Shareware Tiger/SharewareTiger.cdr/x15/conq12.lzh/CONQUEST.HLP

Text File | 1991-07-05 | 11.2 KB | 279 lines

Instructions
   Conquest has much in common with other
'Conquer the World' games.  Up to 8 players can
play, any or all of whom can be computer
controlled.  The goal is to defeat all of the
opposing armies, and occupy every territory on
the Map.  The game objective can be different
depending on selections made in the game set-up
menu.  Conquest is different from other games in
this genre because of its point & click user
interface and the strength of the rule-based
algorithm used by the computer opponents.
   Winning a game of Conquest requires good
placement of armies, outnumbering your opponent
in critical battles, and luck.  Each player's
turn is divided into 3 phases:  Placement,
Attack, and Freemove.
   The Placement phase consists of selecting a
territory owned by you and putting some or all
of your new armies for that turn on it.  The
number of new armies is determined by the
number of territories owned by the player and
the number of bonus armies received from the
occupation of whole continents.  This phase
continues until all of armies have been placed.
   During the Attack phase, you can attack a
bordering territory owned by another player as
long as you have 2 or more armies on your
territory (NOTE:  If you are using the Even
Chances attack scoring, then your armies must be
greater than or equal to your opponent's).  If
you defeat all of the armies on the Defending
territory, you can then move some of your armies
on to your new territory (NOTE:  Each territory
must have at least one army at the end of your
move). To end this phase, select the 'EXIT' box.
   After the Attack phase, a player is allowed
to move armies from one territory to an adjacent
territory, provided he owns both of them.  The
purpose of this Freemove is to reinforce your
current position until your next turn.
   Conquest has a variety of options.  Options
set in the game set-up menu are discussed in the
'Opening Menu' HELP selection and options that
are selectable during the game are discussed in
the 'Options' HELP selection.
Opening Menu
>>  To change the game set-up, just place the
arrow in a box you want to change, then click
the LEFT mouse button.  Some options such as
player color and Map selection will bring up a
separate menu, while others such as mouse
sensitivity will cycle through all possible
alternatives.  The current game setup can be
saved as the default set-up (loaded at the
start of each game) if the 'Save Current Set-
up' selection is used.
>>  Each game requires at least 3 players, so
if you have less than 3, the game will prompt
you to add additional players.  The number of
players is determined by the number of boxes on
the left side of the screen that have an 'x.'
>>  To change a player's name, just click on
the appropriate box, and type in the new name.
>>  A player's type can be changed from Human to
     Computer Aggressive - attacks often.
     Computer Defensive  - hordes armies.
     Computer Balanced   - mixture of the two
                           preceding types.
     Computer Random     - any of the above 3,
                           changes each turn.
Any or all of the players in a game can be
controlled by the computer.
>>  Player colors can be exchanged by selecting
the colored box.
>>  The 10 game objectives fall in 3 categories:
   First player to occupy a set % of the Map.
   Player with most armies after # rounds.
   Player with most territories after # rounds.
>>  There are 4 types of Attack Scoring used to
determine the losses in an attack:
   Even Chances - even odds for the attacker and
     defender, regardless of the # of armies.
     To attack, your armies must be greater
     than or equal to your opponents.
   Weighted by # of Armies - odds for each
     battle favor the player with the most
     armies on his territory (but independent
     of armies he owns elsewhere).
   Wildly Random - unpredictable.
   Unknown - randomly chooses one of the above
     during each player's turn.
>>  The Maximum # of starting armies is used to
determine the highest number of armies on each
territory at the start of the game.
>>  Territory selection determines the method
used for picking each player's territories:
   Automatic & Random - Territories are
     automatically picked for each player on a
     random basis at start of the game.
   Automatic & Partioned - Similiar to the first
     method, however the territories are
     clustered for each player, so the starting
     positions are better.
   Manual - When the game is started, the Human
     players determine which territories belong
     to a player, and how many armies are on a
     territory.  Also, the player starting the
     game is selected.
>>  If Bonus armies for each opponent eliminated
is ON, then each time a player removes a player
from the game, an escalating number of new
armies will be awarded (can be placed anywhere).
>>  Current map brings up a directory of maps.
Only registered users can use Maps other than
the default Map ('Conquest'), however anyone
can view a Map.  To select a map, just point to
the name of the Map, and click.
>>  Game Difficulty changes the algorithm used
by the computer opponents.  It does not affect
human players.

Placement
   At the start of each turn, a player is given
new armies to place on any of his territories.
To place the armies, just point to the
territory, and click the LEFT mouse button.
Then select the number of armies to place on
that state.  The computer will not let you
select a territory that does not belong to you.
   The number of new armies is derived from the
total number of territories owned by you divided
by three, plus additional armies for each
continent you own (the armies gained by owning
a continent is displayed by selecting 'Show
Values').  At least two new armies will be
awarded each turn.

