Monster Media 1994 #1/monster.zip/monster/BBS_GAME/GPWAR092.ZIP/ONLINE.DOC

Text File | 1994-01-25 | 12KB | 334 lines

              ^YOnline Docs

^CGOAL^R:

  ^WIn Geo-Political Warfare, your goal is to
take control of your galaxy both economically
and militarily.  A great military leader
would still have problems without the proper
economic backing.  Likewise, a good economic
leader wouldn't get far without strategy.

^CIndicators^R:

  ^WAcross the top line of the game window is a
row of indicators.  If any of these are red &
flashing it means that there are new messages,
transactions, or news, respectively.
^P
           ^YThe Basics of GPWar

^CResources & Economics^R:

  ^WThe entire game revolves around a few
simple facts.  Anything you can build takes
up a certain amount of each of three basic
resources.  These resources are Oil, Ore, &
Exotics.  Each planet begins with a set amount
of these resources.  To get more resources,
you must build an appropriate production
facility (to build Oil, Oil wells are needed).
Each planet has one resource that it can
produce better than any other.  This is
known as a planets ^D"^RMajor^D"^W resource.
^P
           ^CResources & Economics

  ^WEach turn, 1 oil well, for example, will
produce 1 unit of oil.  If Oil is that planet's
major resource, each oil well will produce
2 units of oil per turn.  With this in mind,
it makes good sense to build the production
facility that builds your planets major and
then trade your excess resources with other
planets.

^CMoney^R:

  ^WNext to the three basic resources, money
is probably the most scarce thing around.  Your
only source of money is through taxing your
people.  Since raising taxes too high is very
^P
                  ^CMoney

^Wunpopular with your people, your only other
ways to raise your income are to increase
your planet's population or to make your people
happier (In GPWar, a happy worker *IS* a more
productive worker).  Increasing your population
is easy.  Just offer free benefits to people
who are willing to relocate to your planet.
Keeping your people happy is another matter
completely, though.

^CTrading^R:
^W  Trading requires 2 main things:  Resources
and someone willing to trade with you!  It
also costs a certain amount of credits to pay
for the fuel required to send the equipment
(The total credit cost depends on distance).
^P
                  ^CTrading

^W  Before actually going to the trade menu, it
might help to see what the current situation
is for all the other players.  To do this, go
to the ^REmpire^W menu and select the ^RPlanet
Report^W option.  Then you will see a list of
ALL your planets current statistics.  Hitting
the ^RN ^Wand^R P^W keys will show you the Next
and Previous planets, allowing you to look
through all the statistics of all the planets.
Once you have decided what your planet needs
and what resources you would like in trade for
those, you can go to the ^RTrade^W menu (off of
the main menu) and ^RSend^W a transaction.
Next, use the ^RN ^Wand^R P^W keys to get to the
correct lanet, use the onscreen instructions
^P
                  ^CTrading

^Wto select which items you want to send and
the ones you would like to receive in exchange.
After getting the transaction set up as you
would like, hit the ^RS ^Wkey to ^RSend^W the
transaction or the ^RA ^Wkey to abort.  If you
send the transaction, you will be told how much
the transaction will cost you in credits to
send, in the event that the other player does
accept it.  Then you will be told how many turns
the transaction will be good for.  It is very
important when trading to look at the value of
each item in resources.  1 ABM costs several
units of each of the resources plus 1 unit
of electronics, which itself consists of more
resources, for example.  In some games certain
^P
                  ^CTrading

^Wresources are worth more than others.
Sometimes you will be able to trade on a 1 to 1
basis, other times you may only be able to get
1 unit for every 2 units of your major.  The
trading process ends when the other player
either accepts or rejects the transaction.

          ^CBuilding and Demolition

^W  There are many things you can use your
resources on.  IPBMs, ABMs and ATTs are all
used for military purposes, and are not that
needed early on.  Often, players will
underestimate how much food their people will
require.  As a general rule, a population of
^P
          ^CBuilding and Demolition

^W5000 people will need 20 units of food per
turn.  Although it is rare, some planets make
food production a priority.  They can then
trade their excess food for the real resources
that they need.  Usually, however, it pays
to produce your major, except in the rare case
of a glut of one particular resource.  Many
items require that electronics first be built
and then used to build them.  This is a multi-
level production case.  Beside building things,
you can tear them down.  This breaks down any
item into its basic resources for only a cost
of credits.  Those resources would then be
free to be used in other items.  Science Labs
produce technology points, which are useful to.
^P
                ^CTechnology

^W  Technology is an extremely valuable tool
and usually it is what gives winning players
their edge.  You can create tech points by
doing research in science labs, then spend the
tech points on the areas you need most.  The
four types of technology are:  ^YGeneral,
Medical, Military, and Manufacturing.
^WEach area of technolgy helps you in a variety
of ways.  For more information on technology,
read the help screen under the technolgy menu.
^P
             ^CPlanetary Relations

^W  It is vital to start interacting with the
other planets soon.  In some cases, if you
wait for a friend that you can really trust to
join, they may be of little use to you for
trading because they may get the same major as
your planet.  Of course, this could help you
both as well, if you agreed not to trade your
resources except for a certain price (known as
price fixing in the real world - some companys
do this all the time!)  The advantage of that
is if they want it bad enough, and all the
suppliers want a high price, they will pay it
to get the resource.  Alliances in GPWAR are
by definition very loose knit.  Your only bond
to someone is your word.
^P
               ^CMilitary Action

