Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit/Hardcore Gamer Resource Kit - Disc 2.iso/Pc/A_C/CNW110I.ZIP/READ_ENG.TXT

Text File | 1996-07-30 | 24KB | 483 lines

Conquest of the New World
 Version 1.10
 Installation and Gameplay Notes

 July 22, 1996


 INTRODUCTION

 Congratulations on choosing to play Conquest of the New World. This README
 file will provide you with late-breaking information about changes to the
 game design, along with tips on installing and playing the game.


 HARDWARE AND SOFTWARE REQUIREMENTS

 This program requires the following minimum system configuration:

   - 486DX2/66 or higher (Pentium(TM) processor recommended)
   - 8 megabytes RAM (12 megabytes or more recommended)
   - Mouse
   - 8-bit or 16-bit sound card (optional)
   - 30 megabytes free hard disk space for game files, plus approximately
     10 megabytes of additional free space for virtual memory swap files
   - VESA-compatible Super VGA video adapter with at least 512K video RAM
   - DOS 5.0 or higher, or Windows 95
   - Network card with IPX drivers for network play
   - Serial port for serial play
   - Modem for modem play

 For all users with 8 megabyte machines: this version includes a special
 check-box in the Options window which allows you to turn off the highest zoom
 level of the game. You'll lose closeups of the buildings and units, but
 overall performance will improve significantly.


 INSTALLING THE PROGRAM

 Conquest of the New World can be installed one of several ways.

     1) In DOS, change to the drive which contains the CD-ROM disc (example:
 D:) and type INSTALL.

     2) In Windows 3.1 or Windows 95, use the File Manager or the Explorer and
 double-click on Install.exe.

     3) In Windows (any version) you can also use the MS-DOS prompt and type
 INSTALL to begin installing.

     ** Note:  We suggest that you install Conquest of the New World from DOS
 rather than Windows.  The Install will most likely work under Windows, but if
 you wish to make changes (i.e. you have a different soundcard) in the Setup
 configuration, we recommend that you do it from DOS only. Testing the sound
 card under Windows may fail and cause you to exit from the Installer without
 saving your settings. If this happens, you can run SETUP.EXE from DOS to
 configure your sound card.


 VERSION HISTORY

 1.00: Initial U.S. release.

 1.01: Initial European release; various string fixes and AI adjustments.

 1.05: Second U.S. release; also works with French and German release, but
 strings associated with Commonwealth will be in English.

 1.06: Third U.S. release, with adjustments to Commonwealth and Federation;
 also works with French and German release, but strings associated with
 Commonwealth will be in English.

 1.10: Play By E-Mail International release. Also includes a Final Zoom
 check-box to reduce RAM usage for 8 megabyte machines. All features work in
 English, French, and German.


 IN THE INSTALLER

 Note: The installation program offers you the option of installing the sound
 files on your hard drive. If you have space, you may wish to do this in order
 to improve performance. Some CD-ROM drives can slow down the operation of the
 game, so placing the sounds on the hard drive can make a big difference.

 The installer will automatically detect which hard drives are available and
 how much space is available on each.

 After selecting the Target hard drive, you will be able to choose the
 destination path.  If you wish to use the default directory, just press the
 <Enter> key, or you choose whatever directory name that you wish.

 The next step will be the Soundcard configuration.  If you do not know the
 setting on the soundcard, auto-detection will scan the computer for any
 soundcard that you may have installed.  It is recommended that you choose
 your own settings (if you know them), because of the potential of a computer
 locking up while it is being scanned.  A lock-up will likely occur if you try
 to scan a computer for a soundcard and the computer does not have one.

 The next thing the computer will ask you is if the settings are correct. If
 so, then you are ready to play the game.  If not,  make the proper changes,
 and save the configuration.

 You are now ready to play Conquest of the New World.  If you need to make
 changes later, you can go into the Directory where you placed the program,
 and type SETUP to get you back into the Configuration screen.  Another way to
 would be to use the DOS EDIT command and change the CONQUEST.CFG file to the
 proper setting.

 To play Conquest of the New World, just type CONQUEST in the directory that
 contains the program, and you are ready!


