    CASTLES MANUAL

Introduction:

Welcome to the world of CASTLES II ONLINE.  This game is intended to test yours kills as an administrator, a military leader, and a politician.  During the course of play, you must maintain the delicate balance between the administrative, military and political functions of your dominion.

The territories in Castles are based on 14th century France, a tumultuous period in European history, which featured the prolonged conflict of The Hundred Years War. This century was marked by chaos, as the struggle for land in France had a high cost in human life. The blood of English and French soldiers saturated the soil and the peasants of these lands were forcefully removed from their homes, raped or killed. The Lords of territories battled each other in an attempt to expand their realms. When a Lord conquered new lands, he would build castles there to substantiate his power over the newly acquired

territory.

Your mission is to unite the territories of the mythical land of Bretagne in the midst of this bloody turmoil and eventually become King.  It is a formidable task, one that requires intestinal fortitude, cunning and risk taking. If you possess these qualities then you are ready to accept the challenge of Castles: Siege and Conquest!

Object:

The ultimate goal of Castles is to be crowned King. This is accomplished by petitioning the Pope to back your claim to the throne once you have expanded your empire to a point of considerable wealth and power.  All the while, you must keep your people happy and maintain good relations with the Pope. If you are named King, the game is over and you have won.  If, at some point during the game, one of the other players petitions the Pope and is named King, then you have lost the game.  You may choose to play as one of five feuding lords from the families of Albion, Burgundy, Anjou, Aragon, and Valois.

A game of Castles will commence on January 1, 1312 and will usually last between three and ten years.  The date is displayed at the top of the strategic view.

Once you have begun to capture territories and establish your empire, you must build castles.  There are many obstacles and challenges that arise throughout the game which often hinder your quest to become King.  If you manage your land with efficiency, the effects of these diversions can be minimized and the throne will be within your grasp.

Getting Started:

When "Play" is selected you will be prompted to download the Castles II frontend (if you already have the frontend it will check to see if you have the correct version).  After the download is complete, your version  upgraded (if either was necessary), the frontend will run automatically and bring you into the User Interface screen.  The User Interface Screen is broken into 4 boxes: Players, Chat, Games and incoming /outgoing messages.  The boxes allow you to locate other players, get a list of available games, create, start, join  a game, move/create another chat room (Table), and receive and send messages to other players.

                                                                         PLAYERS

Details on Players:

The left side of the box contains a list of all the players that are not currently playing a game.  Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the list. Single click the player's name to highlight it, then select the "Details" button in the Player's box (shortcut: double click the player's name).  The location of the player and the game (if not started) they are currently joined to, will be displayed in the incoming message box.  In the upper right side of the box is the total number of players that are not currently playing a game.

Sending Private Messages:

Single click the player's name to highlight it, then select the "Send to" button in the Player's box, this will display a pop up  menu, type your message and select "OK" to send.   The message you just entered will then be seen by only this player.  Subsequent messages will be displayed for all players in your chat room unless you again use the "Send to" option.

                                                                     CHAT

Changing Tables:

Single click the table to highlight it, then select the "Move to"  button in the Chat box (shortcut: double click the table).

Details on a Table:

If you want to know how many players (and their names) are at a given table, single click the table to highlight it, then select the "Details" button in the Chat box.  In the upper right side of the box is the total number of tables active (not including hidden tables).

Creating Tables:

Select the "Create" button, which displays a pop up menu.  Input a name for your new table, decide if it will be hidden, private, or the default which makes it available to all players.  If  you elect to make your game hidden or private, players need to be invited to the table.  If hidden is selected, the table will only be displayed in your Chat box  (highlighted in yellow) until you invite other players.  If private is selected, the table will be displayed to all players, but they will not be able to join unless you invite them.  To invite a player, single click on the table to highlight (changes from yellow to gray, and displays the "Invite Chat" button), highlight the player's name by single clicking it, then select the "Invite Chat" button. If you set the table to be hidden or private it will automatically close when the last player leaves the table.

Once you have sent the invitation to a player to join your table, a pop message will be displayed to that player.  They will have the option to accept or decline.  Either way, you will be notified through the incoming message box.

                                                                        GAME

Create a Game:

Select the "Create" button, which displays a pop up menu. Input a name for your game, decide if it will be private or available to all players.  Select an available realm by single clicking on the box to the left of the realm.  If  you elect to make your game private, another button called "Invite Game" will appear and the players need to be invited to the game.  To invite a player single click on the player's name in the Player box to highlight it, then select the "Invite Game" button.  If the player accepts, or declines, you will be

notified via your incoming message box. . Repeat this process until you have selected all the players that you want.

Details on a Game:

On the left side of the box is a list of all the games that are forming (still gathering players or have not yet been started). To get the status of a game, use the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the list. Single click on a game  to highlight it, then select the "Details" button in the Player's box (shortcut: double click the Game).  This will display the status, either full or still gathering players, the name of the players currently joined and the realms that they have chosen.

Join a Game:

Single click on a game to highlight it, then select the "Join" button (shortcut: Double click on the game you wish to join).

Leave a Game:

Single click on the "Leave" button to exit a game before it has started.

