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Foundation Manual (in progress version)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
**************************************************************************
This document will eventually grow into the final Foundation Manual. At the
moment it will contain only a brief description of the games features and
has been released to help those who are playing the demos.
**************************************************************************
There are still many important missing features in this file but it should
at least help you with some basic information.
**************************************************************************
Contents
1. System Requirements.
2. Installation.
3. Game Description.
4. Resources Description.
5. Unit Descriptions.
6. Building Descriptions.
7. General Game Play.
8. The Control Panels.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
1. System Requirements.
Foundation requires a 2Meg AGA equipped Amiga (e.g.. A1200) The game has been
aimed towards a 68030 based Amiga as minimum but a bare A1200 is enough to
run the game at an acceptable speed. The RTG version will need a CyberGFX/P96
supported graphics card and at least 6Meg of memory. The graphics car will
also have to deal with quite a large amount of inboard data so 4Meg Video
ram is recommended for hires screens. It is recommended that an 040/40 is
a good standard for the RTG version.
Extra memory is also helpful as it reduces the amount of disk access
during the game. Users with only 2Meg of memory will find the game
will access the disk very frequently. While the game does use it's own
cache system it is recommended that you use a dedicated cache program for
better support and flexibility not to mention speed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Installation
The game will run from any location on a Hard Drive and there is
no need for any special setups (e.g.. assigns, paths etc..) There is
no point in discussing the instillation of the demo at this stage
because there will be many demo updates.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Game description.
Story
-----
(The storyline is not yet included)
The general story of the game is based on a fantasy world where people from
all times in history have been gathered up by an unknown force to experience the
aspects of life they enjoyed most or parts of life they wish they had been
able to play while they were alive. An example of this is Albert Einstein
who was tired of knowing how the universe worked so he wanted nothing more
than to play about with magic and wizardry. For some reason the world of
Foundation is full of Amiga users who seem to be just so keen to play out
their fantasies that they have always dreamed of.
(the full story will be continued....)
Basic Gameplay ideas.
Take control over your people. Explore the land and build the necessary
buildings to provide extra food and resources. Complete the mission which
may involve destroying the other teams or any number of set missions
including take control over 80% of the land and so on.
The Main Screen.
----------------
The main screen is split into 5 main sections:-
,----,---------- b -------,
| a |--------------------|
|----| |
| | |
| e | c |
|----| |
| | |
| |--------------------|
'----'-----------d--------'
a> The Small Map.
This shows the current view position on the Map and provides a way to
quickly move your view. It also shows you the areas that have been
explored. Clicking the small map with the right button will bring up
the large Map Window. The buttons on the side of the small map are as
follows:-
Game Speed This allows you to switch from normal/fast Game speed.
Read Messages. This icon will flash when you have any messages.
Building Spaces This will show you all the available "plots" for
building.
Statistics. This is a quick was to access the Statistics panel.
Ideas. This icon will flash when you have any new ideas.
b> The Status Panel.
This shows the date and current Technology level for your people. It is also
used as an area to type messages. Using the 'Enter' key you can go into the
Message mode which is most useful in multiplayer network mode. It also provides
a traditional means of entering Cheats but that sort of thing would never be
dreamt of in this game...
c> The View area.
This is where all the action can be viewed. It is here where you can
point and select your people/buildings. This view is used for almost
all of your game control. You can resize the Game View using the F1-F2
keys. Making the view size smaller will speed up the game on slower
machines.
d> The Resources Panel.
Here you can keep watch on some of your resources. Using the slider
arrows you can cycle through and gain an instant information on any of
your resources. The figure shown is the amount of resources/people
you have in your Headquarters and your Warehouses. You may have more
resources in your other buildings but this value shows the amount of
spare/unused elements you have.
e> The Control Panel.
This panel is where all the statistics and game control can be accessed.
If you have selected a building or any of your people, you can then issue
orders or alter the settings for you buildings. From the icon panels you
can also set up your trading and many other game controls. The Control
panel together with the View Area is where the whole game is controlled.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
4. Resources Descriptions.
Resources are split into 2 main groups.
1> Materials.
2> Food.