 LATE-BREAKING CHANGES (UPDATES TO THE USER MANUAL)

 REMEMBER THAT THIS GAME INCLUDES A FULL ON-LINE HELP SYSTEM. SIMPLY
 RIGHT-CLICK ON THE ITEM OF INTEREST.

 In all multiplayer games and most scenarios, your Settler will arrive on a
 Ship at the start of turn #6. This is not stated explicitly in the manual.

 This program includes Play By E-Mail capability. Please refer to the separate
 instructions, located on your Conquest of the New World CD-ROM, for details.

 Network play requires that at least one machine on the network have access to
 the CD-ROM of the game. Whenever a player resumes a network game in progress
 or joins a newly forming net game, the computer will check locally and then
 over the network for the presence of the CD.

 In order to prevent problems between different versions of the game, such as
 CRC errors, the program requires that all machines on any given network be
 running the identical version of the software. Any machine which has the new
 code will not allow games to be played against people with older versions of
 the game. Users can determine which machines on the network have incorrect
 versions by bringing up the Network Status window. The information lines for
 all machines with versions that differ from the one on the current machine
 will be displayed in red. Be sure to install the update on every machine
 before starting a new network game.

 To summarize: you can't play multiplayer using version 1.05 or 1.06 against
 version 1.10 (this version) of the game.

 Colony population growth rate is 8% rather than 10%. Also, three types of
 buildings now have labor requirements: Colony Center, Tavern, and Church.
 Each has a labor requirement of zero for Level 1, and increasing values at
 higher levels.

 When moving a unit on the map, the "drag line" that runs from the unit to the
 destination will change depending upon the type of movement and type of
 destination:

   - Solid: the unit will attempt to follow a straight line to its destination
   - Broken: the unit is going to a location that is already known, so
     it will attempt to travel along the most efficient path
   - Dark gray: the destination is in unknown territory
   - Red: the destination is hostile

 The Native Relations option in the Game Setup window is no longer available.
 Relations with native tribes are now linked to the Difficulty Level.

 Clarification: With the Missionary ability, each Church radiates a certain
 number of "smiles". This total number of happiness points is distributed to
 all natives within a given radius of the Church building. This radius is
 centered on the Church building and not on the Colony Center. Building
 additional Churches, or raising the levels of your existing Churches, will
 have a significant effect on the speed with which your Missionaries affect
 the local tribes.

 Leaders in colonies: A Leader need not be present in a given Colony in order
 to contain military units or defend the Colony against attacks, but any such
 Leader will be a significant improvement over the basic Leader supplied. If
 more units are in the Colony than can be controlled by your best Leader, the
 program will choose as many units as possible. Militia units and native aid
 units will then be added to the total. If you retreat from a defensive
 battle, all units are ejected from the Colony and the Colony's ownership will
 be changed. If you lose a defensive battle and all units on the battlefield
 are destroyed, all other units contained within the Colony will be destroyed.
 *** When in doubt, remember that discretion is the better part of valor -- a
 well-timed retreat may be the best means of recapturing your colony. ***

 Spy missions cost money. The more missions you send on a given turn, the more
 they cost. If you do not have sufficient funds in your Capitol to pay for a
 new Spy, the Save button will be grayed out. The first Saboteur costs 50
 Gold. The next is 100 Gold, and so on, doubling each time (up to 5 missions
 per turn). Espionage missions cost 1/50 as much as Sabotage missions.

 The upper and lower limits on the numbers of land and water seeds have been
 tightened to ensure that the generated worlds are always reasonable. You can
 allocate between 5 and 20 water seeds and between 10 and 100 land seeds.

 This game does a great deal of self-checking to ensure that games running on
 multiple computers remain synchronized with one another. Similar to the
 computer systems on the Space Shuttle, all machines perform the computations
 together and compare the results. If the comparison ever fails, the game will
 report a "CRC Error." The CRC, or Cyclic Redundancy Check, basically allows
 the game to detect such mismatches. If a CRC error occurs, the game will
 decide which version of the information is the correct copy and will update
 all other machines with that data. This action will be reported in a message
 window. Just click OK. Once the reloading of the data is complete, the
 program should continue to play.

