Conquest
Conquest	(Minutes to learn.  Years to master.)

Conquest is Copyright © 1988-1995 by Mike Bryant.  All rights reserved.

Introduction	What's New

Installation	Game History

Quick Start	Shareware

Starting Options	Future Features

Concepts:	Special Commands:

Ship Types	Upgrade/Scrap Planet

Planets	Intelligence

Income	Mail

Galaxy Map	Save Game

Travel	Tally

Combat	Short Cuts

Rebellions	Hints

Alliances


Shareware

What a wonderful concept!  Try a program for free and pay for it only when you find out how great it is!  I certainly hope you are enjoying Conquest and will consider registering the program for $10-20 US.  Pay as much as you think its worth.

To register, simply:

Print the file REGISTER.TXT

Fill in the details regarding your address and your suggestions about Conquest.

Include Cash, check, or money order in US funds.

Mail it in!

When I receive your registration I will send you a copy of the latest version of Conquest.  Registering is also your chance to request those "special" features that you really want included in Conquest.

**** I can always be contacted on the Internet at: MikeBryant@Bix.com

(If you're still not convinced Conquest is worth registering, play it a few more times.  You'll get hooked!)


Quick Start

The object of the game is to conquer your opponent and acquire all planets.  The more planets you own, the more income you receive.  With this income you can build a variety of ships with which you can conquer more planets.  The catch?  Your opponents are doing exactly the same thing on the other end of the galaxy.

Make sure you have properly installed  the game.

Starting the game:

1.	Enter your name in the Player 1 edit control.

2.	If you're playing against a human, enter your opponent's name in the Player 2 edit control.  If you want to play against the computer, select the level of computer opponent from the drop down list.  Computer 1 is easy, Computer 7 is very difficult.

If you wish to play against more than one opponent, enter their names or select the computer for player 3 and 4.

3.	Select the length of game you wish to play.  A 50 turn game usually is enough time to determine a winner and takes somewhere between 1 to 3 hours to play.

4.	Click the Play button to start playing.

Select your Home:

Your first move in the game is to select a planet for your home world.  The Conquest window will display many letters followed by a question mark.  Each letter represents a planet.  Click on one of the letters that is positioned close to several other letters.  This is your base of operations.  Select a home that is near other planets.

Make your move:

The buttons on the right side of the window list your different options.  Typically you will want to Build some ships  on your home world and then Launch them to other planets.

For various commands you will be asked to select a planet for source and destination.  Watch the title bar of the window for prompting.  To select a planet, click on the appropriate letter with the left mouse button.

Once you are finished building and launching, click the End Turn button to let your opponents make their move.


What's New?

v3.1

The computer AI has been significantly upgraded.  The computer now attacks with a variety of ships.  (No more SuperDreadnaught onslaughts.)  Be warned that there is a special "Planet Cracker" mode that the computer may use to take your home planet in a single turn!

Computers 1-3 use less than 100% income.  Computers 4-5 use 100%.  Computers 6-7 use 130%

v3.0

Expanded universe!  Conquest now consists of 52 planets!

New Ship: ShieldShip.  This ship substantially increases the defenses of your fleet.  Each ShieldShip can block the blast from a RailShip.  Great for fortifying home worlds.

You can now set Alliances with other human players.  When you have an alliance with another player, you ships will not attack each other.  You can even share ownership of planets.  Beware!  Either side of an alliance can dissolve it at any time.  When this happens, all shared planets are immediately thrown into combat!

Planet Locator.  With the bigger universe it gets more challenging to figure out which planet is being referenced.  The planet locator "flashes" a colored rectangle around the current planet.  This works with all dialogs that have something to do with planets.


Game History

This program has been in the works for quite some time now.  It was originally inspired by a program on the Radio Shack CoCo.  My first version of this program was written in BASIC in the Spring of 1983.  The next version ran on a DEC PDP 11/45 a year later.  After much procrastinating, I finally created a  version on the Amiga and then this one that runs under Windows.  The program  has grown quite a bit since its first conception!

My goal has been to provide a game that can be learned in a few minutes and mastered over a few years.  (Actually I've been playing it for over ten years and I still get surprised.)

