As the first rays of sun are cast across the horizon, the world wakes. Few are aware of the magnificent battle that is to commence. For all Eternity the battle for control of the world has raged on. Fire, air, earth and water. The four elements wage war every day in a never-ending quest to rule the world. Every morning each elements tokens appear in an empty region of space called the "void," bereft of any life but full of potential glory.
Each pawns mission? Recover and return an elemental token to its base. A simple task? Hardly. A mission that only the bravest and strongest pawns can possibly carry out. A mission that will likely result in humiliating and painful defeat before glory and power. Should a pawn recover a token, its adventure has only begun. The return to base is wrought with peril, as the other elements will do anything in their power to end its mission prematurely.
If, against all odds, an element recovers all of its tokens, it will rule for the day. Free to carry out its will on the world, the other elements will be powerless. Of course, tomorrow's battle and a chance at revenge are only a day away...
System Requirements
Macintosh PowerPC running System 7.0 or later
Monitor capable of 16 bit color at a resolution of 640x480 or higher
Eternity is distributed as shareware with a $15 registration fee.
Note: Most of the following information is also available in the online help facility of Eternity.
Starting a game
A game of Eternity involves two to four players, human or computer. There are three types of computer players. Normally, there would be a dumb, average, and smart computer player. However, this battle has been raging on forever with a fairly equal number of victories for each element. There are no dumb elements. So Eternity takes a different approach. It's three computer modes are "offensive player," "average player," and "defensive player." These are more of a reflection of the elements personality and tendencies than an intelligence level, and fits the game better than an intelligence level would.
Turn sequence
Fire will start the game, and play continues in a clockwise fashion around the board. If Fire is not playing, the first player encountered when moving clockwise from Fire will start the game.
An Eternity turn sequence is as follows:
1) A card is drawn from the deck.
2) Energy is added to a pawn, if necessary.
3) A pawn is moved.
4) If a pawn moved into the void, a token is selected.
5) If a pawn attacked another pawn, a fight takes place.
6) If a pawn returned a token, it is displayed.
Drawing a card
The first action on any turn is to draw a card. The card drawn can be either a normal card or a disaster card. Normal cards contain three pieces of information; an element type, an energy add value, and a movement value. A disaster card contains only one piece of information, a disaster of some sort. It could be a flash fire, a tornado, an earthquake, or a flood. When drawn, this card wipes all pawns off the board, with the exception of the player who's disaster it is, and pawns in safety zones. The significance of the normal cards is explained in detail in the appropriate sections below.
To draw a card, click on the card deck or press "d." If the deck is out of cards, they will be shuffled before your turn starts.
Adding energy
Energy is used in a few different places in Eternity. It is one factor that can allow you to leave your base or enter the void, it is used in fights, and is necessary to change rings and move towards the void.
If the drawn card has a nonzero energy value, the player may then add energy to a pawn. Energy may be added to any pawn that is in the rings (not in base and not removed from the game). Pawns have a maximum energy level of nine; attempting to go over nine will have no effect. It is possible to have no pawns capable of having energy added to them. Eternity will recognize this, and skip this step entirely in this case. It is not legal to pass on adding energy, as there is no good reason to do so. Also, splitting the energy between more than one pawn is not allowed.
Moving a pawn
Moving a pawn is when most of the action takes place. Depending on the card drawn at the start of the turn, there are a few possibilities. If the drawn card is of the current players element type, or the card has a one for its movement value, the player may move a pawn out of the base. When moving out of base, a pawn must move into the base exit space (denoted with an inwards pointing arrow). Also, these same requirements apply to moving a pawn into the void, provided that the pawn attempting to move into the void has enough energy to enter.
To understand how to move a pawn around the rings, it helps to view the diagram below. To move into the outer ring requires no specific amount of energy. To move into the middle ring requires your pawn have an energy level of two. To move into the inner ring, you'll need an energy level of four, and to have enough energy to enter the void, your pawn will need an energy level of eight.
In the picture above, Fire has drawn a Water card, with a two movement value. Legal spaces to move to are marked with an X. As you can see, moving in the same ring you are in is simple. You may move forward the amount of spaces indicated in the card's movement value.
Moving between rings is a bit trickier. In the picture, Fire can move from the middle ring into the inner ring. Moving to the inner ring requires an energy level of four. The pawn has four energies, so it can make the ring change. The ring change must occur as the first movement. This uses up one out of your movement value. Then the pawn must continue clockwise in the new ring for the remaining amount of spaces in the movement value.
The picture also shows that the pawn can move outwards a ring. This is very similar to moving inwards a ring, in that the ring change must be the first move of the turn. Then the pawn continues in a clockwise direction, using up the rest of the movement value. When moving outwards a ring, you move to the space that is more clockwise of the two that are touching your current space. Note: Moving outwards a ring requires no specific amount of energy. Only when moving inwards a ring does the energy matter for movement.
You also have the option of passing if you do not wish to move a pawn. The pass button is located under the card deck, and you can also pass by pressing "p."
Fighting
With so many pawns moving around in three rings, there's bound to be a few altercations. If two pawns try to occupy the same space at the same time, a fight will take place.
