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IRON OX, Version 3.00
(C)opyright 1993-1996 Joel W. Downer
Tips Compiled by Dan Shore, Fido 1:109/457
OVERVIEW
────────
Iron Ox is a game of strategy, intense competition, and just a little
bit of goofy humor. It will test skills you didn't know you had -- from
your ability to manage a large estate of mines and farmland to your
ability to write bad poetry. The game involves a number of different
layers of strategy, so you may be able to master the basics in a short
time, but you can play for months or even years without completely
exhausting the possibilities.
Game play is based on turns (usually one per day), with each player
having hours to use within that day to perform their tasks or work. Each
day will equate to a month for your character. The game advances to a
new month each time daily maintenance is run and the player can then
take another turn.
The game also revolves around 4 products that can be mined or produced.
They are Luxite, Ore, Energy and Food. There is really no one item that
is more beneficial than another. While Luxite is used like Money for
purchase of CyberMutts (Defense/Attack Dogs), you also need Energy and
Food to survive each day, and Ore to help produce Iron Oxen.
PLAYING THE GAME
────────────────
When you join a game, you will choose an alias by which people will know
you in that game. You also choose what species you want to be -- you
can be human, or any of several non-human races. The races available
are:
Human : The baseline for comparison -- average at everything.
Rockpicker : Good miner and very good at dirty tricks, but not the
best choice for beginners. Vulnerable to starvation,
and greatly mistrusted by everyone.
Slouch : Not much good at anything, but very lucky.
Caper : Very talented -- good at almost everything! -- but works
short hours and takes frequent vacations. Keep an eye
on the boredom monitor in the game status screen. Don't
work too hard, and try to keep entertained!
Photovore : Very powerful character, but tricky to use to its
fullest advantage. Doesn't mine well, but excellent at
making Food and Energy. Lots of hours per day to play
with, and invulnerable to starvation. A beginner might
not be able to use the Photovore to its full potential,
but the generous number of hours can be a good way to
learn.
Shovelfist : Great miner, but unlucky and not especially clever.
Vulnerable to starvation. People pick on Shovelfists.
Rubblemuncher: Invulnerable to starvation (like the Photovore) and
*great* at making Ore. However, this character doesn't
get many hours per day, and may have trouble making
enough Energy to meet its needs.
Handler : Not much good at making things, but decent at dirty
tricks and *very* good at bartering. Mostly a character
for advanced players and team play.
Metamorph : Very attractive character because of its ability to
change shapes! The best way to use a Metamorph is to
change shape into something the colony is likely to be
short on (e.g., to change into a Rubblemuncher when no
one in the colony is good at making Ore). Note that
changing shape will disable your character for a full
turn, so it's not a decision you should make lightly.
The best choices for beginning players are the Human, Slouch, Caper, and
Photovore.
STRATEGY
────────
When you start the game, you will be located at the TOWN CENTER. The
remaining sectors (called plots identified by coordinates) of the map
will appear "blank", until you EXPLORE them. It is like being in a part
of the world you know nothing about, hence you need to explore to find
new places and products. As you explore plots, the map will
automatically display the plot you moved onto while also displaying
information about the plot to the right of the map. The display on the
right will look something like this (without the comments):
Display Comments
─────────────────────────── ─────────────────────────────────────────
Hours: 100 Cash: 3987 <--- Hours left and Cash on hand
Inv: 6 F 42 E 1 O 0 L <--- Your Current Inventory of products
Land: 27C (Plains) <--- Where you are currently located
Owner: (Player Name) <--- Person who owns the land you're on
Goods: 0 F 0 E 0 O 0 L <--- Amount of products located on plot
Prod: 27 F 69 E 1 O 14 L <--- Product producing ability (0-100%)
North: Mount. South: Desert <--- Next plot North/South of current plot
West: Mount. East: Plains <--- Next plot West/East of current plot
While exploring, make a note of the coordinates containg good Food,
Energy, Ore and Luxite.
***>> Here are 15 tips to help you get started playing IronOx:
1. Explore the map
Pick up products that are located on a plot you explore. Be careful
of moving onto Swamp plots as you may get Snake bit and you will
lose some of your movement hours. To know if a swamp will be the
next plot you move onto, look at the right side of your screen at
the plot info display and you will see what the plot to the North,
South, East, and West contains.
North: Swamp South: Desert <--- Next plot North/South of current plot
West: Mount. East: Plains <--- Next plot West/East of current plot
2. Claim your one plot of land every turn!!
It doesn't cost anything, it's always worth something, and it's good
for your score.
A. Claim land?
──────────────
You have to explore (move onto) the plot you want to claim.
B. How do I know which is a good plot to claim?
───────────────────────────────────────────────
When you move onto a plot, information will be displayed pertaining
to the plot you are on, to the right of the map. You will see values
listed for each type of product ranging from ZERO (0) to One Hundred
(100) percent. Zero means the plot is useless for that type of
product while One Hundred means the plot is The BEST for that type
of product. Here is an example of the display:
Goods: 10 F 2 E 7 O 14 L <--- Current products located on the plot
10 Food, 2 Energy, 7 Ore, 14 Luxite
Prod: 27 F 69 E 1 O 14 L <--- How good is the plot for each product
27% for Food, 69% for Energy
1 % for Ore , 14% for Luxite
This plot would be better than average
for ENERGY, lousy for ORE and LUX, and
barely passable for FOOD.
