Amiga Computer Studio 1997 July & August/Amiga_Computer_studio_07-08-1998.7z/Amiga_Computer_studio_07-08-1998.iso/games/patches/foundationmanual/foundation manual

Final Write Document | 1998-06-08 | 599KB | 821 lines

Contents

System Requirements & Installation.

 ..................................................................  1
Intro/Menu Screens.



 ..................................................................  2
Game Description




 ..................................................................  2
Resource Descriptions



 ..................................................................  4
Unit Descriptions




 ..................................................................  5
Building Descriptions



 ..................................................................  7
General Game Play




 ..................................................................  11
The Control Panels




 ..................................................................  14
In-Game Keys




 ..................................................................  16
Credits





 ..................................................................  17

System Requirements & Installation
Foundation requires a 2Meg AGA equipped Amiga (e.g.. A1200) The game has been
developed for 68030 based Amigas but an A1200 is enough to get the game
running. The RTG version will require a CyberGraphX or Picasso96 supported
graphics card and at least 8Meg of fast memory.  4Meg Video ram is recommended
for hires screens. A fast processor is required for running the RTG version.

Extra memory is also helpful as it reduces the amount of disk access during the
game. Users with only 2Meg of memory will find the game will access the disk
very frequently. While the game does use it's own cache system it is
recommended that you use a dedicated cache program for better support and
flexibility not to mention speed.

Installation
To install the game you must copy the "FoundationPrefs" program to a suitable
location on your Hard Drive. It is recommended that you create a new directory
and drag the "FoundationPrefs" program into there. When you launch
"FoundationPrefs" it will create some important directories and install the
minimum amount of files needed to run the
game. "FoundationPrefs" contains
some instillation options that will allow you to install more of the Foundation
files if you
prefer to use the fast file access of your Hard Drive.








Intro/Menu Screens

The Main Menu contains all the options you need to start a new conquest or
create a custom game.  You may also load an old game or edit some basic game
preferences.

Conquest Game

A conquest is a collection of missions. The first Foundation Conquest contains
40
missions. In the near future new Conquests will be released containing new
missions. These conquests can be installed very easily and they will
automatically be supported by the game system.  Once a conquest is selected you
will be prompted to enter some personal details and the conquest will begin.

Custom Game

The Custom Game option gives you the freedom to setup a game containing
variable features.  You can select options such as game objectives, initial
tech. level, terrain types and initial resource levels. You can start the game
on a totally random level with an unknown terrain type and unknown starting
positions or you can choose to select the map yourself.  The map selection
system allows you to enter a "Random Seed" value in the form of text. The
system will choose some suitable starting positions but these can be changed.
You also have the chance to import maps in the form of standard IFF
pictures or in a custom map format. A map editor that produces these files will
be made available soon.

Game description

The objectives of each game will vary but often it will involve completing
various tasks.  A task may be set to destroy the enemy team or you may have to
rescue some people. The methods used to complete a mission will change with
each task but you will usually be required to setup a village, train some
soldiers, develop some new technologies and compete in battles.

The Small Map

At the top left corner of the main screen you will see the Small Map. This
shows your current view position on the land and provides a way to quickly move
this view to other locations. It also
shows you the
areas that have been explored and the coloured areas show the
location of buildings. Clicking the small map with the right button will bring
up the large Map Window.

The map section contains extra gadgets.  The Game Speed gadget allows you to
switch between various game speeds. The Message gadget will light up when you
have some important messages to read. This gadget can be used to open the
Message Window when a message is waiting. The Building Spaces gadget will show
you all the available "plots" for building. The next gadget is the Location
Notify gadget which is used to take you to an important location whenever you
are warned of an important event. Finally there is an Idea gadget which will
light up when a new invention has been created
allowing you to examine the new idea.

The Resources Panel.




Located at the bottom of the screen, this area gives an instant view of your
resources. The figure shown is the amount of resources or people you have in
your Headquarters, Warehouses and other Storage type buildings.

The Main View area

This is where all the action can be viewed. It is here where you can point and
select your people/buildings. This view is used for almost all of your game
control. You can resize the Game View using the + and - keys on the numeric
keypad. Making the view size smaller will speed up the game.

The Control Panel

This panel is where all the statistics and game control can be accessed. If you
have selected a building or any of your people, you can issue orders or alter
the settings for you buildings. From the icon panels you can also set up your
trading and many other game controls. The Control panel together with the View
Area is where the whole game is controlled.



          Control Panel







Resource Descriptions

Resources are split into 2 main groups, Materials and Food.