I'm always looking for ways to improve Conquest.  Send me your suggestions!

Special thanks to John Nowak who created the original version of the combat system for Conquest.


Introduction

Conquest is a strategic war game similar in concept to the board game Risk.  You are the lord of an entire world, destined to rule the galaxy.  Some worlds are virgin fruits, ready for you to colonize.  Some worlds have natives who do not wish to accept your rule, these you must conquer for they will yield more valuable resources.

As you claim the galaxy you will find that you are not the only one extending your dominion.  This is a multiple player game.  Be prepared to defend yourself and take what is yours!

Warning!	This game is quite addictive!


Installation

The automatically install Conquest from the distribution disk, run the "SETUP" program on that disk.  If you want to manually install the program follow the instructions below.

1.	Copy CQ.EXE to your favorite directory.

2.	Create an Icon for the program using Program Manager.

3.	Copy the Microsoft 3D library into you Windows\System directory.  (If you have a newer version of this DLL don't replace it with this one.)  Copy "CTL3DV2.DLL" to your "\WINDOWS\SYSTEM" directory.

4.	If you also have a copy of "CTL3DV2.DLL" in your Conquest directory, erase it.  There must only be one copy of CTL3DV2.DLL on your system otherwise Windows will give you a message that the library isn't properly installed.


Ship Types

Attack	Defend	Speed	Cost

Cruiser	Avg	Avg	Fast	Cheap

MissileShip*	Good	Avg	Medium	Medium

Dreadnaught	Best	Good	Slow	Expensive

RailShip*	Poor	Avg	Slower	More Expensive

ShieldShip*	Poor	Best	Slowest	Most Expensive

Scouts*	None	None	Fastest	Medium

*MissileShips are special:

This ship needs a turn to reload between attacks and therefore attacks only every other turn.  When it does attack, it packs a nasty punch!

*RailShips are special:

This ship is essentially a massive cannon with engines.  The blast from this ship will destroy one of the largest ships on the enemy side.  This ship can only be built by class 8 or higher home worlds.

*ShieldShips are special:

This ship can generate a defensive shield that can block the blast from a RailShip.  This shield greatly adds to the defense of your fleet but when it gets overloaded the ShieldShip is destroyed.  This ship can only be built by class 9 home worlds.

*Scouts are special:

This ship is an unmanned drone, packed full of scanning equipment.  It is the fastest ship and can scan multiple planets before landing.  A scout can scan small fleets without being detected.  If a scout it detected by the enemy it will be destroyed.


Planets

There are nine classes of planets in Conquest.  The higher the class level, the more income a planet generates.  Planet classes are divided into three categories:

Raw Material Worlds

Planets with a class of 1, 2 or 3 provide raw materials for your empire.  These are not hospitable worlds and generate a sparse income.

Native Worlds

Planets with a class of 4, 5, or 6 are already inhabited by a native population.  These worlds are rich with resources and generate a large income.  The natives on these worlds will not work for you willingly.  You will have to conquer a native planet before you can receive any income from it.  Natives will use the resources on their world to build ships to defend against your invasion!  Even after you conquer a native world they may attempt to rebel and destroy ships from time to time.  Persevere!  The income generated by these worlds is worth it!

Home Worlds

Planets with a class of 7, 8, or 9 are highly developed worlds which contain your center of government and shipyards.  Initially you start with a single home world at class 7.  You can invest in a planet and upgrade it to a class 8 or class 9.  Class 8 planets can build RailShips.  Class 9 planets can also build Stargates.  Class 9 planets can build ships more cheaply than class 8.  Class 8 planets can build more cheaply than class 7.

NOTE:	You must have at least one home world to collect any income!

New Planet Names


Galaxy Map
Galaxy Map  (Your window to the universe)

The Galaxy map displays the location and state the 52 planets in the universe.  The first letter of the planet along with the class of the planet is displayed.  If a planet has not been explored, the class will be displayed as a question mark.  If you own a planet the background will be white.  If you have ships on a planet that you don't own, the background will be yellow.

Each planet is actually a button.  When you wish to select a planet for input, such as selection of source and destination for launching ships, click on the planet.  The mouse cursor changes to a pointing finger to help you locate each planet button.  You can also select a planet by pressing the appropriate letter on the keyboard.

