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Text File | 1993-09-11 | 18KB | 530 lines

This program is an original implementation of the classic board game, DIPLOMACY, for the Amiga. It is being distributed as shareware and may be copied and distributed freely as long as the files listed above are kept together as a set. If you keep and use this program, please send a minimum of $10 to the author: Steve Douthat 10661 Escobar Drive San Diego, CA 92124 Comments, suggestions and bug reports are also appreciated. Persons who donate $20 or more will automatically receive the 'C' source code and any subsequent revisions of this program. The program will display the title screen as it reads in the data and sets up the game. Click the left mouse button when prompted to reveal the diplomacy campaign map and start the game. THE GAME BACKGROUND The game DIPLOMACY is a conquer-the-map type game which is published by Avalon Hill. It is designed for seven players with variations for as few as two players. This software is designed to enhance this game by keeping track of the various parameters, resolving the orders and controlling the flow. This documentation describes the use of this software only. Please refer to the rule book included in Avalon Hill's game for the complete set of game instructions. The game of diplomacy is played in years consisting of three seasons: Spring, Fall and Winter. The Spring and Fall turns are when the players issue orders for movement of their existing units (armies and fleets). In the Winter turn, supply center ownership is adjusted and units are built or disbanded accordingly. The game starts in Spring of the year 1901. ISSUING ORDERS (Spring and Fall turns) There are three possible orders for each unit on the board: hold, move or support. In addition, fleets have a fourth option, "convoy" of an army from one coast to another. In general, orders are issued by selecting the provinces involved. This is done by moving the mouse pointer to the name of the province and clicking the left mouse button. Each order requires 3 provinces: the province containing the unit being ordered, the province containing the unit that is moving, and the destination province. Clicking on these three provinces is usually enough to fully describe the order. HOLD: click three times on the province containing the unit. (remember to click on the NAME of the province) MOVE: click twice on the province containing the unit to move; click the province where the unit is going. If the destination province is multi-coast and the unit moving is a fleet, a requester may appear asking which coast. SUPPORT: click the province containing the unit providing the support; click the province containing the unit receiving the support; click the province where the supported unit is going/staying. if the supporting unit is a fleet in the water and the supported unit is an army on the coast, then a requester may ask you to select between "support" or "convoy"; select "support". CONVOY: same as SUPPORT but select "convoy" at requester. Note that a convoy order is not valid unless the army being convoyed is also ordered to move to the same province. A text representation of the order will be constructed at the top of the screen as each order is input. The entire list of orders can be viewed on-screen or printed out at any time during order entry by selecting the proper item on the STATUS menu (see menu commands below). Any order which is incorrect can be changed by simply entering the correct order. Note that virtually all orders, even those which are obviously invalid, are accepted by the computer during order entry. It is important to verify that the orders have been entered as intended prior to ending the order input phase. Orders which are invalid will be flagged as such in the results of the order resolution and the order will be treated as a HOLD order. When all orders have been entered correctly, a click on the end gadget in the lower right corner will signal the computer to resolve the orders. ISSUING RETREAT ORDERS (Spring and Fall turns) Some units may be dislodged as a result of order resolution. If this is true, the computer will wait for retreat orders to be issued. These are entered similar to regular orders but are simpler: The default order is to disband a dislodged unit. To command a unit to retreat, click the province from which the unit is being dislodged and then click the destination province. To change the order back to a disband order, click twice on the unit's province. The list of retreat orders can be displayed similar to regular orders using the menu. Click the end gadget when all orders have been entered correctly. ADJUSTING UNITS (Winter turn) At the end of the Fall turn, the computer will automatically adjust supply ownership. Then the numbers of supplies owned will be compared to the number of units deployed for each power. If appropriate, the computer will wait for build/disband orders to be issued. These are issued by simply clicking on the appropriate province and, if building on a coastal province, selecting the type of unit to be built. A power will not be allowed to issue more builds/disbands than the supply count calls for. The list of adjustment orders can be displayed similar to regular orders using the menu. An order can be cancelled by clicking on the province again. Click the end gadget when all orders have been entered correctly. If insufficient