IMPERIUM REX v2.10 - DOCUMENTATION (February, 1995)
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Copyright (c) 1989-1995 Brainstorm Software
0. PRELIMINARIES
Concept development, programming, and testing by Glenn Robins.
Concept development, testing, and story writing by Jens Winslow.
All documentation (this manual and on-line help) written by Glenn Robins.
This is FREEWARE: You may freely distribute this program so long as it is
distributed in its entirety and is unaltered. Please read LICENSE.TXT
before continuing.
If there are any questions or comments, please address them via e-mail to:
ROBINS@QUCDNTRI.EE.QUEENSU.CA
If your mail is returned as undeliverable, or if you have not received a
response, please try
AA606@FREENET.TORONTO.ON.CA
If this game is interesting to you, it would be wise to register by sending
a brief e-mail message to me. I may then be able to notify you if problems
are found, or if a new version is released. There is nothing else involved
with registration, and you are not obligated to pay or do anything! I am
only encouraging registration so that I may have an idea of how many people
are playing the game, so I know whether or not it is worth continuing with
this project (to which I contributed 6 years of part-time effort so far).
FYI, approximately 30 people are known thus far to have tried this game at
one point or another, to my knowledge. I hope this is only because a
select few decided to register.
The following two FTP sites have accepted v1.01 for archiving:
archive.umich.edu:/msdos/games/strategy/rex101.zip,
ftp.funet.fi:/pub/msdos/games/strategy/rex101.zip.
The following FTP site has accepted v2.00 for archiving:
ftp.funet.fi:/pub/msdos/games/strategy/rex200.zip.
For some reason, umich has not accepted the update. I will try them again
for v2.10. I will also upload this game to:
wuarchive.wustl.edu:/pub/msdos_uploads/games, as rex210.zip, but uploads to
this site are purged after roughly 4-6 weeks I believe.
You may also wish to FINGER me at robins@qucdntri.ee.queensu.ca in the event
my plan file has anything interesting to say about the game, or anything
else. I will also try to follow the COMP.SYS.IBM.PC.GAMES.STRATEGIC
newsgroup (which I have failed to do lately), if anyone tries to contact me
that way. I don't know how much longer I will have the QUCDNTRI account,
but will try to forward my mail automatically when I obtain another one, or
to the FREENET account.
This game will cost you NOTHING to play, except time. Be warned that
depending on the setup, it could take months until the state of the game
reaches a point where someone, or everyone resigns. It is NOT a game that
can be completed during a lunch hour (well, unless you don't know what
you're doing).
The rest of this manual has not changed from v2.00 to v2.10.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
1. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
2. INSTALLATION - GETTING STARTED
3. GAME DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
3.1 STANDARD ORDER OF EVENTS
4. BUILDING AND PLAYING GAMES
4.1 BUILDING A GAME
4.2 TYPICAL START TO A GAME / PLAYING TIPS
4.3 REMOTE PLAY PROVISION AND PASSWORDS
5. USER INTERFACE CONVENTIONS
5.1 FILE SELECTION MODE
5.2 KEYBOARD INPUT MODE VS. MOUSE INPUT MODE
6. ON-LINE HELP
7. GENERAL INFORMATION ON OBJECTS
8. NAMING OBJECTS
9. OBJECT SPECIFICATION TABLE
10. DETAILED OBJECT DESCRIPTIONS
11. TRANSPORT TABLE
12. OBJECT SPECIAL-ATTRIBUTE TABLE
13. MAP DISPLAY DESCRIPTION
14. MAP FEATURE OBJECTS
15. GRAPHICAL WORLD MAP VIEWS
16. MOVE MODE
17. RAIL TRANSPORT (SCHEDULES AND MDT)
17.1 RT SCHEDULE (RTS)
17.2 MINIMUM DISTANCE TRACKING (MDT) ALGORITHM
18. GAME PARAMETER TABLE
19. PLAYER MESSAGES
20. TECHNICAL INFORMATION
20.1 WORLD MAP SAVE FORMAT
21. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES / CLOSING COMMENTS
1. HARDWARE REQUIREMENTS
- Any 80x86 processor will do (there is no processor-specific
optimization), although a 386 or above would be nice for faster
reaction times for screen painting, on-line help retrieval, etc.
- As inferred by the above, no math co-processor is required, nor
would it be used anyway since no floating point arithmetic is done!
- At least 500K of DOS RAM is required (maybe a little bit more).
Upper memory is not accessed (i.e. no extended or expanded memory is
required).
- Sound cards are not supported - just the PC speaker is used.
- VGA is required (just regular VGA with 512K of video memory - no
fancy stuff). Most of the interface is based on an alternate-
character-font text mode. 320x200x256 graphics mode is also used.
- If you don't have a colour monitor by now, get one! (In other
words, a colour display is mandatory).
- The program should be installed on the hard drive for faster access.
Space requirements are minimal for the program itself (around 1000K),
but game files are around 232K each.
- A MOUSE is STRONGLY recommended, although not required. If there
are any problems with mouse cursor movement or anything else, it may
be that your mouse driver is too old. I am using a Dyna-Mouse driver,
version 9.06. Only the 2 buttons are used (for those of you with 3-
button 'mice').
- I believe there is no restriction on the DOS version (assuming you
have version 2 or above (!)).
It is suggested that you do not run this program under Microsoft
Windows, or any other multi-tasking OS. It will most likely work
without significant problems, but you may find that sound delays are
too long or short - each time you begin the editor or player, a delay-
loop counter is set based on the system clock and is compared to a
reference count acquired on my machine, which will account for machine
speed differences; with a multi-tasking environment hooked onto the
timer tick interrupt and doing funny things in the background, this
could produce a misrepresentative delay-loop count. Perhaps there is
a better way to produce sound, but I haven't looked into it much -
it's not really important in this game anyway. However if the sound
delays are not as they should be it could become irritating. In any
case, the sound can be turned off in the game player.
2. INSTALLATION - GETTING STARTED
The following are all the files that should be included in
distribution:
REX .EXE - Game player
REX .HDX - On-line help index for game player
REX .HLP - On-line help for game player
REX .DOC - Off-line program documentation (what you're reading)
REXEDIT .EXE - Game Manager/Editor
REXEDIT .HDX - On-line help index for game editor
REXEDIT .HLP - On-line help for game editor
LICENSE .TXT - Software license agreement
CITNAMES.REX - Neutral Player city names
WINNING .REX - NP messages sent to players if doing well
LOSING .REX - NP messages sent to players if losing
CHARFONT.REX - Character font
DATAFILE.EXE - Creates text file from data files (DATAFILE.TXT)
AWORLD .MAP - Sample world map (by Jens Winslow)
JUSTLAND.MAP - The above map without extra surface types
SWORLD .MAP - Small sample world map (by Jens Winslow)
IWORLD .MAP - Sample map with scattered islands (by Jens Winslow)
RWORLD .MAP - Map suitable for 2-plr region game (by Glenn Robins)
REVISION.TXT - Revision history
OBJSPECS.REX - Object specifications data file
GAMEPARM.REX - Game parameter data file
IMPORT .EXE - Program to import v1.0 or v1.01 data files
GAMEINFO.EXE - Provides summary information for a specified game
PRACTICE. - Practice game (one-player)
PRACTICE.TXT - Description of practice game
MAPEDIT .EXE - Map editor
MAPEDIT .VML - Graphics library
MAPEDIT .BML - Graphics library
MAPEDIT .FNT - Character font
MAPEDIT .DOC - Program documentation for map editor
The following additional file is created when you run the game editor:
OPTIONS .REX - Game player sound option memory
The first thing you should do when you obtain the distribution copy is
to make sure that the above options file is NOT present - if it is
present, this means you have acquired a used copy. Otherwise, run the
Game Editor (REXEDIT) which will not only create this file needed to
run the Game Player, but it will also perform an integrity check of
all distribution files (except CITNAMES.REX, WINNING.REX, LOSING.REX,
OBJSPECS.REX, GAMEPARM.REX). However, don't let these checks give you
a false sense of security - it is always possible that someone hacked
around with the files and redistributed them. Also note that
CITNAMES.REX, WINNING.REX, and LOSING.REX are exceptions to the
License Agreement LICENSE.TXT, as they are meant to be modified by the
user at will. If the integrity check fails due to one or more corrupt
files, the Game Editor will not run. Since the integrity check was
performed because the options file was missing, the Game Player will
not run either. You must obtain an original distribution copy in this
case. Please remember that the sample maps are checked as well so
make sure you do not make any changes to them (or if you do, save them
under different names).
It is recommended that you keep a copy of the original files somewhere
else, in case one or more of the working copy files are accidentally
altered.
The Game Manager/Editor is used to create/edit world maps, to build
new games, and to edit the object specification and game parameter
tables. The Game Player is used solely to play a current game.
The Map Editor program is an enhanced world map editor which can be
used in place of the one built into the Game Editor. For more
information, read the manual for this program - MAPEDIT.DOC.
The Datafile program creates a formatted text file with information
contained in the game parameter table and the object specification
table. It is this text file, , that should be printed
so that a hard-copy reference is available while playing the game.
You will be asked for the particular data entry to extract to file
from either or both of the data files.
The Gameinfo program will provide some general information about the
specified game file, such as a list of players, playing time, turn
number, current player, etc. Note that the estimated playing time
that is shown here and in the General Report of the Game Player will
wrap around to 0 if it exceeds 255 hours and 59 minutes. I suppose
that if you have been playing the game this long, you won't care
anymore.
If you add the command-line parameter '?' after any of the programs
provided (REX, REXEDIT, GAMEINFO, DATAFILE, IMPORT, or MAPEDIT), it
will present you with a list of command-line parameters that can be
used. A parameter for REX and REXEDIT that should be mentioned here
is '/m', which will tell you how much memory is left once the program
is loaded. This indicates how close you are to not being able to run
the program, which is of special consideration if you are planning on
adding more TSR's or whatever.
It is mandatory that you read and understand the Software License
Agreement before using this software.
3. GAME DESCRIPTION AND OBJECTIVES
This is basically a world domination game: Your goal is to take over
and rule all of civilization (for the good of the people). Strategy,
tactics, and logistics all play a role in the success of your empire.
You will start by ruling one city and having ownership of just a few
objects. Then, you will seek out the establishments of your opponents
and forcefully persuade them to follow your cause (since there is no
time to reason with them). However, the largest and most powerful of
your prey are an alliance that stands for freedom and independent
rule, and resists change with all their might: the Neutral Player
(NP). The actual introductory story is presented to you as you begin
a new game - the one presented here is an extremely abbreviated
version.
There is a minimum of 1 and a maximum of 3 human players, and always
one Neutral Player that is played by the computer. Playing with only
one human is considered to be a practice game, as there is no threat
by a human opponent, and more importantly, the introductory story will
be inconsistent! It is a good idea to play a practice game for a
while individually, to get a good feel for the game before engaging in
a real contest.
A player is officially out of the game when all objects are destroyed
and all cities lost. It may be more often that a game is declared
over when all but one player resigns.
Player 1 is always WHITE in foreground colour (but not necessarily
good); Player 2 is always BLACK (but not necessarily evil); Player 3
is always YELLOW (but not necessarily cowardly); and Player 4 (NP) is
always RED (no comment). Colours cannot be chosen at will - players
are activated in sequence from 1 to 3 (i.e. Player 3 can not be chosen
for an individual in a two-player game).
A key to your growth and development is the exploitation of resources.
There are three types: Grain, Mineral, and Oil (see MAP FEATURE
OBJECTS). Cities and Settlements may collect these resources each
turn if they are scanned and in collection range. Cities can produce
objects that constitute your offensive and defensive forces. However,
to produce any object costs resources and MegaCredits (1 MC is a
million credits, where a credit is the standard global currency).