Here is a full description of the materials group.
Gold.
Used as a basic currency for buying and selling goods. It is also
used in the training of soldiers, Wizards and Scientists. Another use
for gold is in the payment of repairs to your buildings. It is good
to keep a good supply of gold for any emergencies.
Wood and Stone.
Two of the most basic building materials. The Stone can be mined or you
could also use your Stone Mason to recover Stone from around the land.
The wood is taken from the forestry and so it is good to keep your
Foresters active at all times.
Coal.
Used in the refinery to create Gold and Steel. Also used in the
process of making armour.
Steel.
Used to create Armour and sometimes as a building material.
Ore.
The Ore is broken down in the refinery to form Gold and Steel.
Water.
A very important resource. Used for refreshing your people in
it's basic form and used in the Brewery to create Wine. The water
is also used by some buildings as part of production.
Oil.
Used in the Laboratory as a part of experiments and it is also used
by the Peasants to set fire to buildings. Without this element you
will not be able to develop new technologies and the torch building
command will not be available.
Armour.
Sometimes used in the Building process to create strong forts. It
is also used in the process of training Soldiers and upgrading your
troops.
Magic.
Used by the Wizards to create buildings, trees and other Wizard type
activities. Without Magic the world of Foundation will come out of your
control and you will become defenceless to attacks such as fire.
Ideas.
The Idea element is really just a Blue Print or scroll containing
the new ideas from the scientists. As soon as the Idea arrives in
Storage, it can be used to upgrade your technology in the form of
a new building or upgrades.
Cross
The Cross is the symbol of the Soul. When a member of your team dies
the Cross will appear as the last remains.
And the foods group...
Bread, Meat, Wheat, Wine, Vegetables, Fruit, Fish
All foods work in the same way but certain activities require different
groups of food. The soldiers working in the forts will enjoy eating
Bread and Wine while the scientists like to eat Fish and Vegetables while
they are working.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
5. Unit Descriptions.
People/Units are split into two groups.
1> Working Units.
2> Fighting Units.
First to explain the working Units.
The Peasant.
This is your most important Unit. The Peasant can be used for many tasks
such as mining, fishing and farming. They are used to transport resources
about your land. The Peasant can take on most jobs in your kingdom and
once trained they can be upgraded to become higher level Units.
The Maiden.
Another important Unit. Without the Maiden your people cannot reproduce
and your numbers will soon shrink. The Maiden provides you with fresh
blood and a good supply of Maidens is needed in order for you to generate
a large healthy band of people. For your people to breed and reproduce
you will need to give them some privacy. The Headquarters is not the best
place to raise a family but it is possible. The newborn people in the
world of Foundation have the ability to work in the same way as the
older people. While the soul of the character is 1 year old he will still
have the ability to work in the same way as older characters. In the world
of Foundation you take on the character rather than the character taking
on you.
The Wizard.
The Wizards are highly trained in the use of Magic. For many years they
have replaced the Peasants skills in the area of Building and transforming
the land. With a good supply of magic they can provide you with all the
buildings you require. You will still need to provide the necessary
resources for building but the use of Magic has speeded up the process
of building and indeed the removal of buildings. The Wizards jobs have
become more difficult in time and they are starting to become lost with
the traditional roles of Wizardry. Maybe this is why many Wizards are
turning to the more exciting activities of war.
The Scientist.
Without science you cannot expand your technologies and your enemies
will soon surpass your knowledge. With a good team of scientists you
can create a good flow of fresh ideas that will keep you ahead of your
opposition. The Scientists can also give you some much needed advice
on how to improve your status and provide important upgrades to your
buildings. Scientists are also the key to discovering cures to any health
problems that can arise with overcrowding and the problems of war.
The Soldier/Guard.
Every building in your land will have room for at least one Guard.
If you have a guard in a building it will protect you from internal
attacks. When the guard has served enough time and he has proved
himself in his work he will be promoted to a Knight.
The Knight
The knight is a powerful fighter. He is strong and brave but he is not
happy to be reduced to the lower ranks of a Guard. He will happily serve
to your demands on the battlefield an after he has reached a high level
of experience he will be promoted to Black Knight.
