ProfitPress Mega CDROM2 …eeware (MSDOS)(1992)(Eng)/ProfitPress-MegaCDROM2.B6I/MISC/GAMES/CONQST25.ZIP/CONQUEST.DOC

Text File | 1992-01-10 | 10.4 KB | 203 lines

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                    C O N Q U E S T  v 2.5
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                requires EGA and MS (compatible) mouse.

        Copyright (C) SPETER Software, 1989-1992.

INTRODUCTION
  This game is a strategy war game played on a map.

  The objective of the game is to capture all the enemy cities.

  The game is written in Turbo Pascal.

START
  When the game is begun, a number of help screens are displayed, explaining
  the principles of the game.  After these help screens, the "New Game
  Information Screen" is displayed.  In this screen the user defines the mix
  of human and computer players and the dimensions of the game map;  or a
  previously saved game can be loaded (and continued).

  At the beginning of the game each player is given a number of positions
  (including some cities) and there are also "free" cities. The actual number
  of positions allocated to each player is read from the file CONQUEST.INI
  (which can be used to customise the game).  The free cities are undefended
  and belong to no-one (until captured).  Each player then distributes their
  armies and ship(s) among their positions (with a maximum of 2 armies per
  position).  If you decide a position has no strategic value, you don't need
  to put any of your forces there!

  After each player has placed their forces at the start, the battles begin!

MAXIMUM FORCES PER POSITION
  Each player can have up to 2 armies on each position (with some land); and
  each sea position can contain 1 ship.  During attacks it is possible that
  there would be more than 2 attacking armies, but after the attack the excess
  armies must be moved off the position (see below).

PLAY
  Players move one after the other; and each player's move has four parts:
  1) At the beginning of each go (except the first) players receive 1 army or
     ship on each of their cities (assuming there is room at the city);
  2) each army and ship can be moved once to an adjoining position
     (loading/unloading armies to/from a ship is taken as a move);  then
  3) if any of the armies or ships are in enemy occupied positions these
     attacks are resolved (see details below);   and lastly
  4) if any successful attacks result in more than 2 armies being in one
     position, then the excess armies must be moved to adjoining territory
     (belonging to that player) or loaded on a ship.

MOVING ARMIES AND SHIPS
  To move an army (or ship) to an adjoining position: point to the figure (and
  press the left mouse button), then point to the adjoining position and press
  the left mouse button again.

LOADING AN ARMY ON A SHIP
  To load an army on a ship (in the same position): firstly point to the army
  and press the left mouse button, then point to the ship and press the left
  mouse button again.  After a ship has loaded (or unloaded) any armies it
  cannot move until the next go.

UNLOADING AN ARMY FROM A SHIP
  To unload an army:  point to the army (on the ship) and press the left
  mouse button, then point to the land (in the same position) and press the
  left mouse button.

START ATTACKS
  Pressing the right mouse button, ESC or F1 (Function 1), signifies a player
  has finished moving, and the attacks should begin!

ATTACKS
  There are two types of attacks (1) Land attacks and (2) Sea attacks:

   1)  Land attacks occur if a player moves one (or more) armies into a
       defended (enemy) position or a city.  Each army (whether attacker or
       defender) gets one "dice" throw (out of 10).  In addition, if a city is
       being attacked, then it also gets a dice throw.  The attacking forces
       win if the total of all their dice throws is higher than that of the
       defender's.

   2)  Sea attacks occur when a player moves a ship into a position that
       already has an enemy ship.  Each ship gets two dice throws (regardless
       of whether it is carrying any armies or not).  The attacking ship wins
       if the total of its dice throws is higher than the defender's.

REMOVING EXCESS ARMIES (after an attack)
  It is very common for more than two armies to attack a position.  When this
  happens the excess armies must be moved off the position at the end of the
  player's go (assuming the attack was successful).  If the extra armies can't
  move to a ship or an adjoining position ("owned" by the attacker) then the
  armies are lost!

"DICE" THROWS
  Battle results are determined randomly by "dice".  Each die is represented
  by a "rolling" random number between 0 and 10.  The program will either roll
  the random numbers until a key is pressed or will automatically stop rolling
  after a random length of time (the user selects the method at the beginning
  of the game when deciding the number of players).

