The Coffee Break CD Collection/The Coffee Break CD Collection.iso/armada1.man

Text File | 1994-03-15 | 14KB | 361 lines

                           ARMADA

                   A Naval Strategy Contest


Program (c) Copyright 1992, Terry C. Hastings. All Rights Reserved.
Other Materials (c) Copyright 1992, Villa Crespo Software, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Villa Crespo Software, Inc. -- 1725 McGovern Street -- Highland Park, IL 60035
Telephone: [phone]


ARMADA is a version of the classic game of battleships with some
great new twists added. Sink your opponent's fleet with cannons, mines,
and bombs dropped from fighter planes. Use your infrared scanner to
find out where his ships are. Scramble his infrared signals with your
jammer. Play head-to-head against a friend, or battle against one of
three computer villains. It's the fastest, most intense version of
battleships ever.


SCENARIO

You command an allied ARMADA charged with defending an area of
ocean. You have 5 ships plus an additional cruiser/command ship.
Your aircraft carrier is capable of launching one fighter attack aircraft
equipped with radiation and infrared missiles. You have electronic
counter measure jamming (ECCJ) and infrared jamming (IRCJ)
available to spoil the enemy's air power attacks. Your infrared jammer
will also jam his infrared detection equipment (IR SCOPE).

You may play against another person or against one of the enemy's top
commanders. You will have to contend with his relentless shelling and
possible air attacks. Beware, the waters may be mined. Your mission is
to sink all of the enemy ships before he sinks yours.




MAIN MENU

After you load ARMADA you will see an Options screen. Type [1] to
begin the game or [ESC] to return to DOS.

When the game starts, you are presented with the MAIN MENU listed
below. The first 4 menu selections provide important information
concerning game play. Please familiarize yourself with each of these
selections before starting the battle.

   1. OPTIONS
   2. DETAILS
   3. SHIP INFO
   4. OPPONENTS
   5. START BATTLE
   6. QUIT
   7. HERO LIST



To begin the game immediately without any special options, press [5] or
click on START BATTLE. The default settings are NO FIGHTERS,
NO MINES, IR SCOPES OFF, DAY, and 1 PLAYER. Skip to the
"Player Interface" section on page 7 to learn how to play ARMADA.

1. OPTIONS - This menu selection allows you to change several
features of the game, as desired. They are:

KEYBOARD/MOUSE
FIGHTERS/MINES
IR SCOPES
DAY/NIGHT
1 OR 2 PLAYERS

Different game options will dramatically change the intensity of the game.
With all options selected, the game can be very fast-paced and the outcome
will be determined to a large extent by how well you use your equipment. Any
desired game options must be selected before START BATTLE. All
game options are OFF unless selected, and are reset to OFF any time the
MAIN MENU is entered.

To play against another person, select 1 OR 2 PLAYERS and choose
the desired options from the menu presented. One player will play for
the ALLIED FORCES and one player will play for the ENEMY
FORCES.

2. DETAILS - Five pages of game information (much of it duplicated
within this manual) are presented in this menu choice.

3. SHIP INFO - A list of the ships available to each side is shown.
Information concerning the number of hits required to sink a ship and its
function in the battle can be found in this selection.

4. OPPONENTS - This item presents a short biography and picture of each
computer opponent. Each opponent has a different strategy for attempting to
sink your ships. Each player presents a different difficulty level:

        #1 IVAN DEMONIAC - low difficulty
        #2 PERRY NOIA - medium difficulty
        #3 ULE SHEVA - high difficulty

5. START BATTLE - This item takes you to the command ship where
the battle takes place.

6. QUIT - Use this selection to end the game.

7. HERO LIST - This will not be present on this menu until at least one score
has been saved. Scores are saved when the game is QUIT and the player has
earned some points for his/her performance during battle.


PLAYER INTERFACE (GAME INPUT)

The primary game input device is a mouse.  To select a menu item with
the mouse, highlight the desired item by dragging the mouse to the item,
and pressing the left mouse button.  If you don't use a mouse, all game
input may be done with the keyboard. Keyboard input is accomplished
by highlighting the desired item with the arrow keys and pressing
[ENTER] or the spacebar, or by pressing the desired number key. To see
information about keyboard input, press [?].