MegaCredits are obtained mostly from tax revenue (proportional to your
total tech-level) and profit from transactions on the global market.
There are three categories for the application of technology: Terra-
Tech (non-aquatic terrain-based objects), Aero-Tech (objects in
flight), and Hydro-Tech (aquatic-based objects). Moreover, there are
five levels of technology for each category (1 is the most primitive,
and 5 is the most advanced). Cities, over time, may advance tech-
levels in each tech-type if sufficient funds are invested in the
city's intellectual growth.
There are different surface types which affect the performance of
objects in different ways. These surfaces are: LAND, WATER,
MOUNTAINS, SWAMP, and JUNGLE. There are also infrastructure types
that may be built on some of these surfaces, which are: RAIL, ROAD,
and CANAL.
The global market is a virtual economy in which the exchange of
resource units takes place. If transactions are made carefully, you
may make a lot of money. It is also a secondary source for resources
if your own pool is low in a particular resource type (if you have the
money to spend).
It is important that you read the entire manual before playing.
Writing this manual has been an interesting exercise in collating
information - whether or not it deserves a passing grade is up to you.
It is however my best effort given time constraints.
This manual and the on-line help are complementary - it is important
that you also read the on-line help for every new situation while
playing the game, and while exploring the game editor. It is the on-
line help that is devoted to explaining game details and user input
options as you play. The purpose of this off-line documentation is to
provide an overview and to define all terms referred to in the game,
as well as being a reference.
3.1 STANDARD ORDER OF EVENTS
A couple of terms need to be defined: A ROUND is that which a
player uses to give orders and move objects; A TURN is a
collection of rounds - one round for each player. Rounds are not
simultaneous events - they occur consecutively in game time for
each player, in order of player number. The Neutral Player is
always the last player to move in the turn. It is only in the
very beginning that a player may be advantaged by this - during
normal play, the advancement of turns is relatively transparent
since rounds are continually cycled in the same order. For a
human player, the normal sequence of events in a round is as
follows:
- Player messages are read
- The global market status is examined (checked for change)
- Objects that run out of fuel are destroyed or fueled up
- Damage report is presented
- Destruction of owned feature object(s) is made known
- The age of enemy objects is incremented
- Satellites are moved and scanned for
- Resources are collected
- City production is updated, repairs are made
- Movement points are set for objects
- Cities may attack in-range enemy objects
-
- Market transactions are performed at end of round
I hope this gives an appreciation of the complexity of this game!
4. BUILDING AND PLAYING GAMES
4.1 BUILDING A GAME
Before a game can be built, a world map must be chosen. There
are some sample maps provided, each having a different
arrangement that depends on the type of game you want to play,
and the number of players. It may take some fun out of playing
if you already know the layout of the world, but so far no decent
random map generation algorithm has been found or developed. In
any case, it will probably take a few games before you have the
maps memorized. If you are unhappy with the provided maps, you
can create your own using MAPEDIT, or by using the editor
provided with REXEDIT.
Once you know which map you will use, run REXEDIT and then LOAD
the particular world map into memory (via map editor functions).
If you have been playing around in here before, and the map in
memory has been used, then clear it first. That is because
LOADing a map into memory will not clear everything such as
object positions (if a game has been loaded previously).
Once the map is loaded, you will have to decide which set of game
parameters and object specifications to use for this particular
game. You may want to browse the data tables, especially the
game parameter tables which contain parameters used during the
process of building a game such as number of cities to place,
scattering factors, number of resources to place, etc. You will
find that the number of island, coastal, and inland cities will
depend on the type of world map you are planning on using.
Choose the build game option from the main menu, where you are
asked to enter the names of the players. From now on, always
check the on-line help for every new option you are asked to
select - especially for the pooled resources and regions options.
If you chose a non-region game, you will be asked for the
filename. If you cancel at this point, the game built will be
lost and you must start over. If you chose a region game, you
will be thrown into the editor where you will have to save it on
your own.
4.2 TYPICAL START TO A GAME / PLAYING TIPS
If you play a normal non-region game (you'll know what that is
when you read the on-line help when building a game), you will
automatically be given a Fuel Depot, and a Hover-Scout. These
are the two most important and useful objects that you can have
as you start, since you are now able to locate resource deposits.
It is possible that more resources might surround your HQ (other
than the four that are deliberately placed there) since the
immediate area has not been scanned by a Hover-Scout. Scouting
your immediate surroundings is also a good idea, to make sure
there isn't a city just outside your city scan range (or some
other nasty surprise). Knowing the surrounding terrain early in
the game will enable you to quickly determine your strengths and
vulnerabilities with respect to your own location, and such
knowledge may dictate what type of objects you should focus your
production on. Make sure that your scout moves along the map
diagonally, forming a triangular or diamond-shaped search pattern
- this is the most fuel-efficient scheme for patrolling the
maximum area.
If you happen to find a Neutral city near you, concentrate on a
quick but dedicated effort to take it. The longer you wait
taking a city, the more difficult it will be to take it, and the
more potential production time will be lost. Do not send an
object on a lost cause - they are very valuable in the beginning.
If you intend on taking a city, make sure it is taken in one
combined assault - attacking in bits and pieces will cost you
more time and resources than it will cost the city to repair
itself. You will discover the proper balance with experience, as
with all causes. Make sure that before you attack, you click on
the city in TACTICAL when its age stat is 0 to know what the tech-
levels are for that city (immediately after scanning it). This
way, you will know what kind of objects it can produce, and the
maximum number of guards it can sustain which determines its
damage potential, and maximum hit points.
It is also a good idea to produce guards early on - it is
something that can be easily forgotten until it's too late.
Try to take coastal cities so that you can build destroyers or
submarines. This will give you an edge for defense and offense.
Keep in mind that the computer will build these too, so you need
to be ready for them anyway. Concentrate on a strong defense
once you take a city - make one or two photon cannons and build
up the guards (very important). When you take a city, you may
expect things thrown at you continually so you need the defense.
The spreading and quantity of the cities affects the game
considerably. If there are many cities close by, you can expect
a continual (or even continuous) onslaught. To alleviate this,
you may want to ensure the cities are sufficiently spread apart
(base this on fuel range of objects the NP can produce); you can
also change the max. age of an NP city to something a bit lower,
so that they start out less developed (lower tech-levels). Try
making a lot of gun boats and armies - they are hard to hit and
having the quantity will distract the NP and give it more things
to shoot at, prolonging the battle so you may move in or produce
reinforcements; it's surprising how effective a large force of
not-so-powerful objects can be. You may even choose to sacrifice
some hover-scouts, which can make all the difference.
It may sound like you need to produce a lot of objects which will
cost more resources than you have; it really depends on how lucky
your setup is in terms of resource allocation. It is advisable
that you play a couple of games with POOLED RESOURCES first,
which will solve many of your infrastructure problems. Pooled
resources will allow any of your cities to have instantaneous and
unlimited access to all resources in your HQ, so there is no need
to transport resources. This is also VERY convenient for when
you take a new city that isn't self-sufficient (being able to
collect one or more of each and every resource type). It will
otherwise take a long time to establish a proper defense by way
of production, if you first have to ship resources to the city.
If you are not playing pooled resources, you should plan on
shipping the required resources to the city you are about to
take, possibly having them already loaded onto a transport and
waiting outside the battle zone around the city. This brings up
another important point: you really ought to resource-scout the
collection area of a city you are hoping to take. Knowing the
resources it will collect when and if you take it, is vital
information - it may even lead to a decision of not wanting the
city. If you discover it is self-sufficient, you will want to
invest all you can to take it. You may question the tactics of
flying a hover-scout all around an enemy city - the point is to
do it carefully without being spotted or shot at, which may
require fuel and patience, both of which you may find lacking!
Aero-porters loaded with photon cannons are handy - fly near a
city and unload one or two of them just outside the city's attack
range (the guard's AR) and cover them with a couple of aero-
fighters (or even a destroyer if possible). I know it takes time
to produce these, but there's no real hurry to go out and pound
the NP - as long as you can keep up your defenses, you should be
OK. You'll never be able to charge and take all the cities
before the NP can make a Battle Cruiser, so stop trying (if you
are, that is). By the way, make sure you produce at least one
submarine and keep it handy in case of an encounter with a battle
cruiser. The NP isn't smart enough to escort a battle cruiser
with a destroyer or submarine, unless it happens by coincidence,
so you're submarine can pound on it without being spotted until
it decides to go home for repairs. A human player, however, may
not be so careless as to let its battle cruiser sail away without
such protection.
4.3 REMOTE PLAY PROVISION AND PASSWORDS
The remote play provision is a feature that allows you to save
and quit the game in-between player rounds, so that the game file
may be transferred to another location and played at a later
time. If the game file is transferred by modem or by e-mail, it
may be wise to compress the file first, using your favorite
compression program. Playing by e-mail will most likely require
a UUEncoder and UUDecoder so that the file may be sent as ascii
text, unless your mailer allows you to attach binary files. This
remote play provision mode may be turned on or off in the Game
Options window during a player's turn. It is a good idea at the
beginning of a game to get together with all the players and
spend a day playing on the same computer (with this mode off of
course) so that the length of the turns will become longer for
when you play remotely. By the way, the Neutral Player will do
its turn immediately after the last human player in the turn ends
his/her round, and the game will save and quit when the NP
finishes.
There is no reason to be concerned with regard to playing the
same game on different computers with their own installations of
Imperium Rex - all the necessary information for purposes of
consistency are stored in the one game file. Having different
sets of specifications stored to OBJSPECS.REX or GAMEPARM.REX
will have no effect as all this information has been copied to
the game file for independent access during the game building
process; and having different NP message files (WINNING.REX,
LOSING.REX) only implies that the randomly chosen messages that
the NP sends people may be different. Changing the game sound
option is a local effect, and is not stored with the game file.
The passwords feature may only be turned on or off in the Game
Editor (in the main edit menu after selecting the game to edit).
When turned on, it will ask each player for a password which is
necessary to type each time that player's round begins. It is
also required that all players type their passwords before anyone
is able to edit the game. Passwords may be changed from within
the Game Options window during a player's round. The passwords
option may of course only be turned off when editing the game,
which requires everyone's passwords - it is therefore very
important that no one forgets their password. It is also
important that any player who resigns the game either surrender
his or her password to everyone else, or at least clear it by
changing it to nothing (just hit ENTER for a password);
otherwise, the remaining people in the game will not be able to
turn the passwords off if they need to (or edit something).
These passwords are of course stored in the game file in an
encrypted form.
5. USER INTERFACE CONVENTIONS
This section describes all the user input terms used in all the
documentation (including on-line help), and some general tips on
getting used to the input interface.
"", "CLICK [ON]", "SELECT":
These terms refer to the LEFT MOUSE BUTTON, if using a mouse, or
the following keys if in keyboard mode: ENTER/RETURN,
INSERT/INS.
"", "CANCEL":
These terms refer to the RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON, if using a mouse, or
the following keys if in keyboard mode: ESCAPE/ESC, DELETE/DEL.
For all item selection input modes, where a list of items is presented
and a status and button line appears at the bottom of the list, the
following inputs are accepted:
KEYBOARD:
UP and DOWN ARROW keys - to move the selection bar through
the list one item at a time,
PGUP and PGDN keys - to move the selection bar up or down
the list a page at a time,
ENTER/RETURN - to select the highlighted item, or
ESCAPE/ESC - to leave the list (cancel).
MOUSE:
Clicking on one of...
