"Xconq" is the game application. It has been tested on a variety of Macs, from Powerbook 100s to Quadra 800s, running 7.0.x to 7.1. Xconq doesn't do any really weird tricks, but it REQUIRES SYSTEM 7 (c'mon, it's time to upgrade). It may or may not be compiled for 68020s and higher only, depending on the build (usually it will be '020-only).
"lib" is the folder of game modules; it should be in the same folder as the application.
"lib-mac" is the folder of Mac-specific data referenced by game modules, should be in the same folder as the application. Xconq doesn't absolutely have to have this, but the display will be REALLY ugly without!
"doc" is the folder with generic documentation for players and game designers. It does not have any Mac-specific info. The format is Texinfo, which is based on TeX, which you'll need TeXtures or OzTeX and the texinfo file to format, sorry.
"doc-mac" is the folder of Mac-specific documentation.
"ImFam" is a small utility to display and convert images used in Xconq games. Do "Open Resources..." on "lib-mac:Images" and see all the pretty pictures!
How To Use The Mac Interface
The following is a brief description, suitable for getting started. The Mac-specific documentation folder contains more detailed information.
When you launch Xconq, the initial screen gives you four choices: New, which brings up a list of games; Open, which allows you to pick a file; Connect, which will (when implemented) allow you to pick a game to join; and Quit, which lets you escape.
Usually you will want to choose New, which brings up a dialog listing all the games. You can select one and see a brief description of it.
If the game includes any variants, you will then get a dialog with assorted buttons and checkboxes to choose from. For instance, some games let you choose whether the whole world is visible when you start, or if you have to explore it first.
Not all of the games work equally well! You may get some warning alerts, which are often benign (such as an inability to find some images), but other alerts indicate disaster ahead!
Xconq takes a little while to load the game, then you get a player setup window, which shows the sides that will be in the game and who will play each side. Usually you will just want to accept it, but you can select a side/player entry and change the name of the side, and whether it has an AI (artificial intelligence - a robot player). Some games allow you to add sides - use the "Add" button. If you don't like the side you've been assigned to play, you can use the "Exchange" button to switch the selected side with somebody else's.
Then Xconq will finish setting up the game. For some games, this will take quite a while! Xconq generates random terrain, lays out countries that are neither too close nor too far apart, and does many other things at this point, so just kick back and watch.
Once everything is set up, Xconq then opens up a map window, the game status window, and the instructions window for you. The map shows you the terrain with different patterns, and your playing pieces (units) with small pictures.
(In some games, the AI gets the drop on you and may start bashing your stuff even before your display has come up. Life is tough sometimes!)
Display and interaction is still evolving, but the basic gist is to select a unit in a map or list window, and pick commands from the "Play" menu. By default, Xconq starts up in "auto-select" mode, which means that Xconq will select a unit for you to command, and when it is done moving, Xconq will automatically select the next one to command. Xconq also enables "move-on-click" by default, which means that clicking on a map immediately commands the selected unit to move there.
You can toggle auto-select/move-on-click mode on or off by clicking the big six-arrow icon in the map's control panel, or by choosing menu items in the "Side" menu.
When auto-select is OFF, you can select by clicking on a unit, shift-clicking a group, dragging out a selection rectangle, or by using Command-A to select all units. A selected unit is indicated by an outline box - solid black to indicate that it can move this turn, dark gray to indicate that it has used up its moves for this turn, and gray to indicate that it cannot do anything at all, at least during this turn.
When move-on-click is OFF, to move a selected unit, drag the selected unit to its desired new location. The unit might not move right away if it doesn't have the action points, but it may get some in the next turn. To move all selected units, do Command-click on the desired location and all of them will attempt to move there.
To shoot at another unit, you can position the mouse over the desired target, type 'f', and all selected units will attempt to fire. This works even if all units are selected, so you can call down considerable destruction with 'f'! If the target is too far away, nothing will happen.
To find out more about a particular unit, select it and pick "Closeup" from the "Play" menu or do Command-I. This brings up a window that shows all kind of data about that unit. You can leave this window up and it will always be kept up-to-date. You can only do this with some units, usually your own. All that you can know about an enemy units is already displayed (type, side, and position).
To jump ahead to the next turn, do the menu command "End Turn" or Command-E. You may have to do this if some of your units still have action points, but not enough to do any of the things you want them to do. To stop being asked about a particular unit, you can either do 's' or choose the Sleep item from the Play menu to put it to sleep until explicitly woken up (via 'w' or the Wake item), or Command-D or Reserve to put it in reserve until the next turn.
The Game window shows the status of all the sides in the game, including how many actions each side has left to do, who has lost or won already, each side's attitude towards you (a frowny face means that side is keen to destroy you utterly), and whether it is being played by a human or by the computer.
There are a lot more goodies available, experiment to find them.
Bugs
There are many bugs large and small, but actual crashes are unlikely. What is more common is that the program will get into a state where you don't know what's happening, or why.
If units disappear strangely, type 'ctrl-R', which recalculates visibility of everything.
If you get a warning alert and don't know what it means, it's safer to quit than to try to struggle on. You're likely to get a warning about missing images for some games. This just means that Xconq will have to try to make up some sort of image itself, and usually ends up making an ugly display. Harmless.
