This is an application to edit Strategic Conquest game files. It works with version 2 & 3 files only. While I’m rather fond of the interface, it may not be immediately obvious, so read this document.
The programs maintains a set of conditions. These include a boolean value (yes/no) for each player and each type, and a (rectangular) geographical region on the map. At any time, The program will deal only with items or cities which fit this set of conditions. For example, let’s say the computer is deciding whether to tell you about a battleship owned by the computer opponent. It thinks to itself, “Lessee, it’s player=2, and player 2 is turned on, and it’s type=6 (battleship), and that’s turned on, and it’s at location 52,14 which is inside the rectangle, so let’s include this item.”
The program has six possible views:
• list of items
• list of cities
• map editing
• reconnaissance
• game info
• help
You can switch mode by clicking the appropriate icon on the left side of the window (or using keys 1-6).
In this view we have a count of the number of items, and a list. These are only the items which fit the search conditions. Pressing “all” restores the conditions to all players and all types. Pressing “reset” resets the conditions to include the whole map. Pressing any player or type icon toggles that player or type. Clicking on an item in the list allows you to edit or delete that item. Clicking on “new item” allows you to… I think you can figure that out. Note that S.C. files can only hold 500 items. Also, the list can be sorted (under the “Options” menu). The sort criteria can be changed, and is independent for items and cities. The check boxes in the sort parameters dialog box allow a sort to be done in reverse order (for example, sorting by type reversed lists bombers first and armies last).
City List
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This is similar to item list, except that you can not add or delete cities. The number of cities is set (50 and 45 for version 2 and 3, respectively).
Map Editing
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This view allows to to change land and sea. WARNING! Strategic Conquest uses the first four bytes of the file to determine where the islands are (probably by seeding the random number generator). Changes here will NOT affect the land/sea shading done by S.C. They will affect whether ships or armies can use the area, and they will affect the land grid, if you have that turned on.
Reconnaissance
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This view gives you a bird’s eye view of what’s happening. The dots on the map indicate all items or cities (whichever was ‘listed’ most recently, press “tab” to switch) which fit the search conditions. These conditions can be changed by clicking the icons on the right, and the geographic boundaries can be changed by dragging on the map. Also, you can add new items easily by option-clicking on the map. The editor will pick the first player and the first item turned on (working downwards) and create a new item at the location of the mouse click.
Game Info
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This view allows you to examine and change such things as the type of game, the level (which doesn’t make any difference in version 3) and the date.