Start Game:

Only the creator of a game can start it.  If the creator of the game leaves before selecting start, all players will automatically leave the game and it will disappear from the list of available games. Once the game has begun, players will be transferred to the strategic view screen, where most of the game play will occur (see Strategic View).

Incoming / Outgoing Message Box:

The larger area of the box (incoming messages) is where all messages from other players nd information you've requested (details of games, tables, players, etc...) is displayed.  The smaller area (outgoing messages) displays and allows you to edit the text you are typing before it is sent.  To send a message simply start typing.  When you have completed typing, press the enter key to send the message to the incoming message area of all the other players in your chatroom.  There is a 100 character limit per line, so if your message is longer, you will need to press enter at the end of the 100 characters and begin typing again.  Repeat until you have completed the message. If you wish to scroll back to read a message which is no longer visible, select the top button located above the up arrow key, this will highlight the amount of text available to be redisplayed.  Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll back and forth through the text.

The button located under the down arrow key, when selected, will start a capture session that will store text from the Incoming / Outgoing message box to your hard drive.  To end the capturing of the text, simply select the button again.

         CLICKING THE CASTLES II  ONLINE BUTTON (on the right hand side of the screen)

Sound Effects & Music:

Select the "Castles II Online click for menu" button to display a pop up menu.  The sound and music are toggle functions, if the sound effects / Music are currently on, the menu option will be: Turn sound / Music off.  If the sound effects / Music are currently off, the menu option will be: Turn sound / Music on.

Help:

Select the "Castles II Online click for menu" button to display a pop up menu.  Single click on Help.  This will display this manual in a help file format.

Exit Button:

When selected will display a pop up menu asking if you want to "Really exit to Windows".  Select OK to exit, or CANCEL to return to the main interface screen without exiting.

Strategic View:

The centerpiece of the view is a map of the entire kingdom, divided into 36 territories --each territory has its own commodity, designated by a small icon inside the territory.  A second icon displays the territory's most recent owner, if any, based upon what your scouts and spies have discovered.

At the bottom left of the screen, you will see your name, your score, and the current time.  To the left of the map are six wood planks.  These are your Task Bars.  They represent the six tasks that you can perform at this point in the game.  The gray indicators to the right of the Task Bars display your Administrative, Military, and Political Ability Points: the number in use, and the total available to you.  You will gain Ability Points as you progress through the game.

Above the Task Bars are two rows of icons.  The first represents your stocks of Food, Timber, Iron, and Gold.  The second represents the size of your army: Infantry, Archers, Knights, and engines of war.

Virtually every element of game play can be controlled through single or double clicking of the mouse.  If you single click the mouse button on a territory it will display the name, if you double click the mouse on a territory adjacent to one you own, a pop-up menu will provide you with a list of available commands: Scout, Attack and the name of the territory.

Tutorial:

Often times the best way to learn is by doing.  For those who want to start playing the game immediately, this section will get your realm established with a couple of territories.  You can play and experiment from that point.  If you get stuck, you can easily refer to a specific section of the manual for assistance.

In the beginning of the game you have the capability to perform six tasks (two administrative, two military, and two political).  For the tutorial we will only use one of each, begin by building your economy. As mentioned above, your territory has a particular commodity that can be processed. Click on the Admin menu.  One of the four tasks at the top will be enabled (those commodities that have a circle with a line through it, or disabled, can be selected at anytime to get a list of items needed to perform the task).  Select the enabled task, then click OK on the task window when it appears.  You are now performing one administrative task by gathering a commodity.

Next, you should build your army, which is a military task.  Select whichever aspect of your military that can be recruited at this time from the Military  menu.  When the task window appears, click OK.

Now double click on one of the territories adjacent to your starting territory and select theScout  function.  At this point (since scouting is a political function) you are now performing one administrative, one military, and one political function.

Once these three tasks are completed, you are most likely in a position to attack theterritory that you have just scouted.  However, if this particular territory is occupied by the Pope, you DO NOT want to attack it (see section called The Pope). When you have finished Scouting the territory that you chose (signified by the Task Bar flipping over with the message Scout Complete), Scout another territory. Do the same with the Gathering task you chose earlier.

A shorthand way to redo some tasks is by double-clicking on the Task Bar that has just completed. This will re-launch the same task.  This is especially useful for Gathering tasks.

When the Recruiting task that you had running completes, you may want to Attack the territory you previously scouted (assuming it isn't owned by the Pope). To Attack, double click the left mouse button on the territory you wish to capture, and select Attack  from the pop-up menu that appears.  Click OK on the task window and this will launch an Attack task. If you successfully attack and capture a territory, you will add it to your domain and the commodity in the territory will now be available for you to gather. You can also scout territories adjacent to it and launch further attacks on those territories.

Once you have captured three territories, you must consider building a castle.  Every territory that you hold must be adjacent to a territory in which you have built a large castle (worth at least 100 points) or you risk the possibility of revolt from the people in this conquered land.  This applies throughout your domain --even to your starting territory.

To build a castle, double click on that territory, and select Build Castle from the pop-up menu.  You will now see a partial tower inside the territory. If Build Castle has a circle with a line through it displayed on the left, you either do not have sufficient resources to build the castle or you are already utilizing to many Admin ability points (to get a list of everything needed to perform the task, select the task and a pop menu will be displayed).