 The virtual memory code for this game creates a temporary swap file on the
 hard disk. The game therefore requires that at least 8 megabytes (preferably
 16 megabytes or more) of disk space be available when the game is started.
 Additional disk space will be necessary for each game file created
 (approximately 500K bytes). Failure to provide this amount of free space may
 cause the program to report "Out of Memory" errors even if sufficient RAM is
 available.

 Clarification: you can use the Shift key to speed up the up and down arrows
 for numeric values in the Trade dialogs, the War College, and so on. But you
 need to press Shift before clicking the arrow, not after.

 Back door: You can exit your game without saving if you wish to redo a turn.
 Just click the Exit button in the main game menu. This will exit to the main
 screen without saving the changes made since the last save.


 COMMONWEALTH

 Players may Sue for Commonwealth when they have done at least 60% of the
 damage to the Mother Country's attacking forces as would be required to reach
 Independence. Players who achieve Commonwealth status may later declare
 Independence again. They must do 60% of the damage to the Mother Country that
 would normally be required to reach Independence. Note that the victory
 condition for Independence is not simply the winning of three battles, but
 the destruction of a specific number levels of the Mother Country's units
 (100 levels).

 The Commonwealth button will become enabled during any War for Independence
 when the player has done an amount of damage to the Mother Country equal to
 60% of the damage required to gain Independence. Clicking the Commonwealth
 button will change relations with the Mother Country to Happy and stop any
 pending attacks. It will also award 500 victory points.

 When a player achieves Commonwealth, future taxes will be reduced to 20% of
 their former value. Any pending taxes will still be owed, but 80% of the
 balance will be forgiven. Trade prices for sales of commodities will improve.
 If the player was not a Craftsman, prices will improve to the equivalent of a
 non-Independent Craftsman. If the player was already a Craftsman, prices will
 be the same as those for a fully Independent player without the Craftsman
 ability.

 Players who achieve Commonwealth will still be subject to the Mother
 Country's dictates regarding relations with other players.

 TIPS

 This is a turn-based game.  Each player makes moves, builds colonies, and
 attempts to engage the enemy in combat.  Then each player clicks the End Turn
 button in the main menu to signal that all moves are complete.  When every
 player is done (just you and the computer player for the Tutorial), the game
 will calculate the results of each player's move.  If any attacks take place,
 players will join in combat against one another.  Then the next turn will
 begin.

 When playing Conquest of the New World for the first time, select New
 Solitaire Game from the main menu screen and then choose the Tutorial
 scenario.  The Tutorial will challenge you with a series of missions, each
 more difficult than the last.  Along the way, you will learn how to explore,
 build colonies, raise armies, and fight battles.  At the conclusion of the
 Tutorial, you'll know everything you need to play solitaire or against a
 human opponent.

 Tutorial Hint: Spend some time placing your colony in the best possible
 location. Don't just drop it where your ship starts -- that may not be a very
 good location.

 IN THE COMBAT SECTION OF THE TUTORIAL, BE SURE TO RIGHT-CLICK ALL OF THE
 DIFFERENT UNITS IN BATTLE. TO LEARN HOW TO MOVE UNITS, LEFT-CLICK ON THE UNIT
 THAT YOU WANT TO MOVE AND THEN RIGHT-CLICK ON A DESTINATION SQUARE. TO LEARN
 HOW TO ATTACK, LEFT-CLICK ON YOUR ATTACKING UNIT AND RIGHT-CLICK ON AN ENEMY
 UNIT.

 Once you've completed the Tutorial, try the Island scenario.  Here you'll
 have a chance to explore another island similar to the one you saw in the
 Tutorial without being told what to do or when to do it.  You'll have 40
 turns to get as far as you can, or you can set your own time limit.


 CAVEATS (THINGS YOU SHOULD KNOW)

 THIS PRODUCT CONTAINS A FULL ON-LINE HELP SYSTEM. SIMPLY RIGHT-CLICK ON ANY
 UNIT, BUILDING, WINDOW, OR BUTTON TO LEARN MORE ABOUT HOW TO USE IT.

