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Text File | 1994-11-30 | 15.2 KB | 313 lines

GALACTIC CONQUEST v 4.90 by Jason Sinclair & Joshua Shelton J² Computing, Inc. ****************** * * * Release date: December 1st, 1994 * * * NOTE!! This version is NOT COMPATIBLE WITH VERSIONS PRIOR TO v4.80!! To run this game, type START at the drive prompt. ---REQUIREMENTS TO PLAY--- ■ Color display (EGA minimum) ■ Fast processor (at least 386-20mhz) ■ Following files: START.BAT GALCON.TXT GALCON.EXE GCFONT.COM ■ Plenty of caffeinated drinks and high-sugar content snacks (OPTIONAL but recommended) Welcome to Galactic Conquest. If you've ever wanted to be what every super-villain worth his salt has wanted for millenia, then you've hit the right button. This program gives you the chance to conquer the entire galaxy, without leaving your chair. It is up to you to out-smart the opponent, whether computer or human. Send forth immense armadas to squash the enemy like the bugs they are, or do nothing and hope to God that mother nature hates them worse then she hates you (Face it, weathermen normally couldn't predict a 100% chance of photon-storms...). You start out with one planet, some production (# ships made per each year), and a one-year head-start against the computer. Program Specs, Info, and Useless Trivia: # Players: 1 to 4 Graphics: Text (for now...) Language : Turbo Pascal V7.0 Sound : Speaker only Length : 3341 lines Colors : 16 Average Playing Time: 2 to 40 hours Load/Save Games? : Yes (infinite) Sound Toggle? : Yes -------INSTRUCTIONS-------- This game is simple, but not so simple. It is easy to play, but harder to master. When you start, you are asked for a name, preferably your LAST name. However, fictional names are also good, such as "DARKLORD" and "DEATHBRINGER". You are then asked for a rank, which suggests military rank. Make up one, or use a true military rank (i.e. General, Admiral, Ensign, Commander, Rogue, and Super-God are good ones...). You will then meet your computer opponent and then tell the computer how many years long the war will last. The last question, Minimum production, refers to the total production of ALL the planets in the galaxy. The lower the number, the easier the game in some respects, but also the more boring (personal opinion). The higher, the harder but the more interesting the war. Some estimations of playing times and difficulty ranges are as follows: Production Range Skill Level Est'd Time to Finish ------------------------------------------------------------- Below 75 Boring 2 to 3 hours 75 to 100 Easy 3 to 5 hours 101 to 130 Normal 4 to 9 hours 131 to 150 Challenging 6 to 16 hours 151 to 175 Very Hard 15 to 35 hours 176 and up NEAR Impossible Depends on how long you play before you decide to give it up... The computer will then generate a random map of the galaxy, color- coding your home planet (you start with one). Choose the map you want and continue. The war will then begin... You are shown the status screen, which shows rows of information: PLNT OWNR PROD SHPS ═A═ 1 14 237 The PLNT is the planet name (letters A-Z). The OWNR is the owner of the planet, in which you will only see YOUR planets. PROD is the production of the planet. Generally, the number is between 0 and 9 but every now and then you will see numbers as high as 30. SHPS are the total amount of ships you have on the planet at the start of the year. THEY DO NOT CHANGE AS YOU GIVE ORDERS, you must look at your ship logs (explained later) to watch the decrease in your fleet, or press F2 and view your current inventory. Underneath, you will see the TOTALS of your fleets. The total # of planets, production, average production per planet, and total ships of all planets (not including ones in transit). You then see the main menu. You have 10 commands that are generally used throughout the war. These are described in detail below: f1 (ATTACK) - Use to send ships from a planet you own to any planet in the galaxy. If the destination is an enemy planet then the ships will be treated as fighters. If you send them to another one of your planets, they are considered reinforcements to that planet. YOU DO NOT NEED TO PRESS ENTER AFTER THE NAME OF THE PLANET THAT YOU ENTER! New in v4.8 is the ability to type A or ALL to send all of that planets ships to another planet. You may also hit ESC without typing anything to abort. f2 (FUNCTION MENU) - All other commands on the main screen have been moved to this seperate menu to aid in cleaning up the display. The following commands are in the function menu: * * * * * * * * * * * > TACTICAL DISPLAY - Simply displays the player's planets in the galaxy, without all the mumbo-jumbo. > STARSCAN DISPLAY - The most important command aside from attacking. This brings up a report of your planets and if they are being attacked any time soon. If so, you will see: ═K═ -----> 9 (2) The K is the name of the planet. The 9 is the TOTAL amount of ships attacking. The 2 in ()'s is the total # of enemy fleets attacking. They normally do not attack in the same year, but the possibility exists. These readings are color-coded with the legend at the top of the readout. If it blinks, you're in DEEP trouble, and should consider major reinforcements...CHECK OFTEN! > COMMAND SUMMARY - Brings up a log of all fleets sent out, what their destinations are, how many ships in each fleet, and how long until they reach their destination. In this mode, you may also change the destinations of fleets by entering the number of the order you wish to change at the prompt. When changing order destinations, time is added to the flight plan of the fleet, so in essence, the fleet flies