This should provide you with the basics to get started.  Just remember to keep performing tasks in all three areas (administrative, military and political) simultaneously.

Performing Tasks:

Castles is a task based game.  Anything that you want to do is done by way of accomplishing a task.  There are three different types of tasks: administrative, military and political.  These tasks are color coded in the ability point indicators and on the task bars: Green for Administrative, Red for Military and Blue for Political.

For each type of task, you have a certain number of ability points.  There are three ability point indicators located just to the right of the task bars. Each contains a set of two numbers.  The number on the left represents the total amount of points being applied to all tasks of the given type, and the number on the right indicates the total number of points that you possess.  Think of this as the fraction of your total points currently in use.  A graphical indicator also shows this information.

Your rating will increase as you successfully complete tasks. For example, as you successfully complete administrative tasks, your administrative rating will improve and you will have more points to distribute among your tasks in the future. The higher your rating, the more tasks you need to complete to raise it to the next level.  The maximum rating in each category is nine points.

You can use any of the three types of points in any task, with a few restrictions.  For example, you need not restrict yourself to using administrative points for administrative tasks.  Military and political points can also be used.  They still contribute to increasing your ability points in their respective skill areas, but not as much as if they were used for military or political tasks.  If you add two military and two political points to the three administrative points used to build a castle, for example, you would gain partial credit towards advancing your military and political ratings.

At the beginning of the game, six task bars are available on the left side of the strategic view.  These can be used to accomplish the three types of tasks (Administrative, Military, and Political).  The top bars are for administrative tasks, the middle bars are for military tasks, and the bottom bars are for political tasks.  Each bar can only perform one task at any given time.

While a task is being performed, three numbers will appear on the right side of the task bar. These numbers indicate how many ability points were applied toward that particular task.  The far left number is the amount of administrative  points, the middle one is the amount of military points, and the number on the right represents the amount of political points.  When a task is being performed, the task bar will fill up from left to right.  The task is complete when the bar is completely full.  If you wish to repeat the exact same task, assuming it is available to you, double-click on the task bar itself; this is quicker than proceeding through the menu bar to set up the task.  If you click on the task bar while a task is being performed, a pop-up menu will give you the option of canceling the task.

When performing a task in any given area, you must use more points from that particular area of the point pool than either of the other two.  For example, suppose you have 4 administrative points, 7 military points, 3 political points, and you want to perform an administrative task.  If you choose to use all 4 of your administrative points, you may use up to 3 of your military points and up to 3 of your political points.  In this scenario, the addition of the military and political points is intended to give you more total points to

apply toward the administrative task and thus speed it up.  The more ability points applied to any given task, the faster it is accomplished.

                             HOW TO PLAY CASTLES (Establishing and Maintaining the Realm)

                                                 ADMINISTRATIVE FUNCTIONS

The administrative functions of your domain are those which help you to build a solid infrastructure.  These functions include: harvesting food, cutting timber, mining iron, refining gold, and building castles.  It is important to establish a strong economy early in game play, because so many of the other tasks depend upon the availability of certain commodities.  For example, the military task of recruiting archers requires gold and timber.

Each territory contains a particular commodity.  Once you have captured a territory, you can then begin to gather that commodity.  For example, if you capture a territory whose commodity is iron, you can perform the administrative task of mining iron. As soon as you have completed any gathering task, your stockpile of that commodity will increase.  If you choose to gather a commodity that you hold in multiple territories, you will receive units of that commodity equal to the number of territories in which you hold it (you will

also need to apply the same amount of ability points).  In other words, if you have three territories in which gold is your commodity, when you refine gold you will add three units of gold to your economy -- as long as you apply at least three ability points to the task.

Also, once you build a large enough castle on a territory (50 or more points), the production of that territory's commodity is doubled when gathered.  If, for example, you possess three territories with the same commodity, you can receive as many as six units of that commodity for each gather task as long as you have large enough castles in all three territories.  Of course, gathering all six commodities requires applying at least six ability points (from any category) to the gather task.

Single click on the administrative ability point indicator and select the desired commodity from the pop-up menu that appears. Another way of starting a gather task is to click on one of the commodity icons displayed at the upper left of the strategic view.   These symbols represent (from left to right) Food, Timber, Iron and Gold.  If it is possible to gather that item, a pop-up menu with the task enabled will appear.

Harvest Grain:

Harvesting Grain requires an expenditure of at least one Administrative Point per Grain territory harvested. If a castle is present in a Grain territory, an additional Administrative Point must be spent to gain the additional Grain.

Cut Timber:

Cutting Timber requires an expenditure of at least one Administrative Point per Timber territory harvested. If a castle is present in a Timber territory, an additional Administrative Point must be spent to gain the additional Timber.

Mine Iron:

Mining Iron requires an expenditure of at least one Administrative Point per Iron territory mined. If a castle is present in an Iron territory, an additional Administrative Point must be spent to gain the additional Iron.

Refine Gold:

Refining Gold requires an expenditure of at least one Administrative Point per Gold territory refined. If a castle is present in a Gold territory, an additional Administrative Point must be spent to gain the additional Gold.

Build Castle:

Building a Castle requires a minimum Administrative Rating of 3. At least 2 Administrative Points must be assigned to the task and, in addition, 1 Grain, 3 Timber, 1 Iron, and 2 Gold must be spent.  These same costs apply to repairs made to partially damaged castles, although construction time will depend on the extent of the damage.

