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- Realms Doxs by Inc Dox Division
- -=(*)=-=(*)=-=(*)=-=(*)=-=(*)=-
-
- In a moment that lasted forever, a bolt of living energy shot from the heavens,
- spanning the great divide of eternity.
-
- As the kings funeral ship sailed west, the young heir reflected on the sad
- events that had recently overtaken his people, `once again, famine, poverty and
- war thrive in a world that is now divided`. once again, each realm vies to
- become the ultimate power... he mused.
-
- In a fit of rage, the heir raised his fist to the skies, swearing vengeance.
- His mind in turmoil, he appealed to the nordic gods for justice, as if in
- answer to his cry, the growing storm clouds replied with a deafening clash of
- thunder.
-
- Blinded by grief, the heir failed to notice the clouds billow and gradually
- change their shape to the form of the great god wotan.
-
- In a moment that lasted forever, a bolt of living energy shot from the heavens,
- spanning the great divide of eternity. all sound was lost as the devine
- messenger cut an electric path towards oblivion.
-
- The heir stared in awe as the pure force, silenced by its speed hurtled towards
- him. a billion volts burned into his wrist and flowed over and through his
- body, and yet he felt no pain...only the unprecedented power of the heavenly
- serpent.
-
- For an instant he stood between 2 worlds overwhelmed by visions of ages past
- and every possible future, the reality superimposed on the image of the present
- ...then it faded leaving only what was and what shall be.
-
- With a final burst of cosmic force, the symbolof the serpent materialised and
- the heir understood. his divine mandate to rule firmnly in his grasp, the high
- king turned to face his cowering people....
-
- `there can only be one`.
-
-
- Summary of the objects
- ----------------------
- Running realms
- Gameplay flow
- The eight worlds of realms
- Controls.
-
- Running realms.
- ---------------
- Realms is a simulation of a mythical world where cities strive for dominance at
- any cost. The player controls an empire. a realm with the immediate goal of
- survival and the ultimate objective of ruling the known world and its
- multi-racial population of elves, dwarfes, orcs, amazons and humans. The means
- of domination may be fair or foul, just make sure that the only realm ramaining
- to rule supreme is yours...
-
- Gameplay flow...
- ----------------
- Realms is represnted through 6 types of display from which key functions are
- activated. The following diagram shows how the displays interact...
-
-
- ----------------
- [ battle ]
- [ screen ]
- [ ]
- ----------------
- [
- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
- [ inside ] [ playfield ] [ army screen ]
- [ fortress ]----[ ]---[ ]
- [ ] [ ] [ ]
- ---------------- ---------------- ----------------
- [ [
- ---------------- ----------------
- [ disk ] [ city screens ]
- [ operation ]----[ ]
- [ ] [ ]
- ---------------- ----------------
-
- The 8 worlds of realms.
- -----------------------
- Realms offers 8 wildly different scenarios to play. when realms is first
- loaded, an introductry scenario is automatically included. only 2 races are
- present here; elves and orcs
-
- To access the 7, increasingly difficult scenarios, simply make use of the load
- facility found on the disk operations screen. (see disk operations)
-
- The 3 kingdoms.
- ---------------
- Theres only one thing orcs hate more than dwarves - and thats elves. all three
- races are found in this scenario.
-
- Island realms.
- --------------
- This introduces the essential use of ships. amazons, humans and vikings are the
- races found here.
-
- The great divide.
- -----------------
- An island sea divides 2 continents populated by barbarians, orcs, dwarves and
- elves.
-
- The isles of chaos.
- -------------------
- The isle of chaos is a sea faring realm, dwarves, barbarians, orcs and elves
- fight it out in this land.
-
- The northlands.
- ---------------
- Scandinavia is revisited with amazons, dwarves, barnarians and vikings.
-
- The eastern isles.
- ------------------
- A string of islands inhabited by vikings, amazons, orcs, elves and dwarfes.
-
- Realms of the west.
- -------------------
- Mind your back - some cities are a little to close together for comfort! make
- the most of the orcs, elves, dwarves, barbarians and amazons.
-
-
- Controls.
- ---------
- Mouse......ensure that a compatible mouse is plugged into its usual hole..
- Amiga joystick 1 port. The atari st port marked one or the pc-compatibles
- relevant interface.
