Cream of the Crop 26/Cream of the Crop 26.iso/bbs/kdom221.zip/KDOC-TXT.ZIP/KPLAYER.TXT

Text File | 1997-06-15 | 100KB | 2,094 lines

        ┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
        │                       KINGDOMS                       │
        ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
        │              GAME PLAYER DOCUMENTATION               │
        │                     Version 2.21                     │
        ├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
        │                                                      │
        │  Programming & Design : Dave Chapman : The Web BBS   │
        │                                                      │
        │   Copyright c 1993, 94, 95, 96, 97 - Dave Chapman    │
        │                 All Rights Reserved                  │
        │                                                      │
        │       3:712/523@FidoNet  169:3005/2@BattleNet        │
        │                                                      │
        ├──────────────── [e-mail] ────────────────┤
        │                                                      │
        │              - Kingdoms Support Page -               │
        │        http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/kingdoms        │
        │                                                      │
        └──────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘


                           TABLE OF CONTENTS
                           ─────────────────

SECTION 1 - THE GAME

    1.1. In General

SECTION 2 - (Deleted)

SECTION 3 - OVERVIEW OF PLAY

SECTION 4 - LOGGING ON

    4.1. Your `Handle'
    4.2. Using Colors
    4.3. Male/Female
    4.4. Your Password

SECTION 5 - YOUR CHARACTER

    5.1. Level
    5.2. Hit Points
    5.3. Strength
    5.4. Agility
    5.5. Intelligence
    5.6. Gold
    5.7. Your Castle
    5.8. Your Vault
    5.9. Weaponry
    5.10. Armor
    5.11. Making Money
    5.12. Scoring System

SECTION 6 - MAIN OPTIONS

    6.1. <F>ight a Monster
    6.2. <P>roving Grounds
    6.3. <H>ealers
        6.3.1. <H>eal Yourself
        6.3.2. <B>uy a Potion
        6.3.3. <A>bsent Healing
        6.3.4. <D>rink a Potion
    6.4. <R>aid a Castle
    6.5. <V>isit Your Vault
    6.6. <S>cores
    6.7. <E>dit your castle
    6.8. <D>evelopment and Games
        6.8.1. The Gymnasium
        6.8.2. The Library
        6.8.3. The Weights Room
        6.8.4. The Casino
            6.8.4.1. High-Low
            6.8.4.2. Acey-Ducey
    6.9. <L>evels
    6.10. <C>ouriers Guild
        6.10.1. General
        6.10.2. Delivering Notes
    6.11. <Y>our Statistics
    6.12. <N>ews
    6.13. <K>ingdom Realms
    6.14. <O>utfitters
        6.14.1. General
        6.14.2. Outfitting Local Soldiers
        6.14.3. Outfit Soldiers - Agent Menu
    6.15. <M>isc
        6.15.1. Full menus
        6.15.2. ANSI Graphics
        6.15.3. Page Length
        6.15.4. What's New vx.xx
        6.15.5. Game Documentation
    6.16. The <T>avern
        6.16.1 Overview
        6.16.2. The Visitor's Book
        6.16.3. Private Rooms
            6.16.3.1. Getting Into a Room
            6.16.3.2. Entering Unoccupied Rooms
            6.16.3.3. Entering Occupied Rooms
            6.16.3.4. Sleeping in a Room
            6.16.3.5. Chatting with Others
            6.16.3.6. Examining Others
            6.16.3.7. Trading Items with other Players
                6.16.3.7.1. Setting up a Trade Deal
                6.16.3.7.2. Requesting an Item
                6.16.3.7.3. Offering Items
                6.16.3.7.4. Making the Deal.
        6.16.4. Drinking
    6.17. <G>raveyard
    6.18. <Q>uit

SECTION 7 - REALM OPTIONS

    7.1. <R>econoitre
    7.2. <C>hoose Default Realm
    7.3. <B>uild a Remote Castle
    7.4. <I>nvasion Orders
        7.4.1. Overview
        7.4.2. Who to attack
        7.4.3. What to attack?
        7.4.4. How many & when to send them
        7.4.5. Synchronous Attacks
        7.4.6. How it works
    7.5. <P>urchase Barracks
    7.6. <H>ire Soldiers
    7.7. <D>eploy Soldiers
    7.8. <A>gent Development
    7.9. <N>et Statistics

SECTION 8 - AGENT OPTIONS

    8.1. <Q>uery Agent Status
    8.2. <A>rm Agent
    8.3. <O>utfit Soldiers
    8.4. <F>ortify Castle
        8.4.1. Send <B>arracks to your Remote
        8.4.2. Send <S>oldiers to your Remote
        8.4.3. Send M<O>nsters to your Remote
    8.5. <S>end Gold to, <T>ake Gold from Remote
    8.6. <E>xperience Transfer
    8.7. <D>evelop Agent
    8.8. <U>ndercover Operations
    8.9. <B>rowse Agents

SECTION 9 - MISSIVES

    9.1. Reading Missives
    9.2. Replying to Messages
        9.2.1. From other players on your Realm or Remotes.
        9.2.2. From your Agent
        9.2.3. From the Kingdoms Net Manager
        9.2.4. From Others!
    9.3. Marked Missives

SECTION 10 - LAND & FOOD PRODUCTION

    10.1. General
    10.2. Food Distribution

SECTION 11 - SOLDIERS

    11.1. Soldier Morale
    11.2. Soldier Deployment

SECTION 12 - SUMMARY

APPENDIX A - CONTACT INFORMATION


Section 1 - The Game

1.1. In General

The aim of Kingdoms is, not to be too harsh about it, total domination
and suppression of everyone else playing the game by yourself and the
Agents you control. You are not there to be nice - you're not there to
make friends. Sure, you may make the odd alliance in mutually beneficial
circumstances but ultimately you'll stick it to the people you're allied
with using everything you've got. :)

Kingdoms offers a multitude of ways in which you may do this and it must
be said it isn't easy, but given time and sufficient application, it is
most certainly possible!

When you first play Kingdoms, you are given a Castle containing 10 empty
rooms, 200 credits, some healing potions and not much else, except the
dubious title of `Leper'. It is your task to build yourself up by
training to increase your abilities, fighting other users and monsters
for experience and raiding the Castles of others for the chance of extra
Gold.

There is a very well stocked armory which, as long as you have the Gold,
can provide equipment enough to make you a walking fortress and arsenal
in one. Of course, there is a casino for those who wish to gamble their
hard earned gold and try for some quick gp to add to it. Much, much more
awaits, so read on!


Section 3 - Overview of Play

Kingdoms fully supports network capability. It is quite likely that
you're familiar with other games that purport to be InterBBS games, but
they are pretty limited in what they can do and what they offer in these
terms. They allow you to send attacks out to players on other BBS's, or
send messages to and from them if you wish, but that's about it.
Kingdoms suffers from no such restriction.

Under Kingdoms InterBBS, you can most certainly send attacks out, trade
messages with users on other boards and the like, but with Kingdoms, the
concept of InterBBS gaming takes another step and you can also establish
complete bases for yourself on other BBSs in your net!!!

An example will give you a good idea of what this means to you, the
Kingdoms player. Lets say your Sysop is running Kingdoms in a network
with 5 other BBSes. That is, a total of six BBSes are participating in
your Kingdoms Net. Each BBS in the net is known as a Realm, inclding
your own BBS, and each players' castle on each Realm is known as a
Kingdom.

Assume you play Kingdoms on The Web BBS, then the Web is known as your
Home BBS. You will, in normal play, spend some (probably considerable)
time building up your first Kingdom on the Web until you are at the
stage of being able to begin spreading your holdings across the Net.
From your Home on the Web, you can purchase a new castle and have it
built on any other Realm in the Net. When you do so, you will hire an
Agent of your preferred sex to run the Castle for you.

An important point to make here is that the Agent you hire appears as a
normal Kingdoms player on the Realm on which you've built your new
castle. You give the Agent a name of your choice (which WON'T generally
be the same name as you use on your home BBS!) but that Agent knows he
or she is an Agent and to whom his or her allegence belongs! You may
trade with that Agent, store money in your Agents Vault, fortify your
Remote castle and many more things. You can even, if you wish, logon to
the Realm where your Remote castle is. You will be recognised as a
visiting Lord (or Lady) and will have complete control of a fully
fortified and (hopefully) financially stable Kingdom even though you may
never physically have logged onto Kingdoms on that Realm before.

As mentioned, Agents are, to all intents and purposes, real players to
others in that Realm and the Net as a whole. They have all the normal
statistics and facilities at their disposal as those of a real player,
all of which you can increase and improve just as you can your own, by
orders dispatched from your Home Realm. They can have (and probably will
have) messages sent to them just as normal players can. Of course, it
would be pretty pointless to do so considering you will often never log
directly onto a Realm where you have an Agent in residence (consider the
Remote operation you have in Perth when your Home Realm is in Sydney!)
and will therefore never get the message. Agents are smart enough
therefore to recognise messages that are coming in addressed to them and
will forward any and all such messages to the Home BBS where you will
recieve them in due course. You can then reply to them on behalf of your
Agent and send them back to be forwarded again to the original sender
under the name of your Agent . It matters not where the sender, where
the Agent and where the Home realm resides. Kingdoms handles all the
required routing with ease. You can therefore converse with any other
player(s) in your Net through your Agent(s) and they will never know it
is really you, who may have your Home in a completely different locaion,
who is answering their replies and participating in any plans they may
have ...

I will leave you to ponder the intricacies and strategies that can be
utilised under Kingdoms InterBBS. Suffice to say, they are many and
numerous. The final point I'd like to make in this general discussion of
Agents and Inter-Realm operation is that they can, amongst many other
things as yet unmentioned, be given orders to Invade another player on
another Realm. Further, you can instruct your Agent(s) to being Invasion
action only on a certain date. If you own several Remotes therefore, a
synchronised attack can be formed up to thirty days in advance on any
given player on any other Realm you have taken a dislike to for any
reason.