The best way to solidify your realm and eliminate the possibility of revolt by your people is to build a castle.  Building a castle in a territory also increases your chances in the defense of your territories.

To build a Castle double click on the territory and select the Build Castle option from the pop-up menu.  The Build Castle task requires one Grain, three Timber, one Iron, and two Gold. You must have at least two Administrative Points allotted to the task.

Your castle's size determines whether or not you can double production of that territory's commodity as well as prevent the people from revolting.  In order to double the production of a commodity and keep people within the territory from revolting, a castle must be worth at least 50 points.  To keep the people in neighboring territories from revolting, a castle must be worth at least 100 points.  The greater the number of points in the castle, the longer the amount of time required for its construction.

The Black Market:

If you need to add goods quickly to your economy, it is sometimes beneficial to trade onthe black market  (The black market option can be accessed the same way that the commodities are accessed on the administrative ability point indicator).  You can immediately trade a good that is plentiful for one that is lacking, in a 3:1 ratio.

                                                     MILITARY FUNCTIONS

Military tasks are those functions of your empire which focus on the augmentation of your armed forces and their usage.  You build your army through the military tasks of recruiting Infantry, Archers, and Knights.  Other military tasks are concerned with adding weapons to your army which aid in attacking a castle. These include: building a ballista, building a catapult, and building a siege tower.  The other two military tasks are: sending a saboteur to another territory and, of course, attacking another territory.

The Army:

The army is your fighting force.  It consists of Infantry, Archers, and Knights. To keep your military strong, you must recruit troops.  Whenever you engage in an attack or are the victim of sabotage, the numbers in your army may decrease.  So, it is important to keep recruiting and strengthen your army.  To recruit for your army, select the branch of the army that you want to increase from the Military menu (a faster way to start this task is by clicking on one of the military icons at the upper left of the screen).

In order to maintain the size of your army and keep your troops happy, you will need to feed and pay them.  For every 5 infantry or archers that you possess, you will need to feed them 1 food and pay them 1 gold (rounded up) per year.  Every 5 Knights will cost you 2 food and 2 gold (also rounded up).   The troops are paid in the spring and fed in the fall.  If you delay feeding and / or paying them, increasing numbers of your troops will desert.

Recruit Infantry:

Recruiting Infantry requires an expenditure of at least one Military Point and, in addition, one iron is spent to arm the troops and one gold is spent as a recruitment bonus. Upon completion of the task, one infantry unit is added to the army.

Recruit Archers:

Recruiting Archers requires a minimum Military Rating of 2. At least one of those Military Points must be spent on the task in addition to a cost of one Timber to equip the archers with bows and arrows and one Gold as a recruitment bonus. Upon completion of the task, one archer unit is added to the army.

Recruit Knights:

Recruiting Knights requires a minimum Military Rating of 6. At least one of those Military Points must be spent on the task in addition to the cost of one Grain for feeding the Knight, his horse, and his retinue.

One Iron must also be spent to provide armor for the Knight, and one Gold must be paid as a recruitment bonus. Upon completion of the task, one Knight is added to the army.

                                                          ATTACKING

Once you have built your economy and army to a certain point, you will want to attack another territory to increase the size and wealth of your domain.  In order to attack, you will need two military points, a happiness rating of at least three (see Happiness), and one iron. When you have met these requirements and want to attack, double click on a neighboring territory (you can only attack a territory that is directly adjacent to one of your own) to display a pop up menu and select the Attack option.  When the Attack task

completes, you will be given the option of proceeding with the attack or recalling your troops.  After you make this decision, click OK and the task of preparing your army for battle will be complete.  The computer plays out the battle for you and determines the victor.

Siege Engines:

When you are attacking a territory that has a castle, certain weapons can improve your chances of victory.  They can be added to your arsenal at different times during the game if specific conditions of your economy exist, and your ability points are high enough.  You may build one of each.

The Ballista is, in essence, a giant crossbow that fires a large arrow at a castle and its defenders.  In order to build a ballista, you will need 4 military points available, 1 unit of timber, 1 unit of iron, and 1 unit of gold.

The Catapult is designed to hurl heavy projectiles at the castle walls. It requires the same amount of commodities, but you must have a Military Rating of at least 6 and you must expend at least 5 of them on building the Catapult.

A Siege Tower also requires the same number of commodities, but a 7 Military Rating is necessary and 6 of those points are needed to start this task.  The Siege Tower contains troops that are hidden within it until it reaches the castle walls.  At that time the troops can leap onto the tops of the castle walls and towers.  The Infantry units that are hidden in the Siege Tower are in addition to those in your regular army.

If you are capable of building one or more of these weapons, the corresponding tasks will be enabled in the pop-up menus attached to the military ability point indicator.

Saboteur:

To hire a saboteur, select the territory to be sabotaged (the territory must be owned by another player; it cannot be neutral).  This task will become available on the Military  menu as soon as you have a Military Rating of at least 3 and can use at least 2 of those points along with spending 1 gold to hire the saboteur(s). A saboteur is sent to an opponent's territory with the intent of destroying some aspect of that territory's economy or disrupting the military.  The saboteur will attempt to inflict as much damage as possible.  Sending a saboteur can be dangerous, however, because he can be captured and your enemy will not soon forget this treachery.  If the enemy is policing his realm, his odds of capturing your saboteur are greatly increased.