The Black Knight
The strongest of all fighting units. He will usually survive until his
days are over and he has the power to protect himself from most attackers.
He is immune to the arrows of the archer and it is rare for a Peasant to
be brave enough to approach him.
The Archer
The archers are known to be cowardly people. They like to keep away
from any trouble but if you give them enough distance they can usually
take out targets quickly and safely. Being a cowardly group they enjoy
nothing more than to live in the safety of the Archers Tower where
they are safe from even the weakest of peasant attackers. Their biggest
fear is the power of the Black Knights who enjoy using their immunity
of arrows to scare the life out of the Archers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
6. Building Descriptions.
Headquarters.
The Headquarters is used as storage for resources and people. It is also
the home of your good self so it is important that you protect it against
the enemy. Storage space is limited so you will probably need to build
at least one Warehouse to store a large bulk of your goods. If this
building is lost then the game is over.
Mines.
Important building for the collection of Stone, Ore, Coal and Oil.
Farmhouse.
Important building for the creation of Wheat, Fruit and Vegetables.
Warehouse.
This is a very important building. Without the Warehouse you may find
that resources and people are delayed in the process of leaving your
Headquarters. Does the modern day problem of Bandwidth sound familiar?
Don't underestimate the usefulness of this Building.
Armoury.
The place where your Steel is turned into Armour which is the important
resource of War.
Pump House.
The all important Water source. Without water you can expect to see many
health problems.
Wizard Hut.
While this was initially a place for Wizards to keep themselves to
themselves, this building has become a good place for Wizards to
train for higher levels.
Peasant Hut.
A nice peaceful building which gives the Maidens the privacy they
need and it also stops the Headquarters from becoming too overcrowded.
Forester.
The source of your wood collection. Your forester will happily collect
up the wood from the surrounding trees. As the wood is collected it is
also distributed about the local buildings.
Stone Mason.
The Stone mason will search the land for rocks. This is probably the
best source of stone you will have.
Refinery.
This is yet another all important building where your Ore is refined
to become Gold and Steel.
Fishery.
Most of the time you will have plenty of water to allow you to fish for
this vital food item. The Fishery must be built close to the sea or
lakes. The Fishermen are often too lazy to leave their warm hut but
when the sun comes out you can sometimes see them lining up and going
about their business.
Crematorium.
This is where the last remains of your people (the cross) can be refined
to become a single element of Magic. The magic is then used to aid
you in your future developments.
Laboratory.
The important base for advancing technology. This is where your Scientist
will be housed and provided with the resources to develop new technologies
and any other helpful advances to aid you on your mission.
Bakery.
This is where the Bread is formed from the Wheat and Water. While it
is possible to live without the Bread it is worth providing it to
improve the diet of your people.
Brewery.
The Wine is not the most healthy food source but it helps to keep your
people happy. Using the Brewery you can provide this popular beverage.
It is possible to live without this Food type but if your Population
get unhappy you may be forced to provide them with this building. Keep
a close watch on the morale of your people.
Food Factory.
Modern day living has inspired the use of a simple one building for
everything approach to creating food. This is the easiest way to
provide a good range of food but it is also the most expensive method
so keep a watch on your Gold supplies.
Barracks.
The important place to train your people. You can train your Peasants
in here to become soldiers. That will cost you one Gold and one Armour.
You can also train Scientists and Wizards who each cost one Gold to
train.
Hospital
The Hospital works in a similar way to the Warehouse. It acts as a
storage of people and food. There are some important differences. First
of all the food combined with the healthy living will allow your people
to recover quickly. If you have many Peasants in the Hospital and you
request for a Peasant to leave the building then the most healthy
Peasant will leave first. Any time during the game you find a sick
person you should always send him/her to the Hospital to recover. If
the building becomes overcrowded then some healthy people will leave
to make room for the sick.
(many more buildings to be added)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
7. General Game Play
Summon your people.
The first task you must learn is that of commanding your people to leave
a building. This is done in two main ways. The easiest method is using
the Quick Orders panel. You can call up this panel by clicking in an empty
space in the play area. The Quick Orders panel will show you how many
spare people you have in your Warehouse or Headquarters. Selecting one of
these people will command that character to leave his home and walk to
your chosen location. See the detailed description of the Quick Orders
panel for more information.