This high degree of InterBBS functionality solves one of the major
complaints I have often come across in other InterBBS games. That
problem is that, in other games, there is really little you can do if
several other players (or BBSs) decide that you have to go and all
attack you at once. Such concentrated offensive action can leave a
patiently constructed players game in shambles and, though many say it's
all part of the game, it is not at all enjoyable if you happen to be the
focal point of the joint attack. Under Kingdoms, you are no longer
required to `put all your eggs in one basket'. Indeed, if you get wind
of an attack that is coming your way (possibly by use of a Remote Agent
who has been playing a spy for you on the enemy camp? ... Hey ...
they're not going to know about it are they? :)), you can transfer the
majority of your assets out temporarily to an Agent you have on a safe
haven on another Realm, let the attack do it's work, then recall your
assets back from your Remote Agent when the heat is off. You'll
certainly take damage from such an attack, but you will no longer be
ruined by any means and will have the ability to not only bounce back
quickly, but take revenge on those who planned your demise! I hope the
above has given you a good idea of the sort of play and intrigue you can
expect to enjoy as a Kingdoms player. Following are more specific
descriptions of the various componenets of Kingdoms covering your
character and what the many menu options do.


Section 4 - Logging On

The first time you logon to Kingdoms, you'll be asked to give a little
information about the character you want to play. Once given, this
information is saved for you and you don't need to give it again.
Subsequent logons to the game will recognise you and drop you into the
game immediately. The information required includes :

4.1. Your `Handle'

Your handle is your call-sign, alias, whatever you want to call it. It
is the name by which you are known to others in the game. When
scoreboards are displayed, messages are sent to and fro, etc, this is
the name which is used. Your real name is never referred to in the game.
Make it something interesting! You CANNOT change your name once you've
started playing, so get it right first time!!!

4.2. Using Colors

Kingdoms supports the use of color codes in all displayable text. This
includes character names, ie, Handles, message text, etc. Colors are
simple to insert in any text by use of the `^' (carat) character,
followed by the desired color code. The codes available to players for
use include :

* ^H    : Select High Intensity
* ^L    : Select Low Intensity
* ^R    : Red text
* ^Y    : Yellow text (with high intensity), Brown text (with low
          intensity)
* ^K    : Black text (pretty pointless really ... :-))
* ^B    : Blue text
* ^C    : Cyan text
* ^G    : Green text
* ^M    : Magenta text
* ^x    : sets background color, where `x' is the lower case letter of
          the color desired, eg, ^r sets a red background.

Please note : When entering the color codes, the `^' character will be
accepted, but not displayed as Kingdoms treats it as a control character
and as such, not displayable. If you wish to actually put a ^ in your
text, just put two `^'s.

4.3. Male/Female

Kingdoms makes no distinction as far as statistics and character
development go in relation to the sex of the character given. This is
simply a means of personalising your character depending on your choice.
Kingdoms will display him/her, he/she, Lord/Lady at times when
appropriate, giving the game a nicer and more realistic feel. In short,
we are an equal-opportunity game. :-)

4.4. Your Password

This is a VERY important aspect of logging onto the game. The password
you enter here (and in other places in the game) is the password that
can be used to control your character from a remote realm. As discussed
in the section titled `Overview of Play', Kingdoms fully provides the
ability for you to have a character and/or Agent you control on one
Realm (BBS) entirely from another Realm. The password you enter here is
the password that MUST be provided to manage your character (the one
you're now starting up by logging on) remotely. Likewise, if you build a
castle on another realm from the one you're presently logging onto, then
you need to specify a password for that Agent to use to validate
incoming orders. If you forget this password, you will lose ALL remote
control ability for that Agent!!! If all else fails, the Sysop of the
Realm on which your Agent resides is able to retrieve your password for
you


Section 5 - Your Character

Your character has the following statistics and abilities at his or her
disposal. Each is important in it's own right and care must be taken
when considering how you plan to develop your character. It is up to the
player to decide on the best course of action to make your character,
eventually, unassailable.

5.1. Level

The current level of your character, based on experience. Levels in the
game can be displayed with associated title names and experience points
from the Kingdoms menu, option `L'. When at levels 1 & 2, the player is
protected against attack (both on your local realm and from InterBBS
attacks) by the Realm Authorities to give the new player a chance to
start before being inundated by attacks. You can only stay on these
levels for a total of one (real time) month maximum. If you are on level
1, a month has passed, and you still haven't gone to level 2, then the
game will automatically promote you to level 2, regardless of your
statistics, giving you just enough experience to make that level.
Likewise, if you have been playing for 2 months and you are still not
past level 2, the game will promote you automatically to level 3. No
automatic promotions take place on players out of Realm Protection, ie,
equal to or greater than level 3.

5.2. Hit Points

Your Hit Poins are the amount of damage your character can take before
death. The only way to increase your HP is to go up a level. You do this
by gaining experience, which can only be achieved by fighting other
users or monsters. The higher the person fought (and defeated, of
course!) or the higher monster level fought, the greater the experience
gained. The number of hit points you gain when you go up a level is NOT
set by the game. It is a function solely of the Intelligence of your
character. Your HP when you first start the game are 20.

5.3. Strength

Strength is one factor which determine your ability to successfully
strike an opponent. The other factor is the Weapon your character is
using. Strength at the start of the game is set to 10. Increasing your
Strength can be done, for a price depending on your level, in the
Development Centre.

5.4. Agility

Agility is one of the factors which determine your ability to
successfully evade an opponents blow. The other factor is the Armor your
character is using. Agility at the start of the game is set to 10.
Increasing your Agility can be done, for a price depending on your
level, in the Development Centre.

5.5. Intelligence

Intelligence, as described above, is used to determine the amount of Hit
Points you increase when your character reaches a new Level.
Unfortunately, because the benefits provided by keeping a good
intelligence score are not immediately apparent, many players tend to
overlook this ability in favour of Strength and Agility. An intelligent
player will not ignore this ability. A low intelligence is a guarentee
of a long term disadvantage in the game. You will find that when you
start the game, your levels will rise quite quickly, compared to when
you've been playing for some time. Therefore, it is at lower levels that
your hit points rise most quickly. A decent intelligence can make a big
difference in the long run in terms of the hit point increases you gain
at lower levels! Increasing your Intelligence can be done, for a price
depending on your level, in the Development Centre.

5.6. Gold

All important. Without it, you're not going anywhere. It costs money to
train, to buy equipment, gamble, and just about everything else. You can
have Gold in two places, in your hand, ie, on your person somewhere, or
in your Vault. The 10th room in every Castle contains your Vault. Should
someone defeat you in a personal attack in the Proving Grounds, any gold
on hand will be lost to the victor. Monsters who defeat you will also
take your Gold on hand. Gold you place in your Vault cannot be taken
from you unless someone raids your Castle and wins through to the Vault
Room.

5.7. Your Castle

Your castle contains 10 rooms. Rooms 1 to 9 are empty at the start of
play and Room 10 houses your Vault and you, when you are not actually
playing. Your Vault, obviously, can be used to store Gold you wish to
keep from unfriendly (ie, all other) players. As you live in Room 10,
you are all that exists at first between the outside world and your
Vault. You can, when you get some Gold, purchase monsters of a level you
desire and can afford (monsters are the level, times 10gp, squared, to
purchase) and place them in any of the 9 first rooms of your Castle. In
order for an opponent to enter your Vault Room, they must first pass
through Rooms 1 to 9. Monsters placed in those rooms will defend that
room to the death for you, hopefully stopping anyone Raiding before they
even get to you and your gold in your Vault Room. Believe me, if you
manage to get 9 level 10 monsters in rooms 1 to 9 (that will set you
back 500 (gp per monster level) * 10 (monster levels) * 9 (rooms) =
45,000gp!), then your Vault can be considered secure except from the
most powerful enemies ...

Should someone Invade your Castle and kill a monster you've placed in an
intervening room, that monster departs and is replaced by one of a level
one lower than the previous monster occupant. If a level one monster is
killed in one of your Rooms, then the room becomes unattended and
undefended. Your own prowess and the monsters you can purchase are there
to protect you from those on your own realm who choose to raid your
Castle. When players from other realms invade, it is quite possible
there will be a force of several thousand Soldiers decending on your
Castle in force to rid you of your assets. While you and your monsters
are tough, sheer weight of numbers means a couple of thousand Soldiers
will overrun you in short order. For this reason, you may purchase
additional protection against attacks from other realms in the form of
your own Soldiers. Soldier purchase and use is discussed below in the
Inter- Realm section so it will suffice to say here that they can be
used for either attack or defence purposes, though not both at once!

5.8. Your Vault

While a good bit of discussion has gone on about the Vault you own, one
further point is pertinent. It is possible to take out more money from
your Vault than you have placed in it. In fact, you can `overdraw' your
Vault to the tune of 200gp per level of your character. A level 5
character can withdraw up to 1000gp more than is actually available in
the Vault. While this IS handy at times, a negative balance in you Vault
incurs a 5% interest charge daily. You have been warned!

5.9. Weaponry

Weapons can be purchased from the Outfitter at a set price. As long as
you have the money, you can purchase any weapon. That is, the Outfitter
stocks never run out. Only melee weapons are available at the Outfitter
at present. Range weapons are not yet a part of this game. The better
the weapon, the better the chance you'll hit an opponent, taking into
account the strength of your character as well.

5.10. Armor

Seven Armor types are available -

* Body Armor
* Headwear
* Rings/Bracers
* Robes/Cloaks
* Footwear
* General Armor
* General Magic

While in the Outfitter, you can list Armor types you want to purchase by
Category (shown above) or list the lot.

A player character (either your Home BBS character or an Agent) can wear
any type of armor. Soldiers, discussed later in this document, are
restricted to wearing armor of Body Armor type only.

5.11. Making Money

An important consideration! There are a lot of ways to make money in
Kingdoms. Below they're listed in brief, but getting the most out of
them is up to the player :

* The Casino. You can gamble in here and, if you're good enough, make
plenty of gold!

* The Colloseum. Here you can fight monsters and, if victorious, pick up
both Gold and Experience.

* The Proving Grounds. Here you can fight other players in the game. If
you defeat them, any money they have on hand is yours.

