Amiga CD-Sensation: Golden Games/Amiga CD-Sensation - Ausgabe 2 - Golden Games (1996)(GTI - Schatztruhe)(DE)[!].iso/Various/Solar Lords/SOLAR_DOCS

Text File | 1993-12-31 | 22KB | 651 lines

                            S O L A R  L O R D S

                                     By

                              Alistair Duncan

                  (C)1993 Alistair Duncan & Tiger Software


DISCLAIMER (IMPORTANT READ THIS FIRST BEFORE USING PROGRAM!!)

The author, ALISTAIR DUNCAN, accepts no responsibility for damage caused by
this software through correct or incorrect use and will therefore not be
liable to compensate for any such damage if caused. I do not know of any
other game bearing the same or similar title if, however, the name `SOLAR
LORDS' has been used before in a game please send me some form of proof
and I will gladly change it. The program code and documentation is
`(C)1993 ALISTAIR DUNCAN & TIGER SOFTWARE' and it was written on the AMOS
package which is `(C)1990 EUROPRESS PUBLICATIONS'.

Phew! now that's over and done with I can explain the game.


COMPATIBILITY

This game should work fine on any amiga with 1 megabyte of memory.
If you have any problems don't hesitate to contact me.

It is recommended, however, that you have 1 Meg Chip Ram in addition to
some fast ram to get the best performance out of this game.


SHAREWARE

This game has a shareware fee of £5. Paying the fee entitles you to free
updates for a year and discounts on my other games. I also make a point of
giving registered users regular updates on my progress with old and new
products alike.

Many shareware authors do things to their programs to attempt to force you
to pay their fee such as annoying requesters or crippled features. I have
not done this, everything is complete (I may be a fool for doing this,
please prove me wrong by registering).

Another habit many authors have is only listening to suggestions from
registered users. I appreciate that many users out there do not like having
to register a game first just in the off chance that a suggestion they make
may be used. Consequently I will listen to suggestions (providing they are
constructive) from users be they registered or not. If a user suggests an
idea and I use it they will be credited (Note : you will only be credited
if you have registered).

The address for shareware registrations, suggestions or queries is

    Alistair Duncan
    113 Brook Street
    Soham
    Cambridgeshire
    CB7 5AE


I am currently at university so you can e-mail me at :

[e-mail]

(This applies from 30/09/93 to 01/06/94)


Well then, now onto the game



BACKGROUND

None, I just came up with the idea out of thin air. However there were
influences (albeit vague) from the following games :-

Supremacy (The board game)
Imperium
Stratego (The board game)



THE GAME IN PROGRESS


To get past the title page press a mouse button. You will then be presented
with a screen from which you select the number of players. When this has
been done you will be allowed to continue.


The players are always assigned the following colours :

    1-Red
    2-Yellow
    3-White (sometimes also represented as dull grey)
    4-Green

After you have selected the number of players you will be presented with the
status screen for warlord 1 (the screen is basically the same layout for all
players).

THE STATUS SCREEN

It is here that all the most important information about your player is
found. Each element will now be explained.

PLANETS UNDER CONTROL

Quite simply tells you how many planets out of the six you have under your
control.

PERSONAL RATING

This is a measure of your warlord's personal charisma. The higher it is, the
more successful he/she will be at negotiating, fighting etc.

INCOME PER TURN

Starts at zero, but increases when planets are taken over. Each planet has a
maximum potential income of its own which is dependant on the planets tax
level and when they are taken over their income is added to their
conquerors income. For instance planet 1 (Aurana) has an income of 4000 CR
so if you were to take it over and tax at 100% you would get 4000 credits
added to your credits every turn until you lost control of the planet.

CREDITS

How many you have at the present time. Starts at 5000.

MILITARY POWER

Defines your attack and defence skill. For the purposes of attack every time
you fire a missile it will cost you 1 military point. These points can be
increased by buying weapons. You start with 1 point (i.e 1 missile).

LUCK RATING

Luck plays an important part in many game events. You begin with 100 points.
It is usually this combined with your personal rating that decides the
outcome of anything you do during the game.

STRATEGIC POWER

Starts at zero. This is increased each time you take over a planet.

SCIENCE RATING

One of the items of special equipment (see later) requires a certain amount
of technical knowledge. Your scientific rating is a reflection of your
technical knowledge on a scale of 0 to 10. Begins at 0 (zero).

CAPITAL SHIP STATUS

Starts at 50. This is the armour level of your capital ship. Your capital
ship is the single most important thing in the game as it is your only means
of carrying out your game plan. You can only perform actions at some planets
if you have a capital ship and losing it can be disasterous.