units are selected for disbanding, additional units will be disbanded based on location as though the power were in civil disorder. THE FILES MAP FILES "Default.map" is an IFF picture of the map background which is loaded when the program is started. It is HIRES (640x200 pixel) resolution and has 8 colors. It was drawn by Ken Edwards, a user/artist in Texas. "Lace1.map" is the same map converted to INTERLACE (640x400 pixel) resolution. "Lace2.map" is slightly larger. You can use a paint program (e.g. Deluxe Paint) to modify these maps or to create your own. The names of the provinces are part of the provdata file and should not be drawn on the picture. The resolution you select, the size of the map, and the number of colors greatly affects the memory required to run Diplomacy. The colors you choose will be all that's available for the color of each power. Also, the first four colors in your palette will be used as follows: COLOR 0 - province names and background for the text display areas COLOR 1 - text in display areas COLOR 6 - assumes land is this color COLOR 7 - assumes water is this color You can change the map that the program starts with by simply replacing the "default.map". PROVDATA FILES "Default.provdata" contains the locations and types (land or water) for all the provinces. This data corresponds to the default (HIRES) map. "Lace.provdata" is for use with "lace.map". You can modify province data using the ADJUST menu or "Prov Edit Mode" under the PREFS menu. When you open a map the provdata is cleared and provdata corresponding to the new map must be opened or created. GAME FILES "Default.game" holds the starting configuration (Spring 1901) for a standard Diplomacy game with seven human players. Since the names of the provinces in the "lace.provdata" file is the same as the default, this game file will work with either map resolution. Game information changes as the game is played. It can also be modified using the ADJUST menu. THE MENU PROJECT MENU These commands affect the entire game and can be used anytime. To Back - sends game screen behind workbench, etc to allow multitasking control Default Map - opens the "Data/default.map" IFF picture adjusting the screen resolution and colors to match. This operation erases all province data and game information. Open Map - same as DEFAULT MAP but provides a requester so you can select which picture file to open. Any IFF picture can be used as a background but keep in mind that the screen will take on the characteristics of the picture used and memory requirements could vary greatly. Default ProvData - opens the "Data/default.provdata" file. This file must correspond to the map currently being used for the province gadgets to line up properly with the background. Open ProvData - same as DEFAULT PROVDATA but provides a requester so you can select which provdata file to open. Save ProvData - overwrites last saved provdata file with current province data. This option is identical to "SAVE PROVDATA AS" if the data has not been previously saved. Save ProvData As - saves current province data in file on disk for later retrieval using OPEN command. New Game - restarts game at Spring 1901 (or whatever configuration is specified in "Data/default.game" file). Open Game - loads previously saved game (requires entry of name of game file). Save Game - overwrites last saved game file with current configuration. This option is identical to "SAVE GAME AS" if the game has been previously saved. Save Game As - saves current game configuration in file on disk for later retrieval using OPEN command. Quit - closes game screen and returns to workbench/CLI. About - shows revision number and credits. STATUS MENU These commands provide data output to the desired device. Display Orders - shows list on screen of all units by power and their current order. This option is useful to allow order entry to be double-checked prior to clicking "end" for results. Display Supplies - shows list of powers and the supply centers each currently owns on screen. Print Orders - outputs list of orders to printer. Print Status - outputs current status info to printer; includes list of units for each power; this is handy to produce a worksheet for writing orders during the diplomacy period. Save Orders - stores list of orders as text file on disk. Save Status - stores current status info as text file on disk. PREFS MENU This menu allows selection of various display and output modes. A check is displayed in the menu next to each option selected. Any combination is acceptable including no output (no check marks). Display Results - shows list on screen of units, their orders and the end result after each turn. This option is selected by default. Print Results - outputs to printer. This is useful in providing a hard copy of results for reference during game play. Save Results - outputs to a history file on disk. This will preserve a history of the game useful for analysis and other future reference. Make Sounds - makes a beep sound whenever an error message is displayed. This is the only sound this game can produce. Auto Save Game - automatically saves game to a new disk file after each turn is completed. Files are named using the root name specified in the requester and adding an extension indicating the date of the game turn. This option is highly recommended in that it protects you against computer resets and lets you revert back to a previous turn at will. Show