* Raiding Castles. This can be very rewarding if you pick the right
castle to raid. If you enter and can defeat the owner, then the contents
of their Vault, plus any gold they have on hand, is yours. Also, you
have the time before leaving to search the body and swap any item of
equipmentyou have for one of theirs. On a less positive note, a danger
here is that if you happen to raid someone who is in debt, you'll also
pick up their debts.

* Invading Castles. Probably the attack form that has the most liklihood
of a good return is Castle Invasions. You get any gold the person has if
the invasion is successful, plus your Soldiers will steal the most
valuable item the defeated person owns and return it to you for sale or
use. It will be sold if the player already has an item of this type (eg,
if a `General Magic' armor item is stolen and the player already has one
or equal or greater value) or equipped automatically if the player
doesn't. This CAN be worth a lot, particularly if the person invaded has
good equipment! Also, as Soldiers steal, not swap items, it is a more
effective way of damaging opponenets. Soldiers do NOT bring debts back
to the player.

5.12. Scoring System

While player attributes such as current Hit Points and Gold are pretty
indicative of the strength of the player, they are too volatile (they
change to frequently) to give a solid base for player score. Thus, only
statistics which are more stable are used in calculating the score of a
player at any given time. Player scores are calculated using the
following algorithm :

* 10 points per maximum hit point value. Current hp's don't score.
* 10 points per Strength point
* 10 points per Agility point
* 10 points per Intelligence point
* 1/5000th (one five-thousandth) points per experience point
* 5 points for each level of each monster defending a castle
* 5 points for each armor and weapon item number
* 1/2 a point for each Soldier where morale is < 90 or > 110
* 1 point for each Soldier where morale is between 90 and 110 inclusive
* An additional 1/3 point per Soldier per equipped Armor number
* An additional 1/2 point per Soldier per equipped Weapon number

Scores are calculated real time in the game when viewing local scores.
Realm scoreboards are generated overnight when your Sysop runs
maintenance and could be up to 24 hours old, depending on when the
system you play on runs it's maintenance programs.


Section 6 - Main Options

The first menu you are presented with when you logon to Kingdoms will
look like :

<F>ight a Monster  <P>roving Grounds     <H>ealers
<R>aid a Castle    <V>isit your Vault    <S>cores
<E>dit your Castle <D>evelopment & Games <L>evels
<C>ouriers Guild   <Y>our Statistics     <N>ews
<K>ingdom Realms   <O>utfitters          <M>isc
<T>avern           <G>raveyard           <Q>uit

6.1. <F>ight a Monster

What game is complete without the nasties around to make life difficult?
With 200 separate monsters, divided into 20 monsters for each of the 10
monster levels you can encounter, this game does not lack for such
diversions! Monsters have much the same statistics as Characters do.
They have a certain ability to defend themselves and a general level at
which they can strike an opponent. The higher the monster level you're
facing, the stronger and better protected they will be.

Some monsters of higher levels also have the ability to employ `Special
Attacks'. Those with such ability have a certain percentage chance,
depending on the monster, of utilising such an attack form. The chance
they will use their ability is entirely random. If you're unlucky, they
could use this ability very frequently. Then again, Asmodeus has been
known to refrain from Special Attack for whole battles, sometimes ....
:) Experience only will tell you what monsters have what abilities.

Choosing to <F>ight a Monster is the best means, particularly when you
first start playing Kingdoms, to pick up Gold and Experience. Fights
take place in the Colloseum. When you enter, you are asked what level
monster you want to challenge from level one to ten, ten being the
strongest and hardest to beat. With the Gold you make from challenges,
you may train in the Development Centre, buy better Armor and/or Weapons
or engage in InterBBS operations. It's not recommend to undertake the
latter until you have consolidated yourself on your Home BBS (see
Kingdoms InterBBS), but the choice is, of course, yours! Should you lose
a challenge against a monster, it will happily strip you of any gold
you're carrying on you at the time.

6.2. <P>roving Grounds

In the Proving Grounds, you have the option to challenge other players
on your Realm to a one-on-one combat. You can choose who you wish to
fight and will, should you defeat them, acquire any gold they have on
hand plus experience points based on the level and strength (both
offensive and defensive) of the player you defeat.

Of course, should you lose, the same applies in reverse! In general, it
is more profitable in terms of Gold, except perhaps at higher monster
levels, to combat players than monsters. In contrast, defeating monsters
will generally reward you with greater experience than Proving Ground
combat.

6.3. <H>ealers

The temple is a quiet and serene place run by Priests who, rumor has it,
are more crotchety old men than disciplined Clerics! Still .. they know
their job and will do it well, for a fee, of course. The Priests bow to
the God Lathander, whose dominion is that of Healing, Vitality and
Light. Through Lathander's grace, they are able to provide healing on
the spot or potions that you can use at a later stage. It is here also
that you can choose your preference for when you want to drink potions
if attacked while you're away.

6.3.1. <H>eal Yourself

As the name says, the Priests will offer immediate healing if you choose
this option. A tithe of 10gp per hp healed is payable, in advance, for
the service.

6.3.2. <B>uy a Potion

Again, pretty obvious! Potions you purchase cost 150gp and will heal
10hp each.

6.3.3. <A>bsent Healing

Your healing option is used when enemies raid (locally) or invade
(remotely) you. Using it, you can instruct your character to drink any
potions he or she may have when his or her current hit points drop below
a certain percentage of the maximum hit points.

For example, if you have your healing option set to 60% and you have a
maximum of 100hp normally, then on your turn in the combat, once your
hit points drop below 60, your character will drink one potion. Your
character does not lose the chance to hit if a potion is consumed, it is
an additional thing your character can do in that combat round. As long
as your hit points remain below 60, your character will keep drinking a
potion each round until there are no more (assuming you had some to
start with!) to consume.

6.3.4. <D>rink a Potion

You may, if you wish, drink potions you own within the temple itself.
This is the only place, except for when fighting, that you can drink a
potion that you own. It is more cost effective to purchase healing
directly rather than use potions. Then again ... sometimes you need the
hit points and don't have any gold on hand!

6.4. <R>aid a Castle

This options allows you to attempt to enter another players castle and
raid his or her Vault in room 10. To get there, you must make your way
through rooms one to nine and defeat any monsters placed there to guard
the castle. Once through, you must also defeat the owner of the Castle.
Having achieved that, the contents of their Vault are yours, for better
or worse. If a player is in debt and you raid their castle successfully,
you will receive their debts as well as any gold they may have.

Rumor has it that players in debt have been known to provoke stronger
players in an attempt to get them annoyed enought to go raiding ...

Raiding takes a great deal of effort and because of the considerable
resources involved, characters can only raid castles three times a day.

6.5. <V>isit Your Vault
The Vault options give you the facility to deposit or withdraw money
from your vault and to check your balance. Just about all transactions
you undertake within Kingdoms requires money in your hand to complete.
While here you can also, if you wish, transfer money to any other player
on your Realm.

6.6. <S>cores

The Rankings list is a list, in order of strength, of the players in
your Local Realm.

6.7. <E>dit your castle

This option allows you to purchase monsters to place in rooms 1 to 9 of
your castle. As discussed in the section above on `Your Castle',
monsters may be placed in a room of your choice and may be of any level
(1 to 10) that you desire, dependant on cost.

6.8. <D>evelopment and Games

By choosing Development and Games, the character may visit any one of
the following facilities in the local Realm. To train one point in any
attribute costs 5pg per point of that attribute the player already has.
Thus, if a player has 10 Strength, 25 Agility and 50 Intelligence, it
will cost him or her 50, 100 and 250gp respectively to increase another
point in any of those abilities.

6.8.1. The Gymnasium

An instructress will take you through exercises designed to promote and
increase your Agility. Each time you visit, your Agility will rise one
point.

6.8.2. The Library

Here you may study and learn, increasing your Intelligence by one point
again for each session attended.

6.8.3. The Weights Room

Designed to increase muscle tone and power, attendance will increase
your Strength permanently by one point.

6.8.4. The Casino

Here fortunes are made or lost! While in the casino, the following games
are available to you :

6.8.4.1. High-Low

A simple game where the House deals a card and you place your bet based
on whether you think the next card will be higher or lower than the one
just dealt.

6.8.4.2. Acey-Ducey

Two cards are dealt by the house in this game and a bet can be placed on
the next card being equal to or between the two just dealt.

You can play each game 20 times each day. The casino is not rigged.
Cards are drawn from a full pack of 52 playing cards (excluding cards
already drawn from the deck), the random selection being performed after
the random number generator has been seeded with the computer hundreth
second timer. The result is therefore left completely to chance!

6.9. <L>evels

This option displays a list of the levels characters may aspire to while
playing Kingdoms.

6.10. <C>ouriers Guild

6.10.1. General
The Couriers Guild is the organisation in the Realms with which you can
lodge missives (messages) for other players in the game, or read
missives others have left for you. When you logon to Kingdoms, any new
missives will automatically be displayed for you so you don't have to
remember to go in and read them every time. If you have any Agents, you
can also send messages on their behalf to anyone else playing Kingdoms
as though the Agent character actually sent the missive him or her self.
A seperate section of this document describes sending and recieving
missives within Kingdoms.

6.10.2. Delivering Notes

In addition to sending missives, you can also send a `note' to another
player. Unlike missives, which are stored until such time as the
recipient picks them up and reads them, delivering a note is a real-time
action that happens between two (or more) players logged into the game.
Obviously, this is only a useful function in a multinode environment!

If you see someone playing the game (indicated on the Scoreboard list as
an `Active' player) and wish to deliver them a note, simply go to the
Courier's Guild and select <D>eliver Note. If there is only one other
player online, Kingdoms will assume you want to send a note to that
player and, after confirmation, allow you to enter as many lines of text
as you wish. Each time you press enter to start a new line, the line
you've just typed will be sent to the other person immediately. Pressing
enter on a blank line will drop you back to the Courier Guild menu.