Battle Reports

The map also indicates the type of Battle Report for each planet.  When there is a report for the current turn, a colored square appears around the planet.  The colors have the following meanings:

    Black	Re-enforcements / Colonization

    Cyan	Rebellion

    Green	Scouting Report

    Blue	Defeat

    Red	Victory

    Yellow	Battle in progress

    Magenta	Enemy Retreat

Map Modes

Conquest offers several different viewing modes for the galaxy map.  You can view planets based on the strength of the fleets occupying the world, or based on when ships arrive at a world.  Strengths and times of arrival are coded to particular colors.  From strongest to weakest or from soonest to latest the colors range:

Red, Green, Blue, Violet, Black

These colors are displayed under the Map Mode buttons.

Note that strength of unowned planets is only based on Intelligence reports which may not be entirely accurate since things may have changed since you last checked the planet.

Ownership	The player last known to own the planet.

Player 1=Red, Player 2=Green, ... Native=Black

Absolute Strength	Planet strength versus all other planets

Relative Strength	Planet strength versus same player's Planets

Flight Arrival	Shows the number of turns until arrival

Contact	Shows the number of turns since the planet was lasted contacted.  Each color change shows three more turns have elapsed since last contact.

 You can quickly change the map mode by clicking on one of the buttons at the top of the command palette.  The buttons are labeled with the first letter of the command or "OARFC".  A red bar under the button shows which mode is currently active.

Planet Information

Point the mouse arrow at a planet to get an instant update about the planet in the Message: line at the bottom of the screen.  The planet owner and the number of ships on the planet is displayed.  For example, if you owned "Altair" and had 5 cruisers and 1 dreadnaught on the planet you would see:  "Message:   Altair: CR: 5  DN: 1"

If the planet "Zardoz" was owned by Alexis who had 2 cruisers and 1 missileship there you would see: "Message:  Zardoz: (Alexis): CR: 2  MS: 1"

Information on enemy planets is based on Intelligence.  If you don't have any information on a planet, it will be listed as "Unknown".


Hints
Hints  (Heeellp!)

Rebellion Trouble

Raiding Parties

Rape

W*E*G*S*


Combat
  Combat	(how to take what SHOULD be yours...)

When more than one fleet is present on a planet, combat occurs.  The offensive capabilities for the entire enemy fleet are compared to the defensive capabilities of your fleet.  This determines how many casualties you will sustain.  Casualties will consist of a number of ships that you will lose.  Note that the with this system, in order to simplify matters, ships are considered either completely intact or destroyed.  Casualties are removed from your fleet in the following order:

        ShieldShips, Cruisers, MissileShips, Dreadnoughts, RailShips

This means that all casualties will be taken from cruisers until none are left, then from MissileShips, and so forth.

RailShips are a special case.  These ships can attack from long range and destroy a ship with a single shot from their massive cannon.  This attack occurs BEFORE any combat calculations.  These ships can only  fire once a turn but destroy ships in the reverse order of normal  casualties:

        ShieldShips, RailShips, Dreadnoughts, MissileShips, Cruisers

ShieldShips are another special case.  These ships can generate a force shield that can block the blast from a RailShip.  A ShieldShip also adds greatly to the defense of your entire fleet.  The disadvantage is that this ship can only block so much energy.  When the shields get overloaded, the ShieldShip is destroyed.  The ShieldShip is by far the slowest moving ship in your fleet.

Planets of class 4, 5, or 6 will have natives.  These natives when left alone will slowly build ships of their own.  Class 4 and 5 can only build cruisers.  Class 6 planets can build MissileShips as well.  A player discovering a class 6 planet late in the game might find a mighty native fleet to contend with!

NOTE:  Scouts are non-combative ships.  This means that they have no means of attacking or defending themselves.  If they ever enter a conflict with other combative ships, they will be destroyed.  It is not possible to colonize a planet with a scout since this type of ship is unmanned.