If two players are competing, both may use the mouse, both may use the
keyboard, or one may use the keyboard and one may use the mouse.


SETTING UP THE BATTLE

The battle takes place from inside your COMMAND SHIP. The com-
mand ship is equipped with war status boards that track the number of
hits and misses for each side. The ship is also equipped with a cannon
used to fire on the other side. If you are playing with the FIGHTERS
ACTIVE option, you will also receive information when the allied pilot
is firing on the enemy and when the enemy pilot is firing on the allied
position.

To get started you must "PLACE YOUR SHIPS" in your 10-by-10-
square battle grid. The allies' battle grid is on the left side of
the screen and the enemy's battle grid is on the right.


Your five ships include a carrier (5 squares long), a destroyer (4 squares),
a cruiser (3 squares), a submarine (3 squares), and a jammer (2 squares). Move
the hand pointer to the ship you want to place in the battle grid and press
the left mouse button. The ship will be highlighted with a box to let you
know it is the one selected. Move the hand
pointer to the grid square you want to place the leftmost end of that ship
on (for horizontally represented ships) or the grid square you want to
place the topmost end of the ship on (for vertically represented ships);
now press the left mouse button again. The ship will appear in the
battle grid in the position you selected.

You may elect to have the computer select a random placement of the
ships for you. To do this move the hand pointer to the A and push the
left mouse button. Alternatively, push [A] on the keyboard.

NOTE: If you do not have a mouse, a help box will appear at the top of
the screen to provide you with information for placing your ships.



FIGHTING THE BATTLE

Start the battle by SELECTING A TARGET SQUARE. Move the hand
pointer to the enemy BATTLE GRID then choose a small square within
the BATTLE GRID. Push the left mouse button to select that grid as
your target. An X will mark that grid as the selected target and the
FIRE and RESET buttons located below the ENEMY BATTLE GRID
will change color to signify that they may now be used to fire the gun or
reset the gun so that a different square may be selected. To FIRE the
gun, move the hand pointer to the FIRE button and push the left mouse
button. Select DETAILS from the MAIN MENU for a listing of other
buttons and their functions.

NOTE: If you do not have a mouse, use the arrow keys to move the
flashing cursor to the desired square, then push [ENTER] or [SPACE].
To fire the gun push [ENTER] or [SPACE] again. Push [?] for a help
box explaining keyboard input.



If you are playing with the IR SCOPES on, you will see red, yellow,
and blue flashes on the smaller grid in between the allies and enemy
grids. For hints on how to use this information, see the STRATEGY
section at the end of this manual.

After firing the gun you will be switched to a view from above the battle
where you can watch the action. This view remains until both sides have
shot their cannons. You will be able to see your own armada; the enemy's
formation is hidden under cloud cover. If you strike an enemy target you'll
see a red flash.

If you are playing with FIGHTERS ON, you'll also see your fighter jet and
the enemy's flying over the clouds. Occasionally, when the fighters are
close to a target, one of them will drop a bomb.

If you're playing using the NIGHT option, the screen will be darkened. (The
NIGHT version of ARMADA is best played in a darkened room.)



When a ship is hit, the area hit will be superimposed with a bullseye.
When a mine is hit, its square will be exposed and every square within
two squares of it will turn yellow. Any part of any ship caught in the
explosion's radius will be hit and exposed. When a ship is entirely
uncovered it is considered sunk. The battle will continue until one side has
all its ships in the battle grid sunk.

At the end of the game, you'll be asked if you want to see the enemy's
positions. Click on or press [Y] or [N] to indicate "Yes" or "No." Then
you'll be asked if you want to play again. Click on or press [Y] to play
another game under the same conditions against the same opponent. Click
on or press [N] to return to the main menu.


QUITTING THE BATTLE

The game is quit from the MAIN MENU. To get back to the MAIN
MENU, push [ESC] from within the command ship view and select "Y"
to the "MAIN MENU? (Y/N)" query.


