Shareware Overload/ShartewareOverload.cdr/games/nation.zip/NATION.DOC

Text File | 1988-02-14 | 36KB | 446 lines

  T h e   S t r e n g t h   o f   N a t i o n s



  February 14, 1988


  (c) Copyright 1988
  Israel del Rio
  310 Pinehurst
  Des Plaines, Ill. 60016



╔═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╗
║                                                           ║
║ ++++++++++++++++    IMPORTANT NOTICE   ++++++++++++++++   ║
║                                                           ║
║ The Strength of Nations is being distributed under the    ║
║ "Shareware" concept. If you like this game, a contribution║
║ of $10.00 U.S. will be appreciated                        ║
║                                                           ║
║                                                           ║
╚═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝




            (c) Copyright 1988 by Israel del Rio
                  The Strength of Nations

  S C E N A R I O


  It's January 1, 2019 D.C. In  the aftermath  of a nuclear holocaust,
  humanity  rises  again  from the  ashes. New  Nations are  born  and
  struggle  for  domination.  Who  else but you  has  the  ability  to
  settle once  and for all the destiny of the world?  Scattered upon a
  surface of more  than  6,000 million square  miles (about  twice the
  size  the continental U.S.), people strive to build their economies,
  and you are the leader of one of these Nations.




  G A M E   D E S C R I P T I O N


  The  game allows up  to three  players.  Each  player  represents  a
  growing Nation and you should administer your Nation's  resources in
  order to expand and prevail against your  enemies. You lose the game
  if you lose all your territory as a result of  a war.  The winner is
  the last nation left on the map.

  Each  player takes turns specifying yearly  budgets.  If at the  end
  of a given year  there are two nations  involved in physical contact
  there will be a war between these nations.

  You may gain  or  lose territory  as a result  of war.  The computer
  decides war winners based upon:

  1.  Geographical  situation.  That  is,  your  may  have  more  land
      surrounding enemy land.

  2.  Strength factor. This is a computer  calculated summary  of your
      Nation's strength. You never see the actual  number, but you can
      safely assume that  a greater army investment, larger territory,
      per-capita population income, etc.  are  factors  that  have  an
      influence on the Nation's strength.

  Because of  its nature, it is possible  that the  game  may reach an
  impasse.  Players may achieve equal power  after  all land  has been
  occupied.  You may decide in advance the maximum number of  moves to
  be made  before  ending the game.  The  winning criteria is  also  a
  matter of choice between the players.

  You  may decide that the winner is the nation with more Total Assets
  at the end  of the  year XXXX, or you could  instead decide that the
  winner will be the Nation with more Oil  fields at the  end of  year


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  XXXX, etc. Different winning criteria  may  lead  to  different game
  strategies. You'll  ensure an  exciting game as long  as all players
  agree  in advance  to  the maximum  number of moves and the  winning
  criteria.




  M A C H I N E   R E Q U I R E M E N T S


  To run the Strength of Nations you need:

  -   An IBM PC, PC/XT, PC/AT, PCJr or compatible  with 192K (128K for
      the Strength of Nations plus DOS).

  -   MS-DOS 2.1 or higher.

  -   A color monitor  with a  CGA  card or an  Enhanced Color Display
      with ECG.

  -   A diskette drive






  S T A R T I N G   T H E   G A M E


  First start up your computer using  DOS. When you see the A> prompt,
  remove  the  DOS diskette and  place in  the "Strength  of  Nations"
  diskette. Type NATIONS and the Enter key.

  The  game  displays  a  presentation screen.  When the  presentation
  screen is complete, you'll see a screen  for  entering  the names of
  the  Nations.  You  can  speed-up the presentation stage by pressing
  Enter while the initial screen is being displayed.

  Type-in the names  of the countries  participating  in the game. You
  can  enter up to three names.  Each player  is responsible  for  the
  administration  of a country. You can move the  cursor  by  pressing
  the keyboard arrow keys.

  Each  nation is  represented by a color,  so you can  pick colors by
  typing  the name  of your  nation on  the row  with  the  color  you
  prefer.  If there are  only  two  players, fill-in two country names


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                  The Strength of Nations

  and leave the remaining entry name blank.

  You can also  set the initial territory  extensions for  each of the
  nations. This can be used as a way to handicap stronger players.

  You can have the computer play by  starting the country name with an
  asterisk (*). For example: *PCLAND.

