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________________________________________ | | | | | | | Battle Ground | | ver. 1.10 | | | | User's Manual | | | | | |______________________________________| Copyright (C) 1986 MVP SOFTWARE 1035 Dallas SE Grand Rapids, MI 49507 (616) 245-8376 MVP Software is a member of the Association of Shareware Professionals (ASP). ASP wants to make sure that the shareware principle works for you. If you are unable to resolve a shareware-related problem with an ASP member by contacting the member directly, ASP may be able to help. The ASP Ombudsman can help you resolve a dispute or problem with an ASP member, but does not provide technical support for members' products. Please write to the ASP Ombudsman at 545 Grover Road, Muskegon, MI 49442-9427 or send a Compuserve message via CompuServe Mail to ASP Ombudsman 70007,3536. DISCLAIMER MVP SOFTWARE makes no warranties with respect to its pro- grams, with the exception that the customer shall be entitled to one (1) updated or modified version of the purchased soft- ware package for a fee of 50% of the price of the updated version and upon return of all copies of the original pur- chased program. The foregoing warranty is in lieu of all other warranties, expressed or implied, including, but not limited to, the im- plied warranties of fitness for a particular purpose and mer- chantability. In no event will MVP SOFTWARE be liable for consequential damages even if MVP SOFTWARE has been advised of such damages. If any of the provisions, or portions thereof, of this Dis- claimer are invalid under any applicable statute or rule of law, they are to that extent deemed to be omitted. SPECIAL SHAREWARE NOTICE This version of Battle Ground is distributed under the shareware or "user supported" concept. It is a full working version of the program. However, MVP Software receives no royalties from the distribution of this software and cannot support users who do not register their copies. If you enjoy this program, please register with MVP Software. If after a brief evaluation period you choose not to register, please pass along your copy to a friend who might enjoy the game. To register your copy of the program with MVP Software, please send the registration price of $15.00. If you register, you will receive the following: (1) The latest version of Battle Ground. The program comes with a printed documentation manual. (2) Full telephone support and bug fixes for at least one year. (3) The right to purchase new versions of the program, should they become available, for 50% off list price. (4) The knowledge that you have supported the development of inexpensive game software. The authors of Battle Ground are programmers who have devoted many hours to the devel- opment of the product. They receive royalties from the sale of the program. Your registration fee helps to sup- port them in their work. (5) As a special incentive, if you register you will receive a free game software package. This package, called "The Front Nine," contains nine graphics arcade and strategy games guaranteed to keep you coming back for more. It is available only to registered owners of Battle Ground. To register your copy of the program, send $15.00 (purchase price) to: MVP Software 1035 Dallas SE Grand Rapids, MI 49507 Or order by phone with MasterCard or Visa: 1-800-968-9684 (24 hours; orders only please) (616) 245-8376 for information Please specify which version of the program you want (IBM or Sanyo 550/555). There is an order blank at the end of this documentation file for your convenience. Battle Ground Battle Ground is a two-player tactical ground combat game typical of the mid 20th century. Employing various types of soldiers, weapons, and terrains, the object of the game is to defeat your opponent by destroying his platoon of soldiers. Each weapon available to both sides (United States and Germany) has its strengths and weaknesses, as does each type of soldier. For example, some weapons have a more lim- ited range than others, and soldiers vary in strength and ef- fectiveness in combat. In addition to a main weapon, each soldier carries hand grenades, which can be thrown only as far as the soldier's strength permits. A player may also call an air strike at some points in the game, and artillery strikes are also permitted. In the beginning of the game the US platoon occupies a portion of the battlefield, while the German platoon occupies another portion. The initial placement of the respective sides will differ with different terrains. Both players must devise and execute a battle plan to be successful. This manual includes instructions for playing Battle Ground. Please read it through completely before executing any game. Note: Before going any further, please make a working copy of your Battle Ground distribution disk. To do so, first put your Battle Ground diskette in drive A, which should be the logged drive, and a blank format- ted disk in drive B. Type copy *.* b:, followed by RETURN. If you have a one drive system, place the system disk in the drive. Type DISKCOPY, followed by RETURN. Follow the directions on your screen until the diskcopy is completed. Now put the distribution disk in a safe place, and use only your new working disk. Do not place a write protect tab over the notch on the side of the disk. Since Battle Ground is not copy protected, it will run from a hard drive. However, to save a game you must use the A or B drive. LOADING INSTRUCTIONS Battle Ground is supplied in machine language and runs from DOS. To run the program, put your working diskette in the logged drive. Enter BG, followed by RETURN. This will execute the file BG.EXE, which will automatically execute the other program files. 