Big Box 200/BOX200.BIN/disk1/_war.exe/README.DOC

Text File | 1992-01-28 | 11.8 KB | 259 lines

     War in Heaven
     version 1.0

     by Matthew Baron
(c) copyright 1992 Matthew Baron

In War in Heaven, you take on the role of a being that arose
from the primordial chaos of the begining of time.  When you
become aware of your existance, you realize that you were
created by the chaos to ease its eternal termoil.  To do
this, you must create other beings, who are not quite as
powerful as yourself, but capable of turning the chaos into
more orderly forms such as land, sea and air.  These beings
are known as Archangels.  You are also aware that it is also
possible to create sentient life forms that will add to your
power by worshipping you.  These beings are known as humans.
If your power reaches a certain level, you will be able to
shape the land by mere intention.  You will be in effect,
God!  All is not as easy as it sounds.  For there are other
less powerful beings that arise from the chaos, who will
hinder your efforts to calm the chaos.   These beings are
known as demons.  Also, there lies sin in the hearts of some
of the beings you created to help calm the chaos.  Eventually
, one or more of these beings may rebel against your will, or
even turn the sentient life forms against you.

     The previous narrative describes the concepts of 'War in
Heaven'.  The object of the game is to attain a manna level
of 30,000 before any rebellion reaches the point were this
would be made impossible.  To do this, you must create and
give angels to your Archangels in such a manner as to allow
them to create land, sea, and gardens full of sentient and
worshipful beings (very similar to The Garden of Eden).  You
must also try to keep these Archangels happy so that they
will be unlikely to join a rebellion, if and when it occurs.

     Getting Started:

To start the game, simply type 'War' at the DOS prompt.
     After the program is loaded, you will see a title
screen.  Pressing any key will then start the game.  Once the
game is started you will be asked how many Archangels you
want.  This is a means to control the complexity of the game
.  A game with four Archangels is much less complicated than
a game with fifteen.  For your first game, I would recommend
four or five Archangels.  Simply type the number of
Archangels desired and hit 'Enter'.  Next you will be asked
what level of difficulty you wish to play at.  This is
another way of controlling game complexity.  At higher
difficulty levels, you start with less manna (another name
for power) and Archangels are harder to keep happy.  For your
first game, I would recommend level 1, as it is the easiest
level.  Once you type the number of the difficulty you want
and hit 'Enter', the actual game will begin.



     Game controls:

the 'V' key - View

Pressing the 'V' key will allow you to view the Archangels
under your control.   While you are in 'View mode' the game
is frozen.  To select the Archangel you want information on,
press the up and down arrow keys to scroll through the list
of Archangels on the board.  The bottom half of the screen
will display all of the information on the Archangel, while
the Archangel's icon will flash on the screen in the upper
half.  To exit 'View mode' press the space bar.

The left half of the bottom screen contains information on
the angels under the Archangels command.  These lesser angels
travel with the Archangel at all times, and will rebel with
him should he decide to revolt.  Since they are almost a part
of the Archangel they are not represented on the actual game
board, other than as part of the Archangels icon.  The
strength score represents how personaly powerful the
Archangel is.  He gains strength by 'feeding' off of the
white star like points on the map.  You can also give
strength directly to the Archangel via the "Aid" command
described below.  Strength helps an Archangel in battle.
Which is the only way it can go down.  If an Archangel's
strength is reduced to zero he is incapacitated and his icon
will appear blue on the game map.

Below the strength score are the angels under his command.
Seraphim are the most powerful offensive fighters, and are
second best in every other angelic ability.
Cherubim are the most powerful defensive fighters, and are
third best in nearly all other aspects except offense, at
which they are second best.
Thrones are the classic angels with harps.  They are unique
in their ability to entertain the Archangel they serve.  An
Archangel with thrones will be happier and more loyal.
Dominions are the best workers of the angels.  A group with a
number of dominions will complete a task such as making sea
or land much faster than without.
Principles are the 'Guardian angels'.  They can influence
humans to worship you.  The more principles on your side (and
the closer they are to the cities), the more people who will
worship you.
Virtues are also good at influencing humans, but they also
have the unique ability to look into the heart of the
Archangel they work for.  If an Archangel has virtues under
his command, you will receive a more accurate personality
profile of that Archangel.
Angels are the basic order of angels.  These angels can do
everything, except the unique abilities of thrones and
Virtues, but not nearly as well.


