board during play, using the board again will always start with the player who's turn it was when the game was saved in the "Saved-Game" status which you can use to restart the game at the exact position and dice as when you left it. If you want to permanently change a "saved-game" board to a regular starting board just disable the saved-game status and re- save the board at the Options Menu. -------------------------- CREATING and EDITING LANDSCAPE BOARDS: The LAND.EXE program allows you to design your own landscapes. Each landscape board you create will have one .LND data file and one .VGX image file. Using these, you can create multiple startup .BRD file configurations in CAMPAIGN. When designing landscape boards you choose a terrain style using the RIGHT mouse button and place it on the board using the LEFT mouse button. The large terrain pieces on the left side of the screen allow diagonal roads and bridges that are more pleasant to view. Please note that rafts require fairly wide rivers to move very far. When finished, hit escape and give your landscape board a filename. A .LND and .VGX file will be created. ALSO, a blank .BRD file will be created which you can use as a template for making your own .BRD files. HOW TO MAKE YOUR OWN CUSTOM LANDSCAPES (and contest announcement!) You will need your own paint program to have the ability to "capture" graphic images with a TSR capture program (such as Delux Paint's CAMERA) and also the ability to save files in 640x480 pixel, 16-color PCX format. First, you load your capture TSR. Then you prepare your landscape board in LAND.EXE and create a .LND and .VGX file. While LAND is running, capture the board to a file type that your paint program will use. Next, exit LAND and make a backup copy of your .VGX file. Now edit the captured image in your paint program. First, erase any extraneous information that is not part of the board. You can modify in any way but DO NOT actually recreate water or forest or land in NEW places, just use the existing locations of the kinds of terrain (remember that it is the .LND file that tells CAMPAIGN where the water, forest, bridges and roads are.) Also, remember that if you change the color palette in the image you will be changing it also for all the pieces and and the rest of the CAMPAIGN game. When satisfied, save your modified file as a 640x480 16-color PCX file. Lastly, run the PCX2VGX.EXE conversion program supplied with CAMPAIGN on your PCX file. Example: If your original .LND and .VGX files were TEST.LND and TEST.VGX and you created a TEST.PCX file you would type "PCX2VGX TEST" at the DOS prompt (it will overwrite any TEST.VGX that already exists so be sure to make a backup of your original .VGX.) Remember that the .LND and final .VGX files must have the same root name. If the conversion is successful you will have created your own hand-drawn custom CAMPAIGN landscape board! So now for the contest! If you make any especially nice landscape boards for CAMPAIGN I would like to see them. If I decide to include them in a future release of CAMPAIGN I will give you a free copy of the game (plus $5) and include your name in the credits! You will need to send me both the .LND and .VGX files. --------------- Well that's about it. Don't forget that the <ESC> key is the quit key during regular game play. And don't forget that you must be right next to a captain to fight it. --------------- * LEGAL STUFF * CAMPAIGN is Copyright, 1989-1992 by Dwain Goforth. All Rights Reserved. This game is Shareware. Distribution by any means for any monetary consideration other than the simple cost of duplication or transmission is prohibited. Dwain Goforth Milestone Software 1260 Sunset Ave. Arcata, CA 95521 USA (707) 822-1291 You are obligated to register with the author if you intend to use CAMPAIGN past a trial period. Your registration of $10 to $20 US (depending on your enjoyment/poverty coeficient) will 1) make me feel good, 2) make you feel good, and 3) keep this game going to Version 6 or beyond. I also welcome comments, criticisms and bug reports. * DISCLAIMER * This game was written by an almost-pacifist. Any references to real armies, fighting, killing or politics is purely coincidental to the goal of producing a fun game. This game is for two humans. Respect your opponent. And then blow them up.