4 First you will see an introductory screen. Press the space bar to continue. Next the various weapons available to the two players will be displayed, along with their charac- teristics. Press the space bar once again when you are ready to proceed. This will bring you to the "selection program." The "selection program" allows you to select the type of battlefield on which to conduct your battle as well as other pertinent game information. You will first be asked whether you are using an IBM PCjr. If you are, or if you are using any other computer that does not have a numeric keypad, an- swer Y. Otherwise answer N. This is important for all phases of the game. Next you will be asked if you wish to resume an old cam- paign. If you are continuing a game previously suspended and saved, answer Y, and then enter the filename in which the game was saved. Otherwise enter N. Now you must select the type of battlefield on which to conduct your campaign. Five types are available, each with their own characteristics. For each main type, the program will select one of five screens available to it, which means there a total of 25 possible playing fields. Finally you must decide whether you wish the game to be- gin with bombing, and the availability of air strikes and ar- tillery. Now you are ready to begin the main game. After the game is initialized, you will see a graphic protrayal of the battlefield, with the American troops and German troops at their initial stations. Troops are represented by small squares. Both players take turns moving troops, firing weapons and executing strategy. Both sides may do as much as they like on any turn. Following is a description of the basic rules and how to execute playing procedures. BATTLE GROUND RULES AND PROCEDURES 1 Cursor Movement (Cursor Mode) The Battle Ground cursor is x-shaped, and at the begin- ning of each turn is located in the middle of the playing field. To move soldiers, fire weapons, or execute any other maneuver, it must be moved. But before the cursor can be moved the NUM LOCK key must be on. The following are the commands available in the cursor mode: 5 Q -- quit turn O -- quit and save game 1 -- moves cursor down and to the left 3 -- moves cursor down and to the right 4 -- moves cursor to the left 5 -- moves cursor down 6 -- moves cursor to the right 7 -- moves cursor up and to the left 8 -- moves cursor up 9 -- moves cursor up and to the right If you are using an IBM PCjr or other computer that does not have a numeric keypad, use the following keys for cursor movement. V -- moves cursor down and to the left N -- moves cursor down and to the right G -- moves cursor to the left B -- moves cursor down H -- moves cursor to the right T -- moves cursor up and to the left Y -- moves cursor up U -- moves cursor up and to the right Cursor movement is accomplished by pressing the numbered keys on the numeric keypad (note the arrangement of the keys). When in the cursor mode, a line of less than symbols (<) will be printed at the upper right of the screen. To move the cursor 5 times faster than normal, press the greater than key (>) before attempting to move the cursor. To move the cursor 10 times faster than normal, press the question mark key (?). 2 Registering a Soldier (Command Mode) To move a soldier, fire his weapon, or accomplish any other tasks with a soldier, the cursor must be located on the soldier. Once a player moves the cursor directly onto a sol- dier, press RETURN to enter command mode. At this point sev- eral new options are available: 1 -- soldier movement (relocation) 2 -- fire soldier's main weapon 3 -- throw hand grenade 4 -- give medical aid (medics only) 5 -- hand-to-hand combat 6 -- call an air strike (major only) 7 -- display status of soldier . -- return to cursor mode 6 2.1 Soldier Movement To relocate a soldier, from the command mode enter 1. You may move any player once in a round. If you attempt to move a soldier again in the same round, an error message will be displayed, from which you will be returned to command mode by pressing any key. To quit player movement enter a period (.). To move a soldier, press the cursor control keys 2, 4, 6, or 8, depending on the direction in which you wish to go (Y, G, H, B for PCjr). Pressing one of these keys moves a dot cursor in the appropriate direction. Once the dot cursor is in the location to which you wish to move the soldier, press RETURN to relocate the soldier. Soldier movement is limited. First, a soldier can be moved a maximum of five cursor lengths in a round. Second, a soldier cannot be moved on or through an obstacle on the field. 2.2 Firing Main Weapon With the cursor on a soldier, press 2 at the command mode to fire his main weapon. You may fire a weapon, throw a grenade or engage in hand-to-hand combat once a round per soldier. Once you have entered the firing mode, a direction prompt will appear. The following are the firing commands: 1 -- fire up and to the left 2 -- fire up and to the right 3 -- fire down and to the left 4 -- fire down and to the right . -- quit command mode and return to cursor mode After you have chosen the direction in which to fire, you will be asked to enter the firing angle. This is a two- digit number, so if you wish to shoot at an angle less than 10 degrees, you must press 0 and then the number. For ex- ample, to fire at 7 degrees, enter 07. To quit without firing and return to cursor mode, enter a period or enter a two-digit angle greater than 90. Weapons fire includes bul- lets from