-
- Joystick.
- ---------
- Not available on the amiga or atari st.
-
- Keyboard.
- ---------
- Not available on the amiga and atari st.
-
- Convenience keys.
- -----------------
- Pause.........F1
- Quit......... F10
- Quit to dos...Esc
-
- There are 2 ways of activating functions in realms, both of them via a pointer
- which usually looks like this --->
-
- The select pointer.
- -------------------
- The select pointer is for selecting functions. (note that the pointer changes
- shape when cartain functions are active...see pointers for further details)
-
- The first method of activating a function is the most `traditional` and that
- the use of icons, or small pictures representing the functions in question.
-
- The other method of activating a function is more direct. simply point to a
- charcter or object on the playfield(see the playfield) and press mousebutton.
-
- Pointers.
- ---------
- Pointer 1(-->) the select pointer, select a funtion
- Pointer 2( o ) the focus circle pointer. view in more detail an area
- Pointer 3( x ) the target pointer. select a target
-
- Inside the fortress.
- --------------------
- Develope the overall strategy and monitor its progress from here.
-
- Bottom of screen left to right....
-
- Icon 1 - disk - disk access
- Icon 2 - face - armies
- Icon 3 - diamond - tax access
- Icon 4 - ok - focus
- Icon 5 - cross on up down cursor- tax alteration
- Icon 6 - money icon 1 - tax rate
- Icon 7 - money icon 2/3/4 - treasury
-
- Top of screen far right
-
- Icon 1 - scales -
-
- The world map (screen to the right of inside the fortess screen)
- -------------
- The known world is shown in relief form. any realms in existence are also shown
- here but as circular markers.
-
- The largest marker represents the realms capital city. The cities comprising the
- players realm are yellow and are always shown on this map. as are the capital
- cities of the other realms. friendly cities are shown as blue markers, white
- enemy cities are red.
-
- The cities of the realm are displayed on the map by pointing the arrow at a
- capital city and pressing either mouse button. The landscape area last viewed by
- the player is shown by a white marker
-
- Disk operations (bottom left) no 1 icon - is access the disk operations
-
- Armies (bottom left) no 2 icon - displays on the world map the where
- abouts odf each realms armies. only the armies of the chosen realm will be
- shown. simply select the capital city of a realm to see the position of its
- armies. (note that the chosen realms cities are automaticlly shown when a
- capital city is selected) a second press of the mouse button while pointing to
- this icon turns off the display.
-
- Tax routes (bottom left) no 3 icon - a realm comprises of at least one
- city and has a capital to which flows all tax aquired from other cities within
- the realm. selecting this icon will show on the map the tax flow from city to
- city and ultimately the capital city for a the realm currently selected.
-
- Taxes from cities not connected to the capital city do not reach it and cannot
- be spent. if a tax route is severed, the cities will attempt to divert tax, but
- may not take the best route.
-
- The empire can be streamlined by changing the tax flow routes. with the tax
- route indicator active, point to the players capital city and press mouse
- button. point to any city within the players realm and press a mouse button -
- the tax route will change to the next to the next available route but only if
- an alternative is available. no change means there are no alternative route is
- possible. a city may be completely cut off and so be incapable of forming any
- routes at all, in which case the player should conquer adjacent cities to
- relink the stranded one.
-
- Focus (bottom left) no 4 icon - the player is not a diety and so
- lacks omniscience. The player does however have the gift of far sight - the
- ability to view anywhere within the known world. press a mouse button while the
- arrow points to this icon - the arrow will change into a focus circle
- pointer...
-
- The focus circle pointer / number 2 pointer ( o )
- -------------------------------------------------
- Move the focus circle pointer to any position on the map and press a mouse
- button to view in greater detail the desired area(see the playfield)
-
- To turn off the focus circle pointer, simply click on the focus icon.
-
- Tax rate alteration (bottom left) icon 5 - increase or decrease the tax rate.
- the pile of coins to the immediate right of this icon will grow or shrink by
- one coin every alteration. The scales to the top right of the screen(icon 1) of
- this display will alter too, to show the predicted tax effect achieved.
-
- Tax rate. (bottom left) number 6 icon - shows the current rate of tax.
- the greater the quantity of coins, the higher the tax rate. each coin
- represents 10 per cent of a cities total produce.
