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1989-01-13
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War of the Mages 2.1
(c) Copyright 1989 Barry Kearns
DISCLAIMER
In no event will the author be liable for any damages, including any lost
profits, lost savings or other incidental or consequential loss or damages
arising out of the use or of the inability to use this program -- even if the
author has been advised of the possibility of such damages. The author will
in no event be held liable for direct, indirect, or incidental damages
resulting from the omission of any part of this product, including this
document. The author makes no warranties, either expressed or implied,
respecting the software, its quality, performance, merchantability, or fitness
for any particular purpose.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------
NOTICE --
A limited license is granted to all users of this program, to make
copies of this program and distribute them to other users, on the following
conditions:
1. The program is to be distributed only in its original, unmodified
archive format.
2. No fee (or other consideration) is to be charged for copying or
distributing the program without written permission of the author.
This program is distributed with the following files:
WMAGES21.EXE -- The executable module of War of the Mages 2.1
WMAGES21.DOC -- Instructions for game (please make available to players)
WARMAGE2.DAT -- Data file for War of the Mages 2.1
SAVE.BAT -- Batch file to put games in storage
RELOAD.BAT -- Batch file to take games out of storage
The program will also generate various files with the extension .WM2 for each
new game that is started.
If you did not receive all of these files, please attempt to contact the
author (contact points listed below).
System Requirements
-------------------
An IBM PC or compatible computer running MS-DOS or PC-DOS 3.0 or later
At least 256k of memory
And, of course, at least one disk drive
This game will (obviously) run better on a hard drive, but it will run
fine on a floppy. 360k floppies may not have enough room to run a HUGE game,
but you will still be able to run a REALLY large one.
To run the program, simply type WMAGES21 and hit <Enter>.
War of the Mages is a configurable multi-player adventure game. The basic
objective is to gain control over half of the cities in the game, at which
point you will be declared the winner. Your most powerful tool in your quest
for control is the Mage. Mages are magic-using creatures from another plane of
existence. As such, they are immortal. Each player group is controlled by a
Mage, and all relevant information about the status of each Mage is displayed
along with the information for that group.
The first thing necessary in any game is a choice of game configuration.
By selecting "Start a New Game" from the introductory menu, you will be
prompted with a list of configurable options. All of these amounts have an
upper limit of 255 units. The configuration options are as follows:
1. Number of players
At this prompt, select the total number of players you would like to have
play in the game, including computer opponents.
2. Size of Map (Horizontal)
This figure represents how many units wide you wish the map to be.
Select a minimum width of 3 units.
3. Size of Map (Vertical)
This figure represents how many units tall you wish the map to be.
Select a minimum height of 3 units. Vertical length must be greater than
or equal to horizontal length, or an error will occur.
4. Number of armies per player
This is the number of groups that each player will control. Each group
will have one Mage.
5. Number of Cities in the game
This will determine how many cities will be randomly placed on the map.
You must control half or more of these cities in order to win the game. It
helps to select a minimum of 4 cities. I recommend at least 8, however.
6. Use passwords for players
This will determine whether the game will prompt players at the beginning
of their turn for a password. Select "Y" at this prompt if you have two or
more human players, and you want to be sure that no other player does
anything to your groups or cities without your knowledge.
Game File Sizes
---------------
If you use a hard disk for this program, you will have no problems at all
generating a really MONSTER sized game. In fact, because this game uses so
little disk space, you might be tempted to go a little overboard. Let me
caution you against it, however. Huge games will run, but will also create
huge headaches. They can drastically slow down computer opponent play (if you
have too many cities or groups-per-player), or you can spend forever searching
for cities (if you make the map too big). I suggest the following practical
limits on game size... don't take this as gospel, just my personal
recommendations.
Number of players: Just be realistic. Every player must have his/her turn
before the first can play again.
Map size: You may not exceed 255 units wide or tall, or over 32000 units
total. I'd recommend a top size of about 60 by 60, though.
Do not attempt to make a map that is wider than it is tall. This
will generate an error.
Armies per player: The larger this number is, the more logistic headaches
you'll get if you exceed 10. I prefer 3 or 4.