Attack
   To attack, just click on your territory (the
Attacker), and then on the territory you wish
to attack (the Defender).  If you can attack
it, the attack will automatically take place.
If one of your territories does not border any
of your opponents, or the attacker does not
border the defender, you will not be able to
select it.
   Attacks can only occur between bordering
territories.  Territories that border each
other are sometimes indicated by a white line
representing a sea lane.
   To exit this mode, select 'Exit.'


Freemove
   At the end of each turn, a player may move
armies from one territory to another, provided
he owns both of them, and they border each
other.  This allows each player to reinforce his
position.  After the freemove, at least one army
must remain on each territory.  Only one
freemove is allowed per turn.
   To make a freemove, just select the territory
to move the armies from (the Donor), and then
select the territory you wish to move to (the
Receiver).  You will then be prompted for the
number of armies to move.  If only one army can
be moved, the move will be automatic.  If you
wish to abort the freemove after you are
prompted for the number of armies, select zero.
Options
    Options may be selected by pointing and
clicking on the box marked 'Options' or by
pressing the 'Escape' key when the Options box
is visible (Note: if you press the 'Escape' key
during a computer player's move, there may be a
slight delay before the menu is displayed).
>>  Statistics - Shows the current standings of
all players.  This is useful for determining
which players you should watch out for.
>>  Settings - Shows the current game settings.
The settings can't be changed during the game.
>>  HELP! - Displays the help menu.
>>  Show/Hide Values - Shows or hides the new
army continent values awarded to the owner of
the entire continent.
>>  Speed - Changes the game's playing speed
from 0 (very slow) to 10 (very fast).
>>  Sound - Toggles the sound on and off.
>>  Mouse - Changes the mouse's tracking
sensitivity from LOW to HIGH.
>>  New Game - Abandons the current game, and
returns you to the Game Setup Menu.
>>  Save Game - Saves the current game under a
name you select (with the extension '.sav').
This does not end the current game.
>>  Quit Game - Exits Conquest.




Hints
>>  Most placement and attack decisions are a
trade off between conquering a continent (to
obtain the new armies awarded for owning that
continent), and defending your position.
>>  The algorithm for the computer opponents
balances a desire to occupy entire continents
with a paranoia of attacks from other players
(be they human or computer).  If a computer
opponent feels that another player is getting
too strong, he will shift his focus slightly
to weaken the adversary.
>>  To decide which continent is best for
placing armies in (and attacking in), consider
how many territories you own in it, and how
difficult it is to obtain and defend.  Usually
the higher value continents are more difficult
to get and keep.
>>  Try to place your armies in an area that
the other opponents are not trying to conquer.
Sometimes it is possible to win by collecting
armies and letting your opponents weaken
each other.
>>  Try not to attack each turn to the point
you can not attack anymore.  This keeps enemies
from taking your territories too easily.
>>  Sometimes you may need to sacrifice part
of your forces to keep your opponent(s) from
controlling a complete continent.  Consider
placing a few armies on one or two remote
territories even if you do not want to
acquire that continent in the near future.  This
makes the other opponents work harder to improve
their positions.
>>  Check the Statistics from the Options menu
to gauge how your opponents are doing.  If one
opponent is getting too strong, try to
concentrate your attacks on him.  Even though he
may help you in the short run by weakening the
other opponents, sooner or later he will come
after you.
>>  Use a variety of computer opponents,
including the 'Aggressive' type.  The computer
opponents do not recognize if the defender is
human (unless you are playing at the 'Very Hard'
difficulty level), instead they try to
concentrate their attacks on territories they
want to occupy and opponents they perceive are
'threatening' their position.
>>  The 'Very Hard' difficulty level is
different from the other levels in the sense
that it modifies the computer opponent's
algorithms to make them more aggressive toward
Human players.  None of the other levels have
the ability to distinguish an opponent's type.
>>  If you use the 'Weighted by # of Armies'
attack scoring option, then attack any time
you have more armies than an opponent, even
if you don't want that territory.  This allows
you to reduce your opponents armies when the
odds favor you.
>>  If you want to reset the game to its
original configuration, just delete the file
'CONQUEST.DFT' from your disk.  This file is
created by the game when you save the current
game setup.
>>  Menus can also be controlled by the cursor
and 'Enter' keys if desired.
>>  About Conquest Version 1.2:

       Code:  6000+ lines of Borland C++.
  Algorithm:  Adaptive Rule-based system
              for each computer opponent type.
  Dev Envir:  25 MHz 386 w/ 4 Megs of RAM.
   Released:  5 July 91

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