Policing the Realm:

Since your opponents have the same capabilities as you do, you must be wary of their saboteurs.  The only way of accomplishing this is to police the realm.  This function of the military is generally successful in capturing saboteurs.  When you police the realm, the overall efficiency of the ongoing tasks improves as well.  One negative by-product of policing the realm, however, is that it reduces the happiness level of your people by one happiness point each time you run the task (see Happiness).

                                                         POLITICAL FUNCTIONS

Happiness:

Each time this task is run it will increase your Happiness Level by one.  To run the happiness task, single click on the  Politics button and select "Happiness".  This task is very time consuming, the more ability points applied, the sooner it will be completed.

Relations:

Your relations with the Pope, and the happiness level of your people, are measured on a nine point scale.  A rating of  9 represents a close alliance.  To display your relations, single click on the Politics button and select "Relations".  You will see for pieces of information displayed: "Happiness of your people", "Rating with the Pope", "Territories unprotected by a castle" (if a territory is left unprotected for to long, it will revolt), "The following claims are in for the throne" and how many months have passed since submitted win).

Scouting:

When selected, this task will tell you who, owner of the territory (if anyone) and what mineral it contains.  The scouting task is considered to be a political task even though you can only access it by double clicking on a country adjacent to one you own, not through the Politics button.

Claiming the Throne:

To petition the Pope, you must select Claim the Throne.  It will be enabled on the Political menu once you have reached 5,000 points.. After you have petitioned the Pope, you must keep your point total above 5,000 and relations with the Pope at 9. If you maintain that point total and relations of 9 with the Pope for approximately 4-5 game months before anyone else does, you will be named King and the game will be over.

                                                               THE POPE

Since the Pope is the only one who can declare you King, it stands to reason that maintaining favorable relations with him is extremely important.  If you  pay the gold the Pope's emissary asked for it will improve your relations with the Pope.  If you let your rating with the Pope slip to 2 or lower, you will be excommunicated.  The only way to improve relations with the Pope after being excommunicated is to cede one of your territories to him. When you do this, your rating will improve.

To cede a territory, double click on that territory and select Cede from the pop-up menu.  If you cede a territory to the Pope that has a castle built on it, your relations with the Pope will improve by four points.  You may cede a territory to the Pope even if you are not excommunicated.  In that case, however, you will only improve your relations by one point with no castle, and two rating points if you cede a territory with a castle.  You cannot cede a territory to the Pope if it is adjacent to one he already owns.

Happiness:

Your happiness level represents the morale of both your people and your army.  If you let your happiness level drop too low, you risk the possibility of rebellion.  To improve your happiness, you can employ the happiness task, which requires 2 political points, 1 unit of food, 1 unit of timber, and 1 unit of gold. Completion of this task boosts your happiness rating by one point.

If you attack someone and lose, your Happiness will decrease. If you are attacked and lose, your Happiness may or may not decrease. If you are attacked and win, however, you Happiness will always increase.

Your happiness will also decrease each time you police your realm.  When you police the realm, the people are placed under constant scrutiny and they will not appreciate the burdens and accusations that will be directed at them by a vigilant government.  One way to avoid the discontent of the people is to simultaneously improve happiness while you are policing the realm.

To find out what your Happiness level currently is, select Relations from the Political menu.

Scouting:

Before you attack a territory or send a saboteur, you should scout that territory to be sure you know who owns it (if you attempt to attack a territory owned by the Pope, your generals will refuse and your rating with the Pope will drop by one point). Scouting tells you who holds a territory, the commodity present, and if there is a castle in that territory.

Scouting requires 1 political point. To initiate it, double click on a neighboring territory (you can only Scout a territory that is directly adjacent to one of your own) to display a pop up menu and select the Scout  option.  This will open the task starter window and enable you to begin the task.

It's a good idea to Scout a territory more than once, especially before attacking it, as territories can change ownership frequently.

                                                         WINNING THE GAME

Your score is displayed at the bottom left of the screen, just to the right of your name.  When you have achieved a score of at least 5,000 points, you earn the opportunity to petition the Pope to name you King.

To petition the Pope, you must select Claim the Throne when it is enabled in the Political menu. After you have petitioned the Pope, you must keep your point total above 5,000 and relations with the Pope at 9. If you maintain that point total and relations of 9 with the Pope for approximately 4-5 game months before anyone else does, you will be named King and the game will be over.

Making a claim to the throne does not make you popular with the other players, however.  Claiming the throne will most likely cause players to immediately attack you, to drop your point total below 5,000.

                                             OTHER FEATURES OF CASTLES

The Music option located under "Castles II Online click for menu" allows you to turn the background music on or off.

 The Sound effects option located under "Castles II Online click for menu" allows you to turn the Sound effects on or off.  When enabled, sound effects will be played back at various points during the game.

  Double clicking on the Task Bars will repeat the task that has just been completed.

  Single-clicking on a territory on the map will display the name of that territory.