Another way to command a person to leave a building is via the Occupants
panel. You can call this panel up by selecting the same building twice.
There is also an Occupants button in most building panels. The Occupants
panel will provide you with a simple list of the people in the current
building and it is possible to select any one of these and command him
to leave using the leave building button. See the detailed description
of the Occupants panel for more information.
Create a new building.
Creating buildings is quick an easy. You must first choose a suitable
location on the play area. The first click will bring up the Quick Orders
panel but a second click with bring up the Choose Building Panel. You
must now select the building you require. You must have enough of the
necessary resources to be able to select the building and you must be
in a valid location. The Mine for example must be on high ground where
the rock landscape is found. The Pumphouse building must be at low
altitude where the ground is soft. You can't build in areas that are
not fully explored.
One you have chosen a building to create you will be given a Foundation
and a Wizard will soon arrive to Magic the building in place. If you
do not have enough Magic in storage then this stage will be have to
be delayed.
General Housekeeping
Most building are put into one of two groups. There are the Storage
buildings which are used to store people and resources. Examples of
these buildings are the Headquarters, Warehouse and the Hospital. Each
building of this type can be given a desired level of each element or
person. This will let you build a Warehouse with a specific use for
example you could build a Warehouse close to your mines, refineries
and your Armoury. This building could then be given the desired levels
for each element. For this example we could presume that only the
Coal, Ore, Water, Peasants and a small amount of food was given a
desired level of 20 each. All of the other elements could be reset to
Zero which would mean that all the Armour, Stone, Oil and Gold that
was made in his area would be taken to the Headquarters while the elements
that are useful to these buildings were stored in good quantities.
It is also advised to keep the level of Soldiers to a good amount to
protect the Warehouse as well as the nearby areas.
The other building work in a different way. They have a very much more
restricted design with three types of contents. The small area on the
left if the food group. This gives enough room for three types of food
an there is room one of each item. The upper level of storage is the
materials and workers group. These are the people who work/live in the
building and also the place where materials are kept. The Refinery would
have Coal and Ore as its materials along with a number of peasant workers
and also a Guard. The lower section is the output group. This is where
the resources are created ready to be taken out to a place of need.
Together with the output elements there is also a space for the Cross
which is where the workers will end up if they don't get enough food
and healthy living.
The input group can be changed to fit your needs so if you are running
short on peasants then you can choose to only have one Peasant worker.
If you only want to make a small slow supply of Bread then you could
give the Bakery a level of one Wheat.
The output group is not always restricted to resources. The Barracks
has an output group that contains Wizards, Soldiers and Archers. These
output people are trained from the Peasants. The output group can be
altered to suit your needs. If you find you need to train 4 Scientists
then you can set the level of scientists to 4 and that is how many you
will get. You can set the level to "Full" and the Barracks will train
your Scientists until you turn it off. This feature is also useful
if you have 3 mines and you don't need much Oil. You can turn off
the Oil on two mines which will give them more time to create other
resources. Maybe you have a large group of Stone Mason buildings and
you would like to turn of Stone mining altogether.
Food and Health
You will have to provide enough food for you people and you must also
ensure that there is enough variety to suit the needs of each person
in each job the take on. It has already been mentioned that those
Peasants working in the mine will require a different diet to the
Scientists working in the laboratory. Each building can contain 3
items of food. The Storage buildings usually contain the full range
of food and it is usually in plenty supply. While your people are
busy working in the buildings they may decide to eat. At his point
they decide exactly which piece of food they require from the menu in
that particular building. If that piece of food is not available they
will go without food for that period of time. They will loose some
energy and they will also loose some of their morale. At the next
opportunity for food they may choose a different item and so it is
possible to keep a building supplied with just one of the three items
on the menu but this is not the best way to keep your people happy.
If your people become unhealthy they will not reproduce and they will
become easy targets for attackers. If they become too unhappy then they
may start to disobey orders and generally become inefficient and
worthless. This it is not essential to provide a full range of food
it is recommended to attempt to supply as much as you can whenever
possible.