  Press the F1 key (Help) if  you need extra information. Pressing the
  F7 key restores a previously saved game.

  When  you're  done  entering the  country  names  and  initial  land
  extensions, press the  Enter key.  You'll be  prompted to confirm if
  the entries are correct.  Simply type Y  (for Yes) or N (for No). If
  you type N you'll have the chance to modify your entries.

  The next screen prompts  you for the  maximum number of moves before
  the  game  ends,  and for the winning criteria. Again, use the arrow
  keys  to  position  your selection,  and  press  any  other  key  to
  continue.




  P L A Y I N G   T H E   G A M E


  After  defining  the  duration  of  the  game,  the  Map  screen  is
  displayed. The initial  territories are allocated. Each color (Blue,
  Magenta, or White)  represents  a different  country.  This  process
  will  take  a few seconds;  then the computer displays  the  initial
  economic   indicators  report.  Study  it,  and  press  any  key  to
  continue.  (See Appendix A for an explanation of the meaning of each
  of the entries in the Indicators Screen).

  Next  the computer displays the  world  map.  Each  of the  blinking
  squares  represents  four  oil fields.  It's  wise  to  expand  your
  territory to cover these fields because  they  provide an additional
  source  of income.  Of course, if  the winning  criteria is based on
  the  number  of  oil  fields,  you  will  especially  find  them  of
  importance.

  The name of the  Nation which is  to  play next is shown  in reverse
  mode.  At  this  point  you  can  simply  press  any  key  to  begin
  budgeting, or  press the ALT  key  for special  options:  END  Game,
  Surrender (QUIT), or SAVE game.

  When  you press the ALT key while in the Map screen, you can End the


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                  The Strength of Nations

  game by  pressing the letter E  without releasing  the  ALT key.  To
  prevent  accidental   game   terminations  you'll  be  prompted  for
  confirmation.

  You can also decide  to surrender  your Nation. If so, press ALT and
  Q simultaneously. Again, you'll be prompted for confirmation.

  To save the game press  ALT and S at  the same time. You'll be asked
  to  place in the  diskette slot any DOS formatted diskette  with  at
  least  30K of free space.  Make sure that you have a diskette in the
  slot and press any  key. The  current status  of  the game  will  be
  saved  but you'll  still  be  able to  continue playing it after the
  save.

  To  restore  a  saved  game press  F7 while  in the initial display.
  After pressing F7 you'll be asked to  place in the diskette slot the
  diskette with  the game  to be restored  and  to  press  any key  to
  continue. Once restored, a game  will  resume exactly  at  the point
  where it was saved.

  You can only have one game save per diskette.

  When any key (other than  ALT) is pressed, a budget screen is shown.
  From this screen you can:

  -   Display the Help screen (F1).

  -   Display the Map screen (F2).

  -   Display the Economic Indicators screen (F3).

      You can enter the yearly budget for the following categories:

      =   Research & Education

      =   Defense

      =   Buy/Sell Land

      =   Buy/Sell Food

      =   Buy/Sell Industries

      =   Buy/Sell Hospitals

      =   Set Income and Corporative taxes.

  Note  the text in  the  blue  window.  This text gives you important


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                  The Strength of Nations

  budgeting hints. This could be useful if you are new to the game.

  Also note the contents  of other fields. You can see the  price  for
  each  of the items to buy/sell, and how much  income  they generated
  during the previous year.

  The first two  lines  from the top  contain  particularly  important
  information  such   as:  Money  in  reserve  (or  amount  of  debt),
  estimated food  requirements,  number of oil fields,  and the credit
  limit. You are  not allowed to over-spend above your  credit  limit.
  If you attempt to do so, you'll get an error message.

  When done entering the  Budget, press ENTER. At this  point, if  you
  have bought or sold  land you'll get  the world  map with the option
  to  select the general direction in which  to  start  extending  (or
  diminishing) your territory.  Move the  cursor  at the right  window
  with the  arrow keys.  When done press any  other key. Next you  are
  asked  to  select  whether  you  wish  to  grow  as  extended or  as
  concentrated as  possible. Move the cursor  to  the position of your
  choice with the arrow keys, and press any key when ready.

  Then it is the turn of the next nation, and so on.