If the player you're delivering a note to is in the game somewhere, the
note(s) will be displayed to them as soon as they get to any menu in the
game. You can expect, therefore, that they will receive it fairly
quickly. If they're in the middle of typing a missive or something
similar, it may take a minute or two to get to them. If the other player
enters the Courier Guild, Deliver Note option, you and he/she
effectively enter a private chat session where you can talk for as long
as you wish, or until your time in Kingdoms expires. While in the
Deliver Notes option, a `~' (tilde) character as the first character of
a line constitutes a special command. Any line starting with a tilde is
NOT sent to another user. The following facilities are available using
tilde :

~w - Shows who's currently playing Kingdoms and allows selection of a
     user for chat.
~t - Shows how much time you have remaining in your session.

Case is not sensitive for the character following the tilde character.

6.11. <Y>our Statistics

This option allows you to select one of three status screens you wish to
view. They are Personal Statistics, Protection Statistics and Castle
stuff.

6.12. <N>ews

Allows you to read Today's or Yesterday's news on the Realm.

6.13. <K>ingdom Realms

Choosing this option takes you to the Realms option menu. See the
following section titled KINGDOMS REALM OPTIONS for a full explanation
of the options and functions available to you here.

6.14. <O>utfitters

6.14.1. General

The Outfitters is the place where you can purchase armor and weaponry.
You can purchase it for yourself, for your soldiers, for an Agent (the
equipment must be sent to him/her, and he/she must have enough money to
pay for it!), or for an Agent's soldiers.

Purchasing equipment for yourself or for an Agent are effectively the
same thing. An Agent can wear/use any armor/weapon you can, the only
difference is, of course, that you must send the armor/weapon to the
Agent if ordered for a remote, whereas you immediately get to use it if
you purchase it for yourself. Some items are cheaper than others when
compared to their efficiency, particularly when you get to using magical
armor items. It's suggested you look carefully at how powerful an item
is compared to cost for the various classes before purchasing or you may
be wasting valuable gold!

Purchasing armor/weapons for Soldiers has a few differences to the
straightforward activity of purchasing for yourself or an Agent. These
differences will now be covered. Note also that in the <A>gent options
in the <K>ingdom Realms options, there is also an <O>utfit Soldiers
option. That option is the same as this one, the <O>utfitters option on
the main Kingdoms menu ... it is just in the Agent's menu as well to
save the player the time taken to go back to the main menu if he/she
wishes to purchase an item.

6.14.2. Outfitting Local Soldiers

Getting a good local soldiers force built up is not an easy task. You
will want a lot of them and you'll want them to have good armor and
weapons. A great deal of gold will change hands to ultimately achieve
this! Properly outfitting soldiers, though costly, is most definately
worth it however as they are your first (and possibly strongest) line of
defence for incoming invasions from other Realms. They are also the
offensive forces which you use when you want to raid Castles on other
realms!

When you purchase new armor or weapons for your Soldiers, the Outfitter
will take away their old armor/weapons for you and will give you half
their purchase value in return. There is no need to specifically sell
Soldier armor/weapons as there is with purchases of Character
Armor/Weapons. Also note that soldiers, be they on your Home realm or on
a Remote, can only wear armor in the `Body Armor' category. You can
purchase any type of weapon for them.

6.14.3. Outfit Soldiers - Agent Menu

This option is used to send an order to one of your Agents to equip his
or her local Soldier force with certain types of Armor and/or Weapons.
It is the same as choosing the Outfitters on the main Kingdoms menu, and
choosing to outfit "Soldiers on an <A>gent's Realm" - it just saves you
the trouble of going back to the main menu if you're working with an
Agent at the time.

When you select this option, as normal, you'll be asked whether you're
interested in Armor or Weapons. Once you select that and choose the
<B>uy option from the following choices (Buy, Sell or Leave) you'll be
asked what realm you're sending your orders to.

When selected, you'll see a message that looks like :

        Arming remote Soldiers on <remote realm>
    Please note : If your Soldiers already have Armor on
    <remote realm>, then the old will be sold to outfit the new.

As mentioned previously, soldiers, unlike your character and Agent(s),
can only wear one type (category) of armor - Body Armor. If you instruct
you Agent to outfit his or her Soldiers with an armor or a weapon item
when they already own one, the Agent will automatically sell the old
armor/weapon before buying the new. The message shown above is there
just to remind you of that when you go to buy new armor. You can <S>ell
armor if you wish through this option but there will generally be no
need for that unless you want to remove all armor from Soldiers
belonging to a remote Agent without replacing it with another. <B>uying
does this automatically and there is no cost penalty incurred for using
this method. In line with the fact that Soldiers can only wear body
armor, this is the only armor type displayed to you for selection when
you're outfitting Soldiers.

6.15. <M>isc

Miscellaneous game settings including :

6.15.1. Full menus

Players who are very familiar with the game may not necessarily want to
see menus displayed all the time for the sake of speed, particularly if
you have and/or are connected to a slow modem. Choosing this option will
toggle between Kingdoms displaying full menus and abbreviated menus
during play.

6.15.2. ANSI Graphics

This option toggles between ANSI and non-ANSI (ie, no color codes being
sent) display modes.

6.15.3. Page Length

Controls the number of lines for certain displays in the game that will
be shown before a `More (Y/n)' prompt is provided.

6.15.4. What's New vx.xx

Changes and new features for the release of Kingdoms you are playing can
be viewed by the player using this option.

6.15.5. Game Documentation

Player documentation is available online, fully indexed, from this
option.

6.16. The <T>avern

6.16.1 Overview

What player doesn't need a fortifying mead, or perhaps something
stronger, from time to time? The Tavern is the place to go to get the
taste of blood and dust from you in Kingdoms! While much of Kingdoms is
devoted to InterBBS activity, the Tavern is a place with purely `local'
facilities. Within the Traveller's Rest, you'll find a number of
interesting things to do and people to meet. You can drink yourself into
oblivion (Author tip : fighting Monsters if you're drunk is not
generally a good idea!) or sip quietly on a glass of water if you wish.
You can take a Private Room where you can meet with and trade items
(including gold) with other players in the game. If you'd prefer, you
can stay overnight here too rather than in your castle, though staying
overnight has both advantages and disadvantages you'll want to consider
depending on your circumstances. Of course, you can sign the visitors
book or read the writings of others who have been here over time. A
number of others (residents of the town, not necessarily other players)
use the Tavern, of course, and meeting them usually provides an
interesting interlude. Some are friendly and can, if the mood takes
them, offer some very valuable items and/or advice to the Player who
happens to meet them. On the other hand, some are not so friendly and
will probably try to kill you if you bother them without invitation.
Some you won't know about until you try certain actions with them.
Without giving too much away then, if you want a break from the rigours
of killing and maiming your opponents or sundry monsters, you may find
the Rest a most entertaining distraction!

6.16.2. The Visitor's Book

You are welcome, of course, to sign the Visitor's Book while you're in
the Tavern. The book is open to all and sundry to leave their comments
on life in, but no person is permitted to write two consecutive comments
in the book.


6.16.3. Private Rooms

6.16.3.1. Getting Into a Room

The Rest boasts twenty Private Rooms, each of which can hold up to and
including five people at any one time. When you choose to take a
<P>rivate Room it will cost you a 2gp flat rate for however long you
want to stay there. If you choose to pay (no refunds!), you are shown to
a corridor which leads to each of the rooms and you can select the door
(Room number) you wish. If, when you enter the corridor, you see a guard
on the door to any of the rooms, it means that the room is occupied by
someone else already. If there are no guards, then all the rooms are
unoccupied and you can take any of the twenty available you wish.

6.16.3.2. Entering Unoccupied Rooms

If you choose to take a room which is unoccupied, you'll be assigned a
guard (included in the 2gp room hire fee) who will stay at the door for
as long as the room is occupied. The guard stays with the room, not the
person who hired him, so if someone else enters the room later to join
you, you leave and the other person stays, then the guard assigned will
stay by the door as well. The guard will only leave when there is no one
else in the room to guard.

You must give your guard a password which he will request from any
others who want to enter the room at a later stage (see `Entering
Occupied Rooms') before allowing them to enter the room and join you.
Once inside, you can go to sleep, whether or not you're by youself, or
talk/trade with others there as the desire takes you.

6.16.3.3. Entering Occupied Rooms

You can attempt to enter an occupied room by selecting a room that
already has a guard in front of it when you're in the corridor. When you
go to enter, the guard on the door will ask you for the room password
and (usually) will not allow you to enter if you don't know what it is.
As ever, good help is hard to get, and it's no different at the
Traveller's Rest. While generally doing their job well, the brutes
assigned to guard the doors can, on occasion, be forgetful. Thus, if you
try to enter a room that's already occupied, you may find you can bluff
your way through the door even though you may not know the correct
password.

Be warned that entering a room that's already occupied, unless you
happen to know who's in there already, can have unexpected results.
After all - you never know what is going on or who you may meet behind
closed doors. You might find a friendly face behind the door and come
out better than you went in, or you might find someone who takes umbrage
at you barging in on them unannounced!

6.16.3.4. Sleeping in a Room

All private rooms have five comfy beds in which you may recline and pass
the night (until you next play the game) in blissful slumber! Going to
sleep is another means of leaving Kingdoms but has a few implications
when compared to leaving the game by the normal means of Quitting from
the main menu.

1. If you leave the game by going to sleep in a private room you are
not, of course, in your Castle! Thus, raids which take place from others
on your Realm or Invasions that come in from other Realms that get
through to your Vault Room in your castle will find it unoccupied. The
raiders/invaders will still have to get through any defending soldiers
and monsters you've left to guard your castle, but you will not be there
as a last line of defence and any gold in your Vault Room will be theirs
to take without further opposition. This may or may not be a good thing
depending on the strength of your defences, the amount of gold in your
Vault, and the strength of your own character. No other players and
invaders can kill you while you're asleep in a Room as the Rest itself
cannot be raided or invaded.

2. When you are asleep, anyone who gains access to your room can Trade
with you by default. Up to and including three items can be traded with
you while you're asleep (any more might wake you!), and there is no
limit on the gold that may be taken assuming you're carrying some (on
hand) when you go to sleep. Another player can leave any number of items
or gold for you while you're asleep, but ethics (such as they are in
this game!) dictate that they cannot trade to you a debt they may be
carrying while you're asleep. This would normally be fine as it will
usually be your friends to whom you've given your room password to use
for just this purpose. A small chance remains however that others who
are uninvited (See Entering Occupied Rooms) might get in which is a risk
you must take if you decide to sleep in a room.