-
- Treasury (bottom left) icon 7 - these 4 piles of coins represent the
- treasury of the players realm. This comprises the balance of all taxes and
- other monies and grain which have reached the capital city. a single coin
- represents the pay of one thousand men for a year on the lowest possible pay,
- or it could feed 4 thousand people for a year depending on grain prices.
-
- Treasury (again) these show wether the tax accrued from the players realm can
- support its armies. The tax is represented by the coins on the left hand
- side, while the armies are represented are represented by the soldier in the
- right hand scale, when the scale holding the soldier is lower than that holding
- the coins, the realms total income is not sizeable enough to support the armies
- and money is lost each season. when the scale holding the coins is lower then
- the realms income is large enough to support armies and so the treasury will
- grow. The predicted tax change which determines the status of these scales is
- based on the amount collected in the previous season. note that if cities are
- won or lost or their links severed from the tax route then this may not be the
- amount of tax actually collected.
-
- **** The playfield ****
- -----------------------
- Time runs and events occur only when this view is employed. activity in the
- world is halted when any other view is in use.
-
- (A brief description by me on this screen)
-
- This screen has a smaller screen inserted in it on the top left hand corner
- which is the world map. under this are 2 sets of icons. . i`ll describe these
- as middle 3 icons and bottom 2 icons. .
-
- Middle icon 1...(on left) exit to map
- Middle icon 2...(middle ) select unit last used
- Middle icon 3...(right ) message crystal ball
-
- Bottom icon 1...(on left) focus
- Bottom icon 2...(middle ) view units
-
- Underneath these the lenght of the screen is the message scroll, and thats the
- lot for this description.
-
- Playfield icons.
-
- Tower icon................ . a city
-
- Tower icon with a flag.... . here an army unit is barracked inside the walls of
- the city in question. such an army unit cannot be attacked directly without the
- city being sieged first, but it can be selected by the player.
-
- Man icon................... a single man represents an army of up to 1000 men
-
- Man on horse icon.......... a cavalry unit of upto 1000 men
-
- Tent icon..................an army camping out in the open
-
- An anchor icon............. a port
-
- Ship icon..................a fleet of troops travelling on water. if there are
- no sails showing, then the ship is anchored.
-
- Shield icon................ an army sieging a city
-
- Viewing the landscape.
- ----------------------
- There are 2 means to this end. to move the landscape over the short distances,
- point to one of the 4 surrounding edges of display.
-
- The second method is best used to move greater distances at speed, simply point
- to the desired location on the small map in the top left hand corner of the
- display then press the mouse button. The main landscape display will show the
- position marked by the white square in the small map. press and hold down a
- mouse button then move the mouse to `pull` the white square around the small
- map and continually affect the main landscape accordingly.
-
- The land types. 6 distinctive types of land comprise the playfield.
- -------------------------------------------------------------------
- Grassland....... is smooth and green
- Forest.......... is more than contoured than the grassland
- Desert.......... is barren and brown
- Rock............is barren and brown
- Cultivated land. is brown with visible plough furrow marks
- Snow............is understandably white
-
- World map (inserted and top left) of playfield
- ---------
- This half size map of the known world shows only the cities. (remember that tax
- routes and armies are viewed via the main map inside the castle/fortress) the
- small white square indicates the area of land shown in isometric form to the
- right.
-
- Message crystal ball. (middle icon 3/playfield)
- ---------------------
- The players realm and subjects communicate via this crystal ball. The player
- will be informed of the outbreak of plague, famine and so on. These messages are
- ignored at the players peril.
-
- When a message is waiting to be read, the crystal ball will sparkle. .
- to view a message in the scroll at the bottom of the screen, point to the
- sparkling crystal ball and press a mouse button. The landscape view is
- immediately positioned to the sender so immediate action can be taken. beware
- that messages are queued but may be lost if unread for too long.
-
- Messages regarding battles are shown inside the crystal ball as a pair of
- swords...
- note;that battle related messages take priority over all others. simply point
- to the swords and press a mouse button to go straight to the battle(see the
- battle screen). The player may wish to avoid the battle with the penalty of not
- receiving any other messages until the fight is over.
