Ata - Extracts from the American Civil War v1.00 Copyright (c) 1998-2000 Badgers PLEASE READ THE LICENSE AGREEMENT BEFORE STARTING THE GAME! IF YOU START THE GAME WITHOUT READING THE LICENSE AGREEMENT FIRST, YOU AUTOMATICALLY AGREE THE WHOLE CONTENT OF THE AGREEMENT. TABLE OF CONTENTS [ 1.0 ][ THE LICENSE AGREEMENT ] [ 2.0 ][ INFO ] [ 3.0 ][ MENU ] | |-- [ 3.1 ][ NEW CAMPAIGN ] |-- [ 3.2 ][ HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ] |-- [ 3.3 ][ LOADING CAMPAIGNS ] -- [ 3.4 ][ CONFIGURATION ] [ 4.0 ][ MAP ] | |-- [ 4.1 ][ IN CASE OF A NEW CAMPAIGN ] |-- [ 4.2 ][ IN CASE OF HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ] |-- [ 4.3 ][ TAX ] |-- [ 4.4 ][ OBSERVATION ] |-- [ 4.5 ][ TRADE ] -- [ 4.6 ][ BATTLE ON THE MAP ] [ 5.0 ][ BATTLE ] [ 6.0 ][ CONTACTING ] [ 1.0 ][ THE LICENSE AGREEMENT ] THE AUTHORS (BADGERS) ASSUME NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR DAMAGE CAUSED BY THE USE OF THIS PRODUCT. WE CAN'T BE HELD LIABLE FOR ANYTHING. THIS PRODUCT IS FREEWARE, WHICH MEANS YOU CAN DISTRIBUTE THIS PRODUCT FREELY AS LONG AS NO MONEY IS INVOLVED AND THE PRODUCTS REMAINS UNMODIFIED. IF YOU WANT TO RENT, SELL OR USE THIS PRODUCT TO OTHER FINANCIAL PURPOSES, YOU ARE GOING TO NEED A SIGNED PERMISSION FROM THE AUTHORS (BADGERS). EVERYTHING THAT IS RELATED TO THIS GAME IS COPYRIGHTED PROPERTY OF THE AUTHORS (BADGERS). [ 2.0 ][ INFO ] Thank you, you have chosen wisely. You're (probably) about to begin playing Ata - Extracts from the American Civil War. There are a few things you should know before you begin. * Ata can be played under both DOS and Windows 9x. So you're playing under Windows, you can a shortcut located in the same directory as Ata.exe to disable annoying key-combinations such as Alt-Enter, Alt-Space, etc. that may affect to playability. * If Ata crashes in some point of loading (either while loading menus & coredata in the very beginning or while loading the map), it's a probably sign of lacking memory (or maybe, just maybe, a bug...). * Ata has been tested on four different computers successfully. Thus, it should work on your computer, too. =) Report us, if it doesn't. Let's move on. [ 3.0 ][ MENU ] Use keys up and down (+ left & right in historical menu) to browse around. Use Enter or Space to access to a submenu. Backspace and Esc are the keys to go back. [ 3.1 ][ NEW CAMPAIGN ] Under "Begin -> Campaigns" you can find the "New Campaign" option. It contains imaginary starting positions and more arcade-alike rules than in "Historical Situations". [ 3.2 ][ HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ] There's "Historical Situations" right under the "New Campaign" option. Behind the submenu, there's an option for every year of the American Civil War. Practically it means that the starting positions and the troop amounts are realistic. [ 3.3 ][ LOADING CAMPAIGNS ] Ata automatically saves your campaign after every travelling sequence. Each campaign type has its own savefile, fe. "free" campaign has CAMPAIGN.SAV. If you start a new campaign, you are being warned, because your old savefile (if there's one) will be replaced with new. [ 3.4 ][ CONFIGURATION ] "Configure" is the word. Escape cancels everything, Enter accepts. You can change the global mouse sensitivity, the speed of keys in the menu by using arrows left and right. The battle keys can also be changed and the default keys are: North South Up W Key Up Down S Key Down Left A Key Left Right D Key Right Shoot Left Ctrl Right Ctrl Reload Left Alt Right Alt Change Unit Left Shift Right Shift Change Mode Tab Enter Escape ~ (next to 1) Backspace Notice! You can return the default settings simply by removing the file Ata.cfg which can be found from the same directory as Ata.exe [ 4.0 ][ MAP ] The map in a nutshell: realistic map, some basic info in the lower right-hand corner, "end turn"-button in the upper right-hand corner and a mode bar at the bottom. The turns go like this: North turn, South turn, Travel, South turn, North turn, Travel, North turn, ... While North & South turns, the players do the actions they want to, such as moving/hiring the troops. The Travel shows you what actually happens (at this point you can't do anything). The left mouse button is for accepting things, the right one for cancelling (except when you press the button while the cursor is over your army -> the