SPY RANKINGS

Each warlord has a spy representing his/her interests on each of the six
planets. These spies are ranked on a scale of 1-10, 10 being the best. If a
warlord gets his spy to rank 10 on a planet and then communicates with that
planet (see later) the planet will be taken over. Any other spies that reach
rank 10 on the same planet will not take it over until the first conqueror
is toppled. Basically it is a first come first serve system. A spy with a
ranking of zero can be considered dead. So a new one will have to be
hired in such cases (see later). If your spy for a planet has taken it over
you will see a 'C' written in addition to the rank number. The 'C' stands for
'Conquerer'.

EQUIPMENT

There are a number of items of special equipment that you can purchase
during the game. If you have any they will be listed here.

The status screen also shows how many moves you have been allocated (1-8).

Pressing a mouse button here will take you to the turn screen.


THE TURN SCREEN

This shows the basic options available to you each move of your turn. They
are :

Communications
Travel
Tactics
Attack & Defence
Give Up

Each will now be explained


COMMUNICATIONS

The communications menu is all the options that are controlled from your
warlord's space station.

Initially you will be offered the following :

1..Capital Ship
2..Planet
3..Others

    CAPITAL SHIP

    These are all the station to ship instructions.

    1.. Repair

        This instructs your ship to carry out repairs to any damage.
        This will cost 2000 CR and will take you back up to 50 hits.
        You can only repair your ship when you are in your station.

    2.. Return to station

        This will call the ship back to the station. In the station
        the ship is safe from all forms of attack. It can also be
        repaired here.

    PLANET

    These are all the station to planet instructions

    You tell the computer which planet you wish to communicate with.
    If you have access (i.e your spy on that planet is rank 3 or higher)
    you will be shown information on the planet :

    Planetary income
    Strategic value
    Level of unrest (as a percentage)
    State of defences
    Current tax level
    Who rules the planet and who is the chief spy on the planet

    As stated earlier communicating with a planet in this way is the only
    way to confirm a takeover and gain the extra income. When a spy
    reaches rank 10 communicate with the planet and the take over will
    be complete assuming that no one else has control of the planet.

    The current leadership is represented in pictorial form

    The best rank spy will be shown in appropriate robes
    The king will be shown in blue robes if he is still neutral, or in
    the appropriate colour robes if the planet has been taken over.

    If a spy who controls a planet is toppled from rank 10 the player
    concerned will still receive the planetary income until another spy
    takes over. This take over is not automatic, all takeovers must be
    confirmed by communicating with the planet concerned.


    OTHERS

    These are miscellaneous actions


    1.. Hire new spy

    Spies are the only means by which you can take over a planet. It is
    therefore vital that you keep them alive. If one should be killed it
    will be necessary to hire a new one. They cost 15,000 CR to hire
    and will be dispatched to the planet of your choice to begin at
    rank 4.

    2.. Hire Assassin

    These cost 40,000 CR a go but can cause havoc. If you can afford it
    and you name a planet you will be presented with an assassin. The
    assassin's skill is rated 1-10 (10=best). If you get one with a
    rating less than ten you can train him/her to make him/her better at
    a cost. The assassin will then go to the stated planet and kill one
    of the opposing spies which you define. The success is entirely
    dependent on the assassin's skill but even one rated 10 can fail.

    3.. Build new capital ship

    This will cost 30,000 CR but is essential should your first one
    be destroyed as it is impossible to win without one (unless of course
    everyone else gives up).

    4.. Use equipment

    This will bring up a list of any techno equipment that your warlord
    possesses. Selecting one will allow you to put that invention into
    use. What each invention does is explained later.

    5.. Destroy Orbital Guns

    If you have orbital guns in position around any of the planets, you
    may destroy them with this option. You may only destroy YOUR guns.

    This option will only appear if you have orbital guns.


TRAVEL


Selecting this brings up a map of the solar system and shows the position of
all the space stations and your (only your) capital ship. You can then select
a planet to travel to. It will not allow you to proceed here if your ship is
destroyed or your shields are up (see attack & defence).

When you select a planet a warp sequence will initiate and one of two events
may befall you :

1..Lost in wormhole

This will be a familiar term to Star Trek fans, it simply results in a loss
of 1 point from your personal rating and a loss of hits from your ship
armour.

2..Hit by meteor shower

This will result in your ship taking 10 hits.

If you travel to a planet where hostile (upward) orbital guns are positioned,
expect to be shot at.


TACTICS

This menu controls all your ship to planet instructions and therefore cannot
be utilised if your ship is destroyed.

1..Gain trust
2..Extract funds
3..Damage Opposition
4..Sabotage defences
5..Cause unrest
6..Alter tax level

The seventh option is dependent on the planet and will be discussed later.