Borders - displays lines between the province name gadgets which show which provinces are bordering each other. The lines are color-coded to indicate which type of unit can traverse the border. Black and brown lines are for armies only, black and aqua are for fleets, and brown and aqua means both armies and fleets can traverse. (Note: colors depend on the palette of the map being used. This option would typically be used only if creating or modifying the province data. Prov Edit Mode - suspends game play and allows easy access to the map- editing features. Click in open space to add a province. Click a province gadget to pick it up to move (delete it by clicking the end gadget while holding it). ADJUST MENU These commands give the user raw power to adjust the game to any configuration. Although the game has been play-tested and is believed tofollow the rules accurately in resolving orders, gamemasters can choose to over-ride the decisions and adjust the map to what they believe is correct. This menu also includes the map editing commands which can be used to modify the province data. Season - change season. Year - change year. Players - brings up a requester which allows player data to be modified. This includes names of players, the power(s) each player controls and whether the player is to be controlled by the computer (AI) or not. If computer control is selected, the computer will issue all orders for the powers controlled by that player. Any number of players can be computer-controlled and each player will act independently. To place a power in civil disorder, simply leave it under human (i.e., not computer) control and don't issue any orders for it. The default civil disorder rules will be followed in resolving orders. Powers - brings up a requester which allows power data to be modified. This includes names of powers and color used to represent each power on the map. Unit - build/change/disband a unit. Any unit in the province selected is replaced by the unit built. Current Supply - change eliminate current ownership of a supply province. Home Supply - change/eliminate home ownership of a home supply province. Add Province - creates a new province name gadget on the map with the name you provide. You are then prompted to establish borders with existing provinces. Use the "end" gadget to indicatewhen all the borders have been selected. If the province being added has more than one coast, use "Adjust Borders" to add the additional border information. Move province - click on province gadget to pick it up and click again to drop in new location. Drop the province gadget on the "end" gadget to delete it. Rename Province - select province and type new name in requester gadget. Change Prov Type - change water to land and vice versa. Also to modify supply centers. Adjust Borders - select province to modify, then select the bordering provinces for armies and for each of the four possible coasts. Use Show Borders mode (Prefs Menu) so you can see what you're doing. KNOWN BUGS/LIMITATIONS The computer opponent is extremely limited in ability and this option has not been thoroughly debugged. Teaching a computer to actually play this game is more challenging than originally anticipated. Otherwise, there are no known bugs. Please let me know if you have any problems. NEW TO REVISION 1.1 The program now sports a more elaborate file requester for saving and retrieving files. This is the "FileIO Requester" designed by RJ Mical and included in his Amiga Programmer's Suite Book 1.01. It lists files in current directory and allows movement through directories. Thanks RJ! NEW TO REVISION 1.2 Now you can save results and game status to a disk file. Output is controlled with its own menu and you can now have the game maintain a history file on disk for future reference. Also, the map has been greatly enhanced by Ken Edwards, a user/artist in Texas. Thanks Ken! NEW TO REVISION 2.0 New features have been added to the menu to greatly assist those who wish to modify the game board or create new worlds to conquer. The menu has been reorganized to accommodate these additions. The map now expands to fit the entire screen area available. This won't mean anything to most users, but those who have squeezed extra pixels out of their monitors will be able to take advantage of them. Interlace versions of the default map and provdata are provided. These can be loaded from the project menu (load the map first) or they can replace the defaults by changing their names. Orders for retreats, builds and disbands are now handled similar to regular orders in that printing, saving and map viewing are all permitted while issuing these orders. Fixed bug which caused Guru if diplomacy was quit while top edge of map is displayed. Fixed bug in adjudicating orders which previously allowed supported move into province occupied by friendly unit which does not successfully move out. A warning has been added to the quit sequence to provide one last chance to save files before the program quits. A computer opponent will play any country or countries independently or as a team (see "known bugs/limitations"). This allows for a one-player game of World War I or variant thereof. PLANNED REVISIONS Port to Macintosh. Fix/improve computer opponent. Diplomacy is Copyright (c) 1976 Avalon Hill Game Company Diplomacy for Amiga is Copyright (c) 1988, 1989, 1991 Steve Douthat Amiga and AmigaDOS are trademarks of Commodore-Amiga, Inc.