For those who want to experiment more with the combat system, a small utility CQSIM.exe has been included.  This combat simulator allows you to pit fleets of different sizes against one another.  When using this program you can enter the number of ships to battle and then click on the Fight! button.  The casualties will be listed.  Clicking on the Continue button will reduce the fighting forces by the casualty amount and continue the battle.  Clicking on the Fight button will re-run the battle using the current forces.


Rebellion Trouble

Rebellions getting to be too much for you?  There is relief in sight!

You have three choices:

1.	Keep a large fleet on the planet to intimidate the natives.

2.	A pesky class 4?  Scrap it to a class 3 and the natives will be no more!

3.	An annoying class 6?  Upgrade it and you'll have a nice quiet alternate home world!


Raiding Parties
Raiding Parties  (Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean that they AREN'T out to get you.)

Want to make your opponent paranoid?  Build some massive raiding parties consisting of nothing but Cruisers and MissileShips!  This combination will inflict massive damage, yet is fast moving.

After smashing a planet, make sure to jump off to another target before your opponent can respond.   MissileShips can reload in flight and can attack each time they land on a new planet.


Rape
Rape!  (Annoyance Unlimited)

Losing the battle on one of your planets?  Scrap the planet before retreating.

Want to really annoy your opponent?  Smash a planet with a Raiding Party deep in enemy territory, scrap, then leave.  Odds are you won't be able hold a planet deep in enemy territory so you might as well reduce his income potential!


Watch Em Go Splat!

Having trouble scanning a planet?  Find your bravest (or dumbest) pilot and launch a single cruiser against the enemy.  He won't win the planet but he will tell you what forces are on it.


Starting Options

Player 1

This is You.  Enter the name by which you wish to be addressed.

Player 2

This is your opponent.  If you opponent is human, enter his name here.  If you wish to play against a computer opponent, click on the arrow to the right of the edit control and select a computer opponent from the drop down list.

There are seven levels of computer player and one custom computer player.  Computer 1 is the easiest opponent and Computer 7 is the most difficult.  Computers 1-3 use less than 100% income.  Computers 4 and 5 use 100% income.  Computers 6 and 7 use 130% income.  Defeating Computer7 on a one on one play shows tremendous skill.

Playing versus multiple computers is unpredictable.  Sometimes the computers gang up on you, sometimes they beat on each other.  Kinda like humans...

For those of you who really want to experiment, choose "ComputerX" as your opponent.  Configure the capabilities of the computer opponent as you like.

Player 3

Player 4

Follow the same instructions as for Player 2.  If you don't want to use this player, set the name to be "None".

Number of Turns

Enter the length of the game here.  A typical game, 50 turns should be enough to indicate who is winning.  If you wish to extend a game you can use the Change End Turn command under the File menu.

Timed Turns

How many times have you heard "Are you done yet?" when you play a game of Conquest?  I have a good friend Jim, and we often bust each other's chops about how long we each take to make a turn.  This is where the turn timer will help you out.

Turn time is measured in seconds.  The turn timer doesn't keep track of time in real-time but rather keeps track of the time that has elapsed each time you perform a command.  When time expires, you will be told to finish up the turn NOW.  If you  ignore that message, you will be allowed to make ONE more move and then Conquest will end the turn for you, whether you like it or not.

Passwords

Select this option to protect your game from being viewed by other players.  It is especially handy when playing Conquest by E-Mail.  When the game starts, enter your password into the Ready dialog.  Remember this password!  It will be used for all subsequent turns.  If you forget your password you can still exit the program, but you are out of luck as far as finishing the game goes, so REMEMBER it!

Universe Style

Select from two different styles of universe generation:

Random Universe	Randomly distributed galaxy.

Symmetric Universe	Random galaxy with symmetry around the Y axis.

A symmetric universe will be completely fair to both sides.  Both the location and class level of planets are duplicated.  If there are more than two players symmetry will be around both X and Y axis.  No more complaining about unfair starting positions!

View Hall of Fame	(I coulda been a contenda, Howard)

This is the scoreboard of Conquest victories of single players against computer opponents.  Need to check and see how well you faired against various computer opponents?  Check here.

Play

Click this button to play a game with the above settings.

Load

This loads and resumes a saved game.

Exit	(You do need to sleep occasionally.)

Leave the program.