^W  Military attacks can not be preformed until
the end of the turns of protection.  To attack
a planet, you should first launch a volley of
IPBMs.  This will reduce the population of
the defending planet, and also will reduce the
defending troops.  Beware, though, because
ABM's are a mighty defence.  Each ABM the
defender has will fire at incoming IPBMs.
When you think you have reduced the population
and troops enough, just send troops.  ATTs
that are defending the planet will first try
to shoot down your troops before they land.
Remember than a planets triios are better at
defending their own planet, so you will need
more troops or much more efficient ones.
^P
                   ^CMenus

              ^C  Empire Menu^R:
^YPlanetary Report ^R- ^WThis displays the
statistics of your planet and everyone else's.
This is good in determining portential
trading partners, allies, or military targets.
^YSwitch Planets ^R- ^WUse this to change the
current planet you control, once you have
taken over other planets.
^YTax Level ^R- ^WChange your tax rate.
^YDraft Rate ^R- ^WChange your draft rate.
^YAuction ^R- ^WEach turn a number of items
are put up for bid.  Whoever bids the highest
will get the item at the end of the turn.
^YLoan ^R- ^WTake out a loan from the bank. Be
careful though! They can reposess your planet!
^P
                   ^CMenus

              ^C  Trade Menu^R:
^YRead Messages ^R- ^WIf you have messages
from other players waiting, this will let you
view them.
^YWrite Messages ^R- ^WThis allows you to
select the planet to send a message to and
puts you into the full screen ANSI editor.
^YView Transactions ^R- ^WIf you have waiting
transactions, this will let you view them
with the options to accept/delete/hold them.
^YSend Transactions ^R- ^WAllows you to make
trading offers to other players.
^YRecent News ^R- ^WShows your news since the
last time you played.
^P
                 ^CMenus

             ^C  Military Menu^R:
^YBomb Population ^R- ^WWant to fly planes in and
drop bombs on the other planet's people? This
works, but is much less effective than IPBMs.
IPBMs.  There is, however, no defense for it.
^YLaunch IPBMs ^R- ^WIPBMs are the most
devastating way to say HELLO to your enemies.
Each IPBM will kill hundreds or thousands of
enemy troops.  You get your results the next
turn, after maintenance runs.
^YSend Troops ^R- ^WAfter the enemys population
is low enough, you can send troops in to
attack.  It is important that the enemy pop.
is low, because after your troops kill the
enemies army, a percentage of the population
will make up a militia and continue fighting.
^P
                 ^CMenus

             ^C  Resource Menu^R:
^YAdvance Technology ^R- ^WIf you have science
points available, this will allow you to
advance your tech levels.
^YBuy Satelite ^R- ^WSatelites allow your
population room to "grow".  If you crowd too
many people together, contentment gets lowered.
^YHeal Population ^R- ^WIf your population has a
disease this allows you to research a cure.
^YRaise Contentment ^R- ^WAllows you to "bribe"
your population.  They will temporarily be a
little more content.
^YIncrease Population ^R- ^WThis is a must.  This
puts out advertisements to get more people to
come to your planet.  They will gradually come
over the period of your next few turns.
^P
                 ^CMenus

           ^C  Production Menu^R:
^YConstruction ^R- ^WThis option takes you to
a screen with a chart of everything you can
build, it's cost in resources and in cash. Just
use the on-screen instructions to build what
you need. Also, the current amount of resources
are shown on-screen for your convience.

^YDemolition ^R- ^WIf you need resources for
something else, you can break down things that
you are no longer using to free up resources.
^P
                 ^CMenus

             ^C  Covert Menu^R:
^YBiological Warfare ^R- ^WUse this to disease
enemy planets.  While this isn't that damaging
it can be if the other planet can not afford
to heal his population.
^YLower Contentment ^R- ^WThis will lower the
contentment of an enemy planet.  The advantage
of this is that income is based partially off
of contenment, so you lower their income.
^YIntercept Messages ^R- ^WAllows you to read
messages that other players will receive. This
will give you an edge in many situations.
^YJam Messages ^R- ^WAllows you to stop a
message from getting to a planet.  This will
keep delicate info. from getting to enemies.
^P
                 ^CHints

  ^WYour first turn is arguably your most
important.  The first thing you should do is
probably build a few food plants and then
build the facility that produces your major
resource. (Oil Wells if Oil is your major, etc)
The next step would be to spend your tech
points that you begin with.  After that you
should increase your planets population.  To
accomplish all this, you may have to take out
a loan, though.  Also you should, each turn,
check the auction.  If the other players in
the game neglect the auction, you should have
no problems getting all the resources you
need for a very low cost in credits.  Next,
you should check out the stats on the
^P
                 ^CHints

^Wother players.  This will give you a good
idea of your competition and you can start
sending messages out.  This way you can
begin alliances and start making threats
right away.  It is very important to keep
good relations with at least some neighbors
so you will have trading partners.  ^YDon't
be stingy with your resources.  You will only
get left behind by the players who are willing
to trade.^W  Trade is the name of the game,
at least until war breaks out.  You can also
check your standing against the other players
with the Galactic Analysis command from the
main menu.  This isn't an accurate measure
of worth in the first several turns.
^P