C. Tips on good plots
─────────────────────
Usually <G> mountain plots will be good for Ore, River plots will be
good for Food, Desert plots will be good for Energy, and Luxite plots
are all over the place. Like I said...usually....explore and find
the good ones!!!!
E. Good Luxite Plots (Prospect !!!!)
────────────────────────────────────
Prospect? Buy a LuxKit from the Prospector's Office in the Town
Center for $200 and go 'a-wandering, and you'll collect data as you
go. Otherwise all Luxite plots will appear as "???" instead of
having a numerical value. Note that a Luxite Kit will only last
for one day. When you play the next day the Luxite Kit will be
gone. So when you buy a Luxite Kit, plan on doing some extensive
exploring for Luxite Plots, otherwise you just threw $200 away.
3. Place an Iron Oxen on your plot to produce a product
You start out the game with 5 Iron Oxen - you can buy more Iron Oxen
at the Robot Store located in the Town Center. Once an Oxen is
placed (assigned) in a plot, you then decide what type of product
the Oxen will produce. If your plot has a road on it (an improvement
which is discussed in section #3) connected to adjacent plots, the
Oxen can then deliver the products to a specified plot, like your
Fort (Forts are covered in Item #10). Otherwise you will have to
visit your plot(s) each day to "pickup" your goods. If you have
goods waiting to be picked up on your plot, ANY PLAYER who passes
over your plot can PICKUP your goods!!!! Protect your plots with
CyberMutts (CyberMutts covered in Item #9) or be the first to play
for the day........ummmm...... use your CyberMutts <G>.
4. Improve your plots
These improvements affect many different parts of the game, from
land production to player movement rate to CyberMutt combat odds to
maintenance costs. Here's an ultra-brief summary of the
improvements currently available. (In addition to what's listed,
most improvements require some money to start and many require
products like Ore, Energy, or Luxite to build.)
Improvement Requires Effect
─────────── ──────── ──────
Road Nothing Faster travel, no snakebites (swamp),
more products
Freeway Road Instant travel, more products,
better combat odds
Warehouse Road Reduces spoilage
Grain Silo Nothing Improves Food products,
reduces spoilage
Irrigation Nothing Improves Food products, especially
on desert land!
Dam Road, River Drastically improves Energy
production
Cyberkennel Road Improves combat odds, cuts
CyberMutt maintenance costs
Mine Shaft Nothing Improves Ore products, reduces Ore
depletion
Laser Drill Nothing Improves Luxite production, reduces
Luxite depletion
Ore Refinery Freeway, *Globally* improves Ore production
Mine Shaft for you/team
Luxite Refinery Freeway, *Globally* improves Luxite production
Laser Drill for you/team
Power Plant Freeway, *Globally* improves Energy, reduces
Good Energy spoilage for you/team
A. Which improvements should I build, and in what order
────────────────────────────────────────────────────
It's always a good idea to build a road on every plot of land you
claim. It makes travel through that area much more rapid (less
hours used to travel across plot) and facilitates having your
Iron Oxen deliver their products to another location. If there
are competing communes, or single players, on your BBS, you
should start the unique improvements (Power Plant, Ore Refinery,
and Luxite Refinery) immediately. Only one of each is allowed in
each valley (BBS). Even when competition is not a factor, these
improvements should be started as soon as you can reasonably do
so. They enhance production throughout the valley. It takes a
great deal of time to build these improvements, so cooperation
between the various players greatly speeds their completion. If
you can afford to "Hire Help" at the Tavern which is located in
the Town Center, you can get these improvements completed much
faster. You hire help by trading $30 for an additional hour of
movement for your player.
5. Feed your player
Make sure you keep your character well fed! Unless you're one of
the species that doesn't require Food (Photovore and Rubblemuncher).
going several months on short rations could cause your character to
starve to death, eliminating you from the game.
6. Be conservative about Dirty Tricks
Stealing is fun, but losing plots of land (the penalty for being
caught) isn't. Many factors determine your rate of success at
stealing, including the size and value of what you're stealing, your
race, the month of the game, and what kind of character you're
stealing *from*. Until you know the rules, be careful!
7. Take advantage of the information the game gives you.
Read the Newspaper carefully each month, and check (H)elp Menu and
it's associated items ("I"nformation and "Y"our Holdings) at least
once per turn.
8. Take the Colony Cultural Competition seriously.
The topics -- bad puns, disgusting recipes, etc. -- may seem
frivolous, but the prize for the winner -- a free plot of land! --
is worth the trouble. Make an entry even if you can't think of
something good, and be sure to vote. The Committee has been known to
favor people who are good citizens.
9. How can my BBS win at InterBBS IronOx
The most important thing you need to win at IBBS Iron Ox is
teamwork. Get together a group of people that work well together and
come up with a plan.