The arrow pointing left (second button from left) is the UP
key,
The arrow pointing right (third button from left) is the
DOWN key,
The larger arrow '<' pointing left (first button) is the
PGUP key,
The larger arrow '>' pointing right (last button) is the
PGDN key,
or Clicking on an item in the list (doesn't have to be
highlighted) will select that item,
or Clicking (CANCEL) will leave the list.
For menu items, which may be vertically or horizontally arranged, the
following inputs are accepted:
KEYBOARD:
UP or LEFT arrow keys - to move the menu bar up or left,
DOWN or RIGHT arrow keys - to move the menu bar down or
right,
TAB key - to cyclically move the menu bar down or right,
ENTER/RETURN or INSERT/INS keys - to select the menu item,
or
ESCAPE/ESC or DELETE/DEL - to cancel or leave.
MOUSE:
Click on a menu item to select it, or
CANCEL (right button).
All other input modes are directly sensitive to where you click on the
screen. It is a good idea to use the on-line help to be familiar with
all input options for each input context. Generally, CANCEL will move
up a level of input or abort an operation. Also, if in MOUSE input
mode, keyboard commands will normally not respond in these other input
modes (which are non-item-selection-oriented).
5.1 FILE SELECTION MODE
A special mention of file selection is warranted here, although
it wasn't supposed to be complicated, but could be if not
careful.
The same file selection window/user-interface is used for all
file operations. The current, default directory appears on the
top line; an input box appears on the left-hand side of the
window; and a list interface appears on the right. The list
interface is always the first to be active whenever the window is
opened - this means that all input commands are intercepted by
the file selection interface. Therefore, you may not just click
on the input box on the left to enter in a filename manually. To
do this, you must use CANCEL to exit the list interface and bring
you to the manual input box. Once you are in this manual input
box, you cannot directly move back to the list interface - to do
this, you will have to CANCEL, which will bring you to the
options on the bottom where you can CANCEL again (in which case
you will need to re-select the option that brought you here), or
select OK (in which case it is most probable that an error will
occur which upon acknowledgement will bring you back to the list
interface).
Read the on-line help when you get to this window! It may take
some playing around before you get completely used to it. It
wasn't meant to be this difficult - it is really a programming
problem where multiple input-types wasn't really anticipated for.
Sorry!
Another thing to mention is that directory/drive selection has
been omitted to discourage file access and storage in places
other than the program directory, and for simplicity. There is a
requirement that the program directory be current at all times
during program execution, so that the necessary files can be
accessed transparently. However, you may still provide a full
pathname for loading and saving files in the input box.
5.2 KEYBOARD INPUT MODE VS. MOUSE INPUT MODE
If KEYBOARD input mode is enabled using the command line switch
'/k', all MOUSE controls are disabled. This should only be used
if you do not have a mouse, and/or the auto-detection of the
presence of a mouse driver is incorrect, or if for some reason
calling the mouse driver will interfere with something else. It
is strongly recommended however to use MOUSE input mode whenever
possible. One particular instance where '/k' must be used is if
you are running either the game editor or player in a DOS Window
(under Windows). As mentioned previously, it is also strongly
recommended that you do not run this program under Windows.
In KEYBOARD MODE, special keys have been designated to emulate
the mouse. Whenever you are in an input mode that is sensitive
to clicking at a particular screen location (other than option-
selection-oriented input modes), the following keys will be
checked:
UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT ARROW keys:
Moves the 'mouse' cursor around the screen.
INSERT/INS or ENTER/RETURN:
Same function as LEFT MOUSE BUTTON (Select).
DELETE/DEL or ESCAPE/ESC:
Same function as RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON (Cancel).
In MOVE MODE (only in KEYBOARD MODE) when asking for movement
orders, the special purpose buttons in the status/control box can
be selected by pressing the corresponding letter on the keyboard,
such as 'S' for STANDBY. Although this may be a convenient
feature, it is not available in MOUSE mode (sorry!).
6. ON-LINE HELP
This help feature is context-sensitive. It can be invoked at any time
by clicking the '?' button at the extreme bottom-right corner. This
will open a window and present a brief description pertinent to the
particular context that you are in. There is always only one page
presented for any context. To acknowledge the help (leave the
window), you can click anywhere or cancel anywhere except directly on
the '?' button (an exception is placed in the code to prevent
recursive calls to the help procedure).
If in MOUSE mode, you may not use the keyboard controls to exit help.
If in KEYBOARD input mode, on-line help is not accessible in all
option-selection-oriented input contexts (due to the fact that the
mouse cursor is not maneuverable under these conditions to select the
'?' button).
If there is no help for a particular context, the help based on the
higher-level context is presented. This should not happen often -
except for cases where the context is so obvious that no extra help is
warranted, or for other cases where I just missed out on entering a
help description for. If you happen to find a context for which no
help is available and believe that some more information would be
helpful, please let me know.
7. GENERAL INFORMATION ON OBJECTS
An object is any independent entity that can move or be moved so as to
appear on the map (including cities and settlements, which strictly
speaking do not fall under this criteria). All objects are owned by a
particular player. There is a hard-coded maximum of 300 objects that
can be owned by any one player. It is impossible to exceed this
boundary, unless there is a bug in the code. From time to time, you
should check how many objects you own by reading the General Status
Report, Page 1. If you have at least 280 objects, an option in the
Orders menu is available to Disband an object. You are not allowed to
disband cities or non-empty transports, or objects that are inside
cities or are loaded. You are not permitted to create any new objects
if the resulting total will be at least 290 - this includes resource
containers! (This gives a safety margin of 10 in the event that there
may be a bug). If, for whatever reason, you end up with more than 300
objects (or have an object with object number 300), save your game
right away under a different name, and let me know! Otherwise, the
results could be catastrophic. (Honestly though, it shouldn't happen
- but who knows?)
Keep in mind that this restriction also applies to the Neutral Player,
and that all its cities are included in the object count.
The following are the types of orders that can be given to an object:
MOVING/MOVE TO LOCATION (x,y)
This is an order to move to a specific location (given in
MOVE MODE). This order cannot be given if the selected
location to move to is outside the object's fuel range.
STANDBY
Do not ask for orders any more. The object will do nothing
except scan once a turn. For objects that can crash if they
run out of fuel over water, this order is cleared if the
amount of fuel is 5 or less units, to warn you of the
potentially life-threatening situation.
WAIT
Do not ask for orders this turn only. It will ask again
next turn.
FOLLOW
By clicking on one of your own objects in MOVE MODE, the
object will follow the selected object. If the selected
object is a city, settlement, or transport, it will attempt
to move inside once it arrives. This order is sometimes
referred to as GOING HOME (for cities and settlements).
LOADED
This means that the object is loaded onto a transport.
In all cases except LOADED, if the object scans an enemy, its orders
are cleared. Cleared orders, or NO ORDERS, means that it awaits
orders, and will probably ask you for orders in MOVE MODE if it still
has movement points. If you leave an object in this state, it will
still scan once a turn.
8. NAMING OBJECTS
All of your objects can be given a name, which may have up to 19
printable characters.
A name may be entered for an object in two ways. One way is in MOVE
MODE, where clicking in the name field (second line on the left) for
an object that is asking for movement orders will edit its name; names
cannot be edited in this way for all other objects, such as cities and
settlements. Another way is in TACTICAL MODE, where clicking in the
name field before selecting an object will enter NAMING MODE. This is
a TACTICAL "SUB-MODE" where by selecting a location where one or more
objects reside will cycle through each object there and ask if you
want to change its name. You know you are in NAMING MODE when "Select
Object..." appears in the name field in TACTICAL. To exit this mode,
click in the name field to return to TACTICAL; or CANCEL to exit
TACTICAL MODE entirely.
Neutral cities are named automatically as they are placed on the map.
These names are taken from the file , in sequence from
the first one in the file, down to however many are needed. If you
wish to add your own names, insert them at the top of the file using
any text editor and they will be chosen first as cities are placed.
When inserting your own names, make sure they are not longer than 19
characters long (or if they are longer, they will be truncated
anyway). Make sure there are no blank lines in the file. If there
are not enough names in the file for all the cities to be placed, the
remaining cities will have blank names.
9. OBJECT SPECIFICATION TABLE
This table is displayed in the game editor. All object specifications
are stored in a file (OBJSPECS.REX) which is common to all games that
are played. If this file is missing for some reason, the game editor
will create a new one with default settings once invoked. Although
specifications can be changed if desired, it is not recommended to
change too many of them at any one time. It took years of playing
experience (as the game was developed) to decide on a set of
reasonably optimum parameters such that there is a proper balance. A
balance in power of objects is essential for fair playing, and to the
effectiveness of all objects in the table. If you change some
specifications but wish to restore the original values, rename or
delete the current OBJSPECS.REX file and run the game editor.
To edit this table, just click on the number to change; or click on
the surface type to toggle "survivability"; or click on a tech-type to
change it.
Listed below are the specifications and their meaning.
HI
This is the number of HIt points the object has if fully
repaired. If this number drops to 0 for whatever reason, the
object is destroyed. During attack, one damage point inflicted
is one hit point lost.
DP
This is the Damage Potential of an object. If attacking, this is
the number of times the object may fire on the enemy. If you are
lucky, you may hit every time thus delivering a maximum of 'DP'
points of damage.
FR
This is the Fuel Range of an object. If fully fueled, you may
travel a maximum distance of FR units. It always costs one fuel
unit to move from any location (except for some non-movement-
associated objects). This value can have an alternate meaning in
some instances which are explained in the object descriptions
section.
PT
This is the Production Time in turns required to make an object
in a city.
WT
This is the WeighT of an object (in weight units) if it is
transportable, or the carrying capacity (in weight units) if it
is a transport. It may also have other meanings in some
instances which are explained in the object descriptions section.
G, M, O
These are the Grain, Mineral, and Oil resource units required to
build the object.
MC (The symbol that looks like an M inside a C)
This is the amount of MegaCredits it costs to build the object.
The following specifications are dependent on the surface type where
the object resides.
PBH
This is the Probability of Being Hit by another object that is
firing at you.
POH
This is the Probability Of Hitting an enemy object if firing at
it.
AR
This is the Attack Range of the object in distance units. An AR
of 1 will allow the object to only attack another object that is
immediately adjacent.
SP
This is (indirectly) the SPeed of the object. It has special
meaning for the LAND surface type. SP (LAND) is the number of
movement points (MPs) assigned to an object at the beginning of
the turn. All other SP entries are the number of MPs it costs to
move FROM the corresponding surface. It always costs 1 MP to
move from LAND. There are some exceptions to these rules for
RAIL and ROAD. Road is treated as LAND only for movement (it
will only cost 1 MP for any object to move from road, without
regard to surface type). The exceptions for rail pertain to the
Rail Transport (RT) and the Rail Constructor. Objects of speed 0
are termed "non-movement-associated" which means they cannot move
on their own accord - their movement is restricted so they can
only be unloaded, loaded, moved into a city/settlement directly
adjacent, or moved out of a city/settlement to a directly
adjacent empty surface. They are not capable of moving from its
own location (outside) to another empty surface.
SR
This is the Scan Range of the object in distance units. Enemy
objects that move within your SR, or are in your SR when you
move, will have a chance of being scanned. If an object is
scanned, its AGE STAT will be set to 0 (displayed beside the
enemy object) - this is explained in the section on object stats
(map view).
POS
This is the Probability Of Scanning an enemy object. If a
scanning check is done due to movement, this is a factor in
deciding if you scan the enemy.
PBS
This is the Probability of Being Scanned by an enemy object. If
a scanning check is done due to movement, this is a factor in
deciding if the enemy scans you.