Guards
Every building will contain at least one space for a Guard. It is
good to keep someone guarding your buildings because without a guard
you are open for a takeover. Without a guard it is possible for an
enemy team to enter the building at will. When there are enemy people
in the building it usually turns into a fight and the strongest
group will take control. While you building is guarded you are still
subject to thieves. If a Peasant does make his way into your building
he will still be subject to attack by your occupants and for this
reason the thieves usually make a quick escape as soon as possible.
More Magic
The Magic is a useful element in the world of Foundation. It is not only
the commonly used system of building but it is also used for landscaping.
At any time you can command your Wizard to create some fresh trees and
fresh rocks. The rocks are a good source of Coal and Ore but the most
common rocks are made of pure Stone. Once the Stone Mason or the Forester
have taken their supplied the Magic will soon wear off. The source of
the Magic is the Crematorium. This special building will turn the last
remains of your people into fresh Magic. This gives you an almost endless
supply of Magic to last you for as long as you continue to have a
population.
Control your People.
The control system for organizing your people and issuing commands
is a very simple one but from a simple method you have a very complex
array of commands ready for controlling your populous.
The first lesson to learn is the select. This is done by clicking the
mouse in an empty area of the world with thew Left Mouse Button (LMB)
and dragging the pointer across the View area to form a box on the
screen. When you release the mouse the system will check to see if
there were any people in that area when you released the mouse. Any
people that were inside the box during hat time will become selected
and they will form a group. It is quite possible that your group could
contain just one person but it may also contain a large army. Another
trick to learn is the SHIFT select option which will allow you to add
more people to the group. The SHIFT grab system will give you the added
bonus of removing selected people from the group.
Now you have a group selected you are able to issue commands. The most
basic of these is the MOVE command. The MOVE command is issued using
the Right Mouse Button (RMB) to click in an area on the playfield. Now
your whole group will start their journey to your selected location.
When they arrive you will see they are waiting for your next command.
The MOVE command is the most useful command of them all. It gives you
the power to direct any of your people to go to any valid destination.
The destination doesn't have to be an outside location. You can also
command your people to enter buildings. If you send a person into a
building it will then become his home. This is where he will stay until
you command him to another place. If this building is a production
building (for example a Mine) then he will start to work here and
possibly take part in delivering goods to other buildings. This is
where he will spend the rest of his days unless you command him to
move somewhere else. If you alter the settings for his home and it
removes the need for his presence then he will then return to a nearby
Stores building where he will remain until your next commands.
(Many more topics to cover..)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
8. The Control Panels.
A lot of the game is controlled from a wide range of control panels. They
provide Statistics as well as an interface to control your world in
every last detail.
The Main Panel
The First Panel you see is known as the Main Panel. From here you can
access all of the other Panels. The Main Panel also shows some of the
most important Game statistics. The Statistics are as follows...
Population - The amount of People in your whole team. This includes every
type of person including Peasants and Knights.
Buildings - The Amount of Buildings you have.
Gold - The most valuable element. The Gold is a good resource to
have because it can pay for Training soldiers, repairing
buildings and it is also a valuable element to trade with.
Production - A level describing the percentage of resources you are
making against the resources needed.
Land - The amount of land you control. This is the amount of land
that you are controlling with buildings. Any wide open areas
of land with no buildings is free from control.
There are also 6 important buttons on the Main Panel. From here you can
access the other panels. These buttons are...
Selected Building - When this button is available it will take you to a
panel that has all the information about the
currently selected building.
Selected People - When this button is active it will allow you to
see and control your selected people in great detail.
Resources - This will display a Global Storage panel which will
give you a detailed run down of how many of each
resource you have in your Storage buildings.
Trading - From the trading panel you can setup trades with
other players for resources you need. Alternatively
you can also set up direct Stock Exchange which is
an instant exchange. The Stock exchange does not
give you as much value as a proper trade. (detailed
Trading info to be added further on)
Statistics - This will take you to the second most important panel
the control of the statistics and in-game preferences
is an important part of your play.