A. Use the team concept when playing in an InterBBS game.
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
Trade deals and communes are very powerful tools, and several of the
races were designed to work best as parts of two and three player
alliances. With team play you will want to have the following
characters comprising your team:
1. At least one character that's an effective Luxite miner
2. You have some way to meet your Food and Energy needs
3. Someone is at least competent at making Ore
4. Your team isn't completely composed of "slow" characters like the
Rubblemuncher, the Caper, the Shovelfist, and the Metamorph.
A three-player team with one Photovore, one Rubblemuncher, and one
Shovelfist or Rockpicker has all the bases covered. The Photovore
can make Food and Energy and do the scouting missions; the
Rubblemuncher can settle down in the mountains and make Ore; the
Rockpicker or Shovelfist can handle all the Luxite-rich land and
take responsibility for buying mutts and building the defenses.
10. How do I get CyberMutts, and how do I use them
Cybermutts are bought at the Robot Shoppe for 100 credits each, plus
the 5 units of Luxite required to power the 'mutt's cybernetic
enhancements. You *must* have the Luxite for each 'mutt you want to
buy prior to going to the Robot Shoppe. The storekeeper at the
Robot Shoppe will only sell you as many 'mutts as you have the
Luxite to power. 'Mutts are used for defending land against
intruders and for attacking other players, both locally (on your
BBS) and IBBS (against other BBS's).
11. When and where should I build forts, and what are they good for
Forts are best built on mountain plots (5 or 6 mountain symbol plot)
near the edge of the map, as your 'mutts will have a great advantage
in defending it. Have one main fort situated near the Town Square
for easy access to the store and Robot Shoppe. Build forts in areas
where you have a large amount of land claimed. The tranporters you
can build in the fort make travel between various areas of the
valley extremely rapid (but it will cost you ENERGY to do so).
Sonic cannons can be added to the fort and are very effective
against local (from your own BBS) raiders and any attacking ships
from other BBS's that land within the range you set on the cannon (1
to 2 plots), and kill off any attacking 'mutts before they have a
chance to land.
Note: Sonic Cannons (a defense weapon that is part of the Fort) are
beneficial for Local games more than IBBS games. The cost
outweighs the benefits significantly for an IBBS game.
12. When you quit the game for the day and you have hours remaining for
your character, make sure you work odd-jobs to get extra money.
13. Put any extra money you have onhand into the Bank to earn interest.
While the interest is not very high, something is better than
nothing.
14. Explore all the menu items, especially the Help/Info selection. There
are many tools for the player to use to aid them in the game.
15. Play every day.
Good Luck!!
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
This next section covers a new feature in IronOx 3.00 - DRONES!!!
─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
FROM: I. Wyse
TO: All Colonists
RE: Coping with Drones
I'm proud to announce that once again, the Colonist's Survival League
was ahead of the pack leaking the story about the secret Interbureau
drone experiments. As predicted, drones are now beginning to show up
throughout the known colonies, and should be a major factor within a few
weeks. Here's some early information from colonists who have
encountered drones to date:
1. The drones are a *major* new factor in colonial life. Learn to take
advantage of them -- and to cope with the dangerous ones -- or you'll
be annihilated by people who do. This is especially true if you're
warring with other colonies. You can buy drones from the Hardware
store in the Town Square.
2. The drones move around in real time as you move. They will not
attack you when you're sleeping, but they may attack you anytime
you're awake and moving around. They will attack deployed cybermutts
and other drones regardless of the time of day.
3. Word has it that Interbureau Security is working on a drone capable
of attacking forts, but the current batch of drones can't do that.
4. Not all drones belong to colonists! Interbureau is apparently
conducting secret experiments with drones, and some of them "leak
out" and wander the wilderness. Capturing rogue Harvester drones can
be a nice source of income, but....
5. Deinonychus 3000 drones are very dangerous. They can destroy your
oxen and injure or even kill you if you're underarmed. Don't explore
the far fringes of the map without mutts along! Colonists should be
prepared to work together to hunt down and kill rogue D3K drones.
6. Fighting *defensively* against D3K's has proven to be completely
ineffective. Either run away or attack. Also, deploying cybermutts
in "defense only" mode has proven to work very poorly against D3K's.
7. Harvesters can work the land or help you build improvements. They
will not *start* improvements, but they will add to improvements you
have started.
8. Harvesters get a total of two turns a day to work the land or do
improvements. (For instance, they may spend one turn making a
product and one turn helping on an improvement.) They will move
around the map and use these turns whenever they find a good
opportunity.
9. You can control whether your Harvesters use their turns to work the
land or to make improvements. You can also tell your Harvesters what
products to make and where on the map to do their work. Check out
the drone programming options from the console where you control
Mutts and Drones to "remote-control" your drones. When you change
its travelling range, a drone may take some time to get where you
tell it to go, but it won't work the land or build improvements until
it arrives where it's supposed to be.
10. Protect your Harvesters! It's wise to keep them someplace safe,
especially after they've used their work turns, rather than letting
them wander where other players could steal them or Deinonychus
drones could smash them to bits.
Good luck!
Ignaceus Wyse
Chairman, Colonist's Survival League