-
- Message scroll. (full length at the bottom of the playfield screen)
- ---------------
- Information displayed here concerns the state of play and items on the
- playfield. point an arrow to an object on the playfield and a description is
- given on this scroll, any messages from units or cities are displayed in
- preference. a message read from the ball disappears from the scroll after
- approximately 5 seconds. alternatively, point the arrow to the scroll and press a
- mouse button to remove a message from the scroll.
-
- Exit to map. (middle icon/number 1/playfield)
- ------------
- Point here and press a mouse button to return inside the castle/fortress
-
- Select last unit used. (middle icon/number 2/playfield)
- ----------------------
- Point here and press a mouse button to view the last commanded unit. This is
- useful for checking on the progress of a unit or to see if it has obeyed its
- orders, especially when a target is situated in another part of the world.
-
- Focus. (bottom icon/number1/playfield)
- ------
- The players far sight extends further. point here and press a mouse button to
- change the arrow into a focus circle pointer. now touch any unit or city on the
- main playfield and press a mouse button to view in greater detail.
-
- View units. (bottom icon/number2/playfield)
- -----------
- Point to either arrow and press a mouse button to view in turn each lead unit
- (the one followed by other units) the arrow pointing up searches in 1
- direction, the arrow pointing down in the other.
-
- Unit functions.
- ---------------
- A unit can be ordered and thus moved when the pointer is an arrow. point to the
- unit to be moved and press a mouse button. The arrow will change to a target
- pointer thus...( x )
-
- To show the unit has been selected it will be highlighted. point to the target
- be it a map location, city or another unit, and press a mouse button. The
- pointer will change back to an arrow to show that the order has successfuly
- executed. (the target will not be selected until the mouse button is pressed, so
- movement around the landscape can be achieved as previously detailed. The other
- screens are also accessible. )
-
- To cancel the operation simply point to the chosen unit and press a mouse
- button, all followers also obey new orders unles they are loyal.
-
- Ships.
- ------
- A man can be targeted on anything but sea, a ship , on the other hand can only be
- targeted on sae, beach or port. if a man is ordered. , to move to a travelling
- ship or an impossible target he will try his best to reach it before giving up
- and attempting to return home.
-
- Any unit of men can travel by sea if it first enters a port. ports are
- represented by a castle with an anchor. point to the flag outside the port and
- press a mouse button then select the destination in the same manner.
- the men will walk to the seawhere they are replaced by a ship. The ship will
- then sail to the selected destination. note;that navigation is poor and the
- ships will follow the coastline, if ships are required to sail large distances
- or awkward routes they may get lost and further assistance will be needed.
-
- When a ship reaches a port iyt is replaced by a unit of men. note that you can
- target these men on the port from which they came, but any other sea operation
- requires the possession of and entry to a port city.
- note also, that fleets which meet other fleets on their own journey may fight
- independently of the player.
-
- Armies.
- -------
- Large armies can be built by ordering troops to follow each other. Its
- favourable to build up large armeis to invade enemy territory, especially as
- its easier to control a few large armies rather than dozens of individual
- units. The positioning of large armies will be strategic. The easiest way to
- build an army is to target units on a city. all units in the city will form a
- single army which can be ordered out of the city by selecting any flag.
- by trageting the leader onto an opossing army the trail of troops will close
- for battle. when enemy units collide and only a few units are involved a
- skirmish results, casualties are immediately calculated and one side may
- retreat. if many units are involved in battle then the battle screen is
- presented so the player can act as general and order individual units(see the
- battle screen)
-
- Targets.
- --------
- Own unit.
- The men will form a larger army. from then on, only the leader has to be
- targetted. The army will split if units are forced to retreat by an enemy.
-
- Enemy unit.
- The men will intercept the enemy, laying siege if they are inside a city.
-
- Siegers.
- The men will attack the siegers
-
- City.
- The men will enter their own city, merging with any other units already
- there. during its stay, the army recoups morale and recruits. if the city belongs
- to anoither realm, the men will lay siege. if the men were already sieging a
- city they will storm the walls. This can prove costly if the city is well
- defended but it is a quick means of winning a city.
-
- Selecting a man and selecting a target will cause that man to become a leader
- of troops following him in the chain.