  G A M E   C O N S I D E R A T I O N S


  The  Strength  of Nations  is  not meant  to  be a complete Economic
  simulation. Real  economics  is  just  too  much  more  complicated.
  However, you can safely assume that  basic economic  laws  apply  to
  the  game.  That  is, the price of land increases  if there is  less
  free land. Military investment is wasted if  there are no wars (this
  happens  to  be  my  own   opinion).  Higher  taxes  lower  industry
  re-investments, and so on.

  Part  of  the fun  of  the  game  is  figuring the  strategies  that
  maximize your assets, military strength, etc. The  text in  the blue
  window    gives    you    some    important    clues    about    the
  advantages/disadvantages of investing in the different items.

  Lastly, although this is not a game of chance,  there are sufficient
  random elements in the game to keep  it from becoming boring even if
  the  game  strategies  are mastered. A few  continuous  years of bad
  harvests is all you need to get into  trouble. In any event the best
  playing strategy should normally win the game.  (A  bad poker player
  wins poker hands from time to time, right?).


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                  The Strength of Nations

  You  could  get  a book  containing  Economic  indicators  of actual
  Nations. This would give you an idea of what  could be  a  good plan
  for you. Do you want to keep a  population density of 600 people per
  square mile and  a yearly per  capita  income of 300  dollars? You'd
  then be similar to China, etc.

  Good Luck!





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                  The Strength of Nations

  APPENDIX A: ECONOMIC INDICATORS SCREEN DESCRIPTION



  The  Economic  Indicators screen provides information  that  may  be
  useful in evaluating the economic  health of your Nation and whether
  your  budgeting strategies are working as well as  you  expect.  The
  indicators represent the  state of your economy at  the  end of  the
  year (i.e. December).

  -   Population

      This is the country's population in thousands.

  -   Population Density,

      This is  the  number  of people per square mile (in  thousands).
      The U.S.A's density is about 78,  India's density is about  475,
      West Germany's density is approximately 645.

  -   % Population Growth

      It represents the percentage of population  change  with respect
      to the previous year.

  -   Mortality rate

      Indicates the percentage of  deceased population due to  natural
      causes, health related causes,  internal  revolutions, or  wars.
      It  is  possible  that  the  population  decrease  at  a  higher
      percentage than  the  value indicated by the Mortality rate. The
      reason for that  is that selling land  causes  a decrease in the
      population.

  -   Total Land (x 1000 sq mi)

      Extension  of  the national  territory  in  thousands of  square
      miles.  U.S.A. extension  is  aprox. 3,615,000  sq.  mi., France
      extension is 212,742 sq.  mi., Belgium has 11,781 sq. mi.

  -   Territory gain (x 1000 sq mi)

      Net  change  in  territorial  extension from  previous  year (in
      thousands of square miles).

  -   Daily per capita diet in Calories.

      A rough measurement of how well  (or  badly)  your population is
      fed.

  Appendix A: Economic Indicators Screen description         7

            (c) Copyright 1988 by Israel del Rio
                  The Strength of Nations


  -   Yearly Food Production (x10000 T)

      Total food produced during the year (in 10,000 Tons).

  -   Year weather review

      Indicates   the  success   rate  of  the  year's  harvest.  Food
      production depends heavily on weather conditions.

  -   Money in Reserve

      This is the total  cash  amount in  your  National reserve minus
      the Nation's debt.

  -   National Income

      It indicates the total income  due to production  activities and
      interest.  It  does not include changes  due to appreciation  or
      depreciation   of  your  assets  (factories,   land,  etc.),  or
      agricultural output.

  -   Per Capita Income

      This   indicator  is   the  National  Income  divided   by   the
      population.

  -   Productivity Index

      This is  an  indicator  of your  technological might. The lowest
      possible value is 100.

  -   Defense Budget

      This is the current value of allocations for defense.

  -   Number of Industries

      Your country's number of Industries.

  -   Number of Hospitals

      Your country's number of Hospitals.

  -   Total Assets at end of year

      This  is  an economic  indicator  that  sums  up  your  Nation's


  Appendix A: Economic Indicators Screen description         8

            (c) Copyright 1988 by Israel del Rio
                  The Strength of Nations

      economic  might.  This  is  the money you  would have in cash if
      you were to sell all  your land, factories, hospitals, food, and
      defense and research goods.

      Note that this  value  is  not used to calculate  your country's
      military  might.  Do  not assume  that  you will  be  assured  a
      victory in case  of  war  even if  your assets are greater  than
      those of your opponent's.



  Appendix A: Economic Indicators Screen description         9