Number of Cities: Set at a bare minimum of 4. I find 10 to be the best
typical game. The larger you set this, the slower the
computer players will play, and the harder it will be for
anyone to win. I suggest a practical maximum of about 30.
At this point, the program will go through, player by player, and ask if the
computer should control this player. Randomly determine by whatever means you
prefer who, among the human players, will go before whom. If you want to be
completely fair, you could include the computer players in the process. (I'm
sure they'd appreciate the courtesy of going first once in a while.)
If you have selected "Use passwords", then the program will also prompt you for
your password at this time. Be SURE that no one is looking, and be SURE that
you don't forget your password. (If you do, you're basically screwed. The
only solution is to EXIT out of the program and start a new game. You can't
even get a look at the passwords with a sector editor.) When you enter your
password, pay attention to upper and lower-case letters. Passwords are case-
sensitive.
After building a randomly stocked map to your specifications, the game will
begin.
Each player will play out their turn in order. If you have selected to use
passwords, you will be shown a password access screen at the beginning of each
players' turn. You MUST get this password right to continue (see above).
The following is a brief diagram of the screen areas used in this game.
____________________________________________________________________________
| | |
| | _____________________________ |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | Area Four | |
| Area Two | | | |
| | | | |
| | |_____________________________| |
| | |
| | |
| | Area One |
|--------------------------------------| |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| | |
| Area Three | |
| | |
| | |
|______________________________________|_____________________________________|
| Status Line |
|____________________________________________________________________________|
Area One is used for displaying information about a group or city.
Area Two (and sometimes Four) is used for displaying menus.
Area Three is used for:
Scouting reports
Information about a particular square
Caution and Warning messages
And inputs from the user.
The Status line is used to relay messages to the user.
This program is driven from a series of menus. Each menu will, in turn, call
other menus or allow you to accomplish the various functions of the game.
Movement and selection on these menus is simple. The Highlight bar can be
moved with the up and down cursor keys, then simply hit the <Enter> key to make
the highlighted selection.
On certain menus, you will note a small up or down arrow at the top or bottom
of the menu frame. This indicates that there are further selections on this
menu, and you can scroll up or down to get to these selections. The Page Up
and Page Down keys will also move you up or down rapidly through the menu.
If there are no selections that you are able to (or wish to) select from a
displayed menu, simply hit the <Esc> key and you will be returned to the next-
previous menu.
1. Game elements
a. Square: This is a particular area of the world upon which your group or
city is standing. The number of squares in the game is
determined at the time of game configuration by the dimensions
you choose.
b. Group: This is a collection of Troops, Monsters, and possessions, all
controlled by a Mage. The number of groups that each player
controls is determined at configuration time.
c. Mage: An other-worldly creature which controls each of your groups and
can perform magic. These creatures are invulnerable to attack.
d. Troops: These are the central attack force with which you will attempt to
win the game. If at any time all of your troops are destroyed,
you will be forced to retire from the game.
e. Monsters: These are the inhabitants of the world on which you will do
battle. There are twelve different species, each with their
own particular strengths and weaknesses. If you move monsters
into a city, you will be forced to feed them.
f. City: The object of the game is to control half or more of these.
Control of a city is gained by transferring troops from a group
into the city. If all of these troops are destroyed, you will lose
control of the city and your attacker may gain control of it.
Cities are where food, gold, armor, boats, and additional troops
are generated, so it is important to gain and hold as many cities
as possible.
g. Food: Pretty self-explanatory. All of your troops will eat 10 units of
food every game-day. Food is produced in cities.
h. Gold: Coin of the realm. You'll need a lot. Cities produce gold.
i. Armor: Each troop member that has a set of armor will be 10% less likely
to die in combat. Cities make armor.
j. Boats: Your troops may have to travel through water, and if so, boats
will make their progress easier. Boats may be built in cities at
a cost of 150 gold per boat. Each boat can carry 10 troops.
k. Charms, Orbs, and Wands: These are magical devices that are hidden in
various squares throughout the game. They can be found (sometimes)
by searching in a particular square. The benefits of each item will
be left for the player to discover.
l. Move Points: Each group is assigned 25 move points per game-day.