-
- The army screen. . (i`ll give a description again -there are 3 sets of 2 icons to
- the bottom right of the screen. . i`ll call them top icons 1/2 - middle icons 1/2
- and bottom icons 1/2) description give left to right (icon 1 left of screen)
-
- Right here goes. . army screen;
-
- Scroll at top of the screen...unit description.
-
- Icon at middle right of screen (just above the 3 sets of 2 icons) adjust units
- pay
-
- Top icon 1......buy armour
- Top icon 2......buy weapon
- Middle icon 1...buy missile
- Middle icon 2...buy shield
- Bottom icon 1...disband unit
- Bottom icon 2...exit screen
-
- This screen is shown when an army is formed or selected. The text accompanying
- the picture of the warrior type details the units size, capability and morale.
- Equipment is bought from the stores to the far right, and the pay and
- recruitment details are adjusted. it is down to the player to decide wether the
- unit is to be highly paid elite or rough and ready but cheap and disposable. or
- somewhere in between. note;that enemy forces can be viewed but not tampered
- with.
-
- The different races have different skills with different weapons. note;that
- some weapons conflict, for example, a bowman is encumbered with a shield. when it
- comes to equipping troops its not merely a matter of buying the most expensive
- equipment. The best armies will have specialised units, some fast and light
- others slow and deadly and so on...
-
- Treasury. (bottom left of the army screen)
- ---------
- Reveals the quantity of cash currently available to the player.
-
- Equipment price. (left of screen next to the bottom 2 icons right of screen)
- ---------------
- The current price of new equipment, in tens and units. as equipment is
- bought, the picture of the warrior is altered accordingly.
-
- Buy armour. (helmet armour is top icon 1)
- -----------
- Helmets and body armour are available. point here and press a mouse buttonthe
- possible combinations;helmet/body armour, helmet and body armour, no armour, note
- that an armoured unit move slower in battle but have a better defence.
-
- Buy weapon. (top icon 2)
- -----------
- Point here and press a mouse button to view the available weapons;short
- sword, long sword, axe and warhammer.
-
- Short sword; standard light weapon, effective in close combat
-
- Long sword; favourite hand weapon of the elves, heavier hitting power
-
- Axe; deadly weapon in the hands of a dwarf, has great effect against armoured
- opponent.
-
- Warhammer; favoured by both the dwarves and orcs, cumbersome but deadly against
- armour.
-
- Buy missile. (middle icon 1)
- ------------
- Point here and press a mouse button to view the available missiles;bows and
- arrows, javelin and spear.
-
- Bows and arrows; ten shots, long range.
- Javelin; 2 shots, destroy enemy shields, medium range.
- Spear; single shot, destroy enemy shields, low range but cause the most danage.
-
- Buy shield. (middle icon 2)
- ----------
- Point here and press a mouse button to view the available shield
- types. wicker, wooden and bronze.
-
- Wicker; light and effective against armour
- Wooden;heavy, but provide reasonable defensive cover.
- Bronze;heavy, but provides the best cover.
-
- Disband unit. (bottom icon 1)
- -------------
- Point here and press a mouse button to disband a unit(bear in mind that the men
- will join a city`s population) the operation is cancelled with a second press
- of a mouse button while pointing here.
-
- Exit screen. (bottom icon 2)
- ------------
- Point here and press amouse button to return to the previous screen. at this
- point all purchases are made and the price deducted from the treasury.
- note;the screen cannot be left if the treasury cannot support the
- purchases. some items will have to be discarded.
-
- Adjust units pay. (icon on its own above top icons 1/2)
- -----------------
- Point to either arrow and press a mouse button to raise or lower a units
- pay. between 0-5 coins. The pay is shown in the palm of the hand between the 2
- arrows. note;that the low paid units have a low morale and replacements are not
- easily recruited. a gem represents payment from looting cities instead of wage.
- the unit will expect regular looting sessions so beware.
-
- City screen.
- ------------
- Again i`ll try describe this screen as best i can so bear with me)
-
- Bottom left of screen; treasury(shown as pile of coins)
- Bottom 2nd left; select option
- Bottom middle of screen; current option
- Bottom middle right(next to current option);option cost (another pile of coins)
- Bottom right 2nd from end; 2 cursors icon/view option
- Bottom of screen far right; exit icon
-
- There are 2 ways of viewing a city in detail, either use the gift of far
- sight (see main display)or simply point to a city on the main landscape and
- press a mouse button. remember that a brief description of the city will be
- given in the panel at the bottom of the screen when the arrow points to it.