For each firing attempt, the probability of an object being hit is the
product of POH of the attacking object and PBH of the object being
attacked (well, actually, it's POH*PBH/100). The same applies to POS
and PBS with respect to scanning. A scan takes place after each
movement of one distance unit for all objects to check if you see an
enemy, and to check if an enemy sees you. (A standard uniform random
number generator is used).
If a surface type for an object is highlighted in blue, then the
object may move to this surface.
The tech-type of the object is the one highlighted in blue. The tech-
level of the object is underneath the tech-types, and may range from 1
to 5 (from primitive to the most advanced).
Of course, the symbol to the left of the object name is the standard
tactical symbol for that object.
10. DETAILED OBJECT DESCRIPTIONS
(There is no logical order to the following list, except for the most part
being in the order of conception.)
ARMY UNIT
An army is a group of soldiers, with light artillery. Producing an
army involves standard training of militia or civilians (whoever is
"available") that are present in the city. Population in cities or
the morale of the people is not an issue in this game.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
CITY
This is an establishment that is reasonably permanent, used to sustain
your population, and produce and repair objects. A city can be taken
over by an enemy but such an act will bring the city down to tech-
level 1 for all tech-types. There is no restriction on the number of
times a city can change owners. A city may only be destroyed by a
CITY DEVASTATOR.
Objects are repaired by a city whenever they are left inside at the
end of the turn; they are put into STANDBY at this time and orders are
cleared when repairs are complete. The number of objects repaired
each turn is not restricted - they all gain one hit point per turn.
Repairs may be ceased and the object used at any time by clearing its
orders and moving it outside the city.
Resources that are within a radius of 3 units will be collected by the
city at the beginning of your round, so long as they have been scanned
(are actually visible on your map). There is a collection and
processing fee of 1 MC per unit of resources. There is no way to
prevent collection and thus prevent the payment of these funds once
resources are scanned in the vicinity - if you run out of MCs,
resource collection will then halt. It is expected of the leader of
the city to provide employment to the people if such work is
available. They will not allow you to prevent the exploitation of
resources if they are indeed accessible. Of course, they will not
work for free if you happen to run out of MCs!
If a resource deposit is in collection range of more than one
city/settlement, it will be collected only by the city/settlement that
has the lowest object number.
There is no limit to the number of objects that can exist inside the
city, but if the city were to be taken over, all of your objects
inside will be instantly destroyed. Objects inside cities cannot
attack, or participate in the city's defense in any way.
Cities are able to spot submarines and satellites (within scan range
of course).
If at the beginning of your round, a city has spotted one or more
enemy objects within attack range of your guard(s), you will be
alerted and will be given the opportunity to attack them (see GUARD).
The maximum number of guards sustainable in a city is HI + (guards per
TL * (highest TL of city-1)).
The following specs are redundant: DP, FR, PT, WT, G, M, O, MC, PBH,
POH, AR, SP.
SETTLEMENT
This is a colonization of a small area, primarily for the purposes of
collecting and processing resources. They are volunteers who seek
profit from the exploitation of any surrounding resources (in a radius
of 3 units). However, an agreement is established before-hand, that
if you choose to suspend their operation, you will still accommodate
the needs of the colony for survival. In return for your services and
the generous payments you make for the collection of resources, they
have agreed to provide shelter to those objects that happen to move
into their settlement. However, if their settlement is destroyed,
they will not accept liability for the destruction of the (cowardly)
objects that chose to take cover instead of moving outside to defend
them.
If a resource deposit is in collection range of more than one
city/settlement, it will be collected only by the city/settlement that
has the lowest object number.
Settlements have no intrinsic offensive capability - they are easily
destroyed without protection! However, if a repair unit is left
inside at the end of the turn, it will repair one unit of damage (one
hit point will be restored). If more than one repair unit is left
inside, only one will perform repairs. There is no way to prevent
damage being repaired, unless you deliberately move all repair units
outside.
They are built by SETTLER UNITS, and cannot be moved. There is no way
to destroy your own settlement (unless you politely ask your opponent
to do so).
A HYDRO-SETTLER UNIT will build a settlement on water, which can be
thought of as an artificial platform (such as an oil rig is in our
world). This can actually form a bridge between two adjacent terrain
surfaces, although any objects that wish to pass over this "bridge"
must enter the settlement first, which will usually result in the loss
of some movement points.
Settlements cannot be built directly adjacent to another settlement or
a city (in case you thought of it, if this restriction was not in
place, you could build ships in a city that is not beside water and
build this "artificial and protected channel" to transport your ship
to the water - this is what we have canals for).
DP, POH, AR, and SP must be set to 0. FR, PT, WT, G, M, O, and MC are
redundant.
PHOTON CANNON
This is a non-movement-associated offensive/defensive object. It can
move onto transports or into cities or settlements that are adjacent,
but cannot move on its own accord.
FR and SP must be set to 0.
CITY (HQ)
In addition to being a city, this is your designated headquarters.
All global market transactions are associated with the resource pool
in your HQ. If your HQ is taken over, you must select a new one from
your group of cities. If you have no other cities and you lose your
HQ, the first city you take over will be your HQ.
GUNSHIP
This is a heavily armed attack helicopter.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
ANTI-SAT BUILDER
This is a construction unit that can move on its own accord to a
location where you wish to build ANTI-SAT DEFENSE. It is permitted to
build ANTI-SAT DEFENSE inside a city or settlement. It was conceived
to have no offensive capability, so DP, POH, and AR should be set to
0.
WT is redundant.
MINE LAYER
This is a small mine laying unit that is designed to move on any
surface and lay its mine. Once a mine is laid, the mine layer is
dismantled. It was conceived to have no offensive capability, so DP,
POH, and AR should be set to 0.
SETTLER UNIT
This is a settlement construction unit that can move on its own accord
to a location where you wish to build a SETTLEMENT. It was conceived
to have limited offensive capability (namely, lots of men with tools).
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
BATTLE CRUISER
This is a very big, ugly, and offensive boat, as the name implies. It
was conceived to be the most powerful object of any tech-type. The
attack range (AR) was deliberately set to be longer than the scan
range (SR), due to the very large and powerful gunnery that can
"transport" a shell over a very large distance. Beware that battle
cruisers CANNOT detect submarines - this can prove to be very
dangerous (you may want to consider an escort, such as a destroyer or
submarine).
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
AERO-PORTER
This is a reasonably large cargo aircraft. See the transport table
for a list of objects that it can carry.
WT in this case is the total number of weight units that this
transport can carry (it is not the weight of the transport itself).
AERO-FIGHTER
This is a very agile scout/fighter aircraft. They are valuable for
instances where a quick and responsive attack is required, as they can
travel large distances in a short time. Typical preys would be
bombers, aero-porters, fuel depots, and other objects that have poor
defensive capability.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
HOVER-SCOUT
This is a very useful scouting object, and the only object that can
detect resource deposits. If you do not have one of these objects for
any reason, be sure to produce one right away. They are your key to
resource exploitation and thus the expansion of your empire. They are
also useful for destroying rail or road, or fuel depots. They can
also set off mines (to use as an inexpensive mine sweeper, even if
they might get killed).
As the hover-scout moves, it automatically scans the surrounding area
(within its scan range - SR) for resource deposits. If a location has
been successfully scanned, it will show as highlighted when a resource-
scanned area observation map is displayed. The game parameter table
has an entry that specifies the probability that the hover-scout will
detect a resource deposit. If it failed to scan, the location in
question will not be highlighted. In MOVE MODE, there is an H button
that if pressed, will display the resource-scanned area. This is an
option that you should use often as you move your scout, to be sure
that all area in its scan range has successfully been scanned.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
ANTI-SAT DEFENSE
This is an establishment that continually scans the skies for an enemy
satellite (at the beginning of your turn). SR is the range that this
object can scan for a satellite, and AR is the attack range. If a
satellite lies in-between AR and SR, you will be notified of the
intruding satellite's presence, but cannot attack it. If the
satellite is within AR, it will be destroyed on your order.
Destruction of a satellite costs one missile, and the defense is
dismantled when the last of its missiles has been fired.
It has no defensive capability.
DP must be set to 1; FR is the number of missiles this defense is
given once built; AR and SR need only be set for LAND. PT, WT, G, M,
O, MC, POH are redundant. Surface selection is also redundant (it may
be wherever the builder can go).
DETECTOR PLACER
This is a mobile unit that can plant detectors on any surface type.
It has no defensive capability - DP should be set to 0.
WT is the number of detectors it is given once produced. This object
is dismantled when it has placed its last detector.
POH and AR should be set to 0. As it is an object with a very narrow
purpose, it has been given no scanning capability, so SR was set to 0
(although it could be changed). If SR is 0, POS is redundant.
LASER TANK
This is a very sturdy and heavily armoured vehicle with a reasonably
powerful cannon. It is a standard land-based attack unit.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
SPY SATELLITE
Satellites are useful for quickly mapping out the world. An
advantageous side effect is that it can also give you a good idea
where your enemy is, as it has the capability of distinguishing the
ownership of objects below it. Satellites of any ownership cannot
collide into each other.
They are equipped with maneuvering fuel, specified by FR. Each time
the orbit is changed, one fuel unit is lost. If there is no fuel
left, the orbit of the satellite can no longer be changed (unless you
deliberately destroy it). They can move in a direction based on 45
degrees ("horizontally", "vertically", or "diagonally" across the
map). They may also be placed in a synchronous orbit in which they
continuously scan the same area. Normally, the world is non-wrapping
to objects. However, satellites DO wrap from one side to the other.
Once produced, a satellite may be launched in TACTICAL MODE only, by
clicking on the city that produced it and finding its object window,
where the launch button may be pressed. Grounded satellites (ones
that haven't been launched yet) will appear in the Satellite Report
(under the REPORTS menu).
They are detectable by cities and anti-sat defense only.
Satellites can see submarines.
It may be helpful to be aware that the Neutral Player will not produce
satellites.
AR should be 0; HI, DP, PBH, POH, PBS are redundant. SP (LAND) is the
distance moved at the beginning of each turn. Surface selection is
redundant.
TERRA-PORTER
This is essentially a convoy of transport trucks. See the transport
table for a list of objects that it can carry.
WT in this case is the total number of weight units that this
transport can carry (it is not the weight of the transport itself).
HYDRO-PORTER
This is a reasonably large transport ship. See the transport table
for a list of objects that it can carry.
WT in this case is the total number of weight units that this
transport can carry (it is not the weight of the transport itself).
ROAD CONSTRUCTOR
This is a construction unit that places road segments. It has limited
defensive capability.
This unit has an auto-placement (A-P) mode where a segment is placed
automatically each time the object is moved to a new location with no
feature object already present. Placement will only occur at the
location it is moved TO when this mode is on. There is also a manual
placement command that can be used to place a segment at its current
location, without using up its movement points.
WT is the number of road segments that is given to the object once
produced. It is dismantled when the last of its road segments is
placed.
GUARD
A guard is an abstract object - it exists inside its city and cannot
be moved. Guards are used to defend their city against enemy attack.
They absorb hits when the city is attacked, and they can deliver
damage to an enemy object in their attack range (AR). Each guard has
its own hit points - when they are all lost, the guard unit is killed.
If all guards are lost, the city is handed over to the attacker. If a
guard unit is being produced when an existing guard has lost points,
that guard will have an added hit point per turn. If the number of
hits points exceeds the maximum for the guard, a new guard is
produced. A simpler way to calculate the number of guards in a city
is: guards = (total hit points of city / max. hit points per guard) +
1. If you have reached the maximum number of guards that can be
sustained in a city, but do not have maximum hit points, there is no
way to bring the city to maximum hits (the injured guards are there to
stay until the bitter end).