SCORING

Your will receive a score for your performance during game play if you
play at least one entire game that does not end in a draw.

The highest possible score is 1000. Your score can be improved by:

1. Playing a minimum of 3 consecutive games (providing at least 2 of
the 3 games are won).
2. Not missing any shots.
3. Playing against higher difficulty opponents (see OPPONENTS above
for difficulty ratings). Human opponents are assigned a difficulty rating
of medium.
4. Winning all games played.





STRATEGY

Option: Fighters Active

Attempt to knock out your enemy's aircraft carrier so that his pilot will
be forced to leave. Pilots can generally make 3 additional firing passes
after that side's aircraft carrier is sunk before they leave the battle area.
Air power is usually the deciding factor. If your jammers are out or
degraded, the opposing fighter becomes much more effective in finding
targets.

Target his jammers. As soon as one or more of his jammers are hit or
sunk, your fighter becomes much more effective in finding targets. See
FIGHTERS/MINES under the OPTION menu for a table that shows
fighter effectiveness versus jammer damage.





Option: IR Scopes Active

NOTE: Some enemy IR SCOPE technicians are very skilled and seldom
miss a shot.

IR SCOPE interpretation is an acquired skill. At first it may appear that
there is merely a scattering of random false targets on your scope. Click
on the GAIN HI button (or hit [5]) to raise the gain. More targets will
appear, and you should now look for a series of repeating dots that may
represent a ship. If you want to FREEZE the current information on the
IR screen, click on the FZ button or use the [3] key. To update the IR
screen more frequently or less frequently, toggle the RR (REFRESH
RATE) button or use the [2] key.

Try to target the enemy's INFRARED JAMMER (located on his destroyer) first.
Once his IR JAMMER is destroyed or disabled, your IR SCOPE picture improves
markedly and you should be able to target the remainder of his armada.



The IR SCOPE has a mine discrimination feature that may be helpful.
To use this feature, set the gain all the way down. Click on the GAIN
LO button or press [4]. The bottom 2 gain settings will allow the scope to
show only possible mine positions and targets that have already been
hit. Mines and false mine indications are shown as blue dots, and red
dots correspond to ships already hit. Mines are difficult to discriminate
and you will see many false mine indications. Your job will be to
determine which are real and which are false.

The EP (EMERGENCY POWER) button ([1]) temporarily boosts
power to your IR SCOPE, making it more effective for 3 turns. Use it
only when necessary, since it will trigger temporary shutdown of your
IR SYSTEM for cooldown. This temporary shutdown will last until 3
additional shots are taken by that player.






Defeating Ule Shiva

In the battle with Ule Shiva, two mines are always present in each battle
grid. He knows where yours are. Your intelligence officer will, at some
point during the battle, provide you with the coordinates of friendly
mines in enemy waters. Be sure to watch for information in the panel
under your battle grid.



QUICK REFERENCE GUIDE

Function                Mouse                   Keyboard

Select ship             Click on ship           Select ship with [TAB] or
                                                [Q]/[W]; [ENTER] or [SPACE]

Place ship              Click on square         Move cursor with arrow keys;
                                                [ENTER] or [SPACE]

Random placement        Click on A              [A]

Start over              Press [ESC]             [ESC]

Choose target           Click on square         Move cursor with arrow keys;
                                                [ENTER] or [SPACE]

Reset target            Click on RESET          [R]

Fire                    Click on FIRE           [F], [ENTER] or [SPACE]

Emergency power         Click on EP             [1]

Toggle refresh rate     Click on RR             [2]

Freeze IR screen        Click on FZ             [3]

Lower IR gain           Click on LO             [4]

Raise IR gain           Click on HI             [5]

Pause                   Click on HOLD           [H]

Toggle game speed       Click on SPEED          [S]

Open accessories        Click on A              --
panel

Sound Blaster on/off    Click on SOUNDS         [O]

Taunts on/off           Click on TAUNTS         [T]

Close accessories       Click twice on          --
panel                   MOUSE

Quit                    Press [ESC]             [ESC]