The Best of Select: Games 4

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┌───────────────────┐ │ Galactic Overlord │ └───────────────────┘ Produced by: Jibben Software BBS: 612-379-8272 ( The Warehouse BBS! ) 7814 Yates Avenue North Fax: 612-566-0758 Brooklyn Park, MN 55443 ■ This game is copyrighted shareware. If the sysop of your BBS does not have a registered copy of this game on-line, please help them to register it. ■ The benefits of registering are that you will be allowed to play more than one game at a time. The game will also allow more than 3 games running at one time as well. You will also be able to acquire free upgrades until the next major version is released. At this point you may want to turn on your capture log and select Non-Stop. 1. INTRODUCTION --------------- A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away... A new universe was discovered that several warlords desired to possess. Each of these warlords requested that the Emperor grant them possession of this new universe. The Emperor, after much thought, decided to grant each warlord a single planet in this universe. It was decreed that the warlord who could possess the largest fleet and the most planets at the end of the war would become the Overlord of this new universe. The war that ensued was so entertaining for the Emperor that he requested a game be created that duplicated the conflict he had created. This game became known as Galactic Overlord... Galactic Overlord is a multi-player BBS door game where players compete to become the supreme power in a universe. 2. AN OVERVIEW -------------- Galactic Overlord is a strategic war game, where up to 6 players battle against each other to become the ruler of a universe. After winning several games a player may be granted the honor of becoming a Galactic Overlord. The game takes place in a universe with up to 36 planets with at least two players ( up to 6 ). The objective is to capture and hold as many planets as possible. 3. THE MAIN MENU ---------------- Current Game Stats --------------------- In progress : Needing more players: You are in : 1 You are alive in : Completed : 1 Above is a sample of the Current Game Stats ( options described shortly ). "In progress" shows the games that are currently active. "Needing more players" shows which games need more players in order to begin. "You are in" shows which games you are currently in. "You are alive in" shows which games you are alive in. "Completed" shows which games have been completed. Options -------- W>hat's new in Galactic Overlord I>nstructions P>oints awarded R>ankings O>VERLORDS S>elect a game B>egin a new game Q>uit back to BBS Above are the options available from the Main Menu. To select an option press the highlighted letter for the Option. W>hat's new in Galactic Overlord Describes the new features of this version of the Galactic Overlord software. I>nstructions Displays this file with instructions how to play this game. P>oints awarded Displays information regarding how points are scored for the games. R>ankings Displays the players that have achieved ranking status. O>VERLORDS Displays the players that have achieved the honor of becoming a Galactic Overlord. S>elect a game Allows you to view, join or play a game. B>egin a new game Allows you to start a new game. Q>uit back to BBS Returns you back to the BBS. 4. STARTING A GAME ------------------ Starting a game is easy. Each option is described in the game as well. Here is a brief overview of the process. First you would select "B>egin a new game" from the Main Menu. After a introduction you will be prompted for how many players will be in the game. You will be able to choose from 2 to 6 players. When there are more players the winner will receive more points. Also, the more players there are the more active ( fun ) the game is. The next option is regarding the game type. There are two types of games "Normal" and "Hidden". In the Normal games, all the players names will be displayed. In the Hidden games, you will only be able to see your name. This allows for some protection from players who would like to gang up on a particular player. The next option is for the turn rate for the game. You can choose between 'Single', 'Double', or 'Triple.' Single turn games are identical to how turns were in Galactic Overlord 1.0. Double turn games the ships move between planets twice as fast and Triple turn games are three times faster. Single turn games are slower paced and Triple turn games are the fastest paced. There will be more combat in a Triple turn game between players. A Triple turn game will also allow for unclaimed planets to be captured much earlier in the game. For a ship to move from one corner of the universe to the opposite corner in a Single turn game it takes 22 days. In a Double turn game, it takes 11 days. In a Triple turn game, it takes only 8 days. The next option is for the number of planets in the game. You can choose from 10 to 36. The more players there are the more planets there should be. However, if you set up a 6 player game with only 10 planets, there will be a lot of conflict between players. The next option is how long the game will last. This is measured in days. The most popular amount of days for a game will be between 20 and 30 days. Try to balance the number of days, with the number of players and planets. If you select 10 days and have 2 players with 36 planets, many of the planets will not be claimed. Also, with a short game like this it is unlikely that you would have any conflict with your opponents. It would be more of a race to get planets, than a war. One other point, when the number of days runs out ALL of the pending attacks will be processed. Finally, you will be prompted if you like the settings you have chosen. If you do not, the game is not created. If you do, the game will be created and it will be displayed in the games "Needing more players" Main Menu Current Game Stats. After the game has been created you will have the option of dropping out of the game until it actually starts. Simply Select it from the Main Menu and "Quit" from the game. 5. THE GAME ----------- A game's screen is divided into three separate areas. ┌─────────┬──────────────┐ │ │ │ │ │ │ 1. Map │ │ │ 2. Planet List │ 1. │ 2. │ 3. Menu Area │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ │ ├─────────┤ │ │ │ │ │ 3. │ │ │ │ │ └─────────┴──────────────┘ The Map ------- The map displays the positioning of the planets. Each planet will be denoted with a letter or number. The map is useful for visualizing the distances between the planets and who owns which planet. The planets that are colored in grey are unclaimed. An unclaimed planet will have a the same number of ships as their production. An unclaimed planet will not produce ships ( more on this in the Planet List ). Typically you start your conquest by capturing unclaimed planets. As planets are captured they will appear in the Planet List. Although the Map can be used to judge distances between planets, it is recommended to use the Calculator from the Menu Area to get an exact distance. The Planet List --------------- The Planet List has useful information regarding the specifics of each captured planet, unclaimed planets are not displayed. Below is the headings for one of the columns of the Planet List area. P Ships Pr % Owner - ----- -- --- ------- "P" is the heading for the planets letter or number. "Ships" displays how many ships are currently on the planet. "Pr" is the production rate. This is the number of ships that this planet will produce each day. "%" is a ships attack/defense value. This value is used to determine who will win in a battle. The higher this value the more likely the ship will win in an attack. "Owner" is the player who owns the planet. Your home planet will always have a production of 10 ships and an attack rate of 50. The Menu Area ------------- The Menu Area is where all of your the commands are processed. Below is an example of what it looks like. Command: O D U B L S C E R I ? Q <--- Menu Order an attack/reinforcement <--- Description of menu option At first it appears cryptic. However, it is very functional. The selected option is highlighted in red. To change to a different option, you can press the space bar, the left/right arrow keys, the 4/6 keys, or the letter of the option. On the next screen is a list of the options with brief descriptions: Options with brief descriptions: O - Order an attack/reinforcement D - Destroy a planet U - Upgrade a planet B - Battle log L - List your pending attacks S - Statistics C - Calculator (distance) E - Enter a message R - Read messages I - Instructions for GO ? - Quick Help Screen Q - Quit The next few pages offer better descriptions of the above descriptions. You can press Esc to escape out of any of these options before they are completed. However, once you complete a command, there is no way to rescind it. The Menu Area - Order an attack/reinforcement --------------------------------------------- This option will allow you to send ships to attack or reinforce a planet. The ships jump into hyperspace once launched and there is no way to recall or change their orders once they've made the jump. The Menu Area - Destroy a planet -------------------------------- This will allow you to destroy a planet that you own. This is useful for a 'hit and run' tactic. You could capture an opponents planet then destroy it. In Galactic Overlord 1.0, the planet was destroyed immediately. In Galactic Overlord 1.1, the planet is destroyed during the maintenance. This keeps a planets destruction 'hidden' from the other players for an extra day. Any ships sent to a destroyed planet will be strike an asteroid field and be destroyed! The Menu Area - Upgrade a planet -------------------------------- This will allow you to upgrade a planet that you own. This is used to make your planets more powerful. You will choose how many ships you want to 'invest' in the upgrade of your planet. Each ship has a random chance of upgrading the planets attack/defense rate by 1. A planet has a maximum rate of 100. So, upgrading beyond this amount is pointless. The Menu Area - Battle log -------------------------- This option will display all of the attacks/reinforcements that have occurred. You enter in the day in which to start the display on. The Menu Area - List your pending attacks ----------------------------------------- This lists your pending attacks/reinforcements. Below is an example of what it looks like. * 10 ship(s) from A to 9 in 1 turns/days. Distance 1.00. The Menu Area - Statistics -------------------------- This option will display the statistics for the current game. More importantly it displays the current score of each player. The player with the highest score will win when the game is finished. The Menu Area - Calculator (distance) ------------------------------------- This option allows you to accurately determine the distance between two planets. The Menu Area - Enter a message ----------------------------------- This option will allow you to send messages to opponents. The Menu Area - Read messages ----------------------------------- This option will allow you to read messages from opponents. The Menu Area - Instructions for GO ----------------------------------- This option will display these instructions. The Menu Area - Quick Help Screen ----------------------------------- This option will display Quick Help instructions. The Menu Area - Quit -------------------- This option will close the current game and return you back to the Main Menu. 6. PLAYING A GAME ----------------- The basic strategy of this game is to capture as many planets as possible. Although this is a simple concept there are a few rules you should keep in mind when playing this game. Turn Processing --------------- Here is how the turns in a game are processed: The game sorts the turns based on the shortest distance and processes the turns with one or less than one turn/day to go. After all of these turns are processed, then all of the planets receive their production. Given this situation it is possible for you to slip in some ships and capture a totally undefended planet from an opponent who didn't anticipate an attack and ordered all of their ships off. This type of attack would also get the production for that round. Try not to leave your planets undefended for this reason. Unclaimed Planets ----------------- The grey colored planets are considered Unclaimed. They will have ships (same number as production) defending them. They will defend using the attack/defense value, however, they will not receive any production. So, if you destroyed 6 ships on an Unclaimed planet, there would only be a maximum of 4 ships defending it. Attack/Defense Value -------------------- This is an important number. It is used in all attacks and defense. The higher this number is the better chance your ships will have of success. When a planet is attacked this value is used plus a random 'home court' advantage. See the hint in STRATEGIES regarding this value, it is a good clue that may help you win a game. 7. STRATEGIES ------------- There are several strategies that can be used to win this game. Here are a couple to help you get started. The more complex and challenging strategies I'll leave for you to discover! In the early stages of the game try to capture as many of the planets that are close to your home planet. This will effectively increase your score, but will also increase your total production. Use reinforcement to effectively place your ships. Once a ship reinforces another planet, it acquires the attack/defense value of that planet.