3. When you next play the game, you will wake up in the private room
rather than in your Castle, of course!

6.16.3.5. Chatting with Others

If there are other people in the room, you can chat with them, of
course. Unlike the `Deliver Notes' option in the Courier Guild,
conversations in Private Rooms are not one-on-one - anything you say in
the room will be `heard' by all others there, except for those who
happen to be asleep at the time. If you can arrange to all be in the
same room at the same time, this is a far more effective means of
planning group strategy than by the relatively cumbersome (for this
purpose) method of individual mail in the Courier's Guild.

6.16.3.6. Examining Others

You can look at any of the occupants of the room (including those who
are sleeping) at any time. When you do so, you will receive a
comprehensive list of all weaponry, armour and gold the other person is
carrying at the time. This is a good means of deciding if you want to
trade with anyone who is here with you. You can also check your own
inventory while you are in the room by looking at <Y>our equipment.

6.16.3.7. Trading Items with other Players

Trading with other players, both items (Weapons and Armour) and gold, on
your local realm is always performed in the privacy of a room in the
Rest. In order to do a trade, both (or all) players who are going to
transact business must be in the same room at the same time. Note that
this does not mean both players have to be online at the same time. One
player can be asleep in the room and that qualifies just as well though
it means the player who is asleep has much less say (none, in fact!)
about what items are given and what items are taken in the trade.

6.16.3.7.1. Setting up a Trade Deal

In order to trade, the items you want to give and/or take must, of
course, be specified. In any trade, there is one `active' participant,
who actually proposes the deal, and one passive who need only accept or
reject the offer(s) made by the other. If trade is taking place between
a person online and a person who is asleep in the room, the one asleep
is, of course, the passive trading partner. This explanation of how
trading works is presented from the point of view of the active
participant as he/she is the one who actually sets up and proposes the
deal.

When in a Tavern Room, you can <E>xamine any of the other people who are
in there with you. The items you see them carrying are listed for you,
along with how much gold they are currently carrying. Anyone else in the
room, of course, can also obtain a list of anyone else's items,
including yours. Please note that only items a player is carrying on
his/her person are available for trade. This includes all weapons and
armour and gold in hand.Gold in a player's vault is not available to you
to request as part of the trade deal. When you find someone you want to
trade with, or who wants to trade with you, you can propose a <T>rade
deal. A list will appear of all the items (both the other players and
your own) up for trade with none of them currently selected as part of
the deal. A running total of the value of the trade deal is maintained
for you at the bottom. When you start of course, the totals will be zero
for both of you. With the list in front of you, you have the following
options :

<R>equest an item, <O>ffer and Item, <M>ake the deal or <F>orget it.

6.16.3.7.2. Requesting an Item

When you Request an Item, you can choose the item number from the list
shown which you would like to receive as part of the trade. Item 1 will
be the other players weapon, 2 to 8 their different types of armour and
9 an amount of (or all of) their gold in hand. If you select 9, you'll
be prompted further for how much gold you want to take. You cannot, of
course, request more than they have, nor can you request a negative
amount. When done, the full trade list will be redisplayed with those
item(s) selected displayed in bright text and with an asterix (*) on the
left hand side of the item name. The total value of the trade in gold is
also updated for easy reference.

If you are trading with a player who is awake, ie, online and in the
game at the same time as you, you can request any and all items off
him/her. If the other player is asleep however, you are limited as to
how much you can take off them. A total of three items (and any amount
of gold) can be taken from a sleeping player. To take more would mean
disturbing the player too much and everyone knows that adventurers need
all the sleep they can get! Note that the total items includes items
other players may have already taken off them. If, for example, you
entered a room where someone is sleeping and someone had already taken
one item off him/her, you would only be able to take two more items from
the person before his/her sleep became disturbed.

6.16.3.7.3. Offering Items

Offering Items is the same as Requesting them only, of course, these are
things from your own possessions that you are offering to the other
person as part of the trade deal. Regardless of whether the other person
is asleep or not, there's no limit on the number of items you can offer
from your own. You can offer one or all of your items and none or all of
your gold. Again, each time you add an item to the deal, the trade deal
summary is displayed so you can see exactly what you are giving and what
is being requested as part of the deal, with the total values displayed
accordingly.

6.16.3.7.4. Making the Deal.

Once you've selected all the items you want to offer and all the items
you want to request as part of the deal, you can <M>ake your offer.

If the person you're trading with is asleep, the trade will be done
immediately as he/she is not in any position to agree or disagree with
the fairness of the deal you propose. If you choose to make a
particularly unfair deal with the other person however, beware. The
Innkeeper keeps a very close eye on the goings-on in his rooms and will
inform the player (via the Courier Guild) of exactly who did what when
the other player wakes up! Revenge is often sweet for a player caught
napping! ?

If you Make your Offer and the other player is awake in the room with
you, he or she will have the opportunity to Accept or Reject the offer.
To think about that from the other persons (the passive one's) point of
view for a moment - when a trade offer is made by a person in the room
to someone else, the list of items being offered and/or requested will
pop up for them to examine before accepting or rejecting the offer.
There will most likely be a short interval after you Make your offer to
someone therefore, before you get an Accept or Reject back from them.
They will have to have time to receive the offer, examine it, and make a
choice as to whether they want to accept it or not. During this time, a
`WAITING' message will appear to you to indicate the other person is
thinking about it. You do still have the opportunity to <W>ithdraw your
offer at this point if you wish. If you do this however and the other
person has accepted at the same time, the acceptance of your offer will
take precedence and you won't be able to stop the trade going through.
If you want to <W>ithdraw an offer you have made, you need to do so at
least ½ a second (in real terms) before the other person <A>ccepts it to
cancel your deal.

If you let your offer stand and the other person Rejects it, you will be
informed as such and simply returned to the trading menu. You might want
to <C>hat to the other person here to enquire as to what was and wasn't
acceptable as part of the trade so you can modify your deal and <M>ake
it again. If the other person Accepts it, of course, the items are
swapped and you are returned to the room options for further trading or
other room activities as you desire.

6.16.4. Drinking

With the Tavern, of course, comes a bar with liquid refreshment readily
on hand. The most potent brew concocted by the Innkeeper (made on
premises with a dubious mixture of powerful ingredients!) is known
simply as Firewater. Drinking 5 or 6 of these will see you pretty drunk
pretty quickly. The drinks range in alcoholic volume from there down to
water for those who feel the need to `dry out'.

Being drunk while playing the game has some interesting side-effects
(both good and bad) which the player will notice as the game progresses.
If you find you are just TOO drunk to achieve something you're trying to
do, coming back to the bar and having a glass of water will settle
things down a little. True to life though, you can drink a heap of water
and if you were drunk when you started, you'll still be drunk when you
finished, though you may not have quite the same degree of hangover the
next day you might have had otherwise ...

You cannot drink more than 10 drinks a day (let's not be greedy!). They
can be of any type you wish, but I'd suggest 10 Firewater's in one
sitting is a dangerous exercise unless you have a death-wish . After
you've had a drink, your current level of inebriation will be displayed
to you, ranging from Stone cold sober to Completely Wasted. Your current
level of intoxication can be viewed at any time in the <Y>our
Statistics, <P>ersonal display.

6.17. <G>raveyard

This option is only for the truly desperate! Generally you'll only
need it if you've gotten yourself so far into debt to the bank that
it is impossible to recover as the interest repayments exceed the
amount of gold you can make up each day playing the game.

The Graveyard option will completely reset your character to
starting defaults. Weapons, armor, defences, statistics and everything
else that belongs to your character is reset and you are effectively
starting out with a `new' life. In addition to your Local character, ALL
Agents you have will be deactivated (deleted) on ALL realms.

You are asked to confirm this is really what you want to do when
using this option because, once done, you cannot reverse the
regeneration of your character or Agents.

6.18. <Q>uit

This option returns you to the BBS on which you're playing Kingdoms.


Section 7 - Realm Options

By choosing <K>ingdoms Realms from the Kingdoms primary menu, you'll be
placed in the Realm Options. These options are those which pertain to
Inter-BBS functions in Kingdoms. The menu will look something like :

*KINGDOMS InterBBS Ops*

<R>econoitre         <C>hoose Default Realm
<B>uild a Remote Castle    <I>nvasion Orders
<P>urchase Barracks      <H>ire Soldiers
<V>isit your Vault      <Y>our Statistics
<D>eploy Soldiers       <A>gent Development
<F>ood Production       <N>et Statistics
<S>cores by Realm       <L>eave

Current Realm : 2 - Way Out West (Last Recon : 6-2-1996)

When you first enter this menu, you will be prompted for your Default
Realm. This is the Realm which Kingdoms will use as the destination
Realm for any InterBBS commands you use directly related to a Realm.
Your Default (current) Realm is always displayed for you after the menu
and before your prompt along with the most recent recon date from that
Realm.

The Courier Guild, Vault, Your stats and Leave options are discussed
under the Kingdoms Standard Options section earlier and will not be
covered again here. The others warrant further explanation.

7.1. <R>econoitre

In order to perform any InterBBS functions, a Recon (Reconoiture) must
first have arrived from the Realm you wish to communicate/deal with. If
you choose this option and no Recon has ever been recieved for the
Kingdom you're interested in, then a Recon will be requested
immediately by Kingdoms. If a Recon already exists, you'll be given
the option of displaying the current Recon information or requesting
another Recon.

Generally, you'll only want to request another Recon if information on
the Realm is out of date. Recon information is basically a rankings
list (ie, scoreboard) of players on remote realms. Kingdoms itself
examines the dates of Recons for all Realms in the net each night. It
will automatically send a request for a recon `refresh' to any Realm
with Recons which are older than 7 days, keeping the Recon data
reasonably current. If no Recon is on file for a Realm, then a recon
will be requested each and every night until one is returned.

7.2. <C>hoose Default Realm

The Realm options are, by definition, those that you use when doing
things associated with a Realm other than your Local one. Generally when
you're doing this, you'll be working with one Realm in particular, such
as one you have an Agent established on. To save you having to select
the Realm you want to work with every time you choose one of these
options, Kingdoms supports a `Default' Realm. When ever you do something
in the Realms options, it will assume that the Default Realm is the one
you're targetting/working with.