WT, FR, SR, SP, POS, and PBS are redundant.
FUEL DEPOT
Fuel depots can exist inside cities or settlements, or be carried on
transports, or can be partly concealed outside, on any surface. They
are the only means for fueling up objects. An object can fuel itself
to maximum by moving to it if the depot is outside, or by moving into
a city with fuel. If a transport is carrying a depot and runs out of
fuel, it will fuel up from this depot. Objects moving onto a
transport that has a fuel depot will fuel up automatically; however,
if an object wants to fuel up from a depot inside a transport, but is
not a compatible load, the depot must be moved off the transport
first, and then have the object move to it. If there are more than
one fuel depots at the same location (either in a city or settlement
or in a transport) and an object will choose to fuel up, it will take
fuel from the most empty depot first. Depots that are completely
emptied will be dismantled at the end of your turn. Any object that
fuels up from a depot will lose all its remaining movement points for
that turn.
You may transfer fuel from one depot to another by giving the
receiving depot orders to fuel up (from the other depot) - this may
save room on a transport if two containers are only half full for
example.
One fuel unit will be lost from the depot if moved outside a city or
transport. However, no fuel is lost when loading onto a transport or
into a city.
If objects that require fuel are produced in a city with no fuel, they
will be stranded until a depot is moved in, or until a depot is
produced in that city. Once a fuel depot exists by either method
inside the city, all objects with zero fuel (only) will automatically
fuel up at the beginning of the round. Therefore, objects cannot fuel
up the same round that the depot was produced, unless the depot is
moved outside the city and then each object that is empty is manually
ordered to fuel up from that depot. This alternative is not
beneficial though, since it still takes a turn to manually fuel up.
Fuel depots have no defensive capability, but have limited scanning
capability.
DP, AR, POH, and SP must be set to 0. FR is the amount of fuel given
to a depot once produced.
STEALTH BOMBER
This is a long-range bomber. It is sometimes referred to as a
transport, as it has a similar window interface and loading/unloading
mechanisms. However, the only object type that can be carried is a
bomb. Bombs are dropped to an immediately surrounding area using the
bomb button in MOVE MODE. Bombs can be dropped on an enemy object, or
on a rail or road (owned by anyone). If an object is destroyed by a
bomb, and rail, road, or canal is at the same location, it is
destroyed as well. A bomb dropped directly on a rail or road segment
will guarantee its destruction, whereas dropping a bomb on a canal
will destroy it with probability as given in the Game Parameter Table.
It costs one movement point (MP) to drop a bomb.
A bomber can carry a total weight determined by WT. If each bomb
weighs 1 unit, then WT is the number of bombs that can be carried.
RESOURCE CONTAINER
These are only available in non-pooled resources mode of play. They
are created by packing resources in cities or settlements. There is a
hard-coded limit of 5 resource units per container. The weight of a
container is specified by WT and is set by default to 5 (one weight
unit per resource unit). An empty container cannot be created.
Containers are the only means of transferring resources from one
location to another, other than by using an RTS (Rail Transport
Schedule). They may only be unpacked in a city or settlement that has
room in its resource pool for the resources in the container.
Unpacking a container automatically dismantles it as well. They may
contain a mixture of resource types. Containers are independent
objects that can exist outside cities, but are extremely vulnerable to
attack. They are not capable of moving on their own accord, or
attacking (it's literally just a container).
DP, AR, SP must be set to 0; SR should be set to 0; FR, PT, G, M, O,
MC, POH, and POS are redundant.
DESTROYER
This is a well-armoured and reasonably powerful attack ship. It is
also useful for scouting, as it is the fastest water-based unit.
They can see submarines.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
SUBMARINE
This is a submersible attack unit. It has the advantage of being
difficult to hit, and difficult to spot (by objects that are capable
of seeing a submarine).
Submarines can only be seen by cities, satellites, destroyers, and of
course submarines.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
REPAIR UNIT
This is a mobile object that is capable of repairing damage to any
object (other than guards). A repair unit cannot repair its own
damage - however another repair unit could. The act of repairing is
initiated by having the object to repair move to it (click on the
repair unit in MOVE MODE). Each time the object is moved to it, one
unit of damage is repaired. An object being repaired in this way will
lose all remaining movement points in the turn. A repair unit may
only repair one object at a time. There is a maximum number of hit
points that may be restored by any one repair unit, given by WT. WT
also doubles as the actual weight of the repair unit for transport.
The repair unit is dismantled when the last of its repair units has
been expended.
This unit should not be capable of offensive action, so DP, POH, and
AR should be set to 0.
RAIL CONSTRUCTOR
This is a construction unit that places rail segments. It has limited
defensive capability. The speed of this object, if moved from rail,
is given by SP (LAND). If this object is moved from a location with
no rail, all movement points are used (thus it has a speed of 1 when
not on rail).
This unit has an auto-placement (A-P) mode where a segment is placed
automatically each time the object is moved to a new location with no
feature object already present. Placement will only occur at the
location it is moved TO when this mode is on. There is also a manual
placement command that can be used to place a segment at its current
location, without using up its movement points.
WT is the number of rail segments that is given to the object once
produced. It is dismantled when the last of its rail segments is
placed.
RAIL TRANSPORT
This is a rail transportation unit, often referred to as an RT. It
may only travel on rail (and can of course move into cities or
settlements), and it does not matter who owns the rail. There are two
modes of movement that may be set in MOVE MODE that governs the
behaviour of the RT with respect to path selection: Minimum Distance
Tracking (MDT) can be turned on or off. If MDT is off, the RT will
ask you which rail segment to move to at every intersection, in the
form of a request to give a direction to avoid an obstacle. An
intersection is defined such that the number of rail segments
immediately surrounding a given location is greater than or equal to
3. The RT remembers where it came from during movement, so as long as
there is only one choice of rail to move to (other than where it came
from), it will move there without question. If MDT is enabled, a
certain degree of intelligence is applied (well, the best I could do
given memory constraints). MDT is automatically turned on when the RT
is assigned a schedule (RTS), so that the RT may move from city to
city (or wherever) without asking you for directions each time.
Theoretically, so long as the rail layout is reasonably uncomplicated,
the RT in MDT mode should find its way to its destination. See the
section on the MDT algorithm for a more detailed description of its
"intelligence".
The Rail Transport Schedule (RTS) is a very handy method for the
regular transport of resources around a large area. This is described
in another section. The RTS is obviously useless if playing in POOLED
RESOURCES mode.
WT is the total weight that this transport can carry.
BOMB
Bombs are individual, independent objects, like resource containers.
They may only be transported by the STEALTH BOMBER, and of course may
only be dropped and detonated from a bomber. They have no offensive
capability on their own (you cannot unload a bomb beside a city and
then detonate it). Bombs are produced individually as well, by
cities, as any other object. Bombs inside a city may not be directly
loaded onto a bomber inside the city - they must be loaded as any
other object is loaded, by moving into it. In this case, the bomber
must be placed just outside the city and have all the bombs load into
it from inside the city. If they are just left outside, they are of
course very vulnerable to attack. You may regard this unit as being a
single bomb, or a group of bombs - it really doesn't matter. The
number of bombs that can be loaded onto a bomber is only determined by
the weight (WT) of the bomb and the weight capacity (WT) of the
bomber.
DP is of course the damage potential the bomb can do if dropped on top
of the object. SP must be set to 0; FR, SR, POS should be set to 0.
GUN BOAT
This is a small, lightly-armoured and not-so-powerful boat. It is
generally the equivalent of an army except it floats.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
HYDRO-SETTLER UNIT
This is a settlement construction unit that can only move on water on
its own accord to a location where you wish to build a SETTLEMENT. It
was conceived to have limited offensive capability (namely, lots of
men with tools).
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
CITY DEVASTATOR
This is an independent, mobile unit that is used to completely destroy
one of your own cities. It cannot be used to devastate a city you do
not own! To devastate a city, you must move it inside and give it
orders to devastate. All objects inside the city will of course be
destroyed as well (if you are silly enough to leave them inside). You
will probably only use this if your city is about to be taken over,
and there isn't much of a chance of taking it back. Be aware that the
Neutral Player is quite capable of building and using these - if you
are attacking one of its cities and it suddenly disappears, you'll
know why.
There are no special exceptions in the specification table.
CANAL CONSTRUCTOR
This is a construction unit that places canal segments. It has
limited defensive capability.
WT is the number of canal segments that is given to the object once
produced. It is dismantled when the last of its canal segments is
placed.
11. TRANSPORT TABLE
This table shows which objects can be carried by each transport type.
OBJECT TERRA-P AERO-P HYDRO-P RAIL TRANSPORT BOMBER
Army X X X X
Photon Cannon X X X X
Gunship X
Mine Layer X X
Settler Unit X X X
Aero-Fighter X
Laser Tank X X X X
Fuel Depot X X X X
Resource Container X X X X
Repair Unit X X X X
City Devastator X X X X
Bomb X
12. OBJECT SPECIAL-ATTRIBUTE TABLE
OBJECT ROAD LOSES FUEL CAN BE HIT CAN BE
BONUS OVER WATER BY A MINE BOMBED NP
Army X X X X
City X
Settlement X
Photon Cannon X X X
Gunship X X
Anti-Sat Builder X X X
Mine Layer X X X
Settler Unit X X X
Battle Cruiser X X X
Aero-Porter X
Aero-Fighter X X
Hover-Scout X X
Anti-Sat Defense X X
Detector Placer X X
Laser Tank X X X X
Terra-Porter X X X
Hydro-Porter X X
Road Constructor X X X
Fuel Depot X X
Stealth Bomber X
Resource Container X X
Destroyer X X X
Submarine X X
Repair Unit X X X
Rail Constructor X X X
Rail Transport X X
Bomb X X
Gun Boat X X X
Hydro-Settler Unit X X
City Devastator X X X X
Canal Constructor X X X
ROAD BONUS
This object can be moved to any surface provided that road is built on
it. It also has a bonus if moving from the road, such that movement
only costs 1 MP. Objects that are non-movement-associated and are
capable of existing on all surfaces, do not receive any special
treatment moving to or from road (Fuel Depot, Bomb, Resource
Container).
LOSES FUEL OVER WATER
This means that if this object, at the beginning of the turn, is
placed in STANDBY or just left with no orders sitting above water, it
will lose one fuel unit. If the object happens to run out of fuel at
this point, it is immediately killed.
CAN BE HIT BY A MINE
If this object moves on top of a mine, it is detonated.
CAN BE BOMBED
This object can be bombed by a stealth bomber.
NP
Neutral Player cities can produce these objects (assuming they have
reached the required tech-level). The NP has an unlimited source of
fuel and resources in each of its cities. However, unlike human
players that can produce one object for each tech-type at the same
time, the NP cannot have concurrent production (in any given city).
13. MAP DISPLAY DESCRIPTION
The world is rectangular of size 100 rows and 150 columns. Because of
this limitation, distances are not as they may appear. For example,
moving from location (0,0) to (2,0) in a vertical direction, i.e. from
(0,0) to (1,0) to (2,0) takes the same amount of time and fuel as if
moving along diagonals, i.e. from (0,0) to (1,1) to (2,0). In other
words, the Pythagorean Theorem is violated! It is important to keep
this in mind - you may then find that your movements are in a diagonal
nature if your intent is to scan as much area as possible while losing
a minimum amount of fuel.