Here is a full description of the materials group.

Gold

Used as a basic currency for buying and selling goods. It is also used in the
training of soldiers, Wizards and Scientists. Another use for gold is in the
payment of repairs to your buildings. It is good to keep a supply of gold for
emergencies.

Wood and Stone

Two of the most basic building materials. The Stone can be mined or recovered
from around the landscape. You will need a Foresters Hut to collect wood from
the trees.

Coal, Steel & Ore

The Coal is used in the refinery to create Gold and Steel. It is also used in
the process of making armour. The Ore is broken down in the refinery to form
Gold and Steel.  The steel is used to create Armour and sometimes as a building
material.

Water

A very important resource. Used for refreshing your people in it's basic form
and used in the Brewery to create Wine. The water is also used by some
buildings as part of
production.

Oil

Used in the Laboratory as a part of experiments and it is also used by the
Peasants to set fire to buildings. Without this element you will not be able to
develop new
technologies and the torch building command will not be available.

Armour

Armour is sometimes used in the Building process to create strong forts. It is
also used in the process of training Soldiers.

Magic

Used by the Wizards to create buildings, trees and other Wizard type
activities. Without Magic the world of Foundation will be out of your control
and you will become
defenseless to attacks such as fire.

Ideas

The Idea element is really just a Blue Print containing new ideas developed by
the
scientists. As soon as the idea arrives in a Storage building it can be used to
upgrade your technology in the form of new buildings, character commands or
upgrades.

Cross

The Cross represents the Soul of a dead person. When a member of your
population dies the Cross will appear as the last remains. These Crosses can be
recycled in the Crematorium to produce Magic.

And the foods group...

Bread, Meat, Wheat, Wine, Vegetables, Fruit & Fish

All foods work in the same way but certain activities require different groups
of food. The soldiers working in the forts will enjoy eating Bread and Wine
while the scientists like to eat Fish and Vegetables while they are working.
The Wine can be used to
increase morale among your population but it doesn't have a good affect on
health.






Unit Descriptions

People/Units are split into two groups, Working Units and Fighting Units.

First to explain the working Units.

The Peasant

This is your most important Unit. The Peasant can be used in many tasks such as

mining, fishing and farming. They are used to transport resources about your
land. The Peasant can take on most jobs in your kingdom and once trained they
can be upgraded to higher level Units. A good supply of Peasants in your
Storage buildings will play a big part in a successful game.

The Maiden

Another important Unit. Without the Maiden your people cannot reproduce and
your numbers will soon shrink. The Maiden provides you with fresh blood and a
good supply of Maidens is needed in order for you to generate a large healthy
band of people. For your people to breed and reproduce you will need to give
them some privacy. The Headquarters is not the best place to raise a family but
it is possible. The newborn people in the world of Foundation have the ability
to work in the same way as the older people.  In the world of Foundation you
take on the character rather than the character taking on you.

The Wizard

The Wizards are highly trained in the use of Magic. For many years they have
replaced the Peasants skills in the area of Building and transforming the land.
With a good supply of magic they can provide you with all the buildings you
require. You still have to
provide the necessary resources but the use of Magic has speeded up the
building
process and indeed the removal of buildings.

The Scientist

Without science you cannot expand your technologies and your enemies will soon
surpass your knowledge. With a good team of scientists you can create a flow of
fresh ideas that will keep you ahead of the opposition.  Scientists are also
the key to
discovering cures to any health problems that can arise with overcrowding and
the problems of war.

The Soldier/Guard

Every building in your land will have room for at least one Guard. If you have
a guard in a building it will protect you from attacks. When the guard has
served enough time and he has proved himself in his work he will be promoted to
a Knight.

The Knight

The knight is a powerful fighter. He is strong and brave but he is not happy to
be
reduced to the lower ranks of a Guard. He will happily serve to your demands on
the battlefield and after he has reached a high level of experience he will be
promoted to Black Knight.

The Black Knight

The strongest of all fighting units. He will usually survive until his days are
over and he has the power to protect himself from most attackers. He is immune
to the arrows of the archer and it is rare for a Peasant to approach him.

The Archer

The archers like to keep away from trouble but if you give them enough distance
they can take out targets quickly and safely. Being a cowardly group they enjoy
nothing more than to live in the safety of the Archers Tower where they are
safe from even the weakest of peasant attackers.