  Double clicking on a adjacent territory to one you own will display a pop menu which displays the name of the territory and the Scout or Attack options.

  Right click and hold on any active task bar - a menu pops up allowing  you to cancel.

  Right click and hold on any commodity or army icon at the top of the screen to display help on that button.

  Single click on any commodity or army icon to display a pop up menu allowing you to start a task (example: click on the bread icon; 'Gather Food'  pops up)

                                                  FACTS AND QUOTATIONS

Chronology:

1302 - Philip IV called together the first Estates-General, the ancestor of the French

Parliament.

1309-1377 - The Avignon Papacy (the Popes were a succession of Frenchmen)

1328-1350 - Reign of Philip VI (first of the Valois rulers)

1337-1453 - The Hundred Years' War between England and France

1378-1417 - "The Great Schism" in the church (two Popes were chosen at the same time-one Roman and one French, causing great controversy)

                                         CONTENDERS FOR THE THRONE

ALBION:

Albion has one of the strongest claims to the throne of Bretagne, dating back many generations. You will be the son of the castle-building King in the original CASTLES.

COUNT OF VALOIS:

You are the cousin of Charles of Clossau, the late King of Bretagne.  By family ties, you have the most solid claim to the throne. Of course,  both Albion and Anjou would argue that the late King's claim

to the throne was rather dubious.

DUKE OF BURGUNDY:

Your claim to the throne is extremely weak; you are caught between the politics of Bretagne and the Holy Teuton Empire, to which Burgundy owes its fealty.

KING OF ARAGON:

You have no legitimate claim to the throne of Bretagne; You simply wish to get as much wealth as he can during Bretagne's civil war.

DUKE OF ANJOU:

A relation of both Albion and Valois, your claim to the throne is as good as Albion's Edward's.

POPE INNOCENT BENEDICT:

Driven from Rome and into exile in Bretagne, Innocent Benedict is

still the most respected figure in Christendom. The Pope wishes to regain the Papal States from his adversary, Anti-Pope Christopher. He  wants to see a strong leader emerge from the Bretagnese civil

war and  help him regain his lands, and restore the schism that has affected Christianity. Although the Empire was in large part responsible for his exile, he hopes to make amends with them and destroy any support for the Anti-Pope.

The Armchair Strategist's Guide: Expanded Edition

by Vince DeNardo, Interplay Productions, Inc.

William C. Fisher, Quicksilver Software, Inc.

Becoming King in CASTLES: SIEGE AND CONQUEST demands careful planning and resource management.  It also requires a clear understanding of the rules of the game.  This document provides a

detailed explanation of how to play the game and surmount the obstacles that will be placed before you.

WARNING: This guide offers specific hints and playing techniques for CASTLES.  Players who prefer to learn the subtleties of the game ontheir own should not read beyond the Artificial Intelligence section

of this document.

                                     GENERAL PLAYING HINTS

Some subtle aspects of CASTLES may be lost in a first reading of the manual.  These few pointers may make your first experience withthe game much more pleasant:

1. Defending military forces can vary from 85 % to 115% of the size of a player's total military force.  The number of soldiers thata territory can muster in its defense, in other words, is based on the total size of the army owned by the controlling player and a random factor to determine the variance between 85% & 115%.

The strength of each individual defensive unit is adjusted upward slightly to account for the defender's superior knowledge of the terrain.  The defender also gets to choose where the battle will be fought.

This offers a significant advantage to the clever player.  Finally, the attacker will have a very difficult time winning unless the odds are greater than 2:1 in its favor (this includes morale, which is not immediately

measurable, just as in real life).

The battle system works both ways: when you are attacked, you defend with between 85 % to 115% of your forces.  If you lose the battle, you may then launch a retaliatory attack on the other player, who

will defend with between 85 % to 115% of whatever forces remain after the first attack.  Also, remember that every unit lost to either player removes one unit of that type from the player's forces.  The attacker, however, can be completely eliminated by a solid defender.  A counterattack after such a rout is usually devastating to the once-proud aggressor.

The intent of this design is to encourage back-and-forth skirmishing.  It also places the greatest risk of loss on the player who has themost to gain -- the attacker.  This design applies to both the computer players and the human players; they abide by exactly the samerules.  This includes the rule which provides at least one Infantry and one Archer to a player with no military forces.  We assume that any territory -- human or computer -- is capable of offering some defense to an attacker, however meager.

2. Your army's morale is based on the Happiness of your people.  Battles may be won and lost solely on morale.  It has a very strong effect on the outcome.  Be sure to keep your Happiness at least as high as that of your neighbor's.

                                     STARTING THE GAME

At the beginning of the game, your focus should be on grabbing territory.  This cannot be done in a haphazard manner, though.  Your most important goals should be:

1. Build a solid, defensible perimeter.

2. Possess all four types of resources.

3. Crank your economy up to top speed as soon as possible.

Most of the players begin in one corner or another of the map.  The best strategy for these players is to aim for an initial size of five or six territories.  Conquer a few immediately, preferably by building a "wall" of territories that you own, behind which may be a few that you do not yet own but are inaccessible to the other players (the other players cannot "leapfrog" and get to them).  Then, conquer these other territories.