STRATEGY - HINTS
  A short note on strategy;  but first a comment on random numbers.  AT the
  risk of explaining the obvious:  if 6 armies attack 2 armies the potential
  ranges are 0-60 and 0-20, so most often the 6 armies will win - but not
  always!!!  The point is that it is always important to stack the odds in
  your favour (as much as possible) whenever you are attacking AND plan a
  contingency in case your sure-thing looses...!

  At the beginning of the game it is often very difficult to know the best
  distribution of armies (you usually don't know where your opponent(s) will
  place their forces).  The main advise I can give is to attempt to capture
  one (or more) of the three "free" cities and to keep away from positions
  that are in the "middle", that is, positions that have (or will have)
  enemies on two (or more) sides.  That kind of position is very difficult to
  defend because the enemy forces will converge on it and keep attacking till
  it is taken.  The problem here is simply a lack of "breathing space/time",
  which is vitally important for building up defending forces.  A city always
  under attack can't be getting new armies because that would require you to
  move one army off the city, leaving the city under-defended when the other
  players are attacking.  If you find yourself in this circumstance try to
  "immobilise" some of the attacking cities (by sitting two armies next to the
  city).

  Land based attacks:
    The broadest hint I can give for land-based strategy is to attack with
    four (or more) armies wherever possible (and if necessary, be prepared to
    forfeit the two extra armies).

    If possible have two of your nearby cities feeding your attack forces -
    the new army from one joins the army from other.  This will provide you
    with a steady stream of (pairs of) armies.

    When attacking, always maintain sufficient defensive forces;  for example,
    when a city of yours has more than one (enemy) city nearby (and you want
    to capture them!):  first immobilise the cities (by placing two armies
    beside them) and then (if possible) attack each city in turn.  For example
    if a city of yours has two enemy cities nearby and you have four armies
    around each enemy city, if you attack both enemy cities at the same time
    AND THEN LOOSE you might not have sufficient backup forces to stop those
    cities from mounting an attack on your city.

  Sea based attacks:
    When attacking a city from across a sea,  blockade the enemy (coastal)
    cities before you start moving your armies across the sea to establish a
    foot-hold.  This should ensure that most of your armies arrive at the
    destination!  It is often best to land the armies away from the target
    (and hopefully away from most of the defending armies).  Having gained a
    foot-hold distribute your armies (if possible) so you can attack the
    defending armies with a numerical advantage;  at the same time, continue
    to unload armies from your ships, and extend your foot-hold towards the
    target cities.

    If you are being attacked by forces being transported by ships, then (if
    you have a coastal city) start producing ships and then move the ships
    into unoccupied sea positions (in the path of the enemy ships).  Sea
    attacks are always 1:1 so both ships have about the same chance of winning!
    Hopefully, after a few goes your ships should start to defeat the enemy
    ships before they reach your territory.

    It takes just one go to produce a ship, but it takes 3 goes (or 3 cities 1
    go) to produce a ship and two armies and one further go is needed to load
    the armies on the ship!  So if you don't load armies, you can quickly
    produce a number of ships which will have an even chance of defeating the
    attacking ships (which take longer to produce - if they carry armies);
    the end result is that, if you can get you defending ships into the path
    of the attacking ships, you can usually stop their attack!


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REGISTRATION
  If you would like to receive a registered copy of this program, send $45 to
  the address below (please specify your preferred Disk formats).

  Registered users will receive the latest copy of the program PLUS a copy of
  MAP-ED (a "drawing" program that can be used to edit the "tiles" that make
  up the maps).


TURBO PASCAL UNITS
  To obtain a copy of the Mouse support unit, send $35 to the address below.
  This includes the compiled code (not source), sample programs and notes
  which explain how the unit can be used to give mouse support in your own
  (Turbo Pascal) programs.


  Registered users can also obtain a copy of the map generation and display
  unit by sending $50 to the address below.  As above, this includes the TPU
  files (not the source), sample programs and notes which explain how the units
  could be incorporated into your own (EGA graphics) Turbo Pascal programs.


PAYMENT
 Please make all payments in Bank cheques or Money Orders please,

==============================================================================
   please address any comments to:

   SPETER SOFTWARE                  AARNET:
   PO BOX 643                        [e-mail]
   LANE COVE
   N.S.W.   2066                     this address will change in Feb.'92 to:
   AUSTRALIA                         [e-mail]
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