rifles and hand guns and bazooka shells from bazoo- kas. A beep indicates that a soldier has been injured or de- stroyed by weapons fire. Note that when a player inputs firing values (direction, angle, distance), the numbers do not appear on the screen. This prevents your opponent from observing the values and using them against you when it's his turn. 7 2.3 Throwing a Grenade Press 3 while in command mode to throw a hand grenade. But remember that you may use only one weapon per soldier per round. Again you must enter the appropriate direction (1, 2, 3 or 4); press . to return to cursor mode. As in firing the main weapon, you must then enter the angle, using a two-digit number. Finally, enter the distance you wish the grenade to be thrown in a two-digit number. Distance is limited, how- ever, by a soldier's strength. After the grenade explodes, fragments will spread and debris may accumulate. Remember that grenades can be thrown over objects such as trees and shrubs. 2.4 Giving Medical Care To give medical care to an injured soldier, press 4 at the command-mode prompt. Only medics can give aid. To give aid, the medic must be moved next to the unconscious soldier and remain there until the beginning of the following round. Only then can the medic give aid. If the medic has been next to the unconsious soldier for an entire round, adminster aid by pressing either the 2, 4, 6 or 8 (G, Y, H or B for PCjr) to indicate the direction of the injured soldier from the medic. Although medical aid is not always successful, and although soldiers may recover on their own, the odds of re- covery are much greater with a medic. 2.5 Hand-to-hand Combat Hand-to-hand combat is useful near the end of the game when soldiers have run out of ammunition. To engage this function, at the command mode press 5. An enemy must be next to the attacking soldier. To attack, press either a 2, 4, 6 or 8 (G, Y, H or B for PCjr) to indicate the direction in which to attack. If no enemy soldier is located in the di- rection indicated by the key you strike, an error message will be generated. If the attack is successful, a beep will sound. The enemy will be injured, but only rarely does hand- to-hand combat prove fatal. 2.6 Calling an Air Strike Each side has one major, and he is the only soldier ca- pable of calling an air strike. Locate the major, and press 6 at the command mode to call the strike. Due to weather factors, or lack of planes, a strike will not always be per- mitted. If you may carry out the strike, you will have a choice of three weapons to employ. These are the following: 8 1 -- 200 lb. bombs 2 -- block buster bomb 3 -- machine gun fire Press the number corresponding to the type of air strike you want. Next, you must specify the location of the strike. Enter a letter (A-E) to indicate the appropriate X sector and a number (1-5) for the Y sector. The air strike will occur between rounds from 2 to 6 rounds after it has been called. After all, WWII planes cannot achieve the speeds of contem- porary jet aircraft. 2.6 Soldier Status To see a soldier's life status, weapons and other fea- tures, from the command mode press 7. S, L and M represent strength, life points and medical status respectively. U stands for unconscious and C for conscious. Sgt. is an ab- breviation for Sergeant, G represents the number of grenades remaining and A indicates the amount of ammo left. Press any key to return to command mode. 2.7 Saving a Game If you wish to quit a game and save it to a disk file, from the command mode enter O. You will be asked to specify a filename. Do not enter the name of a file already on the disk, as the file will be overwritten. If you wish to resume the game without quitting, simply press RETURN. To exit the game without saving it, press ESC. It will take a little while to save a game. When it is saved, you will be returned to the main menu. The file in which the information is stored will occupy over 40K of disk space. Consequently there is enough room on the distribution diskette to save several games. However, you may wish to keep a separate Battle Ground data disk on which you save games. To do so, run Battle Ground from the A drive, and keep your data disk in the B drive. When you specify your filename, type B:<filename>, where <filename> is the name of the file you wish to use. 9 SOLDIER/WEAPON INFORMATION 10 Privates with .30 M-1 (US) or 8mm Musler (German) Ammuni- tion=10; shots per round=1; unlimited range; excellent ac- curacy. 4 Privates with .45 Thompson (US) or 9mm MP-40 (German) Am- munition=50; shots per round=5; unlimited range; fair ac- curacy. 2 Privates with .30 Bar (US) or 7.62mm MG-88 (German) Ammu- nition=100; shots per round=10; unlimited range; extremely poor accuracy. 2 Medics with .45 Colt (US) or 9mm Luger (German) Ammuni- tion=8; shots per round=1; limited range of 125; poor ac- curacy. 1 Major with .45 Colt (US) or 9mm Luger (German) Ammuni- tion=8; shots per round=1; limited range of 125; poor ac- curacy. 1 Sergeant with Bazooka (both sides) Ammunition=5; shots per round=1; unlimited range; poor accuracy. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Order Form Please send me the latest version of Battle Ground, along with my nine FREE graphics games. Enclosed is $15.00. Name __________________________________________ Address _______________________________________ City ___________________________ State ____ Zip __________ Computer make and model ____________________________________ Disk size (circle one) 5-1/4" 3-1/2" For credit card orders only: MC/Visa number _________________________________ Expiration date ____________________