Territories will revolt if not subjugated by a show of force.  You must therefore begin to build castles once you control four or five territories.  Try to build just one castle, preferably in a territory which borders every other territory that you own.  If you are very fortunate, or have planned well, the territory in which you build the castle will have Gold as a resource.  Make sure that your castle is at least 100 points strong, so that it will prevent revolts in all neighboring territories .  The castle will not prevent revolts until it is completed.  You will be given ### days warning if a country is contemplating revolt. You may also view any territories that are unprotected by a castle (which means it is only a matter of time before they revolt) by clicking on the Political button and selecting "Relations".

Politics also plays a critical role in the game, even at this early stage.  Make sure that your people are happy.  Make sure that the Pope likes you.

                                           TOUGH CHOICES

Once you have your initial territories under control, you may choose any one of several approaches to the game.  The game can be won through military conquest, administrative power, or political expertise, although the obvious military approach is the easiest.  Make a decision now as to how you wish to proceed, and stick to it as long as possible.

The game will place far more demands on your resources than they can support.  You must decide whether to make your people happy, build alliances with your neighbors, build castles, or build a dominant

military force.  Your basic strategy choice will determine which of these will be emphasized.

There are a few general pointers that apply to any strategy.  Keep these in mind, and you will always be in control -- as much as possible, anyhow.  And, lest you think that these pointers are not important, just remember that the other players ARE using them.

1. Use every ability point that you have.  Even if you are not running a Military task, for example, apply the otherwise unused Military ability points to another task, such as a Gather.  This will serve the dual purpose of increasing the speed of the gather task and giving you the extra push toward raising your ability rating.  Your Military ability will not increase as quickly as if you were running Military tasks, but any contribution in the right direction is helpful.

2. Stay friendly with the Pope.  Monitor your relations regularly.  Remember, trying to attack a territory owned by the Pope (meaning you didn't scout it first) will cause your relations with the Pope to decrease by one point.  It is very easy, therefore, to become excommunicated through carelessness.

3. Maintain a reasonable army size.  Make it too small, and your neighbors may overrun you in their attacks before you get a chance to build it back up. Make it too large, and the maintenance costs will drag down your economy.  This "reasonable" size will grow as you get further into the game.

5. Think in terms of small campaigns. Before launching attacks, pick a small number of territories to capture, build up your army and then go. Don't bite off more than you can chew! After grabbing a couple of territories, consolidate your gains, rebuild your army and erect castles for defense. Never get greedy, as an overextended empire crumbles very quickly!

6. Always harvest your resources. You will use them up very rapidly as everything you do costs money and/or goods.

7.  If you don't have a good mix of commodities in the territories you own.  Try to harvest the commodity you have the most of  and then trade them for what you need through the black market.  Always remember that the black market is expensive (3 to 1), but it can help bail you out of tight situations.

                                         MILITARY MIGHT

Many players initially try to win the game through brute military force.  Unfortunately, being a leader means more than having the largest army.  You must choose your enemies carefully.  And you must

manage your realm well enough that it does not vanish in a sudden spate of revolts.  The following hints should assist the determined militarist:

1. Obtain Knights as soon as possible.  Build up to a Military Ability Rating of 6 by recruiting and attacking.  Don't police your realm unless it's essential.  Take a risk in order to build up your forces more rapidly.

2. Build just enough castles to prevent revolts.

3. Make sure that you have plenty of Iron and Wood initially, so that you can build a big army.  Then make sure that you have plenty of Food and Gold to pay for these forces.  If you lose them due to failure to

pay, you may very well lose the game.

4. Choose your enemies carefully.  Only attack one at a time.  Trying to conquer two at once will almost certainly end in disaster.

                                     LONG-TERM STRATEGY

The goal of CASTLES, ultimately, is to survive long enough to become King.  Once you have established your initial fiefdom, it is time to put your overall strategy to the test.  Focus on the elements that you deem most important, as noted above.  We won't tell you how to win.  There are many ways to win in CASTLES, and part of the fun is in discovering them for yourself.  However, a few general pointers for later in the game may be warranted:

1. Build a buffer of extra points before you Claim.  Once the other players get wind of your pending coronation, they will become increasingly aggressive toward you.  This can pull you very rapidly

into warfare. Make sure that the loss of points due to the drop in relations, plus the drops due to the attacks you will receive, will not be so severe that the Pope decides to reject your claim.

2. Deciding when to Claim is a tricky decision. If you are the first to try, everyone will take their shot at knocking you down. Waiting for someone else to claim first is also a tricky path to follow because you might not have enough time or power to knock him down, and, if more players claim in the meantime, it'll turn into a free-for-all. (Actually that becomes quite a fun endgame to be involved in. Maybe that's not such a bad idea after all!)

                     TEN SURE WAYS TO LOSE AT CASTLES

1. Attack two or three other players at once.  Yeah, the more, the merrier.  It's fun to send troops in every direction, grabbing territory as quickly as possible.  It's fun to lose troops faster than you can Recruit them.  It's fun to beat back counterattacks every two weeks. It's fun to restart the game every ten minutes!

2. Ignore the Pope: get Excommunicated.  So what if eventually this gets you Excommunicated? You're too

tough to expect your people to be happy.  Besides, no iron-fisted ruler worth his grade-robe worries about those Holy Rollers.  And don't worry about the precipitous drop in your army's morale because your people are unhappy.  Your army is three times bigger than any other in Bretagne -- at least, it was the last time you checked.