If you enter the Realm options without a Default Realm specified,
Kingdoms will ask you to select it. This option allows you to choose
whichever one you want.

7.3. <B>uild a Remote Castle

Once a recon is available, you can build a Castle on a Remote realm
assuming you can afford it. To build a Castle elsewhere requires the
purchase of land and materials, labour and construction crews, transport
costs and more. At a cost of 10,000gp this does not all come cheap.
You will find it essential however as you progress in the game if you
want to spread your risks and engage in the strategic subleties which
ownership of remote Castles and Agents allows. Once purchased, this
Castle is your base of operations on the Realm on which you choose to
build it. The concept of a Castle and, more importantly, the Agent that
runs it is discussed at some length in the Overview to this document.
It suffices to say here that a castle on another Realm is basically the
same as the castle you own on your Home Realm. The other options on
the Realms menu allows you to fortify your Agent, buy and arm
soldiers, send invasion forces and so on. All this activity, of
course, is performed via remote command. There are several points to
note here :

1.   Kingdoms does not currently support more than 100 players per
Realm. If you attempt to create a Castle on a realm that is full,
Kingdoms will notify you that the Realm is full and to try another time.

2.   When you create a Castle, you must give a name for your Agent
who will run it for you in your absence. If you'd like to stay
anonomyous, you should choose a name for your Agent other than the name
(handle) you use on your Home BBS.

3.   As with local options, an Agent cannot be commanded to Invade
(as distinct from a local Raid of a Castle by the Agent him or herself!)
another Castle on the Agent's Realm using soldier forces.

4.   Many commands to Agents require a password for
authorisation of the command. When you create your remote Castle you
will be asked to give a password for the Agent. MAKE SURE YOU
REMEMBER THIS PASSWORD. If you forget it, there is NO way you will
be able to command your Agent any longer. He or she will simply reject
your commands if the correct password is not supplied. The Sysops of
each Realm have facilities available to find out the password of an
agent on their Realm if absolutely necessary.

5.   You can logon to your Remote Castle locally by dialling into the
BBS on which your remote castle resides. When you logon, you MUST be
using the same name (REAL name that is) as you use on the Home BBS
from which you originally created the remote Castle. For example,
assume my name is Dave Chapman (which it is!) and I play on The Web. I
create a remote Castle on Restless BBS, giving a password as per normal
when I create the Castle. I can then logon to Restless and enter
Kingdoms, but I MUST be logged onto Restless as Dave Chapman as well.
If I'm not, Kingdoms won't recognise me as the owner of an Agent on
Restless and will assume I'm just another new player entering Kingdoms.
Assuming I have logged on correctly, my Agent will stop me at the door
and ask me for the password for my Agent. Assuming I give the correct
one (the one I specified when I created this Remote Castle in the first
place), then my Agent will turn over complete control of the Castle to
me for the duration of my call!

6.   You can only create only one Remote castle on each Realm in your
net. There is no limit (except physically the number of Realms in the
network) on the total number of Agents you can control.

7.   Agents cannot be corrupted. They will stay loyal to their Home
Realm unto death.

7.4. <I>nvasion Orders

7.4.1. Overview

This option is the one chosen to initiate attacks on other Realms. You
can create an invasion force yourself or order an Agent to begin
offensive action on a particular day if you wish. When you choose to
initiate an invasion, you are asked if you'd like to send an Invasion
force from your Local  Realm or from a Remote (Agent). Note that if you
are visiting an Agent (ie, are logged onto a BBS where you have set up
an Agent) then the Agent does NOT have the authority to order the Home
BBS to start an attack. You MUST be logged onto the Home BBS in order
to send invations from there.

While on the subject of invasions sent from a Local Realm, you should
note that Realm Law strictly prohibits invastion attacks (as distinct
from Castle Raids, which are no problem) on local users. An internal
Realm war is no good for anyone on that Realm in the long run, therefore
Realm Authorities for the Maintenance of Peace (RAMP) have legislated
against it and endure this does not occur. If you select to send your
invasion from the Local Realm, you must have Soldiers in your barracks
as invasion forces consist solely (at present) of soldiers you've
hired. If you choose to send an invasion from a Remote Realm, then you
will be asked where you want the invasion to be initiated. This
Realm must, of course, be one on which you have an Agent!

7.4.2. Who to attack

Having selected where you want to attack from, you choose who your
invasion force is going to attack. Select what Realm and who on that
Realm you want to attack (as in most places in Kingdoms, a `?' will give
you a list) remembering the restriction on Locally initiated attacks.

7.4.3. What to attack?

Having chosen WHO you want to attack, you must next decide WHAT you want
to attack. There are 3 options available :

1. The Castle itself.

Attacking the Castle is the hardest, but also the most potentially
rewarding type of invasion. Soldiers you send have to get through
opposing soldier forces (numbers based on the defender soldier
deployment percentages), then through any monsters defending the castle,
then kill the player him/her self on the Remote Realm before the Vault
can be plundered.

2. Warehouses & Stores

Attacking these areas of a players' holdings will destroy portions (or
all) of the food stores owned by the player you're attacking. This has a
immediate detrimental effect on the morale of the enemy realm if the
destruction is sufficient to impact the feeding of local troops. A flow
on from that is reduced fighting effectivness of the enemy's soldier
forces.

3. Land & Crops.

This sort of invasion can be fairly damaging in the long term to a
player's Realm as a whole. Buying land and getting production going is
an expensive task and this invasion method attacks just these things.
With the amount of damage being relative to the number of soldiers who
make it past defences, a successful invasion will lower future
(long-term) production amounts putting a financial burden on the one
attacked to get their land productive again. Of course, this must be
done before their stores run out, or their soldiers will start losing
morale, etc ...

7.4.4. How many & when to send them

Next you will be asked how many soldiers you'd like to send. Note that
Soldier numbers are NOT checked for invasions initiated from a Remote
(ie, Invasions that you're ordering an Agent to send), simply because at
the time you're setting up your invasion, you cannot know for sure how
many Soldiers your Agent actually has to send. Due to a recent attack,
the Agent could have signigicantly less than you think! When the
invasion is due to leave, an Agent will simply send out as many
Soldiers as it can, up to the number you specify here. In any case,
your Agent will send you a message when he or she sends out the
Invasion force letting you know the date of departure and the strength
of the force sent. Lastly, you are asked to provide a date you want
the invasion to start. By using this judiciously, invasions can be
synchronised with several Agents (should you have several!), and your
Home Realm if you wish, to leave at the same time and cause
appropriately increased damage on an opponent Realm.

7.4.5. Synchronous Attacks

Please note that to synchronise attacks requires good luck as well as
good timing. Kingdoms is reliant on the Kingdoms net operating as it
should and unfortunately sometimes a mail call is missed by a BBS or
other things happen to cause an invasion to either be delayed or not to
arrive when you expect. In such cases, just consider it bad weather
over the Relam which meant your attack couldn't go out and don't
hassle the Sysop overly ... remember he or she is putting in a lot of
effort for you to get the game up and running in the first place!

7.4.6. How it works

When an invasion force comes in, any Soldiers of the defending Realm
will turn out in force to repel the invaders, according to the defence
deployment percentages on the Kingdom being attacked. The defenders will
engage in one-on-one fighting unto the death with your incoming force -
no quarter given. Of course, the better equipped and larger the invasion
force, the better chance they stand of success. When a Soldier of either
force dies, the survivor will continue to fight the next opposing
Soldier until one of them is defeated, and so on. Soldiers have 30hp
each and damage is carried over in each fight for the survivor. For
example, assume a defender takes 10 damage in a fight before killing the
opposing soldier. When it goes on to fight the next opposing soldier,
the new one will start the fight with 30hp and the other with 20hp. This
is he most equitable form of mass fighting and ensures no side is
given advantage over the other through luck alone.

With a defending Soldier force defeated, whatever is left of the
invaders then has to make it through the castle. Any monsters guarding
rooms in the Castle will, of course, take offence to a batallion of
unfriendly Soldiers traipsing through their abode and will react
accordingly. One soldier has statistics for fighting equal to that of
about a level 2 or 3 character. Normally, a level 3 character wouldn't
have a hope of defeating a level 10 monster (should there be one)
standing in its way however weight of numbers are on the side of the
Soldiers in this case. By the odds calculated, it takes about 1000
Soldiers with basic equipment to overwhelm a level 10 monster. Note this
is indicative only - it may in reality take between 100 and 5000
soldiers depending on how well equipped the attacking soldiers are.
Should there be any remaining soldiers after all monsters have been
disposed of, there is only the occupant of the Castle that stands
between your force and the Castle Vault. Obviously, defeating him or
her is again a function of the owner's fighting ability and the sheer
numbers of soldiers which assail him or her. No baseline is possible
here to give ideas of the odds required to defeat a character as a
character has so many attributes (# of potions in possession, strength,
agility, hit points, weapons, etc) which vary the odds and will mean
the difference between victory or death of an invading force.
Several thousand well equipped soldiers against a  fairly strong
character will generally do it though ... :-) In either case, whether
the invasion force is successful or not, a message will be returned to
you via the Courier Guild telling you of the results. If taken, any
money and/or equipement stolen from the defeated Kingdom will also be
returned, to be given to you or sold if you already own a better item
than the one taken.

7.5. <P>urchase Barracks

You'll need to purchase Barracks for two reasons. Firstly, Barracks
house your soldier forces which help defend you against incoming
Invasions by other Realms. 100 Soldiers can reside in each Barrack.
Purchasing soldiers is discussed later in the section <H>ire Soldiers.
Secondly, to send Barracks to an Agent, you must first own one (or more)
to send.

7.6. <H>ire Soldiers

This option is a bit of a misnomer being on this menu (the Realms menu)
as it allows you to actually purchase Soldiers which will reside in your
local barracks. The reason it's on this menu rather than the local
functions menu is that firstly, the Soldiers are there for protection
and use against and for Inter-Realm invasions and secondly, when you
send Soldiers to a Remote Agent, you send those that are in your
barracks, ie, the ones you purchase here. Therefore, it makes sense,
in a roundabout way, to put the option here!