Movement through different terrain types with different
monsters and troops will cause your group to expend move
points at a faster or slower rate. Move points are also
used up by Scouting and Searching.
m. Terrain: These are the different types of land features in a particular
square. Each monster species prefers a different terrain, and
will only breed within a few terrain types. The terrain types
are Lake, Swamp, Jungle, Plains, Woods, Hills, Mountains, and
City.
n. Spells: These are the different types of magic that a perticular Mage may
perform. During a group description, a list of spells and a
color code will be presented. The color in which each spell is
printed indicates the level at which the Mage knows the spell.
Spell levels range from 0 to 9. This is also the chance (out of
10) that the spell will work.
o. Spell points: Each Mage will get a certain number of spell points per
game-day, dependent upon the level of the Mage. Each spell
cast will cost a certain number of spell points. Factors
affecting the cost are spell level, which spell it is, and
Mage level.
p. Spies: These are creatures from the same place as Mages. Their
particular skill is to determine information or perform acts such
as sabotage over long distances. These creatures are also
invulnerable to attack. They can, however, be captured by other
players.
Game Play Description
---------------------
Each player will be allowed to carry out all of the functions involving his
or her groups and cities in succession. After each player has had a turn, one
game-day will have elapsed, and the program will pause to perform maintenance.
It is VERY IMPORTANT that you do not turn off the computer during maintenance,
as this may cause information to be lost. During maintenance, cities will
produce their products and monsters will breed. After maintenance is complete,
the program will re-cycle back to the first player, and the game will continue
from there. This process continues until one of the following occurs:
1. One player has control of half or more of the cities in the game, or
2. All players have lost all of their troops. This is unlikely, as the last
troops of both of the last two players would have to be destroyed in
simultaneous combat, or people would have to have refused to pay their
soldiers, or just let them starve.
During any player's turn, all players may agree to stop the game. Simply
select "Stop the Game" from the Top Menu, and you will be returned to the DOS
prompt. All game information is automatically saved. Whenever you wish (or
until a New Game is started) you may simply run the program again and select
"Continue Game in Progress" and the program will pick up from where you left
off. This feature really comes in handy if you have a wargames-playing group
of friends who like to get together. You can all play whenever you get
together, or one at a time as time becomes available to you. You need not fear
that others are peeking at your information so long as you are using the
password system. This system is designed to keep honest people honest. If you
are playing with people who find it necessary to cheat by using sector editors,
etc., in order to find stuff out, I'd suggest finding a few new people to play
with. These ones aren't worth the time of day.
Description of Game Functions
-----------------------------
At the start of your turn, you will be shown the Top Menu, with the following
selections available to you.
1. Information Menu
This will give you a quick run-down of the groups and cities you
control, as well as their locations. You will also be shown the number
of cities you control, and the number needed to win the game. You can
short-cut to a description of one of these cities or groups by selecting
it with the highlight bar and pressing <Enter>. Otherwise, hit the
Escape key to return to the Top Menu.
2. Group Menu
This will list functions available to you for acting on your groups.
It will be described in detail later.
3. City Menu
This will list functions available to you for acting on cities which you
control. It will be described in detail later.
4. Spy assignments
This will allow you to assign your spies to various missions, which will
be described under the Spy Menu.
5. End Your Turn
Select this option when you have completed your turn. The program will
then turn control over to the next player.
6. Stop the Game
Selecting this will leave the program, with all applicable game
information saved in the game files. You may return to the game at a
later time.
The Group Menu
--------------
The following functions are available from the Group Menu:
1. Display a Group
You will be given a list of the groups you control and their location.
Select one with the highlight bar and press <Enter>. The applicable
group will be displayed in Area One. Use this function to change which
group you wish to perform functions on, also.
2. Move a Group
You will be given a direction menu. Select the movement direction you
desire, and your group will move in that direction (provided the group
has enough move points to enter the terrain in the picked direction).
The map is numbered in the following fashion: If your location is shown
as 12,7 then your group is eleven squares east of 1,1 and 6 squares
south. The map also "wraps around" from top-to-bottom and left-to-right,
meaning that if you are at the far right of the map and you move east,
you will reappear at the far left side. Here is an example:
1,1-------------9,1---------15,1--------1,1
| |
| |
| |
| |
1,5 |
|
9,7----14,7 etc.
|
|
14,1
3. Transfer Items
You will use this function a LOT. In order to move items from one group
to another group or into a city, the origin and destination of the
supplies must be in the same square. You will be asked to select a
target. This tells the program where to send the items. You will then
be asked what item you wish to transfer, and finally the amount.