to the old planet, then the new destination. > LATEST SHIP LOGS- Brings up a log of all the planets in the galaxy. If explored or contacted (other than probe), will tell last reading of number of ships on the surface of the planet. If it novaed, it will say so. This log also keeps track and automatically adds on any and all enemy reinforcements to planets, so some of the numbers displayed may be reinforcements only!! > CURR. INVENTORY - Prints an updated list of the number of ships you have REMAINING on each planet AFTER the orders you have made for the current year. > PROBE HISTORY - Reprints the map as a history of all the probes to planets. If the planets has been scanned by a probe, will come up as the atmosphere class. > DISTANCES/RANGES- Use to find the distances of ANY 2 planets in the galaxy. New to v4.8 is the ability to enter in the distance away you wish to highlight instead of the planet you wish to label your destination. To use the new feature, simply enter in any planet and at the next prompt, enter in the range in years you wish to display (ex. 5). The computer will then draw a shaded-yellow circle around the planet you entered in. This circle represents the distance (in this case...5 years) around the planet. Any planets in that range are highlighted yellow. This circle will be thick, and any area shaded yellow is equal to the distance you stated... >CHANGE NAME/RANK - This feature is new to v4.8. It simply allows you to enter a new name and/or rank. Hit <ENTER> without typing anything at the NEW NAME prompt to exit. Hit <ENTER> at the NEW RANK prompt to keep the rank the same. >SOUND TOGGLE - Toggles sound effects on or off. * * * * * * * * * * * (continued commands from MAIN menu...) f10(END TURN) - Ends your turn for that year of the war. altS(SAVE GAME)- Type in the NAME of the game ONLY, NO EXTENSION. If you wish to use the name of a game already in existance (or save the current game over itself), you may. altQ(QUIT GAME)- Completely ends the game, and displays all information about all the planets. There is no set strategy for winning the game, for there are endless possibilities for winning....OR losing... ---MOTHER NATURE'S WEAPONS--- As I mentioned earlier, mother nature is fighting as well. There are 3 major ways it hurts, or helps, your side of the war: 1.) PHOTON STORM - Destroys 1-100% (at least one ship unless planet is barren) of ships on ground. 2.) BLACK HOLE - Destroys some of your fleet while in transit to a planet. Most of the time it only takes a few of 'em, but every now and then...BOOM!! 3.) NOVA - Not exactly a nice way to end your existance, this is mother nature's way of saying "I don't like you." This destroys ALL ships AND PRODUCTION on the planet, as well as the planet itself. Like I said, not nice... The only good things about them are that they help immensely if the enemy gets hit by one, and that they rarely occur, averaging about 2 per 100 years. But, sometimes there aren't ANY during a war, but I've seen 10 during a 200 year war... most unpredictable... If you have any orders to a planet that novas, you are given a chance to reroute them, so if more than 1 person is playing, tell the other players to turn around before you re-route them... Remember to keep an eye on your starscan, and may the best side cream the other one!! ---CHANGES SINCE LAST VERSION--- The last released version of Galactic Conquest was v4.80. The new AI's in v4.80 proved to be a little more of a challenge than was first thought, so in v4.90 they have been fine tuned and a little more easier to handle... Display formats have been improved as well, mainly centering of informaton, and longer delays during catastrophe screens. ---UPCOMING HOPEFUL CHANGES--- Josh and I are always finding SOMETHING to toy around with...that's what makes this game so fun... I hope to enter a countdown timer so that every player has only a certain amount of time in which to enter commands, and to encourage the player to hurry up instead of taking their sweet 'ole time doing whatever. I am also working on a way to make it possible to change orders WITHOUT adding time onto the ETA. Josh continues to tinker with all of the AI algorithms (after I create them, he re-writes them and says "Here...NOW try to beat it..." and grins evilly EVERY single time...). I hope to invent another strategy or two for the computer to make the game even MORE interesting... ---ABOUT THE PROGRAMMER--- I am continuing to revise this game, adding things here and there, changing colors, etc, and if you have any constructive comments, ideas for changing or adding to the program, or ideas about a NEW program, send me a letter and I'll get in touch A.S.A.P. My address for mail is: Jason Sinclair (J² Computing, Inc.) 612 West 8th Street Marysville, Ohio 43040-1427 or E-Mail me at the following: Compuserve at address 70006,422 Monolith BBS in conference J² Computing (open 24 hours...call (513)-644-1219...2400 to 14.4) You may also contact Joshua Shelton via Internet using the following address: jshelton@desire.wright.edu ***SPECIAL THANKS TO THE FOLLOWING*** ■ Beta Testers- William C. Bard Wayne Honaker "Agent" Rausch Jamey Sinclair Jason Sinclair Joshua Shelton ■ Monolith BBS ■ Charles Mechenbier and CompuServe ■ Borland International ■ My parents for putting up with me being up until 5am every morning to test this... ■ YOU for playing this game and sampling all our hard work and effort. ■ Anyone else I forgot This game is FREEWARE!! Any contributions are welcome. Thank you for your time, and I hope to keep up the good work! You make this the game that it is!! J² Computing: Redefining the boundaries of imagination!