CD Player 1994 January/CdPlayer94-01.iso/demos/castles/readme.doc

Text File | 1991-07-18 | 8KB | 158 lines

CASTLES
   This is a playable demo of Castles (tm), the medieval castle-building
simulation. The object of the game is to complete a castle which will be able to
withstand assault from your enemies and allow you to consolidate your hold on
the land which surrounds your castle. When you have completed and successfully
defended a castle, you will have won the game.

   To build your castle, use the right mouse button (or "Z" key, see
Keyboard Commands, listed below) to trigger the main menu. Hire labour, then
assign the labourers to the castle pieces and lay them down on the blueprint.
They will then begin to build. There is a limit of thirteen scaffolds (or
working crews) that can be active at a time, and a limit of ninety workers
per scaffold. The functions of each of the parts of the Main Menu can be
summarized as follows:

DESIGN
   This allows you to put together the pieces of your castle together,
assign workers to them, and monitor the progress of each piece.    You can
choose one of the four piece types, or use the eraser (the red circle with a
line through it) to erase the piece.
   You can adjust the height (and/or the width) of the piece from this menu,
and assign labourers to a piece by adjusting the labourers arrows. The
design screen will tell you the status of a piece:
   "No Workers" means that either there are not any workers to assign to that
piece, or that no workers have been assigned to the piece. "Building" means
that the piece is currently under construction. "Unstable" means that an
adjacent piece must be raised before the piece can be safely built. "Complete"
means that the piece is finished.
   "Resources" refers to the amount of resources available to build your
castle. When your Resources counter hits zero, you cannot add any more pieces
to the castle.
   "Free" refers to the number of workers in your labour pool that have not
yet been assigned to a piece.
   "Height" refers to the current height of the castle piece.

LABOUR
   This menu allows you to hire and fire workers, adjust the mix of the seven
most common worker types, and adjust their wages.
   "Hire" will allow you to quickly hire workers.
   "Fire" will allow you to quickly fire workers.
   "Wages" allows you to adjust the wages for each of the seven worker types,
and the wages for your archers and infantry. Higher wages will allow you to
hire more workers, archers, and infantry, and will add them to your labour
pool more quickly. Lower wages will save you money, but will cause your
workforce to grow more slowly.
   The seven worker types are Diggers, Carpenters, Masons, Quarrymen,
Carters, Smiths, and Labourers. The first six types of workers are
specialists, while the labourer is a general category, merely cheap labour.
Specialists can build a castle with much greater efficiency, but cost a lot
more than cheap labour.
   The labour sub-menu will also tell you how many labourers are "Free" (the
number of workers in your labour pool that have not yet been assigned to a
piece), the current amount of money that you are spending every month to
your labour force, the total amount of money left in your bank, and the
efficiency rating of your mix of worker types (Poor, Inefficient,
Satisfactory, Good, and Excellent). The better the rating, the more quickly
your castle will be built.

TAXES
   To build your castle, you must be able to pay for your workers, their
supplies, and troops to defend them. Taxes allow you to pay for them.
   Every year, on March 15, the taxes are collected. There are four different
tax rates: Generous, Normal, Oppressive, and Tyrannical. The amount of money
from these tax rates vary, depending on the difficulty level that is selected.
   If this is not enough to fund your castle, at the end of every month, you
can levy taxes. Simply adjust the arrows on the levy, and click on the box
which determines this month's levies.
   Frequent levies and tyrannical tax rates will make you very unpopular
with the people, the Church, and the three noble families of Albion.
   The taxes sub-menu will also allow you to talk with your treasurer, who
will give a detailed summary of your expenditures.

MILITARY
    If you play Castles, you are going to have to defend your fortress from
attack. The military sub-menu allows you to hire troops and deploy them in
combat situations.
    There are three icons in the top window: an archer, an infantryman, and an
eraser. The archer and infantryman icons allow you to place your troops. The
eraser allows you to change their location.
    To hire troops, press the arrow next to Actual/Desired. The desired
total is how many troops you'd like; the "Actual" number is how many troops
you currently have. The Actual number will slowly increase until it hits
the Desired total.
    You can also divide your armies into 1-10 units by adjusting the
arrow . A smaller number of units means that the units are stronger, but they
cannot cover as much ground as more numerous, but weaker, units.
    NOTE: The number of troops that you are allowed are in direct proportion
to the number of castle pieces that you have. A small castle will only allow
you to hire a small number of troops.

FOOD
    Food is required to keep your army alive during sieges and to keep your
labourers in your camp from deserting during the winter. Click on the arrows
to indicate the amount of food that you wish to purchase, then click on the
box to purchase food. The cost of food varies according to the season; it is
less expensive at harvest time than it is after winter.

OPTIONS
    Among the Options is Counsel, which will give you a rough indication
how you are handling the various factions of the kingdom. Also, you can
control game speed from this menu: laboured is slowest, swift is fastest.

    There is more to "Castles" then just building a castle. Other events
that will occur are:

MESSENGERS
    During the course of building your castle, you will encounter numerous
messengers, each of whom will give you a problem with several options. Your
solutions to these problems will shape your relationship with the people,
the Church, and the three noble families of Warfield, Norshire, and
Westhampton. You can also gain (and lose) money during the course of these
messages.

BATTLE
    Berserk Celts will frequently assault you. When battle occurs, you will
be taken either to your food supply (in case of siege), or directly to the
military menu, where you must set up your troops on the battlefield.
    During battle, your armies will automatically select a target and attack.
You can relocate their attack by clicking on the unit with the left mouse
button, then clicking on your target.
    The enemy will attack your castle until a large portion of it is
destroyed, in which case you will lose. If you kill most of the enemy,
however, you will win.


CASTLE LAYOUT
    This demo includes a pre-set castle layout. To create your own castle
layout, go to the Design menu and use the eraser to erase every piece, then
overlay your own design.


RE-RUNNING "README.DOC"
    "Readme.doc" can be viewed at any time by typing "TYPE README.DOC" or by
using a text processor and loading the file from this disk or your hard
drive.


KEYBOARD COMMAND SUMMARY
    A- Messenger Reply
    B- Messenger Reply
    C- Messenger Reply
    F- Flip view of castle (Front/Back)
    J- Toggle Joystick Off/On
    M- Toggle Music Off/On
    Q- Quit
    R- Repeat Message (messenger screen only)
    T- Show Treasury and Infantry (messenger screen only)
    [- Slow Message
    ]- Speed Message
    1-9 Move Cursor (Numeric Pad Only)
    X- Left Mouse Button
    Z- Right Mouse Button
    SPACE BAR- Left Mouse Button
    ESC- Pauses game