-
- The unique picture of the city shows its size, which changes accordingly as the
- city grows and declines. a small city may comprise little more than a few mud
- huts. as it grows, walls and larger more solid building will appear. eventually
- the city will expand to encompass public buildings, temples and even palaces.
-
- The text at the top of the screen details the state of the city shown. note;that
- the text changes to reflect the option shown at the bottom of the screen.
-
- With a city viewed in detail there are many options available.
-
- Treasury. (bottom left corner)
- ---------
- Reveals the amount of cash curently available to the player.
-
- Current option. (bottom of the screen/middle)
- ---------------
- Reveals the option currently selected by the player, and is complemented by the
- options cost screen(next to it on the screen).
-
- View option. (2nd from the end bottom right of screen)
- ------------
- Point to either of the arrows and press the mouse button to view all available
- options. not all options detailed below will be available. - only those which
- can be used are shown, and this is not cost dependant. The options depend on
- whose city ois being viewed and change accordingly to the situation.
-
- Select option. (2nd on the left next to treasury option)
- --------------
- This arrow head shows the direction of the cash flow - simply either to or from
- the treasury. simply point to this arrow head(the text option or cost display)
- and press a mouse button to select the option displayed. The cost of the option
- is deducted from the treasury. if the option costs too much a message to that
- effect is displayed in place of the option description. once an option is
- bought, it may not be immediately available again.
-
- Option cost.
- ------------
- This varies depending on the nature of the option, taking over a city, for
- example, costs nothing-initially, at least, as thereafter the player has an extra
- city to manage.
-
- Exit.
- -----
- Point here and press the left hand mouse button to return to the previous
- screen. alternatively, point anywhere else on the screen and press the right hand
- mouse button.
-
- Big arrows. (right hand side of the screen)
- -----------
- Neighbouring cities are indicated by these silver-gold coloured arrows either
- side of the screen, with the name of the cities shown beneath the arrows. The
- silver arrows belong to the cities that are not part of the players realm. The
- gold arrows are for cities within the players realm. This provides a useful
- shortcut to check on several cities without returning to the main display.
- simply point to the relevant titled arrow and press a mouse button.
-
- The buy options.
- ----------------
- Grain.
- The price of a years worth of seeds for the current population is shown, beware
- of price fluctuations. Remember;if a population is increasing, the grain may
- not last as long as expected.
-
- Land.
- Allows growth to continue. whenever this option is chosen an area of land is
- cleared and planted. eventually a city will reach its maximum size and there
- will be no more land. land automatically falls out of production if the
- population falls and so will have to be recultivated. cultivated land can be
- seen on the main display.
-
- Health.
- The cost of cleaning up the city and caring for the sick is shown. This option
- may have to be used several times if a plague has struck the city. note that
- plague quickly affects crowded cities and spreads along the trade routes.
-
- Build city; a standard cost is shown for encouraging new citizens to the city.
-
- Wooden walls; the full cost is shown, but they take time to build.
-
- Stone walls;
- These are expensive and take longer to complete than wooden walls
- but they provide the best protection against looters. The erection of stone
- walls can be begun before the wooden walls are complete.
-
- Pay tribute;
- A sieging army may demand a tribute to leave. The size of the tribute depends
- on the relationship between their realm and the players. a payment may relieve
- the siege but they may soon be back for more.
-
- Recruit army;
- The text at the top of the screen details the qwuality of the next 1000 troops
- available. The recruitment cost shown is the basic cost for basic training and
- the cheapest equipment. when the option is chosen the army screen is
- displayed. (see the army screen)
-
- Recruit cavalry;
- This is similar to the army option except a horse regiment is formed. note;that
- some races make better horsemen than others.
-
- The take options;
- The amount of tax that can be raised is shown, this is taken directly from the
- people and never proves popular, so only use the citizen levy for instant cash
- in emergencies.
-
- Take tribute;
- When sieging an enemy city, the player may be offered a tribute to end the
- siege. accepting this tribute automatically sends the players troops home.
-
- Surrender options;
- If a city surrenders following a siege, the following options are available.