4. Scouting
Selecting this will allow you to either search the square where you are
standing for Charms, Orbs, and Wands, or to determine the terrain within
one square of your group.
5. Attack a Group/City
This will be covered under the Attack Menu.
6. Pick up NPC's
NPC's are Non-Player Characters, which means monsters. Monsters will
randomly pop up in various areas of the world during maintenance. If
there are any monsters present in the square with you, it will be
indicated in Area Three. If so, it is usually a good idea to pick them
up. When you pick them up, they join your group as a fighting force.
They also, however, can slow your group down in certain types of terrain.
7. Cast a Spell
If you have done enough research, you may have improved your Mage's
spell knowledge and ability. If so, you can select which spell you wish
to cast by picking this option. The spell descriptions are pretty self-
explanatory, and I won't clarify them any more. You'll just have to
figure them out yourself. Be sure that you know a spell at greater than
level 0 before you try to cast it.
8. Magical Research
If you are in the same square with a city that you control, you can
spend some of that hard-to-get gold on improving your Mage's level or
spell knowledge.
9. Pick Group Defense
This will allow you to set the manner in which your group will defend
itself if attacked. Each tactic has different benefits over different
attack strategies. If you can't decide, or are afraid someone will
second-guess you, select Random, the the program will pick a random
defense tactic for your group every time it is attacked.
10. Go Back to the Top Menu
Attack Menu
-----------
After selecting your target, you select either a tactic or:
1. Lay siege to City
Select this if you want to try to cut off city production, forcing the
inhabitants to starve. If you are sieging a city, you will need to pick
this option every game-turn, or it will not be effective.
2. Cast a Spell at City
This will allow you to cast a Combat spell at a city you are attacking.
If you choose a tactic instead, you will be presented with a description of
your enemy in Area One. You'll be shown a Caution Window in Area Three. If
you wish to cancel your attack after seeing the enemy, just press <Enter>.
If you want to go through with the attack, move the highlight to "Continue" and
press <Enter>. You will be given a quick death-by-death description of the
battle. The combatants will continue to fight until one or both of the groups
are wiped out. You must have troops present in your group to attack.
City Menu
---------
The following options are available from the City Menu:
1. Display City
Same function as Display Group, but for cities that you control.
If you don't see any cities listed, that's because you don't control any
of them.. Press <enter> or <esc> to exit back to the City Menu. To take
control of an unclaimed city, just transfer in some troops. If you don't
know if the city is claimed or not, try to transfer troops in anyway. If
it is already controlled, then the transfer won't work.
2. Make Changes
This will allow you to change the various aspects of the city.
This will be covered in detail in the Make Changes Menu.
3. Transfer Items
This works just like a Group Transfer.
4. Go to Top Menu
Make Changes
------------
You may select the following options from the Make Changes menu:
1. Increase City Level
If you have enough gold, you can upgrade the level of your city.
City levels range from a start of 1 up to 6. Each higher level will give
a higher defensive bonus and more production centers.
2. Improve Food Production
Each city starts with food production at 1250 food per center per game-
day. At level 2, food production increases to 1750, and 2000 at level 3.
This food will be used up by ALL of your city inhabitants, including
NPC's. The bigger the monster, the more it eats. Be careful with your
city population, or you could find yourself starving off as many new
people as you recruit.
3. Improve Armor Production
Each city starts with armor production at 15 siuts of armor per center
per game-day. At level 2, production increases to 30 sets, and 50 at
level 3.
4. Change Troops assigned
People in a city can be in one of two capacities... either troops or
support. Troops will defend the city, and support will be used a base
for recruiting. Selecting this option will put all of your people
together, and then you can select how many troops you wish to assign.
The remainder of your people will be assigned to support. You will have
to have 10 gold to pay each of your troops on each game-turn, or they
will desert.
5. Build boats
This option will allow you to build boats for your troops.