A player map display is a rectangular grid, with each location unit
occupying two text columns. The row location numbers are listed to
the left of the map, and the column location numbers are listed on the
bottom, where the first, leftmost digit of the column number is
aligned with the first text column of the corresponding locations (it
becomes obvious when you see it).
The first text column of any particular location unit will either show
the object tactical symbol if an object is present at that location,
or the surface type icon. The second text column (to the immediate
right of the first) shows the object stat if an object is there, the
surface type icon again if nothing is there, or a feature object
symbol. Feature objects are described in another section.
An object stat is a statistical number related to the object. If you
own this object, its meaning depends on the object type and the chosen
statistic to display for that object type: If the object is a city,
it will either display the smallest of the number of turns before an
object in the city is produced, or the number of guards in the city;
otherwise, it will either display the number of hits the object has
left, or the amount of fuel it has left. The buttons for choosing
which information to display can be found in TACTICAL MODE (the
information type displayed is shown by a check mark). If you do not
own this object (it belongs to the enemy), the number displayed is
always the age stat of the object. The age stat is the number of
turns since you last scanned that particular object - an age stat of 0
indicates that it is definitely at the location shown because you just
saw it there.
The object stat, if greater than 9, will always be a '+' sign. Since
there is no room to display a two-digit number, this character is used
to tell you that the object stat is 10 or above. In the case of an
enemy object, the age stat is recorded up to a value of 63 - clicking
on the object in TACTICAL MODE will tell you the actual age stat
value, or will indicate if it is above 63 (you will have the option of
removing this object from your map entirely, if you believe that it
will most likely not be there anymore - regardless of the actual age
stat value so long as it isn't 0).
14. MAP FEATURE OBJECTS
This is a category of objects that are for the most part intrinsic to
the surroundings. There cannot be more than one of these objects at
any one location: For example, it is not possible to build a road on
a mineral resource. This restriction is mostly due to display and
memory limitations. Note that in MOVE MODE, the feature object symbol
is displayed beside the surface type for any given object at its
current location. The map feature objects are listed below.
GRAIN
This is a resource deposit, called grain, but is more generally a
food source. For example, a "grain" deposit on water may be
considered an area with a high concentration of seafood. The
symbol is supposed to look like a wheat field with the letter
'G'.
MINERAL
This is a resource deposit, called mineral, which is generally an
area that can be mined to yield any type of metallic elements for
the purposes of construction of objects. The symbol is supposed
to look like a pickaxe with the letter 'M'.
OIL
This is a resource deposit, called oil, but is more generally an
area that can be exploited as a fuel source (oil, coal, or
natural gas). The symbol is supposed to look like an oil rig (or
pump) with the letter 'O'.
RAIL
Railroad can only be placed by a Rail Constructor. It is only
used by Rail Transports (RTs), and will most likely be built to
connect cities for the rapid and efficient transport of
resources, and other objects. The symbol is a filled circle.
ROAD
Road can only be built by a Road Constructor (and will appear
around neutral player cities wherever the surface is not water or
land). It will allow objects to move to a surface that they
cannot normally move to. If a surface has road built on it, for
movement purposes, the surface will be treated as land. However,
all other specifications will be chosen based on the original
surface type; these include POH, PBH, POS, PBS, AR, and SR.
Therefore, it is important to make sure that specifications for
surfaces that the object cannot normally move to are set
properly, in the event that they are able to move to that surface
because of road (except for objects that are not supposed to
exist on land). Obviously, it doesn't make sense to build road
on land. The symbol is a hollow square.
MINE
A mine can only be laid by a Mine Layer. The mine is visible
only to its owner, but will detonate if an object of the same
owner moves to it. There is no way to disarm a mine - it must be
detonated by coming into contact with an object. POH for a mine
is 100 and DP is 1 - therefore, the probability of an object
initially receiving one damage point is PBH of that object. If a
hit is received, the mine gets another attack using the same
rules; if it hits again, it will try yet another attack. It is
therefore theoretically possible (although not likely) for a mine
to sink a Battle Cruiser! If a mine is detonated, the location
is clear - a mine can actually be thought of as a mine field
where if one mine is detonated, all are detonated simultaneously
(by some transmitted signal, or whatever). The symbol is
supposed to look like a water mine with the letter 'M'.
DETECTOR
This can only be placed by a Detector Placer. It is for the most
part a passive device that is sensitive to the movement of enemy
objects within its scan range. It is generally concealed to the
enemy, except that in the event that this device scans an enemy,
there is a possibility that the enemy will detect the warning
signal transmitted by the detector. If this is the case, the
detector has the means to detect an interception of its warning
signal, in which case it self-destructs to prevent capture. If
you are alerted to the presence of an enemy object within its
scan range, the actual location of the enemy is still unknown.
The specifications of the detector reside in the game parameter
table. Note that the scan range of a detector does not appear in
the View scan range mode. The symbol is supposed to look like
some sort of scanner with the letter 'D'.
CANAL
This can only be constructed by a Canal Constructor, on LAND. It
is an artificial waterway that will permit water-based objects to
move inland. When in the canal, the object's surface
specifications will be land-based, not water-based. As a
movement penalty, all movement points will be used to move from a
canal (however there is no penalty when moving into a canal). It
is still possible to move from water into a canal and then back
into water in the same turn, depending on the speed of the
object. Of course, all other objects that can move on land will
be able to transverse a canal (by whatever means: bridges,
ferries, etc.) since the primary surface type is still land. The
symbol is not easily described - except that it doesn't look like
any of the above, so by the process of elimination, it should
become apparent (it's some sort of square-like pattern I made
up).
The following objects can move in a canal: Gun Boats, Hydro-
Porters, Hydro-Settler Units, Battle Cruisers, Destroyers, and
Submarines. Note that a Settlement cannot be built on a canal.
15. GRAPHICAL WORLD MAP VIEWS
A graphical world map view uses the 320x200x256 VGA mode to display
various aspects of your world, using colour codes to distinguish
between objects. The legend on the right shows the object symbol and
its corresponding colour as it appears on the map. The following are
the different types of maps that may be obtained through the game
options and menus, mostly from the Observation menu:
OBJECTS
Displays locations of all objects belonging to a particular
player that you have scanned, as they appear on your player map.
There is no distinction in this view as to the age of the object
(how recently you scanned it).
KNOWN RESOURCES
All resources that you have scanned appear in this view, and are
colour coded according to resource type. This view does not
indicate collection status of resources - another view is
dedicated to this.
INFRASTRUCTURE
Displays the locations of the following objects: CITY,
SETTLEMENT, HQ, RAIL, ROAD, CANAL, MINE, and DETECTOR.
COLLECTED RESOURCES
Displays the locations of collected and uncollected resources
that you have scanned. They are colour coded as such, but
resource types cannot be distinguished in this view.
HIGHLIGHTING (sometimes abbrev. HILITING)
This is a view category, not a specific map view. It is obtained
through options such as SURVEYED AREA, VIEW SCAN RANGE, and VIEW
ATTACK RANGE. Your objects are shown as BLACK dots, and the
highlighting colour codes are essentially the same as the normal
surface colours with the intensity increased.
Pressing anywhere will exit the view without changing your player
map view location. Pressing anywhere on the map itself will exit
and will move your player map view location so as to be centered about
the location you clicked on.
LEGEND OPTIONS
If you move the mouse pointer on top of any of the legend
symbols, the corresponding colour will flash. This may provide
more clarity of the positions of any particular object, since
some colours may not be easily differentiated.
There is always a BMP button at the bottom right of the screen,
for any view. This is described further in the next subsection.
15.1 BMP SCREEN CAPTURE
This function will copy the entire contents of the screen to a
Microsoft Windows 3.0 (or later) device-independent bitmap (DIB)
.BMP file, with no RLE compression since for some reason the
Paintbrush program is not able to decode RLE (although most of
you probably have a better picture viewer than that).
It uses roughly the same RGB intensities as the default DAC
register settings for that video mode, with some minor
adjustments to provide a reasonably good grey shading equivalent
for most of us without colour printers. It is therefore a 256-
colour bitmap, and appears almost exactly the same as the screen
view using whatever picture viewer you have in Windows, so long
as you have a 256-colour video driver. It will print nicely from
Paintbrush, but since it is only 320x200 remember to adjust the
scaling - a 300dpi laser at 100% scaling will give you a nice one-
inch or so map! Scaling 500% or so provides a reasonable size at
that printer resolution. If your software will support it,
choosing Best Fit would work well too.
The BMP capture is activated by pointing to it and clicking .
The process is initiated when the symbol lights up and a sound is
heard. It is finished when it darkens again and another sound is
heard.
The filename that it writes to is hard-coded, and must be
creatable in the current, default directory. The file size will
always be 65,078. The naming convention is as follows:
P#T##MMM.BMP, where:
P# is the player number, from 1 to 4 (NP);
T## is the last two digits of the turn number;
MMM is the map type:
OBJ - Objects
RES - Known Resources
INF - Infrastructure
COL - Collected Resources
HIL - Highlighting view
or WORLD.BMP, if it was a world map view from the MAP EDIT
function of REXEDIT.
These files will be overwritten if the particular map view
satisfies the same criteria. For example, a BMP made from
viewing SCAN RANGE will be overwritten by another BMP request
from viewing ATTACK RANGE. If it is necessary to have these two
separate views recorded, you will have to capture one view, save
and exit the game to rename the file, and run the game again for
the other view.
As a note of caution, there is no security mechanism integrated
in bitmap files, and so be careful not to leave them accessible
to other players, who may be of a less-honourable nature, or just
clumsy enough to accidentally view them. So be careful to look
for the player number in the filename, and remember what number
you are!
If you are curious as to the format of the DIB, look in your
favourite Windows GDI reference under the following data
structure names: BITMAPFILEHEADER, BITMAPINFOHEADER, BITMAPINFO,
and RGBQUAD.
16. MOVE MODE
Move mode must be entered manually every turn. This mode consists of
a number of movement phases, consisting of two cycles. In the first
cycle, orders are requested (if needed) for all objects, one at a
time; generally speaking, orders are asked for objects that have no
orders and have at least one movement point (MP). An order can be
movement-related, or it can be an attack order (by just clicking on an
enemy object within attack range). Note that once you make an attack
on an object, all movement points are used up. In the second cycle,
actual movement takes place. It is in the second cycle where
collisions may occur (generically speaking) where you are asked to
indicate an alternate location to move to to avoid an obstacle.
It may be of course that in a movement phase, it may only appear to
execute the second cycle, but it does execute the first cycle each
phase in the event that an object may clear its own orders for a
variety of reasons: it reached its destination; it encountered an
enemy object within scanning range; or it is running low on fuel
(below a safety margin) in which case the object will have to be
guided to wherever it is going each movement phase, which will
hopefully prevent accidental destination orders that will cause it to
run out of fuel.
As long as there is an object that is capable of moving this round,
and has orders to move, new movement phases will be executed until
that object runs out of movement points. Move mode will then end on
its own when it decides that no more movement phases are required.
Since it is possible to exit move mode prematurely (by clicking in the
designated area), it is wise to make sure you enter move mode again
before ending your turn. It is for this reason that a warning may
appear before you confirm end of turn that indicates that there is at
least one object that is capable of moving (whether or not it has
orders).
