1,000 Games (Collectors Edition)

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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.