 If you have a problem with the game (especially if it is repeatable), please
 send a note to us at [e-mail] so we can investigate and solve
 it.  Give us as much detail as possible about your hardware, your operating
 system, and the actions that led up to the problem.

 Likewise, if you see a feature that you really like or really hate, please
 tell us.  We design our games for you -- the dedicated gamer -- and we want
 to hear what you have to say, good or bad.  Our goal is to bring you a
 satisfying and challenging gaming experience.  Send comments to
 [e-mail]. We cannot respond to each person individually, but we do
 read our mail and will give careful consideration to all suggestions.

 Some testers have reported that the computer player in the combat subgame
 plays too well and must be cheating.  Actually, it just has a very clear
 understanding of the rules and knows which attacks are likely to be the most
 effective.  In combat, remember to combine your forces and use flanking
 attacks to get the most out of your forces.  This has a very strong effect on
 the amount of damage that you can do.  That's how the computer player works.
 Also, keep in mind that the War College has a very strong effect on your
 ability to defend against attacks and to do damage to the enemy.


 TROUBLESHOOTING

 If you cannot hear sound in the game, exit and run the SETUP program and make
 sure that you can hear sound when using the Test Sound Card function.

 The auto-detection of sound boards may not always work when under Windows 3.1
 or Windows 95. If you experience problems, enter numbers directly for your
 specific sound card setup, or rerun the SETUP program under DOS.

 If the program experiences slowdowns during play (the spinning globe appears
 when moving units around the map, or for no apparent reason at all), this is
 most likely due to a problem with the sound code. In general, on fast
 machines (any Pentium-class unit), the globe should not appear during a
 player's editing of a turn or during combat. The problem can be fixed or
 reduced in a number of ways. The following are, in order, the most likely
 steps to take to reduce this problem.

 1. Turn off sound to see if it makes a difference.
 2. Be sure that SMARTDRV and EMM386 are off. These can cause serious
 slowdowns in some cases.
 3. If under Windows 95, try to adjust the Windows 95 CD-ROM cache settings.
 The system can be set to optimize its performance for a variety of hardware
 configurations. Changing the numbers may clear up the problem (there is no
 one fixed setting that applies to all makes and models of computers and
 CD-ROM drives; the proper settings must be determined empirically for each
 individual machine).
 4. Copy the file CNWSNDC.WAD from the CD-ROM to the hard disk, in the same
 directory as the game. This will allow the game to read all of the sounds in
 the game from the hard disk, at the expense of requiring an additional 35
 megabytes of space (this is what the full installation option in the INSTALL
 program does).

 This game requires a Super VGA VESA-compatible video card with at least 512K
 of video RAM.  Some older SVGA boards may not support VESA.  In this case,
 you will need to obtain updated driver software from the video board vendor
 or use a third-party VESA library such as UniVBE.

 When attempting an IPX network connection between a Windows 3.1 machine and a
 Windows 95 machine, you may need to make a change to the Network control
 panel in Windows 95, because the default IPX protocol on some networks is
 different than the one expected by Windows 3.1.  Windows 95 defaults its IPX
 Frame Type to "Auto".  Changing it to "802.3" may make it possible to
 communicate with machines running other system software.

 Conquest of the New World runs best in a DOS environment.  It has been tested
 and does run under Windows 3.1 and Windows 95, but you may notice some
 degradation of sound effects and a slight reduction in overall performance.

 When running under Windows 95, be sure that your swap file is set to at least
 20 megabytes. Even running in a DOS box, the game makes use of Windows'
 virtual memory system.

 This game may not operate correctly under DPMI versions less than 0.9, which
 are found in some older versions of QEMM and potentially other memory
 management utilities. This can lead to odd behavior when attempting to set up
 a network game. Be sure that your machine is running a current version of
 DPMI services.

 Some Intel ethernet boards which provide the "Concurrent Processing" feature,
 in conjunction with an outdated Intel driver, will most likely result in
 program crashes and other inexplicable behavior. For best results, update to
 the latest Intel driver and disable Concurrent Processing.