The middle column of the Archangel's report contains a
personality profile that is obtained by talking with other
Archangels, and the angels under his control.  It is
important to note that unless there are a significant number
of Virtues under his command, the report is how the Archangel
appears and not how he actual is.  It is mostly based on what
the archangel says and does.  It also tends toward the
extremes in the beginning.  (when everyone is just starting
to 'get to know each other')
Loyalty is how loyal the Archangel is to you.  It is a
measure of how likely he is to obey your orders and how close
he is to rebeling.
Envy is a measure of how covetous the Archangel is of your
position.  Because the Archangel will keep such things to
himself, it is the hardest personality trait to gauge
accurately.  Therefor, this report may be wildly inaccurate.
Jealousy is a measure of how upset this Archangel is about
other Archangels having more or better angels under his
command.  If an Archangel is very jealous he will become
disloyal if other Archangels have significantly more angels
under their command as he.
Pride is a measure of how proud the Archangel is.  A proud
Archangel feels entitled to a certain number of angels under
his command.  He is also likely to become upset if he is
incapacitated.  Also, he becomes happy (and thus more loyal)
when he completes a task that has good job satisfaction.
(such as mountains or gardens)  He is also happy to posses
one of the artifacts of creation.  An Archangel who is not
proud will appreciate aid given to him.
Sloth or laziness is a measure of how hard the Archangel will
work once given an order.  A lazy Archangel will take quite
some time to complete a task.
Gluttony is a measure of how 'pleasure oriented' the
Archangel is.  A gluttonous Archangel will be more pleased by
having thrones under his command and is more likely to spend
time at one of the power stars that they feed off of (which
is extremely pleasurable for them).
Rath is a measure of how much the Archangel likes to fight.
A rathful angel will gladly accept orders to hunt down a
demon or rebel.  Rathful Archangels also hate being
incapacitated.

The far right column states what project the Archangel is
working on and who the Archangels closest friend is.  An
Archangel might go along with one of his friends is he
rebels, and even if he remains loyal, is unlikely to attack
his friend if ordered to do so.


The 'O' key - Orders

when the 'O' key is pressed, you will be asked to select an
Archangel to give orders to.  This done in a similar fashion
to the way an Archangel is selected in the View command with
the arrow keys.  Once you are on the Archangel that you wish
to give orders to, press the space bar.  Once you do this, a
bar will appear with three choices.  You can press '1' to
order the Archangel to move somewhere.  You can press '2' to
order the Archangel to create some terrain feature.  Or, you
can press '3' to order the Archangel to track down and fight
someone.

'1' - MOVE

If you press the one key, you will be asked to move the
cursor (the 'X' on the screen) with the arrow keys to the
place you want the Archangel to move.  Pressing the space bar
will designate that the cursor location is the desired
destination.  This command will not cancel any other orders.

'2' - CREATE

This important command orders the Archangel to create either
sea, land, mountains, or a garden in a specified area.  Sea
may be made only from chaos.  Land can only be made to sea.
 Mountains and gardens must be placed on land.  Once you
select the type of terrain you want to be created (which is
done by pressing its corresponding number), you will be asked
to select the area you want it created in.  For all terrains
except gardens, you can select a large area as the zone where
creation is to occur.  To do this, you will be asked to move
the cursor (a small 'X' on the screen) with the arrow keys to
one corner of the zone where you want creation to occur.
Once there press the space bar.  Then you will be asked to
move the cursor to the opposite corner.  As you move the
cursor, you will see a box flashing on the screen.  This box
is the zone which the Archangel will work in, trying to
convert everything inside of it that he can to the specified
terrain type.  Press the space bar when the zone is
satisfactory.
If you selected garden for the choice, you will be asked to
move the cursor to the one spot where you want a garden to be
built.  Once built the garden will be full of people who will
worship you (and therefor give you power)  If a rebel angel
enters a garden, he can turn the people against you.  Once
this occurs, a village will take the place of the garden.
Villages are capable of growing and spreading (creating new
villages on their own), but not all the people of a village
will worship you.

'3' - FIGHT

if you press this key, you will be asked to select an
opponent for the Archangel.  This is done with the arrow keys
and the space bar.


the 'A' key -  AID

pressing the 'A' key will allow you to help one of your
Archangels.  The Archangel is selected with the arrow keys
and space bar, similar to many of the other commands.  Once
the Archangel is selected, press one to give him angels to
command or two to give him extra strength.  If you chose to
give angels, you will be presented with a menu of angels and
the manna cost per angel.  Select the type of angel you wish
to give by pressing the number that appears to the left of
the angel's type.  Then use the arrow keys to select the
number of angels to give.  The up arrow increases the amount
while the down key decreases it.  Press the space bar when
you have given the number that you want.  Strength is given
in a similar fashion.

the 'R' key - REPORT

Pressing the 'R' key will give a report of miscellaneous
information.  Most of it is self-explanitory at this point.

The 'S' key - SYSTEM

Pressing the 'S' key will bring up a menu that allows you to
save the game, load an old game, change the game speed or
quit to DOS.

This concludes my discussion of the various commands at your
disposal.  I will leave the finer points of strategy up to
you to discover.  However, if you have any questions please
feel free to call or write and will gladly answer them.

My telephone number is 1-(413)-546-1294.

My address is Matthew Baron
      University of Massachusetts
             203E Cashin
          Amherst, Ma 01003

If you like this game please register it by sending $20 to
the above address.