Simply then, this option allows you to hire Soldiers to stay in your
Barracks to be used as you see fit. You can either leave them there to
guard against incoming attacks or send them out on invasions of
their own. You must, of course, have sufficient Barracks to hold any
Soldiers you hire.


7.7. <D>eploy Soldiers

To defend your land, stores and castle, defence options are also
included in the game. The player must distribute his or her forces
across holdings by percentage, according to the value each player places
on each, Land, Stores or their Castle itself. If the player considers
food stores most valuable for example, he or she might allocate 50% of
available soldiers to defence of the stores, 25% to defending crops and
25% to the castle itself. It is not necessary to allocate the full 100%
of soldiers to defence activities. It could be a tactical advantage to
keep some percentage of soldiers in reserve (by allocating perhaps 80%
of soldiers to defence) and keeping the rest in the barracks. If a very
strong invasion force comes against them then, all will not be lost and
the remaining 20% of your forces will redeploy immediately according to
your standing deployment orders.

Again, the use of such percentages is a tactical decision to be made by
the player.

7.8. <A>gent Development

This is where the primary commands for developing an Agent and his or
her castle are available. The section below titled `Agent Options'
discusses what Agents are and what options are available to you in here.

7.9. <N>et Statistics

This option displays information which Kingdoms keeps track of regarding
the other Realms on your Kingdoms network. It lists, for each Realm, the
average time, in days, it takes to get mail to and from each Realm.
Kingdoms polls remote Realms for this information automatically at
regular intervals defined by the Sysop of each Realm. You do not need to
do anything to get this information. The display provided will resemble
:

-*Kingdoms Net xx Statistics*-
                            Mail to  Mail From
        No.  Kingdom Realm           Average  Average
    -------------------------------------------------------
         1 - The Web              N/A    N/A
         2 - Blue Marlin            2 days  3 days
     3 - Way Out West           3 days  4 days
    -------------------------------------------------------

There will be one Realm listed for each node in your Kingdoms network.
For informational purposes, the Network Id of the Kingdoms network
you're playing is displayed in the title of this display. The N/A next
to the Web above indicates Not Applicable. The Web in this case, is the
home realm and, of course, there are no mail statistics to report! In
the above example, it takes two days (on average) for mail to get from
The Web (the local Realm) to Blue Marlin. It takes three days for mail
on Blue Marlin to get to The Web. If any of the of the times are listed
as `No Stats', that means that your Realm has never had mail sent to
and/or from that Realm. This could indicate a Realm that is so new that
Kingdoms has not yet had time to gather statistics or that there is a
problem somewhere in the network and mail is not getting through or back
from that Realm to your own local Realm. If this situation persists,
please inform your Sysop who can look into the problem and get it
rectified.


Section 8 - Agent Options

When you choose the Agent Development option from the Kingdoms Realms
menu, you are presented with the following options :

<Q>uery Agent Status      <A>rm Agent
<O>utfit Soldiers        <C>astle Fortification
<S>end Gold           <T>ake Gold
<E>xperience Transfer      <I>mprove Agent
<D>eploy Soldiers        <F>ood Prod/Dist
<U>ndercover Ops        <B>rowse Agents
<L>eave

These options are described separately below.

8.1. <Q>uery Agent Status

Doubtless once you own a Castle, you will want to check on your Agent
occasionally to get a status report. By choosing this option and
selecting the Realm on which (one of) your Agent resides, a request is
sent to that Agent for a report on current status and holdings.

The status information will be returned in a formatted report to you
from your agent, by way of the Courier Guild in Kingdoms.

8.2. <A>rm Agent

With a Castle created you will doubtless want to arm and protect the
Agent who looks after it. This option allows you to do just that by
sending him or her Armor and Weaponry. Note that is is the Agent that
actually pays for any armor and/or weapons you send to him or her. If
the Agent already has a weapon, or the type (category) of armor
you're sending, the existing weapon/armor will be sold at half price
to the local Outfitter before paying for and equipping the new items.
There is no need to tell an Agent to do this first when you send new
equipment, it will be done automatically.

8.3. <O>utfit Soldiers

This section is the same as section 6.14 - Outfitters. It is just here
to save you moving back in the Kingdoms menus while you are working with
Agents. Please see the Outfitters section for more information.

8.4. <F>ortify Castle

As with your own Castle, you may place monsters in the rooms of your
Remote Castles, add barracks to your Castle for protection against
inter-realm attacks, etc. Your Default Realm is used to determine which
Realm you're operating with. You must, of course, have and Agent of
yours on the Realm with which you're dealing or the orders will be
returned to you with an appropriate message from the Kingdoms Net
Manager.

8.4.1. Send <B>arracks to your Remote

You must first have purchased barracks at your Home realm before you
can send them. Barracks will be added to you Agent's Castle as
Barracks are to your own.

8.4.2. Send <S>oldiers to your Remote

The Realm you're sending to must (as well as being a Realm on which
you own a Castle!) have room for your soldier force to reside. Soldiers
live in Barracks and only 100 Soldiers can fit in each Barrack. If you
send more Soldiers than can fit on the Remote, then the remaining ones
(those for which there was no room) will revolt and leave your Agent,
never to return. Again, you have to have purchased Soldiers on your
Local Realm before you can send them.

8.4.3. Send M<O>nsters to your Remote

This option allows you to send monsters to a Remote to occupy
(protect) castle rooms in the same way as they do on your Local Realm.
Monsters cost 250gp per level you buy. In addition, the stronger the
monster, the greater the transportation cost (cages/ward spells etc)
so there is an additional charge of 150gp per monster level. Eg, a
level 10 montser for a Remote will set the home BBS back 4000gp.

8.5. <S>end Gold to, <T>ake Gold from Remote

As the option says, this allows you to send Gold you have to an
Agent, or order the Agent to send you Gold. You will be asked for the
Realm on which your Agent resides and the password for that Agent as
transferring gold is a protected function.

8.6. <E>xperience Transfer

Kingdoms allows you to transfer experience from your character to Remote
Agents. Any experience you send will, of course, be taken from your own
character's experience.

When receiving experience, the Remote Agent will gain levels and hit
points based on his or her current statistics of Strength, Agility and
Intelligence as does your character on the local Realm.

A couple of restrictions exist here ...

1.   An Agent will never gain more than one level at a time no matter
how much experience you send. Any additional experience sent will be
wasted as the Agent must have time to get used to a new level before
embarking upon another one!

2.   You cannot reduce (ie, you cannot send) your own experience to
the point where the remainder of your experience would place you on a
level below the one you currently occupy.


8.7. <D>evelop Agent

This is pretty self-explanatory. You can send training to an Agent to
increase his or her statistics (Str, Agi, Int) in the same way as your
own local character. This will obviously be desirable if you want your
Agent to be strong enough to repell attacks from the Realm on which he
or she resides.

8.8. <U>ndercover Operations

Spies and undercover agents are in plentiful supply in Kingdoms and, for
a fee, will gladly attempt to infiltrate an opponent's castle and return
to you vital data of the player infiltrated. The level of operative you
employ has a direct bearing on the chance the operative has of
successfully. Of course, the strength of the defences of the player
being infiltrated also play a part in how easily an operative can get to
the Vault room of his/her castle and make off without being taken and
executed as a spy! Undercover operatives who make it out of their
target's castle and back to you with the information leave no trace
whatsoever of their being there. Should an operative be caught however,
the owner of the Castle will be informed of the attempt and who
initiated it.

8.9. <B>rowse Agents

Lists all Agents, with summary status information, that you have on
Remote Realms. Should you wish for full detail for any reason, the
<Q>uery Agent status should be used.


Section 9 - Missives

If you're playing Kingdoms, then you know what a BBS is. There's a
pretty good chance therefore, that you already understand the concept of
sending messages between users. I will not therefore go into the details
of message posting (ie, why you'd post messages and what you might put
in them) except to say that, under Kingdoms, sending mail to any user
(both on your local BBS or on a remote BBS) is a simple matter.

9.1. Reading Missives

There are two times in Kingdoms where you may read missives (messages).
They are at logon, when new messages for you are displayed, and in the
Courier's Guild itself. When you are reading messages, you will
generally see the following information and prompts : Check from
<L>ast read or <S>tart of missives? (L/s) If you choose <L> as a
response, you will be displayed any messages that are waiting for you
that you have not yet read. Note this displays from last read, not
from the date you last logged onto Kingdoms.

Messages you read will be displayed something like :

   -----------------------------------------------------
   Message From   : Sender Name (Location1)
   Message To    : Addressee  (Location2)
   Posted On    : Message Date
   -----------------------------------------------------

* Sender Name is the name of the person who originally posted the
message.

* Addressee is the person to whom the message is addressed. If Addressee
is a name, the message can't be seen by anyone but that person. If
Addressee is `All Realm Users', the message is seen by all on your
Realm. If Addressee is `All Kingdom Users', the message is seen by all
on all Realms.

* Location1 indicates the origin of the message. If Location1 is a
number, then the message has been posted from a user on this realm, the
number being the user number of that person. If not a number, the
message was posted from a Remote Realm to this Realm. Location1 in this
case will be the name of the remote Realm from which this message was
posted.

* Location2 is the user number of the user to whom the message is
addressed, most often, you!

* The message date is the date the message was originally created. If a
message is created on one realm and routed through another via an Agent,
then the message date is the date the message was rerouted by the Agent,
not the original posting date.

In addition to the above standard message information presented above,
you could also see the following when reading messages :

 "This message was forwarded to your Home Realm on (date)"

You will only ever see this message if you're logged onto a Remote Realm
as one of your Agents. New mail will be displayed to you as per normal
however it's likely that your Agent has already forwarded it to your
Home Realm for you to take action on. This message simply lets you know
that your Agent HAS forwarded it and lets you know when this was done.

"NB: This message was posted to your agent on (Realm Name)"
"Your Agent has forwarded it onto you for your attention!"