    GAIN TRUST

    If your spy on the planet is alive and less than rank 10 then his
    /her rank will be incremented by one. Alternatively you can increment
    a spy by more that one point at a time but each extra point you add
    will take one move off of your current quota.

    EXTRACT FUNDS

    If your spy is of sufficient rank and your personal skill is high
    you will succeed in stealing 10,000 CR from the planet's banks. If
    you are unsuccessful you will have to pay 2000 CR compensation.
    This compensation will be paid to the player that rules the planet
    if one does.

    Naturally you cannot steal money from a planet that you control.


    DAMAGE OPPOSITION

    Again if your spy is powerful enough selecting this option will
    reduce all the other spies on the planet by one point in rank.

    SABOTAGE DEFENCES

    If your spy is powerful enough you can reduce the planetary
    defences to make the planet vulnerable to alien invasion. However,
    this is a double edged sword because a planet's defences can never be
    increased when depleted except by terraforming. So once open to
    attack, always open to attack. If the planet is attacked the current
    ruler will be deposed.

    CAUSE UNREST

    If you want to shift a ruler from a planet then you can cause
    unrest in the population by spreading damaging rumours. The current
    unrest level of any planet can be found out by communicating with it.
    When the unrest gets to a certain level it is possible that an
    organised uprising will take place. In which case the current ruler
    will be deposed. This has the effect of making the planet neutral
    again. More importantly the unrest level will be reduced to zero
    after an uprising.

    ALTER TAX LEVEL

    This can only be done if you control the planet in question. You will
    have noticed that each planet has an income. This is the amount of
    credits you will earn from the planet if you set the tax rate to 100%
    At the start all tax rates are set at 50%. If you increase them for
    a long period of time the population will get restless and may even
    depose you. If you make the tax rate really low you can reduce the
    planet's unrest level.

As stated earlier the seventh option is always dependent on the planet.

    Planet 1 : Aurana

    The option for this planet is to buy weapons as Aurana is the only
    planet that produces weapons. The cost is usually 2000 CR but it is
    dependent on your personal skill and luck. Each time you buy weapons
    it will add 2 to your military value. If a player rules Aurana then
    all weapons proceeds will go to that player.

    Planet 2 : Minerayta

    Here the option is to gain control of trade. In a sense this is the
    stock market game. If you are successful you will add 5000 CR to
    your credit level. If you fail you will have to pay compensation to
    the planets' ruler.

    Planet 3 : Orgaty

    Orgaty is a pleasure planet so the option here is shoreleave for
    your ships' crew. I leave the effect this has for you to find out.
    If a player rules this planet it is up to them whether they allow
    visitors to have shoreleave or not.

    Planet 4 : Beta 12

    Beta 12 is a prison planet. The option here therefore is to free
    political prisoners. Again I leave the effect this has for you to
    discover. If your attempt fails and the planet is ruled by a player
    you will have to pay them compensation. You will also lose a large
    amount of your personal rating which could be disasterous.

    Planet 5 : Rowani

    Rowani is the scientific research planet. The option here is to
    increase your scientific knowledge.  Your scientific knowledge level
    is increased in the same manner as your trust levels (see earlier)
    If a player rules this planet the laboratories will only be open to
    him/her.

    Planet 6 : Chrijoal

    Chrijoal is the the techno equipment planet. It is here that all the
    most powerful (and expensive) items are made. If you take over the
    planet you can decide whether to allow other players to buy
    equipment from here or not. In contrast to other planets, the
    proceeds from any sales on this planet will not go to the planet's
    ruler (as that would result in the player get very rich too quickly).

    The equipment you can buy here is as follows :

    Planet terraformer (20,000 CR)

    This, when used on a planet, will completely wipe it clean. It will
    knock all spies down to rank 2 and set tax levels back to 50%. It
    will also re-boost a planets defence level.

    Chemical weapons (30,000 CR)

    When these are used on a planet the population of the planet get
    severely poisoned and restless with it. Thusly use of chemicals on a
    planet is likely to cause an instant planetary uprising.

    Capital ship power armour (10,000 CR)

    This is the cheapest of all the options and as soon as you buy it
    it is active. This armour is the only way to prevent damage to your
    ship when a solar system explosion occurs.

    If your capital ship is destroyed you will lose the power armour.

    Orbital guns (20,000 CR)

    The most useful piece of technology that there is. When you elect
    to use these on a planet you can make them point up or down. Once
    your choice is made it cannot be reversed.

    Guns that point down will bombard the planet that they orbit. This
    will cause unrest in the population and may even cause an uprising.

    Guns that point up will protect the planet that they are around by
    shooting any capital ships that attempt to remain in the planets
    orbit. They will not shoot the player that placed them there.

    The guns are only experimental and if you are extremely unlucky they
    can just burn up in orbit.