Trade-screen is on). After pressing the left button over your army, the appearing foot icons show the states you are able to move to. Please notice that you can move through several states at once if they are in your control. If you're conquering previously unconquered states, enemy's states or as an "after battle", a message window appears showing the results of your actions. PLEASE NOTICE! This game is a lot more enjoyable if you don't watch while your friend's moving his/her troops. Also known as the Turn-My-Head -game. [ 4.1 ][ IN CASE OF A NEW CAMPAIGN ] If you chose the "New Campaign" option, you have three armies and three main states (per side) which are marked with crossed flags. Normal states are marked with a single flag. Every state contains the maximum count of applicants in the beginning (8 footmen, 3 horsemen, 2 cannonmen). [ 4.2 ][ IN CASE OF HISTORICAL CAMPAIGNS ] Choosing alternative "Historical Situation" results in hyper-realistic positions of the armies and conquered states. The other difference to the "free" campaign is that the amount applicants and employed troops is a constant, and therefore you can't hire more men. What you see is what you get. [ 4.3 ][ TAX ] Using the tax button you can deside the amount of tax: 0, 10, 20, 30 or 40. The smaller the tax is the faster you'll get new applicants to your conquered states. And vice versa. [ 4.4 ][ OBSERVATION ] This is simple. An easy way to observe the states and the armies. Also the amount of applicants is shown. No detailed information is available on the enemy states (this is especially handy when your playing the Turn-My-Head- game). [ 4.5 ][ TRADE ] [primary side] [secondary side] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [armies]--| |_______ TRADE | | | --------------- --------------- |_S_|_A_|_A_|_A_| |_S_|_A_|_A_|_A_| | | [state] |--------[total amounts]---------| | | ____ _ _ ___ ____ ___ |_F__| |_|_| |___| <-[RECRUIT] |_F__| |___| [footmen] ____ _ _ ___ ____ ___ |_H__| |_|_| |___| <-[DISMISS] |_H__| |___| [horsemen] ____ _ _ ___ ____ ___ |_C__| |_|_| |___| -> [GIVE TO] -> |_C__| |___| [cannonmen] | | [change amounts --| |--| with up & down | arrow] | |--[prizes] DONE CANCEL (all changes) -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- On the left is so called "primary" side. This means that every action affects this selection. * Let's pretend you have chosen the state-icon to be the selection on the left. * Change the amounts from the arrows. * The buttons (RECRUIT, DISMISS, GIVE) may become disabled. This means you cannot perform some of the possible operations. * If you don't have enough money, moneyline will turn red and the RECRUIT-button become disabled. All other buttons and options correspondingly. If this seems dizzy to you, we recommend the "try & learn" - method. It's late already, so we'll write a better documentary on this issue later (if needed). [ 4.6 ][ BATTLE ON THE MAP ] If an army attacks a fortress (a state), this will occur. There's absolutely nothing you can do, so sit back and enjoy (?). [ 5.0 ][ BATTLE ] Drums, please... and the winner is... Yes, two or more armies meet means just one thing -- battle. The icons show which one of the troops is selected. You can change the selection with the Change Unit -key (Shift). You are also able to escape with the escape key (~ or Tab) if your army is numbering over one in men. [ 5.1 ][ FOOTMEN ] Moving the footmen is simple. Up, down, left, right and everything between. Shoot with Ctrl, reload with Alt (bullets left are shown in the uppers corners). Enter is a special key. It changes between running and walking. Running spends stamina which restores slowly. [ 5.2 ][ HORSEMEN ] Key to one side to make them move. Key to the opposite side to make them stop temporarily. Up and down. Ctrl keeps on hitting. The horsemen come back after riding out of the screen. [ 5.3 ][ CANNONMEN ] Up and down. Ctrl to shoot. The longer time you keep the button down the longer will be the distance of the shot. [ 6.0 ][ CONTACTING ] Badgers is (at the moment, but we might be looking for new members): Artwork Timo Vihola Programming Kimmo Vihola Design Kimmo Vihola Timo Vihola You're are able to contact Badgers by e-mail: badgers@mbnet.fi If you have found a bug you are forced to contact. :) Also visit: http://www.mbnet.fi/~badgers/ [ END-OF-FILE ]