When a fight occurs, the fight window will appear. It will detail who attacked who, and how much energy each pawn has. On the right is a twenty space spinner, with a certain amount colored for the attacker, and a certain amount colored for the defender. The amounts are calculated as follows:
Both pawns start off with ten spaces each. The attacker is one through ten; the defender is eleven through twenty. If any pawn is fighting in his home quadrant, that pawn gains two spaces on the spinner. The pawn with the larger energy value gains the difference in energy values. If both pawns have equal energy, this step changes nothing. Note: It is possible, though rare, that one pawn could possibly own all the spaces on the spinner. Eternity does not allow this. The attacker can have at most spaces one through nineteen, and the defender can only have two through twenty. A pawn can never be guaranteed a victory. No matter how slim your chances in a fight, you always have a chance.
There is one special case to this process. A pawn attacking from his base gets 5 free energies just for the fight. This is to discourage pawns with high energy values from blocking other players base exit spaces and not allowing them to exit their base. This free energy is used solely in the fight calculation and disappears after the fight.
All of the above calculations are done behind the scenes. When the fight window comes up they've already been figured out. The spinner will then spin, and the player of the color the spinner lands on has won the fight!
The winner will then take all of the losers energy, and also any token the loser may have been carrying. If the winner already has a token, the old token goes back into the void, and the winner claims the losers token as his own. The loser is then sent back to base to start again. The message area displays this information at the end of the fight. As should be obvious, fighting can greatly help you, or can devastate you. Parading around with a token is not a smart move, as any pawn could attack you and steal away your hard earned token. Likewise, through good fortune or smart planning, you may find yourself in a position to attack an enemy and steal away a token and a bunch of energy. Choose your fights wisely, they can be a double edged sword.
Entering the void
As mentioned above, to enter the void you must have an energy level of eight on the pawn trying to enter. You must also have drawn a card of either your element type, or a card with a one movement value. If you meet both of these conditions, you are allowed to enter the void. You then will be able to select a token to return to your base.
If you enter the void from your own quadrant, you will get a token of your type revealed in the void. If none of your tokens are in the void, or they are all already revealed, this has no effect. By choosing your time of entry wisely, you will have a good chance of guaranteeing that you will choose a token of your type.
Selecting a token
When a pawn moves into the void, it is then time to select a token. You can choose any token you like, although one of yours may already be revealed. After selecting a token, your pawn will be placed back out on the space it entered from, and play moves to the next player.
Note: The color of the energy number on a pawn indicates whether or not the pawn is carrying a token. If the pawn has no token, it will be black. If the pawn has a token, the number changes to white.
Returning a token
After selecting a token, your next step is to return it to your base. To return a token, simply land the pawn carrying the token on your base entry space (denoted with an outward pointing arrow). Of course, sometimes you don't know for sure whether the token is yours or not. If the token is yours, you'll be one step closer to domination! The pawn that returned the token will then be removed from the game. If the token is a mystery token still, it'll be revealed. If it turns out that the token is not yours, or was already revealed and was not yours, it'll be placed back in the void and your pawn will be put back in your base. If you successfully return all four of your tokens, you win! Your element will rule for the day.
Special items
At random times during the game, you may see a lightning bolt or a shield appear in a space. If a pawn lands on a lightning bolt, it will gain from one to five free energies. This number is random. This special item disappears once someone has landed on it. The shield symbol is a safety zone. Any pawn landing on this space is protected. Other pawns may not attack pawns in safety zones, and disasters do not affect pawns in safety zones. A safety zone appears for a short period of time, then it vanishes. When it is gone, or you move your pawn out of it, the pawn is vulnerable once again.
The interface
From top to bottom on the left side of the game screen you will see:
A card deck
A pass button
The message area
The token balls
The card deck and pass button have already been explained. The message area is a useful feature. Normally, it displays a message telling the current player what he/she can do. For example, "Water, move a pawn." However, you can obtain information about a pawn on the board by moving the mouse over top of a pawn. The message area will then show you how much energy that pawn has, and what token it has. The message area also will display the results of a fight. Who won, and what they received, if anything, is displayed momentarily.
The token balls are simply a count of how many tokens each element has returned. If you fill in all four token balls, you have won the game!
The controls
Eternity's controls are straightforward. To pause a game, press Caps Lock. To end a game and return to the main menu, press escape. Command-Q will quit if you do not wish to return to the main menu.
Pause game: Press Caps Lock.
End game: Press Escape.
Draw a card: Click the card deck or press "d."
Pass your turn: Click the pass button or press "p."
Saving a game: Choose Save game from the menubar or press Command-S.
All actions involving pawn movements use the mouse.
Preferences
There are only a few preferences in Eternity. One is the sound volume popup. Also, you will see a checkbox that when clicked, will override the popup and set the sound volume to whatever the system volume is when the game is started. By selecting this you are saying "I don't want to use your popup menu, whatever I set on my computer is the volume I want."
There is also a checkbox related to DrawSprocket. The first time you launch Eternity, if you have multiple monitors connected and are using DrawSprocket, Eternity will ask you to pick a monitor. Don't worry, it will not ask you again, unless you request it to. This checkbox will let you do just that. If you check this box and click "OK," Eternity will clear out all of it's information on what monitor you selected, and ask you again the next time you launch Eternity. Using this checkbox without having multiple monitors, or without using DrawSprocket will have no effect besides causing unnecessary wear and tear to your mouse button.
Misc. information
The Eternity card deck is very large. In a four player game, there are 244 cards in the deck. 240 of these are "normal" cards, 4 are disaster cards. This number is decreased by one for each element not playing, as the special card for unused elements are removed from the deck. It wouldn't make sense for a Tornado to happen if Air is not in the game, etc.