Game Options - The Game options panel gives you general information
about the game an the mission. It also allows you to
save and load games. You can also find the Quit
option in the Game Options panel.
The Statistics panel is packed with buttons that will led you to vital
information to aid you in your game.
Input and Output
This panel will display the amount of resources comming in and the amount
going out. When you see a Red bar chart it means you are losing more of
that resource than you are making. If you see a Green bar then you are safe
knowing that you're making more than you are using. If the Green bar is
filling the full scale of the chart then you should consider slowing
down the prediction. If however the Red bar is filling the scale then
you should check for improving the production of this item. If you select
one of these elements with a mouse click it will take you through a short-cut
to the next panel.
Production Chart
Here you will see a simple production chart for each element. This is
where you can predict any sharp changes in resource usage and attempt
to avoid a situation where you're making too much or too little of one
element.
Building Count
Here is a simple display showing how many of each building you have
created. This will allow you to make a quick calculation of the
building you may need to create next.
Death Reports
To aid you in the process of cutting down on the number of casualties
it is useful to see the causes of the recent deaths. A quick glance
at the last 4 deaths can often give you a clue to what can be done to
improve your populations life expectancy. There is a small cycle
gadget at the bottom of the panel that will take you to a 2nd Death
statistic screen. The Popular Deaths chart will display the most
frequent causes of Death. This is an extra help in discovering problems
with health and other troubles.
Production Priority
Here you can arrange the various elements in order of need. If you have
many Farms you can decide which food you prefer to make. An item with
a higher priority will be produced more often than a lower priority
element. The Production priority has another use. When you send a
Peasant into an enemy building he will leave the building with some
stolen goods. The preference of goods to steal is based on the Production
Priority.
Transport Priority.
People and resources must be moved from place to place. This is usually
done without any external control. It would be impossible to control
100 people working in 20 buildings moving various resources from one
place to another. This is all taken care of by the people who work
in the different buildings. While you are always free to take control
over a person at any time and command him to do something you want him
to do, it is still very useful to let them get on with it. Quite often
a building will contain many different items and many different people.
Only so much can be removed from a building at any time and sometimes
there are less people to carry the resources than you need so some form
of preference must be done. This is what the Transport priority is for.
The Resources always come ahead of the people in the Priority list so
quite often you will see Peasants leaving a building before a Knight,
even though the Knight may be above the Peasant in the Priority. This
is because the Peasant is moving an important high Priority resource
which gives him the advantage over a Knight.
The Mission Status.
This Panel will show you a simple chart with the current percentage of
Mission Completed. You can sometimes see the progress of the other
teams but quite often in a Conquest Game you will be the only team
taking part in the Mission. Nonetheless you can still use this
Panel to keep watch on your progress.
The Best & Worst Panel.
This is a simple but effective statistic panel. At a quick glance
you can see which elements you have 100 much of and which elements
you have too little of. The Percentage is calculated by taking
the current population and generating some ideal figures for each
element. A figure of 200% would indicate that you have two times
the recommended amount at this current stage in the game while a
figure of 50% means you need to double the production of this type.
Multi Statistics.
This is where you get some comparisons between each of the players in
the current game. you can see just how effective your last attack
was or you can get an idea of how stable the other teams are with
figures like land ownership, Gold reserve and Army size. Here is
a description of the options from left to right.
Population - The level of population based on all of your people
including your Knights, Peasants and Wizards.
Army - This a is based on the amount of Fighting Units you
have. This includes Guards, Knights and Archers.
Production - The level of resources you are creating. This uses
elements such as Coal, Gold, Food and Water.
Land Ownership - The amount of land you control.
Gold - Simply a level of Gold.
Buildings - The numbers of building owned.
Technology - The current Tech. level.
Everything - A figure based on the average of all other statistics.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
(to be continued...)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
That is all for now... I'll update this manual on a daily basis and future
versions of the Foundation Demo will contain the most up-to-date manual. I
will upload this manual to the http://www.sneech.demon.co.uk/FoundDemo.html
web page as frequently as I can.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
The END (for now...)
------------------------------------------
Paul Burkey - paulb@sneech.demon.co.uk
------------------------------------------