For the most part, you need not be concerned about the actual order of
operations that are described above. However, there is one good
reason for understanding this, which pertains to loading objects onto
transports: If you intend on loading one or more objects onto a
transport, and have the loaded transport move in the same round, you
will want to be sure that the objects have indeed loaded themselves on
first. If not, the transport will move and then the object to be
loaded may either move to the prior location of the transport, or it
may not be able to move at all. You will then have wasted precious
time, having to move your transport back to where it was. In order to
prevent this, there are two procedures that are recommended:
1. Assuming the transport has its orders cleared and is capable
of moving this round, first give the loading orders to the
appropriate objects, and when the transport asks for orders,
click on "Other Orders" (the area to click in is designated in
move mode) and examine the current payload of the transport: If
these objects to load are not there yet, exit this window and
press to temporarily skip this object and wait until the
next time the transport asks for orders, at which point the
objects should be loaded; otherwise if they are there, you may
now give movement orders, confident that you are not leaving your
cargo behind!
2. If not already, put the transport in STANDBY (or WAIT) mode,
and then give the appropriate loading orders. Wait until move
mode finishes, enter Tactical mode, click on the transport, and
clear its orders. You may then enter move mode again to move
your transport. This will ensure that sometime during move mode,
the objects to load will have moved onto the transport. The risk
of doing it this way is that you may forget about the transport
altogether - once it is in STANDBY, it won't come out of it until
something nasty happens at which point it could be disastrous!
Note that pressing the when an object asks for orders will only
skip it until the next movement phase, if any! Since move mode ends
when nothing happens in the second cycle (during movement), it is
possible that by continually skipping this object every phase, move
mode will end and you may forget about it. This is the primary reason
for the warning message described earlier that may appear when
choosing to end the turn. It is handy to skip giving orders to an
object in the event that another of your objects is in the way - the
obstructing object will then hopefully move in the second cycle of
this phase, and you will be able to give your object movement orders
next phase. In any event, skipping an object will not under any
circumstances inhibit its abilities this round. However, you may not
carry over its movement points into the next round! An exception to
this is in a different situation, where an object that already has
movement orders does not have enough movement points to move from
where it is, in which case its remaining movement points ARE carried
over into the next round (quite transparently). An example of this is
if a Laser Tank with 1 MP inside a Jungle (where 2 MPs are required to
move from it) wants to move somewhere, it won't move this round, but
it will carry over the 1 MP to the next round. It will then have 3
MPs (more than usual), but will move right away and use up 2 MPs doing
it, leaving it with 1 MP again.
You may notice that for each type of object, a particular set of
options appear in the status window (top-right corner) when in MOVE
MODE. These options are identified by their first letter being boxed
in. An example is the [S]tandby order, which appears for every
object. These options may be selected with the mouse pointer by
clicking in these small boxes, or may be accessed directly via the
keyboard whereby pressing the key corresponding to that boxed in will
activate that option. Note that CAPS LOCK should be OFF, as these
keyboard commands will only accept lower-case input. That is, 's' is
for Standby, but 'S' won't do anything. The following are extra
keyboard options that are not shown in the status window:
[c] - Position the main map so that the object in question is
centered (helpful if you wandered off somewhere using the scroll
bar and don't know your way back!),
[w] - Give orders to WAIT. Note that this order may also be
given by selecting the Other Options field at the top to open the
object's window where the WAIT option is available.
17. RAIL TRANSPORT (SCHEDULES AND MDT)
17.1 RT SCHEDULE (RTS)
An RT Schedule is a means of automatically shipping resources on
a regular schedule to various cities. Once your empire is large
enough, this system can save a lot of playing time and
frustration if the schedule is set up properly - resources that
cities need can be delivered to them on a regular basis so that
production can hopefully proceed without long delays (while
waiting for resources it doesn't collect). There is a maximum of
15 schedules, and 16 order entries per schedule. Note that an
implied entry exists (but does not appear) at the very end of the
orders list which instructs the RT to loop back to the top of the
list to retrieve its next order. The time it takes for the RT to
complete one loop in the order entry list is called the Round
Trip Time (RTT) and is displayed at the top when examining this
list. To activate a schedule, you must ASSIGN a particular RT to
the schedule, at which point it will begin at the current order
entry. Assigning an RT will enable its MDT; note however that
MDT is off when the RT is produced, which you may want to turn on
if you plan on navigating an RT on a regular basis but without
using an RTS. The following are schedule order entry options:
MOVE TO CITY/SETTLEMENT
This order will direct the RT to move to the specified
city/settlement. In this order entry, you may give loading
and unloading orders for each type of resource. All
operations are done when the RT moves into the
city/settlement. It will then spend the rest of the turn
inside, and proceed to the next order entry next turn.
You may also tell the RT to load a priority object and
deliver it to another city/settlement. A priority object is
one that will be loaded first, before resources are loaded,
to be delivered to a destination; if there still isn't room
on the RT, resources at random will be unloaded at the city
until there is enough room for it. This is a temporary
order and will clear itself once the item is delivered.
Note however, that unless you specify otherwise, the
schedule will still be followed according to the entries
listed even before the priority item has been dropped off.
MOVE TO LOCATION
This is an order to move to an absolute location, which is
supposed to be at an empty area - in other words, the RT
must somehow be able to get to the specified location
without having an object sitting there. This order is only
practical for adding an exception to the MDT algorithm if
the RT does not follow the appropriate railroad tracks,
and/or if you want the RT to wait at this particular
location, possibly to allow another RT to pass by.
WAIT
This is an order to wait a specified number of turns at the
current location. This delay may be necessary for a proper
time balance in the delivery schedule.
The current order entry is pointed to by an arrow in the entry
display window, and may be changed manually if necessary. For
example, if the arrow points to an entry that corresponds to a
city (which may or may not have loading/unloading orders), it
indicates that the RT has orders to proceed to this city.
However, if you decide that a priority item needs to be delivered
to another city later in the orders list in a hurry, you can
bypass all orders in-between by manually changing the orders
pointer to point to this destination. The schedule will then
resume normally after the priority item has been delivered.
It is important that you read the on-line help for the orders
entry list window when you get there, to be informed of all the
options that are available to you.
17.2 MINIMUM DISTANCE TRACKING (MDT) ALGORITHM
This is an algorithm that can be used to guide an RT along the
network of railroad tracks to a particular destination. A term
that needs to be defined is a 'lonely track', which is a railroad
path from the source to the destination with no other rail
segments branching from it (other than the immediately
surrounding areas of the source and destination which are
probably rail intersections). Another term to be defined is
'distance', which is the MAX(separation in rows, separation in
columns). The 'perpendicular distance' is the MIN(separation in
rows, separation in columns).
Find a lonely track with the first rail segment at a minimum
distance to the destination.
If one is found, proceed to the first rail segment of the lonely
track.
If no lonely tracks are found:
Find a rail segment of minimum distance to the destination.
If there are at least two:
From the last two found, choose the one with closer
perpendicular distance.
Else if there is just one, proceed to that rail segment.
If there is a problem at an intersection with deciding which rail
segment to proceed to (it chooses the wrong path), try placing an
extra rail segment at the location that is closest to the
destination (if it makes sense in your particular context).
This algorithm is only applied when an intersection is reached,
defined to be an area such that there are more than 2 rail
segments immediately surrounding a given location. Once the RT
has chosen a path along a lonely 'section' of track (where there
are only two options of movement), it will proceed in the same
direction, as it will not move to a rail segment that it just
came from. However, once the RT reaches its destination, this
information is cleared.
If an object is obstructing the path of an RT, the algorithm will
be implemented the same way except that the segment of rail that
the obstructing object is on will be ignored. If this occurs in
an area where there is no intersection, the algorithm will
conclude that the track ends here and will ask what to do about
the obstacle in the way. If this occurs at an intersection
(where it will have an alternate rail segment to move to other
than where it came) it will always move there, whether or not
that segment will eventually lead to the desired destination
(although it will choose the best one to move to if there is more
than one choice). This is not really a good thing, but in other
situations it will allow the RT to pass objects on the rail if
the rail is doubled along a path. If this problem persists (at
intersections), you may want to place some more rail segments in
the intersection - it will then likely choose the segment in the
right direction to move around the object. It may get confusing
if you have many RT's sharing the same track - but this is not a
railroad network simulator that will solve all your traffic
problems! Railroad in most cases will be a convenience if not
abused; otherwise it could become detrimental.
It is a good idea to make sure that rail layout for linking
cities makes sense (with respect to this algorithm). A railroad
linking a city to the south-west should have its first segment to
the immediate south-west of the source city (or at least make
sure that all other rail segments are at a larger distance from
the destination than the segment meant for the destination). If
this logic is applied to all rail layouts, the MDT should not
make any errors. If it does make an error however, it may be
wise to use the MOVE TO LOCATION option of the rail schedule (if
using one) to point it in the right direction. Note that you are
able to attack your own rail - you may need to in the event of
"restructuring" your network.
18. GAME PARAMETER TABLE
The parameters in this table have effect over all current games. They
are stored in the file . If this is not in the default
directory when the game editor is run, it is created with default
settings. A '[D]' before the parameter name indicates that it only
has effect when creating new games. A '[P]' before the name indicates
that it only has effect when playing a game.
GAME PLAYER PARAMETERS - [P]:
TURNS TO ADVANCE TO TECH-LEVEL x
(x ranges from 2 to 5). This is the number of turns a player
needs to wait before being able to advance to the next tech-level
of a particular tech-type.
PROBABILITY OF RESOURCE BEING SPOTTED
This is the absolute probability that a Hover-Scout will spot a
resource deposit during scanning. POS of the Hover-Scout plays
no role in this case.
PROBABILITY OF RAIL/ROAD BEING HIT
This is the PBH equivalent for rail and road segments. The
absolute probability of an object hitting rail/road is the
product of POH (object) and this parameter value. Attacking
rail/road is done in MOVE MODE by using the 'A'R button.
DETECTION RANGE OF DETECTOR
This is the SR equivalent for a detector.
PROBABILITY OF DETECTING ENEMY OBJECT
This is the POS equivalent for a detector. The absolute
probability is the product of the object's PBS and this POS.
PROBABILITY OF DETECTOR BEING SPOTTED
This is the PBS equivalent for a detector. The product of this
PBS and an enemy object's POS is the probability that if the
detector has detected the presence of the enemy object, that the
object will intercept the warning transmission, and thus result
in the self-destruction of the detector.
INCREMENT IN MAX. GUARDS/TECH-LEVEL
The number of guards a city can sustain is the base number plus
(this value * (highest tech-level of city - 1)). The base number
is HI of the city - see City description.
MEGACREDIT REVENUE PER TECH-LEVEL
You collect a tax from your population according to the total
number of tech-levels of all your cities. The tax revenue is the
product of this total number of tech-levels and this parameter
value. Since the most primitive city has a total of 3 tech-
levels (1 for each type), the minimum revenue per turn is 3 *
number_of_cities * this_parameter_value.
NUMBER OF RESOURCE PACKS IN DEMAND FOR 1 MC INCREASE (Global Market)
A resource pack is a group of 5 resource units of the same type.
There is a maximum of 50 packs of market inventory for each type.
The value of a pack is 1 + (50 - number of packs in inventory
currently) / (this parameter value). The amount of MC you will
receive for selling a pack is the value as computed above. The
cost to buy a pack from the market is this value plus a
commission - described next.
PERCENT COMMISSION FOR SELLING (Global Market)
To buy a resource pack from the market, you must go through a
broker who charges a handling fee. The extra amount of
commission to pay is (value as computed above * this parameter /
100). Commission can be turned off by of course setting this
parameter to 0.
MAX WAIT (TURNS) FOR NP TO PLAY (Global Market)
The Neutral Player will choose a random time in turns between 1
and this value to play the market (arbitrarily but restricted by
parameters below). A new time will then be decided on once a
transaction is done.
MAX NUMBER OF PACKS FOR NP TO BUY/SELL (Global Market)
The Neutral Player will randomly choose a resource type to buy
from or sell to. The number of packs for this transaction is
restricted by this parameter value.