Building Descriptions

Headquarters

The Headquarters is used as storage for resources and people. It is also the
home of your good self so it is important that you protect it against the
enemy. Storage space is limited so you will probably need at least one
Warehouse to store a large bulk of your goods. If this building is lost the
game is over.

Mine

This is an important building for the collection of Stone, Ore, Coal and Oil.



Farmhouse

Important building for the creation of Wheat, Fruit and Vegetables.







Warehouse

This is a very important building. Without the Warehouse you may find that
resources and people are delayed in the process of leaving your
Headquarters. Don't underestimate the usefulness of this Building.


Armoury

The place where your Steel is turned into Armour which is the important
resource of War.



Pump House

The Water source. Without water you can expect to see many health problems.




Wizard Hut

This building will become useful when your land expands. It allows you to place
Wizards closer to your expanding areas.


Peasant Hut

A nice peaceful building which gives the Maidens the privacy they need and it
also stops the Headquarters from becoming too overcrowded.


Forester

The source of your wood collection. Your forester will happily collect up the
wood from the surrounding trees. As the wood is collected it is also
distributed about the local buildings.





Stone Mason

The Stone mason will search the land for rocks. This is probably the best
source of stone you will have. Many rocks will contain Coal and Ore. This is a
good way to collect resources when there are no available mining areas.

Refinery

This is yet another important building where your Ore is refined to become Gold
and Steel.


Fishery

The Fishery must be built close to the sea or lakes. The Fishery will not
provide a lot of fish but it is important to provide a wide range of food.



Crematorium

This is where the last remains of your people (the Cross) can be refined to
become a single element of Magic. The magic is then used to aid you in future
developments.


Laboratory

The important base for advancing technology.  This is where your Scientist will
be housed and provided with the resources to develop new technologies and any
other helpful advances to aid you on your mission.

Bakery

This is where the Bread is formed from the Wheat and Water. While it is
possible to live without the Bread it is worth providing it to improve the diet
of your people.


Brewery

The Wine is not the most healthy food source but it helps to keep your people
happy. It is possible to live without this Food type but if your Population get
unhappy you may be forced to provide them with this building.

Food Factory

Modern day living has inspired the use of a simple approach to creating food.
This is the easiest way to provide a good range of food but it is also the most
expensive method so keep a watch on your Gold supplies.

Barracks

This is where you will train your Peasants to become other Units.  You can
train a Peasant to become a Guard at the cost of one Gold and one Armour.  You
can also train a Peasant to become Scientist or a Wizard at the cost of one
Gold.

Hospital

The Hospital works in a similar way to the Warehouse. It acts as a storage of
people and food.  There are some important differences. The healthy living will
allow your people to recover health quickly. If you have many Peasants in the
Hospital and you request for a Peasant to leave the building then the most
healthy Peasant will leave first. Any time during the game you find a sick
person you should always send him/her to the Hospital to recover.

Gun Tower and Archers Tower
This is one of the offensive buildings.  When the building houses a Guard and a
supply of Stone you will see the Tower appear. The Tower will automatically aim
at any enemy building or Unit that is in range.

Other Storage Buildings

You will develop more storage buildings that will help to distribute materials
and food. The Food Store building will allow you to store large amounts of food
where it is needed. The Water Tower will allow you to store Water where it is
needed. These
buildings don't seem very useful at first but the use of specialized buildings
will lower the traffic problems caused by a large network of buildings
controlled by a few storage
buildings.

More Buildings

Your scientists will invent more buildings. It is your duty to discover these
yourself. In future Conquest packs there will be additional buildings and more
technologies to
develop.






General Game Play

Summon your people

The first task you must learn is that of commanding your people to leave a
building. This is done in two main ways. The easiest method is using the Quick
Orders panel. You can call up this panel by clicking in an empty space in the
play area. The Quick Orders panel will show you how many spare people you have
in your Store. Selecting one of these people will command that character to
leave his home and walk to your chosen location.

Another way to command a person to leave a building is via the Occupants panel.
You can call this panel up by
selecting the same building twice.  The Occupants panel will provide you with a
simple list of the people in the current building and it is possible to select
any one of these and command him to leave using the leave icon.

Create a new building

Creating buildings is quick an easy. You must first choose a suitable location
on the play area.  The first click will bring up the Quick Orders panel but a
second click with bring up the Choose Building Panel.  You must have enough of
the necessary
resources to be able to select a building and you must be in a valid location.
The Mine for example must be on high ground where the rock landscape is found.
The Pump House building must be built where the ground is soft. You can't build
in areas that are not fully explored. In some cases it is possible to reserve
your building even if there is
insufficient resources.