When your Agent sends on messages, you will receive them on your Home
Realm as you would a normal message. This tag is attached to let you
know which Realm it came from (if you have Agents on more than one
Remote) and as an extra eye-catcher so you know it's from one of your
Agents. The sender name in this case is the person who originally posted
the message to your Agent, NOT the name of your Agent. This is so that
you have the opportunity to respond to whoever originally posted it,
either back through your Agent so it looks like it's the Agent
responding or direct from yourself to the originator.

9.2. Replying to Messages

This section covers the various choices you have when responding to the
different types of incoming messages you'll receive. You can receive
messages from three basic sources :

9.2.1. From other players on your Realm or on Remte Realms.

When you read messages from other players, you have the following
options available once the message is displayed :

"Reply to this message? ([N]o/[y]es/[s]top) "

[N]o will mark the message as read and continue on to display any
more messages you might have waiting. [S]top will stop your message
reading immediately. [Y]es will reply to the message. If the message
was posted from a local user, ie, there's a number next to the sender
name, not a Realm Name, then you'll be dropped into the editor
immediately to construct your reply. If from a remote user .....

9.2.2. From your Agent

If a message has been posted to your Agent and your Agent has routed it
to you, then you will be asked an additional question once you choose
[Y]es to reply to the message.

"This message came to you from one of your Agents."
"Do you want to reply back through that Agent? (Y/n)"

If you answer [Y]es to this additional question, the message will be
sent first back to your Agent who will, assuming you've given the
correct password for that Agent (message forwarding is protected by the
Agent's password you specify when you constructed your Castle), forward
it on under his or her name to the appropriate players on the
appropriate Realm. If you say [N]o, then the reply will go direct
from you to the destination player/realm, sent from YOU!. A warning : if
you don't want people to know what Agent's belong to you, then always
reply back through your Agent. If someone sends a message to an Agent
you own and you yourself reply, it will be pretty obvious who is
running whom! Another form of message you can get from your Agent is a
reply to a request you've made, a status report or other such things
which are answers/information provided initiated at your request. For
messages the Agent is sending to you such as these, no response is
required and Kingdoms recognises this. For such messages, you do not
get the Yes/No/Stop prompt after the message is displayed, the
prompt you have is :

"No Reply Required. Continue Reading? (Y/n)"

Just hit `Y' if you want to keep reading your messages or N to stop. By
using this method, you won't make mistakes by replying to things you
shouldn't reply to, wasting your time and the efficiency of the
Kingdoms network sending meaningless messages. After all, if you
replied to an Agent's status report, the Agent would only route your
reply back to you anyway!!! :)

9.2.3. From the Kingdoms Net Manager

You may, on occasion, receive messages from a user called the `Kingdoms
Net Manager". This effectively represents the Kingdoms software telling
you that something unexpected has happened. For example, you might send
a message to `Freddo' on Realm 2 from Realm 1. In the time it takes to
get there however, the maintenance programs on Realm 2 might have
deleted Freddo as he or she hasn't logged on for a while (30 days
default, alterable by your Sysop). So, your message arrives and the
person who whom it is addressed does not exist. Rather than just
consigning your message to the ether, the Kingdoms Net Manager will kick
in and send you a message letting you know what has happened. It will
also, in certain instances, suggest reasons for what occured and things
you might be able to do to rectify the problems. Eg, if a user isn't
found, it will suggest you request another Recon from that realm so your
Recon file is up-to-date. If you get a message from the Net Manager, you
will find that Kingdoms will inform you that `No Reply is Required' to
the message. You do not, in fact, get the option to reply at all. This
is simply because there is no one, technically, to reply to ... the
message is simply a system message and as such does not need a response.

9.2.4. From Others!

There are numerous other people in the Realms who will from time to time
send you messages. For the most part, these are informative messages
left to you by someone who has seen things happen, or who might have
some news for you. In the AD&D genre, such people in Kingdoms are
Non-Player Characters, or NPC's. Generally, like messages from the Net
Manager, you cannot reply to messages from NPC's.

9.3. Marked Missives

Missives may be marked by the user to whom they are addressed. Marking
is ONLY available on missives that are to the player personally, not,
for example, on missives addressed to All. The main use for marked
messages is to easily find agent reports you want to re-read after first
receiving them though it can, of course, be used for any message
addressed to you that you desire. The <M>ark missive option is displayed
as available on appropriate missives when you're reading through them.
There is no need to do anything special other than select <M>ark on the
missive. Marked missives are never `unmarked' automatically, meaning you
can keep track of these messages as long as you wish. When reading a
message that's Marked, you can, of course, <U>nmark it if you no longer
want to keep track of it.


Section 10 - Land & Food Production

10.1. General

Players in Kingdoms can purchase Land, which is capable of producing
food. Food is required to feed Soldiers and keep their morale at optimum
level.

When Land Titles are first purchased, land is assumed to be producing at
100% capacity. Over time however, production will decline as it would in
the real world if the land is left untended. Capital investment is
required at judicious intervals to repair and replace production
equipment that wears out, to purchase grain, build silos and so on.
Given sufficient investment, it is quite possible to have Land produce
food at greater than 100% capacity. The intelligent player might
discover a point at which is it more cost effective to run existing Land
at greater than 100% rather than to just buy more of it. No land can
produce greater than 150% it's capacity nor less than 20% capacity
however. At 100% production, each unit of land owned will produce 300
units of food per day.

In regognition of the fact that land production does not just `jump'
when capital is invested (eg, it takes time for a newly purchased &
planted seed to have an impact on total production), there are two
percentages that relate to land production. The first is the `current
production', which is what the land is now producing. The second is the
`destination production', which is the percentage to which current
production is heading. Capital investment will increase the destination
production. A disaster, such as an incoming invasion with an objective
to sabotage/destroy crops and production, will reduce the destination
production. Food that is produced by Land owned by the player is stored
in Warehouses. The player must ensure that sufficient food is maintained
in stores to feed any soldiers owned. The player may specify how much
food each soldier is allocated (from their Warehouses, NOT from
Production) each day. The player should note that feeding soldiers too
much is almost as bad as feeding them too little. The section below on
Morale covers this aspect of the game.

10.2. Food Distribution

Food stored in warehouses can be distributed in two ways ... to the
Soldiers in your Barracks on the local Realm, or to Agents you have on
other Realms. Agents also, of course, can be ordered to distribute
certain quantities of food for the local realm and to other Realms,
including the Home BBS. Other than the actual amount of food in your
Warehouses, there is virtually no limit on the amount of food that may
be distributed from one Realm to another on which you own castles. This
applies equally to your Home and Agent Realms. You can supply Soldiers
on your Local Realm up to 10 packs of food each per evening. The amount
of food being supplied to Soldiers directly affects their morale. The
player also has the ability to send specified amounts of food to an
Agent Realm each day. The player can specify any amount of food, as long
as it is available in stores, to send to any BBS on which the player has
a remote castle established. That BBS can send food on from there and so
on.

Each night, when your Realm does nightly maintenance, food production
and shipments take place in the following order :

1.   Processing of any production from land owned and storage of that
    produced amount in stores.

2.   Feeding local soldiers according to player specification in
    Kingdoms.

3.   Distribution of food to remote sites.

Kingdoms will continue to give food to those specified as long as stores
are available. If stores reach zero, food issue/distribution will not
take place. Food stores cannot hold a negative amount of food.


Section 11 - Soldiers

11.1. Soldier Morale

Your Soldiers are there to fight for you and, as such, expect to be
treated well. This means keeping them healthy and happy with the
lodgings and food they require. To have Soldiers, you must already have
purchased barracks to house them, Feeding Soldiers however, requires
more than a one off purchase of barracks for them. They need to be fed a
reasonable amount each day or their morale will suffer. In the Realms
menu, you can specify how much food you want given to EACH Soldier each
day. The figure you specify is NOT the total food you will provide your
troops. For example, if you have 100 soldiers and allocate 10 food packs
per day, then each day 1000 food packs from stores will be consumed. The
phrase `an army lives on it's stomach' is one the player will come to
know and love as morale is determined solely by how much the troops are
fed. It is important to note that morale is ultimately a measure of
fighting ability and that the optimum for troops is a morale of between
95 and 105%. Any less than 95%, and they're not getting fed enough to
fight properly. Any more than 105% and they're getting fat, slow and
lazy on all the food you've been feeding them!

11.2. Soldier Deployment

To defend your land, stores and castle, defence options are also
included in the game. The player must distribute his or her forces
across holdings by percentage, according to the value each player places
on each, Land, Stores or their Castle itself. If the player considers
food stores most valuable for example, he or she might allocate 50% of
available soldiers to defence of the stores, 25% to defending crops and
25% to the castle itself. It is not necessary to allocate the full 100%
of soldiers to defence activities. It could be a tactical advantage to
keep some percentage of soldiers in reserve (by allocating perhaps 80%
of soldiers to defence) and keeping the rest in the barracks. If a very
strong invasion force comes against them then, all will not be lost and
the remaining 20% of your forces will redeploy immediately according to
your standing orders. Again, the use of such percentages is a tactical
decision to be made by the player.

Section 12 - Summary

That covers the major aspects of the game. There is more, but I'll leave
you to discover the finer points as you play! Developing a really good
character, not only on the local Realm, but across several Realms with
the use of Agents takes a careful balance of a lot of things in this
game. I leave it to you to find that `perfect' balance!

I trust you'll enjoy the game. Any feedback, bug reports, etc, will be
most appreciated!


Appendix A - Contact Information

You can contact me and/or pick up the latest version of Kingdoms using
the following means :

On our Web Page :

    http://www1.tpgi.com.au/users/kingdoms

Or on my BBS :

    The Web Line 1 : 61-2-9528-5941 - to 33600, 24hrs Mail, FREQ
    The Web Line 2 : 61-2-9528-2235 - to 28800, 24hrs
    The Web Line 3 : 61-2-9528-4250 - to 14400, 24hrs

Sysops can FREQ Magic Name `KINGOMS' for the latest version on line 1. I
can also be contacted by netmail (to Dave Chapman or Sysop) at :

    3:712/523@FidoNet
    169:3005/2@BattleNet

or

    InterNet : [e-mail]


    Regards,

    Dave Chapman.
    Sysop : The Web BBS






                    - End of Player Documentation -