 Some users have experienced problems with certain versions of video drivers
 on their machines. If you experience crashes upon startup of the game or
 shortly thereafter, or you find that the game just displays a black screen,
 you may wish to try replacing your video driver with a generic third-party
 driver such as UniVBE or VVESA. This approach has been successful in the past
 in some situations.

 Since this is a DOS game, it may not be compatible with Windows-based screen
 savers or energy-management features of your computer. We recommend disabling
 all screen savers and all energy management while playing this game.

 Windows uses a number of special key sequences to switch between tasks.
 Because Conquest of the New World changes the video mode during play, some
 configurations may experience problems when switching tasks under Windows. We
 recommend that you not use these keys while playing the game. In addition,
 you may wish to disable the keys in your Control Panel if you are able to do
 so. Likewise, new Windows machines have special Windows keys on the keyboard.
 These can also cause problems and should be disabled via the Properties for
 MS-DOS.

 Performance of the game can be improved through the use of a small hard disk
 cache -- 128 kilobytes or so -- if you have enough RAM to dedicate for it.
 Larger cache sizes are not necessary. However, on some systems, the disk
 cache can interfere with the proper operation of the virtual memory system in
 the game. If you experience crashes while running the game, disable all disk
 cache software and try again.

 The CONQUEST.BAT file contains one line which sets up virtual memory. When
 running on machines with 12 megabytes or more, virtual memory can be disabled
 by deleting or commenting out the line which contains the "SET DOS4GVM"
 command. This will result in a slight performance increase. If the game
 crashes or reports "Out of Memory" errors, you should put back this line or
 reconfigure your machine to make more memory available.

 Older versions of EMM386 may cause problems with the virtual memory in the
 game. Since EMM386 is not required by the game, we recommend that you remove
 it from your machine while running Conquest of the New World.



 HOW TO REACH US

 Interplay support sites:

 Internet E-mail:  [e-mail]

 Web Site:  http://www.interplay.com

 America On-Line: Keyword INTERPLAY
     or E-mail IPTECH

 Compuserve: GO GAMEPUB
     or E-mail 76702,1342

 Genie:  Type M805;1 or go to the Bulletin Board in Scorpia's area

 Prodigy: Use the Web  browser to our Web Site
     or E-mail PLAY99B

 FTP Site:  ftp.interplay.com

 Interplay's phone:  [phone]
         in Europe:  [phone]

 Interplay's Fax:  [phone]  Attn: Customer Service
       in Europe:  [phone]  Attn: Customer Service


 Strategy guide available from Prima Publishing. To order call
 800-531-2343. Also available at better bookstores and multimedia
 outlets nationwide. In Europe, call Littlehampton Book Services at
 [phone].


 Please let us know what you think!  We love feed-back, and it helps us make
 the games that you want to play!

 Gameplay comments and suggestions: [e-mail]


 Quicksilver Software, Inc. Web Site:  http://www.quicksilver.com



 Thanks for taking the time to play Conquest of the New World.  Now for the
 legal stuff...



 SOFTWARE USE LIMITATIONS AND LIMITED LICENSE

     This version of Conquest of the New World (the "Software") is intended
 solely for your personal noncommercial home entertainment use.  You may not
 decompile, reverse engineer, or disassemble the Software, except as permitted
 by law.  Interplay Productions retains all rights and title in the Software
 including all intellectual property rights embodied therein and derivatives
 thereof.  You are granted a revocable, nonassignable limited license to
 create derivative works of this Software solely for your own personal
 noncommercial home entertainment use and may publicly display such derivative
 works to the extent specifically authorized by Interplay in writing.  A copy
 of this authorization, if any, will be provided on Interplay's World Wide Web
 site, and may also be obtained by contacting the legal department at
 Interplay at [phone].  The Software, including, without limitation,
 all code, data structures, characters, images, sounds, text, screens, game
 play, derivative works and all other elements of the Software may not be
 copied, resold, rented, leased, distributed (electronically or otherwise),
 used on  pay-per-play, coin-op or other for-charge basis,  or for any
 commercial purpose.  Any permissions granted herein are provided on a
 temporary basis and can be withdrawn by Interplay Productions at any time.
  All rights not expressly granted are reserved.


 Copyright (c) 1996 Interplay Productions.  All rights reserved.