-
- Loot city;
- The city is left untouched but its wealth is taken in a civilised manner.
-
- Ravage city;
- The army is given freedom to pillage the city. This works wonders for the
- army`s morale but enrages the enemy.
-
- Raze city;
- The ultimate sanction. The city`s people are sold, the buildings are burned and
- all the wealth taken.The enemy will take time to recover and will more often
- than not desire -vengeance!!!-
-
- Annexe city;
- The best option of all for reducing the enemy`s strength and improving the
- players - provided the money and men are available. This costly exercise
- enrages the enemy but the people may be more appreciative depending on how they
- have been treated in the past.
-
- Battle screen (again i`ll try my best to describe it)
-
- Top of screen is the armies morale.
-
- There are 5 icons at the bottom of the screen, i`ll detail them from left to
- right and number them icons 1 - 5,
-
- Icon 1 - order attack
- Icon 2 - change formation
- Icon 3 - rotate unit
- Icon 4 - rotate unit
- Icon 5 - fire missile
-
- In the right hand corner, is the troop type also right hand corner just above
- troop type is your troop factors.
-
- Shown as in line 1 (swords) attack factor
- Shown as in line 2 (shields) defence factor
- Shown as in line 3 (arrows) missile quantity
- Shown as in line 4 (helmets) troop quantity
-
- Full scale battle takes place against a backdrop similar to that used for the
- main landscape display. army units are shown as groups of men which move
- realistically over the contours. before the fighting takes place, the units from
- both sides march one at a time onto the field and take up position. The units
- are positioned in either a centre of flank position depending on their
- strengths. The faster or missile bearing troops will take flanks and the
- heaviest troops the centre.
-
- The outcome of the battle depends on tactical elements and not just the size of
- the armies. terrain position is also a factor - units on high ground have an
- advantage.
-
- The proper battle will not begin until the command is issued. This gives the
- player time to view troops on both sides and form a strategy. note; that extra
- units may enter the battle after it has begun.
-
- A unit is selected by pointing to its flag-bearer leader and pressing a mouse
- button. information about enemy enemy units is shown to the left of the
- screen, while information about the player`s units is shown to the right.
-
- Morale.
- -------
- Flags represent morale of each side and change as the battle progresses. The
- lower the flag, the lower the army`s morlae. unoits will take the initiative of
- routing or retreating if their morale is brocken. routing units may cause other
- units to rout also.
-
- Order attack. (icon 1/bottom left)
- -------------
- Point here and press a mouse button to order the attack to begin. The order
- charge will change to a bugle.
-
- Point to (icon 2) and press a mouse button to sound the retreat. note; that if a
- players morale is significantly low they may well take the intiative to retreat
- before the fighting begins. The decision to retreat can be reversed by
- re-ordering an attack, however the units which have already left the battlefield
- will not return.
-
- Fire missile. (icon 5)
- -------------
- First point to the unit armed with missiles then press a mouse button. The icon
- will highlight. now point to the target and press a mouse button. The chosen
- unit will unleash a missile attack in the targets direction. note;that is is
- possible to kill the players own troops.
-
- Rotate unit. (icon/s 3 and 4)
- ------------
- First, point at the unit and press a mouse button. now point to the required
- direction of turn and poress a mouse button until the unit faces the correct
- way.
-
- Change formation. (icon 2)
- -----------------
- First, point to a unit and press a mouse button. now point here and press a mouse
- button to change the formation.
-
- Wedge; the best attack formation.
-
- Phalanx; a good all round formation.
-
- Line; useful for plugging gaps to hold the enemy.
-
- Square; the best defensive formation.
-
- Ordering troops.
- ----------------
- Once initiated, the battle takes place in real time. casualties are calculated
- to reflect combat skills, armour and weapon types. and races of the troops.
- the direction the troops face and their relative heights are also taken into
- account. Troops are ordered to move in much the same way as they are on the
- main landscape display. point to the unit leader and press a mouse button - the
- arrow will change into a movement pointer. point this at the target, be it on
- land or a unit and press a mouse button. The unit will then move. note; that
- friendly units pass through each other but move slower.
-
- Disk operations.
- ----------------
- This screen gives you the saving/loading situations and is pretty self
- explantory. . so learn it yerself. . i`ve given you what you need to play the
- game...
-