PROBABILITY OF NP REACTING TO BUY/SELL (Global Market)
If in the last turn at least one transaction was performed on the
market, this is the probability that the NP will react with a
transaction of its own.
MAX NUMBER OF PACKS FOR NP TO BUY/SELL (Global Market - Reaction)
This has the same meaning as the one above except that it only
relates to the NP reacting to a transaction.
COST TO ADVANCE TO TECH-LEVEL x
(x ranges from 2 to 5). This is the cost in MC to attempt to
advance a tech-level. If the attempt failed, the funds are still
lost, and will have to re-invest the same amount to attempt
again.
PROBABILITY OF SUCCESSFULLY ADVANCING (tech-level)
This is the probability (for all tech-levels and tech-types) that
you will successfully advance a tech-level if attempted by
investing the funds above.
PROBABILITY OF NP ADVANCING A TECH-LEVEL
This is the probability that the NP will successfully advance a
tech-level. An attempt is made as soon as the required number of
turns for advancement has passed. If the advancement failed, the
NP will choose a random time between 1 and TURNS TO WAIT FOR
ADVANCEMENT to wait before attempting to advance again. The NP
may advance tech-types independently and concurrently as a
regular player can.
PROBABILITY OF NP SENDING MESSAGES
This is the probability that the NP will decide to select a
message at random from the appropriate file to send to a player.
These messages are strictly sent in reaction to an attack, either
by or on the NP. See the section on PLAYER MESSAGES.
PROBABILITY OF CANAL BEING HIT
This is the PBH equivalent for canal segments. The absolute
probability of an object hitting a canal is the product of POH
(object) and this parameter value. Attacking canals is done in
MOVE MODE by using the 'A'R button.
PROBABILITY OF NP SENDING PATROLS
This is the probability that the NP will send a Hover-Scout on
patrol, if
it has nothing else to do. This decision is evaluated every turn
for every inactive Hover-Scout. The higher this parameter is,
the more likely you will be discovered by the NP early in the
game.
PROBABILITY OF NP MINING IF ON WATER
This is the probability that if a Mine Layer happens to be on
water, it will lay its mine right there, even if it originally
had orders to lay it somewhere else. This decision is evaluated
each time it moves to water. If this parameter is set high, it
is more likely that the coast line will be mined as opposed to
other surfaces. It will also be more likely that mines will be
laid very close to island cities (see below).
MINIMUM DISTANCE FROM HOME TO MINE WATER
The above test for laying a mine on water will only take place if
the distance of the Mine Layer from its home is at least the
distance specified here. This parameter is important for island
cities in that it will hopefully prevent the city from mining
itself into a closet! For this reason, it is a good idea to set
this value to be at least 3, so that exceptions for mine laying
on water won't take place until the Mine Layer is at a reasonable
distance away from its city. This has no influence on the
original decision on where to mine - only on the exception
explained above.
(1P) MINIMUM NP MARKET REACTION
For a one-player practice game, this provides an additional form
of market transaction damping. This is the minimum number of
resource packs the NP will buy or sell in immediate response to a
transaction, so long as at least this number were sold or bought,
respectively. If the transaction for a particular resource type
involved fewer packs, no minimum reaction will occur. However,
the NP will always react by a random amount as described next.
(1P) PROBABILITY OF FURTHER REACTION
Related to the above, this provides another addition form of
reaction on top of the minimum, if any. An additional resource
pack will be bought or sold (corresponding to sold or bought by
the player) each time the probability test succeeds. It will
cease to react further the first time it encounters a failure.
Therefore, DO NOT set this probability parameter to 100!!!
GAME EDITOR PARAMETERS - [D]:
NUMBER OF EACH RESOURCE
This is the minimum number of resources of each type that will be
placed on the map. If building a game without regions, four
extra resources will be placed around each HQ. Therefore, in a 2-
player game, the total number of resource deposits (of all types)
will be 3 * this_value + 2 * 4.
NUMBER OF IN-LAND CITIES
This is the number of Neutral Player (NP) cities that will be
placed in-land. In-land is defined to be a location where the 8
immediately adjacent (surrounding) surfaces are anything but
water.
NUMBER OF COASTAL CITIES
This is the number of NP cities that will be placed in coastal
areas. Coastal is defined to be a location where at least one of
the 8 immediately adjacent (surrounding) surfaces is water.
NUMBER OF ISLAND CITIES
This is the number of NP cities that will be placed on an island.
An island is defined to be a location where all of the 8
immediately adjacent (surrounding) surfaces are water.
CITY SPREAD FACTOR/CITY DISTANCE FACTOR
The way that cities are placed on the map can be further
customized using these parameters to govern inter-city distances.
The placement algorithm is such that if a location for a city is
chosen to be within a distance of CITY DISTANCE FACTOR of another
(already established) city, that the city will NOT be placed
there given a probability of CITY SPREAD FACTOR. Therefore, to
spread cities further apart from each other, you would want to
raise CITY SPREAD FACTOR and drop CITY DISTANCE FACTOR.
Obtaining a good balance is difficult for giving the desired
distribution of cities, so experimentation of these parameters
should be done first before building a game for playing.
Experimentation should be done as follows: Set the values
accordingly; Clear the current world map; Load a new world map;
Build a new game using Regions; Once built you will be placed in
the editor - select the Neutral Player; Select the Objects option
to display a graphical world map to observe the locations of the
cities; and Repeat if necessary.
PROBABILITY OF x RESOURCES AROUND CITY
(x ranges from 1 to 5). All 5 of these parameter values MUST add
to 100! The results otherwise will be strange at best. When a
city is placed, these probabilities will be used to decide how
many resource deposits (of completely random type) will be placed
within collection range of the city. It is important that the
parameter NUMBER OF EACH RESOURCE is set high enough to
accommodate the number of cities that will be placed. Otherwise,
some cities may find that they have no resources in collection
range! If after all cities have been placed, there are resources
still left to place according to the parameter just mentioned,
then they will be distributed randomly over the world. It is
therefore possible for a city to have more than 5 resources in
collection range. Also notice that the way the probabilities are
set in this group of parameters will determine the degree of
clustering of resources about cities. If it is set such that it
is most probable that only 2 resources will be placed with a
city, there will be more resources left over after city placement
to be distributed uniformly over the world. Using the opposite
parameter settings will force resources to cluster around cities,
which may place more of an importance to cities for resource
collection purposes and less of an importance to settlements, for
collection away from cities.
MAX AGE (10's OF TURNS) OF N-CITY
The age of a city when placed is randomly chosen up to this
maximum. The age will have a direct influence on the level of
technology of the city at the start of the game: When the city
is placed, a simulated run over the number of turns specified by
the age is performed which accounts for tech-level advancement
decisions as would normally occur during play. This gives the
cities a head-start in production capability. This parameter is
closely tied to the probability of NP advancing, and the waiting
time to advance a level - it is difficult to obtain a good
balance. Note that since parameter values must be byte-sized
(may only go up to 255), this parameter is entered in 10's so
that theoretically the maximum age will be 2550 turns - which
would definitely ensure very well-developed NP cities! Note that
production does not take place during this simulated run - only
tech-level advancement.
19. PLAYER MESSAGES
Players may send one-line messages to each other, that will appear at
the very beginning of each round. Sending messages to the Neutral
Player will have no effect, unless you want to write yourself a memo
(if you remember to check it).
Depending on the probability set in the Game Parameter Table, the
Neutral Player may decide to send a particular player a message.
These messages are taken randomly from either , if the NP
attacks this player; or from , if the NP is attacked by
this player (which has precedence over the former). You may freely
add messages to these text files, so long as they are no longer than
78 characters long. Only the first 255 messages in each file will be
considered - the rest will be ignored. Also, be sure that there are
no blank lines, especially at the very end of the files.
20. TECHNICAL INFORMATION
Most of the source code was written in C and compiled using Borland
C++ 3.1; the rest of the source was written in assembler for lower-
level operations and was assembled using Turbo Assembler 3.1. The
total size of all code segments in the Game Player is about 120,000
bytes; the rest is data. The total size of all code segments in the
Game Editor is about 60,000 bytes; the rest is data. The code size
described here does not include the startup code or any other Borland
library code that is linked in from the standard library, which adds
an overhead of about 16000 bytes.
It is a good idea to use a file compression utility to archive non-
current games (or to back up a current game) as by nature these games
files are very predictable in content (the same bytes recur for a long
time).
20.1 WORLD MAP SAVE FORMAT
I thought it would be a good idea to describe the format in which
world maps are saved. This would be useful to anyone who would
like to write a program to generate world maps, if they happen to
know or make up a good algorithm. I haven't put much thought
into a method for randomly generated maps with all feature types
- mainly because I don't have time. I have a reasonably good
algorithm for generating only land/water maps, but is not
completely developed. If anyone happens to write a good map
generator, I would be pleased to know about it.
Each location corresponds to one byte in the map file. The map
is stored in a sequence from the top left to the bottom right as
in this for-next loop:
FOR i = 0 to 99 DO
FOR j = 0 to 149 DO
WRITE MAP BYTE FOR LOCATION (i, j)
END DO
END DO
(i is the row number and j is the column number, ranging from
(0,0) to (99,149)).
The file size must therefore be exactly 15,000 bytes.
The map byte is defined as: X7 X6 X5 X4 X3 S2 S1 S0 (in order of
MSB to LSB). The X's are used for storing information other than
surface type, and must be initialized to all 0's when creating a
new map. The following is a table of surface types:
SURFACE TYPE S2 S1 S0
Land 0 0 0
Water 0 0 1
Mountains 0 1 0
Swamp 0 1 1
Jungle 1 0 0
As can be seen, there is room for 3 more surface types. However,
do not invent another one - these surface types are hard-coded.
Let's just say that 101, 110, and 111 are reserved for the
future.
So it's really just a matter of writing either a 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4
as a byte value for each location.
You may even choose to write a program to print out a map based
on this information, if the current BMP method is unsuitable.
It would be far too complicated to try to explain how player map
information is stored - it took a long time to develop, including
several revisions of my data structure to accommodate new
features, etc.
21. FUTURE POSSIBILITIES / CLOSING COMMENTS
If there is enough interest, I may consider adding some more features
to this game (provided I have the time). Some of which may be the
following:
- Make the world wrapping in the east-west sense.
- Add spying/intelligence: able to obtain random information about
the enemy, or promote insurgence; costs MegaCredits to support spies
and counter-intelligence (currently half-developed).
- Make the NP more intelligent (or change certain aspects of its
behaviour) - depends on specific reactions from people.
- Allow the NP to produce bombers and perform bombing runs. This may
make practice games more interesting once the immediately surrounding
cities are taken.
- Add natural disasters.
- Add more object types.
- Add real-time modem/network support (maybe in another lifetime).
- ... or any other suggestions.
The truth is, I never originally intended on this game to get so
complicated: I am therefore running out of conventional memory! I
may be able to add a few things, but cannot do anything drastic.
Someone may comment that the user interface isn't really up-to-par
with the latest releases of software - this is primarily because six
years ago the approach seemed like a good idea at the time. As I
haven't envisioned releasing this publicly, I wasn't very concerned
about a having a well-thought-out and consistent interface - I just
took scraps of code here and there and what you see is what you got.
I apologize for this (in some sense) but to be blunt, this is what you
get for free (I've wasted enough of my life already). By the way, I
couldn't see myself charging anyone for this, so I decided not to
release it Shareware - I figured it would only aggravate people if I
started building in restrictions in the code (such as abruptly
stopping the game at turn 100) to persuade people to register and send
money.
In any case, I hope someone out there enjoys this game!
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