Upgrade/Scrap Planet
Upgrade/Scrap Planet  (Not happy with your planet?  Change it!)

You can change the class level of planets two ways:

The Upgrade command allows you to spend income to increase the class of a planet.  The cost of upgrading a planet is as follows:

      New Class	Credits

2	20

3	25

4	55

5	90

6	110

7	200

8	300

9	400

The increase of income from the new class pays for the upgrade in about ten turns for most planets.  Classes 7, 8, and 9 take longer to recover the cost, but there are other significant advantages such as building ships on these planets.  While you immediately get the advantages of the upgrade this process actually takes a few turns.

The Scrap command reduces the class level of planet by one.  This strips the planet and you receive income worth approximately half required to upgrade it.  It takes time a few turns to scrap a planet.  Even though you receive the income immediately, you can not scrap the planet again for a few turns.  Higher class planets require longer periods to scrap.  You can only scrap planets that you own.  (Of course!)  If the planet that you wish to scrap has a stargate on it, you will be asked if you wish to scrap the stargate.    Doing so will gain you 75 credits.  The scraping of a stargate will not affect ships already in flight to the stargate.

NOTE:  Capturing enemy planets deep in enemy territory and scrapping them is known as Raping.  Guaranteed to annoy!


Travel

Send ships to other planets using the "Launch Fleet" command.  Fleets of ships move as fast as the slowest ship by default.  The distance between two planets is displayed at the bottom of this dialog.

There is also a Distance command under the Planet menu.  Ships, from fastest to slowest are Scouts, Cruisers, MissileShips,  Dreadnoughts, RailShips, and ShieldShips.  ShieldShips are so tremendously slow that you will want to use Stargates to move them around.

Scouts are not considered part of a fleet and may be launched by using the menu "Launch Scout" command under the Ships menu or clicking on the "Scouts" button.

Stargates    (I was going HOW fast???)

A stargate is a device that allows fleets to travel at great speeds to specific locations.  A ship that enters one end of a stargate will emerge from the other end three turns later.  This is true regardless of the distance or type of ship.  Note that in order to use a stargate, both source AND destination planets must have a stargate, and you must own both.  Stargates may only be built when you own a Class 9 home world. Gates cost 100 credits each.


Income
Income  (what you need to buy those neat toys...)

All planets generate income each turn.  If you own the planet, you get all the income stored for the planet.  It is therefore a strategic advantage to conquer the natives before your opponent does.  The income generated by a planet is directly related to the class of the planet.  The higher the class, the more income generated.

Note that a class six planet sitting in the corner of the map may have over 100 credits stored up after several turns if no one owns it.  If no one is there to collect income, natives may use some of these funds to build up their own fleets, ESPECIALLY when defending their planet from you!  If you can possibly take a planet in a single turn, (difficult but not impossible), you will be AMAZED at the reward.

You will earn interest on your bank balance that is carried from turn to turn.  Less than 200 credits earns 4% interest,  200-400 earns 8%, and over 400 earns 12%.  If you dare to hold off on building that massive mega-fleet, the added income from interest just may buy you another ship or two.

Important Note:	You must own a home world to collect any income!


Rebellions
Rebellions  (Natives don't play nice...)

Natives are not especially thrilled to have your fleets occupy their worlds by force.  Planets with a class of 4, 5, or 6 rebel against your forces from time to time.  When a rebellion occurs, you may lose some ships.  Ships are lost in the same order as in normal combat.

You can lessen the frequency of the rebellions by  keeping a large force on the planet to intimidate the populous.  Though rebellions are less frequent, they will still eventually occur.  To forever end rebellions, you must either scrap a planet down below class 4 or upgrade it above class 6.


Intelligence
Intelligence  (Is there such a thing?  YES!)

As the game progresses, you receive Battle Reports informing you about the results of various planetary events.  These reports are saved in an Intelligence database.  This database keeps the last five reports for each planet.  Use this to carefully plan your attacks, and guarantee victory.  Click on a planet to show the intelligence report if there is one available.


Tally
Tally  (Check your progress towards Universal Domination)

The Tally command shows how much of the universe you occupy.  It informs you about the percentage of planets you control, as well as the percentage of planets based on Class level that you own.  It also displays the total number of ships purchased, are on planet, in flight, or destroyed.  Monitor your progress in the game and refine your playing strategies.