6. Improve City Security
City security will determine your chance of catching an enemy spy. If
you catch a spy, he will join your spying forces. Security can be
Normal, High, or Extreme.
7. Improve Recruiting Level
New people can be recruited for additional forces, provided that you
carry some people in the city as support. Recruiting can be 5%, 7%, 10%,
15%.
8. Change Defense Tactics
This will allow you to choose the defense tactic your city will use if
attacked.
The computer will do all of the moving and combat for the computer-controlled
players. Fear not, it will not cheat. It does, however, use fairly good
strategy, so be prepared for at least a halfway decent opponent in your
computer adversaries.
Game Playing Tips
-----------------
At the beginning of your first turn, all of your food, gold, and troops
are stationed in your Group #1. If you wish to use your other groups for other
than NPC hunting and exploration, be sure to shift some food, troops, and gold
to the appropriate groups. You will be unable to attack or take control of a
city if there are no troops with your group. If all of your troops are
destroyed (or starve), you will be forced to retire from the game. Therefore,
I recommend (if there are many cities available) leaving your troops all in one
group, and using your unencumbered Mages for explorers. Your first priority is
to find a city before your troops run out of food and starve.
As with any war-playing game, it helps to map out the game as you go. A
piece of graph paper will help you in your game play tremendously. You might
also want to get some pushpins or other types of moveable markers if you're
playing in a fairly large game in order to be able to track where your cities
and groups are in relation to one another.
If you wish to have multiple games going, you can pursue one of two paths.
One is to make a copy of the program for each game in which you wish to play.
These can be kept on seperate floppies or in different subdirectories on your
hard disk. The other (if you have a hard disk) is use the two short batch
files I've included to shift games around. One of them, SAVE, will move the
current game into storage with the 3-letter extension you provide. The other,
RELOAD, will move a stored set of files into place to allow you to use
"Continue Game in Progress".
Be sure to check that the proper files exist with the extension that you
choose before attempting to RELOAD them. Here is an example. After leaving
the program, you decide to store the game you are playing with the extension
MY1... (You cannot use the extension WM2 for saving.) You simply type the
following:
SAVE MY1
Later, after several other games, if you wish to play this old game,
verify that it still exists by typing:
DIR *.MY1
If the game has not been accidentally erased, you should see five files
listed with that extension (INFO, PLAYER, GROUP, CITY, and SQUARE). If they
are still there, you can type the following to restore the game:
RELOAD MY1
This will move the saved files into position to be played.
Changes from Version 2.0
------------------------
Version 2.1 fixes a few bugs that managed to sneak in:
1. Build Boats: The bug that prevented the buying of any boats is now fixed.
2. Control of conquered city: You are now able to transfer troops into and
thereby take control of a conquered city. That bug is also fixed.
3. Group Cloning: I believe I've eliminated a bug that causes group #1 to be
cloned onto other groups. If you see signs of groups mysteriously
duplicating, drop me a line and I'll continue the hunt.
4. Total People: This figure now reads the correct amount.
I've also fixed other small errors. If you still find any bugs in this
version, please let me know immediately.
Future Plans
------------
I plan on adding in several additional/improved features to future releases of
this game. These should include automatic cumulative mapping, additional user
configuration options, user configurable menu colors, and the ability to
declare alliances, which will grant the ability to transfer items to friendly
groups.
If you have any other ideas for improvements or questions, please let me know.
I can be contacted at the following address until 15 February 1989:
Barry Kearns
1060 Kam Hwy #A2906
Pearl City, HI 96782
Phone (808) 455-9560
After 15 February 1989, I can be contacted at the following address:
Barry Kearns
6920 West 63rd Ave.
Arvada, CO 80003
Phone (303) 424-5125
I can also be contacted on GEnie (mail address B.KEARNS).
Please give me a call at the above number or drop me a line at the address
listed above to report any bugs. If an error code is generated, please note
where in the program you were and what the code number and the "In Line #"
is...
Please read the notice at the beginning of the program, and support the
ShareWare concept. Everyone benefits from it, but only if it is USED. Even if
you send no money, please drop me a line and let me know what you think about
the program. If you have any suggestions for improvements or changes to the
game, be sure to include those. I look forward to hearing from you.
Barry Kearns, War of the Mages Author
