CD Direkt 1995 #1/Image.iso/cdd/dosgame/conquest/conquest.hlp

Text File | 1994-01-09 | 17KB | 418 lines

Instructions
   Conquest has much in common with other
'Conquer the World' games.  Up to 8 players can
play, any or all of whom can be computer
controlled.  The goal is to defeat all of the
opposing armies, and occupy every territory on
the Map.  The game objective can be different
depending on selections made in the game set-up
menu.  Conquest is different from other games in
this genre because of its point & click user
interface and the strength of the rule-based
algorithm used by the computer opponents.
   Winning a game of Conquest requires good
placement of armies, outnumbering your opponent
in critical battles, and luck.  Each player's
turn is divided into 3 phases:  Placement,
Attack, and Freemove.
   The Placement phase consists of selecting a
territory owned by you and putting some or all
of your new armies for that turn on it.  The
number of new armies is determined by the
number of territories owned by the player and
the number of bonus armies received from the
occupation of whole continents.  This phase
continues until all of armies have been placed.
   During the Attack phase, you can attack a
bordering territory owned by another player as
long as you have 2 or more armies on your
territory (NOTE:  If you are using the Even
Chances attack scoring, then your armies must be
greater than or equal to your opponent's).  If
you defeat all of the armies on the Defending
territory, you can then move some of your armies
on to your new territory (NOTE:  Each territory
must have at least one army at the end of your
move). To end this phase, select the 'EXIT' box.
   After the Attack phase, a player is allowed
to move armies from a territory to an adjacent
territory, provided he owns both of them.  The
purpose of this Freemove is to reinforce your
current position until your next turn.
   Conquest has a variety of options and
settings.  When the game is first loaded, the
player characteristics are shown in a box (for
more information on these - read the 'player
menu' help section), and the following buttons
are shown on the right side of the screen:
>>  Start game - starts a new game
>>  Resume game - continues a saved game
>>  Modem game - starts a new game where at
least one player is connected through a modem
>>  Demonstration - Generates 5 computer
players and starts playing using random maps
>>  Help - brings up the Help menu
>>  Options - allows you to change the game's
settings.  For more information, see the
'Opening Menu' Help section.
>>  Maps - lets you select a map to play on
>>  Save Set-up - Saves all game and player
settings as the default settings
>>  Quit - Ends game, and exits program
Game Settings
    To change the game set-up, just place the
arrow on the button marked 'Options Menu' in
the opening menu.
>>  Objective.  This is the criteria for
winning a game.  The 10 game objectives fall
in to 3 categories:
   First player to occupy a set % of the Map.
   Player with most armies after # rounds.
   Player with most territories after # rounds.
>>  There are 6 types of Attack Scoring used to
determine the losses in an attack:
   Even Chances - even odds for the attacker and
     defender.  To attack, an attacker must have
     the same or more armies than the defender.
   Weighted by # of Armies - odds for each
     battle favor the player with the most
     armies on his territory (but independent
     of armies he owns elsewhere).
   Wildly Random - unpredictable.
   Cyclic (Short or Long) - your odds of winning
     depend on a 'biorhythm' cycle.
   Simulated Dice Toss - uses dice (see guide)
   Unknown - randomly chooses one of the above.
>>  Territory Selection determines the method
used for picking each player's territories:
   Random - Territories are automatically picked
     for each player on a random basis.
   Partioned - Similiar to the first method,
     however territories are clustered for each
     player, so the starting position is better.
   Manual - All territories and number of armies
     are determined by the Human players.
   Player's choice - Each player picks his own.
>>  Bonus Armies For Each Opponent Eliminated
gives new armies to a player if he removes
another player from the game.
>>  Free move determines when a player can
redistribute his armies at the end of his turn.
A player's freemove can be dependent on if he
conquered a territory during his turn.
>>  Plagues - Randomly reduces the armies on
a heavily defended territory to 1.  Strikes the
most occupied territory about every third turn.
>>  If Hide Non-Adjacent Opponent's Territories
is 'ON,' then all of the territories not next to
a human player will be covered.
>>  If Penalty for attacking a new continent
is on, an attacker has a %33 less chance of
winning a battle if the defender is part of
different continent.
>>  Rebellions enables territories to change
owners during the game without combat.  If
'Strong to weak' is selected, then the player
with the best position will lose territories
to the player with the worst position (at
random intervals.
>>  For information on Team Play, select the
team play help selection.
>> Random player order changes the order a
player plays in each round.
>> Max new armies/turn limits the new armies
awarded at the start of each turn. Useful for
prolonging game play.
>> Max armies per territory limits the number
of armies that can occupy a single territory.
This results in fewer 'sweeps' across the
board by a strong player.
>>  The Maximum # of starting armies is used to
determine the highest number of armies on each
territory at the start of the game.
>> Hardware Configuration - see 'Hardware'
>>  During the game, press the ESCAPE key to
bring up the options menu, or the first nine
functions keys to go directly to the first
nine entries on the options menu.
Player Menu
   To reach the player menu, click on the button
next to the player you wish to change (in the
opening menu).  If a player is active (will
participate in the game), then the players name
and type are visable.  To play a game, at least
3 players must be active.
   There are three types of players: humans,
computer, and modem opponents.  The color and
name of human players can be changed by clicking
on the button next to these choices.  The button
labled 'Status' determines if the player will be
active.  However, if the player type is computer
a number of additional options are selectable:
>>  Strategy determines how the computer attacks
during the attack phase.
   -- Standard plays the opponent as in previous
   versions of Conquest (recommended setting)
   -- Blitzkrieg encourages the computer player
   to go around strongholds, and attack at the
   weakest points
   -- Maginot Line encourages the player to
   attack the enemy at his strongest points
   (to wear them down), and to concentrate
   his efforts on defending his continents
>>  Philosophy sets the basic principle the
computer opponent will use.
    Aggressive - attacks often.
    Defensive  - hordes armies.
    Balanced   - mixture of the above.
    Random     - changes each turn.
>>  Attack Priority determines who the computer
opponent is most likely to attack if all other
conditions are equal.  In other words, if a
player can attack two different territories
owned by two different players, and the
advantage gained from conquering each territory
is the same, the computer player will prefer
attacking the one corresponding to the selection
here.  The recommended setting (for long games)
is 'Strong Players.'  The 'Vengeance' setting
causes the computer player to attack the player
(any type) that has attacked him the most.
>>  Intellegence goes from one to ten, and it
determines how a computer player plays.  'Dumb'
players (Intellegence less than three) can
still win, but they do not make as much of a
challenge as the smart players.
   I think the most challenging setting is: one
human, 3 or more smart computer opponents on a
large map (more than 75 territories).  Even
more difficult is teaming