One you have chosen a building to create you will be given a Foundation and a
Wizard will soon arrive to Magic the building in place. If you do not have
enough Magic in
storage then this stage will be have to be delaye
d.

General Housekeeping

Most building are put into one of two groups. There are the Storage buildings
which are used to store people and resources. Examples of these buildings are
the Headquarters, Warehouse and the Hospital. Each building of this type can be
given a desired level of each element or person.  For example we could presume
that only the Coal, Ore, Water, Peasants and a small amount of food was given a
desired level of 20 each. All of the other elements could be reset to Zero
which would mean that all the Armour, Stone, Oil and Gold that was made in his
area would be taken to the Headquarters while the elements that are useful to
these buildings were stored in good quantities. It is also
advised to keep the level of Soldiers to a good amount to protect the Warehouse
as well as the nearby areas.

The other buildings work in a different way. They have a very much more
restricted design with three types of contents. The small area on the left is
the food group. There will be three types of food and one element of each can
be stored here. The upper level of storage is the materials and workers group.
These are the people who work/live in the building and also the place where
materials are kept. The Refinery would have Coal and Ore as its materials along
with a number of peasant workers and also a Guard. The lower section is the
output group. This is where the resources are created ready to be taken out to
a place of need.

The input group can be changed to fit your needs so if you are running short on

peasants you can lower the number of Peasant workers in certain buildings. If
you want to create a slow supply of Bread then you could give the Bakery just
one Wheat at a time.

The output group is not always restricted to resources. The Barracks has an
output group that contains Wizards, Soldiers and Archers. These Units are
created by training the Peasants found in the input group. If you find you need
to train 4 Scientists then you can set the level of scientists to 4 and that is
how many you will get. You can set the level to "Full" and the Barracks will
train your Scientists until you turn it off. This feature is also useful if you
have 3 mines and you don't need much Oil. You can turn off the Oil on two mines
which will give them more time to create other resources.

Food and Health

You will have to provide enough food for you people and you must also ensure
that there is a good variety. It has already been mentioned that those Peasants
working in the mine will require a different diet to the Scientists working in
the laboratory.  The Storage buildings usually contain the full range of food
and it is usually in plenty supply but other buildings have a limited menu.  If
your people become unhealthy they will not reproduce and they will become easy
targets for attackers.  If they become too unhappy then they may start to
disobey orders and generally become inefficient and worthless.  This it is not
essential to provide a full range of food it is recommended to attempt to
supply as much as you can whenever possible.

Guards

Every building will contain at least one space for a Guard.  It is good to keep
someone guarding your buildings because without a guard you are open for an
easy takeover.  Without a guard it is possible for an enemy team to enter the
building at will.  When there are enemy people in the building it usually turns
into a fight and the strongest group will take control.  While you building is
guarded you are still subject to thieves.

More Magic

The Magic is a useful element in the world of Foundation.  It is not only the
commonly used system of building but it is also used for landscaping.  At any
time you can
command your Wizard to create some fresh trees and fresh rocks.  The rocks are
a good source of Coal and Ore but the most common rocks are made of pure Stone.
 Once the Stone Mason or the Forester have taken their supplied the Magic will
soon wear off.  The source of the Magic is the Crematorium.  This special
building will turn the last remains of your people into fresh Magic.  This
gives you an almost endless
supply of Magic to last you for as long as you continue to have a population.

Control your People

The control system for organizing your people and issuing commands is a very
simple one but from a simple method you have a very complex array of commands
ready for controlling your populous.

The first lesson to learn is the select.  This is done by clicking the mouse in
an empty area of the world with thew Left Mouse Button and dragging the pointer
across the View area to form a box on the screen.  Any people that were inside
the box during hat time will become selected and they will form a group.
Another trick to learn is the SHIFT
select option which will allow you to add more people to the group.

Now you have a group selected you are able to issue commands.  The most basic
of these is the MOVE command.  The MOVE command is issued using the Right Mouse
Button to click in an area on the playfield.  Now your whole group will start
their journey to your selected location.  When they arrive you will see they
are waiting for your next command.  The MOVE command is the most useful command
of them all.  It gives you the power to command any of your people to go to any
valid destination including
buildings.  If you send a person into a building it will then become his home.
This is where he will stay until you command him to another place.  If this
building is a
production building (for example a Mine) then he will start to work there.
This is where he will spend the rest of his days unless you command him to move
somewhere else.