3. Let your army starve or go without paychecks. Why, when you were in the military you went six, seven years without eating. Yeah, and when you ate all you had to eat were rocks. Yeah, and when you got paid

you got paid in sticks. Yeah, and they were wet too! After all, you only lose one military unit on the first delay.  Why should you care if it's your best unit?  You have more Knights than you can use, don't you?  And don't worry about the fact that you lose double the units after every further delay.  You have more important concerns than maintaining an army.

4. Ignore a commodity because it's not important.  Who needs Food, except to feed the army, recruit Knights, and make people happy?  Who needs Timber, except to build castles, recruit Archers, and make

people happy?  Who needs Iron, except to build castles and recruit Infantry?  Nobody needs Gold, right?  Right? ... Well, gold maybe ...

5. Don't build castles.  The name of the game is CASTLES.  But that has nothing to do with it.  You're too busy conquering neighboring territories to worry about those pesky revolts. And who needs double commodities anyway? (see above) And you can always re-conquer the territories you lose.  Your neighbors would never even think about trying to capture a neutral territory that was once yours.  And how much protection can you really get from a pile of stone?  Ten archers posted on the walls can't possibly be very useful.  Why would you ever imagine that they might be safer up there, or might be able to shoot arrows further?  And what possible advantage could there be to protecting all of your Infantry and Knights from enemy Archers?

6. Never, ever Claim the throne.  Why try to win, when you can have lots of fun getting beaten to a bloody pulp year after year? Masochism builds character. No, even better. Claim early. Just as soon as your score creeps up to 5001. Yeah, that'll show everyone just what you think of them. Those sniveling, wimps.

7. Change strategies every year or so. Yeah, keep duckin' and weavin'.  Bobbin' and dopin'. Move slowly and in different directions all the time. The other players won't know what to do. Who needs to focus on a consistent strategy? Planning never worked for Wile E. Coyote.

8. Never send Scouts and Saboteurs. Why bother looking at your neighbors? They aren't planning any hostile actions. You're perfectly happy with two or three territories on the wrong side of the river.  You never worry when a new neighbor shows up.  He couldn't possibly have fifteen military units poised on your border, a Happiness of 9, and a serious need for elbow room.  So what if Aragon just marched all the way to Albion's part of  the map?  He can't possibly be winning the game.  In fact, nobody else could possibly be doing better than you.  Just ignore them.  You always win anyway.

9. Kill all the Pope emissaries that come asking for gold.  It is at times, a feature that is tempting to use, just to see the results, but if you do you will be excommunicated so fast your head will still be spinning when

your empire hits the ground.

                                      *CASTLES II ONLINE VERSION*

CREDIT = Executive Producer

Troika, Engage

CREDIT = Producer

Chris Young, Engage

CREDIT = Line Producer

Kelly Krajacic, Engage

CREDIT = Lead Programmer

Bob Sellers, Interworld Productions

CREDIT = User Interface Design

Bob Sellers, Interworld Productions

Chris Young, Engage

CREDIT = Additional Programming

Rob Denton, Interworld Productions

CREDIT = Manual Editing for Online

Chris Young, Engage

John Logsdon, Engage

CREDIT = Lead Tester

Hiram Almodovar, Engage

CREDIT = Further Testing By

Allen Eichler, Engage

John Logsdon, Engage

Kelly Krajacic, Engage

Scott Coleman, Engage

Sharon Connors, Engage

Lorelei Logsdon, Engage

Gina Bruce, Engage

Jason Schmit, Engage

Morgan Schlaline, Engage

                                      *CASTLES II BOX VERSION*

CREDIT = Executive Producer

Brian Fargo

CREDIT = Produced By

Vince DeNardo

CREDIT = Line Producer

William C. Fisher

CREDIT = Game Design

Vince DeNardo

William C. Fisher

Byon Garrabrant

CREDIT = Privy Counsellor

Alan Emrich

CREDIT = Macintosh Programming and User Interface Design

Robert Barris

CREDIT = Additional Macintosh Programming and Graphics Processing

Bill Snyder

CREDIT = Lead DOS Programmer

Byon Garrabrant

CREDIT = Artificial Intelligence

and Plot Engine:

Design and

Programming

Sorin Chira

CREDIT = Additional DOS

Programming

Eric Lee

Greg Sanborn

David Steffen

CREDIT = Artwork

Leonard Boyarsky

Todd Camasta

Bob Trupe

CREDIT = Plot Authoring

Scott Bennie

Katie Fisher

Wayne Shaw

"Boots" St. Bernard

Jonathan Tweet

CREDIT = Music By

Charles Deenen

CREDIT = Introduction Music By

Dave Govett

CREDIT = Adlib/Soundblaster

Conversion By

Don Griffin

CREDIT = Manual Written By

Sean Cramer

CREDIT = Director of

Quality Assurance

Jacob R. Buchert III

CREDIT = Lead Tester

Feargus Urquhart

CREDIT = Further Testing By

Jason Ferris

Chris Jones

CREDIT = Video Technician

M.W. Findley

CREDIT = Video Clips From

Alexander Nevsky

&

The Private Lives

of Henry VIII