Note that your opponents strengths are calculated based on your intelligence reports.  Remember that the massive fleet that was on Terra five turns ago may be off to give you trouble somewhere else.


Mail
Mail  (Taunting service...)

A mail system is available to send messages between players.  Note that mail messages are always delivered the next turn.  This means that when Player 1 enters a message to Player 2 on turn #3, Player 2 will not see that message when he plays turn #3, but when he plays on turn #4.

When you have a message from another player, the mail dialog will automatically be displayed at the start of your turn.  Players who have sent you a message will have an asterisk next to their name.


Save Game
Save Game  (You can't ALWAYS play conquest, can you?)

You may save a game of conquest at almost any point in the game.  The Save command displays a dialog so you can name your file.  Saved games have a ".CQ" extension.

The save game feature can be used as a "Play by Mail" feature.  After you make a move, click on End Turn and then click on Save Game.  You can send a copy of the file to your opponent.  When he loads the game, it will be his turn.  He does the same and returns the file to you.  I have played many games of Conquest through the Internet this way.  Make sure you use some compression program like PKZIP to minimize the size of the file.

Note that in order to make sure that your opponent doesn't peek at your screens in Play by Mail games, you may select to use Passwords in the startup screen.  When passwords are in use, you type in the password that you wish to use at turn #1, and use that password for all subsequent turns.


Future Features
Future Features	(Register the game and you'll have a chance of seeing these...)

I find it amazing how a program that has been around for a while can still have new features to enhance it.  When you register Conquest, I hope you will add your requests for new features as well!

Items currently being considered:

1.	Multi-Player support using a serial device.  Allow players to make their moves at the same time.

2.	New Ship:  Proton Missile.  A fast moving ship that destroys one ship at its destination.  Sorta like a WWII buzz-bomb.  The larger number of Proton Missiles sent, the fewer that get through.  (First one 1/1 Chance, Second 1/2 chance, third 1/3 chance...)

3.	Network play.  Allow multiple players to make their moves at the same time on different computers connected to a network.  Let me know the level of interest in this option!

I should add that I am usually reluctant to add a new type of ship unless it really adds something to the game.  The current balance of the has been extensively play-tested and I don't want to unbalance or complicate the game without significant benefits.


Short Cuts

1.	Click on a planet to display intelligence for the planet.

2.	Click on a planet with the RIGHT mouse button to display all ships in flight to the planet.

3.	When launching a fleet.  Select the same planet for source and destination to cancel the command.

4.	Want to launch cruisers to a mass of planets early in the game?  Use the Mass Launch command in the Ships menu.

5.	The Esc key will close most dialogs.

6.	When viewing the Battle Report dialog, press the space bar to advance to the next planet.

7.	Want to quit Conquest without recording your humiliation in the Hall of Fame?  Use Close from the System menu instead of End Game.


New Planet Names

Want to use your own names for planets in Conquest?  You can!

Create a file called "CQ.NAM" in your default directory.  Put the name of each new planet on a separate line in the file.

If you wanted to change the planet "Altair" to "Ackphft" you would put Ackphft in the file.

Change "WWA" to "Wumpus"?  Add Wumpus on a separate line in the file.

Only include the names you wish to change.  Note that since we now have 52 planets, the names you add are case sensitive.

Can anyone tell me where all the planet names that are in the program come from?

(HINT:  They come from various SF movies, series, and Anime.)


Alliances

Declare peace between yourself and another player with this option in the File Menu.

When both sides agree to an alliance, their ships will not attack each other.  If an allied effort conquers a planet, the ownership of that planet is shared.  Income from it is split between the shared owners.  If you land ships on an allied planet that you don't own you will only be visiting and get no income from that planet.

Allied players share Intelligence information with each other.  At the end of each turn your intelligence will be updated with what each allied player knows.  In addition when you point the mouse at an allied planet the Message line will show the actual number of allied ships there instead using Intelligence.

Either side of an alliance can dissolve it at any time.  When an alliance is ended, any shared planets immediately go into battle.  Just how much can you trust your ally?