Fighting

The fighting side of the game works in the same way as all other control
features. You simply select a group or a single fighting unit and command them
to attack. Selecting one Soldier with the left mouse button and selecting an
enemy building with the right mouse button will send the Soldier into attack.
Selecting a group of Soldiers with the drag technique and then selecting an
enemy Soldier with the right button will command your group to attach the
single Soldier. This
simple point and click technique is used for all battle commands.






The Control Panels

A lot of the game is controlled from a wide range of control panels.  They
provide
Statistics as well as an interface to control your world in every last detail.

The Main Panel

The First Panel you see is known as the Main Panel.  From here you can access
all of the other Panels.  The Main Panel also shows some of the most important
Game
statistics including your Total population, The Percentage of Mission complete
and The amount of land you directly control.

The button on the Main Panel will take you to the other game panels. These
include,
Selected People, Selected Building, Storage report, Trading, Statisics
and the
Game Options Window.

The Statistics panel is packed with buttons that will lead you to vital
information to aid you in your game.


Input and Output

This will display the amount of resources coming in and the amount going out.
If you
select one of these elements with a mouse click it will take you through a
short-cut to the Production Chart.

Production Chart

Here you will see a simple production chart for each element.  This is where
you can predict any sharp changes in resource usage and attempt to avoid a
situation where you're making too much or too little of one element.

Building Count

Here is a simple display showing how many of each building you have created.
This will allow you to make a quick calculation of the building you may need to
create next.

Death Reports

To aid you in the process of cutting down on the number of casualties it is
useful to see the causes of the recent deaths.  A quick glance at the last 4
deaths can often give you a clue to what can be done to improve your population
life expectancy.  The Popular Deaths chart will display the most frequent
causes of Death.  This is an extra help in discovering problems with health and
other troubles.

Production Priority

Here you can arrange the various elements in order of need.  If you have many
Farms you can decide which food you prefer to make.  An item with a higher
priority will be produced more often than a lower priority element.  The
Production priority has another use.  When you send a Peasant into an enemy
building he will leave the building with some stolen goods.  The preference of
goods to steal is based on the Production
Priority.

Transport Priority

People and resources must be moved from place to place.  This is all taken care
of by the people who work in the different buildings.  While you are always
free to take control over a person at any time, it is still very useful to let
them get on with their business.  Quite often a building will contain many
different items and many different people.  Only so much can be removed from a
building at any time so some form of preference must be done. The Resources
always come before the people in the Priority list so quite often you will see
Peasants leaving a building before a Knight, even though the Knight may be
above the Peasant in the Priority.  This is because the Peasant is moving an
important high Priority resource which gives him the advantage over a Knight.

The Mission Status

This Panel will show you a simple chart with the current percentage of Mission
Completed.

The Best & Worst Panel

This is a simple but effective statistic panel.  At a quick glance you can see
which
elements you have too much of and which elements you have too little of.  The
Percentage is calculated by taking the current population and generating some
ideal figures for each element.  A figure of 200% would indicate that you have
twice the
recommended amount at this current stage in the game while a figure of 50%
means you need to double the production of this type.

Multi Statistics

This is where you get some comparisons between the players in the current game.
 You can get an idea of how stable the other teams are with figures like land
ownership, Gold reserve, Population, Production rates and Army size.

In-Game Keys

Shift F1 - F5 = Remember map position for recall
F1 - F5 = Recall map position
Shift 1 - 5 = Remember current group of Units for recall
1 - 5 = Recall group of People
P = Pause
O = Select all people outside border
G = Select all people
H = Alter view to Headquarters
E = Select all people in view or select one enemy person
N = Cycle through selected People
C = Centre on current Person
S = Stop selected People
X = Scatter selected People
- = Shrink View Size
+ = Enlarge View Size
Enter = Message Mode





Credits

Design, Graphics & Programming: Paul Burkey

Additional Design: Kristian Philips, Richard Brown

Sound Effects: Paul Burkey, Martin Halberg

Game Speech: Barry Swerdlow, Sally Burkey, Jeremy Kelly.

Soundtrack: Simon Ravn

Compression Routines: Andrew "Oondy" King

Additional Programming: Daniel Allsopp, Julian Kinraid

Storyline: Jason Hayman

Publishing: Richard Brown (Sadeness)

Artwork/Packaging: Kristian Philips (Sadeness)

Translations: ATO Members

Special Thanks: Peter & Michael Price, Dennis Smith, Andrew Kellett, all the
beta testers, everyone on the Blitz-List and the Amiga
community for their patience and Support.










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