    Energon Device (50,000 CR)

    This expensive piece of equipment when bought and used is despatched
    to the sun. Whenever a supernova occurs it will be charged with
    energy. When it gets sufficiently charged it can do one of two
    things :

        a) It can and will unleash its energy, destroying all
        orbital guns that are damaging planets ruled by its owner.

        or

        b) It will destroy one of the opposing players' capital
        ships outright.

    The reason that this is so expensive is that the device is
    indestructable. And once bought and deployed can do you many a
    service.


General note : You will always need a certain level of scientific knowledge
to purchase each of these devices.


ATTACK & DEFENCE

This option is very straight forward. Upon selection you will be asked if you
wish to attack or defend (i.e. press A or D and [RETURN]).

    ATTACK

    Selecting attack will bring up a list of all the people playing
    (including yourself) and, assuming that you have a ship and the
    necessary military power, you will then be requested to pick
    someone to fire at. If you pick yourself you will have to re-select.
    When you pick a target your choice will be hidden so that your
    potential target does not expect your attack. Firing a missile will
    cost you 1 military point.

    Important to note : Missiles are very unreliable as they are prone
    to malfunctioning and thus losing a fix on their target.

    Further note : You may only fire one missile per turn. If you attempt
    to fire more than one then any previous missile commands will be
    ignored. However you will still lose military points each time you
    launch a missile. Also missiles may not be fired when your shields
    are raised. They will automatically be lowered if you attempt to do
    so. Firing and then raising your shields is perfectly acceptable.

    DEFENCE

    This option does not cost you anything to activate. If your shields
    are down this option will raise them and vice versa. Shields vary
    in reliability but they are guaranteed to stop at least one missile.
    You may find that they collapse after a direct hit but all you need
    to do in that instance is to re-raise them. It is possible that you
    may not get the chance and suffer damage but that boils down to all
    your warlord's personal attributes.

    One very important thing to note is that, due to the large amounts of
    energy that shields consume, your ability to move will be stopped.
    That will always mean that you have to lower your shields in order
    to move.


GIVE UP

This is the fifth option available to you on the turn screen. It will display
a new screen of instructions :

    PRESSING THE LEFT MOUSE BUTTON will pass play to the next warlord
    but leave you in the game.

    PRESSING THE RIGHT MOUSE BUTTON will remove you from play but the
    amount of cash you had will be stored. This is important because,
    should all the players decide to quit, the winner will then be
    decided in terms of who has the most credits.

You will notice a countdown going on at the top of the screen, if you have
clicked on give up by mistake simply wait for this countdown to reach zero
and you will be returned to the turn screen with no loss of moves.


NEWS AND INFORMATION SECTION

After every player has finished their turn the news section will appear. This
is similar in purpose to the random event section on one of my other games
(Stewards' Enquiry, £5 to register). There is a selection of completely
random events and a number of events that are dictated by your actions. For
example the occurrences of planetary uprisings, assassinations, alien
invasions etc. This section will also inform each player of any urgent
occurrences such as the loss of a spy or capital ship and whether or not the
player can afford to replace them.


BEST AT THE MOMENT

After the news a small screen will pop up showing little trophies, one for
each player, the trophy belonging to the player who is winning will bounce
up and down.


WINNING THE GAME

If all players give up, the winner will be decided in terms of credits. If
some players remain in the game then the first to gain complete control of
all six planets will be declared the victor.

At this stage pressing a mouse button will begin a new game. To quit at any
time and return to AmigaDOS/Workbench press Ctrl-C.


HINTS AND TIPS SHEET

There are a number of excellent strategies that can assist you to win.
If you register I will send you the hint sheet. However, any reasonably
intelligent person should be able to work them out themselves.


OTHER INFORMATION

This game was written on the following configuration :

A4000/EC030 with 80 MEG HD and CBM 1960 Multisync monitor.


Software used

Dpaint IV
SID2
Textra by Mike Haas
AMOS Professional V2.00
AMOS Professional Compiler


           PEOPLE WHO HAVE CONTRIBUTED TO THE PRODUCTION OF
                        -=*SOLAR LORDS*=-

               (Other than myself of course)

        ASSISTANCE WITH GRAPHICS AND AUTHOR OF MUSIC

            Anthony Vaughan Bartram


                 VOICES

                 Radha Bilimoria


              HELP WITH BUG FINDING

        Jon Lewis, Stuart Hannford, Lee Hodgkins.


            IDEAS FOR GAME IMPROVEMENTS

               Christopher Povey, Jon Lewis.


                   PLAYTESTING

                Jon Lewis
                   Lee Hodgkins
                  Stuart Hannford
                 Christopher Povey
                Sunil "Sunny" Patel



Thanks for reading and don't forget to register.

*****************************************************************************